WorldWideScience

Sample records for experiment control environment

  1. Automation and Control Learning Environment with Mixed Reality Remote Experiments Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frederico M. Schaf

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available This work aims to the use of remotely web-based experiments to improve the learning process of automation and control systems theory courses. An architecture combining virtual learning environments, remote experiments, students guide and experiments analysis is proposed based on a wide state of art study. The validation of the architecture uses state of art technologies and new simple developed programs to implement the case studies presented. All implementations presented use an internet accessible virtual learning environment providing educational resources, guides and learning material to create a distance learning course associated with the remote mixed reality experiment. This work is part of the RExNet consortium, supported by the European Alfa project.

  2. Real-time control environment for the RFX experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barana, O.; Cavinato, M.; Luchetta, A.; Manduchi, G.; Taliercio, C.

    2005-01-01

    A comprehensive set of control schemes can be presently implemented on RFX due to the enhanced load assembly and renewed power supply system. The schemes include: plasma equilibrium control and resistive wall mode stabilization, aiming at controlling actively the discharge when the passive action of the shell vanishes; the rotation of the localised helical deformation to minimize the enhanced plasma-wall interaction; the MHD mode control and the 'intelligent shell', aiming at achieving a better comprehension of the underlying physics. To the purpose, an integrated, distributed, digital system has been developed consisting of a set of computing nodes. Each node can act either as pre-processing or control station, the former acquiring raw data and computing intermediate control parameters, the latter executing control algorithms and driving the power amplifiers. An overview of the system architecture is presented in the paper with reference to the software real-time environment providing both basic functions, such as data read-out and real-time communication, and useful tools to program control algorithms, to perform simulations and to commission the system. To simulate the control schemes, the real-time environment is extended to include a so called 'simulation mode', in which the real-time nodes exchange their input/output signals with one station running a suitable model of the experiment, for instance the two dimensional FEM code MAXFEA in the case of the equilibrium control. In this way the control system can be tested offline and the time needed for the commissioning of algorithms reduced

  3. Profile control simulations and experiments on TCV : A controller test environment and results using a model-based predictive controller

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maljaars, E.; Felici, F.; Blanken, T.C.; Galperti, C.; Sauter, O.; de Baar, M.R.; Carpanese, F.; Goodman, T.P.; Kim, D.; Kim, S.H.; Kong, M.G.; Mavkov, B.; Merle, A.; Moret, J.M.; Nouailletas, R.; Scheffer, M.; Teplukhina, A.A.; Vu, N.M.T.

    2017-01-01

    The successful performance of a model predictive profile controller is demonstrated in simulations and experiments on the TCV tokamak, employing a profile controller test environment. Stable high-performance tokamak operation in hybrid and advanced plasma scenarios requires control over the safety

  4. Profile control simulations and experiments on TCV: a controller test environment and results using a model-based predictive controller

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maljaars, B.; Felici, F.; Blanken, T. C.; Galperti, C.; Sauter, O.; de Baar, M. R.; Carpanese, F.; Goodman, T. P.; Kim, D.; Kim, S. H.; Kong, M.; Mavkov, B.; Merle, A.; Moret, J.; Nouailletas, R.; Scheffer, M.; Teplukhina, A.; Vu, T.

    2017-01-01

    The successful performance of a model predictive profile controller is demonstrated in simulations and experiments on the TCV tokamak, employing a profile controller test environment. Stable high-performance tokamak operation in hybrid and advanced plasma scenarios requires control over the safety

  5. Controlled environment experiments in pollution studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zeitzschel, B

    1978-12-01

    In the last decade society has become aware of the increasing negative effects of human waste products introduced to the oceans. There is proof evidence, at least for some areas of the world ocean, that the marine environment is seriously in danger. The scientific community is very concerned, arguing that there is an urgent need for basic research in this field because too little is known on the harzardous effects of man-made pollutants on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. There are two wanys to perform experiments under conrolled environment conditions: (1) in the laboratory; (2) in in-situ experiments with enclosures. Most laboratory experiments are designed to study the influence and the tolerance spectrum of specific pollutants, e.g. copper or DDT, on any specific organism, e.g. a mussel or a fish. In these experiments it is fairly difficult to simulate natural conditions. The concentrations of the pollutants are generally fairly high, often several orders of magnitude higher than in the ocean. It is questionable if the results from these experiments can be extrapolated to nature. In the second approach (enclosures of various sizes in-situ or in landbased facilities), fibre-glass containers and plastic bags have been used successfully in the last years, e.g. in the UK, USA, Canada, France, and W. Germany. The main goal of these experiments is to study the long-term effect of low-level perturbations on natural populations of the pelagic or benthic ecosystem. Examples of recent results are discussed in detail. 33 references.

  6. Profile control simulations and experiments on TCV: a controller test environment and results using a model-based predictive controller

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maljaars, E.; Felici, F.; Blanken, T. C.; Galperti, C.; Sauter, O.; de Baar, M. R.; Carpanese, F.; Goodman, T. P.; Kim, D.; Kim, S. H.; Kong, M.; Mavkov, B.; Merle, A.; Moret, J. M.; Nouailletas, R.; Scheffer, M.; Teplukhina, A. A.; Vu, N. M. T.; The EUROfusion MST1-team; The TCV-team

    2017-12-01

    The successful performance of a model predictive profile controller is demonstrated in simulations and experiments on the TCV tokamak, employing a profile controller test environment. Stable high-performance tokamak operation in hybrid and advanced plasma scenarios requires control over the safety factor profile (q-profile) and kinetic plasma parameters such as the plasma beta. This demands to establish reliable profile control routines in presently operational tokamaks. We present a model predictive profile controller that controls the q-profile and plasma beta using power requests to two clusters of gyrotrons and the plasma current request. The performance of the controller is analyzed in both simulation and TCV L-mode discharges where successful tracking of the estimated inverse q-profile as well as plasma beta is demonstrated under uncertain plasma conditions and the presence of disturbances. The controller exploits the knowledge of the time-varying actuator limits in the actuator input calculation itself such that fast transitions between targets are achieved without overshoot. A software environment is employed to prepare and test this and three other profile controllers in parallel in simulations and experiments on TCV. This set of tools includes the rapid plasma transport simulator RAPTOR and various algorithms to reconstruct the plasma equilibrium and plasma profiles by merging the available measurements with model-based predictions. In this work the estimated q-profile is merely based on RAPTOR model predictions due to the absence of internal current density measurements in TCV. These results encourage to further exploit model predictive profile control in experiments on TCV and other (future) tokamaks.

  7. Game controller modification for fMRI hyperscanning experiments in a cooperative virtual reality environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trees, Jason; Snider, Joseph; Falahpour, Maryam; Guo, Nick; Lu, Kun; Johnson, Douglas C; Poizner, Howard; Liu, Thomas T

    2014-01-01

    Hyperscanning, an emerging technique in which data from multiple interacting subjects' brains are simultaneously recorded, has become an increasingly popular way to address complex topics, such as "theory of mind." However, most previous fMRI hyperscanning experiments have been limited to abstract social interactions (e.g. phone conversations). Our new method utilizes a virtual reality (VR) environment used for military training, Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2), to create realistic avatar-avatar interactions and cooperative tasks. To control the virtual avatar, subjects use a MRI compatible Playstation 3 game controller, modified by removing all extraneous metal components and replacing any necessary ones with 3D printed plastic models. Control of both scanners' operation is initiated by a VBS2 plugin to sync scanner time to the known time within the VR environment. Our modifications include:•Modification of game controller to be MRI compatible.•Design of VBS2 virtual environment for cooperative interactions.•Syncing two MRI machines for simultaneous recording.

  8. MxCuBE: a synchrotron beamline control environment customized for macromolecular crystallography experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gabadinho, José; Beteva, Antonia; Guijarro, Matias; Rey-Bakaikoa, Vicente; Spruce, Darren

    2010-01-01

    MxCuBE is a beamline control environment optimized for the needs of macromolecular crystallography. This paper describes the design of the software and the features that MxCuBE currently provides. The design and features of a beamline control software system for macromolecular crystallography (MX) experiments developed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) are described. This system, MxCuBE, allows users to easily and simply interact with beamline hardware components and provides automated routines for common tasks in the operation of a synchrotron beamline dedicated to experiments in MX. Additional functionality is provided through intuitive interfaces that enable the assessment of the diffraction characteristics of samples, experiment planning, automatic data collection and the on-line collection and analysis of X-ray emission spectra. The software can be run in a tandem client-server mode that allows for remote control and relevant experimental parameters and results are automatically logged in a relational database, ISPyB. MxCuBE is modular, flexible and extensible and is currently deployed on eight macromolecular crystallography beamlines at the ESRF. Additionally, the software is installed at MAX-lab beamline I911-3 and at BESSY beamline BL14.1

  9. Overview of the LHD central control room data monitoring environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emoto, M.; Yoshinuma, M.; Yoshida, M.; Nakanishi, H.; Iwata, C.; Ohsuna, M.; Nonomura, M.; Imazu, S.; Yokota, M.; Aoyagi, M.; Ogawa, H.; Ida, K.; Watanabe, K.; Kaneko, O.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • In this paper, the data monitoring environments in the LHD central control room, for example, summary data graph and video monitoring tools are introduced. Also, the environments for the remote participants are introduced. - Abstract: During the Large Helical Device (LHD) experiments, many scientists and technical staff are working in the central control room to operate the experiment. They must manage the diagnostics and controlling devices referring to the results of the last plasma shot. Also, the experiment coordinator must decide the conditions for the subsequent experiments using the results. Furthermore, many scientists are participating in the experiment from remote sites. Therefore, it is important to share the information in the control room quickly, such as the results of the last plasma discharge, with the remote user as well as with the staff in the room. In this paper, the data monitoring environment in the LHD central control room is introduced.

  10. Overview of the LHD central control room data monitoring environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Emoto, M., E-mail: emoto.masahiko@nifs.ac.jp; Yoshinuma, M.; Yoshida, M.; Nakanishi, H.; Iwata, C.; Ohsuna, M.; Nonomura, M.; Imazu, S.; Yokota, M.; Aoyagi, M.; Ogawa, H.; Ida, K.; Watanabe, K.; Kaneko, O.

    2016-11-15

    Highlights: • In this paper, the data monitoring environments in the LHD central control room, for example, summary data graph and video monitoring tools are introduced. Also, the environments for the remote participants are introduced. - Abstract: During the Large Helical Device (LHD) experiments, many scientists and technical staff are working in the central control room to operate the experiment. They must manage the diagnostics and controlling devices referring to the results of the last plasma shot. Also, the experiment coordinator must decide the conditions for the subsequent experiments using the results. Furthermore, many scientists are participating in the experiment from remote sites. Therefore, it is important to share the information in the control room quickly, such as the results of the last plasma discharge, with the remote user as well as with the staff in the room. In this paper, the data monitoring environment in the LHD central control room is introduced.

  11. Dissociation of past and present experience in problem solving using a virtual environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturz, Bradley R; Bodily, Kent D; Katz, Jeffrey S

    2009-02-01

    An interactive 3D desktop virtual environment task was created to investigate learning mechanisms in human problem solving. Participants were assessed for previous video game experience, divided into two groups (Training and Control), and matched for gender and experience. The Training group learned specific skills within the virtual environment before being presented a problem. The Control group was presented the problem only. Completion time was faster for the Training group and was affected by level of previous video game experience. Results indicated problem solving was a function of specific and general experience and demonstrated a method for dissociating these two facets of experience.

  12. A User-Centric View of Intelligent Environments: User Expectations, User Experience and User Role in Building Intelligent Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eija Kaasinen

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Our everyday environments are gradually becoming intelligent, facilitated both by technological development and user activities. Although large-scale intelligent environments are still rare in actual everyday use, they have been studied for quite a long time, and several user studies have been carried out. In this paper, we present a user-centric view of intelligent environments based on published research results and our own experiences from user studies with concepts and prototypes. We analyze user acceptance and users’ expectations that affect users’ willingness to start using intelligent environments and to continue using them. We discuss user experience of interacting with intelligent environments where physical and virtual elements are intertwined. Finally, we touch on the role of users in shaping their own intelligent environments instead of just using ready-made environments. People are not merely “using” the intelligent environments but they live in them, and they experience the environments via embedded services and new interaction tools as well as the physical and social environment. Intelligent environments should provide emotional as well as instrumental value to the people who live in them, and the environments should be trustworthy and controllable both by regular users and occasional visitors. Understanding user expectations and user experience in intelligent environments, and providing users with tools to influence the environments can help to shape the vision of intelligent environments into meaningful, acceptable and appealing service entities for all those who live and act in them.

  13. GumTree-An integrated scientific experiment environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Tony; Hauser, Nick; Goetz, Andy; Hathaway, Paul; Franceschini, Fredi; Rayner, Hugh; Zhang, Lidia

    2006-01-01

    GumTree is an open source and multi-platform graphical user interface for performing neutron scattering and X-ray experiments. It handles the complete experiment life cycle from instrument calibration, data acquisition, and real time data analysis to results publication. The aim of the GumTree Project is to create a highly Integrated Scientific Experiment Environment (ISEE), allowing interconnectivity and data sharing between different distributed components such as motors, detectors, user proposal database and data analysis server. GumTree is being adapted to several instrument control server systems such as TANGO, EPICS and SICS, providing an easy-to-use front-end for users and simple-to-extend model for software developers. The design of GumTree is aimed to be reusable and configurable for any scientific instrument. GumTree will be adapted to six neutron beam instruments for the OPAL reactor at ANSTO. Other European institutes including ESRF, ILL and PSI have shown interest in using GumTree as their workbench for instrument control and data analysis

  14. GumTree - An Integrated Scientific Experiment Environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Tony; Hauser, Nick; Hathaway, Paul; Franceschini, Fredi; Rayner, Hugh; Zhang, Lidia; Goetz, Andy

    2005-01-01

    Full text: GumTree is an open source and multi-platform graphical user interface for performing neutron scattering and X-ray experiments. It handles the complete experiment life cycle from instrument calibration, data acquisition, and real time data analysis to results publication. The aim of the GumTree Project is to create a highly Integrated Scientific Experiment Environment (ISEE), allowing interconnectivity and data sharing between different distributed components such as motors, detectors, user proposal database and data analysis server. GumTree is being adapted to several instrument control server systems such as TANGO, EPICS and SICS, providing an easy-to-use front-end for users and simple-to-extend model for software developers. The design of GumTree is aimed to be reusable and configurable for any scientific instrument. GumTree will be adapted to six neutron beam instruments for the OPAL reactor at ANSTO. Other European institutes including ESRF, ILL and PSI have shown interest in using GumTree as their workbench for instrument control and data analysis. (authors)

  15. New indoor environment chambers and field experiment offices for research on human comfort, health and productivity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toftum, Jørn; Langkilde, Gunnar; Fanger, Povl Ole

    2004-01-01

    The article describes three new indoor environment chambers, a new laboratory for the study of air movement in spaces and five offices for controlled environment exposures of human subjects in field experiments at the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of...... of Denmark. Together with three older chambers, the Centre now has at its disposal 12 spaces for studying indoor environments and their impact on human comfort, health and productivity.......The article describes three new indoor environment chambers, a new laboratory for the study of air movement in spaces and five offices for controlled environment exposures of human subjects in field experiments at the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University...

  16. Improving the Urban Environment experiences in Peshawar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malik, M.

    2001-01-01

    This paper summarizes the experiences of the Pak-German Urban Industrial Environment Protection (UIEP) Program that was implemented in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan from May 1996 to October 2000. Under the UIEP, which had the goal of improving the environmental situation in NWFP, pilot-projects focusing on air pollution control from vehicular emissions and brick kilns, improvement of solid waste collection and disposal of outdated pesticides were implemented. In addition, a number of studies and surveys focusing on hospital waste management, pressure horns, ambient noise level, fuel and oil adulteration and ambient air quality were undertaken. The paper highlights the strategies used for the implementation of the pilot-projects and presents useful data concerning the urban environment of NWFP. (author)

  17. Experience in using workstations as hosts in an accelerator control environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abola, A.; Casella, R.; Clifford, T.; Hoff, L.; Katz, R.; Kennell, S.; Mandell, S.; McBreen, E.; Weygand, D.P.

    1987-03-01

    A new control system has been used for light ion acceleration at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). The control system uses Apollo workstations in the dual role of console hardware computer and controls system host. It has been found that having a powerful dedicated CPU with a demand paging virtual memory OS featuring strong interprocess communication, mapped memory shared files, shared code, and multi-window capabilities, allows us to provide an efficient operation environment in which users may view and manage several control processes simultaneously. The same features which make workstations good console computers also provide an outstanding platform for code development. The software for the system, consisting of about 30K lines of ''C'' code, was developed on schedule, ready for light ion commissioning. System development is continuing with work being done on applications programs

  18. Experience in using workstations as hosts in an accelerator control environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abola, A.; Casella, R.; Clifford, T.; Hoff, L.; Katz, R.; Kennell, S.; Mandell, S.; McBreen, E.; Weygand, D.P.

    1987-01-01

    A new control system has been used for light ion acceleration at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). The control system uses Apollo workstations in the dual role of console hardware computer and controls system host. It has been found that having a powerful dedicated CPU with a demand paging virtual memory OS featuring strong interprocess communication, mapped memory shared files, shared code, and multi-window capabilities, allows us to provide an efficient operation environment in which users may view and manage several control processes simultaneously. The same features which make workstations good console computers also provide an outstanding platform for code development. The software for the system, consisting of about 30K lines of ''C'' code, was developed on schedule, ready for light ion commissioning. System development is continuing with work being done on applications programs

  19. Experimental study on line-of-sight (LOS) attitude control using control moment gyros under micro-gravity environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kojima, Hirohisa; Hiraiwa, Kana; Yoshimura, Yasuhiro

    2018-02-01

    This paper presents the results of line-of-sight (LOS) attitude control using control moment gyros under a micro-gravity environment generated by parabolic flight. The W-Z parameters are used to describe the spacecraft attitude. In order to stabilize the current LOS to the target LOS, backstepping-based feedback control is considered using the W-Z parameters. Numerical simulations and experiments under a micro-gravity environment are carried out, and their results are compared in order to validate the proposed control methods.

  20. Information literacy experiencies inside virtual learning environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia Hernández Salazar

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective. Suggest the use of virtual learning environments as an Information Literacy (IL alternative. Method. Analysis of the main elements of web sites. To achieve this purpose the article includes the relationship between IL and the learning virtual environment (by defining both phrases; phases to create virtual IL programs; processes to elaborate didactic media; the applications that may support this plan; and the description of eleven examples of learning virtual environments IL experiences from four countries (Mexico, United States of America, Spain and United Kingdom these examples fulfill the conditions expressed. Results. We obtained four comparative tables examining five elements of each experience: objectives; target community; institution; country; and platform used. Conclusions. Any IL proposal should have a clear definition; IL experiences have to follow a didactic systematic process; described experiences are based on IL definition; the experiences analyzed are similar; virtual learning environments can be used as alternatives of IL.

  1. Evolving Robot Controllers for Structured Environments Through Environment Decomposition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moreno, Rodrigo; Faiña, Andres; Støy, Kasper

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we aim to develop a controller that allows a robot to traverse an structured environment. The approach we use is to decompose the environment into simple sub-environments that we use as basis for evolving the controller. Specifically, we decompose a narrow corridor environment...... environments and that the order in which the decomposed sub-environments are presented in sequence impacts the performance of the evolutionary algorithm....

  2. Real-time measurement and control at Jet. Experiment Control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Felton, R.; Zabeo, L.; Sartori, F.; Piccolo, F.; Farthing, J.; Budd, T.; Dorling, S.; McCullen, P.; Harling, J.; Dalley, S.; Goodyear, A.; Stephen, A.; Card, P.; Bright, M.; Lucock, R.; Jones, E.; Griph, S.; Hogben, C.; Beldishevski, M.; Buckley, M.; Davis, J.; Young, I.; Hemming, O.; Wheatley, M.; Heesterman, P.; Lloyd, G.; Walters, M.; Bridge, R.; Leggate, H.; Howell, D.; Zastrow, K.D.; Giroud, C.; Coffey, I.; Hawkes, N.; Stamp, M.; Barnsley, R.; Edlington, T.; Guenther, K.; Gowers, C.; Popovichef, S.; Huber, A.; Ingesson, C.; Joffrin, E.; Mazon, D.; Moreau, D.; Murari, A.; Riva, M.; Barana, O.; Bolzonella, T.; Valisa, M.; Innocente, P.; Zerbini, M.; Bosak, K.; Blum, J.; Vitale, E.; Crisanti, F.; La Luna, E. de; Sanchez, J.

    2004-01-01

    Over the past few ears, the preparation of ITER-relevant plasma scenarios has been the main focus experimental activity on tokamaks. The development of integrated, simultaneous, real-time controls of plasma shape, current, pressure, temperature, radiation, neutron profiles, and also impurities, ELMs (edge localized modes) and MHD are now seen to be essential for further development of quasi-steady state conditions with feedback, or the stabilisation of transient phenomena with event-driven actions. For this thrust, the EFDA JET Real Time Project has developed a set of real-time plasma measurements, experiment control, and communication facilities. The Plasma Diagnostics used for real-time experiments are Far Infra Red interferometry, polarimetry, visible, UV and X-ray spectroscopy, LIDAR, bolometry, neutron and magnetics. Further analysis systems produce integrated results such as temperature profiles on geometry derived from MHD equilibrium solutions. The Actuators include toroidal, poloidal and divertor coils, gas and pellet fuelling, neutral beam injection, radiofrequency (ICRH) waves and microwaves (LH). The Heating/Fuelling Operators can either define a power or gas request waveform or select the real-time instantaneous power/gas request from the Real Time Experiment Central Control (RTCC) system. The Real Time Experiment Control system provides both a high-level, control-programming environment and interlocks with the actuators. A MATLAB facility is being developed for the development of more complex controllers. The plasma measurement, controller and plant control systems communicate in ATM network. The EFDA Real Time project is essential groundwork for future reactors such as ITER. It involves many staff from several institutions. The facility is now frequently used in experiments. (authors)

  3. A Compatible Control Algorithm for Greenhouse Environment Control Based on MOCC Strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bingkun Zhu

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Conventional methods used for solving greenhouse environment multi-objective conflict control problems lay excessive emphasis on control performance and have inadequate consideration for both energy consumption and special requirements for plant growth. The resulting solution will cause higher energy cost. However, during the long period of work and practice, we find that it may be more reasonable to adopt interval or region control objectives instead of point control objectives. In this paper, we propose a modified compatible control algorithm, and employ Multi-Objective Compatible Control (MOCC strategy and an extant greenhouse model to achieve greenhouse climate control based on feedback control architecture. A series of simulation experiments through various comparative studies are presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed algorithm. The results are encouraging and suggest the energy-saving application to real-world engineering problems in greenhouse production. It may be valuable and helpful to formulate environmental control strategies, and to achieve high control precision and low energy cost for real-world engineering application in greenhouse production. Moreover, the proposed approach has also potential to be useful for other practical control optimization problems with the features like the greenhouse environment control system.

  4. A compatible control algorithm for greenhouse environment control based on MOCC strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Haigen; Xu, Lihong; Zhu, Bingkun; Wei, Ruihua

    2011-01-01

    Conventional methods used for solving greenhouse environment multi-objective conflict control problems lay excessive emphasis on control performance and have inadequate consideration for both energy consumption and special requirements for plant growth. The resulting solution will cause higher energy cost. However, during the long period of work and practice, we find that it may be more reasonable to adopt interval or region control objectives instead of point control objectives. In this paper, we propose a modified compatible control algorithm, and employ Multi-Objective Compatible Control (MOCC) strategy and an extant greenhouse model to achieve greenhouse climate control based on feedback control architecture. A series of simulation experiments through various comparative studies are presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed algorithm. The results are encouraging and suggest the energy-saving application to real-world engineering problems in greenhouse production. It may be valuable and helpful to formulate environmental control strategies, and to achieve high control precision and low energy cost for real-world engineering application in greenhouse production. Moreover, the proposed approach has also potential to be useful for other practical control optimization problems with the features like the greenhouse environment control system.

  5. Experience with ActiveX control for simple channel access

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Timossi, C.; Nishimura, H.; McDonald, J.

    2003-01-01

    Accelerator control system applications at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) are typically deployed on operator consoles running Microsoft Windows 2000 and utilize EPICS[2]channel access for data access. In an effort to accommodate the wide variety of Windows based development tools and developers with little experience in network programming, ActiveX controls have been deployed on the operator stations. Use of ActiveX controls for use in the accelerator control environment has been presented previously[1]. Here we report on some of our experiences with the use and development of these controls

  6. Home care nurses' experience of job stress and considerations for the work environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samia, Linda W; Ellenbecker, Carol Hall; Friedman, Donna Haig; Dick, Karen

    2012-01-01

    Home care nurses report increased stress in their jobs due to work environment characteristics that impact professional practice. Stressors and characteristics of the professional practice environment that moderate nurses' experience of job stress were examined in this embedded multiple case study. Real life experiences within a complex environment were drawn from interviews and observations with 29 participants across two home care agencies from one eastern U.S. state. Findings suggest that role overload, role conflict, and lack of control can be moderated in agencies where there are meaningful opportunities for shared decision making and the nurse-patient relationship is supported.

  7. Coherent operation of detector systems and their readout electronics in a complex experiment control environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koestner, Stefan [CERN (Switzerland)], E-mail: koestner@mpi-halle.mpg.de

    2009-09-11

    With the increasing size and degree of complexity of today's experiments in high energy physics the required amount of work and complexity to integrate a complete subdetector into an experiment control system is often underestimated. We report here on the layered software structure and protocols used by the LHCb experiment to control its detectors and readout boards. The experiment control system of LHCb is based on the commercial SCADA system PVSS II. Readout boards which are outside the radiation area are accessed via embedded credit card sized PCs which are connected to a large local area network. The SPECS protocol is used for control of the front end electronics. Finite state machines are introduced to facilitate the control of a large number of electronic devices and to model the whole experiment at the level of an expert system.

  8. Homeostasis control of building environment using sensor agent robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagahama, Eri; Mita, Akira

    2012-04-01

    A human centered system for building is demanded to meet variety of needs due to the diversification and maturation of society. Smart buildings and smart houses have been studied to satisfy this demand. However, it is difficult for such systems to respond flexibly to unexpected events and needs that are caused by aging and complicate emotion changes. With this regards, we suggest "Biofied Buildings". The goal for this research is to realize buildings that are safer, more comfortable and more energy-efficient by embedding adaptive functions of life into buildings. In this paper, we propose a new control system for building environments, focused on physiological adaptation, particularly homeostasis, endocrine system and immune system. Residents are used as living sensors and controllers in the control loop. A sensor agent robot is used to acquire resident's discomfort feeling, and to output hormone-like signals to activate devices to control the environments. The proposed system could control many devices without establishing complicated scenarios. Results obtained from some simulations and the demonstration experiments using an LED lighting system showed that the proposed system were able to achieve robust and stable control of environments without complicated scenarios.

  9. Environment control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sammarone, D.G.

    1978-01-01

    Disclosed is a system for controlling the environment of an enclosed area in nuclear reactor installations. The system permits the changing of the environment from nitrogen to air, or from air to nitrogen, without the release of any radioactivity or process gas to the outside atmosphere

  10. Virtualization in control system environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen, L.R.; Liu, D.K.; Wan, T.M.

    2012-01-01

    In large scale distributed control system, there are lots of common service composed an environment for the entire control system, such as the server system for the common software base library, application server, archive server and so on. This paper gives a description of a virtualization realization for control system environment including the virtualization for server, storage, network system and application for the control system. With a virtualization instance of the EPICS based control system environment that was built by the VMware vSphere v4, we tested the whole functionality of this virtualization environment in the SSRF control system, including the common server of the NFS, NIS, NTP, Boot and EPICS base and extension library tools, we also have applied virtualization to application servers such as the Archive, Alarm, EPICS gateway and all of the network based IOC. Specially, we test the high availability and VMotion for EPICS asynchronous IOC successful under the different VLAN configuration of the current SSRF control system network. (authors)

  11. Homeostasis lighting control based on relationship between lighting environment and human behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ueda, Risa; Mita, Akira

    2015-03-01

    Although each person has own preferences, living spaces which can respond to various preferences and needs have not become reality. Focusing on the lighting environments which influence on the impression of living spaces, this research aims to offer comfortable lighting environments for each resident by a flexible control. This research examines the relationship between lighting environments and human behaviors considering colored lights. In accord with the relationship, this research proposes an illuminance-color control system which flexibly changes spatial environments responding to human conditions. Firstly, the psychological evaluation was conducted in order to build human models for various environments. As a result, preferred lighting environments for each examinee were determined for particular behaviors. Moreover, satisfaction levels of lighting environments were calculated by using seven types of impression of the environments as parameters. The results were summarized as human models. Secondly, this research proposed "Homeostasis Lighting Control System", which employs the human models. Homeostasis lighting control system embodies the algorithm of homeostasis, which is one of the functions of the physiological adaptation. Human discomfort feelings are obtained automatically by the sensor agent robot. The system can offer comfortable lighting environments without controlling environments by residents autonomously based on the information from the robot. This research takes into accounts both illuminance and color. The robot communicates with the server which contains human models, then the system corresponds to individuals. Combining these three systems, the proposed system can effectively control the lighting environment. At last, the feasibility of the proposed system was verified by simulation experiments.

  12. Collaborative Virtual 3D Environment for Internet-Accessible Physics Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bettina Scheucher

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract—Immersive 3D worlds have increasingly raised the interest of researchers and practitioners for various learning and training settings over the last decade. These virtual worlds can provide multiple communication channels between users and improve presence and awareness in the learning process. Consequently virtual 3D environments facilitate collaborative learning and training scenarios. In this paper we focus on the integration of internet-accessible physics experiments (iLabs combined with the TEALsim 3D simulation toolkit in Project Wonderland, Sun's toolkit for creating collaborative 3D virtual worlds. Within such a collaborative environment these tools provide the opportunity for teachers and students to work together as avatars as they control actual equipment, visualize physical phenomenon generated by the experiment, and discuss the results. In particular we will outline the steps of integration, future goals, as well as the value of a collaboration space in Wonderland's virtual world.

  13. Thermal control surfaces on the MSFC LDEF experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilkes, D.R.; Whitaker, A.F.; Zwiener, J.M.; Linton, R.C.; Shular, D.; Peters, P.N.; Gregory, J.C.

    1992-01-01

    There were five Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) experiments on the LDEF. Each of those experiments carried thermal control surfaces either as test samples or as operational surfaces. These materials experienced varying degrees of mechanical and optical damage. Some materials were virtually unchanged by the extended exposure while others suffered extensive degradation. The synergistic effects due to the constituents of the space environment are evident in the diversity of these material changes. The sample complement for the MSFC experiments is described along with results of the continuing analyses efforts

  14. The Intelligent Control System and Experiments for an Unmanned Wave Glider.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Yulei; Wang, Leifeng; Li, Yiming; Li, Ye; Jiang, Quanquan

    2016-01-01

    The control system designing of Unmanned Wave Glider (UWG) is challenging since the control system is weak maneuvering, large time-lag and large disturbance, which is difficult to establish accurate mathematical model. Meanwhile, to complete marine environment monitoring in long time scale and large spatial scale autonomously, UWG asks high requirements of intelligence and reliability. This paper focuses on the "Ocean Rambler" UWG. First, the intelligent control system architecture is designed based on the cerebrum basic function combination zone theory and hierarchic control method. The hardware and software designing of the embedded motion control system are mainly discussed. A motion control system based on rational behavior model of four layers is proposed. Then, combining with the line-of sight method(LOS), a self-adapting PID guidance law is proposed to compensate the steady state error in path following of UWG caused by marine environment disturbance especially current. Based on S-surface control method, an improved S-surface heading controller is proposed to solve the heading control problem of the weak maneuvering carrier under large disturbance. Finally, the simulation experiments were carried out and the UWG completed autonomous path following and marine environment monitoring in sea trials. The simulation experiments and sea trial results prove that the proposed intelligent control system, guidance law, controller have favorable control performance, and the feasibility and reliability of the designed intelligent control system of UWG are verified.

  15. The Intelligent Control System and Experiments for an Unmanned Wave Glider

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Yulei; Wang, Leifeng; Li, Yiming; Li, Ye; Jiang, Quanquan

    2016-01-01

    The control system designing of Unmanned Wave Glider (UWG) is challenging since the control system is weak maneuvering, large time-lag and large disturbance, which is difficult to establish accurate mathematical model. Meanwhile, to complete marine environment monitoring in long time scale and large spatial scale autonomously, UWG asks high requirements of intelligence and reliability. This paper focuses on the “Ocean Rambler” UWG. First, the intelligent control system architecture is designed based on the cerebrum basic function combination zone theory and hierarchic control method. The hardware and software designing of the embedded motion control system are mainly discussed. A motion control system based on rational behavior model of four layers is proposed. Then, combining with the line-of sight method(LOS), a self-adapting PID guidance law is proposed to compensate the steady state error in path following of UWG caused by marine environment disturbance especially current. Based on S-surface control method, an improved S-surface heading controller is proposed to solve the heading control problem of the weak maneuvering carrier under large disturbance. Finally, the simulation experiments were carried out and the UWG completed autonomous path following and marine environment monitoring in sea trials. The simulation experiments and sea trial results prove that the proposed intelligent control system, guidance law, controller have favorable control performance, and the feasibility and reliability of the designed intelligent control system of UWG are verified. PMID:28005956

  16. CONTROL ENVIRONMENT IN KOSOVO PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaqir M. REXHEPI

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The study on how is Internal Control System developed in public institutions is of a special importance for modalities, forms and the manner of the application of relevant strategies for the functioning of internal control environment in public institutions. In this paper, there is treated the existing situation of internal control system environment of public finances and its implementation in public sector. For internal control system environment in public finances to function effectively, there should exist a coherent control environment which includes responsibilities for financial management from managers of Publicly Owned Enterprises and with complete functioning of internal audit, which exists in the function of development to add value. In Kosovo public institutions, this framework is offered by legislation and by institutional mechanism for the implementation of legislation according to these parameters.

  17. Rapid Software Development for Experiment Control at OPAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hathaway, P.V.; Lam, Tony; Franceschini, Ferdi; Hauser, Nick; Rayner, Hugh

    2005-01-01

    Full text: ANSTO is undertaking the parallel development of instrument control and graphical experiment interface software for seven neutron beam instruments at OPAL. Each instrument poses several challenges for a common system solution, including custom detector interfaces, a range of motion and beamline optics schema, and a spectrum of online data reduction requirements. To provide a superior system with the least development effort, the computing team have adopted proven, configurable, server-based control software (SICS)1., a highly Integrated Scientific Experimental Environment (GumTree)2. and industry-standard database management systems. The resulting graphical interfaces allow operation in a familiar experiment domain, with monitoring of data and parameters independent of control system specifics. GumTree presents the experimenter with a consistent interface for experiment management, instrument control and data reduction tasks. The facility instrument scientists can easily reconfigure instruments and add ancillaries. The user community can expect a reduced learning curve for performing each experiment. GumTree can be installed anywhere for pre-experiment familiarisation, postprocessing of acquired data sets, and integration with third party analysis tools. Instrument scientists are seeing faster software development iterations and have a solid basis to prepare for the next suite of instruments. 1. SICS from PSI (lns00.psi.ch). 2. GumTree (gumtree.sourceforge.net), new site: http://gumtree.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

  18. Radiation monitoring in the NPP environment, control of radioactivity in NPP-environment system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Egorov, Yu.A.

    1987-01-01

    Problems of radiation monitoring and control of the NPP-environment system (NPPES) are considered. Radiation control system at the NPP and in the environment provides for the control of the NPP, considered as the source of radioactive releases in the environment and for the environmental radiation climate control. It is shown, that the radiation control of the NPP-environment system must be based on the ecological normalization principles of the NPP environmental impacts. Ecological normalization should be individual for the NPP region of each ecosystem. The necessity to organize and conduct radiation ecological monitoring in the NPP regions is pointed out. Radiation ecological monitoring will provide for both environmental current radiation control and information for mathematical models, used in the NPPES radiation control

  19. Undergraduate reactor control experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edwards, R.M.; Power, M.A.; Bryan, M.

    1992-01-01

    A sequence of reactor and related experiments has been a central element of a senior-level laboratory course at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) for more than 20 yr. A new experiment has been developed where the students program and operate a computer controller that manipulates the speed of a secondary control rod to regulate TRIGA reactor power. Elementary feedback control theory is introduced to explain the experiment, which emphasizes the nonlinear aspect of reactor control where power level changes are equivalent to a change in control loop gain. Digital control of nuclear reactors has become more visible at Penn State with the replacement of the original analog-based TRIGA reactor control console with a modern computer-based digital control console. Several TRIGA reactor dynamics experiments, which comprise half of the three-credit laboratory course, lead to the control experiment finale: (a) digital simulation, (b) control rod calibration, (c) reactor pulsing, (d) reactivity oscillator, and (e) reactor noise

  20. Specimen environments in thermal neutron scattering experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cebula, D.J.

    1980-11-01

    This report is an attempt to collect into one place outline information concerning the techniques used and basic design of sample environment apparatus employed in neutron scattering experiments. Preliminary recommendations for the specimen environment programme of the SNS are presented. The general conclusion reached is that effort should be devoted towards improving reliability and efficiency of operation of specimen environment apparatus and developing systems which are robust and easy to use, rather than achieving performance at the limits of technology. (author)

  1. NEDE: an open-source scripting suite for developing experiments in 3D virtual environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jangraw, David C; Johri, Ansh; Gribetz, Meron; Sajda, Paul

    2014-09-30

    As neuroscientists endeavor to understand the brain's response to ecologically valid scenarios, many are leaving behind hyper-controlled paradigms in favor of more realistic ones. This movement has made the use of 3D rendering software an increasingly compelling option. However, mastering such software and scripting rigorous experiments requires a daunting amount of time and effort. To reduce these startup costs and make virtual environment studies more accessible to researchers, we demonstrate a naturalistic experimental design environment (NEDE) that allows experimenters to present realistic virtual stimuli while still providing tight control over the subject's experience. NEDE is a suite of open-source scripts built on the widely used Unity3D game development software, giving experimenters access to powerful rendering tools while interfacing with eye tracking and EEG, randomizing stimuli, and providing custom task prompts. Researchers using NEDE can present a dynamic 3D virtual environment in which randomized stimulus objects can be placed, allowing subjects to explore in search of these objects. NEDE interfaces with a research-grade eye tracker in real-time to maintain precise timing records and sync with EEG or other recording modalities. Python offers an alternative for experienced programmers who feel comfortable mastering and integrating the various toolboxes available. NEDE combines many of these capabilities with an easy-to-use interface and, through Unity's extensive user base, a much more substantial body of assets and tutorials. Our flexible, open-source experimental design system lowers the barrier to entry for neuroscientists interested in developing experiments in realistic virtual environments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Integrating knowledge and control into hypermedia-based training environments: Experiments with HyperCLIPS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Randall W., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    The issues of knowledge representation and control in hypermedia-based training environments are discussed. The main objective is to integrate the flexible presentation capability of hypermedia with a knowledge-based approach to lesson discourse management. The instructional goals and their associated concepts are represented in a knowledge representation structure called a 'concept network'. Its functional usages are many: it is used to control the navigation through a presentation space, generate tests for student evaluation, and model the student. This architecture was implemented in HyperCLIPS, a hybrid system that creates a bridge between HyperCard, a popular hypertext-like system used for building user interfaces to data bases and other applications, and CLIPS, a highly portable government-owned expert system shell.

  3. Technology Of Controlled-Environment Agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bubenheim, David L.; Bates, Maynard E.

    1995-01-01

    Report discusses controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) for commercial production of organisms, whether plants or animals. Practiced in greenhouses to produce food on nonarable lands. Describes conceptual regenerative system that incorporates biological, physical, and chemical processes to support humans in extraterrestrial environments.

  4. Data link air traffic control and flight deck environments: Experiment in flight crew performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozito, Sandy; Mcgann, Alison; Corker, Kevin

    1993-01-01

    This report describes an experiment undertaken in a full mission simulation environment to investigate the performance impact of, and human/system response to, data-linked Air Traffic Control (ATC) and automated flight deck operations. Subjects were twenty pilots (ten crews) from a major United States air carrier. Crews flew the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator (ACFS), a generic 'glass cockpit' simulator at NASA Ames. The method of data link used was similar to the data link implementation plans for a next-generation aircraft, and included the capability to review ATC messages and directly enter ATC clearance information into the aircraft systems. Each crew flew experimental scenarios, in which data reflecting communication timing, errors and clarifications, and procedures were collected. Results for errors and clarifications revealed an interaction between communication modality (voice v. data link) and communication type (air/ground v. intracrew). Results also revealed that voice crews initiated ATC contact significantly more than data link crews. It was also found that data link crews performed significantly more extraneous activities during the communication task than voice crews. Descriptive data from the use of the review menu indicate the pilot-not-flying accessing the review menu most often, and also suggest diffulty in accessing the target message within the review menu structure. The overall impact of communication modality upon air/ground communication and crew procedures is discussed.

  5. Lead-Free Experiment in a Space Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanche, J. F.; Strickland, S. M.

    2012-01-01

    This Technical Memorandum addresses the Lead-Free Technology Experiment in Space Environment that flew as part of the seventh Materials International Space Station Experiment outside the International Space Station for approximately 18 months. Its intent was to provide data on the performance of lead-free electronics in an actual space environment. Its postflight condition is compared to the preflight condition as well as to the condition of an identical package operating in parallel in the laboratory. Some tin whisker growth was seen on a flight board but the whiskers were few and short. There were no solder joint failures, no tin pest formation, and no significant intermetallic compound formation or growth on either the flight or ground units.

  6. Interaction Control Protocols for Distributed Multi-user Multi-camera Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gareth W Daniel

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available Video-centred communication (e.g., video conferencing, multimedia online learning, traffic monitoring, and surveillance is becoming a customary activity in our lives. The management of interactions in such an environment is a complicated HCI issue. In this paper, we present our study on a collection of interaction control protocols for distributed multiuser multi-camera environments. These protocols facilitate different approaches to managing a user's entitlement for controlling a particular camera. We describe a web-based system that allows multiple users to manipulate multiple cameras in varying remote locations. The system was developed using the Java framework, and all protocols discussed have been incorporated into the system. Experiments were designed and conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these protocols, and to enable the identification of various human factors in a distributed multi-user and multi-camera environment. This work provides an insight into the complexity associated with the interaction management in video-centred communication. It can also serve as a conceptual and experimental framework for further research in this area.

  7. Introduction of sample environment equipment for neutron scattering experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimojo, Yutaka; Ihata, Yoshiaki; Kaneko, Koji; Takeda, Masayasu

    2013-02-01

    Neutron scattering experiments have been frequently performed under variety of sample conditions, such as various temperatures, pressures, magnetic fields and stresses, and those complex conditions to fully utilize superior properties of neutron. To this aim, a number of sample environment equipment, refrigerators, furnaces, pressure cells, superconducting magnets are equipped in JRR-3 to be used for experiments. In this document, all available sample environment equipment in both JRR-3 reactor and guide halls are summarized. We hope this document would help neutron scattering users to perform effective and excellent experiments. (author)

  8. Flexible Access Control for Dynamic Collaborative Environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dekker, M.A.C.

    2009-01-01

    Access control is used in computer systems to control access to confidential data. In this thesis we focus on access control for dynamic collaborative environments where multiple users and systems access and exchange data in an ad hoc manner. In such environments it is difficult to protect

  9. Understanding the Geographic Controls of Hazardous Convective Weather Environments in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, K. A.; Chavas, D. R.

    2017-12-01

    Hazardous Convective Weather (HCW), such as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, poses significant risk to life and property in the United States every year. While these HCW events are small scale, they develop principally within favorable larger-scale environments (i.e., HCW environments). Why these large-scale environments are confined to specific regions, particularly the Eastern United States, is not well understood. This can, in part, be related to a limited fundamental knowledge of how the climate system creates HCW environment, which provides uncertainty in how HCW environments may be altered in a changing climate. Previous research has identified the Gulf of Mexico to the south and elevated terrain upstream as key geographic contributors to the generation of HCW environments over the Eastern United States. This work investigates the relative role of these geographic features through "component denial" experiments in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). In particular, CAM5 simulations where topography is removed (globally and regionally) and/or the Gulf of Mexico is converted to land is compared to a CAM5 control simulation of current climate following the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) protocols. In addition to exploring differences in general characteristics of the large-scale environments amongst the experiments, HCW changes will be explored through a combination of high shear and high Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) environments. Preliminary work suggests that the removal of elevated terrain reduces the inland extent of HCW environments in the United States, but not the existence of these events altogether. This indicates that topography is crucial for inland HCW environments but perhaps not for their existence in general (e.g., near the Gulf of Mexico). This initial work is a crucial first step to building a reduced-complexity framework within CAM5 to quantify how land-ocean contrast and elevated terrain control

  10. Qudi: a modular python suite for experiment control and data processing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Binder, Jan M.; Stark, Alexander; Tomek, Nikolas

    2017-01-01

    Qudi is a general, modular, multi-operating system suite written in Python 3 for controlling laboratory experiments. It provides a structured environment by separating functionality into hardware abstraction, experiment logic and user interface layers. The core feature set comprises a graphical...... user interface, live data visualization, distributed execution over networks, rapid prototyping via Jupyter notebooks, configuration management, and data recording. Currently, the included modules are focused on confocal microscopy, quantum optics and quantum information experiments, but an expansion...

  11. Controlled Environment Specimen Transfer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damsgaard, Christian Danvad; Zandbergen, Henny W.; Hansen, Thomas Willum

    2014-01-01

    an environmental transmission electron microscope to an in situ X-ray diffractometer through a dedicated transmission electron microscope specimen transfer holder, capable of sealing the specimen in a gaseous environment at elevated temperatures. Two catalyst material systems have been investigated; Cu/ZnO/Al2O3...... transferred in a reactive environment to the environmental transmission electron microscope where further analysis on the local scale were conducted. The Co/Al2O3 catalyst was reduced in the environmental microscope and successfully kept reduced outside the microscope in a reactive environment. The in situ......Specimen transfer under controlled environment conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and gas composition, is necessary to conduct successive complementary in situ characterization of materials sensitive to ambient conditions. The in situ transfer concept is introduced by linking...

  12. Framework for Virtual Cognitive Experiment in Virtual Geographic Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fan Zhang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Virtual Geographic Environment Cognition is the attempt to understand the human cognition of surface features, geographic processes, and human behaviour, as well as their relationships in the real world. From the perspective of human cognition behaviour analysis and simulation, previous work in Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs has focused mostly on representing and simulating the real world to create an ‘interpretive’ virtual world and improve an individual’s active cognition. In terms of reactive cognition, building a user ‘evaluative’ environment in a complex virtual experiment is a necessary yet challenging task. This paper discusses the outlook of VGEs and proposes a framework for virtual cognitive experiments. The framework not only employs immersive virtual environment technology to create a realistic virtual world but also involves a responsive mechanism to record the user’s cognitive activities during the experiment. Based on the framework, this paper presents two potential implementation methods: first, training a deep learning model with several hundred thousand street view images scored by online volunteers, with further analysis of which visual factors produce a sense of safety for the individual, and second, creating an immersive virtual environment and Electroencephalogram (EEG-based experimental paradigm to both record and analyse the brain activity of a user and explore what type of virtual environment is more suitable and comfortable. Finally, we present some preliminary findings based on the first method.

  13. Simulation experience enhances physical therapist student confidence in managing a patient in the critical care environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohtake, Patricia J; Lazarus, Marcilene; Schillo, Rebecca; Rosen, Michael

    2013-02-01

    Rehabilitation of patients in critical care environments improves functional outcomes. This finding has led to increased implementation of intensive care unit (ICU) rehabilitation programs, including early mobility, and an associated increased demand for physical therapists practicing in ICUs. Unfortunately, many physical therapists report being inadequately prepared to work in this high-risk environment. Simulation provides focused, deliberate practice in safe, controlled learning environments and may be a method to initiate academic preparation of physical therapists for ICU practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of participation in simulation-based management of a patient with critical illness in an ICU setting on levels of confidence and satisfaction in physical therapist students. A one-group, pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design was used. Physical therapist students (N=43) participated in a critical care simulation experience requiring technical (assessing bed mobility and pulmonary status), behavioral (patient and interprofessional communication), and cognitive (recognizing a patient status change and initiating appropriate responses) skill performance. Student confidence and satisfaction were surveyed before and after the simulation experience. Students' confidence in their technical, behavioral, and cognitive skill performance increased from "somewhat confident" to "confident" following the critical care simulation experience. Student satisfaction was highly positive, with strong agreement the simulation experience was valuable, reinforced course content, and was a useful educational tool. Limitations of the study were the small sample from one university and a control group was not included. Incorporating a simulated, interprofessional critical care experience into a required clinical course improved physical therapist student confidence in technical, behavioral, and cognitive performance measures and was associated with high

  14. Modern control room design experience and speculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, J.E.

    1993-01-01

    Can operators trained to use conventional control panels readily adapt to CRT based control rooms? Does automation make the design of good man-machine interfaces more or less difficult? In a conventional, hard-wired control room is the operator's peripheral vision always an asset and how can one do better in a CRT based control room? Are Expert System assisted man-machine interfaces a boon or a bust? This paper explores these questions in the light of actual experience with advanced power plant control environments. This paper discusses how automation has in fact simplified the problem of ensuring that the operator has at all times a clear understanding of the plant state. The author contends that conventional hard-wired control rooms are very poor at providing the operator with a good overview of the plant status particularly under startup, or upset conditions and that CRT-based control rooms offer an opportunity for improvement. Experience with some early attempts at this are discussed together with some interesting proposals from other authors. Finally the paper discusses the experience to date with expert system assisted man-machine interfaces. Although promising for the future progress has been slow. The amount of knowledge research required is often formidable and consequently costly. Often when an adequate knowledge base is finally acquired it turns out to be better to use it to increase the level of automation and thus simplify the operator's task. The risks are not any greater and automation offers more consistent operation. It is important also to carefully distinguish between expert system assisted display selection and expert system operator guidance. The first is intended to help the operator in his quest for information. The second attempts to guide the operator actions. The good and the bad points of each of these approaches is discussed

  15. Visual operations control in administrative environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carson, M.L.; Levine, L.O.

    1995-03-01

    When asked what comes to mind when they think of ``controlling work`` in the office, people may respond with ``overbearing boss,`` ``no autonomy,`` or ``Theory X management.`` The idea of controlling work in white collar or administrative environments can have a negative connotation. However, office life is often chaotic and miserable precisely because the work processes are out of control, and managers must spend their time looking over people`s shoulders and fighting fires. While management styles and structures vary, the need for control of work processes does not. Workers in many environments are being reorganized into self-managed work teams. These teams are expected to manage their own work through increased autonomy and empowerment. However, even empowered work teams must manage their work processes because of process variation. The amount of incoming jobs vary with both expected (seasonal) and unexpected demand. The mixture of job types vary over time, changing the need for certain skills or knowledge. And illness and turnover affect the availability of workers with needed skills and knowledge. Clearly, there is still a need to control work, whether the authority for controlling work is vested in one person or many. Visual control concepts provide simple, inexpensive, and flexible mechanisms for managing processes in work teams and continuous improvement administrative environments.

  16. Learner-Controlled Scaffolding Linked to Open-Ended Problems in a Digital Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edson, Alden Jack

    2017-01-01

    This exploratory study reports on how students activated learner-controlled scaffolding and navigated through sequences of connected problems in a digital learning environment. A design experiment was completed to (re)design, iteratively develop, test, and evaluate a digital version of an instructional unit focusing on binomial distributions and…

  17. Capacitor requirements for controlled thermonuclear experiments and reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boicourt, G.P.; Hoffman, P.S.

    1975-01-01

    Future controlled thermonuclear experiments as well as controlled thermonuclear reactors will require substantial numbers of capacitors. The demands on these units are likely to be quite severe and quite different from the normal demands placed on either present energy storage capacitors or present power factor correction capacitors. It is unlikely that these two types will suffice for all necessary Controlled Thermonuclear Research (CTR) applications. The types of capacitors required for the various CTR operating conditions are enumerated. Factors that influence the life, cost and operating abilities of these types of capacitors are discussed. The problems of capacitors in a radiation environment are considered. Areas are defined where future research is needed. Some directions that this research should take are suggested. (U.S.)

  18. Capacitor requirements for controlled thermonuclear experiments and reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boicourt, G.P.; Hoffman, P.S.

    1975-01-01

    Future controlled thermonuclear experiments as well as controlled thermonuclear reactors will require substantial numbers of capacitors. The demands on these units are likely to be quite severe and quite different from the normal demands placed on either present energy storage capacitors or present power factor correction capacitors. It is unlikely that these two types will suffice for all necessary Controlled Thermonuclear Research (CTR) applications. The types of capacitors required for the various CTR operating conditions are enumerated. Factors that influence the life, cost and operating abilities of these types of capacitors are discussed. The problems of capacitors in a radiation environment are considered. Areas are defined where future research is needed. Some directions that this research should take are suggested

  19. Integrated control algorithms for plant environment in greenhouse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Kanyu; Deng, Lujuan; Gong, Youmin; Wang, Shengxue

    2003-09-01

    In this paper a survey of plant environment control in artificial greenhouse was put forward for discussing the future development. Firstly, plant environment control started with the closed loop control of air temperature in greenhouse. With the emergence of higher property computer, the adaptive control algorithm and system identification were integrated into the control system. As adaptation control is more depending on observation of variables by sensors and yet many variables are unobservable or difficult to observe, especially for observation of crop growth status, so model-based control algorithm were developed. In order to evade modeling difficulty, one method is predigesting the models and the other method is utilizing fuzzy logic and neural network technology that realize the models by the black box and gray box theory. Studies on control method of plant environment in greenhouse by means of expert system (ES) and artificial intelligence (AI) have been initiated and developed. Nowadays, the research of greenhouse environment control focus on energy saving, optimal economic profit, enviornment protection and continualy develop.

  20. Decoherence control in different environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paavola, J.; Maniscalco, S.

    2010-01-01

    We investigate two techniques for controlling decoherence, focusing on the crucial role played by the environmental spectrum. We show how environments with different spectra lead to very different dynamical behaviors. Our study clearly proves that such differences must be taken into account when designing decoherence control schemes. The two techniques we consider are reservoir engineering and quantum Zeno control. We focus on a quantum harmonic oscillator initially prepared in a nonclassical state and derive analytically its non-Markovian dynamics in the presence of different bosonic thermal environments. On the one hand, we show how, by modifying the spectrum of the environment, it is possible to prolong or reduce the life of a Schroedinger cat state. On the other hand, we study the effect of nonselective energy measurements on the degradation of quantumness of initial Fock states. In this latter case, we see that the crossover between quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects, discussed by Maniscalco et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 130402 (2006)], is highly sensitive to the details of the spectrum. In particular, for certain types of spectra, even very small variations of the system frequency may cause a measurement-induced acceleration of decoherence rather than its inhibition.

  1. Qudi: A modular python suite for experiment control and data processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan M. Binder

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Qudi is a general, modular, multi-operating system suite written in Python 3 for controlling laboratory experiments. It provides a structured environment by separating functionality into hardware abstraction, experiment logic and user interface layers. The core feature set comprises a graphical user interface, live data visualization, distributed execution over networks, rapid prototyping via Jupyter notebooks, configuration management, and data recording. Currently, the included modules are focused on confocal microscopy, quantum optics and quantum information experiments, but an expansion into other fields is possible and encouraged.

  2. DOOCS environment for FPGA-based cavity control system and control algorithms development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pucyk, P.; Koprek, W.; Kaleta, P.; Szewinski, J.; Pozniak, K.T.; Czarski, T.; Romaniuk, R.S.

    2005-01-01

    The paper describes the concept and realization of the DOOCS control software for FPGAbased TESLA cavity controller and simulator (SIMCON). It bases on universal software components, created for laboratory purposes and used in MATLAB based control environment. These modules have been recently adapted to the DOOCS environment to ensure a unified software to hardware communication model. The presented solution can be also used as a general platform for control algorithms development. The proposed interfaces between MATLAB and DOOCS modules allow to check the developed algorithm in the operation environment before implementation in the FPGA. As the examples two systems have been presented. (orig.)

  3. An operating environment for control systems on transputer networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tillema, H.G.; Schoute, Albert L.; Wijbrans, K.C.J.; Wijbrans, K.C.J.

    1991-01-01

    The article describes an operating environment for control systems. The environment contains the basic layers of a distributed operating system. The design of this operating environment is based on the requirements demanded by controllers which can be found in complex control systems. Due to the

  4. A review of human thermal comfort experiments in controlled and semi-controlled environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Craenendonck, Van Stijn; Lauriks, Leen; Vuye, Cedric; Kampen, Jarl

    2018-01-01

    There are three main methods to improve thermal comfort in existing buildings: modeling, experiments and measurements. Regarding experiments, no standardized procedure exists. This article provides an answer to the question: “What is the most common practice for human thermal comfort experiments in

  5. Parental Low Self-Control, Family Environments, and Juvenile Delinquency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meldrum, Ryan C; Connolly, George M; Flexon, Jamie; Guerette, Rob T

    2016-10-01

    Research consistently finds that low self-control is significantly correlated with delinquency. Only recently, however, have researchers started to examine associations between parental low self-control, family environments, and child antisocial behavior. Adding to this emerging area of research, the current study examines associations between parental low self-control, aspects of the family environment, and officially recoded juvenile delinquency among a sample (N = 101) of juveniles processed through a juvenile justice assessment facility located in the Southeastern United States. Furthermore, it considers whether aspects of family environments, particularly family cohesion, family conflict, and parental efficacy, mediate the influence of parental low self-control on delinquency. The results of a series of analyses indicate that parental low self-control is correlated with various aspects of family environments and juvenile delinquency, and that the association between parental low self-control and juvenile delinquency is mediated by family environments. Supplementary analyses also suggest that the association between parental low self-control and the family environment may be reciprocal. © The Author(s) 2015.

  6. ISS-studio: a prototype for a user-friendly tool for designing interactive experiments in problem solving environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhao, Z.; van Albada, G.D.; Tirado-Ramos, A.; Zajac, K.; Sloot, P.M.A.

    2003-01-01

    In Problem Solving Environments (PSE), Interactive Simulation Systems (ISS) are an important interactive mode for studying complex scientific problems. But efficient and user-friendly tools for designing interactive experiments lack in many PSEs. Mechanisms, such as data flow and control flow

  7. MAPPING GNSS RESTRICTED ENVIRONMENTS WITH A DRONE TANDEM AND INDIRECT POSITION CONTROL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Cledat

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The problem of autonomously mapping highly cluttered environments, such as urban and natural canyons, is intractable with the current UAV technology. The reason lies in the absence or unreliability of GNSS signals due to partial sky occlusion or multi-path effects. High quality carrier-phase observations are also required in efficient mapping paradigms, such as Assisted Aerial Triangulation, to achieve high ground accuracy without the need of dense networks of ground control points. In this work we consider a drone tandem in which the first drone flies outside the canyon, where GNSS constellation is ideal, visually tracks the second drone and provides an indirect position control for it. This enables both autonomous guidance and accurate mapping of GNSS restricted environments without the need of ground control points. We address the technical feasibility of this concept considering preliminary real-world experiments in comparable conditions and we perform a mapping accuracy prediction based on a simulation scenario.

  8. LabVIEW-based control and data acquisition system for cathodoluminescence experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bok, J; Schauer, P

    2011-11-01

    Computer automation of cathodoluminescence (CL) experiments using equipment developed in our laboratory is described. The equipment provides various experiments for CL efficiency, CL spectra, and CL time response studies. The automation was realized utilizing the graphical programming environment LabVIEW. The developed application software with procedures for equipment control and data acquisition during various CL experiments is presented. As the measured CL data are distorted by technical limitations of the equipment, such as equipment spectral sensitivity and time response, data correction algorithms were incorporated into the procedures. Some examples of measured data corrections are presented. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

  9. Web experience effects in a virtual shopping interaction environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lorenzo-Romero, C.; Constantinides, Efthymios; Gomez-Borja, M.A.; Lin, A.; Foster, J.; Scifleet, P.

    2013-01-01

    The objective of this chapter is to contextualize the concepts of web atmospherics and web experience in the particular case of a shopping situation in the Internet environment. Based on a broader concept of user experience, the chapter identifies the main influencers of consumer behaviour in the

  10. Indian deepsea environment experiment (index): Achievements and applications

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sharma, R.

    impact experiment. Evaluation of impact of simulated disturbance in the benthic environment shows vertical mixing of sediment, lateral distribution of particles, changes in geochemical and biochemical conditions as well as reduction in biomass...

  11. Engineering-scale dust control experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winberg, M.R.; Pawelko, R.J.; Jacobs, N.C.; Thompson, D.N.

    1990-12-01

    This report presents the results of engineering scale dust-control experiments relating to contamination control during handling of transuranic waste. These experiments focused on controlling dust during retrieval operations of buried waste where waste and soil are intimately mixed. Sources of dust generation during retrieval operations include digging, dumping, and vehicle traffic. Because contaminants are expected to attach to soil particles and move with the generated dust, control of the dust spread may be the key to contamination control. Dust control techniques examined in these experiments include the use of misting systems, soil fixatives, and dust suppression agents. The Dryfog Ultrasonic Misting Head, manufactured by Sonics, Incorporated, and ENTAC, an organic resin derived from tree sap manufactured by ENTAC Corporation, were tested. The results of the experiments include product performance and recommended application methods. 19 figs., 7 refs., 6 tabs

  12. Development of a Novel Motor Imagery Control Technique and Application in a Gaming Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ting; Zhang, Jinhua; Xue, Tao; Wang, Baozeng

    2017-01-01

    We present a methodology for a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) system, with the recognition of motor imagery (MI) based on EEG and blink EOG signals. We tested the BCI system in a 3D Tetris and an analogous 2D game playing environment. To enhance player's BCI control ability, the study focused on feature extraction from EEG and control strategy supporting Game-BCI system operation. We compared the numerical differences between spatial features extracted with common spatial pattern (CSP) and the proposed multifeature extraction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of 3D game environment at enhancing player's event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) production ability, we set the 2D Screen Game as the comparison experiment. According to a series of statistical results, the group performing MI in the 3D Tetris environment showed more significant improvements in generating MI-associated ERD/ERS. Analysis results of game-score indicated that the players' scores presented an obvious uptrend in 3D Tetris environment but did not show an obvious downward trend in 2D Screen Game. It suggested that the immersive and rich-control environment for MI would improve the associated mental imagery and enhance MI-based BCI skills.

  13. Development of a Novel Motor Imagery Control Technique and Application in a Gaming Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a methodology for a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI system, with the recognition of motor imagery (MI based on EEG and blink EOG signals. We tested the BCI system in a 3D Tetris and an analogous 2D game playing environment. To enhance player’s BCI control ability, the study focused on feature extraction from EEG and control strategy supporting Game-BCI system operation. We compared the numerical differences between spatial features extracted with common spatial pattern (CSP and the proposed multifeature extraction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of 3D game environment at enhancing player’s event-related desynchronization (ERD and event-related synchronization (ERS production ability, we set the 2D Screen Game as the comparison experiment. According to a series of statistical results, the group performing MI in the 3D Tetris environment showed more significant improvements in generating MI-associated ERD/ERS. Analysis results of game-score indicated that the players’ scores presented an obvious uptrend in 3D Tetris environment but did not show an obvious downward trend in 2D Screen Game. It suggested that the immersive and rich-control environment for MI would improve the associated mental imagery and enhance MI-based BCI skills.

  14. Tango for experiment control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, J.; Claustre, L.; Petitdemange, S.; Svensson, O.; Götz, A.; Coutinho, T.; Klora, J.; Picca, F.; Ounsy, M.; Buteau, A.

    2012-01-01

    The Tango control system framework allows you to control an accelerator complex as well as single equipment. The framework contains the communication bus with the standard communication modes (synchronous, asynchronous, event driven) as well as the basic hardware access modules, GUI tools and development kits, bindings to commercial products (LabView, Matlab, IgorPro) and services (administration, archiving, access control) to set up a control system. Tango was mainly developed by several synchrotron light sources that have to support not only the accelerator complex but also a lot of experimental end stations. For synchrotron experiments we have to control the whole process from basic hardware access over data taking to data analysis. This paper describes in the first part the special features of Tango allowing flexible experiment control. The dynamic configuration, the rapid hardware interface development and the sequencing and scanning framework are some examples. The second part gives an overview of some packages developed in the Tango community for experiment control: A HKL library for diffraction computation and diffractometer control, a library to control 2D detectors and a data analysis workbench with workflow engine for on-line and off-line data analysis. These packages are not part of Tango and can be used with other control systems. (author)

  15. Experiences in messaging middle-ware for high-level control applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wanga, N.; Shasharina, S.; Matykiewicz, J.; Rooparani Pundaleeka

    2012-01-01

    Existing high-level applications in accelerator control and modeling systems leverage many different languages, tools and frameworks that do not inter-operate with one another. As a result, the accelerator control community is moving toward the proven Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach to address the inter-operability challenges among heterogeneous high-level application modules. Such SOA approach enables developers to package various control subsystems and activities into 'services' with well-defined 'interfaces' and make leveraging heterogeneous high-level applications via flexible composition possible. Examples of such applications include presentation panel clients based on Control System Studio (CSS) and middle-layer applications such as model/data servers. This paper presents our experiences in developing a demonstrative high-level application environment using emerging messaging middle-ware standards. In particular, we utilize new features in EPICS v4 and other emerging standards such as Data Distribution Service (DDS) and Extensible Type Interface by the Object Management Group. We first briefly review examples we developed previously. We then present our current effort in integrating DDS into such a SOA environment for control systems. Specifically, we illustrate how we are integrating DDS into CSS and develop a Python DDS mapping. (authors)

  16. International lighting in controlled environments workshop: Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1994-12-31

    Lighting is a central and critical aspect of control in environmental research for plant research and is gaining recognition as a significant factor to control carefully for animal and human research. Thus this workshop was convened to reevaluate the technology that is available today and to work toward developing guidelines for the most effective use of lighting in controlled environments with emphasis on lighting for plants but also to initiate interest in the development of improved guidelines for human and animal research. There are a number of established guidelines for lighting in human and animal environments. Development of new lighting guidelines is necessary for three reasons: (1) recent scientific discoveries show that in addition to supporting the sensation of vision, light has profound nonvisual biological and behavioral effects in both animals and humans; (2) federal regulations (EPACT 1992) are requiring all indoor environments to become more energy efficient with a specific emphasis on energy conservation in lighting; (3) lighting engineers and manufacturers have developed a wealth of new light sources and lighting products that can be applied in animal and human environments. The workshop was aimed at bringing together plant scientists and physical scientists to interact in the discussions. It involved participation of biological scientists involved in studying mechanisms of light reactions and those involved in utilizing lighting for production of plants and maintenance of animals in controlled environments. It included participation of physical scientists from universities and government involved in research as well as those from industry involved in producing lamps and in construction of controlled growth facilities. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

  17. ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL SKILLS OF STUDENTS IN IT-BASED CONTROLLED EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF A UNIVERSITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evgeiy Nikolaevich Boyarov

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The article looks at the problem of estimating professional skills of students, the process of their building and assessing their level in IT-based controlled educational environment of a university. The author presents research findings of professional skills level of future educational professionals in the field of Life Safety[1] based on their academic results.Goal: to develop and show by experiments efficiency of building professional skills of students in IT-based controlled educational environment of a university.Results: increasing the level of professional skills in IT-based controlled educational environment of a university.Scope of application of results: field of higher professional education.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-7-1[1] Life Safety or Fundamentals of Health and Safety is a secondary school subject, which involves teaching basic rules of how to act in dangerous situations in everyday life (natural disasters, fires, terrorist attacks, etc., provide first aid, etc.

  18. Practical Applications and Experiences in K-20 Blended Learning Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kyei-Blankson, Lydia, Ed.; Ntuli, Esther, Ed.

    2014-01-01

    Learning environments continue to change considerably and is no longer confined to the face-to-face classroom setting. As learning options have evolved, educators must adopt a variety of pedagogical strategies and innovative technologies to enable learning. "Practical Applications and Experiences in K-20 Blended Learning Environments"…

  19. Robot motion control in mobile environment

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Iliya V Miroshnik; HUANG Xian-lin(黄显林); HE Jie(贺杰)

    2003-01-01

    With the problem of robot motion control in dynamic environment represented by mobile obstacles,working pieces and external mechanisms considered, a relevant control actions design procedure has been pro-posed to provide coordination of robot motions with respect to the moving external objects so that an extension ofrobot spatial motion techniques and active robotic strategies based on approaches of nonlinear control theory canbe achieved.

  20. Control of wheeled mobile robot in restricted environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Mohammed A. H.; En, Chang Yong

    2018-03-01

    This paper presents a simulation and practical control system for wheeled mobile robot in restricted environment. A wheeled mobile robot with 3 wheels is fabricated and controlled by proportional derivative active force control (PD-AFC) to move in a pre-planned restricted environment to maintain the tracking errors at zero level. A control system with two loops, outer by PD controller and inner loop by Active Force Control, are designed to control the wheeled mobile robot. Fuzzy logic controller is implemented in the Active force Control to estimate the inertia matrix that will be used to calculate the actual torque applied on the wheeled mobile robot. The mobile robot is tested in two different trajectories, namely are circular and straight path. The actual path and desired path are compared.

  1. How Nurses Experience Their Work as a Learning Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Skår, Randi

    2010-01-01

    This article explores and illuminates the meaning of nurses’ experiences with their work as a learning environment. A qualitative hermeneutic approach guided the research process and the analysis and interpretation of the transcribed interview-texts of eleven graduate nurses. Three core themes emerged from these informants’ descriptions of their work as a learning environment: ‘participation in the work community’, ‘to engage in interpersonal relations’ and ‘accessing important...

  2. Internal control in an EDI environment.

    OpenAIRE

    Bae, Dal Hyeoung

    1991-01-01

    Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. Electronic Data Interchange(EDI) is the electronic transmission of standard business documents in machine-readable format between parent companies and respective trading partners. As the use of EDI has grown, there have been the associated risks due to an uncontrolled environment. Accordingly, the necessity for effective internal controls in an EDI environment is on the rise. This thesis evaluates and analyzes the feasi...

  3. A development environment for the SSC control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murray, Doug; Martinsen, Garth; Wang, Judy

    1994-01-01

    The SSC is developing a design environment for control system development within the context of EPICS. The environment is aimed at developers of applications using the EPICS Input/Output Controller (IOC). The unique aspect of this effort is our emphasis on providing a simple and intuitive development environment compared with tools currently available. Our most important goal in this effort has been to hide the complexity of EPICS IOC development from the developers. This paper describes two tools which are under development; The Function Block Editor (FBE) and the State Machine Editor (SME). The FBE provides a visual editing environment for graphically describing control processes as a set of related functional blocks. The configuration of functional blocks is then translated into IOC records and executed. SME allows the user to visually construct a sequence using a notation we are modeling after Grafcet [1]. State machines are translated into EPICS State Notation Language programs and executed. Future extensions will be described. ((orig.))

  4. Effective radiological contamination control and monitoring techniques in high alpha environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funke, Kevin C

    2003-02-01

    In the decommissioning of a highly contaminated alpha environment, such as the one at Hanford's 233-S Plutonium Concentration Facility, one of the key elements of a successful radiological control program is an integrated safety approach. This approach begins with the job-planning phase where the scope of the work is described. This is followed by a brainstorming session involving engineering and craft to identify how to perform the work in a logical sequence of events. Once the brainstorming session is over, a Job Hazard Analysis is performed to identify any potential problems. Mockups are utilized to enable the craft to get hands on experience and provide feedback and ideas to make the job run smoother. Ideas and experience gained during mockups are incorporated into the task instruction. To assure appropriate data are used in planning and executing the job, our principal evaluation tools included lapel and workplace air sampling, plus continuous air monitors and frequent surveys to effectively monitor job progress. In this highly contaminated alpha environment, with contamination levels ranging from 0.3 Bq cm-2 to approximately 100,000 Bq cm-2 (2,000 dpm per 100 cm2 to approximately 600 million dpm per 100 cm2), with average working levels of 1,600-3,200 Bq cm-2 (10-20 million dpm per 100 cm2) without concomitant ambient radiation levels, control of the spread of contamination is key to keeping airborne levels As Low As Reasonably Achievable.

  5. Microcontroller-based Feedback Control Laboratory Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiu Choi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available this paper is a result of the implementation of the recommendations on enhancing hands-on experience of control engineering education using single chip, small scale computers such as microcontrollers. A set of microcontroller-based feedback control experiments was developed for the Electrical Engineering curriculum at the University of North Florida. These experiments provided hands-on techniques that students can utilize in the development of complete solutions for a number of servo control problems. Significant effort was devoted to software development of feedback controllers and the associated signal conditioning circuits interfacing between the microcontroller and the physical plant. These experiments have stimulated the interest of our students in control engineering.

  6. Optimising the Blended Learning Environment: The Arab Open University Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamdi, Tahrir; Abu Qudais, Mohammed

    2018-01-01

    This paper will offer some insights into possible ways to optimise the blended learning environment based on experience with this modality of teaching at Arab Open University/Jordan branch and also by reflecting upon the results of several meta-analytical studies, which have shown blended learning environments to be more effective than their face…

  7. Dual Axis Controller for Extreme Environments, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Dual Axis Controller for Extreme Environments (DACEE) addresses a critical need of NASA's future exploration plans to investigate extreme environments within our...

  8. The physics analysis environment of the ZEUS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauerdick, L.A.T.; Derugin, O.; Gilkinson, D.; Kasemann, M.; Manczak, O.

    1995-12-01

    The ZEUS Experiment has over the last three years developed its own model of the central computing environment for physics analysis. This model has been designed to provide ZEUS physicists with powerful and user friendly tools for data analysis as well as to be truly scalable and open. (orig.)

  9. Temperature Control Diagnostics for Sample Environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santodonato, Louis J.; Walker, Lakeisha M.H.; Church, Andrew J.; Redmon, Christopher Mckenzie

    2010-01-01

    In a scientific laboratory setting, standard equipment such as cryocoolers are often used as part of a custom sample environment system designed to regulate temperature over a wide range. The end user may be more concerned with precise sample temperature control than with base temperature. But cryogenic systems tend to be specified mainly in terms of cooling capacity and base temperature. Technical staff at scientific user facilities (and perhaps elsewhere) often wonder how to best specify and evaluate temperature control capabilities. Here we describe test methods and give results obtained at a user facility that operates a large sample environment inventory. Although this inventory includes a wide variety of temperature, pressure, and magnetic field devices, the present work focuses on cryocooler-based systems.

  10. Public participation in wilderness and backcountry litter control: a review of research and management experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert M. Muth; Roger N. Clark

    1978-01-01

    This paper describes the application of the Incentive System for Litter Control to wilderness and backcountry environments. Based on research, observation, and management experience, a set of procedures was developed and is presented here. Additional management considerations are discussed.

  11. A Java based environment to control and monitor distributed processing systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Legrand, I.C.

    1997-01-01

    Distributed processing systems are considered to solve the challenging requirements of triggering and data acquisition systems for future HEP experiments. The aim of this work is to present a software environment to control and monitor large scale parallel processing systems based on a distributed client-server approach developed in Java. One server task may control several processing nodes, switching elements or controllers for different sub-systems. Servers are designed as multi-thread applications for efficient communications with other objects. Servers communicate between themselves by using Remote Method Invocation (RMI) in a peer-to-peer mechanism. This distributed server layer has to provide a dynamic and transparent access from any client to all the resources in the system. The graphical user interface programs, which are platform independent, may be transferred to any client via the http protocol. In this scheme the control and monitor tasks are distributed among servers and network controls the flow of information among servers and clients providing a flexible mechanism for monitoring and controlling large heterogenous distributed systems. (author)

  12. Experiment-Based Teaching in Advanced Control Engineering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Precup, R.-E.; Preitl, S.; Radac, M.-B.; Petriu, E. M.; Dragos, C.-A.; Tar, J. K.

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses an experiment-based approach to teaching an advanced control engineering syllabus involving controlled plant analysis and modeling, control structures and algorithms, real-time laboratory experiments, and their assessment. These experiments are structured around the representative case of the longitudinal slip control of an…

  13. Sense of control under uncertainty depends on people's childhood environment: a life history theory approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mittal, Chiraag; Griskevicius, Vladas

    2014-10-01

    Past research found that environmental uncertainty leads people to behave differently depending on their childhood environment. For example, economic uncertainty leads people from poor childhoods to become more impulsive while leading people from wealthy childhoods to become less impulsive. Drawing on life history theory, we examine the psychological mechanism driving such diverging responses to uncertainty. Five experiments show that uncertainty alters people's sense of control over the environment. Exposure to uncertainty led people from poorer childhoods to have a significantly lower sense of control than those from wealthier childhoods. In addition, perceptions of control statistically mediated the effect of uncertainty on impulsive behavior. These studies contribute by demonstrating that sense of control is a psychological driver of behaviors associated with fast and slow life history strategies. We discuss the implications of this for theory and future research, including that environmental uncertainty might lead people who grew up poor to quit challenging tasks sooner than people who grew up wealthy. 2014 APA, all rights reserved

  14. Performance of active vibration control technology: the ACTEX flight experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nye, T. W.; Manning, R. A.; Qassim, K.

    1999-12-01

    This paper discusses the development and results of two intelligent structures space-flight experiments, each of which could affect architecture designs of future spacecraft. The first, the advanced controls technology experiment I (ACTEX I), is a variable stiffness tripod structure riding as a secondary payload on a classified spacecraft. It has been operating well past its expected life since becoming operational in 1996. Over 60 on-orbit experiments have been run on the ACTEX I flight experiment. These experiments form the basis for in-space controller design problems and for concluding lifetime/reliability data on the active control components. Transfer functions taken during the life of ACTEX I have shown consistent predictability and stability in structural behavior, including consistency with those measurements taken on the ground prior to a three year storage period and the launch event. ACTEX I can change its modal characteristics by employing its dynamic change mechanism that varies preloads in portions of its structure. Active control experiments have demonstrated maximum vibration reductions of 29 dB and 16 dB in the first two variable modes of the system, while operating over a remarkable on-orbit temperature range of -80 °C to 129 °C. The second experiment, ACTEX II, was successfully designed, ground-tested, and integrated on an experimental Department of Defense satellite prior to its loss during a launch vehicle failure in 1995. ACTEX II also had variable modal behavior by virtue of a two-axis gimbal and added challenges of structural flexibility by being a large deployable appendage. Although the loss of ACTEX II did not provide space environment experience, ground testing resulted in space qualifying the hardware and demonstrated 21 dB, 14 dB, and 8 dB reductions in amplitude of the first three primary structural modes. ACTEX II could use either active and/or passive techniques to affect vibration suppression. Both experiments trailblazed

  15. Modeling and control for closed environment plant production systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleisher, David H.; Ting, K. C.; Janes, H. W. (Principal Investigator)

    2002-01-01

    A computer program was developed to study multiple crop production and control in controlled environment plant production systems. The program simulates crop growth and development under nominal and off-nominal environments. Time-series crop models for wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycine max), and white potato (Solanum tuberosum) are integrated with a model-based predictive controller. The controller evaluates and compensates for effects of environmental disturbances on crop production scheduling. The crop models consist of a set of nonlinear polynomial equations, six for each crop, developed using multivariate polynomial regression (MPR). Simulated data from DSSAT crop models, previously modified for crop production in controlled environments with hydroponics under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, were used for the MPR fitting. The model-based predictive controller adjusts light intensity, air temperature, and carbon dioxide concentration set points in response to environmental perturbations. Control signals are determined from minimization of a cost function, which is based on the weighted control effort and squared-error between the system response and desired reference signal.

  16. Control rod experiments in Racine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stanculescu, A.; Humbert, G.

    1981-09-01

    A survey of the control-rod experiments planned within the joint CEA/CNEN-DeBeNe critical experiment RACINE is given. The applicability to both heterogeneous and homogeneous large power LMFBR-cores is discussed. Finally, the most significant results of the provisional design calculations performed on behalf of the RACINE control-rod programme are presented

  17. Game-based training environment for nuclear plant control room

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hung Tamin; Sun Tienlung; Yang Chihwei; Yang Lichen; Cheng Tsungchieh; Wang Jyhgang

    2011-01-01

    Nuclear power plant's safety is very important problem. In this very conscientious environment if operator has a little mistake, they may threaten with many people influence their safety. Therefore, operating training of control room is very important. However, the operator training is in limited space and time. Each operator must go to simulative control room do some training. If we can let each trainee having more time to do training and does not go to simulative control room. It may have some advantages for trainee. Moreover, in the traditional training ways, each operator may through the video, teaching manual or through the experienced instructor to learn the knowledge. This training way may let operator feel bored and stressful. So, in this paper aims, we hope utilizing virtual reality technology developing a game-based virtual training environment of control room. Finally, we will use presence questionnaire evaluating realism and feasibility of our virtual training environment. Expecting this initial concept of game-based virtual training environment can attract trainees having more learning motivation to do training in off-hour. (author)

  18. Employee quality, monitoring environment and internal control

    OpenAIRE

    Chunli Liu; Bin Lin; Wei Shu

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the effect of internal control employees (ICEs) on internal control quality. Using special survey data from Chinese listed firms, we find that ICE quality has a significant positive influence on internal control quality. We examine the effect of monitoring on this result and find that the effect is more pronounced for firms with strict monitoring environments, especially when the firms implement the Chinese internal control regulation system (CSOX), have higher institutional ow...

  19. Sensorimotor body-environment interaction serves to regulate emotional experience and exploratory behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Dobricki

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Almost all living species regularly explore environments that they experience as pleasant, aversive, arousing or frightening. We postulate that such exploratory behavior and emotional experience both are regulated based on the interdependent perception of one’s body and stimuli that collectively define a spatial context such as a cliff. Here we examined this by testing if the interaction of the sensory input on one’s gait and the sensory input on the spatial context is modulating both the emotional experience of the environment and its exploration through head motion. To this end, we asked healthy humans to explore a life-sized Virtual Reality simulation of a forest glade by physically walking around in this environment on two narrow rectangular platforms connected by a plank. The platforms and the plank were presented such that they were either placed on ground or on the top of two high bridge piers. Hence, the forest glade was presented either as a “ground” or as a “height” context. Within these two spatial contexts the virtual plank was projected either on the rigid physical floor or onto a bouncy physical plank. Accordingly, the gait of our participants while they crossed the virtual plank was either “smooth” or “bouncy.” We found that in the height context bouncy gait compared to smooth gait increased the orientation of the head below the horizon and intensified the experience of the environment as negative. Whereas, within the ground context bouncy gait increased the orientation of the head towards and above the horizon and made that the environment was experienced as positive. Our findings suggest that the brain of healthy humans is using the interaction of the sensory input on their gait and the sensory input on the spatial context to regulate both the emotional experience of the environment and its exploration through head motion. Keywords: Neuroscience, Psychology

  20. Teacher Candidates' Experiences with Clinical Teaching in Reading Instruction: A Comparison between the Professional Development School Environment and the Non-Professional Development School Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopper, Cynthia J.

    2016-01-01

    Teacher candidates experience a variety of school settings when enrolled in teacher education methods courses. Candidates report varied experiences when in public school classrooms. This dissertation investigated clinical experiences of teacher candidates when placed in two different environments for clinical teaching. The two environments were a…

  1. Importance of temperature control for HEFLEX, a biological experiment for Spacelab 1. [plant gravitational physiology study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, D. K.; Brown, A. H.

    1979-01-01

    The importance of temperature control to HEFLEX, a Spacelab experiment designed to measure kinetic properties of Helianthis nutation in a low-g environment, is discussed. It is argued that the development of the HEFLEX experiment has been severely hampered by the inadequate control of ambient air temperature provided by the spacecraft module design. A worst case calculation shows that delivery of only 69% of the maximum yield of useful data from the HEFLEX system is guaranteed; significant data losses from inadequate temperature control are expected. The magnitude of the expected data losses indicates that the cost reductions associated with imprecise temperature controls may prove to be a false economy in the long term.

  2. The Living With a Star Space Environment Testbed Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xapsos, Michael A.

    2014-01-01

    The focus of the Living With a Star (LWS) Space Environment Testbed (SET) program is to improve the performance of hardware in the space radiation environment. The program has developed a payload for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft that is scheduled for launch in August 2015 on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The primary structure of DSX is an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring. DSX will be in a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). This oral presentation will describe the SET payload.

  3. The need for integrated pollution prevention control of the environment concerning industrial and power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trpevska T, Magdalena; Kostova, Brankitsa

    2008-01-01

    Within the Low on the Environment, Regulations of the Directive 96/61/Eu regarding Integrated Pollution Prevention Control are implemented. The Low significantly changes the manner of industrial plants operation in reference to environmental protection. The study presents description of the system for Integrated Pollution Prevention Control, list of production branches to which this system refers, and as well as experiences of Tehnolab Ltd, Skopje - expert consulting company, concerning preparation of A and B Integrated Environmental Permits for several installation from R. Macedonia.(Author)

  4. Robust Tests for Additive Gene-Environment Interaction in Case-Control Studies Using Gene-Environment Independence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Gang; Lee, Seunggeun; Lee, Alice W

    2018-01-01

    test with case-control data. Our simulation studies suggest that the EB approach uses the gene-environment independence assumption in a data-adaptive way and provides power gain compared to the standard logistic regression analysis and better control of Type I error when compared to the analysis......There have been recent proposals advocating the use of additive gene-environment interaction instead of the widely used multiplicative scale, as a more relevant public health measure. Using gene-environment independence enhances the power for testing multiplicative interaction in case......-control studies. However, under departure from this assumption, substantial bias in the estimates and inflated Type I error in the corresponding tests can occur. This paper extends the empirical Bayes (EB) approach previously developed for multiplicative interaction that trades off between bias and efficiency...

  5. CONTROL OF INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS VIA THE REGULATION OF BUILDING ENVELOPES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitja Košir

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The design of comfortable, healthy and stimulating indoor environments in buildings has a direct impact on the users and on energy consumption, as well as on the wider soci-economic environment of society.The indoor environment of buildings is defined with the formulation of the building envelope, which functions as an interface between the internal and external environments and its users. A properly designed, flexible and adequately controlled building envelope is a starting point in the formulation of a high-quality indoor environment. The systematic treatment of the indoor environment and building envelope from a user’s point of view represents an engineering approach that enables the holistic treatment of buildings, as well as integrated components and systems. The presented division of indoor environment in terms of visual, thermal, olfactory, acoustic and ergonomic sub-environments enables the classification and selection of crucial factors influencing design. This selection and classification can be implemented in the design, as well as in control applications of the building envelope. The implementation of the approach described is demonstrated with an example of an automated control system for the internal environment of an office in the building of the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering.

  6. Personal Pervasive Environments: Practice and Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Soriano

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present our experience designing and developing two different systems to enable personal pervasive computing environments, Plan B and the Octopus. These systems were fully implemented and have been used on a daily basis for years. Both are based on synthetic (virtual file system interfaces and provide mechanisms to adapt to changes in the context and reconfigure the system to support pervasive applications. We also present the main differences between them, focusing on architectural and reconfiguration aspects. Finally, we analyze the pitfalls and successes of both systems and review the lessons we learned while designing, developing, and using them.

  7. Ideas on a generic control systems based on the experience on the 4 LEP experiments control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barillere, R.; Le Goff, J.M.; Milcent, H.; Stampfli, R.

    1992-01-01

    Most of the large slow control systems in the LEP collider experiments are distributed heterogeneous and multi-standard. But in spite of the appearances, they have a lot in common. From our direct experience on the L-3 slow control system and from the informations we obtained on the 3 other LEP experiments control systems we have come to the conclusion that it should be possible to build a Generic Control Package from which any control system could be derived. This software package is entirely based on relational databases and is intended to provide all the necessary tools to build a modular, coherent, easy to update and to maintain control system. Among other things this package should include user friendly interfaces, expert systems, and powerful graphic monitoring and control tools. This paper will present our general ideas about the realization of such a package. (author)

  8. Can virtual nature improve patient experiences and memories of dental treatment? A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanja-Dijkstra, Karin; Pahl, Sabine; White, Mathew P; Andrade, Jackie; May, Jon; Stone, Robert J; Bruce, Malcolm; Mills, Ian; Auvray, Melissa; Gabe, Rhys; Moles, David R

    2014-03-22

    Dental anxiety and anxiety-related avoidance of dental care create significant problems for patients and the dental profession. Distraction interventions are used in daily medical practice to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. There is evidence that exposure to natural scenery is beneficial for patients and that the use of virtual reality (VR) distraction is more effective than other distraction interventions, such as watching television. The main aim of this randomized controlled trial is to determine whether the use of VR during dental treatment can improve the overall dental experience and recollections of treatment for patients, breaking the negative cycle of memories of anxiety leading to further anxiety, and avoidance of future dental appointments. Additionally, the aim is to test whether VR benefits dental patients with all levels of dental anxiety or whether it could be especially beneficial for patients suffering from higher levels of dental anxiety. The third aim is to test whether the content of the VR distraction can make a difference for its effectiveness by comparing two types of virtual environments, a natural environment and an urban environment. The effectiveness of VR distraction will be examined in patients 18 years or older who are scheduled to undergo dental treatment for fillings and/or extractions, with a maximum length of 30 minutes. Patients will be randomly allocated into one of three groups. The first group will be exposed to a VR of a natural environment. The second group will be exposed to a VR of an urban environment. A third group consists of patients who receive standard care (control group). Primary outcomes relate to patients' memories of the dental treatment one week after treatment: (a) remembered pain, (b) intrusive thoughts and (c) vividness of memories. Other measures of interest are the dental experience, the treatment experience and the VR experience. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN41442806.

  9. Experiments in teleoperator and autonomous control of space robotic vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Harold L.

    1991-01-01

    A program of research embracing teleoperator and automatic navigational control of freely flying satellite robots is presented. Current research goals include: (1) developing visual operator interfaces for improved vehicle teleoperation; (2) determining the effects of different visual interface system designs on operator performance; and (3) achieving autonomous vision-based vehicle navigation and control. This research program combines virtual-environment teleoperation studies and neutral-buoyancy experiments using a space-robot simulator vehicle currently under development. Visual-interface design options under investigation include monoscopic versus stereoscopic displays and cameras, helmet-mounted versus panel-mounted display monitors, head-tracking versus fixed or manually steerable remote cameras, and the provision of vehicle-fixed visual cues, or markers, in the remote scene for improved sensing of vehicle position, orientation, and motion.

  10. Clinical learning environment and supervision: experiences of Norwegian nursing students - a questionnaire survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skaalvik, Mari Wolff; Normann, Hans Ketil; Henriksen, Nils

    2011-08-01

    To measure nursing students' experiences and satisfaction with their clinical learning environments. The primary interest was to compare the results between students with respect to clinical practice in nursing homes and hospital wards. Clinical learning environments are important for the learning processes of nursing students and for preferences for future workplaces. Working with older people is the least preferred area of practice among nursing students in Norway. A cross-sectional design. A validated questionnaire was distributed to all nursing students from five non-randomly selected university colleges in Norway. A total of 511 nursing students completed a Norwegian version of the questionnaire, Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) evaluation scale in 2009. Data including descriptive statistics were analysed using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences. Factor structure was analysed by principal component analysis. Differences across sub-groups were tested with chi-square tests and Mann-Whitney U test for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables. Ordinal logistic regression analysis of perceptions of the ward as a good learning environment was performed with supervisory relationships and institutional contexts as independent variables, controlling for age, sex and study year. The participating nursing students with clinical placements in nursing homes assessed their clinical learning environment significantly more negatively than those with hospital placements on nearby all sub-dimensions. The evidence found in this study indicates that measures should be taken to strengthen nursing homes as learning environments for nursing students. To recruit more graduated nurses to work in nursing homes, actions to improve the learning environment are needed. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  11. Procedural Zelda : A PCG Environment for Player Experience Research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heijne, Norbert; Bakkes, Sander

    2017-01-01

    To contribute to the domain of player experience research, this paper presents a new PCG environment with a relatively wide expressive range that builds upon the iconic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past action-RPG game; it contributes by providing the openly-available Procedural Zelda

  12. A human factors experiment on the event-paced control tasks issue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Hyun Chul; Park, Jae Chang; Oh, In Seok; Lee, Jung Woon; Lee, Ki Young; Park, Jong Kyun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejeon (Korea)

    2000-03-01

    KEPRI(Korea Electric Power Research Institute) requires human factors validation tests according to the progress of the KNGR MMI design. This report describes the experimental results of an human factors validation issue, Event-Paced Control Tasks issue. The Event-Paced Control Task issue is to test that the designed MMI shall support operators in performing control tasks in pace with the plant dynamics. Task completion time and successful execution are defined as performance measures on the issue. Through an experiment on the issue with 3 scenarios and 5 subjects, we report that the variation of task completion time between subjects has a narrow band for each scenarios, however two among the total 15 experimental runs result in the failure that subject does not reach to the predefined operational goal. Incorrect operational strategy, insufficient training, and MMI design discrepancies are inferred as the causes of the failures. However these experimental results don't indicate the close of the Event-Paced Control Tasks issue. The validation test results under the experimental environment composed of the partial MMI representations, an unstable simulator, and insufficient subject training, are significant in the limited conditions. Thus, for the purpose of the complete issue close, the validation test on the Event-Paced Control Tasks issue should be repeatedly carried out in pace with the performance improvement of the experimental environment. 13 figs., 4 tabs. (Author)

  13. Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents' Experiences in Preschool Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Abbie E

    2014-01-01

    Little research has examined the school experiences of lesbian/gay (LG) parent families or adoptive parent families. The current exploratory study examined the experiences of 79 lesbian, 75 gay male, and 112 heterosexual adoptive parents of preschool-age children with respect to their (a) level of disclosure regarding their LG parent and adoptive family status at their children's schools; (b) perceived challenges in navigating the preschool environment and advocating on behalf of their children and families; and (c) recommendations to teachers and schools about how to create affirming school environments with respect to family structure, adoption, and race/ethnicity. Findings revealed that the majority of parents were open about their LG and adoptive family status, and had not encountered challenges related to family diversity. Those parents who did experience challenges tended to describe implicit forms of marginalization, such as insensitive language and school assignments. Recommendations for teachers included discussing and reading books about diverse families, tailoring assignments to meet the needs of diverse families, and offering school community-building activities and events to help bridge differences across families.

  14. Content and structure of knowledge base used for virtual control of android arm motion in specified environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritykin, F. N.; Nebritov, V. I.

    2018-01-01

    The paper presents the configuration of knowledge base necessary for intelligent control of android arm mechanism motion with different positions of certain forbidden regions taken into account. The present structure of the knowledge base characterizes the past experience of arm motion synthesis in the vector of velocities with due regard for the known obstacles. This structure also specifies its intrinsic properties. Knowledge base generation is based on the study of the arm mechanism instantaneous states implementations. Computational experiments connected with the virtual control of android arm motion with known forbidden regions using the developed knowledge base are introduced. Using the developed knowledge base to control virtually the arm motion reduces the time of test assignments calculation. The results of the research can be used in developing control systems of autonomous android robots in the known in advance environment.

  15. Implementation of a control system test environment in UNIX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brittain, C.R.; Otaduy, P.J.; Rovere, L.A.

    1990-01-01

    This paper discusses how UNIX features such as shared memory, remote procedure calls, and signalling have been used to implement a distributed computational environment ideal for the development and testing of digital control systems. The resulting environment -based on features commonly available in commercial workstations- is flexible, allows process simulation and controller development to proceed in parallel, and provides for testing and validation in a realistic environment. In addition, the use of shared memory to exchange data allows other tasks such as user interfaces and recorders to be added without affecting the process simulation or controllers. A library of functions is presented which provides a simple interface to using the features described. These functions can be used in either C or FORTRAN programs and have been tested on a network of Sun workstations and an ENCORE parallel computer. 6 refs., 2 figs

  16. Sample Environment in Experiments using X-Ray Synchrotron Radiation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buras, B

    1984-01-01

    beam experiments with wavelength chosen at will from the continuous spectrum. Another type of insertion device, called undulator produces quasi-monochromatic radiation. The insertion devices enable the tailoring of the emitted S.R. to the requirements of the users and can be treated as the first......Modern electron (positron) storage rings are able to emit very intense X-ray radiation with a continuous spectrum extending to 0.1 A, from bending magnets and insertion devices (wavelength shifters and multipole wigglers). It can be used directly for white beam experiments and/or for monochromatic...... optical element of the beam line. This feature is especially important for experiments with samples in special environment because the latter imposes limitations both on scattering and absorption experiments. However, these limitations can be minimized in each case by finding the best match between...

  17. Hierarchical Control of the ATLAS Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Barriuso-Poy, Alex; Llobet-Valero, E

    2007-01-01

    Control systems at High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments are becoming increasingly complex mainly due to the size, complexity and data volume associated to the front-end instrumentation. In particular, this becomes visible for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC accelerator at CERN. ATLAS will be the largest particle detector ever built, result of an international collaboration of more than 150 institutes. The experiment is composed of 9 different specialized sub-detectors that perform different tasks and have different requirements for operation. The system in charge of the safe and coherent operation of the whole experiment is called Detector Control System (DCS). This thesis presents the integration of the ATLAS DCS into a global control tree following the natural segmentation of the experiment into sub-detectors and smaller sub-systems. The integration of the many different systems composing the DCS includes issues such as: back-end organization, process model identification, fault detection, synchronization ...

  18. The impact of distraction in natural environments on user experience research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greifeneder, Elke

    2012-01-01

    Laboratories have long been seen as reasonable proxies for user experience research. Yet, this assumption may have become unreliable. The trend toward multiple activities in the users' natural environment, where people simultaneously use a digital library, join a chat or read an incoming Facebook....... The existence and impact of distraction is measured in a standard laboratory setting and in a remote setting that explicitly allows users to work in their own natural environment. The data indicates that there are significant differences between results from the laboratory and natural environment setting...

  19. Mobile robot navigation in unknown static environments using ANFIS controller

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anish Pandey

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Navigation and obstacle avoidance are the most important task for any mobile robots. This article presents the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS controller for mobile robot navigation and obstacle avoidance in the unknown static environments. The different sensors such as ultrasonic range finder sensor and sharp infrared range sensor are used to detect the forward obstacles in the environments. The inputs of the ANFIS controller are obstacle distances obtained from the sensors, and the controller output is a robot steering angle. The primary objective of the present work is to use ANFIS controller to guide the mobile robot in the given environments. Computer simulations are conducted through MATLAB software and implemented in real time by using C/C++ language running Arduino microcontroller based mobile robot. Moreover, the successful experimental results on the actual mobile robot demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed controller.

  20. A Compatible Control Algorithm for Greenhouse Environment Control Based on MOCC Strategy

    OpenAIRE

    Hu, Haigen; Xu, Lihong; Zhu, Bingkun; Wei, Ruihua

    2011-01-01

    Conventional methods used for solving greenhouse environment multi-objective conflict control problems lay excessive emphasis on control performance and have inadequate consideration for both energy consumption and special requirements for plant growth. The resulting solution will cause higher energy cost. However, during the long period of work and practice, we find that it may be more reasonable to adopt interval or region control objectives instead of point control objectives. In this pape...

  1. Effect of HIV/AIDS on the control environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coetzee, Philna

    2006-07-01

    The management of organizations is responsible for risk management and control systems. HIV/AIDS could be a great threat in the achievement of strategic business objectives, implicating a great concern for management. Management needs to understand this possible risk. This study aims to identify the effect that HIV/AIDS could have on the different elements of the control environment. The archival research method was used. It was established that no formal research was conducted to date on the effect of HIV/AIDS on the control environment as a whole. Various studies have included the effect of HIV/AIDS on certain factors of the control environment. These studies will be discussed briefly to identify relevant findings. The study indicated that the disease could affect various aspects of the control environment, namely: competency of the workforce (e.g. productivity, quality of work, absenteeism, loss of skills and knowledge, training and recruitment, etc.); organizational structure (e.g. increase use of technology labour, disruption of processes, level of employees affected by the disease); human resource (HR) policies and practices (e.g. legislation applicable, prevention and awareness programmes, compensation and benefits). Research limitation: HIV/AIDS is a relatively new potential risk to organizations. Knowledge of the disease is limited. HIV/AIDS is also a very sensitive issue as people fear the disease and do not like to discuss its existence. Government determined that it should be a non-notifiable disease and the disease is currently greatly stigmatized. The databases of companies investigated by other research studies were not developed to gather all the relevant information. Management should be aware that HIV/AIDS poses a possible risk to organizations. Data on the effect of HIV/AIDS should be gathered and used in the decision-making process on how to manage this risk. To be able to fulfil this duty, management first has to determine: whether HIV/AIDS is

  2. The experience of work in a call centre environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanet Hauptfleisch

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available This qualitative research study explored the work experience in a call centre environment in an information technology call centre based in South Africa, which service foreign customers exclusively. Three data collection methods were used, namely narratives, in-depth interviews with call centre consultants, and observation. Following a grounded theory approach, four themes were elicited, namely the perceptions of team members, uncertainty created by a constantly changing environment, perceived distances due to management practices, and depersonalisation experienced while actually dealing with customers. In addition to this, the reported impact of these themes on work performance was explored and compared to existing research.

  3. The experience of demanding work environments in younger workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winding, T N; Labriola, M; Nohr, E A; Andersen, J H

    2015-06-01

    Investigating whether certain individual or background characteristics are associated with an increased risk of experiencing an excessively demanding work environment in younger workers may help to reduce future inequality in health and maximize their labour market participation. To describe the work environment of Danish 20- to 21-year olds and to investigate the influence of family socioeconomic background and individual characteristics at age 14-15 on later experience of physical and psychosocial work environments. We obtained information on subjects' school performance, vulnerability, health and parental socioeconomic status from registers and a questionnaire completed in 2004. A questionnaire concerning eight measures of subjects' psychosocial and physical work environment in 2010 was used to determine the outcomes of interest. The study population consisted of 679 younger workers aged 20-21. The psychosocial work environment was in general good but younger workers experienced more demanding physical work than the general working population. Overall, individual as well as family factors had a limited impact on their assessment of the work environment. Low self-esteem at age 14-15 was associated with experiencing high demands and lack of trust and fairness at work, whereas low parental socioeconomic status was associated with a demanding physical work environment. This study showed a social gradient in experiencing a demanding physical work environment at age 20-21. The psychosocial work environment experienced by younger workers was generally good, but vulnerable young people may need special attention to protect them from or prepare them for psychosocially demanding jobs later in life. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Adaptive Augmenting Control Flight Characterization Experiment on an F/A-18

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanZwieten, Tannen S.; Gilligan, Eric T.; Wall, John H.; Orr, Jeb S.; Miller, Christopher J.; Hanson, Curtis E.

    2014-01-01

    The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Flight Mechanics and Analysis Division developed an Adaptive Augmenting Control (AAC) algorithm for launch vehicles that improves robustness and performance by adapting an otherwise welltuned classical control algorithm to unexpected environments or variations in vehicle dynamics. This AAC algorithm is currently part of the baseline design for the SLS Flight Control System (FCS), but prior to this series of research flights it was the only component of the autopilot design that had not been flight tested. The Space Launch System (SLS) flight software prototype, including the adaptive component, was recently tested on a piloted aircraft at Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) which has the capability to achieve a high level of dynamic similarity to a launch vehicle. Scenarios for the flight test campaign were designed specifically to evaluate the AAC algorithm to ensure that it is able to achieve the expected performance improvements with no adverse impacts in nominal or nearnominal scenarios. Having completed the recent series of flight characterization experiments on DFRC's F/A-18, the AAC algorithm's capability, robustness, and reproducibility, have been successfully demonstrated. Thus, the entire SLS control architecture has been successfully flight tested in a relevant environment. This has increased NASA's confidence that the autopilot design is ready to fly on the SLS Block I vehicle and will exceed the performance of previous architectures.

  5. The efficacy of control environment as fraud deterrence in local government

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuswantara Dian Anita

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In a globalised scenario, the topic of an enormous increase of malfeasance in the local governments, posing catastrophic threats which come from vicious bureaucratic apparatus, becomes a global phenomenon. This current study uses case study material on the risk management control system specially the control environment in Indonesia local governments to extend existing theory by developing a contingency theory for the public sector. Within local government, contingency theory has emerged as a lens for exploring the links between public sector initiatives to improve risk mitigation and the structure of the control system. The case illustrates that the discretion of control environment - the encouragement of a local government’s control environment - is considered as a springboard for fraud deterrence and might be the loopholes in the government control systems.

  6. Central automatic control or distributed occupant control for better indoor environment quality in the future

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toftum, Jørn

    2010-01-01

    of control, as perceived by occupants, seemed more important for the prevalence of adverse symptoms and building-related symptoms than the ventilation mode per se. This result indicates that even though the development and application of new indoor environment sensors and HVAC control systems may allow...... for fully automated IEQ control, such systems should not compromise occupants' perception of having some degree of control of their indoor environment....... a discrepancy in the degree of perceived control. The database was composed of 1272 responses obtained in 24 buildings of which 15 had mechanical ventilation (997 responses) and 9 had natural ventilation (275 responses). The number of occupant-reported control opportunities was higher in buildings with natural...

  7. Optimization of humidifying procedure in controlled environment for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study investigated mushroom cultivation in controlled indoor environment. For this, the environmental factors including humidity and temperature were controlled by humidifier and ventilation. Four ventilations were installed on tops to bring the air from inside to outside and four small ventilations were installed on side ...

  8. Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication in an Online Environment: Faculty Experiences and Perceptions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xiaoxia; Hsiao, E-Ling

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine online instructors' experiences and perceptions of online teaching and their communication with students in an online environment. More specifically, the study focused on the questions regarding: (1) instructors' general experiences and perceptions of online teaching; (2) instructors' general experiences…

  9. Linear Motor Motion Control Experiment System Design Based on LabVIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cuixian He

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to meet the needs of experimental training of electrical information industry, a linear motor motion experiment system based on LabVIEW was developed. This system is based on the STM32F103ZET6 system processor controller, a state signal when the motor moves through the grating encoder feedback controller to form a closed loop, through the RS232 serial port communication with the host computer, the host computer is designed in the LabVIEW interactive environment monitoring software. Combined with the modular design concept proposed overall program, given the detailed hardware circuit, targeted for the software function design, to achieve man-machine interface. The system control of high accuracy, good stability, meet the training requirements for laboratory equipment, but also as a reference embodiment of the linear motor monitoring system.

  10. Employee quality, monitoring environment and internal control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunli Liu

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the effect of internal control employees (ICEs on internal control quality. Using special survey data from Chinese listed firms, we find that ICE quality has a significant positive influence on internal control quality. We examine the effect of monitoring on this result and find that the effect is more pronounced for firms with strict monitoring environments, especially when the firms implement the Chinese internal control regulation system (CSOX, have higher institutional ownership or attach greater importance to internal control. Our findings suggest that ICEs play an important role in the design and implementation of internal control systems. Our study should be of interest to both top managers who wish to improve corporate internal control quality and regulators who wish to understand the mechanisms of internal control monitoring.

  11. INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF CLOUD ORIENTED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT DESIGN IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svitlana G. Lytvynova

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The article highlights the foreign experience of designing of cloud oriented learning environments (COLE in general secondary education. The projects in Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, China, Israel, Africa, Singapore, Brazil, Egypt, Colombia and the United States are analyzed. The analysis of completed projects found out the common problems of implementing of cloud oriented learning environments (security of personal data, technical problems of integration of cloud environments with existing systems, and productivity of cloud services and their advantages for secondary education (mobility of participants, volumetric cloud data storage, universally accessibility, regular software updating, ease of use, etc..

  12. Multibeam smart antenna field trial experiments in mobile radio environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perini, Patrick

    1996-01-01

    Several types of high gain multibeam antennas were tested and compared to traditional sector and omni antennas in various mobile radio environments. A vehicle equipped with a mobile transmitter drove in several mobile radio environments while the received signal strength (RSS) was recorded on multiple antenna channels attached to multibeam, sector and omni directional antennas. The RSS data recorded included the fast (rayleigh) fading and was averaged into local means based on the mobile's position/speed. Description of the experiment and analysis of the gain improvement, average RSS, diversity gain are presented.

  13. GENI: A graphical environment for model-based control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kleban, S.; Lee, M.; Zambre, Y.

    1989-10-01

    A new method to operate machine and beam simulation programs for accelerator control has been developed. Existing methods, although cumbersome, have been used in control systems for commissioning and operation of many machines. We developed GENI, a generalized graphical interface to these programs for model-based control. This ''object-oriented''-like environment is described and some typical applications are presented. 4 refs., 5 figs

  14. Bilateral teleoperation control to improve transparency in stiff environment with time delay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Azadegan

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a new bilateral control scheme to ensure both transparency and robust stability under unknown constant time delay in stiff environment. Furthermore, this method guaranties suitable performance and robust stability when transition occurs between soft and stiff environments. This framework is composed of an adaptive sliding mode controller and an adaptive impedance controller, where online estimation of the environment impedance is performed, and then used as the desired impedance at the master side. Numerical simulations are provided to verify the theoretical results under different conditions, such as constant and time-varying delay, obstructed environment and transitioning between soft and stiff environment. Afterwards, comparison with a recent work is addressed.

  15. Data communication between Panasonic PLC and PC using SerialPort control in C#.NET environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ting; Gan, Xiaochuan; Ma, Liqun

    2015-02-01

    With the gradual promotion of Microsoft.NET platform, C# as an object-oriented programming language based on the platform has been widely used. Therefore, more attention is concentrated on how to achieve the communication between Panasonic PLC and PC efficiently and fast in C#.NET environment. In this paper, a method of using SerialPort control which could be used for achieving communication between PLC and PC is introduced. Meanwhile, the reason of abnormal thread when displayed the receiving data in form is analyzed and the programming method to solve the problem of thread safety is designed. Achieving the communication of Panasonic PLC and PC in C#.NET environment can give full play to the advantages of the .NET framework. It is practical, easy communication, high reliability and can combine with other measurement and calibration procedures effectively and conveniently. Configuration software is expensive and can only communicate with PLC separately, but these shortcomings can be solved in C#.NET environment. A well-designed user interface realized real-time monitoring of PLC parameters and achieved management and control integration. The experiment show that this method of data transfer is accurate and the program' running is stable.

  16. Discussion on environment control technology of escaping cavern to uranium mines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Yongkai

    2012-01-01

    As the important refuge of Uranium Mines, the environment of Escaping Cavern is important to the miner's life. In order to attain the standard of Environment Control, the paper gave the method of Environment Control to the fire danger, pervious, collapse; Gave the isolating prevention time; represented the scheme of compressed-air self-help system, high pressure oxygen system, emergency oxygen system; Introduced the air purge equipment to handle the CO, CO 2 , bacterium and other harmful gas. At the same time, gave the method to control the temperature with the phase-change materials and private prevention. (author)

  17. Evaluation of the Radiation Environment of the LHCb Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00341385; Corti, Gloria

    The unprecedented radiation levels of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during high-energy proton-proton collisions will have an impact on the operation of its experiments’ detectors and electronics. LHCb, one of the 4 major LHC experiments, has started operation in 2009 and from 2011 onward it has been collecting data at and above its design luminosity. Detectors and associated detector electronics are prone to damage if the radiation levels exceed the expected values. It is essential to monitor the radiation environment of the experimental area and compare it with predictions obtained from simulation studies in order to assess the situation and take corrective action in case of need. Understanding the existing radiation environment will also provide important input to the planning of maintenance and for operation at upgrade luminosity. A set of radiation detectors has been installed in the LHCb experimental area to measure different aspects of its radiation environment. Passive dosimeters including Thermo-L...

  18. Time Perception and the Experience of Time When Immersed in an Altered Sensory Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glicksohn, Joseph; Berkovich-Ohana, Aviva; Mauro, Federica; Ben-Soussan, Tal D

    2017-01-01

    The notion that exposure to a monotonous sensory environment could elicit reports indicating aberrant subjective experience and altered time perception is the impetus for the present report. Research has looked at the influence of exposure to such environments on time perception, reporting that the greater the environmental variation, the shorter is the time estimation obtained by the method of production. Most conditions for creating an altered sensory environment, however, have not facilitated an immersive experience, one that directly impacts both time perception and subjective experience. In this study, we invited our participants to enter a whole-body altered sensory environment for a 20-min session, wherein they were asked to relax without falling asleep. The session included white-colored illumination of the chamber with eyes closed (5 min), followed by 10 min of illuminating the room with color, after which a short report of subjective experience was collected using a brief questionnaire; this was followed by an additional 5 min of immersion in white light with closed eyes. The participants were then interviewed regarding their subjective experience, including their experience of time within the chamber. Prior to entering the chamber, the participants completed a time-production (TP) task. One group of participants then repeated the task within the chamber, at the end of the session; a second group of participants repeated the task after exiting the chamber. We shall report on changes in TP, and present data indicating that when produced time is plotted as a function of target duration, using a log-log plot, the major influence of sensory environment is on the intercept of the psychophysical function. We shall further present data indicating that for those participants reporting a marked change in time experience, such as "the sensation of time disappeared," their TP data could not be linearized using a log-log plot, hence indicating that for these

  19. Time Perception and the Experience of Time When Immersed in an Altered Sensory Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Glicksohn

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The notion that exposure to a monotonous sensory environment could elicit reports indicating aberrant subjective experience and altered time perception is the impetus for the present report. Research has looked at the influence of exposure to such environments on time perception, reporting that the greater the environmental variation, the shorter is the time estimation obtained by the method of production. Most conditions for creating an altered sensory environment, however, have not facilitated an immersive experience, one that directly impacts both time perception and subjective experience. In this study, we invited our participants to enter a whole-body altered sensory environment for a 20-min session, wherein they were asked to relax without falling asleep. The session included white-colored illumination of the chamber with eyes closed (5 min, followed by 10 min of illuminating the room with color, after which a short report of subjective experience was collected using a brief questionnaire; this was followed by an additional 5 min of immersion in white light with closed eyes. The participants were then interviewed regarding their subjective experience, including their experience of time within the chamber. Prior to entering the chamber, the participants completed a time-production (TP task. One group of participants then repeated the task within the chamber, at the end of the session; a second group of participants repeated the task after exiting the chamber. We shall report on changes in TP, and present data indicating that when produced time is plotted as a function of target duration, using a log–log plot, the major influence of sensory environment is on the intercept of the psychophysical function. We shall further present data indicating that for those participants reporting a marked change in time experience, such as “the sensation of time disappeared,” their TP data could not be linearized using a log–log plot, hence

  20. A comparative study on the flow experience in web-based and text-based interaction environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Li-Ting; Chiu, Chen-An; Sung, Kai; Farn, Cheng-Kiang

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore a substantial phenomenon related to flow experiences (immersion) in text-based interaction systems. Most previous research emphasizes the effects of challenge/skill, focused attention, telepresence, web characteristics, and systems' interface design on users' flow experiences in online environments. However, text-based interaction systems without telepresence features and web characteristics still seem to create opportunities for flow experience. To explore this phenomenon, this study incorporates subject involvement and interpersonal interaction as critical antecedents into the model of flow experience, as well as considers the existence of telepresence. Results reveal that subject involvement, interpersonal interaction, and interactivity speed are critical to focused attention, which enhances users' immersion. With regard to the effect of telepresence, the perceived attractiveness of the interface is a significant facilitator determining users' immersion in web-based, rather than in text-based, interaction environments. Interactivity speed is unrelated to immersion in both web-based and text-based interaction environments. The influence of interpersonal involvement is diminished in web-based interaction environments. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

  1. Configuration control during plant outages. A review of operating experience

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peinador Veira, Miguel; El Kanbi, Semir [European Commission Joint Research Centre, Petten (Netherlands). Inst. for Energy and Transport; Stephan, Jean-Luc [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN), Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Martens, Johannes [Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH, Koeln (Germany)

    2015-03-15

    After the occurrence of several significant events in nuclear power plants during shut-down modes of operation in the eighties, and from the results of probabilistic safety assessments completed in the nineties, it was clear that risk from low power and shutdown operational modes could not be neglected and had to be addressed by appropriate safety programs. A comprehensive review of operating experience from the last ten years has been conducted by the Joint Research Centre with the objective of deriving lessons learned and recommendations useful for nuclear regulatory bodies and utilities alike. This paper is focused on one particular challenge that any nuclear plant faces whenever it plans its next outage period: how to manage the configuration of all systems under a complex environment involving numerous concurrent activities, and how to make sure that systems are returned to their valid configuration before the plant resumes power operation. This study highlights the importance of conveying accurate but synthesized information on the status of the plant to the operators in the main control room. Many of the lessons learned are related to the alarm display in the control room and to the use of check lists to control the status of systems. Members of the industry and safety authorities may now use these recommendations and lessons learned to feed their own operating experience feedback programs, and check their applicability for specific sites.

  2. OpenLabs Security Laboratory - The Online Security Experiment Platform

    OpenAIRE

    Johan Zackrisson; Charlie Svahnberg

    2008-01-01

    For experiments to be reproducible, it is important to have a known and controlled environment. This requires isolation from the surroundings. For security experiments, e.g. with hostile software, this is even more important as the experiment can affect the environment in adverse ways. In a normal campus laboratory, isolation can be achieved by network separation. For an online environment, where remote control is essential, separation and isolation are still needed, and therefore the securit...

  3. A Distributed Control System Prototyping Environment to Support Control Room Modernization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lew, Roger Thomas [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Boring, Ronald Laurids [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Ulrich, Thomas Anthony [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    2014-12-01

    Operators of critical processes, such as nuclear power production, must contend with highly complex systems, procedures, and regulations. Developing human-machine interfaces (HMIs) that better support operators is a high priority for ensuring the safe and reliable operation of critical processes. Human factors engineering (HFE) provides a rich and mature set of tools for evaluating the performance of HMIs, however the set of tools for developing and designing HMIs is still in its infancy. Here we propose a rapid prototyping approach for integrating proposed HMIs into their native environments before a design is finalized. This approach allows researchers and developers to test design ideas and eliminate design flaws prior to fully developing the new system. We illustrate this approach with four prototype designs developed using Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). One example is integrated into a microworld environment to test the functionality of the design and identify the optimal level of automation for a new system in a nuclear power plant. The other three examples are integrated into a full-scale, glasstop digital simulator of a nuclear power plant. One example demonstrates the capabilities of next generation control concepts; another aims to expand the current state of the art; lastly, an HMI prototype was developed as a test platform for a new control system currently in development at U.S. nuclear power plants. WPF possesses several characteristics that make it well suited to HMI design. It provides a tremendous amount of flexibility, agility, robustness, and extensibility. Distributed control system (DCS) specific environments tend to focus on the safety and reliability requirements for real-world interfaces and consequently have less emphasis on providing functionality to support novel interaction paradigms. Because of WPF’s large user-base, Microsoft can provide an extremely mature tool. Within process control applications,WPF is

  4. An intelligent simulation environment for control system design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, J.T.

    1989-01-01

    The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is currently assisting in the development of advanced control systems for the next generation of nuclear power plants. This paper presents a prototype interactive and intelligent simulation environment being developed to support this effort. The environment combines tools from the field of Artificial Intelligence; in particular object-oriented programming, a LISP programming environment, and a direct manipulation user interface; with traditional numerical methods for simulating combined continuous/discrete processes. The resulting environment is highly interactive and easy to use. Models may be created and modified quickly through a window oriented direct manipulation interface. Models may be modified at any time, even as the simulation is running, and the results observed immediately via real-time graphics. 8 refs., 3 figs

  5. THE VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: A REPORT OF BLENDED LEARNING EXPERIENCES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Roberto Prado Constantino

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an experiment in uses of virtual learning environments (VLE in the vocational education, evaluated by the Educational Supervision of Vocational and Secondary Schools of Paula Souza Center. The experience occurred in Etec "Jacinto Ferreira de Sá", São Paulo, Brazil, between 2009 and 2011, where the reported activities were organized and developed in the degree of Music, with students of different ages. Using specifics instruments to qualitative research for data collection were selected class record books, the reports to the virtual environment, the records of the participants' personal reflections, interviews and examination of the minutes of class councils involved. The experience has served as a basis for replication in other contexts and vocational courses presented by the institution.

  6. Toward autonomous rotorcraft flight in degraded visual environments: experiments and lessons learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stambler, Adam; Spiker, Spencer; Bergerman, Marcel; Singh, Sanjiv

    2016-05-01

    Unmanned cargo delivery to combat outposts will inevitably involve operations in degraded visual environments (DVE). When DVE occurs, the aircraft autonomy system needs to be able to function regardless of the obscurant level. In 2014, Near Earth Autonomy established a baseline perception system for autonomous rotorcraft operating in clear air conditions, when its m3 sensor suite and perception software enabled autonomous, no-hover landings onto unprepared sites populated with obstacles. The m3's long-range lidar scanned the helicopter's path and the perception software detected obstacles and found safe locations for the helicopter to land. This paper presents the results of initial tests with the Near Earth perception system in a variety of DVE conditions and analyzes them from the perspective of mission performance and risk. Tests were conducted with the m3's lidar and a lightweight synthetic aperture radar in rain, smoke, snow, and controlled brownout experiments. These experiments showed the capability to penetrate through mild DVE but the perceptual capabilities became degraded with the densest brownouts. The results highlight the need for not only improved ability to see through DVE, but also for improved algorithms to monitor and report DVE conditions.

  7. Entering 'A NEW REALM' of KIBO Payload Operations - Continuous efforts for microgravity experiment environment and lessons learned from real time experiment operations in KIBO -

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakagami, K; Goto, M; Matsumoto, S; Ohkuma, H

    2011-01-01

    On January 22nd, 2011(JST), KOUNOTORI2 (H-II Transfer Vehicle: HTV2) was successfully launched from Tanegashima Space Center toward the International Space Station (ISS) and two new JAXA payload racks, Kobairo rack and MSPR (Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack) were transferred to ISS/KIBO (Japanese Experiment Module: JEM). In addition to Saibo rack and Ryutai rack which are already in operation in KIBO, in total 4 Japanese experiment payload racks start operations in KIBO. Then KIBO payload operations embark on a new realm, full utilization phase. While the number and variety of microgravity experiments become increasing, simultaneous operation constraints should be considered to achieve multitask payload operations in ISS/KIBO and ever more complicated cooperative operations between crewmember and flight control team/science team are required. Especially for g-jitter improvement in ISS/KIBO, we have greatly advanced cooperative operations with crewmember in the recent increment based on the microgravity data analysis results. In this paper, newly operating Japanese experiment payloads characteristics and some methods to improve g-jitter environment are introduced from the front line of KIBO payload operations.

  8. Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Thomas P. Novak; Donna L. Hoffman; Yiu-Fai Yung

    2000-01-01

    Intuition and previous research suggest that creating a compelling online environment for Web consumers will have numerous positive consequences for commercial Web providers. Online executives note that creating a compelling online experience for cyber customers is critical to creating competitive advantage on the Internet. Yet, very little is known about the factors that make using the Web a compelling experience for its users, and of the key consumer behavior outcomes of this compelling exp...

  9. Relations Between Self-Reported and Linguistic Monitoring Assessments of Affective Experience in an Extreme Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Nathan

    2018-03-01

    Approaches for monitoring psychosocial health in challenging environments are needed to maintain the performance and safety of personnel. The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationship between 2 candidate methods (self-reported and linguistics) for monitoring affective experience during extreme environment activities. A single-subject repeated-measures design was used in the present work. The participant was a 46-year-old individual scheduled to complete a self-supported ski expedition across Arctic Greenland. The expedition lasted 28 days, and conditions included severe cold, low stimulation, whiteouts, limited habitability, and threats to life and limb. During the expedition, the participant completed a daily self-report log including assessment of psychological health (perceptions of control and affect) and a video diary (emotion). Video diary entries were subjected to linguistic inquiry and word count analyses before the links between self-report and linguistic data across the expedition period were tested. Similarities in the pattern of self-reported and linguistic assessments emerged across the expedition period. A number of predictable correlations were identified between self-reported and linguistic assessments of affective/emotional experience. Overall, there was better agreement between self-reports and linguistic analytics for indicators of negative affect/emotion. Future research should build on this initial study to further test the links between self-reported affect and emotional states monitored via linguistics. This could help develop methods for monitoring psychological health in extreme environments and support organizational decision making. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Optimal critic learning for robot control in time-varying environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chen; Li, Yanan; Ge, Shuzhi Sam; Lee, Tong Heng

    2015-10-01

    In this paper, optimal critic learning is developed for robot control in a time-varying environment. The unknown environment is described as a linear system with time-varying parameters, and impedance control is employed for the interaction control. Desired impedance parameters are obtained in the sense of an optimal realization of the composite of trajectory tracking and force regulation. Q -function-based critic learning is developed to determine the optimal impedance parameters without the knowledge of the system dynamics. The simulation results are presented and compared with existing methods, and the efficacy of the proposed method is verified.

  11. Students experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous computer-supported collaborative learning environments.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dewiyanti, Silvia; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Jochems, Wim; Broers, Nick

    2008-01-01

    Dewiyanti, S., Brand-Gruwel, S., Jochems, W., & Broers, N. (2007). Students experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous computer-supported collaborative learning environments. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 496-514.

  12. An artificial reality environment for remote factory control and monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosta, Charles Paul; Krolak, Patrick D.

    1993-01-01

    Work has begun on the merger of two well known systems, VEOS (HITLab) and CLIPS (NASA). In the recent past, the University of Massachusetts Lowell developed a parallel version of NASA CLIPS, called P-CLIPS. This modification allows users to create smaller expert systems which are able to communicate with each other to jointly solve problems. With the merger of a VEOS message system, PCLIPS-V can now act as a group of entities working within VEOS. To display the 3D virtual world we have been using a graphics package called HOOPS, from Ithaca Software. The artificial reality environment we have set up contains actors and objects as found in our Lincoln Logs Factory of the Future project. The environment allows us to view and control the objects within the virtual world. All communication between the separate CLIPS expert systems is done through VEOS. A graphical renderer generates camera views on X-Windows devices; Head Mounted Devices are not required. This allows more people to make use of this technology. We are experimenting with different types of virtual vehicles to give the user a sense that he or she is actually moving around inside the factory looking ahead through windows and virtual monitors.

  13. Digital Speed Cascade Control, using Scilab / Xcos Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petru Chioncel

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an application of digital cascade control implemented in Scilab / Xcos environment, using a P type regulator for the position adjustment circuit, a PI controller for the speed circuit adjustment; the current respectively moments control circuits are rendered by elements of PT1 type. On this basis the program is done in Scilab and the related signal block diagram implemented in Xcos; through simulation, the step response of the system is analyzed for different sampling times.

  14. Calculation of Digital Control Circuits using Scilab Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petru Chioncel

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the computing of digital control circuits using Scilab environment. It exemplifies the influence of the sampling time in case of a transfer system described by a PT3 element composed of one PT1 and one PT2 element. For a continuous control system, the transfer function in z is computed and replaced with a digital control system. The presented calculation, done in Scilab, highlights the test responses of the process evidencing the systems performances.

  15. Facilitative and obstructive factors in the clinical learning environment: Experiences of pupil enrolled nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lekalakala-Mokgele, Eucebious; Caka, Ernestine M

    2015-03-31

    The clinical learning environment is a complex social entity that influences student learning outcomes in the clinical setting. Students can experience the clinical learning environment as being both facilitative and obstructive to their learning. The clinical environment may be a source of stress, creating feelings of fear and anxiety which in turn affect the students' responses to learning. Equally, the environment can enhance learning if experienced positively. This study described pupil enrolled nurses' experiences of facilitative and obstructive factors in military and public health clinical learning settings. Using a qualitative, contextual, exploratory descriptive design, three focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached amongst pupil enrolled nurses in a military School of Nursing. Data analysed provided evidence that acceptance by clinical staff and affordance of self-directed learning facilitated learning. Students felt safe to practise when they were supported by the clinical staff. They felt a sense of belonging when the staff showed an interest in and welcomed them. Learning was obstructed when students were met with condescending comments. Wearing of a military uniform in the public hospital and horizontal violence obstructed learning in the clinical learning environment. Students cannot have effective clinical preparation if the environment is not conducive to and supportive of clinical learning, The study shows that military nursing students experience unique challenges as they are trained in two professions that are hierarchical in nature. The students experienced both facilitating and obstructing factors to their learning during their clinical practice. Clinical staff should be made aware of factors which can impact on students' learning. Policies need to be developed for supporting students in the clinical learning environment.

  16. Bubble Induced Disruption of a Planar Solid-Liquid Interface During Controlled Directional Solidification in a Microgravity Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grugel, Richard N.; Brush, Lucien N.; Anilkumar, Amrutur V.

    2013-01-01

    Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) experiments were conducted in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station with the intent of better understanding the role entrained porosity/bubbles play during controlled directional solidification. The planar interface in a slowing growing succinonitrile - 0.24 wt% water alloy was being observed when a nitrogen bubble traversed the mushy zone and remained at the solid-liquid interface. Breakdown of the interface to shallow cells subsequently occurred, and was later evaluated using down-linked data from a nearby thermocouple. These results and other detrimental effects due to the presence of bubbles during solidification processing in a microgravity environment are presented and discussed.

  17. Severe fuel damage in steam and helium environments observed in in-reactor experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saito, S.; Shiozawa, S.

    1984-01-01

    The bahavior of severe fuel damages has been studied in gaseous environments simulating core uncovery accidents in the in-reactor experiments utilizing the NSRR. Two types of cladding relocation modes, azimuthal flow and melt-down, were revealed through the parametric experiments. The azimuthal flow was evident in an oxidizing environment in case of no oxide film break. The melt-down can be categorized into flow-down and move-down, according to the velocity of the melt-down. Cinematographies showed that the flow-down was very fast as water flows down while the move-down appeared to be much slower. The flow-down was possible in an unoxidizing environment, whereas the move-down of molten cladding occured through a crack induced in an oxide film in an oxidizing environment. The criterion of the relocation modes was developed as a function of peak cladding temperature and oxidation condition. It was also found that neither immediate quench nor fuel fracture occurred upon flooding when cladding temperature was about 1800 0 C at water injection. The external mechanical force is needed for fuel fracture. (orig.)

  18. How nurses and their work environment affect patient experiences of the quality of care: a qualitative study

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Healthcare organisations monitor patient experiences in order to evaluate and improve the quality of care. Because nurses spend a lot of time with patients, they have a major impact on patient experiences. To improve patient experiences of the quality of care, nurses need to know what factors within the nursing work environment are of influence. The main focus of this research was to comprehend the views of Dutch nurses on how their work and their work environment contribute to positive patient experiences. Methods A descriptive qualitative research design was used to collect data. Four focus groups were conducted, one each with 6 or 7 registered nurses in mental health care, hospital care, home care and nursing home care. A total of 26 nurses were recruited through purposeful sampling. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Results The nurses mentioned essential elements that they believe would improve patient experiences of the quality of nursing care: clinically competent nurses, collaborative working relationships, autonomous nursing practice, adequate staffing, control over nursing practice, managerial support and patient-centred culture. They also mentioned several inhibiting factors, such as cost-effectiveness policy and transparency goals for external accountability. Nurses feel pressured to increase productivity and report a high administrative workload. They stated that these factors will not improve patient experiences of the quality of nursing care. Conclusions According to participants, a diverse range of elements affect patient experiences of the quality of nursing care. They believe that incorporating these elements into daily nursing practice would result in more positive patient experiences. However, nurses work in a healthcare context in which they have to reconcile cost-efficiency and accountability with their desire to provide nursing care that is based on patient needs and preferences, and

  19. Virtual experiment of optical spatial filtering in Matlab environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Yunjing; Wang, Chunyong; Song, Yang; Lai, Jiancheng; Wang, Qinghua; Qi, Jing; Shen, Zhonghua

    2017-08-01

    The principle of spatial filtering experiment has been introduced, and the computer simulation platform with graphical user interface (GUI) has been made out in Matlab environment. Using it various filtering processes for different input image or different filtering purpose will be completed accurately, and filtering effect can be observed clearly with adjusting experimental parameters. The physical nature of the optical spatial filtering can be showed vividly, and so experimental teaching effect will be promoted.

  20. Control over the virtual environment influences the presence and efficacy of a virtual reality intervention on pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutiérrez-Martínez, Olga; Gutiérrez-Maldonado, José; Loreto-Quijada, Desirée

    2011-01-01

    The main aim of this study is to investigate whether the control the user has over a virtual environment (VE) influences the sense of presence. A secondary purpose is to explore the relationship between Virtual Reality (VR) presence and pain tolerance during a cold-pressor experience. Ninety-four participants underwent two consecutive cold-pressor trials, one without VR exposure and the other providing a VR stereoscopic figure used as a symbolic representation of the sensation of pain. Participants were randomly assigned to an interactive condition in which they could actively manipulate the VR figure to achieve a pleasant, tranquil environment (analogous to no-pain situation) or to a passive intervention, in which they observed the changes in the VR figure. Results showed that the amount of VR presence reported was significantly higher in the interactive condition. Participants had a higher pain tolerance during both VR conditions than in the no-VR trial, with a greater increase in pain tolerance from the non-VR trial in the interactive condition. Presence scores correlated significantly and positively with pain tolerance scores. We discuss the importance of VR interaction and control over the VR environments used in VR pain interventions designed to increase cognitive control over pain.

  1. A qualitative exploration of chiropractic and physiotherapy teachers' experiences and conceptualizations of the educational environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmgren, Per J.; Liljedahl, Matilda; Lindquist, Ingrid; Laksov, Klara Bolander

    2018-01-01

    Objective: There has been increasing scholarly interest in the role of environments in health care professional education, and the value of these has been widely acknowledged as an influential factor in educational quality. However, little is known about how teachers experience the environment, and there is a recognizable absence of a perspective from chiropractic and physiotherapy faculties. The aim of this study was to explore and contrast chiropractic and physiotherapy teachers' experiences and conceptualizations of the meaning of the educational environment. Methods: In this qualitative study, we performed semistructured interviews with 14 teachers, purposefully selected to obtain richness, variation, and breadth in the data. The data were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. Results: The most noteworthy findings were, first, that chiropractic teachers experienced the meaning of the environment as motivating a vocational practice and modeling ideal, supporting and managing stressed students, and including students in the community of chiropractors. Physiotherapy teachers experienced the meaning of the environment as putting the pedagogical vision into practice, balancing students' expectations, and providing the prerequisites to grow within the profession. Second, both groups of teachers held common conceptualizations of the constituents of the environment as physical, organizational, relational, communicational, and pedagogical; however, they attached different connotations to these dimensions. Conclusion: The findings conveyed a variance in the experience of the meaning of the educational environment that can be attributed to contextual and cultural differences. PMID:29257707

  2. Integrated control of the South African border environment

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Taute, BJE

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available flights enter our airspace. To control/coordinate the border environment effectively requires a vast range of information sources, reconnaissance and surveillance sensors, a communications infrastructure and a hub where information can be collected...

  3. Virtual Learning Environments and Learning Forms -experiments in ICT-based learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helbo, Jan; Knudsen, Morten

    2004-01-01

    This paper report the main results of a three year experiment in ICT-based distance learning. The results are based on a full scale experiment in the education, Master of Industrial Information Technology (MII) and is one of many projects deeply rooted in the project Virtual Learning Environments...... didactic model has until now been a positive experience........ The main problem is that we do not find the same self regulatoring learning effect in the group work among the off-campus students as is the case for on-campus students. Based on feedback from evaluation questionnaires and discussions with the students didactic adjustments have been made. The revised...

  4. What students really learn: contrasting medical and nursing students' experiences of the clinical learning environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liljedahl, Matilda; Boman, Lena Engqvist; Fält, Charlotte Porthén; Bolander Laksov, Klara

    2015-08-01

    This paper explores and contrasts undergraduate medical and nursing students' experiences of the clinical learning environment. Using a sociocultural perspective of learning and an interpretative approach, 15 in-depth interviews with medical and nursing students were analysed with content analysis. Students' experiences are described using a framework of 'before', 'during' and 'after' clinical placements. Three major themes emerged from the analysis, contrasting the medical and nursing students' experiences of the clinical learning environment: (1) expectations of the placement; (2) relationship with the supervisor; and (3) focus of learning. The findings offer an increased understanding of how medical and nursing students learn in the clinical setting; they also show that the clinical learning environment contributes to the socialisation process of students not only into their future profession, but also into their role as learners. Differences between the two professions should be taken into consideration when designing interprofessional learning activities. Also, the findings can be used as a tool for clinical supervisors in the reflection on how student learning in the clinical learning environment can be improved.

  5. Experience of the Paris Research Consortium Climate-Environment-Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joussaume, Sylvie; Pacteau, Chantal; Vanderlinden, Jean Paul

    2016-04-01

    It is now widely recognized that the complexity of climate change issues translates itself into a need for interdisciplinary approaches to science. This allows to first achieve a more comprehensive vision of climate change and, second, to better inform the decision-making processes. However, it seems that willingness alone is rarely enough to implement interdisciplinarity. The purpose of this presentation is to mobilize reflexivity to revisit and analyze the experience of the Paris Consortium for Climate-Environment-Society. The French Consortium Climate-Environment-Society aims to develop, fund and coordinate interdisciplinary research into climate change and its impacts on society and environment. Launched in 2007, the consortium relies on the research expertise of 17 laboratories and federation in the Paris area working mainly in the fields of climatology, hydrology, ecology, health sciences, and the humanities and social sciences. As examples, economists and climatologists have studied greenhouse gas emission scenarios compatible with climate stabilization goals. Historical records have provided both knowledge about past climate change and vulnerability of societies. Some regions, as the Mediterranean and the Sahel, are particularly vulnerable and already have to cope with water availability, agricultural production and even health issues. A project showed that millet production in West Africa is expected to decline due to warming in a higher proportion than observed in recent decades. Climate change also raises many questions concerning health: combined effects of warming and air quality, impacts on the production of pollens and allergies, impacts on infectious diseases. All these issues lead to a need for approaches integrating different disciplines. Furthermore, climate change impacts many ecosystems which, in turn, affect its evolution. Our experience shows that interdisciplinarity supposes, in order to take shape, the conjunction between programming

  6. A controlled experiment on the impact of software structure on maintainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rombach, Dieter H.

    1987-01-01

    The impact of software structure on maintainability aspects including comprehensibility, locality, modifiability, and reusability in a distributed system environment is studied in a controlled maintenance experiment involving six medium-size distributed software systems implemented in LADY (language for distributed systems) and six in an extended version of sequential PASCAL. For all maintenance aspects except reusability, the results were quantitatively given in terms of complexity metrics which could be automated. The results showed LADY to be better suited to the development of maintainable software than the extension of sequential PASCAL. The strong typing combined with high parametrization of units is suggested to improve the reusability of units in LADY.

  7. Climate chamber for environmentally controlled laboratory airflow experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Even-Tzur, Nurit; Zaretsky, Uri; Grinberg, Orly; Davidovich, Tomer; Kloog, Yoel; Wolf, Michael; Elad, David

    2010-01-01

    Climate chambers have been widely used in in vitro and in vivo studies which require controlled environmental temperature and humidity conditions. This article describes a new desktop climate chamber that was developed for application of respiratory airflows on cultured nasal epithelial cells (NEC) under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. Flow experiments were performed by connecting the climate chamber to an airflow generator via a flow chamber with cultured NEC. Experiments at two controlled climate conditions, 25 degrees C and 40% relative humidity (RH) and 37 degrees C and 80%RH, were conducted to study mucin secretion from the cultures inresponse to the flow. The new climate chamber is a relatively simple and inexpensive apparatus which can easily be connected to any flow system for climate controlled flow experiments. This chamber can be easily adjusted to various in vitro experiments, as well as to clinical studies with animals or human subjects which require controlled climate conditions.

  8. Real behavior in virtual environments: psychology experiments in a simple virtual-reality paradigm using video games.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, Michail D; Johansen, Mark K

    2010-12-01

    The purpose of this research was to illustrate the broad usefulness of simple video-game-based virtual environments (VEs) for psychological research on real-world behavior. To this end, this research explored several high-level social phenomena in a simple, inexpensive computer-game environment: the reduced likelihood of helping under time pressure and the bystander effect, which is reduced helping in the presence of bystanders. In the first experiment, participants had to find the exit in a virtual labyrinth under either high or low time pressure. They encountered rooms with and without virtual bystanders, and in each room, a virtual person requested assistance. Participants helped significantly less frequently under time pressure but the presence/absence of a small number of bystanders did not significantly moderate helping. The second experiment increased the number of virtual bystanders, and participants were instructed to imagine that these were real people. Participants helped significantly less in rooms with large numbers of bystanders compared to rooms with no bystanders, thus demonstrating a bystander effect. These results indicate that even sophisticated high-level social behaviors can be observed and experimentally manipulated in simple VEs, thus implying the broad usefulness of this paradigm in psychological research as a good compromise between experimental control and ecological validity.

  9. Facilitative and obstructive factors in the clinical learning environment: Experiences of pupil enrolled nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eucebious Lekalakala-Mokgele

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: The clinical learning environment is a complex social entity that influences student learning outcomes in the clinical setting. Students can experience the clinical learning environment as being both facilitative and obstructive to their learning. The clinical environment may be a source of stress, creating feelings of fear and anxiety which in turn affect the students’ responses to learning. Equally, the environment can enhance learning if experienced positively. Objectives: This study described pupil enrolled nurses’ experiences of facilitative and obstructive factors in military and public health clinical learning settings. Method: Using a qualitative, contextual, exploratory descriptive design, three focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached amongst pupil enrolled nurses in a military School of Nursing. Results: Data analysed provided evidence that acceptance by clinical staff and affordance of self-directed learning facilitated learning. Students felt safe to practise when they were supported by the clinical staff. They felt a sense of belonging when the staff showed an interest in and welcomed them. Learning was obstructed when students were met with condescending comments. Wearing of a military uniform in the public hospital and horizontal violence obstructed learning in the clinical learning environment. Conclusion: Students cannot have effective clinical preparation if the environment is not conducive to and supportive of clinical learning, The study shows that military nursing students experience unique challenges as they are trained in two professions that are hierarchical in nature. The students experienced both facilitating and obstructing factors to their learning during their clinical practice. Clinical staff should be made aware of factors which can impact on students’ learning. Policies need to be developed for supporting students in the clinical learning

  10. NASA Controller Acceptability Study 1(CAS-1) Experiment Description and Initial Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamberlain, James P.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Comstock, James R., Jr.; Ghatas, Rania W.; Munoz, Cesar

    2015-01-01

    This paper describes the Controller Acceptability Study 1 (CAS-1) experiment that was conducted by NASA Langley Research Center personnel from January through March 2014 and presents partial CAS-1 results. CAS-1 employed 14 air traffic controller volunteers as research subjects to assess the viability of simulated future unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operating alongside manned aircraft in moderate-density, moderate-complexity Class E airspace. These simulated UAS were equipped with a prototype pilot-in-the-loop (PITL) Detect and Avoid (DAA) system, specifically the Self-Separation (SS) function of such a system based on Stratway+ software to replace the see-and-avoid capabilities of manned aircraft pilots. A quantitative CAS-1 objective was to determine horizontal miss distance (HMD) values for SS encounters that were most acceptable to air traffic controllers, specifically HMD values that were assessed as neither unsafely small nor disruptively large. HMD values between 0.5 and 3.0 nautical miles (nmi) were assessed for a wide array of encounter geometries between UAS and manned aircraft. The paper includes brief introductory material about DAA systems and their SS functions, followed by descriptions of the CAS-1 simulation environment, prototype PITL SS capability, and experiment design, and concludes with presentation and discussion of partial CAS-1 data and results.

  11. Visualization environment for reviewing and experimenting with compaction equipment trajectories in context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vasenev, Alexandr; Hartmann, Timo; Miller, Seirgei Rosario; Doree, Andries G.

    Visualization Environments (VEs) can assist construction professionals in studying intricate interrelations between construction equipment trajectories and their context. Such VEs typically support them in either reviewing earlier conducted work or experimenting with possible alternatives. In the

  12. Interpolation Environment of Tensor Mathematics at the Corpuscular Stage of Computational Experiments in Hydromechanics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogdanov, Alexander; Degtyarev, Alexander; Khramushin, Vasily; Shichkina, Yulia

    2018-02-01

    Stages of direct computational experiments in hydromechanics based on tensor mathematics tools are represented by conditionally independent mathematical models for calculations separation in accordance with physical processes. Continual stage of numerical modeling is constructed on a small time interval in a stationary grid space. Here coordination of continuity conditions and energy conservation is carried out. Then, at the subsequent corpuscular stage of the computational experiment, kinematic parameters of mass centers and surface stresses at the boundaries of the grid cells are used in modeling of free unsteady motions of volume cells that are considered as independent particles. These particles can be subject to vortex and discontinuous interactions, when restructuring of free boundaries and internal rheological states has place. Transition from one stage to another is provided by interpolation operations of tensor mathematics. Such interpolation environment formalizes the use of physical laws for mechanics of continuous media modeling, provides control of rheological state and conditions for existence of discontinuous solutions: rigid and free boundaries, vortex layers, their turbulent or empirical generalizations.

  13. Family control, institutional environment and cash dividend policy: Evidence from China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhihua Wei

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Using a sample of 1486 Chinese A-share listed companies for the period 2004–2008, this study empirically tests the impact of family control, institutional environment and their interaction on the cash dividend policy of listed companies. Our results indicate that (1 family firms have a lower cash dividend payout ratio and propensity to pay dividends than non-family firms; (2 a favorable regional institutional environment has a significant positive impact on the cash dividend payout ratio and propensity to pay dividends of listed companies; and (3 the impact of the regional institutional environment on cash dividends is stronger in family firms than in non-family firms. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that controlling family shareholders in China may intensify Agency Problem I (the owner–manager conflict rather than Agency Problem II (the controlling shareholder–minority shareholder conflict, and thus have a significant negative impact on cash dividend policy. In contrast, a favorable regional institutional environment plays a positive corporate governance role in mitigating Agency Problem I and encouraging family firms to pay cash dividends.

  14. A Solid-State NMR Experiment: Analysis of Local Structural Environments in Phosphate Glasses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Stanley E.; Saiki, David; Eckert, Hellmut; Meise-Gresch, Karin

    2004-01-01

    An experiment that can be used to directly study the local chemical environments of phosphorus in solid amorphous materials is demonstrated. The experiment aims at familiarizing the students of chemistry with the principles of solid-state NMR, by having them synthesize a simple phosphate glass, and making them observe the (super 31)P NMR spectrum,…

  15. Effect of an Immersive Preoperative Virtual Reality Experience on Patient Reported Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekelis, Kimon; Calnan, Daniel; Simmons, Nathan; MacKenzie, Todd A; Kakoulides, George

    2017-06-01

    To investigate the effect of exposure to a virtual reality (VR) environment preoperatively on patient-reported outcomes for surgical operations. There is a scarcity of well-developed quality improvement initiatives targeting patient satisfaction. We performed a randomized controlled trial of patients undergoing cranial and spinal operations in a tertiary referral center. Patients underwent a 1:1 randomization to an immersive preoperative VR experience or standard preoperative experience stratified on type of operation. The primary outcome measures were the Evaluation du Vecu de l'Anesthesie Generale (EVAN-G) score and the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information (APAIS) score, as markers of the patient's experience during the surgical encounter. During the study period, a total of 127 patients (mean age 55.3 years, 41.9% females) underwent randomization. The average EVAN-G score was 84.3 (standard deviation, SD, 6.4) after VR, and 64.3 (SD, 11.7) after standard preoperative experience (difference, 20.0; 95% confidence interval, CI, 16.6-23.3). Exposure to an immersive VR experience also led to higher APAIS score (difference, 29.9; 95% CI, 24.5-35.2). In addition, VR led to lower preoperative VAS stress score (difference, -41.7; 95% CI, -33.1 to -50.2), and higher preoperative VAS preparedness (difference, 32.4; 95% CI, 24.9-39.8), and VAS satisfaction (difference, 33.2; 95% CI, 25.4-41.0) scores. No association was identified with VAS stress score (difference, -1.6; 95% CI, -13.4 to 10.2). In a randomized controlled trial, we demonstrated that patients exposed to preoperative VR had increased satisfaction during the surgical encounter. Harnessing the power of this technology, hospitals can create an immersive environment that minimizes stress, and enhances the perioperative experience.

  16. Implementation experiences of ISO/IEEE11073 standard applied to new use cases for e-health environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez, I; Escayola, J; Martinez-Espronceda, M; Serrano, L; Trigo, J D; Led, S; Garcia, J

    2009-01-01

    Recent advances in biomedical engineering and continuous technological innovations in last decade are promoting new challenges, especially in e-Health environments. In this context, the medical devices interoperability is one of the interest fields wherein these improvements require a standard-based design in order to achieve homogeneous solutions. Furthermore, the spreading of wearable devices, oriented to the paradigm of patient environment and supported by wireless technologies as Bluetooth or ZigBee, is bringing new medical use cases based on Ambient Assisted Living, home monitoring of elderly, heart failure, chronic, under palliative care or patients who have undergone surgery, urgencies and emergencies, or even fitness auto-control and health follow-up. In this paper, several implementation experiences based on ISO/IEEE11073 standard are detailed. These evolved e-Health services can improve the quality of the patient's care, increase the user's interaction, and assure these e-Health applications to be fully compatible with global telemedicine systems.

  17. Toward semi-autonomous control of mobile robots for constrained environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mercier, O.; Cara, O.

    1991-01-01

    Drawing from long-time experience in nuclear maintenance robotics, FRAMATOME leads with several partners an important effort with the goal of developing the decision and operator assistance capabilities of mobile robots. Future robots shall be better adapted (in size and configuration) to the operational requirements of nuclear plants work than current demonstrators. Due regards shall be paid to safety aspects and qualification procedure shall be specified soon. Also, dosimetry gains (e.g. as evaluated by DOSIANA) shall be evaluated to establish further the advantages of robotic solutions. Current achievements and plans for the next two years are expected to provide the necessary know-how for semi-autonomous control of various mobile robots in actual missions in nuclear plant environment. These advances in many closely connected disciplines and technologies should put FRAMATOME in a leader position as systems integrator or as developer for future markets in autonomous mobile robotics, not only in the nuclear field but in other domains as well. (author)

  18. Respiratory Infections in the U.S. Military: Recent Experience and Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Michael J.; Myers, Christopher A.; Cummings, James F.; Vest, Kelly G.; Russell, Kevin L.; Sanchez, Joyce L.; Hiser, Michelle J.; Gaydos, Charlotte A.

    2015-01-01

    SUMMARY This comprehensive review outlines the impact of military-relevant respiratory infections, with special attention to recruit training environments, influenza pandemics in 1918 to 1919 and 2009 to 2010, and peacetime operations and conflicts in the past 25 years. Outbreaks and epidemiologic investigations of viral and bacterial infections among high-risk groups are presented, including (i) experience by recruits at training centers, (ii) impact on advanced trainees in special settings, (iii) morbidity sustained by shipboard personnel at sea, and (iv) experience of deployed personnel. Utilizing a pathogen-by-pathogen approach, we examine (i) epidemiology, (ii) impact in terms of morbidity and operational readiness, (iii) clinical presentation and outbreak potential, (iv) diagnostic modalities, (v) treatment approaches, and (vi) vaccine and other control measures. We also outline military-specific initiatives in (i) surveillance, (ii) vaccine development and policy, (iii) novel influenza and coronavirus diagnostic test development and surveillance methods, (iv) influenza virus transmission and severity prediction modeling efforts, and (v) evaluation and implementation of nonvaccine, nonpharmacologic interventions. PMID:26085551

  19. HAMMLAB 1999 experimental control room: design - design rationale - experiences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foerdestroemmen, N. T.; Meyer, B. D.; Saarni, R.

    1999-01-01

    A presentation of HAMMLAB 1999 experimental control room, and the accumulated experiences gathered in the areas of design and design rationale as well as user experiences. It is concluded that HAMMLAB 1999 experimental control room is a realistic, compact and efficient control room well suited as an Advanced NPP Control Room (ml)

  20. Clinical Education Environment Experiences of Operating Room Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tahereh khazaei

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background and purpose: The objective of medical education is to train competent and qualified workforce in order to provide services in various health environments. One of the important objectives of Operating Room students is to train workforce who can involve in patient’s health and recovery. Training these students should cause clinical ability and independent decision making during surgery. Since students during internship face with many problems, this study has been conducted to explore and describe the challenges and experiences.Methods: This qualitative study is a phenomenology that was conducted based on 20 students in the last semester of Operating Room associate’s degree with purposive sampling. Deep and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and data were analyzed by content analysis method.Results: The findings in 5 main themes: (1 Physical space and equipment in the operating room, (2 The student’s position in operating room, (3 Integrating knowledge and action, (4 Managing education environment and 5- Student’s viewpoint about operating room and working in it.Conclusions: Interviews with students revealed the educational environment challenges with which they are faced during their study. Teachers can provide solutions to overcome the challenges and create a positive atmosphere for students' learning using results of this study and students may continue their interest in education and improve the quality of their education.Keywords: CLINICAL EDUCATION, OPERATING ROOM STUDENTS, CHALLENGE

  1. The Context of Child Care for Toddlers: The "Experience Expectable Environment"

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Paro, Karen M.; Gloeckler, Lissy

    2016-01-01

    An experience expectable environment in child care classrooms is one in which teachers consistently provide positive and nurturing interactions within daily routines and activities to enhance children's learning. Growing numbers of children are being enrolled in child care at earlier ages and staying for longer periods of time each day which is…

  2. Virtual Learning Environments and Learning Forms -experiments in ICT-based learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helbo, Jan; Knudsen, Morten

    2004-01-01

    This paper report the main results of a three year experiment in ICT-based distance learning. The results are based on a full scale experiment in the education, Master of Industrial Information Technology (MII) and is one of many projects deeply rooted in the project Virtual Learning Environments...... and Learning forms (ViLL). The experiment was to transfer a well functioning on-campus engineering program based on project organized collaborative learning to a technology supported distance education program. After three years the experiments indicate that adjustments are required in this transformation....... The main problem is that we do not find the same self regulatoring learning effect in the group work among the off-campus students as is the case for on-campus students. Based on feedback from evaluation questionnaires and discussions with the students didactic adjustments have been made. The revised...

  3. In Silico Pooling of ChIP-seq Control Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Guannan; Srinivasan, Rajini; Lopez-Anido, Camila; Hung, Holly A.; Svaren, John; Keleş, Sündüz

    2014-01-01

    As next generation sequencing technologies are becoming more economical, large-scale ChIP-seq studies are enabling the investigation of the roles of transcription factor binding and epigenome on phenotypic variation. Studying such variation requires individual level ChIP-seq experiments. Standard designs for ChIP-seq experiments employ a paired control per ChIP-seq sample. Genomic coverage for control experiments is often sacrificed to increase the resources for ChIP samples. However, the quality of ChIP-enriched regions identifiable from a ChIP-seq experiment depends on the quality and the coverage of the control experiments. Insufficient coverage leads to loss of power in detecting enrichment. We investigate the effect of in silico pooling of control samples within multiple biological replicates, multiple treatment conditions, and multiple cell lines and tissues across multiple datasets with varying levels of genomic coverage. Our computational studies suggest guidelines for performing in silico pooling of control experiments. Using vast amounts of ENCODE data, we show that pairwise correlations between control samples originating from multiple biological replicates, treatments, and cell lines/tissues can be grouped into two classes representing whether or not in silico pooling leads to power gain in detecting enrichment between the ChIP and the control samples. Our findings have important implications for multiplexing samples. PMID:25380244

  4. The relationship between interference control and sense of presence in virtual environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Velichkovsky B. B.

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background. The sense of presence is an important aspect of interaction with virtual reality applications. Earlier we suggested that presence can depend on cognitive control. The latter is a set of meta-cognitive processes which are responsible for configuring the cognitive system for the accomplishment of specific tasks with respect to a given context. In particular, cognitive control helps in preventing interference from the task-irrelevant variables. Objective. is study aimed at investigation of the possible relationship between interference control and aspects of presence. Design. Thirty-nine subjects (32 female and 7 male, aged 18 to 27 years participated in the study. The subjects were assessed via a battery of interference control tasks (Flanker Task, Go/No Go task, antisaccade task and performed a virtual scenario (navigating within an array of randomly placed virtual digits in correct numerical order in high-immersion (CAVE and low-immersion (standard computer display virtual environments. Afterwards, the subjects completed a Russian version of the ITC-Sense of Presence inventory. Results. We found that interference control is generally related to the sense of presence, especially in the CAVE (high-immersion environment. Sensory interference control was most strongly associated with various aspects of presence (overall presence score, spatial presence, and emotional involvement. Motor interference control was associated with spatial presence and emotional involvement, but this relationship was weaker than was the case with sensory interference control. Low-immersion virtual environments attenuate some of these links between interference control and presence so that only sensory interference control remains a notable predictor of presence. Conclusion. Interference control is positively associated with presence in virtual environments with varying immersion levels. is may reflect a more general cause-and-effect relationship between

  5. Flight Experiments for Living With a Star Space Environment Testbed (LWS-SET): Relationship to Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaBel, Kenneth A.; Barth, Janet L.; Brewer, Dana A.

    2003-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation provides information on flight validation experiments for technologies to determine solar effects. The experiments are intended to demonstrate tolerance to a solar variant environment. The technologies tested are microelectronics, photonics, materials, and sensors.

  6. The research of nuclear experiment radiation environment wireless alarm device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Xiaoqiong; Wang Pan; Fang Fang

    2009-01-01

    This article introduces based on monolithic integrated circuit's nuclear experiment radiation environment wireless alarm device's software and hardware design. The system by G-M tube, high-pressured module, signal conditioning circuit, power source module, monolithic integrated circuit and wireless transmission module is composed. The device has low power consumption, high performance, high accuracy detection, easy maintenance, small size, simple operation, and other features, and has a broad application prospects. (authors)

  7. Nursing Faculty Experiences of Virtual Learning Environments for Teaching Clinical Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zacharzuk-Marciano, Tara

    2017-01-01

    Nurses need sharp, clinical reasoning skills to respond to critical situations and to be successful at work in a complex and challenging healthcare system. While past research has focused on using virtual learning environments to teach clinical reasoning, there has been limited research on the experiences of nursing faculty and there is a need for…

  8. Eye-based Direct Interaction for Environmental Control in Heterogeneous Smart Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corno, Fulvio; Gale, Alastair; Majaranta, Päivi; Räihä, Kari-Jouko

    environmental control is the control, operation, and monitoring of an environment via intermediary technology such as a computer. Typically this means control of a domestic home.Within the scope of COGAIN, this environmental control concerns the control of the personal environment of a person (with or without a disability). This defines environmental control as the control of a home or domestic setting and those objects that are within that setting. Thus, we may say that environmental control systems enable anyone to operate a wide range of domestic appliances and other vital functions in the home by remote control. In recent years the problem of self-sufficiency for older people and people with a disability has attracted increasing attention and resources. The search for new solutions that can guarantee greater autonomy and a better quality of life has begun to exploit easily available state-of-the-art technology. Personal environmental control can be considered to be a comprehensive and effective aid, adaptable to the functional possibilities of the user and to their desired actions.

  9. Constraint, Intelligence, and Control Hierarchy in Virtual Environments. Chapter 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheridan, Thomas B.

    2007-01-01

    This paper seeks to deal directly with the question of what makes virtual actors and objects that are experienced in virtual environments seem real. (The term virtual reality, while more common in public usage, is an oxymoron; therefore virtual environment is the preferred term in this paper). Reality is difficult topic, treated for centuries in those sub-fields of philosophy called ontology- "of or relating to being or existence" and epistemology- "the study of the method and grounds of knowledge, especially with reference to its limits and validity" (both from Webster s, 1965). Advances in recent decades in the technologies of computers, sensors and graphics software have permitted human users to feel present or experience immersion in computer-generated virtual environments. This has motivated a keen interest in probing this phenomenon of presence and immersion not only philosophically but also psychologically and physiologically in terms of the parameters of the senses and sensory stimulation that correlate with the experience (Ellis, 1991). The pages of the journal Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments have seen much discussion of what makes virtual environments seem real (see, e.g., Slater, 1999; Slater et al. 1994; Sheridan, 1992, 2000). Stephen Ellis, when organizing the meeting that motivated this paper, suggested to invited authors that "We may adopt as an organizing principle for the meeting that the genesis of apparently intelligent interaction arises from an upwelling of constraints determined by a hierarchy of lower levels of behavioral interaction. "My first reaction was "huh?" and my second was "yeah, that seems to make sense." Accordingly the paper seeks to explain from the author s viewpoint, why Ellis s hypothesis makes sense. What is the connection of "presence" or "immersion" of an observer in a virtual environment, to "constraints" and what types of constraints. What of "intelligent interaction," and is it the intelligence of the

  10. Standards for the control of radioactive discharges to the environment a changing situation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, C.; Cabiance, T.; Linsley, G.

    2004-01-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the organization within the UN family with a statutory mandate to establish standards for the protection of health and property against ionizing radiation, and to provide for the application of those standards. As part of these functions, the IAEA periodically reviews the status and continued relevance of its standards to the needs of Member States. Recent work on the development of a framework for the protection of non-human species, and on practical guidance for setting discharge limits, has highlighted a number of issues that have a bearing on the further development and application of standards for the control of discharges of radionuclides to the environment. The status of IAEA work on the protection of non-human species and the main findings of the International Conference on Protection of the Environment from the Effects of Ionizing Radiation, held in Stockholm, Sweden in October 2003 are presented. As part of a parallel programme of work, in support of existing standards on the regulatory control of discharges, a review of relevant national experience has been undertaken. This suggests that societal pressures and regulatory practicalities have resulted in discharge controls that are often more restrictive that those that would be implied by formal optimization techniques. A number of factors taken into account in setting discharge limits are identified and the application of the optimization principle to discharge regulation is discussed. The possible form of future standards that address both these developments is explored. (Author) 28 refs

  11. Teachers' experiences of teaching in a blended learning environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jokinen, Pirkko; Mikkonen, Irma

    2013-11-01

    This paper considers teachers' experiences of teaching undergraduate nursing students in a blended learning environment. The basic idea of the study programme was to support students to reflect on theory and practice, and provide with access to expert and professional knowledge in real-life problem-solving and decision making. Learning was organised to support learning in and about work: students worked full-time and this provided excellent opportunities for learning both in practice, online and face-to-face sessions. The aim of the study was to describe teachers' experiences of planning and implementing teaching and learning in a blended-learning-based adult nursing programme. The research method was qualitative, and the data were collected by three focus group interviews, each with four to six participants. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that the blended learning environment constructed by the combination of face-to-face learning and learning in practice with technology-mediated learning creates challenges that must be taken into consideration when planning and implementing blended teaching and learning. However, it provides good opportunities to enhance students' learning in and about work. This is because such programmes support student motivation through the presence of "real-life" and their relevance to the students' own places of work. Nevertheless, teachers require knowledge of different pedagogical approaches; they need professional development support in redesigning teaching and learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. High-dependency care: experiences of the psychosocial work environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Hanif Abdul; Naing, Lin; Abdul-Mumin, Khadizah

    2017-11-23

    to explore high-dependency care nurses' experiences of their psychosocial work environment. four focus groups were conducted with 23 emergency and critical care hospital nurses in Brunei. All sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive-approach thematic analysis. three major themes were identified. 'Specialisation/specific skills' explained a fundamental requirement for the high-dependency care nurses to work effectively and efficiently in their workplace. 'Task completion' narrated the pressure they experienced to complete their tasks within time constraints exacerbated by a reduced number of staff. 'Acknowledgement' signified their need for fair and adequate reward for their hard work through career progression and promotion. this study facilitates the design of future interventions and policies that promote a healthy psychosocial work environment by ensuring nurses working in these areas have the required specialisation skills, there is a balance of workload and nurse-to-patient ratios, and they are offered fairness and equity in career progression and promotion.

  13. Central automatic control or distributed occupant control for better indoor environment quality in the future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Toftum, Joern [International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DTU, Building 402, DK-2800 Lyngby (Denmark)

    2010-01-15

    Based on a database accumulated from several recent surveys of office buildings located in a temperate climate (Denmark), the effect on occupant perceptions and symptom prevalence was compared in buildings with natural and with mechanical ventilation in which earlier studies have shown a discrepancy in the degree of perceived control. The database was composed of 1272 responses obtained in 24 buildings of which 15 had mechanical ventilation (997 responses) and nine had natural ventilation (275 responses). The number of occupant-reported control opportunities was higher in buildings with natural ventilation. Analysis of occupant responses, after grouping according to categories determined by the degree of satisfaction with the perceived control, showed that it was more likely the degree of control satisfaction that affected the prevalence of adverse perceptions and symptoms. Thus, the degree of control, as perceived by occupants, seemed more important for the prevalence of adverse symptoms and building-related symptoms than the ventilation mode per se. This result indicates that even though the development and application of new indoor environment sensors and HVAC control systems may allow for fully automated IEQ control, such systems should not compromise occupants' perception of having some degree of control of their indoor environment. (author)

  14. An Access Control and Trust Management Framework for Loosely-Coupled Multidomain Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yue

    2010-01-01

    Multidomain environments where multiple organizations interoperate with each other are becoming a reality as can be seen in emerging Internet-based enterprise applications. Access control to ensure secure interoperation in such an environment is a crucial challenge. A multidomain environment can be categorized as "tightly-coupled" and…

  15. Concluding from operating experience to instrumentation and control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pleger, H.; Heinsohn, H.

    1997-01-01

    Where conclusions are drawn from operating experience to instrumentation and control systems, two general statements should be made. First: There have been braekdowns, there have also been deficiencies, but in principle operating experience with the instrumentation and control systems of German nuclear power plants has been good. With respect to the debates about the use of modern digital instrumentation and control systems it is safe to say, secondly, that the instrumentation and control systems currently in use are working reliably. Hence, there is no need at present to replace existing systems for reasons of technical safety. However, that time will come. It is a good thing, therefore, that the use of modern digital instrumentation and control systems is to begin in the field of limiting devices. The operating experience which will thus be accumulated will benefit digital instrumentation and control systems in their qualification process for more demanding applications. This makes proper logging of operating experience an important function, even if it cannot be transferred in every respect. All parties involved therefore should see to it that this operating experience is collected in accordance with criteria agreed upon so as to prevent unwanted surprises later on. (orig.) [de

  16. Reproducibility, controllability, and optimization of LENR experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nagel, David J. [The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052 (United States)

    2006-07-01

    Low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) measurements are significantly, and increasingly reproducible. Practical control of the production of energy or materials by LENR has yet to be demonstrated. Minimization of costly inputs and maximization of desired outputs of LENR remain for future developments. The paper concludes by underlying that it is now clearly that demands for reproducible experiments in the early years of LENR experiments were premature. In fact, one can argue that irreproducibility should be expected for early experiments in a complex new field. As emphasized in the paper and as often happened in the history of science, experimental and theoretical progress can take even decades. It is likely to be many years before investments in LENR experiments will yield significant returns, even for successful research programs. However, it is clearly that a fundamental understanding of the anomalous effects observed in numerous experiments will significantly increase reproducibility, improve controllability, enable optimization of processes, and accelerate the economic viability of LENR.

  17. Reproducibility, controllability, and optimization of LENR experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagel, David J.

    2006-01-01

    Low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) measurements are significantly, and increasingly reproducible. Practical control of the production of energy or materials by LENR has yet to be demonstrated. Minimization of costly inputs and maximization of desired outputs of LENR remain for future developments. The paper concludes by underlying that it is now clearly that demands for reproducible experiments in the early years of LENR experiments were premature. In fact, one can argue that irreproducibility should be expected for early experiments in a complex new field. As emphasized in the paper and as often happened in the history of science, experimental and theoretical progress can take even decades. It is likely to be many years before investments in LENR experiments will yield significant returns, even for successful research programs. However, it is clearly that a fundamental understanding of the anomalous effects observed in numerous experiments will significantly increase reproducibility, improve controllability, enable optimization of processes, and accelerate the economic viability of LENR

  18. Focusing on the Environment to Improve Youth Participation: Experiences and Perspectives of Occupational Therapists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anaby, Dana; Law, Mary; Teplicky, Rachel; Turner, Laura

    2015-10-23

    The environment plays a key role in supporting children's participation and can serve as a focus of intervention. This study aimed to elicit the perceptions and experiences of occupational therapists who had applied the PREP approach--Pathways and Resources for Engagement and Participation. PREP is a novel 12-week intervention for youth with physical disabilities, aimed at improving participation in leisure community-based activities by modifying aspects of the environment. Using a qualitative post-intervention only design, 12 therapists took part in individual semi-structured interviews, in which the therapists reflected on their experience using PREP to enable participation. A thematic analysis was conducted. Four themes emerged from the data; two of which were informative in nature, describing elements of the PREP intervention that target multi-layered composition of the environment and use strategies that involve leveraging resources and problem solving. The two remaining themes were reflective in nature, illustrating a new take on the Occupational Therapy role and re-positioning the concept of participation in therapy practices. Results emphasize aspects of the environment that can serve as effective targets of intervention, guided by the PREP approach. Findings can broaden the scope and focus of occupational therapy practice by redefining views on participation and the environment.

  19. Real Time Implementation of PID and Fuzzy PD Controllers for DC-Servo Motor Based on Lab View Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Safaa M. Z. Al-Ubaidi

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an implementation of conventional PID (CPID controller using Ziegler-Nichols rules and fuzzy PD (FPD controller for position servo motor control based on Lab View (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench Environment through Data Acquisition (DAQ Device PCI- 6521 of National Instrument's and Data Acquisition Accessory Board Model (CB-68LP.CPID controller is perhaps the most well-known and most widely used in industrial applications. However, it has been known that CPID controller generally don’t work well for non-linear systems, higher order and time-delayed linear system and particularly complex and vague system. To overcome these difficulties, this paper proposes to use the FPD controller for a servo motor system instead of CPID. The parameters of servo motor used are completely unknown. The FPD structure has two-input single-output and fairly similar characteristic to its conventional counterpart and provides good performance. Simple rules base are used for FPD (nine rules only. Performance evaluation was carried out via a comparison study for the proposed control scheme and other existing control scheme, such as CPID controller. The critical point for this experiment on position system is a steady state error and settling time.  The performance showing that the FPD has less settling time and zero steady state error over its CPID. The algorithms of FPD and CPID controllers are implemented using PID, Fuzzy Logic and simulation toolkits of the Lab View environment.

  20. Expert system for controlling plant growth in a contained environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    May, George A. (Inventor); Lanoue, Mark Allen (Inventor); Bethel, Matthew (Inventor); Ryan, Robert E. (Inventor)

    2011-01-01

    In a system for optimizing crop growth, vegetation is cultivated in a contained environment, such as a greenhouse, an underground cavern or other enclosed space. Imaging equipment is positioned within or about the contained environment, to acquire spatially distributed crop growth information, and environmental sensors are provided to acquire data regarding multiple environmental conditions that can affect crop development. Illumination within the contained environment, and the addition of essential nutrients and chemicals are in turn controlled in response to data acquired by the imaging apparatus and environmental sensors, by an "expert system" which is trained to analyze and evaluate crop conditions. The expert system controls the spatial and temporal lighting pattern within the contained area, and the timing and allocation of nutrients and chemicals to achieve optimized crop development. A user can access the "expert system" remotely, to assess activity within the growth chamber, and can override the "expert system".

  1. Environment-Friendly Control of Pear Scab and Rust Using Lime Sulfur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ju Hoon Cha

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Pear scab and rust are the major diseases causing severe epidemics in organic cultivation of pear trees. Incidences of pear scab and rust were compared in organically managed plots and conventionally managed plots to obtain optimum application schedule of environment-friendly control agents in organically managed plots. Organically cultural practice with 10 time-applications of lime sulfur and Bordeaux mixture showed higher than 40% of control efficacies of pear scab and rust compared to conventionally cultural practice. Organically cultural practice with 8 time-applications of lime sulfur considering weather condition showed higher than 30% of control efficacies of pear scab compared to conventionally cultural practice. The results suggest that proper application of environment-friendly control agents such as lime sulfur considering weather condition will enable effective control of the major diseases for organic cultivation of pear.

  2. Cooperative Control of Distributed Autonomous Vehicles in Adversarial Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-08-14

    COOPERATIVE CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTED AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN ADVERSARIAL ENVIRONMENTS Grant #F49620–01–1–0361 Final Report Jeff Shamma Department of...CONTRACT NUMBER F49620-01-1-0361 5b. GRANT NUMBER 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE COOPERATIVE CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTED AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN...single dominant language or a distribution of languages. A relation to multivehicle systems is understanding how highly autonomous vehicles on extended

  3. Using the computer-driven VR environment to promote experiences of natural world immersion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank, Lisa A.

    2013-03-01

    In December, 2011, over 800 people experienced the exhibit, :"der"//pattern for a virtual environment, created for the fully immersive CAVETM at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This exhibition took my nature-based photographic work and reinterpreted it for virtual reality (VR).Varied responses such as: "It's like a moment of joy," or "I had to see it twice," or "I'm still thinking about it weeks later" were common. Although an implied goal of my 2D artwork is to create a connection that makes viewers more aware of what it means to be a part of the natural world, these six VR environments opened up an unexpected area of inquiry that my 2D work has not. Even as the experience was mediated by machines, there was a softening at the interface between technology and human sensibility. Somehow, for some people, through the unlikely auspices of a computer-driven environment, the project spoke to a human essence that they connected with in a way that went beyond all expectations and felt completely out of my hands. Other interesting behaviors were noted: in some scenarios some spoke of intense anxiety, acrophobia, claustrophobia-even fear of death when the scene took them underground. These environments were believable enough to cause extreme responses and disorientation for some people; were fun, pleasant and wonder-filled for most; and were liberating, poetic and meditative for many others. The exhibition seemed to promote imaginative skills, creativity, emotional insight, and environmental sensitivity. It also revealed the CAVETM to be a powerful tool that can encourage uniquely productive experiences. Quite by accident, I watched as these nature-based environments revealed and articulated an essential relationship between the human spirit and the physical world. The CAVETM is certainly not a natural space, but there is clear potential to explore virtual environments as a path to better and deeper connections between people and nature. We've long associated contact

  4. EDUCATION REFORMS TOWARDS 21ST CENTURY SKILLS: TRANSFORMING STUDENTS' LEARNING EXPERIENCES THROUGH EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

    OpenAIRE

    Harriet Wambui Njui

    2018-01-01

    This paper reviews literature on learning environments with a view to making recommendations on how teachers could create effective and high-quality learning environments that provide learners with transformative learning experiences as they go through the process of education. An effective learning environment is critical because quality education, which is essential to real learning and human development, is influenced by factors both inside and outside the classroom. Learning institutions ...

  5. A synthetic computational environment: To control the spread of respiratory infections in a virtual university

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Yuanzheng; Chen, Bin; liu, Liang; Qiu, Xiaogang; Song, Hongbin; Wang, Yong

    2018-02-01

    Individual-based computational environment provides an effective solution to study complex social events by reconstructing scenarios. Challenges remain in reconstructing the virtual scenarios and reproducing the complex evolution. In this paper, we propose a framework to reconstruct a synthetic computational environment, reproduce the epidemic outbreak, and evaluate management interventions in a virtual university. The reconstructed computational environment includes 4 fundamental components: the synthetic population, behavior algorithms, multiple social networks, and geographic campus environment. In the virtual university, influenza H1N1 transmission experiments are conducted, and gradually enhanced interventions are evaluated and compared quantitatively. The experiment results indicate that the reconstructed virtual environment provides a solution to reproduce complex emergencies and evaluate policies to be executed in the real world.

  6. Noise Pollution Control System in the Hospital Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueroa Gallo, LM; Olivera, JM

    2016-04-01

    Problems related to environmental noise are not a new subject, but they became a major issue to solve because of the increasing, in complexity and intensity, of human activities due technological advances. Numerous international studies had dealt with the exposure of critical patients to noisy environment such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Units; their results show that there are difficulties in the organization in the developing brain, it can damage the delicate auditory structures and can cause biorhythm disorders, specially in preterm infants. The objective of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a control system that includes technical-management-training aspects to regulate the levels of specific noise sources in the neonatal hospitalization environment. For this purpose, there were applied different tools like: observations, surveys, procedures, an electronic control device and a training program for a Neonatal Service Unit. As a result, all noise sources were identified -some of them are eliminable-; all the service stable staff categories participated voluntarily; environmental noise measurements yielded values between 62.5 and 64.6 dBA and maximum were between 86.1 and 89.7 dBA; it was designed and installed a noise control device and the staff is being trained in noise reduction best practices.

  7. Noise Pollution Control System in the Hospital Environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueroa Gallo, LM; Olivera, JM

    2016-01-01

    Problems related to environmental noise are not a new subject, but they became a major issue to solve because of the increasing, in complexity and intensity, of human activities due technological advances. Numerous international studies had dealt with the exposure of critical patients to noisy environment such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Units; their results show that there are difficulties in the organization in the developing brain, it can damage the delicate auditory structures and can cause biorhythm disorders, specially in preterm infants. The objective of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a control system that includes technical-management-training aspects to regulate the levels of specific noise sources in the neonatal hospitalization environment. For this purpose, there were applied different tools like: observations, surveys, procedures, an electronic control device and a training program for a Neonatal Service Unit. As a result, all noise sources were identified -some of them are eliminable-; all the service stable staff categories participated voluntarily; environmental noise measurements yielded values between 62.5 and 64.6 dBA and maximum were between 86.1 and 89.7 dBA; it was designed and installed a noise control device and the staff is being trained in noise reduction best practices. (paper)

  8. Changing expression of vertebrate immunity genes in an anthropogenic environment: a controlled experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hablützel, Pascal I; Brown, Martha; Friberg, Ida M; Jackson, Joseph A

    2016-09-01

    The effect of anthropogenic environments on the function of the vertebrate immune system is a problem of general importance. For example, it relates to the increasing rates of immunologically-based disease in modern human populations and to the desirability of identifying optimal immune function in domesticated animals. Despite this importance, our present understanding is compromised by a deficit of experimental studies that make adequately matched comparisons between wild and captive vertebrates. We transferred post-larval fishes (three-spined sticklebacks), collected in the wild, to an anthropogenic (captive) environment. We then monitored, over 11 months, how the systemic expression of immunity genes changed in comparison to cohort-matched wild individuals in the originator population (total n = 299). We found that a range of innate (lyz, defbl2, il1r-like, tbk1) and adaptive (cd8a, igmh) immunity genes were up-regulated in captivity, accompanied by an increase in expression of the antioxidant enzyme, gpx4a. For some genes previously known to show seasonality in the wild, this appeared to be reduced in captive fishes. Captive fishes tended to express immunity genes, including igzh, foxp3b, lyz, defbl2, and il1r-like, more variably. Furthermore, although gene co-expression patterns (analyzed through gene-by-gene correlations and mutual information theory based networks) shared common structure in wild and captive fishes, there was also significant divergence. For one gene in particular, defbl2, high expression was associated with adverse health outcomes in captive fishes. Taken together, these results demonstrate widespread regulatory changes in the immune system in captive populations, and that the expression of immunity genes is more constrained in the wild. An increase in constitutive systemic immune activity, such as we observed here, may alter the risk of immunopathology and contribute to variance in health in vertebrate populations exposed to

  9. A design method of bilateral control system with uncertain dynamics of environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Kou; Iida, Noriyuki; Kudou, Naoki

    2002-01-01

    In the present paper, we examine a design method for master-slave systems of bilateral control systems. In master-slave systems, human operator works to achieve tasks via the master and the salve system. The salve system contacts the environment and works the tasks. According to past studies, when the dynamics of environment is treated as uncertainties, the number of unstable poles of the slave system is required to be equivalent to that of the slave system with the dynamics of the environment. In some cases, the number of unstable poles of the slave system with the dynamics of environment is different from that of the slave system. We propose a simple design method of bilateral control systems such that the number of unstable poles of the slave system with the dynamics of environmental is different from that of the slave system without the dynamics of the environment. (author)

  10. The SAMPLE experience: The development of a rich media online mathematics learning environment

    OpenAIRE

    Chang, Jen

    2006-01-01

    This report documents the development of Sample Architecture for Mathematically Productive Learning Experiences (SAMPLE), a rich media, online, mathematics learning environment created to meet the needs of middle school educators. It explores some of the current pedagogical challenges in mathematics education, and their amplified impacts when coupled with under-prepared teachers, a decidedly wide-spread phenomenon. The SAMPLE publishing experience is discussed in terms of its instructional de...

  11. Application of programmable logic controller in nuclear experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ponikvar, D.

    1991-09-01

    The applicability of programmable logic controller (PLC) in nuclear experiments was studied on an example that simulated the monitoring and control of an ion beam in an accelerator. Using infrared and laser light, a comparison was made between the complexity and suitability of PLC compared to a setup using a personal computer. The experiments are described in detail. The routines for registration of signals from appropriate sensors and for control of the stepper monitor were written in quick BASIC. (author). 5 figs

  12. The LHC experiments' joint controls project (JCOP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wayne Salter

    2001-01-01

    The development and maintenance of the control systems of the four Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments will require a non-negligible amount of resources and effort. In order to minimise the overall effort required the Joint Controls Project (JCOP) was set-up as a collaboration between CERN and the four LHC experiments to find and implement common solutions for the control of the LHC experiments. It is one of the few examples of such a wide collaboration and therefore the existence of the JCOP project is extremely significant. The author will give a brief overview of the project, its structure and its history. It will go on to summarise the various sub-projects that have been initiated under the auspices of JCOP together will their current status. It will highlight that the JCOP general principle is to promote the use of industrial solutions wherever possible. However, this does not rule out the provision of custom solutions when non-standard devices or very large numbers of devices have to be controlled. The author will also discuss the architecture foreseen by JCOP and where in this architecture the various types of solutions are expected to be used. Finally, although the selection of common industrial and custom solutions is a necessary condition for JCOP to succeed, the use of these solutions in themselves would not necessarily lead to the production of homogeneous control systems. Therefore, the author will finish with a description of the JCOP Framework, which is being developed to promote the use of these common solutions, to reduce the development effort required by the various experiment development teams and to help to build and integrate control systems which can be more easily maintained

  13. Control of neutron spectrometry experiments using minicomputers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uberschlag, Jacques.

    1977-01-01

    Some neutron spectrometers at EL3 were equipped with self-contained minicomputer control devices; the H11 experiment has been on operation since june 1976, the H5A and H9V experiments are presently in course of ultimate testing. The diagram shows the general organization of all the experiments. The special characteristics of each experiment are briefly outlined together with some technical aspects of the software (equipment interfaces, means for the physicist to intervene) [fr

  14. Effect of Personal Control over Thermal Environment in a Laboratorium Setting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kulve, M. te; Boerstra, A. C.; Toftum, Jørn

    Field studies have demonstrated that personal control over the indoor climate may increase comfort and could reduce SBS symptoms. A laboratory study was performed to investigate if being in control over the thermal environment influences comfort, symptoms and performance. The central hypothesis...... was that human responses to a thermal indoor environment depend on the availability of control opportunities. This was tested in a field lab where subjects had a personal desk fan with a stepless controller at their workplace. Two conditions were tested: one (the first) with individual control and one without......, but with identical indoor climate exposure as recorded during the first session. During both experimental conditions, 23 subjects were exposed for 120 min to an operative temperature of 28 °C and they were provided with a personal desk fan. During the first exposure subjects were allowed to adjust air velocity (and...

  15. Designing Interactive Storytelling: A Virtual Environment for Personal Experience Narratives

    OpenAIRE

    Ladeira , Ilda; Marsden , Gary; Green , Lesley

    2011-01-01

    Part 1: Long and Short Papers; International audience; We describe an ongoing collaboration with the District Six Museum, in Cape Town, aimed at designing a storytelling prototype for preserving personal experience narratives. We detail the design of an interactive virtual environment (VE) which was inspired by a three month ethnography of real-life oral storytelling. The VE places the user as an audience member in a virtual group listening to two storytelling agents capable of two forms of i...

  16. Deep Sea Shell Taphonomy: Interactive benthic experiments in hydrate environments of Barkley Canyon, Ocean Networks Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Mairi; Purser, Autun

    2015-04-01

    In order to quantify and track the rates and processes of modification of biogenic carbonate in gas hydrate environments, and their possible environmental/ecological correlates, ongoing observations of experimentally deployed specimens are being made using a remotely controlled crawler with camera and sensors. The crawler is connected to NEPTUNE Canada, an 800km, 5-node, regional cabled ocean network across the northern Juan de Fuca Plate, northeastern Pacific, part of Ocean Networks Canada. One of 15 study areas is an environment of exposed hydrate mounds along the wall of Barkley Canyon, at ˜865m water depth. This is the home of a benthic crawler developed by Jacobs University of Germany, who is affectionately known as Wally. Wally is equipped with a range of sensors including cameras, methane sensor, current meter, fluorometer, turbidity meter, CTD, and a sediment microprofiler with probes for oxygen, methane, sulphide, pH, temperature, and conductivity. In conjunction with this sensor suite, a series of experiments have been designed to assess the cycling of biogenic carbon and carbonate in this complex environment. The biota range from microbes, to molluscs, to large fish, and therefore the carbon inputs include both a range of organic carbon compounds as well as the complex materials that are "biogenic carbonate". Controlled experimental specimens were deployed of biogenic carbonate (Mytilus edulis fresh shells) and cellulose (pieces of untreated pine lumber) that had been previously well characterized (photographed, weighed, and numbered, matching valves and lumber kept as controls). Deployment at the sediment/water interface was in such a way to maximize natural burial exhumation cycles but to minimize specimen interaction. 10 replicate specimens of each material were deployed in two treatments: 1) adjacent to a natural life and death assemblage of chemosynthetic bivalves and exposed hydrate on a hydrate mound and 2) on the muddy seafloor at a distance

  17. What Students Really Learn: Contrasting Medical and Nursing Students' Experiences of the Clinical Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liljedahl, Matilda; Boman, Lena Engqvist; Fält, Charlotte Porthén; Bolander Laksov, Klara

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores and contrasts undergraduate medical and nursing students' experiences of the clinical learning environment. Using a sociocultural perspective of learning and an interpretative approach, 15 in-depth interviews with medical and nursing students were analysed with content analysis. Students' experiences are described using a…

  18. Online public health preparedness training programs: an evaluation of user experience with the technological environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nambisan, Priya

    2010-01-01

    Several public health education programs and government agencies across the country have started offering virtual or online training programs in emergency preparedness for people who are likely to be involved in managing or responding to different types of emergency situations such as natural disasters, epidemics, bioterrorism, etc. While such online training programs are more convenient and cost-effective than traditional classroom-based programs, their success depends to a great extent on the underlying technological environment. Specifically, in an online technological environment, different types of user experiences come in to play-users' utilitarian or pragmatic experience, their fun or hedonic experience, their social experience, and most importantly, their usability experience-and these different user experiences critically shape the program outcomes, including course completion rates. This study adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and draws on theories in human computer interaction, distance learning theories, usability research, and online consumer behavior to evaluate users' experience with the technological environment of an online emergency preparedness training program and discusses its implications for the design of effective online training programs. . Data was collected using a questionnaire from 377 subjects who had registered for and participated in online public health preparedness training courses offered by a large public university in the Northeast. Analysis of the data indicates that as predicted, participants had higher levels of pragmatic and usability experiences compared to their hedonic and sociability experiences. Results also indicate that people who experienced higher levels of pragmatic, hedonic, sociability and usability experiences were more likely to complete the course(s) they registered for compared to those who reported lower levels. The study findings hold important implications for the design of effective online emergency

  19. Response of rice to inoculation with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in control lab environment and field experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, B.

    2014-01-01

    The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of bacterial inoculation on different growth parameters of rice variety JP-5. Three bacterial strains (Azospirillum brasilense R1, Azospirillum lipoferum RSWT1 and Pseudomonas Ky1) were used to inoculate rice varietyJP-5 at control lab environment and field. Plant growth promotion was observed in all inoculated treatments over non-inoculated, which was evident from increase in root area, root length, number of tillers, straw and grain yields and total weight of plant. Azospirillum brasilense R1 was more effective in plant growth promotion than other strains and showed 19% increase in the straw weight and 39.5% increase in grain weight. Inoculation with Azospirillum lipoferum RSWT1 and Pseudomonas Ky1 increased grain weight by 18.5% and 13.8% respectively. The study revealed that beneficial strains of PGPR can be used as biofertilizer for rice. (author)

  20. Partial observation control in an anticipating environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oeksendal, B; Sulem, A

    2004-01-01

    A study is made of a controlled stochastic system whose state X(t) at time t is described by a stochastic differential equation driven by Levy processes with filtration {F t } telementof[0,T] . The system is assumed to be anticipating, in the sense that the coefficients are assumed to be adapted to a filtration {G t } t≥0 with F t subset of equal G t for all t element of [0,T]. The corresponding anticipating stochastic differential equation is interpreted in the sense of forward integrals, which naturally generalize semimartingale integrals. The admissible controls are assumed to be adapted to a filtration {E t } telementof[0,T] such that E t subset of equal F t for all t element of [0,T]. The general problem is to maximize a given performance functional of this system over all admissible controls. This is a partial observation stochastic control problem in an anticipating environment. Examples of applications include stochastic volatity models in finance, insider influenced financial markets, and stochastic control of systems with delayed noise effects. Some particular cases in finance, involving optimal portfolios with logarithmic utility, are solved explicitly

  1. Experiences in control system design aided by interactive computer programs: temperature control of the laser isotope separation vessel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gavel, D.T.; Pittenger, L.C.; McDonald, J.S.; Cramer, P.G.; Herget, C.J.

    1985-01-01

    A robust control system has been designed to regulate temperature in a vacuum vessel. The thermodynamic process is modeled by a set of nonlinear, implicit differential equations. The control design and analysis task exercised many of the computer-aided control systems design software packages, including MATLAB, DELIGHT, and LSAP. The working environment is a VAX computer. Advantages and limitations of the software and environment, and the impact on final controller design is discussed

  2. Experiences in control system design aided by interactive computer programs: Temperature control of the laser isotope separation vessel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavel, D. T.; Pittenger, L. C.; McDonald, J. S.; Cramer, P. G.; Herget, C. J.

    A robust control system has been designed to regulate temperature in a vacuum vessel. The thermodynamic process is modeled by a set of nonlinear, implicit differential equations. The control design and analysis task exercised many of the computer-aided control systems design software packages, including MATLAB, DELIGHT, AND LSAP. The working environment is a VAX computer. Advantages and limitations of the software and environment, and the impact on final controller design is discussed.

  3. Student control ideology and the science classroom environment in urban secondary schools of sudan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harty, Harold; Hassan, Hassan A.

    An examination was made concerning the relationships between Sudanese secondary science teachers' pupil control ideology and their students' perceptions/observations of the psychosocial environment of their science classrooms. One hundred secondary science teachers were classified as possessing humanistic (N = 20) or custodial (N = 20) control ideologies. A class (N = 40) of students was randomly selected for every teacher in both groups. The findings revealed that no significant relationships existed between the control ideologies of the teachers and their students' perceptions/observations of the classroom environment. Custodialism in control ideology was significantly related to the classroom environment psychosocial aspect of low support. Discussion and implications of the findings have been approached from both Sudanese and American perspectives.

  4. Integrated software environment dedicated for implementation of control systems based on PLC controllers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szymon SURMA

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Industrial processes’ control systems based on PLC controllers play today a very important role in all fields of transport, including also sea transport. Construction of control systems is the field of engineering, which has been continuously evolving towards maximum simplification of system design path. Up to now the time needed forthe system construction from the design to commissioning had to be divided into a few stages. A mistake made in an earlier stage caused that in most cases the next stages had to be restarted. Available debugging systems allows defect detection at an early stage of theproject implementation. The paper presents general characteristic of integrated software for implementation of complex control systems. The issues related to the software use for programming of the visualisation environment, control computer, selection oftransmission medium and transmission protocol as well as PLC controllers’ configuration, software and control have been analysed.

  5. Physical environment design criteria for the new control room in the ENEA TRIGA-RC1 plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alberti, M.; Di Giulio, A.

    1986-01-01

    Parallelly to the plant modifications, many changes of the instrumentation in the Control Room (CR) were necessary in order to deal with the various aged components and the completion and integration needs turning out from the experience in reactor running. In the room, besides the control activity of the RC1 plant, continuous training and updating activities are currently performed which are intended for the operators working in the control rooms of nuclear power plants. The design of the physical environment of the new CR - carried out in a more general research project between ENEA and Politecnico di Milano - was based on the following fundamental criteria: - to ensure conditions fit for the performance of the suspervision, diagnosis and control tasks the operators are entrusted with; - to set up a model of control room for the more complex power plants. First of all a detailed analysis of the environmental conditions relating to microclimate, lighting and noise was accomplished. Afterwards, the goals to be attained were defined as well as the technical means necessary for providing the operators with comfortable working conditions

  6. An Adaptive Traffic Signal Control in a Connected Vehicle Environment: A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Jing

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years, traffic congestion has become a growing concern due to increasing vehicle ownerships in urban areas. Intersections are one of the major bottlenecks that contribute to urban traffic congestion. Traditional traffic signal control systems cannot adjust the timing pattern depending on road traffic demand. This results in excessive delays for road users. Adaptive traffic signal control in a connected vehicle environment has shown a powerful ability to effectively alleviate urban traffic congestions to achieve desirable objectives (e.g., delay minimization. Connected vehicle technology, as an emerging technology, is a mobile data platform that enables the real-time data exchange among vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure. Although several reviews about traffic signal control or connected vehicles have been written, a systemic review of adaptive traffic signal control in a connected vehicle environment has not been made. Twenty-six eligible studies searched from six databases constitute the review. A quality evaluation was established based on previous research instruments and applied to the current review. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the existing methods of adaptive traffic signal control in a connected vehicle environment and to compare the advantages or disadvantages of those methods. Further, a systematic framework on connected vehicle based adaptive traffic signal control is summarized to support the future research. Future research is needed to develop more efficient and generic adaptive traffic signal control methods in a connected vehicle environment.

  7. ASSISTments Dataset from Multiple Randomized Controlled Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selent, Douglas; Patikorn, Thanaporn; Heffernan, Neil

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we present a dataset consisting of data generated from 22 previously and currently running randomized controlled experiments inside the ASSISTments online learning platform. This dataset provides data mining opportunities for researchers to analyze ASSISTments data in a convenient format across multiple experiments at the same time.…

  8. Experiments with microcomputer-based artificial intelligence environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Summers, E.G.; MacDonald, R.A.

    1988-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been experimenting with the use of relatively inexpensive microcomputers as artificial intelligence (AI) development environments. Several AI languages are available that perform fairly well on desk-top personal computers, as are low-to-medium cost expert system packages. Although performance of these systems is respectable, their speed and capacity limitations are questionable for serious earth science applications foreseen by the USGS. The most capable artificial intelligence applications currently are concentrated on what is known as the "artificial intelligence computer," and include Xerox D-series, Tektronix 4400 series, Symbolics 3600, VAX, LMI, and Texas Instruments Explorer. The artificial intelligence computer runs expert system shells and Lisp, Prolog, and Smalltalk programming languages. However, these AI environments are expensive. Recently, inexpensive 32-bit hardware has become available for the IBM/AT microcomputer. USGS has acquired and recently completed Beta-testing of the Gold Hill Systems 80386 Hummingboard, which runs Common Lisp on an IBM/AT microcomputer. Hummingboard appears to have the potential to overcome many of the speed/capacity limitations observed with AI-applications on standard personal computers. USGS is a Beta-test site for the Gold Hill Systems GoldWorks expert system. GoldWorks combines some high-end expert system shell capabilities in a medium-cost package. This shell is developed in Common Lisp, runs on the 80386 Hummingboard, and provides some expert system features formerly available only on AI-computers including frame and rule-based reasoning, on-line tutorial, multiple inheritance, and object-programming. ?? 1988 International Association for Mathematical Geology.

  9. Formal verification of reactor process control software using assertion checking environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Babita; Balaji, Sowmya; John, Ajith K.; Bhattacharjee, A.K.; Dhodapkar, S.D.

    2005-01-01

    Assertion Checking Environment (ACE) was developed in-house for carrying out formal (rigorous/ mathematical) functional verification of embedded software written in MISRA C. MISRA C is an industrially sponsored safe sub-set of C programming language and is well accepted in the automotive and aerospace industries. ACE uses static assertion checking technique for verification of MISRA C programs. First the functional specifications of the program are derived from the specifications in the form of pre- and post-conditions for each C function. These pre- and post-conditions are then introduced as assertions (formal comments) in the program code. The annotated C code is then formally verified using ACE. In this paper we present our experience of using ACE for the formal verification of process control software of a nuclear reactor. The Software Requirements Document (SRD) contained textual specifications of the process control software. The SRD was used by the designers to draw logic diagrams which were given as input to a code generator. The verification of the generated C code was done at 2 levels viz. (i) verification against specifications derived from logic diagrams, and (ii) verification against specifications derived from SRD. In this work we checked approximately 600 functional specifications of the software having roughly 15000 lines of code. (author)

  10. The aquatic environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1975-10-15

    The rapid increase in technological development and the broad societal benefit it has brought has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in environmental and societal problems. This has established a need to asses the impacts of new technologies, including nuclear industries. We are now entering an age which will see a rapid proliferation of nuclear power plants all over the world. As long as man continues to utilize nuclear energy, some releases of radioactive materials to the environment seem to be inescapable consequences. The problem therefore is to limit and control such releases, so that adverse effects on man and his environment can be reduced to acceptable levels. We can now draw on three decades of experience of the environmental impact of radioactive materials. To review this experience and to survey recent results of studies related to the safety of releases of nuclear facilities into fresh water, estuaries and sea water, the International Symposium on 'Radiological Impacts of Releases from Nuclear Facilities into Aquatic Environments' was held at Otaniemi, near Helsinki, Finland. (author)

  11. Mystical experience in the lab

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Marc Nicklas; Schjødt, Uffe; Nielbo, Kristoffer Laigaard

    2014-01-01

    , our data indicate that the experiences reported by the participants had a high degree of authenticity and had lasting effects in terms of memory and attribution. These findings demonstrate that at least some forms of mystical experience can be studied in a controlled environment. Prospects...

  12. International Co-Operation in Control Engineering Education Using Online Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Jim; Schaedel, Herbert M.

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes the international co-operation experience in teaching control engineering with laboratories being conducted remotely by students via the Internet. This paper describes how the students ran the experiments and their personal experiences with the laboratory. A tool for process identification and controller tuning based on…

  13. Fugitive dust control experiments using soil fixatives on vehicle traffic surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winberg, M.R.; Wixom, V.E.

    1992-08-01

    This report presents the results of engineering scale dust control experiments using soil fixative for contamination control during handling of transuranic waste. These experiments focused on controlling dust during retrieval operations of buried waste where waste and soil are intimately mixed. Sources of dust generation during retrieval operations include digging, dumping, and vehicle traffic. Because contaminants are expected to attach to soil particles and move with the generated dust, control of the dust spread may be the key to contamination control. Dust control techniques examined in these experiments include the use of soil fixatives to control generation of fugitive dusts during vehicle traffic operations. Previous experiments conducted in FY 1990 included testing of the soil fixative, ENTAC. These experiments showed that ENTAC was effective in controlling dust generation but had several undesirable properties such as slow cure times and clogged the pumps and application nozzles. Therefore, other products would have to be evaluated to find a suitable candidate. As a result, two soil fixatives were tested in these present experiments, COHEREX-PM, an asphalt emulsion product manufactured by Witco Corporation and FLAMBINDER, a calcium lignosulfonate product manufactured by Flambeau Corporation. The results of the experiments include product performance and recommended application methods for application in a field deployable contamination control unit to be built in FY 1993

  14. A monitor for the laboratory evaluation of control integrity in digital control systems operating in harsh electromagnetic environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belcastro, Celeste M.; Fischl, Robert; Kam, Moshe

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents a strategy for dynamically monitoring digital controllers in the laboratory for susceptibility to electromagnetic disturbances that compromise control integrity. The integrity of digital control systems operating in harsh electromagnetic environments can be compromised by upsets caused by induced transient electrical signals. Digital system upset is a functional error mode that involves no component damage, can occur simultaneously in all channels of a redundant control computer, and is software dependent. The motivation for this work is the need to develop tools and techniques that can be used in the laboratory to validate and/or certify critical aircraft controllers operating in electromagnetically adverse environments that result from lightning, high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF), and nuclear electromagnetic pulses (NEMP). The detection strategy presented in this paper provides dynamic monitoring of a given control computer for degraded functional integrity resulting from redundancy management errors, control calculation errors, and control correctness/effectiveness errors. In particular, this paper discusses the use of Kalman filtering, data fusion, and statistical decision theory in monitoring a given digital controller for control calculation errors.

  15. Paramedics' experiences of financial medicine practices in the pre-hospital environment. A pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig Vincent-Lambert

    2016-10-01

    Objectives: This qualitative pilot study explored and described the experiences of South African Paramedics with regard to the practicing of financial medicine in the local pre-hospital emergency care environment. Method: A sample of South African Paramedics were interviewed either face-to-face or telephonically. The interviews were audio recorded and transcripts produced. Content analysis was conducted to explore, document and describe the participants' experiences with regard to financial medicine practices in the local pre-hospital environment. Results: It emerged that all of the participants had experienced a number of financial medicine practices and associated unethical conduct. Examples included Over-servicing, Selective Patient Treatment, Fraudulent Billing Practices, Eliciting of kickbacks, incentives or benefits and Deliberate Time Wasting. Conclusion: The results of this study are concerning as the actions of service providers described by the participants constitute gross violations of the ethical and professional guidelines for health care professionals. The authors recommend additional studies be conducted to further explore these findings and to establish the reasons for, and ways of, limiting financial medicine practices in the South African emergency care environment.

  16. Control of repulsive force in a virtual environment using an electrorheological haptic master for a surgical robot application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Jong-Seok; Choi, Seung-Hyun; Choi, Seung-Bok

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents control performances of a new type of four-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) haptic master that can be used for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS). By adopting a controllable electrorheological (ER) fluid, the function of the proposed master is realized as a haptic feedback as well as remote manipulation. In order to verify the efficacy of the proposed master and method, an experiment is conducted with deformable objects featuring human organs. Since the use of real human organs is difficult for control due to high cost and moral hazard, an excellent alternative method, the virtual reality environment, is used for control in this work. In order to embody a human organ in the virtual space, the experiment adopts a volumetric deformable object represented by a shape-retaining chain linked (S-chain) model which has salient properties such as fast and realistic deformation of elastic objects. In haptic architecture for RMIS, the desired torque/force and desired position originating from the object of the virtual slave and operator of the haptic master are transferred to each other. In order to achieve the desired torque/force trajectories, a sliding mode controller (SMC) which is known to be robust to uncertainties is designed and empirically implemented. Tracking control performances for various torque/force trajectories from the virtual slave are evaluated and presented in the time domain.

  17. Control of repulsive force in a virtual environment using an electrorheological haptic master for a surgical robot application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oh, Jong-Seok; Choi, Seung-Hyun; Choi, Seung-Bok

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents control performances of a new type of four-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) haptic master that can be used for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS). By adopting a controllable electrorheological (ER) fluid, the function of the proposed master is realized as a haptic feedback as well as remote manipulation. In order to verify the efficacy of the proposed master and method, an experiment is conducted with deformable objects featuring human organs. Since the use of real human organs is difficult for control due to high cost and moral hazard, an excellent alternative method, the virtual reality environment, is used for control in this work. In order to embody a human organ in the virtual space, the experiment adopts a volumetric deformable object represented by a shape-retaining chain linked (S-chain) model which has salient properties such as fast and realistic deformation of elastic objects. In haptic architecture for RMIS, the desired torque/force and desired position originating from the object of the virtual slave and operator of the haptic master are transferred to each other. In order to achieve the desired torque/force trajectories, a sliding mode controller (SMC) which is known to be robust to uncertainties is designed and empirically implemented. Tracking control performances for various torque/force trajectories from the virtual slave are evaluated and presented in the time domain. (paper)

  18. What to expect from immersive virtual environment exposure: influences of gender, body mass index, and past experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanney, Kay M; Hale, Kelly S; Nahmens, Isabelina; Kennedy, Robert S

    2003-01-01

    For those interested in using head-coupled PC-based immersive virtual environment (VE) technology to train, entertain, or inform, it is essential to understand the effects this technology has on its users. This study investigated potential adverse effects, including the sickness associated with exposure and extreme responses (emesis, flashbacks). Participants were exposed to a VE for 15 to 60 min, with either complete or streamlined navigational control and simple or complex scenes, after which time measures of sickness were obtained. More than 80% of participants experienced nausea, oculomotor disturbances, and/or disorientation, with disorientation potentially lasting > 24 hr. Of the participants, 12.9% prematurely ended their exposure because of adverse effects; of these, 9.2% experienced an emetic response, whereas only 1.2% of all participants experienced emesis. The results indicate that designers may be able to reduce these rates by limiting exposure duration and reducing the degrees of freedom of the user's navigational control. Results from gender, body mass, and past experience comparisons indicated it may be possible to identify those who will experience adverse effects attributable to exposure and warn such individuals. Applications for this research include military, entertainment, and any other interactive systems for which designers seek to avoid adverse effects associated with exposure.

  19. Does the Environment Responsibility Affect the Management Control System?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hichem DKHILI

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The literature suggests a problem emerging between management controls systems with the new responsibilities that companies must take into consideration. This study examines a system design management control tool orientation as behaviors that can overcome the uncertainties related to the environment and register the company in a voluntary approach which takes into account the environmental dimensions. A questionnaire survey sent to 306 Tunisian industrial companies was conducted. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory analysis are required. The results of the principal component factor analysis evidenced by Cronbach's alpha and KMO test, helped to cleanse the items selected from the literature. Similarly, the results of structural equations with indices of structural adjustment and parcimonies have devoted a good quality adjustment. Overall, findings suggest that most of the firm’s environment is uncertain, more tools to include in its environmental dimensions. On the other hand, the voluntary integration of an environmental approach is part of a strategy of cost leadership in the Tunisian industrial companies.

  20. To the problem of control methods unification of natural and artificial radionuclide admission into environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gedeonov, L.I.

    1981-01-01

    Radioactive substances (RAS) released into the environment during NPP operation form the fields of increased radiation level as compared with the natural background. Preservation of the environment from intolerable contamination requires deter-- mination of the effluent norm by concentration and quantity of RAS released to the environment for every source. The necessity of unification of the methods for radioactive nuclide control of the environment as well as means and conditions of this control are discussed [ru

  1. The software developing method for multichannel computer-aided system for physical experiments control, realized by resources of national instruments LabVIEW instrumental package

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorskaya, E.A.; Samojlov, V.N.

    1999-01-01

    This work is describing the method of developing the computer-aided control system in integrated environment of LabVIEW. Using the object-oriented design of complex systems, the hypothetical model for methods of developing the software for computer-aided system for physical experiments control was constructed. Within the framework of that model architecture solutions and implementations of suggested method were described. (author)

  2. Using a Virtual Environment to Deliver Evidence-Based Interventions: The Facilitator's Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villarruel, Antonia; Tschannen, Dana; Valladares, Angel; Yaksich, Joseph; Yeagley, Emily; Hawes, Armani

    2015-01-01

    Background Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have the potential to maximize positive impact on communities. However, despite the quantity and quality of EBIs for prevention, the need for formalized training and associated training-related expenses, such as travel costs, program materials, and input of personnel hours, pose implementation challenges for many community-based organizations. In this study, the community of inquiry (CoI) framework was used to develop the virtual learning environment to support the adaptation of the ¡Cuídate! (Take Care of Yourself!) Training of Facilitators curriculum (an EBI) to train facilitators from community-based organizations. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of adapting a traditional face-to-face facilitator training program for ¡Cuídate!, a sexual risk reduction EBI for Latino youth, for use in a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). Additionally, two aims of the study were explored: the acceptability of the facilitator training and the level of the facilitators’ knowledge and self-efficacy to implement the training. Methods A total of 35 facilitators were trained in the virtual environment. We evaluated the facilitators' experience in the virtual training environment and determined if the learning environment was acceptable and supported the acquisition of learning outcomes. To this end, the facilitators were surveyed using a modified community of inquiry survey, with questions specific to the Second Life environment and an open-ended questionnaire. In addition, a comparison to face-to-face training was conducted using survey methods. Results Results of the community of inquiry survey demonstrated a subscale mean of 23.11 (SD 4.12) out of a possible 30 on social presence, a subscale mean of 8.74 (SD 1.01) out of a possible 10 on teaching presence, and a subscale mean of 16.69 (SD 1.97) out of a possible 20 on cognitive presence. The comparison to face-to-face training showed no

  3. PID temperature controller in pig nursery: spatial characterization of thermal environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza Granja Barros, Juliana; Rossi, Luiz Antonio; Menezes de Souza, Zigomar

    2018-05-01

    The use of enhanced technologies of temperature control can improve the thermal conditions in environments of livestock facilities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of the thermal environment variables in a pig nursery with a heating system with two temperature control technologies based on the geostatistical analysis. The following systems were evaluated: overhead electrical resistance with Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) controller and overhead electrical resistance with a thermostat. We evaluated the climatic variables: dry bulb temperature (Tbs), air relative humidity (RH), temperature and humidity index (THI), and enthalpy in the winter, at 7:00, 12:00, and 18:00 h. The spatial distribution of these variables was mapped by kriging. The results showed that the resistance heating system with PID controllers improved the thermal comfort conditions in the pig nursery in the coldest hours, maintaining the spatial distribution of the air temperature more homogeneous in the pen. During the hottest weather, neither system provided comfort.

  4. PID temperature controller in pig nursery: spatial characterization of thermal environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza Granja Barros, Juliana; Rossi, Luiz Antonio; Menezes de Souza, Zigomar

    2017-11-01

    The use of enhanced technologies of temperature control can improve the thermal conditions in environments of livestock facilities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of the thermal environment variables in a pig nursery with a heating system with two temperature control technologies based on the geostatistical analysis. The following systems were evaluated: overhead electrical resistance with Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) controller and overhead electrical resistance with a thermostat. We evaluated the climatic variables: dry bulb temperature (Tbs), air relative humidity (RH), temperature and humidity index (THI), and enthalpy in the winter, at 7:00, 12:00, and 18:00 h. The spatial distribution of these variables was mapped by kriging. The results showed that the resistance heating system with PID controllers improved the thermal comfort conditions in the pig nursery in the coldest hours, maintaining the spatial distribution of the air temperature more homogeneous in the pen. During the hottest weather, neither system provided comfort.

  5. Virtual reality and telepresence control of robots used in hazardous environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bronisz, L.E.; Pittman, P.C.

    1996-01-01

    The purpose of this project was to explore the application of teleoperation and telepresence control to robots in hazardous environments at Los Alamos. The primary use of this technology would be in a glove-box type operation potentially allowing operators to work on hazardous materials while being completely removed from the danger of exposure in situations that are difficult to completely automate due to the highly unstructured environments or off-normal conditions. This project focused on determining the most appropriate tools and methods that could be applied in the near future resulting in a reasonably inexpensive working teleoperation or telepresence control system for industrial robots used in the handling of hazardous materials. Several topics had to be addressed to perform this task including input devices, control systems, robot manipulators, and simulation techniques or packages. Much of the work is still in the developmental stage and hardware will follow -- providing a usable tool for glove box robot control

  6. PID temperature controller in pig nursery: spatial characterization of thermal environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza Granja Barros, Juliana; Rossi, Luiz Antonio; Menezes de Souza, Zigomar

    2017-11-28

    The use of enhanced technologies of temperature control can improve the thermal conditions in environments of livestock facilities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of the thermal environment variables in a pig nursery with a heating system with two temperature control technologies based on the geostatistical analysis. The following systems were evaluated: overhead electrical resistance with Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) controller and overhead electrical resistance with a thermostat. We evaluated the climatic variables: dry bulb temperature (Tbs), air relative humidity (RH), temperature and humidity index (THI), and enthalpy in the winter, at 7:00, 12:00, and 18:00 h. The spatial distribution of these variables was mapped by kriging. The results showed that the resistance heating system with PID controllers improved the thermal comfort conditions in the pig nursery in the coldest hours, maintaining the spatial distribution of the air temperature more homogeneous in the pen. During the hottest weather, neither system provided comfort.

  7. Experiences with Ada in an embedded system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labaugh, Robert J.

    1988-01-01

    Recent experiences with using Ada in a real time environment are described. The application was the control system for an experimental robotic arm. The objectives of the effort were to experiment with developing embedded applications in Ada, evaluating the suitability of the language for the application, and determining the performance of the system. Additional objectives were to develop a control system based on the NASA/NBS Standard Reference Model for Telerobot Control System Architecture (NASREM) in Ada, and to experiment with the control laws and how to incorporate them into the NASREM architecture.

  8. Low-Cost Undergraduate Control Systems Experiments Using Microcontroller-Based Control of a DC Motor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunasekaran, M.; Potluri, R.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents low-cost experiments for a control systems laboratory module that is worth one and a third credits. The experiments are organized around the microcontroller-based control of a permanent magnet dc motor. The experimental setups were built in-house. Except for the operating system, the software used is primarily freeware or free…

  9. Culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of learning in a clinical environment: A systematic review of qualitative studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikkonen, Kristina; Elo, Satu; Kuivila, Heli-Maria; Tuomikoski, Anna-Maria; Kääriäinen, Maria

    2016-02-01

    Learning in the clinical environment of healthcare students plays a significant part in higher education. The greatest challenges for culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students were found in clinical placements, where differences in language and culture have been shown to cause learning obstacles for students. There has been no systematic review conducted to examine culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of their learning in the clinical environment. This systematic review aims to identify culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of learning in a clinical environment. The search strategy followed the guidelines of the Centre of Reviews and Dissemination. The original studies were identified from seven databases (CINAHL, Medline Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premiere, Eric and Cochrane Library) for the period 2000-2014. Two researchers selected studies based on titles, abstracts and full texts using inclusion criteria and assessed the quality of studies independently. Twelve original studies were chosen for the review. The culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' learning experiences were divided into three influential aspects of learning in a clinical environment: experiences with implementation processes and provision; experiences with peers and mentors; and experiences with university support and instructions. The main findings indicate that culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students embarking on clinical placements initially find integration stressful. Implementing the process of learning in a clinical environment requires additional time, well prepared pedagogical orientation, prior cultural and language education, and support for students and clinical staff. Barriers to learning by culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students were not being recognized and individuals were not considered motivated; learners experienced the

  10. Experiment on thermohydraulics of simulated control rod

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogawa, Masuro; Ouchi, Mitsuo; Akino, Norio; Fujimura, Kaoru; Shiina, Yasuaki; Kawamura, Hiroshi

    1984-10-01

    A thermohydraulic study of a control rod channel is required for the core design of the Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR). A non-heating experiment with air flow was performed prior to heating experiment with helium flow. Experimental results on stability of flow, flow rate distribution and pressure drop of the control rod channel are reported. In a test section of the experimental apparatus, five simulated control subrods were suspended vertically in a circular duct. Their dimension was in coincide with those of the Detailed Disign (I) of the VHTR. Air of atomospheric pressure was used as a coolant gas, which flowed in inner and outer paths of the subrods. Total flow rate ranged from 0.0011 to 0.0062 kg/s. Flow rate distribution and pressure drop were obtained for various flow rates. Velocity fluctuation in the channel was also observed using a hot wire anemometer. From these experiments, it was found that the flow rate distribution was nearly the same as a disigned value and that turbulent and laminar flows were simultaneously realized in outer and inner paths respectively. These observations supported a feasibility of the present design. (author)

  11. SOLERAS - Solar Controlled Environment Agriculture Project. Final report, Volume 1. Project summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1985-12-30

    A summary of the Solar Controlled Environment Agriculture Project is presented. The design of the greenhouses include transparent double pane glass roof with channels for fluid between the panes, inner pane tinted and double pane extruded acrylic aluminized mylar shade and diffuser. Solar energy technologies provide power for water desalination, for pumping irrigation water, and for cooling and heating the controlled environment space so that crops can grow in arid lands. The project is a joint effort between the United States and Saudi Arabia. (BCS)

  12. The control architecture of the D0 experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    J. Fredrick Bartlett et al.

    2002-01-01

    From a controls viewpoint, contemporary high energy physics collider detectors are comparable in complexity to small to medium size accelerators: however, their controls requirements often differ significantly. D0, one of two collider experiments at Fermilab, has recently started a second, extended running period that will continue for the next five years. EPICS [1], an integrated set of software building blocks for implementing a distributed control system, has been adapted to satisfy the slow controls needs of the D0 detector by (1) extending the support for new device types and an additional field bus, (2) by the addition of a global event reporting system that augments the existing EPICS alarm support, and (3) by the addition of a centralized database with supporting tools for defining the configuration of the control system. This paper discusses the control architecture of the current D0 experiment, how the EPICS system was extended to meet the control requirements of a large, high-energy physics detector, and how a formal control system contributes to the management of detector operations

  13. Conflict management style, supportive work environments and the experience of work stress in emergency nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johansen, Mary L; Cadmus, Edna

    2016-03-01

    To examine the conflict management style that emergency department (ED) nurses use to resolve conflict and to determine whether their style of managing conflict and a supportive work environment affects their experience of work stress. Conflict is a common stressor that is encountered as nurses strive to achieve patient satisfaction goals while delivering quality care. How a nurse perceives support may impact work stress levels and how they deal with conflict. A correlational design examined the relationship between supportive work environment, and conflict management style and work stress in a sample of 222 ED nurses using the expanded nurse work stress scale; the survey of perceived organisational support; and the Rahim organisational conflict inventory-II. Twenty seven percent of nurses reported elevated levels of work stress. A supportive work environment and avoidant conflict management style were significant predictors of work stress. Findings suggest that ED nurses' perception of a supportive work environment and their approach to resolving conflict may be related to their experience of work stress. Providing opportunities for ED nurses in skills training in constructive conflict resolution may help to reduce work stress and to improve the quality of patient care. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Controlling Uncertainty: A Review of Human Behavior in Complex Dynamic Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osman, Magda

    2010-01-01

    Complex dynamic control (CDC) tasks are a type of problem-solving environment used for examining many cognitive activities (e.g., attention, control, decision making, hypothesis testing, implicit learning, memory, monitoring, planning, and problem solving). Because of their popularity, there have been many findings from diverse domains of research…

  15. Uranium Mining (Environment Control) Act 1979 No 46 of 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-01-01

    The purpose of this Act is to control the mining of uranium in the Alligator Rivers Region with a view to lessening any damage which may be caused to the environment. The Act provides for the control of mining of certain substances, for an authorization system for construction and use of facilities, equipment and processes as well as for environmental protection requirements. (NEA) [fr

  16. Human response to individually controlled micro environment generated with localized chilled beam

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Uth, Simon C.; Nygaard, Linette; Bolashikov, Zhecho Dimitrov

    2014-01-01

    Indoor environment in a single-office room created by a localised chilled beam with individual control of the primary air flow was studied. Response of 24 human subjects when exposed to the environment generated by the chilled beam was collected via questionnaires under a 2-hour exposure including...... and local thermal sensation reported by the subjects with the two systems. Both systems were equally acceptable. At 26°C the individual control of the localised chilled beam lead to higher acceptability of the work environment. At 28°C the acceptability decreased with the two systems. It was not acceptable...... different work tasks at three locations in the room. Response of the subjects to the environment generated with a chilled ceiling combined with mixing air distribution was used for comparison. The air temperature in the room was kept at 26 or 28 °C. Results show no significant difference in the overall...

  17. Examining the Relationship between the Research Training Environment, Course Experiences, and Graduate Students’ Research Self-Efficacy Beliefs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven Chesnut

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the relationship between graduate students’ research training environment, course experience, and research self-efficacy beliefs. The findings of the descriptive and regression analyses suggest that graduate students’ (n = 161 general research, quantitative, and qualitative research self-efficacy beliefs varied and that these beliefs were related to different aspects of the research training environment and course experiences, including their own personal research experiences. While course experience variables were significant predictors of quantitative and qualitative research self-efficacy, they were not predictive of general research methods self-efficacy. Also, while mentorship was a significant predictor of general research methods self-efficacy, it was not a significant predictor of quantitative and qualitative research self-efficacy. The implications of this study for research and graduate education are discussed.

  18. Fire environment determination in the LaSalle NPP control room

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Usher, J.L.; Boccio, J.L.; Singhal, A.K.; Tam, L.T.

    1986-01-01

    One objective of NRC's Fire Protection Research Program (FPRP) is to improve the modeling of environments caused by fires in typical nuclear power plant enclosures. A three-dimensional fluid dynamics computer code (PHOENICS) has been adapted as a field-model fire code (SAFFIRE) for this purpose. The model has been applied to simulate two distinct fires in the control room of the LaSalle County power plant. The environments determined illustrate hazardous potential for both personnel and equipment.

  19. Auto-control experiments on DIDO using discontinuous feedback

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawrence, L.A.J.

    1959-12-01

    Experiments on auto-controlling the reactor DIDO are described and the equipment design discussed in some detail. The experiments are carried out to show the suitability of an on/off type of control for the maintenance of: (a) a constant flux level in the presence of noise. (b) constant period during power change. The controlling signals stem from measurement of neutron flux computed to give deviation from demanded power, and period respectively. These signals are fed to a D.C. amplifier with variable deadbang whose output is used to control relays, these in turn control the coarse control arms by means of three-phase motors. The system is designed on the basis of locus diagrams, a conventional non-linear technique being used to handle the relay performance. Calculation of the reactor transfer function at high and low power respectively shows that the stability margin is not appreciably affected by the inherent thermodynamic feedback in the reactor core. (author)

  20. Nurses' Perceptions of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Environment and Work Experience After Transition to Single-Patient Rooms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudchadkar, Sapna R; Beers, M Claire; Ascenzi, Judith A; Jastaniah, Ebaa; Punjabi, Naresh M

    2016-09-01

    The architectural design of the pediatric intensive care unit may play a major role in optimizing the environment to promote patients' sleep while improving stress levels and the work experience of critical care nurses. To examine changes in nurses' perceptions of the environment of a pediatric critical care unit for promotion of patients' sleep and the nurses' work experience after a transition from multipatient rooms to single-patient rooms. A cross-sectional survey of nurses was conducted before and after the move to a new hospital building in which all rooms in the pediatric critical care unit were single-patient rooms. Nurses reported that compared with multipatient rooms, single-patient private rooms were more conducive to patients sleeping well at night and promoted a more normal sleep-wake cycle (P noise in single-patient rooms (33%) than in multipatient rooms (79%; P pediatric intensive care unit environment for promoting patients' sleep and the nurses' own work experience. ©2016 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

  1. Gas box control system for Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bell, H.H. Jr.; Hunt, A.L.; Clower, C.A. Jr.

    1983-01-01

    The Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) uses several methods to feed gas (usually deuterium) at different energies into the plasma region of the machine. One is an arrangement of eight high-speed piezo-electric valves mounted on special manifolds (gas box) that feed cold gas directly to the plasma. This paper describes the electronic valve control and data acquisition portions of the gas box, which are controlled by a desk-top computer. Various flow profiles have been developed and stored in the control computer for ready access by the operator. The system uses two modes of operation, one that exercises and characterizes the valves and one that operates the valves with the rest of the experiment. Both the valve control signals and the pressure transducers data are recorded on the diagnostics computer so that they are available for experiment analysis

  2. The detector control system of the ATLAS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poy, A Barriuso; Burckhart, H J; Cook, J; Franz, S; Gutzwiller, O; Hallgren, B; Schlenker, S; Varela, F; Boterenbrood, H; Filimonov, V; Khomutnikov, V

    2008-01-01

    The ATLAS experiment is one of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, constructed to study elementary particle interactions in collisions of high-energy proton beams. The individual detector components as well as the common experimental infrastructure are supervised by the Detector Control System (DCS). The DCS enables equipment supervision using operator commands, reads, processes and archives the operational parameters of the detector, allows for error recognition and handling, manages the communication with external control systems, and provides a synchronization mechanism with the physics data acquisition system. Given the enormous size and complexity of ATLAS, special emphasis was put on the use of standardized hardware and software components enabling efficient development and long-term maintainability of the DCS over the lifetime of the experiment. Currently, the DCS is being used successfully during the experiment commissioning phase

  3. CHIMERA II - A real-time multiprocessing environment for sensor-based robot control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, David B.; Schmitz, Donald E.; Khosla, Pradeep K.

    1989-01-01

    A multiprocessing environment for a wide variety of sensor-based robot system, providing the flexibility, performance, and UNIX-compatible interface needed for fast development of real-time code is addressed. The requirements imposed on the design of a programming environment for sensor-based robotic control is outlined. The details of the current hardware configuration are presented, along with the details of the CHIMERA II software. Emphasis is placed on the kernel, low-level interboard communication, user interface, extended file system, user-definable and dynamically selectable real-time schedulers, remote process synchronization, and generalized interprocess communication. A possible implementation of a hierarchical control model, the NASA/NBS standard reference model for telerobot control system is demonstrated.

  4. Control of the dynamic environment produced by underground nuclear explosives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernreuter, D L; Jackson, E C; Miller, A B [Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Livermore, CA (United States)

    1970-05-15

    One important aspect of any underground nuclear explosion is recording, retrieval and analysis of experiment and/or device performance. Most of the information is recorded or conditioned on sensitive electronic equipment and often transmitted via antennas that must remain in alignment. Sometimes diagnostic packages are located in towers near surface ground zero (SGZ). Also, some equipment is needed for timing and firing as well as safety requirements. Generally it is desirable to locate this equipment as close to SGZ as possible. This paper is a summary of LRL's method of controlling the dynamic environment in order to get good quality data and protect equipment while optimizing the cost. The overall problem blends together: (1) definition of input, i.e. ground shock parameters; (2) shock sensitivity or fragility level of equipment to the input and purpose (i.e. does it record or transmit through shock arrival time?); and (3) design of a fail-safe shock mount (SM) system to modify the shock environment when required. Before any SM system can be designed, items I and 2 must be answered as the ground shock can vary over a wide range and the sensitivity/fragility of the equipment can vary from less than 1/2 g to more than 100 g's, particularly if recording is done through shock arrival time. Keeping antennas in alignment is a somewhat different problem. Whenever possible the design of the SM system is based only on peak input parameters of the ground motion since detailed time histories of the ground motions are very difficult to predict. For towers and other systems which require detailed time histories, computer codes have been developed which allow a parametric study of the input ground motion's effect on the response of the system. This paper deals mainly with the close-in region where the dynamic environment is quite severe. In this region, non-standard methods and analysis are required. Out of this region, more standard methods can be used. (author)

  5. Control of the dynamic environment produced by underground nuclear explosives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernreuter, D.L.; Jackson, E.C.; Miller, A.B.

    1970-01-01

    One important aspect of any underground nuclear explosion is recording, retrieval and analysis of experiment and/or device performance. Most of the information is recorded or conditioned on sensitive electronic equipment and often transmitted via antennas that must remain in alignment. Sometimes diagnostic packages are located in towers near surface ground zero (SGZ). Also, some equipment is needed for timing and firing as well as safety requirements. Generally it is desirable to locate this equipment as close to SGZ as possible. This paper is a summary of LRL's method of controlling the dynamic environment in order to get good quality data and protect equipment while optimizing the cost. The overall problem blends together: (1) definition of input, i.e. ground shock parameters; (2) shock sensitivity or fragility level of equipment to the input and purpose (i.e. does it record or transmit through shock arrival time?); and (3) design of a fail-safe shock mount (SM) system to modify the shock environment when required. Before any SM system can be designed, items I and 2 must be answered as the ground shock can vary over a wide range and the sensitivity/fragility of the equipment can vary from less than 1/2 g to more than 100 g's, particularly if recording is done through shock arrival time. Keeping antennas in alignment is a somewhat different problem. Whenever possible the design of the SM system is based only on peak input parameters of the ground motion since detailed time histories of the ground motions are very difficult to predict. For towers and other systems which require detailed time histories, computer codes have been developed which allow a parametric study of the input ground motion's effect on the response of the system. This paper deals mainly with the close-in region where the dynamic environment is quite severe. In this region, non-standard methods and analysis are required. Out of this region, more standard methods can be used. (author)

  6. Reproducible and controllable induction voltage adder for scaled beam experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sakai, Yasuo; Nakajima, Mitsuo; Horioka, Kazuhiko [Department of Energy Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8502 (Japan)

    2016-08-15

    A reproducible and controllable induction adder was developed using solid-state switching devices and Finemet cores for scaled beam compression experiments. A gate controlled MOSFET circuit was developed for the controllable voltage driver. The MOSFET circuit drove the induction adder at low magnetization levels of the cores which enabled us to form reproducible modulation voltages with jitter less than 0.3 ns. Preliminary beam compression experiments indicated that the induction adder can improve the reproducibility of modulation voltages and advance the beam physics experiments.

  7. FACTS controllers and the deregulated electric utility environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ooi, B. T.; Galiana, F. D.; McGillis, D.; Joos, G.; Marceau, R.

    1998-01-01

    The concept of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) is explored and the potential of power electronic converters to increase flexibility and reliability of modern power systems is explored. Power electronic controllers can reduce the required safety margin in electric power generation capacity through the use of faster controllers based on exploiting the high-power solid-state switches with gate-turn-off capabilities. The FACTS concept makes it possible to postpone the financial investment needed to build more power lines, and also offers a solution to securing the right-of-way to build new lines. Currently available FACTS controllers such as the Static var Compensator (STATCOM) and the Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) are described, including their function, structure and relevant implementation issues. Since they can produce the required amount of reactive power independently of line voltage or current, and if equipped with energy storing devices they can supply real power as required, they are a necessary element for the control of power systems in a deregulated environment. 15 refs., 3 figs

  8. First experiences with the ATLAS pixel detector control system at the combined test beam 2004

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imhaeuser, Martin; Becks, Karl-Heinz; Henss, Tobias; Kersten, Susanne; Maettig, Peter; Schultes, Joachim

    2006-01-01

    Detector control systems (DCS) include the readout, control and supervision of hardware devices as well as the monitoring of external systems like cooling system and the processing of control data. The implementation of such a system in the final experiment also has to provide the communication with the trigger and data acquisition system (TDAQ). In addition, conditions data which describe the status of the pixel detector modules and their environment must be logged and stored in a common LHC wide database system. At the combined test beam all ATLAS subdetectors were operated together for the first time over a longer period. To ensure the functionality of the pixel detector, a control system was set up. We describe the architecture chosen for the pixel DCS, the interfaces to hardware devices, the interfaces to the users and the performance of our system. The embedding of the DCS in the common infrastructure of the combined test beam and also its communication with surrounding systems will be discussed in some detail

  9. Mentor experiences of international healthcare students' learning in a clinical environment: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikkonen, Kristina; Elo, Satu; Tuomikoski, Anna-Maria; Kääriäinen, Maria

    2016-05-01

    Globalisation has brought new possibilities for international growth in education and professional mobility among healthcare professionals. There has been a noticeable increase of international degree programmes in non-English speaking countries in Europe, creating clinical learning challenges for healthcare students. The aim of this systematic review was to describe mentors' experiences of international healthcare students' learning in a clinical environment. The objective of the review was to identify what influences the success or failure of mentoring international healthcare students when learning in the clinical environment, with the ultimate aim being to promote optimal mentoring practice. A systematic review was conducted according to the guidelines of the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Seven electronic databases were used to search for the published results of previous research: CINAHL, Medline Ovid, Scopus, the Web of Science, Academic Search Premiere, Eric, and the Cochrane Library. Search inclusion criteria were planned in the PICOS review format by including peer-reviewed articles published in any language between 2000 and 2014. Five peer-reviewed articles remained after the screening process. The results of the original studies were analysed using a thematic synthesis. The results indicate that a positive intercultural mentor enhanced reciprocal learning by improving the experience of international healthcare students and reducing stress in the clinical environment. Integrating international healthcare students into work with domestic students was seen to be important for reciprocal learning and the avoidance of discrimination. Many healthcare students were found to share similar experiences of mentoring and learning irrespective of their cultural background. However, the role of a positive intercultural mentor was found to make a significant difference for international students: such mentors advocated and mediated cultural differences and

  10. The radiological quality of the environment: strategies and methods of control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gazal, Suzanne; Amiard, Jean-Claude; Chenal, Christian; Levasseur, Jacques-Edouard

    2014-01-01

    As the nature of risk, and the relation to it, have evolved, and as events such as industrial catastrophes, hazards related to climate change, or health crisis have modified the problematic of risk and its social acceptability, a strong demand for a reliable and available access to information has emerged among the civil society, as well as a demand of citizen commitment and implication in the expertise process. In this context, the implementation of local information commissions (CLIs) in December 1981 has been an answer to this demand. These structures have been more recently given a specific legal status in a law on transparency and safety in the nuclear sector. Produced by the national association of local information committees and commissions (ANCCLI), this collective publication aims at providing a comprehensive document on strategies and methods of control of the radiological quality of the environment. After a recall of the various components of the eco-sphere (atmospheric, aquatic and ground media) and of their interactions, this book proposes an overview of the various methods of radiological control of the environment (air, water, sediments, soils, fauna, flora, food supply chain, and so on). The first part addresses the detection and the quantification of radioactive contaminants in physical media (atmosphere, water, soil) and in biological organisms and products transformed by man. It details the sources of radioactive pollution and measurements to be performed. It also discusses methodological issues. It addresses the adopted approach to the control of the quality of the environment through the study of biological organisms (bio-indicators), and details available methods for the assessment of direct and indirect biological effects of exposures to low doses of external and internal irradiation. A last part presents the actors of the radiological control of the environment in France, notably the CLIs which are active at the vicinity of nuclear

  11. Impacts of cement industries on environment and control measure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hashmi, H.N.; Malik, H.N.; Naushad, Z.

    2005-01-01

    Utilization of cement as building material is gaining more importance. Cement industries around the world are contributing in global and as well as local pollution. In Pakistan most of the cement industries are constructed in remote areas without any proper environmental impact assessment. Unawareness of peoples toward sustainable environment and due to lack of job opportunities, dwellers are demanding employment rather than clean environment from title-holder of the industry. Air pollution caused by cement industries is harmful to the human's health, spoils and erodes building surface, corrodes metals, weakens textiles, deteriorates atmospheric visibility, affects plant life and leads to ecological imbalances. To investigate environmental impact of cement industries in Pakistan, environmental conditions around and inside the five cement industries in the vicinity of Taxila city are studied. To inspect the whole scenario, air pollution control devices in these industries were also examined in detail. These industries are using Electrostatic Precipitators and Baghouses to control air pollution (dust particulates). Proper caring of these equipment is necessary for better results. Detailed study shows that emissions from their stacks and dust particulates are causing problems. Health consultants in study area are much worry about the health of workers and environmental degradation in the vicinity of these industries. The comparison of air pollution control devices shows that Baghouses are environmental friendly. Considering the field conditions it is also concluded that involvement of government and environmental pollution control agencies is much more necessary. (author)

  12. AFECS. multi-agent framework for experiment control systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gyurjyan, V; Abbott, D; Heyes, G; Jastrzembski, E; Timmer, C; Wolin, E [Jefferson Lab, 12000 Jefferson Ave. MS-12B3, Newport News, VA 23606 (United States)], E-mail: gurjyan@jlab.org

    2008-07-01

    AFECS is a pure Java based software framework for designing and implementing distributed control systems. AFECS creates a control system environment as a collection of software agents behaving as finite state machines. These agents can represent real entities, such as hardware devices, software tasks, or control subsystems. A special control oriented ontology language (COOL), based on RDFS (Resource Definition Framework Schema) is provided for control system description as well as for agent communication. AFECS agents can be distributed over a variety of platforms. Agents communicate with their associated physical components using range of communication protocols, including tcl-DP, cMsg (publish-subscribe communication system developed at Jefferson Lab), SNMP (simple network management protocol), EPICS channel access protocol and JDBC.

  13. AFECS. Multi-Agent Framework for Experiment Control Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vardan Gyurjyan; David Abbott; William Heyes; Edward Jastrzembski; Carl Timmer; Elliott Wolin

    2008-01-23

    AFECS is a pure Java based software framework for designing and implementing distributed control systems. AFECS creates a control system environment as a collection of software agents behaving as finite state machines. These agents can represent real entities, such as hardware devices, software tasks, or control subsystems. A special control oriented ontology language (COOL), based on RDFS (Resource Definition Framework Schema) is provided for control system description as well as for agent communication. AFECS agents can be distributed over a variety of platforms. Agents communicate with their associated physical components using range of communication protocols, including tcl-DP, cMsg (publish-subscribe communication system developed at Jefferson Lab), SNMP (simple network management protocol), EPICS channel access protocol and JDBC.

  14. AFECS. multi-agent framework for experiment control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gyurjyan, V; Abbott, D; Heyes, G; Jastrzembski, E; Timmer, C; Wolin, E

    2008-01-01

    AFECS is a pure Java based software framework for designing and implementing distributed control systems. AFECS creates a control system environment as a collection of software agents behaving as finite state machines. These agents can represent real entities, such as hardware devices, software tasks, or control subsystems. A special control oriented ontology language (COOL), based on RDFS (Resource Definition Framework Schema) is provided for control system description as well as for agent communication. AFECS agents can be distributed over a variety of platforms. Agents communicate with their associated physical components using range of communication protocols, including tcl-DP, cMsg (publish-subscribe communication system developed at Jefferson Lab), SNMP (simple network management protocol), EPICS channel access protocol and JDBC

  15. Basic radiological studies contamination control experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duce, S.W.; Winberg, M.R.; Freeman, A.L.

    1989-09-01

    This report describes the results of experiments relating to contamination control performed in support of the Environmental Restoration Programs Retrieval Project. During the years 1950 to 1970 waste contaminated with plutonium and other transuranic radionuclides was disposed of in shallow land-filled pits and trenches at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Due to potential for migration of radionuclides to an existing aquifer the feasibility of retrieving and repackaging the waste for placement in a final repository is being examined as part of a retrieval project. Contamination control experiments were conducted to determine expected respirable and nonrespirable plutonium contaminated dust fractions and the effectiveness of various dust suppression techniques. Three soil types were tested to determine respirable fractions: Rocky Flats Plant generic soil, Radioactive Waste Management Complex generic soil, and a 1:1 blend of the two soil types. Overall, the average respirable fraction of airborne dust was 5.4% by weight. Three contamination control techniques were studied: soil fixative sprays, misting agents, and dust suppression agents. All of the tested agents proved to be effective in reducing dust in the air. Details of product performance and recommended usage are discussed

  16. Occupant Behaviour with regard to Control of the Indoor Environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Rune Vinther

    A large proportion of the world’s energy consumption is spent in an effort to maintain a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. As a consequence reductions in the energy consumed to climatise buildings are instrumental to the efforts of reducing energy related CO2 emissions and alleviating....... As a consequence, most programs are capable of accurate simulations of the physical properties of a building. However, even though the occupants’ control of the various systems in the building has a significant impact on the energy consumption and the indoor environment, only few studies have focused...... on the behaviour of their occupants. As a consequence, there is a need to investigate occupants’ interactions with building controls, such as opening of windows, adjustments of heating set-points, use of solar shading, etc. Some models of occupants’ interactions with operable windows do exist, but these are based...

  17. A ``Cyber Wind Facility'' for HPC Wind Turbine Field Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brasseur, James; Paterson, Eric; Schmitz, Sven; Campbell, Robert; Vijayakumar, Ganesh; Lavely, Adam; Jayaraman, Balaji; Nandi, Tarak; Jha, Pankaj; Dunbar, Alex; Motta-Mena, Javier; Craven, Brent; Haupt, Sue

    2013-03-01

    The Penn State ``Cyber Wind Facility'' (CWF) is a high-fidelity multi-scale high performance computing (HPC) environment in which ``cyber field experiments'' are designed and ``cyber data'' collected from wind turbines operating within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) environment. Conceptually the ``facility'' is akin to a high-tech wind tunnel with controlled physical environment, but unlike a wind tunnel it replicates commercial-scale wind turbines operating in the field and forced by true atmospheric turbulence with controlled stability state. The CWF is created from state-of-the-art high-accuracy technology geometry and grid design and numerical methods, and with high-resolution simulation strategies that blend unsteady RANS near the surface with high fidelity large-eddy simulation (LES) in separated boundary layer, blade and rotor wake regions, embedded within high-resolution LES of the ABL. CWF experiments complement physical field facility experiments that can capture wider ranges of meteorological events, but with minimal control over the environment and with very small numbers of sensors at low spatial resolution. I shall report on the first CWF experiments aimed at dynamical interactions between ABL turbulence and space-time wind turbine loadings. Supported by DOE and NSF.

  18. The limits of extremophilic life expanded under extraterrestrial environment-simulated experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lage, C.; Dalmaso, G.; Teixeira, L.; Bendia, A.; Rosado, A.

    2012-09-01

    Astrobiology is a brand new area of science that seeks to understand the origin and dynamics of life in the universe. Several hypotheses to explain life in the cosmic context have been developed throughout human history, but only now technology has allowed many of them to be tested. Laboratory experiments have been able to show how chemical elements essential to life, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen combine in biologically important compounds. Interestingly, these compounds are found universally. As these compounds were combined to the point of originating cells and complex organisms is still a challenge to be unveiled by science. However, our 4.5 billion years-old solar system was born within a 10-billion years-old universe. Thus, simple cells like microorganisms may have had time to form in planets older than ours or other suitable molecular places in the universe. One hypothesis to explain the origin of life on Earth is called panspermia, which predicts that microbial life could have been formed in the universe billions of years ago, traveling between planets, and inseminating units of life that could have become more complex in habitable planets like ours. A project designed to test the viability of extremophile microorganisms exposed to simulated extraterrestrial environments is ongoing at the Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics to test whether microbial life could withstand those inhospitable environments. Ultra-resistant (known or novel ones) microorganisms collected from terrestrial extreme environments, extremophiles, have been exposed to intense radiation sources simulating solar radiation (at synchrotron accelerators), capable of emitting in a few hours radiation equivalent of million years accumulated doses. The results obtained in these experiments reveal the interesting possibility of the existence of microbial life beyond Earth.

  19. Radon in the life environment and its countermeasures of prevention and control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Zhenyuan; Zhang Shucheng

    2004-01-01

    Radon and its daughters are a primary component for human body received total natural radiation. They will hurt human body, even fall ill when human body is over-received radiation permitted in the life environment, especially indoors. The paper introduces mainly production mechanism of the radon and its daughters at indoor environment, the live environment investigation and monitoring technology, and effect factors on the radon concentration and distribution, as well as protection and control countermeasures for radon. (authors)

  20. Influence of heat cost allocation on occupants' control of indoor environment in 56 apartments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Søren; Andersen, Rune Korsholm; Olesen, Bjarne W.

    2016-01-01

    -structured interviews showed a strong influence of the heat cost allocation plan on the occupants' control strategies. Occupants whose heating bills were based on floor area focused on a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. Occupants whose heating bills were based on meter readings focused on energy conservation...... of this paper was to study the indoor environment in buildings with collective and individual heat cost allocation plans, to investigate how the heat cost allocation influenced occupant behaviour and how occupants controlled the indoor environment. The effects of the heat cost allocation type were studied...

  1. DABASCO Experiment Data Acquisition and Control System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alberdi Primicia, J.; Artigao Arteaga, A.; Barcala Rieveira, J. M.; Oller Gonzalez, J. C.

    2000-01-01

    DABASCO experiment wants to study the thermohydraulic phenomena produced into the containment area for a severe accident in a nuclear power facility. This document describes the characteristics of the data acquisition and control system used in the experiment. The main elements of the system were a data acquisition board, PCI-MIO-16E-4, and an application written with LaB View. (Author) 5 refs

  2. The LHC experiment control system: on the path to full automation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaspar, C.; Alessio, F.; Cardoso, L.; Frank, M.; Garnier, J.C.; Herwijnen, E.V.; Jacobsson, R.; Jost, B.; Neufeld, N.; Schwemmer, R.; Callot, O.; Franek, B.

    2012-01-01

    LHCb is a large experiment at the LHC accelerator. The experiment control system is in charge of the configuration, control and monitoring of the different sub-detectors and of all areas of the online system. The building blocks of the control system are based on the PVSS SCADA System complemented by a control Framework developed in common for the 4 LHC experiments. This framework includes an 'expert system' like tool called SMI++ which is used for the system automation. The experiment's operations are now almost completely automated, driven by a top-level object called Big-Brother, which pilots all the experiment's standard procedures and the most common error-recovery procedures. The architecture, tools and mechanisms used for the implementation as well as some operational examples will be described. (authors)

  3. Interactivity in automatic control: foundations and experiences

    OpenAIRE

    Dormido Bencomo, Sebastián; Guzmán Sánchez, José Luis; Costa Castelló, Ramon; Berenguel, M

    2012-01-01

    The first part of this paper presents the concepts of interactivity and visualization and its essential role in learning the fundamentals and techniques of automatic control. More than 10 years experience of the authors in the development and design of interactive tools dedicated to the study of automatic control concepts are also exposed. The second part of the paper summarizes the main features of the “Automatic Control with Interactive Tools” text that has been recently published by Pea...

  4. Remote Experiments in Control Engineering Education Laboratory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milica B Naumović

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents Automatic Control Engineering Laboratory (ACEL - WebLab, an under-developed, internet-based remote laboratory for control engineering education at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš. Up to now, the remote laboratory integrates two physical systems (velocity servo system and magnetic levitation system and enables some levels of measurement and control. To perform experiments in ACEL-WebLab, the "LabVIEW Run Time Engine"and a standard web browser are needed.

  5. The effects of control versus autonomy in hypermedia learning environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorissen, Chantal; Kester, Liesbeth; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Martens, Rob

    2010-01-01

    Gorissen, C. J. J., Kester, L., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Martens, R. L. (2010, 13-16 May). The effects of control versus autonomy in hypermedia learning environments. Poster presented at the 4th International Self-Determination Theory Conference, Ghent, Belgium: Kennisnet.

  6. Early Childhood Educators' Experiences in Their Work Environments: Shaping (Im)possible Ways of Being an Educator?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cumming, Tamara

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to explore the complex interrelations between educators' work environments and their experiences as an entryway for thinking differently about workforce stability and sustainability. Concepts of macro- and micropolitics (drawn from the work of Deleuze and Guattari) are used to explore one educator's experiences in…

  7. Perception Shapes Experience: The Influence of Actual and Perceived Classroom Environment Dimensions on Girls' Motivations for Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spearman, Juliette; Watt, Helen M. G.

    2013-01-01

    The classroom environment influences students' academic outcomes, but it is often students' perceptions that shape their classroom experiences. Our study examined the extent to which observed classroom environment features shaped perceptions of the classroom, and explained levels of, and changes in, girls' motivation in junior secondary school…

  8. A new apparatus design for high temperature (up to 950°C) quasi-elastic neutron scattering in a controlled gaseous environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    al-Wahish, Amal; Armitage, D; al-Binni, U; Hill, B; Mills, R; Jalarvo, N; Santodonato, L; Herwig, K W; Mandrus, D

    2015-09-01

    A design for a sample cell system suitable for high temperature Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering (QENS) experiments is presented. The apparatus was developed at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge National Lab where it is currently in use. The design provides a special sample cell environment under controlled humid or dry gas flow over a wide range of temperature up to 950 °C. Using such a cell, chemical, dynamical, and physical changes can be studied in situ under various operating conditions. While the cell combined with portable automated gas environment system is especially useful for in situ studies of microscopic dynamics under operational conditions that are similar to those of solid oxide fuel cells, it can additionally be used to study a wide variety of materials, such as high temperature proton conductors. The cell can also be used in many different neutron experiments when a suitable sample holder material is selected. The sample cell system has recently been used to reveal fast dynamic processes in quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments, which standard probes (such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) could not detect. In this work, we outline the design of the sample cell system and present results demonstrating its abilities in high temperature QENS experiments.

  9. Control of locomotor stability in stabilizing and destabilizing environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Mengnan/Mary; Brown, Geoffrey; Gordon, Keith E

    2017-06-01

    To develop effective interventions targeting locomotor stability, it is crucial to understand how people control and modify gait in response to changes in stabilization requirements. Our purpose was to examine how individuals with and without incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) control lateral stability in haptic walking environments that increase or decrease stabilization demands. We hypothesized that people would adapt to walking in a predictable, stabilizing viscous force field and unpredictable destabilizing force field by increasing and decreasing feedforward control of lateral stability, respectively. Adaptations in feedforward control were measured using after-effects when fields were removed. Both groups significantly (pfeedforward adaptions to increase control of lateral stability. In contrast, in the destabilizing field, non-impaired subjects increased movement variability (p0.05). When the destabilizing field was removed, increases in movement variability persisted (pfeedforward decreases in resistance to perturbations. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Towards understanding experiences of women aspiring to senior management positions within a business environment

    OpenAIRE

    2012-01-01

    D.Phil. Equality, status and remuneration of women in the workforce remain of on-going interest and concern. Although extensive research has been conducted into this field, intensely personal experiences of women in the work environment is an important area to be researched, as this may hold the key to assisting them in successfully reaching the higher echelons within the business world. Insight into women’s workplace experiences is a worldwide need in order to improve empowerment and equa...

  11. Distributed control network for optogenetic experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasprowicz, G.; Juszczyk, B.; Mankiewicz, L.

    2014-11-01

    Nowadays optogenetic experiments are constructed to examine social behavioural relations in groups of animals. A novel concept of implantable device with distributed control network and advanced positioning capabilities is proposed. It is based on wireless energy transfer technology, micro-power radio interface and advanced signal processing.

  12. How Life Experience Shapes Cognitive Control Strategies: The Case of Air Traffic Control Training.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Arbula

    Full Text Available Although human flexible behavior relies on cognitive control, it would be implausible to assume that there is only one, general mode of cognitive control strategy adopted by all individuals. For instance, different reliance on proactive versus reactive control strategies could explain inter-individual variability. In particular, specific life experiences, like a highly demanding training for future Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs, could modulate cognitive control functions. A group of ATC trainees and a matched group of university students were tested longitudinally on task-switching and Stroop paradigms that allowed us to measure indices of cognitive control. The results showed that the ATCs, with respect to the control group, had substantially smaller mixing costs during long cue-target intervals (CTI and a reduced Stroop interference effect. However, this advantage was present also prior to the training phase. Being more capable in managing multiple task sets and less distracted by interfering events suggests a more efficient selection and maintenance of task relevant information as an inherent characteristic of the ATC group, associated with proactive control. Critically, the training that the ATCs underwent improved their accuracy in general and reduced response time switching costs during short CTIs only. These results indicate a training-induced change in reactive control, which is described as a transient process in charge of stimulus-driven task detection and resolution. This experience-based enhancement of reactive control strategy denotes how cognitive control and executive functions in general can be shaped by real-life training and underlines the importance of experience in explaining inter-individual variability in cognitive functioning.

  13. How Life Experience Shapes Cognitive Control Strategies: The Case of Air Traffic Control Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arbula, Sandra; Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Lombardo, Nicoletta; Vallesi, Antonino

    2016-01-01

    Although human flexible behavior relies on cognitive control, it would be implausible to assume that there is only one, general mode of cognitive control strategy adopted by all individuals. For instance, different reliance on proactive versus reactive control strategies could explain inter-individual variability. In particular, specific life experiences, like a highly demanding training for future Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs), could modulate cognitive control functions. A group of ATC trainees and a matched group of university students were tested longitudinally on task-switching and Stroop paradigms that allowed us to measure indices of cognitive control. The results showed that the ATCs, with respect to the control group, had substantially smaller mixing costs during long cue-target intervals (CTI) and a reduced Stroop interference effect. However, this advantage was present also prior to the training phase. Being more capable in managing multiple task sets and less distracted by interfering events suggests a more efficient selection and maintenance of task relevant information as an inherent characteristic of the ATC group, associated with proactive control. Critically, the training that the ATCs underwent improved their accuracy in general and reduced response time switching costs during short CTIs only. These results indicate a training-induced change in reactive control, which is described as a transient process in charge of stimulus-driven task detection and resolution. This experience-based enhancement of reactive control strategy denotes how cognitive control and executive functions in general can be shaped by real-life training and underlines the importance of experience in explaining inter-individual variability in cognitive functioning.

  14. Colon cancer modulation by a diabetic environment: A single institutional experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prieto, Isabel; Del Puerto-Nevado, Laura; Gonzalez, Nieves; Portal-Nuñez, Sergio; Zazo, Sandra; Corton, Marta; Minguez, Pablo; Gomez-Guerrero, Carmen; Arce, Jose Miguel; Sanz, Ana Belen; Mas, Sebastian; Aguilera, Oscar; Alvarez-Llamas, Gloria; Esbrit, Pedro; Ortiz, Alberto; Ayuso, Carmen; Egido, Jesus; Rojo, Federico; Garcia-Foncillas, Jesus

    2017-01-01

    Multiple observational studies suggest an increased risk of colon cancer in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). This can theoretically be the result of an influence of the diabetic environment on carcinogenesis or the tumor biologic behavior. To gain insight into the influence of a diabetic environment on colon cancer characteristics and outcomes. Retrospective analysis of clinical records in an academic tertiary care hospital with detailed analysis of 81 diabetic patients diagnosed of colon cancer matched with 79 non-diabetic colon cancer patients. The impact of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on the growth of colon cancer xenografts was studied in mice. The incidence of DM in 1,137 patients with colorectal cancer was 16%. The diabetic colon cancer cases and non-diabetic colon cancer controls were well matched for demographic and clinical variables. The ECOG Scale Performance Status was higher (worse) in diabetics (ECOG ≥1, 29.1% of controls vs 46.9% of diabetics, p = 0.02), but no significant differences were observed in tumor grade, adjuvant therapy, tumor site, lymphovascular invasion, stage, recurrence, death or cancer-related death. Moreover, no differences in tumor variables were observed between patients treated or not with metformin. In the xenograft model, tumor growth and histopathological characteristics did not differ between diabetic and nondiabetic animals. Our findings point towards a mild or negligible effect of the diabetes environment on colon cancer behavior, once cancer has already developed.

  15. Comfort and performance impact of personal control over thermal environment in summer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boerstra, Atze C.; te Kulve, Marije; Toftum, Jørn

    2015-01-01

    Field studies suggest that the availability of adjustable thermostats, operable windows and other controls has a positive impact on comfort, the incidence of building related symptoms and productivity. This laboratory study was designed to further investigate how having or not having control over...... the thermal environment affects human responses to the indoor environment.The study was conducted in summer in a field laboratory that was kept at 28°C. A total of 23 subjects were exposed twice for about 2.5h. During the first session (A) subjects were able to fine-tune their local thermal environment at any...... recorded during the first session. Thus, each subject was exposed to two customized conditions with identical exposure, only different from a psychological point of view.During the two sessions identical questionnaires and performance tests were used to evaluate subjects' comfort, SBS symptom incidence...

  16. Central automatic control or distributed occupant control for better indoor environment quality in the future

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toftum, Jørn

    2008-01-01

    of adverse symptoms and building related symptoms than the ventilation mode per se. This result indicates that even though the development and application of new indoor environment sensors and HVAC control systems may allow for fully automated IEQ control, such systems should not compromise occupants...... in the degree of perceived control. The database was composed of 1353 responses obtained in 25 buildings of which 15 had mechanical ventilation (997 responses) and 9 had natural ventilation (275 responses). Analysis of occupant responses, after grouping according to categories determined by the degree...... of satisfaction with the perceived control, showed that the degree of control satisfaction, but rarely building category (natural vs. mechanical ventilation), affected the prevalence of adverse perceptions and symptoms. Thus, the degree of control, as perceived by occupants, was more important for the prevalence...

  17. Motor Controller for Extreme Environments Based on SiGe, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed innovation is a motor-control subsystem capable of operation in extreme environments, including those to be encountered on the Moon and Mars....

  18. Establishing the relationship between an effective audit committee and infusion of a good control environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zandile Virtue Dlamini

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Audit Committees are a vital component of accountability and good governance for any serious organisation and have progressively been perceived as an integral part of modern control structures and control practices in both the public and private sectors. However, Audit Committees can only discharge such gigantic responsibilities in a conducive environment to provide its effective performance of certain key functions in the areas of oversight of risk management, reporting, and internal controls. Nonetheless, the enablement of such conducive environments has become a challenge to many Audit Committees. It is against this background that this study investigates the relationship between an effective audit committee and infusion of a good control environment. The study used structured and unstructured questions to investigate population comprising standing committee members and Audit Committee members. Thus this study made use of a mixed methodology to collect quantitative data as well as reviewing audit documents, such as, the Audit Committee Charter and minutes of meetings in order to ascertain the environment under which such august practices are performed. The outcome concludes that the Audit Committee which was selected for the study has the good working environment.

  19. Coupled heat transfer model and experiment study of semitransparent barrier materials in aerothermal environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Da-Lin; Qi, Hong

    Semi-transparent materials (such as IR optical windows) are widely used for heat protection or transfer, temperature and image measurement, and safety in energy , space, military, and information technology applications. They are used, for instance, ceramic coatings for thermal barriers of spacecrafts or gas turbine blades, and thermal image observation under extreme or some dangerous environments. In this paper, the coupled conduction and radiation heat transfer model is established to describe temperature distribution of semitransparent thermal barrier medium within the aerothermal environment. In order to investigate this numerical model, one semi-transparent sample with black coating was considered, and photothermal properties were measured. At last, Finite Volume Method (FVM) was used to solve the coupled model, and the temperature responses from the sample surfaces were obtained. In addition, experiment study was also taken into account. In the present experiment, aerodynamic heat flux was simulated by one electrical heater, and two experiment cases were designed in terms of the duration of aerodynamic heating. One case is that the heater irradiates one surface of the sample continually until the other surface temperature up to constant, and the other case is that the heater works only 130 s. The surface temperature responses of these two cases were recorded. Finally, FVM model of the coupling conduction-radiation heat transfer was validated based on the experiment study with relative error less than 5%.

  20. File management for experiment control parameters within a distributed function computer network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stubblefield, F.W.

    1976-10-01

    An attempt to design and implement a computer system for control of and data collection from a set of laboratory experiments reveals that many of the experiments in the set require an extensive collection of parameters for their control. The operation of the experiments can be greatly simplified if a means can be found for storing these parameters between experiments and automatically accessing them as they are required. A subsystem for managing files of such experiment control parameters is discussed. 3 figures

  1. Novel hybrid adaptive controller for manipulation in complex perturbation environments.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex M C Smith

    Full Text Available In this paper we present a hybrid control scheme, combining the advantages of task-space and joint-space control. The controller is based on a human-like adaptive design, which minimises both control effort and tracking error. Our novel hybrid adaptive controller has been tested in extensive simulations, in a scenario where a Baxter robot manipulator is affected by external disturbances in the form of interaction with the environment and tool-like end-effector perturbations. The results demonstrated improved performance in the hybrid controller over both of its component parts. In addition, we introduce a novel method for online adaptation of learning parameters, using the fuzzy control formalism to utilise expert knowledge from the experimenter. This mechanism of meta-learning induces further improvement in performance and avoids the need for tuning through trial testing.

  2. Evolutionary Fuzzy Control and Navigation for Two Wheeled Robots Cooperatively Carrying an Object in Unknown Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juang, Chia-Feng; Lai, Min-Ge; Zeng, Wan-Ting

    2015-09-01

    This paper presents a method that allows two wheeled, mobile robots to navigate unknown environments while cooperatively carrying an object. In the navigation method, a leader robot and a follower robot cooperatively perform either obstacle boundary following (OBF) or target seeking (TS) to reach a destination. The two robots are controlled by fuzzy controllers (FC) whose rules are learned through an adaptive fusion of continuous ant colony optimization and particle swarm optimization (AF-CACPSO), which avoids the time-consuming task of manually designing the controllers. The AF-CACPSO-based evolutionary fuzzy control approach is first applied to the control of a single robot to perform OBF. The learning approach is then applied to achieve cooperative OBF with two robots, where an auxiliary FC designed with the AF-CACPSO is used to control the follower robot. For cooperative TS, a rule for coordination of the two robots is developed. To navigate cooperatively, a cooperative behavior supervisor is introduced to select between cooperative OBF and cooperative TS. The performance of the AF-CACPSO is verified through comparisons with various population-based optimization algorithms for the OBF learning problem. Simulations and experiments verify the effectiveness of the approach for cooperative navigation of two robots.

  3. Active MHD control experiments in RFX-mod

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ortolani, Sergio

    2006-01-01

    The RFX reversed field pinch experiment has been modified (RFX-mod) to address specific issues of active control of MHD instabilities. A thin shell (τ Bv ∼50 ms) has replaced the old thick one (τ Bv ∼500 ms) and 192 (4 poloidal x 48 toroidal) independently powered saddle coils surround the thin shell forming a cage completely covering the torus. This paper reports the results obtained during the first year of operation. The system has been used with various control scenarios including experiments on local radial field cancellation over the entire torus surface to mimic an ideal wall ('virtual shell') and on single and multiple mode feedback control. Successful virtual shell operation has been achieved leading to: a 3-fold increase in pulse length and well controlled 300 ms pulses(∼6 shell times) up to ∼1 MA plasma current; one order of magnitude reduction of the dominant radial field perturbations at the plasma edge and correspondingly 100% increase in global energy confinement time. Robust feedback stabilization of resistive wall modes has been demonstrated in conditions where rotation does not play a role and multiple unstable modes are present

  4. Advancing cancer control research in an emerging news media environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Katherine C; Niederdeppe, Jeff; Blake, Kelly D; Cappella, Joseph N

    2013-12-01

    Cancer is both highly feared and highly newsworthy, and there is a robust body of research documenting the content and effects of cancer news coverage on health behaviors and policy. Recent years have witnessed ongoing, transformative shifts in American journalism alongside rapid advances in communication technology and the public information environment. These changes create a pressing need to consider a new set of research questions, sampling strategies, measurement techniques, and theories of media effects to ensure continued relevance and adaptation of communication research to address critical cancer control concerns. This paper begins by briefly reviewing what we know about the role of cancer news in shaping cancer-related beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and policies. We then outline challenges and opportunities, both theoretical and methodological, posed by the rapidly changing news media environment and the nature of audience engagement. We organize our discussion around three major shifts associated with the emerging news media environment as it relates to health communication: 1) speed and dynamism of news diffusion, 2) increased narrowcasting of media content for specialized audiences, and 3) broadened participation in shaping media content. In so doing, we articulate a set of questions for future theory and research, in an effort to catalyze innovative communication scholarship to improve cancer prevention and control.

  5. X-Window for process control in a mixed hardware environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clausen, M.; Rehlich, K.

    1992-01-01

    X-Window is a common standard for display purposes on the current workstations. The possibility to create more than one window on a single screen enables the operators to gain more information about the process. Multiple windows from different control systems using mixed hardware is one of the problems this paper will describe. The experience shows that X-Window is a standard per definition, but not in any case. But it is an excellent tool to separate data-acquisition and display from each other over long distances using different types of hardware and software for communications and display. Our experience with X-Window displays for the cryogenic control system and the vacuum control system at HERA on DEC and SUN hardware will be described. (author)

  6. Individually Controlled Indoor Environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Melikov, Arsen Krikor

    2004-01-01

    The thermal environment and inhaled air quality in buildings to which occupants are exposed has an effect on their health, comfort, performance and productivity. Heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) of buildings today is designed to provide a uniform environment. However, large...... individual differences in physiological and psychological response, clothing insulation, activity, preference for air temperature and movement, etc., exist between people. Environmental conditions acceptable for most of the occupants in buildings may be achieved by providing each occupant...

  7. Generating news media interest in tobacco control; challenges in an advanced policy environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKenzie, Ross; Chapman, Simon

    2012-08-01

    To determine the efficacy of using media releases for tobacco control advocacy in Australia's advanced policy environment. Between February and August 2010, news releases that summarised either newly published but unpublicized research findings, or local developments in tobacco control, were sent to NSW media outlets. Reports arising from the releases were tracked using commercial services Media Monitors and Factiva, as well as Google and Google News. Other tobacco control related news items during the same period were also tracked and recorded. Twenty-one news releases generated 93 news items across all news media, with a quarter of these related to a story of porcine haemoglobin in cigarette filters. By comparison, 'live' policy issues (especially plain packaging and a significant tobacco tax increase) covered in this period attracted 1,033 news stories in the Australian media. Press releases describing recently published, but underpublicized research were issued in weeks where no major competing tobacco control news occurred. Results of this project indicate that in environments with advanced tobacco policy, media opportunities related to tobacco control advocacy are limited, as many objectives have been achieved. The media can still play a key advocacy role in such environments, and advocates need to be particularly vigilant for opportunities that do arise. The paper also highlights the increasingly important role of internet-based media, including opportunities presented by social media for tobacco control.

  8. Individually controlled localized chilled beam in conjunction with chilled ceiling: Part 1 – Physical environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arghand, Taha; Bolashikov, Zhecho Dimitrov; Kosonen, Risto

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the indoor environment generated by localized chilled beam coupled with chilled ceiling (LCBCC) and compares it with the environment generated by mixing ventilation coupled with chilled ceiling (CCMV). The experiments were performed in a mock-up of single office (4.1 m × 4...

  9. Citrus Quality Control: An NMR/MRI Problem-Based Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erhart, Sarah E.; McCarrick, Robert M.; Lorigan, Gary A.; Yezierski, Ellen J.

    2016-01-01

    An experiment seated in an industrial context can provide an engaging framework and unique learning opportunity for an upper-division physical chemistry laboratory. An experiment that teaches NMR/MRI through a problem-based quality control of citrus products was developed. In this experiment, using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach, students…

  10. Brookhaven Reactor Experiment Control Facility, a distributed function computer network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dimmler, D.G.; Greenlaw, N.; Kelley, M.A.; Potter, D.W.; Rankowitz, S.; Stubblefield, F.W.

    1975-11-01

    A computer network for real-time data acquisition, monitoring and control of a series of experiments at the Brookhaven High Flux Beam Reactor has been developed and has been set into routine operation. This reactor experiment control facility presently services nine neutron spectrometers and one x-ray diffractometer. Several additional experiment connections are in progress. The architecture of the facility is based on a distributed function network concept. A statement of implementation and results is presented

  11. Control of the radiation environment and the worker in high-energy facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, G.R.

    1993-01-01

    The philosophy behind the prediction, measurement, monitoring and limitation by access control of the radiation hazard in high-energy accelerator facilities is compared with that which could be employed for controlling similar hazards due to cosmic radiation in civil aircraft flights. Special mention is made of computer simulations of the radiation environment as a means of predicting necessary control measures, of the reliability and integration of radiation measuring devices into control procedures and of the relevance of different access control procedures. (author)

  12. Computer controls for the WITCH experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Tandecki, M; Van Gorp, S; Friedag, P; De Leebeeck, V; Beck, D; Brand, H; Weinheimer, C; Breitenfeldt, M; Traykov, E; Mader, J; Roccia, S; Severijns, N; Herlert, A; Wauters, F; Zakoucky, D; Kozlov, V; Soti, G

    2011-01-01

    The WITCH experiment is a medium-scale experimental set-up located at ISOLDE/CERN. It combines a double Penning trap system with,a retardation spectrometer for energy measurements of recoil ions from beta decay. For a correct operation of such a set-up a whole range of different devices is required. Along with the installation and optimization of the set-up a computer control system was developed to control these devices. The CS-Framework that is developed and maintained at GSI, was chosen as a basis for this control system as it is perfectly suited to handle the distributed nature of a control system.We report here on the required hardware for WITCH, along with the basis of this CS-Framework and the add-ons that were implemented for WITCH. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. NASA Virtual Glovebox: An Immersive Virtual Desktop Environment for Training Astronauts in Life Science Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twombly, I. Alexander; Smith, Jeffrey; Bruyns, Cynthia; Montgomery, Kevin; Boyle, Richard

    2003-01-01

    The International Space Station will soon provide an unparalleled research facility for studying the near- and longer-term effects of microgravity on living systems. Using the Space Station Glovebox Facility - a compact, fully contained reach-in environment - astronauts will conduct technically challenging life sciences experiments. Virtual environment technologies are being developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help realize the scientific potential of this unique resource by facilitating the experimental hardware and protocol designs and by assisting the astronauts in training. The Virtual GloveboX (VGX) integrates high-fidelity graphics, force-feedback devices and real- time computer simulation engines to achieve an immersive training environment. Here, we describe the prototype VGX system, the distributed processing architecture used in the simulation environment, and modifications to the visualization pipeline required to accommodate the display configuration.

  14. The importance of the supportive control environment for internal audit effectiveness – the case of Croatian companies

    OpenAIRE

    Barišić, Ivana; Tušek, Boris

    2016-01-01

    The paper investigates whether a supportive control environment is associated with the internal audit effectiveness and what characteristics of a control environment are important in this respect. A survey was conducted via a questionnaire on 54 mostly large companies in Croatia. Appropriate methods of statistical analysis were used in order to analyse the survey results. According to the research results, in the case of a supportive control environment there is a greater ch...

  15. Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Corsin A.; Riemer, Stefanie; Virányi, Zsófia; Huber, Ludwig; Range, Friederike

    2016-01-01

    Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris) of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject’s level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance. PMID:26863141

  16. Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corsin A Müller

    Full Text Available Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject's level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance.

  17. Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Corsin A; Riemer, Stefanie; Virányi, Zsófia; Huber, Ludwig; Range, Friederike

    2016-01-01

    Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris) of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject's level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance.

  18. The Detector Control of the PANDA Experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldbauer, F

    2014-01-01

    The PANDA experiment will be built at the antiproton storage ring HESR, a part of the new accelerator facility FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany. PANDA aims amongst other topics for high precision measurements in hadron spectroscopy and search for exotic matter. To guarantee the high resolution of the different components a detector control system (DCS) monitoring temperatures, humidity, pressure, and controlling chillers and power supplies is needed. The DCS of PANDA is built using the open-source software package EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) with a PANDA specific version of Control-System Studio. In this document the general concepts of the PANDA DCS will be discussed

  19. A new apparatus design for high temperature (up to 950 °C) quasi-elastic neutron scattering in a controlled gaseous environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Wahish, Amal; Armitage, D.; Hill, B.; Mills, R.; Santodonato, L.; Herwig, K. W.; Al-Binni, U.; Jalarvo, N.; Mandrus, D.

    2015-01-01

    A design for a sample cell system suitable for high temperature Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering (QENS) experiments is presented. The apparatus was developed at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge National Lab where it is currently in use. The design provides a special sample cell environment under controlled humid or dry gas flow over a wide range of temperature up to 950 °C. Using such a cell, chemical, dynamical, and physical changes can be studied in situ under various operating conditions. While the cell combined with portable automated gas environment system is especially useful for in situ studies of microscopic dynamics under operational conditions that are similar to those of solid oxide fuel cells, it can additionally be used to study a wide variety of materials, such as high temperature proton conductors. The cell can also be used in many different neutron experiments when a suitable sample holder material is selected. The sample cell system has recently been used to reveal fast dynamic processes in quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments, which standard probes (such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) could not detect. In this work, we outline the design of the sample cell system and present results demonstrating its abilities in high temperature QENS experiments

  20. The Global Control of the Virgo experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnaud, Nicolas; Arnault, Christian; Barsuglia, Matteo; Bizouard, Marie-Anne; Brisson, Violette; Cavalier, Fabien; Chiche, Ronic; Davier, Michel; Eder, Claude; Hello, Patrice; Heusse, Philippe; Kreckelbergh, Stephane; Mansoux, Bruno

    2005-01-01

    In order to detect gravitational waves, the kilometric interferometer Virgo needs an active control of the positions of the suspended optical components, keeping the detector at its working point. The constraints are about 10 -10 m RMS for the longitudinal control ('Locking') and 10 -9 rad RMS for the angular degrees of freedom ('Alignment'). A dedicated hardware and software named Global Control is in charge of the Locking and the Alignment loops for the Virgo experiment. This system has been designed to match the synchronization constraint and provide a flexible tool in order to easily integrate the various algorithms needed for the control of Virgo. This paper presents the technical requirements to be fulfilled by the Global Control. Then, the dedicated hardware is described and the overall architecture of the Global Control is shown

  1. Visual Variables in Physical Environments and Virtual Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mullins, Michael

    , then to locate them and identify their shape on scaled drawings.  Results are presented together with statistical analysis. In a discussion of the results, the paper addresses the assertions that depth perception in physical reality and its virtual representations in CAVE and Panorama are quantifiably different......; that differences are attributable to prior contextual experience and spatial ability of the viewer; and that general attributes of virtual environments may be drawn from the experiments findings. The paper discusses implications of spatial ability for virtual environments in architectural education......This study compares aspects of spatial perception in a physical environment and its virtual representations in a CAVE and Panorama, based on the author?s recent empirical research. Participants in an experiment were shown objects identically placed in the virtual and physical environments...

  2. Controlling networking multimedia appliances: with an open environment - a plan-based approach

    OpenAIRE

    Jantz, D.; Heider, T.

    2000-01-01

    The need for a better user assistance in technical environments led to the birth of a planning assistant. The principal problems in representing real world tasks in this environment of multimedia home devices are explained. A special issue is the developed EMBASSI Generic Architecture to integrate networked multimedia appliances. The planning assistant engages planning algorithms to fullfill user desires without handling traditional technical control interfaces.

  3. Experiences to be a family caregiver of dependent elderly in the home environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alcimar Marcelo do Couto

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Objective: to understand the experience of caring for dependent elderly in the home environment, from the perspective of family caregivers that present burden and emotional distress. Methods: this is a qualitative research with a contribution in the Theory Grounded in Data. There were home visits for observation and semi-structured interviews with nine relatives of dependent elderly in self-care. Results: with the coding and analysis of empirical data, one can understand the daily cares in the care relationship with their elderly dependent relatives. The consolidated experiences underlie on positive experiences, such as solidarity by the established interaction and the maintenance of self-esteem, and negative as changes in daily routine and health, with stress identification related to the caregiver role. Conclusion: in the understanding of the family, their experiences as a caregiver in the home context varied between positive and negative aspects, which respectively minimize and maximize the feeling of burden and emotional distress.

  4. Learning your way in a city: experience and gender differences in configurational knowledge of one's environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Goede, Maartje; Postma, Albert

    2015-01-01

    Males tend to outperform females in their knowledge of relative and absolute distances in spatial layouts and environments. It is unclear yet in how far these differences are innate or develop through life. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether gender differences in configurational knowledge for a natural environment might be modulated by experience. In order to examine this possibility, distance as well as directional knowledge of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands was assessed in male and female inhabitants who had different levels of familiarity with this city. Experience affected the ability to solve difficult distance knowledge problems, but only for females. While the quality of the spatial representation of metric distances improved with more experience, this effect was not different for males and females. In contrast directional configurational measures did show a main gender effect but no experience modulation. In general, it seems that we obtain different configurational aspects according to different experiential time schemes. Moreover, the results suggest that experience may be a modulating factor in the occurrence of gender differences in configurational knowledge, though this seems dependent on the type of measurement. It is discussed in how far proficiency in mental rotation ability and spatial working memory accounts for these differences.

  5. A remote control system for the LELA experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castellano, M.; Cavallo, N.; Cevenini, F.; Patteri, P.

    1983-01-01

    A modular system for closed loop computer control of stepping motors has been realized and used for optical component movement of LELA experiment in radiation risk area. A CAMAC module, controlling up to 15 stepping motors, a NIM dual motor driver and a special purpose circuit for computer interfacing are described

  6. A new practice environment measure based on the reality and experiences of nurses working lives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Joan; Flint, Anndrea; Courtney, Mary

    2009-01-01

    To explore the underlying organizational issues affecting a nurses' decision to leave and to develop a contemporary practice environment measure based on the experiences of nurses working lives. Turnover had reached an unacceptable level in our organization but underlying reasons for leaving were unknown. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 nurses who had resigned. Transcripts were analysed using the constant comparative method. Information from the interviews informed the development a new practice environment tool, which has undergone initial testing using the Content Validity Index and Chronbach's alpha. Two domains ('work life' and 'personal life/professional development') and five themes ('feeling safe', 'feeling valued', 'getting things done', 'professional development' and 'being flexible') emerged from the interviews. A content validity score for the new instrument was 0.79 and Chronbach's alpha 0.93. The new practice environment tool has shown useful initial reliability and validity but requires wider testing in other settings. The reality and experiences of nurses working lives can be identified through exit interviews conducted by an independent person. Information from such interviews is useful in identifying an organization's strength and weaknesses and to develop initiatives to support retention.

  7. Light on! Real world evaluation of a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) for environment control in a smart home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carabalona, Roberta; Grossi, Ferdinando; Tessadri, Adam; Castiglioni, Paolo; Caracciolo, Antonio; de Munari, Ilaria

    2012-01-01

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems aim to enable interaction with other people and the environment without muscular activation by the exploitation of changes in brain signals due to the execution of cognitive tasks. In this context, the visual P300 potential appears suited to control smart homes through BCI spellers. The aim of this work is to evaluate whether the widely used character-speller is more sustainable than an icon-based one, designed to operate smart home environment or to communicate moods and needs. Nine subjects with neurodegenerative diseases and no BCI experience used both speller types in a real smart home environment. User experience during BCI tasks was evaluated recording concurrent physiological signals. Usability was assessed for each speller type immediately after use. Classification accuracy was lower for the icon-speller, which was also more attention demanding. However, in subjective evaluations, the effect of a real feedback partially counterbalanced the difficulty in BCI use. Since inclusive BCIs require to consider interface sustainability, we evaluated different ergonomic aspects of the interaction of disabled users with a character-speller (goal: word spelling) and an icon-speller (goal: operating a real smart home). We found the first one as more sustainable in terms of accuracy and cognitive effort.

  8. Scalability of Robotic Controllers: An Evaluation of Controller Options-Experiment II

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-01

    Army Research Laboratory ATTN: RDRL- HRM -DW Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER ARL-TR-5776 9...conditions can be specified in advance. However, if an input device is designed so that it is only practical in one environment, it may be completely...tablet that was carried in the Soldiers’ backpacks and connected to a Microsoft Xbox* 360 game controller (see figure 2) and a handheld Android phone with

  9. Toward Understanding Pore Formation and Mobility during Controlled Directional Solidification in a Microgravity Environment Investigation (PFMI)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grugel, Richard N.; Anilkumar, A. V.; Luz, Paul; Jeter, Linda; Volz, Martin P.; Spivey, Reggie; Smith, G.

    2003-01-01

    The generation and inclusion of detrimental porosity, e.g., pipes and rattails can occur during controlled directional solidification processing. The origin of these defects is generally attributed to gas evolution and entrapment during solidification of the melt. On Earth, owing to buoyancy, an initiated bubble can rapidly rise through the liquid melt and pop at the surface; this is obviously not ensured in a low gravity or microgravity environment. Clearly, porosity generation and inclusion is detrimental to conducting any meaningful solidification-science studies in microgravity. Thus it is essential that model experiments be conducted in microgravity, to understand the details of the generation and mobility of porosity, so that methods can be found to eliminate it. In hindsight, this is particularly relevant given the results of the previous directional solidification experiments conducted in Space. The current International Space Station (ISS) Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) investigation addresses the central issue of porosity formation and mobility during controlled directional solidification processing in microgravity. The study will be done using a transparent metal-analogue material, succinonitrile (SCN) and succinonitrile-water 'alloys', so that direct observation and recording of pore generation and mobility can be made during the experiments. Succinonitrile is particularly well suited for the proposed investigation because it is transparent, it solidifies in a manner analogous to most metals, it has a convenient melting point, its material properties are well characterized and, it has been successfully used in previous microgravity experiments. The PFMI experiment will be launched on the UF-2, STS-111 flight. Highlighting the porosity development problem in metal alloys during microgravity processing, the poster will describe: (i) the intent of the proposed experiments, (ii) the theoretical rationale behind using SCN as the study material for

  10. Autonomy supported, learner-controlled or system-controlled learning in hypermedia environments and the influence of academic self-regulation style

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorissen, Chantal; Kester, Liesbeth; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Martens, Rob

    2012-01-01

    This study focuses on learning in three different hypermedia environments that either support autonomous learning, learner-controlled learning or system-controlled learning and explores the mediating role of academic self-regulation style ( ASRS; i.e., a macro level of motivation) on learning. This

  11. Autonomy supported, learner-controlled or system-controlled learning in hypermedia environments and the influence of academic self-regulation style

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorissen, Chantal J J; Kester, Liesbeth; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Martens, Rob

    2015-01-01

    This study focuses on learning in three different hypermedia environments that either support autonomous learning, learner-controlled learning or system-controlled learning and explores the mediating role of academic self-regulation style (ASRS; i.e. a macro level of motivation) on learning. This

  12. Improving delivery of a health-promoting-environments program: experiences from Queensland Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwyer, S

    1997-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to outline the key components of a statewide multisite health-promoting-environments program. Contemporary health-promotion programs in settings such as schools, workplaces and hospitals use organisational development theory to address the health issues of the setting, including the physical environment, the organisational environment, and the specific health needs of the employees and consumers of the service. Program principles include management of each project by the participant organisation or site (for example, a school or workplace), using resources available within the organisation and the local community, voluntary participation, social justice and participant-based priority setting, and evaluation and monitoring. Adoption of these principles implies a shift in the role of the health worker from implementer to facilitator. Based on the experience of Queensland Health, it is proposed that the essential building blocks of the health-promoting-environments program are an intersectoral policy base, a model for action, training and resources, local facilitators, support from local organisations, a supportive network of sites, marketing of the program, and a state-based evaluation and monitoring system. The program in Queensland was able to develop a significant number of these components over the 1990-1996 period. In regard to evaluation, process measures can be built around the program components; however, further research is required for development of impact indicators and benchmarks on quality.

  13. Collaborative learning environments and collective creation in 3 weeks bside project experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Javier Rodríguez Sánchez

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This  paper proposes  a  socio-critical review  and  reflection  related to collaborative learning environment as pedagogical agent and its relationship with artistic-practice communities of collective creativity. The main goal of this research is to introduce the case study 3 weeks bside project experience (3WBPE, from now on. Through participatory action research and the analysis of different concepts and their practical and theoretical aspects. In the framework of an education self-manage- ment development universe, the project pro- cess is based on a collaborative learning. It is focused on the constructions of a common discourse about the idea of territory that is represented in a publication and site specific exhibition. 3WBPE allowed setting up stanc- es that suggest a social interaction transfer related to construction of belong, participa- tion and transformation environment, ques- tion a teacher role or collective creation of a project, emphasizing the importance of pro- cess as a goal, beyond of culture artifact pro- ductions. It was dealt with dialog structures, where a social harmony supposed a personal and common reflection space about author’s stance, nigh socio-culture environments and the bond within the education, arts and visu- al culture focused in the horizontal and flexi- ble work capacity, that proposes a collabora- tive learning environment settings.

  14. How scientific experiments are designed: Problem solving in a knowledge-rich, error-rich environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Lisa M.

    While theory formation and the relation between theory and data has been investigated in many studies of scientific reasoning, researchers have focused less attention on reasoning about experimental design, even though the experimental design process makes up a large part of real-world scientists' reasoning. The goal of this thesis was to provide a cognitive account of the scientific experimental design process by analyzing experimental design as problem-solving behavior (Newell & Simon, 1972). Three specific issues were addressed: the effect of potential error on experimental design strategies, the role of prior knowledge in experimental design, and the effect of characteristics of the space of alternate hypotheses on alternate hypothesis testing. A two-pronged in vivo/in vitro research methodology was employed, in which transcripts of real-world scientific laboratory meetings were analyzed as well as undergraduate science and non-science majors' design of biology experiments in the psychology laboratory. It was found that scientists use a specific strategy to deal with the possibility of error in experimental findings: they include "known" control conditions in their experimental designs both to determine whether error is occurring and to identify sources of error. The known controls strategy had not been reported in earlier studies with science-like tasks, in which participants' responses to error had consisted of replicating experiments and discounting results. With respect to prior knowledge: scientists and undergraduate students drew on several types of knowledge when designing experiments, including theoretical knowledge, domain-specific knowledge of experimental techniques, and domain-general knowledge of experimental design strategies. Finally, undergraduate science students generated and tested alternates to their favored hypotheses when the space of alternate hypotheses was constrained and searchable. This result may help explain findings of confirmation

  15. Adaptive Augmenting Control Flight Characterization Experiment on an F/A-18

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanZwieten, Tannen S.; Orr, Jeb S.; Wall, John H.; Gilligan, Eric T.

    2014-01-01

    This paper summarizes the Adaptive Augmenting Control (AAC) flight characterization experiments performed using an F/A-18 (TN 853). AAC was designed and developed specifically for launch vehicles, and is currently part of the baseline autopilot design for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). The scope covered here includes a brief overview of the algorithm (covered in more detail elsewhere), motivation and benefits of flight testing, top-level SLS flight test objectives, applicability of the F/A-18 as a platform for testing a launch vehicle control design, test cases designed to fully vet the AAC algorithm, flight test results, and conclusions regarding the functionality of AAC. The AAC algorithm developed at Marshall Space Flight Center is a forward loop gain multiplicative adaptive algorithm that modifies the total attitude control system gain in response to sensed model errors or undesirable parasitic mode resonances. The AAC algorithm provides the capability to improve or decrease performance by balancing attitude tracking with the mitigation of parasitic dynamics, such as control-structure interaction or servo-actuator limit cycles. In the case of the latter, if unmodeled or mismodeled parasitic dynamics are present that would otherwise result in a closed-loop instability or near instability, the adaptive controller decreases the total loop gain to reduce the interaction between these dynamics and the controller. This is in contrast to traditional adaptive control logic, which focuses on improving performance by increasing gain. The computationally simple AAC attitude control algorithm has stability properties that are reconcilable in the context of classical frequency-domain criteria (i.e., gain and phase margin). The algorithm assumes that the baseline attitude control design is well-tuned for a nominal trajectory and is designed to adapt only when necessary. Furthermore, the adaptation is attracted to the nominal design and adapts only on an as-needed basis

  16. The Global Control of the Virgo experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arnaud, Nicolas [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Arnault, Christian [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Barsuglia, Matteo [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Bizouard, Marie-Anne [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Brisson, Violette [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Cavalier, Fabien [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France)]. E-mail: cavalier@lal.in2p3.fr; Chiche, Ronic [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Davier, Michel [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Eder, Claude [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Hello, Patrice [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France); Heusse, Philippe; Kreckelbergh, Stephane; Mansoux, Bruno [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universite Paris Sud, Ba-hat timent 200, Campus d' Orsay, B.P. 34, 91898 Orsay Cedex (France)

    2005-09-11

    In order to detect gravitational waves, the kilometric interferometer Virgo needs an active control of the positions of the suspended optical components, keeping the detector at its working point. The constraints are about 10{sup -10}m RMS for the longitudinal control ('Locking') and 10{sup -9}rad RMS for the angular degrees of freedom ('Alignment'). A dedicated hardware and software named Global Control is in charge of the Locking and the Alignment loops for the Virgo experiment. This system has been designed to match the synchronization constraint and provide a flexible tool in order to easily integrate the various algorithms needed for the control of Virgo. This paper presents the technical requirements to be fulfilled by the Global Control. Then, the dedicated hardware is described and the overall architecture of the Global Control is shown.

  17. IKONET: distributed accelerator and experiment control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koldewijn, P.

    1986-01-01

    IKONET is a network consisting of some 35 computers used to control the 500 MeV Medium Energy Amsterdam electron accelerator (MEA) and its various experiments. The control system is distributed over a whole variety of machines, which are combined in a transparent central-oriented network. The local hardware is switched and tuned via Camac by a series of mini-computers with a real-time multitask operating system. Larger systems provide central intelligence for the higher-level control layers. An image of the complete accelerator settings is maintained by central database administrators. Different operator facilities handle touchpanels, multi-purpose knobs and graphical displays. The network provides remote login facilities and file servers. On basis of the present layout, an overview is given of future developments for subsystems of the network. (Auth.)

  18. Concept definition for space station technology development experiments. Experiment definition, task 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    1986-01-01

    The second task of a study with the overall objective of providing a conceptual definition of the Technology Development Mission Experiments proposed by LaRC on space station is discussed. During this task, the information (goals, objectives, and experiment functional description) assembled on a previous task was translated into the actual experiment definition. Although still of a preliminary nature, aspects such as: environment, sensors, data acquisition, communications, handling, control telemetry requirements, crew activities, etc., were addressed. Sketches, diagrams, block diagrams, and timeline analyses of crew activities are included where appropriate.

  19. Distribution coefficients for radionuclides in aquatic environments. Volume 2. Dialysis experiments in marine environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sibley, T.H.; Nevissi, A.E.; Schell, W.R.

    1981-05-01

    The overall objective of this research program was to obtain new information that can be used to predict the fate of radionuclides that may enter the aquatic environment from nuclear power plants, waste storage facilities or fuel reprocessing plants. Important parameters for determining fate are the distribution of radionuclides between the soluble and particulate phases and the partitioning of radionuclides among various suspended particulates. This report presents the results of dialysis experiments that were used to study the distribution of radionuclides among suspended sediments, phytoplankton, organic detritus, and filtered sea water. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium distribution of (59)Fe, (60)Co, (65)Zn, (106)Ru, (137)Cs, (207)Bi, (238)Pu, and (241)Am in marine system. Diffusion across the dialysis membranes depends upon the physico-chemical form of the radionuclides, proceeding quite rapidly for ionic species of (137)Cs and (60)Co but much more slowly for radionuclides which occur primarily as colloids and solid precipitates such as (59)Fe, (207)Bi, and (241)Am. All the radionuclides adsorb to suspended particulates although the amount of adsorption depends upon the specific types and concentration of particulates in the system and the selected radionuclide. High affinity of some radionuclides - e.g., (106)Ru and (241)Am - for detritus and phytoplankton suggests that suspended organics may significantly affect the eventual fate of those radionuclides in marine ecosystems

  20. [Tobacco control: an intersectorial experience in Tunja (Colombia)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panader-Torres, Adriana; Agudelo-Cely, Nancy Aurora; Bolívar-Suárez, Yolima; Cárdenas-Cárdenas, Luz Mery

    2014-01-01

    Tobacco control in Colombia is regulated by Law 1335 of 2009. The implementation and monitoring of the provisions of this law require strengthening of intersectorial work at the local level. This field note presents an intersectorial work experience that was carried out in the municipality of Tunja (Colombia) to improve tobacco control. The Respirarte Group was established. This group consists of an intersectorial team composed of 15 institutions. The Respirarte Group achieved the following political and community actions: signing of an agreement on tobacco control by government actors, expedition of a local decree to comply with Law 1335 in the municipality, provision of information and communication, and social mobilization and monitoring. This experience serves as a national and international reference and its lessons could be used in the approach to other public health problems. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  1. Nursing care in a high-technological environment: Experiences of critical care nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tunlind, Adam; Granström, John; Engström, Åsa

    2015-04-01

    Management of technical equipment, such as ventilators, infusion pumps, monitors and dialysis, makes health care in an intensive care setting more complex. Technology can be defined as items, machinery and equipment that are connected to knowledge and management to maximise efficiency. Technology is not only the equipment itself, but also the knowledge of how to use it and the ability to convert it into nursing care. The aim of this study is to describe critical care nurses' experience of performing nursing care in a high technology healthcare environment. Qualitative, personal interviews were conducted during 2012 with eight critical care nurses in the northern part of Sweden. Interview transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Three themes with six categories emerged. The technology was described as a security that could facilitate nursing care, but also one that could sometimes present obstacles. The importance of using the clinical gaze was highlighted. Nursing care in a high technological environment must be seen as multi-faceted when it comes to how it affects CCNs' experience. The advanced care conducted in an ICU could not function without high-tech equipment, nor could care operate without skilled interpersonal interaction and maintenance of basal nursing. That technology is seen as a major tool and simultaneously as a barrier to patient-centred care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Controlling social stress in virtual reality environments.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dwi Hartanto

    Full Text Available Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6 = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6 = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6 = -0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes.

  3. Controlling social stress in virtual reality environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G M; Neerincx, Mark A; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

    2014-01-01

    Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = -0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes.

  4. Controlling Social Stress in Virtual Reality Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L.; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G. M.; Neerincx, Mark A.; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

    2014-01-01

    Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = −0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes. PMID:24671006

  5. Experiences of Interpersonal Violence and Criminal Legal Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Traci Schlesinger

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Incarcerated women are substantially more likely to have experienced interpersonal violence than are women in the general population. Some scholars argue that increased likelihoods of committing crime among survivors of violence explain this association. However, previous research fails to control for measures of social vulnerability. Thus, the relationship between experiencing interpersonal violence and experiencing imprisonment may not be a causal one. To examine the links between social vulnerability, experiences of interpersonal violence, and experiences of incarceration, the authors analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. The authors’ findings suggest that social vulnerability—especially being Black, having a parent who has been incarcerated, and being unemployed at the time of the arrest—does mediate the relationship between experiencing violence, using drugs, and believing that interpersonal violence contributed to one’s imprisonment. However, even when controlling for social vulnerability, real effects of experiences of violence on both women’s drug use and their understandings of the causes of their imprisonment remain.

  6. Experience of digital control systems in Scandinavian BWRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rydahl, I.

    1989-01-01

    Since 1984 digital control systems have been in operation in various Scandinavian BWRs. Examples of such digital control systems are: dual microprocessor based system for complete control of radwaste plant, three channel recirculation control system, and three channel feedwater control system. This paper describes Swedish development from one channel through three channel analog control systems to digital systems. The author describes experience of digital control systems during design, testing, commissioning and operation. The main benefits of digital compared with analog technology are discussed. Especially the outstanding facility of using a built-in process simulator for commissioning and tuning. The use of digital technology in nuclear safety system and future plans are dealt with

  7. Multi-user data acquisition environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Storch, N.A.

    1983-01-01

    The typical data acquisition environment involves data collection and monitoring by a single user. However, in order to support experiments on the Mars facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we have had to create a multi-user data acquisition environment where any user can control the data acquisition and several users can monitor and analyze data being collected in real time. This paper describes how we accomplished this on an HP A600 computer. It focuses on the overall system description and user communication with the tasks within the system. Our current implementation is one phase of a long-term software development project

  8. Guidelines to use tomato in experiments with a controlled environment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dietmar eSchwarz

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum is the most important horticultural crop worldwide. Low polymorphism at the DNA level conflicts with the wealth of morphological variation. Fruits vary widely in size, shape and colour. In contrast, genetic variation between the 16 wild relatives is tremendous. Several large seed banks provide tomato germplasm for both domesticated and wild accessions of tomato. Recently, the genomes of the inbred cultivar Heinz 1706 (≈900 Mb and S. pimpinellifolium (739 Mb were sequenced. Genomic markers and genome re-sequencing data are available for >150 cultivars and accessions. Transformation of tomato is relatively easy and T-DNA insertion line collections are available. Tomato is widely used as a model crop for fruit development but also for diverse physiological, cellular, biochemical, molecular and genetic studies. It can be easily grown in greenhouses or growth chambers. Plants grow, flower, and develop fruits well at daily light lengths between 8-16 hours. The required daily light integral of an experiment depends on growth stage and temperature investigated. Temperature must be 10-35°C, relative humidity 30-90 % and CO2 concentration 200-1500 µmol mol-1. Temperature determines the speed of the phenological development while daily light integral and CO2 concentration affect photosynthesis and biomass production. Seed to seed cultivation takes 100 days at 20°C and can be shortened or delayed by temperature. Tomato may be cultivated in soil, substrates, or aeroponically without any substrate. Root volume and water uptake requirements are primarily determined by transpiration demands of the plants. Many nutrient supply recipes and strategies are available to ensure sufficient supply as well as specific nutrient deficits/surplus. Using appropriate cultivation techniques makes tomato a convenient model plant for researchers, even for beginners.

  9. Guidelines to use tomato in experiments with a controlled environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwarz, Dietmar; Thompson, Andrew J.; Kläring, Hans-Peter

    2014-01-01

    Domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is the most important horticultural crop worldwide. Low polymorphism at the DNA level conflicts with the wealth of morphological variation. Fruits vary widely in size, shape, and color. In contrast, genetic variation between the 16 wild relatives is tremendous. Several large seed banks provide tomato germplasm for both domesticated and wild accessions of tomato. Recently, the genomes of the inbred cultivar “Heinz 1706” (≈900 Mb), and S. pimpinellifolium (739 Mb) were sequenced. Genomic markers and genome re-sequencing data are available for >150 cultivars and accessions. Transformation of tomato is relatively easy and T-DNA insertion line collections are available. Tomato is widely used as a model crop for fruit development but also for diverse physiological, cellular, biochemical, molecular, and genetic studies. It can be easily grown in greenhouses or growth chambers. Plants grow, flower, and develop fruits well at daily light lengths between 8 and 16 h. The required daily light integral of an experiment depends on growth stage and temperature investigated. Temperature must be 10–35°C, relative humidity 30–90%, and, CO2 concentration 200–1500 μmol mol−1. Temperature determines the speed of the phenological development while daily light integral and CO2 concentration affect photosynthesis and biomass production. Seed to seed cultivation takes 100 days at 20°C and can be shortened or delayed by temperature. Tomato may be cultivated in soil, substrates, or aeroponically without any substrate. Root volume, and water uptake requirements are primarily determined by transpiration demands of the plants. Many nutrient supply recipes and strategies are available to ensure sufficient supply as well as specific nutrient deficits/surplus. Using appropriate cultivation techniques makes tomato a convenient model plant for researchers, even for beginners. PMID:25477888

  10. Experience with control valve cavitation problems and their solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ozol, J.

    1988-01-01

    Pressure reduction in control valves can induce cavitation, which has three effects on the control valve. Firstly, it modifies or changes the hydraulic performance of the control valve. Since control valves are designed for noncavitating conditions, the result is usually reduced stability of the control valve or, in extreme cavitating conditions known as supercavitation, the valve may limit the flow rate and thus be undersized. Secondly, cavitation can cause material damage to valve parts, trim, or valve body, or erodes downstream piping; consequently, the valve or piping leaks. Thirdly, cavitation causes noise and vibration, which may cause major damage or destruction to equipment such as valve positioners, actuators, pipe supports and sometimes to other downstream valves. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) It describes the I.S.A. valve sizing equations and how they relate to cavitation. (2) It describes experiences with these three problems, and discusses corrective actions and practical approaches to their solution. This paper discusses thirteen cavitation experiences

  11. Nurse-physician teamwork in the emergency department: impact on perceptions of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajeigbe, David O; McNeese-Smith, Donna; Leach, Linda Searle; Phillips, Linda R

    2013-03-01

    Teamwork is essential to safety. Few studies focus on teamwork between nurses and physicians in emergency departments (EDs). The aim of this study was to examine differences between staff in the interventional group EDs (IGEDs) and control group EDs (CGEDs) on perception of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice. This was a comparative cross-sectional study of the impact of teamwork on perceptions of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice by registered nurses and physicians (MDs) in EDs. Staff in the IGEDs showed significant differences compared with staff who worked in the CGEDs on staff perception of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice. Active teamwork practice was associated with increased perceptions of a positive job environment, autonomy, and control over practice of both nurses and physicians.

  12. Online control package for COSY-TOF experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Borodina, Ekaterina [Institute fuer Kernphysik I, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52325, Juelich (Germany); Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (Russian Federation); Roderburg, Eduard; Ritman, James [Institute fuer Kernphysik I, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52325, Juelich (Germany)

    2009-07-01

    The new Straw Tube Tracker and Quirl Microstrip detectors have been installed at the TOF (Time Of Flight) experiment at the COSY accelerator in IKP FZ-Juelich. These new detectors increase the number of channels of the COSY-TOF detector by about a factor of 3. Therefore, a new control package to adjust electronic parameters and for control the proper functionality of all channels is being developed. The online controlling based on visualization of key parameters of detectors plays an important role. The concept and the techniques of the online software package are developed for the COSY-TOF experiment. It consists of conversion software, which transforms a binary data stream from the DAQ to detector oriented event format, methods of IPC (Inter-Process Communications), and GUI (graphical user interface). To achieve data transfer through the network and real time data performance the IPC tools - sockets and shared memory are used. A special GUI, TOF-ONLINE has been developed, based on ROOT. The GUI allows the detectors, plotting spectra, resetting data, etc., to be selected in an intuitive way. Examples of the visualization and the results of the first beam time will be introduced.

  13. A negative association between video game experience and proactive cognitive control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Kira; West, Robert; Anderson, Craig A

    2010-01-01

    Some evidence demonstrates that video game experience has a beneficial effect on visuospatial cognition. In contrast, other evidence indicates that video game experience may be negatively related to cognitive control. In this study we examined the specificity of the influence of video game experience on cognitive control. Participants with high and low video game experience performed the Stroop task while event-related brain potentials were recorded. The behavioral data revealed no difference between high and low gamers for the Stroop interference effect and a reduction in the conflict adaptation effect in high gamers. The amplitude of the medial frontal negativity and a frontal slow wave was attenuated in high gamers, and there was no effect of gaming status on the conflict slow potential. These data lead to the suggestion that video game experience has a negative influence on proactive, but not reactive, cognitive control.

  14. French LMFBR's control rods experience and development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnaud, G.; Guigon, A.; Verset, L.

    1983-06-01

    Since the last ten years, the French program has been, first of all, directed to the setting up, and then the development of, at once, the Phenix control rods, and next, the Super-Phenix ones. The vented pin design, with porous plug and sodium bonding, which allows the choices of large diameters, has been taken, since the Rapsodie experience was decisive. The absorber material is sintered, 10 B enriched, boron carbide. The can is made of 316 type stainless steel, stabilised, or not, with titanium. The experience gained in Phenix up to now is important, and deals with about six loads of control rods. Results confirm the validity of the design of the absorber pins. Some difficulties has been encountered for the guiding devices, due to the swelling of the steel. They have required design and material improvements. Such difficulties are discarded by a new design of the bearing, for the Super-Phenix control rods. The other parts of these rods, from the Primary Shut-Down System, are strictly derived from Phenix. The design of the rods from the Secondary Shut-Down System is rather different, but it's not the case for the design of the absorber pins: in many a way, they are derived from Phenix pins and from Rapsodie control rods. Both types of rods irradiation tests are in progress in Phenix [fr

  15. User experiences with editorial control in online newspaper comment fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løvlie, Anders Sundnes; Ihlebæk, Karoline Andrea; Larsson, Anders Olof

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates user experiences with editorial control in online newspaper comment fields following the public backlash against online comments after the 2011 terror attacks in Norway. We analyze data from a survey of online news consumers focusing on experiences and attitudes towards...... editorial control set against a spectrum between “interventionist” and “noninterventionist” positions. Results indicate that interventionist respondents rate the quality of online comments as poor, whereas noninterventionist respondents have most often experienced being the target of editorial control...... measures and feel that editorial control has intensified after the terror attacks. We conclude that newspapers should pay attention to the different needs of participants when devising strategies for editorial control. Media professionals should also consider changes to increase the transparency...

  16. Controlling quantum memory-assisted entropic uncertainty in non-Markovian environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yanliang; Fang, Maofa; Kang, Guodong; Zhou, Qingping

    2018-03-01

    Quantum memory-assisted entropic uncertainty relation (QMA EUR) addresses that the lower bound of Maassen and Uffink's entropic uncertainty relation (without quantum memory) can be broken. In this paper, we investigated the dynamical features of QMA EUR in the Markovian and non-Markovian dissipative environments. It is found that dynamical process of QMA EUR is oscillation in non-Markovian environment, and the strong interaction is favorable for suppressing the amount of entropic uncertainty. Furthermore, we presented two schemes by means of prior weak measurement and posterior weak measurement reversal to control the amount of entropic uncertainty of Pauli observables in dissipative environments. The numerical results show that the prior weak measurement can effectively reduce the wave peak values of the QMA-EUA dynamic process in non-Markovian environment for long periods of time, but it is ineffectual on the wave minima of dynamic process. However, the posterior weak measurement reversal has an opposite effects on the dynamic process. Moreover, the success probability entirely depends on the quantum measurement strength. We hope that our proposal could be verified experimentally and might possibly have future applications in quantum information processing.

  17. Data Quality Monitoring : Automatic MOnitoRing Environment (AMORE ) Web Administration Tool in ALICE Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Nagi, Imre

    2013-01-01

    ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The quality of the acquired data evolves over time depending on the status of the detectors, its components and the operating environment. To get an excellent performance of detector, all detector configurations have to be set perfectly so that the data-taking can be done in an optimal way. This report describes a new implementation of the administration tools of the ALICE’s DQM framework called AMORE (Automatic MonitoRing Environment) with web technologies.

  18. Demographic parameters of individual E.coli within and among controlled environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jouvet, Lionel; Steiner, Ulrich

    2014-01-01

    . This can be achieved by working on isogenic populations under controlled environments. We use a microfluidic device to limit stochastic processes to their molecular components. The high throughput microfluidic device traps thousands of individual E. coli cells and tracks them over their lifespan...

  19. Can Professional Environments in Schools Promote Teacher Development? Explaining Heterogeneity in Returns to Teaching Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraft, Matthew A.; Papay, John P.

    2014-01-01

    Although wide variation in teacher effectiveness is well established, much less is known about differences in teacher improvement over time. We document that average returns to teaching experience mask large variation across individual teachers and across groups of teachers working in different schools. We examine the role of school context in explaining these differences using a measure of the professional environment constructed from teachers responses to state-wide surveys. Our analyses show that teachers working in more supportive professional environments improve their effectiveness more over time than teachers working in less supportive contexts. On average, teachers working in schools at the 75th percentile of professional environment ratings improved 38% more than teachers in schools at the 25th percentile after 10 years. PMID:25866426

  20. Pigeon interaction mode switch-based UAV distributed flocking control under obstacle environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Huaxin; Duan, Haibin

    2017-11-01

    Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flocking control is a serious and challenging problem due to local interactions and changing environments. In this paper, a pigeon flocking model and a pigeon coordinated obstacle-avoiding model are proposed based on a behavior that pigeon flocks will switch between hierarchical and egalitarian interaction mode at different flight phases. Owning to the similarity between bird flocks and UAV swarms in essence, a distributed flocking control algorithm based on the proposed pigeon flocking and coordinated obstacle-avoiding models is designed to coordinate a heterogeneous UAV swarm to fly though obstacle environments with few informed individuals. The comparative simulation results are elaborated to show the feasibility, validity and superiority of our proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Open-Rate Controlled Experiment in E-Mail Marketing Campaigns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antun Biloš

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to test the controlled experiment (A/B split methodology in B2C oriented e-mail marketing campaigns. Design/Methodology/Approach – E-mail marketing techniques have been a substantial part of e-marketing methodology since the early Internet days of the mid-1990s. From the very beginning of Internet utilization for business purposes, e-mail was one of the most widely used communication techniques in B2B and B2C markets alike. Due to high volumes of spamming and progression of online communication clutter, some practitioners began to question the usability of e-mail as a marketing communication channel, while others embarked on working on improving the message itself. Efforts were invested into improving message quality, as well as into better understanding user expectations. One of the most commonly used techniques to test specific e-mail message elements is the controlled experiment. Findings and implications – This paper explores several types of controlled experiments in a specific Croatian B2C market. Tests were run to determine subscriber behavior towards several newsletter components, including sending time, sending day, sender’s name, and subject line. Open and click rates for tested campaigns, and several other metrics were investigated using MailChimp software. An N − 1 two-proportion test using an adjusted Wald confidence interval around the difference in the proportions was used for comparing the open-rate measure in the controlled experiments between subjects. Limitation – Controlled experiments (A/B split tests showed a lot of potential as a way of measuring behavior and preferences of subscribers, although several apparent limitations (the data-set scope, comparability issues indicated a clear need for standardization on a managerial and scientific level. Originality – This paper provides an up-to-date e-mail marketing effectiveness literature review, describes and tests the

  2. Controlled Experiment Replication in Evaluation of E-Learning System's Educational Influence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grubisic, Ani; Stankov, Slavomir; Rosic, Marko; Zitko, Branko

    2009-01-01

    We believe that every effectiveness evaluation should be replicated at least in order to verify the original results and to indicate evaluated e-learning system's advantages or disadvantages. This paper presents the methodology for conducting controlled experiment replication, as well as, results of a controlled experiment and an internal…

  3. Designing new collaborative learning spaces in clinical environments: experiences from a children's hospital in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bines, Julie E; Jamieson, Peter

    2013-09-01

    Hospitals are complex places that provide a rich learning environment for students, staff, patients and their families, professional groups and the community. The "new" Royal Children's Hospital opened in late 2011. Its mission is focused on improving health and well-being of children and adolescents through leadership in healthcare, research and education. Addressing the need to create "responsive learning environments" aligned with the shift to student-centred pedagogy, two distinct learning environments were developed within the new Royal Children's Hospital; (i) a dedicated education precinct providing a suite of physical environments to promote a more active, collaborative and social learning experience for education and training programs conducted on the Royal Children's Hospital campus and (ii) a suite of learning spaces embedded within clinical areas so that learning becomes an integral part of the daily activities of this busy Hospital environment. The aim of this article is to present the overarching educational principles that lead the design of these learning spaces and describe the opportunities and obstacles encountered in the development of collaborative learning spaces within a large hospital development.

  4. Teachers' and postgraduate nursing students' experience of the educational environment in Iran: A qualitative Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajihosseini, Fatemeh; Tafreshi, Mansoureh Zagheri; Hosseini, Meimanat; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza

    2017-08-01

    The learning environment has a significant role in determining nursing students' academic achievements and course satisfaction. Creating a proper educational environment is therefore necessary for improving the quality of teaching and learning, and for delivering competent graduates to society. The present study was conducted to explore teachers' and postgraduate nursing students' experience of the educational environment in Iran. This qualitative study uses an inductive approach and conventional content analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with seven PhD students, seven faculty members (directors) and two focus groups comprising of fourteen master's students in total, selected from three major universities in Tehran, Iran. Seven subcategories were extracted from the data, including the organizational context, interactive climate, teachers' competency, student appreciation, research centeredness, educational guidance and professionalism. The educational environment of postgraduate nursing programs in Iran encompasses different dimensions that can serve as both key points for educational environment evaluators and as guidelines for officials at different levels, to modify the weaknesses and improve the strengths of the system.

  5. Teachers’ and postgraduate nursing students’ experience of the educational environment in Iran: A qualitative Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajihosseini, Fatemeh; Tafreshi, Mansoureh Zagheri; Hosseini, Meimanat; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza

    2017-01-01

    Background The learning environment has a significant role in determining nursing students’ academic achievements and course satisfaction. Creating a proper educational environment is therefore necessary for improving the quality of teaching and learning, and for delivering competent graduates to society. Objective The present study was conducted to explore teachers’ and postgraduate nursing students’ experience of the educational environment in Iran. Methods This qualitative study uses an inductive approach and conventional content analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with seven PhD students, seven faculty members (directors) and two focus groups comprising of fourteen master’s students in total, selected from three major universities in Tehran, Iran. Results Seven subcategories were extracted from the data, including the organizational context, interactive climate, teachers’ competency, student appreciation, research centeredness, educational guidance and professionalism. Conclusion The educational environment of postgraduate nursing programs in Iran encompasses different dimensions that can serve as both key points for educational environment evaluators and as guidelines for officials at different levels, to modify the weaknesses and improve the strengths of the system. PMID:28979741

  6. A Comparative Analysis of Wiki Discretionary Access Control in a CONOPS Environment

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Crawford, Frederick L

    2008-01-01

    This research conducts a comparative analysis of discretionary access controls of current wikis by experimenting with their discretionary access controls and functionality, comparing the wiki software...

  7. Radiation environment measurements with the cosmic ray experiments on-board the KITSAT-1 and PoSAT-1 micro-satellites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Underwood, C.I.; Brock, D.J.; Williams, P.S.; Kim, S.; Dilao, R.; Santos, P.R.; Brito, M.C.; Dyer, C.S.; Sims, A.J.

    1994-01-01

    The success of the Cosmic Radiation Environment and Dosimetry (CREDO) experiment carried on-board the UoSAT-3 micro-satellite (launched in 1990) has lead to the development of a new instrument called the Cosmic-Ray Experiment (CRE) which has flown on-board the KITSAT-1 and PoSAT-1 micro-satellites, launched in 1992 and 1993 respectively. The results from both CRE instruments show excellent agreement with those of CREDO for the galactic cosmic-ray environment. However, there are some differences in the CRE and CREDO response to the trapped proton environment of the South Atlantic Anomaly which can be explained by the differences in the detector response time. The fit between the flight results and predictions from the standard models is generally good, but some differences are noted. The CRE and CREDO instruments should provide continuous coverage of the near-Earth radiation environment across a complete solar cycle. This is important in view of the dynamic nature of the radiation environment - as amply demonstrated by the results from the CRRES spacecraft

  8. Transparency Trade-offs for a 3-channel Controller Revealed by the Bounded Environment Passivity Method

    OpenAIRE

    Willaert, Bert; Corteville, Brecht; Reynaerts, Dominiek; Van Brussel, Hendrik; Vander Poorten, Emmanuel

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, the Bounded Environment Passivity method [1] is applied to a 3-channel controller. This method enables the design of teleoperation controllers that show passive behaviour for interactions with a bounded range of environments. The resulting tuning guidelines, derived analytically, provide interesting tuning flexibility, which allows to focus on different aspects of transparency. As telesurgery is the motivation behind this work, the focus lies on correctly r...

  9. Embodied thermal environments: an examination of older-people's sensory experiences in a variety of residential types

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henshaw, Victoria; Guy, Simon

    2015-01-01

    Thermal sensations of space, namely temperature, humidity and the movement of air, can be difficult to separate from other sensory information such as the sound of fans or ventilation equipment, or the smell of damp or cool fresh air. Despite this factor, efforts to reduce the consumption of energy through the installation of low-carbon technologies including sealed whole-building systems frequently isolate the thermal environment and fail to recognise and respond to the influence of other sensory information on personal preferences and behaviours. Older people represent an increasing proportion of the UK's population, can be faced with a range of physiological challenges associated with ageing, and sometimes have long-established personal preferences. Drawing from data collected across the Conditioning Demand Project, this paper explores the embodied nature of older people's experiences of low-carbon and more traditional thermal technologies in private residences, extra-care housing and residential care-homes, focussing specifically upon auditory and olfactory stimulus. Exploring the management of the sensory experience across these settings, we analyse each case to inform the development of new design and policy approaches to tackling housing for older people. In doing so, we further build connections between energy research and debates around sensory urbanism. -- Highlights: •Some thermal technologies present particular sensory issues and problems for older people. •Older people use a range of sensory stimuli in evaluating and controlling thermal environments. •Older people use non-thermal sensory information when selecting between thermal technologies. •Sensory information plays an important role in thermal technology maintenance

  10. The orientation of homing pigeons (Columba livia f.d. with and without navigational experience in a two-dimensional environment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Mehlhorn

    Full Text Available Homing pigeons are known for their excellent homing ability, and their brains seem to be functionally adapted to homing. It is known that pigeons with navigational experience show a larger hippocampus and also a more lateralised brain than pigeons without navigational experience. So we hypothesized that experience may have an influence also on orientation ability. We examined two groups of pigeons (11 with navigational experience and 17 without in a standard operant chamber with a touch screen monitor showing a 2-D schematic of a rectangular environment (as "geometric" information and one uniquely shaped and colored feature in each corner (as "landmark" information. Pigeons were trained first for pecking on one of these features and then we examined their ability to encode geometric and landmark information in four tests by modifying the rectangular environment. All tests were done under binocular and monocular viewing to test hemispheric dominance. The number of pecks was counted for analysis. Results show that generally both groups orientate on the basis of landmarks and the geometry of environment, but landmark information was preferred. Pigeons with navigational experience did not perform better on the tests but showed a better conjunction of the different kinds of information. Significant differences between monocular and binocular viewing were detected particularly in pigeons without navigational experience on two tests with reduced information. Our data suggest that the conjunction of geometric and landmark information might be integrated after processing separately in each hemisphere and that this process is influenced by experience.

  11. The orientation of homing pigeons (Columba livia f.d.) with and without navigational experience in a two-dimensional environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehlhorn, Julia; Rehkaemper, Gerd

    2017-01-01

    Homing pigeons are known for their excellent homing ability, and their brains seem to be functionally adapted to homing. It is known that pigeons with navigational experience show a larger hippocampus and also a more lateralised brain than pigeons without navigational experience. So we hypothesized that experience may have an influence also on orientation ability. We examined two groups of pigeons (11 with navigational experience and 17 without) in a standard operant chamber with a touch screen monitor showing a 2-D schematic of a rectangular environment (as "geometric" information) and one uniquely shaped and colored feature in each corner (as "landmark" information). Pigeons were trained first for pecking on one of these features and then we examined their ability to encode geometric and landmark information in four tests by modifying the rectangular environment. All tests were done under binocular and monocular viewing to test hemispheric dominance. The number of pecks was counted for analysis. Results show that generally both groups orientate on the basis of landmarks and the geometry of environment, but landmark information was preferred. Pigeons with navigational experience did not perform better on the tests but showed a better conjunction of the different kinds of information. Significant differences between monocular and binocular viewing were detected particularly in pigeons without navigational experience on two tests with reduced information. Our data suggest that the conjunction of geometric and landmark information might be integrated after processing separately in each hemisphere and that this process is influenced by experience.

  12. Experience feedback of computerized controlled nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poizat, F.

    2004-01-01

    The N4 step of French PWR-type nuclear power plants is characterized by an instrumentation and control system entirely computerized (operation procedures including normal and accidental operation). Four power plants of this type (Chooz and Civaux sites) of 1450 MWe each were connected to the power grid between August 1996 and December 1999. The achievement of this program make it possible and necessary to carry out an experience feedback about the development, successes and difficulties encountered in order to draw out some lessons for future realizations. This is the aim of this article: 1 - usefulness and difficulties of such an experience feedback: evolution of instrumentation and control systems, necessary cautions; 2 - a successful computerized control: checking of systems operation, advantages, expectations; 3 - efficiency of computerized systems: demonstration of operation safety, profitability; 4 - conclusions and interrogations: system approach instead of 'micro-software' approach, commercial or 'made to measure' products, contract agreement with a supplier, when and how upgrading. (J.S.)

  13. Experience of Multisensory Environments in Public Space among People with Visual Impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gavin R. Jenkins

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This qualitative study explored the role of sensory characteristics embedded in the built environment and whether they support or hinder people with visual impairment in their use of public spaces. An online survey link was e-mailed to the presidents and committee members of each state’s chapters and associations of the National Federation of the Blind in the United States, resulting in 451 direct invitations to participate. Written responses of the survey questions from 48 respondents with visual impairment were analyzed. Three main themes: Barriers, Supporters, and Context-Dependence emerged from the respondents’ experience of multisensory characteristics within the built environment. The four subthemes subsumed in Barriers were: (1 Population specific design, (2 Extreme sensory backgrounds, (3 Uneven ground surfaces and objects, and (4 Inconsistent lighting. For Supporters, respondents provided specific examples of various sensory characteristics in built environments, including audible cues and echoes, smells, tactile quality of the ground surface, and temperature. Context-Dependence referred to the effects of sensory characteristics embedded in public spaces depending on one’s vision condition, the proximity to the sensory cues and the purpose of the activities one was performing at that moment. Findings provide occupational therapy practitioners an in-depth understanding of the transactional relationship between embedded sensory characteristics in the built environment, occupations, and people with visual impairment in order to make appropriate modifications or removal of barriers that affect occupational performance and engagement. Suggestions for occupational therapists as well as architects, designers, planners, policy makers/legislators related to functional sensory cues in the design of built environments were provided to increase accessibility in the use of public spaces by people with visual impairment.

  14. Experience of Multisensory Environments in Public Space among People with Visual Impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Gavin R; Yuen, Hon K; Vogtle, Laura K

    2015-07-23

    This qualitative study explored the role of sensory characteristics embedded in the built environment and whether they support or hinder people with visual impairment in their use of public spaces. An online survey link was e-mailed to the presidents and committee members of each state's chapters and associations of the National Federation of the Blind in the United States, resulting in 451 direct invitations to participate. Written responses of the survey questions from 48 respondents with visual impairment were analyzed. Three main themes: Barriers, Supporters, and Context-Dependence emerged from the respondents' experience of multisensory characteristics within the built environment. The four subthemes subsumed in Barriers were: (1) Population specific design, (2) Extreme sensory backgrounds, (3) Uneven ground surfaces and objects, and (4) Inconsistent lighting. For Supporters, respondents provided specific examples of various sensory characteristics in built environments, including audible cues and echoes, smells, tactile quality of the ground surface, and temperature. Context-Dependence referred to the effects of sensory characteristics embedded in public spaces depending on one's vision condition, the proximity to the sensory cues and the purpose of the activities one was performing at that moment. Findings provide occupational therapy practitioners an in-depth understanding of the transactional relationship between embedded sensory characteristics in the built environment, occupations, and people with visual impairment in order to make appropriate modifications or removal of barriers that affect occupational performance and engagement. Suggestions for occupational therapists as well as architects, designers, planners, policy makers/legislators related to functional sensory cues in the design of built environments were provided to increase accessibility in the use of public spaces by people with visual impairment.

  15. Associative visual learning by tethered bees in a controlled visual environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buatois, Alexis; Pichot, Cécile; Schultheiss, Patrick; Sandoz, Jean-Christophe; Lazzari, Claudio R; Chittka, Lars; Avarguès-Weber, Aurore; Giurfa, Martin

    2017-10-10

    Free-flying honeybees exhibit remarkable cognitive capacities but the neural underpinnings of these capacities cannot be studied in flying insects. Conversely, immobilized bees are accessible to neurobiological investigation but display poor visual learning. To overcome this limitation, we aimed at establishing a controlled visual environment in which tethered bees walking on a spherical treadmill learn to discriminate visual stimuli video projected in front of them. Freely flying bees trained to walk into a miniature Y-maze displaying these stimuli in a dark environment learned the visual discrimination efficiently when one of them (CS+) was paired with sucrose and the other with quinine solution (CS-). Adapting this discrimination to the treadmill paradigm with a tethered, walking bee was successful as bees exhibited robust discrimination and preferred the CS+ to the CS- after training. As learning was better in the maze, movement freedom, active vision and behavioral context might be important for visual learning. The nature of the punishment associated with the CS- also affects learning as quinine and distilled water enhanced the proportion of learners. Thus, visual learning is amenable to a controlled environment in which tethered bees learn visual stimuli, a result that is important for future neurobiological studies in virtual reality.

  16. A surgical virtual environment for navigating experience.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Luursema, J.M.; Kommers, Petrus A.M.

    2004-01-01

    A computer generated pre-surgical planning and teaching environment is proposed for training and evaluating novice surgeons. Although this environment is generic and can be put into practice in any medical specialisation where such 3D imaging techniques are in use, in this project we specifically

  17. Spectral composition of light and growing of plants in controlled environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tikhomirov, A.A. [Institute of Biophysics, Krasnoyarsk (Russian Federation)

    1994-12-31

    The curve of the action spectrum of photosynthesis is examined under the controlled influence of light that involves av 3-5 minutes irradiation with one specific spectral flux. Different curves were obtained for spectral affectivity of green leaf photosynthesis when plants have had long duration adaptation to lamps of different spectral composition and PAR intensity. The author suggests that the illumination of plants in natural conditions does not have to be copied for growing plants in controlled environments.

  18. Simulated learning environment experience in nursing students for paediatric practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendoza-Maldonado, Yessy; Barría-Pailaquilén, René Mauricio

    The training of health professionals requires the acquisition of clinical skills in a safe and efficient manner, which is facilitated by a simulated learning environment (SLE). It is also an efficient alternative when there are limitations for clinical practice in certain areas. This paper shows the work undertaken in a Chilean university in implementing paediatric practice using SLE. Over eight days, the care experience of a hospitalized infant was studied applying the nursing process. The participation of a paediatrician, resident physician, nursing technician, and simulated user was included in addition to the use of a simulation mannequin and equipment. Simulation of care was integral and covered interaction with the child and family and was developed in groups of six students by a teacher. The different phases of the simulation methodology were developed from a pedagogical point of view. The possibility of implementing paediatric clinical practice in an efficient and safe way was confirmed. The experience in SLE was highly valued by the students, allowing them to develop different skills and abilities required for paediatric nursing through simulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  19. Physical and chemical characteristics of the longissimus dorsi from swine reared in climate-controlled and uncontrolled environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Mello, Juliana Lolli Malagoli; Berton, Mariana Piatto; de Cassia Dourado, Rita; Giampietro-Ganeco, Aline; de Souza, Rodrigo Alves; Ferrari, Fábio Borba; de Souza, Pedro Alves; Borba, Hirasilva

    2017-10-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ambient temperature on the physical and chemical characteristics of the longissimus dorsi muscle by comparing the quality of meat from pigs reared in a controlled and in an uncontrolled environment, the latter provided with a shallow pool. Twenty castrated male pigs of the Topigs line were randomly allotted to two treatments: a controlled environment, with constant temperature (22 °C) and relative humidity (70%); and an uncontrolled environment in a conventional shed for rearing pigs equipped with a shallow pool, where pigs were subject to climatic variations. Meat from pigs kept in the controlled environment showed a greater capacity to retain intracellular water, higher tenderness, and lower cholesterol levels than meat from pigs reared in the uncontrolled environment, but displayed higher lipid oxidation and a lower concentration of DHA. Treatments had no effect on color, pH, chemical composition, or fatty acid profile (except DHA concentration). Rearing pigs in sheds equipped with a shallow pool minimizes the effects of environmental heat on meat quality, allowing the production of high-quality meat in warm climate regions without expensive investments. Animals reared in an uncontrolled environment equipped with a shallow pool are able to produce meat with characteristics within the quality standards and with similar quality to that of meat from animals raised in controlled environment.

  20. Preterm infant thermal care: differing thermal environments produced by air versus skin servo-control incubators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, K A; Burr, R

    1999-06-01

    Incubator thermal environments produced by skin versus air servo-control were compared. Infant abdominal skin and incubator air temperatures were recorded from 18 infants in skin servo-control and 14 infants in air servo-control (26- to 29-week gestational age, 14 +/- 2 days postnatal age) for 24 hours. Differences in incubator and infant temperature, neutral thermal environment (NTE) maintenance, and infant and incubator circadian rhythm were examined using analysis of variance and scatterplots. Skin servo-control resulted in more variable air temperature, yet more stable infant temperature, and more time within the NTE. Circadian rhythm of both infant and incubator temperature differed by control mode and the relationship between incubator and infant temperature rhythms was a function of control mode. The differences between incubator control modes extend beyond temperature stability and maintenance of NTE. Circadian rhythm of incubator and infant temperatures is influenced by incubator control.

  1. Quality control in diagnostic radiology: experience and challenges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abd Aziz Mhd Ramli; Mohd Ramli Arshad; Mohd Khalid Matori; Muhammad Jamal Md Isa; Husaini Salleh; Abdullah Tahir Aliyasak; Zainal Jamaluddin; Hasrul Hisham Hussain

    2005-01-01

    Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research through its Medical Physics Group has been providing Quality Control (QC) services for medical x-ray apparatus used in diagnostic radiology to private clinics and hospitals since the year 1997. The quality control (QC) in diagnostic radiology is considered as part of quality assurance program which provide accurate diagnostic information at the lowest cost and the least exposure of the patients to radiation. Many experience and obstacles were faced by Medical Physics Group. This paper will discuss on some of the experiences and challenges that could be shared together with MINT staff especially in the safety aspect related to electrical and mechanical, radiation protection, performance and standard. The challenging in administrative aspect also will discuss. (Author)

  2. Optimal control of building storage systems using both ice storage and thermal mass – Part I: Simulation environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hajiah, Ali; Krarti, Moncef

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A simulation environment is described to account for both passive and active thermal energy storage (TES) systems. ► Laboratory testing results have been used to validate the predictions from the simulation environment. ► Optimal control strategies for TES systems have been developed as part of the simulation environment. - Abstract: This paper presents a simulation environment that can evaluate the benefits of using simultaneously building thermal capacitance and ice storage system to reduce total operating costs including energy and demand charges while maintaining adequate occupant comfort conditions within commercial buildings. The building thermal storage is controlled through pre-cooling strategies by setting space indoor air temperatures. The ice storage system is controlled by charging the ice tank and operating the chiller during low electrical charge periods and melting the ice during on-peak periods. Optimal controls for both building thermal storage and ice storage are developed to minimize energy charges, demand charges, or combined energy and demand charges. The results obtained from the simulation environment are validated using laboratory testing for an optimal controller.

  3. Understanding the Influence of Environment on Adults’ Walking Experiences: A Meta-Synthesis Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Dadpour

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The environment has an important impact on physical activity, especially walking. The relationship between the environment and walking is not the same as for other types of physical activity. This study seeks to comprehensively identify the environmental factors influencing walking and to show how those environmental factors impact on walking using the experiences of adults between the ages of 18 and 65. The current study is a meta-synthesis based on a systematic review. Seven databases of related disciplines were searched, including health, transportation, physical activity, architecture, and interdisciplinary databases. In addition to the databases, two journals were searched. Of the 11,777 papers identified, 10 met the eligibility criteria and quality for selection. Qualitative content analysis was used for analysis of the results. The four themes identified as influencing walking were “safety and security”, “environmental aesthetics”, “social relations”, and “convenience and efficiency”. “Convenience and efficiency” and “environmental aesthetics” could enhance the impact of “social relations” on walking in some aspects. In addition, “environmental aesthetics” and “social relations” could hinder the influence of “convenience and efficiency” on walking in some aspects. Given the results of the study, strategies are proposed to enhance the walking experience.

  4. Learning your way in a city: experience and gender differences in configurational knowledge of one’s environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maartje ede Goede

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Males tend to outperform females in their knowledge of relative and absolute distances in spatial layouts and environments. It is unclear yet in how far these differences are innate or develop through life. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether gender differences in configurational knowledge for a natural environment might be modulated by experience. In order to examine this possibility, distance as well as directional knowledge of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands was assessed in male and female inhabitants who had different levels of familiarity with this city. Experience affected the ability to solve difficult distance knowledge problems, but only for females. While the quality of the spatial representation of metric distances improved with more experience, this effect was not different for males and females. In contrast directional configurational measures did show a main gender effect but no experience modulation. In general, it seems that we obtain different configurational aspects according to different experiential time schemes. Moreover, the results suggest that experience may be a modulating factor in the occurrence of gender differences in configurational knowledge, though this seems dependent on the type of measurement. It is discussed in how far proficiency in mental rotation ability and spatial working memory accounts for these differences.

  5. Learning your way in a city: experience and gender differences in configurational knowledge of one’s environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Goede, Maartje; Postma, Albert

    2015-01-01

    Males tend to outperform females in their knowledge of relative and absolute distances in spatial layouts and environments. It is unclear yet in how far these differences are innate or develop through life. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether gender differences in configurational knowledge for a natural environment might be modulated by experience. In order to examine this possibility, distance as well as directional knowledge of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands was assessed in male and female inhabitants who had different levels of familiarity with this city. Experience affected the ability to solve difficult distance knowledge problems, but only for females. While the quality of the spatial representation of metric distances improved with more experience, this effect was not different for males and females. In contrast directional configurational measures did show a main gender effect but no experience modulation. In general, it seems that we obtain different configurational aspects according to different experiential time schemes. Moreover, the results suggest that experience may be a modulating factor in the occurrence of gender differences in configurational knowledge, though this seems dependent on the type of measurement. It is discussed in how far proficiency in mental rotation ability and spatial working memory accounts for these differences. PMID:25914663

  6. The Electrostatic Environments of Mars: Atmospheric Discharges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calle, Carlos I.; Mackey, Paul J.; Johansen, Michael R.; Hogue, Michael D.; Phillips, James, III; Cox, Rachel E.

    2016-01-01

    The electrostatic environment on Mars is controlled by its ever present atmospheric dust. Dust devils and dust storms tribocharge this dust. Theoretical studies predict that lightning and/or glow discharges should be present on Mars, but none have been directly observed. Experiments are planned to shed light on this issue.

  7. Experimental study of the influence of anticipated control on human thermal sensation and thermal comfort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, X; Ouyang, Q; Zhu, Y; Feng, C; Zhang, X

    2014-04-01

    To investigate whether occupants' anticipated control of their thermal environment can influence their thermal comfort and to explain why the acceptable temperature range in naturally ventilated environments is greater than that in air-conditioned environments, a series of experiments were conducted in a climate chamber in which the thermal environment remained the same but the psychological environment varied. The results of the experiments show that the ability to control the environment can improve occupants' thermal sensation and thermal comfort. Specifically, occupants' anticipated control decreased their thermal sensation vote (TSV) by 0.4-0.5 and improved their thermal comfort vote (TCV) by 0.3-0.4 in neutral-warm environment. This improvement was due exclusively to psychological factors. In addition, having to pay the cost of cooling had no significant influence on the occupants' thermal sensation and thermal comfort in this experiment. Thus, having the ability to control the thermal environment can improve occupants' comfort even if there is a monetary cost involved. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Executive control systems in the engineering design environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurst, P. W.; Pratt, T. W.

    1985-01-01

    Executive Control Systems (ECSs) are software structures for the unification of various engineering design application programs into comprehensive systems with a central user interface (uniform access) method and a data management facility. Attention is presently given to the most significant determinations of a research program conducted for 24 ECSs, used in government and industry engineering design environments to integrate CAD/CAE applications programs. Characterizations are given for the systems' major architectural components and the alternative design approaches considered in their development. Attention is given to ECS development prospects in the areas of interdisciplinary usage, standardization, knowledge utilization, and computer science technology transfer.

  9. Autonomy Supported, Learner-Controlled or System-Controlled Learning in Hypermedia Environments and the Influence of Academic Self-Regulation Style

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorissen, Chantal J. J.; Kester, Liesbeth; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Martens, Rob

    2015-01-01

    This study focuses on learning in three different hypermedia environments that either support autonomous learning, learner-controlled learning or system-controlled learning and explores the mediating role of academic self-regulation style (ASRS; i.e. a macro level of motivation) on learning. This research was performed to gain more insight in the…

  10. Early experience of a novel-environment in isolation primes a fearful phenotype characterized by persistent amygdala activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daskalakis, Nikolaos P; Diamantopoulou, Anastasia; Claessens, Sanne E F; Remmers, Elisa; Tjälve, Marika; Oitzl, Melly S; Champagne, Danielle L; de Kloet, E Ronald

    2014-01-01

    Prolonged maternal separation (MS) activates the neonate's hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis causing elevated basal and stress-induced corticosterone levels that may initiate amygdala-dependent fear learning. Here we test the hypothesis that the adult fearful phenotype is programmed by the pup's stressful experience during prolonged MS rather than by prolonged maternal absence per se. For this purpose, Wistar rat pups were exposed, on postnatal-day (pnd) 3, to: (i) repeated-MS in home-environment (HOME-SEP), 8h-MS daily for three days with the pups remaining together in the home-cage; (ii) repeated-MS in a novel-environment (NOVEL-SEP), with the same separation procedure, but now the pups were individually housed in a novel-environment during the 8h dam's absence; (iii) repeated handling, which consisted of daily brief (15 min instead of 8h) MS in the home-altogether or in a novel-environment individually (HOME-HAN and NOVEL-HAN, respectively); (iv) no-separation/no-handling (NON-SEP/NON-HAN) control condition, in which pups were left undisturbed in their home-cage. Compared to HOME-SEP rats, the NOVEL-SEP rats showed one day after the last MS enhanced stress-induced amygdala c-Fos expression and ACTH-release, despite of reduced adrenal corticosterone secretion. The higher amygdala c-Fos expression, ACTH-release and reduced corticosterone output observed postnatally, persisted into adulthood of the NOVEL-SEP animals. Behaviorally, NOVEL-SEP juvenile rats displayed deficits in social play, had intact spatial memory in the peri-pubertal period and showed more contextual fear memory compared to HOME-SEP in adulthood. Finally, NOVEL-HAN, compared to HOME-HAN, displayed increased stress-induced corticosterone output, no deficits in social play and reduced contextual fear. In conclusion, programming of an adult fearful phenotype linked to amygdala priming develops if pups are repeatedly isolated from peers in a novel-environment, while away from the dam for a prolonged

  11. Social Relations at the Collective Level: The Meaning and Measurement of Collective Control in Research on the Psychosocial Work Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Per Øystein Saksvik

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we suggest that organizational-level social relations should be defined and measured as workplace norms. We base this argument on new research on the components of the psychosocial work environment and on the availability of new techniques for measuring and analyzing workplace norms as organizational properties. Workplace norms emerge from interactions and negotiations among organizational actors, through which patterns of behavior, attitudes, and perspectives become defined as legitimate. This is an underestimated dimension of the psychosocial work environment that should be assessed with two types of data: self-reports by employees of their experiences in the workplace (task-level control and self-reports by employees and employers of collective or group-level norms. Hierarchical linear modeling is an especially useful tool for analyzing the relationships between workplace norms and different organizational outcomes because it allows researchers to separate the effects of individual-level variables from group or organizational-level factors. Our approach is anchored in the Nordic perspective of the work environment developed over the past 50 years.

  12. Edge localized modes control: experiment and theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becoulet, M.; Huysmans, G.; Thomas, P.; Joffrin, E.; Rimini, F.; Monier-Garbet, P.; Grosman, A.; Ghendrih, P.; Parail, V.; Lomas, P.; Matthews, G.; Wilson, H.; Gryaznevich, M.; Counsell, G.; Loarte, A.; Saibene, G.; Sartori, R.; Leonard, A.; Snyder, P.; Evans, T.; Gohil, P.; Moyer, R.; Kamada, Y.; Oyama, N.; Hatae, T.; Kamiya, K.; Degeling, A.; Martin, Y.; Lister, J.; Rapp, J.; Perez, C.; Lang, P.; Chankin, A; Eich, T.; Sips, A.; Stober, J.; Horton, L.; Kallenbach, A.; Suttrop, W.; Saarelma, S.; Cowley, S.; Loennroth, J.; Shimada, M.; Polevoi, A.; Federici, G.

    2005-01-01

    The paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental results focussing on the identification of the key factors controlling ELM energy and particle losses both in natural ELMs and in the presence of external controlling mechanisms. Present experiment and theory pointed out the benefit of the high plasma shaping, high q 95 and high pedestal density in reducing the ELM affected area and conductive energy losses in Type I ELMs. Small benign ELMs regimes in present machines (EDA, HRS, Type II, Grassy, QH, Type III in impurity seeded discharges at high δ ) and their relevance for ITER are reviewed. Recent studies of active control of ELMs using stochastic boundaries, small pellets and edge current generation are presented

  13. A Liquid Desiccant Cycle for Dehumidification and Fresh Water Supply in Controlled Environment Agriculture

    KAUST Repository

    Lefers, Ryan

    2017-12-01

    Controlled environment agriculture allows the production of fresh food indoors from global locations and contexts where it would not otherwise be possible. Growers in extreme climates and urban areas produce food locally indoors, saving thousands of food import miles and capitalizing upon the demand for fresh, tasty, and nutritious food. However, the growing of food, both indoors and outdoors, consumes huge quantities of water - as much as 70-80% of global fresh water supplies. The utilization of liquid desiccants in a closed indoor agriculture cycle provides the possibility of capturing plant-transpired water vapor. The regeneration/desalination of these liquid desiccants offers the potential to recover fresh water for irrigation and also to re-concentrate the desiccants for continued dehumidification. Through the utilization of solar thermal energy, the process can be completed with a very small to zero grid-energy footprint. The primary research in this dissertation focused on two areas: the dehumidification of indoor environments utilizing liquid desiccants inside membrane contactors and the regeneration of these desiccants using membrane distillation. Triple-bore PVDF hollow fiber membranes yielded dehumidification permeance rates around 0.25-0.31 g m-2 h-1 Pa-1 in lab-scale trials. A vacuum membrane distillation unit utilizing PVDF fibers yielded a flux of 2.8-7.0 kg m-2 hr-1. When the membrane contactor dehumidification system was applied in a bench scale controlled environment agriculture setup, the relative humidity levels responded dynamically to both plant transpiration and dehumidification rates, reaching dynamic equilibrium levels during day and night cycles. In addition, recovered fresh water from distillation was successfully applied for irrigation of crops and concentrated desiccants were successfully reused for dehumidification. If applied in practice, the liquid desiccant system for controlled environment agriculture offers the potential to reduce

  14. Role Based Access Control system in the ATLAS experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Valsan, M L; The ATLAS collaboration; Lehmann Miotto, G; Scannicchio, D A; Schlenker, S; Filimonov, V; Khomoutnikov, V; Dumitru, I; Zaytsev, A S; Korol, A A; Bogdantchikov, A; Caramarcu, C; Ballestrero, S; Darlea, G L; Twomey, M; Bujor, F; Avolio, G

    2011-01-01

    The complexity of the ATLAS experiment motivated the deployment of an integrated Access Control System in order to guarantee safe and optimal access for a large number of users to the various software and hardware resources. Such an integrated system was foreseen since the design of the infrastructure and is now central to the operations model. In order to cope with the ever growing needs of restricting access to all resources used within the experiment, the Roles Based Access Control (RBAC) previously developed has been extended and improved. The paper starts with a short presentation of the RBAC design, implementation and the changes made to the system to allow the management and usage of roles to control access to the vast and diverse set of resources. The paper continues with a detailed description of the integration across all areas of the system: local Linux and Windows nodes in the ATLAS Control Network (ATCN), the Linux application gateways offering remote access inside ATCN, the Windows Terminal Serv...

  15. Role Based Access Control System in the ATLAS Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Valsan, M L; The ATLAS collaboration; Lehmann Miotto, G; Scannicchio, D A; Schlenker, S; Filimonov, V; Khomoutnikov, V; Dumitru, I; Zaytsev, A S; Korol, A A; Bogdantchikov, A; Avolio, G; Caramarcu, C; Ballestrero, S; Darlea, G L; Twomey, M; Bujor, F

    2010-01-01

    The complexity of the ATLAS experiment motivated the deployment of an integrated Access Control System in order to guarantee safe and optimal access for a large number of users to the various software and hardware resources. Such an integrated system was foreseen since the design of the infrastructure and is now central to the operations model. In order to cope with the ever growing needs of restricting access to all resources used within the experiment, the Roles Based Access Control (RBAC) previously developed has been extended and improved. The paper starts with a short presentation of the RBAC design, implementation and the changes made to the system to allow the management and usage of roles to control access to the vast and diverse set of resources. The paper continues with a detailed description of the integration across all areas of the system: local Linux and Windows nodes in the ATLAS Control Network (ATCN), the Linux application gateways offering remote access inside ATCN, the Windows Terminal Serv...

  16. Live controls for radioisotope tracer food chain experiments using meiofauna

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montagna, P.A.

    1983-01-01

    Formalin poisoned samples are inadequate for measuring the amount of label to be subtracted as control values for certain food chain studies that employ radioactive tracers. In some studies, tracer is added just before incubation to label ''food'' during the feeding study. Commonly, parallel, poisoned incubations are used to distinguish between biotic and abiotic label incorporation. But, a poisoned control does not account for label that could enter a consumer via active transport, epicuticular microfloral uptake, or grazing on labeled, non-food particles. Experiments were performed to test if label uptake is greater in live non-grazing than dead organisms. Marine benthic meiofauna incoporate from 3 to 133 times more tracer when they are alive and not grazing than when they are formalin killed. These results suggest that control experiments with live animals be performed to measure all processes by which label can enter consumers in food chain experiments. (orig.)

  17. Identifying a cooperative control mechanism between an applied field and the environment of open quantum systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Fang; Rey-de-Castro, Roberto; Wang, Yaoxiong; Rabitz, Herschel; Shuang, Feng

    2016-05-01

    Many systems under control with an applied field also interact with the surrounding environment. Understanding the control mechanisms has remained a challenge, especially the role played by the interaction between the field and the environment. In order to address this need, here we expand the scope of the Hamiltonian-encoding and observable-decoding (HE-OD) technique. HE-OD was originally introduced as a theoretical and experimental tool for revealing the mechanism induced by control fields in closed quantum systems. The results of open-system HE-OD analysis presented here provide quantitative mechanistic insights into the roles played by a Markovian environment. Two model open quantum systems are considered for illustration. In these systems, transitions are induced by either an applied field linked to a dipole operator or Lindblad operators coupled to the system. For modest control yields, the HE-OD results clearly show distinct cooperation between the dynamics induced by the optimal field and the environment. Although the HE-OD methodology introduced here is considered in simulations, it has an analogous direct experimental formulation, which we suggest may be applied to open systems in the laboratory to reveal mechanistic insights.

  18. History and applications in controlled environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Downs, R.J. [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)

    1994-12-31

    The widespread application of electric (often called artificial) light in greenhouses, growing rooms, and plant growth chambers would presuppose that the role of phytochrome would be considered in the selection and use of such lighting systems. Part of the problem is that many students, and indeed an unfortunate number of senior scientists, seem to regard phytochrome as a laboratory phenomenon without much application in the real world. They simply have not grasped the concept that phytochrome is functioning through all stages of plant development, wherever plants are grown. It is certainly true, as Meijer (1971) stated, that one cannot compare experimental results obtained under very strict laboratory conditions with plant irradiation in glasshouses and in growth rooms. For example, the action spectrum for flowering of the long-day plant, Hyoscyamus niger, clearly shows that red radiation is the most efficient portion of the spectrum for promoting flower initiation, but in practical photoperiod control red or fluorescent lamps do not promote flowering nearly as well as the mixture of red and far-red in incandescent lamps. Nevertheless, much evidence exists that documents phytochrome control of plant growth and development in controlled environments and under natural conditions. When Karl Norris developed the first practical portable spectroradiometer about 1962 some of the first measurements were to determine the red/far-red ratios under tree canopies. These measurements showed clearly the predominance of far-red in the understory and suggested that far-red was contributing to the elongation exhibited by many species growing in the shade, and possibly was a factor in the induction of light requirements in seeds. Subsequently we used Catalpa leaves as far-red filters to make light-insensitive lettuce seed light requiring.

  19. TUNGRO DISEASE CONTROL THROUGH THE ELIMINATION VECTOR ROLE OF GREEN LEAF HOPPER WITH ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY CONTROL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dini Yuliani

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Green leafhopper (GLHplays an important role in tungro disease epidemics. Reduce the activity of GLHsuckasvectorsof tungro virus was effective to limit transmission of the virus. Integrated control of tungro disease may involve multiple components at once including using sambilata with entomopathogenicfungus Metarhiziumanisopliae. This research was conducted to determine the effect of sambilata and M.anisopliaein controlling the GLH as tungro virus vectors. The experiment was conducted in tungro endemic areas in Tanjungsiang,Subang District at dry season 2013 and wet season 2013/2014. Experiments using split plot design with four replications. The main plot was consists of GLH resistant varieties(IR66, tungro resistant varieties (Inpari 9, and check varieties(Ciherang. The subplots were M.anisopliae applications, sambilata, and control. Application was done on rice plant age 14, 28 and 42 days after planting (DAP.The results showed that the intensity of tungro on Ciherang showed the highest intensity compared toIR66 and Inpari9. Effect of entomopathogenic fungus M.anisopliae application to tungro disease showed a lower intensity compared with sambilata extracts and control. The intensity of tungro disease in farmers’ fields as a comparison of experiment was high enough on average between 1 until 69%. In general, the density of GLH population began to increase on the observation of 14 to 28 DAP. GLH population density was highest at 28 DAP. However, the population density of GLH decreased at 42 until 56 DAP.

  20. Assuring robustness to noise in optimal quantum control experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartelt, A.F.; Roth, M.; Mehendale, M.; Rabitz, H.

    2005-01-01

    Closed-loop optimal quantum control experiments operate in the inherent presence of laser noise. In many applications, attaining high quality results [i.e., a high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for the optimized objective] is as important as producing a high control yield. Enhancement of the S/N ratio will typically be in competition with the mean signal, however, the latter competition can be balanced by biasing the optimization experiments towards higher mean yields while retaining a good S/N ratio. Other strategies can also direct the optimization to reduce the standard deviation of the statistical signal distribution. The ability to enhance the S/N ratio through an optimized choice of the control is demonstrated for two condensed phase model systems: second harmonic generation in a nonlinear optical crystal and stimulated emission pumping in a dye solution

  1. BIODEGRABILITY OF BIOPLASTIC MATERIALS IN A CONTROLLED COMPOSTING ENVIRONMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Daria Vaverková

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine the biodegradability of bioplastic materials – sponge cloths – available on the European market that are labeled as 100% biodegradable but not certified as compostable. The test was carried out in a controlled composting environment. The project length was 22 weeks. The emphasis was put on discovering whether the sponge cloths are biodegradable or not. Based on the results thereof it can be concluded that sponge cloths have not decomposed completely but their color has changed and that degradation and physical changes occurred. Samples A1, and A2 have not decomposed completely and exhibited very slow degradation rate. Sample B5 exhibited the highest degradation rate. Samples B3, B4 exhibited high degree of decomposition. The main conclusion from this study is that biodegradation of bioplastics materials strongly depends on both the environment in which they are placed and the chemical nature of the material.

  2. Transformations to diagonal bases in closed-loop quantum learning control experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardoza, David; Trallero-Herrero, Carlos; Langhojer, Florian; Rabitz, Herschel; Weinacht, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    This paper discusses transformations between bases used in closed-loop learning control experiments. The goal is to transform to a basis in which the number of control parameters is minimized and in which the parameters act independently. We demonstrate a simple procedure for testing whether a unitary linear transformation (i.e., a rotation amongst the control variables) is sufficient to reduce the search problem to a set of globally independent variables. This concept is demonstrated with closed-loop molecular fragmentation experiments utilizing shaped, ultrafast laser pulses

  3. Proposal of inspection methodology for environment radiological control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martins, Nadia Soido Falcao

    2005-01-01

    The Radiation Protection and Dosimetry Institute (IRD) of the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) is in charge of verifying that the self-monitoring operator is effective to control the radiological quality of environmental around the nuclear facilities and carried out in accordance with the regulatory requirements. While a long time, the verification of compliance was kept by the conduction of large scale monitoring programs around all the authorized installations. The IRD decided to reformulate its performance behavior, starting another kind of control program, due to the number increase of nuclear installations and the diversity of activities conducted by the operators. This program, so-called Monitoring Control Program (PCM) is a regulatory activity developed by the Environmental Impact Assessment Service (SEAIA) of IRD and has the aim of check the effectiveness of authorized self-control. Actually the regulatory control of environmental radiological integrity around the authorized nuclear installation essentially depends on the effectiveness of regulatory inspections fulfilled by the SEAIA/IRD. Due to the implementation of modern practices of management in the IRD, specially the quality management system on regulatory inspection activities, emerged the need of unify these actions. It was also necessary to establish standard procedures required for inspection conduction. This work proposes one methodology for the inspections of environmental radiological control suitable to assure the compliance and effectiveness of environmental and effluent monitoring programs conducted by the operator, through the systematic verification of compliance and data quality assessment. The proposed methodology seeks to attend the appeals for high control standards of environment protection and public health. Here, we presented as products of this work: The inspection handbook and checklists for inspections; one framework for sampling, handling, recording and reporting of

  4. Beyond "Witnessing": Children's Experiences of Coercive Control in Domestic Violence and Abuse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callaghan, Jane E M; Alexander, Joanne H; Sixsmith, Judith; Fellin, Lisa Chiara

    2015-12-10

    Children's experiences and voices are underrepresented in academic literature and professional practice around domestic violence and abuse. The project "Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies" (UNARS) addresses this absence, through direct engagement with children. We present an analysis from interviews with 21 children in the United Kingdom (12 girls and 9 boys, aged 8-18 years), about their experiences of domestic violence and abuse, and their responses to this violence. These interviews were analyzed using interpretive interactionism. Three themes from this analysis are presented: (a) "Children's experiences of abusive control," which explores children's awareness of controlling behavior by the adult perpetrator, their experience of that control, and its impact on them; (b) "Constraint," which explores how children experience the constraint associated with coercive control in situations of domestic violence; and (c) "Children as agents," which explores children's strategies for managing controlling behavior in their home and in family relationships. The article argues that, in situations where violence and abuse occur between adult intimate partners, children are significantly affected, and can be reasonably described as victims of abusive control. Recognizing children as direct victims of domestic violence and abuse would produce significant changes in the way professionals respond to them, by (a) recognizing children's experience of the impact of domestic violence and abuse; (b) recognizing children's agency, undermining the perception of them as passive "witnesses" or "collateral damage" in adult abusive encounters; and (c) strengthening professional responses to them as direct victims, not as passive witnesses to violence. © The Author(s) 2015.

  5. Older People's Experiences of Mobility and Mood in an Urban Environment: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Electroencephalography (EEG) and Interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilley, Sara; Neale, Chris; Patuano, Agnès; Cinderby, Steve

    2017-02-04

    There are concerns about mental wellbeing in later life in older people as the global population becomes older and more urbanised. Mobility in the built environment has a role to play in improving quality of life and wellbeing, as it facilitates independence and social interaction. Recent studies using neuroimaging methods in environmental psychology research have shown that different types of urban environments may be associated with distinctive patterns of brain activity, suggesting that we interact differently with varying environments. This paper reports on research that explores older people's responses to urban places and their mobility in and around the built environment. The project aim was to understand how older people experience different urban environments using a mixed methods approach including electroencephalography (EEG), self-reported measures, and interview results. We found that older participants experience changing levels of "excitement", "engagement" and "frustration" (as interpreted by proprietary EEG software) whilst walking between a busy built urban environment and an urban green space environment. These changes were further reflected in the qualitative themes that emerged from transcribed interviews undertaken one week post-walk. There has been no research to date that has directly assessed neural responses to an urban environment combined with qualitative interview analysis. A synergy of methods offers a deeper understanding of the changing moods of older people across time whilst walking in city settings.

  6. Does solar radiation affect the growth of tomato seeds relative to their environment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzer, Kristi

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this experiment is to sequentially study and analyze the data collected from the germination and growth of irradiated Rutgers Supreme tomato seeds to adult producing plants. This experiment will not use irradiated seeds as a control as I plan to note growth in artificial verses natural environment as the basic experiment.

  7. Simulation of three-phase induction motor drives using indirect field oriented control in PSIM environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aziri, Hasif; Patakor, Fizatul Aini; Sulaiman, Marizan; Salleh, Zulhisyam

    2017-09-01

    This paper presents the simulation of three-phase induction motor drives using Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC) in PSIM environment. The asynchronous machine is well known about natural limitations fact of highly nonlinearity and complexity of motor model. In order to resolve these problems, the IFOC is applied to control the instantaneous electrical quantities such as torque and flux component. As FOC is controlling the stator current that represented by a vector, the torque component is aligned with d coordinate while the flux component is aligned with q coordinate. There are five levels of the incremental system are gradually built up to verify and testing the software module in the system. Indeed, all of system build levels are verified and successfully tested in PSIM environment. Moreover, the corresponding system of five build levels are simulated in PSIM environment which is user-friendly for simulation studies in order to explore the performance of speed responses based on IFOC algorithm for three-phase induction motor drives.

  8. Federated Access Control in Heterogeneous Intercloud Environment: Basic Models and Architecture Patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Demchenko, Y.; Ngo, C.; de Laat, C.; Lee, C.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents on-going research to define the basic models and architecture patterns for federated access control in heterogeneous (multi-provider) multi-cloud and inter-cloud environment. The proposed research contributes to the further definition of Intercloud Federation Framework (ICFF)

  9. Narratives from the Online Frontier: A K-12 Student's Experience in an Online Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbour, Michael; Siko, Jason; Sumara, JaCinda; Simuel-Everage, Kaye

    2012-01-01

    Despite a large increase in the number of students enrolled in online courses, published research on student experiences in these environments is minimal. This article reports the narrative analysis of a series of interviews conducted with a female student at a brick-and-mortar school enrolled in a single virtual school course. Her narratives…

  10. KYPO: A Tool for Collaborative Study of Cyberattacks in Safe Cloud Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Eichler Zdenek; Ošlejšek Radek; Toth Dalibor

    2015-01-01

    This paper introduces the KYPO -- a cloud-based virtual environment faithfully simulating real networks and enabling users to study cyber attacks as well as to train users in isolated and controlled environment. Particularly, the paper focuses on the user environment and visualizations, providing views and interactions improving the understanding of processes emerged during experiments. Web user interface of the KYPO system supports several collaboration modes enabling the participants to exp...

  11. Impact of imaging room environment: staff job stress and satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and willingness to recommend.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quan, Xiaobo; Joseph, Anjali; Ensign, Janet C

    2012-01-01

    The built environment significantly affects the healthcare experiences of patients and staff. Healthcare administrators and building designers face the opportunity and challenge of improving healthcare experience and satisfaction through better environmental design. The purpose of the study was to evaluate how a novel environmental intervention for imaging rooms, which integrated multiple elements of healing environments including positive distractions and personal control over environment, affects the perceptions and satisfactions of its primary users-patients and staff. Anonymous questionnaire surveys were conducted to compare patient and staff perceptions of the physical environment, satisfaction, and stress in two types of imaging rooms: imaging rooms with the intervention installed (intervention rooms) and traditionally designed rooms without the intervention (comparison rooms). Imaging technologists and patients perceived the intervention rooms to be significantly more pleasant-looking. Patients in the intervention rooms reported significantly higher levels of environmental control and were significantly more willing to recommend the intervention rooms to others. The environmental intervention was effective in improving certain aspects of the imaging environment: pleasantness and environmental control. Further improvement of the imaging environment is needed to address problematic areas such as noise.

  12. Edge localized modes control: experiment and theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bedoulet, M.; Huysmans, G.; Thomas, P.; Joffrin, E.; Rimini, F.; Monier-Garbet, P.; Grosman, A.; Ghendrih, P.; Parail, V.; Lomas, P.; Matthews, G.; Wilson, H.; Gryaznevich, M.; Gonsell, G.; Loarte, A.; Saibene, G.; Sartori, R.; Leonard, A.; Snyder, P.; Evans, T.; Gohil, P.; Burell, H.; Moyer, R.; Kamada, Y.; Oyama, N.; Hatae, T.; Degeling, A.; Martin, Y.; Lister, J.; Rapp, J.; Perez, C.; Lang, P.; Chankin, A.; Eich, T.; Sips, A.; Stober, J.; Horton, L.; Kallenbach, A.; Suttrop, W.; Saarelma, S.; Cowley, S.; Lonnroth, J.; Kamiya, K.; Shimada, M.; Polevoi, A.; Federici, G.

    2004-01-01

    The paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental results focusing on the identification of the key factors controlling ELM (energy localized mode) energy and particle losses both in natural ELMs and in the presence of external controlling mechanisms. The theoretical description of the most studied Type-I ELMs is progressing from linear MHD stability analysis for peeling and ballooning modes to the non-linear explosive models and transport codes. Present theories cannot predict the ELM size self-consistently, however they pointed out the benefit of the high plasma shaping, high q 95 and high pedestal density in reducing the ELM affected area. The experimental data also suggest that the conductive energy losses in Type-I ELM can be controlled by working in specific plasma conditions. In particular, the existence of purely convective small Type-I ELMs regimes at high q 95 (>4.5) with ΔW ELM /W ped <5% was demonstrated in high triangularity (δ ∼ 0.5) plasmas in JET. Small benign ELMs regimes in present machines (EDA, HRS, Type-II, grassy, QH, Type-III in impurity seeded discharges at high δ and their relevance for ITER parameters are reviewed briefly. The absence of already developed ITER relevant high confinement scenarios with acceptable ELMs has motivated recent intensive experimental and theoretical studies of active control of ELMs. The possibility of suppression of Type-I ELMs in H-mode scenarios at constant confinement was demonstrated in DIII-D experiments with a stochastic boundary created by external coils. It has been demonstrated in AUG that small pellets can trigger Type-I ELMs with a frequency imposed by the pellet injector. Pellet induced ELMs are similar to the intrinsic Type-I ELMs with the same frequency. At the same time the confinement degradation due to the fuelling can be minimized with pellets small as compared to the gas injection. Recent plasma current ramp experiments (JET, COMPASS-D) and modelling (JETTO) demonstrated that the edge

  13. Edge localized modes control: experiment and theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bedoulet, M.; Huysmans, G.; Thomas, P.; Joffrin, E.; Rimini, F.; Monier-Garbet, P.; Grosman, A.; Ghendrih, P. [Association Euratom-CEA, Centre d' Etudes de Cadarache, 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France). Dept. de Recherches sur la Fusion Controlee; Parail, V.; Lomas, P.; Matthews, G.; Wilson, H.; Gryaznevich, M.; Gonsell, G.; Loarte, A.; Saibene, G.; Sartori, R.; Leonard, A.; Snyder, P.; Evans, T.; Gohil, P.; Burell, H.; Moyer, R.; Kamada, Y.; Oyama, N.; Hatae, T.; Degeling, A.; Martin, Y.; Lister, J.; Rapp, J.; Perez, C.; Lang, P.; Chankin, A.; Eich, T.; Sips, A.; Stober, J.; Horton, L.; Kallenbach, A.; Suttrop, W.; Saarelma, S.; Cowley, S.; Lonnroth, J.; Kamiya, K.; Shimada, M.; Polevoi, A.; Federici, G

    2004-07-01

    The paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental results focusing on the identification of the key factors controlling ELM (energy localized mode) energy and particle losses both in natural ELMs and in the presence of external controlling mechanisms. The theoretical description of the most studied Type-I ELMs is progressing from linear MHD stability analysis for peeling and ballooning modes to the non-linear explosive models and transport codes. Present theories cannot predict the ELM size self-consistently, however they pointed out the benefit of the high plasma shaping, high q{sub 95} and high pedestal density in reducing the ELM affected area. The experimental data also suggest that the conductive energy losses in Type-I ELM can be controlled by working in specific plasma conditions. In particular, the existence of purely convective small Type-I ELMs regimes at high q{sub 95} (>4.5) with {delta}W{sub ELM}/W{sub ped}<5% was demonstrated in high triangularity ({delta} {approx} 0.5) plasmas in JET. Small benign ELMs regimes in present machines (EDA, HRS, Type-II, grassy, QH, Type-III in impurity seeded discharges at high {delta} and their relevance for ITER parameters are reviewed briefly. The absence of already developed ITER relevant high confinement scenarios with acceptable ELMs has motivated recent intensive experimental and theoretical studies of active control of ELMs. The possibility of suppression of Type-I ELMs in H-mode scenarios at constant confinement was demonstrated in DIII-D experiments with a stochastic boundary created by external coils. It has been demonstrated in AUG that small pellets can trigger Type-I ELMs with a frequency imposed by the pellet injector. Pellet induced ELMs are similar to the intrinsic Type-I ELMs with the same frequency. At the same time the confinement degradation due to the fuelling can be minimized with pellets small as compared to the gas injection. Recent plasma current ramp experiments (JET, COMPASS-D) and

  14. Distributed optimization-based control of multi-agent networks in complex environments

    CERN Document Server

    Zhu, Minghui

    2015-01-01

    This book offers a concise and in-depth exposition of specific algorithmic solutions for distributed optimization based control of multi-agent networks and their performance analysis. It synthesizes and analyzes distributed strategies for three collaborative tasks: distributed cooperative optimization, mobile sensor deployment and multi-vehicle formation control. The book integrates miscellaneous ideas and tools from dynamic systems, control theory, graph theory, optimization, game theory and Markov chains to address the particular challenges introduced by such complexities in the environment as topological dynamics, environmental uncertainties, and potential cyber-attack by human adversaries. The book is written for first- or second-year graduate students in a variety of engineering disciplines, including control, robotics, decision-making, optimization and algorithms and with backgrounds in aerospace engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and operations research. Resea...

  15. Hardware controls for the STAR experiment at RHIC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reichhold, D.; Bieser, F.; Bordua, M.; Cherney, M.; Chrin, J.; Dunlop, J.C.; Ferguson, M.I.; Ghazikhanian, V.; Gross, J.; Harper, G.; Howe, M.; Jacobson, S.; Klein, S.R.; Kravtsov, P.; Lewis, S.; Lin, J.; Lionberger, C.; LoCurto, G.; McParland, C.; McShane, T.; Meier, J.; Sakrejda, I.; Sandler, Z.; Schambach, J.; Shi, Y.; Willson, R.; Yamamoto, E.; Zhang, W.

    2003-01-01

    The STAR detector sits in a high radiation area when operating normally; therefore it was necessary to develop a robust system to remotely control all hardware. The STAR hardware controls system monitors and controls approximately 14,000 parameters in the STAR detector. Voltages, currents, temperatures, and other parameters are monitored. Effort has been minimized by the adoption of experiment-wide standards and the use of pre-packaged software tools. The system is based on the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) . VME processors communicate with subsystem-based sensors over a variety of field busses, with High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) being the most prevalent. Other features of the system include interfaces to accelerator and magnet control systems, a web-based archiver, and C++-based communication between STAR online, run control and hardware controls and their associated databases. The system has been designed for easy expansion as new detector elements are installed in STAR

  16. CREATING SUPPORTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: EXPERIENCES OF LESBIAN AND GAY-PARENTED FAMILIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana Breshears

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Through in-depth interviews with 21 parents and 12 children in lesbian/gayparented families, we explored the experiences of this unique family form in South African schools. Specifically, families reflected on their positive and negative experiences in the children’s education and used these reflections to offer advice to teachers and administrators wishing better to support lesbian/ gay-parented families. The results of our study offer an understanding of the challenges and needs of this diverse family in the school system, as well as a starting point for administrators and teachers wanting to create inclusive environments for all family types.

  17. A Contribution to Real-Time Experiments in Remote Laboratories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoltán Janík

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper is focused on realization of hard real-time control of experiments in on-line laboratories. The presented solution utilizes already developed on-line laboratory portal that is based on open-source Scilab environment. The customized solution is based on Linux RTAI platform with RTAI-XML server, Comedi and jRTAILab with support of ScicosLab environment. It generates real-time executable code that is used to operate student experiments performed on Humusoft CE152 Magnetic Levitation plant.

  18. Regularity in an environment produces an internal torque pattern for biped balance control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Satoshi; Kawasaki, Haruhisa

    2005-04-01

    In this paper, we present a control method for achieving biped static balance under unknown periodic external forces whose periods are only known. In order to maintain static balance adaptively in an uncertain environment, it is essential to have information on the ground reaction forces. However, when the biped is exposed to a steady environment that provides an external force periodically, uncertain factors on the regularity with respect to a steady environment are gradually clarified using learning process, and finally a torque pattern for balancing motion is acquired. Consequently, static balance is maintained without feedback from ground reaction forces and achieved in a feedforward manner.

  19. A Multi-Environment Thermal Control System With Freeze-Tolerant Radiator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Weibo; Fogg, David; Mancini, Nick; Steele, John; Quinn, Gregory; Bue, Grant; Littibridge, Sean

    2013-01-01

    Future space exploration missions require advanced thermal control systems (TCS) to dissipate heat from spacecraft, rovers, or habitats operating in environments that can vary from extremely hot to extremely cold. A lightweight, reliable TCS is being developed to effectively control cabin and equipment temperatures under widely varying heat loads and ambient temperatures. The system uses freeze-tolerant radiators, which eliminate the need for a secondary circulation loop or heat pipe systems. Each radiator has a self-regulating variable thermal conductance to its ambient environment. The TCS uses a nontoxic, water-based working fluid that is compatible with existing lightweight aluminum heat exchangers. The TCS is lightweight, compact, and requires very little pumping power. The critical characteristics of the core enabling technologies were demonstrated. Functional testing with condenser tubes demonstrated the key operating characteristics required for a reliable, freeze-tolerant TCS, namely (1) self-regulating thermal conductance with short transient responses to varying thermal loads, (2) repeatable performance through freeze-thaw cycles, and (3) fast start-up from a fully frozen state. Preliminary coolant tests demonstrated that the corrosion inhibitor in the water-based coolant can reduce the corrosion rate on aluminum by an order of magnitude. Performance comparison with state-of-the-art designs shows significant mass and power saving benefits of this technology.

  20. Experience with workstations for accelerator control at the CERN SPS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogle, A.; Ulander, J.; Wilkie, I.

    1990-01-01

    The CERN super proton synchrotron (SPS) control system is currently undergoing a major long-term upgrade. This paper reviews progress on the high-level application software with particular reference to the operator interface. An important feature of the control-system upgrade is the move from consoles with a number of fixed screens and limited multitasking ability to workstations with the potential to display a large number of windows and perform a number of independent tasks simultaneously. This workstation environment thus permits the operator to run tasks in one machine for which he previously had to monopolize two or even three old consoles. However, the environment also allows the operator to cover the screen with a multitude of windows, leading to complete confusion. Initial requests to present some form of 'global status' of the console proved to be naive, and several iterations were necessary before the operators were satisfied. (orig.)

  1. 3D visualization based customer experiences of nuclear plant control room

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Tienlung; Chou Chinmei; Hung Tamin; Cheng Tsungchieh; Yang Chihwei; Yang Lichen

    2011-01-01

    This paper employs virtual reality (VR) technology to develop an interactive virtual nuclear plant control room in which the general public could easily walk into the 'red zone' and play with the control buttons. The VR-based approach allows deeper and richer customer experiences that the real nuclear plant control room could not offer. When people know more about the serious process control procedures enforced in the nuclear plant control room, they will appropriate more about the safety efforts imposed by the nuclear plant and become more comfortable about the nuclear plant. The virtual nuclear plant control room is built using a 3D game development tool called Unity3D. The 3D scene is connected to a nuclear plant simulation system through Windows API programs. To evaluate the usability of the virtual control room, an experiment will be conducted to see how much 'immersion' the users could feel when they played with the virtual control room. (author)

  2. A Survey of Security Tools for the Industrial Control System Environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hurd, Carl M. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); McCarty, Michael V. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    2017-06-12

    This report details the results of a survey conducted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to identify existing tools which could be used to prevent, detect, mitigate, or investigate a cyber-attack in an industrial control system (ICS) environment. This report compiles a list of potentially applicable tools and shows the coverage of the tools in an ICS architecture.

  3. A Survey of Security Tools for the Industrial Control System Environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hurd, Carl M.; McCarty, Michael V.

    2017-01-01

    This report details the results of a survey conducted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to identify existing tools which could be used to prevent, detect, mitigate, or investigate a cyber-attack in an industrial control system (ICS) environment. This report compiles a list of potentially applicable tools and shows the coverage of the tools in an ICS architecture.

  4. Development of an active structure flight experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, R. A.; Wyse, R. E.; Schubert, S. R.

    1993-02-01

    The design and development of the Air Force and TRW's Advanced Control Technology Experiment (ACTEX) flight experiment is described in this paper. The overall objective of ACTEX is to provide an active structure trailblazer which will demonstrate the compatibility of active structures with operational spacecraft performance and lifetime measures. At the heart of the experiment is an active tripod driven by a digitally-programmable analog control electronics subsystem. Piezoceramic sensors and actuators embedded in a graphite epoxy host material provide the sensing and actuation mechanism for the active tripod. Low noise ground-programmable electronics provide a virtually unlimited number of control schemes that can be implemented in the space environment. The flight experiment program provides the opportunity to gather performance, reliability, adaptability, and lifetime performance data on vibration suppression hardware for the next generation of DoD and NASA spacecraft.

  5. Volatile Removal Assembly Flight Experiment and KC-135 Packed Bed Experiment: Results and Lessons Learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holder, Donald W.; Parker, David

    2000-01-01

    The Volatile Removal Assembly (VRA) is a high temperature catalytic oxidation process that will be used as the final treatment for recycled water aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The multiphase nature of the process had raised concerns as to the performance of the VRA in a microgravity environment. To address these concerns, two experiments were designed. The VRA Flight Experiment (VRAFE) was designed to test a full size VRA under controlled conditions in microgravity aboard the SPACEHAB module and in a 1 -g environment and compare the performance results. The second experiment relied on visualization of two-phase flow through small column packed beds and was designed to fly aboard NASA's microgravity test bed plane (KC-135). The objective of the KC-135 experiment was to understand the two-phase fluid flow distribution in a packed bed in microgravity. On Space Transportation System (STS) flight 96 (May 1999), the VRA FE was successfully operated and in June 1999 the KC-135 packed bed testing was completed. This paper provides an overview of the experiments and a summary of the results and findings.

  6. Reconciling research and implementation in micro health insurance experiments in India: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doyle Conor

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Microinsurance or Community-Based Health Insurance is a promising healthcare financing mechanism, which is increasingly applied to aid rural poor persons in low-income countries. Robust empirical evidence on the causal relations between Community-Based Health Insurance and healthcare utilisation, financial protection and other areas is scarce and necessary. This paper contains a discussion of the research design of three Cluster Randomised Controlled Trials in India to measure the impact of Community-Based Health Insurance on several outcomes. Methods/Design Each trial sets up a Community-Based Health Insurance scheme among a group of micro-finance affiliate families. Villages are grouped into clusters which are congruous with pre-existing social groupings. These clusters are randomly assigned to one of three waves of implementation, ensuring the entire population is offered Community-Based Health Insurance by the end of the experiment. Each wave of treatment is preceded by a round of mixed methods evaluation, with quantitative, qualitative and spatial evidence on impact collected. Improving upon practices in published Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial literature, we detail how research design decisions have ensured that both the households offered insurance and the implementers of the Community-Based Health Insurance scheme operate in an environment replicating a non-experimental implementation. Discussion When a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial involves randomizing within a community, generating adequate and valid conclusions requires that the research design must be made congruous with social structures within the target population, to ensure that such trials are conducted in an implementing environment which is a suitable analogue to that of a non-experimental implementing environment.

  7. Implementation of an Embedded Web Server Application for Wireless Control of Brain Computer Interface Based Home Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydın, Eda Akman; Bay, Ömer Faruk; Güler, İnan

    2016-01-01

    Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based environment control systems could facilitate life of people with neuromuscular diseases, reduces dependence on their caregivers, and improves their quality of life. As well as easy usage, low-cost, and robust system performance, mobility is an important functionality expected from a practical BCI system in real life. In this study, in order to enhance users' mobility, we propose internet based wireless communication between BCI system and home environment. We designed and implemented a prototype of an embedded low-cost, low power, easy to use web server which is employed in internet based wireless control of a BCI based home environment. The embedded web server provides remote access to the environmental control module through BCI and web interfaces. While the proposed system offers to BCI users enhanced mobility, it also provides remote control of the home environment by caregivers as well as the individuals in initial stages of neuromuscular disease. The input of BCI system is P300 potentials. We used Region Based Paradigm (RBP) as stimulus interface. Performance of the BCI system is evaluated on data recorded from 8 non-disabled subjects. The experimental results indicate that the proposed web server enables internet based wireless control of electrical home appliances successfully through BCIs.

  8. Evaluation of navigation interfaces in virtual environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mestre, Daniel R.

    2014-02-01

    When users are immersed in cave-like virtual reality systems, navigational interfaces have to be used when the size of the virtual environment becomes larger than the physical extent of the cave floor. However, using navigation interfaces, physically static users experience self-motion (visually-induced vection). As a consequence, sensorial incoherence between vision (indicating self-motion) and other proprioceptive inputs (indicating immobility) can make them feel dizzy and disoriented. We tested, in two experimental studies, different locomotion interfaces. The objective was twofold: testing spatial learning and cybersickness. In a first experiment, using first-person navigation with a flystick ®, we tested the effect of sensorial aids, a spatialized sound or guiding arrows on the ground, attracting the user toward the goal of the navigation task. Results revealed that sensorial aids tended to impact negatively spatial learning. Moreover, subjects reported significant levels of cybersickness. In a second experiment, we tested whether such negative effects could be due to poorly controlled rotational motion during simulated self-motion. Subjects used a gamepad, in which rotational and translational displacements were independently controlled by two joysticks. Furthermore, we tested first- versus third-person navigation. No significant difference was observed between these two conditions. Overall, cybersickness tended to be lower, as compared to experiment 1, but the difference was not significant. Future research should evaluate further the hypothesis of the role of passively perceived optical flow in cybersickness, but manipulating the virtual environment'sperrot structure. It also seems that video-gaming experience might be involved in the user's sensitivity to cybersickness.

  9. Susceptibility of materials processing experiments to low-level accelerations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naumann, R. J.

    1981-01-01

    The types of material processing experiments being considered for shuttle can be grouped into four categories: (1) contained solidification experiment; (2) quasicontainerless experiments; (3) containerless experiments; and (4) fluids experiments. Low level steady acceleration, compensated and uncompensated transient accelerations, and rotation induced flow factors that must be considered in the acceleration environment of a space vehicle whose importance depends on the type of experiment being performed. Some control of these factors may be exercised by the location and orientation of the experiment relative to shuttle and by the orbit vehicle attitude chosen for mission. The effects of the various residual accelerations can have serious consequence to the control of the experiment and must be factored into the design and operation of the apparatus.

  10. The Influence of Trainee Gaming Experience and Computer Self-Efficacy on Learner Outcomes of Videogame-Based Learning Environments

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Orvis, Karin A; Orvis, Kara L; Belanich, James; Mullin, Laura N

    2005-01-01

    .... The purpose of the current research was to investigate the influence of two trainee characteristics, prior videogame experience and computer self-efficacy, on learner outcomes of a videogame-based training environment...

  11. How thermodynamic environments control stratocumulus microphysics and interactions with aerosols

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, Hendrik; Cermak, Jan

    2015-01-01

    Aerosol–cloud interactions are central to climate system changes and depend on meteorological conditions. This study identifies distinct thermodynamic regimes and proposes a conceptual framework for interpreting aerosol effects. In the analysis, ten years (2003–2012) of daily satellite-derived aerosol and cloud products are combined with reanalysis data to identify factors controlling Southeast Atlantic stratocumulus microphysics. Considering the seasonal influence of aerosol input from biomass burning, thermodynamic environments that feature contrasting microphysical cloud properties and aerosol–cloud relations are classified. While aerosol impact is stronger in unstable environments, it is mostly confined to situations with low aerosol loading (aerosol index AI ≲ 0.15), implying a saturation of aerosol effects. Situations with high aerosol loading are associated with weaker, seasonally contrasting aerosol-droplet size relationships, likely caused by thermodynamically induced processes and aerosol swelling. (letter)

  12. Impact of protected mealtimes on ward mealtime environment, patient experience and nutrient intake in hospitalised patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hickson, M; Connolly, A; Whelan, K

    2011-08-01

    Malnutrition is a common problem in hospitalised inpatients, resulting in a range of negative clinical, patient-centred and economic sequelae. Protected mealtimes (PM) aim to enhance the quality of the mealtime experience and maximise nutrient intake in hospitalised patients. The present study aimed to measure mealtime environment, patient experience and nutrient intake before and after the implementation of PM.   PM were implemented in a large teaching hospital through a range of different approaches. Direct observations were used to assess ward-level mealtime environment (e.g. dining room use, removal of distractions) (40 versus 34 wards) and individual patient experience (e.g. assistance with eating, visitors present) (253 versus 237 patients), and nutrient intake was assessed with a weighed food intake at lunch (39 versus 60 patients) at baseline and after the implementation of PM, respectively. Mealtime experience showed improvements in three objectives: more patients were monitored using food/fluid charts (32% versus 43%, P = 0.02), more were offered the opportunity to wash hands (30% versus 40%, P = 0.03) and more were served meals at uncluttered tables (54% versus 64%, P = 0.04). There was no difference in the number of patients experiencing mealtime interruptions (32% versus 25%, P = 0.14). There was no difference in energy intake (1088 versus 837 kJ, P = 0.25) and a decrease in protein intake (14.0 versus 7.5 g, P = 0.04) after PM. Only minor improvements in mealtime experience were made after the implementation of PM and so it is not unexpected that macronutrient intake did not improve. The implementation of PM needs to be evaluated to ensure improvements in mealtime experience are made such that measurable improvements in nutritional and clinical outcomes ensue. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2011 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

  13. Management Control Systems and Clinical Experience of Managers in Public Hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naranjo-Gil, David

    2018-01-01

    Healthcare authorities are encouraging managers in hospitals to acquire clinical experience and knowledge in order to better carry out and coordinate healthcare service delivery. The main objective of this paper is to analyse how the clinical experience of hospital managers is related to public health institutions’ performance. It is proposed that the effect of the clinical experience on operative and financial organizational performance is indirect through the mediating variables of perceived utility of management information and horizontal management control system. This paper analyses how these variables impact hospital performance through the data from a survey sent to 364 hospital managers in Brazil. The results show that managers’ clinical experience is related to higher perceived utility of historical, financial, short-term, and internal information, but not with horizontal control adoption in hospitals. Furthermore, our results show that, in hospitals, perceived utility of forecasted, non-financial, long-term, and external managerial information positively affects hospitals’ financial performance, while adoption of horizontal control management positively affects operational performance. Through showing evidence that clinical background could explain the differences not only in hospital service management but also in information capabilities and management control processes, this study offer meaningful implications for healthcare authorities and hospital managers involved in the development and implementation of strategies in the health sector. PMID:29673192

  14. Implementing Internet of Things in a military command and control environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raglin, Adrienne; Metu, Somiya; Russell, Stephen; Budulas, Peter

    2017-05-01

    While the term Internet of Things (IoT) has been coined relatively recently, it has deep roots in multiple other areas of research including cyber-physical systems, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, embedded systems, mobile ad-hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, cellular networks, wearable computing, cloud computing, big data analytics, and intelligent agents. As the Internet of Things, these technologies have created a landscape of diverse heterogeneous capabilities and protocols that will require adaptive controls to effect linkages and changes that are useful to end users. In the context of military applications, it will be necessary to integrate disparate IoT devices into a common platform that necessarily must interoperate with proprietary military protocols, data structures, and systems. In this environment, IoT devices and data will not be homogeneous and provenance-controlled (i.e. single vendor/source/supplier owned). This paper presents a discussion of the challenges of integrating varied IoT devices and related software in a military environment. A review of contemporary commercial IoT protocols is given and as a practical example, a middleware implementation is proffered that provides transparent interoperability through a proactive message dissemination system. The implementation is described as a framework through which military applications can integrate and utilize commercial IoT in conjunction with existing military sensor networks and command and control (C2) systems.

  15. Controlling Chemical Reactions in Confined Environments: Water Dissociation in MOF-74

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika M. A. Fuentes-Fernandez

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The confined porous environment of metal organic frameworks (MOFs is an attractive system for studying reaction mechanisms. Compared to flat oxide surfaces, MOFs have the key advantage that they exhibit a well-defined structure and present significantly fewer challenges in experimental characterization. As an example of an important reaction, we study here the dissociation of water—which plays a critical role in biology, chemistry, and materials science—in MOFs and show how the knowledge of the structure in this confined environment allows for an unprecedented level of understanding and control. In particular, combining in-situ infrared spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we show that the water dissociation reaction can be selectively controlled inside Zn-MOF-74 by alcohol, through both chemical and physical interactions. Methanol is observed to speed up water dissociation by 25% to 100%, depending on the alcohol partial pressure. On the other hand, co-adsorption of isopropanol reduces the speed of the water reaction, due mostly to steric interactions. In addition, we also investigate the stability of the product state after the water dissociation has occurred and find that the presence of additional water significantly stabilizes the dissociated state. Our results show that precise control of reactions within nano-porous materials is possible, opening the way for advances in fields ranging from catalysis to electrochemistry and sensors.

  16. WebLab of a DC Motor Speed Control Didactical Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Karine; Mendes, Luciano

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Weblabs are an additional resource in the execution of experiments in control engineering education, making learning process more flexible both in time, by allowing extra class laboratory activities, and space, bringing the learning experience to remote locations where experimentation facilities would not be available. The purpose of this…

  17. Applications of CELSS technology to controlled environment agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, Maynard E.; Bubenheim, David L.

    1991-01-01

    Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is defined as the use of environmental manipulation for the commercial production of organisms, whether plants or animals. While many of the technologies necessary for aquaculture systems in North America is nevertheless doubling approximately every five years. Economic, cultural, and environmental pressures all favor CEA over field production for many non-commodity agricultural crops. Many countries around the world are already dependent on CEA for much of their fresh food. Controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS), under development at ARC, KSC, and JSC expand the concept of CEA to the extent that all human requirements for food, oxygen, and water will be provided regenerated by processing of waste streams to supply plant inputs. The CELSS will likely contain plants, humans, possibly other animals, microorganisms and physically and chemical processors. In effect, NASA will create engineered ecosystems. In the process of developing the technology for CELSS, NASA will develop information and technology which will be applied to improving the efficiency, reliability, and cost effectiveness for CEA, improving its resources recycling capabilities, and lessening its environmental impact to negligible levels.

  18. Hacking the hospital environment: young adults designing youth-friendly hospital rooms together with young people with cancer experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boisen, Kirsten A; Boisen, Anne; Thomsen, Stine Legarth; Matthiesen, Simon Meggers; Hjerming, Maiken; Hertz, Pernille Grarup

    2015-12-09

    There is a need for youth-friendly hospital environments as the ward environment may affect both patient satisfaction and health outcomes. To involve young people in designing youth-friendly ward environment. We arranged a design competition lasting 42 h (Hackathon). Students in architecture, design, engineering, communication and anthropology participated (27 young adults) - forming eight groups. Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with current or former cancer experience participated as sparring partners. We provided workspace and food during the weekend. The groups presented their products to a jury and relevant stakeholders. The groups created eight unique design concepts. The young designers were extremely flexible listening to ideas and experiences from the young patients, which led to common features including individual and flexible design, privacy in two-bed wardrooms and social contact with other hospitalized AYA. The winning project included an integrated concept for both wardrooms and the AYA day room, including logos and names for the rooms and an 'energy wall' in the day room. A hackathon event was an effective mode of youth participation. The design concepts and ideas were in line with current evidence regarding pleasing hospital environment and youth-friendly inpatient facilities and may be applicable to other young patients.

  19. Integration of Environment Sensing and Control Functions for Robust Rotorcraft UAV (RUAV) Guidance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dadkhah Tehrani, Navid

    Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have started supplanting manned aircraft in a broad range of tasks. Vehicles such as miniature rotorcrafts with broad maneuvering range and small size can enter remote locations that are hard to reach using other air and ground vehicles. Developing a guidance system which enables a Rotorcraft UAV (RUAV) to perform such tasks involves combing key elements from robotics motion planning, control system design, trajectory optimization as well as dynamics modeling. The focus of this thesis is to integrate a guidance system for a small-scale rotorcraft to enable a high level of performance and situational awareness. We cover large aspects of the system integration including modeling, control system design, environment sensing as well as motion planning in the presence of uncertainty. The system integration in this thesis is performed around a Blade-CX2 miniature coaxial helicopter. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development of the parameterized model for the Blade-CX2 helicopter with an emphasis on the coaxial rotor configuration. The model explicitly accounts for the dynamics of lower rotor and uses an implicit lumped parameter model for the upper rotor and stabilizer-bar. The parameterized model was identified using frequency domain system identification. In the second part of the thesis, we use the identified model to design a control law for the Blade-CX2 helicopter. The control augmentation for the Blade-CX2 helicopter was based on a nested attitude-velocity loop control architecture and was designed following classical loop-shaping and dynamic inversion techniques. A path following layer wrapped around the velocity control system enables the rotorcraft to follow reference trajectories specified by a sequence of waypoints and velocity vectors. Such reference paths are common in autonomous guidance systems. Finally, the third part of the thesis addresses the problem of autonomous navigation through a partially known or

  20. Examples of Small-scale Urban Area. Experiment Energy Leap Built Environment; Voorbeeldenboek Kleinschalige Binnenstedelijke Gebieden. Experiment Energiesprong Gebouwde Omgeving

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-03-15

    The Dutch government considers the transition process to be necessary and stimulates investments in energy innovations in the built environment. This innovation effort is the programme 'Energy Leap' (Energiesprong), which is being carried out by the Steering Group Experimental Housing (SEV) on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). The programme is derived from the Innovation Agenda for Energy in the Built Environment. The examples in this book are intended to inspire (potential) participants in the Experiment Energy Leap for Small-scale Urban Areas. The examples focus explicitly on the reduction of CO2 emissions in urban areas, and thus, in addition to CO2 reduction on a building level, the aspects of energy supply, (local) energy production and the energy infrastructure [Dutch] Het SEV-programma Energiesprong (SEV is Stuurgroep Experimenten Volkshuisvesting) beoogt een substantiele bijdrage te leveren aan de condities waaronder de energietransitie effectief tot stand kan komen. In dit basisplan wordt uiteengezet hoe de markt daartoe moet kunnen komen en welke activiteiten daarvoor worden ondersteund, opgezet en/of uitgevoerd vanuit Energiesprong. Het SEV-programma Energiesprong wordt in opdracht van het Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (BZK) uitgevoerd. Het programma is afgeleid van de Innovatie Agenda energie Gebouwde Omgeving. Dit voorbeeldenboek dient ter inspiratie van (potentiele) deelnemers aan het Experiment Energiesprong kleinschalige Binnenstedelijke Gebieden. De voorbeelden richten zich expliciet op de CO2-reductie van binnenstedelijke gebieden en daarmee, naast de CO2-reductie op woning- en gebouwniveau, op de aspecten energievoorziening, (locale) energieopwekking en energie-infrastructuur.

  1. Distributed computing testbed for a remote experimental environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butner, D.N.; Casper, T.A.; Howard, B.C.; Henline, P.A.; Davis, S.L.; Barnes, D.

    1995-01-01

    Collaboration is increasing as physics research becomes concentrated on a few large, expensive facilities, particularly in magnetic fusion energy research, with national and international participation. These facilities are designed for steady state operation and interactive, real-time experimentation. We are developing tools to provide for the establishment of geographically distant centers for interactive operations; such centers would allow scientists to participate in experiments from their home institutions. A testbed is being developed for a Remote Experimental Environment (REE), a ''Collaboratory.'' The testbed will be used to evaluate the ability of a remotely located group of scientists to conduct research on the DIII-D Tokamak at General Atomics. The REE will serve as a testing environment for advanced control and collaboration concepts applicable to future experiments. Process-to-process communications over high speed wide area networks provide real-time synchronization and exchange of data among multiple computer networks, while the ability to conduct research is enhanced by adding audio/video communication capabilities. The Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment is being used to test concepts in distributed control, security, naming, remote procedure calls and distributed file access using the Distributed File Services. We are exploring the technology and sociology of remotely participating in the operation of a large scale experimental facility

  2. The Virtual GloveboX (VGX: a Semi-immersive Virtual Environment for Training Astronauts in Life Sciences Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Alexander Twombly

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available The International Space Station will soon provide an unparalleled research facility for studying the near- and longer-term effects of microgravity on living systems. Using the Space Station Glovebox Facility - a compact, fully contained reach-in environment - astronauts will conduct technically challenging life sciences experiments. Virtual environment technologies are being developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help realize the scientific potential of this unique resource by facilitating the experimental hardware and protocol designs and by assisting the astronauts in training. The "Virtual GloveboX" (VGX integrates high-fidelity graphics, force-feedback devices and real-time computer simulation engines to achieve an immersive training environment. Here, we describe the prototype VGX system, the distributed processing architecture used in the simulation environment, and modifications to the visualization pipeline required to accommodate the display configuration.

  3. Instructional Control of Cognitive Load in the Design of Complex Learning Environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kester, Liesbeth; Paas, Fred; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen

    2010-01-01

    Kester, L., Paas, F., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2010). Instructional control of cognitive load in the design of complex learning environments. In J. L. Plass, R. Moreno, & Roland Brünken (Eds.), Cognitive Load Theory (pp. 109-130). New York: Cambridge University Press.

  4. Eye Gaze Controlled Projected Display in Automotive and Military Aviation Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gowdham Prabhakar

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an eye gaze controlled projected display that can be used in aviation and automotive environment as a head up display. We have presented details of the hardware and software used in developing the display and an algorithm to improve performance of point and selection tasks in eye gaze controlled graphical user interface. The algorithm does not require changing layout of an interface; it rather puts a set of hotspots on clickable targets using a Simulated Annealing algorithm. Four user studies involving driving and flight simulators have found that the proposed projected display can improve driving and flying performance and significantly reduce pointing and selection times for secondary mission control tasks compared to existing interaction systems.

  5. MHD control experiments in the Extrap T2R Reversed Field Pinch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marrelli, L.; Bolzonella, T.; Brunsell, P.; Cecconello, M.; Drake, J.; Franz, P.; Gregoratto, D.; Manduchi, G.; Martin, P.; Ortolani, S.; Paccagnella, R.; Piovesan, P.; Spizzo, G.; Yadikin, D.; Zanca, P.

    2004-11-01

    We report here on MHD active control experiments performed in the Extrap T2R device, which has been recently equipped with a set of 32 feedback controlled saddle coils couples. Experiments aiming at selectively exciting a resonant resistive instability in order to actively induce Quasi Single Helicity states will be presented. Open loop experiments have in fact shown that a spectrum with one dominant mode can be excited in a high aspect ratio device like T2R. In addition, evidences of controlled braking of tearing modes, which spontaneously rotate in T2R, have been gathered, allowing the determination of a threshold for mode wall locking. Different feedback control schemes have been implemented. In particular, mode suppression schemes proved successful in delaying resistive wall modes growth and in increasing the discharge duration: this suggests a hybrid mode control scenario, in which RWM are suppressed and QSH is induced. Radiation imaging and internal magnetic field reconstructions performed with the ORBIT code will be presented.

  6. Learning from Experience: Creating Leadership Capabilities through Computer Simulated Leadership Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Alice C.; Black, Sylvia Sloan; Smith-Gratto, Karen; Williams, Jacqueline A.

    2007-01-01

    Leadership is often described as something that is learned from experience. However, experiences do not often occur within a controlled environment where learning and its impact can be evaluated. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of two types of learning experiences. University students received leadership training of equal length through…

  7. Control of radioactive contamination and radiation exposure in the environment - tasks, techniques, implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayer, A.

    1997-01-01

    A brief historical abstract of the steps in the discovery of natural radioactivity and development of man-made radioactivity is presented, as well as the historical development of the control of radioactivity in the environment. The goals of control measures and the tasks, classified by the possible sources of release, are demonstrated and the required methods described (measuring methods, evaluation methods, and information techniques). The control measures, based on different legal principles, are introduced and their technological implementation, including their current status, described. Finally, an account is given of the progressive harmonisation of the national control systems, as well as of the integration of these control systems into international control and information networks. (orig.) [de

  8. Note: Design and development of wireless controlled aerosol sampling network for large scale aerosol dispersion experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gopalakrishnan, V.; Subramanian, V.; Baskaran, R.; Venkatraman, B.

    2015-01-01

    Wireless based custom built aerosol sampling network is designed, developed, and implemented for environmental aerosol sampling. These aerosol sampling systems are used in field measurement campaign, in which sodium aerosol dispersion experiments have been conducted as a part of environmental impact studies related to sodium cooled fast reactor. The sampling network contains 40 aerosol sampling units and each contains custom built sampling head and the wireless control networking designed with Programmable System on Chip (PSoC™) and Xbee Pro RF modules. The base station control is designed using graphical programming language LabView. The sampling network is programmed to operate in a preset time and the running status of the samplers in the network is visualized from the base station. The system is developed in such a way that it can be used for any other environment sampling system deployed in wide area and uneven terrain where manual operation is difficult due to the requirement of simultaneous operation and status logging

  9. Note: Design and development of wireless controlled aerosol sampling network for large scale aerosol dispersion experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gopalakrishnan, V.; Subramanian, V.; Baskaran, R.; Venkatraman, B. [Radiation Impact Assessment Section, Radiological Safety Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603 102 (India)

    2015-07-15

    Wireless based custom built aerosol sampling network is designed, developed, and implemented for environmental aerosol sampling. These aerosol sampling systems are used in field measurement campaign, in which sodium aerosol dispersion experiments have been conducted as a part of environmental impact studies related to sodium cooled fast reactor. The sampling network contains 40 aerosol sampling units and each contains custom built sampling head and the wireless control networking designed with Programmable System on Chip (PSoC™) and Xbee Pro RF modules. The base station control is designed using graphical programming language LabView. The sampling network is programmed to operate in a preset time and the running status of the samplers in the network is visualized from the base station. The system is developed in such a way that it can be used for any other environment sampling system deployed in wide area and uneven terrain where manual operation is difficult due to the requirement of simultaneous operation and status logging.

  10. Mold contamination in a controlled hospital environment: a 3-year surveillance in southern Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caggiano, Giuseppina; Napoli, Christian; Coretti, Caterina; Lovero, Grazia; Scarafile, Giancarlo; De Giglio, Osvalda; Montagna, Maria Teresa

    2014-11-15

    Environmental monitoring of airborne filamentous fungi is necessary to reduce fungal concentrations in operating theaters and in controlled environments, and to prevent infections. The present study reports results of a surveillance of filamentous fungi carried out on samples from air and surfaces in operating theaters and controlled environments in an Italian university hospital. Sampling was performed between January 2010 and December 2012 in 32 operating theaters and five departments with high-risk patients. Indoor air specimens were sampled using a microbiological air sampler; Rodac contact plates were used for surface sampling. Fungal isolates were identified at the level of genera and species. Sixty-one samples (61/465; 13.1%) were positive for molds, with 18 from controlled environments (18/81; 22.2%) and 43 (43/384; 11.2%) from operating theaters. The highest air fungal load (AFL, colony-forming units per cubic meter [CFU/m(3)]) was recorded in the ophthalmology operating theater, while the pediatric onco-hematology ward had the highest AFL among the wards (47 CFU/m(3)). The most common fungi identified from culture of air specimens were Aspergillus spp. (91.8%), Penicillium spp., (6%) and Paecilomyces spp. (1.5%). During the study period, a statistically significant increase in CFU over time was recorded in air-controlled environments (p = 0.043), while the increase in AFL in operating theaters was not statistically significant (p = 0.145). Molds were found in 29.1% of samples obtained from surfaces. Aspergillus fumigatus was the most commonly isolated (68.5%). Our findings will form the basis for action aimed at improving the air and surface quality of these special wards. The lack of any genetic analysis prevented any correlation of fungal environmental contamination with onset of fungal infection, an analysis that will be undertaken in a prospective study in patients admitted to the same hospital.

  11. Star Formation in High Pressure, High Energy Density Environments: Laboratory Experiments of ISM Dust Analogs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breugel, W. van; Bajt, S.; Bradley, J.; Bringa, E.; Dai, Z.; Felter, T.; Graham, G.; Kucheyev, S.; Torres, D.; Tielens, A.; Baragiola, R.; Dukes, C.; Loeffler, M.

    2005-01-01

    Dust grains control the chemistry and cooling, and thus the gravitational collapse of interstellar clouds. Energetic particles, shocks and ionizing radiation can have a profound influence on the structure, lifetime and chemical reactivity of the dust, and therefore on the star formation efficiency. This would be especially important in forming galaxies, which exhibit powerful starburst (supernovae) and AGN (active galactic nucleus) activity. How dust properties are affected in such environments may be crucial for a proper understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The authors present the results of experiments at LLNL which show that irradiation of the interstellar medium (ISM) dust analog forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) with swift heavy ions (10 MeV Xe) and a large electronic energy deposition amorphizes its crystalline structure, without changing its chemical composition. From the data they predict that silicate grains in the ISM, even in dense and cold giant molecular clouds, can be amorphized by heavy cosmic rays (CR's). This might provide an explanation for the observed absence of crystalline dust in the ISM clouds of the Milky Way galaxy. This processing of dust by CR's would be even more important in forming galaxies and galaxies with active black holes

  12. Technetium-99 behavior in the terrestrial environment. Field observations and radiotracer experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tagami, Keiko

    2003-01-01

    Obtaining data on 99 Tc in the rice paddy field environment is important because Tc is a redox sensitive element. The behavior of Tc is expected to be different under upland field and rice paddy field conditions since the redox conditions in the soil environment differ. However, most of the data on the nuclide behavior in soil were obtained under upland field conditions. To understand the global fallout 99 Tc distributions in soil samples collected in Japan, a simple and rapid separation method was developed in order to determine low-levels of 99 Tc in soil samples by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Also, radiotracer experiments using soils under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were carried out to clarify the Tc behavior under paddy field conditions. The results of determination of global fallout 99 Tc in Japanese soils indicated that the radionuclide had been accumulating in rice paddy fields. The mechanisms can be explained by the immobilization of Tc in soil under anaerobic conditions. From the radiotracer experiments, it was clear that under waterlogged conditions, the highly mobile TcO 4 - in soil was readily changed to other immobilized forms, such as TcO 2 , TcS 2 and organically bound forms. To this immobilization, the microbial activity seemed to have an important role in Tc sorption reactions. When the soil, which was once kept in anaerobic conditions, was air-dried again and kept in aerobic conditions, the chemical forms of immobilized Tc did not change remarkably. Interestingly, the similar Tc behavior was observed in a real wet forest near the Chernobyl Reactor. (author)

  13. Role Based Access Control system in the ATLAS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valsan, M L; Dumitru, I; Darlea, G L; Bujor, F; Dobson, M; Miotto, G Lehmann; Schlenker, S; Avolio, G; Scannicchio, D A; Filimonov, V; Khomoutnikov, V; Zaytsev, A S; Korol, A A; Bogdantchikov, A; Caramarcu, C; Ballestrero, S; Twomey, M

    2011-01-01

    The complexity of the ATLAS experiment motivated the deployment of an integrated Access Control System in order to guarantee safe and optimal access for a large number of users to the various software and hardware resources. Such an integrated system was foreseen since the design of the infrastructure and is now central to the operations model. In order to cope with the ever growing needs of restricting access to all resources used within the experiment, the Roles Based Access Control (RBAC) previously developed has been extended and improved. The paper starts with a short presentation of the RBAC design, implementation and the changes made to the system to allow the management and usage of roles to control access to the vast and diverse set of resources. The RBAC implementation uses a directory service based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol to store the users (∼3000), roles (∼320), groups (∼80) and access policies. The information is kept in sync with various other databases and directory services: human resources, central CERN IT, CERN Active Directory and the Access Control Database used by DCS. The paper concludes with a detailed description of the integration across all areas of the system.

  14. Exploring experiences of the food environment among immigrants living in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Paulina I; Dean, Jennifer; Kirkpatrick, Sharon; Berbary, Lisbeth; Scott, Steffanie

    2016-06-09

    This exploratory study aimed to shed light on the role of the food environment in shaping food access among immigrants living in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario. In this qualitative case study, in-depth interviews aided by photovoice were conducted with nine immigrants, and key informant (KI) interviews were conducted with nine community stakeholders (e.g., settlement workers, planners) who held expert knowledge of the local context with respect to both the food system and experiences of immigrants in interacting with this system. In this paper, we focus specifically on insights related to the food environment, applying the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity Framework to assess economic, physical, socio-cultural and political aspects. Economic features of the food environment, including food prices and differential costs of different types of food, emerged as factors related to food access. However, interactions with the food environment were shaped by broader economic factors, such as limited employment opportunities and low income. Most immigrants felt that they had good geographic access to food, though KIs expressed concerns about the types of outlet and food that were most accessible. Immigrants discussed social networks and cultural food practices, whereas KIs discussed political issues related to supporting food security in the Region. This exploratory case study is consistent with prior research in highlighting the economic constraints within which food access exists but suggests that there may be a need to further dissect food environments.

  15. In-air and pressurized water reactor environment fatigue experiments of 316 stainless steel to study the effect of environment on cyclic hardening

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohanty, Subhasish, E-mail: smohanty@anl.gov; Soppet, William K., E-mail: soppet@anl.gov; Majumdar, Saurindranath, E-mail: majumdar@anl.gov; Natesan, Krishnamurti, E-mail: natesan@anl.gov

    2016-05-15

    Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), under the sponsorship of Department of Energy's Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program, is trying to develop a mechanistic approach for more accurate life estimation of LWR components. In this context, ANL has conducted many fatigue experiments under different test and environment conditions on type 316 stainless steel (316 SS) material which is widely used in the US reactors. Contrary to the conventional S ∼ N curve based empirical fatigue life estimation approach, the aim of the present DOE sponsored work is to develop an understanding of the material ageing issues more mechanistically (e.g. time dependent hardening and softening) under different test and environmental conditions. Better mechanistic understanding will help develop computer-based advanced modeling tools to better extrapolate stress-strain evolution of reactor components under multi-axial stress states and hence help predict their fatigue life more accurately. Mechanics-based modeling of fatigue such as by using finite element (FE) tools requires the time/cycle dependent material hardening properties. Presently such time-dependent material hardening properties are hardly available in fatigue modeling literature even under in-air conditions. Getting those material properties under PWR environment, are even harder. Through this work we made preliminary attempt to generate time/cycle dependent stress-strain data both under in-air and PWR water conditions for further study such as for possible development of material models and constitutive relations for FE model implementation. Although, there are open-ended possibility to further improve the discussed test methods and related material estimation techniques we anticipate that the data presented in this paper will help the metal fatigue research community particularly, the researchers who are dealing with mechanistic modeling of metal fatigue such as using FE tools. In this paper the fatigue

  16. Comparison of axillary and rectal temperatures for healthy Beagles in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathis, Justin C; Campbell, Vicki L

    2015-07-01

    To compare axillary and rectal temperature measurements obtained with a digital thermometer for Beagles in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. 26 healthy Beagles (17 sexually intact males and 9 sexually intact females). Dogs were maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment for 56 days before rectal and axillary temperatures were measured. Axillary and rectal temperatures were obtained in triplicate for each dog by use of a single commercially available manufacturer-calibrated digital thermometer. Mean rectal and axillary temperatures of Beagles maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment were significantly different, with a median ± SD difference of 1.4° ± 0.15°C (range, 0.7° to 2.1°C). Mean rectal and axillary temperatures were 38.7°C (range, 37.6° to 39.5°C) and 37.2°C (range, 36.6° to 38.3°C), respectively. Results of this study indicated that the historical reference of a 0.55°C gradient between rectal and axillary temperatures that has been clinically used for veterinary patients was inaccurate for healthy Beagles in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. Rectal and axillary temperatures can be measured in veterinary patients. Reliable interpretation of axillary temperatures may accommodate patient comfort and reduce patient anxiety when serial measurement of temperatures is necessary. Further clinical studies will be needed.

  17. A fuzzy expert system to Trust-Based Access Control in crowdsourcing environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olusegun Folorunso

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Crowdsourcing has been widely accepted across a broad range of application areas. In crowdsourcing environments, the possibility of performing human computation is characterized with risks due to the openness of their web-based platforms where each crowd worker joins and participates in the process at any time, causing serious effect on the quality of its computation. In this paper, a combination of Trust-Based Access Control (TBAC strategy and fuzzy-expert systems was used to enhance the quality of human computation in crowdsourcing environment. A TBAC-fuzzy algorithm was developed and implemented using MATLAB 7.6.0 to compute trust value (Tvalue, priority value as evaluated by fuzzy inference system (FIS and finally generate access decision to each crowd-worker. In conclusion, the use of TBAC is feasible in improving quality of human computation in crowdsourcing environments.

  18. Survey of occupant behaviour and control of indoor environment in Danish dwellings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Rune Vinther; Toftum, Jørn; Andersen, Klaus Kaae

    2009-01-01

    separately by means of multiple logistic regression in order to quantify factors influencing occupants’ behaviour. The window opening behaviour was strongly related to the outdoor temperature. The perception of the environment and factors concerning the dwelling also impacted the window opening behaviour......Repeated surveys of occupant control of the indoor environment were carried out in Danish dwellings from September to October 2006 and again from February to March 2007. The summer survey comprised 933 respondents and the winter survey 636 respondents. The surveys were carried out by sending out....... The proportion of dwellings with the heating turned on was strongly related to the outdoor temperature and the presence of a wood burning stove. The solar radiation, dwelling ownership conditions and the perception of the indoor environment also affected the use of heating. The results of the statistical...

  19. Fiber-optic control of the ZT-P experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caudill, L.D.; Chandler, G.I.; Hall, C.R.; Trujillo, J.F.

    1986-01-01

    The computer control system for the ZT-P experiment has been implemented using a fiber-optic link in all 161 control signal paths. Four classes of control signals are used in this design. These are (a) digital-out, an on--off signal from computer to machine actuator, (b) digital-in, an on--off signal from machine sensor to computer, (c) analog-out, a 0--10-V analog signal from computer to machine actuator, (d) analog-in, a 0--1-mA analog signal from machine sensor to computer. The digital-in and the digital-out class of signals require no control power at the machine. The analog-out and the analog-in class of signals use available machine power for control. This unique power arrangement and the use of fiber-optic links totally isolate the electrically noisy machine areas from the sensitive electronics in the computer control. Advantages of this system including low cost, small size, personnel safety, and ease of maintenance and modification are discussed

  20. Fiber-optic control of the ZT-P experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caudill, L.D.; Chandler, G.I.; Hall, C.R.; Trujillo, J.F.

    1986-01-01

    The computer control system for the ZT-P experiment has been implemented using a fiber-optic link in all 161 control signal paths. Four classes of control signals are used in this design. These are: (a) digital-out, an on-off signal from computer to machine actuator, (b) digital-in, an on-off signal from machine sensor to computer, (c) analog-out, a 0 to 10 volt analog signal from computer to machine actuator, (d) analog-in, a 0 to +1 milliampere analog signal from machine sensor to computer. The digital-in and the digital-out class of signals require no control power at the machine. The analog-out and the analog-in class of signals use available machine power for control. This unique power arrangement and the use of fiber-optic links totally isolate the electrically noisy machine areas from the sensitive electronics in the computer control. Advantages of this system including low cost, small size, personnel safety, and ease of maintenance and modification are discussed

  1. Fiber-optic control of the ZT-P experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caudill, L.D.; Chandler, G.I.; Hall, C.R.; Trujillo, J.F.

    1986-01-01

    The computer control system for the ZT-P experiment has been implemented using a fiber-optic link in all 161 control signal paths. Four classes of control signals are used in this design. These are: digital-out; an on-off signal from computer to machine actuator, digital-in, and on-off signal from machine sensor to computer, analog-out, a 0 - 10 volt analog signal from computer to machine actuator, analog-in, 0 to +1 milliampere analog signal from machine sensor to computer. The digital-in and the digital-out class of signals require no control power at the machine end. The analog-out and the analog-in class of signals use available machine power for control. This unique power arrangement and the use of fiber-optic links serve to totally isolate electrically noisy machine areas from the sensitive electronics in the computer control. Advantages, including low cost, small size, personnel safety, and ease of maintenance and modification are discussed

  2. Notification: Notification Memo for Evaluation of Management Controls for Alternative Asbestos Control Method Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Project #OPE-FY12-0011, February 27, 2012. This memorandum is to notify you that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an evaluation on the Alternative Asbestos Control Method (AACM) experiments.

  3. Experience of Control and Student Satisfaction with Higher Education Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jungki; Anantharaman, Sekhar

    2013-01-01

    Although the delivery of satisfactory services is an important strategic goal in many colleges, students are known to face challenges and experience a significant amount of stress during their school life. This study proposes and tests students' experience of control over their college life as a promising factor that would enhance their…

  4. Do Natural Experiments of Changes in Neighborhood Built Environment Impact Physical Activity and Diet? A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMillan, Freya; George, Emma S; Feng, Xiaoqi; Merom, Dafna; Bennie, Andrew; Cook, Amelia; Sanders, Taren; Dwyer, Genevieve; Pang, Bonnie; Guagliano, Justin M; Kolt, Gregory S; Astell-Burt, Thomas

    2018-01-26

    Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studies included a comparison group and 11 were pre-post/longitudinal studies without a comparison group. Studies reported on the impact of redeveloping or introducing cycle and/or walking trails ( n = 5), rail stops/lines ( n = 4), supermarkets and farmers' markets ( n = 4) and park and green space ( n = 2). Eight/15 studies reported at least one beneficial change in physical activity, diet or another associated health outcome. Due to limitations in study design and reporting, as well as the wide array of outcome measures reported, drawing conclusions to inform policy was challenging. Future research should consider a consistent approach to measure the same outcomes (e.g., using measurement methods that collect comparable physical activity and diet outcome data), to allow for pooled analyses. Additionally, including comparison groups wherever possible and ensuring high quality reporting is essential.

  5. Do Natural Experiments of Changes in Neighborhood Built Environment Impact Physical Activity and Diet? A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Freya MacMillan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studies included a comparison group and 11 were pre-post/longitudinal studies without a comparison group. Studies reported on the impact of redeveloping or introducing cycle and/or walking trails (n = 5, rail stops/lines (n = 4, supermarkets and farmers’ markets (n = 4 and park and green space (n = 2. Eight/15 studies reported at least one beneficial change in physical activity, diet or another associated health outcome. Due to limitations in study design and reporting, as well as the wide array of outcome measures reported, drawing conclusions to inform policy was challenging. Future research should consider a consistent approach to measure the same outcomes (e.g., using measurement methods that collect comparable physical activity and diet outcome data, to allow for pooled analyses. Additionally, including comparison groups wherever possible and ensuring high quality reporting is essential.

  6. The Mobilisatsia experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Boever, P.

    2005-01-01

    The hazards of long-duration manned space flight are real. In order to participate effectively in long duration orbital missions or to continue the exploration of space, the health of the astronaut must be secured. There is mounting evidence that changes in the immune response of an astronaut in short-term flights, resemble those occurring after acute stress, while the changes during long-term flights resemble those caused by chronic stress. This blunting of the immune system occurs concomitant with a relative increase in microbial contamination in the space cabin environment. Such a combination of events results in an increased probability of in-flight infectious events. Micro-organisms are subject to a genetic evolution, which may lead to the capacity to colonize new environments and to cause infections. Central players in this evolutionary process are mobile genetic elements. They help to mobilize and reorganize genes, be it within a given genome (intragenomic mobility) or between bacterial cells (intercellular mobility). Hence, the processes of genetic exchange can mobilize genetic elements between bacterial strains, and therefore play a role in determining the infectious potential. The specific confined environment and space-flight related factors (such as microgravity and cosmic radiation) may increase the frequency in which mobile genetic elements are exchanged between micro organisms. The aim of the Mobilisatsia experiment was to promote microbial gene transfer under space flight conditions during a short-term experiment conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The efficiency of the gene exchange process was compared with a synchronously performed ground control experiment. An experiment was carried out with well-characterized Gram-negative reference strains and one experiment was done with Gram-positive reference strains

  7. Early olfactory environment influences social behaviour in adult Octodon degus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Márquez, Natalia; Martínez-Harms, Jaime; Vásquez, Rodrigo A; Mpodozis, Jorge

    2015-01-01

    We evaluated the extent to which manipulation of early olfactory environment can influence social behaviours in the South American Hystricognath rodent Octodon degus. The early olfactory environment of newborn degus was manipulated by scenting all litter members with eucalyptol during the first month of life. The social behaviour of sexually mature animals (5-7 months old) towards conspecifics was then assessed using a y-maze to compare the response of control (naïve) and treated animals to two different olfactory configurations (experiment 1): (i) a non-familiarized conspecific impregnated with eucalyptol (eucalyptol arm) presented against (ii) a non-familiarized unscented conspecific (control arm). In addition, in dyadic encounters, we assessed the behaviour of control and eucalyptol treated animals towards a non-familiarized conspecific scented with eucalyptol (experiment 2). We found that control subjects explored and spent significantly less time in the eucalyptol arm, indicating neophobic behaviours towards the artificially scented conspecific. Treated subjects explored and spent similar time in both arms of the maze, showing the same interest for both olfactory stimuli presented. During dyadic encounters in experiment 2, an interaction effect between early experience and sex was observed. Control males escaped and avoided their scented partner more frequently than eucalyptol treated male subjects and than females. Both groups did not differ in the exploration of their scented partners, suggesting that avoidance within agonistic context does not relate to neophobic behaviours. Our results suggest that the exposure to eucalyptol during early ontogeny decreases evasive behaviours within an agonistic context as a result of olfactory learning. Altogether, these results indicate that olfactory cues learned in early ontogeny can influence olfactory-guided behaviours in adult degus.

  8. Qualified operator training in the simulated control room environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ionescu, Teodor; Studineanu, Emil; Radulescu, Catalina; Bolocan, Gabriel

    2005-01-01

    Full text: Mainly designed for the training of the Cernavoda NPP Unit 2 operators, the virtual simulated environment allows the training of the already qualified operators for Cernavoda NPP Unit 1, adding to the already trained knowledge, the differences which has occurred in the Unit 2 design. Using state-of-the-art computers and displays and qualified software, the virtual simulated panels could offer a viable alternative to classic hardware-based training. This approach allows quick training of the new procedures required by the new configuration of the re-designed operator panels in the main control room of Cernavoda NPP Unit 2. (authors)

  9. Qualified operator training in the simulated control room environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ionescu, Teodor; Studineanu, Emil; Radulescu, Catalina; Bolocan, Gabriel

    2005-01-01

    Mainly designed for the training of the Cernavoda NPP Unit 2 operators, the virtual simulated environment allows the training of the already qualified operators for Cernavoda NPP Unit 1, adding to the already trained knowledge, the differences which have occurred in the Unit 2 design. Using state-of-the-art computers and displays and qualified software, the virtual simulated panels could offer a viable alternative to classic hardware-based training. This approach allows quick training of the new procedures required by the new configuration of the re-designed operator panels in the main control room of Cernavoda NPP Unit 2. (authors)

  10. Piloted simulation of an air-ground profile negotiation process in a time-based Air Traffic Control environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, David H.; Green, Steven M.

    1993-01-01

    Historically, development of airborne flight management systems (FMS) and ground-based air traffic control (ATC) systems has tended to focus on different objectives with little consideration for operational integration. A joint program, between NASA's Ames Research Center (Ames) and Langley Research Center (Langley), is underway to investigate the issues of, and develop systems for, the integration of ATC and airborne automation systems. A simulation study was conducted to evaluate a profile negotiation process (PNP) between the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS) and an aircraft equipped with a four-dimensional flight management system (4D FMS). Prototype procedures were developed to support the functional implementation of this process. The PNP was designed to provide an arrival trajectory solution which satisfies the separation requirements of ATC while remaining as close as possible to the aircraft's preferred trajectory. Results from the experiment indicate the potential for successful incorporation of aircraft-preferred arrival trajectories in the CTAS automation environment. Fuel savings on the order of 2 percent to 8 percent, compared to fuel required for the baseline CTAS arrival speed strategy, were achieved in the test scenarios. The data link procedures and clearances developed for this experiment, while providing the necessary functionality, were found to be operationally unacceptable to the pilots. In particular, additional pilot control and understanding of the proposed aircraft-preferred trajectory, and a simplified clearance procedure were cited as necessary for operational implementation of the concept.

  11. Flexible structure control experiments using a real-time workstation for computer-aided control engineering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stieber, Michael E.

    1989-01-01

    A Real-Time Workstation for Computer-Aided Control Engineering has been developed jointly by the Communications Research Centre (CRC) and Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum (RUB), West Germany. The system is presently used for the development and experimental verification of control techniques for large space systems with significant structural flexibility. The Real-Time Workstation essentially is an implementation of RUB's extensive Computer-Aided Control Engineering package KEDDC on an INTEL micro-computer running under the RMS real-time operating system. The portable system supports system identification, analysis, control design and simulation, as well as the immediate implementation and test of control systems. The Real-Time Workstation is currently being used by CRC to study control/structure interaction on a ground-based structure called DAISY, whose design was inspired by a reflector antenna. DAISY emulates the dynamics of a large flexible spacecraft with the following characteristics: rigid body modes, many clustered vibration modes with low frequencies and extremely low damping. The Real-Time Workstation was found to be a very powerful tool for experimental studies, supporting control design and simulation, and conducting and evaluating tests withn one integrated environment.

  12. Software-Based Wireless Power Transfer Platform for Various Power Control Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sun-Han Hwang

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present the design and evaluation of a software-based wireless power transfer platform that enables the development of a prototype involving various open- and closed-loop power control functions. Our platform is based on a loosely coupled planar wireless power transfer circuit that uses a class-E power amplifier. In conjunction with this circuit, we implement flexible control functions using a National Instruments Data Acquisition (NI DAQ board and algorithms in the MATLAB/Simulink. To verify the effectiveness of our platform, we conduct two types of power-control experiments: a no-load or metal detection using open-loop power control, and an output voltage regulation for different receiver positions using closed-loop power control. The use of the MATLAB/Simulink software as a part of the planar wireless power transfer platform for power control experiments is shown to serve as a useful and inexpensive alternative to conventional hardware-based platforms.

  13. AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF THE CONTROLS SYSTEMS OF THE LHC EXPERIMENTS

    CERN Multimedia

    Calheiros, F; Varela, F

    2007-01-01

    The supervisory layer of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments is based on the Prozeßvisualisierungs- und Steuerungsystem (PVSS) [1] and the Joint COntrols Project (JCOP) Framework (FW) [2]. This controls framework includes a Finite State Machine (FSM) toolkit, which allows to operate the control systems according to a well-defined set of states and commands. During the FSM transitions of the detectors, it is required to re-configure parts of the control systems. All configuration parameters of the devices integrated into the control system are stored in the so-called configuration database. In this paper the JCOP FW FSM-Configuration database tool is presented. This tool ensures the availability of all required configuration data, for a given type of run of the experiment, in the PVSS sub-detector control applications. The chosen implementation strategy is discussed in the paper. The approach enables the standalone operation of different partitions of the detectors simultaneously while ensuring indepe...

  14. Strengthening maintenance and reconstruction of scientific experiment building and creating a good working environment for scientific research and production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu Jianping

    2005-01-01

    The quality of scientific experiment building directly influences the scientific research work and production. To create a good working environment for scientific research and production, it is necessary to strengthen the maintenance and reconstruction for old scientific experiment building. The paper briefly introduces the site supervisory work of maintaining and reconstructing old scientific experiment building in Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, as well as some measures taken to ensure the project quality, and the reconstructed building. (authors)

  15. Management Control Systems and Clinical Experience of Managers in Public Hospitals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rogério Joao Lunkes

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Healthcare authorities are encouraging managers in hospitals to acquire clinical experience and knowledge in order to better carry out and coordinate healthcare service delivery. The main objective of this paper is to analyse how the clinical experience of hospital managers is related to public health institutions’ performance. It is proposed that the effect of the clinical experience on operative and financial organizational performance is indirect through the mediating variables of perceived utility of management information and horizontal management control system. This paper analyses how these variables impact hospital performance through the data from a survey sent to 364 hospital managers in Brazil. The results show that managers’ clinical experience is related to higher perceived utility of historical, financial, short-term, and internal information, but not with horizontal control adoption in hospitals. Furthermore, our results show that, in hospitals, perceived utility of forecasted, non-financial, long-term, and external managerial information positively affects hospitals’ financial performance, while adoption of horizontal control management positively affects operational performance. Through showing evidence that clinical background could explain the differences not only in hospital service management but also in information capabilities and management control processes, this study offer meaningful implications for healthcare authorities and hospital managers involved in the development and implementation of strategies in the health sector.

  16. Equilibrium-point control of human elbow-joint movement under isometric environment by using multichannel functional electrical stimulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuhiro eMatsui

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Functional electrical stimulation (FES is considered an effective technique for aiding quadriplegic persons. However, the human musculoskeletal system has highly nonlinearity and redundancy. It is thus difficult to stably and accurately control limbs using FES. In this paper, we propose a simple FES method that is consistent with the motion-control mechanism observed in humans. We focus on joint motion by a pair of agonist-antagonist muscles of the musculoskeletal system, and define theelectrical agonist-antagonist muscle ratio (EAA ratio and electrical agonist-antagonist muscle activity (EAA activity in light of the agonist-antagonist muscle ratio and agonist-antagonist muscle activity, respectively, to extract the equilibrium point and joint stiffness from electromyography (EMG signals. These notions, the agonist-antagonist muscle ratio and agonist-antagonist muscle activity, are based on the hypothesis that the equilibrium point and stiffness of the agonist-antagonist motion system are controlled by the central nervous system. We derived the transfer function between the input EAA ratio and force output of the end-point. We performed some experiments in an isometric environment using six subjects. This transfer-function model is expressed as a cascade-coupled dead time element and a second-order system. High-speed, high-precision, smooth control of the hand force were achieved through the agonist-antagonist muscle stimulation pattern determined by this transfer function model.

  17. Equilibrium-point control of human elbow-joint movement under isometric environment by using multichannel functional electrical stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsui, Kazuhiro; Hishii, Yasuo; Maegaki, Kazuya; Yamashita, Yuto; Uemura, Mitsunori; Hirai, Hiroaki; Miyazaki, Fumio

    2014-01-01

    Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is considered an effective technique for aiding quadriplegic persons. However, the human musculoskeletal system has highly non-linearity and redundancy. It is thus difficult to stably and accurately control limbs using FES. In this paper, we propose a simple FES method that is consistent with the motion-control mechanism observed in humans. We focus on joint motion by a pair of agonist-antagonist muscles of the musculoskeletal system, and define the "electrical agonist-antagonist muscle ratio (EAA ratio)" and "electrical agonist-antagonist muscle activity (EAA activity)" in light of the agonist-antagonist muscle ratio and agonist-antagonist muscle activity, respectively, to extract the equilibrium point and joint stiffness from electromyography (EMG) signals. These notions, the agonist-antagonist muscle ratio and agonist-antagonist muscle activity, are based on the hypothesis that the equilibrium point and stiffness of the agonist-antagonist motion system are controlled by the central nervous system. We derived the transfer function between the input EAA ratio and force output of the end-point. We performed some experiments in an isometric environment using six subjects. This transfer-function model is expressed as a cascade-coupled dead time element and a second-order system. High-speed, high-precision, smooth control of the hand force were achieved through the agonist-antagonist muscle stimulation pattern determined by this transfer function model.

  18. Characterization of reactor neutron environments at Sandia National Laboratories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelly, J.G.; Luera, T.F.; Griffin, P.J.; Vehar, D.W.

    1994-01-01

    To assure quality in the testing of electronic parts in neutron radiation environments, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has incorporated modern techniques and procedures, developed in the last two decades by the radiation effects community, into all of its experimental programs. Attention to the application of all of these methodologies, experiment designs, nuclear data, procedures and controls to the SNL radiation services has led to the much more accurate and reliable environment characterizations required to correlate the effects observed with the radiation delivered

  19. Eye movements, visual search and scene memory, in an immersive virtual environment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmitry Kit

    Full Text Available Visual memory has been demonstrated to play a role in both visual search and attentional prioritization in natural scenes. However, it has been studied predominantly in experimental paradigms using multiple two-dimensional images. Natural experience, however, entails prolonged immersion in a limited number of three-dimensional environments. The goal of the present experiment was to recreate circumstances comparable to natural visual experience in order to evaluate the role of scene memory in guiding eye movements in a natural environment. Subjects performed a continuous visual-search task within an immersive virtual-reality environment over three days. We found that, similar to two-dimensional contexts, viewers rapidly learn the location of objects in the environment over time, and use spatial memory to guide search. Incidental fixations did not provide obvious benefit to subsequent search, suggesting that semantic contextual cues may often be just as efficient, or that many incidentally fixated items are not held in memory in the absence of a specific task. On the third day of the experience in the environment, previous search items changed in color. These items were fixated upon with increased probability relative to control objects, suggesting that memory-guided prioritization (or Surprise may be a robust mechanisms for attracting gaze to novel features of natural environments, in addition to task factors and simple spatial saliency.

  20. Eye movements, visual search and scene memory, in an immersive virtual environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kit, Dmitry; Katz, Leor; Sullivan, Brian; Snyder, Kat; Ballard, Dana; Hayhoe, Mary

    2014-01-01

    Visual memory has been demonstrated to play a role in both visual search and attentional prioritization in natural scenes. However, it has been studied predominantly in experimental paradigms using multiple two-dimensional images. Natural experience, however, entails prolonged immersion in a limited number of three-dimensional environments. The goal of the present experiment was to recreate circumstances comparable to natural visual experience in order to evaluate the role of scene memory in guiding eye movements in a natural environment. Subjects performed a continuous visual-search task within an immersive virtual-reality environment over three days. We found that, similar to two-dimensional contexts, viewers rapidly learn the location of objects in the environment over time, and use spatial memory to guide search. Incidental fixations did not provide obvious benefit to subsequent search, suggesting that semantic contextual cues may often be just as efficient, or that many incidentally fixated items are not held in memory in the absence of a specific task. On the third day of the experience in the environment, previous search items changed in color. These items were fixated upon with increased probability relative to control objects, suggesting that memory-guided prioritization (or Surprise) may be a robust mechanisms for attracting gaze to novel features of natural environments, in addition to task factors and simple spatial saliency.

  1. A laboratory experiment on the behaviour of soil-derived core and intact polar GDGTs in aquatic environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peterse, F.; Moy, C. M.; Eglinton, T. I.

    2015-01-01

    We have performed incubation experiments in order to examine the behaviour of soil-derived branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) membrane lipids upon entering an aquatic environment and to evaluate the processes that potentially take place during their fluvial transport from land to

  2. In vitro experimental environments lacking or containing soil disparately affect competition experiments of Aspergillus flavus and co-occurring fungi in maize grains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falade, Titilayo D O; Syed Mohdhamdan, Sharifah H; Sultanbawa, Yasmina; Fletcher, Mary T; Harvey, Jagger J W; Chaliha, Mridusmita; Fox, Glen P

    2016-07-01

    In vitro experimental environments are used to study interactions between microorganisms, and to predict dynamics in natural ecosystems. This study highlights that experimental in vitro environments should be selected to match closely the natural environment of interest during in vitro studies to strengthen extrapolations about aflatoxin production by Aspergillus and competing organisms. Fungal competition and aflatoxin accumulation were studied in soil, cotton wool or tube (water-only) environments, for Aspergillus flavus competition with Penicillium purpurogenum, Fusarium oxysporum or Sarocladium zeae within maize grains. Inoculated grains were incubated in each environment at two temperature regimes (25 and 30°C). Competition experiments showed interaction between the main effects of aflatoxin accumulation and the environment at 25°C, but not so at 30°C. However, competition experiments showed fungal populations were always interacting with their environments. Fungal survival differed after the 72-h incubation in different experimental environments. Whereas all fungi incubated within the soil environment survived, in the cotton wool environment none of the competitors of A. flavus survived at 30°C. With aflatoxin accumulation, F. oxysporum was the only fungus able to interdict aflatoxin production at both temperatures. This occurred only in the soil environment and fumonisins accumulated instead. Smallholder farmers in developing countries face serious mycotoxin contamination of their grains, and soil is a natural reservoir for the associated fungal propagules, and a drying and storage surface for grains on these farms. Studying fungal dynamics in the soil environment and other environments in vitro can provide insights into aflatoxin accumulation post-harvest.

  3. A placebo-controlled investigation of synaesthesia-like experiences under LSD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terhune, Devin B; Luke, David P; Kaelen, Mendel; Bolstridge, Mark; Feilding, Amanda; Nutt, David; Carhart-Harris, Robin; Ward, Jamie

    2016-07-29

    The induction of synaesthesia in non-synaesthetes has the potential to illuminate the mechanisms that contribute to the development of this condition and the shaping of its phenomenology. Previous research suggests that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) reliably induces synaesthesia-like experiences in non-synaesthetes. However, these studies suffer from a number of methodological limitations including lack of a placebo control and the absence of rigorous measures used to test established criteria for genuine synaesthesia. Here we report a pilot study that aimed to circumvent these limitations. We conducted a within-groups placebo-controlled investigation of the impact of LSD on colour experiences in response to standardized graphemes and sounds and the consistency and specificity of grapheme- and sound-colour associations. Participants reported more spontaneous synaesthesia-like experiences under LSD, relative to placebo, but did not differ across conditions in colour experiences in response to inducers, consistency of stimulus-colour associations, or in inducer specificity. Further analyses suggest that individual differences in a number of these effects were associated with the propensity to experience states of absorption in one's daily life. Although preliminary, the present study suggests that LSD-induced synaesthesia-like experiences do not exhibit consistency or inducer-specificity and thus do not meet two widely established criteria for genuine synaesthesia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. The Experience of Fluid Temporality in Adaptive Lighting Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Kjell Yngve; Søndergaard, Karin; Kongshaug, Jesper

    2013-01-01

    The paper presents research on the experiential qualities emerging from the performative engagement within adaptive lighting environments. Being performatively engaged in an environment, where the lighting is continuously adapting, opens an experiential position with fuid temporality, and opens...... of adaptive lighting environments through the lighting research and designs of the four authors....

  5. Nuclear power, the environment and national control arrangements in the United Kingdom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, J.A.; Stott, G.

    1982-01-01

    The national control arrangements for the prevention, monitoring and regulation of environmental pollution arising from discharges of radioactivity by nuclear fuel cycle operators are described. The regulation procedures arise from the provisions contained in the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 and embody a system of site specific Authorisation Certificates which permits the operators to release radioactive wastes to the surrounding environment. The Authorisation process is described together with the structure and inter-relationships of the enforcing Inspectorates. New responsibilities for radioactive waste management are also discussed in the light of changes in Government policy following the publication of the White Paper ''Nuclear Power and the Environment''. (author)

  6. Neutral beam control systems for the Tandem Mirror Experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ross, R.I.

    1979-01-01

    The Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX) is presently developing the technology and approaches which will be used in larger fusion systems. This paper describes some of the designs which were used in creating the control system for the TMX neutral beams. To create a system of controls that would work near these large, rapid switching current sources required a mixture of different technologies: fiberoptic data transmission, printed circuit and wirewrap techniques, etc

  7. Operating experience with LAMPF main beam lines instrumentation and control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van Dyck, O.B.; Harvey, A.; Howard, H.H.; Roeder, D.L.

    1975-01-01

    Instrumentation and control (I and C) for the Los Alamos Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) main beam line is based upon central computer control through remote stations which provide input and output to most devices. Operating experience shows that the ability of the computer to give high-quality graphical presentation of the measurements enhances operator performance and instrument usefulness. Experience also shows that operator efficiency degrades rapidly with increasing instrument response time, that is, with increasing delay between the time a control is changed and the result can be observed. For this reason, instrumentation upgrade includes speeding up data acquisition and display times to under 10 s. Similarly, television-viewed phosphors are being retained where possible since their instantaneous response is very useful. Other upgrading of the instrumentation system is planned to improve data accuracy, reliability, redundancy, and instrument radiation tolerance. Past experience is being applied in adding or relocating devices to simplify tuning procedures. (U.S.)

  8. A control system for a free electron laser experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giove, D.

    1992-01-01

    The general layout of a control and data acquisition system for a Free Electron Laser experiment will be discussed. Some general considerations about the requirements and the architecture of the whole system will be developed. (author)

  9. Data acquisition and experiment control system for high-data-rate experiments at the National Synchrotron Light Source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alberi, J.L.; Stubblefield, F.W.

    1981-11-01

    A data acquisition and experiment control system for experiments at the Biology Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Station at the National Synchrotron Light Source has been developed based on a multiprocessor, functionally distributed architecture. The system controls an x-ray monochromator and spectrometer and acquires data from any one of three position-sensitive x-ray detectors. The average data rate from the position-sensitive detector is approx. 10 6 events/sec. Data is stored in a one megaword histogramming memory. The experiments at this Station require that x-ray diffraction patterns be correlated with timed stimuli at the sample. Therefore, depending on which detector is in use, up to 10 3 time-correlated diffraction patterns may be held in the system memory simultaneously. The operation of the system is functionally distributed over four processors communicating via a multiport memory

  10. Landmark-based robust navigation for tactical UGV control in GPS-denied communication-degraded environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Endo, Yoichiro; Balloch, Jonathan C.; Grushin, Alexander; Lee, Mun Wai; Handelman, David

    2016-05-01

    Control of current tactical unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) is typically accomplished through two alternative modes of operation, namely, low-level manual control using joysticks and high-level planning-based autonomous control. Each mode has its own merits as well as inherent mission-critical disadvantages. Low-level joystick control is vulnerable to communication delay and degradation, and high-level navigation often depends on uninterrupted GPS signals and/or energy-emissive (non-stealth) range sensors such as LIDAR for localization and mapping. To address these problems, we have developed a mid-level control technique where the operator semi-autonomously drives the robot relative to visible landmarks that are commonly recognizable by both humans and machines such as closed contours and structured lines. Our novel solution relies solely on optical and non-optical passive sensors and can be operated under GPS-denied, communication-degraded environments. To control the robot using these landmarks, we developed an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the operator to select landmarks in the robot's view and direct the robot relative to one or more of the landmarks. The integrated UGV control system was evaluated based on its ability to robustly navigate through indoor environments. The system was successfully field tested with QinetiQ North America's TALON UGV and Tactical Robot Controller (TRC), a ruggedized operator control unit (OCU). We found that the proposed system is indeed robust against communication delay and degradation, and provides the operator with steady and reliable control of the UGV in realistic tactical scenarios.

  11. Managing the environment and metamorphoses of the State: the French experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cécilia Claeys-Mekdade

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the evolution of the State’s role in management of the environment. The French experience, characterised by a highly-centralised State, presents researchers with a situation where anypermanence, like any change, tends to be extreme. Therefore it acts as a starting point for our analysis of changes in the State’s role in the management of nature, which was formerly considered as a resource to be exploited, and is now redefined as an environment to be protected. In particular, diachronic analysis enables us to grasp the dynamics of these social changes. On the basis of an interdisciplinary exchange between a historian and a sociologist, this article suggests that we should qualify theories of the disappearance of the State by giving ourselves the means to differentiate, in management of theenvironment, what is new and what is not, by highlighting the capacity for “integration of criticism” (BOLTANSKI; CHIAPELLO, 1999 by institutions. The environment is an instrument of hybridisation that questions old dichotomies: between nature and culture, between local and national, between the particular and the general, between vernacular knowledge and scientific knowledge. This questioning tends to deprive science and politics of their respective monopolies as representatives of nature and of society. Against this background, the central State becomes a manager of socio-natural diversity, thetechnocratic State gives a voice to local know-how, and the State concedes a certain plurality to the general public interest of which it no longer has quite a complete monopoly. The State is no longer quite what it was, in its role and its functioning, but the State endures. Thus, the society is changing, but the categories of the XX° century are not totally obsolete yet.

  12. The Control of Environment Management Through Administrative Court

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putrijanti, Aju

    2018-02-01

    Environment is important in human life. Conflict of interest comes between development of economy sector, citizenship needs and Governance, as it becomes completely difficult to analyze. The environment's lawsuit is increase from the beginning of the Court established. The duty of Administrative Court are to investigate, decide and settle administrative disputes. The Governance has to pay attention before issuing the Government's decree by put principle of good governance as priority. The issue in this paper is strengthening the role of Administrative Court to maintain the environment reuse by settle environment disputes based on the importance of environment. The administrative decisions in environment field may cause a loss or damage for the people. When the public officer did not put the appreciation to the reuse of environment and principle of good governance, it will become problems. The decision should be environmentally friendly. There should be certified judge to settle the dispute. The method of this research by examines the Judge's verdict in environment disputes, and its relation with regulations and the newest issues. The conclusion is increase the role of the Administrative Court to maintain the environment by law enforcement through settle environment disputes.

  13. The VEPP-2000 Collider Control System: Operational Experience

    CERN Document Server

    Senchenko, A I; Lysenko, A P; Rogovsky, Yu A; Shatunov, P Yu

    2017-01-01

    The VEPP-2000 collider was commissioned and operated successfully in 2010-2013. During the operation the facility underwent continuous updates and experience in maintenance was acquired. Strong cooperation between the staff of the accelerator complex and the developers of the control system proved effective for implementing the necessary changes in a short time.

  14. Grid heterogeneity in in-silico experiments: an exploration of drug screening using DOCK on cloud environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yim, Wen-Wai; Chien, Shu; Kusumoto, Yasuyuki; Date, Susumu; Haga, Jason

    2010-01-01

    Large-scale in-silico screening is a necessary part of drug discovery and Grid computing is one answer to this demand. A disadvantage of using Grid computing is the heterogeneous computational environments characteristic of a Grid. In our study, we have found that for the molecular docking simulation program DOCK, different clusters within a Grid organization can yield inconsistent results. Because DOCK in-silico virtual screening (VS) is currently used to help select chemical compounds to test with in-vitro experiments, such differences have little effect on the validity of using virtual screening before subsequent steps in the drug discovery process. However, it is difficult to predict whether the accumulation of these discrepancies over sequentially repeated VS experiments will significantly alter the results if VS is used as the primary means for identifying potential drugs. Moreover, such discrepancies may be unacceptable for other applications requiring more stringent thresholds. This highlights the need for establishing a more complete solution to provide the best scientific accuracy when executing an application across Grids. One possible solution to platform heterogeneity in DOCK performance explored in our study involved the use of virtual machines as a layer of abstraction. This study investigated the feasibility and practicality of using virtual machine and recent cloud computing technologies in a biological research application. We examined the differences and variations of DOCK VS variables, across a Grid environment composed of different clusters, with and without virtualization. The uniform computer environment provided by virtual machines eliminated inconsistent DOCK VS results caused by heterogeneous clusters, however, the execution time for the DOCK VS increased. In our particular experiments, overhead costs were found to be an average of 41% and 2% in execution time for two different clusters, while the actual magnitudes of the execution time

  15. Haptic shared control improves hot cell remote handling despite controller inaccuracies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oosterhout, J. van; Abbink, D.A.; Koning, J.F.; Boessenkool, H.; Wildenbeest, J.G.W.; Heemskerk, C.J.M.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: Haptic shared control is generally based upon perfect environment information. A realistic implementation holds model errors with respect to the environment. Operators were aided with inaccurate guiding forces during a peg-in-hole task. The results showed that small guiding inaccuracies still aid the operator. -- Abstract: A promising solution to improve task performance in ITER hot cell remote handling is the use of haptic shared control. Haptic shared control can assist the human operator along a safe and optimal path with continuous guiding forces from an intelligent autonomous controller. Previous research tested such controllers with accurate knowledge of the environment (giving flawless guiding forces), while in a practical implementation guidance forces will sometimes be flawed due to inaccurate models or sensor information. This research investigated the effect of zero and small (7.5 mm) errors on task performance compared to normal (unguided) operation. In a human factors experiment subjects performed a three dimensional virtual reality peg-in-hole type task (30 mm diameter; 0.1 mm clearance), with and without potentially flawed haptic shared control. The results showed that the presence of guiding forces, despite of small guiding errors, still improved task performance with respect to unguided operations

  16. Haptic shared control improves hot cell remote handling despite controller inaccuracies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oosterhout, J. van, E-mail: J.vanOosterhout@differ.nl [Delft University of Technology, Faculty of 3mE, BioMechanical Engineering Department, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft (Netherlands); Abbink, D.A. [Delft University of Technology, Faculty of 3mE, BioMechanical Engineering Department, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft (Netherlands); Koning, J.F. [Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Jonckerweg 12, 2201 DZ Noordwijk (Netherlands); Boessenkool, H. [FOM Institute DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), Association EURATOM-FOM, Partner in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster, PO Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands); Wildenbeest, J.G.W. [Delft University of Technology, Faculty of 3mE, BioMechanical Engineering Department, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft (Netherlands); Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Jonckerweg 12, 2201 DZ Noordwijk (Netherlands); Heemskerk, C.J.M. [Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Jonckerweg 12, 2201 DZ Noordwijk (Netherlands)

    2013-10-15

    Highlights: Haptic shared control is generally based upon perfect environment information. A realistic implementation holds model errors with respect to the environment. Operators were aided with inaccurate guiding forces during a peg-in-hole task. The results showed that small guiding inaccuracies still aid the operator. -- Abstract: A promising solution to improve task performance in ITER hot cell remote handling is the use of haptic shared control. Haptic shared control can assist the human operator along a safe and optimal path with continuous guiding forces from an intelligent autonomous controller. Previous research tested such controllers with accurate knowledge of the environment (giving flawless guiding forces), while in a practical implementation guidance forces will sometimes be flawed due to inaccurate models or sensor information. This research investigated the effect of zero and small (7.5 mm) errors on task performance compared to normal (unguided) operation. In a human factors experiment subjects performed a three dimensional virtual reality peg-in-hole type task (30 mm diameter; 0.1 mm clearance), with and without potentially flawed haptic shared control. The results showed that the presence of guiding forces, despite of small guiding errors, still improved task performance with respect to unguided operations.

  17. The Software Management Environment (SME)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valett, Jon D.; Decker, William; Buell, John

    1988-01-01

    The Software Management Environment (SME) is a research effort designed to utilize the past experiences and results of the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) and to incorporate this knowledge into a tool for managing projects. SME provides the software development manager with the ability to observe, compare, predict, analyze, and control key software development parameters such as effort, reliability, and resource utilization. The major components of the SME, the architecture of the system, and examples of the functionality of the tool are discussed.

  18. A qualitative report on the subjective experience of intravenous psilocybin administered in an FMRI environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turton, S; Nutt, D J; Carhart-Harris, R L

    2014-01-01

    This report documents the phenomenology of the subjective experiences of 15 healthy psychedelic experienced volunteers who were involved in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that was designed to image the brain effects of intravenous psilocybin. The participants underwent a semi-structured interview exploring the effects of psilocybin in the MRI scanner. These interviews were analysed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The resultant data is ordered in a detailed matrix, and presented in this paper. Nine broad categories of phenomenology were identified in the phenomenological analysis of the experience; perceptual changes including visual, auditory and somatosensory distortions, cognitive changes, changes in mood, effects of memory, spiritual or mystical type experiences, aspects relating to the scanner and research environment, comparisons with other experiences, the intensity and onset of effects, and individual interpretation of the experience. This article documents the phenomenology of psilocybin when given in a novel manner (intravenous injection) and setting (an MRI scanner). The findings of the analysis are consistent with previous published work regarding the subjective effects of psilocybin. There is much scope for further research investigating the phenomena identified in this paper.

  19. An Adaptive Traffic Signal Control in a Connected Vehicle Environment: A Systematic Review

    OpenAIRE

    Peng Jing; Hao Huang; Long Chen

    2017-01-01

    In the last few years, traffic congestion has become a growing concern due to increasing vehicle ownerships in urban areas. Intersections are one of the major bottlenecks that contribute to urban traffic congestion. Traditional traffic signal control systems cannot adjust the timing pattern depending on road traffic demand. This results in excessive delays for road users. Adaptive traffic signal control in a connected vehicle environment has shown a powerful ability to effectively alleviate u...

  20. An optoelectronic detecting based environment perception experiment for primer students using multiple-layer laser scanner

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shifeng; Wang, Rui; Zhang, Pengfei; Dai, Xiang; Gong, Dawei

    2017-08-01

    One of the motivations of OptoBot Lab is to train primer students into qualified engineers or researchers. The series training programs have been designed by supervisors and implemented with tutoring for students to test and practice their knowledge from textbooks. An environment perception experiment using a 32 layers laser scanner is described in this paper. The training program design and laboratory operation is introduced. The four parts of the experiments which are preparation, sensor calibration, 3D space reconstruction, and object recognition, are the participating students' main tasks for different teams. This entire program is one of the series training programs that play significant role in establishing solid research skill foundation for opto-electronic students.