Global Zero and Deterrence Credibility : A Critical Analysis of Obama`s Nuclear Policy and Extended Nuclear Deterrence Credibility on the Korean Peninsula

OpenAIRE

Ganss, Mathias

2012-01-01

This thesis is a qualitative case study analysis of the whether the nuclear policies of President Obama has weakened the U.S. extended nuclear deterrence credibility on the Korean Peninsula. To answer this, the thesis employs two strategies: First, two variables are discussed; a nuclear capabilities-variable; and a nuclear policy-variable. The purpose is to assess the impact the New START treaty has on U.S. nuclear capabilities, and to assess the implications of Obama`s nuclear policy, expres...

Universal financial protection through National Health Insurance: a stakeholder analysis of the proposed one-time premium payment policy in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Abiiro, Gilbert Abotisem; McIntyre, Di

2013-05-01

Extending coverage to the informal sector is a key challenge to achieving universal coverage through contributory health insurance schemes. Ghana introduced a mandatory National Health Insurance system in 2004 to provide financial protection for both the formal and informal sectors through a combination of taxes and annual premium payments. As part of its election promise in 2008, the current government (then in opposition) promised to make the payment of premiums 'one-time'. This has been a very controversial policy issue in Ghana. This study sought to contribute to assessing the feasibility of the proposed policy by exploring the understandings of various stakeholders on the policy, their interests or concerns, potential positions, power and influences on it, as well as the general prospects and challenges for its implementation. Data were gathered from a review of relevant documents in the public domain, 28 key informant interviews and six focus group discussions with key stakeholders in Accra and two other districts. The results show that there is a lot of confusion in stakeholders' understanding of the policy issue, and, because of the uncertainties surrounding it, most powerful stakeholders are yet to take clear positions on it. However, stakeholders raised concerns that revolved around issues such as: the meaning of a one-time premium within an insurance scheme context, the affordability of the one-time premium, financing sources and sustainability of the policy, as well as the likely impact of the policy on equity in access to health care. Policy-makers need to clearly explain the meaning of the one-time premium policy and how it will be funded, and critically consider the concerns raised by stakeholders before proceeding with further attempts to implement it. For other countries planning universal coverage reforms, it is important that the terminology of their reforms clearly reflects policy objectives.

Globalizing Policy Sociology in Education: Working with Bourdieu

Science.gov (United States)

Lingard, Bob; Rawolle, Shaun; Taylor, Sandra

2005-01-01

This paper uses Bourdieu to develop theorizing about policy processes in education and to extend the policy cycle approach in a time of globalization. Use is made of Bourdieu's concept of social field and the argument is sustained that in the context of globalization the field of educational policy has reduced autonomy, with enhanced cross-field…

Extended Challenges for the EU's Climate and Energy Policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haslauer, F.

2015-01-01

Market-driven climate and energy policies are far more effective than regulation-driven policies. It is time for the EU to rethink its energy strategy. The world is in the throes of a global energy transition as countries seek to meet rising demand by fundamentally changing their energy sectors. Global energy demand is expected to increase by 1.4 percent through 2030, with demand for electricity (a renewable) rising by more than 2 percent during this time period. The European Union has been front and center in this energy transition, seeking to meet three climate and energy targets by 2020: (1) reduce CO2 emissions, (2) increase renewables, and (3) become more energy efficient. Most countries are on track to meet the first two targets but meeting the third one has proved to be more difficult. This is largely because there is no single European power market. Energy policies and regulations are still driven by individual nations. If this continues, the EU energy transition will be costly - prices will shoot up and global competitiveness will suffer. It's time for the EU to work as one large entity and adopt market-driven policies. The advantages include a smoother energy transition in a growing economy, ability to leverage size for more competitive energy costs, and lower prices for consumers. In an ideal scenario, there is one overriding EU target for reducing CO2 emissions, and then the other two - renewables and energy efficiency - act as levers to meet that target. Essentially, the market decides which solutions are the most efficient. A market-driven energy strategy is funded from a CO2-emissions certificate market - to send the right price signals - or a CO2 tax to allocate costs to CO2 emissions. Rather than concentrating funds on feed in tariffs, funds are geared toward improving energy efficiency, research and development of renewables and running pilot programs. In this way, the EU 'incentivizes' innovation and funding is far less than what

Extending Newton's law from nonlocal-in-time kinetic energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suykens, J.A.K.

2009-01-01

We study a new equation of motion derived from a context of classical Newtonian mechanics by replacing the kinetic energy with a form of nonlocal-in-time kinetic energy. It leads to a hypothetical extension of Newton's second law of motion. In a first stage the obtainable solution form is studied by considering an unknown value for the nonlocality time extent. This is done in relation to higher-order Euler-Lagrange equations and a Hamiltonian framework. In a second stage the free particle case and harmonic oscillator case are studied and compared with quantum mechanical results. For a free particle it is shown that the solution form is a superposition of the classical straight line motion and a Fourier series. We discuss the link with quanta interpretations made in Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillators. The discrete nature emerges from the continuous time setting through application of the least action principle. The harmonic oscillator case leads to energy levels that approximately correspond to the quantum harmonic oscillator levels. The solution to the extended Newton equation also admits a quantization of the nonlocality time extent, which is determined by the classical oscillator frequency. The extended equation suggests a new possible way for understanding the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics

Policy Implications of Research on School Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Lorin

1983-01-01

The allocation and use of time are considered important in the context of learning because time can be manipulated, measured, and applied to the design of instructional programs. After a clarification of terminology, an overview of current research on time is offered and policy recommendations discussed. (MJL)

Personal carbon trading: A policy ahead of its time?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fawcett, Tina

2010-01-01

In 2008, the UK government undertook a review of personal carbon trading (PCT) and declared that it was 'an idea currently ahead of its time'. PCT is a radical policy proposal which would entail all adults receiving an equal, tradable carbon allowance to cover emissions from household energy and/or personal travel. The allowance would reduce over time, in line with national emissions reduction goals. The government's key concerns about PCT were its social unacceptability and high cost. This paper reviews the literature and identifies knowledge gaps, and then discusses whether these concerns are justified. Contrary to the government's conclusions, most research shows PCT to be at least as socially acceptable as an alternative taxation policy. People think it could be both fair and effective. Set-up and running costs for PCT will undoubtedly be higher than for alternative taxation policies. However, PCT could deliver benefits from individual and social change motivated by non-economic aspects of the policy. These potential benefits are outlined here. The conclusion is that PCT is a promising and timely policy idea.

Anisotropic, time-dependent solutions in maximally Gauss-Bonnet extended gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitaura, Takayuki; Wheeler, J.T.

1991-01-01

In an arbitrary number of dimensions, we find the full exact anisotropic, time-dependent, diagonal-metric solutions to maximally Gauss-Bonnet extended gravity theory. This class of theories for which the lagrangian is an arbitrary linear combination of dimensionally extnded Euler forms, is the most general gravitational theory in which the field equations contain no more than second derivatives of the metric. We show that the space-time exponentially approaches an asymptotic state of constant, anisotropic curvature and prove three theorems concerning two generic types of singularities. The first theorem gives conditions for the existence of Kasner-like curvature singularities. For these the metric diverges as tsup(p i ) where Σp i = 2 k max -1 and k max is the highest power of the curvature in the lagrangian. Other critical point singularities can arise from the polynomial nature of the theory. The remaining theorems demonstrate that the generic solution is extendible at all of these other critical points and that the generic critical points occur at moments of extremal volume density of space-time. We give an explicit coordinate transformation which produces a smooth extension through the critical point. The space-time may therefore alternately expand and contract for many cycles before expanding forever or contracting to a singularity. Many particular cases are treated in detail including several power series solutions, the generalized Kasner solution to general relativity with or without cosmological constant, the perturbative solution for quadratic string gravity, and five-dimensional extended gravity. (orig.)

Further Results on Extended Delivery Time for Secondary Packet Transmission

KAUST Repository

Usman, Muneer

2017-07-10

Cognitive radio transceiver can opportunistically access the underutilized spectrum resource of primary systems for new wireless services. With interweave cognitive implementation, secondary transmission may be interrupted by primary transmission. To facilitate the packet delay analysis of such secondary transmission, we study the extended delivery time of secondary packet transmission. In particular, we derive the exact distribution function of extended delivery time of a fixed-size secondary packet with non-work-preserving strategy, where interrupted packets must be repeated. We also analyze the effect of imperfect periodic sensing, i.e., the secondary user periodically senses the spectrum for availability, with a chance of missing an available channel on a certain sensing attempt. These results complement previous work on work-preserving strategy with perfect sensing. Selected numerical and simulation results are presented for verifying the mathematical formulation.

Output gap uncertainty and real-time monetary policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Grigoli

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Output gap estimates are subject to a wide range of uncertainty owing principally to the difficulty in distinguishing between cycle and trend in real time. We show that country desks tend to overestimate economic slack, especially during recessions, and that uncertainty in initial output gap estimates persists several years. Only a small share of output gap revisions is predictable based on output dynamics, data quality, and policy frameworks. We also show that for a group of Latin American inflation targeters the prescriptions from monetary policy rules are subject to large changes due to revised output gap estimates. These explain a sizable proportion of the deviation of inflation from target, suggesting this information is not accounted for in real-time policy decisions.

An extended Halanay inequality of integral type on time scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boqun Ou

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we obtain a Halanay-type inequality of integral type on time scales which improves and extends some earlier results for both the continuous and discrete cases. Several illustrative examples are also given.

Extended system of space-time coordinates and generalized translation group of transformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaleev, R.M.

1980-01-01

A method of extending space-time is considered. In the nonrelativistic case extending goes by joining a scalar to the 3-dimensional radius-vector, completing this to a quaternion. The interpretation of scalar obtained as a parameter of scale transfornation of the generalized translation of group of transformations is given. Some basic expressions of nonrelativistic classical mechanics in the quaternion representation are given. In the relativistic case space-time is constructed from two quaternions: the first one consists of a pair scalar-3-dimensional radius-vector; the second one, of a pair-time-scalar-3-dimensional time-vector. Time and space coordinates, enter into the expression with the opposite signature. The introduction of a time-vector as well as of a new scalar is stipulated by the requirement of the principle of conforming quantum mechanics of the 1/2 spin to classical mechanics [ru

Transformation of nonlinear discrete-time system into the extended observer form

Science.gov (United States)

Kaparin, V.; Kotta, Ü.

2018-04-01

The paper addresses the problem of transforming discrete-time single-input single-output nonlinear state equations into the extended observer form, which, besides the input and output, also depends on a finite number of their past values. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of both the extended coordinate and output transformations, solving the problem, are formulated in terms of differential one-forms, associated with the input-output equation, corresponding to the state equations. An algorithm for transformation of state equations into the extended observer form is proposed and illustrated by an example. Moreover, the considered approach is compared with the method of dynamic observer error linearisation, which likewise is intended to enlarge the class of systems transformable into an observer form.

Does extending daylight saving time save energy? Evidence from an Australian experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kellogg, R. [California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics; Wolff, H. [California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics]|[Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA), Bonn (Germany)

2007-03-15

Several countries are considering extending Daylight Saving Time (DST) in order to conserve energy, and the U.S. will extend DST by one month beginning in 2007. However, projections that these extensions will reduce electricity consumption rely on extrapolations and simulations rather than empirical evidence. This paper, in contrast, examines a quasiexperiment in which parts of Australia extended DST in 2000 to facilitate the Sydney Olympics. Using detailed panel data and a triple differences specification, we show that the extension did not conserve electricity, and that a prominent simulation model overstates electricity savings when it is applied to Australia. (orig.)

Effect of semen extender and storage temperature on ram sperm motility over time

Science.gov (United States)

Storage of ram semen for long period of time depends on a number of factors, including type of extender and storage temperature. A study compared the effect of semen extender and storage temperature on motility of ram semen stored for 72 h. Semen collected via electroejaculator from 5 mature Katahd...

Review of extended producer responsibility: A case study approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupt, Yamini; Sahay, Samraj

2015-07-01

Principles of extended producer responsibility have been the core of most of the recent policies and legislation dealing with the end-of-life management of recyclable goods. This article makes an exploratory review of 27 cases of extended producer responsibility from developed and developing economies with and without informal recycling, to ascertain the most important aspect of extended producer responsibility. A comparative analysis of the cases with respect to role of stakeholders in the upstream and downstream stages of the extended producer responsibility has been carried out. Further, the study uses exploratory factor analysis to determine the important aspects of the extended producer responsibility in practice using 13 variables identified from the review. Findings of the comparative analysis reveal that financial responsibility of the producers and separate collecting and recycling agencies contributed significantly to the success of the extended producer responsibility-based environmental policies. Regulatory provisions, take-back responsibility and financial flow come out to be the three most important aspects of the extended producer responsibility. Presence of informal sector had a negative impact on the regulatory provisions. The outcomes of this study could serve as a guideline for designing of effective extended producer responsibility-based policies. © The Author(s) 2015.

Anisotropy signature in extended images from reverse-time migration

KAUST Repository

Sava, Paul

2012-11-04

Reverse-time migration can accurately image complex geologic structures in anisotropic media. Extended images at selected locations in the earth, i.e. at common-image-point gathers (CIPs), carry enough information to characterize the angle-dependent illumination and to provide measurements for migration velocity analysis. Furthermore, inaccurate anisotropy leaves a distinctive signature in CIPs, which can be used to evaluate anisotropy through techniques similar to the ones used in conventional wavefield tomography.

Anisotropy signature in extended images from reverse-time migration

KAUST Repository

Sava, Paul; Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2012-01-01

Reverse-time migration can accurately image complex geologic structures in anisotropic media. Extended images at selected locations in the earth, i.e. at common-image-point gathers (CIPs), carry enough information to characterize the angle-dependent illumination and to provide measurements for migration velocity analysis. Furthermore, inaccurate anisotropy leaves a distinctive signature in CIPs, which can be used to evaluate anisotropy through techniques similar to the ones used in conventional wavefield tomography.

Extending an open-source real-time operating system with hierarchical scheduling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holenderski, M.J.; Cools, W.A.; Bril, R.J.; Lukkien, J.J.

2010-01-01

Hierarchical scheduling frameworks (HSFs) have been devised to support the integration of independently developed and analyzed subsystems. This paper presents an efficient, modular and extendible design for enhancing a real-time operating system with periodic tasks, two-level fixed-priority HSF

Do extended objects move along the geodesics in the Riemann space-time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denisov, V.I.; Logunov, A.A.; Mestvirishvili, M.A.

1981-01-01

Movement of an extended self-gravitating body in the gravitational field of another distant body is studied in the postnewtonian approximation of arbitrary metrical gravitational theory. Comparison of the mass center acceleration of the extended body with the acceleration of a point body moving in the Riemann space-time, the metrics of which is formally equivalent to the metrics of two moving extended bodies, shows that in any metrical gravitation theory with conservation laws of energy and momentum of the matter and gravitational field taken together, the mass center of the extended body does not, in general case, move along the geodesics of the Riemann space-time. Application of the general formulas obtained to the system Sun-Earth combined with the experimental data of the lunar laser ranging, shows that the Earth in its orbital motion is oscillating with respect to reference geodesics, with the period about one hour and the amplitude not less than 10 -2 cm. This amplitude is of the postnewtonian magnitude and as a consequence, the deviation of the Earth movement from the geodesical movement can be observed in the experiment possessing the postnewtonian accuracy. The difference between the acceleration of the Earth mass center and that of a test body in the postnewtonian approximation is equal to 10 -7 part of the Earth acceleration. The ratio of the passive gravitational mass of the Earth (defined according to Will) and its inert mass differs from 1 by 10 -8 approximately [ru

Extending the Dynamic Range of a Time Projection Chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Estee, Justin; S πRIT Collaboration

2017-09-01

The use of Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) in intermediate heavy ion reactions faces some challenges in addressing the energy losses that range from the small energy loss of relativistic pions to the large energy loss of slow moving heavy ions. A typical trade-off can be to set the smallest desired signals to be well within the lower limits of the dynamic range of the electronics while allowing for some larger signals to saturate the electronics. With wire plane anodes, signals from readout pads further away from the track remain unsaturated and allow signals from tracks with saturated pads to be accurately recovered. We illustrate this technique using data from the SAMURAI Pion-Reconstruction and Ion-Tracker (S πRIT) TPC , which recently measured pions and light charged particles in collisions of Sn+Sn isotopes. Our method exploits knowledge of how the induced charge distribution depends on the distance from the track to smoothly extend dynamic range even when some of the pads in the track are saturated. To accommodate the analysis of slow moving heavy ions, we have extended the Bichsel energy loss distributions to handle slower moving ions as well. In this talk, I will discuss a combined approach which successfully extends the dynamic range of the TPC electronics. This work is supported by the U.S. DOE under Grant Nos. DE-SC0014530, DE-NA0002923, US NSF Grant No. PHY-1565546 and the Japan MEXT KAKENHI Grant No. 24105004.

Extended Cellular Automata Models of Particles and Space-Time

Science.gov (United States)

Beedle, Michael

2005-04-01

Models of particles and space-time are explored through simulations and theoretical models that use Extended Cellular Automata models. The expanded Cellular Automata Models consist go beyond simple scalar binary cell-fields, into discrete multi-level group representations like S0(2), SU(2), SU(3), SPIN(3,1). The propagation and evolution of these expanded cellular automatas are then compared to quantum field theories based on the "harmonic paradigm" i.e. built by an infinite number of harmonic oscillators, and with gravitational models.

Optimization of extended propulsion time nuclear-electric propulsion trajectories

Science.gov (United States)

Sauer, C. G., Jr.

1981-01-01

This paper presents the methodology used in optimizing extended propulsion time NEP missions considering realistic thruster lifetime constraints. These missions consist of a powered spiral escape from a 700-km circular orbit at the earth, followed by a powered heliocentric transfer with an optimized coast phase, and terminating in a spiral capture phase at the target planet. This analysis is most applicable to those missions with very high energy requirements such as outer planet orbiter missions or sample return missions where the total propulsion time could greatly exceed the expected lifetime of an individual thruster. This methodology has been applied to the investigation of NEP missions to the outer planets where examples are presented of both constrained and optimized trajectories.

Perspectives on extended Deterrence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tertrais, Bruno; Yost, David S.; Bunn, Elaine; Lee, Seok-soo; Levite, Ariel e.; Russell, James A.; Hokayem, Emile; Kibaroglu, Mustafa; Schulte, Paul; Thraenert, Oliver; Kulesa, Lukasz

2010-05-01

In November 2009, the Foundation for Strategic Research (Fondation pour la recherche strategique, FRS) convened a workshop on 'The Future of extended Deterrence', which included the participation of some of the best experts of this topic, from the United States, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, as well as French and NATO officials. This document brings together the papers prepared for this seminar. Several of them were updated after the publication in April 2010 of the US Nuclear Posture Review. The seminar was organized with the support of the French Atomic energy Commission (Commissariat a l'energie atomique - CEA). Content: 1 - The future of extended deterrence: a brainstorming paper (Bruno Tertrais); 2 - US extended deterrence in NATO and North-East Asia (David S. Yost); 3 - The future of US extended deterrence (Elaine Bunn); 4 - The future of extended deterrence: a South Korean perspective (Seok-soo Lee); 5 - Reflections on extended deterrence in the Middle East (Ariel e. Levite); 6 - extended deterrence, security guarantees and nuclear weapons: US strategic and policy conundrums in the Gulf (James A. Russell); 7 - extended deterrence in the Gulf: a bridge too far? (Emile Hokayem); 8 - The future of extended deterrence: the case of Turkey (Mustafa Kibaroglu); 9 - The future of extended deterrence: a UK view (Paul Schulte); 10 - NATO and extended deterrence (Oliver Thraenert); 11 - extended deterrence and assurance in Central Europe (Lukasz Kulesa)

The Initiative to extend Medicare into Mexico: a case study in changing U.S. Health Care Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto A. Ibarra

2011-10-01

Full Text Available This study examines the geo-political activities of interest groups, governments and multinational corporations involved in an initiative to extend Medicare to U.S. retirees residing in Mexico.  If the initiative to change the current Medicare policy succeeds, the relocation of Medicare-eligible populations from the U.S. to Mexico is likely to increase; the U.S. is expected to gain cost-savings for taxpayers on Medicare; Mexico can develop senior-housing and options for long-term care it currently lacks; and foreign-led multinational corporations will increase their profits and dominance, fostering even more privatization in Mexico’s health care sector. By exploring new issues about retirement migration and health this study seeks to gain knowledge about the phenomena in a number of areas.  First, the retirement migration of North Americans to Latin America is an under-studied phenomenon in the fields of social gerontology, migration research, and health policy studies.  Second, the Medicare in Mexico initiative is even less well-known among health policy scholars than the retirement migration phenomenon into Mexico. Yet this initiative is inherently international in scope and involves a number of US-based institutions and interest groups actively promoting the project from within Mexico. Thus, the initiative has important geo-political and socio-economic implications for reforming health care systems in the U.S. and Mexico.

Extended Delivery Time Analysis for Cognitive Packet Transmission With Application to Secondary Queuing Analysis

KAUST Repository

Usman, Muneer

2015-05-21

Cognitive radio transceiver can opportunistically access the underutilized spectrum resource of primary systems for new wireless services. With interweave implementation, the secondary transmission may be interrupted by the primary user\\'s transmission. To facilitate the delay analysis of such secondary transmission for fixed-size secondary packets, we study the resulting extended delivery time that includes both transmission time and waiting time. In particular, we derive the exact distribution functions of extended delivery time of secondary transmission for both continuous sensing and periodic sensing cases. Selected numerical and simulation results are presented for illustrating the mathematical formulation. Finally, we consider an M/G/1 queueing set-up at the secondary transmitter and formulate the closed-form expressions for the expected delay with Poisson traffic. The analytical results will greatly facilitate the design of the secondary system for particular target application. © 2015 IEEE.

75 FR 72790 - Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Internet Economy

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-26

...The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force announces that the closing deadline for submission of comments responsive to the October 5, 2010 Notice of Inquiry on copyright policy and innovation in the Internet economy has been reopened and will extend until 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 10, 2010.

Privacy, Time Consistent Optimal Labour Income Taxation and Education Policy

OpenAIRE

Konrad, Kai A.

1999-01-01

Incomplete information is a commitment device for time consistency problems. In the context of time consistent labour income taxation privacy reduces welfare losses and increases the effectiveness of public education as a second best policy.

Lessons from Queensland's last-drinks legislation: The use of extended trading permits.

Science.gov (United States)

Zahnow, Renee; Miller, Peter; Coomber, Kerri; de Andrade, Dominique; Ferris, Jason

2018-05-01

The association between alcohol availability, alcohol consumption and, in turn, alcohol-related harms is well established. Policies to reduce alcohol-related harms focus on limiting accessibility through the regulation of the liquor industry, including trading hours. On 1 July 2016, the Queensland Government introduced legislation to reduce ordinary liquor trading hours, replacing 5 am closing times with 3 am cessation of liquor sales in designated entertainment precincts and 2 am cessation of sales across the rest of the state. However, the amendment was under-inclusive and did not apply to temporary extended trading permits, a provision of the Liquor Act 1992 allowing one-off variations in trading hours for special events. We use 24 months of data (1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016) from the Office of Liquor Gaming and Regulation to explore patterns of extended trading permit use across Queensland, pre- and post- 1 July 2016. We find that following the Amendment in 2016 there was also a distinct shift in the utilisation of temporary extended trading permits, with a 63% increase in approved permits between 2015 and 2016. Temporal clustering around key calendar events dissipated following 1 July 2016 with consistent concentration of permit utilisation over consecutive weeks. Using temporary extended trading permits venue owners avoided earlier closing times and continued to operate until 5 am. The findings provide lessons for future policy implementation by illustrating the capacity for under-inclusive legislation to result in the dilution of intended effects. © 2018 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

31 CFR 370.13 - Can time limits for taking an action on a credit entry be extended?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Can time limits for taking an action on a credit entry be extended? 370.13 Section 370.13 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating... because of circumstances beyond our control, then the time for taking that action will be extended as...

Multiattribute selection of acute stroke imaging software platform for Extending the Time for Thrombolysis in Emergency Neurological Deficits (EXTEND) clinical trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Churilov, Leonid; Liu, Daniel; Ma, Henry; Christensen, Soren; Nagakane, Yoshinari; Campbell, Bruce; Parsons, Mark W; Levi, Christopher R; Davis, Stephen M; Donnan, Geoffrey A

2013-04-01

The appropriateness of a software platform for rapid MRI assessment of the amount of salvageable brain tissue after stroke is critical for both the validity of the Extending the Time for Thrombolysis in Emergency Neurological Deficits (EXTEND) Clinical Trial of stroke thrombolysis beyond 4.5 hours and for stroke patient care outcomes. The objective of this research is to develop and implement a methodology for selecting the acute stroke imaging software platform most appropriate for the setting of a multi-centre clinical trial. A multi-disciplinary decision making panel formulated the set of preferentially independent evaluation attributes. Alternative Multi-Attribute Value Measurement methods were used to identify the best imaging software platform followed by sensitivity analysis to ensure the validity and robustness of the proposed solution. Four alternative imaging software platforms were identified. RApid processing of PerfusIon and Diffusion (RAPID) software was selected as the most appropriate for the needs of the EXTEND trial. A theoretically grounded generic multi-attribute selection methodology for imaging software was developed and implemented. The developed methodology assured both a high quality decision outcome and a rational and transparent decision process. This development contributes to stroke literature in the area of comprehensive evaluation of MRI clinical software. At the time of evaluation, RAPID software presented the most appropriate imaging software platform for use in the EXTEND clinical trial. The proposed multi-attribute imaging software evaluation methodology is based on sound theoretical foundations of multiple criteria decision analysis and can be successfully used for choosing the most appropriate imaging software while ensuring both robust decision process and outcomes. © 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Stroke © 2012 World Stroke Organization.

Extended Schools: The School's Role in Encouraging Behaviour for Learning Outside the Classroom that Supports Learning within. A Response to the "Every Child Matters" and Extended Schools Initiatives

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Jeff

2006-01-01

Extended schools have an important role to play in a society that is undergoing significant change. This article moves beyond the normal "extended schools are a good thing" rhetoric. It points out the risks of "bolt on" policy initiatives, especially with regard to "pupils at risk" and argues against the superficial adoption of such policy. In a…

Extended producer responsibility in oligopoly

OpenAIRE

Hiroaki Ino

2007-01-01

I investigate the optimal environmental tax under a policy based on extended producer responsibility (EPR) in oligopoly markets. I introduce the recycling market and explicitly consider how these policies affect the incentive for recycling. I derive the optimal tax rule, which depends on the weighted sum of the markup in the product market and the markdown in the recycling market. In contrast to the existing works that emphasize that the optimal tax rate is lower than the marginal external da...

An adaptive three-stage extended Kalman filter for nonlinear discrete-time system in presence of unknown inputs.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Mengli; Zhang, Yongbo; Wang, Zhihua; Fu, Huimin

2018-04-01

Considering the performances of conventional Kalman filter may seriously degrade when it suffers stochastic faults and unknown input, which is very common in engineering problems, a new type of adaptive three-stage extended Kalman filter (AThSEKF) is proposed to solve state and fault estimation in nonlinear discrete-time system under these conditions. The three-stage UV transformation and adaptive forgetting factor are introduced for derivation, and by comparing with the adaptive augmented state extended Kalman filter, it is proven to be uniformly asymptotically stable. Furthermore, the adaptive three-stage extended Kalman filter is applied to a two-dimensional radar tracking scenario to illustrate the effect, and the performance is compared with that of conventional three stage extended Kalman filter (ThSEKF) and the adaptive two-stage extended Kalman filter (ATEKF). The results show that the adaptive three-stage extended Kalman filter is more effective than these two filters when facing the nonlinear discrete-time systems with information of unknown inputs not perfectly known. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Real-time well condition monitoring in extended reach wells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kucs, R.; Spoerker, H.F. [OMV Austria Exploration and Production GmbH, Gaenserndorf (Austria); Thonhauser, G. [Montanuniversitaet Leoben (Austria)

2008-10-23

Ever rising daily operating cost for offshore operations make the risk of running into drilling problems due to torque and drag developments in extended reach applications a growing concern. One option to reduce cost related to torque and drag problems can be to monitor torque and drag trends in real time without additional workload on the platform drilling team. To evaluate observed torque or drag trends it is necessary to automatically recognize operations and to have a 'standard value' to compare the measurements to. The presented systematic approach features both options - fully automated operations recognition and real time analysis. Trends can be discussed between rig- and shore-based teams, and decisions can be based on up to date information. Since the system is focused on visualization of real-time torque and drag trends, instead of highly complex and repeated simulations, calculation time is reduced by comparing the real-time rig data against predictions imported from a commercial drilling engineering application. The system allows reacting to emerging stuck pipe situations or developing cuttings beds long before the situations become severe enough to result in substantial lost time. The ability to compare real-time data with historical data from the same or other wells makes the system a valuable tool in supporting a learning organization. The system has been developed in a joint research initiative for field application on the development of an offshore heavy oil field in New Zealand. (orig.)

Logic Model Checking of Time-Periodic Real-Time Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Florian, Mihai; Gamble, Ed; Holzmann, Gerard

2012-01-01

In this paper we report on the work we performed to extend the logic model checker SPIN with built-in support for the verification of periodic, real-time embedded software systems, as commonly used in aircraft, automobiles, and spacecraft. We first extended the SPIN verification algorithms to model priority based scheduling policies. Next, we added a library to support the modeling of periodic tasks. This library was used in a recent application of the SPIN model checker to verify the engine control software of an automobile, to study the feasibility of software triggers for unintended acceleration events.

Parametric output-only identification of time-varying structures using a kernel recursive extended least squares TARMA approach

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Zhi-Sai; Liu, Li; Zhou, Si-Da; Yu, Lei; Naets, Frank; Heylen, Ward; Desmet, Wim

2018-01-01

The problem of parametric output-only identification of time-varying structures in a recursive manner is considered. A kernelized time-dependent autoregressive moving average (TARMA) model is proposed by expanding the time-varying model parameters onto the basis set of kernel functions in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. An exponentially weighted kernel recursive extended least squares TARMA identification scheme is proposed, and a sliding-window technique is subsequently applied to fix the computational complexity for each consecutive update, allowing the method to operate online in time-varying environments. The proposed sliding-window exponentially weighted kernel recursive extended least squares TARMA method is employed for the identification of a laboratory time-varying structure consisting of a simply supported beam and a moving mass sliding on it. The proposed method is comparatively assessed against an existing recursive pseudo-linear regression TARMA method via Monte Carlo experiments and shown to be capable of accurately tracking the time-varying dynamics. Furthermore, the comparisons demonstrate the superior achievable accuracy, lower computational complexity and enhanced online identification capability of the proposed kernel recursive extended least squares TARMA approach.

Extending the maximum operation time of the MNSR reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawahra, S; Khattab, K; Saba, G

2016-09-01

An effective modification to extend the maximum operation time of the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) to enhance the utilization of the reactor has been tested using the MCNP4C code. This modification consisted of inserting manually in each of the reactor inner irradiation tube a chain of three polyethylene-connected containers filled of water. The total height of the chain was 11.5cm. The replacement of the actual cadmium absorber with B(10) absorber was needed as well. The rest of the core structure materials and dimensions remained unchanged. A 3-D neutronic model with the new modifications was developed to compare the neutronic parameters of the old and modified cores. The results of the old and modified core excess reactivities (ρex) were: 3.954, 6.241 mk respectively. The maximum reactor operation times were: 428, 1025min and the safety reactivity factors were: 1.654 and 1.595 respectively. Therefore, a 139% increase in the maximum reactor operation time was noticed for the modified core. This increase enhanced the utilization of the MNSR reactor to conduct a long time irradiation of the unknown samples using the NAA technique and increase the amount of radioisotope production in the reactor. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of immediate and delayed post-space preparation using extended working time root canal sealers on apical leakage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Chen

2013-03-01

Conclusion: Extended working time root canal sealers do not affect microleakage results using a warm gutta-percha vertical compaction technique. The sealing ability of extended working time root canal sealers on high heat conditions is as good as the standard working time root canal sealer during post-space preparation of different intervals.

Mini-grid Policy Tool-kit. Policy and business frameworks for successful mini-grid roll-outs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franz, Michael; Hayek, Niklas; Peterschmidt, Nico; Rohrer, Michael; Kondev, Bozhil; Adib, Rana; Cader, Catherina; Carter, Andrew; George, Peter; Gichungi, Henry; Hankins, Mark; Kappiah, Mahama; Mangwengwende, Simbarashe E.

2014-01-01

The Mini-grid Policy Tool-kit is for policy makers to navigate the mini-grid policy design process. It contains information on mini-grid operator models, the economics of mini-grids, and necessary policy and regulation that must be considered for successful implementation. The publication specifically focuses on Africa. Progress on extending the electricity grid in many countries has remained slow because of high costs of gird-extension and limited utility/state budgets for electrification. Mini-grids provide an affordable and cost-effective option to extend needed electricity services. Putting in place the right policy for min-grid deployment requires considerable effort but can yield significant improvement in electricity access rates as examples from Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania illustrate. The tool-kit is available in English, French and Portuguese

Optimal post-warranty maintenance policy with repair time threshold for minimal repair

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Minjae; Mun Jung, Ki; Park, Dong Ho

2013-01-01

In this paper, we consider a renewable minimal repair–replacement warranty policy and propose an optimal maintenance model after the warranty is expired. Such model adopts the repair time threshold during the warranty period and follows with a certain type of system maintenance policy during the post-warranty period. As for the criteria for optimality, we utilize the expected cost rate per unit time during the life cycle of the system, which has been frequently used in many existing maintenance models. Based on the cost structure defined for each failure of the system, we formulate the expected cost rate during the life cycle of the system, assuming that a renewable minimal repair–replacement warranty policy with the repair time threshold is provided to the user during the warranty period. Once the warranty is expired, the maintenance of the system is the user's sole responsibility. The life cycle of the system is defined on the perspective of the user and the expected cost rate per unit time is derived in this context. We obtain the optimal maintenance policy during the maintenance period following the expiration of the warranty period by minimizing such a cost rate. Numerical examples using actual failure data are presented to exemplify the applicability of the methodologies proposed in this paper.

Real-Time Extended Interface Automata for Software Testing Cases Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Shunkun; Xu, Jiaqi; Man, Tianlong; Liu, Bin

2014-01-01

Testing and verification of the interface between software components are particularly important due to the large number of complex interactions, which requires the traditional modeling languages to overcome the existing shortcomings in the aspects of temporal information description and software testing input controlling. This paper presents the real-time extended interface automata (RTEIA) which adds clearer and more detailed temporal information description by the application of time words. We also establish the input interface automaton for every input in order to solve the problems of input controlling and interface covering nimbly when applied in the software testing field. Detailed definitions of the RTEIA and the testing cases generation algorithm are provided in this paper. The feasibility and efficiency of this method have been verified in the testing of one real aircraft braking system. PMID:24892080

Extending a HSF-enabled open-source real-time operating system with resource sharing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, van den M.M.H.P.; Bril, R.J.; Lukkien, J.J.; Behnam, M.; Petters, S.M.; Zijlstra, P.

2010-01-01

Hierarchical scheduling frameworks (HSFs) provide means for composing complex real-time systems from well-defined, independently analyzed subsystems. To support resource sharing within two-level, fixed priority scheduled HSFs, two synchronization protocols based on the stack resource policy (SRP)

Analyzing the effect of gain time on soft task scheduling policies in real-time systems

OpenAIRE

Búrdalo Rapa, Luis Antonio; Terrasa Barrena, Andrés Martín; Espinosa Minguet, Agustín Rafael; García Fornes, Ana María

2012-01-01

In hard real-time systems, gain time is defined as the difference between the Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) of a hard task and its actual processor consumption at runtime. This paper presents the results of an empirical study about how the presence of a significant amount of gain time in a hard real-time system questions the advantages of using the most representative scheduling algorithms or policies for aperiodic or soft tasks in fixed-priority preemptive systems. The work presented here...

Three decades of policy layering and politically sustainable reform in the European Union's agricultural policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daugbjerg, Carsten; Swinbank, Alan

2016-01-01

The study of policy reform has tended to focus on single-stage reforms taking place over a relatively short period. Recent research has drawn attention to gradual policy changes unfolding over extended periods. One strategy of gradual change is layering, in which new policy dimensions...

State-age-dependent maintenance policies for deteriorating systems with Erlang sojourn time distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh, R.H.

1997-01-01

This paper investigates state-age-dependent maintenance policies for multistate deteriorating systems with Erlang sojourn time distributions. Since Erlang distributions are serial combinations of exponential phases, the deteriorating process can be modeled by a multi-phase Markovian model and hence easily analyzed. Based on the Markovian model, the optimal phase-dependent inspection and replacement policy can be obtained by using a policy improvement algorithm. However, since phases are fictitious and can not be identified by inspections, two procedures are developed to construct state-age-dependent policies based on the optimal phase-dependent policy. The properties of the constructed state-age-dependent policies are further investigated and the performance of the policy is evaluated through a numerical example

Reimbursement decisions in health policy--extending our understanding of the elements of decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirtz, Veronika; Cribb, Alan; Barber, Nick

2005-09-08

Previous theoretical and empirical work on health policy decisions about reimbursement focuses on specific rationales such as effectiveness, economic considerations and equal access for equal needs. As reimbursement decisions take place in a social and political context we propose that the analysis of decision-making should incorporate factors, which go beyond those commonly discussed. As an example we chose three health technologies (sildenafil, rivastigmine and statins) to investigate how decisions about reimbursement of medicines are made in the United Kingdom National Health Service and what factors influence these decisions. From face-to-face, in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 20 regional and national policy makers and stakeholders we identified two dimensions of decision-making, which extend beyond the rationales conventionally cited. The first dimension relates to the role of 'subjectivity' or 'the personal' in the decisions, including personal experiences of the condition and excitement about the novelty or potential benefit of the technology-these factors affect what counts as evidence, or how evidence is interpreted, in practice. The second dimension relates to the social and political function of decision-making and broadens what counts as the relevant ends of decision-making to include such things as maintaining relationships, avoiding organisational burden, generating politically and legally defensible decisions and demonstrating the willingness to care. More importantly, we will argue that these factors should not be treated as contaminants of an otherwise rational decision-making. On the contrary we suggest that they seem relevant, reasonable and also of substantial importance in considering in decision-making. Complementing the analysis of decision-making about reimbursement by incorporating these factors could increase our understanding and potentially improve decision-making.

A comparative study of boar semen extenders with different proposed preservation times and their effect on semen quality and fertility

OpenAIRE

Marina Anastasia Karageorgiou; Georgios Tsousis; Constantin M. Boscos; Eleni D. Tzika; Panagiotis D. Tassis; Ioannis A. Tsakmakidis

2016-01-01

The present study compared the quality characteristics of boar semen diluted with three extenders of different proposed preservation times (short-term, medium-term and long-term). A part of extended semen was used for artificial insemination on the farm (30 sows/extender), while the remaining part was stored for three days (16–18 °C). Stored and used semen was also laboratory assessed at insemination time, on days 1 and 2 after the collection (day 0). The long-term extender was used for a sho...

Control-limit preventive maintenance policies for components subject to imperfect preventive maintenance and variable operational conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

You Mingyi; Li Hongguang; Meng Guang

2011-01-01

This paper develops two component-level control-limit preventive maintenance (PM) policies for systems subject to the joint effect of partial recovery PM acts (imperfect PM acts) and variable operational conditions, and investigates the properties of the proposed policies. The extended proportional hazards model (EPHM) is used to model the system failure likelihood influenced by both factors. Several numerical experiments are conducted for policy property analysis, using real lifetime and operational condition data and typical characterization of imperfect PM acts and maintenance durations. The experimental results demonstrate the necessity of considering both factors when they do exist, characterize the joint effect of the two factors on the performance of an optimized PM policy, and explore the influence of the loading sequence of time-varying operational conditions on the performance of an optimized PM policy. The proposed policies extend the applicability of PM optimization techniques.

Real-Time Extended Interface Automata for Software Testing Cases Generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shunkun Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Testing and verification of the interface between software components are particularly important due to the large number of complex interactions, which requires the traditional modeling languages to overcome the existing shortcomings in the aspects of temporal information description and software testing input controlling. This paper presents the real-time extended interface automata (RTEIA which adds clearer and more detailed temporal information description by the application of time words. We also establish the input interface automaton for every input in order to solve the problems of input controlling and interface covering nimbly when applied in the software testing field. Detailed definitions of the RTEIA and the testing cases generation algorithm are provided in this paper. The feasibility and efficiency of this method have been verified in the testing of one real aircraft braking system.

Comment on “Policy offers protection from harassment” [by Marcia McNutt

Science.gov (United States)

Hickman, Martha H.

Regarding “Policy Offers Protection From Harassment” (Eos, October 15, 1996), I am disturbed that the AGU has extended its harassment policy to its membership at “events that combine work and social interaction, such as the meetings, conferences, and seminars that AGU members attend.” As a woman, I have always found the so-called protections extended to females and other supposedly vulnerable groups to be intrusive and patronizing, but this policy in particular goes too far by trying to sponsor aspects of members' social behavior.I am old enough to remember the days when one responded to uncomfortable situations by drawing on one's own resources. A sense of one's inviolable self developed over time, and meaningful self-esteem derived from an ability to cope with the world. Now, cowering from jokes and recoiling from eye contact, the modern geoscientist apparently requires a patron for protection—a shining knight in the form of this new policy.

Have Postwar Fiscal Stimulus Policies Met the “Timely, Targeted, and Temporary” Principle?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason E. Taylor

2017-06-01

Full Text Available President Barack Obama noted that fiscal stimulus polices should follow three T’s—timely, targeted, and temporary. This paper examines the government’s fiscal response to eleven postwar recessions in light of the three T’s. We find that the record is mixed at best. On average it took 10.9 months before a recession’s start and the first major countercyclical fiscal policy action. Additionally, in half of the eight recessions in which fiscal policy was attempted, the level of real per capita government spending was nearly three times its trend level four years after the recession was over—i.e. the stimulus was not temporary. Finally, with respect to targeted, while some countercyclical policies have been designed to help sectors that were particularly harmed during a recession, we find many cases whereby recessions provided politicians an avenue in which to implement policies that were part of their long-run reform agenda rather than being carefully targeted countercyclical fiscal policy.

Economics and obesity policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lusk, J L

2017-06-01

This paper elucidates the challenges surrounding the economics of some popular obesity-related policy proposals. Solid economic justifications for anti-obesity policies are often lacking, and evidence suggests policies like fat and soda taxes or restrictions on food stamp spending are unlikely to substantively affect obesity prevalence. In short, many of the same factors that make obesity such a complicated and multifaceted issue extend to the economic analysis of public health policies.

Extended causal modeling to assess Partial Directed Coherence in multiple time series with significant instantaneous interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Faes, Luca; Nollo, Giandomenico

2010-11-01

The Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) and its generalized formulation (gPDC) are popular tools for investigating, in the frequency domain, the concept of Granger causality among multivariate (MV) time series. PDC and gPDC are formalized in terms of the coefficients of an MV autoregressive (MVAR) model which describes only the lagged effects among the time series and forsakes instantaneous effects. However, instantaneous effects are known to affect linear parametric modeling, and are likely to occur in experimental time series. In this study, we investigate the impact on the assessment of frequency domain causality of excluding instantaneous effects from the model underlying PDC evaluation. Moreover, we propose the utilization of an extended MVAR model including both instantaneous and lagged effects. This model is used to assess PDC either in accordance with the definition of Granger causality when considering only lagged effects (iPDC), or with an extended form of causality, when we consider both instantaneous and lagged effects (ePDC). The approach is first evaluated on three theoretical examples of MVAR processes, which show that the presence of instantaneous correlations may produce misleading profiles of PDC and gPDC, while ePDC and iPDC derived from the extended model provide here a correct interpretation of extended and lagged causality. It is then applied to representative examples of cardiorespiratory and EEG MV time series. They suggest that ePDC and iPDC are better interpretable than PDC and gPDC in terms of the known cardiovascular and neural physiologies.

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2014-01-01

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

Calculation of the tunneling time using the extended probability of the quantum histories approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rewrujirek, Jiravatt; Hutem, Artit; Boonchui, Sutee

2014-01-01

The dwell time of quantum tunneling has been derived by Steinberg (1995) [7] as a function of the relation between transmission and reflection times τ t and τ r , weighted by the transmissivity and the reflectivity. In this paper, we reexamine the dwell time using the extended probability approach. The dwell time is calculated as the weighted average of three mutually exclusive events. We consider also the scattering process due to a resonance potential in the long-time limit. The results show that the dwell time can be expressed as the weighted sum of transmission, reflection and internal probabilities.

Extended local similarity analysis (eLSA) of microbial community and other time series data with replicates.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Li C; Steele, Joshua A; Cram, Jacob A; Cardon, Zoe G; Simmons, Sheri L; Vallino, Joseph J; Fuhrman, Jed A; Sun, Fengzhu

2011-01-01

The increasing availability of time series microbial community data from metagenomics and other molecular biological studies has enabled the analysis of large-scale microbial co-occurrence and association networks. Among the many analytical techniques available, the Local Similarity Analysis (LSA) method is unique in that it captures local and potentially time-delayed co-occurrence and association patterns in time series data that cannot otherwise be identified by ordinary correlation analysis. However LSA, as originally developed, does not consider time series data with replicates, which hinders the full exploitation of available information. With replicates, it is possible to understand the variability of local similarity (LS) score and to obtain its confidence interval. We extended our LSA technique to time series data with replicates and termed it extended LSA, or eLSA. Simulations showed the capability of eLSA to capture subinterval and time-delayed associations. We implemented the eLSA technique into an easy-to-use analytic software package. The software pipeline integrates data normalization, statistical correlation calculation, statistical significance evaluation, and association network construction steps. We applied the eLSA technique to microbial community and gene expression datasets, where unique time-dependent associations were identified. The extended LSA analysis technique was demonstrated to reveal statistically significant local and potentially time-delayed association patterns in replicated time series data beyond that of ordinary correlation analysis. These statistically significant associations can provide insights to the real dynamics of biological systems. The newly designed eLSA software efficiently streamlines the analysis and is freely available from the eLSA homepage, which can be accessed at http://meta.usc.edu/softs/lsa.

Monetary-Fiscal-Trade Policy and Economic Growth in Pakistan: Time Series Empirical Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Tehseen Jawaid

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This study empirically examines the effect of monetary, fiscal and trade policy on economic growth in Pakistan using annual time series data from 1981 to 2009. Money supply, government expenditure and trade openness are used as proxies of monetary, fiscal and trade policy respectively. Cointegration and error correction model indicate the existence of positive significant long run and short run relationship of monetary and fiscal policy with economic growth. Result also indicates that monetary policy is more effective than fiscal policy in Pakistan. In contrast, trade policy has insignificant effect on economic growth both in the short run and in the long run. In light of the findings, it is suggested that the policy makers should focus more on monetary policy in order to ensure economic growth in the country. It is also recommended that further research should be conducted to find out such components of exports and imports which lead to the ineffectiveness of trade policy to enhance economic growth in Pakistan.

Optimal base-stock policy for the inventory system with periodic review, backorders and sequential lead times

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Søren Glud; Thorstenson, Anders

2008-01-01

We extend well-known formulae for the optimal base stock of the inventory system with continuous review and constant lead time to the case with periodic review and stochastic, sequential lead times. Our extension uses the notion of the 'extended lead time'. The derived performance measures...

Dual Extended Kalman Filter for the Identification of Time-Varying Human Manual Control Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Popovici, Alexandru; Zaal, Peter M. T.; Pool, Daan M.

2017-01-01

A Dual Extended Kalman Filter was implemented for the identification of time-varying human manual control behavior. Two filters that run concurrently were used, a state filter that estimates the equalization dynamics, and a parameter filter that estimates the neuromuscular parameters and time delay. Time-varying parameters were modeled as a random walk. The filter successfully estimated time-varying human control behavior in both simulated and experimental data. Simple guidelines are proposed for the tuning of the process and measurement covariance matrices and the initial parameter estimates. The tuning was performed on simulation data, and when applied on experimental data, only an increase in measurement process noise power was required in order for the filter to converge and estimate all parameters. A sensitivity analysis to initial parameter estimates showed that the filter is more sensitive to poor initial choices of neuromuscular parameters than equalization parameters, and bad choices for initial parameters can result in divergence, slow convergence, or parameter estimates that do not have a real physical interpretation. The promising results when applied to experimental data, together with its simple tuning and low dimension of the state-space, make the use of the Dual Extended Kalman Filter a viable option for identifying time-varying human control parameters in manual tracking tasks, which could be used in real-time human state monitoring and adaptive human-vehicle haptic interfaces.

Part-time employment in Jordan as a nursing policy solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Motlaq, M; Azar, N; Squires, A

2017-03-01

Explore the potential of a part-time work option for nurses as a strategy for managing domestic markets in Jordan by examining perceptions of working nurses and nursing students in the context of current social and cultural variables. Unemployment among Jordanian nurses has become a reality in recent years. However, labor markets literature in nursing rarely studies what kind of policy responses should occur during a surplus of nurses. A cross-sectional design structured the study. The perceptions of nurses and students were measured through a questionnaire developed specifically for the purpose of this exploratory study. Both nurses (n = 51) and students (n = 56) supported the introduction of the new suggested part-time option. However, students were more willing to start working or transfer into part-time work, take payment on hourly basis, and support colleagues to transfer into part-time work. Different solutions were also suggested by participants. The results were useful for providing the foundational data to further study the viability of a part-time work option for Jordanian nurses. The results show how optimistic current and future Jordanian nurses are regarding this employment option. For countries that may need to diversify their employment models due to excess supply of nurses and to address gender imbalances, this work may help inform policy development. Both employed and unemployed nurses will benefit if health care managers consider its application. The flexibility of this option may help improve the quality of life of many nurses. The results of this study provide nursing leaders and managers with foundational evidence that may be applicable in the Jordanian health sector. Although further studies are recommended, nursing leaders and policy makers should consider such a solution. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.

Distributed Extended Kalman Filter for Position, Velocity, Time, Estimation in Satellite Navigation Receivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. Jakubov

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Common techniques for position-velocity-time estimation in satellite navigation, iterative least squares and the extended Kalman filter, involve matrix operations. The matrix inversion and inclusion of a matrix library pose requirements on a computational power and operating platform of the navigation processor. In this paper, we introduce a novel distributed algorithm suitable for implementation in simple parallel processing units each for a tracked satellite. Such a unit performs only scalar sum, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The algorithm can be efficiently implemented in hardware logic. Given the fast position-velocity-time estimator, frequent estimates can foster dynamic performance of a vector tracking receiver. The algorithm has been designed from a factor graph representing the extended Kalman filter by splitting vector nodes into scalar ones resulting in a cyclic graph with few iterations needed. Monte Carlo simulations have been conducted to investigate convergence and accuracy. Simulation case studies for a vector tracking architecture and experimental measurements with a real-time software receiver developed at CTU in Prague were conducted. The algorithm offers compromises in stability, accuracy, and complexity depending on the number of iterations. In scenarios with a large number of tracked satellites, it can outperform the traditional methods at low complexity.

Extending over time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Tanya Karoli; Jensen, Torben Juel; Christensen, Marie Herget

recorded twice (in the 1980s and again in the 2000s). This allows us to study language change in three ways: in apparent time and in real time as both panel and trend studies. The study is based on a 1,3 M word corpus of spoken Danish, comprising 125 recordings with 84 Co-penhagen speakers, born 1942......-speakers’ treatment of the utterance with respect to conversational turn taking. This coding allows us to follow grammaticalization processes of the different GE types based on distribu-tional and mixed models analyses. A marked difference between Danish and English is the fact that very few variants are headed...... that variants with sådan noget, though prevalent across the board, may be stigmatized, since they are produced mainly by young WC males, and exhibit an overall drop in frequency over time. In our paper, we will use GEs in Danish as a case study for evaluating prevailing assumptions about the relationship...

Extending the range of real time density matrix renormalization group simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Kennes, D. M.; Karrasch, C.

2016-03-01

We discuss a few simple modifications to time-dependent density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithms which allow to access larger time scales. We specifically aim at beginners and present practical aspects of how to implement these modifications within any standard matrix product state (MPS) based formulation of the method. Most importantly, we show how to 'combine' the Schrödinger and Heisenberg time evolutions of arbitrary pure states | ψ 〉 and operators A in the evaluation of 〈A〉ψ(t) = 〈 ψ | A(t) | ψ 〉 . This includes quantum quenches. The generalization to (non-)thermal mixed state dynamics 〈A〉ρ(t) =Tr [ ρA(t) ] induced by an initial density matrix ρ is straightforward. In the context of linear response (ground state or finite temperature T > 0) correlation functions, one can extend the simulation time by a factor of two by 'exploiting time translation invariance', which is efficiently implementable within MPS DMRG. We present a simple analytic argument for why a recently-introduced disentangler succeeds in reducing the effort of time-dependent simulations at T > 0. Finally, we advocate the python programming language as an elegant option for beginners to set up a DMRG code.

Enabling demand response by extending the European electricity markets with a real-time market

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nyeng, P.; Kok, K.; Pineda, S.; Grande, O.; Sprooten, J.; Hebb, B.; Nieuwenhout, F.

2013-01-01

The EcoGrid concept proposes to extend the current wholesale electricity market to allow participation of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and domestic end-consumers in system balancing. Taking advantage of the smart grid technology, the EcoGrid market publishes the real-time prices that entail

Molecular wave function and effective adiabatic potentials calculated by extended multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kato, Tsuyoshi; Ide, Yoshihiro; Yamanouchi, Kaoru [Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 (Japan)

2015-12-31

We first calculate the ground-state molecular wave function of 1D model H{sub 2} molecule by solving the coupled equations of motion formulated in the extended multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree-Fock (MCTDHF) method by the imaginary time propagation. From the comparisons with the results obtained by the Born-Huang (BH) expansion method as well as with the exact wave function, we observe that the memory size required in the extended MCTDHF method is about two orders of magnitude smaller than in the BH expansion method to achieve the same accuracy for the total energy. Second, in order to provide a theoretical means to understand dynamical behavior of the wave function, we propose to define effective adiabatic potential functions and compare them with the conventional adiabatic electronic potentials, although the notion of the adiabatic potentials is not used in the extended MCTDHF approach. From the comparison, we conclude that by calculating the effective potentials we may be able to predict the energy differences among electronic states even for a time-dependent system, e.g., time-dependent excitation energies, which would be difficult to be estimated within the BH expansion approach.

A Load Time Policy Checker for Open Multi-Application Smart Cards

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dragoni, Nicola; Lostal, Eduardo; Gadyatskaya, Olga

2011-01-01

, traditional approaches for information flow analysis are not suitable. We suggest the Security-by-Contract approach for loading time application certification on the card, that will enable the stakeholders with the means to ensure the compliance of every update of the card with their security policy. We...... describe an extension of the card security architecture to deal with verification for different types of updates and present a Java Card prototype implementation of the Policy Checker with performance measurements....

A comparative study of boar semen extenders with different proposed preservation times and their effect on semen quality and fertility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Anastasia Karageorgiou

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study compared the quality characteristics of boar semen diluted with three extenders of different proposed preservation times (short-term, medium-term and long-term. A part of extended semen was used for artificial insemination on the farm (30 sows/extender, while the remaining part was stored for three days (16–18 °C. Stored and used semen was also laboratory assessed at insemination time, on days 1 and 2 after the collection (day 0. The long-term extender was used for a short time, within 2 days from semen collection, with the aim to investigate a possible advantage over the others regarding laboratory or farm fertility indicators at the beginning of the preservation time. Viability, motility, kinetic indicators, morphology and DNA fragmentation were estimated. The results showed reduced viability, higher values for most of the kinetics, and higher immotile spermatozoa from day 1 to day 2 in all extenders; however, the long-term extender was superior compared to the other two on both days. With regard to morphology and chromatin integrity, the percentage of abnormal and fragmented spermatozoa increased on day 2 compared to day 1 for all of the extenders. However, based on the farrowing rate and the number of piglets born alive after the application of conventional artificial insemination within 2 days from semen collection/dilution, it was found that the medium-term diluents were more effective. In conclusion, it seems that the in vivo fertilization process involves more factors than simply the quality of laboratory evaluated sperm indicators, warranting further research.

An Adaptive Time-Spread Multiple-Access Policy for Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantinos Oikonomou

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Sensor networks require a simple and efficient medium access control policy achieving high system throughput with no or limited control overhead in order to increase the network lifetime by minimizing the energy consumed during transmission attempts. Time-spread multiple-access (TSMA policies that have been proposed for ad hoc network environments, can also be employed in sensor networks, since no control overhead is introduced. However, they do not take advantage of any cross-layer information in order to exploit the idiosyncrasies of the particular sensor network environment such as the presence of typically static nodes and a common destination for the forwarded data. An adaptive probabilistic TSMA-based policy, that is proposed and analyzed in this paper, exploits these idiosyncrasies and achieves higher system throughput than the existing TSMA-based policies without any need for extra control overhead. As it is analytically shown in this paper, the proposed policy always outperforms the existing TSMA-based policies, if certain parameter values are properly set; the analysis also provides for these proper values. It is also shown that the proposed policy is characterized by a certain convergence period and that high system throughput is achieved for long convergence periods. The claims and expectations of the provided analysis are supported by simulation results presented in this paper.

Space-time supersymmetry of extended fermionic strings in 2 + 2 dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ketov, S.V.

1993-04-01

The N = 2 fermionic string theory is revisited in light of its recently proposed equivalence to the non-compact N = 4 fermionic string model. The issues of space-time Lorentz covariance and supersymmetry for the BRST quantized N = 2 strings living in uncompactified 2 + 2 dimensions are discussed. The equivalent local quantum supersymmetric field theory appears to be the most transparent way to represent the space-time symmetries of the extended fermionic strings and their interactions. Our considerations support the Siegel's ideas about the presence of SO(2,2) Lorentz symmetry as well as at least two self-dual space-time supersymmetries in the theory of the N = 2(4) fermionic strings, though we do not have a compelling reason to argue about the necessity of the maximal space-time supersymmetry. The world-sheet arguments about the absence of all string massive modes in the physical spectrum, and the vanishing of all string-loop amplitudes in the Polyakov approach, are given on the basis of general consistency of the theory. (orig.)

No Time to Think: Policy, Pedagogy and Professional Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Leonard, Simon N.; Roberts, Philip

2016-01-01

In this study, we seek to illuminate the effects of the global policy convergence in education through a close study of its enactment within an Australian Teacher Education course. Building on an examination of the changing priorities of a cohort of pre-service teachers over a short space of time, we argue that the enactment of New Public…

Standardization of {sup 67}Ga, {sup 51}Cr and {sup 55}Fe by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Carlos J. da [Laboratorio Nacional de Metrologia das Radiacoes Ionizantes (LNMRI), Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD), Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear - CNEN, Av. Salvador Allende, s/n0-Recreio, CEP 22780-160 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Laboratorio de Instrumentacao Nuclear (LIN/PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Caixa Postal 68590, CEP 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)], E-mail: Carlos@ird.gov.br; Iwahara, A.; Poledna, R.; Bernardes, E.M. de O; Prinzio, M.A.R.R. de [Laboratorio Nacional de Metrologia das Radiacoes Ionizantes (LNMRI), Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD), Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear - CNEN, Av. Salvador Allende, s/n0-Recreio, CEP 22780-160 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Lopes, Ricardo T. [Laboratorio de Instrumentacao Nuclear (LIN/PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Caixa Postal 68590, CEP 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

2008-02-15

In this work, the activity standardization of {sup 51}Cr, {sup 55}Fe and {sup 67}Ga by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time is described. The difficulties of the method, the uncertainties of the results of the measurements and the comparison of these results with others measurement methods are discussed.

Controlling chaos in a nonlinear pendulum using an extended time-delayed feedback control method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souza de Paula, Aline; Savi, Marcelo Amorim

2009-01-01

Chaos control is employed for the stabilization of unstable periodic orbits (UPOs) embedded in chaotic attractors. The extended time-delayed feedback control uses a continuous feedback loop incorporating information from previous states of the system in order to stabilize unstable orbits. This article deals with the chaos control of a nonlinear pendulum employing the extended time-delayed feedback control method. The control law leads to delay-differential equations (DDEs) that contain derivatives that depend on the solution of previous time instants. A fourth-order Runge-Kutta method with linear interpolation on the delayed variables is employed for numerical simulations of the DDEs and its initial function is estimated by a Taylor series expansion. During the learning stage, the UPOs are identified by the close-return method and control parameters are chosen for each desired UPO by defining situations where the largest Lyapunov exponent becomes negative. Analyses of a nonlinear pendulum are carried out by considering signals that are generated by numerical integration of the mathematical model using experimentally identified parameters. Results show the capability of the control procedure to stabilize UPOs of the dynamical system, highlighting some difficulties to achieve the stabilization of the desired orbit.

The optimal time path of clean energy R&D policy when patents have finite lifetime

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerlagh, R.; Kverndokk, S.; Rosendahl, K.E.

We study the optimal time path for clean energy innovation policy. In a model with emission reduction through clean energy deployment, and with R&D increasing the overall productivity of clean energy, we describe optimal R&D policies jointly with emission pricing policies. We find that while

Vector Autoregressions with Parsimoniously Time Varying Parameters and an Application to Monetary Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Callot, Laurent; Kristensen, Johannes Tang

the monetary policy response to inflation and business cycle fluctuations in the US by estimating a parsimoniously time varying parameter Taylor rule.We document substantial changes in the policy response of the Fed in the 1970s and 1980s, and since 2007, but also document the stability of this response...

Experimental evaluation of the extended Dytlewski-style dead time correction formalism for neutron multiplicity counting

Science.gov (United States)

Lockhart, M.; Henzlova, D.; Croft, S.; Cutler, T.; Favalli, A.; McGahee, Ch.; Parker, R.

2018-01-01

Over the past few decades, neutron multiplicity counting has played an integral role in Special Nuclear Material (SNM) characterization pertaining to nuclear safeguards. Current neutron multiplicity analysis techniques use singles, doubles, and triples count rates because a methodology to extract and dead time correct higher order count rates (i.e. quads and pents) was not fully developed. This limitation is overcome by the recent extension of a popular dead time correction method developed by Dytlewski. This extended dead time correction algorithm, named Dytlewski-Croft-Favalli(DCF), is detailed in reference Croft and Favalli (2017), which gives an extensive explanation of the theory and implications of this new development. Dead time corrected results can then be used to assay SNM by inverting a set of extended point model equations which as well have only recently been formulated. The current paper discusses and presents the experimental evaluation of practical feasibility of the DCF dead time correction algorithm to demonstrate its performance and applicability in nuclear safeguards applications. In order to test the validity and effectiveness of the dead time correction for quads and pents, 252Cf and SNM sources were measured in high efficiency neutron multiplicity counters at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the count rates were extracted up to the fifth order and corrected for dead time. In order to assess the DCF dead time correction, the corrected data is compared to traditional dead time correction treatment within INCC. The DCF dead time correction is found to provide adequate dead time treatment for broad range of count rates available in practical applications.

The Ontological Politics of Evidence and Policy Enablement

Science.gov (United States)

Carusi, F. Tony; Rawlins, Peter; Ashton, Karen

2018-01-01

Ontological politics has received increasing attention within education policy studies, particularly as a support for the notion of policy enactment. While policy enactment offers serious challenges to traditional approaches toward policy implementation, this paper takes up ontological politics as a concept that extends beyond implementation and…

Renewable Energy Policies in a Time of Transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murdock, Hannah E.; Adib, Rana; Lins, Christine; Guerra, Flavia; Misra, Archita; Murdock, Hannah E.; Vickery, Louise; Collier, Ute; Le Feuvre, Pharoah; Bianco, Emanuele; Mueller, Simon; Philibert, Cedric; Schmidt, Oliver; Kvarnstroem, Oskar; Collier, Ute; Hungerford, Zoe; Frankl, Paolo; Bianco, Emanuele; Hawila, Diala; Ferroukhi, Rabia; Hawila, Diala; Renner, Michael; Nagpal, Divyam; Cox, Sadie; Esterly, Sean; Priesmann, Caspar; Taylor, Hadley; Breitschopf, Barbara; Van Rooijen, Sascha

2018-01-01

Spurred by innovation, increased competition, and policy support in a growing number of countries, renewable energy technologies have achieved massive technological advances and sharp cost reductions. Renewables have come to the forefront of the global energy transition, with nearly every country adopting a renewable energy target. Yet progress has been uneven in different countries and sectors. Technology and financial risks still hamper the expansion of renewables into new markets. As the power sector develops further, the increased adoption of variable renewables like solar and wind requires more flexible systems. Compared to power generation, the regulatory framework for end-use sectors lags behind. This report, prepared jointly by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21. Century (REN21), identifies key barriers and highlights policy options to boost renewable energy deployment. After reviewing current policies and targets worldwide, it examines sector-specific policies for heating and cooling, transport and power, as well as measures for integrating variable renewables. An updated policy classification and terminology list can serve as a global reference for renewable energy policy instruments. Among the key findings: Renewable energy policies must focus on end-use sectors, not just power generation; The use of renewables for heating and cooling requires greater policy attention, including dedicated targets, technology mandates, financial incentives, generation-based incentives, and carbon or energy taxes; Policies in the transport sector require further development, including integrated policies to de-carbonise energy carriers and fuels, vehicles and infrastructure; Policies in the power sector must also evolve further to address new challenges. Measures are needed to support the integration of variable renewable energy, taking into account the specific

Off-Policy Reinforcement Learning: Optimal Operational Control for Two-Time-Scale Industrial Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jinna; Kiumarsi, Bahare; Chai, Tianyou; Lewis, Frank L; Fan, Jialu

2017-12-01

Industrial flow lines are composed of unit processes operating on a fast time scale and performance measurements known as operational indices measured at a slower time scale. This paper presents a model-free optimal solution to a class of two time-scale industrial processes using off-policy reinforcement learning (RL). First, the lower-layer unit process control loop with a fast sampling period and the upper-layer operational index dynamics at a slow time scale are modeled. Second, a general optimal operational control problem is formulated to optimally prescribe the set-points for the unit industrial process. Then, a zero-sum game off-policy RL algorithm is developed to find the optimal set-points by using data measured in real-time. Finally, a simulation experiment is employed for an industrial flotation process to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The Making of a Good Woman: Extended Parental Leave Entitlements and Mothers' Work Commitment in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Gangl, Markus; Ziefle, Andrea

2015-09-01

The authors investigate the relationship between family policy and women's attachment to the labor market, focusing specifically on policy feedback on women's subjective work commitment. They utilize a quasi-experimental design to identify normative policy effects from changes in mothers' work commitment in conjunction with two policy changes that significantly extended the length of statutory parental leave entitlements in Germany. Using unique survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and difference-in-differences, triple-differenced, and instrumental variables estimators for panel data, they obtain consistent empirical evidence that increasing generosity of leave entitlements led to a decline in mothers' work commitment in both East and West Germany. They also probe potential mediating mechanisms and find strong evidence for role exposure and norm setting effects. Finally, they demonstrate that policy-induced shifts in mothers' preferences have contributed to. retarding women's labor force participation after childbirth in Germany, especially as far as mothers' return to full-time employment is concerned.

Extended operating times are more efficient, save money and maintain a high staff and patient satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Herron, Jonathan Blair Thomas; French, Rachel; Gilliam, Andrew Douglas

2018-01-01

Current public sector austerity measures necessitate efficiency savings throughout the NHS. Performance targets have resulted in activity being performed in the private sector, waiting list initiative lists and requests for staff to work overtime. This has resulted in staff fatigue and additional agency costs. Adoption of extended operating theatre times (0800-1800 hours) may improve productivity and efficiency, with potentially significant financial savings; however, implementation may adversely affect staff morale and patient compliance. A pilot period of four months of extended operating times (4.5 hour sessions) was completed and included all theatre surgical specialties. Outcome measures included: the number of cases completed, late starts, early finishes, cancelled operations, theatre overruns, preoperative assessment and 18-week targets. The outcomes were then compared to pre-existing normal working day operating lists (0900-1700). Theatre staff, patient and surgical trainee satisfaction with the system were also considered by use of an anonymous questionnaire. The study showed that in-session utilisation time was unchanged by extended operating hours 88.7% (vs 89.2%). The service was rated as 'good' or 'excellent' by 87.5% of patients. Over £345,000 was saved by reducing premium payments. Savings of £225,000 were made by reducing privately outsourced operation and a further £63,000 by reviewing staff hours. Day case procedures increased from 2.8 to 3.2 cases/day with extended operating. There was no significant increase in late starts (5.1% vs 6.8%) or cancellation rates (0.75% vs 1.02%). Theatre over-runs reduced from 5% to 3.4%. The 18 weeks target for surgery was achieved in 93.7% of cases (vs 88.3%). The number of elective procedures increased from 4.1 to 4.89 cases/day. Only 13.33% of trainees (n = 33) surveyed felt that extended operating had a negative impact on training. The study concludes that extended operating increased productivity from

Extending beyond Policy: Reaching UNAIDS’ Three “90”s in Malawi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zengani Chirwa

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Malawi, like other countries with a generalized HIV epidemic, is striving to reach the ambitious targets set by UNAIDS known as the three 90’s for testing, provision of antiretroviral therapy and viral suppression. Assisted by Malawi’s progressive policies on HIV/AIDS, it appears possible that Malawi will attain these targets, but only by employing innovative program approaches to service delivery which help fill policy gaps. This article describes how a dedicated cadre of layperson testers and HIV-positive peers appears to have helped attain increases in HIV and viral load testing and retention in care in four districts in Malawi, and situates these innovations in a policy framework analysis.

Continuity and change in local immigrant policies in times of austerity.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiller, Maria; Hackett, Sarah

2018-01-01

European cities are increasingly being recognised for the role they play in devising and implementing their own migration, integration and diversity policies. Yet very little is known about the local dimension of immigrant policymaking in crisis contexts. This introductory piece offers a rationale for analysing city-level immigrant policies in times of crisis and the salience of using crisis as a metaphor for the state of things, and outlines key scholarly works, debates, concepts and theories. It provides a range of historical and contemporary examples and considerations, and introduces an empirical city case study that is published as part of this mini-symposium. It argues that a crisis lens leads to a systematic understanding of local-level immigrant policymaking in recent and contemporary Western Europe. The mini-symposium's focus and findings should be relevant to both on-going academic and policy debates.

Space, place and (waiting) time: reflections on health policy and politics.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheard, Sally

2018-02-19

Health systems have repeatedly addressed concerns about efficiency and equity by employing trans-national comparisons to draw out the strengths and weaknesses of specific policy initiatives. This paper demonstrates the potential for explicit historical analysis of waiting times for hospital treatment to add value to spatial comparative methodologies. Waiting times and the size of the lists of waiting patients have become key operational indicators. In the United Kingdom, as National Health Service (NHS) financial pressures intensified from the 1970s, waiting times have become a topic for regular public and political debate. Various explanations for waiting times include the following: hospital consultants manipulate NHS waiting lists to maintain their private practice; there is under-investment in the NHS; and available (and adequate) resources are being used inefficiently. Other countries have also experienced ongoing tensions between the public and private delivery of universal health care in which national and trans-national comparisons of waiting times have been regularly used. The paper discusses the development of key UK policies, and provides a limited Canadian comparative perspective, to explore wider issues, including whether 'waiting crises' were consciously used by policymakers, especially those brought into government to implement new economic and managerial strategies, to diminish the autonomy and authority of the medical professional in the hospital environment.

Applying Psychology to Economic Policy Design: Using Incentive Preserving Rebates to Increase Acceptance of Critical Peak Electricity Pricing

OpenAIRE

Letzler, Robert

2007-01-01

This project extends the idea that policy makers should address problems by improving economic incentives. This project adds that presenting incentives in a way that reflects how people make decisions can sometimes improve consumers’ responses to the incentives and policy outcomes. This paper uses behavioral economics to propose ways to increase electricity policy effectiveness. The cost of generating power fluctuates enormously from hour to hour but most customers pay time-invariant prices f...

A Markov Chain approach for deriving the statistics of time-correlated pulses in the presence of non-extendible dead time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Degweker, S.B.

1996-01-01

The problem of deriving the statistics of time-correlated detector pulses in the presence of a non-extendible dead time is studied by constructing a Markov Chain to describe the process. Expressions for the transition matrix are derived for problems in the passive neutron assay of Pu and (zero-power) reactor noise. Perturbative and numerical solutions of the master equations are discussed for a simple problem in the passive neutron assay of Pu. Expressions for the mean count rate and variance in a given interval are derived. (Author)

Analysis of distributed-generation photovoltaic deployment, installation time and cost, market barriers, and policies in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Fang; Deng, Hao; Margolis, Robert; Su, Jun

2015-01-01

Beginning in 2013, China's photovoltaic (PV) market-development strategy witnessed a series of policy changes aimed at making distributed-generation PV (DG PV) development an equal priority with large-scale PV development. This article reviews the DG PV policy changes since 2013 and examines their effect on China's domestic DG PV market. Based on a 2014 survey of DG PV market and policy participants, we present cost and time breakdowns for installing DG PV projects in China, and we identify the main barriers to DG PV installation. We also use a cash flow model to determine the relative economic attractiveness of DG PV in several eastern provinces in China. The main factors constraining DG PV deployment in China include financial barriers resulting from the structure of the self-consumption feed-in tariff (FIT), ambivalence about DG PV within grid companies, complicated ownership structures for buildings/rooftops/businesses, and the inherent time lag in policy implementation from the central government to provincial and local governments. We conclude with policy implications and suggestions in the context of DG PV policy changes the Chinese government implemented in September 2014. -- Highlights: •We review China's distributed PV market development and policy changes since 2013. •We present cost and time requirements for installing distributed PV in China. •We conduct IRR analysis of distributed PV under different policy frameworks. •We identify barriers to China's distributed PV, especially feed-in tariff barriers

Timely injection of knowledge when interacting with stakeholders and policy makers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouma, Johan

2015-04-01

Timely injection of knowledge when interacting with stakeholders and policy makers. J.Bouma Em. Prof. Soil Science, Wageningen University, the Netherlands During the last decade, the spectacular development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has strongly increased the accessible amount of data and information for stakeholders and policy makers and the science community is struggling to adjust to these developments. In the Netherlands not only industry has now a major impact on the research agenda but this is now to be extended to citizens at large. Rather than complain about an apparent "gap" between science and society and wrestle with the challenge to bridge it in a rather reactive manner, the science community would be well advised to initiate a proactive approach, showing that knowledge implies a deep understanding of issues and processes that does not necessarily follow from having data and information. The "gap" certainly applies to soil research in the context of sustainable development where many often well informed stakeholders are involved with widely different opinions, norms and values. Changes are suggested in the manner in which we frame our work: (i) longer involvement with projects from initiation to implementation in practice; (ii) active role of "knowledge brokers" who inject the right type of knowledge during the entire project run in a joint-learning mode, and (iii) not proposing new research from a science perspective but demonstrating a clear need because existing knowledge is inadequate. Yet more conceptual discussions about e.g. inter- and transdisciplinarity, worrysome soil degradation and lack of professional recognition are less meaningful than specific case studies demonstrating the crucial role of soil science when analysing land-based environmental problems. New narratives are needed instead of statistics, openness to learn from best practices and pilot projects as a necessary next step beyond awareness raising. Soil

Coherence in product-oriented policies and environmental management systems in the car industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smink, Carla Kornelia; Nielsen, Eskild Holm

more traditional process-oriented policies and are a challenge for companies. The article presents some of the authors  investigations on how the car industry has dealt with both process-oriented and product-oriented policies. [1] EPR refers to extending producer responsibility for products beyond......Over the last decade, product-oriented policies as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Integrated Product Policy (IPP) are more and more recognised as a target for both corporate environmental strategy and government environmental policy. These product-oriented policies are distinct from...

Impact of pharmaceutical policy interventions on utilization of antipsychotic medicines in Finland and Portugal in times of economic recession: interrupted time series analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Leopold, Christine; Zhang, Fang; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Vogler, Sabine; Valkova, Silvia; Ross-Degnan, Dennis; Wagner, Anita K

2014-07-25

To analyze the impacts of pharmaceutical sector policies implemented to contain country spending during the economic recession--a reference price system in Finland and a mix of policies including changes in reimbursement rates, a generic promotion campaign and discounts granted to the public payer in Portugal - on utilization of, as a proxy for access to, antipsychotic medicines. We obtained monthly IMS Health sales data in standard units of antipsychotic medicines in Portugal and Finland for the period January 2007 to December 2011. We used an interrupted time series design to estimate changes in overall use and generic market shares by comparing pre-policy and post-policy levels and trends. Both countries' policy approaches were associated with slight, likely unintended, decreases in overall use of antipsychotic medicines and with increases in generic market shares of major antipsychotic products. In Finland, quetiapine and risperidone generic market shares increased substantially (estimates one year post-policy compared to before, quetiapine: 6.80% [3.92%, 9.68%]; risperidone: 11.13% [6.79%, 15.48%]. The policy interventions in Portugal resulted in a substantially increased generic market share for amisulpride (estimate one year post-policy compared to before: 22.95% [21.01%, 24.90%]; generic risperidone already dominated the market prior to the policy interventions. Different policy approaches to contain pharmaceutical expenditures in times of the economic recession in Finland and Portugal had intended--increased use of generics--and likely unintended--slightly decreased overall sales, possibly consistent with decreased access to needed medicines--impacts. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring and evaluating the effects of pharmaceutical policy interventions on use of medicines and health outcomes.

Exponential Lower Bounds For Policy Iteration

OpenAIRE

Fearnley, John

2010-01-01

We study policy iteration for infinite-horizon Markov decision processes. It has recently been shown policy iteration style algorithms have exponential lower bounds in a two player game setting. We extend these lower bounds to Markov decision processes with the total reward and average-reward optimality criteria.

Micro Declared Language Policy or Not?: Language-Policy-Like Statements in the Rules of Procedure of the Rwandan Parliament

Science.gov (United States)

Gafaranga, Joseph; Niyomugabo, Cyprien; Uwizeyimana, Valentin

2013-01-01

An invitation to integrate macro and micro level analyses has been extended to researchers as this integration is felt to be the way forward for language policy research (Ricento, Ideology, politics and language policies: Focus on english, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2000). In turn, the notion of 'micro' in language policy has been specified as…

Inside and Outside the Policy Consensus: Science in a Time of Policy Upheaval in Congress

Science.gov (United States)

McCurdy, K. M.

2011-12-01

crossfire as coalitions attempted to forge a consensus to create their vision of a prosperous future. Small government actually means that R&D is not a proper function of government, so scientists must be on the program chopping block, and discrediting your opponents is a time honored means of eliminating political competition. The policy phase boundary is marked by deviations from Congress handing routine matters over to the low-conflict, low-public-attention bureaucratic decision-making arena. The recent severe budget cuts to the USGS and NSF research funding were high-conflict events held in the glare of TV camera lights and marked by charges that scientists are perpetrating a hoax or lying. Climate science suddenly was thrown into electoral politics instead of the routine give and take of bureaucratic decision-making. Knowing the terrain in Congress will help scientists know when a policy phase transition is occurring. This will allow scientists to better plan presentations. Style will be different if a presentation is made to collaborators rather than those who may use what is said to harm rather than help bring federal resources to a project.

Extending Theorisations of the Global Teacher: Care Work, Gender, and Street-Level Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Robert, Sarah A.

2016-01-01

This article is concerned with teachers' negotiation of global transitions premised on improving educational opportunity with implications for professionalism. The study blends sociology of gender, work, and organisations and gender policy analysis to theorise teachers' policy negotiations. I explore how 20 Argentine teachers mediate 3 programmes'…

The value of reliability with endogenous meeting time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abegaz, Dereje Fentie; Fosgerau, Mogens

for transport policy. Some consensus has been reached regarding the theoretical basis for measuring the cost of travel time variability (Small & Verhoef, 2007). Usually, the value of travel time variability is modeled using one of two broad theoretical approaches. The approaches differ in their interpretation...... times are correlated. Moreover, trip costs are found to increase with increasing variance of the difference of individual travel times. In this paper, we extend the Fosgerau et al. (2012) model by adding the concept of an agreed meeting start time as well as penalties for being late relative...... to this time. We extend the model to incorporate a framework where individuals bargain to choose the meeting start time. In this model, we are able to derive the value to both individuals of an improvement in the reliability of travel times for either person. A marginal improvement in travel time variability...

Standardizing the European Education Policy Space

Science.gov (United States)

Lawn, Martin

2011-01-01

Countries in Europe, through the European Union, are creating, as part of the market and its governance, a new policy space in education. It is being formed through law, regulation, networking and harmonization. The development of standards across the different fields of policy, statistical calculation and commerce underpins and extends the…

Extended likelihood inference in reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martz, H.F. Jr.; Beckman, R.J.; Waller, R.A.

1978-10-01

Extended likelihood methods of inference are developed in which subjective information in the form of a prior distribution is combined with sampling results by means of an extended likelihood function. The extended likelihood function is standardized for use in obtaining extended likelihood intervals. Extended likelihood intervals are derived for the mean of a normal distribution with known variance, the failure-rate of an exponential distribution, and the parameter of a binomial distribution. Extended second-order likelihood methods are developed and used to solve several prediction problems associated with the exponential and binomial distributions. In particular, such quantities as the next failure-time, the number of failures in a given time period, and the time required to observe a given number of failures are predicted for the exponential model with a gamma prior distribution on the failure-rate. In addition, six types of life testing experiments are considered. For the binomial model with a beta prior distribution on the probability of nonsurvival, methods are obtained for predicting the number of nonsurvivors in a given sample size and for predicting the required sample size for observing a specified number of nonsurvivors. Examples illustrate each of the methods developed. Finally, comparisons are made with Bayesian intervals in those cases where these are known to exist

Extending the length and time scales of Gram–Schmidt Lyapunov vector computations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Anthony B., E-mail: acosta@northwestern.edu [Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States); Green, Jason R., E-mail: jason.green@umb.edu [Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States); Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125 (United States)

2013-08-01

Lyapunov vectors have found growing interest recently due to their ability to characterize systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium. The computation of orthogonal Gram–Schmidt vectors requires multiplication and QR decomposition of large matrices, which grow as N{sup 2} (with the particle count). This expense has limited such calculations to relatively small systems and short time scales. Here, we detail two implementations of an algorithm for computing Gram–Schmidt vectors. The first is a distributed-memory message-passing method using Scalapack. The second uses the newly-released MAGMA library for GPUs. We compare the performance of both codes for Lennard–Jones fluids from N=100 to 1300 between Intel Nahalem/Infiniband DDR and NVIDIA C2050 architectures. To our best knowledge, these are the largest systems for which the Gram–Schmidt Lyapunov vectors have been computed, and the first time their calculation has been GPU-accelerated. We conclude that Lyapunov vector calculations can be significantly extended in length and time by leveraging the power of GPU-accelerated linear algebra.

Extending the length and time scales of Gram–Schmidt Lyapunov vector computations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Anthony B.; Green, Jason R.

2013-01-01

Lyapunov vectors have found growing interest recently due to their ability to characterize systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium. The computation of orthogonal Gram–Schmidt vectors requires multiplication and QR decomposition of large matrices, which grow as N 2 (with the particle count). This expense has limited such calculations to relatively small systems and short time scales. Here, we detail two implementations of an algorithm for computing Gram–Schmidt vectors. The first is a distributed-memory message-passing method using Scalapack. The second uses the newly-released MAGMA library for GPUs. We compare the performance of both codes for Lennard–Jones fluids from N=100 to 1300 between Intel Nahalem/Infiniband DDR and NVIDIA C2050 architectures. To our best knowledge, these are the largest systems for which the Gram–Schmidt Lyapunov vectors have been computed, and the first time their calculation has been GPU-accelerated. We conclude that Lyapunov vector calculations can be significantly extended in length and time by leveraging the power of GPU-accelerated linear algebra

Shaping Policy Change in Population Health: Policy Entrepreneurs, Ideas, and Institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Béland, Daniel; Katapally, Tarun R

2018-01-14

Political realities and institutional structures are often ignored when gathering evidence to influence population health policies. If these policies are to be successful, social science literature on policy change should be integrated into the population health approach. In this contribution, drawing on the work of John W. Kingdon and related scholarship, we set out to examine how key components of the policy change literature could contribute towards the effective development of population health policies. Shaping policy change would require a realignment of the existing school of thought, where the contribution of population health seems to end at knowledge translation. Through our critical analysis of selected literature, we extend recommendations to advance a burgeoning discussion in adopting new approaches to successfully implement evidence-informed population health policies. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Heuristic and optimal policy computations in the human brain during sequential decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Korn, Christoph W; Bach, Dominik R

2018-01-23

Optimal decisions across extended time horizons require value calculations over multiple probabilistic future states. Humans may circumvent such complex computations by resorting to easy-to-compute heuristics that approximate optimal solutions. To probe the potential interplay between heuristic and optimal computations, we develop a novel sequential decision-making task, framed as virtual foraging in which participants have to avoid virtual starvation. Rewards depend only on final outcomes over five-trial blocks, necessitating planning over five sequential decisions and probabilistic outcomes. Here, we report model comparisons demonstrating that participants primarily rely on the best available heuristic but also use the normatively optimal policy. FMRI signals in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) relate to heuristic and optimal policies and associated choice uncertainties. Crucially, reaction times and dorsal MPFC activity scale with discrepancies between heuristic and optimal policies. Thus, sequential decision-making in humans may emerge from integration between heuristic and optimal policies, implemented by controllers in MPFC.

Robust extended Kalman filter of discrete-time Markovian jump nonlinear system under uncertain noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Jin; Park, Jun Hong; Lee, Kwan Soo; Spiryagin, Maksym

2008-01-01

This paper examines the problem of robust extended Kalman filter design for discrete -time Markovian jump nonlinear systems with noise uncertainty. Because of the existence of stochastic Markovian switching, the state and measurement equations of underlying system are subject to uncertain noise whose covariance matrices are time-varying or un-measurable instead of stationary. First, based on the expression of filtering performance deviation, admissible uncertainty of noise covariance matrix is given. Secondly, two forms of noise uncertainty are taken into account: Non- Structural and Structural. It is proved by applying game theory that this filter design is a robust mini-max filter. A numerical example shows the validity of the method

Static validation of licence conformance policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Rene Rydhof; Nielson, Flemming; Nielson, Hanne Riis

2008-01-01

Policy conformance is a security property gaining importance due to commercial interest like Digital Rights Management. It is well known that static analysis can be used to validate a number of more classical security policies, such as discretionary and mandatory access control policies, as well...... as communication protocols using symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. In this work we show how to develop a Flow Logic for validating the conformance of client software with respect to a licence conformance policy. Our approach is sufficiently flexible that it extends to fully open systems that can admit new...

Nurses' extended work hours: Patient, nurse and organizational outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunaviktikul, W; Wichaikhum, O; Nantsupawat, A; Nantsupawat, R; Chontawan, R; Klunklin, A; Roongruangsri, S; Nantachaipan, P; Supamanee, T; Chitpakdee, B; Akkadechanunt, T; Sirakamon, S

2015-09-01

Nursing shortages have been associated with increased nurse workloads that may result in work errors, thus impacting patient, nurse and organizational outcomes. To examine for the first time in Thailand nurses' extended work hours (working more than 40 h per week) and its relationship to patient, nurse and organizational outcomes. Using multistage sampling, 1524 registered nurses working in 90 hospitals across Thailand completed demographic forms: the Nurses' Extended Work Hours Form; the Patient, Nurse, Organizational Outcomes Form; the Organizational Productivity Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rank correlation and logistic regression. The average extended work hour of respondents was 18.82 h per week. About 80% worked two consecutive shifts. The extended work hours had a positive correlation with patient outcomes, such as patient identification errors, pressure ulcers, communication errors and patient complaints and with nurse outcomes of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation between extended work hours and job satisfaction as a whole, intent to stay and organizational productivity. Nurses who had extended work hours of >16 h per week were significantly more likely to perceive all four adverse patient outcomes than participants working an extended ≤8 h per week. Patient outcomes were measured by respondents' self-reports. This may not always reflect the real occurrence of adverse events. Associations between extended work hours and outcomes for patients, nurses and the organization were found. The findings demonstrate that working two shifts (16 h) more than the regular work hours lead to negative outcomes for patients, nurses and the organization. Our findings add to increasing international evidence that nurses' poor working conditions result in negative outcomes for professionals, patients and health systems

Economic and Time-Sensitive Issues Surrounding CCS: A Policy Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Maddali, Vijay; Tularam, Gurudeo Anand; Glynn, Patrick

2015-08-04

Are the existing global policies on combating global warming via the carbon capture and storage (CCS) method significant enough to curtail the temperature rise on time? We argue that it is already too late to have any reliance on CCS. The current status of CCS is that it is plagued by technical uncertainties, infrastructure, financial, and regulatory issues. The technology is far from maturity and, hence, commercialization. Simulations conducted in this work suggest that the relevance of CCS is completely defied if the annual emission growth rate is in excess of 2% between the years of 2015 and 2040. At such a growth rate, the annual emissions reduction between 2040 and 2100 will need to be in the vicinity of 5.5% by the year 2100. Considering an average annual emissions growth rate of 2.5% over the past decade, it seems unlikely that the emissions could be contained to a 2% growth level. CCS in its current shape and form is at odds with the economics of its implementation and the time in hand with which to play a significant role in a carbon mitigation strategy. There is an urgent need to rethink policies and strategies to combat global warming to at least some degree.

Deploying Renewables - Best and Future Policy Practice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-11-23

The global energy system faces urgent challenges. Concerns about energy security are growing, as highlighted by the recent political turmoil in Northern Africa and the nuclear incident in Fukushima. At the same time, the need to respond to climate change is more critical than ever. Against this background, many governments have increased efforts to promote deployment of renewable energy -- low-carbon sources that can strengthen energy security. This has stimulated unprecedented rise in deployment, and renewables are now the fastest growing sector of the energy mix. This 'coming of age' of renewable energy also brings challenges. Growth is focused on a few of the available technologies, and rapid deployment is confined to a relatively small number of countries. In more advanced markets, managing support costs and system integration of large shares of renewable energy in a time of economic weakness and budget austerity has sparked vigorous political debate. The IEA's new report, Deploying Renewables 2011: Best and Future Policy Practice: - Provides a comprehensive review and analysis of renewable energy policy and market trends; - Analyses in detail the dynamics of deployment and provides best-practice policy principles for different stages of market maturity; - Assesses the impact and cost-effectiveness of support policies using new methodological tools and indicators; - Investigates the strategic reasons underpinning the pursuit of RE deployment by different countries and the prospects for globalisation of RE. This new book builds on and extends a 2008 IEA publication, drawing on recent policy and deployment experience world-wide. It provides guidance for policy makers and other stakeholders to avoid past mistakes, overcome new challenges and reap the benefits of deploying renewables -- today and tomorrow.

Using wavelets to decompose the time frequency effects of monetary policy

Science.gov (United States)

Aguiar-Conraria, Luís; Azevedo, Nuno; Soares, Maria Joana

2008-05-01

Central banks have different objectives in the short and long run. Governments operate simultaneously at different timescales. Many economic processes are the result of the actions of several agents, who have different term objectives. Therefore, a macroeconomic time series is a combination of components operating on different frequencies. Several questions about economic time series are connected to the understanding of the behavior of key variables at different frequencies over time, but this type of information is difficult to uncover using pure time-domain or pure frequency-domain methods. To our knowledge, for the first time in an economic setup, we use cross-wavelet tools to show that the relation between monetary policy variables and macroeconomic variables has changed and evolved with time. These changes are not homogeneous across the different frequencies.

Extending the foreign spent fuel acceptance program: Policy and implementation issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyman, Edwin S.

2005-01-01

The May 2006 expiration date of the Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel (FRR SNF) Acceptance Program is fast approaching. In April 2004, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham instructed the Energy Department to 'initiate actions necessary to extend .... the fuel acceptance deadline'. However, extending the deadline may not be a simple task. The limits on the original program resulted from a delicate negotiation among many stakeholders. Any proposal to increase the duration and scope of the program will have to be considered in the context of DOE's failure since 1996 to develop viable treatment, packaging and long-term disposal options for FRR SNF. It is also unclear whether accepting additional low-enriched uranium FRR SNF can be justified on security grounds. This paper will propose criteria for acceptance of spent fuel under an extension that are intended to minimize controversy and ensure consistency with a threat-based prioritization of homeland security expenditures. (author)

78 FR 34099 - FCC Extends Pleading Cycle for Indecency Cases Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-06

... the Commission's Web site through its Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) at http... Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). See Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 63 FR... Indecency Cases Policy AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: In this document...

Modeling and Simulation of Bus Dispatching Policy for Timed Transfers on Signalized Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Hsun-Jung; Lin, Guey-Shii

2007-12-01

The major work of this study is to formulate the system cost functions and to integrate the bus dispatching policy with signal control. The integrated model mainly includes the flow dispersion model for links, signal control model for nodes, and dispatching control model for transfer terminals. All such models are inter-related for transfer operations in one-center transit network. The integrated model that combines dispatching policies with flexible signal control modes can be applied to assess the effectiveness of transfer operations. It is found that, if bus arrival information is reliable, an early dispatching decision made at the mean bus arrival times is preferable. The costs for coordinated operations with slack times are relatively low at the optimal common headway when applying adaptive route control. Based on such findings, a threshold function of bus headway for justifying an adaptive signal route control under various time values of auto drivers is developed.

On-Board Real-Time Optimization Control for Turbo-Fan Engine Life Extending

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Qiangang; Zhang, Haibo; Miao, Lizhen; Sun, Fengyong

2017-11-01

A real-time optimization control method is proposed to extend turbo-fan engine service life. This real-time optimization control is based on an on-board engine mode, which is devised by a MRR-LSSVR (multi-input multi-output recursive reduced least squares support vector regression method). To solve the optimization problem, a FSQP (feasible sequential quadratic programming) algorithm is utilized. The thermal mechanical fatigue is taken into account during the optimization process. Furthermore, to describe the engine life decaying, a thermal mechanical fatigue model of engine acceleration process is established. The optimization objective function not only contains the sub-item which can get fast response of the engine, but also concludes the sub-item of the total mechanical strain range which has positive relationship to engine fatigue life. Finally, the simulations of the conventional optimization control which just consider engine acceleration performance or the proposed optimization method have been conducted. The simulations demonstrate that the time of the two control methods from idle to 99.5 % of the maximum power are equal. However, the engine life using the proposed optimization method could be surprisingly increased by 36.17 % compared with that using conventional optimization control.

High-speed extended-term time-domain simulation for online cascading analysis of power system

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Chuan

A high-speed extended-term (HSET) time domain simulator (TDS), intended to become a part of an energy management system (EMS), has been newly developed for use in online extended-term dynamic cascading analysis of power systems. HSET-TDS includes the following attributes for providing situational awareness of high-consequence events: (i) online analysis, including n-1 and n-k events, (ii) ability to simulate both fast and slow dynamics for 1-3 hours in advance, (iii) inclusion of rigorous protection-system modeling, (iv) intelligence for corrective action ID, storage, and fast retrieval, and (v) high-speed execution. Very fast on-line computational capability is the most desired attribute of this simulator. Based on the process of solving algebraic differential equations describing the dynamics of power system, HSET-TDS seeks to develop computational efficiency at each of the following hierarchical levels, (i) hardware, (ii) strategies, (iii) integration methods, (iv) nonlinear solvers, and (v) linear solver libraries. This thesis first describes the Hammer-Hollingsworth 4 (HH4) implicit integration method. Like the trapezoidal rule, HH4 is symmetrically A-Stable but it possesses greater high-order precision (h4 ) than the trapezoidal rule. Such precision enables larger integration steps and therefore improves simulation efficiency for variable step size implementations. This thesis provides the underlying theory on which we advocate use of HH4 over other numerical integration methods for power system time-domain simulation. Second, motivated by the need to perform high speed extended-term time domain simulation (HSET-TDS) for on-line purposes, this thesis presents principles for designing numerical solvers of differential algebraic systems associated with power system time-domain simulation, including DAE construction strategies (Direct Solution Method), integration methods(HH4), nonlinear solvers(Very Dishonest Newton), and linear solvers(SuperLU). We have

Goodnip - Good Practices in Nordic Innovation Policies. Part 3

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Søren Christrup; Edwards, Kasper; Pedersen, Jørgen Lindgaard

This report 3 is essentially a reference book for innovation policies in the Nordic countries and includes presentations of the innovation policy governance structures of teh Nordic countries. There are summaries of relevant policy documents, datasheets presenting selected innovation policy measu...... measures and an extended list of policy measures that goes beyond teh ones presented in teh datasheet section. For more information see the GoodNIP web site at http://www.step.no/goodnip...

Law-based arguments and messages to advocate for later school start time policies in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Clark J; Nolan, Dennis M; Lockley, Steven W; Pattison, Brent

2017-12-01

The increasing scientific evidence that early school start times are harmful to the health and safety of teenagers has generated much recent debate about changing school start times policies for adolescent students. Although efforts to promote and implement such changes have proliferated in the United States in recent years, they have rarely been supported by law-based arguments and messages that leverage the existing legal infrastructure regulating public education and child welfare in the United States. Furthermore, the legal bases to support or resist such changes have not been explored in detail to date. This article provides an overview of how law-based arguments and messages can be constructed and applied to advocate for later school start time policies in US public secondary schools. The legal infrastructure impacting school start time policies in the United States is briefly reviewed, including descriptions of how government regulates education, what legal obligations school officials have concerning their students' welfare, and what laws and public policies currently exist that address adolescent sleep health and safety. On the basis of this legal infrastructure, some hypothetical examples of law-based arguments and messages that could be applied to various types of advocacy activities (eg, litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy, media and public outreach) to promote later school start times are discussed. Particular consideration is given to hypothetical arguments and messages aimed at emphasizing the consistency of later school start time policies with existing child welfare law and practices, legal responsibilities of school officials and governmental authorities, and societal values and norms. Copyright © 2017 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Methodology and Toolkit for Deploying Reliable Security Policies in Critical Infrastructures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faouzi Jaïdi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Substantial advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT bring out novel concepts, solutions, trends, and challenges to integrate intelligent and autonomous systems in critical infrastructures. A new generation of ICT environments (such as smart cities, Internet of Things, edge-fog-social-cloud computing, and big data analytics is emerging; it has different applications to critical domains (such as transportation, communication, finance, commerce, and healthcare and different interconnections via multiple layers of public and private networks, forming a grid of critical cyberphysical infrastructures. Protecting sensitive and private data and services in critical infrastructures is, at the same time, a main objective and a great challenge for deploying secure systems. It essentially requires setting up trusted security policies. Unfortunately, security solutions should remain compliant and regularly updated to follow and track the evolution of security threats. To address this issue, we propose an advanced methodology for deploying and monitoring the compliance of trusted access control policies. Our proposal extends the traditional life cycle of access control policies with pertinent activities. It integrates formal and semiformal techniques allowing the specification, the verification, the implementation, the reverse-engineering, the validation, the risk assessment, and the optimization of access control policies. To automate and facilitate the practice of our methodology, we introduce our system SVIRVRO that allows managing the extended life cycle of access control policies. We refer to an illustrative example to highlight the relevance of our contributions.

Approximation for the Finite-Time Ruin Probability of a General Risk Model with Constant Interest Rate and Extended Negatively Dependent Heavy-Tailed Claims

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Yang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a general continuous-time risk model with a constant interest rate. In this model, claims arrive according to an arbitrary counting process, while their sizes have dominantly varying tails and fulfill an extended negative dependence structure. We obtain an asymptotic formula for the finite-time ruin probability, which extends a corresponding result of Wang (2008.

“What Cultural Policies?” Explicit and Implicit Cultural Policies in Lebanon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia von Maltzahn

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Cultural policies define a vision for culture, and provide frameworks for institutional practice to translate this vision on the ground. A 1981 study on Lebanese cultural policy reached the conclusion that one cannot speak of cultural policies in Lebanon if one refers to state laws, regulations and plans. However, if cultural policy was understood as the method of a state to give its citizens the space to develop themselves in a way that they could create culture, one could certainly speak of cultural policies in Lebanon (Abou Rizk. In cultural policy research, there is a distinction between explicit and implicit cultural policy (Ahearne. In this article, the concept of explicit and implicit cultural policy is applied to the case of Lebanon. The two terms are extended so that the former does not only include cultural policies designatedas such by the state, but also those created by civil society actors, and that the latter does not only include political strategies, but also practices that in the end determine cultural policies. Drawing on empirical research conducted in the context of a larger study on the role of cultural institutions in the public sphere, the power struggles between different actors involved in cultural policy making cultural policy defined in the Lebanese context, which in turn will be positioned within the regional context.

Phase Two European Energy Policy Project. European energy and climate policy - Time for something new

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helm, Dieter

2014-01-01

During 2014, European energy and climate change policy has moved centre stage. The annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine have raised tensions with Russia to levels not seen since the Cold War. The EU has responded with an energy security plan, and sanctions. Developments elsewhere have further complicated matters. In the Middle East, the rapid advances of ISIS (now called the Islamic State), the internal conflicts in Libya, the war in Gaza, and the continuing negotiations with Iran on nuclear matters suggest that early optimism about the 'Arab Spring' was at best misplaced, and chronic instability has returned. In the US, the energy revolution continues to change the geopolitics of oil and gas, with the early skepticism about the scale of the changes and the shift towards North American energy independence giving way to recognition that the changes are permanent and profound - for both global energy markets and Europe. The full implications of the end of the commodity super-cycle are both profound for European energy policy and very poorly understood. Commodity prices have tumbled, with oil prices falling below $80 a barrel. On climate change, there is almost certainly not going to be a continuation of the Kyoto style international framework after the Paris conference in December 2015. Chinese emissions per head have now exceeded those of the Europeans, and it is at last being recognized that the climate change problem is one in which China, not the EU, is centre stage. China has announced that it does not intend to cap its carbon emissions until after 2030, by which time they may peak anyway - from a very much higher base after another decade and a half of increases. The Paris conference will see a series of 'pledges' and 'commitments' very much on the pattern of the Copenhagen Accord, not the credible, enforceable legally binding measures that had been proposed at the Durban Conference of the Parties in 2011

Intersectoral action on SDH and equity in Australian health policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Matthew; Baum, Frances E; MacDougall, Colin; Newman, Lareen; McDermott, Dennis; Phillips, Clare

2017-12-01

Intersectoral action between public agencies across policy sectors, and between levels of government, is seen as essential for effective action by governments to address social determinants of health (SDH) and to reduce health inequities. The health sector has been identified as having a crucial stewardship role, to engage other policy sectors in action to address the impacts of their policies on health. This article reports on research to investigate intersectoral action on SDH and health inequities in Australian health policy. We gathered and individually analysed 266 policy documents, being all of the published, strategic health policies of the national Australian government and eight State/Territory governments, current at the time of sampling in late 2012-early 2013. Our analysis showed that strategies for intersectoral action were common in Australian health policy, but predominantly concerned with extending access to individualized medical or behavioural interventions to client groups in other policy sectors. Where intersectoral strategies did propose action on SDH (other than access to health-care), they were mostly limited to addressing proximal factors, rather than policy settings affecting the distribution of socioeconomic resources. There was little evidence of engagement between the health sector and those policy sectors most able to influence systemic socioeconomic inequalities in Australia. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Towards a global multi-regional environmentally extended input-output database

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tukker, Arnold; Poliakov, Evgueni; Heijungs, Reinout; Hawkins, Troy; Neuwahl, Frederik; Rueda-Cantuche, Jose M.; Giljum, Stefan; Moll, Stephan; Oosterhaven, Jan; Bouwmeester, Maaike

2009-01-01

This paper presents the strategy for a large EU-funded Integrated Project: EXIOPOL ("A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input-Output Tools for Policy Analysis"), with special attention for its part in environmentally extended (EE) input-output (IO) analysis. The

Assessment of environmental impacts following alternative agricultural policy scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Bárlund, I; Lehtonen, H; Tattari, S

2005-01-01

Abstract Finnish agriculture is likely to undergo major changes in the near and intermediate future. The ifuture policy context can be examined at a general level by strategic scenario building. Computer-based modelling in combination with agricultural policy scenarios can in turn create a basis for the assessments of changes in environmental quality following possible changes in Finnish agriculture. The analysis of economic consequences is based on the DREMFIA model, which is applied to study effects of various agricultural policies on land use, animal production, and farmers' income. The model is suitable for an impact analysis covering an extended time span--here up to the year 2015. The changes in land use, obtained with the DREMFIA model assuming rational economic behaviour, form the basis when evaluating environmental impacts of different agricultural policies. The environmental impact assessment is performed using the field scale nutrient transport model ICECREAM. The modelled variables are nitrogen and phosphorus losses in surface runoff and percolation. In this paper the modelling strategy will be presented and highlighted using two case study catchments with varying environmental conditions and land use as an example. In addition, the paper identifies issues arising when connecting policy scenarios with impact modelling.

TOPLAR: Time of Flight with Larmor Precessions - or - How to extend the dynamic range of NSE spectrometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Well, A.A.; Bleuel, M.; Pappas, C.

2011-01-01

Neutron Spin Echo (NSE) spectrometers typically cover a dynamic range of three orders of magnitude at a given wavelength. At long Fourier times the limits are given by the homogeneity of precession fields. At short Fourier times, the quasi-elastic approximation and the NSE formalism mark a methodological limit. We propose to overcome this limitation and by combining Time Of Flight with Larmor precession to extend the capabilities of Neutron Spin Echo spectrometers towards short Fourier times. TOFLAR should be easily implemented on NSE spectrometers equipped with a chopper system such as IN15 or the planned WASP. (authors)

Use of queue modelling in the analysis of elective patient treatment governed by a maximum waiting time policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kozlowski, Dawid; Worthington, Dave

2015-01-01

chain and discrete event simulation models, to provide an insightful analysis of the public hospital performance under the policy rules. The aim of this paper is to support the enhancement of the quality of elective patient care, to be brought about by better understanding of the policy implications...... on the utilization of public hospital resources. This paper illustrates the use of a queue modelling approach in the analysis of elective patient treatment governed by the maximum waiting time policy. Drawing upon the combined strengths of analytic and simulation approaches we develop both continuous-time Markov...

Standardization of {sup 241}Am, {sup 124}Sb and {sup 131}I by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Carlos J. da [Laboratorio Nacional de Metrologia das Radiacoes Ionizantes (LNMRI), Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD), Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear - CNEN, Av. Salvador Allende, s/n-Recreio, CEP 22780-160 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Laboratorio de Instrumentacao Nuclear (LIN/PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Caixa Postal 68590, CEP 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)], E-mail: Carlos@ird.gov.br; Iwahara, A.; Poledna, R.; Oliveira, E.M. de; Prinzio, M.A.R.R. de; Delgado, Jose U. [Laboratorio Nacional de Metrologia das Radiacoes Ionizantes (LNMRI), Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD), Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear - CNEN, Av. Salvador Allende, s/n-Recreio, CEP 22780-160 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Lopes, Ricardo T. [Laboratorio de Instrumentacao Nuclear (LIN/PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Caixa Postal 68590, CEP 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

2008-06-15

The National Metrology Laboratory for Ionizing Radiation (LNMRI)/Brazil has implemented a live-timed anti-coincidence system with extending dead time to complement the existing systems in its Radionuclide Laboratory for activity measurements of radioactive sources. In this new system, the proportional counter has been replaced by a liquid-scintillation-counter for alpha and beta detection. In order to test the performance of the new system, radioactive solutions of {sup 131}I, {sup 124}Sb and {sup 241}Am have been standardized. In this work the measurement method, the results and the associated uncertainties are described and discussed.

Toward Coordinated Robust Allocation of Reserve Policies for a Cell-based Power System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Junjie; Heussen, Kai; Claessens, Bert

2016-01-01

Conventional regulation reserves have fixed participation factors and are thus not well suited to utilize differentiated capabilities of ancillary service providers. This study applies linear decision rules-based (LDR) control policies, which effectively adapt the present participation factor...... in dependence of the imbalance signal of previous time steps. The LDR-policies are centrally computed using a robust optimization approach which takes into account both the covariances of historic imbalance signals and the operational flexibility of ancillary service providers. The concept is then extended...... to the cooperation of multiple cells. Two illustrating examples are presented to show the functioning of the proposed LDR method....

Supporting the Academic Majority: Policies and Practices Related to Part-Time Faculty's Job Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

Eagan, M. Kevin, Jr.; Jaeger, Audrey J.; Grantham, Ashley

2015-01-01

The academic workforce in higher education has shifted in the last several decades from consisting of mostly full-time, tenure-track faculty to one comprised predominantly of contingent, non-tenure-track faculty. This substantial shift toward part-time academic labor has not corresponded with institutions implementing more supportive policies and…

Producer-retailer integrated EMQ system with machine breakdown, rework failures, and a discontinuous inventory issuing policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Singa Wang; Chen, Shin-Wei; Chiu, Yuan-Shyi Peter; Li, Ting-Wei

2016-01-01

This study develops two extended economic manufacturing quantity (EMQ)-based models with a discontinuous product issuing policy, random machine breakdown, and rework failures. Various real conditions in production processes, end-product delivery, and intra-supply chains such as a producer-retailer integrated scheme are examined. The first model incorporates a discontinuous multi-delivery policy into a prior work (Chiu et al. in Proc Inst Mech Eng B J Eng 223:183-194, 2009) in lieu of their continuous policy. Such an enhanced model can address situations in supply chain environments, where finished products are transported to outside retail stores (or customers). The second model further combines retailer's stock holding costs into the first model. This extended EMQ model is applicable in situations in present-day manufacturing firms where finished products are distributed to company's own retail stores (or regional sales offices) and stocked there for sale. Two aforementioned extended EMQ models are investigated, respectively. Mathematical modeling along with iterative algorithms are employed to derive the optimal production run times that minimize the expected total system costs, including the costs incurred in production units, transportation, and retail stores, for these integrated EMQ systems. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the practical application of the research results.

Mandatory or Flexible: Whither Retirement Age Policy? | Ibiwoye ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... to flexible retirement. It also found that flexible policy will have a positive welfare effect as many employees can then take care of their extended span of dependants for a longer period and employee productivity will also be improved. Key words: Retirement, Mandatory, Flexible, Pension Plan, Extended Family System.

Education Policy Mobility: Reimagining Sustainability in Neoliberal Times

Science.gov (United States)

McKenzie, Marcia; Bieler, Andrew; McNeil, Rebecca

2015-01-01

This paper is concerned with the twinning of sustainability with priorities of economic neoliberalization in education, and in particular via the mobility or diffusion of education policy. We discuss the literature on policy mobility as well as overview concerns regarding neoliberalism and education. The paper brings these analyses to bear in…

Developing a DSR-HNS policy making framework for electric energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyar-Naimi, H.; Vaez-Zadeh, S.

2012-01-01

Sustainable Development (SD) has played a major role as a foundation of several policy making frameworks developed mainly by international organizations. In this paper, some critical points regarding the origination and formulation of the SD concept are discussed. It is argued that the SD concerns with selected sectors and regions rather than the whole society and all regions of the world. To tackle these shortcomings, the conventional definition of SD is extended in this paper according to a broad philosophy of harmonizing key aspects of human, nature and systems performances over generations. Based on this extended definition, an improved Driving Force–State–Response (DSR-HNS) policy making framework is introduced. The main contribution is the modeling of the state block by human, nature and systems components to design overall and coherent policies. A procedure using the framework is also elaborated to monitor the current policies and design new ones, which provides a dynamic, nonlinear, feedback controlled policy making practice, not accommodated by existing policy making frameworks. Finally, a case study is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified framework and the proposed model. The study assesses Iran's electric power generation system from sustainability point of view and develops new policies. - Highlights: ► Some critical points regarding the Sustainable Development (SD) concept are discussed. ► Based on this extended definition, a policy making framework is introduced. ► A policy making procedure based on the framework is elaborated. ► A case study is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified framework. ► New policies are developed for Iran's power generation system.

An accurate approximate solution of optimal sequential age replacement policy for a finite-time horizon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, R.

2009-01-01

It is difficult to find the optimal solution of the sequential age replacement policy for a finite-time horizon. This paper presents an accurate approximation to find an approximate optimal solution of the sequential replacement policy. The proposed approximation is computationally simple and suitable for any failure distribution. Their accuracy is illustrated by two examples. Based on the approximate solution, an approximate estimate for the total cost is derived.

Nuclear policies in Central Europe. Environmental policy and enlargement of the European Union: Austria's policies towards Nuclear Reactors in neighboring countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Getzner, M.

2003-01-01

Austria's anti-nuclear policies are rooted in the successful anti-nuclear referendum on the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant (Lower Austria) in 1978 and the great impact of the Chernobyl catastrophe on Austria in 1986. Since about 1990, official Austria has pursued anti-nuclear policies not only at home but also abroad. In particular, reactors in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) are the focal points of Austria's foreign anti-nuclear policies. Strategies include increasing nuclear safety, promoting energy efficiency and sustainable energy sources (such as renewable resources), and extending international legal frameworks to account for nuclear safety. Involvement in domestic energy issues in other countries is not an easy task, and while Austrian policy makers have had some success in increasing awareness of nuclear safety in Europe, they have also made a number of strategic mistakes. Notwithstanding real and substantiated concerns regarding nuclear safety, Austrian policies have lost credibility during recent years. This book explores the history and the development of Austrian anti-nuclear policies, and discusses the political economy of such policies. Particular emphasis is laid on the 2002 referendum against the Temelin reactor in the neighboring Czech Republic. (orig.)

Timing Analysis of Mixed-Criticality Hard Real-Time Applications Implemented on Distributed Partitioned Architectures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marinescu, Sorin Ovidiu; Tamas-Selicean, Domitian; Acretoaie, Vlad

In this paper we are interested in the timing analysis of mixed-criticality embedded real-time applications mapped on distributed heterogeneous architectures. Mixedcriticality tasks can be integrated onto the same architecture only if there is enough spatial and temporal separation among them. We...... in partitions using fixedpriority preemptive scheduling. We have extended the stateof- the-art algorithms for schedulability analysis to take into account the partitions. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated using several synthetic and real-life benchmarks....... consider that the separation is provided by partitioning, such that applications run in separate partitions, and each partition is allocated several time slots on a processor. Each partition can have its own scheduling policy. We are interested to determine the worst-case response times of tasks scheduled...

Rhodium SPND's Error Reduction using Extended Kalman Filter combined with Time Dependent Neutron Diffusion Equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jeong Hun; Park, Tong Kyu; Jeon, Seong Su

2014-01-01

The Rhodium SPND is accurate in steady-state conditions but responds slowly to changes in neutron flux. The slow response time of Rhodium SPND precludes its direct use for control and protection purposes specially when nuclear power plant is used for load following. To shorten the response time of Rhodium SPND, there were some acceleration methods but they could not reflect neutron flux distribution in reactor core. On the other hands, some methods for core power distribution monitoring could not consider the slow response time of Rhodium SPND and noise effect. In this paper, time dependent neutron diffusion equation is directly used to estimate reactor power distribution and extended Kalman filter method is used to correct neutron flux with Rhodium SPND's and to shorten the response time of them. Extended Kalman filter is effective tool to reduce measurement error of Rhodium SPND's and even simple FDM to solve time dependent neutron diffusion equation can be an effective measure. This method reduces random errors of detectors and can follow reactor power level without cross-section change. It means monitoring system may not calculate cross-section at every time steps and computing time will be shorten. To minimize delay of Rhodium SPND's conversion function h should be evaluated in next study. Neutron and Rh-103 reaction has several decay chains and half-lives over 40 seconds causing delay of detection. Time dependent neutron diffusion equation will be combined with decay chains. Power level and distribution change corresponding movement of control rod will be tested with more complicated reference code as well as xenon effect. With these efforts, final result is expected to be used as a powerful monitoring tool of nuclear reactor core

Rhodium SPND's Error Reduction using Extended Kalman Filter combined with Time Dependent Neutron Diffusion Equation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jeong Hun; Park, Tong Kyu; Jeon, Seong Su [FNC Technology Co., Ltd., Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

The Rhodium SPND is accurate in steady-state conditions but responds slowly to changes in neutron flux. The slow response time of Rhodium SPND precludes its direct use for control and protection purposes specially when nuclear power plant is used for load following. To shorten the response time of Rhodium SPND, there were some acceleration methods but they could not reflect neutron flux distribution in reactor core. On the other hands, some methods for core power distribution monitoring could not consider the slow response time of Rhodium SPND and noise effect. In this paper, time dependent neutron diffusion equation is directly used to estimate reactor power distribution and extended Kalman filter method is used to correct neutron flux with Rhodium SPND's and to shorten the response time of them. Extended Kalman filter is effective tool to reduce measurement error of Rhodium SPND's and even simple FDM to solve time dependent neutron diffusion equation can be an effective measure. This method reduces random errors of detectors and can follow reactor power level without cross-section change. It means monitoring system may not calculate cross-section at every time steps and computing time will be shorten. To minimize delay of Rhodium SPND's conversion function h should be evaluated in next study. Neutron and Rh-103 reaction has several decay chains and half-lives over 40 seconds causing delay of detection. Time dependent neutron diffusion equation will be combined with decay chains. Power level and distribution change corresponding movement of control rod will be tested with more complicated reference code as well as xenon effect. With these efforts, final result is expected to be used as a powerful monitoring tool of nuclear reactor core.

Time to Shift from Macro- to Micro-Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Dongchul; Shin, Sukha

2012-01-01

All of the authors seem to share the perception that one can no longer expect much from macroeconomic policies. The authors of this paper share this opinion, but this should not be interpreted as the skeptical view that macroeconomic policies are ineffective on employment. They saw from the Korea's two crises how contrasting outcomes could result…

Impact of Dividend Taxation Changing on Dividend Policy of Romanian Companies Listed on Stock Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stela JAKOVA

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to analyze factors (with an influence on value of transactions on stock exchange which induce companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange to pay dividends for period 2008 – 2015. First we will estimate five regression models, taking into account some financial and macroeconomics variables. Second we will rebuild these five regression models including a dummy variable which indicates the change of dividend tax rate. Our analyses emphasized the fact that net income, liquidity index, BET return and total assets have a significant effect on dividend payment policy which keeps their significance also after introducing the dummy variable, except the BET rate which decreased its significance. Also only the change of dividend tax rate and net income have a positively significant impact over dividend payment policy of Romanian ‘companies. The findings from this study are useful to be taken in account by the board of managers of companies when they decide the dividend policy for the company. In the same time our study extends the existing literature on this topic, by analyzing the impact of the most recent change in dividend tax rate from 2015, and also by extending the factors which affect the dividend policy of the companies listed on stock exchange.

Periodization of the european union’s immigration policy: from the beginning to modern times

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Y. Fogel

2017-04-01

The main conclusion of the article is that, on the one hand, immigration has become a relevant issue in all the EU countries. On the other hand, as a consequence of different timing of immigration, different socio-economic contexts and varying governmental migration and integration policies, different forms of migration, with different governmental policies of migration and integration, and with different types of migrants have evolved. Such different starting positions should be taken into account when studying the consequences of the immigration and the presence of migrants in society.

Optimal Pricing and Advertising Policies for New Product Oligopoly Models

OpenAIRE

Gerald L. Thompson; Jinn-Tsair Teng

1984-01-01

In this paper our previous work on monopoly and oligopoly new product models is extended by the addition of pricing as well as advertising control variables. These models contain Bass's demand growth model, and the Vidale-Wolfe and Ozga advertising models, as well as the production learning curve model and an exponential demand function. The problem of characterizing an optimal pricing and advertising policy over time is an important question in the field of marketing as well as in the areas ...

Cryonics suspension – debating life finitude, extending time capital and cancelling death

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana Mara Stan

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The study discusses the anti-death movement inside the life extension paradigm and its social implications in terms of enhanced permeability of life-death boundaries, by reconciling mysticism, theology, technology and scientific innovation. It analyses current debates, the transmission of polemic information over extreme life extension by cryogenic suspension through vernacular knowledge. Ethical, scientific, financial and spiritual controversies come into consideration, as pro and counter-arguments emerge from ongoing debates investigated by netnography of themed blogs and forums. Digital platforms facilitate in-depth access to beliefs and attitudes expressed in relationship to continuity of stream of consciousness across the projected post-self project. The study calls for the questioning of agency and performativity in the context of transcending time dynamics and achieving biological and chronological time suspension. Solutions for extending longevity are explored in terms of critical reflection as to providers’ market, financial impact (e.g. creation of new niche products such as afterlife insurance to cover expenses of cryogenic suspension or fundraising for cryo-preserving young persons who died tragically and relocating the burden of proof in arguing whether human cryonics is potentially viable in the future. It brings a new perspective on the traceability and sustainability of time capital (Preda, 2013, while discussing the impact of the belief that death is ultimately curable and avoidable, by future medical progress and overall scientific and technological advancement.

Adaptive dynamic programming for discrete-time linear quadratic regulation based on multirate generalised policy iteration

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Tae Yoon; Lee, Jae Young; Park, Jin Bae; Choi, Yoon Ho

2018-06-01

In this paper, we propose two multirate generalised policy iteration (GPI) algorithms applied to discrete-time linear quadratic regulation problems. The proposed algorithms are extensions of the existing GPI algorithm that consists of the approximate policy evaluation and policy improvement steps. The two proposed schemes, named heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) and dual HDP (DHP), based on multirate GPI, use multi-step estimation (M-step Bellman equation) at the approximate policy evaluation step for estimating the value function and its gradient called costate, respectively. Then, we show that these two methods with the same update horizon can be considered equivalent in the iteration domain. Furthermore, monotonically increasing and decreasing convergences, so called value iteration (VI)-mode and policy iteration (PI)-mode convergences, are proved to hold for the proposed multirate GPIs. Further, general convergence properties in terms of eigenvalues are also studied. The data-driven online implementation methods for the proposed HDP and DHP are demonstrated and finally, we present the results of numerical simulations performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Processes of local alcohol policy-making in England: Does the theory of policy transfer provide useful insights into public health decision-making?

Science.gov (United States)

Gavens, Lucy; Holmes, John; Buykx, Penny; de Vocht, Frank; Egan, Matt; Grace, Daniel; Lock, Karen; Mooney, John D; Brennan, Alan

2017-06-13

Recent years have seen a rise in new and innovative policies to reduce alcohol consumption and related harm in England, which can be implemented by local, as opposed to national, policy-makers. The aim of this paper is to explore the processes that underpin the adoption of these alcohol policies within local authorities. In particular, it aims to assess whether the concept of policy transfer (i.e. a process through which knowledge about policies in one place is used in the development of policies in another time or place) provides a useful model for understanding local alcohol policy-making. Qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews and focus groups from five case study sites across England were used to explore stakeholder experiences of alcohol policy transfer between local authorities. The purposive sample of policy actors included representatives from the police, trading standards, public health, licensing, and commissioning. Thematic analysis was used inductively to identify key features in the data. Themes from the policy transfer literature identified in the data were: policy copying, emulating, hybridization, and inspiration. Participants described a multitude of ways in which learning was shared between places, ranging from formal academic evaluation to opportunistic conversations in informal settings. Participants also described facilitators and constraints to policy transfer, such as the historical policy context and the local cultural, economic, and bureaucratic context, which influenced whether or not a policy that was perceived to work in one place might be transferred successfully to another context. Theories of policy transfer provide a promising framework for characterising processes of local alcohol policy-making in England, extending beyond debates regarding evidence-informed policy to account for a much wider range of considerations. Applying a policy transfer lens enables us to move beyond simple (but still important) questions of

Meta-Times and Extended Subordination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barndorff-Nielsen, Ole; Pedersen, Jan

The problem of defining subordination of a homogeneous Lévy basis by a non-negative homogeneous Lévy basis is discussed. An explicit construction, generalizing the usual one-dimensional case, is given. This construction involves certain random meta-time changes.......The problem of defining subordination of a homogeneous Lévy basis by a non-negative homogeneous Lévy basis is discussed. An explicit construction, generalizing the usual one-dimensional case, is given. This construction involves certain random meta-time changes....

Study on the correlation of PSR with extended operation of NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, T. M.; Kim, H. K.; Cho, J. C.; Kim, H. J.

2002-01-01

For developed countries, which had already experienced the end of nuclear plant design life, it has been a trend to allow extended operation of plant in case that safety during the period of extended operation is ensured through safety assessment. Periodic Safety Review and License Renewal are the widely used system for safety assessment of extended operation. The PSR has been already adopted in our country and actively carried out one by one for each operating plant by the owner and its committed technical experts. In the paper, the interfaces between PSR and extended operation are reviewed in the regulatory viewpoint in recognition that various safety reviews are performed in PSR for the safety confirmation and enhancement, and that PSR can be effectively utilized for the review of extended operation. However, this study has been performed only on the research purpose and thus the final decision is up to the policy of government

The Application of Extended Cox Proportional Hazard Method for Estimating Survival Time of Breast Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Husain, Hartina; Astuti Thamrin, Sri; Tahir, Sulaiha; Mukhlisin, Ahmad; Mirna Apriani, M.

2018-03-01

Breast cancer is one type of cancer that is the leading cause of death worldwide. This study aims to model the factors that affect the survival time and rate of cure of breast cancer patients. The extended cox model, which is a modification of the proportional hazard cox model in which the proportional hazard assumptions are not met, is used in this study. The maximum likelihood estimation approach is used to estimate the parameters of the model. This method is then applied to medical record data of breast cancer patient in 2011-2016, which is taken from Hasanuddin University Education Hospital. The results obtained indicate that the factors that affect the survival time of breast cancer patients are malignancy and leukocyte levels.

Extended Life Coolant Testing

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-06

number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 06-06-2016 2. REPORT TYPE Interim Report 3. DATES COVERED ... Corrosion Testing of Traditional and Extended Life Coolants 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Hansen, Gregory A. T...providing vehicle specific coolants. Several laboratory corrosion tests were performed according to ASTM D1384 and D2570, but with a 2.5x extended time

Transversally extended string

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akama, Keiichi

1988-01-01

Starting with the space-time action of the transversally extended string, we derive its world-sheet action, which is that of a gravitational and gauge theory with matter fields on the world-sheet, with additional effects of the second fundamental quantity. (author)

THE DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION MACROMODEL QUEST III WITH EXTENDED FISCAL BLOCK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Lukianenko

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we provide detailed derivation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model QUEST III that was developed under European Commission project. The principal feature of the model is the presence of both monetary and extended fiscal blocks. In particular, Central Bank sets interest rate using monetary policy rule, while fiscal sector is represented by taxes and transfers. It allows analyzing the effect of complex shocks on the key macroeconomic variables. Our results show that parallel application of monetary and fiscal instruments is an effective way to combat stagflation, i.e. drastic decrease in production and acceleration of inflation. Due to the presence of extended fiscal block, the model can fit Ukrainian economic and policy structure quick good. The next steps of the research may be calibration and estimation of QUEST III prototype on the Ukrainian data with potentially some modification and inclusion of banking and other sectors that play critical role in the local conditions. Monetary policy instruments should be extended with the level of Central Bank reserves which have large influence on macro stability. In addition, dollarization is an important peculiarity that should be addressed in the future versions of the model.

Extended Fitts' model of pointing time in eye-gaze input system - Incorporating effects of target shape and movement direction into modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Murata, Atsuo; Fukunaga, Daichi

2018-04-01

This study attempted to investigate the effects of the target shape and the movement direction on the pointing time using an eye-gaze input system and extend Fitts' model so that these factors are incorporated into the model and the predictive power of Fitts' model is enhanced. The target shape, the target size, the movement distance, and the direction of target presentation were set as within-subject experimental variables. The target shape included: a circle, and rectangles with an aspect ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4. The movement direction included eight directions: upper, lower, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right. On the basis of the data for identifying the effects of the target shape and the movement direction on the pointing time, an attempt was made to develop a generalized and extended Fitts' model that took into account the movement direction and the target shape. As a result, the generalized and extended model was found to fit better to the experimental data, and be more effective for predicting the pointing time for a variety of human-computer interaction (HCI) task using an eye-gaze input system. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The nursing profession in Sri Lanka: time for policy changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Aluwihare-Samaranayake, D; Ogilvie, L; Cummings, G G; Gellatly, Ian R

2017-09-01

We address issues and challenges in nursing in Sri Lanka with the aim of identifying where and how policy changes need to be made. Increased global interconnectivity calls for professional leadership, research, education, and policy reform in nursing as these are identified as enhancing health workforce performance and professionalization, thereby improving health systems. We draw on first-hand knowledge of health care and nursing in Sri Lanka and a recent survey of nurses at a large urban government hospital in Sri Lanka, followed by discussion and proposed action on themes identified through analysis of published and unpublished literature about the nursing profession. Policy and action are needed to: (a) establish mandatory nurse licensure in the public and private healthcare sectors; (b) implement realistic policies to further develop nursing education; (c) develop a professionalization process to support nursing autonomy and voice; and (d) promote systematic processes for educational accreditation, curriculum revision, continuing professional development, evidence-based practice, research, leadership, and information systems. There is a policy vacuum that requires careful analysis and strategic planning by formal nurse leaders. Implementing change will require political and professional power and strategic, innovative, and evolutionary policy initiatives as well as organizational infrastructure modifications best achieved through committed multidisciplinary collaboration, augmented research capacity, bolstered nursing leadership, and promotion of partnerships with policy makers. © 2017 International Council of Nurses.

48 CFR 1417.602 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... commercial or industrial service activity which, if performed by a contractor, would result in a management... CONTRACT TYPES SPECIAL CONTRACTING METHODS Management and Operating Contracts 1417.602 Policy. (a) The AS/PMB is authorized to approve the CO's determination to enter into, extend or renew any management and...

The Impact of quantum technologies on the EU's future policies: Part 1 Quantum Time

OpenAIRE

LEWIS ADAM

2017-01-01

Atomic clocks are a quantum technology, used in national metrology laboratories to define UTC and in various networked infrastructure. Developments in the clocks themselves, and in the distribution of precise time, can be expected to affect several application areas of importance to European policy.

Extended data acquisition support at GSI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinescu, D.C.; Busch, F.; Hultzsch, H.; Lowsky, J.; Richter, M.

1984-01-01

The Experiment Data Acquisition and Analysis System (EDAS) of GSI, designed to support the data processing associated with nuclear physics experiments, provides three modes of operation: real-time, interactive replay and batch replay. The real-time mode is used for data acquisition and data analysis during an experiment performed at the heavy ion accelerator at GSI. An experiment may be performed either in Stand Alone Mode, using only the Experiment Computers, or in Extended Mode using all computing resources available. The Extended Mode combines the advantages of the real-time response of a dedicated minicomputer with the availability of computing resources in a large computing environment. This paper first gives an overview of EDAS and presents the GSI High Speed Data Acquisition Network. Data Acquisition Modes and the Extended Mode are then introduced. The structure of the system components, their implementation and the functions pertinent to the Extended Mode are presented. The control functions of the Experiment Computer sub-system are discussed in detail. Two aspects of the design of the sub-system running on the mainframe are stressed, namely the use of a multi-user installation for real-time processing and the use of a high level programming language, PL/I, as an implementation language for a system which uses parallel processing. The experience accumulated is summarized in a number of conclusions

Extended Spectrum Beta-lactamases: Definition, Classification and Epidemiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghafourian, Sobhan; Sadeghifard, Nourkhoda; Soheili, Sara; Sekawi, Zamberi

2015-01-01

Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are defined as enzymes produced by certain bacteria that are able to hydrolyze extended spectrum cephalosporin. They are therefore effective against beta-lactam antibiotics such as ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and oxyimino-monobactam. The objective of the current review is to provide a better understanding of ESBL and the epidemiology of ESBL producing organisms which are among those responsible for antibiotic resistant strains. Globally, ESBLs are considered to be problematic, particularly in hospitalized patients. There is an increasing frequency of ESBL in different parts of the world. The high risk patients are those contaminated with ESBL producer strains as it renders treatment to be ineffective in these patients. Thus, there an immediate needs to identify EBSL and formulate strategic policy initiatives to reduce their prevalence.

Exploring domestic partnership benefits policies in corporate America.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Elizabeth L; Rouse, Joy

2004-01-01

This article examines the domestic partner benefits (DP benefits) movement in corporate America, among Fortune 500 companies. An unprecedented number of Fortune 500 corporations started to extend equal benefits to their employees in the late 1990s. One-third of Fortune 500 companies now extend DP benefits to their gay employees despite national refusal to legally recognize same-sex unions. We provide a macro analysis of the 2002 Fortune 500 companies to explore the characteristics of the corporations that offer the benefits and the impetus for adopting these new gay friendly policies. Findings are that top ranked Fortune 500 and industry leaders act as benchmarkers for the corporate community. Region of the corporate headquarters and commitment to diversity issues also inform these organizational changes. Isomorphisic processes offer viable explanations for the transformation of the corporate climate that touts DP benefit policies as "the right thing to do" and considers these policies as good business sense in order to compete for employees. The DP benefits movement reflects corporate America trying to enhance their reputational capital by including gay issues as part of their diversity programs and policies.

Optimal maintenance policy for a system subject to damage in a discrete time process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chien, Yu-Hung; Sheu, Shey-Huei; Zhang, Zhe George

2012-01-01

Consider a system operating over n discrete time periods (n=1, 2, …). Each operation period causes a random amount of damage to the system which accumulates over time periods. The system fails when the cumulative damage exceeds a failure level ζ and a corrective maintenance (CM) action is immediately taken. To prevent such a failure, a preventive maintenance (PM) may be performed. In an operation period without a CM or PM, a regular maintenance (RM) is conducted at the end of that period to maintain the operation of the system. We propose a maintenance policy which prescribes a PM when the accumulated damage exceeds a pre-specified level δ ( ⁎ and N ⁎ and discuss some useful properties about them. It has been shown that a δ-based PM outperforms a N-based PM in terms of cost minimization. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the optimization of this class of maintenance policies.

Monetary policy during speculative attacks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergman, Ulf Michael; Jellingsø, Mads

2010-01-01

This paper extends the currency crises model of Aghion, Bacchetta and Banerjee (2000, 2001, 2004) in different directions. Our main result is that a tight monetary policy can have adverse effects beyond the short term and can potentially cause a currency crisis in the medium term, even in cases w...

Endogenous price flexibility and optimal monetary policy

OpenAIRE

Ozge Senay; Alan Sutherland

2014-01-01

Much of the literature on optimal monetary policy uses models in which the degree of nominal price flexibility is exogenous. There are, however, good reasons to suppose that the degree of price flexibility adjusts endogenously to changes in monetary conditions. This article extends the standard new Keynesian model to incorporate an endogenous degree of price flexibility. The model shows that endogenizing the degree of price flexibility tends to shift optimal monetary policy towards complete i...

Timing and Commitment of Environmental Policy, Adoption of New Technology, and Repercussions on R and D

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Requate, T.

2005-01-01

We investigate the interplay between environmental policy, incentives to adopt new technology, and repercussions on R and D. We study a model where a monopolistic upstream firm engages in R and D and sells advanced abatement technology to polluting downstream firms. We consider four different timing and commitment regimes of environmental tax and permit policies: ex post taxation (or issuing permits), interim commitment to a tax rate (a quota of permits) after observing R and D success but before adoption, and finally two types of ex antecommitment before R and D activity, one with a unique tax rate (quota of permits), the other one with a menu of tax rates (permit quotas). We study the second best tax and permit policies and rank these with respect to welfare. In particular, we find that commitment to a menu of tax rate dominates all other policy regimes

Note: Optimal base-stock policy for the inventory system with periodic review, backorders and sequential lead times

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Søren Glud; Thorstenson, Anders

We show that well-known textbook formulae for determining the optimal base stock of the inventory system with continuous review and constant lead time can easily be extended to the case with periodic review and stochastic, sequential lead times. The provided performance measures and conditions...

How the Timing of Climate Change Policy Affects Infrastructure Turnover in the Electricity Sector: Engineering, Economic and Policy Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Izard, Catherine Finlay

The electricity sector is responsible for producing 35% of US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Estimates suggest that ideally, the electricity sector would be responsible for approximately 85% of emissions abatement associated with climate polices such as America's Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). This is equivalent to ˜50% cumulative emissions reductions below projected cumulative business-as-usual (BAU) emissions. Achieving these levels of emissions reductions will require dramatic changes in the US electricity generating infrastructure: almost all of the fossil-generation fleet will need to be replaced with low-carbon sources and society is likely to have to maintain a high build rate of new capacity for decades. Unfortunately, the inertia in the electricity sector means that there may be physical constraints to the rate at which new electricity generating capacity can be built. Because the build rate of new electricity generating capacity may be limited, the timing of regulation is critical---the longer the U.S. waits to start reducing GHG emissions, the faster the turnover in the electricity sector must occur in order to meet the same target. There is a real, and thus far unexplored, possibility that the U.S. could delay climate change policy implementation for long enough that it becomes infeasible to attain the necessary rate of turnover in the electricity sector. This dissertation investigates the relationship between climate policy timing and infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector. The goal of the dissertation is to answer the question: How long can we wait before constraints on infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector make achieving our climate goals impossible? Using the Infrastructure Flow Assessment Model, which was developed in this work, this dissertation shows that delaying climate change policy increases average retirements rates by 200-400%, increases average construction rates by 25-85% and increases maximum construction

Analysis and Design of Bi-Directional DC-DC Converter in the Extended Run Time DC UPS System Based on Fuel Cell and Supercapacitor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Zhe; Thomsen, Ole Cornelius; Andersen, Michael A. E.

2009-01-01

Abstract-In this paper, an extended run time DC UPS system structure with fuel cell and supercapacitor is investigated. A wide input range bi-directional dc-dc converter is described along with the phase-shift modulation scheme and phase-shift with duty cycle control, in different modes. The deli......Abstract-In this paper, an extended run time DC UPS system structure with fuel cell and supercapacitor is investigated. A wide input range bi-directional dc-dc converter is described along with the phase-shift modulation scheme and phase-shift with duty cycle control, in different modes...

Extended mind and after: socially extended mind and actor-network.

Science.gov (United States)

Kono, Tetsuya

2014-03-01

The concept of extended mind has been impressively developed over the last 10 years by many philosophers and cognitive scientists. The extended mind thesis (EM) affirms that the mind is not simply ensconced inside the head, but extends to the whole system of brain-body-environment. Recently, some philosophers and psychologists try to adapt the idea of EM to the domain of social cognition research. Mind is socially extended (SEM). However, EM/SEM theory has problems to analyze the interactions among a subject and its surroundings with opposition, antagonism, or conflict; it also tends to think that the environment surrounding the subject is passive or static, and to neglect the power of non-human actants to direct and regulate the human subject. In these points, actor-network theory (ANT) proposed by Latour and Callon is more persuasive, while sharing some important ideas with EM/SEM theory. Actor-network is a hybrid community which is composed of a series of heterogeneous elements, animate and inanimate for a certain period of time. I shall conclude that EM/SEM could be best analyzed as a special case of actor-network. EM/SEM is a system which can be controlled by a human agent alone. In order to understand collective behavior, philosophy and psychology have to study the actor-network in which human individuals are situated.

Schizophrenia—Time to Commit to Policy Change

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischhacker, W. Wolfgang

2014-01-01

Care and outcomes for people with schizophrenia have improved in recent years, but further progress is needed to help more individuals achieve an independent and fulfilled life. This report sets out the current need, informs policy makers and all relevant stakeholders who influence care quality, and supports their commitment to creating a better future. The authors recommend the following policy actions, based on research evidence, stakeholder consultation, and examples of best practice worldwide. (1) Provide an evidence-based, integrated care package for people with schizophrenia that addresses their mental and physical health needs. (2) Provide support for people with schizophrenia to enter and to remain in their community, and develop mechanisms to help guide them through the complex benefit and employment systems. (3) Provide concrete support, information, and educational programs to families and carers on how to enhance care for an individual living with schizophrenia in a manner that entails minimal disruption to their lives. (4) All stakeholders, including organizations that support people living with schizophrenia, should be consulted to regularly revise, update, and improve policy on the management of schizophrenia. (5) Provide support, which is proportionate to the impact of the disease, for research and development of new treatments. (6) Establish adequately funded, ongoing, and regular awareness-raising campaigns that form an integral part of routine plans of action. Implementation of the above recommendations will require engagement by every stakeholder, but with commitment from all, change can be achieved. PMID:24778411

Extended family medicine training

Science.gov (United States)

Slade, Steve; Ross, Shelley; Lawrence, Kathrine; Archibald, Douglas; Mackay, Maria Palacios; Oandasan, Ivy F.

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To examine trends in family medicine training at a time when substantial pedagogic change is under way, focusing on factors that relate to extended family medicine training. Design Aggregate-level secondary data analysis based on the Canadian Post-MD Education Registry. Setting Canada. Participants All Canadian citizens and permanent residents who were registered in postgraduate family medicine training programs within Canadian faculties of medicine from 1995 to 2013. Main outcome measures Number and proportion of family medicine residents exiting 2-year and extended (third-year and above) family medicine training programs, as well as the types and numbers of extended training programs offered in 2015. Results The proportion of family medicine trainees pursuing extended training almost doubled during the study period, going from 10.9% in 1995 to 21.1% in 2013. Men and Canadian medical graduates were more likely to take extended family medicine training. Among the 5 most recent family medicine exit cohorts (from 2009 to 2013), 25.9% of men completed extended training programs compared with 18.3% of women, and 23.1% of Canadian medical graduates completed extended training compared with 13.6% of international medical graduates. Family medicine programs vary substantially with respect to the proportion of their trainees who undertake extended training, ranging from a low of 12.3% to a high of 35.1% among trainees exiting from 2011 to 2013. Conclusion New initiatives, such as the Triple C Competency-based Curriculum, CanMEDS–Family Medicine, and Certificates of Added Competence, have emerged as part of family medicine education and credentialing. In acknowledgment of the potential effect of these initiatives, it is important that future research examine how pedagogic change and, in particular, extended training shapes the care family physicians offer their patients. As part of that research it will be important to measure the breadth and uptake of

Energy policy of France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Revol, H.

2001-01-01

In November 1997, the French senate decided the creation of an inquiry commission in order to start up a study about the future of the French energy policy. The commission has interviewed the overall actors of the energy policy: ministers, heads of energy companies, higher officials, syndicates, consumer and environment protection associations, scientists and economists. The inquiry has been extended to other countries of the European community, and also to China, Japan, the USA and Canada. Despite various economical contexts and resources, all these countries have developed energy policies which aim at ensuring an energy independence and at supplying energy at the best price for a better economic competitiveness. This report presents first the French experience and the evolution of the French energy policy during the last 50 years with respect to the economical and political constraints encountered. The second part is a reflection about the principles that will guide the French energy policy in the context of deregulation of the European energy market and of the environmental constraints imposed by the Kyoto summit. Detailed proposals for the increase of the French energy independence are presented in conclusion of the report. (J.S.)

Beyond taxation: Discourse around energy policy in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, Takahiro; Tsuboyama, Yuki; Hara, Yoritoshi

2016-01-01

Energy policy literature tends to emphasise the impact of taxation on energy preference. However, the present case concerning extremely low acceptance of diesel cars in Japan could not be explained by taxation. As a possible factor, the paper sheds light upon discourse around the energy policy. The policy aimed to characterise diesel technology as emitting particulate matter and nitrogen oxide (NOx). The paper contributes to extending the existing understanding of the role of public policy by embracing the linguistic interactions complemented by visualisation. - Highlights: • Taxation cannot explain extremely low acceptance of diesel fuelled cars in Japan. • Explore meaning attachment process. • Complementarity between cost-benefit evaluation and meaning attachment.

Cosmological dynamics of extended chameleons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamanini, Nicola; Wright, Matthew

2016-01-01

We investigate the cosmological dynamics of the recently proposed extended chameleon models at both background and linear perturbation levels. Dynamical systems techniques are employed to fully characterize the evolution of the universe at the largest distances, while structure formation is analysed at sub-horizon scales within the quasi-static approximation. The late time dynamical transition from dark matter to dark energy domination can be well described by almost all extended chameleon models considered, with no deviations from ΛCDM results at both background and perturbation levels. The results obtained in this work confirm the cosmological viability of extended chameleons as alternative dark energy models.

Cosmological dynamics of extended chameleons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tamanini, Nicola [Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA-Saclay, CNRS UMR 3681, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Wright, Matthew, E-mail: nicola.tamanini@cea.fr, E-mail: matthew.wright.13@ucl.ac.uk [Department of Mathematics, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)

2016-04-01

We investigate the cosmological dynamics of the recently proposed extended chameleon models at both background and linear perturbation levels. Dynamical systems techniques are employed to fully characterize the evolution of the universe at the largest distances, while structure formation is analysed at sub-horizon scales within the quasi-static approximation. The late time dynamical transition from dark matter to dark energy domination can be well described by almost all extended chameleon models considered, with no deviations from ΛCDM results at both background and perturbation levels. The results obtained in this work confirm the cosmological viability of extended chameleons as alternative dark energy models.

The OPL Access Control Policy Language

Science.gov (United States)

Alm, Christopher; Wolf, Ruben; Posegga, Joachim

Existing policy languages suffer from a limited ability of directly and elegantly expressing high-level access control principles such as history-based separation of duty [22], binding of duty [26], context constraints [24], Chinese wall properties [10], and obligations [20]. It is often difficult to extend a language in order to retrofit these features once required or it is necessary to use complicated and complex language constructs to express such concepts. The latter, however, is cumbersome and error-prone for humans dealing with policy administration.

False-vacuum decay in generalized extended inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holman, R.; Wang Yun; Kolb, E.W.; Chicago Univ., IL; Chicago Univ., IL; Vadas, S.L.

1990-01-01

We study false-vacuum decay in the context of generalized extended inflationary theories, and compute the bubble nucleation rates for these theories in the limit of G N →0. We find that the time dependence of the nucleation rate can be exponentially strong through the time dependence of the Jordan-Brans-Dicke field. This can have a pronounced effect on whether extended inflation can be succesfully implemented. (orig.)

Understanding Iranian Foreign Policy - The Case of Iranian Nuclear Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emir Hadzikadunic

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the complexity of the Iranian foreign policy through the case of Iranian nuclear program. The paper aims to assess foreign policy orientations and compares actions of the last three Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and current Hassan Rouhani in dealing with the international community (IC in pursuing its nuclear program. This assessment would not be complete without reference to the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei who is actual head of the state and the most powerful political authority. This paper also relates Iranian foreign policy expectation to competing theories of international relations to identify the most dominant or the most consistent policy orientation. Its aim is to strengthen realist and power-based explanations that have dominated the discourse on Middle Eastern in general and Iranian foreign policy in particular. In this context, a number of questions will be addressed here. To what extend was Iranian negotiation with the IC over its nuclear program consistent throughout these three presidencies? What has changed, if anything, from Iranian foreign policy perspective and why? Can Iranian foreign policy behavior on this specific topic and in this specific time be explained through any international relations theory? As there are many other questions, so there are many theories to examine and explain true Iranian intentions, those below the surface of declared goals (Hadzikadunic, 2014. The methods employed in answering these questions are largely structured around a chronological account and comparative approach. It is also based on the analysis of foreign policy discourse and the assessment of key decision makers.

A Logic for Reasoning About Time-Dependent Access Control Policies

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

DeYoung, Henry

2008-01-01

.... Because of the number and complexity of authorization policies in access control systems, it is clear that ad hoc methods for specifying and enforcing policies cannot inspire a high degree of trust...

Policy offers protection from harassment

Science.gov (United States)

McNutt, Marcia

We face a number of legal and ethical issues in our work as scientists and as AGU members. To uphold the highest ethical standards in our professional activities, the Council has adopted policies on free access to published material, ethics in publishing, and misconduct in science. But what about guidelines to govern the personal behavior that constitutes harassment, sexual or otherwise?For years the AGU headquarters staff has had a policy that offers protection from harassment and rules for dealing with it, but the membership went without one until 1994. That year the Council adopted a policy that extends to the membership as well as to the staff and the vendors they encounter at meetings. The law only requires a policy to prevent harassment in the workplace, but the Council felt that a harassment policy was particularly important for members because the subtle behavior that can constitute harassment is most likely to occur at events that combine work and social interaction, such as the meetings, conferences, and training seminars that AGU members attend.

Ethics and policies in the face of research into extending human life.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellver Capella, Vicente

2014-01-01

If the prediction of some scientists comes true, then we are only few years away from the appearance of the first generation of human beings who will be able to add one year to each remaining year of life expectancy. Faced with this possibility, it seems appropriate to give thought to the public policies that should be adopted. It is better to anticipate the various future scenarios than react to a reality which is a fait accompli. To date, the debate has mainly focused on the ethical question: is it good or bad for us humans to achieve immortal life? Until now, neither legal guidelines at State level nor those of international organisations which deal with bioethical issues have concerned themselves with this matter. But before discussing policies, two other matters should be addressed: first, to show how the prolongation of human life can be as much the unwanted outcome of legitimate efforts in search of healthy aging, as one of the aims of the post-humanist project; second, to present the most consistent and shared ethical reasons for rejecting the human immortality project.

Automated procedure for selection of optimal refueling policies for light water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, B.I.; Zolotar, B.; Weisman, J.

1979-01-01

An automated procedure determining a minimum cost refueling policy has been developed for light water reactors. The procedure is an extension of the equilibrium core approach previously devised for pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Use of 1 1/2-group theory has improved the accuracy of the nuclear model and eliminated tedious fitting of albedos. A simple heuristic algorithm for locating a good starting policy has materially reduced PWR computing time. Inclusion of void effects and use of the Haling principle for axial flux calculations extended the nuclear model to boiling water reactors (BWRs). A good initial estimate of the refueling policy is obtained by recognizing that a nearly uniform distribution of reactivity provides low-power peaking. The initial estimate is improved upon by interchanging groups of four assemblies and is subsequently refined by interchanging individual assemblies. The method yields very favorable results, is simpler than previously proposed BWR fuel optimization schemes, and retains power cost as the objective function

An Extended Fourier Approach to Improve the Retrieved Leaf Area Index (LAI in a Time Series from an Alpine Wetland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xingwen Quan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available An extended Fourier approach was presented to improve the retrieved leaf area index (LAIr of herbaceous vegetation in a time series from an alpine wetland. The retrieval was performed from the Aqua MODIS 8-day composite surface reflectance product (MYD09Q1 from day of year (DOY 97 to 297 using a look-up table (LUT based inversion of a two-layer canopy reflectance model (ACRM. To reduce the uncertainty (the ACRM inversion is ill-posed, we used NDVI and NIR images to reduce the influence of the soil background and the priori information to constrain the range of sensitive ACRM parameters determined using the Sobol’s method. Even so the uncertainty caused the LAIr versus time curve to oscillate. To further reduce the uncertainty, a Fourier model was fitted using the periodically LAIr results, obtaining LAIF. We note that the level of precision of the LAIF potentially may increase through removing singular points or decrease if the LAIr data were too noisy. To further improve the precision level of the LAIr, the Fourier model was extended by considering the LAIr uncertainty. The LAIr, the LAI simulated using the Fourier model, and the LAI simulated using the extended Fourier approach (LAIeF were validated through comparisons with the field measured LAI. The R2 values were 0.68, 0.67 and 0.72, the residual sums of squares (RSS were 3.47, 3.42 and 3.15, and the root-mean-square errors (RMSE were 0.31, 0.30 and 0.29, respectively, on DOY 177 (early July 2011. In late August (DOY 233, the R2 values were 0.73, 0.77 and 0.79, the RSS values were 38.96, 29.25 and 27.48, and the RMSE values were 0.94, 0.81 and 0.78, respectively. The results demonstrate that the extended Fourier approach has the potential to increase the level of precision of estimates of the time varying LAI.

Thermostating extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez, Enrique; Cawkwell, Marc J; Voter, Arthur F; Niklasson, Anders M N

2015-04-21

Extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics is developed and analyzed for applications in canonical (NVT) simulations. Three different approaches are considered: the Nosé and Andersen thermostats and Langevin dynamics. We have tested the temperature distribution under different conditions of self-consistent field (SCF) convergence and time step and compared the results to analytical predictions. We find that the simulations based on the extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer framework provide accurate canonical distributions even under approximate SCF convergence, often requiring only a single diagonalization per time step, whereas regular Born-Oppenheimer formulations exhibit unphysical fluctuations unless a sufficiently high degree of convergence is reached at each time step. The thermostated extended Lagrangian framework thus offers an accurate approach to sample processes in the canonical ensemble at a fraction of the computational cost of regular Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations.

Air Pollution Policy in Europe. Quantifying the Interaction with Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change Policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bollen, J. [CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, Den Haag (Netherlands); Brink, C. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL, Den Haag (Netherlands)

2012-10-15

In this study the Computable General Equilibrium Model called WorldScan is used to analyse interactions between European air pollution policies and policies aimed at addressing climate change. WorldScan incorporates the emissions of both greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O and CH4) and air pollutants (SO2, NOx, NH3 and PM2.5). WorldScan has been extended with equations that enable the simulation of end-of-pipe measures that remove pollutants without affecting the emission-producing activity itself. Air pollution policy will depend on end-of-pipe controls for not more than 50%, thus also at least 50% of the required emission reduction will come from changes in the use of energy through efficiency improvements, fuel switching and other structural changes in the economy. Greenhouse gas emissions thereby decrease which renders climate change policies less costly. Our results show that carbon prices will fall, but not more than 33%, although they could drop to zero when the EU agrees on a more stringent air pollution policy.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTING THE INTERESTS OF PATIENTS’ ENGAGEMENT IN HEALH POLICY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gintarė Petronytė

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on engagement in health policy of non-governmental organizations representing the interests of patients (NGOs. A qualitative study using a semi-structured interview method was performed in July–October 2015, involving nine representatives of NGOs from Vilnius and Kaunas. NGOs’ engagement in health policy was evaluated by applying the framework of the theoretical stakeholder participation ladder, which was developed by Arnstein and later extended by Friedman and Miles. NGOs’ engagement in health policy could be attributed to the levels of consultation and involvement, considering their collaboration with governmental institutions and political involvement. Their engagement in health policy could not be attributed to the level of delegated power (shared influence and responsibility when involved into the processes of decision formulation and decision-making. NGOs are involved in health policy by working groups and other working bodies established by governmental institutions. Financing, close interinstitutional collaboration, competencies of NGOs and their active participation are required for NGOs’ engagement in health policy. The main collaboration form between NGOs and the Ministry of Health is the Lithuanian patients’ forum, however, constant information, involvement in decision making processes and the initiation of collaboration are the key prerequisites for the development of closer collaboration. Internal and external barriers limit NGOs’ engagement in health policy: hierarchical relationships, the lack of equal collaboration and dialogue with governmental institutions, limited financial, time and human resources.

An Evaluation Framework for Obesity Prevention Policy Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Sommers, Janice; Vu, Maihan; Jernigan, Jan; Payne, Gayle; Thompson, Diane; Heiser, Claire; Farris, Rosanne; Ammerman, Alice

2012-01-01

As the emphasis on preventing obesity has grown, so have calls for interventions that extend beyond individual behaviors and address changes in environments and policies. Despite the need for policy action, little is known about policy approaches that are most effective at preventing obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others are funding the implementation and evaluation of new obesity prevention policies, presenting a distinct opportunity to learn from these practice-based initiatives and build the body of evidence-based approaches. However, contributions from this policy activity are limited by the incomplete and inconsistent evaluation data collected on policy processes and outcomes. We present a framework developed by the CDC-funded Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation that public health practitioners can use to evaluate policy interventions and identify the practice-based evidence needed to fill the gaps in effective policy approaches to obesity prevention. PMID:22742594

Nudges, shoves and budges: Behavioural economic policy frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Adam

2018-01-01

Behavioural economics-the study of human decision making and how it sometimes deviates systematically from the assumptions of standard economic theory-has attracted a lot of attention in the health policy discourse over recent years. Many appear to believe that behavioural economic findings can be used only to help inform policies that manipulate the choices made by citizens, ie, the so-called nudge policy. However, these findings can be used to inform several different policy frameworks, from seemingly innocuous liberty-preserving changes to the contexts people operate in, to the outlawing of certain corporate behaviours. This article depicts diagrammatically, with the aid of a "behavioural policy cube" and in relation to smoking cessation interventions, the conceptual parameters of several behavioural economic-informed policy frameworks, which could be easily extended to other areas of health, and indeed broader public, policy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Realizing IoT service's policy privacy over publish/subscribe-based middleware.

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Li; Zhang, Yang; Chen, Shiping; Wang, Shiyao; Cheng, Bo; Chen, Junliang

2016-01-01

The publish/subscribe paradigm makes IoT service collaborations more scalable and flexible, due to the space, time and control decoupling of event producers and consumers. Thus, the paradigm can be used to establish large-scale IoT service communication infrastructures such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems. However, preserving IoT service's policy privacy is difficult in this paradigm, because a classical publisher has little control of its own event after being published; and a subscriber has to accept all the events from the subscribed event type with no choice. Few existing publish/subscribe middleware have built-in mechanisms to address the above issues. In this paper, we present a novel access control framework, which is capable of preserving IoT service's policy privacy. In particular, we adopt the publish/subscribe paradigm as the IoT service communication infrastructure to facilitate the protection of IoT services policy privacy. The key idea in our policy-privacy solution is using a two-layer cooperating method to match bi-directional privacy control requirements: (a) data layer for protecting IoT events; and (b) application layer for preserving the privacy of service policy. Furthermore, the anonymous-set-based principle is adopted to realize the functionalities of the framework, including policy embedding and policy encoding as well as policy matching. Our security analysis shows that the policy privacy framework is Chosen-Plaintext Attack secure. We extend the open source Apache ActiveMQ broker by building into a policy-based authorization mechanism to enforce the privacy policy. The performance evaluation results indicate that our approach is scalable with reasonable overheads.

The time-varying correlation between policy uncertainty and stock returns: Evidence from China

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Xiong; Bian, Yuxiang; Shen, Dehua

2018-06-01

In this paper, we use a new policy uncertainty index to investigate the time-varying correlation between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and Chinese stock market returns. The correlation is examined in the period from January 1995 to December 2016. We show that absolute changes in EPU have a significant impact on stock market returns. Specifically, empirical results based on the DCC-GARCH model reveal that the correlation between EPU and stock returns has large fluctuations, especially during a financial crisis; in addition, the impact of EPU on the Shanghai stock market is greater than on the Shenzhen stock market. Robustness results reveal that the impact of EPU on state-owned enterprises is larger than on non-state enterprises. All of these results highlight the important role of EPU in the Chinese stock market, and shed light on such issues for future research.

Instance-based Policy Learning by Real-coded Genetic Algorithms and Its Application to Control of Nonholonomic Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Miyamae, Atsushi; Sakuma, Jun; Ono, Isao; Kobayashi, Shigenobu

The stabilization control of nonholonomic systems have been extensively studied because it is essential for nonholonomic robot control problems. The difficulty in this problem is that the theoretical derivation of control policy is not necessarily guaranteed achievable. In this paper, we present a reinforcement learning (RL) method with instance-based policy (IBP) representation, in which control policies for this class are optimized with respect to user-defined cost functions. Direct policy search (DPS) is an approach for RL; the policy is represented by parametric models and the model parameters are directly searched by optimization techniques including genetic algorithms (GAs). In IBP representation an instance consists of a state and an action pair; a policy consists of a set of instances. Several DPSs with IBP have been previously proposed. In these methods, sometimes fail to obtain optimal control policies when state-action variables are continuous. In this paper, we present a real-coded GA for DPSs with IBP. Our method is specifically designed for continuous domains. Optimization of IBP has three difficulties; high-dimensionality, epistasis, and multi-modality. Our solution is designed for overcoming these difficulties. The policy search with IBP representation appears to be high-dimensional optimization; however, instances which can improve the fitness are often limited to active instances (instances used for the evaluation). In fact, the number of active instances is small. Therefore, we treat the search problem as a low dimensional problem by restricting search variables only to active instances. It has been commonly known that functions with epistasis can be efficiently optimized with crossovers which satisfy the inheritance of statistics. For efficient search of IBP, we propose extended crossover-like mutation (extended XLM) which generates a new instance around an instance with satisfying the inheritance of statistics. For overcoming multi-modality, we

Minkowski space-time is locally extendible

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beem, J.K.

1980-01-01

An example of a real analytic local extension of Minkowski space-time is given in this note. This local extension is not across points of the b-boundary since Minkowski space-time has an empty b-boundary. Furthermore, this local extension is not across points of the causal boundary. The example indicates that the concept of local inextendibility may be less useful than originally envisioned. (orig.)

Economic impact of extended time on peritoneal dialysis as a result of using polyglucose: the application of a Markov chain model to forecast changes in the development of the ESRD programme over time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.J. Weijnen; H.W. van Hamersvelt; P.M. Just; D.G. Struijk; P.M. ter Wee (Piet); Y.I. Tjandra; F.Th. de Charro

2003-01-01

textabstractBACKGROUND: The use of polyglucose as a peritoneal dialysis (PD) fluid extends time on PD treatment. It is anticipated, therefore, that the share of patients treated with PD will be positively influenced. The relationship between extension of PD treatment time and an

Time to refine key climate policy models

Science.gov (United States)

Barron, Alexander R.

2018-05-01

Ambition regarding climate change at the national level is critical but is often calibrated with the projected costs — as estimated by a small suite of energy-economic models. Weaknesses in several key areas in these models will continue to distort policy design unless collectively addressed by a diversity of researchers.

Integrating the sequence dependent setup time open shop problem and preventive maintenance policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Naboureh

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In most industrial environments, it is usually considered that machines are accessible throughout the planning horizon, but in real situation, machines may be unavailable due to a scheduled preventive maintenance where the periods of unavailability are known in advance. The main idea of this paper is to consider different preventive maintenance policies on machines regarding open shop scheduling problem (OSSP with sequence dependent setup times (SDST using immune algorithm. The preventive maintenance (PM policies are planned for maximizing availability of machines or keeping minimum level of reliability through the production horizon. The objective function of the paper is to minimize makespan. In total, the proposed algorithm extensively is compared with six adaptations of existing heuristic and meta-heuristic methods for the problem through data sets from benchmarks based on Taillard’s instances with some adjustments. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other algorithms for this problem.

Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender Simulation of Three Adjacent Row-Crop Watersheds in the Claypan Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Anomaa Senaviratne, G M M M; Udawatta, Ranjith P; Baffaut, Claire; Anderson, Stephen H

2013-01-01

The Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX) model is used to evaluate best management practices on pollutant loading in whole farms or small watersheds. The objectives of this study were to conduct a sensitivity analysis to determine the effect of model parameters on APEX output and use the parameterized, calibrated, and validated model to evaluate long-term benefits of grass waterways. The APEX model was used to model three (East, Center, and West) adjacent field-size watersheds with claypan soils under a no-till corn ( L.)/soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation. Twenty-seven parameters were sensitive for crop yield, runoff, sediment, nitrogen (dissolved and total), and phosphorous (dissolved and total) simulations. The model was calibrated using measured event-based data from the Center watershed from 1993 to 1997 and validated with data from the West and East watersheds. Simulated crop yields were within ±13% of the measured yield. The model performance for event-based runoff was excellent, with calibration and validation > 0.9 and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients (NSC) > 0.8, respectively. Sediment and total nitrogen calibration results were satisfactory for larger rainfall events (>50 mm), with > 0.5 and NSC > 0.4, but validation results remained poor, with NSC between 0.18 and 0.3. Total phosphorous was well calibrated and validated, with > 0.8 and NSC > 0.7, respectively. The presence of grass waterways reduced annual total phosphorus loadings by 13 to 25%. The replicated study indicates that APEX provides a convenient and efficient tool to evaluate long-term benefits of conservation practices. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

EAES: Extended Advanced Encryption Standard with Extended Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abul Kalam Azad

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Though AES is the highest secure symmetric cipher at present, many attacks are now effective against AES too which is seen from the review of recent attacks of AES. This paper describes an extended AES algorithm with key sizes of 256, 384 and 512 bits with round numbers of 10, 12 and 14 respectively. Data block length is 128 bits, same as AES. But unlike AES each round of encryption and decryption of this proposed algorithm consists of five stages except the last one which consists of four stages. Unlike AES, this algorithm uses two different key expansion algorithms with two different round constants that ensure higher security than AES. Basically, this algorithm takes one cipher key and divides the selected key of two separate sub-keys: FirstKey and SecondKey. Then expand them through two different key expansion schedules. Performance analysis shows that the proposed extended AES algorithm takes almost same amount of time to encrypt and decrypt the same amount of data as AES but with higher security than AES.

A Study of Factors Affecting the Renewal of Health Insurance Policy

OpenAIRE

Bhat Ramesh; Jain Nishant

2007-01-01

Health insurance policies are generally one-year policies and to remain part of the insurance poll, policyholders are required to renew their policies each year. Understanding the factors that affect the demand and renewal decisions to continue in health insurance programme is imperative for future growth and development of the insurance sector. We extend our previous work on factors affecting the decision to purchase health insurance to understand the factors affecting the renewal of insuran...

Extended storage of low-level radioactive waste: potential problem areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siskind, B.; Dougherty, D.R.; MacKenzie, D.R.

1985-12-01

If a state or state compact does not have adequate disposal capacity for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) by 1986 as required by the Low-Level Waste Policy Act, then extended storage of certain LLRW may be necessary. In this report, extended storage of LLRW is considered in order to determine for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission areas of concern and actions recommended to resolve these concerns. The focus is on the properties and performance of the waste form and waste container. Storage alternatives are considered in order to characterize the likely storage environments for these wastes. The areas of concern about extended storage of LLRW are grouped into two categories: (1) Performance of the waste form and/or container during storage, e.g., radiolytic gas generation, radiation-enhanced degradation of polymeric materials, and corrosion. (2) Effects of extended storage on the properties of the waste form and/or container that are important after storage (e.g., radiation-induced embrittlement of high-density polyethylene and the weakening of steel containers resulting from corrosion). A discussion is given of additional information and actions required to address these concerns

Policies and Practices of Family Friendliness. Time and Employment Relations in Knowledge Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tove Håpnes

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements for parents, both mothers and fathers, to make the combination of work and family possible.To recruit competent women and men, knowledge work organisations have to accommodate to working hours that are compatible with the responsibility for a family. In the knowledge economy in Norway we therefore find women and men with higher education trying to act out the ideals of gen- der equality at work and at home. In this paper we explore how family-friendly policies in knowledge work organisations result in family-friendly practices.We do this by analysing two R&D departments belonging to large Norwegian companies in the international market. Both had policies of gender equality and family friendly working time arrangements and career opportunities for women with reduced hours.We show how different employment relations and forms of organisation influenced the work and time practices of the research scientists. Using the concept of social contracts in em- ployment and a relational concept of time, we found that it was more difficult to realise the reduced hours in the organisation that took responsibility for the career and welfare of their employees in a long-term perspective because of the mutual trust and obligations in this relationship.The women in the organisation with more transactional relations where their employment was dependent upon the market and their short-term economic performance, were able to use their accounting system to reduce their hours.The young fathers in the same organisation who were not yet established as experts, could not use the accounting system to limit their hours like the senior women.They needed to work long hours on scientific publications to qualify as researchers to secure their employment. In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements

Continuous-time quantum walk on an extended star graph: Trapping and superradiance transition

Science.gov (United States)

Yalouz, Saad; Pouthier, Vincent

2018-02-01

A tight-binding model is introduced for describing the dynamics of an exciton on an extended star graph whose central node is occupied by a trap. On this graph, the exciton dynamics is governed by two kinds of eigenstates: many eigenstates are associated with degenerate real eigenvalues insensitive to the trap, whereas three decaying eigenstates characterized by complex energies contribute to the trapping process. It is shown that the excitonic population absorbed by the trap depends on the size of the graph, only. By contrast, both the size parameters and the absorption rate control the dynamics of the trapping. When these parameters are judiciously chosen, the efficiency of the transfer is optimized resulting in the minimization of the absorption time. Analysis of the eigenstates reveals that such a feature arises around the superradiance transition. Moreover, depending on the size of the network, two situations are highlighted where the transport efficiency is either superoptimized or suboptimized.

Smoke-free air policies: past, present and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyland, Andrew; Barnoya, Joaquin; Corral, Juan E

2012-03-01

Smoke-free policies have been an important tobacco control intervention. As recently as 20 years ago, few communities required workplaces and hospitality venues to be smoke-free, but today approximately 11% of the world's population live in countries with laws that require these places to be smoke-free. This paper briefly summarises important milestones in the history of indoor smoke-free policies, the role of scientific research in facilitating their adoption, a framework for smoke-free policy evaluation and industry efforts to undermine regulations. At present, smoke-free policies centre on workplaces, restaurants and pubs. In addition, many jurisdictions are now beginning to implement policies in outdoor areas and in shared multiunit housing settings. The future of smoke-free policy development depends on credible scientific data that documents the health risks of secondhand smoke exposure. Over the next 20 years smoke-free policies will very likely extend to outdoor and private areas, and changes in the types of tobacco products that are consumed may also have implications for the nature and scope of the smoke-free policies of the future.

Time Trends and Policy Gaps: The Case of Alcohol Misuse Among Adolescents in Lebanon.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghandour, Lilian; Afifi, Rima; Fares, Sonia; El Salibi, Noura; Rady, Alissar

2015-01-01

Monitoring studies are crucial for informing and reforming local policies. Using the Lebanon 2005 and 2011 Global School-based Student Health Surveys (GSHS), alcohol time trends were described, policy gaps were identified, and harm reduction policy recommendations were made. In 2005 and 2011, 100 (n = 5109 students) and 44 (n = 2784 students) middle schools were surveyed, respectively. Self-reported cross-sectional data on alcohol use among 7-9th graders in private and public schools was collected including 30-day prevalence, lifetime drunkenness, alcohol-related problems, and sources of alcohol. In 2011, the majority (87%) had alcohol before turning 14. Between 2005 and 2011, past 30-day alcohol use had increased by 40% and lifetime drunkenness by 50% in the total sample (122% among females with a narrowing in the gender gap). Drinking was regular for more than a third of the past 30-day drinkers (drank two or more drinks on the days they drank). Male adolescents were more likely to obtain alcohol from "stores" or "through their friends" whereas females' main source was their "family." One in twenty reported experiencing alcohol-related problems (e.g., getting into fights with family/friends and skipping school). Conclusion/Importance: Evidence-informed policy implications include enforcing a minimum legal drinking age, regulating alcohol advertising, and marketing particularly those targeting youth and women, and ensuring the availability of youth-friendly services. Public messages to increase awareness among all stakeholders including youth, their parents, and larger community are also needed.

Gauge fixing of Chern-Simons N-extended supergravity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ney, W G [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Centro Federal de Educacao Tecnologica (CEFET), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ (Brazil); Piguet, O [Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo (UFES), ES 29000-001, Vitoria (Brazil); Spalenza, W [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2004-08-01

We treat N-extended supergravity in 2+1 space-time dimensions as a Yang-Mills gauge field with Chern-Simons action associated to the N-extended Poincare supergroup. We fix the gauge of this theory within the Batalin-Vilkovisky scheme. (orig.)

Gauge fixing of Chern-Simons N-extended supergravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ney, W.G.; Piguet, O.; Spalenza, W.

2004-01-01

We treat N-extended supergravity in 2+1 space-time dimensions as a Yang-Mills gauge field with Chern-Simons action associated to the N-extended Poincare supergroup. We fix the gauge of this theory within the Batalin-Vilkovisky scheme. (orig.)

Changes in risk perception over time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez, L.S.; Jenkins-Smith, H.C.; Miller, K.W.

1992-01-01

The focus of this paper is on changes in perceptions of the risks associated with nuclear waste management over time. In particular, we are interested in the kinds of change that take place when the management programs, and those who are charged with implementing them, are subject to intensive public debate over an extended period of time. We are undertaken an over-time study of perceived risks in Colorado and New Mexico by implementing sequential random household surveys in each state, timed at six month intervals. This study employs three of these surveys, spanning the period from summer, 1990 to summer, 1991. Using these data, we examine the dynamics that may underlie variations in perceived risks over time. In particular, our analysis is focused on changes in the roles played by (1) basic political orientations (i.e. political ideology) and (2) trust in those who advocate conflicting policy positions

Effectiveness of macroprudential policies in Central and Eastern European countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirna Dumicic

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper extends the available datasets on the use of macroprudential policies in CEE countries, and provides an econometric assessment of the effectiveness of these policies in mitigating financial stability risks associated with excessive credit growth before the global financial crisis. The model results imply that macroprudential policies were more effective in slowing credit to households than credit to the non-financial corporate sector, mainly because the latter had access to nonbank and cross-border credit in addition to domestic bank credit.

Effect of chain extender on properties of silicone rubber sealant

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiesheng; Wu, Shaopeng; Mi, Yixuan; Zhu, Guojun; Zheng, Shaoping

2010-03-01

The room-temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber sealant was prepared with chain extender. The effect of chain extender on the properties of silicone rubber sealant was discussed. The composite samples with chain extender were investigated from the aspects of tack-free time, cross-linkage density, hardness (penetration number) and adhesive strength with the concrete slab. It was found that the adding of the chain extender effectively makes the molecular chain length increase and causes the mechanical properties improvement. In addition, the increase in the amount of the chain extender reduces the cross-linkage density and hardness of silicone rubber sealant, which is accompanied with a decrease in the tack-free time. Adhesive strength is one of the most important requirements for sealant. The effect of chain extender on the adhesive strength was also investigated in this study. It was found that the increase in the amount of the chain extender makes the adhesive strength between the sealant and the concrete slab decrease.

The Q(s,S) control policy for the joint replenishment problem extended to the case of correlation among item-demands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian

  We develop an algorithm to compute an optimal Q(s,S) policy for the joint replenishment problem when demands follow a compound correlated Poisson process. It is a non-trivial generalization of the work by Nielsen and Larsen (2005). We make some numerical analyses on two-item problems where we...... compare the optimal Q(s,S) policy to the optimal uncoordinated (s,S) policies. The results indicate that the more negative the correlation the less advantageous it is to coordinate. Therefore, in some cases the degree of correlation determines whether to apply the coordinated Q(s,S) policy...... or the uncoordinated (s,S) policies. Finally, we compare the Q(s,S) policy and the closely connected P(s,S) policy. Here we explain why the Q(s,S) policy is a better choice if item-demands are correlated....

Beyond the contributory principle: changes and continuities in Argentine social policy , 2003-2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillermo V Alonso

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this article is to analyze the transformations of Argentine social policy during Nestor Kirchner’s and Cristina Fernandez’s Administrations, from 2003 through 2011. We analyze the main social policies with more extended population coverage, especially social security programs. We will argue that at the beginning social policies were a new version of the Bismarckian social insurance, but then the government innovated in social policy breaking with the contributory principle.

Impacts of licensed premises trading hour policies on alcohol-related harms.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, Jo-An; Prodan, Ante; Livingston, Michael; Knowles, Dylan; O'Donnell, Eloise; Room, Robin; Indig, Devon; Page, Andrew; McDonnell, Geoff; Wiggers, John

2018-07-01

Evaluations of alcohol policy changes demonstrate that restriction of trading hours of both 'on'- and 'off'-licence venues can be an effective means of reducing rates of alcohol-related harm. Despite this, the effects of different trading hour policy options over time, accounting for different contexts and demographic characteristics, and the common co-occurrence of other harm reduction strategies in trading hour policy initiatives, are difficult to estimate. The aim of this study was to use dynamic simulation modelling to compare estimated impacts over time of a range of trading hour policy options on various indicators of acute alcohol-related harm. An agent-based model of alcohol consumption in New South Wales, Australia was developed using existing research evidence, analysis of available data and a structured approach to incorporating expert opinion. Five policy scenarios were simulated, including restrictions to trading hours of on-licence venues and extensions to trading hours of bottle shops. The impact of the scenarios on four measures of alcohol-related harm were considered: total acute harms, alcohol-related violence, emergency department (ED) presentations and hospitalizations. Simulation of a 3 a.m. (rather than 5 a.m.) closing time resulted in an estimated 12.3 ± 2.4% reduction in total acute alcohol-related harms, a 7.9 ± 0.8% reduction in violence, an 11.9 ± 2.1% reduction in ED presentations and a 9.5 ± 1.8% reduction in hospitalizations. Further reductions were achieved simulating a 1 a.m. closing time, including a 17.5 ± 1.1% reduction in alcohol-related violence. Simulated extensions to bottle shop trading hours resulted in increases in rates of all four measures of harm, although most of the effects came from increasing operating hours from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. An agent-based simulation model suggests that restricting trading hours of licensed venues reduces rates of alcohol-related harm and extending trading hours of bottle

Hamiltonian dynamics on the symplectic extended phase space for autonomous and non-autonomous systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Struckmeier, Juergen

2005-01-01

We will present a consistent description of Hamiltonian dynamics on the 'symplectic extended phase space' that is analogous to that of a time-independent Hamiltonian system on the conventional symplectic phase space. The extended Hamiltonian H 1 and the pertaining extended symplectic structure that establish the proper canonical extension of a conventional Hamiltonian H will be derived from a generalized formulation of Hamilton's variational principle. The extended canonical transformation theory then naturally permits transformations that also map the time scales of the original and destination system, while preserving the extended Hamiltonian H 1 , and hence the form of the canonical equations derived from H 1 . The Lorentz transformation, as well as time scaling transformations in celestial mechanics, will be shown to represent particular canonical transformations in the symplectic extended phase space. Furthermore, the generalized canonical transformation approach allows us to directly map explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonians into time-independent ones. An 'extended' generating function that defines transformations of this kind will be presented for the time-dependent damped harmonic oscillator and for a general class of explicitly time-dependent potentials. In the appendix, we will re-establish the proper form of the extended Hamiltonian H 1 by means of a Legendre transformation of the extended Lagrangian L 1

From localized to extended states in a time-dependent quantum model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jose, J.V.

1986-01-01

The problem of a particle inside a rigid box with one of the walls oscillating periodically in time is studied quantum mechanically. In the classical limit, this model was introduced by Fermi in the context of cosmic ray physics. The classical solutions can go from being quasiperiodic to chaotic, as a function of the amplitude of the wall oscillation. In the quantum case, the authors calculate the spectral properties of the corresponding evolution operator, i.e.: the quasi-energy eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The specific form of the wall oscillation, e.g. iota(t) = √ 1 + 2δabsolute value of t, with absolute value of t ≤ 1/2, and iota(t + 1) = iota(t), is essential to the solutions presented here. It is found that as h increases with δ fixed, the nearest neighbor separation between quasi-energy eigenvalues changes from showing no energy level repulsion to energy level repulsion. This transition, from Poisson-like statistics to Gaussian-Orthogonal-Ensemble-like statistics is tested by looking at the distribution of quasi-energy level nearest neighbor separations and the Δ/sub e/(L) statistics. these results are also correlated to a transition between localized to extended states in energy space. The possible relevance of the results presented here to experiments in quasi-one-dimensional atoms is also discussed

Examining Massification Policies and Their Consequences for Equality in Chinese Higher Education: A Cultural Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jian

2012-01-01

This study extends the theoretical perspectives in policy studies on the issue of educational equality by analyzing the influence of cultural values on policies and policy processes. The present paper first teases out the key cultural values regarding education and equality, and then explores how these values shape the institution and policy…

Does Age Matter in HR Decision Making? Four Types of Age Policies in Finnish Work Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Pärnänen

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The extension of work careers is one of the key targets of social policy in the EU as well as in Finnish national policy-making. But how is this objective of lengthened work life received at the workplace level? This study examines the aim of extending working careers at an organizational level. The data comprise interviews with human resources managers, shop stewards, and employees reaching the end of their working life, conducted in ten Finnish work organizations. Four different age policy lines can be distinguished from the data. First, the age policy practices of manufacturing enterprises are very much alike in that a clear turn has occurred from favoring the unemployment pension path in the case of dismissals to extending working careers. Second, the age policy of public sector organizations encourages investment in extending the working careers of older employees, though young people are clearly preferred in recruitment. The third line can be found in private service sector enterprises that utilize age segmentation based on the age of their customers – young waiters for young customers, for example – while the fourth can be described by the words ‘situation-specific’ and ‘passive’. No input is made into extending working careers and the unemployment route is used as the means of dismissal where needed. The study reveals that the organizations’ age policies are strategic in nature: longer working careers are supported and older people are hired only if it is strategically sound. It can be said that workplaces currently determine the boundaries of who and at what age people are fit for work and of ‘working age’.

The co-movement of monetary policy and its time-varying nature: A DCCA approach

Science.gov (United States)

Rohit, Abhishek; Mitra, Subrata Kumar

2018-02-01

Employing a novel methodology of DCCA cross-correlation coefficient (ρDCCA), this study attempts to provide fresh evidences for the co-movement of monetary policies of the advanced (AEs) as well as the emerging economies (EMEs) vis-à-vis the United States. A higher degree of monetary co-movement as measured by ρDCCA values, is identified for the AEs as compared to the EMEs. Lower co-movement of monetary policy is especially noticeable in the short run for EMEs. We further investigate the time-varying nature of such co-movements for the AEs by splitting the period (1980-2014) into four sub periods and also by performing a rolling window estimation for the entire period to reveal smoother dynamics. Significant evidence of higher monetary coordination is revealed for sub-periods with stronger trade and financial linkages.

Why are women more likely than men to extend paid work? The impact of work-family life history.

Science.gov (United States)

Finch, Naomi

2014-03-01

Extending working life beyond the state pension age is a key European Union policy. In the UK, women are more likely to extend paid work than men, indicating that factors other than the state pension age play a role in working longer. Women are less able to build pension income due to their role as carer within the family. It, therefore, follows that gender inequalities over the life course continue into older age to influence need, capacity and desire to undertake paid work after state pension age. This paper explores how work, marital and fertility history impact upon the likelihood of extending employment. It uses the British Household Panel Survey's retrospective data from the first 14 waves to summarise work-family histories, and logistic regression to understand the impact of work and family histories on extending paid work. Findings show that, on the one hand, women are extending paid work for financial reasons to make up for 'opportunity costs' as a result of their caring role within the family, with short breaks due to caring, lengthy marriages, divorcing and remaining single with children all being important. Yet, there is also evidence of 'status maintenance' from working life, with the women most likely to extend paid work, also those with the highest work orientation, prior to state pension age. But lengthy dis-attachment (due to caring) from the labour market makes extending working life more difficult. This has implications for policy strategies to entice women into paid work to make up for low independent financial resources.

Pramipexole Extended Release: A Novel Treatment Option in Parkinson's Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolfram Eisenreich

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Pramipexole, the most commonly prescribed dopamine agonist worldwide, meanwhile serves as a reference substance for evaluation of new drugs. Based on numerous clinical data and vast experiences, efficacy and safety profiles of this non-ergoline dopamine agonist are well characterized. Since October 2009, an extended-release formulation of pramipexole has been available for symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease. Pramipexole administration can be cut down from three times to once a day due to the newly developed extended-release formulation. This is considerable progress in regard to minimizing pill burden and enhancing compliance. Moreover, the 24 h continuous drug release of the once-daily extended-release formulation results in fewer fluctuations in plasma concentrations over time compared to immediate-release pramipexole, given three times daily. The present study summarizes pharmacokinetics and all essential pharmacological and clinical characteristics of the extended-release formulation. In addition, it provides all study data, available so far, with regard to transition and de-novo administration of extended-release formulation for patients with Parkinson's disease. It further compares efficacy and safety data of immediate-release pramipexole with the extended-release formulation of pramipexole.

Extended Lagrangian Excited State Molecular Dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Bjorgaard, J A; Sheppard, D; Tretiak, S; Niklasson, A M N

2018-02-13

An extended Lagrangian framework for excited state molecular dynamics (XL-ESMD) using time-dependent self-consistent field theory is proposed. The formulation is a generalization of the extended Lagrangian formulations for ground state Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 123004]. The theory is implemented, demonstrated, and evaluated using a time-dependent semiempirical model, though it should be generally applicable to ab initio theory. The simulations show enhanced energy stability and a significantly reduced computational cost associated with the iterative solutions of both the ground state and the electronically excited states. Relaxed convergence criteria can therefore be used both for the self-consistent ground state optimization and for the iterative subspace diagonalization of the random phase approximation matrix used to calculate the excited state transitions. The XL-ESMD approach is expected to enable numerically efficient excited state molecular dynamics for such methods as time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TD-HF), Configuration Interactions Singles (CIS), and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT).

Compositional schedulability analysis of real-time actor-based systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaghoori, Mohammad Mahdi; de Boer, Frank; Longuet, Delphine; Chothia, Tom; Sirjani, Marjan

2017-01-01

We present an extension of the actor model with real-time, including deadlines associated with messages, and explicit application-level scheduling policies, e.g.,"earliest deadline first" which can be associated with individual actors. Schedulability analysis in this setting amounts to checking whether, given a scheduling policy for each actor, every task is processed within its designated deadline. To check schedulability, we introduce a compositional automata-theoretic approach, based on maximal use of model checking combined with testing. Behavioral interfaces define what an actor expects from the environment, and the deadlines for messages given these assumptions. We use model checking to verify that actors match their behavioral interfaces. We extend timed automata refinement with the notion of deadlines and use it to define compatibility of actor environments with the behavioral interfaces. Model checking of compatibility is computationally hard, so we propose a special testing process. We show that the analyses are decidable and automate the process using the Uppaal model checker.

Single Policy Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kronsell, Annica; Manners, Ian James

2015-01-01

Single policy studies are the most common form of European Union (EU) research. Single policy studies are widely used to understand the role of the EU in a wide variety of sectors, together with their development over time, and often offer public policy prescriptions. This chapter discusses...... the relevance of single policy studies in EU research and give examples of how such research can be designed and carried out. The chapter reviews three examples of single policy studies using different methods based on EU environmental policy, the EU biofuels directive, and the EU Common Security and Defence...... Policy (CSDP). The examples are illustrative of how single policy studies can be designed to use different approaches in the analysis: multiple streams approach to policy-making; a comparative hypothesis testing; and feminist institutional theory....

A policy iteration approach to online optimal control of continuous-time constrained-input systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Modares, Hamidreza; Naghibi Sistani, Mohammad-Bagher; Lewis, Frank L

2013-09-01

This paper is an effort towards developing an online learning algorithm to find the optimal control solution for continuous-time (CT) systems subject to input constraints. The proposed method is based on the policy iteration (PI) technique which has recently evolved as a major technique for solving optimal control problems. Although a number of online PI algorithms have been developed for CT systems, none of them take into account the input constraints caused by actuator saturation. In practice, however, ignoring these constraints leads to performance degradation or even system instability. In this paper, to deal with the input constraints, a suitable nonquadratic functional is employed to encode the constraints into the optimization formulation. Then, the proposed PI algorithm is implemented on an actor-critic structure to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation associated with this nonquadratic cost functional in an online fashion. That is, two coupled neural network (NN) approximators, namely an actor and a critic are tuned online and simultaneously for approximating the associated HJB solution and computing the optimal control policy. The critic is used to evaluate the cost associated with the current policy, while the actor is used to find an improved policy based on information provided by the critic. Convergence to a close approximation of the HJB solution as well as stability of the proposed feedback control law are shown. Simulation results of the proposed method on a nonlinear CT system illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2013 ISA. All rights reserved.

Policy Making as Bricolage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cartel, Melodie; Boxenbaum, Eva; Aggeri, Franck

The making of environmental policies is a multi-stakeholders process where actors often hold antagonistic interests. The paper explores how institutional compromises are reached by the mechanism of collective bricolage. Recent studies are developing a view on institutional innovation as bricolage......, but the conditions under which bricolage occurs and succeeds in relation to institutional innovation are still unknown. Drawing on the notion of platform developed in the context of economics performativity, we study their role in bricolage mechanisms. We hold an empirical case study of the GETS platform...... that was instrumental in developing the European carbon market as a corner-stone of European climate policy. Based on the GETS case study, we find three modalities in which platforms stimulate institutional bricolage: catalyzing combinations, managing learning, fostering compromise. These findings draw on, and extend...

Extended inflation from higher-dimensional theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holman, R.; Kolb, E.W.; Vadas, S.L.; Wang, Y.

1991-01-01

We consider the possibility that higher-dimensional theories may, upon reduction to four dimensions, allow extended inflation to occur. We analyze two separate models. One is a very simple toy model consisting of higher-dimensional gravity coupled to a scalar field whose potential allows for a first-order phase transition. The other is a more sophisticated model incorporating the effects of nontrivial field configurations (monopole, Casimir, and fermion bilinear condensate effects) that yield a nontrivial potential for the radius of the internal space. We find that extended inflation does not occur in these models. We also find that the bubble nucleation rate in these theories is time dependent unlike the case in the original version of extended inflation

The application of contrast explanation to energy policy research: UK nuclear energy policy 2002–2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heffron, Raphael J.

2013-01-01

This paper advances the application of the methodology, contrast explanation, to energy policy research. Research in energy policy is complex and often involves inter-disciplinary work, which traditional economic methodologies fail to capture. Consequently, the more encompassing methodology of contrast explanation is assessed and its use in other social science disciplines explored in brief. It is then applied to an energy policy research topic—in this case, nuclear energy policy research in the UK. Contrast explanation facilitates research into policy and decision-making processes in energy studies and offers an alternative to the traditional economic methods used in energy research. Further, contrast explanation is extended by the addition of contested and uncontested hypotheses analyses. This research focuses on the methods employed to deliver the new nuclear programme of the UK government. In order to achieve a sustainable nuclear energy policy three issues are of major importance: (1) law, policy and development; (2) public administration; and (3) project management. Further, the research identifies that policy in the area remains to be resolved, in particular at an institutional and legal level. However, contrary to the literature, in some areas, the research identifies a change of course as the UK concentrates on delivering a long-term policy for the nuclear energy sector and the overall energy sector. - Highlights: ► Energy policy research is interdisciplinary and needs additional methodological approaches. ► New method of contrast explanation advanced for energy policy research. ► This methodology is based on dialectical learning which examines conflict between sources of data. ► Research example used here is of UK nuclear energy policy. ► Major issues in UK nuclear energy policy are planning law, public administration, and project management

TIME Impact - a new user-friendly tuberculosis (TB) model to inform TB policy decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Houben, R M G J; Lalli, M; Sumner, T; Hamilton, M; Pedrazzoli, D; Bonsu, F; Hippner, P; Pillay, Y; Kimerling, M; Ahmedov, S; Pretorius, C; White, R G

2016-03-24

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide, predominantly affecting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where resources are limited. As such, countries need to be able to choose the most efficient interventions for their respective setting. Mathematical models can be valuable tools to inform rational policy decisions and improve resource allocation, but are often unavailable or inaccessible for LMICs, particularly in TB. We developed TIME Impact, a user-friendly TB model that enables local capacity building and strengthens country-specific policy discussions to inform support funding applications at the (sub-)national level (e.g. Ministry of Finance) or to international donors (e.g. the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria).TIME Impact is an epidemiological transmission model nested in TIME, a set of TB modelling tools available for free download within the widely-used Spectrum software. The TIME Impact model reflects key aspects of the natural history of TB, with additional structure for HIV/ART, drug resistance, treatment history and age. TIME Impact enables national TB programmes (NTPs) and other TB policymakers to better understand their own TB epidemic, plan their response, apply for funding and evaluate the implementation of the response.The explicit aim of TIME Impact's user-friendly interface is to enable training of local and international TB experts towards independent use. During application of TIME Impact, close involvement of the NTPs and other local partners also builds critical understanding of the modelling methods, assumptions and limitations inherent to modelling. This is essential to generate broad country-level ownership of the modelling data inputs and results. In turn, it stimulates discussions and a review of the current evidence and assumptions, strengthening the decision-making process in general.TIME Impact has been effectively applied in a variety of settings. In South Africa, it

Extended recency effect extended: blocking, presentation mode, and retention interval.

Science.gov (United States)

Glidden, L M; Pawelski, C; Mar, H; Zigman, W

1979-07-01

The effect of blocking of stimulus items on the free recall of EMR adolescents was examined. In Experiment 1 a multitrial free-recall list of 15 pictures was presented either simultaneously in groups of 3, or sequentially, one at a time. Consistent ordering was used in both conditions, so that on each trial, each item in each set of 3 pictures was presented contiguously with the other 2 items from that set. In addition, recall came immediately or after a filled or unfilled delay of 24.5 seconds. Results showed that simultaneous presentation led to higher recall, subjective organization, and clustering than did sequential presentation, but analysis of serial-position curves showed a much reduced extended recency effect in comparison with previous studies. Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether the cause of the reduced extended recency was the use of pictures rather than words as stimuli. Stimuli were presented either as pictures, as pictures with auditory labels, or as words with auditory labels, with both simultaneous and consistent ordering for all conditions. Results indicated a strong extended recency effect for all groups, eliminating presentation mode as a causal factor in the data of Experiment 1. We concluded that blocking leads to increased organization and recall over a variety of presentation modes, rates, and block sizes.

School Reading Performance and the Extended School Day Policy in Florida. REL 2016-141

Science.gov (United States)

Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Petscher, Yaacov; Osborne-Lampkin, La'Tara; Cooley, Stephan; Herrera, Sarah; Partridge, Mark; Smith, Kevin

2016-01-01

Florida law requires the 100 lowest performing elementary schools in reading to extend the school day by one hour to provide supplemental reading instruction. This study found that those schools were smaller than other elementary schools and served a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minority students and students eligible for the school lunch…

Extending Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Detection to Older Age Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Makrygiannis, Georgios; Labalue, Philippe; Erpicum, Marie

2016-01-01

. Current screening policies (e.g., men aged 65-74 years), however, do not account for aging and increased life expectancy of Western populations. This study investigated AAA detection by extending the target population to older age groups (75-85 years). METHODS: AAA screening was conducted in the County......-74 age group but rose to 7.3% in the age-extended group (75-85 years). Further in addition to age, height, current smoking, history of coronary artery disease, hypercholesterolemia, peripheral artery disease of the lower limbs, and varicose veins were significantly associated with the presence of AAA......BACKGROUND: There is evident benefit in terms of reduced aneurysm-related mortality from screening programs of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in men aged 65 years and more. Recent studies in the United Kingdom and Sweden have shown a decline of the prevalence of AAA in the general population...

Information Literacy Policy Development in Canada: Is It Time?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cara Bradley

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This article examines policy issues related to information literacy in Canada. It provides some background on the information literacy concept, reflecting on popular definitions offered by American, British, and Australian library associations, before advocating for a broader definition that views information literacy as a human right. Information literacy is also considered in relationship to the proliferation of other “literacies,” such as digital, web, media, and information technology, that are the subject of increased advocacy and attention from interest groups and educators. The ongoing need for improved information literacy levels is analyzed not only in the context of inputs (the increasing complexity of the information environment but also in terms of potential personal, social, and economic outcomes that can be realized through widespread information literacy education efforts. The paper argues that information literacy must become a priority not only among academic librarians but also school, public, and special librarians, as well as others outside of the library sector, if significant improvements in information literacy levels are to be realized. Such a coordinated approach can only be achieved in the context of policies that require, and adequately support, widespread efforts at improving information literacy levels. After a review of the ad-hoc state of information literacy education in Canada today, this paper analyzes information literacy-related policy development efforts in Canada to date in the four arenas where one would expect to see such activity: the Government of Canada, provincial governments, library associations, and other stakeholder groups. This article aims to start a wide-reaching discussion about information literacy and associated policy issues in Canada.

Contemporary contestations over working time: time for health to weigh in.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Jane; Carey, Gemma; Strazdins, Lyndall; Banwell, Cathy; Woodman, Dan; Burgess, John; Bittman, Michael; Venn, Danielle; Sargent, Ginny

2014-10-13

Non-communicable disease (NCD) incidence and prevalence is of central concern to most nations, along with international agencies such as the UN, OECD, IMF and World Bank. As a result, the search has begun for 'causes of the cause' behind health risks and behaviours responsible for the major NCDs. As part of this effort, researchers are turning their attention to charting the temporal nature of societal changes that might be associated with the rapid rise in NCDs. From this, the experience of time and its allocation are increasingly understood to be key individual and societal resources for health. The interdisciplinary study outlined in this paper will produce a systematic analysis of the behavioural health dimensions, or 'health time economies' (quantity and quality of time necessary for the practice of health behaviours), that have accompanied labour market transitions of the last 30 years--the period in which so many NCDs have risen sharply. The study takes a mixed-methods approach to capture and explain the relationships between work time and health behaviours. It combines: longitudinal analysis of temporal organisation of work in Australia, with the goal of establishing associations between labour timescapes and health behaviours and health time economies; an in-depth qualitative investigation of employee experiences of the perceived impact of their labour timescapes on 'health time economies'; and, a stakeholder analysis, will uncover whether, how and why (or why not) stakeholders consider health an important dimension- of work and industrial relations policy, and what efforts are being made to mitigate health impacts of work. The study posits that time is a key mechanism through which particular forms of labour market policies impact health. The labour market flexibility agenda appears to be operating as a time re-distributive device: it has supported the removal of regulations that governed 'the when' of working time and removed limits over the amount of

Fuelling expectations: A policy-promise lock-in of UK biofuel policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berti, Pietro; Levidow, Les

2014-01-01

Controversy over EU-wide biofuel policy resonated within the UK, fuelling policy disagreements among UK public authorities. They disagreed over how to protect a space for future second-generation biofuels, which were expected to overcome harm from first-generation biofuels. The UK government defended rising targets for available biofuels as a necessary stimulus for industry to help fulfil the UK's EU obligations and eventually develop second-generation biofuels. By contrast, Parliamentary Select Committees opposed biofuel targets on grounds that these would instead lock-in first-generation biofuels, thus delaying or pre-empting second-generation biofuels. Those disagreements can be explained by different institutional responsibilities and reputational stakes towards ‘promise-requirement cycles’, whereby techno-optimistic promises generate future requirements for the actors involved. The UK government's stance illustrates a ‘policy-promise lock-in’, a dilemma whereby promised support is a requirement for credibility towards technology innovators and thus technoscientific development – but may delay the redirection of support from incumbent to preferable emerging technologies. Thus the sociology of expectations – previously applied to technological expectations from technology innovators – can be extended to analyse public authorities. - Highlights: • Controversy over EU-wide biofuel policy resonated within the UK. • At issue was how to stimulate future 2nd-generation biofuels. • The government defended targets for 1st-generation as necessary to stimulate industry. • Parliamentary Committees opposed biofuel targets as locking in 1st-generation. • The UK government′s stance illustrates a ‘policy-promise lock-in’

Tailoring Quantum Dot Assemblies to Extend Exciton Coherence Times and Improve Exciton Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Seward, Kenton; Lin, Zhibin; Lusk, Mark

2012-02-01

The motion of excitons through nanostructured assemblies plays a central role in a wide range of physical phenomena including quantum computing, molecular electronics, photosynthetic processes, excitonic transistors and light emitting diodes. All of these technologies are severely handicapped, though, by quasi-particle lifetimes on the order of a nanosecond. The movement of excitons must therefore be as efficient as possible in order to move excitons meaningful distances. This is problematic for assemblies of small Si quantum dots (QDs), where excitons quickly localize and entangle with dot phonon modes. Ensuing exciton transport is then characterized by a classical random walk reduced to very short distances because of efficient recombination. We use a combination of master equation (Haken-Strobl) formalism and density functional theory to estimate the rate of decoherence in Si QD assemblies and its impact on exciton mobility. Exciton-phonon coupling and Coulomb interactions are calculated as a function of dot size, spacing and termination to minimize the rate of intra-dot phonon entanglement. This extends the time over which more efficient exciton transport, characterized by partial coherence, can be maintained.

EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY IN ROMANIA - A VAR APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iulian Popescu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Understanding how monetary policy decisions affect inflation and other economic variables is particularly important. In this paper we consider the implications of monetary policy under the inflation targeting regime in Romania, based on an autoregressive vector method including recursive VAR and structural VAR (SVAR. Therefore, we focus on assessing the extent and persistence of monetary policy effects on gross domestic product (GDP, price level, extended monetary aggregate (M3 and exchange rate. The main results of VAR analysis reflect a negative response of consumer price index (CPI, GDP and M3 and positive nominal exchange rate behaviour to a monetary policy shock, and also a limited impact of a short-term interest rate shock in explaining the consumer prices, production and exchange rate fluctuations.

Teacher Verbal Aggressiveness and Credibility Mediate the Relationship between Teacher Technology Policies and Perceived Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Finn, Amber N.; Ledbetter, Andrew M.

2014-01-01

In this study, we extend previous work on teacher technology policies by refining the teacher technology policies instrument to account for the technology purpose (social, academic) and type (cell phone, laptop/tablet), and examine a model of teacher technology policies and perceived learning. We found that students are more sensitive to policies…

CEO Compensation and Disclosure Policy

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Weijia; Zhang, Kun

2016-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between CEO compensation and disclosure policy related to corporate governance information within S&P 500 index. Our sample consists of 456 companies for the period from 2005 to 2015. Most previous researchers mainly put their attention on various corporate governance characteristics such as board size, board independence, and executive ownership when analysing CEO compensation. Our paper extends the previous study by dividing corporate governance into...

Integrating climate change adaptation into Dutch local policies and the role of contextual factors.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Berg, Maya Marieke; Coenen, Franciscus H.J.M.

2012-01-01

Moving towards a more sustainable adaptation process requires closer integration of policies related to the environment. An important actor in this is the local government. This paper examines to what extend adaptation is currently being integrated into Dutch local policies, and what the role is of

Extended Delivery Time Analysis for Secondary Packet Transmission With Adaptive Modulation Under Interweave Cognitive Implementation

KAUST Repository

Wang, Wen-Jing

2017-05-02

Cognitive radio communication can opportunistically access underutilized spectrum for emerging wireless applications. With interweave cognitive implementation, a secondary user (SU) transmits only if primary user does not occupy the channel and waits for transmission otherwise. Therefore, secondary packet transmission involves both transmission periods and waiting periods. The resulting extended delivery time (EDT) is critical to the throughput analysis of secondary system. In this paper, we study the EDT of secondary packet transmission with adaptive modulation under interweave implementation to facilitate the delay analysis of such cognitive radio system. In particular, we propose an analytical framework to derive the probability density functions of EDT considering random-length SU transmission and waiting periods. We also present selected numerical results to illustrate the mathematical formulations and to verify our analytical approach.

Are life-extending treatments for terminal illnesses a special case? Exploring choices and societal viewpoints

NARCIS (Netherlands)

N. McHugh (Neil); van Exel, J. (Job); H. Mason (Helen); Godwin, J. (Jon); M. Collins (Marissa); Donaldson, C. (Cam); R.M. Baker (Rachel)

2018-01-01

textabstractCriteria used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to assess life-extending, end-of-life (EoL) treatments imply that health gains from such treatments are valued more than other health gains. Despite claims that the policy is supported by societal values,

Correlation Coefficients of Extended Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Applications to Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Lu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Extended hesitant fuzzy sets (EHFSs, which allow the membership degree of an element to a set represented by several possible value-groups, can be considered as a powerful tool to express uncertain information in the process of group decision making. Therefore, we derive some correlation coefficients between EHFSs, which contain two cases, the correlation coefficients taking into account the length of extended hesitant fuzzy elements (EHFEs and the correlation coefficients without taking into account the length of EHFEs, as a new extension of existing correlation coefficients for hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs and apply them to decision making under extended hesitant fuzzy environments. A real-world example based on the energy policy problem is employed to illustrate the actual need for dealing with the difference of evaluation information provided by different experts without information loss in decision making processes.

Integrated environmental policy: A review of economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiesmeth, Hans; Häckl, Dennis

2017-04-01

Holistic environmental policies, which emerged from a mere combination of technical activities in waste management some 40 years ago, constitute the most advanced level of environmental policies. These approaches to environmental policy, among them the policies in integrated waste management, attempt to guide economic agents to an environment-friendly behaviour. Nevertheless, current holistic policies in waste management, including policies on one-way drinks containers and waste electrical and electronic equipment, and implementations of extended producer responsibility with further applications to waste electrical and electronic equipment, reveal more or less severe deficiencies - despite some positive examples. This article relates these policy failures, which are not necessarily the result of an insufficient compliance with the regulations, to missing constitutive elements of what is going to be called an 'integrated environmental policy'. This article therefore investigates - mostly from a practical point of view - constitutive elements, which are necessary for a holistic policy to serve as a well-functioning allocation mechanism. As these constitutive elements result from a careful 'integration' of the environmental commodities into the economic allocation problems, we refer to these policies as 'integrated environmental policies'. The article also discusses and illustrates the main steps of designing such a policy - for waste electrical and electronic equipment and a (possible) ban of Glyphosat in agriculture. As these policies are dependent on economic and political stability with environmental awareness sufficiently developed, the article addresses mostly waste management policies in highly industrialised countries.

Extended inflation from higher dimensional theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holman, R.; Kolb, E.W.; Vadas, S.L.; Wang, Yun.

1990-04-01

The possibility is considered that higher dimensional theories may, upon reduction to four dimensions, allow extended inflation to occur. Two separate models are analayzed. One is a very simple toy model consisting of higher dimensional gravity coupled to a scalar field whose potential allows for a first-order phase transition. The other is a more sophisticated model incorporating the effects of non-trivial field configurations (monopole, Casimir, and fermion bilinear condensate effects) that yield a non-trivial potential for the radius of the internal space. It was found that extended inflation does not occur in these models. It was also found that the bubble nucleation rate in these theories is time dependent unlike the case in the original version of extended inflation

Chaotic dynamics in optimal monetary policy

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes, O.; Mendes, V. M.; Mendes, D. A.; Sousa Ramos, J.

2007-05-01

There is by now a large consensus in modern monetary policy. This consensus has been built upon a dynamic general equilibrium model of optimal monetary policy as developed by, e.g., Goodfriend and King [ NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997 edited by B. Bernanke and J. Rotemberg (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 231 282], Clarida et al. [J. Econ. Lit. 37, 1661 (1999)], Svensson [J. Mon. Econ. 43, 607 (1999)] and Woodford [ Interest and Prices: Foundations of a Theory of Monetary Policy (Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2003)]. In this paper we extend the standard optimal monetary policy model by introducing nonlinearity into the Phillips curve. Under the specific form of nonlinearity proposed in our paper (which allows for convexity and concavity and secures closed form solutions), we show that the introduction of a nonlinear Phillips curve into the structure of the standard model in a discrete time and deterministic framework produces radical changes to the major conclusions regarding stability and the efficiency of monetary policy. We emphasize the following main results: (i) instead of a unique fixed point we end up with multiple equilibria; (ii) instead of saddle-path stability, for different sets of parameter values we may have saddle stability, totally unstable equilibria and chaotic attractors; (iii) for certain degrees of convexity and/or concavity of the Phillips curve, where endogenous fluctuations arise, one is able to encounter various results that seem intuitively correct. Firstly, when the Central Bank pays attention essentially to inflation targeting, the inflation rate has a lower mean and is less volatile; secondly, when the degree of price stickiness is high, the inflation rate displays a larger mean and higher volatility (but this is sensitive to the values given to the parameters of the model); and thirdly, the higher the target value of the output gap chosen by the Central Bank, the higher is the inflation rate and its

Extended risk and benefit evaluation of energy systems for policy analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotte, E.U.

1984-01-01

The social compatibility of future energy scenarios is analysed in order to improve the political decision making. Social compatibility analysis is a form of technology assessment focusing on societal and social issues. The value tree analysis method is applied to collect and structure the values and concerns of important societal groups. Nine relevant groups and organizations in the society of the Federal Republic of Germany are included in the study. A combined value tree is formed by integration of the individual value trees. The overall value tree is transformed into an operational and systematic catalogue of criteria. Measurement instructions and scales are introduced as indicators for the extended risk and benefit evaluation of energy systems. The assessment of specified future energy options is performed by selected scientific experts. The results can improve the political decision-making process with respect to societal needs and desires. (author)

Evaluating pharmaceutical policies using cross-national comparisons and time series analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Santa Ana Tellez, Y.

2016-01-01

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of different pharmaceutical policies on the use of medicines (e.g. antibiotics). These policies were evaluated using diverse data sources from the public and private sector in countries in Africa, Latin America, and Western Europe. In addition, the

Policy Discourses and U.S. Language in Education Policies

Science.gov (United States)

de Jong, Ester J.

2013-01-01

Language in education policy for English language learners in the United States has varied significantly over time and has been shaped by policy discourses that could broadly be described as assimilationist (monolingual) and pluralist (multilingual) views of the role of linguistic and cultural diversity in schools. This article outlines the main…

Robust adaptive extended Kalman filtering for real time MR-thermometry guided HIFU interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Roujol, Sébastien; de Senneville, Baudouin Denis; Hey, Silke; Moonen, Chrit; Ries, Mario

2012-03-01

Real time magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry is gaining clinical importance for monitoring and guiding high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablations of tumorous tissue. The temperature information can be employed to adjust the position and the power of the HIFU system in real time and to determine the therapy endpoint. The requirement to resolve both physiological motion of mobile organs and the rapid temperature variations induced by state-of-the-art high-power HIFU systems require fast MRI-acquisition schemes, which are generally hampered by low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). This directly limits the precision of real time MR-thermometry and thus in many cases the feasibility of sophisticated control algorithms. To overcome these limitations, temporal filtering of the temperature has been suggested in the past, which has generally an adverse impact on the accuracy and latency of the filtered data. Here, we propose a novel filter that aims to improve the precision of MR-thermometry while monitoring and adapting its impact on the accuracy. For this, an adaptive extended Kalman filter using a model describing the heat transfer for acoustic heating in biological tissues was employed together with an additional outlier rejection to address the problem of sparse artifacted temperature points. The filter was compared to an efficient matched FIR filter and outperformed the latter in all tested cases. The filter was first evaluated on simulated data and provided in the worst case (with an approximate configuration of the model) a substantial improvement of the accuracy by a factor 3 and 15 during heat up and cool down periods, respectively. The robustness of the filter was then evaluated during HIFU experiments on a phantom and in vivo in porcine kidney. The presence of strong temperature artifacts did not affect the thermal dose measurement using our filter whereas a high measurement variation of 70% was observed with the FIR filter.

Resolution, Scales and Predictability: Is High Resolution Detrimental To Predictability At Extended Forecast Times?

Science.gov (United States)

Mesinger, F.

The traditional views hold that high-resolution limited area models (LAMs) down- scale large-scale lateral boundary information, and that predictability of small scales is short. Inspection of various rms fits/errors has contributed to these views. It would follow that the skill of LAMs should visibly deteriorate compared to that of their driver models at more extended forecast times. The limited area Eta Model at NCEP has an additional handicap of being driven by LBCs of the previous Avn global model run, at 0000 and 1200 UTC estimated to amount to about an 8 h loss in accuracy. This should make its relative skill compared to that of the Avn deteriorate even faster. These views are challenged by various Eta results including rms fits to raobs out to 84 h. It is argued that it is the largest scales that contribute the most to the skill of the Eta relative to that of the Avn.

Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times: the quest for autonomy form Sarney to Lula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danielly Silva Ramos Becard

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Resenha do Livro "Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times: the quest for autonomy", de autoria de Tullo Vigevani e Gabriel Cepaluni. O tema central do livro é a busca brasileira por autonomia, desde a segunda metade dos anos 1980 até 2009. São apresentadas as grandes linhas da política externa brasileira dos pontos de vista teórico e empírico, a partir do estudo de literatura latino-americana sobre o tema.

Insurance risk with variable number of policies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Adan, I.J.B.F.; Kulkarni, V.G.

2008-01-01

In this article we consider an insurance company selling life insurance policies. New policies are sold at random points in time, and each policy stays active for an exponential amount of time with rate µ, during which the policyholder pays premiums continuously at rate r. When the policy expires,

Population aging and the extended family in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2004-05-01

Full Text Available Population aging produces changes in the availability of kin with uncertain implications for extended living arrangements. We propose a highly stylized model that can be used to analyze and project age-specific proportions of adults living in extended and nuclear households. The model is applied to Taiwan using annual data from 1978-1998. We estimate cohort and age effects showing that more recently born cohorts of seniors are less likely to live in extended households, but that as seniors age the proportion living in extended households increases. The effect of individual aging has diminished over time, however. The proportion of non-senior adults living in extended households has increased steadily because changes in the age structure have increased the availability of older kin. The model is used to project living arrangements and we conclude that the proportion living in extended households will begin to decline gradually for both seniors and non-seniors. The extended family is becoming less important in Taiwan, but it is not on the way out.

How Far Can Extended Knowledge Be Extended?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wray, K. Brad

2018-01-01

by an artifact, like a notebook or telescope. The chapter illustrates this by applying Pritchard’s account of extended knowledge to collaborating scientists. The beliefs acquired through collaborative research cannot satisfy both of Pritchard’s conditions of creditability. Further, there is evidence......Duncan Pritchard (2010) has developed a theory of extended knowledge based on the notion of extended cognition initially developed by Clark and Chalmers (1998). Pritchard’s account gives a central role to the notion of creditability, which requires the following two conditions to be met: (i...... that scientists are not prepared to take responsibility for the actions of the scientists with whom they collaborate....

Optimal contant time injection policy for enhanced oil recovery and characterization of optimal viscous profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Daripa, Prabir

2011-11-01

We numerically investigate the optimal viscous profile in constant time injection policy of enhanced oil recovery. In particular, we investigate the effect of a combination of interfacial and layer instabilities in three-layer porous media flow on the overall growth of instabilities and thereby characterize the optimal viscous profile. Results based on monotonic and non-monotonic viscous profiles will be presented. Time permitting. we will also present results on multi-layer porous media flows for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and compare the results. The support of Qatar National Fund under a QNRF Grant is acknowledged.

7 CFR 407.8 - The application and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GROUP RISK PLAN OF INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 407.8 The application and policy. (a... applicable sales closing date on file in the insurance provider's local office. (b) FCIC or the reinsured... is excessive. The Manager of the Corporation is authorized in any crop year to extend the sales...

Modeling of extended defects in silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Law, M.E.; Jones, K.S.; Earles, S.K.; Lilak, A.D.; Xu, J.W.

1997-01-01

Transient Enhanced Diffusion (TED) is one of the biggest modeling challenges present in predicting scaled technologies. Damage from implantation of dopant ions changes the diffusivities of the dopants and precipitates to form complex extended defects. Developing a quantitative model for the extended defect behavior during short time, low temperature anneals is a key to explaining TED. This paper reviews some of the modeling developments over the last several years, and discusses some of the challenges that remain to be addressed. Two examples of models compared to experimental work are presented and discussed

Estimating the Potential Impact of Tobacco Control Policies on Adverse Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in the United States Using the SimSmoke Tobacco Control Policy Simulation Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, David; Mohlman, Mary Katherine; Zhang, Yian

2016-05-01

Numerous studies document the causal relationship between prenatal smoking and adverse maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes. Studies also reveal the impact that tobacco control policies have on prenatal smoking. The purpose of this study is to estimate the effect of tobacco control policies on prenatal smoking prevalence and adverse MCH outcomes. The US SimSmoke simulation model was extended to consider adverse MCH outcomes. The model estimates prenatal smoking prevalence and, applying standard attribution methods, uses estimates of MCH prevalence and relative smoking risks to estimate smoking-attributable MCH outcomes over time. The model then estimates the effect of tobacco control policies on adverse birth outcomes averted. Different tobacco control policies have varying impacts on the number of smoking-attributable adverse MCH birth outcomes. Higher cigarette taxes and comprehensive marketing bans individually have the biggest impact with a 5% to 10% reduction across all outcomes for the period from 2015 to 2065. The policies with the lowest impact (2%-3% decrease) during this period are cessation treatment, health warnings, and complete smoke-free laws. Combinations of all policies with each tax level lead to 23% to 28% decreases across all outcomes. Our findings demonstrate the substantial impact of strong tobacco control policies for preventing adverse MCH outcomes, including long-term health implications for children exposed to low birth weight and preterm birth. These benefits are often overlooked in discussions of tobacco control. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Impact of the zero-markup drug policy on hospitalisation expenditure in western rural China: an interrupted time series analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Caijun; Shen, Qian; Cai, Wenfang; Zhu, Wenwen; Li, Zongjie; Wu, Lina; Fang, Yu

2017-02-01

To assess the long-term effects of the introduction of China's zero-markup drug policy on hospitalisation expenditure and hospitalisation expenditures after reimbursement. An interrupted time series was used to evaluate the impact of the zero-markup drug policy on hospitalisation expenditure and hospitalisation expenditure after reimbursement at primary health institutions in Fufeng County of Shaanxi Province, western China. Two regression models were developed. Monthly average hospitalisation expenditure and monthly average hospitalisation expenditure after reimbursement in primary health institutions were analysed covering the period 2009 through to 2013. For the monthly average hospitalisation expenditure, the increasing trend was slowed down after the introduction of the zero-markup drug policy (coefficient = -16.49, P = 0.009). For the monthly average hospitalisation expenditure after reimbursement, the increasing trend was slowed down after the introduction of the zero-markup drug policy (coefficient = -10.84, P = 0.064), and a significant decrease in the intercept was noted after the second intervention of changes in reimbursement schemes of the new rural cooperative medical insurance (coefficient = -220.64, P markup drug policy in western China. However, hospitalisation expenditure and hospitalisation expenditure after reimbursement were still increasing. More effective policies are needed to prevent these costs from continuing to rise. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sensitivity Analysis of the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) for Phosphorus Loads in Tile-Drained Landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, W; King, K; Williams, M; Williams, J; Fausey, N

2015-07-01

Numerical modeling is an economical and feasible approach for quantifying the effects of best management practices on dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) loadings from agricultural fields. However, tools that simulate both surface and subsurface DRP pathways are limited and have not been robustly evaluated in tile-drained landscapes. The objectives of this study were to test the ability of the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX), a widely used field-scale model, to simulate surface and tile P loadings over management, hydrologic, biologic, tile, and soil gradients and to better understand the behavior of P delivery at the edge-of-field in tile-drained midwestern landscapes. To do this, a global, variance-based sensitivity analysis was performed, and model outputs were compared with measured P loads obtained from 14 surface and subsurface edge-of-field sites across central and northwestern Ohio. Results of the sensitivity analysis showed that response variables for DRP were highly sensitive to coupled interactions between presumed important parameters, suggesting nonlinearity of DRP delivery at the edge-of-field. Comparison of model results to edge-of-field data showcased the ability of APEX to simulate surface and subsurface runoff and the associated DRP loading at monthly to annual timescales; however, some high DRP concentrations and fluxes were not reflected in the model, suggesting the presence of preferential flow. Results from this study provide new insights into baseline tile DRP loadings that exceed thresholds for algal proliferation. Further, negative feedbacks between surface and subsurface DRP delivery suggest caution is needed when implementing DRP-based best management practices designed for a specific flow pathway. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Physical and cognitive capability in mid-adulthood as determinants of retirement and extended working life in a British cohort study

OpenAIRE

Stafford, M.; Cooper, R.; Cadar, D.; Carr, E.; Murray, E.; Richards, M.; Stansfeld, S.; Zaninotto, P.; Head, J.; Kuh, D.

2017-01-01

Objective Policy in many industrialized countries increasingly emphasizes extended working life. We examined associations between physical and cognitive capability in mid-adulthood and work in late adulthood. Methods Using self-reported physical limitations and performance-based physical and cognitive capability at age 53, assessed by trained nurses from the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Survey of Health and Development, we examined prospective associations with extended working (ca...

Physical and cognitive capability in mid-adulthood as determinants of retirement and extended working life in a British cohort study

OpenAIRE

Stafford, M.; Cooper, R.; Cadar, D.; Carr, E.; Murray, E.; Richards, M.; Stansfeld, S.; Zaninotto, P.; Head, J.; Kuh, D.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Policy in many industrialized countries increasingly emphasizes extended working life. We examined associations between physical and cognitive capability in mid-adulthood and work in late adulthood. METHODS: Using self-reported physical limitations and performance-based physical and cognitive capability at age 53, assessed by trained nurses from the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Survey of Health and Development, we examined prospective associations with extended working (...

STS pricing policy

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, C. M.; Stone, B.

1982-01-01

In 1977 NASA published Shuttle Reimbursement Policies for Civil U.S. Government, DOD and Commercial and Foreign Users. These policies were based on the principle of total cost recovery over a period of time with a fixed flat price for initial period to time to enhance transition. This fixed period was to be followed with annual adjustments thereafter, NASA is establishing a new price for 1986 and beyond. In order to recover costs, that price must be higher than the initial fixed price through FY 1985. NASA intends to remain competitive. Competitive posture includes not only price, but other factors such as assured launch, reliability, and unique services. NASA's pricing policy considers all these factors.

Energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forrester, J.W.

1979-01-01

The author places the energy problem in the context of world economy. The various obstacles encountered in the United States to spell out a viable national energy policy are cited. A certain number of practical proposals is given to lead to an 'effective policy' which would allow energy economy at the same time as energy development, that is, including nuclear energy [fr

Job-Sharing Couples in Academia: Administrative Policies and Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Mikitka, Kathleen Faith

1984-01-01

Examined existing administrative policies and procedures for academic job sharing for married couples in a survey of 12 institutions and 16 administrators. Results suggested growing consideration of job sharing by academic employers and pointed out advantages such as attracting high-quality faculty and extending faculty resources. (JAC)

The Q(s,S) control policy for the joint replenishment problem extended to the case of correlation among item-demands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian

2009-01-01

We develop an algorithm to compute an optimal Q(s,S) policy for the joint replenishment problem when demands follow a compound correlated Poisson process. It is a non-trivial generalization of the work by Nielsen and Larsen [2005. An analytical study of the Q(s,S) policy applied to the joint...... replenishment problem. European Journal of Operational Research 163, 721-732]. We make some numerical analyses on two-item problems where we compare the optimal Q(s,S) policy to the optimal uncoordinated (s,S) policies. The results indicate that the more negative the correlation the less advantageous...

Economics and Health Reform: Academic Research and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Glied, Sherry A; Miller, Erin A

2015-08-01

Two prior studies, conducted in 1966 and in 1979, examined the role of economic research in health policy development. Both concluded that health economics had not been an important contributor to policy. Passage of the Affordable Care Act offers an opportunity to reassess this question. We find that the evolution of health economics research has given it an increasingly important role in policy. Research in the field has followed three related paths over the past century-institutionalist research that described problems; theoretical research, which proposed relationships that might extend beyond existing institutions; and empirical assessments of structural parameters identified in the theoretical research. These three strands operating in concert allowed economic research to be used to predict the fiscal and coverage consequences of alternative policy paths. This ability made economic research a powerful policy force. Key conclusions of health economics research are clearly evident in the Affordable Care Act. © The Author(s) 2015.

Manager support for work-family issues and its impact on employee-reported pain in the extended care setting.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Emily M; Berkman, Lisa F; Subramanian, S V

2012-09-01

Supervisor-level policies and the presence of a manager engaged in an employee's need to achieve work-family balance, or "supervisory support," may benefit employee health, including self-reported pain. We conducted a census of employees at four selected extended care facilities in the Boston metropolitan region (n = 368). Supervisory support was assessed through interviews with managers and pain was reported by employees. Our multilevel logistic models indicate that employees with managers who report the lowest levels of support for work-family balance experience twice as much overall pain as employees with managers who report high levels of support. Low supervisory support for work-family balance is associated with an increased prevalence of employee-reported pain in extended care facilities. We recommend that manager-level policies and practices receive additional attention as a potential risk factor for poor health in this setting.

Discrete-Time Nonzero-Sum Games for Multiplayer Using Policy-Iteration-Based Adaptive Dynamic Programming Algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Huaguang; Jiang, He; Luo, Chaomin; Xiao, Geyang

2017-10-01

In this paper, we investigate the nonzero-sum games for a class of discrete-time (DT) nonlinear systems by using a novel policy iteration (PI) adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) method. The main idea of our proposed PI scheme is to utilize the iterative ADP algorithm to obtain the iterative control policies, which not only ensure the system to achieve stability but also minimize the performance index function for each player. This paper integrates game theory, optimal control theory, and reinforcement learning technique to formulate and handle the DT nonzero-sum games for multiplayer. First, we design three actor-critic algorithms, an offline one and two online ones, for the PI scheme. Subsequently, neural networks are employed to implement these algorithms and the corresponding stability analysis is also provided via the Lyapunov theory. Finally, a numerical simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Next generation extended Lagrangian first principles molecular dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Niklasson, Anders M N

2017-08-07

Extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [A. M. N. Niklasson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 123004 (2008)] is formulated for general Hohenberg-Kohn density-functional theory and compared with the extended Lagrangian framework of first principles molecular dynamics by Car and Parrinello [Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 2471 (1985)]. It is shown how extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics overcomes several shortcomings of regular, direct Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, while improving or maintaining important features of Car-Parrinello simulations. The accuracy of the electronic degrees of freedom in extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, with respect to the exact Born-Oppenheimer solution, is of second-order in the size of the integration time step and of fourth order in the potential energy surface. Improved stability over recent formulations of extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics is achieved by generalizing the theory to finite temperature ensembles, using fractional occupation numbers in the calculation of the inner-product kernel of the extended harmonic oscillator that appears as a preconditioner in the electronic equations of motion. Material systems that normally exhibit slow self-consistent field convergence can be simulated using integration time steps of the same order as in direct Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, but without the requirement of an iterative, non-linear electronic ground-state optimization prior to the force evaluations and without a systematic drift in the total energy. In combination with proposed low-rank and on the fly updates of the kernel, this formulation provides an efficient and general framework for quantum-based Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations.

Hospital Capacity, Waiting Times and Sick Leave Duration - an Empirical Analysis of a Norwegian Health Policy Reform

OpenAIRE

Aakvik, Arild; Holmås, Tor Helge; Kjerstad, Egil

2012-01-01

A health policy reform aiming to reduce hospital waiting times and sickness absences, the Faster Return to Work (FRW) scheme, is evaluated by creating treatment and control groups to facilitate causal interpretations of the empirical results. We use a unique dataset on individuals where we match hospital data with social security data and socio-economic characteristics. The main idea behind the reform is that long waiting times for hospital treatment lead to unnecessarily long periods of sick...

Rethinking policy perspectives on childhood stunting: time to formulate a structural and multifactorial strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Subramanian, S V; Mejía-Guevara, Iván; Krishna, Aditi

2016-05-01

Stunting and chronic undernutrition among children in South Asia remain a major unresolved global health issue. There are compelling intrinsic and moral reasons to ensure that children attain their optimal growth potential facilitated via promotion of healthy living conditions. Investments in efforts to ensure that children's growth is not faltered also have substantial instrumental benefits in terms of cognitive and economic development. Using the case of India, we critique three prevailing approaches to reducing undernutrition among children: an over-reliance on macroeconomic growth as a potent policy instrument, a disproportionate focus on interpreting undernutrition as a demand-side problem and an over-reliance on unintegrated single-factorial (one at a time) approaches to policy and research. Using existing evidence, we develop a case for support-led policy approach with a focus on integrated and structural factors to addressing the problem of undernutrition among children in India. Key messages Eliminating child undernutrition is important from an intrinsic perspective and offers considerable instrumental benefits to individual and society. Evidence suggests that an exclusive reliance on a growth-mediated strategy to eliminate stunting needs to be reconsidered, suggesting the need for a substantial support-led strategy. Interpreting and addressing undernutrition as a demand-side problem with proximal single-factorial interventions is futile. There is an urgent need to develop interventions that address the broader structural and upstream causes of child undernutrition. © 2016 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Specific Features of the Contemporary Russian Foreign Energy Policy Shift in Modern Times

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Egor S. Leonov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years there has been brewing up a necessity in Russia to change direction of its external energy policy radically as a result of unconstructive and hugely politically charged approach of the EU - main and traditional partner of Russia - to settlement of fundamental issues in bilateral cooperation. First of all this refers to failed efforts to create regional energy security system, based on respective institutions and legal framework, by reason of unwillingness of the EU to respect the Russian standpoint as an exporter of energy resources. As a result, there is a legal vacuum today in energy cooperation between Russia and the EU, which they failed to fill. The current political crisis in Europe, which is caused by accession of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation and events in Ukraine, has aggravated long-standing problems of energy partnership EU-Russia. At the same time active EU policy on diversification of energy sources and supply routes discredits peculiar role of Russia as EU key energy supplier. These factors have triggered a significant revision of Russian interests in favor of eastern direction. A new promising contract with China on 21 May 2014 and memorandum with Turkey on 1 December 2014 are the milestones of the present Russian eastern policy. Both contracts can disrupt power balance on the global energy market. The article deals with background and causes for the present Russian eastern activity.

How to successfully implement extended producer responsibility: considerations from an economic point of view.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiesmeth, Hans; Häckl, Dennis

2011-09-01

This paper investigates the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) from an economic point of view. Particular importance will be placed on the concept of 'economic feasibility' of an EPR policy, which should guide decision-making in this context. Moreover, the importance of the core EPR principle of 'integrating signals throughout the product chain' into the incentive structure will be demonstrated with experiences from Germany. These examples refer to sales packaging consumption, refillable drinks packages and waste electrical and electronic equipment collection. As a general conclusion, the interaction between economic principles and technological development needs to be observed carefully when designing incentive-compatible EPR policies.

OL1/OL2 License renewal for extended life-time: Class 1 piping load and strength analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemettinen, P.

2015-01-01

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) operates two NPP units Olkiluoto 1 (OL1) and Olkiluoto 2 (OL2), that are identical 880 MWe BWRs. The units were originally designed for 40 years life-time. TVO is applying license renewal for extended life-time for 60 years plant life. Part of the license renewal project is to evaluate and update all Class 1 piping load and strength analyses. These analyses are done with the help of TVO's in-house Piping and Component Analysis and Monitoring System (PAMS). PAMS is basically a database system, consisting of separate geometry, material, loading, result and document databases. The thermo hydraulic analysis program RELAP5 is used to obtain temperature, pressure and mass flow for the piping loading areas. The piping strength analysis are carried out mainly with the Finnish FPIPE FEA program for all related thermal transient and dynamic load cases. The slides of the presentation have been added to the paper

China's optimal stockpiling policies in the context of new oil price trend

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie, Nan; Yan, Zhijun; Zhou, Yi; Huang, Wenjun

2017-01-01

Optimizing the size of oil stockpiling plays a fundamental role in the process of making national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) policies. There have been extensive studies on the operating strategies of SPR. However, previous literatures have paid more attention to a booming or stable international oil market, while few studies analyzed the impact of a long-term low oil price on SPR policy. As a supplement, this paper extends a static model to study China's optimal stockpiling policy under different oil price trends, and in response to different current oil prices. A new variable “FC”, which demonstrates the appreciation and depreciation of the reserved oil economic value, has been taken into account to assess the optimal size of SPR. In this paper, a more multi-perspective of view is provided to consider the policies of China's SPR, especially under the different trend of international oil price fluctuations. - Highlights: • We extended a static model to study optimal stockpiling size of China's SPR. • A new variable “FC” was applied to illustrate the shifting financial value of SPR. • We analyzed how current oil price and varied prediction influence optimal size. • Operational measures could be adjusted at the end of each decision-making period. • A more multifaceted of view might be provided for China's SPR policy-making.

On finite capacity queueing systems with a general vacation policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacqueline Loris-Teghem

2000-01-01

Full Text Available We consider a Poisson arrival queueing system with finite capacity and a general vacation policy as described in Loris-Teghem [Queueing Systems 3 (1988, 41-52]. From our previous results regarding the stationary queue length distributions immediately after a departure and at an arbitrary epoch, we derive a relation between both distributions which extends a result given in Frey and Takahashi [Operations Research Letters 21 (1997, 95-100] for the particular case of an exhaustive service multiple vacation policy.

Commentary Considerations for Recommending Extended Use and Limited Reuse of Filtering Facepiece Respirators in Health Care Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Edward M.; Shaffer, Ronald E.

2015-01-01

Public health organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are increasingly recommending the use of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) in health care settings. For infection control purposes, the usual practice is to discard FFRs after close contact with a patient (“single use”). However, in some situations, such as during contact with tuberculosis patients, limited FFR reuse (i.e., repeated donning and doffing of the same FFR by the same person) is practiced. A related practice, extended use, involves wearing the same FFR for multiple patient encounters without doffing. Extended use and limited FFR reuse have been recommended during infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics to conserve FFR supplies. This commentary examines CDC recommendations related to FFR extended use and limited reuse and analyzes available data from the literature to provide a relative estimate of the risks of these practices compared to single use. Analysis of the available data and the use of disease transmission models indicate that decisions regarding whether FFR extended use or reuse should be recommended should continue to be pathogen- and event-specific. Factors to be included in developing the recommendations are the potential for the pathogen to spread via contact transmission, the potential that the event could result in or is currently causing a FFR shortage, the protection provided by FFR use, human factors, potential for self-inoculation, the potential for secondary exposures, and government policies and regulations. While recent findings largely support the previous recommendations for extended use and limited reuse in certain situations, some new cautions and limitations should be considered before issuing recommendations in the future. In general, extended use of FFRs is preferred over limited FFR reuse. Limited FFR reuse would allow the user a brief respite from extended wear times, but increases the risk of self-inoculation and

A bi-objective model for optimizing replacement time of age and block policies with consideration of spare parts’ availability

Science.gov (United States)

Alsyouf, Imad

2018-05-01

Reliability and availability of critical systems play an important role in achieving the stated objectives of engineering assets. Preventive replacement time affects the reliability of the components, thus the number of system failures encountered and its downtime expenses. On the other hand, spare parts inventory level is a very critical factor that affects the availability of the system. Usually, the decision maker has many conflicting objectives that should be considered simultaneously for the selection of the optimal maintenance policy. The purpose of this research was to develop a bi-objective model that will be used to determine the preventive replacement time for three maintenance policies (age, block good as new, block bad as old) with consideration of spare parts’ availability. It was suggested to use a weighted comprehensive criterion method with two objectives, i.e. cost and availability. The model was tested with a typical numerical example. The results of the model demonstrated its effectiveness in enabling the decision maker to select the optimal maintenance policy under different scenarios and taking into account preferences with respect to contradicting objectives such as cost and availability.

Development and Implementation of a Near-Real-Time Web Reporting System on Ground-Level Ozone in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Normander, Bo; Haigh, Tim; Christiansen, Jesper S.

2008-01-01

in exchanging data and knowledge. Near-real-time information systems on the Web seem to be a valuable complement to future environmental reporting, and the European Environment Agency is currently investigating the requirements needed to extend the use of near-real-time data, including reporting on air......This article presents the development and results of Ozone Web-a near-real-time Web-based approach to communicate environmental information to policy makers, researchers, and the general public. In Ozone Web, ground-level ozone information from 750 air quality measurement stations across Europe...

Extended objects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Creutz, M.

1976-01-01

After some disconnected comments on the MIT bag and string models for extended hadrons, I review current understanding of extended objects in classical conventional relativistic field theories and their quantum mechanical interpretation

Extended Josephson Relation and Abrikosov lattice deformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matlock, Peter

2012-01-01

From the point of view of time-dependent Ginzburg Landau (TDGL) theory, a Josephson-like relation is derived for an Abrikosov vortex lattice accelerated and deformed by applied fields. Beginning with a review of the Josephson Relation derived from the two ingredients of a lattice-kinematics assumption in TDGL theory and gauge invariance, we extend the construction to accommodate a time-dependent applied magnetic field, a Floating-Kernel formulation of normal current, and finally lattice deformation due to the electric field and inertial effects of vortex-lattice motion. The resulting Josephson-like relation, which we call an Extended Josephson Relation, applies to a much wider set of experimental conditions than the original Josephson Relation, and is explicitly compatible with the considerations of TDGL theory.

Australian internet policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Daly

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This special issue focussing on internet policy in Australia provides a snapshot of developments on various topics (access, privacy, censorship as a means of understanding better the state of play in Australia, and also how this compares to internet policy in other parts of the world, especially Europe and North America. Given changing geopolitics, the influence of internet policy in the rest of the Asia Pacific through vehicles such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP may become increasingly important in Australia in the coming years. This leaves Australia, and its internet policy, at a crossroads, which may reflect broader dynamics in internet policy internationally, and makes this an interesting time in which to explore what is happening in this particular country.

Development and evaluation of the bacterial fate and transport module for the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Eun-Mi; Park, Yongeun; Muirhead, Richard; Jeong, Jaehak; Pachepsky, Yakov A

2018-02-15

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) is a watershed-scale water quality model that includes detailed representation of agricultural management. The objective of this work was to develop a process-based model for simulating the fate and transport of manure-borne bacteria on land and in streams with the APEX model. The bacteria model utilizes manure erosion rates to estimate the amount of edge-of-field bacteria export. Bacteria survival in manure is simulated as a two-stage process separately for each manure application event. In-stream microbial fate and transport processes include bacteria release from streambeds due to sediment resuspension during high flow events, active release from the streambed sediment during low flow periods, bacteria settling with sediment, and survival. Default parameter values were selected from published databases and evaluated based on field observations. The APEX model with the newly developed microbial fate and transport module was applied to simulate fate and transport of the fecal indicator bacterium Escherichia coli in the Toenepi watershed, New Zealand that was monitored for seven years. The stream network of the watershed ran through grazing lands with daily bovine waste deposition. Results show that the APEX with the bacteria module reproduced well the monitored pattern of E. coli concentrations at the watershed outlet. The APEX with the microbial fate and transport module will be utilized for predicting microbial quality of water as affected by various agricultural practices, evaluating monitoring protocols, and supporting the selection of management practices based on regulations that rely on fecal indicator bacteria concentrations. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Supply Chain Model with Stochastic Lead Time, Trade-Credit Financing, and Transportation Discounts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sung Jun Kim

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This model extends a two-echelon supply chain model by considering the trade-credit policy, transportations discount to make a coordination mechanism between transportation discounts, trade-credit financing, number of shipments, quality improvement of products, and reduced setup cost in such a way that the total cost of the whole system can be reduced, where the supplier offers trade-credit-period to the buyer. For buyer, the backorder rate is considered as variable. There are two investments to reduce setup cost and to improve quality of products. The model assumes lead time-dependent backorder rate, where the lead time is stochastic in nature. By using the trade-credit policy, the model gives how the credit-period would be determined to achieve the win-win outcome. An iterative algorithm is designed to obtain the global optimum results. Numerical example and sensitivity analysis are given to illustrate the model.

Political processes and variation in renewable energy policies between U.S. states

Science.gov (United States)

Vasseur, Michael

Over the past forty years federal efforts at renewable energy policy in the United States have been fragmented and are largely stalled. This is much different from U.S. states, which enact a diverse array of renewable energy policies. What factors explain this subnational variation? Addressing this question requires moving past the standard model of binary policy adoption that dominates studies of renewable energy policy. In its place I provide analyses of multifaceted policy outcomes, and also include predictors from a more inclusive view of politics than the standard economic and political interest factors. These additions to the standard energy policy model shed light not just on when states take policy action, but also on the content of the policies states ultimately adopt. In this dissertation I argue that different combinations of state-level political and economic characteristics influence policy adoption and policy content, a fact that is obscured by analysis of only binary policy action. I demonstrate this through three empirical projects that utilize an original longitudinal dataset and a variety of quantitative methods. The first project examines the diffusion of two varieties of a single regulatory policy instrument within a political context. I demonstrate that, contrary to most diffusion studies, policy adoption should be thought of as a multifaceted process, with separate factors determining the impetus for action and others shaping the content of the policy. My second project examines the role of economic, political, institutional, and cultural factors on a state's portfolio of policies. This work extends findings from prior literature on tax policies and incorporates institutional and cultural accounts of policy adoption into the study of renewable energy policy. I show that state economic and political factors, the predictors in traditional energy policy models, predict policy action but not policy content. Instead it is a state's cultural context

Assimilation of tourism satellite accounts and applied general equilibrium models to inform tourism policy analysis

OpenAIRE

Rossouw, Riaan; Saayman, Melville

2011-01-01

Historically, tourism policy analysis in South Africa has posed challenges to accurate measurement. The primary reason for this is that tourism is not designated as an 'industry' in standard economic accounts. This paper therefore demonstrates the relevance and need for applied general equilibrium (AGE) models to be completed and extended through an integration with tourism satellite accounts (TSAs) as a tool for policy makers (especially tourism policy makers) in South Africa. The paper sets...

US National energy policy: conservation and environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michna, J.; Bednarz, L.M.

2004-01-01

The paper presents extracts from an extended review devoted to recent changes and current trends in the national energy policy pursued in the USA. In 2001 the President Bush proposed an energy strategy for the period to 2025 that would promote energy conservation, repair and expand energy infrastructure, and increase energy supply while protecting the environment. The material stresses the importance of a sound national energy policy addressing supply, energy distribution and conservation. Well - illustrated data are given on the energy production and consumption (total, per capita, per $, by category, by fuel, etc.) and on the emissions (by sector, by fuel, by region, etc.). Giving an accurate account of the current situation with energy in America and a vision of its development for the first quarter of our century, these data are helpful for analyzing the national energy policies in other countries, post - transitional included. (authors)

Methodology for Participatory Policy Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurts, J.L.A.; Joldersma, F.

2001-01-01

In the course of time it has become clear that policy analysts who use traditional formal modeling techniques have limited impact on policy making regarding complex policy problems. These kinds of problems require the analyst to combine scientific insights with subjective knowledge resources and to

Stakeholder engagement: a model for tobacco policy planning in Oklahoma Tribal communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Jessica W; Petherick, J T; Basara, Heather

2015-01-01

Oklahoma law pre-empts local governments from enacting smoking restrictions inside public places that are stricter than state law, but the sovereign status of Oklahoma's 38 Tribal nations means they are uniquely positioned to stand apart as leaders in the area of tobacco policy. To provide recommendations for employing university-Tribal partnerships as an effective strategy for tobacco policy planning in tribal communities. Using a community-based participatory research approach, researchers facilitated a series of meetings with key Tribal stakeholders in order to develop a comprehensive tobacco policy plan. Ongoing engagement activities held between January 2011 and May 2012, including interdepartmental visits, facility site tours, interviews, and attendance at tribal activities, were critical for fostering constructive and trusting relationships between all partners involved in the policy planning process. The 17-month collaborative engagement produced a plan designed to regulate the use of commercial tobacco in all Tribally owned properties. The extended period of collaboration between the researchers and Tribal stakeholders facilitated: (1) levels of trust between partners; and (2) a steadfast commitment to the planning process, ensuring completion of the plan amid uncertain political climates and economic concerns about tobacco bans. Extended engagement produced an effective foundation for policy planning that promoted collaboration between otherwise dispersed Tribal departments, and facilitated communication of diverse stakeholder interests related to the goal of tobacco policies. The findings of this study provide useful strategies and best practices for those looking to employ Tribal-university partnerships as strategies for tobacco control planning and policy-based research. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extending the Peak Bandwidth of Parameters for Softmax Selection in Reinforcement Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwata, Kazunori

2016-05-11

Softmax selection is one of the most popular methods for action selection in reinforcement learning. Although various recently proposed methods may be more effective with full parameter tuning, implementing a complicated method that requires the tuning of many parameters can be difficult. Thus, softmax selection is still worth revisiting, considering the cost savings of its implementation and tuning. In fact, this method works adequately in practice with only one parameter appropriately set for the environment. The aim of this paper is to improve the variable setting of this method to extend the bandwidth of good parameters, thereby reducing the cost of implementation and parameter tuning. To achieve this, we take advantage of the asymptotic equipartition property in a Markov decision process to extend the peak bandwidth of softmax selection. Using a variety of episodic tasks, we show that our setting is effective in extending the bandwidth and that it yields a better policy in terms of stability. The bandwidth is quantitatively assessed in a series of statistical tests.

Post-exceptionalism in public policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daugbjerg, Carsten; Feindt, Peter H.

2017-01-01

Framing the special issue on the transformation of Food and Agricultural Policy, this article introduces the concept of post-exceptionalism in public policies. The analysis of change in agri-food policy serves as a generative example to conceptualize current transformations in sectoral policy...... arrangements in democratic welfare states. Often these arrangements have been characterized by an exceptionalist ideational framework that legitimizes a sector’s special treatment through compartmentalized, exclusive and producer-centered policies and politics. In times of internationalization of policy......-making, increasing interlinkage of policy areas and trends towards self-regulation, liberalization and performance-based policies, policy exceptionalism is under pressure to either transform or give way to (neo-)liberal policy arrangements. Post-exceptionalism denotes a partial transformation of exceptionalist ideas...

Essays on Transportation Safety, Economics, and Policy

OpenAIRE

Scholl, Patricia Lynn

2011-01-01

The rational allocation of transportation resources involves both the evaluation of the effectiveness of programs designed to improve transportation systems, as well as the formulation of policies representing a balance of competing public interests in those systems. Such interests often include: curbing automobile emissions, expanding highway infrastructure, providing affordable transit services for inner-city residents, and extending commuter rail services to sprawling suburban areas. Desig...

Advice on cultural policy matters: changing times for the Council for Culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lelieveldt, Philomeen; Minnaert, Toine

The central question is the changing role of advisory councils in Dutch cultural policy and the subsequent change in discourse on culture and the arts within cultural policy. Our working hypothesis is that the role of the Council for Culture (Raad voor Cultuur), the formal advisory council, is

Digital Education Governance: Data Visualization, Predictive Analytics, and "Real-Time" Policy Instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Ben

2016-01-01

Educational institutions and governing practices are increasingly augmented with digital database technologies that function as new kinds of policy instruments. This article surveys and maps the landscape of digital policy instrumentation in education and provides two detailed case studies of new digital data systems. The Learning Curve is a…

Manager support for work/family issues and its impact on employee-reported pain in the extended care setting

Science.gov (United States)

O’Donnell, Emily M.; Berkman, Lisa F.; Subramanian, Sv

2012-01-01

Objective Supervisor-level policies and the presence of a manager engaged in an employee’s need to achieve work/family balance, or “supervisory support,” may benefit employee health, including self-reported pain. Methods We conducted a census of employees at four selected extended-care facilities in the Boston metropolitan region (n= 368). Supervisory support was assessed through interviews with managers and pain was employee-reported. Results Our multilevel logistic models indicate that employees with managers who report the lowest levels of support for work/family balance experience twice as much overall pain as employees with managers who report high levels of support. Conclusions Low supervisory support for work/family balance is associated with an increased prevalence of employee-reported pain in extended-care facilities. We recommend that manager-level policies and practices receive additional attention as a potential risk factor for poor health in this setting. PMID:22892547

Barrier controlled carrier trapping of extended defects in CdZnTe detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Rongrong; Jie, Wanqi; Xu, Yadong; Yu, Hui; Zha, Gangqiang; Wang, Tao; Ren, Jie

2015-01-01

Transient current techniques using alpha particle source were utilized to study the influence of extended defects on the electron drift time and the detector performance of CdZnTe crystals. Different from the case of trapping through isolated point defect, a barrier controlled trapping model was used to explain the mechanism of carrier trapping at the extended defects. The effect of extended defects on the photoconductance was studied by laser beam induced transient current (LBIC) measurement. The results demonstrate that the Schottky-type depletion space charge region is induced at the vicinity of the extended defects, which further distorts the internal electric field distribution and affects the carrier trajectory in CdZnTe crystals. The relationship between the electron drift time and detector performance has been established. - Highlights: • The barrier controlled trapping model was developed around extended defects. • Electron mobility and E-field distribution were distorted by space charge depletion region. • Extended defects act as a recombination-activated region. • The relationships between extended defects and detector performance were established

An application of augmented MDA for the extended healthcare enterprise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jones, Valerie M.; van Halteren, Aart; Konstantas, D.; Widya, I.A.; Bults, Richard G.A.

2007-01-01

Mobile health systems extend the Enterprise Computing System (ECS) of the healthcare provider by bringing services to the patient any time and anywhere. We propose a methodology for the development of such extended ECSs which applies a model-driven design and development approach augmented with

An application of augmented MDA for the extended healthcare enterprise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jones, Valerie M.; van Halteren, Aart; Konstantas, D.; Widya, I.A.; Bults, Richard G.A.

2006-01-01

Mobile health systems extend the enterprise computing system of the healthcare provider by bringing services to the patient any time and anywhere. We propose a methodology for the development of such extended enterprise computing systems which applies a model-driven design and development approach

Extended School Year. Information Capsule. Volume 0910

Science.gov (United States)

Blazer, Christie

2010-01-01

Extended school years are being considered by districts around the country as educators search for new ways to raise student achievement. The addition of time to the school calendar is also supported by President Barack Obama, who recently stated that American students do not spend enough time in school. This Information Capsule addresses research…

Extending Spent Fuel Storage until Transport for Reprocessing or Disposal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsen, Brett; Chiguer, Mustapha; Grahn, Per; Sampson, Michele; Wolff, Dietmar; Bevilaqua, Arturo; Wasinger, Karl; Saegusa, Toshiari; Seelev, Igor

2016-09-01

Spent fuel (SF) must be stored until an end point such as reprocessing or geologic disposal is imple-mented. Selection and implementation of an end point for SF depends upon future funding, legisla-tion, licensing and other factors that cannot be predicted with certainty. Past presumptions related to the availability of an end point have often been wrong and resulted in missed opportunities for properly informing spent fuel management policies and strategies. For example, dry cask storage systems were originally conceived to free up needed space in reactor spent fuel pools and also to provide SFS of up to 20 years until reprocessing and/or deep geological disposal became available. Hundreds of dry cask storage systems are now employed throughout the world and will be relied upon well beyond the originally envisioned design life. Given present and projected rates for the use of nuclear power coupled with projections for SF repro-cessing and disposal capacities, one concludes that SF storage will be prolonged, potentially for several decades. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently considered 300 years of storage to be appropriate for the characterization and prediction of ageing effects and ageing management issues associated with extending SF storage and subsequent transport. This paper encourages addressing the uncertainty associated with the duration of SF storage by de-sign – rather than by default. It suggests ways that this uncertainty may be considered in design, li-censing, policy, and strategy decisions and proposes a framework for safely extending spent fuel storage until SF can be transported for reprocessing or disposal – regardless of how long that may be. The paper however is not intended to either encourage or facilitate needlessly extending spent fuel storage durations. Its intent is to ensure a design and safety basis with sufficient margin to accommodate the full range of potential future scenarios. Although the focus is primarily on

Deliverable 1.2: Report on ENP Policy Concerning its Objectives and Policy Measures over Time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Borell, M.; Boschma, R.A.; Monastiriotis, V.; Wesselink, E.

2012-01-01

This report consists of two working papers, which subsequently offer an overview of the history, structure and institutional instruments of the ENP and the policies that have been implemented due to the ENP, and a review of the political and political economy literature on the ENP. Together these

Mandating influenza vaccinations for health care workers: analysing opportunities for policy change using Kingdon's agenda setting framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson-Lee, Angela; Barr, Neil G; Randall, Glen E

2016-09-29

The consequences of annual influenza outbreaks are often underestimated by the general public. Influenza poses a serious public health threat around the world, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. Fortunately, vaccination can mitigate the negative effects of this common infectious disease. Although inoculating frontline health care workers (HCWs) helps minimize disease transmission, some HCWs continue to resist participating in voluntary immunization programs. A potential solution to this problem is government-mandated vaccination for HCWs; however, in practice, there are substantial barriers to the adoption of such policies. The purpose of this paper is to identify the likelihood of adopting a policy for mandatory immunization of HCWs in Ontario based on a historical review of barriers to the agenda setting process. Documents from secondary data sources were analysed using Kingdon's agenda setting framework of three converging streams leading to windows of opportunity for possible policy adoption. The problems, politics, and policies streams of Kingdon's framework have converged and diverged repeatedly over an extended period (policy windows have opened and closed several times). In each instance, a technically feasible solution was available. However, despite the evidence supporting the value of HCW immunization, alignment of the three agenda setting streams occurred for very short periods of time, during which, opposition lobby groups reacted, making the proposed solution less politically acceptable. Prior to the adoption of any new policies, issues must reach a government's decision agenda. Based on Kingdon's agenda setting framework, this only occurs when there is alignment of the problems, politics, and policies streams. Understanding this process makes it easier to predict the likelihood of a policy being adopted, and ultimately implemented. Such learning may be applied to policy issues in other jurisdictions. In the case of mandatory influenza

Evidence-based policy versus morality policy: the case of syringe access programs.

Science.gov (United States)

de Saxe Zerden, Lisa; O'Quinn, Erin; Davis, Corey

2015-01-01

Evidence-based practice (EBP) combines proven interventions with clinical experience, ethics, and client preferences to inform treatment and services. Although EBP is integrated into most aspects of social work and public health, at times EBP is at odds with social policy. In this article the authors explore the paradox of evidence-based policy using syringe access programs (SAP) as a case example, and review methods of bridging the gap between the emphasis on EBP and lack of evidence informing SAP policy. Analysis includes the overuse of morality policy and examines historical and current theories why this paradox exists. Action steps are highlighted for creating effective policy and opportunities for public health change. Strategies on reframing the problem and shifting target population focus to garner support for evidence-based policy change are included. This interdisciplinary understanding of the way in which these factors converge is a critical first step in moving beyond morality-based policy toward evidence-based policy.

Extended charged events and Chern-Simons couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bunster, Claudio; Gomberoff, Andres; Henneaux, Marc

2011-01-01

In three spacetime dimensions, the world volume of a magnetic source is a single point, a magnetically charged event. It has been shown long ago that in three-dimensional spacetime, the Chern-Simons coupling is quantized, because the magnetic event emits an electric charge which must be quantized according to the standard Dirac rule. Recently, the concept of dynamical extended charged events has been introduced, and it has been argued that they should play as central a role as that played by particles or ordinary branes. In this article, we show that in the presence of a Chern-Simons coupling, a magnetically charged extended event emits an extended object, which geometrically is just like a Dirac string, but it is observable, obeys equations of motion, and may be electrically charged. We write a complete action principle which accounts for this effect. The action involves two Chern-Simons terms, one integrated over spacetime and the other integrated over the world volume of the submanifold that is the union of the Dirac world sheet and the history of the emitted physical object. By demanding that the total charge emitted by a composite extended magnetic event be quantized according to Dirac's rule, we find a quantization condition for the Chern-Simons coupling. For a 1-form electric potential in D=2n+1 spacetime dimensions, the composite event is formed by n elementary extended magnetic events separated in time such that the product of their transverse spaces, together with the time axis, is the entire spacetime. We show that the emitted electric charge is given by the integral of the (n-1)-th exterior power of the electromagnetic field strength over the last elementary event, or, equivalently, over an appropriate closed surface. The extension to more general p-form potentials and higher dimensions is also discussed. For the case D=11, p=3, our result for the quantization of the Chern-Simons coupling was obtained previously in the context of M theory, an agreement

Analysing spatially extended high-dimensional dynamics by recurrence plots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marwan, Norbert, E-mail: marwan@pik-potsdam.de [Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14412 Potsdam (Germany); Kurths, Jürgen [Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14412 Potsdam (Germany); Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Physik (Germany); Nizhny Novgorod State University, Department of Control Theory, Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation); Foerster, Saskia [GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 1.4 Remote Sensing, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam (Germany)

2015-05-08

Recurrence plot based measures of complexity are capable tools for characterizing complex dynamics. In this letter we show the potential of selected recurrence plot measures for the investigation of even high-dimensional dynamics. We apply this method on spatially extended chaos, such as derived from the Lorenz96 model and show that the recurrence plot based measures can qualitatively characterize typical dynamical properties such as chaotic or periodic dynamics. Moreover, we demonstrate its power by analysing satellite image time series of vegetation cover with contrasting dynamics as a spatially extended and potentially high-dimensional example from the real world. - Highlights: • We use recurrence plots for analysing partially extended dynamics. • We investigate the high-dimensional chaos of the Lorenz96 model. • The approach distinguishes different spatio-temporal dynamics. • We use the method for studying vegetation cover time series.

Canada's uranium policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, K.L.; Williams, R.M.

1991-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the Canadian Government policies which affect the uranium industry and, where appropriate, to provide some background on the development of these policies. This review is timely because of two recent announcements by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources - one concerning the Canadian Government's renewed commitment to maintain the nuclear power option for Canada, and the other concerning some adjustments to Canada's uranium export policy. The future of Canada's nuclear industry was subject to a thorough review by the Canadian Government during 1989. This review occurred at a time when environmental issues were attracting increasing attention around the world, and the environmental advantages of nuclear power were becoming increasingly recognised. The strong support for the nuclear industry in Canada is consistent with the government's long-standing efforts to maintain Canada's position as a reliable and competitive supplier of uranium. This paper is particularly devoted to an outline of the results of the uranium export policy review. (author)

Subjective expansion of extended time-spans in experienced meditators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc eWittmann

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Experienced meditators typically report that they experience time slowing down in meditation practise as well as in everyday life. Conceptually this phenomenon may be understood through functional states of mindfulness, i.e. by attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation, and enhanced memory. However, hardly any systematic empirical work exists regarding the experience of time in meditators. In the current cross-sectional study, we investigated whether 42 experienced mindfulness meditation practitioners (with on average 10 years of experience showed differences in the experience of time as compared to 42 controls without any meditation experience matched for age, sex and education. The perception of time was assessed with a battery of psychophysical tasks assessing the accuracy of prospective time judgments in duration discrimination, duration reproduction and time estimation in the milliseconds to minutes range as well with several psychometric instruments related to subjective time such as the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, the Barrett Impulsivity Scale and the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. In addition, subjective time judgments on the current passage of time and retrospective time ranges were assessed. While subjective judgements of time were found to be significantly different between the two groups on several scales, no differences in duration estimates in the psychophysical tasks were detected. Regarding subjective time, mindfulness meditators experienced less time pressure, more time dilation, and a general slower passage of time. Moreover, they felt that the last week and the last month passed more slowly. Overall, although no intergroup differences in psychophysical tasks were detected, the reported findings demonstrate a close association between mindfulness meditation and the subjective feeling of the passage of time captured by psychometric instruments.

Extended supervisory control of Peirce-Smith converter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hadjiski, Mincho; Boshnakov, Kosta

2014-01-01

In this paper some problems of the tight integration of the Process Control (PC) and Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) are considered in the creation of a supervised control system for Peirce-Smith Converter. The motivation of this approach is carried out on the base of numerous experimental data analyses, which show a significant improving potential. Because of a very high level of stochastic components in the direct measurements, due to the melt crystallisation a data driven degradation model is derived. A multistage procedure is proposed for effective Maintenance Decision Making (MDM) using a threshold based policy, Rule-Based Reasoning (RBR) and Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). The extended functionality of the proposed system is discussed. Key words: mathematical modelling, Peirce-Smith converter (PSC), rule-based reasoning (RBR), supervisory control, threshold based maintenance, maintenance decision making

Base stock policies with degraded service to larger orders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Bisheng; Larsen, Christian

We study an inventory system controlled by a base stock policy assuming a compound renewal demand process. We extend the base stock policy by incorporating rules for degrading the service of larger orders. Two specific rules are considered, denoted Postpone(q,t) and Split(q), respectively. The aim...... of using these rules is to achieve a given order fill rate of the regular orders (those of size less than or equal to the parameter q) having less inventory. We develop mathematical expressions for the performance measures order fill rate (of the regular orders) and average on-hand inventory level. Based...

The Policy Use of Environmental Indicators - Learning from Evaluation Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, H.

2003-01-01

indicators and monitoring systems are increasingly used, but what does the use of indicators mean for policymaking? The article exploits indicator theory and the evaluation research literature to develop an analytical framework so as to study the policy uses of indicators. The paper then provides...... system and partly to the lack of accountability mechanisms. The article concludes that the analytical framework and the concepts derived from evaluation research are useful starting points, but that further research should extend the analysis to other policy contexts (national or local) and broaden...

A RWMAC commentary on the Science Policy Research Unit report: UK nuclear decommissioning policy: time for decision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-04-01

Chapter 4 of the RWMAC's Twelfth Annual Report discussed nuclear power plant decommissioning strategy. One of the RWMAC's conclusions was that the concept of financial provisioning for power station decommissioning liabilities, which might be passed on to society several generations into the future, deserved further study. A specification for such a study was duly written (Annex 2) and, following consideration of tendered responses, the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University, was contracted to carry out the work. The SPRU report stands as a SPRU analysis of the subject. This separate short RWMAC report, which is being released at the same time as the SPRU report, presents the RWMAC's own commentary on the SPRU study. The RWMAC has identified five main issues which should be addressed when deciding on a nuclear plant decommissioning strategy. These are: the technical approach to decommissioning, the basis of financial provisions, treatment of risk, segregation of management of funds, and the need for a wider environmental view. These issues are addressed in this RWMAC report. (author)

General bulk service queueing system with N-policy, multiplevacations, setup time and server breakdown without interruption

Science.gov (United States)

Sasikala, S.; Indhira, K.; Chandrasekaran, V. M.

2017-11-01

In this paper, we have considered an MX / (a,b) / 1 queueing system with server breakdown without interruption, multiple vacations, setup times and N-policy. After a batch of service, if the size of the queue is ξ (customers in the queue. After a vacation, if the server finds at least N customers waiting for service, then the server needs a setup time to start the service. After a batch of service, if the amount of waiting customers in the queue is ξ (≥ a) then the server serves a batch of min(ξ,b) customers, where b ≥ a. We derived the probability generating function of queue length at arbitrary time epoch. Further, we obtained some important performance measures.

1995 - a pivotal year for nuclear nonproliferation. German nonproliferation policy in the runup to the extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preisinger, J.

1994-01-01

The paper describes the non-proliferation as a task of preventive security policy, the non-proliferation instruments, the content of an extended non-proliferation system, and tasks of German non-proliferation policy. (DG)

The «Special» Relationship between Germany and China in the Context of Germany’s China Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anatoly V. Tsvyk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China are both economic powers in Asia and Europe with a shared international responsibility in many international fields. Germany is China's number-one trade partner in the EU and China is the top foreign investment destination for German companies. This article highlights the relationship between Germany and China since the beginning of Gerhard Schroeder's «Wandel dutch Handel» policy in 1998. Germany's policy toward China was based on the idea that economic exchange and increase in trade between both countries would lead to political and societal change in China. In the author's point of view Germany's China policy shifted significantly to one which focused more heavily on human rights at the beginning of the first term under Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2005. The author argues that Germany's China policy at present time is motivated first of all by economic interests and the needs of its exporters. In recent years, there have been efforts to extend cooperation to other fields like security and world order. The author comes to the conclusion that both Germany and China increasingly consider a strategic partnership within mutual interest.

Extended Emotions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krueger, Joel; Szanto, Thomas

2016-01-01

beyond the neurophysiological confines of organisms; some even argue that emotions can be socially extended and shared by multiple agents. Call this the extended emotions thesis (ExE). In this article, we consider different ways of understanding ExE in philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences...

Extended Test Time, Read Aloud and Student Characteristics: A Summary of Empirical Findings

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, Jennifer H.; Tuckwiller, Elizabeth D.

2008-01-01

Important legal and policy changes in recent years have made postsecondary education an increasingly viable option for students with learning disabilities. These include substantive changes in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) in the area of transition planning, research examining the importance of a college degree on…

Next Generation Extended Lagrangian Quantum-based Molecular Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Negre, Christian

2017-06-01

A new framework for extended Lagrangian first-principles molecular dynamics simulations is presented, which overcomes shortcomings of regular, direct Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, while maintaining important advantages of the unified extended Lagrangian formulation of density functional theory pioneered by Car and Parrinello three decades ago. The new framework allows, for the first time, energy conserving, linear-scaling Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations, which is necessary to study larger and more realistic systems over longer simulation times than previously possible. Expensive, self-consinstent-field optimizations are avoided and normal integration time steps of regular, direct Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics can be used. Linear scaling electronic structure theory is presented using a graph-based approach that is ideal for parallel calculations on hybrid computer platforms. For the first time, quantum based Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulation is becoming a practically feasible approach in simulations of +100,000 atoms-representing a competitive alternative to classical polarizable force field methods. In collaboration with: Anders Niklasson, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

OPTIMIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN MACROECONOMIC POLICY FOR 2016-2020

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilmundinov V. M.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the methodological issues of economic policy elaboration and optimization of economic policy instruments’ parameters. Actuality of this research is provided by growing complexity of social and economic systems, important state role in their functioning as well as multi-targets of economic policy with limited number of instruments. Considering a big variety of internal and external restrictions of social and economic development of modern Russia it has wide range of applications. Extension of the dynamic econometric general equilibrium input-output model of the Russian economy with development of the sub-model of economic policy optimization is a key purpose of this study. The sub-model of economic policy optimization allows estimating impact of economic policy measures on target indicators as well as defining optimal values of their parameters. For this purpose, we extend Robert Mundell’s approach by considering dynamic optimization and wider range of economic policy targets and measures. Use of general equilibrium input-output model allows considering impact of economic policy on different aggregate markets and sectors. Approbation of suggested approach allows us to develop multi-variant forecast for the Russian economy for 2016-2020, define optimal values of monetary policy parameters and compare considered variants by values of social losses. The obtained results could be further used in theoretical as well as applied researches concerned with issues of economic policy elaboration and forecasting of social and economic development.

Off-policy integral reinforcement learning optimal tracking control for continuous-time chaotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Qing-Lai; Song Rui-Zhuo; Xiao Wen-Dong; Sun Qiu-Ye

2015-01-01

This paper estimates an off-policy integral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm to obtain the optimal tracking control of unknown chaotic systems. Off-policy IRL can learn the solution of the HJB equation from the system data generated by an arbitrary control. Moreover, off-policy IRL can be regarded as a direct learning method, which avoids the identification of system dynamics. In this paper, the performance index function is first given based on the system tracking error and control error. For solving the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, an off-policy IRL algorithm is proposed. It is proven that the iterative control makes the tracking error system asymptotically stable, and the iterative performance index function is convergent. Simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed tracking control method. (paper)

Extending the bidding format to promote demand response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Yanchao; Holzer, Jesse T.; Ferris, Michael C.

2015-01-01

We propose an extended bidding structure to allow more realistic demand characteristics and behaviors to be expressed via flexible bids. In today's ISO-run energy markets, demand bid formats are all separable over time. However, a significant and growing segment of demand can be shifted across time and therefore has no way to bid its true valuation of consumption. We propose additional bid types that allow deferrable, adjustable and storage-type loads to better express their value, and thus elicit demand response in the most natural way – via direct participation in the market. We show that the additional bid types are easily incorporated into the existing market with no technological barrier and that they preserve the market's efficiency and incentive-compatibility properties. Using real market data, we give a numerical demonstration that the extended bid format could substantially increase social welfare, and also present additional insight on storage expansion scenarios. - Highlights: • Three new bid types are proposed to enrich demand-side participation. • Time value of electricity demand can be clearly conveyed to central dispatcher. • The extended format preserves market efficiency and incentive compatibility. • Energy storage is most effective to neutralize price volatility, with a limitation.

A Dynamic Linear Modeling Approach to Public Policy Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loftis, Matthew; Mortensen, Peter Bjerre

2017-01-01

Theories of public policy change, despite their differences, converge on one point of strong agreement. The relationship between policy and its causes can and does change over time. This consensus yields numerous empirical implications, but our standard analytical tools are inadequate for testing...... them. As a result, the dynamic and transformative relationships predicted by policy theories have been left largely unexplored in time-series analysis of public policy. This paper introduces dynamic linear modeling (DLM) as a useful statistical tool for exploring time-varying relationships in public...... policy. The paper offers a detailed exposition of the DLM approach and illustrates its usefulness with a time series analysis of U.S. defense policy from 1957-2010. The results point the way for a new attention to dynamics in the policy process and the paper concludes with a discussion of how...

A Note of Extended Proca Equations and Superconductivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christianto V.

2009-01-01

Full Text Available It has been known for quite long time that the electrodynamics of Maxwell equations can be extended and generalized further into Proca equations. The implications of in- troducing Proca equations include an alternative description of superconductivity, via extending London equations. In the light of another paper suggesting that Maxwell equations can be written using quaternion numbers, then we discuss a plausible exten- sion of Proca equation using biquaternion number. Further implications and experi- ments are recommended.

Dynamical Symmetry Breaking of Extended Gauge Symmetries

OpenAIRE

Appelquist, Thomas; Shrock, Robert

2003-01-01

We construct asymptotically free gauge theories exhibiting dynamical breaking of the left-right, strong-electroweak gauge group $G_{LR} = {\\rm SU}(3)_c \\times {\\rm SU}(2)_L \\times {\\rm SU}(2)_R \\times {\\rm U}(1)_{B-L}$, and its extension to the Pati-Salam gauge group $G_{422}={\\rm SU}(4)_{PS} \\times {\\rm SU}(2)_L \\times {\\rm SU}(2)_R$. The models incorporate technicolor for electroweak breaking, and extended technicolor for the breaking of $G_{LR}$ and $G_{422}$ and the generation of fermion ...

Extended storage of low-level radioactive waste: potential problem areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siskind, B.; Dougherty, D.R.; MacKenzie, D.R.

1985-01-01

If a state or state compact does not have adequate disposal capacity for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) by 1986 as required by the Low-Level Waste Policy Act, then extended storage of certain LLRW may be necessary. The issue of extended storage of LLRW is addressed in order to determine for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the areas of concern and the actions recommended to resolve these concerns. The focus is on the properties and behavior of the waste form and waste container. Storage alternatives are considered in order to characterize the likely storage environments for these wastes. The areas of concern about extended storage of LLRW are grouped into two categories: 1. Behavior of the waste form and/or container during storage, e.g., radiolytic gas generation, radiation-enhanced degradation of polymeric materials, and corrosion. 2. Effects of extended storage on the properties of the waste form and/or container that are important after storage (e.g., radiation-induced oxidative embrittlement of high-density polyethylene and the weakening of steel containers resulting from corrosion by the waste). The additional information and actions required to address these concerns are discussed and, in particular, it is concluded that further information is needed on the rates of corrosion of container material by Class A wastes and on the apparent dose-rate dependence of radiolytic processes in Class B and C waste packages. Modifications to the guidance for solidified wastes and high-integrity containers in NRC's Technical Position on Waste Form are recommended. 27 references

Researching International Processes of Education Policy Formation: Conceptual and Methodological Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, D. Brent, Jr.

2012-01-01

This article elaborates one approach to conceptualizing and investigating international processes of education policy formation (IPEPF), which are dynamic, multi-level and processual in nature. This contribution is important because, although research is increasingly conducted on phenomena with such characteristics, extended discussions of how…

Dominican Family Networks and United States Immigration Policy: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, Vivian; Weiss, Carol I.

1979-01-01

This analysis of the acculturative process of one immigrant Dominican family shows that United States immigration policy forces the separation of families. Immigration regulations do not recognize the cooperating kin groups as "family," and thus necessitate extra-legal strategies to reunify these extended families. (MC)

Pension Fund Restoration Policy in General Equilibrium : Tinbergen Institute MPhil Thesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kastelein, P.

2016-01-01

This paper quantifies the business cycle effects and distributional implications of pension fund restoration policy after the economy has been hit by a financial shock. We extend a canonical New-Keynesian dynamic general equilibrium model with a tractable demographic structure and a pension fund.

The struggle of ideas in Danish primary school policy in the wake of PISA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gustafsson, Line

change came as liberals contested the existing policies based on the ideas of progressive education as cause of the policy failure illuminated by the PISA investigations. As proponents of competitive education they pointed to the lack of accountability and argued for the need of measurable targets...... policy by investigating how the policy of national tests was adopted by focusing on the main actors the parties of Venstre and the Social democrats. The research question this paper seeks to answer is the following: what caused primary school policy to change? Extending over a decade or more, Danish...... and tests to monitor development. However, before policies of national tests were adopted a battle of problem definition and subsequently battles of policy solutions were fought with the social democrats which initially adhered to the ideas of progressive education. It is argued that only by knowing...

Analysis of RTM extended images for VTI media

KAUST Repository

Li, Vladimir

2016-04-28

Extended images obtained from reverse time migration (RTM) contain information about the accuracy of the velocity field and subsurface illumination at different incidence angles. Here, we evaluate the influence of errors in the anisotropy parameters on the shape of the residual moveout (RMO) in P-wave RTM extended images for VTI (transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis) media. Using the actual spatial distribution of the zero-dip NMO velocity (Vnmo), which could be approximately estimated by conventional techniques, we analyze the extended images obtained with distorted fields of the parameters η and δ. Differential semblance optimization (DSO) and stack-power estimates are employed to study the sensitivity of focusing to the anisotropy parameters. We also build angle gathers to facilitate interpretation of the shape of RMO in the extended images. The results show that the signature of η is dip-dependent, whereas errors in δ cause defocusing only if that parameter is laterally varying. Hence, earlier results regarding the influence of η and δ on reflection moveout and migration velocity analysis remain generally valid in the extended image space for complex media. The dependence of RMO on errors in the anisotropy parameters provides essential insights for anisotropic wavefield tomography using extended images.

Analysis of RTM extended images for VTI media

KAUST Repository

Li, Vladimir; Tsvankin, Ilya; Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2016-01-01

Extended images obtained from reverse time migration (RTM) contain information about the accuracy of the velocity field and subsurface illumination at different incidence angles. Here, we evaluate the influence of errors in the anisotropy parameters on the shape of the residual moveout (RMO) in P-wave RTM extended images for VTI (transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis) media. Using the actual spatial distribution of the zero-dip NMO velocity (Vnmo), which could be approximately estimated by conventional techniques, we analyze the extended images obtained with distorted fields of the parameters η and δ. Differential semblance optimization (DSO) and stack-power estimates are employed to study the sensitivity of focusing to the anisotropy parameters. We also build angle gathers to facilitate interpretation of the shape of RMO in the extended images. The results show that the signature of η is dip-dependent, whereas errors in δ cause defocusing only if that parameter is laterally varying. Hence, earlier results regarding the influence of η and δ on reflection moveout and migration velocity analysis remain generally valid in the extended image space for complex media. The dependence of RMO on errors in the anisotropy parameters provides essential insights for anisotropic wavefield tomography using extended images.

Energy-Extended CES Aggregate Production: Current Aspects of Their Specification and Econometric Estimation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul E. Brockway

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Capital–labour–energy Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES production functions and their estimated parameters now form a key part of energy–economy models which inform energy and emissions policy. However, the collation and guidance as to the specification and estimation choices involved with such energy-extended CES functions is disparate. This risks poorly specified and estimated CES functions, with knock-on implications for downstream energy–economic models and climate policy. In response, as a first step, this paper assembles in one place the major considerations involved in the empirical estimation of these CES functions. Discussions of the choices and their implications lead to recommendations for CES empiricists. The extensive bibliography allows those interested to dig deeper into any aspect of the CES parameter estimation process.

The role of emotion in global warming policy support and opposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Nicholas; Leiserowitz, Anthony

2014-05-01

Prior research has found that affect and affective imagery strongly influence public support for global warming. This article extends this literature by exploring the separate influence of discrete emotions. Utilizing a nationally representative survey in the United States, this study found that discrete emotions were stronger predictors of global warming policy support than cultural worldviews, negative affect, image associations, or sociodemographic variables. In particular, worry, interest, and hope were strongly associated with increased policy support. The results contribute to experiential theories of risk information processing and suggest that discrete emotions play a significant role in public support for climate change policy. Implications for climate change communication are also discussed. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

[The ALANAM statement on public health policy].

Science.gov (United States)

Goic, Alejando; Armas, Rodolfo

2010-12-01

The ALANAM (Association of Latin American National Academies of Medicine) statement on public health policy, issued following its 19th Congress, held October 28–30, 2010, in Santiago, Chile, declares that cardiovascular diseases, cancer, accidents and violence are the leading causes of death in the region, while in several of its member nations, emergent and re-emergent infectious diseases, malnutrition, and mother-child illnesses remain prevalent. The statement calls attention to the lack of functioning water supply and sewage systems in many villages and rural areas. After describing the social causes of the present state of public health in Latin America (poverty levels reaching upwards of 44% of the total population, or some 110 million people), it calls on governments, first, to spare no efforts in the task of eradicating extreme poverty in the short-term, and poverty in the long-term. Second, considering that about 15 million 3-to-6 year-olds have no access to education, it recommends extending educational services to these children, and to improve the quality of existing pre-school and primary education. Third, the statement calls for universal health care coverage and for equal access to good quality medical care for everyone, and for programs aimed at promoting healthy personal habits and self-care. In this regard, it also recommends that disease prevention programs be sustained over time, that national sanitary objectives be defined, and that its results be periodically reviewed. Fourth, it recommends that primary health care be extended to everyone, and that it be enhanced by improving coverage and coordination with secondary and tertiary level health care institutions. The statement lays special stress on the need for adopting public health policies aimed at lowering the cost of medicines; to this end, it calls for the creation of an official list of generic drugs. The statement ends by calling on governments to support public health research as a

A Plagiarism Detection Algorithm based on Extended Winnowing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duan Xuliang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Plagiarism is a common problem faced by academia and education. Mature commercial plagiarism detection system has the advantages of comprehensive and high accuracy, but the expensive detection costs make it unsuitable for real-time, lightweight application environment such as the student assignments plagiarism detection. This paper introduces the method of extending classic Winnowing plagiarism detection algorithm, expands the algorithm in functionality. The extended algorithm can retain the text location and length information in original document while extracting the fingerprints of a document, so that the locating and marking for plagiarism text fragment are much easier to achieve. The experimental results and several years of running practice show that the expansion of the algorithm has little effect on its performance, normal hardware configuration of PC will be able to meet small and medium-sized applications requirements. Based on the characteristics of lightweight, high efficiency, reliability and flexibility of Winnowing, the extended algorithm further enhances the adaptability and extends the application areas.

Extending access to essential services against constraints: the three-tier health service delivery system in rural China (1949-1980).

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Xing Lin; Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa; Zhong, Jun; Xu, Jin; Yuan, Beibei; Meng, Qingyue; Balabanova, Dina

2017-05-23

China has made remarkable progress in scaling up essential services during the last six decades, making health care increasingly available in rural areas. This was partly achieved through the building of a three-tier health system in the 1950s, established as a linked network with health service facilities at county, township and village level, to extend services to the whole population. We developed a Theory of Change to chart the policy context, contents and mechanisms that may have facilitated the establishment of the three-tier health service delivery system in rural China. We systematically synthesized the best available evidence on how China achieved universal access to essential services in resource-scarce rural settings, with a particular emphasis on the experiences learned before the 1980s, when the country suffered a particularly acute lack of resources. The search identified only three peered-reviewed articles that fit our criteria for scientific rigor. We therefore drew extensively on government policy documents, and triangulated them with other publications and key informant interviews. We found that China's three-tier health service delivery system was established in response to acute health challenges, including high fertility and mortality rates. Health system resources were extremely low in view of the needs and insufficient to extend access to even basic care. With strong political commitment to rural health and a "health-for-all" policy vision underlying implementation, a three-tier health service delivery model connecting villages, townships and counties was quickly established. We identified several factors that contributed to the success of the three-tier system in China: a realistic health human resource development strategy, use of mass campaigns as a vehicle to increase demand, an innovative financing mechanisms, public-private partnership models in the early stages of scale up, and an integrated approach to service delivery. An

Complexity hints for economic policy

CERN Document Server

Salzano, Massimo

2007-01-01

This volume extends the complexity approach to economics. This complexity approach is not a completely new way of doing economics, and that it is a replacement for existing economics, but rather the integration of some new analytic and computational techniques into economists’ bag of tools. It provides some alternative pattern generators, which can supplement existing approaches by providing an alternative way of finding patterns than be obtained by the traditional scientific approach. On this new kind of policy hints can be obtained. The reason why the complexity approach is taking hold now in economics is because the computing technology has advanced. This advance allows consideration of analytical systems that could not previously be considered by economists. Consideration of these systems suggested that the results of the "control-based" models might not extend easily to more complicated systems, and that we now have a method—piggybacking computer assisted analysis onto analytic methods—to start gen...

Implementing Health in All Policies - Time and Ideas Matter Too! Comment on "Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities".

Science.gov (United States)

Clavier, Carole

2016-06-20

Carey and Friel suggest that we turn to knowledge developed in the field of public administration, especially new public governance, to better understand the process of implementing health in all policies (HiAP). In this commentary, I claim that theories from the policy studies bring a broader view of the policy process, complementary to that of new public governance. Drawing on the policy studies, I argue that time and ideas matter to HiAP implementation, alongside with interests and institutions. Implementing HiAP is a complex process considering that it requires the involvement and coordination of several policy sectors, each with their own interests, institutions and ideas about the policy. Understanding who are the actors involved from the various policy sectors concerned, what context they evolve in, but also how they own and frame the policy problem (ideas), and how this has changed over time, is crucial for those involved in HiAP implementation so that they can relate to and work together with actors from other policy sectors. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Adaptive switching of interaction potentials in the time domain: an extended Lagrangian approach tailored to transmute force field to QM/MM simulations and back.

Science.gov (United States)

Böckmann, Marcus; Doltsinis, Nikos L; Marx, Dominik

2015-06-09

An extended Lagrangian formalism that allows for a smooth transition between two different descriptions of interactions during a molecular dynamics simulation is presented. This time-adaptive method is particularly useful in the context of multiscale simulation as it provides a sound recipe to switch on demand between different hierarchical levels of theory, for instance between ab initio ("QM") and force field ("MM") descriptions of a given (sub)system in the course of a molecular dynamics simulation. The equations of motion can be integrated straightforwardly using the usual propagators, such as the Verlet algorithm. First test cases include a bath of harmonic oscillators, of which a subset is switched to a different force constant and/or equilibrium position, as well as an all-MM to QM/MM transition in a hydrogen-bonded water dimer. The method is then applied to a smectic 8AB8 liquid crystal and is shown to be able to switch dynamically a preselected 8AB8 molecule from an all-MM to a QM/MM description which involves partition boundaries through covalent bonds. These examples show that the extended Lagrangian approach is not only easy to implement into existing code but that it is also efficient and robust. The technique moreover provides easy access to a conserved energy quantity, also in cases when Nosé-Hoover chain thermostatting is used throughout dynamical switching. A simple quadratic driving potential proves to be sufficient to guarantee a smooth transition whose time scale can be easily tuned by varying the fictitious mass parameter associated with the auxiliary variable used to extend the Lagrangian. The method is general and can be applied to time-adaptive switching on demand between two different levels of theory within the framework of hybrid scale-bridging simulations.

Analysis of RTM extended images for VTI media

KAUST Repository

Li, Vladimir

2015-08-19

Extended images obtained from reverse-time migration (RTM) contain information about the accuracy of the velocity field and subsurface illumination at different incidence angles. Here, we evaluate the influence of errors in the anisotropy parameters on the shape of the residual moveout (RMO) in P-wave RTM extended images for VTI (transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis) media. Considering the actual spatial distribution of the zero-dip NMO velocity (Vnmo), which could be approximately estimated by conventional techniques, we analyze the extended images obtained with distorted fields of the parameters η and δ. Differential semblance optimization (DSO) and stack-power estimates are employed to study the sensitivity of focusing to the anisotropy parameters. The results show that the signature of η is dip-dependent, whereas errors in δ cause defocusing only if that parameter is laterally varying. Hence, earlier results regarding the influence of η and δ on reflection moveout and migration velocity analysis remain generally valid in the extended image space for complex media. The dependence of RMO on errors in the anisotropy parameters provides essential insights for anisotropic wavefield tomography using extended images.

Reflections on energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lennings, M.

1980-01-01

The author first gives a general view of the present situation of the energy industry in the Federal Republic of Germany. Starting from the facts that we need further industrial growth in our country and the energy demand will increase, although not as fast as it did in the past, Mr. Lennings pleads for a long-range energy policy which should be accepted by the majority of the nation. The predominant goal of such a long-range energy policy, he states, should be a supply guarantee, i.e. sufficient supplies at relatively favourable prices must be guaranteed with regard to the industrial growth and the high export dependence of the German industry. Mr. Lenning's thoughts centre at the possible exchange potential to reduce the use of petroleum. A 'leave the petroleum' policy can only be realised by increased capital investiment, states he. In this connection he closely deals with district heating, heat pumps, conversion plants, and coal beneficiation processes and proves that with a capital investment of appr. 91 billion DM fuel oil and gasoline of appr. 28 million tons could be saved. To do this, however, additional quantities of hard coal would be necessary. Result: nuclear energy must be extended as fast as possible so it can replace coal in the sphere of power generation. (orig./UA) [de

Vietnam: Water Policy Dynamics under a Post-Cold War Communism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Fforde

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Vietnam is widely seen as a development success, with rather rapid economic growth and a reported reduced role of the state, yet presents many paradoxes to conventional analytical frameworks. Two of relevance are accounts that stress a combination of a strongly hegemonic regime with weak internal sovereignty in terms of both the internal coherence of the apparat and its interactions with the rest of Vietnamese society, and also associated accounts that deny much role to intentionality in explaining apparent development success. This article will contextualise accounts of political intention and policy development towards water issues in Vietnam through an examination of two main empirics: the evolution of formal policy, understood as documents of the state, as well as of political intention, understood as documents of the ruling Party; and the by now extensive series of 'active' case studies that have examined donor as well as other projects in the sector. It will examine the notion, in the contexts suggested by the Vietnamese experience, that attempts to explain Vietnamese water policy, which have shown a tendency to shift away from assumptions that an analytical framework’s categories may easily and without too much risk be extended across different contexts. Rather, comparisons of Vietnamese experience across contexts will tend, if they are to be persuasive, to shift to the use of languages that reflect ontological fluidity, in that what things mean is expected to change over time, without reference to an imagined transcendental and universal 'real'. In this sense, Vietnamese water policy may be usefully understood as an example of how 'success gives voice to the local'.

Using Multidimensional Methods to Understand the Development, Interpretation and Enactment of Quality Assurance Policy within the Educational Development Community

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Karen

2018-01-01

Policy texts are representations of practice that both reflect and shape the world around them. There is, however, little higher education research that critically analyses the impact of higher education policy on educational developers and educational development practice. Extending methods from critical discourse analysis by combining textual…

41 CFR 101-25.111 - Environmental impact policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Environmental impact...-General Policies § 101-25.111 Environmental impact policy. (a) From time to time, Congress enacts... Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321). The objective of such legislation is, among other things, the...

Does Daylight Savings Time encourage physical activity?

Science.gov (United States)

Zick, Cathleen D

2014-07-01

Extending Daylight Savings Time (DST) has been identified as a policy intervention that may encourage physical activity. However, there has been little research on the question of if DST encourages adults to be more physically active. Data from residents of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah ages 18-64 who participated in the 2003-2009 American Time Use Survey are used to assess whether DST is associated with increased time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The analysis capitalizes on the natural experiment created because Arizona does not observe DST. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate that shifting 1 hour of daylight from morning to evening does not impact MVPA of Americans living in the southwest. While DST may affect the choices people make about the timing and location of their sports/recreational activities, the potential for DST to serve as a broad-based intervention that encourages greater sports/recreation participation is not supported by this analysis. Whether this null effect would persist in other climate situations is an open question.

A RWMAC commentary on the Science Policy Research Unit Report: UK Nuclear Decommissioning Policy: time for decision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1994-04-01

The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) is an independent body which advises the Secretaries of State for the Environment, Scotland and Wales, on civil radioactive waste management issues. Chapter 4 of the RWMAC's Twelfth Annual Report discussed nuclear power plant decommissioning strategy. One of the RWMAC's conclusions was that the concept of financial provisioning for power station decommissioning liabilities, which might be passed on to society several generations into the future, deserved further study. A specification for such a study was duly written (Annex 2) and, following consideration of tendered responses, the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University, was contracted to carry out the work. The SPRU report stands as a SPRU analysis of the subject. This separate short RWMAC report, which is being released at the same time as the SPRU report, presents the RWMAC's own commentary on the SPRU study. The RWMAC has identified five main issues which should be addressed when deciding on a nuclear plant decommissioning strategy. These are: the technical approach to decommissioning, the basis of financial provisions, treatment of risk, segregation of management of funds, and the need for a wider environmental view. (author)

CSchema: A Downgrading Policy Language for XML Access Control

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Dong-Xi Liu

2007-01-01

The problem of regulating access to XML documents has attracted much attention from both academic and industry communities.In existing approaches, the XML elements specified by access policies are either accessible or inac-cessible according to their sensitivity.However, in some cases, the original XML elements are sensitive and inaccessible, but after being processed in some appropriate ways, the results become insensitive and thus accessible.This paper proposes a policy language to accommodate such cases, which can express the downgrading operations on sensitive data in XML documents through explicit calculations on them.The proposed policy language is called calculation-embedded schema (CSchema), which extends the ordinary schema languages with protection type for protecting sensitive data and specifying downgrading operations.CSchema language has a type system to guarantee the type correctness of the embedded calcula-tion expressions and moreover this type system also generates a security view after type checking a CSchema policy.Access policies specified by CSchema are enforced by a validation procedure, which produces the released documents containing only the accessible data by validating the protected documents against CSchema policies.These released documents are then ready tobe accessed by, for instance, XML query engines.By incorporating this validation procedure, other XML processing technologies can use CSchema as the access control module.

Broadening health policy education in medical school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur A

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Ahmed Nur, Aqib Chaudry, Amar SodhaFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UKWe read with great interest the article by Malik et al1 exploring medical studentparticipation in health policy roles. As medical students who recently completed anintercalated degree in healthcare management at Imperial College London, we spent alarge proportion of our time learning about health policy. Thus, we can offer a uniqueperspective on this issue.    We firstly commend the authors for identifying factors that act as barriers to medical student involvement in health policy roles. Noteworthy barriers impacting student involvement included: a lack of knowledge regarding health policy, an unawareness of opportunities available, and a lack of time. It was found that 43% identified lack of time as a barrier to their involvement in health policy.1 Bicket et al similarly found that time commitments and opportunity costs were the main drawbacks for students not pursuing their interests in leadership roles in medical school.2View the original paper by Malik and colleagues.

Extended Traffic Crash Modelling through Precision and Response Time Using Fuzzy Clustering Algorithms Compared with Multi-layer Perceptron

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iman Aghayan

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper compares two fuzzy clustering algorithms – fuzzy subtractive clustering and fuzzy C-means clustering – to a multi-layer perceptron neural network for their ability to predict the severity of crash injuries and to estimate the response time on the traffic crash data. Four clustering algorithms – hierarchical, K-means, subtractive clustering, and fuzzy C-means clustering – were used to obtain the optimum number of clusters based on the mean silhouette coefficient and R-value before applying the fuzzy clustering algorithms. The best-fit algorithms were selected according to two criteria: precision (root mean square, R-value, mean absolute errors, and sum of square error and response time (t. The highest R-value was obtained for the multi-layer perceptron (0.89, demonstrating that the multi-layer perceptron had a high precision in traffic crash prediction among the prediction models, and that it was stable even in the presence of outliers and overlapping data. Meanwhile, in comparison with other prediction models, fuzzy subtractive clustering provided the lowest value for response time (0.284 second, 9.28 times faster than the time of multi-layer perceptron, meaning that it could lead to developing an on-line system for processing data from detectors and/or a real-time traffic database. The model can be extended through improvements based on additional data through induction procedure.

Carbon Lock-Out: Advancing Renewable Energy Policy in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Pietzcker

2012-02-01

Full Text Available As part of its climate strategy, the EU aims at increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E in overall electricity generation. Attaining this target poses a considerable challenge as the electricity sector is “locked” into a carbon-intensive system, which hampers the adoption of RES-E technologies. Electricity generation, transmission and distribution grids as well as storage and demand response are subject to important path dependences, which put existing, non-renewable energy sources at an advantage. This paper examines how an EU framework for RES-E support policies should be designed to facilitate a carbon lock-out. For this purpose, we specify the major technological, economic and institutional barriers to RES-E. For each of the barriers, a policy review is carried out which assesses the performance of existing policy instruments and identifies needs for reform. The review reveals several shortcomings: while policies targeting generation are widely in place, measures to address barriers associated with electricity grids, storage and demand are still in their infancy and have to be extended. Moreover, the implementation of policies has been fragmented across EU Member States. In this respect, national policies should be embedded into an integrated EU-wide planning of the RES-E system with overarching energy scenarios and partially harmonized policy rules.

Renewable energy and policy options in an integrated ASEAN electricity market: Quantitative assessments and policy implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Youngho; Li, Yanfei

2015-01-01

Energy market integration (EMI) in the ASEAN region is a promising solution to relieve the current immobilization of its renewable energy resources and would serve the fast increasing demand for electricity in the region. EMI could be further extended with coordinated policies in carbon pricing, renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS), and feed-in-tariffs (FIT) in the ASEAN countries. Using a linear dynamic programming model, this study quantitatively assesses the impacts of EMI and the above-mentioned policies on the development of renewable energy in the power generation sector of the region, and the carbon emissions reduction achievable with these policies. According to our results, EMI is expected to significantly promote the adoption of renewable energy. Along with EMI, FIT appears to be more cost-effective than RPS and is recommended for the ASEAN region, albeit political barriers for policy coordination among the countries might be a practical concern. In addition, an RPS of 30% electricity from renewable sources by 2030, which is considered politically a “low-hanging fruit”, would achieve moderate improvements in carbon emissions reductions and renewable energy development, while incurring negligible increases in the total cost of electricity. -- Highlights: •Energy market integration (EMI), carbon pricing, RPS, and FIT are examined for ASEAN. •EMI is a promising and feasible solution to promote renewable energy for ASEAN. •Along with EMI, FIT appears to be more cost-effective than RPS for ASEAN. •RPS of 30% by 2030 appears to be reasonable and feasible for ASEAN. •Coordinating FIT and RPS policies under EMI among ASEAN is advised

Energy policy of France; Politique energetique de la France

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Revol, H

2001-07-01

In November 1997, the French senate decided the creation of an inquiry commission in order to start up a study about the future of the French energy policy. The commission has interviewed the overall actors of the energy policy: ministers, heads of energy companies, higher officials, syndicates, consumer and environment protection associations, scientists and economists. The inquiry has been extended to other countries of the European community, and also to China, Japan, the USA and Canada. Despite various economical contexts and resources, all these countries have developed energy policies which aim at ensuring an energy independence and at supplying energy at the best price for a better economic competitiveness. This report presents first the French experience and the evolution of the French energy policy during the last 50 years with respect to the economical and political constraints encountered. The second part is a reflection about the principles that will guide the French energy policy in the context of deregulation of the European energy market and of the environmental constraints imposed by the Kyoto summit. Detailed proposals for the increase of the French energy independence are presented in conclusion of the report. (J.S.)

MONETARY POLICY ADJUSTMENT AT THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS CONSTRAINTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adina Criste

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The global financial crisis marked a border for central banks, as it raised challenges which constrained them both to extend the range of monetary policy instruments and to redefine their role in the financial system. The present paper aims to identify features of conducting the monetary policy of some central banks, during and after the global financial crisis outbreak. For that purpose, we apply to a comparative analysis between some central banks of European Union (EU, namely Czech National Bank (CNB, National Bank of Hungary (NBH, National Bank of Poland (NBP and National Bank of Romania (NBR. We also assume that the monetary policy could be characterised through both the challenges faced by the central banks and the type of measures adopted, as a reaction to these challenges. Analysis shows that central banks have different levels of burden, according to domestic condition, and also different ”pattern” of monetary policy adjustments, using more or less unconventional or macro-prudential measures. An important conclusion raised from this article refers to the increasing role of these special measures for central banks, which requires defining a new monetary policy framework in the near future.

US fiscal regimes and optimal monetary policy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mavromatis, K.

2014-01-01

Fiscal policy in the US has been documented to have been the leading authority in the ‘60s and the ‘70s (active fiscal policy), while committing to make the necessary fiscal adjustments following Volcker’s appointment (passive fiscal policy). Moreover, while passive, US fiscal policy has at times

Implementation of extended Kalman filter-based simultaneous ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Manigandan Nagarajan Santhanakrishnan

2017-07-03

Jul 3, 2017 ... challenging as the associated system state and covariance matrices along with ... operating speed in a real-time scenario. ... significant contribution in the field of disaster management, ... proper data association between two sets of features taken ..... extending financial and infrastructural support (Project.

Effect of storage time of extended-pour and conventional alginate impressions on dimensional accuracy of casts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Rohanian

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Some manufacturers claim to have produced new irreversible hydro-colloids that are able to maintain their dimensional stability during storage. The present study evaluated the effect of storage time on dimensional stability of three alginates: Hydrogum 5, Tropicalgin and Alginoplast.In this experimental in-vitro trial, a total of 90 alginate impressions were made from a Dentoform model using Hydrogum 5, Tropicalgin and Alginoplast alginates. The impressions were stored in a sealed plastic bag without a damp paper towel for 0, 24, 48, 72 and 120 hours and then poured with type III dental stone. Cross-arch (facial of 6 to facial of 6 on the opposite side and antero-posterior (distal of right first molar to the ipsilateral central incisor measurements were made with a digital caliper on the casts. Data were analyzed by two-way and one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test (P<0.05.Alginate type and the pouring time significantly affected the dimensional stability of alginate impressions (both Ps<0.001. Pouring of Hydrogum 5 impressions can be delayed for up to 120 hours without significant dimensional changes. Alginoplast impressions may be poured after 72 hours, but Tropicalgin should be poured immediately and the storage time should not be more than 24 hours.Immediate pouring of alginate impressions provides the highest accuracy in reproducing the teeth and adjacent tissues; however, this study demonstrated that pouring may be delayed for up to five days using extended-pour (Hydrogum 5 alginates.

Beyond Bush: Environmental politics and prospects for US climate policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, Paul G.

2009-01-01

The United States was a pioneer in domestic environmental lawmaking, and it was a leader in international environmental cooperation in the final decades of the last century. During the current decade, however, it has moved away from cooperating with other states in finding new ways to protect the global environment. While its early efforts to address climate change were no worse, and often better than, other developed countries, it has fallen far behind as a number of European states and the European Union have started to implement robust policies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This chapter recounts this evolution in US policy from environmental leader to environmental laggard. It summarizes the US climate change-related policies and diplomacy, recounting significant events during the presidential administrations of George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. It then extends this summary of events to assess the prospects for US climate policy in the near future

Economics and policies of nuclear plant life management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamagata, H.

1998-01-01

NEA provides an opportunity for international exchange of information on the economics and policies of nuclear plant life management for governments and plant owners. The NEA Secretariat is finalising the 'state-of-the-art report' on the economics and policies of nuclear plant life management, including the model approach and national summaries. In order to meet power supply obligations in the early 2000, taking into account energy security, environmental impact, and the economics of nuclear power plants whose lives have been extended, initiatives at national level must be taken to monitor, co-ordinate, and support the various industry programmes of nuclear plant life management by integrated and consistent policies, public acceptance, R and D, and international co-operation. Nuclear power owners should establish an organisation and objectives to carry nuclear plant life management in the most economic and smoothest way taking into consideration internal and external influences. The organisation must identify the critical item and the ageing processes, and optimise equipment reliability and maintenance workload. (author)

The rationale for energy efficiency policy: Assessing the recognition of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency retrofit policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kerr, Niall; Gouldson, Andy; Barrett, John

2017-01-01

The rationale for energy efficiency policy can be framed in terms of a variety of different benefits. This paper considers how different benefits have been used within the overall rationale for energy efficient retrofit policy in different contexts. We posit that different rationales may be used for the same policy response, and that the form of rationale used may affect the design, delivery or the level of policy support, with different rationales making it easier to account for different results. Considering retrofit policy in the contexts of the UK, Germany, New Zealand and Ireland, we characterise policy rationale in each case, assessing what the key perceived benefits have been, and whether they have changed over time. The analysis identifies some marked differences between cases with the recognition of benefits and the ensuing policy rationale resulting from a complex mix of political, social and economic influences. We find that recognition of multiple benefits may not equate with multiplied policy support, and instead it is more likely that different rationales will have relevance at different times, for different audiences. The findings highlight that, alongside evidence for policy, it is important to also consider how the overall rationale for policy is eventually framed. - Highlights: • Energy efficiency as a policy issue with perceived multiple benefits. • Assessment of the influence of different benefits on rationale for energy efficient retrofit policy. • How does the rationale for retrofit policy differ in different national policy contexts. • To what extent are the perceived multiple benefits of policy recognised. • What influence does eventual rationale for policy have on the policy implemented.

Optimal ordering and pricing policy for price sensitive stock–dependent demand under progressive payment scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nita H. Shah

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The terminal condition of inventory level to be zero at the end of the cycle time adopted by Soni and Shah (2008, 2009 is not viable when demand is stock-dependent. To rectify this assumption, we extend their model for (1 an ending – inventory to be non-zero; (2 limited floor space; (3 a profit maximization model; (4 selling price to be a decision variable, and (5 units in inventory deteriorate at a constant rate. The algorithm is developed to search for the optimal decision policy. The working of the proposed model is supported with a numerical example. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate critical parameters.

Modern Lithuanian foreign policy: the adjustment of traditional policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Batorshina Irina

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The authors consider the core areas of Lithuanian foreign policy. Special attention is paid to the adjustment of the major foreign policy vector, which concentrated earlier on the cooperation with the United States of America and strategic partnership with the Republic of Poland. The article analyses the attempts of Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė to formulate the so-called «new foreign policy» based on the multivector approach to the intergovernmental cooperation. This research is timely because of an increasing influence of small states on foreign policy decision-making within the European Union. It emphasizes the need to analyse foreign policy priorities of the Baltic States and Central and Eastern European countries and to identify the dominant trends in the international policy in the region in order to forecast further development at European and global levels. This objective is achieved with the help of an integrated approach with elements of interdisciplinary research. Special attention is paid to the comparative-historical approach, which facilitates the analysis of the relations between the Republic of Lithuania and the neighbouring states and its principal partners. Alongside traditional methods of historical research, this work employs such methods as participant observation, content and event analysis, and simultaneous and comparative analysis. The research and practical significance of this work is explained by its emphasis on the need to apply an additional theoretical framework to studies into the foreign policy initiatives of the Republic of Lithuania in the international arena. While earlier they were determined by the value (democratic approach, which was a reflection of American realism, today an increasingly important factor is the personality of the president, who does not always positively influence the changing policy of the country. The results of the research contribute substantially to the understanding of

Making the Case for Anonymity in E-Participation - An Evaluation of Real Name Policy in Gütersloh’s Second Participatory Budget

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Anna Ruesch

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The paper relates the debate about real name policy on social networking platforms and online forums to online moderated consultation processes in the area of e-participation. It analyses the case of the second participatory budget of the German city of Gütersloh. Three major rationales for real name policy in e-participatory projects are identified: the possibility to restrict access, prevention of offensive communication, and the strengthening of a transparent democracy. The five major objections identified are: distraction from issue-related dialogue, violation of privacy rights, administrative problems causing high expenditure of time and costs, negative media and public attention, and usability problems that may result in a low rate of participation. The evidence found indicates that the negative consequences of real name policy outweigh the positive ones. Important directions of further research are pointed out. The paper is an extended version of a paper presented at the Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government in 2012.

Extended icosahedral structures

CERN Document Server

Jaric, Marko V

1989-01-01

Extended Icosahedral Structures discusses the concepts about crystal structures with extended icosahedral symmetry. This book is organized into six chapters that focus on actual modeling of extended icosahedral crystal structures. This text first presents a tiling approach to the modeling of icosahedral quasiperiodic crystals. It then describes the models for icosahedral alloys based on random connections between icosahedral units, with particular emphasis on diffraction properties. Other chapters examine the glassy structures with only icosahedral orientational order and the extent of tra

Examining Policies to Reduce Homelessness Using a General Equilibrium Model of the Housing Market

OpenAIRE

Mansur, Erin; Quigley, John M.; Raphael, Steven; Smolensky, Eugene

2003-01-01

In this paper, we use a general equilibrium simulation model to assess the potential impacts on homelessness of various housing-market policy interventions. We calibrate the model to the four largest metropolitan areas in California. We explore the welfare con- sequences and the effects on homelessness of three housing-market policy interventions: extending housing vouchers to all low-income households, subsidizing all landlords, and subsidizing those landlords who supply low-income housing. ...

Policy Driven Development: Flexible Policy Insertion for Large Scale Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Demchak, Barry; Krüger, Ingolf

2012-07-01

The success of a software system depends critically on how well it reflects and adapts to stakeholder requirements. Traditional development methods often frustrate stakeholders by creating long latencies between requirement articulation and system deployment, especially in large scale systems. One source of latency is the maintenance of policy decisions encoded directly into system workflows at development time, including those involving access control and feature set selection. We created the Policy Driven Development (PDD) methodology to address these development latencies by enabling the flexible injection of decision points into existing workflows at runtime , thus enabling policy composition that integrates requirements furnished by multiple, oblivious stakeholder groups. Using PDD, we designed and implemented a production cyberinfrastructure that demonstrates policy and workflow injection that quickly implements stakeholder requirements, including features not contemplated in the original system design. PDD provides a path to quickly and cost effectively evolve such applications over a long lifetime.

A summary of maintenance policies for a finite interval

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa, T.; Mizutani, S.

2009-01-01

It would be an important problem to consider practically some maintenance policies for a finite time span, because the working times of most units are finite in actual fields. This paper converts the usual maintenance models to finite maintenance models. It is more difficult to study theoretically optimal policies for a finite time span than those for an infinite time span. Three usual models of periodic replacement with minimal repair, block replacement and simple replacement are transformed to finite replacement models. Further, optimal periodic and sequential policies for an imperfect preventive maintenance and an inspection model for a finite time span are considered. Optimal policies for each model are analytically derived and are numerically computed

Networking to Improve Nutrition Policy Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sonia A; Blanck, Heidi M; Cradock, Angie; Gortmaker, Steven

2015-09-10

Effective nutrition and obesity policies that improve the food environments in which Americans live, work, and play can have positive effects on the quality of human diets. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) conducts transdisciplinary practice-based policy research and evaluation to foster understanding of the effectiveness of nutrition policies. The articles in this special collection bring to light a set of policies that are being used across the United States. They add to the larger picture of policies that can work together over time to improve diet and health.

Ozone and PM related health co-benefits of climate change policies in Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crawford-Brown, Douglas; Barker, Terry; Anger, Annela; Dessens, Olivier

2012-01-01

This paper reports the results of extending a previous analysis of reductions in ozone exposures resulting from greenhouse gas reduction policies in Mexico, to the case of estimating reductions in premature death and risks of non-fatal diseases following reductions in both ozone and particulate matter exposures. The results show that a policy of greenhouse gas reduction in the Mexican economy by 77% relative to a baseline growth scenario results in reduced mortality loss of almost 3000 lives per year. The benefit in terms of non-fatal disease is 417,000 cases reduced per year, at a savings of $0.6B per year in cost of illness. These reductions in human health risk, stemming from co-benefits of climate change policies, are significant in light of targets of risk reduction typically used in environmental regulatory decisions, and would be considered important drivers of policy choice if climate policy were harmonised with other areas of risk-based environmental policy.

Models of emergency departments for reducing patient waiting times.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marek Laskowski

Full Text Available In this paper, we apply both agent-based models and queuing models to investigate patient access and patient flow through emergency departments. The objective of this work is to gain insights into the comparative contributions and limitations of these complementary techniques, in their ability to contribute empirical input into healthcare policy and practice guidelines. The models were developed independently, with a view to compare their suitability to emergency department simulation. The current models implement relatively simple general scenarios, and rely on a combination of simulated and real data to simulate patient flow in a single emergency department or in multiple interacting emergency departments. In addition, several concepts from telecommunications engineering are translated into this modeling context. The framework of multiple-priority queue systems and the genetic programming paradigm of evolutionary machine learning are applied as a means of forecasting patient wait times and as a means of evolving healthcare policy, respectively. The models' utility lies in their ability to provide qualitative insights into the relative sensitivities and impacts of model input parameters, to illuminate scenarios worthy of more complex investigation, and to iteratively validate the models as they continue to be refined and extended. The paper discusses future efforts to refine, extend, and validate the models with more data and real data relative to physical (spatial-topographical and social inputs (staffing, patient care models, etc.. Real data obtained through proximity location and tracking system technologies is one example discussed.

The asymmetry of U.S. monetary policy: Evidence from a threshold Taylor rule with time-varying threshold values

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yanli; Chen, Haiqiang

2017-05-01

In this paper, we revisit the issue whether U.S. monetary policy is asymmetric by estimating a forward-looking threshold Taylor rule with quarterly data from 1955 to 2015. In order to capture the potential heterogeneity for regime shift mechanism under different economic conditions, we modify the threshold model by assuming the threshold value as a latent variable following an autoregressive (AR) dynamic process. We use the unemployment rate as the threshold variable and separate the sample into two periods: expansion periods and recession periods. Our findings support that the U.S. monetary policy operations are asymmetric in these two regimes. More precisely, the monetary authority tends to implement an active Taylor rule with a weaker response to the inflation gap (the deviation of inflation from its target) and a stronger response to the output gap (the deviation of output from its potential level) in recession periods. The threshold value, interpreted as the targeted unemployment rate of monetary authorities, exhibits significant time-varying properties, confirming the conjecture that policy makers may adjust their reference point for the unemployment rate accordingly to reflect their attitude on the health of general economy.

Effect of storage time of extended-pour and conventional alginate impressions on dimensional accuracy of casts.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohanian, Ahmad; Ommati Shabestari, Ghasem; Zeighami, Somayeh; Samadi, Mohammad Javad; Shamshiri, Ahmad Reza

2014-11-01

Some manufacturers claim to have produced new irreversible hydro-colloids that are able to maintain their dimensional stability during storage. The present study evaluated the effect of storage time on dimensional stability of three alginates: Hydrogum 5, Tropicalgin and Alginoplast. In this experimental in-vitro trial, a total of 90 alginate impressions were made from a Dentoform model using Hydrogum 5, Tropicalgin and Alginoplast alginates. The impressions were stored in a sealed plastic bag without a damp paper towel for 0, 24, 48, 72 and 120 hours and then poured with type III dental stone. Cross-arch (facial of 6 to facial of 6 on the opposite side) and antero-posterior (distal of right first molar to the ipsilateral central incisor) measurements were made with a digital caliper on the casts. Data were analyzed by two-way and one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test (Pimpressions (both Psimpressions can be delayed for up to 120 hours without significant dimensional changes. Alginoplast impressions may be poured after 72 hours, but Tropicalgin should be poured immediately and the storage time should not be more than 24 hours. Immediate pouring of alginate impressions provides the highest accuracy in reproducing the teeth and adjacent tissues; however, this study demonstrated that pouring may be delayed for up to five days using extended-pour (Hydrogum 5) alginates.

A rapid detection method for policy-sensitive amines real-time supervision.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Haixu; Shu, Jinian; Yang, Bo; Zhang, Peng; Ma, Pengkun

2018-02-01

Many organic amines that comprise a benzene ring are policy-sensitive because of their toxicity and links to social harm. However, to date, detection of such compounds mainly relies on offline methods. This study proposes an online pptv (parts per trillion by volume) level of detection method for amines, using the recently-built vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometer (VUV-PIMS) combined with a new doping technique. Thus, the dichloromethane doping-assisted photoionization mass spectra of aniline, benzylamine, phenethylamine, amphetamine, and their structural isomers were recorded. The dominant characteristic mass peaks for all amines are those afforded by protonated amines and the amino radical-loss. The signal intensities of the amines were enhanced by 60-130 times compared to those recorded without doping assistance. Under 10s detection time, the sensitivities of aniline and benzylamine in the gas phase were determined as 4.0 and 2.7 countspptv -1 , with limits of detection (LODs) of 36 and 22 pptv, respectively. Notably, the detection efficiency of this method can be tenfold better in future applications since the ion transmission efficiency of the mass spectrometer was intentionally reduced to ~ 10% in this study. Therefore, dichloromethane doping-assisted photoionization mass spectrometry has proven to be a highly promising on-line approach to amine detection in environmental and judicial supervision and shows great potential for application in the biological field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Risk Implications of Energy Policy Instruments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kitzing, Lena

papers and a working paper), based on a combination of micro-economic and policy analysis. Financial theory is used for the quantitative analysis of investment problems under uncertainty, including mean-variance portfolio theory, real option analysis, Monte Carlo simulations and time series analysis...... show, both qualitatively and quantitatively, that policy makers cannot neglect risk implications when designing RES support instruments without compromising either on effectiveness or cost-efficiency of energy policy. The central research questions are: how can risk implications of RES policy...... instruments be integrated into policy design, so that the policies provide adequate investment incentives? And can the consideration of such risk implications in policy design make overall energy policy more successful? These questions are answered in seven research papers (four journal papers, two conference...

Real-time PCR-based method for the rapid detection of extended RAS mutations using bridged nucleic acids in colorectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Iida, Takao; Mizuno, Yukie; Kaizaki, Yasuharu

2017-10-27

Mutations in RAS and BRAF are predictors of the efficacy of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Therefore, simple, rapid, cost-effective methods to detect these mutations in the clinical setting are greatly needed. In the present study, we evaluated BNA Real-time PCR Mutation Detection Kit Extended RAS (BNA Real-time PCR), a real-time PCR method that uses bridged nucleic acid clamping technology to rapidly detect mutations in RAS exons 2-4 and BRAF exon 15. Genomic DNA was extracted from 54 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples obtained from mCRC patients. Among the 54 FFPE samples, BNA Real-time PCR detected 21 RAS mutations (38.9%) and 5 BRAF mutations (9.3%), and the reference assay (KRAS Mutation Detection Kit and MEBGEN™ RASKET KIT) detected 22 RAS mutations (40.7%). The concordance rate of detected RAS mutations between the BNA Real-time PCR assay and the reference assays was 98.2% (53/54). The BNA Real-time PCR assay proved to be a more simple, rapid, and cost-effective method for detecting KRAS and RAS mutations compared with existing assays. These findings suggest that BNA Real-time PCR is a valuable tool for predicting the efficacy of early anti-EGFR therapy in mCRC patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Technocrats and nuclear politics. The influence of professional experts in policy-making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massey, Andrew

1988-01-01

The role of technical experts, especially scientists and engineers, in the development of Britain's civil nuclear energy policy is analysed. It is proposed that civil initiatives came from the integration of technical professions within the bureaucracy of government and quasi-governmental organisations involved in the formulation and implementation of policy. Organisational logic and professional motivation encouraged policies which would lead to occupational autonomy. The first three chapters develop the concept of technical professionalism, Chapters 4-7 then focus on the technocrat's role in providing a spur from their positions within the policy community's bureaucracies that drives top-level policy decisions. These functions are examined in more detail using two case studies, the first concerned with the evolution of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., the second with the Inquiry (in 1977) into the proposal by BNFL to extend its Windscale site (now known as Sellafield) to build the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant. (U.K.)

A literature review of the market effects of federal biofuel policy and recommendations for future policy

Science.gov (United States)

Ayers, Alex Elgin

The United States has had a federal biofuels policy since the 1970s. The purpose of this policy was to help the development of a biofuel industry during a time of high fuel prices in order to provide a domestic alternative to expensive foreign oil. Later the policy was changed to help lower the environmental impact caused by conventional fuels. Since that time the industry has grown and currently produces around 15 billion gallons of biofuels every year. The current federal biofuel policy is largely based on one program, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which mandates the production and blending of several different classes of biofuels and provides a form of subsidy to the biofuel industry. This paper examines the market effects of the federal biofuel policy and provides recommendations for improving the policy to counteract any negative effects. Federal biofuel policy has many far-reaching market effects. Some are easily calculable through expenditures and lost revenues, while others are harder to quantify because their full effects are not yet known. By evaluating these market effects, this paper will provide ample evidence that the federal biofuels policy needs to change, and will show what effects these changes could induce. The biofuels industry largely owes its existence to government policies, however as the research shows the industry can now stand on its own. This paper will examine what will happen if the federal policy is eliminated and what the future of the biofuels industry could hold. Based on these examinations, it is unlikely that the industry needs further government support and policies should be adjusted in light of this.

Value-driven Security Agreements in Extended Enterprises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nunes Leal Franqueira, V.; Wieringa, Roelf J.

2010-01-01

Today organizations are highly interconnected in business networks called extended enterprises. This is mostly facilitated by outsourcing and by new economic models based on pay-as-you-go billing; all supported by IT-as-a-service. Although outsourcing has been around for some time, what is now new

Policy development and challenges of global mental health: a systematic review of published studies of national-level mental health policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Wei; Yu, Yu; Yang, Mei; Chen, Lizhang; Xiao, Shuiyuan

2018-05-18

Mental health policy can be an essential and powerful tool to improve a population's mental health. However, around one third of countries do not possess a mental health policy, and there are large disparities in population coverage rates between high- and low-income countries. The goal of this study is to identify the transition and implementation challenges of mental health policies in both high-income countries (HICs) as well as middle- and low-income countries (MLICs). PubMed, Cochrane Library and Campbell Library were searched from inception to 31 December 2017, for studies on implemented mental health policies at the national level. Abstracts and the main texts of papers were double screened, and extracted data were analysed through thematic synthesis. A total of 93 papers were included in this study, covering 24 HICs, 28 MLICs and 5 regions. Studies on mental health policies, especially those of MLICs, kept increasing, but MLICs were still underrepresented in terms of publication quantity and study frequency. Based on the included studies, nine policy domains were summarized: service organizing, service provision, service quality, human resources, legislation and human rights, advocacy, administration, surveillance and research, and financing and budgeting. HICs incrementally enriched their policy content in all domains over centuries of development; following HICs' experience, mental health policies in MLICs have boomed since the 1990s and quickly extended to all domains. Implementation problems in HICs were mainly related to service organizing and service provision; for MLICs, more severe implementation problems converged on financing and budgeting, administration and human resources. Mental health policy developments in both HICs and MLICs present a process of diversification and enrichment. In terms of implementation, MLICs are faced with more and greater challenges than HICs, especially in funding, human resources and administration. Therefore, future

Extended inflation with induced gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Accetta, F.S.; Trester, J.J.; Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520)

1989-01-01

We consider a recently proposed extended model of inflation which improves upon the original old inflation scenario by achieving a graceful exit from the false-vacuum phase. In this paper extended inflation is generalized to include a potential V(phi) for the Brans-Dicke-type field phi. We find that whereas a graceful exit can still be had, the inclusion of a potential places constraints on the percolation time scale for exiting the inflationary phase. Additional constraints on V(phi) and the false-vacuum energy density rho /sub F/ from density and gravitational-wave perturbations are discussed. For initially small values of phi the false vacuum undergoes power-law inflation, while for initially large values of phi the expansion is exponential. Within true-vacuum regions slow-rolling inflation can occur. As a result, this model generically leads to multiple episodes of inflation. We discuss the significance these multiple episodes of inflation may have on the formation of large-scale structure and the production of voids

Work-life policies for Canadian medical faculty.

Science.gov (United States)

Gropper, Aaron; Gartke, Kathleen; MacLaren, Monika

2010-09-01

This study aims to catalogue and examine the following work-life flexibility policies at all 17 Canadian medical schools: maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, extension of the probationary period for family responsibilities, part-time faculty appointments, job sharing, and child care. The seven work-life policies of Canadian medical schools were researched using a consistent and systematic method. This method involved an initial web search for policy information, followed by e-mail and telephone contact. The flexibility of the policies was scored 0 (least flexible) to 3 (most flexible). The majority of policies were easily accessible online. Work-life policies were scored out of 3, and average policy scores ranged from 0.47 for job sharing to 2.47 for part-time/work reduction. Across schools, total scores ranged from 7 to 16 out of 21. Variation in scores was noted for parenting leave and child care, whereas minimal variation was noted for other policies. Canadian medical schools are committed to helping medical faculty achieve work-life balance, but improvements can be made in the policies offered at all schools. Improving the quality of work flexibility policies will enhance working conditions and job satisfaction for faculty. This could potentially reduce Canada's loss of talented young academicians.

Optimal (R, Q) policy and pricing for two-echelon supply chain with lead time and retailer's service-level incomplete information

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaeili, M.; Naghavi, M. S.; Ghahghaei, A.

2018-03-01

Many studies focus on inventory systems to analyze different real-world situations. This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain that includes one warehouse and one retailer with stochastic demand and an up-to-level policy. The retailer's lead time includes the transportation time from the warehouse to the retailer that is unknown to the retailer. On the other hand, the warehouse is unaware of retailer's service level. The relationship between the retailer and the warehouse is modeled based on the Stackelberg game with incomplete information. Moreover, their relationship is presented when the warehouse and the retailer reveal their private information using the incentive strategies. The optimal inventory and pricing policies are obtained using an algorithm based on bi-level programming. Numerical examples, including sensitivity analysis of some key parameters, will compare the results between the Stackelberg models. The results show that information sharing is more beneficial to the warehouse rather than the retailer.

Proposed Georgia-Alabama-South Carolina system power marketing policy and subsequent contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

This is an Environmental Assessment (Assessment) (DOE/EA-0935) evaluating the Power Marketing Policy and Subsequent Contracts between Southeastern and its customers. The Assessment evaluates two alternatives and the no action alternative. The proposed action is to market the power and energy available in the Georgia-Alabama-South Carolina System during the next ten years, with new power sales contracts of ten-year durations, to the customers set forth in Appendix A of the Assessment. In addition to the proposed alternative, the Assessment evaluates the alternative of extending existing contracts under the current marketing policy

Measuring trade-offs that matter: assessing the impact of a new electronic cross-match policy on the turnaround time and the cross-match workload efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, David M; Goldfinger, Dennis; Lu, Qun; Wallace, Bridget; Kosaka-Nguyen, Dawn; Wood, Alisa; Porter, Bethany; Bumerts, Pamela; Jeffery, Rebecca; Fang, Amy; Stalcup, Irene; Penaflorida, Tracy; Ziman, Alyssa

2014-12-01

Our traditional cross-match (XM) policy generated a significant number of XM units that were never issued. To minimize the unnecessary XM workload, we proposed a new policy where orders eligible for the electronic XM (EXM) are pended until orders to issue red blood cells (RBCs) are received. To address concerns that this new policy might unduly delay blood availability, we conducted a study to assess whether the new policy was noninferior to the traditional policy with regard to the turnaround time (TAT). We monitored the TAT and XM workload efficiency (XM-to-issue [C : I] ratio) for a total of 8 weeks split between the two policies' periods. The primary outcome was the proportion of RBC issue requests that was turned around in less than 12 minutes. Fifty percent (1133 of 2265) of issue requests were turned around in 12 minutes or less under the traditional policy compared to 43.9% (975 of 2223) under the new policy (absolute difference of 6.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2%-9.1%; p trade-off between delays in the TAT and efficiency gains in the XM workload remained acceptable for patient care. © 2014 AABB.

Extending and implementing the Persistent ID pillars

Science.gov (United States)

Car, Nicholas; Golodoniuc, Pavel; Klump, Jens

2017-04-01

The recent double decade anniversary of scholarly persistent identifier use has triggered journal special editions such as "20 Years of Persistent Identifiers". For such a publication, it is apt to consider the longevity of some persistent identifier (PID) mechanisms (Digital Object Identifiers) and the partial disappearance of others (Life Sciences IDs). We have previously postulated a set of "PID Pillars" [1] which are design principles aimed at ensuring PIDs can survive technology and social change and thus persist for the long term that we have drawn from our observations of PIDs at work over many years. The principles: describe how to ensure identifiers' system and organisation independence; codify the delivery of essential PID system functions; mandate a separation of PID functions from data delivery mechanisms; and require generation of policies detailing how change is handled. In this presentation, first we extend on our previous work of introducing the pillars by refining their descriptions, giving specific suggestions for each and presenting some work that addresses them. Second, we propose a baseline data model for persistent identifiers that, if used, would assist the separation of PID metadata and PID system functioning. This would allow PID system function specifics to change over time (e.g. resolver services or even resolution protocols) and yet preserve the PIDs themselves. Third, we detail our existing PID system — the PID Service [2] — that partially implements the pillars and describe both its successes and shortcomings. Finally, we describe our planned next-generation system that will aim to use the baseline data model and fully implement the pillars.

An extended Kalman filtering approach to modeling nonlinear dynamic gene regulatory networks via short gene expression time series.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zidong; Liu, Xiaohui; Liu, Yurong; Liang, Jinling; Vinciotti, Veronica

2009-01-01

In this paper, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm is applied to model the gene regulatory network from gene time series data. The gene regulatory network is considered as a nonlinear dynamic stochastic model that consists of the gene measurement equation and the gene regulation equation. After specifying the model structure, we apply the EKF algorithm for identifying both the model parameters and the actual value of gene expression levels. It is shown that the EKF algorithm is an online estimation algorithm that can identify a large number of parameters (including parameters of nonlinear functions) through iterative procedure by using a small number of observations. Four real-world gene expression data sets are employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the EKF algorithm, and the obtained models are evaluated from the viewpoint of bioinformatics.

Explaining drug policy: Towards an historical sociology of policy change.

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, Toby

2011-11-01

The goal of seeking to understand the development over time of drug policies is a specific version of the more general intellectual project of finding ways of explaining social change. The latter has been a preoccupation of some of the greatest thinkers within the social sciences of the last 200 years, from Foucault all the way back to the three nineteenth-century pioneers, Marx, Durkheim and Weber. I describe this body of work as 'historical sociology'. In this paper, I outline how a particular approach to historical sociology can be fruitfully drawn upon to understand the development of drug policy, using by way of illustration the example of the analysis of a recent transformation in British drug policy: the rise of the criminal justice agenda. I conclude by arguing that by looking at developments in drug policy in this way, some new insights are opened up. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Innovation policies and SMEs development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Lai

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy, states create policies to foster research. These mentioned policies changed in the time and it is possible to observe that the national policies of the European Union (EU member states are interconnected at an EU level. In the science field, the European Union is generally moving towards a multilevel governance. The central issue of this paper is to show the systematic importance of an effective government policies and institutional interaction in the field of R&D. The article will show that a well framed policy is essential and furthermore it fosters a better cooperation between the private and public sector.

The New Cannabis Policy Taxonomy on APIS: Making Sense of the Cannabis Policy Universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Klitzner, Michael D; Thomas, Sue; Schuler, Jonathan; Hilton, Michael; Mosher, James

2017-06-01

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) is, for the first time, adding legal data pertaining to recreational cannabis use to its current offerings on alcohol policy. Now that Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia have legalized aspects of recreational cannabis, and more states are considering it, there is an urgency to provide high-quality, multi-dimensional legal data to the public health community. This article introduces the Cannabis Policy Taxonomy recently posted on APIS, and explores its theoretical and empirical contributions to the substance abuse literature and its potential for use in policy research. We also present results of interviews with public health experts in alcohol and cannabis policy, which sought to determine the most important variables to address in the initial release of cannabis policy data. From this process, we found that pricing controls emerged as the variable singled out by the largest number of experts. This analysis points to a host of vital policies that are of increasing importance to public health policy scholars and their current and future research.

Summary Report on the SAE 2016 Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Symposium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curran, Scott [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Wagner, Robert M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Campbell, Russ [SRA International, Inc., Arlington, VA (United States)

2017-03-01

The SAE 2016 Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Symposium was a 2-day technical meeting focused on the role of advanced internal combustion engines (ICEs) and other novel energy converter technologies for extending the range of electric vehicles (EVs). The first-of-its-kind symposium was notable for focusing solely on the range extender (REx) technologies and not the EVs. The technical program featured presentations from international leaders from industry, government, national laboratories, and academia. The opening keynote presentations covered a broad range of topics including consumer behavior, policy implications, regulatory considerations, and REx architectures as enablers for advanced technologies. The technical sessions focused on an array of REx technologies including conventional ICEs, as well as less conventional or emerging technologies such as microturbines, fuel cells, low-temperature combustion engines, and aluminum-air batteries. The symposium included two panel sessions. The trend toward increasing vehicle electrification and the changing role of ICEs and other auxiliary power unit technologies for use as REx’s is leading to new research and design development needs. The symposium captured the interest of the industry and research communities in exploring the opportunities and challenges associated with REx’s for EVs. This report includes key takeaways, summarized below, and draft notes for each presentation and panel discussion.

Design of Adaptive Policy Pathways under Deep Uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Babovic, Vladan

2013-04-01

The design of large-scale engineering and infrastructural systems today is growing in complexity. Designers need to consider sociotechnical uncertainties, intricacies, and processes in the long- term strategic deployment and operations of these systems. In this context, water and spatial management is increasingly challenged not only by climate-associated changes such as sea level rise and increased spatio-temporal variability of precipitation, but also by pressures due to population growth and particularly accelerating rate of urbanisation. Furthermore, high investment costs and long term-nature of water-related infrastructure projects requires long-term planning perspective, sometimes extending over many decades. Adaptation to such changes is not only determined by what is known or anticipated at present, but also by what will be experienced and learned as the future unfolds, as well as by policy responses to social and water events. As a result, a pathway emerges. Instead of responding to 'surprises' and making decisions on ad hoc basis, exploring adaptation pathways into the future provide indispensable support in water management decision-making. In this contribution, a structured approach for designing a dynamic adaptive policy based on the concepts of adaptive policy making and adaptation pathways is introduced. Such an approach provides flexibility which allows change over time in response to how the future unfolds, what is learned about the system, and changes in societal preferences. The introduced flexibility provides means for dealing with complexities of adaptation under deep uncertainties. It enables engineering systems to change in the face of uncertainty to reduce impacts from downside scenarios while capitalizing on upside opportunities. This contribution presents comprehensive framework for development and deployment of adaptive policy pathway framework, and demonstrates its performance under deep uncertainties on a case study related to urban

Extended thermodynamics

CERN Document Server

Müller, Ingo

1993-01-01

Physicists firmly believe that the differential equations of nature should be hyperbolic so as to exclude action at a distance; yet the equations of irreversible thermodynamics - those of Navier-Stokes and Fourier - are parabolic. This incompatibility between the expectation of physicists and the classical laws of thermodynamics has prompted the formulation of extended thermodynamics. After describing the motifs and early evolution of this new branch of irreversible thermodynamics, the authors apply the theory to mon-atomic gases, mixtures of gases, relativistic gases, and "gases" of phonons and photons. The discussion brings into perspective the various phenomena called second sound, such as heat propagation, propagation of shear stress and concentration, and the second sound in liquid helium. The formal mathematical structure of extended thermodynamics is exposed and the theory is shown to be fully compatible with the kinetic theory of gases. The study closes with the testing of extended thermodynamics thro...

The dynamic macroeconomic effects of tax policy in an overlapping generations model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijdra, BJ; Ligthart, JE

2000-01-01

The paper studies the dynamic allocation effects of tax policy within the context of an overlapping-generations model of the Blanchard-Yaari type. The model is extended to allow for endogenous labour supply and three tax instruments, viz. a capital tax, labour income tax, and consumption tax. Both

Learning from the Past for Future Policy: Approaches to Time-series ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science ... The Food and Agricultrual Organization (FAO) compiles statistical reports from its member countries, ... management policies on resource conservation for the benefit of coastal communities.

Replenishment policy for Entropic Order Quantity (EnOQ model with two component demand and partial back-logging under inflation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bhanupriya Dash

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Replenishment policy for entropic order quantity model with two component demand and partial backlogging under inflation is an important subject in the stock management. Methods: In this paper an inventory model for  non-instantaneous  deteriorating items with stock dependant consumption rate and partial back logged in addition the effect of inflection and time value of money on replacement policy with zero lead time consider was developed. Profit maximization model is formulated by considering the effects of partial backlogging under inflation with cash discounts. Further numerical example presented to evaluate the relative performance between the entropic order quantity and EOQ models separately. Numerical example is present to demonstrate the developed model and to illustrate the procedure. Lingo 13.0 version software used to derive optimal order quantity and total cost of inventory. Finally sensitivity analysis of the optimal solution with respect to different parameters of the system carried out. Results and conclusions: The obtained inventory model is very useful in retail business. This model can extend to total backorder.

Does string theory lead to extended inflation?

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Bruce A.; Linde, Andrei; Olive, Keith A.

1991-05-01

We consider the relationship between string theory and currently proposed models of extended inflation. In doing so, we discuss the conformal actions in string theory and in Jordan-Brans-Dicke gravity. We show explicitly the equivalence of pictures in which either gauge or gravitational couplings are changing with time. We demonstrate that the existence of the dilation in string theory does not naturally lead to extended inflation as currently discussed. We also discuss the resolution of the graceful exit problem of old inflation in Einstein gravity using either power-law inflation, or exponential inflation with a changing bubble formation rate. On leave of absence from School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

A new extended H∞ filter for discrete nonlinear systems

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张永安; 周荻; 段广仁

2004-01-01

Nonlinear estimation problem is investigated in this paper. By extension of a linear H∞ estimation with corrector-predictor form to nonlinear cases, a new extended H∞ filter is proposed for time-varying discretetime nonlinear systems. The new filter has a simple observer structure based on a local linearization model, and can be viewed as a general case of the extended Kalman filter (EKF). An example demonstrates that the new filter with a suitable-chosen prescribed H∞ bound performs better than the EKF.

Pharmaceutical policy analysis – A European perspective on pricing and reimbursement in challenging times

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leopold, C.

2014-01-01

The pharmaceutical policy environment is dynamic as new medicines are being developed and different medical needs arise, while diverse interests by stakeholders influence policy making. Tensions are especially noticeable with respect to pricing and reimbursement of medicines; what health care plans

Scale-invariant extended inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holman, R.; Kolb, E.W.; Vadas, S.L.; Wang, Y.

1991-01-01

We propose a model of extended inflation which makes use of the nonlinear realization of scale invariance involving the dilaton coupled to an inflaton field whose potential admits a metastable ground state. The resulting theory resembles the Jordan-Brans-Dicke version of extended inflation. However, quantum effects, in the form of the conformal anomaly, generate a mass for the dilaton, thus allowing our model to evade the problems of the original version of extended inflation. We show that extended inflation can occur for a wide range of inflaton potentials with no fine-tuning of dimensionless parameters required. Furthermore, we also find that it is quite natural for the extended-inflation period to be followed by an epoch of slow-rollover inflation as the dilaton settles down to the minimum of its induced potential

A bulk queueing system under N-policy with bilevel service delay discipline and start-up time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David C. R. Muh

1993-01-01

Full Text Available The author studies the queueing process in a single-server, bulk arrival and batch service queueing system with a compound Poisson input, bilevel service delay discipline, start-up time, and a fixed accumulation level with control operating policy. It is assumed that when the queue length falls below a predefined level r(≥1, the system, with server capacity R, immediately stops service until the queue length reaches or exceeds the second predefined accumulation level N(≥r. Two cases, with N≤R and N≥R, are studied.

Minimal representations of supersymmetry and 1D N-extended σ-models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toppan, Francesco

2008-01-01

We discuss the minimal representations of the 1D N-Extended Supersymmetry algebra (the Z 2 -graded symmetry algebra of the Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics) linearly realized on a finite number of fields depending on a real parameter t, the time. Their knowledge allows to construct one-dimensional sigma-models with extended off-shell supersymmetries without using superfields (author)

Implementing Health in All Policies – Time and Ideas Matter Too!; Comment on “Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carole Clavier

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Carey and Friel suggest that we turn to knowledge developed in the field of public administration, especially new public governance, to better understand the process of implementing health in all policies (HiAP. In this commentary, I claim that theories from the policy studies bring a broader view of the policy process, complementary to that of new public governance. Drawing on the policy studies, I argue that time and ideas matter to HiAP implementation, alongside with interests and institutions. Implementing HiAP is a complex process considering that it requires the involvement and coordination of several policy sectors, each with their own interests, institutions and ideas about the policy. Understanding who are the actors involved from the various policy sectors concerned, what context they evolve in, but also how they own and frame the policy problem (ideas, and how this has changed over time, is crucial for those involved in HiAP implementation so that they can relate to and work together with actors from other policy sectors.

A modified temporal criterion to meta-optimize the extended Kalman filter for land cover classification of remotely sensed time series

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, B. P.; Kleynhans, W.; Olivier, J. C.; van den Bergh, F.; Wessels, K. J.

2018-05-01

Humans are transforming land cover at an ever-increasing rate. Accurate geographical maps on land cover, especially rural and urban settlements are essential to planning sustainable development. Time series extracted from MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface reflectance products have been used to differentiate land cover classes by analyzing the seasonal patterns in reflectance values. The proper fitting of a parametric model to these time series usually requires several adjustments to the regression method. To reduce the workload, a global setting of parameters is done to the regression method for a geographical area. In this work we have modified a meta-optimization approach to setting a regression method to extract the parameters on a per time series basis. The standard deviation of the model parameters and magnitude of residuals are used as scoring function. We successfully fitted a triply modulated model to the seasonal patterns of our study area using a non-linear extended Kalman filter (EKF). The approach uses temporal information which significantly reduces the processing time and storage requirements to process each time series. It also derives reliability metrics for each time series individually. The features extracted using the proposed method are classified with a support vector machine and the performance of the method is compared to the original approach on our ground truth data.

Non-colliding Brownian Motions and the Extended Tacnode Process

Science.gov (United States)

Johansson, Kurt

2013-04-01

We consider non-colliding Brownian motions with two starting points and two endpoints. The points are chosen so that the two groups of Brownian motions just touch each other, a situation that is referred to as a tacnode. The extended kernel for the determinantal point process at the tacnode point is computed using new methods and given in a different form from that obtained for a single time in previous work by Delvaux, Kuijlaars and Zhang. The form of the extended kernel is also different from that obtained for the extended tacnode kernel in another model by Adler, Ferrari and van Moerbeke. We also obtain the correlation kernel for a finite number of non-colliding Brownian motions starting at two points and ending at arbitrary points.

Constant scalar curvature hypersurfaces in extended Schwarzschild space-time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pareja, M. J.; Frauendiener, J.

2006-01-01

We present a class of spherically symmetric hypersurfaces in the Kruskal extension of the Schwarzschild space-time. The hypersurfaces have constant negative scalar curvature, so they are hyperboloidal in the regions of space-time which are asymptotically flat

Is Monetary Policy Effective During Financial Crises?

OpenAIRE

Frederic S. Mishkin

2009-01-01

This short paper argues that the view that monetary policy is ineffective during financial crises is not only wrong, but may promote policy inaction in the face of a severe contractionary shock. To the contrary, monetary policy is more potent during financial crises because aggressive monetary policy easing can make adverse feedback loops less likely. The fact that monetary policy is more potent than during normal times provides a rationale for a risk-management approach to counter the contra...

Evaluating efficacy of an environmental policy to prevent biological invasions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Sarah A; Deneau, Matthew G; Jean, Laurent; Wiley, Chris J; Leung, Brian; MacIsaac, Hugh J

2011-04-01

Enactment of any environmental policy should be followed by an evaluation of its efficacy to ensure optimal utilization of limited resources, yet measuring the success of these policies can be a challenging task owing to a dearth of data and confounding factors. We examine the efficacy of ballast water policies enacted to prevent biological invasions in the Laurentian Great Lakes. We utilize four criteria to assess the efficacy of this environmental regulation: (1) Is the prescribed management action demonstrably effective? (2) Is the management action effective under operational conditions? (3) Can compliance be achieved on a broad scale? (4) Are desired changes observed in the environment? The four lines of evidence resulting from this analysis indicate that the Great Lakes ballast water management program provides robust, but not complete, protection against ship-mediated biological invasions. Our analysis also indicates that corresponding inspection and enforcement efforts should be undertaken to ensure that environmental policies translate into increased environmental protection. Similar programs could be implemented immediately around the world to protect the biodiversity of the many freshwater ecosystems which receive ballast water discharges by international vessels. This general framework can be extended to evaluate efficacy of other environmental policies.

The extended teamwork 2004/2005 exploratory study. Study plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skjerve, Ann Britt; Strand, Stine; Skraaning, Gyrd Jr.; Nihlwing, Christer; Helgar, Stein; Olsen, Asle; Kvilesjoe, Hans Oeyvind; Meyer, Geir; Droeivoldsmo, Asgeir; Svengren, Haakan

2005-09-01

The report documents the study plan for the Extended Teamwork 2004/2005 exploratory study, which is performed within the Extended Teamwork HRP research program. The purpose of the research program is to generate ideas on how teamwork in nuclear power plants may be affected by the introduction of new operational concepts. The Extended Teamwork 2004/2005 exploratory study contributes with empirical knowledge on the effect of a new operational concept, implying increased automation levels, changed operator roles, redefined competence requirements to the operators, and new technologies to support co-operation, on teamwork. The Extended Teamwork 2004/2005 exploratory study covered occurrences during the early transition phase, i.e., from the time the operators are introduced to the possible future operational environment, to the time they have completed the twelve scenarios comprised by the study. The study assessed how familiarity with operation in the possible future operational environment may affect the extent and quality of co-operation. The report accounts for the motivation for performing the exploratory study, and explains the research question. It describes the theoretical approach, which is based on Co-operation Theory, the human-centered automation approach, and theories on co-operation across distances, and introduces the concept extended teamwork. It also describes the method applied: it provides a detailed description of the possible future operational environment, including requirements with respect to autonomy and authority - both for humans and for automatic agents, and describes the technology applied to support co-operation in the control-room team. In addition, all measurement techniques applied in the study are accounted for (system logs, questionnaires, interviews, etc.). (Author)

Optimal Policy in OG Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ghiglino, Christian; Tvede, Mich

for generations, through fiscal policy, i.e. monetary transfers and taxes. Both situations with and without time discounting are considered. It is shown that if the discount factor is suffciently close to one then the optimal policy stabilizes the economy, i.e. the equilibrium path has the turnpike property...

Optimal Policy in OG Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ghiglino, Christian; Tvede, Mich

2000-01-01

for generations, through fiscal policy, i.e., monetary transfers and taxes. Situations both with and without time discounting are considered. It is shown that if the discount factor is sufficiently close to one then the optimal policy stabilizes the economy, i.e. the equilibrium path has the turnpike property...

A new preparedness policy for EMS logistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seokcheon

2017-03-01

Response time in emergency medical services (EMS) is defined as the interval for an ambulance to arrive the scene after receipt of a 911 call. When several ambulances are available upon the receipt of a new call, a decision of selecting an ambulance has to be made in an effort to reduce response time. Dispatching the closest unit available is commonly used in practice; however, recently the Preparedness policy was designed that is in a simplistic form yet being capable of securing a long-term efficiency. This research aims to improve the Preparedness policy, resolving several critical issues inherent in the current form of the policy. The new Preparedness policy incorporates a new metric of preparedness based on the notion of centrality and involves a tuning parameter, weight on preparedness, which has to be appropriately chosen according to operational scenario. Computational experiment shows that the new policy significantly improves the former policy robustly in various scenarios.

The optimal replenishment policy for time-varying stochastic demand under vendor managed inventory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Govindan, Kannan

2015-01-01

A Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) partnership places the responsibility on the vendor (rather than on buyers) to schedule purchase orders for inventory replenishment in the supply chain system. In this research, the supply chain network considers the Silver-Meal heuristic with an augmentation...... quantity replenishment policy between both traditional and VMI systems. We consider time-varying stochastic demand in two-echelon (one vendor, multiple retailers) supply chains. This paper seeks to find the supply chain that minimizes system cost through comparing performance between traditional and VMI...... systems. A mathematical model is developed, and total supply chain cost is used as the measure of comparison. The models are applied in both traditional and VMI supply chains based on pharmaceutical industry data, and we focus on total cost difference compared through the use of Adjusted Silver-Meal (ASM...

Policy interactions, risk and price formation in carbon markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blyth, William; Bunn, Derek; Kettunen, Janne; Wilson, Tom

2009-01-01

Carbon pricing is an important mechanism for providing companies with incentives to invest in carbon abatement. Price formation in carbon markets involves a complex interplay between policy targets, dynamic technology costs, and market rules. Carbon pricing may under-deliver investment due to R and D externalities, requiring additional policies which themselves affect market prices. Also, abatement costs depend on the extent of technology deployment due to learning-by-doing. This paper introduces an analytical framework based on marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves with the aim of providing an intuitive understanding of the key dynamics and risk factors in carbon markets. The framework extends the usual static MAC representation of the market to incorporate policy interactions and some technology cost dynamics. The analysis indicates that supporting large-scale deployment of mature abatement technologies suppresses the marginal cost of abatement, sometimes to zero, whilst increasing total abatement costs. However, support for early stage R and D may reduce both total abatement cost and carbon price risk. An important aspect of the analysis is in elevating risk management considerations into energy policy formation, as the results of the stochastic modelling indicate wide distributions for the emergence of carbon prices and public costs around the policy expectations. (author)

Rational extended thermodynamics

CERN Document Server

Müller, Ingo

1998-01-01

Ordinary thermodynamics provides reliable results when the thermodynamic fields are smooth, in the sense that there are no steep gradients and no rapid changes. In fluids and gases this is the domain of the equations of Navier-Stokes and Fourier. Extended thermodynamics becomes relevant for rapidly varying and strongly inhomogeneous processes. Thus the propagation of high­ frequency waves, and the shape of shock waves, and the regression of small-scale fluctuation are governed by extended thermodynamics. The field equations of ordinary thermodynamics are parabolic while extended thermodynamics is governed by hyperbolic systems. The main ingredients of extended thermodynamics are • field equations of balance type, • constitutive quantities depending on the present local state and • entropy as a concave function of the state variables. This set of assumptions leads to first order quasi-linear symmetric hyperbolic systems of field equations; it guarantees the well-posedness of initial value problems and f...

The policy work of piloting: Mobilising and managing conflict and ambiguity in the English NHS.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Simon; Checkland, Kath; Hodgson, Damian; McBride, Anne; Elvey, Rebecca; Parkin, Stephen; Rothwell, Katy; Pierides, Dean

2017-04-01

In spite of their widespread use in policy making in the UK and elsewhere, there is a relatively sparse literature specifically devoted to policy pilots. Recent research on policy piloting has focused on the role of pilots in making policy work in accordance with national agendas. Taking this as a point of departure, the present paper develops the notion of pilots doing policy work. It does this by situating piloting within established theories of policy formulation and implementation, and illustrating using an empirical case. Our case is drawn from a qualitative policy ethnography of a local government pilot programme aiming to extend access to healthcare services. Our case explores the collective entrepreneurship of regional policy makers together with local pilot volunteers. We argue that pilots work to mobilise and manage the ambiguity and conflict associated with particular policy goals, and in their structure and design, shape action towards particular outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of the generative but managed role which piloting affords to local implementers. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Issues surrounding orphan disease and orphan drug policies in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Denis, Alain; Mergaert, Lut; Fostier, Christel; Cleemput, Irina; Simoens, Steven

2010-01-01

An orphan disease is a disease with a very low prevalence. Although there are 5000-7000 orphan diseases, only 50 orphan drugs (i.e. drugs developed to treat orphan diseases) were marketed in the EU by the end of 2008. In 2000, the EU implemented policies specifically designed to stimulate the development of orphan drugs. While decisions on orphan designation and the marketing authorization of orphan drugs are made at the EU level, decisions on drug reimbursement are made at the member state level. The specific features of orphan diseases and orphan drugs make them a high-priority issue for policy makers. The aim of this article is to identify and discuss several issues surrounding orphan disease and drug policies in Europe. The present system of orphan designation allows for drugs for non-orphan diseases to be designated as orphan drugs. The economic factors underlying orphan designation can be questioned in some cases, as a low prevalence of a certain indication does not equal a low return on investment for the drug across its indications. High-quality evidence about the clinical added value of orphan drugs is rarely available at the time of marketing authorization, due to the low number of patients. A balance must be struck between ethical and economic concerns. To this effect, there is a need to initiate a societal dialogue on this issue, to clarify what society wants and accepts in terms of ethical and economic consequences. The growing budgetary impact of orphan drugs puts pressure on drug expenditure. Indications can be extended for an orphan drug and the total prevalence across indications is not considered. Finally, cooperation needs to be fostered in the EU, particularly through a standardized approach to the creation and use of registries. These issues require further attention from researchers, policy makers, health professionals, patients, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders with a view to optimizing orphan disease and drug policies in

EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stadler, K.; Wood, R.; Bulavskaya, T.; Södersten, C.J.; Simas, M.; Schmidt, S.; Usubiaga, A.; Acosta-Fernández, J.; Kuenen, J.; Bruckner, M.; Giljum, S.; Lutter, S.; Merciai, S.; Schmidt, J.H.; Theurl, M.C.; Plutzar, C.; Kastner, T.; Eisenmenger, N.; Erb, K.H.; Koning, A. de; Tukker, A.

2018-01-01

Environmentally extended multiregional input-output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the

Representations of women and drug use in policy: A critical policy analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Natalie; Bull, Melissa

2018-06-01

Contemporary research in the drugs field has demonstrated a number of gender differences in patterns and experiences of substance use, and the design and provision of gender-responsive interventions has been identified as an important policy issue. Consequently, whether and how domestic drug policies attend to women and gender issues is an important question for investigation. This article presents a policy audit and critical analysis of Australian national and state and territory policy documents. It identifies and discusses two key styles of problematisation of women's drug use in policy: 1) drug use and its effect on women's reproductive role (including a focus on pregnant women and women who are mothers), and 2) drug use and its relationship to women's vulnerability to harm (including violent and sexual victimisation, trauma, and mental health issues). Whilst these are important areas for policy to address, we argue that such representations of women who use drugs tend to reinforce particular understandings of women and drug use, while at the same time contributing to areas of 'policy silence' or neglect. In particular, the policy documents analysed are largely silent about the harm reduction needs of all women, as well as the needs of women who are not mothers, young women, older women, transwomen or other women deemed to be outside of dominant normative reproductive discourse. This analysis is important because understanding how women's drug use is problematised and identifying areas of policy silence provides a foundation for redressing gaps in policy, and for assessing the likely effectiveness of current and future policy approaches. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards E-Society Policy Interoperability

Science.gov (United States)

Iannella, Renato

The move towards the Policy-Oriented Web is destined to provide support for policy expression and management in the core web layers. One of the most promising areas that can drive this new technology adoption is e-Society communities. With so much user-generated content being shared by these social networks, there is the real danger that the implicit sharing rules that communities have developed over time will be lost in translation in the new digital communities. This will lead to a corresponding loss in confidence in e-Society sites. The Policy-Oriented Web attempts to turn the implicit into the explicit with a common framework for policy language interoperability and awareness. This paper reports on the policy driving factors from the Social Networks experiences using real-world use cases and scenarios. In particular, the key functions of policy-awareness - for privacy, rights, and identity - will be the driving force that enables the e-Society to appreciate new interoperable policy regimes.

Another countryside? Policy options for land and agrarian reform in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

abel

The focus on South Africa's land and agrarian policies is relevant at a time ... be coordinated at various policy levels, including macroeconomic policy, trade policy, agricultural policy and local economic development and planning for land.

A statistical analysis of the energy policy act of 2005, its changes to the daylight saving program, and impact on residential energy consumption

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Patrick L.

Government programs designed to decrease resource consumption, improve productivity and capitalize on extended daylight hours in the summer have been developed and implemented throughout the world for nearly three hundred years. In 2005, The United States government adopted an extended daylight savings program that increases the number of weeks where the country observes Daylight Saving Time (DST) from 31 to 35 weeks. The program took effect in March 2007. Arguments in support of DST programs highlight the portion of electricity consumption attributed to residential lighting in the evening hours. Adjusting clocks forward by one hour in summer months is believed to reduce electricity consumption due to lighting and therefore significantly reduce residential energy consumption during the period of DST. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the changes to DST resulting from the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The study focuses on changes to household electricity consumption during the extended four weeks of DST. Arizona, one of two states that continue to opt out of DST serves as the study's control for a comparison with neighboring states, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. Results from the regression analysis of a Difference in Difference model indicate that contrary to evaluations by Congress and the Department of Energy, the four week period of Extended Daylight Saving Time does not produce a significant decrease in per capita electricity consumption in Southwestern states.

Maternity leave policies in academic and private radiology practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spirt, B.A.; Rauth, V.; Price, A.P.F.; Pagani, A.H.

1988-01-01

In 1987, the American Association of Women Radiologists surveyed both academic and private radiology departments regarding pregnancy and maternity leave policies. One hundred academic institutions (70% response), 30 radiotherapy departments (38% response), and 31 private practices responded. Details were obtained regarding maternity leave policy for residents and attending physicians; availability of paternity leave; policies regarding on-call time, fluoroscopy time and intracavitary/interstitial applications during pregnancy; and problems that occurred during resident or attending physician pregnancies. There was a wide range of responses regarding paid leave time, availability of additional time, and the use of vacation time during maternity leave

48 CFR 632.702-70 - DOS policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false DOS policy. 632.702-70... REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Contract Funding 632.702-70 DOS policy. The Department's policy is to provide... incremental funding of cost-reimbursement contracts. Fixed-price, labor-hour, and time-and-materials contracts...

A structured approach to VO reconfigurations through Policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephan Reiff-Marganiec

2012-04-01

Full Text Available One of the strength of Virtual Organisations is their ability to dynamically and rapidly adapt in response to changing environmental conditions. Dynamic adaptability has been studied in other system areas as well and system management through policies has crystallized itself as a very prominent solution in system and network administration. However, these areas are often concerned with very low-level technical aspects. Previous work on the APPEL policy language has been aimed at dynamically adapting system behaviour to satisfy end-user demands and – as part of STPOWLA – APPEL was used to adapt workflow instances at runtime. In this paper we explore how the ideas of APPEL and STPOWLA can be extended from workflows to the wider scope of Virtual Organisations. We will use a Travel Booking VO as example.

Change in challenging times: a plan for extending and improving health coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrew, Jeanne M; Podesta, John D; Shaw, Teresa L

2005-01-01

Some speculate that Americans are neither politically capable of nor morally committed to solving the health system problems. We disagree. We propose a plan that insures all and improves the value and cost-effectiveness of health care by knitting together employer-sponsored insurance and Medicaid; promoting prevention, research, and information technology; and financing its investments through a dedicated value-added tax. By prioritizing practicality, fairness, and responsibility, the plan aims to avoid ideological battles and prevent fear of major change. By emphasizing the moral imperative for change, especially relative to other options on the policy agenda, it aims to create momentum for expanding and improving health coverage for all.

Child and Family Policies in a Time of Economic Crisis

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Dominic

2010-01-01

At the beginning of 2008, a number of the world's major economies began to experience the effects of the biggest economic financial crisis in history. By the end of that year, the financial crisis was a global recession, and governments responded with changes to a suite of social and economic policies. Two broad stages of government response are…

Disorder structure of free-flow and global jams in the extended BML model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Xiaomei; Xie Dongfan; Jia Bin; Jiang Rui; Gao Ziyou

2011-01-01

The original BML model is extended by introducing extended sites, which can hold several vehicles at each time-step. Unexpectedly, the flow in the extended model sharply transits from free-flow to global jams, but the transition is not one-order in original BML model. And congestion in the extended model appears more easily. This can ascribe to the mixture of vehicles from different directions in one site, leading to the drop-off of the capacity of the site. Furthermore, the typical configuration of free flowing and global jams in the extended models is disorder, different from the regular structure in the original model.

The Action of Chain Extenders in Nylon-6, PET, and Model Compounds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Loontjens, T.; Pauwels, K.; Derks, F.; Neilen, M.; Sham, C.K.; Serné, M.

1997-01-01

The action of two complementary chain extenders is studied in model systems as well as in poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and nylon–6. Chain extenders are low molecular weight compounds that can be used to increase the molecular weight of polymers in a short time. The reaction must preferably be

Investigation of extended blinks and interblink intervals in subjects with and without dry eye

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodriguez JD

2013-02-01

Full Text Available John D Rodriguez,1 George W Ousler III,1 Patrick R Johnston,1 Keith Lane,1 Mark B Abelson1,21Ora, Inc, Andover, MA, 2Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USABackground: The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence and duration of extended blinks ≥ 70 msec and their associated interblink intervals in normal subjects and in subjects with mild to moderate dry eye.Methods: This single-center, prospective, double-blind study included 11 subjects with dry eye and eight subjects with normal eyes. Extended blinks were defined as lid closure in at least two successive video frames (≥ 70 msec. Digital video imaging of each subject's eyes was recorded while the subject viewed a 10-minute documentary. The subjects did not know that blink was the outcome being measured. Following capture, the videos were manually analyzed in a masked fashion for the occurrence of extended blinks. The length of the interblink interval (ie, time between blinks before and after these extended blinks (the interblink interval ratio was calculated, as well as differences in lid contact times.Results: The dry eye group had a median extended blink duration which was 2.53 times longer than that of the normal group. For subjects with dry eye, interblink intervals post-extended blink were significantly longer than interblink intervals pre-extended blink (P < 0.001. Interblink intervals did not lengthen significantly in normal subjects. In both groups, the duration of the extended blink was significantly (P = 0.001 and positively correlated with interblink interval ratio (post-extended to pre-extended blink interblink interval, such that for each doubling of extended blink duration, the interblink interval ratio increased by 10%. Blinks longer than one second in duration occurred almost exclusively in subjects with dry eye.Conclusion: This study reports three central findings: blink duration tended to be longer in subjects with dry

[Combined hormonal contraception in cycles artificially extended].

Science.gov (United States)

Bustillos-Alamilla, Edgardo; Zepeda-Zaragoza, J; Hernández-Ruiz, M A; Briones-Landa, Carlos Humberto

2010-01-01

To compare the bleeding patterns, satisfaction and tolerability of 3 different contraceptive in an extended regimens in the service of Family Planning of the North Central Hospital of PEMEX. Healthy, adult women with desire of contraception for one year (N 120) were randomly assigned to receive oral contraceptive drospirenone/ethinyl E2 (group1), the norelgestromin/ethinyl E2 transdermal patch (group 2) and vaginal ring etonogestrel/ ethinyl E2 (group 3) in an extended regimen (42 consecutive days, 1 hormone-free week). Study assessments were conducted at scheduled visits at the time of initial screening, at baseline after 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Subjects recorded menstrual associated symptoms bleeding data and completed satisfaction questionnaires. Subjects and investigators provided overall assessments of the regimens. Extended use of 3 different contraceptive resulted in fewer bleeding days in every group (66.6%, 55% and 58.3% P 0.0024), and less mastalgia and menstrual pain. Subjects were highly satisfied with three regimens (93.3%, 96.6% and 91.6% P 0.00421). Although not mayor adverse events were reported with this regimen, there was an increase in spotting days; it decreased with each successive cycle of therapy. Efficacy and safety were similar to those reported for traditional cycle. Extended-contraceptive regimen delays menses and reduces bleeding, a profile that may be preferred by women who seek flexibility with their contraceptive method.

Surface Transient Binding-Based Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (STB-FCS), a Simple and Easy-to-Implement Method to Extend the Upper Limit of the Time Window to Seconds.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Sijia; Wang, Wenjuan; Chen, Chunlai

2018-05-10

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is a powerful single-molecule tool that is able to capture kinetic processes occurring at the nanosecond time scale. However, the upper limit of its time window is restricted by the dwell time of the molecule of interest in the confocal detection volume, which is usually around submilliseconds for a freely diffusing biomolecule. Here, we present a simple and easy-to-implement method, named surface transient binding-based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (STB-FCS), which extends the upper limit of the time window to seconds. We further demonstrated that STB-FCS enables capture of both intramolecular and intermolecular kinetic processes whose time scales cross several orders of magnitude.

The market and environmental effects of alternative biofuel policies

Science.gov (United States)

Drabik, Dusan

This dissertation analyzes market and environmental effects of alternative U.S. and Brazilian biofuel policies. Although we focus on corn- and sugarcane-ethanol, the advanced analytical framework can easily be extended to other biofuels and biofuel feedstocks, such as biodiesel and soybean. The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter develops an analytical framework to assess the market effects of a set of biofuel policies (including subsidies to feedstocks). U.S. corn-ethanol policies are used as an example to study the effects of biofuel policies on corn prices. We determine the 'no policy' ethanol price, analyze the implications for the 'no policy' corn price and resulting 'water' in the ethanol price premium due to the policy, and generalize the surprising interaction effects between mandates and tax credits to include ethanol and corn production subsidies. The effect of an ethanol price premium depends on the value of the ethanol co-product, the value of production subsidies, and how the world ethanol price is determined. U.S. corn-ethanol policies are shown to be a major reason for recent rises in corn prices. The ethanol policy-induced increase in corn prices is estimated to be 33 -- 46.5 percent in the period 2008 -- 2011. The second chapter seeks to answer the question of what caused the significant increase in ethanol, sugar, and sugarcane prices in Brazil in the period 2010/11 to 2011/12. We develop a general economic model of the Brazilian fuel-ethanol-sugar complex. Unlike biofuel mandates and tax exemptions elsewhere, Brazil's fuel-ethanol-sugar markets and fuel policies are unique in that each policy, in this setting, theoretically has an ambiguous impact on the market price of ethanol and hence on sugarcane and sugar prices. Our empirical analysis shows that there are two policies that seemingly help the ethanol industry but do otherwise in reality: a low gasoline tax and a high anhydrous tax exemption result in lower ethanol

Edufare for the future precariat: the moral agenda in Australia’s ‘earning or learning’ policy

OpenAIRE

Doherty, Catherine

2017-01-01

This paper considers the educational experience constructed under Australia’s policy decision in 2009 to extend compulsory education by requiring that students must be ‘earning or learning’ till 17 years of age. The discussion draws on an empirical project that explored the moral order operating in classrooms for students retained under this policy in non-academic pathways in high schools and Technical and Further Education colleges across three towns experiencing youth employment stress. It ...

A Footprint Family extended MRIO model to support Europe's transition to a One Planet Economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Galli, Alessandro; Weinzettel, Jan; Cranston, Gemma; Ercin, Ertug