76 FR 73631 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-29

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

75 FR 8699 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-25

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

76 FR 76973 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-09

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

76 FR 12731 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-08

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

77 FR 32636 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

76 FR 31328 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-31

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

76 FR 52662 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-23

.... border with Mexico, and once in Washington, DC. It was created in 1992 by the Enterprise for the Americas... Administrator of EPA under Executive Order 12916. The Board is responsible for providing advice to the President... Mexico in order to improve the quality of life of persons residing on the United States side of the...

77 FR 32636 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

... an effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates, EPA encourages nominations of women and men of... GNEB's activities, including face-to-face meetings, conference calls, and participation in the... submitting a resume describing their professional and educational qualifications, including current business...

78 FR 17395 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board; Notification of Public Advisory Committee Teleconference

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-21

... provides advice and recommendations to the President and Congress on environmental and infrastructure issues along the U.S. border with Mexico. Purpose of Meeting: The purpose of this teleconference is to... infrastructure issues in the U.S.- Mexico border region. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to make oral...

78 FR 60280 - Good Neighbor Environmental Board; Cancellation Notice of Public Advisory Committee teleconference

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

... advice and recommendations to the President and Congress on environmental and infrastructure issues along the U.S. border with Mexico. DATES: The teleconference scheduled for Tuesday, October 1, 2013 has been...

Paying for international environmental public goods.

Science.gov (United States)

Arriagada, Rodrigo; Perrings, Charles

2011-11-01

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has a weakest link supply technology. The degree to which the collective response should be targeted depends on the importance of supply from any one country. In principle, the solution for the undersupply lies in payments designed to compensate local providers for the additional costs they incur in meeting global demand. Targeted support may take the form of direct investment in supply (the Global Environment Facility model) or of payments for the benefits of supply (the Payments for Ecosystem Services model).

Política e cinema na era da Boa Vizinhança (1933-1945 * Policy and cinema at the age of the Good Neighbor (1933-1945

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ISAIAS ALBERTIN DE MORAES

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Resumo: O presente artigo apresenta uma análise histórica da Política Externa de Boa Vizinhança para América Latina, particularmente no Brasil, e de sua principal instituição o Office of the coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA, destacando sua divisão de cinema, a Motion Picture Division (MPD. Essas instituições são analisadas pelo enfoque teórico dos construtivistas modernistas-linguistas. Assim, o texto busca destacar a importância da construção de uma infraestrutura física, discursiva e humana com habilidade para selecionar, organizar, regular e redistribuir os discursos enunciados pela Política Externa de Boa Vizinhança no setor da indústria cinematográfica.Palavras-chave: Política Externa de Boa Vizinhança; Office of the coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; Motion Picture Division.  Abstract: This paper presents a historical analysis of the Good Neighbor Policy for Latin America, particularly in Brazil, and its main institution the Office of the coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA, focusing on its film department, the Motion Picture Division (MPD. These institutions are analyzed by the theoretical approach of modernist linguists constructivists. So this text sought to highlight the importance of building a physical infrastructure, discursive and human with the ability to select, organize, regulate and redistribute the speeches set out by the Good Neighbor Policy in the film industry sector.Keywords: Good Neighbor Policy; Office of the coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; Motion Picture Division.

Frog sound identification using extended k-nearest neighbor classifier

Science.gov (United States)

Mukahar, Nordiana; Affendi Rosdi, Bakhtiar; Athiar Ramli, Dzati; Jaafar, Haryati

2017-09-01

Frog sound identification based on the vocalization becomes important for biological research and environmental monitoring. As a result, different types of feature extractions and classifiers have been employed to evaluate the accuracy of frog sound identification. This paper presents a frog sound identification with Extended k-Nearest Neighbor (EKNN) classifier. The EKNN classifier integrates the nearest neighbors and mutual sharing of neighborhood concepts, with the aims of improving the classification performance. It makes a prediction based on who are the nearest neighbors of the testing sample and who consider the testing sample as their nearest neighbors. In order to evaluate the classification performance in frog sound identification, the EKNN classifier is compared with competing classifier, k -Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Fuzzy k -Nearest Neighbor (FKNN) k - General Nearest Neighbor (KGNN)and Mutual k -Nearest Neighbor (MKNN) on the recorded sounds of 15 frog species obtained in Malaysia forest. The recorded sounds have been segmented using Short Time Energy and Short Time Average Zero Crossing Rate (STE+STAZCR), sinusoidal modeling (SM), manual and the combination of Energy (E) and Zero Crossing Rate (ZCR) (E+ZCR) while the features are extracted by Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC). The experimental results have shown that the EKNCN classifier exhibits the best performance in terms of accuracy compared to the competing classifiers, KNN, FKNN, GKNN and MKNN for all cases.

Scalable Nearest Neighbor Algorithms for High Dimensional Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Muja, Marius; Lowe, David G

2014-11-01

For many computer vision and machine learning problems, large training sets are key for good performance. However, the most computationally expensive part of many computer vision and machine learning algorithms consists of finding nearest neighbor matches to high dimensional vectors that represent the training data. We propose new algorithms for approximate nearest neighbor matching and evaluate and compare them with previous algorithms. For matching high dimensional features, we find two algorithms to be the most efficient: the randomized k-d forest and a new algorithm proposed in this paper, the priority search k-means tree. We also propose a new algorithm for matching binary features by searching multiple hierarchical clustering trees and show it outperforms methods typically used in the literature. We show that the optimal nearest neighbor algorithm and its parameters depend on the data set characteristics and describe an automated configuration procedure for finding the best algorithm to search a particular data set. In order to scale to very large data sets that would otherwise not fit in the memory of a single machine, we propose a distributed nearest neighbor matching framework that can be used with any of the algorithms described in the paper. All this research has been released as an open source library called fast library for approximate nearest neighbors (FLANN), which has been incorporated into OpenCV and is now one of the most popular libraries for nearest neighbor matching.

Why acting environmentally-friendly feels good: Exploring the role of self-image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonie A Venhoeven

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Recent research suggests that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can feel good. Current explanations for such a link do not focus on the nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself, but rather propose well-being is more or less a side-benefit; behaviors that benefit environmental quality (e.g. spending one’s money on people rather than products also tend to make us feel good. We propose that the moral nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself may elicit positive emotions as well, because engaging in this behavior can signal one is an environmentally-friendly and thus a good person. Our results show that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can indeed affect how people see themselves: participants saw themselves as being more environmentally-friendly when they engaged in more environmentally-friendly behavior (Study 1. Furthermore, environmentally-friendly behavior resulted in a more positive self-image, more strongly when it was voluntarily engaged in, compared to when it was driven by situational constraints (Study 2. In turn, the more environmentally-friendly (Study 1 and positive (Study 2 people saw themselves, the better they felt about acting environmentally-friendly. Together, these results suggest that the specific self-signal that ensues from engaging in environmentally-friendly behavior can explain why environmentally-friendly actions may elicit a good feeling.

``A good neighbors policy``: The evolution of O and G Industries, Inc.`s public relations policy working with the local towns

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simms, D.R. [DRS Consultants, Inc., Oxford, CT (United States)

1994-12-31

O and G Industries, Inc., owns and operates a number of rock quarries within the State of Connecticut. These rock quarries are surrounded by residences and commercial neighbors who have concerns related to blasting. In addition, local commissions which issue the mining permits to O and G are required to hold public hearings, prior to issuing the annual permits each year. The effort focused on three questions: (1) what is the optimum blasting program which will also yield the fewest complaints; (2) how can one produce documentation which will best illustrate compliance with established regulatory guidelines; (3) what steps can be taken to minimize future potential problems? Discussions with various levels of management within the corporation, together with input from the Quarry and Blasting Superintendents has evolved into an overall, corporate practice of being a good neighbor. This positive approach addresses a typically negative situation. This paper gives a brief history of two of the quarry sites. Blasting program points will revolve around past and current blasting methods. Documentation will deal with the specifics of the seismic monitoring program, along with additional tests performed to reduce problems associated with blasting. Predicting potential problems and diffusing them before they become an issue is cost effective in the long run.

Pelagic habitat: exploring the concept of good environmental status

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dickey-Collas, Mark; McQuatters-Gollop, Abigail; Bresnan, Eileen

2017-01-01

Marine environmental legislation is increasingly expressing a need to consider the quality of pelagic habitats. This paper uses the European Union marine strategy framework to explore the concept of good environmental status (GES) of pelagic habitat with the aim to build a wider understanding of ...

Revealing Components of the Economic Value for Environmental Goods and Services from Forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bakhtiari, Fatemeh

The overall purpose and contribution of this thesis is increasing the understanding of components of the value of environmental goods. It investigates how the public perceive environmental goods (lay people’s perception) and the elements of it that they value. Providing such knowledge contributes...... to improving valuation methods, e.g. the use of the Choice Experiment (CE) for valuing forest biodiversity conservation. Increasing knowledge of lay people’s perception and mental constructs of environmental goods can help researchers to know how they can present environmental goods in CEs which align...... with respondents’ perceptions and to further understand the appropriate way of measuring these values....

Contingent valuation of environmental goods - Closure of Barsebaeck

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jordal-Joergensen, J.

1995-01-01

Decisions in the community, are usually taken on the basis of economic calculations. Many environmental effects, however, are excluded from these calculations because it is often difficult to value environmental effects in monetary terms. Contingent valuation has recently become widespread in connection with this purpose, namely in the USA, but also in a number of European countries like, for example, Norway and Sweden. In Denmark the method has been applied sporadically in recent years. The purpose of this study is; to elucidate the problems associated with contingent valuation when the method is used in practice; to indicate study designs which can solve these problems; and draw attention to the reservations which must be made in respect of the results of these types of studies. The data material consists of 298 telephone interviews and 13 personal interviews. The interviewees all live in a radius of 30 km from Barsebaeck. The 311 interviews took place in the period of December 1993 to February 1994, approx. two months after extensive publicity concerning leakages at Barsebaeck. In the telephone interviews, 240 out of the 298 (80%) asked agreed to take part in the interviews. The conclusion cannot be directly transferred to other environmental goods. Barsebaeck was a special case because the risk was known prior to the study. In valuation of goods with which the respondents are not previously familiar, the greater need for information can necessitate using personal interviews. The method provides a better possibility of incorporating environmental effects directly in macroeconomic analyses. (EG)

Why Acting Environmentally-Friendly Feels Good : Exploring the Role of Self-Image

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Venhoeven, Leonie A.; Bolderdijk, Jan Willem; Steg, Linda

2016-01-01

Recent research suggests that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can feel good. Current explanations for such a link do not focus on the nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself, but rather propose well-being is more or less a side-benefit; behaviors that benefit environmental

NeighborHood

OpenAIRE

Corominola Ocaña, Víctor

2015-01-01

NeighborHood és una aplicació basada en el núvol, adaptable a qualsevol dispositiu (mòbil, tablet, desktop). L'objectiu d'aquesta aplicació és poder permetre als usuaris introduir a les persones del seu entorn més immediat i que aquestes persones siguin visibles per a la resta d'usuaris. NeighborHood es una aplicación basada en la nube, adaptable a cualquier dispositivo (móvil, tablet, desktop). El objetivo de esta aplicación es poder permitir a los usuarios introducir a las personas de su...

A two-step nearest neighbors algorithm using satellite imagery for predicting forest structure within species composition classes

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald E. McRoberts

2009-01-01

Nearest neighbors techniques have been shown to be useful for predicting multiple forest attributes from forest inventory and Landsat satellite image data. However, in regions lacking good digital land cover information, nearest neighbors selected to predict continuous variables such as tree volume must be selected without regard to relevant categorical variables such...

Economic Valuation of European Commercial Fisheries under Good Environmental Status

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goulding, Ian; Hutniczak, Barbara; Münch, Angela

2012-01-01

This paper focuses on assessing the economic impact of achieving Good Environmental Status in the EU’s commercial capture fisheries, being one of the descriptors listed under the MSFD in terms of landed value using 2010 prices. The approach adopted is to assess the values of landings under...... different environmental scenarios, and use the differences between them to highlight the economic impacts of each....

Neighboring and Urbanism: Commonality versus Friendship.

Science.gov (United States)

Silverman, Carol J.

1986-01-01

Examines a dimension of neighboring that need not assume friendship as the role model. When the model assumes only a sense of connectedness as defining neighboring, then the residential correlation, shown in many studies between urbanism and neighboring, disappears. Theories of neighboring, study variables, methods, and analysis are discussed.…

Neighboring trees affect ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition in a woodland-forest ecotone.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubert, Nathaniel A; Gehring, Catherine A

2008-09-01

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) are frequently species rich and functionally diverse; yet, our knowledge of the environmental factors that influence local EMF diversity and species composition remains poor. In particular, little is known about the influence of neighboring plants on EMF community structure. We tested the hypothesis that the EMF of plants with heterospecific neighbors would differ in species richness and community composition from the EMF of plants with conspecific neighbors. We conducted our study at the ecotone between pinyon (Pinus edulis)-juniper (Juniperus monosperma) woodland and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest in northern Arizona, USA where the dominant trees formed associations with either EMF (P. edulis and P. ponderosa) or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF; J. monosperma). We also compared the EMF communities of pinyon and ponderosa pines where their rhizospheres overlapped. The EMF community composition, but not species richness of pinyon pines was significantly influenced by neighboring AM juniper, but not by neighboring EM ponderosa pine. Ponderosa pine EMF communities were different in species composition when growing in association with pinyon pine than when growing in association with a conspecific. The EMF communities of pinyon and ponderosa pines were similar where their rhizospheres overlapped consisting of primarily the same species in similar relative abundance. Our findings suggest that neighboring tree species identity shaped EMF community structure, but that these effects were specific to host-neighbor combinations. The overlap in community composition between pinyon pine and ponderosa pine suggests that these tree species may serve as reservoirs of EMF inoculum for one another.

Efficient and accurate nearest neighbor and closest pair search in high-dimensional space

KAUST Repository

Tao, Yufei; Yi, Ke; Sheng, Cheng; Kalnis, Panos

2010-01-01

Nearest Neighbor (NN) search in high-dimensional space is an important problem in many applications. From the database perspective, a good solution needs to have two properties: (i) it can be easily incorporated in a relational database, and (ii

Promoting sustainable economic growth in South Africa through the production and export of low-carbon environmental goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antoinette van Niekerk

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Many countries, particularly those in the developing world, are under increasing pressure to improve their growth rates in order to tackle pressing economic problems at the domestic level. Increasing export volumes can make a positive contribution to a country’s economic growth rate, but it can also endanger the environment. How to reconcile the often conflicting phenomena of increased export activity, stronger economic growth and a lower carbon footprint is the focus of this study. A core outcome of the study was the creation of a single list using a cross-section of international sources, of low-carbon environmental goods, and their ranking according to their inherent ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, South Africa’s capacity to produce them, and their economic benefits, as reflected in the export opportunities they present. These export opportunities were revealed through the application of the Decision Support Model (DSM, an export market selection tool that incorporates a systematic filtering and screening system. The results of the analysis should help guide policymakers in their strategic deliberations on which export sectors to incentivise and support with a view to encouraging more ‘green’ growth in South Africa in the years ahead. diffusion of such goods. If the production and export of environmental goods were to increase, it could have a potentially positive effect on economic and environmental objectives, such as raising economic growth rates and lowering greenhouse gas intensity, respectively. For the purpose of this study, an analysis of four existing lists of environmental goods led to the identification of 39 core environmental goods. These 39 goods were ranked according to three criteria: i the potential environmental benefits of each environmental good, using consensus among role players as a proxy; ii South Africa’s capacity to produce each environmental good, using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA

Identifying influential neighbors in animal flocking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Jiang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Schools of fish and flocks of birds can move together in synchrony and decide on new directions of movement in a seamless way. This is possible because group members constantly share directional information with their neighbors. Although detecting the directionality of other group members is known to be important to maintain cohesion, it is not clear how many neighbors each individual can simultaneously track and pay attention to, and what the spatial distribution of these influential neighbors is. Here, we address these questions on shoals of Hemigrammus rhodostomus, a species of fish exhibiting strong schooling behavior. We adopt a data-driven analysis technique based on the study of short-term directional correlations to identify which neighbors have the strongest influence over the participation of an individual in a collective U-turn event. We find that fish mainly react to one or two neighbors at a time. Moreover, we find no correlation between the distance rank of a neighbor and its likelihood to be influential. We interpret our results in terms of fish allocating sequential and selective attention to their neighbors.

Identifying influential neighbors in animal flocking.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Li; Giuggioli, Luca; Perna, Andrea; Escobedo, Ramón; Lecheval, Valentin; Sire, Clément; Han, Zhangang; Theraulaz, Guy

2017-11-01

Schools of fish and flocks of birds can move together in synchrony and decide on new directions of movement in a seamless way. This is possible because group members constantly share directional information with their neighbors. Although detecting the directionality of other group members is known to be important to maintain cohesion, it is not clear how many neighbors each individual can simultaneously track and pay attention to, and what the spatial distribution of these influential neighbors is. Here, we address these questions on shoals of Hemigrammus rhodostomus, a species of fish exhibiting strong schooling behavior. We adopt a data-driven analysis technique based on the study of short-term directional correlations to identify which neighbors have the strongest influence over the participation of an individual in a collective U-turn event. We find that fish mainly react to one or two neighbors at a time. Moreover, we find no correlation between the distance rank of a neighbor and its likelihood to be influential. We interpret our results in terms of fish allocating sequential and selective attention to their neighbors.

Neighbor Discovery Algorithm in Wireless Local Area Networks Using Multi-beam Directional Antennas

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jin; Peng, Wei; Liu, Song

2017-10-01

Neighbor discovery is an important step for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and the use of multi-beam directional antennas can greatly improve the network performance. However, most neighbor discovery algorithms in WLAN, based on multi-beam directional antennas, can only work effectively in synchronous system but not in asynchro-nous system. And collisions at AP remain a bottleneck for neighbor discovery. In this paper, we propose two asynchrono-us neighbor discovery algorithms: asynchronous hierarchical scanning (AHS) and asynchronous directional scanning (ADS) algorithm. Both of them are based on three-way handshaking mechanism. AHS and ADS reduce collisions at AP to have a good performance in a hierarchical way and directional way respectively. In the end, the performance of the AHS and ADS are tested on OMNeT++. Moreover, it is analyzed that different application scenarios and the factors how to affect the performance of these algorithms. The simulation results show that AHS is suitable for the densely populated scenes around AP while ADS is suitable for that most of the neighborhood nodes are far from AP.

Fast Most Similar Neighbor (MSN) classifiers for Mixed Data

OpenAIRE

Hernández Rodríguez, Selene

2010-01-01

The k nearest neighbor (k-NN) classifier has been extensively used in Pattern Recognition because of its simplicity and its good performance. However, in large datasets applications, the exhaustive k-NN classifier becomes impractical. Therefore, many fast k-NN classifiers have been developed; most of them rely on metric properties (usually the triangle inequality) to reduce the number of prototype comparisons. Hence, the existing fast k-NN classifiers are applicable only when the comparison f...

Cadmium in goods - contribution to environmental exposure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergbaeck, B; Jonsson, Arne [Kalmar Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Natural Science

1998-03-01

The total amount of Cd used in Sweden since 1940 is approximately 5000 tonnes, including alloys, fertilizers and impurities in zinc. The stock of Cd in goods in the Swedish anthroposphere is dominated by NiCd-batteries. However, when one considers the degree of exposure to corrosion, Cd stabilizers are dominant. Emissions of Cd from industrial plants and other point sources have been historically important. However, these point source emissions must be seen in relation to the increasingly significant fugitive `consumption emissions`, from the use and/or end-use of various goods. In this study, methods of reconstructing the flows of cadmium (Cd) and estimating the emissions over time are discussed. This is done through studies of the development of production, technology, trade and the longevity of metals in Swedish society. This last part in the chain will form the `consumption emissions` calculated from emission factors giving the proportion of the cadmium content in goods that eventually will reach the environment. The main accumulation of metals in the anthroposphere occurs in urban areas where the influx of metals is greatest. Urban areas probably represent `hot spots` as far as this type of environmental impact is concerned. Extreme Cd concentrations in surface sediments in central Stockholm indicate an ongoing release of Cd from the anthroposphere. The sources are so far unknown, i.e. this Cd flow to the biosphere cannot be explained in terms of deposition or emissions from point sources. Approximately 40 tonnes of Cd in goods are exposed to corrosion in varying degrees. This stock is dominated by Cd in stabilizers and pigments, and as impurities in Zn 15 refs, 2 figs, 8 tabs

Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film

OpenAIRE

Arlindo Castro

2008-01-01

The New York release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious occurred in August 1946, one month after the Bikini atomic explosions, and one year after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Is mankind dying of curiosity?” asked a double page Time magazine ad, in the same issue that published a review of the film. “Time’s Science department noted recently,” readers were told, “that people everywhere have one great Fear: will the curiosity of nuclear physicists someday set off a giant chain react...

Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arlindo Castro

2008-04-01

Full Text Available The New York release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious occurred in August 1946, one month after the Bikini atomic explosions, and one year after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Is mankind dying of curiosity?” asked a double page Time magazine ad, in the same issue that published a review of the film. “Time’s Science department noted recently,” readers were told, “that people everywhere have one great Fear: will the curiosity of nuclear physicists someday set off a giant chain reaction which will flash-bum the world to a clinker?”l To overcome that fear of the nuclear apocalypse, according to the add, readers should learn more and more about “the big mysteries of our atomic age,” beginning by checking her or his score in the “Time’s Quiz on Science.” If they happened to go to Radio City Music Hall, Notorious would reassure them that the U.S. was doing well in preventing obstinate Nazis from making an atomic bomb, though at that moment of the nuclear espionage war, former Manhattan Project insider Klaus Fuchs had actually passed on to a Soviet contact in London classified information about the Manhattan Project and American atomic plans.2 Indeed, in that transitional period between World War II and the Cold War, the major political villains were still Nazis, not Communists, as exemplified by other 1946 films like Orson Welles’ The Stranger, Charles Vidor’s Gilda, and Edward Dmytryk’s Cornered. The New York release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious occurred in August 1946, one month after the Bikini atomic explosions, and one year after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Is mankind dying of curiosity?” asked a double page Time magazine ad, in the same issue that published a review of the film. “Time’s Science department noted recently,” readers were told, “that people everywhere have one great Fear: will the curiosity of nuclear physicists someday set off a giant chain reaction which will flash-bum the world to a clinker?”l To overcome that fear of the nuclear apocalypse, according to the add, readers should learn more and more about “the big mysteries of our atomic age,” beginning by checking her or his score in the “Time’s Quiz on Science.” If they happened to go to Radio City Music Hall, Notorious would reassure them that the U.S. was doing well in preventing obstinate Nazis from making an atomic bomb, though at that moment of the nuclear espionage war, former Manhattan Project insider Klaus Fuchs had actually passed on to a Soviet contact in London classified information about the Manhattan Project and American atomic plans.2 Indeed, in that transitional period between World War II and the Cold War, the major political villains were still Nazis, not Communists, as exemplified by other 1946 films like Orson Welles’ The Stranger, Charles Vidor’s Gilda, and Edward Dmytryk’s Cornered.

Marine spatial planning and Good Environmental Status: a perspective on spatial and temporal dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison J. Gilbert

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires the Good Environmental Status of marine environments in Europe's regional seas; yet, maritime activities, including sources of marine degradation, are diversifying and intensifying in an increasingly globalized world. Marine spatial planning is emerging as a tool for rationalizing competing uses of the marine environment while guarding its quality. A directive guiding the development of such plans by European Union member states is currently being formulated. There is an undeniable need for marine spatial planning. However, we argue that considerable care must be taken with marine spatial planning, as the spatial and temporal scales of maritime activities and of Good Environmental Status may be mismatched. We identify four principles for careful and explicit consideration to align the requirements of the two directives and enable marine spatial planning to support the achievement of Good Environmental Status in Europe's regional seas.

What Will the Neighbors Think? Building Large-Scale Science Projects Around the World

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Craig; Mrotzek, Christian; Toge, Nobu; Sarno, Doug

2007-01-01

Public participation is an essential ingredient for turning the International Linear Collider into a reality. Wherever the proposed particle accelerator is sited in the world, its neighbors -- in any country -- will have something to say about hosting a 35-kilometer-long collider in their backyards. When it comes to building large-scale physics projects, almost every laboratory has a story to tell. Three case studies from Japan, Germany and the US will be presented to examine how community relations are handled in different parts of the world. How do particle physics laboratories interact with their local communities? How do neighbors react to building large-scale projects in each region? How can the lessons learned from past experiences help in building the next big project? These and other questions will be discussed to engage the audience in an active dialogue about how a large-scale project like the ILC can be a good neighbor.

76 FR 6488 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; HUD-Owned Real Estate-Good...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-04

... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5480-N-11] Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; HUD-Owned Real Estate--Good Neighbor Next Door Program AGENCY... Lists the Following Information Title of Proposal: HUD-Owned Real Estate--Good Neighbor Next Door...

Time series models of environmental exposures: Good predictions or good understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Adrian G; Stephen, Dimity; Huang, Cunrui; Wolkewitz, Martin

2017-04-01

Time series data are popular in environmental epidemiology as they make use of the natural experiment of how changes in exposure over time might impact on disease. Many published time series papers have used parameter-heavy models that fully explained the second order patterns in disease to give residuals that have no short-term autocorrelation or seasonality. This is often achieved by including predictors of past disease counts (autoregression) or seasonal splines with many degrees of freedom. These approaches give great residuals, but add little to our understanding of cause and effect. We argue that modelling approaches should rely more on good epidemiology and less on statistical tests. This includes thinking about causal pathways, making potential confounders explicit, fitting a limited number of models, and not over-fitting at the cost of under-estimating the true association between exposure and disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Making or buying environmental public goods: do consumers care?

OpenAIRE

Bougherara, Douadia; Costa, Sandrine; Teisl, Mario

2012-01-01

Firms may voluntary abate pollution using one of two options: internalizing its own external effects and incuring abatement costs ("making") or delegating environmental protection by purchasing offsets ("buying"). We aim to elicit consumers' WTP for producers' use of the "making" option as compared to the "buying" option, controlling for spatial effects (joint local public goods) and level of GHG emissions. Using a stated choice survey with 722 respondents, we find consumers are more willing ...

Recrafting the neighbor-joining method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedersen Christian NS

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The neighbor-joining method by Saitou and Nei is a widely used method for constructing phylogenetic trees. The formulation of the method gives rise to a canonical Θ(n3 algorithm upon which all existing implementations are based. Results In this paper we present techniques for speeding up the canonical neighbor-joining method. Our algorithms construct the same phylogenetic trees as the canonical neighbor-joining method. The best-case running time of our algorithms are O(n2 but the worst-case remains O(n3. We empirically evaluate the performance of our algoritms on distance matrices obtained from the Pfam collection of alignments. The experiments indicate that the running time of our algorithms evolve as Θ(n2 on the examined instance collection. We also compare the running time with that of the QuickTree tool, a widely used efficient implementation of the canonical neighbor-joining method. Conclusion The experiments show that our algorithms also yield a significant speed-up, already for medium sized instances.

Model of directed lines for square ice with second-neighbor and third-neighbor interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Kirov, Mikhail V.

2018-02-01

The investigation of the properties of nanoconfined systems is one of the most rapidly developing scientific fields. Recently it has been established that water monolayer between two graphene sheets forms square ice. Because of the energetic disadvantage, in the structure of the square ice there are no longitudinally arranged molecules. The result is that the structure is formed by unidirectional straight-lines of hydrogen bonds only. A simple but accurate discrete model of square ice with second-neighbor and third-neighbor interactions is proposed. According to this model, the ground state includes all configurations which do not contain three neighboring unidirectional chains of hydrogen bonds. Each triplet increases the energy by the same value. This new model differs from an analogous model with long-range interactions where in the ground state all neighboring chains are antiparallel. The new model is suitable for the corresponding system of point electric (and magnetic) dipoles on the square lattice. It allows separately estimating the different contributions to the total binding energy and helps to understand the properties of infinite monolayers and finite nanostructures. Calculations of the binding energy for square ice and for point dipole system are performed using the packages TINKER and LAMMPS.

Belowground neighbor perception in Arabidopsis thaliana studied by transcriptome analysis: roots of Hieracium pilosella cause biotic stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph eSchmid

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Root-root interactions are much more sophisticated than previously thought, yet the mechanisms of belowground neighbor perception remain largely obscure. Genome-wide transcriptome analyses allow detailed insight into plant reactions to environmental cues.A root interaction trial was set up to explore both morphological and whole genome transcriptional responses in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana in the presence or absence of an inferior competitor, Hieracium pilosella.Neighbor perception was indicated by Arabidopsis roots predominantly growing away from the neighbor (segregation, while solitary plants placed more roots towards the middle of the pot. Total biomass remained unaffected. Database comparisons in transcriptome analysis revealed considerable similarity between Arabidopsis root reactions to neighbors and reactions to pathogens. Detailed analyses of the functional category ‘biotic stress’ using MapMan tools found the sub-category ‘pathogenesis-related proteins’ highly significantly induced. A comparison to a study on intraspecific competition brought forward a core of genes consistently involved in reactions to neighbor roots.We conclude that beyond resource depletion roots perceive neighboring roots or their associated microorganisms by a relatively uniform mechanism that involves the strong induction of pathogenesis-related proteins. In an ecological context the findings reveal that belowground neighbor detection may occur independently of resource depletion, allowing for a time advantage for the root to prepare for potential interactions.

Haldane to Dimer Phase Transition in the Spin-1 Haldane System with Bond-Alternating Nearest-Neighbor and Uniform Next-Nearest-Neighbor Exchange Interactions

OpenAIRE

Takashi, Tonegawa; Makoto, Kaburagi; Takeshi, Nakao; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kobe University; Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies, Kobe University; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kobe University

1995-01-01

The Haldane to dimer phase transition is studied in the spin-1 Haldane system with bond-alternating nearest-neighbor and uniform next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions, where both interactions are antiferromagnetic and thus compete with each other. By using a method of exact diagonalization, the ground-state phase diagram on the ratio of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction constant to the nearest-neighbor one versus the bond-alternation parameter of the nearest-neighbor interactions is...

Recrafting the Neighbor-Joining Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mailund; Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Fagerberg, Rolf

2006-01-01

Background: The neighbor-joining method by Saitou and Nei is a widely used method for constructing phylogenetic trees. The formulation of the method gives rise to a canonical Θ(n3) algorithm upon which all existing implementations are based. Methods: In this paper we present techniques for speeding...... up the canonical neighbor-joining method. Our algorithms construct the same phylogenetic trees as the canonical neighbor-joining method. The best-case running time of our algorithms are O(n2) but the worst-case remains O(n3). We empirically evaluate the performance of our algoritms on distance...... matrices obtained from the Pfam collection of alignments. Results: The experiments indicate that the running time of our algorithms evolve as Θ(n2) on the examined instance collection. We also compare the running time with that of the QuickTree tool, a widely used efficient implementation of the canonical...

An environmental assessment of risk in achieving good environmental status to support regional prioritisation of management in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Breen, P.; Robinson, L.A.; Rogers, S.I.; Knights, A.M.; Piet, G.J.

2012-01-01

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in Europe's Seas. The requirement for regional sea authorities to identify and prioritise issues for management has meant that standardized methods to assess the current level of departure from GES are

Two prototype tools for assessing good environmental/ecological status (GES) in aquatic ecosystems – DEVOTES and WATERS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Murray, Ciarán; Carstensen, Jacob; Andersen, Jesper

2015-01-01

-based tools, which classify ecological/environmental status in two classes (good or not good) and five classes (High, Good, Moderate, Poor or Bad) by comparing observed indicator values with specified status classification boundaries. Assessments are made for geographical entities (“sectors” in DEVOTES......We present two prototype tools for assessment of GES (good ecological status and good environmental status) in aquatic ecosystems: the DEVOTES biodiversity assessment tool (for the MSFD) and the WATERS ecological status assessment tool (for the WFD). Both tools are multi-metric indicator...... for sub-division of sectors and habitat types into hierarchical structures. The DEVOTES tool weights indicator results from different sectors according to their geographical extent and/or assigned quantitative value scores. The DEVOTES tool allows the assessment to be targeted to a particular ecosystem...

Are Geography Students Good "Environmental Citizens?" A Comparison between Year of Study and over Time

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Zoe P.

2015-01-01

Are geography students good "environmental citizens?" Has this improved over time with increasing emphasis on sustainability within higher education? This paper compares environmental attitudes and behaviours of geography students at different stages of their degree and over a seven-year period. The findings show that although geography…

Quality and efficiency in high dimensional Nearest neighbor search

KAUST Repository

Tao, Yufei; Yi, Ke; Sheng, Cheng; Kalnis, Panos

2009-01-01

Nearest neighbor (NN) search in high dimensional space is an important problem in many applications. Ideally, a practical solution (i) should be implementable in a relational database, and (ii) its query cost should grow sub-linearly with the dataset size, regardless of the data and query distributions. Despite the bulk of NN literature, no solution fulfills both requirements, except locality sensitive hashing (LSH). The existing LSH implementations are either rigorous or adhoc. Rigorous-LSH ensures good quality of query results, but requires expensive space and query cost. Although adhoc-LSH is more efficient, it abandons quality control, i.e., the neighbor it outputs can be arbitrarily bad. As a result, currently no method is able to ensure both quality and efficiency simultaneously in practice. Motivated by this, we propose a new access method called the locality sensitive B-tree (LSB-tree) that enables fast highdimensional NN search with excellent quality. The combination of several LSB-trees leads to a structure called the LSB-forest that ensures the same result quality as rigorous-LSH, but reduces its space and query cost dramatically. The LSB-forest also outperforms adhoc-LSH, even though the latter has no quality guarantee. Besides its appealing theoretical properties, the LSB-tree itself also serves as an effective index that consumes linear space, and supports efficient updates. Our extensive experiments confirm that the LSB-tree is faster than (i) the state of the art of exact NN search by two orders of magnitude, and (ii) the best (linear-space) method of approximate retrieval by an order of magnitude, and at the same time, returns neighbors with much better quality. © 2009 ACM.

Mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases in Tuscany: Ecological study comparing neighboring areas with substantial differences in environmental pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Marabotti, Claudio; Piaggi, Paolo; Scarsi, Paolo; Venturini, Elio; Cecchi, Romina; Pingitore, Alessandro

2017-06-19

Environmental pollution is associated with morbidity and mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases. Recent data points out a relationship between proximity to industrial plants and mortality due to neoplasms. The aim of this study has been to compare mortality due to chronic-degenerative diseases in the area of Tuscany (Bassa Val di Cecina), Italy, characterized by the presence of 2 neighboring municipalities similar in terms of size but with substantial differences in industrial activities: Rosignano (the site of chemical, energy production and waste processing industries) and Cecina (with no polluting activity). Standardized mortality rates for the 2001-2010 decade were calculated; the data of the whole Tuscany was assumed as reference. Environmental levels of pollutants were obtained by databases of the Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany Region (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale della Toscana - ARPAT). Maximum tolerated pollutant levels set by national laws were assumed as reference. In the whole Bassa Val di Cecina, significantly elevated standardized mortality rates due to mesothelioma, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and Alzheimer and other degenerative diseases of nervous system were observed. In the municipality of Rosignano, a significant excess of mortality for all these groups of diseases was confirmed. On the contrary, the municipality of Cecina showed only significantly higher mortality rates for ischemic heart diseases. Elevated levels of heavy metals in sea water and of particulate matter which contains particles of diameter ≤ 10 mm (PM10) and ozone in air were detected in Rosignano. This study shows an excess of mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases in the area with elevated concentration of polluting factories. Proximity to industrial plants seems to represent a risk factor for those diseases. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(4):641-653. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed

Mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases in Tuscany: Ecological study comparing neighboring areas with substantial differences in environmental pollution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Marabotti

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Environmental pollution is associated with morbidity and mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases. Recent data points out a relationship between proximity to industrial plants and mortality due to neoplasms. The aim of this study has been to compare mortality due to chronic-degenerative diseases in the area of Tuscany (Bassa Val di Cecina, Italy, characterized by the presence of 2 neighboring municipalities similar in terms of size but with substantial differences in industrial activities: Rosignano (the site of chemical, energy production and waste processing industries and Cecina (with no polluting activity. Material and Methods: Standardized mortality rates for the 2001–2010 decade were calculated; the data of the whole Tuscany was assumed as reference. Environmental levels of pollutants were obtained by databases of the Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany Region (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale della Toscana – ARPAT. Maximum tolerated pollutant levels set by national laws were assumed as reference. Results: In the whole Bassa Val di Cecina, significantly elevated standardized mortality rates due to mesothelioma, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and Alzheimer and other degenerative diseases of nervous system were observed. In the municipality of Rosignano, a significant excess of mortality for all these groups of diseases was confirmed. On the contrary, the municipality of Cecina showed only significantly higher mortality rates for ischemic heart diseases. Elevated levels of heavy metals in sea water and of particulate matter which contains particles of diameter ≤ 10 mm (PM10 and ozone in air were detected in Rosignano. Conclusions: This study shows an excess of mortality for chronic-degenerative diseases in the area with elevated concentration of polluting factories. Proximity to industrial plants seems to represent a risk factor for those diseases. Int J Occup Med Environ Health

Exploring Environmental Effects of Accidents During Marine Transport of Dangerous Goods by Use of Accident Descriptions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rømer, Hans Gottberg; Haastrup, P.; Petersen, H J Styhr

1996-01-01

On the basis of 1776 descriptions of water transport accidents involving dangerous goods, environmental problems in connection with releases of this kind are described and discussed. It was found that most detailed descriptions of environmental consequences concerned oil accidents, although most...... longer than broad. Gravity scales used to describe and evaluate environmental consequences were discussed....

The effects of incidental scents in the evaluation of environmental goods: The role of congruity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonini, Nicolao; Graffeo, Michele; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Perrotta, Valentina

2015-06-01

We investigated whether pleasant ambient scents influence hypothetical and real money contributions toward environmental goods. We hypothesized that they would increase such contributions more when they were congruent with the target goods than when they were incongruent or when no scent was released. The results supported this congruity hypothesis. We offer a mental accessibility account: Pleasant scents that are congruent with a target good make positive information about that good more accessible and thus promote prosocial behavior. © 2014 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Quantum Algorithm for K-Nearest Neighbors Classification Based on the Metric of Hamming Distance

Science.gov (United States)

Ruan, Yue; Xue, Xiling; Liu, Heng; Tan, Jianing; Li, Xi

2017-11-01

K-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm is a common algorithm used for classification, and also a sub-routine in various complicated machine learning tasks. In this paper, we presented a quantum algorithm (QKNN) for implementing this algorithm based on the metric of Hamming distance. We put forward a quantum circuit for computing Hamming distance between testing sample and each feature vector in the training set. Taking advantage of this method, we realized a good analog for classical KNN algorithm by setting a distance threshold value t to select k - n e a r e s t neighbors. As a result, QKNN achieves O( n 3) performance which is only relevant to the dimension of feature vectors and high classification accuracy, outperforms Llyod's algorithm (Lloyd et al. 2013) and Wiebe's algorithm (Wiebe et al. 2014).

Attribute Weighting Based K-Nearest Neighbor Using Gain Ratio

Science.gov (United States)

Nababan, A. A.; Sitompul, O. S.; Tulus

2018-04-01

K- Nearest Neighbor (KNN) is a good classifier, but from several studies, the result performance accuracy of KNN still lower than other methods. One of the causes of the low accuracy produced, because each attribute has the same effect on the classification process, while some less relevant characteristics lead to miss-classification of the class assignment for new data. In this research, we proposed Attribute Weighting Based K-Nearest Neighbor Using Gain Ratio as a parameter to see the correlation between each attribute in the data and the Gain Ratio also will be used as the basis for weighting each attribute of the dataset. The accuracy of results is compared to the accuracy acquired from the original KNN method using 10-fold Cross-Validation with several datasets from the UCI Machine Learning repository and KEEL-Dataset Repository, such as abalone, glass identification, haberman, hayes-roth and water quality status. Based on the result of the test, the proposed method was able to increase the classification accuracy of KNN, where the highest difference of accuracy obtained hayes-roth dataset is worth 12.73%, and the lowest difference of accuracy obtained in the abalone dataset of 0.07%. The average result of the accuracy of all dataset increases the accuracy by 5.33%.

Racial Residential Segregation: Measuring Location Choice Attributes of Environmental Quality and Self-Segregation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaohua Zhang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Both sorting on public goods and tastes for segregation contribute to the persistence of segregation in America. Incorporating Schelling’s (1969, 1971 concept of “neighborhood tipping” into a two-stage equilibrium sorting model, in which both neighborhood demographic composition and public goods (e.g., environmental quality affect households’ residential location choice, this study investigates how preferences for neighborhood demographic composition could obscure the role of exogenous public goods on segregation. The results reveal that non-white households face higher level of exposure to air pollution, suggesting the presence of environmental injustice in Franklin County, OH. Using a counterfactual scenario of switching off heterogeneous taste for environmental quality, this study identifies that sorting on Toxic Release Inventory (TRI emissions drives little correlations between emissions and demographics. However, when taste parameters of the interactions between neighborhood demographic composition and household race are eliminated, segregation (as measured by over-exposure to households of the same race of black and white households decreases by 7.63% and 16.36%, respectively, and own-race neighbor preferences contribute to segregation differently according to household income. These results may help explain some recent puzzles in the relationship between environmental quality and demographics.

Mixed random walks with a trap in scale-free networks including nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor jumps

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhongzhi; Dong, Yuze; Sheng, Yibin

2015-10-01

Random walks including non-nearest-neighbor jumps appear in many real situations such as the diffusion of adatoms and have found numerous applications including PageRank search algorithm; however, related theoretical results are much less for this dynamical process. In this paper, we present a study of mixed random walks in a family of fractal scale-free networks, where both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor jumps are included. We focus on trapping problem in the network family, which is a particular case of random walks with a perfect trap fixed at the central high-degree node. We derive analytical expressions for the average trapping time (ATT), a quantitative indicator measuring the efficiency of the trapping process, by using two different methods, the results of which are consistent with each other. Furthermore, we analytically determine all the eigenvalues and their multiplicities for the fundamental matrix characterizing the dynamical process. Our results show that although next-nearest-neighbor jumps have no effect on the leading scaling of the trapping efficiency, they can strongly affect the prefactor of ATT, providing insight into better understanding of random-walk process in complex systems.

Lectures on the nearest neighbor method

CERN Document Server

Biau, Gérard

2015-01-01

This text presents a wide-ranging and rigorous overview of nearest neighbor methods, one of the most important paradigms in machine learning. Now in one self-contained volume, this book systematically covers key statistical, probabilistic, combinatorial and geometric ideas for understanding, analyzing and developing nearest neighbor methods. Gérard Biau is a professor at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris). Luc Devroye is a professor at the School of Computer Science at McGill University (Montreal).   .

Dimensional testing for reverse k-nearest neighbor search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Casanova, Guillaume; Englmeier, Elias; Houle, Michael E.

2017-01-01

Given a query object q, reverse k-nearest neighbor (RkNN) search aims to locate those objects of the database that have q among their k-nearest neighbors. In this paper, we propose an approximation method for solving RkNN queries, where the pruning operations and termination tests are guided...... by a characterization of the intrinsic dimensionality of the data. The method can accommodate any index structure supporting incremental (forward) nearest-neighbor search for the generation and verification of candidates, while avoiding impractically-high preprocessing costs. We also provide experimental evidence...

Monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts: variability of monetary values. Seminar proceedings of December 10, 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnet, Xavier; Ben Maid, Atika; Calvet, Melanie; Darses, Ophelie; Devaux, Jeremy; Simon, Olivier; Gatier, Alexis; Wittmann, Anne-laure; Bonnet, Xavier; Bonroy, Olivier; Ceci-Renaud, Nila; Tarayoun, Tedjani; Mercadie, Corinne; Adam, Gabrielle; Perrissin Fabert, Baptiste; Combet, Emmanuel; Casset, Loic; Meunier, David; Le Maitre, Helene; Brunel, Julien; Rotillon, Gilles

2015-06-01

Within the General Commission for Sustainable Development, the Service for Economics, Assessment and Integration of Sustainable Development is in charge of developing and promoting the economic valuation of policies, regulations, environmental goods and services, related to biodiversity, natural assets and environmental amenities. On December 10, 2014, it held the fifth annual seminar on monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts. The first four editions respectively were devoted to economic valuation methods of environmental goods and services, implementations of these methods, uses of monetary values and methodological innovations; the 2014 seminar addressed the variability of monetary values. The ten presentations of the seminar explored the different values resulting from monetary valuation methods: what do they mean? What do they measure? Why are they relevant to integrate environmental valuation in the various economic sectors? From both a theoretical and practical point of view, theses questions were addressed by considering three main topics: the integration of environmental value in market prices, the different meanings of carbon values and the temporal variability of values used in assessment of investment projects in the transport sector. Those conferences are aimed for experts and practitioners of monetary valuation techniques as well as for users of the values produced. They provide a place to gather and facilitate dialogue between representatives from universities, government agencies and private sector involved in these issues. (authors)

Performance modeling of neighbor discovery in proactive routing protocols

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andres Medina

2011-07-01

Full Text Available It is well known that neighbor discovery is a critical component of proactive routing protocols in wireless ad hoc networks. However there is no formal study on the performance of proposed neighbor discovery mechanisms. This paper provides a detailed model of key performance metrics of neighbor discovery algorithms, such as node degree and the distribution of the distance to symmetric neighbors. The model accounts for the dynamics of neighbor discovery as well as node density, mobility, radio and interference. The paper demonstrates a method for applying these models to the evaluation of global network metrics. In particular, it describes a model of network connectivity. Validation of the models shows that the degree estimate agrees, within 5% error, with simulations for the considered scenarios. The work presented in this paper serves as a basis for the performance evaluation of remaining performance metrics of routing protocols, vital for large scale deployment of ad hoc networks.

Incorporating the information from direct and indirect neighbors into fitness evaluation enhances the cooperation in the social dilemmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, Menglong; Wang, Juan; Kong, Lingcong; An, Kang; Bi, Tao; Guo, Baohong; Dong, Enzeng

2015-01-01

Highlights: •A novel fitness evaluation method integrating environmental information is presented. •The introduction of neighbors’ payoff favors the promotion of cooperation in the PDG. •The role of direct neighbors becomes much more prominent. •In the SDG, the cooperative behavior is also improved by this new mechanism. -- Abstract: We propose an improved fitness evaluation method to investigate the evolution of cooperation in the spatial social dilemmas. In our model, a focal player’s fitness is calculated as the linear combination of his own payoff, the average payoffs of direct and indirect neighbors in which two independent selection parameters (α and β) are used to control the proportion of various payoff contribution to the current fitness. Then, the fitness-based strategy update rule is still Fermi-like, and asynchronous update is adopted here. A large plethora of numerical simulations are performed to validate the behaviors of the current model, and the results unambiguously demonstrate that the cooperation level is greatly enhanced by introducing the payoffs from the surrounding players. In particular, the influence of direct neighbors become more evident when compared with indirect neighbors since the correlation between focal players and their direct neighbors is much closer. Current outcomes are significant for us to further illustrate the origin and emergence of cooperation within a wide variety of natural and man-made systems

It's Good to Share: Why Environmental Scientists' Ethics Are Out of Date.

Science.gov (United States)

Soranno, Patricia A; Cheruvelil, Kendra S; Elliott, Kevin C; Montgomery, Georgina M

2015-01-01

Although there have been many recent calls for increased data sharing, the majority of environmental scientists do not make their individual data sets publicly available in online repositories. Current data-sharing conversations are focused on overcoming the technological challenges associated with data sharing and the lack of rewards and incentives for individuals to share data. We argue that the most important conversation has yet to take place: There has not been a strong ethical impetus for sharing data within the current culture, behaviors, and practices of environmental scientists. In this article, we describe a critical shift that is happening in both society and the environmental science community that makes data sharing not just good but ethically obligatory. This is a shift toward the ethical value of promoting inclusivity within and beyond science. An essential element of a truly inclusionary and democratic approach to science is to share data through publicly accessible data sets.

A dumbed-down approach to unite Fermilab, its neighbors

CERN Multimedia

Constable, B

2004-01-01

"...Fermilab is reaching out to its suburban neighbors...With the nation on orange alert, Fermilab scientists no longer can sit on the front porch and invite neighbors in for coffee and quasars" (1 page).

ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT OF SOME COPPER BASED FUNGICIDES ACCORDING TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marga GRĂDILĂ

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents data demonstrating the functionality of biological systems reconstituted with aquatic organisms developed under Good Laboratory Practice testing facility within Research - Development Institute for Plant Protection Bucharest for environmental risk assessment of four fungicides based on copper, according to Good Laboratory Practice requirements. For risk assessment, according to GLP were made the following steps: Good Laboratory Practice test facility was established, we have ensured adequate space for growth, acclimatization and testing for each test species, it was installed a complex water production instalation needed to perform tests, it was achieved control system for checking environmental conditions and have developed specific operating procedures that have been accredited according to Good Laboratory Practice.The results showed that biological systems model of the Good Laboratory Practice test facility in Research - Development Institute for Plant Protection meet the requirements of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines regarding GLP, and after testing copper-based fungicides in terms of acute toxicity Cyprinus carpio and to Daphnia magna revealed that three of them (copper oxychloride, copper hydroxide and copper sulphate showed ecological efficiency, ie low toxicity. Metallic copper based fungicides showed a higher toxicity, resulting in fish toxicity symptoms: sleep, sudden immersion, faded, weakness, swimming in spiral, lack of balance, breathing slow and cumbersome, spasms and mortality.

Neighbors United for Health

Science.gov (United States)

Westhoff, Wayne W.; Corvin, Jaime; Virella, Irmarie

2009-01-01

Modeled upon the ecclesiastic community group concept of Latin America to unite and strengthen the bond between the Church and neighborhoods, a community-based organization created Vecinos Unidos por la Salud (Neighbors United for Health) to bring health messages into urban Latino neighborhoods. The model is based on five tenants, and incorporates…

Pollinator-mediated interactions in experimental arrays vary with neighbor identity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, Melissa K; Ivey, Christopher T

2017-02-01

Local ecological conditions influence the impact of species interactions on evolution and community structure. We investigated whether pollinator-mediated interactions between coflowering plants vary with plant density, coflowering neighbor identity, and flowering season. We conducted a field experiment in which flowering time and floral neighborhood were manipulated in a factorial design. Early- and late-flowering Clarkia unguiculata plants were placed into arrays with C. biloba neighbors, noncongeneric neighbors, additional conspecific plants, or no additional plants as a density control. We compared whole-plant pollen limitation of seed set, pollinator behavior, and pollen deposition among treatments. Interactions mediated by shared pollinators depended on the identity of the neighbor and possibly changed through time, although flowering-season comparisons were compromised by low early-season plant survival. Interactions with conspecific neighbors were likely competitive late in the season. Interactions with C. biloba appeared to involve facilitation or neutral interactions. Interactions with noncongeners were more consistently competitive. The community composition of pollinators varied among treatment combinations. Pollinator-mediated interactions involved competition and likely facilitation, depending on coflowering neighbor. Experimental manipulation helped to reveal context-dependent variation in indirect biotic interactions. © 2017 Botanical Society of America.

Health physics manual of good practices for plutonium facilities. [Contains glossary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brackenbush, L.W.; Heid, K.R.; Herrington, W.N.; Kenoyer, J.L.; Munson, L.F.; Munson, L.H.; Selby, J.M.; Soldat, K.L.; Stoetzel, G.A.; Traub, R.J.

1988-05-01

This manual consists of six sections: Properties of Plutonium, Siting of Plutonium Facilities, Facility Design, Radiation Protection, Emergency Preparedness, and Decontamination and Decommissioning. While not the final authority, the manual is an assemblage of information, rules of thumb, regulations, and good practices to assist those who are intimately involved in plutonium operations. An in-depth understanding of the nuclear, physical, chemical, and biological properties of plutonium is important in establishing a viable radiation protection and control program at a plutonium facility. These properties of plutonium provide the basis and perspective necessary for appreciating the quality of control needed in handling and processing the material. Guidance in selecting the location of a new plutonium facility may not be directly useful to most readers. However, it provides a perspective for the development and implementation of the environmental surveillance program and the in-plant controls required to ensure that the facility is and remains a good neighbor. The criteria, guidance, and good practices for the design of a plutonium facility are also applicable to the operation and modification of existing facilities. The design activity provides many opportunities for implementation of features to promote more effective protection and control. The application of ''as low as reasonably achievable'' (ALARA) principles and optimization analyses are generally most cost-effective during the design phase. 335 refs., 8 figs., 20 tabs.

Seismic clusters analysis in Northeastern Italy by the nearest-neighbor approach

Science.gov (United States)

Peresan, Antonella; Gentili, Stefania

2018-01-01

The main features of earthquake clusters in Northeastern Italy are explored, with the aim to get new insights on local scale patterns of seismicity in the area. The study is based on a systematic analysis of robustly and uniformly detected seismic clusters, which are identified by a statistical method, based on nearest-neighbor distances of events in the space-time-energy domain. The method permits us to highlight and investigate the internal structure of earthquake sequences, and to differentiate the spatial properties of seismicity according to the different topological features of the clusters structure. To analyze seismicity of Northeastern Italy, we use information from local OGS bulletins, compiled at the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics since 1977. A preliminary reappraisal of the earthquake bulletins is carried out and the area of sufficient completeness is outlined. Various techniques are considered to estimate the scaling parameters that characterize earthquakes occurrence in the region, namely the b-value and the fractal dimension of epicenters distribution, required for the application of the nearest-neighbor technique. Specifically, average robust estimates of the parameters of the Unified Scaling Law for Earthquakes, USLE, are assessed for the whole outlined region and are used to compute the nearest-neighbor distances. Clusters identification by the nearest-neighbor method turn out quite reliable and robust with respect to the minimum magnitude cutoff of the input catalog; the identified clusters are well consistent with those obtained from manual aftershocks identification of selected sequences. We demonstrate that the earthquake clusters have distinct preferred geographic locations, and we identify two areas that differ substantially in the examined clustering properties. Specifically, burst-like sequences are associated with the north-western part and swarm-like sequences with the south-eastern part of the study

Diagnostic tools for nearest neighbors techniques when used with satellite imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald E. McRoberts

2009-01-01

Nearest neighbors techniques are non-parametric approaches to multivariate prediction that are useful for predicting both continuous and categorical forest attribute variables. Although some assumptions underlying nearest neighbor techniques are common to other prediction techniques such as regression, other assumptions are unique to nearest neighbor techniques....

Unwanted Behaviors and Nuisance Behaviors Among Neighbors in a Belgian Community Sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Michaux, Emilie; Groenen, Anne; Uzieblo, Katarzyna

2015-06-30

Unwanted behaviors between (ex-)intimates have been extensively studied, while those behaviors within other contexts such as neighbors have received much less scientific consideration. Research indicates that residents are likely to encounter problem behaviors from their neighbors. Besides the lack of clarity in the conceptualization of problem behaviors among neighbors, little is known on which types of behaviors characterize neighbor problems. In this study, the occurrence of two types of problem behaviors encountered by neighbors was explored within a Belgian community sample: unwanted behaviors such as threats and neighbor nuisance issues such as noise nuisance. By clearly distinguishing those two types of behaviors, this study aimed at contributing to the conceptualization of neighbor problems. Next, the coping strategies used to deal with the neighbor problems were investigated. Our results indicated that unwanted behaviors were more frequently encountered by residents compared with nuisance problems. Four out of 10 respondents reported both unwanted pursuit behavior and nuisance problems. It was especially unlikely to encounter nuisance problems in isolation of unwanted pursuit behaviors. While different coping styles (avoiding the neighbor, confronting the neighbor, and enlisting help from others) were equally used by the stalked participants, none of them was perceived as being more effective in reducing the stalking behaviors. Strikingly, despite being aware of specialized help services such as community mediation services, only a very small subgroup enlisted this kind of professional help. © The Author(s) 2015.

“Goodness itself must change” – Anthroponomy in an age of socially-caused, planetary environmental change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bendik-Keymer Jeremy David

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Given the reality of socially-caused, planetary-scaled, environmental change, how – if at all – should our ethical concepts change? It has been a hallmark of environmental literature in recent years to insist that they should or even must. It will be argued that, yes, our ethical concepts should change by exploring the changes needed for the core ethical concept of goodness. Goodness, it will be argued, must change to reflect a change in priority from personal intentions to the right relation between an agent and the collective to which he/she belongs. This relation, which is called herein the civic relation, centers on taking responsibility for the structure which produces unintentional, aggregate effects at the level of planetary ecology. Examples include a fossil fuel-based infrastructure, isolationist nationalism that undercuts international climate agreements to decarbonize energy, and the lack of a political forum to respect the rights of future generations. More generally, goodness according to the civic relation must express an anthroponomic orientation to life – a sustained, life-long attempt to build the practice of the collective self-regulation of humankind as a whole. Of the many consequences of this meta-ethical change in goodness, one is that it addresses the banality of evil today.

Neighbor Rupture Degree of Some Middle Graphs

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Gökşen BACAK-TURAN

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Networks have an important place in our daily lives. Internet networks, electricity networks, water networks, transportation networks, social networks and biological networks are some of the networks we run into every aspects of our lives. A network consists of centers connected by links. A network is represented when centers and connections modelled by vertices and edges, respectively. In consequence of the failure of some centers or connection lines, measurement of the resistance of the network until the communication interrupted is called vulnerability of the network. In this study, neighbor rupture degree which is a parameter that explores the vulnerability values of the resulting graphs due to the failure of some centers of a communication network and its neighboring centers becoming nonfunctional were applied to some middle graphs and neighbor rupture degree of the $M(C_{n},$ $M(P_{n},$ $M(K_{1,n},$ $M(W_{n},$ $M(P_{n}\\times K_{2}$ and $M(C_{n}\\times K_{2}$ have been found.

Using biological effects tools to define Good Environmental Status under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lyons, B.P.; Thain, J.E.; Hylland, K.; Davis, I.; Vethaak, A.D.

2010-01-01

The use of biological effects tools offer enormous potential to meet the challenges outlined by the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) whereby Member States are required to develop a robust set of tools for defining 11 qualitative descriptors of Good Environmental Status

Humanitarian Cleft Lip/Palate Surgeries in Buddhist Thailand and Neighboring Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Uemura, Tetsuji; Preeyanont, Piyoros; Udnoon, Sopridee

2015-06-01

This study evaluates surgeries done on patients with cleft lip and/or palate in Thailand and its neighboring countries from 1988 to 2008. This 21-year-long volunteer surgical mission was sponsored by Duang-Kaew Foundation, a volunteer organization. Countries involved, besides Thailand, were Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and India. The same surgical method for primary and secondary repair of lip and/or palate was used throughout: Onizuka method by single surgeon, the second author mainly. We assessed, by way of the patients' medical records including their background, the results of surgeries. The healing rates and complication rates associated with patients for primary and secondary repair of lip and/or palate. The study consisted of a total of 6832 patients: 3120 with cleft lip (CL); 2190 with cleft palate (CP); and 1522 with cleft lip and palate (CLP). Their primary cases were 675 (CL), 799 (CP), and 301 (CLP). All CP operations were done under general anesthesia. Of the CL surgeries, 10% of adult cases were done under local anesthesia. Of all the patients, 78%, or 5329, had one surgery; and 22%, or 1503, had 2 or more surgeries. Good healing was seen in 73.3%, whereas wound infection was noted in 2.0% and healing by second intention was in 1.2% of all cases. It is important that the Onizuka method was the only method used in all the countries throughout the mission period. The method has an advantage over other methods in that its design is simple enough so that even a beginning plastic surgeon can easily master, and operative results are constantly good regardless of who did the operation. The Duang-Kaew Foundation's long-term surgical program helped reduce the number of untreated patients to manageable levels for local health care providers in Thailand and neighboring countries for as long as 21 years.

Secure Nearest Neighbor Query on Crowd-Sensing Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke Cheng

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Nearest neighbor queries are fundamental in location-based services, and secure nearest neighbor queries mainly focus on how to securely and quickly retrieve the nearest neighbor in the outsourced cloud server. However, the previous big data system structure has changed because of the crowd-sensing data. On the one hand, sensing data terminals as the data owner are numerous and mistrustful, while, on the other hand, in most cases, the terminals find it difficult to finish many safety operation due to computation and storage capability constraints. In light of they Multi Owners and Multi Users (MOMU situation in the crowd-sensing data cloud environment, this paper presents a secure nearest neighbor query scheme based on the proxy server architecture, which is constructed by protocols of secure two-party computation and secure Voronoi diagram algorithm. It not only preserves the data confidentiality and query privacy but also effectively resists the collusion between the cloud server and the data owners or users. Finally, extensive theoretical and experimental evaluations are presented to show that our proposed scheme achieves a superior balance between the security and query performance compared to other schemes.

Monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts in support of the decision: methodological novelties. Seminar proceedings of December 19, 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnet, Xavier; Vanoli, Andre; Nauroy, Frederic; Devaux, Jeremy; Christov, Strahil; ); Simon, Olivier; Bortzmeyer, Martin; Vergez, Antonin; Lagarenne, Christine; Ami, Dominique; Aprahamian, Frederic; Chanel, Olivier; Luchini, Stephane; Baumstarck, Luc; Auverlot, Dominique; Ducos, Geraldine; Rafenberg, Christophe; Levrel, Harold; Ben Maid, Atika; Darses, Ophelie

2014-10-01

Within the Department of the General Commissioner for Sustainable Development, the Division for Economics, Assessment and Integration of Sustainable Development is in charge of developing and promoting the economic valuation of policies, regulations, environmental goods and services, related to biodiversity, natural assets and environmental amenities. On December 19, 2013, this department held the fourth annual seminar on monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts. The three first editions were respectively devoted to economic valuation methods of environmental goods and services, their implementation and the use of monetary values resulting from these methods. The 2013 seminar addressed methodological innovations and the way they contribute to decision in private sector and in policy-making process, in domains such as environmental debt, circular economy or health impact of environment. Those conferences are aimed at experts and practitioners of monetary valuation techniques as well as at users of the values produced. They provide a place to gather and facilitate dialogue between representatives from universities, government agencies and private sector involved in these issues. (authors)

Co-Expression of Neighboring Genes in the Zebrafish (Danio rerio Genome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daryi Wang

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Neighboring genes in the eukaryotic genome have a tendency to express concurrently, and the proximity of two adjacent genes is often considered a possible explanation for their co-expression behavior. However, the actual contribution of the physical distance between two genes to their co-expression behavior has yet to be defined. To further investigate this issue, we studied the co-expression of neighboring genes in zebrafish, which has a compact genome and has experienced a whole genome duplication event. Our analysis shows that the proportion of highly co-expressed neighboring pairs (Pearson’s correlation coefficient R>0.7 is low (0.24% ~ 0.67%; however, it is still significantly higher than that of random pairs. In particular, the statistical result implies that the co-expression tendency of neighboring pairs is negatively correlated with their physical distance. Our findings therefore suggest that physical distance may play an important role in the co-expression of neighboring genes. Possible mechanisms related to the neighboring genes’ co-expression are also discussed.

New Sliding Puzzle with Neighbors Swap Motion

OpenAIRE

Prihardono, Ariyanto; Kawagoe, Kenichi

2015-01-01

The sliding puzzles (15-puzzle, 8-puzzle, 5-puzzle) are known to have 2 kind of puz-zle: solvable puzzle and unsolvable puzzle. In this thesis, we make a new puzzle with only 1 kind of it, solvable puzzle. This new puzzle is made by adopting sliding puzzle with several additional rules from M13 puzzle; the puzzle that is formed form The Mathieu group M13. This puzzle has a movement that called a neighbors swap motion, a rule of movement that enables every neighboring points to swap. This extr...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Using good and Cooperative Governance to improve Environmental Governance of South African World Heritage sites: A Case Study of the Vredefort Dome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L Kotzé

2008-08-01

Full Text Available South Africa became a signatory to and ratified the World Heritage Convention, 1972 (WHC in 1997. It thereby voluntarily agreed to identify and conserve world heritage areas of universal value for the benefit of mankind. This article presents a case study of the Vredefort Dome, one of South Africa's World Heritage Sites (WHS and specifically its governance strategies to ensure proper and sustainable governance. Firstly, the issue of fragmentation of the environmental governance regime applicable to WHS is discussed, and in doing so, refers to the various legislative and common law responsibilities and institutional structures related to environmental governance of WHS. Secondly, it briefly discusses the concept of good governance and the concept of cooperative governance as a sub-component of good governance. Finally it comprehensively proposes various strategies to ameliorate the current fragmented and unsustainable environmental governance effort relating to WHS.

The role of orthography in the semantic activation of neighbors.

Science.gov (United States)

Hino, Yasushi; Lupker, Stephen J; Taylor, Tamsen E

2012-09-01

There is now considerable evidence that a letter string can activate semantic information appropriate to its orthographic neighbors (e.g., Forster & Hector's, 2002, TURPLE effect). This phenomenon is the focus of the present research. Using Japanese words, we examined whether semantic activation of neighbors is driven directly by orthographic similarity alone or whether there is also a role for phonological similarity. In Experiment 1, using a relatedness judgment task in which a Kanji word-Katakana word pair was presented on each trial, an inhibitory effect was observed when the initial Kanji word was related to an orthographic and phonological neighbor of the Katakana word target but not when the initial Kanji word was related to a phonological but not orthographic neighbor of the Katakana word target. This result suggests that phonology plays little, if any, role in the activation of neighbors' semantics when reading familiar words. In Experiment 2, the targets were transcribed into Hiragana, a script they are typically not written in, requiring readers to engage in phonological coding. In that experiment, inhibitory effects were observed in both conditions. This result indicates that phonologically mediated semantic activation of neighbors will emerge when phonological processing is necessary in order to understand a written word (e.g., when that word is transcribed into an unfamiliar script). PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

A Fast Exact k-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm for High Dimensional Search Using k-Means Clustering and Triangle Inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xueyi

2012-02-08

The k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) algorithm is a widely used machine learning method that finds nearest neighbors of a test object in a feature space. We present a new exact k-NN algorithm called kMkNN (k-Means for k-Nearest Neighbors) that uses the k-means clustering and the triangle inequality to accelerate the searching for nearest neighbors in a high dimensional space. The kMkNN algorithm has two stages. In the buildup stage, instead of using complex tree structures such as metric trees, kd-trees, or ball-tree, kMkNN uses a simple k-means clustering method to preprocess the training dataset. In the searching stage, given a query object, kMkNN finds nearest training objects starting from the nearest cluster to the query object and uses the triangle inequality to reduce the distance calculations. Experiments show that the performance of kMkNN is surprisingly good compared to the traditional k-NN algorithm and tree-based k-NN algorithms such as kd-trees and ball-trees. On a collection of 20 datasets with up to 10(6) records and 10(4) dimensions, kMkNN shows a 2-to 80-fold reduction of distance calculations and a 2- to 60-fold speedup over the traditional k-NN algorithm for 16 datasets. Furthermore, kMkNN performs significant better than a kd-tree based k-NN algorithm for all datasets and performs better than a ball-tree based k-NN algorithm for most datasets. The results show that kMkNN is effective for searching nearest neighbors in high dimensional spaces.

A range of complex probabilistic models for RNA secondary structure prediction that includes the nearest-neighbor model and more.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivas, Elena; Lang, Raymond; Eddy, Sean R

2012-02-01

The standard approach for single-sequence RNA secondary structure prediction uses a nearest-neighbor thermodynamic model with several thousand experimentally determined energy parameters. An attractive alternative is to use statistical approaches with parameters estimated from growing databases of structural RNAs. Good results have been reported for discriminative statistical methods using complex nearest-neighbor models, including CONTRAfold, Simfold, and ContextFold. Little work has been reported on generative probabilistic models (stochastic context-free grammars [SCFGs]) of comparable complexity, although probabilistic models are generally easier to train and to use. To explore a range of probabilistic models of increasing complexity, and to directly compare probabilistic, thermodynamic, and discriminative approaches, we created TORNADO, a computational tool that can parse a wide spectrum of RNA grammar architectures (including the standard nearest-neighbor model and more) using a generalized super-grammar that can be parameterized with probabilities, energies, or arbitrary scores. By using TORNADO, we find that probabilistic nearest-neighbor models perform comparably to (but not significantly better than) discriminative methods. We find that complex statistical models are prone to overfitting RNA structure and that evaluations should use structurally nonhomologous training and test data sets. Overfitting has affected at least one published method (ContextFold). The most important barrier to improving statistical approaches for RNA secondary structure prediction is the lack of diversity of well-curated single-sequence RNA secondary structures in current RNA databases.

Basic environmental questions concerning lawsuits of neighboring power plant dwellers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berger, U.G.

1982-01-01

In conjunction with the constellation of lawsuits within the administrative court system, and based on modern environmental protection laws, emission control laws, and foremost, the atomic energy laws, we are confronted with a variety of constitutional and administrative problems. However, the fundamental questions of individual rights within the potentially incriminating environmental utilization or exploitation by individuals could be relatively clearly answered by observing the basic principles of our legal order. It is to be expected that the administrative courts will arrive at acceptable decisions reflecting the full protection of the law and the basic constitutional principles, and that these - once made - may serve as orientation in superior court actions. (orig./HSCH) [de

Color and neighbor edge directional difference feature for image retrieval

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Chaobing Huang; Shengsheng Yu; Jingli Zhou; Hongwei Lu

2005-01-01

@@ A novel image feature termed neighbor edge directional difference unit histogram is proposed, in which the neighbor edge directional difference unit is defined and computed for every pixel in the image, and is used to generate the neighbor edge directional difference unit histogram. This histogram and color histogram are used as feature indexes to retrieve color image. The feature is invariant to image scaling and translation and has more powerful descriptive for the natural color images. Experimental results show that the feature can achieve better retrieval performance than other color-spatial features.

Nearest neighbors by neighborhood counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hui

2006-06-01

Finding nearest neighbors is a general idea that underlies many artificial intelligence tasks, including machine learning, data mining, natural language understanding, and information retrieval. This idea is explicitly used in the k-nearest neighbors algorithm (kNN), a popular classification method. In this paper, this idea is adopted in the development of a general methodology, neighborhood counting, for devising similarity functions. We turn our focus from neighbors to neighborhoods, a region in the data space covering the data point in question. To measure the similarity between two data points, we consider all neighborhoods that cover both data points. We propose to use the number of such neighborhoods as a measure of similarity. Neighborhood can be defined for different types of data in different ways. Here, we consider one definition of neighborhood for multivariate data and derive a formula for such similarity, called neighborhood counting measure or NCM. NCM was tested experimentally in the framework of kNN. Experiments show that NCM is generally comparable to VDM and its variants, the state-of-the-art distance functions for multivariate data, and, at the same time, is consistently better for relatively large k values. Additionally, NCM consistently outperforms HEOM (a mixture of Euclidean and Hamming distances), the "standard" and most widely used distance function for multivariate data. NCM has a computational complexity in the same order as the standard Euclidean distance function and NCM is task independent and works for numerical and categorical data in a conceptually uniform way. The neighborhood counting methodology is proven sound for multivariate data experimentally. We hope it will work for other types of data.

Loving the Many in the One: Augustine and the Love of Finite Goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Warren Smith

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This is an essay in comparative ethics within the Platonist tradition. Although the primary focus is on Augustine’s account of rightly ordered love of neighbor in De vera religione, it analyzes Augustine’s account of the love of finite goods by comparing it with Plato’s grounding of the love of imperfect creatures within an ontological hierarchy in Symposium. Against the backdrop of the critique by modern readers that neither thinker’s teleological and hierarchical view of love allows for a real love of particular individuals, this essay will show how for Plato and Augustine alike, the love of the One—the Beautiful, for Plato, and God, for Augustine—conditions all other loves. Augustine’s ontological hierarchy of the one eternal God and the many created goods leads him to insist that the love of God, who alone is loved for his own sake, conditions the Christian’s love of neighbors whom she loves not for their own sake but for God’s. The Platonic ontology of Augustine’s theodicy, it will be argued, allows him to explain how use-love is a genuine expression of love for the neighbor in her particularity and yet remains subordinated to one’s highest love of God.

Neighboring Genes Show Correlated Evolution in Gene Expression

Science.gov (United States)

Ghanbarian, Avazeh T.; Hurst, Laurence D.

2015-01-01

When considering the evolution of a gene’s expression profile, we commonly assume that this is unaffected by its genomic neighborhood. This is, however, in contrast to what we know about the lack of autonomy between neighboring genes in gene expression profiles in extant taxa. Indeed, in all eukaryotic genomes genes of similar expression-profile tend to cluster, reflecting chromatin level dynamics. Does it follow that if a gene increases expression in a particular lineage then the genomic neighbors will also increase in their expression or is gene expression evolution autonomous? To address this here we consider evolution of human gene expression since the human-chimp common ancestor, allowing for both variation in estimation of current expression level and error in Bayesian estimation of the ancestral state. We find that in all tissues and both sexes, the change in gene expression of a focal gene on average predicts the change in gene expression of neighbors. The effect is highly pronounced in the immediate vicinity (genes increasing their expression in humans tend to avoid nuclear lamina domains and be enriched for the gene activator 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, we conclude that, most probably owing to chromatin level control of gene expression, a change in gene expression of one gene likely affects the expression evolution of neighbors, what we term expression piggybacking, an analog of hitchhiking. PMID:25743543

Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film

OpenAIRE

Arlindo Castro

2000-01-01

The New York release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious occurred in August 1946, one month after the Bikini atomic explosions, and one year after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Is mankind dying of curiosity?” asked a double page Time magazine ad, in the same issue that published a review of the film. “Time’s Science department noted recently,” readers were told, “that people everywhere have one great Fear: will the curiosity of nuclear physicists someday set off a giant chain reactio...

Notorious: Hitchcock’s good neighbor film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arlindo Castro

2000-07-01

Full Text Available The New York release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious occurred in August 1946, one month after the Bikini atomic explosions, and one year after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Is mankind dying of curiosity?” asked a double page Time magazine ad, in the same issue that published a review of the film. “Time’s Science department noted recently,” readers were told, “that people everywhere have one great Fear: will the curiosity of nuclear physicists someday set off a giant chain reaction which will flash-bum the world to a clinker?”l To overcome that fear of the nuclear apocalypse, according to the add, readers should learn more and more about “the big mysteries of our atomic age,” beginning by checking her or his score in the “Time’s Quiz on Science.” If they happened to go to Radio City Music Hall, Notorious would reassure them that the U.S. was doing well in preventing obstinate Nazis from making an atomic bomb, though at that moment of the nuclear espionage war, former Manhattan Project insider Klaus Fuchs had actually passed on to a Soviet contact in London classified information about the Manhattan Project and American atomic plans.2 Indeed, in that transitional period between World War II and the Cold War, the major political villains were still Nazis, not Communists, as exemplified by other 1946 films like Orson Welles’ The Stranger, Charles Vidor’s Gilda, and Edward Dmytryk’s Cornered.

Local randomization in neighbor selection improves PRM roadmap quality

KAUST Repository

McMahon, Troy; Jacobs, Sam; Boyd, Bryan; Tapia, Lydia; Amato, Nancy M.

2012-01-01

Probabilistic Roadmap Methods (PRMs) are one of the most used classes of motion planning methods. These sampling-based methods generate robot configurations (nodes) and then connect them to form a graph (roadmap) containing representative feasible pathways. A key step in PRM roadmap construction involves identifying a set of candidate neighbors for each node. Traditionally, these candidates are chosen to be the k-closest nodes based on a given distance metric. In this paper, we propose a new neighbor selection policy called LocalRand(k,K'), that first computes the K' closest nodes to a specified node and then selects k of those nodes at random. Intuitively, LocalRand attempts to benefit from random sampling while maintaining the higher levels of local planner success inherent to selecting more local neighbors. We provide a methodology for selecting the parameters k and K'. We perform an experimental comparison which shows that for both rigid and articulated robots, LocalRand results in roadmaps that are better connected than the traditional k-closest policy or a purely random neighbor selection policy. The cost required to achieve these results is shown to be comparable to k-closest. © 2012 IEEE.

Local randomization in neighbor selection improves PRM roadmap quality

KAUST Repository

McMahon, Troy

2012-10-01

Probabilistic Roadmap Methods (PRMs) are one of the most used classes of motion planning methods. These sampling-based methods generate robot configurations (nodes) and then connect them to form a graph (roadmap) containing representative feasible pathways. A key step in PRM roadmap construction involves identifying a set of candidate neighbors for each node. Traditionally, these candidates are chosen to be the k-closest nodes based on a given distance metric. In this paper, we propose a new neighbor selection policy called LocalRand(k,K\\'), that first computes the K\\' closest nodes to a specified node and then selects k of those nodes at random. Intuitively, LocalRand attempts to benefit from random sampling while maintaining the higher levels of local planner success inherent to selecting more local neighbors. We provide a methodology for selecting the parameters k and K\\'. We perform an experimental comparison which shows that for both rigid and articulated robots, LocalRand results in roadmaps that are better connected than the traditional k-closest policy or a purely random neighbor selection policy. The cost required to achieve these results is shown to be comparable to k-closest. © 2012 IEEE.

The Islands Approach to Nearest Neighbor Querying in Spatial Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Xuegang; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard; Saltenis, Simonas

2005-01-01

, and versatile approach to k nearest neighbor computation that obviates the need for using several k nearest neighbor approaches for supporting a single service scenario. The experimental comparison with the existing techniques uses real-world road network data and considers both I/O and CPU performance...

Handling Neighbor Discovery and Rendezvous Consistency with Weighted Quorum-Based Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Own, Chung-Ming; Meng, Zhaopeng; Liu, Kehan

2015-09-03

Neighbor discovery and the power of sensors play an important role in the formation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and mobile networks. Many asynchronous protocols based on wake-up time scheduling have been proposed to enable neighbor discovery among neighboring nodes for the energy saving, especially in the difficulty of clock synchronization. However, existing researches are divided two parts with the neighbor-discovery methods, one is the quorum-based protocols and the other is co-primality based protocols. Their distinction is on the arrangements of time slots, the former uses the quorums in the matrix, the latter adopts the numerical analysis. In our study, we propose the weighted heuristic quorum system (WQS), which is based on the quorum algorithm to eliminate redundant paths of active slots. We demonstrate the specification of our system: fewer active slots are required, the referring rate is balanced, and remaining power is considered particularly when a device maintains rendezvous with discovered neighbors. The evaluation results showed that our proposed method can effectively reschedule the active slots and save the computing time of the network system.

Handling Neighbor Discovery and Rendezvous Consistency with Weighted Quorum-Based Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-Ming Own

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Neighbor discovery and the power of sensors play an important role in the formation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs and mobile networks. Many asynchronous protocols based on wake-up time scheduling have been proposed to enable neighbor discovery among neighboring nodes for the energy saving, especially in the difficulty of clock synchronization. However, existing researches are divided two parts with the neighbor-discovery methods, one is the quorum-based protocols and the other is co-primality based protocols. Their distinction is on the arrangements of time slots, the former uses the quorums in the matrix, the latter adopts the numerical analysis. In our study, we propose the weighted heuristic quorum system (WQS, which is based on the quorum algorithm to eliminate redundant paths of active slots. We demonstrate the specification of our system: fewer active slots are required, the referring rate is balanced, and remaining power is considered particularly when a device maintains rendezvous with discovered neighbors. The evaluation results showed that our proposed method can effectively reschedule the active slots and save the computing time of the network system.

Accelerating distributed average consensus by exploring the information of second-order neighbors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yuan Deming [School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu (China); Xu Shengyuan, E-mail: syxu02@yahoo.com.c [School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu (China); Zhao Huanyu [School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu (China); Chu Yuming [Department of Mathematics, Huzhou Teacher' s College, Huzhou 313000, Zhejiang (China)

2010-05-17

The problem of accelerating distributed average consensus by using the information of second-order neighbors in both the discrete- and continuous-time cases is addressed in this Letter. In both two cases, when the information of second-order neighbors is used in each iteration, the network will converge with a speed faster than the algorithm only using the information of first-order neighbors. Moreover, the problem of using partial information of second-order neighbors is considered, and the edges are not chosen randomly from second-order neighbors. In the continuous-time case, the edges are chosen by solving a convex optimization problem which is formed by using the convex relaxation method. In the discrete-time case, for small network the edges are chosen optimally via the brute force method. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Finger vein identification using fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor classifier

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Jaafar, Haryati; Ramli, Dzati Athiar

2015-02-01

In this paper, a new approach for personal identification using finger vein image is presented. Finger vein is an emerging type of biometrics that attracts attention of researchers in biometrics area. As compared to other biometric traits such as face, fingerprint and iris, finger vein is more secured and hard to counterfeit since the features are inside the human body. So far, most of the researchers focus on how to extract robust features from the captured vein images. Not much research was conducted on the classification of the extracted features. In this paper, a new classifier called fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor (FkNCN) is applied to classify the finger vein image. The proposed FkNCN employs a surrounding rule to obtain the k-nearest centroid neighbors based on the spatial distributions of the training images and their distance to the test image. Then, the fuzzy membership function is utilized to assign the test image to the class which is frequently represented by the k-nearest centroid neighbors. Experimental evaluation using our own database which was collected from 492 fingers shows that the proposed FkNCN has better performance than the k-nearest neighbor, k-nearest-centroid neighbor and fuzzy-based-k-nearest neighbor classifiers. This shows that the proposed classifier is able to identify the finger vein image effectively.

False-nearest-neighbors algorithm and noise-corrupted time series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rhodes, C.; Morari, M.

1997-01-01

The false-nearest-neighbors (FNN) algorithm was originally developed to determine the embedding dimension for autonomous time series. For noise-free computer-generated time series, the algorithm does a good job in predicting the embedding dimension. However, the problem of predicting the embedding dimension when the time-series data are corrupted by noise was not fully examined in the original studies of the FNN algorithm. Here it is shown that with large data sets, even small amounts of noise can lead to incorrect prediction of the embedding dimension. Surprisingly, as the length of the time series analyzed by FNN grows larger, the cause of incorrect prediction becomes more pronounced. An analysis of the effect of noise on the FNN algorithm and a solution for dealing with the effects of noise are given here. Some results on the theoretically correct choice of the FNN threshold are also presented. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

On Competitiveness of Nearest-Neighbor-Based Music Classification: A Methodological Critique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pálmason, Haukur; Jónsson, Björn Thór; Amsaleg, Laurent

2017-01-01

The traditional role of nearest-neighbor classification in music classification research is that of a straw man opponent for the learning approach of the hour. Recent work in high-dimensional indexing has shown that approximate nearest-neighbor algorithms are extremely scalable, yielding results...... of reasonable quality from billions of high-dimensional features. With such efficient large-scale classifiers, the traditional music classification methodology of aggregating and compressing the audio features is incorrect; instead the approximate nearest-neighbor classifier should be given an extensive data...... collection to work with. We present a case study, using a well-known MIR classification benchmark with well-known music features, which shows that a simple nearest-neighbor classifier performs very competitively when given ample data. In this position paper, we therefore argue that nearest...

Virtual goods recommendations in virtual worlds.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Kuan-Yu; Liao, Hsiu-Yu; Chen, Jyun-Hung; Liu, Duen-Ren

2015-01-01

Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods.

Beyond formal groups: neighboring acts and watershed protection in Appalachia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heather Lukacs

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper explores how watershed organizations in Appalachia have persisted in addressing water quality issues in areas with a history of coal mining. We identified two watershed groups that have taken responsibility for restoring local creeks that were previously highly degraded and sporadically managed. These watershed groups represent cases of self-organized commons governance in resource-rich, economically poor Appalachian communities. We describe the extent and characteristics of links between watershed group volunteers and watershed residents who are not group members. Through surveys, participant observation, and key-informant consultation, we found that neighbors – group members as well as non-group-members – supported the group's function through informal neighboring acts. Past research has shown that local commons governance institutions benefit from being nested in supportive external structures. We found that the persistence and success of community watershed organizations depends on the informal participation of local residents, affirming the necessity of looking beyond formal, organized groups to understand the resources, expertise, and information needed to address complex water pollution at the watershed level. Our findings augment the concept of nestedness in commons governance to include that of a formal organization acting as a neighbor that exchanges informal neighboring acts with local residents. In this way, we extend the concept of neighboring to include interactions between individuals and a group operating in the same geographic area.

Nearest neighbor spacing distributions of low-lying levels of vibrational nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abul-Magd, A.Y.; Simbel, M.H.

1996-01-01

Energy-level statistics are considered for nuclei whose Hamiltonian is divided into intrinsic and collective-vibrational terms. The levels are described as a random superposition of independent sequences, each corresponding to a given number of phonons. The intrinsic motion is assumed chaotic. The level spacing distribution is found to be intermediate between the Wigner and Poisson distributions and similar in form to the spacing distribution of a system with classical phase space divided into separate regular and chaotic domains. We have obtained approximate expressions for the nearest neighbor spacing and cumulative spacing distribution valid when the level density is described by a constant-temperature formula and not involving additional free parameters. These expressions have been able to achieve good agreement with the experimental spacing distributions. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Plant neighbor identity influences plant biochemistry and physiology related to defense.

Science.gov (United States)

Broz, Amanda K; Broeckling, Corey D; De-la-Peña, Clelia; Lewis, Matthew R; Greene, Erick; Callaway, Ragan M; Sumner, Lloyd W; Vivanco, Jorge M

2010-06-17

Chemical and biological processes dictate an individual organism's ability to recognize and respond to other organisms. A small but growing body of evidence suggests that plants may be capable of recognizing and responding to neighboring plants in a species specific fashion. Here we tested whether or not individuals of the invasive exotic weed, Centaurea maculosa, would modulate their defensive strategy in response to different plant neighbors. In the greenhouse, C. maculosa individuals were paired with either conspecific (C. maculosa) or heterospecific (Festuca idahoensis) plant neighbors and elicited with the plant defense signaling molecule methyl jasmonate to mimic insect herbivory. We found that elicited C. maculosa plants grown with conspecific neighbors exhibited increased levels of total phenolics, whereas those grown with heterospecific neighbors allocated more resources towards growth. To further investigate these results in the field, we conducted a metabolomics analysis to explore chemical differences between individuals of C. maculosa growing in naturally occurring conspecific and heterospecific field stands. Similar to the greenhouse results, C. maculosa individuals accumulated higher levels of defense-related secondary metabolites and lower levels of primary metabolites when growing in conspecific versus heterospecific field stands. Leaf herbivory was similar in both stand types; however, a separate field study positively correlated specialist herbivore load with higher densities of C. maculosa conspecifics. Our results suggest that an individual C. maculosa plant can change its defensive strategy based on the identity of its plant neighbors. This is likely to have important consequences for individual and community success.

Dimensionality reduction with unsupervised nearest neighbors

CERN Document Server

Kramer, Oliver

2013-01-01

This book is devoted to a novel approach for dimensionality reduction based on the famous nearest neighbor method that is a powerful classification and regression approach. It starts with an introduction to machine learning concepts and a real-world application from the energy domain. Then, unsupervised nearest neighbors (UNN) is introduced as efficient iterative method for dimensionality reduction. Various UNN models are developed step by step, reaching from a simple iterative strategy for discrete latent spaces to a stochastic kernel-based algorithm for learning submanifolds with independent parameterizations. Extensions that allow the embedding of incomplete and noisy patterns are introduced. Various optimization approaches are compared, from evolutionary to swarm-based heuristics. Experimental comparisons to related methodologies taking into account artificial test data sets and also real-world data demonstrate the behavior of UNN in practical scenarios. The book contains numerous color figures to illustr...

Does a pear growl? Interference from semantic properties of orthographic neighbors.

Science.gov (United States)

Pecher, Diane; de Rooij, Jimmy; Zeelenberg, René

2009-07-01

In this study, we investigated whether semantic properties of a word's orthographic neighbors are activated during visual word recognition. In two experiments, words were presented with a property that was not true for the word itself. We manipulated whether the property was true for an orthographic neighbor of the word. Our results showed that rejection of the property was slower and less accurate when the property was true for a neighbor than when the property was not true for a neighbor. These findings indicate that semantic information is activated before orthographic processing is finished. The present results are problematic for the links model (Forster, 2006; Forster & Hector, 2002) that was recently proposed in order to bring form-first models of visual word recognition into line with previously reported findings (Forster & Hector, 2002; Pecher, Zeelenberg, & Wagenmakers, 2005; Rodd, 2004).

Thyroid monitoring for residents of disaster-affected and neighboring areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Shigeki

2014-01-01

The devastating environmental contamination caused by the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of The Tokyo Electric Power Company is exposing the residents of the disaster-affected areas to health risks attributable to radiation exposure, and fear of the development of 131 I-induced thyroid cancer, which is a stochastic effect of radiation and is particularly high. As part of the response to nuclear disasters by the government of the municipality where the nuclear power station is located and in operation and by the governments of neighboring municipalities, it is necessary to conduct thyroid monitoring for the purpose of alleviating the fears of residents of the disaster-affected areas as well as those living in the contaminated, even if only slightly, neighboring areas (local residents). This health monitoring needs to be implemented without delay in the case of a disaster along with dissemination of a portable type thyroid monitoring system available at evacuation centers, etc. for assessing thyroid exposure doses. The establishment of a system for developing personnel ready to perform monitoring is also essential. Assessing thyroid exposure doses is indispensable as a means of assuring local residents not only of safety but also of security from the risks of radiation. To date, contamination has not been detected in people, except for residents contaminated by a large amount of iodine, by employing the mobile type of thyroid monitoring system. However, when local residents seeking security desire thyroid monitoring, it is preferable that a portable type simplified thyroid monitoring system be used as a means of ensuring security against radiation. (author)

Environmental sustainability versus economic interests: a search for good governance in a macroeconomic perspective

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Karolina Stecyk

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Finding the proper balance between economic benefit and sustainable development has been an issue for many local governments, especially in the regions that depend strongly on natural resources. One of Canada’s largest contributors to environmental degradation is the oil sands in Alberta. The degradation occurs on land, in water, and in the air as a result of oil extraction and tailings ponds. The purpose of the paper is to argue that although the government of the province of Alberta and the federal government have developed legislation including licensing and policies (frameworks and directives to reduce and prevent environmental degradation, they fail to ensure compliance with the legislation and policies because the governments prefer economic gain to environmental sustainability. The lack of strong compliance enforcement suggests a lack of effectiveness and efficiency. Subsequently, a failure in the rule of law occurs because oil corporations, due to their economic impact, are treated as above the law. The bias for the corporation over the environment hinders good governance. Overall, both governments find balancing protecting the environment and gaining financial benefits challenging.

Detect thy neighbor: Identity recognition at the root level in plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, B.J.W.; During, H.J.; Anten, N.P.R.

2012-01-01

Some plant species increase root allocation at the expense of reproduction in the presence of non-self and non-kin neighbors, indicating the capacity of neighbor-identityrecognition at the rootlevel. Yet in spite of the potential consequences of rootidentityrecognition for the relationship between

Cooperation and contagion in web-based, networked public goods experiments.

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Siddharth Suri

Full Text Available A longstanding idea in the literature on human cooperation is that cooperation should be reinforced when conditional cooperators are more likely to interact. In the context of social networks, this idea implies that cooperation should fare better in highly clustered networks such as cliques than in networks with low clustering such as random networks. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a series of web-based experiments, in which 24 individuals played a local public goods game arranged on one of five network topologies that varied between disconnected cliques and a random regular graph. In contrast with previous theoretical work, we found that network topology had no significant effect on average contributions. This result implies either that individuals are not conditional cooperators, or else that cooperation does not benefit from positive reinforcement between connected neighbors. We then tested both of these possibilities in two subsequent series of experiments in which artificial seed players were introduced, making either full or zero contributions. First, we found that although players did generally behave like conditional cooperators, they were as likely to decrease their contributions in response to low contributing neighbors as they were to increase their contributions in response to high contributing neighbors. Second, we found that positive effects of cooperation were contagious only to direct neighbors in the network. In total we report on 113 human subjects experiments, highlighting the speed, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of web-based experiments over those conducted in physical labs.

Reduction in predator defense in the presence of neighbors in a colonial fish.

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Franziska C Schädelin

Full Text Available Predation pressure has long been considered a leading explanation of colonies, where close neighbors may reduce predation via dilution, alarming or group predator attacks. Attacking predators may be costly in terms of energy and survival, leading to the question of how neighbors contribute to predator deterrence in relationship to each other. Two hypotheses explaining the relative efforts made by neighbors are byproduct-mutualism, which occurs when breeders inadvertently attack predators by defending their nests, and reciprocity, which occurs when breeders deliberately exchange predator defense efforts with neighbors. Most studies investigating group nest defense have been performed with birds. However, colonial fish may constitute a more practical model system for an experimental approach because of the greater ability of researchers to manipulate their environment. We investigated in the colonial fish, Neolamprologus caudopunctatus, whether prospecting pairs preferred to breed near conspecifics or solitarily, and how breeders invested in anti-predator defense in relation to neighbors. In a simple choice test, prospecting pairs selected breeding sites close to neighbors versus a solitary site. Predators were then sequentially presented to the newly established test pairs, the previously established stimulus pairs or in between the two pairs. Test pairs attacked the predator eight times more frequently when they were presented on their non-neighbor side compared to between the two breeding sites, where stimulus pairs maintained high attack rates. Thus, by joining an established pair, test pairs were able to reduce their anti-predator efforts near neighbors, at no apparent cost to the stimulus pairs. These findings are unlikely to be explained by reciprocity or byproduct-mutualism. Our results instead suggest a commensal relationship in which new pairs exploit the high anti-predator efforts of established pairs, which invest similarly with or

Plant neighbor identity influences plant biochemistry and physiology related to defense

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Callaway Ragan M

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Chemical and biological processes dictate an individual organism's ability to recognize and respond to other organisms. A small but growing body of evidence suggests that plants may be capable of recognizing and responding to neighboring plants in a species specific fashion. Here we tested whether or not individuals of the invasive exotic weed, Centaurea maculosa, would modulate their defensive strategy in response to different plant neighbors. Results In the greenhouse, C. maculosa individuals were paired with either conspecific (C. maculosa or heterospecific (Festuca idahoensis plant neighbors and elicited with the plant defense signaling molecule methyl jasmonate to mimic insect herbivory. We found that elicited C. maculosa plants grown with conspecific neighbors exhibited increased levels of total phenolics, whereas those grown with heterospecific neighbors allocated more resources towards growth. To further investigate these results in the field, we conducted a metabolomics analysis to explore chemical differences between individuals of C. maculosa growing in naturally occurring conspecific and heterospecific field stands. Similar to the greenhouse results, C. maculosa individuals accumulated higher levels of defense-related secondary metabolites and lower levels of primary metabolites when growing in conspecific versus heterospecific field stands. Leaf herbivory was similar in both stand types; however, a separate field study positively correlated specialist herbivore load with higher densities of C. maculosa conspecifics. Conclusions Our results suggest that an individual C. maculosa plant can change its defensive strategy based on the identity of its plant neighbors. This is likely to have important consequences for individual and community success.

A multilevel-skin neighbor list algorithm for molecular dynamics simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chenglong; Zhao, Mingcan; Hou, Chaofeng; Ge, Wei

2018-01-01

Searching of the interaction pairs and organization of the interaction processes are important steps in molecular dynamics (MD) algorithms and are critical to the overall efficiency of the simulation. Neighbor lists are widely used for these steps, where thicker skin can reduce the frequency of list updating but is discounted by more computation in distance check for the particle pairs. In this paper, we propose a new neighbor-list-based algorithm with a precisely designed multilevel skin which can reduce unnecessary computation on inter-particle distances. The performance advantages over traditional methods are then analyzed against the main simulation parameters on Intel CPUs and MICs (many integrated cores), and are clearly demonstrated. The algorithm can be generalized for various discrete simulations using neighbor lists.

Effects of second neighbor interactions on skyrmion lattices in chiral magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, E A S; Silva, R L; Silva, R C; Pereira, A R

2017-01-01

In this paper we investigate the influences of the second neighbor interactions on a skyrmion lattice in two-dimensional chiral magnets. Such a system contains the exchange and the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya for the spin interactions and therefore, we analyse three situations: firstly, the second neighbor interaction is present only in the exchange coupling; secondly, it is present only in the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya coupling. Finally, the second neighbor interactions are present in both exchange and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya couplings. We show that such effects cause important modifications to the helical and skyrmion phases when an external magnetic field is applied. (paper)

Improving Fraudster Detection in Online Auctions by Using Neighbor-Driven Attributes

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Jun-Lin Lin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Online auction websites use a simple reputation system to help their users to evaluate the trustworthiness of sellers and buyers. However, to improve their reputation in the reputation system, fraudulent users can easily deceive the reputation system by creating fake transactions. This inflated-reputation fraud poses a major problem for online auction websites because it can lead legitimate users into scams. Numerous approaches have been proposed in the literature to address this problem, most of which involve using social network analysis (SNA to derive critical features (e.g., k-core, center weight, and neighbor diversity for distinguishing fraudsters from legitimate users. This paper discusses the limitations of these SNA features and proposes a class of SNA features referred to as neighbor-driven attributes (NDAs. The NDAs of users are calculated from the features of their neighbors. Because fraudsters require collusive neighbors to provide them with positive ratings in the reputation system, using NDAs can be helpful for detecting fraudsters. Although the idea of NDAs is not entirely new, experimental results on a real-world dataset showed that using NDAs improves classification accuracy compared with state-of-the-art methods that use the k-core, center weight, and neighbor diversity.

Should biodiversity and nature have to earn their keep? What it really means to bring environmental goods into the marketplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Maier, Donald S

2018-05-01

Pursuit of economic gain has sponsored much of our planet's despoliation. Yet conservation increasingly operates as an economic sector that markets biodiversity, ecosystems, and nature as natural capital, service provider, or option value. This essay first elucidates what basic moral theory says about the principle that the goodness of biodiversity and nature is largely economic. It explains why economic valuations may be morally unimportant, inapt for environmental goods, and subversive of more important ideals. It also shows why neither econometric notions of option value nor Daniel Faith's qualitative one credibly applies. The essay then turns to what an economic conception of goodness implies for conservation practice. It refers to two prominent conservation organizations, whose conservation principles match the market-based ones of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development's. The environmental record of the latter organization's practices according to these principles predicts what their adoption for conservation entails.

The distribution of the number of node neighbors in random hypergraphs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

López, Eduardo

2013-01-01

Hypergraphs, the generalization of graphs in which edges become conglomerates of r nodes called hyperedges of rank r ⩾ 2, are excellent models to study systems with interactions that are beyond the pairwise level. For hypergraphs, the node degree ℓ (number of hyperedges connected to a node) and the number of neighbors k of a node differ from each other in contrast to the case of graphs, where counting the number of edges is equivalent to counting the number of neighbors. In this paper, I calculate the distribution of the number of node neighbors in random hypergraphs in which hyperedges of uniform rank r have a homogeneous (equal for all hyperedges) probability p to appear. This distribution is equivalent to the degree distribution of ensembles of graphs created as projections of hypergraph or bipartite network ensembles, where the projection connects any two nodes in the projected graph when they are also connected in the hypergraph or bipartite network. The calculation is non-trivial due to the possibility that neighbor nodes belong simultaneously to multiple hyperedges (node overlaps). From the exact results, the traditional asymptotic approximation to the distribution in the sparse regime (small p) where overlaps are ignored is rederived and improved; the approximation exhibits Poisson-like behavior accompanied by strong fluctuations modulated by power-law decays in the system size N with decay exponents equal to the minimum number of overlapping nodes possible for a given number of neighbors. It is shown that the dense limit cannot be explained if overlaps are ignored, and the correct asymptotic distribution is provided. The neighbor distribution requires the calculation of a new combinatorial coefficient Q r−1 (k, ℓ), which counts the number of distinct labeled hypergraphs of k nodes, ℓ hyperedges of rank r − 1, and where every node is connected to at least one hyperedge. Some identities of Q r−1 (k, ℓ) are derived and applied to the

Incidence and Prevalence of Tuberculosis in Iran and Neighboring Countries

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Arezoo Tavakoli

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background Tuberculosis is one of the major public health concerns in many countries, however the available and effective treatment is known. Tuberculosis typically determined with socio-economic problems such as war, malnutrition and HIV prevalence. In Iran, many progresses are carried to control tuberculosis but, different factors such as immigration from neighboring countries are affective to tuberculosis infection. Objectives In this paper, the incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis is evaluated in different regions of Iran and neighboring countries. Methods The data are collected from different and valid sources such as Scopus, Pubmed and also many reports from world health organization (WHO and center of disease control and prevention (CDC for a period of 25 years (1990 - 2015 evaluated for Iran and neighboring countries. Results This study as a descriptive- analytical research is conducted cross- sectional among Iran and neighboring countries since 1990. The information is obtained from exact and valid informative data from web of sciences. The east and west border countries of Iran which are faced with war and immigration in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are source of tuberculosis infection that effect on tuberculosis prevalence in Iran. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22 and Excel 2013. Conclusions The incidence of tuberculosis in Iran has been decreased because of many controlling actions such as BCG vaccination, electronic reporting system for tuberculosis and free access to tuberculosis medication. Some of Iran neighboring countries such as Tajikistan and Pakistan have the highest incidence of tuberculosis which known as a challenge for tuberculosis control in Iran while Saudi Arabia and Turkey have the lowest incidence.

Evidence for cultural differences between neighboring chimpanzee communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Luncz, Lydia V; Mundry, Roger; Boesch, Christophe

2012-05-22

The majority of evidence for cultural behavior in animals has come from comparisons between populations separated by large geographical distances that often inhabit different environments. The difficulty of excluding ecological and genetic variation as potential explanations for observed behaviors has led some researchers to challenge the idea of animal culture. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, crack Coula edulis nuts using stone and wooden hammers and tree root anvils. In this study, we compare for the first time hammer selection for nut cracking across three neighboring chimpanzee communities that live in the same forest habitat, which reduces the likelihood of ecological variation. Furthermore, the study communities experience frequent dispersal of females at maturity, which eliminates significant genetic variation. We compared key ecological factors, such as hammer availability and nut hardness, between the three neighboring communities and found striking differences in group-specific hammer selection among communities despite similar ecological conditions. Differences were found in the selection of hammer material and hammer size in response to changes in nut resistance over time. Our findings highlight the subtleties of cultural differences in wild chimpanzees and illustrate how cultural knowledge is able to shape behavior, creating differences among neighboring social groups. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of Environmental Knowledge, Team Working Skills and Desirable Behaviors on Environmental Conservation of Matthayomsuksa 6 Students Using Good Science Thinking Moves Method with Metacognition Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Ladawan, Charinrat; Singseewo, Adisak; Suksringarm, Paitool

2015-01-01

The research aimed to investigate environmental knowledge, team working skills, and desirable behaviors of students learning through the good science thinking moves method with metacognition techniques. The sample group included Matthayomsuksa 6 students from Nadoon Prachasan School, Nadoon District, Maha Sarakham Province. The research tools were…

Multiple k Nearest Neighbor Query Processing in Spatial Network Databases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xuegang, Huang; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard; Saltenis, Simonas

2006-01-01

This paper concerns the efficient processing of multiple k nearest neighbor queries in a road-network setting. The assumed setting covers a range of scenarios such as the one where a large population of mobile service users that are constrained to a road network issue nearest-neighbor queries...... for points of interest that are accessible via the road network. Given multiple k nearest neighbor queries, the paper proposes progressive techniques that selectively cache query results in main memory and subsequently reuse these for query processing. The paper initially proposes techniques for the case...... where an upper bound on k is known a priori and then extends the techniques to the case where this is not so. Based on empirical studies with real-world data, the paper offers insight into the circumstances under which the different proposed techniques can be used with advantage for multiple k nearest...

Improving Recommendations in Tag-based Systems with Spectral Clustering of Tag Neighbors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pan, Rong; Xu, Guandong; Dolog, Peter

2012-01-01

Tag as a useful metadata reflects the collaborative and conceptual features of documents in social collaborative annotation systems. In this paper, we propose a collaborative approach for expanding tag neighbors and investigate the spectral clustering algorithm to filter out noisy tag neighbors...... in order to get appropriate recommendation for users. The preliminary experiments have been conducted on MovieLens dataset to compare our proposed approach with the traditional collaborative filtering recommendation approach and naive tag neighbors expansion approach in terms of precision, and the result...... demonstrates that our approach could considerably improve the performance of recommendations....

Local biotic adaptation of trees and shrubs to plant neighbors

Science.gov (United States)

Grady, Kevin C.; Wood, Troy E.; Kolb, Thomas E.; Hersch-Green, Erika; Shuster, Stephen M.; Gehring, Catherine A.; Hart, Stephen C.; Allan, Gerard J.; Whitham, Thomas G.

2017-01-01

Natural selection as a result of plant–plant interactions can lead to local biotic adaptation. This may occur where species frequently interact and compete intensely for resources limiting growth, survival, and reproduction. Selection is demonstrated by comparing a genotype interacting with con- or hetero-specific sympatric neighbor genotypes with a shared site-level history (derived from the same source location), to the same genotype interacting with foreign neighbor genotypes (from different sources). Better genotype performance in sympatric than allopatric neighborhoods provides evidence of local biotic adaptation. This pattern might be explained by selection to avoid competition by shifting resource niches (differentiation) or by interactions benefitting one or more members (facilitation). We tested for local biotic adaptation among two riparian trees, Populus fremontii and Salix gooddingii, and the shrub Salix exigua by transplanting replicated genotypes from multiple source locations to a 17 000 tree common garden with sympatric and allopatric treatments along the Colorado River in California. Three major patterns were observed: 1) across species, 62 of 88 genotypes grew faster with sympatric neighbors than allopatric neighbors; 2) these growth rates, on an individual tree basis, were 44, 15 and 33% higher in sympatric than allopatric treatments for P. fremontii, S. exigua and S. gooddingii, respectively, and; 3) survivorship was higher in sympatric treatments for P. fremontiiand S. exigua. These results support the view that fitness of foundation species supporting diverse communities and dominating ecosystem processes is determined by adaptive interactions among multiple plant species with the outcome that performance depends on the genetic identity of plant neighbors. The occurrence of evolution in a plant-community context for trees and shrubs builds on ecological evolutionary research that has demonstrated co-evolution among herbaceous taxa, and

Nearest Neighbor Search in the Metric Space of a Complex Network for Community Detection

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Suman Saha

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to bridge the gap between two important research directions: (1 nearest neighbor search, which is a fundamental computational tool for large data analysis; and (2 complex network analysis, which deals with large real graphs but is generally studied via graph theoretic analysis or spectral analysis. In this article, we have studied the nearest neighbor search problem in a complex network by the development of a suitable notion of nearness. The computation of efficient nearest neighbor search among the nodes of a complex network using the metric tree and locality sensitive hashing (LSH are also studied and experimented. For evaluation of the proposed nearest neighbor search in a complex network, we applied it to a network community detection problem. Experiments are performed to verify the usefulness of nearness measures for the complex networks, the role of metric tree and LSH to compute fast and approximate node nearness and the the efficiency of community detection using nearest neighbor search. We observed that nearest neighbor between network nodes is a very efficient tool to explore better the community structure of the real networks. Several efficient approximation schemes are very useful for large networks, which hardly made any degradation of results, whereas they save lot of computational times, and nearest neighbor based community detection approach is very competitive in terms of efficiency and time.

An RFID Indoor Positioning Algorithm Based on Bayesian Probability and K-Nearest Neighbor.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, He; Ding, Ye; Li, Peng; Wang, Ruchuan; Li, Yizhu

2017-08-05

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is widely used in outdoor environmental positioning. However, GPS cannot support indoor positioning because there is no signal for positioning in an indoor environment. Nowadays, there are many situations which require indoor positioning, such as searching for a book in a library, looking for luggage in an airport, emergence navigation for fire alarms, robot location, etc. Many technologies, such as ultrasonic, sensors, Bluetooth, WiFi, magnetic field, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), etc., are used to perform indoor positioning. Compared with other technologies, RFID used in indoor positioning is more cost and energy efficient. The Traditional RFID indoor positioning algorithm LANDMARC utilizes a Received Signal Strength (RSS) indicator to track objects. However, the RSS value is easily affected by environmental noise and other interference. In this paper, our purpose is to reduce the location fluctuation and error caused by multipath and environmental interference in LANDMARC. We propose a novel indoor positioning algorithm based on Bayesian probability and K -Nearest Neighbor (BKNN). The experimental results show that the Gaussian filter can filter some abnormal RSS values. The proposed BKNN algorithm has the smallest location error compared with the Gaussian-based algorithm, LANDMARC and an improved KNN algorithm. The average error in location estimation is about 15 cm using our method.

Competing growth processes induced by next-nearest-neighbor interactions: Effects on meandering wavelength and stiffness

Science.gov (United States)

Blel, Sonia; Hamouda, Ajmi BH.; Mahjoub, B.; Einstein, T. L.

2017-02-01

In this paper we explore the meandering instability of vicinal steps with a kinetic Monte Carlo simulations (kMC) model including the attractive next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) interactions. kMC simulations show that increase of the NNN interaction strength leads to considerable reduction of the meandering wavelength and to weaker dependence of the wavelength on the deposition rate F. The dependences of the meandering wavelength on the temperature and the deposition rate obtained with simulations are in good quantitative agreement with the experimental result on the meandering instability of Cu(0 2 24) [T. Maroutian et al., Phys. Rev. B 64, 165401 (2001), 10.1103/PhysRevB.64.165401]. The effective step stiffness is found to depend not only on the strength of NNN interactions and the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier, but also on F. We argue that attractive NNN interactions intensify the incorporation of adatoms at step edges and enhance step roughening. Competition between NNN and nearest-neighbor interactions results in an alternative form of meandering instability which we call "roughening-limited" growth, rather than attachment-detachment-limited growth that governs the Bales-Zangwill instability. The computed effective wavelength and the effective stiffness behave as λeff˜F-q and β˜eff˜F-p , respectively, with q ≈p /2 .

An objective framework to test the quality of candidate indicators of good environmental status

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana M Queiros

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Large efforts are on-going within the EU to prepare the Marine Strategy Framework Directive’s (MSFD assessment of the environmental status of the European seas. This assessment will only be as good as the indicators chosen to monitor the eleven descriptors of good environmental status (GEnS. An objective and transparent framework to determine whether chosen indicators actually support the aims of this policy is, however, not yet in place. Such frameworks are needed to ensure that the limited resources available to this assessment optimize the likelihood of achieving GEnS within collaborating states. Here, we developed a hypothesis-based protocol to evaluate whether candidate indicators meet quality criteria explicit to the MSFD, which the assessment community aspires to. Eight quality criteria are distilled from existing initiatives, and a testing and scoring protocol for each of them is presented. We exemplify its application in three worked examples, covering indicators for three GEnS descriptors (1, 5 and 6, various habitat components (seaweeds, seagrasses, benthic macrofauna and plankton, and assessment regions (Danish, Lithuanian and UK waters. We argue that this framework provides a necessary, transparent and standardized structure to support the comparison of candidate indicators, and the decision-making process leading to indicator selection. Its application could help identify potential limitations in currently available candidate metrics and, in such cases, help focus the development of more adequate indicators. Use of such standardized approaches will facilitate the sharing of knowledge gained across the MSFD parties despite context-specificity across assessment regions, and support the evidence-based management of European seas.

Challenges of achieving Good Environmental Status in the Northeast Atlantic

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Karen A. Alexander

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The sustainable exploitation of marine ecosystem services is dependent on achieving and maintaining an adequate ecosystem state to prevent undue deterioration. Within the European Union, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD requires member states to achieve Good Environmental Status (GEnS, specified in terms of 11 descriptors. We analyzed the complexity of social-ecological factors to identify common critical issues that are likely to influence the achievement of GEnS in the Northeast Atlantic (NEA more broadly, using three case studies. A conceptual model developed using a soft systems approach highlights the complexity of social and ecological phenomena that influence, and are likely to continue to influence, the state of ecosystems in the NEA. The development of the conceptual model raised four issues that complicate the implementation of the MSFD, the majority of which arose in the Pressures and State sections of the model: variability in the system, cumulative effects, ecosystem resilience, and conflicting policy targets. The achievement of GEnS targets for the marine environment requires the recognition and negotiation of trade-offs across a broad policy landscape involving a wide variety of stakeholders in the public and private sectors. Furthermore, potential cumulative effects may introduce uncertainty, particularly in selecting appropriate management measures. There also are endogenous pressures that society cannot control. This uncertainty is even more obvious when variability within the system, e.g., climate change, is accounted for. Also, questions related to the resilience of the affected ecosystem to specific pressures must be raised, despite a lack of current knowledge. Achieving good management and reaching GEnS require multidisciplinary assessments. The soft systems approach provides one mechanism for bringing multidisciplinary information together to look at the problems in a different light.

Resource Footprints are Good Proxies of Environmental Damage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steinmann, Z.J.N.; Schipper, A.M.; Hauck, M.; Giljum, S.; Wernet, G.; Huijbregts, M.A.J.

2017-01-01

Environmental footprints are increasingly used to quantify and compare environmental impacts of for example products, technologies, households, or nations. This has resulted in a multitude of footprint indicators, ranging from relatively simple measures of resource use (water, energy, materials) to

Working with Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers: Lessons from Four Diverse Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Douglas R.

2011-01-01

This article is excerpted from "Who's Watching the Babies? Improving the Quality of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care" by Douglas R. Powell ("ZERO TO THREE," 2008). The article explores questions about program development and implementation strategies for supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers: How do programs and their host…

The Application of Determining Students’ Graduation Status of STMIK Palangkaraya Using K-Nearest Neighbors Method

Science.gov (United States)

Rusdiana, Lili; Marfuah

2017-12-01

K-Nearest Neighbors method is one of methods used for classification which calculate a value to find out the closest in distance. It is used to group a set of data such as students’ graduation status that are got from the amount of course credits taken by them, the grade point average (AVG), and the mini-thesis grade. The study is conducted to know the results of using K-Nearest Neighbors method on the application of determining students’ graduation status, so it can be analyzed from the method used, the data, and the application constructed. The aim of this study is to find out the application results by using K-Nearest Neighbors concept to determine students’ graduation status using the data of STMIK Palangkaraya students. The development of the software used Extreme Programming, since it was appropriate and precise for this study which was to quickly finish the project. The application was created using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for the training data and Matlab 7 to implement the application. The result of K-Nearest Neighbors method on the application of determining students’ graduation status was 92.5%. It could determine the predicate graduation of 94 data used from the initial data before the processing as many as 136 data which the maximal training data was 50data. The K-Nearest Neighbors method is one of methods used to group a set of data based on the closest value, so that using K-Nearest Neighbors method agreed with this study. The results of K-Nearest Neighbors method on the application of determining students’ graduation status was 92.5% could determine the predicate graduation which is the maximal training data. The K-Nearest Neighbors method is one of methods used to group a set of data based on the closest value, so that using K-Nearest Neighbors method agreed with this study.

Modeling the effect of neighboring grains on twin growth in HCP polycrystals

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, M. Arul; Beyerlein, I. J.; Lebensohn, R. A.; Tomé, C. N.

2017-09-01

In this paper, we study the dependence of neighboring grain orientation on the local stress state around a deformation twin in a hexagonal close packed (HCP) crystal and its effects on the resistance against twin thickening. We use a recently developed, full-field elasto-visco-plastic formulation based on fast Fourier transforms that account for the twinning shear transformation imposed by the twin lamella. The study is applied to Mg, Zr and Ti, since these HCP metals tend to deform by activation of different types of slip modes. The analysis shows that the local stress along the twin boundary are strongly controlled by the relative orientation of the easiest deformation modes in the neighboring grain with respect to the twin lamella in the parent grain. A geometric expression that captures this parent-neighbor relationship is proposed and incorporated into a larger scale, mean-field visco-plastic self-consistent model to simulate the role of neighboring grain orientation on twin thickening. We demonstrate that the approach improves the prediction of twin area fraction distribution when compared with experimental observations.

Environmentally damaging electricity trade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Billette de Villemeur, Etienne; Pineau, Pierre-Olivier

2010-01-01

Electricity trade across regions is often considered welfare enhancing. We show in this paper that this should be reconsidered if environmental externalities are taken into account. We consider two cases where trade is beneficial, before accounting for environmental damages: first, when two regions with the same technology display some demand heterogeneity; second when one region endowed with hydropower arbitrages with its 'thermal' neighbor. Our results show that under reasonable demand and supply elasticities, trade comes with an additional environmental cost. This calls for integrating environmental externalities into market reforms when redesigning the electricity sector. Two North American applications illustrate our results: trade between Pennsylvania and New York, and trade between hydro-rich Quebec and New York.

Text Categorization Using Weight Adjusted k-Nearest Neighbor Classification

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Han, Euihong; Karypis, George; Kumar, Vipin

1999-01-01

.... The authors present a nearest neighbor classification scheme for text categorization in which the importance of discriminating words is learned using mutual information and weight adjustment techniques...

SibRank: Signed bipartite network analysis for neighbor-based collaborative ranking

Science.gov (United States)

Shams, Bita; Haratizadeh, Saman

2016-09-01

Collaborative ranking is an emerging field of recommender systems that utilizes users' preference data rather than rating values. Unfortunately, neighbor-based collaborative ranking has gained little attention despite its more flexibility and justifiability. This paper proposes a novel framework, called SibRank that seeks to improve the state of the art neighbor-based collaborative ranking methods. SibRank represents users' preferences as a signed bipartite network, and finds similar users, through a novel personalized ranking algorithm in signed networks.

ENTROPY CHARACTERISTICS IN MODELS FOR COORDINATION OF NEIGHBORING ROAD SECTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. I. Kulbashnaya

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers an application of entropy characteristics as criteria to coordinate traffic conditions at neighboring road sections. It has been proved that the entropy characteristics are widely used in the methods that take into account information influence of the environment on drivers and in the mechanisms that create such traffic conditions which ensure preservation of the optimal level of driver’s emotional tension during the drive. Solution of such problem is considered in the aspect of coordination of traffic conditions at neighboring road sections that, in its turn, is directed on exclusion of any driver’s transitional processes. Methodology for coordination of traffic conditions at neighboring road sections is based on the E. V. Gavrilov’s concept on coordination of some parameters of road sections which can be expressed in the entropy characteristics. The paper proposes to execute selection of coordination criteria according to accident rates because while moving along neighboring road sections traffic conditions change drastically that can result in creation of an accident situation. Relative organization of a driver’s perception field and driver’s interaction with the traffic environment has been selected as entropy characteristics. Therefore, the given characteristics are made conditional to the road accidents rate. The investigation results have revealed a strong correlation between the relative organization of the driver’s perception field and the relative organization of the driver’s interaction with the traffic environment and the accident rate. Results of the executed experiment have proved an influence of the accident rate on the investigated entropy characteristics.

Do alcohol compliance checks decrease underage sales at neighboring establishments?

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Darin J; Smolenski, Derek J; Toomey, Traci L; Carlin, Bradley P; Wagenaar, Alexander C

2013-11-01

Underage alcohol compliance checks conducted by law enforcement agencies can reduce the likelihood of illegal alcohol sales at checked alcohol establishments, and theory suggests that an alcohol establishment that is checked may warn nearby establishments that compliance checks are being conducted in the area. In this study, we examined whether the effects of compliance checks diffuse to neighboring establishments. We used data from the Complying with the Minimum Drinking Age trial, which included more than 2,000 compliance checks conducted at more than 900 alcohol establishments. The primary outcome was the sale of alcohol to a pseudo-underage buyer without the need for age identification. A multilevel logistic regression was used to model the effect of a compliance check at each establishment as well as the effect of compliance checks at neighboring establishments within 500 m (stratified into four equal-radius concentric rings), after buyer, license, establishment, and community-level variables were controlled for. We observed a decrease in the likelihood of establishments selling alcohol to underage youth after they had been checked by law enforcement, but these effects quickly decayed over time. Establishments that had a close neighbor (within 125 m) checked in the past 90 days were also less likely to sell alcohol to young-appearing buyers. The spatial effect of compliance checks on other establishments decayed rapidly with increasing distance. Results confirm the hypothesis that the effects of police compliance checks do spill over to neighboring establishments. These findings have implications for the development of an optimal schedule of police compliance checks.

Kinetic Models for Topological Nearest-Neighbor Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchet, Adrien; Degond, Pierre

2017-12-01

We consider systems of agents interacting through topological interactions. These have been shown to play an important part in animal and human behavior. Precisely, the system consists of a finite number of particles characterized by their positions and velocities. At random times a randomly chosen particle, the follower, adopts the velocity of its closest neighbor, the leader. We study the limit of a system size going to infinity and, under the assumption of propagation of chaos, show that the limit kinetic equation is a non-standard spatial diffusion equation for the particle distribution function. We also study the case wherein the particles interact with their K closest neighbors and show that the corresponding kinetic equation is the same. Finally, we prove that these models can be seen as a singular limit of the smooth rank-based model previously studied in Blanchet and Degond (J Stat Phys 163:41-60, 2016). The proofs are based on a combinatorial interpretation of the rank as well as some concentration of measure arguments.

An RFID Indoor Positioning Algorithm Based on Bayesian Probability and K-Nearest Neighbor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

He Xu

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The Global Positioning System (GPS is widely used in outdoor environmental positioning. However, GPS cannot support indoor positioning because there is no signal for positioning in an indoor environment. Nowadays, there are many situations which require indoor positioning, such as searching for a book in a library, looking for luggage in an airport, emergence navigation for fire alarms, robot location, etc. Many technologies, such as ultrasonic, sensors, Bluetooth, WiFi, magnetic field, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID, etc., are used to perform indoor positioning. Compared with other technologies, RFID used in indoor positioning is more cost and energy efficient. The Traditional RFID indoor positioning algorithm LANDMARC utilizes a Received Signal Strength (RSS indicator to track objects. However, the RSS value is easily affected by environmental noise and other interference. In this paper, our purpose is to reduce the location fluctuation and error caused by multipath and environmental interference in LANDMARC. We propose a novel indoor positioning algorithm based on Bayesian probability and K-Nearest Neighbor (BKNN. The experimental results show that the Gaussian filter can filter some abnormal RSS values. The proposed BKNN algorithm has the smallest location error compared with the Gaussian-based algorithm, LANDMARC and an improved KNN algorithm. The average error in location estimation is about 15 cm using our method.

Nearest unlike neighbor (NUN): an aid to decision confidence estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Dasarathy, Belur V.

1995-09-01

The concept of nearest unlike neighbor (NUN), proposed and explored previously in the design of nearest neighbor (NN) based decision systems, is further exploited in this study to develop a measure of confidence in the decisions made by NN-based decision systems. This measure of confidence, on the basis of comparison with a user-defined threshold, may be used to determine the acceptability of the decision provided by the NN-based decision system. The concepts, associated methodology, and some illustrative numerical examples using the now classical Iris data to bring out the ease of implementation and effectiveness of the proposed innovations are presented.

Public goods and private interests: The role of voluntary green power demand in achieving environmental improvements

Science.gov (United States)

Wiser, Ryan Hayes

This dissertation explores the role of consumer purchasing behavior in providing public, environmental goods. It does so by empirically evaluating one market---voluntary demand for renewable energy. The dissertation addresses the following five research questions: (1) What does early experience with green power marketing tell us about the prospects for this market to deliver environmental benefits? (2) What product design and marketing approaches might be used to increase voluntary demand? (3) What motivates non-residential customers to voluntarily purchase green power? (4) What role might public policy play in the creation of the green power market? (5) What preferences do individuals hold on the most appropriate forms of support for renewable energy? By helping to answer these questions, this dissertation seeks to better understand the gap between widespread positive attitudes for the environment and an often-anemic response to green product offerings. It contributes to not only the public goods and environmental marketing literatures, but also to contingent valuation methodology and to an emerging literature on the motivations of firms to contribute to environmental causes. The analysis performed is diverse, and includes: a literature review, a mail survey of green power marketers, a mail survey of non-residential green power customers, and contingent valuation and opinion surveys of U.S. residents. Detailed statistical analysis is performed on the data collected from the residential and non-residential surveys. The analysis reveals that customer participation in green power programs to date has been weak. The possibility that the traditional economic concept of "free riding" may explain this low response is raised, and the dissertation identifies a number of marketing approaches that might be used to partially combat this problem. Analysis of survey data shows that non-residential green power purchases have been motivated principally by altruistic concerns

Environmentally damaging electricity trade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Billette de Villemeur, Etienne [Toulouse School of Economics (IDEI and GREMAQ) (France); Pineau, Pierre-Olivier [HEC Montreal (Canada)

2010-03-15

Electricity trade across regions is often considered welfare enhancing. We show in this paper that this should be reconsidered if environmental externalities are taken into account. We consider two cases where trade is beneficial, before accounting for environmental damages: first, when two regions with the same technology display some demand heterogeneity; second when one region endowed with hydropower arbitrages with its ''thermal'' neighbor. Our results show that under reasonable demand and supply elasticities, trade comes with an additional environmental cost. This calls for integrating environmental externalities into market reforms when redesigning the electricity sector. Two North American applications illustrate our results: trade between Pennsylvania and New York, and trade between hydro-rich Quebec and New York. (author)

[Galaxy/quasar classification based on nearest neighbor method].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiang-Ru; Lu, Yu; Zhou, Jian-Ming; Wang, Yong-Jun

2011-09-01

With the wide application of high-quality CCD in celestial spectrum imagery and the implementation of many large sky survey programs (e. g., Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Two-degree-Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dF), Spectroscopic Survey Telescope (SST), Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) program and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) program, etc.), celestial observational data are coming into the world like torrential rain. Therefore, to utilize them effectively and fully, research on automated processing methods for celestial data is imperative. In the present work, we investigated how to recognizing galaxies and quasars from spectra based on nearest neighbor method. Galaxies and quasars are extragalactic objects, they are far away from earth, and their spectra are usually contaminated by various noise. Therefore, it is a typical problem to recognize these two types of spectra in automatic spectra classification. Furthermore, the utilized method, nearest neighbor, is one of the most typical, classic, mature algorithms in pattern recognition and data mining, and often is used as a benchmark in developing novel algorithm. For applicability in practice, it is shown that the recognition ratio of nearest neighbor method (NN) is comparable to the best results reported in the literature based on more complicated methods, and the superiority of NN is that this method does not need to be trained, which is useful in incremental learning and parallel computation in mass spectral data processing. In conclusion, the results in this work are helpful for studying galaxies and quasars spectra classification.

Plant Clonal Integration Mediates the Horizontal Redistribution of Soil Resources, Benefiting Neighboring Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Xue-Hua; Zhang, Ya-Lin; Liu, Zhi-Lan; Gao, Shu-Qin; Song, Yao-Bin; Liu, Feng-Hong; Dong, Ming

2016-01-01

Resources such as water taken up by plants can be released into soils through hydraulic redistribution and can also be translocated by clonal integration within a plant clonal network. We hypothesized that the resources from one (donor) microsite could be translocated within a clonal network, released into different (recipient) microsites and subsequently used by neighbor plants in the recipient microsite. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two experiments in which connected and disconnected ramet pairs of Potentilla anserina were grown under both homogeneous and heterogeneous water regimes, with seedlings of Artemisia ordosica as neighbors. The isotopes [(15)N] and deuterium were used to trace the translocation of nitrogen and water, respectively, within the clonal network. The water and nitrogen taken up by P. anserina ramets in the donor microsite were translocated into the connected ramets in the recipient microsites. Most notably, portions of the translocated water and nitrogen were released into the recipient microsite and were used by the neighboring A. ordosica, which increased growth of the neighboring A. ordosica significantly. Therefore, our hypotheses were supported, and plant clonal integration mediated the horizontal hydraulic redistribution of resources, thus benefiting neighboring plants. Such a plant clonal integration-mediated resource redistribution in horizontal space may have substantial effects on the interspecific relations and composition of the community and consequently on ecosystem processes.

Environmental Health: Advancing Emancipatory Policies for the Common Good.

Science.gov (United States)

Valentine-Maher, Sarah K; Butterfield, Patricia G; Laustsen, Gary

Human health is substantially impacted by the state of the environment, and environmental degradation has a disproportionate impact on persons with less immediate access to financial and social power. This article calls for upstream nursing action to address the natural environment in order to turn about health injustices and improve health for all. Such action would move nursing towards a greater actualization of the nursing environmental domain. The health impacts of climate change, air and water quality, and toxic chemical exposure are substantiated and specific policy leadership recommendations are proposed. Recommended actions include work to build environmental health literacy and empowerment, advocacy for regulatory protection and enforcement, and environmental engagement within health care systems.

Reentrant behavior in the nearest-neighbor Ising antiferromagnet in a magnetic field

Science.gov (United States)

Neto, Minos A.; de Sousa, J. Ricardo

2004-12-01

Motived by the H-T phase diagram in the bcc Ising antiferromagnetic with nearest-neighbor interactions obtained by Monte Carlo simulation [Landau, Phys. Rev. B 16, 4164 (1977)] that shows a reentrant behavior at low temperature, with two critical temperatures in magnetic field about 2% greater than the critical value Hc=8J , we apply the effective field renormalization group (EFRG) approach in this model on three-dimensional lattices (simple cubic-sc and body centered cubic-bcc). We find that the critical curve TN(H) exhibits a maximum point around of H≃Hc only in the bcc lattice case. We also discuss the critical behavior by the effective field theory in clusters with one (EFT-1) and two (EFT-2) spins, and a reentrant behavior is observed for the sc and bcc lattices. We have compared our results of EFRG in the bcc lattice with Monte Carlo and series expansion, and we observe a good accordance between the methods.

Everybody needs good neighbours

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffman, G. [Peabody Energy (United States)

2006-05-15

The paper outlines the possibilities for mines to work with surrounding communities to bring about effective land reclamation. Last year Peabody Energy teams reclaimed more than 5000 acres of land and planted nearly 750,000 trees, demonstrating that sustainable development is possible in a way that is compatible with environmental improvement in coal mining. The company has won over 20 awards over the last two years. The North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming earned a Gold Good Neighbour Award for promoting best practices in environmental conservation and mining education. The Black Mesa and Kayenta mines, which operate on Navajo and Hopi lands in Arizona, were honoured with a Silver Good Neighbour Award and a National Excellence in Mining and Reclamation Award. These mines partnered with the tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and local residents to give residents access to grazing land still under Peabody's control. The Farmersburg Mine in Indiana received the Bronze Good Neighbour Award for commitment to industry education and outreach activities. 5 photos.

Economic evaluation of health benefits of mercury emission controls for China and the neighboring countries in East Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Wei; Zhen, Gengchong; Chen, Long; Wang, Huanhuan; Li, Ying; Ye, Xuejie; Tong, Yindong; Zhu, Yan; Wang, Xuejun

2017-01-01

Globally, coal-fired power plant (CFPP) is a major source of mercury. China is developing its first National Implementation Plan on Mercury Control, which priorities the control of emissions from CFPPs. While social benefits play an important role in designing environmental policies in China, the benefits associated with mercury control are not yet understood, mainly due to the scientific challenges to trace mercury's emissions-to-impacts path. This study evaluates the benefits of mercury reductions in China's CFPPs for China and its three neighboring countries in East Asia. Four policy scenarios are analyzed following the policies-to-impacts path, which links a global atmospheric model to health benefit analysis models to estimate the economic gains from avoided mercury-related adverse health outcomes under each scenario, and take into account key uncertainties in the path. Under the most stringent scenario, the benefits of mercury reduction by 2030 are projected to be $432 billion (95% CI: $166–941 billion), with the benefits for China and the neighboring countries accounting for 96% and 4% of the total benefits, respectively. Policy scenario analysis indicates that coal washing generates the greatest benefits in the near term, whereas upgrading air pollution control devices maximizes health benefits in the long term. - Highlights: • Benefits of mercury controls for China and neighboring countries are analyzed. • Policy analysis shows that coal washing generates the largest benefits in near term. • Upgrading air pollution control devices maximizes health benefits in long term. • For mercury controls, local policies contribute most to local benefits.

Using K-Nearest Neighbor in Optical Character Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronica Ong

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The growth in computer vision technology has aided society with various kinds of tasks. One of these tasks is the ability of recognizing text contained in an image, or usually referred to as Optical Character Recognition (OCR. There are many kinds of algorithms that can be implemented into an OCR. The K-Nearest Neighbor is one such algorithm. This research aims to find out the process behind the OCR mechanism by using K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm; one of the most influential machine learning algorithms. It also aims to find out how precise the algorithm is in an OCR program. To do that, a simple OCR program to classify alphabets of capital letters is made to produce and compare real results. The result of this research yielded a maximum of 76.9% accuracy with 200 training samples per alphabet. A set of reasons are also given as to why the program is able to reach said level of accuracy.

An Improvement To The k-Nearest Neighbor Classifier For ECG Database

Science.gov (United States)

Jaafar, Haryati; Hidayah Ramli, Nur; Nasir, Aimi Salihah Abdul

2018-03-01

The k nearest neighbor (kNN) is a non-parametric classifier and has been widely used for pattern classification. However, in practice, the performance of kNN often tends to fail due to the lack of information on how the samples are distributed among them. Moreover, kNN is no longer optimal when the training samples are limited. Another problem observed in kNN is regarding the weighting issues in assigning the class label before classification. Thus, to solve these limitations, a new classifier called Mahalanobis fuzzy k-nearest centroid neighbor (MFkNCN) is proposed in this study. Here, a Mahalanobis distance is applied to avoid the imbalance of samples distribition. Then, a surrounding rule is employed to obtain the nearest centroid neighbor based on the distributions of training samples and its distance to the query point. Consequently, the fuzzy membership function is employed to assign the query point to the class label which is frequently represented by the nearest centroid neighbor Experimental studies from electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is applied in this study. The classification performances are evaluated in two experimental steps i.e. different values of k and different sizes of feature dimensions. Subsequently, a comparative study of kNN, kNCN, FkNN and MFkCNN classifier is conducted to evaluate the performances of the proposed classifier. The results show that the performance of MFkNCN consistently exceeds the kNN, kNCN and FkNN with the best classification rates of 96.5%.

The Effect of Social perception of environmental problems and goods on the practice of cost-benefit analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunuel, M.; Delgado, M. L.

2002-07-01

When revealed, willingness to pay (WTP) is considerably lesser than willingness to accept (WTA), as economists explain. Sociological studies in Spain reveal that citizens assign a high value to the environment (high WTA), but are not ready to pay to preserve it (low WTP)because they think that it is industrial sector and the government's responsibility. This is a new factor, not studied before, that may result in underestimating environmental goods when WTP is used. The gap between WTP and WTA makes cost-benefits analysis difficult, creating the risk of environmental political judgments being replaced by pseudo scientific noise instead of by objective economic analysis.hence, it is sometimes convenient to use alternative methods to cost-benefit analysis: cost-effectiveness analysis trade-off analysis, economic-impact valuation, and risk-benefit analysis. (Author)

Social influence promotes cooperation in the public goods game

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Te; Fu, Feng; Dou, Puxuan; Wang, Long

2014-11-01

Previous studies mainly consider the random selection pattern in which individuals randomly choose reference models from their neighbors for strategy updating. However, the random selection pattern is unable to capture all real world circumstances. We institute a spatial model to investigate the effects of influence-based reference selection pattern on the evolution of cooperation in the context of public goods games. Whenever experiencing strategy updating, all the individuals each choose one of its neighbors as a reference with the probability proportional to this neighbor’s influence. Levels of individuals’ influence are dynamical. When an individual is imitated, the level of its influence increases, thus constituting a positive feedback between the frequencies of individuals being imitated and the likelihood for them to be reference models. We find that the level of collective cooperation can be enhanced whenever the influence-based reference selection pattern is integrated into the strategy updating process. Results also show that the evolution of cooperation can be promoted when the increase in individuals’ frequency of being imitated upholds their influence in large magnitude. Our work may improve the understanding of how influence-based selection patterns promote cooperative behavior.

The Correlation between Individual and Environmental Hygiene and Pioderma Incidence An Analytical Observational Study in Pyoderma Patient in Islamic Sultan Agung Hospital during the Period August to December 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iis Aisyah Sutisna

2011-06-01

Design and Methods: The study type was analytic observational with case control design. The sample consisted of 30 respondents RSI patients Sultan Agung for case group and 30 persons as control group is the neighbors of patients who have similar characteristics and are not suffering pyoderma. The data used are secondary data from medical records and primary data from questionnaires filled out by respondents, then the data were analyzed with chi-square and to determine the correlation power there was used a contingency coefficient test. Results: It was found that the good and the bad individual hygene for the case group were 3.3% and 66.7% respectively, while for the control group the good and bad individual hygene were 80.0% and 20.0% respectively. Chi-square test resulted in p=0,000 with contingency coefisien of 0.426. It was found that the good and the bad environmental hygene for the case group were 56.7% and 43.3% respectively, while for the control group the good and bad environmental hygene were 83.3% and 16.3% respectively. Chi-square test resulted in p=0,024 with contingency coefisien of 0.27. Conclusion: There was a significant correlation between the personal and environmental hygiene and poderma insicence at the RSI Sultan Agung with a moderate relationship between individual hygiene and weak relationship between environmental hygene (Sains Medika, 3(1:24-30.

Nearest Neighbor Networks: clustering expression data based on gene neighborhoods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olszewski Kellen L

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The availability of microarrays measuring thousands of genes simultaneously across hundreds of biological conditions represents an opportunity to understand both individual biological pathways and the integrated workings of the cell. However, translating this amount of data into biological insight remains a daunting task. An important initial step in the analysis of microarray data is clustering of genes with similar behavior. A number of classical techniques are commonly used to perform this task, particularly hierarchical and K-means clustering, and many novel approaches have been suggested recently. While these approaches are useful, they are not without drawbacks; these methods can find clusters in purely random data, and even clusters enriched for biological functions can be skewed towards a small number of processes (e.g. ribosomes. Results We developed Nearest Neighbor Networks (NNN, a graph-based algorithm to generate clusters of genes with similar expression profiles. This method produces clusters based on overlapping cliques within an interaction network generated from mutual nearest neighborhoods. This focus on nearest neighbors rather than on absolute distance measures allows us to capture clusters with high connectivity even when they are spatially separated, and requiring mutual nearest neighbors allows genes with no sufficiently similar partners to remain unclustered. We compared the clusters generated by NNN with those generated by eight other clustering methods. NNN was particularly successful at generating functionally coherent clusters with high precision, and these clusters generally represented a much broader selection of biological processes than those recovered by other methods. Conclusion The Nearest Neighbor Networks algorithm is a valuable clustering method that effectively groups genes that are likely to be functionally related. It is particularly attractive due to its simplicity, its success in the

Near Neighbor Distribution in Sets of Fractal Nature

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jiřina, Marcel

2013-01-01

Roč. 5, č. 1 (2013), s. 159-166 ISSN 2150-7988 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG12020 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : nearest neighbor * fractal set * multifractal * Erlang distribution Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research http://www.mirlabs.org/ijcisim/regular_papers_2013/Paper91.pdf

A Novel Preferential Diffusion Recommendation Algorithm Based on User’s Nearest Neighbors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fuguo Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recommender system is a very efficient way to deal with the problem of information overload for online users. In recent years, network based recommendation algorithms have demonstrated much better performance than the standard collaborative filtering methods. However, most of network based algorithms do not give a high enough weight to the influence of the target user’s nearest neighbors in the resource diffusion process, while a user or an object with high degree will obtain larger influence in the standard mass diffusion algorithm. In this paper, we propose a novel preferential diffusion recommendation algorithm considering the significance of the target user’s nearest neighbors and evaluate it in the three real-world data sets: MovieLens 100k, MovieLens 1M, and Epinions. Experiments results demonstrate that the novel preferential diffusion recommendation algorithm based on user’s nearest neighbors can significantly improve the recommendation accuracy and diversity.

Neighbor discovery in multi-hop wireless networks: evaluation and dimensioning with interferences considerations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elyes Ben Hamida

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we study the impact of collisions and interferences on a neighbor discovery process in the context of multi-hop wireless networks. We consider three models in which interferences and collisions are handled in very different ways. From an ideal channel where simultaneous transmissions do not interfere, we derive an alternate channel where simultaneous transmissions are considered two-by-two under the form of collisions, to finally reach a more realistic channel where simultaneous transmissions are handled under the form of shot-noise interferences. In these models, we analytically compute the link probability success between two neighbors as well as the expected number of nodes that correctly receive a Hello packet. Using this analysis, we show that if the neighbor discovery process is asymptotically equivalent in the three models, it offers very different behaviors locally in time. In particular, the scalability of the process is not the same depending on the way interferences are handled. Finally, we apply our results to the dimensioning of a Hello protocol parameters. We propose a method to adapt the protocol parameters to meet application constraints on the neighbor discovery process and to minimize the protocol energy consumption.

Velocity correlations and spatial dependencies between neighbors in a unidirectional flow of pedestrians

Science.gov (United States)

Porzycki, Jakub; WÄ s, Jarosław; Hedayatifar, Leila; Hassanibesheli, Forough; Kułakowski, Krzysztof

2017-08-01

The aim of the paper is an analysis of self-organization patterns observed in the unidirectional flow of pedestrians. On the basis of experimental data from Zhang et al. [J. Zhang et al., J. Stat. Mech. (2011) P06004, 10.1088/1742-5468/2011/06/P06004], we analyze the mutual positions and velocity correlations between pedestrians when walking along a corridor. The angular and spatial dependencies of the mutual positions reveal a spatial structure that remains stable during the crowd motion. This structure differs depending on the value of n , for the consecutive n th -nearest-neighbor position set. The preferred position for the first-nearest neighbor is on the side of the pedestrian, while for further neighbors, this preference shifts to the axis of movement. The velocity correlations vary with the angle formed by the pair of neighboring pedestrians and the direction of motion and with the time delay between pedestrians' movements. The delay dependence of the correlations shows characteristic oscillations, produced by the velocity oscillations when striding; however, a filtering of the main frequency of individual striding out reduces the oscillations only partially. We conclude that pedestrians select their path directions so as to evade the necessity of continuously adjusting their speed to their neighbors'. They try to keep a given distance, but follow the person in front of them, as well as accepting and observing pedestrians on their sides. Additionally, we show an empirical example that illustrates the shape of a pedestrian's personal space during movement.

Error Analysis for RADAR Neighbor Matching Localization in Linear Logarithmic Strength Varying Wi-Fi Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mu Zhou

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future.

Error Analysis for RADAR Neighbor Matching Localization in Linear Logarithmic Strength Varying Wi-Fi Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Zengshan; Xu, Kunjie; Yu, Xiang

2014-01-01

This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs) in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS) varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs) as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future. PMID:24683349

Building a Co-Created Citizen Science Program with Community Members Neighboring a Hazardous Waste Site

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Andreotta, M.; Brusseau, M. L. L.; Artiola, J. F.; Maier, R. M.; Gandolfi, A. J.

2015-12-01

A research project that is only expert-driven may ignore the role of local knowledge in research, often gives low priority to the development of a comprehensive strategy to engage the community, and may not deliver the results of the study to the community in an effective way. To date, only a limited number of co-created citizen science projects, where community members are involved in most or all steps of the scientific process, have been initiated at contaminated sites and even less in conjunction with risk communication. Gardenroots: The Dewey-Humboldt AZ Garden Project was a place-based, co-created citizen science project where community members and researchers together: defined the question for study, developed hypotheses, collected environmental samples, disseminated results broadly, translated the results into action, and posed new research questions. This co-created environmental research project produced new data and addressed an additional exposure route (consumption of vegetables grown in soils with elevated arsenic levels) that was not being evaluated in the current site assessment. Furthermore, co-producing science led to both individual learning and social-ecological outcomes. This approach illustrates the benefits of a co-created citizen-science program in addressing the complex problems that arise in communities neighboring a hazardous waste sites. Such a project increased the community's involvement in regional environmental assessment and decision-making, which has the potential to help mitigate environmental exposures and thereby reduce associated risks.

Intake and transformation to a glycoside of (Z)-3-hexenol from infested neighbors reveals a mode of plant odor reception and defense

Science.gov (United States)

Sugimoto, Koichi; Matsui, Kenji; Iijima, Yoko; Akakabe, Yoshihiko; Muramoto, Shoko; Ozawa, Rika; Uefune, Masayoshi; Sasaki, Ryosuke; Alamgir, Kabir Md.; Akitake, Shota; Nobuke, Tatsunori; Galis, Ivan; Aoki, Koh; Shibata, Daisuke; Takabayashi, Junji

2014-01-01

Plants receive volatile compounds emitted by neighboring plants that are infested by herbivores, and consequently the receiver plants begin to defend against forthcoming herbivory. However, to date, how plants receive volatiles and, consequently, how they fortify their defenses, is largely unknown. In this study, we found that undamaged tomato plants exposed to volatiles emitted by conspecifics infested with common cutworms (exposed plants) became more defensive against the larvae than those exposed to volatiles from uninfested conspecifics (control plants) in a constant airflow system under laboratory conditions. Comprehensive metabolite analyses showed that only the amount of (Z)-3-hexenylvicianoside (HexVic) was higher in exposed than control plants. This compound negatively affected the performance of common cutworms when added to an artificial diet. The aglycon of HexVic, (Z)-3-hexenol, was obtained from neighboring infested plants via the air. The amount of jasmonates (JAs) was not higher in exposed plants, and HexVic biosynthesis was independent of JA signaling. The use of (Z)-3-hexenol from neighboring damaged conspecifics for HexVic biosynthesis in exposed plants was also observed in an experimental field, indicating that (Z)-3-hexenol intake occurred even under fluctuating environmental conditions. Specific use of airborne (Z)-3-hexenol to form HexVic in undamaged tomato plants reveals a previously unidentified mechanism of plant defense. PMID:24778218

ACTION RECOGNITION USING SALIENT NEIGHBORING HISTOGRAMS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Huamin; Moeslund, Thomas B.

2013-01-01

Combining spatio-temporal interest points with Bag-of-Words models achieves state-of-the-art performance in action recognition. However, existing methods based on “bag-ofwords” models either are too local to capture the variance in space/time or fail to solve the ambiguity problem in spatial...... and temporal dimensions. Instead, we propose a salient vocabulary construction algorithm to select visual words from a global point of view, and form compact descriptors to represent discriminative histograms in the neighborhoods. Those salient neighboring histograms are then trained to model different actions...

A Novel AMR-WB Speech Steganography Based on Diameter-Neighbor Codebook Partition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junhui He

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Steganography is a means of covert communication without revealing the occurrence and the real purpose of communication. The adaptive multirate wideband (AMR-WB is a widely adapted format in mobile handsets and is also the recommended speech codec for VoLTE. In this paper, a novel AMR-WB speech steganography is proposed based on diameter-neighbor codebook partition algorithm. Different embedding capacity may be achieved by adjusting the iterative parameters during codebook division. The experimental results prove that the presented AMR-WB steganography may provide higher and flexible embedding capacity without inducing perceptible distortion compared with the state-of-the-art methods. With 48 iterations of cluster merging, twice the embedding capacity of complementary-neighbor-vertices-based embedding method may be obtained with a decrease of only around 2% in speech quality and much the same undetectability. Moreover, both the quality of stego speech and the security regarding statistical steganalysis are better than the recent speech steganography based on neighbor-index-division codebook partition.

Grain price spikes and beggar-thy-neighbor policy responses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boysen, Ole; Jensen, Hans Grinsted

on the agenda of various international policy fora, including the annual meetings of G20 countries in recent years. For that reason, recent studies have attempted to quantify the extent to which such policy actions contributed to the rise in food prices. A study by Jensen & Anderson (2014) uses the global AGE...... model GTAP and the corresponding database to quantify the global policy actions contributions to the raise in food prices by modeling the changes in distortions to agricultural incentives in the period 2006 to 2008. We link the results from this global model into a national AGE model, highlighting how...... global "Beggar-thy-Neighbor Policy Responses" impacted on poor households in Uganda. More specifically we examine the following research questions: What were the Ugandan economy-wide and poverty impacts of the price spikes? What was the impact of other countries "Beggar-thy-Neighbor Policy Responses...

Lysenin Toxin Membrane Insertion Is pH-Dependent but Independent of Neighboring Lysenins.

Science.gov (United States)

Munguira, Ignacio L B; Takahashi, Hirohide; Casuso, Ignacio; Scheuring, Simon

2017-11-07

Pore-forming toxins form a family of proteins that act as virulence factors of pathogenic bacteria, but similar proteins are found in all kingdoms of life, including the vertebrate immune system. They are secreted as soluble monomers that oligomerize on target membranes in the so-called prepore state; after activation, they insert into the membrane and adopt the pore state. Lysenin is a pore-forming toxin from the earthworm Eisenida foetida, of which both the soluble and membrane-inserted structures are solved. However, the activation and membrane-insertion mechanisms have remained elusive. Here, we used high-speed atomic force microscopy to directly visualize the membrane-insertion mechanism. Changing the environmental pH from pH 7.5 to below pH 6.0 favored membrane insertion. We detected a short α-helix in the soluble structure that comprised three glutamic acids (Glu92, Glu94, and Glu97) that we hypothesized may represent a pH-sensor (as in similar toxins, e.g., Listeriolysin). Mutant lysenin still can form pores, but mutating these glutamic acids to glutamines rendered the toxin pH-insensitive. On the other hand, toxins in the pore state did not favor insertion of neighboring prepores; indeed, pore insertion breaks the hexagonal ordered domains of prepores and separates from neighboring molecules in the membrane. pH-dependent activation of toxins may represent a common feature of pore-forming toxins. High-speed atomic force microscopy with single-molecule resolution at high temporal resolution and the possibility of exchanging buffers during the experiments presents itself as a unique tool for the study of toxin-state conversion. Copyright © 2017 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Radioactive Legacy of the Russian Pacific Fleet Operations and its Potential Impact on Neighboring Countries. Final Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Compton, K. L.; Novikov, V.M.; Parker, F.L.; Sivintsev, Y.U.

2003-01-01

There have been extensive studies of the current and potential environmental impact of Russian Northern fleet activities. However, despite the fact that the total number of ships in both fleets are comparable, there have been very few studies published in the open literature of the impact of the Pacific fleet. This study of the Pacific fleet's impact on neighboring countries was undertaken to partially remedy this lack of analysis. This study is focused on an evaluation of the inventory of major sources of radioactive material associated with the decommissioning of nuclear submarines, and an evaluation of releases to the atmosphere and their long-range (>100km) transboundary transport

Power Lines and Crops Can Be Good Neighbors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2010-08-01

Two of the Pacific Northwest’s greatest economic assets are its wealth of agriculture and its clean and reliable electricity fueled largely by hydropower. Sometimes the two intersect. Transmission lines carrying electricity to the region’s farms, businesses and homes must, of necessity, span large areas where people grow crops and orchards. To ensure a safe and reliable flow of electricity across these expanses, trees and other vegetation must be managed to certain standards. At the same time, the Bonneville Power Administration — which owns and operates three-quarters of the region’s high-voltage transmission — recognizes the importance of our region’s agricultural bounty. We are committed to working with individuals and agricultural communities to facilitate ongoing land-use activities in transmission rights-of-way as long as those uses are compatible with transmission safety and reliability standards. Our goal with vegetation management is to keep you and your property safe while protecting the reliability of our region’s electricity system. By working together, BPA and landowners can protect the system and public safety.

Collective Behaviors of Mobile Robots Beyond the Nearest Neighbor Rules With Switching Topology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ning, Boda; Han, Qing-Long; Zuo, Zongyu; Jin, Jiong; Zheng, Jinchuan

2018-05-01

This paper is concerned with the collective behaviors of robots beyond the nearest neighbor rules, i.e., dispersion and flocking, when robots interact with others by applying an acute angle test (AAT)-based interaction rule. Different from a conventional nearest neighbor rule or its variations, the AAT-based interaction rule allows interactions with some far-neighbors and excludes unnecessary nearest neighbors. The resulting dispersion and flocking hold the advantages of scalability, connectivity, robustness, and effective area coverage. For the dispersion, a spring-like controller is proposed to achieve collision-free coordination. With switching topology, a new fixed-time consensus-based energy function is developed to guarantee the system stability. An upper bound of settling time for energy consensus is obtained, and a uniform time interval is accordingly set so that energy distribution is conducted in a fair manner. For the flocking, based on a class of generalized potential functions taking nonsmooth switching into account, a new controller is proposed to ensure that the same velocity for all robots is eventually reached. A co-optimizing problem is further investigated to accomplish additional tasks, such as enhancing communication performance, while maintaining the collective behaviors of mobile robots. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

The Influence of Neighbor Effect and Urbanization Toward Organ Donation in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Wongboonsin, Kua; Jindahra, Pavitra; Teerakapibal, Surat

2018-03-01

Toward population wellness, an extreme scarcity of organ supply is proven to be an enormous hindrance. Preferences toward organ donation are vital to raise the organ donation rate. Notably, the area people live in can address the social influence on individual preference toward organ donation. This article studies the impact of the neighbor effect on organ donation decisions, addressing the social influence of urbanization on preferences. How neighborhood-specific variables, population density, and socioeconomic status drive the neighbor effect is investigated. The pursuit of organ donor traits is to be answered. The study uses organ donation interview survey data and neighborhood-specific data from Thailand to estimate a series of logistic regression models. Individuals residing in urban areas exhibit a greater likelihood to sign the donor card than those in rural areas. The neighborhood socioeconomic status is the key driver. An individual is more willing to be an organ donor when having neighbors with higher socioeconomic statuses. Results also reveal positive influences of males and education on the organ donation rate. This article documents the "neighbor effect" on the organ donation decision via living area type, offering an alternative exposition in raising the organ donation rate. In shifting the society norm toward organ donation consent, policy-makers should acknowledge the benefit of urbanization on organ donation decision derived from resourceful urban areas. Moreover, raising education levels does improve not only citizens' well-being but also their tendency to exhibit an altruistic act toward others.

Model of inter-cell interference phenomenon in 10 nm magnetic tunnel junction with perpendicular anisotropy array due to oscillatory stray field from neighboring cells

Science.gov (United States)

Ohuchida, Satoshi; Endoh, Tetsuo

2018-06-01

In this paper, we propose a new model of inter-cell interference phenomenon in a 10 nm magnetic tunnel junction with perpendicular anisotropy (p-MTJ) array and investigated the interference effect between a program cell and unselected cells due to the oscillatory stray field from neighboring cells by Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert micromagnetic simulation. We found that interference brings about a switching delay in a program cell and excitation of magnetization precession in unselected cells even when no programing current passes through. The origin of interference is ferromagnetic resonance between neighboring cells. During the interference period, the precession frequency of the program cell is 20.8 GHz, which synchronizes with that of the theoretical precession frequency f = γH eff in unselected cells. The disturbance strength of unselected cells decreased to be inversely proportional to the cube of the distance from the program cell, which is in good agreement with the dependence of stray field on the distance from the program cell calculated by the dipole approximation method.

The influence of neighbors' family size preference on progression to high parity births in rural Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Elyse A; Barber, Jennifer S

2013-03-01

Large families can have a negative impact on the health and well-being of women, children, and their communities. Seventy-three percent of the individuals in our rural Nepalese sample report that two children is their ideal number, yet about half of the married women continue childbearing after their second child. Using longitudinal data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, we explore the influence of women's and neighbors' family size preferences on women's progression to high parity births, comparing this influence across two cohorts. We find that neighbors' family size preferences influence women's fertility, that older cohorts of women are more influenced by their neighbors' preferences than are younger cohorts of women, and that the influence of neighbors' preferences is independent of women's own preferences. © 2013 The Population Council, Inc.

Clustered K nearest neighbor algorithm for daily inflow forecasting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akbari, M.; Van Overloop, P.J.A.T.M.; Afshar, A.

2010-01-01

Instance based learning (IBL) algorithms are a common choice among data driven algorithms for inflow forecasting. They are based on the similarity principle and prediction is made by the finite number of similar neighbors. In this sense, the similarity of a query instance is estimated according to

Contrasting demographic histories of the neighboring bonobo and chimpanzee

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvilsom, Christina; Carlsen, Frands; Heller, Rasmus

2014-01-01

of the neighboring bonobo remained constant. The changes in population size are likely linked to changes in habitat area due to climate oscillations during the late Pleistocene. Furthermore, the timing of population expansion for the rainforest-adapted chimpanzee is concurrent with the expansion of the savanna...

Good Laboratory Practice. Part 3. Implementing Good Laboratory Practice in the Analytical Lab

Science.gov (United States)

Wedlich, Richard C.; Pires, Amanda; Fazzino, Lisa; Fransen, Joseph M.

2013-01-01

Laboratories submitting experimental results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) nonclinical laboratory studies must conduct such work in compliance with the GLP regulations. To consistently meet these requirements, lab managers employ a "divide…

Neighbor-dependent Ramachandran probability distributions of amino acids developed from a hierarchical Dirichlet process model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Ting

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Distributions of the backbone dihedral angles of proteins have been studied for over 40 years. While many statistical analyses have been presented, only a handful of probability densities are publicly available for use in structure validation and structure prediction methods. The available distributions differ in a number of important ways, which determine their usefulness for various purposes. These include: 1 input data size and criteria for structure inclusion (resolution, R-factor, etc.; 2 filtering of suspect conformations and outliers using B-factors or other features; 3 secondary structure of input data (e.g., whether helix and sheet are included; whether beta turns are included; 4 the method used for determining probability densities ranging from simple histograms to modern nonparametric density estimation; and 5 whether they include nearest neighbor effects on the distribution of conformations in different regions of the Ramachandran map. In this work, Ramachandran probability distributions are presented for residues in protein loops from a high-resolution data set with filtering based on calculated electron densities. Distributions for all 20 amino acids (with cis and trans proline treated separately have been determined, as well as 420 left-neighbor and 420 right-neighbor dependent distributions. The neighbor-independent and neighbor-dependent probability densities have been accurately estimated using Bayesian nonparametric statistical analysis based on the Dirichlet process. In particular, we used hierarchical Dirichlet process priors, which allow sharing of information between densities for a particular residue type and different neighbor residue types. The resulting distributions are tested in a loop modeling benchmark with the program Rosetta, and are shown to improve protein loop conformation prediction significantly. The distributions are available at http://dunbrack.fccc.edu/hdp.

Symmetric Link Key Management for Secure Neighbor Discovery in a Decentralized Wireless Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

2017-09-01

KEY MANAGEMENT FOR SECURE NEIGHBOR DISCOVERY IN A DECENTRALIZED WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK by Kelvin T. Chew September 2017 Thesis Advisor...and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT...DATE September 2017 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE SYMMETRIC LINK KEY MANAGEMENT FOR SECURE NEIGHBOR

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant environmental report for 1992

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horak, C.M. [ed.] [Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

1993-09-01

This two-part report, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Environmental Report for 1992, is published annually. It reflects the results of an environmental monitoring program designed to quantify potential increases in the concentration of contaminants and potential doses to the resident human population. The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) overall goal for environmental management is to protect the environment and PGDP`s neighbors and to maintain full compliance with all current regulations. The current environmental strategy is to identify any deficiencies and to develop a system to resolve them. The long-range goal of environmental management is to minimize the source of pollutants, reduce the generation of waste, and minimize hazardous waste by substitution of materials.

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant environmental report for 1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horak, C.M.

1993-09-01

This two-part report, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Environmental Report for 1992, is published annually. It reflects the results of an environmental monitoring program designed to quantify potential increases in the concentration of contaminants and potential doses to the resident human population. The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) overall goal for environmental management is to protect the environment and PGDP's neighbors and to maintain full compliance with all current regulations. The current environmental strategy is to identify any deficiencies and to develop a system to resolve them. The long-range goal of environmental management is to minimize the source of pollutants, reduce the generation of waste, and minimize hazardous waste by substitution of materials

Protein function prediction using neighbor relativity in protein-protein interaction network.

Science.gov (United States)

Moosavi, Sobhan; Rahgozar, Masoud; Rahimi, Amir

2013-04-01

There is a large gap between the number of discovered proteins and the number of functionally annotated ones. Due to the high cost of determining protein function by wet-lab research, function prediction has become a major task for computational biology and bioinformatics. Some researches utilize the proteins interaction information to predict function for un-annotated proteins. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called "Neighbor Relativity Coefficient" (NRC) based on interaction network topology which estimates the functional similarity between two proteins. NRC is calculated for each pair of proteins based on their graph-based features including distance, common neighbors and the number of paths between them. In order to ascribe function to an un-annotated protein, NRC estimates a weight for each neighbor to transfer its annotation to the unknown protein. Finally, the unknown protein will be annotated by the top score transferred functions. We also investigate the effect of using different coefficients for various types of functions. The proposed method has been evaluated on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens interaction networks. The performance analysis demonstrates that NRC yields better results in comparison with previous protein function prediction approaches that utilize interaction network. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ANN-Benchmarks: A Benchmarking Tool for Approximate Nearest Neighbor Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aumüller, Martin; Bernhardsson, Erik; Faithfull, Alexander

2017-01-01

This paper describes ANN-Benchmarks, a tool for evaluating the performance of in-memory approximate nearest neighbor algorithms. It provides a standard interface for measuring the performance and quality achieved by nearest neighbor algorithms on different standard data sets. It supports several...... visualise these as images, Open image in new window plots, and websites with interactive plots. ANN-Benchmarks aims to provide a constantly updated overview of the current state of the art of k-NN algorithms. In the short term, this overview allows users to choose the correct k-NN algorithm and parameters...... for their similarity search task; in the longer term, algorithm designers will be able to use this overview to test and refine automatic parameter tuning. The paper gives an overview of the system, evaluates the results of the benchmark, and points out directions for future work. Interestingly, very different...

Environmental Protection Agency et al. v. EME Homer City Generation, L. P., et al.

Science.gov (United States)

On April 29, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit opinion vacating CSAPR, holding that CSAPR is a permissible, work- able, and equitable interpretation of the Good Neighbor Provision.

Optimizing Neighbor Discovery for Ad hoc Networks based on the Bluetooth PAN Profile

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuijpers, Gerben; Nielsen, Thomas Toftegaard; Prasad, Ramjee

2002-01-01

IP layer neighbor discovery mechanisms rely highly on broadcast/multicast capabilities of the underlying link layer. The Bluetooth personal area network (PAN) profile has no native link layer broadcast/multicast capabilities and can only emulate this by repeatedly unicast link layer frames....... This paper introduces a neighbor discovery mechanism that utilizes the resources in the Bluetooth PAN profile more efficient. The performance of the new mechanism is investigated using a IPv6 network simulator and compared with emulated broadcasting. It is shown that the signaling overhead can...

Integration and analysis of neighbor discovery and link quality estimation in wireless sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Radi, Marjan; Dezfouli, Behnam; Abu Bakar, Kamalrulnizam; Abd Razak, Shukor

2014-01-01

Network connectivity and link quality information are the fundamental requirements of wireless sensor network protocols to perform their desired functionality. Most of the existing discovery protocols have only focused on the neighbor discovery problem, while a few number of them provide an integrated neighbor search and link estimation. As these protocols require a careful parameter adjustment before network deployment, they cannot provide scalable and accurate network initialization in large-scale dense wireless sensor networks with random topology. Furthermore, performance of these protocols has not entirely been evaluated yet. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive simulation study on the efficiency of employing adaptive protocols compared to the existing nonadaptive protocols for initializing sensor networks with random topology. In this regard, we propose adaptive network initialization protocols which integrate the initial neighbor discovery with link quality estimation process to initialize large-scale dense wireless sensor networks without requiring any parameter adjustment before network deployment. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to provide a detailed simulation study on the performance of integrated neighbor discovery and link quality estimation protocols for initializing sensor networks. This study can help system designers to determine the most appropriate approach for different applications.

Integration and Analysis of Neighbor Discovery and Link Quality Estimation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marjan Radi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Network connectivity and link quality information are the fundamental requirements of wireless sensor network protocols to perform their desired functionality. Most of the existing discovery protocols have only focused on the neighbor discovery problem, while a few number of them provide an integrated neighbor search and link estimation. As these protocols require a careful parameter adjustment before network deployment, they cannot provide scalable and accurate network initialization in large-scale dense wireless sensor networks with random topology. Furthermore, performance of these protocols has not entirely been evaluated yet. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive simulation study on the efficiency of employing adaptive protocols compared to the existing nonadaptive protocols for initializing sensor networks with random topology. In this regard, we propose adaptive network initialization protocols which integrate the initial neighbor discovery with link quality estimation process to initialize large-scale dense wireless sensor networks without requiring any parameter adjustment before network deployment. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to provide a detailed simulation study on the performance of integrated neighbor discovery and link quality estimation protocols for initializing sensor networks. This study can help system designers to determine the most appropriate approach for different applications.

Transfer-Efficient Face Routing Using the Planar Graphs of Neighbors in High Density WSNs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eun-Seok Cho

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Face routing has been adopted in wireless sensor networks (WSNs where topological changes occur frequently or maintaining full network information is difficult. For message forwarding in networks, a planar graph is used to prevent looping, and because long edges are removed by planarization and the resulting planar graph is composed of short edges, and messages are forwarded along multiple nodes connected by them even though they can be forwarded directly. To solve this, face routing using information on all nodes within 2-hop range was adopted to forward messages directly to the farthest node within radio range. However, as the density of the nodes increases, network performance plunges because message transfer nodes receive and process increased node information. To deal with this problem, we propose a new face routing using the planar graphs of neighboring nodes to improve transfer efficiency. It forwards a message directly to the farthest neighbor and reduces loads and processing time by distributing network graph construction and planarization to the neighbors. It also decreases the amount of location information to be transmitted by sending information on the planar graph nodes rather than on all neighboring nodes. Simulation results show that it significantly improves transfer efficiency.

A Markov chain Monte Carlo Expectation Maximization Algorithm for Statistical Analysis of DNA Sequence Evolution with Neighbor-Dependent Substitution Rates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hobolth, Asger

2008-01-01

The evolution of DNA sequences can be described by discrete state continuous time Markov processes on a phylogenetic tree. We consider neighbor-dependent evolutionary models where the instantaneous rate of substitution at a site depends on the states of the neighboring sites. Neighbor...

Local and neighboring patch conditions alter sex-specific movement in banana weevils.

Science.gov (United States)

Carval, Dominique; Perrin, Benjamin; Duyck, Pierre-François; Tixier, Philippe

2015-12-01

Understanding the mechanisms underlying the movements and spread of a species over time and space is a major concern of ecology. Here, we assessed the effects of an individual's sex and the density and sex ratio of conspecifics in the local and neighboring environment on the movement probability of the banana weevil, Cosmopolites sordidus. In a "two patches" experiment, we used radiofrequency identification tags to study the C. sordidus movement response to patch conditions. We showed that local and neighboring densities of conspecifics affect the movement rates of individuals but that the density-dependent effect can be either positive or negative depending on the relative densities of conspecifics in local and neighboring patches. We demonstrated that sex ratio also influences the movement of C. sordidus, that is, the weevil exhibits nonfixed sex-biased movement strategies. Sex-biased movement may be the consequence of intrasexual competition for resources (i.e., oviposition sites) in females and for mates in males. We also detected a high individual variability in the propensity to move. Finally, we discuss the role of demographic stochasticity, sex-biased movement, and individual heterogeneity in movement on the colonization process.

Impact of Training Bolivian Farmers on Integrated Pest Management and Diffusion of Knowledge to Neighboring Farmers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jørs, Erik; Konradsen, Flemming; Huici, Omar; Morant, Rafael C; Volk, Julie; Lander, Flemming

2016-01-01

Teaching farmers integrated pest management (IPM) in farmer field schools (FFS) has led to reduced pesticide use and safer handling. This article evaluates the long-term impact of training farmers on IPM and the diffusion of knowledge from trained farmers to neighboring farmers, a subject of importance to justify training costs and to promote a healthy and sustainable agriculture. Training on IPM of farmers took place from 2002 to 2004 in their villages in La Paz County, Bolivia, whereas dissemination of knowledge from trained farmer to neighboring farmer took place until 2009. To evaluate the impact of the intervention, self-reported knowledge and practice on pesticide handling and IPM among trained farmers (n = 23) and their neighboring farmers (n = 47) were analyzed in a follow-up study and compared in a cross-sectional analysis with a control group of farmers (n = 138) introduced in 2009. Variables were analyzed using χ2 test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Trained farmers improved and performed significantly better in all tested variables than their neighboring farmers, although the latter also improved their performance from 2002 to 2009. Including a control group showed an increasing trend in all variables, with the control farmers having the poorest performance and trained farmers the best. The same was seen in an aggregated variable where trained farmers had a mean score of 16.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 15.45-17.65), neighboring farmers a mean score of 11.97 (95% CI: 10.56-13.38), and control farmers a mean score of 9.18 (95% CI: 8.55-9.80). Controlling for age and living altitude did not change these results. Trained farmers and their neighboring farmers improved and maintained knowledge and practice on IPM and pesticide handling. Diffusion of knowledge from trained farmers might explain the better performance of the neighboring farmers compared with the control farmers. Dissemination of knowledge can contribute to justify the cost and convince

Cryptosporidiosis in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Areeshi, Mohammed Y.; Hart, C.A.; Beeching, N.J.

2007-01-01

Cryptosporidium is a coccidian protozoan parasite of the intestinal tract that causes severe and sometimes fatal watery diarrhea in immunocompromised patients and self-limiting but prolonged diarrheal disease in immunocompetent individuals. It exists naturally in animals and can be zoonotic. Although cryptosporidiosis is a significant cause of diarrheal disease in both developing and developed countries, it is more prevalent in developing countries and in tropical environments. We examined the epidemiology and disease burden of Cryptosporidium in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries by reviewing 23 published studies of Cryptosporidium and etiology of diarrhea in between 1986 and 2006. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in human's ranged from 1% to 37% with a median of 4%, while in animals it was for different species of animals and geographic locations of the studies. Most cases of cryptosporidiosis occurred among children less than 7 years of age and particularly in the first two years of life. The seasonality of Cryptosporidium varied depending on the geographic locations of the studies but it generally most prevalent in the rainy season. The most commonly identified species was Cryptosporidium parvum while C.hominis was detected only in one study from Kuwait. The cumulative experience from Saudi Arabia and four neighboring countries (Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and Iraq) suggest that Cryptosporidium is an important cause of diarrhea in human and cattle. However, the findings of this review also demonstrate the limitations of the available data regarding Cryptosporidium species and strains in circulation in these countries. (author)

US Department of Energy Portsmouth Site. Annual environmental data for 1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frazier, D.W.; West, D.C.; Newman, S.C.; Sperling, P.A.; Horak, C.M.

1996-03-01

Environmental monitoring on the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site and its surroundings is conducted throughout the year. Monitoring ensures that the site is a safe place to work, that plant operations do not adversely affect neighboring communities, and that activities comply with federal and state regulations. This document is a compilation of the environmental monitoring data for calendar year 1994 and is intended as a tool for analysts in environmental monitoring, environmental restoration, and other related disciplines. The data in this document form the basis for the summary information in the Portsmouth Site Annual Environmental Report for 1994 (ES/ESH-63, POEF-3055)

Environmental monitoring and surveillance on the Oak Ridge Reservation: 1993 Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koncinski, W.S.

1994-12-01

Environmental monitoring and surveillance are conducted on the Oak Ridge Reservation and its environs throughout the year. Environmental monitoring ensures that (1) the reservation is a safe place to work, (2) activities on the reservation do not adversely affect the neighboring communities, and (3) compliance is made with federal and state regulations. This document is a compilation of the monitoring and surveillance data for calendar year 1993. It is a tool for analysts in the fields of environmental monitoring and environmental restoration. The summary information found in the annual site environmental report was drawn from the contents of summary in this document

Effect of Floquet engineering on the p-wave superconductor with second-neighbor couplings

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X. P.; Li, C. F.; Wang, L. C.; Zhou, L.

2018-06-01

The influence of the Floquet engineering on a particular one-dimensional p-wave superconductor, Kitaev model, with second-neighbor couplings is investigated in this paper. The effective Hamiltonians in the rotated reference frames have been obtained, and the convergent regions of the approximated Hamiltonian as well as the topological phase diagrams have been analyzed and discussed. We show that by modulating the external driving field amplitude, frequency as well as the second-neighbor hopping amplitude, the rich phase diagrams and transitions between different topological phases can be obtained.

Classification of EEG Signals using adaptive weighted distance nearest neighbor algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Parvinnia

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalogram (EEG signals are often used to diagnose diseases such as seizure, alzheimer, and schizophrenia. One main problem with the recorded EEG samples is that they are not equally reliable due to the artifacts at the time of recording. EEG signal classification algorithms should have a mechanism to handle this issue. It seems that using adaptive classifiers can be useful for the biological signals such as EEG. In this paper, a general adaptive method named weighted distance nearest neighbor (WDNN is applied for EEG signal classification to tackle this problem. This classification algorithm assigns a weight to each training sample to control its influence in classifying test samples. The weights of training samples are used to find the nearest neighbor of an input query pattern. To assess the performance of this scheme, EEG signals of thirteen schizophrenic patients and eighteen normal subjects are analyzed for the classification of these two groups. Several features including, fractal dimension, band power and autoregressive (AR model are extracted from EEG signals. The classification results are evaluated using Leave one (subject out cross validation for reliable estimation. The results indicate that combination of WDNN and selected features can significantly outperform the basic nearest-neighbor and the other methods proposed in the past for the classification of these two groups. Therefore, this method can be a complementary tool for specialists to distinguish schizophrenia disorder.

Good Governance and Successful Development: Cross Countries Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tabthip Kraipornsak

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Good Governance is one of the essential factors of success in business as well as in a country’s development. This study aimed at examining the role of good governance and the success of the development. The comparable per head GDP measured in PPP (purchasing power parity was used as the proxy of the successful economic development of countries in the study. Four out of total six factors (indicators being the good governance and the other two being social environmental factors were employed in the investigation following concept of the role of external business environmental factors so called “PESTLE or Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legislative or Legal, and Eco-environmental analysis”. These four indicators of good governance are political stability, control of corruption, rule of law, and voice and accountability which are available from the World Bank’s governance project data base. In addition, the other two indicators, country’s openness and size of population, are the major social variables included in the study which can also affect the success. The total six indicators are taken to examine with the GDP per head to see whether these factors can help countries achieve higher levels of income per head. The study indicates connection between the levels of success with these four indicators of the good governance and the two external social variables. For Thailand, the political instability was found to be a problem of the progress of development among those six indicators.

Raman scattering mediated by neighboring molecules

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Mathew D.; Bradshaw, David S.; Andrews, David L.

2016-05-01

Raman scattering is most commonly associated with a change in vibrational state within individual molecules, the corresponding frequency shift in the scattered light affording a key way of identifying material structures. In theories where both matter and light are treated quantum mechanically, the fundamental scattering process is represented as the concurrent annihilation of a photon from one radiation mode and creation of another in a different mode. Developing this quantum electrodynamical formulation, the focus of the present work is on the spectroscopic consequences of electrodynamic coupling between neighboring molecules or other kinds of optical center. To encompass these nanoscale interactions, through which the molecular states evolve under the dual influence of the input light and local fields, this work identifies and determines two major mechanisms for each of which different selection rules apply. The constituent optical centers are considered to be chemically different and held in a fixed orientation with respect to each other, either as two components of a larger molecule or a molecular assembly that can undergo free rotation in a fluid medium or as parts of a larger, solid material. The two centers are considered to be separated beyond wavefunction overlap but close enough together to fall within an optical near-field limit, which leads to high inverse power dependences on their local separation. In this investigation, individual centers undergo a Stokes transition, whilst each neighbor of a different species remains in its original electronic and vibrational state. Analogous principles are applicable for the anti-Stokes case. The analysis concludes by considering the experimental consequences of applying this spectroscopic interpretation to fluid media; explicitly, the selection rules and the impact of pressure on the radiant intensity of this process.

Raman scattering mediated by neighboring molecules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, Mathew D.; Bradshaw, David S.; Andrews, David L., E-mail: david.andrews@physics.org [School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom)

2016-05-07

Raman scattering is most commonly associated with a change in vibrational state within individual molecules, the corresponding frequency shift in the scattered light affording a key way of identifying material structures. In theories where both matter and light are treated quantum mechanically, the fundamental scattering process is represented as the concurrent annihilation of a photon from one radiation mode and creation of another in a different mode. Developing this quantum electrodynamical formulation, the focus of the present work is on the spectroscopic consequences of electrodynamic coupling between neighboring molecules or other kinds of optical center. To encompass these nanoscale interactions, through which the molecular states evolve under the dual influence of the input light and local fields, this work identifies and determines two major mechanisms for each of which different selection rules apply. The constituent optical centers are considered to be chemically different and held in a fixed orientation with respect to each other, either as two components of a larger molecule or a molecular assembly that can undergo free rotation in a fluid medium or as parts of a larger, solid material. The two centers are considered to be separated beyond wavefunction overlap but close enough together to fall within an optical near-field limit, which leads to high inverse power dependences on their local separation. In this investigation, individual centers undergo a Stokes transition, whilst each neighbor of a different species remains in its original electronic and vibrational state. Analogous principles are applicable for the anti-Stokes case. The analysis concludes by considering the experimental consequences of applying this spectroscopic interpretation to fluid media; explicitly, the selection rules and the impact of pressure on the radiant intensity of this process.

Strategic environmental assessment for policies: an instrument for good governance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

World Bank; Ahmed, Kulsum; Sánchez Triana, Ernesto

2008-01-01

... , The Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment “This book suggests how an institutional lens can be applied systematically to improve public policy design and implementation and sectoral governance both from supply and demand perspectives. Environmental and natural resources policies are the focus of the book, but the lessons are much broader and shou...

Detecting PM2.5's Correlations between Neighboring Cities Using a Time-Lagged Cross-Correlation Coefficient.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fang; Wang, Lin; Chen, Yuming

2017-08-31

In order to investigate the time-dependent cross-correlations of fine particulate (PM2.5) series among neighboring cities in Northern China, in this paper, we propose a new cross-correlation coefficient, the time-lagged q-L dependent height crosscorrelation coefficient (denoted by p q (τ, L)), which incorporates the time-lag factor and the fluctuation amplitude information into the analogous height cross-correlation analysis coefficient. Numerical tests are performed to illustrate that the newly proposed coefficient ρ q (τ, L) can be used to detect cross-correlations between two series with time lags and to identify different range of fluctuations at which two series possess cross-correlations. Applying the new coefficient to analyze the time-dependent cross-correlations of PM2.5 series between Beijing and the three neighboring cities of Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, and Baoding, we find that time lags between the PM2.5 series with larger fluctuations are longer than those between PM2.5 series withsmaller fluctuations. Our analysis also shows that cross-correlations between the PM2.5 series of two neighboring cities are significant and the time lags between two PM2.5 series of neighboring cities are significantly non-zero. These findings providenew scientific support on the view that air pollution in neighboring cities can affect one another not simultaneously but with a time lag.

Steps toward a shared governance response for achieving Good Environmental Status in the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Cinnirella

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to Europe given its strategic position. The responsibility for its overall ecosystem integrity is shared by European Union Member States (EU-MS and other Mediterranean countries. A juxtaposition of overlapping governance instruments occurred recently in the region, with the implementation of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD for EU-MS and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP for all Mediterranean countries, including EU-MS. Both MSFD and ECAP are structured around vision-driven processes to achieve Good Environmental Status and a Healthy Environment, respectively. These processes have clear ecosystem-based, integrated policy objectives to guarantee the preservation and integrity of Mediterranean marine ecosystem goods and services. However, adoption of these instruments, especially those related to the new EU-MS directives on marine policy, could result in a governance gap in addition to the well-known economic gap between the EU and the non-EU political blocs. We identify two complementary requirements for effective implementation of both MSFD and ECAP that could work together to reduce this gap, to ensure a better alignment between MSFD and ECAP and better planning for stakeholder engagement. These are key issues for the future success of these instruments in a Mediterranean region where discrepancies between societal and ecological objectives may pose a challenge to these processes.

Social dilemma alleviated by sharing the gains with immediate neighbors

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhi-Xi; Yang, Han-Xin

2014-01-01

We study the evolution of cooperation in the evolutionary spatial prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) and snowdrift game (SG), within which a fraction α of the payoffs of each player gained from direct game interactions is shared equally by the immediate neighbors. The magnitude of the parameter α therefore characterizes the degree of the relatedness among the neighboring players. By means of extensive Monte Carlo simulations as well as an extended mean-field approximation method, we trace the frequency of cooperation in the stationary state. We find that plugging into relatedness can significantly promote the evolution of cooperation in the context of both studied games. Unexpectedly, cooperation can be more readily established in the spatial PDG than that in the spatial SG, given that the degree of relatedness and the cost-to-benefit ratio of mutual cooperation are properly formulated. The relevance of our model with the stakeholder theory is also briefly discussed.

Potential economic impacts of achieving good environmental status in Black Sea fisheries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian C. Goulding

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD mandates that European Union (EU member states achieve Good Environmental Status (GEnS based on an ecosystem-based approach to management. For commercial fisheries, the primary target under the MSFD is one of maximum sustainable yield. Of Black Sea riparian nations, only Romania and Bulgaria are EU member states. Focusing at the supranational level, we review institutions and instruments relevant to management of the Black Sea. The economic values of current fish catches are assessed, and the results of a recent analytical assessment of fish stocks are used to estimate potential future values based on maximum sustainable yields. In the Black Sea region, despite long-standing attempts to improve fisheries management, there remains a lack of effective regional cooperation. Evidence from the scenario analysis suggests that achieving GEnS would not have an undue negative impact on overall fishery sector incomes, and could, with appropriate investments in processing and marketing, deliver increased economic benefits for Black Sea countries. The ongoing policy debate between and within Black Sea coastal states needs to be extended to include recognition of the potential economic and social benefits of effective fisheries management. More work is required to assess returns on investment in interim management measures to deliver GEnS.

Electronic transport of molecular nanowires by considering of electron hopping energy between the second neighbors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Rabani

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we study the electronic conductance of molecular nanowires by considering the electron hopping between the first and second neighbors with the help Green’s function method at the tight-binding approach. We investigate three types of structures including linear uniform and periodic chains as well as poly(p-phenylene molecule which are embedded between two semi-infinite metallic leads. The results show that in the second neighbor approximation, the resonance, anti-resonance and Fano phenomena occur in the conductance spectra of these structures. Moreover, a new gap is observed at edge of the lead energy band wich its width depends on the value of the electron hopping energy between the second neighbors. In the systems including intrinsic gap, this hopping energy shifts the gap in the energy spectra.

Multi-strategy based quantum cost reduction of linear nearest-neighbor quantum circuit

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Ying-ying; Cheng, Xue-yun; Guan, Zhi-jin; Liu, Yang; Ma, Haiying

2018-03-01

With the development of reversible and quantum computing, study of reversible and quantum circuits has also developed rapidly. Due to physical constraints, most quantum circuits require quantum gates to interact on adjacent quantum bits. However, many existing quantum circuits nearest-neighbor have large quantum cost. Therefore, how to effectively reduce quantum cost is becoming a popular research topic. In this paper, we proposed multiple optimization strategies to reduce the quantum cost of the circuit, that is, we reduce quantum cost from MCT gates decomposition, nearest neighbor and circuit simplification, respectively. The experimental results show that the proposed strategies can effectively reduce the quantum cost, and the maximum optimization rate is 30.61% compared to the corresponding results.

A Markov chain Monte Carlo Expectation Maximization Algorithm for Statistical Analysis of DNA Sequence Evolution with Neighbor-Dependent Substitution Rates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hobolth, Asger

2008-01-01

-dimensional integrals required in the EM algorithm are estimated using MCMC sampling. The MCMC sampler requires simulation of sample paths from a continuous time Markov process, conditional on the beginning and ending states and the paths of the neighboring sites. An exact path sampling algorithm is developed......The evolution of DNA sequences can be described by discrete state continuous time Markov processes on a phylogenetic tree. We consider neighbor-dependent evolutionary models where the instantaneous rate of substitution at a site depends on the states of the neighboring sites. Neighbor......-dependent substitution models are analytically intractable and must be analyzed using either approximate or simulation-based methods. We describe statistical inference of neighbor-dependent models using a Markov chain Monte Carlo expectation maximization (MCMC-EM) algorithm. In the MCMC-EM algorithm, the high...

Thermodynamic systematics of oxides of americium, curium, and neighboring elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morss, L.R.

1984-01-01

Recently-obtained calorimetric data on the sesquioxides and dioxides of americium and curium are summarized. These data are combined with other properties of the actinide elements to elucidate the stability relationships among these oxides and to predict the behavior of neighboring actinide oxides. 45 references, 4 figures, 5 tables

Life cycle assessment of capital goods in waste management systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brogaard, Line Kai-Sørensen; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2016-01-01

plant, an incinerator and a landfill site. The contribution of capital goods to the overall environmental aspects of managing the waste was significant but varied greatly depending on the technology and the impact category: Global Warming: 1-17%, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: 2-90%, Ionising Radiation......The environmental importance of capital goods (trucks, buildings, equipment, etc.) was quantified by LCA modelling 1 tonne of waste treated in five different waste management scenarios. The scenarios involved a 240L collection bin, a 16m3 collection truck, a composting plant, an anaerobic digestion...... for treatment facilities than for the collection and transportation of waste and for the landfilling of waste. It is concluded that the environmental impacts of capital goods should always be included in the LCA modelling of waste management, unless the only impact category considered is Global Warming....

A Hybrid Instance Selection Using Nearest-Neighbor for Cross-Project Defect Prediction

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Duksan Ryu; Jong-In Jang; Jongmoon Baik; Member; ACM; IEEE

2015-01-01

Software defect prediction (SDP) is an active research field in software engineering to identify defect-prone modules. Thanks to SDP, limited testing resources can be effectively allocated to defect-prone modules. Although SDP requires suffcient local data within a company, there are cases where local data are not available, e.g., pilot projects. Companies without local data can employ cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) using external data to build classifiers. The major challenge of CPDP is different distributions between training and test data. To tackle this, instances of source data similar to target data are selected to build classifiers. Software datasets have a class imbalance problem meaning the ratio of defective class to clean class is far low. It usually lowers the performance of classifiers. We propose a Hybrid Instance Selection Using Nearest-Neighbor (HISNN) method that performs a hybrid classification selectively learning local knowledge (via k-nearest neighbor) and global knowledge (via na¨ıve Bayes). Instances having strong local knowledge are identified via nearest-neighbors with the same class label. Previous studies showed low PD (probability of detection) or high PF (probability of false alarm) which is impractical to use. The experimental results show that HISNN produces high overall performance as well as high PD and low PF.

Migration for Environmentally Displaced Pacific Peoples: Legal Options in the Pacific Rim

OpenAIRE

Tabucanon, Gil Marvel

2012-01-01

This paper explores the complex relationship between the environment and migration, namely the various protection options available for environmentally-displaced Pacific peoples under the laws of the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It seeks to ascertain whether flexibility exists in these countries' domestic laws for environmental migrants from neighboring Pacific countries. It asks if humanitarian and ministerial discretion admissions and preferential admission schemes suf...

Sequence correction of random coil chemical shifts: correlation between neighbor correction factors and changes in the Ramachandran distribution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Magnus; Poulsen, Flemming Martin

2011-01-01

Random coil chemical shifts are necessary for secondary chemical shift analysis, which is the main NMR method for identification of secondary structure in proteins. One of the largest challenges in the determination of random coil chemical shifts is accounting for the effect of neighboring residues....... The contributions from the neighboring residues are typically removed by using neighbor correction factors determined based on each residue's effect on glycine chemical shifts. Due to its unusual conformational freedom, glycine may be particularly unrepresentative for the remaining residue types. In this study, we...... in the conformational ensemble are an important source of neighbor effects in disordered proteins. Glutamine derived random coil chemical shifts and correction factors modestly improve our ability to predict (13)C chemical shifts of intrinsically disordered proteins compared to existing datasets, and may thus improve...

Sistem Rekomendasi Pada E-Commerce Menggunakan K-Nearest Neighbor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandra Saha Dewa Prasetya

2017-09-01

The growing number of product information available on the internet brings challenges to both customer and online businesses in the e-commerce environment. Customer often have difficulty when looking for products on the internet because of the number of products sold on the internet. In addition, online businessman often experience difficulties because they has much data about products, customers and transactions, thus causing online businessman have difficulty to promote the right product to a particular customer target. A recommendation system was developed to address those problem with various methods such as Collaborative Filtering, ContentBased, and Hybrid. Collaborative filtering method uses customer’s rating data, content based using product content such as title or description, and hybrid using both as the basis of the recommendation. In this research, the k-nearest neighbor algorithm is used to determine the top-n product recommendations for each buyer. The result of this research method Content Based outperforms other methods because the sparse data, that is the condition where the number of rating given by the customers is relatively little compared the number of products available in e-commerce. Keywords: recomendation system, k-nearest neighbor, collaborative filtering, content based.

River Flow Prediction Using the Nearest Neighbor Probabilistic Ensemble Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Sanikhani

2016-02-01

nearest neighbor probabilistic ensemble method in Dizaj and Mashin Stations during test period of model obtained 0.91 and 0.93, respectively.The investigation on the performance of models in different basins showed that the models have better performance in Zard river basin compared to Baranduz-Chaybasin. Furthermore the variation of discharge values during test period in Zard basin was lower in comparison of Baranduz-Chay basin. The real advantage of including streamflow forecasts requires detailed and specific investigations, but the preliminary results suggest the good potentiality of probabilistic NLP method. Using ensemble prediction method can help to decision makers in order to determine the uncertainty of prediction in water resources field.

Evaluation of environmental and economic effectiveness of the Cross Compliance 4.3 Standards "Maintenance of olive groves and vineyards in good vegetative conditions"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Sansone

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the first observations made in three farms of the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA relating to the environmental monitoring of the standard 4.3 maintenance of olive groves and vineyards in good vegetative conditions and analysis of differential of competitiveness  for both crops.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Iran and neighboring countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chinikar, S; Ghiasi, Seyed Mojtaba; Hewson, R

2010-01-01

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a zoonotic viral disease that is asymptomatic in infected livestock, but a serious threat to humans. Human infections begin with nonspecific febrile symptoms, but progress to a serious hemorrhagic syndrome with a case fatality rate of 2-50%. Although the ...... in Iran and neighboring countries and provide evidence of over 5000 confirmed cases of CCHF in a single period/season....

Social Pressure and Environmental Effects on Networks: A Path to Cooperation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Pereda

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we study how the pro-social impact due to the vigilance by other individuals is conditioned by both environmental and evolutionary effects. To this aim, we consider a known model where agents play a Prisoner’s Dilemma Game (PDG among themselves and the pay-off matrix of an individual changes according to the number of neighbors that are “vigilant”, i.e., how many neighbors watch out for her behavior. In particular, the temptation to defect decreases linearly with the number of vigilant neighbors. This model proved to support cooperation in specific conditions, and here we check its robustness with different topologies, microscopical update rules and initial conditions. By means of many numerical simulations and few theoretical considerations, we find in which situations the vigilance by the others is more effective in favoring cooperative behaviors and when its influence is weaker.

The surprising power of neighborly advice.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Daniel T; Killingsworth, Matthew A; Eyre, Rebecca N; Wilson, Timothy D

2009-03-20

Two experiments revealed that (i) people can more accurately predict their affective reactions to a future event when they know how a neighbor in their social network reacted to the event than when they know about the event itself and (ii) people do not believe this. Undergraduates made more accurate predictions about their affective reactions to a 5-minute speed date (n = 25) and to a peer evaluation (n = 88) when they knew only how another undergraduate had reacted to these events than when they had information about the events themselves. Both participants and independent judges mistakenly believed that predictions based on information about the event would be more accurate than predictions based on information about how another person had reacted to it.

The impact of vacant, tax-delinquent, and foreclosed property on sales prices of neighboring homes

OpenAIRE

Stephan Whitaker; Thomas J. Fitzpatrick

2012-01-01

In this empirical analysis, we estimate the impact of vacancy, neglect associated with property-tax delinquency, and foreclosures on the value of neighboring homes using parcel-level observations. Numerous studies have estimated the impact of foreclosures on neighboring properties, and these papers theorize that the foreclosure impact works partially through creating vacant and neglected homes. To our knowledge, this is only the second attempt to estimate the impact of vacancy itself and the ...

Disordering scaling and generalized nearest-neighbor approach in the thermodynamics of Lennard-Jones systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vorob'ev, V.S.

2003-01-01

We suggest a concept of multiple disordering scaling of the crystalline state. Such a scaling procedure applied to a crystal leads to the liquid and (in low density limit) gas states. This approach provides an explanation to a high value of configuration (common) entropy of liquefied noble gases, which can be deduced from experimental data. We use the generalized nearest-neighbor approach to calculate free energy and pressure of the Lennard-Jones systems after performing this scaling procedure. These thermodynamic functions depend on one parameter characterizing the disordering only. Condensed states of the system (liquid and solid) correspond to small values of this parameter. When this parameter tends to unity, we get an asymptotically exact equation of state for a gas involving the second virial coefficient. A reasonable choice of the values for the disordering parameter (ranging between zero and unity) allows us to find the lines of coexistence between different phase states in the Lennard-Jones systems, which are in a good agreement with the available experimental data

Resampling nucleotide sequences with closest-neighbor trimming and its comparison to other methods.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kouki Yonezawa

Full Text Available A large number of nucleotide sequences of various pathogens are available in public databases. The growth of the datasets has resulted in an enormous increase in computational costs. Moreover, due to differences in surveillance activities, the number of sequences found in databases varies from one country to another and from year to year. Therefore, it is important to study resampling methods to reduce the sampling bias. A novel algorithm-called the closest-neighbor trimming method-that resamples a given number of sequences from a large nucleotide sequence dataset was proposed. The performance of the proposed algorithm was compared with other algorithms by using the nucleotide sequences of human H3N2 influenza viruses. We compared the closest-neighbor trimming method with the naive hierarchical clustering algorithm and [Formula: see text]-medoids clustering algorithm. Genetic information accumulated in public databases contains sampling bias. The closest-neighbor trimming method can thin out densely sampled sequences from a given dataset. Since nucleotide sequences are among the most widely used materials for life sciences, we anticipate that our algorithm to various datasets will result in reducing sampling bias.

The neighbor enclosed area tracking algorithm and its application to cyclone merger in the midlatitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Inatsu, Masaru; Amada, Shotarou; Satake, Yuya

2010-05-01

The neighbor enclosed area tracking (NEAT) algorithm is proposed as an alternative method to conventional point-to-point cyclone tracking approaches. Most automated Lagrangian tracking algorithms contain three procedures: cyclone identification, cyclone tracking, and quantification of cyclone intensity and activity. The cyclone identification was simply based on a comparison of neighboring grid points; cyclone tracking mainly employed a near-neighbor point search to neighbor-time cyclone-center datasets; and cyclone intensity and activity are mainly quantified as cyclone track density, and other accompanying products such as genesis and lysis densities, mean lifetime, average moving vector, and mean growth rate can also be obtained in the final procedure. But a crucial problem in the above technique is its requirement of some complicated connecting conditions for near-neighbor tracking. To overcome the problem, NEAT completes cyclone identification and cyclone tracking in a single process of equivalent labeling for spatiotemporally connected domains, i.e., if two spatially enclosed areas in a neighboring time frame overlap, they should be connected. NEAT enables us to count the genesis and tracks of individual cyclones as the conventional tracking. Moreover, NEAT has the ability to produce fruitful information on cyclone mergers and separations, cyclone shape, and material transport by individual eddies (the latter two features will be reported elsewhere). There are many possible applications of NEAT to meteorology and oceanography, but now we focus on the situation, well-known by Japanese synopticians, that two cyclones pass respectively over the north and south of Japan and then they frequently merge and are rapidly deepened in the western Pacific. For the case, the southern cyclones tend to be stimulated just above the sea surface temperature front to the north of oceanic western boundary currents, while the northern cyclones, moving eastward along the polar

Stuttering Attitudes among Turkish Family Generations and Neighbors from Representative Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Ozdemir, R. Sertan; St. Louis, Kenneth O.; Topbas, Seyhun

2011-01-01

Purpose: Attitudes toward stuttering, measured by the "Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering" ("POSHA-S"), are compared among (a) two different representative samples; (b) family generations (children, parents, and either grandparents or uncles and aunts) and neighbors; (c) children, parents, grandparents/adult…

The Patient-Centered Medical Home Neighbor: A Critical Concept for a Redesigned Healthcare Delivery System

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-25

Sharing Knowledge: Achieving Breakthrough Performance 2010 Military Health System Conference The Patient -Centered Medical Home Neighbor: A Critical...DATE 25 JAN 2011 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2011 to 00-00-2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Patient -Centered Medical Home Neighbor: A...Conference What is the Patient -Centered Medical Home?  …a vision of health care as it should be  …a framework for organizing systems of care at both the

The Impact of Cooperative Social Organization on Reducing the Prevalence of Malaria and Intestinal Parasite Infections in Awramba, a Rural Community in South Gondar, Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gebeyehu Yihenew

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Parasitic diseases are the major causes of human health problem in Ethiopia. The high prevalence of parasitic infections is closely correlated with poverty, poor environmental hygiene, and impoverished health services. Objective. The study was conducted to assess the impact of health-conscious Awramba cooperative community and its neighboring communities on the prevalence of parasitic infections in South Gondar, Ethiopia. Methods. Single stool specimens were collected from 392 individuals from Awramba and the neighboring communities. Specimens were examined microscopically for the presence of parasites using microscopy. Questionnaire was administered to determine the knowledge attitude and practice (KAP of study participants. Results. Of the total 392 study participants examined, 58(14.8% were positive for malaria and 173 (44.1% for intestinal parasites. The prevalence of malaria in Awramba community (5.1% was less than that in neighboring communities (24.5%. The prevalence of parasitic infections in Awramba (18.8% was less than that of the neighboring communities (69.4%. Conclusion. This study showed that good household and environmental hygiene, good toilet construction and usage, and proper utilization of ITN in Awramba cooperative community have significantly contributed to the reduction of the burden of parasitic infections. Thus, the positive achievement in reducing parasitic infections in Awramba cooperative community could be used as a model for affordable health intervention in the neighboring communities, in particular, and the whole country in general.

Single cell transcriptomics of neighboring hyphae of Aspergillus niger

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Single cell profiling was performed to assess differences in RNA accumulation in neighboring hyphae of the fungus Aspergillus niger. A protocol was developed to isolate and amplify RNA from single hyphae or parts thereof. Microarray analysis resulted in a present call for 4 to 7% of the A. niger genes, of which 12% showed heterogeneous RNA levels. These genes belonged to a wide range of gene categories. PMID:21816052

Like a Good Neighbor, NCI-Frederick Is There | Poster

Science.gov (United States)

The main campus of the National Cancer Institute at Frederick is an island of sorts: 68 acres of land that was once part of Fort Detrick. Accessing NCI property means passing through the Fort Detrick gates and crossing the post. While the campus is surrounded by the military installation, is protected by NIH police, and doesn’t allow the use of tobacco products, it is not a

Numerical Simulation of the Diffusion Processes in Nanoelectrode Arrays Using an Axial Neighbor Symmetry Approximation.

Science.gov (United States)

Peinetti, Ana Sol; Gilardoni, Rodrigo S; Mizrahi, Martín; Requejo, Felix G; González, Graciela A; Battaglini, Fernando

2016-06-07

Nanoelectrode arrays have introduced a complete new battery of devices with fascinating electrocatalytic, sensitivity, and selectivity properties. To understand and predict the electrochemical response of these arrays, a theoretical framework is needed. Cyclic voltammetry is a well-fitted experimental technique to understand the undergoing diffusion and kinetics processes. Previous works describing microelectrode arrays have exploited the interelectrode distance to simulate its behavior as the summation of individual electrodes. This approach becomes limited when the size of the electrodes decreases to the nanometer scale due to their strong radial effect with the consequent overlapping of the diffusional fields. In this work, we present a computational model able to simulate the electrochemical behavior of arrays working either as the summation of individual electrodes or being affected by the overlapping of the diffusional fields without previous considerations. Our computational model relays in dividing a regular electrode array in cells. In each of them, there is a central electrode surrounded by neighbor electrodes; these neighbor electrodes are transformed in a ring maintaining the same active electrode area than the summation of the closest neighbor electrodes. Using this axial neighbor symmetry approximation, the problem acquires a cylindrical symmetry, being applicable to any diffusion pattern. The model is validated against micro- and nanoelectrode arrays showing its ability to predict their behavior and therefore to be used as a designing tool.

Evaluation of environmental and economic effectiveness of the Cross Compliance 4.3 Standard ‘Maintenance of olive groves and vineyards in good vegetative conditions’

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Luigi Sansone

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the first observations made in three farms of the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA relating to the environmental monitoring of the Standard 4.3 'Maintenance of olive groves and vineyards in good vegetative conditions' and analysis of differential of competitiveness for both crops.

Effect of electrode design on crosstalk between neighboring organic field-effect transistors based on one single crystal

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Mengjie; Tang, Qingxin; Tong, Yanhong; Zhao, Xiaoli; Zhou, Shujun; Liu, Yichun

2018-03-01

The design of high-integration organic circuits must be such that the interference between neighboring devices is eliminated. Here, rubrene crystals were used to study the effect of the electrode design on crosstalk between neighboring organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Results show that a decreased source/drain interval and gate electrode width can decrease the diffraction distance of the current, and therefore can weaken the crosstalk. In addition, the inherent low carrier concentration in organic semiconductors can create a high-resistance barrier at the space between gate electrodes of neighboring devices, limiting or even eliminating the crosstalk as a result of the gate electrode width being smaller than the source/drain electrode width.

The nearest neighbor and the bayes error rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Loizou, G; Maybank, S J

1987-02-01

The (k, l) nearest neighbor method of pattern classification is compared to the Bayes method. If the two acceptance rates are equal then the asymptotic error rates satisfy the inequalities Ek,l + 1 ¿ E*(¿) ¿ Ek,l dE*(¿), where d is a function of k, l, and the number of pattern classes, and ¿ is the reject threshold for the Bayes method. An explicit expression for d is given which is optimal in the sense that for some probability distributions Ek,l and dE* (¿) are equal.

Cell membrane disruption stimulates cAMP and Ca2+ signaling to potentiate cell membrane resealing in neighboring cells

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Tatsuru Togo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Disruption of cellular plasma membranes is a common event in many animal tissues, and the membranes are usually rapidly resealed. Moreover, repeated membrane disruptions within a single cell reseal faster than the initial wound in a protein kinase A (PKA- and protein kinase C (PKC-dependent manner. In addition to wounded cells, recent studies have demonstrated that wounding of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK cells potentiates membrane resealing in neighboring cells in the short-term by purinergic signaling, and in the long-term by nitric oxide/protein kinase G signaling. In the present study, real-time imaging showed that cell membrane disruption stimulated cAMP synthesis and Ca2+ mobilization from intracellular stores by purinergic signaling in neighboring MDCK cells. Furthermore, inhibition of PKA and PKC suppressed the ATP-mediated short-term potentiation of membrane resealing in neighboring cells. These results suggest that cell membrane disruption stimulates PKA and PKC via purinergic signaling to potentiate cell membrane resealing in neighboring MDCK cells.

Antiferromagnetic geometric frustration under the influence of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction. An exactly solvable model

Science.gov (United States)

Jurčišinová, E.; Jurčišin, M.

2018-02-01

The influence of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction on the properties of the geometrically frustrated antiferromagnetic systems is investigated in the framework of the exactly solvable antiferromagnetic spin- 1 / 2 Ising model in the external magnetic field on the square-kagome recursive lattice, where the next-nearest-neighbor interaction is supposed between sites within each elementary square of the lattice. The thermodynamic properties of the model are investigated in detail and it is shown that the competition between the nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction and the next-nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic interaction changes properties of the single-point ground states but does not change the frustrated character of the basic model. On the other hand, the presence of the antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interaction leads to the enhancement of the frustration effects with the formation of additional plateau and single-point ground states at low temperatures. Exact expressions for magnetizations and residual entropies of all ground states of the model are found. It is shown that the model exhibits various ground states with the same value of magnetization but different macroscopic degeneracies as well as the ground states with different values of magnetization but the same value of the residual entropy. The specific heat capacity is investigated and it is shown that the model exhibits the Schottky-type anomaly behavior in the vicinity of each single-point ground state value of the magnetic field. The formation of the field-induced double-peak structure of the specific heat capacity at low temperatures is demonstrated and it is shown that its very existence is directly related to the presence of highly macroscopically degenerated single-point ground states in the model.

Association of food access and neighbor relationships with diet and underweight among community-dwelling older Japanese.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, Hideko; Nakamura, Mieko; Okada, Eisaku; Ojima, Toshiyuki; Kondo, Katsunori

2017-11-01

Food access is important for maintaining dietary variety, which predicts underweight. The aim of this study was to examine the association of food access and neighbor relationships with eating and underweight. We analyzed cross-sectional data from 102,869 Japanese individuals aged 65 years or older. The perceived availability of food was assessed using the presence or absence of food stores within 1 km of the home. Level of relationships with neighbors was also assessed. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for infrequent food intake and underweight were determined using logistic regression analysis. The proportion of men and women having low access to food was 25-30%. Having low food access (OR 1.18; 95% CI, 1.12-1.25 for men and OR 1.26; 95% CI, 1.19-1.33 for women) and a low level of relationship with neighbors (OR 1.38; 95% CI, 1.31-1.45 for men and OR 1.57; 95% CI, 1.48-1.67 for women) was associated with infrequent intake of fruits and vegetables in both sexes. Association between low food access and infrequent intake of fruits and vegetables was higher among men with low levels of neighbor relationship (OR 1.34; 95% CI, 1.23-1.46) than among men with high levels of relationship (OR 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.18). Low perceived availability of food is a risk factor for low dietary variety among older people. Furthermore, high levels of relationship with neighbors may relieve the harmful effect of low food access. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Good manufacturing practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlyer, D.J.

2001-01-01

In this presentation author deals with the Implementation of good manufacturing practice for radiopharmaceuticals. The presentation is divided into next parts: Batch size; Expiration date; QC Testing; Environmental concerns; Personnel aspects; Radiation concerns; Theoretical yields; Sterilizing filters; Control and reconciliation of materials and components; Product strength; In process sampling and testing; Holding and distribution; Drug product inspection; Buildings and facilities; Renovations at BNL for GMP; Aseptic processing and sterility assurance; Process validation and control; Quality control and drug product stability; Documentation and other GMP topics; Building design considerations; Equipment; and Summary

From basic raw material goods to cultural and environmental services: the Chinese bamboo sophistication path

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Ruiz Pérez

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Bamboo has deep cultural and economic roots in China, the country with the largest bamboo resources in the world. Over the last three decades bamboo has evolved from a supply of raw material for basic goods into the material base of an increasingly diversified array of products and, more recently, into a potentially important source of cultural and environmental services. Based on a general literature review and the lessons learned from detailed case studies in different regions of China, we explored the changing roles of bamboo, and its effects on local economies and farmers' livelihood strategies. As the country develops and new economic activities continue to appear, bamboo production has shifted from a superior income-generating opportunity that largely benefited the better-off to a less attractive option left for those who have no other choice. The nature of the work has also changed, from families working directly on their bamboo plots to an emphasis on hired labor, with prosperous bamboo owners devoting most of their time to more lucrative activities. A similar process can be observed in bamboo processing in counties where previous industrial structures hinged around raw material harvests, but which have now entered into other secondary and tertiary industry activities. At the same time, bamboo has attracted new opportunities as a source of cultural, aesthetic, and leisure-related activities, as well as some potentially important climatic, watershed, and biodiversity functions. We analyze the complementarity between goods and services provided by bamboo and discuss some research issues and future trends that may help in overcoming these conflicts.

Environmental perspective of Location Based Services and Light Goods Vehicles in urban areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The article looks at the underexplored area of light goods vehicle (LGV operation. Specifically, it is investigated to what extent various location based services (LBS can be applied in the context of LGV operation in order to improve their environmental friendliness in urban areas. In doing so, LBS applied in real time navigation, dynamic fleet management, freight tracking and monitoring, hazardous materials transport, location-specific tolls and taxes and geo-eco-driving are described in relation to their usefulness in LGV operation as well as the potential in reducing LGV-originating pollution. Where available, real world examples of such applications are given. The discussion reveals particular significance in that context of real time navigation and dynamic fleet management, which are widely applicable solutions in LGVs operation. Freight monitoring and tracking, including hazardous materials transport, have been also found to be of an importance due, yet with a more limited applicability. As regards location-specific tolls and taxes, and geo-eco-driving, significant potential of these LBS has been identified, yet due to their very limited applicability in general, no robust conclusions could be drawn. Last but not least, a significant gap in the detailed knowledge regarding the area has been revealed and directions for further research have been suggested.

Elliptic Painlevé equations from next-nearest-neighbor translations on the E_8^{(1)} lattice

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Nalini; Nakazono, Nobutaka

2017-07-01

The well known elliptic discrete Painlevé equation of Sakai is constructed by a standard translation on the E_8(1) lattice, given by nearest neighbor vectors. In this paper, we give a new elliptic discrete Painlevé equation obtained by translations along next-nearest-neighbor vectors. This equation is a generic (8-parameter) version of a 2-parameter elliptic difference equation found by reduction from Adler’s partial difference equation, the so-called Q4 equation. We also provide a projective reduction of the well known equation of Sakai.

Coupled Oscillator Model of the Business Cycle withFluctuating Goods Markets

Science.gov (United States)

Ikeda, Y.; Aoyama, H.; Fujiwara, Y.; Iyetomi, H.; Ogimoto, K.; Souma, W.; Yoshikawa, H.

The sectoral synchronization observed for the Japanese business cycle in the Indices of Industrial Production data is an example of synchronization. The stability of this synchronization under a shock, e.g., fluctuation of supply or demand, is a matter of interest in physics and economics. We consider an economic system made up of industry sectors and goods markets in order to analyze the sectoral synchronization observed for the Japanese business cycle. A coupled oscillator model that exhibits synchronization is developed based on the Kuramoto model with inertia by adding goods markets, and analytic solutions of the stationary state and the coupling strength are obtained. We simulate the effects on synchronization of a sectoral shock for systems with different price elasticities and the coupling strengths. Synchronization is reproduced as an equilibrium solution in a nearest neighbor graph. Analysis of the order parameters shows that the synchronization is stable for a finite elasticity, whereas the synchronization is broken and the oscillators behave like a giant oscillator with a certain frequency additional to the common frequency for zero elasticity.

Knowledgeable Neighbors: a mobile clinic model for disease prevention and screening in underserved communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Caterina; Zurakowski, David; Bennet, Jennifer; Walker-White, Rainelle; Osman, Jamie L; Quarles, Aaron; Oriol, Nancy

2012-03-01

The Family Van mobile health clinic uses a "Knowledgeable Neighbor" model to deliver cost-effective screening and prevention activities in underserved neighborhoods in Boston, MA. We have described the Knowledgeable Neighbor model and used operational data collected from 2006 to 2009 to evaluate the service. The Family Van successfully reached mainly minority low-income men and women. Of the clients screened, 60% had previously undetected elevated blood pressure, 14% had previously undetected elevated blood glucose, and 38% had previously undetected elevated total cholesterol. This represents an important model for reaching underserved communities to deliver proven cost-effective prevention activities, both to help control health care costs and to reduce health disparities.

Response properties of neighboring neurons in the auditory midbrain for pure-tone stimulation: a tetrode study.

Science.gov (United States)

Seshagiri, Chandran V; Delgutte, Bertrand

2007-10-01

The complex anatomical structure of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC), the principal auditory nucleus in the midbrain, may provide the basis for functional organization of auditory information. To investigate this organization, we used tetrodes to record from neighboring neurons in the ICC of anesthetized cats and studied the similarity and difference among the responses of these neurons to pure-tone stimuli using widely used physiological characterizations. Consistent with the tonotopic arrangement of neurons in the ICC and reports of a threshold map, we found a high degree of correlation in the best frequencies (BFs) of neighboring neurons, which were mostly binaural beats. However, the characteristic phases (CPs) of neighboring neurons revealed a significant correlation. Because the CP is related to the neural mechanisms generating the ITD sensitivity, this result is consistent with segregation of inputs to the ICC from the lateral and medial superior olives.

Implementation of the k -Neighbors Technique in a recommender algorithm for a purchasing system using NFC and Android

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oscar Arley Riveros

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: This paper aims to present the design of a mobile application involving NFC technology and a collaborative recommendation algorithm under the K-neighbors technique, allowing to observe personalized suggestions for each client. Objective: Design and develop a mobile application, using NFC technologies and K-Neighbors Technique in a recommendation algorithm, for a Procurement System. Methodology: The process followed for the design and development of the application focuses on: • Review of the state of the art in mobile shopping systems. • State-of-the-art construction in the use of NFC technology and AI techniques for recommending systems focused on K-Neighbors Algorithms • Proposed system design • Parameterization and implementation of the K-Neighbors Technique and integration of NFC Technology • Proposed System Implementation and Testing. Results: Among the results obtained are detailed: • Mobile application that integrates Android, NFC Technologies and a Technique of Algorithm Recommendation • Parameterization of the K-Neighbors Technique, to be used within the recommended algorithm. • Implementation of functional requirements that allow the generation of personalized recommendations for purchase to the user, user ratings Conclusions: The k-neighbors technique in a recommendation algorithm allows the client to provide a series of recommendations with a level of security, since this algorithm performs calculations taking into account multiple parameters and contrasts the results obtained for other users, finding the articles with a Greater degree of similarity with the customer profile. This algorithm starts from a sample of similar, complementary and other unrelated products, applying its respective formulation, we obtain that the recommendation is made only with the complementary products that obtained higher qualification; Making a big difference with most recommending systems on the market, which are limited to

Neighboring Structure Visualization on a Grid-based Layout.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcou, G; Horvath, D; Varnek, A

2017-10-01

Here, we describe an algorithm to visualize chemical structures on a grid-based layout in such a way that similar structures are neighboring. It is based on structure reordering with the help of the Hilbert Schmidt Independence Criterion, representing an empirical estimate of the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of the cross-covariance operator. The method can be applied to any layout of bi- or three-dimensional shape. The approach is demonstrated on a set of dopamine D5 ligands visualized on squared, disk and spherical layouts. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Multidimensional k-nearest neighbor model based on EEMD for financial time series forecasting

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ningning; Lin, Aijing; Shang, Pengjian

2017-07-01

In this paper, we propose a new two-stage methodology that combines the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) with multidimensional k-nearest neighbor model (MKNN) in order to forecast the closing price and high price of the stocks simultaneously. The modified algorithm of k-nearest neighbors (KNN) has an increasingly wide application in the prediction of all fields. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) decomposes a nonlinear and non-stationary signal into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), however, it cannot reveal characteristic information of the signal with much accuracy as a result of mode mixing. So ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), an improved method of EMD, is presented to resolve the weaknesses of EMD by adding white noise to the original data. With EEMD, the components with true physical meaning can be extracted from the time series. Utilizing the advantage of EEMD and MKNN, the new proposed ensemble empirical mode decomposition combined with multidimensional k-nearest neighbor model (EEMD-MKNN) has high predictive precision for short-term forecasting. Moreover, we extend this methodology to the case of two-dimensions to forecast the closing price and high price of the four stocks (NAS, S&P500, DJI and STI stock indices) at the same time. The results indicate that the proposed EEMD-MKNN model has a higher forecast precision than EMD-KNN, KNN method and ARIMA.

Good practices in early childhood education:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sanders, Lise; Gregoriadis, Athanasis; Zachopoulou, Evridiki

Good practices in early childhood education er en undersøgelse fortaget efter Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale - R (ECERS-R). I undersøgelsen deltog Akademikere, pædagoger og kommunalt personale fra de 6 partnerlande bestående af Grækenland, Portugal, Finland, Danmark, Rumænien og Cypern....... Undersøgelsen fokuserede på indsamling af Good practice inden for 5 specifikke kategorier af daglig praksis i børnehaver og børnehaveklasser. Plads og Inventar Personlige omsorgsrutiner Sprog - Tænkning Aktiviteter Interaktioner Struktur Projektet er støttet af Lifelong learning programme of the European Union...

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Environmental report for 1990

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Counce-Brown, D. (ed.)

1991-09-01

This two-part report, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site Environmental Report for 1990, is published annually. It reflects the results of a comprehensive, year-round program to monitor the impact of operations at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) on the area's groundwater and surface waters, soil, air quality, vegetation, and wildlife. In addition, an assessment of the effect of PGDP effluents on the resident human population is made. PGDP's overall goal for environmental management is to protect the environment and PGDP's neighbors and to maintain full compliance with all current regulations. The current environmental strategy is to identify any deficiencies and to develop a system to resolve them. The long-range goal of environmental management is to minimize the source of pollutants, to reduce the formation of waste, and to minimize hazardous waste by substitution of materials.

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant environmental report for 1989

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, J.W. (ed.) (Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (USA))

1990-10-01

This two-part environmental report is published annually. It reflects the results of a comprehensive, year-round program to monitor the impact of operations at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) on the area's groundwater and surface waters, soil, air quality, vegetation, and wildlife. In addition, an assessment of the effect of PGDP effluents on the resident human population is made. PGDP's overall goal for environmental management is to protect the environment and PGDP's neighbors and to maintain full compliance with all current regulations. The current environmental strategy is to identify any deficiencies and to develop a system to resolve them. The long-range goal of environmental management is to minimize the source of pollutants, to reduce the formation of waste, and to minimize hazardous waste by substitution of materials. 36 refs.

Tricriticality in the q-neighbor Ising model on a partially duplex clique.

Science.gov (United States)

Chmiel, Anna; Sienkiewicz, Julian; Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna

2017-12-01

We analyze a modified kinetic Ising model, a so-called q-neighbor Ising model, with Metropolis dynamics [Phys. Rev. E 92, 052105 (2015)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.92.052105] on a duplex clique and a partially duplex clique. In the q-neighbor Ising model each spin interacts only with q spins randomly chosen from its whole neighborhood. In the case of a duplex clique the change of a spin is allowed only if both levels simultaneously induce this change. Due to the mean-field-like nature of the model we are able to derive the analytic form of transition probabilities and solve the corresponding master equation. The existence of the second level changes dramatically the character of the phase transition. In the case of the monoplex clique, the q-neighbor Ising model exhibits a continuous phase transition for q=3, discontinuous phase transition for q≥4, and for q=1 and q=2 the phase transition is not observed. On the other hand, in the case of the duplex clique continuous phase transitions are observed for all values of q, even for q=1 and q=2. Subsequently we introduce a partially duplex clique, parametrized by r∈[0,1], which allows us to tune the network from monoplex (r=0) to duplex (r=1). Such a generalized topology, in which a fraction r of all nodes appear on both levels, allows us to obtain the critical value of r=r^{*}(q) at which a tricriticality (switch from continuous to discontinuous phase transition) appears.

Observing Literacy Practices in Neighbor Institutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reusch, Charlotte

’procedures on language and literacy. Based on this material, we developed an observation scheme and a guide for preschool teachers to follow, inspired by an action learning concept.During fall 2015, a pilot project is carried out. Preschool teachers from one institution visit a neighbor institution one by one during...... work hours, in order to observe and register how language and literacy events look like there. Afterwards, they share their registrations at a team meeting, and discuss and decide which procedures to test in their own institution. Thus, they form a professional learning network. In the pilot project......The Danish National Centre for Reading and a municipality in southern Denmark cooperate to develop a program to improve preschool children’s early literacy skills. The project aims to support preschool teachers’ ability to create a rich literacy environment for children age 3‒6. Recent research...

Introduction to machine learning: k-nearest neighbors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhongheng

2016-06-01

Machine learning techniques have been widely used in many scientific fields, but its use in medical literature is limited partly because of technical difficulties. k-nearest neighbors (kNN) is a simple method of machine learning. The article introduces some basic ideas underlying the kNN algorithm, and then focuses on how to perform kNN modeling with R. The dataset should be prepared before running the knn() function in R. After prediction of outcome with kNN algorithm, the diagnostic performance of the model should be checked. Average accuracy is the mostly widely used statistic to reflect the kNN algorithm. Factors such as k value, distance calculation and choice of appropriate predictors all have significant impact on the model performance.

Long-term effect of September 11 on the political behavior of victims’ families and neighbors

Science.gov (United States)

Hersh, Eitan D.

2013-01-01

This article investigates the long-term effect of September 11, 2001 on the political behaviors of victims’ families and neighbors. Relative to comparable individuals, family members and residential neighbors of victims have become—and have stayed—significantly more active in politics in the last 12 years, and they have become more Republican on account of the terrorist attacks. The method used to demonstrate these findings leverages the random nature of the terrorist attack to estimate a causal effect and exploits new techniques to link multiple, individual-level, governmental databases to measure behavioral change without relying on surveys or aggregate analysis. PMID:24324145

Long-term effect of September 11 on the political behavior of victims' families and neighbors.

Science.gov (United States)

Hersh, Eitan D

2013-12-24

This article investigates the long-term effect of September 11, 2001 on the political behaviors of victims' families and neighbors. Relative to comparable individuals, family members and residential neighbors of victims have become--and have stayed--significantly more active in politics in the last 12 years, and they have become more Republican on account of the terrorist attacks. The method used to demonstrate these findings leverages the random nature of the terrorist attack to estimate a causal effect and exploits new techniques to link multiple, individual-level, governmental databases to measure behavioral change without relying on surveys or aggregate analysis.

A Local Weighted Nearest Neighbor Algorithm and a Weighted and Constrained Least-Squared Method for Mixed Odor Analysis by Electronic Nose Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jyuo-Min Shyu

2010-11-01

Full Text Available A great deal of work has been done to develop techniques for odor analysis by electronic nose systems. These analyses mostly focus on identifying a particular odor by comparing with a known odor dataset. However, in many situations, it would be more practical if each individual odorant could be determined directly. This paper proposes two methods for such odor components analysis for electronic nose systems. First, a K-nearest neighbor (KNN-based local weighted nearest neighbor (LWNN algorithm is proposed to determine the components of an odor. According to the component analysis, the odor training data is firstly categorized into several groups, each of which is represented by its centroid. The examined odor is then classified as the class of the nearest centroid. The distance between the examined odor and the centroid is calculated based on a weighting scheme, which captures the local structure of each predefined group. To further determine the concentration of each component, odor models are built by regressions. Then, a weighted and constrained least-squares (WCLS method is proposed to estimate the component concentrations. Experiments were carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed methods. The LWNN algorithm is able to classify mixed odors with different mixing ratios, while the WCLS method can provide good estimates on component concentrations.

Estimating forest attribute parameters for small areas using nearest neighbors techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald E. McRoberts

2012-01-01

Nearest neighbors techniques have become extremely popular, particularly for use with forest inventory data. With these techniques, a population unit prediction is calculated as a linear combination of observations for a selected number of population units in a sample that are most similar, or nearest, in a space of ancillary variables to the population unit requiring...

Applying an efficient K-nearest neighbor search to forest attribute imputation

Science.gov (United States)

Andrew O. Finley; Ronald E. McRoberts; Alan R. Ek

2006-01-01

This paper explores the utility of an efficient nearest neighbor (NN) search algorithm for applications in multi-source kNN forest attribute imputation. The search algorithm reduces the number of distance calculations between a given target vector and each reference vector, thereby, decreasing the time needed to discover the NN subset. Results of five trials show gains...

The Hungarian environmental private law under the influence of jus publicum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julesz Máté

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The relationship between environmental public law and environmental private law is of a growing significance. Not only environmental criminal law has an effect on environmental private law, but, since the beginning of the new legal, economic and political era in 1989, private law elements are also to be found in the environmental administrative law. The reciprocity between environmental private and administrative law is clear-cut. Private law institutions, like injunction or deposit, are upheld in environmental administrative contracts. The effect of an administrative ruling has legal consequences in the relationship between, e.g., neighbors: there are cases in which a noisy neighbor can be brought before the public administration. The objective liability in the field of environmental private law is accepted by the courts and by the citizens. The level of objectivity may, though, vary from country to country. In the practice of the Hungarian environmental private law, after 3 years, the objective liability is subrogated by a subjective liability, this latter one making exculpation easier. The res ipsa loquitur liability in space law is not an absolute liability, though it establishes a praesumptio juris that the environmental damage caused by a space object (e.g. a satellite is to be covered by the state which has sent the satellite into space. The presumption is, though not easily, rebuttable. In the Hungarian case law, objective environmental liability has been applied sub judice since the novella of the Civil Code in 1977. This novella made environmental private law a part of environmental law. The novella of the Civil Code was preceded by the Act on Environmental Protection of1976. The importance of economics in environmental private law has only recently been accepted by the Hungarian legal science. The role of the Coase theory is indisputable. The environmental private law is quite a new phenomenon in the Hungarian legal science, however

Power-Controlled MAC Protocols with Dynamic Neighbor Prediction for Ad hoc Networks

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LI Meng; ZHANG Lin; XIAO Yong-kang; SHAN Xiu-ming

2004-01-01

Energy and bandwidth are the scarce resources in ad hoc networks because most of the mobile nodes are battery-supplied and share the exclusive wireless medium. Integrating the power control into MAC protocol is a promising technique to fully exploit these precious resources of ad hoc wireless networks. In this paper, a new intelligent power-controlled Medium Access Control (MAC) (iMAC) protocol with dynamic neighbor prediction is proposed. Through the elaborate design of the distributed transmit-receive strategy of mobile nodes, iMAC greatly outperforms the prevailing IEEE 802.11 MAC protocols in not only energy conservation but also network throughput. Using the Dynamic Neighbor Prediction (DNP), iMAC performs well in mobile scenes. To the best of our knowledge, iMAC is the first protocol that considers the performance deterioration of power-controlled MAC protocols in mobile scenes and then proposes a solution. Simulation results indicate that DNP is important and necessary for power-controlled MAC protocols in mobile ad hoc networks.

Force majeure: Will climate change affect our ability to attain Good Environmental Status for marine biodiversity?

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Michael; Borja, Ángel; McQuatters-Gollop, Abigail; Mazik, Krysia; Birchenough, Silvana; Andersen, Jesper H; Painting, Suzanne; Peck, Myron

2015-06-15

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires that Good Environmental Status (GEnS), is achieved for European seas by 2020. These may deviate from GEnS, its 11 Descriptors, targets and baselines, due to endogenic managed pressures (from activities within an area) and externally due to exogenic unmanaged pressures (e.g. climate change). Conceptual models detail the likely or perceived changes expected on marine biodiversity and GEnS Descriptors in the light of climate change. We emphasise that marine management has to accommodate 'shifting baselines' caused by climate change particularly during GEnS monitoring, assessment and management and 'unbounded boundaries' given the migration and dispersal of highly-mobile species. We suggest climate change may prevent GEnS being met, but Member States may rebut legal challenges by claiming that this is outside its control, force majeure or due to 'natural causes' (Article 14 of the MSFD). The analysis is relevant to management of other global seas. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental groups in monopolistic markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijnen, P.; Schoonbeek, L.

2008-01-01

We examine a market in which a monopolistic firm supplies a good. The production of the good causes damage to the environment. Consumers are heterogeneous with respect to their disutility of the environmental damage. An environmental group can enter the market and set up a campaign in order to

Environmental groups in monopolistic markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijnen, Pim; Schoonbeek, Lambert

We examine a market in which a monopolistic firm supplies a good. The production of the good causes damage to the environment. Consumers are heterogeneous with respect to their disutility of the environmental damage. An environmental group can enter the market and set up a campaign in order to

Mountain tourism development in Serbia and neighboring countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krunić Nikola

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Mountain areas with their surroundings are important parts of tourism regions with potentials for all-season tourism development and complementary activities. Development possibilities are based on size of high mountain territory, nature protection regimes, infrastructural equipment, provided conditions for leisure and recreation as well as involvement of local population in processes of development and protection. This paper analyses the key aspects of tourism development, winter tourism in high-mountain areas of Serbia and some neighboring countries (Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece. Common determinants of cohesion between nature protection and mountain tourism development, national development policies, applied models and concepts and importance of trans-border cooperation are indicated.

An interactive cooperation model for neighboring virtual power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabanzadeh, Morteza; Sheikh-El-Eslami, Mohammad-Kazem; Haghifam, Mahmoud-Reza

2017-01-01

Highlights: •The trading strategies of a VPP in cooperation with its neighboring VPPs are addressed. •A portfolio of inter-regional contracts is considered to model this cooperation scheme. •A novel mathematical formulation for possible inadvertent transactions is provided. •A two-stage stochastic programming approach is applied to characterize the uncertainty. •Two efficient risk measures, SSD and CVaR, are implemented in the VPP decision-making problem. -- Abstract: Future distribution systems will accommodate an increasing share of distributed energy resources (DERs). Facing with this new reality, virtual power plants (VPPs) play a key role to aggregate DERs with the aim of facilitating their involvement in wholesale electricity markets. In this paper, the trading strategies of a VPP in cooperation with its neighboring VPPs are addressed. Toward this aim, a portfolio of inter-regional contracts is considered to model this cooperation and maximize the energy trade opportunities of the VPP within a medium-term horizon. To hedge against profit variability caused by market price uncertainties, two efficient risk management approaches are also implemented in the VPP decision-making problem based on the concepts of conditional value at risk (CVaR) and second-order stochastic dominance constraints (SSD). The resulting models are formulated as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problems that can be solved using off-the-shelf software packages. The efficiency of the proposed risk-hedging models is analyzed through a detailed case study, and thereby relevant conclusions are drawn.

Cultural macroevolution on neighbor graphs : vertical and horizontal transmission among Western North American Indian societies.

Science.gov (United States)

Towner, Mary C; Grote, Mark N; Venti, Jay; Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique

2012-09-01

What are the driving forces of cultural macroevolution, the evolution of cultural traits that characterize societies or populations? This question has engaged anthropologists for more than a century, with little consensus regarding the answer. We develop and fit autologistic models, built upon both spatial and linguistic neighbor graphs, for 44 cultural traits of 172 societies in the Western North American Indian (WNAI) database. For each trait, we compare models including or excluding one or both neighbor graphs, and for the majority of traits we find strong evidence in favor of a model which uses both spatial and linguistic neighbors to predict a trait's distribution. Our results run counter to the assertion that cultural trait distributions can be explained largely by the transmission of traits from parent to daughter populations and are thus best analyzed with phylogenies. In contrast, we show that vertical and horizontal transmission pathways can be incorporated in a single model, that both transmission modes may indeed operate on the same trait, and that for most traits in the WNAI database, accounting for only one mode of transmission would result in a loss of information.

Agronomy, sustainability and good agricultural practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caliman Jean-Pierre

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Sustainable palm oil production needs to be based on the application of a code of good practices, respecting a certain number of criteria related to economic, environmental and social aspects. We focus here on economic and environmental aspects, attempting to take stock of the current situation regarding the management of inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, and of oil mill waste (empty fruit bunches, effluent. We also take a look at the main agricultural research required if we are to be able to assess the situation on different scales and see how it is evolving, and also provide assistance for rational management that is compatible with farmers’ production targets.

Using donation mechanisms to value nonuse benefits from public goods

Science.gov (United States)

Patricia A. Champ; Richard C. Bishop; Thomas C. Brown; Daniel W. McCollum

1997-01-01

This paper discusses an experiment in which the value for an unfamiliar environmental good, whose total value has a large nonuse component, is verified using a revealed-preference method. As we were unable to observe preferences via an incentive compatible mechanism, we collected voluntary contributions toward the provision of the good. We make a case for interpreting...

Gastronomy Tourism in Several Neighbor Countries of Indonesia: a Brief Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurniasih Sukenti

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Gastronomy tourism, also called culinary tourism or food tourism, is a kind of tourism that provide attractions based on the culinary aspect owned by a country, region, or area. It is not only offers food and beverages as the main objects in its attractions, but also everything related to food activities ranging from food ingredients, preparation, processing, serving, as well as the cultural and local values. A well-managed culinary tourism will be a supportive program in developing and enhancing the tourism sector in a country. The objective of this paper is to describe the profile of gastronomy tourism in several neighbor countries of Indonesia, i.e. Hongkong, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. This brief review is also discussed the potential of Indonesia gastronomy in supporting government’s tourism program. Basically, Indonesia has more enormous potential asset in managing its cultural heritages in term of culinary than its neighbor countries. A well-managed gastronomy tourism plays not only an important role in enhancing the economic sector, but also contribute in preserving the natural and cultural resources. Keywords: gastronomy tourism, culinary tourism, food tourism.

Disentangling neighbors and extended range density oscillations in monatomic amorphous semiconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Roorda, S; Martin, C; Droui, M; Chicoine, M; Kazimirov, A; Kycia, S

2012-06-22

High energy x-ray diffraction measurements of pure amorphous Ge were made and its radial distribution function (RDF) was determined at high resolution, revealing new information on the atomic structure of amorphous semiconductors. Fine structure in the second peak in the RDF provides evidence that a fraction of third neighbors are closer than some second neighbors; taking this into account leads to a narrow distribution of tetrahedral bond angles, (8.5 ± 0.1)°. A small peak which appears near 5 Å upon thermal annealing shows that some ordering in the dihedral bond-angle distribution takes place during structural relaxation. Extended range order is detected (in both a-Ge and a-Si) which persists to beyond 20 Å, and both the periodicity and its decay length increase upon thermal annealing. Previously, the effect of structural relaxation was only detected at intermediate range, involving reduced tetrahedral bond-angle distortions. These results enhance our understanding of the atomic order in continuous random networks and place significantly more stringent requirements on computer models intending to describe these networks, or their alternatives which attempt to describe the structure in terms of an arrangement of paracrystals.

Informative advertising by an environmental group

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijnen, Pim

Consuming a product does not (necessarily) reveal the environmental damage it may cause. In terms of environmental damage, most goods are credence goods. Therefore, advertising and pricing rarely can transmit such information effectively to consumers. This article considers the scope with which an

SAVANNAH RIVER SITE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT SUMMARY FOR 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Griffith, M.; Meyer, A.

2013-09-12

This report's purpose is to: Present summary environmental data that characterize Site environmental management performance, Describe compliance status with respect to environmental standards and requirements, and Highlight significant programs and efforts. Environmental monitoring is conducted extensively with a 2,000-square-mile network extending 25 miles from SRS, with some monitoring performed as far as 100 miles from the Site. The area includes neighboring cities, towns, and counties in Georgia (GA) and South Carolina (SC). Thousands of samples of air, rainwater, surface water, drinking water, groundwater, food products, wildlife, soil, sediment, and vegetation are collected by SRS and analyzed for the presence of radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants. During 2012, SRS accomplished several significant milestones while maintaining its record of environmental excellence, as its operations continued to result in minimal impact to the public and the environment. The Site's radioactive and chemical discharges to air and water were well below regulatory standards for environmental and public health protection; its air and water quality met applicable requirements; and the potential radiation dose to the public was well below the DOE public dose limit.

Equivalent charge source model based iterative maximum neighbor weight for sparse EEG source localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Peng; Tian, Yin; Lei, Xu; Hu, Xiao; Yao, Dezhong

2008-12-01

How to localize the neural electric activities within brain effectively and precisely from the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings is a critical issue for current study in clinical neurology and cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, based on the charge source model and the iterative re-weighted strategy, proposed is a new maximum neighbor weight based iterative sparse source imaging method, termed as CMOSS (Charge source model based Maximum neighbOr weight Sparse Solution). Different from the weight used in focal underdetermined system solver (FOCUSS) where the weight for each point in the discrete solution space is independently updated in iterations, the new designed weight for each point in each iteration is determined by the source solution of the last iteration at both the point and its neighbors. Using such a new weight, the next iteration may have a bigger chance to rectify the local source location bias existed in the previous iteration solution. The simulation studies with comparison to FOCUSS and LORETA for various source configurations were conducted on a realistic 3-shell head model, and the results confirmed the validation of CMOSS for sparse EEG source localization. Finally, CMOSS was applied to localize sources elicited in a visual stimuli experiment, and the result was consistent with those source areas involved in visual processing reported in previous studies.

Keeping up With The Neighbors: Nonproliferation and Implementation of UNSCR 1540

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-15

be respectful of the rule of law and a competitive participatory democracy , yet fail to implement UNSCR 1540, just like its neighbors. Discussion...risk-taking between 1816 and 1992. They found a strong association between conservative governmental decision-making and not only democracies , but...specifically those democracies with highly competitive political systems.46 In addition, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, et.al. found a significant

Globalizing Students Acting for the Common Good

Science.gov (United States)

Bencze, Larry; Carter, Lyn

2011-01-01

It is apparent that many of us live in a hyper-economized world, in which personal identities and routine practices are significantly oriented towards production and consumption of for-profit goods and services. Extreme consumerism resulting from this orientation often is associated with many personal, social, and environmental problems.…

Credit scoring analysis using weighted k nearest neighbor

Science.gov (United States)

Mukid, M. A.; Widiharih, T.; Rusgiyono, A.; Prahutama, A.

2018-05-01

Credit scoring is a quatitative method to evaluate the credit risk of loan applications. Both statistical methods and artificial intelligence are often used by credit analysts to help them decide whether the applicants are worthy of credit. These methods aim to predict future behavior in terms of credit risk based on past experience of customers with similar characteristics. This paper reviews the weighted k nearest neighbor (WKNN) method for credit assessment by considering the use of some kernels. We use credit data from a private bank in Indonesia. The result shows that the Gaussian kernel and rectangular kernel have a better performance based on the value of percentage corrected classified whose value is 82.4% respectively.

Better, but good enough? Indicators for absolute environmental sustainability in a life cycle perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørn, Anders; Richardson, Katherine

An increasing focus on sustainability has led to proliferation of the use of environmental indicators to guide various types of decisions, from individual consumer choices to policy making at the national, regional and global scale. Most environmental indicators are relative, meaning that quantif......An increasing focus on sustainability has led to proliferation of the use of environmental indicators to guide various types of decisions, from individual consumer choices to policy making at the national, regional and global scale. Most environmental indicators are relative, meaning...... that quantified environmental interferences of a studied anthropogenic system (a product, a company, a city, etc.) are compared to those of chosen anthropogenic systems of reference. The use of relative indicators can give the impression that societies are moving towards environmental sustainability when...... that society-nature interactions in many cases are environmentally unsustainable and that the level of unsustainability may be increasing over time. A clear rationale therefore exists for developing and using absolute environmental sustainability indicators (AESI) that not only can identify the anthropogenic...

Environmental influences on cooperation in social dilemmas on networks

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Yunya; Chang, Shuhua; Yan, Ming; Zhang, Zhipeng; Wang, Xinyu

2018-02-01

Environmental influence on cooperation is a classical topic that is widely applicable to social interactions. Here, we introduce a realistic model which depends on both the payoff and the strategy of the environment. As the strategy of the environment rather than the neighbor is imitated with a probability, the model takes more attention on the comprehensive influence of the nearby neighbors. The simulation results show that the cooperation level can be widely enhanced for the prisoner's dilemma game and the snowdrift game with this environment factor. In this environmental model, the mechanism of the survival of cooperators is deeply studied, and the corresponding results can be derived. Although the survival of cooperators also depends on the formation of the cooperator clusters, the enhancement of the cooperation level can be interpreted as the accumulation effect of the transformation of defection into cooperation. Interestingly, there exists a threshold of the initial fraction of the cooperators, and the cooperation increases significantly when this threshold is reached Moreover, the square cooperative cluster is stable, and robust against different levels of the noise parameter and temptation in the strategy adoption process. This work may shed light on the mechanism of cooperation in the real world.

Fusion yield rate recovery by escaping hot-spot fast ions in the neighboring fuel layer

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xian-Zhu; McDevitt, C. J.; Guo, Zehua; Berk, H. L.

2014-02-01

Free-streaming loss by fast ions can deplete the tail population in the hot spot of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target. Escaping fast ions in the neighboring fuel layer of a cryogenic target can produce a surplus of fast ions locally. In contrast to the Knudsen layer effect that reduces hot-spot fusion reactivity due to tail ion depletion, the inverse Knudsen layer effect increases fusion reactivity in the neighboring fuel layer. In the case of a burning ICF target in the presence of significant hydrodynamic mix which aggravates the Knudsen layer effect, the yield recovery largely compensates for the yield reduction. For mix-dominated sub-ignition targets, the yield reduction is the dominant process.

Aftershock identification problem via the nearest-neighbor analysis for marked point processes

Science.gov (United States)

Gabrielov, A.; Zaliapin, I.; Wong, H.; Keilis-Borok, V.

2007-12-01

The centennial observations on the world seismicity have revealed a wide variety of clustering phenomena that unfold in the space-time-energy domain and provide most reliable information about the earthquake dynamics. However, there is neither a unifying theory nor a convenient statistical apparatus that would naturally account for the different types of seismic clustering. In this talk we present a theoretical framework for nearest-neighbor analysis of marked processes and obtain new results on hierarchical approach to studying seismic clustering introduced by Baiesi and Paczuski (2004). Recall that under this approach one defines an asymmetric distance D in space-time-energy domain such that the nearest-neighbor spanning graph with respect to D becomes a time- oriented tree. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to detect earthquake clustering. We apply our analysis to the observed seismicity of California and synthetic catalogs from ETAS model and show that the earthquake clustering part is statistically different from the homogeneous part. This finding may serve as a basis for an objective aftershock identification procedure.

Carbon-hydrogen defects with a neighboring oxygen atom in n-type Si

Science.gov (United States)

Gwozdz, K.; Stübner, R.; Kolkovsky, Vl.; Weber, J.

2017-07-01

We report on the electrical activation of neutral carbon-oxygen complexes in Si by wet-chemical etching at room temperature. Two deep levels, E65 and E75, are observed by deep level transient spectroscopy in n-type Czochralski Si. The activation enthalpies of E65 and E75 are obtained as EC-0.11 eV (E65) and EC-0.13 eV (E75). The electric field dependence of their emission rates relates both levels to single acceptor states. From the analysis of the depth profiles, we conclude that the levels belong to two different defects, which contain only one hydrogen atom. A configuration is proposed, where the CH1BC defect, with hydrogen in the bond-centered position between neighboring C and Si atoms, is disturbed by interstitial oxygen in the second nearest neighbor position to substitutional carbon. The significant reduction of the CH1BC concentration in samples with high oxygen concentrations limits the use of this defect for the determination of low concentrations of substitutional carbon in Si samples.

Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnett, M.W.; Mamatey, A.; Spitzer, D.

1994-01-01

The mission at the Savannah River Site has changed from producing nuclear weapons materials for national defense to managing the waste it has generated, restoring the environment, and enhancing industrial development in and around the site. But no matter what the site's mission is, it will continue to maintain its comprehensive environmental monitoring and surveillance program. In 1994, effluent monitoring and environmental surveillance were conducted within a 30,000-square-mile area in and around SRS that includes neighboring cities, towns, and counties in Georgia and South Carolina and extends up to 100 miles from the site. Thousands of samples of air, surface water, groundwater, foodstuffs, drinking water, wildlife, rainwater, soil, sediment, and vegetation were collected and analyzed for radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants

Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arnett, M.W.; Mamatey, A.; Spitzer, D.

1994-12-16

The mission at the Savannah River Site has changed from producing nuclear weapons materials for national defense to managing the waste it has generated, restoring the environment, and enhancing industrial development in and around the site. But no matter what the site`s mission is, it will continue to maintain its comprehensive environmental monitoring and surveillance program. In 1994, effluent monitoring and environmental surveillance were conducted within a 30,000-square-mile area in and around SRS that includes neighboring cities, towns, and counties in Georgia and South Carolina and extends up to 100 miles from the site. Thousands of samples of air, surface water, groundwater, foodstuffs, drinking water, wildlife, rainwater, soil, sediment, and vegetation were collected and analyzed for radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants.

Using K-Nearest Neighbor Classification to Diagnose Abnormal Lung Sounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Hsing Chen

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A reported 30% of people worldwide have abnormal lung sounds, including crackles, rhonchi, and wheezes. To date, the traditional stethoscope remains the most popular tool used by physicians to diagnose such abnormal lung sounds, however, many problems arise with the use of a stethoscope, including the effects of environmental noise, the inability to record and store lung sounds for follow-up or tracking, and the physician’s subjective diagnostic experience. This study has developed a digital stethoscope to help physicians overcome these problems when diagnosing abnormal lung sounds. In this digital system, mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs were used to extract the features of lung sounds, and then the K-means algorithm was used for feature clustering, to reduce the amount of data for computation. Finally, the K-nearest neighbor method was used to classify the lung sounds. The proposed system can also be used for home care: if the percentage of abnormal lung sound frames is > 30% of the whole test signal, the system can automatically warn the user to visit a physician for diagnosis. We also used bend sensors together with an amplification circuit, Bluetooth, and a microcontroller to implement a respiration detector. The respiratory signal extracted by the bend sensors can be transmitted to the computer via Bluetooth to calculate the respiratory cycle, for real-time assessment. If an abnormal status is detected, the device will warn the user automatically. Experimental results indicated that the error in respiratory cycles between measured and actual values was only 6.8%, illustrating the potential of our detector for home care applications.

Spatial correlations between browsing on balsam fir by white-tailed deer and the nutritional value of neighboring winter forage.

Science.gov (United States)

Champagne, Emilie; Moore, Ben D; Côté, Steeve D; Tremblay, Jean-Pierre

2018-03-01

Associational effects, that is, the influence of neighboring plants on herbivory suffered by a plant, are an outcome of forage selection. Although forage selection is a hierarchical process, few studies have investigated associational effects at multiple spatial scales. Because the nutritional quality of plants can be spatially structured, it might differently influence associational effects across multiple scales. Our objective was to determine the radius of influence of neighbor density and nutritional quality on balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ) herbivory by white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) in winter. We quantified browsing rates on fir and the density and quality of neighboring trees in a series of 10-year-old cutovers on Anticosti Island (Canada). We used cross-correlations to investigate relationships between browsing rates and the density and nutritional quality of neighboring trees at distances up to 1,000 m. Balsam fir and white spruce ( Picea glauca ) fiber content and dry matter in vitro true digestibility were correlated with fir browsing rate at the finest extra-patch scale (across distance of up to 50 m) and between cutover areas (300-400 m). These correlations suggest associational effects, that is, low nutritional quality of neighbors reduces the likelihood of fir herbivory (associational defense). Our results may indicate associational effects mediated by intraspecific variation in plant quality and suggest that these effects could occur at scales from tens to hundreds of meters. Understanding associational effects could inform strategies for restoration or conservation; for example, planting of fir among existing natural regeneration could be concentrated in areas of low nutritional quality.

One good reason to speak of ‘climate refugees’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

François Gemenne

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The concept of ‘environmental refugees’, or ‘climate refugees’, has been progressively abandoned, as having no legal basis. I want to argue that there are good reasons to use the term.

The influence of As/III pressure ratio on nitrogen nearest-neighbor environments in as-grown GaInNAs quantum wells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kudrawiec, R.; Poloczek, P.; Misiewicz, J.; Korpijaervi, V.-M.; Laukkanen, P.; Pakarinen, J.; Dumitrescu, M.; Guina, M.; Pessa, M.

2009-01-01

The energy fine structure, corresponding to different nitrogen nearest-neighbor environments, was observed in contactless electroreflectance (CER) spectra of as-grown GaInNAs quantum wells (QWs) obtained at various As/III pressure ratios. In the spectral range of the fundamental transition, two CER resonances were detected for samples grown at low As pressures whereas only one CER resonance was observed for samples obtained at higher As pressures. This resonance corresponds to the most favorable nitrogen nearest-neighbor environment in terms of the total crystal energy. It means that the nitrogen nearest-neighbor environment in GaInNAs QWs can be controlled in molecular beam epitaxy process by As/III pressure ratio.

Diagnosis of Diabetes Diseases Using an Artificial Immune Recognition System2 (AIRS2) with Fuzzy K-nearest Neighbor

OpenAIRE

CHIKH, Mohamed Amine; SAIDI, Meryem; SETTOUTI, Nesma

2012-01-01

The use of expert systems and artificial intelligence techniques in disease diagnosis has been increasing gradually. Artificial Immune Recognition System (AIRS) is one of the methods used in medical classification problems. AIRS2 is a more efficient version of the AIRS algorithm. In this paper, we used a modified AIRS2 called MAIRS2 where we replace the K- nearest neighbors algorithm with the fuzzy K-nearest neighbors to improve the diagnostic accuracy of diabetes diseases. The diabetes disea...

On the difference in oscillator strengths of inner shell excitations in noble gases and their alkali neighbors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amusia, M.Y.; Baltenkov, A.S.; Zhuravleva, G.I.

1995-01-01

It is demonstrated that the oscillator strength of resonant inner-shell excitation in a noble gas atom is considerably smaller than that in its alkali neighbor because in the latter case the effective charge acting upon excited electron is much bigger. With increase of the excitation's principal quantum number the difference between line intensities in noble gases and their alkali neighbors rapidly disappears. The calculations are performed in the Hartree-Fock approximation and with inclusion of rearrangement effects due to inner vacancy creation and its Auger decay. A paper has been submitted for publication

Nearest neighbors EPR superhyperfine interaction in divalent iridium complexes in alkali halide host lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinhal, N.M.; Vugman, N.V.

1983-01-01

Further splitting of chlorine superhyperfine lines on the EPR spectrum of the [Ir (CN) 4 Cl 2 ] 4 - molecular species in NaCl latice indicates a super-superhyperfine interaction with the nearest neighbors sodium atoms. (Author) [pt

Heuristics guide cooperative behaviors in public goods game

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yongjie; Chen, Tong

2015-12-01

In public goods game (PGG), player's cooperative behavior is not pure economical rationality, but social preference and prosocial intuition play extremely important roles as well. Social preference and prosocial intuition can be guided by heuristics from one's neighbors in daily life. To better investigate the impacts of heuristics on the evolution of cooperation, four types of agents are introduced into our spatial PGG. Through numerical simulations, results show that the larger percentages of cooperators with independent thought, the easier emergence and maintenance of collective cooperative behaviors. Additionally, we find that differentia heuristic capability has great effect on the equilibrium of PGG. Cooperation can be obviously promoted, when heuristic capability of cooperators with independent thought is stronger than that of defectors with independent thought. Finally, we observe that cooperators with independent thought and defectors with independent thought are favorable for the formation of some high quality clusters, which can resist the invasion between each other. Our work may help us understand more clearly the mechanism of cooperation in real world.

Defining criteria for good environmental journalism and testing their applicability: An environmental news review as a first step to more evidence based environmental science reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Rögener, Wiebke; Wormer, Holger

2017-05-01

While the quality of environmental science journalism has been the subject of much debate, a widely accepted benchmark to assess the quality of coverage of environmental topics is missing so far. Therefore, we have developed a set of defined criteria of environmental reporting. This instrument and its applicability are tested in a newly established monitoring project for the assessment of pieces on environmental issues, which refer to scientific sources and therefore can be regarded as a special field of science journalism. The quality is assessed in a kind of journalistic peer review. We describe the systematic development of criteria, which might also be a model procedure for other fields of science reporting. Furthermore, we present results from the monitoring of 50 environmental reports in German media. According to these preliminary data, the lack of context and the deficient elucidation of the evidence pose major problems in environmental reporting.

Exactly solvable spin-1 Ising–Heisenberg diamond chain with the second-neighbor interaction between nodal spins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hovhannisyan, V V; Ananikian, N S; Strečka, J

2016-01-01

The spin-1 Ising–Heisenberg diamond chain with the second-neighbor interaction between nodal spins is rigorously solved using the transfer-matrix method. In particular, exact results for the ground state, magnetization process and specific heat are presented and discussed. It is shown that further-neighbor interaction between nodal spins gives rise to three novel ground states with a translationally broken symmetry, but at the same time, does not increases the total number of intermediate plateaus in a zero-temperature magnetization curve compared with the simplified model without this interaction term. The zero-field specific heat displays interesting thermal dependencies with a single- or double-peak structure. (paper)

Construction of Bending Magnet Beamline at the APS for Environmental Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, E.A.

1999-01-01

The objective of this research was to design and construct a bending magnet beamline at the Advanced Photon Source. The beamline is to be optimized for x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies with a major focus on environmental issues. The beamline will share the experimental facilities under development at the neighboring undulator-based insertion device beamline. It will utilize these facilities for XAS of both bulk and surface samples, with spatial and elemental imaging, on toxic and radioactive samples. It will help meet the rapidly growing need for the application of these techniques to environmental problems

A dynamic evolutionary clustering perspective: Community detection in signed networks by reconstructing neighbor sets

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jianrui; Wang, Hua; Wang, Lina; Liu, Weiwei

2016-04-01

Community detection in social networks has been intensively studied in recent years. In this paper, a novel similarity measurement is defined according to social balance theory for signed networks. Inter-community positive links are found and deleted due to their low similarity. The positive neighbor sets are reconstructed by this method. Then, differential equations are proposed to imitate the constantly changing states of nodes. Each node will update its state based on the difference between its state and average state of its positive neighbors. Nodes in the same community will evolve together with time and nodes in the different communities will evolve far away. Communities are detected ultimately when states of nodes are stable. Experiments on real world and synthetic networks are implemented to verify detection performance. The thorough comparisons demonstrate the presented method is more efficient than two acknowledged better algorithms.

Chaotic Synchronization in Nearest-Neighbor Coupled Networks of 3D CNNs

OpenAIRE

Serrano-Guerrero, H.; Cruz-Hernández, C.; López-Gutiérrez, R.M.; Cardoza-Avendaño, L.; Chávez-Pérez, R.A.

2013-01-01

In this paper, a synchronization of Cellular Neural Networks (CNNs) in nearest-neighbor coupled arrays, is numerically studied. Synchronization of multiple chaotic CNNs is achieved by appealing to complex systems theory. In particular, we consider dynamical networks composed by 3D CNNs, as interconnected nodes, where the interactions in the networks are defined by coupling the first state of each node. Four cases of interest are considered: i) synchronization without chaotic master, ii) maste...

Prevalence and Identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei and Near-Neighbor Species in the Malabar Coastal Region of India

Science.gov (United States)

Peddayelachagiri, Bhavani V.; Paul, Soumya; Nagaraj, Sowmya; Gogoi, Madhurjya; Sripathy, Murali H.; Batra, Harsh V.

2016-01-01

Accurate identification of pathogens with biowarfare importance requires detection tools that specifically differentiate them from near-neighbor species. Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of a fatal disease melioidosis, is one such biothreat agent whose differentiation from its near-neighbor species is always a challenge. This is because of its phenotypic similarity with other Burkholderia species which have a wide spread geographical distribution with shared environmental niches. Melioidosis is a major public health concern in endemic regions including Southeast Asia and northern Australia. In India, the disease is still considered to be emerging. Prevalence surveys of this saprophytic bacterium in environment are under-reported in the country. A major challenge in this case is the specific identification and differentiation of B. pseudomallei from the growing list of species of Burkholderia genus. The objectives of this study included examining the prevalence of B. pseudomallei and near-neighbor species in coastal region of South India and development of a novel detection tool for specific identification and differentiation of Burkholderia species. Briefly, we analyzed soil and water samples collected from Malabar coastal region of Kerala, South India for prevalence of B. pseudomallei. The presumptive Burkholderia isolates were identified using recA PCR assay. The recA PCR assay identified 22 of the total 40 presumptive isolates as Burkholderia strains (22.72% and 77.27% B. pseudomallei and non-pseudomallei Burkholderia respectively). In order to identify each isolate screened, we performed recA and 16S rDNA sequencing. This two genes sequencing revealed that the presumptive isolates included B. pseudomallei, non-pseudomallei Burkholderia as well as non-Burkholderia strains. Furthermore, a gene termed D-beta hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (bdha) was studied both in silico and in vitro for accurate detection of Burkholderia genus. The optimized bdha

Good leadership for good quality

OpenAIRE

Franzon, Vilma Maria

2016-01-01

Good leadership is important if you like to have high quality in the results. My experience in the production of the television industry is that conditions for good leadership is insufficient. Therefore, I have tried to get answers for those two questions in my exam report: What are the characteristics of good leadership? What are the prerequisites for good leadership out of production? The method I used is a literature study and observation. I have read a number of books and research studies...

Loving All Your Neighbors: Why Community Colleges Need the Academic Study of Religion

Science.gov (United States)

Maley, Melissa

2013-01-01

This chapter explains how the study of world religions prepares the community college student to become a better citizen, worker, and neighbor. The effective middle between the pitfalls of religious relativism and religious dominance in a world religions classroom is central to this discussion of teaching critical thinking, empathy, and…

Dose distribution in the thyroid and neighboring regions in therapy with 131I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteiro, Rommel Barbosa; Bonifacio, Daniel Alexandre Baptista; Sa, Lidia Vasconcellos de

2013-01-01

In this work, simulations were performed with two types of computer simulators: the MIRD phantom and voxel phantom MASH, both of type adult male and in the standing position, coupled to the computational tool GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission), to obtain the dose deposited in thyroid and neighboring regions

Environmental tax shifting in Canada : theory and application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, A.; Hornung, R.; Cairns, S.

2003-03-01

Canada's leading energy and resource companies along with the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development have collaborated in the Triple E Tax Shift Research Collaborative which examines the use of environmental tax shifting in Canada. The objective is to design, evaluate and advance federal and provincial environmental tax shifts that will influence individual behaviour and decisions to improve ecological integrity through measurable reductions in materials and energy throughput, and to maintain or increase economic competitiveness through the creation of a tax framework that would encourage businesses to improve energy efficiency. Another objective is to increase employment and social benefits through more employment opportunities and improved quality of life. Environmental tax shifting means shifting a portion of a government's tax base onto goods, services and activities associated with harmful environmental impacts that add to societal costs. Tax shifting can be implemented by offering rebates to consumers of environmental significant goods, or by adjustments to existing taxes so that environmentally sensitive goods are taxed at a lower rate than environmentally harmful goods and services. Environmental tax shifting can also be implemented by reducing existing environmental taxes and introducing a carbon dioxide emissions tax. This report is the first product of the collaboration and is intended to promote public dialogue on the subject and identify ways to implement environmental tax shifting. tabs., figs

A new approach to very short term wind speed prediction using k-nearest neighbor classification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yesilbudak, Mehmet; Sagiroglu, Seref; Colak, Ilhami

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Wind speed parameter was predicted in an n-tupled inputs using k-NN classification. ► The effects of input parameters, nearest neighbors and distance metrics were analyzed. ► Many useful and reasonable inferences were uncovered using the developed model. - Abstract: Wind energy is an inexhaustible energy source and wind power production has been growing rapidly in recent years. However, wind power has a non-schedulable nature due to wind speed variations. Hence, wind speed prediction is an indispensable requirement for power system operators. This paper predicts wind speed parameter in an n-tupled inputs using k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) classification and analyzes the effects of input parameters, nearest neighbors and distance metrics on wind speed prediction. The k-NN classification model was developed using the object oriented programming techniques and includes Manhattan and Minkowski distance metrics except from Euclidean distance metric on the contrary of literature. The k-NN classification model which uses wind direction, air temperature, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity parameters in a 4-tupled space achieved the best wind speed prediction for k = 5 in the Manhattan distance metric. Differently, the k-NN classification model which uses wind direction, air temperature and atmospheric pressure parameters in a 3-tupled inputs gave the worst wind speed prediction for k = 1 in the Minkowski distance metric

Savannah River site environmental report for 1996

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arnett, M.; Mamatey, A. [eds.

1998-12-31

The mission at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has changed from the production of nuclear weapons materials for national defense to the management of site-generated waste, restoration of the surrounding environment, and the development of industry in and around the site. However, SRS-through its prime operating contractor, Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC)-continues to maintain a comprehensive environmental monitoring program. In 1996, effluent monitoring and environmental surveillance were conducted within a 31,000-square-mile area in and around SRS that includes neighboring cities, towns, and counties in Georgia and South Carolina and extends up to 100 miles from the site. Though the environmental monitoring program was streamlined in 1996-to improve its cost-effectiveness without compromising data quality or reducing its overall ability to produce critical information-thousands of samples of air, surface water, groundwater, food products, drinking water, wildlife, rainwater, soil, sediment, and vegetation were collected and analyzed for radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants.

Savannah River site environmental report for 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnett, M.; Mamatey, A.

1998-01-01

The mission at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has changed from the production of nuclear weapons materials for national defense to the management of site-generated waste, restoration of the surrounding environment, and the development of industry in and around the site. However, SRS-through its prime operating contractor, Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC)-continues to maintain a comprehensive environmental monitoring program. In 1996, effluent monitoring and environmental surveillance were conducted within a 31,000-square-mile area in and around SRS that includes neighboring cities, towns, and counties in Georgia and South Carolina and extends up to 100 miles from the site. Though the environmental monitoring program was streamlined in 1996-to improve its cost-effectiveness without compromising data quality or reducing its overall ability to produce critical information-thousands of samples of air, surface water, groundwater, food products, drinking water, wildlife, rainwater, soil, sediment, and vegetation were collected and analyzed for radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants

Evaluation of transboundary environmental issues in Central Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Engi, D. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Corporate Planning and Strategic Business Development Div.; Kapustka, L.A.; Williams, B.A.; Meganck, R.A.; Garrison, J.G. [Ecological Planning and Toxicology, Inc., Corvallis, OR (United States); Glicken, J. [Ecological Planning and Toxicology, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Hostetler, C.J.; Lawrence, S. [Columbia Environmental Services, Inc., Kennewick, WA (United States)

1997-05-01

Central Europe has experienced environmental degradation for hundreds of years. The proximity of countries, their shared resources, and transboundary movement of environmental pollution, create the potential for regional environmental strife. The goal of this project was to identify the sources and sinks of environmental pollution in Central Europe and evaluate the possible impact of transboundary movement of pollution on the countries of Central Europe. In meeting the objectives of identifying sources of contaminants, determining transboundary movement of contaminants, and assessing socio-economic implications, large quantities of disparate data were examined. To facilitate use of the data, the authors refined mapping procedures that enable processing information from virtually any map or spreadsheet data that can be geo-referenced. Because the procedure is freed from a priori constraints of scale that confound most Geographical Information Systems, they have the capacity to generate new projections and apply sophisticated statistical analyses to the data. The analysis indicates substantial environmental problems. While transboundary pollution issues may spawn conflict among the Central European countries and their neighbors, it appears that common environmental problems facing the entire region have had the effect of bringing the countries together, even though opportunities for deteriorating relationships may still arise.

Neighbor Detection Induces Organ-Specific Transcriptomes, Revealing Patterns Underlying Hypocotyl-Specific Growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohnen, Markus V; Schmid-Siegert, Emanuel; Trevisan, Martine; Petrolati, Laure Allenbach; Sénéchal, Fabien; Müller-Moulé, Patricia; Maloof, Julin; Xenarios, Ioannis; Fankhauser, Christian

2016-12-01

In response to neighbor proximity, plants increase the growth of specific organs (e.g., hypocotyls) to enhance access to sunlight. Shade enhances the activity of Phytochrome Interacting Factors (PIFs) by releasing these bHLH transcription factors from phytochrome B-mediated inhibition. PIFs promote elongation by inducing auxin production in cotyledons. In order to elucidate spatiotemporal aspects of the neighbor proximity response, we separately analyzed gene expression patterns in the major light-sensing organ (cotyledons) and in rapidly elongating hypocotyls of Arabidopsis thaliana PIFs initiate transcriptional reprogramming in both organs within 15 min, comprising regulated expression of several early auxin response genes. This suggests that hypocotyl growth is elicited by both local and distal auxin signals. We show that cotyledon-derived auxin is both necessary and sufficient to initiate hypocotyl growth, but we also provide evidence for the functional importance of the local PIF-induced response. With time, the transcriptional response diverges increasingly between organs. We identify genes whose differential expression may underlie organ-specific elongation. Finally, we uncover a growth promotion gene expression signature shared between different developmentally regulated growth processes and responses to the environment in different organs. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

δ-Generalized Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter Using Amplitude Information of Neighboring Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Liu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The amplitude information (AI of echoed signals plays an important role in radar target detection and tracking. A lot of research shows that the introduction of AI enables the tracking algorithm to distinguish targets from clutter better and then improves the performance of data association. The current AI-aided tracking algorithms only consider the signal amplitude in the range-azimuth cell where measurement exists. However, since radar echoes always contain backscattered signals from multiple cells, the useful information of neighboring cells would be lost if directly applying those existing methods. In order to solve this issue, a new δ-generalized labeled multi-Bernoulli (δ-GLMB filter is proposed. It exploits the AI of radar echoes from neighboring cells to construct a united amplitude likelihood ratio, and then plugs it into the update process and the measurement-track assignment cost matrix of the δ-GLMB filter. Simulation results show that the proposed approach has better performance in target’s state and number estimation than that of the δ-GLMB only using single-cell AI in low signal-to-clutter-ratio (SCR environment.

Recursive nearest neighbor search in a sparse and multiscale domain for comparing audio signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sturm, Bob L.; Daudet, Laurent

2011-01-01

We investigate recursive nearest neighbor search in a sparse domain at the scale of audio signals. Essentially, to approximate the cosine distance between the signals we make pairwise comparisons between the elements of localized sparse models built from large and redundant multiscale dictionaries...

Studying nearest neighbor correlations by atom probe tomography (APT) in metallic glasses as exemplified for Fe40Ni40B20 glassy ribbons

KAUST Repository

Shariq, Ahmed

2012-01-01

A next nearest neighbor evaluation procedure of atom probe tomography data provides distributions of the distances between atoms. The width of these distributions for metallic glasses studied so far is a few Angstrom reflecting the spatial resolution of the analytical technique. However, fitting Gaussian distributions to the distribution of atomic distances yields average distances with statistical uncertainties of 2 to 3 hundredth of an Angstrom. Fe 40Ni40B20 metallic glass ribbons are characterized this way in the as quenched state and for a state heat treated at 350 °C for 1 h revealing a change in the structure on the sub-nanometer scale. By applying the statistical tool of the χ2 test a slight deviation from a random distribution of B-atoms in the as quenched sample is perceived, whereas a pronounced elemental inhomogeneity of boron is detected for the annealed state. In addition, the distance distribution of the first fifteen atomic neighbors is determined by using this algorithm for both annealed and as quenched states. The next neighbor evaluation algorithm evinces a steric periodicity of the atoms when the next neighbor distances are normalized by the first next neighbor distance. A comparison of the nearest neighbor atomic distribution for as quenched and annealed state shows accumulation of Ni and B. Moreover, it also reveals the tendency of Fe and B to move slightly away from each other, an incipient step to Ni rich boride formation. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Measurement of near neighbor separations of surface atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, P.I.

Two techniques are being developed to measure the nearest neighbor distances of atoms at the surfaces of solids. Both measures extended fine structure in the excitation probability of core level electrons which are excited by an incident electron beam. This is an important problem because the structures of most surface systems are as yet unknown, even though the location of surface atoms is the basis for any quantitative understanding of the chemistry and physics of surfaces and interfaces. These methods would allow any laboratory to make in situ determinations of surface structure in conjunction with most other laboratory probes of surfaces. Each of these two techniques has different advantages; further, the combination of the two will increase confidence in the results by reducing systematic error in the data analysis

Radiative energy loss of neighboring subjets arXiv

CERN Document Server

Mehtar-Tani, Yacine

We compute the in-medium energy loss probability distribution of two neighboring subjets at leading order, in the large-$N_c$ approximation. Our result exhibits a gradual onset of color decoherence of the system and accounts for two expected limiting cases. When the angular separation is smaller than the characteristic angle for medium-induced radiation, the two-pronged substructure lose energy coherently as a single color charge, namely that of the parent parton. At large angular separation the two subjets lose energy independently. Our result is a first step towards quantifying effects of energy loss as a result of the fluctuation of the multi-parton jet substructure and therefore goes beyond the standard approach to jet quenching based on single parton energy loss. We briefly discuss applications to jet observables in heavy-ion collisions.

Historical harvests reduce neighboring old-growth basal area across a forest landscape.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, David M; Spies, Thomas A; Pabst, Robert

2017-07-01

While advances in remote sensing have made stand, landscape, and regional assessments of the direct impacts of disturbance on forests quite common, the edge influence of timber harvesting on the structure of neighboring unharvested forests has not been examined extensively. In this study, we examine the impact of historical timber harvests on basal area patterns of neighboring old-growth forests to assess the magnitude and scale of harvest edge influence in a forest landscape of western Oregon, USA. We used lidar data and forest plot measurements to construct 30-m resolution live tree basal area maps in lower and middle elevation mature and old-growth forests. We assessed how edge influence on total, upper canopy, and lower canopy basal area varied across this forest landscape as a function of harvest characteristics (i.e., harvest size and age) and topographic conditions in the unharvested area. Upper canopy, lower canopy, and total basal area increased with distance from harvest edge and elevation. Forests within 75 m of harvest edges (20% of unharvested forests) had 4% to 6% less live tree basal area compared with forest interiors. An interaction between distance from harvest edge and elevation indicated that elevation altered edge influence in this landscape. We observed a positive edge influence at low elevations (800 m). Surprisingly, we found no or weak effects of harvest age (13-60 yr) and harvest area (0.2-110 ha) on surrounding unharvested forest basal area, implying that edge influence was relatively insensitive to the scale of disturbance and multi-decadal recovery processes. Our study indicates that the edge influence of past clearcutting on the structure of neighboring uncut old-growth forests is widespread and persistent. These indirect and diffuse legacies of historical timber harvests complicate forest management decision-making in old-growth forest landscapes by broadening the traditional view of stand boundaries. Furthermore, the consequences

Mapping DNA methylation by transverse current sequencing: Reduction of noise from neighboring nucleotides

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez, Jose; Massey, Steven; Kalitsov, Alan; Velev, Julian

Nanopore sequencing via transverse current has emerged as a competitive candidate for mapping DNA methylation without needed bisulfite-treatment, fluorescent tag, or PCR amplification. By eliminating the error producing amplification step, long read lengths become feasible, which greatly simplifies the assembly process and reduces the time and the cost inherent in current technologies. However, due to the large error rates of nanopore sequencing, single base resolution has not been reached. A very important source of noise is the intrinsic structural noise in the electric signature of the nucleotide arising from the influence of neighboring nucleotides. In this work we perform calculations of the tunneling current through DNA molecules in nanopores using the non-equilibrium electron transport method within an effective multi-orbital tight-binding model derived from first-principles calculations. We develop a base-calling algorithm accounting for the correlations of the current through neighboring bases, which in principle can reduce the error rate below any desired precision. Using this method we show that we can clearly distinguish DNA methylation and other base modifications based on the reading of the tunneling current.

Public involvement in environmental activities: Initiatives and lessons learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, R.H.

1995-01-01

Efforts to communicate the results of environmental studies and involve the public in environmental decisions have increased nationwide. Outreach efforts at two US Department of Energy sites (i.e., the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State and the Pantex Plant in the Texas Panhandle) have used a broad spectrum of communications media, including technical articles (open literature and symposium publications, annual and topical reports); information brochures and fact sheets; video productions; interactive exhibits; presentations at scientific, technical, civic, and other public meetings; and proactive interactions with the news media and with local, state, federal, and other agencies. In addition, representatives of local communities now operate offsite environmental monitoring stations and Native Americans are involved in studying cultural resources, fisheries, and other issues at Hanford and a program to obtain environmental samples from neighbor's property is underway at the Pantex Plant. All major environmental programs, such as the multi-year effort to reconstruct past radiological doses to offsite human populations at Hanford, are now conducted with open public participation

Neighboring Hetero-Atom Assistance of Sacrificial Amines to Hydrogen Evolution Using Pt-Loaded TiO2-Photocatalyst

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masahide Yasuda

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Photocatalytic H2 evolution was examined using Pt-loaded TiO2-photocatalyst in the presence of amines as sacrificial agents. In the case of amines with all of the carbon attached to the hetero-atom such as 2-aminoethanol, 1,2-diamonoethane, 2-amino-1,3-propanediol, and 3-amino-1,2-propanediol, they were completely decomposed into CO2 and water to quantitatively evolve H2. On the other hand, the amines with both hetero-atoms and one methyl group at the β-positions (neighboring carbons of amino group such as 2-amino-1-propanol and 1,2-diaminopropane were partially decomposed. Also, the photocatalytic H2 evolution using amines without the hetero-atoms at the β-positions such as ethylamine, propylamine, 1-butylamine, 1,3-diaminopropane, 2-propylamine, and 2-butylamine was inefficient. Thus, it was found that the neighboring hetero-atom strongly assisted the degradation of sacrificial amines. Moreover, rate constants for H2 evolution were compared among amines. In conclusion, the neighboring hetero-atom did not affect the rate constants but enhanced the yield of hydrogen evolution.

Distance-Constraint k-Nearest Neighbor Searching in Mobile Sensor Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Yongkoo; Park, Kisung; Hong, Jihye; Ulamin, Noor; Lee, Young-Koo

2015-07-27

The κ-Nearest Neighbors ( κNN) query is an important spatial query in mobile sensor networks. In this work we extend κNN to include a distance constraint, calling it a l-distant κ-nearest-neighbors (l-κNN) query, which finds the κ sensor nodes nearest to a query point that are also at or greater distance from each other. The query results indicate the objects nearest to the area of interest that are scattered from each other by at least distance l. The l-κNN query can be used in most κNN applications for the case of well distributed query results. To process an l-κNN query, we must discover all sets of κNN sensor nodes and then find all pairs of sensor nodes in each set that are separated by at least a distance l. Given the limited battery and computing power of sensor nodes, this l-κNN query processing is problematically expensive in terms of energy consumption. In this paper, we propose a greedy approach for l-κNN query processing in mobile sensor networks. The key idea of the proposed approach is to divide the search space into subspaces whose all sides are l. By selecting κ sensor nodes from the other subspaces near the query point, we guarantee accurate query results for l-κNN. In our experiments, we show that the proposed method exhibits superior performance compared with a post-processing based method using the κNN query in terms of energy efficiency, query latency, and accuracy.

Mapping change of older forest with nearest-neighbor imputation and Landsat time-series

Science.gov (United States)

Janet L. Ohmann; Matthew J. Gregory; Heather M. Roberts; Warren B. Cohen; Robert E. Kennedy; Zhiqiang. Yang

2012-01-01

The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), which aims to conserve late-successional and old-growth forests (older forests) and associated species, established new policies on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest USA. As part of monitoring for the NWFP, we tested nearest-neighbor imputation for mapping change in older forest, defined by threshold values for forest attributes...

Penerapan Metode K-nearest Neighbor pada Penentuan Grade Dealer Sepeda Motor

OpenAIRE

Leidiyana, Henny

2017-01-01

The mutually beneficial cooperation is a very important thing for a leasing and dealer. Incentives for marketing is given in order to get consumers as much as possible. But sometimes the surveyor objectivity is lost due to the conspiracy on the field of marketing and surveyors. To overcome this, leasing a variety of ways one of them is doing ranking against the dealer. In this study the application of the k-Nearest Neighbor method and Euclidean distance measurement to determine the grade deal...

Who's your neighbor? Acoustic cues to individual identity in red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus rattle calls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shannon M. DIGWEED, Drew RENDALL, Teana IMBEAU

2012-10-01

Full Text Available North American red squirrels Tamiasciurus hudsonicus often produce a loud territorial rattle call when conspecifics enter or invade a territory. Previous playback experiments suggest that the territorial rattle call may indicate an invader's identity as squirrels responded more intensely to calls played from strangers than to calls played from neighbors. This dear-enemy effect is well known in a variety of bird and mammal species and functions to reduce aggressive interactions between known neighbors. However, although previous experiments on red squirrels suggest some form of individual differentiation and thus recognition, detailed acoustic analysis of potential acoustic cues in rattle calls have not been conducted. If calls function to aid in conspecific identification in order to mitigate aggressive territorial interactions, we would expect that individual recognition cues would be acoustically represented. Our work provides a detailed analysis of acoustic cues to identity within rattle calls. A total of 225 calls across 32 individual squirrels from Sheep River Provincial Park, Kananaskis, AB, Canada, were analyzed with discriminant function analysis for potential acoustic cues to individual identity. Initial analysis of all individuals revealed a reliable acoustic differentiation across individuals. A more detailed analysis of clusters of neighboring squirrels was performed and results again indicated a statistically significant likelihood that calls were assigned correctly to specific squirrels (55%-75% correctly assigned; in other words squirrels have distinct voices that should allow for individual identification and discrimination by conspecifics [Current Zoology 58 (5: 758–764, 2012].

Global trade in environmental goods and services Performance and Challenges of Mexican Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

René Lara

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article studies the environmental industries of Mexico and the United States Within the framework of the North American Free Trade NAFTA, where Mexican industry lags behind lack of funds due to recurring economic crises. Should this situation not be overcome, the benefits of foreign trade for the Mexican environmental industry will remain low.

The perception for Good Death of community dwelling Japanese and Thailand respondents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michiyo Ando

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Having a “good death” is a very important goal of palliative care, and it is useful for nurses to understand cultural differences in the perception of a good death to propose nursing care. The purpose of this study was to compare the perception of a “good death” among community-dwelling Japanese and Thai people. Three hundred sixty-nine respondents completed the Good Death Questionnaire. The research design was a cross-sectional study. The scores of the Japanese respondents on “good relationships with medical staff,” “being respected as an individual,” and “fighting against cancer” were higher among Thai respondents. On the other hand, “environmental comfort,” “unawareness of death,” “control over the future,” and “religious and spiritual comfort” were higher among the Japanese respondents. Among the Japanese, the score for “life completion” was significantly correlated with “role accomplishment and contribution to others.” Among the Thai respondents, the score for “good relationships with family” was significantly correlated with “physical and cognitive control.” The implications of these results were that Japanese respondents preferred medical treatments, maintaining a good relationship with physicians, and demanding to be respected as an individual. Thai respondent’s preferred “environmental comfort” and “religious and spiritual comfort.” In the future, medical staff members will need to consider these cultural differences when proposing nursing care.

Detritiation technologies - A way to make the nuclear power environmental friendly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popescu, Gh.; Ana, G.

2008-01-01

Full text: Nowadays, at global level speaking, the radioactive pollution tends to reach the critic limits, putting into danger all life because of the accumulation of radioactivity. Radioisotopes are introduced into the environment as part of authorized nuclear activities. Special interest exists today for tritium because of the great penetration mobility through various materials and their respective spread in the neighboring clean spaces with great impact on health and environmental protection. (authors)

Should environmental concern pay off? A Heideggerian perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Painter-Morland, M.; Bos, R. ten

2016-01-01

Organizations often motivate their environmental efforts by arguing that ‘good ethics is good business’. Though instrumental arguments of this nature put environmental concerns firmly on the corporate agenda, it comes at a price. Such reasoning relies on age-old fact-value distinctions, from which

'Too-much-of-a-good-thing'? The role of advanced eco-learning and contingency factors on the relationship between corporate environmental and financial performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Latan, Hengky; Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose; Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz; Renwick, Douglas William Scott; Wamba, Samuel Fosso; Shahbaz, Muhammad

2018-08-15

Inspired by the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) theory, we attempt to shed light on a controversy which has been persistent over the last decade, concerning the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Using the 'too-much-of-a-good-thing' (TMGT) concept, which suggests that "too much can be worse than too little," we link mixed results and consider the roles of advanced eco-learning and contingency factors in influencing the CEP-CFP relationship. Based on a sample composed of ISO 14001 certified companies in Indonesia, and analyzing the data using consistent Partial Least Squares (PLSc), we found that: the CEP-CFP relationship follows an inverted U-shape; advanced eco-learning is a significant predictor of the CEP-CFP relationship, meaning that organizations able to develop higher eco-learning capability will be better able to identify the ideal boundaries of investment in environmental performance without reducing their financial performance; and that contingency factors such as environmental strategy and firm size have a significant role in influencing the CEP-CFP relationship. The study's limitations, implications for practitioners and a future research agenda are also detailed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trade Liberalization and Optimal Environmental Policies in Vertical Related Markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan-Shu Lin

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper establishes a symmetric two-country model with vertically related markets. In the downstream market, there is one firm in each country selling a homogeneous good, whose production generates pollution, to its home and the foreign markets a la Brander (1981. In the intermediate good market, there is also one upstream firm in each country, supplying the intermediate good only to its own country’s downstream market. The upstream firms can choose either price or quantity to maximize their profits. With this setting, the paper examines the optimal environmental policy and how it is affected by the tariff on the final good. It is found that, under free trade, the optimal final-good output with imperfect intermediate-good market will have the same output level as that with perfect intermediate-good market after imposing the optimal emission tax. The optimal environmental tax is smaller and the optimal environmental policy is less likely to be a green strategy under trade liberalization if the market structure in the intermediate good market is imperfect than perfect competition. On the other hand, the optimal environmental tax is necessarily higher if the upstream firm chooses price than quantity. Moreover, the optimal environmental policy is less likely to be a green strategy under trade liberalization if the upstream firms choose quantity than price to maximize their profits.

Moderate-resolution data and gradient nearest neighbor imputation for regional-national risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Kenneth B. Jr. Pierce; C. Kenneth Brewer; Janet L. Ohmann

2010-01-01

This study was designed to test the feasibility of combining a method designed to populate pixels with inventory plot data at the 30-m scale with a new national predictor data set. The new national predictor data set was developed by the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (hereafter RSAC) at the 250-m scale. Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN)...

Environmental assessment of freight transportation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flodstroem, E. [MariTerm AB, Goeteborg (Sweden)

1998-04-01

This report is a short version in English of two reports in Swedish: KFB report 1994:6 `Environmental effects of change of transport mode for goods transportation` and `Combining of transport models` which was performed as a commission for the Swedish environmental protection agency. The aim of both studies is to investigate the environmental effects of political measures to transfer goods from one transport mode to another. To be able to calculate the environmental effects a method to follow the transport chains has been developed. By defining the transport chains with a main transport mode it has been possible to relate the emissions to the different modes. The main results are that the transferable volumes are limited and even if a maximum volume is transferred, the positive environmental effects are small compared to the effects of measures to reduce the emissions from the vehicles 3 refs, 22 figs, 34 tabs

The N400 as a snapshot of interactive processing: evidence from regression analyses of orthographic neighbor and lexical associate effects

Science.gov (United States)

Laszlo, Sarah; Federmeier, Kara D.

2010-01-01

Linking print with meaning tends to be divided into subprocesses, such as recognition of an input's lexical entry and subsequent access of semantics. However, recent results suggest that the set of semantic features activated by an input is broader than implied by a view wherein access serially follows recognition. EEG was collected from participants who viewed items varying in number and frequency of both orthographic neighbors and lexical associates. Regression analysis of single item ERPs replicated past findings, showing that N400 amplitudes are greater for items with more neighbors, and further revealed that N400 amplitudes increase for items with more lexical associates and with higher frequency neighbors or associates. Together, the data suggest that in the N400 time window semantic features of items broadly related to inputs are active, consistent with models in which semantic access takes place in parallel with stimulus recognition. PMID:20624252

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.)

Anderson localization in one-dimensional quasiperiodic lattice models with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hopping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong, Longyan; Feng, Yan; Ding, Yougen

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Quasiperiodic lattice models with next-nearest-neighbor hopping are studied. • Shannon information entropies are used to reflect state localization properties. • Phase diagrams are obtained for the inverse bronze and golden means, respectively. • Our studies present a more complete picture than existing works. - Abstract: We explore the reduced relative Shannon information entropies SR for a quasiperiodic lattice model with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hopping, where an irrational number is in the mathematical expression of incommensurate on-site potentials. Based on SR, we respectively unveil the phase diagrams for two irrationalities, i.e., the inverse bronze mean and the inverse golden mean. The corresponding phase diagrams include regions of purely localized phase, purely delocalized phase, pure critical phase, and regions with mobility edges. The boundaries of different regions depend on the values of irrational number. These studies present a more complete picture than existing works.

Anderson localization in one-dimensional quasiperiodic lattice models with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hopping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Longyan, E-mail: lygong@njupt.edu.cn [Information Physics Research Center and Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003 (China); Institute of Signal Processing and Transmission, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003 (China); National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Feng, Yan; Ding, Yougen [Information Physics Research Center and Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003 (China); Institute of Signal Processing and Transmission, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003 (China)

2017-02-12

Highlights: • Quasiperiodic lattice models with next-nearest-neighbor hopping are studied. • Shannon information entropies are used to reflect state localization properties. • Phase diagrams are obtained for the inverse bronze and golden means, respectively. • Our studies present a more complete picture than existing works. - Abstract: We explore the reduced relative Shannon information entropies SR for a quasiperiodic lattice model with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hopping, where an irrational number is in the mathematical expression of incommensurate on-site potentials. Based on SR, we respectively unveil the phase diagrams for two irrationalities, i.e., the inverse bronze mean and the inverse golden mean. The corresponding phase diagrams include regions of purely localized phase, purely delocalized phase, pure critical phase, and regions with mobility edges. The boundaries of different regions depend on the values of irrational number. These studies present a more complete picture than existing works.

Morphological type correlation between nearest neighbor pairs of galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Yamagata, Tomohiko

1990-01-01

Although the morphological type of galaxies is one of the most fundamental properties of galaxies, its origin and evolutionary processes, if any, are not yet fully understood. It has been established that the galaxy morphology strongly depends on the environment in which the galaxy resides (e.g., Dressler 1980). Galaxy pairs correspond to the smallest scales of galaxy clustering and may provide important clues to how the environment influences the formation and evolution of galaxies. Several investigators pointed out that there is a tendency for pair galaxies to have similar morphological types (Karachentsev and Karachentseva 1974, Page 1975, Noerdlinger 1979). Here, researchers analyze morphological type correlation for 18,364 nearest neighbor pairs of galaxies identified in the magnetic tape version of the Center for Astrophysics Redshift Catalogue.

The square Ising model with second-neighbor interactions and the Ising chain in a transverse field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grynberg, M.D.; Tanatar, B.

1991-06-01

We consider the thermal and critical behaviour of the square Ising lattice with frustrated first - and second-neighbor interactions. A low-temperature domain wall analysis including kinks and dislocations shows that there is a close relation between this classical model and the Hamiltonian of an Ising chain in a transverse field provided that the ratio of the next-nearest to nearest-neighbor coupling, is close to 1/2. Due to the field inversion symmetry of the Ising chain Hamiltonian, the thermal properties of the classical system are symmetrical with respect to this coupling ratio. In the neighborhood of this regime critical exponents of the model turn out to belong to the Ising universality class. Our results are compared with previous Monte Carlo simulations. (author). 23 refs, 6 figs

Feeling Good and Doing Good for the Environment: The Use of Emotional Appeals in Pro-Environmental Public Service Announcements

Science.gov (United States)

Searles, Kathleen

2010-01-01

Research in political psychology suggests that politicians successfully manipulate emotions through campaign advertisements. While work in environmental psychology emphasizes emotional connection to the environment, scholars have yet to examine the potential of emotional appeals in non-campaign messages. I am interested in the use of emotional…

Public investment does not crowd out private supply of environmental goods on private land.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, David H; Kyle, Garreth; Morris, William K; Smith, F Patrick

2014-04-01

In landscapes where private land tenure is prevalent, public funds for ecological landscape restoration are sometimes spent subsidising the revegetation of cleared land, and the protection of remnant vegetation from livestock. However, the total area treated may be unclear because such projects are not always recorded, and landholders may undertake similar activities without subsidisation. In the absence of empirical data, in the state of Victoria, Australia, a reporting assumption has been employed that suggests that wholly privately funded sites match publicly subsidised sites on a hectare for hectare basis (a so-called "x2" assumption). Conversely, the "crowding out" theory of investment in public goods such as environmental benefits suggests that public investment may supplant private motivation. Using aerial photography we mapped the extent of revegetation, native vegetation fencing and restoration on 71 representative landholdings in rural south-eastern Australia. We interviewed each landholder and recorded the age and funding model of each site. Contrary to the local "x2" reporting assumption, about 75% of the total area of the 412 sites was from subsidised sites, and that proportion was far higher for the period after 1997. However, rather than displacing unsubsidised activity, our modelling showed that landholders who had recently been subsidised for a project were more likely to have subsequently completed unsubsidised work. This indicates that, at least in terms of medium-term economic impact, the large increase in public subsidies did not diminish privately funded activity, as might be expected according to the theory of crowding out. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental impact on the polar regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaffe, D.A.; Leighton, E.; Tumeo, M.A.

1994-01-01

The remote and frigid polar regions are no longer isolated from the activities, pollutants, and controversies that bedevil their more temperate neighbors, say three researchers at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. For example, Daniel A. Jaffe, Elizabeth Leighton, and Mark A. Tumeo point to traces of DDT, PCBs, and heavy metals that routinely turn up in arctic marine mammals and to the ozone hole over the Antarctic. While similar in environmental makeup, the arctic and Antarctic are poles apart in their political structure and, thus, in their environmental exposure, the researchers note. The Antarctic is managed under a long-standing international treaty, while the arctic is sovereign territory to eight separate nations. The international treaty sets aside the Antarctic for peaceful scientific research within strict environmental boundaries. It bans both military activity and minerals extraction-the two activities that have caused the most damage in the arctic. The main threats to Antarctica's environment come from the intrusion of major scientific research operations and the growing tourism industry. On the other hand, the arctic suffered from the massive Cold War military buildup by both the United States and the former Soviet Union. The environmental residue from that buildup is only now being revealed, the authors say. Major oil and gas drilling and coal and metal-ore mining also have taken a huge environmental toll, they add

Designing lattice structures with maximal nearest-neighbor entanglement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Navarro-Munoz, J C; Lopez-Sandoval, R [Instituto Potosino de Investigacion CientIfica y Tecnologica, Camino a la presa San Jose 2055, 78216 San Luis Potosi (Mexico); Garcia, M E [Theoretische Physik, FB 18, Universitaet Kassel and Center for Interdisciplinary Nanostructure Science and Technology (CINSaT), Heinrich-Plett-Str.40, 34132 Kassel (Germany)

2009-08-07

In this paper, we study the numerical optimization of nearest-neighbor concurrence of bipartite one- and two-dimensional lattices, as well as non-bipartite two-dimensional lattices. These systems are described in the framework of a tight-binding Hamiltonian while the optimization of concurrence was performed using genetic algorithms. Our results show that the concurrence of the optimized lattice structures is considerably higher than that of non-optimized systems. In the case of one-dimensional chains, the concurrence increases dramatically when the system begins to dimerize, i.e., it undergoes a structural phase transition (Peierls distortion). This result is consistent with the idea that entanglement is maximal or shows a singularity near quantum phase transitions. Moreover, the optimization of concurrence in two-dimensional bipartite and non-bipartite lattices is achieved when the structures break into smaller subsystems, which are arranged in geometrically distinguishable configurations.

A Sensor Data Fusion System Based on k-Nearest Neighbor Pattern Classification for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Vitola

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Civil and military structures are susceptible and vulnerable to damage due to the environmental and operational conditions. Therefore, the implementation of technology to provide robust solutions in damage identification (by using signals acquired directly from the structure is a requirement to reduce operational and maintenance costs. In this sense, the use of sensors permanently attached to the structures has demonstrated a great versatility and benefit since the inspection system can be automated. This automation is carried out with signal processing tasks with the aim of a pattern recognition analysis. This work presents the detailed description of a structural health monitoring (SHM system based on the use of a piezoelectric (PZT active system. The SHM system includes: (i the use of a piezoelectric sensor network to excite the structure and collect the measured dynamic response, in several actuation phases; (ii data organization; (iii advanced signal processing techniques to define the feature vectors; and finally; (iv the nearest neighbor algorithm as a machine learning approach to classify different kinds of damage. A description of the experimental setup, the experimental validation and a discussion of the results from two different structures are included and analyzed.

Quantifying capital goods for collection and transport of waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Brogaard, Line K; Christensen, Thomas H

2012-12-01

The capital goods for collection and transport of waste were quantified for different types of containers (plastic containers, cubes and steel containers) and an 18-tonnes compacting collection truck. The data were collected from producers and vendors of the bins and the truck. The service lifetime and the capacity of the goods were also assessed. Environmental impact assessment of the production of the capital goods revealed that, per tonne of waste handled, the truck had the largest contribution followed by the steel container. Large high density polyethylene (HDPE) containers had the lowest impact per tonne of waste handled. The impact of producing the capital goods for waste collection and transport cannot be neglected as the capital goods dominate (>85%) the categories human-toxicity (non-cancer and cancer), ecotoxicity, resource depletion and aquatic eutrophication, but also play a role (>13%) within the other impact categories when compared with the impacts from combustion of fuels for the collection and transport of the waste, when a transport distance of 25 km was assumed.

The Tragedy of Your Upstairs Neighbors: Is the Airbnb Negative Externality Internalized?

OpenAIRE

Horton, John J.

2015-01-01

A commonly expressed concern about the rise of the peer-to-peer rental market Airbnb is that hosts---those renting out their properties---impose costs on their unwitting neighbors. I consider the question of whether apartment building owners will, in a competitive rental market, set a building-specific Airbnb hosting policy that is socially efficient. I find that if tenants can sort across apartments based on the owners policy then the equilibrium fraction of buildings allowing Airbnb listing...

Examining the social porosity of environmental features on neighborhood sociability and attachment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John R Hipp

Full Text Available The local neighborhood forms an integral part of our lives. It provides the context through which social networks are nurtured and the foundation from which a sense of attachment and cohesion with fellow residents can be established. Whereas much of the previous research has examined the role of social and demographic characteristic in relation to the level of neighboring and cohesion, this paper explores whether particular environmental features in the neighborhood affect social porosity. We define social porosity as the degree to which social ties flow over the surface of a neighborhood. The focus of our paper is to examine the extent to which a neighborhood's environmental features impede the level of social porosity present among residents. To do this, we integrate data from the census, topographic databases and a 2010 survey of 4,351 residents from 146 neighborhoods in Australia. The study introduces the concepts of wedges and social holes. The presence of two sources of wedges is measured: rivers and highways. The presence of two sources of social holes is measured: parks and industrial areas. Borrowing from the geography literature, several measures are constructed to capture how these features collectively carve up the physical environment of neighborhoods. We then consider how this influences residents' neighboring behavior, their level of attachment to the neighborhood and their sense of neighborhood cohesion. We find that the distance of a neighborhood to one form of social hole-industrial areas-has a particularly strong negative effect on all three dependent variables. The presence of the other form of social hole-parks-has a weaker negative effect. Neighborhood wedges also impact social interaction. Both the length of a river and the number of highway fragments in a neighborhood has a consistent negative effect on neighboring, attachment and cohesion.

Interacting Effects Induced by Two Neighboring Pits Considering Relative Position Parameters and Pit Depth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongfang Huang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available For pre-corroded aluminum alloy 7075-T6, the interacting effects of two neighboring pits on the stress concentration are comprehensively analyzed by considering various relative position parameters (inclination angle θ and dimensionless spacing parameter λ and pit depth (d with the finite element method. According to the severity of the stress concentration, the critical corrosion regions, bearing high susceptibility to fatigue damage, are determined for intersecting and adjacent pits, respectively. A straightforward approach is accordingly proposed to conservatively estimate the combined stress concentration factor induced by two neighboring pits, and a concrete application example is presented. It is found that for intersecting pits, the normalized stress concentration factor Ktnor increases with the increase of θ and λ and always reaches its maximum at θ = 90°, yet for adjacent pits, Ktnor decreases with the increase of λ and the maximum value appears at a slight asymmetric location. The simulations reveal that Ktnor follows a linear and an exponential relationship with the dimensionless depth parameter Rd for intersecting and adjacent cases, respectively.

Data delivery method based on neighbor nodes' information in a mobile ad hoc network.

Science.gov (United States)

Kashihara, Shigeru; Hayashi, Takuma; Taenaka, Yuzo; Okuda, Takeshi; Yamaguchi, Suguru

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a data delivery method based on neighbor nodes' information to achieve reliable communication in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). In a MANET, it is difficult to deliver data reliably due to instabilities in network topology and wireless network condition which result from node movement. To overcome such unstable communication, opportunistic routing and network coding schemes have lately attracted considerable attention. Although an existing method that employs such schemes, MAC-independent opportunistic routing and encoding (MORE), Chachulski et al. (2007), improves the efficiency of data delivery in an unstable wireless mesh network, it does not address node movement. To efficiently deliver data in a MANET, the method proposed in this paper thus first employs the same opportunistic routing and network coding used in MORE and also uses the location information and transmission probabilities of neighbor nodes to adapt to changeable network topology and wireless network condition. The simulation experiments showed that the proposed method can achieve efficient data delivery with low network load when the movement speed is relatively slow.

Data Delivery Method Based on Neighbor Nodes’ Information in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shigeru Kashihara

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a data delivery method based on neighbor nodes’ information to achieve reliable communication in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET. In a MANET, it is difficult to deliver data reliably due to instabilities in network topology and wireless network condition which result from node movement. To overcome such unstable communication, opportunistic routing and network coding schemes have lately attracted considerable attention. Although an existing method that employs such schemes, MAC-independent opportunistic routing and encoding (MORE, Chachulski et al. (2007, improves the efficiency of data delivery in an unstable wireless mesh network, it does not address node movement. To efficiently deliver data in a MANET, the method proposed in this paper thus first employs the same opportunistic routing and network coding used in MORE and also uses the location information and transmission probabilities of neighbor nodes to adapt to changeable network topology and wireless network condition. The simulation experiments showed that the proposed method can achieve efficient data delivery with low network load when the movement speed is relatively slow.

Hyperplane distance neighbor clustering based on local discriminant analysis for complex chemical processes monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Chunhong; Xiao, Shaoqing; Gu, Xiaofeng [Jiangnan University, Wuxi (China)

2014-11-15

The collected training data often include both normal and faulty samples for complex chemical processes. However, some monitoring methods, such as partial least squares (PLS), principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA) and Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA), require fault-free data to build the normal operation model. These techniques are applicable after the preliminary step of data clustering is applied. We here propose a novel hyperplane distance neighbor clustering (HDNC) based on the local discriminant analysis (LDA) for chemical process monitoring. First, faulty samples are separated from normal ones using the HDNC method. Then, the optimal subspace for fault detection and classification can be obtained using the LDA approach. The proposed method takes the multimodality within the faulty data into account, and thus improves the capability of process monitoring significantly. The HDNC-LDA monitoring approach is applied to two simulation processes and then compared with the conventional FDA based on the K-nearest neighbor (KNN-FDA) method. The results obtained in two different scenarios demonstrate the superiority of the HDNC-LDA approach in terms of fault detection and classification accuracy.

Hyperplane distance neighbor clustering based on local discriminant analysis for complex chemical processes monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Chunhong; Xiao, Shaoqing; Gu, Xiaofeng

2014-01-01

The collected training data often include both normal and faulty samples for complex chemical processes. However, some monitoring methods, such as partial least squares (PLS), principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA) and Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA), require fault-free data to build the normal operation model. These techniques are applicable after the preliminary step of data clustering is applied. We here propose a novel hyperplane distance neighbor clustering (HDNC) based on the local discriminant analysis (LDA) for chemical process monitoring. First, faulty samples are separated from normal ones using the HDNC method. Then, the optimal subspace for fault detection and classification can be obtained using the LDA approach. The proposed method takes the multimodality within the faulty data into account, and thus improves the capability of process monitoring significantly. The HDNC-LDA monitoring approach is applied to two simulation processes and then compared with the conventional FDA based on the K-nearest neighbor (KNN-FDA) method. The results obtained in two different scenarios demonstrate the superiority of the HDNC-LDA approach in terms of fault detection and classification accuracy

Contribution diversity and incremental learning promote cooperation in public goods games

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Penghui; Liu, Jing

2017-11-01

Understanding the evolution of cooperation in nature has long been a challenge and how to promote cooperation in public goods games (PGG) has attracted lots of attention recently. Social diversity has been found helpful to explain the emergence of cooperation in the absence of reputation and punishment. However, further refinement on how individuals reallocate their contribution to each PGG remains an open question. Moreover, individuals in existing works mostly teach or learn from neighbors according to their payoff in the last generation only. However, individuals in reality are preferred to learn from others with a long-term good performance. Therefore, in this paper, a new contribution diversity (CD) is designed and incremental learning (IL) is introduced. We investigate how these two may influence the evolution of cooperation in PGG. Based on the simulation results, we found that both the CD and IL can promote the cooperation in PGGs. Moreover, when cooperators are shaken in their strategy, CD may fail in reallocating contribution of individuals properly. However, IL is found effective to stabilize faith of cooperators and cooperators under IL reflect a long-term advantage over defectors in terms of benefits. Therefore, we further find IL and CD can mutually benefit each other in promoting cooperation, as CD can reasonably adjust the investment of cooperators while IL can provide more information to CD.

Nearest-neighbor Kitaev exchange blocked by charge order in electron-doped α -RuCl3

Science.gov (United States)

Koitzsch, A.; Habenicht, C.; Müller, E.; Knupfer, M.; Büchner, B.; Kretschmer, S.; Richter, M.; van den Brink, J.; Börrnert, F.; Nowak, D.; Isaeva, A.; Doert, Th.

2017-10-01

A quantum spin liquid might be realized in α -RuCl3 , a honeycomb-lattice magnetic material with substantial spin-orbit coupling. Moreover, α -RuCl3 is a Mott insulator, which implies the possibility that novel exotic phases occur upon doping. Here, we study the electronic structure of this material when intercalated with potassium by photoemission spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. We obtain a stable stoichiometry at K0.5RuCl3 . This gives rise to a peculiar charge disproportionation into formally Ru2 + (4 d6 ) and Ru3 + (4 d5 ). Every Ru 4 d5 site with one hole in the t2 g shell is surrounded by nearest neighbors of 4 d6 character, where the t2 g level is full and magnetically inert. Thus, each type of Ru site forms a triangular lattice, and nearest-neighbor interactions of the original honeycomb are blocked.

Scenarios of the development of the world market for environmental and climate protection goods and services; Szenarien zur Entwicklung des Weltmarktes fuer Umwelt- und Klimaschutzgueter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blazejczak, Juergen [Fachhochschule Merseburg (Germany); Deutsches Inst. fuer Wirtschaftsforschung, Berlin (Germany); Edler, Dietmar [Deutsches Inst. fuer Wirtschaftsforschung, Berlin (Germany)

2008-12-15

Supply potentials of German and European producers of goods and services for the protection of environment and climate have been accessed in a study by DIW, FhG-ISI and Roland Berger (2007). The present study explores a simple methodology to supplement such supply oriented assessments by a projection of world wide demand for environmental and climate protection goods and services (ECPGS) and to determine the share directed at German and European producers. The analysis starts from assumptions about world economic growth disaggregated by 175 countries. For each country the presumed importance of environmental protection - disaggregated by 4 areas - is described by its expected GDP share of environmental protection expenditures; rich countries devote more of their GDP than poor countries to environmental and climate protection. Environmental protection expenditure is delimited in this study in accordance with the rather traditional classification of Eurostat which only includes measures directly aimed at the reduction of pollution or other environmental pressures but excludes measures to allow for a more rational use of natural ressources. Combining this information yields an estimate of the world market of ECPGS. By adjusting statistical information on overall import shares of the 175 countries to account for the particularities of ECPGS, world imports (i.e. world trade) of ECPGS can be estimated. World market shares of German and EU suppliers of ECPGS have been derived from OECD trade statistics. Applying these to the estimates of world trade of ECPGS yields German an EU exports of ECPGS. Together with domestic demand less imports, total domestically effective demand in Germany and the EU results. To account for uncertainties, a number sensitivity analyses have been performed. They assume e.g. a less pronounced shift of growth centres to Asia, differently focussed expenditure, and reduced world market shares of Germany and Europe. Even under the assumption of a

Efficient and accurate nearest neighbor and closest pair search in high-dimensional space

KAUST Repository

Tao, Yufei

2010-07-01

Nearest Neighbor (NN) search in high-dimensional space is an important problem in many applications. From the database perspective, a good solution needs to have two properties: (i) it can be easily incorporated in a relational database, and (ii) its query cost should increase sublinearly with the dataset size, regardless of the data and query distributions. Locality-Sensitive Hashing (LSH) is a well-known methodology fulfilling both requirements, but its current implementations either incur expensive space and query cost, or abandon its theoretical guarantee on the quality of query results. Motivated by this, we improve LSH by proposing an access method called the Locality-Sensitive B-tree (LSB-tree) to enable fast, accurate, high-dimensional NN search in relational databases. The combination of several LSB-trees forms a LSB-forest that has strong quality guarantees, but improves dramatically the efficiency of the previous LSH implementation having the same guarantees. In practice, the LSB-tree itself is also an effective index which consumes linear space, supports efficient updates, and provides accurate query results. In our experiments, the LSB-tree was faster than: (i) iDistance (a famous technique for exact NN search) by two orders ofmagnitude, and (ii) MedRank (a recent approximate method with nontrivial quality guarantees) by one order of magnitude, and meanwhile returned much better results. As a second step, we extend our LSB technique to solve another classic problem, called Closest Pair (CP) search, in high-dimensional space. The long-term challenge for this problem has been to achieve subquadratic running time at very high dimensionalities, which fails most of the existing solutions. We show that, using a LSB-forest, CP search can be accomplished in (worst-case) time significantly lower than the quadratic complexity, yet still ensuring very good quality. In practice, accurate answers can be found using just two LSB-trees, thus giving a substantial

Probability distributions for first neighbor distances between resonances that belong to two different families

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Difilippo, F.C.

1994-01-01

For a mixture of two families of resonances, we found the probability distribution for the distance, as first neighbors, between resonances that belong to different families. Integration of this distribution gives the probability of accidental overlapping of resonances of one isotope by resonances of the other, provided that the resonances of each isotope belong to a single family. (author)

Personal Power and the Common Good

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Jon; Jones, Jerryelyn L.

2010-01-01

Authentic service learning in city schools helps students work toward important change in their own communities. Students are able to face and address issues that have an immediate impact on their neighbors and themselves. Two examples from Chicago neighborhoods illustrate how powerful the concept is: Students worked with a community organization…

Environmental Morale and Motivation

OpenAIRE

Frey, Bruno S; Stutzer, Alois

2006-01-01

This chapter discusses the role of environmental morale and environmental motivation in individual behavior from the point of view of economics and psychology. It deals with the fundamental public good problem, and presents empirical (laboratory and field) evidence on how the cooperation problem can be overcome. Four different theoretical approaches are distinguished according to how individuals� underlying environmental motivation is modeled. Specifically, we look at the interaction betwee...

Sustainability of social-environmental programs along pipelines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doebereiner, Christian [Shell Southern Cone Gas and Power (Brazil); Herrera, Brigitte [Transredes S.A. (Bolivia)

2005-07-01

The sustainability of Social and Environmental programs along pipelines, have shown to be a major challenge. Gas pipelines in Bolivia and Brazil operate in a diversity of environments and communities with different cultures, values and expectations. However, the pipeline network can also provide opportunities for contributing to regional development and working with local populations on topics of mutual interest. Many of these are quite strategic because they arise from topics of mutual interest for both the company and neighboring populations, and because they provide opportunities for achieving results of mutual benefit. These opportunities could include helping to make gas available to local communities, contributions to urban planning, hiring local services and other initiatives. Sustainable and integrated Social and Environmental programs are therefore key to a successful pipeline operation. These opportunities are often missed or under valued. Some successful examples are presented from Transredes S.A., Bolivia. (author)

Forest structure of Mediterranean yew (Taxus baccata L. populations and neighbor effects on juvenile yew performance in the NE Iberian Peninsula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pere Casals

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Aim of study: In the Mediterranean region, yew (Taxus baccata L. usually grows with other tree species in mixed forests. Yew recruitment and juvenile growth may depend on the structure of the forest and the net balance between competition for soil water and nutrients with neighbors and facilitation that these neighbors exert by protecting the plants from direct sun exposure. This study aims, at a regional scale, to analyze the structure of forests containing yew, and, on an individual level, to analyze the effect of the surrounding vegetation structure on the performance of yew juveniles.Area of study: The structural typologies of yew populations were defined based on field inventories conducted in 55 plots distributed in 14 localities in the North-Eastern (NE Iberian Peninsula, covering a wide range of yew distribution in the area. In a second step, an analysis of neighboring species' effects on juveniles was conducted based on the data from 103 plots centered in yew juveniles in five localities.Main Results: A cluster analysis classified the inventoried stands into four forest structural types: two multi-stratified forests with scattered yew and two yew groves. Multiple regression modeling showed that the δ13C measured in last year's leaves positively relates to the basal area of conifer neighbors, but negatively with the cover of the yew crown by other trees.Research highlights: At a stand-level, the density of recruits and juveniles (625 ± 104 recruits ha-1, 259 ± 55 juveniles ha-1 in mixed forests was found to be higher than that on yew dominant stands (181 ± 88 recruits ha-1 and 57 ± 88 juveniles ha-1. At an individual-level, the water stress (estimated from leaf δ13C of yew juveniles seems alleviated by the crown cover by neighbors while it increases with the basal area of conifers. Yew conservation should focus on selective felling for the reduction of basal area of neighbors surrounding the target tree, but avoid affecting the

Neighboring Optimal Aircraft Guidance in a General Wind Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Jardin, Matthew R. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

Method and system for determining an optimal route for an aircraft moving between first and second waypoints in a general wind environment. A selected first wind environment is analyzed for which a nominal solution can be determined. A second wind environment is then incorporated; and a neighboring optimal control (NOC) analysis is performed to estimate an optimal route for the second wind environment. In particular examples with flight distances of 2500 and 6000 nautical miles in the presence of constant or piecewise linearly varying winds, the difference in flight time between a nominal solution and an optimal solution is 3.4 to 5 percent. Constant or variable winds and aircraft speeds can be used. Updated second wind environment information can be provided and used to obtain an updated optimal route.

Enhanced Approximate Nearest Neighbor via Local Area Focused Search.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonzales, Antonio [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Blazier, Nicholas Paul [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-02-01

Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithms are increasingly important in machine learning, data mining, and image processing applications. There is a large family of space- partitioning ANN algorithms, such as randomized KD-Trees, that work well in practice but are limited by an exponential increase in similarity comparisons required to optimize recall. Additionally, they only support a small set of similarity metrics. We present Local Area Fo- cused Search (LAFS), a method that enhances the way queries are performed using an existing ANN index. Instead of a single query, LAFS performs a number of smaller (fewer similarity comparisons) queries and focuses on a local neighborhood which is refined as candidates are identified. We show that our technique improves performance on several well known datasets and is easily extended to general similarity metrics using kernel projection techniques.

Electricity as a traded good

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srinivasan, Sunderasan

2013-01-01

Electric power has traditionally been classified as a non-traded good, produced and consumed within the country of origin. More recently, electricity has been traded across national borders and in certain cases, viz., Bhutan, has been the dominant export; in other situations, it is used to repay debts owed to neighboring countries. This paper investigates the role of electricity as the primary export, analyzes its valuation, and then goes on to evaluate the impact on the terms of trade. We conclude that in the medium-term, the electric power exporting economy would be better off developing its manufacturing sector to diversify its exposure and to protect its trade interests. The case of Bhutanese hydro-electricity exports to India is studied and the change in trade advantage with every increase in power tariff is ascertained. It is found that a 1.26% annual increase in (non-food) consumer prices is correlated with a 1% increase in electricity export tariff. While the causality from electric power tariff to Indian manufactures prices is not established statistically, a change in manufactures prices feeding back into consumer prices in Bhutan is statistically significant. Suggestions are offered for Bhutan to reduce dependence on Indian imports and to diversify its export market exposure. - Highlights: • Electricity as principal export of small economy. • Bilateral trade with large economy. • Tourism as major income generator for small economy. • Partial equilibrium model involving key variables. • Small economy would need to diversify. • Important subject for inter-temporal and inter-regional trade of power

Quantifying capital goods for waste incineration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brogaard, Line Kai-Sørensen; Riber, C.; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2013-01-01

material used amounting to 19,000–26,000tonnes per plant. The quantification further included six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. The energy used for the actual on-site construction of the incinerators was in the range 4000–5000MWh. In terms of the environmental burden...... that, compared to data reported in the literature on direct emissions from the operation of incinerators, the environmental impacts caused by the construction of buildings and machinery (capital goods) could amount to 2–3% with respect to kg CO2 per tonne of waste combusted.......Materials and energy used for the construction of modern waste incineration plants were quantified. The data was collected from five incineration plants (72,000–240,000tonnes per year) built in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Denmark) between 2006 and 2012. Concrete for the buildings was the main...

Improved Fuzzy K-Nearest Neighbor Using Modified Particle Swarm Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Jamaluddin; Siringoringo, Rimbun

2017-12-01

Fuzzy k-Nearest Neighbor (FkNN) is one of the most powerful classification methods. The presence of fuzzy concepts in this method successfully improves its performance on almost all classification issues. The main drawbackof FKNN is that it is difficult to determine the parameters. These parameters are the number of neighbors (k) and fuzzy strength (m). Both parameters are very sensitive. This makes it difficult to determine the values of ‘m’ and ‘k’, thus making FKNN difficult to control because no theories or guides can deduce how proper ‘m’ and ‘k’ should be. This study uses Modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) to determine the best value of ‘k’ and ‘m’. MPSO is focused on the Constriction Factor Method. Constriction Factor Method is an improvement of PSO in order to avoid local circumstances optima. The model proposed in this study was tested on the German Credit Dataset. The test of the data/The data test has been standardized by UCI Machine Learning Repository which is widely applied to classification problems. The application of MPSO to the determination of FKNN parameters is expected to increase the value of classification performance. Based on the experiments that have been done indicating that the model offered in this research results in a better classification performance compared to the Fk-NN model only. The model offered in this study has an accuracy rate of 81%, while. With using Fk-NN model, it has the accuracy of 70%. At the end is done comparison of research model superiority with 2 other classification models;such as Naive Bayes and Decision Tree. This research model has a better performance level, where Naive Bayes has accuracy 75%, and the decision tree model has 70%

Adaptive behavior of neighboring neurons during adaptation-induced plasticity of orientation tuning in V1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shumikhina Svetlana

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Sensory neurons display transient changes of their response properties following prolonged exposure to an appropriate stimulus (adaptation. In adult cat primary visual cortex, orientation-selective neurons shift their preferred orientation after being adapted to a non-preferred orientation. The direction of those shifts, towards (attractive or away (repulsive from the adapter depends mostly on adaptation duration. How the adaptive behavior of a neuron is related to that of its neighbors remains unclear. Results Here we show that in most cases (75%, cells shift their preferred orientation in the same direction as their neighbors. We also found that cells shifting preferred orientation differently from their neighbors (25% display three interesting properties: (i larger variance of absolute shift amplitude, (ii wider tuning bandwidth and (iii larger range of preferred orientations among the cluster of cells. Several response properties of V1 neurons depend on their location within the cortical orientation map. Our results suggest that recording sites with both attractive and repulsive shifts following adaptation may be located in close proximity to iso-orientation domain boundaries or pinwheel centers. Indeed, those regions have a more diverse orientation distribution of local inputs that could account for the three properties above. On the other hand, sites with all cells shifting their preferred orientation in the same direction could be located within iso-orientation domains. Conclusions Our results suggest that the direction and amplitude of orientation preference shifts in V1 depend on location within the orientation map. This anisotropy of adaptation-induced plasticity, comparable to that of the visual cortex itself, could have important implications for our understanding of visual adaptation at the psychophysical level.

GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Science.gov (United States)

The US Environmental Protection Agency helps state and local governments protect the environment by encouraging good environmental management and by regulating human activities to ensure clean air and water. At the Corvallis research laboratory for the EPA, we improve the ways t...

The effect of near laterally and vertically neighboring quantum dots on the composition of uncapped InxGa1−xAs/GaAs quantum dots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donglin, Wang; Zhongyuan, Yu; Yumin, Liu; Han, Ye; Pengfei, Lu; Xiaotao, Guo; Long, Zhao; Xia, Xin

2010-01-01

The composition of quantum dots has a direct effect on the optical and electronic properties of quantum-dot-based devices. In this paper, we combine the method of moving asymptotes and finite element tools to compute the composition distribution by minimizing the Gibbs free energy of quantum dots, and use this method to study the effect of near laterally and vertically neighboring quantum dots on the composition distribution. The simulation results indicate that the effect from the laterally neighboring quantum dot is very small, and the vertically neighboring quantum dot can significantly influence the composition by the coupled strain field

Indeterminacy, bifurcations and chaos in an overlapping generations model with negative environmental externalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antoci, Angelo; Sodini, Mauro

2009-01-01

We analyze an overlapping generations model where agent's welfare depends on three goods: leisure, environmental quality and consumption of a private good. We assume that the production process of the private good depletes the natural resource and that the consumption of the private good alleviates the damages due to environmental deterioration. In such context, we show that individuals' reactions to environmental deterioration may lead to complex dynamics, in particular to the rise of periodic orbits and chaos.

Mobilising for environmental justice in China

OpenAIRE

Balme, Richard

2014-01-01

This article assesses the situation of environmental rights in China in terms of political interactions and their implications for Chinese politics. Environmental justice is primarily conceived as equity in access to environmental goods and fairness in social processes dealing with market or government failures to provide environmental security. The argument is that environmental deterioration has a significant influence on the pattern of inequalities in the PRC, occasionally creating situati...

Forbidden immisions and environmental protection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popov Danica

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In the Serbian Law and in the most of jurisdictions, there are limits on exercising the right of property. A real estate owner must refrain from activities by which the use of other real estate is being imploded through the emission of excessive gasses, vapors, smoke, heat, noise, the draining of waste water, etc. Neighboring real estate owners must endure such harmful effects if they do not exceed the limit of usual endurance, taking into account the nature and purpose of such real estate, as well as local conditions. The property owner who is affected by emissions exceeding the set limit, has the right to request a stop of emissions which exceeded the allowed volume of emissions. If the imissions originate from some industrial plants, within the activity allowed by a state authority, one cannot request a cessation of such activities, but can simply seek damages. The issue of the environmental protection in the Republic of Serbia is regulated by a number of particular substantive laws, with a Law of environmental protection of 2009. as fundamental Law.

Essays on environmental management

OpenAIRE

Marbuah, George

2016-01-01

This thesis contributes to the economic literature on invasive species, social capital connection to climate change and environmental good provision as well as energy demand management. It contains five independent papers connected by the broader theme of environmental management. Two papers (I and II) deal with invasive species while the third and fourth probes the effect of social capital on carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) and individuals’ decision to contribute toward environmental protecti...

Predicting Audience Location on the Basis of the k-Nearest Neighbor Multilabel Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haitao Wu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Understanding audience location information in online social networks is important in designing recommendation systems, improving information dissemination, and so on. In this paper, we focus on predicting the location distribution of audiences on YouTube. And we transform this problem to a multilabel classification problem, while we find there exist three problems when the classical k-nearest neighbor based algorithm for multilabel classification (ML-kNN is used to predict location distribution. Firstly, the feature weights are not considered in measuring the similarity degree. Secondly, it consumes considerable computing time in finding similar items by traversing all the training set. Thirdly, the goal of ML-kNN is to find relevant labels for every sample which is different from audience location prediction. To solve these problems, we propose the methods of measuring similarity based on weight, quickly finding similar items, and ranking a specific number of labels. On the basis of these methods and the ML-kNN, the k-nearest neighbor based model for audience location prediction (AL-kNN is proposed for predicting audience location. The experiments based on massive YouTube data show that the proposed model can more accurately predict the location of YouTube video audience than the ML-kNN, MLNB, and Rank-SVM methods.

Environmental Movements, Institutions and Civil Society: A New Way to Preserve Common Goods

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Laura Massoli

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at studying environmental participative movements which have national/Eu­ro­pean/international relevance and use digital media, as well as local connections and conventional networks for interacting, socializing, mobilizing people and tackling civic and social issues. By using a comparative approach, this article focuses on Italian and European projects promoted by movements in order to support a culture of environmental security and a sustainable development for everybody. The analysis hi­gh­lights significant differences among movements in terms of capability of interacting with institutions and other stakeholders, establishing partnerships and cooperating for local development and community empowerment. The objective is to provide a first model of environmental socialization based on several pro­mi­sing features: networks and innovative forms of partnership; level of activism and capability of planning participative initiatives; intensity of civic cohesion that is the ability of creating connections beyond their own movement, rooting inside the territorial community in a meaningful and enduring way

Who's Watching the Babies? Improving the Quality of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Douglas R.

2008-01-01

One of the important influences on a child's development is the quality of his or her early care and education experiences. It is estimated that more than 1 million children in the U.S. are cared for while their parents are at work by nonlicensed caregivers who are family, friends, or neighbors - and these caregivers can be difficult to reach…

Use of the neighboring orbital model for analysis of electronic coupling in Class III intervalence compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelsen, Stephen F.; Weaver, Michael N.; Luo Yun; Lockard, Jenny V.; Zink, Jeffrey I.

2006-01-01

Symmetrical charge-delocalized intervalence radical ions should not be described by the traditional two-state model that has been so successful for their localized counterparts. If they lack direct overlap between their charge-bearing units (M), their diabatic orbitals have an equal energy pair of symmetrized M-centered combination orbitals that are symmetric (S) or antisymmetric (A) with respect to a symmetry element at the center of the molecule. The M combination orbitals will mix separately with bridge orbitals of the same symmetry. We call the simplest useful model for this situation the neighboring orbital model, which uses the S and A bridge orbitals of high overlap that lie closest in energy to the M orbital pair, resulting in two two-state models that have a common energy for one pair. This model is developed quantitatively, and examples having 1, 3, 5, and 7 electrons in the neighboring orbitals are illustrated

Behavior change communication activities improve infant and young child nutrition knowledge and practice of neighboring non-participants in a cluster-randomized trial in rural Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoddinott, John; Ahmed, Ishita; Ahmed, Akhter; Roy, Shalini

2017-01-01

To examine the impact on infant and young child nutrition knowledge and practice of mothers who were neighbors of mothers participating in a nutrition Behavior Change Communication (BCC) intervention in rural Bangladesh. We analyzed data from 300 mothers whose neighbor participated in a nutrition BCC intervention and 600 mothers whose neighbor participated in an intervention that did not include BCC. We constructed measures capturing mothers' knowledge of infant and young child nutrition (IYCN) and measures of food consumption by children 6-24m. The effect on these outcomes of exposure to a neighbor receiving a nutrition BCC intervention was estimated using ordinary least squares and probit regressions. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Study ID: NCT02237144). Having a neighboring mother participate in a nutrition BCC intervention increased non-participant mothers' IYCN knowledge by 0.17 SD (translating to 0.3 more correct answers). They were 14.1 percentage points more likely to feed their 6-24m children legumes and nuts; 11.6 percentage points more likely to feed these children vitamin A rich fruits and vegetables; and 10.0 percentage points more likely to feed these children eggs. Children of non-participant mothers who had a neighboring mother participate in a nutrition BCC intervention were 13.8 percentage points more likely to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for minimum diet diversity, 11.9 percentage points more likely to meet WHO guidelines for minimum acceptable diet, and 10.3 percentage points more likely to meet WHO guidelines for minimum meal frequency for children who continue to be breastfed after age 6m. Children aged 0-6m of non-participant mothers who are neighbors of mothers receiving BCC were 7.1 percentage points less likely to have ever consumed water-based liquids. Studies of nutrition BCC that do not account for information spillovers to non-participants may underestimate its benefits in terms of IYCN knowledge

Behavior change communication activities improve infant and young child nutrition knowledge and practice of neighboring non-participants in a cluster-randomized trial in rural Bangladesh.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Hoddinott

Full Text Available To examine the impact on infant and young child nutrition knowledge and practice of mothers who were neighbors of mothers participating in a nutrition Behavior Change Communication (BCC intervention in rural Bangladesh.We analyzed data from 300 mothers whose neighbor participated in a nutrition BCC intervention and 600 mothers whose neighbor participated in an intervention that did not include BCC. We constructed measures capturing mothers' knowledge of infant and young child nutrition (IYCN and measures of food consumption by children 6-24m. The effect on these outcomes of exposure to a neighbor receiving a nutrition BCC intervention was estimated using ordinary least squares and probit regressions. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Study ID: NCT02237144.Having a neighboring mother participate in a nutrition BCC intervention increased non-participant mothers' IYCN knowledge by 0.17 SD (translating to 0.3 more correct answers. They were 14.1 percentage points more likely to feed their 6-24m children legumes and nuts; 11.6 percentage points more likely to feed these children vitamin A rich fruits and vegetables; and 10.0 percentage points more likely to feed these children eggs. Children of non-participant mothers who had a neighboring mother participate in a nutrition BCC intervention were 13.8 percentage points more likely to meet World Health Organization (WHO guidelines for minimum diet diversity, 11.9 percentage points more likely to meet WHO guidelines for minimum acceptable diet, and 10.3 percentage points more likely to meet WHO guidelines for minimum meal frequency for children who continue to be breastfed after age 6m. Children aged 0-6m of non-participant mothers who are neighbors of mothers receiving BCC were 7.1 percentage points less likely to have ever consumed water-based liquids.Studies of nutrition BCC that do not account for information spillovers to non-participants may underestimate its benefits in terms of

Low-spin identical bands in neighboring odd-A and even-even nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baktash, C.; Winchell, D.F.; Garrett, J.D.; Smith, A.

1992-01-01

A comprehensive study of odd-A rotational bands in normally deformed rare-earth nuclei indicates that a large number of seniority-one configurations (21% for odd-Z nuclei) at low spin have moments of inertia nearly identical to that of the seniority-zero configuration of the neighboring even-even nucleus with one less nucleon. It is difficult to reconcile these results with conventional models of nuclear pair correlation, which predict variations of about 15% in the moments of inertia of configurations differing by one unit in seniority

Strategic interactions in environmental economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijnen, Pim

2007-01-01

This thesis deals with the strategic interactions important to environmental economics. That includes a wide range of topics: environmental groups influencing or informing consumers, the reaction to taxation by car and fuel producers, the spread of an innovative tax and binary public good games.

Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy

OpenAIRE

Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin; Tsai, Sang-Bing

2017-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degr...

Mechanism Of Environmental Franchising In The Sustainable Development Potential

OpenAIRE

Inna Illyashenko

2011-01-01

Reveals the types of environmental franchising: franchise environmental goods, manufacturing, service and environmental business format. Presents the methodological principles for the formation mechanisms of environmental franchise in implementing sustainable development potential. Proved economic, legal and organizational technology contractual relations regarding environmental franchise.

Environmental setting for biological variability at PTEPBN project of West Kalimantan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suwadji, E.; Endrawanto

1995-01-01

Biological variability was needed in the arrangement of environmental evaluation study on term of environmental impact assessment. The activity was carried out at PTEPBN project to find out and to predict the environmental setting of outgoing and ongoing project as well as the project operational after post construction. Methods to find out the environmental setting on biological variability were proposed. Based on the observation data on its terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna, it can be concluded that terrestrial flora was found at fair to good value, terrestrial fauna at fair to good whereas aquatic flora and fauna at good. (author). 8 refs, 7 tabs, 1 fig

A γ dose distribution evaluation technique using the k-d tree for nearest neighbor searching

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Jiankui; Chen Weimin

2010-01-01

Purpose: The authors propose an algorithm based on the k-d tree for nearest neighbor searching to improve the γ calculation time for 2D and 3D dose distributions. Methods: The γ calculation method has been widely used for comparisons of dose distributions in clinical treatment plans and quality assurances. By specifying the acceptable dose and distance-to-agreement criteria, the method provides quantitative measurement of the agreement between the reference and evaluation dose distributions. The γ value indicates the acceptability. In regions where γ≤1, the predefined criterion is satisfied and thus the agreement is acceptable; otherwise, the agreement fails. Although the concept of the method is not complicated and a quick naieve implementation is straightforward, an efficient and robust implementation is not trivial. Recent algorithms based on exhaustive searching within a maximum radius, the geometric Euclidean distance, and the table lookup method have been proposed to improve the computational time for multidimensional dose distributions. Motivated by the fact that the least searching time for finding a nearest neighbor can be an O(log N) operation with a k-d tree, where N is the total number of the dose points, the authors propose an algorithm based on the k-d tree for the γ evaluation in this work. Results: In the experiment, the authors found that the average k-d tree construction time per reference point is O(log N), while the nearest neighbor searching time per evaluation point is proportional to O(N 1/k ), where k is between 2 and 3 for two-dimensional and three-dimensional dose distributions, respectively. Conclusions: Comparing with other algorithms such as exhaustive search and sorted list O(N), the k-d tree algorithm for γ evaluation is much more efficient.

Structure of the first- and second-neighbor shells of simulated water: Quantitative relation to translational and orientational order

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Zhenyu; Buldyrev, Sergey V.; Kumar, Pradeep; Giovambattista, Nicolas; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Stanley, H. Eugene

2007-11-01

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of water using the five-site transferable interaction potential (TIP5P) model to quantify structural order in both the first shell (defined by four nearest neighbors) and second shell (defined by twelve next-nearest neighbors) of a central water molecule. We find that the anomalous decrease of orientational order upon compression occurs in both shells, but the anomalous decrease of translational order upon compression occurs mainly in the second shell. The decreases of translational order and orientational order upon compression (called the “structural anomaly”) are thus correlated only in the second shell. Our findings quantitatively confirm the qualitative idea that the thermodynamic, structural, and hence dynamic anomalies of water are related to changes upon compression in the second shell.

Detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei O-antigen serotypes in near-neighbor species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stone Joshua K

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiological agent of melioidosis and a CDC category B select agent with no available effective vaccine. Previous immunizations in mice have utilized the lipopolysaccharide (LPS as a potential vaccine target because it is known as one of the most important antigenic epitopes in B. pseudomallei. Complicating this strategy are the four different B. pseudomallei LPS O-antigen types: A, B, B2, and rough. Sero-crossreactivity is common among O-antigens of Burkholderia species. Here, we identified the presence of multiple B. pseudomallei O-antigen types and sero-crossreactivity in its near-neighbor species. Results PCR screening of O-antigen biosynthesis genes, phenotypic characterization using SDS-PAGE, and immunoblot analysis showed that majority of B. mallei and B. thailandensis strains contained the typical O-antigen type A. In contrast, most of B. ubonensis and B. thailandensis-like strains expressed the atypical O-antigen types B and B2, respectively. Most B. oklahomensis strains expressed a distinct and non-seroreactive O-antigen type, except strain E0147 which expressed O-antigen type A. O-antigen type B2 was also detected in B. thailandensis 82172, B. ubonensis MSMB108, and Burkholderia sp. MSMB175. Interestingly, B. thailandensis-like MSMB43 contained a novel serotype B positive O-antigen. Conclusions This study expands the number of species which express B. pseudomallei O-antigen types. Further work is required to elucidate the full structures and how closely these are to the B. pseudomallei O-antigens, which will ultimately determine the efficacy of the near-neighbor B serotypes for vaccine development.

Environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kloepfer, M.

1989-01-01

This comprehensive reference book on environmental law and practice also is a valuable textbook for students specializing in the field. The entire law on pollution control and environmental protection is presented in an intelligent system, covering the latest developments in the Federal and Land legislation, public environmental law, and the related provisions in the fields of civil law and criminal law. The national survey is rounded up by information concerning the international environmental law, environmental law of the European Communities, and of other foreign countries as e.g. Austria and Switzerland. The author also reviews conditions in neighbouring fields such as technology and labour law, environmental economy, environmental policy. Special attention is given to current topics, as e.g. relating to genetic engineering, disused landfills or industrial sites, soil protection, transport of hazardous goods, liability for damage to forests, atomic energy law, and radiation protection law. The latest publishing dates of literature and court decisions considered in the book are in the first months of 1989. (RST) [de

Low-spin identical bands in neighboring odd-A and even-even nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baktash, C.; Winchell, D.F.; Garrett, J.D.; Smith, A.

1993-01-01

A comprehensive study of odd-A rotational bands in normally deformed rare-earth nuclei indicates that a large number of seniority-one configurations (21 % for odd-Z nuclei) at low spin have moments of inertia nearly identical to that of the seniority-zero configuration of the neighboring even-even nucleus with one less nucleon. It is difficult to reconcile these results with conventional models of nuclear pair correlation, which predict variations of about 15% in the moments of inertia of configurations differing by one unit in seniority. (orig.)

Quantifying capital goods for waste incineration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brogaard, L.K.; Riber, C.; Christensen, T.H.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Materials and energy used for the construction of waste incinerators were quantified. • The data was collected from five incineration plants in Scandinavia. • Included were six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. • The capital goods contributed 2–3% compared to the direct emissions impact on GW. - Abstract: Materials and energy used for the construction of modern waste incineration plants were quantified. The data was collected from five incineration plants (72,000–240,000 tonnes per year) built in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Denmark) between 2006 and 2012. Concrete for the buildings was the main material used amounting to 19,000–26,000 tonnes per plant. The quantification further included six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. The energy used for the actual on-site construction of the incinerators was in the range 4000–5000 MW h. In terms of the environmental burden of producing the materials used in the construction, steel for the building and the machinery contributed the most. The material and energy used for the construction corresponded to the emission of 7–14 kg CO 2 per tonne of waste combusted throughout the lifetime of the incineration plant. The assessment showed that, compared to data reported in the literature on direct emissions from the operation of incinerators, the environmental impacts caused by the construction of buildings and machinery (capital goods) could amount to 2–3% with respect to kg CO 2 per tonne of waste combusted

40 CFR 59.603 - How must manufacturers apply good engineering judgment?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... engineering judgment? 59.603 Section 59.603 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS Control of Evaporative Emissions From New and In-Use Portable Fuel Containers Overview and Applicability § 59.603 How must manufacturers apply good engineering judgment? (a) In addition to...

Toward a Shared Urban Transport System Ensuring Passengers & Goods Cohabitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Trentini

2010-07-01

Full Text Available The paper presents radical new urban transportation system concepts, potentially allowing changing the economic and environmental costs of passenger and freight transportation. The driver focuses on the concept of sharing, which means to make a joint use of transport resources, between passengers and goods flows. From a field observation of several existing solutions, an inductive reasoning enables us to move from a set of specific facts to establish an archetype for a radical new urban transportation system. Once the archetype defined, it is translated in real life through the example of the On Route proposal for London. The research frame of this paper is the ANR C-Goods (City Goods Operation Optimization using Decision support System project. Started in February 2009 the project involves four partners , and will end on 2011.

Neighborhood scale quantification of ecosystem goods and ...

Science.gov (United States)

Ecosystem goods and services are those ecological structures and functions that humans can directly relate to their state of well-being. Ecosystem goods and services include, but are not limited to, a sufficient fresh water supply, fertile lands to produce agricultural products, shading, air and water of sufficient quality for designated uses, flood water retention, and places to recreate. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Office of Research and Development’s Tampa Bay Ecosystem Services Demonstration Project (TBESDP) modeling efforts organized existing literature values for biophysical attributes and processes related to EGS. The goal was to develop a database for informing mapped-based EGS assessments for current and future land cover/use scenarios at multiple scales. This report serves as a demonstration of applying an EGS assessment approach at the large neighborhood scale (~1,000 acres of residential parcels plus common areas). Here, we present mapped inventories of ecosystem goods and services production at a neighborhood scale within the Tampa Bay, FL region. Comparisons of the inventory between two alternative neighborhood designs are presented as an example of how one might apply EGS concepts at this scale.

Contribution of Online Trading of Used Goods to Resource Efficiency: An Empirical Study of eBay Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jens Clausen

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the sustainability impact (contribution to sustainability, reduction of adverse environmental impacts of online second-hand trading. A survey of eBay users shows that a relationship between the trading of used goods and the protection of natural resources is hardly realized. Secondly, the environmental motivation and the willingness to act in a sustainable manner differ widely between groups of consumers. Given these results from a user perspective, the paper tries to find some objective hints of online second-hand trading’s environmental impact. The greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy used for the trading transactions seem to be considerably lower than the emissions due to the (avoided production of new goods. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for second-hand trade and consumer policy. Information about the sustainability benefits of purchasing second-hand goods should be included in general consumer information, and arguments for changes in behavior should be targeted to different groups of consumers.

Are Tourists’ Environmental Behavior Affected by Their Environmental Perceptions and Beliefs?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nichola Anastasia RAMCHURJEE

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The key to eliminating environmental problems depends mainly on how much individuals are motivated to change their consumer behaviors and participate in more environmentally responsible practices. The purpose of this research is to examine if tourists’ environmental behaviors are affected by their environmental perceptions and beliefs and how these concepts influence tourists to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors while visiting Hassan, Karnataka India. Random sampling utilizes a structured questionnaire for this investigation. The questionnaire consisted of four sections with 335 participants. The results showed that some tourists engage in positive environmental behaviors. It also revealed that the tourists largely held positive environmental beliefs and perceptions, and are aware of the concerns for the environment, however, they are not ready to transfer their environmental beliefs into their behavioral practices. Their main aim when on vacation is to experience the destination and activities offered, relax and enjoy the cultural atmosphere and to generally “have a good time”.

Impact of Training Bolivian Farmers on Integrated Pest Management and Diffusion of Knowledge to Neighboring Farmers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørs, Erik; Konradsen, Flemming; Huici, Omar

2016-01-01

of importance to justify training costs and to promote a healthy and sustainable agriculture. Training on IPM of farmers took place from 2002 to 2004 in their villages in La Paz County, Bolivia, while dissemination of knowledge from trained farmer to neighboring farmer took place until 2009. To evaluate...

Environmental management systems

OpenAIRE

Misiak, Małgorzata

2016-01-01

Considering environmental protection requirements in business operations may, in the long run, determine if a lasting comparative advantage can be achieved. That is why our textbook, rich in case studies, identifies not only the threats a business may pose to the environment but stresses the ways of reducing its negative impact. It discusses, among other things, the concept of corporate social responsibility, environmental management systems, methods and the importance of eco-labelling goods ...

Nearest neighbor 3D segmentation with context features

Science.gov (United States)

Hristova, Evelin; Schulz, Heinrich; Brosch, Tom; Heinrich, Mattias P.; Nickisch, Hannes

2018-03-01

Automated and fast multi-label segmentation of medical images is challenging and clinically important. This paper builds upon a supervised machine learning framework that uses training data sets with dense organ annotations and vantage point trees to classify voxels in unseen images based on similarity of binary feature vectors extracted from the data. Without explicit model knowledge, the algorithm is applicable to different modalities and organs, and achieves high accuracy. The method is successfully tested on 70 abdominal CT and 42 pelvic MR images. With respect to ground truth, an average Dice overlap score of 0.76 for the CT segmentation of liver, spleen and kidneys is achieved. The mean score for the MR delineation of bladder, bones, prostate and rectum is 0.65. Additionally, we benchmark several variations of the main components of the method and reduce the computation time by up to 47% without significant loss of accuracy. The segmentation results are - for a nearest neighbor method - surprisingly accurate, robust as well as data and time efficient.

Exploring Environmental Inequalities in Belgium: a New Theoretical and Empirical Way to Deal with Environmental Conflicts in Urban Areas?

OpenAIRE

Lejeune, Zoé

2013-01-01

Environmental Inequalities (EI) – the unequal distribution of environmental goods and bads among space and population – are a field of research at the crossroads of political science, environmental studies, and urban studies. Unlike US Environmental Justice movement, EI are not seen by actors or studied as a specific frame for action and collective mobilisation in Belgium in environmental matters. Environmental conflicts are however numerous in urban areas in Belgium where industrial activ...

Many Neighbors are not Silent. fMRI Evidence for Global Lexical Activity in Visual Word Recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario eBraun

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Many neurocognitive studies investigated the neural correlates of visual word recognition, some of which manipulated the orthographic neighborhood density of words and nonwords believed to influence the activation of orthographically similar representations in a hypothetical mental lexicon. Previous neuroimaging research failed to find evidence for such global lexical activity associated with neighborhood density. Rather, effects were interpreted to reflect semantic or domain general processing. The present fMRI study revealed effects of lexicality, orthographic neighborhood density and a lexicality by orthographic neighborhood density interaction in a silent reading task. For the first time we found greater activity for words and nonwords with a high number of neighbors. We propose that this activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex reflects activation of orthographically similar codes in verbal working memory thus providing evidence for global lexical activity as the basis of the neighborhood density effect. The interaction of lexicality by neighborhood density in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex showed lower activity in response to words with a high number compared to nonwords with a high number of neighbors. In the light of these results the facilitatory effect for words and inhibitory effect for nonwords with many neighbors observed in previous studies can be understood as being due to the operation of a fast-guess mechanism for words and a temporal deadline mechanism for nonwords as predicted by models of visual word recognition. Furthermore, we propose that the lexicality effect with higher activity for words compared to nonwords in inferior parietal and middle temporal cortex reflects the operation of an identification mechanism and based on local lexico-semantic activity.

Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin

2017-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy. PMID:29064451

Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin; Tsai, Sang-Bing

2017-10-24

This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.

Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Liu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.

Diagnosis of diabetes diseases using an Artificial Immune Recognition System2 (AIRS2) with fuzzy K-nearest neighbor.

Science.gov (United States)

Chikh, Mohamed Amine; Saidi, Meryem; Settouti, Nesma

2012-10-01

The use of expert systems and artificial intelligence techniques in disease diagnosis has been increasing gradually. Artificial Immune Recognition System (AIRS) is one of the methods used in medical classification problems. AIRS2 is a more efficient version of the AIRS algorithm. In this paper, we used a modified AIRS2 called MAIRS2 where we replace the K- nearest neighbors algorithm with the fuzzy K-nearest neighbors to improve the diagnostic accuracy of diabetes diseases. The diabetes disease dataset used in our work is retrieved from UCI machine learning repository. The performances of the AIRS2 and MAIRS2 are evaluated regarding classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity values. The highest classification accuracy obtained when applying the AIRS2 and MAIRS2 using 10-fold cross-validation was, respectively 82.69% and 89.10%.

The water a public good

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mira, Juan Camilo

2008-01-01

The campaign Water is a public good have been upheld by Ecofondo since march 2005,searching to develop public policies related to water justice forwarded from local experiences hold on by social organizations around the country. Colombia are a tropical country, one the most biological and cultural diverse in the world and is plentiful of water rivers ant other water bodies.However, there is an imminent environmental crisis named too a cultural crisis caused by the uses of land and natural resources. The actual public policies related to water supply, waste disposals and environmental conservation are weak indeed the complexity of the causes. The public service's privatization in Colombia early on the 90's that increased the fee and the governmental intention to privatise the water, struggle people against that and it is expressed trough conflicts related to access to natural resources. The water become a reason to social mobilization that in the near future will intent to change the National Constitution to take in, the water as a human right, the water supply as a public service only, and the special importance of the ecosystem regulators of the water cycle

Visitando vizinhos: uma análise da série histórica de produção de bens de capital no Brasil utilizando diagramas de recorrência Encountering neighbors: an analysis of capital goods production in Brazil using recurrence plot diagrams

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Newton Paulo Bueno

2009-08-01

Full Text Available O objetivo do texto é identificar possíveis não linearidades na série de produção de bens de capital brasileira no período janeiro/1975-janeiro/2002. Utilizando a técnica de análise de séries temporais com diagramas de recorrência e o método de previsão por nearest neighbors, apresentam-se evidências de que os investimentos no Brasil - tomando como proxy a série temporal de produção de bens de capital - seguem uma dinâmica com um componente não linear determinístico não desprezível. Embora não tenha sido objetivo do texto identificar a possível fonte dessa dinâmica, os resultados empíricos alcançados autorizam a supor que a dinâmica macroeconômica brasileira pode ser mais sensível à variabilidade da política econômica do que normalmente se supõe. A implicação disso é que a capacidade de prever esses efeitos, com uma margem estatisticamente aceitável de significância, pode ser muito reduzida em períodos em que a dinâmica da série se torna mais sensível em relação às condições iniciais; as técnicas aqui empregadas, entretanto, sugerem que em certa medida é possível, senão prever a evolução dos investimentos, pelo menos identificar os períodos nos quais essa previsão é menos confiável.The objective of the paper is to identify possible non-linearities in Brazilian capital goods production in the period January/1975-January/2002. Using the techniques of recurrence plots diagrams and nearest neighbors forecasting, we found evidences that investments in Brazil present a non negligible non-linear component. Although it has not been the purpose of the paper to identify the possible source of that dynamics, the empiric results found authorize to speculate that the dynamics of some important macroeconomic variables in Brazil might be more sensitive to economic policy variability than it is usually supposed. The implication is that the ability to foresee those effects, within a significant

Identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei Near-Neighbor Species in the Northern Territory of Australia.

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Jennifer L Ginther

Full Text Available Identification and characterization of near-neighbor species are critical to the development of robust molecular diagnostic tools for biothreat agents. One such agent, Burkholderia pseudomallei, a soil bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis, is lacking in this area because of its genomic diversity and widespread geographic distribution. The Burkholderia genus contains over 60 species and occupies a large range of environments including soil, plants, rhizospheres, water, animals and humans. The identification of novel species in new locations necessitates the need to identify the true global distribution of Burkholderia species, especially the members that are closely related to B. pseudomallei. In our current study, we used the Burkholderia-specific recA sequencing assay to analyze environmental samples from the Darwin region in the Northern Territory of Australia where melioidosis is endemic. Burkholderia recA PCR negative samples were further characterized using 16s rRNA sequencing for species identification. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that over 70% of the bacterial isolates were identified as B. ubonensis indicating that this species is common in the soil where B. pseudomallei is endemic. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis reveals many novel branches within the B. cepacia complex, one novel B. oklahomensis-like species, and one novel branch containing one isolate that is distinct from all other samples on the phylogenetic tree. During the analysis with recA sequencing, we discovered 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms in the reverse priming region of B. oklahomensis. A degenerate primer was developed and is proposed for future use. We conclude that the recA sequencing technique is an effective tool to classify Burkholderia and identify soil organisms in a melioidosis endemic area.

Identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei Near-Neighbor Species in the Northern Territory of Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Ginther, Jennifer L.; Mayo, Mark; Warrington, Stephanie D.; Kaestli, Mirjam; Mullins, Travis; Wagner, David M.; Currie, Bart J.; Tuanyok, Apichai; Keim, Paul

2015-01-01

Identification and characterization of near-neighbor species are critical to the development of robust molecular diagnostic tools for biothreat agents. One such agent, Burkholderia pseudomallei, a soil bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis, is lacking in this area because of its genomic diversity and widespread geographic distribution. The Burkholderia genus contains over 60 species and occupies a large range of environments including soil, plants, rhizospheres, water, animals and humans. The identification of novel species in new locations necessitates the need to identify the true global distribution of Burkholderia species, especially the members that are closely related to B. pseudomallei. In our current study, we used the Burkholderia-specific recA sequencing assay to analyze environmental samples from the Darwin region in the Northern Territory of Australia where melioidosis is endemic. Burkholderia recA PCR negative samples were further characterized using 16s rRNA sequencing for species identification. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that over 70% of the bacterial isolates were identified as B. ubonensis indicating that this species is common in the soil where B. pseudomallei is endemic. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis reveals many novel branches within the B. cepacia complex, one novel B. oklahomensis-like species, and one novel branch containing one isolate that is distinct from all other samples on the phylogenetic tree. During the analysis with recA sequencing, we discovered 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms in the reverse priming region of B. oklahomensis. A degenerate primer was developed and is proposed for future use. We conclude that the recA sequencing technique is an effective tool to classify Burkholderia and identify soil organisms in a melioidosis endemic area. PMID:26121041

Environmental quality in mid-sized cities: case study of the city of Campos dos Goytacazes

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Jane Ilce Barreto de Souza

2010-05-01

Full Text Available This work analyzes the urban environmental quality of Campos dos Goytacazes, a mid-sized city located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The evaluation was based on indicators associated to local traffic and verticalization process. Inhabitants of the most populated areas were interviewed in order to depict the main disturbances caused by traffic intensification and urban verticalization. According to the interviewed, life and environmental quality has suffered severe deterioration, disturbing dwellers in terms of increasing amount of neighbors, noise levels, loss of individual freedom (parking, lack of privacy in recreational and private living areas, and consequent property devaluation.

Responsible energy planning and environmental stewardship

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrison, K.L.

1991-01-01

This article discusses the idea that operating in the best interests of the environment is also in the best interests of shareholders. Topics discussed include utility environmental policy, cost-effective recycling of materials, environmental impact of new power sources, and energy efficiency. The author states that being environmentally responsible goes beyond good business, it is the right thing to do

Spectral neighbor analysis method for automated generation of quantum-accurate interatomic potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, A.P.; Swiler, L.P.; Trott, C.R.; Foiles, S.M.; Tucker, G.J.

2015-01-01

We present a new interatomic potential for solids and liquids called Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential (SNAP). The SNAP potential has a very general form and uses machine-learning techniques to reproduce the energies, forces, and stress tensors of a large set of small configurations of atoms, which are obtained using high-accuracy quantum electronic structure (QM) calculations. The local environment of each atom is characterized by a set of bispectrum components of the local neighbor density projected onto a basis of hyperspherical harmonics in four dimensions. The bispectrum components are the same bond-orientational order parameters employed by the GAP potential [1]. The SNAP potential, unlike GAP, assumes a linear relationship between atom energy and bispectrum components. The linear SNAP coefficients are determined using weighted least-squares linear regression against the full QM training set. This allows the SNAP potential to be fit in a robust, automated manner to large QM data sets using many bispectrum components. The calculation of the bispectrum components and the SNAP potential are implemented in the LAMMPS parallel molecular dynamics code. We demonstrate that a previously unnoticed symmetry property can be exploited to reduce the computational cost of the force calculations by more than one order of magnitude. We present results for a SNAP potential for tantalum, showing that it accurately reproduces a range of commonly calculated properties of both the crystalline solid and the liquid phases. In addition, unlike simpler existing potentials, SNAP correctly predicts the energy barrier for screw dislocation migration in BCC tantalum

Spectral neighbor analysis method for automated generation of quantum-accurate interatomic potentials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thompson, Aidan P. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Multiscale Science Dept.; Swiler, Laura P. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Optimization and Uncertainty Quantification Dept.; Trott, Christian R. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Scalable Algorithms Dept.; Foiles, Stephen M. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Computational Materials and Data Science Dept.; Tucker, Garritt J. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Computational Materials and Data Science Dept.; Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

2015-03-15

Here, we present a new interatomic potential for solids and liquids called Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential (SNAP). The SNAP potential has a very general form and uses machine-learning techniques to reproduce the energies, forces, and stress tensors of a large set of small configurations of atoms, which are obtained using high-accuracy quantum electronic structure (QM) calculations. The local environment of each atom is characterized by a set of bispectrum components of the local neighbor density projected onto a basis of hyperspherical harmonics in four dimensions. The bispectrum components are the same bond-orientational order parameters employed by the GAP potential [1]. The SNAP potential, unlike GAP, assumes a linear relationship between atom energy and bispectrum components. The linear SNAP coefficients are determined using weighted least-squares linear regression against the full QM training set. This allows the SNAP potential to be fit in a robust, automated manner to large QM data sets using many bispectrum components. The calculation of the bispectrum components and the SNAP potential are implemented in the LAMMPS parallel molecular dynamics code. We demonstrate that a previously unnoticed symmetry property can be exploited to reduce the computational cost of the force calculations by more than one order of magnitude. We present results for a SNAP potential for tantalum, showing that it accurately reproduces a range of commonly calculated properties of both the crystalline solid and the liquid phases. In addition, unlike simpler existing potentials, SNAP correctly predicts the energy barrier for screw dislocation migration in BCC tantalum.

Spectral neighbor analysis method for automated generation of quantum-accurate interatomic potentials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thompson, A.P., E-mail: athomps@sandia.gov [Multiscale Science Department, Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1322, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Swiler, L.P., E-mail: lpswile@sandia.gov [Optimization and Uncertainty Quantification Department, Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1318, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Trott, C.R., E-mail: crtrott@sandia.gov [Scalable Algorithms Department, Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1322, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Foiles, S.M., E-mail: foiles@sandia.gov [Computational Materials and Data Science Department, Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1411, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Tucker, G.J., E-mail: gtucker@coe.drexel.edu [Computational Materials and Data Science Department, Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1411, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)

2015-03-15

We present a new interatomic potential for solids and liquids called Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential (SNAP). The SNAP potential has a very general form and uses machine-learning techniques to reproduce the energies, forces, and stress tensors of a large set of small configurations of atoms, which are obtained using high-accuracy quantum electronic structure (QM) calculations. The local environment of each atom is characterized by a set of bispectrum components of the local neighbor density projected onto a basis of hyperspherical harmonics in four dimensions. The bispectrum components are the same bond-orientational order parameters employed by the GAP potential [1]. The SNAP potential, unlike GAP, assumes a linear relationship between atom energy and bispectrum components. The linear SNAP coefficients are determined using weighted least-squares linear regression against the full QM training set. This allows the SNAP potential to be fit in a robust, automated manner to large QM data sets using many bispectrum components. The calculation of the bispectrum components and the SNAP potential are implemented in the LAMMPS parallel molecular dynamics code. We demonstrate that a previously unnoticed symmetry property can be exploited to reduce the computational cost of the force calculations by more than one order of magnitude. We present results for a SNAP potential for tantalum, showing that it accurately reproduces a range of commonly calculated properties of both the crystalline solid and the liquid phases. In addition, unlike simpler existing potentials, SNAP correctly predicts the energy barrier for screw dislocation migration in BCC tantalum.

Mechanisms in environmental control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindeneg, K.

1994-01-01

The theory of implementation provides methods for decentralization of decisions in societies. By using mechanisms (game forms) it is possible (in theory) to implement attractive states in different economic environments. As an example the market mechanisms can implement Pareto-efficient and individual rational allocations in an Arrow-Debreu economic environment without market failures. And even when there exists externalities the market mechanism sometime can be used if it is possible to make a market for the goods not allocated on a market already - examples are marketable emission permits, and deposit refund systems. But environmental problems can often be explained by the existence of other market failures (e.g. asymmetric information), and then the market mechanism do not work properly. And instead of using regulation or traditional economic instruments (subsidies, charges, fees, liability insurance, marketable emission permits, or deposit refund systems) to correct the problems caused by market failures, some other methods can be used to deal with these problems. This paper contains a survey of mechanisms that can be used in environmental control when the problems are caused by the existence of public goods, externalities, asymmetric information, and indivisible goods in the economy. By examples it will be demonstrated how the Clarke-Groves mechanism, the Cournot-Lindahl mechanism, and other mechanisms can be used to solve specific environmental problems. This is only theory and examples, but a recent field study have used the Cournot-Lindahl mechanism to solve the problem of lake liming in Sweden. So this subject may be of some interests for environmental policy in the future. (au) 23 refs

Tularemia, a re-emerging infectious disease in Iran and neighboring countrie

Science.gov (United States)

Zargar, Afsaneh; Maurin, Max; Mostafavi, Ehsan

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Tularemia is a zoonotic disease transmitted by direct contact with infected animals and through arthropod bites, inhalation of contaminated aerosols, ingestion of contaminated meat or water, and skin contact with any infected material. It is widespread throughout the northern hemisphere, including Iran and its neighbors to the north, northeast, and northwest. METHODS: In this paper, the epidemiology of tularemia as a re-emerging infectious disease in the world with a focus on Iran and the neighboring countries is reviewed. RESULTS: In Iran, positive serological tests were first reported in 1973, in wildlife and domestic livestock in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the country. The first human case was reported in 1980 in the southwest of Iran, and recent studies conducted among at-risk populations in the western, southeastern, and southwestern parts of Iran revealed seroprevalences of 14.4, 6.52, and 6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors may explain the absence of reported tularemia cases in Iran since 1980. Tularemia may be underdiagnosed in Iran because Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica is likely to be the major etiological agent and usually causes mild to moderately severe disease. Furthermore, tularemia is not a disease extensively studied in the medical educational system in Iran, and empirical therapy may be effective in many cases. Finally, it should be noted that laboratories capable of diagnosing tularemia have only been established in the last few years. Since both recent and older studies have consistently found tularemia antibodies in humans and animals, the surveillance of this disease should receive more attention. In particular, it would be worthwhile for clinical researchers to confirm tularemia cases more often by isolating F. tularensis from infected humans and animals. PMID:25773439

Environmental skills: motivation, knowledge, and the possibility of a non-romantic environmental ethics.

OpenAIRE

Coeckelbergh, Mark

2015-01-01

Today it is widely recognized that we face urgent and serious environmental problems and we know much about them, yet we do very little. What explains this lack of motivation and change? Why is it so hard to change our lives? This book addresses this question by means of a philosophical inquiry into the conditions of possibility for environmental change. It discusses how we can become more motivated to do environmental good and what kind of knowledge we need for this, and explores the relatio...

Nearest neighbor imputation using spatial-temporal correlations in wireless sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, YuanYuan; Parker, Lynne E

2014-01-01

Missing data is common in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), especially with multi-hop communications. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as unstable wireless communications, synchronization issues, and unreliable sensors. Unfortunately, missing data creates a number of problems for WSNs. First, since most sensor nodes in the network are battery-powered, it is too expensive to have the nodes retransmit missing data across the network. Data re-transmission may also cause time delays when detecting abnormal changes in an environment. Furthermore, localized reasoning techniques on sensor nodes (such as machine learning algorithms to classify states of the environment) are generally not robust enough to handle missing data. Since sensor data collected by a WSN is generally correlated in time and space, we illustrate how replacing missing sensor values with spatially and temporally correlated sensor values can significantly improve the network's performance. However, our studies show that it is important to determine which nodes are spatially and temporally correlated with each other. Simple techniques based on Euclidean distance are not sufficient for complex environmental deployments. Thus, we have developed a novel Nearest Neighbor (NN) imputation method that estimates missing data in WSNs by learning spatial and temporal correlations between sensor nodes. To improve the search time, we utilize a k d-tree data structure, which is a non-parametric, data-driven binary search tree. Instead of using traditional mean and variance of each dimension for k d-tree construction, and Euclidean distance for k d-tree search, we use weighted variances and weighted Euclidean distances based on measured percentages of missing data. We have evaluated this approach through experiments on sensor data from a volcano dataset collected by a network of Crossbow motes, as well as experiments using sensor data from a highway traffic monitoring application. Our experimental

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Clinical Laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Joseph B; Jackson, David; Gammie, Alistair; Badrick, Tony

2017-02-01

Healthcare is a significant contributor to environmental impact but this has received little attention. The typical laboratory uses far more energy and water per unit area than the typical office building. There is a need to sensitise laboratories to the importance of adopting good environmental practices. Since this comes at an initial cost, it is vital to obtain senior management support. Convincing management of the various tangible and intangible benefits that can accrue in the long run should help achieve this support. Many good environmental practices do not have a cost but will require a change in the culture and mind-set of the organisation. Continuing education and training are important keys to successful implementation of good practices. There is a need to undertake a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of every change that is introduced in going green. The adoption of good practices can eventually lead to ISO certification if this is desired. This paper provides suggestions that will allow a laboratory to start going green. It will allow the industry to enhance its corporate citizenship whilst improving its competitive advantage for long-term.

Investment Incentives and Effective Tax Rates in the Philippines; A Comparison With Neighboring Countries

OpenAIRE

Alexander D Klemm; Dennis P Botman; Reza Baqir

2008-01-01

We compare the general tax provisions and investment incentives in the Philippines to six other east-Asian economies-Malaysia, Indonesia, Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. We calculate effective tax rates and find that general effective tax rates are relatively high in the Philippines, while investment incentives are comparable to those in neighboring countries. Tax holidays are most attractive for very profitable firms, creating redundancy, and for investment in short-lived assets. We al...

Specific Protein Markers for Stem Cell Cross-Talk with Neighboring Cells in the Environment

OpenAIRE

Park, Kyung Soo; Shin, Seung Won; Choi, Jeong-Woo; Um, Soong Ho

2013-01-01

A stem cell interacts with the neighboring cells in its environment. To maintain a living organism’s metabolism, either cell-cell or cell-environment interactions may be significant. Usually, these cells communicate with each other through biological signaling by interactive behaviors of primary proteins or complementary chemicals. The signaling intermediates offer the stem cell’s functionality on its metabolism. With the rapid advent of omics technologies, various specific markers by which s...

Neighbor-directed histidine N(τ) alkylation. A route to imidazolium-containing phosphopeptide macrocycles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qian, Wen-Jian [National Cancer Inst., Frederick, MD (United States); Park, Jung-Eun [National Cancer Inst., Bethesda, MD (United States); Grant, Robert [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Lai, Christopher C. [National Cancer Inst., Frederick, MD (United States); Kelley, James A. [National Cancer Inst., Frederick, MD (United States); Yaffe, Michael B. [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Lee, Kyung S. [National Cancer Inst., Bethesda, MD (United States); Burke, Terrence R. [National Cancer Inst., Frederick, MD (United States)

2015-07-07

Our recently discovered, selective, on-resin route to N(τ)-alkylated imidazolium-containing histidine residues affords new strategies for peptide mimetic design. In this, we demonstrate the use of this chemistry to prepare a series of macrocyclic phosphopeptides, in which imidazolium groups serve as ring-forming junctions. These cationic moieties subsequently serve to charge-mask the phosphoamino acid group that directed their formation. Furthermore, neighbor-directed histidine N(τ)-alkylation opens the door to new families of phosphopeptidomimetics for use in a range of chemical biology contexts.

Nearest Neighbor Estimates of Entropy for Multivariate Circular Distributions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neeraj Misra

2010-05-01

Full Text Available In molecular sciences, the estimation of entropies of molecules is important for the understanding of many chemical and biological processes. Motivated by these applications, we consider the problem of estimating the entropies of circular random vectors and introduce non-parametric estimators based on circular distances between n sample points and their k th nearest neighbors (NN, where k (≤ n – 1 is a fixed positive integer. The proposed NN estimators are based on two different circular distances, and are proven to be asymptotically unbiased and consistent. The performance of one of the circular-distance estimators is investigated and compared with that of the already established Euclidean-distance NN estimator using Monte Carlo samples from an analytic distribution of six circular variables of an exactly known entropy and a large sample of seven internal-rotation angles in the molecule of tartaric acid, obtained by a realistic molecular-dynamics simulation.

On the evaluation of cultural and environmental public goods, and its implications for social innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Graffeo, Michele; Bonini, Nicolao

2013-01-01

Public goods (e.g., parks) and welfare services (e.g., garbage disposal and transportation policies) are extremely important for the citizens' well-being but in the complex modern societies their influence and effectiveness are affected by the citizens' support. For this reason, it is crucial to understand which are the factors that influence the citizens' perception of the benefits, costs, and risks associated to public goods and welfare services. In this chapter, we describe some psychological variables that are relevant for the evaluation process of the public goods, but that are not considered by the standard economic models. At the same time, we show that some variables of central importance for the economic models do not significantly affect the citizens' evaluations. Finally, we discuss the concept of Nudge, a policy-making approach that suggests the use of psychological mechanisms to increase the citizens' support to public provision of welfare services. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Distributed Approach to Continuous Monitoring of Constrained k-Nearest Neighbor Queries in Road Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyung-Ju Cho

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Given two positive parameters k and r, a constrained k-nearest neighbor (CkNN query returns the k closest objects within a network distance r of the query location in road networks. In terms of the scalability of monitoring these CkNN queries, existing solutions based on central processing at a server suffer from a sudden and sharp rise in server load as well as messaging cost as the number of queries increases. In this paper, we propose a distributed and scalable scheme called DAEMON for the continuous monitoring of CkNN queries in road networks. Our query processing is distributed among clients (query objects and server. Specifically, the server evaluates CkNN queries issued at intersections of road segments, retrieves the objects on the road segments between neighboring intersections, and sends responses to the query objects. Finally, each client makes its own query result using this server response. As a result, our distributed scheme achieves close-to-optimal communication costs and scales well to large numbers of monitoring queries. Exhaustive experimental results demonstrate that our scheme substantially outperforms its competitor in terms of query processing time and messaging cost.

A Novel Hybrid Model Based on Extreme Learning Machine, k-Nearest Neighbor Regression and Wavelet Denoising Applied to Short-Term Electric Load Forecasting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weide Li

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Electric load forecasting plays an important role in electricity markets and power systems. Because electric load time series are complicated and nonlinear, it is very difficult to achieve a satisfactory forecasting accuracy. In this paper, a hybrid model, Wavelet Denoising-Extreme Learning Machine optimized by k-Nearest Neighbor Regression (EWKM, which combines k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM based on a wavelet denoising technique is proposed for short-term load forecasting. The proposed hybrid model decomposes the time series into a low frequency-associated main signal and some detailed signals associated with high frequencies at first, then uses KNN to determine the independent and dependent variables from the low-frequency signal. Finally, the ELM is used to get the non-linear relationship between these variables to get the final prediction result for the electric load. Compared with three other models, Extreme Learning Machine optimized by k-Nearest Neighbor Regression (EKM, Wavelet Denoising-Extreme Learning Machine (WKM and Wavelet Denoising-Back Propagation Neural Network optimized by k-Nearest Neighbor Regression (WNNM, the model proposed in this paper can improve the accuracy efficiently. New South Wales is the economic powerhouse of Australia, so we use the proposed model to predict electric demand for that region. The accurate prediction has a significant meaning.

The indirect effects of cheatgrass invasion: Grasshopper herbivory on native grasses determined by neighboring cheatgrass abundance

Science.gov (United States)

Julie Beckstead; Susan E. Meyer; Carol K. Augsperger

2008-01-01

Invasion biology has focused on the direct effects of plant invasion and has generally overlooked indirect interactions. Here we link theories of invasion biology and herbivory to explore an indirect effect of one invading species on associational herbivory (the effect of neighboring plants on herbivory) of native species. We studied a Great Basin shadscale (...

A Comparison of the Spatial Linear Model to Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) Methods for Forestry Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Jay M. Ver Hoef; Hailemariam Temesgen; Sergio Gómez

2013-01-01

Forest surveys provide critical information for many diverse interests. Data are often collected from samples, and from these samples, maps of resources and estimates of aerial totals or averages are required. In this paper, two approaches for mapping and estimating totals; the spatial linear model (SLM) and k-NN (k-Nearest Neighbor) are compared, theoretically,...

HOW GOOD IS GOODS AND SERVICES TAX

OpenAIRE

Dr. Sreemoyee Guha Roy

2016-01-01

Goods and Services Tax is a broad based and a single comprehensive tax levied on goods and services consumed in an economy. GST is levied at every stage of the production-distribution chain with applicable set offs in respect of the tax remitted at previous stages. It is basically a tax on final consumption. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a value added tax to be implemented in India, the decision on which is pending. GST is the only indirect tax that directly affects all sectors and sect...

INDICATOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL SECTORS UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pruethsan Sutthichaimethee

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to propose an indicator to deal with environmental problems for agricultural sectors caused by goods and services production. The aspects to calculate the real benefit of agricultural sectors and environmental cost for analyzing are natural resources materials, energy and transportation, fertilizer and pesticides, and sanitary and similar service. From the research it was found that the highest environmental cost of natural resources materials was 026: charcoal and fire-wood, while the lowest was 010 coconut. The highest environmental cost for energy and transportation was 024: agricultural services, while the highest environmental cost for fertilizer and pesticides was 011: palm oil. lastly, 017: other agricultural products was found as the highest environmental cost for sanitary and similar service. As a result, 010: coconut gained the highest real benefit, while 024: agricultural services presented as the lowest read benefit for the company. If Thailand using environmental problem indicator, especially with the agricultural sector, it can help to formulate efficient policies and strategies for the country in 3 development areas, which are social, economic, and environmental development.

Sequential nearest-neighbor effects on computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vila, Jorge A. [Cornell University, Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (United States); Serrano, Pedro; Wuethrich, Kurt [The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular Biology (United States); Scheraga, Harold A., E-mail: has5@cornell.ed [Cornell University, Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (United States)

2010-09-15

To evaluate sequential nearest-neighbor effects on quantum-chemical calculations of {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts, we selected the structure of the nucleic acid binding (NAB) protein from the SARS coronavirus determined by NMR in solution (PDB id 2K87). NAB is a 116-residue {alpha}/{beta} protein, which contains 9 prolines and has 50% of its residues located in loops and turns. Overall, the results presented here show that sizeable nearest-neighbor effects are seen only for residues preceding proline, where Pro introduces an overestimation, on average, of 1.73 ppm in the computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts. A new ensemble of 20 conformers representing the NMR structure of the NAB, which was calculated with an input containing backbone torsion angle constraints derived from the theoretical {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts as supplementary data to the NOE distance constraints, exhibits very similar topology and comparable agreement with the NOE constraints as the published NMR structure. However, the two structures differ in the patterns of differences between observed and computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts, {Delta}{sub ca,i}, for the individual residues along the sequence. This indicates that the {Delta}{sub ca,i} -values for the NAB protein are primarily a consequence of the limited sampling by the bundles of 20 conformers used, as in common practice, to represent the two NMR structures, rather than of local flaws in the structures.

Environmental monitoring program of a nuclear research institute

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peixoto, Claudia Marques; Jacomino, Vanusa Maria Feliciano; Dias, Fabiana F.

2009-01-01

The main activities of the CDTN Research Institute are concentrated in the areas of reactors, materials, process engineering, the environment, health, radioprotection, radioactive waste, and applied physics. Its Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) began in 1985 with the objective of evaluating and controlling its installations' operating conditions as well as the impact on the neighboring environment caused by release of stable and radioactive elements. EMP's adequate planning and management resulted in obtaining an unique database that has generated information which have contributed to improving the credibility of nuclear and non-nuclear activities developed by the Center with the local community. Besides this, the data collection, study and continuous and systematic follow-up processes of environmental variables allowed the Center to be one of the Nation's pioneering research institutions in obtaining an Environmental Operating License from the Brazilian Environment and Natural Resources Institute (IBAMA). The objective of the present work is to present the experience acquired during the years, including a discussion about methodologies employed as well as the importance of using statistical evaluation tools in evaluating, interpreting, and controlling the quality of the results. Liquid effluent control and surface water monitoring results are also presented. (author)

The groundwater budget: A tool for preliminary estimation of the hydraulic connection between neighboring aquifers

Science.gov (United States)

Viaroli, Stefano; Mastrorillo, Lucia; Lotti, Francesca; Paolucci, Vittorio; Mazza, Roberto

2018-01-01

Groundwater management authorities usually use groundwater budget calculations to evaluate the sustainability of withdrawals for different purposes. The groundwater budget calculation does not always provide reliable information, and it must often be supported by further aquifer monitoring in the case of hydraulic connections between neighboring aquifers. The Riardo Plain aquifer is a strategic drinking resource for more than 100,000 people, water storage for 60 km2 of irrigated land, and the source of a mineral water bottling plant. Over a long period, the comparison between the direct recharge and the estimated natural outflow and withdrawals highlights a severe water deficit of approximately 40% of the total groundwater outflow. A groundwater budget deficit should be a clue to the aquifer depletion, but the results of long-term water level monitoring allowed the observation of the good condition of this aquifer. In fact, in the Riardo Plain, the calculated deficit is not comparable to the aquifer monitoring data acquired in the same period (1992-2014). The small oscillations of the groundwater level and the almost stable streambed spring discharge allows the presumption of an additional aquifer recharge source. The confined carbonate aquifer locally mixes with the above volcanic aquifer, providing an externally stable recharge that reduces the effects of the local rainfall variability. The combined approach of the groundwater budget results and long-term aquifer monitoring (spring discharge and/or hydraulic head oscillation) provides information about significant external groundwater exchanges, even if unidentified by field measurements, and supports the stakeholders in groundwater resource management.

Estimating cavity tree and snag abundance using negative binomial regression models and nearest neighbor imputation methods

Science.gov (United States)

Bianca N.I. Eskelson; Hailemariam Temesgen; Tara M. Barrett

2009-01-01

Cavity tree and snag abundance data are highly variable and contain many zero observations. We predict cavity tree and snag abundance from variables that are readily available from forest cover maps or remotely sensed data using negative binomial (NB), zero-inflated NB, and zero-altered NB (ZANB) regression models as well as nearest neighbor (NN) imputation methods....

Guide of good practices for methanization projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delatte, Constant; Orozco-Souel, Paola; Rouxel, Anaick; Tanneau, Patrick; Schreiber, Konrad; Jaubert, Jean Noel; Micone, Philippe; Dionne, Denis; Renner, Christophe; Ollivier, Denis

2011-12-01

This guide aims at providing project holders with guidance on factors which may influence social acceptability of methanization projects and with recommendations regarding communication and dialogue for a better project integration, with a technical support in order to guarantee project quality for a minimised environmental impact, and at convincing and reassuring local communities which plan to implement a methanization project, notably with respect to issues like odours, safety or landscape integration. The guide first outlines the importance of a serious and credible approach, and aims project holders at demonstrating an actual reasonable economic control of energy, environmental and social issues related to their project. The second part proposes technical solutions regarding the limitation of impact on air quality, preservation and restoration of soil quality and water resources, landscape integration, transport management and noise prevention. Feedbacks on experiences with different types of installations (agricultural, industrial, and so on) are also provided. A good practice charter is finally proposed

FCNN-MR: A Parallel Instance Selection Method Based on Fast Condensed Nearest Neighbor Rule

OpenAIRE

Lu Si; Jie Yu; Shasha Li; Jun Ma; Lei Luo; Qingbo Wu; Yongqi Ma; Zhengji Liu

2017-01-01

Instance selection (IS) technique is used to reduce the data size to improve the performance of data mining methods. Recently, to process very large data set, several proposed methods divide the training set into some disjoint subsets and apply IS algorithms independently to each subset. In this paper, we analyze the limitation of these methods and give our viewpoint about how to divide and conquer in IS procedure. Then, based on fast condensed nearest neighbor (FCNN) rul...

The Impactof the Kurdish Question on Turkey's Relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors

OpenAIRE

Asil, Muhammet Ali

2013-01-01

Tezin basılısı İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi'ndedir. This dissertation analyzes the “Kurdish Question” from an International Relations perspective. Focusing on the impact of the Kurdish question on Turkey’s relations in the last decade with its Middle Eastern neighbors, i.e. Iran, Syria, and Iraq, and with the European Union; this study shows how Turkey-Middle East and Turkey-EU relations are shaped differently. In the search for reasons for this difference, Realist and Liberal I...

the power and promise of feminist research in environmental

African Journals Online (AJOL)

methods and methodologies in environmental education research. This exploration ... ty of work in environmental education to date has ... Table 1: Ranking of environmental issues by Australian women compared with the scientific- ..... taneous empowerment and disenchantment .... A good deal of poststructural feminist.

Is physiological performance a good predictor for fitness? Insights from an invasive plant species.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco A Molina-Montenegro

Full Text Available Is physiological performance a suitable proxy of fitness in plants? Although, several studies have been conducted to measure some fitness-related traits and physiological performance, direct assessments are seldom found in the literature. Here, we assessed the physiology-fitness relationship using second-generation individuals of the invasive plant species Taraxacum officinale from 17 localities distributed in five continents. Specifically, we tested if i the maximum quantum yield is a good predictor for seed-output ii whether this physiology-fitness relationship can be modified by environmental heterogeneity, and iii if this relationship has an adaptive consequence for T. officinale individuals from different localities. Overall, we found a significant positive relationship between the maximum quantum yield and fitness for all localities evaluated, but this relationship decreased in T. officinale individuals from localities with greater environmental heterogeneity. Finally, we found that those individuals from localities where environmental conditions are highly seasonal performed better under heterogeneous environmental conditions. Contrarily, under homogeneous controlled conditions, those individuals from localities with low environmental seasonality performed much better. In conclusion, our results suggest that the maximum quantum yield seem to be good predictors for plant fitness. We suggest that rapid measurements, such as those obtained from the maximum quantum yield, could provide a straightforward proxy of individual's fitness in changing environments.

Radionuclide content of an exhumed canyon vessel and neighboring soil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holcomb, H.P.

1976-11-01

The long-term hazard potential associated with burial of process equipment from radiochemical separations plants is being evaluated. As part of this evaluation, a feed adjustment tank was exhumed eighteen years after burial. The tank had been in service in the fuel reprocessing plant for twenty-nine months before it was retired. Assay of the exhumed tank indicated that 7 mg (0.4 mCi) of 239 Pu and 1 mCi of 137 Cs remained on its surfaces; 1.1 mg (0.07 mCi) 239 Pu, 0.4 mCi 137 Cs, and 3.5 mCi 90 Sr were found in neighboring soil. The vessel and surrounding soil have met the present guidelines (less than or equal to 10 nCi/g) of the U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) for nonretrievable waste

What is a good public participation process? Five perspectives from the public.

Science.gov (United States)

Webler, T; Tuler, S; Krueger, R

2001-03-01

It is now widely accepted that members of the public should be involved in environmental decision-making. This has inspired many to search for principles that characterize good public participation processes. In this paper we report on a study that identifies discourses about what defines a good process. Our case study was a forest planning process in northern New England and New York. We employed Q methodology to learn how participants characterize a good process differently, by selecting, defining, and privileging different principles. Five discourses, or perspectives, about good process emerged from our study. One perspective emphasizes that a good process acquires and maintains popular legitimacy. A second sees a good process as one that facilitates an ideological discussion. A third focuses on the fairness of the process. A fourth perspective conceptualizes participatory processes as a power struggle--in this instance a power play between local land-owning interests and outsiders. A fifth perspective highlights the need for leadership and compromise. Dramatic differences among these views suggest an important challenge for those responsible for designing and carrying out public participation processes. Conflicts may emerge about process designs because people disagree about what is good in specific contexts.

Wildflower Plantings Do Not Compete With Neighboring Almond Orchards for Pollinator Visits.

Science.gov (United States)

Lundin, Ola; Ward, Kimiora L; Artz, Derek R; Boyle, Natalie K; Pitts-Singer, Theresa L; Williams, Neal M

2017-06-01

The engineering of flowering agricultural field borders has emerged as a research and policy priority to mitigate threats to pollinators. Studies have, however, rarely addressed the potential that flowering field borders might compete with neighboring crops for pollinator visits if they both are in bloom at the same time, despite this being a concern expressed by growers. We evaluated how wildflower plantings added to orchard borders in a large (512 ha) commercial almond orchard affected honey bee and wild bee visitation to orchard borders and the crop. The study was conducted over two consecutive seasons using three large (0.48 ha) wildflower plantings paired with control orchard borders in a highly simplified agricultural landscape in California. Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee visitation to wildflower plots were at least an order of magnitude higher than to control plots, but increased honey bee visitation to wildflower plots did not lead to any detectable shifts in honey bee visitation to almond flowers in the neighboring orchard. Wild bees were rarely observed visiting almond flowers irrespective of border treatment, indicating a limited short-term potential for augmenting crop pollination using wild bees in highly simplified agricultural landscapes. Although further studies are warranted on bee visitation and crop yield from spatially independent orchards, this study indicates that growers can support bees with alternative forage in almond orchards without risking competition between the wildflower plantings and the crop. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Environmental accounting: A tool for promoting environmental management in the Niger Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ph. D. Uwuigne Uwalomwa

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Oil exploration and exploitation has over the last four decades impacted disastrously on the socio-physical environment of the Niger Delta oil-bearing communities in Nigeria. This invariably is responsible for the social unrest in the host communities. In response to various pressures by environmental lobby groups, companies have began to realize the need for the integration of environmental reporting practice in their annual report. To this end, this paper studied exploratively the extent to which the introduction of environmental accounting practice will help in bringing about an improved environmental sustainability and an effective environmental management system in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. The paper concludes that the integration and the disclosure of environmental liabilities will to a large extent reduce the social unrest in these areas. This in return will help organizations to maximize the efficient use of their resources, minimize environmental liabilities and demonstrate a good corporate image. The paper therefore recommends that accountants and environmental experts should pool their skills to form a multi-disciplinary team to address environmental issues.

Chirality dependence of dipole matrix element of carbon nanotubes in axial magnetic field: A third neighbor tight binding approach

Science.gov (United States)

Chegel, Raad; Behzad, Somayeh

2014-02-01

We have studied the electronic structure and dipole matrix element, D, of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under magnetic field, using the third nearest neighbor tight binding model. It is shown that the 1NN and 3NN-TB band structures show differences such as the spacing and mixing of neighbor subbands. Applying the magnetic field leads to breaking the degeneracy behavior in the D transitions and creates new allowed transitions corresponding to the band modifications. It is found that |D| is proportional to the inverse tube radius and chiral angle. Our numerical results show that amount of filed induced splitting for the first optical peak is proportional to the magnetic field by the splitting rate ν11. It is shown that ν11 changes linearly and parabolicly with the chiral angle and radius, respectively.

78 FR 21909 - Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee; Public Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-12

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Environmental Technologies Trade... meeting of the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC). DATES: The teleconference....S. exports of environmental technologies, goods, services, and products. The ETTAC was originally...

Environmental management the supply chain perspective

CERN Document Server

Wong, Christina W Y; Lun, Y H Venus; Cheng, T C E

2015-01-01

In view of the increasing quest for environmental management in businesses, this book provides a good reference to firms to understand how they may manage their supply chains to improve business and environmental performance. The book consists of six chapters covering such topics as environmental management, environmental management practices with supply chain efforts, collaborative environmental management, organizational capabilities in environmental management, environmental disclosure, and closed-loop supply chains. The book presents theory-driven discussions on the link between environmental management and business performance in the context of supply chain management. The book will be useful for firms to learn from the research findings and real-life cases to develop plans to implement environmental management practices jointly with supply chain partners.

Toxicity challenges in environmental chemicals: Prediction of ...

Science.gov (United States)

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo effects by accounting for the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of xenobiotics, which is especially useful in the assessment of human toxicity. Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) serve as a vital tool for the high-throughput prediction of chemical-specific PBPK parameters, such as the fraction of a chemical unbound by plasma protein (Fub). The presented work explores the merit of utilizing experimental pharmaceutical Fub data for the construction of a universal QSAR model, in order to compensate for the limited range of high-quality experimental Fub data for environmentally relevant chemicals, such as pollutants, pesticides, and consumer products. Independent QSAR models were constructed with three machine-learning algorithms, k nearest neighbors (kNN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) regression, from a large pharmaceutical training set (~1000) and assessed with independent test sets of pharmaceuticals (~200) and environmentally relevant chemicals in the ToxCast program (~400). Small descriptor sets yielded the optimal balance of model complexity and performance, providing insight into the biochemical factors of plasma protein binding, while preventing over fitting to the training set. Overlaps in chemical space between pharmaceutical and environmental compounds were considered through applicability of do

Good fences make for good neighbors but bad science: a review of what improves Bayesian reasoning and why.

Science.gov (United States)

Brase, Gary L; Hill, W Trey

2015-01-01

Bayesian reasoning, defined here as the updating of a posterior probability following new information, has historically been problematic for humans. Classic psychology experiments have tested human Bayesian reasoning through the use of word problems and have evaluated each participant's performance against the normatively correct answer provided by Bayes' theorem. The standard finding is of generally poor performance. Over the past two decades, though, progress has been made on how to improve Bayesian reasoning. Most notably, research has demonstrated that the use of frequencies in a natural sampling framework-as opposed to single-event probabilities-can improve participants' Bayesian estimates. Furthermore, pictorial aids and certain individual difference factors also can play significant roles in Bayesian reasoning success. The mechanics of how to build tasks which show these improvements is not under much debate. The explanations for why naturally sampled frequencies and pictures help Bayesian reasoning remain hotly contested, however, with many researchers falling into ingrained "camps" organized around two dominant theoretical perspectives. The present paper evaluates the merits of these theoretical perspectives, including the weight of empirical evidence, theoretical coherence, and predictive power. By these criteria, the ecological rationality approach is clearly better than the heuristics and biases view. Progress in the study of Bayesian reasoning will depend on continued research that honestly, vigorously, and consistently engages across these different theoretical accounts rather than staying "siloed" within one particular perspective. The process of science requires an understanding of competing points of view, with the ultimate goal being integration.

76 FR 66912 - Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee Public Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-28

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Environmental Technologies Trade... meeting of the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC). DATES: The teleconference... expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods, services, and products. The ETTAC was...

Environmental politics in the 1990s: The tension between liberalism and environmental quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cahn, M.A.

1991-01-01

There are two structural tensions between liberalism and environmental quality. First, liberalism's emphasis on individual self-interest creates a problematic concept of communal good. Society, as manifest in liberal contract theory, exists not to find some higher good, but to protect individual rights. Individual and corporate property rights have consistently overshadowed community claims on resource management. Second, capitalism has been characterized by a constant drive for expansion in search of increased productivity and profit. The impact of that expansionary ethic has been overuse of limited resources and the poisoning of the physical environment. This study combines normative theory with case studies of the substantive policy areas of air, water, and waste. Environmental policy's analyzed with attention to the parameters of American political culture and the inherent limitations the language of liberalism places on policy choices. The literature on symbolic policy is then applied exploring the role of symbolic politics in easing the tension between liberalism and environmental quality. Ultimately, substantive policy areas are explored in a effort to explain the evolution of specific policies

The Home Identity Idea: How Good Homes Can Urge People to Make Environmentally Friendly Choices

OpenAIRE

Paulsen, Karoline

2017-01-01

This thesis is a discussion on how we identify with the place we live and how we can make good places to live now and in the future. The idea is that if we feel at home in and identify with the place we live, we want to preserve it and make it better for the future. This can have effect on the environment and the climate. If we build places that are good to live in and the people who live there identify with their home place, they would want to live more sustainably. There is also a discussio...

Coordination of environmental policy for transboundary environmental problems?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoel, M.

1996-01-01

In order to reach a Pareto optimal outcome with transboundary environmental problems, there must be some kind of international agreement. One possibility would be an international agreement focusing directly on emissions in each country. Given such an agreement, an important issue is whether one should supplement the agreement with some kind of policy coordination, or if the choice of environmental policies should be left for each country to decide for itself. The present paper shows that under ``ideal`` conditions, policies need not be coordinated across countries. Such ideal conditions include, among other things, that all markets, including the labour market, are competitive. However, if one has imperfect competition in goods markets, or unemployment, it may be desirable to let an international environmental agreement not only specify emission levels, but also the policy mix between emission taxes and direct regulation. 16 refs.

77 FR 6064 - Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee Public Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-07

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Environmental Technologies Trade... meeting of the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC). DATES: The teleconference... administration of programs to expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods, services, and products...

A Novel Quantum Solution to Privacy-Preserving Nearest Neighbor Query in Location-Based Services

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Zhen-yu; Shi, Run-hua; Xu, Min; Zhang, Shun

2018-04-01

We present a cheating-sensitive quantum protocol for Privacy-Preserving Nearest Neighbor Query based on Oblivious Quantum Key Distribution and Quantum Encryption. Compared with the classical related protocols, our proposed protocol has higher security, because the security of our protocol is based on basic physical principles of quantum mechanics, instead of difficulty assumptions. Especially, our protocol takes single photons as quantum resources and only needs to perform single-photon projective measurement. Therefore, it is feasible to implement this protocol with the present technologies.

Incorporating Ecosystem Goods and Services in Environmental Planning - Definitions, Classification and Operational Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-01

the characteristics of the surrounding landscape , including proximity to and use by people are considered as key determinants in the levels and values...a certain level of management may be necessary in some environments. Within the definition of ecosystem goods and services, there are two major...regulation Erosion regulation Disease regulation Pest regulation Pollination Cultural Cultural diversity Spiritual and religious values Recreation

Ocean Color Products Supporting the Assessment of Good Environmental Status: Development of a Spatial Distribution Model for the Seagrass Posidonia Oceanica (L.) Delille, 1813

Science.gov (United States)

Zucchetta, M.; Taji, M. A.; Mangin, A.; Pastres, R.

2015-12-01

Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, 1813 is a seagrass species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, which is considered as one of the key habitats of the coastal areas. This species forms large meadows sensitive to several anthropogenic pressures, that can be regarded as indicators of environment quality in coastal environments and its distributional patterns should be take into account when evaluating the Environmental Status following the Ecosystem approach promoted by the Mediterranean Action Plan of UNEP and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC). The aim of this study was to develop a Species Distribution Model for P. oceanica, to be applied to the whole Mediterranean North African coast, in order to obtain an estimation of the potential distribution of this species in the region to be considered as an indicator for the assessment of good Environmental Status. As the study area is a data-poor zone with regard to seagrass distribution (i.e. only for some areas detailed distribution maps are available), the Species Distribution Model (SDM) was calibrated using high resolution data from 5 Mediterranean sites, located in Italy and Spain and validated using available data from the North African coast. Usually, when developing SDMs species occupancy data is available at coarser resolution than the information of environmental variables, and thus has to be downscaled at the appropriate grain to be coupled to the environmental conditions. Tackling the case of P. oceanica we had to face the opposite problem: the quality (in terms of resolution) of the information on seagrass distribution is generally very high compared to the environmental data available over large scale in marine domains (e.g. global bathymetry data). The high resolution application and the model transfer (from calibration areas to North African coast) was possible taking advantage of Ocean Color products: the probability of presence of the species in a given area was modelled using a

Environmental Policy in a Green Market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moraga-Gonzalez, J. Luis; Padron-Fumero, N.

2002-01-01

This paper studies the impact of some frequently-used environmental policies in a duopolistic market where purchasers are willing to pay more for less polluting goods. When consumers differ in their environmental awareness, a cleaner and a dirtier variant coexist in equilibrium. The higher the average willingness-to-pay for the good, the lower are variants' unit emissions but the higher are industrial aggregate effluents. A maximum unit emission standard reduces unit emissions of both variants, but boosts firms' sales and consequently increases industrial aggregate emissions. As a result, social welfare may be reduced. We also explore the effects of technological subsidies and product charges, including differentiation of charges

Environmental Policy in a Green Market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moraga-Gonzalez, J. Luis [Erasmus University and Tinbergen Institute, Burg. Oudlaan 50, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam (Netherlands); Padron-Fumero, N. [Dept. de Economia de las Instituciones y Estadistica, Universidad de La Laguna, Facultad de CC.EE, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain)

2002-07-01

This paper studies the impact of some frequently-used environmental policies in a duopolistic market where purchasers are willing to pay more for less polluting goods. When consumers differ in their environmental awareness, a cleaner and a dirtier variant coexist in equilibrium. The higher the average willingness-to-pay for the good, the lower are variants' unit emissions but the higher are industrial aggregate effluents. A maximum unit emission standard reduces unit emissions of both variants, but boosts firms' sales and consequently increases industrial aggregate emissions. As a result, social welfare may be reduced. We also explore the effects of technological subsidies and product charges, including differentiation of charges.

Automated web usage data mining and recommendation system using K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN classification method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.A. Adeniyi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The major problem of many on-line web sites is the presentation of many choices to the client at a time; this usually results to strenuous and time consuming task in finding the right product or information on the site. In this work, we present a study of automatic web usage data mining and recommendation system based on current user behavior through his/her click stream data on the newly developed Really Simple Syndication (RSS reader website, in order to provide relevant information to the individual without explicitly asking for it. The K-Nearest-Neighbor (KNN classification method has been trained to be used on-line and in Real-Time to identify clients/visitors click stream data, matching it to a particular user group and recommend a tailored browsing option that meet the need of the specific user at a particular time. To achieve this, web users RSS address file was extracted, cleansed, formatted and grouped into meaningful session and data mart was developed. Our result shows that the K-Nearest Neighbor classifier is transparent, consistent, straightforward, simple to understand, high tendency to possess desirable qualities and easy to implement than most other machine learning techniques specifically when there is little or no prior knowledge about data distribution.

Implementation of Nearest Neighbor using HSV to Identify Skin Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhana, Y. A.; Zulfikar, W. B.; Ramdani, A. H.; Ramdhani, M. A.

2018-01-01

Today, Android is one of the most widely used operating system in the world. Most of android device has a camera that could capture an image, this feature could be optimized to identify skin disease. The disease is one of health problem caused by bacterium, fungi, and virus. The symptoms of skin disease usually visible. In this work, the symptoms that captured as image contains HSV in every pixel of the image. HSV can extracted and then calculate to earn euclidean value. The value compared using nearest neighbor algorithm to discover closer value between image testing and image training to get highest value that decide class label or type of skin disease. The testing result show that 166 of 200 or about 80% is accurate. There are some reasons that influence the result of classification model like number of image training and quality of android device’s camera.

Good Looking Is Looking Good / Märt Milter

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Milter, Märt

1998-01-01

Meloodilist drum ǹ̀bassi viljelevatest välismaa plaadifirmadest Good Looking Recordsist ja Looking Good Recordsist, mida juhib LTJ Bukem ja temaga koostööd tegevatest muusikutest Blame, Seba, Tayla, MC Conrad, Artemis

k-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm in Profiling Power Analysis Attacks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Martinasek

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Power analysis presents the typical example of successful attacks against trusted cryptographic devices such as RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentifications and contact smart cards. In recent years, the cryptographic community has explored new approaches in power analysis based on machine learning models such as Support Vector Machine (SVM, RF (Random Forest and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP. In this paper, we made an extensive comparison of machine learning algorithms in the power analysis. For this purpose, we implemented a verification program that always chooses the optimal settings of individual machine learning models in order to obtain the best classification accuracy. In our research, we used three datasets, the first containing the power traces of an unprotected AES (Advanced Encryption Standard implementation. The second and third datasets are created independently from public available power traces corresponding to a masked AES implementation (DPA Contest v4. The obtained results revealed some interesting facts, namely, an elementary k-NN (k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm, which has not been commonly used in power analysis yet, shows great application potential in practice.

Hole motion in the t-J and Hubbard models: Effect of a next-nearest-neighbor hopping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagliano, E.; Bacci, S.; Dagotto, E.

1990-01-01

Using exact diagonalization techniques, we study one dynamical hole in the two-dimensional t-J and Hubbard models on a square lattice including a next-nearest-neighbor hopping t'. We present the phase diagram in the parameter space (J/t,t'/t), discussing the ground-state properties of the hole. At J=0, a crossing of levels exists at some value of t' separating a ferromagnetic from an antiferromagnetic ground state. For nonzero J, at least four different regions appear where the system behaves like an antiferromagnet or a (not fully saturated) ferromagnet. We study the quasiparticle behavior of the hole, showing that for small values of |t'| the previously presented string picture is still valid. We also find that, for a realistic set of parameters derived from the Cu-O Hamiltonian, the hole has momentum (π/2,π/2), suggesting an enhancement of the p-wave superconducting mode due to the second-neighbor interactions in the spin-bag picture. Results for the t-t'-U model are also discussed with conclusions similar to those of the t-t'-J model. In general we found that t'=0 is not a singular point of these models

The Relaunching of Negotiations on Green Goods and Services: Any breakthrough in Sight?

OpenAIRE

De Melo, Jaime; Vijil, Mariana

2014-01-01

The Bali a minima agreement last December has given new hopes that the WTO is not dead. The recent announcement that negotiations on the reductions of tariffs on environmental goods are to resume starting from a list of goods identified by APEC members in September 2012 gives hope that the triple win outcome of the Doha round for trade, for development and for the environment-might materialize, at least partly. Or does it? This brève argues that unless the field of negotiations is widened, th...

International trade and investment law: a new framework for public health and the common good.

Science.gov (United States)

Delany, Louise; Signal, Louise; Thomson, George

2018-05-08

International trade and investment agreements can have positive outcomes, but also have negative consequences that affect global health and influence fundamental health determinants: poverty, inequality and the environment. This article proposes principles and strategies for designing future international law to attain health and common good objectives. Basic principles are needed for international trade and investment agreements that are consistent with the common good, public health, and human rights. These principles should reflect the importance of reducing inequalities, along with social and environmental sustainability. Economic growth should be recognised as a means to common good objectives, rather than an end in itself. Our favoured approach is both radical and comprehensive: we describe what this approach would include and outline the strategies for its implementation, the processes and capacity building necessary for its achievement, and related governance and corporate issues. The comprehensive approach includes significant changes to current models for trade and investment agreements, in particular (i) health, social and environmental objectives would be recognised as legitimate in their own right and implemented accordingly; (ii) changes to dispute-resolution processes, both state-to-state and investor-state; (iii) greater deference to international legal frameworks for health, environmental protection, and human rights; (iv) greater coherence across the international law framework; (v) limitations on investor privileges, and (vi) enforceable corporate responsibilities for contributing to health, environmental, human rights and other common good objectives. We also identify some limited changes that could be considered as an alternative to the proposed comprehensive approach. Future research is needed to develop a range of model treaties, and on the means by which such treaties and reforms might be achieved. Such research would focus also on

Perceptual inequality between two neighboring time intervals defined by sound markers: correspondence between neurophysiological and psychological data

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Takako eMitsudo

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Brain activity related to time estimation processes in humans was analyzed using a perceptual phenomenon called auditory temporal assimilation. In a typical stimulus condition, two neighboring time intervals (T1 and T2 in this order are perceived as equal even when the physical lengths of these time intervals are considerably different. Our previous event-related potential (ERP study demonstrated that a slow negative component (SNCt appears in the right-frontal brain area (around the F8 electrode after T2, which is associated with judgment of the equality/inequality of T1 and T2. In the present study, we conducted two ERP experiments to further confirm the robustness of the SNCt. The stimulus patterns consisted of two neighboring time intervals marked by three successive tone bursts. Thirteen participants only listened to the patterns in the first session, and judged the equality/inequality of T1 and T2 in the next session. Behavioral data showed typical temporal assimilation. The ERP data revealed that three components (N1; contingent negative variation, CNV; and SNCt emerged related to the temporal judgment. The N1 appeared in the central area, and its peak latencies corresponded to the physical timing of each marker onset. The CNV component appeared in the frontal area during T2 presentation, and its amplitude increased as a function of T1. The SNCt appeared in the right-frontal area after the presentation of T1 and T2, and its magnitude was larger for the temporal patterns causing perceptual inequality. The SNCt was also correlated with the perceptual equality/inequality of the same stimulus pattern, and continued up to about 400 ms after the end of T2. These results suggest that the SNCt can be a signature of equality/inequality judgment, which derives from the comparison of the two neighboring time intervals.

Classification of matrix-product ground states corresponding to one-dimensional chains of two-state sites of nearest neighbor interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fatollahi, Amir H.; Khorrami, Mohammad; Shariati, Ahmad; Aghamohammadi, Amir

2011-01-01

A complete classification is given for one-dimensional chains with nearest-neighbor interactions having two states in each site, for which a matrix product ground state exists. The Hamiltonians and their corresponding matrix product ground states are explicitly obtained.

Large-Scale Mapping of Carbon Stocks in Riparian Forests with Self-Organizing Maps and the k-Nearest-Neighbor Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonhard Suchenwirth

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Among the machine learning tools being used in recent years for environmental applications such as forestry, self-organizing maps (SOM and the k-nearest neighbor (kNN algorithm have been used successfully. We applied both methods for the mapping of organic carbon (Corg in riparian forests due to their considerably high carbon storage capacity. Despite the importance of floodplains for carbon sequestration, a sufficient scientific foundation for creating large-scale maps showing the spatial Corg distribution is still missing. We estimated organic carbon in a test site in the Danube Floodplain based on RapidEye remote sensing data and additional geodata. Accordingly, carbon distribution maps of vegetation, soil, and total Corg stocks were derived. Results were compared and statistically evaluated with terrestrial survey data for outcomes with pure remote sensing data and for the combination with additional geodata using bias and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE. Results show that SOM and kNN approaches enable us to reproduce spatial patterns of riparian forest Corg stocks. While vegetation Corg has very high RMSEs, outcomes for soil and total Corg stocks are less biased with a lower RMSE, especially when remote sensing and additional geodata are conjointly applied. SOMs show similar percentages of RMSE to kNN estimations.

The influence of further-neighbor spin-spin interaction on a ground state of 2D coupled spin-electron model in a magnetic field

Science.gov (United States)

Čenčariková, Hana; Strečka, Jozef; Gendiar, Andrej; Tomašovičová, Natália

2018-05-01

An exhaustive ground-state analysis of extended two-dimensional (2D) correlated spin-electron model consisting of the Ising spins localized on nodal lattice sites and mobile electrons delocalized over pairs of decorating sites is performed within the framework of rigorous analytical calculations. The investigated model, defined on an arbitrary 2D doubly decorated lattice, takes into account the kinetic energy of mobile electrons, the nearest-neighbor Ising coupling between the localized spins and mobile electrons, the further-neighbor Ising coupling between the localized spins and the Zeeman energy. The ground-state phase diagrams are examined for a wide range of model parameters for both ferromagnetic as well as antiferromagnetic interaction between the nodal Ising spins and non-zero value of external magnetic field. It is found that non-zero values of further-neighbor interaction leads to a formation of new quantum states as a consequence of competition between all considered interaction terms. Moreover, the new quantum states are accompanied with different magnetic features and thus, several kinds of field-driven phase transitions are observed.

Fast and Accuracy Control Chart Pattern Recognition using a New cluster-k-Nearest Neighbor

OpenAIRE

Samir Brahim Belhaouari

2009-01-01

By taking advantage of both k-NN which is highly accurate and K-means cluster which is able to reduce the time of classification, we can introduce Cluster-k-Nearest Neighbor as "variable k"-NN dealing with the centroid or mean point of all subclasses generated by clustering algorithm. In general the algorithm of K-means cluster is not stable, in term of accuracy, for that reason we develop another algorithm for clustering our space which gives a higher accuracy than K-means cluster, less ...

Refuse dumps from leaf-cutting ant nests reduce the intensity of above-ground competition among neighboring plants in a Patagonian steppe

Science.gov (United States)

Farji-Brener, Alejandro G.; Lescano, María Natalia

2017-11-01

In arid environments, the high availability of sunlight due to the scarcity of trees suggests that plant competition take place mainly belowground for water and nutrients. However, the occurrence of soil disturbances that increase nutrient availability and thereby promote plant growth may enhance shoot competition between neighboring plants. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to evaluate the influence of the enriched soil patches generated by the leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex lobicornis, on the performance of the alien forb Carduus thoermeri (Asteraceae) under different intraspecific competition scenarios. Our results showed that substrate type and competition scenario affected mainly aboveground plant growth. As expected, plants growing without neighbors and in nutrient-rich ant refuse dumps showed more aboveground biomass than plants growing with neighbors and in nutrient-poor steppe soils. However, aboveground competition was more intense in nutrient-poor substrates: plants under shoot and full competition growing in the nutrient-rich ant refuse dumps showed higher biomass than those growing on steppe soils. Belowground biomass was similar among focal plants growing under different substrate type. Our results support the traditional view that increments in resource availability reduce competition intensity. Moreover, the fact that seedlings in this sunny habitat mainly compete aboveground illustrates how limiting factors may be scale-dependent and change in importance as plants grow.

Towards policy relevant environmental modeling: contextual validity and pragmatic models

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Scott B.

2000-01-01

"What makes for a good model?" In various forms, this question is a question that, undoubtedly, many people, businesses, and institutions ponder with regards to their particular domain of modeling. One particular domain that is wrestling with this question is the multidisciplinary field of environmental modeling. Examples of environmental models range from models of contaminated ground water flow to the economic impact of natural disasters, such as earthquakes. One of the distinguishing claims of the field is the relevancy of environmental modeling to policy and environment-related decision-making in general. A pervasive view by both scientists and decision-makers is that a "good" model is one that is an accurate predictor. Thus, determining whether a model is "accurate" or "correct" is done by comparing model output to empirical observations. The expected outcome of this process, usually referred to as "validation" or "ground truthing," is a stamp on the model in question of "valid" or "not valid" that serves to indicate whether or not the model will be reliable before it is put into service in a decision-making context. In this paper, I begin by elaborating on the prevailing view of model validation and why this view must change. Drawing from concepts coming out of the studies of science and technology, I go on to propose a contextual view of validity that can overcome the problems associated with "ground truthing" models as an indicator of model goodness. The problem of how we talk about and determine model validity has much to do about how we perceive the utility of environmental models. In the remainder of the paper, I argue that we should adopt ideas of pragmatism in judging what makes for a good model and, in turn, developing good models. From such a perspective of model goodness, good environmental models should facilitate communication, convey—not bury or "eliminate"—uncertainties, and, thus, afford the active building of consensus decisions, instead

How pride and guilt guide pro-environmental behaviour

OpenAIRE

Onwezen, M.C.

2014-01-01

The world is currently confronted with environmental problems such as water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and air pollution. A promising way to reduce environmental problems is to encourage consumers towards more sustainable consumption patterns. Pro-environmental consumer choices involve a tradeoff between environmental motives and more personally related motives such as healthiness, convenience, and price. In this dissertation we explore how feeling good about oneself influences pro-env...

Unsynchronized influenza epidemics in two neighboring subtropical cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiujuan Tang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the synchrony of influenza epidemics between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, two neighboring subtropical cities in South China. Methods: Laboratory-confirmed influenza data for the period January 2006 to December 2016 were obtained from the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health in Hong Kong. The population data were retrieved from the 2011 population censuses. The weekly rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases were compared between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Results: Unsynchronized influenza epidemics between Hong Kong and Shenzhen were frequently observed during the study period. Influenza A/H1N1 caused a more severe pandemic in Hong Kong in 2009, but the subsequent seasonal epidemics showed similar magnitudes in both cities. Two influenza A/H3N2 dominant epidemic waves were seen in Hong Kong in 2015, but these epidemics were very minor in Shenzhen. More influenza B epidemics occurred in Shenzhen than in Hong Kong. Conclusions: Influenza epidemics appeared to be unsynchronized between Hong Kong and Shenzhen most of the time. Given the close geographical locations of these two cities, this could be due to the strikingly different age structures of their populations. Keywords: Influenza epidemics, Synchrony, Shenzhen, Hong Kong

Allotment gardening and health: a comparative survey among allotment gardeners and their neighbors without an allotment.

Science.gov (United States)

van den Berg, Agnes E; van Winsum-Westra, Marijke; de Vries, Sjerp; van Dillen, Sonja M E

2010-11-23

The potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was compared to that of controls without an allotment. A survey was conducted among 121 members of 12 allotment sites in the Netherlands and a control group of 63 respondents without an allotment garden living next to the home addresses of allotment gardeners. The survey included five self-reported health measures (perceived general health, acute health complaints, physical constraints, chronic illnesses, and consultations with GP), four self-reported well-being measures (stress, life satisfaction, loneliness, and social contacts with friends) and one measure assessing self-reported levels of physical activity in summer. Respondents were divided into a younger and older group at the median of 62 years which equals the average retirement age in the Netherlands. After adjusting for income, education level, gender, stressful life events, physical activity in winter, and access to a garden at home as covariates, both younger and older allotment gardeners reported higher levels of physical activity during the summer than neighbors in corresponding age categories. The impacts of allotment gardening on health and well-being were moderated by age. Allotment gardeners of 62 years and older scored significantly or marginally better on all measures of health and well-being than neighbors in the same age category. Health and well-being of younger allotment gardeners did not differ from younger neighbors. The greater health and well-being benefits of allotment gardening for older gardeners may be related to the finding that older allotment gardeners were more oriented towards gardening and being active, and less towards passive relaxation

Corporate Sustainability Indexes: FTSE 4 Good Index Report on Nestle

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Gülay Keskin

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Corporate sustainability and economic business activities are focused on the social and environmental impacts. In this sense, the economic activity created by the businesses is to pursue social and environmental impacts, and producing information related to these effects is essential for the formation of structure for a sustainable business. Sustainability indices are structures edited on first generation sustainability indicators, which are structures constructed in order to share information with consumers and businesses. The most important benefits are improvements in transparency without the need for regulation of the sustainability index, better understanding of the social and environmental impact of companies and the guidance for arrangements to minimize the negative side effects of company activities. FTSE4Good is a responsible investment index designed to help investors identify companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. It is the only index of its kind since it includes specific criteria on the responsible marketing of breast milk substitutes.

Common Nearest Neighbor Clustering—A Benchmark

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Oliver Lemke

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Cluster analyses are often conducted with the goal to characterize an underlying probability density, for which the data-point density serves as an estimate for this probability density. We here test and benchmark the common nearest neighbor (CNN cluster algorithm. This algorithm assigns a spherical neighborhood R to each data point and estimates the data-point density between two data points as the number of data points N in the overlapping region of their neighborhoods (step 1. The main principle in the CNN cluster algorithm is cluster growing. This grows the clusters by sequentially adding data points and thereby effectively positions the border of the clusters along an iso-surface of the underlying probability density. This yields a strict partitioning with outliers, for which the cluster represents peaks in the underlying probability density—termed core sets (step 2. The removal of the outliers on the basis of a threshold criterion is optional (step 3. The benchmark datasets address a series of typical challenges, including datasets with a very high dimensional state space and datasets in which the cluster centroids are aligned along an underlying structure (Birch sets. The performance of the CNN algorithm is evaluated with respect to these challenges. The results indicate that the CNN cluster algorithm can be useful in a wide range of settings. Cluster algorithms are particularly important for the analysis of molecular dynamics (MD simulations. We demonstrate how the CNN cluster results can be used as a discretization of the molecular state space for the construction of a core-set model of the MD improving the accuracy compared to conventional full-partitioning models. The software for the CNN clustering is available on GitHub.

Bioenergy good practice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birse, J.; Chambers, K.

2000-07-01

This report gives details of a project to make the Good Practice Guidelines, which were developed to help the UK Bioenergy industry, the national and local governments, and the public, more widely available. Details concerning the designing of a Good Practice Programme, and the proposed codes of Good Practice programme are given, and general relevant good practice guidance documents are discussed. The stakeholder survey and workshop, and the proposed codes of a Good Practice Programme are presented in Annexes. (UK)

MACROECONMIC TENDENCIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL TAXES IN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristea Anca

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Reforms of environmental taxes in EU member states began to consolidate a strategic conceptual basis since the early '90s, when it was launched the idea of changing the tax burden from the tax factor of production, work to the environmental factors and use of environmental unfriendly activities and goods. The theoretical support of this view is represented by the corrective taxes Pigou situation justifying the optimal level of activity of producing goods and services from a social perspective, the collection of taxes imposed by the state of polluters, depending on the amount of damage and damage to third parties, the principle of 'polluter pays'. Despite the green fees start reforms of the EU member countries and their levels are not increased in recent years as a share of GDP. In the EU-27, 2008, revenues from environmental taxes represented a rate of about 2.8% of GDP and 6.1% of total revenues compared to 2.9% and 7.0% record share of GDP in 1999. Effects of environmental taxes on eco-efficiency must be seen not only in terms of their size or budget as income tax to GDP ratio, but also as a positive economic and social impact generated by larger beneficial effects of reducing pollution and preserving the quality natural resources and environmental factors.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS ISO 14001 Implementation in Construction Industry: A Malaysian Case Study

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Sumiani Yusoff

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study seeks to explore the crucial part in EMS implementation; i.e. environmental aspects and impacts, Good Environmental Practice to be developed in construction site, as well as the level of awareness or understanding amongst site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS implementation in their organizations. Data were collected via interviews, surveys and site visits. A number of environmental aspects and impacts, and Good Environmental Practices based on ISO 14001:2004 have been identified. The level of understanding of the site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS requirements has been found to be good except for matters concerning Schedule Waste Management. In conclusion, the successful implementation of ISO 14001 EMS mainly depends on staffs‘ understanding.

The Importance of Pro-Environmental Behavior in Adolescent

Science.gov (United States)

Palupi, Tyas; Sawitri, Dian R.

2018-02-01

Studies regarding pro-environmental behavior in adolescents are lacking. This study aimed to examine the importance of pro-environmental behavior in adolescents (high school and university students) by conducting literature review from previous studies on pro environmental behavior. Pro-environmental behavior is the behavior of individuals that contributes towards environmental preservation. Based on previous studies, measurement of pro-environmental behavior were investigated on several theories, namely theory of planned behavior (TPB) and value, belief, norms (VBN) by using aspects of pro environmental behavior. Young people with critical thinking, and good environmental education, are expected to behave more environmentally friendly for creating a sustainable future.

Proteomic characterization of host response to Yersinia pestis and near neighbors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chromy, Brett A.; Perkins, Julie; Heidbrink, Jenny L.; Gonzales, Arlene D.; Murphy, Gloria A.; Fitch, J. Patrick; McCutchen-Maloney, Sandra L.

2004-01-01

Host-pathogen interactions result in protein expression changes within both the host and the pathogen. Here, results from proteomic characterization of host response following exposure to Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, and to two near neighbors, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica, are reported. Human monocyte-like cells were chosen as a model for macrophage immune response to pathogen exposure. Two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry was used to identify host proteins with differential expression following exposure to these three closely related Yersinia species. This comparative proteomic characterization of host response clearly shows that host protein expression patterns are distinct for the different pathogen exposures, and contributes to further understanding of Y. pestis virulence and host defense mechanisms. This work also lays the foundation for future studies aimed at defining biomarkers for presymptomatic detection of plague

Mapping wildland fuels and forest structure for land management: a comparison of nearest neighbor imputation and other methods

Science.gov (United States)

Kenneth B. Pierce; Janet L. Ohmann; Michael C. Wimberly; Matthew J. Gregory; Jeremy S. Fried

2009-01-01

Land managers need consistent information about the geographic distribution of wildland fuels and forest structure over large areas to evaluate fire risk and plan fuel treatments. We compared spatial predictions for 12 fuel and forest structure variables across three regions in the western United States using gradient nearest neighbor (GNN) imputation, linear models (...

Real Time Environmental Radiation Monitoring System in the Philippines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, Teofilo Y.

2015-01-01

The widespread release of radioactive materials caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident that occurred on 11 March 2011 raised concerns on the environmental radiation monitoring Presently, the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) can only perform limited incident. Country-wide radiation measurements by carrying out field-works in the different provinces of the country. This is due to limitation in the availability of appropriate equipment to carry-out the task of conducting radiation measurements, especially in remote and hart to access areas of the country. Although no nuclear reactor is currently operating in the Philippines, it is situated in a region surrounded by neighboring countries with several existing or planned nuclear power plants. While nuclear power has tremendous benefits in meeting the electricity needs of growing populations, and does not have the adverse environmental effects associated with burning of fossil fuels, there are potential risks from releases of radio nuclides into the environment. The PNRI, through the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is establishing an on-line environmental radiation monitoring system that can provide real-time environmental during emergencies that lead to extensive spread of radioactive materials, such as nuclear power plant accidents, an on-line radiation monitoring system will enable the immediate detection of radiological emergencies affecting the country and will provide important information of authorities for appropriate emergency response. (author)

Environmental impacts of climate change adaptation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Enríquez-de-Salamanca, Álvaro, E-mail: aenriquez@draba.org [Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)/Draba Ingeniería y Consultoría Medioambiental, Cañada Nueva, 13, 28200 San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Spain); Díaz-Sierra, Rubén, E-mail: sierra@dfmf.uned.es [Departamento de Física Matemática y de Fluidos, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Paseo Senda del Rey, 9, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Martín-Aranda, Rosa M., E-mail: rmartin@ccia.uned.es [Departamento de Química Inorgánica y Química Técnica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Paseo Senda del Rey, 9, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Santos, Maria J., E-mail: M.J.FerreiraDosSantos@uu.nl [Department of Innovation, Environmental and Energy Sciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3572 TC Utrecht (Netherlands)

2017-05-15

Climate change adaptation reduces adverse effects of climate change but may also have undesirable environmental impacts. However, these impacts are yet poorly defined and analysed in the existing literature. To complement this knowledge-gap, we reviewed the literature to unveil the relationship between climate change adaptation and environmental impact assessment, and the degree to which environmental impacts are included in climate change adaptation theory and practice. Our literature review showed that technical, social and economic perspectives on climate change adaptation receive much more attention than the environmental perspective. The scarce interest on the environmental impacts of adaptation may be attributed to (1) an excessive sectoral approach, with dominance of non-environmental perspectives, (2) greater interest in mitigation and direct climate change impacts rather than in adaptation impacts, (3) a tendency to consider adaptation as inherently good, and (4) subjective/preconceived notions on which measures are good or bad, without a comprehensive assessment. Environmental Assessment (EA) has a long established history as an effective tool to include environment into decision-making, although it does not yet guarantee a proper assessment of adaptation, because it is still possible to postpone or even circumvent the processes of assessing the impacts of climate adaptation. Our results suggest that there is a need to address adaptation proactively by including it in EA, to update current policy frameworks, and to demand robust and reliable evaluation of alternatives. Only through the full EA of adaptation measures can we improve our understanding of the primary and secondary impacts of adaptation to global environmental change. - Highlights: • Climate change adaptation may have undesirable environmental impacts. • The impacts of adaptation are yet poorly analysed in the literature. • There is an excessive sectoral approach to adaptation, mainly

Environmental impacts of climate change adaptation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Enríquez-de-Salamanca, Álvaro; Díaz-Sierra, Rubén; Martín-Aranda, Rosa M.; Santos, Maria J.

2017-01-01

Climate change adaptation reduces adverse effects of climate change but may also have undesirable environmental impacts. However, these impacts are yet poorly defined and analysed in the existing literature. To complement this knowledge-gap, we reviewed the literature to unveil the relationship between climate change adaptation and environmental impact assessment, and the degree to which environmental impacts are included in climate change adaptation theory and practice. Our literature review showed that technical, social and economic perspectives on climate change adaptation receive much more attention than the environmental perspective. The scarce interest on the environmental impacts of adaptation may be attributed to (1) an excessive sectoral approach, with dominance of non-environmental perspectives, (2) greater interest in mitigation and direct climate change impacts rather than in adaptation impacts, (3) a tendency to consider adaptation as inherently good, and (4) subjective/preconceived notions on which measures are good or bad, without a comprehensive assessment. Environmental Assessment (EA) has a long established history as an effective tool to include environment into decision-making, although it does not yet guarantee a proper assessment of adaptation, because it is still possible to postpone or even circumvent the processes of assessing the impacts of climate adaptation. Our results suggest that there is a need to address adaptation proactively by including it in EA, to update current policy frameworks, and to demand robust and reliable evaluation of alternatives. Only through the full EA of adaptation measures can we improve our understanding of the primary and secondary impacts of adaptation to global environmental change. - Highlights: • Climate change adaptation may have undesirable environmental impacts. • The impacts of adaptation are yet poorly analysed in the literature. • There is an excessive sectoral approach to adaptation, mainly

Toward a shared urban transport system passengers & Goods Cohabitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Trentini

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents radical new urban transportation system concepts, potentially allowing changing the economic and environmental costs of passenger and freight transportation. The driver focuses on the concept of sharing, which means to make a joint use of transport resources, between passengers and goods flows. From a field observation of several existing solutions, an inductive reasoning enables us to move from a set of specific facts to establish an archetype for a radical new urban transportation system. Once the archetype defined, it is translated in real life through the example of the On Route proposal for London.The research frame of this paper is the ANR ( French National Research Agency C-Goods (City Goods Operation Optimization using Decision support System project. Started in February 2009 the project involves four partners, (The multi-disciplinary French engineer school EIGSI (Ecole d’Ingénieurs en Génie des Systèmes Industriels, the French university ENMP (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, the Poitiers Urban Community (CAP, and the consulting service Interface Transport, specialized in transport economy and will end on 2012.

K-Nearest Neighbor Intervals Based AP Clustering Algorithm for Large Incomplete Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Lu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Affinity Propagation (AP algorithm is an effective algorithm for clustering analysis, but it can not be directly applicable to the case of incomplete data. In view of the prevalence of missing data and the uncertainty of missing attributes, we put forward a modified AP clustering algorithm based on K-nearest neighbor intervals (KNNI for incomplete data. Based on an Improved Partial Data Strategy, the proposed algorithm estimates the KNNI representation of missing attributes by using the attribute distribution information of the available data. The similarity function can be changed by dealing with the interval data. Then the improved AP algorithm can be applicable to the case of incomplete data. Experiments on several UCI datasets show that the proposed algorithm achieves impressive clustering results.

The role of interdisciplinary collaboration for stated preference methods to value marine environmental goods and ecosystem services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Börger, Tobias; Bohnke-Henrichs, Anne; Hattam, Caroline; Piwowarczyk, Joanna; Schasfoort, Femke; Austen, Melanie C.

2018-01-01

With the increasing use of environmental valuation methods in coastal, marine and deep-sea settings, there is a growing need for the collaboration of natural scientists and environmental economists. Stated preference valuation methods in particular need to be based on sound natural science

Environmental radioactivity and dose evaluation in Taiwan after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, C.E.

1989-01-01

A substantial increase in fission product activity was observed in various environmental samples taken in Taiwan after the Chernobyl accident. The concentration of long-lived fission products in air above ground, precipitation, grass, vegetation and milk were monitored in the next 7 wk. The individual effective dose equivalent committed by the first year of exposure and intake following the accident were evaluated. Average individual doses for the population in Taiwan are estimated at 0.9 microSv due to global fallout from the Chernobyl accident. This value is lower than that reported in neighboring countries in the Far East and poses no increased health impact to the public in Taiwan

40 CFR 86.1851-01 - Application of good engineering judgment to manufacturers' decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... engineering judgment in making all decisions called for under this subpart, including but not limited to... overlooked, that the decision was not made in good faith, or that the decision was not made with a rational... judgment to manufacturers' decisions. 86.1851-01 Section 86.1851-01 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

Environmental Decision Analysis: Meeting the Challenges of Making Good Decisions at CALFED

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Claire D Tomkins

2006-09-01

Full Text Available We present a methodology to support decision making at CALFED based on the principles of decision analysis, an analytical approach to decision making designed to handle complex decisions involving both uncertainty and multiple dimensions of value. The impetus for such an approach is a recognized need to enhance communication between scientists and management and between program elements within CALFED. In addition, the environmental decision analysis framework supports both the explicit representation of uncertainty in the decision problem and communication about risk, important elements of most environmental management decisions. The decision analysis cycle consists of four phases: 1 formulate, 2 evaluate, 3 appraise, and 4 decide. In phase one, we identify the objectives and also the alternatives, or possible actions. To facilitate inter-comparison between proposed actions, we recommend formulation of a set of common metrics for CALFED. In our pilot study, we introduced common metrics for salinity, winter-run Chinook salmon survival, and habitat health. The second phase focuses on quantifying possible impacts on the set of metrics, drawing on existing data, model runs, and expert opinions. For the evaluation phase, we employ tools such as decision trees to assess the system-wide impacts of a given action. In the final phase, tools such as expected cost-benefit analysis, value contribution diagrams, and 3-D tradeoff plots aid communication between various stakeholders, scientists, and managers. While decision analysis provides a spectrum of decision support tools, we emphasize that it does not dictate a solution but rather enhances communication about tradeoffs associated with different actions.

Identification, definition and quantification of goods and services provided by marine biodiversity: implications for the ecosystem approach.

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Beaumont, N J; Austen, M C; Atkins, J P; Burdon, D; Degraer, S; Dentinho, T P; Derous, S; Holm, P; Horton, T; van Ierland, E; Marboe, A H; Starkey, D J; Townsend, M; Zarzycki, T

2007-03-01

This paper identifies and defines ecosystem goods and services provided by marine biodiversity. Case studies have been used to provide an insight into the practical issues associated with the assessment of marine ecosystem goods and services at specific locations. The aim of this research was to validate the definitions of goods and services, and to identify knowledge gaps and likely difficulties of quantifying the goods and services. A validated theoretical framework for the assessment of goods and services is detailed, and examples of the goods and services at a variety of case study areas are documented. These results will enable future assessments of marine ecosystem goods and services. It is concluded that the utilisation of this goods and services approach has the capacity to play a fundamental role in the Ecosystem Approach, by enabling the pressures and demands of society, the economy and the environment to be integrated into environmental management.

Quantifying capital goods for waste incineration.

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Brogaard, L K; Riber, C; Christensen, T H

2013-06-01

Materials and energy used for the construction of modern waste incineration plants were quantified. The data was collected from five incineration plants (72,000-240,000 tonnes per year) built in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Denmark) between 2006 and 2012. Concrete for the buildings was the main material used amounting to 19,000-26,000 tonnes per plant. The quantification further included six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. The energy used for the actual on-site construction of the incinerators was in the range 4000-5000 MW h. In terms of the environmental burden of producing the materials used in the construction, steel for the building and the machinery contributed the most. The material and energy used for the construction corresponded to the emission of 7-14 kg CO2 per tonne of waste combusted throughout the lifetime of the incineration plant. The assessment showed that, compared to data reported in the literature on direct emissions from the operation of incinerators, the environmental impacts caused by the construction of buildings and machinery (capital goods) could amount to 2-3% with respect to kg CO2 per tonne of waste combusted. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.