Energy needs, uses, and resources in developing countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Palmedo, P.F.; Nathans, R.; Beardsworth, E.; Hale, S. Jr.

1978-03-01

The report identifies the energy needs, uses, and resources in the developing countries of the world and examines the energy options available to them for their continued social and economic growth. If traditional patterns of development are to continue, oil consumption in the non-OPEC LDCs will grow steadily to become comparable with current U.S. consumption between 2000 and 2020. Attempts to exploit indigenous hydrocarbon resources even in those LDCs with untapped reserves will be limited by shortages of capital and technical manpower. In the absence of major actions to replace noncommercial fuels or to increase the effectiveness with which they are used, a large fraction of the 3 to 4 billion LDC rural population in the year 2000 will not be able to raise their energy usage above subsistence levels. There is a wide variety of solutions to these problems, many of them emerging directly from the changed economics of energy. For example, most LDCs have not adequately explored and developed their own indigenous resources; in virtually all energy conversion and utilization processes there are opportunities for improvements in efficiency and substitution of renewable energy forms. In virtually all these areas there are opportunities for effective assistance activities.

Non-Uniform Laser Surface Texturing of an Un-Tapered Square Pad for Tribological Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Ancona

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Femtosecond laser surface micro-texturing has emerged as a promising technology to enhance the tribological properties of different kinds of electromechanical devices. In this research paper, we have exploited the intrinsic flexibility and micrometric accuracy of femtosecond laser ablation to realize complex micro-structural modifications on the surface of a laboratory prototype of a steel thrust bearing (un-tapered pad. The Bruggeman Texture Hydrodynamics theory (BTH is employed for the design of the anisotropic and non-uniform texture maximizing the thrust load of the pad prototype. The preliminary experimental results, reported in this work, show that the non-uniform micro-texture largely affects the friction characteristics of the contact. In particular, in agreement with the BTH predictions, the tribo-system shows friction properties that are strongly sensitive to the direction of the sliding speed, as a consequence of the micro-fluid dynamics which are designed to occur only in a specific sliding direction. We suggest that the joint action of virtual prototyping (BTH lubrication theory and ultrafast laser micro-prototyping can lead to unconventional and impressive results in terms of enhanced or tailored contact mechanics properties of the generic lubricated tribopair.

Digital data in support of studies and assessments of coal and petroleum resources in the Appalachian basin: Chapter I.1 in Coal and petroleum resources in the Appalachian basin: distribution, geologic framework, and geochemical character

Science.gov (United States)

Trippi, Michael H.; Kinney, Scott A.; Gunther, Gregory; Ryder, Robert T.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Ryder, Robert T.

2014-01-01

The Appalachian basin is a mature basin containing abundant oil, gas, and coal resources. Its fossil-fuel-bearing strata range in age from Cambrian to Permian and extend over the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The basin has provided abundant fossil fuels to support the Nation’s economic growth for at least 150 years and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessments suggest that substantial untapped resources remain. A merger of new and old geologic data and ideas is required to locate and extract those remaining resources.

No More Gigantism

Science.gov (United States)

Vohra, B. B.

1975-01-01

The food situation in India is critical. It requires the development of both land and water resources, both of which are largely untapped. Ground water is one undeveloped resource that can help alleviate the irrigation problems facing agriculture. More efficient utilization could free millions of hectares of land for cultivation. (MA)

Policies for Resource Efficient and Effective Solutions : A review of concepts, current policy landscape and future policy considerations for the transition to a Circular Economy

OpenAIRE

Milios, Leonidas

2016-01-01

This report presents basic concepts around resources, resource efficiency and the Circular Economy. The limitations and the opportunities within the Circular Economy are identified and clearly presented. The current policy landscape in the EU as well as in Sweden is thoroughly analysed and a set of policy areas with a significant untapped potential for resource efficiency is identified. The policy areas which have been underutilised so far include policies for re-use, repair and remanufacturi...

Big data integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andrew, Carrie; Heegaard, Einar; Kirk, Paul M.; Bässler, Claus; Heilmann-Clausen, Jacob; Krisai-Greilhuber, Irmgard; Kuijper, Thomas; Senn-Irlet, Beatrice; Büntgen, Ulf; Kauserud, Håvard

2017-01-01

Species occurrence observations are increasingly available for scientific analyses through citizen science projects and digitization of museum records, representing a largely untapped ecological resource. When combined with open-source data, there is unparalleled potential for understanding many

Use of market segmentation to identify untapped consumer needs in vision correction surgery for future growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Loarie, Thomas M; Applegate, David; Kuenne, Christopher B; Choi, Lawrence J; Horowitz, Diane P

2003-01-01

Market segmentation analysis identifies discrete segments of the population whose beliefs are consistent with exhibited behaviors such as purchase choice. This study applies market segmentation analysis to low myopes (-1 to -3 D with less than 1 D cylinder) in their consideration and choice of a refractive surgery procedure to discover opportunities within the market. A quantitative survey based on focus group research was sent to a demographically balanced sample of myopes using contact lenses and/or glasses. A variable reduction process followed by a clustering analysis was used to discover discrete belief-based segments. The resulting segments were validated both analytically and through in-market testing. Discontented individuals who wear contact lenses are the primary target for vision correction surgery. However, 81% of the target group is apprehensive about laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). They are nervous about the procedure and strongly desire reversibility and exchangeability. There exists a large untapped opportunity for vision correction surgery within the low myope population. Market segmentation analysis helped determine how to best meet this opportunity through repositioning existing procedures or developing new vision correction technology, and could also be applied to identify opportunities in other vision correction populations.

Influence of the excitation force estimator methodology within a predictive controller framework on the overall cost of energy minimisation of a wave energy converter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ferri, Francesco; Ambühl, Simon; Kofoed, Jens Peter

2015-01-01

A large amount of energy is freely roaming around the world each day, without us being able to exploit it: wave energy is a largely untapped source of renewable energy, which can have a substantial influence in the future energy mix. The reason behind the inability of using this free resource is ...

Collaborative filtering to improve navigation of large radiology knowledge resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahn, Charles E

2005-06-01

Collaborative filtering is a knowledge-discovery technique that can help guide readers to items of potential interest based on the experience of prior users. This study sought to determine the impact of collaborative filtering on navigation of a large, Web-based radiology knowledge resource. Collaborative filtering was applied to a collection of 1,168 radiology hypertext documents available via the Internet. An item-based collaborative filtering algorithm identified each document's six most closely related documents based on 248,304 page views in an 18-day period. Documents were amended to include links to their related documents, and use was analyzed over the next 5 days. The mean number of documents viewed per visit increased from 1.57 to 1.74 (P Collaborative filtering can increase a radiology information resource's utilization and can improve its usefulness and ease of navigation. The technique holds promise for improving navigation of large Internet-based radiology knowledge resources.

Agri-Environmental Resource Management by Large-Scale Collective Action: Determining KEY Success Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Uetake, Tetsuya

2015-01-01

Purpose: Large-scale collective action is necessary when managing agricultural natural resources such as biodiversity and water quality. This paper determines the key factors to the success of such action. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper analyses four large-scale collective actions used to manage agri-environmental resources in Canada and…

Structural equation models based on multivariate diversity assessment of diploid and tetraploid hulled wheat species

Science.gov (United States)

Hulled wheats are largely untapped genetic resources with >10,000 years of genetic memory and diversity that can be used for wheat quality improvement, development of healthy products, and adaptation to climate change. Multivariate diversity was assessed in the diploid Triticum monococcum L. var mon...

Large scale mapping of groundwater resources using a highly integrated set of tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søndergaard, Verner; Auken, Esben; Christiansen, Anders Vest

large areas with information from an optimum number of new investigation boreholes, existing boreholes, logs and water samples to get an integrated and detailed description of the groundwater resources and their vulnerability.Development of more time efficient and airborne geophysical data acquisition...... platforms (e.g. SkyTEM) have made large-scale mapping attractive and affordable in the planning and administration of groundwater resources. The handling and optimized use of huge amounts of geophysical data covering large areas has also required a comprehensive database, where data can easily be stored...

Investigation at Low Speeds of the Effect of Aspect Ratio and Sweep on Rolling Stability Derivatives of Untapered Wings

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Alex; Fisher, Lewis R

1950-01-01

A low-scale wind-tunnel investigation was conducted in rolling flow to determine the effects of aspect ratio and sweep (when varied independently) on the rolling stability derivatives for a series of untapered wings. The rolling-flow equipment of the Langley stability tunnel was used for the tests. The data of the investigation have been used to develop a method of accounting for the effects of the drag on the yawing moment due to rolling throughout the lift range.

Enterprise resource planning in a large construction firm: Implementation analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voordijk, Johannes T.; van Leuven, Arjen; Laan, Albertus

2003-01-01

In most large Dutch construction firms, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have replaced nonintegrated information systems with integrated and maintainable software. The implementation of ERP systems in such firms is a difficult task. So far, ERP implementations have yielded more failures

The Way We Were: Conspiracies of Silence in the Wake of the Empire Windrush.

Science.gov (United States)

McKenley, Jan

2001-01-01

Illustrates how testimonies of students and their families, teachers, and others involved in post-war secondary education provide a rich, largely untapped resource in researching immigrant experiences of black Caribbean students in the United Kingdom. Explores how such biographies and school histories might help counter the enduring censorship of…

The resource curse: Analysis of the applicability to the large-scale export of electricity from renewable resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eisgruber, Lasse

2013-01-01

The “resource curse” has been analyzed extensively in the context of non-renewable resources such as oil and gas. More recently commentators have expressed concerns that also renewable electricity exports can have adverse economic impacts on exporting countries. My paper analyzes to what extent the resource curse applies in the case of large-scale renewable electricity exports. I develop a “comprehensive model” that integrates previous works and provides a consolidated view of how non-renewable resource abundance impacts economic growth. Deploying this model I analyze through case studies on Laos, Mongolia, and the MENA region to what extent exporters of renewable electricity run into the danger of the resource curse. I find that renewable electricity exports avoid some disadvantages of non-renewable resource exports including (i) shocks after resource depletion; (ii) macroeconomic fluctuations; and (iii) competition for a fixed amount of resources. Nevertheless, renewable electricity exports bear some of the same risks as conventional resource exports including (i) crowding-out of the manufacturing sector; (ii) incentives for corruption; and (iii) reduced government accountability. I conclude with recommendations for managing such risks. - Highlights: ► Study analyzes whether the resource curse applies to renewable electricity export. ► I develop a “comprehensive model of the resource curse” and use cases for the analysis. ► Renewable electricity export avoids some disadvantages compared to other resources. ► Renewable electricity bears some of the same risks as conventional resources. ► Study concludes with recommendations for managing such risks

How Do I Earn Buy-In from Digital Natives?

Science.gov (United States)

Schechter, Amy; Denmon, Jennifer M.

2012-01-01

Many teachers find it difficult to encourage their students to write in class, yet writing is becoming increasingly important in academic and workplace settings. Students are already writing through cell phone texting, gaming systems, and social networking sites every day, but these resources go largely untapped in many English language arts…

Strategic Thinking: The Untapped Resource for Leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Alfred, Richard L.

2001-01-01

Strategic thinking is an organized, analytical process by which college leaders can assess: (1) existing and potential competitors; (2) sources of competitive advantage; and (3) college capabilities and competitive position. Three outcomes of strategic thinking are: (1) clear institutional strategy and direction; (2) improved institutional…

School Counselors: Untapped Resources for Safe Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Callahan, Connie J.

2000-01-01

Principals should consider redirecting school counselors' responsibilities to include directing safe-school teams; establishing networks to identify at-risk students and violent behavior signs; developing conflict-resolution activities; assessing and counseling misbehaving students; devising crisis- management plans; and helping staff predict and…

Nanotechnology: An Untapped Resource for Food Packaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Chetan; Dhiman, Romika; Rokana, Namita; Panwar, Harsh

2017-01-01

Food commodities are packaged and hygienically transported to protect and preserve them from any un-acceptable alteration in quality, before reaching the end-consumer. Food packaging continues to evolve along-with the innovations in material science and technology, as well as in light of consumer's demand. Presently, the modern consumers of competitive economies demands for food with natural quality, assured safety, minimal processing, extended shelf-life and ready-to-eat concept. Innovative packaging systems, not only ascertains transit preservation and effective distribution, but also facilitates communication at the consumer levels. The technological advances in the domain of food packaging in twenty-first century are mainly chaired by nanotechnology, the science of nano-materials. Nanotechnology manipulates and creates nanometer scale materials, of commercial and scientific relevance. Introduction of nanotechnology in food packaging sector has significantly addressed the food quality, safety and stability concerns. Besides, nanotechnology based packaging intimate's consumers about the real time quality of food product. Additionally, nanotechnology has been explored for controlled release of preservatives/antimicrobials, extending the product shelf life within the package. The promising reports for nanotechnology interventions in food packaging have established this as an independent priority research area. Nanoparticles based food packages offer improved barrier and mechanical properties, along with food preservation and have gained welcoming response from market and end users. In contrary, recent advances and up-liftment in this area have raised various ethical, environmental and safety concerns. Policies and regulation regarding nanoparticles incorporation in food packaging are being reviewed. This review presents the existing knowledge, recent advances, concerns and future applications of nanotechnology in food packaging sector.

Volunteer Flying Organizations: Law Enforcements Untapped Resource

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

World War II, women in the United States turned manpower into woman power as housewives across the nation took manufacturing jobs building bombers...delineates responsibilities for the entire volunteer organization. Safety -first Flying Culture CHP CHP’s first- class safety program uses the most...civilian pilots to augment law enforcement based aviation operations. This thesis uses recommendations of the Public Safety Aviation Accreditation

Deep Subseafloor Fungi as an Untapped Reservoir of Amphipathic Antimicrobial Compounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarri, Marion; Jégou, Camille; Meslet-Cladière, Laurence; Brillet, Benjamin; Barbier, Georges; Burgaud, Gaëtan; Fleury, Yannick

2016-03-10

The evolving global threat of antimicrobial resistance requires a deep renewal of the antibiotic arsenal including the isolation and characterization of new drugs. Underexplored marine ecosystems may represent an untapped reservoir of novel bioactive molecules. Deep-sea fungi isolated from a record-depth sediment core of almost 2000 m below the seafloor were investigated for antimicrobial activities. This antimicrobial screening, using 16 microbial targets, revealed 33% of filamentous fungi synthesizing bioactive compounds with activities against pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Interestingly, occurrence of antimicrobial producing isolates was well correlated with the complexity of the habitat (in term of microbial richness), as higher antimicrobial activities were obtained at specific layers of the sediment core. It clearly highlights complex deep-sea habitats as chemical battlefields where synthesis of numerous bioactive compounds appears critical for microbial competition. The six most promising deep subseafloor fungal isolates were selected for the production and extraction of bioactive compounds. Depending on the fungal isolates, antimicrobial compounds were only biosynthesized in semi-liquid or solid-state conditions as no antimicrobial activities were ever detected using liquid fermentation. An exception was made for one fungal isolate, and the extraction procedure designed to extract amphipathic compounds was successful and highlighted the amphiphilic profile of the bioactive metabolites.

Wind Resource Assessment – Østerild National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines

OpenAIRE

Hansen, Brian Ohrbeck; Courtney, Michael; Mortensen, Niels Gylling

2014-01-01

This report presents a wind resource assessment for the seven test stands at the Østerild National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Denmark. Calculations have been carried out mainly using wind data from three on-site wind lidars. The generalized wind climates applied in the wind resource calculations for the seven test stands are based on correlations between a short period of on-site wind data from the wind lidars with a long-term reference. The wind resource assessment for the seven ...

Word Sense Disambiguation Based on Large Scale Polish CLARIN Heterogeneous Lexical Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paweł Kędzia

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Word Sense Disambiguation Based on Large Scale Polish CLARIN Heterogeneous Lexical Resources Lexical resources can be applied in many different Natural Language Engineering tasks, but the most fundamental task is the recognition of word senses used in text contexts. The problem is difficult, not yet fully solved and different lexical resources provided varied support for it. Polish CLARIN lexical semantic resources are based on the plWordNet — a very large wordnet for Polish — as a central structure which is a basis for linking together several resources of different types. In this paper, several Word Sense Disambiguation (henceforth WSD methods developed for Polish that utilise plWordNet are discussed. Textual sense descriptions in the traditional lexicon can be compared with text contexts using Lesk’s algorithm in order to find best matching senses. In the case of a wordnet, lexico-semantic relations provide the main description of word senses. Thus, first, we adapted and applied to Polish a WSD method based on the Page Rank. According to it, text words are mapped on their senses in the plWordNet graph and Page Rank algorithm is run to find senses with the highest scores. The method presents results lower but comparable to those reported for English. The error analysis showed that the main problems are: fine grained sense distinctions in plWordNet and limited number of connections between words of different parts of speech. In the second approach plWordNet expanded with the mapping onto the SUMO ontology concepts was used. Two scenarios for WSD were investigated: two step disambiguation and disambiguation based on combined networks of plWordNet and SUMO. In the former scenario, words are first assigned SUMO concepts and next plWordNet senses are disambiguated. In latter, plWordNet and SUMO are combined in one large network used next for the disambiguation of senses. The additional knowledge sources used in WSD improved the performance

Long-term resource variation and group size: A large-sample field test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morecroft Michael D

2001-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Resource Dispersion Hypothesis (RDH proposes a mechanism for the passive formation of social groups where resources are dispersed, even in the absence of any benefits of group living per se. Despite supportive modelling, it lacks empirical testing. The RDH predicts that, rather than Territory Size (TS increasing monotonically with Group Size (GS to account for increasing metabolic needs, TS is constrained by the dispersion of resource patches, whereas GS is independently limited by their richness. We conducted multiple-year tests of these predictions using data from the long-term study of badgers Meles meles in Wytham Woods, England. The study has long failed to identify direct benefits from group living and, consequently, alternative explanations for their large group sizes have been sought. Results TS was not consistently related to resource dispersion, nor was GS consistently related to resource richness. Results differed according to data groupings and whether territories were mapped using minimum convex polygons or traditional methods. Habitats differed significantly in resource availability, but there was also evidence that food resources may be spatially aggregated within habitat types as well as between them. Conclusions This is, we believe, the largest ever test of the RDH and builds on the long-term project that initiated part of the thinking behind the hypothesis. Support for predictions were mixed and depended on year and the method used to map territory borders. We suggest that within-habitat patchiness, as well as model assumptions, should be further investigated for improved tests of the RDH in the future.

OUT Success Stories: Chemical Treatments for Geothermal Brines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burr, R.

2000-01-01

DOE research helped develop the large, untapped geothermal resource beneath the Salton Sea in California's Imperial Valley. The very hot brines under high pressure make them excellent for electric power production. The brines are very corrosive and contain high concentrations of dissolved silica. DOE worked with San Diego Gas and Electric Company to find a solution to the silica-scaling problem. This innovative brine treatment eliminated scaling and made possible the development of the Salton Sea geothermal resource

An Untapped Resource: Patient and Public Involvement in Implementation Comment on "Knowledge Mobilization in Healthcare Organizations: A View From the Resource-Based View of the Firm".

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Christopher; Rycroft-Malone, Jo

2015-08-07

This commentary considers the potential role of patient and public involvement in implementation. Developing an analytical thread from the resource-based view of the Firm, we argue that this involvement may create unique resources that have the capacity to enhance the impact of implementation activity for healthcare organisations. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Performance evaluation of 10 MW grid connected solar photovoltaic power plant in India

OpenAIRE

B. Shiva Kumar; K. Sudhakar

2015-01-01

The growing energy demand in developing nations has triggered the issue of energy security. This has made essential to utilize the untapped potential of renewable resources. Grid connected PV systems have become the best alternatives in renewable energy at large scale. Performance analysis of these grid connected plants could help in designing, operating and maintenance of new grid connected systems. A 10 MW photovoltaic grid connected power plant commissioned at Ramagundam is one of the larg...

Women's organizations: An untapped resource for resilience | IDRC ...

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

2016-04-21

Apr 21, 2016 ... With a grant from IDRC, Oxfam Canada explored how women's ... Women's organizations stressed that the lack of women's rights is a barrier to building resilience. ... IDRC contributes to the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

RESOURCE SAVING TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS OF LARGE-SIZE DIE THERMAL TREATMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. A. Glazkov

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The given paper presents a development of a technological process pertaining to hardening large-size parts made of die steel. The proposed process applies a water-air mixture instead of a conventional hardening medium that is industrial oil.While developing this new technological process it has been necessary to solve the following problems: reduction of thermal treatment duration, reduction of power resource expense (natural gas and mineral oil, elimination of fire danger and increase of process ecological efficiency. 

Accumulative job demands and support for strength use: Fine-tuning the job demands-resources model using conservation of resources theory.

Science.gov (United States)

van Woerkom, Marianne; Bakker, Arnold B; Nishii, Lisa H

2016-01-01

Absenteeism associated with accumulated job demands is a ubiquitous problem. We build on prior research on the benefits of counteracting job demands with resources by focusing on a still untapped resource for buffering job demands-that of strengths use. We test the idea that employees who are actively encouraged to utilize their personal strengths on the job are better positioned to cope with job demands. Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we hypothesized that job demands can accumulate and together have an exacerbating effect on company registered absenteeism. In addition, using job demands-resources theory, we hypothesized that perceived organizational support for strengths use can buffer the impact of separate and combined job demands (workload and emotional demands) on absenteeism. Our sample consisted of 832 employees from 96 departments (response rate = 40.3%) of a Dutch mental health care organization. Results of multilevel analyses indicated that high levels of workload strengthen the positive relationship between emotional demands and absenteeism and that support for strength use interacted with workload and emotional job demands in the predicted way. Moreover, workload, emotional job demands, and strengths use interacted to predict absenteeism. Strengths use support reduced the level of absenteeism of employees who experienced both high workload and high emotional demands. We conclude that providing strengths use support to employees offers organizations a tool to reduce absenteeism, even when it is difficult to redesign job demands. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thompson Paul

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. Results This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events) involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. Results This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized) together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is modelled using the Lexical

Analysis of Utilization of Fecal Resources in Large-scale Livestock and Poultry Breeding in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

XUAN Meng

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic investigation for the serious problems of livestock and poultry breeding in China and the technical demand of promoting the utilization of manure. Based on the status quo of large-scale livestock and poultry farming in typical areas in China, the work had been done beared on statistics and analysis of the modes and proportions of utilization of manure resources. Such a statistical method had been applied to the country -identified large -scale farm, which the total amount of pollutants reduction was in accordance with the "12th Five-Year Plan" standards. The results showed that there were some differences in the modes of resource utilization due to livestock and poultry manure at different scales and types:(1 Hogs, dairy cattle and beef cattle in total accounted for more than 75% of the agricultural manure storage;(2 Laying hens and broiler chickens accounted for about 65% of the total production of the organic manure produced by fecal production. It is demonstrated that the major modes of resource utilization of dung and urine were related to the natural characteristics, agricultural production methods, farming scale and economic development level in the area. It was concluded that the unreasonable planning, lacking of cleansing during breeding, false selection of manure utilizing modes were the major problems in China忆s large-scale livestock and poultry fecal resources utilization.

The Role of Sustainability Resources of Large Greenhouse Gas Emitters: The Case of Corporations in Alberta, Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marwa Hannouf

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the global challenge of climate change, it becomes crucial to understand the factors that can guide carbon intensive companies to comply with environmental regulations through significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG emissions. Using the natural-resource-based view, the argument in this paper is that focusing on sustainability-driven resources by companies is a way to meet environmental compliance and reduce GHG emissions while gaining differential competitive benefits. A specific analysis on Alberta case has discussed large GHG emitters’ environmental compliance mechanisms in the context of their sustainability resources. The aim is examining if large GHG emitters in Alberta related to corporations having sustainability resources are complying with the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER reduction requirement through cleaner-production driven internal mechanisms. The paper examines the existence of the sustainability resources in the reporting companies related to large GHG emitters responsible for 86% of total GHG reported by facilities with emissions above the threshold of 100 kilotonnes of GHG per year under SGER in Alberta. Corporations are found not using their sustainability resource potential to achieve internal reductions in GHG emissions throughout their facilities. Thus, some recommendations are presented for Alberta case as well as for environmental regulations in other jurisdictions that can potentially help policy makers improve their climate change regulations and achieve their global targets and enable companies to gain competitive advantage while meeting GHG reduction compliance.

The Untapped Promise of Secondary Data Sets in International and Comparative Education Policy Research

Science.gov (United States)

Chudagr, Amita; Luschei, Thomas F.

2016-01-01

The objective of this commentary is to call attention to the feasibility and importance of large-scale, systematic, quantitative analysis in international and comparative education research. We contend that although many existing databases are under- or unutilized in quantitative international-comparative research, these resources present the…

An integrated model for assessing both crop productivity and agricultural water resources at a large scale

Science.gov (United States)

Okada, M.; Sakurai, G.; Iizumi, T.; Yokozawa, M.

2012-12-01

Agricultural production utilizes regional resources (e.g. river water and ground water) as well as local resources (e.g. temperature, rainfall, solar energy). Future climate changes and increasing demand due to population increases and economic developments would intensively affect the availability of water resources for agricultural production. While many studies assessed the impacts of climate change on agriculture, there are few studies that dynamically account for changes in water resources and crop production. This study proposes an integrated model for assessing both crop productivity and agricultural water resources at a large scale. Also, the irrigation management to subseasonal variability in weather and crop response varies for each region and each crop. To deal with such variations, we used the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique to quantify regional-specific parameters associated with crop growth and irrigation water estimations. We coupled a large-scale crop model (Sakurai et al. 2012), with a global water resources model, H08 (Hanasaki et al. 2008). The integrated model was consisting of five sub-models for the following processes: land surface, crop growth, river routing, reservoir operation, and anthropogenic water withdrawal. The land surface sub-model was based on a watershed hydrology model, SWAT (Neitsch et al. 2009). Surface and subsurface runoffs simulated by the land surface sub-model were input to the river routing sub-model of the H08 model. A part of regional water resources available for agriculture, simulated by the H08 model, was input as irrigation water to the land surface sub-model. The timing and amount of irrigation water was simulated at a daily step. The integrated model reproduced the observed streamflow in an individual watershed. Additionally, the model accurately reproduced the trends and interannual variations of crop yields. To demonstrate the usefulness of the integrated model, we compared two types of impact assessment of

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm for the Resource-constrained Project Scheduling Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muller, Laurent Flindt

2009-01-01

We present an application of an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) algorithm to the Resource-constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). The ALNS framework was first proposed by Pisinger and Røpke [19] and can be described as a large neighborhood search algorithm with an adaptive layer......, where a set of destroy/repair neighborhoods compete to modify the current solution in each iteration of the algorithm. Experiments are performed on the wellknown J30, J60 and J120 benchmark instances, which show that the proposed algorithm is competitive and confirms the strength of the ALNS framework...

An untapped resource: using YouTube in nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

Agazio, Janice; Buckley, Kathleen M

2009-01-01

Minimal information is available in the literature addressing video sharing in nursing education. Using multiple examples, the authors discuss the use of YouTube, a popular video-sharing and social networking site. YouTube is used to illustrate theoretical content, involve students, and inspire innovative teaching methods. Faculty can use this technology to stimulate student discussions, share information, and create a learning community. YouTube stimulates active learning and brings new relevance and applications to nursing curriculum.

Self-perceived coping resources of middle-aged and older adults - results of a large population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Boehlen, Friederike H; Herzog, Wolfgang; Schellberg, Dieter; Maatouk, Imad; Saum, Kai-Uwe; Brenner, Hermann; Wild, Beate

2017-12-01

Psychosocial resources (personal resources, social resources, and other) are important for coping with aging and impairment. The aim of this study was to describe the resources of older adults and to compare subgroups with frailty, complex health care needs, and/or mental disorders. At the third follow-up of the large population-based German ESTHER study, 3124 elderly persons (aged 55-85) were included. Psychosocial resources were assessed during a home visit by trained study doctors by using a list of 26 different items. Resources were described for the total group, separated by sex, and for the three subgroups of persons with frailty, complex health care needs, and mental disorders. Family, self-efficacy, and financial security were the most frequently reported resources of older adults. Women and men showed significant differences in their self-perceived resources. Personal resources (self-efficacy, optimism, mastery), social resources, and financial security were reported significantly less frequently by frail persons, persons with complex health care needs, and mentally ill older adults compared to non-impaired participants. Apart from external support, patients who experienced complex health care needs reported resources less frequently compared to frail and mentally ill patients. Coping resources in older adults are associated with sex and impairment. Evaluation and support of personal resources of frail or mentally ill persons or individuals with complex health care needs should be integrated in the therapeutic process.

The untapped potential of smartphone sensors for stroke rehabilitation and after-care.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Melvyn W; Chew, Poh Yim; Yeo, Leonard L; Ho, Roger C

2016-01-01

With the increasing incidences of cerebrovascular disease, as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with it, it is of no surprise that there have been much global governmental interest in the primary prevention of this disorder; or at least in the secondary and tertiary prevention and rehabilitation of individuals who have suffered disabilities arising from a recent cerebrovascular attack. Developers and clinicians have not considered one of the key areas in Stroke prevention and management, which is that of secondary prevention, and in particular that of tapping onto smartphone technologies for stroke rehabilitation. There has been much interest in the development of devices for rehabilitation of stroke patients instead. One of the concerns with regards to conventional bio and mechanical sensors are the costs involved in development, as well as the costs involved when stroke survivors and their caregivers are required to purchase the devices for monitoring and rehabilitation. In view of the current limitations, the S3 Rehab application, which makes use of the smartphone build in sensors, has been conceptualized and has been developed for the two major platforms (Apple and Android platforms). The authors believe that by tapping onto these sensors and by programming a smartphone application that is specifically catered for rehabilitation, it would keep costs minimal for researchers, patients and caregivers. Whilst there is a growing interest in wearable devices and sensors, it is important for developers and researchers to be cognizant that certain interventions, such as rehabilitation could still be done through a smartphone device, instead of investing in new research and development. There are various untapped potential in the smartphone that researchers and developers need to be cognizant of.

Optimizing CyberShake Seismic Hazard Workflows for Large HPC Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Callaghan, S.; Maechling, P. J.; Juve, G.; Vahi, K.; Deelman, E.; Jordan, T. H.

2014-12-01

The CyberShake computational platform is a well-integrated collection of scientific software and middleware that calculates 3D simulation-based probabilistic seismic hazard curves and hazard maps for the Los Angeles region. Currently each CyberShake model comprises about 235 million synthetic seismograms from about 415,000 rupture variations computed at 286 sites. CyberShake integrates large-scale parallel and high-throughput serial seismological research codes into a processing framework in which early stages produce files used as inputs by later stages. Scientific workflow tools are used to manage the jobs, data, and metadata. The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) developed the CyberShake platform using USC High Performance Computing and Communications systems and open-science NSF resources.CyberShake calculations were migrated to the NSF Track 1 system NCSA Blue Waters when it became operational in 2013, via an interdisciplinary team approach including domain scientists, computer scientists, and middleware developers. Due to the excellent performance of Blue Waters and CyberShake software optimizations, we reduced the makespan (a measure of wallclock time-to-solution) of a CyberShake study from 1467 to 342 hours. We will describe the technical enhancements behind this improvement, including judicious introduction of new GPU software, improved scientific software components, increased workflow-based automation, and Blue Waters-specific workflow optimizations.Our CyberShake performance improvements highlight the benefits of scientific workflow tools. The CyberShake workflow software stack includes the Pegasus Workflow Management System (Pegasus-WMS, which includes Condor DAGMan), HTCondor, and Globus GRAM, with Pegasus-mpi-cluster managing the high-throughput tasks on the HPC resources. The workflow tools handle data management, automatically transferring about 13 TB back to SCEC storage.We will present performance metrics from the most recent Cyber

Modeling Resource Utilization of a Large Data Acquisition System

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(SzGeCERN)756497; The ATLAS collaboration; Garcia Garcia, Pedro Javier; Vandelli, Wainer; Froening, Holger

2017-01-01

The ATLAS 'Phase-II' upgrade, scheduled to start in 2024, will significantly change the requirements under which the data-acquisition system operates. The input data rate, currently fixed around 150 GB/s, is anticipated to reach 5 TB/s. In order to deal with the challenging conditions, and exploit the capabilities of newer technologies, a number of architectural changes are under consideration. Of particular interest is a new component, known as the Storage Handler, which will provide a large buffer area decoupling real-time data taking from event filtering. Dynamic operational models of the upgraded system can be used to identify the required resources and to select optimal techniques. In order to achieve a robust and dependable model, the current data-acquisition architecture has been used as a test case. This makes it possible to verify and calibrate the model against real operation data. Such a model can then be evolved toward the future ATLAS Phase-II architecture. In this paper we introduce the current ...

Modelling Resource Utilization of a Large Data Acquisition System

CERN Document Server

Santos, Alejandro; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The ATLAS 'Phase-II' upgrade, scheduled to start in 2024, will significantly change the requirements under which the data-acquisition system operates. The input data rate, currently fixed around 150 GB/s, is anticipated to reach 5 TB/s. In order to deal with the challenging conditions, and exploit the capabilities of newer technologies, a number of architectural changes are under consideration. Of particular interest is a new component, known as the Storage Handler, which will provide a large buffer area decoupling real-time data taking from event filtering. Dynamic operational models of the upgraded system can be used to identify the required resources and to select optimal techniques. In order to achieve a robust and dependable model, the current data-acquisition architecture has been used as a test case. This makes it possible to verify and calibrate the model against real operation data. Such a model can then be evolved toward the future ATLAS Phase-II architecture. In this paper we introduce the current ...

A theoretical bilevel control scheme for power networks with large-scale penetration of distributed renewable resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boroojeni, Kianoosh; Amini, M. Hadi; Nejadpak, Arash

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present a bilevel control framework to achieve a highly-reliable smart distribution network with large-scale penetration of distributed renewable resources (DRRs). We assume that the power distribution network consists of several residential/commercial communities. In the first ...

Privileged Electrophile Sensors: A Resource for Covalent Drug Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Marcus John Curtis; Aye, Yimon

2017-07-20

This Perspective delineates how redox signaling affects the activity of specific enzyme isoforms and how this property may be harnessed for rational drug design. Covalent drugs have resurged in recent years and several reports have extolled the general virtues of developing irreversible inhibitors. Indeed, many modern pharmaceuticals contain electrophilic appendages. Several invoke a warhead that hijacks active-site nucleophiles whereas others take advantage of spectator nucleophilic side chains that do not participate in enzymatic chemistry, but are poised to bind/react with electrophiles. The latest data suggest that innate electrophile sensing-which enables rapid reaction with an endogenous signaling electrophile-is a quintessential resource for the development of covalent drugs. For instance, based on recent work documenting isoform-specific electrophile sensing, isozyme non-specific drugs may be converted to isozyme-specific analogs by hijacking privileged first-responder electrophile-sensing cysteines. Because this approach targets functionally relevant cysteines, we can simultaneously harness previously untapped moonlighting roles of enzymes linked to redox sensing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mother Lode: The Untapped Rare Earth Mineral Resources of Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-01

to exert their monopolistic control of the market by artificially restricting supply in the interest of higher commodity prices, but were rather...linked. World markets for rare earth elements are at present a near-monopoly controlled by China, and it is becoming ever clearer that alternative... markets for rare earth elements are at present a near- monopoly controlled by China, and it is becoming ever clearer that alternative sources for these

Gram stains: a resource for retrospective analysis of bacterial pathogens in clinical studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasan, Usha; Ponnaluri, Sreelatha; Villareal, Lisa; Gillespie, Brenda; Wen, Ai; Miles, Arianna; Bucholz, Brigette; Marrs, Carl F; Iyer, Ram K; Misra, Dawn; Foxman, Betsy

2012-01-01

We demonstrate the feasibility of using qPCR on DNA extracted from vaginal Gram stain slides to estimate the presence and relative abundance of specific bacterial pathogens. We first tested Gram stained slides spiked with a mix of 10(8) cfu/ml of Escherichia coli and 10(5) cfu/ml of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Primers were designed for amplification of total and species-specific bacterial DNA based on 16S ribosomal gene regions. Sample DNA was pre-amplified with nearly full length 16S rDNA ribosomal gene fragment, followed by quantitative PCR with genera and species-specific 16S rDNA primers. Pre-amplification PCR increased the bacterial amounts; relative proportions of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus recovered from spiked slides remained unchanged. We applied this method to forty two archived Gram stained slides available from a clinical trial of cerclage in pregnant women at high risk of preterm birth. We found a high correlation between Nugent scores based on bacterial morphology of Lactobacillus, Gardenerella and Mobiluncus and amounts of quantitative PCR estimated genus specific DNA (rrn copies) from Gram stained slides. Testing of a convenience sample of eight paired vaginal swabs and Gram stains freshly collected from healthy women found similar qPCR generated estimates of Lactobacillus proportions from Gram stained slides and vaginal swabs. Archived Gram stained slides collected from large scale epidemiologic and clinical studies represent a valuable, untapped resource for research on the composition of bacterial communities that colonize human mucosal surfaces.

National Implications for Urban School Systems: Strategic Planning in the Human Resource Management Department in a Large Urban School District

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Clarence; Kritsonis, William Allan

2007-01-01

This article addresses several key ongoing issues in a large urban school district. Literature focuses on what make a large urban school district effective in Human Resource Management. The effectiveness is addressed through recruitment and retention practices. A comparison of the school district with current research is the main approach to the…

Optimally managing water resources in large river basins for an uncertain future

Science.gov (United States)

Edwin A. Roehl, Jr.; Conrads, Paul

2014-01-01

Managers of large river basins face conflicting needs for water resources such as wildlife habitat, water supply, wastewater assimilative capacity, flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The Savannah River Basin for example, has experienced three major droughts since 2000 that resulted in record low water levels in its reservoirs, impacting local economies for years. The Savannah River Basin’s coastal area contains municipal water intakes and the ecologically sensitive freshwater tidal marshes of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest in the United States, and modifications to the harbor have caused saltwater to migrate upstream, reducing the freshwater marsh’s acreage more than 50 percent since the 1970s. There is a planned deepening of the harbor that includes flow-alteration features to minimize further migration of salinity. The effectiveness of the flow-alteration features will only be known after they are constructed. One of the challenges of basin management is the optimization of water use through ongoing development, droughts, and climate change. This paper describes a model of the Savannah River Basin designed to continuously optimize regulated flow to meet prioritized objectives set by resource managers and stakeholders. The model was developed from historical data by using machine learning, making it more accurate and adaptable to changing conditions than traditional models. The model is coupled to an optimization routine that computes the daily flow needed to most efficiently meet the water-resource management objectives. The model and optimization routine are packaged in a decision support system that makes it easy for managers and stakeholders to use. Simulation results show that flow can be regulated to significantly reduce salinity intrusions in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge while conserving more water in the reservoirs. A method for using the model to assess the effectiveness of the

DanGrid. Report from working group 22. Concept for controlling the power system. [Smart grid in Denmark]; DanGrid. Delrapport. Arbejdsgruppe 22. Koncept for styring af elsystemet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-09-15

This report describes a Smart Grid concept for how the currently untapped and potentially cheaper resources, i.e. flexible electricity consumption and electricity generation, are put into play through markets or directly where it is economically desirable. The concept provides a framework for how all the actors involved (consumers, power plant owners, BRP, electricity traders, DSO, TSO and other new players) can create increased value solely because a today untapped resource can be activated, namely flexibility in consumption and production from even small consumers. The concept does not attempt to identify all technical needs to operate a market-based power system with 50 % wind power, but the concept focuses on the mobilization of new flexible resources for the benefit of the capacity and voltage challenges in the distribution networks, management of var flow between voltage levels and balance challenge in the power transmission system. (LN)

Getting Over the Barrel- Achieving Independence from Foreign Oil in 2018

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Haigh, Christopher S

2009-01-01

The United States can achieve independence from foreign oil in 2018. Increasing production from current oil fields, developing untapped oil resources, converting coal to oil and oil shale extraction can produce an additional...

Nigeria and the United States: An Analysis of National Goals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

McCarthy, John M

2008-01-01

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the continent of Africa has regained its importance to the United States and other developed nations, primarily due to its vast amounts of untapped resources...

Search Results | Page 812 | IDRC - International Development ...

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

Results 8111 - 8120 of 9601 ... These case studies illustrate some of the work IDRC's Rural Poverty and Environment program has ... Women's organizations: An untapped resource for resilience ... New opportunities in climate finance at scale.

Knowledge and Natural Resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø; Justinussen, Jens Christian Svabo

2016-01-01

Arctic economies are generally natural resource based economies, whether they are indigenous economies largely dependent on living on the land or industrialized economies depending on marine resources, mineral resources or fossil or renewable energy resources. However, the central role of knowledge...

Environmental management frameworks for offshore mining: the New Zealand approach

KAUST Repository

Ellis, Joanne; Clark, M.R.; Rouse, H.L.; Lamarche, G.

2017-01-01

The New Zealand region contains untapped natural mineral, oil, and gas resources while also supporting globally unique and diverse faunal communities that need to be managed sustainably. In this paper key information from the international

Search Results | Page 812 | IDRC - International Development ...

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

Results 8111 - 8120 of 9602 ... These case studies illustrate some of the work IDRC's Rural Poverty and Environment program has ... Women's organizations: An untapped resource for resilience ... New opportunities in climate finance at scale ...

Establishing a shared vision in your organization. Winning strategies to empower your team members.

Science.gov (United States)

Rinke, W J

1989-01-01

Today's health-care climate demands that you manage your human resources more effectively. Meeting the dual challenges of providing more with less requires that you tap the vast hidden resources that reside in every one of your team members. Harnessing these untapped energies requires that all of your employees clearly understand the purpose, direction, and the desired future state of your laboratory. Once this image is widely shared, your team members will know their roles in the organization and the contributions they can make to attaining the organization's vision. This shared vision empowers people and enhances their self-esteem as they recognize they are accomplishing a worthy goal. You can create and install a shared vision in your laboratory by adhering to a five-step process. The result will be a unity of purpose that will release the untapped human resources in your organization so that you can do more with less.

Using high-throughput literature mining to support read-across predictions of skin sensitization (WC)

Science.gov (United States)

Read-across predictions require high quality measured data for source analogues. These data are typically retrieved from structured databases, but biomedical literature data are often untapped because current literature mining approaches are resource intensive. Our high-throughpu...

Protein Data Bank Japan (PDBj): updated user interfaces, resource description framework, analysis tools for large structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinjo, Akira R; Bekker, Gert-Jan; Suzuki, Hirofumi; Tsuchiya, Yuko; Kawabata, Takeshi; Ikegawa, Yasuyo; Nakamura, Haruki

2017-01-04

The Protein Data Bank Japan (PDBj, http://pdbj.org), a member of the worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB), accepts and processes the deposited data of experimentally determined macromolecular structures. While maintaining the archive in collaboration with other wwPDB partners, PDBj also provides a wide range of services and tools for analyzing structures and functions of proteins. We herein outline the updated web user interfaces together with RESTful web services and the backend relational database that support the former. To enhance the interoperability of the PDB data, we have previously developed PDB/RDF, PDB data in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format, which is now a wwPDB standard called wwPDB/RDF. We have enhanced the connectivity of the wwPDB/RDF data by incorporating various external data resources. Services for searching, comparing and analyzing the ever-increasing large structures determined by hybrid methods are also described. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Enterprise Resource Planning Software in the Human Resource Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Bedell, Michael D.; Floyd, Barry D.; Nicols, Kay McGlashan; Ellis, Rebecca

2007-01-01

The relatively recent development of comprehensive human resource information systems (HRIS) software has led to a large demand for technologically literate human resource (HR) professionals. For the college student who is about to begin the search for that first postcollege job, the need to develop technology literacy is even more necessary. To…

Scalable multi-objective control for large scale water resources systems under uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Giuliani, Matteo; Quinn, Julianne; Herman, Jonathan; Castelletti, Andrea; Reed, Patrick

2016-04-01

The use of mathematical models to support the optimal management of environmental systems is rapidly expanding over the last years due to advances in scientific knowledge of the natural processes, efficiency of the optimization techniques, and availability of computational resources. However, undergoing changes in climate and society introduce additional challenges for controlling these systems, ultimately motivating the emergence of complex models to explore key causal relationships and dependencies on uncontrolled sources of variability. In this work, we contribute a novel implementation of the evolutionary multi-objective direct policy search (EMODPS) method for controlling environmental systems under uncertainty. The proposed approach combines direct policy search (DPS) with hierarchical parallelization of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) and offers a threefold advantage: the DPS simulation-based optimization can be combined with any simulation model and does not add any constraint on modeled information, allowing the use of exogenous information in conditioning the decisions. Moreover, the combination of DPS and MOEAs prompts the generation or Pareto approximate set of solutions for up to 10 objectives, thus overcoming the decision biases produced by cognitive myopia, where narrow or restrictive definitions of optimality strongly limit the discovery of decision relevant alternatives. Finally, the use of large-scale MOEAs parallelization improves the ability of the designed solutions in handling the uncertainty due to severe natural variability. The proposed approach is demonstrated on a challenging water resources management problem represented by the optimal control of a network of four multipurpose water reservoirs in the Red River basin (Vietnam). As part of the medium-long term energy and food security national strategy, four large reservoirs have been constructed on the Red River tributaries, which are mainly operated for hydropower

What has traditional Chinese medicine delivered for modern medicine?

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jigang; Wong, Yin-Kwan; Liao, Fulong

2018-05-11

The field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) represents a vast and largely untapped resource for modern medicine. Exemplified by the success of the antimalarial artemisinin, the recent years have seen a rapid increase in the understanding and application of TCM-derived herbs and formulations for evidence-based therapy. In this review, we summarise and discuss the developmental history, clinical background and molecular basis of an action for several representative TCM-derived medicines, including artemisinin, arsenic trioxide, berberine and Salvia miltiorrhiza or Danshen. Through this, we highlight important examples of how TCM-derived medicines have already contributed to modern medicine, and discuss potential avenues for further research.

The great divide: social media's role in bridging healthcare's generational shift.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarringhaus, Meredith M

2011-01-01

Social media, a resource largely untapped in the healthcare field, presents opportunities and advantages and, if used properly, can innovate healthcare and create a competitive advantage for adopters. Many organizations have considered social media but dismissed its advantages as fleeting products of the new generation entering the workforce: the millennials. However, the millennial generation has assumed a greater presence in clinical and administrative positions as the baby boomer generation prepares for retirement. This article advocates the adoption of social media in healthcare organizations as a strategic advantage in connecting with their patient population and recruiting and retaining millennial staff amid the generational shift of the healthcare workforce.

Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project: water-resources activities

Science.gov (United States)

Robson, Stanley G.; Heiny, Janet S.

1998-01-01

Infrastructure, such as roads, buildings, airports, and dams, is built and maintained by use of large quantities of natural resources such as aggregate (sand and gravel), energy, and water. As urban area expand, local sources of these resource are becoming inaccessible (gravel cannot be mined from under a subdivision, for example), or the cost of recovery of the resource becomes prohibitive (oil and gas drilling in urban areas is costly), or the resources may become unfit for some use (pollution of ground water may preclude its use as a water supply). Governmental land-use decision and environmental mandates can further preclude development of natural resources. If infrastructure resources are to remain economically available. current resource information must be available for use in well-reasoned decisions bout future land use. Ground water is an infrastructure resource that is present in shallow aquifers and deeper bedrock aquifers that underlie much of the 2,450-square-mile demonstration area of the Colorado Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project. In 1996, mapping of the area's ground-water resources was undertaken as a U.S. Geological Survey project in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Capitalizing on Military Nurse Skills for Second-Career Leadership and Staff Development Roles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lake, Donna M; Allen, Patricia E; Armstrong, Myrna L

2016-11-01

Nursing continues to face professional workforce and diversity shortage problems. This article advocates for examining an untapped resource-the consideration of applicants for nursing leadership and educational positions in civilian health care organizations. This untapped resource is highly qualified, already retired (or going to be separated) military nurse officers (MNOs) who possess extensive health care knowledge, as well as distinctive ethnicity and gender composition. Clinical educators, as part of the organizational leadership, can play an important role in assisting the MNO civilian position assimilation because they come from a structured and unique cultural environment. Several innovative preparatory strategies are proposed to highlight the organization's support and commitment regarding preselection, recruiting, hiring, and mentoring, including the use of a specific navigational mentor to achieve the necessary acquired cultural assimilation for the MNO's success, satisfaction, and retention. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2016;47(11):503-510. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Current Resource Imagery Projects

Data.gov (United States)

Farm Service Agency, Department of Agriculture — Map showing coverage of current Resource imagery projects. High resolution/large scale Resource imagery is typically acquired for the U.S. Forest Service and other...

Obtaining large-scale funding for empowerment-oriented qualitative research: a report from personal experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Padgett, Deborah K; Henwood, Benjamin F

2009-06-01

Obtaining funding for qualitative research remains a challenge despite greater openness to methodological pluralism. Such hurdles are presumably compounded when the proposed study employs empowerment theory, rendering it susceptible to charges of elevating ideology over rigor. This article draws on the authors' experience in securing large-scale funding for an empowerment-oriented qualitative study of homeless mentally ill adults. Lessons learned include the importance of weaving empowerment theory into the proposal's "argument," and infusing empowerment values into study protocols while simultaneously paying close attention to rigorous and transparent methods. Additional benefits accrue from having prior relationships with study sites and being willing to revise and resubmit proposals whenever possible. Though representing a fraction of all externally funded projects in the United States, qualitative research has tremendous untapped potential for success in this competitive arena-success that need not entail surrendering a commitment to empowerment values.

Rhamnolipid biosurfactants: evolutionary implications, applications and future prospects from untapped marine resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiran, George Seghal; Ninawe, Arun Shivanth; Lipton, Anuj Nishanth; Pandian, Vijayalakshmi; Selvin, Joseph

2016-01-01

Rhamnolipid-biosurfactants are known to be produced by the genus Pseudomonas, however recent literature reported that rhamnolipids (RLs) are distributed among diverse microbial genera. To integrate the evolutionary implications of rhamnosyl transferase among various groups of microorganisms, a comprehensive comparative motif analysis was performed amongst bacterial producers. Findings on new RL-producing microorganism is helpful from a biotechnological perspective and to replace infective P. aeruginosa strains which ultimately ensure industrially safe production of RLs. Halotolerant biosurfactants are required for efficient bioremediation of marine oil spills. An insight on the exploitation of marine microbes as the potential source of RL biosurfactants is highlighted in the present review. An economic production process, solid-state fermentation using agro-industrial and industrial waste would increase the scope of biosurfactants commercialization. Potential and prospective applications of RL-biosurfactants including hydrocarbon bioremediation, heavy metal removal, antibiofilm activity/biofilm disruption and greener synthesis of nanoparticles are highlighted in this review.

Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) cass.: An untapped oilseed resource for the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yadav, Sangita; Kumar, Sandeep; Hussain, Zakir; Suneja, Poonam; Yadav, Shiv K.; Nizar, M.A.; Dutta, M.

2012-01-01

Amongst minor oilseed crops, niger has not been given considerable importance as compared to the sunflower, safflower, linseed and sesame. A study on 35 niger genotypes was conducted to evaluate their potential in terms of oil quantity, quality and biodiesel traits. Oil quality was determined by fatty acid composition for two consecutive years and the results were compared with other minor oilseed crops. Niger oil has four major fatty acids namely palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid. Genotypes which showed consistent fatty acid profile for the 2 consecutive years were also reported. Oleic and linoleic fatty acids showed high variability ranging from 23.52 to 53.05% and 32.03–58.28%, respectively. High oleic (IC372586) and linoleic acid (IC211078, IC211080 and IC259393) containing genotypes were also identified. Total unsaturated fatty acid (81.79–85.06%) was found to be higher than total saturated fatty acid (14.94–18.21%). Based on saponification number (200.16–202.16) and Iodine value (105.69–126.7 g I 2 100 g −1 ) the niger oil finds its application in various industries while cetane number confirmed the use of it as biodiesel. -- Highlights: ► High variability in oil quality. ► TUSFA higher than TSFA. ► Niger oil- a biodiesel source.

Multinational Population-Based Health Surveys Linked to Outcome Data: An Untapped Resource

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stacey Fisher

2017-04-01

This study provides initial support for the methodological feasibility of pooling linked population health surveys however, challenges introduced by dissimilarities will require the use of innovative methodologies, and discussions regarding how to manage jurisdictional data restrictions and privacy issues are needed. Pooled population health data has the potential to improve national and international health surveillance and public health.

Community Health Centers: The Untapped Resource for Public Health and Medical Preparedness

OpenAIRE

Wood, Kanen M.

2008-01-01

This article appeared in Homeland Security Affairs (January 2009), v.5 no.1 HSPD-21 was recently released to the public calling for a transformation in the national approach to public health and medical preparedness in the United States. The latest deliberations, as prioritized by this strategy, are to bolster the nation's ability to manage a public health crisis by stimulating improvements in the areas of biosurveillance, countermeasure distribution, mass casualty care, and community resi...

Fostering Technology-Rich Service-Learning Experiences between School Librarians and Teacher Education Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Craig E.; Dousay, Tonia; Kvenild, Cassandra; Meredith, Tamara

2015-01-01

School libraries are untapped resources for fieldwork by preservice teachers. Many school librarians have expertise in pedagogy and standards-based curriculum development, both for information literacy and for technology integration. By forging partnerships with teacher-preparation programs, school librarians can provide fieldwork sites rich in…

Delivering LHC software to HPC compute elements

CERN Document Server

Blomer, Jakob; Hardi, Nikola; Popescu, Radu

2017-01-01

In recent years, there was a growing interest in improving the utilization of supercomputers by running applications of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN when idle cores cannot be assigned to traditional HPC jobs. At the same time, the upcoming LHC machine and detector upgrades will produce some 60 times higher data rates and challenge LHC experiments to use so far untapped compute resources. LHC experiment applications are tailored to run on high-throughput computing resources and they have a different anatomy than HPC applications. LHC applications comprise a core framework that allows hundreds of researchers to plug in their specific algorithms. The software stacks easily accumulate to many gigabytes for a single release. New releases are often produced on a daily basis. To facilitate the distribution of these software stacks to world-wide distributed computing resources, LHC experiments use a purpose-built, global, POSIX file system, the CernVM File System. CernVM-FS pre-processes dat...

Hydroelectric developments in Nunavik : update on impact benefit agreements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aatami, P. [Makivik Corp., Makivik, NF (Canada)

2004-07-01

The Partnership Agreement on Economic and Community Development in Nunavik is intended to accelerate development of natural resources in Nunavik and promote autonomy of the Inuit regional organizations. This can be accomplished through hydroelectric projects, mining, sport hunting, outfitting and tourism. In recent years, activities in these domains have raised fundamental questions pertaining to the advantages and disadvantages of resource development. The role that the Impact Benefit Agreement has on business opportunities has been examined more closely. The results of the Impact Benefit Agreement and its implication for the Cree Nation and hydro development in untapped regions of northern Quebec were described along with the role of the parties in financing future projects. An overview of the costs, benefits and considerations for hydro opportunities in northern Quebec was presented with reference to the electricity grid and the incentives for large investment. 1 fig.

Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. H. Yan

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, D. H.; Wang, H.; Li, H. H.; Wang, G.; Qin, T. L.; Wang, D. Y.; Wang, L. H.

2012-08-01

The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

Macroalgae as a Biomass Feedstock: A Preliminary Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roesijadi, Guritno; Jones, Susanne B.; Snowden-Swan, Lesley J.; Zhu, Yunhua

2010-09-26

A thorough of macroalgae analysis as a biofuels feedstock is warranted due to the size of this biomass resource and the need to consider all potential sources of feedstock to meet current biomass production goals. Understanding how to harness this untapped biomass resource will require additional research and development. A detailed assessment of environmental resources, cultivation and harvesting technology, conversion to fuels, connectivity with existing energy supply chains, and the associated economic and life cycle analyses will facilitate evaluation of this potentially important biomass resource.

Livelihood Implications and Perceptions of Large Scale Investment in Natural Resources for Conservation and Carbon Sequestration : Empirical Evidence from REDD+ in Vietnam

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bayrak, Mucahid Mustafa; Marafa, Lawal Mohammed

2017-01-01

The complex relationship between local development and current large scale investments in natural resources in the Global South for the purpose of conservation and carbon sequestration is not fully understood yet. The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation programme (REDD+) is

Water Resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abira, M.A.

1997-01-01

Water is essential for life and ecological sustenance; its availability is essential component of national welfare and productivity.The country's socio-economic activities are largely dependent on the natural endowment of water resources. Kenya's water resources comprises of surface waters (rivers, lakes and wetlands) and ground water. Surface water forms 86% of total water resources while the rest is ground water Geological, topographical and climatic factors influence the natural availability and distribution of water with the rainfall distribution having the major influence. Water resources in Kenya are continuously under threat of depletion and quality degradation owing to rising population, industrialization, changing land use and settlement activities as well as natural changes. However, the anticipated climate change is likely to exacerbate the situation resulting in increased conflict over water use rights in particular, and, natural resource utilisation in general. The impacts of climate change on the water resources would lead to other impacts on environmental and socio-economic systems

Challenges in the repair of large abdominal wall hernias in Nigeria: review of available options in resource limited environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezeome, E R; Nwajiobi, C E

2010-06-01

To evaluate the challenges and outcome of management of large abdominal wall hernias in a resource limited environment and highlight the options available to surgeons in similar conditions. A review of prospectively collected data on large abdominal wall hernias managed between 2003 and 2009. University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria and surrounding hospitals. Patients with hernias more than 4 cm in their largest diameter, patients with closely sited multiple hernias or failed previous repairs and in whom the surgeon considers direct repair inappropriate. Demographics of patients with large hernias, methods of hernia repair, recurrences, early and late complications following the repair. There were 41 patients, comprising 28 females and 13 males with ages 14 - 73 years. Most (53.7%) were incisional hernias. Gynecological surgeries (66.7%) were the most common initiating surgeries. Fifteen of the patients (36.6%) have had failed previous repairs, 41.5% were obese, five patients presented with intestinal obstruction. Thirty nine of the hernias were repaired with prolene mesh, one with composite mesh and one by danning technique. Most of the patients had extra peritoneal mesh placement. Three patients needed ventilator support. After a mean follow up of 18.6 months, there was a single failed repair. Two post op deaths were related to respiratory distress. There were 12 wound infection and 8 superficial wound dehiscence, all of which except one resolved with dressing. One reoperation was done following mesh infection and extrusion. Large abdominal wall hernia repair in resource limited environments present several challenges with wound infection and respiratory distress being the most notable. Surgeons who embark on it in these environments must be prepared t o secure the proper tissue replacement materials and have adequate ventilation support.

Flexibility dynamics in clusters of residential demand response and distributed generation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

MacDougall, P.A.; Kok, J.K.; Warmer, C.; Roossien, B.

2013-01-01

Supply and demand response is a untapped resource in the current electrical system. However little work has been done to investigate the dynamics of utilizing such flexibility as well as the potential effects it could have on the infrastructure. This paper provides a starting point to seeing the

Voice of the Classified Employee: A Descriptive Study to Determine Degree of Job Satisfaction of Classified Employees and to Design Systems of Support by School District Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

Barakos-Cartwright, Rebekah B.

2012-01-01

Classified employees comprise thirty two percent of the educational workforce in school districts in the state of California. Acknowledging these employees as a viable and untapped resource within the educational system will enrich job satisfaction for these employees and benefit the operations in school sites. As acknowledged and valued…

Distributed energy resources scheduling considering real-time resources forecast

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Silva, M.; Sousa, T.; Ramos, S.

2014-01-01

grids and considering day-ahead, hour-ahead and realtime time horizons. This method considers that energy resources are managed by a VPP which establishes contracts with their owners. The full AC power flow calculation included in the model takes into account network constraints. In this paper......, distribution function errors are used to simulate variations between time horizons, and to measure the performance of the proposed methodology. A 33-bus distribution network with large number of distributed resources is used....

Resource partitioning between large herbivores in Hustai National Park, Mongolia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sietses, D.J.; Faupin, G.; Boer, de W.F.; Jong, de C.B.; Henkens, R.J.H.G.; Usukhjargal, D.; Batbaatar, T.

2009-01-01

Re-introduced Przewalski horses in Hustai National Park, Mongolia could suffer from food competition with other herbivore species through food resource depletion. Diet composition of the Przewalski horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and four livestock species (sheep, goat,

Distributed Monitoring and Resource Management for Large Cloud Environments

OpenAIRE

Wuhib, Fetahi Zebenigus

2010-01-01

Over the last decade, the number, size and complexity of large-scale networked systems has been growing fast, and this trend is expected to accelerate. The best known example of a large-scale networked system is probably the Internet, while large datacenters for cloud services are the most recent ones. In such environments, a key challenge is to develop scalable and adaptive technologies for management functions. This thesis addresses the challenge by engineering several protocols  for distri...

Competition over personal resources favors contribution to shared resources in human groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barker, Jessie; Barclay, Pat; Reeve, H. Kern

2013-01-01

laboratory economic games with humans, comparing people's investment decisions in games with and without the options to compete over personal resources or invest in a group resource. Our results help explain why people cooperatively contribute to group resources, suggest how a tragedy of the commons may......Members of social groups face a trade-off between investing selfish effort for themselves and investing cooperative effort to produce a shared group resource. Many group resources are shared equitably: they may be intrinsically non-excludable public goods, such as vigilance against predators, or so...... large that there is little cost to sharing, such as cooperatively hunted big game. However, group members' personal resources, such as food hunted individually, may be monopolizable. In such cases, an individual may benefit by investing effort in taking others' personal resources, and in defending one...

Climate change and large-scale land acquisitions in Africa: Quantifying the future impact on acquired water resources

Science.gov (United States)

Chiarelli, Davide Danilo; Davis, Kyle Frankel; Rulli, Maria Cristina; D'Odorico, Paolo

2016-08-01

Pressure on agricultural land has markedly increased since the start of the century, driven by demographic growth, changes in diet, increasing biofuel demand, and globalization. To better ensure access to adequate land and water resources, many investors and countries began leasing large areas of agricultural land in the global South, a phenomenon often termed "large-scale land acquisition" (LSLA). To date, this global land rush has resulted in the appropriation of 41million hectares and about 490 km3 of freshwater resources, affecting rural livelihoods and local environments. It remains unclear to what extent land and water acquisitions contribute to the emergence of water-stress conditions in acquired areas, and how these demands for water may be impacted by climate change. Here we analyze 18 African countries - 20 Mha (or 80%) of LSLA for the continent - and estimate that under present climate 210 km3 year-1of water would be appropriated if all acquired areas were actively under production. We also find that consumptive use of irrigation water is disproportionately contributed by water-intensive biofuel crops. Using the IPCCA1B scenario, we find only small changes in green (-1.6%) and blue (+2.0%) water demand in targeted areas. With a 3 °C temperature increase, crop yields are expected to decrease up to 20% with a consequent increase in the water footprint. When the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2concentrations is accounted for, crop yields increase by as much as 40% with a decrease in water footprint up to 29%. The relative importance of CO2 fertilization and warming will therefore determine water appropriations and changes in water footprint under climate change scenarios.

The research of the quantitative prediction of the deposits concentrated regions of the large and super-large sized mineral deposits in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Zhenyu; Wang Shicheng

2003-01-01

By the general theory and method of mineral resources prognosis of synthetic information, the locative and quantitative prediction of the large and super-large sized mineral deposits of solid resources of 1 : 5,000,000 are developed in china. The deposit concentrated regions is model unit, the anomaly concentrated regions is prediction unit. The mineral prognosis of synthetic information is developed on GIS platform. The technical route and work method of looking for the large and super-large sized mineral resources and basic principle of compiling attribute table of the variables and the response variables are mentioned. In research of prediction of resources quantity, the locative and quantitative prediction are processed by separately the quantification theory Ⅲ and the corresponding characteristic analysis, two methods are compared. It is very important for resources prediction of western ten provinces in china, it is helpful. (authors)

Creating a specialist protein resource network: a meeting report for the protein bioinformatics and community resources retreat.

Science.gov (United States)

Babbitt, Patricia C; Bagos, Pantelis G; Bairoch, Amos; Bateman, Alex; Chatonnet, Arnaud; Chen, Mark Jinan; Craik, David J; Finn, Robert D; Gloriam, David; Haft, Daniel H; Henrissat, Bernard; Holliday, Gemma L; Isberg, Vignir; Kaas, Quentin; Landsman, David; Lenfant, Nicolas; Manning, Gerard; Nagano, Nozomi; Srinivasan, Narayanaswamy; O'Donovan, Claire; Pruitt, Kim D; Sowdhamini, Ramanathan; Rawlings, Neil D; Saier, Milton H; Sharman, Joanna L; Spedding, Michael; Tsirigos, Konstantinos D; Vastermark, Ake; Vriend, Gerrit

2015-01-01

During 11-12 August 2014, a Protein Bioinformatics and Community Resources Retreat was held at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, UK. This meeting brought together the principal investigators of several specialized protein resources (such as CAZy, TCDB and MEROPS) as well as those from protein databases from the large Bioinformatics centres (including UniProt and RefSeq). The retreat was divided into five sessions: (1) key challenges, (2) the databases represented, (3) best practices for maintenance and curation, (4) information flow to and from large data centers and (5) communication and funding. An important outcome of this meeting was the creation of a Specialist Protein Resource Network that we believe will improve coordination of the activities of its member resources. We invite further protein database resources to join the network and continue the dialogue.

Harnessing the Power of Wind Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Dotson, Tawny M.

2009-01-01

"Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain" is more than just a song lyric for Oklahoma's career and technical education community. It's the acknowledgement of an untapped natural resource that has the potential to translate into both energy independence for the country and jobs for the state. Statewide, technology center instructors…

Using Internet Technology Tools to Teach about Global Diversity

Science.gov (United States)

Glimps, Blanche Jackson; Ford, Theron

2008-01-01

Students in the United States need diversity skills that enable them to function in an increasingly interdependent and varied world. Internet technology provides an untapped resource for assisting children to understand and value diversity. In this article, the authors present three skills that are important to students as they interact in the…

Women Engineers: Stories of Persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Kuzmak, Nancy

2010-01-01

More engineers are needed to support the infrastructure of the United States and to solve economic, human, and environmental problems. Women have been cited as the untapped resource who can provide new perspectives, solutions, and diversity. Unfortunately, over the last 20 years, colleges have not learned how to graduate more women, keeping…

Strategic Tool for Students with Disabilities: Creating and Implementing Virtual Learning Environments without Barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, Bob G., Jr.

2011-01-01

While some organizations have made strides in employing workers with disabilities as an act of social responsibility, other entities have started to realize the need and value of this untapped human resource (Thakker, 1997). Research has shown that employees with disabilities have low turnover rates, low absenteeism, and high motivation to prove…

Does reef architectural complexity influence resource availability for a large reef-dwelling invertebrate?

Science.gov (United States)

Lozano-Álvarez, Enrique; Luviano-Aparicio, Nelia; Negrete-Soto, Fernando; Barradas-Ortiz, Cecilia; Aguíñiga-García, Sergio; Morillo-Velarde, Piedad S.; Álvarez-Filip, Lorenzo; Briones-Fourzán, Patricia

2017-10-01

In coral reefs, loss of architectural complexity and its associated habitat degradation is expected to affect reef specialists in particular due to changes in resource availability. We explored whether these features could potentially affect populations of a large invertebrate, the spotted spiny lobster Panulirus guttatus, which is an obligate Caribbean coral reef-dweller with a limited home range. We selected two separate large coral reef patches in Puerto Morelos (Mexico) that differed significantly in structural complexity and level of degradation, as assessed via the rugosity index, habitat assessment score, and percent cover of various benthic components. On each reef, we estimated density of P. guttatus and sampled lobsters to analyze their stomach contents, three different condition indices, and stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) in muscle. Lobster density did not vary with reef, suggesting that available crevices in the less complex patch still provided adequate refuge to these lobsters. Lobsters consumed many food types, dominated by mollusks and crustaceans, but proportionally more crustaceans (herbivore crabs) in the less complex patch, which had more calcareous macroalgae and algal turf. Lobsters from both reefs had a similar condition (all three indices) and mean δ15N, suggesting a similar quality of diet between reefs related to their opportunistic feeding, but differed in mean δ13C values, reflecting the different carbon sources between reefs and providing indirect evidence of individuals of P. guttatus foraging exclusively over their home reef. Overall, we found no apparent effects of architectural complexity, at least to the degree observed in our less complex patch, on density, condition, or trophic level of P. guttatus.

Olfactory neural cells: an untapped diagnostic and therapeutic resource. The 2000 Ogura Lecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Christopher; Mackay-Sim, Alan; Feron, Francois; McGrath, John

2002-04-01

This is an overview of the cellular biology of upper nasal mucosal cells that have special characteristics that enable them to be used to diagnose and study congenital neurological diseases and to aid neural repair. After mapping the distribution of neural cells in the upper nose, the authors' investigations moved to the use of olfactory neurones to diagnose neurological diseases of development, especially schizophrenia. Olfactory-ensheathing glial cells (OEGs) from the cranial cavity promote axonal penetration of the central nervous system and aid spinal cord repair in rodents. The authors sought to isolate these cells from the more accessible upper nasal cavity in rats and in humans and prove they could likewise promote neural regeneration, making these cells suitable for human spinal repair investigations. The schizophrenia-diagnosis aspect of the study entailed the biopsy of the olfactory areas of 10 schizophrenic patients and 10 control subjects. The tissue samples were sliced and grown in culture medium. The ease of cell attachment to fibronectin (artificial epithelial basement membrane), as well as the mitotic and apoptotic indices, was studied in the presence and absence of dopamine in those cell cultures. The neural repair part of the study entailed a harvesting and insertion of first rat olfactory lamina propria rich in OEGs between cut ends of the spinal cords and then later the microinjection of an OEG-rich suspension into rat spinal cords previously transected by open laminectomy. Further studies were done in which OEG insertion was performed up to 1 month after rat cord transection and also in monkeys. Schizophrenic patients' olfactory tissues do not easily attach to basement membrane compared with control subjects, adding evidence to the theory that cell wall anomalies are part of the schizophrenic "lesion" of neurones. Schizophrenic patient cell cultures had higher mitotic and apoptotic indices compared with control subjects. The addition of dopamine altered these indices enough to allow accurate differentiation of schizophrenics from control patients, leading to, possibly for the first time, an early objective diagnosis of schizophrenia and possible assessment of preventive strategies. OEGs from the nose were shown to be as effective as those from the olfactory bulb in promoting axonal growth across transected spinal cords even when added 1 month after injury in the rat. These otherwise paraplegic rats grew motor and proprioceptive and fine touch fibers with corresponding behavioral improvement. The tissues of the olfactory mucosa are readily available to the otolaryngologist. Being surface cells, they must regenerate (called "neurogenesis"). Biopsy of this area and amplification of cells in culture gives the scientist a "window to the developing brain," including early diagnosis of schizophrenia. The "Holy Grail" of neurological disease is the cure of traumatic paraplegia and OEGs from the nose promote that repair. The otolaryngologist may become the necessary partner of the neurophysiologist and spinal surgeon to take the laboratory potential of paraplegic cure into the day-to-day realm of clinical reality.

New generation pharmacogenomic tools: a SNP linkage disequilibrium Map, validated SNP assay resource, and high-throughput instrumentation system for large-scale genetic studies.

Science.gov (United States)

De La Vega, Francisco M; Dailey, David; Ziegle, Janet; Williams, Julie; Madden, Dawn; Gilbert, Dennis A

2002-06-01

Since public and private efforts announced the first draft of the human genome last year, researchers have reported great numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We believe that the availability of well-mapped, quality SNP markers constitutes the gateway to a revolution in genetics and personalized medicine that will lead to better diagnosis and treatment of common complex disorders. A new generation of tools and public SNP resources for pharmacogenomic and genetic studies--specifically for candidate-gene, candidate-region, and whole-genome association studies--will form part of the new scientific landscape. This will only be possible through the greater accessibility of SNP resources and superior high-throughput instrumentation-assay systems that enable affordable, highly productive large-scale genetic studies. We are contributing to this effort by developing a high-quality linkage disequilibrium SNP marker map and an accompanying set of ready-to-use, validated SNP assays across every gene in the human genome. This effort incorporates both the public sequence and SNP data sources, and Celera Genomics' human genome assembly and enormous resource ofphysically mapped SNPs (approximately 4,000,000 unique records). This article discusses our approach and methodology for designing the map, choosing quality SNPs, designing and validating these assays, and obtaining population frequency ofthe polymorphisms. We also discuss an advanced, high-performance SNP assay chemisty--a new generation of the TaqMan probe-based, 5' nuclease assay-and high-throughput instrumentation-software system for large-scale genotyping. We provide the new SNP map and validation information, validated SNP assays and reagents, and instrumentation systems as a novel resource for genetic discoveries.

Leadership outside the Box: The Power of Nurturing the Human Spirit at Work in an Era of Globalization

Science.gov (United States)

Rutigliano, Nancy Kymn Harvin; Frye, Alexandria S.

2015-01-01

The human spirit is an untapped resource that can fuel organizations in this era of globalization. While workplace spirituality is often seen as an abstract philosophical construct that may be defined differently by each individual who studies it, fulfillment at work, shared values and sense of meaning along with a sense of belonging or…

Parental Support and High School Students' Motivation in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics: Understanding Differences among Latino and Caucasian Boys and Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Simpkins, Sandra D.; Price, Chara D.; Garcia, Krystal

2015-01-01

Individuals are at an increased risk to drop out of the STEM pipeline if they are female or Latino, and during certain periods including high school. Families are a potential untapped resource of support for high school students. Based on the expectancy-value model, we examined if a variety of parental behaviors predicted students' ability…

Using Mosix for Wide-Area Compuational Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, Brian G.

2004-01-01

One of the problems with using traditional Beowulf-type distributed processing clusters is that they require an investment in dedicated computer resources. These resources are usually needed in addition to pre-existing ones such as desktop computers and file servers. Mosix is a series of modifications to the Linux kernel that creates a virtual computer, featuring automatic load balancing by migrating processes from heavily loaded nodes to less used ones. An extension of the Beowulf concept is to run a Mosixenabled Linux kernel on a large number of computer resources in an organization. This configuration would provide a very large amount of computational resources based on pre-existing equipment. The advantage of this method is that it provides much more processing power than a traditional Beowulf cluster without the added costs of dedicating resources.

Waste to chemicals for a circular economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Iaquaniello, Gaetano; Centi, Gabriele; Annarita Salladini, Annarita; Palo, Emma; Perathoner, Siglinda

2018-06-25

The implementation of a circular economy is a fundamental step to create a greater and more sustainable future for a better use of resources and energy. Wastes and in particular municipal solid waste represent an untapped source of carbon (and hydrogen) to produce a large range of chemicals from methane to alcohols (as methanol or ethanol) or urea. The waste to chemical (WtC) process and related economics are assessed in this concept article to show the validity of such solution both from an economic point of view and from an environmental perspective considering the sensible reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with respect to conventional production from fossil fuels. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Optimal distributed energy resources and the cost of reduced greenhouse gas emissions in a large retail shopping centre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braslavsky, Julio H.; Wall, Josh R.; Reedman, Luke J.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Optimal options for distributed energy resources are analysed for a shopping centre. • A multiobjective optimisation model is formulated and solved using DER-CAM. • Cost and emission trade-offs are compared in four key optimal investment scenarios. • Moderate investment in DER technologies lowers emissions by 29.6% and costs by 8.5%. • Larger investment in DER technologies lowers emissions by 72% at 47% higher costs. - Abstract: This paper presents a case study on optimal options for distributed energy resource (DER) technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a large retail shopping centre located in Sydney, Australia. Large retail shopping centres take the largest share of energy consumed by all commercial buildings, and present a strong case for adoption of DER technologies to reduce energy costs and emissions. However, the complexity of optimally designing and operating DER systems has hindered their widespread adoption in practice. This paper examines and demonstrates the value of DER in reducing the carbon footprint of the shopping centre by formulating and solving a multiobjective optimisation problem using the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) tool. An economic model of the shopping centre is developed in DER-CAM using on-site-specific demand, tariffs, and performance data for each DER technology option available. Four key optimal DER technology investment scenarios are then analysed by comparing: (1) solution trade-offs of costs and emissions, (2) the cost of reduced emissions attained in each investment scenario, and (3) investment benefits with respect to the business-as-usual scenario. The analysis shows that a moderate investment in combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) technology alone can reduce annual energy costs by 8.5% and carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by 29.6%. A larger investment in CCHP technology, in conjunction with on-site solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, can deliver

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Genomics, Untapped Biodiversity, GMOs and Socio-Environmental Concerns' ... Application of large-scale sequencing to marker discovery in plants ... There is an urgent need to establish a global phenotyping network for comprehensive and ...

Bioprospecting Marine Plankton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris Bowler

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The ocean dominates the surface of our planet and plays a major role in regulating the biosphere. For example, the microscopic photosynthetic organisms living within provide 50% of the oxygen we breathe, and much of our food and mineral resources are extracted from the ocean. In a time of ecological crisis and major changes in our society, it is essential to turn our attention towards the sea to find additional solutions for a sustainable future. Remarkably, while we are overexploiting many marine resources, particularly the fisheries, the planktonic compartment composed of zooplankton, phytoplankton, bacteria and viruses, represents 95% of marine biomass and yet the extent of its diversity remains largely unknown and underexploited. Consequently, the potential of plankton as a bioresource for humanity is largely untapped. Due to their diverse evolutionary backgrounds, planktonic organisms offer immense opportunities: new resources for medicine, cosmetics and food, renewable energy, and long-term solutions to mitigate climate change. Research programs aiming to exploit culture collections of marine micro-organisms as well as to prospect the huge resources of marine planktonic biodiversity in the oceans are now underway, and several bioactive extracts and purified compounds have already been identified. This review will survey and assess the current state-of-the-art and will propose methodologies to better exploit the potential of marine plankton for drug discovery and for dermocosmetics.

Projecting water resources changes in potential large-scale agricultural investment areas of the Kafue River Basin in Zambia

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Y.; Trainor, A. M.; Baker, T. J.

2017-12-01

Climate change impacts regional water availability through the spatial and temporal redistribution of available water resources. This study focuses on understanding possible response of water resources to climate change in regions where potentials for large-scale agricultural investments are planned in the upper and middle Kafue River Basin in Zambia. We used historical and projected precipitation and temperature to assess changes in water yield, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. Some of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model outputs for the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios project a temperature warming range from 1.8 - 5.7 °C over the region from 2020 to 2095. Precipitation projection patterns vary monthly but tend toward drier dry seasons with a slight increase in precipitation during the rainy season as compared to the historical time series. The best five calibrated parameter sets generated for the historical record (1965 - 2005) were applied for two future periods, 2020 - 2060 and 2055 - 2095, to project water yield change. Simulations projected that the 90th percentile water yield would be exceeded across most of the study area by up to 800% under the medium-low (RCP4.5) CO2 emission scenario, whereas the high (RCP8.5) CO2 emission scenario resulted in a more spatially varied pattern mixed with increasing (up to 500%) and decreasing (up to -54%) trends. The 10th percentile water yield indicated spatially varied pattern across the basin, increasing by as much as 500% though decreasing in some areas by 66%, with the greatest decreases during the dry season under RCP8.5. Overall, available water resources in the study area are projected to trend toward increased floods (i.e. water yields far exceeding 90th percentile) as well as increasing drought (i.e. water yield far below 10th percentile) vulnerability. Because surface water is a primary source for agriculture

Competition over personal resources favors contribution to shared resources in human groups.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica L Barker

Full Text Available Members of social groups face a trade-off between investing selfish effort for themselves and investing cooperative effort to produce a shared group resource. Many group resources are shared equitably: they may be intrinsically non-excludable public goods, such as vigilance against predators, or so large that there is little cost to sharing, such as cooperatively hunted big game. However, group members' personal resources, such as food hunted individually, may be monopolizable. In such cases, an individual may benefit by investing effort in taking others' personal resources, and in defending one's own resources against others. We use a game theoretic "tug-of-war" model to predict that when such competition over personal resources is possible, players will contribute more towards a group resource, and also obtain higher payoffs from doing so. We test and find support for these predictions in two laboratory economic games with humans, comparing people's investment decisions in games with and without the options to compete over personal resources or invest in a group resource. Our results help explain why people cooperatively contribute to group resources, suggest how a tragedy of the commons may be avoided, and highlight unifying features in the evolution of cooperation and competition in human and non-human societies.

Dynamic Control of Facts Devices to Enable Large Scale Penetration of Renewable Energy Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Chavan, Govind Sahadeo

This thesis focuses on some of the problems caused by large scale penetration of Renewable Energy Resources within EHV transmission networks, and investigates some approaches in resolving these problems. In chapter 4, a reduced-order model of the 500 kV WECC transmission system is developed by estimating its key parameters from phasor measurement unit (PMU) data. The model was then implemented in RTDS and was investigated for its accuracy with respect to the PMU data. Finally it was tested for observing the effects of various contingencies like transmission line loss, generation loss and large scale penetration of wind farms on EHV transmission systems. Chapter 5 introduces Static Series Synchronous Compensators (SSSC) which are seriesconnected converters that can control real power flow along a transmission line. A new application of SSSCs in mitigating Ferranti effect on unloaded transmission lines was demonstrated on PSCAD. A new control scheme for SSSCs based on the Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter configuration was proposed and was demonstrated using PSCAD and RTDS. A new centralized controller was developed for the distributed SSSCs based on some of the concepts used in the CHB-based SSSC. The controller's efficacy was demonstrated using RTDS. Finally chapter 6 introduces the problem of power oscillations induced by renewable sources in a transmission network. A power oscillation damping (POD) controller is designed using distributed SSSCs in NYPA's 345 kV three-bus AC system and its efficacy is demonstrated in PSCAD. A similar POD controller is then designed for the CHB-based SSSC in the IEEE 14 bus system in PSCAD. Both controllers were noted to have significantly damped power oscillations in the transmission networks.

The Water Resources Board: England and Wales’ Venture into National Water Resources Planning, 1964-1973

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine S. McCulloch

2009-10-01

Full Text Available An era of technocratic national planning of water resources is examined against the views of a leading liberal economist and critics, both contemporary and retrospective. Post Second World War Labour Governments in Britain failed to nationalise either land or water. As late as 1965, the idea of public ownership of all water supplies appeared in the Labour Party manifesto and a short-lived Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, 1964-1966, had amongst its duties the development of plans for reorganising the water supply industry under full public ownership. However, instead of pursuing such a politically dangerous takeover of the industry, in July 1964, a Water Resources Board (WRB, a special interest group dominated by engineers, was set up to advise on the development of water resources. In its first Annual Report (1965 WRB claimed its role as "the master planner of the water resources of England and Wales". The WRB had a great deal of influence and justified its national planning role by promoting large-scale supply schemes such as interbasin transfers of water, large reservoirs and regulated rivers. Feasibility studies were even carried out for building innovative, large storage reservoirs in tidal estuaries. Less progress was made on demand reduction. Yet the seeds of WRB’s demise were contained in its restricted terms of reference. The lack of any remit over water quality was a fatal handicap. Quantity and quality needed to be considered together. Privatisation of the water industry in 1989 led to a shift from national strategic planning by engineers to attempts to strengthen economic instruments to fit supply more closely to demand. Engineers have now been usurped as leaders in water resources management by economists and accountants. Yet climate change may demand a return to national strategic planning of engineered water supply, with greater democratic input.

Semiotic resources for navigation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Due, Brian Lystgaard; Lange, Simon Bierring

2018-01-01

This paper describes two typical semiotic resources blind people use when navigating in urban areas. Everyone makes use of a variety of interpretive semiotic resources and senses when navigating. For sighted individuals, this especially involves sight. Blind people, however, must rely on everything...... else than sight, thereby substituting sight with other modalities and distributing the navigational work to other semiotic resources. Based on a large corpus of fieldwork among blind people in Denmark, undertaking observations, interviews, and video recordings of their naturally occurring practices...... of walking and navigating, this paper shows how two prototypical types of semiotic resources function as helpful cognitive extensions: the guide dog and the white cane. This paper takes its theoretical and methodological perspective from EMCA multimodal interaction analysis....

Promoting Community Health Resources: Preferred Communication Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Background: Community health promotion efforts involve communicating resource information to priority populations. Which communication strategies are most effective is largely unknown for specific populations. Objective: A random-dialed telephone survey was conducted to assess health resource comm...

Building Scalable Knowledge Graphs for Earth Science

Science.gov (United States)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Maskey, Manil; Gatlin, Patrick; Zhang, Jia; Duan, Xiaoyi; Miller, J. J.; Bugbee, Kaylin; Christopher, Sundar; Freitag, Brian

2017-01-01

Knowledge Graphs link key entities in a specific domain with other entities via relationships. From these relationships, researchers can query knowledge graphs for probabilistic recommendations to infer new knowledge. Scientific papers are an untapped resource which knowledge graphs could leverage to accelerate research discovery. Goal: Develop an end-to-end (semi) automated methodology for constructing Knowledge Graphs for Earth Science.

Creating a specialist protein resource network: a meeting report for the protein bioinformatics and community resources retreat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Babbitt, Patricia C.; Bagos, Pantelis G.; Bairoch, Amos

2015-01-01

During 11–12 August 2014, a Protein Bioinformatics and Community Resources Retreat was held at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, UK. This meeting brought together the principal investigators of several specialized protein resources (such as CAZy, TCDB and MEROPS) as well as those from...... protein databases from the large Bioinformatics centres (including UniProt and RefSeq). The retreat was divided into five sessions: (1) key challenges, (2) the databases represented, (3) best practices for maintenance and curation, (4) information flow to and from large data centers and (5) communication...

Solar soccer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

2012-11-01

What do Italy and Germany have in common? The world's largest PV markets and world class soccer. But while PV systems are frequently found on the rooftops of Germany's soccer stadiums, Italy has left this potential largely untapped.

Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Support Structures: Selected topics in the field of geotechnical engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bakmar, Christian LeBlanc

.D. thesis was to enable low-cost and low-risk support structures to be designed in order to improve the economic feasibility of future offshore wind farms. The research work was divided in the following four selected research topics in the field of geotechnical engineering, relating to the monopile......Breaking the dependence on fossil fuels offers many opportunities for strengthened competitiveness, technological development and progress. Offshore wind power is a domestic, sustainable and largely untapped energy resource that provides an alternative to fossil fuels, reduces carbon emissions......, and decreases the economic and supply risks associated with reliance on imported fuels. Today, the modern offshore wind turbine offers competitive production prices for renewable energy and is therefore a key technology in achieving the energy and climate goals of the future. The overall aim of this Ph...

30 CFR 49.40 - Requirements for large coal mines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Requirements for large coal mines. 49.40 Section 49.40 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINE RESCUE TEAMS Mine Rescue Teams for Underground Coal Mines § 49.40 Requirements for large coal...

Mapping Forage Resources Using Earth Observation Data: A Case Study to Assess the Relationship Between Herbaceous and Woody Cover Components as Determinants of Large Herbivore Distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Hanan, N. P.; Kahiu, M. N.

2016-12-01

Grazing systems are important for survival of humans, livestock and wildlife in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). They are mainly found in the arid and semi-arid regions and are characterized by naturally occurring tree-grass vegetation mixtures ("savannas"), low and erratic rainfall, low human populations, and scanty water resources. Due to the scarce population and perceived low resource base they have been marginalized for decades, if not centuries. However, their economic and environmental significance, particularly their role as foraging lands for livestock and wildlife cannot be underrated. SSA natural grazing systems comprise a significant source of livelihood, where millions of people depend on pastoralism as a source of food and income. Further, the African savannas support diverse flora and charismatic large herbivore and carnivore guilds. The above considerations motivate a more detailed study of the composition, temporal and spatial variability of foraging resources in SSA arid and semi-arid regions. We have therefore embarked on a research to map Africa foraging resources by partitioning MODIS total leaf area index (LAIA) time series into its woody (LAIW) and herbaceous (LAIH) constituents as proxies for grazing and browsing resources, respectively. Using the portioned LAI estimates we will develop a case study to assess how forage resources affect distribution and abundance of large herbivores in Africa. In our case study we explore two separate but related hypothesis: i) small and medium sized mammalian herbivore numbers will peak at intermediate biomass (LAIH for grazers and LAIW for browsers), since they optimize on forage quantity and quality. Conversely, large-body mammalian herbivores have the ability to process high quantity-low quality food, hence, we hypothesize that ii) larger herbivores will tend to be more common in high forage areas irrespective of forage quality. We will use LAIH and LAIW retrievals to compute annual average leaf area duration

Framing Lumber from Building Removal: How do We Best Utilize This Untapped Structural Resource?

Science.gov (United States)

Robert H. Falk; Steven Cramer; James Evans

2013-01-01

Compared with other construction materials, wood products are environmentally attractive because they sequester carbon, are renewable, and are low in embodied energy. Lumber salvaged from building removal possesses these same qualities but with additional environmental attributes. In spite of the environmental attractiveness of reclaimed lumber, its widespread...

Effects of Sweep Angle on the Boundary-Layer Stability Characteristics of an Untapered Wing at Low Speeds

Science.gov (United States)

Boltz, Frederick W.; Kenyon, George C.; Allen, Clyde Q.

1960-01-01

An investigation was conducted in the Ames 12-Foot Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel to determine the effects of sweep on the boundary-layer stability characteristics of an untapered variable-sweep wing having an NACA 64(2)A015 section normal to the leading edge. Pressure distribution and transition were measured on the wing at low speeds at sweep angles of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 deg. and at angles of attack from -3 to 3 deg. The investigation also included flow-visualization studies on the surface at sweep angles from 0 to 50 deg. and total pressure surveys in the boundary layer at a sweep angle of 30 deg. for angles of attack from -12 to 0 deg. It was found that sweep caused premature transition on the wing under certain conditions. This effect resulted from the formation of vortices in the boundary layer when a critical combination of sweep angle, pressure gradient, and stream Reynolds number was attained. A useful parameter in indicating the combined effect of these flow variables on vortex formation and on beginning transition is the crossflow Reynolds number. The critical values of crossflow Reynolds number for vortex formation found in this investigation range from about 135 to 190 and are in good agreement with those reported in previous investigations. The values of crossflow Reynolds number for beginning transitions were found to be between 190 and 260. For each condition (i.e., development of vortices and initiation of transition at a given location) the lower values in the specified ranges were obtained with a light coating of flow-visualization material on the surface. A method is presented for the rapid computation of crossflow Reynolds number on any swept surface for which the pressure distribution is known. From calculations based on this method, it was found that the maximum values of crossflow Reynolds number are attained under conditions of a strong pressure gradient and at a sweep angle of about 50 deg. Due to the primary dependence on pressure

Uranium Exploration (2004-2014): New Discoveries, New Resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polak, Christian

2014-01-01

Conclusion: 10 years of discovery? • Large effort of exploration; • Large amount of compliant resources discovered or confirmed; • New process development for low cost and for low grade; • New production from this effort still limited < 10%; • Feasibilty studies must confirm viability of economic exploitation and therefore resources quality; • Consolidation to set up critical mass deposits. ► To be ready for the coming decades 2020 +A

Analysis of the Economic Impact of Large-Scale Deployment of Biomass Resources for Energy and Materials in the Netherlands. Appendix 2. Macro-economic Scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banse, M.

2009-03-01

The Bio-based Raw Materials Platform (known as PGG), which is part of the Energy Transition programme in the Netherlands, commissioned the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) and the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University to study the macro-economic impact of large-scale deployment of biomass for energy and materials in the Netherlands. Two model approaches were applied based on a consistent set of scenario assumptions: a bottom-up study including techno-economic projections of fossil and bio-based conversion technologies and a top-down study including macro-economic modelling of (global) trade of biomass and fossil resources. The results of the top-down study (part 2) including macro-economic modelling of (global) trade of biomass and fossil resources, are presented in this report

Online Biodiversity Resources - Principles for Usability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophie Neale

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Online biodiversity portals and databases enabling access to large volumes of biological information represent a potentially extensive set of resources for a variety of user groups. However, in order for these resources to live up to their promise they need to be both useful and easy to use. We discuss a number of principles for designing systems for usability, examine how these have been applied to the development of online biodiversity resources and compare this with a portal project developed by the Astrophysics community. We highlight a lack of user involvement and formalised requirements analysis by biodiversity projects resulting in a poor understanding of both the users and their tasks. We suggest a change in the way large biodiversity portal projects are structured, that is by providing infrastructure and supporting user groups developing individual interfaces.

Resource quality or competition: why increase resource acceptance in the presence of conspecifics?

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Jeremy M; Nufio, César R; Papaj, Daniel R

2011-07-01

Some animal species increase resource acceptance rates in the presence of conspecifics. Such responses may be adaptive if the presence of conspecifics is a reliable indicator of resource quality. Similarly, these responses could represent an adaptive reduction in choosiness under high levels of scramble competition. Although high resource quality and high levels of scramble competition should both favor increased resource acceptance, the contexts in which the increase occurs should differ. In this paper, we tested the effect of social environment on egg-laying and aggressive behavior in the walnut fly, Rhagoletis juglandis, in multiple contexts to determine whether increased resource acceptance in the presence of conspecifics was better viewed as a response to increased host quality or increased competition. We found that grouped females oviposit more readily than isolated females when provided small (low-quality) artificial hosts but not when provided large (high-quality) artificial hosts, indicating that conspecific presence reduces choosiness. Increased resource acceptance was observed even when exposure to conspecifics was temporally or spatially separate from exposure to the resource. Finally, we found that individuals showed reduced aggression after being housed in groups, as expected under high levels of scramble competition. These results indicate that the pattern of resource acceptance in the presence of conspecifics may be better viewed as a response to increased scramble competition rather than as a response to public information about resource quality.

Breaking the Resource Bottleneck for Multilingual Parsing

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hwa, Rebecca; Resnik, Philip; Weinberg, Amy

2005-01-01

...-quality English resources. We present a large-scale experiment showing that Chinese dependency trees can be induced by using an English parser, a word alignment package, and a large corpus of sentence-aligned bilingual text...

The Pacific Ocean virome (POV: a marine viral metagenomic dataset and associated protein clusters for quantitative viral ecology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bonnie L Hurwitz

Full Text Available Bacteria and their viruses (phage are fundamental drivers of many ecosystem processes including global biogeochemistry and horizontal gene transfer. While databases and resources for studying function in uncultured bacterial communities are relatively advanced, many fewer exist for their viral counterparts. The issue is largely technical in that the majority (often 90% of viral sequences are functionally 'unknown' making viruses a virtually untapped resource of functional and physiological information. Here, we provide a community resource that organizes this unknown sequence space into 27 K high confidence protein clusters using 32 viral metagenomes from four biogeographic regions in the Pacific Ocean that vary by season, depth, and proximity to land, and include some of the first deep pelagic ocean viral metagenomes. These protein clusters more than double currently available viral protein clusters, including those from environmental datasets. Further, a protein cluster guided analysis of functional diversity revealed that richness decreased (i from deep to surface waters, (ii from winter to summer, (iii and with distance from shore in surface waters only. These data provide a framework from which to draw on for future metadata-enabled functional inquiries of the vast viral unknown.

The Pacific Ocean virome (POV): a marine viral metagenomic dataset and associated protein clusters for quantitative viral ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurwitz, Bonnie L; Sullivan, Matthew B

2013-01-01

Bacteria and their viruses (phage) are fundamental drivers of many ecosystem processes including global biogeochemistry and horizontal gene transfer. While databases and resources for studying function in uncultured bacterial communities are relatively advanced, many fewer exist for their viral counterparts. The issue is largely technical in that the majority (often 90%) of viral sequences are functionally 'unknown' making viruses a virtually untapped resource of functional and physiological information. Here, we provide a community resource that organizes this unknown sequence space into 27 K high confidence protein clusters using 32 viral metagenomes from four biogeographic regions in the Pacific Ocean that vary by season, depth, and proximity to land, and include some of the first deep pelagic ocean viral metagenomes. These protein clusters more than double currently available viral protein clusters, including those from environmental datasets. Further, a protein cluster guided analysis of functional diversity revealed that richness decreased (i) from deep to surface waters, (ii) from winter to summer, (iii) and with distance from shore in surface waters only. These data provide a framework from which to draw on for future metadata-enabled functional inquiries of the vast viral unknown.

Assessing water resource use in livestock production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ran, Y.; Lannerstad, M.; Herrero, M.; Middelaar, Van C.E.; Boer, De I.J.M.

2016-01-01

This paper reviews existing methods for assessing livestock water resource use, recognizing that water plays a vital role in global food supply and that livestock production systems consumes a large amount of the available water resources. A number of methods have contributed to the development

A resource management architecture for metacomputing systems.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Czajkowski, K.; Foster, I.; Karonis, N.; Kesselman, C.; Martin, S.; Smith, W.; Tuecke, S.

1999-08-24

Metacomputing systems are intended to support remote and/or concurrent use of geographically distributed computational resources. Resource management in such systems is complicated by five concerns that do not typically arise in other situations: site autonomy and heterogeneous substrates at the resources, and application requirements for policy extensibility, co-allocation, and online control. We describe a resource management architecture that addresses these concerns. This architecture distributes the resource management problem among distinct local manager, resource broker, and resource co-allocator components and defines an extensible resource specification language to exchange information about requirements. We describe how these techniques have been implemented in the context of the Globus metacomputing toolkit and used to implement a variety of different resource management strategies. We report on our experiences applying our techniques in a large testbed, GUSTO, incorporating 15 sites, 330 computers, and 3600 processors.

Claim to FAME

Science.gov (United States)

Mata, Alvaro

2018-05-01

Proteins are attractive material building blocks, yet their intrinsic functionality has remained largely untapped. Now, a protein-based material that exhibits controllable self-assembling behaviour has been prepared in a one-pot synthesis by simultaneous use of recombinant expression and post-translational modification.

Strain-Induced Rolled Thin Films for Lightweight Tubular Thermoelectric Generators

KAUST Repository

Singh, Devendra; Kutbee, Arwa T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hussain, Aftab M.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2017-01-01

with unprecedented length (up to seamless 4 cm and further expandable) are shown. This length allows for large temperature differences between the hot and the cold ends, a critical but untapped enabler for high power generation. Compared with a flat slab, better area

Managing large energy and mineral resources (EMR) projects in challenging environments

Science.gov (United States)

Chanmeka, Arpamart

The viability of energy mineral resources (EMR) construction projects is contingent upon the state of the world economic climate. Oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada exemplify large EMR projects that are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the world market. Alberta EMR projects are constrained by high fixed production costs and are also widely recognized as one of the most challenging construction projects to successfully deliver due to impacts from extreme weather conditions, remote locations and issues with labor availability amongst others. As indicated in many studies, these hardships strain the industry's ability to execute work efficiently, resulting in declining productivity and mounting cost and schedule overruns. Therefore, to enhance the competitiveness of Alberta EMR projects, project teams are targeting effective management strategies to enhance project performance and productivity by countering the uniquely challenging environment in Alberta. The main purpose of this research is to develop industry wide benchmarking tailored to the specific constraints and challenges of Alberta. Results support quantitative assessments and identify the root causes of project performance and ineffective field productivity problems in the heavy industry sector capital projects. Customized metrics produced from the data collected through a web-based survey instrument were used to quantitatively assess project performance in the following dimensions: cost, schedule, change, rework, safety, engineering and construction productivity and construction practices. The system enables the industry to measure project performance more accurately, get meaningful comparisons, while establishing credible norms specific to Alberta projects. Data analysis to identify the root cause of performance problems was conducted. The analysis of Alberta projects substantiated lessons of previous studies to create an improved awareness of the abilities of Alberta-based companies to manage their

Vibration characteristics of a deployable controllable-geometry truss boom

Science.gov (United States)

Dorsey, J. T.

1983-01-01

An analytical study was made to evaluate changes in the fundamental frequency of a two dimensional cantilevered truss boom at various stages of deployment. The truss could be axially deployed or retracted and undergo a variety of controlled geometry changes by shortening or lengthening the telescoping diagonal members in each bay. Both untapered and tapered versions of the truss boom were modeled and analyzed by using the finite element method. Large reductions in fundamental frequency occurred for both the untapered and tapered trusses when they were uniformly retracted or maneuvered laterally from their fully deployed position. These frequency reductions can be minimized, however, if truss geometries are selected which maintain cantilever root stiffness during truss maneuvers.

Resource management: Hotel Zira human resource management department analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Jelena

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The world is changing at a fast pace in a number of different areas, economically, politically technologically and socially. All these facts have strong impact on how managers organize their work. Traditionally they focus on delivering efficiency through large bureaucracies which are hierarchical in nature, very much around process and stability. What this mitigates against perhaps it is innovation and flexibility. A demand is no longer predictable and service has to be equally flexible for demand that exists nowadays. The emergence of post bureaucratic organizations is about being leaner, flatter and being much more network-based. Within that network employees are being empowered to take responsibility for producing innovations themselves. In order to speed up the process it is critical to systematize the process of managing people in the back office. Human Resource Management strategies are being transformed by internal social networks and social human resource technologies to better collaborative, transition into social enterprises, and change the positioning of human resource departments from back office to front office activities. All of these subjects are applied and the case study of hotel Zira human resource department is explained and showed in detail with the specific questionnaire. One of the main challenges that human resource management is also facing is the talent management and the number one responsibility of leadership is how to manage talent, how to attract it, utilize and eventually retain it.

Analysis of large databases in vascular surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Louis L; Barshes, Neal R

2010-09-01

Large databases can be a rich source of clinical and administrative information on broad populations. These datasets are characterized by demographic and clinical data for over 1000 patients from multiple institutions. Since they are often collected and funded for other purposes, their use for secondary analysis increases their utility at relatively low costs. Advantages of large databases as a source include the very large numbers of available patients and their related medical information. Disadvantages include lack of detailed clinical information and absence of causal descriptions. Researchers working with large databases should also be mindful of data structure design and inherent limitations to large databases, such as treatment bias and systemic sampling errors. Withstanding these limitations, several important studies have been published in vascular care using large databases. They represent timely, "real-world" analyses of questions that may be too difficult or costly to address using prospective randomized methods. Large databases will be an increasingly important analytical resource as we focus on improving national health care efficacy in the setting of limited resources.

Large-scale resource sharing at public funded organizations. e-Human "Grid" Ecology.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.A. Knoch (Tobias); V. Baumgärtner (Volkmar); K.E. Egger (Kurt)

2008-01-01

textabstractWith ever-new technologies emerging also the amount of information to be stored and processed is growing exponentially and is believed to be always at the limit. In contrast, however, huge resources are available in the IT sector alike e.g. the renewable energy sector, which are often

Large-scale resource sharing at public funded organizations. e-Human "Grid" Ecology.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.A. Knoch (Tobias); V. Baumgärtner (Volkmar); L.V. de Zeeuw (Luc); F.G. Grosveld (Frank); K.E. Egger (Kurt)

2009-01-01

textabstractWith ever-new technologies emerging also the amount of information to be stored and processed is growing exponentially and is believed to be always at the limit. In contrast, however, huge resources are available in the IT sector alike e.g. the renewable energy sector, which are often

Resource Misallocation and Rice Productivity in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siwapong Dheera - Aumpon

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Thailand’s manufacturing sector is characterised by considerable resource misallocation compared with this sector in other countries, and the problem may extend to its agricultural sector as well. Using detailed household-level data on rice production from the 2013 Agricultural Census, this paper examines resource misallocation across farms in Thailand and its effect on the country’s aggregate productivity in rice farming. I find that the marginal products of land and capital were largely dispersed, which is an indication of significant resource misallocation. I further estimate that reallocation of resources could increase aggregate output and productivity by approximately a factor of 1.67. This potential gain is not small, but it is smaller than that predicted in other studies for the Thai manufacturing sector and the Malawian agricultural sector, a result suggesting that the Thai rice farming sector is relatively less plagued by resource misallocation. Other developing countries may encounter similar degrees of misallocation in their agricultural sectors. I also find that an effective reallocation policy cannot involve simply reducing the landholdings of large landholders but rather supports highproductivity farmers to have more land and capital.

Cambodia Rural Livelihoods and Natural Resources Research ...

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

Cambodia is one of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia, with a large poor rural population dependent on natural resources for food and income. Over the past several years, the country has introduced extensive legislation related to the management of natural resources. On paper, the role of local communities ...

THE USE OF DRINKING WATER IN THE CONDITIONS OF MAINTAINING ECOLOGICAL BALANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Avtandil SILAGADZE

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Central Caucasus is an important transit place for the "Great Silk Road"; an important role in it is assigned to the Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line which is at finishing stage of its construction, and others. The countries of Central Caucasus can make a meaningful contribution to the construction of the "New Silk Road" with other untapped rich natural resources. Especially attractive for investors can be the Georgian underground artesian renewable, biologically clean drinking water reserves of international importance; an effective utilization of their small part can make a significant contribution to the resolving of high quality drinking water supply problem for millions of people in Europe and Asia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent post-Soviet Georgia has passed through the toughest period of reforms, conflicts and development. A significant part of its territory is still occupied, the economy is weak; the country is oriented to the European Union. In this light the country should use foreign experience and capabilities in the real sector (agriculture, mining industry .... In post-Soviet Georgia according to the current legislation, foreign investors enjoy the same rights as domestic ones. A large part of the world's population suffers from water shortages. In Georgia this resource is virtually untapped (only 0.01 is used. This resource will further rise in price on the world market of raw materials. Through the participation of foreign investors Georgia can make its contribution to the solving of the above-noted global problem in different directions: By the exploitation of freshwater resources Georgia should become a larger producer and exporter of drinking water until the problems of products transportation arise; the second part of underground water reserves should be provided to Europe and other countries through

Mineral resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-09-01

This paper reports that to prevent the concentration of control over federal oil and gas resources in a few companies or individuals, Congress has limited the number of acres of oil and gas leases that one party may control in a single state. An exception to this limitation involves lease acreage within the boundaries of development contracts. These contracts permit oil and gas lease operators and pipeline companies to contract with enough lessees to economically justify large-scale drilling operations for the production and transportation of oil and gas, subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior, who must find that such contracts are in the public interest. Since 1986 Interior has entered into or approved 10 contracts with 12 lease operators for exploration of largely unleased federal lands-ranging from about 180,000 to 3.5 million acres in four western states-and has designated them as developmental contracts. GAO believes that the 10 contracts do not satisfy the legal requirements for development contracts because they are for oil and gas exploration on largely unleased federal lands, rather than for developing existing leases. By designating the 10 contracts as development contracts, Interior has enabled nine of the 12 contract parties to accumulate lease acreage that vastly exceeds the statutory acreage limitation. All nine of the contract parties were major or large independent oil companies. As a result, other parties who wish to participate in developing federal oil and gas resources within the four states may be adversely affected because the parties to Interior's contracts have been able to compete for and obtain lease acreage beyond the statutory acreage limitation. Although Interior believes that the Secretary has the discretion under law to use development contracts in the current manner, in April 1989 it ceased issuing these contracts pending completion of GAO's review

Neuroimaging in Mental Health Care: Voices in Translation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily L. Borgelt

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Images of brain function, popularly called neuroimages, have become a mainstay of contemporary communication about neuroscience and mental health. Paralleling media coverage of neuroimaging research and the high visibility of clinics selling scans is pressure from sponsors to move basic research about brain function along the translational pathway. Indeed, neuroimaging benefit mental health care with early or tailored intervention, opportunities for education and planning, and access to resources afforded by objectification of disorder. However, risks of premature technology transfer, such as misinterpretation, misrepresentation, and increased stigmatization, could compromise patient care.Stakeholder views on neuroimaging for mental health care are a largely untapped resource of information and guidance for translational efforts. We argue that the insights of key stakeholders – researchers, healthcare providers, patients, and families - have an essential role to play upstream in professional, critical, and ethical discourse about neuroimaging in mental health. Here we integrate previously orthogonal lines of inquiry involving stakeholder research to describe the translational landscape as well as challenges on its horizon.

Patient engagement: four case studies that highlight the potential for improved health outcomes and reduced costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Laurance, Jeremy; Henderson, Sarah; Howitt, Peter J; Matar, Mariam; Al Kuwari, Hanan; Edgman-Levitan, Susan; Darzi, Ara

2014-09-01

The energy of patients and members of the public worldwide who care about improving health is a huge, but still largely unrecognized and untapped, resource. The aim of patient engagement is to shift the clinical paradigm from determining "what is the matter?" to discovering "what matters to you?" This article presents four case studies from around the world that highlight the proven and potential abilities of increased patient engagement to improve health outcomes and reduce costs, while extending the reach of treatment and diagnostic programs into the community. The cases are an online mental health community in the United Kingdom, a genetic screening program in the United Arab Emirates, a World Health Organization checklist for new mothers, and a hospital-based patient engagement initiative in the United States. Evidence from these and similar endeavors suggests that closer collaboration on the part of patients, families, health care providers, health care systems, and policy makers at multiple levels could help diverse nations provide more effective and population-appropriate health care with fewer resources. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Multimode Resource-Constrained Multiple Project Scheduling Problem under Fuzzy Random Environment and Its Application to a Large Scale Hydropower Construction Project

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jiuping

2014-01-01

This paper presents an extension of the multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem for a large scale construction project where multiple parallel projects and a fuzzy random environment are considered. By taking into account the most typical goals in project management, a cost/weighted makespan/quality trade-off optimization model is constructed. To deal with the uncertainties, a hybrid crisp approach is used to transform the fuzzy random parameters into fuzzy variables that are subsequently defuzzified using an expected value operator with an optimistic-pessimistic index. Then a combinatorial-priority-based hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed to solve the proposed model, where the combinatorial particle swarm optimization and priority-based particle swarm optimization are designed to assign modes to activities and to schedule activities, respectively. Finally, the results and analysis of a practical example at a large scale hydropower construction project are presented to demonstrate the practicality and efficiency of the proposed model and optimization method. PMID:24550708

Multimode resource-constrained multiple project scheduling problem under fuzzy random environment and its application to a large scale hydropower construction project.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jiuping; Feng, Cuiying

2014-01-01

This paper presents an extension of the multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem for a large scale construction project where multiple parallel projects and a fuzzy random environment are considered. By taking into account the most typical goals in project management, a cost/weighted makespan/quality trade-off optimization model is constructed. To deal with the uncertainties, a hybrid crisp approach is used to transform the fuzzy random parameters into fuzzy variables that are subsequently defuzzified using an expected value operator with an optimistic-pessimistic index. Then a combinatorial-priority-based hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed to solve the proposed model, where the combinatorial particle swarm optimization and priority-based particle swarm optimization are designed to assign modes to activities and to schedule activities, respectively. Finally, the results and analysis of a practical example at a large scale hydropower construction project are presented to demonstrate the practicality and efficiency of the proposed model and optimization method.

Resources for Functional Genomics Studies in Drosophila melanogaster

Science.gov (United States)

Mohr, Stephanie E.; Hu, Yanhui; Kim, Kevin; Housden, Benjamin E.; Perrimon, Norbert

2014-01-01

Drosophila melanogaster has become a system of choice for functional genomic studies. Many resources, including online databases and software tools, are now available to support design or identification of relevant fly stocks and reagents or analysis and mining of existing functional genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, etc. datasets. These include large community collections of fly stocks and plasmid clones, “meta” information sites like FlyBase and FlyMine, and an increasing number of more specialized reagents, databases, and online tools. Here, we introduce key resources useful to plan large-scale functional genomics studies in Drosophila and to analyze, integrate, and mine the results of those studies in ways that facilitate identification of highest-confidence results and generation of new hypotheses. We also discuss ways in which existing resources can be used and might be improved and suggest a few areas of future development that would further support large- and small-scale studies in Drosophila and facilitate use of Drosophila information by the research community more generally. PMID:24653003

‘God is my forest’ – Xhosa cultural values provide untapped opportunities for conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susi Vetter

2012-05-01

Full Text Available In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people, within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot, as well as the activities that mediate this relationship. A descriptive research approach was applied to document the emotions, meanings and values associated with landscape elements. This approach included group and individual interviews and ‘walk-in-the-woods’ interviews and participatory mapping exercises. Respondents portrayed a strong, although not always easily articulated, appreciation for nature, especially ihlathi lesiXhosa (‘Xhosa forest’, vegetation types within the Thicket Biome. Activities such as collecting fuelwood and other resources, hunting and time spent at initiation schools were described as key opportunities for spending time in nature. The benefits of being in nature were ascribed not only to the physical experience of the forest environment and its biota, but also to the presence of ancestral spirits. Being in nature thus contributes significantly to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of local people, and is also integral to their sense of cultural identity. This study has made it clear that maintenance of biodiversity and natural vegetation is as much in the interest of the local community’s well-being as it is in the interest of conservation planners. We recommend that cultural values be incorporated into local conservation plans.

A case study of enterprise historic resources information management in large transportation agencies.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Historic resources are in some way managed by every transportation agency in the nation. Transportation agencies manage historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, buildings, structures, objects, routes, landscapes, and districts to prevent damage...

Growth Limits in Large Scale Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Thomas Phillip

limitations. The rising complexity of network management with the convergence of communications platforms is shown as problematic for both automatic management feasibility and for manpower resource management. In the fourth step the scope is extended to include the present society with the DDN project as its......The Subject of large scale networks is approached from the perspective of the network planner. An analysis of the long term planning problems is presented with the main focus on the changing requirements for large scale networks and the potential problems in meeting these requirements. The problems...... the fundamental technological resources in network technologies are analysed for scalability. Here several technological limits to continued growth are presented. The third step involves a survey of major problems in managing large scale networks given the growth of user requirements and the technological...

"Pastoral crisis intervention": toward a definition.

Science.gov (United States)

Everly, G S

2000-01-01

The pastoral community represents a large and often untapped resource in times of crisis. It possesses a unique aggregation of characteristics that makes it uniquely valuable amidst the turmoil of a psychological crisis. In critical incidents such as terrorism, mass disasters, violence, the loss of loved ones, and any events wherein human actions result in injury, destruction, and/or death, the pastoral community may possess especially powerful restorative attributes. Unfortunately, heretofore, there has existed no generally recognized and accepted manner in which the healing factors inherent in pastoral care have been functionally integrated with the well-formulated principles of crisis intervention. This paper represents an initial effort to elucidate how the principles of pastoral care may be functionally integrated with those of crisis intervention. The amalgam shall heretofore be referred to as "pastoral crisis intervention" and is defined herein.

Reflections on Teaching a Large Class.

Science.gov (United States)

Miner, Rick

1992-01-01

Uses an analysis of small- and large-class differences as a framework for planning for and teaching a large class. Analyzes the process of developing and offering an organizational behavior class to 141 college students. Suggests ways to improve teaching effectiveness by minimizing psychological and physical distances, redistributing resources,…

An exploration of online behaviors and social media use among hookah and electronic-cigarette users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alissa R. Link

2015-12-01

Conclusions: Hookah and ENDS users actively use the Internet and social media to obtain and share information about nicotine/tobacco products. Study participants who use hookah were more likely to share photos and discuss hookah related activities via social media than those who use ENDS. Social networks also represent valuable and untapped potential resources for communicating with this group about risks and harm reduction related to emerging nicotine/tobacco products.

Virtual CT-colonoscopy resources in large intestine neoplasia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chalyk Yu.V.

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The research goal is to state possibility of virtual colonoscopy and to determine the localization and nature of neoplasms in the large intestine. Materials and methods: 38 patients have been examined by the method of virtual colonoscopy. The preceding stage of diagnosis by total fibrocolonoscopy has not been a success. Results: Virtual colonoscopy has been performed in 94.7% of patients. The same tumors have been identified in the proximal colon, direct examination of which has not been possible. Conclusion: Virtual colonoscopy is the method of choice for topical diagnosis of tumors of the colon

A Bio-inspired Approach for Power and Performance Aware Resource Allocation in Clouds

OpenAIRE

Kumar Rajesh; Kumar Ashok; Sharma Anju

2016-01-01

In order to cope with increasing demand, cloud market players such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Gogrid, Flexiant, etc. have set up large sized data centers. Due to monotonically increasing size of data centers and heterogeneity of resources have made resource allocation a challenging task. A large percentage of total energy consumption of the data centers gets wasted because of under-utilization of resources. Thus, there is a need of resource allocation technique that improves the utilizatio...

Canada's resources and the national interest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1977-01-01

This is the main report of the task force on the broad subjects of taxation of nonrenewable resources, a survey of oil and gas reserves, a survey of other mineral resources, and the development of an oil and gas energy plan for Canada. Individual reports on the subjects above were issued as separate appendices to this main report. The preliminary draft of the report was published in early 1976. The introductory chapter surveys the critical choices and their costs for Canada, followed by chapters on Canadian resources; availability of private resource capital investments and returns; the tax position of the nonrenewable resource industry; and Federal-provincial conflicts over resource revenue and jurisdiction. It is concluded that the future is likely to yield only possibly adequate returns after massive commitments of capital and the acceptance of large risks by all concerned; further, that a climate of cooperation between government and industry is needed. (MCW)

E-HRM: innovation or irritation? An exploration of web-based human resource management in large companies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruel, Hubertus Johannes Maria; Bondarouk, Tatiana; Looise, Jan C.

2004-01-01

Human Resource Management (HRM of HR) executives are feeling pressured by the threat of a new development in recent years: Electronic Human Resource Management systems, also known as E-HRM. Consultants and other experts purport that this phenomenon will decrease the number of HRM employees, reduce

Biomass Resource Assessment and Existing Biomass Use in the Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu States of India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karthikeyan Natarajan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available India is experiencing energy crisis and a widening gap between energy supply and demand. The country is, however, endowed with considerable, commercially and technically available renewable resources, from which surplus agro-biomass is of great importance and a relatively untapped resource. In the policy making process, knowledge of existing biomass use, degree of social reliance, and degree of biomass availability for energy production is unequivocal and pre-conditional. Field observations, documentation, and fill-in sheet tools were used to investigate the potential of biomass resources and the existing domestic, commercial, and industrial uses of biomass in selected Indian states. To do so, a team of field observers/supervisors visited three Indian states namely: Maharashtra (MH, Madhya Pradesh (MP, and Tamil Nadu (TN. Two districts from each state were selected to collect data regarding the use of biomass and the extent of biomass availability for energy production. In total, 471 farmers were interviewed, and approximately 75 farmers with various land holdings have been interviewed in each district. The existing uses of biomass have been documented in this survey study and the results show that the majority of biomass is used as fodder for domestic livestock followed by in-site ploughing, leaving trivial surplus quantities for other productive uses. Biomass for cooking appeared to be insignificant due to the availability and access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG cylinders in the surveyed districts. Opportunities exist to utilize roadside-dumped biomass, in-site burnt biomass, and a share of biomass used for ploughing. The GIS-based maps show that biomass availability varies considerably across the Taluks of the surveyed districts, and is highly dependent on a number of enviromental and socio-cultural factors. Developing competitive bioenergy market and enhancing and promoting access to more LPG fuel connections seem an appropriate socio

A Resource Assessment Of Geothermal Energy Resources For Converting Deep Gas Wells In Carbonate Strata Into Geothermal Extraction Wells: A Permian Basin Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erdlac, Richard J., Jr.

2006-10-12

Previously conducted preliminary investigations within the deep Delaware and Val Verde sub-basins of the Permian Basin complex documented bottom hole temperatures from oil and gas wells that reach the 120-180C temperature range, and occasionally beyond. With large abundances of subsurface brine water, and known porosity and permeability, the deep carbonate strata of the region possess a good potential for future geothermal power development. This work was designed as a 3-year project to investigate a new, undeveloped geographic region for establishing geothermal energy production focused on electric power generation. Identifying optimum geologic and geographic sites for converting depleted deep gas wells and fields within a carbonate environment into geothermal energy extraction wells was part of the project goals. The importance of this work was to affect the three factors limiting the expansion of geothermal development: distribution, field size and accompanying resource availability, and cost. Historically, power production from geothermal energy has been relegated to shallow heat plumes near active volcanic or geyser activity, or in areas where volcanic rocks still retain heat from their formation. Thus geothermal development is spatially variable and site specific. Additionally, existing geothermal fields are only a few 10’s of square km in size, controlled by the extent of the heat plume and the availability of water for heat movement. This plume radiates heat both vertically as well as laterally into the enclosing country rock. Heat withdrawal at too rapid a rate eventually results in a decrease in electrical power generation as the thermal energy is “mined”. The depletion rate of subsurface heat directly controls the lifetime of geothermal energy production. Finally, the cost of developing deep (greater than 4 km) reservoirs of geothermal energy is perceived as being too costly to justify corporate investment. Thus further development opportunities

EuroPhenome and EMPReSS: online mouse phenotyping resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallon, Ann-Marie; Blake, Andrew; Hancock, John M

2008-01-01

EuroPhenome (http://www.europhenome.org) and EMPReSS (http://empress.har.mrc.ac.uk/) form an integrated resource to provide access to data and procedures for mouse phenotyping. EMPReSS describes 96 Standard Operating Procedures for mouse phenotyping. EuroPhenome contains data resulting from carrying out EMPReSS protocols on four inbred laboratory mouse strains. As well as web interfaces, both resources support web services to enable integration with other mouse phenotyping and functional genetics resources, and are committed to initiatives to improve integration of mouse phenotype databases. EuroPhenome will be the repository for a recently initiated effort to carry out large-scale phenotyping on a large number of knockout mouse lines (EUMODIC).

The Childcare Center: an Untapped Opportunity to Engage and Educate Families in Healthy Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Cloutier, Michelle M; Wiley, James F; Trapp, Christine; Haile, Jennifer; Gorin, Amy A

2018-04-01

Obesity rates in preschool children are high and disproportionately affect low-income children of color in the USA. Since 80% of preschool children spend ∼40 h/week in out-of-the home childcare, childcare centers are promising sites for obesity prevention interventions. Mixed methods were used to develop, implement, and assess the feasibility of an obesity prevention program for children 2-5 years. The intervention which consisted of brief (1-3 min), interactive, educational modules was developed by content experts and parents (n = 20) and targeted four areas (milk, sugar sweetened beverages, screen time, and physical activity). The modules were delivered by community health workers in the childcare center during pick-up and drop-off times, in small groups and home visits upon request. Focus groups with childcare center staff (n = 28) assessed satisfaction and interest in incorporating the intervention into care. Between February 2013 and March 2014, 354 caregivers (∼73%) at six centers participated in one or more educational sessions. Of children, 37.4% in 2013 and 35.9% in 2014 were overweight or obese. Children entering preschool in 2014 were more likely to be overweight/obese than children who had been in the center since 2013 (36.2 vs 23.2%, p < 0.05). Childcare staff endorsed the intervention and received training to continue the program. Brief, interactive health-related behavior-change interventions engaged large numbers of low-income caregivers at childcare centers and resonated with center staff. Childcare center staff represent an underutilized resource to combat the childhood obesity epidemic.

Methods for assessing the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale resource developments: implications for nuclear repository siting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murdock, S.H.; Leistritz, F.L.

1983-03-01

An overview of the major methods presently available for assessing the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale resource developments and includes discussion of the implications and applications of such methods for nuclear-waste-repository siting are provided. The report: (1) summarizes conceptual approaches underlying, and methodological alternatives for, the conduct of impact assessments in each substantive area, and then enumerates advantages and disadvantages of each alternative; (2) describes factors related to the impact-assessment process, impact events, and the characteristics of rural areas that affect the magnitude and distribution of impacts and the assessment of impacts in each area; (3) provides a detailed review of those methodologies actually used in impact assessment for each area, describes advantages and problems encountered in the use of each method, and identifies the frequency of use and the general level of acceptance of each technique; and (4) summarizes the implications of each area of projection for the repository-siting process, the applicability of the methods for each area to the special and standard features of repositories, and makes general recommendations concerning specific methods and procedures that should be incorporated in assessments for siting areas

Exploitation and Utilization of Oilfield Geothermal Resources in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shejiao Wang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Geothermal energy is a clean, green renewable resource, which can be utilized for power generation, heating, cooling, and could effectively replace oil, gas, and coal. In recent years, oil companies have put more efforts into exploiting and utilizing geothermal energy with advanced technologies for heat-tracing oil gathering and transportation, central heating, etc., which has not only reduced resource waste, but also improved large-scale and industrial resource utilization levels, and has achieved remarkable economic and social benefits. Based on the analysis of oilfield geothermal energy development status, resource potential, and exploitation and utilization modes, the advantages and disadvantages of harnessing oilfield geothermal resource have been discussed. Oilfield geothermal energy exploitation and utilization have advantages in resources, technical personnel, technology, and a large number of abandoned wells that could be reconstructed and utilized. Due to the high heat demand in oilfields, geothermal energy exploitation and utilization can effectively replace oil, gas, coal, and other fossil fuels, and has bright prospects. The key factors limiting oilfield geothermal energy exploitation and utilization are also pointed out in this paper, including immature technologies, lack of overall planning, lack of standards in resource assessment, and economic assessment, lack of incentive policies, etc.

Unconventional uranium resources in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi Fucheng; Zhang Zilong; Li Zhixing; Wang Zhiming; He Zhongbo; Wang Wenquan

2011-01-01

Unconventional uranium resources in China mainly include black-rock series, peat, salt lake and evaporitic rocks. Among them, uraniferous black-rock series, uraniferous phosphorite and uranium-polymetallic phosphorite connected with black-rock series are important types for the sustainable support of uranium resources in China. Down-faulting and epocontinental rift in continental margin are the most important and beneficial ore-forming environment for unconventional uranium resources of black-rock series in China and produced a series of geochemistry combinations, such as, U-Cd, U-V-Mo, U-V-Re, U-V-Ni-Mo and U-V-Ni-Mo-Re-Tl. Unconventional uranium resources of black-rock series in China is related to uranium-rich marine black-rock series which are made up of hydrothermal sedimentary siliceous rocks, siliceous phospheorite and carbonaceous-siliceous-pelitic rock and settled in the continental margin down-faulting and epicontinental rift accompanied by submarine backwash and marine volcano eruption. Hydrothermal sedimentation or exhalation sedimentary is the mechanism to form unconventional uranium resources in black-rock series or large scale uranium-polymetallic mineralization in China. (authors)

Kalimantan energy resource management to support energy independence and industry growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rizki Firmansyah Setya Budi; Wiku Lulus Widodo; Djati Hoesen Salimy

2014-01-01

There are a large number of energy resource in Kalimantan such as coal, oil, CBM, gas and nuclear. While the electricity consumption still low. That condition caused by the bad energy planning. The aim of the study are to know the number and the ability of energy resource to supply the energy demand that support the growth of Kalimantan industry. The methodology are collecting and processing data through calculation using MESSAGE Program. The result is energy resource in Kalimantan can support Kalimantan energy independence and industry growth in Kalimantan. The coal resource is 34,814 million ton consumption 835 million ton, gas resource is 31,814 BSCF consumption 3,281 BSCF, Oil resource is 920 MMSTB consumption 4406 MMSTB, CBM resource is 210 TCF consumption 2.1 TCF, U 3 O 8 resource is 12,409 ton consumption zero. Whereas for hydro and biomass, the resource are 256 and 138 MWyr, the maximum consumption 185 and 126 MWyr every year. Oil consumption will exceed the resource so need import from other island or replaced by others energy that have large resource such as gas, CBM, or coal. Potency to make cleaner environment can be done by used nuclear energy. (author)

Resource synergy in stream periphyton communities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hill, Walter [University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Fanta, S.E. [University of Illinois; Roberts, Brian J [ORNL; Francoeur, Steven N. [Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

2011-03-01

1. Light and nutrients play pivotal roles in determining the growth of autotrophs, yet the potential for synergistic interactions between the two resources in algal communities is poorly understood, especially in stream ecosystems. In this study, light and phosphorus were manipulated in large experimental streams to examine resource colimitation and synergy in stream periphyton. 2. Whole-stream metabolism was simultaneously limited by light and phosphorus. Increasing the supply of either light or phosphorus resulted in significant increases in primary production and the transformation of the streams from heterotrophy to autotrophy. 3. Resource-driven changes in periphyton community structure occurred in concert with changes in production. Algal assemblages in highly shaded streams were composed primarily of small diatoms such as Achnanthidium minutissima, whereas larger diatoms such as Melosira varians predominated at higher irradiances. Phosphorus enrichment had relatively little effect on assemblage structure, but it did substantially diminish the abundance of Meridion circulare, a diatom whose mucilaginous colonies were conspicuously abundant in phosphorus-poor, high-light streams. Bacterial biomass declined relative to algal biomass with increases in primary productivity, regardless of whether the increases were caused by light or phosphorus. 4. Synergistic effects on primary production appeared to occur because the availability of one resource facilitated the utilization of the other. Light increased the abundance of large diatoms, which are known to convert high concentrations of nutrients into primary production more effectively than smaller taxa. Phosphorus enrichment led to the replacement of Meridion circulare by non-mucilaginous taxa in phosphorus-enriched streams, and we hypothesize that this change enabled more efficient use of light in photosynthesis. Higher ratios of chlorophyll a : biomass in phosphorus-enriched streams may have also led to more

The potential wind power resource in Australia: a new perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallgren, Willow; Gunturu, Udaya Bhaskar; Schlosser, Adam

2014-01-01

Australia's wind resource is considered to be very good, and the utilization of this renewable energy resource is increasing rapidly: wind power installed capacity increased by 35% from 2006 to 2011 and is predicted to account for over 12% of Australia's electricity generation in 2030. Due to this growth in the utilization of the wind resource and the increasing importance of wind power in Australia's energy mix, this study sets out to analyze and interpret the nature of Australia's wind resources using robust metrics of the abundance, variability and intermittency of wind power density, and analyzes the variation of these characteristics with current and potential wind turbine hub heights. We also assess the extent to which wind intermittency, on hourly or greater timescales, can potentially be mitigated by the aggregation of geographically dispersed wind farms, and in so doing, lessen the severe impact on wind power economic viability of long lulls in wind and power generated. Our results suggest that over much of Australia, areas that have high wind intermittency coincide with large expanses in which the aggregation of turbine output does not mitigate variability. These areas are also geographically remote, some are disconnected from the east coast's electricity grid and large population centers, which are factors that could decrease the potential economic viability of wind farms in these locations. However, on the eastern seaboard, even though the wind resource is weaker, it is less variable, much closer to large population centers, and there exists more potential to mitigate it's intermittency through aggregation. This study forms a necessary precursor to the analysis of the impact of large-scale circulations and oscillations on the wind resource at the mesoscale.

Quantitative Image Informatics for Cancer Research (QIICR) | Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR)

Science.gov (United States)

Imaging has enormous untapped potential to improve cancer research through software to extract and process morphometric and functional biomarkers. In the era of non-cytotoxic treatment agents, multi- modality image-guided ablative therapies and rapidly evolving computational resources, quantitative imaging software can be transformative in enabling minimally invasive, objective and reproducible evaluation of cancer treatment response. Post-processing algorithms are integral to high-throughput analysis and fine- grained differentiation of multiple molecular targets.

Harvesting and replenishment policies for renewable natural resources

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Aaron J.; Johnson, Richard L.

1993-01-01

The current paper links the optimal intertemporal use of renewable natural resources to the harvesting activities of various economic agents. Previous contributions cite market forces as a causative factor inducing the extirpation of renewable natural resources. The analysis given here discusses investment in the stock of renewable resources and cites important examples of this activity. By introducing joint harvesting and replenishment strategies into a model of renewable resource use, the analysis adds descriptive reality and relevance to positive and normative discussions of renewable natural resource use. A high price for the yield or a high discount rate tend to diminish the size of the optimum stationary stock of the resource with a non-replenishment harvesting strategy. Optimal non-replenishment harvesting strategies for renewable natural resources will exhaustion or extirpation of the resource if the price of the yield or the discount rate are sufficiently large. However, the availability of a replenishment technology and the use of replenishment activities tends to buffer the resource against exhaustion or extirpation.

Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment for Alaska

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doubrawa Moreira, Paula [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Scott, George N. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Musial, Walter D. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kilcher, Levi F. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Draxl, Caroline [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lantz, Eric J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-01-02

This report quantifies Alaska's offshore wind resource capacity while focusing on its unique nature. It is a supplement to the existing U.S. Offshore Wind Resource Assessment, which evaluated the offshore wind resource for all other U.S. states. Together, these reports provide the foundation for the nation's offshore wind value proposition. Both studies were developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The analysis presented herein represents the first quantitative evidence of the offshore wind energy potential of Alaska. The technical offshore wind resource area in Alaska is larger than the technical offshore resource area of all other coastal U.S. states combined. Despite the abundant wind resource available, significant challenges inhibit large-scale offshore wind deployment in Alaska, such as the remoteness of the resource, its distance from load centers, and the wealth of land available for onshore wind development. Throughout this report, the energy landscape of Alaska is reviewed and a resource assessment analysis is performed in terms of gross and technical offshore capacity and energy potential.

Households And Bio-Resources In Plateau State Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dasogot, A.D.

2002-01-01

The paper examines household dynamics as variables for bio-resource or biomass resource potentials and utilisation. Information was collected from 250 randomly selected households in five villages of the State, mainly using questionnaire administered on household heads, and a direct measurement/observation about what households have, do or say concerning the study problem. It was shown that insignificant quantity were utilised for various purposes like cooking and heating, but the bio-resources generated met both domestic and income needs of the households. It was concluded that beneficial use (compost, biogas or generation of electricity) should be found for the largely unused bio-resources and household dynamics should be integrated into bio-resource energy planning

Market Design Project. Demand Response Resources in Sweden - a summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, Peter

2006-06-01

An important discussion in later years has been whether the necessary reserves in the electricity market are to be generated through normal market mechanisms, i.e. with the price as the primary controlling parameter, or if it requires a collectively financed capacity reserve and how regulations in such a case should be shaped. The issue is first and foremost a matter of where the line is drawn between that which 'the market' should handle and that which can be assured through regulation. Autumn 2002 Svenska Kraftnaet (the Swedish TSO) presented an investigation to the government in which it was suggested that the capacity balance should primarily be managed through the use of normal pricing mechanisms, but that the state should strengthen responsibility for the nation's capacity balance in the period up until 2008. When approaching an effect loss situation, spot prices and balancing power prices will skyrocket. Today, most people are in agreement that a condition for maintained delivery safety is that normal pricing mechanisms are in place and that consumption actually is affected by high prices. The main reason for this conclusion is that it is very expensive to keep production facilities in reserve for situations that are expected to occur very seldom - it is cheaper to encourage large customers to reduce their consumption. The other reason is that increased price sensitivity creates conditions for a more stable and more predictable pricing development in strained situations. While being aware that a response to increased demand is needed, we see too little of that on the market today. The aim of this project is to present concrete measures that will awaken this slumbering resource. In order to judge how much demand response that can reasonably be expected and if there is any financial gain for customers, electricity suppliers and grid operators; it has been necessary to cast a few predictions about future price peaks. We estimate price peaks in the 3-10 SEK

2016 Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment for the United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Musial, Walt [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heimiller, Donna [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Beiter, Philipp [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Scott, George [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Draxl, Caroline [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-09-01

This report, the 2016 Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment for the United States, was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and updates a previous national resource assessment study, and refines and reaffirms that the available wind resource is sufficient for offshore wind to be a large-scale contributor to the nation's electric energy supply.

Optimal defense resource allocation in scale-free networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xuejun; Xu, Guoqiang; Xia, Yongxiang

2018-02-01

The robustness research of networked systems has drawn widespread attention in the past decade, and one of the central topics is to protect the network from external attacks through allocating appropriate defense resource to different nodes. In this paper, we apply a specific particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to optimize the defense resource allocation in scale-free networks. Results reveal that PSO based resource allocation shows a higher robustness than other resource allocation strategies such as uniform, degree-proportional, and betweenness-proportional allocation strategies. Furthermore, we find that assigning less resource to middle-degree nodes under small-scale attack while more resource to low-degree nodes under large-scale attack is conductive to improving the network robustness. Our work provides an insight into the optimal defense resource allocation pattern in scale-free networks and is helpful for designing a more robust network.

Resource impact: curse or blessing? a literature survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevens, P.

2003-01-01

Common sense and economic theory suggest large revenues from natural resource projects should generate economic progress and development. Yet much evidence argues the opposite and that resource-rich countries suffer from 'resource curse'. This paper provides a survey of the academic literature on the impact of natural resources on an economy. The topic has long attracted interest in the economics literature but more recently, interest has revived. The paper first considers the large body of empirical work examining the relationship between resource abundance, poor economic performance and poverty. While this evidence supports the view of a negative impact, it is not without criticism and some assert a few countries managed instead to receive a 'blessing'. The paper assesses how the literature explains the transmission mechanisms between resource revenues and economic damage. Six areas are discussed: a long-term decline in terms of trade; revenue volatility; Dutch disease; crowding out effects; increasing the role of the state; and the sociocultural and political impacts. Finally, various options from the literature to avoid negative impacts are analysed: not developing the mineral deposits; diversifying the economy away from dependence on oil, gas and mineral exports; sterilising the incoming revenue; the use of stabilisation and oil funds; and reconsidering investment policies. The paper finishes by assessing what political reforms might be needed to carry out the necessary policies to avoid negative impacts. (author)

Domestication and breeding of tomatoes: what have we gained and what can we gain in the future?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bai, Y.; Lindhout, P.

2007-01-01

Background It has been shown that a large variation is present and exploitable from wild Solanum species but most of it is still untapped. Considering the thousands of Solanum accessions in different gene banks and probably even more that are still untouched in the Andes, it is a challenge to

Computationally efficient optimisation algorithms for WECs arrays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ferri, Francesco

2017-01-01

In this paper two derivative-free global optimization algorithms are applied for the maximisation of the energy absorbed by wave energy converter (WEC) arrays. Wave energy is a large and mostly untapped source of energy that could have a key role in the future energy mix. The collection of this r...

Maximizing Opportunities to Enroll in Advanced High School Science Courses: Examining the Scientific Dispositions of Black Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Jemimah L.; Ero-Tolliver, Isi; Young, Jamaal R.; Ford, Donna Y.

2017-01-01

Diversifying the STEM workforce is a national concern. To address this concern, researchers, policymakers, and educators are working to increase STEM career interest and achievement in a more diverse population of learners. Black girls and young women represent a unique population of STEM learners that remain relatively untapped and largely under…

Examination of Preventive Resources, Life Events, and Coping Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Christopher J.; Lambert, Richard G.; Beard, Michelle; Canipe, Kara

The Preventive Coping Resources Inventory (PRI) was developed to assess specific coping resources most useful for stress prevention and also applicable to education settings. Undergraduates (N=501) at a large, southwestern university completed the inventory and other measures of adjustment and coping. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five…

A 2-layer and P2P-based architecture on resource location in future grid environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pei Erming; Sun Gongxin; Zhang Weiyi; Pang Yangguang; Gu Ming; Ma Nan

2004-01-01

Grid and Peer-to-Peer computing are two distributed resource sharing environments developing rapidly in recent years. The final objective of Grid, as well as that of P2P technology, is to pool large sets of resources effectively to be used in a more convenient, fast and transparent way. We can speculate that, though many difference exists, Grid and P2P environments will converge into a large scale resource sharing environment that combines the characteristics of the two environments: large diversity, high heterogeneity (of resources), dynamism, and lack of central control. Resource discovery in this future Grid environment is a basic however, important problem. In this article. We propose a two-layer and P2P-based architecture for resource discovery and design a detailed algorithm for resource request propagation in the computing environment discussed above. (authors)

Controlling percolation with limited resources

Science.gov (United States)

Schröder, Malte; Araújo, Nuno A. M.; Sornette, Didier; Nagler, Jan

2017-12-01

Connectivity, or the lack thereof, is crucial for the function of many man-made systems, from financial and economic networks over epidemic spreading in social networks to technical infrastructure. Often, connections are deliberately established or removed to induce, maintain, or destroy global connectivity. Thus, there has been a great interest in understanding how to control percolation, the transition to large-scale connectivity. Previous work, however, studied control strategies assuming unlimited resources. Here, we depart from this unrealistic assumption and consider the effect of limited resources on the effectiveness of control. We show that, even for scarce resources, percolation can be controlled with an efficient intervention strategy. We derive such an efficient strategy and study its implications, revealing a discontinuous transition as an unintended side effect of optimal control.

Resource Disambiguator for the Web: Extracting Biomedical Resources and Their Citations from the Scientific Literature.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibrahim Burak Ozyurt

Full Text Available The NIF Registry developed and maintained by the Neuroscience Information Framework is a cooperative project aimed at cataloging research resources, e.g., software tools, databases and tissue banks, funded largely by governments and available as tools to research scientists. Although originally conceived for neuroscience, the NIF Registry has over the years broadened in the scope to include research resources of general relevance to biomedical research. The current number of research resources listed by the Registry numbers over 13K. The broadening in scope to biomedical science led us to re-christen the NIF Registry platform as SciCrunch. The NIF/SciCrunch Registry has been cataloging the resource landscape since 2006; as such, it serves as a valuable dataset for tracking the breadth, fate and utilization of these resources. Our experience shows research resources like databases are dynamic objects, that can change location and scope over time. Although each record is entered manually and human-curated, the current size of the registry requires tools that can aid in curation efforts to keep content up to date, including when and where such resources are used. To address this challenge, we have developed an open source tool suite, collectively termed RDW: Resource Disambiguator for the (Web. RDW is designed to help in the upkeep and curation of the registry as well as in enhancing the content of the registry by automated extraction of resource candidates from the literature. The RDW toolkit includes a URL extractor from papers, resource candidate screen, resource URL change tracker, resource content change tracker. Curators access these tools via a web based user interface. Several strategies are used to optimize these tools, including supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms as well as statistical text analysis. The complete tool suite is used to enhance and maintain the resource registry as well as track the usage of individual

New computational methodology for large 3D neutron transport problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahmani, M.; Roy, R.; Koclas, J.

2004-01-01

We present a new computational methodology, based on 3D characteristics method, dedicated to solve very large 3D problems without spatial homogenization. In order to eliminate the input/output problems occurring when solving these large problems, we set up a new computing scheme that requires more CPU resources than the usual one, based on sweeps over large tracking files. The huge capacity of storage needed in some problems and the related I/O queries needed by the characteristics solver are replaced by on-the-fly recalculation of tracks at each iteration step. Using this technique, large 3D problems are no longer I/O-bound, and distributed CPU resources can be efficiently used. (authors)

Estimation and change tendency of rape straw resource in Leshan

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Qinlan; Gong, Mingfu

2018-04-01

Rape straw in Leshan area are rape stalks, including stems, leaves and pods after removing rapeseed. Leshan area is one of the main rape planting areas in Sichuan Province and rape planting area is large. Each year will produce a lot of rape straw. Based on the analysis of the trend of rapeseed planting area and rapeseed yield from 2008 to 2014, the change trend of rape straw resources in Leshan from 2008 to 2014 was analyzed and the decision-making reference was provided for resource utilization of rape straw. The results showed that the amount of rape straw resources in Leshan was very large, which was more than 100,000 tons per year, which was increasing year by year. By 2014, the amount of rape straw resources in Leshan was close to 200,000 tons.

Common challenge in resource efficiency improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

La Motta, Sergio; Peronaci, Marcello

2015-01-01

Energy efficiency and technology improvements on their own will not achieve the Low Carbon Societies (LCS) goals. Thus, resource efficiency and a circular economy are keys to a low carbon society. Resource efficiency improvement potential has been analysed from the industrial and territorial management perspectives. Exploring synergies between LCS and the larger area of sustainable development and green economy, highlighting co-benefits and trade-offs, is of utmost importance to pave the way to a more equitable and largely participated low carbon transition.

Wind Energy Resource Atlas of Mongolia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliott, D; Schwartz, M; Scott, G.; Haymes, S.; Heimiller, D.; George, R.

2001-08-27

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored a project to help accelerate the large-scale use of wind energy technologies in Mongolia through the development of a wind energy resource atlas of Mongolia. DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) administered and conducted this project in collaboration with USAID and Mongolia. The Mongolian organizations participating in this project were the Scientific, Production, and Trade Corporation for Renewable Energy (REC) and the Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (IMH). The primary goals of the project were to develop detailed wind resource maps for all regions of Mongolia for a comprehensive wind resource atlas, and to establish a wind-monitoring program to identify prospective sites for wind energy projects and help validate some of the wind resource estimates.

The Potential Wind Power Resource in Australia: A New Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Hallgren, Willow; Gunturu, Udaya Bhaskar; Schlosser, Adam

2014-01-01

Australia’s wind resource is considered to be very good, and the utilization of this renewable energy resource is increasing rapidly: wind power installed capacity increased by 35% from 2006 to 2011 and is predicted to account for over 12% of Australia’s electricity generation in 2030. Due to this growth in the utilization of the wind resource and the increasing importance of wind power in Australia’s energy mix, this study sets out to analyze and interpret the nature of Australia’s wind resources using robust metrics of the abundance, variability and intermittency of wind power density, and analyzes the variation of these characteristics with current and potential wind turbine hub heights. We also assess the extent to which wind intermittency, on hourly or greater timescales, can potentially be mitigated by the aggregation of geographically dispersed wind farms, and in so doing, lessen the severe impact on wind power economic viability of long lulls in wind and power generated. Our results suggest that over much of Australia, areas that have high wind intermittency coincide with large expanses in which the aggregation of turbine output does not mitigate variability. These areas are also geographically remote, some are disconnected from the east coast’s electricity grid and large population centers, which are factors that could decrease the potential economic viability of wind farms in these locations. However, on the eastern seaboard, even though the wind resource is weaker, it is less variable, much closer to large population centers, and there exists more potential to mitigate it’s intermittency through aggregation. This study forms a necessary precursor to the analysis of the impact of large-scale circulations and oscillations on the wind resource at the mesoscale. PMID:24988222

The potential wind power resource in Australia: a new perspective.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Willow Hallgren

Full Text Available Australia's wind resource is considered to be very good, and the utilization of this renewable energy resource is increasing rapidly: wind power installed capacity increased by 35% from 2006 to 2011 and is predicted to account for over 12% of Australia's electricity generation in 2030. Due to this growth in the utilization of the wind resource and the increasing importance of wind power in Australia's energy mix, this study sets out to analyze and interpret the nature of Australia's wind resources using robust metrics of the abundance, variability and intermittency of wind power density, and analyzes the variation of these characteristics with current and potential wind turbine hub heights. We also assess the extent to which wind intermittency, on hourly or greater timescales, can potentially be mitigated by the aggregation of geographically dispersed wind farms, and in so doing, lessen the severe impact on wind power economic viability of long lulls in wind and power generated. Our results suggest that over much of Australia, areas that have high wind intermittency coincide with large expanses in which the aggregation of turbine output does not mitigate variability. These areas are also geographically remote, some are disconnected from the east coast's electricity grid and large population centers, which are factors that could decrease the potential economic viability of wind farms in these locations. However, on the eastern seaboard, even though the wind resource is weaker, it is less variable, much closer to large population centers, and there exists more potential to mitigate it's intermittency through aggregation. This study forms a necessary precursor to the analysis of the impact of large-scale circulations and oscillations on the wind resource at the mesoscale.

Large herbivores in space: Resource partitioning among savanna grazers in a heterogeneous environment

OpenAIRE

Cromsigt, Joris Petrus Gerardus Marinus

2006-01-01

Large mammalian grazers are among the most conspicuous species groups of the animal kingdom. The richest assemblages of large grazers can be found on the African continent. Diverse large grazer assemblages and the grazing systems they live in have been ascribed great socio-economic as well as ecological value. The impact of wild large grazers on humans has been enormous throughout the evolutionary history of mankind. Domesticated grazers have taken over most of the socio-economic role of thei...

Wave-to-wire Modelling of Wave Energy Converters : Critical Assessment, Developments and Applicability for Economical Optimisation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ferri, Francesco

The idea to use the motion of a wavy sea surface to produce electricity was investigate in the seventies, in a time when the earliest wave energy converters were conceived and developed. But nowadays still none of the patented devices reached a commercial stage. Wave energy is a large, mostly...... untapped, renewable energy resource that has the potential to contribute significantly to the future energy mix, especially in an environmental friendly future scenario. What is bounding the sector to roll off into the market is the cost of the produced energy: too high if compared with other renewable...... energy sources. Generally speaking, the devices have a low efficiency and a high structural cost. The aim of the thesis is to push the research toward a cost minimisation algorithm, based on numerical simulation, which account for both efficiency and structural cost of the device. In order to achieve...

Large herbivores in space : Resource partitioning among savanna grazers in a heterogeneous environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cromsigt, Joris Petrus Gerardus Marinus

2006-01-01

Large mammalian grazers are among the most conspicuous species groups of the animal kingdom. The richest assemblages of large grazers can be found on the African continent. Diverse large grazer assemblages and the grazing systems they live in have been ascribed great socio-economic as well as

Exploitation and Utilization of Oilfield Geothermal Resources in China

OpenAIRE

Shejiao Wang; Jiahong Yan; Feng Li; Junwen Hu; Kewen Li

2016-01-01

Geothermal energy is a clean, green renewable resource, which can be utilized for power generation, heating, cooling, and could effectively replace oil, gas, and coal. In recent years, oil companies have put more efforts into exploiting and utilizing geothermal energy with advanced technologies for heat-tracing oil gathering and transportation, central heating, etc., which has not only reduced resource waste, but also improved large-scale and industrial resource utilization levels, and has ac...

Research status of geothermal resources in China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lincheng; Li, Guang

2017-08-01

As the representative of the new green energy, geothermal resources are characterized by large reserve, wide distribution, cleanness and environmental protection, good stability, high utilization factor and other advantages. According to the characteristics of exploitation and utilization, they can be divided into high-temperature, medium-temperature and low-temperature geothermal resources. The abundant and widely distributed geothermal resources in China have a broad prospect for development. The medium and low temperature geothermal resources are broadly distributed in the continental crustal uplift and subsidence areas inside the plate, represented by the geothermal belt on the southeast coast, while the high temperature geothermal resources concentrate on Southern Tibet-Western Sichuan-Western Yunnan Geothermal Belt and Taiwan Geothermal Belt. Currently, the geothermal resources in China are mainly used for bathing, recuperation, heating and power generation. It is a country that directly makes maximum use of geothermal energy in the world. However, China’s geothermal power generation, including installed generating capacity and power generation capacity, are far behind those of Western European countries and the USA. Studies on exploitation and development of geothermal resources are still weak.

Activities for Babies and Toddlers with Down Syndrome: A Physiotherapy Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelso, Rose-Anne; Price, Sue

Children with Down Syndrome have the potential for the development of a large range and variety of postures, balance reactions, movements, and skills. Sometimes this potential remains relatively untapped resulting in unusual, inefficient, or even detrimental patterns of movement. By handling and playing with the child, he or she becomes more aware…

Natural resource trust funds : a comparison of Alberta and Alaska resource funds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warrack, A.A.; Keddie, R.R. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada)

2002-09-01

Alberta and Alaska both have an economy based largely on natural resources. The cyclical nature of their economies poses a challenge to stability and sustained prosperity. During the oil crisis of 1973-1974, Alberta and Alaska began receiving oil and gas royalties. The idea of an endowment-type fund began taking shape. This fund would assist in the gradual transition from dependence on non-renewable resources to the responsible management of these resources. Both the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the Alaska Permanent Fund were created in 1976. The governments of both jurisdictions set aside revenues from natural resource royalties to provide economic stability. Both jurisdictions followed different policies in terms of management, structure, governance, and objectives. In this paper, the authors compared both funds, examining the policy options which had an impact on their growth and successes. The results showed that in Alaska, monies are paid directly to eligible persons, while allocation decisions in Alberta have been made by the government. The government manages the fund in Alberta, while in Alaska, the fund is managed by a separate entity. The Alaskan fund continues to grow, while the the size of the Alberta fund has remained unchanged for a number of years and is not growing. 21 refs., 5 figs.

Wind power in Scotland - a critique of recent resource assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Twidell, J.W.

1995-01-01

A critical analysis of 4 recent UK official reports relating to the renewable energy resources of Scotland, particularly the large wind resource, and including institutional and economic factors. Key points are listed with comments for use in supporting wind power developments. (Author)

A resource of large-scale molecular markers for monitoring Agropyron cristatum chromatin introgression in wheat background based on transcriptome sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jinpeng; Liu, Weihua; Lu, Yuqing; Liu, Qunxing; Yang, Xinming; Li, Xiuquan; Li, Lihui

2017-09-20

Agropyron cristatum is a wild grass of the tribe Triticeae and serves as a gene donor for wheat improvement. However, very few markers can be used to monitor A. cristatum chromatin introgressions in wheat. Here, we reported a resource of large-scale molecular markers for tracking alien introgressions in wheat based on transcriptome sequences. By aligning A. cristatum unigenes with the Chinese Spring reference genome sequences, we designed 9602 A. cristatum expressed sequence tag-sequence-tagged site (EST-STS) markers for PCR amplification and experimental screening. As a result, 6063 polymorphic EST-STS markers were specific for the A. cristatum P genome in the single-receipt wheat background. A total of 4956 randomly selected polymorphic EST-STS markers were further tested in eight wheat variety backgrounds, and 3070 markers displaying stable and polymorphic amplification were validated. These markers covered more than 98% of the A. cristatum genome, and the marker distribution density was approximately 1.28 cM. An application case of all EST-STS markers was validated on the A. cristatum 6 P chromosome. These markers were successfully applied in the tracking of alien A. cristatum chromatin. Altogether, this study provided a universal method of large-scale molecular marker development to monitor wild relative chromatin in wheat.

Concepts for Large Scale Hydrogen Production

OpenAIRE

Jakobsen, Daniel; Åtland, Vegar

2016-01-01

The objective of this thesis is to perform a techno-economic analysis of large-scale, carbon-lean hydrogen production in Norway, in order to evaluate various production methods and estimate a breakeven price level. Norway possesses vast energy resources and the export of oil and gas is vital to the country s economy. The results of this thesis indicate that hydrogen represents a viable, carbon-lean opportunity to utilize these resources, which can prove key in the future of Norwegian energy e...

The Case for a Second-Class Navy: Military Reform and Reagan’s Maritime Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

1985-04-01

Glaeser, USH, E-JA (F~ WACE ;): ~n Untapped Mar itime Suppor~ Resource," U.S. Naval Insti±ute Proceedings, Augu-.t IS7~, pps. I~_8-II@. 3@. C-.rdesma...u r i t y " Unpubl ished Paper , BrooKings I n s t i ± u ± e , 1983. "NRTO’s S inK ing F e e l i n g " The Economis t , S June Ig81, p. 51

Engineering prokaryotic transcriptional activators as metabolite biosensors in yeast

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjødt, Mette Louise; Snoek, Tim; Kildegaard, Kanchana Rueksomtawin

2016-01-01

,cis-muconic acid at different levels, and found that reporter gene output correlated with production. The transplantation of prokaryotic transcriptional activators into the eukaryotic chassis illustrates the potential of a hitherto untapped biosensor resource useful for biotechnological applications....... real-time monitoring of production has attracted attention. Here we applied systematic engineering of multiple parameters to search for a general biosensor design in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on small-molecule binding transcriptional activators from the prokaryote superfamily...

The potential for scaling up a fog collection system on the eastern escarpment of Eritrea

OpenAIRE

Fessehaye, Mussie; Abdul-Wahab, Sabah A.; Savage, Michael J.; Kohler, Thomas; Tesfay, Selamawit

2015-01-01

Fog is an untapped natural resource. A number of studies have been undertaken to understand its potential as an alternative or complementary water source. In 2007, a pilot fog-collection project was implemented in 2 villages on the Eastern Escarpment of Eritrea. The government of Eritrea, buoyed by the project’s positive results, has encouraged research into and application of fog-collection technologies to alleviate water-supply problems in this region. In 2014, this study was undertaken to ...

Managing Dynamic User Communities in a Grid of Autonomous Resources

CERN Document Server

Alfieri, R; Gianoli, A; Spataro, F; Ciaschini, Vincenzo; dell'Agnello, L; Bonnassieux, F; Broadfoot, P; Lowe, G; Cornwall, L; Jensen, J; Kelsey, D; Frohner, A; Groep, DL; Som de Cerff, W; Steenbakkers, M; Venekamp, G; Kouril, D; McNab, A; Mulmo, O; Silander, M; Hahkala, J; Lhorentey, K

2003-01-01

One of the fundamental concepts in Grid computing is the creation of Virtual Organizations (VO's): a set of resource consumers and providers that join forces to solve a common problem. Typical examples of Virtual Organizations include collaborations formed around the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments. To date, Grid computing has been applied on a relatively small scale, linking dozens of users to a dozen resources, and management of these VO's was a largely manual operation. With the advance of large collaboration, linking more than 10000 users with a 1000 sites in 150 counties, a comprehensive, automated management system is required. It should be simple enough not to deter users, while at the same time ensuring local site autonomy. The VO Management Service (VOMS), developed by the EU DataGrid and DataTAG projects[1, 2], is a secured system for managing authorization for users and resources in virtual organizations. It extends the existing Grid Security Infrastructure[3] architecture with embedded VO ...

Meta-analysis of non-renewable energy resource estimates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dale, Michael

2012-01-01

This paper offers a review of estimates of ultimately recoverable resources (URR) of non-renewable energy sources: coal, conventional and unconventional oil, conventional and unconventional gas, and uranium for nuclear fission. There is a large range in the estimates of many of the energy sources, even those that have been utilized for a long time and, as such, should be well understood. If it is assumed that the estimates for each resource are normally distributed, then the total value of ultimately recoverable fossil and fissile energy resources is 70,592 EJ. If, on the other hand, the best fitting distribution from each of the resource estimate populations is used, a the total value is 50,702 EJ, a factor of around 30% smaller. - Highlights: ► Brief introduction to categorization of resources. ► Collated over 380 estimates of ultimately recoverable global resources for all non-renewable energy sources. ► Extensive statistical analysis and distribution fitting conducted. ► Cross-energy source comparison of resource magnitudes.

Bio-based economy in the Netherlands. Macro-economic outline of a large-scale introduction of green resources in the Dutch energy supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Hoeven, D.

2009-03-01

The Bio-based Raw Materials Platform (PGG), part of the Energy Transition in The Netherlands, commissioned the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) and the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University to conduct research on the macro-economic impact of large scale deployment of biomass for energy and materials in the Netherlands. Two model approaches were applied based on a consistent set of scenario assumptions: a bottom-up study including technoeconomic projections of fossil and bio-based conversion technologies and a topdown study including macro-economic modelling of (global) trade of biomass and fossil resources. The results of the top-down and bottom-up modelling work are reported separately. This is the public version of studies [nl

A Bio-inspired Approach for Power and Performance Aware Resource Allocation in Clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kumar Rajesh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order to cope with increasing demand, cloud market players such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Gogrid, Flexiant, etc. have set up large sized data centers. Due to monotonically increasing size of data centers and heterogeneity of resources have made resource allocation a challenging task. A large percentage of total energy consumption of the data centers gets wasted because of under-utilization of resources. Thus, there is a need of resource allocation technique that improves the utilization of resources with effecting performance of services being delivered to end users. In this work, a bio-inspired resource allocation approach is proposed with the aim to improve utilization and hence the energy efficiency of the cloud infrastructure. The proposed approach makes use of Cuckoo search for power and performance aware allocation of resources to the services hired by the end users. The proposed approach is implemented in CloudSim. The simulation results have shown approximately 12% saving in energy consumption.

Quality and Reliability of Large-Eddy Simulations

CERN Document Server

Meyers, Johan; Sagaut, Pierre

2008-01-01

Computational resources have developed to the level that, for the first time, it is becoming possible to apply large-eddy simulation (LES) to turbulent flow problems of realistic complexity. Many examples can be found in technology and in a variety of natural flows. This puts issues related to assessing, assuring, and predicting the quality of LES into the spotlight. Several LES studies have been published in the past, demonstrating a high level of accuracy with which turbulent flow predictions can be attained, without having to resort to the excessive requirements on computational resources imposed by direct numerical simulations. However, the setup and use of turbulent flow simulations requires a profound knowledge of fluid mechanics, numerical techniques, and the application under consideration. The susceptibility of large-eddy simulations to errors in modelling, in numerics, and in the treatment of boundary conditions, can be quite large due to nonlinear accumulation of different contributions over time, ...

Building a Sustainable Energy Future for Africa - Acting Now and Together

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fall, L.

2007-07-01

The key energy challenges Africa is facing are: low level of access to commercial energy, low per capita energy consumption, weak development of energy infrastructure and lack of investment and financing for energy projects. Addressing these challenges is critical for sustainable economic and social development, and assured access to secure, affordable and reliable energy. In spite of these daunting challenges, Africa is well endowed in energy resources, but these resources are largely untapped and concentrated in a few countries. In addition, there are numerous 'rooms' for opportunities that could be seized concretely to overcome the main obstacles to the Sustainable Energy Development of the Continent. Thus, right actions must be taken to overcome these obstacles, including: financing the huge needed investments, technological development, private-public partnerships, energy market reform and effective regulation, sound and sustainable energy policies, and economic and social measures. Subsequently, from priority areas, the related stakeholders should 'act now' and 'act together', through effective collaboration and partnership and making proper alliances, to initiate effective and concrete actions to support Africa aspirations in order to build a Sustainable Energy Future for Africa, in a cost-effective and timely manner. (auth)

Decentralized vs. centralized economic coordination of resource allocation in grids

OpenAIRE

Eymann, Torsten; Reinicke, Michael; Ardáiz Villanueva, Óscar; Artigas Vidal, Pau; Díaz de Cerio Ripalda, Luis Manuel; Freitag, Fèlix; Meseguer Pallarès, Roc; Navarro Moldes, Leandro; Royo Vallés, María Dolores; Sanjeevan, Kanapathipillai

2003-01-01

Application layer networks are software architectures that allow the provisioning of services requiring a huge amount of resources by connecting large numbers of individual computers, like in Grid or Peer-to-Peer computing. Controlling the resource allocation in those networks is nearly impossible using a centralized arbitrator. The network simulation project CATNET will evaluate a decentralized mechanism for resource allocation, which is based on the economic paradigm of th...

Accelerating the Worldwide Adoption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Strengthening Commitment and Capacity Comment on "The Untapped Power of Soda Taxes: Incentivizing Consumers, Generating Revenue, and Altering Corporate Behavior".

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Phillip; Jones, Alexandra; Thow, Anne Marie

2017-10-29

In their recent article Roache and Gostin outline why governments and public health advocates should embrace soda taxes. The evidence is strong and continues to grow: such taxes can change consumer behavior, generate significant revenue and incentivize product reformulation. In essence, such taxes are an important and now well-established instrument of fiscal and public health policy. In this commentary we expand on their arguments by considering how the worldwide adoption of such taxes might be further accelerated. First, we identify where in the world taxes have been implemented to date and where the untapped potential remains greatest. Second, drawing upon recent case study research on country experiences we describe several conditions under which governments may be more likely to make taxation a political priority in the future. Third, we consider how to help strengthen the technical and legal capacities of governments to design and effectively administer taxes, with emphasis on low- and middle-income countries. We expect the findings to be most useful to public health advocates and policy-makers seeking to promote healthier diets and good nutrition. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Concepts for a global resources information system

Science.gov (United States)

Billingsley, F. C.; Urena, J. L.

1984-01-01

The objective of the Global Resources Information System (GRIS) is to establish an effective and efficient information management system to meet the data access requirements of NASA and NASA-related scientists conducting large-scale, multi-disciplinary, multi-mission scientific investigations. Using standard interfaces and operating guidelines, diverse data systems can be integrated to provide the capabilities to access and process multiple geographically dispersed data sets and to develop the necessary procedures and algorithms to derive global resource information.

Financing and risk management of energy and mineral products in Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adepoyigi, T.

1997-01-01

Nigeria currently produces about 2 million barrels of oil per day and has proven reserves of about 21 billion barrels of oil and 150 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. It is the world's 9 th largest producer of oil, OPEC's 5 th largest producer and Africa's largest producer. Nigeria also has considerable gas resources which are currently unexploited. Due to insignificant domestic demand and a current lack of export opportunities for unprocessed gas, Nigeria's total gas production is approximately 1.0 tcf per year, 85% of which is associated with crude oil production. In order to derive economic benefit from the untapped gas resources, the Federal Government, through special fiscal incentives and joint sponsorships, is actively encouraging the development of gas projects, such as the Oso NGL project (MPN/NNPC). the Escravos Gas Utilisation Project (Chevron/NNPC) and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project (Shell/Elf/AGIP/NNPC). These and other projects in the energy and mineral industry are primarily being financed with equity and external borrowings (debt). However, the large amount of capital required to finance a major energy or mineral project can strain the ability of many organizations to borrow money and fund the equity contributions needed as well as strain the lending levels for many banks in Nigeria. Since the available local financing is not adequate, large projects development are therefore financed from external sources

Assessing offshore wind potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adelaja, Adesoji; McKeown, Charles; Calnin, Benjamin; Hailu, Yohannes

2012-01-01

Quantifying wind potential is a pivotal initial step in developing and articulating a state’s policies and strategies for offshore wind industry development. This is particularly important in the Great Lakes States where lessons from other offshore environments are not directly applicable. This paper presents the framework developed for conducting a preliminary assessment of offshore wind potential. Information on lake bathymetry and wind resources were combined in simulating alternative scenarios of technically feasible turbine construction depths and distance concerns by stakeholders. These yielded estimates of developable offshore wind areas and potential power generation. While concerns about the visibility of turbines from shore reduce the power that can be generated, engineering solutions that increase the depths at which turbines can be sited increase such potential power output. This paper discusses the costs associated with technical limitations on depth and the social costs related to public sentiments about distance from the shoreline, as well as the possible tradeoffs. The results point to a very large untapped energy resource in the Michigan’s Great Lakes, large enough to prompt policy action from the state government. - Highlights: ▶ We build a theoretical framework for modeling offshore wind power production. ▶ Illustration of the impact of technology and social limitations on offshore wind energy development. ▶ Geospatial modeling of the offshore wind potential of the Great Lakes.

Intellectual property right in genetic resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milošević Mirjana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are necessary in food production and biodiversity conservation. These are the most important natural resources, in addition to air, water and soil. Unfortunately, during the evolution large number of plant genetic resources has been lost. The biggest negative impact on loss of plant genetic resources had been made by humans through the modernization of agriculture and the creation of varieties of high genetic uniformity. FAO and its operation through international mechanisms, such as the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the first legal act which regulates all levels of biodiversity: ecosystems, species and genetic resources, biotechnology, including the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (regulates the transfer of genetic material across the border, contributed to the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. In addition to the Convention on Biological Diversity, FAO has been defined by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in more specific and detailed way, the preservation of genetic resources. The objectives of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture are the conservation and sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use. There are four basic pillars which form the substance of the Contract, Sustainable use of plant genetic resources, Farmers' Rights, the Multilateral System and the Global Information System. Two organizations, the International Biodiversity and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants trying to solve the issues of protection of the population and old varieties as intellectual property.

A new approach for geochemical surveys of large areas for uranium resource potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arendt, J.W.; Butz, T.R.; Cagle, G.W.; Kane, V.E.; Nichols, C.E.

1977-01-01

The Grand Junction, Colorado office of the United States Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) is conducting the National Uranium Resource Evaluation Program to evaluate the uranium resources in the United States and Alaska. The program is designed to identify favorable areas for uranium exploration, to assess the supply of domestic resources, and to improve exploration technology. The Nuclear Division of the Union Carbide Corporation has been assigned the responsibility of conducting a hydrogeochemical and stream sediment survey of the mid-continental states in the United States. This survey covers approximately 2,500,000 km 2 (1,000,000 mi 2 ) and includes the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. The uranium potential of sandstones, Precambrian conglomerates, veins, granites, and phosphorites is being assessed utliizing a three-part program consisting of pilot surveys in each geological province and two phases of reconnaissance sampling of drainage basins. Samples of stream sediment, stream water, groundwater, algae, and vegetation are analyzed for uranium and some 20 additional elements. Data resulting from this program is released to private industry by ERDA as it becomes available. Analysis of results from a typical three-part survey are given. For distinctive geological regions, the pilot survey will: (1) define characteristic concentration background levels of the elements of interest, (2) identify potential uranium pathfinder elements, (3) determine relationship between stream, stream sediment and botanical samples, (4) identify any necessary modification to field sampling techniques, and (5) determine necessary sensitivities required for chemical analysis. The first reconnaissance phase average sample spacing of one station per 250 km 2 (100 mi 2 ) drainage basin is shown to delineate general boundaries of uranium provinces, and the second

Avoiding the resource curse the case Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holden, Steinar

2013-01-01

In many countries, natural resources have been detrimental to the economic development. The literature on “the resource curse” shows a bleak relationship: countries with large natural resources generally experience lower economic growth than other countries. Norway does not fit into this picture. Economic growth has much higher than in most other industrialized countries. This paper describes the key features of the Norwegian management of the petroleum resources. The main focus is on the management of the revenues from the petroleum sector, but the effects of the petroleum sector on the Norwegian economy more generally are also discussed. - Highlights: • In Norway, the sizeable petroleum resources have led to higher economic growth and a higher GDP per capita, measured in purchasing power parities. • This paper describes the key features of the Norwegian management of the petroleum resources. • The main focus is on the management of the revenues from the petroleum sector • Effects of the petroleum sector on the Norwegian economy more generally are also discussed

The Identification Of Realistic Export Opportunities For The South African Pharmaceutical Industry

OpenAIRE

Wilma Viviers; Martie Lubbe; Ermie Steenkamp; Douglas Olivier

2014-01-01

South Africa needs to advance its industrialisation process and diversify its exports if it is to enhance its global competitiveness ranking and meaningfully tackle the double scourge of unemployment and poverty. The pharmaceutical industry makes a significant contribution to the countrys economy, and has a growing international footprint. However, export activity is largely centred on Southern and Eastern Africa, while markets in other parts of the world remain largely untapped. A lo...

Integration of cloud, grid and local cluster resources with DIRAC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fifield, Tom; Sevior, Martin; Carmona, Ana; Casajús, Adrián; Graciani, Ricardo

2011-01-01

Grid computing was developed to provide users with uniform access to large-scale distributed resources. This has worked well, however there are significant resources available to the scientific community that do not follow this paradigm - those on cloud infrastructure providers, HPC supercomputers or local clusters. DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) was originally designed to support direct submission to the Local Resource Management Systems (LRMS) of such clusters for LHCb, matured to support grid workflows and has recently been updated to support Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud. This raises a number of new possibilities - by opening avenues to new resources, virtual organisations can change their resources with usage patterns and use these dedicated facilities for a given time. For example, user communities such as High Energy Physics experiments, have computing tasks with a wide variety of requirements in terms of CPU, data access or memory consumption, and their usage profile is never constant throughout the year. Having the possibility to transparently absorb peaks on the demand for these kinds of tasks using Cloud resources could allow a reduction in the overall cost of the system. This paper investigates interoperability by following a recent large-scale production exercise utilising resources from these three different paradigms, during the 2010 Belle Monte Carlo run. Through this, it discusses the challenges and opportunities of such a model.

Contamination of water resources by pathogenic bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Water-borne pathogen contamination in water resources and related diseases are a major water quality concern throughout the world. Increasing interest in controlling water-borne pathogens in water resources evidenced by a large number of recent publications clearly attests to the need for studies that synthesize knowledge from multiple fields covering comparative aspects of pathogen contamination, and unify them in a single place in order to present and address the problem as a whole. Providing a broader perceptive of pathogen contamination in freshwater (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, groundwater) and saline water (estuaries and coastal waters) resources, this review paper attempts to develop the first comprehensive single source of existing information on pathogen contamination in multiple types of water resources. In addition, a comprehensive discussion describes the challenges associated with using indicator organisms. Potential impacts of water resources development on pathogen contamination as well as challenges that lie ahead for addressing pathogen contamination are also discussed. PMID:25006540

A genome-wide gene function prediction resource for Drosophila melanogaster.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Yan

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Predicting gene functions by integrating large-scale biological data remains a challenge for systems biology. Here we present a resource for Drosophila melanogaster gene function predictions. We trained function-specific classifiers to optimize the influence of different biological datasets for each functional category. Our model predicted GO terms and KEGG pathway memberships for Drosophila melanogaster genes with high accuracy, as affirmed by cross-validation, supporting literature evidence, and large-scale RNAi screens. The resulting resource of prioritized associations between Drosophila genes and their potential functions offers a guide for experimental investigations.

Polymetallic nodule resources of the Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nair, R.R.; Jauhari, P.

The seabed resources are large and varied and considerable knowledge and technological development are required to exploit them economically. Beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the deposits which are of utmost interest are the polymetallic...

What can we learn from resource pulses?

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Louie H; Bastow, Justin L; Spence, Kenneth O; Wright, Amber N

2008-03-01

An increasing number of studies in a wide range of natural systems have investigated how pulses of resource availability influence ecological processes at individual, population, and community levels. Taken together, these studies suggest that some common processes may underlie pulsed resource dynamics in a wide diversity of systems. Developing a common framework of terms and concepts for the study of resource pulses may facilitate greater synthesis among these apparently disparate systems. Here, we propose a general definition of the resource pulse concept, outline some common patterns in the causes and consequences of resource pulses, and suggest a few key questions for future investigations. We define resource pulses as episodes of increased resource availability in space and time that combine low frequency (rarity), large magnitude (intensity), and short duration (brevity), and emphasize the importance of considering resource pulses at spatial and temporal scales relevant to specific resource-onsumer interactions. Although resource pulses are uncommon events for consumers in specific systems, our review of the existing literature suggests that pulsed resource dynamics are actually widespread phenomena in nature. Resource pulses often result from climatic and environmental factors, processes of spatiotemporal accumulation and release, outbreak population dynamics, or a combination of these factors. These events can affect life history traits and behavior at the level of individual consumers, numerical responses at the population level, and indirect effects at the community level. Consumers show strategies for utilizing ephemeral resources opportunistically, reducing resource variability by averaging over larger spatial scales, and tolerating extended interpulse periods of reduced resource availability. Resource pulses can also create persistent effects in communities through several mechanisms. We suggest that the study of resource pulses provides opportunities

Scientific Resource EXplorer

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Z.; Wormuth, A.; Smith, A.; Arca, J.; Lu, Y.; Sayfi, E.

2014-12-01

Inquisitive minds in our society are never satisfied with curatedimages released by a typical public affairs office. They always want tolook deeper and play directly on original data. However, most scientificdata products are notoriously hard to use. They are immensely large,highly distributed and diverse in format. In this presentation,we will demonstrate Resource EXplorer (REX), a novel webtop applicationthat allows anyone to conveniently explore and visualize rich scientificdata repositories, using only a standard web browser. This tool leverageson the power of Webification Science (w10n-sci), a powerful enabling technologythat simplifies the use of scientific data on the web platform.W10n-sci is now being deployed at an increasing number of NASA data centers,some of which are the largest digital treasure troves in our nation.With REX, these wonderful scientific resources are open for teachers andstudents to learn and play.

Modeling resource basis for social and economic development strategies: Water resource case

Science.gov (United States)

Kosolapova, Natalia A.; Matveeva, Ludmila G.; Nikitaeva, Anastasia Y.; Molapisi, Lesego

2017-10-01

The article substantiates that the effectiveness of implementing socio-economic development strategies is to a large extent determined by the adequate provision of basic resources. The key role of water resources in economic strategic development is empirically illustrated. The article demonstrates the practicability of strategic management of water resources based on the principle of a combination of river basin management approaches and the consideration of regional development strategies. The Game Theory technique was used to develop economic and mathematical tools for supporting decision-making in meeting the needs of regional consumers under water balance deficit conditions. The choice of methods was determined from two positions: the methods should allow for the possibility of multi-variant solutions for the selection of optimal options for the distribution of limited water resources between different consumers; the methods should be orientated on the maximum possible harmonization of multidirectional and multi-scale interests of the subjects in the water management system of the different regions (including the state) in order to achieve a balance. The approbation of developing a toolkit for the example of the regions located in the Don and Kuban river basins resulted in the appropriate selection of priority regions for the allocation of water resources in terms of strategic management as well as the determination of measures of ensuring the sustainable use of the river basins under consideration. The proposed tools can be used for coordinating decisions on the water supply of regional economic systems with actual and projected indicators of socio-economic development of the respective regions for a strategic perspective.

Diabetes HealthSense: Resources for Living Well

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... booklet addresses the special challenges for very large people who are physically active and provides tips and ideas to become more active and healthier—no ... adult (65+) Type of Resource Select one: Printable ...

The patterns of interaction between professional translators and online resources.

OpenAIRE

Gough, Joanna

2017-01-01

With the rapid growth of the Internet and the recent developments in translation technology, the way translators carry out their translation-oriented research has changed dramatically. Resources used by translators to conduct such research have diversified and largely moved from paper to online. However, whilst the number and the variety of online resources available to translators is growing exponentially, little is known about the interactions between translators and these resources. The pr...

Important features of Sustainable Aggregate Resource Management

Science.gov (United States)

Solar, Slavko V.; Shields, Deborah J.; Langer, William H.

2004-01-01

Every society, whether developed, developing or in a phase of renewal following governmental change, requires stable, adequate and secure supplies of natural resources. In the latter case, there could be significant need for construction materials for rebuilding infrastructure, industrial capacity, and housing. It is essential that these large-volume materials be provided in a rational manner that maximizes their societal contribution and minimizes environmental impacts. We describe an approach to resource management based on the principles of sustainable developed. Sustainable Aggregate Resource Management offers a way of addressing the conflicting needs and interests of environmental, economic, and social systems. Sustainability is an ethics based concept that utilizes science and democratic processes to reach acceptable agreements and tradeoffs among interests, while acknowledging the fundamental importance of the environment and social goods. We discuss the features of sustainable aggregate resource management.

Important Features of Sustainable Aggregate Resource Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slavko V. Šolar

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Every society, whether developed, developing or in a phase of renewal following governmental change, requires stable, adequate and secure supplies of natural resources. In the latter case, there could be significant need for construction materials for rebuilding infrastructure, industrial capacity, and housing. It is essential that these large-volume materials be provided in a rational manner that maximizes their societal contribution and minimizes environmental impacts. We describe an approach to resource management based on the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable Aggregate Resource Management offers a way of addressing the conflicting needs and interests of environmental, economic, and social systems. Sustainability is an ethics based concept that utilizes science and democratic processes to reach acceptable agreements and tradeoffs among interests, while acknowledging the fundamental importance of the environment and social goods. We discuss the features of sustainable aggregate resource management.

Using Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud to dynamically scale CMS computational resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, D; Fisk, I; Holzman, B; Pordes, R; Tiradani, A; Melo, A; Sheldon, P; Metson, S

2011-01-01

Large international scientific collaborations such as the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider have traditionally addressed their data reduction and analysis needs by building and maintaining dedicated computational infrastructure. Emerging cloud computing services such as Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) offer short-term CPU and storage resources with costs based on usage. These services allow experiments to purchase computing resources as needed, without significant prior planning and without long term investments in facilities and their management. We have demonstrated that services such as EC2 can successfully be integrated into the production-computing model of CMS, and find that they work very well as worker nodes. The cost-structure and transient nature of EC2 services makes them inappropriate for some CMS production services and functions. We also found that the resources are not truely 'on-demand' as limits and caps on usage are imposed. Our trial workflows allow us to make a cost comparison between EC2 resources and dedicated CMS resources at a University, and conclude that it is most cost effective to purchase dedicated resources for the 'base-line' needs of experiments such as CMS. However, if the ability to use cloud computing resources is built into an experiment's software framework before demand requires their use, cloud computing resources make sense for bursting during times when spikes in usage are required.

Statistical physics of community ecology: a cavity solution to MacArthur’s consumer resource model

Science.gov (United States)

Advani, Madhu; Bunin, Guy; Mehta, Pankaj

2018-03-01

A central question in ecology is to understand the ecological processes that shape community structure. Niche-based theories have emphasized the important role played by competition for maintaining species diversity. Many of these insights have been derived using MacArthur’s consumer resource model (MCRM) or its generalizations. Most theoretical work on the MCRM has focused on small ecosystems with a few species and resources. However theoretical insights derived from small ecosystems many not scale up to large ecosystems with many resources and species because large systems with many interacting components often display new emergent behaviors that cannot be understood or deduced from analyzing smaller systems. To address these shortcomings, we develop a statistical physics inspired cavity method to analyze MCRM when both the number of species and the number of resources is large. Unlike previous work in this limit, our theory addresses resource dynamics and resource depletion and demonstrates that species generically and consistently perturb their environments and significantly modify available ecological niches. We show how our cavity approach naturally generalizes niche theory to large ecosystems by accounting for the effect of collective phenomena on species invasion and ecological stability. Our theory suggests that such phenomena are a generic feature of large, natural ecosystems and must be taken into account when analyzing and interpreting community structure. It also highlights the important role that statistical-physics inspired approaches can play in furthering our understanding of ecology.

Graded Lexicons: New Resources for Educational Purposes and Much More

Science.gov (United States)

Gala, Núria; Billami, Mokhtar B.; François, Thomas; Bernhard, Delphine

2015-01-01

Computational tools and resources play an important role for vocabulary acquisition. Although a large variety of dictionaries and learning games are available, few resources provide information about the complexity of a word, either for learning or for comprehension. The idea here is to use frequency counts combined with intralexical variables to…

Utilization of saline water and land: Reclaiming lost resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naqvi, Mujtaba

2001-01-01

There is an abundance of saline water on the globe. Large tracts of land are arid and/or salt-affected, and a large number of plant species are known to be salt-tolerant. It would seem obvious that salt tolerant plants (halophytes) have a role in utilizing the two wasted resources, saline water and wastelands. We will briefly describe how these resources can be fruitfully utilized and how the IAEA has helped several countries to demonstrate the possibility of cultivating salt tolerant plant species on arid saline wastelands for economic and environmental benefit. After some brief introductory remarks we will discuss the results of the project

NETOUR: A EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM THROUGH ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIVERSITIES IN RUSSIA

OpenAIRE

Andrades, Lidia; Dimanche, Frederic

2013-01-01

Russia is one of the fastest growing tourism markets (+8% growth in 2011) with many resources that are yet untapped. This paper presents NETOUR, a project of European and Russian universities that aims at boosting Russia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination. The purpose of this project, funded by the European Commission through a TEMPUS grant, is to propose a model for cooperation between universities and the main stakeholders in the tourism sector, in order to favour its sustainable de...

Representations of sexual practice and identity in men's prisons since the 1950s in the UK and the US

OpenAIRE

Riley, Michael J

2014-01-01

In this thesis I propose that the representation of the prison is an untapped and valuable resource for non-traditional representations of the queered male, homo-sex and sexualities. I draw together texts on prison and sexuality from the 1800s to the 2000s in order to discuss the representation of prison in light of what it adds to a wider historical understanding of sexuality. The thesis is broadly chronological in form, analysing academic and theoretical texts in context alongside popular c...

An untapped resource in the nursing workforce: Licensed practical nurses who transition to become registered nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Cheryl B; Toles, Mark; Knafl, George J; Beeber, Anna S

A more diverse registered nurse (RN) workforce is needed to provide health care in North Carolina (NC) and nationally. Studies describing licensed practical nurse (LPN) career transitions to RNs are lacking. To characterize the occurrence of LPN-to-RN professional transitions; compare key characteristics of LPNs who do and do not make such a transition; and compare key characteristics of LPNs who do transition in the years prior to and following their transition. A retrospective design was conducted using licensure data on LPNs from 2001 to 2013. Cohorts were constructed based on year of graduation. Of 39,398 LPNs in NC between 2001 and 2013, there were 3,161 LPNs (8.0%) who had a LPN-to-RN career transition between 2001 and 2013. LPNs were more likely to transition to RN if they were male; from Asian, American Indian, or other racial groups; held an associate or baccalaureate degree in their last year as an LPN (or their last year in the study if they did not transition); worked in a hospital inpatient setting; worked in the medical-surgical nursing specialty; and were from a rural area. Our findings indicate that the odds of an LPN-to-RN transition were greater if LPNs were: male; from all other racial groups except white; of a younger age at their first LPN licensure; working in a hospital setting; working in the specialty of medical-surgical nursing; employed part-time; or working in a rural setting during the last year as an LPN. This study fills an important gap in our knowledge of LPN-to-RN transitions. Policy efforts are needed to incentivize: LPNs to make a LPN-to-RN transition; educational entities to create and communicate curricular pathways; and employers to support LPNs in making the transition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional Intelligence: An Untapped Resource for Alcohol and Other Drug Related Prevention among Adolescents and Adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ken Russell Coelho

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Alcohol and Other Drug abuse in adolescents and adults continues to be a major public health problem in the United States. Care in intervention programs aimed at high risk populations identified occurs after the maladaptive behavioral delinquency has occurred, and only then is an individual afforded the opportunity to join an intervention program. The focus of this paper is to illustrate and highlight the value of prevention programs which emphasize altering maladaptive behavior before the behavior becomes problematic. Emotional Intelligence is not only an indicator of alcohol and other drug abuse, but is linked to emotional competence, social and emotional learning, the development of healthy and life promoting behavior, and has been proven to reduce some of the risk factors associated with alcohol and other drug abuse in adolescents and adults. This paper seeks to recognize the significance of Emotional Intelligence as a desirable health promoting attribute and to establish the importance of its conceptual use in a prevention based model for reducing associated high risk behaviors.

Adult College Students in American Films: An Untapped Resource for Research in Adult and Continuing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Osborn, Rick

1990-01-01

Considers the value of extending adult education research into films about adult college students as a source of cultural information. Analyzes the 1949 film, "Mother Is a Freshman," as an example. (SK)

Using an Untapped Resource: Expanding the Role of the Student Worker at the Bio-Medical Library

Science.gov (United States)

Aho, Melissa K.; Beschnett, Anne M.; Reimer, Emily Y.

2010-01-01

Student workers have always been a traditional and valuable component to the smooth running of many academic health sciences libraries. However, in recent years many libraries have redefined student workers' roles to extend beyond their traditional scope due to a range of factors, such as loss of staff and budget cutbacks. The Bio-Medical Library…

Information Technology Applications on Human Resources Management Functions in Large U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Alsawafy, Qais Abdulkadum Kahalf

2013-01-01

The existing bond between human resources (HR) that team up in a business enterprise and the "real medium" information technology (IT) itself appears in the moment that the relationship is generated independently of the kind of enterprise and the relationship established between them. In today's competitive business world, companies who…

Data analysis and management for the Uranium Resource Evaluation Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kane, V.E.

1980-01-01

The Department of Energy has funded a large data collection effort with the purpose of determining the US uranium resources. This Uranium Resource Evaluation (URE) Project required a large data management effort which involved collection, retrieval, processing, display, and analysis of large volumes of data. Many of the characteristics of this data processing system are relevant to other applications, particularly where routine processing involves analyses for input into numerous technical reports. The URE Project computing system has a modular program structure which has enabled a straightforward interface with both special and general graphics and analysis packages such as SAS, BMDP, and SURFACE II. Other topics include cost-effective computing, data quality, report quality computer output, and test versus production program development

Review - Water resources development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todd, David K.

1970-01-01

For the past 15 years the possibilities of employing nuclear explosives to develop and manage water resources for the benefit of man have been studied, Experimental and theoretical studies of many types have been undertaken. Numerous applications have been considered including site studies for particular projects. Attention has been given to the economics of specific applications, to hazards and safety problems, to legal limitations, to geologic and hydrologic considerations, and to effects on water quality. The net result of this effort has been the development of a large body of knowledge ready to be drawn upon wherever and whenever needed. Nuclear explosives are important tools for water resources development; they must be carefully selected so as to serve their intended purpose at minimum cost with few side effects. (author)

Review - Water resources development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Todd, David K [Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (United States)

1970-05-15

For the past 15 years the possibilities of employing nuclear explosives to develop and manage water resources for the benefit of man have been studied, Experimental and theoretical studies of many types have been undertaken. Numerous applications have been considered including site studies for particular projects. Attention has been given to the economics of specific applications, to hazards and safety problems, to legal limitations, to geologic and hydrologic considerations, and to effects on water quality. The net result of this effort has been the development of a large body of knowledge ready to be drawn upon wherever and whenever needed. Nuclear explosives are important tools for water resources development; they must be carefully selected so as to serve their intended purpose at minimum cost with few side effects. (author)

Resource allocation for epidemic control in metapopulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndeffo Mbah, Martial L; Gilligan, Christopher A

2011-01-01

Deployment of limited resources is an issue of major importance for decision-making in crisis events. This is especially true for large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases. Little is known when it comes to identifying the most efficient way of deploying scarce resources for control when disease outbreaks occur in different but interconnected regions. The policy maker is frequently faced with the challenge of optimizing efficiency (e.g. minimizing the burden of infection) while accounting for social equity (e.g. equal opportunity for infected individuals to access treatment). For a large range of diseases described by a simple SIRS model, we consider strategies that should be used to minimize the discounted number of infected individuals during the course of an epidemic. We show that when faced with the dilemma of choosing between socially equitable and purely efficient strategies, the choice of the control strategy should be informed by key measurable epidemiological factors such as the basic reproductive number and the efficiency of the treatment measure. Our model provides new insights for policy makers in the optimal deployment of limited resources for control in the event of epidemic outbreaks at the landscape scale.

Resource allocation for epidemic control in metapopulations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martial L Ndeffo Mbah

Full Text Available Deployment of limited resources is an issue of major importance for decision-making in crisis events. This is especially true for large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases. Little is known when it comes to identifying the most efficient way of deploying scarce resources for control when disease outbreaks occur in different but interconnected regions. The policy maker is frequently faced with the challenge of optimizing efficiency (e.g. minimizing the burden of infection while accounting for social equity (e.g. equal opportunity for infected individuals to access treatment. For a large range of diseases described by a simple SIRS model, we consider strategies that should be used to minimize the discounted number of infected individuals during the course of an epidemic. We show that when faced with the dilemma of choosing between socially equitable and purely efficient strategies, the choice of the control strategy should be informed by key measurable epidemiological factors such as the basic reproductive number and the efficiency of the treatment measure. Our model provides new insights for policy makers in the optimal deployment of limited resources for control in the event of epidemic outbreaks at the landscape scale.

The Role of Sustainability Resources of Large Greenhouse Gas Emitters: The Case of Corporations in Alberta, Canada

OpenAIRE

Hannouf, Marwa; Assefa, Getachew

2017-01-01

With the global challenge of climate change, it becomes crucial to understand the factors that can guide carbon intensive companies to comply with environmental regulations through significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Using the natural-resource-based view, the argument in this paper is that focusing on sustainability-driven resources by companies is a way to meet environmental compliance and reduce GHG emissions while gaining differential competitive benefits. A specific ...

Metastrategies in large-scale bargaining settings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hennes, D.; Jong, S. de; Tuyls, K.; Gal, Y.

2015-01-01

This article presents novel methods for representing and analyzing a special class of multiagent bargaining settings that feature multiple players, large action spaces, and a relationship among players' goals, tasks, and resources. We show how to reduce these interactions to a set of bilateral

RURAL AREA – AN UNTAPPED OPPORTUNITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru Costin CÎRSTEA

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Romanian rural area faces a violent lack of entrepreneurship initiatives, which can generate negative economic and social phenomena, with medium and long-term effects, such as: the decreased living standards of people in rural areas, the migration of young people from rural areas, which generates psychosocial problems among children who have to stay with their grandparents, the sharp decrease of interest for agriculture and, thus, the decrease of GDP ratio from agricultural activities, the lack of education among rural people etc. Under these circumstances, thepaper tries, through documentation, analysis and processing statistical data, to quantify the development level of entrepreneurship in rural areas in Romania, compared with developed EU countries (such as: Germany, Great Britain, France etc., in order to reveal the gaps in this sector. To increase the relevance of the analysis, the paper also analyzes the possible causes that can stimulate or repress the expression of entrepreneurship and its implementation in Romanian and European rural areas, such as: different levels of fiscal pressure, the existence, effectiveness and efficiency of programs implementation for stimulating and supporting entrepreneurship in general and in rural areas, in particular, the different business culture etc. These results generated from the research will finally create a set of premises for adopting international best practices and develop pragmatic solutions and programs to increase entrepreneurship, which can leads to new business initiatives in the Romanian rural area.In conclusion, for a quality of life growth and a decrease of negative social and economic phenomena with medium and long-term impact, it is necessary an increase of the living standards, done by increasing the opportunities for entrepreneurship in agriculture and rural areas. Specifically, there are needed investments in the development of human resources in rural areas and in supporting its

Preservation of artifacts in salt mines as a natural analog for the storage of transuranic wastes at the WIPP repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martell, M.A.; Hansen, F.; Weiner, R.

1998-01-01

Use of nature's laboratory for scientific analysis of complex systems is a largely untapped resource for understanding long-term disposal of hazardous materials. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the US is a facility designed and approved for storage of transuranic waste in a salt medium. Isolation from the biosphere must be ensured for 10,000 years. Natural analogs provide a means to interpret the evolution of the underground disposal setting. Investigations of ancient sites where manmade materials have experienced mechanical and chemical processes over millennia provide scientific information unattainable by conventional laboratory methods. This paper presents examples of these pertinent natural analogs, provides examples of features relating to the WIPP application, and identifies potential avenues of future investigations. This paper cites examples of analogical information pertaining to the Hallstatt salt mine in Austria and Wieliczka salt mine in Poland. This paper intends to develop an appreciation for the applicability of natural analogs to the science and engineering of a long-term disposal facility in geomedia

Space Science Education Resource Directory

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, C. A.; Scollick, K.

The Office of Space Science (OSS) of NASA supports educational programs as a by-product of the research it funds through missions and investigative programs. A rich suite of resources for public use is available including multimedia materials, online resources, hardcopies and other items. The OSS supported creation of a resource catalog through a group lead by individuals at STScI that ultimately will provide an easy-to-use and user-friendly search capability to access products. This paper describes the underlying architecture of that catalog, including the challenge to develop a system for characterizing education products through appropriate metadata. The system must also be meaningful to a large clientele including educators, scientists, students, and informal science educators. An additional goal was to seamlessly exchange data with existing federally supported educational systems as well as local systems. The goals, requirements, and standards for the catalog will be presented to illuminate the rationale for the implementation ultimately adopted.

Natural resources: A curse on education spending?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cockx, Lara; Francken, Nathalie

2016-01-01

In line with the rising interest in harnessing natural resource revenues for economic and human development through productive government investments, this paper aims to address an important blind spot in our understanding of the “resource curse” by contributing innovative insights on how natural resource wealth impacts government priorities and expenditure practices. Using a large panel dataset of 140 countries covering the period from 1995 to 2009, we find an adverse effect of resource dependence on public education expenditures relative to GDP that is robust to controlling for a range of additional covariates. Furthermore, our findings indicate that this resource curse effect on the government prioritization of education mainly stems from point-source natural resources. These results are of particular importance for the sustainable management of natural resource wealth in developing countries, as they could achieve especially high returns by investing resource revenues in public goods such as education. While this paper underlines the importance of institutions and government accountability, our findings also raise questions on the role of the private sector as a partner in development, as the extractives industry could consider increasing funding for education through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. - Highlights: •We use a panel dataset of 140 countries covering the period from 1995 to 2009. •We find an inverse relationship between resource dependence and education spending. •The effect of resource dependence is robust to controlling for several covariates. •Indirect effects through a decline in accountability and the service industry. •This curse mainly stems from point-source resource dependence.

Resource Abundance and Resource Dependence in China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ji, K.; Magnus, J.R.; Wang, W.

2010-01-01

This paper reconsiders the ‘curse of resources’ hypothesis for the case of China, and distinguishes between resource abundance, resource rents, and resource dependence. Resource abundance and resource rents are shown to be approximately equivalent, and their association with resource dependence

Harvester : An edge service harvesting heterogeneous resources for ATLAS

CERN Document Server

Maeno, Tadashi; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The Production and Distributed Analysis (PanDA) system has been successfully used in the ATLAS experiment as a data-driven workload management system. The PanDA system has proven to be capable of operating at the Large Hadron Collider data processing scale over the last decade including the Run 1 and Run 2 data taking periods. PanDA was originally designed to be weakly coupled with the WLCG processing resources. Lately the system is revealing the difficulties to optimally integrate and exploit new resource types such as HPC and preemptable cloud resources with instant spin-up, and new workflows such as the event service, because their intrinsic nature and requirements are quite different from that of traditional grid resources. Therefore, a new component, Harvester, has been developed to mediate the control and information flow between PanDA and the resources, in order to enable more intelligent workload management and dynamic resource provisioning based on detailed knowledge of resource capabilities and thei...

Sustainability assessment of regional water resources under the DPSIR framework

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Shikun; Wang, Yubao; Liu, Jing; Cai, Huanjie; Wu, Pute; Geng, Qingling; Xu, Lijun

2016-01-01

Fresh water is a scarce and critical resource in both natural and socioeconomic systems. Increasing populations combined with an increasing demand for water resources have led to water shortages worldwide. Current water management strategies may not be sustainable, and comprehensive action should be taken to minimize the water budget deficit. Sustainable water resources management is essential because it ensures the integration of social, economic, and environmental issues into all stages of water resources management. This paper establishes the indicators to evaluate the sustainability of water utilization based on the Drive-Pressure-Status-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, a comprehensive assessment of changes to the sustainability of the water resource system in the city of Bayannur was conducted using these indicators. The results indicate that there is an increase in the driving force of local water consumption due to changes in society, economic development, and the consumption structure of residents. The pressure on the water system increased, whereas the status of the water resources continued to decrease over the study period due to the increasing drive indicators. The local government adopted a series of response measures to relieve the decreasing water resources and alleviate the negative effects of the increasing driver in demand. The response measures improved the efficiency of water usage to a large extent, but the large-scale expansion in demands brought a rebounding effect, known as ;Jevons paradox; At the same time, the increasing emissions of industrial and agriculture pollutants brought huge pressures to the regional water resources environment, which caused a decrease in the sustainability of regional water resources. Changing medium and short-term factors, such as regional economic pattern, technological levels, and water utilization practices, can contribute to the sustainable utilization of

Ground-Water Resources of the Lower Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin in Parts of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia-Subarea 4 of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basins

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

Counties, Ga . Evaluation of ground- water-development potential in the virtually untapped Intermediate system has questionable reliability due to the...Alabama, Florida, and Georgia into 4 districts: Fall Line Hills, Dougherty Plain, Tifton Upland, and Gulf Coastal Lowlands. Physiographic descriptions...approximately with the boundary between the Tifton Uplands and the Dough- erty Plain districts and the Gulf Coastal Lowlands district occupies the

Lithium Resources for the 21st Century

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, S.; Gruber, P.; Medina, P.; Keolian, G.; Everson, M. P.; Wallington, T.

2011-12-01

Lithium is an important industrial compound and the principal component of high energy-density batteries. Because it is the lightest solid element, these batteries are widely used in consumer electronics and are expected to be the basis for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) for the 21st century. In view of the large incremental demand for lithium that will result from expanded use of various types of EVs, long-term estimates of lithium demand and supply are advisable. For GDP growth rates of 2 to 3% and battery recycling rates of 90 to 100%, total demand for lithium for all markets is expected to be a maximum of 19.6 million tonnes through 2100. This includes 3.2 million tonnes for industrial compounds, 3.6 million tonnes for consumer electronics, and 12.8 million tonnes for EVs. Lithium-bearing mineral deposits that might supply this demand contain an estimated resource of approximately 39 million tonnes, although many of these deposits have not been adequately evaluated. These lithium-bearing mineral deposits are of two main types, non-marine playa-brine deposits and igneous deposits. Playa-brine deposits have the greatest immediate resource potential (estimated at 66% of global resources) and include the Salar de Atacama (Chile), the source of almost half of current world lithium production, as well as Zabuye (China/Tibet) and Hombre Muerto (Argentina). Additional important playa-brine lithium resources include Rincon (Argentina), Qaidam (China), Silver Peak (USA) and Uyuni (Bolivia), which together account for about 35% of the estimated global lithium resource. Information on the size and continuity of brine-bearing aquifers in many of these deposits is limited, and differences in chemical composition of brines from deposit to deposit require different extraction processes and yield different product mixes of lithium, boron, potassium and other elements. Numerous other brines in playas

Models of resource planning during formation of calendar construction plans for erection of high-rise buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Pocebneva, Irina; Belousov, Vadim; Fateeva, Irina

2018-03-01

This article provides a methodical description of resource-time analysis for a wide range of requirements imposed for resource consumption processes in scheduling tasks during the construction of high-rise buildings and facilities. The core of the proposed approach and is the resource models being determined. The generalized network models are the elements of those models, the amount of which can be too large to carry out the analysis of each element. Therefore, the problem is to approximate the original resource model by simpler time models, when their amount is not very large.

Land degradation and integrated watershed management in India

OpenAIRE

Suraj Bhan

2013-01-01

In view of the stagnating productivity levels of irrigated agriculture, the contribution from rainfed agriculture should be increased to meet the requirements from the ever growing human and animal population of India. Land degradation is a major threat to our food and environment security and the extent of degradation problems are more pronounced in rainfed regions. Large potential of rainfed agriculture is untapped largely due to lack of enabling policy support and investments. In drought-p...

Mast fruiting of large ectomycorrhizal African rain forest trees: importance of dry season intensity, and the resource-limitation hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Newbery, David M; Chuyong, George B; Zimmermann, Lukas

2006-01-01

Mast fruiting is a distinctive reproductive trait in trees. This rain forest study, at a nutrient-poor site with a seasonal climate in tropical Africa, provides new insights into the causes of this mode of phenological patterning. At Korup, Cameroon, 150 trees of the large, ectomycorrhizal caesalp, Microberlinia bisulcata, were recorded almost monthly for leafing, flowering and fruiting during 1995-2000. The series was extended to 1988-2004 with less detailed data. Individual transitions in phenology were analysed. Masting occurred when the dry season before fruiting was drier, and the one before that was wetter, than average. Intervals between events were usually 2 or 3 yr. Masting was associated with early leaf exchange, followed by mass flowering, and was highly synchronous in the population. Trees at higher elevation showed more fruiting. Output declined between 1995 and 2000. Mast fruiting in M. bisulcata appears to be driven by climate variation and is regulated by internal tree processes. The resource-limitation hypothesis was supported. An 'alternative bearing' system seems to underlie masting. That ectomycorrhizal habit facilitates masting in trees is strongly implied.

Using resource graphs to represent conceptual change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael C. Wittmann

2006-08-01

Full Text Available We introduce resource graphs, a representation of linked ideas used when reasoning about specific contexts in physics. Our model is consistent with previous descriptions of coordination classes and resources. It represents mesoscopic scales that are neither knowledge-in-pieces nor large-scale concepts. We use resource graphs to describe several forms of conceptual change: incremental, cascade, wholesale, and dual construction. For each, we give evidence from the physics education research literature to show examples of each form of conceptual change. Where possible, we compare our representation to models used by other researchers. Building on our representation, we analyze another form of conceptual change, differentiation, and suggest several experimental studies that would help understand the differences between reform-based curricula.

The influence of incident management teams on the deployment of wildfire suppression resources

Science.gov (United States)

Michael Hand; Hari Katuwal; David E. Calkin; Matthew P. Thompson

2017-01-01

Despite large commitments of personnel and equipment to wildfire suppression, relatively little is known about the factors that affect how many resources are ordered and assigned to wildfire incidents and the variation in resources across incident management teams (IMTs). Using detailed data on suppression resource assignments for IMTs managing the highest complexity...

Istanbul : the challenges of integrated water resources management in Europa’s megacity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Leeuwen, Kees; Sjerps, Rosa

Effective integrated water resources management (IWRM) and developments impacting on water resources are recognized as key components of environmentally sustainable development. Istanbul (Turkey) is a very large metropolitan city with a population of approximately 14 million. Istanbul is one of the

Unused Energy Resources of the Republic of Croatia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potocnik, V.

2008-01-01

Croatia has very modest fossil fuels resources and relatively large unused potentials of increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Energy import dependency is close to 60 percent and constantly rising, thus increasing already considerable Croatian foreign debt. By using potential of these resources until the year 2020 Croatia could almost totally eliminate fossil fuels import, reduce foreign debt as well as energy systems' harmful influences on environment, climate and health, and increase domestic employment.(author)

Diabetes HealthSense: Resources for Living Well

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... the resources below to help you get on the right track. Cope with Stress and Emotions AADE7 Self-Care Behaviors Handouts - Healthy Coping These handouts provide ... This booklet addresses the special challenges for very large people who are ...

Environmental compliance considerations for the management of cultural resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curtis, S.A.; Whitfield, S.; McGinnis, K.

1987-01-01

This paper examines three key considerations underlying the programmatic management of cultural resources that may be affected by a large federal project. These considerations are statutory background and the compliance process, cultural resource compliance tasks, and quality assurance. The first consideration addresses the legal requirements and steps that must be met and taken for federal agencies to fulfill their cultural resource compliance responsibilities. The second consideration focuses on the tasks that must be performed by technical specialists to facilitate related federal and state compliance actions. The third consideration ensures that compliance requirements are being properly fulfilled. In the technical literature and compliance planning, archaeological and historic sites and Native American cultural resources are grouped under the general heading of cultural resources. Also included under this heading are the traditions and resources of Folk societies. Cultural resources encompass both material and nonmaterial aspects of our cultural heritage and include buildings, structures, objects, sites, districts, archaeological resources, places of religious importance, and unique, distinctive, or unusual lifeways. For compliance purposes, it is useful to treat these resources within four roughly chronological culture-historical periods: prehistoric, ethnohistoric, historic, and contemporary. 6 refs., 6 tabs

Principles of classification of NIS reserves ampersand resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

The newly independent states of the former Soviet Union (NIS) control large resources of uranium. These resources have been the subject of substantial debate within several forums of the Western uranium industry because of confusion surrounding the degree of correlation between the Soviet and various Western classification systems. As illustrated in this article, although developed independently of Western systems, the classification system used by the NIS is very definitive and provides a sound basis for resource reporting. In 1981 a new open-quotes System of Classification of Reserves and Resources of Mineral Depositsclose quotes was adopted. This classification system, which is still used today in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union (NIS), subdivides mineral deposits into seven categories in three major groups, based on the level of exploration performed: (1) Explored Reserves (A, B, C 1 ); (2) Evaluated Reserves (C 2 ); and (3) Predicted Resources (P 1 , P 2 , P 3 )

Uranium exploration (2004-2014): New discoveries, new resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polack, C.

2014-01-01

The last decade has demonstrated the dynamic of the mining industry to respond of the need of the market to explore and discover new deposits. For the first time in the uranium industry, the effort was conducted not only by the majors but by numerous junior mining companies, more than 800 companies where involved. Junior miners introduced new methodologies, innovations and fresh approach. Working mainly on former prospects of the 70’s and 80’s they discovered new deposits, transformed historical resources into compliant resources and reserves and developed new large resources in Africa, North America and Australia. In Australia, the Four Mile, Mt Gee, Samphire (SA), Mount Isa (Qld), Mulga Rock, Wiluna-Lake Maitland, Carley Bore-Yanrey-Manyingee (WA) projects were all advanced to compliant resources or reserves by junior mining companies. In Canada, activity was mainly focused on Athabasca basin, Newfoundland and Québec, the results are quite amazing. In the Athabasca 2 new deposits were identified, Roughrider and Patterson South Lake, Whilst in Québec the Matouch project and in New Foundland the Michelin project are showing good potential. In Namibia, alaskite and surficial deposits, extended the model of the Dalmaradian Central belt with the extension of rich alaskite of Z20, Husab, Omahola and large deposits of Etango and Norasa. A new mine commenced production Langer Heinrich and two are well advanced on way to production: Trekkopje and Husab. The ISL model continues its success in Central Asia with large discoveries in Mongolia and China. Europe has been revisited by some juniors with an increase of resources in Spain (Salamanca) and Slovakia (Kuriskova). Some countries entered into the uranium club with maiden resources namely Mali (Falea), Mauritania and Peru (Macusani caldeira). The Karoo formation revitalised interest for exploration within Paraguay, South Africa (Rieskuil), Botswana (Lethlakane), Zambia (Mutanga, Chirundu) and the exploitation

Individual and group-level job resources and their relationships with individual work engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Füllemann, Désirée; Brauchli, Rebecca; Jenny, Gregor J; Bauer, Georg F

2016-06-16

This study adds a multilevel perspective to the well-researched individual-level relationship between job resources and work engagement. In addition, we explored whether individual job resources cluster within work groups because of a shared psychosocial environment and investigated whether a resource-rich psychosocial work group environment is beneficial for employee engagement over and above the beneficial effect of individual job resources and independent of their variability within groups. Data of 1,219 employees nested in 103 work groups were obtained from a baseline employee survey of a large stress management intervention project implemented in six medium and large-sized organizations in diverse sectors. A variety of important job resources were assessed and grouped to an overall job resource factor with three subfactors (manager behavior, peer behavior, and task-related resources). Data were analyzed using multilevel random coefficient modeling. The results indicated that job resources cluster within work groups and can be aggregated to a group-level job resources construct. However, a resource-rich environment, indicated by high group-level job resources, did not additionally benefit employee work engagement but on the contrary, was negatively related to it. On the basis of this unexpected result, replication studies are encouraged and suggestions for future studies on possible underlying within-group processes are discussed. The study supports the presumed value of integrating work group as a relevant psychosocial environment into the motivational process and indicates a need to further investigate emergent processes involved in aggregation procedures across levels.

Loads as a Resource: Frequency Responsive Demand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kalsi, Karanjit [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lian, Jianming [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Marinovici, Laurentiu D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Elizondo, Marcelo A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Zhang, Wei [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Moya, Christian [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2014-10-08

Frequency control plays an important role in preserving the power balance of a multi-machine power system. Generators modify their power output when a non-zero frequency deviation is presented in order to restore power balance across the network. However, with plans for large-scale penetration of renewable energy resources, performing primary frequency control using only supply-side resources becomes not only prohibitively expensive, but also technically difficult. Frequency control from the demand side or load control presents a novel and viable way for providing the desired frequency response. Loads can measure frequency locally and change their power consumption after a non-zero frequency deviation is presented in order to achieve power balance between generation and consumption. The specific objectives of this project are to: •Provide a framework to facilitate large-scale deployment of frequency responsive end-use devices •Systematically design decentralized frequency-based load control strategies for enhanced stability performance •Ensure applicability over wide range of operating conditions while accounting for unpredictable end-use behavior and physical device constraints •Test and validate control strategy using large-scale simulations and field demonstrations •Create a level-playing field for smart grid assets with conventional generators

Environmentally Sustainable Apparel Acquisition and Disposal Behaviours among Slovenian Consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Žurga Zala

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Fibre production and textile processing comprise various industries that consume large amounts of energy and resources. Textiles are a largely untapped consumer commodity with a strong reuse and recycling potential, still fibres and fibre containing products ends up in landfill sites or in waste incinerators to a large extent. Reuse and recycle of waste clothing results in reduction in the environmental burden. Between 3% and 4% of the municipal solid waste stream in Slovenia is composed of apparel and textiles. This exploratory study examines consumer practices regarding purchase and the disposal of apparel in Slovenia. Data were collected through structured online survey from a representative random sample of 535 consumers. Responses to online questionnaire indicated the use of a variety of textile purchase and disposal methods. The influence of different sociodemographic variables on apparel purchase, disposal and recycling behaviour was examined. Moreover, the differences in the frequency of apparel recycling between consumers with and without an apparel bank available nearby were explored. This research was conducted, since it is crucial to analyse the means by which consumers are currently disposing their textile waste in order to plan the strategies that would encourage them to further reduce the amount of apparel sent to landfills.

Pregnancy and birth cohort resources in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Pernille Stemann; Kamper-Jørgensen, Mads; Adamson, Ashley

2013-01-01

During the past 25 years, many pregnancy and birth cohorts have been established. Each cohort provides unique opportunities for examining associations of early-life exposures with child development and health. However, to fully exploit the large amount of available resources and to facilitate cross...

Framework Resources Multiply Computing Power

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

As an early proponent of grid computing, Ames Research Center awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to 3DGeo Development Inc., of Santa Clara, California, (now FusionGeo Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas) to demonstrate a virtual computer environment that linked geographically dispersed computer systems over the Internet to help solve large computational problems. By adding to an existing product, FusionGeo enabled access to resources for calculation- or data-intensive applications whenever and wherever they were needed. Commercially available as Accelerated Imaging and Modeling, the product is used by oil companies and seismic service companies, which require large processing and data storage capacities.

Leasing policies for the extractive resources

Science.gov (United States)

Attanasi, E.D.; Johnson, S.R.

1976-01-01

Much of the available analysis of policies for the disposal of publicly held resources is based on comparatively straightforward extensions of the neoclassical pricing and allocation theory. As such, these analyses have to a large extent not fully incorporated the fact that firms normally acquire rights to these resources in sealed tender markets. In this paper, a simple bidding model is used to show that the choice of disposal policies can influence the firm's bid and also the public revenues obtained from the sale of the resource. It is additionally shown that the implications of such policy choices are conditioned by the firm's attitudes towards risk. Finally, it is argued that a modification of existing prescriptions may be necessary if a more realistic specification of the disposal problem taking account of the sealed tender market in which rights are obtained, is considered. ?? 1976 Annals of Regional Science.

Balancing supply and demand resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinha, J.; Saleeby, R.G.

1990-01-01

This article deals with using demand-side management (DSM) resources as an effective means of balancing supply and demand as a part of least-cost planning. The authors present a more sophisticated application of the load forecast adjustment method that reduces the number of DSM programs that need to be evaluated and provides blocks large enough to eliminate resolution problems in production costing models

Resource curse: An analysis of causes, experiences and possible ways forward

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevens, Paul; Dietsche, Evelyn

2008-01-01

Higher prices for oil, gas and mineral resources have again raised questions about how exporting countries can counter the challenges of resource curse. International experience managing the risks of resource curse has varied. Summarising the continuing discussion on meeting the challenges of the resource curse, this paper addresses four questions: What are the positive and negative effects of high oil, gas and mineral prices on exporters? What have been the experiences with managing natural resource revenues? Can good institutions ensure that natural resource revenues have a positive impact on development? And what is the direction for the way forward? We argue that the current emphasis on 'institutions' as a potential solution has largely ignored under what conditions institutions are formed and changed. (author)

The petroleum resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. 2009

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2009-07-01

Exploration activity has reached record-breaking levels in the last couple of years, which has led to many, but small, discoveries. The NPD believes that large discoveries can still be made in areas of the shelf that have not been extensively explored. Content: Challenges on the Norwegian continental shelf; Value creation in fields; 40 years of oil and gas production; Resource management; Still many possibilities; Energy consumption and the environment; Exploration; Access to acreage; Awards of new licenses; Exploration in frontier areas; Exploration history and statistics; Resources and forecasts; Undiscovered resources; Proven recoverable resources; Forecasts; Short-term petroleum production forecast (2009-2013); Investments- and operating costs forecasts; Long-term forecast for the petroleum production; Emissions from the petroleum activity. (AG)

Using the CMS high level trigger as a cloud resource

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colling, David; Huffman, Adam; Bauer, Daniela; McCrae, Alison; Cinquilli, Mattia; Gowdy, Stephen; Coarasa, Jose Antonio; Ozga, Wojciech; Chaze, Olivier; Lahiff, Andrew; Grandi, Claudio; Tiradani, Anthony; Sgaravatto, Massimo

2014-01-01

The CMS High Level Trigger is a compute farm of more than 10,000 cores. During data taking this resource is heavily used and is an integral part of the experiment's triggering system. However, outside of data taking periods this resource is largely unused. We describe why CMS wants to use the HLT as a cloud resource (outside of data taking periods) and how this has been achieved. In doing this we have turned a single-use cluster into an agile resource for CMS production computing. While we are able to use the HLT as a production cloud resource, there is still considerable further work that CMS needs to carry out before this resource can be used with the desired agility. This report, therefore, represents a snapshot of this activity at the time of CHEP 2013.

Wide-Area Publish/Subscribe Mobile Resource Discovery Based on IPv6 GeoNetworking

OpenAIRE

Noguchi, Satoru; Matsuura, Satoshi; Inomata, Atsuo; Fujikawa, Kazutoshi; Sunahara, Hideki

2013-01-01

Resource discovery is an essential function for distributed mobile applications integrated in vehicular communication systems. Key requirements of the mobile resource discovery are wide-area geographic-based discovery and scalable resource discovery not only inside a vehicular ad-hoc network but also through the Internet. While a number of resource discovery solutions have been proposed, most of them have focused on specific scale of network. Furthermore, managing a large number of mobile res...

Determinants of spatial distribution in a bee community: nesting resources, flower resources, and body size.

Science.gov (United States)

Torné-Noguera, Anna; Rodrigo, Anselm; Arnan, Xavier; Osorio, Sergio; Barril-Graells, Helena; da Rocha-Filho, Léo Correia; Bosch, Jordi

2014-01-01

Understanding biodiversity distribution is a primary goal of community ecology. At a landscape scale, bee communities are affected by habitat composition, anthropogenic land use, and fragmentation. However, little information is available on local-scale spatial distribution of bee communities within habitats that are uniform at the landscape scale. We studied a bee community along with floral and nesting resources over a 32 km2 area of uninterrupted Mediterranean scrubland. Our objectives were (i) to analyze floral and nesting resource composition at the habitat scale. We ask whether these resources follow a geographical pattern across the scrubland at bee-foraging relevant distances; (ii) to analyze the distribution of bee composition across the scrubland. Bees being highly mobile organisms, we ask whether bee composition shows a homogeneous distribution or else varies spatially. If so, we ask whether this variation is irregular or follows a geographical pattern and whether bees respond primarily to flower or to nesting resources; and (iii) to establish whether body size influences the response to local resource availability and ultimately spatial distribution. We obtained 6580 specimens belonging to 98 species. Despite bee mobility and the absence of environmental barriers, our bee community shows a clear geographical pattern. This pattern is mostly attributable to heterogeneous distribution of small (<55 mg) species (with presumed smaller foraging ranges), and is mostly explained by flower resources rather than nesting substrates. Even then, a large proportion (54.8%) of spatial variability remains unexplained by flower or nesting resources. We conclude that bee communities are strongly conditioned by local effects and may exhibit spatial heterogeneity patterns at a scale as low as 500-1000 m in patches of homogeneous habitat. These results have important implications for local pollination dynamics and spatial variation of plant-pollinator networks.

Determinants of spatial distribution in a bee community: nesting resources, flower resources, and body size.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Torné-Noguera

Full Text Available Understanding biodiversity distribution is a primary goal of community ecology. At a landscape scale, bee communities are affected by habitat composition, anthropogenic land use, and fragmentation. However, little information is available on local-scale spatial distribution of bee communities within habitats that are uniform at the landscape scale. We studied a bee community along with floral and nesting resources over a 32 km2 area of uninterrupted Mediterranean scrubland. Our objectives were (i to analyze floral and nesting resource composition at the habitat scale. We ask whether these resources follow a geographical pattern across the scrubland at bee-foraging relevant distances; (ii to analyze the distribution of bee composition across the scrubland. Bees being highly mobile organisms, we ask whether bee composition shows a homogeneous distribution or else varies spatially. If so, we ask whether this variation is irregular or follows a geographical pattern and whether bees respond primarily to flower or to nesting resources; and (iii to establish whether body size influences the response to local resource availability and ultimately spatial distribution. We obtained 6580 specimens belonging to 98 species. Despite bee mobility and the absence of environmental barriers, our bee community shows a clear geographical pattern. This pattern is mostly attributable to heterogeneous distribution of small (<55 mg species (with presumed smaller foraging ranges, and is mostly explained by flower resources rather than nesting substrates. Even then, a large proportion (54.8% of spatial variability remains unexplained by flower or nesting resources. We conclude that bee communities are strongly conditioned by local effects and may exhibit spatial heterogeneity patterns at a scale as low as 500-1000 m in patches of homogeneous habitat. These results have important implications for local pollination dynamics and spatial variation of plant-pollinator networks.

Large-Scale Analysis of Remote Code Injection Attacks in Android Apps

OpenAIRE

Choi, Hyunwoo; Kim, Yongdae

2018-01-01

It is pretty well known that insecure code updating procedures for Android allow remote code injection attack. However, other than codes, there are many resources in Android that have to be updated, such as temporary files, images, databases, and configurations (XML and JSON). Security of update procedures for these resources is largely unknown. This paper investigates general conditions for remote code injection attacks on these resources. Using this, we design and implement a static detecti...

Distributed energy resources in grid interactive AC microgrids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Xiongfei; Guerrero, Josep; Chen, Zhe

2010-01-01

Increased penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) and large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources are challenging the entire architecture of traditional power system. Microgrid, featuring higher flexibility and reliability, becomes an attractive candidate for the configuration...

Large-Scale Analysis of Remote Code Injection Attacks in Android Apps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyunwoo Choi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available It is pretty well known that insecure code updating procedures for Android allow remote code injection attack. However, other than codes, there are many resources in Android that have to be updated, such as temporary files, images, databases, and configurations (XML and JSON. Security of update procedures for these resources is largely unknown. This paper investigates general conditions for remote code injection attacks on these resources. Using this, we design and implement a static detection tool that automatically identifies apps that meet these conditions. We apply the detection tool to a large dataset comprising 9,054 apps, from three different types of datasets: official market, third-party market, and preinstalled apps. As a result, 97 apps were found to be potentially vulnerable, with 53 confirmed as vulnerable to remote code injection attacks.

On resource use in food production systems : the value of livestock as 'rest-stream upgrading system'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nonhebel, S

2004-01-01

A large part of the world's natural resources is used for the production of food for the world's population. The production of meat in particular is assumed to put a large claim on resources. On the other hand, livestock is often fed with residues from the food industry, so meat production can be

Workflow management in large distributed systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Legrand, I; Newman, H; Voicu, R; Dobre, C; Grigoras, C

2011-01-01

The MonALISA (Monitoring Agents using a Large Integrated Services Architecture) framework provides a distributed service system capable of controlling and optimizing large-scale, data-intensive applications. An essential part of managing large-scale, distributed data-processing facilities is a monitoring system for computing facilities, storage, networks, and the very large number of applications running on these systems in near realtime. All this monitoring information gathered for all the subsystems is essential for developing the required higher-level services—the components that provide decision support and some degree of automated decisions—and for maintaining and optimizing workflow in large-scale distributed systems. These management and global optimization functions are performed by higher-level agent-based services. We present several applications of MonALISA's higher-level services including optimized dynamic routing, control, data-transfer scheduling, distributed job scheduling, dynamic allocation of storage resource to running jobs and automated management of remote services among a large set of grid facilities.

Workflow management in large distributed systems

Science.gov (United States)

Legrand, I.; Newman, H.; Voicu, R.; Dobre, C.; Grigoras, C.

2011-12-01

The MonALISA (Monitoring Agents using a Large Integrated Services Architecture) framework provides a distributed service system capable of controlling and optimizing large-scale, data-intensive applications. An essential part of managing large-scale, distributed data-processing facilities is a monitoring system for computing facilities, storage, networks, and the very large number of applications running on these systems in near realtime. All this monitoring information gathered for all the subsystems is essential for developing the required higher-level services—the components that provide decision support and some degree of automated decisions—and for maintaining and optimizing workflow in large-scale distributed systems. These management and global optimization functions are performed by higher-level agent-based services. We present several applications of MonALISA's higher-level services including optimized dynamic routing, control, data-transfer scheduling, distributed job scheduling, dynamic allocation of storage resource to running jobs and automated management of remote services among a large set of grid facilities.

Assembling large, complex environmental metagenomes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Howe, A. C. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Jansson, J. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division; Malfatti, S. A. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tringe, S. G. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tiedje, J. M. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Brown, C. T. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Computer Science and Engineering

2012-12-28

The large volumes of sequencing data required to sample complex environments deeply pose new challenges to sequence analysis approaches. De novo metagenomic assembly effectively reduces the total amount of data to be analyzed but requires significant computational resources. We apply two pre-assembly filtering approaches, digital normalization and partitioning, to make large metagenome assemblies more computationaly tractable. Using a human gut mock community dataset, we demonstrate that these methods result in assemblies nearly identical to assemblies from unprocessed data. We then assemble two large soil metagenomes from matched Iowa corn and native prairie soils. The predicted functional content and phylogenetic origin of the assembled contigs indicate significant taxonomic differences despite similar function. The assembly strategies presented are generic and can be extended to any metagenome; full source code is freely available under a BSD license.

Mind the Gap: Dealing with Resource Revenue in Three Provinces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronald D. Kneebone

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador have each enjoyed a “rags to riches” story. Each of these provinces entered Confederation as poor cousins relative to the rest of the country; Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905 and Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. Rather remarkably, almost exactly four decades after entering Confederation each province began to enjoy the strong economic growth resulting from the development of their natural resources; Alberta and Saskatchewan in the late 1940s with the discovery of large pools of oil and Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 1990s with the development of off-shore oil. The governments of these provinces have similarly enjoyed the benefits of large amounts of revenue realized from the sale of these natural resources. In 2013-14, resource revenues accounted for 21 per cent, 22 per cent and 32 per cent of provincial revenues in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, respectively. Unfortunately, the benefit of receiving large amounts of resource revenue must be weighed against two costs. The first is that these revenues, having flowed into provincial coffers without the need to impose high tax rates on citizens, are easily spent. The second cost is that the prices of resources are determined in international markets and so a significant amount of the revenues of these provinces is largely unpredictable and often volatile. All three provinces have fallen prey to the temptation to allow a large fiscal gap to open between the costs of providing health care, education, social assistance and other areas of provincial responsibility and the taxes imposed on citizens to pay for these services. Doing so has put all three provinces at financial risk should resource prices fall. Using a newly constructed data set spanning the period 1970 to 2014, I review the history of how Alberta and Saskatchewan have dealt with commodity price shocks and what this has meant for provincial finances. With that

3D large-scale calculations using the method of characteristics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahmani, M.; Roy, R.; Koclas, J.

2004-01-01

An overview of the computational requirements and the numerical developments made in order to be able to solve 3D large-scale problems using the characteristics method will be presented. To accelerate the MCI solver, efficient acceleration techniques were implemented and parallelization was performed. However, for the very large problems, the size of the tracking file used to store the tracks can still become prohibitive and exceed the capacity of the machine. The new 3D characteristics solver MCG will now be introduced. This methodology is dedicated to solve very large 3D problems (a part or a whole core) without spatial homogenization. In order to eliminate the input/output problems occurring when solving these large problems, we define a new computing scheme that requires more CPU resources than the usual one, based on sweeps over large tracking files. The huge capacity of storage needed in some problems and the related I/O queries needed by the characteristics solver are replaced by on-the-fly recalculation of tracks at each iteration step. Using this technique, large 3D problems are no longer I/O-bound, and distributed CPU resources can be efficiently used. (author)

Online Resources

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Genetics; Online Resources. Journal of Genetics. Online Resources. Volume 97. 2018 | Online resources. Volume 96. 2017 | Online resources. Volume 95. 2016 | Online resources. Volume 94. 2015 | Online resources. Volume 93. 2014 | Online resources. Volume 92. 2013 | Online resources ...

Industrial Performance of the Renewable Resources Industry in China

OpenAIRE

Dong Zhou; Xingang Zhao

2015-01-01

Promoting the development of renewable resources industry is an effective way to solve the problems of resources shortage and environmental pollution in China. In this paper, studies have found that “market structure” and “ownership structure”, namely “double structure”, is an important explanatory variable that affects industrial performance according to the “structure-conduct-performance” paradigm. Literature reviews have shown that large state-owned enterprises are playing an important rol...

Coordinated Collaboration between Heterogeneous Distributed Energy Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahin Abdollahy

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A power distribution feeder, where a heterogeneous set of distributed energy resources is deployed, is examined by simulation. The energy resources include PV, battery storage, natural gas GenSet, fuel cells, and active thermal storage for commercial buildings. The resource scenario considered is one that may exist in a not too distant future. Two cases of interaction between different resources are examined. One interaction involves a GenSet used to partially offset the duty cycle of a smoothing battery connected to a large PV system. The other example involves the coordination of twenty thermal storage devices, each associated with a commercial building. Storage devices are intended to provide maximum benefit to the building, but it is shown that this can have a deleterious effect on the overall system, unless the action of the individual storage devices is coordinated. A network based approach is also introduced to calculate some type of effectiveness metric to all available resources which take part in coordinated operation. The main finding is that it is possible to achieve synergy between DERs on a system; however this required a unified strategy to coordinate the action of all devices in a decentralized way.

Developing A Large-Scale, Collaborative, Productive Geoscience Education Network

Science.gov (United States)

Manduca, C. A.; Bralower, T. J.; Egger, A. E.; Fox, S.; Ledley, T. S.; Macdonald, H.; Mcconnell, D. A.; Mogk, D. W.; Tewksbury, B. J.

2012-12-01

Over the past 15 years, the geoscience education community has grown substantially and developed broad and deep capacity for collaboration and dissemination of ideas. While this community is best viewed as emergent from complex interactions among changing educational needs and opportunities, we highlight the role of several large projects in the development of a network within this community. In the 1990s, three NSF projects came together to build a robust web infrastructure to support the production and dissemination of on-line resources: On The Cutting Edge (OTCE), Earth Exploration Toolbook, and Starting Point: Teaching Introductory Geoscience. Along with the contemporaneous Digital Library for Earth System Education, these projects engaged geoscience educators nationwide in exploring professional development experiences that produced lasting on-line resources, collaborative authoring of resources, and models for web-based support for geoscience teaching. As a result, a culture developed in the 2000s in which geoscience educators anticipated that resources for geoscience teaching would be shared broadly and that collaborative authoring would be productive and engaging. By this time, a diverse set of examples demonstrated the power of the web infrastructure in supporting collaboration, dissemination and professional development . Building on this foundation, more recent work has expanded both the size of the network and the scope of its work. Many large research projects initiated collaborations to disseminate resources supporting educational use of their data. Research results from the rapidly expanding geoscience education research community were integrated into the Pedagogies in Action website and OTCE. Projects engaged faculty across the nation in large-scale data collection and educational research. The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network and OTCE engaged community members in reviewing the expanding body of on-line resources. Building Strong

Patterns and Features of Global Uranium Resources and Production

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Feifei; Song, Zisheng; Cheng, Xianghu; Huanhuan, MA

2017-11-01

With the entry into force of the Paris Agreement, the development of clean and low-carbon energy has become the consensus of the world. Nuclear power is one energy that can be vigorously developed today and in the future. Its sustainable development depends on a sufficient supply of uranium resources. It is of great practical significance to understand the distribution pattern of uranium resources and production. Based on the latest international authoritative reports and data, this paper analysed the distribution of uranium resources, the distribution of resources and production in the world, and the developing tendency in future years. The results show that the distribution of uranium resources is uneven in the world, and the discrepancies between different type deposits is very large. Among them, sandstone-type uranium deposits will become the main type owing to their advantages of wide distribution, minor environmental damage, mature mining technology and high economic benefit.

Disaster and Contingency Planning for Scientific Shared Resource Cores.

Science.gov (United States)

Mische, Sheenah; Wilkerson, Amy

2016-04-01

Progress in biomedical research is largely driven by improvements, innovations, and breakthroughs in technology, accelerating the research process, and an increasingly complex collaboration of both clinical and basic science. This increasing sophistication has driven the need for centralized shared resource cores ("cores") to serve the scientific community. From a biomedical research enterprise perspective, centralized resource cores are essential to increased scientific, operational, and cost effectiveness; however, the concentration of instrumentation and resources in the cores may render them highly vulnerable to damage from severe weather and other disasters. As such, protection of these assets and the ability to recover from a disaster is increasingly critical to the mission and success of the institution. Therefore, cores should develop and implement both disaster and business continuity plans and be an integral part of the institution's overall plans. Here we provide an overview of key elements required for core disaster and business continuity plans, guidance, and tools for developing these plans, and real-life lessons learned at a large research institution in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Disaster and Contingency Planning for Scientific Shared Resource Cores

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkerson, Amy

2016-01-01

Progress in biomedical research is largely driven by improvements, innovations, and breakthroughs in technology, accelerating the research process, and an increasingly complex collaboration of both clinical and basic science. This increasing sophistication has driven the need for centralized shared resource cores (“cores”) to serve the scientific community. From a biomedical research enterprise perspective, centralized resource cores are essential to increased scientific, operational, and cost effectiveness; however, the concentration of instrumentation and resources in the cores may render them highly vulnerable to damage from severe weather and other disasters. As such, protection of these assets and the ability to recover from a disaster is increasingly critical to the mission and success of the institution. Therefore, cores should develop and implement both disaster and business continuity plans and be an integral part of the institution’s overall plans. Here we provide an overview of key elements required for core disaster and business continuity plans, guidance, and tools for developing these plans, and real-life lessons learned at a large research institution in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. PMID:26848285

Financial Resources of NGOs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoleta Ciucescu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Due to the low funding levels registered in recent years in the NGO sector in Romania, many NGOs have faced a number of difficulties, some of them have ceased to carry on business. Financial position of the governmental sector is poor, especially for large organizations that are strictly dependent on foreign funds. For the good functioning of NGOs activity, it is requiring a constant concern for finacial fundraising. The article aims to present the diversity of financial resources of NGOs.

Determinants of Spatial Distribution in a Bee Community: Nesting Resources, Flower Resources, and Body Size

Science.gov (United States)

Torné-Noguera, Anna; Rodrigo, Anselm; Arnan, Xavier; Osorio, Sergio; Barril-Graells, Helena; da Rocha-Filho, Léo Correia; Bosch, Jordi

2014-01-01

Understanding biodiversity distribution is a primary goal of community ecology. At a landscape scale, bee communities are affected by habitat composition, anthropogenic land use, and fragmentation. However, little information is available on local-scale spatial distribution of bee communities within habitats that are uniform at the landscape scale. We studied a bee community along with floral and nesting resources over a 32 km2 area of uninterrupted Mediterranean scrubland. Our objectives were (i) to analyze floral and nesting resource composition at the habitat scale. We ask whether these resources follow a geographical pattern across the scrubland at bee-foraging relevant distances; (ii) to analyze the distribution of bee composition across the scrubland. Bees being highly mobile organisms, we ask whether bee composition shows a homogeneous distribution or else varies spatially. If so, we ask whether this variation is irregular or follows a geographical pattern and whether bees respond primarily to flower or to nesting resources; and (iii) to establish whether body size influences the response to local resource availability and ultimately spatial distribution. We obtained 6580 specimens belonging to 98 species. Despite bee mobility and the absence of environmental barriers, our bee community shows a clear geographical pattern. This pattern is mostly attributable to heterogeneous distribution of small (nesting substrates. Even then, a large proportion (54.8%) of spatial variability remains unexplained by flower or nesting resources. We conclude that bee communities are strongly conditioned by local effects and may exhibit spatial heterogeneity patterns at a scale as low as 500–1000 m in patches of homogeneous habitat. These results have important implications for local pollination dynamics and spatial variation of plant-pollinator networks. PMID:24824445

Mineral Resources: Reserves, Peak Production and the Future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence D. Meinert

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The adequacy of mineral resources in light of population growth and rising standards of living has been a concern since the time of Malthus (1798, but many studies erroneously forecast impending peak production or exhaustion because they confuse reserves with “all there is”. Reserves are formally defined as a subset of resources, and even current and potential resources are only a small subset of “all there is”. Peak production or exhaustion cannot be modeled accurately from reserves. Using copper as an example, identified resources are twice as large as the amount projected to be needed through 2050. Estimates of yet-to-be discovered copper resources are up to 40-times more than currently-identified resources, amounts that could last for many centuries. Thus, forecasts of imminent peak production due to resource exhaustion in the next 20–30 years are not valid. Short-term supply problems may arise, however, and supply-chain disruptions are possible at any time due to natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes or political complications. Needed to resolve these problems are education and exploration technology development, access to prospective terrain, better recycling and better accounting of externalities associated with production (pollution, loss of ecosystem services and water and energy use.

Design principles for global commons: Natural resources and emerging technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul C. Stern

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Ostrom’s design principles for managing common pool resources were developed largely by examining local commons involving natural resources. This paper enumerates several key characteristics that distinguish such commons from more complex commons involving global resources and the risks of emerging technologies. It considers the degree to which the design principles transfer to those commons and concludes that although they have considerable external validity, the list needs some modification and elaboration to apply to global resources and risk commons. A list of design principles is offered for global resource commons and the risks of emerging technologies. Applying Ostrom’s approach to global resources and emerging technologies can improve understanding and expand the solution set for these problems from international treaties, top-down national regulation, and interventions in market pricing systems to include non-governmental institutions that embody principles of self-governance.

Choosing What to Protect When Attacker Resources and Asset Valuations are Uncertain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kjell Hausken

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The situation has been modelled where the attacker's resources are unknown to the defender. Protecting assets presupposes that the defender has some information on the attacker's resource capabilities. An attacker targets one of two assets. The attacker's resources and valuations of these assets are drawn probabilistically. We specify when the isoutility curves are upward sloping (the defender prefers to invest less in defense, thus leading to higher probabilities of success for attacks on both assets or downward sloping (e.g. when one asset has a low value or high unit defense cost. This stands in contrast to earlier research and results from the uncertainty regarding the level of the attacker's resources. We determine which asset the attacker targets depending on his type, unit attack costs, the contest intensity, and investment in defense. A two stage game is considered, where the defender moves first and the attacker moves second. When both assets are equivalent and are treated equivalently by both players, an interior equilibrium exists when the contest intensity is low, and a corner equilibrium with no defense exists when the contest intensity is large and the attacker holds large resources. Defense efforts are inverse U shaped in the attacker's resources. (original abstract

How important are peatlands globally in providing drinking water resources?

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jiren; Morris, Paul; Holden, Joseph

2017-04-01

The potential role of peatlands as water stores and sources of downstream water resources for human use is often cited in publications setting the context for the importance of peatlands, but is rarely backed up with substantive evidence. We sought to determine the global role of peatlands in water resource provision. We developed the Peat Population Index (PPI) that combines the coverage of peat and the local population density to show focused (hotspot) areas where there is a combination of both large areas of peat and large populations who would potentially use water sourced from those peatlands. We also developed a method for estimating the proportion of river water that interacted with contributing peatlands before draining into rivers and reservoirs used as a drinking water resource. The Peat Reservoir Index (PRI) estimates the contribution of peatlands to domestic water use to be 1.64 km3 per year which is 0.35 % of the global total. The results suggest that although peatlands are widespread, the spatial distribution of the high PPI and PRI river basins is concentrated in European middle latitudes particularly around major conurbations in The Netherlands, northern England, Scotland (Glasgow) and Ireland (Dublin), although there were also some important systems in Florida, the Niger Delta and Malaysia. More detailed research into water resource provision in high PPI areas showed that they were not always also high PRI areas as often water resources were delivered to urban centres from non-peat areas, despite a large area of peat within the catchment. However, particularly in the UK and Ireland, there are some high PRI systems where peatlands directly supply water to nearby urban centres. Thus both indices are useful and can be used at a global level while more local refinement enables enhanced use which supports global and local peatland protection measures. We now intend to study the impacts of peatland degradation and climate change on water resource

Webwatch: An information resource for CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McEntee, Mark

2007-01-01

The World Wide Web is a fantastic resource for information. It is often the first place that students and Radiographers alike will turn to when looking for information. This paper draws attention to several websites of interest while mainly concentrating on one website with an abundance of information for Healthcare Professional working in CT. Although this website uses a lot of information from the equipment manufacturers' guidelines, it is a very useful resource with many clinical tips. CT is us is a large website that can sometimes be a little difficult to navigate. The streaming of video lectures brings content alive, while the frequent updates and the interactivity of the feedback session make it worth a visit

Overhead-Aware-Best-Fit (OABF) Resource Allocation Algorithm for Minimizing VM Launching Overhead

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Hao [IIT; Garzoglio, Gabriele [Fermilab; Ren, Shangping [IIT, Chicago; Timm, Steven [Fermilab; Noh, Seo Young [KISTI, Daejeon

2014-11-11

FermiCloud is a private cloud developed in Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to provide elastic and on-demand resources for different scientific research experiments. The design goal of the FermiCloud is to automatically allocate resources for different scientific applications so that the QoS required by these applications is met and the operational cost of the FermiCloud is minimized. Our earlier research shows that VM launching overhead has large variations. If such variations are not taken into consideration when making resource allocation decisions, it may lead to poor performance and resource waste. In this paper, we show how we may use an VM launching overhead reference model to minimize VM launching overhead. In particular, we first present a training algorithm that automatically tunes a given refer- ence model to accurately reflect FermiCloud environment. Based on the tuned reference model for virtual machine launching overhead, we develop an overhead-aware-best-fit resource allocation algorithm that decides where and when to allocate resources so that the average virtual machine launching overhead is minimized. The experimental results indicate that the developed overhead-aware-best-fit resource allocation algorithm can significantly improved the VM launching time when large number of VMs are simultaneously launched.

A Resource-Aware Component Model for Embedded Systems

OpenAIRE

Vulgarakis, Aneta

2009-01-01

Embedded systems are microprocessor-based systems that cover a large range of computer systems from ultra small computer-based devices to large systems monitoring and controlling complex processes. The particular constraints that must be met by embedded systems, such as timeliness, resource-use efficiency, short time-to-market and low cost, coupled with the increasing complexity of embedded system software, demand technologies and processes that will tackle these issues. An attractive approac...

Water resources management plan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glauco Maia

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Water resources manageWith the mission of providing reliable data for water supply activities in medium and large firefighting operations, the Firefighting Water Supply Tactical Group (GTSAI represents an important sector of the Rio de Janeiro State Fire Departmentment plan strategic support. Acting proactively, the Tactical Group prepared a Water Resources Management Plan, aiming to set up water resources for each jurisdiction of firefighters in the City of Rio de Janeiro, in order to assist the Fire Department in its missions. This goal was reached, and in association with LAGEOP (Geoprocessing Laboratory, UFRJ, the Tactical Group started using GIS techniques. The plan provides for the register of existing operational structures within each group (troops, vehicles and special equipment, along with knowledge about the nature and operating conditions of fire hydrants, as well as a detailed survey of areas considered to be "critical". The survey helps to support actions related to environmental disasters involved in the aforementioned critical areas (hospital, churches, schools, and chemical industries, among others. The Caju neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro, was defined as initial application area, and was the first jurisdiction to have the system implemented, followed by Copacabana, Leblon, Lagoa, and Catete districts.

Supporting end-to-end resource virtualization for Web 2.0 applications using Service Oriented Architecture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papagianni, C.; Karagiannis, Georgios; Tselikas, N. D.; Sfakianakis, E.; Chochliouros, I. P.; Kabilafkas, D.; Cinkler, T.; Westberg, L.; Sjödin, P.; Hidell, M.; Heemstra de Groot, S.M.; Kontos, T.; Katsigiannis, C.; Pappas, C.; Antonakopoulou, A.; Venieris, I.S.

2008-01-01

In recent years, technologies have been introduced offering a large amount of computing and networking resources. New applications such as Google AdSense and BitTorrent can profit from the use of these resources. An efficient way of discovering and reserving these resources is by using the Service

Increasing biomass resource availability through supply chain analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welfle, Andrew; Gilbert, Paul; Thornley, Patricia

2014-01-01

Increased inclusion of biomass in energy strategies all over the world means that greater mobilisation of biomass resources will be required to meet demand. Strategies of many EU countries assume the future use of non-EU sourced biomass. An increasing number of studies call for the UK to consider alternative options, principally to better utilise indigenous resources. This research identifies the indigenous biomass resources that demonstrate the greatest promise for the UK bioenergy sector and evaluates the extent that different supply chain drivers influence resource availability. The analysis finds that the UK's resources with greatest primary bioenergy potential are household wastes (>115 TWh by 2050), energy crops (>100 TWh by 2050) and agricultural residues (>80 TWh by 2050). The availability of biomass waste resources was found to demonstrate great promise for the bioenergy sector, although are highly susceptible to influences, most notably by the focus of adopted waste management strategies. Biomass residue resources were found to be the resource category least susceptible to influence, with relatively high near-term availability that is forecast to increase – therefore representing a potentially robust resource for the bioenergy sector. The near-term availability of UK energy crops was found to be much less significant compared to other resource categories. Energy crops represent long-term potential for the bioenergy sector, although achieving higher limits of availability will be dependent on the successful management of key influencing drivers. The research highlights that the availability of indigenous resources is largely influenced by a few key drivers, this contradicting areas of consensus of current UK bioenergy policy. - Highlights: • As global biomass demand increases, focus is placed indigenous resources. • A Biomass Resource Model is applied to analyse UK biomass supply chain dynamics. • Biomass availability is best increased

The Impacts of the Great Recession on State Natural Resource Extension Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Serenari, Christopher; Peterson, M. Nils; Bardon, Robert E.; Brown, Robert D.

2013-01-01

The Great Recession contributed to major budget cuts for natural resource Extension programs in the United States. Despite the potentially large cuts, their impacts and how Extension has adapted their programs have not been evaluated. We begin addressing these needs with surveys of Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals members…

Resources access needs and capabilities as mediators of the relationship between VC firm size and syndication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Verwaal (Ernst); J. Bruining (Hans); D.M. Wright (Mike); S. Manigart (Sophie); A. Lockett (Andy)

2010-01-01

textabstractDrawing from the resource-based view and transaction costs economics, we develop a theoretical framework to explain why small and large firms face different levels of resource access needs and resource access capabilities, which mediate the relationship between firm size and hybrid

Assessment of renewable energy resources potential for large scale and standalone applications in Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tucho, Gudina Terefe; Weesie, Peter D.M.; Nonhebel, Sanderine

2014-01-01

This study aims to determine the contribution of renewable energy to large scale and standalone application in Ethiopia. The assessment starts by determining the present energy system and the available potentials. Subsequently, the contribution of the available potentials for large scale and

Natural resource economic implications of geothermal area use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Darby, d' E Charles

1993-01-28

Large-scale use of geothermal energy is likely to result in depletion of natural resources that support both biodiversity and other human uses. Most of the problems could be averted with competent planning and adherence to agreed conditions, but they commonly develop because they are not perceived to be directly geothermal in origin and hence are not taken into account adequately. Some of the implications of such issues are discussed below, with particular reference to countries where all or most resources are held under traditional principals of custom ownership.

Analysis of the Economic Impact of Large-Scale Deployment of Biomass Resources for Energy and Materials in the Netherlands. Macro-economics biobased synthesis report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoefnagels, R.; Dornburg, V.; Faaij, A.; Banse, M.

2009-03-01

The Bio-based Raw Materials Platform (PGG), part of the Energy Transition in The Netherlands, commissioned the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) and the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University to conduct research on the macro-economic impact of large scale deployment of biomass for energy and materials in the Netherlands. Two model approaches were applied based on a consistent set of scenario assumptions: a bottom-up study including technoeconomic projections of fossil and bio-based conversion technologies and a topdown study including macro-economic modelling of (global) trade of biomass and fossil resources. The results of the top-down and bottom-up modelling work are reported separately. The results of the synthesis of the modelling work are presented in this report

The survival of the conformist: social pressure and renewable resource management.

Science.gov (United States)

Tavoni, Alessandro; Schlüter, Maja; Levin, Simon

2012-04-21

This paper examines the role of other-regarding behavior as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of cooperation in resource use under variable social and environmental conditions. By coupling resource stock dynamics with social dynamics concerning compliance to a social norm prescribing non-excessive resource extraction in a common pool resource, we show that when reputational considerations matter and a sufficient level of social stigma affects the violators of a norm, sustainable outcomes are achieved. We find large parameter regions where norm-observing and norm-violating types coexist, and analyze to what extent such coexistence depends on the environment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lunar Water Resource Demonstration

Science.gov (United States)

Muscatello, Anthony C.

2008-01-01

In cooperation with the Canadian Space Agency, the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, Inc., the Carnegie-Mellon University, JPL, and NEPTEC, NASA has undertaken the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) project called RESOLVE. This project is a ground demonstration of a system that would be sent to explore permanently shadowed polar lunar craters, drill into the regolith, determine what volatiles are present, and quantify them in addition to recovering oxygen by hydrogen reduction. The Lunar Prospector has determined these craters contain enhanced hydrogen concentrations averaging about 0.1%. If the hydrogen is in the form of water, the water concentration would be around 1%, which would translate into billions of tons of water on the Moon, a tremendous resource. The Lunar Water Resource Demonstration (LWRD) is a part of RESOLVE designed to capture lunar water and hydrogen and quantify them as a backup to gas chromatography analysis. This presentation will briefly review the design of LWRD and some of the results of testing the subsystem. RESOLVE is to be integrated with the Scarab rover from CMIJ and the whole system demonstrated on Mauna Kea on Hawaii in November 2008. The implications of lunar water for Mars exploration are two-fold: 1) RESOLVE and LWRD could be used in a similar fashion on Mars to locate and quantify water resources, and 2) electrolysis of lunar water could provide large amounts of liquid oxygen in LEO, leading to lower costs for travel to Mars, in addition to being very useful at lunar outposts.

Wind resource estimation and siting of wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundtang Petersen, Erik; Mortensen, N.G.; Landberg, L.

1994-01-01

Detailed knowledge of the characteristics of the natural wind is necessary for the design, planning and operational aspect of wind energy systems. Here, we shall only be concerned with those meteorological aspects of wind energy planning that are termed wind resource estimation. The estimation...... of the wind resource ranges from the overall estimation of the mean energy content of the wind over a large area - called regional assessment - to the prediction of the average yearly energy production of a specific wind turbine at a specific location - called siting. A regional assessment will most often...... lead to a so-called wind atlas. A precise prediction of the wind speed at a given site is essential because for aerodynamic reasons the power output of a wind turbine is proportional to the third power of the wind speed, hence even small errors in prediction of wind speed may result in large deviations...

Supply chain strategies in an era of natural resource scarcity

OpenAIRE

Kalaitzi, Dimitra; Matopoulos, Aristides; Bourlakis, Michael; Tate, Wendy

2018-01-01

Purpose – The primary objective of this research is to explore the implications of natural resource scarcity for companies’ supply chain strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on resource dependence theory, a conceptual model is developed and validated through the means of exploratory research. The empirical work includes the assessment of qualitative data collected via 22 interviews representing 6 large multinational companies from the manufacturing sector. Findings – When the res...

Propylene from renewable resources: catalytic conversion of glycerol into propylene.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Lei; Yuan, Jing; Zhang, Qi; Liu, Yong-Mei; He, He-Yong; Fan, Kang-Nian; Cao, Yong

2014-03-01

Propylene, one of the most demanded commodity chemicals, is obtained overwhelmingly from fossil resources. In view of the diminishing fossil resources and the ongoing climate change, the identification of new efficient and alternative routes for the large-scale production of propylene from biorenewable resources has become essential. Herein, a new selective route for the synthesis of propylene from bio-derived glycerol is demonstrated. The route consists of the formation of 1-propanol (a versatile bulk chemical) as intermediate through hydrogenolysis of glycerol at a high selectivity. A subsequent dehydration produces propylene. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Stressors, resources, and distress among homeless persons: a longitudinal analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Y L; Piliavin, I

2001-04-01

Relations among stressors, resources, and psychological distress were examined using two waves of data obtained from a probability sample of homeless persons (N = 430) residing in a large, demographically diverse county in North California. The focus of research was to examine whether and how social resources and housing resources directly affect distress and mediate the impact of stress factors on depressive symptoms. Path analysis results revealed that levels of psychological distress were responsive to change in objective housing circumstances, with the attainment of domicile status being associated with fewer distress symptoms. Our findings, however, indicated only modest effects of social resources on psychological distress through direct effects and mediating effects of life stressors on distress. Overall, the study suggests that the relationships among stressors, resources, and distress for homeless persons may be understood within the same analytical framework for the general population.

Multilingual Paraprofessionals: An Untapped Resource for Supporting American Pluralism. Pathways to Prosperity: Growing a Multilingual Teacher Workforce

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Conor P.; Garcia, Amaya; Connally, Kaylan; Cook, Shayna; Dancy, Kim

2016-01-01

The nation's linguistic diversity is growing steadily, particularly among the youngest children. A growing body of research shows that these children are most successful when they participate in bilingual instructional programs (such as dual immersion, transitional bilingual and other models). But as good as instructional language diversity might…

Biotechnological Production of Organic Acids from Renewable Resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Pleissner, Daniel; Dietz, Donna; van Duuren, Jozef Bernhard Johann Henri; Wittmann, Christoph; Yang, Xiaofeng; Lin, Carol Sze Ki; Venus, Joachim

2017-03-07

Biotechnological processes are promising alternatives to petrochemical routes for overcoming the challenges of resource depletion in the future in a sustainable way. The strategies of white biotechnology allow the utilization of inexpensive and renewable resources for the production of a broad range of bio-based compounds. Renewable resources, such as agricultural residues or residues from food production, are produced in large amounts have been shown to be promising carbon and/or nitrogen sources. This chapter focuses on the biotechnological production of lactic acid, acrylic acid, succinic acid, muconic acid, and lactobionic acid from renewable residues, these products being used as monomers for bio-based material and/or as food supplements. These five acids have high economic values and the potential to overcome the "valley of death" between laboratory/pilot scale and commercial/industrial scale. This chapter also provides an overview of the production strategies, including microbial strain development, used to convert renewable resources into value-added products.

GapMap: Enabling Comprehensive Autism Resource Epidemiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Albert, Nikhila; Daniels, Jena; Schwartz, Jessey; Du, Michael; Wall, Dennis P

2017-05-04

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), finding resources can be a lengthy and difficult process. The difficulty in obtaining global, fine-grained autism epidemiological data hinders researchers from quickly and efficiently studying large-scale correlations among ASD, environmental factors, and geographical and cultural factors. The objective of this study was to define resource load and resource availability for families affected by autism and subsequently create a platform to enable a more accurate representation of prevalence rates and resource epidemiology. We created a mobile application, GapMap, to collect locational, diagnostic, and resource use information from individuals with autism to compute accurate prevalence rates and better understand autism resource epidemiology. GapMap is hosted on AWS S3, running on a React and Redux front-end framework. The backend framework is comprised of an AWS API Gateway and Lambda Function setup, with secure and scalable end points for retrieving prevalence and resource data, and for submitting participant data. Measures of autism resource scarcity, including resource load, resource availability, and resource gaps were defined and preliminarily computed using simulated or scraped data. The average distance from an individual in the United States to the nearest diagnostic center is approximately 182 km (50 miles), with a standard deviation of 235 km (146 miles). The average distance from an individual with ASD to the nearest diagnostic center, however, is only 32 km (20 miles), suggesting that individuals who live closer to diagnostic services are more likely to be diagnosed. This study confirmed that individuals closer to diagnostic services are more likely to be diagnosed and proposes GapMap, a means to measure and enable the alleviation of increasingly overburdened diagnostic centers and resource-poor areas where parents are unable to diagnose their children as quickly and easily as needed. GapMap will

[Study on spatial distribution characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine resource species richness based on national census of Chinese medicine resources (pilot)].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Wang, Hui; Jing, Zhi-Xian; Li, Meng; Guo, Lan-Ping; Huang, Lu-Qi

2017-11-01

Based on the data collected by the census team in the national census information management system, the spatial autocorrelation analysis method was used to analyze the similarity of the richness of Chinese herbal medicine resources in the investigated counties. The results showed that the species richness in the investigated counties appeared a tendency to focus on the distribution of the characteristics. Among them, the areas with sparse resources are concentrated in most areas of the north of the Yangtze River, northwest and most areas of Tibet. The areas with abundant resources are concentrated in the areas south of the Yangtze River. The results showed that there were significant differences in the abundance of traditional Chinese medicine resources between regions. The results showed that there were significant differences in the abundance of traditional Chinese medicine resources between regions. Due to the large differences in the land area between the county and the richness of the types of traditional Chinese medicine resources, it is proposed to increase the land area of the traditional Chinese medicine resource census when allocating the fourth national census of Chinese medicine resources by the "factor method", and the richness of traditional Chinese medicine and other indicators, in order to give full play to the efficiency of transfer payment system. Based on the county area and the rich variety of traditional Chinese medicine resources, combined with the national drug resources census pilot work carried out, it is recommended to focus on attention and support in the national medicine resources census work, personnel team, funding, summary of results on the western and southern provinces. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Region 7 Significant Ecological Resource Areas (ECO_RES.SIG_REGIONS)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — SIG_REGIONS is a boundary layer that displays Region 7's Significant Ecological Resource Areas. This layer represents large areas within which different ecosystem...

Elite capture and the development of natural resource linkages in Mozambique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buur, Lars; Monjane, Celso Marcos

2017-01-01

for a more fair distribution of opportunities for local firms to gain from large-scale natural resource investments and for learning and spillover effects to other parts of the economy. In a longer term perspective, it is a potential key source of economic transformation towards higher value added activities......This chapter explores these broader processes from the perspective of linkage creation in Mozambique related to mega-projects in natural resource extraction and development from a political economy perspective. From a resource fairness perspective, linkage creation is essential as it allows...

NASA's Information Power Grid: Large Scale Distributed Computing and Data Management

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, William E.; Vaziri, Arsi; Hinke, Tom; Tanner, Leigh Ann; Feiereisen, William J.; Thigpen, William; Tang, Harry (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Large-scale science and engineering are done through the interaction of people, heterogeneous computing resources, information systems, and instruments, all of which are geographically and organizationally dispersed. The overall motivation for Grids is to facilitate the routine interactions of these resources in order to support large-scale science and engineering. Multi-disciplinary simulations provide a good example of a class of applications that are very likely to require aggregation of widely distributed computing, data, and intellectual resources. Such simulations - e.g. whole system aircraft simulation and whole system living cell simulation - require integrating applications and data that are developed by different teams of researchers frequently in different locations. The research team's are the only ones that have the expertise to maintain and improve the simulation code and/or the body of experimental data that drives the simulations. This results in an inherently distributed computing and data management environment.

Using CyberShake Workflows to Manage Big Seismic Hazard Data on Large-Scale Open-Science HPC Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Callaghan, S.; Maechling, P. J.; Juve, G.; Vahi, K.; Deelman, E.; Jordan, T. H.

2015-12-01

The CyberShake computational platform, developed by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), is an integrated collection of scientific software and middleware that performs 3D physics-based probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for Southern California. CyberShake integrates large-scale and high-throughput research codes to produce probabilistic seismic hazard curves for individual locations of interest and hazard maps for an entire region. A recent CyberShake calculation produced about 500,000 two-component seismograms for each of 336 locations, resulting in over 300 million synthetic seismograms in a Los Angeles-area probabilistic seismic hazard model. CyberShake calculations require a series of scientific software programs. Early computational stages produce data used as inputs by later stages, so we describe CyberShake calculations using a workflow definition language. Scientific workflow tools automate and manage the input and output data and enable remote job execution on large-scale HPC systems. To satisfy the requests of broad impact users of CyberShake data, such as seismologists, utility companies, and building code engineers, we successfully completed CyberShake Study 15.4 in April and May 2015, calculating a 1 Hz urban seismic hazard map for Los Angeles. We distributed the calculation between the NSF Track 1 system NCSA Blue Waters, the DOE Leadership-class system OLCF Titan, and USC's Center for High Performance Computing. This study ran for over 5 weeks, burning about 1.1 million node-hours and producing over half a petabyte of data. The CyberShake Study 15.4 results doubled the maximum simulated seismic frequency from 0.5 Hz to 1.0 Hz as compared to previous studies, representing a factor of 16 increase in computational complexity. We will describe how our workflow tools supported splitting the calculation across multiple systems. We will explain how we modified CyberShake software components, including GPU implementations and

Local electricity market design for the coordination of distributed energy resources at district level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ampatzis, M.; Nguyen, P.H.; Kling, W.L.

2014-01-01

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources at the distribution grid level creates concerns about their successful integration in the existing electric grid, designed for centralized generation by large power plants. Failure to the proper integration of distributed energy resources

ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems can streamline healthcare business functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, E K; Christenson, E

2001-05-01

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications are designed to facilitate the systemwide integration of complex processes and functions across a large enterprise consisting of many internal and external constituents. Although most currently available ERP applications generally are tailored to the needs of the manufacturing industry, many large healthcare systems are investigating these applications. Due to the significant differences between manufacturing and patient care, ERP-based systems do not easily translate to the healthcare setting. In particular, the lack of clinical standardization impedes the use of ERP systems for clinical integration. Nonetheless, an ERP-based system can help a healthcare organization integrate many functions, including patient scheduling, human resources management, workload forecasting, and management of workflow, that are not directly dependent on clinical decision making.

Optimization of rootkit revealing system resources – A game theoretic approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Muthumanickam

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Malicious rootkit is a collection of programs designed with the intent of infecting and monitoring the victim computer without the user’s permission. After the victim has been compromised, the remote attacker can easily cause further damage. In order to infect, compromise and monitor, rootkits adopt Native Application Programming Interface (API hooking technique. To reveal the hidden rootkits, current rootkit detection techniques check different data structures which hold reference to Native APIs. To verify these data structures, a large amount of system resources are required. This is because of the number of APIs in these data structures being quite large. Game theoretic approach is a useful mathematical tool to simulate network attacks. In this paper, a mathematical model is framed to optimize resource consumption using game-theory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to be proposed for optimizing resource consumption while revealing rootkit presence using game theory. Non-cooperative game model is taken to discuss the problem. Analysis and simulation results show that our game theoretic model can effectively reduce the resource consumption by selectively monitoring the number of APIs in windows platform.

Definition of technology development missions for early space stations. Large space structures, phase 2, midterm review

Science.gov (United States)

1984-01-01

The large space structures technology development missions to be performed on an early manned space station was studied and defined and the resources needed and the design implications to an early space station to carry out these large space structures technology development missions were determined. Emphasis is being placed on more detail in mission designs and space station resource requirements.

Reducing traffic in DHT-based discovery protocols for dynamic resources

Science.gov (United States)

Carlini, Emanuele; Coppola, Massimo; Laforenza, Domenico; Ricci, Laura

Existing peer-to-peer approaches for resource location based on distributed hash tables focus mainly on optimizing lookup query resolution. The underlying assumption is that the arrival ratio of lookup queries is higher than the ratio of resource publication operations. We propose a set of optimization strategies to reduce the network traffic generated by the data publication and update process when resources have dynamic-valued attributes. We aim at reducing the publication overhead of supporting multi-attribute range queries. We develop a model predicting the bandwidth reduction, and we assign proper values to the model variables on the basis of real data measurements. We further validate these results by a set of simulations. Our experiments are designed to reproduce the typical behaviour of the resulting scheme within large distributed resource location system, like the resource location service of the XtreemOS Grid-enabled Operating System.

Porphyry copper assessment of the Tibetan Plateau, China: Chapter F in Global mineral resource assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Ludington, Steve; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Robinson, Gilpin R.; Mars, John L.; Miller, Robert J.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with the China Geological Survey to conduct a mineral-resource assessment of resources in porphyry copper deposits on the Tibetan Plateau in western China. This area hosts several very large porphyry deposits, exemplified by the Yulong and Qulong deposits, each containing at least 7,000,000 metric tons (t) of copper. However, large parts of the area are underexplored and are likely to contain undiscovered porphyry copper deposits.

Technologies for utilization of industrial excess heat: Potentials for energy recovery and CO2 emission reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broberg Viklund, Sarah; Johansson, Maria T.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Technologies for recovery and use of industrial excess heat were investigated. • Heat harvesting, heat storage, heat utilization, and heat conversion technologies. • Heat recovery potential for Gävleborg County in Sweden was calculated. • Effects on global CO 2 emissions were calculated for future energy market scenarios. - Abstract: Industrial excess heat is a large untapped resource, for which there is potential for external use, which would create benefits for industry and society. Use of excess heat can provide a way to reduce the use of primary energy and to contribute to global CO 2 mitigation. The aim of this paper is to present different measures for the recovery and utilization of industrial excess heat and to investigate how the development of the future energy market can affect which heat utilization measure would contribute the most to global CO 2 emissions mitigation. Excess heat recovery is put into a context by applying some of the excess heat recovery measures to the untapped excess heat potential in Gävleborg County in Sweden. Two different cases for excess heat recovery are studied: heat delivery to a district heating system and heat-driven electricity generation. To investigate the impact of excess heat recovery on global CO 2 emissions, six consistent future energy market scenarios were used. Approximately 0.8 TWh/year of industrial excess heat in Gävleborg County is not used today. The results show that with the proposed recovery measures approximately 91 GWh/year of district heating, or 25 GWh/year of electricity, could be supplied from this heat. Electricity generation would result in reduced global CO 2 emissions in all of the analyzed scenarios, while heat delivery to a DH system based on combined heat and power production from biomass would result in increased global CO 2 emissions when the CO 2 emission charge is low

[Analysis on difference of richness of traditional Chinese medicine resources in Chongqing based on grid technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Qu, Xian-You; Li, Meng; Wang, Hui; Jing, Zhi-Xian; Liu, Xiang; Zhang, Zhi-Wei; Guo, Lan-Ping; Huang, Lu-Qi

2017-11-01

After the end of the national and local medicine resources census work, a large number of Chinese medicine resources and distribution of data will be summarized. The species richness between the regions is a valid indicator for objective reflection of inter-regional resources of Chinese medicine. Due to the large difference in the size of the county area, the assessment of the intercropping of the resources of the traditional Chinese medicine by the county as a statistical unit will lead to the deviation of the regional abundance statistics. Based on the rule grid or grid statistical methods, the size of the statistical unit due to different can be reduced, the differences in the richness of traditional Chinese medicine resources are caused. Taking Chongqing as an example, based on the existing survey data, the difference of richness of traditional Chinese medicine resources under different grid scale were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the 30 km grid could be selected and the richness of Chinese medicine resources in Chongqing could reflect the objective situation of intercropping resources richness in traditional Chinese medicine better. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Using wastes as resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prakasam, T.B.S.; Lue-Hing, C.

1992-01-01

The collection, treatment, and disposal of domestic and industrial wastewater, garbage, and other wastes present considerable problems in urban and semiurban areas of developing countries. Major benefits of using integrated treatment and resource recovery systems include waste stabilization, recovering energy as biogas, producing food from algae and fish, irrigation, improved public health, and aquatic weed control and use. Information and research are needed, however, to assesss the appropriateness, benefits, and limitations of such technology on a large scale. System configuration depends on the types and quantities of wastes available for processing. There must be enough collectable waste for the system to be viable. Information should be gathered to asses whether there is a net public health benefit by implementing a waste treatment and resource recovery system. Benefits such as savings in medical expenses and increased worker productivity due to improved health may be difficult to quantify. The potential health risks created by implementing a resource recovery system should be studied. The most difficult issues to contend with are socioeconomic in nature. Often, the poor performance of a proven technology is attributed to a lack of proper understanding of its principles by the operators, lack of community interest, improper operator training, and poor management. Public education to motivate people to accept technologies that are beneficial to them is important

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Socioeconomics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saulsbury, J.W.; Sorensen, B.M.; Reed, R.M. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Schexnayder, S.M. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

1995-03-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive the background information on socioeconomic resources collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3--4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The USDOE published a notice withdrawing its Notice of Intent to prepare the HGP EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. This document provides background information on socioeconomic resources in Hawaii County, with particular emphasis on the Puna District. Information is being made available for use by others in conducting future socioeconomic impact assessments in this area. this report describes existing socioeconomic resources in the areas studied and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts. The socioeconomic resources described are primarily those that would be affected by employment and population growth associated with any future large-scale development. These resource categories are population, housing, land use, economic structure, infrastructure and public services, local government revenues and expenditures, and tourism and recreation.

Natural resource assessment: an approach to science based planning in national parks

Science.gov (United States)

Mahan, C.G.; Vanderhorst, J.P.; Young, J.A.

2009-01-01

We conducted a natural resource assessment at two national parks, New River Gorge National River and Shenandoah National Park, to help meet the goals of the Natural Resource Challenge-a program to help strengthen natural resource management at national parks. We met this challenge by synthesizing and interpreting natural resource information for planning purposes and we identified information gaps and natural significance of resources. We identified a variety of natural resources at both parks as being globally and/or nationally significant, including large expanses of unfragmented, mixed-mesophytic forests that qualify for wilderness protection, rare plant communities, diverse assemblages of neotropical migratory birds and salamanders, and outstanding aquatic recreational resources. In addition, these parks function, in part, as ecological reserves for plants in and wildlife. With these significant natural resources in mind, we also developed a suite of natural resource management recommendations in light of increasing threats from within and outside park boundaries. We hope that our approach can provide a blueprint for natural resource conservation at publically owned lands.

Resource Use in Small Island States: Material Flows in Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago, 1961-2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Krausmann, Fridolin; Richter, Regina; Eisenmenger, Nina

2014-04-01

Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago are small open, high-income island economies with very specific resource-use patterns. This article presents a material flow analysis (MFA) for the two countries covering a time period of nearly five decades. Both countries have a narrow domestic resource base, their economy being largely based on the exploitation of one or two key resources for export production. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the physical economy is dominated by oil and natural gas extraction and petrochemical industries, whereas Iceland's economy for centuries has been based on fisheries. More recently, abundant hydropower and geothermal heat were the basis for the establishment of large export-oriented metal processing industries, which fully depend on imported raw materials and make use of domestic renewable electricity. Both countries are highly dependent on these natural resources and vulnerable to overexploitation and price developments. We show how the export-oriented industries lead to high and growing levels of per capita material and energy use and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from large amounts of processing wastes and energy consumption in production processes. The example of small open economies with an industrial production system focused on few, but abundant, key resources and of comparatively low complexity provides interesting insights of how resource endowment paired with availability or absence of infrastructure and specific institutional arrangements drives domestic resource-use patterns. This also contributes to a better understanding and interpretation of MFA indicators, such as domestic material consumption.

A Dynamic Resource Scheduling Method Based on Fuzzy Control Theory in Cloud Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhijia Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The resources in cloud environment have features such as large-scale, diversity, and heterogeneity. Moreover, the user requirements for cloud computing resources are commonly characterized by uncertainty and imprecision. Hereby, to improve the quality of cloud computing service, not merely should the traditional standards such as cost and bandwidth be satisfied, but also particular emphasis should be laid on some extended standards such as system friendliness. This paper proposes a dynamic resource scheduling method based on fuzzy control theory. Firstly, the resource requirements prediction model is established. Then the relationships between resource availability and the resource requirements are concluded. Afterwards fuzzy control theory is adopted to realize a friendly match between user needs and resources availability. Results show that this approach improves the resources scheduling efficiency and the quality of service (QoS of cloud computing.

Regulations and Strategy for a Loss of Large Area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, Heok-soon [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued 10 CFR 50.54(hh) that requires licensees to develop guidance and strategies for addressing the loss of large areas of the plant due to explosions or fires from a beyond-design basis event through the use of readily available resources and by identifying potential practicable areas for the use of beyond-readily-available resources. These strategies would address licensee response to events that are beyond the design basis of the facility. This paper illustrates overview of Regulations and some important Strategy for a Loss of Large Area of an advanced nuclear power plant. Regulations and Strategy for Loss of Large Area Analysis could be overlooked during the development stage of Physical Protection System. KHNP was done the project of Physical Protection System design including LOLA to meet the criteria of U.S. NRC and IAEA requirements in INFCIRC/225/Rev.5. The New Reactor should meet the regulatory requirements for LOLA. In the future, the results of project will expect to apply new NPPs.

Resource evaluation and site selection for microalgae production systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maxwell, E.L.; Folger, A.G.; Hogg, S.E.

1985-05-01

Climate, land, and water resource requirements of microalgae production systems (MPS) were examined relative to construction costs, operating costs, and biomass productivity. The objective was the stratification of the southwestern United States into zones of relative suitability for MPS. Maps of climate (insolation, freeze-free period, precipitation, evaporation, thunderstorm days), land (use/cover, ownership, slope), and water (saline groundwater) resource parameters were obtained. These maps were transformed into digital overlays permitting the cell-by-cell compositing of selected resource parameters to form maps representing relative productivity, make-up water, climate suitability, land suitability, water suitability, and overall suitability. The Southwest was selected for this study because of its high levels of insolation, saline water resources, and large areas of relatively low valued land. The stratification maps cannot be used for the selection of specific sites because of their low resolution (12,455-acre cells). They can be used to guide future resource studies and site selection efforts, however, by limiting these efforts to the most suitable regions. Future efforts should concentrate on saline water resources, for which only limited data are currently available. 13 refs., 44 figs., 5 tabs.

From energy efficiency towards resource efficiency within the Ecodesign Directive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bundgaard, Anja Marie; Mosgaard, Mette; Remmen, Arne

2017-01-01

on the most significant environmental impact has often resulted in a focus on energy efficiency in the use phase. Therefore, the Ecodesign Directive should continue to target resource efficiency aspects but also consider environ- mental aspects with a large improvement potential in addition to the most...... significant environmental impact. For the introduction of resource efficiency requirements into the Ecodesign Directive, these requirements have to be included in the preparatory study. It is therefore recommended to broaden the scope of the Methodology for the Ecodesign of Energy-related products and the Eco......The article examines the integration of resource efficiency into the European Ecodesign Directive. The purpose is to analyse the processes and stakeholder interactions, which formed the basis for integrating resource efficiency requirements into the implementing measure for vacuum cleaners...

Expecting a boomtown? Exploring potential housing – related impacts of large scale resource developments in Darwin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gretchen Ennis

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Darwin is a city in the Northern Territory of Australia expecting a ‘boomtown’ scenario due to significant natural resource developments in the Greater Darwin area. The experience of ‘booming’ has a range of impacts upon communities. Housing is a key area of impact, particularly for the most vulnerable members of a population, who may not reap the benefits of the ‘boom’. In Darwin, new resource developments will begin in the context of record high house prices, high rents and high homelessness rates. This literature review explores what is known about the housing-related impacts of boomtowns and considers the likely housing-related impacts of a boomtown scenario in Darwin. While the city’s diverse economy and population size may provide some insulation from severe boomtown impacts, housing availability and affordability is likely to be negatively impacted. The implications of this for the most vulnerable members of the greater Darwin population require careful consideration.

Phonetic alignment for speech synthesis in under-resourced languages

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Niekerk, DR

2009-09-01

Full Text Available to a lack of resources and expertise necessary for large scale development. Under these circumstances many techniques toward accurate segmentation are not feasible and it is unclear which approaches should be followed. In this paper the authors...

Water - an inexhaustible resource?

Science.gov (United States)

Le Divenah, C.; Esperou, E.

2012-04-01

We have chosen to present the topic "Water", by illustrating problems that will give better opportunities for interdisciplinary work between Natural Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology) teachers at first, but also English teachers and maybe others. Water is considered in general, in all its shapes and states. The question is not only about drinking water, but we would like to demonstrate that water can both be a fragile and short-lived resource in some ways, and an unlimited energy resource in others. Water exists on Earth in three states. It participates in a large number of chemical and physical processes (dissolution, dilution, biogeochemical cycles, repartition of heat in the oceans and the atmosphere, etc.), helping to maintain the homeostasis of the entire planet. It is linked to living beings, for which water is the major compound. The living beings essentially organized themselves into or around water, and this fact is also valid for human kind (energy, drinking, trade…). Water can also be a destroying agent for living beings (tsunamis, mud flows, collapse of electrical dams, pollution...) and for the solid earth (erosion, dissolution, fusion). I) Water, an essential resource for the human kind After having highlighted the disparities and geopolitical problems, the pupils will study the chemistry of water with its components and their origins (isotopes, water trip). Then the ways to make it drinkable will be presented (filtration, decantation, iceberg carrying…) II) From the origin of water... We could manage an activity where different groups put several hypotheses to the test, with the goal to understand the origin(s?) of water on Earth. Example: Isotopic signature of water showing its extraterrestrial origin.. Once done, we'll try to determine the origin of drinking water, as a fossil resource. Another use of isotopes will allow them to evaluate the drinking water age, to realize how precious it can be. III) Water as a sustainable energy

Diagnostic imaging learning resources evaluated by students and recent graduates.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Kate; Bélisle, Marilou; Dallaire, Sébastien; Fernandez, Nicolas; Doucet, Michèle

2013-01-01

Many learning resources can help students develop the problem-solving abilities and clinical skills required for diagnostic imaging. This study explored veterinary students' perceptions of the usefulness of a variety of learning resources. Perceived resource usefulness was measured for different levels of students and for academic versus clinical preparation. Third-year (n=139) and final (fifth) year (n=105) students and recent graduates (n=56) completed questionnaires on perceived usefulness of each resource. Resources were grouped for comparison: abstract/low complexity (e.g., notes, multimedia presentations), abstract/high complexity (e.g., Web-based and film case repositories), concrete/low complexity (e.g., large-group "clicker" workshops), and concrete/high complexity (e.g., small-group interpretation workshops). Lower-level students considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation and concrete resources more useful for clinical preparation. Higher-level students/recent graduates also considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation. For all levels, lecture notes were considered highly useful. Multimedia slideshows were an interactive complement to notes. The usefulness of a Web-based case repository was limited by accessibility problems and difficulty. Traditional abstract/low-complexity resources were considered useful for more levels and contexts than expected. Concrete/high-complexity resources need to better represent clinical practice to be considered more useful for clinical preparation.

The greenscape shapes surfing of resource waves in a large migratory herbivore.

Science.gov (United States)

Aikens, Ellen O; Kauffman, Matthew J; Merkle, Jerod A; Dwinnell, Samantha P H; Fralick, Gary L; Monteith, Kevin L

2017-06-01

The Green Wave Hypothesis posits that herbivore migration manifests in response to waves of spring green-up (i.e. green-wave surfing). Nonetheless, empirical support for the Green Wave Hypothesis is mixed, and a framework for understanding variation in surfing is lacking. In a population of migratory mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), 31% surfed plant phenology in spring as well as a theoretically perfect surfer, and 98% surfed better than random. Green-wave surfing varied among individuals and was unrelated to age or energetic state. Instead, the greenscape, which we define as the order, rate and duration of green-up along migratory routes, was the primary factor influencing surfing. Our results indicate that migratory routes are more than a link between seasonal ranges, and they provide an important, but often overlooked, foraging habitat. In addition, the spatiotemporal configuration of forage resources that propagate along migratory routes shape animal movement and presumably, energy gains during migration. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Large Infrastructure Project Plan with ANP

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

HAN Chuan-feng; CHEN Jian-ye

2005-01-01

Analytic Network Process(ANP) was used in comprehensive evaluation of large infrastructure project plan. A model including social economy, ecological environment, and resources was established with ANP method. The evaluation pattern of hierarchy structure and comprehensive evaluation method for quantity and quality of large infrastructure project were put forward, which provides an effective way to evaluate the large infrastructure project plan. Quantitative analysis indicated that the internal dependence relation of hierarchy structure has influence on ranking results of plan. It is suggested that considering the internal relation can helps managers make effective decisions.

Favorable Cardiovascular Health Is Associated With Lower Health Care Expenditures and Resource Utilization in a Large US Employee Population: The Baptist Health South Florida Employee Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Osondu, Chukwuemeka U; Aneni, Ehimen C; Valero-Elizondo, Javier; Salami, Joseph A; Rouseff, Maribeth; Das, Sankalp; Guzman, Henry; Younus, Adnan; Ogunmoroti, Oluseye; Feldman, Theodore; Agatston, Arthur S; Veledar, Emir; Katzen, Barry; Calitz, Chris; Sanchez, Eduardo; Lloyd-Jones, Donald M; Nasir, Khurram

2017-03-13

To examine the association of favorable cardiovascular health (CVH) status with 1-year health care expenditures and resource utilization in a large health care employee population. Employees of Baptist Health South Florida participated in a health risk assessment from January 1 through September 30, 2014. Information on dietary patterns, physical activity, blood pressure, blood glucose level, total cholesterol level, and smoking were collected. Participants were categorized into CVH profiles using the American Heart Association's ideal CVH construct as optimal (6-7 metrics), moderate (3-5 metrics), and low (0-2 metrics). Two-part econometric models were used to analyze health care expenditures. Of 9097 participants (mean ± SD age, 42.7±12.1 years), 1054 (11.6%) had optimal, 6945 (76.3%) had moderate, and 1098 (12.1%) had low CVH profiles. The mean annual health care expenditures among those with a low CVH profile was $10,104 (95% CI, $8633-$11,576) compared with $5824 (95% CI, $5485-$6164) and $4282 (95% CI, $3639-$4926) in employees with moderate and optimal CVH profiles, respectively. In adjusted analyses, persons with optimal and moderate CVH had a $2021 (95% CI, -$3241 to -$801) and $940 (95% CI, -$1560 to $80) lower mean expenditure, respectively, than those with low CVH. This trend remained even after adjusting for demographic characteristics and comorbid conditions as well as across all demographic subgroups. Similarly, health care resource utilization was significantly lower in those with optimal CVH profiles compared with those with moderate or low CVH profiles. Favorable CVH profile is associated with significantly lower total medical expenditures and health care utilization in a large, young, ethnically diverse, and fully insured employee population. Copyright © 2017 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the electrification of road transportation – A review of the environmental, economic, and social performance of electric two-wheelers

OpenAIRE

WEISS MARTIN; DEKKER Peter; MORO ALBERTO; SCHOLZ Harald; MARTIN Patel

2015-01-01

Electrification is widely considered as a viable strategy for reducing the oil dependency and environmental impacts of road transportation. In pursuit of this strategy, most attention has been paid to electric cars. However, substantial, yet untapped, potentials could be realized in urban areas through the large-scale introduction of electric two-wheelers. Here, we review the environmental, economic, and social performance of electric two-wheelers, demonstrating that these are generally more ...

Management strategies of marine food resources under multiple stressors with particular reference of the Yellow Sea large marine ecosystem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qisheng TANG

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In this study two main management strategies are discussed: one is to develop resource conservation-based capture fisheries, and the other is to develop environmentally friendly aquaculture. During the resource recovery period, the development of environmentally friendly aquaculture should be encouraged, especially in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, which is adaptive, efficient and sustainable. For future development and better understanding the ecosystem, it is necessary to further strengthen basic research.

The Political Economy of Land and Natural Resources in Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buur, Lars; Nystrand, Malin; Pedersen, Rasmus Hundsbæk

Large-scale investments in natural resources (extractives as well as agriculture) can help transform African economies by accelerating economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening the links between local economies and the global economy more broadly. However, they often end up violating rights......, which in turn may lead to social protests and political instability. This Working Paper develops an analytical framework for analysing the implementation of large-scale investments in natural resources. It focuses on the triangular relations between investors, local populations and ruling elites....... The framework treats the outcomes of these triangular relationships as involving ‘reciprocal exchange deals’ between investors and local populations, ‘compatible interests’ between ruling elites and investors, and ‘productive social relations’ between local populations and ruling elites. We show that, in order...

Implementation of a Shared Resource Financial Management System

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, T.; Gerlach, R.; Israel, M.; Bobin, S.

2010-01-01

CF-6 Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School, administers 12 Life Sciences Shared Resources. These resources are diverse and offer multiple products and services. Previous methods for tracking resource use, billing, and financial management were time consuming, error prone and lacked appropriate financial management tools. To address these problems, we developed and implemented a web-based application with a built-in authorization system that uses Perl, ModPerl, Apache2, and Oracle as the software infrastructure. The application uses a role-based system to differentiate administrative users with those requesting services and includes many features requested by users and administrators. To begin development, we chose a resource that had an uncomplicated service, a large number of users, and required the use of all of the applications features. The Molecular Biology Core Facility at NCCC fit these requirements and was used as a model for developing and testing the application. After model development, institution wide deployment followed a three-stage process. The first stage was to interview the resource manager and staff to understand day-to-day operations. At the second stage, we generated and tested customized forms defining resource services. During the third stage, we added new resource users and administrators to the system before final deployment. Twelve months after deployment, resource administrators reported that the new system performed well for internal and external billing and tracking resource utilization. Users preferred the application's web-based system for distribution of DNA sequencing and other data. The sample tracking features have enhanced day-to-day resource operations, and an on-line scheduling module for shared instruments has proven a much-needed utility. Principal investigators now are able to restrict user spending to specific accounts and have final approval of the

Resource Assessment for Afghanistan and Alleviation of Terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

Shroder, J. F.

2002-05-01

Mineral and water resources in Afghanistan may be the best means by which redevelopment of the country can be used to alleviate future terrorism. Remote-sensing analysis of snow, ice, resources, and topography in Afghanistan, and development of digital elevation models with ASTER imagery and previously classified, large scale topographic maps from the Department of Defense enable better assessment and forecasting resources in the country. Adequate resource assessment and planning is viewed as critical to alleviation of one cause of the problems associated with the fertilization of terrorism in Afghanistan. Long-term diminution of meltwater resources in Afghanistan is exemplified by the disastrous and famine-inducing droughts of the present time and three decades prior, as well as by the early Landsat assessment of glacier resources sponsored by USGS and now brought up-to-date with current imagery. Extensive cold-war projects undertaken by both the USSR and USA generated plentiful essential mineral, hydrocarbon, hydrogeological, and hydrological data, including an extensive stream gauging and vital irrigation network now adversly affected or destroyed entirely by decades of war. Analysis, measurement, prediction, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of critical resource projects are regarded as most critical elements in the war on terrorism in this portion of the world. The GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space) Project, initially sponsored by USGS, has established our group as the Regional Center for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in which the above concepts serve as guiding research precepts.

Heterogeneous game resource distributions promote cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma game

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Guang-Hai; Wang, Zhen; Yang, Yan-Cun; Tian, Sheng-Wen; Yue, Jun

2018-01-01

In social networks, individual abilities to establish interactions are always heterogeneous and independent of the number of topological neighbors. We here study the influence of heterogeneous distributions of abilities on the evolution of individual cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game. First, we introduced a prisoner's dilemma game, taking into account individual heterogeneous abilities to establish games, which are determined by the owned game resources. Second, we studied three types of game resource distributions that follow the power-law property. Simulation results show that the heterogeneous distribution of individual game resources can promote cooperation effectively, and the heterogeneous level of resource distributions has a positive influence on the maintenance of cooperation. Extensive analysis shows that cooperators with large resource capacities can foster cooperator clusters around themselves. Furthermore, when the temptation to defect is high, cooperator clusters in which the central pure cooperators have larger game resource capacities are more stable than other cooperator clusters.

Job resources and employee engagement : A cross-national study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farndale, E.; Murrer, I.N.J.

2015-01-01

Purpose In light of increasing globalization of workforces, the purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating effect of country on the relationship between job resources and employee engagement. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaire responses from 19,260 employees of a large multinational

Using Linked Data to Annotate and Search Educational Video Resources for Supporting Distance Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hong Qing; Pedrinaci, C.; Dietze, S.; Domingue, J.

2012-01-01

Multimedia educational resources play an important role in education, particularly for distance learning environments. With the rapid growth of the multimedia web, large numbers of educational video resources are increasingly being created by several different organizations. It is crucial to explore, share, reuse, and link these educational…

Large herbivores maintain termite-caused differences in herbaceous species diversity patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Okullo, Paul; Moe, Stein R

2012-09-01

Termites and large herbivores affect African savanna plant communities. Both functional groups are also important for nutrient redistribution across the landscape. We conducted an experiment to study how termites and large herbivores, alone and in combination, affect herbaceous species diversity patterns in an African savanna. Herbaceous vegetation on large vegetated Macrotermes mounds (with and without large herbivores) and on adjacent savanna areas (with and without large herbivores) was monitored over three years in Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda. We found substantial differences in species richness, alpha diversity, evenness, and stability between termite mound herbaceous vegetation and adjacent savanna vegetation. Within months of fencing, levels of species richness, evenness, and stability were no longer significantly different between savanna and mounds. However, fencing reduced the cumulative number of species, particularly for forbs, of which 48% of the species were lost. Fencing increased the beta diversity (dissimilarity among plots) on the resource-poor (in terms of both nutrients and soil moisture) savanna areas, while it did not significantly affect beta diversity on the resource-rich termite mounds. While termites cause substantial heterogeneity in savanna vegetation, large herbivores further amplify these differences by reducing beta diversity on the savanna areas. Large herbivores are, however, responsible for the maintenance of a large number of forbs at the landscape level. These findings suggest that the mechanisms underlying the effects of termites and large herbivores on savanna plant communities scale up to shape community structure and dynamics at a landscape level.

Large reservoirs: Chapter 17

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Leandro E.; Bettoli, Phillip William

2010-01-01

Large impoundments, defined as those with surface area of 200 ha or greater, are relatively new aquatic ecosystems in the global landscape. They represent important economic and environmental resources that provide benefits such as flood control, hydropower generation, navigation, water supply, commercial and recreational fisheries, and various other recreational and esthetic values. Construction of large impoundments was initially driven by economic needs, and ecological consequences received little consideration. However, in recent decades environmental issues have come to the forefront. In the closing decades of the 20th century societal values began to shift, especially in the developed world. Society is no longer willing to accept environmental damage as an inevitable consequence of human development, and it is now recognized that continued environmental degradation is unsustainable. Consequently, construction of large reservoirs has virtually stopped in North America. Nevertheless, in other parts of the world construction of large reservoirs continues. The emergence of systematic reservoir management in the early 20th century was guided by concepts developed for natural lakes (Miranda 1996). However, we now recognize that reservoirs are different and that reservoirs are not independent aquatic systems inasmuch as they are connected to upstream rivers and streams, the downstream river, other reservoirs in the basin, and the watershed. Reservoir systems exhibit longitudinal patterns both within and among reservoirs. Reservoirs are typically arranged sequentially as elements of an interacting network, filter water collected throughout their watersheds, and form a mosaic of predictable patterns. Traditional approaches to fisheries management such as stocking, regulating harvest, and in-lake habitat management do not always produce desired effects in reservoirs. As a result, managers may expend resources with little benefit to either fish or fishing. Some locally

Hydropower in Southeast United States, -a Hydroclimatological Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Engstrom, J.

2016-12-01

Hydropower is unique among renewable energy sources for the ability to store its fuel (water) in reservoirs. The relationship between discharge, macro-scale drivers, and production is complex since production depends not only on water availability, but also upon decisions made by the institution owning the facility that has to consider many competing interests including economics, drinking water supply, recreational uses, etc. This analysis shows that the hydropower plants in Southeast U.S. (AL, GA, NC, SC, and TN) exhibit considerable year to year variability in production. Although the hydroclimatology of the Southeast U.S. has been analyzed partially, no previous study has linked the region's hydroelectricity production to any reported causes of interannual hydroclimatological variability, as has been completed in other regions. Due to the current short-term hydroelectricity production forecasts, the water resource is not optimized from a hydropower perspective as electricity generating potential is not maximized. The results of this study highlight the amount of untapped hydroelectricity that could be produced if long term hydroclimate and large-scale climate drivers were considered in production forecasts.

Powering Africa - Projected costs and emissions

Science.gov (United States)

Pappis, Ioannis; Taliotis, Constantinos; Howells, Mark; Lindblad, Nicolina

2017-04-01

Energy is a fundamental driver of economic growth. Several Sub-Saharan African countries are amongst the least developing economies in the world. A large proportion of the population in the region also lacks access to electricity and other modern energy services, while the individuals who have access are faced with frequent outages. This paper presents scenarios in which universal electricity access across the African continent is achieved by 2030 at a range of electricity consumption levels. A cost-optimization model is used to identify the least-cost generation mix in each country individually so as to meet the projected demand. Several generation options are allowed in each nation, while cross-border electricity trade is enabled at existing and future planned levels, so as to allow exploitation of untapped energy resources in remote regions of the continent. The results indicate that with a higher electricity consumption, CO2 emissions in generation increase considerably. This is due to coal rising as one of the dominant fuels in the supply of centralized electricity, and is of particular importance in climate change negotiations.

The retail market for electric power. Competition and consumer analysis; Denmark; Detailmarkedet for elektricitet. Konkurrence- og forbrugeranalyse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2011-12-15

The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority has examined the market for electricity to consumers. It is a market that has great importance for the Danish consumers, and it is a market where competition could make a difference for consumers, businesses and the settlement of the Danish climate objectives. An average Danish household spends over DKK 7,000 a year on electricity. Average household expenditures for electricity will probably increase with the electric cars and electric-powered heat pumps will constitute a larger share of the Danish electricity consumption in the future. Simultaneously, the electricity market is difficult to understand for consumers, and there is generally a weak market competition. The analyses in this report show that there is a large untapped potential for economic gains through innovation, increased competition and a more efficient use of resources in the electricity sector. A realization of the potential for economic gains can be beneficial to consumers, businesses and environment. If the potential for economic gains is to be realized, it is necessary to change the regulation of the market. (LN)

The Himalayan hydro machine and space transmission power systems - An Asian dream of 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Admoddie, M.

The advantages and disadvantages for the development of hydroelectric power are assessed for the Himalayan Rectangle, an area rising 1500 km north of a baseline between Karachi and Mandalay. This area has the potential for possessing one of the world's greatest power production capabilities. Among the disadvantages cited are the political instability and religious fundamentalism of the area, the bankrupt governments, environmental degradation, and inefficient power and irrigation systems. The advantages include the millions of talented and enterprising people in the region awaiting higher opportunities who are eager to improve their families' living standards and the large untapped hydropower resources. The concepts for hydropower development are discussed and go beyond the technologies of power and water. They include catchment ecodevelopment strategies with massive afforestation plans, setting up plans to strengthen village-level institutions to manage local natural biomass and water assets, the conversion of this regional hydropower potential into a subcontinental power system, and the exporting of power and the development of an interregional and international power grid by 2030, when both oil and local ecosystems would be dangerously depleted.

Germ Cell Proteins in Melanoma: Prognosis, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Theories on Expression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosa, A. M.; Dabas, N.; Byrnes, D. M.; Eller, M. S.; Grichnik, J. M.; Grichnik, J M.; Grichnik, J M.

2012-01-01

Germ cell protein expression in melanoma has been shown to correlate with malignancy, severity of disease and to serve as an immunologic target for therapy. However, very little is known about the role that germ cell proteins play in cancer development. Unique germ cell pathways include those involved in immortalization, genetic evolution, and energy metabolism. There is an ever increasing recognition that within tumors there is a subpopulation of cells with stem-cell-like characteristics that play a role in driving tumor genesis. Stem cell and germ cell biology is intertwined. Given the enormous potential and known expression of germ cell proteins in melanoma, it is possible that they represent a largely untapped resource that may play a fundamental role in tumor development and progression. The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the current value of germ cell protein expression in melanoma diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy, as well as to review critical germ cell pathways and discuss the potential roles these pathways may play in malignant transformation

Preservation of artifacts in salt mines as a natural analog for the storage of transuranic wastes at the WIPP repository

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martell, M.A.; Hansen, F.; Weiner, R.

1998-10-01

Use of nature`s laboratory for scientific analysis of complex systems is a largely untapped resource for understanding long-term disposal of hazardous materials. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the US is a facility designed and approved for storage of transuranic waste in a salt medium. Isolation from the biosphere must be ensured for 10,000 years. Natural analogs provide a means to interpret the evolution of the underground disposal setting. Investigations of ancient sites where manmade materials have experienced mechanical and chemical processes over millennia provide scientific information unattainable by conventional laboratory methods. This paper presents examples of these pertinent natural analogs, provides examples of features relating to the WIPP application, and identifies potential avenues of future investigations. This paper cites examples of analogical information pertaining to the Hallstatt salt mine in Austria and Wieliczka salt mine in Poland. This paper intends to develop an appreciation for the applicability of natural analogs to the science and engineering of a long-term disposal facility in geomedia.

Macro-economic impact of large-scale deployment of biomass resources for energy and materials on a national level—A combined approach for the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoefnagels, Ric; Banse, Martin; Dornburg, Veronika; Faaij, André

2013-01-01

Biomass is considered one of the most important options in the transition to a sustainable energy system with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increased security of enegry supply. In order to facilitate this transition with targeted policies and implementation strategies, it is of vital importance to understand the economic benefits, uncertainties and risks of this transition. This article presents a quantification of the economic impacts on value added, employment shares and the trade balance as well as required biomass and avoided primary energy and greenhouse gases related to large scale biomass deployment on a country level (the Netherlands) for different future scenarios to 2030. This is done by using the macro-economic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model LEITAP, capable of quantifying direct and indirect effects of a bio-based economy combined with a spread sheet tool to address underlying technological details. Although the combined approach has limitations, the results of the projections show that substitution of fossil energy carriers by biomass, could have positive economic effects, as well as reducing GHG emissions and fossil energy requirement. Key factors to achieve these targets are enhanced technological development and the import of sustainable biomass resources to the Netherlands. - Highlights: • We analyse large scale production of bioenergy and biochemicals in the Netherlands. • The scenarios include up to 30% substitution of fossil fuels by biomass in 2030. • Resulting in strong greenhouse gas savings and positive macro-economic effects. • Large amounts of imported biomass are required to meet the domestic demand. • This requires high rates of technological change and strict sustainability criteria

ability in Large Scale Land Acquisitions in Kenya

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

Corey Piccioni

Kenya's national planning strategy, Vision 2030. Agri- culture, natural resource exploitation, and infrastruc- ... sitions due to high levels of poverty and unclear or in- secure land tenure rights in Kenya. Inadequate social ... lease to a private company over the expansive Yala. Swamp to undertake large-scale irrigation farming.

Water resources of the Black Sea Basin at high spatial and temporal resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Rouholahnejad, Elham; Abbaspour, Karim C.; Srinivasan, Raghvan; Bacu, Victor; Lehmann, Anthony

2014-07-01

The pressure on water resources, deteriorating water quality, and uncertainties associated with the climate change create an environment of conflict in large and complex river system. The Black Sea Basin (BSB), in particular, suffers from ecological unsustainability and inadequate resource management leading to severe environmental, social, and economical problems. To better tackle the future challenges, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model the hydrology of the BSB coupling water quantity, water quality, and crop yield components. The hydrological model of the BSB was calibrated and validated considering sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. River discharges, nitrate loads, and crop yields were used to calibrate the model. Employing grid technology improved calibration computation time by more than an order of magnitude. We calculated components of water resources such as river discharge, infiltration, aquifer recharge, soil moisture, and actual and potential evapotranspiration. Furthermore, available water resources were calculated at subbasin spatial and monthly temporal levels. Within this framework, a comprehensive database of the BSB was created to fill the existing gaps in water resources data in the region. In this paper, we discuss the challenges of building a large-scale model in fine spatial and temporal detail. This study provides the basis for further research on the impacts of climate and land use change on water resources in the BSB.

Resource requirements of the Pacific leatherback turtle population.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T Todd Jones

Full Text Available The Pacific population of leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea has drastically declined in the last 25 years. This decline has been linked to incidental capture by fisheries, egg and meat harvesting, and recently, to climate variability and resource limitation. Here we couple growth rates with feeding experiments and food intake functions to estimate daily energy requirements of leatherbacks throughout their development. We then estimate mortality rates from available data, enabling us to raise food intake (energy requirements of the individual to the population level. We place energy requirements in context of available resources (i.e., gelatinous zooplankton abundance. Estimated consumption rates suggest that a single leatherback will eat upward of 1000 metric tonnes (t of jellyfish in its lifetime (range 924-1112 with the Pacific population consuming 2.1×10(6 t of jellyfish annually (range 1.0-3.7×10(6 equivalent to 4.2×10(8 megajoules (MJ (range 2.0-7.4×10(8. Model estimates suggest 2-7 yr-old juveniles comprise the majority of the Pacific leatherback population biomass and account for most of the jellyfish consumption (1.1×10(6 t of jellyfish or 2.2×10(8 MJ per year. Leatherbacks are large gelatinous zooplanktivores with consumption to biomass ratios of 96 (up to 192 if feeding strictly on low energy density Cnidarians; they, therefore, have a large capacity to impact gelatinous zooplankton landscapes. Understanding the leatherback's needs for gelatinous zooplankton, versus the availability of these resources, can help us better assess population trends and the influence of climate induced resource limitations to reproductive output.

Analyses of resource reservation schemes for optical burst switching networks

Science.gov (United States)

Solanska, Michaela; Scholtz, Lubomir; Ladanyi, Libor; Mullerova, Jarmila

2017-12-01

With growing demands of Internet Protocol services for transmission capacity and speed, the Optical Burst Switching presents the solution for future high-speed optical networks. Optical Burst Switching is a technology for transmitting large amounts of data bursts through a transparent optical switching network. To successfully transmit bursts over OBS network and reach the destination node, resource reservation schemes have to be implemented to allocate resources and configure optical switches for that burst at each node. The one-way resource reservation schemes and the performance evaluation of reservation schemes are presented. The OBS network model is performed using OMNeT++ simulation environment. During the reservation of network resources, the optical cross-connect based on semiconductor optical amplifier is used as the core node. Optical switches based on semiconductor optical amplifiers are a promising technology for high-speed optical communication networks.

Resource programs: Draft Environmental Impact Statement Resource Programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-03-01

Every two years, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) prepares a Resource Program which identifies the resource actions BPA will take to meet its obligation to serve the forecasted power requirements of its customers. The Resource Program's Environmental Impact Statement (RPEIS) is a programmatic environmental document which will support decisions made in several future Resource Programs. Environmental documents tiered to the EIS may be prepared on a site-specific basis. The RPEIS includes a description of the environmental effects and mitigation for the various resource types available in order to evaluate the trade-offs among them. It also assesses the environmental impacts of adding thirteen alternative combinations of resources to the existing power system. This report contains the appendices to the RPEIS

Research on Formation Mechanisms of Hot Dry Rock Resources in China

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, G.; Xi, Y.

2017-12-01

As an important geothermal resource, hot dry rock(HDR) reserves have been studied in many countries. HDR resources in China have huge capacity and have become one of the most important resources for the potential replacement of fossil fuels. However, HDR resources are difficult to develop and utilise. Technologies for use with HDR, such as high-temperature drilling, reservoir characterisation, reservoir fracturing, microseismic monitoring and high-temperature power stations, originate from the field of oil and drilling. Addressing how to take advantage of these developed technologies is a key factor in the development of HDR reserves. Based on the thermal crustal structure in China, HDR resources can be divided into four types: high radioactive heat production, sedimentary basin, modern volcano and the inner-plate active tectonic belt. The prospective regions of HDR resources are located in South Tibet, West Yunnan, the southeast coast of China, Bohai Rim, Songliao Basin and Guanzhong Basin. The related essential technologies are relatively mature, and the prospect of HDR power generation is promising. Therefore, analysing the formation mechanisms of HDR resources and promoting the transformation of technological achievements, large-scale development and the utilisation of HDR resources can be achieved in China.

Leveraging High Performance Computing for Managing Large and Evolving Data Collections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ritu Arora

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The process of developing a digital collection in the context of a research project often involves a pipeline pattern during which data growth, data types, and data authenticity need to be assessed iteratively in relation to the different research steps and in the interest of archiving. Throughout a project’s lifecycle curators organize newly generated data while cleaning and integrating legacy data when it exists, and deciding what data will be preserved for the long term. Although these actions should be part of a well-oiled data management workflow, there are practical challenges in doing so if the collection is very large and heterogeneous, or is accessed by several researchers contemporaneously. There is a need for data management solutions that can help curators with efficient and on-demand analyses of their collection so that they remain well-informed about its evolving characteristics. In this paper, we describe our efforts towards developing a workflow to leverage open science High Performance Computing (HPC resources for routinely and efficiently conducting data management tasks on large collections. We demonstrate that HPC resources and techniques can significantly reduce the time for accomplishing critical data management tasks, and enable a dynamic archiving throughout the research process. We use a large archaeological data collection with a long and complex formation history as our test case. We share our experiences in adopting open science HPC resources for large-scale data management, which entails understanding usage of the open source HPC environment and training users. These experiences can be generalized to meet the needs of other data curators working with large collections.

Some dynamic resource allocation problems in wireless networks

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Randall

2001-07-01

We consider dynamic resource allocation problems that arise in wireless networking. Specifically transmission scheduling problems are studied in cases where a user can dynamically allocate communication resources such as transmission rate and power based on current channel knowledge as well as traffic variations. We assume that arriving data is stored in a transmission buffer, and investigate the trade-off between average transmission power and average buffer delay. A general characterization of this trade-off is given and the behavior of this trade-off in the regime of asymptotically large buffer delays is explored. An extension to a more general utility based quality of service definition is also discussed.

Renewable energy resources: Opportunities and constraints 1990-2020

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-09-01

This study examined the prospects for new renewable energy resources, from a global perspective, over the next three decades and beyond. The study is intended to support the work of the World Energy Council (WEC) Commission on Energy for Tomorrow's World. The new renewable resources investigated were: Solar; wind; geothermal; modern biomass; ocean; small hydro. Each of these areas was thoroughly researched and was the subject of a separate section of the report. Recent information on large-scale hydroelectric and traditional biomass is included for added perspective on total use of renewable energy, but both fall outside the definition of new renewable energy used in this report

Interactions of woody biofuel feedstock production systems with water resources: considerations for sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Carl C. Trettin; Devendra Amatya; Mark Coleman

2008-01-01

Water resources are important for the production of woody biofuel feedstocks. It is necessary to ensure that production systems do not adversely affect the quantity or quality of surface and ground water. The effects of woody biomass plantations on water resources are largely dependent on the prior land use and the management regime. Experience from both irrigated and...

Managing Capital Investments and Resources for Large, Complex Satellite Development Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Richard M.

2017-01-01

Once the schedule was baselined and the primary, secondary, and tertiary critical paths (at least) were established: Identified what entity control which portion of the schedule reserve Dollarized the time associated with the schedule reserve and segregated it off from other budget reserves authorization to spend only came when authorization to utilize the time was given Created a process to manage the control of these resources This process was above and beyond the typical schedule controls used to monitor and maintain the day-to-day schedules Webb telescope will be the premier space observatory for astronomers worldwide,extending the tantalizing discoveries of the Hubble Space telescope• An international collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency, and theCanadian Space Agency• The largest telescope ever placed in space, Webb will be 100 times more powerful thanHubble• It is so big it has to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket and will unfold like a transformeronce in space• The 5-layer sunshield protects the telescope from the Sun, Earth, and Moon’s infraredradiation. It’s like having sun protection of SPF 1 million• Unprecedented infrared sensitivity will peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see thefirst galaxies born after the Big Bang• Hubble orbits 350 miles above the Earth; Webb will orbit the sun 1 million miles fromEarth• Launch from French Guiana in 2018

Dynamic Resource Allocation in Hybrid Access Femtocell Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afaz Uddin Ahmed

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Intercell interference is one of the most challenging issues in femtocell deployment under the coverage of existing macrocell. Allocation of resources between femtocell and macrocell is essential to counter the effects of interference in dense femtocell networks. Advances in resource management strategies have improved the control mechanism for interference reduction at lower node density, but most of them are ineffective at higher node density. In this paper, a dynamic resource allocation management algorithm (DRAMA for spectrum shared hybrid access OFDMA femtocell network is proposed. To reduce the macro-femto-tier interference and to improve the quality of service, the proposed algorithm features a dynamic resource allocation scheme by controlling them both centrally and locally. The proposed scheme focuses on Femtocell Access Point (FAP owners’ satisfaction and allows maximum utilization of available resources based on congestion in the network. A simulation environment is developed to study the quantitative performance of DRAMA in hybrid access-control femtocell network and compare it to closed and open access mechanisms. The performance analysis shows that higher number of random users gets connected to the FAP without compromising FAP owners’ satisfaction allowing the macrocell to offload a large number of users in a dense heterogeneous network.

Assessing trade-offs in large marine protected areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Tammy E; Epstein, Graham; Aguilera, Stacy E; Brooks, Cassandra M; Cox, Michael; Evans, Louisa S; Maxwell, Sara M; Nenadovic, Mateja; Ban, Natalie C

2018-01-01

Large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are increasingly being established and have a high profile in marine conservation. LMPAs are expected to achieve multiple objectives, and because of their size are postulated to avoid trade-offs that are common in smaller MPAs. However, evaluations across multiple outcomes are lacking. We used a systematic approach to code several social and ecological outcomes of 12 LMPAs. We found evidence of three types of trade-offs: trade-offs between different ecological resources (supply trade-offs); trade-offs between ecological resource conditions and the well-being of resource users (supply-demand trade-offs); and trade-offs between the well-being outcomes of different resource users (demand trade-offs). We also found several divergent outcomes that were attributed to influences beyond the scope of the LMPA. We suggest that despite their size, trade-offs can develop in LMPAs and should be considered in planning and design. LMPAs may improve their performance across multiple social and ecological objectives if integrated with larger-scale conservation efforts.

Antituberculotic activity of actinobacteria isolated from the rare habitats.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, A; Rather, M A; Shah, A M; Bhat, Z S; Shah, A; Ahmad, Z; Parvaiz Hassan, Q

2017-09-01

A distinctive screening procedure resulted in the isolation and identification of antituberculotic actinobacteria. In this course, a total of 125 actinobacteria were isolated from various soil samples from untapped areas in Northwestern Himalayas, India. The antibacterial screening showed that 26 isolates inhibited the growth of at least one of the tested bacterial pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 11774), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 10240), Escherichia coli (10536), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 10145) and Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC BAA-2146). The production media was optimized for the active strains by estimation of their extract value by the quantification of the ethyl acetate extract. The screening of fermentation products from the selected 26 bioactive isolates revealed that 10 strains have metabolites antagonistic against the standard H37Rv strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The characterization by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated the diverse nature of these antituberculosis strains. The secondary metabolites of potent, rare strain, Lentzea violacea AS08 exhibited promising antituberculosis activity with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 3·9 μg ml -1 . The metabolites identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) included, Phenol, 2,5-bis (1, 1-dimethylethyl), n-Hexadecanoic acid, Hexadecanoic acid methyl-ester, Hexadecanoic acid ethyl-ester and, 9,12-Octadecadienoyl chloride(Z,Z) are biologically significant molecules. The study presents the isolation of rare actinobacteria from untapped sites in the Northwestern Himalayas and their in vitro potential against Mycobacterium tuberculosis for their metabolites. The study revealed that exploring the untapped natural sources as one of the resourceful approaches for the discovery of new natural products. This study also provided strong evidence for the ability of rare and

Uranium 2014: Resources, Production and Demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vance, Robert

2014-01-01

's largest producer by a large margin. In situ leaching (ISL, sometimes referred to as in situ recovery, or ISR) production accounted for 45% of world production in 2012, largely because of increases in Kazakhstan, along with other ISL production in Australia, China, the Russian Federation, the United States and Uzbekistan. At the end of 2012, a total of 437 commercial nuclear reactors were connected to the grid with a net generating capacity of 372 GWe requiring some 61 600 tU, as measured by uranium acquisitions. By the year 2035, world nuclear capacity, taking into account changes in policies announced in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, is projected to grow to between about 400 GWe net in the low demand case and 678 GWe net in the high case, increases of 7% and 82% respectively. Accordingly, world annual reactor-related uranium requirements are projected to rise to between 72 000 tU and 122 000 tU by 2035. The currently defined resource base is more than adequate to meet high case uranium demand through 2035, but doing so will depend upon timely investments given the typically long lead times required to turn resources into refined uranium suitable for nuclear fuel production. Other concerns in mine development include geopolitical factors, technical challenges, increasing expectations of governments hosting uranium mining and other issues facing producers in some regions. (author)

Computing Resource And Work Allocations Using Social Profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Lavin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available If several distributed and disparate computer resources exist, many of whichhave been created for different and diverse reasons, and several large scale com-puting challenges also exist with similar diversity in their backgrounds, then oneproblem which arises in trying to assemble enough of these resources to addresssuch challenges is the need to align and accommodate the different motivationsand objectives which may lie behind the existence of both the resources andthe challenges. Software agents are offered as a mainstream technology formodelling the types of collaborations and relationships needed to do this. Asan initial step towards forming such relationships, agents need a mechanism toconsider social and economic backgrounds. This paper explores addressing so-cial and economic differences using a combination of textual descriptions knownas social profiles and search engine technology, both of which are integrated intoan agent technology.

Short run effects of bleaker prospects for oligopolistic producers of a non-renewable resource

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grimsrud, Kristine; Rosendahl, Knut Einar; Storroesten, Halvor Briseid; Tsygankova, Marina

2013-01-15

In a non-renewable resource market with imperfect competition, the resource owners' supply is governed both by current demand and by the resource rent. New information regarding future market conditions will typically affect the resource rent and hence current supply. Bleaker prospects will tend to accelerate extraction. We show, however, that for resource owners with substantial resource stocks, a more pessimistic outlook may in fact slow down early extraction. The explanation is that for players with extensive resource stocks, the resource rent is limited and supply is more driven by current market considerations. As players with less resources accelerate their supply, it may be optimal for the large resource owners to cut back on their supply. We illustrate this in the case of the European gas market, finding that the shale gas revolution may lead to an accelerated supply by most gas producers, but a postponement of Russian gas extraction.(Author)

Leeches as a source of mammalian viral DNA and RNA - a study in medicinal leeches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kampmann, Marie-Louise; Schnell, Ida Bærholm; Jensen, Randi Holm

2017-01-01

V]) from nucleic acids extracted from medicinal leeches fed with blood spiked with each virus. All viruses except BHV showed a gradual decline in concentration from day 1 to 50, and all except BHV were detectable in at least half of the samples even after 50 days. BHV exhibited a rapid decline at day 27...... and was undetectable at day 50. Our findings in medicinal leeches indicate that leeches collected in the wild might be an untapped resource for detecting vertebrate viruses and could provide new opportunities to study wildlife viral diseases of rare species in challenging environments, where capturing and handling...

Bioactive Components in Fish Venoms

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegman, Rebekah; Alewood, Paul

2015-01-01

Animal venoms are widely recognized excellent resources for the discovery of novel drug leads and physiological tools. Most are comprised of a large number of components, of which the enzymes, small peptides, and proteins are studied for their important bioactivities. However, in spite of there being over 2000 venomous fish species, piscine venoms have been relatively underrepresented in the literature thus far. Most studies have explored whole or partially fractioned venom, revealing broad pharmacology, which includes cardiovascular, neuromuscular, cytotoxic, inflammatory, and nociceptive activities. Several large proteinaceous toxins, such as stonustoxin, verrucotoxin, and Sp-CTx, have been isolated from scorpaenoid fish. These form pores in cell membranes, resulting in cell death and creating a cascade of reactions that result in many, but not all, of the physiological symptoms observed from envenomation. Additionally, Natterins, a novel family of toxins possessing kininogenase activity have been found in toadfish venom. A variety of smaller protein toxins, as well as a small number of peptides, enzymes, and non-proteinaceous molecules have also been isolated from a range of fish venoms, but most remain poorly characterized. Many other bioactive fish venom components remain to be discovered and investigated. These represent an untapped treasure of potentially useful molecules. PMID:25941767

Methods for extracting climate indicator data from social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuka, M. Z.; Fuka, D. R.

2011-12-01

This paper shows how we've used the R software suite to extract climate indicator data from Twitter. In the course of this research we've collected extensive data sets of unsolicited observations ("tweets") for hundreds of climate-related phenological, biological, epidemiological and meteorological effects. R has proved itself in our work as a useful tool for manipulating those large data sets. Our experience from this effort has yielded a variety of insights on using R to extract geophysics-specific information from publicly accessible social media sources. We illustrate our methodology by mapping tweeted US armadillo sightings to explore the impact of climate variability on the extent of the animal's range. This example usefully demonstrates R's technical capabilities in collecting, time-stamping, geolocating, analyzing, visualizing and otherwise processing climate-related data derived from unsolicited social media postings. We also "mash-up" the data sets with those acquired by more traditional means, for example, temperature and precipitation data across the armadillo's US range. Our data-handling practice is extendable to social sharing services other than Twitter, providing the environmental modeling community an opportunity to access largely untapped resources of non-traditional climate indicator data to better understand the effects of climate change at local, regional and global scales.

Controlling collective dynamics in complex minority-game resource-allocation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ji-Qiang; Huang, Zi-Gang; Dong, Jia-Qi; Huang, Liang; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2013-05-01

Resource allocation takes place in various kinds of real-world complex systems, such as traffic systems, social services institutions or organizations, or even ecosystems. The fundamental principle underlying complex resource-allocation dynamics is Boolean interactions associated with minority games, as resources are generally limited and agents tend to choose the least used resource based on available information. A common but harmful dynamical behavior in resource-allocation systems is herding, where there are time intervals during which a large majority of the agents compete for a few resources, leaving many other resources unused. Accompanying the herd behavior is thus strong fluctuations with time in the number of resources being used. In this paper, we articulate and establish that an intuitive control strategy, namely pinning control, is effective at harnessing the herding dynamics. In particular, by fixing the choices of resources for a few agents while leaving the majority of the agents free, herding can be eliminated completely. Our investigation is systematic in that we consider random and targeted pinning and a variety of network topologies, and we carry out a comprehensive analysis in the framework of mean-field theory to understand the working of control. The basic philosophy is then that, when a few agents waive their freedom to choose resources by receiving sufficient incentives, the majority of the agents benefit in that they will make fair, efficient, and effective use of the available resources. Our work represents a basic and general framework to address the fundamental issue of fluctuations in complex dynamical systems with significant applications to social, economical, and political systems.

Body size mediated coexistence of consumers competing for resources in space

Science.gov (United States)

Basset, A.; Angelis, D.L.

2007-01-01

Body size is a major phenotypic trait of individuals that commonly differentiates co-occurring species. We analyzed inter-specific competitive interactions between a large consumer and smaller competitors, whose energetics, selection and giving-up behaviour on identical resource patches scaled with individual body size. The aim was to investigate whether pure metabolic constraints on patch behaviour of vagile species can determine coexistence conditions consistent with existing theoretical and experimental evidence. We used an individual-based spatially explicit simulation model at a spatial scale defined by the home range of the large consumer, which was assumed to be parthenogenic and semelparous. Under exploitative conditions, competitive coexistence occurred in a range of body size ratios between 2 and 10. Asymmetrical competition and the mechanism underlying asymmetry, determined by the scaling of energetics and patch behaviour with consumer body size, were the proximate determinant of inter-specific coexistence. The small consumer exploited patches more efficiently, but searched for profitable patches less effectively than the larger competitor. Therefore, body-size related constraints induced niche partitioning, allowing competitive coexistence within a set of conditions where the large consumer maintained control over the small consumer and resource dynamics. The model summarises and extends the existing evidence of species coexistence on a limiting resource, and provides a mechanistic explanation for decoding the size-abundance distribution patterns commonly observed at guild and community levels. ?? Oikos.

SHRIMP MARICULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN ECUADOR: SOME RESOURCE POLICY ISSUES

OpenAIRE

Southgate, Douglas

1992-01-01

During the past 15 years, Ecuador has become the Western Hemisphere's leading producer and exporter of shrimp. Growth has come about largely through mariculture development. About 8,000 metric tons (MT) of shrimp have been captured off the Ecuadorian coast each year since the late 1970s. Meanwhile, pond output has increased several-fold, from less than 5,000 MT in 1979 to over 100,000 MT 12 years later (Table 1). Mariculture has expanded largely at the expense of renewable natural resources. ...

New Earth-abundant Materials for Large-scale Solar Fuels Generation.

Science.gov (United States)

Prabhakar, Rajiv Ramanujam; Cui, Wei; Tilley, S David

2018-05-30

The solar resource is immense, but the power density of light striking the Earth's surface is relatively dilute, necessitating large area solar conversion devices in order to harvest substantial amounts of power for renewable energy applications. In addition, energy storage is a key challenge for intermittent renewable resources such as solar and wind, which adds significant cost to these energies. As the majority of humanity's present-day energy consumption is based on fuels, an ideal solution is to generate renewable fuels from abundant resources such as sunlight and water. In this account, we detail our recent work towards generating highly efficient and stable Earth-abundant semiconducting materials for solar water splitting to generate renewable hydrogen fuel.

Herpes - resources

Science.gov (United States)

Genital herpes - resources; Resources - genital herpes ... following organizations are good resources for information on genital herpes : March of Dimes -- www.marchofdimes.org/complications/sexually- ...

Mixing Metaphors: Building Infrastructure for Large Scale School Turnaround

Science.gov (United States)

Peurach, Donald J.; Neumerski, Christine M.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this analysis is to increase understanding of the possibilities and challenges of building educational infrastructure--the basic, foundational structures, systems, and resources--to support large-scale school turnaround. Building educational infrastructure often exceeds the capacity of schools, districts, and state education…

Bioregional Assessments: Determining the Impacts of Coal Resource Development on Water Resources in Australia through Groundwater, Surface Water and Ecological Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Peeters, L. J.; Post, D. A.; Crosbie, R.; Holland, K.

2017-12-01

While extraction of methane from shale gas deposits has been the principal source of the recent expansion of the industry in the United States, in Australia extraction of methane from coal bed methane deposits (termed `coal seam gas' in Australia) has been the focus to date. The two sources of methane share many of the same characteristics including the potential requirement for hydraulic fracturing. However, as coal seam gas deposits generally occur at shallower depths than shale gas, the potential impacts of extraction on surface and groundwater resources may be of even greater concern. The Australian Federal Government commissioned a multi-disciplinary programme of bioregional assessments to improve understanding of the potential impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining activities on water resources and water-dependent assets across six bioregions Australia. A bioregional assessment is a transparent scientific analysis of the ecology, hydrology, geology and hydrogeology of a bioregion with explicit assessment of the potential direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining development on water resources. The first step in the analysis is to establish the most likely scenario for coal development in each region and establish a causal pathway linking coal development to impacts to the social, economic and ecological functioning of water resources. This forms the basis for a sequence of probabilistic geological, hydrogeological, hydrological and ecological models to quantify the probability of potential impacts. This suite of models is developed independent of the proponents and regulators of coal resource developments and so can provide unbiased information to all stakeholders. To demonstrate transparency of the modelling, all inputs, outputs and executables will be available from http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au. The analysis delineated a zone of potential hydrological change for each region, outside of which impacts

Mobile Phone Assessment in Egocentric Networks: A Pilot Study on Gay Men and Their Peers.

OpenAIRE

Comulada, WS

2014-01-01

Mobile phone-based data collection encompasses the richness of social network research. Both individual-level and network-level measures can be recorded. For example, health-related behaviors can be reported via mobile assessment. Social interactions can be assessed by phone-log data. Yet the potential of mobile phone data collection has largely been untapped. This is especially true of egocentric studies in public health settings where mobile phones can enhance both data collection and inter...

Commercial breaks: building the market for PV in Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hankins, M.

2001-01-01

The article focuses on the huge potential market for off-grid photovoltaics in Africa, in the sub-Saharan region in particular. However, so far the potential market remains largely untapped and several multimillion-dollar projects aimed at developing the market have been disappointing. The result has been a reduction in the activities of PV companies in Africa. The article seeks reasons for the lack of success and offers suggestions for improving the situation

Drosophila and genome-wide association studies: a review and resource for the functional dissection of human complex traits

Science.gov (United States)

Wangler, Michael F.; Hu, Yanhui

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified thousands of susceptibility loci for common diseases with complex genetic etiologies. Although the susceptibility variants identified by GWAS usually have only modest effects on individual disease risk, they contribute to a substantial burden of trait variation in the overall population. GWAS also offer valuable clues to disease mechanisms that have long proven to be elusive. These insights could lead the way to breakthrough treatments; however, several challenges hinder progress, making innovative approaches to accelerate the follow-up of results from GWAS an urgent priority. Here, we discuss the largely untapped potential of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, for functional investigation of findings from human GWAS. We highlight selected examples where strong genomic conservation with humans along with the rapid and powerful genetic tools available for flies have already facilitated fine mapping of association signals, elucidated gene mechanisms, and revealed novel disease-relevant biology. We emphasize current research opportunities in this rapidly advancing field, and present bioinformatic analyses that systematically explore the applicability of Drosophila for interrogation of susceptibility signals implicated in more than 1000 human traits, based on all GWAS completed to date. Thus, our discussion is targeted at both human geneticists seeking innovative strategies for experimental validation of findings from GWAS, as well as the Drosophila research community, by whom ongoing investigations of the implicated genes will powerfully inform our understanding of human disease. PMID:28151408

Regional renewable energy and resource planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lam, Hon Loong; Varbanov, Petar Sabev; Klemes, Jiri Jaromir

2011-01-01

The exploitation of the energy potential in biomass in a specific geographical region is frequently constrained by high production costs and the amount of land required per unit of energy generated. In addition, the distributed nature of the biomass resource and its normally low energy density may result in large transportation costs. Biomass also requires large land areas to collect and process the incoming solar radiation before the energy can be harvested. Previously published works on regional energy clustering (REC) and the Regional Resources Management Composite Curve, RRMCC (in this paper shortened to RMC), have been extended in this paper to tackle simultaneously the issues of the biomass supply chain, transportation, and land use. The RMC is a tool for supporting decision making in regional resource management. It provides a complete view of energy and land availability in a region, displaying their trade-offs in a single plot. The extension presented in this work has been developed in two steps. The first step presents the Regional Energy Cascade Analysis, which estimates the energy target within regional supply chains and provides the result for energy exchange flows between zones, the quantity of energy required to be imported/exported, and the locations of the demands. In the second step, the initial results are analysed against potential measures for improving the energy and land use targets by using the RMC and a set of rules for its manipulation. The presented method provides the option to assess the priorities: either to produce and sell the surplus energy on the fuel market or use the land for other purposes such as food production. This extended approach is illustrated with a comprehensive case study demonstrating that with the RMC application it is possible to maximise the land use and to maximise the biofuel production for the requested energy demand.

Resource use efficiency and renewability. Assessment of low-input agricultural production using eMergy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wright, Christina; Østergård, Hanne

2014-01-01

by reducing dependency on external input. We apply the emergy approach to evaluate resource use efficiency of twolow-input innovative farms while distinguishing between use of renewable and non-renewable resources aswell as local and global origin of resources. This study is a part of the SOLIBAM (www.......solibam.eu) projectfunded by the European commission under the Seventh Framework Programme.We apply an approach where we include efficiency in resource use to produce food energy joules soldwhile distinguishing between use of renewable and non-renewable resources as well as on-site, local andnon-local resources. Result...... shows that the large farm (75 ha) had an input of renewable resources of 32%while the small (6 ha) had a renewable fraction of 26%. The latter is based on assuming that the firewoodused is 50% renewable. If this percentage is increased to 100% then both farms have a renewable fractionof resource use...

A mesh density study for application to large deformation rolling process evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, J.A.

1997-12-01

When addressing large deformation through an elastic-plastic analysis the mesh density is paramount in determining the accuracy of the solution. However, given the nonlinear nature of the problem, a highly-refined mesh will generally require a prohibitive amount of computer resources. This paper addresses finite element mesh optimization studies considering accuracy of results and computer resource needs as applied to large deformation rolling processes. In particular, the simulation of the thread rolling manufacturing process is considered using the MARC software package and a Cray C90 supercomputer. Both mesh density and adaptive meshing on final results for both indentation of a rigid body to a specified depth and contact rolling along a predetermined length are evaluated

Trust dynamics in a large system implementation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schlichter, Bjarne Rerup; Rose, Jeremy

2013-01-01

outcomes, but largely ignored the dynamics of trust relations. Giddens, as part of his study of modernity, theorises trust dynamics in relation to abstract social systems, though without focusing on information systems. We use Giddens’ concepts to investigate evolving trust relationships in a longitudinal......A large information systems implementation (such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems) relies on the trust of its stakeholders to succeed. Such projects impact diverse groups of stakeholders, each with their legitimate interests and expectations. Levels of stakeholder trust can be expected...... case analysis of a large Integrated Hospital System implementation for the Faroe Islands. Trust relationships suffered a serious breakdown, but the project was able to recover and meet its goals. We develop six theoretical propositions theorising the relationship between trust and project outcomes...

Contextualizing Embodied Resources in Global Food Trade

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, G. K.; Brauman, K. A.; Sun, S.; West, P. C.; Carlson, K. M.; Cassidy, E. S.; Gerber, J. S.; Ray, D. K.

2014-12-01

Trade in agricultural commodities has created increasingly complex linkages between resource use and food supplies across national borders. Understanding the degree to which food production and consumption relies on trade is vital to understanding how to sustainably meet growing food demands across scales. We use detailed bilateral trade statistics and data on agricultural management to examine the land use and water consumption embodied in agricultural trade, which we relate to basic nutritional indicators to show how trade contributes to food availability worldwide. Agricultural trade carries enough calories to provide >1.7 billion people a basic diet each year. We identify key commodities and producer-consumer relationships that disproportionately contribute to embodied resource use and flows of food nutrition at the global scale. For example, just 15 disproportionately large soybean trades comprised ~10% the total harvested area embodied in export production. We conclude by framing these results in terms of the fraction of each country's food production and consumption that is linked to international trade. These findings help to characterize how countries allocate resources to domestic versus foreign food demand.

Taxation and our future mineral resources. [Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, R D

1976-05-01

Canada's known reserves of minerals are estimated in general to be adequate to meet domestic requirements and current export demands until the mid-1980's. Beyond that time, an increasing proportion of reserves needed to maintain, let alone increase, present mineral production must come from mineral deposits not yet discovered, delineated or developed. The major question for Canada is whether present tax and regulatory programs will provide sufficient incentives for the industry to spend the large amounts required--perhaps $1.2 billion annually--in the exploration and development of mineral resources. Without such a major capital commitment to the development of new mineral resources, Canada will not be able to maintain the relative importance of its mining sector, or the contribution that the sector has made to our balance of payments, employment, and the opening of new frontiers. However, present levels of exploration and development expenditures are likely to be totally inadequate in maintaining, let alone increasing present production. The article refers to two major new reports that provide new information on Canada's resource industries and their future.

1st International Ocean Technology Congress on EEZ Resources : Technology Assessment

CERN Document Server

Champ, Michael

1990-01-01

Today western nations consume annually only a small percentage of their resources from the sea, despite the proclamation of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) by many. In contrast, most Pacific Basin Countries obtain more than a quarter of their annual needs from the ocean. Determination of greater rewards from the development of marine resources is markedly inhibited by the limited technical abilities available to locate and assess them. Knowledge of Exclusive Economic Zone resources is schematic and generalised, and a detailed understanding of the geology and processes relating to the economic use of the seafloor is both fragmentary and very basic. Technology for mapping the mineral resources of continental shelves and ocean areas, except in active offshore hydrocarbon provinces, has been largely developed in pursuit of scientific objectives and competence to rapidly appraise economic potential is limited. Similarly, the capability to characterise and evaluate the other resources of the seas is rudimentary. The...

Reciprocal Relationships between Job Resources, Personal Resources, and Work Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Xanthopoulou, Despoina; Bakker, Arnold B.; Demerouti, Evangelia; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.

2009-01-01

This study examined longitudinal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement. On the basis of Conservation of Resources theory, we hypothesized that job resources, personal resources, and work engagement are reciprocal over time. The study was conducted among 163 employees, who were followed-up over a period of 18…

Algorithms for Electromagnetic Scattering Analysis of Electrically Large Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borries, Oscar Peter

Accurate analysis of electrically large antennas is often done using either Physical Optics (PO) or Method of Moments (MoM), where the former typically requires fewer computational resources but has a limited application regime. This study has focused on fast variants of these two methods, with t...

The cellulose resource matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Keijsers, Edwin R P; Yılmaz, Gülden; van Dam, Jan E G

2013-03-01

The emerging biobased economy is causing shifts from mineral fossil oil based resources towards renewable resources. Because of market mechanisms, current and new industries utilising renewable commodities, will attempt to secure their supply of resources. Cellulose is among these commodities, where large scale competition can be expected and already is observed for the traditional industries such as the paper industry. Cellulose and lignocellulosic raw materials (like wood and non-wood fibre crops) are being utilised in many industrial sectors. Due to the initiated transition towards biobased economy, these raw materials are intensively investigated also for new applications such as 2nd generation biofuels and 'green' chemicals and materials production (Clark, 2007; Lange, 2007; Petrus & Noordermeer, 2006; Ragauskas et al., 2006; Regalbuto, 2009). As lignocellulosic raw materials are available in variable quantities and qualities, unnecessary competition can be avoided via the choice of suitable raw materials for a target application. For example, utilisation of cellulose as carbohydrate source for ethanol production (Kabir Kazi et al., 2010) avoids the discussed competition with easier digestible carbohydrates (sugars, starch) deprived from the food supply chain. Also for cellulose use as a biopolymer several different competing markets can be distinguished. It is clear that these applications and markets will be influenced by large volume shifts. The world will have to reckon with the increase of competition and feedstock shortage (land use/biodiversity) (van Dam, de Klerk-Engels, Struik, & Rabbinge, 2005). It is of interest - in the context of sustainable development of the bioeconomy - to categorize the already available and emerging lignocellulosic resources in a matrix structure. When composing such "cellulose resource matrix" attention should be given to the quality aspects as well as to the available quantities and practical possibilities of processing the

Yield gaps and resource use across farming zones in the central rift valley of Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Getnet, Mezegebu; Ittersum, van Martin; Hengsdijk, Huib; Descheemaeker, Katrien

2016-01-01

In the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia, low productive cereal systems and a declining resource base call for options to increase crop productivity and improve resource use efficiency to meet the growing demand of food. We compiled and analysed a large amount of data from farmers’ fields

Resource acquisition policy: Multiple account evaluation of electricity resource alternatives [and] resource acquisition strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-06-01

British Columbia Hydro has been directed by the provincial government to develop evaluation procedures to rank electricity resource alternatives in terms of their social benefits and costs, and to acquire resources on the basis of need. The current state of development of social costing at BC Hydro is detailed along with its application to the multiple account evaluation of resources. In this evaluation, BC Hydro's corporate costs, customer cost, transfer payments to the province, direct costs incurred by provincial or regional governments or other Crown agences, direct environmental impact costs from air emissions and land/water use, community and social impact costs, and economic development impacts are taken into account. The BC Hydro resource acquisition strategy is also described as it was developed in response to provincial policy on electricity supply from independent power producers. This strategy includes a determination of need, a decision to acquire need-determined resources either by itself or from a private sector developer, and decisions to acquire resources in advance of need for reasons such as economic opportunity, long-term strategies, or load displacement. Background information is included on calculation of air emissions costs. An illustrative example is provided of the multiple account evaluation of several types of resource projects. 1 fig., 5 tabs

The future of large old trees in urban landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Roux, Darren S; Ikin, Karen; Lindenmayer, David B; Manning, Adrian D; Gibbons, Philip

2014-01-01

Large old trees are disproportionate providers of structural elements (e.g. hollows, coarse woody debris), which are crucial habitat resources for many species. The decline of large old trees in modified landscapes is of global conservation concern. Once large old trees are removed, they are difficult to replace in the short term due to typically prolonged time periods needed for trees to mature (i.e. centuries). Few studies have investigated the decline of large old trees in urban landscapes. Using a simulation model, we predicted the future availability of native hollow-bearing trees (a surrogate for large old trees) in an expanding city in southeastern Australia. In urban greenspace, we predicted that the number of hollow-bearing trees is likely to decline by 87% over 300 years under existing management practices. Under a worst case scenario, hollow-bearing trees may be completely lost within 115 years. Conversely, we predicted that the number of hollow-bearing trees will likely remain stable in semi-natural nature reserves. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the number of hollow-bearing trees perpetuated in urban greenspace over the long term is most sensitive to the: (1) maximum standing life of trees; (2) number of regenerating seedlings ha(-1); and (3) rate of hollow formation. We tested the efficacy of alternative urban management strategies and found that the only way to arrest the decline of large old trees requires a collective management strategy that ensures: (1) trees remain standing for at least 40% longer than currently tolerated lifespans; (2) the number of seedlings established is increased by at least 60%; and (3) the formation of habitat structures provided by large old trees is accelerated by at least 30% (e.g. artificial structures) to compensate for short term deficits in habitat resources. Immediate implementation of these recommendations is needed to avert long term risk to urban biodiversity.

Australian uranium resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battey, G.C.; Miezitis, Y.; McKay, A.D.

1987-01-01

Australia's uranium resources amount to 29% of the WOCA countries (world outside centrally-planned-economies areas) low-cost Reasonably Assured Resources and 28% of the WOCA countries low-cost Estimated Additional Resources. As at 1 January 1986, the Bureau of Mineral Resources estimated Australia's uranium resources as: (1) Cost range to US$80/kg U -Reasonably Assured Resources, 465 000 t U; Estimated Additional Resources, 256 000 t U; (2) Cost range US$80-130/kg U -Reasonably Assured Resources, 56 000 t U; Estimated Additional Resources, 127 000 t U. Most resources are contained in Proterozoic unconformity-related deposits in the Alligator Rivers uranium field in the Northern Territory (Jabiluka, Ranger, Koongarra, Nabarlek deposits) and the Proterozoic stratabound deposit at Olympic Dam on the Stuart Shelf in South Australia

Reinforcement learning techniques for controlling resources in power networks

Science.gov (United States)

Kowli, Anupama Sunil

As power grids transition towards increased reliance on renewable generation, energy storage and demand response resources, an effective control architecture is required to harness the full functionalities of these resources. There is a critical need for control techniques that recognize the unique characteristics of the different resources and exploit the flexibility afforded by them to provide ancillary services to the grid. The work presented in this dissertation addresses these needs. Specifically, new algorithms are proposed, which allow control synthesis in settings wherein the precise distribution of the uncertainty and its temporal statistics are not known. These algorithms are based on recent developments in Markov decision theory, approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning. They impose minimal assumptions on the system model and allow the control to be "learned" based on the actual dynamics of the system. Furthermore, they can accommodate complex constraints such as capacity and ramping limits on generation resources, state-of-charge constraints on storage resources, comfort-related limitations on demand response resources and power flow limits on transmission lines. Numerical studies demonstrating applications of these algorithms to practical control problems in power systems are discussed. Results demonstrate how the proposed control algorithms can be used to improve the performance and reduce the computational complexity of the economic dispatch mechanism in a power network. We argue that the proposed algorithms are eminently suitable to develop operational decision-making tools for large power grids with many resources and many sources of uncertainty.

Enterprise resource planning in construction: An evaluation of recent implementations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leuven, A.; Voordijk, Johannes T.; Akintoye, A

2001-01-01

In a large number of construction firms, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have replaced non-integrated information systems by integrated and maintainable software. The implementation of ERP systems in the construction industry is a difficult task. So far, ERP implementations have yielded

Load Forecasting in Electric Utility Integrated Resource Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvallo, Juan Pablo [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Larsen, Peter H. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Sanstad, Alan H [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Goldman, Charles A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2017-07-19

Integrated resource planning (IRP) is a process used by many vertically-integrated U.S. electric utilities to determine least-cost/risk supply and demand-side resources that meet government policy objectives and future obligations to customers and, in many cases, shareholders. Forecasts of energy and peak demand are a critical component of the IRP process. There have been few, if any, quantitative studies of IRP long-run (planning horizons of two decades) load forecast performance and its relationship to resource planning and actual procurement decisions. In this paper, we evaluate load forecasting methods, assumptions, and outcomes for 12 Western U.S. utilities by examining and comparing plans filed in the early 2000s against recent plans, up to year 2014. We find a convergence in the methods and data sources used. We also find that forecasts in more recent IRPs generally took account of new information, but that there continued to be a systematic over-estimation of load growth rates during the period studied. We compare planned and procured resource expansion against customer load and year-to-year load growth rates, but do not find a direct relationship. Load sensitivities performed in resource plans do not appear to be related to later procurement strategies even in the presence of large forecast errors. These findings suggest that resource procurement decisions may be driven by other factors than customer load growth. Our results have important implications for the integrated resource planning process, namely that load forecast accuracy may not be as important for resource procurement as is generally believed, that load forecast sensitivities could be used to improve the procurement process, and that management of load uncertainty should be prioritized over more complex forecasting techniques.

Optimizing water resources management in large river basins with integrated surface water-groundwater modeling: A surrogate-based approach

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bin; Zheng, Yi; Wu, Xin; Tian, Yong; Han, Feng; Liu, Jie; Zheng, Chunmiao

2015-04-01

Integrated surface water-groundwater modeling can provide a comprehensive and coherent understanding on basin-scale water cycle, but its high computational cost has impeded its application in real-world management. This study developed a new surrogate-based approach, SOIM (Surrogate-based Optimization for Integrated surface water-groundwater Modeling), to incorporate the integrated modeling into water management optimization. Its applicability and advantages were evaluated and validated through an optimization research on the conjunctive use of surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) for irrigation in a semiarid region in northwest China. GSFLOW, an integrated SW-GW model developed by USGS, was employed. The study results show that, due to the strong and complicated SW-GW interactions, basin-scale water saving could be achieved by spatially optimizing the ratios of groundwater use in different irrigation districts. The water-saving potential essentially stems from the reduction of nonbeneficial evapotranspiration from the aqueduct system and shallow groundwater, and its magnitude largely depends on both water management schemes and hydrological conditions. Important implications for water resources management in general include: first, environmental flow regulation needs to take into account interannual variation of hydrological conditions, as well as spatial complexity of SW-GW interactions; and second, to resolve water use conflicts between upper stream and lower stream, a system approach is highly desired to reflect ecological, economic, and social concerns in water management decisions. Overall, this study highlights that surrogate-based approaches like SOIM represent a promising solution to filling the gap between complex environmental modeling and real-world management decision-making.

Resources and Resourcefulness in Language Teaching and Learning

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Attempts will be made in this paper to examine what we mean by language, language teaching and learning, resources and resourcefulness in language teaching and learning and the benefit of teachers being resourceful in language teaching and learning to both the learners, the teachers, the society and the nation at ...

Bioenergy: a sustainable resource for rural population

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehlawat, J.K.

2000-01-01

Bio energy is a renewable resource. It is a product of the abundant solar energy. The plant kingdom collects solar energy by photosynthesis and stores it as biomass. This is a big source of energy that sustains the mankind in many ways-food, fuel, fibre and several others. The non-food biomass like agro-waste and forest residues already constitute a large component of the traditional energy sources of most rural population the world over. A scientific study and proper planning are required for an optimum use of this abundant renewable bio energy (biomass). This paper discusses various options to evolve workable technologies for an efficient use of biomass as a sustainable energy resource for rural areas where it is mostly produced. An integrated strategy is proposed. (author)

Active accumulation of internal DIC pools reduces transport limitation in large colonies of Nostoc pruniforme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raun, Ane-Marie Løvendahl; Borum, Jens; Jensen, Kaj Sand

2009-01-01

Nostoc pruniforme is a freshwater cyanobacterium forming large spherical colonies of up to several centimeters in diameter. The size and shape result in low surface area to volume (SA/V) ratios that potentially put severe constraints on resource acquisition. In the present study we have specifica......Nostoc pruniforme is a freshwater cyanobacterium forming large spherical colonies of up to several centimeters in diameter. The size and shape result in low surface area to volume (SA/V) ratios that potentially put severe constraints on resource acquisition. In the present study we have...

Large scale calculations for hadron spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rebbi, C.

1985-01-01

The talk reviews some recent Monte Carlo calculations for Quantum Chromodynamics, performed on Euclidean lattices of rather large extent. Purpose of the calculations is to provide accurate determinations of quantities, such as interquark potentials or mass eigenvalues, which are relevant for hadronic spectroscopy. Results obtained in quenched QCD on 16 3 x 32 lattices are illustrated, and a discussion of computational resources and techniques required for the calculations is presented. 18 refs.,3 figs., 2 tabs

Biotechnological route for sustainable succinate production utilizing oil palm frond and kenaf as potential carbon sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Luthfi, Abdullah Amru Indera; Manaf, Shareena Fairuz Abdul; Illias, Rosli Md; Harun, Shuhaida; Mohammad, Abdul Wahab; Jahim, Jamaliah Md

2017-04-01

Due to the world's dwindling energy supplies, greater thrust has been placed on the utilization of renewable resources for global succinate production. Exploration of such biotechnological route could be seen as an act of counterbalance to the continued fossil fuel dominance. Malaysia being a tropical country stands out among many other nations for its plenty of resources in the form of lignocellulosic biomass. To date, oil palm frond (OPF) contributes to the largest fraction of agricultural residues in Malaysia, while kenaf, a newly introduced fiber crop with relatively high growth rate, holds great potential for developing sustainable succinate production, apart from OPF. Utilization of non-food, inexhaustible, and low-cost derived biomass in the form of OPF and kenaf for bio-based succinate production remains largely untapped. Owing to the richness of carbohydrates in OPF and kenaf, bio-succinate commercialization using these sources appears as an attractive proposition for future sustainable developments. The aim of this paper was to review some research efforts in developing a biorefinery system based on OPF and kenaf as processing inputs. It presents the importance of the current progress in bio-succinate commercialization, in addition to describing the potential use of different succinate production hosts and various pretreatments-saccharifications under development for OPF and kenaf. Evaluations on the feasibility of OPF and kenaf as fermentation substrates are also discussed.

A survey of the neuroscience resource landscape: perspectives from the neuroscience information framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Cachat, Jonathan; Bandrowski, Anita; Grethe, Jeffery S; Gupta, Amarnath; Astakhov, Vadim; Imam, Fahim; Larson, Stephen D; Martone, Maryann E

2012-01-01

The number of available neuroscience resources (databases, tools, materials, and networks) available via the Web continues to expand, particularly in light of newly implemented data sharing policies required by funding agencies and journals. However, the nature of dense, multifaceted neuroscience data and the design of classic search engine systems make efficient, reliable, and relevant discovery of such resources a significant challenge. This challenge is especially pertinent for online databases, whose dynamic content is largely opaque to contemporary search engines. The Neuroscience Information Framework was initiated to address this problem of finding and utilizing neuroscience-relevant resources. Since its first production release in 2008, NIF has been surveying the resource landscape for the neurosciences, identifying relevant resources and working to make them easily discoverable by the neuroscience community. In this chapter, we provide a survey of the resource landscape for neuroscience: what types of resources are available, how many there are, what they contain, and most importantly, ways in which these resources can be utilized by the research community to advance neuroscience research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Three essays on human resource management

OpenAIRE

Avgoustaki, Argyro

2012-01-01

This thesis comprises three essays on human resource management. The first one studies the effect of on-the-job training on firm productivity using a micro-dataset of a large firm in Greece for the period 2005 to 2006. The data consist of daily observations on the productivity of the same workers tracked before, during, and after the receipt of training. Overall, the empirical findings show that after the implementation of on-the-job training, productivity improves by almost 6.5 percent. Resu...

China's coal-fired power plants impose pressure on water resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, Xinxin; Liu, Junguo; Tang, Yu; Zhao, Xu; Yang, Hong; Gerbens-Leenes, P.W.; Vliet, van Michelle T.H.; Yan, Jinyue

2017-01-01

Coal is the dominant fuel for electricity generation around the world. This type of electricity generation uses large amounts of water, increasing pressure on water resources. This calls for an in-depth investigation in the water-energy nexus of coal-fired electricity generation. In China,

DGSim : comparing grid resource management architectures through trace-based simulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Iosup, A.; Sonmez, O.O.; Epema, D.H.J.; Luque, E.; Margalef, T.; Benítez, D.

2008-01-01

Many advances in grid resource management are still required to realize the grid computing vision of the integration of a world-wide computing infrastructure for scientific use. The pressure for advances is increased by the fast evolution of single, large clusters, which are the primary

Classification of low-resource livestock producers in the North West ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Unknown

Introduction. Inadequate nutrition is generally blamed for the low production of livestock within the holdings of low resource producers. This could partly be due to uncontrolled management of communal lands which are severely degraded and largely unproductive (Duvel & Sebina, 1998). Although much research attention ...

International Uranium Resources Evaluation Project (IUREP) national favourability studies: Republic of Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-12-01

The Republic of Korea, occupies the southern end of the Korean peninsula. It has a long history of mining and mineral production, and has an active and fairly well equipped Geological Survey. The country in general is quite highly mineralized with many minerals including uranium although there has been no uranium production from it yet. Uranium occurs in granites, schists, and in black carbonaceous shales. The Korean Geological survey has estimated that one ore body contains 650 tonnes U in 1,600,000 tons of ore at an average grade of 0.047 percent U 3 O 8 . Many recent reports also indicate very large resources of uranium in very low grade ranges. The uranium potential for the Republic of Korea is considered in Category 2 (1,000 - 10,000 tonnes U) in the normal IUREP context. However, a very large resource may exist in the very low grades in black shales of the country. This resource is considered as in category 6 (500,000 to 1,000,000 tonnes U). (author)

Living in a network of scaling cities and finite resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Qubbaj, Murad R; Shutters, Shade T; Muneepeerakul, Rachata

2015-02-01

Many urban phenomena exhibit remarkable regularity in the form of nonlinear scaling behaviors, but their implications on a system of networked cities has never been investigated. Such knowledge is crucial for our ability to harness the complexity of urban processes to further sustainability science. In this paper, we develop a dynamical modeling framework that embeds population-resource dynamics-a generalized Lotka-Volterra system with modifications to incorporate the urban scaling behaviors-in complex networks in which cities may be linked to the resources of other cities and people may migrate in pursuit of higher welfare. We find that isolated cities (i.e., no migration) are susceptible to collapse if they do not have access to adequate resources. Links to other cities may help cities that would otherwise collapse due to insufficient resources. The effects of inter-city links, however, can vary due to the interplay between the nonlinear scaling behaviors and network structure. The long-term population level of a city is, in many settings, largely a function of the city's access to resources over which the city has little or no competition. Nonetheless, careful investigation of dynamics is required to gain mechanistic understanding of a particular city-resource network because cities and resources may collapse and the scaling behaviors may influence the effects of inter-city links, thereby distorting what topological metrics really measure.

Changing perspectives on resource extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Hazel; Stewart, Iain; Pahl, Sabine; Stokes, Alison

2015-04-01

Over the last century, resource extraction in the UK has changed immeasurably; from relatively small-scale, manually-operated facilities to the larger technological advanced sites that exist today. The communities that live near these sites have also changed, from housing workers that were as much of a resource as the geological material, to local residents who are environmentally literate and strongly value their landscape. Nowadays great pressure is put on the extractive industry to work in both environmentally sustainable and socially ethical ways, but how does this impact upon the local population? How do communities perceive the resource extraction that neighbours them? And is this perception rooted in a general understanding of geology and the subsurface? To explore resident's perceptions of the geological environment, three villages in the southwest of England have been investigated, using a mixed-methods mental models approach. The villages were selected as each has a different geological setting, both commercially and culturally. The first village has a strong historical geological identity, but little current geological activity. The second village has a large tungsten mine in the process of beginning production. The third village has no obvious cultural or commercial relationships with geology and acts as the control site. A broad sample from each of the three villages was qualitatively interviewed, the results of which were analyzed using an emergent thematic coding scheme. These qualitative results were then modelled using Morgan et al's mental models method (2002) and tested using a quantitative questionnaire. The results of this mixed method approach reveals the principal perceptions (or mental models) of residents in these three villages. The villages each present a different general perception of resource exploitation, which appears to be culturally driven, with the first village having the most positive correlations. These mental models are

Chemical dependence - resources

Science.gov (United States)

Substance use - resources, Drug abuse - resources; Resources - chemical dependence ... are a good resource for information on drug dependence: National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence -- ncadd. ...

THE BENEFITS OF HAVING LARGE RESERVOIRS OF PETROLEUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viorel POP

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Oil is the most important resource for global energy production, far exceeding the role of coal and natural gas, the role of river energy and wind energy, and also the role of nuclear fuel. All highly industrialized countries are making great efforts to ensure the energy needs of the functioning of economies under the conditions of fierce global competition. None of the world's first 10-12 economies can give up on oil imports, and the exporting countries benefit from large financial resources from oil. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Russia and other oil-rich countries secure themselves significant foreign revenue for their economic development, defense and overall well-being.

Party rules, party resources and the politics of parliamentary democracies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poguntke, Thomas; Scarrow, Susan; Webb, Paul

2016-01-01

, then investigate what it tells us about contemporary party organization in these countries, focusing on parties’ resources, structures and internal decision-making. We examine organizational patterns by country and party family, and where possible we make temporal comparisons with older data sets. Our analyses...... suggest a remarkable coexistence of uniformity and diversity. In terms of the major organizational resources on which parties can draw, such as members, staff and finance, the new evidence largely confirms the continuation of trends identified in previous research: that is, declining membership......, but enhanced financial resources and more paid staff. We also find remarkable uniformity regarding the core architecture of party organizations. At the same time, however, we find substantial variation between countries and party families in terms of their internal processes, with particular regard to how...

Geophysical and geochemical characterisation of groundwater resources in Western Zambia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chongo, Mkhuzo; Banda, Kawawa Eddy; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter

Zambia’s rural water supply system depends on groundwater resources to a large extent. However, groundwater resources are variable in both quantity and quality across the country and a national groundwater resources assessment and mapping program is presently not in place. In the Machile area...... in South-Western Zambia, groundwater quality problems are particularly acute. Saline groundwater occurrence is widespread and affects rural water supply, which is mainly based on shallow groundwater abstraction using hand pumps. This study has mapped groundwater quality variations in the Machile area using...... both ground-based and airborne geophysical methods as well as extensive water quality sampling. The occurrence of saline groundwater follows a clear spatial pattern and appears to be related to the palaeo Lake Makgadikgadi, whose northernmost extension reached into the Machile area. Because the lake...

Developing alternative resources of rare earth elements in Europe - EURARE and the red mud challenge

Science.gov (United States)

Deady, Eimear; Mouchos, Evangelos; Goodenough, Kathryn; Wall, Frances; Williamson, Ben

2015-04-01

part of this study. Red muds from these deposits contain on average 900 ppm REE compared with typical values of Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, 2014. [3] Z. Maksimović and G. Pantó, "Authigenic rare earth minerals in karst-bauxites and karstic nickel deposits". In: A.P. Jones, F. Wall and C.T. Williams, Rare earth minerals, chemistry, origin and ore deposits, Chapter 10, pp. 257-279, 1996. [4] G. Bárdossy, "Karst Bauxites, Bauxite Deposits on Carbonate Rocks". Elsevier, 444pp, 1982. [5] M. Ochsenkühn-Petropoulou, T. Lyberopoulou, and G. Parissakis, "Direct determination of lanthanides, yttium and scandium in bauxites and red mud from alumina production", Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 296, no. 3, pp. 305-313, October 1994. [6] É. Deady, E. Mouchos, K. Goodenough, B. Williamson and F. Wall. "Rare Earth Elements in Karst-Bauxites: a Novel Untapped European Resource?" ERES 1st European Rare Earth Resources conference, Milos, Greece, (5-6/09/2014). [7] A. Wagh and W. Pinnock, "Occurrence of scandium and rare earth elements in Jamaican bauxite waste", Economic Geology, vol. 82, no. 3, pp. 757-761, May 1987. [8] G. Mongelli, "Ce-anomalies in the textural components of Upper Cretaceous karst bauxites from the Apulian carbonate platform (southern Italy)", Chemical Geology, vol. 140, no. 1, pp. 69-79, June 1997. Additional resources: www.eurare.eu; www.redmud.org.

Large Scale Beam-beam Simulations for the CERN LHC using Distributed Computing

CERN Document Server

Herr, Werner; McIntosh, E; Schmidt, F

2006-01-01

We report on a large scale simulation of beam-beam effects for the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The stability of particles which experience head-on and long-range beam-beam effects was investigated for different optical configurations and machine imperfections. To cover the interesting parameter space required computing resources not available at CERN. The necessary resources were available in the LHC@home project, based on the BOINC platform. At present, this project makes more than 60000 hosts available for distributed computing. We shall discuss our experience using this system during a simulation campaign of more than six months and describe the tools and procedures necessary to ensure consistent results. The results from this extended study are presented and future plans are discussed.

Australia's uranium resources and production in the world context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKay, A.; Lambert, I.; Miezitis, Y.

2001-01-01

Australia has 654 000 tonnes uranium (U) in Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) recoverable at ≤US$40/kg U, which is the largest of all national resource estimates reported in this category. Australia also has the world's largest resources in RAR recoverable at ≤US$80/kg U, with 29% of world resources in this category. Other countries that have large resources in this category include Kazakhstan (19%), Canada (14%), South Africa (10%), Brazil (7%), Namibia (6%), Russian Federation (6%), and United States (5%). In 2000, the main developments in Australia's uranium mining industry were that production reached a record level of 8937 t U 3 O 8 (7579 t U), and commercial operations commenced at the new in situ leach operation at Beverley during November. Australia's total production for 2000 was 27% higher than for 1999. Uranium oxide was produced at the Olympic Dam (4500 t U 3 O 8 ), Ranger (4437 t U 3 O 8 ) and Beverley operations, although production from Beverley for the year was not reported. Australia's share of the world's annual uranium production has increased steadily from about 10.8% (3,712 tonnes U) in 1995 to 21.9% in 2000. Throughout this period Australia has maintained its position as the world's second-largest producer of uranium, behind Canada

Dynamical implications of bi-directional resource exchange within a meta-ecosystem.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Marisabel Rodriguez; Kopp, Darin; Allen, Daniel; Kang, Yun

2018-05-05

The exchange of resources across ecosystem boundaries can have large impacts on ecosystem structures and functions at local and regional scales. In this article, we develop a simple model to investigate dynamical implications of bi-directional resource exchanges between two local ecosystems in a meta-ecosystem framework. In our model, we assume that (1) Each local ecosystem acts as both a resource donor and recipient, such that one ecosystem donating resources to another results in a cost to the donating system and a benefit to the recipient; and (2) The costs and benefits of the bi-directional resource exchange between two ecosystems are correlated in a nonlinear fashion. Our model could apply to the resource interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that are supported by the literature. Our theoretical results show that bi-directional resource exchange between two ecosystems can indeed generate complicated dynamical outcomes, including the coupled ecosystems having amensalistic, antagonistic, competitive, or mutualistic interactions, with multiple alternative stable states depending on the relative costs and benefits. In addition, if the relative cost for resource exchange for an ecosystem is decreased or the relative benefit for resource exchange for an ecosystem is increased, the production of that ecosystem would increase; however, depending on the local environment, the production of the other ecosystem may increase or decrease. We expect that our work, by evaluating the potential outcomes of resource exchange theoretically, can facilitate empirical evaluations and advance the understanding of spatial ecosystem ecology where resource exchanges occur in varied ecosystems through a complicated network. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The effects of human resource flexibility on human resources development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SeidMehdi Veise

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Human resources are the primary factor for development of competitiveness and innovation and reaching competitive advantage and they try to improve corporate capabilities through various characteristics such as value creation, scarcity and difficulty of imitation. This paper investigates the effect of human resource flexibility and its dimensions on human resource development and its dimensions. The survey was conducted using descriptive-correlation method that intended to describe how human resource flexibility was effective on human resource development. Questionnaire was tool of data collection. The statistical population included one hundred employees of the Electric Company in Ilam province, thus census method was used. Reliability of the questionnaire was measured via Cronbach's alpha equal to 0.96. The findings revealed that flexibility and its dimensions were effective on human resource development and dimensions of it. As a result, human resource flexibility should be considered for development of human resources and employees with the highest flexibility should be selected.

Forest Biomass Energy Resources in China: Quantity and Distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caixia Zhang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available As one of the most important renewable and sustainable energy sources, the forest biomass energy resource has always been the focus of attention of scholars and policy makers. However, its potential is still uncertain in China, especially with respect to its spatial distribution. In this paper, the quantity and distribution of Chinese forest biomass energy resources are explored based mainly on forestry statistics data rather than forest resource inventory data used by most previous studies. The results show that the forest biomass energy resource in China was 169 million tons in 2010, of which wood felling and bucking residue (WFBR,wood processing residue (WPR, bamboo processing residue, fuel wood and firewood used by farmers accounted for 38%, 37%, 6%, 4% and 15%, respectively. The highest resource was located in East China, accounting for nearly 39.0% of the national amount, followed by the Southwest and South China regions, which accounted for 17.4% and 16.3%, respectively. At the provincial scale, Shandong has the highest distribution, accounting for 11.9% of total resources, followed by Guangxi and Fujian accounting for 10.3% and 10.2%, respectively. The actual wood-processing residue (AWPR estimated from the actual production of different wood products (considering the wood transferred between regions showed apparent differences from the local wood processing residue (LWPR, which assumes that no wood has been transferredbetween regions. Due to the large contribution of WPR to total forestry bioenergy resources, the estimation of AWPR will provide a more accurate evaluation of the total amount and the spatial distribution of forest biomass energy resources in China.

Empiric treatment of acute meningitis syndrome in a resource-limited ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Bacterial meningitis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world. However, limited research has focused on the diagnosis and management of meningitis in resource-limited settings. Methods: We designed a prospective case series of children admitted to a large, academic referral ...

Geographic variation in resource use by specialist versus generalist butterflyfishes

KAUST Repository

Lawton, Rebecca J.; Cole, Andrew J.; Berumen, Michael L.; Pratchett, Morgan S.

2011-01-01

Localised patterns of resource use can be constrained by multiple factors. Comparison of resource use at multiple locations with differing resource availability can allow fundamental specialists to be distinguished from species that simply feed predominantly on prey types that are locally abundant. This study investigates geographic variation in the feeding ecology of coral-feeding butterflyfishes to examine whether patterns of resource use and levels of dietary specialisation vary among distinct locations, corresponding with changes in resource availability. Our specific aims were to investigate whether the dietary niche breadth of four butterflyfishes varies among five geographically separated locations and assess whether each species utilises similar resources in each location. Resource availability and dietary composition of four butterflyfishes were quantified at three sites across each of five geographic locations throughout the Pacific. Niche breadth, niche overlap, and resource selection functions were calculated for each species at each site and compared among locations. Availability of dietary resources varied significantly among locations and sites. Chaetodon vagabundus, C. citrinellus and C. lunulatus had low levels of dietary specialisation and used different resources in each location. Chaetodon trifascialis had high levels of dietary specialisation and used the same few resources in each location. Our results indicate that relative levels of dietary specialisation among different butterflyfishes do hold at larger spatial scales, however, geographical variation in the dietary composition of all butterflyfishes indicates that prey availability has a fundamental influence on dietary composition. Highly specialised species such as C. trifascialis will be highly vulnerable to coral loss as they appear to be largely inflexible in their dietary composition. However, the increased feeding plasticity observed here for C. trifascialis suggests this species may

Geographic variation in resource use by specialist versus generalist butterflyfishes

KAUST Repository

Lawton, Rebecca J.

2011-11-14

Localised patterns of resource use can be constrained by multiple factors. Comparison of resource use at multiple locations with differing resource availability can allow fundamental specialists to be distinguished from species that simply feed predominantly on prey types that are locally abundant. This study investigates geographic variation in the feeding ecology of coral-feeding butterflyfishes to examine whether patterns of resource use and levels of dietary specialisation vary among distinct locations, corresponding with changes in resource availability. Our specific aims were to investigate whether the dietary niche breadth of four butterflyfishes varies among five geographically separated locations and assess whether each species utilises similar resources in each location. Resource availability and dietary composition of four butterflyfishes were quantified at three sites across each of five geographic locations throughout the Pacific. Niche breadth, niche overlap, and resource selection functions were calculated for each species at each site and compared among locations. Availability of dietary resources varied significantly among locations and sites. Chaetodon vagabundus, C. citrinellus and C. lunulatus had low levels of dietary specialisation and used different resources in each location. Chaetodon trifascialis had high levels of dietary specialisation and used the same few resources in each location. Our results indicate that relative levels of dietary specialisation among different butterflyfishes do hold at larger spatial scales, however, geographical variation in the dietary composition of all butterflyfishes indicates that prey availability has a fundamental influence on dietary composition. Highly specialised species such as C. trifascialis will be highly vulnerable to coral loss as they appear to be largely inflexible in their dietary composition. However, the increased feeding plasticity observed here for C. trifascialis suggests this species may

Development of a Methodology for Predicting Forest Area for Large-Area Resource Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

William H. Cooke

2001-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southcm Research Station, appointed a remote-sensing team to develop an image-processing methodology for mapping forest lands over large geographic areds. The team has presented a repeatable methodology, which is based on regression modeling of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Landsat Thematic...

Bionimbus: a cloud for managing, analyzing and sharing large genomics datasets.

Science.gov (United States)

Heath, Allison P; Greenway, Matthew; Powell, Raymond; Spring, Jonathan; Suarez, Rafael; Hanley, David; Bandlamudi, Chai; McNerney, Megan E; White, Kevin P; Grossman, Robert L

2014-01-01

As large genomics and phenotypic datasets are becoming more common, it is increasingly difficult for most researchers to access, manage, and analyze them. One possible approach is to provide the research community with several petabyte-scale cloud-based computing platforms containing these data, along with tools and resources to analyze it. Bionimbus is an open source cloud-computing platform that is based primarily upon OpenStack, which manages on-demand virtual machines that provide the required computational resources, and GlusterFS, which is a high-performance clustered file system. Bionimbus also includes Tukey, which is a portal, and associated middleware that provides a single entry point and a single sign on for the various Bionimbus resources; and Yates, which automates the installation, configuration, and maintenance of the software infrastructure required. Bionimbus is used by a variety of projects to process genomics and phenotypic data. For example, it is used by an acute myeloid leukemia resequencing project at the University of Chicago. The project requires several computational pipelines, including pipelines for quality control, alignment, variant calling, and annotation. For each sample, the alignment step requires eight CPUs for about 12 h. BAM file sizes ranged from 5 GB to 10 GB for each sample. Most members of the research community have difficulty downloading large genomics datasets and obtaining sufficient storage and computer resources to manage and analyze the data. Cloud computing platforms, such as Bionimbus, with data commons that contain large genomics datasets, are one choice for broadening access to research data in genomics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Experiments with a cryogenic torsion balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, R.D.

1983-01-01

The torsion balance is a remarkably capable instrument for the measurement of slowly varying exceedingly small forces; indeed its potential abilities are still largely untapped. The author outlines some of the virtues (and limitations) of the torsion balance, and presents a menu of gravitation-related experiments to which it may be applied. He discusses plans for developing torsion balances operating at cryogenic temperatures, and describes an experiment to search for anomalous long-range interactions associated with intrinsic spin. (Auth.)

Disinformative data in large-scale hydrological modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Kauffeldt

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Large-scale hydrological modelling has become an important tool for the study of global and regional water resources, climate impacts, and water-resources management. However, modelling efforts over large spatial domains are fraught with problems of data scarcity, uncertainties and inconsistencies between model forcing and evaluation data. Model-independent methods to screen and analyse data for such problems are needed. This study aimed at identifying data inconsistencies in global datasets using a pre-modelling analysis, inconsistencies that can be disinformative for subsequent modelling. The consistency between (i basin areas for different hydrographic datasets, and (ii between climate data (precipitation and potential evaporation and discharge data, was examined in terms of how well basin areas were represented in the flow networks and the possibility of water-balance closure. It was found that (i most basins could be well represented in both gridded basin delineations and polygon-based ones, but some basins exhibited large area discrepancies between flow-network datasets and archived basin areas, (ii basins exhibiting too-high runoff coefficients were abundant in areas where precipitation data were likely affected by snow undercatch, and (iii the occurrence of basins exhibiting losses exceeding the potential-evaporation limit was strongly dependent on the potential-evaporation data, both in terms of numbers and geographical distribution. Some inconsistencies may be resolved by considering sub-grid variability in climate data, surface-dependent potential-evaporation estimates, etc., but further studies are needed to determine the reasons for the inconsistencies found. Our results emphasise the need for pre-modelling data analysis to identify dataset inconsistencies as an important first step in any large-scale study. Applying data-screening methods before modelling should also increase our chances to draw robust conclusions from subsequent

A Philosophy Research Database to Share Data Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jili Cheng

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Philosophy research used to rely mainly on the traditional published journals and newspapers for collecting or communicating data. However, because of financial limits or lack of capability to collect data, required published materials and even restricted materials and developing information from research projects often could not be obtained. The rise of digital techniques and Internet opportunities has allowed data resource sharing of philosophy research. However, although there are several ICPs with large-scale comprehensive commercial databases in the field in China, no real non-profit professional database for philosophy researchers exists. Therefore, in 2002, the Philosophy Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences began a project to build "The Database of Philosophy Research." Until Mar. 2006 the number of subsets had reached 30, with more than 30,000 records, retrieval services reached 6,000, and article-reading reached 30,000. Because of the concept of intellectual property, the service of the database is currently limited to the information held in CASS. Nevertheless, this is the first academic database for philosophy research, so its orientation is towards resource-sharing, leading users to data, and serving large number of demands from other provinces and departments.

Minigames for Mental Health: Improving Warfighters' Coping Skills and Awareness of Mental Health Resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Procci, Katelyn; Bowers, Clint; Wong, Christopher; Andrews, Anya

2013-08-01

Providing resources and stress management techniques is vital to the improvement of mental health outcomes of deploying warfighters. Despite the large amount of resources available, they are largely ineffective owing in part to lack of familiarity and knowledge of the resources themselves. This may be ameliorated through game-based practice environments. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a serious game to teach deploying military personnel about available mental health resources and coping skills, as well as to determine whether the inclusion of minigames improved learning outcomes. Participants played the serious game "Walk in My Shoes" (Novonics Corp., Orlando, FL) to learn about mental health resources and coping skills. Half of the participants applied this knowledge during the game by playing minigames, whereas the other half played minigames featuring irrelevant content. This study was conducted both in-person and online. Participants who practiced the content by playing relevant minigames had positive learning gains, whereas those who played minigames with irrelevant content did not improve from baseline. There were no differences with respect to whether the game was played in the laboratory or in a more naturalistic environment. Web-based serious games can be effective in providing information about resources and skills to deploying warfighters. Including minigames to provide practice in a game-based training environment such as a serious game improves learning outcomes. Such a serious game, regardless of the inclusion of minigames, also increases self-reports of deployment self-efficacy.

Factors Influencing Post-Adoptive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Utilization

Science.gov (United States)

McGinnis, Thomas C.

2011-01-01

Organizations expend a great deal of time, effort and money on the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. They are considered the price of entry for large organizations to do business. Yet the success rate of ERP systems is poor. IS literature suggests that one possible reason for this is the underutilization of these…

Assessment of climate change impacts on rainfall using large scale ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Many of the applied techniques in water resources management can be directly or indirectly influenced by ... is based on large scale climate signals data around the world. In order ... predictand relationships are often very complex. .... constraints to solve the optimization problem. ..... social, and environmental sustainability.

Export diversification and resource-based industrialization: the case of natural gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massol, Olivier; Banal-Estanol, Albert

2012-01-01

For resource-rich economies, primary commodity specialization has often been considered to be detrimental to growth. Accordingly, export diversification policies centered on resource-based industries have long been advocated as effective ways to moderate the large variability of export revenues. This paper discusses the applicability of a mean-variance portfolio approach to design these strategies and proposes some modifications aimed at capturing the key features of resource processing industries (presence of scale economies and investment lumpiness). These modifications help make the approach more plausible for use in resource-rich countries. An application to the case of natural gas is then discussed using data obtained from Monte Carlo simulations of a calibrated empirical model. Lastly, the proposed framework is put to work to evaluate the performances of the diversification strategies implemented in a set of nine gas-rich economies. These results are then used to formulate some policy recommendations. (authors)

Trying to Predict the Future - Resource Planning and Allocation in CMS

CERN Document Server

Kreuzer, Peter; Fisk, Ian; Merino, Gonzalo

2012-01-01

In the large LHC experiments the majority of computing resources are provided by the participating countries. These resource pledges account for more than three quarters of the total available computing. The experiments are asked to give indications of their requests three years in advance and to evolve these as the details and constraints become clearer. In this presentation we will discuss the resource planning techniques used in CMS to predict the computing resources several years in advance. We will discuss how we attempt to implement the activities of the computing model in spreadsheets and formulas to calculate the needs. We will talk about how those needs are reflected in the 2012 running and how the planned long shutdown of the LHC in 2013 and 2014 impact the planning process and the outcome. In the end we will speculate on the computing needs in the second major run of LHC.

Large-scale pool fires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steinhaus Thomas

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A review of research into the burning behavior of large pool fires and fuel spill fires is presented. The features which distinguish such fires from smaller pool fires are mainly associated with the fire dynamics at low source Froude numbers and the radiative interaction with the fire source. In hydrocarbon fires, higher soot levels at increased diameters result in radiation blockage effects around the perimeter of large fire plumes; this yields lower emissive powers and a drastic reduction in the radiative loss fraction; whilst there are simplifying factors with these phenomena, arising from the fact that soot yield can saturate, there are other complications deriving from the intermittency of the behavior, with luminous regions of efficient combustion appearing randomly in the outer surface of the fire according the turbulent fluctuations in the fire plume. Knowledge of the fluid flow instabilities, which lead to the formation of large eddies, is also key to understanding the behavior of large-scale fires. Here modeling tools can be effectively exploited in order to investigate the fluid flow phenomena, including RANS- and LES-based computational fluid dynamics codes. The latter are well-suited to representation of the turbulent motions, but a number of challenges remain with their practical application. Massively-parallel computational resources are likely to be necessary in order to be able to adequately address the complex coupled phenomena to the level of detail that is necessary.

Effects of organizational complexity and resources on construction site risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Forteza, Francisco J; Carretero-Gómez, Jose M; Sesé, Albert

2017-09-01

Our research is aimed at studying the relationship between risk level and organizational complexity and resources on constructions sites. Our general hypothesis is that site complexity increases risk, whereas more resources of the structure decrease risk. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach was adopted to validate our theoretical model. To develop our study, 957 building sites in Spain were visited and assessed in 2003-2009. All needed data were obtained using a specific tool developed by the authors to assess site risk, structure and resources (Construction Sites Risk Assessment Tool, or CONSRAT). This tool operationalizes the variables to fit our model, specifically, via a site risk index (SRI) and 10 organizational variables. Our random sample is composed largely of small building sites with general high levels of risk, moderate complexity, and low resources on site. The model obtained adequate fit, and results showed empirical evidence that the factors of complexity and resources can be considered predictors of site risk level. Consequently, these results can help companies, managers of construction and regulators to identify which organizational aspects should be improved to prevent risks on sites and consequently accidents. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positives and pathologies of natural resource management on private land-conservation areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, Hayley S; Cumming, Graeme S

2017-06-01

In managed natural resource systems, such as fisheries and rangelands, there is a recognized trade-off between managing for short-term benefits and managing for longer term resilience. Management actions that stabilize ecological attributes or processes can improve productivity in the supply of ecosystem goods and services in the short term but erode system resilience at longer time scales. For example, fire suppression in rangelands can increase grass biomass initially but ultimately result in an undesirable, shrub-dominated system. Analyses of this phenomenon have focused largely on how management actions influence slow-changing biophysical system attributes (such as vegetation composition). Data on the frequency of management actions that reduce natural ecological variation on 66 private land-conservation areas (PLCAs) in South Africa were used to investigate how management actions are influenced by manager decision-making approaches, a largely ignored part of the problem. The pathology of natural resource management was evident on some PLCAs: increased focus on revenue-generation in decision making resulted in an increased frequency of actions to stabilize short-term variation in large mammal populations, which led to increased revenues from ecotourism or hunting. On many PLCAs, these management actions corresponded with a reduced focus on ecological monitoring and an increase in overstocking of game (i.e., ungulate species) and stocking of extralimitals (i.e., game species outside their historical range). Positives in natural resource management also existed. Some managers monitored slower changing ecological attributes, which resulted in less-intensive management, fewer extralimital species, and lower stocking rates. Our unique, empirical investigation of monitoring-management relationships illustrates that management decisions informed by revenue monitoring versus ecological monitoring can have opposing consequences for natural resource productivity and

Investigations needed to stimulate the development of Jordan's mineral resources

Science.gov (United States)

McKelvey, V.E.

1979-01-01

The level of living that any society can attain is a direct function of the use it makes of all kinds of raw materials (soil, water, metals, nonmetals, etc.), all kinds of energy (both animate and inanimate), and all kinds of human ingenuity; and is an inverse function of the size of the population that must share the collective product. The relation between raw materials, energy and ingenuity is such that use of a large amount of one may offset the need for large amounts of others. The most vital raw materials are water, soil, and construction materials, for these are needed in large quantities and are hard to import. Metals, chemicals, and inanimate energy are necessary for industrialization. The more of these minerals a nation possess, the better, but not nation can hope to be self-sufficient in all of the m and therefore must trade for some essential materials. Jordan’s natural resources have been little explored. The grantitc-metamorphic terrane in the southeastern part of the Kingdom could contain deposits of tungsten, rare earths, feldspar, mica, fluorite etc. and the sedimentary terrane over much of the rest of the county is favorable for the occurrence of oil. Even if none of these minerals is found, however, Jordan’s other mineral resource, if fully explored and developed in the light of modern technology, will support a far higher level of living than her people now enjoy. Very likely she can increase her rainfall by about 10 percent by cloud seeding, and she undeveloped supplies in both surface and ground water that are sufficient to nearly double her usable water supply. Even if she does not have oil or have it in large quantities, she can buy it cheaply from neighboring counties, and in addition has undeveloped sources of hydroelectric power, large reserves of bituminous limestone, large reserves of nuclear power as uranium in phosphate rock, and can use solar and wind power for special purposes. Her large supplies of construction, fertilizer, and

CINERGI: Community Inventory of EarthCube Resources for Geoscience Interoperability

Science.gov (United States)

Zaslavsky, Ilya; Bermudez, Luis; Grethe, Jeffrey; Gupta, Amarnath; Hsu, Leslie; Lehnert, Kerstin; Malik, Tanu; Richard, Stephen; Valentine, David; Whitenack, Thomas

2014-05-01

Organizing geoscience data resources to support cross-disciplinary data discovery, interpretation, analysis and integration is challenging because of different information models, semantic frameworks, metadata profiles, catalogs, and services used in different geoscience domains, not to mention different research paradigms and methodologies. The central goal of CINERGI, a new project supported by the US National Science Foundation through its EarthCube Building Blocks program, is to create a methodology and assemble a large inventory of high-quality information resources capable of supporting data discovery needs of researchers in a wide range of geoscience domains. The key characteristics of the inventory are: 1) collaboration with and integration of metadata resources from a number of large data facilities; 2) reliance on international metadata and catalog service standards; 3) assessment of resource "interoperability-readiness"; 4) ability to cross-link and navigate data resources, projects, models, researcher directories, publications, usage information, etc.; 5) efficient inclusion of "long-tail" data, which are not appearing in existing domain repositories; 6) data registration at feature level where appropriate, in addition to common dataset-level registration, and 7) integration with parallel EarthCube efforts, in particular focused on EarthCube governance, information brokering, service-oriented architecture design and management of semantic information. We discuss challenges associated with accomplishing CINERGI goals, including defining the inventory scope; managing different granularity levels of resource registration; interaction with search systems of domain repositories; explicating domain semantics; metadata brokering, harvesting and pruning; managing provenance of the harvested metadata; and cross-linking resources based on the linked open data (LOD) approaches. At the higher level of the inventory, we register domain-wide resources such as domain

The Nature and Use of Copper Reserve and Resource Data

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Dennis P.; Wright, Nancy A.; Coakley, George J.

1981-01-01

Copper reserve, resource, and production data can be combined to produce disaggregated resource estimates and trends and, when combined with demand forecasts, can be used to predict future exploration and development requirements. Reserve estimates are subject to uncertainties due mainly to incomplete exploration and rapidly changing economic conditions. United States' reserve estimates in the past have been low mainly because knowledge of the magnitude of very large porphyry-copper deposits has been incomplete. Present estimates are considerably more reliable because mining firms tend to drill out deposits fully before mining and to release their reserve estimates to the public. The sum of reserves and past production yields an estimate of the total ore, total metal contained in ore, and average grade of ore originally in each of the deposits known in the United States. For most deposits, estimates of total copper in ore are low relative to the total copper in mineralized rock, and many estimates are strongly affected by the economic behavior of mining firms. A better estimate of the real distribution of copper contained in deposits can be obtained by combining past production data with resource estimates. Copper resource data are disaggregated into categories that include resources in undeveloped deposits similar to those mined in the past, resources in mines closed because of unfavorable economic conditions, resources in deep deposits requiring high-cost mining methods, arid resources in deposits located in areas where environmental restrictions have contributed to delays in development. The largest resource is located in the five largest porphyry deposits. These deposits are now being mined but the resources are not included in the present mining plan. Resources in this last category will not contribute to supply until some future time when ores presently being mined are depleted. A high correlation exists between total copper contained in deposits and annual

A resource oriented webs service for environmental modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Ferencik, Ioan

2013-04-01

Environmental modeling is a largely adopted practice in the study of natural phenomena. Environmental models can be difficult to build and use and thus sharing them within the community is an important aspect. The most common approach to share a model is to expose it as a web service. In practice the interaction with this web service is cumbersome due to lack of standardized contract and the complexity of the model being exposed. In this work we investigate the use of a resource oriented approach in exposing environmental models as web services. We view a model as a layered resource build atop the object concept from Object Oriented Programming, augmented with persistence capabilities provided by an embedded object database to keep track of its state and implementing the four basic principles of resource oriented architectures: addressability, statelessness, representation and uniform interface. For implementation we use exclusively open source software: Django framework, dyBase object oriented database and Python programming language. We developed a generic framework of resources structured into a hierarchy of types and consequently extended this typology with recurses specific to the domain of environmental modeling. To test our web service we used cURL, a robust command-line based web client.

Natural Resource Extraction, Armed Violence, and Environmental Degradation.

Science.gov (United States)

Downey, Liam; Bonds, Eric; Clark, Katherine

2010-12-01

The goal of this article is to demonstrate that environmental sociologists cannot fully explain the relationship between humans and the natural world without theorizing a link between natural resource extraction, armed violence, and environmental degradation. The authors begin by arguing that armed violence is one of several overlapping mechanisms that provide powerful actors with the means to (a) prevail over others in conflicts over natural resources and (b) ensure that natural resources critical to industrial production and state power continue to be extracted and sold in sufficient quantities to promote capital accumulation, state power, and ecological unequal exchange. The authors then identify 10 minerals that are critical to the functioning of the U.S. economy and/or military and demonstrate that the extraction of these minerals often involves the use of armed violence. They further demonstrate that armed violence is associated with the activities of the world's three largest mining companies, with African mines that receive World Bank funding, and with petroleum and rainforest timber extraction. The authors conclude that the natural resource base on which industrial societies stand is constructed in large part through the use and threatened use of armed violence. As a result, armed violence plays a critical role in fostering environmental degradation and ecological unequal exchange.

Reform Drivers and Reform Obstacles in Natural Resource Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gezelius, Stig S.; Raakjær, Jesper; Hegland, Troels Jacob

2010-01-01

ABSTRACT: The ability to transform historical learning into institutional reform is a key to success in the management of common pool natural resources. Based on a model of institutional inertia and a comparative analysis of Northeast Atlantic fisheries management from 1945 to the present....... Institutional inertia entails that large-scale management reform tends to be crisis driven....

Sustainable production of biologically active molecules of marine based origin.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Patrick M; Moane, Siobhan; Collins, Catherine; Beletskaya, Tanya; Thomas, Olivier P; Duarte, Alysson W F; Nobre, Fernando S; Owoyemi, Ifeloju O; Pagnocca, Fernando C; Sette, L D; McHugh, Edward; Causse, Eric; Pérez-López, Paula; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, Ma T; Rubiolo, Juan; Leirós, Marta; Botana, Luis M; Pinteus, Susete; Alves, Celso; Horta, André; Pedrosa, Rui; Jeffryes, Clayton; Agathos, Spiros N; Allewaert, Celine; Verween, Annick; Vyverman, Wim; Laptev, Ivan; Sineoky, Sergei; Bisio, Angela; Manconi, Renata; Ledda, Fabio; Marchi, Mario; Pronzato, Roberto; Walsh, Daniel J

2013-09-25

The marine environment offers both economic and scientific potential which are relatively untapped from a biotechnological point of view. These environments whilst harsh are ironically fragile and dependent on a harmonious life form balance. Exploitation of natural resources by exhaustive wild harvesting has obvious negative environmental consequences. From a European industry perspective marine organisms are a largely underutilised resource. This is not due to lack of interest but due to a lack of choice the industry faces for cost competitive, sustainable and environmentally conscientious product alternatives. Knowledge of the biotechnological potential of marine organisms together with the development of sustainable systems for their cultivation, processing and utilisation are essential. In 2010, the European Commission recognised this need and funded a collaborative RTD/SME project under the Framework 7-Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) Theme 2 Programme 'Sustainable culture of marine microorganisms, algae and/or invertebrates for high value added products'. The scope of that project entitled 'Sustainable Production of Biologically Active Molecules of Marine Based Origin' (BAMMBO) is outlined. Although the Union is a global leader in many technologies, it faces increasing competition from traditional rivals and emerging economies alike and must therefore improve its innovation performance. For this reason innovation is placed at the heart of a European Horizon 2020 Strategy wherein the challenge is to connect economic performance to eco performance. This article provides a synopsis of the research activities of the BAMMBO project as they fit within the wider scope of sustainable environmentally conscientious marine resource exploitation for high-value biomolecules. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Network resource management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2009-01-01

The invention provides real time dynamic resource management to improve end-to-end QoS by mobile devices regularly updating a resource availability server (RAS) with resource update information. Examples of resource update information are device battery status, available memory, session bandwidth,

Attention and Visuospatial Working Memory Share the Same Processing Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing eFeng

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Attention and visuospatial working memory (VWM share very similar characteristics; both have the same upper bound of about four items in capacity and they recruit overlapping brain regions. We examined whether both attention and visuospatial working memory share the same processing resources using a novel dual-task-costs approach based on a load-varying dual-task technique. With sufficiently large loads on attention and VWM, considerable interference between the two processes was observed. A further load increase on either process produced reciprocal increases in interference on both processes, indicating that attention and VWM share common resources. More critically, comparison among four experiments on the reciprocal interference effects, as measured by the dual-task costs, demonstrates no significant contribution from additional processing other than the shared processes. These results support the notion that attention and VWM share the same processing resources.

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm for the Multi-mode RCPSP

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muller, Laurent Flindt

We present an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search algorithm for the Multi-mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (MRCPSP). We incorporate techniques for deriving additional precedence relations and propose a new method, so-called mode-diminution, for removing modes during execution...

A document analysis of drowning prevention education resources in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Katchmarchi, Adam Bradley; Taliaferro, Andrea R; Kipfer, Hannah Joy

2018-03-01

There have been long-standing calls to better educate the public at large on risks of drowning; yet limited evaluation has taken place on current resources in circulation. The purpose of this qualitative research is to develop an understanding of the content in currently circulated drowning prevention resources in the United States. Data points (n = 451) consisting of specific content within 25 different drowning prevention educational resources were analyzed using document analysis methods; a grounded theory approach was employed to allow for categorical development and indexing of the data. Results revealed six emerging categories, including safety precautions (n = 152), supervision (n = 109), preventing access (n = 57), safety equipment (n = 46), emergency procedures (n = 46), and aquatic education (n = 41). Results provide an initial insight into the composition of drowning prevention resources in the United States and provide a foundation for future research.

Oregon Low-Temperature-Resource Assessment Program. Final technical report