Estimation of slip scenarios of mega-thrust earthquakes and strong motion simulations for Central Andes, Peru

Science.gov (United States)

Pulido, N.; Tavera, H.; Aguilar, Z.; Chlieh, M.; Calderon, D.; Sekiguchi, T.; Nakai, S.; Yamazaki, F.

2012-12-01

all scenario slips for central Andes, and for an average soil condition, exhibit similar amplitudes and attenuation characteristics with distance as the PGA and PGV values observed during the 2010 Maule (Mw 8.8), and 2011 Tohoku-oki (Mw 9.0) earthquakes. Our results clearly indicate that the simulated ground motions for scenarios with deep rupture nucleations (~40 km) are consistently smaller than the ground motions obtained for shallower rupture nucleations. We also performed strong ground motion simulations in metropolitan Lima by using the aforementioned slip scenarios, and incorporating site amplifications obtained from several microtremors array surveys conducted at representative geotechnical zones in this city. Our simulated PGA and PGV in Lima reach values of 1000 cm/s^2 and 80 cm/s. Our results show that the largest values of PGA (at Puente Piedra district, Northern Lima) are related with short period site effects, whereas the largest values of PGV are related with large site amplifications for periods from 1s to 1.5s (at Callao, Villa el Salvador and La Molina districts). Our results also indicate that the simulated PGA and PGV in central Lima (Parque de la Reserva) are in average 2~3 times larger than the values recorded by a strong motion instrument installed at this location, during the 1974 (Mw8.0) and 1966 (Mw8.0) earthquakes off-shore Lima.

Largest College Endowments, 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012

2012-01-01

Of all endowments valued at more than $250-million, the UCLA Foundation had the highest rate of growth over the previous year, at 49 percent. This article presents a table of the largest college endowments in 2011. The table covers the "rank," "institution," "market value as of June 30, 2011," and "1-year change" of institutions participating in…

Statistics of the largest sunspot and facular areas per solar cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willis, D.M.; Kabasakal Tulunay, Y.

1979-01-01

The statistics of extreme values is used to investigate the statistical properties of the largest areas sunspots and photospheric faculae per solar cycle. The largest values of the synodic-solar-rotation mean areas of umbrae, whole spots and faculae, which have been recorded for nine solar cycles, are each shown to comply with the general form of the extreme value probability function. Empirical expressions are derived for the three extreme value populations from which the characteristic statistical parameters, namely the mode, median, mean and standard deviation, can be calculated for each population. These three extreme value populations are also used to find the expected ranges of the extreme areas in a group of solar cycles as a function of the number of cycles in the group. The extreme areas of umbrae and whole spots have a dispersion comparable to that found by Siscoe for the extreme values of sunspot number, whereas the extreme areas of faculae have a smaller dispersion which is comparable to that found by Siscoe for the largest geomagnetic storm per solar cycle. The expected range of the largest sunspot area per solar cycle for a group of one hundred cycles appears to be inconsistent with the existence of the prolonged periods of sunspot minima that have been inferred from the historical information on solar variability. This inconsistency supports the contention that there are temporal changes of solar-cycle statistics during protracted periods of sunspot minima (or maxima). Indeed, without such temporal changes, photospheric faculae should have been continually observable throughout the lifetime of the Sun. (orig.)

Peak Ground Velocities for Seismic Events at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

K. Coppersmith; R. Quittmeyer

2005-01-01

This report describes a scientific analysis to bound credible horizontal peak ground velocities (PGV) for the repository waste emplacement level at Yucca Mountain. Results are presented as a probability distribution for horizontal PGV to represent uncertainties in the analysis. The analysis also combines the bound to horizontal PGV with results of ground motion site-response modeling (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170027]) to develop a composite hazard curve for horizontal PGV at the waste emplacement level. This result provides input to an abstraction of seismic consequences (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169183]). The seismic consequence abstraction, in turn, defines the input data and computational algorithms for the seismic scenario class of the total system performance assessment (TSPA). Planning for the analysis is documented in Technical Work Plan TWP-MGR-GS-000001 (BSC 2004 [DIRS 171850]). The bound on horizontal PGV at the repository waste emplacement level developed in this analysis complements ground motions developed on the basis of PSHA results. In the PSHA, ground motion experts characterized the epistemic uncertainty and aleatory variability in their ground motion interpretations. To characterize the aleatory variability they used unbounded lognormal distributions. As a consequence of these characterizations, as seismic hazard calculations are extended to lower and lower annual frequencies of being exceeded, the ground motion level increases without bound, eventually reaching levels that are not credible (Corradini 2003 [DIRS 171191]). To provide credible seismic inputs for TSPA, in accordance with 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 63.102(j) [DIRS 156605], this complementary analysis is carried out to determine reasonable bounding values of horizontal PGV at the waste emplacement level for annual frequencies of exceedance as low as 10 -8 . For each realization of the TSPA seismic scenario, the results of this analysis provide a constraint on the values sampled from the

On the statistics of the largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siscoe, G.L.

1976-01-01

The theory of extreme value statistics is applied to the first, second, and third largest geomagnetic storms in nine solar cycles measured by the average half-daily aa indices compiled by Mayaud. Analytic expressions giving the probability of the extremes per solar cycle as a contour function of storm magnitude are obtained by least squares fitting of the observations to the appropriate theoretical extreme value probability functions. The results are used to obtain the statistical characteristics (mode, median, mean, and standard deviation) for the extreme values. The results are applied to find the expected range of extreme values in a set as a function of the number of solar cycles in the set. We find that the expected range of the largest storm is quite narrow and is larger for the second and third largest storms. The observed range of the extreme half-daily aa index for the nine solar cycles is 354--546 γ. In a set of 100 cycles the range is expanded esentially to 311--680γ, an increase of only 39% in the range. The result supports the argument for a change in solar cycle statistics in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century (the Maunder minimum)

Joint Asymptotic Distributions of Smallest and Largest Insurance Claims

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hansjörg Albrecher

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Assume that claims in a portfolio of insurance contracts are described by independent and identically distributed random variables with regularly varying tails and occur according to a near mixed Poisson process. We provide a collection of results pertaining to the joint asymptotic Laplace transforms of the normalised sums of the smallest and largest claims, when the length of the considered time interval tends to infinity. The results crucially depend on the value of the tail index of the claim distribution, as well as on the number of largest claims under consideration.

The value of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD MR imaging in differentiation of renal solid mass and grading of renal cell carcinoma (RCC: analysis based on the largest cross-sectional area versus the entire whole tumour.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guang-Yu Wu

Full Text Available To study the value of assessing renal masses using different methods in parameter approaches and to determine whether BOLD MRI is helpful in differentiating RCC from benign renal masses, differentiating clear-cell RCC from renal masses other than clear-cell RCC and determining the tumour grade.Ninety-five patients with 139 renal masses (93 malignant and 46 benign who underwent abdominal BOLD MRI were enrolled. R2* values were derived from the largest cross-section (R2*largest and from the whole tumour (R2*whole. Intra-observer and inter-observer agreements were analysed based on two measurements by the same observer and the first measurement from each observer, respectively, and these agreements are reported with intra-class correlation coefficients and 95% confidence intervals. The diagnostic value of the R2* value in the evaluation was assessed with receiver-operating characteristic analysis.The intra-observer agreement was very good for R2*largest and R2*whole (all > 0.8. The inter-observer agreement of R2*whole (0.75, 95% confidence interval: 0.69~0.79 was good and was significantly improved compared with the R2*largest (0.61, 95% confidence interval: 0.52~0.68, as there was no overlap in the 95% confidence interval of the intra-class correlation coefficients. The diagnostic value in differentiating renal cell carcinoma from benign lesions with R2*whole (AUC=0.79/0.78[observer1/observer2] and R2*largest (AUC=0.75[observer1] was good and significantly higher (p=0.01 for R2*largest[observer2] vs R2*whole[observer2], p 0.7 and were not significantly different (p=0.89/0.93 for R2*largest vs R2*whole[observer1/observer2], 0.96 for R2*whole[observer1] vs R2*largest[observer2] and 0.96 for R2*whole [observer2] vs R2*largest[observer1].BOLD MRI could provide a feasible parameter for differentiating renal cell carcinoma from benign renal masses and for predicting clear-cell renal cell carcinoma grading. Compared with the largest cross

Challenges with the largest commercial hydrogen station in the world

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Charbonneau, Thomas; Gauthier, Pierre [Air Liquide Canada (Canada)

2010-07-01

This abstract's objective is to share with the participants the story of the largest hydrogen fueling station made to this date and to kick-start the story, we will cover the challenges; first the technical ones; the operational ones; the distribution ones and; the financial ones. We will then move on to review the logistic (geographic) issues raised by the project and conclude our presentation by sharing the output values of the largest fueling station built so far in the world. (orig.)

Analysis of Human Standing Balance by Largest Lyapunov Exponent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between nonlinear dynamic character and individuals’ standing balance by the largest Lyapunov exponent, which is regarded as a metric for assessing standing balance. According to previous study, the largest Lyapunov exponent from centre of pressure time series could not well quantify the human balance ability. In this research, two improvements were made. Firstly, an external stimulus was applied to feet in the form of continuous horizontal sinusoidal motion by a moving platform. Secondly, a multiaccelerometer subsystem was adopted. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in this experiment. A new metric, coordinated largest Lyapunov exponent was proposed, which reflected the relationship of body segments by integrating multidimensional largest Lyapunov exponent values. By using this metric in actual standing performance under sinusoidal stimulus, an obvious relationship between the new metric and the actual balance ability was found in the majority of the subjects. These results show that the sinusoidal stimulus can make human balance characteristics more obvious, which is beneficial to assess balance, and balance is determined by the ability of coordinating all body segments.

The Multivariate Largest Lyapunov Exponent as an Age-Related Metric of Quiet Standing Balance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The largest Lyapunov exponent has been researched as a metric of the balance ability during human quiet standing. However, the sensitivity and accuracy of this measurement method are not good enough for clinical use. The present research proposes a metric of the human body’s standing balance ability based on the multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent which can quantify the human standing balance. The dynamic multivariate time series of ankle, knee, and hip were measured by multiple electrical goniometers. Thirty-six normal people of different ages participated in the test. With acquired data, the multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent was calculated. Finally, the results of the proposed approach were analysed and compared with the traditional method, for which the largest Lyapunov exponent and power spectral density from the centre of pressure were also calculated. The following conclusions can be obtained. The multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent has a higher degree of differentiation in differentiating balance in eyes-closed conditions. The MLLE value reflects the overall coordination between multisegment movements. Individuals of different ages can be distinguished by their MLLE values. The standing stability of human is reduced with the increment of age.

Velocity spectrum for the Iranian plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Bastami, Morteza; Soghrat, M. R.

2018-01-01

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration values have been proposed in most building codes/guidelines, unlike spectral velocity (SV) and peak ground velocity (PGV). Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of spectral velocity and peak ground velocity in the design of long period structures (e.g., pipelines, tunnels, tanks, and high-rise buildings) and evaluation of seismic vulnerability in underground structures. The current study was undertaken to develop a velocity spectrum and for estimation of PGV. In order to determine these parameters, 398 three-component accelerograms recorded by the Building and Housing Research Center (BHRC) were used. The moment magnitude (Mw) in the selected database was 4.1 to 7.3, and the events occurred after 1977. In the database, the average shear-wave velocity at 0 to 30 m in depth (Vs30) was available for only 217 records; thus, the site class for the remaining was estimated using empirical methods. Because of the importance of the velocity spectrum at low frequencies, the signal-to-noise ratio of 2 was chosen for determination of the low and high frequency to include a wider range of frequency content. This value can produce conservative results. After estimation of the shape of the velocity design spectrum, the PGV was also estimated for the region under study by finding the correlation between PGV and spectral acceleration at the period of 1 s.

Analytic approximation to the largest eigenvalue distribution of a white Wishart matrix

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Vlok, JD

2012-08-14

Full Text Available offers largely simplified computation and provides statistics such as the mean value and region of support of the largest eigenvalue distribution. Numeric results from the literature are compared with the approximation and Monte Carlo simulation results...

SYNTHESIS NEW POTENTIAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AGENT SODIUM SALT OF PENTAGAMAVUNON-0

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enade Perdana Istyastono

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Inflammation is the response of living tissues to injury. The process affects physiological changes such as erythema, edema, asthma and fever. Non-steroid Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs have been developed since they could inhibit inflammation process because of its ability to inhibit biosynthesis of prostaglandin, one of inflammation mediators, through inhibition of cyclooxigenase (COX enzymes. Molecules, which have been reported having anti-inflammatory activity, for example, are curcumin, some curcumin derivatives and curcumin analogues. One of curcumin analogues that has been  developed is pentagamavunon-0 (PGV-0 whose IUPAC name is 2,5-bis(4'-hidroxy-3'-methoxy-benzylidenecyclo-pentanone. But PGV-0, which is like curcumin, practically insoluble in water, so it causes problems in the development. The aim of this research is to synthesize a derivative of PGV-0, a natrium salt of PGV-0 (natrium pentagamavunonate-0/Na-pentagamavunonate-0, which is hoped to have a better anti-inflammatory activity and solubility in water than PGV-0. PGV-0 was synthesized by reacting vanillin and cyclopentanone catalized by acid. Na-pentagamavunonate-0 was synthesized with PGV-0 as a starting material using an appropriate method. This research was able to synthesize new compound that was estimated as a natrium salt of PGV-0 (natrium pentagamavunonate-0/Na-pentagamavunonate-0.   Keywords: Curcumin, PGV-0, Na-pentagamavunonate-0, anti-inflammation

Loy Yang A - Australia's largest privatisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yenckin, C.

1997-01-01

The recent A$4,746 million privatisation of the 2000MW Loy Yang A power station and the Loy Yang coal mine by the Victorian Government is Australia's largest privatisation and one of 1997's largest project financing deals. (author)

Temporal properties of seismicity and largest earthquakes in SE Carpathians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Byrdina

2006-01-01

Full Text Available In order to estimate the hazard rate distribution of the largest seismic events in Vrancea, South-Eastern Carpathians, we study temporal properties of historical and instrumental catalogues of seismicity. First, on the basis of Generalized Extreme Value theory we estimate the average return period of the largest events. Then, following Bak et al. (2002 and Corral (2005a, we study scaling properties of recurrence times between earthquakes in appropriate spatial volumes. We come to the conclusion that the seismicity is temporally clustered, and that the distribution of recurrence times is significantly different from a Poisson process even for times largely exceeding corresponding periods of foreshock and aftershock activity. Modeling the recurrence times by a gamma distributed variable, we finally estimate hazard rates with respect to the time elapsed from the last large earthquake.

Fishing down the largest coral reef fish species.

Science.gov (United States)

Fenner, Douglas

2014-07-15

Studies on remote, uninhabited, near-pristine reefs have revealed surprisingly large populations of large reef fish. Locations such as the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, northern Marianas Islands, Line Islands, U.S. remote Pacific Islands, Cocos-Keeling Atoll and Chagos archipelago have much higher reef fish biomass than islands and reefs near people. Much of the high biomass of most remote reef fish communities lies in the largest species, such as sharks, bumphead parrots, giant trevally, and humphead wrasse. Some, such as sharks and giant trevally, are apex predators, but others such as bumphead parrots and humphead wrasse, are not. At many locations, decreases in large reef fish species have been attributed to fishing. Fishing is well known to remove the largest fish first, and a quantitative measure of vulnerability to fishing indicates that large reef fish species are much more vulnerable to fishing than small fish. The removal of large reef fish by fishing parallels the extinction of terrestrial megafauna by early humans. However large reef fish have great value for various ecological roles and for reef tourism. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The world’s largest social science infrastructure and academic survey research program: The World Values Survey in the New Independent States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C Haerpfer

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The World Values Survey (WVS is an international research program developed to assess the impact of values stability or change over time on the social, political and economic development of countries and societies. It started in 1981 by Ronald Inglehart and his team, since then has involved more than 100 world societies and turned into the largest non-commercial cross-national empirical time-series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed on a global scale. The article consists of a few sections differing by the focus. The authors begin with the description of survey methodology and organization management that both ensure cross-national and cross-regional comparative character of the study (the survey is implemented using the same questionnaire, a face-to-face mode of interviews, and the same sample type in every country. The next part of the article presents a short overview of the project history and comparative surveys’ time-series (so called “waves” - periods between two and four years long during which collection of data in several dozens of countries using one same questionnaire is taking place; such waves are conducted every five years. Here the authors describe every wave of the WVS mentioning coordination and management activities that were determined by the extension of the project thematically and geographically. After that the authors identify the key features of the WVS in the New Independent States and mention some of the results of the study conducted in NIS countries in 1990-2014, such as high level of uncertainty in the choice of ideological preferences; rapid growth of declared religiosity; observed gap between the declared values and actual facts of social life, etc. The final section of the article summarizes the findings and key publications of the project for its data is widely used to analyse economic and political development, religious beliefs, gender equality, social capital, subjective well

Potensi Kurkumin dan Pentagamavunon-0 sebagai Anti Viral Dengue - 2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewi Marbawati

2015-07-01

Full Text Available AbstractMore than 40% of the world's population who live in tropical and subtropical regions at risk for dengue infection. Specific and effective antiviral therapies to treat dengue infection has not been found yet. Many researches proved that curcumin has preventive activity againts viruses, such as vasicular stomatis (VSV, HSV 1 and 2, parainfluenza-3, reovirus-1, feline corona virus, feline herpes virus. Curcumin also known to perform the inhibition of ubiquitin - proteasome system that decreasethe production of Japanese encephalitis in neuroblastoma cells. Pentagamavunon-0 (PGV-0 is expected to have better activity than curcumin. This study aims to determine the cytotoxic effect andthe potential of curcumin and PGV-0 as antiviral Dengue-2 on vero cells. Including experimental study. Cytotoxic test performed to obtain a safe concentration of curcumin and PGV-0 on vero cells followed by antiviral test using immunocytochemistry SBPC (Streptavidin Biotin Peroxidase Complex. The results showed that the safe concentrations for curcumin is 6.25 ppm and PGV-0 is 1.5625 ppm based on cytotoxic test to vero cell. The positive rate from Immunocytochemistry test showed that no significant difference between curcumin and PGV-0 treatment. However, when compared with the positive control results are significantly different. We concluded both curcumin and PGV-0 can reduce the positive rate caused Dengue-2 infection at one day incubation.Keywords : Dengue-2, curcumin, pentagamavunon-0 (PGV-0, ImmunocytochemistryAbstrakLebih dari 40 % populasi dunia yang tinggal di daerah tropis dan subtropis mempunyai risiko untuk terjangkit infeksi Dengue. Terapi yang spesifik dan efektif untuk mengobati infeksi Dengue belum ditemukan. Kurkumin terbukti memiliki aktivitas preventif terhadap beberapa virus, antara lain:vasicular stomatis (VSV, HSV 1 dan 2, parainfluenza-3, reovirus-1, feline corona virus, feline herpes virus. Kurkumin juga diketahui mampu melakukan

Pituitary gland volumes in bipolar disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Ian A; Mackay, Clare E; Goodwin, Guy M

2014-12-01

Bipolar disorder has been associated with increased Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis function. The mechanism is not well understood, but there may be associated increases in pituitary gland volume (PGV) and these small increases may be functionally significant. However, research investigating PGV in bipolar disorder reports mixed results. The aim of the current study was twofold. First, to assess PGV in two novel samples of patients with bipolar disorder and matched healthy controls. Second, to perform a meta-analysis comparing PGV across a larger sample of patients and matched controls. Sample 1 consisted of 23 established patients and 32 matched controls. Sample 2 consisted of 39 medication-naïve patients and 42 matched controls. PGV was measured on structural MRI scans. Seven further studies were identified comparing PGV between patients and matched controls (total n; 244 patients, 308 controls). Both novel samples showed a small (approximately 20mm(3) or 4%), but non-significant, increase in PGV in patients. Combining the two novel samples showed a significant association of age and PGV. Meta-analysis showed a trend towards a larger pituitary gland in patients (effect size: .23, CI: -.14, .59). While results suggest a possible small difference in pituitary gland volume between patients and matched controls, larger mega-analyses with sample sizes greater even than those used in the current meta-analysis are still required. There is a small but potentially functionally significant increase in PGV in patients with bipolar disorder compared to controls. Results demonstrate the difficulty of finding potentially important but small effects in functional brain disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting Traffic Flow in Local Area Networks by the Largest Lyapunov Exponent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The dynamics of network traffic are complex and nonlinear, and chaotic behaviors and their prediction, which play an important role in local area networks (LANs, are studied in detail, using the largest Lyapunov exponent. With the introduction of phase space reconstruction based on the time sequence, the high-dimensional traffic is projected onto the low dimension reconstructed phase space, and a reduced dynamic system is obtained from the dynamic system viewpoint. Then, a numerical method for computing the largest Lyapunov exponent of the low-dimensional dynamic system is presented. Further, the longest predictable time, which is related to chaotic behaviors in the system, is studied using the largest Lyapunov exponent, and the Wolf method is used to predict the evolution of the traffic in a local area network by both Dot and Interval predictions, and a reliable result is obtained by the presented method. As the conclusion, the results show that the largest Lyapunov exponent can be used to describe the sensitivity of the trajectory in the reconstructed phase space to the initial values. Moreover, Dot Prediction can effectively predict the flow burst. The numerical simulation also shows that the presented method is feasible and efficient for predicting the complex dynamic behaviors in LAN traffic, especially for congestion and attack in networks, which are the main two complex phenomena behaving as chaos in networks.

Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuntner, Matjaz; Coddington, Jonathan A

2009-10-21

More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19(th) century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa and Madagascar, and review size evolution and SSD in Nephilidae. We formally describe N. komaci sp. nov., the largest web spinning species known, and place the species in phylogenetic context to reconstruct the evolution of mean size (via squared change parsimony). We then test female and male mean size correlation using phylogenetically independent contrasts, and simulate nephilid body size evolution using Monte Carlo statistics. Nephila females increased in size almost monotonically to establish a mostly African clade of true giants. In contrast, Nephila male size is effectively decoupled and hovers around values roughly one fifth of female size. Although N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered, the males are also large and thus their SSD is not exceptional.

Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matjaz Kuntner

2009-10-01

Full Text Available More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19(th century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa and Madagascar, and review size evolution and SSD in Nephilidae.We formally describe N. komaci sp. nov., the largest web spinning species known, and place the species in phylogenetic context to reconstruct the evolution of mean size (via squared change parsimony. We then test female and male mean size correlation using phylogenetically independent contrasts, and simulate nephilid body size evolution using Monte Carlo statistics.Nephila females increased in size almost monotonically to establish a mostly African clade of true giants. In contrast, Nephila male size is effectively decoupled and hovers around values roughly one fifth of female size. Although N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered, the males are also large and thus their SSD is not exceptional.

Estimating the recreational value of Pakistan's largest freshwater lake to support sustainable tourism management using a travel cost model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mangan, T.; Brouwer, R.; Lohano, H.; Nagraj, G.M.

2013-01-01

Keenjhar Lake, Pakistan's largest freshwater lake and an important Ramsar site, provides habitat for internationally important water birds. Annually, 385,000 people visit the lake. The lake is threatened by a variety of causes, including industrial and agricultural pollution. To support its

THE MASS OF (4) VESTA DERIVED FROM ITS LARGEST GRAVITATIONAL EFFECTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuzmanoski, Mike; Novakovic, Bojan; Apostolovska, Gordana

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present a recalculated value of the mass of (4) Vesta, derived from its largest gravitational perturbations on selected asteroids during their mutual close encounters. This was done by using a new method for mass determination, which is based on the linking of pre-encounter observations to the orbit determined from post-encounter ones. The estimated weighted mean of the mass of (4) Vesta is (1.300 ± 0.001) x 10 -10 M sun .

Corporate values of the 25 largest European banks : Exploring the ambiguous link with corporate scandals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ehrenhard, Michel L.; Fiorito, Timo L.

2018-01-01

Corporate value statements communicate what a firm aspires for and what drives their value creation. In addition, corporate values often also define which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. Ideally, corporate values are representations of a firm's informal corporate values and

VALUE RELEVANCE OF GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS BASED ON ENTITY VERSUS PARENT COMPANY THEORY: EVIDENCE FROM THE LARGEST THREE EUROPEAN CAPITAL MARKETS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Müller Victor-Octavian

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Financial statementsn#8217; main objective is to give information on the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of the reporting entity, which is useful to investors and other users in making economic decisions. In order to be useful, financial information needs to be relevant to the decision-making process of users in general, and investors in particular. Regarding consolidated financial statements, the accounting theory knows four perspectives (theories on which the preparation of those statements is based, namely, the proprietary theory, the parent company theory, the parent company extension theory and the entity theory (Baxter and Spinney, 1975. Of practical importance are especially the parent company extension perspective and the entity perspective. The IASB and FASB decided (within an ED regarding the Improvement of the Conceptual Framework that consolidated financial statements should be presented from the perspective of the group entity, and not from the perspective of the parent-company. However, this support for the entity theory is to our knowledge not backed by empirical findings in the academic literature. Therefore, in our paper we set to contribute with empirical arguments to finding an actual answer to the question about the superior market value relevance of one of the two concurrent perspectives (theories. We set to carry out an empirical association study on the problem of market value relevance of consolidated financial statements based on the entity theory respectively on the parent company (extension theory, searching for an answer to the above question. In this sense, we pursued an analysis of market value relevance of consolidated accounting information (based on the two perspectives of listed entities between 2003-2008 on the largest three European Stock Exchanges (London, Paris and Frankfurt. The obtained results showed that a n#8222;restrainedn#8221; entity perspective, which would combine

Largest particle detector nearing completion

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

"Construction of another part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worl's largest particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland, is nearing completion. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is oner of the LHC project's four large particle detectors. (1/2 page)

Environmental isotope signatures of the largest freshwater lake in Kerala

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unnikrishnan Warrier, C.

2007-01-01

Sasthamkotta lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, serves as a source for drinking water for more than half a million people. Environmental 137 Cs analysis done on undisturbed sediment core samples reveals that the recent rate of sedimentation is not uniform in the lake. The useful life of lake is estimated as about 800 years. The δD and δ 18 O values of the lake waters indicate that the lake is well mixed with a slight variation horizontally. The stable isotope studies on well waters from the catchment indicate hydraulic communication with the lake and lake groundwater system is flow-through type. Analytical model also supports this view. (author)

Nonlinear attenuation of S-waves and Love waves within ambient rock

Science.gov (United States)

Sleep, Norman H.; Erickson, Brittany A.

2014-04-01

obtain scaling relationships for nonlinear attenuation of S-waves and Love waves within sedimentary basins to assist numerical modeling. These relationships constrain the past peak ground velocity (PGV) of strong 3-4 s Love waves from San Andreas events within Greater Los Angeles, as well as the maximum PGV of future waves that can propagate without strong nonlinear attenuation. During each event, the shaking episode cracks the stiff, shallow rock. Over multiple events, this repeated damage in the upper few hundred meters leads to self-organization of the shear modulus. Dynamic strain is PGV divided by phase velocity, and dynamic stress is strain times the shear modulus. The frictional yield stress is proportional to depth times the effective coefficient of friction. At the eventual quasi-steady self-organized state, the shear modulus increases linearly with depth allowing inference of past typical PGV where rock over the damaged depth range barely reaches frictional failure. Still greater future PGV would cause frictional failure throughout the damaged zone, nonlinearly attenuating the wave. Assuming self-organization has taken place, estimated maximum past PGV within Greater Los Angeles Basins is 0.4-2.6 m s-1. The upper part of this range includes regions of accumulating sediments with low S-wave velocity that may have not yet compacted, rather than having been damaged by strong shaking. Published numerical models indicate that strong Love waves from the San Andreas Fault pass through Whittier Narrows. Within this corridor, deep drawdown of the water table from its currently shallow and preindustrial levels would nearly double PGV of Love waves reaching Downtown Los Angeles.

Constraining the magnitude of the largest event in a foreshock-main shock-aftershock sequence

Science.gov (United States)

Shcherbakov, Robert; Zhuang, Jiancang; Ogata, Yosihiko

2018-01-01

Extreme value statistics and Bayesian methods are used to constrain the magnitudes of the largest expected earthquakes in a sequence governed by the parametric time-dependent occurrence rate and frequency-magnitude statistics. The Bayesian predictive distribution for the magnitude of the largest event in a sequence is derived. Two types of sequences are considered, that is, the classical aftershock sequences generated by large main shocks and the aftershocks generated by large foreshocks preceding a main shock. For the former sequences, the early aftershocks during a training time interval are used to constrain the magnitude of the future extreme event during the forecasting time interval. For the latter sequences, the earthquakes preceding the main shock are used to constrain the magnitudes of the subsequent extreme events including the main shock. The analysis is applied retrospectively to past prominent earthquake sequences.

The largest glitch observed in the Crab pulsar

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, B.; Lyne, A. G.; Stappers, B. W.; Weltevrede, P.; Bassa, C. G.; Lien, A. Y.; Mickaliger, M. B.; Breton, R. P.; Jordan, C. A.; Keith, M. J.; Krimm, H. A.

2018-05-01

We have observed a large glitch in the Crab pulsar (PSR B0531+21). The glitch occurred around MJD 58064 (2017 November 8) when the pulsar underwent an increase in the rotation rate of Δν = 1.530 × 10-5 Hz, corresponding to a fractional increase of Δν/ν = 0.516 × 10-6 making this event the largest glitch ever observed in this source. Due to our high-cadence and long-dwell time observations of the Crab pulsar we are able to partially resolve a fraction of the total spin-up of the star. This delayed spin-up occurred over a timescale of ˜1.7 days and is similar to the behaviour seen in the 1989 and 1996 large Crab pulsar glitches. The spin-down rate also increased at the glitch epoch by Δ \\dot{ν } / \\dot{ν } = 7 × 10^{-3}. In addition to being the largest such event observed in the Crab, the glitch occurred after the longest period of glitch inactivity since at least 1984 and we discuss a possible relationship between glitch size and waiting time. No changes to the shape of the pulse profile were observed near the glitch epoch at 610 MHz or 1520 MHz, nor did we identify any changes in the X-ray flux from the pulsar. The long-term recovery from the glitch continues to progress as \\dot{ν } slowly rises towards pre-glitch values. In line with other large Crab glitches, we expect there to be a persistent change to \\dot{ν }. We continue to monitor the long-term recovery with frequent, high quality observations.

Ownership, financing, and management strategies of the ten largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, Charlene; Hauser, Clarilee; Olney, Brian; Rosenau, Pauline Vaillancourt

2011-01-01

This study examined the ownership, financing, and management strategies of the 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States, including the four largest chains purchased by private equity corporations. Descriptive data were collected from Internet searches, company reports, and other sources for the decade 1998-2008. Since 1998, the largest chains have made many changes in their ownership and structure, and some have converted from publicly traded companies to private ownership. This study shows the increasing complexity of corporate nursing home ownership and the lack of public information about ownership and financial status. The chains have used strategies to maximize shareholder and investor value that include increasing Medicare revenues, occupancy rates, and company diversification, establishing multiple layers of corporate ownership, developing real estate investment trusts, and creating limited liability companies. These strategies enhance shareholder and investor profits, reduce corporate taxes, and reduce liability risk. There is a need for greater transparency in ownership and financial reporting and for more government oversight of the largest for-profit chains, including those owned by private equity companies.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in

Science.gov (United States)

North Carolina America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North

CERN tests largest superconducting solenoid magnet

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

"CERN's Compacts Muon Solenoid (CMS) - the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet - has reached full field in testing. The instrument is part of the proton-proton Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project, located in a giant subterranean chamber at Cessy on the Franco-Swiss border." (1 page)

Numerical modeling of secondary side thermohydraulics of horizontal steam generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melikhov, V.I.; Melikhov, O.I.; Nigmatulin, B.I. [Research and Engineering Centre of LWR Nuclear Plants Safety, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1995-12-31

A mathematical model for the transient three-dimensional secondary side thermal hydraulics of the horizontal steam generator has been developed. The calculations of the steam generator PGV-1000 and PGV-4 nominal regimes and comparison of numerical and experimental results have been carried out. 7 refs.

Numerical modeling of secondary side thermohydraulics of horizontal steam generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melikhov, V I; Melikhov, O I; Nigmatulin, B I [Research and Engineering Centre of LWR Nuclear Plants Safety, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1996-12-31

A mathematical model for the transient three-dimensional secondary side thermal hydraulics of the horizontal steam generator has been developed. The calculations of the steam generator PGV-1000 and PGV-4 nominal regimes and comparison of numerical and experimental results have been carried out. 7 refs.

An update on the side channel cryptanalysis of MACs based on cryptographic hash functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gauravaram, Praveen; Okeya, Katsuyuki

2007-01-01

Okeya has established that HMAC/NMAC implementations based on only Matyas-Meyer-Oseas (MMO) PGV scheme and his two refined PGV schemes are secure against side channel DPA attacks when the block cipher in these constructions is secure against these attacks. The significant result of Okeya's analys...

broken magnet highlights largest collider's engineering challenges

CERN Multimedia

Inman, Mason

2007-01-01

"Even at the world's soon-to-be largest particle accelerator - a device that promises to push the boundaries of physics - scientists need to be mindful of one of the most fundamental laws in the universe: Murphy's Law. (2 pages)

Magnitude Estimation for Large Earthquakes from Borehole Recordings

Science.gov (United States)

Eshaghi, A.; Tiampo, K. F.; Ghofrani, H.; Atkinson, G.

2012-12-01

We present a simple and fast method for magnitude determination technique for earthquake and tsunami early warning systems based on strong ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) in Japan. This method incorporates borehole strong motion records provided by the Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net) stations. We analyzed strong ground motion data from large magnitude earthquakes (5.0 ≤ M ≤ 8.1) with focal depths < 50 km and epicentral distances of up to 400 km from 1996 to 2010. Using both peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) we derived GMPEs in Japan. These GMPEs are used as the basis for regional magnitude determination. Predicted magnitudes from PGA values (Mpga) and predicted magnitudes from PGV values (Mpgv) were defined. Mpga and Mpgv strongly correlate with the moment magnitude of the event, provided sufficient records for each event are available. The results show that Mpgv has a smaller standard deviation in comparison to Mpga when compared with the estimated magnitudes and provides a more accurate early assessment of earthquake magnitude. We test this new method to estimate the magnitude of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and we present the results of this estimation. PGA and PGV from borehole recordings allow us to estimate the magnitude of this event 156 s and 105 s after the earthquake onset, respectively. We demonstrate that the incorporation of borehole strong ground-motion records immediately available after the occurrence of large earthquakes significantly increases the accuracy of earthquake magnitude estimation and the associated improvement in earthquake and tsunami early warning systems performance. Moment magnitude versus predicted magnitude (Mpga and Mpgv).

Creation or destruction of the perspective of EVA® value in the Exame Magazine ranking of largest companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anelise Florencio de Meneses

2012-12-01

association between the companies that create value (EVA® with the Brazilian regions and sectors. It was found that 217 companies have created value while 99 destroyed value. Test results showed that the Midwest and the wholesale and retail sectors are associated with a high value creation, not confirming the first and second research hypotheses. The results also indicated that only 5 companies remained in the same positions when comparing the ranking of the magazine Exame with that prepared by EVA® perspective, not confirming the third research hypothesis.

Expected Net Present Value, Expected Net Future Value, and the Ramsey Rule

OpenAIRE

Gollier, Christian

2010-01-01

Weitzman (1998) showed that when future interest rates are uncertain, using the expected net present value implies a term structure of discount rates that is decreasing to the smallest possible interest rate. On the contrary, using the expected net future value criteria implies an increasing term structure of discount rates up to the largest possible interest rate. We reconcile the two approaches by introducing risk aversion and utility maximization. We show that if the aggregate consumption ...

Estimate of the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent of a high dimensional atmospheric global circulation model: a sensitivity analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerrieri, A.

2009-01-01

In this report the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent of a high dimensional atmospheric global circulation model of intermediate complexity has been estimated numerically. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out by varying the equator-to-pole temperature difference, the space resolution and the value of some parameters employed by the model. Chaotic and non-chaotic regimes of circulation have been found. [it

The role and attributes of entrepreneurs at South Africa´s largest arts festival

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Jonker

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, is the largest arts festival in South Africa. The purpose of this research was to determine the attributes and role of the entrepreneurs at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival. This was done by means of a questionnaire survey (N=249. After data capturing was completed, two factor analyses were conducted. The first factor analysis revealed six factors (entrepreneurial attributes, namely organisational skills, resourcefulness, self-edification, explorative, acquired skill and drive, of which resourcefulness had the highest mean value. The second factor analysis identified the role of entrepreneurs at KKNK and revealed three primary roles, namely festival promotion, product promotion and income generation, of which product promotion had the highest mean value. This is the first time that the roles of entrepreneurs at festivals were investigated in South Africa.

Proximal gastric vagotomy: does it have a place in the future management of peptic ulcer?

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, A G

2000-03-01

Proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) is a modification of truncal vagotomy, which was introduced by Dragstedt for the treatment of duodenal ulcer (DU) in 1943. It is a technically demanding operation; but when performed by an experienced surgeon, it is safe and gives a cure rate for DU of more than 90%, with minimal side effects. The operation permanently alters the natural history of the disease and may be used for gastric ulcer (GU), with ulcer excision; but it is not as effective. Further adaptations, such as posterior truncal vagotomy with anterior seromyotomy, were introduced to simplify and shorten the operation, but they did not receive wide acceptance. Recently, with the identification of Helicobacter, it was found that DU can also be cured by eliminating the infection. PGV is therefore used electively in patients with persistent DU that is not Helicobacter-positive or in the few in whom Helicobacter cannot be eliminated. In patients with bleeding or perforated DUs, PGV may be used in conjunction with underrunning the vessel or patching the perforation. However, few surgeons doing emergency peptic ulcer surgery have experience with PGV, so simple suture followed by medical treatment is the safest option. Because elective PGV is now a rare procedure, patients should be referred to a center with special expertise. If Helicobacter becomes resistant to antibiotics in the future, surgery may be needed regularly again, but the technical nuances would have to be learned.

Guaranteeing uptime at worl's largest particle physics lab

CERN Multimedia

Brodkin, Jon

2007-01-01

"As the European agency CERN was gearing up to build the world's largest particle accelerator, officials there knew they could not afford to have problems in their technical infrastructure cause any downtime." (1 page)

The world's largest LNG producer's next market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuller, R.; Isworo Suharno; Simandjuntak, W.M.P.

1996-01-01

The development of the domestic gas market in Indonesia, the world's largest liquefied natural gas producing country, is described as part of the overall impact of the country's oil and gas production. The first large scale use of natural gas in Indonesia was established in 1968 when a fertiliser plant using gas as the feedstock was built. Ultimately, through increased yields, this has enabled Indonesia to be self-sufficient in rice and an exporter of fertiliser. Problems which stand in the way of further developments include: capital, though Pertamina and PGN are perceived as attractive for foreign investment; the lack of a regulatory framework for gas; geographical constraints, among them the fact that the gas deposits are remote from the largest population concentrations; lack of infrastructure. There are nevertheless plans for expansion and the provision of an integrated gas pipeline system. Pertamina, which has responsibility for all oil and gas developments, and PGN, whose primary role has been as a manufacturer and distributor of gas, are now working together in the coordination of all gas activities. (10 figures). (UK)

Worlds Largest Wave Energy Project 2007 in Wales

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Lars; Friis-Madsen, Erik; Kofoed, Jens Peter

2006-01-01

This paper introduces world largest wave energy project being developed in Wales and based on one of the leading wave energy technologies. The background for the development of wave energy, the total resource ands its distribution around the world is described. In contrast to wind energy turbines...... Dragon has to be scaled in accordance with the wave climate at the deployment site, which makes the Welch demonstrator device the worlds largest WEC so far with a total width of 300 meters. The project budget, the construction methods and the deployment site are also given....... a large number of fundamentally different technologies are utilised to harvest wave energy. The Wave Dragon belongs to the wave overtopping class of converters and the paper describes the fundamentals and the technical solutions used in this wave energy converter. An offshore floating WEC like the Wave...

First Experience from the World Largest fully commercial Solar Heating Plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heller, Alfred; Furbo, Simon

1997-01-01

The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m.......The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m....

Some lemma on spectrum of eigen value regarding power method

Science.gov (United States)

Jamali, A. R. M. Jalal Uddin; Alam, Md. Sah

2017-04-01

Eigen value problems arise in almost all science and engineering fields. There exist some smart methods in literature in which most of them are able to find only Eigen values but could not find corresponding Eigen vectors. There exist many engineering as well as scientific fields in which both largest as well as smallest Eigen pairs are required. Power method is very simple but a powerful tool for finding largest Eigen value and corresponding Eigen vector (Eigen-pair). Again Inverse Power method is applied to find out smallest Eigen-pair and/or desire Eigen-pairs. But it is known that Inverse Power method is computationally very costly. On the other hand by using shifting property, Power method can find further Eigen-pairs. But the position of this Eigen value in the set of spectrum of the Eigen values is not identified. In this regard we proposed four lemma associate with Modified Power method. Each Lemma is proved ornately. The Modified Power method is implemented and illustrates an example for the verification of the Lemma. By using lemma the modified power algorithm is able to find out both largest and smallest Eigen-pairs successfully and efficiently in some cases. Moreover by the help of the Lemma, algorithm is able to detect the nature (positive and negative) of the Eigen values.

Building Earth's Largest Library: Driving into the Future.

Science.gov (United States)

Coffman, Steve

1999-01-01

Examines the Amazon.com online bookstore as a blueprint for designing the world's largest library. Topics include selection; accessibility and convenience; quality of Web sites and search tools; personalized service; library collection development, including interlibrary loan; library catalogs and catalog records; a circulation system; costs;…

Toward sustainable harvesting of Africa's largest medicinal plant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Global demand for treating prostate disorders with Prunus africana bark extract has made P. africana Africa's largest medicinal plant export. Unsustainable harvesting practices can lead to local extirpations of this multipurpose tree. Survey research targeting P. africana harvesters in a Tanzania forest reserve revealed that ...

Kabob report. Pt. 3. Chevron plant largest in Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1971-01-18

Canada's largest fully integrated primary natural- gas processing and sulfur recovery plant is heading for physical completion by mid-summer of 1971. The Ralph M. Parsons Construction Co. of Canada Ltd., contractor for the S. Kaybob Beaverhill Lake Unit No. 3 gas-processing plant, to be operated by Chevron Standard Ltd., estimates completion by June 30. After that the $80 million complex will have tests and running in time. With any reasonable luck, it should be fully on stream by late summer. Preliminary construction on the 200-acre site started in Jan. 1969 with clearing and contouring of the main plant and sulfur storage sites. Initial rough grading started in the early summer, after spring breakup was over. Delivery of most of the big items was made by rail because the local secondary roads were inadequate for them. Concrete has been a large item. The contractor has its own batch plant on the site for the estimated 28,000 cu yd which will be needed for the whole job. Dominating the construction site from the start has been the high sulfur plant stack, first of the major items to be finished. It will serve to dispose of effluent from the largest sulfur recovery unit in Canada. It is 465 ft high, one of the largest in Alberta, and a significant contribution to pollution control and environmental protection.

Upgrade and modernization of the six largest HPPs in Macedonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hadzievska, M.

2002-01-01

In 1998, Electric Power Company of Macedonia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction, started the Power System Improvement Project a part of which is the Project for rehabilitation of the six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPPs) in the Republic of Macedonia. The six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPP Vrutok, HPP Raven, HPP Globocica, HPP Tikves and HPP Spilje and HPP Vrben) represent 91% of the country's hydropower capacity. The rehabilitation program is divided in five parts (contracts) and covers the refurbishment of: turbine runners, turbine and generator bearings, governors, inlet valves; butterfly valves, including accessories and control systems; generators, excitation system and voltage regulation; control system, protection and LV auxiliaries; switch gears and control gears in 220 kV, 110 kV and 35 kV substations. At the moment, only the implementation of switch gears has started, the first phase is already finished, and 50 % of the rehabilitation works for HPP Vrutok, the largest HPP, has been finished. With the realization of this project, greater hydropower production is expected. It also expected that HPPs will become a more vital part of the Macedonian power system

An analysis of audit committee effectiveness at the largest listed companies in South Africa from a CFO and audit committee perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ben Marx

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate and analyse the effective functioning of audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa. Problem investigated: The modern audit committee is often seen as the panacea of the corporate world and as such is looked upon to cure all the financial reporting and control-related problems of entities. Audit committees are, however, not always as effective as they are held to be, as is evidenced by the many well-known corporate scandals and business failures that occurred where audit committees existed and fraudulent financial reporting, audit failures, internal control breakdowns and other irregularities prevailed. The modern audit committee will be of value only if it is properly constituted, is functioning effectively and if its role is clearly understood by all the parties concerned. The research problem investigated stems precisely from this issue, and the paper therefore aims to analyse the effective functioning of the audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa. Methodology: The study empirically tested the audit committee practices at the largest listed companies in South Africa. This was done through questionnaires addressed to the CFOs and audit committee chairs. Findings: The study found that audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa are well established, properly constituted, have the authority and resources to effectively discharge their responsibilities and consist of members who act independently and who have the right mix of appropriate experience, financial literacy and financial expertise amongst their members. The audit committee's role was found to be generally well understood and supported by the board and the Chief Financial Officers. It was further found that the audit committees are effective in discharging their oversight responsibilities on the board's behalf, with the only real exception being their effectiveness

Value-at-Risk and Extreme Returns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Daníelsson (Jón); C.G. de Vries (Casper)

1997-01-01

textabstractAccurate prediction of the frequency of extreme events is of primary importance in many financial applications such as Value-at-Risk (VaR) analysis. We propose a semi-parametric method for VaR evaluation. The largest risks are modelled parametrically, while smaller risks are captured by

World's third-largest producer of nuclear power. Japan in need of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2008-01-01

Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China, and the second largest net importer of oil. Japan boasts one of the largest economies in the world. The country continues to experience a moderate economic recovery that began in 2003, following a decade of economic stagnation. Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.5% in 2005 and 2.3% in 2004. The modest upturn over the last few years reflects higher business confidence in Japan, a surge in export demand led by exports to China, and robust consumer spending. Unemployment in Japan fell to 4.4% in 2005, down from an early 2003 peak of 5.5%. Japan has virtually no domestic oil or natural gas reserves, and in 2005 was the second largest net importer of crude oil in the world. Despite the country's dearth of hydrocarbon resources, Japanese companies have actively pursued upstream oil and natural gas projects overseas. Japan remains one of the major exporters of energy-sector capital equipment, and Japanese companies provide engineering, construction, and project management services for energy projects. (orig.)

NAFTA: The World's Largest Trading Zone Turns 20

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrarini, Tawni Hunt; Day, Stephen

2014-01-01

Everyone under the age of 20 who has grown up in North America has lived in the common market created by NAFTA--the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a zone linking the United States, Canada, and Mexico, most goods and investments flow freely across borders to users, consumers, and investors. In 1994, NAFTA created the largest relatively…

Model studies of the vertical steam generator thermal-hydraulic characteristics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desyatun, V.F.; Moskvichev, V.F.; Ulasov, V.M.; Morozov, V.G.; Burkov, V.K.; Grebennikov, V.N.

1984-01-01

Results of investigations conducted to clarify the calculation technique and to test the workability of the main elements and units of the PGV-250 vertical steam generator of saturated steam are considered. The steam generating capacity of the plant is 1486 t/h, thermal power is 792 MW. Steam generation follows a multiple circulation scheme. The heat surface comprises 330-shields. The investigations are carried out with a model which reproduces all the main elements of the steam generator xcluding the economizer section. The flow rates of feed water, generated steam and coolant of the first circuit as well as temperature, pressure and humidity of the generated steam past the separator are determined. The average heat transfer factors of the heat surface are calculated on the base of the data obtained and a conclusion is drawn on the correctness of the thermohydraulic calculation technique used in development of the PGV-250 steam generator design. Temperature pulsations and heat surface steaming are not observed. The steam humidity at the outlet and steam capture into sinking tubes are within permissible values

Value-Creation Potential from Multi-Market Trading for a Hydropower Producer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marte Fodstad

2017-12-01

Full Text Available We study a hydropower producer’s potential for value-creation from multi-market trading given the price variations in the markets and the flexibility provided through access to hydro reservoirs. We use a perfect foresight optimization model for a price-taking hydropower producer co-optimizing his trades in the day-ahead, intra-day and balancing markets. The model is used on real market data from Norway, Sweden and Germany. The study shows a theoretical potential for added value when selling energy in multiple markets relative to optimal day-ahead sale. Most of this value is achievable also when the perfect foresight is limited to the period from day-ahead bidding until operation. Flexible production plants achieve the largest relative added values for multi-market sales, and has the largest benefit from a long horizon with perfect foresight.

The Environmental Responsibility of the World’s Largest Banks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryszawska Bożena

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Sustainability transition is changing the role and function of banks, specially their products and services also in relation to stakeholders. Banks are one of the main actors supporting the transition to sustainable economy. The purpose of this study is to emphasise the role of world’s largest banks in that process. Banks are slowly responding to the new demand of sustainability and responsibility, and they try to align with it. The paper is based on an overview of the world’s five largest banks that employ corporate social responsibility (CSR reporting standards, together with detailed enumeration of pro-environmental activities included in the reports. The first section of this paper presents the most popular approaches to the problem at hand, as reported in professional literature. Section two presents the characteristics of the CSR actions in banks. The third section discusses the environmental actions of the biggest banks in Global Reporting Initiative (GRI reporting the most popular standard for reporting non-financial information. And the last part of the paper presents the conclusions resulting from the article. The research was conducted using a variety of sources, such as scientific articles, statistical data, CSR reports of the world’s largest banks, as well reporting principles and standard disclosures. The basic method used in the process of writing was a critical analysis of literature and reports concerning the CSR reporting standards, environmental responsibilities of different kinds of entities, as well as own observations based on special reports of banks. In the article, also the analysis of financial market data, induction method and comparison method have been used. The main conclusions of the analysis of the CSR reports disclosed by the world’s largest banks confirm all three of the theses presented in the article. The findings suggest that the banks under study can be regarded as environmentally responsible

Crash testing the largest experiment on Earth

OpenAIRE

Cauchi, Marija

2015-01-01

Under Europe lies a 27 km tunnel that is both the coldest and hottest place on Earth. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has already found out what gives mass to all the matter in the Universe. It is now trying to go even deeper into what makes up everything we see around us. Dr Marija Cauchi writes about her research that helped protect this atom smasher from itself. Photography by Jean Claude Vancell. http://www.um.edu.mt/think/crash-testing-the-largest-experiment-on-earth/

Turning value chains into social gains in Southeast Asia | IDRC ...

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

Global value chains, which now form the largest share of the world's trade, involve producers and enterprises that produce goods as inputs for other producers. In Southeast Asian countries, these industries employ large numbers of low-skilled workers, particularly women. Governments aim to facilitate these value chains ...

Turning value chains into social gains in Southeast Asia | CRDI ...

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

Turning value chains into social gains in Southeast Asia. Global value chains, which now form the largest share of the world's trade, involve producers and enterprises that produce goods as inputs for other producers. In Southeast Asian countries, these industries employ large numbers of low-skilled workers, particularly ...

Distribution of the largest aftershocks in branching models of triggered seismicity: Theory of the universal Baath law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saichev, A.; Sornette, D.

2005-01-01

Using the epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) branching model of triggered seismicity, we apply the formalism of generating probability functions to calculate exactly the average difference between the magnitude of a mainshock and the magnitude of its largest aftershock over all generations. This average magnitude difference is found empirically to be independent of the mainshock magnitude and equal to 1.2, a universal behavior known as Baath's law. Our theory shows that Baath's law holds only sufficiently close to the critical regime of the ETAS branching process. Allowing for error bars ±0.1 for Baath's constant value around 1.2, our exact analytical treatment of Baath's law provides new constraints on the productivity exponent α and the branching ratio n: 0.9 < or approx. α≤1 and 0.8 < or approx. n≤1. We propose a method for measuring α based on the predicted renormalization of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution of the magnitudes of the largest aftershock. We also introduce the 'second Baath law for foreshocks': the probability that a main earthquake turns out to be the foreshock does not depend on its magnitude ρ

Secondary circuit water chemistry and related problems with SG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ignatov, V; Ivanov, V [Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant (Russian Federation)

2001-07-01

Necessity for SG feed water and blowdown systems modernization Balakovo NPP steam generators PGV-1000M was identified at Units with VVER-1000 during commissioning separational, thermo-hydraulic and thermo-chemical testings. It was discovered, that in zone of 'hot' header coolant salt concentration (concentration of dissolved salts) was almost 2 times more, than salt concentration in blowdown water. A number of chemical testings was performed to investigate and optimize salts distribution in water volume of PGV-1000. (R.P.)

Secondary circuit water chemistry and related problems with SG

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ignatov, V.; Ivanov, V.

2001-01-01

Necessity for SG feed water and blowdown systems modernization Balakovo NPP steam generators PGV-1000M was identified at Units with VVER-1000 during commissioning separational, thermo-hydraulic and thermo-chemical testings. It was discovered, that in zone of 'hot' header coolant salt concentration (concentration of dissolved salts) was almost 2 times more, than salt concentration in blowdown water. A number of chemical testings was performed to investigate and optimize salts distribution in water volume of PGV-1000. (R.P.)

Source and ground-motion parameters of the 2011 Lorca earthquake; Parametros de la fuente y del movimiento del suelo del terremoto de Lorca de 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alguacil de la Blanca, G.; Vidal Sanchez, F.; Stich, D.; Mancilla Perez, F. L.; Lopez Comino, J. A.; Morales Soto, J.; Navarro Bernal, M.

2012-07-01

113 events of the Lorca seismic series has been relocated by using Double difference algorithm and data from both temporary and permanent seismic networks. Relocations yield shallow hypo central distribution of aftershocks with a {approx}5 km long, NE-SW trending, placed SW of the mainshock, suggesting a SW propagating rupture along the Alhama de Murcia fault. Similar oblique reverse faulting mechanism has been obtained for three largest events. Source parameters of these three earthquakes have been estimated. Horizontal ground motion was estimated at 11 city points whose local structure was known by SPAC experiments. A set of ground motion parameters (PGA, PGV, AI, CAV, SI, SA and SV) here calculated, have higher values at these points respect to the ones at LOR station. All parameter values are also above the expected values for Euro -Mediterranean earthquakes with local intensity VIII (EMS). Nevertheless, SD values are unusually short and less than the reference ones. Higher values of the response spectra of acceleration and velocity are given for periods of less than 0.7 s, with maximum spectral acceleration at 0.15 s and velocity at 0.5 s. The elastic input energy spectrum is well connected to the shake destructiveness in each place. Equivalent velocity > 60 cm/s is found in almost all sites and > 100 cm/s (for periods 0.3 to 0.6 s) in someone. Factors such as proximity, and focal mechanism and ground response characteristics explain the high ground motion parameter values obtained in Lorca sites and show the great influence of the source and site conditions on the characteristics of strong ground motion in the vicinity of the rupture. (Author) 68 refs.

Licenciamento de pólos geradores de viagens no Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Leonor Alves Maia

2010-11-01

Full Text Available

Resumo: Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar as bases normativas de um processo de licenciamento aplicável à instalação e funcionamento de Pólos Geradores de Viagens (PGV no Brasil. O licenciamento de tais empreendimentos se enquadra como processo administrativo de outorga, ou seja, aquele que trata de licenciamento ambiental e licenciamento de atividades e exercício dos direitos, dentre outros. Os processos de licenciamento de PGV nos municípios de São Paulo e de Recife são apresentados e analisados à luz dos princípios de um processo administrativo.Abstract:

Lagisza, world's largest CFB boiler, begins commercial operation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nuortimo, K. [Foster Wheeler, Varkaus (Finland)

2010-04-15

Early operating experience with the Lagisza circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler in Poland - the world's largest such boiler to date, and also the first one with supercritical steam conditions - has been positive. 3 figs., 4 tabs.

SOURCES OF ENTERPRISE VALUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viorica Mădălina Ion

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The value of the enterprise has an increased importance in business valuation, so maximizing it becomes a priority for the interested parties, such as its shareholders or investors. The purpose of this article is the analysis of the sources of enterprise value and its factors, in order to understand the causes of the decrease or the possibilities for maximizing the enterprise value, passing over the main concepts in the literature. The analysis refers to the listed companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB from the energy sector, including the largest Romanian company as per its capitalization, OMV Petrom. The research took into account the fact that the analysis of a large company with a long history is facilitated by the existence of multi-annual information, unlike the firms in the early life cycle operating in an emerging market.

PNNL supercomputer to become largest computing resource on the Grid

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

Hewlett Packard announced that the US DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will connect a 9.3-teraflop HP supercomputer to the DOE Science Grid. This will be the largest supercomputer attached to a computer grid anywhere in the world (1 page).

Worlds largest particle physics laboratory selects Proxim Wireless Mesh

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

"Proxim Wireless has announced that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the world's largest particle physics laboratory and the birthplace of the World Wide Web, is using it's ORiNOCO AP-4000 mesh access points to extend the range of the laboratory's Wi-Fi network and to provide continuous monitoring of the lab's calorimeters" (1/2 page)

The Impact of Reputation on Market Value

OpenAIRE

Simon Cole

2012-01-01

Corporate reputations are one of the best known but least understood company assets. Few investment analysts would argue that they have no value but at the same time would struggle to put figures on how much. This paper dispels the myth that intangible means immeasurable. It provides an objective analysis of the scale of the shareholder value tied up in the reputations of many of the largest US and UK public companies. Moreover, it argues that critical understanding of the sources and drivers...

Time compression of soil erosion by the effect of largest daily event. A regional analysis of USLE database.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Hidalgo, J. C.; Batalla, R.; Cerda, A.; de Luis, M.

2009-04-01

When Thornes and Brunsden wrote in 1977 "How often one hears the researcher (and no less the undergraduate) complain that after weeks of observation "nothing happened" only to learn that, the day after his departure, a flood caused unprecedent erosion and channel changes!" (Thornes and Brunsden, 1977, p. 57), they focussed on two different problems in geomorphological research: the effects of extreme events and the temporal compression of geomorphological processes. The time compression is one of the main characteristic of erosion processes. It means that an important amount of the total soil eroded is produced in very short temporal intervals, i.e. few events mostly related to extreme events. From magnitude-frequency analysis we know that few events, not necessarily extreme by magnitude, produce high amount of geomorphological work. Last but not least, extreme isolated events are a classical issue in geomorphology by their specific effects, and they are receiving permanent attention, increased at present because of scenarios of global change. Notwithstanding, the time compression of geomorphological processes could be focused not only on the analysis of extreme events and the traditional magnitude-frequency approach, but on new complementary approach based on the effects of largest events. The classical approach define extreme event as a rare event (identified by its magnitude and quantified by some deviation from central value), while we define largest events by the rank, whatever their magnitude. In a previous research on time compression of soil erosion, using USLE soil erosion database (Gonzalez-Hidalgo et al., EGU 2007), we described a relationship between the total amount of daily erosive events recorded by plot and the percentage contribution to total soil erosion of n-largest aggregated daily events. Now we offer a further refined analysis comparing different agricultural regions in USA. To do that we have analyzed data from 594 erosion plots from USLE

Revisiting the phylogeny of Ocellularieae, the second largest tribe within Graphidaceae (lichenized Ascomycota: Ostropales)

Science.gov (United States)

Ekaphan Kraichak; Sittiporn Parnmen; Robert Lücking; Eimy Rivas Plata; Andre Aptroot; Marcela E.S. Caceres; Damien Ertz; Armin Mangold; Joel A. Mercado-Diaz; Khwanruan Papong; Dries Van der Broeck; Gothamie Weerakoon; H. Thorsten. Lumbsch; NO-VALUE

2014-01-01

We present an updated 3-locus molecular phylogeny of tribe Ocellularieae, the second largest tribe within subfamily Graphidoideae in the Graphidaceae. Adding 165 newly generated sequences from the mitochondrial small subunit rDNA (mtSSU), the nuclear large subunit rDNA (nuLSU), and the second largest subunit of the DNA-directed RNA polymerase II (RPB2), we currently...

Ground Motion Relations While TBM Drilling in Unconsolidated Sediments

Science.gov (United States)

Grund, Michael; Ritter, Joachim R. R.; Gehrig, Manuel

2016-05-01

The induced ground motions due to the tunnel boring machine (TBM), which has been used for the drilling of the urban metro tunnel in Karlsruhe (SW Germany), has been studied using the continuous recordings of seven seismological monitoring stations. The drilling has been undertaken in unconsolidated sediments of the Rhine River system, relatively close to the surface at 6-20 m depth and in the vicinity of many historic buildings. Compared to the reference values of DIN 4150-3 (1-80 Hz), no exceedance of the recommended peak ground velocity (PGV) limits (3-5 mm/s) was observed at the single recording site locations on building basements during the observation period between October 2014 and February 2015. Detailed analyses in the time and frequency domains helped with the detection of the sources of several specific shaking signals in the recorded time series and with the comparison of the aforementioned TBM-induced signals. The amplitude analysis allowed for the determination of a PGV attenuation relation (quality factor Q ~ 30-50) and the comparison of the TBM-induced ground motion with other artificially induced and natural ground motions of similar amplitudes.

CERN, World's largest particle physics lab, selects Progress SonicMQ

CERN Document Server

2007-01-01

"Progress Software Corporation (NADAQ: PRGS), a global supplier of application insfrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, today announced that CERN the world's largest physis laboratory and particle accelerator, has chosen Progress® SonicMQ® for mission-critical message delivery." (1 page)

Synchrotron Emission on the Largest Scales: Radio Detection of the ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. Shocks and turbulence generated during large-scale structure formation are predicted to produce large-scale, low surface-brightness synchrotron emission. On the largest scales, this emission is globally correlated with the thermal baryon distribution, and constitutes the 'syn- chrotron cosmic-web'. I present the ...

Distribution of the Largest Eigenvalues of the Levi-Smirnov Ensemble

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wieczorek, W.

2004-01-01

We calculate the distribution of the k-th largest eigenvalue in the random matrix Levi - Smirnov Ensemble (LSE), using the spectral dualism between LSE and chiral Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE). Then we reconstruct universal spectral oscillations and we investigate an asymptotic behavior of the spectral distribution. (author)

Largest global shark biomass found in the northern Galápagos Islands of Darwin and Wolf

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pelayo Salinas de León

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Overfishing has dramatically depleted sharks and other large predatory fishes worldwide except for a few remote and/or well-protected areas. The islands of Darwin and Wolf in the far north of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR are known for their large shark abundance, making them a global scuba diving and conservation hotspot. Here we report quantitative estimates of fish abundance at Darwin and Wolf over two consecutive years using stereo-video surveys, which reveal the largest reef fish biomass ever reported (17.5 t ${\\mathrm{ha}}^{-1}$ ha − 1 on average, consisting largely of sharks. Despite this, the abundance of reef fishes around the GMR, such as groupers, has been severely reduced because of unsustainable fishing practices. Although Darwin and Wolf are within the GMR, they were not fully protected from fishing until March 2016. Given the ecological value and the economic importance of Darwin and Wolf for the dive tourism industry, the current protection should ensure the long-term conservation of this hotspot of unique global value.

Optimal stability polynomials for numerical integration of initial value problems

KAUST Repository

Ketcheson, David I.; Ahmadia, Aron

2013-01-01

We consider the problem of finding optimally stable polynomial approximations to the exponential for application to one-step integration of initial value ordinary and partial differential equations. The objective is to find the largest stable step

Health insurance premium increases for the 5 largest school districts in the United States, 2004-2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Cantillo, John R

2010-03-01

Local school districts are often one of the largest, if not the largest, employers in their respective communities. Like many large employers, school districts offer health insurance to their employees. There is a lack of information about the rate of health insurance premiums in US school districts relative to other employers. To assess the change in the costs of healthcare insurance in the 5 largest public school districts in the United States, between 2004 and 2008, as representative of large public employers in the country. Data for this study were drawn exclusively from a survey sent to the 5 largest public school districts in the United States. The survey requested responses on 3 data elements for each benefit plan offered from 2004 through 2008; these included enrollment, employee costs, and employer costs. The premium growth for the 5 largest school districts has slowed down and is consistent with other purchasers-Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program. The average increase in health insurance premium for the schools was 5.9% in 2008, and the average annual growth rate over the study period was 7.5%. For family coverage, these schools provide the most generous employer contribution (80.8%) compared with the employer contribution reported by other employers (73.5%) for 2008. Often the largest employers in their communities, school districts demonstrate a commitment to provide choice of benefits and affordability for employees and their families. Despite constraints typical of public employers, the 5 largest school districts in the United States have decelerated in premium growth consistent with other purchasers, albeit at a slower pace.

Estimation of Seismic Ground Motions and Attendant Potential Human Fatalities from Scenario Earthquakes on the Chishan Fault in Southern Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun-Sung Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to estimate maximum ground motions in southern Taiwan as well as to assess potential human fatalities from scenario earthquakes on the Chishan active faults in this area. The resultant Shake Map patterns of maximum ground motion in a case of Mw 7.2 show the areas of PGA above 400 gals are located in the northeastern, central and northern parts of southwestern Kaohsiung as well as the southern part of central Tainan, as shown in the regions inside the yellow lines in the corresponding figure. Comparing cities with similar distances located in Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung to the Chishan fault, the cities in Tainan area have relatively greater PGA and PGV, due to large site response factors in Tainan area. Furthermore, seismic hazards in terms of PGA and PGV in the vicinity of the Chishan fault are not completely dominated by the Chishan fault. The main reason is that some areas located in the vicinity of the Chishan fault are marked with low site response amplification values from 0.55 - 1.1 and 0.67 - 1.22 for PGA and PGV, respectively. Finally, from estimation of potential human fatalities from scenario earthquakes on the Chishan active fault, it is noted that potential fatalities increase rapidly in people above age 45. Total fatalities reach a high peak in age groups of 55 - 64. Another to pay special attention is Kaohsiung City has more than 540 thousand households whose residences over 50 years old. In light of the results of this study, I urge both the municipal and central governments to take effective seismic hazard mitigation measures in the highly urbanized areas with a large number of old buildings in southern Taiwan.

Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila

OpenAIRE

Kuntner, Matja?; Coddington, Jonathan A.

2009-01-01

Background More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400?500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19th century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa...

Understanding valuing devices in tourism through ‘place-making’

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baka, Vasiliki

2015-01-01

The paper explores how valuing devices and verification mechanisms such as user-generated content (UGC) websites partake in performing placeness. The findings are based upon a corpus of data including a case study at the offices of the largest user-generated travel website, Trip...

From value chain to value constellation: designing interactive strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Normann, R; Ramírez, R

1993-01-01

In today's fast-changing competitive environment, strategy is no longer a matter of positioning a fixed set of activities along that old industrial model, the value chain. Successful companies increasingly do not just add value, they reinvent it. The key strategic task is to reconfigure roles and relationships among a constellation of actors--suppliers, partners, customers--in order to mobilize the creation of value by new combinations of players. What is so different about this new logic of value? It breaks down the distinction between products and services and combines them into activity-based "offerings" from which customers can create value for themselves. But as potential offerings grow more complex, so do the relationships necessary to create them. As a result, a company's strategic task becomes the ongoing reconfiguration and integration of its competencies and customers. The authors provide three illustrations of these new rules of strategy. IKEA has blossomed into the world's largest retailer of home furnishings by redefining the relationships and organizational practices of the furniture business. Danish pharmacies and their national association have used the opportunity of health care reform to reconfigure their relationships with customers, doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers, and with Danish and international health organizations to enlarge their role, competencies, and profits. French public-service concessionaires have mastered the art of conducting a creative dialogue between their customers--local governments in France and around the world--and a perpetually expanding set of infrastructure competencies.

Prognostic value of nucleolar size and size pleomorphism in choroidal melanomas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Flemming Brandt; Gamel, J W; Jensen, O A

1993-01-01

Morphometric estimates of nucleolar size have been shown to possess a high prognostic value in patients with uveal melanomas. The authors investigated various quantitative estimators of the mean size and pleomorphism of nucleoli in choroidal melanomas from a consecutive series of 95 Danish patients...... of melanoma, and largest macroscopic tumor dimension (LTD), the following histomorphometric estimates were obtained: mean diameter of the 10 largest nucleoli (MLN), point-sampled mean nucleolar profile area (nucleolar ao) and the associated standard deviation of nucleolar ao, the volume-weighted mean...

THE CHALLENGE OF THE LARGEST STRUCTURES IN THE UNIVERSE TO COSMOLOGY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Changbom; Choi, Yun-Young; Kim, Sungsoo S.; Kim, Kap-Sung; Kim, Juhan; Gott III, J. Richard

2012-01-01

Large galaxy redshift surveys have long been used to constrain cosmological models and structure formation scenarios. In particular, the largest structures discovered observationally are thought to carry critical information on the amplitude of large-scale density fluctuations or homogeneity of the universe, and have often challenged the standard cosmological framework. The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) recently found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) region casts doubt on the concordance cosmological model with a cosmological constant (i.e., the flat ΛCDM model). Here we show that the existence of the SGW is perfectly consistent with the ΛCDM model, a result that only our very large cosmological N-body simulation (the Horizon Run 2, HR2) could supply. In addition, we report on the discovery of a void complex in the SDSS much larger than the SGW, and show that such size of the largest void is also predicted in the ΛCDM paradigm. Our results demonstrate that an initially homogeneous isotropic universe with primordial Gaussian random phase density fluctuations growing in accordance with the general relativity can explain the richness and size of the observed large-scale structures in the SDSS. Using the HR2 simulation we predict that a future galaxy redshift survey about four times deeper or with 3 mag fainter limit than the SDSS should reveal a largest structure of bright galaxies about twice as big as the SGW.

A Study on the Performance of Low Cost MEMS Sensors in Strong Motion Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Tanırcan, Gulum; Alçık, Hakan; Kaya, Yavuz; Beyen, Kemal

2017-04-01

-frequency dominant SM parameters PGV and CAV with high correlation. PGA and AI, the high frequency components of the ground motion, are underestimated. Such a difference, on the other hand, does not manifest itself on intensity estimations. PGV and CAV values from the reference and MEMS sensors converge to the same seismic intensity level. Hence a strong motion network with MEMS sensors could be a modest option to produce PGV-based damage impact of an urban area under large magnitude earthquake threats in the immediate vicinity.

Mass balance of Greenland's three largest outlet glaciers - 2000–2010

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Howat, I.M.; Ahn, Y.; Joughin, I.; van den Broeke, M.R.; Lenaerts, J.T.M.; Smith, B.

2011-01-01

Acceleration of Greenland's three largest outlet glaciers, Helheim, Kangerdlugssuaq and Jakobshavn Isbræ, accounted for a substantial portion of the ice sheet's mass loss over the past decade. Rapid changes in their discharge, however, make their cumulative mass-change uncertain. We derive monthly

Health Insurance Premium Increases for the 5 Largest School Districts in the United States, 2004–2008

Science.gov (United States)

Cantillo, John R.

2010-01-01

Background Local school districts are often one of the largest, if not the largest, employers in their respective communities. Like many large employers, school districts offer health insurance to their employees. There is a lack of information about the rate of health insurance premiums in US school districts relative to other employers. Objective To assess the change in the costs of healthcare insurance in the 5 largest public school districts in the United States, between 2004 and 2008, as representative of large public employers in the country. Methods Data for this study were drawn exclusively from a survey sent to the 5 largest public school districts in the United States. The survey requested responses on 3 data elements for each benefit plan offered from 2004 through 2008; these included enrollment, employee costs, and employer costs. Results The premium growth for the 5 largest school districts has slowed down and is consistent with other purchasers—Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program. The average increase in health insurance premium for the schools was 5.9% in 2008, and the average annual growth rate over the study period was 7.5%. For family coverage, these schools provide the most generous employer contribution (80.8%) compared with the employer contribution reported by other employers (73.5%) for 2008. Conclusions Often the largest employers in their communities, school districts demonstrate a commitment to provide choice of benefits and affordability for employees and their families. Despite constraints typical of public employers, the 5 largest school districts in the United States have decelerated in premium growth consistent with other purchasers, albeit at a slower pace. PMID:25126311

Longevity in Calumma parsonii, the World's largest chameleon.

Science.gov (United States)

Tessa, Giulia; Glaw, Frank; Andreone, Franco

2017-03-01

Large body size of ectothermic species can be correlated with high life expectancy. We assessed the longevity of the World's largest chameleon, the Parson's chameleon Calumma parsonii from Madagascar by using skeletochronology of phalanges taken from preserved specimens held in European natural history museums. Due to the high bone resorption we can provide only the minimum age of each specimen. The highest minimum age detected was nine years for a male and eight years for a female, confirming that this species is considerably long living among chameleons. Our data also show a strong correlation between snout-vent length and estimated age. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Percolation under noise: Detecting explosive percolation using the second-largest component

Science.gov (United States)

Viles, Wes; Ginestet, Cedric E.; Tang, Ariana; Kramer, Mark A.; Kolaczyk, Eric D.

2016-05-01

We consider the problem of distinguishing between different rates of percolation under noise. A statistical model of percolation is constructed allowing for the birth and death of edges as well as the presence of noise in the observations. This graph-valued stochastic process is composed of a latent and an observed nonstationary process, where the observed graph process is corrupted by type-I and type-II errors. This produces a hidden Markov graph model. We show that for certain choices of parameters controlling the noise, the classical (Erdős-Rényi) percolation is visually indistinguishable from a more rapid form of percolation. In this setting, we compare two different criteria for discriminating between these two percolation models, based on the interquartile range (IQR) of the first component's size, and on the maximal size of the second-largest component. We show through data simulations that this second criterion outperforms the IQR of the first component's size, in terms of discriminatory power. The maximal size of the second component therefore provides a useful statistic for distinguishing between different rates of percolation, under physically motivated conditions for the birth and death of edges, and under noise. The potential application of the proposed criteria for the detection of clinically relevant percolation in the context of applied neuroscience is also discussed.

Ultrasonography-guided Fine-needle Aspiration for Solid Thyroid Nodules Less than 5 mm in the Largest Diameter: Comparison in Diagnostic Adequacy and Accuracy According to Nodule Size

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jang Hee; Kim, Dong Wook; Baek, Seung Hun [Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

2012-03-15

This study assessed the adequacy and accuracy of ultrasonography (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration (US-FNA) of solid thyroid nodules, less than 5 mm in maximum diameter. From January to December 2009, US-FNA was performed for small solid thyroid nodules in 201 patients. Each thyroid nodule was classified into group A and B according to the largest diameter (1 mm {<=} group A < 3 mm and 3 mm {<=} group B < 5 mm). The adequacy and accuracy of US-FNA in two groups were compared using the histopathological results as a reference standard. Of the 227 thyroid nodules in 201 patients, the inadequacy of US-FNA in group A and B was 24.3% (18/74) and 13.1% (20/153), respectively, showing a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.0333, chi-square test). Eighty nodules were removed surgically in 72 patients, from which papillary thyroid carcinoma (n = 52), follicular thyroid carcinoma (n = 1), nodular hyperplasia (n = 26), and pseudonodule related to thyroiditis (n = 1) were confirmed. Based on the histopathological results of the 80 surgical nodules, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of US-FNA in group A and B were 55.0% and 79.4%, 81.8% and 100%, 84.6% and 100%, 50% and 68.2%, and 64.5% and 85.7%, respectively. The adequacy and accuracy of US-FNA for solid thyroid nodules, {>=} 3 mm in the largest diameter, were higher than those of US-FNA for very small nodules, < 3 mm in the largest diameter

Natural radionuclides in soil profiles surrounding the largest coal-fired power plant in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanić Milan N.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study evaluates the influence of the largest Serbian coal-fired power plant on radionuclide concentrations in soil profiles up to 50 cm in depth. Thirty soil profiles were sampled from the plant surroundings (up to 10 km distance and analyzed using standard methods for soil physicochemical properties and gamma ray spectrometry for specific activities of natural radionuclides (40K, 226Ra and 232Th. Spatial and vertical distribution of radionuclides was determined and analyzed to show the relations between the specific activities in the soil and soil properties and the most influential factors of natural radionuclide variability were identified. The radiological indices for surface soil were calculated and radiological risk assessment was performed. The measured specific activities were similar to values of background levels for Serbia. The sampling depth did not show any significant influence on specific activities of natural radionuclides. The strongest predictor of specific activities of the investigated radionuclides was soil granulometry. All parameters of radiological risk assessment were below the recommended values and adopted limits. It appears that the coal-fired power plant does not have a significant impact on the spatial and vertical distribution of natural radionuclides in the area of interest, but technologically enhanced natural radioactivity as a consequence of the plant operations was identified within the first 1.5 km from the power plant. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije br. III43009 i br. III41005

What could we learn about high energy particle physics from cosmological observations at largest spatial scales ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gorbunov Dmitry

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The very well known example of cosmology testing particle physics is the number of relativistic particles (photons and three active neutrinos within the Standard Model at primordial nucleosynthesis. These days the earliest moment we can hope to probe with present cosmological data is the early time inflation. The particle physics conditions there and now are different because of different energy scales and different values of the scalar fields, that usually prohibits a reliable connection between the particle physics parameters at the two interesting epochs. The physics at the highest energy scales may be probed with observations at the largest spatial scales (just somewhat smaller than the size of the visible Universe. However, we are not (yet ready to make the tests realistic, because of lack of a self-consistent theoretical description of the presently favorite cosmological models to be valid right after inflation.

Switzerland's largest wood-pellet factory in Balsthal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stohler, F.

2004-01-01

This article describes how a small Swiss electricity utility has broken out of its traditional role in power generation and the distribution of electricity and gone into the production of wood pellets. The pellets, which are made from waste wood (sawdust) available from wood processing companies, are produced on a large scale in one of Europe's largest pellets production facilities. The boom in the use of wood pellets for heating purposes is discussed. The article discusses this unusual approach for a Swiss power utility, which also operates a wood-fired power station and is even involved in an incineration plant for household wastes. The markets being aimed for in Switzerland and in Europe are described, including modern low-energy-consumption housing projects. A further project is described that is to use waste wood available from a large wood processing facility planned in the utility's own region

Trade in value added in the West Pacific: An input-output analysis

OpenAIRE

Nakamura, Yoichi

2015-01-01

The evolution of trade between the four regions in the West Pacific in both gross and value added terms is analyzed using international input-output tables. It is found that value added exports of computers and electronic equipment of the Asian economies are very limited in comparison with their gross exports, and that the largest shares of value added exports were accounted for by the services sectors in every region, particularly so in Japan and the US. Surpluses and deficits in bilateral t...

The global diversion of pharmaceutical drugs. India: the third largest illicit opium producer?

Science.gov (United States)

Paoli, Letizia; Greenfield, Victoria A; Charles, Molly; Reuter, Peter

2009-03-01

This paper explores India's role in the world illicit opiate market, particularly its role as a producer. India, a major illicit opiate consumer, is also the sole licensed exporter of raw opium: this unique status may be enabling substantial diversion to the illicit market. Participant observation and interviews were carried out at eight different sites. Information was also drawn from all standard secondary sources and the analysis of about 180 drug-related criminal proceedings reviewed by Indian High Courts and the Supreme Court from 1985 to 2001. Diversion from licit opium production takes place on such a large scale that India may be the third largest illicit opium producer after Afghanistan and Burma. With the possible exceptions of 2005 and 2006, 200-300 tons of India's opium may be diverted yearly. After estimating India's opiate consumption on the basis of UN-reported prevalence estimates, we find that diversion from licit production might have satisfied a quarter to more than a third of India's illicit opiate demand to 2004. India is not only among the world's largest consumer of illicit opiates but also one of the largest illicit opium producers. In contrast to all other illicit producers, India owes the latter distinction not to blatantly illicit cultivation but to diversion from licit cultivation. India's experience suggests the difficulty of preventing substantial leakage, even in a relatively well-governed nation.

BALU: Largest autoclave research facility in the world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakan Ucan

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Among the large-scale facilities operated at the Center for Lightweight-Production-Technology of the German Aerospace Center in Stade BALU is the world's largest research autoclave. With a loading length of 20m and a loading diameter of 5.8 m the main objective of the facility is the optimization of the curing process operated by components made of carbon fiber on an industrial scale. For this reason, a novel dynamic autoclaving control has been developed that is characterized by peripheral devices to expend the performance of the facility for differential applications, by sensing systems to detect the component state throughout the curing process and by a feedback system, which is capable to intervene into the running autoclave process.

Results of an OECD/NEA comparison of minimum critical values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, Wolf; Mennerdahl, Dennis

2003-01-01

An OECD/NEA expert group has compiled international data on existing minimum critical values for UO 2 -, PuO 2 -, UNH- and PuNH-systems to identify any significant discrepancies in the data and to propose explanations. The paper examines the spread of the compiled data and the influence of the time of generation of the data on the spread. It turns out, that the remarkable spread reduces by omitting values older than five years. Considering only data generated in the last three years, the spread further reduces. The number of cases with a large spread in the reported minimum critical values falls from 28 to four cases, and the smallest and largest data values converge. (author)

Three-Dimensional Echocardiography-Derived Non-Invasive Right Ventricular Pressure-Volume Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Kuan-Chih; Lin, Lian-Yu; Hwang, Juey-Jen; Lin, Lung-Chun

2017-09-01

In patients with pulmonary hypertension, repeated evaluations of right ventricular (RV) function are still required for clinical decision making, but the invasive nature of current pressure-volume analysis makes conducting regular follow-ups in a clinical setting infeasible. We enrolled 12 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and 10 with pulmonary venous hypertension (PVH) May 2016-October 2016. All patients underwent a clinically indicated right heart catheterization (RHC), from which the yielded right ventricular pressure recordings were conjugated with RV volume by 3-D echocardiography to generate a pressure-volume loop. A continuous-wave Doppler envelope of tricuspid regurgitation was transformed into a pressure gradient recording by the simplified Bernoulli equation, and then a systolic pressure gradient-volume (PG-V) diagram was generated from similar methods. The area enclosed by the pressure-volume loop was calculated to represent semi-invasive right ventricular stroke work (RVSW RHC ). The area between the PG-V diagram and x-axis was calculated to estimate non-invasive RVSW (RVSW echo ). Patients with PAH have higher RV pressure, lower pulmonary arterial wedge pressure and larger RV volume that was contributed by the dilation of RV mid-cavity minor dimension. We found no significant difference of traditional parameters between these two groups, but RVSW values were significantly higher in PAH patients. The RVSW values of these two methods were significantly correlated by the equation RVSW echo  = 0.8447 RVSW RHC  + 129.38 (R 2  = 0.9151, p rights reserved.

Canada's largest co-gen project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salaff, S.

2000-01-01

In November 2000, the TransAlta Energy Corp. began construction on its $400 million natural gas fuelled cogeneration project in Sarnia Ontario. The Sarnia Regional Cogeneration Project (SRCP) is designed to integrate a new 440 MW cogeneration facility to be built at the Sarnia Division of Dow Chemicals Canada Inc. with nearby existing generators totaling 210 MW at Dow and Bayer Inc. At 650 MW, the new facility will rank as Canada's largest cogeneration installation. Commercial operation is scheduled for October 2002. TransAlta owns three natural gas fuelled cogeneration facilities in Ontario (in Ottawa, Mississauga and Windsor) totaling 250 MW. The cost of electric power in Ontario is currently controlled by rising natural gas prices and the supply demand imbalance. This balance will be significantly affected by the possible return to service of 2000 MW of nuclear generating capacity. The SRCP project was announced just prior to the Ontario Energy Competition Act of October 1998 which committed the province to introduce competition to the electricity sector and which created major uncertainties in the electricity market. Some of the small, 25 MW projects which survived the market uncertainty included the Toronto-based Toromont Energy Ltd. project involving gas fuelled cogeneration and methane gas generation from landfill projects in Sudbury and Waterloo. It was emphasized that cogeneration and combined heat and power projects have significant environmental advantages over large combined cycle facilities. The Ontario Energy Board is currently considering an application from TransAlta to link the SRCP facility to Ontario's Hydro One Network Inc.'s transmission grid. 1 fig

Foreign exchange risk management : how are the largest non-financial companies in Norway managing their foreign exchange rate exposure?

OpenAIRE

Eriksen, Krister; Wedøe, Ola

2010-01-01

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the largest non-financial companies in Norway manage their foreign exchange rate exposure. This is investigated through the use of a survey distributed to a sample the largest non-financial firms in Norway. According to our results, the largest non-financial companies in Norway have a predefined strategy for managing foreign exchange risk, which is defined by the board of directors or by the management in the organisation. The companies’ mai...

New Chicago-Indiana computer network will handle dataflow from world's largest scientific experiment

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

"Massive quantities of data will soon begin flowing from the largest scientific instrument ever built into an international netword of computer centers, including one operated jointly by the University of Chicago and Indiana University." (1,5 page)

The Effects of Largest Claim and Excess of Loss Reinsurance on a Company’s Ruin Time and Valuation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuguang Fan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We compare two types of reinsurance: excess of loss (EOL and largest claim reinsurance (LCR, each of which transfers the payment of part, or all, of one or more large claims from the primary insurance company (the cedant to a reinsurer. The primary insurer’s point of view is documented in terms of assessment of risk and payment of reinsurance premium. A utility indifference rationale based on the expected future dividend stream is used to value the company with and without reinsurance. Assuming the classical compound Poisson risk model with choices of claim size distributions (classified as heavy, medium and light-tailed cases, simulations are used to illustrate the impact of the EOL and LCR treaties on the company’s ruin probability, ruin time and value as determined by the dividend discounting model. We find that LCR is at least as effective as EOL in averting ruin in comparable finite time horizon settings. In instances where the ruin probability for LCR is smaller than for EOL, the dividend discount model shows that the cedant is able to pay a larger portion of the dividend for LCR reinsurance than for EOL while still maintaining company value. Both methods reduce risk considerably as compared with no reinsurance, in a variety of situations, as measured by the standard deviation of the company value. A further interesting finding is that heaviness of tails alone is not necessarily the decisive factor in the possible ruin of a company; small and moderate sized claims can also play a significant role in this.

Scaling relationships among drivers of aquatic respiration from the smallest to the largest freshwater ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Ed K; Schoolmaster, Donald; Amado, A.M; Stets, Edward G.; Lennon, J.T.; Domaine, L.; Cotner, J.B.

2016-01-01

To address how various environmental parameters control or constrain planktonic respiration (PR), we used geometric scaling relationships and established biological scaling laws to derive quantitative predictions for the relationships among key drivers of PR. We then used empirical measurements of PR and environmental (soluble reactive phosphate [SRP], carbon [DOC], chlorophyll a [Chl-a)], and temperature) and landscape parameters (lake area [LA] and watershed area [WA]) from a set of 44 lakes that varied in size and trophic status to test our hypotheses. We found that landscape-level processes affected PR through direct effects on DOC and temperature and indirectly via SRP. In accordance with predictions made from known relationships and scaling laws, scale coefficients (the parameter that describes the shape of a relationship between 2 variables) were found to be negative and have an absolute value 1, others respiration from small pond catchments to the largest body of freshwater on the planet, Lake Superior, these findings should be applicable to controls of PR for the great majority of temperate aquatic ecosystems.

Seasonal variations of trace elements in precipitation at the largest city in Tibet, Lhasa

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Junming; Kang, Shichang; Huang, Jie; Zhang, Qianggong; Tripathee, Lekhendra; Sillanpää, Mika

2015-02-01

Precipitation samples were collected from March 2010 to August 2012 at an urban site in Lhasa, the capital and largest city of Tibet. The volume weighted mean (VWM) concentrations of 17 trace elements in precipitation were higher during the non-monsoon season than in the monsoon season, but inverse seasonal variations occurred for wet deposition fluxes of most of the trace elements. Concentrations for most of trace elements were negatively correlated with precipitation amount, indicating that below-cloud scavenging of trace elements was an important mechanism contributing to wet deposition of these elements. The elements Al, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Mn, Ni, and U displayed low crustal enrichment factors (EFs), whereas Co, Cu, Zn, As, Cd Sn, Pb, and Bi showed high EF values in precipitation, suggesting that anthropogenic activities might be important contributors of these elements at Lhasa. However, this present work indicates a much lower anthropogenic emission at Lhasa than in seriously polluted regions. Our study will not only provide insights for assessing the current status of the atmospheric environment in Lhasa but also enhance our understanding for updating the baseline for environmental protection over the Tibetan Plateau.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Ovaries of Healthy Women: Determination of Normal Values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauth, E.A.M.; Jaeger, H.J.; Libera, H.; Lange, S.; Forsting, M.

2006-01-01

Purpose: To establish normal values for the volume and maximal diameter of ovaries and ovarian follicles and for the number of ovarian follicles in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on menstrual cycle phase and age. Material and Methods: We performed MRI of the pelvis on 100 healthy women. Volume of the ovaries and largest ovarian follicles and the number of ovarian follicles were determined by menstrual cycle phase and age. Results: The mean volume of the ovaries significantly increased with age and reached its peak between 31 and 40 years, and subsequently decreased. The mean volume of the largest ovarian follicles also significantly increased with age to reach its peak at 41-50 years. The highest mean numbers of ovarian follicles were found at 20-40 years. When the volumes of ovaries and of the largest ovarian follicles, and the number of ovarian follicles were compared between the first and second phase of the menstrual cycle, no significant differences were found. Conclusion: The volume and maximal diameter of ovaries and ovarian follicles and the number of ovarian follicles differ significantly with age, but not between the two phases of the menstrual cycle. Knowledge of MRI-related normal values can be expected to aid the early identification of ovarian pathologies

An Elusive Policy Imperative: Data and Methodological Challenges When Using Growth in Student Achievement to Evaluate Teacher Education Programs' "Value-Added"

Science.gov (United States)

Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey; Lawton, Kerry; Ronan, Katherine

2017-01-01

In this study researchers examined the effectiveness of one of the largest teacher education programs located within the largest research-intensive universities within the US. They did this using a value-added model as per current federal educational policy imperatives to assess the measurable effects of teacher education programs on their teacher…

Five parameters for the evaluation of the soil nonlinearity during the Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake using the HVSR method

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Yefei; Wen, Ruizhi; Yao, Xinxin; Ji, Kun

2017-08-01

The consideration of soil nonlinearity is important for the accurate estimation of the site response. To evaluate the soil nonlinearity during the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake, 33 strong-motion records obtained from the main shock and 890 records from 157 aftershocks were collected for this study. The horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) method was used to calculate five parameters: the ratio of predominant frequency (RFp), degree of nonlinearity (DNL), absolute degree of nonlinearity (ADNL), frequency of nonlinearity (fNL), and percentage of nonlinearity (PNL). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the soil nonlinearity level of 33 strong-motion stations and to investigate the characteristics, performance, and effective usage of these five parameters. Their correlations with the peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), average uppermost 30-m shear-wave velocity ( V S30), and maximum amplitude of HVSR ( A max) were investigated. The results showed that all five parameters correlate well with PGA and PGV. The DNL, ADNL, and PNL also show a good correlation with A max, which means that the degree of soil nonlinearity not only depends on the ground-motion amplitude (e.g., PGA and PGV) but also on the site condition. The fNL correlates with PGA and PGV but shows no correlation with either A max or V S30, implying that the frequency width affected by the soil nonlinearity predominantly depends on the ground-motion amplitude rather than the site condition. At 16 of the 33 stations analyzed in this study, the site response showed evident (i.e., strong and medium) nonlinearity during the main shock of the Wenchuan Earthquake, where the ground-motion level was almost beyond the threshold of PGA > 200 cm/s2 or PGV > 15 cm/s. The site response showed weak and no nonlinearity at the other 14 and 3 stations. These results also confirm that RFp, DNL, ADNL, and PNL are effective in identifying the soil nonlinearity behavior. The identification

Opportunities for biodiversity gains under the world’s largest reforestation programme

OpenAIRE

Hua, Fangyuan; Wang, Xiaoyang; Zheng, Xinlei; Fisher, Brendan; Wang, Lin; Zhu, Jianguo; Tang, Ya; Yu, Douglas W.; Wilcove, David S.

2016-01-01

Reforestation is a critical means of addressing the environmental and social problems of deforestation. China’s Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) is the world’s largest reforestation scheme. Here we provide the first nationwide assessment of the tree composition of GFGP forests and the first combined ecological and economic study aimed at understanding GFGP’s biodiversity implications. Across China, GFGP forests are overwhelmingly monocultures or compositionally simple mixed forests. Focusing on...

Rehabilitation of the 6 largest hydropower plants in the Republic of Macedonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chingoski, Vlatko; Savevski, Vasil

2004-01-01

In 1998, ESM (Electric Power Co. of Macedonia) received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD - The World bank) for the cost of the Power System Improvement Project, major part of which is the partial rehabilitation of the six largest HPPs in the Republic of Macedonia. Rehabilitation and life extension of these six largest hydro power plants is given the highest priority in the whole Power System Improvement Project mainly because these HPPs are, in general, fairly old, older than most of the thermal generation capacity and because a significant part of their equipment is wearing out, or is now obsolete with spare parts difficult to obtain. Furthermore, these plants play a vital role in the Macedonian Power System, providing peaking capacity, reserve capacity and frequency control. With the realization of this project, greater hydropower production is expected. It is also expected that HPPs will become a more vital part of the Macedonian Power System, which is also beneficial from an environmental aspect, due to greater usage of renewable energy resources in the country. (Original)

Distance and Azimuthal Dependence of Ground‐Motion Variability for Unilateral Strike‐Slip Ruptures

KAUST Repository

Vyas, Jagdish Chandra

2016-06-21

We investigate near‐field ground‐motion variability by computing the seismic wavefield for five kinematic unilateral‐rupture models of the 1992 Mw 7.3 Landers earthquake, eight simplified unilateral‐rupture models based on the Landers event, and a large Mw 7.8 ShakeOut scenario. We include the geometrical fault complexity and consider different 1D velocity–density profiles for the Landers simulations and a 3D heterogeneous Earth structure for the ShakeOut scenario. For the Landers earthquake, the computed waveforms are validated using strong‐motion recordings. We analyze the simulated ground‐motion data set in terms of distance and azimuth dependence of peak ground velocity (PGV). Our simulations reveal that intraevent ground‐motion variability Graphic is higher in close distances to the fault (<20  km) and decreases with increasing distance following a power law. This finding is in stark contrast to constant sigma‐values used in empirical ground‐motion prediction equations. The physical explanation of a large near‐field Graphic is the presence of strong directivity and rupture complexity. High values of Graphic occur in the rupture‐propagation direction, but small values occur in the direction perpendicular to it. We observe that the power‐law decay of Graphic is primarily controlled by slip heterogeneity. In addition, Graphic, as function of azimuth, is sensitive to variations in both rupture speed and slip heterogeneity. The azimuth dependence of the ground‐motion mean μln(PGV) is well described by a Cauchy–Lorentz function that provides a novel empirical quantification to model the spatial dependency of ground motion. Online Material: Figures of slip distributions, residuals to ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs), distance and azimuthal dependence, and directivity predictor of ground‐motion variability for different source models.

SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalygin, V.V.

1997-01-01

The State Scientific Centre (SSC) ''Research Institute of Atomic Reactors'' (RIAR) is situated 100 km to the south-east from Moscow, in Dimitrovgrad, the Volga Region of the Russian Federation. SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors in Russia. At present there are 5 types of reactor facilities in operation, including two NPP. One of the main tasks the Centre is the investigations on safety increase for power reactors. Broad international connections are available at the Institute. On the basis of the SSC RIAR during 3 years work has been done on the development of the branch training centre (TC) for the training of operation personnel of research and pilot reactors in Russia. (author). 3 tabs

SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kalygin, V V [State Scientific Centre, Research Inst. of Atomic Reactors (Russian Federation)

1997-10-01

The State Scientific Centre (SSC) ``Research Institute of Atomic Reactors`` (RIAR) is situated 100 km to the south-east from Moscow, in Dimitrovgrad, the Volga Region of the Russian Federation. SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors in Russia. At present there are 5 types of reactor facilities in operation, including two NPP. One of the main tasks the Centre is the investigations on safety increase for power reactors. Broad international connections are available at the Institute. On the basis of the SSC RIAR during 3 years work has been done on the development of the branch training centre (TC) for the training of operation personnel of research and pilot reactors in Russia. (author). 3 tabs.

Hospital Prices Increase in California, Especially Among Hospitals in the Largest Multi-hospital Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glenn A. Melnick PhD

2016-06-01

Full Text Available A surge in hospital consolidation is fueling formation of ever larger multi-hospital systems throughout the United States. This article examines hospital prices in California over time with a focus on hospitals in the largest multi-hospital systems. Our data show that hospital prices in California grew substantially (+76% per hospital admission across all hospitals and all services between 2004 and 2013 and that prices at hospitals that are members of the largest, multi-hospital systems grew substantially more (113% than prices paid to all other California hospitals (70%. Prices were similar in both groups at the start of the period (approximately $9200 per admission. By the end of the period, prices at hospitals in the largest systems exceeded prices at other California hospitals by almost $4000 per patient admission. Our study findings are potentially useful to policy makers across the country for several reasons. Our data measure actual prices for a large sample of hospitals over a long period of time in California. California experienced its wave of consolidation much earlier than the rest of the country and as such our findings may provide some insights into what may happen across the United States from hospital consolidation including growth of large, multi-hospital systems now forming in the rest of the rest of the country.

Static stress drop of the largest recorded M 4.6 hydraulic fracturing induced earthquake and its aftershock pattern in the northern Montney Play, British Columbia, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, B.; Harrington, R. M.; Liu, Y.; Kao, H.

2016-12-01

The largest suspected fracking-induced earthquake to date occurred near Fort St. John, British Columbia on August 17, 2015, with a reported magnitude of Mw 4.6. Here we estimate the static stress released by the mainshock and the five cataloged aftershocks using new data from eight broadband seismometers installed approximately 50km from the hypocenter of the mainshock, at distances much closer than the Natural Resources Canada regional seismic stations. The estimated cross-correlation coefficient among the 5 cataloged earthquakes is 0.35 or greater. We will present seismic moment (M0) and spectral corner frequency (fc) values estimated using both individual earthquake spectra and spectral ratios to correct for travel-path attenuation and site effects. Static stress drop and scaled energy value calculations based on the estimated moment and corner frequency values will be presented, as well as focal mechanisms for the largest events with adequate station coverage. We will also use a multi-station matched-filter approach to detect additional uncataloged earthquakes on continuous waveforms for a period of two months after the mainshock. Using the results of the matched-filter approach, we will present the aftershock magnitude distribution and locations. The results of our detection and location calculations will be compared to reported fracking parameters, such as fluid injection pressure and duration, to determine their correlation with the spatial and temporal distribution of aftershocks. The objective of this study is to relate operational parameters to earthquake occurrence in order to help to develop procedures to understand the mechanisms responsible for fracking induced earthquakes, their relation to the maximum induced magnitude, and to reduce potential hazards of anthropogenically induced seismic activity.

A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks

KAUST Repository

Arias-Ortiz, Ariane; Serrano, Oscar; Masqué , Pere; Lavery, P. S.; Mueller, U.; Kendrick, G. A.; Rozaimi, M.; Esteban, A.; Fourqurean, J. W.; Marbà , N.; Mateo, M. A.; Murray, K.; Rule, M. J.; Duarte, Carlos M.

2018-01-01

Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass

Estimating the Total Economic Value of Cultivated Flower Land in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Huang Huang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Many arable land areas have been converted to residential or business uses by Taiwan government authorities, because the low farmland value is associated with the low value of agricultural products. However, agriculture is multifunctional. This study investigates farmland value through Total Economic Value (TEV for Tianwei Township, which is Taiwan’s largest floral farmland region. Direct use value measures the floral products’ output value and recreational benefit. Recreational benefit from visitors’ flower sightseeing was measured by the travel cost method (TCM. Option value and non-use value, including bequest value and existence value, measure the residents’ willingness to pay through the double-bounded dichotomous contingent valuation method (CVM. The results show that the total floral products’ output is NT$1.441 billion in 2007, recreational benefit is roughly NT$17.757 billion. The intangible value of option value and non-use values are approximately between NT$5 million to 15 million. Therefore, ignoring various values of farmland might lead to an underestimation of farmland value.

The largest Silurian vertebrate and its palaeoecological implications

Science.gov (United States)

Choo, Brian; Zhu, Min; Zhao, Wenjin; Jia, Liaotao; Zhu, You'an

2014-01-01

An apparent absence of Silurian fishes more than half-a-metre in length has been viewed as evidence that gnathostomes were restricted in size and diversity prior to the Devonian. Here we describe the largest pre-Devonian vertebrate (Megamastax amblyodus gen. et sp. nov.), a predatory marine osteichthyan from the Silurian Kuanti Formation (late Ludlow, ~423 million years ago) of Yunnan, China, with an estimated length of about 1 meter. The unusual dentition of the new form suggests a durophagous diet which, combined with its large size, indicates a considerable degree of trophic specialisation among early osteichthyans. The lack of large Silurian vertebrates has recently been used as constraint in palaeoatmospheric modelling, with purported lower oxygen levels imposing a physiological size limit. Regardless of the exact causal relationship between oxygen availability and evolutionary success, this finding refutes the assumption that pre-Emsian vertebrates were restricted to small body sizes. PMID:24921626

Key U.S.-built part fails during testing for world's largest particle collider

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

"Scientists are scrambling to redesign a key U.S.-built part that broke "with a loud bang and a cloud of dust" during a high-pressure test for the world's largest particle physics collider that is supposed to start up in November, officials sais Tuesday." (1,5 page)

Strategy and the art of reinventing value.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Heijden, K; Maccoby, M; Hama, N; Lundquist, J T; Collis, D J; Zeithaml, C; Martin, J E; Carroll, V P; Lurie, R

1993-01-01

In "From Value Chain to Value Constellation: Designing Interactive Strategy" (July-August 1993), Richard Normann and Rafael Ramírez argue that successful companies increasingly do not just add value, they reinvent it. The key strategic task is to reconfigure roles and relationships among a constellation of actors--suppliers, business partners, customers--in order to mobilize the creation of value in new forms and by new players. What is so different about this new logic of value? It breaks down the distinction between products and services and combines them into activity-based "offerings" from which customers can create value for themselves. But as potential offerings become more complex, so do the relationships necessary to create them. As a result, a company's strategic task becomes the reconfiguration and integration of its compentencies and customers. Normann and Ramírez provide three illustrations of these new rules of strategy. IKEA has blossomed into the world's largest retailer of home furnishings by redefining the relationships and organizational pratices of the furniture business. Danish pharmacies and their national organization have used the opportunity of health care reform to reconfigure their relationships with customers, doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers, and with Danish and international health organizations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Evolution of the Largest Mammalian Genome.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Ben J; Upham, Nathan S; Golding, Goeffrey B; Ojeda, Ricardo A; Ojeda, Agustina A

2017-06-01

The genome of the red vizcacha rat (Rodentia, Octodontidae, Tympanoctomys barrerae) is the largest of all mammals, and about double the size of their close relative, the mountain vizcacha rat Octomys mimax, even though the lineages that gave rise to these species diverged from each other only about 5 Ma. The mechanism for this rapid genome expansion is controversial, and hypothesized to be a consequence of whole genome duplication or accumulation of repetitive elements. To test these alternative but nonexclusive hypotheses, we gathered and evaluated evidence from whole transcriptome and whole genome sequences of T. barrerae and O. mimax. We recovered support for genome expansion due to accumulation of a diverse assemblage of repetitive elements, which represent about one half and one fifth of the genomes of T. barrerae and O. mimax, respectively, but we found no strong signal of whole genome duplication. In both species, repetitive sequences were rare in transcribed regions as compared with the rest of the genome, and mostly had no close match to annotated repetitive sequences from other rodents. These findings raise new questions about the genomic dynamics of these repetitive elements, their connection to widespread chromosomal fissions that occurred in the T. barrerae ancestor, and their fitness effects-including during the evolution of hypersaline dietary tolerance in T. barrerae. ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

The Risks and Rewards of Value-Based Reimbursement.

Science.gov (United States)

Henkel, Robert J; Maryland, Patricia A

2015-01-01

As healthcare systems across the country shift to value-based care, they face an enormous challenge. Not only must they reimagine how they identify, engage, and manage the care of patients, they also need to determine new ways of engaging and aligning physicians and other caregivers in creating better-coordinated care across the continuum. This article explores how healthcare systems making the transition from volume to value can maximize their reward while managing their risk. As the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in the United States and the largest Catholic healthcare system in the world, Ascension is committed to making its own transition, marked by broad-based innovation. We call this goal the Quadruple Aim: improving health outcomes, patient experiences, and provider experiences while lowering the overall cost of care. Healthcare systems and providers have many value-based models to choose from, including pay for performance (P4P), shared savings, bundled payments, shared risk, global capitation, and provider-sponsored health plans. Analysis of these options should include an evaluation of market readiness (i.e., the ability of a health system to align with the needs of employers or commercial insurers in a given market). Healthcare systems also must be prepared to invest in resources that facilitate effective transitions and continuity of care--for example, care management. In addition, they need to recognize that as they focus on wellness, inpatient volumes will decline, requiring cost-structure adjustments and added ancillary services to compensate for this decline. Some healthcare systems are even exploring the possibility of becoming their own payer, taking on more risk and responsibility for the health of patients and populations.

Largest US oil and gas fields, August 1993

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-08-06

The Largest US Oil and Gas Fields is a technical report and part of an Energy Information Administration (EIA) series presenting distributions of US crude oil and natural gas resources, developed using field-level data collected by EIA`s annual survey of oil and gas proved reserves. The series` objective is to provide useful information beyond that routinely presented in the EIA annual report on crude oil and natural gas reserves. These special reports also will provide oil and gas resource analysts with a fuller understanding of the nature of US crude oil and natural gas occurrence, both at the macro level and with respect to the specific subjects addressed. The series` approach is to integrate EIA`s crude oil and natural gas survey data with related data obtained from other authoritative sources, and then to present illustrations and analyses of interest to a broad spectrum of energy information users ranging from the general public to oil and gas industry personnel.

Largest US oil and gas fields, August 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

The Largest US Oil and Gas Fields is a technical report and part of an Energy Information Administration (EIA) series presenting distributions of US crude oil and natural gas resources, developed using field-level data collected by EIA's annual survey of oil and gas proved reserves. The series' objective is to provide useful information beyond that routinely presented in the EIA annual report on crude oil and natural gas reserves. These special reports also will provide oil and gas resource analysts with a fuller understanding of the nature of US crude oil and natural gas occurrence, both at the macro level and with respect to the specific subjects addressed. The series' approach is to integrate EIA's crude oil and natural gas survey data with related data obtained from other authoritative sources, and then to present illustrations and analyses of interest to a broad spectrum of energy information users ranging from the general public to oil and gas industry personnel

Seismic fragility formulations for segmented buried pipeline systems including the impact of differential ground subsidence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pineda Porras, Omar Andrey [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Ordaz, Mario [UNAM, MEXICO CITY

2009-01-01

Though Differential Ground Subsidence (DGS) impacts the seismic response of segmented buried pipelines augmenting their vulnerability, fragility formulations to estimate repair rates under such condition are not available in the literature. Physical models to estimate pipeline seismic damage considering other cases of permanent ground subsidence (e.g. faulting, tectonic uplift, liquefaction, and landslides) have been extensively reported, not being the case of DGS. The refinement of the study of two important phenomena in Mexico City - the 1985 Michoacan earthquake scenario and the sinking of the city due to ground subsidence - has contributed to the analysis of the interrelation of pipeline damage, ground motion intensity, and DGS; from the analysis of the 48-inch pipeline network of the Mexico City's Water System, fragility formulations for segmented buried pipeline systems for two DGS levels are proposed. The novel parameter PGV{sup 2}/PGA, being PGV peak ground velocity and PGA peak ground acceleration, has been used as seismic parameter in these formulations, since it has shown better correlation to pipeline damage than PGV alone according to previous studies. By comparing the proposed fragilities, it is concluded that a change in the DGS level (from Low-Medium to High) could increase the pipeline repair rates (number of repairs per kilometer) by factors ranging from 1.3 to 2.0; being the higher the seismic intensity the lower the factor.

How the largest electric and gas utility companies administer public relations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bogart, J.D.

1979-04-12

This article describes the findings of a survey conducted by the author in the second half of 1978 to determine the sizes of the public relations staffs of the nation's largest operating electric and gas utilities, their budgets, organizational differences, and specific functions. Common public relations issues and major public relations problems of the utilities are identified, as well as recent trends or changes in budgeting and organization. Some functional variations of public relations departments among utility companies were detected and described.

CERN: Digital image analysis in the world's largest research center for particle physics

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

Those interested in researching into the smallest building blocks that matter is made up of need the largest instruments. CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland is where the most powerful circular accelerator in the world is being built: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for proton collisions. It has a circumference of 26.7 km (4 pages)

Scaling A Moment-Rate Function For Small To Large Magnitude Events

Science.gov (United States)

Archuleta, Ralph; Ji, Chen

2017-04-01

Since the 1980's seismologists have recognized that peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) scale differently with magnitude for large and moderate earthquakes. In a recent paper (Archuleta and Ji, GRL 2016) we introduced an apparent moment-rate function (aMRF) that accurately predicts the scaling with magnitude of PGA, PGV, PWA (Wood-Anderson Displacement) and the ratio PGA/2πPGV (dominant frequency) for earthquakes 3.3 ≤ M ≤ 5.3. This apparent moment-rate function is controlled by two temporal parameters, tp and td, which are related to the time for the moment-rate function to reach its peak amplitude and the total duration of the earthquake, respectively. These two temporal parameters lead to a Fourier amplitude spectrum (FAS) of displacement that has two corners in between which the spectral amplitudes decay as 1/f, f denotes frequency. At higher or lower frequencies, the FAS of the aMRF looks like a single-corner Aki-Brune omega squared spectrum. However, in the presence of attenuation the higher corner is almost certainly masked. Attempting to correct the spectrum to an Aki-Brune omega-squared spectrum will produce an "apparent" corner frequency that falls between the double corner frequency of the aMRF. We reason that the two corners of the aMRF are the reason that seismologists deduce a stress drop (e.g., Allmann and Shearer, JGR 2009) that is generally much smaller than the stress parameter used to produce ground motions from stochastic simulations (e.g., Boore, 2003 Pageoph.). The presence of two corners for the smaller magnitude earthquakes leads to several questions. Can deconvolution be successfully used to determine scaling from small to large earthquakes? Equivalently will large earthquakes have a double corner? If large earthquakes are the sum of many smaller magnitude earthquakes, what should the displacement FAS look like for a large magnitude earthquake? Can a combination of such a double-corner spectrum and random

Collaborative spectrum sensing based on the ratio between largest eigenvalue and Geometric mean of eigenvalues

KAUST Repository

Shakir, Muhammad

2011-12-01

In this paper, we introduce a new detector referred to as Geometric mean detector (GEMD) which is based on the ratio of the largest eigenvalue to the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues for collaborative spectrum sensing. The decision threshold has been derived by employing Gaussian approximation approach. In this approach, the two random variables, i.e. The largest eigenvalue and the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues are considered as independent Gaussian random variables such that their cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) are approximated by a univariate Gaussian distribution function for any number of cooperating secondary users and received samples. The approximation approach is based on the calculation of exact analytical moments of the largest eigenvalue and the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues of the received covariance matrix. The decision threshold has been calculated by exploiting the CDF of the ratio of two Gaussian distributed random variables. In this context, we exchange the analytical moments of the two random variables with the moments of the Gaussian distribution function. The performance of the detector is compared with the performance of the energy detector and eigenvalue ratio detector. Analytical and simulation results show that our newly proposed detector yields considerable performance advantage in realistic spectrum sensing scenarios. Moreover, our results based on proposed approximation approach are in perfect agreement with the empirical results. © 2011 IEEE.

Benefit Comparison of Captioned Online Courses for American, International, and Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students: From the Viewpoint of Individual Value and Total Value

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Manako Yabe

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated benefits toward Captioned Online Courses (COC among American, International, and Deaf/Hard of Hearing students from two California universities.  As a result, COC were not just viewed as accommodations for DHH students, but also as providing benefits for American and International students.  Study results indicated that international students showed higher individual value for COC than the other groups, while American students had the smallest individual value but presented the larger total value toward COC than the other groups due to their comprising the largest population at both universities.  The aggregate total value for all groups was approximately $2,000,000.00, which would represent the cost of conducting 370 classes at the lowest price of $2.00 per minute.  These results indicate the possibility of expanding future COC as Universal Design model for postsecondary educational institutions.

Values of kinetic features measured by computer-aided for breast MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lina; Zhao Zuowei; Song Qingwei; Wang Shaowu; Miao Yanwei

2012-01-01

Objective: To investigate the value of kinetic features measured by computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) for breast MRI. Methods: One hundred and sixty four lesions diagnosed pathologically by operation or biopsy comprised the analysis set. Automated lesion kinetic information from CADStream programs for breast MRI was identified. Three CAD variables were compared for benign and malignant lesions: initial phase peak enhancement (greatest percentage of signal intensity increase on first contrast enhanced sequence), delayed phase enhancement categorized by a single type of kinetics comprising the largest percentage of enhancement (washout, plateau, or persistent), and delayed phase enhancement categorized by single most suspicious type of kinetics (any washout > any plateau > any persistent). Morphological characteristics of breast lesions were described according to breast imaging and reporting data system (BI-RADS). Initial phase peak enhancement mean values between benign and malignant breast lesions were compared by using Wilcoxon rank-sum test, delayed phase enhancement categorized by a single type of kinetics comprising the largest percentage of enhancement or by single most suspicious type of kinetics between benign and malignant breast lesions were compared by using Chi-square test. Results: There were 72 benign and 92 malignant breast lesions. A total of 123 (75.0%) mass lesions were identified,and the other 41 (25.0%) lesions showed no mass. Thirty lesions were BI-RADS-MRI 2, 68 lesions were BI-RADS-MRI 3, 43 lesions were BI-RADS-MRI 4, 23 lesions were BI-RADS-MRI 5. Initial phase peak enhancement mean values of benign and malignant lesions were 237% (69% to 629%) and 336% (86% to 793%), respectively. There was no significant difference between benign and malignant lesions in initial peak enhancement mean value (Z=-1.626, P=0.104). Delayed phase enhancement categorized by single most suspicious type of kinetics (any washout > any plateau > any persistent) for

Genome size analyses of Pucciniales reveal the largest fungal genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tavares, Sílvia; Ramos, Ana Paula; Pires, Ana Sofia; Azinheira, Helena G; Caldeirinha, Patrícia; Link, Tobias; Abranches, Rita; Silva, Maria do Céu; Voegele, Ralf T; Loureiro, João; Talhinhas, Pedro

2014-01-01

Rust fungi (Basidiomycota, Pucciniales) are biotrophic plant pathogens which exhibit diverse complexities in their life cycles and host ranges. The completion of genome sequencing of a few rust fungi has revealed the occurrence of large genomes. Sequencing efforts for other rust fungi have been hampered by uncertainty concerning their genome sizes. Flow cytometry was recently applied to estimate the genome size of a few rust fungi, and confirmed the occurrence of large genomes in this order (averaging 225.3 Mbp, while the average for Basidiomycota was 49.9 Mbp and was 37.7 Mbp for all fungi). In this work, we have used an innovative and simple approach to simultaneously isolate nuclei from the rust and its host plant in order to estimate the genome size of 30 rust species by flow cytometry. Genome sizes varied over 10-fold, from 70 to 893 Mbp, with an average genome size value of 380.2 Mbp. Compared to the genome sizes of over 1800 fungi, Gymnosporangium confusum possesses the largest fungal genome ever reported (893.2 Mbp). Moreover, even the smallest rust genome determined in this study is larger than the vast majority of fungal genomes (94%). The average genome size of the Pucciniales is now of 305.5 Mbp, while the average Basidiomycota genome size has shifted to 70.4 Mbp and the average for all fungi reached 44.2 Mbp. Despite the fact that no correlation could be drawn between the genome sizes, the phylogenomics or the life cycle of rust fungi, it is interesting to note that rusts with Fabaceae hosts present genomes clearly larger than those with Poaceae hosts. Although this study comprises only a small fraction of the more than 7000 rust species described, it seems already evident that the Pucciniales represent a group where genome size expansion could be a common characteristic. This is in sharp contrast to sister taxa, placing this order in a relevant position in fungal genomics research.

Analysis of Multiple Structural Changes in Financial Contagion Based on the Largest Lyapunov Exponents

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Rui Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A modified multiple structural changes model is built to test structural breaks of the financial system based on calculating the largest Lyapunov exponents of the financial time series. Afterwards, the Lorenz system is used as a simulation example to inspect the new model. As the Lorenz system has strong nonlinearity, the verification results show that the new model has good capability in both finding the breakpoint and revealing the changes in nonlinear characteristics of the time series. The empirical study based on the model used daily data from the S&P 500 stock index during the global financial crisis from 2005 to 2012. The results provide four breakpoints of the period, which divide the contagion into four stages: stationary, local outbreak, global outbreak, and recovery period. An additional significant result is the obvious chaos characteristic difference in the largest Lyapunov exponents and the standard deviation at various stages, particularly at the local outbreak stage.

World's largest off-road tires to be recycled

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

2005-07-01

Suncor Energy is the first company in Canada to use a new technology designed uniquely for tire recycling at oil sand facilities. The technology is owned by CuttingEdge Tire Recycling, a partnership between Denesoline Environmental Limited Partnership and Beaver Environmental Rubber Technologies Limited. Suncor has supported the development of this Aboriginal-owned and operated business by offering land, electricity, diesel fuel and stockpiles of used truck tires from its oil sand mining activities. These tires are the largest off-road tires in the world. In this new technology, tires that are worn-out through oil sand mining are shredded in a portable shredder before being recycled for subsequent use by the Alberta Recycling Management Association. 1 fig.

Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics in Backwaters of North America's Largest River Swamp

Science.gov (United States)

Bueche, S. M.; Xu, Y. J.; Reiman, J. H.

2017-12-01

The Atchafalaya River (AR) is the largest distributary of the Mississippi River flowing through south-central Louisiana, creating North America's largest river swamp basin - the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB). Prior to human settlement, the AR's main channel was highly connected to this large wetland ecosystem. However, due to constructed levee systems and other human modifications, much of the ARB is now hydrologically disconnected from the AR's main channel except during high flow events. This lack of regular inputs of fresh, oxygenated water to these wetlands, paired with high levels of organic matter decomposition in wetlands, has caused low oxygen-deprived hypoxic conditions in the ARB's back waters. In addition, due to the incredibly nutrient-rich and warm nature of the ARB, microbial decomposition in backwater areas with limited flow often results in potentially stressful, if not lethal, levels of DO for organisms during and after flood pulses. This study aims to investigate dynamics of dissolved oxygen in backwaters of the Atchafalaya River Basin, intending to answer a crucial question about hydrological and water quality connectivity between the river's mainstem and its floodplain. Specifically, the study will 1) conduct field water quality measurements, 2) collect composite water samples for chemical analysis of nutrients and carbon, 3) investigate DO dynamics over different seasons for one year, and 4) determine the major factors that affect DO dynamics in this unique swamp ecosystem. The study is currently underway; therefore, in this presentation we will share the major findings gained in the past several months and discuss backwater effects on river chemistry.

The non-consumptive value of selected marine species at Table Mountain National Park: An exploratory study

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Melville Saayman

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This exploratory study aimed to determine firstly the non-consumptive value of five marine species (whales, the Great White shark, penguins, dolphins and seals and secondly the socio-demographic and behavioural variables that influence willingness to pay to see these species. This was achieved by means of a structured questionnaire survey conducted at Table Mountain National Park, the largest urban national park in South Africa. The data consisted of 319 fully-completed questionnaires. These were analysed using factor analyses and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS regression analysis. The results showed that the variables influencing willingness to pay differed from species to species, with the largest differences being found in behavioural rather than socio-demographic variables. In showing how much respondents were willing to pay to see the various species and which species they preferred, the results also highlighted the non-consumptive value of the species.

Ownership structure and economic and socio-environmental disclosure in the largest Brazilian companies

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Tatiana Aquino Almeida

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The disclosure of sustainable practices has become important in the search for competitive advantage, so as to meet the expectations of the various stakeholders. Thus, the study aims to investigate the relationship between the ownership structure and the economic and environmental voluntary disclosure in the largest Brazilian companies, analyzing ownership concentration and the identity of the controlling shareholder. For the analysis, we considered the economic, social and environmental perspectives, addressed both individually and jointly. The sample consists of 47 companies from the 100 largest public companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA, according to the magazine Exame Biggest and Best, edition 2013. The research is descriptive and quantitative, using Multiple Linear Regression for statistical analysis. The descriptive analysis of the prospects of (economic, social, environmental and sustainability disclosure showed lower average disclosure for the environmental aspect. The state control organizations stood out with the highest average in three of the four levels of disclosure: economic, social and sustainability. As regards the application of statistical analysis, the regression models were not statistically significant, indicating that, for the companies in the sample, the ownership structure does not influence the economic and socio-environmental disclosure.

OBJECT TRACKING WITH ROTATION-INVARIANT LARGEST DIFFERENCE INDEXED LOCAL TERNARY PATTERN

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J Shajeena

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an ideal method for object tracking directly in the compressed domain in video sequences. An enhanced rotation-invariant image operator called Largest Difference Indexed Local Ternary Pattern (LDILTP has been proposed. The Local Ternary Pattern which worked very well in texture classification and face recognition is now extended for rotation invariant object tracking. Histogramming the LTP code makes the descriptor resistant to translation. The histogram intersection is used to find the similarity measure. This method is robust to noise and retain contrast details. The proposed scheme has been verified on various datasets and shows a commendable performance.

The ShakeOut earthquake source and ground motion simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, R.W.; Houston, Douglas B.; Hudnut, K.W.

2011-01-01

The ShakeOut Scenario is premised upon the detailed description of a hypothetical Mw 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault and the associated simulated ground motions. The main features of the scenario, such as its endpoints, magnitude, and gross slip distribution, were defined through expert opinion and incorporated information from many previous studies. Slip at smaller length scales, rupture speed, and rise time were constrained using empirical relationships and experience gained from previous strong-motion modeling. Using this rupture description and a 3-D model of the crust, broadband ground motions were computed over a large region of Southern California. The largest simulated peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) generally range from 0.5 to 1.0 g and 100 to 250 cm/s, respectively, with the waveforms exhibiting strong directivity and basin effects. Use of a slip-predictable model results in a high static stress drop event and produces ground motions somewhat higher than median level predictions from NGA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs).

Accounting Standards and Market Value of Firms with Pension Plans

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Sara Paralta

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article investigates the impact of the adoption of International Accounting Standards on the market value of non-financial listed firms of the Euronext Lisbon Stock Exchange, in the PSI-20. The study of the impact of these standards is focused on the items of the Financial Statements, particularly on items subjected to the criteria of the fair value of assets and liabilities of pensions. Most of these companies have obligations to pay annuity benefits, particularly for retirement, which are managed by outsourced independent companies, such as pension funds and life insurance companies. By using a panel of the largest non-financial companies during the period 2004-2010, the results show that the setting of the fair value of those liabilities in the post-2005 period affects the market value of firms, not only on account of the adoption of the standards, but also due to the effect of the 2008 stock market crash.

Differential genome-wide gene expression profiling of bovine largest and second-largest follicles: identification of genes associated with growth of dominant follicles

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Takahashi Toru

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bovine follicular development is regulated by numerous molecular mechanisms and biological pathways. In this study, we tried to identify differentially expressed genes between largest (F1 and second-largest follicles (F2, and classify them by global gene expression profiling using a combination of microarray and quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR analysis. The follicular status of F1 and F2 were further evaluated in terms of healthy and atretic conditions by investigating mRNA localization of identified genes. Methods Global gene expression profiles of F1 (10.7 +/- 0.7 mm and F2 (7.8 +/- 0.2 mm were analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis and expression profiles of 16 representative genes were confirmed by QPCR analysis. In addition, localization of six identified transcripts was investigated in healthy and atretic follicles using in situ hybridization. The healthy or atretic condition of examined follicles was classified by progesterone and estradiol concentrations in follicular fluid. Results Hierarchical cluster analysis of microarray data classified the follicles into two clusters. Cluster A was composed of only F2 and was characterized by high expression of 31 genes including IGFBP5, whereas cluster B contained only F1 and predominantly expressed 45 genes including CYP19 and FSHR. QPCR analysis confirmed AMH, CYP19, FSHR, GPX3, PlGF, PLA2G1B, SCD and TRB2 were greater in F1 than F2, while CCL2, GADD45A, IGFBP5, PLAUR, SELP, SPP1, TIMP1 and TSP2 were greater in F2 than in F1. In situ hybridization showed that AMH and CYP19 were detected in granulosa cells (GC of healthy as well as atretic follicles. PlGF was localized in GC and in the theca layer (TL of healthy follicles. IGFBP5 was detected in both GC and TL of atretic follicles. GADD45A and TSP2 were localized in both GC and TL of atretic follicles, whereas healthy follicles expressed them only in GC. Conclusion We demonstrated that global gene expression profiling of F

Effect of noise and filtering on largest Lyapunov exponent of time series associated with human walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehdizadeh, Sina; Sanjari, Mohammad Ali

2017-11-07

This study aimed to determine the effect of added noise, filtering and time series length on the largest Lyapunov exponent (LyE) value calculated for time series obtained from a passive dynamic walker. The simplest passive dynamic walker model comprising of two massless legs connected by a frictionless hinge joint at the hip was adopted to generate walking time series. The generated time series was used to construct a state space with the embedding dimension of 3 and time delay of 100 samples. The LyE was calculated as the exponential rate of divergence of neighboring trajectories of the state space using Rosenstein's algorithm. To determine the effect of noise on LyE values, seven levels of Gaussian white noise (SNR=55-25dB with 5dB steps) were added to the time series. In addition, the filtering was performed using a range of cutoff frequencies from 3Hz to 19Hz with 2Hz steps. The LyE was calculated for both noise-free and noisy time series with different lengths of 6, 50, 100 and 150 strides. Results demonstrated a high percent error in the presence of noise for LyE. Therefore, these observations suggest that Rosenstein's algorithm might not perform well in the presence of added experimental noise. Furthermore, findings indicated that at least 50 walking strides are required to calculate LyE to account for the effect of noise. Finally, observations support that a conservative filtering of the time series with a high cutoff frequency might be more appropriate prior to calculating LyE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The 10 largest public and philanthropic funders of health research in the world: what they fund and how they distribute their funds.

Science.gov (United States)

Viergever, Roderik F; Hendriks, Thom C C

2016-02-18

Little is known about who the main public and philanthropic funders of health research are globally, what they fund and how they decide what gets funded. This study aims to identify the 10 largest public and philanthropic health research funding organizations in the world, to report on what they fund, and on how they distribute their funds. The world's key health research funding organizations were identified through a search strategy aimed at identifying different types of funding organizations. Organizations were ranked by their reported total annual health research expenditures. For the 10 largest funding organizations, data were collected on (1) funding amounts allocated towards 20 health areas, and (2) schemes employed for distributing funding (intramural/extramural, project/'people'/organizational and targeted/untargeted funding). Data collection consisted of a review of reports and websites and interviews with representatives of funding organizations. Data collection was challenging; data were often not reported or reported using different classification systems. Overall, 55 key health research funding organizations were identified. The 10 largest funding organizations together funded research for $37.1 billion, constituting 40% of all public and philanthropic health research spending globally. The largest funder was the United States National Institutes of Health ($26.1 billion), followed by the European Commission ($3.7 billion), and the United Kingdom Medical Research Council ($1.3 billion). The largest philanthropic funder was the Wellcome Trust ($909.1 million), the largest funder of health research through official development assistance was USAID ($186.4 million), and the largest multilateral funder was the World Health Organization ($135.0 million). Funding distribution mechanisms and funding patterns varied substantially between the 10 largest funders. There is a need for increased transparency about who the main funders of health research are

Phase space reconstruction and estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent for gait kinematic data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Josiński, Henryk [Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, 44-100 Gliwice (Poland); Świtoński, Adam [Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, Aleja Legionów 2, 41-902 Bytom (Poland); Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, 44-100 Gliwice (Poland); Michalczuk, Agnieszka; Wojciechowski, Konrad [Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, Aleja Legionów 2, 41-902 Bytom (Poland)

2015-03-10

The authors describe an example of application of nonlinear time series analysis directed at identifying the presence of deterministic chaos in human motion data by means of the largest Lyapunov exponent. The method was previously verified on the basis of a time series constructed from the numerical solutions of both the Lorenz and the Rössler nonlinear dynamical systems.

Carbon and energy fluxes from China's largest freshwater lake

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, G.; LIU, Y.

2017-12-01

Carbon and energy fluxes between lakes and the atmosphere are important aspects of hydrology, limnology, and ecology studies. China's largest freshwater lake, the Poyang lake experiences tremendous water-land transitions periodically throughout the year, which provides natural experimental settings for the study of carbon and energy fluxes. In this study, we use the eddy covariance technique to explore the seasonal and diurnal variation patterns of sensible and latent heat fluxes of Poyang lake during its high-water and low-water periods, when the lake is covered by water and mudflat, respectively. We also determine the annual NEE of Poyang lake and the variations of NEE's components: Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (Re). Controlling factors of seasonal and diurnal variations of carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed, and land cover impacts on the variation patterns are also studied. Finally, the coupling between the carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed under different atmospheric, boundary stability and land cover conditions.

Trend of CO2 emissions of the 30 largest power plants in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermann, Hauke

2014-01-01

The brochure on the trend of CO 2 emissions of the 30 largest power plants in Germany includes tables of the emissions of these power plants. The CO 2 emissions of these power plants in 2013 (25% of the total German greenhouse gas emissions) have increased by 5% compared to 2012. The total CO 2 emission sin Germany increased by 1.5%. The differences between brown coal and black coal fired power plants are discussed.

Assessment of tumor heterogeneity by CT texture analysis: Can the largest cross-sectional area be used as an alternative to whole tumor analysis?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ng, Francesca; Kozarski, Robert; Ganeshan, Balaji; Goh, Vicky

2013-01-01

Objective: To determine if there is a difference between contrast enhanced CT texture features from the largest cross-sectional area versus the whole tumor, and its effect on clinical outcome prediction. Methods: Entropy (E) and uniformity (U) were derived for different filter values (1.0–2.5: fine to coarse textures) for the largest primary tumor cross-sectional area and the whole tumor of the staging contrast enhanced CT in 55 patients with primary colorectal cancer. Parameters were compared using non-parametric Wilcoxon test. Kaplan–Meier analysis was performed to determine the relationship between CT texture and 5-year overall survival. Results: E was higher and U lower for the whole tumor indicating greater heterogeneity at all filter levels (1.0–2.5): median (range) for E and U for whole tumor versus largest cross-sectional area of 7.89 (7.43–8.31) versus 7.62 (6.94–8.08) and 0.005 (0.004–0.01) versus 0.006 (0.005–0.01) for filter 1.0; 7.88 (7.22–8.48) versus 7.54 (6.86–8.1) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.007 (0.004–0.01) for filter 1.5; 7.88 (7.17–8.54) versus 7.48 (5.84–8.25) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.007 (0.004–0.02) for filter 2.0; and 7.83 (7.03–8.57) versus 7.42 (5.19–8.26) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.006 (0.004–0.03) for filter 2.5 respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated better separation of E and U for whole tumor analysis for 5-year overall survival. Conclusion: Whole tumor analysis appears more representative of tumor heterogeneity

Optimal stability polynomials for numerical integration of initial value problems

KAUST Repository

Ketcheson, David I.

2013-01-08

We consider the problem of finding optimally stable polynomial approximations to the exponential for application to one-step integration of initial value ordinary and partial differential equations. The objective is to find the largest stable step size and corresponding method for a given problem when the spectrum of the initial value problem is known. The problem is expressed in terms of a general least deviation feasibility problem. Its solution is obtained by a new fast, accurate, and robust algorithm based on convex optimization techniques. Global convergence of the algorithm is proven in the case that the order of approximation is one and in the case that the spectrum encloses a starlike region. Examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm even when these conditions are not satisfied.

Intergenerational Exchange of Knowledge, Skills, Values and Practices between Self-Organized Active Citizens in Maribor, Slovenia

Science.gov (United States)

Krašovec, Sabina Jelenc; Gregorcic, Marta

2017-01-01

Our paper deals with intergenerational informal learning developed by participatory democracy process in the Self-organized District Communities (SDC) in Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia. It is based on the assumption that SDC assemblies, being safe and trustworthy, are very powerful spaces for behavioural and values exchange between…

Estudo da geração de viagens em instituições de ensino médio

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ângela Beatriz Souza Bertazzo

2011-04-01

Full Text Available

Resumo: As Instituições de Ensino Médio (IEMs são Polos Geradores de Viagens (PGVs e, por isso, a implantação desses empreendimentos requer estudos sobre o seu impacto nos sistemas de transporte e tráfego na área de sua localização. Embora relevante, este tema não tem sido suficientemente explorado na literatura técnica nacional, e as taxas de geração de viagens disponíveis em referências internacionais relacionam-se a IEMs com características, em geral, diferentes das observadas nas instituições brasileiras. Este trabalho tem, portanto, o objetivo de estudar a geração de viagens de IEMs brasileiras, públicas e privadas, visando definir taxas e modelos por modo de transporte para esse tipo de PGV. Os resultados obtidos para IEMs de Brasília apontam, entre outros aspectos, diferenças significativas entre a geração de viagens das IEMs públicas e privadas. A metodologia adotada, baseada na aplicação de questionários a gestores e usuários deste tipo de PGV, pode ser aplicada em outras cidades.

Abstract: High schools are trip generators (PGVs and, therefore, new high school enterprises require studies on their impact on related traffic and transportation systems. Although important, this issue has not been sufficiently explored in the Brazilian technical literature. In addition, international studies on high schools’ travel patterns and trip generation rates consider institutions with characteristics, in general, different from Brazilian schools. In light of this, this work aims to study the trip generation of public and private Brazilian high schools, towards defining trip generation rates and models for this type of PGV, by transportation mode. The results presented by institutions located in Brasilia show, among other aspects, significant differences between the travel patterns, rates and models developed for public and private high schools. The methodology used in this

Cultural monuments from exceptional importance in Serbia as anthropogenic tourist values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ćirković Sanja

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Cultural monuments mark historical past. They are included in anthropogenic tourist values. They present rare copies of creativity and they have exceptional artistic and esthetic values. The most numerous group are sacral objects. The largest attention deserve objects assigned in World cultural inheritance - monastery Studenica and monastery Sopoćani with old town Ras. It is necessary to build caterer capacities, parking lots and sanitary devices in encirclement. Manifestations and presentations on domestic and foreign market contribute to cultural affirmation. Tourist valorization is impeded with that there are no evidence about number of visitors. In separating priorities we must consider uniqueness, rarity and fame. That’s the reason why Čele kula has tourist importance. Cultural monuments increase stay and serve as complementary tourist values. That’s why is necessary synthesis access in their learn and tourist presentation.

Quicksort, largest bucket, and min-wise hashing with limited independence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Mathias Bæk Tejs; Stöckel, Morten

2015-01-01

Randomized algorithms and data structures are often analyzed under the assumption of access to a perfect source of randomness. The most fundamental metric used to measure how “random” a hash function or a random number generator is, is its independence: a sequence of random variables is said...... to be k-independent if every variable is uniform and every size k subset is independent. In this paper we consider three classic algorithms under limited independence. Besides the theoretical interest in removing the unrealistic assumption of full independence, the work is motivated by lower independence...... being more practical. We provide new bounds for randomized quicksort, min-wise hashing and largest bucket size under limited independence. Our results can be summarized as follows. Randomized Quicksort. When pivot elements are computed using a 5-independent hash function, Karloff and Raghavan, J.ACM’93...

Coolant rate distribution in horizontal steam generator under natural circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blagovechtchenski, A.; Leontieva, V.; Mitrioukhin, A.

1997-01-01

In the presentation the major factors determining the conditions of NCC (Natural Coolant Circulation) in the primary circuit and in particular conditions of coolant rate distribution on the horizontal tubes of PGV-1000 in NPP with VVER-1000 under NCC are considered

Comparison of the values of measured hydratation of sporting youths with normative values

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Petr Kutáč

2013-06-01

Full Text Available BACKROUND: When measuring body composition, we monitor the fractionalization of body weight and the share of the individual elements in its aggregate value. The total body water (TBW is a very important element in addition to the share of body fat (BF, muscle mass and bone minerals. Water is the largest element of the body weight and its sufficient amount (organism hydration is a condition for maintaining the physiological functions of the person and thus has an immediate effect on the health of the individual. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to check the standard values of the percentage share of the representation of the total body water in the total body weight in different age groups of sporting youths using the tetrapolar bio-impedance Tanita 418 MA scale. METHODS: The research group included a total of 532 individuals (332 men and 200 women at the age from 12 to 17 years. They were individuals with regular physical activity and without any health problems. The measurement was carried out using the tetrapolar bio-impedance TANITA 418 MA scale. The confidence interval at the reliability level of .99 was used to define the range of the standard values of the percentage share of the total body water representation. The normalization index Ni was used to compare the mean values of the total body water representation with the reference file. RESULTS: The mean values of the TBW representation in boys ranged from 61.75 to 64.34% and in girls from 55.51 to 58.69%, always in relation to the age. The value of the upper bound of (95% the confidence interval of the Tanita 418 MA device software did not exceed the lower bound of the standard (65% in any of the monitored files. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed significant gender differences in the total body water representation that, however, the standard of the used device does not respect. The standard values are set high which was also confirmed by the comparison of our results with other studies

Are exposure index values consistent in clinical practice? A multi-manufacturer investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butler, M. L.; Rainford, L.; Last, J.; Brennan, P. C.

2010-01-01

The advent of digital radiography poses the risk of unnoticed increases in patient dose. Manufacturers have responded to this by offering an exposure index (EI) value to the clinician. Whilst the EI value is a measure of the air kerma at the detector surface, it has been recommended by international agencies as a method of monitoring radiation dose to the patient. Recent studies by the group have shown that EI values are being used in clinical practice to monitor radiation dose and assess image quality. This study aims to compare the clinical consistency of the EI value in computed radiography (CR) and direct digital radiography (DR) systems. An anthropomorphic phantom was used to simulate four common radiographic examinations: skull, pelvis, chest and hand. These examinations were chosen as they provide contrasting exposure parameters, image detail and radiation dose measurements. Four manufacturers were used for comparison: Agfa Gaevert CR, Carestream CR, Philips Digital Diagnost DR and Siemens DR. For each examination, the phantom was placed in the optimal position and exposure parameters were chosen in accordance with European guidelines and clinical practice. Multiple exposures were taken and the EI recorded. All exposure parameters and clinical conditions remained constant throughout. For both DR systems, the EI values remained consistent throughout. No significant change was noted in any examination. In both CR systems, there were noteworthy fluctuations in the EI values for all examinations. The largest for the Agfa system was a variation of 1.88-2.21 for the skull examination. This represents to the clinician a doubling of detector dose, despite all exposure parameters remaining constant. In the Kodak system, the largest fluctuation was seen for the chest examination where the EI ranged from 2560 to 2660, representing approximately an increase of 30% in radiation dose, despite consistent parameters. The fluctuations seen with the CR systems are most likely

Customization of laparoscopic gastric devascularization and splenectomy for gastric varices based on CT vascular anatomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawanaka, Hirofumi; Akahoshi, Tomohiko; Nagao, Yoshihiro; Kinjo, Nao; Yoshida, Daisuke; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro; Harimoto, Norifumi; Itoh, Shinji; Yoshizumi, Tomoharu; Maehara, Yoshihiko

2018-01-01

Laparoscopic gastric devascularization(Lap GDS) and splenectomy (SPL) for gastric varices is technically challenging because of highly developed collateral vessels and bleeding tendency. We investigated the feasibility of customization of Lap GDS and SPL based on CT vascular anatomy. We analyzed 61 cirrhotic patients with gastric varices who underwent Lap GDS and SPL between 2006 and 2014. Lap GDS was customized according to the afferent feeding veins (left gastric vein (LGV) and/or posterior gastric vein (PGV)/short gastric vein (SGV)) and efferent drainage veins (gastrorenal shunt and/or gastrophrenic shunt, or numerous retroperitoneal veins) based on CT imaging. Thirty-four patients with efferent drainage veins suitable for balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO) underwent B-RTO instead of surgical GDS, with subsequent Lap SPL. Among 27 patients with gastric varices unsuitable for B-RTO, 15 patients with PGV/SGV underwent Lap GDS of the greater curvature and SPL, and 12 patients with LGV or LGV/PGV/SGV underwent Lap GDS of the greater and lesser curvature and SPL. The mean operation time was 294 min and mean blood loss was 198 g. There was no mortality or severe morbidity. Gastric varices were eradicated in all 61 patients, with no bleeding or recurrence during a mean follow-up of 55.9 months. The cumulative 3-, 5-, and 7-year survival rates were 92, 82, and 64%, respectively. Lap GDS and SPL customized based on CT vascular anatomy is a safe and effective procedure for treating gastric varices.

Coolant rate distribution in horizontal steam generator under natural circulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blagovechtchenski, A.; Leontieva, V.; Mitrioukhin, A. [St. Petersburg State Technical Univ. (Russian Federation)

1997-12-31

In the presentation the major factors determining the conditions of NCC (Natural Coolant Circulation) in the primary circuit and in particular conditions of coolant rate distribution on the horizontal tubes of PGV-1000 in NPP with VVER-1000 under NCC are considered. 5 refs.

Coolant rate distribution in horizontal steam generator under natural circulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blagovechtchenski, A; Leontieva, V; Mitrioukhin, A [St. Petersburg State Technical Univ. (Russian Federation)

1998-12-31

In the presentation the major factors determining the conditions of NCC (Natural Coolant Circulation) in the primary circuit and in particular conditions of coolant rate distribution on the horizontal tubes of PGV-1000 in NPP with VVER-1000 under NCC are considered. 5 refs.

Consumer evaluation of palatability characteristics of a beef value-added cut compared to common retail cuts.

Science.gov (United States)

Lepper-Blilie, A N; Berg, E P; Germolus, A J; Buchanan, D S; Berg, P T

2014-01-01

The objectives of this study were to educate consumers about value-added beef cuts and evaluate their palatability responses of a value cut and three traditional cuts. Three hundred and twenty-two individuals participated in the beef value cut education seminar series presented by trained beef industry educators. Seminar participants evaluated tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall like of four samples, bottom round, top sirloin, ribeye, and a value cut (Delmonico or Denver), on a 9-point scale. The ribeye and the value cut were found to be similar in all four attributes and differed from the top sirloin and bottom round. Correlations and regression analysis found that flavor was the largest influencing factor for overall like for the ribeye, value cut, and top sirloin. The value cut is comparable to the ribeye and can be a less expensive replacement. © 2013.

Residual value analyses of the medicinal flora of the western himalayas: the Naran valley, Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, S.M.; Harper, D.; Page, S.; Ahmad, H.

2011-01-01

Statistical analyses of the medicinal flora of the Naran Valley in the Western Himalayas were performed using Moerman's methods and Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The results demonstrate that the valley's indigenous people utilize medicinal plants in a systematic way. Sixty-eight families of plants were identified during the study, of which 52 contained one or more species of medicinal value. The standard deviation for residual values of all the 68 families was 0.993 and the results of the residual analysis revealed that seven of these plant families were overused by the local people, indicated by residual values greater than the standard deviation. Residual values obtained from a regression analysis of plant species with their medicinal uses showed that the families with the highest rank were Polygonaceae, Gentianaceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae and Plantaginaceae, indicating their medicinal importance. By comparison, Poaceae, Boraginaceae, Primulaceae, Salicaceae, and Ranunculaceae were the lowest ranking families, containing few species of medicinal value. Although a few of the most species-rich families in the valley contained a high number of medicinal plants and hence displayed high residual values, some other species-rich families contained few or no species of medicinal value. For example, the third largest family, Poaceae, is the lowest in terms of its residual value, while the largest family, Asteraceae, contains only seven species noted as having medicinal uses. Sixteen plant families in the valley contained no species with reported medicinal use, while seven families contained only one species with medicinal value. In contrast, all of the species in several of the least species-rich families were recorded as having a medicinal use. The results of a Principal Components Analysis showed a gradient of medicinal plant use along the valley. Using robust statistical approaches, our study provides a clear indication that the indigenous people of this Western

Haven't We Been Here Before? Some Comments on Steve Coffman's Proposal for "Earth's Largest Library".

Science.gov (United States)

McGervey, Teresa

2000-01-01

Discusses the concept of Earth's Largest Library (ELL), a mega-virtual library based on the Amazon.com model. Topics include who will be included; privacy; censorship; scope of the collection; costs; legal aspects; collection development; personnel management; access; the concept of community; public service; lending policies; technical…

SOCIAL VALUE AS A MARKETING STRATEGY IN A BRAZILIAN CREDIT UNION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edson Roberto Scharf

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose is to examine the strategic Marketing direction of Brazil’s largest credit union adopted in order to enhance the social value of its brand. For this, a qualitative exploratory research, carried out by a triangulation of data from three in-depth interviews within a central credit union and an official published document was made. It is a single case study, with an expository rating, according to Yin (2003. The results indicated that engaging and relationship building actions can be efficient tools for the dissemination of cooperative principles and can be achieved at a lower cost than traditional banking marketing tools. This is the first study exploring the social value theme as a marketing strategy within credit unions in Brazil.

Is Kasei Valles (Mars) the largest volcanic channel in the solar system?

Science.gov (United States)

Leverington, David W.

2018-02-01

With a length of more than 2000 km and widths of up to several hundred kilometers, Kasei Valles is the largest outflow system on Mars. Superficially, the scabland-like character of Kasei Valles is evocative of terrestrial systems carved by catastrophic aqueous floods, and the system is widely interpreted as a product of outbursts from aquifers. However, as at other Martian outflow channels, clear examples of fluvial sedimentary deposits have proven difficult to identify here. Though Kasei Valles lacks several key properties expected of aqueous systems, its basic morphological and contextual properties are aligned with those of ancient volcanic channels on Venus, the Moon, Mercury, and Earth. There is abundant evidence that voluminous effusions of low-viscosity magmas occurred at the head of Kasei Valles, the channel system acted as a conduit for associated flows, and mare-style volcanic plains developed within its terminal basin. Combined mechanical and thermal incision rates of at least several meters per day are estimated to have been readily achieved at Kasei Valles by 20-m-deep magmas flowing with viscosities of 1 Pa s across low topographic slopes underlain by bedrock. If Kasei Valles formed through incision by magma, it would be the largest known volcanic channel in the solar system. The total volume of magma erupted at Kasei Valles is estimated here to have possibly reached or exceeded ∼5 × 106 km3, a volume comparable in magnitude to those that characterize individual Large Igneous Provinces on Earth. Development of other large outflow systems on Mars is expected to have similarly involved eruption of up to millions of cubic kilometers of magma.

Generalizing the DGLAP evolution of fragmentation functions to the smallest x values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albino, S.; Kniehl, B.A.; Kramer, G.; Ochs, W.

2005-03-01

An approach which unifies the double logarithmic approximation at small x and the leading order DGLAP evolution of fragmentation functions at large x is presented. This approach reproduces exactly the modified leading logarithm approximation, but is more complete due to the degrees of freedom given to the quark sector and the inclusion of the fixed order terms. We find that data from the largest x values to the peak region can be better fitted than with other approaches. (orig.)

Natural radionuclides in soil profiles surrounding the largest coal-fired power plant in Serbia

OpenAIRE

Tanić Milan N.; Janković-Mandić Ljiljana J.; Gajić Boško A.; Daković Marko Z.; Dragović Snežana D.; Bačić Goran G.

2016-01-01

This study evaluates the influence of the largest Serbian coal-fired power plant on radionuclide concentrations in soil profiles up to 50 cm in depth. Thirty soil profiles were sampled from the plant surroundings (up to 10 km distance) and analyzed using standard methods for soil physicochemical properties and gamma ray spectrometry for specific activities of natural radionuclides (40K, 226Ra and 232Th). Spatial and vertical distribution of radionuclides wa...

Regional allocation of carbon emission quotas in China: Evidence from the Shapley value method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yue-Jun; Wang, Ao-Dong; Da, Ya-Bin

2014-01-01

It is an important task for China to allocate carbon emission quotas among regions so as to realize its carbon reduction targets and establish the national cap-and-trade carbon market. Meanwhile, it is supposed to be cost-effective to jointly reduce China's carbon emissions through some collaborative activities among regions. Then a natural question is how to allocate the quotas among regions in light of the collaboration. For this purpose, the Shapley value method is adopted and the results show that, first, the regions with higher GDP, higher carbon outflow and higher carbon reduction connection should be allocated more carbon quotas. Moreover, when the collaboration is considered, the optimal allocation of carbon quotas among regions will change significantly compared to the basic quotas by the entropy method; and the Central region is allocated the largest proportion of carbon quota among regions, which indicates its largest radiation effect. Besides, the collaboration between the Central region and Northern coast region, and that between the Central region and the Eastern region should be paid close attention. These results may provide insightful support for decision makers to promote collaborative carbon reduction and allocate carbon quotas in China. - Highlights: • The paper allocates carbon quotas given the collaboration among regions in China. • The Shapley value method coupled with the entropy and gravity models is adopted. • The regions with higher GDP, carbon outflow and reduction connection allocate more. • The Central region has the largest radiation effect on others among all regions. • The collaboration of the Central and Northern coast regions should have priority

Atmospheric thorium pollution and inhalation exposure in the largest rare earth mining and smelting area in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lingqing; Zhong, Buqing; Liang, Tao; Xing, Baoshan; Zhu, Yifang

2016-12-01

Exposure to radionuclide thorium (Th) has generated widespread public concerns, mainly because of its radiological effects on human health. Activity levels of airborne 232 Th in total suspended particulate (TSP) were measured in the vicinity of the largest rare earth mine in China in August 2012 and March 2013. The mean activity concentrations of 232 Th in TSP ranged from 820μBqm -3 in a mining area in August 2012 to 39,720μBqm -3 in a smelting area in March 2013, much higher than the world reference of 0.5μBqm -3 . Multistatistical analysis and Kohonen's self-organizing maps suggested that 232 Th in TSP was mainly derived from rare earth mining and smelting practices. In addition, personal inhalation exposures to 232 Th associated with respirable particulate (PM 10 ) were also measured among local dwellers via personal monitoring. The mean dose values for different age groups in the smelting and mining areas ranged from 97.86 to 417μSvyear - 1 and from 101.03 to 430.83μSvyear -1 , respectively. These results indicate that people living in the study areas are exposed to high levels of widespread 232 Th. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Filipino Personality Traits and Values for Social Support : FOW as human resources for work life balance in Japan (1)

OpenAIRE

SAITO, Isamu; IMAMURA, Taiko; MIYAGI, Mariko

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to help contribute to solving nursing care problems in Japan by studying the characteristics, personality traits and values of the Filipino people. Filipinos work as nurses and caregivers overseas,serving to be the largest supplier of human resources relating to socialsupport. Literary documents and books were analyzed to gather concrete examples of Filipino personality traits and values. Interview surveys were also conducted. The ten most depicted traits were the...

Opportunities for biodiversity gains under the world's largest reforestation programme

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Fangyuan; Wang, Xiaoyang; Zheng, Xinlei; Fisher, Brendan; Wang, Lin; Zhu, Jianguo; Tang, Ya; Yu, Douglas W.; Wilcove, David S.

2016-01-01

Reforestation is a critical means of addressing the environmental and social problems of deforestation. China's Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) is the world's largest reforestation scheme. Here we provide the first nationwide assessment of the tree composition of GFGP forests and the first combined ecological and economic study aimed at understanding GFGP's biodiversity implications. Across China, GFGP forests are overwhelmingly monocultures or compositionally simple mixed forests. Focusing on birds and bees in Sichuan Province, we find that GFGP reforestation results in modest gains (via mixed forest) and losses (via monocultures) of bird diversity, along with major losses of bee diversity. Moreover, all current modes of GFGP reforestation fall short of restoring biodiversity to levels approximating native forests. However, even within existing modes of reforestation, GFGP can achieve greater biodiversity gains by promoting mixed forests over monocultures; doing so is unlikely to entail major opportunity costs or pose unforeseen economic risks to households. PMID:27598524

El Paso natural gas nearing completion of system's largest expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

El Paso Natural Gas Co.'s largest expansion program in its 64-year history will be completed along its northern system this spring or early summer. According to the company, the three-tiered, $241.5 million expansion program will increase El Paso's gas-transport capacity by 835 MMcfd to 2.5 bcfd of conventional and coal-seam gas from the San Juan basin in northwestern New Mexico. That's enough natural gas, says the company, to supply the needs of a city of more than 800,000 residents. This paper reports that the expansion involves the San Juan Triangle system, the company's northern main line, and the Permian-San Juan crossover line. The company also filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in October 1991 to construct a new $15.2 million compressor station, Rio Vista, south of Bloomfield, N.M. The station would be used to move additional gas to the main line

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Effects of nonlinear soil structure interaction (SSI) were also considered by using interface elements. This parametric study evaluates the effects of soil type, structure weight, liquefiable soil layer thickness, event parameters (e.g., moment magnitude of earthquake (), peak ground acceleration PGA, PGV/PGA ratio and the ...

Life cycle management at nuclear power plants; La gestion de la vida util de las centrales nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diez, R.I.

2010-07-01

The Life Management Plan (PGV) consists in a series of actions aimed at improving the reliability and availability of a plant by guaranteeing its operation in safe conditions during its design life while keeping open the option of renewing the operating license in the long term. (Author).

Phytoplankton Virus Production Negatively Affected by Iron Limitation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slagter, H.A.; Gerringa, L.J.A.; Brussaard, C.P.D.

2016-01-01

Fe-limited monocultures of the ubiquitous algae Micromonas pusilla and Phaeocystis globosa were infected with their respective viruses (MpV and PgV) to ascertain the effect of Fe-limitation on phytoplankton host-virus dynamics. The effect of the viral shunt on Fe concentrations and bioavailability

Contamination Control Assessment of the World's Largest Space Environment Simulation Chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Aaron; Henry, Michael W.; Grisnik, Stanley P.; Sinclair, Stephen M.

2012-01-01

The Space Power Facility s thermal vacuum test chamber is the largest chamber in the world capable of providing an environment for space simulation. To improve performance and meet stringent requirements of a wide customer base, significant modifications were made to the vacuum chamber. These include major changes to the vacuum system and numerous enhancements to the chamber s unique polar crane, with a goal of providing high cleanliness levels. The significance of these changes and modifications are discussed in this paper. In addition, the composition and arrangement of the pumping system and its impact on molecular back-streaming are discussed in detail. Molecular contamination measurements obtained with a TQCM and witness wafers during two recent integrated system tests of the chamber are presented and discussed. Finally, a concluding remarks section is presented.

Value Chain Structures that Define European Cellulosic Ethanol Production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregg, Jay Sterling; Bolwig, Simon; Hansen, Teis

2017-01-01

production plants across Europe from a global value chain (GVC) perspective. We find that most CE production plants in the EU focus largely on intellectual property and are therefore only at the pilot or demonstration scale. Crescentino, the largest CE production facility in Europe, is also more interested...... petroleum markets and higher financial risks. We argue that, to increase CE production, policies should consider value chains, promote the wider bio-economy of products and focus on economies of scope. Whereas the EU and its member states have ethanol quotas and blending targets, a more effective policy......Production of cellulosic ethanol (CE) has not yet reached the scale envisaged by the literature and industry. This study explores CE production in Europe to improve understanding of the motivations and barriers associated with this situation. To do this, we conduct a case study-based analysis of CE...

Horizontal steam generator thermal-hydraulics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ubra, O. [SKODA Praha Company, Prague (Czechoslovakia); Doubek, M. [Czech Technical Univ., Prague (Czechoslovakia)

1995-09-01

Horizontal steam generators are typical components of nuclear power plants with pressure water reactor type VVER. Thermal-hydraulic behavior of horizontal steam generators is very different from the vertical U-tube steam generator, which has been extensively studied for several years. To contribute to the understanding of the horizontal steam generator thermal-hydraulics a computer program for 3-D steady state analysis of the PGV-1000 steam generator has been developed. By means of this computer program, a detailed thermal-hydraulic and thermodynamic study of the horizontal steam generator PGV-1000 has been carried out and a set of important steam generator characteristics has been obtained. The 3-D distribution of the void fraction and 3-D level profile as functions of load and secondary side pressure have been investigated and secondary side volumes and masses as functions of load and pressure have been evaluated. Some of the interesting results of calculations are presented in the paper.

Ground-motion prediction from tremor

Science.gov (United States)

Baltay, Annemarie S.; Beroza, Gregory C.

2013-01-01

The widespread occurrence of tremor, coupled with its frequency content and location, provides an exceptional opportunity to test and improve strong ground-motion attenuation relations for subduction zones. We characterize the amplitude of thousands of individual 5 min tremor events in Cascadia during three episodic tremor and slip events to constrain the distance decay of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV). We determine the anelastic attenuation parameter for ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) to a distance of 150 km, which is sufficient to place important constraints on ground-motion decay. Tremor PGA and PGV show a distance decay that is similar to subduction-zone-specific GMPEs developed from both data and simulations; however, the massive amount of data present in the tremor observations should allow us to refine distance-amplitude attenuation relationships for use in hazard maps, and to search for regional variations and intrasubduction zone differences in ground-motion attenuation.

Application for Underground Injection Control Permit for the PUNA Geothermal Venture Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1989-06-01

Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) plans to construct and operate the 25 MW Puna Geothermal Venture Project in the Puna District of the Island of Hawaii. The project will drill geothermal wells within a dedicated 500-acre project area, use the produced geothermal fluid to generate electricity for sale to the Hawaii Electric Light Company for use on the Island of Hawaii, and inject all the produced geothermal fluids back into the geothermal reservoir. Since the project will use injection wells, it will require an Underground Injection Control (UIC) permit from the Drinking Water Section of the State of Hawaii Department of Health. The PGV Project is consistent with the State and County of Hawaii's stated objectives of providing energy self-sufficiency and diversifying Hawaii's economic base. The project will develop a new alternate energy source as well as provide additional information about the nature of the geothermal resource.

German Migrant Teachers in Australia: Insights into the Largest Cohort of Non-English Speaking Background Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Bense, Katharina

2015-01-01

The research reported in this paper investigates the situation of German migrant teachers in Australia. Although German born teachers represent the largest group of non-English speaking background teachers in Australia, there is no study of the circumstances and experiences of these teachers in Australia. This study aims to fill this gap. It…

Character in Learning for Life: A Virtue-Ethical Rationale for Recent Research on Moral and Values Education

Science.gov (United States)

Arthur, James; Carr, David

2013-01-01

This article has three broad aims. The first is to draw attention what is probably the largest empirical study of moral, values and character education in the United Kingdom to the present date. The second is to outline--sufficient for present purposes--a plausible conceptual or theoretical case for placing a particular virtue-ethical concept of…

The growth of different body length dimensions is not predictive for the peak growth velocity of sitting height in the individual child.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Busscher, I.; Gerver, W.J.M.; Kingma, I.; Wapstra, F.H.; Verkerke, G.J.; Veldhuizen, A.G.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine whether the differences in timing of the peak growth velocity (PGV) between sitting height, total body height, subischial leg length, and foot length can be used to predict whether the individual patient with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is before or past

The growth of different body length dimensions is not predictive for the peak growth velocity of sitting height in the individual child

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Busscher, Iris; Gerver, W. J. M.; Kingma, Idsart; Wapstra, Frits Hein; Verkerke, Gijsvertus J.; Veldhuizen, Albert G.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the differences in timing of the peak growth velocity (PGV) between sitting height, total body height, subischial leg length, and foot length can be used to predict whether the individual patient with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is before or past

Stability monitoring for BWR based on singular value decomposition method using artificial neural network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Masashi; Shimazu, Yoichiro; Michishita, Hiroshi

2005-01-01

A new method for evaluating the decay ratios in a boiling water reactor (BWR) using the singular value decomposition (SVD) method had been proposed. In this method, a signal component closely related to the BWR stability can be extracted from independent components of the neutron noise signal decomposed by the SVD method. However, real-time stability monitoring by the SVD method requires an efficient procedure for screening such components. For efficient screening, an artificial neural network (ANN) with three layers was adopted. The trained ANN was actually applied to decomposed components of local power range monitor (LPRM) signals that were measured in stability experiments conducted in the Ringhals-1 BWR. In each LPRM signal, multiple candidates were screened from the decomposed components. However, decay ratios could be estimated by introducing appropriate criterions for selecting the most suitable component among the candidates. The estimated decay ratios are almost identical to those evaluated by visual screening in a previous study. The selected components commonly have the largest singular value, the largest decay ratio and the least squared fitting error among the candidates. By virtue of excellent screening performance of the trained ANN, the real-time stability monitoring by the SVD method can be applied in practice. (author)

Revisiting the impacts of oil price increases on monetary policy implementation in the largest oil importers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurtac Yildirim

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to test the impacts of oil price increases on monetary policy implementation in the largest oil importers. For that purpose, we estimate structural vector error correction (SVEC models to show the impacts of oil price increases on industrial production, consumer prices and immediate interest rates which are the elements of Taylor rule for the four largest oil importers (the USA, the EU, China and Japan. Our results indicate that oil price increases transmit to output and inflation and lead to fluctuations in industrial production, consumer prices and immediate interest rates which in turn influence the monetary policy stance in the following periods. The basic conclusion of research is that the channels through which oil prices affect output, inflation and interest rates should be identified by the monetary policy authorities of the USA, the EU, China and Japan. We also emphasize the importance of the determination of the optimal monetary policy framework to eliminate the negative consequences of oil price increases.

The largest deep-ocean silicic volcanic eruption of the past century.

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, Rebecca; Soule, S Adam; Manga, Michael; White, James; McPhie, Jocelyn; Wysoczanski, Richard; Jutzeler, Martin; Tani, Kenichiro; Yoerger, Dana; Fornari, Daniel; Caratori-Tontini, Fabio; Houghton, Bruce; Mitchell, Samuel; Ikegami, Fumihiko; Conway, Chris; Murch, Arran; Fauria, Kristen; Jones, Meghan; Cahalan, Ryan; McKenzie, Warren

2018-01-01

The 2012 submarine eruption of Havre volcano in the Kermadec arc, New Zealand, is the largest deep-ocean eruption in history and one of very few recorded submarine eruptions involving rhyolite magma. It was recognized from a gigantic 400-km 2 pumice raft seen in satellite imagery, but the complexity of this event was concealed beneath the sea surface. Mapping, observations, and sampling by submersibles have provided an exceptionally high fidelity record of the seafloor products, which included lava sourced from 14 vents at water depths of 900 to 1220 m, and fragmental deposits including giant pumice clasts up to 9 m in diameter. Most (>75%) of the total erupted volume was partitioned into the pumice raft and transported far from the volcano. The geological record on submarine volcanic edifices in volcanic arcs does not faithfully archive eruption size or magma production.

Q-value effects in the synthesis of superheavy elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graeger, Reimar

2010-01-01

. Since all reactions result in the same CN ( 274 Hs), the exit channel is nearly identical for them at the same excitation energy and could not explain possible differences in cross sections. Hence, the entrance channel and in particular the fusion probability, depending on the (B-Q)-value and the reaction asymmetry have a major impact on the production cross section. For intermediate energies (E*∼40 MeV) the fusion probability is mainly influenced by the (B-Q)-value and therefore the reaction 48 Ca + 226 Ra, whose fusion probability is already saturated for such energies in contrast to both other reactions provides largest measured 4n cross sections. At high excitation (E * ∼50 MeV) the fusion probability of all three reactions is saturated and hence the most asymmetric reaction 26 Mg+ 248 Cm with the largest saturation level provides largest production cross section. The slightly better (B-Q)-value of the reaction 36 S+ 238 U compared with 26 Mg+ 248 Cm is not affecting the cross section at all, in contrast to theoretical calculations.

BRAND VALUE OF INNOVATIVE COMPANIES – A THEORETICAL STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Antonio Paganotti

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to present a trajectory of performance of high-tech companies, considered innovative. The paper presents the reasons for success, stagnation, decline and fall of a group of companies chosen due to growth or decline. This is a descriptive and bibliographical research. To this purpose, we selected fifteen of the largest companies in Information Technology and Telecommunications, according to ranking prepared by Interbrand and BrandZ agencies. It is observed that companies have implemented strategies geared to innovation, resulting in high investment in R & D, spent in the past two decades. The surveys allowed us to associate trajectory and changes in brand value to business strategies and to market choices in the last twenty years, such as the acquisition of Compaq by HP and EDS, the recovery trend of Apple, competition between Apple and Nokia in market value, and the stability of the IBM.

Benchmark Testing of the Largest Titanium Aluminide Sheet Subelement Conducted

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolotta, Paul A.; Krause, David L.

2000-01-01

To evaluate wrought titanium aluminide (gamma TiAl) as a viable candidate material for the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) exhaust nozzle, an international team led by the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field successfully fabricated and tested the largest gamma TiAl sheet structure ever manufactured. The gamma TiAl sheet structure, a 56-percent subscale divergent flap subelement, was fabricated for benchmark testing in three-point bending. Overall, the subelement was 84-cm (33-in.) long by 13-cm (5-in.) wide by 8-cm (3-in.) deep. Incorporated into the subelement were features that might be used in the fabrication of a full-scale divergent flap. These features include the use of: (1) gamma TiAl shear clips to join together sections of corrugations, (2) multiple gamma TiAl face sheets, (3) double hot-formed gamma TiAl corrugations, and (4) brazed joints. The structural integrity of the gamma TiAl sheet subelement was evaluated by conducting a room-temperature three-point static bend test.

LHC : The World's Largest Vacuum Systems being commissioned at CERN

CERN Document Server

Jiménez, J M

2008-01-01

When it switches on in 2008, the 26.7 km Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, will have the world's largest vacuum system operating over a wide range of pressures and employing an impressive array of vacuum technologies. This system is composed by 54 km of UHV vacuum for the circulating beams and 50 km of insulation vacuum around the cryogenic magnets and the liquid helium transfer lines. Over the 54 km of UHV beam vacuum, 48 km of this are at cryogenic temperature (1.9 K). The remaining 6 km of beam vacuum containing the insertions for "cleaning" the proton beams, radiofrequency cavities for accelerating the protons as well as beam-monitoring equipment is at ambient temperature and uses non-evaporable getter (NEG) coatings - a vacuum technology that was born and industrialized at CERN. The pumping scheme is completed using 780 ion pumps to remove noble gases and to provide pressure interlocks to the 303 vacuum safety valves. Pressure readings are provided by 170 Bayard-Alpert gauges and 1084 gauges (Pirani a...

The largest forest fires in Portugal: the constraints of burned area size on the comprehension of fire severity.

Science.gov (United States)

Tedim, Fantina; Remelgado, Ruben; Martins, João; Carvalho, Salete

2015-01-01

Portugal is a European country with highest forest fires density and burned area. Since beginning of official forest fires database in 1980, an increase in number of fires and burned area as well as appearance of large and catastrophic fires have characterized fire activity in Portugal. In 1980s, the largest fires were just a little bit over 10,000 ha. However, in the beginning of 21st century several fires occurred with a burned area over 20,000 ha. Some of these events can be classified as mega-fires due to their ecological and socioeconomic severity. The present study aimed to discuss the characterization of large forest fires trend, in order to understand if the largest fires that occurred in Portugal were exceptional events or evidences of a new trend, and the constraints of fire size to characterize fire effects because, usually, it is assumed that larger the fire higher the damages. Using Portuguese forest fire database and satellite imagery, the present study showed that the largest fires could be seen at the same time as exceptional events and as evidence of a new fire regime. It highlighted the importance of size and patterns of unburned patches within fire perimeter as well as heterogeneity of fire ecological severity, usually not included in fire regime description, which are critical to fire management and research. The findings of this research can be used in forest risk reduction and suppression planning.

Effectiveness of computed tomography attenuation values in characterization of pericardial effusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Çetin, Mehmet Serkan; Özcan Çetin, Elif Hande; Özdemir, Mustafa; Topaloğlu, Serkan; Aras, Dursun; Temizhan, Ahmet; Aydoğdu, Sinan

2017-04-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of computed tomography (CT) attenuation values in the characterization of pericardial effusion. This study consisted of 96 patients with pericardial effusion who underwent pericardiocentesis. For further diagnostic evaluation of pericardial effusion, all the patients were assessed by thorax CT. CT attenuation values were measured from at least 5 different areas of pericardial fluid by specifying the largest region of interest. The average of these measurements was computed and considered as the CT attenuation value of the patient. The patients were classified into two groups: patients with transudative pericardial effusion and those with exudative pericardial effusion. CT attenuation values were significantly higher in patients with exudative pericardial effusion than in those with transudative pericardial effusion [14.85±10.7 Hounsfield unit (HU) vs. 1.13±4.3 HU, peffusion. In addition, a cut-off value of 6.5 HU had 71.4% sensitivity and 72.3% specificity for the prediction of cardiac tamponade. In patients with pericardial effusion, CT attenuation values seem to be correlated with the characterization parameters of the fluid and may distinguish exudative pericardial effusion from transudative pericardial effusion. This parameter was also found to be a predictor of cardiac tamponade. CT attenuation values can be a useful tool in the clinical evaluation of patients with pericardial effusion.

Exact extreme-value statistics at mixed-order transitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bar, Amir; Majumdar, Satya N; Schehr, Grégory; Mukamel, David

2016-05-01

We study extreme-value statistics for spatially extended models exhibiting mixed-order phase transitions (MOT). These are phase transitions that exhibit features common to both first-order (discontinuity of the order parameter) and second-order (diverging correlation length) transitions. We consider here the truncated inverse distance squared Ising model, which is a prototypical model exhibiting MOT, and study analytically the extreme-value statistics of the domain lengths The lengths of the domains are identically distributed random variables except for the global constraint that their sum equals the total system size L. In addition, the number of such domains is also a fluctuating variable, and not fixed. In the paramagnetic phase, we show that the distribution of the largest domain length l_{max} converges, in the large L limit, to a Gumbel distribution. However, at the critical point (for a certain range of parameters) and in the ferromagnetic phase, we show that the fluctuations of l_{max} are governed by novel distributions, which we compute exactly. Our main analytical results are verified by numerical simulations.

U.S. Geological Survey Science—Improving the value of the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Scott W.; Hyer, Kenneth; Goldbaum, Elizabeth

2017-05-05

IntroductionCongress directed the Federal Government to work with States to restore the Nation’s largest estuary.Chesapeake Bay restoration provides important economic and ecological benefits:18 million people live and work in the Bay watershed and enjoy its benefits.3,600 types of fish, wildlife, and plants underpin the economic value of the Bay ecosystem.Poor water quality and habitat loss threaten restoration and negatively impact the economy.10 Goals to meet by 2025 through the Chesapeake Bay Program, a voluntary partnership.

Evidence on the nature and extent of the relationship between oil prices and equity values in the UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Sharif, Idris; Brown, Dick; Burton, Bruce; Nixon, Bill; Russell, Alex

2005-01-01

A number of recent studies have found a link between movements in crude oil prices and equity values. However, the literature concentrates almost exclusively on North American and Australian data and is primarily conducted at a stock market-wide level. The present study therefore investigates the relationship between the price of crude oil and equity values in the oil and gas sector using data relating to the United Kingdom, the largest oil producer in the European Union. The evidence indicates that the relationship is always positive, often highly significant and reflects the direct impact of volatility in the price of crude oil on share values within the sector. (Author)

WISMUT AG: Past, present and future of the largest uranium producer in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madel, J.

1990-01-01

The author gives a brief summary of WISMUT AG the largest uranium producer operating in Europe. The jointly owned German-Soviet company operates its production facilities in the southern part of the former German Democratic Republic. Given the new political and economic frame in Germany and the Soviet Union WISMUT AG will receive due recognition. Uranium exploration, mining, and milling activities are summarized from 1946-1989, and a summary of present activities and projections of future activities in the area of decontamination, restoration, and recultivation of present and abandoned mining and milling sites are noted. A statement of WISMUT AG's projected role in the international nuclear fuels market is made

THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST AUTOMAKERS IN THE PERIOD 2013-2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorin-George TOMA

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The automotive industry has always represented an economic engine for many countries. It is dealing with the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of the motor vehicles. Nowadays, this industry is full of intense competition between big auto groups fighting for higher profits and larger market shares. The key players in the automotive market are operating at a global scale in a highly competitive environment. In the last years, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group have proved to be the main competitors. The aim of our paper is to analyze the evolution of the world’s largest automakers in the period 2013-2014. The research type is literature review.

Influence of long-range transboundary transport on atmospheric water vapor mercury collected at the largest city of Tibet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Jie [Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Laboratory of Green Chemistry, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Sammonkatu 12, Mikkeli FI 50130 (Finland); Kang, Shichang, E-mail: shichang.kang@lzb.ac.cn [State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000 (China); CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Tian, Lide [Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Guo, Junming [Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Zhang, Qianggong; Cong, Zhiyuan [Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Sillanpää, Mika [Laboratory of Green Chemistry, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Sammonkatu 12, Mikkeli FI 50130 (Finland); and others

2016-10-01

Monsoon circulation is an important process that affects long-range transboundary transport of anthropogenic contaminants such as mercury (Hg). During the Indian monsoon season of 2013, a total of 92 and 26 atmospheric water vapor samples were collected at Lhasa, the largest city of the Tibet, for Hg and major ions analysis, respectively. The relatively low pH/high electronic conductivity values, together with the fact that NH{sub 4}{sup +} in atmospheric water vapor was even higher than that determined in precipitation of Lhasa, indicated the effects of anthropogenic perturbations through long-range transboundary atmospheric transport. Concentrations of Hg in atmospheric water vapor ranged from 2.5 to 73.7 ng L{sup −1}, with an average of 12.5 ng L{sup −1}. The elevated Hg and major ions concentrations, and electronic conductivity values were generally associated with weak acidic samples, and Hg mainly loaded with anthropogenic ions such as NH{sub 4}{sup +}. The results of principal component analysis and trajectory analysis suggested that anthropogenic emissions from the Indian subcontinent may have largely contributed to the determined Hg in atmospheric water vapor. Furthermore, our study reconfirmed that below-cloud scavenging contribution was significant for precipitation Hg in Lhasa, and evaluated that on average 74.1% of the Hg in precipitation could be accounted for by below-cloud scavenging. - Highlights: • The low pH/high electronic conductivity was found in atmospheric water vapor. • Anthropogenic NH{sub 4}{sup +} was higher than that determined in precipitation of Lhasa. • Elevated Hg and major ions levels were usually associated with weak acidic samples. • Hg in atmospheric water vapor was largely influenced by transboundary transport. • Below-cloud scavenging accounted for most Hg in precipitation.

Influence of long-range transboundary transport on atmospheric water vapor mercury collected at the largest city of Tibet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Jie; Kang, Shichang; Tian, Lide; Guo, Junming; Zhang, Qianggong; Cong, Zhiyuan; Sillanpää, Mika

2016-01-01

Monsoon circulation is an important process that affects long-range transboundary transport of anthropogenic contaminants such as mercury (Hg). During the Indian monsoon season of 2013, a total of 92 and 26 atmospheric water vapor samples were collected at Lhasa, the largest city of the Tibet, for Hg and major ions analysis, respectively. The relatively low pH/high electronic conductivity values, together with the fact that NH_4"+ in atmospheric water vapor was even higher than that determined in precipitation of Lhasa, indicated the effects of anthropogenic perturbations through long-range transboundary atmospheric transport. Concentrations of Hg in atmospheric water vapor ranged from 2.5 to 73.7 ng L"−"1, with an average of 12.5 ng L"−"1. The elevated Hg and major ions concentrations, and electronic conductivity values were generally associated with weak acidic samples, and Hg mainly loaded with anthropogenic ions such as NH_4"+. The results of principal component analysis and trajectory analysis suggested that anthropogenic emissions from the Indian subcontinent may have largely contributed to the determined Hg in atmospheric water vapor. Furthermore, our study reconfirmed that below-cloud scavenging contribution was significant for precipitation Hg in Lhasa, and evaluated that on average 74.1% of the Hg in precipitation could be accounted for by below-cloud scavenging. - Highlights: • The low pH/high electronic conductivity was found in atmospheric water vapor. • Anthropogenic NH_4"+ was higher than that determined in precipitation of Lhasa. • Elevated Hg and major ions levels were usually associated with weak acidic samples. • Hg in atmospheric water vapor was largely influenced by transboundary transport. • Below-cloud scavenging accounted for most Hg in precipitation.

Intellectual Capital and Profitability: A Firm Value Approach in the European Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Manuela Martins

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Intangibles are, at a knowledge-based economy, the most important resources, driving companies towards systematic and sometimes unexpected returns. This paper follows a positivist approach and aims to investigate the association between the degree of intangibility, value of firms and their profitability. Based on the 500 largest European companies, rated by Financial Times, the most relevant insights emerge from the association between firms’ knowledge intensity level and its degree of profitability. These insights consolidate the evidences that immaterial resources act as drivers of future benefits and are embodied on firms’ profitability ratios.

Uptake and accumulation of potentially toxic elements in colonized plant species around the world's largest antimony mine area, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Jiumei; Tan, Di; Deng, Sihan; Lei, Ming

2018-04-11

To provide information on reclamation of multi-heavy metal polluted soils with conception of phytostabilization, a field survey on the uptake and accumulation of potentially toxic elements such as antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) in colonized plant species around the world's largest antimony mine area, China, was conducted. Samples including leaves and shoots (including roots and stems) of colonized plants as well as rhizospheric soils were collected from eight sampling zones in the studied area. The results showed that the contents of Cu, Zn, and Pb in rhizospheric soils below plants were comparable to the corresponding background values of Hunan province, otherwise Sb, Cd, and As contents were extremely high (17-106, 17-87, and 3-7 times of the corresponding background values). The highest concentration of Sb was found in Aster subulatus (410 mg kg -1 ); Cd, As, and Zn were in Herba bidentis bipinnatae (10.9, 264, and 265 mg kg -1 , respectively); and Cu was in Artemisia lavandulaefolia (27.1 mg kg -1 ). It also exhibited that all the contents of As in leaves were several times of those in shoots of plants, Cd and other heavy metals showed in a similar pattern in several studied species, implying that the uptake route of these heavy metals via foliar might contribute to the accumulation. With high bioconcentration factors of heavy metals (more than 1, except for Zn), together with the growth abundance, Herba bidentis bipinnatae was considered as the most suitable colonized species for phytostabilization of the multi-heavy metal pollution in soils on this antimony mine area.

The largest Fresco in Europe on cooling tower of nuclear power station of Cruas Meysse in Ardeche, France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Mayo, J.L.

1993-01-01

The Nuclear Power Station Cruas Meysse is on the most important communication way of France, in the Rhone Valley, between the Rhin and the Mediterranean Sea. In the South of the Rhone Valley, the Nuclear Power Plant is situated near the very important site of 'Tricastin', the largest nuclear area in France. Cruas Meysse has a very good integration to the economy, social, and cultural scheme ; that's why EDF and the Ardeche Department had enter into partnership to associate art and technology of our time, and offer a work for everybody - 'Le Verseau' is the largest fresco in Europe - It gives a gigantic signalling system to the Ardeche Department, because the Nuclear Power Station has a very interesting position, close the motor way A7, the National 7 road, and the way of high speed train (TGV) an another symbol of the high French technology

Approaching the largest ‘API’: extracting information from the Internet with Python

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan E. Germann

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article explores the need for libraries to algorithmically access and manipulate the world’s largest API: the Internet. The billions of pages on the ‘Internet API’ (HTTP, HTML, CSS, XPath, DOM, etc. are easily accessible and manipulable. Libraries can assist in creating meaning through the datafication of information on the world wide web. Because most information is created for human consumption, some programming is required for automated extraction. Python is an easy-to-learn programming language with extensive packages and community support for web page automation. Four packages (Urllib, Selenium, BeautifulSoup, Scrapy in Python can automate almost any web page for all sized projects. An example warrant data project is explained to illustrate how well Python packages can manipulate web pages to create meaning through assembling custom datasets.

Mauna Loa--history, hazards and risk of living with the world's largest volcano

Science.gov (United States)

Trusdell, Frank A.

2012-01-01

Mauna Loa on the Island Hawaiʻi is the world’s largest volcano. People residing on its flanks face many hazards that come with living on or near an active volcano, including lava flows, explosive eruptions, volcanic smog, damaging earthquakes, and local tsunami (giant seawaves). The County of Hawaiʻi (Island of Hawaiʻi) is the fastest growing County in the State of Hawaii. Its expanding population and increasing development mean that risk from volcano hazards will continue to grow. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) closely monitor and study Mauna Loa Volcano to enable timely warning of hazardous activity and help protect lives and property.

Co-seismic slip, post-seismic slip, and largest aftershock associated with the 1994 Sanriku-haruka-oki, Japan, earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Yagi, Yuji; Kikuchi, Masayuki; Nishimura, Takuya

2003-11-01

We analyzed continuous GPS data to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of co-seismic slip, post-seismic slip, and largest aftershock associated with the 1994 Sanriku-haruka-oki, Japan, earthquake (Mw = 7.7). To get better resolution for co-seismic and post-seismic slip distribution, we imposed a weak constraint as a priori information of the co-seismic slip determined by seismic wave analyses. We found that the post-seismic slip during 100 days following the main-shock amount to as much moment release as the main-shock, and that the sites of co-seismic slip and post-seismic slip are partitioning on a plate boundary region in complimentary fashion. The major post-seismic slip was triggered by the mainshock in western side of the co-seismic slip, and the extent of the post-seismic slip is almost unchanged with time. It rapidly developed a shear stress concentration ahead of the slip area, and triggered the largest aftershock.

Investigation of Science Faculty with Education Specialties within the Largest University System in the United States

OpenAIRE

Bush, Seth D; Pelaez, Nancy; Rudd, James A, II; Stevens, Michael T; Tanner, Kimberly D; Williams, Kathy, PhD

2011-01-01

Efforts to improve science education include university science departments hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), scientists who take on specialized roles in science education within their discipline. Although these positions have existed for decades and may be growing more common, few reports have investigated the SFES approach to improving science education. We present comprehensive data on the SFES in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest university ...

Mapping Dynamics of Inundation Patterns of Two Largest River-Connected Lakes in China: A Comparative Study

OpenAIRE

Guiping Wu; Yuanbo Liu

2016-01-01

Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake are the two largest freshwater lakes in China. The lakes are located approximately 300 km apart on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and are differently connected through their respective tributary systems, which will lead to different river–lake water exchanges and discharges. Thus, differences in their morphological and hydrological conditions should induce individual lake spatio-temporal inundation patterns. Quantitative comparative analyses of the dynam...

Prostate Cancer Screening in Jamaica: Results of the Largest National Screening Clinic Prostate Cancer Screening in Jamaica: Results of the Largest National Screening Clinic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, B. F.; Aiken, W.; Mayhew, R.; Gordon, Y.; Reid, M.

2016-01-01

Prostate cancer is highly prevalent in Jamaica and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Our aim was to evaluate the patterns of screening in the largest organized screening clinic in Jamaica at the Jamaica Cancer Society. A retrospective analysis of all men presenting for screening at the Jamaica Cancer Society from 1995 to 2005 was done. All patients had digital rectal examinations (DRE) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests done. Results of prostate biopsies were noted. 1117 men of mean age 59.9 ± 8.2 years presented for screening. The median documented PSA was 1.6 ng/mL (maximum of 5170 ng/mL). Most patients presented for only 1 screen. There was a gradual reduction in the mean age of presentation for screening over the period. Prostate biopsies were requested on 11% of screening visits; however, only 59% of these were done. 5.6% of all persons screened were found to have cancer. Of the cancers diagnosed, Gleason 6 adenocarcinoma was the commonest grade and median PSA was 8.9 ng/mL (range 1.5-1059 ng/mL). Older men tend to screen for prostate cancer in Jamaica. However, compliance with regular maintenance visits and requests for confirmatory biopsies are poor. Screening needs intervention in the Jamaican population.

The Determinants of Bank Internationalisation in Times of Financial Globalisation: Evidence from the World's Largest Banks (1980-2007)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Westerhuis, Gerarda; Mulder, Arjen

2015-01-01

This article analyses the determinants of bank internationalisation, of the world's largest banks from the period 1980–2007. The purpose of the article is twofold. First, we show how a mixed-methods research design, in which we combine a variables-based research with three case studies, can

Community structure and decadal changes in macrozoobenthic assemblages in Lake Poyang, the largest freshwater lake in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cai Y. J.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Lake Poyang is the largest freshwater lake in China and contains unique and diverse biota within the Yangtze floodplain ecosystem. However, knowledge of its macrozoobenthic assemblages remains inadequate. To characterize the current community structure of these assemblages and to portray their decadal changes, quarterly investigations were conducted at 15 sites from February to November 2012. A total of 42 taxa were recorded, and Corbicula fluminea, Limnoperna fortunei, Gammaridae sp., Nephtys polybranchia, Polypedilum scalaenum and Branchiura sowerbyi were found to dominate the community in terms of abundance. The bivalves Corbicula fluminea, Lamprotula rochechouarti, Arconaia lanceolata and Lamprotula caveata dominated the community in biomass due to their large body size. The mean abundance of the total macrozoobenthos varied from 48 to 920 ind·m-2, the mean biomass ranged from 28 to 428 g·m-2. The substrate type affected strongly the abundance, biomass, and diversity of the macrozoobenthos, with muddy sand substrates showing the highest values. Compared with historical data, remarkable changes were observed in the abundance of macrozoobenthos and the identity of the dominant species. The mean total abundance decreased from 724 ind·m-2 in 1992 to 228 ind·m-2 in 2012. The dominant species have shifted dramatically. Large unionids were dominant before 1998, whereas pollution-tolerant species (e.g., Branchiura sowerbyi increased in dominance after 2008. Our findings should have implications for the conservation of the benthic biodiversity of this large Yangtze-connected lake.

The challenge in Asia: Finding best value-creation potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Redmond, T.; Bloy, N.

1996-01-01

The refining and marketing expansion opportunities in Asia are tremendous. Asia is home to nine of the world's 20 most populous countries, including the Indian subcontinent. The continent's sheer size, combined with rapid industrialization, translates into a large and surging demand for oil products. In fact, Asia will soon surpass Europe and North America to become the largest petroleum products consuming region in the world. The challenge facing managements of oil and gas companies is how to sort through all the opportunities and decide which have the highest value-creation potential for their companies. This challenge is complicated by the increasing competitive intensity in many Asian markets brought about by the growing number and strength of competitors, many of which may also be setting priorities and arriving at possibly similar conclusions. It is no longer the opportunity itself that will create value but rather the capability of the organization to turn the opportunity into operations faster and better than its competitors do. The paper discusses market growth, profitability, winning market share, where and when to enter, and the remaining opportunities

Oceans of Opportunity. Harnessing Europe's largest domestic energy resource

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fichaux, N.; Wilkes, J.

2009-09-01

Europe's offshore wind potential is enormous and able to power Europe seven times over. Over 100 GW of offshore wind projects are already in various stages of planning. If realised, these projects would produce 10% of the EU's electricity whilst avoiding 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. EWEA has a target of 40 GW of offshore wind in the EU by 2020, implying an average annual market growth of 28% over the coming 12 years. The EU market for onshore wind grew by an average 32% per year in the 12-year period from 1992-2004 - what the wind energy industry has achieved on land can be repeated at sea. EWEA's proposed offshore grid builds on the 11 offshore grids currently operating and 21 offshore grids currently being considered by the grid operators in the Baltic and North Seas to give Europe a truly pan-European electricity super highway. Strong political support and action from Europe's policy-makers will allow a new, multi-billion euro industry to be built. This new industry will deliver thousands of green collar jobs and a new renewable energy economy and establish Europe as world leader in offshore wind power technology. A single European electricity market with large amounts of wind power will bring affordable electricity to consumers, reduce import dependence, cut CO2 emissions and allow Europe to access its largest domestic energy source.

Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Tenth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2013, 4-10 October, Salamanca, Spain

Science.gov (United States)

Alan Watson; Stephen Carver; Zdenka Krenova; Brooke McBride

2015-01-01

The Tenth World Wilderness Congress (WILD10) met in Salamanca, Spain in 2013. The symposium on science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values was the largest of multiple symposia held in conjunction with the Congress. This symposium was organized and sponsored by the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, the Wildland Research Institute of the...

Parametric study for horizontal steam generator modelling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ovtcharova, I. [Energoproekt, Sofia (Bulgaria)

1995-12-31

In the presentation some of the calculated results of horizontal steam generator PGV - 440 modelling with RELAP5/Mod3 are described. Two nodalization schemes have been used with different components in the steam dome. A study of parameters variation on the steam generator work and calculated results is made in cases with separator and branch.

Parametric study for horizontal steam generator modelling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ovtcharova, I [Energoproekt, Sofia (Bulgaria)

1996-12-31

In the presentation some of the calculated results of horizontal steam generator PGV - 440 modelling with RELAP5/Mod3 are described. Two nodalization schemes have been used with different components in the steam dome. A study of parameters variation on the steam generator work and calculated results is made in cases with separator and branch.

Numerical simulation of complex multi-dimensional two-phase flows in nuclear power plant coolant circuits by means of the best-estimate thermal-hydraulic code BAGIRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalinichenko, S.D.; Kroshilin, A.E.; Kroshilin, V.E.; Smirnov, A.V.

2009-01-01

Recent results are exposed, obtained by applying the best-estimate thermal hydraulic code BAGIRA for three-dimensional modeling complex two-phase flow dynamics inside the vessel of the horizontal steam generator PGV-1000 used in reactor units with VVER-1000. Spatial volumetric void fraction and velocity distributions are calculated and compared with available experimental data. (author)

Broadband Ground Motion Reconstruction for the Kanto Basin during the 1923 Kanto Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Sekiguchi, Haruko; Yoshimi, Masayuki

2011-03-01

Ground motions of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake inside the Kanto Basin are numerically simulated in a wide frequency range (0-10 Hz) based on new knowledge of the earthquake's source processes, the sedimentary structure of the basin, and techniques for generating broadband source models of great earthquakes. The Kanto Earthquake remains one of the most important exemplars for ground motion prediction in Japan due to its size, faulting geometry, and location beneath the densely populated Kanto sedimentary basin. We reconstruct a broadband source model of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake from inversion results by introducing small-scale heterogeneities. The corresponding ground motions are simulated using a hybrid technique comprising the following four calculations: (1) low-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a finite difference method; (2) high-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a stochastic Green's function method; (3) total ground motion of the engineering basement (i.e. 1 + 2); and (4) ground motion at the surface in response to the total basement ground motion. We employ a recently developed three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure model of the Kanto Basin that incorporates prospecting data, microtremor observations and measurements derived from strong ground motion records. Our calculations reveal peak ground velocities (PGV) exceeding 50 cm/s in the area above the fault plane: to the south, where the fault plane is shallowest, PGV reaches 150-200 cm/s at the engineering basement and 200-250 cm/s at the surface. Intensity 7, the maximum value in the Japan Meteorological Agency's intensity scale, is calculated to have occurred widely in Sagami Bay, which corresponds well with observed house-collapse rates due to the 1923 event. The modeling reveals a pronounced forward directivity effect for the area lying above the southern, shallow part of the fault plane. The high PGV and intensity seen above the

State-owned companies dominate list of largest non-U.S. producers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beck, R.J.; Williamson, M.

1994-01-01

Because state-owned oil and gas companies dominate Oil and Gas Journal's list of largest non-US producers, data aren't fully comparable with those of the OGJ300. Many state companies report only production and reserves, with little or no financial data. Companies on the OGJ100, therefore, cannot be ranked by assets or revenues. Instead, they are listed by regions, based on location of corporate headquarters. There was no change in makeup of the top 20 holders of crude oil reserves. These companies' reserves totaled 872.3 billion bbl in 1993. The top 20 non-US companies now control 87.3 % of total world crude oil reserves, according to OGJ estimates. This is up marginally from 87.2 % of total world oil reserves in 1992. The top 20 had 87.7 % of total world reserves in 1991 and 85.5 % in 1990. The table lists company name, total assets, revenues, net income, capital and exploratory expenditures, worldwide oil production, gas production, oil and gas reserves worldwide

Line Balancing Using Largest Candidate Rule Algorithm In A Garment Industry: A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. P.Jaganathan

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The emergence of fast changes in fashion has given rise to the need to shorten production cycle times in the garment industry. As effective usage of resources has a significant effect on the productivity and efficiency of production operations, garment manufacturers are urged to utilize their resources effectively in order to meet dynamic customer demand. This paper focuses specifically on line balancing and layout modification. The aim of assembly line balance in sewing lines is to assign tasks to the workstations, so that the machines of the workstation can perform the assigned tasks with a balanced loading. Largest Candidate Rule Algorithm (LCR has been deployed in this paper.

The Herschel–ATLAS Data Release 2, Paper I. Submillimeter and Far-infrared Images of the South and North Galactic Poles: The Largest Herschel Survey of the Extragalactic Sky

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Matthew W. L.; Ibar, Edo; Maddox, Steve J.; Valiante, Elisabetta; Dunne, Loretta; Eales, Stephen; Dye, Simon; Furlanetto, Christina; Bourne, Nathan; Cigan, Phil; Ivison, Rob J.; Gomez, Haley; Smith, Daniel J. B.; Viaene, Sébastien

2017-12-01

We present the largest submillimeter images that have been made of the extragalactic sky. The Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) is a survey of 660 deg2 with the PACS and SPIRE cameras in five photometric bands: 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 μm. In this paper we present the images from our two largest fields, which account for ∼75% of the survey. The first field is 180.1 deg2 in size, centered on the north Galactic pole (NGP), and the second is 317.6 deg2 in size, centered on the south Galactic pole. The NGP field serendipitously contains the Coma cluster. Over most (∼80%) of the images, the pixel noise, including both instrumental noise and confusion noise, is approximately 3.6, and 3.5 mJy pix‑1 at 100 and 160 μm, and 11.0, 11.1 and 12.3 mJy beam‑1 at 250, 350 and 500 μm, respectively, but reaches lower values in some parts of the images. If a matched filter is applied to optimize point-source detection, our total 1σ map sensitivity is 5.7, 6.0, and 7.3 mJy at 250, 350, and 500 μm, respectively. We describe the results of an investigation of the noise properties of the images. We make the most precise estimate of confusion in SPIRE maps to date, finding values of 3.12 ± 0.07, 4.13 ± 0.02, and 4.45 ± 0.04 mJy beam‑1 at 250, 350, and 500 μm in our un-convolved maps. For PACS we find an estimate of the confusion noise in our fast-parallel observations of 4.23 and 4.62 mJy beam‑1 at 100 and 160 μm. Finally, we give recipes for using these images to carry out photometry, both for unresolved and extended sources.

Water-saturated systems of the largest gas and gas-condensate deposits of the USSR. Vodonapornye sistemy krupneishikh gazovykh i gazokondensatnykh mestorozhdenii sssr

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kortsenshtein, V.N.

1977-01-01

A description is given of water-pressure systems in a number of the largest gas and gas-condensate fields of the Soviet Union, whose industrial reserves exceed 500 billion cubic meters. These include fields located in the concluding stage of development with sharply reduced recovery (Shebelinsk), fields that have just begun to operate and are characterized by increasing production (Vuktyl, Medved, Orenburg, Shatlyk, Urengoisk), and fields that are not yet developed (Yamburg and Zapolyar). Problems in the theory and practice of studying water-pressure systems of the largest gas and gas-condensate fields are analyzed primarily in connection with conditions required for their rational development which would provide for a maximum extraction of hydrocarbons from the interior. Importance is also given to the hydrogeological aspects of the formation of large hydrocarbon deposits and their distribution in the earth's crust. The most reliable factual materials on hydrogeology are utilized. The book is designed for personnel in the gas and oil industries, hydrogeologists, and scientists interested in problems of the formation, survey, and development of the largest hydrocarbon deposits. 92 references, 65 figures, 71 tables.

Long-period Ground Motion Characteristics Inside and Outside of the Osaka Basin during the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake and Its Largest Aftershock

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, K.; Iwata, T.; Asano, K.; Kubo, H.; Aoi, S.

2013-12-01

The 2011 great Tohoku earthquake (Mw 9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011, and the largest aftershock (Mw 7.7) at the region adjacent to south boundary of the mainshock's source region. Long-period ground motions (1-10s) of large amplitude were observed in the Osaka sedimentary basin about 550-800km away from the source regions during both events. We studied propagation and site characteristics of these ground motions, and found some common features between these two events in the Osaka basin. (1) The amplitude of horizontal components of the ground motion at the site-specific period is amplified at each sedimentary station. The predominant period is around 7s in the bayside area where the largest pSv were observed. (2) The velocity Fourier spectra have their peak values around 7s at the bedrock sites surrounding the Osaka basin. (3) Two remarkable wave packets separated by 30s propagating from stations around the Nobi plain to the bedrock sites near the Osaka basin were seen in the pasted-up velocity waveforms from the source regions to the Osaka basin for both events (Sato et al., 2012). Therefore, large long-period ground motions in the Osaka basin are generated by the combination of propagation-path and basin effects. Firstly, we simulate ground motions due to the largest aftershock using three-dimensional FDM (GMS; Aoi and Fujiwara, 1999). The reason we focus on the largest aftershock is that this event has a relatively small rupture area and simple rupture process compared to the mainshock. The source model is based on the model estimated by Kubo et al. (2013). The velocity structure model is a three-dimensional velocity structure based on the Japan Integrated Velocity Structure Model (Koketsu et al., 2012) and the layer of Vs 350m/s in this model is replaced with one of Vs 500m/s. The minimum effective period in this computation is 3s. Then, we compare synthetic waveforms with observed ones. At CHBH14, the nearest station to the source and 60km away from the

New alkali-metal- and 2-phenethylamine-intercalated superconductors Ax(C8H11N)yFe1-zSe (A = Li, Na) with the largest interlayer spacings and Tc ∼ 40 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatakeda, Takehiro; Noji, Takashi; Sato, Kazuki; Kawamata, Takayuki; Kato, Masatsune; Koike, Yoji

2016-01-01

New FeSe-based intercalation superconductors, A x (C 8 H 11 N) y Fe 1-z Se (A = Li, Na), with T c = 39-44 K have been successfully synthesized via the intercalation of alkali metals and 2-phenethylamine into FeSe. The interlayer spacings, namely, the distances between neighboring Fe layers, d, of A x (C 8 H 11 N) y Fe 1-z Se (A = Li, Na) are 19.04(6) and 18.0(1) Å, respectively. These d values are the largest among those of the FeSe-based intercalation compounds and are understood to be due to the intercalation of two molecules of 2-phenethylamine in series perpendicular to the FeSe layers. It appears that the relationship between T c and d in the FeSe-based intercalation superconductors is not domic but T c is saturated at ∼45 K, which is comparable to the T c values of single-layer FeSe films, for d ≥ 9 Å. (author)

Burst of virus infection and a possibly largest epidemic threshold of non-Markovian susceptible-infected-susceptible processes on networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiang; Van Mieghem, Piet

2018-02-01

Since a real epidemic process is not necessarily Markovian, the epidemic threshold obtained under the Markovian assumption may be not realistic. To understand general non-Markovian epidemic processes on networks, we study the Weibullian susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) process in which the infection process is a renewal process with a Weibull time distribution. We find that, if the infection rate exceeds 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) , where λ1 is the largest eigenvalue of the network's adjacency matrix, then the infection will persist on the network under the mean-field approximation. Thus, 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) is possibly the largest epidemic threshold for a general non-Markovian SIS process with a Poisson curing process under the mean-field approximation. Furthermore, non-Markovian SIS processes may result in a multimodal prevalence. As a byproduct, we show that a limiting Weibullian SIS process has the potential to model bursts of a synchronized infection.

Pay less, take more: the myth of quality of life at the Brazil’s largest drugstore chain counter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André Luiz Maranhão de Souza Leão

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Considering the role of cultural transformer that the brandoccupies in the contemporary and seeking to delineate the role played bymyth in this construction, we look at Pague Menos, the largest pharmacyretail network in the country, through a qualitative study based on Barthesiansemiology. Our results showed six myths, whose relationships reveal ametanarrative: the quality of life.

Integrating ethical values into fraud triangle theory in assessing employee fraud: Evidence from the Malaysian banking industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamaliah Said

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study attempts to integrate ethical values into the fraud triangle theory in the context of Malaysian banking industry. Primary data were collected through the survey of 108 questionnaires administered to the employees of the top three largest banks in Malaysia. The findings revealed that ethical values were negatively related to employee fraud, and two elements of fraud triangle theory, namely, opportunity and rationalization, were positively related to employee fraud. This implies that high ethical value is crucial to mitigate employee fraud. To minimize employee fraud, the banking industry should reduce opportunities and employee negative rationalization through strong internal control. This study contributes to literature on the occurrences of employee fraud, which is not widely discussed, especially in the context of the banking industry in developing countries.

Geochemical characterization of the largest upland lake of the Brazilian Amazonia: Impact of provenance and processes

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Guimarães, José Tasso Felix; Souza-Filho, Pedro Walfir Martins; da Silva, Marcio Sousa; Nascimento, Wilson, Júnior; Powell, Mike A.; Reis, Luiza Santos; Pessenda, Luiz Carlos Ruiz; Rodrigues, Tarcísio Magevski; da Silva, Delmo Fonseca; Costa, Vladimir Eliodoro

2017-12-01

Lake Três Irmãs (LTI), the largest upland lake in the Brazilian Amazonia, located in Serra dos Carajás, was characterized using multi-elemental and isotope geochemistry (δ13C and δ15N) to understand the significance of organic and inorganic sources, weathering and sedimentary processes on the distribution of elements in lake bottom (surficial) sediments. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes from sedimentary organic matter suggest C3 terrestrial plants (forests > canga vegetation), macrophytes and freshwater DOC as the main sources. Sediments are depleted in most of the major oxides (except Fe2O3 and P2O5) when compared to upper continental crust (UCC) and their spatial distribution is highly influenced by catchment lithology. Principal Component Analysis revealed that most of the trace elements (Ba, Sr, Rb, Sc, Th, U, Zr, Hf, Nb, Y, V, Cr, Ga, Co, Ni) and REEs are closely correlated with Al and Ti (PC1; Group-1), so their redistribution is less influenced by post-depositional process. This is due to their relative immobility and being hosted by Al-bearing minerals during laterization. High Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), Mafic Index of Alteration (MIA) and Index of Laterization (IOL) values indicate intense chemical weathering at source areas, but the weathering transformation was better quantified by IOL. A-CN-K plot along with elemental ratios (Al/K, Ti/K, Ti/Zr, La/Al, Cr/Th, Co/Th, La/Sm, La/Gd, Zr/Y, and Eu/Eu*) as well as chondrite-normalized REE patterns show that the detritic sediments are mainly sourced from ferruginous laterites and soils in the catchment, which may have characteristics similar to mafic rocks.

Largest solar installation on a hotel in Switzerland; Groesste Hotel-Solaranlage der Schweiz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stadelmann, M.

2008-07-01

This article describes the solar thermal installation on the Hotel Europa in St. Moritz-Champfer, Switzerland. The installation provides heat energy for domestic hot water preparation and for the heating of the hotel's indoor swimming pool. A thirty-percent reduction of heating oil consumption has been obtained. The system, which is based on the 'low-flow' principle, provides the highest possible temperature difference while using low pumping energy. The hotel's hot-water circulation system, which ensures fast availability of hot water at the taps, is also discussed. This largest hotel solar installation is designed to meet heating and hot-water requirements during the summer season. The high requirements placed on the materials used are discussed. Schematics are provided and first operational experience is briefly discussed.

A general scaling law reveals why the largest animals are not the fastest.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirt, Myriam R; Jetz, Walter; Rall, Björn C; Brose, Ulrich

2017-08-01

Speed is the fundamental constraint on animal movement, yet there is no general consensus on the determinants of maximum speed itself. Here, we provide a general scaling model of maximum speed with body mass, which holds across locomotion modes, ecosystem types and taxonomic groups. In contrast to traditional power-law scaling, we predict a hump-shaped relationship resulting from a finite acceleration time for animals, which explains why the largest animals are not the fastest. This model is strongly supported by extensive empirical data (474 species, with body masses ranging from 30 μg to 100 tonnes) from terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. Our approach unravels a fundamental constraint on the upper limit of animal movement, thus enabling a better understanding of realized movement patterns in nature and their multifold ecological consequences.

CLASH: COMPLETE LENSING ANALYSIS OF THE LARGEST COSMIC LENS MACS J0717.5+3745 AND SURROUNDING STRUCTURES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medezinski, Elinor; Lemze, Doron; Ford, Holland; Umetsu, Keiichi; Nonino, Mario; Merten, Julian; Mroczkowski, Tony; Zitrin, Adi; Broadhurst, Tom; Donahue, Megan; Sayers, Jack; Czakon, Nicole; Waizmann, Jean-Claude; Meneghetti, Massimo; Koekemoer, Anton; Coe, Dan; Postman, Marc; Molino, Alberto; Melchior, Peter; Grillo, Claudio

2013-01-01

The galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 (z = 0.55) is the largest known cosmic lens, with complex internal structures seen in deep X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, and dynamical observations. We perform a combined weak- and strong-lensing analysis with wide-field BVR c i'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations and 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble. We find consistent weak distortion and magnification measurements of background galaxies and combine these signals to construct an optimally estimated radial mass profile of the cluster and its surrounding large-scale structure out to 5 Mpc h –1 . We find consistency between strong-lensing and weak-lensing in the region where these independent data overlap, –1 . The two-dimensional weak-lensing map reveals a clear filamentary structure traced by distinct mass halos. We model the lensing shear field with nine halos, including the main cluster, corresponding to mass peaks detected above 2.5σ κ . The total mass of the cluster as determined by the different methods is M vir ≈ (2.8 ± 0.4) × 10 15 M ☉ . Although this is the most massive cluster known at z > 0.5, in terms of extreme value statistics, we conclude that the mass of MACS J0717.5+3745 by itself is not in serious tension with ΛCDM, representing only a ∼2σ departure above the maximum simulated halo mass at this redshift

CLASH: COMPLETE LENSING ANALYSIS OF THE LARGEST COSMIC LENS MACS J0717.5+3745 AND SURROUNDING STRUCTURES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Medezinski, Elinor; Lemze, Doron; Ford, Holland [Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Umetsu, Keiichi [Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Nonino, Mario [INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143 Trieste (Italy); Merten, Julian; Mroczkowski, Tony [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 169-327, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Zitrin, Adi [Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie, Philosophenweg 12, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany); Broadhurst, Tom [Department of Theoretical Physics and History of Science, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao (Spain); Donahue, Megan [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Sayers, Jack; Czakon, Nicole [Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Waizmann, Jean-Claude; Meneghetti, Massimo [Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universit' a di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127 Bologna (Italy); Koekemoer, Anton; Coe, Dan; Postman, Marc [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21208 (United States); Molino, Alberto [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), E-18080 Granada (Spain); Melchior, Peter [Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics and Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Grillo, Claudio, E-mail: elinor@pha.jhu.edu [Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Mariesvej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); and others

2013-11-01

The galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 (z = 0.55) is the largest known cosmic lens, with complex internal structures seen in deep X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, and dynamical observations. We perform a combined weak- and strong-lensing analysis with wide-field BVR{sub c} i'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations and 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble. We find consistent weak distortion and magnification measurements of background galaxies and combine these signals to construct an optimally estimated radial mass profile of the cluster and its surrounding large-scale structure out to 5 Mpc h {sup –1}. We find consistency between strong-lensing and weak-lensing in the region where these independent data overlap, <500 kpc h {sup –1}. The two-dimensional weak-lensing map reveals a clear filamentary structure traced by distinct mass halos. We model the lensing shear field with nine halos, including the main cluster, corresponding to mass peaks detected above 2.5σ{sub κ}. The total mass of the cluster as determined by the different methods is M{sub vir} ≈ (2.8 ± 0.4) × 10{sup 15} M{sub ☉}. Although this is the most massive cluster known at z > 0.5, in terms of extreme value statistics, we conclude that the mass of MACS J0717.5+3745 by itself is not in serious tension with ΛCDM, representing only a ∼2σ departure above the maximum simulated halo mass at this redshift.

Changes in ecosystem service values in Zhoushan Island using remote sensing time series data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaoping; Qin, Yanpei; Lv, Ying; Zhen, Guangwei; Gong, Fang; Li, Chaokui

2017-10-01

The largest inhabited island, Zhoushan Island, is the center of economy, culture, shipping, and fishing in the Zhoushan Archipelago New Area. Its coastal wetland and tidal flats offer significant ecological services including floodwater storage, wildlife habitat, and buffers against tidal surges. Yet, large-scale land reclamation and new land development may dramatically change ecosystem services. In this research, we assess changes in ecosystem service values in Zhoushan Island during 1990-2000-2011. Three LANDSAT TM and/or ETM data sets were used to determine the spatial pattern of land use, and previously published value coefficients were used to calculate the ecosystem service values delivered by each land category. The results show that total value of ecosystem services in Zhoushan Island declined by 11% from 2920.07 billion Yuan to 2609.77 billion Yuan per year between 1990 and 2011. This decrease is largely attributable to the 51% loss of tidal flats. The combined ecosystem service values of woodland, paddy land and tidal flats were over 90% of the total values. The result indicates that future land-use policy should pay attention to the conservation of these ecosystems over uncontrolled reclamation and coastal industrial development, and that further coastal reclamation should be on rigorous environmental impact analyses.

When clusters collide: constraints on antimatter on the largest scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steigman, Gary

2008-01-01

Observations have ruled out the presence of significant amounts of antimatter in the Universe on scales ranging from the solar system, to the Galaxy, to groups and clusters of galaxies, and even to distances comparable to the scale of the present horizon. Except for the model-dependent constraints on the largest scales, the most significant upper limits to diffuse antimatter in the Universe are those on the ∼Mpc scale of clusters of galaxies provided by the EGRET upper bounds to annihilation gamma rays from galaxy clusters whose intracluster gas is revealed through its x-ray emission. On the scale of individual clusters of galaxies the upper bounds to the fraction of mixed matter and antimatter for the 55 clusters from a flux-limited x-ray survey range from 5 × 10 −9 to −6 , strongly suggesting that individual clusters of galaxies are made entirely of matter or of antimatter. X-ray and gamma-ray observations of colliding clusters of galaxies, such as the Bullet Cluster, permit these constraints to be extended to even larger scales. If the observations of the Bullet Cluster, where the upper bound to the antimatter fraction is found to be −6 , can be generalized to other colliding clusters of galaxies, cosmologically significant amounts of antimatter will be excluded on scales of order ∼20 Mpc (M∼5×10 15 M sun )

Missing value imputation for epistatic MAPs

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Ryan, Colm

2010-04-20

Abstract Background Epistatic miniarray profiling (E-MAPs) is a high-throughput approach capable of quantifying aggravating or alleviating genetic interactions between gene pairs. The datasets resulting from E-MAP experiments typically take the form of a symmetric pairwise matrix of interaction scores. These datasets have a significant number of missing values - up to 35% - that can reduce the effectiveness of some data analysis techniques and prevent the use of others. An effective method for imputing interactions would therefore increase the types of possible analysis, as well as increase the potential to identify novel functional interactions between gene pairs. Several methods have been developed to handle missing values in microarray data, but it is unclear how applicable these methods are to E-MAP data because of their pairwise nature and the significantly larger number of missing values. Here we evaluate four alternative imputation strategies, three local (Nearest neighbor-based) and one global (PCA-based), that have been modified to work with symmetric pairwise data. Results We identify different categories for the missing data based on their underlying cause, and show that values from the largest category can be imputed effectively. We compare local and global imputation approaches across a variety of distinct E-MAP datasets, showing that both are competitive and preferable to filling in with zeros. In addition we show that these methods are effective in an E-MAP from a different species, suggesting that pairwise imputation techniques will be increasingly useful as analogous epistasis mapping techniques are developed in different species. We show that strongly alleviating interactions are significantly more difficult to predict than strongly aggravating interactions. Finally we show that imputed interactions, generated using nearest neighbor methods, are enriched for annotations in the same manner as measured interactions. Therefore our method potentially

From Pushing Paper to Pushing Dirt - Canada's Largest LLRW Cleanup Gets Underway - 13111

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veen, Walter van; Lawrence, Dave

2013-01-01

The Port Hope Project is the larger of the two projects in the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), Canada's largest low level radioactive waste (LLRW) cleanup. With a budget of approximately $1 billion, the Port Hope Project includes a broad and complex range of remedial elements from a state of the art water treatment plant, an engineered waste management facility, municipal solid waste removal, remediation of 18 major sites within the Municipality of Port Hope (MPH), sediment dredging and dewatering, an investigation of 4,800 properties (many of these homes) to identify LLRW and remediation of approximately 450 of these properties. This paper discusses the status of the Port Hope Project in terms of designs completed and regulatory approvals received, and sets out the scope and schedule for the remaining studies, engineering designs and remediation contracts. (authors)

Model for Calculating the Maximum Permissible Tax Burden in Amur Region in the Context of the Implementation of Largest Investment Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Vladimirovich Ivanov

2018-03-01

Full Text Available According to the Government of the Amur region, tax collection from the implementation of investment projects was tightly controlled from 2016, because of the region’s high debt load. This situation requires assessing the acceptability of the level of regional tax burden for business entities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for assessing the level of regional tax burden, taking into account the implementation of the largest investment projects in the territory. The main hypothesis of this paper consists, firstly, in the existence of tax burden, which is acceptable for regional economic entities. Secondly, this level of tax burden ensures the growth of fiscal revenues for the budget. We proposed to assess the level of tax burden on the basis of a three-factor linear heterogeneous production function, taking into account certain economic indicators of the largest investment project — “Construction of the Vostochny Сosmodrome”. The concept of the Laffer curve serves as a research methodology. According to our calculations, since 2011, the tax burden in the Amur region has a clear tendency to increase. At the same time, from 2007 to the present time, the tax burden exceeds its maximum permissible value and constrains economic growth in the region. If this trend continues, by 2018 tax revenues from the territory of the region will be on the verge of reduction. The obtained results show that the tax burden in the Amur region in 2017 is 16.81 %. To stimulate the activities of economic entities in the region, and as a consequence, to increase the GRP of the region, it is necessary to reduce the level of taxation by 4.77 percentage points (to 12.04 %, Thus, the current economic situation requires to change the course of regional taxation policy to a more liberal attitude towards taxpayers. Otherwise, soon the budget of the Amur region may fail to receive a part of revenues, as the region’s economic entities will not be able to

Reach and messages of the world's largest ivory burn.

Science.gov (United States)

Braczkowski, Alexander; Holden, Matthew H; O'Bryan, Christopher; Choi, Chi-Yeung; Gan, Xiaojing; Beesley, Nicholas; Gao, Yufang; Allan, James; Tyrrell, Peter; Stiles, Daniel; Brehony, Peadar; Meney, Revocatus; Brink, Henry; Takashina, Nao; Lin, Ming-Ching; Lin, Hsien-Yung; Rust, Niki; Salmo, Severino G; Watson, James Em; Kahumbu, Paula; Maron, Martine; Possingham, Hugh P; Biggs, Duan

2018-03-01

Recent increases in ivory poaching have depressed African elephant populations. Successful enforcement has led to ivory being stockpiled. Stockpile destruction is becoming increasingly popular, and most destruction has occurred in the last five years. Ivory destruction is intended to send a strong message against ivory consumption, both in promoting a taboo on ivory use and catalyzing policy change. However, there has been no effort to establish the distribution and extent of media reporting on ivory destruction events globally. We analyze media coverage across eleven important nation states of the largest ivory destruction event in history (Kenya, 30 April 2016). We used a well-accepted online media crawling tool and key language translations to search online and print newspapers. We found most online news on the ivory burn came from the US (81% of articles), while print news was dominated by Kenya (61% of articles). We subjected online articles from five key countries and territories to content analysis and found 86-97% of all online articles reported the burn as a positive conservation action, while between 4-50% discussed ivory burning as having a negative impact on elephant conservation. Most articles discussed law enforcement and trade bans as effective for elephant conservation. There was more relative search interest globally on the 2016 Kenyan ivory burn than any other in five years. Our study is the first attempt to track the spread of media around an ivory burn and is a case study in tracking the effects of a conservation-marketing event. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Can the reinforcing value of food be measured in bulimia nervosa?

Science.gov (United States)

Schebendach, Janet; Broft, Allegra; Foltin, Richard W; Walsh, B Timothy

2013-03-01

Binge eating is a core clinical feature of bulimia nervosa (BN). Enhanced reinforcing value of food may play a role in this behavioral disturbance, but a systematic behavioral assessment of objective measures of the rewarding value of binge eating is lacking. The purpose of this study was to quantify the reinforcing value of food in BN patients as compared with normal controls. A progressive ratio (PR) computerized work task was completed under binge and non-binge instruction. The task consisted of 12 trials. The first trial required 50 keyboard taps to earn one portion of yogurt shake, and subsequent trials required progressive work increments of 200 taps for each additional portion. Completion of all 12 trials required 13,800 taps to earn 2100ml of shake. The breakpoint, defined as the largest ratio completed before a participant stopped working, was the measure of reinforcing efficacy. Ten patients and 10 controls completed the experiment. Under binge instruction, patients completed more trials and taps, and had a higher breakpoint than controls. The non-binge instruction yielded opposite findings; compared to controls, patients completed fewer trials and taps, and had a lower breakpoint. These results support the feasibility and potential utility of a PR task to quantify the reinforcing value of food in patients with BN. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the mediating effects of IT governance-value delivery on service quality and ERP performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Wen-Hsien; Chou, Yu-Wei; Leu, Jun-Der; Chao Chen, Der; Tsaur, Tsen-Shu

2015-02-01

This study aimed to explore the mediating effects of IT governance (ITG)-value delivery in the relationships among the quality of vendor service, the quality of consultant services, ITG-value delivery and enterprise resource planning (ERP) performance. The sampling of this research was acquired from a questionnaire survey concerning ERP implementations in Taiwan. In this survey, 4366 questionnaires were sent to manufacturing and service companies listed in the TOP 5000: The Largest Corporations in Taiwan 2009. The results showed that an ERP system will exhibit a decreased error rate and improved performance if ERP system vendors and consultants provide good service quality. The results also demonstrated that significant relationships exist among the quality of vendor service, the quality of consultant services and value delivery. The contribution of this article is twofold. First, it found that value delivery provides an effective measure of ERP performance under an ITG framework. Second, it provides evidence of the partial mediating effects of value delivery between service quality and ERP performance. In other words, if enterprises want to improve ERP performance, they need to consider factors such as value delivery and the quality of a vendor/consultant's service.

Coupled S and Sr isotope evidences for elevated arsenic concentrations in groundwater from the world's largest antimony mine, Central China

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Bing; Zhou, Aiguo; Zhou, Jianwei; Liu, Cunfu; Huang, Yuliu; Li, Ligang

2018-02-01

The Xikuangshan(XKS) mine, the world's largest antimony mine, was chosen for a detailed arsenic hydrogeochemical study because of the elevated arsenic in bedrock aquifers used by local residents. Hydrochemical data, δ34S values of dissolved SO42- and 87Sr/86Sr ratios have been analyzed to identify the predominant geochemical processes that control the arsenic mobilization within the aquifers. Groundwater samples can be divided into three major types: low arsenic groundwater (0-50 μg/L), high arsenic groundwater (50-1000 μg/L) and anomalous high arsenic groundwater (>1000 μg/L). Arsenic occurs under oxidizing conditions at the XKS Sb mine as the HAsO42- anion. The Ca/Na ratio correlates significantly with HCO3-/Na and Sr/Na ratios, indicating that carbonate dissolution and silicate weathering are the dominant processes controlling groundwater hydrochemistry. The δ34S values of the groundwater indicate that dissolved SO42- in groundwater is mainly sourced from the oxidation of sulfide minerals, and elevated As concentrations in groundwater are influenced by the mixing of mine water and surface water. Furthermore, the δ34S values are not correlated with dissolved As concentrations and Fe concentrations, suggesting that the reduction dissolution of Fe(III) hydroxides is not the dominant process controlling As mobilization. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios imply that elevated As concentrations in groundwater are primarily derived from the interaction with the stibnite and silicified limestone. More specifically, the excess-Na ion, the feature of Ca/Na ratio, and the spatial association of elevated As concentrations in groundwater collectively suggest that high and anomalous high arsenic groundwater are associated with smelting slags and, in particular, the arsenic alkali residue. In general, the hydrochemistry analysis, especially the S and Sr isotope evidences elucidate that elevated As concentrations and As mobilization are influenced by several geochemical processes

The Value of Information - Accounting for a New Geospatial Paradigm

Science.gov (United States)

Pearlman, J.; Coote, A. M.

2014-12-01

A new frontier in consideration of socio-economic benefit is valuing information as an asset, often referred to as Infonomics. Conventional financial practice does not easily provide a mechanism for valuing information and yet clearly for many of the largest corporations, such as Google and Facebook, it is their principal asset. This is exacerbated for public sector organizations, as those that information-centric rather than information-enabled are relatively few - statistics, archiving and mapping agencies are perhaps the only examples - so it's not at the top of the agenda for Government. However, it is a hugely important issue when valuing Geospatial data and information. Geospatial data allows public institutions to operate, and facilitates the provision of essential services for emergency response and national defense. In this respect, geospatial data is strongly analogous to other types of public infrastructure, such as utilities and roads. The use of Geospatial data is widespread from companies in the transportation or construction sectors to individual planning for daily events. The categorization of geospatial data as infrastructure is critical to decisions related to investment in its management, maintenance and upgrade over time. Geospatial data depreciates in the same way that physical infrastructure depreciates. It needs to be maintained otherwise its functionality and value in use declines. We have coined the term geo-infonomics to encapsulate the concept. This presentation will develop the arguments around its importance and current avenues of research.

A structural equation modeling investigation of the emotional value of immersive virtual reality in education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Makransky, Guido; Lilleholt, Lau

2018-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) is projected to play an important role in education by increasing student engagement and motivation. However, little is known about the impact and utility of immersive VR for administering e-learning tools, or the underlying mechanisms that impact learners’ emotional processes...... consisted of 104 university students (39 females). Significantly higher scores were obtained on 11 of the 13 variables investigated using the immersive VR version of the simulation, with the largest differences occurring with regard to presence and motivation. Furthermore, we identified a model with two...... general paths by which immersion in VR impacts perceived learning outcomes. Specifically, we discovered an affective path in which immersion predicted presence and positive emotions, and a cognitive path in which immersion fostered a positive cognitive value of the task in line with the control value...

Trajectories of Mexican American and mainstream cultural values among Mexican American adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, George P; Basilio, Camille D; Cham, Heining; Gonzales, Nancy A; Liu, Yu; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J

2014-12-01

Mexican Americans are one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States, yet we have limited knowledge regarding changes (i.e., developmental trajectories) in cultural orientation based upon their exposure to the Mexican American and mainstream cultures. We examined the parallel trajectories of Mexican American and mainstream cultural values in a sample of 749 Mexican American adolescents (49 % female) across assessments during the fifth grade (approximately 11 years of age), the seventh grade (approximately 13 years of age) and the tenth grade (approximately 16 years of age). We expected that these values would change over this developmental period and this longitudinal approach is more appropriate than the often used median split classification to identify distinct types of acculturation. We found four distinct acculturation trajectory groups: two trajectory groups that were increasing slightly with age in the endorsement of mainstream cultural values, one of which was relatively stable in Mexican American cultural values while the other was declining in their endorsement of these values; and two trajectory groups that were declining substantially with age in their endorsement of mainstream cultural values, one of which was also declining in Mexican American cultural values and the other which was stable in these values. These four trajectory groups differed in expected ways on a number of theoretically related cultural variables, but were not highly consistent with the median split classifications. The findings highlight the need to utilize longitudinal data to examine the developmental changes of Mexican American individual's adaptation to the ethnic and mainstream culture in order to understand more fully the processes of acculturation and enculturation.

Characterization of the largest effector gene cluster of Ustilago maydis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Brefort

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the genome of the biotrophic plant pathogen Ustilago maydis, many of the genes coding for secreted protein effectors modulating virulence are arranged in gene clusters. The vast majority of these genes encode novel proteins whose expression is coupled to plant colonization. The largest of these gene clusters, cluster 19A, encodes 24 secreted effectors. Deletion of the entire cluster results in severe attenuation of virulence. Here we present the functional analysis of this genomic region. We show that a 19A deletion mutant behaves like an endophyte, i.e. is still able to colonize plants and complete the infection cycle. However, tumors, the most conspicuous symptoms of maize smut disease, are only rarely formed and fungal biomass in infected tissue is significantly reduced. The generation and analysis of strains carrying sub-deletions identified several genes significantly contributing to tumor formation after seedling infection. Another of the effectors could be linked specifically to anthocyanin induction in the infected tissue. As the individual contributions of these genes to tumor formation were small, we studied the response of maize plants to the whole cluster mutant as well as to several individual mutants by array analysis. This revealed distinct plant responses, demonstrating that the respective effectors have discrete plant targets. We propose that the analysis of plant responses to effector mutant strains that lack a strong virulence phenotype may be a general way to visualize differences in effector function.

Time-varying value of electric energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mims, Natalie A.; Eckman, Tom; Goldman, Charles

2017-06-30

Electric energy efficiency resources save energy and may reduce peak demand. Historically, quantification of energy efficiency benefits has largely focused on the economic value of energy savings during the first year and lifetime of the installed measures. Due in part to the lack of publicly available research on end-use load shapes (i.e., the hourly or seasonal timing of electricity savings) and energy savings shapes, consideration of the impact of energy efficiency on peak demand reduction (i.e., capacity savings) has been more limited. End-use load research and the hourly valuation of efficiency savings are used for a variety of electricity planning functions, including load forecasting, demand-side management and evaluation, capacity and demand response planning, long-term resource planning, renewable energy integration, assessing potential grid modernization investments, establishing rates and pricing, and customer service. This study reviews existing literature on the time-varying value of energy efficiency savings, provides examples in four geographically diverse locations of how consideration of the time-varying value of efficiency savings impacts the calculation of power system benefits, and identifies future research needs to enhance the consideration of the time-varying value of energy efficiency in cost-effectiveness screening analysis. Findings from this study include: -The time-varying value of individual energy efficiency measures varies across the locations studied because of the physical and operational characteristics of the individual utility system (e.g., summer or winter peaking, load factor, reserve margin) as well as the time periods during which savings from measures occur. -Across the four locations studied, some of the largest capacity benefits from energy efficiency are derived from the deferral of transmission and distribution system infrastructure upgrades. However, the deferred cost of such upgrades also exhibited the greatest range

North Andean origin and diversification of the largest ithomiine butterfly genus

Science.gov (United States)

Lisa De-Silva, Donna; Mota, Luísa L.; Chazot, Nicolas; Mallarino, Ricardo; Silva-Brandão, Karina L.; Piñerez, Luz Miryam Gómez; Freitas, André V.L.; Lamas, Gerardo; Joron, Mathieu; Mallet, James; Giraldo, Carlos E.; Uribe, Sandra; Särkinen, Tiina; Knapp, Sandra; Jiggins, Chris D.; Willmott, Keith R.; Elias, Marianne

2017-01-01

The Neotropics harbour the most diverse flora and fauna on Earth. The Andes are a major centre of diversification and source of diversity for adjacent areas in plants and vertebrates, but studies on insects remain scarce, even though they constitute the largest fraction of terrestrial biodiversity. Here, we combine molecular and morphological characters to generate a dated phylogeny of the butterfly genus Pteronymia (Nymphalidae: Danainae), which we use to infer spatial, elevational and temporal diversification patterns. We first propose six taxonomic changes that raise the generic species total to 53, making Pteronymia the most diverse genus of the tribe Ithomiini. Our biogeographic reconstruction shows that Pteronymia originated in the Northern Andes, where it diversified extensively. Some lineages colonized lowlands and adjacent montane areas, but diversification in those areas remained scarce. The recent colonization of lowland areas was reflected by an increase in the rate of evolution of species’ elevational ranges towards present. By contrast, speciation rate decelerated with time, with no extinction. The geological history of the Andes and adjacent regions have likely contributed to Pteronymia diversification by providing compartmentalized habitats and an array of biotic and abiotic conditions, and by limiting dispersal between some areas while promoting interchange across others. PMID:28387233

Drought, Frost, Rain and Sunshine. Four Years of Sap Flow Measurements for One of the World's Largest Conifers

Science.gov (United States)

Macinnis-Ng, C.; Taylor, D. T.; Kaplick, J.; Clearwater, M.

2015-12-01

Amongst the largest and longest lived conifers in the world, the endemic New Zealand kauri, Agathis australis, provides a proxy-climate record dating back 4000 y. Tree-ring widths provide a strong indicator of the occurrence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. We are measuring physiological processes, including carbon uptake and loss, leaf-scale gas exchange and sap flow together with meteorological data to explore the mechanisms of the climate response of this iconic and culturally significant species. In this continuous 15 min time interval sap flow dataset spanning four years, we have captured very wet and very dry summer periods. Winter flow rates peaked lower than summer flow rates and winter flow also started later and finished earlier in the day, resulting in less water use. Larger, canopy dominant trees (DBH up to 176 cm) had large sapwood area (sapwood depth up to 18 cm) and faster flow rates and therefore dominated stand water use. During dry periods, smaller trees (DBH 20-80 cm) were more responsive to dry soils than larger trees, suggesting access to deeper soil water stores. Leaf-scale gas exchange rates were low with very low stomatal conductance values reflecting known vulnerability to xylem embolism. Night-time refilling of sapwood was particularly evident during the summer drought with evidence that refilling was incomplete as the drought progressed. Photosynthetically active radiation and vapour pressure deficit are strongly correlated with sap flow across all seasons, a promising indicator for future modelling work on this dataset. Water saving strategies and stand-scale water budgets are discussed.

Puna Geothermal Venture Hydrologic Monitoring Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1990-04-01

This document provides the basis for the Hydrologic Monitoring Program (HMP) for the Puna Geothermal Venture. The HMP is complementary to two additional environmental compliance monitoring programs also being submitted by Puma Geothermal Venture (PGV) for their proposed activities at the site. The other two programs are the Meteorology and Air Quality Monitoring Program (MAQMP) and the Noise Monitoring Program (NMP), being submitted concurrently.

Mapping Biomass for REDD in the Largest Forest of Central Africa: the Democratic Republic of Congo

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Aurelie; Saatchi, Sassan

2014-05-01

With the support of the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Nuclear Security, the implementation of the German Development Bank KfW, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and local DRC partners will produce a national scale biomass map for the entire forest coverage of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along with feasibility assessments of different forest protection measures within a framework of a REDD+ model project. The « Carbon Map and Model (CO2M&M) » project will produce a national forest biomass map for the DRC, which will enable quantitative assessments of carbon stocks and emissions in the largest forest of the Congo Basin. This effort will support the national REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) program in DRC, which plays a major role in sustainable development and poverty alleviation. This map will be developed from field data, complemented by airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and aerial photos, systematically sampled throughout the forests of the DRC and up-scaled to satellite images to accurately estimate carbon content in all forested areas. The second component of the project is to develop specific approaches for model REDD projects in key landscapes. This project represents the largest LiDAR-derived mapping effort in Africa, under unprecedented logistical constraints, which will provide one of the poorest nations in the world with the richest airborne and satellites derived datasets for analyzing forest structure, biomass and biodiversity.

Cultural values and population health: a quantitative analysis of variations in cultural values, health behaviours and health outcomes among 42 European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackenbach, Johan P

2014-07-01

Variations in 'culture' are often invoked to explain cross-national variations in health, but formal analyses of this relation are scarce. We studied the relation between three sets of cultural values and a wide range of health behaviours and health outcomes in Europe. Cultural values were measured according to Inglehart׳s two, Hofstede׳s six, and Schwartz׳s seven dimensions. Data on individual and collective health behaviours (30 indicators of fertility-related behaviours, adult lifestyles, use of preventive services, prevention policies, health care policies, and environmental policies) and health outcomes (35 indicators of general health and of specific health problems relating to fertility, adult lifestyles, prevention, health care, and violence) in 42 European countries around the year 2010 were extracted from harmonized international data sources. Multivariate regression analysis was used to relate health behaviours to value orientations, controlling for socioeconomic confounders. In univariate analyses, all scales are related to health behaviours and most scales are related to health outcomes, but in multivariate analyses Inglehart׳s 'self-expression' (versus 'survival') scale has by far the largest number of statistically significant associations. Countries with higher scores on 'self-expression' have better outcomes on 16 out of 30 health behaviours and on 19 out of 35 health indicators, and variations on this scale explain up to 26% of the variance in these outcomes in Europe. In mediation analyses the associations between cultural values and health outcomes are partly explained by differences in health behaviours. Variations in cultural values also appear to account for some of the striking variations in health behaviours between neighbouring countries in Europe (Sweden and Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Estonia and Latvia). This study is the first to provide systematic and coherent empirical evidence that

EVALUATION OF E-RECRUITMENT LEVEL AMONG THE LARGEST COMPANIES IN POLAND - PROJECT OF RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorota Buchnowska

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The changes taking place in the labor market cause that it is increasingly difficult to recruit employees with the right skills and competencies to companies. To reach the right candidates, they use modern IT solutions, such as ATS (Applicant Tracking System, which are supporting the processes of recruitment. Among others, they enable the publication of job offers on the Internet - on corporate websites, job portals and business social networking services - and apply for jobs online through these channels. This article pre-sents the evolution of the use of the Internet, and particularly the social media, in the recruitment process and presents a projekt of comprehensive research, which aims is to analyze and evaluate of the level of development of e-recruitment in Poland among largest companies.

The Process of Leadership and the Organizational Knowledge Management: the practicy of the largest industries of Santa Catarina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dante Marciano Girardi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8077.2012v14n32p65 The aim of this article is to introduce the practices of leadership in the largest industries of Santa Catarina and their contribution to the Knowledge Management. The organization competitiveness is related to the people and to the capacity of the companies to improve the constant development of knowledge. Using the leadership, the managers and the People Management have created compromise and improved the results of the organizations. The adopted methodology followed the qualitative methodology, descriptive and applied research. There were interviewed the seven largest industries of the state of Santa Catarina, in number of collaborators. The data were analyzed by the technique of analysis of content. It has been observed that the leadership is present in the most of the studied companies, by the use of formal programs of development of leaders or of actions related to leadership. It is concluded that the companies have the focus in the people and in the knowledge, in bigger or smaller degree, but some of them are in phase of transition and revision of programs towards the development of their talents and of the Knowledge Management.

Female urethral diverticulum presenting with acute urinary retention: Reporting the largest diverticulum with review of literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manas Ranjan Pradhan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Female urethral diverticulum is a rare entity with diverse spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is a very rare cause of bladder outlet obstruction and should be considered as a differential diagnosis in females presenting with acute urinary retention associated with a vaginal mass. Strong clinical suspicion combined with thorough physical examination and focused radiological investigations are vital for its diagnosis. Herein we report a case of giant urethral diverticulum presenting with acute urinary retention in a young female. It was managed by excision and urethral closure, and is the largest urethral diverticulum reported till date in the literature.

Europe's largest solar thermal power plant. [200 kw thermal output supplemented by two 10-kw windmills

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bossel, U

1976-03-01

An overview is given over the solar heating plant which has recently been commissioned in the Camargue (France). This is the largest plant in Europe, with a mean heat output of about 200 kW, for the production of thermal energy from solar energy. The plant consists of 108 parabolic collectors (200 sq. metres) and 48 flat collectors (110 sq. metres). Two windmills with outputs of 10 kW each complete the system. The heat energy produced by the solar collectors is given up to 3 different stores, which in turn are connected to various consumers.

Rewriting the Landform History of One of Africa's Three Largest Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Justin

2014-01-01

The Kalahari Basin in southern Africa - one of the largest basins in Africa, along with the Congo and Chad basins - has attracted attention since David Livingstone traveled through the area in the 1840s. It is a semiarid desert with a large freshwater swampland known as the Okavango Swamp (150 km radius). This prominent megafan (a fan with radii >100 km), with its fingers of dark green forests projecting into the dun colors of the dunes of the Kalahari semi-desert, has been well photographed by astronauts over the years. The study area in the northern Kalahari basin is centered on the Okavango megafan of northwest Botswana, whose swampland has become well known as an African wildlife preserve of importance to biology and tourism alike. The Okavango River is unusual because it has deposited not one but two megafans along its course: the Okavango megafan and the Cubango megafan. The Okavango megafan is one of only three well-known megafans in Africa. Megafans on Earth were once thought to be rare, but recent research has documented 68 in Africa alone. Eleven megafans, plus three more candidates, have been documented in the area immediately surrounding the Okavango feature. These 11 megafans occupy the flattest and smoothest terrains adjacent to the neighboring upland and stand out as the darkest areas in the roughness map of the area. Megafan terrains occupy at least 200,000 sq km of the study area. The roughness map shown is based on an algorithm used first on Mars to quantify topographic roughness. Research of Earth's flattest terrains is just beginning with the aid of such maps, and it appears that these terrains are analogous to the flattest regions of Mars. Implications: 1. The variability in depositional style in each subbasin may apply Africa-wide: rift megafan length is dominated by rift width, whereas Owambo subbasin megafans are probably controlled by upland basin size; Zambezi subbasin megafans appear more like foreland basin types, with the position of

Field Note: Threatening Tonle Sap: Challenges for Southeast-Asia’s largest Freshwater Lake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuenzer, Claudia

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The Tonle Sap ecosystem in Cambodia is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake; strongly impacted by the Mekong river flood pulse. The lake is home to exceptional biodiversity, and rural communities living in free floating villages on the lake and on its shores. The fragile niche ecosystems as well as the rural livelihoods of Tonle Sap are under severe threat. Overfishing, illegal wood harvesting, further resource exploitation, and water quality deterioration all impact the stability of the socio-ecological system of Tonle Sap. At the same time, expected flood pulse changes due to regulatory measures in the context of hydropower development upstream on the Mekong are a severe threat for Tonle Sap’s ecosystem stability. The area needs to shift into the focus of attention of national and international re-searchers, stakeholders, and decision makers, to find suitable pathways for a future sustainable development of this unique and pristine region.

Level of patient and operator dose in the largest cardiac centre in Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsapaki, V.; Patsilinakos, S.; Voudris, V.; Magginas, A.; Pavlidis, S.; Maounis, T.; Theodorakis, G.; Koutelou, M.; Vrantza, T.; Nearchou, M.; Nikolaki, N.; Kollaros, N.; Kyrozi, E.; Kottou, S.; Karaiskos, P.; Neofotistou, E.; Cokkinos, D.

2008-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the patient and staff doses in the most frequent interventional cardiology (IC) procedures performed in Onassio, the largest Cardiac Centre in Greece. Data were collected from three digital X-ray systems for 212 coronary angiographies, 203 percutaneous transluminal coronary angio-plasties (PTCA) and 134 various electrophysiological studies. Patient skin dose was measured using suitably calibrated slow radiotherapy films and cardiologist dose using suitably calibrated thermoluminescent dosemeters placed on left arm, hand and foot. Patient median dose area product (DAP) (all examinations) ranged between 6.7 and 83.5 Gy cm 2 . Patient median skin dose in PTCA was 799 mGy (320-1660 mGy) and in RF ablation 160 mGy (35-1920 mGy). Median arm, hand and foot dose to the cardiologist were 12.6, 27 and 13 μSv, respectively, per procedure. The great range of radiation doses received by both patients and operators confirms the need for continuous monitoring of all IC techniques. (authors)

Using largest Lyapunov exponent to confirm the intrinsic stability of boiling water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gavilian-Moreno, Carlos; Espinosa-Paredes, Gilberto

2016-01-01

The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs). Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution

Using largest Lyapunov exponent to confirm the intrinsic stability of boiling water reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gavilian-Moreno, Carlos [Iberdrola Generacion, S.A., Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, Project Engineering Department, Paraje le Plano S/N, Valencia (Spain); Espinosa-Paredes, Gilberto [Area de ingeniera en Recursos Energeticos, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico city (Mexico)

2016-04-15

The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs). Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution.

Estimation of the largest enterprises’ impact on the socio-economic development of territories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Razgulina

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The key basic trends of modern society development are associated with the transfer of some government functions to big business. Thus, scientific and public circles argue about social partnership between government, business and employees and offer different variants of the corporate social responsibility concept. The article presents the experience to assess social responsibility of business on the example of the largest chemical enterprises located in the Vologda and Novgorod oblasts. The evaluation results have revealed a number of problems hindering the formation of socially responsible behavior of enterprises, particularly the lack of standardized reporting on corporate social responsibility; provision of formal corporate social responsibility report; business’ non-system participation in social and economic development of territories. According to the authors, the development of a special model to regulate participants’ mutual relations can increase social responsibility of Russian business. Unified interests and resources of business and government promote the development of an agreed strategy in the field of regional social-economic development

Using Largest Lyapunov Exponent to Confirm the Intrinsic Stability of Boiling Water Reactors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos J. Gavilán-Moreno

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs. Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution.

A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks

Science.gov (United States)

Arias-Ortiz, A.; Serrano, O.; Masqué, P.; Lavery, P. S.; Mueller, U.; Kendrick, G. A.; Rozaimi, M.; Esteban, A.; Fourqurean, J. W.; Marbà, N.; Mateo, M. A.; Murray, K.; Rule, M. J.; Duarte, C. M.

2018-04-01

Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay's seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO2 could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4-21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.

Diets of giants: the nutritional value of herbivorous dinosaur diet during the Mesozoic

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Fiona; Hummel, Juergen; Sharifi, Reza; Lee, Alexandra; Lomax, Barry

2017-04-01

A major uncertainty in estimating energy budgets and population densities of extinct animals is the carrying capacity of their ecosystems, constrained by net primary productivity (NPP) and digestible energy content of that NPP. The hypothesis that increases in NPP of land plants due to elevated atmospheric CO2 contributed to the unparalleled size of the sauropods, the largest ever land animals, has recently been rejected, based on modern studies on herbivorous insects. However, the nutritional value of plants grown under elevated CO2 levels might be very different for vertebrate megaherbivores with more complex digestive systems and different protein:energy requirements than insects. Here we show that the metabolisable energy (ME) value of five species of potential dinosaur food plants does not decline consistently with increasing CO2 growth concentrations, with maxima observed at 1200 ppm CO2. Our data potentially rebut the hypothesis of constraints on herbivore diet quality in the Mesozoic due to CO2 levels.

Phosphorus Loadings to the World's Largest Lakes: Sources and Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Fink, Gabriel; Alcamo, Joseph; Flörke, Martina; Reder, Klara

2018-04-01

Eutrophication is a major water quality issue in lakes worldwide and is principally caused by the loadings of phosphorus from catchment areas. It follows that to develop strategies to mitigate eutrophication, we must have a good understanding of the amount, sources, and trends of phosphorus pollution. This paper provides the first consistent and harmonious estimates of current phosphorus loadings to the world's largest 100 lakes, along with the sources of these loadings and their trends. These estimates provide a perspective on the extent of lake eutrophication worldwide, as well as potential input to the evaluation and management of eutrophication in these lakes. We take a modeling approach and apply the WorldQual model for these estimates. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to fill in large gaps in observational data. From the analysis, we find that about 66 of the 100 lakes are located in developing countries and their catchments have a much larger average phosphorus yield than the lake catchments in developed countries (11.1 versus 0.7 kg TP km-2 year-1). Second, the main source of phosphorus to the examined lakes is inorganic fertilizer (47% of total). Third, between 2005-2010 and 1990-1994, phosphorus pollution increased at 50 out of 100 lakes. Sixty percent of lakes with increasing pollution are in developing countries. P pollution changed primarily due to changing P fertilizer use. In conclusion, we show that the risk of P-stimulated eutrophication is higher in developing countries.

Application of the largest Lyapunov exponent and non-linear fractal extrapolation algorithm to short-term load forecasting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jianzhou; Jia Ruiling; Zhao Weigang; Wu Jie; Dong Yao

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► The maximal predictive step size is determined by the largest Lyapunov exponent. ► A proper forecasting step size is applied to load demand forecasting. ► The improved approach is validated by the actual load demand data. ► Non-linear fractal extrapolation method is compared with three forecasting models. ► Performance of the models is evaluated by three different error measures. - Abstract: Precise short-term load forecasting (STLF) plays a key role in unit commitment, maintenance and economic dispatch problems. Employing a subjective and arbitrary predictive step size is one of the most important factors causing the low forecasting accuracy. To solve this problem, the largest Lyapunov exponent is adopted to estimate the maximal predictive step size so that the step size in the forecasting is no more than this maximal one. In addition, in this paper a seldom used forecasting model, which is based on the non-linear fractal extrapolation (NLFE) algorithm, is considered to develop the accuracy of predictions. The suitability and superiority of the two solutions are illustrated through an application to real load forecasting using New South Wales electricity load data from the Australian National Electricity Market. Meanwhile, three forecasting models: the gray model, the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average approach and the support vector machine method, which received high approval in STLF, are selected to compare with the NLFE algorithm. Comparison results also show that the NLFE model is outstanding, effective, practical and feasible.

Modelling studies of horizontal steam generator PGV-1000 with Cathare

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karppinen, I. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)

1995-12-31

To perform thermal-hydraulic studies applied to nuclear power plants equipped with VVER, a program of qualification and assessment of the CATHARE computer code is in progress at the Institute of Protection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN). In this paper studies of modelling horizontal steam generator of VVER-1000 with the CATHARE computer code are presented. Steady state results are compared with measured data from the fifth unit of Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. (orig.). 10 refs.

Modelling studies of horizontal steam generator PGV-1000 with Cathare

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karppinen, I [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)

1996-12-31

To perform thermal-hydraulic studies applied to nuclear power plants equipped with VVER, a program of qualification and assessment of the CATHARE computer code is in progress at the Institute of Protection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN). In this paper studies of modelling horizontal steam generator of VVER-1000 with the CATHARE computer code are presented. Steady state results are compared with measured data from the fifth unit of Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. (orig.). 10 refs.

Second Life for Electric Vehicle Batteries: Answering Questions on Battery Degradation and Value

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neubauer, J. S.; Wood, E.; Pesaran, A.

2015-05-04

Battery second use – putting used plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) batteries into secondary service following their automotive tenure – has been proposed as a means to decrease the cost of PEVs while providing low cost energy storage to other fields (e.g. electric utility markets). To understand the value of used automotive batteries, however, we must first answer several key questions related to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a methodology and the requisite tools to answer these questions, including NREL’s Battery Lifetime Simulation Tool (BLAST). Herein we introduce these methods and tools, and demonstrate their application. We have found that capacity fade from automotive use has a much larger impact on second use value than resistance growth. Where capacity loss is driven by calendar effects more than cycling effects, average battery temperature during automotive service – which is often driven by climate – is found to be the single factor with the largest effect on remaining value. Installing hardware and software capabilities onboard the vehicle that can both infer remaining battery capacity from in-situ measurements, as well as track average battery temperature over time, will thereby facilitate the second use of automotive batteries.

Value Chain Structures that Define European Cellulosic Ethanol Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jay Sterling Gregg

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Production of cellulosic ethanol (CE has not yet reached the scale envisaged by the literature and industry. This study explores CE production in Europe to improve understanding of the motivations and barriers associated with this situation. To do this, we conduct a case study-based analysis of CE production plants across Europe from a global value chain (GVC perspective. We find that most CE production plants in the EU focus largely on intellectual property and are therefore only at the pilot or demonstration scale. Crescentino, the largest CE production facility in Europe, is also more interested in technology licensing than producing ethanol. Demonstration-scale plants tend to have a larger variety of feedstocks, whereas forestry-based plants have more diversity of outputs. As scale increases, the diversity of feedstocks and outputs diminishes, and firms struggle with feedstock provisioning, global petroleum markets and higher financial risks. We argue that, to increase CE production, policies should consider value chains, promote the wider bio-economy of products and focus on economies of scope. Whereas the EU and its member states have ethanol quotas and blending targets, a more effective policy would be to seek to reduce the risks involved in financing capital projects, secure feedstock provisioning and support a diversity of end products.

Damage and protection cost curves for coastal floods within the 600 largest European cities

Science.gov (United States)

Prahl, Boris F.; Boettle, Markus; Costa, Luís; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego

2018-01-01

The economic assessment of the impacts of storm surges and sea-level rise in coastal cities requires high-level information on the damage and protection costs associated with varying flood heights. We provide a systematically and consistently calculated dataset of macroscale damage and protection cost curves for the 600 largest European coastal cities opening the perspective for a wide range of applications. Offering the first comprehensive dataset to include the costs of dike protection, we provide the underpinning information to run comparative assessments of costs and benefits of coastal adaptation. Aggregate cost curves for coastal flooding at the city-level are commonly regarded as by-products of impact assessments and are generally not published as a standalone dataset. Hence, our work also aims at initiating a more critical discussion on the availability and derivation of cost curves. PMID:29557944

Damage and protection cost curves for coastal floods within the 600 largest European cities

Science.gov (United States)

Prahl, Boris F.; Boettle, Markus; Costa, Luís; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego

2018-03-01

The economic assessment of the impacts of storm surges and sea-level rise in coastal cities requires high-level information on the damage and protection costs associated with varying flood heights. We provide a systematically and consistently calculated dataset of macroscale damage and protection cost curves for the 600 largest European coastal cities opening the perspective for a wide range of applications. Offering the first comprehensive dataset to include the costs of dike protection, we provide the underpinning information to run comparative assessments of costs and benefits of coastal adaptation. Aggregate cost curves for coastal flooding at the city-level are commonly regarded as by-products of impact assessments and are generally not published as a standalone dataset. Hence, our work also aims at initiating a more critical discussion on the availability and derivation of cost curves.

Normal values of urine total protein- and albumin-to-creatinine ratios in term newborns.

Science.gov (United States)

El Hamel, Chahrazed; Chianea, Thierry; Thon, Séverine; Lepichoux, Anne; Yardin, Catherine; Guigonis, Vincent

2017-01-01

It is important to have an accurate assessment of urinary protein when glomerulopathy or kidney injury is suspected. Currently available normal values for the neonate population have limited value, in part because they are based on small populations and obsolete creatinine assays. We have performed a prospective study with the aim to update the normal upper values of the urinary total protein-to-creatinine and albumin-to-creatinine ratios in term newborns. Urine samples were collected from 277 healthy, full-term newborns within the first 48 hours (D0-1) and between 72 and 120 h of life (D3-4). Total protein, albumin, creatinine and osmolality were measured and the upper limit of normal (upper-limit) values determined. At D0-1 and D3-4, the upper-limit values for the total protein-to-creatinine ratio were 1431 and 1205 mg/g (162 and 136 g/mol) and those for the albumin-to-creatinine ratio were 746 and 301 mg/g (84 and 34 g/mol), respectively. The upper-limit values were significantly higher at D0-1 than at D3-4 only for the albumin-to-creatinine ratio. This study determined the upper limit of normal values for urinary total protein-to-creatinine and albumin-to-creatinine ratios in the largest population of newborns studied to date. These values can therefore be considered as the most clinically relevant data currently available for the detection and diagnosis of glomerular injury in daily clinical practice in this population.

Evaluation of tube to collector connection by hydraulic expansion method in PGV-1000 steam generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dashti, H.G.; Hashemi, B.; Jahromi, S.A.

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → The produced residual stresses in the collector body due to hydraulic expansion method have been compared with explosive method. → The residual stresses were obtained using two methods of FEM and strain gauging tests. → The effect of clearance between tube and collector on the residual stresses was investigated. → The contact stresses between the tube and collector interface were modeled and the required connection strength between tube and collector is estimated based on ASME rules and compared with FE results. - Abstract: Investigations on steam generators failure due to cracking in collector ligaments at perforated parts determined that connection process of the tubes to collector could be one of the main breakdown causes. The stability and strength of tube to collector joint is dependent to the geometry of tube and collector, the joining process and the operational conditions. In this research hydraulic expansion method has been considered as connection method of tube to collector. The Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to simulate the hydraulic expansion process and determine stress condition of the joints. The contact stresses between the tube and collector interface were modeled using contact elements of ANSYS program. Furthermore, the effect of clearance between tube and collector on the residual stresses around of joints was investigated. Some specimens from collector and tube materials were tested at various temperatures and their results were used at rate-independent multi-linear Mises plasticity model for FE analysis. Required connection strength between tube and collector is estimated based on ASME rules and compared with FE results. The results show that the residual tensile stresses could be greatly increased by decreasing of initial clearance. The highest value of residual stresses was observed around of collector holes nevertheless it was considerably lesser than obtained residual stresses in explosive method. The

Comparing WTP values of different types of QALY gain elicited from the general public.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Mark; Baker, Rachel; Brouwer, Werner; Mason, Helen; Hansen, Dorte Gyrd; Robinson, Angela; Donaldson, Cam

2015-03-01

The appropriate thresholds for decisions on the cost-effectiveness of medical interventions remain controversial, especially in 'end-of-life' situations. Evidence of the values placed on different types of health gain by the general public is limited. Across nine European countries, 17,657 people were presented with different hypothetical health scenarios each involving a gain of one quality adjusted life year (QALY) and asked about their willingness to pay (WTP) for that gain. The questions included quality of life (QoL) enhancing and life extending health gains, and a scenario where respondents faced imminent, premature death. The mean WTP values for a one-QALY gain composed of QoL improvements were modest (PPP$11,000). When comparing QALY gains obtained in the near future, the valuation of life extension exceeded the valuation of QoL enhancing gains (mean WTP PPP$19,000 for a scenario in which a coma is avoided). The mean WTP values were higher still when respondents faced imminent, premature death (PPP$29,000). Evidence from the largest survey on the value of health gains by the general public indicated a higher value for life extending gains compared with QoL enhancing gains. A further modest premium may be indicated for life extension when facing imminent, premature death. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Astronomer's new guide to the galaxy: largest map of cold dust revealed

Science.gov (United States)

2009-07-01

Astronomers have unveiled an unprecedented new atlas of the inner regions of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, peppered with thousands of previously undiscovered dense knots of cold cosmic dust -- the potential birthplaces of new stars. Made using observations from the APEX telescope in Chile, this survey is the largest map of cold dust so far, and will prove an invaluable map for observations made with the forthcoming ALMA telescope, as well as the recently launched ESA Herschel space telescope. ESO PR Photo 24a/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (annotated and in five sections) ESO PR Photo 24b/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (annotated) ESO PR Photo 24c/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (in five sections) ESO PR Photo 24d/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey ESO PR Photo 24e/09 The Galactic Centre and Sagittarius B2 ESO PR Photo 24f/09 The NGC 6357 and NGC 6334 nebulae ESO PR Photo 24g/09 The RCW120 nebula ESO PR Video 24a/09 Annotated pan as seen by the ATLASGAL survey This new guide for astronomers, known as the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) shows the Milky Way in submillimetre-wavelength light (between infrared light and radio waves [1]). Images of the cosmos at these wavelengths are vital for studying the birthplaces of new stars and the structure of the crowded galactic core. "ATLASGAL gives us a new look at the Milky Way. Not only will it help us investigate how massive stars form, but it will also give us an overview of the larger-scale structure of our galaxy", said Frederic Schuller from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, leader of the ATLASGAL team. The area of the new submillimetre map is approximately 95 square degrees, covering a very long and narrow strip along the galactic plane two degrees wide (four times the width of the full Moon) and over 40 degrees long. The 16 000 pixel-long map was made with the LABOCA submillimetre

Atmospheric Pollution and Greenhouse Emissions over 14 Largest Megacities of the World

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, X.; Singh, R. P.

2017-12-01

Megacities have more than 10 million people, some of them are located in developing/developed countries. We have considered the top 14 megacities of the world. Due to growing industries, urbanization, vehicular density, and energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions have increased, which has degraded air quality. In some countries, clean air act has improved the air quality. We have considered multiple satellites and have retrieved atmospheric pollution parameters (aerosol optical depth-AOD and angstrom exponent) and greenhouse gases to study their variability from the period 2002-2016. High AOD represents high pollution level, which are prominent during winter and spring for Manila, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, Mexico City, Mumbai, Seoul, Dhaka, Cairo, and Bangkok. During summer and fall, Delhi, Karachi, and Sao Paulo have high values. During spring season, some of the megacities show significant higher pollution levels (high AOD) associated with the dust storms; however, Moscow and Karachi show contrasting behaviors. The angstrom exponent parameter has high values in the spring and summer for Manila, Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Seoul, and Cairo. Moscow shows a significant low value in April 2012. Delhi, Karachi, Mumbai, Dhaka, and Bangkok have high values in fall and winter. Dhaka shows significant low values in August 2003, June 2005, June 2008, July 2011, and June 2016. The total ozone column concentrations have high values during summer and spring, and low values during fall and winter. The methane concentrations are higher during fall and winter, and lower during spring and summer. An increasing trend of methane level is observed over all the megacities from 2002 until now. The increasing greenhouse gases in megacities have direct impact on human health and weather conditions. Some of the megacities suffer from dense haze, fog and smog, which impact the day-to-day lives of residents due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Voluntary disclosure of Value Chain in Financial Reports of Companies Brazilian Capital Open

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leandro da Costa Lopes

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Managing the value chain with the aim to achieve competitive advantage in relation to their competitors and in order to reduce costs has become increasingly important for business organizations. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether Brazilian organisations listed on Sao Paulo´s Stock Exchange (BOVESPA publish information relating to value chain management in their financial reports. In addition, this research aims to investigate the potential relationtionship between evidentiation of this information and two independent variables, gross margin and number of pages. Content Analysis was adopted in the management report and report notes of the year 2011. The analysis was based on the strategic cost management framework developed by Wrubel et al. (2010. The sample selected includes the ten largest non financial organizations, according to their total assets. Despite the fact that publishing the value chain management is not compulsory, it was observed that the businesses studied present on average 30 sentences regarding the topic in their reports. The category internal and external value chain activities represents 54.58% of the total sentences found. It has been found that there is a significant positive correlation between the amount of sentences disclosed and page number of reports, however, it was found that the same does not occur when attempted to correlate the gross margin. As a consequence, the hypothesis that gross margin could be a motivation for higher volume of information regarding value chain was not confirmed.

Survival of Extremely Premature Infants at the Largest MOH Referral Hospital in UAE: Comparable Results to Developed Countries

OpenAIRE

YASEEN, Hakam; YASEEN, Hoda

2010-01-01

Objective: to investigate the survival rate of extreme premature infants born between 2000 and 2008 at AL Qassimi hospital that is the largest Ministry of Health (MOH) referral hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: This was an institutional review board approved retrospective study of the outcomes of pregnancies in women who were in labor and delivered between 23 and 25 weeks' completed gestation at Al Qassimi Hospital in the Emirate of Sharjah between January 1,2000 and De...

Characterization of the largest relic Eurasian wild grapevine reservoir in Southern Iberian Peninsula

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arroyo-García, R.; Cantos, M.; Lara, M.; López, M.A.; Gallardo, A.; Ocete, C.A.; Pérez, A.; Bánáti, B.; García, J.L.; Ocete, R.

2016-11-01

Wild grapevine is becoming a threatened species in the Iberian Peninsula due to human impacts. The aim of this work was to carry out a holistic study for six years of the largest wild grapevine population found up to date in SW Iberian Peninsula. This population has 115 vines. Ampelographic and soil characteristics have been studied. Evaluation of its environment has also been studied by describing the main parasitic species and natural enemies of pests. The ability of this plant material for its micropropagation and storage in slow-growth conditions has been tested. Microvinification resulted in a wine with good acidity and medium color intensity, two interesting characteristics under a warm climatology. Finally, the identification of private alleles in this wild population, absent in other locations from the Northern and Southern Iberian territories, is a very valuable feature and confirms the importance of establishing conservation programs. The population here studied is genetically unique and potentially useful for commercial rootstocks and cultivars breeding that would improve viticulture and enology. (Author)

Shareholder value and the performance of a large nursing home chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-06-01

To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993-2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Healthcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains.

Fluctuations in the size of the largest projectile fragment produced in 1 GeV/nucleon Au + C collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warren, P.; Elliott, J.B.; Gilkes, M.L.; Hauger, A.; Hirsch, A.S.

1993-01-01

Large fluctuations in quantities such as density are characteristic of critical phenomena in the neighborhood of the critical point. Using the EOS apparatus at the Bevalac, we have performed an exclusive experiment in which the size of the largest projectile fragment produced in 1 GeV/nucleon Au+C collisions is studied as a function of the charged multiplicity of the event. A peak in the fluctuations is expected at the critical multiplicity. The data are compared to a percolation model and a statistical multifragmentation model

Enhanced natural radiation exposure enhanced by human activity: the largest contributor to the Chinese population dose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan Ziqiang; Liu Yanyang

2011-01-01

For the radiation exposure caused by human activities, the enhanced natural radiation exposure is the largest contributor to Chinese population dose. This problem has attracted social attention in recent years. Efforts have been made in several fields, such as radon indoors and in workplace, environmental problems associated with NORMs, occupational radiation hazards of non-uranium mine, and radiation dose evaluation for energy chain, but there are still many problems to be solved. In order to protect the health of workers and the public, while ensuring industrial production and economic development, it is also necessary to continue to strengthen research in all aspects above mentioned, and gradually promote the control of natural radiation exposure enhanced by human activities. (authors)

Magnitude scaling relationship from the first P-wave arrivals on Canada's west coast

Science.gov (United States)

Eshaghi, A.; Tiampo, K. F.

2011-12-01

The empirical magnitude scaling relationship from ground-motion period parameter τc is derived using vertical waveforms recorded in the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) along Canada's west coast. A high-pass filtered displacement amplitude parameter, Pd, is calculated from the initial 3 s of the P waveforms and the empirical relationship between Pd and peak ground velocity, PGV, is derived using the same data set. We selected earthquakes of M >3.0 recorded during 1996-2009 by the seismic network stations in the region operated by National Resources Canada (NRCan). In total, 90 events were selected and the vertical components of the earthquakes signals were converted to ground velocity and displacement. The displacements were filtered with a one-way Butterworth high-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 0.075 Hz. Pd and τc are computed from the vertical seismogram components. While the average magnitude error was approximately 0.70 magnitude units when using the individual record, the error dropped to approximately 0.5 magnitude units when using the average τc for each event. In case of PGV, the average error is approximately 0.3. These relationships may be used for initial steps in establishing an earthquake early warning system for the CSZ.

Sex- and age-related differences in half-marathon performance and competitiveness in the world's largest half-marathon - the GöteborgsVarvet.

Science.gov (United States)

Knechtle, B; Nikolaidis, P T

2018-01-01

In road runners, the age-related performance decline has been well investigated for marathoners, but little is known for half-marathoners. We analysed data from 138,616 runners (48,148 women and 90,469 men) competing between 2014 and 2016 in GöteborgsVarvet, the world's largest half-marathon. The men-to-women ratio in participants increased with age, the fastest race times were observed in age groups ˂35 and 35-39 years in women and in age group 35-39 years in men, the main effect of sex and the sex × age group interaction on race time were trivial, and the competitiveness was denser in men and in the younger age groups. In summary, in half-marathon running in the largest half-marathon in the world, the GöteborgsVarvet, women achieved the fastest race time at an earlier age compared to men where the fastest race times were observed in women in age groups ˂35 and 35-39 years and in men in age group 35-39 years.

Bedrock Canyons Carved by the Largest Known Floods on Earth and Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, M. P.; Lapôtre, M. G. A.; Larsen, I. J.; Williams, R. M. E.

2017-12-01

The surface of Earth is a dynamic and permeable interface where the rocky crust is sculpted by ice, wind and water resulting in spectacular mountain ranges, vast depositional basins and environments that support life. These landforms and deposits contain a rich, yet incomplete, record of Earth history that we are just beginning to understand. Some of the most dramatic landforms are the huge bedrock canyons carved by catastrophic floods. On Mars, similar bedrock canyons, known as Outflow Channels, are the most important indicators of large volumes of surface water in the past. Despite their importance and now decades of observations of canyon morphology, we lack a basic understanding of how the canyons formed, which limits our ability to reconstruct flood discharge, duration and water volume. In this presentation I will summarize recent work - using mechanistic numerical models and field observations - that suggests that bedrock canyons carved by megafloods rapidly evolve to a size and shape such that boundary shear stresses just exceed that required to entrain fractured blocks of rock. The threshold shear stress constraint allows for quantitative reconstruction of the largest known floods on Earth and Mars, and implies far smaller discharges than previous methods that assume flood waters fully filled the canyons to high water marks.

The largest subsea hot tap (future tap flange) at Angel Field, Australia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lad, Deepak; Drysdale, Colin [T.D. Williamson (United States); Naidoo, Sashie [T.D. Williamson (Australia)

2008-07-01

A subsea hot tap was conducted near the gas production platforms in Angel Field, Australia in September 2007 and verified as the largest no. 900 subsea hot tap by Australian authorities. This paper outlines the subsea tapping process, risks and safety issues in deep water environment, including the need to ensure 100% system accuracy and that the machine fluids used to operate the subsea tapping machines were environmentally friendly. The testing phase included land and water testing. In the land tests, issues relating to metal hardness, temperature, pressure and ocean currents that affected machine stability, torque and cutting rate were considered. All preliminary design and testing focused on being able to mount the tapping machine to a pre-existing hot-tap flange and conduct the tapping operation, start to finish, preferably without changing the cutter. The water depth tests took place inside a pressurized, underwater hyperbaric chamber. The equipment repeated the land testing process in conditions duplicating that of the actual project site. Timing was also measured in multiple climatic conditions (except water depth) to obtain an estimation of various scenarios. The field tapping process was conducted without problems in over six hours with a single cutter and without any stalls. (author)

Longterm Performance Trends Analysis and ManagingExpectation for Active Value1 (Case Study: PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, Tbk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Perdana Wahyu Santosa

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This research used financial ratio and managing expectations for active value about performance of PT IndocementTunggal Prakarsa, Tbk (INTP as one of largest cement company with a strong brand image at Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX. Unlike traditional corporate-performance metric, this study use growth value of matrix. INTP is well placed to meet Indonesia’s growing per capita of cement consumption. The financial data sources for this research are the audited annual reports of INTP2002-2008. The analysis focused on compounds annual growth rate (CAGR,  profitability, total assets turnover, cost of capital, market value added & market risk and market perception map. This research also used growth value matrix to analysis the market perception of INTP in 2008 that combined current performance with future growth opportunity. The result of market perception mapping for 2008-2009 shows that INTP was just on market average of current performance index but the future growth opportunity was above the market average level. The conclusion explains that INTP has very good long-term fundamental performance’s trend and the company is indicated has strong capabilityto be excellent value manager in the future.

The 10 largest public and philanthropic funders of health research in the world: what they fund and how they distribute their funds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Viergever, R.F.; Hendriks, T.C.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Little is known about who the main public and philanthropic funders of health research are globally, what they fund and how they decide what gets funded. This study aims to identify the 10 largest public and philanthropic health research funding organizations in the world, to report on

Reconstructing the population history of the largest tribe of India: the Dravidian speaking Gond.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaubey, Gyaneshwer; Tamang, Rakesh; Pennarun, Erwan; Dubey, Pavan; Rai, Niraj; Upadhyay, Rakesh Kumar; Meena, Rajendra Prasad; Patel, Jayanti R; van Driem, George; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Metspalu, Mait; Villems, Richard

2017-04-01

The Gond comprise the largest tribal group of India with a population exceeding 12 million. Linguistically, the Gond belong to the Gondi-Manda subgroup of the South Central branch of the Dravidian language family. Ethnographers, anthropologists and linguists entertain mutually incompatible hypotheses on their origin. Genetic studies of these people have thus far suffered from the low resolution of the genetic data or the limited number of samples. Therefore, to gain a more comprehensive view on ancient ancestry and genetic affinities of the Gond with the neighbouring populations speaking Indo-European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic languages, we have studied four geographically distinct groups of Gond using high-resolution data. All the Gond groups share a common ancestry with a certain degree of isolation and differentiation. Our allele frequency and haplotype-based analyses reveal that the Gond share substantial genetic ancestry with the Indian Austroasiatic (ie, Munda) groups, rather than with the other Dravidian groups to whom they are most closely related linguistically.

A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks

KAUST Repository

Arias-Ortiz, A.

2018-03-29

Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay’s seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4–21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.

SM-ROM-GL (Strong Motion Romania Ground Level Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioan Sorin BORCIA

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The SM-ROM-GL database includes data obtained by the processing of records performed at ground level by the Romanian seismic networks, namely INCERC, NIEP, NCSRR and ISPH-GEOTEC, during recent seismic events with moment magnitude Mw ≥ 5 and epicenters located in Romania. All the available seismic records were re-processed using the same basic software and the same procedures and options (filtering and baseline correction, in order to obtain a consistent dataset. The database stores computed parameters of seismic motions, i.e. peak values: PGA, PGV, PGD, effective peak values: EPA, EPV, EPD, control periods, spectral values of absolute acceleration, relative velocity and relative displacement, as well as of instrumental intensity (as defined bz Sandi and Borcia in 2011. The fields in the database include: coding of seismic events, stations and records, a number of associated fields (seismic event source parameters, geographical coordinates of seismic stations, links to the corresponding ground motion records, charts of the response spectra of absolute acceleration, relative velocity, relative displacement and instrumental intensity, as well as some other representative parameters of seismic motions. The conception of the SM-ROM-GL database allows for an easy maintenance; such that elementary knowledge of Microsoft Access 2000 is sufficient for its operation.

Invasive fish species in the largest lakes of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England: the collective U.K. experience

OpenAIRE

Winfield, I.J.; Fletcher, J.M.; James, J.B.

2011-01-01

An invasive species is defined as an alien (or introduced or non-native) species whose establishment and spread threaten ecosystems, habitats or species with harm. Such threats to UK lake fish communities have long been appreciated and this review assembles case histories, including new data, from the largest lakes of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England to examine the hypothesis that at least some of these introductions have become invasive. Loch Lomond in Scotland has experienced s...

A Value Chain and Marketing of Iranian Cashmere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. R. Ansari-Renani

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Iran together with Afghanistan is the third largest producer and exporter of cashmere in the world, after China and Mongolia. This paper assesses the status of cashmere marketing of Iran in order to evaluate sustainability, and to identify some constraints limiting the productivity and compa-tibility. In August to December 2011 structured questionnaires and interviews were used to compile information regarding market chains cashmere industry of Iran. Information compiled revealed that nearly all the cashmere was marketed by direct buying in Iran. The principle centers for the gathering and rough sorting raw cashmere in Iran were Baft, Sirjan, Mashad, and Birjand. The principle cashmere-importing countries of Iranian cashmere were China, England, Belgium and Italy. The price for Iranian cashmere has showed large fluctuations in the last forty years: it increased from 25 dollars in 1972 to 110 dollars in 1988 and decreased to 65 dollars in 2006 and again increased to 110 dollars in 2012. Given the present status of production and marketing there seems to be substantial scope to improve the value addition of Iranian cashmere.

The Diagnostic Value of Pressure Algometry for Temporomandibular Disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Włodzimierz Więckiewicz

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic value of pressure algometry in temporomandibular disorders. Two hundred volunteers aged 19.3 to 27.8 (mean 21.50, SD 0.97 participated in this study. An analogue pressure algometer was used for the evaluation of muscle tenderness of the following masticatory muscles: superficial and deep parts of the masseter muscle; anterior and posterior parts of the temporal muscle; and the tissues adjacent to the lateral and dorsal part of the temporomandibular joint capsule. Each patient described the algometry result for the individual components of the masticatory motor system, by selecting each time the intensity of pain on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS ruler. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve, indicating the discriminatory efficiency for asymptomatic subjects and patients with temporomandibular dysfunction according to the dysfunction Di index, was the largest for the mean pain value (AUC = 0.8572; SEM = 0.0531. The 7.4 VAS cut-off point marked 95.3% specificity for this variable in identifying healthy subjects and 58.4% sensitivity in identifying patients with symptoms of dysfunctions (accuracy 68.1%. Assuming comparable sensitivity (74.9% and specificity (74.2% for a diagnostic test, there was test accuracy of 74.5% at the 4.2 VAS cut-off point.

Application of τc*Pd for identifying damaging earthquakes for earthquake early warning

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, P. L.; Lin, T. L.; Wu, Y. M.

2014-12-01

Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS) is an effective approach to mitigate earthquake damage. In this study, we used the seismic record by the Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net), because it has dense station coverage and co-located borehole strong-motion seismometers along with the free-surface strong-motion seismometers. We used inland earthquakes with moment magnitude (Mw) from 5.0 to 7.3 between 1998 and 2012. We choose 135 events and 10950 strong ground accelerograms recorded by the 696 strong ground accelerographs. Both the free-surface and the borehole data are used to calculate τc and Pd, respectively. The results show that τc*Pd has a good correlation with PGV and is a robust parameter for assessing the potential of damaging earthquake. We propose the value of τc*Pd determined from seconds after the arrival of P wave could be a threshold for the on-site type of EEW.

Earthquake Risk Management of Underground Lifelines in the Urban Area of Catania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grasso, S.; Maugeri, M.

2008-01-01

water has been obtained, with PGV values calculated for level I and level II earthquake scenarios

Indigenous environmental values as human values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Gratani

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The claim that in natural resource management (NRM a change from anthropocentric values and ethics to eco-centric ones is necessary to achieve sustainability leads to the search for eco-centric models of relationship with the environment. Indigenous cultures can provide such models; hence, there is the need for multicultural societies to further include their values in NRM. In this article, we investigate the environmental values placed on a freshwater environment of the Wet Tropics by a community of indigenous Australians. We discuss their environmental values as human values, and so as beliefs that guide communities’ understanding of how the natural world should be viewed and treated by humans. This perspective represents a step forward in our understanding of indigenous environmental values, and a way to overcome the paradigm of indigenous values as valued biophysical attributes of the environment or processes happening in landscapes. Our results show that the participant community holds biospheric values. Restoring these values in the NRM of the Wet Tropics could contribute to sustainability and environmental justice in the area.

Value and probability coding in a feedback-based learning task utilizing food rewards.

Science.gov (United States)

Tricomi, Elizabeth; Lempert, Karolina M

2015-01-01

For the consequences of our actions to guide behavior, the brain must represent different types of outcome-related information. For example, an outcome can be construed as negative because an expected reward was not delivered or because an outcome of low value was delivered. Thus behavioral consequences can differ in terms of the information they provide about outcome probability and value. We investigated the role of the striatum in processing probability-based and value-based negative feedback by training participants to associate cues with food rewards and then employing a selective satiety procedure to devalue one food outcome. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined brain activity related to receipt of expected rewards, receipt of devalued outcomes, omission of expected rewards, omission of devalued outcomes, and expected omissions of an outcome. Nucleus accumbens activation was greater for rewarding outcomes than devalued outcomes, but activity in this region did not correlate with the probability of reward receipt. Activation of the right caudate and putamen, however, was largest in response to rewarding outcomes relative to expected omissions of reward. The dorsal striatum (caudate and putamen) at the time of feedback also showed a parametric increase correlating with the trialwise probability of reward receipt. Our results suggest that the ventral striatum is sensitive to the motivational relevance, or subjective value, of the outcome, while the dorsal striatum codes for a more complex signal that incorporates reward probability. Value and probability information may be integrated in the dorsal striatum, to facilitate action planning and allocation of effort. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Estimating Values of Carbon Sequestration and Nutrient Recycling in Forests: An Application to the Stockholm-Mälar Region in Sweden

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Ing-Marie Gren

2015-10-01

Full Text Available We calculate values of forest carbon sequestration and nutrient recycling applying the replacement cost method. The value is then determined as the savings in costs by the replacement of more expensive abatement measures with these ecosystem services in cost-effective climate and nutrient programs. To this end, a dynamic optimization model is constructed, which accounts for uncertainty in sequestration. It is applied to the Stockholm-Mälar region in southeast Sweden where the EU 2050 climate policy for carbon emissions and the Baltic Sea action plan for nutrient discharges are applied. The results show that the value of carbon and nutrient sequestration can correspond to approximately 0.5% of the region’s gross domestic product, or 40% of the value of productive forest. The largest part of this value is attributed to carbon sequestration because of the relative stringency in targets and expensive alternative abatement measures. However, sequestration is uncertain because of stochastic weather conditions, and when society has a large risk aversion for not attaining climate and nutrient targets, the values of the forest carbon and nutrient sequestration can approach zero.

Does gender affect funding success at the peer-to-peer credit markets? Evidence from the largest German lending platform

OpenAIRE

Barasinska, Nataliya; Schäfer, Dorothea

2010-01-01

Studies of peer-to-peer lending in the USA find that female borrowers have better chances of getting funds than males. Is differential treatment of borrowers of different sexes a common feature of peer-to-peer lendingmarkets or is it subject to specific businessmodels, ways of fixing loan contracts and even national financial systems? We aim at answering this question by providing evidence on loan procurement at the largest German peer-to-peer lending platform Smava.de. Our results show that ...

Bubble nucleation in simple and molecular liquids via the largest spherical cavity method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, Miguel A.; Abascal, José L. F.; Valeriani, Chantal; Bresme, Fernando

2015-01-01

In this work, we propose a methodology to compute bubble nucleation free energy barriers using trajectories generated via molecular dynamics simulations. We follow the bubble nucleation process by means of a local order parameter, defined by the volume of the largest spherical cavity (LSC) formed in the nucleating trajectories. This order parameter simplifies considerably the monitoring of the nucleation events, as compared with the previous approaches which require ad hoc criteria to classify the atoms and molecules as liquid or vapor. The combination of the LSC and the mean first passage time technique can then be used to obtain the free energy curves. Upon computation of the cavity distribution function the nucleation rate and free-energy barrier can then be computed. We test our method against recent computations of bubble nucleation in simple liquids and water at negative pressures. We obtain free-energy barriers in good agreement with the previous works. The LSC method provides a versatile and computationally efficient route to estimate the volume of critical bubbles the nucleation rate and to compute bubble nucleation free-energies in both simple and molecular liquids

KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kostov, Veselin B. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R. [Department of Astronomy, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States); Doyle, Laurance R. [SETI Institute, 189 Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Principia College, IMoP, One Maybeck Place, Elsah, IL 62028 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Haghighipour, Nader [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Quarles, Billy [Department of Physics and Physical Science, The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849 (United States); Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael [McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas as Austin, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States); Ford, Eric B. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 428A Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Gregorio, Joao [Atalaia Group and Crow-Observatory, Portalegre (Portugal); Hinse, Tobias C. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Advanced Astronomy and Space Science Division, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Isaacson, Howard [Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, 501 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Jenkins, Jon M. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Jensen, Eric L. N. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States); Kane, Stephen [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 (United States); Kull, Ilya, E-mail: veselin.b.kostov@nasa.gov [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv (Israel); and others

2016-08-10

We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R {sub Jup}, it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M {sub Jup}. The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e {sub bin} = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.

Monitoring coastal pollution associated with the largest oil refinery complex of Venezuela

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aldo Croquer

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated pollution levels in water and sediments of Península de Paraguaná and related these levels with benthic macrofauna along a coastal area where the largest Venezuelan oil refineries have operated over the past 60 years. For this, the concentration of heavy metals, of hydrocarbon compounds and the community structure of the macrobenthos were examined at 20 sites distributed along 40 km of coastline for six consecutive years, which included windy and calm seasons. The spatial variability of organic and inorganic compounds showed considerably high coastal pollution along the study area, across both years and seasons. The southern sites, closest to the refineries, had consistently higher concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds in water and sediments when compared to those in the north. The benthic community was dominated by polychaetes at all sites, seasons and years, and their abundance and distribution were significantly correlated with physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments. Sites close to the oil refineries were consistently dominated by families known to tolerate xenobiotics, such as Capitellidae and Spionidae. The results from this study highlight the importance of continuing long-term environmental monitoring programs to assess the impact of effluent discharge and spill events from the oil refineries that operate in the western coast of Paraguaná, Venezuela.

KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostov, Veselin B.; Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R.; Doyle, Laurance R.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Haghighipour, Nader; Quarles, Billy; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Ford, Eric B.; Gregorio, Joao; Hinse, Tobias C.; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Kane, Stephen; Kull, Ilya

2016-01-01

We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R Jup , it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M Jup . The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e bin = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.

Understanding Customer Satisfaction and Brand Equity in the E-Commerce Setting : An integration of Etail Quality Dimensions, Trust and Perceived Value

OpenAIRE

Yu, Ying Chen

2013-01-01

The internet has become an indispensable part of modern life as it profoundly transforms the way people interact and transact with each other. With the increasing popularity of online shopping, China is one of the major online markets now and is likely to become the largest market in the future. The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of etail quality dimensions, trust and perceived value which may influence online customer satisfaction in Chinese context. Meanwhile, it also exa...

The economic value of the 2010 Soccer World Cup

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Saayman

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this article is to estimate the potential economic value of the 2010 Soccer World Cup for South Africa. Problem investigated: The Soccer World Cup (SWC is regarded as the largest sporting event to be hosted and South Africa is investing billions of Rand in the hosting thereof. Based on this the question that comes to mind is, what is the potential economic value of such an event? Previous research attempts to determine the economic value were limited in their focus on what should be included when economic modelling of events is conducted. Most of these studies were done by consultants on behalf of various government departments and consequently, the results of these attempts are criticised for their over-inflating and overestimations by various other researchers. Methodology: The literature review identified many aspects that need to be taken into account when modelling the economic impact of such an event together with aspects identified in the literature review. Lessons from the 2002 Korea/Japan and 2006 Germany Soccer World Cups were used as premise for our estimations. In this article, Computable General Equilibrium (CGE modelling is used to estimate the potential economic value. Findings: The results showed that the 2010 Soccer World Cup would in all probability have positive impacts on the economy of the country in terms of GDP growth and employment, with possible negative effects that include higher inflation and net export losses. Value of research: The value of this research lies in the approach that was followed firstly, by introducing lessons learned from previous World Cups as well as aspects not taken into consideration previously in economic modelling and secondly, by using CGE modelling in determining the economic value. Conclusion: The hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup is a major achievement not only for South Africa, but also for the rest of Africa, especially from a marketing point of view. From an

Stakeholder Value Matrix - Die VErbindung zwischen Shareholder Value und Stakeholder Value

OpenAIRE

Frank Figge

2004-01-01

Die Studie zeigt, was unter Stakeholder Value verstanden werden kann, wie Shareholder Value und Stakeholder Value gemessen werden können und welche Verbindung zwischen beiden Konzepten besteht. In dieser Studie wird erstmals die Wertbeitragsanalyse von Stakeholderbeziehungen vorgestellt. Anhand der Stakeholder Value Matrix lässt sich zeigen, welche Stakeholdergruppen zusammen positiv zum Unternehmenswert beitragen.

Watching the Creation of Southern California's Largest Reservoir

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

The new Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir near the city of Hemet in Riverside County is billed as the largest earthworks construction project in U.S.history. Construction began in 1995 and involved 31 million cubic meters of foundation excavation and 84 million cubic meters of embankment construction. This set of MISR images captures the most recent phase in the reservoir's activation. At the upper left is a natural-color view acquired by the instrument's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on March 14, 2000 (Terra orbit 1273), shortly after the Metropolitan Water District began filling the reservoir with water from the Colorado River and Northern California. Water appears darker than the surrounding land. The image at the upper right was acquired nearly one year later on March 1, 2001 (Terra orbit 6399), and shows a clear increase in the reservoir's water content. When full, the lake will hold nearly a trillion liters of water.According to the Metropolitan Water District, the 7 kilometer x 3 kilometer reservoir nearly doubles Southern California's above-groundwater storage capacity. In addition to routine water management, Diamond Valley Lake is designed to provide protection against drought and a six-month emergency supply in the event of earthquake damage to a major aqueduct. In the face of electrical power shortages, it is also expected to reduce dependence on the pumping of water from northern mountains during the high-demand summer months. An unexpected result of site excavation was the uncovering of mastodon and mammoth skeletons along with bones from extinct species not previously thought to have been indigenous to the area, such as the giant long-horned bison and North American lion. A museum and interpretive center is being built to protect these finds.The lower MISR image, from May 20, 2001 (Terra orbit 7564), is a false-color view combining data from the instrument's 26-degree forward view (displayed as blue) with data from the 26-degree backward view

Shareholder Value and the Performance of a Large Nursing Home Chain

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-01-01

Objective To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. Study Design To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993–2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Helathcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Data Sources Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Principal Findings Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Conclusions Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains. PMID:18454781

A study on the regionalization of tornadogenesis for the domestic largest scale of tornado

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugimoto, Soichiro; Nohara, Daisuke; Hirakuchi, Hiromaru

2014-01-01

A new regulatory guide has been issued by the Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan since the last year. According to this guide, electric power companies have to assess the influence of tornadoes on their nuclear power plants for operation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the likelihood of the occurrence of F3 tornadoes, which are the largest encountered in Japan, and to consider the possibility of the regionalization of the maximum wind speed. Then, mesoscale analysis with a numerical meteorological model and re-analysis data is performed along with synoptic scale analysis. Especially, tornado parameters such as SReH (Storm Relative Helicity) and CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) are used for evaluating the potential tornadogenesis of F3 tornado. Both analyses indicate that favorable meteorological condition tends to occur in the coastal zones in the Pacific side west of Ibaraki and around Kyushu island. The frequency in these zones is different from the one in the other area in the order of 1 or 2, which is large enough for regionalization. (author)

Official ERS technical standards: Global Lung Function Initiative reference values for the carbon monoxide transfer factor for Caucasians.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanojevic, Sanja; Graham, Brian L; Cooper, Brendan G; Thompson, Bruce R; Carter, Kim W; Francis, Richard W; Hall, Graham L

2017-09-01

There are numerous reference equations available for the single-breath transfer factor of the lung for carbon monoxide ( T  LCO ); however, it is not always clear which reference set should be used in clinical practice. The aim of the study was to develop the Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI) all-age reference values for T  LCO Data from 19 centres in 14 countries were collected to define T  LCO reference values. Similar to the GLI spirometry project, reference values were derived using the LMS (lambda, mu, sigma) method and the GAMLSS (generalised additive models for location, scale and shape) programme in R.12 660 T  LCO measurements from asymptomatic, lifetime nonsmokers were submitted; 85% of the submitted data were from Caucasians. All data were uncorrected for haemoglobin concentration. Following adjustments for elevation above sea level, gas concentration and assumptions used for calculating the anatomic dead space volume, there was a high degree of overlap between the datasets. Reference values for Caucasians aged 5-85 years were derived for T  LCO , transfer coefficient of the lung for carbon monoxide and alveolar volume.This is the largest collection of normative T  LCO data, and the first global reference values available for T  LCO . Copyright ©ERS 2017.

Use value, exchange value, and resource scarcity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, D.I.

1999-01-01

The literature on natural resource scarcity indicators is reviewed. Scarcity indicators can be classified by what is being measured: value of the resource stock or value of extracted resource commodities; whose value is considered: social vs. private scarcity; and by the mode of valuation considered: exchange value and use value. Prices and rents are common measures of exchange value or indicators of ''exchange scarcity'' and unit costs can be seen as use value indicators or indicators of u se scarcity . The major aim of this paper is to demonstrate the links between productivity indicators such as unit costs and the classical concept of use value. The two classes of indicator relate to John Commons' discussions of scarcity and efficiency, and a marginal vs. a non-marginal approach to value and scarcity. The classical use value concept also has wider relevance for issues of valuation in energy, resource, and environmental policy. (author)

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying value-based decision-making: from core values to economic value.

Science.gov (United States)

Brosch, Tobias; Sander, David

2013-01-01

VALUE PLAYS A CENTRAL ROLE IN PRACTICALLY EVERY ASPECT OF HUMAN LIFE THAT REQUIRES A DECISION: whether we choose between different consumer goods, whether we decide which person we marry or which political candidate gets our vote, we choose the option that has more value to us. Over the last decade, neuroeconomic research has mapped the neural substrates of economic value, revealing that activation in brain regions such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), ventral striatum or posterior cingulate cortex reflects how much an individual values an option and which of several options he/she will choose. However, while great progress has been made exploring the mechanisms underlying concrete decisions, neuroeconomic research has been less concerned with the questions of why people value what they value, and why different people value different things. Social psychologists and sociologists have long been interested in core values, motivational constructs that are intrinsically linked to the self-schema and are used to guide actions and decisions across different situations and different time points. Core value may thus be an important determinant of individual differences in economic value computation and decision-making. Based on a review of recent neuroimaging studies investigating the neural representation of core values and their interactions with neural systems representing economic value, we outline a common framework that integrates the core value concept and neuroeconomic research on value-based decision-making.

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying value-based decision-making: from core values to economic value

Science.gov (United States)

Brosch, Tobias; Sander, David

2013-01-01

Value plays a central role in practically every aspect of human life that requires a decision: whether we choose between different consumer goods, whether we decide which person we marry or which political candidate gets our vote, we choose the option that has more value to us. Over the last decade, neuroeconomic research has mapped the neural substrates of economic value, revealing that activation in brain regions such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), ventral striatum or posterior cingulate cortex reflects how much an individual values an option and which of several options he/she will choose. However, while great progress has been made exploring the mechanisms underlying concrete decisions, neuroeconomic research has been less concerned with the questions of why people value what they value, and why different people value different things. Social psychologists and sociologists have long been interested in core values, motivational constructs that are intrinsically linked to the self-schema and are used to guide actions and decisions across different situations and different time points. Core value may thus be an important determinant of individual differences in economic value computation and decision-making. Based on a review of recent neuroimaging studies investigating the neural representation of core values and their interactions with neural systems representing economic value, we outline a common framework that integrates the core value concept and neuroeconomic research on value-based decision-making. PMID:23898252

The aerosol optical properties and PM2.5 components over the world's largest industrial zone in Tangshan, North China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Kequan; Ma, Yongjing; Xin, Jinyuan; Liu, Zirui; Ma, Yining; Gao, Dongdong; Wu, Junsong; Zhang, Wenyu; Wang, Yuesi; Shen, Pengke

2018-03-01

To achieve an in-depth understanding of the aerosol optical properties in the highly-industrial region of Tangshan, we provided systematic aerosol optical properties analysis in this largest industrial zone for the first time. The aerosol optical datasets (2013.05-2015.04) and chemical component data of PM2.5 (2014-2015) obtained from the Tangshan site of the campaign on atmospheric aerosol research (CARE-China) network were analyzed. The results showed that the Tangshan region was seriously affected by fine-mode industrial aerosols all year, which would promote the accumulation of pollutants and influence the atmospheric circulation through changing the vertical temperature gradient. The annual average aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångstrӧm exponent (α) were 0.80 ± 0.26 and 1.05 ± 0.10, respectively. The aerosol optical properties revealed significant seasonal characteristics. The maximum seasonal average AOD (1.03 ± 0.62) and α (1.12 ± 0.19) accompanied the highest seasonal secondary inorganic aerosol concentrations (SIA: SO42 -, NO3-, NH4+), 53.33 μg/m3, occurred in summer, and this phenomenon was attributed to the photochemical reactions favored by the high temperature and humidity. During the spring, frequent dust events led to the maximum Ca2 + concentration of 6.57 μg/m3 and the lowest seasonal α of 0.98 ± 0.31. Coal was used for generating heat in winter, resulting in the highest levels of pollutant emissions (Cl-, Elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC)). The aerosol type classifications showed that the industrial aerosols were the main controls in the summer and fall, representing 56%-58% of the total aerosols. While for spring and winter, mixed aerosols represented 53%-54% of the total aerosols. Hygroscopic growth effect of aerosols existed all year, which could enhance the negative radiative forcing and eventually cool the earth-atmosphere system. The classification Wing for Tangshan data showed high AOD values (> 0.70) were mainly

Neurocognitive Mechanisms Underlying Value-Based Decision-Making: From Core Values to Economic Value

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias eBrosch

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Value plays a central role in practically every aspect of human life that requires a decision: whether we choose between different consumer goods, whether we decide which person we marry or which political candidate gets our vote, we choose the option that has more value to us. Over the last decade, neuroeconomic research has mapped the neural substrates of economic value, revealing that activation in brain regions such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC, ventral striatum or posterior cingulate cortex reflects how much an individual values an option and which of several options he/she will choose. However, while great progress has been made exploring the mechanisms underlying concrete decisions, neuroeconomic research has been less concerned with the questions of why people value what they value, and why different people value different things. Social psychologists and sociologists have long been interested in core values, motivational constructs that are intrinsically linked to the self-schema and are used to guide actions and decisions across different situations and different time points. Core value may thus be an important determinant of individual differences in economic value computation and decision-making. Based on a review of recent neuroimaging studies investigating the neural representation of core values and their interactions with neural systems representing economic value, we outline a common framework that integrates the core value concept and neuroeconomic research on value-based decision-making.

Imaging b-value depth variations within the Cocos and Rivera plates at the Mexican subduction zone

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Pérez, Quetzalcoatl; Zuñiga, F. Ramón

2018-06-01

By a systematic mapping of the b-value along profiles perpendicular to the Mexican Wadati-Benioff zone, we obtained important characteristics pertaining the stress state and faulting style related to the subduction process. To this purpose, we used data from the earthquake catalog reported by the Servicio Sismologico Nacional (1988-2016). We investigate depth variations of the b-value for the Cocos and Rivera under North American plates interface, by a detailed analysis of 15 cross-sections. The obtained b-value profiles vary from 0.50 to 2.50, which nevertheless appear related to the faulting style and stress state. By comparing the locations and focal mechanism of the largest events with the b-values of the surrounding regions, our analysis corroborates the dependence of the b-value on the faulting style. Thrust events occur in regions of low and high b-value at depths 30 km), in agreement with global studies. These results support the hypothesis that differential stress processes may be behind the occurrence of the different faulting style. On the contrary, by analyzing the mean b-values for both types of faulting mechanism at each of the cross-sections, we found a significantly lower mean b-value related to normal faulting for those regions where the 8 (Mw 8.2) and 19 (Mw 7.1) September 2017 earthquakes occur. These results lead us to conclude that those regions experienced an increased stress state prone to the occurrence of normal-intraplate events. We also compare the b-value distribution with Vp and Q tomography studies obtaining a good correlation between them. We found evidence to relate b-value variations with subduction processes such as stress state due to tectonic and flexural conditions, and to a lesser extent to material heterogeneity and fluid dehydration.

Largest known Mesozoic multituberculate from Eurasia and implications for multituberculate evolution and biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Li; Zhang, Xingliao; Pu, Hanyong; Jia, Songhai; Zhang, Jiming; Lü, Junchang; Meng, Jin

2015-10-22

A new multituberculate, Yubaartar zhongyuanensis gen. and sp. nov., is reported from the Upper Cretaceous of Luanchuan County, Henan Province, China. The holotype of the new taxon is a partial skeleton with nearly complete cranium and associated lower jaws with in situ dentitions. The new species is the southern-most record of a Late Cretaceous multituberculate from outside of the Mongolian Plateau in Asia and represents the largest known Mesozoic multituberculate from Eurasia. The new specimen displays some intriguing features previously unknown in multituberculates, such as the first evidence of replacement of the ultimate upper premolar and a unique paleopathological case in Mesozoic mammals in which the animal with a severely broken right tibia could heal and survive in natural condition. The phylogenetic analysis based on craniodental characters places Yubaartar as the immediate outgroup of Taeniolabidoidea, a group consisting of a North American clade and an Asian clade. This relationship indicates at least a faunal interchange of multituberculates before the K-Pg transition. The new evidence further supports the hypothesis that disparity in dental complexity, which relates to animal diets, increased with generic richness and disparity in body size, and that an adaptive shift towards increased herbivory across the K-Pg transitional interval.

Sources and distribution of microplastics in China's largest inland lake - Qinghai Lake.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Xiong; Zhang, Kai; Chen, Xianchuan; Shi, Huahong; Luo, Ze; Wu, Chenxi

2018-04-01

Microplastic pollution was studied in China's largest inland lake - Qinghai Lake in this work. Microplastics were detected with abundance varies from 0.05 × 10 5 to 7.58 × 10 5 items km -2 in the lake surface water, 0.03 × 10 5 to 0.31 × 10 5 items km -2 in the inflowing rivers, 50 to 1292 items m -2 in the lakeshore sediment, and 2 to 15 items per individual in the fish samples, respectively. Small microplastics (0.1-0.5 mm) dominated in the lake surface water while large microplastics (1-5 mm) are more abundant in the river samples. Microplastics were predominantly in sheet and fiber shapes in the lake and river water samples but were more diverse in the lakeshore sediment samples. Polymer types of microplastics were mainly polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as identified using Raman Spectroscopy. Spatially, microplastic abundance was the highest in the central part of the lake, likely due to the transport of lake current. Based on the higher abundance of microplastics near the tourist access points, plastic wastes from tourism are considered as an important source of microplastics in Qinghai Lake. As an important area for wildlife conservation, better waste management practice should be implemented, and waste disposal and recycling infrastructures should be improved for the protection of Qinghai Lake. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Loads Limits Values of Soils with Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Science.gov (United States)

Dumitru, Mihail; Vladimirescu, Andreea

2017-04-01

The high demand for oil and associated products as a source of energy, resulting in increased oil exploitation, producing, refining, transportation, storage, marketing and use led to high levels of environmental pollution. The optimum bioremediation variant proved to be the one in which fertilizer (potassium humate in NPK matrix with microelements and 8% monosaccharides) applied in a 650 l/ha dose was used together with the Zeba absorbent in 32 kg/ha dose, where the TPH level dropped by 58% in 45 days from the pollution with 3% crude oil. Most of these areas are affected by historical pollution. Many organic contaminants may undergo an ongoing process in the soil, whereby over time contaminant become less and less subject to decomposition even though relatively can still be detected in the laboratory analyses. In Romania about 50.000 ha are polluted with oil and/or brine. The bioremediation was the main method of rehabilitation. The Regulation on the assessment of environmental pollution, the following are presented as guide values for total oil hydrocarbons content in soil: - normal: less than 100 mg/kg; - alert values for sensitive soils: 200 mg/kg; - alert values for less sensitive soils: 1000 mg/kg; - intervention values for sensitive soils: 500 mg/kg; - intervention values for less sensitive soils: 2000 mg/kg. Researches done in laboratory monitored the effect of various concentrations of oil (under 2000 mg/kg, 3000 mg/kg, 5000 mg/kg, 7000 mg/kg, 10 000 mg/kg) on germination of wheat seeds at 5 and 7 days after seeding and (fresh and dry) biomass production after 40 days. Tree experiments were done: one with recently contaminated light oil, one with recently contaminated heavy oil and one with old contamination. After 5 days from sowing, the largest number of germinated seeds was found in the experiments with old contamination. The fewest germinated seeds was found in the experience with light oil. The experience with heavy oil showed an intermediate number of

The Value of Value Sets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sløk-Madsen, Stefan Kirkegaard; Christensen, Jesper

The world over classrooms in business schools are being taught that corporate values can impact performance. The argument is typically that culture matter more than strategy plans and culture can be influenced and indeed changed by a shared corporate value set. While the claim seems intuitively a...... a unique contribution to the effects of investment in shared company values, and to whether agent rationality can be fundamentally changed by committed organizational efforts....

Causes and Consequences of Ownership Concentration among Europe´s Largest Companies: Economic and Systemic Explanations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Torben; Thomsen, Steen

1999-01-01

The paper examines causes and effects of ownership concentration among the largest companies in 12 European countries. As a reference point the paper takes a seminal empirical study on US data by Demsetz and Lehn (1985) and examines to what extent their model is applicable in European countries....... The findings indicate that both general economic effects and system effects are significant. Ownership concentration is found to decrease with firm size and to increase with earnings volatility. But in support of the system theories advocated by Roe (1991), Laporta et al. (1996) and Shleifer and Vishny (1997......) nationality is also found to have a significant effect which is partly attributable to institutional differences between nations such as stock market size and the frequency of large banks. Finally, in line with Demsetz and Lehn (1985), ownership concentration is found to have an insignificant effect...

Valuing Essays: Essaying Values

Science.gov (United States)

Badley, Graham

2010-01-01

The essay regularly comes under attack. It is criticised for being rigidly linear rather than flexible and reflective. I first challenge this view by examining reasons why the essay should be valued as an important genre. Secondly, I propose that in using the essay form students and academics necessarily exemplify their own critical values. Essays…

E-Competent Teacher and Principal as the Foundation of E-Competent School E-Education, the Largest School Informatization Project in Slovenia 2008-2013

Science.gov (United States)

Šverc, Magdalena; Flogie, Andrej; Krabonja, Maja Vicic; Percic, Kristjan

2013-01-01

During the years 2008-2013 Ministry of Education in the Republic of Slovenia prepared largest project of informatization of educational institutions. One of the main goals of the project E-Education is the development of the standard E-Competent Teacher, School Principal and IT Expert. The standard E-Competent Teacher, Principal and IT Expert…

Neural Mechanisms of the Transformation from Objective Value to Subjective Utility: Converting from Count to Worth

Science.gov (United States)

Kurnianingsih, Yoanna A.; Mullette-Gillman, O'Dhaniel A.

2016-01-01

When deciding, we aim to choose the “best” possible outcome. This is not just selection of the option that is the most numerous or physically largest, as options are translated from objective value (count) to subjective value (worth or utility). We localized the neural instantiation of the value-to-utility transformation to the dorsal anterior midcingulate cortex (daMCC), with independent replication. The daMCC encodes the context-specific information necessary to convert from count to worth. This encoding is not simply a representation of utility or preference, but the interaction of the two. Specifically, the relationship of brain activation to value is dependent on individual preference, with both positive and negative slopes across the population depending on whether each individual's preference results in enhancement or diminishment of the valuation. For a given value, across participants, enhanced daMCC activation corresponds to diminished subjective valuation, deactivation to enhanced subjective valuation, and non-modulated activation with non-modulated subjective valuation. Further, functional connectivity analyses identified brain regions (positive connectivity with the inferior frontal gyrus and negative connectivity with the nucleus accumbens) through which contextual information may be integrated into the daMCC and allow for outputs to modulate valuation signals. All analyses were replicated through an independent within-study replication, with initial testing in the gains domain and replication in the intermixed and mirrored losses trials. We also present and discuss an ancillary finding: we were unable to identify parametric value signals for losses through whole-brain analyses, and ROI analyses of the vmPFC presented non-modulation across loss value levels. These results identify the neural locus of the value-to-utility transformation, and provide a specific computational function for the daMCC in the production of subjective valuation through

Negotiating place and gendered violence in Canada's largest open drug scene.

Science.gov (United States)

McNeil, Ryan; Shannon, Kate; Shaver, Laura; Kerr, Thomas; Small, Will

2014-05-01

Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is home to Canada's largest street-based drug scene and only supervised injection facility (Insite). High levels of violence among men and women have been documented in this neighbourhood. This study was undertaken to explore the role of violence in shaping the socio-spatial relations of women and 'marginal men' (i.e., those occupying subordinate positions within the drug scene) in the Downtown Eastside, including access to Insite. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited through the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, a local drug user organization. Interviews included a mapping exercise. Interview transcripts and maps were analyzed thematically, with an emphasis on how gendered violence shaped participants' spatial practices. Hegemonic forms of masculinity operating within the Downtown Eastside framed the everyday violence experienced by women and marginal men. This violence shaped the spatial practices of women and marginal men, in that they avoided drug scene milieus where they had experienced violence or that they perceived to be dangerous. Some men linked their spatial restrictions to the perceived 'dope quality' of neighbourhood drug dealers to maintain claims to dominant masculinities while enacting spatial strategies to promote safety. Environmental supports provided by health and social care agencies were critical in enabling women and marginal men to negotiate place and survival within the context of drug scene violence. Access to Insite did not motivate participants to enter into "dangerous" drug scene milieus but they did venture into these areas if necessary to obtain drugs or generate income. Gendered violence is critical in restricting the geographies of men and marginal men within the street-based drug scene. There is a need to scale up existing environmental interventions, including supervised injection services, to minimize violence and potential drug

Solar energy potential of the largest buildings in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Wence, E. R.; Grodsky, S.; Hernandez, R. R.

2017-12-01

Sustainable pathways of land use for energy are necessary to mitigate climate change and limit conversion of finite land resources needed for conservation and food production. Large, commercial buildings (LCBs) are increasing in size and number throughout the United States (US) and may serve as suitable recipient environments for photovoltaic (PV) solar energy infrastructure that may support a low carbon, low land footprint energy transition. In this study, we identified, characterized, and evaluated the technical potential of the largest, commercial building rooftops (i.e., exceeding 110,000 m2) and their associated parking lots in the US for PV solar energy systems using Aurora, a cloud-based solar optimization platform. We also performed a case study of building-specific electricity generation: electricity consumption balance. Further, we quantified the environmental co-benefit of land sparing and associated avoided emissions (t-CO2-eq) conferred under the counterfactual scenario that solar development would otherwise proceed as a ground-mounted, utility-scale PV installation of equal nominal capacity. We identified and mapped 37 LCBs (by rooftop area) across 18 states in the US, spanning from as far north as the state of Minnesota to as far south as Florida. Rooftop footprints range from 427,297 to 113,689 m2 and have a cumulative surface area of 99.8 million ft2. We characterize the LCBs as either: distribution/warehouse, factory, shopping center, or administrative office/facility. Three of the 37 LCBs currently support rooftop PV and the numbers of associated, detached buildings number up to 38. This study elucidates the extent to which LCBs and their respective parking lots can serve as suitable sites for PV solar energy generation. Lastly, this study demonstrates research-based applications of the Aurora energy modeling platform and informs decision-making focused on redirecting energy development towards human-modified landscapes to prioritize land use for

Invertebrate population genetics across Earth's largest habitat: The deep-sea floor.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, M L; Roterman, C N

2017-10-01

Despite the deep sea being the largest habitat on Earth, there are just 77 population genetic studies of invertebrates (115 species) inhabiting non-chemosynthetic ecosystems on the deep-sea floor (below 200 m depth). We review and synthesize the results of these papers. Studies reveal levels of genetic diversity comparable to shallow-water species. Generally, populations at similar depths were well connected over 100s-1,000s km, but studies that sampled across depth ranges reveal population structure at much smaller scales (100s-1,000s m) consistent with isolation by adaptation across environmental gradients, or the existence of physical barriers to connectivity with depth. Few studies were ocean-wide (under 4%), and 48% were Atlantic-focused. There is strong emphasis on megafauna and commercial species with research into meiofauna, "ecosystem engineers" and other ecologically important species lacking. Only nine papers account for ~50% of the planet's surface (depths below 3,500 m). Just two species were studied below 5,000 m, a quarter of Earth's seafloor. Most studies used single-locus mitochondrial genes revealing a common pattern of non-neutrality, consistent with demographic instability or selective sweeps; similar to deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. The absence of a clear difference between vent and non-vent could signify that demographic instability is common in the deep sea, or that selective sweeps render single-locus mitochondrial studies demographically uninformative. The number of population genetics studies to date is miniscule in relation to the size of the deep sea. The paucity of studies constrains meta-analyses where broad inferences about deep-sea ecology could be made. © 2017 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Overstating values: medical facts, diverse values, bioethics and values-based medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Malcolm

2013-02-01

Fulford has argued that (1) the medical concepts illness, disease and dysfunction are inescapably evaluative terms, (2) illness is conceptually prior to disease, and (3) a model conforming to (2) has greater explanatory power and practical utility than the conventional value-free medical model. This 'reverse' model employs Hare's distinction between description and evaluation, and the sliding relationship between descriptive and evaluative meaning. Fulford's derivative 'Values Based Medicine' (VBM) readjusts the imbalance between the predominance of facts over values in medicine. VBM allegedly responds to the increased choices made available by, inter alia, the progress of medical science itself. VBM attributes appropriate status to evaluative meaning, where strong consensus about descriptive meaning is lacking. According to Fulford, quasi-legal bioethics, while it can be retained as a kind of deliberative framework, is outcome-based and pursues 'the right answer', while VBM approximates a democratic, process-oriented method for dealing with diverse values, in partnership with necessary contributions from evidence-based medicine (EBM). I support the non-cognitivist underpinnings of VBM, and its emphasis on the importance of values in medicine. But VBM overstates the complexity and diversity of values, misrepresents EBM and VBM as responses to scientific and evaluative complexity, and mistakenly depicts 'quasi-legal bioethics' as a space of settled descriptive meaning. Bioethical reasoning can expose strategies that attempt to reduce authentic values to scientific facts, illustrating that VBM provides no advantage over bioethics in delineating the connections between facts and values in medicine. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, Patricia

2006-01-01

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

2006-09-15

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

Economic Value of an Advanced Climate Observing System

Science.gov (United States)

Wielicki, B. A.; Cooke, R.; Young, D. F.; Mlynczak, M. G.

2013-12-01

) compared the proposed CLARREO advance in satellite absolute calibration for climate change records to an existing system for detecting decadal temperature change using infrared spectra from weather satellites. New results extend this to observational detection of cloud feedback which is the largest uncertainty in determining climate sensitivity and therefore the uncertainty in economic impacts. New results also include the use of multiple societal decision triggers. While CLARREO is used as an example, the value should be considered as relevant to a complete high accuracy climate observing system, as societal decisions are unlikely to be based on one or a few observations. The VOI is found to depend on the required confidence level, the trigger value at which we would abandon the BAU emissions path, the path to which we switch, and the date at which the new system is launched. The VOI of advanced climate observations in this decision context is the surfeit of NPV of averted damages, relative to the existing system. Over all it is in the order of tens of trillions of US dollars in Net Present Value. The results conclude that the economic value of advanced climate observing systems is dramatically larger than their cost, and argues for the continual enhancement of the SCC assessment process.

Measurement of susceptibility artifacts with histogram-based reference value on magnetic resonance images according to standard ASTM F2119.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinrich, Andreas; Teichgräber, Ulf K; Güttler, Felix V

2015-12-01

The standard ASTM F2119 describes a test method for measuring the size of a susceptibility artifact based on the example of a passive implant. A pixel in an image is considered to be a part of an image artifact if the intensity is changed by at least 30% in the presence of a test object, compared to a reference image in which the test object is absent (reference value). The aim of this paper is to simplify and accelerate the test method using a histogram-based reference value. Four test objects were scanned parallel and perpendicular to the main magnetic field, and the largest susceptibility artifacts were measured using two methods of reference value determination (reference image-based and histogram-based reference value). The results between both methods were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test. The difference between both reference values was 42.35 ± 23.66. The difference of artifact size was 0.64 ± 0.69 mm. The artifact sizes of both methods did not show significant differences; the p-value of the Mann-Whitney U-test was between 0.710 and 0.521. A standard-conform method for a rapid, objective, and reproducible evaluation of susceptibility artifacts could be implemented. The result of the histogram-based method does not significantly differ from the ASTM-conform method.

Model for Calculating the Maximum Permissible Tax Burden in Amur Region in the Context of the Implementation of Largest Investment Projects

OpenAIRE

Viktor Vladimirovich Ivanov; Maria Olegovna Kakaulina; Oleg Anatolievich Tsepelev

2018-01-01

According to the Government of the Amur region, tax collection from the implementation of investment projects was tightly controlled from 2016, because of the region’s high debt load. This situation requires assessing the acceptability of the level of regional tax burden for business entities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for assessing the level of regional tax burden, taking into account the implementation of the largest investment projects in the territory. The m...

Spatial Air Index Based on Largest Empty Rectangles for Non-Flat Wireless Broadcast in Pervasive Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-Hong Shen

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In pervasive computing, location-based services (LBSs are valuable for mobile clients based on their current locations. LBSs use spatial window queries to enable useful applications for mobile clients. Based on skewed access patterns of mobile clients, non-flat wireless broadcast has been shown to efficiently disseminate spatial objects to mobile clients. In this paper, we consider a scenario in which spatial objects are broadcast to mobile clients over a wireless channel in a non-flat broadcast manner to process window queries. For such a scenario, we propose an efficient spatial air index method to handle window query access in non-flat wireless broadcast environments. The concept of largest empty rectangles is used to avoid unnecessary examination of the broadcast content, thus reducing the processing time for window queries. Simulation results show that the proposed spatial air index method outperforms the existing methods under various settings.

The Curse of the Gold: Discourses Surrounding the Project of the Largest Pit-mine in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Istvan Egresi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In 1996, a Canadian company started geological explorations in the Rosia Montana area in the Romanian Carpathians. Two years later it formed a joint-venture with a Romanian state company to exploit what is believed to be Europe´s largest gold reserves. However, as of June 2011 extraction has not started yet and it may never start due to the opposition of numerous NGO´s that have pointed out the environmental, social and economic unsustainability of this mining project. This situation is highly unusual for a country that is hungry for foreign investment especially since up until very recently the state had supported any project promising to revitalize its mining sector. This paper will investigate the changes in the discourses surrounding this mining project taking into consideration the effects of globalization and the effects of Romania´s EU membership after 2007.

Mortgage loans: an analysis of the portfolios of the largest banks in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Vinícius Ramos Fernandes

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Given the current macroeconomic environment experienced in Brazil, where inflation has stabilized and the basic interest rate of the economy is in one of their historical lows, demand for mortgages is increasing. In this context, the mortgage is presented with great emphasis to meet the demand for purchasing housing in addition to being a catalyst for the reduction of the high housing deficit. From a descriptive and empirical-analytic was analyzed the mortgage loan portfolio of the largest banks of the country between the years 2001 and 2010 through Quarterly Financial Information (IFT available on the Central Bank website. It was settled a comparative relationship between the data in order to check the development of mortgage portfolios over the years and the factors that influenced this evolution, and evaluate the timeliness and quality of those loans. For the evolution of the portfolio there was an economic context in which Brazil was included in the period, and observed that for most of these operations are long term the banks are more exposed to market risk. With regard to credit risk parse that, over the years, Brazilian banks are presenting a mortgage loan portfolio with lower risk, and it is found that institutions with real estate credits with higher levels of portfolio risk are subject to have higher losses on such operations in the possibility of default.

World's largest DC flywheel generator for the toroidal field power supply of JAERI's JFT-2M Tokamak nuclear fusion reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tani, Takashi; Nakanishi, Yuji; Horita, Tsuyoshi; Kawase, Chiharu; Oyabu, Isao; Kishimoto, Takeshi.

1996-01-01

Mitsubishi Electric has delivered the world's largest DC generator for the toroidal field coil power supply of the JFT-2M Tokamak at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The unit rotates at 225 or 460 rpm, providing a maximum rated output of 2,700 V, 19,000 A and 51.3 MW. The toroidal field is a DC field, so use of a DC generator permits a simpler design consuming less floor space than an AC drive system. The generator was manufactured following extensive studies on commutation, mechanical strength and insulation. (author)

Blood coagulation parameters and platelet indices: changes in normal and preeclamptic pregnancies and predictive values for preeclampsia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Han

Full Text Available Preeclampsia (PE is an obstetric disorder with high morbidity and mortality rates but without clear pathogeny. The dysfunction of the blood coagulation-fibrinolysis system is a salient characteristic of PE that varies in severity, and necessitates different treatments. Therefore, it is necessary to find suitable predictors for the onset and severity of PE.We aimed to evaluate blood coagulation parameters and platelet indices as potential predictors for the onset and severity of PE.Blood samples from 3 groups of subjects, normal pregnant women (n = 79, mild preeclampsia (mPE (n = 53 and severe preeclampsia (sPE (n = 42, were collected during early and late pregnancy. The levels of coagulative parameters and platelet indices were measured and compared among the groups. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC curves of these indices were generated, and the area under the curve (AUC was calculated. The predictive values of the selected potential parameters were examined in binary regression analysis.During late pregnancy in the normal pregnancy group, the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT, prothrombin time (PT, thrombin time (TT and platelet count decreased, while the fibrinogen level and mean platelet volume (MPV increased compared to early pregnancy (p<0.05. However, the PE patients presented with increased APTT, TT, MPV and D-dimer (DD during the third trimester. In the analysis of subjects with and without PE, TT showed the largest AUC (0.743 and high predictive value. In PE patients with different severities, MPV showed the largest AUC (0.671 and ideal predictive efficiency.Normal pregnancy causes a maternal physiological hypercoagulable state in late pregnancy. PE may trigger complex disorders in the endogenous coagulative pathways and consume platelets and FIB, subsequently activating thrombopoiesis and fibrinolysis. Thrombin time and MPV may serve as early monitoring markers for the onset and severity of PE

Extending Value Logic Thinking to Value Logic Portfolios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Poul Houman; Ritter, Thomas

2014-01-01

Based on value creation logic theory (Stabell & Fjeldstad, 1998), this paper suggests an extension of the original Stabell & Fjeldstad model by an additional fourth value logic, the value system logic. Furthermore, instead of only allowing one dominant value creation logic for a given firm...... or transaction, an understanding of firms and transactions as a portfolio of value logics (i.e. an interconnected coexistence of different value creation logics) is proposed. These additions to the original value creation logic theory imply interesting avenues for both, strategic decision making in firms...

Morphometric study of gastric mucosa in dogs submitted to proximal gastric vagotomy, splenectomy or proximal gastric vagotomy associated with splenectomy Estudo morfométrico da mucosa gástrica de cães submetidos à vagotomia gástrica proximal, esplenectomia ou vagotomia gástrica proximal associada com esplenectomia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Augusto Real Martinez

2002-09-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of total splenectomy and proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV isolated or associated to the vascularization of the stomach. METHODS: Twenty-eight dogs were distributed in: group A - animals undergoing laparotomy and gastric manipulation; group B - animals undergoing PGV; group C - animals undergoing PGV and splenectomy; and group D - animals undergoing splenectomy alone. All animals were sacrificed on the 7th postoperative day, and immediately followed by infusion of xanthene dye into the thoracic aorta. On the gastric mucous surface, the formation of stained areas and other areas lacking staining was measured by millimeter squares, planimetry and the computerized morphometry method. RESULTS: The formation of an area lacking in staining along the lesser gastric curvature was seen in all animals of groups B and C, which was significantly increased in group C, although in groups A and D such areas were not observed. CONCLUSION: These results showed that, in animals with splenectomy, the vascularization of the stomach was capable of perfusing the whole organ surface, but in animals with PGV alone or associated with splenectomy there was a notable decrease in blood supply throughout the area of the lesser gastric curvature, which suggests the ischemic impairment of this region.OBJETIVO: Avaliar os efeitos da esplenectomia total e da vagotomia gástrica proximal (VGP isoladas e associadas sobre a vascularização gástrica. MÉTODOS: Utilizaram-se 28 cães, distribuídos em quatro grupos: grupo A, laparotomia e manipulação gástrica; grupo B, VGP; grupo C, VGP associada à esplenectomia; grupo D, esplenectomia isolada. Todos os animais foram mortos no 7º pós-operatório e imediatamente infundiu-se o corante na aorta torácica. O estômago aberto pela grande curvatura foi fotografado. Na superfície mucosa gástrica, a formação de áreas coradas e desprovidas de coloração foi

THE INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED AND MARKET VALUE ADDED ON CORPORATE VALUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taslim F.A.

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This research aims to determine the influence of economic value added and market value added on corporate value of manufacturing companies on sector consumer goods industry listed in Indonesia Stock Exchanges of 2011-2014. The sample of this research was 10 manufacturing companies on sector consumer goods industry listed in Indonesia Stock Exchanges. The method used was purposive sampling technique. This research used confirmatory factor analysis to form a combined proxy of corporate value comprised price earning ratio, price to book value and Tobin's Q.

Value-Added Products From FGD Sulfite-Rich Scrubber Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vivak M. Malhotra

2006-09-30

Massive quantities of sulfite-rich flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubber materials are produced every year in the USA. In fact, at present, the production of wet sulfite-rich scrubber cake outstrips the production of wet sulfate-rich scrubber cake by about 6 million tons per year. However, most of the utilization focus has centered on FGD gypsum. Therefore, we have recently initiated research on developing new strategies for the economical, but environmentally-sound, utilization of sulfite-rich scrubber material. In this exploratory project (Phase I), we attempted to ascertain whether it is feasible to develop reconstituted wood replacement products from sulfite-rich scrubber material. In pursuit of this goal, we characterized two different wet sulfite-rich scrubber materials, obtained from two power plants burning Midwestern coal, for their suitability for the development of value-added products. The overall strategy adopted was to fabricate composites where the largest ingredient was scrubber material with additional crop materials as additives. Our results suggested that it may be feasible to develop composites with flexural strength as high as 40 MPa (5800 psi) without the addition of external polymers. We also attempted to develop load-bearing composites from scrubber material, natural fibers, and phenolic polymer. The polymer-to-solid ratio was limited to {le} 0.4. The formulated composites showed flexural strengths as high as 73 MPa (10,585 psi). We plan to harness the research outcomes from Phase I to develop parameters required to upscale our value-added products in Phase II.

The Largest Bio-Silica Structure on Earth: The Giant Basal Spicule from the Deep-Sea Glass Sponge Monorhaphis chuni

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaohong Wang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The depth of the ocean is plentifully populated with a highly diverse fauna and flora, from where the Challenger expedition (1873–1876 treasured up a rich collection of vitreous sponges [Hexactinellida]. They have been described by Schulze and represent the phylogenetically oldest class of siliceous sponges [phylum Porifera]; they are eye-catching because of their distinct body plan, which relies on a filigree skeleton. It is constructed by an array of morphologically determined elements, the spicules. Later, during the German Deep Sea Expedition “Valdivia” (1898-1899, Schulze could describe the largest siliceous hexactinellid sponge on Earth, the up to 3 m high Monorhaphis chuni, which develops the equally largest bio-silica structures, the giant basal spicules (3 m × 10 mm. With such spicules as a model, basic knowledge on the morphology, formation, and development of the skeletal elements could be elaborated. Spicules are formed by a proteinaceous scaffold which mediates the formation of siliceous lamellae in which the proteins are encased. Up to eight hundred 5 to 10 μm thick lamellae can be concentrically arranged around an axial canal. The silica matrix is composed of almost pure silicon and oxygen, providing it with unusual optophysical properties that are superior to those of man-made waveguides. Experiments indicated that the spicules function in vivo as a nonocular photoreception system. In addition, the spicules have exceptional mechanical properties, combining mechanical stability with strength and stiffness. Like demosponges the hexactinellids synthesize their silica enzymatically, via the enzyme silicatein. All these basic insights will surely contribute also to a further applied utilization and exploration of bio-silica in material/medical science.

The largest Bio-Silica Structure on Earth: The Giant Basal Spicule from the Deep-Sea Glass Sponge Monorhaphis chuni.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaohong; Gan, Lu; Jochum, Klaus P; Schröder, Heinz C; Müller, Werner E G

2011-01-01

The depth of the ocean is plentifully populated with a highly diverse fauna and flora, from where the Challenger expedition (1873-1876) treasured up a rich collection of vitreous sponges [Hexactinellida]. They have been described by Schulze and represent the phylogenetically oldest class of siliceous sponges [phylum Porifera]; they are eye-catching because of their distinct body plan, which relies on a filigree skeleton. It is constructed by an array of morphologically determined elements, the spicules. Later, during the German Deep Sea Expedition "Valdivia" (1898-1899), Schulze could describe the largest siliceous hexactinellid sponge on Earth, the up to 3 m high Monorhaphis chuni, which develops the equally largest bio-silica structures, the giant basal spicules (3 m × 10 mm). With such spicules as a model, basic knowledge on the morphology, formation, and development of the skeletal elements could be elaborated. Spicules are formed by a proteinaceous scaffold which mediates the formation of siliceous lamellae in which the proteins are encased. Up to eight hundred 5 to 10 μm thick lamellae can be concentrically arranged around an axial canal. The silica matrix is composed of almost pure silicon and oxygen, providing it with unusual optophysical properties that are superior to those of man-made waveguides. Experiments indicated that the spicules function in vivo as a nonocular photoreception system. In addition, the spicules have exceptional mechanical properties, combining mechanical stability with strength and stiffness. Like demosponges the hexactinellids synthesize their silica enzymatically, via the enzyme silicatein. All these basic insights will surely contribute also to a further applied utilization and exploration of bio-silica in material/medical science.

The influence of currency risk upon the market value of commercial banks operating in the Polish banking sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zbigniew Korzeb

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of the paper is to analyse the impact of the Swiss Nati onal Bank’s decision to introduce the floating exchange rate of the franc on January 15th, 2015, upon the market value of commercial banks operatingin the Polish banking sector. The analysis involved twelve commercial banks quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The results are inconclusive. The predicted reducti on of the banks’ market value was less significant than indicated by market investors’ reaction on the day after the announcement of the decision to introduce the floating exchange rate of the franc. The banks most prone to granting credit denominated in CHF did experience the largest reducti on of their share quotations. However, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient calculated for the correlation between the average cumulative abnormal returns on shares for the entire analysed sample, and the proportion of credits denominated in Swiss francs in the total credit portfolio, indicated only a moderate correlation between both variables.

Global CO_2-energy emissions in 2007. China becomes the largest emitter along with the United States - June 2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

China becomes the largest emitter along with the United States. Contents: 1990-2007 evolution (key figures of Yearly average evolutions); Global CO_2-energy emissions in 2007: 27,3 GtCO_2; Global CO_2-energy emissions have increased by 3,2% in 2007, largely driven by China. Since 1990, China has more than doubled its CO_2-energy emissions, to reach the same emission level as the USA in 2007. Two very contrasting tendencies appear since 1990: stabilization of emissions in Annex B countries, boom in China and India. Since 1990, more than half of CO_2-energy emissions growth is (logically) due to coal. (authors)

Value encounters - Modeling and analyzing co-creation of value

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weigand, H.; Godart, C.; Gronau, N.; Sharma, S.; Canals, G.

2009-01-01

Recent marketing and management literature has introduced the concept of co-creation of value. Current value modeling approaches such as e3-value focus on the exchange of value rather than co-creation. In this paper, an extension to e3-value is proposed in the form of a “value encounter”. Value

Value encounters : Modelling and analyzing co-creation of value

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weigand, H.; Jayasinghe Arachchig, J.

2009-01-01

Recent marketing and management literature has introduced the concept of co-creation of value. Current value modeling approaches such as e3-value focus on the exchange of value rather than co-creation. In this paper, an extension to e3-value is proposed in the form of a “value encounter”. Value

Fifteen Years of Operation at NASA's National Transonic Facility with the World's Largest Adjustable Speed Drive

Science.gov (United States)

Sydnor, George H.; Bhatia, Ram; Krattiger, Hansueli; Mylius, Justus; Schafer, D.

2012-01-01

In September 1995, a project was initiated to replace the existing drive line at NASA's most unique transonic wind tunnel, the National Transonic Facility (NTF), with a single 101 MW synchronous motor driven by a Load Commutated Inverter (LCI). This Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) system also included a custom four-winding transformer, harmonic filter, exciter, switch gear, control system, and feeder cable. The complete system requirements and design details have previously been presented and published [1], as well as the commissioning and acceptance test results [2]. The NTF was returned to service in December 1997 with the new drive system powering the fan. Today, this installation still represents the world s largest horizontal single motor/drive combination. This paper describes some significant events that occurred with the drive system during the first 15 years of service. These noteworthy issues are analyzed and root causes presented. Improvements that have substantially increased the long term viability of the system are given.

Evaluation of several priority pollutants in zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the largest Italian subalpine lakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riva, Consuelo; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo

2008-01-01

Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes

Evaluation of several priority pollutants in zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the largest Italian subalpine lakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Riva, Consuelo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)], E-mail: consuelo.riva@unimi.it; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)

2008-02-15

Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes.

Nature Appropriation and Associations with Population Health in Canada’s Largest Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy Jason

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Earth is a finite system with a limited supply of resources. As the human population grows, so does the appropriation of Earth’s natural capital, thereby exacerbating environmental concerns such as biodiversity loss, increased pollution, deforestation and global warming. Such concerns will negatively impact human health although it is widely believed that improving socio-economic circumstances will help to ameliorate environmental impacts and improve health outcomes. However, this belief does not explicitly acknowledge the fact that improvements in socio-economic position are reliant on increased inputs from nature. Gains in population health, particularly through economic means, are disconnected from the appropriation of nature to create wealth so that health gains become unsustainable. The current study investigated the sustainability of human population health in Canada with regard to resource consumption or “ecological footprints” (i.e., the resources required to sustain a given population. Ecological footprints of the 20 largest Canadian cities, along with several important determinants of health such as income and education, were statistically compared with corresponding indicators of human population health outcomes. A significant positive relationship was found between ecological footprints and life expectancy, as well as a significant negative relationship between ecological footprints and the prevalence of high blood pressure. Results suggest that increased appropriation of nature is linked to improved health outcomes. To prevent environmental degradation from excessive appropriation of natural resources will require the development of health promotion strategies that are de-coupled from ever-increasing and unsustainable resource use. Efforts to promote population health should focus on health benefits achieved from a lifestyle based on significantly reduced consumption of natural resources.

Lessons Learned in Deploying the World s Largest Scale Lustre File System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dillow, David A [ORNL; Fuller, Douglas [ORNL; Wang, Feiyi [ORNL; Oral, H Sarp [ORNL; Zhang, Zhe [ORNL; Hill, Jason J [ORNL; Shipman, Galen M [ORNL

2010-01-01

The Spider system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) is the world's largest scale Lustre parallel file system. Envisioned as a shared parallel file system capable of delivering both the bandwidth and capacity requirements of the OLCF's diverse computational environment, the project had a number of ambitious goals. To support the workloads of the OLCF's diverse computational platforms, the aggregate performance and storage capacity of Spider exceed that of our previously deployed systems by a factor of 6x - 240 GB/sec, and 17x - 10 Petabytes, respectively. Furthermore, Spider supports over 26,000 clients concurrently accessing the file system, which exceeds our previously deployed systems by nearly 4x. In addition to these scalability challenges, moving to a center-wide shared file system required dramatically improved resiliency and fault-tolerance mechanisms. This paper details our efforts in designing, deploying, and operating Spider. Through a phased approach of research and development, prototyping, deployment, and transition to operations, this work has resulted in a number of insights into large-scale parallel file system architectures, from both the design and the operational perspectives. We present in this paper our solutions to issues such as network congestion, performance baselining and evaluation, file system journaling overheads, and high availability in a system with tens of thousands of components. We also discuss areas of continued challenges, such as stressed metadata performance and the need for file system quality of service alongside with our efforts to address them. Finally, operational aspects of managing a system of this scale are discussed along with real-world data and observations.

Quantification of potential macroseismic effects of the induced seismicity that might result from hydraulic fracturing for shale gas exploitation in the UK

OpenAIRE

Westaway, Robert; Younger, Paul L.

2014-01-01

The furore that has arisen in the UK over induced microseismicity from ‘fracking’ for shale gas development, which has resulted in ground vibrations strong enough to be felt, requires the urgent development of an appropriate regulatory framework. We suggest that the existing regulatory limits applicable to quarry blasting (i.e. peak ground velocities (PGV) in the seismic wavefield incident on any residential property of 10 mm s−1 during the working day, 2 mm s−1 at night, and 4.5 mm s−11 at o...

DISCOVERY OF THE LARGEST KNOWN LENSED IMAGES FORMED BY A CRITICALLY CONVERGENT LENSING CLUSTER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zitrin, Adi; Broadhurst, Tom

2009-01-01

We identify the largest known lensed images of a single spiral galaxy, lying close to the center of the distant cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 (z = 0.544). These images cover a total area of ≅150 mbox '' and are magnified ≅200 times. Unusually, there is very little image distortion, implying that the central mass distribution is almost uniform over a wide area (r ≅ 200 kpc) with a surface density equal to the critical density for lensing, corresponding to maximal lens magnification. Many fainter multiply lensed galaxies are also uncovered by our model, outlining a very large tangential critical curve, of radius r ≅ 170 kpc, posing a potential challenge for the standard LCDM cosmology. Because of the uniform central mass distribution, a particularly clean measurement of the mass of the brightest cluster galaxy is possible here, for which we infer stars contribute most of the mass within a limiting radius of ≅30 kpc, with a mass-to-light ratio of M/L B ≅ 4.5(M/L) sun . This cluster with its uniform and central mass distribution acts analogously to a regular magnifying glass, converging light without distorting the images, resulting in the most powerful lens yet discovered for accessing the faint high-z universe.

[Diagnostic value of baseline serum luteinizing hormone level for central precocious puberty in girls].

Science.gov (United States)

Ou-Yang, Li-Xue; Yang, Fan

2017-07-01

To evaluate the diagnostic value of baseline serum luteinizing hormone (LH) level for central precocious puberty (CPP) in girls. A total of 279 girls with precocious puberty were subjected to assessment of growth and development, bone age determination, baseline LH test, and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) test, gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test, and other related examinations. Of the 279 patients, 175 were diagnosed with CPP and 104 with premature thelarche (PT). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of baseline LH and FSH levels and their peak levels for CPP, and the correlation between the baseline LH level and the peak LH level was analyzed. The CPP group had significantly higher bone age, baseline LH and FSH levels, peak LH and FSH levels, and ratio of peak LH level to peak FSH level than the PT group (Pbaseline LH level and peak LH level had good diagnostic values for CPP. Among the three bone age subgroups in the CPP group (7.0-9.0 years, 9.0-11.0 years, and >11.0 years), baseline LH level showed the best diagnostic value in the >11.0 years subgroup, with the largest area under the ROC curve. At a baseline LH level of 0.45 IU/L, the Youden index reached the peak value, and the sensitivity and specificity were 66.7% and 80% respectively, for the diagnosis of CPP. At a peak LH level of 9.935 IU/L, the Youden index reached the peak value, and the sensitivity and specificity were 74.8% and 100% respectively, for the diagnosis of CPP. The baseline LH level was positively correlated with the peak LH level (r=0.440, PBaseline LH level can be used as an primary screening index for the diagnosis of CPP. It has a certain diagnostic value for CPP at different bone ages, and may be used as a monitoring index during the treatment and follow-uP.

Value Encounters - Modeling and Analyzing Co-creation of Value

Science.gov (United States)

Weigand, Hans

Recent marketing and management literature has introduced the concept of co-creation of value. Current value modeling approaches such as e3-value focus on the exchange of value rather than co-creation. In this paper, an extension to e3-value is proposed in the form of a “value encounter”. Value encounters are defined as interaction spaces where a group of actors meet and derive value by each one bringing in some of its own resources. They can be analyzed from multiple strategic perspectives, including knowledge management, social network management and operational management. Value encounter modeling can be instrumental in the context of service analysis and design.

Value-driven ERM: making ERM an engine for simultaneous value creation and value protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Celona, John; Driver, Jeffrey; Hall, Edward

2011-01-01

Enterprise risk management (ERM) began as an effort to integrate the historically disparate silos of risk management in organizations. More recently, as recognition has grown of the need to cover the upside risks in value creation (financial and otherwise), organizations and practitioners have been searching for the means to do this. Existing tools such as heat maps and risk registers are not adequate for this task. Instead, a conceptually new value-driven framework is needed to realize the promise of enterprise-wide coverage of all risks, for both value protection and value creation. The methodology of decision analysis provides the means of capturing systemic, correlated, and value-creation risks on the same basis as value protection risks and has been integrated into the value-driven approach to ERM described in this article. Stanford Hospital and Clinics Risk Consulting and Strategic Decisions Group have been working to apply this value-driven ERM at Stanford University Medical Center. © 2011 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

HOT Faults", Fault Organization, and the Occurrence of the Largest Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, J. M.; Hillers, G.; Archuleta, R. J.

2006-12-01

We apply the concept of "Highly Optimized Tolerance" (HOT) for the investigation of spatio-temporal seismicity evolution, in particular mechanisms associated with largest earthquakes. HOT provides a framework for investigating both qualitative and quantitative features of complex feedback systems that are far from equilibrium and punctuated by rare, catastrophic events. In HOT, robustness trade-offs lead to complexity and power laws in systems that are coupled to evolving environments. HOT was originally inspired by biology and engineering, where systems are internally very highly structured, through biological evolution or deliberate design, and perform in an optimum manner despite fluctuations in their surroundings. Though faults and fault systems are not designed in ways comparable to biological and engineered structures, feedback processes are responsible in a conceptually comparable way for the development, evolution and maintenance of younger fault structures and primary slip surfaces of mature faults, respectively. Hence, in geophysical applications the "optimization" approach is perhaps more aptly replaced by "organization", reflecting the distinction between HOT and random, disorganized configurations, and highlighting the importance of structured interdependencies that evolve via feedback among and between different spatial and temporal scales. Expressed in the terminology of the HOT concept, mature faults represent a configuration optimally organized for the release of strain energy; whereas immature, more heterogeneous fault networks represent intermittent, suboptimal systems that are regularized towards structural simplicity and the ability to generate large earthquakes more easily. We discuss fault structure and associated seismic response pattern within the HOT concept, and outline fundamental differences between this novel interpretation to more orthodox viewpoints like the criticality concept. The discussion is flanked by numerical simulations of a

Public Values

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck Jørgensen, Torben; Rutgers, Mark R.

2015-01-01

administration is approached in terms of processes guided or restricted by public values and as public value creating: public management and public policy-making are both concerned with establishing, following and realizing public values. To study public values a broad perspective is needed. The article suggest......This article provides the introduction to a symposium on contemporary public values research. It is argued that the contribution to this symposium represent a Public Values Perspective, distinct from other specific lines of research that also use public value as a core concept. Public...... a research agenda for this encompasing kind of public values research. Finally the contributions to the symposium are introduced....

Turnover, account value and diversification of real traders: evidence of collective portfolio optimizing behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Morton de Lachapelle, David; Challet, Damien

2010-07-01

Despite the availability of very detailed data on financial markets, agent-based modeling is hindered by the lack of information about real trader behavior. This makes it impossible to validate agent-based models, which are thus reverse-engineering attempts. This work is a contribution towards building a set of stylized facts about the traders themselves. Using the client database of Swissquote Bank SA, the largest online Swiss broker, we find empirical relationships between turnover, account values and the number of assets in which a trader is invested. A theory based on simple mean-variance portfolio optimization that crucially includes variable transaction costs is able to reproduce faithfully the observed behaviors. We finally argue that our results bring to light the collective ability of a population to construct a mean-variance portfolio that takes into account the structure of transaction costs.

Personality Profiles, Values and Empathy: Differences between Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarians and Vegans.

Science.gov (United States)

Kessler, Christian S; Holler, Sophie; Joy, Sebastian; Dhruva, Anand; Michalsen, Andreas; Dobos, Gustav; Cramer, Holger

2016-01-01

Vegetarian nutrition is gaining increasing public attention worldwide. While some studies have examined differences in motivations and personality traits between vegetarians and omnivores, only few studies have considered differences in motivations and personality traits between the 2 largest vegetarian subgroups: lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans. To examine differences between lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans in the distribution patterns of motives, values, empathy, and personality profiles. An anonymous online survey was performed in January 2014. Group differences between vegetarians and vegans in their initial motives for the choice of nutritional approaches, health-related quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF)), personality traits (Big Five Inventory-SOEP (BFI-S)), values (Portraits Value Questionnaire (PVQ)), and empathy (Empathizing Scale) were analyzed by univariate analyses of covariance; P values were adjusted for multiple testing. 10,184 individuals completed the survey; 4,427 (43.5%) were vegetarians and 4,822 (47.3%) were vegans. Regarding the initial motives for the choice of nutritional approaches, vegans rated food taste, love of animals, and global/humanitarian reasons as more important, and the influence of their social environment as less important than did vegetarians. Compared to vegetarians, vegans had higher values on physical, psychological, and social quality of life on the WHOQOL-BREF, and scored lower on neuroticism and higher on openness on the BFI-S. In the PVQ, vegans scored lower than vegetarians on power/might, achievement, safety, conformity, and tradition and higher on self-determination and universalism. Vegans had higher empathy than vegetarians (all p < 0.001). This survey suggests that vegans have more open and compatible personality traits, are more universalistic, empathic, and ethically oriented, and have a slightly higher quality of life when compared to vegetarians. Given the small

Values in a Science of Social Work: Values-Informed Research and Research-Informed Values

Science.gov (United States)

Longhofer, Jeffrey; Floersch, Jerry

2014-01-01

While social work must be evaluative in relation to its diverse areas of practice and research (i.e., values-informed research), the purpose of this article is to propose that values are within the scope of research and therefore research on practice should make values a legitimate object of investigation (i.e., research-informed values). In this…

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

2006-09-15

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

Key-value store with internal key-value storage interface

Science.gov (United States)

Bent, John M.; Faibish, Sorin; Ting, Dennis P. J.; Tzelnic, Percy; Gupta, Uday; Grider, Gary; Bonnie, David J.

2018-01-16

A key-value store is provided having one or more key-value storage interfaces. A key-value store on at least one compute node comprises a memory for storing a plurality of key-value pairs; and an abstract storage interface comprising a software interface module that communicates with at least one persistent storage device providing a key-value interface for persistent storage of one or more of the plurality of key-value pairs, wherein the software interface module provides the one or more key-value pairs to the at least one persistent storage device in a key-value format. The abstract storage interface optionally processes one or more batch operations on the plurality of key-value pairs. A distributed embodiment for a partitioned key-value store is also provided.

Changes of land use and of ecosystem service values in Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zongming; Zhang, Bai; Zhang, Shuqing; Li, Xiaoyan; Liu, Dianwei; Song, Kaishan; Li, Jianping; Li, Fang; Duan, Hongtao

2006-01-01

Agricultural activities, especially reclamation, are considered major threats to the wetland ecosystems in Sanjiang Plain, the largest concentrated area of the freshwater wetlands in China. In the past decades, the area of the cultivated land and its grain production have been increased at the cost of wetlands shrinkage. The large-scale land reclamation severely affected the ecosystems in this region. However, such effects at the regional scale are seldom evaluated quantitatively. We used three datasets of LANDSAT MSS and/or TM imagery to estimate the area changes and the transition of land use types from 1980 to 2000. We also valued changes in ecosystem services delivered by each land category using value coefficients published by Costanza et al. Sensitivity analysis suggested that these estimates were relatively robust. Finally, the contribution of various ecosystem functions was ranked to the overall value of the ecosystem services in this study. According to our estimates, the total annual ecosystem service values in Sanjiang Plain have declined by about 40% between 1980 and 2000 (156284-182572.18 million US dollars in total over 20 years). This substantial decline is largely attributed to the 53.4% loss of wetlands. For individual ecosystem functions, waste treatment, water supply and disturbance regulation account for more than 60% to the total ecological values. During those two decades, the contribution of disturbance regulation, cultural and recreation decreased, while the contribution of water regulation, nutrient cycling, food production, raw materials and climate regulation increased during the same period. We also put forward a few proposals concerning the future land use policy formulation and sustainable ecosystems. They are adjusting the 'food first' agricultural policy, establishing more nature reserves for wetlands, creating systems for the rational use of water, harnessing the degraded cultivated land and encouraging eco-tourism.

Effect of Spindle Parameters of Woodworking Band Saw on the AE Value of Crack Band Saw Blade in Compound Material Processing (1)

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jin-gui; Jiang, Zhao-fang; Luo, Lai-peng

2017-04-01

Taking the MJ3210A motion band saw as the research object, the AE value of the band saw blade vibration was obtained by analyzing the VIBSYS vibration signal acquisition and analysis software system in Beijing, and the change of the AE value of the band saw and the crack was found out. The experimental results show that in the MJ3210A sports car sawing machine, the band saw blade with width of 130 mm is used, and the AE value of the cracked band saw blade is well in the high band saw blade AE value. Under the best working condition of the band saw, the band saw blade AE If the value exceeds 104.7 dB (A) above, it means that the band saw blade has at least one crack length greater than 1.38 mm for the crack defect and the need to replace the band saw blade in time. Different species with saw blade of the AE value is different, white pine wood minimum, the largest oak wood; according to a variety of wood processing AE instrument value to determine the band saw blade crack to the situation; so as to fully rational use of band saw blade, The failure and the degree of development to find a new method.

Ecosystem Service Value Assessment and Contribution Factor Analysis of Land Use Change in Miyun County, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Zhang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Unreasonable land use planning can reduce ecosystem service value and result in unsustainable land use. In this paper, the changes of ecosystem service value were investigated by using the GIS and dynamic simulation model of land use in Miyun of Beijing, China, based on the land use at four time points including 1991, 2006, 2021 and one improved scenario, respectively. The results showed the total ecosystem service value of Miyun was about 2968.34 million Yuan in 1991, 3304.72 million Yuan in 2006, 3106.48 million Yuan in 2021, and 3759.77 million Yuan in the improved scenario. In terms of ecosystem service function, the functions of water supply and soil formation and retention accounted for the largest proportion, which were 19.99% and 14.58% respectively; whereas the functions of food supply and recreation and culture were only 1.83% and 5.99%, respectively. Coefficients of sensitivity for forest cover, water bodies and arable land were relatively large, which were 0.73, 0.28 and 0.14, respectively. The contribution factors of total ecosystem service value with the land use change during different periods were mainly the unused land to forest cover and arable land, which respectively accounted for more than 63% and 21% of the contribution rate. These results suggested that sustainable land use planning should be undertaken with emphasis on vegetation restoration and protection of water bodies.

City-ecological perspectives of the development of high urbanized multifunctional centers of the largest Russian cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kolesnikov Sergey Anatol’evich

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents some results of the author’s dissertation research dedicated to formation of an architectural typology of high urbanized multifunctional units of urban structure of the largest cities (further HUMUUS as centers of social activity, which include buildings, constructions, transportation equipment and open spaces, where human flows transpose, start and end with the purpose of bringing into this space a concentrated maximum of goods, services and information with minimum time expenditures. This article draws attention to the development analysis of the structure-forming functions of HUMUUS and their town planning and environmental impact on the surrounding area. The study of planning structures of the largest Russian cities (Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod made it possible to identify a number of main objects, in which structure-forming functions of HUMUUS are materialized: railroad complex (historically formed, developed, dominated, system-wide road junction, transport interchange hub (providing intraurban messages, public office and business centers, leisure and entertainment centers, shopping centers. Basing on researches of Russian and foreign experience, it is possible to predict with full confidence the following trends and streams of environmental and urban development of HUMUUS in the near-term perspective: Strengthening of the environmental and urban frame by network evolution of HUMUUS; Inclusion of green areas of HUMUUS in the system of citywide green areas; Increment of the interest of the investors to the public road junction for the purpose of reorganization of them to full HUMUUS with all characteristics of high-urbanized and environmental and urban reorganization (separation of traffic and pedestrian flows, maximum capacity, multiple-level system, multifunctional, increase in landscaped green space, reconstruction of engineering systems and communications, the use of modern ecological building designs and

Water footprint assessment along the wheat-bread value chain towards the sustainable use of freshwater in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Mohlotsane, Pascalina; Owusu-Sekyere, Enoch; Jordaan, Henry

2017-04-01

A significant amount of water is used in food production. The current increase in demand for food and impact of climate change place much pressure on the available water resources. South Africa is soon approaching complete utilisation of its available surface water, with irrigated agriculture accountable for about 63% of the country's available water use. This poses a threat to food security. Wheat is the largest winter cereal crop produced in South Africa, approximately 80% of this wheat is used to produce Bread. Bread consumption in South Africa is estimated at 2.8 billion loaves per annum. About 62 loaves of bread are consumed per person per annum with noticeable differences in preferences. Therefore, it is important to account for the amount of water used along the wheat-bread production chain. In this paper, we examined water footprint along the wheat-bread value chain. The water footprint concept provides an appropriate framework for analysis to find the link between the consumption of agricultural goods and the use of water resources. The paper employed the Global Water Footprint Standard approach to calculating the volumetric green, blue and grey water footprint along the wheat-bread value chain. Our findings reveal that wheat production at the farm level accounts for 99.95 percent of the total water footprint of the bread, while processing and wholesale levels only account for 0.56 per cent. Our findings highlight the importance of effective and efficient water use at the farm level for wheat production. Specifically, the total water footprint of wheat bread is 937.42m3.ton-1. The green water component was found to be 190.59m3.ton-1 and that of blue water was 745.28 m3.ton-1. Grey water footprint accounted for only 1.55 m3.ton-1. The results indicate that the amount of water used at farm level is the largest contributor to the total water footprint of bread. Given the blue water scarcity situation in South Africa, it is very critical for wheat producers to

GIS learning tool for world's largest earthquakes and their causes

Science.gov (United States)

Chatterjee, Moumita

The objective of this thesis is to increase awareness about earthquakes among people, especially young students by showing the five largest and two most predictable earthquake locations in the world and their plate tectonic settings. This is a geographic based interactive tool which could be used for learning about the cause of great earthquakes in the past and the safest places on the earth in order to avoid direct effect of earthquakes. This approach provides an effective way of learning for the students as it is very user friendly and more aligned to the interests of the younger generation. In this tool the user can click on the various points located on the world map which will open a picture and link to the webpage for that point, showing detailed information of the earthquake history of that place including magnitude of quake, year of past quakes and the plate tectonic settings that made this place earthquake prone. Apart from knowing the earthquake related information students will also be able to customize the tool to suit their needs or interests. Students will be able to add/remove layers, measure distance between any two points on the map, select any place on the map and know more information for that place, create a layer from this set to do a detail analysis, run a query, change display settings, etc. At the end of this tool the user has to go through the earthquake safely guidelines in order to be safe during an earthquake. This tool uses Java as programming language and uses Map Objects Java Edition (MOJO) provided by ESRI. This tool is developed for educational purpose and hence its interface has been kept simple and easy to use so that students can gain maximum knowledge through it instead of having a hard time to install it. There are lots of details to explore which can help more about what a GIS based tool is capable of. Only thing needed to run this tool is latest JAVA edition installed in their machine. This approach makes study more fun and

Application of value of information of tank waste characterization: A new paradigm for defining tank waste characterization requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fassbender, L.L.; Brewster, M.E.; Brothers, A.J.

1996-11-01

This report presents the rationale for adopting a recommended characterization strategy that uses a risk-based decision-making framework for managing the Tank Waste Characterization program at Hanford. The risk-management/value-of-information (VOI) strategy that is illustrated explicitly links each information-gathering activity to its cost and provides a mechanism to ensure that characterization funds are spent where they can produce the largest reduction in risk. The approach was developed by tailoring well-known decision analysis techniques to specific tank waste characterization applications. This report illustrates how VOI calculations are performed and demonstrates that the VOI approach can definitely be used for real Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) characterization problems

Application of value of information of tank waste characterization: A new paradigm for defining tank waste characterization requirements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fassbender, L.L.; Brewster, M.E.; Brothers, A.J. [and others

1996-11-01

This report presents the rationale for adopting a recommended characterization strategy that uses a risk-based decision-making framework for managing the Tank Waste Characterization program at Hanford. The risk-management/value-of-information (VOI) strategy that is illustrated explicitly links each information-gathering activity to its cost and provides a mechanism to ensure that characterization funds are spent where they can produce the largest reduction in risk. The approach was developed by tailoring well-known decision analysis techniques to specific tank waste characterization applications. This report illustrates how VOI calculations are performed and demonstrates that the VOI approach can definitely be used for real Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) characterization problems.

Finite Element Modelling of the Indo-Gangetic Basin to Study Site Amplification

Science.gov (United States)

Sivasubramonian, J.; Jaya, D.; Raghukanth, S. T. G.; Mai, P. M.

2017-12-01

We have developed a finite-element model of the 3D velocity structure of the Indo-Gangetic basin (IG basin) to quantify site amplifications due to seismic waves emanated from regional earthquakes. Estimating seismic wave amplifications is difficult in case of limited instrumentation, thus motivating us to propose a new simulation-based approach. The input required for the finite-element model include the spatial coordinates and the material properties (density, P-wave and S-wave velocities, Q factor) of the basin. Recent studies in the basin demarcate sediment layers of varying thickness, reaching down to a depth of 6 km and S-wave velocities ranging from 0.4-2.4 km/s (Srinivas et al., 2013). In the present study, our regional model has dimensions 900 x 900 x 80 km in x, y and z directions, discretized into 320 x 320 x 53 hexahedral elements. The top 6 km of the IG basin is divided into 8 different sediment layers with varying material properties. We use kinematic rupture models for the earthquake sources to simulate past as well as hypothetical future events. Two past earthquakes (Mw4.9, Delhi; Mw5.2, Chamoli) and two hypothetical earthquakes (Mw7.1; Mw8.5) are considered in our study. The rupture plane dimensions (L and W) and the slip distribution are estimated using the method of Mai and Beroza (2002). Based on focal-mechanism solutions and the depths of seismicity, we define the strike (580, 3090), the dip (650, 210), the rake (160, 770), and the depth of top edge of fault (5 km, 19 km) for the two large hypothetical earthquakes. Based on these parameters, the Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) solution of the source is obtained. Ground motions are then simulated by solving the three-dimensional wave equation using the spectral element method (Komatitsch and Tromp, 1999). The key observations from our results are: 1) basin amplification factors for Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) are twice as high as Peak Ground Displacement (PGD) 2) PGV amplifications are as high as a

Complete Genome Sequence of the Largest Known Flavi-Like Virus, Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus, a Novel Virus of the Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri

OpenAIRE

Matsumura, Emilyn E.; Nerva, Luca; Nigg, Jared C.; Falk, Bryce W.; Nouri, Shahideh

2016-01-01

A novel flavi-like virus tentatively named Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus (DcFLV) was identified in field populations of Diaphorina citri through small RNA and transcriptome sequencing followed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. We report here the complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of DcFLV, the largest flavi-like virus identified to date.

Hydrodynamic and Inundation Modeling of China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Aided by Remote Sensing Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Zhang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, is characterized by rapid changes in its inundation area and hydrodynamics, so in this study, a hydrodynamic model of Poyang Lake was established to simulate these long-term changes. Inundation information was extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS remote sensing data and used to calibrate the wetting and drying parameter by assessing the accuracy of the simulated inundation area and its boundary. The bottom friction parameter was calibrated using current velocity measurements from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP. The results show the model is capable of predicting the inundation area dynamic through cross-validation with remotely sensed inundation data, and can reproduce the seasonal dynamics of the water level, and water discharge through a comparison with hydrological data. Based on the model results, the characteristics of the current velocities of the lake in the wet season and the dry season of the lake were explored, and the potential effect of the current dynamic on water quality patterns was discussed. The model is a promising basic tool for prediction and management of the water resource and water quality of Poyang Lake.

Assessment of bioaerosol contamination (bacteria and fungi) in the largest urban wastewater treatment plant in the Middle East.

Science.gov (United States)

Niazi, Sadegh; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh; Mahvi, Amir Hossein; Nabizadeh, Ramin; Alimohammadi, Mahmood; Nabavi, Samira; Faridi, Sasan; Dehghani, Asghar; Hoseini, Mohammad; Moradi-Joo, Mohammad; Mokamel, Adel; Kashani, Homa; Yarali, Navid; Yunesian, Masud

2015-10-01

Bioaerosol concentration was measured in wastewater treatment units in south of Tehran, the largest wastewater treatment plant in the Middle East. Active sampling was carried out around four operational units and a point as background. The results showed that the aeration tank with an average of 1016 CFU/m(3) in winter and 1973 CFU/m(3) in summer had the greatest effect on emission of bacterial bioaerosols. In addition, primary treatment had the highest impact on fungal emission. Among the bacteria, Micrococcus spp. showed the widest emission in the winter, and Bacillus spp. was dominant in summer. Furthermore, fungi such as Penicillium spp. and Cladosporium spp. were the dominant types in the seasons. Overall, significant relationship was observed between meteorological parameters and the concentration of bacterial and fungal aerosols.

An Examination of Strategic Philanthropy and CSR Communication Patterns among the World’s Twenty-One Largest Oil Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Brad Gatlin

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Fortune Magazine’s 2012 list of 100 largest companies included 21 oil companies. This paper seeks to discern patterns of those 21 companies’ philanthropic efforts and communication thereof. Specifically, the paper will consider issues such as ownership (all companies were either publicly-traded or state-owned, the economic development of the home country, and the citizens’ expectations of corporate citizens. The philanthropic efforts of all 21 companies are discussed in the context of Porter and Kramer’s (2001 framework of the competitive context It is concluded that the oil industry is particularly well-suited to affect factor and, to a lesser extent, demand conditions, through philanthropic efforts. A model for classifying the philanthropic based on ownership and country conditions is proposed, and suggestions for further research are made.

A Bayesian and Physics-Based Ground Motion Parameters Map Generation System

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Guzman, L.; Quiroz, A.; Sandoval, H.; Perez-Yanez, C.; Ruiz, A. L.; Delgado, R.; Macias, M. A.; Alcántara, L.

2014-12-01

We present the Ground Motion Parameters Map Generation (GMPMG) system developed by the Institute of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The system delivers estimates of information associated with the social impact of earthquakes, engineering ground motion parameters (gmp), and macroseismic intensity maps. The gmp calculated are peak ground acceleration and velocity (pga and pgv) and response spectral acceleration (SA). The GMPMG relies on real-time data received from strong ground motion stations belonging to UNAM's networks throughout Mexico. Data are gathered via satellite and internet service providers, and managed with the data acquisition software Earthworm. The system is self-contained and can perform all calculations required for estimating gmp and intensity maps due to earthquakes, automatically or manually. An initial data processing, by baseline correcting and removing records containing glitches or low signal-to-noise ratio, is performed. The system then assigns a hypocentral location using first arrivals and a simplified 3D model, followed by a moment tensor inversion, which is performed using a pre-calculated Receiver Green's Tensors (RGT) database for a realistic 3D model of Mexico. A backup system to compute epicentral location and magnitude is in place. A Bayesian Kriging is employed to combine recorded values with grids of computed gmp. The latter are obtained by using appropriate ground motion prediction equations (for pgv, pga and SA with T=0.3, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 s ) and numerical simulations performed in real time, using the aforementioned RGT database (for SA with T=2, 2.5 and 3 s). Estimated intensity maps are then computed using SA(T=2S) to Modified Mercalli Intensity correlations derived for central Mexico. The maps are made available to the institutions in charge of the disaster prevention systems. In order to analyze the accuracy of the maps, we compare them against observations not considered in the

Value concepts and value based collaboration in building projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Per Anker

2005-01-01

Value has in recent years become a popular term in management theory and practice in general as well as in economic theory and architectural management. This paper attempts to clarify the various uses and meanings of concepts of value/values. Six different value concepts are identified. The ori......-gin and use of value concepts in classic and modern economic theory and in management theory is outlined. The question of objectivity and subjectivity is discussed in relation to economic value and customer value. Value creation is put in relation to development in products and processes and a number...... of design strategies are identified. The concept and methods of value based management and collaboration is discussed in this context. The paper is mainly theoretical and based on work during a MBA study in 2002-04 as well as many years of experience as building client and facilities manager....

Titanogryllus n. gen., the largest Gryllinae cricket from the Neotropical Region with three new species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Gryllidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Jaiswara, Ranjana; Souza-Dias, Pedro G B; De Campos, Lucas Denadai; RedÜ, Darlan R; De Mello, Francisco de A G; Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure

2018-03-29

Titanogryllus, a new genus and three new species T. salgado n. gen. n. sp., T. oxossi n. gen. n. sp., and T. oxente n. gen. n. sp. from subfamily Gryllinae (Grylloidea, Gryllidae) are described from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This genus is characterized by its very large size, and establishes a new record for the largest known cricket from Neotropical Region. The new taxa are characterized by their external morphology and male and female genitalia.

Correlation of the Deccan and Rajahmundry Trap lavas: Are these the longest and largest lava flows on Earth?

Science.gov (United States)

Self, S.; Jay, A. E.; Widdowson, M.; Keszthelyi, L. P.

2008-05-01

We propose that the Rajahmundry Trap lavas, found near the east coast of peninsular India , are remnants of the longest lava flows yet recognized on Earth (˜ 1000 km long). These outlying Deccan-like lavas are shown to belong to the main Deccan Traps. Several previous studies have already suggested this correlation, but have not demonstrated it categorically. The exposed Rajahmundry lavas are interpreted to be the distal parts of two very-large-volume pāhoehoe flow fields, one each from the Ambenali and Mahabaleshwar Formations of the Wai Sub-group in the Deccan Basalt Group. Eruptive conditions required to emplace such long flows are met by plausible values for cooling and eruption rates, and this is shown by applying a model for the formation of inflated pāhoehoe sheet flow lobes. The model predicts flow lobe thicknesses similar to those observed in the Rajahmundry lavas. For the last 400 km of flow, the lava flows were confined to the pre-existing Krishna valley drainage system that existed in the basement beyond the edge of the gradually expanding Deccan lava field, allowing the flows to extend across the subcontinent to the eastern margin where they were emplaced into a littoral and/or shallow marine environment. These lavas and other individual flow fields in the Wai Sub-group may exceed eruptive volumes of 5000 km 3, which would place them amongst the largest magnitude effusive eruptive units yet known. We suggest that the length of flood basalt lava flows on Earth is restricted mainly by the size of land masses and topography. In the case of the Rajahmundry lavas, the flows reached estuaries and the sea, where their advance was perhaps effectively terminated by cooling and/or disruption. However, it is only during large igneous province basaltic volcanism that such huge volumes of lava are erupted in single events, and when the magma supply rate is sufficiently high and maintained to allow the formation of very long lava flows. The Rajahmundry lava

Congruence and functions of personal and cultural values: do my values reflect my culture's values?

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Ronald

2006-11-01

Two studies are described examining the correlation between self- and culture-referenced values at a culture level (Study 1) and correlation between self- and culture-referenced values and self-reported behavior at an individual level (Study 2). It is found that values related to individual-group relationships (embeddedness) and expression and experience of affective feelings and emotions (affective autonomy) are significantly correlated at a culture level. In Study 2, culture-referenced values are shown to correlate with behaviors attached to social norms, whereas self-rated values are found to correlate with behaviors that are not norm-governed. Implications for measurement of cultural values and cultural and cross-cultural research designs are discussed.

Moment Magnitude discussion in Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Weginger, Stefan; Jia, Yan; Hausmann, Helmut; Lenhardt, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

We implemented and tested the Moment Magnitude estimation „dbmw" from the University of Trieste in our Antelope near real-time System. It is used to get a fast Moment Magnitude solutions and Ground Motion Parameter (PGA, PGV, PSA 0.3, PSA 1.0 and PSA 3.0) to calculate Shake and Interactive maps. A Moment Magnitude Catalogue was generated and compared with the Austrian Earthquake Catalogue and all available Magnitude solution of the neighbouring agencies. Relations of Mw to Ml and Ground Motion to Intensity are presented.

Stand Up for the Burrup: Saving the Largest Aboriginal Rock Art Precinct in Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny Gregory

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The Dampier Rock Art Precinct contains the largest and most ancient collection of Aboriginal rock art in Australia. The cultural landscape created by generations of Aboriginal people includes images of long-extinct fauna and demonstrates the response of peoples to a changing climate over thousands of years as well as the continuity of lived experience. Despite Australian national heritage listing in 2007, this cultural landscape continues to be threatened by industrial development. Rock art on the eastern side of the archipelago, on the Burrup Peninsula, was relocated following the discovery of adjacent off-shore gas reserves so that a major gas plant could be constructed. Work has now begun on the construction of a second major gas plant nearby. This article describes the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago and the troubled history of European-Aboriginal contact history, before examining the impact of industry on the region and its environment. The destruction of Aboriginal rock art to meet the needs of industry is an example of continuing indifference to Aboriginal culture. While the complex struggle to protect the cultural landscape of the Burrup, in particular, involving Indigenous people, archaeologists, historians, state and federal politicians, government bureaucrats and multi-national companies, eventually led to national heritage listing, it is not clear that the battle to save the Burrup has been won.

A look at one of the world`s largest apron feeder drives - Alberta Oil Sands Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Persson, O. [Hagglunds Drives Canada Inc., Vancouver, BC (Canada)

1999-10-01

Various types of equipment to transport tar sands to processing plants are discussed, with special attention to the advantages of hydraulic direct drives over conventional electro-mechanical drives. A hydraulic direct drive such as the Hagglund Drive has exceptional starting torque capacity due to the high torque capability of the hydraulic motor. As such, it can be particularly useful in applications where shock loads occur with some frequency, or where many starts and stops are needed. Application of the Hagglund drive to power one of the world`s largest apron feeders in the Alberta Oil Sands is described as an illustration of the exceptional reliability, productivity and performance of this equipment. It has about one five-hundredth of the inertia of an equivalent high speed drive with gear reducer, a feature which is particularly significant in the case of feeders which are known to suffer much downtime due to chain related problems. These types of drives have also been used to great advantage in the process industries like pulp and paper, chemical, rubber and plastics, recycling and steel. 1 tab., 1 fig.

Setting-up a cost recovery system for the largest wastewater treatment plant in South-East Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lønholdt, J; Elberg Jørgensen, P; O'Hearn, D

2005-01-01

A tariff system has been set up for the largest wastewater treatment plant in South-East Asia, the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Treatment Plant south of Bangkok, which is currently under completion. Fully functional the plant will have a design capacity for 500,000 m3 per day and will service a combined residential and industrial area with approximately 600,000 residents and 2,300 factories. The tariff system, which includes a tariff model, is based on water consumption and BOD load. As background for setting the tariffs a comprehensive monitoring system including an industrial permitting system has been developed. The paper presents the background and rationale for setting up the system as well as the objective, scope and content of the tariff system and the industrial permit system. Further, the feasibility of introducing cost recovery systems, which is widely accepted in developing economies on the conceptual level and to some extent implemented at the legal and regulatory level, but has yet to be implemented at large, is discussed.

Measuring Systemic Risk of Banking in Indonesia: Conditional Value at Risk Model Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harjum Muharam

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Systemic risk is a risk of collapse of the financial system that would cause the financial system is not functioning properly. Measurement of systemic risk in the financial institutions, especially banks are crucial, because banks are highly vulnerable to financial crisis. In this study, to estimate the conditional value-at-risk (CoVaR used quantile regression. Samples in this study of 9 banks have total assets of the largest in Indonesia. Testing the correlation between VaR and ΔCoVaR in this study using Spearman correlation and Kendall's Tau. There are five banks that have a significant correlation between VaR and ΔCoVaR, meanwhile four others banks in the sample did not have a significant correlation. However, the correlation coefficient is below 0.50, which indicates that there is a weak correlation between VaR and CoVaR.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v6i2.5296

Environmental Impacts and Hotspots of Food Losses: Value Chain Analysis of Swiss Food Consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Beretta, Claudio; Stucki, Matthias; Hellweg, Stefanie

2017-10-03

Reducing food losses and waste is crucial to making our food system more efficient and sustainable. This is the first paper that quantifies the environmental impacts of food waste by distinguishing the various stages of the food value chain, 33 food categories that represent the whole food basket in Switzerland, and including food waste treatment. Environmental impacts are expressed in terms of climate change and biodiversity impacts due to water and land use. Climate change impacts of food waste are highest for fresh vegetables, due to the large amounts wasted, while the specific impact per kg is largest for beef. Biodiversity impacts are mainly caused by cocoa and coffee (16% of total) and by beef (12%). Food waste at the end of the food value chain (households and food services) causes almost 60% of the total climate impacts of food waste, because of the large quantities lost at this stage and the higher accumulated impacts per kg of product. The net environmental benefits from food waste treatment are only 5-10% of the impacts from production and supply of the wasted food. Thus, avoiding food waste should be a first-line priority, while optimizing the method of treatment is less relevant.

Value Relevance of Consolidated Versus Parent Company Financial Statements: Evidence from the Largest Three European Capital Markets

OpenAIRE

Victor-Octavian MULLER

2011-01-01

Within the European Union, parent companies have to prepare and publish both consolidated and individual financial statements. The objective of financial statements with general purpose is to give information regarding the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of the reporting entity, information that is useful to investors and other users in making economic decisions. In order to be useful, financial information needs to be relevant to the decision-making process ...

Desain Lean Production Dengan Aspek Sustainability dan Logika Fuzzy pada Value Stream Analysis Tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Famila Dwi Winati

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This article measures and identifies waste and designs alternatives to reduce waste in one SME in Yogyakarta, thus increasing efficiency. The lean manufacturing approach uses Value Stream Mapping that applies sustainability concepts. The research methodology used in this research is case study strategy. Based on the analysis of Current State Mapping there are many activities that are not important and should be reduced. The sustainability aspect in Gendhis Bag covers the environmental aspect with a 10% limit on skin waste and 15% for PVC waste. Energy consumption for production is 750 watts and labor cost is Rp 32,800 per unit. Safety operators have a very small accident rate, while the largest Physical Load Index score is in the cutting department. Future state VSM shows that NNVA and NVA time can be significantly reduced and lead time can be reduced, so production can increase 12 units per day.

What Is the Value of Value-Based Purchasing?

Science.gov (United States)

Tanenbaum, Sandra J

2016-10-01

Value-based purchasing (VBP) is a widely favored strategy for improving the US health care system. The meaning of value that predominates in VBP schemes is (1) conformance to selected process and/or outcome metrics, and sometimes (2) such conformance at the lowest possible cost. In other words, VBP schemes choose some number of "quality indicators" and financially incent providers to meet them (and not others). Process measures are usually based on clinical science that cannot determine the effects of a process on individual patients or patients with comorbidities, and do not necessarily measure effects that patients value; additionally, there is no provision for different patients valuing different things. Proximate outcome measures may or may not predict distal ones, and the more distal the outcome, the less reliably it can be attributed to health care. Outcome measures may be quite rudimentary, such as mortality rates, or highly contestable: survival or function after prostate surgery? When cost is an element of value-based purchasing, it is the cost to the value-based payer and not to other payers or patients' families. The greatest value of value-based purchasing may not be to patients or even payers, but to policy makers seeking a morally justifiable alternative to politically contested regulatory policies. Copyright © 2016 by Duke University Press.

Local patient dose diagnostic reference levels in pediatric interventional cardiology in Chile using age bands and patient weight values.

Science.gov (United States)

Ubeda, Carlos; Miranda, Patricia; Vano, Eliseo

2015-02-01

To present the results of a patient dose evaluation program in pediatric cardiology and propose local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for different types of procedure and age range, in addition to suggesting approaches to correlate patient dose values with patient weight. This study was the first conducted in Latin America for pediatric interventional cardiology under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Over three years, the following data regarding demographic and patient dose values were collected: age, gender, weight, height, number of cine series, total number of cine frames, fluoroscopy time (FT), and two dosimetric quantities, dose-area product (DAP) and cumulative dose (CD), at the patient entrance reference point. The third quartile values for FT, DAP, CD, number of cine series, and the DAP/body weight ratio were proposed as the set of quantities to use as local DRLs. Five hundred and seventeen patients were divided into four age groups. Sample sizes by age group were 120 for bands used in Europe, complemented with the values of the ratio between DAP and patient weight. This permits a rough estimate of DRLs for different patient weights and the refining of these values for the age bands when there may be large differences in child size. These DRLs were obtained at the largest pediatric hospital in Chile, with an active optimization program, and could be used by other hospitals in the Latin America region to compare their current patient dose values and determine whether corrective action is appropriate. © 2015 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Complete Genome Sequence of the Largest Known Flavi-Like Virus, Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus, a Novel Virus of the Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumura, Emilyn E; Nerva, Luca; Nigg, Jared C; Falk, Bryce W; Nouri, Shahideh

2016-09-08

A novel flavi-like virus tentatively named Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus (DcFLV) was identified in field populations of Diaphorina citri through small RNA and transcriptome sequencing followed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. We report here the complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of DcFLV, the largest flavi-like virus identified to date. Copyright © 2016 Matsumura et al.

Porter's value chain (construction, deconstruction, reconstruction) and values management

OpenAIRE

E.V. Krykavskyy; Z. Patora-Wysocka

2015-01-01

The aim of the article. The phases of the Porter's value chain are distinguished: construction of chain value – Porters model (Stage 1); deconstruction – identifying contradictions, disorganizing elements of unnecessary processes that do not add value (Stage 2); reconstruction (synthesis) – creates a new value chain (Stage 3). The results of the analysis. The principles of convergence of value and supply chains are identified and the need to focus on supply chain performance is proved. The...

Graphene oxide-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticle composite with high transverse proton relaxivity value for magnetic resonance imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Venkatesha, N.; Srivastava, Chandan, E-mail: csrivastava@materials.iisc.ernet.in [Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India); Poojar, Pavan; Geethanath, Sairam [Medical Imaging Research Centre, Dayananda Sagar Institutions, Bangalore 560078 (India); Qurishi, Yasrib [Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India)

2015-04-21

The potential of graphene oxide–Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticle (GO-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}) composite as an image contrast enhancing material in magnetic resonance imaging has been investigated. Proton relaxivity values were obtained in three different homogeneous dispersions of GO-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} composites synthesized by precipitating Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticles in three different reaction mixtures containing 0.01 g, 0.1 g, and 0.2 g of graphene oxide. A noticeable difference in proton relaxivity values was observed between the three cases. A comprehensive structural and magnetic characterization revealed discrete differences in the extent of reduction of the graphene oxide and spacing between the graphene oxide sheets in the three composites. The GO-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} composite framework that contained graphene oxide with least extent of reduction of the carboxyl groups and largest spacing between the graphene oxide sheets provided the optimum structure for yielding a very high transverse proton relaxivity value. It was found that the GO-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} composites possessed good biocompatibility with normal cell lines, whereas they exhibited considerable toxicity towards breast cancer cells.

The Integrated Approach for Sustainable Performance Evaluation in Value Chain of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thi-Nham Le

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The impressive growth of the Vietnam textile and apparel industry has led to some concerns due to its insufficient value chain and fierce competition within the industry. Thus, performance evaluation is significant issue to estimate the values of companies over time. Firstly, the grey prediction is used to forecast future data for 20 largest enterprises in six years (2016–2021 based on actual indicators. Then, the paper uses Malmquist productivity index and its decomposition into efficiency and technical change to measure the past productivity growth. Finally, window analysis is applied to significantly detect the trends of performance in 12 years (2010–2021 from large number of inputs and outputs. The results are found that how technology changes is the determinant for productivity growth and undeveloped technology causes a huge barrier to industry. In addition, the results are illustrated that textile companies are predicted to be more stable due to the importance of supplying materials for the entire industry. This paper aims to prove in-depth analysis can be conducted through combined models and also provide some recommendations for enhancing the sustainability performance of the industry.

Teacher Values and Relationship: Factors in Values Education

Science.gov (United States)

Brady, Laurie

2011-01-01

Intrigued by the notion that effective teaching is as much about relationship as it is about "technical" proficiency, the author examines the values of teachers that inform classroom relationships, and poses the question as to whether there are particular teacher values that are necessary for quality values education. This question is…

The forecaster's added value in QPF

Science.gov (United States)

Turco, M.; Milelli, M.

2010-03-01

: - despite the overall improvement in global scale and the fact that the resolution of the limited area models has increased considerably over recent years, the QPF produced by the meteorological models involved in this study has not improved enough to allow its direct use: the subjective HQPF continues to offer the best performance for the period +24 h/+48 h (i.e. the warning period in the Piemonte system); - in the forecast process, the step where humans have the largest added value with respect to mathematical models, is the communication. In fact the human characterization and communication of the forecast uncertainty to end users cannot be replaced by any computer code; - eventually, although there is no novelty in this study, we would like to show that the correct application of appropriated statistical techniques permits a better definition and quantification of the errors and, mostly important, allows a correct (unbiased) communication between forecasters and decision makers.

"Value"ing Children Differently? Migrant Children in Education

Science.gov (United States)

Devine, Dympna

2013-01-01

This paper considers dilemmas around "value" and the "valuing" of children and childhood(s) in schools. I argue that in neo-liberal contexts, processes of children's identity making become aligned with the idea of the corporate citizen--value and worth derived from the capacity to produce, excel, self-regulate as well as…

The value of innovation under value-based pricing

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Santiago G.; Ray, Joshua A.

2016-01-01

Objective The role of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in incentivizing innovation is controversial. Critics of CEA argue that its use for pricing purposes disregards the ‘value of innovation’ reflected in new drug development, whereas supporters of CEA highlight that the value of innovation is already accounted for. Our objective in this article is to outline the limitations of the conventional CEA approach, while proposing an alternative method of evaluation that captures the value of innovation more accurately. Method The adoption of a new drug benefits present and future patients (with cost implications) for as long as the drug is part of clinical practice. Incidence patients and off-patent prices are identified as two key missing features preventing the conventional CEA approach from capturing 1) benefit to future patients and 2) future savings from off-patent prices. The proposed CEA approach incorporates these two features to derive the total lifetime value of an innovative drug (i.e., the value of innovation). Results The conventional CEA approach tends to underestimate the value of innovative drugs by disregarding the benefit to future patients and savings from off-patent prices. As a result, innovative drugs are underpriced, only allowing manufacturers to capture approximately 15% of the total value of innovation during the patent protection period. In addition to including the incidence population and off-patent price, the alternative approach proposes pricing new drugs by first negotiating the share of value of innovation to be appropriated by the manufacturer (>15%?) and payer (price that satisfies this condition. Conclusion We argue for a modification to the conventional CEA approach that integrates the total lifetime value of innovative drugs into CEA, by taking into account off-patent pricing and future patients. The proposed approach derives a price that allows manufacturers to capture an agreed share of this value, thereby incentivizing

The value of innovation under value-based pricing.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Santiago G; Ray, Joshua A

2016-01-01

The role of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in incentivizing innovation is controversial. Critics of CEA argue that its use for pricing purposes disregards the 'value of innovation' reflected in new drug development, whereas supporters of CEA highlight that the value of innovation is already accounted for. Our objective in this article is to outline the limitations of the conventional CEA approach, while proposing an alternative method of evaluation that captures the value of innovation more accurately. The adoption of a new drug benefits present and future patients (with cost implications) for as long as the drug is part of clinical practice. Incidence patients and off-patent prices are identified as two key missing features preventing the conventional CEA approach from capturing 1) benefit to future patients and 2) future savings from off-patent prices. The proposed CEA approach incorporates these two features to derive the total lifetime value of an innovative drug (i.e., the value of innovation). The conventional CEA approach tends to underestimate the value of innovative drugs by disregarding the benefit to future patients and savings from off-patent prices. As a result, innovative drugs are underpriced, only allowing manufacturers to capture approximately 15% of the total value of innovation during the patent protection period. In addition to including the incidence population and off-patent price, the alternative approach proposes pricing new drugs by first negotiating the share of value of innovation to be appropriated by the manufacturer (>15%?) and payer (price that satisfies this condition. We argue for a modification to the conventional CEA approach that integrates the total lifetime value of innovative drugs into CEA, by taking into account off-patent pricing and future patients. The proposed approach derives a price that allows manufacturers to capture an agreed share of this value, thereby incentivizing innovation, while supporting health

Adding Production Value Through Application of Value Based Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindhard, Søren; Wandahl, Søren

2012-01-01

Customer value is a key goal in the Lean philosophy, essentially only actions that adds value should be conducted. In a transformation view, the basic lean approach is to remove waste, which indirectly increases value (or withstand value lose). Lean Construction acknowledges two different types o...... be minimized and management should seek towards democratic leadership....

Companies on Facebook : How many of the 100  largest Swedish Companies have a Facebook page, and how do they use it?

OpenAIRE

Björkqvist, Johanna; Johannesson, Erik; Jorikson, Linn

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of  this thesis is to see if the 100 largest Swedish companies are present on  Facebook, and if they are, how they use their business pages. Further the  customers’ perception of companies’ use of Facebook will be included. To  investigate this, three research questions were created. Background: As Web 2.0 and  its application has changed, the use of Internet, both for companies and  customers, there has been change in how information is delivered and how  people take in ...

Values Research

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

that individualistic employees in individualistic organizations and collectivistic employees in collectivistic organizations show greater job...with Parsons’ causal assumption, in the nineties values were recognized on top of the cultural control –values control norms which in turn control...determines intention which may end in behavior. 7 Defining Human Values Cross- cultural theories on values emerged in the 80s developed by three main

Landscapes of thermal inequity: disproportionate exposure to urban heat in the three largest US cities

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Bruce C.; Chakraborty, Jayajit

2015-11-01

Heat waves are the most significant cause of mortality in the US compared to other natural hazards. Prior studies have found increased heat exposure for individuals of lower socioeconomic status in several US cities, but few comparative analyses of the social distribution of urban heat have been conducted. To address this gap, our paper examines and compares the environmental justice consequences of urban heat risk in the three largest US cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Risk to urban heat is estimated on the basis of three characteristics of the urban thermal landscape: land surface temperature, vegetation abundance, and structural density of the built urban environment. These variables are combined to develop an urban heat risk index, which is then statistically compared with social vulnerability indicators representing socioeconomic status, age, disability, race/ethnicity, and linguistic isolation. The results indicate a consistent and significant statistical association between lower socioeconomic and minority status and greater urban heat risk, in all three cities. Our findings support a growing body of environmental justice literature that indicates the presence of a landscape of thermal inequity in US cities and underscores the need to conduct comparative analyses of social inequities in exposure to urban heat.

Sistema Faro, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico: speleogenesis of the worlds largest flank margin cave

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lace, M. J.; Kambesis, P. N.; Mylroie, J. E.

2016-01-01

Isla de Mona, a small, uplifted carbonate plateau jutting out of the waters of the Mona Passage, is an incredibly fragile and densely karstic environment. Expedition work was conducted by the Isla de Mona Project in cooperation with the Departamento Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico (DRNA), including contributions from many researchers and cavers volunteering from across the U.S and Puerto Rico in the course of 12 separate expeditions, spanning a 14 year period (1998 to 2013). Over 200 caves have been documented on the island to date, the majority of this inventory is composed of flank margin caves but also includes sea caves, pit caves and talus caves. The most extensive example of cave development on the island is Sistema Faro - a sprawling maze-like series of chambers formed within the eastern point of the island with over 40 cliffside entrances overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Detailed cartography and analysis of the geomorphology and development of the Sistema Faro has helped form a complex model of carbonate island cave development as a function of tectonic uplift, lithology, sea level changes, karst hydrogeology and cliff retreat. This communication examines the roles these controls have played in the genesis of the world's largest flank margin cave. (Author)

Corporate social responsibility of the 100 largest Indian companies – an analysis of website communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Avinash Mulky

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Corporate social responsibility has become an important concept in the business world in recent decades. CSR is important in all countries but is particularly relevant in emerging markets where the levels of human development are not high. The United Nations Development Programme has created the Human Development Index (HDI to measure the human development in countries. The present study analyzes the CSR communication on the websites of the 100 largest Indian companies. The objective was to examine the reported CSR activities and determine whether the activities address the dimensions and indicators of the HDI. The study uses content analysis to classify the CSR activities into categories corresponding to HDI parameters. The findings indicate that about two thirds of the companies are using their websites to communicate CSR. Of the companies which reported CSR, about eighty percent report support for primary education and about seventy percent undertake livelihood support activities. The level of corporate involvement in the health dimension of human development is quite low. Reduction of infant and maternal mortality does not get much corporate attention. This study will add to the literature on CSR in emerging markets and will be useful for firms in India and other emerging markets that are planning CSR activities aimed at human development parameters.

Carbon footprint of premium quality export bananas: case study in Ecuador, the world's largest exporter.

Science.gov (United States)

Iriarte, Alfredo; Almeida, Maria Gabriela; Villalobos, Pablo

2014-02-15

Nowadays, the new international market demands challenge the food producing countries to include the measurement of the environmental impact generated along the production process for their products. In order to comply with the environmentally responsible market requests the measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions of Ecuadorian agricultural goods has been promoted employing the carbon footprint concept. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world. Within this context, this study is a first assessment of the carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian premium export banana (Musa AAA) using a considerable amount of field data. The system boundaries considered from agricultural production to delivery in a European destination port. The data collected over three years permitted identifying the hot spot stages. For the calculation, the CCaLC V3.0 software developed by the University of Manchester is used. The carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian export banana ranged from 0.45 to 1.04 kg CO2-equivalent/kg banana depending on the international overseas transport employed. The principal contributors to the carbon footprint are the on farm production and overseas transport stages. Mitigation and reduction strategies were suggested for the main emission sources in order to achieve sustainable banana production. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dragon bridge - the world largest dragon-shaped (ARCH steel bridge as element of smart city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chinh Luong Minh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Dragon Bridge - The world’s largest dragon-shaped steel bridge, with an installation cost of $85 million USD, features 6 lanes for two separate directions, 666 meters of undulating steel in the shape of a dragon in the Ly Dynasty, the symbol of prosperity in Vietnamese culture. This unique and beautifully lit bridge, which also breathes fire and sprays water. It’s the purposeful integration of the lighting hardware articulates the dragon’s form, and the fire-breathing dragon head. This project transcends the notion of monumental bridge with dynamic colour-changing lighting, creating an iconic sculpture in the skyline that is both reverent and whimsical. The signature feature of the bridge was the massive undulating support structure resembling a dragon flying over the river. The dragon is prominent in Vietnamese culture as a symbol of power and nobility. Dragon Bridge stands out as a model of innovation. It has received worldwide attention in the design community and from the global media for its unique arch support system. Dragon Bridge serves as an example of how aesthetic quality of a design can serve cultural, economic and functional purposes. The article presents design solutions of the object and the evaluation of the technical condition before putting the facility into service.

The forecaster's added value

Science.gov (United States)

Turco, M.; Milelli, M.

2009-09-01

skill scores of two competitive forecast. It is important to underline that the conclusions refer to the analysis of the Piemonte operational alert system, so they cannot be directly taken as universally true. But we think that some of the main lessons that can be derived from this study could be useful for the meteorological community. In details, the main conclusions are the following: - despite the overall improvement in global scale and the fact that the resolution of the limited area models has increased considerably over recent years, the QPF produced by the meteorological models involved in this study has not improved enough to allow its direct use, that is, the subjective HQPF continues to offer the best performance; - in the forecast process, the step where humans have the largest added value with respect to mathematical models, is the communication. In fact the human characterisation and communication of the forecast uncertainty to end users cannot be replaced by any computer code; - eventually, although there is no novelty in this study, we would like to show that the correct application of appropriated statistical techniques permits a better definition and quantification of the errors and, mostly important, allows a correct (unbiased) communication between forecasters and decision makers.

Default values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-08-01

In making calculations for the purposes of radiation protection, numerical values for parameters used in the calculations are selected. In some cases, data directly applicable to the set of conditions for which the calculations are to be made are unavailable. Therefore, the selection of the values for these parameters may be based on more general data available from the literature or other sources. These values may be referred to as 'default values', that is, values used in default of those based on directly applicable data. The following policy will be applied by Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) staff in reviewing the radiation protection aspects of submissions associated with licensing, in participating with other organizations in the development of codes and standards, and in any other work which relies to some extent on using default values

Values-led Participatory Design - Mediating the Emergence of Values

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Ole Sejer; Leong, Tuck Wah

2012-01-01

There is a growing interest in values-led inquiries within participatory design. One approach argues that working with values is a recursive 3-phase process that supports the emergence, development and grounding of values. In this paper we focus solely upon the emergence phase, proposing...... an approach that can support the emergence of values during the initial phase of a values-led inquiry. To illustrate this approach and to ground our discussion, we draw from a recent participatory design case where we were engaged in the design of digital technology to support the experiences of young adults...... with severe intellectual disabilities, in an art museum. By describing how we establish, negotiate and the debrief values during this initial phase of a values-led inquiry. By foregrounding both explicit and implicit mediation in the PD process we show how a theoretical understanding of mediation can...

Value representations: a value based dialogue tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Marianne Graves; Rasmussen, Majken Kirkegaard

2011-01-01

Stereotypic presumptions about gender affect the design process, both in relation to how users are understood and how products are designed. As a way to decrease the influence of stereotypic presumptions in design process, we propose not to disregard the aspect of gender in the design process......, as the perspective brings valuable insights on different approaches to technology, but instead to view gender through a value lens. Contributing to this perspective, we have developed Value Representations as a design-oriented instrument for staging a reflective dialogue with users. Value Representations...

Draft sequencing and assembly of the genome of the world's largest fish, the whale shark: Rhincodon typus Smith 1828.

Science.gov (United States)

Read, Timothy D; Petit, Robert A; Joseph, Sandeep J; Alam, Md Tauqeer; Weil, M Ryan; Ahmad, Maida; Bhimani, Ravila; Vuong, Jocelyn S; Haase, Chad P; Webb, D Harry; Tan, Milton; Dove, Alistair D M

2017-07-14

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) has by far the largest body size of any elasmobranch (shark or ray) species. Therefore, it is also the largest extant species of the paraphyletic assemblage commonly referred to as fishes. As both a phenotypic extreme and a member of the group Chondrichthyes - the sister group to the remaining gnathostomes, which includes all tetrapods and therefore also humans - its genome is of substantial comparative interest. Whale sharks are also listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species and are of growing popularity as both a target of ecotourism and as a charismatic conservation ambassador for the pelagic ecosystem. A genome map for this species would aid in defining effective conservation units and understanding global population structure. We characterised the nuclear genome of the whale shark using next generation sequencing (454, Illumina) and de novo assembly and annotation methods, based on material collected from the Georgia Aquarium. The data set consisted of 878,654,233 reads, which yielded a draft assembly of 1,213,200 contigs and 997,976 scaffolds. The estimated genome size was 3.44Gb. As expected, the proteome of the whale shark was most closely related to the only other complete genome of a cartilaginous fish, the holocephalan elephant shark. The whale shark contained a novel Toll-like-receptor (TLR) protein with sequence similarity to both the TLR4 and TLR13 proteins of mammals and TLR21 of teleosts. The data are publicly available on GenBank, FigShare, and from the NCBI Short Read Archive under accession number SRP044374. This represents the first shotgun elasmobranch genome and will aid studies of molecular systematics, biogeography, genetic differentiation, and conservation genetics in this and other shark species, as well as providing comparative data for studies of evolutionary biology and immunology across the jawed vertebrate lineages.

Value-based pricing

OpenAIRE

Netseva-Porcheva Tatyana

2010-01-01

The main aim of the paper is to present the value-based pricing. Therefore, the comparison between two approaches of pricing is made - cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. The 'Price sensitively meter' is presented. The other topic of the paper is the perceived value - meaning of the perceived value, the components of perceived value, the determination of perceived value and the increasing of perceived value. In addition, the best company strategies in matrix 'value-cost' are outlined. .

Preference for increasing wages: How do people value various streams of income?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sean Duffy

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Prior studies have found that subjects prefer an improving sequence of income over a constant sequence, even if the constant sequence offers a larger present-discounted value. However, little is known about how these preferences vary with the size of the wage payments. In each of four studies, we find a positive relationship between the preference for increasing payments and the size of the payments. We find no evidence that our measure of the decreasing marginal utility of money is associated with this relationship. Additionally, we find weak evidence in support of a theoretical prediction that the difference between the preference for increasing wage payments and the preference for increasing nonwage payments will be largest for intermediate amounts. We do not find a relationship between the preference for increasing payments and the preference for improving nonmonetary sequences. Finally, the relationship between the preference for increasing payments and the size of the payments does not appear to be sensitive to the precise specification of the increases.

Establishing values-based leadership and value systems in healthcare organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Graber, David R; Kilpatrick, Anne Osborne

2008-01-01

The importance of values in organizations is often discussed in management literature. Possessing strong or inspiring values is increasingly considered to be a key quality of successful leaders. Another common theme is that organizational values contribute to the culture and ultimate success of organizations. These conceptions or expectations are clearly applicable to healthcare organizations in the United States. However, healthcare organizations have unique structures and are subject to societal expectations that must be accommodated within an organizational values system. This article describes theoretical literature on organizational values. Cultural and religious influences on Americans and how they may influence expectations from healthcare providers are discussed. Organizational cultures and the training and socialization of the numerous professional groups in healthcare also add to the considerable heterogeneity of value systems within healthcare organizations. These contribute to another challenge confronting healthcare managers--competing or conflicting values within a unit or the entire organization. Organizations often fail to reward members who uphold or enact the organization's values, which can lead to lack of motivation and commitment to the organization. Four key elements of values-based leadership are presented for healthcare managers who seek to develop as values-based leaders. 1) Recognize your personal and professional values, 2) Determine what you expect from the larger organization and what you can implement within your sphere of influence, 3) Understand and incorporate the values of internal stakeholders, and 4) Commit to values-based leadership.

Psyche's UV Reflectance Spectra: Exploring the origins of the largest exposed-core metallic asteroid

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Tracy

2016-10-01

(16) Psyche is the largest of the M-class asteroids, and is presumed to be the exposed core of a differentiated asteroid stripped of its mantle through hit-and-run collisions. However, other origins for Psyche have been proposed, including that it formed from a highly-reduced, metal rich material in the inner solar system or that its surface is olivine that has been space weathered. If (16) Psyche is an exposed core, then studying its properties enhances our understanding of the cores of all terrestrial planets, including the Earth's. If it accreted in the inner part of the solar system and was later injected into the asteroid belt, then Psyche sheds light on the conditions and subsequent evolution of the early solar system. Lastly, if Psyche is weathered olivine, then olivine may be more abundant in the solar system than currently measured, rectifying the so-called Great Dunite Shortage. Our program to obtain high-resolution UV spectra of Psyche with the COS G140L mode and the STIS NUV MAMA G230L mode to measure spectral signatures between 90 - 315 nm is designed to distinguish between the 3 hypothesized cases. These observations will enable identification of absorption bands, especially Fe-O charge transfer bands and will be sensitive to spectral blueing that occurs at UV wavelengths for space-weathered objects. When combined, the presence of these UV features, or not, provides a novel test of Psyche formation theories.

World's largest air shower array now on track of super-high-energy cosmic-rays Pierre Auger Observatory seeks source of highest-energy extraterrestrial particles

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

"With the completion of its hundredth surface detector, the Pierre Auger Observatory, under construction in Argentina, this week became the largest cosmic-ray air shower array in the world. Managed by scientists at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Pierre Auger project so far encompasses a 70-square-mile array of detectors that are tracking the most violent-and perhaps most puzzling- processes in the entire universe" (1 page).

Effects of Streptococcus bovis Isolated from Bovine Rumen on the Fermentation Characteristics and Nutritive Value of Tanzania Grass Silage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anderson de Moura Zanine

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Streptococcus bovis on the fermentation characteristics and nutritive value of Tanzania grass silage. Tanzania grass was chopped and left untreated (U or treated with Streptococcus bovis JB1 at 1 × 106 colony-forming units per gram (cfu/g of fresh forage or Streptococcus bovis HC5 at 1 × 106 cfu/g of fresh forage and packed into sixtuplicate laboratory silos. The largest number of enterobacteria, molds and yeast (M&Y occurred in untreated silages and the smallest populations of enterobacteria and M&Y and the largest numbers of lactic acid bacteria (LAB, at 9.81 and 9.87 log cfu/g, were observed in Streptococcus bovis JB1 and HC5, respectively (P<0.05. Silages treated with JB1 and HC5 had lower (P<0.05 silage pHs and concentrations of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N than untreated silages. The application of Streptococcus bovis JB1 and HC5 resulted in fewer losses through gases and effluents (P<0.05, which resulted in greater dry matter recovery (DMR and crude protein recovery (CPR (P<0.05. Streptococcus bovis JB1 and HC5 improved the fermentative profile and increased the concentration of crude protein and DMR and CPR in Tanzania grass silage.

Value-based pricing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Netseva-Porcheva Tatyana

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The main aim of the paper is to present the value-based pricing. Therefore, the comparison between two approaches of pricing is made - cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. The 'Price sensitively meter' is presented. The other topic of the paper is the perceived value - meaning of the perceived value, the components of perceived value, the determination of perceived value and the increasing of perceived value. In addition, the best company strategies in matrix 'value-cost' are outlined. .

Using Telepresence to Connect and Engage Classes and the Public in the Exploration of Tamu Massif, the World's Largest Single Volcano

Science.gov (United States)

Nanez-James, S. E.; Sager, W.

2016-02-01

Research published in 2013 showed that TAMU Massif, the largest mountain in the Shatsky Rise oceanic plateau, located approximately 1500 kilometers east of Japan, is the "World's Largest Single Volcano." This claim garnered widespread public interest and wonder concerning how something so big could remain so mysterious in the 21st century. This disconnect highlights the fact that oceans are still widely unexplored, especially the middle of the deep ocean. Because there is so much interest in TAMU Massif, a diverse outreach team lead by chief scientist Dr. William Sager from the University of Houston in partnership with the Texas State Aquarium and the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) conducted a multifaceted ship-to-shore outreach project that included secondary school students, formal and informal educators, university students and professors, the aquarium and museum audience, and the general public. The objective was to work in conjunction with SOI and various other partners, including the Texas Regional Collaborative, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, to promote science and ocean literacy while inspiring future scientists - especially those from underserved and underrepresented groups - through ocean connections. Participants were connected through live ship-to-shore distance learning broadcasts of ongoing marine research and discovery of TAMU Massif aboard the R/V Falkor, allowing audiences to participate in real-time research and apply real world science to curriculum in the classrooms. These ship-to-shore presentations connected to existing curriculums and standards, lessons, and career interests of the students and educators with special teacher events and professional development workshops conducted from aboard the R/V Falkor.

ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED AND MARKET VALUE ADDED - MODERN INDICATORS FOR ASSESSMENT THE FIRM’S VALUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

NICOLAE SICHIGEA

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The financial theory developed different categories of indicators - traditional and modern - in order to evaluate the firm’s value creation. The shareholders are directly interested by the value added in the company. The value creation is a complex process that implies correct decisions, common responsibility (managers and shareholders and actions towards an efficient and profitable activity. The traditional indicators of performance are not teoritically correlated with the the value creation and in these circumstances, should be used appropriate financial indicators in order to reflect the value of the company. Therefore, the modern indicators used in the value based management framework offer a greater flexibility and efficiency and represent a good alternative for companies. Such performance indicators used to measure the financial results correlated with shareholder wealth are the Economic Value Added (EVA, as a measure of internal performance and the Market Value Added (MVA as a measure of external performance of the company. Starting from the main deficiencies of the accounting indicators, the objective of this this study is to present the relationship between EVA and MVA and their implications on firms’valuation. Thus, the presentation and analysis of these indicators – EVA and MVA - will underline the main features, their correlations, and influence factors but also the main advantage and disadvantage of each indicator, which will enable the managers to make the correct choice and subsequently the best decision regarding the performance measures.

Strong motion recordings of the 2008/12/23 earthquake in Northern Italy: another case of very weak motion?

Science.gov (United States)

Sabetta, F.; Zambonelli, E.

2009-04-01

On December 23 2008 an earthquake of magnitude ML=5.1 (INGV) Mw=5.4 (INGV-Harvard Global CMT) occurred in northern Italy close to the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia. The earthquake, with a macroseismic intensity of VI MCS, caused a very slight damage (some tens of unusable buildings and some hundreds of damaged buildings), substantially lower than the damage estimated by the loss simulation scenario currently used by the Italian Civil Protection. Due to the recent upgrading of the Italian strong motion network (RAN), the event has been recorded by a great number of accelerometers (the largest ever obtained in Italy for a single shock): 21 digital and 8 analog instruments with epicentral distances ranging from 16 to 140 km. The comparison of recorded PGA, PGV, Arias intensity, and spectral values with several widely used Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) showed much lower ground motion values respect to the empirical predictions (a factor ranging from 4 to 2). A first explanation of the strong differences, in damage and ground motion, between actual data and predictions could be, at a first sight, attributed to the rather high focal depth of 27 km. However, even the adoption of GMPEs accounting for depth of the source and using hypocentral distance (Berge et al 2003, Pousse et al 2005), does not predict large differences in motions, especially at distances larger than 30 km where most of the data are concentrated and where the effect of depth on source-to-site distance is small. At the same time the adoption of the most recent GMPEs (Ambraseys et al 2005, Akkar & bommer 2007) taking into account the different magnitude scaling and the faster attenuation of small magnitudes through magnitude-dependent attenuation, does not show a better agreement with the recorded data. The real reasons of the above mentioned discrepancies need to be further investigated, however a possible explanation could be a low source rupture velocity, likewise the 2002 Molise

NEGOTIATING PLACE AND GENDERED VIOLENCE IN CANADA’S LARGEST OPEN DRUG SCENE

Science.gov (United States)

McNeil, Ryan; Shannon, Kate; Shaver, Laura; Kerr, Thomas; Small, Will

2014-01-01

Background Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is home to Canada’s largest street-based drug scene and only supervised injection facility (Insite). High levels of violence among men and women have been documented in this neighbourhood. This study was undertaken to explore the role of violence in shaping the socio-spatial relations of women and ‘marginal men’ (i.e., those occupying subordinate positions within the drug scene) in the Downtown Eastside, including access to Insite. Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited through the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, a local drug user organization. Interviews included a mapping exercise. Interview transcripts and maps were analyzed thematically, with an emphasis on how gendered violence shaped participants’ spatial practices. Results Hegemonic forms of masculinity operating within the Downtown Eastside framed the everyday violence experienced by women and marginal men. This violence shaped the spatial practices of women and marginal men, in that they avoided drug scene milieus where they had experienced violence or that they perceived to be dangerous. Some men linked their spatial restrictions to the perceived 'dope quality' of neighbourhood drug dealers to maintain claims to dominant masculinities while enacting spatial strategies to promote safety. Environmental supports provided by health and social care agencies were critical in enabling women and marginal men to negotiate place and survival within the context of drug scene violence. Access to Insite did not motivate participants to enter into “dangerous” drug scene milieus but they did venture into these areas if necessary to obtain drugs or generate income. Conclusion Gendered violence is critical in restricting the geographies of men and marginal men within the street-based drug scene. There is a need to scale up existing environmental interventions, including supervised injection

What caused the UK's largest common dolphin (Delphinus delphis mass stranding event?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul D Jepson

Full Text Available On 9 June 2008, the UK's largest mass stranding event (MSE of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis occurred in Falmouth Bay, Cornwall. At least 26 dolphins died, and a similar number was refloated/herded back to sea. On necropsy, all dolphins were in good nutritive status with empty stomachs and no evidence of known infectious disease or acute physical injury. Auditory tissues were grossly normal (26/26 but had microscopic haemorrhages (5/5 and mild otitis media (1/5 in the freshest cases. Five lactating adult dolphins, one immature male, and one immature female tested were free of harmful algal toxins and had low chemical pollutant levels. Pathological evidence of mud/seawater inhalation (11/26, local tide cycle, and the relative lack of renal myoglobinuria (26/26 suggested MSE onset on a rising tide between 06:30 and 08∶21 hrs (9 June. Potential causes excluded or considered highly unlikely included infectious disease, gas/fat embolism, boat strike, by-catch, predator attack, foraging unusually close to shore, chemical or algal toxin exposure, abnormal weather/climatic conditions, and high-intensity acoustic inputs from seismic airgun arrays or natural sources (e.g., earthquakes. International naval exercises did occur in close proximity to the MSE with the most intense part of the exercises (including mid-frequency sonars occurring four days before the MSE and resuming with helicopter exercises on the morning of the MSE. The MSE may therefore have been a "two-stage process" where a group of normally pelagic dolphins entered Falmouth Bay and, after 3-4 days in/around the Bay, a second acoustic/disturbance event occurred causing them to strand en masse. This spatial and temporal association with the MSE, previous associations between naval activities and cetacean MSEs, and an absence of other identifiable factors known to cause cetacean MSEs, indicates naval activity to be the most probable cause of the Falmouth Bay MSE.

What Caused the UK's Largest Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) Mass Stranding Event?

Science.gov (United States)

Jepson, Paul D.; Deaville, Robert; Acevedo-Whitehouse, Karina; Barnett, James; Brownlow, Andrew; Brownell Jr., Robert L.; Clare, Frances C.; Davison, Nick; Law, Robin J.; Loveridge, Jan; Macgregor, Shaheed K.; Morris, Steven; Murphy, Sinéad; Penrose, Rod; Perkins, Matthew W.; Pinn, Eunice; Seibel, Henrike; Siebert, Ursula; Sierra, Eva; Simpson, Victor; Tasker, Mark L.; Tregenza, Nick; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Fernández, Antonio

2013-01-01

On 9 June 2008, the UK's largest mass stranding event (MSE) of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) occurred in Falmouth Bay, Cornwall. At least 26 dolphins died, and a similar number was refloated/herded back to sea. On necropsy, all dolphins were in good nutritive status with empty stomachs and no evidence of known infectious disease or acute physical injury. Auditory tissues were grossly normal (26/26) but had microscopic haemorrhages (5/5) and mild otitis media (1/5) in the freshest cases. Five lactating adult dolphins, one immature male, and one immature female tested were free of harmful algal toxins and had low chemical pollutant levels. Pathological evidence of mud/seawater inhalation (11/26), local tide cycle, and the relative lack of renal myoglobinuria (26/26) suggested MSE onset on a rising tide between 06∶30 and 08∶21 hrs (9 June). Potential causes excluded or considered highly unlikely included infectious disease, gas/fat embolism, boat strike, by-catch, predator attack, foraging unusually close to shore, chemical or algal toxin exposure, abnormal weather/climatic conditions, and high-intensity acoustic inputs from seismic airgun arrays or natural sources (e.g., earthquakes). International naval exercises did occur in close proximity to the MSE with the most intense part of the exercises (including mid-frequency sonars) occurring four days before the MSE and resuming with helicopter exercises on the morning of the MSE. The MSE may therefore have been a “two-stage process” where a group of normally pelagic dolphins entered Falmouth Bay and, after 3–4 days in/around the Bay, a second acoustic/disturbance event occurred causing them to strand en masse. This spatial and temporal association with the MSE, previous associations between naval activities and cetacean MSEs, and an absence of other identifiable factors known to cause cetacean MSEs, indicates naval activity to be the most probable cause of the Falmouth Bay MSE. PMID

Iceland as the largest source of natural air pollution in the Arctic

Science.gov (United States)

Dagsson Waldhauserova, Pavla; Meinander, Outi; Olafsson, Haraldur; Arnalds, Olafur

2017-04-01

Arctic aerosols are often attributed to the Arctic Haze and long-range transport tracers. There is, however, an important dust source in the Arctic/Sub-arctic region which should receive more attention. The largest desert in the Arctic as well as in the Europe is Iceland with > 40,000 km2 of desert areas. The mean dust suspension frequency was 135 dust days annually in 1949-2012 with decreasing numbers in 2013-2015. The annual dust deposition was calculated as 31-40 million tons yr-1 affecting the area of > 500,000 km2. Satelite MODIS pictures have revealed dust plumes traveling > 1000 km at times. The physical properties of Icelandic dust showed differences in mineralogy, geochemical compositions, shapes, sizes, and colour, compared to the crustal mineral dust. Icelandic dust is of volcanic origin, dark in colour with sharp-tipped shards and large bubbles. About 80% of the particulate matter is volcanic glass rich in heavy metals, such as iron and titanium. Suspended dust measured at the glacial dust source consisted of such high number of close-to-ultrafine particles as concentrations during active eruptions. Generally, about 50% of the suspended PM10 are submicron particles in Iceland. Contrarily, suspended grains > 2 mm were captured during severe dust storm after the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption when the aeolian transport exceeded 11 t m-1 of materials and placed this storms among the most extreme wind erosion events recorded on Earth. Our reflectance measurements showed that Icelandic dust deposited on snow lowers the snow albedo and reduces the snow density as much as Black Carbon. Icelandic volcanic dust tends to act as a positive climate forcing agent, both directly and indirectly, which is different to what generally concluded for crustal dust in the 2013 IPCC report. The high frequency, severity and year-round activity of volcanic dust emissions suggest that Icelandic dust may contribute to Arctic warming.

The conservation value of South East Asia's highly degraded forests: evidence from leaf-litter ants

Science.gov (United States)

Woodcock, Paul; Edwards, David P.; Fayle, Tom M.; Newton, Rob J.; Khen, Chey Vun; Bottrell, Simon H.; Hamer, Keith C.

2011-01-01

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority. PMID:22006966

The implications across Europe of the ‘horse meat scandal’ on the monetary value of meat authenticity and food safety in ready to heat lasagne: evidence from six countries

OpenAIRE

Boeri, Marco; Brown, Hannah; Longo, Alberto

2014-01-01

The recent ‘horse meat scandal’ in Europe has sparked huge concerns among consumers, as horse meat was found in beef lasagne ready to be consumed. This study investigates consumers’ preferences towards characteristics of ready to heat lasagne, including origin of the meat, whether the meat is tested as beef, safety of the lasagne, and nutritional value, using Discrete Choice Experiments in six EU. Our sample of 4,598 consumers makes this the largest cross sectional study of this kind. The res...

A natural tracer investigation of the hydrological regime of Spring Creek Springs, the largest submarine spring system in Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Dimova, Natasha T.; Burnett, William C.; Speer, Kevin

2011-04-01

This work presents results from a nearly two-year monitoring of the hydrologic dynamics of the largest submarine spring system in Florida, Spring Creek Springs. During the summer of 2007 this spring system was observed to have significantly reduced flow due to persistent drought conditions. Our examination of the springs revealed that the salinity of the springs' waters had increased significantly, from 4 in 2004 to 33 in July 2007 with anomalous high radon ( 222Rn, t1/2=3.8 days) in surface water concentrations indicating substantial saltwater intrusion into the local aquifer. During our investigation from August 2007 to May 2009 we deployed on an almost monthly basis a continuous radon-in-water measurement system and monitored the salinity fluctuations in the discharge area. To evaluate the springs' freshwater flux we developed three different models: two of them are based on water velocity measurements and either salinity or 222Rn in the associated surface waters as groundwater tracers. The third approach used only salinity changes within the spring area. The three models showed good agreement and the results confirmed that the hydrologic regime of the system is strongly correlated to local precipitation and water table fluctuations with higher discharges after major rain events and very low, even reverse flow during prolong droughts. High flow spring conditions were observed twice during our study, in the early spring and mid-late summer of 2008. However the freshwater spring flux during our observation period never reached that reported from a 1970s value of 4.9×10 6 m 3/day. The maximum spring flow was estimated at about 3.0×10 6 m 3/day after heavy precipitation in February-March 2008. As a result of this storm (total of 173 mm) the salinity in the spring area dropped from about 27 to 2 in only two days. The radon-in-water concentrations dramatically increased in parallel, from about 330 Bq/m 3 to about 6600 Bq/m 3. Such a rapid response suggests a direct

Valuing Our Values: Conflicts Between Principles and Practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sjoelander, Annika

2003-01-01

The strong attendance and support for this and previous years' VALDOR symposia provides evidence of a collective vision that new approaches are required for society to meet the challenges presented by complex decisions on risk. We are all exposed to doubts about the capacity of the (late-)modern society's structures and institutions to deal with such decisions. These doubts are interwoven with an apparent distrust of specialist roles in the decision making process, not only those that are played by experts and scientists, but also the roles of politicians and journalists. In general, one can say that we try to identify sources of conflict in decisions on risk, and that we try to find a 'better' way - a way that is both holistic and truly democratic, rather than fragmented and controlled by the balance of power between competing interest groups. To sum up, we find that several of the problems associated with the practice of valuing our values can be understood, at least in general terms, in relation to the way in which questions about values are framed as well as received. Despite the fact that we appear to know exactly what we mean when we talk about transparency and values, we are not at all 'experts' in handling values, whether as senders or receivers in the communication chain. There is a need for more mature contexts when it comes to valuing our values. From our perspective, it also seems important to understand better how to frame questions about values in ways that are not threatening to the individual. And, last but not least, it is important to acknowledge and build on existing good practice within specialist roles in the risk discourse, such as ways for exposing the judgements and uncertainties that are part of risk assessment and multi-attribute analysis

Drilling the Bushveld Complex- the world's largest layered mafic intrusion

Science.gov (United States)

Ashwal, L. D.; Webb, S. J.; Trumbull, R. B.

2013-12-01

The fact that surprising new discoveries can be made in layered mafic intrusions (e.g., subtle 100-150 m cyclicity in apparently homogeneous cumulates over 1000s of m) means that we are still in the first-order characterization phase of understanding these objects. Accordingly, we have secured funding from ICDP for a planning workshop to be held in Johannesburg in early 2014, aimed at scientific drilling of the Bushveld Complex, the world's largest layered mafic intrusion. Science objectives include, but are not limited to: 1. Magma chamber processes & melt evolution. How many melts/magmas/mushes were involved, what were their compositions and how did they interact? What, if anything, is missing from the Complex, and where did it go? Did Bushveld magmatism have an effect upon Earth's atmosphere at 2 Ga? 2. Crust-mantle interactions & origin of Bushveld granitoids. Are Bushveld granites & rhyolites crustal melts, differentiates from the mafic magmas or products of immiscibility? How can the evolved isotopic signatures in the mafic rocks (e.g., epsilon Nd to -8) be understood? 3. Origin of ore deposits. What were the relative roles of gravity settling, magma mixing, immiscibility and hydrothermal fluid transport in producing the PGE, Cr and V deposits? We have identified 3 potential drilling targets representing a total of ~12 km of drill core. Exact locations of drill sites are to be discussed at the workshop. Target A- East-Central Bushveld Complex. We propose 3 overlapping 3 km boreholes that will provide the first roof-to-floor continuous coverage of the Rustenburg Layered Suite. These boreholes will represent a curated, internationally available reference collection of Bushveld material for present and future research. Target B- Southeastern Bushveld Complex. We propose a single borehole of ~2 km depth, collared in Rooiberg felsite, and positioned to intersect the Roof Zone, Upper Zone, Main Zone and floor of the Complex. Amongst other things, this site will

Making Sense of Value and Value Co-Creation in Service Logic

OpenAIRE

Grönroos, Christian; Voima, Päivi

2012-01-01

In order to further develop the logic of service, value creation, value co-creation and value have to be formally and rigorously defined, so that the nature, content and locus of value and the roles of service providers and customers in value creation can be unambiguously assessed. In the present article, following the underpinning logic of value-in-use, it is demonstrated that in order to achieve this, value creation is best defined as the customer’s creation of value-in-use. The analysis sh...

Customer Value Controlling ¨C Combining Different Value Perspectives

OpenAIRE

Andreas Kramer; Thomas Burgartz

2015-01-01

The article begins by presenting a model for the structuring of customer data which can be used to demonstrate the value of data in different forms of aggregation. Since Customer Value plays a crucial role in this model the term is examined more closely. As part of a value-based customer relationship management critical parameters are customer benefits and customer profitability. Both perspectives are included in the term Customer Value. A segmentation approach is shown which integrates the k...

Human rights values or cultural values? Pursuing values to maintain positive discipline in multicultural schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petro du Preez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Discussions on discipline in education often accentuate corporal punishment or measures to infuse moral fibre. In addition, many authors argue that inculcating a particular value system can promote discipline in schools. This could however be profoundly problematic in the light of the Constitution. We argue that positive discipline in multicultural school environments needs to be based in part on human rights values that are neither solely universally interpreted nor particularistically interpreted. We report on the data generated at a research workshop held as the final dissemination process of a four-year international research project entitled "Understanding human rights through different belief systems: intercultural and interreligious dialogue". Dialogue was chosen as a form of data gathering since it is more spontaneous than conventional questioning techniques and can thus generate more naturally occurring data to strengthen the outcomes of the project. It appears that some teachers believe discipline can only be maintained through the elevation of cultural values (particularism. We argue that schools should start negotiating, at the most basic level, the values, including emancipatory, human rights values, and cultural values, which could underpin positive discipline in multicultural schools. Drawing solely on cultural values is not only unlikely to solve the problem of discipline, but could also undermine the efforts to transform our diverse, democratic society.

Helicobacter pylori virulence genes in the five largest islands of Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Miftahussurur, Muhammad; Syam, Ari Fahrial; Makmun, Dadang; Nusi, Iswan Abbas; Zein, Lukman Hakim; Zulkhairi; Akil, Fardah; Uswan, Willi Brodus; Simanjuntak, David; Uchida, Tomohisa; Adi, Pangestu; Utari, Amanda Pitarini; Rezkitha, Yudith Annisa Ayu; Subsomwong, Phawinee; Nasronudin; Yamaoka, Yoshio

2015-01-01

It remains unclear whether the low incidence of gastric cancer in Indonesia is due to low infection rates only or is also related to low Helicobacter pylori pathogenicity. We collected H. pylori strains from the five largest islands in Indonesia and evaluated genetic virulence factors. The genotypes of H. pylori virulence factors were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based sequencing. Histological severity of the gastric mucosa was classified into 4 grades, according to the updated Sydney system. A total of 44 strains were analyzed. Forty-three (97.7 %) were cagA-positive: 26 (60.5 %) were East-Asian-type-cagA, 9 (20.9 %) were Western-type-cagA, and 8 (18.6 %) were novel ABB-type, most of which were obtained from Papuan. EPIYT sequences were more prevalent than EPIYA sequences (P = 0.01) in the EPIYA-B motif of all types of cagA. The majority of cagA-positive strains (48.8 %, 21/43) had a 6-bp deletion in the first pre-EPIYA region. Subjects infected with East-Asian-type-cagA strains with a 6-bp deletion had significantly lower inflammation and atrophy scores in the corpus than those infected with Western-type-cagA strains (both P = 0.02). In total, 70.4 % of strains possessed the vacA s1m1 genotype and 29.5 % were m2. All strains from peptic ulcer patients were of the iceA1 genotype, which occurred at a significantly higher proportion in peptic ulcer patients than that in gastritis patients (55.3 %, P = 0.04). The double positive genotype of jhp0562/β-(1,3)galT was predominant (28/44, 63.6 %), and subjects infected with this type had significantly higher inflammation scores in the corpus than those with the jhp0562 negative/β-(1,3)galT positive genotype (mean [median]; 1.43 [1] vs. 0.83 [1], P = 0.04). There were significant differences in cagA and pre-EPIYA cagA type, oipA status, and jhp0562/β-(1,3)galT type among different ethnic groups (P dupA negative or short type dupA, and the jhp0562/β-(1,3)galT double positive genotype.

Dairy farmers’ values and how their values affect their decision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bjørn Gunnar Hansen

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Values affect humans’ perception of situations and problems and guide our actions. The objective of this study was to explore the values of dairy farmers, and whether their values influenced their decisions to maintain dairy farming or to buy consultancy services. During late fall 2007 we visited and interviewed 90 farmers. First we did a qualitative analysis of the data and then we merged the interview data with the existing database of financial data from the year 2007 to do statistical analyses. We also checked whether the farmers still produced milk in 2013, six years after the interviews.  Most farmers had terminal values like keeping up the tradition and to have an interesting work. Value combinations with instrumental values such as to earn money and to produce milk were common. Realizing that many farmers prioritize terminal values over instrumental values has important consequences for dairy companies, dairy consultants and politicians.

A look at one of the world's largest apron feeder drives - Alberta Oil Sands Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Persson, O. (Hagglunds Drives Canada Inc., Vancouver, BC (Canada))

1999-01-01

Various types of equipment to transport tar sands to processing plants are discussed, with special attention to the advantages of hydraulic direct drives over conventional electro-mechanical drives. A hydraulic direct drive such as the Hagglund Drive has exceptional starting torque capacity due to the high torque capability of the hydraulic motor. As such, it can be particularly useful in applications where shock loads occur with some frequency, or where many starts and stops are needed. Application of the Hagglund drive to power one of the world's largest apron feeders in the Alberta Oil Sands is described as an illustration of the exceptional reliability, productivity and performance of this equipment. It has about one five-hundredth of the inertia of an equivalent high speed drive with gear reducer, a feature which is particularly significant in the case of feeders which are known to suffer much downtime due to chain related problems. These types of drives have also been used to great advantage in the process industries like pulp and paper, chemical, rubber and plastics, recycling and steel. 1 tab., 1 fig.

BEHAVIOR OF THE TEN LARGEST BRAZILIAN BANKS DURING THE SUBPRIME CRISIS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON FINANCIAL INDICATORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosane Maria Pio da Silva

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the behavior of the ten largest Brazilian banks between June 2008 and September 2009, based on the analysis of financial indicators. Therefore, 16 three-monthly indices were calculated, extracted from financial statement information, which characterizes a documentary research. The indices were separated in five categories: liquidity, capital, profitability, income and market. The obtained results appointed that most financial institutions in the sample were able to manage their resources so as to gain conditions to maintain credit initially. Then, as from the first term of 2009, driven by public banks, they increased their credit operations. In addition, most banks revealed an anti-cyclical trend to encourage productive activities, preferably activities with higher liquidity levels, to the detriment of profitability, which reveals a more conservative attitude. Finally, it was verified that government initiatives, the Brazilian economic balance and the resources the banks offered helped to produce an environment to reactivate business activities during the most acute period of the subprime crisis.

Dispersal syndromes in the largest protection area of the Atlantic Forest in the state of Paraiba, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camila Ângelo Jerônimo Domingues

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The diaspore dispersal process is crucial for plant reproduction, since the diaspores must reach a suitable site to germinate. This paper aimed to study morphological aspects of diaspores and determine the dispersal syndromes of species occurring in the largest protection area of the Atlantic Forest in the state of Paraiba, Brazil, the Guaribas Biological Reserve. One conducted a monthly collection of fruits/seeds within the period from September 2007 to February 2009. All diaspores of the fruiting species were collected. After analyzing characteristics such as fruit and seed consistency, odor, color, size, and weight, one determined the dispersal syndrome of each species. One collected 3,080 diaspores belonging to 136 different species distributed into 27 families. Zoochory was the most abundant dispersal syndrome (58%, with 79 fruits adapted to it, followed by autochory (29%, and anemochory (13%. Throughout the study period, one found fruiting species, with a predominance of zoochoric fruits, a predictable fact in the Atlantic Forest, which provides fleshy fruits all the year round.

Equivalence, commensurability, value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albertsen, Niels

2017-01-01

Deriving value in Capital Marx uses three commensurability arguments (CA1-3). CA1 establishes equivalence in exchange as exchangeability with the same third commodity. CA2 establishes value as common denominator in commodities: embodied abstract labour. CA3 establishes value substance...... as commonality of labour: physiological labour. Tensions between these logics have permeated Marxist interpretations of value. Some have supported value as embodied labour (CA2, 3), others a monetary theory of value and value as ‘pure’ societal abstraction (ultimately CA1). They all are grounded in Marx....

Living the Good (Work) Life: Implications of General Values for Work Values

Science.gov (United States)

Carlstrom, Aaron H.

2011-01-01

Advances in the understanding of general values from personality and social psychology apply to work values. In this paper, I introduce the concepts of values, value priorities, motivational goals, value types, and personal value systems used to clarify work values. I also introduce the terms basic and broad value and work value types. Second, I…

Development of earthquake early warning system using real time signal of broadband seismogram

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunawan, Hendar; Puspito, Nanang T.; Ibrahim, Gunawan; Harjadi, Prih

2012-01-01

Earthquake pose serious threat of live and properties for urban area near subduction zone offshore and active fault on land. Jakarta and Bandung is an example of big city that no system of Earthquake early warning (EEW) event very high urbanization, and has many important infra structure in the area. The capital city is potentially high risk ground shaking. EEW can be usefull tool for reducing earthquake hazard, if spatial relation between cities and earthquake source is favorable for such warning and their citizens are properly trained to response early warning message. An EEW and rapid response system can provide the critical information needed to minimized lost of live and property and direct rescue. Earthquake ground shaking with magnitude M>6.0 from zone of Megathrust, southern of West Java should potentially damage in the area of west java especially Bandung and Jakarta City. This research development of EEW parameter such as amplitude displacement (Pd), rapid magnitude determination (M) and Peak ground Velocity (PGV). We explore the practical approach to EEW with the use of Broadband seismogram signal. Time effective EEW which epicenter from megathrust zone has potential to provide EEW in the area of west java such as Jakarta first ground shaking more or less 60 second later and strong shaking 118 second after EEW Alarm on CISI Station. EEW notification at potentially damage in the area of west java can be predicted from the characteristic of Pd > 0.5 cm, M> 6 and PGV > 10 cm/sec. GIS as a tool for presentation of hazard mapping in the affected area.

Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds.

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Kevin J; Shultz, Allison J; Title, Pascal O; Mason, Nicholas A; Barker, F Keith; Klicka, John; Lanyon, Scott M; Lovette, Irby J

2014-06-01

Thraupidae is the second largest family of birds and represents about 4% of all avian species and 12% of the Neotropical avifauna. Species in this family display a wide range of plumage colors and patterns, foraging behaviors, vocalizations, ecotypes, and habitat preferences. The lack of a complete phylogeny for tanagers has hindered the study of this evolutionary diversity. Here, we present a comprehensive, species-level phylogeny for tanagers using six molecular markers. Our analyses identified 13 major clades of tanagers that we designate as subfamilies. In addition, two species are recognized as distinct branches on the tanager tree. Our topologies disagree in many places with previous estimates of relationships within tanagers, and many long-recognized genera are not monophyletic in our analyses. Our trees identify several cases of convergent evolution in plumage ornaments and bill morphology, and two cases of social mimicry. The phylogeny produced by this study provides a robust framework for studying macroevolutionary patterns and character evolution. We use our new phylogeny to study diversification processes, and find that tanagers show a background model of exponentially declining diversification rates. Thus, the evolution of tanagers began with an initial burst of diversification followed by a rate slowdown. In addition to this background model, two later, clade-specific rate shifts are supported, one increase for Darwin's finches and another increase for some species of Sporophila. The rate of diversification within these two groups is exceptional, even when compared to the overall rapid rate of diversification found within tanagers. This study provides the first robust assessment of diversification rates for the Darwin's finches in the context of the larger group within which they evolved. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Epidemiological study of hepatitis A, B and C in the largest Afro-Brazilian isolated community.

Science.gov (United States)

Matos, Márcia A D; Reis, Nádia Rúbia S; Kozlowski, Aline G; Teles, Sheila A; Motta-Castro, Ana Rita C; Mello, Francisco C A; Gomes, Selma A; Martins, Regina M B

2009-09-01

This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and molecular epidemiological features of viral hepatitis A, B and C in the Kalunga population, which represents the largest Afro-Brazilian isolated community. Among 878 individuals studied, the overall prevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus antibodies was 80.9%, with a significant rise from 44.8% to near 100% between the first and fourth decade of life. Rates for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) of 1.8% and 35.4%, respectively, were found. Increasing age, male gender, illiteracy and history of multiple sexual partners were associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. An occult HBV infection rate of 1.7% (5/295) was found among anti-HBc-positive individuals. HBV genotype A (subtype Aa) was dominant in this community. Only 5/878 individuals (0.6%) were positive for anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV RNA was detected in three of them, who were infected with genotype 1 (subtype 1a). These findings point out high, intermediate and low endemicity for hepatitis A, B and C, respectively, in the Kalunga community in Brazil. Circulation of HBV genotype A (subtype Aa) in this Afro-Brazilian isolated community indicates the introduction of this virus during the slave trade from Africa to Brazil.

Payer Negotiations in the New Healthcare Environment: How to Prepare for and Succeed in a Value-Based World.

Science.gov (United States)

Howrigon, Ron

2016-01-01

Because of their involvement with the Affordable Care exchanges, the national insurance companies have reported significant financial losses. As a result, there will soon be significant payer pressure to reduce medical expenses. To succeed in future negotiations with the payers, medical practices must understand the needs of the payers and then play to those needs. The author is a former managed care executive with more than 25 years of experience managing provider networks and implementing payer strategies for some of the largest payers in the United States. In this article, he outlines important things medical practices should be doing to prepare for the new world of value-based contracting. Medical practices that embrace this change and work hard to evolve with the future are the ones that are going to survive and succeed.

Clay Stabilization Using the Ash of Mount Sinabung in Terms of the Value of California Bearing Ratio (CBR)

Science.gov (United States)

Hastuty, I. P.; Roesyanto, R.; Napitupulu, S. M. A.

2018-02-01

Most areas in Indonesia consist of clay soils with high plasticity so that to meet technical requirements the soil needs improvement, which is known as soil stabilization.There are three ways of soil stabilization process, i.e. mechanical, physical and chemical. In this study, chemical stabilization was performed, that was by adding stabilizing agents to the soil. The stabilizing agent used was the ash of Mount Sinabung. Since 2010 until now, Sinabung Mountain is still experiencing eruption that produces a lot of volcanic ash and it inconveniences the environment. So, it is expected that this research will be able to optimize the utilization of Sinabung ash. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the addition of Mount Sinabung ash to CBR (California Bearing Ratio) value, to determine the effect of the curing time of one day and fourteen days mixture on the CBR value, and to find the mixed content with effective curing time to produce the largest CBR value. Based on this study, the soil type CL (Clay - Low Plasticity) was obtained, based on the classification of USCS (Unified Soil Classification System) and categorized as A-6 (6) based on the classification of AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials) with the most effective mixed stabilizer material which was the variation of 10% Mount Sinabung ash with fourteen days of curing time. The CBR value resulted from the mixture of 10% Sinabung ash that was cured within fourteen days was 8.95%. By the increase of the content of the Sinabung ash, the CBR value always improved to the level of 10%, Sinabung ash then decreased and became constant at the mixture of higher volcanic ash mixture but remained above the CBR value of the original soil.

Value Priorities and Behavior: Applying a Theory of Integrated Value Systems

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Shalom Schwartz

2016-02-01

Full Text Available A major goal of research on values has been to relate individual differences in value priorities to differences in attitudes, behavior and background variables. Past research most commonly adopted one of two approaches. Much research has selected a few single target values whose priorities were postulated to associate with the attitude, behavior and background variable of interest and then examined empirical relationships. Other research has been more exploratory.It has related lists of values to various other variables and then discussed the significant associations that emerge. The focus on relationships with single values make both these approaches insatisfying. My work has sought to overcome those approaches.It has derived what may be a nearly comprehensive set of different motivational types of values, recognized across cultures. Each value type is represented by a number of single values that are combined to form relatively reliable indexes of values priorities. Value systems can be treated as integrated wholes in their relations with behaviors and, thereby, encourages researches to abandom the prevailing single-values approaches. 

Smart phone Acceptance among physicians: Application of structural equation modeling in Iranian largest university

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Nematollahi M.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Background: The present study aimed to determine attitudes and effective factors in the acceptance of smart phones by physicians of the largest University of Medical Sciences in the south of Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM in 2014. Study participants included 200 physicians working in the hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences selected through two-stage stratified sampling, but 185 participants completed the study. The study data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire completed through a 5-point Likert scale. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts, its construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis, and its reliability by Cronbach’s alpha of 0.802. All data analyses were performed using SPSS (version 22 and LISREL (version 8.8. Results: Results showed that most physicians had a desirable attitude towards using smart phones. Besides, the results of SEM indicated a significant relationship between attitude and compatibility, observability, personal experience, voluntariness of use and perceived usefulness. Moreover, some important fitness indices revealed appropriate fitness of the study model (p=0.26, X2 /df=1.35, RMR=0.070, GFI=0.77, AGFI=0.71, NNFI=0.93, CFI=0.94. Conclusion: The results revealed that compatibility, observability, personal experience, voluntariness of use and perceived usefulness were effective in the physicians’ attitude towards using smart phones. Thus, by preparation of the required infrastructures, policymakers in the field of health technology can enhance the utilization of smart phones in hospitals.

Rise and Fall of one of World's largest deltas; the Mekong delta in Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Minderhoud, P. S. J.; Eslami Arab, S.; Pham, H. V.; Erkens, G.; van der Vegt, M.; Oude Essink, G.; Stouthamer, E.; Hoekstra, P.

2017-12-01

The Mekong delta is the third's largest delta in the world. It is home to almost 20 million people and an important region for the food security in South East Asia. As most deltas, the Mekong delta is the dynamic result of a balance of sediment supply, sea level rise and subsidence, hosting a system of fresh and salt water dynamics. Ongoing urbanization, industrialization and intensification of agricultural practices in the delta, during the past decades, resulted in growing domestic, agricultural and industrial demands, and have led to a dramatic increase of fresh water use. Since the year 2000, the amount of fresh groundwater extracted from the subsurface increased by 500%. This accelerated delta subsidence as the groundwater system compacts, with current sinking rates exceeding global sea level rise up to an order of magnitude. These high sinking rates have greatly altered the sediment budget of the delta and, with over 50% of the Mekong delta surface elevated less than 1 meter above sea level, greatly increase vulnerability to flooding and storm surges and ultimately, permanent inundation. Furthermore, as the increasingly larger extractions rapidly reduce the fresh groundwater reserves, groundwater salinization subsequently increases. On top of that, dry season low-flows by the Mekong river cause record salt water intrusion in the delta's estuarine system, creating major problems for rice irrigation. We present the work of three years research by the Dutch-Vietnamese `Rise and Fall' project on land subsidence and salinization in both groundwater and surface water in the Vietnamese Mekong delta.

The value relevance of investment property fair value

OpenAIRE

Selas, Duarte Nuno Gonçalves da Costa

2009-01-01

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics This paper examines if the use of the fair value model is value relevant in companies where the investment properties are not their core business. An analysis is also made into whether the disclosed fair value of investment property is perceived by investors. The sample includes Portuguese listed companies subject to the mandatory adoption of I...

Environmental impact of the largest petroleum terminal in SE Brazil: A multiproxy analysis based on sediment geochemistry and living benthic foraminifera.

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Wânia Duleba

Full Text Available The Dutos e Terminais do Centro Sul (DTCS is one of the largest petroleum terminals of the South America located in the São Sebastião Channel (SSC on the southeastern Brazilian coast. The aims of this study were to compare the sediment quality near the DTCS with that of several sites in the SSC region including the Araçá (AR domestic sewage outfall and to assess the efficiency of the DTCS wastewater treatment plant. To achieve these goals, textural, geochemical, and living benthic foraminifera results were analyzed for the DTCS, AR, and SSC regions. Sediments in the DTCS area were silty with high concentrations of total organic carbon (1.7-2.4%, total nitrogen (0.2-0.3%, total sulfur (0.4-0.6%, and total (0.12-0.18% and inorganic phosphorous (0.07-0.11%. These values were higher than those in sediments collected in the SSC and Araçá regions. The sediments' concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the SSC and AR regions were lower than their corresponding probable effect levels (PELs. However, sediments near the DTCS were enriched with As, Cu, and Ni, whose concentrations exceeded their corresponding threshold effect levels (TELs. Around the DTCS outfall diffusers, living foraminiferal densities and diversities were lower than those for the other areas studied. In the DTCS area, it was necessary to search 50 to 190 cm3 of sediment to find 100 live specimens. In the SSC and Araçá areas, a maximum of 40 cm3 of sediment was enough to locate 100 live specimens. The lower density and diversity of living foraminifera around the DTCS than around the other areas illustrates the impact of the environmental stress caused by the presence of pollutants. These results indicate that the wastewater treatment plant efficiency is low and its discharge of pollutants from petrochemical waste liquids affects the benthic fauna around the DTCS in a potentially harmful manner.

Future water availability in the largest freshwater Mediterranean lake is at great risk as evidenced from simulations with the SWAT model.

Science.gov (United States)

Bucak, Tuba; Trolle, Dennis; Andersen, Hans Estrup; Thodsen, Hans; Erdoğan, Şeyda; Levi, Eti E; Filiz, Nur; Jeppesen, Erik; Beklioğlu, Meryem

2017-03-01

Inter- and intra-annual water level fluctuations and changes in water flow regime are intrinsic characteristics of Mediterranean lakes. Additionally, considering climate change projections for the water-limited Mediterranean region, increased air temperatures and decreased precipitation are anticipated, leading to dramatic declines in lake water levels as well as severe water scarcity problems. The study site, Lake Beyşehir, the largest freshwater lake in the Mediterranean basin, is - like other Mediterranean lakes - threatened by climatic changes and over-abstraction of water for irrigated crop farming. Therefore, implementation of strict water level management policies is required. In this study, an integrated modeling approach was used to predict the future water levels of Lake Beyşehir in response to potential future changes in climate and land use. Water level estimation was performed by linking the catchment model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with a Support Vector Regression model (ε-SVR). The projected increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation based on the climate change models led to an enhanced potential evapotranspiration and reduced total runoff. On the other hand, the effects of various land use scenarios within the catchment appeared to be comparatively insignificant. According to the ε-SVR model results, changes in hydrological processes caused a water level reduction for all scenarios. Moreover, the MPI-ESM-MR General Circulation Model outputs produced the most dramatic results by predicting that Lake Beyşehir may dry out by the 2040s with the current outflow regime. The results indicate that shallow Mediterranean lakes may face a severe risk of drying out and losing their ecosystem values in the near future if the current intensity of water abstraction is not reduced. In addition, the results also demonstrate that outflow management and sustainable use of water sources are vital to sustain lake ecosystems in water

Environmental impact of the largest petroleum terminal in SE Brazil: A multiproxy analysis based on sediment geochemistry and living benthic foraminifera

Science.gov (United States)

Duleba, Wânia; Teodoro, Andreia C.; Debenay, Jean-Pierre; Gubitoso, Silas; Pregnolato, Leonardo Antônio; Lerena, Laura Misailidis; Prada, Silvio Miranda; Bevilacqua, José Eduardo

2018-01-01

The Dutos e Terminais do Centro Sul (DTCS) is one of the largest petroleum terminals of the South America located in the São Sebastião Channel (SSC) on the southeastern Brazilian coast. The aims of this study were to compare the sediment quality near the DTCS with that of several sites in the SSC region including the Araçá (AR) domestic sewage outfall and to assess the efficiency of the DTCS wastewater treatment plant. To achieve these goals, textural, geochemical, and living benthic foraminifera results were analyzed for the DTCS, AR, and SSC regions. Sediments in the DTCS area were silty with high concentrations of total organic carbon (1.7–2.4%), total nitrogen (0.2–0.3%), total sulfur (0.4–0.6%), and total (0.12–0.18%) and inorganic phosphorous (0.07–0.11%). These values were higher than those in sediments collected in the SSC and Araçá regions. The sediments’ concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the SSC and AR regions were lower than their corresponding probable effect levels (PELs). However, sediments near the DTCS were enriched with As, Cu, and Ni, whose concentrations exceeded their corresponding threshold effect levels (TELs). Around the DTCS outfall diffusers, living foraminiferal densities and diversities were lower than those for the other areas studied. In the DTCS area, it was necessary to search 50 to 190 cm3 of sediment to find 100 live specimens. In the SSC and Araçá areas, a maximum of 40 cm3 of sediment was enough to locate 100 live specimens. The lower density and diversity of living foraminifera around the DTCS than around the other areas illustrates the impact of the environmental stress caused by the presence of pollutants. These results indicate that the wastewater treatment plant efficiency is low and its discharge of pollutants from petrochemical waste liquids affects the benthic fauna around the DTCS in a potentially harmful manner. PMID:29432425

Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp., the largest terrestrial predator from Europe, and a proposed terminology of the maxilla anatomy in nonavian theropods.

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Christophe Hendrickx

Full Text Available The Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian of Central West Portugal is well known for its diversified dinosaur fauna similar to that of the Morrison Formation of North America; both areas share dinosaur taxa including the top predator Torvosaurus, reported in Portugal. The material assigned to the Portuguese T. tanneri, consisting of a right maxilla and an incomplete caudal centrum, was briefly described in the literature and a thorough description of these bones is here given for the first time. A comparison with material referred to Torvosaurus tanneri allows us to highlight some important differences justifying the creation of a distinct Eastern species. Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp. displays two autapomorphies among Megalosauroidea, a maxilla possessing fewer than eleven teeth and an interdental wall nearly coincidental with the lateral wall of the maxillary body. In addition, it differs from T. tanneri by a reduced number of maxillary teeth, the absence of interdental plates terminating ventrally by broad V-shaped points and falling short relative to the lateral maxillary wall, and the absence of a protuberant ridge on the anterior part of the medial shelf, posterior to the anteromedial process. T. gurneyi is the largest theropod from the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal and the largest land predator discovered in Europe hitherto. This taxon supports the mechanism of vicariance that occurred in the Iberian Meseta during the Late Jurassic when the proto-Atlantic was already well formed. A fragment of maxilla from the Lourinhã Formation referred to Torvosaurus sp. is ascribed to this new species, and several other bones, including a femur, a tibia and embryonic material all from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian of Portugal, are tentatively assigned to T. gurneyi. A standard terminology and notation of the theropod maxilla is also proposed and a record of the Torvosaurus material from Portugal is given.

A dominant mutation in mediator of paramutation2, one of three second-largest subunits of a plant-specific RNA polymerase, disrupts multiple siRNA silencing processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sidorenko, Lyudmila; Dorweiler, Jane E; Cigan, A Mark; Arteaga-Vazquez, Mario; Vyas, Meenal; Kermicle, Jerry; Jurcin, Diane; Brzeski, Jan; Cai, Yu; Chandler, Vicki L

2009-11-01

Paramutation involves homologous sequence communication that leads to meiotically heritable transcriptional silencing. We demonstrate that mop2 (mediator of paramutation2), which alters paramutation at multiple loci, encodes a gene similar to Arabidopsis NRPD2/E2, the second-largest subunit of plant-specific RNA polymerases IV and V. In Arabidopsis, Pol-IV and Pol-V play major roles in RNA-mediated silencing and a single second-largest subunit is shared between Pol-IV and Pol-V. Maize encodes three second-largest subunit genes: all three genes potentially encode full length proteins with highly conserved polymerase domains, and each are expressed in multiple overlapping tissues. The isolation of a recessive paramutation mutation in mop2 from a forward genetic screen suggests limited or no functional redundancy of these three genes. Potential alternative Pol-IV/Pol-V-like complexes could provide maize with a greater diversification of RNA-mediated transcriptional silencing machinery relative to Arabidopsis. Mop2-1 disrupts paramutation at multiple loci when heterozygous, whereas previously silenced alleles are only up-regulated when Mop2-1 is homozygous. The dramatic reduction in b1 tandem repeat siRNAs, but no disruption of silencing in Mop2-1 heterozygotes, suggests the major role for tandem repeat siRNAs is not to maintain silencing. Instead, we hypothesize the tandem repeat siRNAs mediate the establishment of the heritable silent state-a process fully disrupted in Mop2-1 heterozygotes. The dominant Mop2-1 mutation, which has a single nucleotide change in a domain highly conserved among all polymerases (E. coli to eukaryotes), disrupts both siRNA biogenesis (Pol-IV-like) and potentially processes downstream (Pol-V-like). These results suggest either the wild-type protein is a subunit in both complexes or the dominant mutant protein disrupts both complexes. Dominant mutations in the same domain in E. coli RNA polymerase suggest a model for Mop2-1 dominance

Quality Assurance with Plan Veto: reincarnation of a record and verify system and its potential value.

Science.gov (United States)

Noel, Camille E; Gutti, Veerarajesh; Bosch, Walter; Mutic, Sasa; Ford, Eric; Terezakis, Stephanie; Santanam, Lakshmi

2014-04-01

To quantify the potential impact of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise-Radiation Oncology Quality Assurance with Plan Veto (QAPV) on patient safety of external beam radiation therapy (RT) operations. An institutional database of events (errors and near-misses) was used to evaluate the ability of QAPV to prevent clinically observed events. We analyzed reported events that were related to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameter inconsistencies between the intended treatment (on the treatment planning system) and the delivered treatment (on the treatment machine). Critical Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameters were identified. Each event was scored for importance using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis methodology. Potential error occurrence (frequency) was derived according to the collected event data, along with the potential event severity, and the probability of detection with and without the theoretical implementation of the QAPV plan comparison check. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs) with and without QAPV were compared to quantify the potential benefit of clinical implementation of QAPV. The implementation of QAPV could reduce the RPN values for 15 of 22 (71%) of evaluated parameters, with an overall average reduction in RPN of 68 (range, 0-216). For the 6 high-risk parameters (>200), the average reduction in RPN value was 163 (range, 108-216). The RPN value reduction for the intermediate-risk (200 > RPN > 100) parameters was (0-140). With QAPV, the largest RPN value for "Beam Meterset" was reduced from 324 to 108. The maximum reduction in RPN value was for Beam Meterset (216, 66.7%), whereas the maximum percentage reduction was for Cumulative Meterset Weight (80, 88.9%). This analysis quantifies the value of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise-Radiation Oncology QAPV implementation in clinical workflow. We demonstrate that although QAPV does not provide a

Quality Assurance With Plan Veto: Reincarnation of a Record and Verify System and Its Potential Value

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noel, Camille E. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (United States); Gutti, VeeraRajesh [Department of Radiation Oncology, Scott and White Healthcare, Temple, Texas (United States); Bosch, Walter; Mutic, Sasa [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (United States); Ford, Eric [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, Washington (United States); Terezakis, Stephanie [Department of Radiation Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (United States); Santanam, Lakshmi, E-mail: lsantanam@radonc.wustl.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (United States)

2014-04-01

Purpose: To quantify the potential impact of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise–Radiation Oncology Quality Assurance with Plan Veto (QAPV) on patient safety of external beam radiation therapy (RT) operations. Methods and Materials: An institutional database of events (errors and near-misses) was used to evaluate the ability of QAPV to prevent clinically observed events. We analyzed reported events that were related to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameter inconsistencies between the intended treatment (on the treatment planning system) and the delivered treatment (on the treatment machine). Critical Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameters were identified. Each event was scored for importance using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis methodology. Potential error occurrence (frequency) was derived according to the collected event data, along with the potential event severity, and the probability of detection with and without the theoretical implementation of the QAPV plan comparison check. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs) with and without QAPV were compared to quantify the potential benefit of clinical implementation of QAPV. Results: The implementation of QAPV could reduce the RPN values for 15 of 22 (71%) of evaluated parameters, with an overall average reduction in RPN of 68 (range, 0-216). For the 6 high-risk parameters (>200), the average reduction in RPN value was 163 (range, 108-216). The RPN value reduction for the intermediate-risk (200 > RPN > 100) parameters was (0-140). With QAPV, the largest RPN value for “Beam Meterset” was reduced from 324 to 108. The maximum reduction in RPN value was for Beam Meterset (216, 66.7%), whereas the maximum percentage reduction was for Cumulative Meterset Weight (80, 88.9%). Conclusion: This analysis quantifies the value of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise–Radiation Oncology QAPV implementation in clinical workflow

Quality Assurance With Plan Veto: Reincarnation of a Record and Verify System and Its Potential Value

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noel, Camille E.; Gutti, VeeraRajesh; Bosch, Walter; Mutic, Sasa; Ford, Eric; Terezakis, Stephanie; Santanam, Lakshmi

2014-01-01

Purpose: To quantify the potential impact of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise–Radiation Oncology Quality Assurance with Plan Veto (QAPV) on patient safety of external beam radiation therapy (RT) operations. Methods and Materials: An institutional database of events (errors and near-misses) was used to evaluate the ability of QAPV to prevent clinically observed events. We analyzed reported events that were related to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameter inconsistencies between the intended treatment (on the treatment planning system) and the delivered treatment (on the treatment machine). Critical Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine RT plan parameters were identified. Each event was scored for importance using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis methodology. Potential error occurrence (frequency) was derived according to the collected event data, along with the potential event severity, and the probability of detection with and without the theoretical implementation of the QAPV plan comparison check. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs) with and without QAPV were compared to quantify the potential benefit of clinical implementation of QAPV. Results: The implementation of QAPV could reduce the RPN values for 15 of 22 (71%) of evaluated parameters, with an overall average reduction in RPN of 68 (range, 0-216). For the 6 high-risk parameters (>200), the average reduction in RPN value was 163 (range, 108-216). The RPN value reduction for the intermediate-risk (200 > RPN > 100) parameters was (0-140). With QAPV, the largest RPN value for “Beam Meterset” was reduced from 324 to 108. The maximum reduction in RPN value was for Beam Meterset (216, 66.7%), whereas the maximum percentage reduction was for Cumulative Meterset Weight (80, 88.9%). Conclusion: This analysis quantifies the value of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise–Radiation Oncology QAPV implementation in clinical workflow

Accuracy Evaluation of the Unified P-Value from Combining Correlated P-Values

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Gelio; Yu, Yi-Kuo

2014-01-01

Meta-analysis methods that combine -values into a single unified -value are frequently employed to improve confidence in hypothesis testing. An assumption made by most meta-analysis methods is that the -values to be combined are independent, which may not always be true. To investigate the accuracy of the unified -value from combining correlated -values, we have evaluated a family of statistical methods that combine: independent, weighted independent, correlated, and weighted correlated -values. Statistical accuracy evaluation by combining simulated correlated -values showed that correlation among -values can have a significant effect on the accuracy of the combined -value obtained. Among the statistical methods evaluated those that weight -values compute more accurate combined -values than those that do not. Also, statistical methods that utilize the correlation information have the best performance, producing significantly more accurate combined -values. In our study we have demonstrated that statistical methods that combine -values based on the assumption of independence can produce inaccurate -values when combining correlated -values, even when the -values are only weakly correlated. Therefore, to prevent from drawing false conclusions during hypothesis testing, our study advises caution be used when interpreting the -value obtained from combining -values of unknown correlation. However, when the correlation information is available, the weighting-capable statistical method, first introduced by Brown and recently modified by Hou, seems to perform the best amongst the methods investigated. PMID:24663491

Professors as Value Agents: A Typology of Management Academics' Value Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Moosmayer, Dirk

2011-01-01

The paper addresses the paradox of value-free science and the need for value-oriented management education. Taking the values discussion in the German management community as an example, we identify two stereotypes in management literature: an allegedly value-free scientist who limits responsibility to economic aims and a value-laden academic who…

Value-Based Leadership Approach: A Way for Principals to Revive the Value of Values in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

van Niekerk, Molly; Botha, Johan

2017-01-01

The qualitative research discussed in this article is based on the assumption that school principals as leaders need to establish, develop and maintain a core of shared values in their schools. Our focus is on principals' current perceptions of values in their schools. This is important because values underpin their decisions and actions and thus…

Diagnostic value of diuretic-enhanced excretory MR urography in patients with obstructive uropathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karabacakoglu, Aydin E-mail: radaydin@hotmail.com; Karakose, Serdar; Ince, Ozlem; Cobankara, Osman Ege; Karalezli, Giray

2004-12-01

Purpose: Ultrasonography and conventional intravenous urography are most common methods in diagnosis of obstructive uropathies. The disadvantage of ultrasonography is inability of visualizing middle and lower one thirds of ureter, while intravenous urography is using radiation, also functionally extra loading effect on kidneys. In this study, the diagnostic value of MR urography on obstructive uropathy were investigated. Materials and methods: Forty five patients who were suffered from obstructive uropathy examined by ultrasonography, intravenous urography and diuretic-enhanced excretory MR urography by using MR-contrast-agent. Results: MR urography established accuracy rate of 92.8% for stone diseases which formed the largest group in this study, however, in other causes of obstructive uropathy, MR urography provide 100% correct diagnosis. Conclusion: MR urography provide high quality images for diagnosing and determining causes of urinary obstruction defining position and severity of dilatations as well as showing localization of the pathology. We think that MR urography should be a primary investigation in patients with obstructive uropathy who have contrast agent and X-ray contrindication.

Diagnostic value of diuretic-enhanced excretory MR urography in patients with obstructive uropathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karabacakoglu, Aydin; Karakose, Serdar; Ince, Ozlem; Cobankara, Osman Ege; Karalezli, Giray

2004-01-01

Purpose: Ultrasonography and conventional intravenous urography are most common methods in diagnosis of obstructive uropathies. The disadvantage of ultrasonography is inability of visualizing middle and lower one thirds of ureter, while intravenous urography is using radiation, also functionally extra loading effect on kidneys. In this study, the diagnostic value of MR urography on obstructive uropathy were investigated. Materials and methods: Forty five patients who were suffered from obstructive uropathy examined by ultrasonography, intravenous urography and diuretic-enhanced excretory MR urography by using MR-contrast-agent. Results: MR urography established accuracy rate of 92.8% for stone diseases which formed the largest group in this study, however, in other causes of obstructive uropathy, MR urography provide 100% correct diagnosis. Conclusion: MR urography provide high quality images for diagnosing and determining causes of urinary obstruction defining position and severity of dilatations as well as showing localization of the pathology. We think that MR urography should be a primary investigation in patients with obstructive uropathy who have contrast agent and X-ray contrindication

More Value through Greater Differentiation: Gender Differences in Value Beliefs about Math

Science.gov (United States)

Gaspard, Hanna; Dicke, Anna-Lena; Flunger, Barbara; Schreier, Brigitte; Häfner, Isabelle; Trautwein, Ulrich; Nagengast, Benjamin

2015-01-01

Expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al., 1983) is a prominent approach to explaining gender differences in math-related academic choices, with value beliefs acting as an important explanatory factor. Expectancy-value theory defines 4 value components: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and cost. The present study followed up on…

Can values drive value for sustainable business? : An analyzing and interpreting case study of Konsum Värmland Value-creation

OpenAIRE

Zetterberg, Madeleine

2007-01-01

Abstract Historically, value was believed to be created and embedded in the manufacturing process, implying that companies were the creators of value. Conversely, the notion of value-creation changed during the last decades and has implemented the customer orientation and service centred view. Instead, researchers currently believe that companies only can offer value-propositions, which means that value is to be created by the customers. Services and goods are much about values and identity t...

Relevansi Nilai Selisih Loans Book Value dan Loans Fair Value, Book Value Per Share, Earnings Per Share dan Ukuran Perusahaan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Bakti Pertiwi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available One of the impacts of IFRS convergence is the tendency to leave historical cost to the fair value primarily for financial instruments, one of which is bank loans. Therefore, the benefit of the use of historical cost and fair value needs to be examined. This study aims to evaluate the relationship of the difference between loan book value and fair value, book value per share, earnings per share and the company size to the stock price of banks that use accounting standard that has been converged to IFRS. The samples used are banks listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2010-2013. The relationship between the difference loans book value and fair value, book value per share, earnings per share and the size with the stock price were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The results of this study indicate that the difference between loans book value and fair value, book value per share, earnings per share and the size can be used to predict the stock price of bank. Thus, the difference between loan book value and fair value of financial instruments have a relevant value.

Comparative Genomics of Chrysochromulina Ericina Virus and Other Microalga-Infecting Large DNA Viruses Highlights Their Intricate Evolutionary Relationship with the Established Mimiviridae Family.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallot-Lavallée, Lucie; Blanc, Guillaume; Claverie, Jean-Michel

2017-07-15

Chrysochromulina ericina virus CeV-01B (CeV) was isolated from Norwegian coastal waters in 1998. Its icosahedral particle is 160 nm in diameter and encloses a 474-kb double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome. This virus, although infecting a microalga (the haptophyceae Haptolina ericina , formerly Chrysochromulina ericina ), is phylogenetically related to members of the Mimiviridae family, initially established with the acanthamoeba-infecting mimivirus and megavirus as prototypes. This family was later split into two genera ( Mimivirus and Cafeteriavirus ) following the characterization of a virus infecting the heterotrophic stramenopile Cafeteria roenbergensis (CroV). CeV, as well as two of its close relatives, which infect the unicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes Phaeocystis globosa (Phaeocystis globosa virus [PgV]) and Aureococcus anophagefferens (Aureococcus anophagefferens virus [AaV]), are currently unclassified by the International Committee on Viral Taxonomy (ICTV). The detailed comparative analysis of the CeV genome presented here confirms the phylogenetic affinity of this emerging group of microalga-infecting viruses with the Mimiviridae but argues in favor of their classification inside a distinct clade within the family. Although CeV, PgV, and AaV share more common features among them than with the larger Mimiviridae , they also exhibit a large complement of unique genes, attesting to their complex evolutionary history. We identified several gene fusion events and cases of convergent evolution involving independent lateral gene acquisitions. Finally, CeV possesses an unusual number of inteins, some of which are closely related despite being inserted in nonhomologous genes. This appears to contradict the paradigm of allele-specific inteins and suggests that the Mimiviridae are especially efficient in spreading inteins while enlarging their repertoire of homing genes. IMPORTANCE Although it infects the microalga Chrysochromulina ericina , CeV is more closely

Characterizing spatial heterogeneity based on the b-value and fractal analyses of the 2015 Nepal earthquake sequence

Science.gov (United States)

Nampally, Subhadra; Padhy, Simanchal; Dimri, Vijay P.

2018-01-01

The nature of spatial distribution of heterogeneities in the source area of the 2015 Nepal earthquake is characterized based on the seismic b-value and fractal analysis of its aftershocks. The earthquake size distribution of aftershocks gives a b-value of 1.11 ± 0.08, possibly representing the highly heterogeneous and low stress state of the region. The aftershocks exhibit a fractal structure characterized by a spectrum of generalized dimensions, Dq varying from D2 = 1.66 to D22 = 0.11. The existence of a fractal structure suggests that the spatial distribution of aftershocks is not a random phenomenon, but it self-organizes into a critical state, exhibiting a scale-independent structure governed by a power-law scaling, where a small perturbation in stress is sufficient enough to trigger aftershocks. In order to obtain the bias in fractal dimensions resulting from finite data size, we compared the multifractal spectrum for the real data and random simulations. On comparison, we found that the lower limit of bias in D2 is 0.44. The similarity in their multifractal spectra suggests the lack of long-range correlation in the data, with an only weakly multifractal or a monofractal with a single correlation dimension D2 characterizing the data. The minimum number of events required for a multifractal process with an acceptable error is discussed. We also tested for a possible correlation between changes in D2 and energy released during the earthquakes. The values of D2 rise during the two largest earthquakes (M > 7.0) in the sequence. The b- and D2 values are related by D2 = 1.45 b that corresponds to the intermediate to large earthquakes. Our results provide useful constraints on the spatial distribution of b- and D2-values, which are useful for seismic hazard assessment in the aftershock area of a large earthquake.

Recovery actinide values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horwitz, E.P.; Delphin, W.H.; Mason, G.W.

1979-01-01

A process is described for partitioning and recovering actinide values from acidic waste solutions resulting from reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuels by adding hydroxylammonium nitrate and hydrazine to the waste solution to adjust the valence of the neptunium and plutonium values in the solution to the +4 oxidation state, thus forming a feed solution and contacting the feed solution with an extractant of di-hexoxyethyl phosphoric acid in an organic diluent whereby the actinide values, most of the rare earth values and some fission product values are taken up by the extractant. Separation is achieved by contacting the loaded extractant with two aqueous strip solutions, a nitric acid solution to selectively strip the americium, curium and rare earth values and an oxalate solution of tetramethylammonium hydrogen oxalate and oxalic acid or trimethylammonium hydrogen oxalate to selectively strip the neptunium, plutonium and fission product values. Uranium values remain in the extractant and may be recovered with a phosphoric acid strip. The neptunium and plutonium values are recovered from the oxalate by adding sufficient nitric acid to destroy the complexing ability of the oxalate, forming a second feed, and contacting the second feed with a second extractant of tricaprylmethylammonium nitrate in an inert diluent whereby the neptunium and plutonium values are selectively extracted. The values are recovered from the extractant with formic acid. (author)

The Value of Value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Asger

parts of business ethics given prominence to especially one term, namely `value'. The question that interests me is the following: What does the articulation of ethics and morality in terms of values mean for ethics and morality as such. Or, to put the question in a more fashionably way: What......As a social scientist of ethics and morality, Luhmann has noticed the ethical wave that has recently swept across the western world, and states that this particular kind of wave seems to have a wavelength of about one hundred years (cf. Luhmann 1989: 9 ff.). Even though the frequency...... and the regularity of such a phenomenon is both hard to verify and, if true, difficult to explain, it seems fair to say that since the Enlightenment, an approaching fin-de-siecle has brought an increased interest in matters concerning morality and ethics.1 The present peak has in public-political discourse and some...

Standard practice for extreme value analysis of nonmetallic inclusions in steel and other microstructural features

CERN Document Server

American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

2008-01-01

1.1 This practice describes a methodology to statistically characterize the distribution of the largest indigenous nonmetallic inclusions in steel specimens based upon quantitative metallographic measurements. The practice is not suitable for assessing exogenous inclusions. 1.2 Based upon the statistical analysis, the nonmetallic content of different lots of steels can be compared. 1.3 This practice deals only with the recommended test methods and nothing in it should be construed as defining or establishing limits of acceptability. 1.4 The measured values are stated in SI units. For measurements obtained from light microscopy, linear feature parameters shall be reported as micrometers, and feature areas shall be reported as micrometers. 1.5 The methodology can be extended to other materials and to other microstructural features. 1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish app...

Personal values and value systems of humanities students and workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucie Křeménková

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Problem: The aim of this paper is to analyze the value orientation of university students and workers in humanities and then determine possible differences between these groups in the context of branches of occupation, school results and gender. Methods: The sample consisted of 158 university students aged 19-24 years (mean age = 20.8 and 170 humanities workers aged 29-48 years (mean age=36.8. Respondents were divided into following groups: men (N = 72, women (N = 256, students’ school results A (N = 43, B (N = 47, C (N = 35, D (N = 29, E (N = 4 and worker´s branch of occupation: teachers in the kindergarten (N = 34, special education teachers (N = 32, high school teachers (N = 47, educational workers (N = 31 and civil servants (N = 26. We used a Rokeach Value Survey (RVS which is designed to measure two sets of values. One set is composed of 18 terminal values or desired end states of existence (e.g., an exciting life, national security, and the other set is composed of 18 instrumental values, or preferable modes of behavior (e.g., being ambitious, independent. Then, subjects are asked to rank order each value as to its importance as a guiding principle in their life. A 1 indicates the most important value and an 18 the least important. Scale responses are considered ordinal.Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: We analyzed the preference of values depending on the gender. Pearson’s ?2 analyses indicated that men are significantly more (often „Effective Crusaders“ than women and women are significantly more (often „Virtuous Advocates“ than men, ?2 (3 = 13.817, p= .003, ?c = .205. After that we analyzed the preference of values depending on depending on the type of employment. Pearson’s ?2analyses indicated that students are significantly more (often „Virtuous Advocates“ than workers and workers are significantly more (often „Effective Crusaders“ and „Independent Maximizers“ than students, ?2 (3 = 61.414, p= .000, ?c

Assessing the Impact of Landscape Development on Ecosystem Services Value in Tropical Watershed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foo, Y S; Hashim, M

2014-01-01

As development increases with demand, more forest lands are replaced with cropland, commercial plantation, and infrastructures for being able to accommodate the excessive growth in world's population. Environments were destroyed without considering their values in sustaining life on Earth.This phenomenon is still an ongoing scenario in most of the developing countries in the tropical region including Malaysia. Such unrestricted conversion may cause food or water crisis along with irreparable consequences to local and regional climate as the natural ecosystem is not only the main resources generator but also the climate stabilizer. Contrary to this, a study was conducted in Pahang Watershed, the largest watershed in Peninsular Malaysia with forest as the dominant land cover, to investigate the effect of landscape development on the ecosystem in terms of the erosion and ecosystem service value. Results of soil loss based on USLE indicated a direct relationship between development and total soil loss where total annual soil loss in year 2005 and 2010 showed a significant increase compare to year 2000. Meanwhile, developed and agricultural lands were discovered to be the main contributor whereas forest land produce the least soil loss (<10ton/ ha/yr). Apart from this, this study also reports a degrading trend in the overall ecological service value and goods (ESVG). Although oil palm had become the main commercial plantation in current years, the commercial profit brought by oil palm still insufficient to cover losses referring to overall estimated ESVG due to the forest clearance and soil degradation. In addition, for a destroyed ecosystem to be equilibrium again requires years. Therefore, ESVG of the tropical forest are expected to increase continuously in future which mean that the roles of the forest in conserving the environment stabilization and sustainability of life are getting more critical

Investigation of science faculty with education specialties within the largest university system in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Seth D; Pelaez, Nancy J; Rudd, James A; Stevens, Michael T; Tanner, Kimberly D; Williams, Kathy S

2011-01-01

Efforts to improve science education include university science departments hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), scientists who take on specialized roles in science education within their discipline. Although these positions have existed for decades and may be growing more common, few reports have investigated the SFES approach to improving science education. We present comprehensive data on the SFES in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest university system in the United States. We found that CSU SFES were engaged in three key arenas including K-12 science education, undergraduate science education, and discipline-based science education research. As such, CSU SFES appeared to be well-positioned to have an impact on science education from within science departments. However, there appeared to be a lack of clarity and agreement about the purpose of these SFES positions. In addition, formal training in science education among CSU SFES was limited. Although over 75% of CSU SFES were fulfilled by their teaching, scholarship, and service, our results revealed that almost 40% of CSU SFES were seriously considering leaving their positions. Our data suggest that science departments would likely benefit from explicit discussions about the role of SFES and strategies for supporting their professional activities.