A combined prediction strategy increases identification of peptides bound with high affinity and stability to porcine MHC class I molecules SLA-1*04:01, SLA-2*04:01, and SLA-3*04:01

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Lasse Eggers; Rasmussen, Michael; Harndahl, Mikkel

2016-01-01

constitute an attractive protocol to select target peptides from the vast pool of viral proteome peptides. We have earlier reported the peptide binding motif of the porcine MHC-I molecules SLA-1*04:01 and SLA-2*04:01, identified by an ELISA affinity-based positional scanning combinatorial peptide library...

An Investigation into Specifying Service Level Agreements for Provisioning Cloud Computing Services

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-01

IT .................................................................................................... Information Technology KPI ...the service delivery be measured? 3. Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ): Describe the KPIs and the responsible party for producing the KPIs . 4...level objectives (SLOs) that are evaluated according to measurable Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ). Automatic SLA protection enables further

TeSLA e-assessment workshop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, José

2016-01-01

Presentatie ten behoeve van de e-assessment workshop voor docenten van de Open Universiteit Nederland betrokken in de eerste TeSLA pilot. Topics: toetsfraude, toetsdesign, technologie voor authenticatie en verificatie van auteurschap.

Impact of SLA assimilation in the Sicily Channel Regional Model: model skills and mesoscale features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Olita

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The impact of the assimilation of MyOcean sea level anomalies along-track data on the analyses of the Sicily Channel Regional Model was studied. The numerical model has a resolution of 1/32° degrees and is capable to reproduce mesoscale and sub-mesoscale features. The impact of the SLA assimilation is studied by comparing a simulation (SIM, which does not assimilate data with an analysis (AN assimilating SLA along-track multi-mission data produced in the framework of MyOcean project. The quality of the analysis was evaluated by computing RMSE of the misfits between analysis background and observations (sea level before assimilation. A qualitative evaluation of the ability of the analyses to reproduce mesoscale structures is accomplished by comparing model results with ocean colour and SST satellite data, able to detect such features on the ocean surface. CTD profiles allowed to evaluate the impact of the SLA assimilation along the water column. We found a significant improvement for AN solution in terms of SLA RMSE with respect to SIM (the averaged RMSE of AN SLA misfits over 2 years is about 0.5 cm smaller than SIM. Comparison with CTD data shows a questionable improvement produced by the assimilation process in terms of vertical features: AN is better in temperature while for salinity it gets worse than SIM at the surface. This suggests that a better a-priori description of the vertical error covariances would be desirable. The qualitative comparison of simulation and analyses with synoptic satellite independent data proves that SLA assimilation allows to correctly reproduce some dynamical features (above all the circulation in the Ionian portion of the domain and mesoscale structures otherwise misplaced or neglected by SIM. Such mesoscale changes also infer that the eddy momentum fluxes (i.e. Reynolds stresses show major changes in the Ionian area. Changes in Reynolds stresses reflect a different pumping of eastward momentum from the eddy to

Introducing positive psychology to SLA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Mercer

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding subfield in psychology that has important implications for the field of second language acquisition (SLA. This paper introduces positive psychology to the study of language by describing its key tenets. The potential contributions of positive psychology are contextualized with reference to prior work, including the humanistic movement in language teaching, models of motivation, the concept of an affective filter, studies of the good language learner, and the concepts related to the self. There are reasons for both encouragement and caution as studies inspired by positive psychology are undertaken. Papers in this special issue of SSLLT cover a range of quantitative and qualitative methods with implications for theory, research, and teaching practice. The special issue serves as a springboard for future research in SLA under the umbrella of positive psychology.

Anti-soluble liver antigen (SLA) antibodies in chronic HCV infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Vitozzi, Susana; Lapierre, Pascal; Djilali-Saiah, Idriss; Marceau, Gabriel; Beland, Kathie; Alvarez, Fernando

2004-05-01

Hepatitis C infection is associated with autoimmune disorders, such as the production of autoantibodies. Anti-LKM1 and anti-LC1, immunomarkers of type 2 autoimmune hepatitis, have been previously associated with a HCV infection. Anti-Soluble-Liver-Antigen autoantibodies (SLA) are specifically associated with type 1 and type 2 autoimmune hepatitis and more closely related to patients who relapse after steroid therapy. The recent molecular cloning of the soluble liver antigen provides the opportunity to develop more specific tests for the detection of antibodies against it. The aim of this work is to characterize anti-soluble-liver autoantibodies in sera from patients chronically infected by HCV. A recombinant cDNA from activated Jurkat cells coding for the full length tRNP(Ser)Sec/SLA antigen was obtained. ELISA, Western Blot and immunoprecipitation tests were developed and used to search for linear and conformational epitopes recognized by anti-SLA antibodies in sera from patients chronically infected by HCV. Anti-soluble liver antigen antibodies were found in sera from 10.4% of HCV-infected patients. The prevalence was significantly increased to 27% when anti-LKM1 was also present. Most anti-SLA reactivity was directed against conformational epitopes on the antigen. The means titers by ELISA were lower than those obtained in type 2 AIH. The result of autoantibody isotyping showed a subclass restriction to IgG1 and also IgG4. This study shows the presence of anti-SLA antibodies in approximately 10% of HCV infected patients. The prevalence of SLA autoantibodies in HCV infected patients increases when LKM1 autoantibodies are also present. The relationship between the prevalence of this characteristic autoimmune hepatitis autoantibody and the implication of an autoimmune phenomenon in the liver injury of patients chronically infected by HCV needs further investigation.

Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Rod

2006-01-01

The study of how learners acquire a second language (SLA) has helped to shape thinking about how to teach the grammar of a second language. There remain, however, a number of controversial issues. This paper considers eight key questions relating to grammar pedagogy in the light of findings from SLA. As such, this article complements…

On the Nature of Interaction in SLA: A Philosophical Stream

Science.gov (United States)

Maftoon, Parviz; Shakouri, Nima

2013-01-01

Researchers have long grappled with situating the stance of interaction in SLA, but it is only recently that interaction has begun to receive consideration from SLA quarters. Delving into the nature of interaction and the prerequisite of interaction in real world, in general, and in classroom, in particular, the authors hold that based on…

IT Performance Dashboard: Service Level Agreement (SLA) Dashboard

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Veterans Affairs — The IT Performance Dashboard is a trusted source for IT performance information across VA. This is available only on the VA intranet. The dashboard is a collection...

Introducing Positive Psychology to SLA

Science.gov (United States)

MacIntyre, Peter D.; Mercer, Sarah

2014-01-01

Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding subfield in psychology that has important implications for the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This paper introduces positive psychology to the study of language by describing its key tenets. The potential contributions of positive psychology are contextualized with reference to prior work,…

Relating SLA Research to Language Teaching Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivian J. Cook

1998-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article discusses applications of Second Language Acquisition (SLA research to the preparation of language coursebooks. The author suggests a number of ways in which SLA research findings can help improve coursebooks and thereby enhance the learning of large numbers of students. Research leads us to consider learners as genuine speakers of the L2, as bilinguals who still have an L1 present in their minds and who do not all go about learning the L2 in the same way. Few coursebooks take into account these and other findings of SLA research, for example: that the acquisition of basic syntax precedes the acquisition of inflectional morphology, that most of the syntax to be learned is really part of the lexicon, or that vocabulary needs to be encountered in a structural and semantic context in order to be effectively acquired. Coursebook authors also need to bear in mind that pronunciation is necessary not only for communication but also for the actual learning of L2 forms, and that some aspects of the L2 writing system need to be explicitly taught. The author provides two sample lessons to illustrate how these research findings might be applied to the writing of a coursebook.

Modeling the Structural Response of Reinforced Glass Beams using an SLA Scheme

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Louter, P.C.; Graaf, van de Anne; Rots, J.G.; Bos, Freek; Louter, Pieter Christiaan; Veer, Fred

2010-01-01

This paper investigates whether a novel computational sequentially linear analysis (SLA) technique, which is especially developed for modeling brittle material response, is applicable for modeling the structural response of metal reinforced glass beams. To do so, computational SLA results are

Marginal Bone Loss Around Early-Loaded SLA and SLActive Implants: Radiological Follow-Up Evaluation Up to 6.5 Years.

Science.gov (United States)

Şener-Yamaner, Işil Damla; Yamaner, Gökhan; Sertgöz, Atilla; Çanakçi, Cenk Fatih; Özcan, Mutlu

2017-08-01

The aim of this study was to compare marginal bone loss around early-loaded SLA and SLActive tissue-level implants (Straumann Dental Implants; Institut Straumann AG, Basel, Switzerland) after a mean of 81-month follow-up period. One hundred seven SLA and 68 SLActive implants were placed in 55 patients and loaded with final restoration after 8 and 3 weeks of healing time, respectively. Marginal bone loss around implants was determined radiographically at initial and after a mean observation time ranging between 20 and 81 months. The effect of location (mandible vs maxilla), smoking habit, sex, implant length and diameter, and the type of prosthesis on the marginal bone loss was evaluated. The overall cumulative survival rate was 98.2% being 99% for SLA implants and 97% for SLActive implants. After 20-month follow-up period, mean marginal bone loss values for the SLA and SLActive implants were 0.24 and 0.17 mm, respectively. After 81 months, mean marginal bone loss for the SLA and SLActive implants reached 0.71 and 0.53 mm, respectively. Marginal bone loss was affected by the length and type of implant and patients' smoking habit after a mean observation time of 20 months. However, none of the parameters had any significant effect on the marginal bone loss after a follow-up period of 81 months. With both SLA and SLActive implants, successful clinical results could be achieved up to 6.5 years of follow-up period.

The optimal design of service level agreement in IAAS based on BDIM

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaochen; Zhan, Zhiqiang

2013-03-01

Cloud Computing has become more and more prevalent over the past few years, and we have seen the importance of Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). This kind of service enables scaling of bandwidth, memory, computing power and storage. But the SLA in IaaS also faces complexity and variety. Users also consider the business of the service. To meet the most users requirements, a methodology for designing optimal SLA in IaaS from the business perspectives is proposed. This method is different from the conventional SLA design method, It not only focuses on service provider perspective, also from the customer to carry on the design. This methodology better captures the linkage between service provider and service client by considering minimizing the business loss originated from performance degradation and IT infrastructure failures and maximizing profits for service provider and clients. An optimal design in an IaaS model is provided and an example are analyzed to show this approach obtain higher profit.

Analytical Review of Universal Grammar (UG) Approach on Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

Science.gov (United States)

Irwandy

2015-01-01

The aim of this paper is to explore the analysis of Universal Grammar (UG) approach on Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This paper is significant as the sources for teacher or researcher of the second language since this elaboration is deeply focusing on the use of UG on SLA. The method used in this academic writing is inductive method of…

Specificity Characterization of SLA Class I Molecules Binding to Swine-Origin Viral Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Epitope Peptides in Vitro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caixia Gao

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Swine leukocyte antigen (SLA class I molecules play a crucial role in generating specific cellular immune responses against viruses and other intracellular pathogens. They mainly bind and present antigens of intracellular origin to circulating MHC I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs. Binding of an appropriate epitope to an SLA class I molecule is the single most selective event in antigen presentation and the first step in the killing of infected cells by CD8+ CTLs. Moreover, the antigen epitopes are strictly restricted to specific SLA molecules. In this study, we constructed SLA class I complexes in vitro comprising viral epitope peptides, the extracellular region of the SLA-1 molecules, and β2-microglobulin (β2m using splicing overlap extension polymerase chain reaction (SOE-PCR. The protein complexes were induced and expressed in an Escherichia coli prokaryotic expression system and subsequently purified and refolded. Specific binding of seven SLA-1 proteins to one classical swine fever virus (CSFV and four porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV epitope peptides was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA-based method. The SLA-1∗13:01, SLA-1∗11:10, and SLA-1∗11:01:02 proteins were able to bind specifically to different CTL epitopes of CSFV and PRRSV and the MHC restrictions of the five epitopes were identified. The fixed combination of Asn151Val152 residues was identified as the potentially key amino acid residues influencing the binding of viral several CTL epitope peptides to SLA-1∗13:01 and SLA-1∗04:01:01 proteins. The more flexible pocket E in the SLA-1∗13:01 protein might have fewer steric limitations and therefore be able to accommodate more residues of viral CTL epitope peptides, and may thus play a critical biochemical role in determining the peptide-binding motif of SLA-1∗13:01. Characterization of the binding specificity of peptides to SLA class I molecules provides an

TeSLA presentatie voor medewerkers van AMN

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, José

2017-01-01

Presentatie over Online toetsen voor medewerkers van AMN (www.amn.nl). Topics: assessment onderzoek Welten-instituut en meer in het bijzonder het TeSLA project waarin instrumenten voor authenticatie en auteurschap verificatie worden gecombineerd om betrouwbaar toetsen op afstand mogelijk te maken.

77 FR 38884 - Sisseton Milbank Railroad Company-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-SLA Property Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-29

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35641] Sisseton Milbank Railroad Company--Acquisition and Operation Exemption--SLA Property Management Limited Partnership and... verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire from SLA Property Management Limited...

Comparison of satellite altimetry sea level anomalies and hydrographic observations in the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Mir Calafat

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Steric sea level (SSL computed from hydrographic observations in the Mediterranean Sea is compared against altimetric sea level anomalies (SLA at seasonal and inter-annual time scales for the period 1993-2008. SSL (referenced to 300 m is computed using two data sets: in situ profiles and gridded products obtained from interpolated observations. The impact of expendable/mechanical bathythermograph (XBT/MBT biases affecting some of the in situ profiles is investigated by comparing both corrected and uncorrected data. For the period 2003-2008 the mass component is estimated from GRACE observations and subtracted from SLA. The analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of profiles shows that the number of profiles with data below 300 m is a small percentage of the total and that their spatial coverage of the Mediterranean basin is very limited. This is an important handicap for regions where the contribution of the deep layers to SSL is significant. Overall, SSL and SLA are shown to be consistent in the Mediterranean at seasonal time scales, although the annual amplitude of the SSL from in situ profiles and interpolated data is considerably smaller than that of the SLA. The agreement at inter-annual time scales is less good. At some particular locations SSL computed from individual profiles is more correlated with SLA than the gridded products. At basin and sub-basin scales, however, interpolated and in situ observations provide similar results in terms of their correlation with observed SLA. The XBT/MBT bias corrections have little effect on the SSL at the time scales considered in this study.

Second Language Writing Research and Written Corrective Feedback in SLA: Intersections and Practical Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Ferris, Dana R.

2010-01-01

For more than a decade now, a great deal of research has been done on the topic of written corrective feedback (CF) in SLA and second language (L2) writing. Nonetheless, what those research efforts really have shown as well as the possible implications for practice remain in dispute. Although L2 writing and SLA researchers often examine similar…

ITIL Based Service Level Management if SLAs Cover Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Feglar

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Current level of information technology creates new perspectives for more IT service oriented market. Quality of these services requires slightly different approach then was applied for products including software. No IT services are delivered and supported in risk free environment. Risks would be considered consistently with IT services quality gaps from Service Level Management (SLM perspective. SLM is one of ITIL modules that are widely used within the IT service industry. We identified some weaknesses in how SLM is developed in ITIL environment if service level agreement (SLA has cover Security. We argue that in such cases Architecture modeling and risk assessment approach let us effectively control analytical effort that relates to risks identification and understanding. Risk driven countermeasures designed in a next step (Risk treatment have significant impact to the SLM especially from responsibility perspective. To demonstrate SLM's importance in real practice we analyze SLA synthesize process in CCI (Cyber Critical Infrastructure environment.

Anti-soluble liver antigen/liver-pancreas (SLA/LP) antibodies in pediatric patients with autoimmune hepatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Vitozzi, Susana; Djilali-Saiah, Idriss; Lapierre, Pascal; Alvarez, Fernando

2002-12-01

Antibodies against soluble liver antigen/liver-pancreas (SLA/LP) have been associated with severe autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and poor outcome, but most of these reports have focused on adult patients. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of anti-SLA/LP antibodies in a pediatric population with AIH. We developed a quantitative enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), a Western blot (WB) and an immunoprecipitation assay (IPA) based on recombinant cDNA from activated Jurkat cells. The specificity of these tests was validated by testing 200 serum samples from healthy subjects, and from patients with liver and non-liver diseases. Anti-SLA/LP antibodies were found in patients with type 1 and type 2 AIH. The prevalence of these antibodies in patients with type 1 AIH was: 42% when tested by ELISA, 15% by WB and 50% by IPA. In patients with type 2 AIH, the prevalence rates were 42% by ELISA, 18% by WB and 44% by IPA. The mean titer values for anti-SLA/LP antibodies was significantly higher in type 2 AIH (1:1,300 +/- 339) than in type 1 AIH (1:600 +/- 71; p LKM1) and anti-liver cytosol type 1 (LC1) antibodies in sera. The presence of anti-SLA/LP showed a significant female preponderance in type 1 and 2 AIH patients (p = 0.0003 and p = 0.003, respectively), and was significantly correlated with a lower age at diagnosis (p = 0.05) in type 1 AIH patients. In conclusion, anti-SLA/LP antibodies in pediatric patients are associated with both type 1 and 2 AIH.

SlaVaComp Fonts Converter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Skilevic

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a fonts converter that was developed as a part of the Freiburg project on historical corpus linguistics. The tool named SlaVaComp-Konvertierer converts Church Slavonic texts digitized with non-Unicode fonts into the Unicode format without any loss of information contained in the original file and without damage to the original formatting. It is suitable for the conversion of all idiosyncratic fonts—not only Church Slavonic—and therefore can be used not only in Palaeoslavistic, but also in all historical and philological studies.

Classification and Implication of Motivation Research in SLA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

温泉

2015-01-01

<正>Introduction The author of this essay does not intend to clarify the controversy about motivation in Second Language Acquisition(SLA)as a critical social-psychological element in the field,because the research of motivation is such a complex process which requires some degree of expertise in three scholarly

An Analysis on the Contextual Factors Affecting Motivation in SLA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2007-01-01

<正>For us Chinese,a foreign language is something to be acquired as a kind of communicative tool,so we can infer that an effective way in SLA(Second Language Acquisition) must be learning the target language in a communicative context.A communicative context certainly concerns not only the interactional classroom activities designed in accordance with some stated curriculum tasks to lead the L2 students to learning swimming by swimming,but also other relevant elements which have a lot to do with all the situational,interactional and cultural contexts.In order to lessen some potential sources of conflict between L2 teacher and L2 learner,this article is an attempt to urge a careful study on the contextual factors affecting motivation in SLA.

MeReg: Managing Energy-SLA Tradeoff for Green Mobile Cloud Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahul Yadav

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Mobile cloud computing (MCC provides various cloud computing services to mobile users. The rapid growth of MCC users requires large-scale MCC data centers to provide them with data processing and storage services. The growth of these data centers directly impacts electrical energy consumption, which affects businesses as well as the environment through carbon dioxide (CO2 emissions. Moreover, large amount of energy is wasted to maintain the servers running during low workload. To reduce the energy consumption of mobile cloud data centers, energy-aware host overload detection algorithm and virtual machines (VMs selection algorithms for VM consolidation are required during detected host underload and overload. After allocating resources to all VMs, underloaded hosts are required to assume energy-saving mode in order to minimize power consumption. To address this issue, we proposed an adaptive heuristics energy-aware algorithm, which creates an upper CPU utilization threshold using recent CPU utilization history to detect overloaded hosts and dynamic VM selection algorithms to consolidate the VMs from overloaded or underloaded host. The goal is to minimize total energy consumption and maximize Quality of Service, including the reduction of service level agreement (SLA violations. CloudSim simulator is used to validate the algorithm and simulations are conducted on real workload traces in 10 different days, as provided by PlanetLab.

Effectiviteit van middelen tegen Rhizoctonia in sla en radijs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofland-Zijlstra, J.D.; Paternotte, S.J.; Janse, J.; Slooten, van M.A.

2008-01-01

Rhizoctonia is een veelvoorkomend probleem in sla en radijs en kan veel opbrengstverlies geven. Uit eerder onderzoek van Wageningen UR Glastuinbouw in radijs werd gevonden dat het enige toegelaten fungicide tegen Rhizoctonia in de praktijk niet voldoende werkt. Door het kleine middelenpakket in de

The state-level approach: moving beyond integrated safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tape, James W.

2008-01-01

The concept of a State-Level Approach (SLA) for international safeguards planning, implementation, and evaluation was contained in the Conceptual Framework for Integrated Safeguards (IS) agreed in 2002. This paper describes briefly the key elements of the SLA, including State-level factors and high-level safeguards objectives, and considers different cases in which application of the SLA methodology could address safeguards for 'suspect' States, 'good' States, and Nuclear Weapons States hosting fuel cycle centers. The continued use and further development of the SLA to customize safeguards for each State, including for States already under IS, is seen as central to effective and efficient safeguards for an expanding nuclear world.

Resource-level QoS metric for CPU-based guarantees in cloud providers

OpenAIRE

Goiri Presa, Íñigo; Julià Massó, Ferran; Fitó, Josep Oriol; Macías Lloret, Mario; Guitart Fernández, Jordi

2010-01-01

Success of Cloud computing requires that both customers and providers can be confident that signed Service Level Agreements (SLA) are supporting their respective business activities to their best extent. Currently used SLAs fail in providing such confidence, especially when providers outsource resources to other providers. These resource providers typically support very simple metrics, or metrics that hinder an efficient exploitation of their resources. In this paper, we propose a re...

Q methodology for post-social-turn research in SLA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kay Irie

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Q methodology, an approach to inquiry on the subjective views about a complex phenomenon/issue which has been increasingly employed in a wide range of social science fields has not yet been applied in language learning and teaching research. It is a unique approach that has characteristics of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The purpose of the present paper is to introduce Q methodology as an alternative approach and demonstrate its potential to respond to the needs of the field that has been expanding in its epistemological diversity since the social turn (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2012. The relevance of the methodology for SLA research will be discussed with a particular focus on the parallels between the development of the methodology in the 1930s and current criticisms towards the traditional cognitive approach in SLA. Using a published study (Irie & Ryan, 2014, the author explains how the focus on the holistic understanding of subjectivity is built into the procedure. Suggestions for possible areas of research and teaching in which Q methodology could be applied are discussed.

Epistemological Diversity and Moral Ends of Research in Instructed SLA

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, Lourdes

2012-01-01

In this article I explore epistemological diversity in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) from the perspective that obtains if we examine the moral ends of research, and we ask: In what ways does epistemological diversity relate to enhancing the social value and educational relevance of the research generated by the instructed SLA…

IT teenuste sisseostu leping / Kristjan Hiiemaa

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Hiiemaa, Kristjan

2005-01-01

Teenustaseme lepingust (service level agreement) ettevõtte kui tellija ja IT tugifirma vahel. Lisad: Mõisteid; IT tugiteenuse osutamise põhilised tegevused; Service level agreement (SLA) - teenustaseme leping. Skeem

Positive Psychology in SLA: An Agenda for Learner and Teacher Wellbeing

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer, Sarah

2017-01-01

This article begins with an outline of the developments in Positive Psychology (PP) generally and specifically within SLA focusing on theoretical, empirical and practical developments. It moves on to consider PP's potential contribution to language teaching focusing on how it can help promote emotional, social and psychological wellbeing for…

Signalling in international environmental agreements. Using pre-agreement emission level as a signalling device

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steiner, U.

1997-12-31

This paper addresses the question about strategic incentives in international environmental agreements and tries to give a positive description of how the design of the agreement influences the strategic behaviour of potential participants before they enter the treaty. A common feature of the design of agreements is that the reduction obligations (RO) are made contingent on a pre-agreement or baseline emission. As it is assumed that countries posses better information about their reduction costs than does the international body in charge of deciding the RO, countries might have incentives to signal higher costs by increasing their baseline emission, and thereby reducing the costs of entering the agreement. The appropriate analytical framework is to use a signalling game approach, where the pre-agreement emission level conveys information about the privately informed country`s reduction cost. In this paper two types of agreement design are considered, one with uniform obligations, and one with differentiated obligations. This enables us to make a comparison between two different reduction regimes. The result is that the predicted outcomes vary with regard to both the environmental effectiveness and the associated expected costs for the participating countries. This means that when private information is considered, the anticipation of a given institutional framework has significant impact on the resulting distortion of the total emission level, highlighting the necessity of taking this into consideration when future designs are proposed. (au)

Signalling in international environmental agreements: Using pre-agreement emission level as a signalling device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steiner, U.

1997-01-01

This paper addresses the question about strategic incentives in international environmental agreements and tries to give a positive description of how the design of the agreement influences the strategic behaviour of potential participants before they enter the treaty. A common feature of the design of agreements is that the reduction obligations (RO) are made contingent on a pre-agreement or baseline emission. As it is assumed that countries posses better information about their reduction costs than does the international body in charge of deciding the RO, countries might have incentives to signal higher costs by increasing their baseline emission, and thereby reducing the costs of entering the agreement. The appropriate analytical framework is to use a signalling game approach, where the pre-agreement emission level conveys information about the privately informed country's reduction cost. In this paper two types of agreement design are considered, one with uniform obligations, and one with differentiated obligations. This enables us to make a comparison between two different reduction regimes. The result is that the predicted outcomes vary with regard to both the environmental effectiveness and the associated expected costs for the participating countries. This means that when private information is considered, the anticipation of a given institutional framework has significant impact on the resulting distortion of the total emission level, highlighting the necessity of taking this into consideration when future designs are proposed. (au)

The role of MPL and imiquimod adjuvants in enhancement of immune response and protection in BALB/c mice immunized with soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA) encapsulated in nanoliposome.

Science.gov (United States)

Emami, Tara; Rezayat, Seyed Mahdi; Khamesipour, Ali; Madani, Rasool; Habibi, Gholamreza; Hojatizade, Mansure; Jaafari, Mahmoud Reza

2018-04-01

Adjuvants play an essential role in the induction of immunity against leishmaniasis. In this study, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) and imiquimod (IMQ) were used as TLR ligands adjuvants to enhance immunogenicity and rate of protection against leishmaniasis. Nanoliposomes containing soluble Leishmania antigens (SLA) and adjuvants were consisted of DSPC, DSPG and Chol prepared by using lipid film method followed by bath sonication. The size of nanoliposomes was around 95 nm and their zeta potential was negative. BALB/c mice were immunized by liposomal formulations of lip/SLA, lip/MPL/SLA, lip/IMQ/SLA, lip/MPL/IMQ/SLA, lip/SLA + lip/IMQ, lip/SLA + lip/MPL, lip/SLA + lip/MPL/IMQ and five controls of SLA, lip/MPL, lip/IMQ, lip/MPL/IMQ and buffer by subcutaneously (SC) injections, three times in 2 weeks intervals. The synergic effect of two adjuvants when they are used in one formulation showed significantly (p MPL and IMQ adjuvants and antigen in nanoliposome carrier could be an appropriate delivery system to induce cellular immunity pathway against leishmaniasis.

SLA mechanism in wireless Mesh network%无线Mesh网络环境下的SLA机制

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

赵耀培; 杨扬

2015-01-01

SLA mechanism in wireless Mesh network was studied .A collision avoidance mechanism based on different service levels in wireless network was presented .The collision avoidance algorithm based on multiple service levels in MAC was de‐signed ,named as multipriority collision avoidance (MPCA) .Considering the data stream with different strategies of SLA ,MP‐CA adopted different retreating algorithms .M PCA supported the transmission of sudden business flow ,and assured the instan‐taneity of business with high service level .The simulation results show that MPCA can effectively improve service quality of cus‐tomers’ perception ,service reliability ,usability and stability .%对无线Mesh网络环境中SLA机制进行研究，建立一套无线Mesh环境下基于不同服务等级的冲突避免机制，在M AC层设计基于多服务等级的冲突避免算法（multipriority collision avoidance ， M PCA ），针对不同SLA策略的数据流采用不同退避算法。该算法支持突发业务流传输，能够保证高服务等级业务的实时性。仿真结果表明， M PC A能有效提高用户感知服务质量、服务可靠性以及可用性和稳定性。

Negotiation and Monitoring of Service Level Agreements

Science.gov (United States)

Quillinan, Thomas B.; Clark, Kassidy P.; Warnier, Martijn; Brazier, Frances M. T.; Rana, Omer

Service level agreements (SLAs) provide a means to define specific Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees between providers and consumers of services. Negotiation and definition of these QoS characteristics is an area of significant research. However, defining the actions that take place when an agreement is violated is a topic of more recent focus. This paper discusses recent advances in this field and propose some additional features that can help both consumers and producers during the enactment of services. These features include the ability to (re)negotiate penalties in an agreement, and specifically focuses on the renegotiation of penalties during enactment to reflect ongoing violations.

Návrh na slaďování pracovního a soukromého života ve vybraném podniku

OpenAIRE

Švejdíková, Romana

2013-01-01

Diplomová práce se zabývá problematikou slaďování práce a soukromého života ve zvolené organizaci. Detailně popisuje nástroje slaďování práce a soukromého života, srovnává teoretické poznatky se skutečností. Práce identifikuje možnosti a překážky slaďování práce a soukromého života u zaměstnanců zkoumané firmy. Na základě semistrukturovaného rozhovoru a dotazníkového šetření jsou navržena opatření pro optimální slaďování práce a života v organizaci. The diploma thesis deals with the issue ...

Sea level variability at Adriatic coast and its relationship to atmospheric forcing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergant, K. [Centre for Atmospheric Research, Nova Gorica Polytechnic, Nova Gorica (Slovenia); Susnik, M.; Strojan, I. [Dept. of Hydrology, Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Shaw, A.G.P. [James Rennel Div., National Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, Southampton (United Kingdom)

2005-07-01

Sea level (SLH) variability at the Adriatic coast was investigated for the period 1872-2001 using monthly average values of observations at 13 tide gauge stations. Linear trends and seasonal cycles were investigated first and removed afterwards from the data. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis was used further on remaining anomalies (SLA) to extract the regional intermonthly variability of SLH. It was found that the leading EOF and its principal component (PC) explain a major part of SLA variability (92%). The correlation between the reconstructed SLA, based on leading EOF and its PC, and overlapping observed SLA values for selected tide gauge stations is between 0.93 and 0.99. Actual SLH values at tide gauge stations can be reconstructed and some gaps in the data can be filled in on the basis of estimated SLA values if reasonable estimates of long-term trends and seasonal cycles are also available. A strong, seasonally dependent relationship between SLA at the Adriatic coast and atmospheric forcing, represented by sea level pressure (SLP) fields, was also found. Comparing the time series of leading PC and gridded SLP data for the period 1948-2001, the highest correlation coefficients (r) of -0.92 in winter, -0.84 in spring, -0.66 in summer, and -0.91 in autumn were estimated for a SLP grid point located in northern Italy. The SLP variability on this grid point contains information about the isostatic response of the sea level at the Adriatic coast, but can also be treated as a sort of teleconnection index representing the large-scale SLP variability across central and southern Europe. To some extent the large-scale SLP variability that affects the SLA at the Adriatic coast can be related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), because significant correlations were found between the NAO index and the first PC of SLA (r{sub winter}=-0.56, r{sub spring}=-0.45, r{sub summer}=-0.48, and r{sub autumn}=-0.43) for the period 1872-2001. The use of partial least

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of SLA titanium surfaces with further alkali or hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, E W; Wang, Y B; Zheng, Y F; Shuai, K G; Gao, F; Bai, Y J; Cheng, Y; Xiong, X L; Wei, S C

2011-01-01

The present study aimed to evaluate the bioactivity of titanium surfaces sandblasted with large-grit corundum and acid etched (SLA) plus further alkali or hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment for dental implant application. Pure titanium disks were mechanically polished as control surface (Ti-control) and then sandblasted with large-grit corundum and acid etched (SLA). Further chemical modifications were conducted using alkali and heat treatment (ASLA) and hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment (HSLA) alternatively. The surface properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle and roughness measurements. Further evaluation of surface bioactivity was conducted by MC3T3-E1 cell attachment, proliferation, morphology, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition on the sample surfaces. After insertion in the beagle's mandibula for a specific period, cylindrical implant samples underwent micro-CT examination and then histological examination. It was found that ASLA and HSLA surfaces significantly increased the surface wettability and MC3T3-E1 cell attachment percentage, ALP activity and the quality of calcium deposition in comparison with simple SLA and Ti-control surfaces. Animal studies showed good osseointegration of ASLA and HSLA surfaces with host bone. In conclusion, ASLA and HSLA surfaces enhanced the bioactivity of the traditional SLA surface by integrating the advantages of surface topography, composition and wettability.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of SLA titanium surfaces with further alkali or hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, E W; Wang, Y B; Zheng, Y F [State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex System, Department of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Shuai, K G; Gao, F; Bai, Y J; Cheng, Y; Xiong, X L [Center for Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Wei, S C, E-mail: enwei@pku.edu.cn, E-mail: yanbo.pku@pku.edu.cn, E-mail: shuaikegang@gmail.com, E-mail: soarfgoal@gmail.com, E-mail: norice86@163.com, E-mail: chengyan@pku.edu.cn, E-mail: xxiaoling11@hotmail.com, E-mail: yfzheng@pku.edu.cn, E-mail: weishicheng99@163.com [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology, Peking University, Beijing 100081 (China)

2011-04-15

The present study aimed to evaluate the bioactivity of titanium surfaces sandblasted with large-grit corundum and acid etched (SLA) plus further alkali or hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment for dental implant application. Pure titanium disks were mechanically polished as control surface (Ti-control) and then sandblasted with large-grit corundum and acid etched (SLA). Further chemical modifications were conducted using alkali and heat treatment (ASLA) and hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment (HSLA) alternatively. The surface properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle and roughness measurements. Further evaluation of surface bioactivity was conducted by MC3T3-E1 cell attachment, proliferation, morphology, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition on the sample surfaces. After insertion in the beagle's mandibula for a specific period, cylindrical implant samples underwent micro-CT examination and then histological examination. It was found that ASLA and HSLA surfaces significantly increased the surface wettability and MC3T3-E1 cell attachment percentage, ALP activity and the quality of calcium deposition in comparison with simple SLA and Ti-control surfaces. Animal studies showed good osseointegration of ASLA and HSLA surfaces with host bone. In conclusion, ASLA and HSLA surfaces enhanced the bioactivity of the traditional SLA surface by integrating the advantages of surface topography, composition and wettability.

Development of a rapid in vitro protein refolding assay which discriminates between peptide-bound and peptide-free forms of recombinant porcine major histocompatibility class I complex (SLA-I)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oleksiewicz, M.B.; Kristensen, B.; Ladekjaer-Mikkelsen, A.S.

2002-01-01

The extracellular domains of swine leukocyte antigen class I (SLA-I, major histocompatibility complex protein class 1) were cloned and sequenced for two haplotypes (114 and H7) which do not share any alleles based on serological typing, and which are the most important in Danish farmed pigs....... The extracellular domain of SLA-I was connected to porcine beta2 microglobulin by glycine-rich linkers. The engineered sin.-le-chain proteins, consisting of fused SLA-I and beta2 microglobulin, were overexpressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. Also, variants were made of the single-chain proteins......, by linking them through glycine-rich linkers to peptides representing T-cell epitopes from classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). An in vitro refold assay was developed, using a monoclonal anti-SLA antibody (PT85A) to gauge refolding. The single best-defined, SLA...

10-year survival rate and the incidence of peri-implant disease of 374 titanium dental implants with a SLA surface: a prospective cohort study in 177 fully and partially edentulous patients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Velzen, F.J.J.; Ofec, R.; Schulten, E.A.J.M.; ten Bruggenkate, C.M.

2015-01-01

Purpose This prospective cohort study evaluates the 10-year survival and incidence of peri-implant disease at implant and patient level of sandblasted, large grid, and acid-etched titanium dental implants (Straumann, soft tissue level, SLA surface) in fully and partially edentulous patients.

New CALL-SLA Research Interfaces for the 21st Century: Towards Equitable Multilingualism

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, Lourdes

2017-01-01

The majority of the world is multilingual, but inequitably multilingual, and much of the world is also technologized, but inequitably so. Thus, researchers in the fields of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and second language acquisition (SLA) would profit from considering multilingualism and social justice when envisioning new CALL-SLA…

Enhancing Information Security in Cloud Computing Services using SLA based metrics

OpenAIRE

, Nia; Mganga, Ramadianti Putri;; Charles, Medard

2011-01-01

Context: Cloud computing is a prospering technology that most organizations are considering for adoption as a cost effective strategy for managing IT. However, organizations also still consider the technology to be associated with many business risks that are not yet resolved. Such issues include security, privacy as well as legal and regulatory risks. As an initiative to address such risks, organizations can develop and implement SLA to establish common expectations and goals between the clo...

GreenIT Service Level Agreements

Science.gov (United States)

von Laszewski, Gregor; Wang, Lizhe

In this paper we are introducing a framework towards the inclusion of Green IT metrics as part of service level agreements for future Grids and Clouds. As part of this effort we need to revisit Green IT metrics and proxies that we consider optimizing against in order to develop GreenIT as a Services (GaaS) that can be reused as part of a Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure Infrastructureas a service (IaaS) framework. We report on some of our ongoing efforts and demonstrate how we already achieve impact on the environment with our services.

The status of the safeguards implementation under the State-Level Approach at the HANARO

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, H. S.; Lee, B. D.; Kim, I. C.; Kim, H. J.; Jung, J. A.; Lee, S. H. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The IAEA developed the SLA(State-Level Approach) for the States in order to maximize effectiveness of safeguards in an environment of constrained resources. The SLA has been implemented at KAERI-Daejeon site in the ROK since 2015. The ten nuclear facilities and one LOF(Location Outsides Facility) of the KAERI-Daejeon site are grouped into three categories under the SLA. The HANARO(High flux Advanced Neutron Application ReactOr) and PIEF(Post Irradiation Examination Facility) are involved in the category I “self-contained capability” facilities that have at least one significant quantity of suitable nuclear material and which could support undeclared plutonium production/separation activities without other supporting infrastructures. This paper described the status of the safeguards implementation at the HANARO involved in the category I under the SLA. The status of a model inventory management system for a research reactor developed in 2013 was also investigated. In this paper, the features and status of the safeguards implementation of the HANARO under the SLA were analyzed. Under the SLA, the monthly, quarterly and annual advanced facility operational information for the HANARO has been submitted to the IAEA in a timely manner. The IAEA inspection at HANARO has been successfully performed under the SLA. It is expected that the safeguards implementation work at HANARO under the SLA has the similar level with that under IS. Under the SLA, the data occurred from the surveillance cameras and other equipment installed at HANARO enables to transmit remotely to the IAEA. The IAEA is targeting 2017~2018 to upgrade them. In addition, the development status of a model inventory management system for a research reactor was investigated. It aims at controlling the material inventory for the nuclear material accounting work and the convenient facility operation. The major functions of it are to trace the transfer history of the nuclear materials and non-nuclear materials

The status of the safeguards implementation under the State-Level Approach at the HANARO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, H. S.; Lee, B. D.; Kim, I. C.; Kim, H. J.; Jung, J. A.; Lee, S. H.

2016-01-01

The IAEA developed the SLA(State-Level Approach) for the States in order to maximize effectiveness of safeguards in an environment of constrained resources. The SLA has been implemented at KAERI-Daejeon site in the ROK since 2015. The ten nuclear facilities and one LOF(Location Outsides Facility) of the KAERI-Daejeon site are grouped into three categories under the SLA. The HANARO(High flux Advanced Neutron Application ReactOr) and PIEF(Post Irradiation Examination Facility) are involved in the category I “self-contained capability” facilities that have at least one significant quantity of suitable nuclear material and which could support undeclared plutonium production/separation activities without other supporting infrastructures. This paper described the status of the safeguards implementation at the HANARO involved in the category I under the SLA. The status of a model inventory management system for a research reactor developed in 2013 was also investigated. In this paper, the features and status of the safeguards implementation of the HANARO under the SLA were analyzed. Under the SLA, the monthly, quarterly and annual advanced facility operational information for the HANARO has been submitted to the IAEA in a timely manner. The IAEA inspection at HANARO has been successfully performed under the SLA. It is expected that the safeguards implementation work at HANARO under the SLA has the similar level with that under IS. Under the SLA, the data occurred from the surveillance cameras and other equipment installed at HANARO enables to transmit remotely to the IAEA. The IAEA is targeting 2017~2018 to upgrade them. In addition, the development status of a model inventory management system for a research reactor was investigated. It aims at controlling the material inventory for the nuclear material accounting work and the convenient facility operation. The major functions of it are to trace the transfer history of the nuclear materials and non-nuclear materials

SecSLA: A Proactive and Secure Service Level Agreement Framework for Cloud Services

OpenAIRE

Fahad F. Alruwaili; T. Aaron Gulliver

2014-01-01

Cloud customers migrate to cloud services to reduce the operational costs of information technology (IT) and increase organization efficiency. However, ensuring cloud security is very challenging. As a consequence, cloud service providers find it difficult to persuade customers to acquire their services due to security concerns. In terms of outsourcing applications, software, and/or infrastructure services to the cloud, customers are concerned about the availability, integrity, privacy...

Mg ion implantation on SLA-treated titanium surface and its effects on the behavior of mesenchymal stem cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Beom-Su; Kim, Jin Seong; Park, Young Min; Choi, Bo-Young; Lee, Jun

2013-01-01

Magnesium (Mg) is one of the most important ions associated with bone osseointegration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cellular effects of Mg implantation in titanium (Ti) surfaces treated with sand blast using large grit and acid etching (SLA). Mg ions were implanted into the surface via vacuum arc source ion implantation. The surface morphology, chemical properties, and the amount of Mg ion release were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were used to evaluate cellular parameters such as proliferation, cytotoxicity, and adhesion morphology by MTS assay, live/dead assay, and SEM. Furthermore, osteoblast differentiation was determined on the basis of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and the degree of calcium accumulation. In the Mg ion-implanted disk, 2.3 × 10 16 ions/cm 2 was retained. However, after Mg ion implantation, the surface morphology did not change. Implanted Mg ions were rapidly released during the first 7 days in vitro. The MTS assay, live/dead assay, and SEM demonstrated increased cell attachment and growth on the Mg ion-implanted surface. In particular, Mg ion implantation increased the initial cell adhesion, and in an osteoblast differentiation assay, ALP activity and calcium accumulation. These findings suggest that Mg ion implantation using the plasma source ion implantation (PSII) technique may be useful for SLA-treated Ti dental implants to improve their osseointegration capacity. - Highlights: ► Mg ion was coated onto surface of SLA treated titanium via vacuum arc source ion implantation method. ► The morphological characteristics did not change after Mg ion implantation. ► Mg ion implanted SLA Ti is highly cytocompatible. ► Initial cell adhesion of MSCs is improved by Mg ion implantation. ► Mg ion implantation improved

The Determination of Jurisdiction in Grid and Cloud Service Level Agreements

Science.gov (United States)

Parrilli, Davide Maria

Service Level Agreements in Grid and Cloud scenarios can be a source of disputes particularly in case of breach of the obligations arising under them. It is then important to determine where parties can litigate in relation with such agreements. The paper deals with this question in the peculiar context of the European Union, and so taking into consideration Regulation 44/2001. According to the rules on jurisdiction provided by the Regulation, two general distinctions are drawn in order to determine which (European) courts are competent to adjudicate disputes arising out of a Service Level Agreement. The former is between B2B and B2C transactions, and the latter regards contracts which provide a jurisdiction clause and contracts which do not.

Pembuatan Service Level Requirement, Service Level Agreement dan Operational Level Agreement pada layanan help desk SAP berdasarkan kerangka kerja ITIL versi 2011 (Studi Kasus : Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur Shabrina Prameswari

2017-01-01

Full Text Available PT. Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company baru saja melakukan implementasi SAP pada tahun 2014. Dalam penerapannya, perusahaan merasa perlu membuat help desk SAP sebagai pusat penanganan masalah bagi perusahaan dan 7 anak perusahaannya yang kemudian dapat berfungsi juga sebagai knowledge base yang berguna apabila ada masalah yang berulang diwaktu selanjutnya. Untuk merancang layanan help desk yang baik, perlu didefinisikannya target layanan dalam sebuah kontrak perjanjian antara pengguna layanan dan penyedia layanan. Selain itu,Perjanjian layanan tersebut diperlukan juga sebagai jaminan kualitas help desk yang dapat disepakati oleh penyedia layanan dan pengguna layanan yang merupakan pengguna SAP pada PT. Pupuk Indonesia dan anak perusahaannya. Hal tersebut bertujuan untuk menyelaraskan bisnis dengan kualitas layanan serta menentukan kebutuhan dan harapan pelanggan dalam sebuah perjanjian antara penyedia layanan dan pengguna layanan. Dari permasalahan tersebut, maka diperlukan pembuatan dokumen Service Level Requirement, Service Level Agreement dan juga Operational Level Agreement pada help desk SAP, dengan dilakukan observasi dokumen dan wawancara pada pihak pengguna layanan dan penyedia layanan, maka setelah itu dibuatlah dokumen Service Level management tersebut berdasarkan ITIL Versi 2011.

Sea level anomaly in the North Atlantic and seas around Europe: Long-term variability and response to North Atlantic teleconnection patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Iglesias, Isabel; Lorenzo, M Nieves; Lázaro, Clara; Fernandes, M Joana; Bastos, Luísa

2017-12-31

Sea level anomaly (SLA), provided globally by satellite altimetry, is considered a valuable proxy for detecting long-term changes of the global ocean, as well as short-term and annual variations. In this manuscript, monthly sea level anomaly grids for the period 1993-2013 are used to characterise the North Atlantic Ocean variability at inter-annual timescales and its response to the North Atlantic main patterns of atmospheric circulation variability (North Atlantic Oscillation, Eastern Atlantic, Eastern Atlantic/Western Russia, Scandinavian and Polar/Eurasia) and main driven factors as sea level pressure, sea surface temperature and wind fields. SLA variability and long-term trends are analysed for the North Atlantic Ocean and several sub-regions (North, Baltic and Mediterranean and Black seas, Bay of Biscay extended to the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the northern North Atlantic Ocean), depicting the SLA fluctuations at basin and sub-basin scales, aiming at representing the regions of maximum sea level variability. A significant correlation between SLA and the different phases of the teleconnection patterns due to the generated winds, sea level pressure and sea surface temperature anomalies, with a strong variability on temporal and spatial scales, has been identified. Long-term analysis reveals the existence of non-stationary inter-annual SLA fluctuations in terms of the temporal scale. Spectral density analysis has shown the existence of long-period signals in the SLA inter-annual component, with periods of ~10, 5, 4 and 2years, depending on the analysed sub-region. Also, a non-uniform increase in sea level since 1993 is identified for all sub-regions, with trend values between 2.05mm/year, for the Bay of Biscay region, and 3.98mm/year for the Baltic Sea (no GIA correction considered). The obtained results demonstrated a strong link between the atmospheric patterns and SLA, as well as strong long-period fluctuations of this variable in spatial and

The Potential of Open Source Information in Supporting Acquisition Pathway Analysis to Design IAEA State Level Approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renda, G.; Kim, L.; Jungwirth, R.; Pabian, F.; Wolfart, E.; Cojazzi, G.G.M.; )

2015-01-01

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards designed to deter nuclear proliferation are constantly evolving to respond to new challenges. Within its State Level Concept, the IAEA envisions an objective-based and information-driven approach for designing and implementing State Level Approaches (SLAs), using all available measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of safeguards. The main Objectives of a SLA are a) to detect undeclared nuclear material or activities in the State, b) to detect undeclared production or processing of nuclear materials in declared facilities or locations outside facilities (LOFs), c) to detect diversion of declared nuclear material in declared facilities or LOFs. Under the SLA, States will be differentiated based upon objective State-Specific Factors that influence the design, planning, conduct and evaluation of safeguards activities. Proposed categories of factors include both technical and legal aspects, spanning from the deployed fuel cycle and the related state's technical capability to the type of safeguards agreements in force and the IAEA experience in implementing safeguards in that state. To design a SLA, the IAEA foresees the use of Acquisition Path Analysis (APA) to identify the plausible routes for acquiring weapons-usable material and to assess their safeguards significance. In order to achieve this goal, APA will have to identify possible acquisition paths, characterize them and eventually prioritize them. This paper will provide an overview of how the use of open source information (here loosely defined as any type of non-classified or proprietary information and including, but not limited to, media sources, government and non-governmental reports and analyzes, commercial data, satellite imagery, scientific/ technical literature, trade data) can support this activity in the various aspects of a typical APA approach. (author)

A Measure of Proficiency or Short-Term Memory? Validation of an Elicited Imitation Test for SLA Research

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youjin; Tracy-Ventura, Nicole; Jung, Yeonjoo

2016-01-01

Elicited imitation requires listeners to listen and repeat sentences as accurately as possible. In second language acquisition (SLA) research it has been used for a variety of purposes. Recently, versions of the same elicited imitation test (EIT) have been created in 6 languages with the purpose of measuring second language proficiency (Ortega…

On the Danger of Exogenous Theory in CA-for-SLA: A Response to Hellermann and Cole (2009)

Science.gov (United States)

Hauser, Eric

2011-01-01

Within the growing body of work that is sometimes labeled CA-for-SLA, there is a need for more research with longitudinal data. Hellermann and Cole (2009) provide a valuable contribution in this area. However, in doing so, they also make use of an exogenous theory of learning, situated learning theory (Lave and Wenger 1991), and its associated…

Swine Leukocyte Antigen (SLA) class I allele typing of Danish swine herds and identification of commonly occurring haplotypes using sequence specific low and high resolution primers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Lasse Eggers; Jungersen, Gregers; Sørensen, Maria Rathmann

2014-01-01

of such peptide-MHC complexes (pMHC) naïve T cells can become activated and respond to a given pathogen leading to its elimination and the generation of memory cells. Hence SLA plays a crucial role in maintaining overall adaptive immunologic resistance to pathogens. Knowing which SLA alleles that are commonly...... occurring can be of great importance in regard to future vaccine development and the establishment of immune protection in swine through broad coverage, highly specific, subunit based vaccination against viruses such as swine influenza, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, vesicular...

Prospects for regional safeguards systems - State-level Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peixoto, O.J.M.

2013-01-01

The increased co-operation with Regional Safeguard's System (RSAC) is a relevant tool for strengthening effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the international safeguard. The new safeguards system that emerges from the application of the Additional Protocol (INFCIRC/540) and the full use of State-level Concept is a challenge and an opportunity for effectively incorporate RSAC into the international safeguards scheme. The challenge is to determine how the co-operation and coordination will be implemented on this new safeguards scheme. This paper presents some discussions and prospects on the issues to be faced by RSAC and IAEA during the implementation of State-level Approach (SLA) using all information available. It is also discussed how different levels of co-operation could be achieved when SLA is applied by IAEA safeguards. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation. (authors)

Security in Service Level Agreements for Cloud Computing

OpenAIRE

Bernsmed, Karin; JAATUN, Martin Gilje; Undheim, Astrid

2011-01-01

The Cloud computing paradigm promises reliable services, accessible from anywhere in the world, in an on-demand manner. Insufficient security has been identified as a major obstacle to adopting Cloud services. To deal with the risks associated with outsourcing data and applications to the Cloud, new methods for security assurance are urgently needed. This paper presents a framework for security in Service Level Agreements for Cloud computing. The purpose is twofold; to help potential Cloud cu...

On the Relationship Between Input and Interaction Psycholinguistic, Cognitive, and Ecological Perspectives in SLA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Parisa Daftarifard

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Input is one of the most important elements in the process of second language acquisition (SLA. As Gass (1997 points out, second language learning simply cannot take place without input of some sort. Since then, specific issues have been actively debated in SLA on the nature of input and input processing, such as the amount of input that is necessary for language acquisition, various attributes of input and how they may facilitate or hinder acquisition, and instructional method that may enhance input. In this paper, four hypotheses and paradigms of input processing have been described. It is delineated that although the three paradigms of triggering, input hypothesis, and interaction hypothesis have been widely used and accepted, they lack the ability to account for the dynamic nature of language. Affordance, on the other hand, can account for such a nature of language.
Therefore, affordance replaces fixed-eye vision by mobile-eye vision; an active learner establishes relationships with and within the environment. The learner can directly perceive and act on the ambient language without having to route everything through a pre-existing mental apparatus of schemata and representation, while this is not true in the fixed-code theory. In the fixed-eye theory of communication it is assumed that ready-made messages are coded at one end, transmitted,
and then decoded in identical form at the other end. We need in its place a constructivist theory of message construction and interpretation.

Sea level anomaly on the Patagonian continental shelf: Trends, annual patterns and geostrophic flows

Science.gov (United States)

Saraceno, M.; Piola, A. R.; Strub, P. T.

2016-01-01

Abstract We study the annual patterns and linear trend of satellite sea level anomaly (SLA) over the southwest South Atlantic continental shelf (SWACS) between 54ºS and 36ºS. Results show that south of 42°S the thermal steric effect explains nearly 100% of the annual amplitude of the SLA, while north of 42°S it explains less than 60%. This difference is due to the halosteric contribution. The annual wind variability plays a minor role over the whole continental shelf. The temporal linear trend in SLA ranges between 1 and 5 mm/yr (95% confidence level). The largest linear trends are found north of 39°S, at 42°S and at 50°S. We propose that in the northern region the large positive linear trends are associated with local changes in the density field caused by advective effects in response to a southward displacement of the South Atlantic High. The causes of the relative large SLA trends in two southern coastal regions are discussed as a function meridional wind stress and river discharge. Finally, we combined the annual cycle of SLA with the mean dynamic topography to estimate the absolute geostrophic velocities. This approach provides the first comprehensive description of the seasonal component of SWACS circulation based on satellite observations. The general circulation of the SWACS is northeastward with stronger/weaker geostrophic currents in austral summer/winter. At all latitudes, geostrophic velocities are larger (up to 20 cm/s) close to the shelf‐break and decrease toward the coast. This spatio‐temporal pattern is more intense north of 45°S. PMID:27840784

Efficacy of standard (SLA) and modified sandblasted and acid-etched (SLActive) dental implants in promoting immediate and/or early occlusal loading protocols: a systematic review of prospective studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambrone, Leandro; Shibli, Jamil Awad; Mercúrio, Carlos Eduardo; Cardoso, Bruna; Preshaw, Philip M

2015-04-01

To assess the survival percentage, clinical and radiographic outcomes of sandblasted and acid-etched (SLA) dental implants and its modified surface (SLActive) in protocols involving immediate and early occlusal loading. MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register CENTRAL were searched in duplicate up to, and including, June 2013 to include randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective observational studies of at least 6-month duration published in all languages. Studies limited to patients treated with SLA and/or SLActive implants involving a treatment protocol describing immediate and early loading of these implants were eligible for inclusion. Data on clinical and/or radiographic outcomes following implant placement were considered for inclusion. Of the 447 potentially eligible publications identified by the search strategy, seven RCTs comprising a total of 853 implants (8% titanium plasma-sprayed, 41.5% SLA and 50.5% SLActive) and 12 prospective observational studies including 1394 SLA and 145 SLActive implants were included in this review. According to the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias, one of the studies was considered to be at a low risk of bias, whereas the remaining studies were considered to be at an unclear risk. Regarding the observational studies, all of them presented a medium methodological quality based on the Modified Newcastle-Ottawa scale. There were no significant differences reported in the studies in relation to implant loss or clinical parameters between the immediate/early loading and delayed loading protocols. Overall, 95% of SLA and 97% of SLActive implants still survive at the end of follow-up. Despite of the positive findings achieved by the included studies, few RCTs were available for analysis for SLActive implants. Study heterogeneity, scarcity of data and the lack of pooled estimates represent a limitation between studies' comparisons and should be considered when interpreting

(Re) Constructing Gender in a New Voice: the Role of Gender Identity in Sla, the Case of Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Karen Kow Yip

2004-01-01

This study is a qualitative study of Malaysian children aged between four and six years engaged in a story-telling task. The question posed in this piece of research then: Is the role played by gender in SLA? If it does play a role, what then is the nature of this role? The path taken by this study is to analyze discourse in story-telling.

Návrh slaďování pracovního a soukromého života ve vybrané organizaci

OpenAIRE

Majerčíková, Andrea

2014-01-01

Cílem diplomové práce je analyzovat strategii vybrané soukromé organizace v oblasti slaďování pracovního a osobního života a navrhnout opatření ke zlepšení stávajícího stavu. Práce specifikuje pojmy jako konflikt rolí v rámci pracovního a osobního života, gender a politika rovných příležitostí, koncept „flexicurity“ a dále nastiňuje různorodá opatření napomáhající slaďování pracovního a soukromého života. V rámci analýzy bylo využito dotazníkového šetření a rozhovoru s manažerkou vybrané orga...

(RE CONSTRUCTING GENDER IN A NEW VOICE: THE ROLE OF GENDER IDENTITY IN SLA, THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Kow Yip Cheng

2004-01-01

Full Text Available This study is a qualitative study of Malaysian children aged between four and six years engaged in a story-telling task. The question posed in this piece of research then: Is the role played by gender in SLA? If it does play a role, what then is the nature of this role? The path taken by this study is to analyze discourse in story-telling.

Managing Reputation in Contract-Based Distributed Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Baldoni, Roberto; Doria, Luca; Lodi, Giorgia; Querzoni, Leonardo

In industry practice, bilateral agreements are established between providers and consumers of services in order to regulate their business relationships. In particular, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements are specified in those agreements in the form of legally binding contracts named Service Level Agreements (SLA). Meeting SLAs allows providers to be seen in the eyes of their clients, credible, reliable, and trustworthy. This contributes to augment their reputation that can be considered an important and competitive advantage for creating potentially new business opportunities.

Antibodies to P450IID6, SLA, PDH-E2 and BCKD-E2 in Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishioka, M; Morshed, S A; Parveen, S; Kono, K; Matsuoka, H; Manns, M P

1997-12-01

Auto-antibodies specific to various antigens in chronic hepatitis (CH) have been detected but their specificities and implications were uncertain. The aims of the present study were to investigate the frequency and the significance of seropositivity of antibodies to P450IID6 or liver/kidney microsome 1 (LKM1), soluble liver antigen (SLA), pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and branched-chain keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKD) in 188 Japanese patients with different forms of CH by western blot or enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Anti-LKM1 was also measured by indirect immunofluorescent test. Anti-P450IID6 was found in 6/188 (3.2%) CH patients including 5/104 (4.8%) with hepatitis C virus (C) infection and 1/12 (8.3%) CH-C patients with antibodies to nuclear and smooth muscle antigens and hypergammaglobulinaemia (> 2.5 g/dL). This patient was the only one diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). All CH patients with hepatitis B (B), hepatitis non-B non-C (NBNC) and AIH were seronegative for anti-LKM1. Antibodies to soluble liver antigen were found in two of 188 (1%) patients, one with AIH and one with CH-B. Anti-BCKD-E2 but not anti-PDH-E2 was found in four patients (2.5%), one with AIH, two with CH-C, and one with NBNC. There was no obvious difference in age, sex ratio and laboratory findings in patients with or without anti-SLA and anti-BCKD-E2. Antibodies to P450IID6, SLA, PDH-E2 and BCKD-E2 are uncommon in adult CH-C, CH-B, CH-NBNC and AIH patients in Japan. Some of these patients positive for auto-antibodies appear to have autoimmune features and might require a careful follow up. The heterogeneity of these antibodies in CH preclude further justification for subtyping of AIH by the presence of the distinct auto-antibodies.

Voluntary agreements, implementation and efficiency. European relevance of case study results. Reflections on transferability to voluntary agreement schemes at the European level

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helby, Peter

2000-04-01

As a policy instrument, voluntary agreements often fascinate policy-makers.This is fuelled by a number of assumed advantages, such as the opportunity for co-operation rather than confrontation, speed and flexibility and the cost-effectiveness. Some advantages might even be accentuated at the European level: Co-operation has added advantage at the European level where the culture of consensus decision is strong. Flexibility is extra attractive for policy makers dealing with an economy less homogeneous than the average national economy. Speed is certainly welcomed by policy-makers otherwise faced with the slow-winding European legislative process. Cost-effectiveness is eagerly sought by European policy makers facing tight administrative budgets and staff limits. This report examines lessons from the VAIE case studies that may be useful to policy makers engaged in the development of voluntary approaches at the European level. These case studies are about voluntary agreement schemes for industrial energy efficiency deployed in Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden. For a summary of these case studies, please refer to the the VAIE final report. More detailed information is available in the VAIE national reports. It needs to be emphasised that the empirical base is very narrow. The 'lessons' presented can only be hypotheses, based on an inductive leap from a very narrow experience. The reader will need to check these hypotheses against her own broader experience and personal judgement. According to the principle of subsidiarity, voluntary agreements should be implemented at the European level only if that would have significant advantage over national action. Action at the European level, rather than the national level, would have these potential advantages: Being more consistent with the development of the single market; Allowing higher demands on energy efficiency without negative effect on competitiveness and employment; Stimulating company

Economic analysis of the Canada-United States softwood lumber dispute : playing the quota game

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooten, van G.C.

2002-01-01

The Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) was the latest measure to restrict Canadian exports of softwood lumber to the United States. Rather than a countervail duty or export tax, SLA employed a quota that provides a large windfall (quota) rent to Canadian lumber producers in addition to

Analysis of swine leukocyte antigen class I gene profiles and porcine endogenous retrovirus viremia level in a transgenic porcine herd inbred for xenotransplantation research

Science.gov (United States)

Sypniewski, Daniel; Gałka, Sabina; Sołtysik, Dagna; Loch, Tomasz; Nowak, Ewa; Smorąg, Zdzisław; Bednarek, Ilona

2018-01-01

Molecular characterization of swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) genes is important for elucidating the immune responses between swine-donor and human-recipient in xenotransplantation. Examination of associations between alleles of SLA class I genes, type of pig genetic modification, porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) viral titer, and PERV subtypes may shed light on the nature of xenograft acceptance or rejection and the safety of xenotransplantation. No significant difference in PERV gag RNA level between transgenic and non-transgenic pigs was noted; likewise, the type of applied transgene had no impact on PERV viremia. SLA-1 gene profile type may correspond with PERV level in blood and thereby influence infectiveness. Screening of pigs should provide selection of animals with low PERV expression and exclusion of specimens with PERV-C in the genome due to possible recombination between A and C subtypes, which may lead to autoinfection. Presence of PERV-C integrated in the genome was detected in 31.25% of specimens, but statistically significant increased viremia in specimens with PERV-C was not observed. There is a need for multidirectional molecular characterization (SLA typing, viremia estimation, and PERV subtype screening) of animals intended for xenotransplantation research in the interest of xeno-recipient safety. PMID:29366300

Evaluation of Service Level Agreement Approaches for Portfolio Management in the Financial Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Pontz, Tobias; Grauer, Manfred; Kuebert, Roland; Tenschert, Axel; Koller, Bastian

The idea of service-oriented Grid computing seems to have the potential for fundamental paradigm change and a new architectural alignment concerning the design of IT infrastructures. There is a wide range of technical approaches from scientific communities which describe basic infrastructures and middlewares for integrating Grid resources in order that by now Grid applications are technically realizable. Hence, Grid computing needs viable business models and enhanced infrastructures to move from academic application right up to commercial application. For a commercial usage of these evolutions service level agreements are needed. The developed approaches are primary of academic interest and mostly have not been put into practice. Based on a business use case of the financial industry, five service level agreement approaches have been evaluated in this paper. Based on the evaluation, a management architecture has been designed and implemented as a prototype.

Mitosis Counting in Breast Cancer: Object-Level Interobserver Agreement and Comparison to an Automatic Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Veta, Mitko; van Diest, Paul J; Jiwa, Mehdi; Al-Janabi, Shaimaa; Pluim, Josien P W

2016-01-01

Tumor proliferation speed, most commonly assessed by counting of mitotic figures in histological slide preparations, is an important biomarker for breast cancer. Although mitosis counting is routinely performed by pathologists, it is a tedious and subjective task with poor reproducibility, particularly among non-experts. Inter- and intraobserver reproducibility of mitosis counting can be improved when a strict protocol is defined and followed. Previous studies have examined only the agreement in terms of the mitotic count or the mitotic activity score. Studies of the observer agreement at the level of individual objects, which can provide more insight into the procedure, have not been performed thus far. The development of automatic mitosis detection methods has received large interest in recent years. Automatic image analysis is viewed as a solution for the problem of subjectivity of mitosis counting by pathologists. In this paper we describe the results from an interobserver agreement study between three human observers and an automatic method, and make two unique contributions. For the first time, we present an analysis of the object-level interobserver agreement on mitosis counting. Furthermore, we train an automatic mitosis detection method that is robust with respect to staining appearance variability and compare it with the performance of expert observers on an "external" dataset, i.e. on histopathology images that originate from pathology labs other than the pathology lab that provided the training data for the automatic method. The object-level interobserver study revealed that pathologists often do not agree on individual objects, even if this is not reflected in the mitotic count. The disagreement is larger for objects from smaller size, which suggests that adding a size constraint in the mitosis counting protocol can improve reproducibility. The automatic mitosis detection method can perform mitosis counting in an unbiased way, with substantial

Towards understanding the impact of assimilating along-track SLA data on simulated eddy characteristics in the Agulhas System

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Vos, M

2016-10-01

Full Text Available understanding the impact of assimilating along-track SLA data on simulated eddy characteristics in the Agulhas System Marc de Vos1, 3, Björn Backeberg2, 3, 4 and François Counillon4 Marine Research Unit, South African Weather Service, South Africa1 Coastal... and 1 Tel: +27 21 935 5764; Email: marc.devos@weathersa.co.za dipoles reach the Agulhas Current frequently and on occasion propagate all the way to the retroflection, influencing its position and modulating ring shedding events there (Schouten et al...

Describing and verifying monitoring capabilities for SLA-driven service-based systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Comuzzi, M.; Spanoudakis, G.; Yu, E.; Eder, J.

2009-01-01

Monitoring the operation of Service Based Systems (SBS) to ensure compliance with a set of service level agreements (SLAs) for example cannot always rely on a pre-specified monitoring infrastructure, where all the information and components required for monitoring are a priori known and available.

10-year survival rate and the incidence of peri-implant disease of 374 titanium dental implants with a SLA surface: a prospective cohort study in 177 fully and partially edentulous patients.

Science.gov (United States)

van Velzen, Frank J J; Ofec, Ronen; Schulten, Engelbert A J M; Ten Bruggenkate, Christiaan M

2015-10-01

This prospective cohort study evaluates the 10-year survival and incidence of peri-implant disease at implant and patient level of sandblasted, large grid, and acid-etched titanium dental implants (Straumann, soft tissue level, SLA surface) in fully and partially edentulous patients. Patients who had dental implant surgery in the period between November 1997 and June 2001, with a follow-up of at least 10 years, were investigated for clinical and radiological examination. Among the 506 inserted dental implants in 250 patients, 10-year data regarding the outcome of implants were available for 374 dental implants in 177 patients. In the current study, peri-implantitis was defined as advanced bone loss (≧1.5 mm. postloading) in combination with bleeding on probing. At 10-year follow-up, only one implant was lost (0.3%) 2 months after implant surgery due to insufficient osseointegration. The average bone loss at 10 year postloading was 0.52 mm. Advanced bone loss at 10-year follow-up was present in 35 dental implants (9.8%). Seven percent of the observed dental implants showed bleeding on probing in combination with advanced bone loss and 4.2% when setting the threshold for advanced bone loss at 2.0 mm. Advanced bone loss without bleeding on probing was present in 2.8% of all implants. In this prospective study, the 10-year survival rate at implant and patient level was 99.7% and 99.4%, respectively. Peri-implantitis was present in 7% of the observed dental implants according to the above-mentioned definition of peri-implantitis. This study shows that SLA implants offer predictable long-term results as support in the treatment of fully and partially edentulous patients. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integrating policy-based management and SLA performance monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tzong-Jye; Lin, Chin-Yi; Chang, Shu-Hsin; Yen, Meng-Tzu

2001-10-01

Policy-based management system provides the configuration capability for the system administrators to focus on the requirements of customers. The service level agreement performance monitoring mechanism helps system administrators to verify the correctness of policies. However, it is difficult for a device to process the policies directly because the policies are the management concept. This paper proposes a mechanism to decompose a policy into rules that can be efficiently processed by a device. Thus, the device may process the rule and collect the performance statistics information efficiently; and the policy-based management system may collect these performance statistics information and report the service-level agreement performance monitoring information to the system administrator. The proposed policy-based management system achieves both the policy configuration and service-level agreement performance monitoring requirements. A policy consists of a condition part and an action part. The condition part is a Boolean expression of a source host IP group, a destination host IP group, etc. The action part is the parameters of services. We say that an address group is compact if it only consists of a range of IP address that can be denoted by a pair of IP address and corresponding IP mask. If the condition part of a policy only consists of the compact address group, we say that the policy is a rule. Since a device can efficiently process a compact address and a system administrator prefers to define a range of IP address, the policy-based management system has to translate policy into rules and supplements the gaps between policy and rules. The proposed policy-based management system builds the relationships between VPN and policies, policy and rules. Since the system administrator wants to monitor the system performance information of VPNs and policies, the proposed policy-based management system downloads the relationships among VPNs, policies and rules to the

Internet Economics IV

Science.gov (United States)

2004-08-01

edts.): Internet Economics IV Technical Report No. 2004-04, August 2004 Information Systems Laboratory IIS, Departement of Computer Science University of...level agreements (SLA), Information technology (IT), Internet address, Internet service provider 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18... technology and its economic impacts in the Internet world today. The second talk addresses the area of AAA protocol, summarizing authentication

Exploring rater agreement: configurations of agreement and disagreement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ALEXANDER VON EYE

2006-03-01

Full Text Available At the level of manifest categorical variables, a large number of coefficients and models for the examination of rater agreement has been proposed and used for descriptive and explanatory purposes. This article focuses on exploring rater agreement. Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA is proposed as a method of exploration of cross-classifications of raters’ judgements. CFA allows researchers to (1 examine individual cells and sets of cells in agreement tables; (2 examine cells that indicate disagreement; and (3 explore agreement and disagreement among three or more raters. Four CFA base models are discussed. The first is the model of rater agreement that is also used for Cohen’s (1960  (kappa. This model proposes independence of raters’ judgements. Deviations from this model suggest agreement or disagreement beyond chance. The second CFA model is based on a log-linear null model. This model is also used for Brennan and Prediger’s (1981 n. It proposes a uniform distribution of ratings. The third model is that of Tanner and Young (1985. This model proposes equal weights for agreement cases and independence otherwise. The fourth model is the quasi-independence model. This model allows one to blank out agreement cells and thus to focus solely on patterns of disagreement. Examples use data from applicant selection.

Development of a rapid in vitro protein refolding assay which discriminates between peptide-bound and peptide-free forms of recombinant porcine major histocompatibility class I complex (SLA-I)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oleksiewicz, M.B.; Kristensen, B.; Ladekjaer-Mikkelsen, A.S.

2002-01-01

The extracellular domains of swine leukocyte antigen class I (SLA-I, major histocompatibility complex protein class 1) were cloned and sequenced for two haplotypes (114 and H7) which do not share any alleles based on serological typing, and which are the most important in Danish farmed pigs...

ADSLANF: A negotiation framework for cloud management systems using a bulk negotiation behavioral learning approach

OpenAIRE

RAJAVEL, RAJKUMAR; THANGARATHINAM, MALA

2017-01-01

One of the major challenges in cloud computing is the development of a service-level agreement (SLA) negotiation framework using an intelligent third-party broker negotiation strategy. Current frameworks exploit various negotiation strategies using game theoretic, heuristic, and argumentation-based approaches for obtaining optimal negotiation with a better success rate (negotiation commitment). However, these approaches fail to optimize the negotiation round (NR), total negotiatio...

Comparison of biological characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells grown on two different titanium implant surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Chengyue; Zhao Baohong; Ai Hongjun; Wang Yiwei

2008-01-01

This study examined the biological characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) grown on sand-blasted, large-grit, acid-etched (SLA) surface and hydroxyapatite (HA) coating on the SLA (HA/SLA) surface of titanium dental implants. The HA/SLA surfaces of titanium dental implants were formed by the ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method. Rabbit bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells cultured in vitro were seeded onto the surface of SLA and HA/SLA; the growth states of MSCs on the two samples were observed by a scanning electron microscope; the proliferation index, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, osteocalcin (OCN) content of MSCs and mRNA relative expression level of osteopontin (opn) were compared between two groups. MSCs were found to be easier to adhere to the HA/SLA surface compared to the SLA surface. At the same time, the ALP activity and the OCN content of MSCs grown on the HA/SLA surface were obviously higher, and the relative expression level of opn mRNA was 4.78 times higher than that on the SLA surface. The HA coating formed by the IBAD method on the SLA surface of titanium dental implants significantly improves proliferation and well-differentiated osteoblastic phenotype of MSCs, which indicates a promising method for the surface modification of titanium dental implants

Historical mapping reveals causes and temporal patterns of woodland contraction in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla from the 12th century AD to present

Science.gov (United States)

Sigurmundsson, Friðþór S.; Gísladóttir, Guðrún; Erlendsson, Egill; Þorbjarnarson, Höskuldur

2016-04-01

Land-cover changes in Iceland over the last millennium encompass birch (Betula pubescens) woodland depletion and extensive soil erosion. Yet few studies have focused on spatial change of birch woodland coverage in Iceland over centuries and why and how the woodland depletion took place. The main objectives of this study are: (1) to map the woodland distribution today in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla (3041 km2) in southern Iceland; (2) to map woodland holdings over a period of 900 years from eleventh. AD 1100 to the early 20th century; (3) explain the relative impacts of socio-economic and natural forces on woodland cover over this period. We use a combined approach of historical reconstruction from diverse written archives, GIS techniques and field work. The woodland in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla now covers 73.2 km2 (2.5% of the study area). The woodland holdings, 44 in total, are regularly listed in the church inventories from 1179 to 1570 and are owned by the church. In the first complete register for the district in 1641 the woodland holdings were 73, owned and used by 58 estates, and distributed across Austur-Skaftafellssýsla. All the main patches of woodland remain today, with the exception of four minor woodlands which were exhausted near the end of the 19th century. The woodland was used for firewood and charcoal making as well as grazing during the study period but, crucially, in most cases only one estate had authority over each holding, none were commons. The main driving force behind the development of woodlands was socio-economic, rather than natural, where the form of ownership was fundamental for the fate of the woodland. Harsh climate and volcanism were not directly responsible for woodland depletion. The latter half of the 19th century was the period of greatest woodland loss. This period coincides with considerable expansion in livestock numbers, especially sheep and associated all year around grazing, at a time when the Little Ice Age culminated in

Fairness as a QoS Measure for Web Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Bistarelli

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs are component-based architectures, characterized by reusability, modularization and composition, usually offered by HTTP (web services and often equipped with a Quality of Services (QoS measure. In order to guarantee the fairness property to each client requesting a service, we propose a fair version of the (Soft Concurrent Constraint language to deal with the negotiation phases of the Service Level Agreement (SLA protocol.

Prioritizing Acquisition Pathways in the State Level Concept

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murphy, Chantell L. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Budlong-Sylvester, Kory [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Pilat, Joseph F. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2012-06-27

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Department of Safeguards has launched a project to further develop the State-level concept for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of safeguards activities. In order to further evolve the safeguards system an emphasis is placed on integrating inspection-related activities and the State evaluation process to draw safeguards conclusions in the most efficient way. The credible implementation of acquisition pathway analysis is central to the success of the IAEA's State-level concept. NNSA's Office of Nuclear Safeguards and Security (NA-241) The Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) is sponsoring Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to produce a study that will examine the use of acquisition pathway analysis in: (1) Developing a State-specific, State-level approach (SLA) and Annual Implementation Plan (AIP); (2) Maximizing the utility of the physical model; and (3) Supporting resource allocation decisions through a pathway prioritization. To deal with the challenge of developing an effective and efficient SLA, this study looks at: (1) Prioritizing proliferation pathways based on an assessment of a State's capabilities and assumed proliferation strategies; and (2) Relevant State behavior (e.g., transparency, cooperation, etc.) while avoiding subjective judgments about States themselves. The study makes use of case studies and concrete examples in order to illustrate how new concepts and approaches will be implemented, and how they may differ from more traditional safeguards approaches.

A Hybrid Multiobjective Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for a SLA-Aware Service Composition Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Yin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For SLA-aware service composition problem (SSC, an optimization model for this algorithm is built, and a hybrid multiobjective discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm (HMDPSO is also proposed in this paper. According to the characteristic of this problem, a particle updating strategy is designed by introducing crossover operator. In order to restrain particle swarm’s premature convergence and increase its global search capacity, the swarm diversity indicator is introduced and a particle mutation strategy is proposed to increase the swarm diversity. To accelerate the process of obtaining the feasible particle position, a local search strategy based on constraint domination is proposed and incorporated into the proposed algorithm. At last, some parameters in the algorithm HMDPSO are analyzed and set with relative proper values, and then the algorithm HMDPSO and the algorithm HMDPSO+ incorporated by local search strategy are compared with the recently proposed related algorithms on different scale cases. The results show that algorithm HMDPSO+ can solve the SSC problem more effectively.

Shareholders' agreements in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Werlauff, Erik

2010-01-01

’ agreements”) cannot bind the company within the sense of company law under the new state of law, and voting rights agreements, agreements on right of pre-emption etc. will therefore only apply at the level of contract law between the parties to the agreement. This article for European Business Law Review......The article warns that with effect from 1 March 2010, the new Danish Companies Act (on public and private limited companies) has seriously weakened the effect of shareholders’ agreements which have been entered into on Danish companies. These agreements (in the act’s new terminology: “owners...... analyses the consequences of this. Rights and duties in the owners’ agreements must now be reiterated to the greatest possible extent in the company’s articles of association so that the precepts become binding on the company and its management. Whether the parties to the owners’ agreement can be required...

A Two-level-games Analysis of AFTA Agreements: What Caused ASEAN States to Move towards Economic Integration?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-hung Chiou

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The goal of this article is to investigate the conditions under which ASEAN states are more likely to pursue regional economic integration, namely, a series of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA agreements/ protocols. Adopting Putnam’s two-level-games model, this article examines the influences of domestic politics, political elites’ preferences, economic performance, and external impacts. Through the construction of a set of hypotheses, this article investigates five AFTA agreements/ protocols and the conditions of ASEAN states during the 1992–2003 period. The findings indicate that political leaders’ preferences have played a pivotal role in the development of the AFTA. Economic performance and domestic support in individual states has also affected the AFTA. The close link between AFTA agreements and external impacts reveals that the AFTA’s inherent nature is defensive.

An efficient approach for improving virtual machine placement in cloud computing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ghobaei-Arani, Mostafa; Shamsi, Mahboubeh; Rahmanian, Ali A.

2017-11-01

The ever increasing demand for the cloud services requires more data centres. The power consumption in the data centres is a challenging problem for cloud computing, which has not been considered properly by the data centre developer companies. Especially, large data centres struggle with the power cost and the Greenhouse gases production. Hence, employing the power efficient mechanisms are necessary to optimise the mentioned effects. Moreover, virtual machine (VM) placement can be used as an effective method to reduce the power consumption in data centres. In this paper by grouping both virtual and physical machines, and taking into account the maximum absolute deviation during the VM placement, the power consumption as well as the service level agreement (SLA) deviation in data centres are reduced. To this end, the best-fit decreasing algorithm is utilised in the simulation to reduce the power consumption by about 5% compared to the modified best-fit decreasing algorithm, and at the same time, the SLA violation is improved by 6%. Finally, the learning automata are used to a trade-off between power consumption reduction from one side, and SLA violation percentage from the other side.

PRESENT CONDITION AND MEASURES TO EXPAND OF VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT ON PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS REDUCTION AT THE PREFECTURAL LEVEL

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Mayuka; Kanaya, Ken

Purpose of this research is to clear present condition and measures to expand of voluntary agreement on plastic shopping bags reduction at the prefectural level. Methods of this research are questionnaire survey to prefectures implementing the agreement and survey by i town page to the number of stores of companies and the number of companies in the prefectures. Findings of this research are as follows: 1. The refusal rate of plastic shopping bags was 10-40% before the implementation of voluntary agreements. And the rate is approximately 70-90% after the implementation. Therefore, before and after the implementation of voluntary agreements, the refusal rate of plastic shopping bags is approximately 40-70% less. 2. It is suggested that the time and number of meetings from proposal to conclusion of the agreement are related in some way, to the ratio of stores participating. On the participation of administration, the ratio of stores participating in the case in which prefecture and cities participate is higher than in the case in which prefecture participates.

Predictors of Shared Decision Making and Level of Agreement between Consumers and Providers in Psychiatric Care

Science.gov (United States)

Fukui, Sadaaki; Salyers, Michelle P.; Matthias, Marianne S.; Collins, Linda; Thompson, John; Coffman, Melinda; Torrey, William C.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine elements of shared decision making (SDM), and to establish empirical evidence for factors correlated with SDM and the level of agreement between consumer and provider in psychiatric care. Transcripts containing 128 audio-recorded medication check-up visits with eight providers at three community mental health centers were rated using the Shared Decision Making scale, adapted from Braddock’s Informed Decision Making Scale (Braddock et al., 1997; 1999; 2008). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that greater consumer activity in the session and greater decision complexity significantly predicted the SDM score. The best predictor of agreement between consumer and provider was “exploration of consumer preference,” with a four-fold increase in full agreement when consumer preferences were discussed more completely. Enhancing active consumer participation, particularly by incorporating consumer preferences in the decision making process appears to be an important factor in SDM. PMID:23299226

Use Cases for Dynamic Secure Wireless Networking in Coalition Environments (Cas d utilisation de r seau sans fil dynamique et s curis dans des environnements de coalition)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-01

Provider Willingness 15 and Degree of Exposure STO-TR-IST-109 v vi STO-TR-IST-109 List of Acronyms CC Coloured Cloud CoI Community of...could be applied to the MANET connectivity scenario. In PCN terminology [4]2, an E-node3 advertises guarantees of bandwidth and other services of...its Coloured Cloud4 (CC). It will be equipped with Service-Level Agreement (SLA) management functions, including support for security and risk. In

Using a split luciferase assay (SLA) to measure the kinetics of cell-cell fusion mediated by herpes simplex virus glycoproteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Saw, Wan Ting; Matsuda, Zene; Eisenberg, Roselyn J; Cohen, Gary H; Atanasiu, Doina

2015-11-15

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) entry and cell-cell fusion require the envelope proteins gD, gH/gL and gB. We propose that receptor-activated conformational changes to gD activate gH/gL, which then triggers gB (the fusogen) into an active form. To study this dynamic process, we have adapted a dual split protein assay originally developed to study the kinetics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) mediated fusion. This assay uses a chimera of split forms of renilla luciferase (RL) and green fluorescent protein (GFP). Effector cells are co-transfected with the glycoproteins and one of the split reporters. Receptor-bearing target cells are transfected with the second reporter. Co-culture results in fusion and restoration of RL, which can convert a membrane permeable substrate into a luminescent product, thereby enabling one to monitor initiation and extent of fusion in live cells in real time. Restoration of GFP can also be studied by fluorescence microscopy. Two sets of split reporters have been developed: the original one allows one to measure fusion kinetics over hours whereas the more recent version was designed to enhance the sensitivity of RL activity allowing one to monitor both initiation and rates of fusion in minutes. Here, we provide a detailed, step-by-step protocol for the optimization of the assay (which we call the SLA for split luciferase assay) using the HSV system. We also show several examples of the power of this assay to examine both the initiation and kinetics of cell-cell fusion by wild type forms of gD, gB, gH/gL of both serotypes of HSV as well as the effect of mutations and antibodies that alter the kinetics of fusion. The SLA can be applied to other viral systems that carry out membrane fusion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring the Level of Agreement Between Cloacal Gram's Stains and Bacterial Cultures in Hispaniolan Amazon Parrots ( Amazona ventralis ).

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Erika E; Mitchell, Mark A; Whittington, Julia K; Roy, Alma; Tully, Thomas N

2014-12-01

Cloacal or fecal Gram's stains and bacterial cultures are routinely performed during avian physical examinations to assess the microbial flora of the gastrointestinal tract. Although cloacal or fecal Gram's stains and bacterial cultures are considered routine diagnostic procedures, the level of agreement between the individual tests has not been determined. To investigate the level of agreement between results from Gram's stain and bacterial culture when used to assess cloacal or fecal samples from psittacine birds, samples were taken from 21 clinically healthy Hispaniolan Amazon parrots ( Amazona ventralis ) and tested by Gram's stain cytology and bacterial culture. Most bacteria (97.2%) identified by Gram's stain were gram positive. However, gram-negative organisms were identified in 7 of 21 (33.3%; 95% confidence interval: 13.3%-53.3%) birds. Escherichia coli was the only gram-negative organism identified on culture. Agreement between results of Gram's stain and culture was fair (weighted κ = 0.27). The results of this study suggest that Gram's stains and bacterial culture may need to be performed with a parallel testing strategy to limit the likelihood of misclassifying the microbial flora of psittacine patients.

Bone marrow transplantation in miniature swine: I. Autologous and SLA matched allografts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pennington, L.R.; Pescovitz, M.D.; Popitz, F.; Sachs, D.H.; Sakamoto, K.

1986-01-01

We developed a successful bone marrow transplant protocol in MHC-inbred miniature swine (MS). Three groups of MS were studied: irradiation controls, autologous bone marrow transplants and SLA matched bone marrow allografts. One day prior to irradiation, all animals underwent Hickman catheter placement via the external jugular vein. Bone marrow was harvested by direct mechanical removal of marrow from four long bones in Groups 2 and 3 one day prior to irradiation. All animals received 900 rads of midline body radiation from a Cobalt-60 source, were treated 1 g of cephalothin IV bid from day 1 to 14, 20 mg of genetamicin IV bid, from day 4 through 14 and 250 to 350 ml of fresh, irradiated whole blood from blood group identical donors on days 7, 11 and 14. Bone marrow was filtered, washed, stored overnight at 4 C and reinfused one to six hr after irradiation. Engraftment was defined by return of the peripheral WBC to 1000/mm 3 . All six animals in Group 1 died of aplasia between days 7 and 12. Marrow engrafted in eight of 12 animals in Group 2 and 7 of 10 animals in Group 3. This model provides a means to study the biological characteristics of bone marrow transplantation in immunologically well characterized large animals and should prove useful as a model for bone marrow transplants in man

Implementation of Cloud Computing into VoIP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Floriana GEREA

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This article defines Cloud Computing and highlights key concepts, the benefits of using virtualization, its weaknesses and ways of combining it with classical VoIP technologies applied to large scale businesses. The analysis takes into consideration management strategies and resources for better customer orientation and risk management all for sustaining the Service Level Agreement (SLA. An important issue in cloud computing can be security and for this reason there are several security solution presented.

Level of Agreement and Factors Associated With Discrepancies Between Nationwide Medical History Questionnaires and Hospital Claims Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeon-Yong Kim

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives The objectives of this study were to investigate the agreement between medical history questionnaire data and claims data and to identify the factors that were associated with discrepancies between these data types. Methods Data from self-reported questionnaires that assessed an individual’s history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, stroke, heart disease, and pulmonary tuberculosis were collected from a general health screening database for 2014. Data for these diseases were collected from a healthcare utilization claims database between 2009 and 2014. Overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values were calculated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with discrepancies and was adjusted for age, gender, insurance type, insurance contribution, residential area, and comorbidities. Results Agreement was highest between questionnaire data and claims data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of self-reported questionnaires and was lowest for claims data based on primary and secondary codes up to 5 years before the completion of self-reported questionnaires. When comparing data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of self-reported questionnaires, the overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values ranged from 93.2 to 98.8%, 26.2 to 84.3%, 95.7 to 99.6%, and 0.09 to 0.78, respectively. Agreement was excellent for hypertension and diabetes, fair to good for stroke and heart disease, and poor for pulmonary tuberculosis and dyslipidemia. Women, younger individuals, and employed individuals were most likely to under-report disease. Conclusions Detailed patient characteristics that had an impact on information bias were identified through the differing levels of agreement.

Level of Agreement and Factors Associated With Discrepancies Between Nationwide Medical History Questionnaires and Hospital Claims Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yeon-Yong; Park, Jong Heon; Kang, Hee-Jin; Lee, Eun Joo; Ha, Seongjun; Shin, Soon-Ae

2017-09-01

The objectives of this study were to investigate the agreement between medical history questionnaire data and claims data and to identify the factors that were associated with discrepancies between these data types. Data from self-reported questionnaires that assessed an individual's history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, stroke, heart disease, and pulmonary tuberculosis were collected from a general health screening database for 2014. Data for these diseases were collected from a healthcare utilization claims database between 2009 and 2014. Overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values were calculated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with discrepancies and was adjusted for age, gender, insurance type, insurance contribution, residential area, and comorbidities. Agreement was highest between questionnaire data and claims data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of self-reported questionnaires and was lowest for claims data based on primary and secondary codes up to 5 years before the completion of self-reported questionnaires. When comparing data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of self-reported questionnaires, the overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values ranged from 93.2 to 98.8%, 26.2 to 84.3%, 95.7 to 99.6%, and 0.09 to 0.78, respectively. Agreement was excellent for hypertension and diabetes, fair to good for stroke and heart disease, and poor for pulmonary tuberculosis and dyslipidemia. Women, younger individuals, and employed individuals were most likely to under-report disease. Detailed patient characteristics that had an impact on information bias were identified through the differing levels of agreement.

A Dynamic Model for Load Balancing in Cloud Infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jitendra Bhagwandas Bhatia

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper analysis various challenges faced in optimizing computing resource utilization via load balancing and presents a platform-independent model for load balancing which targets high availability of resources, low SLA (Service Level agreement violations and saves power. To achieve this, incoming requests are monitored for sudden burst, a prediction model is employed to maintain high availability and a power-aware algorithm is applied for choosing a suitable physical node for a virtual host. The proposed dynamic load balancing model provides a way to conflicting goals of saving power and maintaining high resource availability.For anyone building a private, public or hybrid IaaS cloud infrastructure, load balancing of virtual hosts on a limited number of physical nodes, becomes a crucial aspect. This paper analysis various challenges faced in optimizing computing resource utilization via load balancing and presents a platform independent model for load balancing which targets high availability of resources, low SLA (Service Level agreement violations and saves power. To achieve this, incoming requests are monitored for sudden burst, prediction model is employed to maintain high availability and power aware algorithm is applied for choosing a suitable physical node for virtual host. The proposed dynamic load balancing model provides a way to conflicting goals of saving power and maintaining high resource availability.

FFTF Authorization Agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DAUTEL, W.A.

2000-01-01

The purpose of the Authorization Agreement is to serve as a mechanism whereby the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL) and Fluor Hanford (FH) jointly clarify and agree to key conditions for conducting work safely and efficiently in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). Work must be accomplished in a manner that achieves high levels of quality while protecting the environment and the safety and health of workers and the public, and complying with applicable contractual and regulatory requirements. It is the intent of this Agreement to address those items of significant importance in establishing and supporting the FFTF Authorization Envelope, but this Agreement in no way alters the terms and conditions of the Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC), Contract Number DE-AC06-96RL13200

Voluntary agreements in environmental policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torvanger, Asbjoern

2001-01-01

A typically voluntary agreement is signed between the authorities and an industrial sector in order to reduce the emission of environmentally harmful substances. There are many different types of agreements. Voluntary agreements are not strictly voluntary, since in the background there is often some kind of ''threat'' about taxation or fees if the industry is unwilling to cooperate. This type of agreements has become popular in many OECD countries during the last decades. In Norway there are only a few agreements of this type. Experience with the use of voluntary agreements as well as research show that they are less cost-effective than market-based instruments such as taxes and quota systems. If there are great restrictions on the use of taxes and quota systems because of information- or measurement problems, or because these instruments are not politically acceptable, then voluntary agreements may be an interesting alternative. Thus, voluntary agreements are best used as a supplement to other instruments in some niche areas of the environmental policy. In some cases, voluntary agreements may be used between two countries or at a regional level, for example within the EU

Assessment of the level of agreement in the interpretation of plain radiographs of lumbar spondylosis among clinical physiotherapists in Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bello, Ajediran I; Ofori, Eric K; Alabi, Oluwasegun J; Adjei, David N

2014-01-01

Objective physical assessment of patients with lumbar spondylosis involves plain film radiographs (PFR) viewing and interpretation by the radiologists. Physiotherapists also routinely assess PFR within the scope of their practice. However, studies appraising the level of agreement of physiotherapists’ PFR interpretation with radiologists are not common in Ghana. Forty-one (41) physiotherapists took part in the cross-sectional survey. An assessment guide was developed from findings of the interpretation of three PFR of patients with lumbar spondylosis by a radiologist. The three PFR were selected from a pool of different radiographs based on clarity, common visible pathological features, coverage body segments and short post production period. Physiotherapists were required to view the same PFR after which they were assessed with the assessment guide according to the number of features identified correctly or incorrectly. The score range on the assessment form was 0–24, interpreted as follow: 0–8 points (low), 9–16 points (moderate) and 17–24 points (high) levels of agreement. Data were analyzed using one sample t-test and fisher’s exact test at α = 0.05. The mean score of interpretation for the physiotherapists was 12.7 ± 2.6 points compared to the radiologist’s interpretation of 24 points (assessment guide). The physiotherapists’ levels were found to be significantly associated with their academic qualification (p = 0.006) and sex (p = 0.001). However, their levels of agreement were not significantly associated with their age group (p = 0.098), work settings (p = 0.171), experience (p = 0.666), preferred PFR view (p = 0.088) and continuing education (p = 0.069). The physiotherapists’ skills fall short of expectation for interpreting PFR of patients with lumbar spondylosis. The levels of agreement with radiologist’s interpretation have no link with year of clinial practice, age, work settings and continuing education. Thus, routine PFR viewing

Assessment of the level of agreement in the interpretation of plain radiographs of lumbar spondylosis among clinical physiotherapists in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Bello, Ajediran I; Ofori, Eric K; Alabi, Oluwasegun J; Adjei, David N

2014-03-29

Objective physical assessment of patients with lumbar spondylosis involves plain film radiographs (PFR) viewing and interpretation by the radiologists. Physiotherapists also routinely assess PFR within the scope of their practice. However, studies appraising the level of agreement of physiotherapists' PFR interpretation with radiologists are not common in Ghana. Forty-one (41) physiotherapists took part in the cross-sectional survey. An assessment guide was developed from findings of the interpretation of three PFR of patients with lumbar spondylosis by a radiologist. The three PFR were selected from a pool of different radiographs based on clarity, common visible pathological features, coverage body segments and short post production period. Physiotherapists were required to view the same PFR after which they were assessed with the assessment guide according to the number of features identified correctly or incorrectly. The score range on the assessment form was 0-24, interpreted as follow: 0-8 points (low), 9-16 points (moderate) and 17-24 points (high) levels of agreement. Data were analyzed using one sample t-test and fisher's exact test at α = 0.05. The mean score of interpretation for the physiotherapists was 12.7 ± 2.6 points compared to the radiologist's interpretation of 24 points (assessment guide). The physiotherapists' levels were found to be significantly associated with their academic qualification (p = 0.006) and sex (p = 0.001). However, their levels of agreement were not significantly associated with their age group (p = 0.098), work settings (p = 0.171), experience (p = 0.666), preferred PFR view (p = 0.088) and continuing education (p = 0.069). The physiotherapists' skills fall short of expectation for interpreting PFR of patients with lumbar spondylosis. The levels of agreement with radiologist's interpretation have no link with year of clinial practice, age, work settings and continuing education. Thus

Level of Agreement Between Forearm and Upper Arm Blood Pressure Measurements in Patients With Large Arm Circumference.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Sheri; Aguas, Marita; Colegrove, Pat; Foisy, Nancy; Jondahl, Bonnie; Anastas, Zoe

2017-02-01

The purpose of the study was to determine if forearm blood pressures (BPs) measured in three different locations agree with the recommended upper arm location for noninvasive BP measurement. A method-comparison design was used. In a convenience sample of postanesthesia care unit patients with large upper arm circumference, BP's were obtained in three different forearm locations (lower forearm, middle forearm, and upper forearm) and compared to upper arm BP using an automated BP measuring device. The level of agreement (bias ± precision) between each forearm location and the upper arm BP was calculated using standard formulas. Acceptable levels of agreement based on expert opinion were set a priori at bias and precision values of less than ±5 mm Hg (bias) and ±8 mm Hg (precision). Forty-eight postanesthesia patients participated in the study. Bias and precision values were found to exceed the acceptable level of agreement for all but one of the systolic and diastolic BP comparisons in the three forearm BP locations. Fifty-six percent of all patients studied had one or more BP difference of at least 10 mm Hg in each of the three forearm locations, with 10% having one or more differences of at least 20 mm Hg. The differences in forearm BP measurements observed in this study indicate that the clinical practice of using a forearm BP with a regular-sized BP cuff in place of a larger sized BP cuff placed on the upper arm in postanesthesia care unit patients with large arm circumferences is inappropriate. The BPs obtained at the forearm location are not equivalent to the BPs obtained at the upper arm location. Copyright © 2015 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Level of agreement among Latin American glaucoma subspecialists on the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma: results of an online survey

OpenAIRE

Daniel E. Grigera; Paulo Augusto Arruda Mello; Wilma Lelis Barbosa; Javier Fernando Casiraghi; Rodolfo Perez Grossmann; Alejo Peyret

2013-01-01

PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to assess the level of agreement among glaucoma experts in Latin America on key practices related to treatment and diagnosis of glaucoma. METHODS: An online questionnaire was sent to a multinational panel of glaucoma experts. The questionnaire contained 107 statements on the medical treatment (Part 1) and diagnosis (Part 2) of glaucoma, and was developed in Spanish and translated into English. Agreement was defined as >70% of respondents. RESULTS: Fifty p...

Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action.

Science.gov (United States)

Mengel, Matthias; Nauels, Alexander; Rogelj, Joeri; Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich

2018-02-20

Sea-level rise is a major consequence of climate change that will continue long after emissions of greenhouse gases have stopped. The 2015 Paris Agreement aims at reducing climate-related risks by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and limiting global-mean temperature increase. Here we quantify the effect of these constraints on global sea-level rise until 2300, including Antarctic ice-sheet instabilities. We estimate median sea-level rise between 0.7 and 1.2 m, if net-zero greenhouse gas emissions are sustained until 2300, varying with the pathway of emissions during this century. Temperature stabilization below 2 °C is insufficient to hold median sea-level rise until 2300 below 1.5 m. We find that each 5-year delay in near-term peaking of CO 2 emissions increases median year 2300 sea-level rise estimates by ca. 0.2 m, and extreme sea-level rise estimates at the 95th percentile by up to 1 m. Our results underline the importance of near-term mitigation action for limiting long-term sea-level rise risks.

International environmental agreements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Zeeuw, Aart

2015-01-01

The regulation of environmental externalities at the global level requires international agreements between sovereign states. Game theory provides an appropriate theoretical tool for analysis. However, game theory can result in a wide range of outcomes, and therefore it is important to discuss the

Flexibility of the Paris Agreement on climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemoine-Schonne, Marion

2016-01-01

The Paris agreement lays the foundation for a new international legal regime on climate change. To achieve a universal agreement, many compromises were made, reflected in the international agreement by signs of flexibility. Firstly, at the temporal level, a 'periodic review mechanism of the National Contributions' is set up. Concerning then the means of implementation of the agreement, a new 'mechanism for sustainable development' has been introduced. This mechanism aims to facilitate the implementation of international legal obligations with a logic of cost-effectiveness, reproducing in this sense the market mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. At least, at the normative level, flexibility of law is obvious in this agreement, in order to adapt norms to scientific knowledge evolution and political decisions

Agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

These columns summarize the different bilateral and multilateral agreements concluded recently between the different OECD countries and concerning the nuclear energy domain: Argentina - Australia: Agreement concerning Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (2001). Argentina - Brazil: Joint Declaration regarding the Creation of the Argentinean-Brazilian Agency for Nuclear Energy Applications (2001). Australia - Czech Republic / Australia - Hungary: Agreements on Co-operation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and the Transfer of Nuclear Material (2001). Australia - Indonesia: Arrangement Concerning Co-operation on Nuclear Safeguards and Related Matters (2001). Austria - Switzerland: Agreement on the Early Exchange of Information in the Field of Nuclear Safety and Radiation. Brazil - United States: Extension of the Agreement concerning Research and Development in Nuclear Material Control, Accountancy, Verification, Physical Protection, and Advanced Containment and Surveillance Technologies for International Safeguards Applications (2001). Czech Republic - Republic of Korea: Agreement for Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (2001). European Union- Russian Federation: Agreements on Nuclear Safety and Controlled Nuclear Fusion (2001). France - United States: Agreement for Co-operation in Advanced Nuclear Reactor Science and Technology (2001). Japan - United Kingdom: Co-operation Agreement on Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Fast Breeder Reactor and Other Related Technologies (2001). Republic OF Korea - United States: Annex IV Joint Project on Cintichem Technology (2000). Morocco - United States: Protocol amending the Co-operation Agreement on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (2001). Multilateral Agreements: Agreement for Information Exchange on Radiological Surveillance in Northern Europe (2001). Status of Conventions in the Field of Nuclear Energy. (author)

The OPG/Kincardine hosting agreement for a deep geologic repository for OPG's low- and intermediate-level waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castellan, A.G.; Barker, D.E.

2006-01-01

A Hosting Agreement has been reached between Ontario Power Generation and the Municipality of Kincardine for the purpose of siting a long-term management facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste at the Western Waste Management Facility. Following an independent review of the feasibility of three options for a long-term facility at the site, including a review of the safety, geotechnical feasibility, social and economic effects and potential environmental effects, Kincardine passed a resolution indicating their preference for a Deep Geologic Repository. A Host Community Agreement has been negotiated based on this preference, and on information that had been gathered from municipal authorities at other locations that have hosted similar facilities. The Hosting Agreement includes financial compensation, totalling $35.7 million (Canadian 2004) to the Municipality of Kincardine and to four surrounding municipalities. The financial aspects include lump sum payments based on achieving specific project milestones as well as annual payments to each of the municipalities. The payments are indexed to inflation, and are also contingent on the municipalities acting reasonably and in good faith during the licencing process of the proposed facility. In addition to the fees, the Agreement includes provision for a Property Value Protection Plan that would provide residents with compensation in the event that there is depreciation in property value shown to directly result from a release from the proposed facility. New permanent OPG jobs supporting the project would be located at the site. OPG and Kincardine will support a centre of nuclear excellence. (author)

DDA/TDB liposomes containing soluble Leishmania major antigens induced a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response in BALB/c mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mansure Hojatizade

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Objective(s: Leishmaniasis is a complex parasitic disease that represents a major public health problem. Despite numerous attempts over the past decades, yet there is no effective vaccine against human leishmaniasis probably due to the lack of suitable adjuvants. In this study, a first generation liposomal-based Leishmania vaccine was developed using soluble Leishmania major antigens (SLA and á, Ü-trehalose6, 6'-dibehenat (TDB as an immunostimulatory adjuvant. In this liposome structure, the cationic lipid Dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA provides intrinsic adjuvant activity and cholesterol was added as a membrane stabilizer. Liposomes containing SLA were prepared.Materials and Methods: BALB/c mice were subcutaneously (sc immunized with Lip (DDA/TDB/CHOL-SLA+, Lip (DDA/TDB-SLA+, Lip (DDA-SLA+, Lip (DDA/CHOL-SLA+, SLA or Tris-HCl buffer. Immunization was done every two weeks for three weeks. The immunized mice were then challenged sc in the left footpad with 1×106 stationary phase L. major promastigotes (50 ìl, at 2 weeks after last booster injection.Results: mice immunized with any of the liposomal formulations containing SLA (Lip-SLA+, substantially increased footpad swelling and parasite loads of foot and spleen with no significant difference compared to Tris-HCl buffer or SLA alone. Lip-SLA+ formulations induced a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response characterized by IFN-ã and IL-4 production as well as high levels of IgG1 anti-Leishmania antibody. Conclusion: immunization with liposomes containing DDA and/or TDB in combination with SLA induces a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response and is not an appropriate strategy for preferential induction of a Th1 response and protection against leishmaniasis.

Methodological Aspects of the IAEA State Level Concept and Acquisition Path Analysis: A State’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Related Capabilities, and the Quantification of Acquisition Paths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lance, K. Kim; Renda, Guido; Cojazzi, Giacomo G. M.

2015-01-01

Within its State Level Concept (SLC), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) envisions a State Level Approach (SLA) for safeguards implementation that considers, inter alia, a State’s nuclear and nuclear-related activities and capabilities as a whole when developing an annual implementation plan. Based on the assessed nuclear fuel cycle and related capabilities of a State, Acquisition Path Analysis (APA) identifies, characterizes, and prioritizes plausible routes for acquiring weapons-usable material to aid in safeguards implementation planning. A review of proposed APA methods and historical evidence indicates that assessments of pathway completion time can be fraught with uncertainty and subject to bias, potentially undermining safeguards effectiveness and efficiency. Based on considerations of theory and evidence, a number of methodological insights are identified to support consistent implementation and ongoing APA development. The use of algorithms to support APA and SLA processes in lieu of human judgement is a contentious issue requiring an evidence- based assessment and is also briefly discussed. This paper captures concepts derived primarily from open sources of information, including publications, presentations, and workshops on on-going APA development by the IAEA and various Member States Support Programs (MSSP) as well as relevant work found in the open literature. While implementation of the SLA has begun for a number of States, these SLAs are being updated and developed for other States. In light of these ongoing developments, the topics covered here should be considered a snapshot in time that does not reflect finished products and does not necessarily reflect official views.

Resource optimization and security for cloud services

CERN Document Server

Xiong , Kaiqi

2014-01-01

This book includes a study of trustworthiness, percentile response time, service availability, and authentication in the networks between users and cloud service providers, and at service stations or sites that may be owned by different service providers. The first part of the book contains an analysis of percentile response time, which is one of the most important SLA (service level agreements) metrics. Effective and accurate numerical solutions for the calculation of the percentile response time in single-class and multi-class queueing networks are obtained. Then, the numerical solution is

An Adaptive Tradeoff Algorithm for Multi-issue SLA Negotiation

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Seokho; Sim, Kwang Mong

Since participants in a Cloud may be independent bodies, mechanisms are necessary for resolving different preferences in leasing Cloud services. Whereas there are currently mechanisms that support service-level agreement negotiation, there is little or no negotiation support for concurrent price and timeslot for Cloud service reservations. For the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation, a tradeoff algorithm to generate and evaluate a proposal which consists of price and timeslot proposal is necessary. The contribution of this work is thus to design an adaptive tradeoff algorithm for multi-issue negotiation mechanism. The tradeoff algorithm referred to as "adaptive burst mode" is especially designed to increase negotiation speed and total utility and to reduce computational load by adaptively generating concurrent set of proposals. The empirical results obtained from simulations carried out using a testbed suggest that due to the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation mechanism with adaptive tradeoff algorithm: 1) both agents achieve the best performance in terms of negotiation speed and utility; 2) the number of evaluations of each proposal is comparatively lower than previous scheme (burst-N).

Slaďování pracovního a osobního života pracovníků

OpenAIRE

Šauerová, Martina

2017-01-01

Diplomová práce se zabývá tématem slaďování pracovního a osobního života ve vybrané společnosti. Práce je rozdělena do tří části – na teoretickou, analytickou a závěrečnou část. Teoretická část vysvětluje atraktivitu a důležitost tohoto tématu, popisuje jednotlivé nástroje umožňující slazení profesního a osobního života a zároveň poukazuje na možné komplikace jednotlivých přístupů, a to jak z pohledu zaměstnavatele, tak i zaměstnance. Analytická část zkoumá a následně vyhodnocuje současný sta...

AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPLICATION END TO END QUALITY OF SERVICE ON 3G TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cahya Lukito

2012-05-01

Full Text Available End to End Quality of Service is a way to provide data package service in a telecommunication network that based on Right Price, Right Service Level, and Right Quality. The goal of this research is to analyze the impact of End to End QoS use on 3G telecommunication network for voice service and data. This research uses an analysis method by doing the application on the lab. The result that is achieved in this research shows that End to End QoS is very influental to the Service Level Agreement to the users of the telecommunication service.Keywords: End to End Qos, SLA, Diffserv

Prospective assessment of interobserver agreement for defecography in fecal incontinence.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobben, Annette C; Wiersma, Tjeerd G; Janssen, Lucas W M; de Vos, Rien; Terra, Maaike P; Baeten, Cor G; Stoker, Jaap

2005-11-01

The primary aim of our study was to determine the interobserver agreement of defecography in diagnosing enterocele, anterior rectocele, intussusception, and anismus in fecal-incontinent patients. The subsidiary aim was to evaluate the influence of level of experience on interpreting defecography. Defecography was performed in 105 consecutive fecal-incontinent patients. Observers were classified by level of experience and their findings were compared with the findings of an expert radiologist. The quality of the expert radiologist's findings was evaluated by an intraobserver agreement procedure. Intraobserver agreement was good to very good except for anismus: incomplete evacuation after 30 sec (kappa, 0.55) and puborectalis impression (kappa, 0.54). Interobserver agreement for enterocele and rectocele was good (kappa, 0.66 for both) and for intussusception, fair (kappa, 0.29). Interobserver agreement for anismus: incomplete evacuation after 30 sec was moderate (kappa, 0.47), and for anismus: puborectalis impression was fair (kappa, 0.24). Agreement in grading of enterocele and rectocele was good (kappa, 0.64 and 0.72, respectively) and for intussusception, fair (kappa, 0.39). Agreement separated by experience level was very good for rectocele (kappa, 0.83) and grading of rectoceles (kappa, 0.83) and moderate for intussusception (kappa, 0.44) at the most experienced level. For enterocele and grading, experience level did not influence the reproducibility. Reproducibility for enterocele, anterior rectocele, and severity grading is good, but for intussusception is fair to moderate. For anismus, the diagnosis of incomplete evacuation after 30 sec is more reproducible than puborectalis impression. The level of experience seems to play a role in diagnosing anterior rectocele and its grading and in diagnosing intussusception.

Seeing Eye to Eye: Predicting Teacher-Student Agreement on Classroom Social Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Neal, Jennifer Watling; Cappella, Elise; Wagner, Caroline; Atkins, Marc S.

2010-01-01

This study examines the association between classroom characteristics and teacher-student agreement in perceptions of students’ classroom peer networks. Social network, peer nomination, and observational data were collected from a sample of second through fourth grade teachers (N=33) and students (N=669) in 33 classrooms across five high poverty urban schools. Results demonstrate that variation in teacher-student agreement on the structure of students’ peer networks can be explained, in part, by developmental factors and classroom characteristics. Developmental increases in network density partially mediated the positive relationship between grade level and teacher-student agreement. Larger class sizes and higher levels of normative aggressive behavior resulted in lower levels of teacher-student agreement. Teachers’ levels of classroom organization had mixed influences, with behavior management negatively predicting agreement, and productivity positively predicting agreement. These results underscore the importance of the classroom context in shaping teacher and student perceptions of peer networks. PMID:21666768

Bilateral agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

Ten bilateral agreements are presented. These are: 1) Co-operation agreement relating to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy between Argentina and EURATOM (1996); 2) Agreement on co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy between Argentina and Greece (1997); 3) Implementing arrangement for technical exchange and co-operation in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy between Argentina and the United States (1997); 4) Agreement concerning co-operation in nuclear science and technology between Australia and Indonesia (1997); 5) Implementation of the 1985 Agreement for co-operation concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy between the People's Republic of China and the United States (1998); 6) Protocol of co-operation between France and Lithuania (1997); 7) Agreement on co-operation in energy research, science and technology, and development between Germany and the United States (1998); 8) Agreement on early notification of a nuclear accident and exchange of information on nuclear facilities between Greece and Romania (1997); 9) Agreement on early notification of nuclear accidents and co-operation in the field of nuclear safety between Hungary and the Ukraine (1997); 10) Agreement in the field of radioactive waste management between Switzerland and the United States (1997). (K.A.)

Integrity of the iron transport process in mice with X-linked anaemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomson, A.B.R.; Valberg, L.S.

1975-01-01

The defect in iron (Fe) absorption in X-linked anaemia (sla) remains an enigma; absorption of a tracer dose of Fe is impaired in mice raised on an iron-containing cube diet but not in those raised on an iron-deficient diet. Because cobalt (Co) shares a similar intestinal transport pathway with Fe, a study was made of the effect of iron deficient diet on Co absorption. The duodenum of sla and genetically normal mice was perfused for 30 min with labelled solutions containing Co or Fe. Co uptake and transfer were similar in sla and normals fed cubes whereas Fe uptake and transfer were less in sla than in normals. The iron deficient diet caused an increase in the uptake and transfer of Co and Fe in sla and normals. When Co and Fe were perfused together in sla fed deficient diet, the uptake and transfer of each metal was less than when perfused alone. The distribution of Fe and Co in subcellular mucosal fractions was determined by a differential centrifugation technique. Deficient diet resulted in a directionally similar change in the subcellular distribution of Co and Fe in sla and normals. The increase in Co as well as Fe absorption in the sla on an iron deficient diet to the same high level found in genetically normal animals, and the inhibitory effect of each metal on the absorption of the other suggests that the absorption defect in sla is unlikely to be due to a primary defect in the function of the transport carrier. (author)

Agreement in the assessment of metastatic spine disease using scoring systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Arana, Estanislao; Kovacs, Francisco M; Royuela, Ana; Asenjo, Beatriz; Pérez-Ramírez, Ursula; Zamora, Javier

2015-04-01

To assess variability in the use of Tomita and modified Bauer scores in spine metastases. Clinical data and imaging from 90 patients with biopsy-proven spinal metastases, were provided to 83 specialists from 44 hospitals. Spinal levels involved and the Tomita and modified Bauer scores for each case were determined twice by each clinician, with a minimum of 6-week interval. Clinicians were blinded to every evaluation. Kappa statistic was used to assess intra and inter-observer agreement. Subgroup analyses were performed according to clinicians' specialty (medical oncology, neurosurgery, radiology, orthopedic surgery and radiation oncology), years of experience (⩽7, 8-13, ⩾14), and type of hospital (four levels). For metastases identification, intra-observer agreement was "substantial" (0.600.80) at the other levels. Inter-observer agreement was "almost perfect" at lumbar spine, and "substantial" at the other levels. Intra-observer agreement for the Tomita and Bauer scores was almost perfect. Inter-observer agreement was almost perfect for the Tomita score and substantial for the Bauer one. Results were similar across specialties, years of experience and type of hospital. Agreement in the assessment of metastatic spine disease is high. These scoring systems can improve communication among clinicians involved in oncology care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Level of agreement among Latin American glaucoma subspecialists on the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma: results of an online survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Grigera, Daniel E; Mello, Paulo Augusto Arruda; Barbosa, Wilma Lelis; Casiraghi, Javier Fernando; Grossmann, Rodolfo Perez; Peyret, Alejo

2013-01-01

The aim of this research was to assess the level of agreement among glaucoma experts in Latin America on key practices related to treatment and diagnosis of glaucoma. An online questionnaire was sent to a multinational panel of glaucoma experts. The questionnaire contained 107 statements on the medical treatment (Part 1) and diagnosis (Part 2) of glaucoma, and was developed in Spanish and translated into English. Agreement was defined as >70% of respondents. Fifty participants from 14 countries completed the questionnaire. For the medical treatment of glaucoma, nearly all respondents (98% or greater) confirmed that medical treatment as first-line therapy is preferred to surgery, prostaglandin analogs are the medication of first choice for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), longitudinal monitoring of efficacy should include intraocular pressure, structural and functional status, as well as if patients' quality of life is impaired by the high cost of medication. For the diagnosis of glaucoma section, all respondents confirmed that, after initial examination, gonioscopy should be repeated over time, standard automated perimetry is the most important functional examination for diagnosis and monitoring of primary open-angle glaucoma, central corneal thickness is important in assessment of glaucoma, and computerized imaging tests help in clinical evaluation of optic disc. This survey shows a high level of agreement on most aspects of glaucoma diagnosis and treatment among Latin American glaucoma experts. Areas of disagreement highlight the need for further evidence or education. These findings will be useful for guiding future efforts to optimize glaucoma practice by clinicians in Latin America.

Level of agreement among Latin American glaucoma subspecialists on the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma: results of an online survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel E. Grigera

2013-06-01

Full Text Available PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to assess the level of agreement among glaucoma experts in Latin America on key practices related to treatment and diagnosis of glaucoma. METHODS: An online questionnaire was sent to a multinational panel of glaucoma experts. The questionnaire contained 107 statements on the medical treatment (Part 1 and diagnosis (Part 2 of glaucoma, and was developed in Spanish and translated into English. Agreement was defined as >70% of respondents. RESULTS: Fifty participants from 14 countries completed the questionnaire. For the medical treatment of glaucoma, nearly all respondents (98% or greater confirmed that medical treatment as first-line therapy is preferred to surgery, prostaglandin analogs are the medication of first choice for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG, longitudinal monitoring of efficacy should include intraocular pressure, structural and functional status, as well as if patients' quality of life is impaired by the high cost of medication. For the diagnosis of glaucoma section, all respondents confirmed that, after initial examination, gonioscopy should be repeated over time, standard automated perimetry is the most important functional examination for diagnosis and monitoring of primary open-angle glaucoma, central corneal thickness is important in assessment of glaucoma, and computerized imaging tests help in clinical evaluation of optic disc. CONCLUSIONS: This survey shows a high level of agreement on most aspects of glaucoma diagnosis and treatment among Latin American glaucoma experts. Areas of disagreement highlight the need for further evidence or education. These findings will be useful for guiding future efforts to optimize glaucoma practice by clinicians in Latin America.

High construal level can help negotiators to reach integrative agreements: The role of information exchange and judgement accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wening, Stefanie; Keith, Nina; Abele, Andrea E

2016-06-01

In negotiations, a focus on interests (why negotiators want something) is key to integrative agreements. Yet, many negotiators spontaneously focus on positions (what they want), with suboptimal outcomes. Our research applies construal-level theory to negotiations and proposes that a high construal level instigates a focus on interests during negotiations which, in turn, positively affects outcomes. In particular, we tested the notion that the effect of construal level on outcomes was mediated by information exchange and judgement accuracy. Finally, we expected the mere mode of presentation of task material to affect construal levels and manipulated construal levels using concrete versus abstract negotiation tasks. In two experiments, participants negotiated in dyads in either a high- or low-construal-level condition. In Study 1, high-construal-level dyads outperformed dyads in the low-construal-level condition; this main effect was mediated by information exchange. Study 2 replicated both the main and mediation effects using judgement accuracy as mediator and additionally yielded a positive effect of a high construal level on a second, more complex negotiation task. These results not only provide empirical evidence for the theoretically proposed link between construal levels and negotiation outcomes but also shed light on the processes underlying this effect. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Level of agreement between physician and patient assessment of non-medical health factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ludovic, Casanova; Virginie, Ringa; Sophia, Chatelard; Sylvain, Paquet; Isabelle, Pendola-Luchel; Henri, Panjo; Camille, Bideau; Eric, Deflesselle; Raphaëlle, Delpech; Géraldine, Bloy; Laurent, Rigal

2018-01-29

GPs need to consider assorted relevant non-medical factors, such as family or work situations or health insurance coverage, to determine appropriate patient care. If GPs' knowledge of these factors varies according to patients' social position, less advantaged patients might receive poorer care, resulting in the perpetuation of social inequalities in health. To assess social disparities in GPs' knowledge of non-medical factors relevant to patient care. Observational survey of GPs who supervise internships in the Paris metropolitan area. Each of the 52 enrolled GPs randomly selected 70 patients from their patient list. Their knowledge of five relevant factors (coverage by publicly funded free health insurance, or by supplementary health insurance, living with a partner, social support and employment status) was analysed as the agreement between the patients' and GPs' answers to matching questions. Occupational, educational and financial disparities were estimated with multilevel models adjusted for age, sex, chronic disease and GP-patient relationship. Agreement varied according to the factor considered from 66% to 91%. The global agreement score (percentage of agreement for all five factors) was 72%. Social disparities and often gradients, disfavouring the less well-off patients, were observed for each factor considered. Social gradients were most marked according to perceived financial situation and for health insurance coverage. GPs must be particularly attentive toward their least advantaged patients, to be aware of the relevant non-medical factors that affect these patients' health and care, and thus provide management adapted to each individual's personal situation. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effects of surface hydrophilicity and microtopography on early stages of soft and hard tissue integration at non-submerged titanium implants: an immunohistochemical study in dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarz, Frank; Ferrari, Daniel; Herten, Monika; Mihatovic, Ilja; Wieland, Marco; Sager, Martin; Becker, Jürgen

2007-11-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of surface hydrophilicity and microtopography on soft and hard tissue integration at non-submerged titanium implants. Implantation of conventional sand-blasted large grit and acid-etched (SLA) and chemically modified SLA (modSLA) titanium implants with differently structured transmucosal surfaces (SLA implants: machined [M-SLA] or SLA [SLA-SLA]; modSLA implants: mod acid-etched [modA] [modA-modSLA] or modSLA [modSLA-modSLA]) was performed bilaterally in the upper and lower jaws of 15 beagle dogs. The animals were sacrificed after 1, 4, 7, 14, or 28 days. Tissue reactions were assessed histomorphometrically and immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies to transglutaminase II (angiogenesis) and osteocalcin. Although the junctional epithelium commonly was separated from M-SLA and SLA-SLA implants by a gap, the epithelial cells appeared to be in close contact with modA-modSLA surfaces after 14 days of healing. Moreover, modA-modSLA and modSLA-modSLA groups showed a well-vascularized subepithelial connective tissue exhibiting collagen fibers that started to extend and attach partially perpendicular to the implant surface. The highest and statistically significant mean bone-to-implant contact areas were observed in the modA-modSLA and modSLA-modSLA groups at days 7, 14, and 28. Within the limits of this study, it may be concluded that soft and hard tissue integration was influenced mainly by surface hydrophilicity rather than by microtopography.

Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and Agreement Studies (GRRAS) were proposed

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kottner, Jan; Audigé, Laurent; Brorson, Stig

2011-01-01

Results of reliability and agreement studies are intended to provide information about the amount of error inherent in any diagnosis, score, or measurement. The level of reliability and agreement among users of scales, instruments, or classifications is widely unknown. Therefore, there is a need ......, standards, or guidelines for reporting reliability and agreement in the health care and medical field are lacking. The objective was to develop guidelines for reporting reliability and agreement studies....

Leishmania mexicana Gp63 cDNA Using Gene Gun Induced Higher Immunity to L. mexicana Infection Compared to Soluble Leishmania Antigen in BALB/C

Science.gov (United States)

Rezvan, H; Rees, R; Ali, SA

2011-01-01

Background Leishmaniasis is a worldwide disease prevalent in tropical and sub tropical countries. Many attempts have been made and different strategies have been approached to develop a potent vaccine against Leishmania. DNA immunisation is a method, which is shown to be effective in Leishmania vaccination. Leishmania Soluble Antigen (SLA) has also recently been used Leishmania vaccination. Methods The immunity generated by SLA and L. mexicana gp63 cDNA was compared in groups of 6 mice, which were statistically analysed by student t- test with the P-value of 0.05. SLA was administered by two different methods; intramuscular injection and injection of dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with SLA. L. mexicana gp63 cDNA was administered by the gene gun. Results Immunisation of BALB/c mice with L. mexicana gp63 resulted in high levels of Th1-type immune response and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) activity, which were accompanied with protection induced by the immunisation against L. mexicana infection. In contrast, administration of SLA, produced a mixed Th1/Th2-type immune responses as well as a high level of CTL activity but did not protect mice from the infection. Conclusion The results indicate higher protection by DNA immunisation using L. mexicana gp63 cDNA compared to SLA, which is accompanied by a high level of Th1 immune response. However, the CTL activity does not necessarily correlate with the protection induced by the vaccine. Also, gene gun immunisation is a potential approach in Leishmania vaccination. These findings would be helpful in opening new windows in Leishmania vaccine research. PMID:22347315

Agreement in the assessment of metastatic spine disease using scoring systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arana, Estanislao; Kovacs, Francisco M.; Royuela, Ana; Asenjo, Beatriz; Pérez-Ramírez, Ursula; Zamora, Javier; Abraira, Víctor

2015-01-01

Purpose: To assess variability in the use of Tomita and modified Bauer scores in spine metastases. Materials and methods: Clinical data and imaging from 90 patients with biopsy-proven spinal metastases, were provided to 83 specialists from 44 hospitals. Spinal levels involved and the Tomita and modified Bauer scores for each case were determined twice by each clinician, with a minimum of 6-week interval. Clinicians were blinded to every evaluation. Kappa statistic was used to assess intra and inter-observer agreement. Subgroup analyses were performed according to clinicians’ specialty (medical oncology, neurosurgery, radiology, orthopedic surgery and radiation oncology), years of experience (⩽7, 8–13, ⩾14), and type of hospital (four levels). Results: For metastases identification, intra-observer agreement was “substantial” (0.60 < k < 0.80) at sacrum, and “almost perfect” (k > 0.80) at the other levels. Inter-observer agreement was “almost perfect” at lumbar spine, and “substantial” at the other levels. Intra-observer agreement for the Tomita and Bauer scores was almost perfect. Inter-observer agreement was almost perfect for the Tomita score and substantial for the Bauer one. Results were similar across specialties, years of experience and type of hospital. Conclusion: Agreement in the assessment of metastatic spine disease is high. These scoring systems can improve communication among clinicians involved in oncology care

Interactions between endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) and titanium implant surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziebart, Thomas; Schnell, Anne; Walter, Christian; Kämmerer, Peer W; Pabst, Andreas; Lehmann, Karl M; Ziebart, Johanna; Klein, Marc O; Al-Nawas, Bilal

2013-01-01

Endothelial cells play an important role in peri-implant angiogenesis during early bone formation. Therefore, interactions between endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and titanium dental implant surfaces are of crucial interest. The aim of our in vitro study was to investigate the reactions of EPCs in contact with different commercially available implant surfaces. EPCs from buffy coats were isolated by Ficoll density gradient separation. After cell differentiation, EPC were cultured for a period of 7 days on different titanium surfaces. The test surfaces varied in roughness and hydrophilicity: acid-etched (A), sand-blasted-blasted and acid-etched (SLA), hydrophilic A (modA), and hydrophilic SLA (modSLA). Plastic and fibronectin-coated plastic surfaces served as controls. Cell numbers and morphology were analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and expressions of iNOS and eNOS were investigated by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cell numbers were higher in the control groups compared to the cells of titanium surfaces. Initially, hydrophilic titanium surfaces (modA and modSLA) showed lower cell numbers than hydrophobic surfaces (A and SLA). After 7 days smoother surfaces (A and modA) showed increased cell numbers compared to rougher surfaces (SLA and modSLA). Cell morphology of A, modA, and control surfaces was characterized by a multitude of pseudopodia and planar cell soma architecture. SLA and modSLA promoted small and plump cell soma with little quantity of pseudopodia. The lowest VEGF level was measured on A, the highest on modSLA. The highest eNOS and iNOS expressions were found on modA surfaces. The results of this study demonstrate that biological behaviors of EPCs can be influenced by different surfaces. The modSLA surface promotes an undifferentiated phenotype of EPCs that has the ability to secrete growth factors in great quantities. In

Effects of Titanium Surface Microtopography and Simvastatin on Growth and Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Estrogen-Deprived Cell Culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Arpornmaeklong, Premjit; Pripatnanont, Prisana; Chookiatsiri, Chonticha; Tangtrakulwanich, Boonsin

This study aimed to investigate the effects of titanium surface topography and simvastatin on growth and osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) in estrogen-deprived (ED) cell culture. Human BMSCs were seeded on cell culture plates, smooth-surface titanium (Ti) disks, and sandblasted with large grits and acid etched (SLA)-surface Ti disks; and subsequently cultured in regular (fetal bovine serum [FBS]), ED, and ED-with 100 nM simvastatin (ED-SIM) culture media for 14 to 21 days. Live/dead cell staining, scanning electron microscope examination, and cell viability assay were performed to determine cell attachment, morphology, and growth. Expression levels of osteoblast-associated genes, Runx2 and bone sialoprotein and levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium content, and osteocalcin in culture media were measured to determine osteoblastic differentiation. Expression levels of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) were investigated to examine stimulating effects of simvastatin (n = 4 to 5, mean ± SD). In vitro mineralization was verified by calcein staining. Human BMSCs exhibited different attachment and shapes on smooth and SLA titanium surfaces. Estrogen-deprived cell culture decreased cell attachment and growth, particularly on the SLA titanium surface, but cells were able to grow to reach confluence on day 21 in the ED-osteogenic (OS) culture medium. Promoting effects of the SLA titanium surface in ED-OS were significantly decreased. Simvastatin significantly increased osteogenic differentiation of human BMSCs on the SLA titanium surface in the ED-OS medium, and the promoting effects of simvastatin corresponded with the increasing of BMP-2 gene expression on the SLA titanium surface in ED-OS-SIM culture medium. The ED cell culture model provided a well-defined platform for investigating the effects of hormones and growth factors on cells and titanium surface interaction. Titanium, the SLA surface, and simvastatin

Spine Instability Neoplastic Score: agreement across different medical and surgical specialties.

Science.gov (United States)

Arana, Estanislao; Kovacs, Francisco M; Royuela, Ana; Asenjo, Beatriz; Pérez-Ramírez, Úrsula; Zamora, Javier

2016-05-01

Spinal instability is an acknowledged complication of spinal metastases; in spite of recent suggested criteria, it is not clearly defined in the literature. This study aimed to assess intra and interobserver agreement when using the Spine Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS) by all physicians involved in its management. Independent multicenter reliability study for the recently created SINS, undertaken with a panel of medical oncologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and radiation oncologists, was carried out. Ninety patients with biopsy-proven spinal metastases and magnetic resonance imaging, reviewed at the multidisciplinary tumor board of our institution, were included. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used for SINS score agreement. Fleiss kappa statistic was used to assess agreement on the location of the most affected vertebral level; agreement on the SINS category ("stable," "potentially stable," or "unstable"); and overall agreement with the classification established by tumor board. Clinical data and imaging were provided to 83 specialists in 44 hospitals across 14 Spanish regions. No assessment criteria were pre-established. Each clinician assessed the SINS score twice, with a minimum 6-week interval. Clinicians were blinded to assessments made by other specialists and to their own previous assessment. Subgroup analyses were performed by clinicians' specialty, experience (≤7, 8-13, ≥14 years), and hospital category (four levels according to size and complexity). This study was supported by Kovacs Foundation. Intra and interobserver agreement on the location of the most affected levels was "almost perfect" (κ>0.94). Intra-observer agreement on the SINS score was "excellent" (ICC=0.77), whereas interobserver agreement was "moderate" (ICC=0.55). Intra-observer agreement in SINS category was "substantial" (k=0.61), whereas interobserver agreement was "moderate" (k=0.42). Overall agreement with the tumor board classification

Response of the banana passion fruit (Passiflora tripartita var. mollissima to different levels of nitrogen, potassium and magnesium

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Ánge Lizarazo

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In order to observe the effects of N, K, and Mg on dry mass (DM allocation, canopy growth and nutritional deficiency symptom expression of the banana passion fruit (Passiflora tripartita var. mollissima, three levels of fertilization were evaluated: none (0, low (1 and high (2 of each element, and compared to complete fertilization (control, arranged in a randomized complete block design. Banana passion fruit plants were transplanted to plastic pots, containing a substrate of quartz sand, with irrigation twice a week and fertigation once a week. The evaluated variables were total dry weight (TDW, percentage of dry mass allocation, leaf area (LA, number of leaves (NL, specific leaf area (SLA and leaf area ratio (LAR. In addition, a photographic record was taken to recognize the symptomatology in the leaves. The absence of N, K and Mg affected the accumulation of DM, whereas the high nutrient level allowed for the greatest gain in DM only with N, while with K and Mg, it was reduced, indicating that these doses may be too excessive. The distribution pattern of DM with the N treatments corresponded to the model proposed by Thornley, accumulating more DM in the root. With the K and Mg levels, the distribution pattern was similar with the absence of these nutrients causing higher DM accumulation in the above-ground plant parts. The leaf variables NL and LA were reduced with all three elements at the zero nutrient level, whereas the high indices of SLA and LAR revealed a low gain of DM. Deprivation of each nutrient showed characteristic symptoms on the leaves, mainly chlorosis with different patterns, necrosis and reduced LA

Evaluation of an advanced-practice physiotherapist in triaging patients with lumbar spine pain: surgeon-physiotherapist level of agreement and patient satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Robarts, Susan; Stratford, Paul; Kennedy, Deborah; Malcolm, Barry; Finkelstein, Joel

2017-08-01

Surgery for lumbar spine pain is indicated for specific etiologies. Given the majority of individuals referred to spine surgeons are not surgical candidates, care delivery is inefficient, with consultations being of limited value for most. Using specially trained physiotherapists in triage is a human resource strategy that may optimize surgeons' time and the patient experience. An advanced-practice physiotherapist (APP) and a surgeon assessed consecutive patients with lumbar spine pain presenting at an academic health centre's spine surgery clinic. The second assessor was blinded to the outcome of the first. We used the κ statistic to evaluate surgeon-APP level of chance-corrected agreement concerning patients' need for a surgical consultation. To assess satisfaction with the APP, patients completed a modified version of the validated Visit-specific Questionnaire. The sample included 102 participants (54 women) with a mean age of 54.3 ± 14.3 years and a mean Oswestry Disability Index score of 35.4 ± 16.6. The assessors' overall agreement was 86%. The κ coefficient for the need for a surgical consultation was 0.69 (95% confidence interval 0.54-0.84). The APP identified that 77% of patients did not require a surgical consultation. Twenty-one patients underwent surgery. Satisfaction scores for the APP were very high (mean score 92 out of 100). In triaging patients with lumbar spine pain, the APP and surgeon had a high level of agreement. An APP performing triage at a surgical centre can effectively reduce wait lists by 70%, reserving surgical consultations for those patients in whom they are indicated.

On description of contracts and agreements in the context of SOA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laima Paliulionienė

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The issue of making contracts between services in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA arises naturally, because in real life services are subjects for negotiation and contracting. The notion of contract in SOA is rather misleading, because usually means just technical specification – input and output parameters, pre- and postconditions. However, there are also other aspects of contract. Service Level Agreements (SLAs often are used together with technical contract. SLAs describes the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier, laying out the metrics by which that service is measured, the remedies or penalties in case the agreed-upon levels are not achieved. The paper aim to clear up the notions of contract and agreement in SOA, discusses the properties of languages that are used to specify contacts and agreements, paying special attention to their legal aspects and comparing contract features in WS-Agreement ir WSLA.

Implementation Plan for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the Federal Facility Agreement, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-09-01

This document summarizes the progress that has been made to date in implementing the plans and schedules for meeting the Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) commitments for the Liquid Low-Level Waste (LLLW) System at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). These commitments were initially submitted in ES/ER-17 ampersand Dl, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Information presented in this document provides a comprehensive summary to facilitate understanding of the FFA compliance program for LLLW tank systems and to present plans and schedules associated with remediation, through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process, of LLLW tank systems that have been removed from service. ORNL has a comprehensive program underway to upgrade the LLLW system as necessary to meet the FFA requirements. The tank systems that are removed from service are being investigated and remediated through the CERCLA process. Waste and risk characterizations have been submitted. Additional data will be prepared and submitted to EPA/TDEC as tanks are taken out of service and as required by the remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process. The plans and schedules for implementing the FFA compliance program that were submitted in ES/ER-17 ampersand Dl, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste tanks Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are updated in this document. Chapter 1 provides general background information and philosophies that lead to the plans and schedules that appear in Chaps. 2 through 5

Increasing Capacity Exploitation in Food Supply Chains Using Grid Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Volk, Eugen; Müller, Marcus; Jacob, Ansger; Racz, Peter; Waldburger, Martin

Food supply chains today are characterized by fixed trade relations with long term contracts established between heterogeneous supply chain companies. Production and logistics capacities of these companies are often utilized in an economically inefficient manner only. In addition, increased consumer awareness in food safety issues renders supply chain management even more challenging, since integrated tracking and tracing along the whole food supply chain is needed. Facing these issues of supply chain management complexity and completely documented product quality, this paper proposes a full lifecycle solution for dynamic capacity markets based on concepts used in the field of Grid [1], like management of Virtual Organization (VO) combined with Service Level Agreement (SLA). The solution enables the cost-efficient utilization of real world capacities (e.g., production capacities or logistics facilities) by using a simple, browser-based portal. Users are able to enter into product-specific negotiations with buyers and suppliers of a food supply chain, and to obtain real-time access to product information including SLA evaluation reports. Thus, business opportunities in wider market access, process innovation, and trustworthy food products are offered for participating supply chain companies.

The association between team-level social capital and individual-level work engagement: Differences between subtypes of social capital and the impact of intra-team agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Annette; Clausen, Thomas; Borg, Vilhelm

2018-04-01

The study explored the association between team-level social capital and individual-level work engagement. Questionnaire data were collected from six companies in the dairy industry. Seven hundred seventy-two participants divided into 65 teams were included. In confirmatory factor analyses, we found a superior model fit to a four dimensional model of social capital: bonding social capital, bridging social capital and two types of linking social capital. The results showed a positive association between all subtypes of social capital at the team level and work engagement at the individual level. However, this association only remained significant for linking social capital in relation the workplace as a whole when we adjusted for psychosocial working conditions. The level of intra-team agreement in social capital score did not moderate the association between social capital and work engagement. In conclusion, the results provide further support for previous findings suggesting a positive association between social capital and work engagement. They add to the existing knowledge by suggesting that linking social capital in relation to the workplace is the most important explanatory variable for work engagement, thus emphasizing the need to distinguish between subtypes of social capital in research and practice. © 2018 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

International Environmental Agreements: Emissions Trade, Safety Valves and Escape Clauses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karp, Larry; Zhao, Jinhua

2010-01-01

We explain how the structure of multi-national or multi-regional environmental agreements affect their chance of success. Trade in emissions permits has ambiguous and in some cases surprising effects on both the equilibrium level of abatement, and on the ability to persuade nations or regions to participate in environmental agreements. An escape clause policy and a safety valve policy have essentially the same properties when membership in environmental agreement is pre-determined, but they create markedly different effects on the incentives to join such an agreement. The two policies lead to a qualitative difference in the leverage that a potential member of the agreement exercises on other members

Parent-Child Agreement on Parent-to-Child Maltreatment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Compier-de Block, Laura H.C.G.; Alink, Lenneke R.A.; Linting, Mariëlle; van den Berg, Lisa J.M.; Elzinga, Bernet M.; Voorthuis, Alexandra; Tollenaar, Marieke S.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.

2017-01-01

Parent-child agreement on child maltreatment was examined in a multigenerational study. Questionnaires on perpetrated and experienced child maltreatment were completed by 138 parent-child pairs. Multi-level analyses were conducted to explore whether parents and children agreed about levels of

Intramodality and intermodality agreement in radiography and computed tomography of equine distal limb fractures.

Science.gov (United States)

Crijns, C P; Martens, A; Bergman, H-J; van der Veen, H; Duchateau, L; van Bree, H J J; Gielen, I M V L

2014-01-01

Computed tomography (CT) is increasingly accessible in equine referral hospitals. To document the level of agreement within and between radiography and CT in characterising equine distal limb fractures. Retrospective descriptive study. Images from horses that underwent radiographic and CT evaluation for suspected distal limb fractures were reviewed, including 27 horses and 3 negative controls. Using Cohen's kappa and weighted kappa analysis, the level of agreement among 4 observers for a predefined set of diagnostic characteristics for radiography and CT separately and for the level of agreement between the 2 imaging modalities were documented. Both CT and radiography had very good intramodality agreement in identifying fractures, but intermodality agreement was lower. There was good intermodality and intramodality agreement for anatomical localisation and the identification of fracture displacement. Agreement for articular involvement, fracture comminution and fracture fragment number was towards the lower limit of good agreement. There was poor to fair intermodality agreement regarding fracture orientation, fracture width and coalescing cracks; intramodality agreement was higher for CT than for radiography for these features. Further studies, including comparisons with surgical and/or post mortem findings, are required to determine the sensitivity and specificity of CT and radiography in the diagnosis and characterisation of equine distal limb fractures. © 2013 EVJ Ltd.

Agreement and Anti-Agreement in Berber: A Multiple-Feature Inheritance Account

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saleem Abdelhady

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study proposes understanding Agreement and Anti-Agreement in Berber from Multi-Feature Inheritance (MFI account following Branigan’s (2016 recent approach. The study aims to bridge a misunderstanding in the literature where it has been assumed that Feature Inheritance (FI can only account for Agreement relations while Anti-agreement relations can only be established by a direct Agree between C as a probe and its goal. Under MFI, it can be argued that FI can account for all aspects of Agreement/Anti-agreement. The study, therefore, presents a unification of the three mechanisms proposed by Ouali (2008. The new approach is tested on data from Berber.

Legal issues in clouds: towards a risk inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Djemame, Karim; Barnitzke, Benno; Corrales, Marcelo; Kiran, Mariam; Jiang, Ming; Armstrong, Django; Forgó, Nikolaus; Nwankwo, Iheanyi

2013-01-28

Cloud computing technologies have reached a high level of development, yet a number of obstacles still exist that must be overcome before widespread commercial adoption can become a reality. In a cloud environment, end users requesting services and cloud providers negotiate service-level agreements (SLAs) that provide explicit statements of all expectations and obligations of the participants. If cloud computing is to experience widespread commercial adoption, then incorporating risk assessment techniques is essential during SLA negotiation and service operation. This article focuses on the legal issues surrounding risk assessment in cloud computing. Specifically, it analyses risk regarding data protection and security, and presents the requirements of an inherent risk inventory. The usefulness of such a risk inventory is described in the context of the OPTIMIS project.

Observer agreement in pediatric semiquantitative vertebral fracture diagnosis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siminoski, Kerry [University of Alberta, Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging and Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Edmonton (Canada); Lentle, Brian [University of British Columbia, Department of Radiology, Vancouver (Canada); BC Children' s Hospital, Department of Radiology, Vancouver (Canada); Matzinger, Mary Ann; Shenouda, Nazih [University of Ottawa, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Ottawa (Canada); Children' s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Department of Medical Imaging, Ottawa (Canada); Ward, Leanne M. [University of Ottawa, Department of Pediatrics, Children' s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa (Canada); Children' s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Research Institute, Ottawa (Canada); Collaboration: The Canadian STOPP Consortium

2014-04-15

The Genant semiquantitative (GSQ) method has been a standard procedure for diagnosis of vertebral fractures in adults but has only recently been shown to be of clinical utility in children. Observer agreement using the GSQ method in this age group has not been described. To evaluate observer agreement on vertebral readability and vertebral fracture diagnosis using the GSQ method in pediatric vertebral morphometry. Spine radiographs of 186 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were evaluated independently by three radiologists using the same GSQ methodology as in adults. A subset of 100 radiographs was evaluated on two occasions. An average of 4.7% of vertebrae were unreadable for the three radiologists. Intraobserver Cohen's kappa (κ) on readability ranged from 0.434 to 0.648 at the vertebral level and from 0.416 to 0.611 at the patient level, while interobserver κ for readability had a range of 0.330 to 0.504 at the vertebral level and 0.295 to 0.467 at the patient level. Intraobserver κ for the presence of vertebral fracture had a range of 0.529 to 0.726 at the vertebral level and was 0.528 to 0.767 at the patient level. Interobserver κ for fracture at the vertebral level ranged from 0.455 to 0.548 and from 0.433 to 0.486 at the patient level. Most κ values for both intra- and interobserver agreement in applying the GSQ method to pediatric spine radiographs were in the moderate to substantial range, comparable to the performance of the technique in adult studies. The GSQ method should be considered for use in pediatric research and clinical practice. (orig.)

Observer agreement in pediatric semiquantitative vertebral fracture diagnosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siminoski, Kerry; Lentle, Brian; Matzinger, Mary Ann; Shenouda, Nazih; Ward, Leanne M.

2014-01-01

The Genant semiquantitative (GSQ) method has been a standard procedure for diagnosis of vertebral fractures in adults but has only recently been shown to be of clinical utility in children. Observer agreement using the GSQ method in this age group has not been described. To evaluate observer agreement on vertebral readability and vertebral fracture diagnosis using the GSQ method in pediatric vertebral morphometry. Spine radiographs of 186 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were evaluated independently by three radiologists using the same GSQ methodology as in adults. A subset of 100 radiographs was evaluated on two occasions. An average of 4.7% of vertebrae were unreadable for the three radiologists. Intraobserver Cohen's kappa (κ) on readability ranged from 0.434 to 0.648 at the vertebral level and from 0.416 to 0.611 at the patient level, while interobserver κ for readability had a range of 0.330 to 0.504 at the vertebral level and 0.295 to 0.467 at the patient level. Intraobserver κ for the presence of vertebral fracture had a range of 0.529 to 0.726 at the vertebral level and was 0.528 to 0.767 at the patient level. Interobserver κ for fracture at the vertebral level ranged from 0.455 to 0.548 and from 0.433 to 0.486 at the patient level. Most κ values for both intra- and interobserver agreement in applying the GSQ method to pediatric spine radiographs were in the moderate to substantial range, comparable to the performance of the technique in adult studies. The GSQ method should be considered for use in pediatric research and clinical practice. (orig.)

Reliability and Agreement in Student Ratings of the Class Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Peter M.; Christ, Theodore J.

2016-01-01

The current study estimated the reliability and agreement of student ratings of the classroom environment obtained using the Responsive Environmental Assessment for Classroom Teaching (REACT; Christ, Nelson, & Demers, 2012; Nelson, Demers, & Christ, 2014). Coefficient alpha, class-level reliability, and class agreement indices were…

Derogation clauses on wages in sectoral collective agreements in seven European countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keune, M.

2010-01-01

This report looks at the specific case of company-level agreements deviating from (inter)sectoral wage agreements. The possibility to deviate from pay norms set under intersectoral or sectoral agreements has received growing attention in the policy debate since the present economic and financial

Differentiation and cytokine synthesis of human alveolar osteoblasts compared to osteoblast-like cells (MG63) in response to titanium surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Rausch-fan, Xiaohui; Qu, Zhe; Wieland, Marco; Matejka, Michael; Schedle, Andreas

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different implant surface topographies and chemistries on the expression of differentiation/proliferation markers on MG63 cells and primary human alveolar osteoblasts. Hydrophobic acid-etched (A) and hydrophobic coarse-grit-blasted, acid-etched (SLA) surfaces and hydrophilic acid-etched (modA) and hydrophilic coarse-grit-blasted (modSLA) surfaces were produced. Thereby, modA and modSLA surfaces were rinsed under nitrogen protection and stored in a sealed glass tube containing isotonic NaCl solution at pH 4-6. Tissue culture plates without specimens served as controls. The behavior of MG63 cells and primary human alveolar osteoblasts (AOB) grown on all surfaces was compared through determination of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, cell proliferation ((3)H-thymidin incorporation, MTT colorimetric assay) and expression of osteocalcin (OC), osteoprotegerin (OPG), transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta(1)) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), detected with commercial available test kits. Proliferation of MG63 and primary cells was highest on controls, followed by A surfaces, modA and SLA surfaces being almost on the same level and lowest on modSLA surfaces. modSLA surfaces exhibited highest ALP and OC production, followed by SLA, modA and A surfaces. Proliferation and OC production were comparable for MG63 cells and AOB. OPG, TGF-beta(1) and VEGF produced on primary cells showed a slightly different rank order on different surfaces compared to MG63 cells. modSLA still showed the highest production of OPG, TGF-beta(1) and VEGF, but was followed by modA, SLA and A. Statistical significance was checked by ANOVA (pmodA surfaces showed enhanced expression of OPG, TGF-beta(1) and VEGF on MG63 cells compared to primary human alveolar osteoblasts. Overall, the lowest proliferation rates and the highest expressions of differentiation markers and growth factor productions were observed on modSLA.

Inter-Rater Agreement of Auscultation, Palpable Fremitus, and Ventilator Waveform Sawtooth Patterns Between Clinicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Marc P; Martí, Joan-Daniel; Ntoumenopoulos, George

2016-10-01

Clinicians often use numerous bedside assessments for secretion retention in participants who are receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. This study aimed to evaluate inter-rater agreement between clinicians when using standard clinical assessments of secretion retention and whether differences in clinician experience influenced inter-rater agreement. Seventy-one mechanically ventilated participants were assessed by a research clinician and by one of 13 ICU clinicians. Each clinician conducted a standardized assessment of lung auscultation, palpation for chest-wall (rhonchal) fremitus, and ventilator inspiratory/expiratory flow-time waveforms for the sawtooth pattern. On the presence of breath sounds, agreement ranged from absolute to moderate in the upper zones and the lower zones, respectively. Kappa values for abnormal and adventitious lung sounds achieved moderate agreement in the upper zones, less than chance agreement to substantial agreement in the middle zones, and moderate agreement to almost perfect agreement in the lower zones. Moderate to almost perfect agreement was established for palpable fremitus in the upper zones, moderate to substantial agreement in the middle zones, and less than chance to moderate agreement in the lower zones. Inter-rater agreement on the presence of expiratory sawtooth pattern identification showed moderate agreement. The level of percentage agreement between the research and ICU clinicians for each respiratory assessment studied did not relate directly to level of clinical experience. Inter-rater agreement for all assessments showed variability between lung regions but maintained reasonable percentage agreement in mechanically ventilated participants. The level of percentage agreement achieved between clinicians did not directly relate to clinical experience for all respiratory assessments. Therefore, these respiratory assessments should not necessarily be viewed in isolation but interpreted within the context of a full

Implementation plan for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the Federal Facility Agreement, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-06-01

Plans and schedules for meeting the Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) commitments for the Liquid Low-Level Waste (LLLW) System at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) were initially submitted in ES/ER-17 ampersand D1, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The information presented in the current document summarizes the progress that has been made to date and provides a comprehensive summary to facilitate understanding of the FFA compliance program for LLLW tank systems and to present the plans and schedules associated with the remediation, through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process, of LLLW tank systems that have been removed from service. A comprehensive program is under way at ORNL to upgrade the LLLW system as necessary to meet the FFA requirements. The tank systems that are removed from service are being investigated and remediated through the CERCLA process. Waste and risk characterizations have been submitted. Additional data will be submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (EPA/TDEC) as tanks are taken out of service and as required by the remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process. The plans and schedules for implementing the FFA compliance program that were originally submitted in ES/ER-17 ampersand D 1, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste tanks Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are updated in the present document. Chapter I provides general background information and philosophies that lead to the plans and schedules that appear in Chaps. 2 through 5

The myriad challenges of the Paris Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Dann; Allen, Myles R.; Hall, Jim W.; Muller, Benito; Rajamani, Lavanya; Le Quéré, Corinne

2018-05-01

The much awaited and intensely negotiated Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 by the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement set out a more ambitious long-term temperature goal than many had anticipated, implying more stringent emissions reductions that have been under-explored by the research community. By its very nature a multidisciplinary challenge, filling the knowledge gap requires not only climate scientists, but the whole Earth system science community, as well as economists, engineers, lawyers, philosophers, politicians, emergency planners and others to step up. To kick start cross-disciplinary discussions, the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute focused its 25th anniversary conference upon meeting the challenges of the Paris Agreement for science and society. This theme issue consists of review papers, opinion pieces and original research from some of the presentations within that meeting, covering a wide range of issues underpinning the Paris Agreement. This article is part of the theme issue `The Paris Agreement: understanding the physical and social challenges for a warming world of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels'.

Application of Rapid Prototyping Methods to High-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, A. M.

1998-01-01

This study was undertaken in MSFC's 14-Inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel to determine if rapid prototyping methods could be used in the design and manufacturing of high speed wind tunnel models in direct testing applications, and if these methods would reduce model design/fabrication time and cost while providing models of high enough fidelity to provide adequate aerodynamic data, and of sufficient strength to survive the test environment. Rapid prototyping methods utilized to construct wind tunnel models in a wing-body-tail configuration were: fused deposition method using both ABS plastic and PEEK as building materials, stereolithography using the photopolymer SL-5170, selective laser sintering using glass reinforced nylon, and laminated object manufacturing using plastic reinforced with glass and 'paper'. This study revealed good agreement between the SLA model, the metal model with an FDM-ABS nose, an SLA nose, and the metal model for most operating conditions, while the FDM-ABS data diverged at higher loading conditions. Data from the initial SLS model showed poor agreement due to problems in post-processing, resulting in a different configuration. A second SLS model was tested and showed relatively good agreement. It can be concluded that rapid prototyping models show promise in preliminary aerodynamic development studies at subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speeds.

Multilateralising TRIPs-Plus Agreements : is the US strategy a failure?

OpenAIRE

Morin, Jean-Frédéric

2009-01-01

This article examines the current wave of US bilateral agreements with respect to their strategic and political value at the plurilateral level. The US government has explicitly recognized its objective of leveraging bilateral agreements in order to influence regional and multilateral negotiations. Although it may be too early to assess the full effectiveness of this US strategy, the article argues that there are clear signs that the exploitation of bilateral agreements will not independently...

A Cross-linguistic Perspective on Questions in German and French Adult Second Language Acquisition

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Matthias Bonnesen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Several studies have been conducted to try and understand and explain the morphological and syntactic aspects of adult second language acquisition (SLA. Two prominent hypotheses that have been put forward concerning late L2 speakers' knowledge of inflectional morphology and of related functional categories and their feature values are the Impaired Representation Hypothesis (IRH and the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH.The cross-linguistic comparison of the acquisition of questions in German and French provided in this study offers a new perspective to differences and similarities between first language acquisition (FLA and adult SLA. Comparing a Germanic and a Romance L2, differing not only in their overall linguistic properties (such as i. e. OV/VO, V2, clitics, but explicitly in the formation and regularities of questions, we present striking similarities in adult SLA, and irrespective of the first and the second languages and of instructed versus non-instructed learning. The investigation of the adult SLA of morphological and structural aspects of questions in French and German strengthens the assumption that the acquisition of morphology and syntax is connected in French and German FLA but is disentangled in adult SLA. Our data reveal variability of question syntax, and with the syntactic position of the verb in particular. Instead of discovering the correct position of the verb at a certain stage of acquisition which can be accounted for by parameter setting in FLA, the adult learners gradually approach the target word order but still exhibit a great deal of variation after several years of exposure to the L2.The findings provided here contradict the predictions of the MSIH (Prévost/White 2000; Ionin/Wexler 2002; among others, for not only morphological features, but syntactic finiteness of finiteness are problematic in adult SLA, and that the Impairment Representation Hypothesis (IRH (Beck 1998; Eubank 1993/1994; among others

12 CFR 533.5 - Related agreements considered a single agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS § 533.5 Related agreements considered a single agreement... entered into within the same 12-month period; and (3) Are each in fulfillment of the CRA. (b... in fulfillment of the CRA, if the contracts were negotiated in a coordinated fashion and a NGEP is a...

12 CFR 35.5 - Related agreements considered a single agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS § 35.5 Related agreements considered a single agreement... into within the same 12-month period; and (3) Are each in fulfillment of the CRA. (b) Substantively... the CRA, if the contracts were negotiated in a coordinated fashion and a NGEP is a party to each...

Intra- and interspecific trait variations reveal functional relationships between specific leaf area and soil niche within a subtropical forest.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Dong; Chen, Yongfa; Zhao, Kangning; Cornelissen, J H C; Chu, Chengjin

2018-02-03

How functional traits vary with environmental conditions is of fundamental importance in trait-based community ecology. However, how intraspecific variability in functional traits is connected to species distribution is not well understood. This study investigated inter- and intraspecific variation of a key functional trait, i.e. specific leaf area (leaf area per unit dry mass; SLA), in relation to soil factors and tested if trait variation is more closely associated with specific environmental regimes for low-variability species than for high-variability species. In a subtropical evergreen forest plot (50 ha, southern China), 106 700 leaves from 5335 individuals of 207 woody species were intensively collected, with 30 individuals sampled for most species to ensure a sufficient sample size representative of intraspecific variability. Soil conditions for each plant were estimated by kriging from more than 1700 observational soil locations across the plot. Intra- and interspecific variation in SLA were separately related to environmental factors. Based on the species-specific variation of SLA, species were categorized into three groups: low-, intermediate- and high-intraspecific variability. Intraspecific habitat ranges and the strength of SLA-habitat relationships were compared among these three groups. Interspecific variation in SLA overrides the intraspecific variation (77 % vs. 8 %). Total soil nitrogen (TN, positively) and total organic carbon (TOC, negatively) are the most important explanatory factors for SLA variation at both intra- and interspecific levels. SLA, both within and between species, decreases with decreasing soil nitrogen availability. As predicted, species with low intraspecific variability in SLA have narrower habitat ranges with respect to soil TOC and TN and show a stronger SLA-habitat association than high-variability species. For woody plants low SLA is a phenotypic and probably adaptive response to nitrogen stress, which drives the

Comparison of the Accuracy of 3D Printed Prototypes Using the Stereolithography (SLA Method with the Digital CAD Models

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Yankov Emil

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Each printing method and the materials used for prototype construction have distinct advantages and drawbacks. A large part of the 3D printer producers indicates high printing accuracy (positioning accuracies from 100 μm up to 1 μm and layer thickness from 100 μm tо 5 μm. In the process of layers deposition, the material is softened, melted or irradiated with a certain light source to polymerize. Thus, during the printing process, the volume of the materials is changing causing shrinking or expansion which often leads to the occurrence of precision errors in the prototype as opposed to the digital model. This phenomenon leads to distortions of the printed object known as a curling effect. Certain chemical compounds are added by the producers to multiple materials in order to enhance their mechanical and technological properties. However, this often results in changes of some printing parameters influencing the precision and quality of the manufactured object. The aim of the particular study is to establish the allowances with regard to the accuracy during manufacturing precise objects used in micro technologies as well as the necessary adjustments in dimensions because of the shrinkage and the positioning of the SLA 3D printed parts from photopolymer material.

Risk-sharing agreements in the EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Traulsen, Janine Marie; Traulsen, Janine Marie; Holm-Larsen, Tove

2017-01-01

Abstract Objective Our objectives were to explore the changes in the level of interest in risk-sharing agreements (RSAs) in the EU during the last 15 years and the underlying reasons for these changes. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science...

In utero exposure to a low concentration of diesel exhaust affects spontaneous locomotor activity and monoaminergic system in male mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Odagiri Takashi

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Epidemiological studies have suggested that suspended particulate matter (SPM causes detrimental health effects such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and that diesel exhaust particles from automobiles is a major contributor to SPM. It has been reported that neonatal and adult exposure to diesel exhaust damages the central nervous system (CNS and induces behavioral alteration. Recently, we have focused on the effects of prenatal exposure to diesel exhaust on the CNS. In this study, we examined the effects of prenatal exposure to low concentration of diesel exhaust on behaviour and the monoaminergic neuron system. Spontaneous locomotor activity (SLA and monoamine levels in the CNS were assessed. Methods Mice were exposed prenatally to a low concentration of diesel exhaust (171 μg DEP/m3 for 8 hours/day on gestational days 2-16. SLA was assessed for 3 days in 4-week-old mice by analysis of the release of temperature-associated infrared rays. At 5 weeks of age, the mice were sacrificed and the brains were used for analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC. Results and Discussion Mice exposed to a low concentration of diesel exhaust showed decreased SLA in the first 60 minutes of exposure. Over the entire test period, the mice exposed prenatally to diesel exhaust showed decreased daily SLA compared to that in control mice, and the SLA in each 3 hour period was decreased when the lights were turned on. Neurotransmitter levels, including dopamine and noradrenaline, were increased in the prefrontal cortex (PFC in the exposure group compared to the control group. The metabolites of dopamine and noradrenaline also increased in the PFC. Neurotransmitter turnover, an index of neuronal activity, of dopamine and noradrenaline was decreased in various regions of the CNS, including the striatum, in the exposure group. The serum corticosterone level was not different between groups. The data suggest that decreased

46 CFR 298.38 - Partnership agreements and limited liability company agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Partnership agreements and limited liability company... liability company agreements. Partnership and limited liability company agreements must be in form and...) Duration of the entity; (b) Adequate partnership or limited liability company funding requirements and...

Technology Partnership Agreements | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Partnership Agreements Technology Partnership Agreements Looking for Funding? We do not fund any projects under a technology partnership agreement. The partner provides the necessary resources and, in using technology partnership agreements. See a summary of our Fiscal Year 2017 technology partnership

Measuring the level of agreement between a veterinary and a human point-of-care glucometer and a laboratory blood analyzer in Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis).

Science.gov (United States)

Acierno, Mark J; Schnellbacher, Rodney; Tully, Thomas N

2012-12-01

Although abnormalities in blood glucose concentrations in avian species are not as common as they are in mammals, the inability to provide point-of-care glucose measurement likely results in underreporting and missed treatment opportunities. A veterinary glucometer that uses different optimization codes for specific groups of animals has been produced. To obtain data for a psittacine bird-specific optimization code, as well as to calculate agreement between the veterinary glucometer, a standard human glucometer, and a laboratory analyzer, blood samples were obtained from 25 Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis) in a 2-phase study. In the initial phase, blood samples were obtained from 20 parrots twice at a 2-week interval. For each sample, the packed cell volume was determined, and the blood glucose concentration was measured by the veterinary glucometer. The rest of each sample was placed into a lithium heparin microtainer tube and centrifuged, and plasma was removed and frozen at -30 degrees C. Within 5 days, tubes were thawed, and blood glucose concentrations were measured with a laboratory analyzer. The data from both procedures were used to develop a psittacine bird-specific code. For the second phase of the study, the same procedure was repeated twice at a 2-week interval in 25 birds to determine agreement between the veterinary glucometer, a standard human glucometer, and a laboratory analyzer. Neither glucometer was in good agreement with the laboratory analyzer (veterinary glucometer bias, 9.0; level of agreement, -38.1 to 56.2; standard glucometer bias, 69.4; level of agreement -17.8 to 156.7). Based on these results, the use of handheld glucometers in the diagnostic testing of Hispaniolan Amazon parrots and other psittacine birds cannot be recommended.

Differential Expression of Osteo-Modulatory Molecules in Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells in Response to Modified Titanium Surfaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

So Yeon Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study assessed differential gene expression of signaling molecules involved in osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs subjected to different titanium (Ti surface types. PDLSCs were cultured on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS, and four types of Ti discs (PT, SLA, hydrophilic PT (pmodPT, and hydrophilic SLA (modSLA with no osteoinductive factor and then osteogenic activity, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP activity, mRNA expression of runt-related gene 2, osterix, FOSB, FRA1, and protein levels of osteopontin and collagen type IA, were examined. The highest osteogenic activity appeared in PDLSCs cultured on SLA, compared with the TCPS and other Ti surfaces. The role of surface properties in affecting signaling molecules to modulate PDLSC behavior was determined by examining the regulation of Wnt pathways. mRNA expression of the canonical Wnt signaling molecules, Wnt3a and β-catenin, was higher on SLA and modSLA than on smooth surfaces, but gene expression of the calcium-dependent Wnt signaling molecules Wnt5a, calmodulin, and NFATc1 was increased significantly on PT and pmodPT. Moreover, integrin α2/β1, sonic hedgehog, and Notch signaling molecules were affected differently by each surface modification. In conclusion, surface roughness and hydrophilicity can affect differential Wnt pathways and signaling molecules, targeting the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs.

DUACS: Toward High Resolution Sea Level Products

Science.gov (United States)

Faugere, Y.; Gerald, D.; Ubelmann, C.; Claire, D.; Pujol, M. I.; Antoine, D.; Desjonqueres, J. D.; Picot, N.

2016-12-01

The DUACS system produces, as part of the CNES/SALP project, and the Copernicus Marine Environment and Monitoring Service, high quality multimission altimetry Sea Level products for oceanographic applications, climate forecasting centers, geophysic and biology communities... These products consist in directly usable and easy to manipulate Level 3 (along-track cross-calibrated SLA) and Level 4 products (multiple sensors merged as maps or time series) and are available in global and regional version (Mediterranean Sea, Arctic, European Shelves …).The quality of the products is today limited by the altimeter technology "Low Resolution Mode" (LRM), and the lack of available observations. The launch of 2 new satellites in 2016, Jason-3 and Sentinel-3A, opens new perspectives. Using the global Synthetic Aperture Radar mode (SARM) coverage of S3A and optimizing the LRM altimeter processing (retracking, editing, ...) will allow us to fully exploit the fine-scale content of the altimetric missions. Thanks to this increase of real time altimetry observations we will also be able to improve Level-4 products by combining these new Level-3 products and new mapping methodology, such as dynamic interpolation. Finally these improvements will benefit to downstream products : geostrophic currents, Lagrangian products, eddy atlas… Overcoming all these challenges will provide major upgrades of Sea Level products to better fulfill user needs.

Cross-national agreement on disability weights: the European Disability Weights Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burström Kristina

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Disability weights represent the relative severity of disease stages to be incorporated in summary measures of population health. The level of agreement on disability weights in Western European countries was investigated with different valuation methods. Methods Disability weights for fifteen disease stages were elicited empirically in panels of health care professionals or non-health care professionals with an academic background following a strictly standardised procedure. Three valuation methods were used: a visual analogue scale (VAS; the time trade-off technique (TTO; and the person trade-off technique (PTO. Agreement among England, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden on the three disability weight sets was analysed by means of an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC in the framework of generalisability theory. Agreement among the two types of panels was similarly assessed. Results A total of 232 participants were included. Similar rankings of disease stages across countries were found with all valuation methods. The ICC of country agreement on disability weights ranged from 0.56 [95% CI, 0.52–0.62] with PTO to 0.72 [0.70–0.74] with VAS and 0.72 [0.69–0.75] with TTO. The ICC of agreement between health care professionals and non-health care professionals ranged from 0.64 [0.58–0.68] with PTO to 0.73 [0.71–0.75] with VAS and 0.74 [0.72–0.77] with TTO. Conclusions Overall, the study supports a reasonably high level of agreement on disability weights in Western European countries with VAS and TTO methods, which focus on individual preferences, but a lower level of agreement with the PTO method, which focuses more on societal values in resource allocation.

Leveraging the BPEL Event Model to Support QoS-aware Process Execution

Science.gov (United States)

Zaid, Farid; Berbner, Rainer; Steinmetz, Ralf

Business processes executed using compositions of distributed Web Services are susceptible to different fault types. The Web Services Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) is widely used to execute such processes. While BPEL provides fault handling mechanisms to handle functional faults like invalid message types, it still lacks a flexible native mechanism to handle non-functional exceptions associated with violations of QoS levels that are typically specified in a governing Service Level Agreement (SLA), In this paper, we present an approach to complement BPEL's fault handling, where expected QoS levels and necessary recovery actions are specified declaratively in form of Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules. Our main contribution is leveraging BPEL's standard event model which we use as an event space for the created ECA rules. We validate our approach by an extension to an open source BPEL engine.

Level of agreement between methods for measuring moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time in people with obstructive sleep apnea and obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Igelström, Helena; Emtner, Margareta; Lindberg, Eva; Asenlöf, Pernilla

2013-01-01

There is ambiguity about what measures to use to best identify physical activity and sedentary behavior, and agreement between methods for measuring physical activity and sedentary behavior in people with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and obesity has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to examine the level of agreement between an accelerometer and a self-report questionnaire (International Physical Activity Questionnaire [IPAQ]) or a logbook for measuring time spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity and time spent sedentary in people with OSAS and obesity. This prospective study was a psychometric evaluation of agreement between measurement methods. Thirty-nine people who were obese (body mass index: X=36.1 kg/m², SD=4.35) and had moderate to severe OSAS (apnea-hypopnea index of ≥15) were consecutively recruited from a sleep clinic in Sweden. All were treated with continuous positive airway pressure and were waiting for a follow-up sleep evaluation. Agreement between the measurement methods was limited. For physical activity, the mean difference between the accelerometer and the IPAQ was 47 minutes, and the mean difference between the accelerometer and the logbook was 32 minutes. Agreement was limited for sedentary time as well; the mean difference between the accelerometer and the IPAQ was 114 minutes, and the mean difference between the accelerometer and the logbook was 86 minutes. The small sample size may affect the interpretation and generalizability of the results. The results imply that the methods cannot be used interchangeably. A combination of an accelerometer and a daily logbook seems to provide a detailed description of physical activity and sedentary behavior.

48 CFR 225.403 - World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements. 225.403 Section 225.403 Federal Acquisition... FOREIGN ACQUISITION Trade Agreements 225.403 World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and... Government Procurement Agreement, acquire only U.S.-made, qualifying country, or designated country end...

7 CFR 1405.7 - Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Uruguay Round Agreements Act. In the event the outlays by the United States for domestic support measures... level of domestic support provided by the United States complies with the commitments of the United...

THE IMPACT OF BASEL III AGREEMENT ON THE ROMANIAN BANKING SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela SUDACEVSCHI

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Basel III Agreement is a set of regulations on the banking system, which aims to ensure the system stability, by applying new standards on the capital level and on the liquidity level adequacy and also, on the reduction of banking risk, implied by the financial crisis. Romanian commercial banks will be forced, by the Basel III Agreement implementation, to reduce the risk of capital, using the balance sheet restructuring and by improving the capital quality. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of implementing new capital requirements, stipulated by Basel III Agreement, on the Romanian commercial banks, how they will react to the new standards and the decisions they will be able to adopt to respect the standards.

Shared use agreements between municipalities and public schools in the United States, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Omura, John D; Carlson, Susan A; Paul, Prabasaj; Sliwa, Sarah; Onufrak, Stephen J; Fulton, Janet E

2017-02-01

Shared use agreements allow public use of school facilities during non-school hours. Such agreements can cover outdoor facilities alone or may be more comprehensive by also including indoor facilities. Our aim was to: 1) estimate the prevalence of shared use agreements and facility types covered among U.S. municipalities and 2) identify differences in prevalence by municipality characteristics. The 2014 National Survey of Community-based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living is a representative survey of US municipalities (n=2029). Data were analyzed using survey weights to create national estimates. Logistic and multinomial regression models determined odds ratios adjusting for municipality characteristics. Among 1930 municipalities with a school, 41.6% had a shared use agreement as reported by a local official, 45.6% did not, and 12.8% did not know. Significant differences in prevalence existed by population size, rural/urban status, poverty prevalence, median education level, and census region; however, after adjustment for other municipality characteristics significant differences remained only by population size, median education level, and census region. Among municipalities with a shared use agreement, 59.6% covered both outdoor and indoor facilities, 5.5% covered indoor facilities only, and 34.9% covered outdoor facilities only. Opportunities exist to expand the use of shared use agreements particularly in municipalities with small populations, lower education levels, and in the South, and to promote more comprehensive shared use agreements that include both indoor and outdoor facilities. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Indices of agreement between neurosurgeons and a radiologist in interpreting tomography scans in an emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Dourado, Jules Carlos; Pereira, Júlio Leonardo Barbosa; Albuquerque, Lucas Alverne Freitas de; Carvalho, Gervásio Teles Cardos de; Dias, Patrícia; Dias, Laura; Bicalho, Marcos; Magalhães, Pollyana; Dellaretti, Marcos

2015-08-01

The power of interpretation in the analysis of cranial computed tomography (CCT) among neurosurgeons and radiologists has rarely been studied. This study aimed to assess the rate of agreement in the interpretation of CCTs between neurosurgeons and a radiologist in an emergency department. 227 CCT were independently analyzed by two neurosurgeons (NS1 and NS2) and a radiologist (RAD). The level of agreement in interpreting the examination was studied. The Kappa values obtained between NS1 and NS2 and RAD were considered nearly perfect and substantial agreement. The highest levels of agreement when evaluating abnormalities were observed in the identification of tumors, hydrocephalus and intracranial hematomas. The worst levels of agreement were observed for leukoaraiosis and reduced brain volume. For diseases in which the emergency room procedure must be determined, agreement in the interpretation of CCTs between the radiologist and neurosurgeons was satisfactory.

An Efficient Virtual Machine Consolidation Scheme for Multimedia Cloud Computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Guangjie; Que, Wenhui; Jia, Gangyong; Shu, Lei

2016-02-18

Cloud computing has innovated the IT industry in recent years, as it can delivery subscription-based services to users in the pay-as-you-go model. Meanwhile, multimedia cloud computing is emerging based on cloud computing to provide a variety of media services on the Internet. However, with the growing popularity of multimedia cloud computing, its large energy consumption cannot only contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, but also result in the rising of cloud users' costs. Therefore, the multimedia cloud providers should try to minimize its energy consumption as much as possible while satisfying the consumers' resource requirements and guaranteeing quality of service (QoS). In this paper, we have proposed a remaining utilization-aware (RUA) algorithm for virtual machine (VM) placement, and a power-aware algorithm (PA) is proposed to find proper hosts to shut down for energy saving. These two algorithms have been combined and applied to cloud data centers for completing the process of VM consolidation. Simulation results have shown that there exists a trade-off between the cloud data center's energy consumption and service-level agreement (SLA) violations. Besides, the RUA algorithm is able to deal with variable workload to prevent hosts from overloading after VM placement and to reduce the SLA violations dramatically.

Task Classification Based Energy-Aware Consolidation in Clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HeeSeok Choi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We consider a cloud data center, in which the service provider supplies virtual machines (VMs on hosts or physical machines (PMs to its subscribers for computation in an on-demand fashion. For the cloud data center, we propose a task consolidation algorithm based on task classification (i.e., computation-intensive and data-intensive and resource utilization (e.g., CPU and RAM. Furthermore, we design a VM consolidation algorithm to balance task execution time and energy consumption without violating a predefined service level agreement (SLA. Unlike the existing research on VM consolidation or scheduling that applies none or single threshold schemes, we focus on a double threshold (upper and lower scheme, which is used for VM consolidation. More specifically, when a host operates with resource utilization below the lower threshold, all the VMs on the host will be scheduled to be migrated to other hosts and then the host will be powered down, while when a host operates with resource utilization above the upper threshold, a VM will be migrated to avoid using 100% of resource utilization. Based on experimental performance evaluations with real-world traces, we prove that our task classification based energy-aware consolidation algorithm (TCEA achieves a significant energy reduction without incurring predefined SLA violations.

License agreement, employee work

OpenAIRE

Poncová, Veronika

2012-01-01

The rigorous thesis is focused on license agreement and employee work. The aim of the thesis is not only an analysis of the use of a copyrighted work by a person different from the author of the work, but also an analysis of the performance of copyright by a person different from the author of the work. The thesis consists of five chapters. The opening chapter provides a summary of the notion of copyright, its sources at the national and international levels, but also the European Union legis...

Group size effects in two repeated game models of a global climate agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helland, Leif

2002-01-01

What levels of total abatement can one hope for in a global climate agreement. Some potential answers to this question are provided by game theory. This working paper contains a critical discussion of two (prominent) game ,models that answer the question quite pessimistically. Both models take the n-person, infinitely repeated prisoner's dilemma game as their point of departure. The first model is a full information model and utilises the motion of a weakly re negotiation proof equilibrium. This results in the (maybe counterintuitive) prediction that an agreement that can provide high utility to the group will attract less total abatement than an agreement that can only provide low utility to the group. The second model assumes imperfect public information and utilises the notion of a trigger level equilibrium. This results in the (more intuitive) prediction that the level of total abatements will increase with improved verification techniques for a given player set. Still the level of total abatements decrease with an increasing player set for a given verification technique. Empirical implications of the two models are identified and it is argued that one should confront these with experimentally generated data in order to discriminate between the models. One reason for this is that historical data on abatement efforts in a global climate agreement do not exist since no such agreement has entered into force yet. (Author)

Group size effects in two repeated game models of a global climate agreement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helland, Leif

2002-07-01

What levels of total abatement can one hope for in a global climate agreement. Some potential answers to this question are provided by game theory. This working paper contains a critical discussion of two (prominent) game ,models that answer the question quite pessimistically. Both models take the n-person, infinitely repeated prisoner's dilemma game as their point of departure. The first model is a full information model and utilises the motion of a weakly re negotiation proof equilibrium. This results in the (maybe counterintuitive) prediction that an agreement that can provide high utility to the group will attract less total abatement than an agreement that can only provide low utility to the group. The second model assumes imperfect public information and utilises the notion of a trigger level equilibrium. This results in the (more intuitive) prediction that the level of total abatements will increase with improved verification techniques for a given player set. Still the level of total abatements decrease with an increasing player set for a given verification technique. Empirical implications of the two models are identified and it is argued that one should confront these with experimentally generated data in order to discriminate between the models. One reason for this is that historical data on abatement efforts in a global climate agreement do not exist since no such agreement has entered into force yet. (Author)

Apology and forgiveness evolve to resolve failures in cooperative agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Vaquero, Luis A; Han, The Anh; Pereira, Luís Moniz; Lenaerts, Tom

2015-06-09

Making agreements on how to behave has been shown to be an evolutionarily viable strategy in one-shot social dilemmas. However, in many situations agreements aim to establish long-term mutually beneficial interactions. Our analytical and numerical results reveal for the first time under which conditions revenge, apology and forgiveness can evolve and deal with mistakes within ongoing agreements in the context of the Iterated Prisoners Dilemma. We show that, when the agreement fails, participants prefer to take revenge by defecting in the subsisting encounters. Incorporating costly apology and forgiveness reveals that, even when mistakes are frequent, there exists a sincerity threshold for which mistakes will not lead to the destruction of the agreement, inducing even higher levels of cooperation. In short, even when to err is human, revenge, apology and forgiveness are evolutionarily viable strategies which play an important role in inducing cooperation in repeated dilemmas.

Bilateral agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2004-01-01

The bilateral agreements concern Brazil with United States relative to the co operation in nuclear energy, Germany with Russian Federation relative to the elimination and disposal of nuclear weapons; The multilateral agreements concerns the signature of the Protocols to amend the Paris and Brussels Conventions, the multilateral nuclear environmental programme in the Russian Federation, the status of Conventions in the field of nuclear energy. (N.C.)

Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement implementation successes and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shelton, D.C.

1997-01-01

On July 19, 1996 the US Department of Energy (DOE), State of Colorado (CDPHE), and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into an agreement called the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement (RFCA) for the cleanup and closure of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS or Rocky Flats). Major elements of the agreement include: an Integrated Site-Wide Baseline; up to twelve significant enforceable milestones per year; agreed upon soil and water action levels and standards for cleanup; open space as the likely foreseeable land use; the plutonium and TRU waste removed by 2015; streamlined regulatory process; agreement with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to coordinate activities; and a risk reduction focus. Successful implementation of RFCA requires a substantial effort by the parties to change their way of thinking about RFETS and meet the deliverables and commitments. Substantial progress toward Site closure through the implementation of RFCA has been accomplished in the short time since the signing, yet much remains to be done. Much can be learned from the Rocky Flats experience by other facilities in similar situations

Federal Facility Agreement plans and schedules for liquid low-level radioactive waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-03-01

Although the Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) addresses the entire Oak Ridge Reservation, specific requirements are set forth for the liquid low-level radioactive waste (LLLW) storage tanks and their associated piping and equipment, tank systems, at ORNL. The stated objected of the FFA as it relates to these tank systems is to ensure that structural integrity, containment and detection of releases, and source control are maintained pending final remedial action at the site. The FFA requires that leaking LLLW tank systems be immediately removed from service. It also requires the LLLW tank systems that do not meet the design and performance requirements established for secondary containment and leak detection be either upgraded or replaced. The FFA establishes a procedural framework for implementing the environmental laws. For the LLLW tank systems, this framework requires the specified plans and schedules be submitted to EPA and TDEC for approval within 60 days, or in some cases, within 90 days, of the effective date of the agreement

REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION POLICY. CASE STUDY: EU, ASEAN AND NAFTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fora Andreea-Florina

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The large number of regional trade agreements notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO significantly influenced the flow of world trade. By April 2014 there had been notified 583 regional trade agreements to the WTO, of which only 379 are in force. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of regional trade agreements in world trade, especially the importance of establishing a regional competition policy in these agreements. The research methodology used is the analysis of legislation governing preferential trade agreements at the level of WTO, the collection and interpretation of statistical data provided by the WTO Secretariat, the case study, namely the study of literature. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part of the paper examines the basic laws based on which regional trade agreements are notified to the WTO and the evolution of these agreements in the period 1958-2013. The second part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of competition policy in regional trade agreements. In this part of the paper, to highlight the patterns of competition policy adopted under these agreements was analyzed by three case studies of competition policy in the EU, ASEAN and NAFTA. The three case studies have revealed that the three preferential trade agreements present regional competition policies with varying degrees of integration. The most complex form of competition policy is found in the European Union, because we are talking about a centralized model of competition policy. ASEAN presents a partially decentralized model, while NAFTA scrolls with a decentralized model of competition policy. The last part of the paper presents the characteristics of the four models of competition policy identified in the preferential trade agreements in force. It should be emphasized that if the initial preferential trade agreements have not put a great emphasis on the rules of competition policy, practice has shown the importance

48 CFR 25.403 - World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements. 25.403 Section 25.403 Federal Acquisition... 25.403 World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements. (a... in 25.402(a)(1). The WTO GPA and FTAs specify procurement procedures designed to ensure fairness (see...

Nuclear cooperation agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuclear cooperation agreements are reviewed in tabular form, especially agreements with developing countries. The reporting countries are the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, and France. A separate EURATOM list is annexed

Interjudge agreement in videofluoroscopic studies of swallowing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, F; Liss, J M; Siegel, G M

1996-02-01

Videofluoroscopic swallowing examinations of 3 patients with dysphagia were reviewed independently by 10 speech-language pathologists. Prior to viewing each video, clinicians were provided with information about the patient's history, the results of a bedside swallow examination, and oral-facial and oral motor control examinations. Clinicians completed a swallowing observation protocol as they viewed each video. They then recommended, from a list of treatment strategies, intervention techniques that would be most appropriate for each patient. Interjudge agreement was calculated by determining how many clinicians observed a given swallowing event or deficit, and how many recommended a given treatment strategy. Results suggest that the level of interjudge agreement for videofluoroscopic evaluations is not encouragingly high.

Relationship satisfaction and interpartner agreement about acts of physical and psychological aggression: a multilevel analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Graña, José Luis; Cuenca, María Luisa; Redondo, Natalia

2017-08-15

To analyze, in a multilevel context, the impact of individual-level relationship satisfaction on couples' mean reports of aggression and agreement about acts of physical and psychological aggression. We conducted a quota sampling method to recruit a community sample of 2.988 heterosexual adult couples from the Region of Madrid (Spain). The percentages of intimate partner aggression considering the highest report of aggression in the couple were around 60% of psychological aggression and 15% of physical aggression. Couples that used aggressive tactics showed low to moderate levels of agreement about physical and psychological aggression. Multilevel models confirm that women's relationship satisfaction had a significant influence on the level of agreement about acts of psychological aggression, but the same pattern of results was not observed for men. On the other hand, men and women's relationship satisfaction had no significant influence on the level of agreement about physical aggression. Psychological aggression plays a more relevant role in women's relationship satisfaction than physical aggression.

Ecological strategies in california chaparral: Interacting effects of soils, climate, and fire on specific leaf area

Science.gov (United States)

Anacker, Brian; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Ackerly, David; Harrison, Susan; Keeley, Jon E.; Vasey, Michael

2011-01-01

Background: High values of specific leaf area (SLA) are generally associated with high maximal growth rates in resource-rich conditions, such as mesic climates and fertile soils. However, fire may complicate this relationship since its frequency varies with both climate and soil fertility, and fire frequency selects for regeneration strategies (resprouting versus seeding) that are not independent of resource-acquisition strategies. Shared ancestry is also expected to affect the distribution of resource-use and regeneration traits.Aims: We examined climate, soil, and fire as drivers of community-level variation in a key functional trait, SLA, in chaparral in California.Methods: We quantified the phylogenetic, functional, and environmental non-independence of key traits for 87 species in 115 plots.Results: Among species, SLA was higher in resprouters than seeders, although not after phylogeny correction. Among communities, mean SLA was lower in harsh interior climates, but in these climates it was higher on more fertile soils and on more recently burned sites; in mesic coastal climates, mean SLA was uniformly high despite variation in soil fertility and fire history.Conclusions: We conclude that because important correlations exist among both species traits and environmental filters, interpreting the functional and phylogenetic structure of communities may require an understanding of complex interactive effects.

Australian gay men's satisfaction with sexual agreements: the roles of relationship quality, jealousy, and monogamy attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Warwick

2014-05-01

This study examined whether relationship quality, dispositional jealousy, and attitudes towards monogamy were associated with gay men's satisfaction with the agreements they have in their relationships about extra-dyadic sex. Three types of sexual agreement were examined: closed (no extra-dyadic sex is allowed), monogamish (extra-dyadic sex is allowed only when both members of the couple are present), and open (extra-dyadic sex is allowed). Results from a 2010 survey of 772 gay men in relationships indicated that sexual agreement satisfaction was positively associated with levels of intimacy and commitment for all three types of sexual agreement, but was differentially associated with sexual satisfaction within the relationship, jealousy, and monogamy attitudes as a function of sexual agreement type. Mean levels of sexual satisfaction, jealousy, and monogamy attitudes also differed between types of agreement. These findings provided preliminary evidence that sexual agreement satisfaction may be influenced by different factors depending on the type of agreement, which has useful implications for professionals with gay male clients experiencing dissatisfaction with their agreement or with their relationship more generally.

International Fisheries Agreements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pintassilgo, Pedro; Kronbak, Lone Grønbæk; Lindroos, Marko

2015-01-01

This paper surveys the application of game theory to the economic analysis of international fisheries agreements. The relevance of this study comes not only from the existence of a vast literature on the topic but especially from the specific features of these agreements. The emphasis of the survey...... is on coalition games, an approach that has become prominent in the fisheries economics literature over the last decade. It is shown that coalition games were first applied to international fisheries agreements in the late 1990s addressing cooperative issues under the framework of characteristic function games...... and stability of international fisheries agreements. A key message that emerges from this literature strand is that self-enforcing cooperative management of internationally shared fish stocks is generally difficult to achieve. Hence, the international legal framework and regulations play a decisive role...

Women's Political Empowerment and Investments in Primary Schooling in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Halim, Nafisa; Yount, Kathryn M; Cunningham, Solveig A; Pande, Rohini P

2016-02-01

Using a national district-level dataset of India composed of information on investments in primary schooling (data from the District Information Survey for Education [DISE, 2007/8]) and information on demographic characteristics of elected officials (data from the Election Commission of India [ECI, 2000/04]), we examined the relationship between women's representation in State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seats and district-level investments in primary schooling. We used OLS regressions adjusting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation, and estimated separate models for North and South India. Women's representation in general SLA seats typically was negatively associated with investments in primary-school amenities and teachers; women's representation in SLA seats reserved for under-represented minorities, i.e., scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, typically was positively associated with investments in primary schooling, especially in areas addressing the basic needs of poor children. Women legislators' gender and caste identities may shape their decisions about redistributive educational policies.

Women’s Political Empowerment and Investments in Primary Schooling in India

Science.gov (United States)

Yount, Kathryn M.; Cunningham, Solveig A.; Pande, Rohini P.

2015-01-01

Using a national district-level dataset of India composed of information on investments in primary schooling (data from the District Information Survey for Education [DISE, 2007/8]) and information on demographic characteristics of elected officials (data from the Election Commission of India [ECI, 2000/04]), we examined the relationship between women’s representation in State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seats and district-level investments in primary schooling. We used OLS regressions adjusting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation, and estimated separate models for North and South India. Women’s representation in general SLA seats typically was negatively associated with investments in primary-school amenities and teachers; women’s representation in SLA seats reserved for under-represented minorities, i.e., scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, typically was positively associated with investments in primary schooling, especially in areas addressing the basic needs of poor children. Women legislators’ gender and caste identities may shape their decisions about redistributive educational policies. PMID:26924878

12 CFR 346.5 - Related agreements considered a single agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS § 346.5 Related agreements...; (2) Were entered into within the same 12-month period; and (3) Are each in fulfillment of the CRA. (b... in fulfillment of the CRA, if the contracts were negotiated in a coordinated fashion and a NGEP is a...

Voluntary agreements in the industrial sector in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Price, Lynn; Worrell, Ernst; Sinton, Jonathan

2003-03-31

China faces a significant challenge in the years ahead to continue to provide essential materials and products for a rapidly-growing economy while addressing pressing environmental concerns. China's industrial sector is heavily dependent on the country's abundant, yet polluting, coal resources. While tremendous energy conservation and environmental protection achievements were realized in the industrial sector in the past, there remains a great gulf between the China's level of energy efficiency and that of the advanced countries of the world. Internationally, significant energy efficiency improvement in the industrial sector has been realized in a number of countries using an innovative policy mechanism called Voluntary Agreements. This paper describes international experience with Voluntary Agreements in the industrial sector as well as the development of a pilot program to test the use of such agreements with two steel mills in Shandong Province, China.

A juridical review of partnership agreements that have the elements of work agreements in Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Nugroho, A.; Sulistyowati, E.; Hikmah, N.

2018-01-01

The Partnership Agreements place the parties in an equal position each party has something as the bargaining power. In some cases, employers prefer to use Partnership Agreements to some individuals to complete the work in their company than Work agreements. Practicality and the absence of obligations to fulfil workers’ rights such as the right to join a Union and to get social security are some of the reasons why employers use the Partnership Agreements. Sometimes Partnership Agreement contains jobs, wages and orders which is the characteristic of work agreement. Based on the fact above, the legal issues arise whether the Partnership Agreement can be considered as the Work Agreement or not and which court is authorized to hear in the event of a dispute. To analyze the above legal issues, this research uses normative legal research type with the statute approach. The technique of legal material analysis uses prescriptive techniques to assess the issue and make recommendations. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the Partnership Agreement, of which the elements are: wages and orders can be categorized as Work Agreement and therefore in the event of a dispute, the authorized court is Industrial Relations Court.

Intra-examiner repeatability and agreement in accommodative response measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Antona, B; Sanchez, I; Barrio, A; Barra, F; Gonzalez, E

2009-11-01

Clinical measurement of the accommodative response (AR) identifies the focusing plane of a subject with respect to the accommodative target. To establish whether a significant change in AR has occurred, it is important to determine the repeatability of this measurement. This study had two aims: First, to determine the intraexaminer repeatability of AR measurements using four clinical methods: Nott retinoscopy, monocular estimate method (MEM) retinoscopy, binocular crossed cylinder test (BCC) and near autorefractometry. Second, to study the level of agreement between AR measurements obtained with the different methods. The AR of the right eye at one accommodative demand of 2.50 D (40 cm) was measured on two separate occasions in 61 visually normal subjects of mean age 19.7 years (range 18-32 years). The intraexaminer repeatability of the tests, and agreement between them, were estimated by the Bland-Altman method. We determined mean differences (MD) and the 95% limits of agreement [coefficient of repeatability (COR) and coefficient of agreement (COA)]. Nott retinoscopy and BCC offered the best repeatability, showing the lowest MD and narrowest 95% interval of agreement (Nott: -0.10 +/- 0.66 D, BCC: -0.05 +/- 0.75 D). The 95% limits of agreement for the four techniques were similar (COA = +/- 0.92 to +/-1.00 D) yet clinically significant, according to the expected values of the AR. The two dynamic retinoscopy techniques (Nott and MEM) had a better agreement (COA = +/-0.64 D) although this COA must be interpreted in the context of the low MEM repeatability (COR = +/-0.98 D). The best method of assessing AR was Nott retinoscopy. The BCC technique was also repeatable, and both are recommended as suitable methods for clinical use. Despite better agreement between MEM and Nott, agreement among the remaining methods was poor such that their interchangeable use in clinical practice is not recommended.

Impact of educational intervention on the inter-rater agreement of nasal endoscopy interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Colley, Patrick; Mace, Jess C.; Schaberg, Madeleine R.; Smith, Timothy L.; Tabaee, Abtin

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE Nasal endoscopy is integral to the evaluation of sinonasal disorders. However, prior studies have shown significant variability in the inter-rater agreement of nasal endoscopy interpretation amongst practicing rhinologists. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the inter-rater agreement of nasal endoscopy amongst otolaryngology residents from a single training program at baseline and following an educational intervention. METHODS 11 otolaryngology residents completed nasal endoscopy grading forms for 8 digitally recorded nasal endoscopic examinations. An instructional lecture reviewing nasal endoscopy interpretation was subsequently provided. The residents then completed grading forms for 8 different nasal endoscopic examinations. Inter-rate agreement amongst residents for the pre- and post-lecture videos was calculated using the unweighted Fleiss’ kappa statistic (Kf) and intra-class correlation agreement (ICC). RESULTS Inter-rater agreement improved from a baseline level of fair (Kf range 0.268–0.383) to a post-educational level of moderate (Kf range 0.401–0.547) for nasal endoscopy findings of middle meatus mucosa, middle turbinate mucosa, middle meatus discharge, sphenoethmoid recess mucosa, sphenoethmoid recess discharge and atypical lesions (ICC, pendoscopy interpretation amongst otolaryngology residents. The inter-rater agreement for the majority of the characteristics that were evaluated improved after educational intervention. Further study is needed to improve nasal endoscopy interpretation. PMID:25781864

Unwrapping Court-Connected Mediation Agreements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adrian, Lin; Mykland, Solfrid

2018-01-01

Court-connected mediated agreements seem to both fulfil and fail the ideal of self-determination in mediation theory. In a study of 134 agreements from court-connected mediation, we found that the majority of agreements contain creative elements and display great variation in the provisions...... and understand them. The judicial language is well known for the drafters of the agreement but not the parties. Thus, court-connected mediation seems to fail aspects of self-determination when it comes to drafting agreements. We draw on new-institutional theory when we explore and explain this apparent...... they contain. These results indicate that the parties play an important role in crafting the substance of their agreements. However, we also found that the wording of the agreements is characterised by legal and bureaucratic language to the extent that people without legal training find it difficult to read...

Evaluation of osseous integration of titanium orthopedic screws with novel SLA treatment in porcine model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzu-Hsiang Lin

Full Text Available The success of many endosseous implants in orthopaedic and dental applications depends on the surface characteristics, as they affect osseous integration. Previous investigations indicated that a novel large-grit sand-blasted and acid-etched (SLA titanium (denoted as SLAffinity-Ti implant had better bone integration than that of a comparably shaped implant with a plasma-sprayed titanium surface. The purpose of the present investigation was to create a SLAffinity surface on pedicle screws and trauma screws and to compare it with the surfaces of a sand-blasted-only implant and commercial implants in terms of bone integration. The cortical bone and spine of twelve minipigs were implanted with 3 and 4 implants, respectively, and the bone integration was evaluated using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT, mechanical tests (pull-out strength and stripping torque, and histological analysis (toluidine blue and hematoxylin and eosin staining one and three months after implantation. The micro-CT images showed that the gap between the bone and implant was consistently higher in the sand-blasted-only and commercial groups compared to that in the SLAffinity group 1 and 3 months after implantation. Moreover, the bone volume of implant inserted into bone and the percentage of implant inside bone tissue were greater in the SLAffinity screws 1 and 3 months after implantation, as compared to the sand-blasted and commercial screws. In the mechanical tests, the removal torque and pull-out strength (p < 0.05 were higher in the SLAffinity group at 1 and 3 months. The histological results were consistent with mechanical testing, showing that the SLAffinity group had the most mineralized matrix, the most bone formation around the screws, and the most bone cells in bone tissue. These findings indicate that a SLAffinity surface can effectively enhance the holding strength and integration of pedicle screws and cortical screws, promoting early healing and improving

Predicting word sense annotation agreement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinez Alonso, Hector; Johannsen, Anders Trærup; Lopez de Lacalle, Oier

2015-01-01

High agreement is a common objective when annotating data for word senses. However, a number of factors make perfect agreement impossible, e.g. the limitations of the sense inventories, the difficulty of the examples or the interpretation preferences of the annotations. Estimating potential...... agreement is thus a relevant task to supplement the evaluation of sense annotations. In this article we propose two methods to predict agreement on word-annotation instances. We experiment with a continuous representation and a three-way discretization of observed agreement. In spite of the difficulty...

76 FR 21871 - Arbitration Panel Decision Under the Randolph-Sheppard Act

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-19

... Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a recommended decision. On November 14, 2008, the SLA adopted the ALJ's... Complainant after his eligibility restoration to bid on other locations. In addition, the SLA reimbursed... SLA agreed to provide complainant assistance with bidding on new vending locations. However, the SLA...

Implementation plan for liquid low-level radioactive waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the Federal Facility Agreement, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-06-01

This document is an annual revision of the plans and schedules for implementing the Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) compliance program, originally submitted in ES/ER-17 ampersand D1, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This document summarizes the progress that has been made to date in implementing the plans and schedules for meeting the FFA commitments for the Liquid Low-Level Waste (LLLW) System at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Information presented in this document provides a comprehensive summary to facilitate understanding of the FFA compliance program for LLLW tank systems and to present plans and schedules associated with remediation, through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process, of LLLW tank systems that have been removed from service. ORNL has a comprehensive program underway to upgrade the LLLW system as necessary to meet the FFA requirements. The tank systems that are removed from service are being investigated and remediated through the CERCLA process. Waste and risk characterizations have been submitted. Additional data will be prepared and submitted to EPA/TDEC as tanks are taken out of service and as required by the remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process. Chapter 1 provides general background information and philosophies that lead to the plans and schedules that appear in Chapters 2 through 5

International trade agreements: a threat to tobacco control policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaffer, E R; Brenner, J E; Houston, T P

2005-08-01

International covenants establish a role for governments in ensuring the conditions for human health and wellbeing, which has been recognised as a central human right. International trade agreements, conversely, prioritize the rights of corporations over health and human rights. International trade agreements are threatening existing tobacco control policies and restrict the possibility of implementing new controls. This situation is unrecognised by many tobacco control advocates in signatory nations, especially those in developing countries. Recent agreements on eliminating various trade restrictions, including those on tobacco, have expanded far beyond simply international movement of goods to include internal tobacco distribution regulations and intellectual property rules regulating advertising and labelling. Our analysis shows that to the extent trade agreements protect the tobacco industry, in itself a deadly enterprise, they erode human rights principles and contribute to ill health. The tobacco industry has used trade policy to undermine effective barriers to tobacco importation. Trade negotiations provide an unwarranted opportunity for the tobacco industry to assert its interests without public scrutiny. Trade agreements provide the industry with additional tools to obstruct control policies in both developed and developing countries and at every level. The health community should become involved in reversing these trends, and help promote additional measures to protect public health.

Trade creation and trade diversion in the Canada - United States Free Trade Agreement

OpenAIRE

Kimberly A. Clausing

2001-01-01

In this paper the changes in trade patterns introduced by the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement are examined. Variation in the extent of tariff liberalization under the agreement is used to identify the impact of tariff liberalization on the growth of trade both with member countries and non-member countries. Data at the commodity level are used, and the results indicate that the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement had substantial trade creation effects, with little evidence of ...

Diagnostic agreement between panoramic radiographs and color doppler images of carotid atheroma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Maria Romano-Sousa

2009-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement between diagnoses of calcified atheroma seen on panoramic radiographs and color Doppler images. Our interest stems from the fact that panoramic images can show the presence of atheroma regardless of the level of obstruction detected by color Doppler images. Panoramic and color Doppler images of 16 patients obtained from the archives of the Health Department of the city of Valença, RJ, Brazil, were analyzed in this study. Both sides of each patient were observed on the images, with a total of 32 analyzed cervical regions. The level of agreement between diagnoses was analyzed using the Kappa statistics. There was a high level of agreement, with a Kappa value of 0.78. In conclusion, panoramic radiographs can help detecting calcifications in the cervical region of patients susceptible to vascular diseases predisposing to myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accidents. If properly trained and informed, dentists can refer their patients to a physician for a cardiovascular evaluation in order to receive proper and timely medical treatment.

Financing petroleum agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robson, C.J.V.

1994-01-01

This chapter describes the typical type of financing agreements which are currently used to finance North Sea petroleum projects whether they are in the cause of development or have been developed and are producing. It deals with the agreements which are entered into to finance borrowings for petroleum projects on a non-resource or limited resource basis. (UK)

Agreement Workflow Tool (AWT)

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — The Agreement Workflow Tool (AWT) is a role-based Intranet application used for processing SSA's Reimbursable Agreements according to SSA's standards. AWT provides...

The Impact of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement as Negotiated

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Ciuriak

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the impact of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement on the basis of the published text and agreed schedule of commitments. We find that the Agreement reinforces existing patterns of comparative advantage between Canada (agriculture and resource-based sectors and Korea (autos and other industries. The sensitive sectors that held up the deal for years - autos into Canada and beef into Korea - witness major trade gains, but are not unduly disrupted. In both economies, the major output gains otherwise come in non-traded services sectors, driven by income effects. We find that trade diversion effects are quite significant; this lends support for the domino theory of major free trade agreements - since the Korea-EU agreement broke the ice, the pressure has intensified on third parties to re-level playing fields by striking their own deals. The study breaks new ground in modelling services trade by developing policy impacts based on the extent to which the text of the Agreement modifies Korea's and Canada's scores on the OECD's Services Trade Restrictiveness Index and by providing estimates of Mode 3 Services trade impacts. The analysis of the Agreement as negotiated, the present study, in our view, is a step forward in understanding the impact of modern free trade agreements.

SLA-based optimisation of virtualised resource for multi-tier web applications in cloud data centres

Science.gov (United States)

Bi, Jing; Yuan, Haitao; Tie, Ming; Tan, Wei

2015-10-01

Dynamic virtualised resource allocation is the key to quality of service assurance for multi-tier web application services in cloud data centre. In this paper, we develop a self-management architecture of cloud data centres with virtualisation mechanism for multi-tier web application services. Based on this architecture, we establish a flexible hybrid queueing model to determine the amount of virtual machines for each tier of virtualised application service environments. Besides, we propose a non-linear constrained optimisation problem with restrictions defined in service level agreement. Furthermore, we develop a heuristic mixed optimisation algorithm to maximise the profit of cloud infrastructure providers, and to meet performance requirements from different clients as well. Finally, we compare the effectiveness of our dynamic allocation strategy with two other allocation strategies. The simulation results show that the proposed resource allocation method is efficient in improving the overall performance and reducing the resource energy cost.

Why are Trade Agreements Regional?

OpenAIRE

Zissimos, Ben

2007-01-01

This paper shows how distance may be used to coordinate on a unique equilibrium in which trade agreements are regional. Trade agreement formation is modeled as coalition formation. In a standard trade model with no distance between countries, a familiar problem of coordination failure arises giving rise to multiple equilibria; any one of many possible trade agreements can form. With distance between countries, and through strategic interaction in tariff setting, regional trade agreements gene...

Variable Origin of the Superior Laryngeal Artery and Its Clinical Significance

OpenAIRE

Soubhagya R. Nayak1*, Ashwin Krishnamurthy2, Latha V. Prabhu2, Bhagath Kumar Potu3, Ishwar B. Bagoji4, Jiji PJ2 and Ganesh Kumar Chettiar2

2011-01-01

The superior laryngeal artery (SLA) is the dominant arterial supply of the laryngeal muscles, mucosa and glands. The purpose of the present study was to document the variable origin of the SLA in the carotid triangle. Although the variation in the SLA origin and morphology is important during the partial laryngectomy and reconstruction surgery of the larynx, the description of the SLA in modern literature is vague. The anatomy of SLA was studied in 37 adult South Indian preserved cadavers age...

Systems management of facilities agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blundell, A.

1998-01-01

The various types of facilities agreements, the historical obstacles to implementation of agreement management systems and the new opportunities emerging as industry is beginning to make an effort to overcome these obstacles, are reviewed. Barriers to computerized agreement management systems (lack of consistency, lack of standards, scarcity of appropriate computer software) are discussed. Characteristic features of a model facilities agreement management system and the forces driving the changing attitudes towards such systems (e.g. mergers) are also described

Giving Reconciliation a Chance in Sudan: Seeking an Alternative Response to the Darfur Conflict

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

to give the people of Darfur and the victims of the conflict—particularly women , internally displaced persons, and non-aligned Arab groups—an...the north-south peace process. Resolution 1590 , which established a committee to monitor the implementation of the measure on Darfur, was passed in...refugees, and women . At the end of the negotiation only the GoS and one rebel group, SLA/MM, signed the agreement; the other rebel groups refused to

Comfort monitoring? Environmental assessment follow-up under community-industry negotiated environmental agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noble, Bram; Birk, Jasmine

2011-01-01

Negotiated environmental agreements are becoming common practice in the mining industry. In principle, negotiated environmental agreements are said to respond to many of the shortcomings of environmental impact assessment by providing for improved follow-up of project impacts through, among other things, data provision, engaging stakeholders in the monitoring and management of project impacts, and building capacity at the local level to deal with project-induced environmental change. In practice, however, little is known about the efficacy of follow-up under negotiated environmental agreements between proponents and communities and the demonstrated value added to project impact management. This paper examines follow-up practice under negotiated environmental agreements with a view to understanding whether and how community-based monitoring under privatized agreements actually contributes to improved follow-up and impact management. Based on lessons emerging from recent experiences with environmental agreements in Canada's uranium industry, we show that follow-up under negotiated agreements may be described as 'comfort monitoring'. While such monitoring does improve community-industry relations and enhance corporate image, it does little to support effects-based management. If follow-up under negotiated agreements is to be credible over the long term, there is a need to ensure that monitoring results are useful for, and integrated with, regulatory-based monitoring and project impact management practices.

Agreement among Classroom Observers of Children's Stylistic Learning Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, Helen Hamlet; McDermott, Paul A.; Schaefer, Barbara A.

1998-01-01

Investigates the interobserver agreement of the Learning Behavior Scale (LBS) by educators (n=16) observing students in special-education classes (n=72). No significant observer effect was found. Moreover, the LBS produced comparable levels of differential learning styles for assessments of individual children. (Author/MKA)

Observer agreement in the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases based on HRCT scans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antunes, Viviane Baptista; Meirelles, Gustavo de Souza Portes; Jasinowodolinski, Dany; Verrastro, Carlos Gustavo Yuji; Torlai, Fabiola Goda

2010-01-01

Objective: to determine the interobserver and intraobserver agreement in the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) based on HRCT scans and the impact of observer expertise, clinical data and confidence level on such agreement. Methods: two thoracic radiologists and two general radiologists independently reviewed the HRCT images of 58 patients with ILDs on two distinct occasions: prior to and after the clinical anamnesis. The radiologists selected up to three diagnostic hypotheses for each patient and defined the confidence level for these hypotheses. One of the thoracic and one of the general radiologists re-evaluated the same images up to three months after the first readings. In the coefficient analyses, the kappa statistic was used. Results: the thoracic and general radiologists, respectively, agreed on at least one diagnosis for each patient in 91.4% and 82.8% of the patients. The thoracic radiologists agreed on the most likely diagnosis in 48.3% (κ = 0.42) and 62.1% (κ = 0.58) of the cases, respectively, prior to and after the clinical anamnesis; likewise, the general radiologists agreed on the most likely diagnosis in 37.9% (κ 0.32) and 36.2% (κ = 0.30) of the cases. For the thoracic radiologist, the intraobserver agreement on the most likely diagnosis was 0.73 and 0.63 prior to and after the clinical anamnesis, respectively. That for the general radiologist was 0.38 and 0.42.The thoracic radiologists presented almost perfect agreement for the diagnostic hypotheses defined with the high confidence level. Conclusions: Interobserver and intraobserver agreement in the diagnosis of ILDs based on HRCT scans ranged from fair to almost perfect and was influenced by radiologist expertise, clinical history and confidence level. (author)

Assessing agreement between salivary alpha amylase levels collected by passive drool and eluted filter paper in adolescents with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Ameringer, Suzanne; Munro, Cindy; Elswick, R K

2012-07-01

To assess the validity of filter paper (FP) against the gold standard of passive drool (PD) for collecting salivary alpha amylase as a surrogate biomarker of psychological stress in adolescents with cancer. Part of a longitudinal, descriptive study of symptoms in adolescents with cancer during chemotherapy. A pediatric hematology/oncology treatment center. 33 saliva sample pairs from nine adolescents with cancer, aged 13-18 years. Salivary alpha amylase was collected by PD and FP at four time points during a cycle of chemotherapy: days 1 (time 1) and 2 (time 2) of chemotherapy, day 7-10 (time 3), and day 1 of the next cycle (time 4). A random effects regression was used to assess the correlation between PD and FP values, and a Bland Altman analysis was conducted to assess agreement between the values. Salivary alpha amylase. The estimated correlation between PD and FP values was r = 0.91, p < 0.001. Regression results were also used to rescale FP values to the levels of the PD values because the FP values were on a different scale than the PD values. The Bland Altman analysis revealed that the agreement between the rescaled FP values and PD values was not satisfactory. Eluted FP may not be a valid method for collecting salivary alpha amylase in adolescents with cancer. Psychological stress in adolescents with cancer may be linked to negative outcomes, such as greater symptom severity and post-traumatic stress disorder. Nurses need valid, efficient, biobehavioral measures to assess psychological stress in the clinical setting.

Multilateral and bilateral agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koponen, H.

1993-01-01

Finland has made both multilateral and bilateral agreements on the exchange of information related to radiation safety. The first arrangements for international agreements and exchange of information were made after the Chernobyl accident. In 1987, Finland joined the convention on early notification of a nuclear power accident coordinated by International Atomic Energy Agency. The convention is applied to accidents that cause of may cause emissions of radioactive substances that might affect the radiation safety of another country. Besides the convention on early notification, some other individual agreements have also been made. These include the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) system and power companies own information exchange systems. Finland has conducted bilateral agreements with the Nordic countries and the Soviet Union on the notification of accidents and exchange of nuclear power plant information. Today, Russia answers for the Soviet Union's contractual obligations. (orig.)

Leuconostoc gasicomitatum is the dominating lactic acid bacterium in retail modified-atmosphere-packaged marinated broiler meat strips on sell-by-day.

Science.gov (United States)

Susiluoto, Tuija; Korkeala, Hannu; Björkroth, K Johanna

2003-01-15

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in retail, modified-atmosphere-packaged (MAP), marinated broiler meat strips on sell-by-day were mainly identified as Leuconostoc gasicomitatum. A total of 32 packages, three to five packages of seven differently marinated broiler meat products, were studied at the end of the producer-defined shelf life (at 6 degrees C, 7-9 days depending on the manufacturer). Prior to the microbiological analyses, appearance and smell of the product was checked and pH measured. Bacteria were cultured on MRS and Tomato Juice Agar (TJA), Rogosa SL agar (SLA), Plate Count Agar (PCA) and Streptomycin Thallium Acetate Agar (STAA) for the enumeration of LAB, lactobacilli, total bacterial count and Brochothrix thermosphacta, respectively. The average CFU/g of the 32 packages was 2.3 x 10(8) on PCA. The highest bacterial average, 3.1 x 10(8), was recovered on TJA, the corresponding CFU/g averages on MRS and SLA being 2.3 x 10(8) and 1.3 x 10(8), respectively. Despite the high LAB numbers detected, radical spoilage changes such as unpleasant odor, slime production and formation of gas were not seen. B. thermosphacta did not form a significant part of the bacterial population since none of the levels exceeded the spoilage threshold level of 10(5) CFU/g reported in previous studies for this organism. In order to characterize the dominating LAB population, as many as 85, 85 and 88 colonies from MRS, TJA and SLA, respectively, were randomly picked and cultured pure. LAB were identified to species level using a 16 and 23S rDNA HindIiI RFLP (ribotyping) database. Fifty-six of the 170 isolates picked from the non-selective LAB media (MRS and TJA) were identified as L. gasicomitatum, followed by Carnobacterium divergens (41 isolates), Lactobacillus sakei and Lactobacillus curvatus subsp. melibiosus (31 isolates) and L. curvatus subsp. curvatus (20 isolates) species. SLA proved not to be completely selective for lactobacilli because the growth of Leuconostoc spp. was not

48 CFR 1642.7001 - Management agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... EMPLOYEES HEALTH BENEFITS ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACT MANAGEMENT CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION Management Agreement (in Lieu of Novation Agreement) 1642.7001 Management agreement. When it is in the best interest of... day-to-day performance of the contract. Examples of situations in which a Management Agreement may be...

Federal Facility Agreement plans and schedules for liquid low-level radioactive waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-06-01

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires a Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) for federal facilities placed on the National Priorities List. The Oak Ridge Reservation was placed on that list on December 21, 1989, and the agreement was signed in November 1991 by the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Field Office (DOE-OR), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-Region IV, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The effective date of the FFA was January 1, 1992. Section 9 and Appendix F of the agreement impose design and operating requirements on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) liquid low-level radioactive waste (LLLW) tank systems and identify several plans, schedules, and assessments that must be submitted to EPA/TDEC for review or approval. The initial issue of this document in March 1992 transmitted to EPA/TDEC those plans and schedules that were required within 60 to 90 days of the FFA effective date. The current revision of this document updates the plans, schedules, and strategy for achieving compliance with the FFA, and it summarizes the progress that has been made over the past year. Chapter 1 describes the history and operation of the ORNL LLLW System, the objectives of the FFA, the organization that has been established to bring the system into compliance, and the plans for achieving compliance. Chapters 2 through 7 of this report contain the updated plans and schedules for meeting FFA requirements. This document will continue to be periodically reassessed and refined to reflect newly developed information and progress

Expansion of the Government Procurement Agreement: Time to Concentrate on Depth as well as Width

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Junsok

2012-12-01

Full Text Available WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA was designed to liberalize and expand trade in government procurement. Revised GPA was implemented in 1996 and the latest revision was completed (but not yet implemented in 2012, but as a plurilateral agreement. Since the end of the UR, there has been attempts by various WTO members to liberalize trade in the government procurement market? through an expansion of Parties who are signatories to GPA, and through a negotiated agreement on transparency in government procurement. The attempt to expand the Parties who are signatories to the GPA - attempt to increase the width of the coverage of the agreement - has been somewhat successful, but I argue that the goal should be to further liberate the government procurement markets of the current Party members - to reduce thresholds and other barriers which limit market access even to other GPA members, in other words, to increase the depth of coverage. Taking cue from Korea's FTA, I propose a two-level liberalization of the government procurement market under the GPA: A "light" level which would be the same as the current level of liberalization; and a "deep" level with lower thresholds and less exemptions. I argue that, as seen in Korea, with FTAs, many GPA Parties already have multiple levels of liberalization (i.e, spaghetti-bowl effect of FTAs, but by limiting the levels of liberalization to two, we can seek the best of deep liberalization but reduce the spaghetti-bowl effect.

Signatures of Indian Ocean dipole and El Nino-Southern Oscillation events in sea level variations in the Bay of Bengal

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Aparna, S.G.; McCreary, J.P.; Shankar, D.; Vinayachandran, P.N.

SLAs are observed twice (April-December and November-July), with a relaxation between the two peaks. SLA signatures during negative IOD and La Nina events are much weaker. We use a linear, continuously stratified model of the Indian Ocean to simulate...

Disagreements in meta-analyses using outcomes measured on continuous or rating scales: observer agreement study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tendal, Britta; Higgins, Julian P T; Jüni, Peter

2009-01-01

difference (SMD), the protocols for the reviews and the trial reports (n=45) were retrieved. DATA EXTRACTION: Five experienced methodologists and five PhD students independently extracted data from the trial reports for calculation of the first SMD result in each review. The observers did not have access...... to the reviews but to the protocols, where the relevant outcome was highlighted. The agreement was analysed at both trial and meta-analysis level, pairing the observers in all possible ways (45 pairs, yielding 2025 pairs of trials and 450 pairs of meta-analyses). Agreement was defined as SMDs that differed less...... than 0.1 in their point estimates or confidence intervals. RESULTS: The agreement was 53% at trial level and 31% at meta-analysis level. Including all pairs, the median disagreement was SMD=0.22 (interquartile range 0.07-0.61). The experts agreed somewhat more than the PhD students at trial level (61...

Competition for Assistance Agreements

Science.gov (United States)

It is EPA policy to promote competition in the award of assistance agreements to the maximum extent practicable.When assistance agreements are awarded competitively, it is EPA policy that the competitive process be fair and open & that no applicant receive

29 CFR 1908.10 - Cooperative Agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... CONSULTATION AGREEMENTS § 1908.10 Cooperative Agreements. (a) Who may make Agreements. The Assistant Secretary... consultation services to private sector employers. (3) Renegotiation of existing Agreements funded under this part shall be initiated within 30 days of the effective date of these revisions. (c) Contents of...

Subject-verb agreement: Error production by Tourism undergraduate students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Correia

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper, which is part of a more extensive research on verb tense errors, is to investigate the subject-verb agreement errors in the simple present in the texts of a group of Tourism undergraduate students. Based on the concept of interlanguage and following the error analysis model, this descriptive non-experimental study applies qualitative and quantitative procedures. Three types of instruments were used to collect data: a sociolinguistic questionnaire (to define the learners’ profile; the Dialang test (to establish their proficiency level in English; and our own learner corpus (140 texts. Errors were identified and classified by an expert panel in accordance with a verb error taxonomy developed for this study based on the taxonomy established by the Cambridge Learner Corpus. The Markin software was used to code errors in the corpus and the Wordsmith Tools software to analyze the data. Subject-verb agreement errors and their relation with the learners’ proficiency levels are described.

Nuclear arbitration: Interpreting non-proliferation agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tzeng, Peter

2015-01-01

At the core of the nuclear non-proliferation regime lie international agreements. These agreements include, inter alia, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, nuclear co-operation agreements and nuclear export control agreements.1 States, however, do not always comply with their obligations under these agreements. In response, commentators have proposed various enforcement mechanisms to promote compliance. The inconvenient truth, however, is that states are generally unwilling to consent to enforcement mechanisms concerning issues as critical to national security as nuclear non-proliferation.3 This article suggests an alternative solution to the non-compliance problem: interpretation mechanisms. Although an interpretation mechanism does not have the teeth of an enforcement mechanism, it can induce compliance by providing an authoritative interpretation of a legal obligation. Interpretation mechanisms would help solve the non-compliance problem because, as this article shows, in many cases of alleged non-compliance with a non-proliferation agreement, the fundamental problem has been the lack of an authoritative interpretation of the agreement, not the lack of an enforcement mechanism. Specifically, this article proposes arbitration as the proper interpretation mechanism for non-proliferation agreements. It advocates the establishment of a 'Nuclear Arbitration Centre' as an independent branch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and recommends the gradual introduction of arbitration clauses into the texts of non-proliferation agreements. Section I begins with a discussion of international agreements in general and the importance of interpretation and enforcement mechanisms. Section II then discusses nuclear non-proliferation agreements and their lack of interpretation and enforcement mechanisms. Section III examines seven case studies of alleged non-compliance with non-proliferation agreements in order to show that the main problem in many cases

Mitotic Figure Recognition: Agreement among Pathologists and Computerized Detector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Malon

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Despite the prognostic importance of mitotic count as one of the components of the Bloom – Richardson grade [3], several studies ([2, 9, 10] have found that pathologists’ agreement on the mitotic grade is fairly modest. Collecting a set of more than 4,200 candidate mitotic figures, we evaluate pathologists' agreement on individual figures, and train a computerized system for mitosis detection, comparing its performance to the classifications of three pathologists. The system’s and the pathologists’ classifications are based on evaluation of digital micrographs of hematoxylin and eosin stained breast tissue. On figures where the majority of pathologists agree on a classification, we compare the performance of the trained system to that of the individual pathologists. We find that the level of agreement of the pathologists ranges from slight to moderate, with strong biases, and that the system performs competitively in rating the ground truth set. This study is a step towards automatic mitosis count to accelerate a pathologist's work and improve reproducibility.

48 CFR 2831.109 - Advance agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... proposed agreement. The approved determination will be placed in the contract file. (c) All advance... the agreements. Advance agreements will be signed by both the contractor and the contracting officer, and made a part of the contract file. Copies of executed advance agreements will be distributed to the...

Agreement between photographic screening and hospital biomicroscopy grading of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Healy, Rachel; Sallam, Ahmed; Jones, Vanessa; Donachie, Paul H J; Scanlon, Peter H; Stratton, Irene M; Johnston, Robert L

2014-01-01

To examine the level of agreement and reasons for disagreement between grading of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy using mydriatic digital photographs in a diabetic retinopathy screening service (DRSS) and hospital eye service (HES). English NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme grades for diabetic retinopathy prospectively recorded on a hospital electronic medical record were compared to the grades from the DRSS event that prompted referral. In cases of disagreement, images were reviewed. Data for 1,501 patients (3,002 eyes) referred between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed. The HES retinopathy grades were R0 (no retinopathy) in 341 eyes, R1 (background retinopathy) in 1,712 eyes, R2 (pre-proliferative retinopathy) in 821 eyes, and R3 (proliferative retinopathy) in 128 eyes. The DRSS grades were in agreement in 2,309 eyes (76.9%), recorded a lower grade in 227 eyes, and recorded a higher grade in 466 eyes. Agreement was substantial (κ = 0.65). The commonest cause for disagreement was overgrading of R1 as R2 by hospital clinicians. The HES maculopathy grades were M0 (no maculopathy) in 2,267 eyes and M1 (maculopathy) in 735 eyes. The DRSS were in agreement in 2,111 eyes (70.2%), recorded a lower grade in 106 eyes, and recorded a higher grade in 785 eyes. Agreement was fair (κ = 0.39). The commonest cause for disagreement was hospital clinicians missing fine exudates. This study establishes a benchmark standard for agreement between HES and DRSS grading. Review of DRSS and grading reports images for newly referred patients is likely to improve levels of agreement, particularly for diabetic retinopathy, and should be strongly encouraged.

DataBase on Demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aparicio, R Gaspar; Gomez, D; Wojcik, D; Coz, I Coterillo

2012-01-01

At CERN a number of key database applications are running on user-managed MySQL database services. The database on demand project was born out of an idea to provide the CERN user community with an environment to develop and run database services outside of the actual centralised Oracle based database services. The Database on Demand (DBoD) empowers the user to perform certain actions that had been traditionally done by database administrators, DBA's, providing an enterprise platform for database applications. It also allows the CERN user community to run different database engines, e.g. presently open community version of MySQL and single instance Oracle database server. This article describes a technology approach to face this challenge, a service level agreement, the SLA that the project provides, and an evolution of possible scenarios.

Health care agreements as a tool for coordinating health and social services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Rudkjøbing

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In 2007, a substantial reform changed the administrative boundaries of the Danish health care system and introduced health care agreements to be signed between municipal and regional authorities. To assess the health care agreements as a tool for coordinating health and social services, a survey was conducted before (2005–2006 and after the reform (2011.Theory and methods: The study was designed on the basis of a modified version of Alter and Hage's framework for conceptualising coordination. Both surveys addressed all municipal level units (n = 271/98 and a random sample of general practitioners (n = 700/853.Results: The health care agreements were considered more useful for coordinating care than the previous health plans. The power relationship between the regional and municipal authorities in drawing up the agreements was described as more equal. Familiarity with the agreements among general practitioners was higher, as was the perceived influence of the health care agreements on their work.Discussion: Health care agreements with specific content and with regular follow-up and systematic mechanisms for organising feedback between collaborative partners exemplify a useful tool for the coordination of health and social services.Conclusion: There are substantial improvements with the new health agreements in terms of formalising a better coordination of the health care system.

Intraobserver and interobserver agreement on the radiographical diagnosis of canine cranial cruciate ligament rupture.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogaerts, Evelien; Van der Vekens, Elke; Verhoeven, Geert; de Rooster, Hilde; Van Ryssen, Bernadette; Samoy, Yves; Putcuyps, Ingrid; Van Tilburg, Johan; Devriendt, Nausikaa; Weekers, Frederik; Bertal, Mileva; Houdellier, Blandine; Scheemaeker, Stephanie; Versteken, Jeroen; Lamerand, Maryline; Feenstra, Laurien; Peelman, Luc; Nieuwerburgh, Filip Van; Saunders, Jimmy H; Broeckx, Bart J G

2018-04-28

Even though radiography is one of the most frequently used imaging techniques for orthopaedic disorders, it has been demonstrated that the interpretation can vary between assessors. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the intraobserver and interobserver agreement and the influence of level of expertise on the interpretation of radiographs of the stifle in dogs with and without cranial cruciate ligament rupture (CCLR). Sixteen observers, divided in four groups according to their level of experience, evaluated 30 radiographs (15 cases with CCLR and 15 control stifles) twice. Each observer was asked to evaluate joint effusion, presence and location of degenerative joint disease, joint instability and whether CCLR was present or absent. Overall, intraobserver and interobserver agreement ranged from fair to almost perfect with a trend towards increased agreement for more experienced observers. Additionally, it was found that stifles that were classified with high agreement have either overt disease characteristics or no disease characteristics at all, in comparison to the ones that are classified with a low agreement. Overall, the agreement on radiographic interpretation of CCLR was high, which is important, as it is the basis of a correct diagnosis and treatment. © British Veterinary Association (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

I did eat my vegetables. Agreement between parent and child food intake diaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Rangelov, Natalie; Suggs, L Suzanne; Marques-Vidal, Pedro

2016-12-01

To assess the level of agreement between children and their parents when reporting a child's food consumption. Cross-sectional study in which children and parents independently completed 7 d food diaries describing the foods and drinks the child consumed at every meal and snack. The association between child and parent reporting was assessed for nineteen food groups using Kendall's tau-b non-parametric correlations, Spearman's rank correlations, kappa coefficients and Lin's concordance measure of agreement. Results were also stratified by gender of the child and his/her grade at school. Households in Ticino, Switzerland, April-June 2014. Two hundred and ninety-nine children aged 6-12 years and one of their parents participated, with 264 providing complete data (35 % completion rate). Results showed a high level of agreement between child and parent reporting. Spearman correlations ranged from 0·55 (sauces) and 0·57 (fatty meat) to 0·80 (fruit), 0·83 (starchy foods) and 0·84 (pastries). All nineteen Spearman correlations were significant at the 0·001 level. Kendall's tau-b correlations ranged from 0·44 (fat meat) to 0·81 (puff pastry). Kappa values showed low to high levels of agreement, ranging from 0·15 (sweets) to 0·77 (puff pastry). Lin's concordance correlation coefficients ranged from 0·39 (whole grains) to 0·86 (puff pastry). When assessing the eating behaviour of children using a 7 d food diary, children's reports might be as reliable as their parents'.

The effect of air pollution and other environmental stressors on leaf fluctuating asymmetry and specific leaf area of Salix alba L

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wuytack, Tatiana, E-mail: tatiana.wuytack@ua.ac.be [Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Wuyts, Karen, E-mail: karen.wuyts@ugent.be [Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Laboratory of Forestry, Department of Forest and Water Management, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, B-9090 Gontrode (Melle) (Belgium); Van Dongen, Stefan, E-mail: stefan.vandongen@ua.ac.be [Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Baeten, Lander, E-mail: lander.baeten@ugent.be [Laboratory of Forestry, Department of Forest and Water Management, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, B-9090 Gontrode (Melle) (Belgium); Kardel, Fatemeh, E-mail: fatemeh.kardel@ua.ac.be [Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Verheyen, Kris, E-mail: kris.verheyen@ugent.be [Laboratory of Forestry, Department of Forest and Water Management, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, B-9090 Gontrode, Melle (Belgium); Samson, Roeland, E-mail: roeland.samson@ua.ac.be [Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp (Belgium)

2011-10-15

We aimed at evaluating the effect of low-level air pollution on leaf area fluctuating asymmetry (FAA) and specific leaf area (SLA) of Salix alba L., taking into account other environmental factors. Cuttings were grown in standardized conditions in the near vicinity of air quality measuring stations in Belgium. Variability of SLA and FAA between measuring stations explained 83% and 7.26%, respectively, of the total variability. FAA was not influenced by air pollution or environmental factors such as shading, herbivory, air temperature and humidity. SLA was increased by an increase in shadow, while NO{sub x} and O{sub 3} concentrations had only a marginal influence. The influence of SO{sub 2} concentration was negligible. Although our data analysis suggests a relationship between SLA and NO{sub x}/O{sub 3} concentration, the absence of a straightforward relationship between FAA and SLA and air pollution still questions the usefulness of these bio-indicators for monitoring air pollution. - Highlights: > Leaf characteristics of white willow as possible bio-indicators for air quality. > Fluctuating asymmetry is not a good bio-indicator for monitoring the air quality. > Shadow increases specific leaf area. > NO{sub x} and O{sub 3} change specific leaf area of white willow. - Specific leaf area of S. alba increased with increasing shade and, in less extent, with increasing NO{sub x} and decreasing O{sub 3} concentration, while leaf asymmetry did not respond to air pollution

The effect of air pollution and other environmental stressors on leaf fluctuating asymmetry and specific leaf area of Salix alba L

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wuytack, Tatiana; Wuyts, Karen; Van Dongen, Stefan; Baeten, Lander; Kardel, Fatemeh; Verheyen, Kris; Samson, Roeland

2011-01-01

We aimed at evaluating the effect of low-level air pollution on leaf area fluctuating asymmetry (FAA) and specific leaf area (SLA) of Salix alba L., taking into account other environmental factors. Cuttings were grown in standardized conditions in the near vicinity of air quality measuring stations in Belgium. Variability of SLA and FAA between measuring stations explained 83% and 7.26%, respectively, of the total variability. FAA was not influenced by air pollution or environmental factors such as shading, herbivory, air temperature and humidity. SLA was increased by an increase in shadow, while NO x and O 3 concentrations had only a marginal influence. The influence of SO 2 concentration was negligible. Although our data analysis suggests a relationship between SLA and NO x /O 3 concentration, the absence of a straightforward relationship between FAA and SLA and air pollution still questions the usefulness of these bio-indicators for monitoring air pollution. - Highlights: → Leaf characteristics of white willow as possible bio-indicators for air quality. → Fluctuating asymmetry is not a good bio-indicator for monitoring the air quality. → Shadow increases specific leaf area. → NO x and O 3 change specific leaf area of white willow. - Specific leaf area of S. alba increased with increasing shade and, in less extent, with increasing NO x and decreasing O 3 concentration, while leaf asymmetry did not respond to air pollution

Canada-United States air quality agreement: Making progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

The Canada-USA Air Quality Agreement was signed in March 1991. Canada's commitment under the agreement is to reduce emissions of SO 2 in the seven easternmost provinces to 2.3 million tonnes/y by 1994 and to cap these emissions at 3.2 million tonnes/y by 2000; in addition, Canada agrees to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from stationary sources by 100,000 tonnes/y by 2000 and to implement more stringent nitrogen oxide emission standards for vehicles from 1994-96. The USA agrees to reduce SO 2 emissions by ca 10 million tons/y below 1980 levels by 2000, to achieve a permanent cap of 8.95 million tons/y for electric utilities by 2010, to ensure that industrial emissions do not exceed 5.6 million tons, and to reduce total nitrogen oxide emissions by ca 2 million tons/y below 1980 levels, primarily through new regulations for power plants and automobiles. In Canada, SO 2 emissions are now within 16% of target, with control efforts centered around metal smelters and power plants. In the USA, considerable progress has been made in promulgating regulations that will implement the acid rain control provisions of the agreement. Both countries are sharing information, are continuing a variety of scientific and technical activities, and cooperating in areas such as emission inventorying, atmospheric modelling, deposition monitoring, effects research and monitoring, human health studies, and control technologies. In the USA, market based incentives are being used in controlling acid emissions and are being assessed for their potential use in Canada. 13 figs., 3 tabs

Canadian seismic agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wetmiller, R.J.; Lyons, J.A.; Shannon, W.E.; Munro, P.S.; Thomas, J.T.; Andrew, M.D.; Lamontagne, M.; Wong, C.; Anglin, F.M.; Plouffe, M.; Lapointe, S.P.; Adams, J.; Drysdale, J.A.

1990-04-01

This is the twenty-first progress report under the agreement entitled Canadian Seismic Agreement between the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Canadian Commercial Corporation. Activities undertaken by the Geophysics Division of the Geological Survey of Canada (GD/GSC) during the period from July 01, 1988 to June 30, 1989 and supported in part by the NRC agreement are described below under four headings; Eastern Canada Telemetred Network and local network developments, Datalab developments, strong motion network developments and earthquake activity. In this time period eastern Canada experienced its largest earthquake in over 50 years. This earthquake, which has been christened the Saguenay earthquake, has provided a wealth of new data pertinent to earthquake engineering studies in eastern North America and is the subject of many continuing studies, which are presently being carried out at GD and elsewhere. 41 refs., 21 figs., 7 tabs

Prospective assessment of interobserver agreement for defecography in fecal incontinence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dobben, Annette C.; Wiersma, Tjeerd G.; Janssen, Lucas W. M.; de Vos, Rien; Terra, Maaike P.; Baeten, Cor G.; Stoker, Jaap

2005-01-01

OBJECTIVE. The primary aim of our study was to determine the interobserver agreement of defecography in diagnosing enterocele, anterior rectocele, intussusception, and anismus in fecal-incontinent patients. The subsidiary aim was to evaluate the influence of level of experience on interpreting

Agreement Execution Process Study: CRADAs and NF-WFO Agreements and the Speed of Business

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harrer, Bruce J.; Cejka, Cheryl L.; Macklin, Richard; Miksovic, Ann

2011-02-01

This report summarizes the findings of a study on the execution of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) and Non-Federal Work for Others (NF-WFO) agreements across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory complex. The study provides quantitiative estimates of times required to negotiate and execute these agreements across the DOE complex. It identifies factors impacting on cycle times and describes best practicies used at various laboratories and site offices that reduce cycle times.

High inter-observer agreement of observer-perceived pain assessment in the emergency department

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hangaard, Martin Høhrmann; Malling, Brian; Mogensen, Christian Backer

2018-01-01

degree of inter-observer agreement. The aim of the present study was to assess the inter-observer agreement of perceived pain among emergency department nurses and to evaluate if it was influenced by predetermined factors like age and gender. Method: A project assistant randomly recruited two nurses, who...... of 0.05 and 95% limits of agreement of +/-1 category. Patient age, gender, localization of pain, examination room or presence of a significant other did not affect the inter-observer agreement. Conclusion: We found 70% agreement on pain category between the nurses and it is justified that nurse......Background: Triage is used to prioritize the patients in the emergency department. The majority of the triage systems include the patients' pain score to assess their level of acuity by using a combination of patient reported pain and observer-perceived pain; the latter therefore requires a certain...

48 CFR 1642.1204 - Agreement to recognize a successor in interest (novation agreement).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... that the corporate name of (insert old corporate name) was changed to (insert new corporate name) on... MANAGEMENT CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION Novation and Change-of-Name Agreements 1642.1204 Agreement to recognize a... corporate name) (Transferor), a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of (insert State...

Cooperative monitoring of regional security agreements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pregenzer, A.L.; Vannoni, M.; Biringer, K.L.

1995-08-01

This paper argues that cooperative monitoring plays a critical role in the implementation of regional security agreements and confidence building measures. A framework for developing cooperative monitoring options is proposed and several possibilities for relating bilateral and regional monitoring systems to international monitoring systems are discussed. Three bilateral or regional agreements are analyzed briefly to illustrate different possibilities: (1) the demilitarization of the Sinai region between Israel and Egypt in the 1970s; (2) the 1991 quadripartite agreement for monitoring nuclear facilities among Brazil, Argentina, The Argentine-Brazilian Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and the International Atomic Energy Agency; and (3) a bilateral Open Skies agreement between Hungary and Romania in 1991. These examples illustrate that the relationship of regional or bilateral arms control or security agreements to international agreements depends on a number of factors: the overlap of provisions between regional and international agreements; the degree of interest in a regional agreement among the international community; efficiency in implementing the agreement; and numerous political considerations.Given the importance of regional security to the international community, regions should be encouraged to develop their own infrastructure for implementing regional arms control and other security agreements. A regional infrastructure need not preclude participation in an international regime. On the contrary, establishing regional institutions for arms control and nonproliferation could result in more proactive participation of regional parties in developing solutions for regional and international problems, thereby strengthening existing and future international regimes. Possible first steps for strengthening regional infrastructures are identified and potential technical requirements are discussed.

The Texts of The Agency's Agreements with the Republic of Austria. I. Headquarters Agreement. Amendments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1970-09-04

The text of the Agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Republic of Austria Amending the Agreement of 11 December 1957 Regarding the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was signed on 4 June 1970, is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. Members will be informed of the entry into force of the Amendments to the Headquarters Agreement.

The Texts of The Agency's Agreements with the Republic of Austria. I. Headquarters Agreement. Amendments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1970-01-01

The text of the Agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Republic of Austria Amending the Agreement of 11 December 1957 Regarding the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was signed on 4 June 1970, is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. Members will be informed of the entry into force of the Amendments to the Headquarters Agreement

Are physicians and patients in agreement? Exploring dyadic concordance.

Science.gov (United States)

Coran, Justin J; Koropeckyj-Cox, Tanya; Arnold, Christa L

2013-10-01

Dyadic concordance in physician-patient interactions can be defined as the extent of agreement between physicians and patients in their perceptions of the clinical encounter. The current research specifically examined two types of concordance: informational concordance-the extent of agreement in physician and patient responses regarding patient information (education, self-rated health, pain); and interactional concordance-the extent of physician-patient agreement regarding the patient's level of confidence and trust in the physician and the perceived quality of explanations concerning diagnosis and treatment. Using a convenience sample of physicians and patients (N = 50 dyads), a paired survey method was tested, which measured and compared physician and patient reports to identify informational and interactional concordances. Factors potentially related to dyadic concordance were also measured, including demographic characteristics (patient race, gender, age, and education) and clinical factors (whether this was a first visit and physician specialty in family medicine or oncology). The paired survey showed informational discordances, as physicians tended to underestimate patients' pain and overestimate patient education. Interactional discordances included overestimating patients' understanding of diagnosis and treatment explanations and patients' level of confidence and trust. Discordances were linked to patient dissatisfaction with physician listening, having unanswered questions, and feeling the physician had not spent enough time. The paired survey method effectively identified physician-patient discordances that may interfere with effective medical practice; this method may be used in various settings to identify potential areas of improvement in health communication and education.

Developing State Level Approaches under the State Level Concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Budlong Sylvester, K.; Murphy, C.L.; Boyer, B.; Pilat, J.F.

2015-01-01

With the pursuit of the State-Level Concept (SLC), the IAEA has sought to further evolve the international safeguards system in a manner which maintains (or improves) the effectiveness of the system in an environment of expanding demands and limited resources. The IAEA must not remain static and should continuously examine its practices to ensure it can capture opportunities for cost reductions while adapting to, and staying ahead of, emerging proliferation challenges. Contemporary safeguards have been focused on assessing the nuclear programme of the State as a whole, rather than on the basis of individual facilities. Since the IAEA's integrated safeguards program, State-level Approaches (SLAs) have been developed that seek to optimally combine the measures provided for by the Additional Protocol with those of traditional safeguards. This process resulted in facility specific approaches that, while making use of a State's broader conclusion, were nonetheless prescriptive. Designing SLAs on a State-by-State basis would avoid the shortcomings of a one-size-fits-all system. It would also enable the effective use of the Agency's information analysis and State evaluation efforts by linking this analysis to safeguards planning efforts. Acquisition Path Analysis (APA), along with the State Evaluation process, can be used to prioritize paths in a State in terms of their attractiveness for proliferation. While taking advantage of all safeguards relevant information, and tailoring safeguards to individual characteristics of the State, paths of the highest priority in all States will necessarily meet the same standard of coverage. Similarly, lower priority paths will have lower performance targets, thereby promoting nondiscrimination. Such an approach would improve understanding of safeguards implementation under the SLC and the rational for safeguards resource allocation. The potential roles for APA and performance targets in SLA development will be reviewed

Agreements on emission of greenhouse gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aulstad, Johan Greger

2001-01-01

Agreements on emission of greenhouse gases is one of the instruments used by Norwegian authorities to meet their obligations with respect to the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. This book discusses the legal issues raised by these agreements. A main topic is how the industrial emissions conform to the Pollution Act. Does the Pollution Act apply to these emissions? What is the impact of the sanction rules in this act on the emissions? The book also deals with the following general questions that arise in connection with the application of public authority: (1) Can the administration grant concessions and permits in the form of agreements? (2) What commitments can be imposed on a private party by the administration by agreement? (3) Should the procedures set down in the Pollution Act and in the Public Administration Act be followed fully when the pollution authorities make agreements? Is the opportunity of the administration to reverse more restricted when they make agreements than when they make one-sided decisions? Although this discussion primarily deals with the emission of greenhouse gases, the reasoning and conclusions are relevant in many other types of agreements in which the public administration is one of the parties. The agreement that regulates the emissions of greenhouse gases from the Norwegian aluminium industry is described in a special section. The book also gives a brief account of how agreements are used in the Danish climate policy

Cooperative monitoring of regional security agreements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pregenzer, A.L.; Vannoni, M.; Biringer, K.L. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Nonproliferation and Arms Control Analysis Dept.

1996-11-01

This paper argues that cooperative monitoring plays a critical role in the implementation of regional security agreements and confidence building measures. A framework for developing cooperative monitoring options is proposed and several possibilities for relating bilateral and regional monitoring systems to international monitoring systems are discussed. Three bilateral or regional agreements are analyzed briefly to illustrate different possibilities. These examples illustrate that the relationship of regional or bilateral arms control or security agreements to international agreements depends on a number of factors: the overlap of provisions between regional and international agreements; the degree of interest in a regional agreement among the international community; efficiency in implementing the agreement; and numerous political considerations. Given the importance of regional security to the international community, regions should be encouraged to develop their own infrastructure for implementing regional arms control and other security agreements. A regional infrastructure need not preclude participation in an international regime. On the contrary, establishing regional institutions for arms control and nonproliferation could result in more proactive participation of regional parties in developing solutions for regional and international problems, thereby strengthening existing and future international regimes. Possible first steps for strengthening regional infrastructures are identified and potential technical requirements are discussed.

TRIPs Agreement, Important Multilateral WTO Treaty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana-Maria Florescu

2006-08-01

Full Text Available This article aims at presenting the content and the frame of the TRIPs. Agreement. It starts by introducing the reader to the terms that defined the world economical climate by the time of the Agreement negociation. Also, it explains the need of having an Agreement on intellectual property rights with impact on the business world. Moreover, the article reviews the main provisions of the Agreement and the most important intellectual property rights.

AO Distal Radius Fracture Classification: Global Perspective on Observer Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Jayakumar, Prakash; Teunis, Teun; Giménez, Beatriz Bravo; Verstreken, Frederik; Di Mascio, Livio; Jupiter, Jesse B.

2016-01-01

Background The primary objective of this study was to test interobserver reliability when classifying fractures by consensus by AO types and groups among a large international group of surgeons. Secondarily, we assessed the difference in inter- and intraobserver agreement of the AO classification in relation to geographical location, level of training, and subspecialty. Methods A randomized set of radiographic and computed tomographic images from a consecutive series of 96 distal radius fractures (DRFs), treated between October 2010 and April 2013, was classified using an electronic web-based portal by an invited group of participants on two occasions. Results Interobserver reliability was substantial when classifying AO type A fractures but fair and moderate for type B and C fractures, respectively. No difference was observed by location, except for an apparent difference between participants from India and Australia classifying type B fractures. No statistically significant associations were observed comparing interobserver agreement by level of training and no differences were shown comparing subspecialties. Intra-rater reproducibility was “substantial” for fracture types and “fair” for fracture groups with no difference accounting for location, training level, or specialty. Conclusion Improved definition of reliability and reproducibility of this classification may be achieved using large international groups of raters, empowering decision making on which system to utilize. Level of Evidence Level III PMID:28119795

76 FR 67440 - Market Access Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-01

... FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION Market Access Agreement AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration. ACTION: Notice of Draft Second Amended and Restated Market Access Agreement; request for comments. SUMMARY: The... Market Access Agreement (the ``Restated MAA'') is entered into among AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, AgriBank...

50 CFR 81.3 - Cooperative Agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM CONSERVATION OF ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES OF FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PLANTS-COOPERATION WITH THE STATES § 81.3 Cooperative Agreement. Upon... Project Agreement can be approved for endangered or threatened species projects. A cooperative agreement...

Diffusion tensor imaging of the median nerve: intra-, inter-reader agreement, and agreement between two software packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guggenberger, Roman; Nanz, Daniel; Puippe, Gilbert; Andreisek, Gustav; Rufibach, Kaspar; White, Lawrence M.; Sussman, Marshall S.

2012-01-01

To assess intra-, inter-reader agreement, and the agreement between two software packages for magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurements of the median nerve. Fifteen healthy volunteers (seven men, eight women; mean age, 31.2 years) underwent DTI of both wrists at 1.5 T. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the median nerve were measured by three readers using two commonly used software packages. Measurements were repeated by two readers after 6 weeks. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman analysis were used for statistical analysis. ICCs for intra-reader agreement ranged from 0.87 to 0.99, for inter-reader agreement from 0.62 to 0.83, and between the two software packages from 0.63 to 0.82. Bland-Altman analysis showed no differences for intra- and inter-reader agreement and agreement between software packages. The intra-, inter-reader, and agreement between software packages for DTI measurements of the median nerve were moderate to substantial suggesting that user- and software-dependent factors contribute little to variance in DTI measurements. (orig.)

Simple messages help set the record straight about scientific agreement on human-caused climate change: the results of two experiments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa A Myers

Full Text Available Human-caused climate change is happening; nearly all climate scientists are convinced of this basic fact according to surveys of experts and reviews of the peer-reviewed literature. Yet, among the American public, there is widespread misunderstanding of this scientific consensus. In this paper, we report results from two experiments, conducted with national samples of American adults, that tested messages designed to convey the high level of agreement in the climate science community about human-caused climate change. The first experiment tested hypotheses about providing numeric versus non-numeric assertions concerning the level of scientific agreement. We found that numeric statements resulted in higher estimates of the scientific agreement. The second experiment tested the effect of eliciting respondents' estimates of scientific agreement prior to presenting them with a statement about the level of scientific agreement. Participants who estimated the level of agreement prior to being shown the corrective statement gave higher estimates of the scientific consensus than respondents who were not asked to estimate in advance, indicating that incorporating an "estimation and reveal" technique into public communication about scientific consensus may be effective. The interaction of messages with political ideology was also tested, and demonstrated that messages were approximately equally effective among liberals and conservatives. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Analyzing rater agreement manifest variable methods

CERN Document Server

von Eye, Alexander

2014-01-01

Agreement among raters is of great importance in many domains. For example, in medicine, diagnoses are often provided by more than one doctor to make sure the proposed treatment is optimal. In criminal trials, sentencing depends, among other things, on the complete agreement among the jurors. In observational studies, researchers increase reliability by examining discrepant ratings. This book is intended to help researchers statistically examine rater agreement by reviewing four different approaches to the technique.The first approach introduces readers to calculating coefficients that allow one to summarize agreements in a single score. The second approach involves estimating log-linear models that allow one to test specific hypotheses about the structure of a cross-classification of two or more raters'' judgments. The third approach explores cross-classifications or raters'' agreement for indicators of agreement or disagreement, and for indicators of such characteristics as trends. The fourth approach compa...

The Canadian experience in implementing the State-level integrated safeguards concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kent, M.A.; Ellacott, T.

2013-01-01

After receiving the Broad Safeguards Conclusion in 2005 that all nuclear material remained in peaceful activities, Canada began implementing the State-level Integrated Safeguards Approach for Canada (SLISAC) on a Sector-by-Sector basis, culminating in the full State-wide implementation of Integrated Safeguards in January 2010. The Approach has resulted in a significant reduction in IAEA person days of inspection, a shift from scheduled routine inspections to randomized, short-notice and unannounced inspections, increased information streams on operational activities and inventory flows to the IAEA, and closer collaboration between the Agency and the SSAC (State System of Accounting and Control). This paper will describe the implementation of this new approach, touching on: the main features of the Canadian SLA (State-level Approach); the agreed order of priority in the transition to the approach within the various sectors of the Canadian fuel cycle; the work plan established for moving forward in a logical and orderly manner, thereby allowing all parties to put in place the necessary protocols and procedures; and some initial thoughts on the lessons learned throughout this process. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation. (authors)

It services operations: an approach of resources sizing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilmar Souza Santos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The sizing IT (Information Technology services resources and incentives for efficient operation should be planned according to the service levels needs and IT provider and customer objectives. The analysis of studies of scaling can be used as strategic information, adapting the IT assets and staff size and enable capacity planning. As a complement, the best practices enable clear rules for penalties and gainsharing over the relationship between customer and IT provider. Hence, this paper aims to contribute with an approach that allows perform flexible service level agreements, allowing a lower risk of outsourcing. Simulation and methods are highlighted for service baseline change which seek to provide benefits to providers and clients, avoiding conflicts over the service operation. The research uses a literature review and an application in matters related to the study area. The results and analysis looking at the possible sizing, flexibility in SLA and incentives for IT external providers in its services operations.

VHA Data Sharing Agreement Repository

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Veterans Affairs — The VHA Data Sharing Agreement Repository serves as a centralized location to collect and report on agreements that share VHA data with entities outside of VA. It...

40 CFR 35.3010 - Delegation agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Delegation agreement. 35.3010 Section... STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Construction Grants Program Delegation to States § 35.3010 Delegation agreement. (a) Before execution of the delegation agreement, the Regional Administrator must determine that...

7 CFR 900.109 - Mediation agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Mediation agreement. 900.109 Section 900.109 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing... Mediation agreement. An agreement arrived at by mediation shall not become effective until approved by the...

Rater agreement in lung scintigraphy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christiansen, F.; Andersson, T.; Rydman, H.; Qvarner, N.; Maare, K.

1996-01-01

Purpose: The PIOPED criteria in their original and revised forms are today's standards in the interpretation of ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy. When the PIOPED criteria are used by experienced raters with training in consensus interpretation, the agreement rates have been demonstrated to be excellent. Our purpose was to investigate the rates of agreement between 2 experienced raters from different hospitals who had no training in consensus interpretation. Material and Methods: The 2 raters investigated a population of 195 patients. This group included 72 patients from a previous study who had an intermediate probability of pulmonary embolism and who had also been examined by pulmonary angiography. Results: The results demonstrated moderate agreement rates with a kappa value of 0.54 (0.45-0.63 in a 95% confidence interval), which is similar to the kappa value of the PIOPED study but significantly lower than the kappa values of agreement rates among consensus-trained raters. There was a low consistency in the intermediate probability category, with a proportional agreement rate of 0.39 between the experienced raters. Conclusion: The moderate agreement rates between raters from different hospitals make it difficult to compare study populations of a certain scintigraphic category in different hospitals. Further investigations are mandatory for accurate diagnosis when the scintigrams are in the category of intermediate probability of pulmonary embolism. (orig.)

Flexible climate agreements after 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vevatne, Jonas

2004-01-01

The Kyoto agreement is only a small step towards much stronger and broader commitments and new creativity is needed to further develop a really global climate policy. A flexible approach is necessary to obtain broad participation and substantial reduction of the emissions of greenhouse gases. Flexibility is also important to ease negotiations, to ensure cost-effectiveness and implement a global climate agreement. The US withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol has rendered the agreement much less effective than the original goal of five per cent reduction of the emission from the industrialized countries. In addition the emissions are increasing much faster in countries that have not committed themselves to the agreement. The agreement runs out in 2012 and should be followed by a new agreement, the negotiations about which are to start up no later than 2005. Attempts by the European Union to begin a discussion about future commitments were very quickly wrecked by the G77 group with strong support from the U.S.A. To formulate a practical climate policy the general goal in the Climate Convention must be interpreted and specified. It may seem impossible to agree upon a long-term goal. But the clarity it provides will be very useful. It will be a guide for short-term goals and a reference for evaluation of success

Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-45-07A; complete evaluation of subsurface barrier feasibility: Summary report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cox, G.E.; Peters, B.B.; Treat, R.L. [Enserch Environmental Corp., Richland, WA (United States); Bazinet, G.D.; Cruse, J.M.; Hampsten, K.L. [Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

1994-09-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has established the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program to safely manage and dispose the low-level and high-level radioactive and hazardous wastes currently held in 177 tanks and approximately 1,900 sealed capsules located on the Hanford Site. The remediation of the entire Hanford Site is being conducted under the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, otherwise known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The three parties that concluded the agreement are the DOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). The purpose of the Tri-Party Agreement is to ensure that Hanford Site activities are performed in a manner that protects the public health, welfare, and the environment. The agreement provides a framework and structure for the many different agencies and regulations under which work is performed on the Site, listing responsibilities and attaching scheduled dates of completion for minimum performances (known as milestones). The Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-45-07A requires that an assessment of the feasibility of subsurface barriers to support retrieval of tank waste be performed. The activities to meet this milestone have been completed, and are documented herein.

Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-45-07A; complete evaluation of subsurface barrier feasibility: Summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, G.E.; Peters, B.B.; Treat, R.L.; Bazinet, G.D.; Cruse, J.M.; Hampsten, K.L.

1994-09-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has established the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program to safely manage and dispose the low-level and high-level radioactive and hazardous wastes currently held in 177 tanks and approximately 1,900 sealed capsules located on the Hanford Site. The remediation of the entire Hanford Site is being conducted under the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, otherwise known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The three parties that concluded the agreement are the DOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). The purpose of the Tri-Party Agreement is to ensure that Hanford Site activities are performed in a manner that protects the public health, welfare, and the environment. The agreement provides a framework and structure for the many different agencies and regulations under which work is performed on the Site, listing responsibilities and attaching scheduled dates of completion for minimum performances (known as milestones). The Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-45-07A requires that an assessment of the feasibility of subsurface barriers to support retrieval of tank waste be performed. The activities to meet this milestone have been completed, and are documented herein

An investigation into the strength of the association and agreement levels between subjective and objective sleep duration in adolescents.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Arora

Full Text Available The majority of adolescent sleep research has utilized self-reported sleep duration and some have based information on a solitary question. Whilst some have claimed to have validated sleep survey data with objective actigraphy measures in adolescents, the statistical approach applied only demonstrates the strength of the association between subjective and objective sleep duration data and does not reflect if these different methods actually agree.Data were collected as part of the Midlands Adolescents Schools Sleep Education Study (MASSES. Adolescents (n=225 aged 11-13 years provided estimates for weekday, weekend and combined sleep duration based on self-reported survey data, a 7-day sleep diary, and wrist-worn actigraphy.We assessed the strength of the relationship as well as agreement levels between subjective and objectively determined sleep duration (weekday, weekend and combined. Subjective diary sleep duration was significantly correlated with actigraphy estimates for weekday and weekend sleep duration r=0.30, p ≤ 0.001 and r=0.31, p ≤ 0.001 respectively. Pitman's test demonstrated no significant difference in the variance between weekend sleep duration (r=0.09, p=0.16 and combined sleep duration (r=0.12, p=0.08 indicating acceptable agreement between actigraphy and sleep diary sleep duration only. Self-reported sleep duration estimates (weekday, weekend and combined did not agree with actigraphy determined sleep duration.Sleep diaries are a cost-effective alternative to survey/questionnaire data. Self-reported measures of sleep duration in adolescents do not agree with actigraphy measures and should be avoided where possible. Previous adolescent sleep studies that have utilized self-reported survey data may not provide a complete representation of sleep on the outcome measure of interest.

25 CFR 502.5 - Collateral agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Collateral agreement. 502.5 Section 502.5 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GENERAL PROVISIONS DEFINITIONS OF THIS CHAPTER § 502.5 Collateral agreement. Collateral agreement means any contract, whether or not in writing...

75 FR 76729 - Market Access Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-09

... FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION Market Access Agreement AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration. ACTION: Notice of approval of the draft amendment to the amended and restated market access agreement. SUMMARY... Credit Bank of Wichita and the Western Farm Credit Bank under Section 7.12 of the Market Access Agreement...

43 CFR 24.5 - International agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... WILDLIFE POLICY: STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONSHIPS § 24.5 International agreements. (a) International conventions... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false International agreements. 24.5 Section 24... shall be to recommend that the United States negotiate and accede to only those international agreements...

76 FR 63618 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-13

...; Washington, DC 20036. Synopsis: The amendment removes Korea from the geographic scope of them agreement and... geographic scope of the Agreement to include Taiwan. The parties requested expedited review. Agreement No... and Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. Agreement No.: 012138. Title: CSAV/CCNI...

22 CFR 120.23 - Distribution agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Distribution agreement. 120.23 Section 120.23... § 120.23 Distribution agreement. An agreement (e.g., a contract) to establish a warehouse or distribution point abroad for defense articles exported from the United States for subsequent distribution to...

CryoSat Processing Prototype, how to generate LRM like echoes with SAR data and a Comparison to DUACS SLA over high latitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Picot, N.; Boy, F.; Desjonqueres, J.

2012-12-01

Like CryoSat, Sentinel3 embarks a doppler altimeter. While there is a long experience of LRM processing, SAR nadir looking data are new and will need in depth validation. Thanks to CryoSat data, the processing of SAR data can be experienced in orbit. The continuity to current altimeter data set (based on LRM acquisitions) has also to be analysed with details. A Cryosat Processing Prototype (C2P) has been developed on CNES side to prepare the CNES SAR ocean retracking study. this prototype allows to process SAR data in order to generate LRM like echoes on ground. Those CryoSat ocean products are routinely processed on CNES side and ingested in the SALP/DUACS system. CryoSat data have proved to be very accurate and very valuable for the ocean user community in the past monthes. For example, it has allowed to largely reduce the impact of the lost of the ESA ENVISAT mission as well as the long non availability of Jason-1 data. This paper will describe the system set up in place early 2012 to feed CryoSat data in the SALP/DUACS products and will present the routine data analysis . C2P CryoSat products will be compared with DUACS SLA estimates and a specific focus will be given over high latitudes knowing that CryoSat is the oinly mission providing sea surface estimates over latitudes above 66 degrees since the lost of the ESA ENVISAT mission.

International Technology-Oriented Agreements to Address Climate Change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Coninck, H.C.; Fischer, C.; Newell, R.G.; Ueno, T.

2007-01-01

Much discussion has surrounded possible alternatives for international agreements on climate change, particularly post-2012. Among these alternatives, technology-oriented agreements (TOAs) are perhaps the least well defined. We explore what TOAs may consist of, why they might be sensible, which TOAs already exist in international energy and environmental governance, and whether they have the potential to make a valuable contribution to addressing climate change. We conclude that TOAs aimed at knowledge sharing and coordination, research, development, or demonstration could increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of international climate cooperation, but have limited environmental effectiveness on their own. Technology transfer agreements are likely to have similar properties unless the level of resources expended on them is large, in which case they could be environmentally significant. Technology mandates, standards, or incentives can be environmentally effective, within the applicable sector. However, they are likely to be less cost-effective than broad-based, flexible approaches that place a price on emissions. These results indicate that TOAs have the potential to improve the effectiveness of the global response to climate change. The success of specific TOAs will depend on their design, implementation, and the role they are expected to play relative to other components of the climate policy portfolio

Agreement processing and attraction errors in aging: evidence from subject-verb agreement in German.

Science.gov (United States)

Reifegerste, Jana; Hauer, Franziska; Felser, Claudia

2017-11-01

Effects of aging on lexical processing are well attested, but the picture is less clear for grammatical processing. Where age differences emerge, these are usually ascribed to working-memory (WM) decline. Previous studies on the influence of WM on agreement computation have yielded inconclusive results, and work on aging and subject-verb agreement processing is lacking. In two experiments (Experiment 1: timed grammaticality judgment, Experiment 2: self-paced reading + WM test), we investigated older (OA) and younger (YA) adults' susceptibility to agreement attraction errors. We found longer reading latencies and judgment reaction times (RTs) for OAs. Further, OAs, particularly those with low WM scores, were more accepting of sentences with attraction errors than YAs. OAs showed longer reading latencies for ungrammatical sentences, again modulated by WM, than YAs. Our results indicate that OAs have greater difficulty blocking intervening nouns from interfering with the computation of agreement dependencies. WM can modulate this effect.

Applicability and agreement of different diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia estimation in the elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Pagotto, Valéria; Silveira, Erika Aparecida

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study cross-sectional study comprising 132 community dwelling elderly (≥ 60 years) was to identify sarcopenia prevalence in the Brazilian elderly, utilizing different diagnostic criteria and analyze agreement between criteria. Sarcopenia was assessed by nine muscle mass diagnostic criteria, by two muscle strength criteria and also by the combination of criteria. Prevalence was analyzed for each method, along with differences by gender and age group through calculation of the prevalence ratio (PR) and confidence interval (CI) 95%. The Kappa coefficient was used to analyze the level of agreement between all criteria. Sarcopenia prevalence varied between 60.6% and 8.3% with the application of muscle mass criteria, and between 54.2% and 48.8% with the application of strength criteria. The combination muscle mass+strength resulted in a decrease of prevalence in all criteria, varying between 36.6% and 6.1%. There was an increase in prevalence according to age groups for all methods. Prevalence was higher for men according to three muscle mass criteria, and higher in women for strength criteria and by two combined mass+strength criteria. The best level of agreement was obtained for two methods that utilized dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The prevalence of sarcopenia differs by gender and age and definition criteria. The low agreement levels obtained between methods and the different prevalence values encountered indicate the necessities of an operational definition for the estimation of sarcopenia in different population. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vienna Agreement law 15.986 it approve Vienna Agreement for Protection ozone layer and annex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-01-01

The Agreement of Vienna is approved with respect to the protection of the Layer of Ozono, definitions,general duties, research and observations systematics, co-operation in the Spheres Scientific Juridical, and information, Technological Conference, transmission from the protocols, amends, secretariat, adoption to the agreement or the protocols, adoption and amendment of controversy, signing, ratify, approve annexes, solution or vote, relation approving, adhesion, rights between the present agreement and its protocols, entrance in vigor, reserves, retirement, deposition, exchange of information [es

Left fronto-temporal dynamics during agreement processing: evidence for feature-specific computations.

Science.gov (United States)

Molinaro, Nicola; Barber, Horacio A; Pérez, Alejandro; Parkkonen, Lauri; Carreiras, Manuel

2013-09-01

Grammatical agreement is a widespread language phenomenon that indicates formal syntactic relations between words; however, it also conveys basic lexical (e.g. grammatical gender) or semantic (e.g. numerosity) information about a discourse referent. In this study, we focus on the reading of Spanish noun phrases, violating either number or gender determiner-noun agreement compared to grammatical controls. Magnetoencephalographic activity time-locked to the onset of the noun in both types of violation revealed a left-lateralized brain network involving anterior temporal regions (~220 ms) and, later in time, ventro-lateral prefrontal regions (>300 ms). These activations coexist with dependency-specific effects: in an initial step (~170 ms), occipito-temporal regions are employed for fine-grained analysis of the number marking (in Spanish, presence or absence of the suffix '-s'), while anterior temporal regions show increased activation for gender mismatches compared to grammatical controls. The semantic relevance of number agreement dependencies was mainly reflected by left superior temporal increased activity around 340 ms. These findings offer a detailed perspective on the multi-level analyses involved in the initial computation of agreement dependencies, and theoretically support a derivational approach to agreement computation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

76 FR 553 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-05

... obsolete language on the duration of Agreement, and changes the name and restates the Agreement. By Order... agreement's governing board and would update the corporate addresses of American President Lines, Ltd.; APL.... as a party to the agreement and updates the corporate addresses of American President Lines, Ltd...

The quid-pro-quo of environmental agreements: Reflections on industrial energy efficiency agreements from five countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helby, Peter

2001-10-01

This workshop paper reflects on the exchange of values between the government side and the business side, which is a core logic of environmental agreements. The reflections refer to case studies of industrial energy efficiency agreements from Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, originating from the VAIE project (Voluntary Agreements, Implementation and Efficiency). The government bargaining chips discussed are monetary rewards, help to gain competitive advantage, regulatory flexibility and political protection. The business side bargaining chips are emission limits, organisational change, investments, information, submission to control and political pain reduction. The discussion underlines the need for substantial commitments by the government side, as a precondition for achieving effective agreements.

Satellite Altimetry and Current-Meter Velocities in the Malvinas Current at 41°S: Comparisons and Modes of Variations

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Ramiro; Artana, Camila; Saraceno, Martin; Piola, Alberto R.; Provost, Christine

2017-12-01

Three year long current-meter arrays were deployed in the Malvinas Current at 41°S below a satellite altimeter track at about 10 years intervals. Surface geostrophic velocities (SGV) derived from satellite altimetric data are compared with the in situ velocities at the upper current meter (˜300 m). Multisatellite gridded SGV compare better with in situ observations than along-track SGV. In spite of the proximity of the moorings to the complex Brazil-Malvinas Confluence (BMC) region, satellite SGV are significantly correlated with the 20 day low-passed in situ velocities (0.85 for along-isobaths velocities, 0.8 for cross-isobaths velocities). The recent in situ measurement period (2014-2015) stands out in the altimetry record with a long-lasting (4 months) high level of eddy kinetic energy at the mooring site and a southernmost location of the Subantarctic Front (SAF). The first two modes of variations of sea level anomaly (SLA) over the BMC remarkably match the first two modes of the low-passed in situ velocities. The first mode is associated with a latitudinal migration of the SAF, and the second with a longitudinal displacement of the Brazil Current overshoot. The two modes dominate the 24 year long record of SLA in the BMC, with energy peaks at the annual and semiannual periods for the first mode and at 3-5 months for the second mode. The SLA over the Southwest Atlantic was regressed onto the two confluence modes of SLA variations and showed remarkable standing wave train like structures in the Argentine Basin.

MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS AND THE TRADE MEASURES CONTAINED IN THESE AGREEMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margareta Timbur

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The environmental problems which the society is facing, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss, the spread of persistent organic pollutants, are a result of human activity with a worldwide impact, requiring immediate resolution. In this context, negotiation, signing and implementation of several multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs are one of the best solutions, affordable and reliable. The aim of this study is to analyze the commercial measures, which to some extent, ensure stability, security, and expansion of MEAs. The paper discusses, also, the efficiency, necessity and the influences of trade measures in MEAs and the WTO role in signing these agreements.

Old wine in new skins? Experiences from adopting voluntary agreements in Chinese state-owned enterprises

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bongardt, Daniel; Eichhorst, Urda (Wuppertal Inst. for Climate, Environment and Energy, Wuppertal (Germany))

2009-07-01

The Chinese national government has put energy efficiency and pollution control at the heart of its 11th five-year plan (2005-2010). However, implementation of national policies at the local level is notoriously poor in China. In order to tackle this problem, voluntary agreements were signed between local Environmental Protection Bureaus and 14 mostly state-owned companies from different energy-intensive sectors in Nanjing, Xi'an and Kelamayi in the context of an ongoing EU-funded pilot project. In Nanjing, for instance, agreed targets are in the range of a 3-5% reduction in energy intensity by 2009 over a 2007 baseline. The pilot agreements are informed by Dutch experiences with long-term agreements on energy efficiency (LTA / 1989-1999) as European best practice, but have been significantly adjusted to Chinese circumstances. Much emphasis was put on process management applying a cooperative approach throughout. Each enterprise put together a so-called Energy Action Team for voluntary agreement development and implementation. This helped to create a sense of ownership in the companies and assigned clear responsibilities. Energy Action Teams conducted Energy Potential Scans in cooperation with a Dutch expert to identify energy saving potentials and possible measures to realize them. On this basis, achievable targets were agreed and a detailed action plan was developed. A first evaluation is scheduled for April 2009. By lifting industry on a more equal power level with government authorities, voluntary agreements showed to be an effective policy instrument to overcome traditional institutional constraints to environmental policy implementation at the local level in China.

77 FR 42310 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-18

...; Washington, DC 20006-4007. Synopsis: The agreement would provide for delivery of data to the Port of Oakland... delivery. Agreement No.: 201217. Title: Port of Long Beach Data Services Agreement. Parties: Port of Long... 1100; Washington, DC 20006-4007. Synopsis: The agreement would provide for delivery of data to the Port...

Client/consultant model services agreement

CERN Document Server

International Federation of Consulting Engineers

2006-01-01

The terms of the Client Consultant Model Services agreement (The White Book) have been prepared by the Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils (FIDIC) and are recommended for general use for the purposes of pre-investment and feasibility studies, designs and administration of construction and project management, where proposals for such services are invited on an international basis. They are equally adaptable for domestic agreements. - See more at: http://fidic.org/books/clientconsultant-model-services-agreement-4th-ed-2006-white-book#sthash.3Uxy5qT3.dpuf

[Innovative medicines and market access agreements].

Science.gov (United States)

Toumi, M; Zard, J; Duvillard, R; Jommi, C

2013-09-01

Market Access Agreements (MAA) for drugs have emerged in response to the need to control health expenditures, as well as to the uncertainty about the true benefit of a drug. It is possible to group MAA in two types of agreements: financial agreements and outcome-based agreements. MAA is a growing trend and is shifting towards conditional access. However, the willingness to use these contracts and their implementation differ across countries, and some are still resistant to put them in place. The MAA challenges to overcome encompass the complexity of the schemes, the administrative burden and the difficulty of evaluating MAA. It is likely that these agreements might experience further evolution in the future to become a faster pathway for therapeutic innovations, at a fair price. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The growth and flowering of Hyacinthus orientalis L. Forced in pots under fluorescent light of different colours

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzata Śmigielska

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Three hyacinth cultivars were forced under fluorescent lamps which emitted white, blue, green, yellow and red light. The plants started flowering in the first decade of February. The forcing period for two cultivars, ‘Anna Marie’ and ‘Blue Star’, was shortest under lamps emitting red light. The cultivar ‘White Pearl’ flowered equally early under lamps emitting red, white and blue light. The impact of light colour (wavelength on the leaf greenness index (SPAD was demonstrated. The photosynthetic activity of leaves was dependent on the cultivar. It was related both to the net rate of photosynthesis and the photosynthetic efficiency. Specific leaf area (SLA also depended on the cultivar. The level of SLA was related to the rate of photosynthesis and its efficiency. SLA was highest in all cultivars under green and yellow colour light. The chlorophyll content in the fresh and dry weight of leaves was highest under yellow light lamps.

23 CFR 140.606 - Project agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Reimbursement for Bond Issue Projects § 140.606 Project agreements. Project Agreements, Form PR-2, shall be... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Project agreements. 140.606 Section 140.606 Highways... projects. 1 The text of FHWA Form PR-2 is found in 23 CFR part 630, subpart C, appendix A. ...

14 CFR 1274.909 - Term of agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Agreement, which, by their express terms or by necessary implication, apply for periods of time other than... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Term of agreement. 1274.909 Section 1274... COMMERCIAL FIRMS Other Provisions and Special Conditions § 1274.909 Term of agreement. Term of Agreement July...

Analysis of international negotiations and trade agreements

OpenAIRE

Górriz Gonzalo, Verónica

2014-01-01

This study aims to analyze international trade agreements and negotiations. For that purpose, two agreements made by the United States are chosen to be analyzed. In the first place, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) agreement, that was signed by the United States, Canada and Mexico in 1994 in order to create a free trade area. In addition, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be analyze, an agreement that is still being negotiated between the United Stat...

Inter-observer agreement for abdominal CT in unselected patients with acute abdominal pain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Randen, Adrienne van; Lameris, Wytze; Nio, C.Y.; Spijkerboer, Anje M.; Meier, Mark A.; Tutein Nolthenius, Charlotte; Smithuis, Frank; Stoker, Jaap; Bossuyt, Patrick M.; Boermeester, Marja A.

2009-01-01

The level of inter-observer agreement of abdominal computed tomography (CT) in unselected patients presenting with acute abdominal pain at the Emergency Department (ED) was evaluated. Two hundred consecutive patients with acute abdominal pain were prospectively included. Multi-slice CT was performed in all patients with intravenous contrast medium only. Three radiologists independently read all CT examinations. They recorded specific radiological features and a final diagnosis on a case record form. We calculated the proportion of agreement and kappa values, for overall, urgent and frequently occurring diagnoses. The mean age of the evaluated patients was 46 years (range 19-94), of which 54% were women. Overall agreement on diagnoses was good, with a median kappa of 0.66. Kappa values for specific urgent diagnoses were excellent, with median kappa values of 0.84, 0.90 and 0.81, for appendicitis, diverticulitis and bowel obstruction, respectively. Abdominal CT has good inter-observer agreement in unselected patients with acute abdominal pain at the ED, with excellent agreement for specific urgent diagnoses as diverticulitis and appendicitis. (orig.)

Inter-observer agreement for abdominal CT in unselected patients with acute abdominal pain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Randen, Adrienne van [University of Amsterdam, Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Lameris, Wytze [University of Amsterdam, Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Nio, C.Y.; Spijkerboer, Anje M.; Meier, Mark A.; Tutein Nolthenius, Charlotte; Smithuis, Frank; Stoker, Jaap [University of Amsterdam, Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Bossuyt, Patrick M. [University of Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Boermeester, Marja A. [University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2009-06-15

The level of inter-observer agreement of abdominal computed tomography (CT) in unselected patients presenting with acute abdominal pain at the Emergency Department (ED) was evaluated. Two hundred consecutive patients with acute abdominal pain were prospectively included. Multi-slice CT was performed in all patients with intravenous contrast medium only. Three radiologists independently read all CT examinations. They recorded specific radiological features and a final diagnosis on a case record form. We calculated the proportion of agreement and kappa values, for overall, urgent and frequently occurring diagnoses. The mean age of the evaluated patients was 46 years (range 19-94), of which 54% were women. Overall agreement on diagnoses was good, with a median kappa of 0.66. Kappa values for specific urgent diagnoses were excellent, with median kappa values of 0.84, 0.90 and 0.81, for appendicitis, diverticulitis and bowel obstruction, respectively. Abdominal CT has good inter-observer agreement in unselected patients with acute abdominal pain at the ED, with excellent agreement for specific urgent diagnoses as diverticulitis and appendicitis. (orig.)

Safeguards agreements - Their legal and conceptual basis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanders, B.; Rainer, R.H.

1977-01-01

The application of Agency safeguards requires treaty arrangements (Safeguards Agreements) between the State or States concerned and the Agency. The authority for the Agency to conclude such agreements and to implement them is provided for in the Agency's Statute. On the basis of the statutory provisions safeguards principles and procedures have been elaborated. These have been laid down in: The Agency's Safeguards System 1965, extended in 1966 and 1968; and the basis for negotiating safeguards agreements with NNWS pursuant to NPT. The verification of the undertaking by the State concerned not to use items subject to safeguards for purposes contrary to the terms of the agreement is ensured through the application of various safeguards measures. Containment and surveillance measures are expected to play an increasingly important role. One of the specific features of NPT Safeguards Agreements is the establishment of national systems of accounting and control of nuclear material. The majority of the agreements concluded under the non-NPT safeguards agreements implement obligations undertaken under co-operation agreements between States for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. These agreements naturally reflect approaches adopted by the parties, in particular regarding the circumstances under which safeguards should be applied. Thus, the concepts used in the non-NPT safeguards agreements and the Safeguards System document, which is incorporated in these agreements by reference, are in continuous evolution. The Agency's Safeguards System document (INFCIRC/66/Rev.2) continues to be supplemented in practical application and through explicit decision by the Board. The non-NPT safeguards agreements contain, besides technical safeguards provisions from this document, and further provision for notification, inventories and financial matters, legal and political provisions such as sanctions in the case of non-compliance, and privileges and immunities. The paper discusses the

The Text of the Fifth Agreement to Extend the 1987 Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA). Extension of Agreement. Latest Status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

The Text of the Fifth Agreement to Extend the 1987 Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA). Extension of Agreement. Latest Status [es

Agreement between self-reported data on medicine use and prescription records vary according to method of analysis and therapeutic group

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Merete Willemoes; Søndergaard, Birthe; Kjøller, Mette

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: This study compared national self-reported data on medicine use and national prescription records at the individual level. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Data from the nationally representative Danish health survey conducted in 2000 (n=16,688) were linked at the individual level to national...... prescription records covering 1999-2000. Kappa statistics and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: Applying the legend time method to medicine groups used mainly on a chronic basis revealed good to very good agreement between the two data sources, whereas medicines used as needed showed fair...... to moderate agreement. When a fixed-time window was applied for analysis, agreement was unchanged for medicines used mainly on a chronic basis, whereas agreement increased somewhat compared to the legend time method when analyzing medicines used as needed. CONCLUSION: Agreement between national self...

23 CFR 630.110 - Modification of original agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Modification of original agreement. 630.110 Section 630... OPERATIONS PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Project Authorization and Agreements § 630.110 Modification of original agreement. (a) When changes are needed to the original project agreement, a modification of agreement shall...

78 FR 35270 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-12

... Russia from the geographic scope of the agreement. Agreement No.: 012210. Title: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS/Eukor Car Carriers Inc. Space Charter Agreement. Parties: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS and Eukor...

Paleoclimatological context and reference level of the 2°C and 1.5°C Paris Agreement long-term temperature limits

Science.gov (United States)

Lüning, Sebastian; Vahrenholt, Fritz

2017-12-01

The Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 during the COP21 conference stipulates that the increase in the global average temperature is to be kept well below 2°C above “pre-industrial levels” and that efforts are pursued to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above “pre-industrial levels”. In order to further increase public acceptance of these limits it is important to transparently place the target levels and their baselines in a paleoclimatic context of the past 150,000 years (Last Interglacial, LIG) and in particular of the last 10,000 years (Holocene; Present Interglacial, PIG). Intense paleoclimatological research of the past decade has firmed up that pre-industrial temperatures have been highly variable which needs to be reflected in the pre-industrial climate baseline definitions. The currently used reference level 1850-1900 represents the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA).The LIA represents the coldest phase of the last 10,000 years when mean temperatures deviated strongly negatively from the Holocene average and which therefore are hard to justify as a representative pre-industrial baseline. The temperature level reached during the interval 1940-1970 may serve as a better reference level as it appears to roughly correspond to the average pre-industrial temperature of the past two millennia. Placing the climate limits in an enlarged paleoclimatic context will help to demonstrate that the chosen climate targets are valid and represent dangerous extremes of the known natural range of Holocene temperature variability.

Agreement between TOAST and CCS ischemic stroke classification: the NINDS SiGN study.

Science.gov (United States)

McArdle, Patrick F; Kittner, Steven J; Ay, Hakan; Brown, Robert D; Meschia, James F; Rundek, Tatjana; Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia; Woo, Daniel; Andsberg, Gunnar; Biffi, Alessandro; Brenner, David A; Cole, John W; Corriveau, Roderick; de Bakker, Paul I W; Delavaran, Hossein; Dichgans, Martin; Grewal, Raji P; Gwinn, Katrina; Huq, Mohammed; Jern, Christina; Jimenez-Conde, Jordi; Jood, Katarina; Kaplan, Robert C; Katschnig, Petra; Katsnelson, Michael; Labovitz, Daniel L; Lemmens, Robin; Li, Linxin; Lindgren, Arne; Markus, Hugh S; Peddareddygari, Leema R; Pedersén, Annie; Pera, Joanna; Redfors, Petra; Roquer, Jaume; Rosand, Jonathan; Rost, Natalia S; Rothwell, Peter M; Sacco, Ralph L; Sharma, Pankaj; Slowik, Agnieszka; Sudlow, Cathie; Thijs, Vincent; Tiedt, Steffen; Valenti, Raffaella; Worrall, Bradford B

2014-10-28

The objective of this study was to assess the level of agreement between stroke subtype classifications made using the Trial of Org 10172 Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) and Causative Classification of Stroke (CCS) systems. Study subjects included 13,596 adult men and women accrued from 20 US and European genetic research centers participating in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Stroke Genetics Network (SiGN). All cases had independently classified TOAST and CCS stroke subtypes. Kappa statistics were calculated for the 5 major ischemic stroke subtypes common to both systems. The overall agreement between TOAST and CCS was moderate (agreement rate, 70%; κ = 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.60). Agreement varied widely across study sites, ranging from 28% to 90%. Agreement on specific subtypes was highest for large-artery atherosclerosis (κ = 0.71, 95% CI 0.69-0.73) and lowest for small-artery occlusion (κ = 0.56, 95% CI 0.54-0.58). Agreement between TOAST and CCS diagnoses was moderate. Caution is warranted when comparing or combining results based on the 2 systems. Replication of study results, for example, genome-wide association studies, should utilize phenotypes determined by the same classification system, ideally applied in the same manner. © 2014 American Academy of Neurology.

76 FR 16420 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-23

.... Title: Hanjin and WHS Transpacific Vessel Sharing and Slot Allocation Agreement. Parties: Hanjin... amendment would add COSCON as a party to the Agreement and revise the name of the Agreement to Hanjin/WHS...

Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schleussner, Carl Friedrich; Rogelj, Joeri; Schaeffer, Michiel; Lissner, Tabea; Licker, Rachel; Fischer, Erich M.; Knutti, Reto; Levermann, Anders; Frieler, Katja; Hare, William

2016-01-01

The Paris Agreement sets a long-term temperature goal of holding the global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C, and pursuing efforts to limit this to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Here, we present an overview of science and policy aspects related to this goal and analyse the

The Text of a Safeguards Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Japan and Australia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1973-01-26

The text of a Safeguards Agreement between the Agency, Japan and Australia relating to the agreement of 21 February 1972 between the two Governments for co-operation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members.

Safeguards agreements - their legal and conceptual basis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanders, B.; Rainer, R.

1977-01-01

The application of Agency safeguards requires treaty arrangements (''Safeguards Agreements'') between the State or States concerned and the Agency. The authority for the Agency to conclude such agreements and to implement them is provided for in the Agency's Statute (Articles II, III A.5 and XII). On the basis of the statutory provisions safeguards principles and procedures have been elaborated. These have been laid down in: (a) The Agency's Safeguards System 1965, extended in 1966 and 1968 (INFCIRC/66/Rev.2); and (b) The basis for negotiating safeguards agreements with NNWS pursuant to NPT (INFCIRC/153). The verification of the undertaking by the State concerned not to use items subject to safeguards for purposes contrary to the terms of the agreement is verified through the application of various safeguards measures (design review, records, reports and inspection). Containment and surveillance measures are expected to play an increasingly important role. NPT Safeguards Agreements foresee as one of their specific features the establishment of national systems of accounting and control of nuclear material. The majority of the agreements concluded under document INFCIRC/66/Rev.2 - i.e. the non-NPT safeguards agreements - implement obligations undertaken under co-operation agreements between States for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. These agreements naturally reflect approaches adopted by the parties, in particular as to the circumstances under which safeguards should be applied. Thus, the concepts used in the non-NPT safeguards agreements and the safeguards system of document INFCIRC/66/Rev.2 which is incorporated in these agreements by reference are in continuous evolution. Document INFCIRC/66/Rev.2 continues to be supplemented in practical application and through explicit decision by the Board. The non-NPT safeguards agreements contain, besides technical safeguards provisions from document INFCIRC/66/Rev.2, and further provision for notification, inventories

THE URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE: AN EVALUATION

OpenAIRE

Josling, Timothy E.; Honma, Masayoshi; Lee, Jaeok; MacLaren, Donald; Miner, William M.; Sumner, Daniel A.; Tangermann, Stefan; Valdes, Alberto

1994-01-01

Contact for this paper: Laura Bipes/University of Minnesota/Department of Applied Economics/ 1994 Buford Avenue./ St. Paul, MN 55108 USA. From the start, agriculture played a central role in the Uruguay Round of GATT trade negotiations. The Punta del Este Declaration called for a solution to the problems facing agricultural trade through modified trade rules and an agreement to lower protection levels. It was recognized that such an improvement implied negotiations on the national farm polici...

Accuracy of stereolithography additive casts used in a digital workflow

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Al-Imam, Hiba; Gram, Mia; Benetti, Ana R

2018-01-01

additive (SLA) casts from 2 manufacturers: 9 Dreve SLA casts and 9 Scanbiz SLA casts. All casts were then scanned 9 times with an extraoral scanner to produce the reference data set. Trueness was evaluated by superimposing the data sets obtained by scanning the casts with the reference data set. Precision...

Federal Facility Agreement progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-10-01

The (SRS) Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) was made effective by the US. Environmental Protection Agency Region IV (EPA) on August 16, 1993. To meet the reporting requirements in Section XXV of the Agreement, the FFA Progress Report was developed. The FFA Progress Report is the first of a series of quarterly progress reports to be prepared by the SRS. As such this report describes the information and action taken to September 30, 1993 on the SRS units identified for investigation and remediation in the Agreement. This includes; rubble pits, runoff basins, retention basin, seepage basin, burning pits, H-Area Tank 16, and spill areas.

Federal Facility Agreement progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-10-01

The (SRS) Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) was made effective by the US. Environmental Protection Agency Region IV (EPA) on August 16, 1993. To meet the reporting requirements in Section XXV of the Agreement, the FFA Progress Report was developed. The FFA Progress Report is the first of a series of quarterly progress reports to be prepared by the SRS. As such this report describes the information and action taken to September 30, 1993 on the SRS units identified for investigation and remediation in the Agreement. This includes; rubble pits, runoff basins, retention basin, seepage basin, burning pits, H-Area Tank 16, and spill areas

Phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation in leaf ecophysiological traits of 13 contrasting cork oak populations under different water availabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramírez-Valiente, Jose Alberto; Sánchez-Gómez, David; Aranda, Ismael; Valladares, Fernando

2010-05-01

Plants distributed across a wide range of environmental conditions are submitted to differential selective pressures. Long-term selection can lead to the development of adaptations to the local environment, generating ecotypic differentiation. Additionally, plant species can cope with this environmental variability by phenotypic plasticity. In this study, we examine the importance of both processes in coping with environmental heterogeneity in the Mediterranean sclerophyllous cork oak Quercus suber. For this purpose, we measured growth and key functional traits at the leaf level in 9-year-old plants across 2 years of contrasting precipitation (2005 and 2006) in a common garden. Plants were grown from acorns originated from 13 populations spanning a wide range of climates along the distribution range of the species. The traits measured were: leaf size (LS), specific leaf area (SLA), carbon isotope discrimination (Delta(13)C) and leaf nitrogen content per unit mass (N(mass)). Inter-population differences in LS, SLA and Delta(13)C were found. These differences were associated with rainfall and temperature at the sites of origin, suggesting local adaptation in response to diverging climates. Additionally, SLA and LS exhibited positive responses to the increase in annual rainfall. Year effect explained 28% of the total phenotypic variance in LS and 2.7% in SLA. There was a significant genotype x environment interaction for shoot growth and a phenotypic correlation between the difference in shoot growth among years and the annual mean temperature at origin. This suggests that populations originating from warm sites can benefit more from wet conditions than populations from cool sites. Finally, we investigated the relationships between functional traits and aboveground growth by several regression models. Our results showed that plants with lower SLA presented larger aboveground growth in a dry year and plants with larger leaf sizes displayed larger growth rates in both

Level of agreement between patient and proxy responses to the EQ-5D health questionnaire 12 months after injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabbe, Belinda J; Lyons, Ronan A; Sutherland, Ann M; Hart, Melissa J; Cameron, Peter A

2012-04-01

Health-related quality of life represents a patient's experiences and expectations and should be collected from the patient. In trauma, collection of information from the patient can be challenging, particularly for subgroups where cognitive impairment is prevalent, increasing reliance on proxy reporting. This study assessed the agreement between patient and proxy reporting of health-related quality of life 12 months after injury. The Victorian State Trauma Registry and Victorian Orthopaedic Trauma Outcomes Registry collect EQ-5D data at 12 months after injury. Cases where data were collected from the patient and proxy were extracted. Agreement between patient and proxy responses was compared using kappa (K) coefficients for the individual EQ-5D items, and Bland-Altman plots and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for the EQ-5D summary score and visual analog scale (VAS). Agreement between patient and proxy respondents was substantial for the mobility (K = 0.61) and personal care items (K = 0.67) and moderate for the usual activities (K = 0.50), pain/discomfort (K = 0.42), and anxiety/depression items (K = 0.47). The mean difference between proxy and patient-reported scores for the VAS (0.74, 95% confidence interval: -2.73, 4.21) and the EQ-5D summary score (-0.02, 95% confidence interval: -0.07, 0.03) was small, but the limits of agreement were wide (-34.22 to 35.71 for VAS and -0.55 to 0.51 for summary score), suggesting no systematic bias. Although proxy and patient responses for the EQ-5D VAS may differ, the differences show random variability rather than systematic bias. Group comparisons using proxy responses are unlikely to be biased, but proxy responses should be used with caution when assessing individual patient recovery.

Physical attractiveness, issue agreement, and assimilation effects in candidate appraisal.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, James N; Curran, Margaret Ann; Strungaru, Carmen

2011-01-01

This study examines the cognitive and affective factors of candidate appraisal by manipulating candidate attractiveness and levels of issue agreement with voters. Drawing upon research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this analysis proposes that automatic processing of physical appearance predisposes affective disposition toward more attractive candidates, thereby influencing cognitive processing of issue information. An experimental design presented attractive and unattractive candidates who were either liberal or conservative in a mock primary election. The data show strong partial effects for appearance on vote intention, an interaction between appearance and issue agreement, and a tendency for voters to assimilate the dissimilar views of attractive candidates. We argue that physical appearance is important in primary elections when the differences in issue positions and ideology between candidates is small.

US-India agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The United States and India acheived a historic agreement for strategic partnership after the completion of negotiations on the bilateral agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation, also known as the agreement of 123. This agreement regulates the civilian nuclear trade between the two countries and opens the door wide to U.S. and Indian companies for a partnership in every other country in the civil nuclear industry. This agreement has opened the door to complete the remaining steps for the the widest American Indian cooperation in the field of civil uses of atomic energy. Critics to the agreement within the United States say that the agreement reflected serious consequences on the ability of the United States to force other countries to comply with the prevention of nuclear proliferation. The global criticism focused on that the agreement strikes at the heart of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and is considered a dangerous precedent to break the laws of the International Tribunal, and especially the laws and rules of the International Group of Suppliers, which includes 45 countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that the agreement is an important step towards meeting India's growing energy needs, especially nuclear technology which is the engine of development. Immediately after the completion of the United States and India for their bilateral agreement for nuclear cooperation, Israel announced that it was seeking U.S. help in the establishment of a power reactor while pressing the direction of tightening control over Iran's nuclear program while some Arab countries announced their desire to have nuclear reactors for electricity generation purposes.

Climate Justice and the Paris Agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michelot, Agnes

2016-01-01

The concept of climate justice has been, for the first time, used in an international agreement - namely, the Paris Agreement. But this recognition of the notion of climate justice is extremely restricted by the very way it is formulated. Preamble of the Paris Agreement 'notes' that climate justice is recognized by 'certain cultures'. Does it mean that particular and concrete stakes of climate justice of the pre-COP21 agenda have been recognized or, on the contrary, that the notion so introduced is actually an empty shell without any genuine legal perspective? Considering this uncertainty, it appears relevant to analyze the Paris Agreement through the claims of various groups and coalitions, which influenced the COP21 negotiations

The Spacing Effect and Its Relevance to Second Language Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, John

2017-01-01

This commentary discusses some theoretical and methodological issues related to research on the spacing effect in second language acquisition research (SLA). There has been a growing interest in SLA in how the temporal distribution of input might impact language development. SLA research in this area has frequently drawn upon the rich field of…

Sequence-Based Genotyping of Expressed Swine Leukocyte Antigen Class I Alleles by Next-Generation Sequencing Reveal Novel Swine Leukocyte Antigen Class I Haplotypes and Alleles in Belgian, Danish, and Kenyan Fattening Pigs and Göttingen Minipigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Maria Rathmann; Ilsøe, Mette; Strube, Mikael Lenz

2017-01-01

for the prediction of epitope binding in pigs. The low number of known SLA class I alleles and the limited knowledge of their prevalence in different pig breeds emphasizes the need for efficient SLA typing methods. This study utilizes an SLA class I-typing method based on next-generation sequencing of barcoded PCR...

REAL ESTATE PURCHASE AGREEMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bujorel FLOREA

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The study presented herein represents a field with good present and future perspectives, especially because real estate property is not under the incidence of a single normative act regarding the sale-purchase agreement of such goods, and given the fact that there are specific legal provisions with respect to various real estate categories and the localization of such property. The article deals with the sale-purchase agreement of various real estate categories, such as fields, buildings, the correspondent lots, urban area, farm, and forests fields, focusing on some particularities. A special care is attributed to examining the applicable laws with regard to the purchase agreements of field lands, the special conditions to be taken into account, the persons that may act as buyers, including foreigners, those without citizenship, and legal persons of a nationality other than Romanian. Finally, a special concern is given to the formalities required for legally exerting the pre-emptive right and the applicable sanctions in that respect.

Doktor Kot, Doktor Sla - book doctors, plant doctors and the segmentation of the medical market place in Meghalaya, northeast India.

Science.gov (United States)

Albert, Sandra; Porter, John; Green, Judith

2017-10-16

Despite decades of research on India's plural health care market, the practices of many local health traditions outside the allopathic and codified traditions are under-studied. Drawing on interview and observational data, this paper explores the space in which indigenous traditional Khasi healers in Meghalaya state, northeast India, practice. Khasi indigenous healers describe themselves as doktor sla, plant doctors, to distinguish themselves from doktor kot, or book doctors. This distinction operates as a rhetorical resource, utilised to carve a distinct sphere of expertise in relation to the allopathic sector, and to mark claims for the specifically local appropriateness of traditional practices within a shifting market of state-sponsored provision. Khasi healers are a heterogeneous group who treat a wide variety of conditions, including physical ailments which have no obvious correlates in biomedical systems, and musculoskeletal disorders, with which they have recognised expertise. In addition to claiming these discrete strengths, healers also present themselves as accommodating deficiencies in biomedicine, including inherent generic weaknesses of allopathic care as well as specific local gaps in rural health care provision. Thus, the expertise niches of traditional healers have evolved through their interactions with, and the needs of, the community, but also through managing a shifting boundary with biomedical practitioners, who are explicitly sceptical of their efficacy, but tacitly accepting of the ways in which they manage the gaps in biomedical provision. While codified non-biomedical traditions in India have engaged in universalising professionalising projects, in this setting at least, non-codified practitioners have instead utilised discourses of localism.

48 CFR 1542.1203 - Processing agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... MANAGEMENT CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION Novation and Change of Name Agreements 1542.1203 Processing agreements. (a... required documentary evidence. (2) Verify the accuracy of the list of contracts through the Contract...

Trade Agreements PTI

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — The objective of the Trade Agreements PTI is to advance CBP’s mission by working with internal and external stakeholders to facilitate legitimate trade and address...

African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology. Third extension of agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

Pursuant to Article XIV.2, the Agreement 'shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date of its entry into force and may be extended for further periods of five years if the Government Parties so agree'. The third extension of the Agreement entered into force on 4 April 2005, upon expiration of the second extension of the Agreement and will remain in force for an additional period of five years, i.e. through 3 April 2010. As of 10 May 2005, 20 States have notified the Agency of their acceptance of the extension of the Agreement. The status list of the Agreement is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. Members will be notified of further acceptances of the extension of the Agreement by addenda to this information circular

PRE-CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION IN CREDIT AGREEMENTS FOR CONSUMERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela-Irina IONESCU

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The article provides an image to the point on information provided to consumers before the conclusion of a credit contract, starting with the importance of information and ending with the legal framework. A high consumer protection may be achieved primarily through consumer information. The complexity of banking services but also the vulnerability of consumers in relation to the banks and the unbalanced relationship led to the need to develop specific legislation that clearly establishes the rights and obligations of the parties of a credit agreement for consumers. In this regard, in 2008, after many debates, Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on credit agreements for consumers was adopted. At national level, the Directive was transposed by the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 50/2010 on credit agreements for consumers. Taking into account national specificities, such as lack of experience of consumers in financial products, the irresponsible lending and the unfair practices of creditors, the national act includes wider provisions than the European Directive, such as those relating to fees limitations or those related to the calculation of the variable interest rate. Also the GEO no 50/2010 applies to all credit agreements concluded by consumers and creditors. As regards the advertising, any advertisement shall include a series of standard information. Also, pre-contractual information is standard information, is provided to consumers 15 days before the contract is concluded and is transmitted through the “European Consumer Credit Information sheet Standard”. The article presents when, how and what information should be given to consumers and insists on the importance of annual percentage rate and to what consumers should pay attention in order to be able to compare different offers.

Topographical cues of direct metal laser sintering titanium surfaces facilitate osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells through epigenetic regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Guoying; Guan, Binbin; Hu, Penghui; Qi, Xingying; Wang, Pingting; Kong, Yu; Liu, Zihao; Gao, Ping; Li, Rui; Zhang, Xu; Wu, Xudong; Sui, Lei

2018-04-27

To investigate the role of hierarchical micro/nanoscale topography of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) titanium surfaces in osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), as well as the possible underlying epigenetic mechanism. Three groups of titanium specimens were prepared, including DMLS group, sandblasted, large-grit, acid-etched (SLA) group and smooth titanium (Ti) group. BMSCs were cultured on discs followed by surface characterization. Cell adhesion and proliferation were examined by SEM and CCK-8 assay, while osteogenic-related gene expression was detected by real-time RT-PCR. Immunofluorescence, western blotting and in vivo study were also performed to evaluate the potential for osteogenic induction of materials. In addition, to investigate the underlying epigenetic mechanisms, immunofluorescence and western blotting were performed to evaluate the global level of H3K4me3 during osteogenesis. The H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 levels at the promoter area of the osteogenic gene Runx2 were detected by ChIP assay. The DMLS surface exhibits greater protein adsorption ability and shows better cell adhesion performance than SLA and Ti surfaces. Moreover, both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that the DMLS surface is more favourable for the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs than SLA and Ti surfaces. Accordingly, osteogenesis-associated gene expression in BMSCs is efficiently induced by a rapid H3K27 demethylation and increase in H3K4me3 levels at gene promoters upon osteogenic differentiation on DMLS titanium surface. Topographical cues of DMLS surfaces have greater potential for the induction of osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs than SLA and Ti surfaces both in vitro and in vivo. A potential epigenetic mechanism is that the appropriate topography allows rapid H3K27 demethylation and an increased H3K4me3 level at the promoter region of osteogenesis-associated genes during the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. © 2018 John Wiley

Parent-Child Diagnostic Agreement on Anxiety Symptoms with a Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Popp, Lukka; Neuschwander, Murielle; Mannstadt, Sandra; In-Albon, Tina; Schneider, Silvia

2017-01-01

Objective: In clinical structured diagnostic interviews, diagnoses based on parent and child reports have low to moderate agreement. The aims of the present study are (1) to examine diagnostic agreement on anxiety disorders between parents and children on the levels of current and lifetime diagnostic category and diagnoses focusing in particular on diagnostic criteria and (2) to identify parent- and child-related predictors for diagnostic agreement. Method: The sample consisted of 166 parent-child dyads interviewed with the Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children (Kinder-DIPS, Schneider et al., 2009). The children (51.8% girls) were between the ages of 7 and 18 years ( M = 10.94; SD = 2.22). Results: Overall, parent-child agreement on the diagnostic category of anxiety disorder ( k = 0.21; k = 0.22) and the specific anxiety diagnoses (base rate > 10%) of social phobia, specific phobia and separation anxiety disorder ( k = 0.24-0.52; k = 0.19-0.43) and corresponding diagnostic criteria ( k = 0.22-0.67; k = 0.24-0.41) were low to moderate with the highest agreement on separation anxiety disorder ( k > 0.43). Lower maternal depression, and higher social support reported by mother and father were associated with higher parent-child agreement. Maternal depression was indicated as the strongest predictor. Parental sense of competence, parental anxiety, the amount of parent-child interaction and the child's age and gender had no predictive value. Conclusions: Parent-child agreement can be expected to be higher on the level of anxiety criteria compared to specific anxiety diagnoses and diagnostic anxiety category. Psychological strains in the family-especially maternal depression and low social support-lower the parent-child agreement on anxiety symptoms. Child- and relation-related variables (age, gender, amount of time parent(s) and children interact) play no role in the prediction of low parent-child agreement.

27 CFR 70.485 - Closing agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Relating to Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Administrative Remedies § 70.485 Closing agreements... disadvantage through consummation of such an agreement. (b) Scope of closing agreement—(1) In general. A...

23 CFR 635.115 - Agreement estimate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.115 Agreement estimate. (a) Following the award of contract, an agreement estimate based on the contract unit prices and estimated quantities shall be...

Community-based naming agreement, familiarity, image agreement and visual complexity ratings among adult Indians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Annamma

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The validity of Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures and their norms derived on a western population on naming, familiarity, imageability and visual-complexity, is not established on a population with cultural background different from the west. We developed, therefore, a set of culturally appropriate pictures for and derived norms on Indians. Line-drawings of 103 concepts (67 from Snodgrass and Vanderwart, 36 new from 10 semantic-categories were normed on 200 community-based older subjects. Only 31% of the Snodgrass and Vanderwart items showed a concept-agreement on the Indians comparable to western norms. Naming, familiarity and image-agreement mutually correlated but not with visual-complexity. Low-education and rural-residence tended to reduced concept-agreement. The output of this study will be of use in national and cross-national studies.

Nanotubular topography enhances the bioactivity of titanium implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jingyan; Zhang, Xinchun; Yan, Wangxiang; Chen, Zhipei; Shuai, Xintao; Wang, Anxun; Wang, Yan

2017-08-01

Surface modification on titanium implants plays an important role in promoting mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) response to enhance osseointegration persistently. In this study, nano-scale TiO 2 nanotube topography (TNT), micro-scale sand blasted-acid etched topography (SLA), and hybrid sand blasted-acid etched/nanotube topography (SLA/TNT) were fabricated on the surfaces of titanium implants. Although the initial cell adherence at 60 min among TNT, SLA and TNT/SLA was not different, SLA and SLA/TNT presented to be rougher and suppressed the proliferation of MSC. TNT showed hydrophilic surface and balanced promotion of cellular functions. After being implanted in rabbit femur models, TNT displayed the best osteogenesis inducing ability as well as strong bonding strength to the substrate. These results indicate that nano-scale TNT provides favorable surface topography for improving the clinical performance of endosseous implants compared with micro and hybrid micro/nano surfaces, suggesting a promising and reliable surface modification strategy of titanium implants for clinical application. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

WVU cooperative agreement, decontamination systems information and research program, deployment support leading to implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, E.E.

1996-01-01

This program at West Virginia University is a Cooperative Agreement that focuses on R ampersand D associated with hazardous waste remediation problems existing at DOE, Corps of Engineers, and private sector sites. The Agreement builds on a unique combination of resources coupling university researchers with DOE sponsored small businesses, leading toward field tests and large scale technology demonstrations of environmental technologies. Most of the Agreement's projects are categorized in the Technology Maturity Levels under Gates 3-Advanced Development, Gate 4-Engineering Development, and Gate 5-Demonstration. The program includes a diversity of projects: subsurface contaminants; mixed wastes; mixed wastes/efficient separations; mixed wastes/characterization, monitoring, and sensor technologies; and decontamination and decommissioning/efficient separations

Diagnosis of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis with chest computed tomography: inter-observer agreement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oudkerk, S.F.; Jong, Pim A. de; Attrach, M.; Luijkx, T.; Buckens, C.F.; Mali, W.P.T.M. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Utrecht (Netherlands); Oner, F.C.; Verlaan, J.J. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Orthopedics, Utrecht (Netherlands); Resnick, D.L. [University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Division of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Radiology, San Diego, CA (United States); Vliegenthart, R. [University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Medical Imaging - North East Netherlands, Groningen (Netherlands); University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Radiology, Groningen (Netherlands)

2017-01-15

To evaluate and improve the interobserver agreement for the CT-based diagnosis of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH). Six hundred participants of the CT arm of a lung cancer screening trial were randomly divided into two groups. The first 300 CTs were scored by five observers for the presence of DISH based on the original Resnick criteria for radiographs. After analysis of the data a consensus meeting was organised and the criteria were slightly modified regarding the definition of 'contiguous', the definition of 'flowing ossifications' and the viewing plane and window level. Subsequently, the second set of 300 CTs was scored by the same observers. κ ≥ 0.61 was considered good agreement. The 600 male participants were on average 63.5 (SD 5.3) years old and had smoked on average 38.0 pack-years. In the first round κ values ranged from 0.32 to 0.74 and 7 out of 10 values were below 0.61. After the consensus meeting the interobserver agreement ranged from 0.51 to 0.86 and 3 out of 10 values were below 0.61. The agreement improved significantly. This is the first study that reports interobserver agreement for the diagnosis of DISH on chest CT, showing mostly good agreement for modified Resnick criteria. (orig.)

Unfolding the phenomenon of inter-rater agreement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Slaug, Bjørn; Schilling, Oliver; Helle, Tina

2011-01-01

Objective: The overall objective was to unfold the phenomenon of inter-rater agreement: to identify potential sources of variation in agreement data and to explore how they can be statistically accounted for. The ultimate aim was to propose recommendations for in-depth examination of agreement, i...

75 FR 78245 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-15

... Mexico, Panama, Jamaica, Colombia, and the Far East, including China, Hong Kong, and Korea. Agreement No.../CSAV Slot Swap Agreement. Parties: China Shipping Container Lines Co. Ltd., China Shipping Container... trade between United States ports and ports in China and Vietnam. Agreement No.: 201208-001. Title...

75 FR 14159 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-24

... parties to exchange slots in the trade between U.S. East Coast ports and ports in Turkey. Agreement No.: 201048-005. Title: Lease and Operating Agreement between Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and... FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION Notice of Agreements Filed The Commission hereby gives notice of the...

Agency Agreements Process Champion Support Intern

Science.gov (United States)

Miksa, Ember

2018-01-01

This document will provide information on the 2018 Spring semester NIFS Intern who represented the Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) as a Reimbursable Accountant at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This intern supported the Agency Agreements Process Champions and Team Lead, Susan Kroskey, Sandy Massey and Mecca Murphy, with major initiatives to advance the KSC OCFO's vision of creating and innovating healthy financial management practices that maximize the value of resources entrusted to NASA. These initiatives include, but are not limited to: updating the Agency Guidance and NASA Procedural Guidance 9090.1 Agreements, implementing a new budget structure to be utilized across all centers, submitting a Call Request (CRQ) to enhance non-federal customer reporting, initiating a discussion to incorporate a 3-year funding program for NASA agreements, and undertaking the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Audit. In support of these initiatives, this intern identified technical methods to enhance and reduce the workload of financial processes for reimbursable and non-reimbursable agreements, prepared reports in support of accounting functions, and performed administrative work and miscellaneous technical tasks in support of the OCFO as requested. In conclusion of the internship, the intern will become knowledgeable on reimbursable accounting, reimbursable policy, types of reimbursable agreements, the agreements process, estimated pricing reports, and the roles and responsibilities of the Financial Accounting and Financial Services offices.

Diversity of Physiological Traits In jerusalem Artichoke genotypes under Non-stress and Drought Stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruttanaprasert, R.; Banterng, P.; Vorasoot, N.; Kesmala, T.; Patanothai, A.; Jogloy, S.

2016-01-01

Physiological traits such as SPAD Chlorophyll Meter Reading (SCMR), specific leaf area (SLA) and harvest index (HI) play an important role in crop yield. The objectives of this work were to study the effect of drought stress on HI, SCMR and SLA and explore genetic variability for these physiological traits in Jerusalem artichoke (JA) (Helianthus tuberosus L.). Field experiments were conducted in the dry period of 2010/11 and 2011/12 in the Northeast of Thailand using a strip plot design with four replications. A horizontal factor was three different water regimes (W1:100 percent Crop water requirement (ETcrop), W2: 75 percent ETcrop and W3: 45 percent ETcrop) and a vertical factor was 40 JA genotypes. Measurements on HI, relative water content (RWC), SLA and SCMR were conducted at 40, 60 and 70 days after transplantation. Drought stress significantly reduced RWC and SLA but significantly increased SCMR. High variations in SCMR (32-59) and SLA (78-213 cm/sup 2/ g/sup -1/) were found among genotypes. The correlations between HI and SCMR (r = 0.56 to 0.78, p<=0.01) were positive and significant, whereas the respective ones between HI and SLA (r = -0.60 to -0.76, p<=0.01) were negative and significant as those between SCMR and SLA (r = -0.73 to -0.90, p<=0.01). These findings suggested that SCMR was linked with SLA and HI in JA. SCMR could be used as a physiological trait for indirect selection for HI and productivity under various water regimes in JA. (author)

Nationwide individual record linkage study showed poor agreement of causes of death and hospital diagnoses at individual level but reasonable agreement at population level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klijs, Bart; Nusselder, Wilma J.; Mackenbach, Johan P.

Objectives: To investigate to what extent underlying and multiple causes of death represent end-of-life morbidity in individuals and at population level. Study Design and Setting: Cause of death and national hospital data were individually linked for all deaths at the age of 50-84 years, in 2005 in

12 CFR 533.6 - Disclosure of covered agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS § 533.6 Disclosure of covered agreements. (a) Applicability date. This... mailing the agreement. (7) Use of CRA public file by insured depository institution or affiliate. An... institution's CRA public file if the institution makes the agreement available in accordance with the...

African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology. Fourth Extension of Agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

Pursuant to Article XIV.2, the Agreement 'shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date of its entry into force and may be extended for further periods of five years if the Government Parties so agree'. The fourth extension of the Agreement entered into force on 4 April 2010, upon expiration of the third extension of the Agreement and will remain in force for an additional period of five years, i.e. through 3 April 2015. As of 30 April 2010, 8 States have notified the Agency of their acceptance of the extension of the Agreement. The status list of the Agreement is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members [es

Fifth Supply Agreement. Agreement for the Transfer of Low Enriched Uranium for a Research Reactor in Romania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The text of the Fifth Supply Agreement among the Government of Romania, the Government of the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Transfer of Low Enriched Uranium for a Research Reactor in Romania is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members of the Agency. The Agency's Board of Governors approved the text of the Agreement on 20 November 2003, which was signed by the authorized representatives of Romania and the United States, and by the Director General of the IAEA, on 24 November 2003. Pursuant to Article V of the Agreement, the Agreement entered into force on 24 November 2003, upon signature by the representatives of Romania, the United States and the Director General of the IAEA

The Danish agreements on energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-05-01

CO{sub 2}-taxes for industry were introduced in 1993. In 1996, the taxes were increased and an agreement system for energy-intensive companies was implemented. The main purpose of the agreement system has been to allow energy-intensive industry to pay a reduced tax rate, while at the same time improving energy efficiency. The evaluation of the energy tax system has shown that it has been possible to establish an energy tax that has led to a decrease in CO{sub 2}-emissions, without causing a decrease in the competitiveness of trade, industry and services. The agreement system has been a very important element in that it has improved energy efficiency in companies in which taxes would not have been a realistic instrument. In the case of companies with agreements, several studies suggest improvements of approximately 2.7% of the total energy use per agreement (three years). The three sources (concrete projects, special investigation and energy management) contribute approximately one third of this reduction each. The values for special investigation and energy management must be used with great care. It is also predicted that a continuation of the agreement system by 2005, relative to a situation without agreements, can lead to a decrease in CO{sub 2}-emissions corresponding to 6% of total emissions in industry and trade. Of this reduction, the highest amount is due to energy management. However, maintaining the positive effects of energy management systems will require that companies give higher priority to the managerial part of the system and not only focus on energy accounting. Some companies have argued that it is costly to carry out energy audits and to have to audits verified. Therefore, consideration should be given to possibilities for reducing the administrative costs of entering into an agreement, without this causing reduced efforts to save energy. A means of achieving these objectives could be to reduce the requirement for energy audits and verification

45 CFR 162.915 - Trading partner agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Trading partner agreements. 162.915 Section 162... REQUIREMENTS ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS General Provisions for Transactions § 162.915 Trading partner agreements. A covered entity must not enter into a trading partner agreement that would do any of the...

10 CFR 603.1340 - Technology investment agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Technology investment agreement. 603.1340 Section 603.1340 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Definitions of Terms Used in this Part § 603.1340 Technology investment agreement. A TIA is a special type of...

24 CFR 266.15 - Risk-Sharing Agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY RISK-SHARING PROGRAM FOR INSURED AFFORDABLE MULTIFAMILY PROJECT LOANS General Provisions § 266.15 Risk-Sharing Agreement. Execution of a Risk-Sharing Agreement is a prerequisite to... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Risk-Sharing Agreement. 266.15...

7 CFR 3550.205 - Delinquency workout agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Delinquency workout agreements. 3550.205 Section 3550... Delinquency workout agreements. Borrowers with past due accounts may be offered the opportunity to avoid liquidation by entering into a delinquency workout agreement that specifies a plan for bringing the account...

22 CFR 120.21 - Manufacturing license agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Manufacturing license agreement. 120.21 Section... DEFINITIONS § 120.21 Manufacturing license agreement. An agreement (e.g., contract) whereby a U.S. person grants a foreign person an authorization to manufacture defense articles abroad and which involves or...

22 CFR 120.22 - Technical assistance agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Technical assistance agreement. 120.22 Section... DEFINITIONS § 120.22 Technical assistance agreement. An agreement (e.g., contract) for the performance of a... license to manufacture defense articles. Assembly of defense articles is included under this section...

25 CFR 225.33 - Assignment of minerals agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Assignment of minerals agreements. 225.33 Section 225.33 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ENERGY AND MINERALS OIL AND GAS, GEOTHERMAL, AND SOLID MINERALS AGREEMENTS Minerals Agreements § 225.33 Assignment of minerals agreements. An...

12 CFR 346.6 - Disclosure of covered agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... POLICY DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS § 346.6 Disclosure of covered agreements. (a... exceed the cost of copying and mailing the agreement. (7) Use of CRA public file by insured depository... the insured depository institution's CRA public file if the institution makes the agreement available...

The Text of the Safeguards Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between India and the United States of America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1971-01-01

The text of the Safeguards Agreement between the Agency, the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America providing for the Agency to apply safeguards in relation to the agreement between those Governments concerning co-operation in the civil uses of atomic energy, is reproduced in part I of this document for the information of all Members. The text of the co-operation agreement is reproduced in part II. The Safeguards Agreement entered into force on 27 January 1971

The Text of the Safeguards Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between India and the United States of America

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1971-09-03

The text of the Safeguards Agreement between the Agency, the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America providing for the Agency to apply safeguards in relation to the agreement between those Governments concerning co-operation in the civil uses of atomic energy, is reproduced in part I of this document for the information of all Members. The text of the co-operation agreement is reproduced in part II. The Safeguards Agreement entered into force on 27 January 1971.

5 CFR 575.210 - Service agreement requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... agreement must specify that if an employee does not successfully complete the training before the service... employee. (c) The service agreement must specify the total amount of the incentive, the method of paying... incentive, an agency must require the employee to sign a written service agreement to complete a specified...

Confronting water in an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, David; Trottier, Julie

2010-03-01

SummaryTrans-boundary water agreements are usually conceived as allocation agreements. In other words, water is treated as if it were a pie to be divided among the riparian states. The treatment of water as if it were as immobile as land may be useful in the short term, but it is fundamentally flawed as a means to avoid conflict as well as to ensure efficient, equitable, and sustainable management of water over the long term. This article proposes to avoid quantitative allocations within international water agreements, whether they be presented as percentage or fixed allocations or whether or not accompanied by a periodic revision clause. It proposes instead an ongoing joint management structure that allows for continuous conflict resolution concerning water demands and uses in a manner that effectively de-nationalises water uses. As well, it builds on existing, functioning institutions that are already active over a variety of scalar levels. It disaggregates what is usually perceived as a national water demand into its component institutions and re-aggregates them within an international institutional context. Though this approach for building trans-boundary water agreements can prove useful in any geographical situation, this article uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a model. It proposes to respect the existing differences in the institutional management of water between the two entities and to reach four general objectives: economic efficiency, social and political equity, ecological sustainability, and the ability to implement the agreement in practice. The institutional design and proposed mechanisms follow five key principles for shared management: water allocations that are not fixed but variable over time; equality in rights and responsibilities; priority for demand management over supply management; continuous monitoring of water quality and quantity; and mediation among competing uses of fresh water. This institutional structure balances water

Name agreement in picture naming : An ERP study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cheng, Xiaorong; Schafer, Graham; Akyürek, Elkan G.

Name agreement is the extent to which different people agree on a name for a particular picture. Previous studies have found that it takes longer to name low name agreement pictures than high name agreement pictures. To examine the effect of name agreement in the online process of picture naming, we

Resting-state qEEG predicts rate of second language learning in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Prat, Chantel S; Yamasaki, Brianna L; Kluender, Reina A; Stocco, Andrea

2016-01-01

Understanding the neurobiological basis of individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA) is important for research on bilingualism, learning, and neural plasticity. The current study used quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) to predict SLA in college-aged individuals. Baseline, eyes-closed resting-state qEEG was used to predict language learning rate during eight weeks of French exposure using an immersive, virtual scenario software. Individual qEEG indices predicted up to 60% of the variability in SLA, whereas behavioral indices of fluid intelligence, executive functioning, and working-memory capacity were not correlated with learning rate. Specifically, power in beta and low-gamma frequency ranges over right temporoparietal regions were strongly positively correlated with SLA. These results highlight the utility of resting-state EEG for studying the neurobiological basis of SLA in a relatively construct-free, paradigm-independent manner. Published by Elsevier Inc.

29 CFR 215.6 - The Model Agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false The Model Agreement. 215.6 Section 215.6 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor OFFICE OF LABOR-MANAGEMENT STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GUIDELINES, SECTION 5333(b), FEDERAL TRANSIT LAW § 215.6 The Model Agreement. The Model (or National) Agreement mentioned in paragraphs...

Form 6 - gas balancing agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1990-01-01

In 1988, a special Committee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation undertook a project to draft a model from gas balancing agreement. This project was initiated at the request of a number of Foundation members who felt that a model form gas balancing agreement would facilitate the negotiation of operating agreement, since gas balancing issues had become sticking points in the process. The Committee was composed of attorneys representing a wide cross-section of the oil and gas industry including both major and independent oil companies, production companies with interstate pipeline affiliates, and private practitioners. The Committee attempted to address the more controversial issues in gas balancing with optional provisions in the Form. To facilitate the negotiation process, the number of optional provisions was minimized. This form may be used as an Appendix to the new A.A.P.L. Form 610-1989 Model Form Operating Agreement. This book includes provision of this Form which are: Ownership of gas production; Balancing of production accounts; Cash balancing upon depletion; Deliverability tests; Nominations; Statements; Payment of taxes; Operating expenses; Overproducing allowable; Payment of leasehold burdens; Operator's liability; Successors and assigns; Audits; Arbitration; and Operator's fees

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Pakistan and Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1969-11-13

The text of the Safeguard Transfer Agreement between Pakistan, Canada and the Agency relating to the agreement of 14 May 1959 between the two Governments for co-operation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members.

The Text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between France and Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1973-01-01

The text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, France and Japan relating to the agreement of 26 February 1972 between the two Governments for co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is reproduced in this document for the information or all Members

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Pakistan and Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1969-01-01

The text of the Safeguard Transfer Agreement between Pakistan, Canada and the Agency relating to the agreement of 14 May 1959 between the two Governments for co-operation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Canada and Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1966-01-01

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Canada and Japan relating to the agreement between those Governments concerning co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members

The Text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between France and Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1973-01-31

The text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, France and Japan relating to the agreement of 26 February 1972 between the two Governments for co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is reproduced in this document for the information or all Members.

47 CFR 73.1650 - International agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Agreements for the Broadcasting Service in Region 2: (i) MF Broadcasting 535-1605 kHz, Rio de Janeiro, 1981. (ii) MF Broadcasting 1605-1705 kHz, Rio de Janeiro, 1988. (3) Bi-lateral Agreements between the United...

Target problem (mis) matching: predictors and consequences of parent-youth agreement in a sample of anxious youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Lauren J; Chu, Brian C

2015-04-01

Parents and youth often report discrepant target problems upon seeking treatment for youth psychopathology, which can have important impact on therapy processes (e.g., dropout) and treatment outcomes, as entry-level attitudes have been found to be influential in ultimate use and benefit of treatment. The current study examined parent-youth agreement within an anxiety disordered sample by assessing demographic and diagnostic factors that may predict matching, as well as the impact of matching on attrition, treatment outcome, and parental satisfaction. Ninety-five youth with principal anxiety disorders received cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety at a university outpatient clinic. Youth and parents independently identified target problems during the pretreatment assessment. Target problems were coded into 25 qualitative categories representing diagnostic, symptom, and functional impairment domains, including diffuse anxiety, social anxiety, academic achievement, oppositional/behavior problems, sleep problems, suicidal ideation, and family functioning. The majority of parent-youth dyads (67.4%) agreed on at least one target problem. Although problems related to diffuse anxiety and social anxiety were reported most frequently, relatively low rates of agreement were found in these domains. Kappa values demonstrated higher levels of agreement for problems with specific fears, school attendance, and panic and lower levels of agreement for difficulties with worry, shame, and self-esteem. Further, youth diagnosed with comorbid externalizing disorders were less likely to agree with their parents on at least one target problem. No effects were found for gender, age, or number of diagnoses in predicting agreement. Target problem agreement did not significantly impact rates of attrition or diagnostic remission, but did predict some measures of parental satisfaction. Results suggest that disagreement on treatment goals exists even within a narrow treatment population and

Oil price movements and production agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazraati, M.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this technical exercise is to apply econometric modelling to study the relationship between movements in the oil price and compliance by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with its self-assigned production agreements, whose purpose is to bring order and stability to the international oil market. After introducing various methods of measurement of compliance, the study applies these methods to monthly data for 1995-2002 for OPEC. It then identifies the method ''over-production as a percentage of ceiling'' as the best-fitting and most accurate criterion for measuring OPEC compliance. The paper then elaborates on intervention analysis, explains the various types of intervention in detail and introduces a number of econometric models to monitor oil price movements resulting from OPEC's intervention in the oil market, along with the extent of its compliance with its agreements. On applying the models to a set of historical monthly data, the study finds that higher oil prices have been achieved when the effective level of compliance lies in the range of 94-99 per cent, and that lower oil prices have been experienced when there is less compliance and more volatility. The paper notes that the achievement of order and stability is the responsibility of all parties in an international market that is inherently volatile. (author)

The text of the third agreement to extend the 1987 Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA). Extension of agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The text of the Third Agreement to Extend the 1987 Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology, 'the 1987 RCA', is reproduced herein for the information of all Members. Pursuant to Article 1 of the Third Agreement to Extend the 1987 Regional Co-operative Agreement, the 1987 RCA shall continue in force for a further period of five years with effect from 12 June 2002, i.e., through 11 June 2007. As of 15 May 2002, notifications of acceptance had been received by the Director General from the Governments of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. The latest status list is attached

Ice-free Arctic projections under the Paris Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Sigmond, Michael; Fyfe, John C.; Swart, Neil C.

2018-05-01

Under the Paris Agreement, emissions scenarios are pursued that would stabilize the global mean temperature at 1.5-2.0 °C above pre-industrial levels, but current emission reduction policies are expected to limit warming by 2100 to approximately 3.0 °C. Whether such emissions scenarios would prevent a summer sea-ice-free Arctic is unknown. Here we employ stabilized warming simulations with an Earth System Model to obtain sea-ice projections under stabilized global warming, and correct biases in mean sea-ice coverage by constraining with observations. Although there is some sensitivity to details in the constraining method, the observationally constrained projections suggest that the benefits of going from 2.0 °C to 1.5 °C stabilized warming are substantial; an eightfold decrease in the frequency of ice-free conditions is expected, from once in every five to once in every forty years. Under 3.0 °C global mean warming, however, permanent summer ice-free conditions are likely, which emphasizes the need for nations to increase their commitments to the Paris Agreement.

Power sales contract/energy supply agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallace, R.B.

1999-01-01

The factors involved in negotiating power purchase/sales arrangements in Ontario's newly deregulated electricity market are described, and the ways in which they will evolve in the future are predicted. Indications are that the trends that will govern the changes in the electric power industry will be the same as those that existed in the natural gas industry. For this reason, a comparative evaluation of purchase and sale agreements in the two industries was provided. Traditional power purchase arrangements, including requests for proposals, the seller's response, the memorandum of understanding, and the principal terms of a traditional bilateral power purchase agreement were examined. The author predicted that over time, and probably fairly fast in power pool jurisdictions, the traditional power purchase agreement will give way to the concept of energy as a pure commodity and to a standard form of agreement. 1 appendix

A person is not a number: discourse involvement in subject-verb agreement computation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancini, Simona; Molinaro, Nicola; Rizzi, Luigi; Carreiras, Manuel

2011-09-02

Agreement is a very important mechanism for language processing. Mainstream psycholinguistic research on subject-verb agreement processing has emphasized the purely formal and encapsulated nature of this phenomenon, positing an equivalent access to person and number features. However, person and number are intrinsically different, because person conveys extra-syntactic information concerning the participants in the speech act. To test the person-number dissociation hypothesis we investigated the neural correlates of subject-verb agreement in Spanish, using person and number violations. While number agreement violations produced a left-anterior negativity followed by a P600 with a posterior distribution, the negativity elicited by person anomalies had a centro-posterior maximum and was followed by a P600 effect that was frontally distributed in the early phase and posteriorly distributed in the late phase. These data reveal that the parser is differentially sensitive to the two features and that it deals with the two anomalies by adopting different strategies, due to the different levels of analysis affected by the person and number violations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implementation plan for liquid low-level radioactive waste tank systems for fiscal year 1995 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the Federal Facility Agreement, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-06-01

This document is the third annual revision of the plans and schedules for implementing the Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) compliance program, originally submitted in 1992 as ES/ER-17 ampersand D1, Federal Facility Agreement Plans and Schedules for Liquid Low-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This document summarizes the progress that has been made to date in implementing the plans and schedules for meeting the FFA commitments for the Liquid Low-Level Waste (LLLW) System at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Information presented in this document provides a comprehensive summary to facilitate understanding of the FFA compliance program for LLLW tank systems and to present plans and schedules associated with remediation, through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process, of LLLW tank systems that have been removed from service. ORNL has a comprehensive program underway to upgrade the LLLW System as necessary to meet the FFA requirements. The tank systems that are removed from service are being investigated and remediated through the CERCLA process. Waste and risk characterizations have been submitted. Additional data will be prepared and submitted to EPA/TDEC as tanks are taken out of service and as required by the remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process. Chapter 1 provides general background information and philosophies that led to the plans and schedules that appear in Chaps. 2 through 5

Inter-rater agreement on PIVC-associated phlebitis signs, symptoms and scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, Nicole; Mihala, Gabor; Ray-Barruel, Gillian; Webster, Joan; Wallis, Marianne C; Rickard, Claire M

2015-10-01

Many peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) infusion phlebitis scales and definitions are used internationally, although no existing scale has demonstrated comprehensive reliability and validity. We examined inter-rater agreement between registered nurses on signs, symptoms and scales commonly used in phlebitis assessment. Seven PIVC-associated phlebitis signs/symptoms (pain, tenderness, swelling, erythema, palpable venous cord, purulent discharge and warmth) were observed daily by two raters (a research nurse and registered nurse). These data were modelled into phlebitis scores using 10 different tools. Proportions of agreement (e.g. positive, negative), observed and expected agreements, Cohen's kappa, the maximum achievable kappa, prevalence- and bias-adjusted kappa were calculated. Two hundred ten patients were recruited across three hospitals, with 247 sets of paired observations undertaken. The second rater was blinded to the first's findings. The Catney and Rittenberg scales were the most sensitive (phlebitis in >20% of observations), whereas the Curran, Lanbeck and Rickard scales were the most restrictive (≤2% phlebitis). Only tenderness and the Catney (one of pain, tenderness, erythema or palpable cord) and Rittenberg scales (one of erythema, swelling, tenderness or pain) had acceptable (more than two-thirds, 66.7%) levels of inter-rater agreement. Inter-rater agreement for phlebitis assessment signs/symptoms and scales is low. This likely contributes to the high degree of variability in phlebitis rates in literature. We recommend further research into assessment of infrequent signs/symptoms and the Catney or Rittenberg scales. New approaches to evaluating vein irritation that are valid, reliable and based on their ability to predict complications need exploration. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mortality of people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective cohort study in England and Wales from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) Register.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Emmert; Wessely, Simon; Chalder, Trudie; Chang, Chin-Kuo; Hotopf, Matthew

2016-04-16

Mortality associated with chronic fatigue syndrome is uncertain. We investigated mortality in individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in secondary and tertiary care using data from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) register. We calculated standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for all-cause, suicide-specific, and cancer-specific mortality for a 7-year observation period using the number of deaths observed in SLaM records compared with age-specific and sex-specific mortality statistics for England and Wales. Study participants were included if they had had contact with the chronic fatigue service (referral, discharge, or case note entry) and received a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. We identified 2147 cases of chronic fatigue syndrome from CRIS and 17 deaths from Jan 1, 2007, to Dec 31, 2013. 1533 patients were women of whom 11 died, and 614 were men of whom six died. There was no significant difference in age-standardised and sex-standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for all-cause mortality (SMR 1·14, 95% CI 0·65-1·85; p=0·67) or cancer-specific mortality (1·39, 0·60-2·73; p=0·45) in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome when compared with the general population in England and Wales. This remained the case when deaths from suicide were removed from the analysis. There was a significant increase in suicide-specific mortality (SMR 6·85, 95% CI 2·22-15·98; p=0·002). We did not note increased all-cause mortality in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, but our findings show a substantial increase in mortality from suicide. This highlights the need for clinicians to be aware of the increased risk of completed suicide and to assess suicidality adequately in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London

14 CFR 372.24 - Surety bond, depository agreement, escrow agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... (2) which is listed in Best's Insurance Reports (fire and casualty) with a general policyholders... surety to any charter participant shall not exceed the charter operator's applicable tariff fare. Such... not exceed the charter operator's applicable tariff fare; and (ii) Enter into an agreement with a bank...

12 CFR 207.5 - Related agreements considered a single agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... RESERVE SYSTEM DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS (REGULATION G) § 207.5 Related... of the CRA. (b) Substantively related contracts. All written contracts to which an insured depository... each such contract is in fulfillment of the CRA, if the contracts were negotiated in a coordinated...

Agreement between children and parents demonstrated that illness-related absenteeism was validly reported by children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Denbæk, Anne Maj; Bonnesen, Camilla Thørring; Andersen, Anette

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To examine the agreement between children's and parents' reporting of illness-related absenteeism from school and to examine predictors for disagreement between children and parents. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A total of 8,438 schoolchildren aged from 5 to 15 years (grade 0-8) and one...... of 22 weeks. Text messages and questionnaire data were linked at the individual level, leaving 2,269 child-parent pairs in the analysis, corresponding to 27% of the eligible sample. RESULTS: The agreement between children's and parents' reports of illness-related absenteeism was good, with high absolute...... agreement and slight to moderate Ƙ values. Agreement was lowest for 6- to 8-year-olds and highest for 11- to 12-year-olds. Children's reports of illness symptoms and parents' reports of their children's illnesses in the preceding week were strong predictors for children reporting illness-related absenteeism...

7 CFR 3021.620 - Cooperative agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GOVERNMENTWIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) Definitions § 3021.620 Cooperative agreement. Cooperative agreement means an award of financial assistance...

Production sharing agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

This paper, which was presented at the Production Sharing Agreement seminar, discusses economic rent, negotiations, trends in fiscal system development, and concessionary systems. Production sharing contracts, risk service contracts, joint ventures and the global market are examined. (UK)

The climate-problem. Evaluation after the Paris-agreement and the Marrakesh-conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Eike

2017-01-01

The Paris-Climate-Agreement came into effect on November 4th 2016. Still, the contradiction in this agreement - ambitious goals and (presumably) inadequate commitments - has persisted. Also in the follow-up conference in Marrakesh, this discrepancy remained unresolved. 2017 the countries will meet again. However, since Donald Trump became president-elect of the United States of America, uncertainty about how the largest economy in the world will act in the future has intensified. This amplifies the pressure to clarify the true level of human influence on the climate in a scientifically consistent manner, as a basis for more reliable decisions. This paper tries to contribute to that effort.

Project management plan for low-level mixed waste and greater-than-category 3 waste per tri-party agreement M-91-10

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

BOUNINI, L.

1999-05-20

The objective of this project management plan is to define the tasks and deliverables that will support the treatment, storage, and disposal of remote-handled and large container contact-handled low-level mixed waste, and the storage of Greater-thaw category 3 waste. The plan is submitted to fulfill the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order Milestone M-91-10, The plan was developed in four steps: (1) the volumes of the applicable waste streams and the physical, dangerous, and radioactive characteristics were established using existing databases and forecasts; (2) required treatment was identified for each waste stream based on land disposal restriction treatment standards and waste characterization data; (3) alternatives for providing the required treatment were evaluated and the preferred options were selected; (4) an acquisition plan was developed to establish the technical, schedule, and cost baselines for providing the required treatment capabilities. The major waste streams are tabulated, along with the required treatment for disposal.

Project management plan for low-level mixed waste and greater-than-category 3 waste per tri-party agreement M-91-10

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BOUNINI, L.

1999-01-01

The objective of this project management plan is to define the tasks and deliverables that will support the treatment, storage, and disposal of remote-handled and large container contact-handled low-level mixed waste, and the storage of Greater-thaw category 3 waste. The plan is submitted to fulfill the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order Milestone M-91-10, The plan was developed in four steps: (1) the volumes of the applicable waste streams and the physical, dangerous, and radioactive characteristics were established using existing databases and forecasts; (2) required treatment was identified for each waste stream based on land disposal restriction treatment standards and waste characterization data; (3) alternatives for providing the required treatment were evaluated and the preferred options were selected; (4) an acquisition plan was developed to establish the technical, schedule, and cost baselines for providing the required treatment capabilities. The major waste streams are tabulated, along with the required treatment for disposal

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Denmark and the United Kingdom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1965-01-01

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Denmark and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland relating to the agreement between those Governments concerning co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. This Safeguards Transfer Agreement was signed and entered into force on 23 June 1965

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Denmark and the United Kingdom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1965-07-23

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Denmark and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland relating to the agreement between those Governments concerning co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. This Safeguards Transfer Agreement was signed and entered into force on 23 June 1965.

48 CFR 18.118 - Trade agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Trade agreements. 18.118 Section 18.118 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES EMERGENCY ACQUISITIONS Available Acquisition Flexibilities 18.118 Trade agreements...

A framework for nuclear agreement and verification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, A.

1991-01-01

This chapter assesses the prospects for a nuclear agreement between India and Pakistan. The chapter opens with a review of past and present political environments of the two countries. The discussion proceeds to describe the linkage of global arms control agreements, prospects for verification of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the role of nuclear power in any agreements, the intrusiveness of verification, and possible post-proliferation agreements. Various monitoring and verification technologies are described (mainly satellite oriented). The chapter concludes with an analysis of the likelihood of persuading India and Pakistan to agree to a nonproliferation arrangement

Leaf trait response to nutrients and herbivore exclusion across a globally replicated grassland experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Firn, Jennifer

2017-04-01

climatic conditions and subjected to the same set of experimental treatments. The main aim of this paper is to quantify how changes in nutrient availability (NPK fertilizer application in all factorial combinations) and grazing alter the functional leaf traits of species over the short-term. Our results show that SLA varies at a site level ( 75% of the variation in SLA in response to treatments were explained at the site level). Leaf nitrogen (%), leaf phosphorous and leaf potassium varied significantly depending on treatment and where respective nutrients were added. Variation in leaf potassium showed the highest variation between species ( 60%). Overall, we should that leaf nutrient levels are a stronger indicator of functional response to nutrients addition across sites than specific leaf area. These findings have important implications for how leaf functional traits are used to infer responses to pervasive environmental change within and across grassland sites.

In Vitro and In Vivo Anticancer Activity of Root Extracts of Sansevieria liberica Gerome and Labroy (Agavaceae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abidemi J. Akindele

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Sansevieria liberica Gerome and Labroy (Agavaceae is a perennial plant widely distributed in tropical Africa. Preparations of the plant are commonly used across Nigeria for the treatment of inflammatory conditions. Based on the fact that herbal medicine is a strong component of integrative medicine, this study was conducted to evaluate the anticancer activity of root extracts of Sansevieria liberica. Methods. Sulforhodamine B (SRB in vitro cytotoxicity assay, Sarcoma-180 (S-180 ascites and solid tumor, and L1210 lymphoid leukemia in vivo models were used in this study. Results. SL-A002 (IC50 23 µg/mL with HeLa, SL-A003 (IC50 22 µg/mL with HCT-116, and SL-A004 (IC50 23 and 18 µg/mL with A549 and THP-1, resp. demonstrated significant activity in the SRB cytotoxicity assay. Potency was highest with the following pairs of extract : cancer cell line: SL-A002 : HeLa (IC50 23 µg/mL, SL-A003 : HCT-116 (IC50 22 µg/mL, and SL-A004 : THP-1 (IC50 18 µg/mL. SL-A002 demonstrated significant dose-dependent antitumor activity in the Sarcoma-180 (S-180 ascites model with peak effect produced at the dose of 120 mg/kg (i.p. with inhibition of 89.36% compared to 97.96% for 5-FU (20 mg/kg i.p.. The inhibition of tumor growth by SL-A002 in the S-180 solid tumor model was 47.40% compared to a value of 50.18% for 5-FU. SL-A002 was also significantly active in the L1210 lymphoid leukemia model with 158.33% increase in mean survival time, the same value for 5-FU. Conclusions. The hydroethanolic extract of Sansevieria liberica, SL-A002, possesses significant anticancer activity to warrant further extensive study to identify, isolate, and characterize the specific bioactive molecules responsible for the observed antitumor activity and the precise mechanism(s of action.

FFTF Authorization Agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DAUTEL, W.A.

2000-01-01

The purpose of the Authorization Agreement is to serve as a mechanism whereby the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL) and Fluor Hanford (FH) jointly clarify and agree to key conditions for conducting work safely and efficiently

76 FR 77998 - Market Access Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-15

... FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION Market Access Agreement AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration. ACTION: Notice of approval of the Draft Second Amended and Restated Market Access Agreement. SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) announces that it has approved the Draft Second Amended and Restated Market...

Low agreement among 24 doctors using the Neer-classification; only moderate agreement on displacement, even between specialists

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brorson, S; Bagger, J; Sylvest, A

2002-01-01

Twenty-four orthopaedic surgeons classified 42 pairs of radiographs according to the Neer system for proximal humeral fractures. Mean kappa value for inter-observer agreement was 0.27 (95% CI 0.26-0.28) with no clinically significant difference between orthopaedic residents ( n=9), fellows ( n=6)......) and specialists ( n=9). Mean kappa for agreement of displacement versus non-displacement was 0.41 (95% CI 0.39-0.43) overall, and 0.50 (95% CI 0.45-0.56) within the specialist group. The agreement found in our study is unsatisfactory from a clinical perspective....

Policy space for health and trade and investment agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

Koivusalo, Meri

2014-06-01

New trade agreements affect how governments can regulate for health both within health systems and in addressing health protection, promotion and social determinants of health in other policies. It is essential that those responsible for health understand the impacts of these trade negotiations and agreements on policy space for health at a national and local level. While we know more about implications from negotiations concerning intellectual property rights and trade in goods, this paper provides a screening checklist for less-discussed areas of domestic regulation, services, investment and government procurement. As implications are likely to differ on the basis of the organization and structures of national health systems and policy priorities, the emphasis is on finding out key provisions as well as on how exemptions and exclusions can be used to ensure policy space for health. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

African Regional Co-operative Agreement for research, development and training related to nuclear science and technology. Extension of agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

Pursuant to Article XIV.2, the Agreement ''shall continue in force for a period of five years from the data of its entry into force and may be extended for further periods of five years if the Government Parties so agree''. The extension of the Agreement entered into force on 4 April 1995, upon expiration of the original Agreement

African Regional Co-operative Agreement for research, development and training related to nuclear science and technology. Extension of agreement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-05-10

Pursuant to Article XIV.2, the Agreement ``shall continue in force for a period of five years from the data of its entry into force and may be extended for further periods of five years if the Government Parties so agree``. The extension of the Agreement entered into force on 4 April 1995, upon expiration of the original Agreement.

Agreement Between Actigraphy and Diary-Recorded Measures of Sleep in Children With Epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Shao-Yu; Lee, Wang-Tso; Lee, Chien-Chang; Jeng, Suh-Fang; Weng, Wen-Chin

2018-03-01

To describe sleep patterns in young children with epilepsy and to examine levels of agreement between measurements derived from actigraphy and diary recordings. Cross-sectional study. Eighty-nine toddlers and preschool-aged children with epilepsy wore an actigraph on their wrists for 7 consecutive days. Parents and caregivers maintained a concurrent sleep diary while the child was wearing the monitor. Levels of agreement between actigraphy and diary recordings were examined using the Bland and Altman method separately for all recording days, weekdays, and weekends. Discrepancies between actigraphy-derived and diary-documented sleep onset, sleep offset, actual sleep at night, wake after sleep onset, and daytime sleep were ±35, ±15, ±82, ±70, and ±29 min, respectively. Differences between actigraphy and diary-derived sleep variables were consistently greater for weekends than for weekdays. Discrepancies between actigraphy and diary-derived actual sleep at night were significantly greater for children who slept alone than for those who co-slept with a parent. Our study demonstrates an acceptable agreement between actigraphy and diary recordings for sleep onset, sleep offset, and daytime sleep, but insufficient agreement for actual sleep at night and wake after sleep onset, with parents of children sleeping alone more likely to misestimate child sleep behaviors. Deviation of weekend sleep from weekdays further decreased the accuracy of parental sleep estimates and increased the discrepancies between actigraphy and diary. Sleep in children with epilepsy assessed using diary recordings alone could be misleading, and actigraphy should be preferred over diaries when resources are available. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Free Trade Agreements and Firm-Product Markups in Chilean Manufacturing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lamorgese, A.R.; Linarello, A.; Warzynski, Frederic Michel Patrick

In this paper, we use detailed information about firms' product portfolio to study how trade liberalization affects prices, markups and productivity. We document these effects using firm product level data in Chilean manufacturing following two major trade agreements with the EU and the US....... The dataset provides information about the value and quantity of each good produced by the firm, as well as the amount of exports. One additional and unique characteristic of our dataset is that it provides a firm-product level measure of the unit average cost. We use this information to compute a firm...

Effects of Temporal and Interspecific Variation of Specific Leaf Area on Leaf Area Index Estimation of Temperate Broadleaved Forests in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boram Kwon

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effects of interspecific and temporal variation of specific leaf area (SLA, cm2·g−1 on leaf area index (LAI estimation for three deciduous broadleaved forests (Gwangneung (GN, Taehwa (TH, and Gariwang (GRW in Korea with varying ages and composition of tree species. In fall of 2014, fallen leaves were periodically collected using litter traps and classified by species. LAI was estimated by obtaining SLAs using four calculation methods (A: including both interspecific and temporal variation in SLA; B: species specific mean SLA; C: period-specific mean SLA; and D: overall mean, then multiplying the SLAs by the amount of leaves. SLA varied across different species in all plots, and SLAs of upper canopy species were less than those of lower canopy species. The LAIs calculated using method A, the reference method, were GN 6.09, TH 5.42, and GRW 4.33. LAIs calculated using method B showed a difference of up to 3% from the LAI of method A, but LAIs calculated using methods C and D were overestimated. Therefore, species specific SLA must be considered for precise LAI estimation for broadleaved forests that include multiple species.

Analysis of agreement among definitions of metabolic syndrome in nondiabetic Turkish adults: a methodological study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bersot Thomas P

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We aimed to explore the agreement among World Health Organization (WHO, European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance (EGIR, National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP, American College of Endocrinology (ACE, and International Diabetes Federation (IDF definitions of the metabolic syndrome. Methods 1568 subjects (532 men, 1036 women, mean age 45 and standard deviation (SD 13 years were evaluated in this cross-sectional, methodological study. Cardiometabolic risk factors were determined. Insulin sensitivity was calculated by HOMA-IR. Agreement among definitions was determined by the kappa statistic. ANOVA and post hoc Tukey's test were used to compare multiple groups. Results The agreement between WHO and EGIR definitions was very good (kappa: 0.83. The agreement between NCEP, ACE, and IDF definitions was substantial to very good (kappa: 0.77–0.84. The agreement between NCEP or ACE or IDF and WHO or EGIR definitions was fair (kappa: 0.32–0.37. The age and sex adjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 38% by NCEP, 42% by ACE and IDF, 20% by EGIR and 19% by WHO definition. The evaluated definitions were dichotomized after analysis of design, agreement and prevalence: insulin measurement requiring definitions (WHO and EGIR and definitions not requiring insulin measurement (NCEP, ACE, IDF. One definition was selected from each set for comparison. WHO-defined subjects were more insulin resistant than subjects without the metabolic syndrome (mean and SD for log HOMA-IR, 0.53 ± 0.14 vs. 0.07 ± 0.23, respectively, p 0.05, but lower log HOMA-IR values (p Conclusion The metabolic syndrome definitions that do not require measurement of insulin levels (NCEP, ACE and IDF identify twice more patients with insulin resistance and increased Framingham risk scores and are more useful than the definitions that require measurement of insulin levels (WHO and EGIR.

Designing Comprehensive Partnering Agreements : An Introduction to the Partnering Agreement Scorecard

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.M. Pfisterer (Stella); N. Payandeh (Nasim); S. Reid

2014-01-01

textabstractAgreements are a key mechanism of partnerships because their role is to govern interactions. They help partnerships become more effective by allowing partners to cope with relational, performance and situational risks that characterise inter-organisational relationships. The

7 CFR 1424.5 - Agreement process.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Agreement process. 1424.5 Section 1424.5 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS BIOENERGY PROGRAM § 1424.5 Agreement process. (a) To...

New Danish Company Act on Shareholders' Agreements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Werlauff, Erik

2011-01-01

) organizational rights, (2) financial rights, and (3) rights of disposal, or in plainer words, the corporate (1) power, (2) money, and (3) exit. If a shareholders’ agreement is thoroughly kept and respected by all parties, both in the way they vote at general assemblies and in the way they act when wishing....... The substantial elements in many agreements are clauses on (1) voting for board candidates, (2) voting for dividends of certain proportions, and (3) first refusal rights, respectively, call options for shares in the company. Such clauses are at the very roots of corporate law, dealing with the shareholders’ (1......Section 82 of the Danish Company Act, in force from 1 March 2010, provides that ‘Shareholders’ agreements are neither binding on the company nor on decisions taken by the general assembly’. This has far-reaching consequences for shareholders’ agreements, also for already existing agreements...

Parent-Child Diagnostic Agreement on Anxiety Symptoms with a Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Popp, Lukka; Neuschwander, Murielle; Mannstadt, Sandra; In-Albon, Tina; Schneider, Silvia

2017-01-01

Objective: In clinical structured diagnostic interviews, diagnoses based on parent and child reports have low to moderate agreement. The aims of the present study are (1) to examine diagnostic agreement on anxiety disorders between parents and children on the levels of current and lifetime diagnostic category and diagnoses focusing in particular on diagnostic criteria and (2) to identify parent- and child-related predictors for diagnostic agreement. Method: The sample consisted of 166 parent-child dyads interviewed with the Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children (Kinder-DIPS, Schneider et al., 2009). The children (51.8% girls) were between the ages of 7 and 18 years (M = 10.94; SD = 2.22). Results: Overall, parent-child agreement on the diagnostic category of anxiety disorder (k = 0.21; k = 0.22) and the specific anxiety diagnoses (base rate > 10%) of social phobia, specific phobia and separation anxiety disorder (k = 0.24–0.52; k = 0.19–0.43) and corresponding diagnostic criteria (k = 0.22–0.67; k = 0.24–0.41) were low to moderate with the highest agreement on separation anxiety disorder (k > 0.43). Lower maternal depression, and higher social support reported by mother and father were associated with higher parent-child agreement. Maternal depression was indicated as the strongest predictor. Parental sense of competence, parental anxiety, the amount of parent-child interaction and the child's age and gender had no predictive value. Conclusions: Parent-child agreement can be expected to be higher on the level of anxiety criteria compared to specific anxiety diagnoses and diagnostic anxiety category. Psychological strains in the family—especially maternal depression and low social support—lower the parent-child agreement on anxiety symptoms. Child- and relation-related variables (age, gender, amount of time parent(s) and children interact) play no role in the prediction of low parent-child agreement. PMID:28396644

Statistical methods for assessing agreement between continuous measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sokolowski, Ineta; Hansen, Rikke Pilegaard; Vedsted, Peter

Background: Clinical research often involves study of agreement amongst observers. Agreement can be measured in different ways, and one can obtain quite different values depending on which method one uses. Objective: We review the approaches that have been discussed to assess the agreement between...... continuous measures and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Different methods are illustrated using actual data from the `Delay in diagnosis of cancer in general practice´ project in Aarhus, Denmark. Subjects and Methods: We use weighted kappa-statistic, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC......), concordance coefficient, Bland-Altman limits of agreement and percentage of agreement to assess the agreement between patient reported delay and doctor reported delay in diagnosis of cancer in general practice. Key messages: The correct statistical approach is not obvious. Many studies give the product...

Be careful with triage in emergency departments: interobserver agreement on 1,578 patients in France

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Philippe

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background For several decades, emergency departments (EDs utilization has increased, inducing ED overcrowding in many countries. This phenomenon is related partly to an excessive number of nonurgent patients. To resolve ED overcrowding and to decrease nonurgent visits, the most common solution has been to triage the ED patients to identify potentially nonurgent patients, i.e. which could have been dealt with by general practitioner. The objective of this study was to measure agreement among ED health professionals on the urgency of an ED visit, and to determine if the level of agreement is consistent among different sub-groups based on following explicit criteria: age, medical status, type of referral to the ED, investigations performed in the ED, and the discharge from the ED. Methods We conducted a multicentric cross-sectional study to compare agreement between nurses and physicians on categorization of ED visits into urgent or nonurgent. Subgroups stratified by criteria characterizing the ED visit were analyzed in relation to the outcome of the visit. Results Of 1,928 ED patients, 350 were excluded because data were lacking. The overall nurse-physician agreement on categorization was moderate (kappa = 0.43. The levels of agreement within all subgroups were variable and low. The highest agreement concerned three subgroups of complaints: cranial injury (kappa = 0.61, gynaecological (kappa = 0.66 and toxicology complaints (kappa = 1.00. The lowest agreement concerned two subgroups: urinary-nephrology (kappa = 0.09 and hospitalization (kappa = 0.20. When categorization of ED visits into urgent or nonurgent cases was compared to hospitalization, ED physicians had higher sensitivity and specificity than nurses (respectively 94.9% versus 89.5%, and 43.1% versus 30.9%. Conclusions The lack of physician-nurse agreement and the inability to predict hospitalization have important implications for patient safety. When urgency screening is used

Energy agreements in Italian foreign policy making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puri Purini, A.

1992-01-01

The growing complexity of international relations, involving nations with vastly diverse political and socio-economic frameworks, levels of technology, geography, and environmental policies, are necessitating new Italian government policies which favour multilateral as opposed to conventional bilateral cooperation, especially in that which regards energy agreements. This paper makes this point in examining Italy's vulnerable energy supply and demand situation, the current directions being taken in this nation's foreign policies, and in assessing the key political and socio-economic factors now influencing this nation's world competitiveness in light of pending European unification and the opening up, on a wide scale, of Russian markets to Western nations and Japan

A longitudinal study of childhood social behaviour : Inter-informant agreement, inter-context agreement, and social preference linkages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuppens, Sofie; Grietens, Hans; Onghena, Patrick; Michiels, Daisy

2009-01-01

This study examined inter-informant agreement, inter-context agreement, and social preference linkages for social behaviour subtypes. On two occasions, data was collected on 600 children (8-10 years old) via mother, father, teacher, and peer reports. Informant reports converged within each context

The legal character and operational relevance of the Paris Agreement's temperature goal

Science.gov (United States)

Rajamani, Lavanya; Werksman, Jacob

2018-05-01

This article assesses the legal character and operational relevance of the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C temperature goal. This article begins with a textual analysis of the 1.5°C goal. It considers whether the goal creates individual or collective obligations for Parties, and whether it is sufficiently specific to enable the tracking of individual or collective performance. Next, it assesses the operational relevance of the 1.5°C temperature goal, by considering the role it will play in the Paris Agreement's institutions and procedures. To the extent that the goal plays a role, and implies global limits on greenhouse gas emissions, this article observes that it could have implications for the sharing of the effort between Parties. Thus, this article considers the relevance of equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances, to understanding how the 1.5°C goal could be reached. In this context, this article explores whether the 1.5°C goal could play a role in the Paris Agreement's `ambition cycle'. Finally, this article asks whether there are any legal or political implications, individually or collectively under the Paris Agreement, should the Parties fail to achieve the 1.5°C goal. This article is part of the theme issue `The Paris Agreement: understanding the physical and social challenges for a warming world of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels'.

The Sicomines Agreement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jansson, Johanna

of the global political economy have shifted, and that China’s position as a foreign policy actor is now consolidated. Continuity, since the 2009 amendment of the agreement, which came about partly as a result of China’s ambitions to take up an active role in the International Monetary Fund (IMF......), was to the benefit of the policy preferences of the IMF and the World Bank. This case thus indicates that since China’s own aspirations are changeable, its emergence as an alternative development partner may not bring about any substantive change of direction for the DRC’s international relations. Furthermore......The Sicomines multibillion minerals-for-infrastructure deal was struck in 2007 between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China. The paper investigates the drivers behind the original conception of the agreement, outlines the structure of the contract, analyses the dynamics at play during...

Parent-Child Agreement on Parent-to-Child Maltreatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Compier-de Block, Laura H C G; Alink, Lenneke R A; Linting, Mariëlle; van den Berg, Lisa J M; Elzinga, Bernet M; Voorthuis, Alexandra; Tollenaar, Marieke S; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J

2017-01-01

Parent-child agreement on child maltreatment was examined in a multigenerational study. Questionnaires on perpetrated and experienced child maltreatment were completed by 138 parent-child pairs. Multi-level analyses were conducted to explore whether parents and children agreed about levels of parent-to-child maltreatment (convergence), and to examine whether parents and children reported equal levels of child maltreatment (absolute differences). Direct and moderating effects of age and gender were examined as potential factors explaining differences between parent and child report. The associations between parent- and child-reported maltreatment were significant for all subtypes, but the strength of the associations was low to moderate. Moreover, children reported more parent-to-child neglect than parents did. Older participants reported more experienced maltreatment than younger participants, without evidence for differences in actual exposure. These findings support the value of multi-informant assessment of child maltreatment to improve accuracy, but also reveal the divergent perspectives of parents and children on child maltreatment.

7 CFR 1290.8 - Grant agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Grant agreements. 1290.8 Section 1290.8 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS... minimum the following: (1) The projects in the approved State plan. (2) Total amount of Federal financial...

7 CFR 1291.8 - Grant agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Grant agreements. 1291.8 Section 1291.8 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS... minimum the following: (1) The projects in the approved State plan. (2) Total amount of Federal financial...

48 CFR 2131.109 - Advance agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Advance agreements. 2131... PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES Applicability 2131.109 Advance agreements. FAR 31.109 is applicable to FEGLI Program contracts, except that precontract costs and nonrecurring costs that exceed $100,000 will not be...

Rater Agreement Indexes for Performance Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Burry-Stock, Judith A.; And Others

1996-01-01

It is argued that interrater agreement is a psychometric property which is theoretically different from classic reliability. Formulas are presented to illustrate a set of algebraically equivalent rater agreement indices that are intended to provide educational and psychological researchers with a practical way to establish a measure of rater…

5 CFR 1655.12 - Loan agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Loan agreement. 1655.12 Section 1655.12 Administrative Personnel FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD LOAN PROGRAM § 1655.12 Loan agreement. (a) Upon determining that a loan application meets the requirements of this part, the TSP record keeper...

Revisiting Darwin's hypothesis: Does greater intraspecific variability increase species' ecological breadth?

Science.gov (United States)

Sides, Colby B; Enquist, Brian J; Ebersole, James J; Smith, Marielle N; Henderson, Amanda N; Sloat, Lindsey L

2014-01-01

Darwin first proposed that species with larger ecological breadth have greater phenotypic variation. We tested this hypothesis by comparing intraspecific variation in specific leaf area (SLA) to species' local elevational range and by assessing how external (abiotic) filters may influence observed differences in ecological breadth among species. Understanding the patterns of individual variation within and between populations will help evaluate differing hypotheses for structuring of communities and distribution of species. We selected 21 species with varying elevational ranges and compared the coefficient of variation of SLA for each species against its local elevational range. We examined the influence of external filters on local trait composition by determining if intraspecific changes in SLA with elevation have the same direction and similar rates of change as the change in community mean SLA value. In support of Darwin's hypothesis, we found a positive relationship between species' coefficient of variation for SLA with species' local elevational range. Intraspecific changes in SLA had the same sign, but generally lower magnitude than the community mean SLA. The results indicate that wide-ranging species are indeed characterized by greater intraspecific variation and that species' phenotypes shift along environmental gradients in the same direction as the community phenotypes. However, across species, the rate of intraspecific trait change, reflecting plastic and/or adaptive changes across populations, is limited and prevents species from adjusting to environmental gradients as quickly as interspecific changes resulting from community assembly.

Interpreting operational altimetry signals in near-coastal areas using underwater autonomous vehicles and remotely sensed ocean colour data

Science.gov (United States)

Borrione, Ines; Oddo, Paolo; Russo, Aniello; Coelho, Emanuel

2017-04-01

During the LOGMEC16 (Long-Term Glider Mission for Environmental Characterization) sea trial carried out in the eastern Ligurian Sea (Northwestern Mediterranean Sea), two oceanographic gliders rated to a maximum depth of 1000m were operating continuously from 3 May to 27 June 2016. When possible, glider tracks were synchronized with the footprints of contemporaneous altimeters (i.e., Jason 2, Altika and Cryosat 2). Temperature and salinity measured by the gliders along the tracks that were co-localized with the altimeter passages, were used to calculate along-track dynamic heights. The latter were then compared with near-real time absolute sea level CMEMS-TAPAS (Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service - Tailored Product for Data Assimilation) product. TAPAS provides along-track sea level anomaly (SLA) estimates together with all the terms used in the correction and the associated Mean Dynamic Topography. Where available, the CMEMS near-real time 1km resolution, Aqua-MODIS ocean colour data was also used as a tracer of the main oceanographic features of the region. Comparison between SLA derived from gliders and TAPAS along common transects, indicates that differences increase for larger sampling time lags between platforms and especially when time differences exceed 20 hrs. In fact, contemporaneous ocean color images reveal the presence of several mesoscale/sub-mesoscale structures (i.e., transient meanders and filaments), suggesting that the oceanographic variability of the region is likely the main cause for the differences observed between the glider and altimetry-based SLA. Results from this study provide additional evidence of the advantages on using a networked ocean observing system. In fact, the interpretation of in-situ observations obtained from a continuously operating sampling platform (also during ongoing experiments at sea) can be greatly improved when combined with other operational datasets, as the CMEMS SLA used here.

The text of a safeguards transfer agreement relating to a bilateral agreement between Argentina and the United States of America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-06-01

The document reproduces the text of a safeguards transfer agreement of 28 August 1996 relating to a bilateral agreement between Argentina and the United States of America to suspend the application of safeguards pursuant to the agreement of 25 July 1969 between the Agency, Argentina and the United States of America in light of the provisions for the application of safeguards pursuant to the quadripartite safeguards agreement between Argentina, Brazil, the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for the Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and the IAEA. The Protocol entered into force on 13 January 1997

8 CFR 217.6 - Carrier agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Carrier agreements. 217.6 Section 217.6 Aliens and Nationality DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS VISA WAIVER PROGRAM § 217... may notify a carrier of the existence of a basis for termination of a carrier agreement under this...

23 CFR 710.307 - Project agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Project agreement. 710.307 Section 710.307 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RIGHT-OF-WAY AND ENVIRONMENT RIGHT-OF-WAY AND REAL ESTATE Project Development § 710.307 Project agreement. As a condition of Federal-aid, the STD...

Wind changes above warm Agulhas Current eddies

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Roualt, M

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Sea-surface temperature (SST), altimetry derived sea-level anomalies (SLA) and surface current are used south of the Agulhas Current to identify warm core mesoscale ocean eddies presenting a distinct SST perturbation superior to 1(supo...

48 CFR 252.225-7020 - Trade Agreements Certificate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Trade Agreements... of Provisions And Clauses 252.225-7020 Trade Agreements Certificate. As prescribed in 225.1101(5), use the following provision: Trade Agreements Certificate (JAN 2005) (a) Definitions. Designated...

MRMC analysis of agreement studies

Science.gov (United States)

Gallas, Brandon D.; Anam, Amrita; Chen, Weijie; Wunderlich, Adam; Zhang, Zhiwei

2016-03-01

The purpose of this work is to present and evaluate methods based on U-statistics to compare intra- or inter-reader agreement across different imaging modalities. We apply these methods to multi-reader multi-case (MRMC) studies. We measure reader-averaged agreement and estimate its variance accounting for the variability from readers and cases (an MRMC analysis). In our application, pathologists (readers) evaluate patient tissue mounted on glass slides (cases) in two ways. They evaluate the slides on a microscope (reference modality) and they evaluate digital scans of the slides on a computer display (new modality). In the current work, we consider concordance as the agreement measure, but many of the concepts outlined here apply to other agreement measures. Concordance is the probability that two readers rank two cases in the same order. Concordance can be estimated with a U-statistic and thus it has some nice properties: it is unbiased, asymptotically normal, and its variance is given by an explicit formula. Another property of a U-statistic is that it is symmetric in its inputs; it doesn't matter which reader is listed first or which case is listed first, the result is the same. Using this property and a few tricks while building the U-statistic kernel for concordance, we get a mathematically tractable problem and efficient software. Simulations show that our variance and covariance estimates are unbiased.

48 CFR 16.702 - Basic agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... attachment the required and applicable clauses agreed upon in the basic agreement. A basic agreement is not a... Government to place future contracts or orders with the contractor; or (3) Be used in any manner to restrict... (including reference to each amendment) or by attachment. (2) The contracting officer shall include clauses...

75 FR 42445 - Notice of Agreement Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-21

...)-523-5793 or [email protected] . Agreement No.: 012105. Title: SCM Lines Transportes/CCNI Agreement. Parties: Compania Chilena de Navegacion Interoceanica S.A. and SCM Lines Transportes Maritimos Sociedade...

Leaf area index from litter collection: impact of specific leaf area variability within a beech stand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bouriaud, O. [Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Recherches Forestieres de Nancy, Champenoux (France); Soudani, K. [Univ. Paris-Sud XI, Dept. d' Ecophysiologie Vegetale, Lab. Ecologie Systematique et Evolution, Orsay Cedex (France); Breda, N. [Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Recherches Forestieres de Nancy, Champenoux (France)

2003-06-01

Litter fall collection is a direct method widely used to estimate leaf area index (LAI) in broad-leaved forest stands. Indirect measurements using radiation transmittance and gap fraction theory are often compared and calibrated against litter fall, which is considered as a reference method, but few studies address the question of litter specific leaf area (SLA) measurement and variability. SLA (leaf area per unit of dry weight, m{sup 2}{center_dot}g{sup -1}) is used to convert dry leaf litter biomass (g .m{sup -}2) into leaf area per ground unit area (m{sup 2}{center_dot}m{sup -2}). We paid special attention to this parameter in two young beech stands (dense and thinned) in northeastern France. The variability of both canopy (closure, LAI) and site conditions (soil properties, vegetation) was investigated as potential contributing factors to beech SLA variability. A systematic description of soil and floristic composition was performed and three types of soil were identified. Ellenberg's indicator values were averaged for each plot to assess nitrogen soil content. SLA of beech litter was measured three times during the fall in 23 plots in the stands (40 ha). Litter was collected bimonthly in square-shaped traps (0.5 m{sup 2}) and dried. Before drying, 30 leaves per plot and for each date were sampled, and leaf length, width, and area were measured with the help of a LI-COR areameter. SLA was calculated as the ratio of cumulated leaf area to total dry weight of the 30 leaves. Leaves characteristics per plot were averaged for the three dates of litter collection. Plant area index (PAI), estimated using the LAI-2000 plant canopy analyser and considering only the upper three rings, ranged from 2.9 to 8.1. Specific leaf area of beech litter was also highly different from one plot to the other, ranging from 150 to 320 cm{sup 2}{center_dot}g{sup -1}. Nevertheless, no relationship was found between SLA and stand canopy closure or PAI On the contrary, a significant

Leaf area index from litter collection: impact of specific leaf area variability within a beech stand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouriaud, O.; Soudani, K.; Breda, N.

2003-01-01

Litter fall collection is a direct method widely used to estimate leaf area index (LAI) in broad-leaved forest stands. Indirect measurements using radiation transmittance and gap fraction theory are often compared and calibrated against litter fall, which is considered as a reference method, but few studies address the question of litter specific leaf area (SLA) measurement and variability. SLA (leaf area per unit of dry weight, m 2 ·g -1 ) is used to convert dry leaf litter biomass (g .m - 2) into leaf area per ground unit area (m 2 ·m -2 ). We paid special attention to this parameter in two young beech stands (dense and thinned) in northeastern France. The variability of both canopy (closure, LAI) and site conditions (soil properties, vegetation) was investigated as potential contributing factors to beech SLA variability. A systematic description of soil and floristic composition was performed and three types of soil were identified. Ellenberg's indicator values were averaged for each plot to assess nitrogen soil content. SLA of beech litter was measured three times during the fall in 23 plots in the stands (40 ha). Litter was collected bimonthly in square-shaped traps (0.5 m 2 ) and dried. Before drying, 30 leaves per plot and for each date were sampled, and leaf length, width, and area were measured with the help of a LI-COR areameter. SLA was calculated as the ratio of cumulated leaf area to total dry weight of the 30 leaves. Leaves characteristics per plot were averaged for the three dates of litter collection. Plant area index (PAI), estimated using the LAI-2000 plant canopy analyser and considering only the upper three rings, ranged from 2.9 to 8.1. Specific leaf area of beech litter was also highly different from one plot to the other, ranging from 150 to 320 cm 2 ·g -1 . Nevertheless, no relationship was found between SLA and stand canopy closure or PAI On the contrary, a significant relationship between SLA and soil properties was observed. Both SLA

77 FR 59064 - United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-26

...-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland... Trade Promotion Agreement entered into by the United States and the Republic of Colombia. DATES: Interim...-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (``CTPA'' or ``Agreement''), and on June 28, 2007, the Parties signed a...

76 FR 65365 - United States-OMAN Free Trade Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-21

... Free Trade Agreement AGENCIES: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security... other customs-related provisions of the United States--Oman Free Trade Agreement entered into by the... the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (``OFTA'' or ``Agreement''). The provisions of the OFTA were...

78 FR 32356 - United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-30

...-Korea Free Trade Agreement AGENCIES: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security... treatment and other customs-related provisions of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement entered into...-Korea Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter ``UKFTA'' or the ``Agreement''). On December 3, 2010, the United...

Agreements to work outside the scope of employment

OpenAIRE

Svobodová, Tereza

2010-01-01

Resumé / Summary Title: Agreements on work performed outside an employment relationship Agreements on work performed outside an employment relationship are a specific type of labour relationship allowing the employer to employ an employee on the basis of its actual needs. These agreements are unique in whole Europe; we may find them only in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, which is caused by the common development until the first half of 1990's. There are two kinds of these agreements ...

Possible elements of a 2015 legal agreement on climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haites, Erik; Yamin, Farhana; Hoehne, Niklas

2013-10-01

Countries have committed to negotiating a new legally binding agreement by 2015, applicable to all countries for the period after 2020. This commitment has given new impetus and direction to the UN climate talks. The talks certainly need to progress on individual elements in the run up to 2015. However, Copenhagen showed that unless there is clarity and convergence on the overall objectives of the negotiation (the meta-negotiation), the technical level negotiations will get stuck. This is why there is a need to step back and envisage all potential elements of a new climate agreement, and their interaction. This is the objective of this paper, which IDDRI invited from three renowned international experts. Governments have committed to limiting warming to 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. The recently released IPCC report shows that this essentially requires capping total cumulative emissions: in the future emissions will need to decline to close to zero. The paper proposes that governments commit to phasing down net anthropogenic GHG emissions to zero by 2050. This multilaterally negotiated objective would be complemented by nationally determined mitigation objectives, which would be subject to international ex ante review and ex post verification. The paper proposes a clear process for regularly updating and strengthening national commitments. The climate regime needs to move out of continuous negotiation and into a framework of continuous implementation. The paper proposes no explicit differentiation of countries. Rather countries would propose nationally determined commitments, guided by the multilaterally agreed phase out goal and the international review. This would maximize participation. The Agreement should also include provisions for recognizing the actions of parties unable to ratify and for deterring egregious cases of free-riding. (authors)

Innovative approaches to structuring the transaction agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Droppo, D.L.

1999-01-01

Several issues regarding the negotiation and structuring of oil and gas property transactions are reviewed. They include: (1) areas of mutual exclusion covenants, (2) use of the short-form term sheet or letter agreement or the longer, more comprehensive formal offer or letter agreement, (3) coping with standard form purchase and sale agreements and property bid packages, (4) allocations of purchase price and their effect on ROFRs, (5) interim operations covenants, including maintaining insurance, contractual relationships and operational integrity, (6) structuring the transaction to facilitate unique financing requirements, (7) making effective use of adjustment clauses, (8) dealing with the cyclicity of commodity prices in the purchase and sale agreement, and (9) using escrow and trust arrangements to meet closure deadlines

12 CFR 207.6 - Disclosure of covered agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING OF CRA-RELATED AGREEMENTS (REGULATION G) § 207.6 Disclosure of covered agreements... CRA public file by insured depository institution or affiliate. An insured depository institution and...) by placing a copy of the covered agreement in the insured depository institution's CRA public file if...

48 CFR 52.225-6 - Trade Agreements Certificate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Trade Agreements....225-6 Trade Agreements Certificate. As prescribed in 25.1101(c)(2), insert the following provision: Trade Agreements Certificate (JAN 2005) (a) The offeror certifies that each end product, except those...

Multirater agreement for grading the femoral and tibial cartilage surface lesions at CT arthrography and analysis of causes of disagreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omoumi, Patrick; Michoux, Nicolas; Larbi, Ahmed; Lacoste, Laure; Lecouvet, Frédéric E.; Perlepe, Vasiliki; Vande Berg, Bruno C.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system is only fair when readers of varying levels of experience are taken into account. • Inter- and intra-observer agreement increase with readers experience. • Interobserver agreement is substantial for grade 4 lesions. • Knowledge of normal variations of cartilage thickness is required to help avoid pitfalls and improve interobserver agreement in reporting cartilage lesions. - Abstract: Objective: To assess the multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system for the grading of predefined areas of femorotibial cartilage at CT arthrography with multiple readers, with varying experience. Design: Five readers with varying experience (two junior radiologists, three musculoskeletal radiologists including two experts in cartilage imaging) separately analyzed 962 cartilage sectors from pre-divided knee CT arthrograms with femorotibial osteoarthritis (Kellgren/Lawrence = 3). Each cartilage area was graded twice by each reader, at a three-month interval, according to the modified 5-grade Outerbridge system. Interobserver and intraobserver agreement were assessed. After the second reading, 121 areas exhibiting the highest interobserver disagreement were reviewed in consensus to determine the sources of disagreement. Results: The global interobserver agreement was fair (k = 0.35), and increased with the grade (from k = 0.14 to k = 0.76 from grade 0–4). The intraobserver agreement varied with the readers’ experience from moderate (k = 0.59) to almost perfect (k = 0.92). The majority of cases of disagreement (44%) was due to difficulties in assessing the normal variations of cartilage thickness, including diffuse cartilage thinning (23%) and normal variants of cartilage thickness (22%). 32% of cases of disagreement were due to retrospectively avoidable interpretation errors. Conclusions: The multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system is only fair when readers of different

Multirater agreement for grading the femoral and tibial cartilage surface lesions at CT arthrography and analysis of causes of disagreement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Omoumi, Patrick, E-mail: patrick.omoumi@chuv.ch [Department of Radiology, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc − UC Louvain, Hippocrate Avenue 10/2942, B-1200 Brussels (Belgium); Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Bugnon 46, CH-1011 Lausanne (Switzerland); Michoux, Nicolas; Larbi, Ahmed; Lacoste, Laure; Lecouvet, Frédéric E.; Perlepe, Vasiliki; Vande Berg, Bruno C. [Department of Radiology, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc − UC Louvain, Hippocrate Avenue 10/2942, B-1200 Brussels (Belgium)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • The multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system is only fair when readers of varying levels of experience are taken into account. • Inter- and intra-observer agreement increase with readers experience. • Interobserver agreement is substantial for grade 4 lesions. • Knowledge of normal variations of cartilage thickness is required to help avoid pitfalls and improve interobserver agreement in reporting cartilage lesions. - Abstract: Objective: To assess the multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system for the grading of predefined areas of femorotibial cartilage at CT arthrography with multiple readers, with varying experience. Design: Five readers with varying experience (two junior radiologists, three musculoskeletal radiologists including two experts in cartilage imaging) separately analyzed 962 cartilage sectors from pre-divided knee CT arthrograms with femorotibial osteoarthritis (Kellgren/Lawrence = 3). Each cartilage area was graded twice by each reader, at a three-month interval, according to the modified 5-grade Outerbridge system. Interobserver and intraobserver agreement were assessed. After the second reading, 121 areas exhibiting the highest interobserver disagreement were reviewed in consensus to determine the sources of disagreement. Results: The global interobserver agreement was fair (k = 0.35), and increased with the grade (from k = 0.14 to k = 0.76 from grade 0–4). The intraobserver agreement varied with the readers’ experience from moderate (k = 0.59) to almost perfect (k = 0.92). The majority of cases of disagreement (44%) was due to difficulties in assessing the normal variations of cartilage thickness, including diffuse cartilage thinning (23%) and normal variants of cartilage thickness (22%). 32% of cases of disagreement were due to retrospectively avoidable interpretation errors. Conclusions: The multirater agreement of the modified Outerbridge system is only fair when readers of different

77 FR 71001 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-28

.... Agreement No.: 012187-000. Title: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS/Hoegh Autoliners, Inc. Space Charter Agreement. Parties: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS and Hoegh Autoliners, Inc. Filing Party: Ashley W. Craig Esq...

iTESOL: Analogous Practices in the SLA Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Lisa

2010-01-01

Recent studies of emerging technologies have shown that mobile phone production now exceeds one billion devices globally per year (Johnson, Levine & Smith, 2008). With a level of production that signifies a shift in the ownership of "networked machines" from institutions to individuals, the broad appeal of portable technologies now offers…

The practical outfall of DOE compliance agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, Leanne; Henrie, Gregory O.

1992-01-01

Perhaps the significant regulatory issue facing the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is the compliant treatment, storage, and disposal of mixed (radioactive and hazardous) waste. Since DOE'S By-Product Rulemaking in 1987, when the Department acknowledged that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) applied to the hazardous component of mixed waste, DOE has repeatedly communicated to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and host States that, for mixed waste, DOE is not always able to strictly comply with RCRA standards and that bringing treatment on-line in an expeditious manner is proving very difficult. One of the most effective methods used between DOE and its regulators to address mixed waste management issues is the negotiation of compliance agreements. These agreements establish formal mile stones for bringing DOE sites into compliance. The milestones are not completed without overcoming technical roadblocks and a struggle for funding. However, agreements can establish technically attainable compliance methods that take into account the special problems radiation introduces into RCRA waste management. Compliance agreements help promote a cooperative relationship within the Department and between DOE and its regulators in that all parties have reached agreement and have a stake in attaining the same goal. Where agreements exist, mixed waste compliance efforts can proceed in a situation where all parties have a full understanding of each other's needs and expectations. (author)

A visible light-curable yet visible wavelength-transparent resin for stereolithography 3D printing

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Hong Key; Shin, Mikyung; Kim, Bongkyun; Park, Jin Woo; Lee, Haeshin

2018-04-01

Herein, a new polymeric resin for stereolithography (SLA) three-dimensional printing (SLA-3DP) is reported. An ultraviolet (UV) or visible (VIS) light source is critical for SLA printing technology. UV light can be used to manufacture 3D objects in SLA-3DP, but there are significant occupational safety and health issues (particularly for eyes). These issues prevent the widespread use of SLA-3DP at home or in the office. Through the use of VIS light, the safety and health issues can largely be solved, but only non-transparent 3D objects can be manufactured, which prevents the application of 3DP to the production of various common transparent consumer products. For these reasons, we developed a VIS light-curable yet visibly transparent resin for SLA-3DP, which also retains UV curability. The key was to identify the photoinitiator diphenyl(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (DPTBP). DPTBP was originally designed as a UV photoinitiator, but we found that VIS light irradiation is sufficient to split DPTBP and generate radicals due to its slight VIS light absorption up to 420 nm. The cured resin displays high transparency and beautiful transparent colors by incorporating various dyes; additionally, its mechanical properties are superior to those of commercial resins (Arario 410) and photoinitiators (Irgacure 2959).

Profile agreement indices in Rietveld and pattern-fitting analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, R.J.; Fischer, R.X.

1990-01-01

Two definitions of profile agreement indices are now in common use for estimating the degree of fit in Rietveld refinement and in structure-independent pattern-fitting methods of powder diffraction analysis. In the original program written by Rietveld, the background was subtracted and the 'non-peak' regions of the pattern were removed from further consideration in a preliminary data-reduction stage prior to structure refinement. However, the agreement indices used in many of the more recent programs retain the background counts in the observed step intensities and include all portions of the pattern in the sums. These latter definitions are strongly dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio and on the relative amount of 'background-only' regions and do not, therefore, provide a sound basis for comparing the degree of fit of peak profile and crystal structure model refinements in the general case. The extent of this dependence is illustrated quantitatively using conventional and synchrotron X-ray and constant-wavelength and time-of-flight neutron data sets with different inherent background levels and peak densities. The unweighted background-corrected peak-only profile agreement index R' p =Σ i vertical strokeY io -Y ic vertical stroke/Σ i vertical strokeY io -Y ib vertical stroke (and, to a lesser extent, its weighted equivalent) is recommended as the most appropriate criterion of fit for comparative work between diffraction patterns of all kinds. (orig.)

Retroperitoneal Sarcoma Target Volume and Organ at Risk Contour Delineation Agreement Among NRG Sarcoma Radiation Oncologists

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldini, Elizabeth H., E-mail: ebaldini@partners.org [Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Abrams, Ross A. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois (United States); Bosch, Walter [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (United States); Roberge, David [Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier de l' Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec (Canada); Haas, Rick L.M. [Department of Radiotherapy, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Catton, Charles N. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Indelicato, Daniel J. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida Medical Center, Jacksonville, Florida (United States); Olsen, Jeffrey R. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (United States); Deville, Curtiland [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Chen, Yen-Lin [Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Finkelstein, Steven E. [Translational Research Consortium, 21st Century Oncology, Scottsdale, Arizona (United States); DeLaney, Thomas F. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Wang, Dian [Department of Radiation Oncology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois (United States)

2015-08-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variability in target volume and organ at risk (OAR) contour delineation for retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) among 12 sarcoma radiation oncologists. Methods and Materials: Radiation planning computed tomography (CT) scans for 2 cases of RPS were distributed among 12 sarcoma radiation oncologists with instructions for contouring gross tumor volume (GTV), clinical target volume (CTV), high-risk CTV (HR CTV: area judged to be at high risk of resulting in positive margins after resection), and OARs: bowel bag, small bowel, colon, stomach, and duodenum. Analysis of contour agreement was performed using the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm and kappa statistics. Results: Ten radiation oncologists contoured both RPS cases, 1 contoured only RPS1, and 1 contoured only RPS2 such that each case was contoured by 11 radiation oncologists. The first case (RPS 1) was a patient with a de-differentiated (DD) liposarcoma (LPS) with a predominant well-differentiated (WD) component, and the second case (RPS 2) was a patient with DD LPS made up almost entirely of a DD component. Contouring agreement for GTV and CTV contours was high. However, the agreement for HR CTVs was only moderate. For OARs, agreement for stomach, bowel bag, small bowel, and colon was high, but agreement for duodenum (distorted by tumor in one of these cases) was fair to moderate. Conclusions: For preoperative treatment of RPS, sarcoma radiation oncologists contoured GTV, CTV, and most OARs with a high level of agreement. HR CTV contours were more variable. Further clarification of this volume with the help of sarcoma surgical oncologists is necessary to reach consensus. More attention to delineation of the duodenum is also needed.

Retroperitoneal Sarcoma Target Volume and Organ at Risk Contour Delineation Agreement Among NRG Sarcoma Radiation Oncologists

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baldini, Elizabeth H.; Abrams, Ross A.; Bosch, Walter; Roberge, David; Haas, Rick L.M.; Catton, Charles N.; Indelicato, Daniel J.; Olsen, Jeffrey R.; Deville, Curtiland; Chen, Yen-Lin; Finkelstein, Steven E.; DeLaney, Thomas F.; Wang, Dian

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variability in target volume and organ at risk (OAR) contour delineation for retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) among 12 sarcoma radiation oncologists. Methods and Materials: Radiation planning computed tomography (CT) scans for 2 cases of RPS were distributed among 12 sarcoma radiation oncologists with instructions for contouring gross tumor volume (GTV), clinical target volume (CTV), high-risk CTV (HR CTV: area judged to be at high risk of resulting in positive margins after resection), and OARs: bowel bag, small bowel, colon, stomach, and duodenum. Analysis of contour agreement was performed using the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm and kappa statistics. Results: Ten radiation oncologists contoured both RPS cases, 1 contoured only RPS1, and 1 contoured only RPS2 such that each case was contoured by 11 radiation oncologists. The first case (RPS 1) was a patient with a de-differentiated (DD) liposarcoma (LPS) with a predominant well-differentiated (WD) component, and the second case (RPS 2) was a patient with DD LPS made up almost entirely of a DD component. Contouring agreement for GTV and CTV contours was high. However, the agreement for HR CTVs was only moderate. For OARs, agreement for stomach, bowel bag, small bowel, and colon was high, but agreement for duodenum (distorted by tumor in one of these cases) was fair to moderate. Conclusions: For preoperative treatment of RPS, sarcoma radiation oncologists contoured GTV, CTV, and most OARs with a high level of agreement. HR CTV contours were more variable. Further clarification of this volume with the help of sarcoma surgical oncologists is necessary to reach consensus. More attention to delineation of the duodenum is also needed

76 FR 72408 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-23

.... Synopsis: The amendment adds Korea to the geographic scope of the agreement and removes some historical... agreement authorizes the parties to exchange space in the trade between China, Singapore, Vietnam and the U...

78 FR 6325 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-30

... Enterprises LLC. Agreement No.: 012193-000. Title: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS/Compania Sud Americana de Vapores S.A. Space Charter Agreement. Parties: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS and Compania Sud Americana de...

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Colombia and the United States of America

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1971-02-23

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Colombia and the United States of America relating to the agreement between the two Governments for co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. The Safeguards Transfer Agreement entered into force on 9 December 1970.

The Text of the Agreement of 8 July Extending the Asian Regional Co-Operative Project on Food Irradiation. Extension Agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-12-01

The text of the Agreement to Extend the Agreement of 23 May 1980 Establishing the Asian Regional Co-operative Project on Food Irradiation within the framework of the Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology of 1972, as extended in 1977 and in 1982, is reproduced herein for the information of all Members

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Colombia and the United States of America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1971-01-01

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Colombia and the United States of America relating to the agreement between the two Governments for co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. The Safeguards Transfer Agreement entered into force on 9 December 1970.

Can risk assessment predict suicide in secondary mental healthcare? Findings from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Case Register.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Morinigo, Javier-David; Fernandes, Andrea C; Shetty, Hitesh; Ayesa-Arriola, Rosa; Bari, Ashraful; Stewart, Robert; Dutta, Rina

2018-06-02

The predictive value of suicide risk assessment in secondary mental healthcare remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which clinical risk assessment ratings can predict suicide among people receiving secondary mental healthcare. Retrospective inception cohort study (n = 13,758) from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) (London, UK) linked with national mortality data (n = 81 suicides). Cox regression models assessed survival from the last suicide risk assessment and ROC curves evaluated the performance of risk assessment total scores. Hopelessness (RR = 2.24, 95% CI 1.05-4.80, p = 0.037) and having a significant loss (RR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.03-3.55, p = 0.041) were significantly associated with suicide in the multivariable Cox regression models. However, screening statistics for the best cut-off point (4-5) of the risk assessment total score were: sensitivity 0.65 (95% CI 0.54-0.76), specificity 0.62 (95% CI 0.62-0.63), positive predictive value 0.01 (95% CI 0.01-0.01) and negative predictive value 0.99 (95% CI 0.99-1.00). Although suicide was linked with hopelessness and having a significant loss, risk assessment performed poorly to predict such an uncommon outcome in a large case register of patients receiving secondary mental healthcare.

7 CFR 3431.17 - VMLRP service agreement offer.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false VMLRP service agreement offer. 3431.17 Section 3431... Administration of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program § 3431.17 VMLRP service agreement offer. The Secretary will make an offer to successful applicants to enter into an agreement with the Secretary to...

30 CFR 914.30 - State-Federal Cooperative Agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Agreement (Agreement) to read as follows: Article I: Introduction, Purposes and Responsible Agencies A... provided to the DOR under this Agreement will be adjusted in accordance with Office of Management and.... The financial status report submitted pursuant to 30 CFR 735.26 will include a report of the amount of...

41 CFR 109-50.4801 - Equipment Gift Agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Equipment Gift Agreement... 50-SPECIAL DOE DISPOSAL AUTHORITIES 50.48-Exhibits § 109-50.4801 Equipment Gift Agreement. (a) The following Equipment Gift Agreement format will be used to provide gifts of excess and/or surplus equipment...

77 FR 16838 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-22

... the U.S. Pacific Coast and the Middle East and Asia. Agreement No.: 012161. Title: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS/Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd. Space Charter Agreement. Parties: Siem Car Carrier Pacific AS; Hyundai...

Potential of border tax adjustments to deter free riding in international climate agreements

Science.gov (United States)

Burcu Irfanoglu, Zeynep; Sesmero, Juan P.; Golub, Alla

2015-02-01

The objective of this study is to conduct assessment of the hypothesis that trade sanctions in the form of border tax adjustments (BTAs) used by the United States against China, constitute a viable enforcement mechanism to sustain compliance with a range of emissions taxes in the context of agreements to curb global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The performance of BTAs is then compared with those of punitive tariffs on the basis of the range of emission taxes that can be successfully enforced by their implementation. Results show that BTAs are a viable enforcement mechanism for international GHG mitigation agreements. However the maximum level of carbon tax that can be enforced varies dramatically with (1) the marginal damage of pollution perceived by Chinese authorities, and (2) the legal limitations that GATT rules may impose on BTAs. Finally, while BTAs seem a promising enforcement mechanism in the context of climate agreements, punitive tariffs seem to be capable of supporting a much stricter environmental target.

The implementation of a multi-annual agreement for energy efficiency in The Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dinica, Valentina; Bressers, Hans Th. A.; Bruijn, Theo de

2007-01-01

The paper analyses the implementation of the second multi-annual agreement for energy efficiency concluded in the Netherlands with industrial sectors for the period 2002-2010. It aims to investigate whether the multi-annual agreement MJA2, as a voluntary instrument, is sufficiently stimulating behavioral change at the target group level, and sustained transformation of production and management patterns towards significant gains in energy efficiency. The analysis uses a Structure-Conduct-Performance analytical framework for implementation processes in order to: (a) analyze the setting of implementation, actor roles, attitudes and interactions; (b) discuss emerging obstacles and positive experiences with the implementation of the three core policy instruments envisaged: energy management system, process efficiency measures, and 'expansion themes' measures. Based on this policy recommendations are formulated regarding voluntary agreements in general, using the Structure-Conduct-Performance framework of implementation analysis, and regarding how the implementation process of MJA2 in particular could be improved

Potential of border tax adjustments to deter free riding in international climate agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irfanoglu, Zeynep Burcu; Golub, Alla; Sesmero, Juan P

2015-01-01

The objective of this study is to conduct assessment of the hypothesis that trade sanctions in the form of border tax adjustments (BTAs) used by the United States against China, constitute a viable enforcement mechanism to sustain compliance with a range of emissions taxes in the context of agreements to curb global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The performance of BTAs is then compared with those of punitive tariffs on the basis of the range of emission taxes that can be successfully enforced by their implementation. Results show that BTAs are a viable enforcement mechanism for international GHG mitigation agreements. However the maximum level of carbon tax that can be enforced varies dramatically with (1) the marginal damage of pollution perceived by Chinese authorities, and (2) the legal limitations that GATT rules may impose on BTAs. Finally, while BTAs seem a promising enforcement mechanism in the context of climate agreements, punitive tariffs seem to be capable of supporting a much stricter environmental target. (letter)

75 FR 69079 - Notice of Agreements Filed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-10

... World Liner Data Agreement. Parties: A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S; CMA CGM S.A.; Compania Chilena de... from ports in Mexico to the U.S. Atlantic ports. Agreement No.: 012110. Title: Trailer Bridge/HLUSA...

The Text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement relating to a Bilateral Agreement between Argentina and the United States of America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1969-01-01

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Argentina and the United States of America relating to the agreement of 25 June 1969 between the two Governments for co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. The Safeguards Transfer Agreement entered into force on 25 July 1969.

The Text of a Safeguards Transfer Agreement Relating to a Bilateral Agreement between Austria and the United States of America

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1971-05-18

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Austria and the United States of America relating to the agreement of 11 July 1969 between the two Governments for cooperation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. The Safeguards Transfer Agreement entered into force on 24 January 1970.

The Text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement Relating to the Bilateral Agreement between Iran and the United States of America

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1969-05-06

The text of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement between the Agency, Iran and the United States of America relating to the agreement between the two Governments for co-operation in the promotion and development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is reproduced in this document for the information of all Members. Members will be informed of the entry into force of the Safeguards Transfer Agreement.

45 CFR 1640.4 - Violation of agreement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... OF FEDERAL LAW TO LSC RECIPIENTS § 1640.4 Violation of agreement. (a) A violation of the agreement... negligence allowed the employee or board member to engage in the activities which led to the conviction or...

The Texts of the Agency's Headquarters Agreement with Austria and Related Agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)