Experience of water chemistry and radiation levels in Swedish BWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivars, R.; Elkert, J.

1981-01-01

From the BWR operational experience in Sweden it has been found that the occupational radiation exposures have been comparatively low in an international comparison. One main reason for the favourable conditions is the good water chemistry performance. This paper deals at first with the design considerations of water chemistry and materials selection. Next, the experience of water chemistry and radiation levels are provided. Finally, some methods to further reduce the radiation sources are discussed. (author)

Investigating Student Choices in Performing Higher-Level Comprehension Tasks Using TED

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchi, Francesca; Marenzi, Ivana

2016-01-01

The current paper describes a first experiment in the use of TED talks and open tagging exercises to train higher-level comprehension skills, and of automatic logging of the student's actions to investigate the student choices while performing analytical tasks. The experiment took advantage of an interactive learning platform--LearnWeb--that…

The Level 0 Trigger Processor for the NA62 experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiozzi, S.; Gamberini, E.; Gianoli, A.; Mila, G.; Neri, I.; Petrucci, F.; Soldi, D.

2016-01-01

In the NA62 experiment at CERN, the intense flux of particles requires a high-performance trigger for the data acquisition system. A Level 0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) was realized, performing the event selection based on trigger primitives coming from sub-detectors and reducing the trigger rate from 10 to 1 MHz. The L0TP is based on a commercial FPGA device and has been implemented in two different solutions. The performance of the two systems are highlighted and compared.

The Level 0 Trigger Processor for the NA62 experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chiozzi, S. [INFN, Ferrara (Italy); Gamberini, E. [University of Ferrara and INFN, Ferrara (Italy); Gianoli, A. [INFN, Ferrara (Italy); Mila, G. [University of Turin and INFN, Turin (Italy); Neri, I., E-mail: neri@fe.infn.it [University of Ferrara and INFN, Ferrara (Italy); Petrucci, F. [University of Ferrara and INFN, Ferrara (Italy); Soldi, D. [University of Turin and INFN, Turin (Italy)

2016-07-11

In the NA62 experiment at CERN, the intense flux of particles requires a high-performance trigger for the data acquisition system. A Level 0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) was realized, performing the event selection based on trigger primitives coming from sub-detectors and reducing the trigger rate from 10 to 1 MHz. The L0TP is based on a commercial FPGA device and has been implemented in two different solutions. The performance of the two systems are highlighted and compared.

Explosive performance on the non-proliferation experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McKown, T.O. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

1994-12-31

The Explosive Effects Physics Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory planned and conducted experiments on the Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE) as part of its effort to define source functions for seismic waves. Since all investigations were contingent on the performance of the emplaced chemical explosive, an array of diagnostic measurements was fielded in the emplaced explosive. The CORRTEX (COntinuous Reflectometry for Radius vs Time EXperiment) system was used to investigate the explosive initiation and to determine the detonation velocities on three levels and in a number of radial directions. The CORRTEX experiments fielded in the explosive chamber will be described, including a description of the explosive emplacement from the perspective of its impact on the CORRTEX results. The data obtained are reviewed and the resulting detonation velocities are reported. A variation of detonation velocity with depth in the explosive and the apparent underdetonation and overdetonation of the explosive in different radial directions is reported.

Determination of the Acid Dissociation Constant of a Phenolic Acid by High Performance Liquid Chromatography: An Experiment for the Upper Level Analytical Chemistry Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Raboh, Ghada

2018-01-01

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) experiment for the upper level analytical chemistry laboratory is described. The students consider the effect of mobile-phase composition and pH on the retention times of ionizable compounds in order to determine the acid dissociation constant, K[subscript a], of a phenolic acid. Results are analyzed…

Bed-levelling experiments with suspended load

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talmon, A.M.; De Graaff, J.

1991-01-01

Bed-levelling experiments are conducted in a straight laboratory channel. The experiments involve a significant fraction of suspended sediment transport. The purpose of the experiments is to provide data for modelling of the direction of sediment transport on a transverse sloping alluvial river bed,

The second level trigger of the L3 experiment. Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertsch, Y.; Blaising, J.J.; Bonnefon, H.; Chollet-Le Flour, F.; Degre, A.; Dromby, G.; Lecoq, J.; Morand, R.; Moynot, M.; Perrot, G.; Riccadonna, X.

1993-07-01

The second level trigger of the L3 experiment performs online background rejection and reduces the first level trigger rate to a value fitting with the third level trigger processing capability. Designed around a set of 3 bit-slice XOP microprocessors, it can process up to 500 first level triggers per second without significant dead time in the data acquisition. The system described here ensures the L3 data taking since the beginning of LEP in July 1989 and the online rejection since 1990. (authors). 24 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs

Hydrological performance assessment on siting the high level radioactive waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Yonghai; Liu Shufen; Wang Ju; Wang Zhiming; Su Rui; Lv Chuanhe; Zong Zihua

2007-01-01

Based on the research experiences in China and some developed countries in the world, the processes and methods on hydrological performance assessment for the siting of high radioactive repository are discussed in this paper. The methods and contents of hydrological performance assessment are discussed respectively for region, area and site hydrological investigation stages. At the same time, the hydrological performance assessment of the potential site for high level radioactive waste in China is introduced. (authors)

Impact of hybrid delivery of education on student academic performance and the student experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Congdon, Heather Brennan; Nutter, Douglas A; Charneski, Lisa; Butko, Peter

2009-11-12

To compare student academic performance and the student experience in the first-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program between the main and newly opened satellite campuses of the University of Maryland. Student performance indicators including graded assessments, course averages, cumulative first-year grade point average (GPA), and introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) evaluations were analyzed retrospectively. Student experience indicators were obtained via an online survey instrument and included involvement in student organizations; time-budgeting practices; and stress levels and their perceived effect on performance. Graded assessments, course averages, GPA, and IPPE evaluations were indistinguishable between campuses. Students' time allocation was not different between campuses, except for time spent attending class and watching lecture videos. There was no difference between students' stress levels at each campus. The implementation of a satellite campus to expand pharmacy education yielded academic performance and student engagement comparable to those from traditional delivery methods.

Music experience influences laparoscopic skills performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyd, Tanner; Jung, Inkyung; Van Sickle, Kent; Schwesinger, Wayne; Michalek, Joel; Bingener, Juliane

2008-01-01

Music education affects the mathematical and visuo-spatial skills of school-age children. Visuo-spatial abilities have a significant effect on laparoscopic suturing performance. We hypothesize that prior music experience influences the performance of laparoscopic suturing tasks. Thirty novices observed a laparoscopic suturing task video. Each performed 3 timed suturing task trials. Demographics were recorded. A repeated measures linear mixed model was used to examine the effects of prior music experience on suturing task time. Twelve women and 18 men completed the tasks. When adjusted for video game experience, participants who currently played an instrument performed significantly faster than those who did not (PMen who had never played an instrument or were currently playing an instrument performed better than women in the same group (P=0.002 and P<0.001). There was no sex difference in the performance of participants who had played an instrument in the past (P=0.29). This study attempted to investigate the effect of music experience on the laparoscopic suturing abilities of surgical novices. The visuo-spatial abilities used in laparoscopic suturing may be enhanced in those involved in playing an instrument.

Performance assessment for low-level waste disposal in the UK

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ashworth, A.B. [UK Dept. of the Environment, London (United Kingdom)

1995-12-31

British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) operate a site for the disposal of Low Level Radioactive Waste at Drigg in West Cumbria, in North-West England. HMIP are responsible for the regulation of the site with regard to environmental discharges of radioactive materials, both operational and post-closure. This paper is concerned with post-closure matters only. Two post-closure performance assessments have been carried out for this site: one by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) in 1987; and a subsequent one carried out on behalf of HMIP, completed in 1991. Currently, BNFL are preparing a Safety Case for continued operation of the Drigg site, and it expected that the core of this Case will comprise BNFL`s own analysis of post-closure performance. HMIP has developed procedures for the assessment of this Case, based upon experience of the previous Drigg assessments, and also upon the experience of similar work carried out in the assessment of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) disposal at both deep and shallow potential sites. This paper describes the more important features of these procedures.

Correlation between physics A-levels/A-levels and degree performance

Science.gov (United States)

Chadwick, Roy

1985-09-01

The author presents an analysis of 178 students who left Solihull Sixth form College between 1975 and 1981 to do a degree in physics (approximately one third) or engineering (approximately two thirds) at university or polytechnic. The first table is an analysis of physics A-level grade and degree performance; the second table an analysis of the points total for physics A-level plus maths A-level (five for A, four for B, etc.), against degree performances, and the final table an analysis of the points total for physics A-level plus maths A-level plus third A-level (again five for A, four for B, etc.), against degree performance.

Triage level assignment and nurse characteristics and experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Angelats, Elisenda; Miró, Òscar; Bragulat Baur, Ernesto; Antolín Santaliestra, Alberto; Sánchez Sánchez, Miquel

2018-06-01

To study the relation between nursing staff demographics and experience and their assignment of triage level in the emergency department. One-year retrospective observational study in the triage area of a tertiary care urban university hospital that applies the Andorran-Spanish triage model. Variables studied were age, gender, nursing experience, triage experience, shift, usual level of emergency work the nurse undertakes, number of triage decisions made, and percentage of patients assigned to each level. Fifty nurses (5 men, 45 women) with a mean (SD) age of 45 (9) years triaged 67 803 patients during the year. Nurses classified more patients in level 5 on the morning shift (7.9%) than on the afternoon shift (5.5%) (P=.003). The difference in the rate of level-5 triage classification became significant when nurses were older (β = 0.092, P=.037) and experience was greater (β = 0.103, P=.017). The number of triages recorded by a nurse was significantly and directly related to the percentage of patients assigned to level 3 (β = 0.003, P=.006) and inversely related to the percentages assigned to level 4 (β = -0.002, P=.008) and level 5 (β = -0.001, P=.017). We found that triage level assignments were related to age, experience, shift, and total number of patients triaged by a nurse.

Determination of the Performance Parameters of a Spectrophotometer: An Advanced Experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cope, Virgil W.

1978-01-01

Describes an advanced analytical chemistry laboratory experiment developed for the determination of the performance parameters of a spectrophotometer. Among the parameters are the baseline linearity with wavelength, wavelength accuracy and respectability, stray light, noise level and pen response time. (HM)

Beyond Performance: A Motivational Experiences Model of Stereotype Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Thoman, Dustin B.; Smith, Jessi L.; Brown, Elizabeth R.; Chase, Justin; Lee, Joo Young K.

2013-01-01

The contributing role of stereotype threat (ST) to learning and performance decrements for stigmatized students in highly evaluative situations has been vastly documented and is now widely known by educators and policy makers. However, recent research illustrates that underrepresented and stigmatized students’ academic and career motivations are influenced by ST more broadly, particularly through influences on achievement orientations, sense of belonging, and intrinsic motivation. Such a focus moves conceptualizations of ST effects in education beyond the influence on a student’s performance, skill level, and feelings of self-efficacy per se to experiencing greater belonging uncertainty and lower interest in stereotyped tasks and domains. These negative experiences are associated with important outcomes such as decreased persistence and domain identification, even among students who are high in achievement motivation. In this vein, we present and review support for the Motivational Experience Model of ST, a self-regulatory model framework for integrating research on ST, achievement goals, sense of belonging, and intrinsic motivation to make predictions for how stigmatized students’ motivational experiences are maintained or disrupted, particularly over long periods of time. PMID:23894223

Performance evaluation and operational experience with a semi-automatic monitor for the radiological characterization of low-level wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davey, E.C.; Csullog, G.W.

1987-03-01

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL) have undertaken a Waste Disposal Project to co-ordinate the transition from the current practice of interim storage to permanent disposal for low-level radioactive wastes (LLW). The strategy of the project is to classify and segregate waste segments according to their hazardous radioactive lifetimes and to emplace them in disposal facilities engineered to isolate and contain them. To support this strategy, a waste characterization program was set up to estimate the volume and radioisotope inventories of the wastes managed by CRNL. A key element of the program is the demonstration of a non-invasive measurement technique for the isotope-specific characterization of solid LLW. This paper describes the approach taken at CRNL for the non-invasive assay of LLW and the field performance and early operational experience with a waste characterization monitor to be used in a waste processing facility

Performance evaluation and operational experience with a semi-automatic monitor for the radiological characterization of low-level wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davey, E.C.; Csullog, G.W.

1987-01-01

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL) have undertaken a Waste Disposal Project to co-ordinate the transition from the current practice of interim storage to permanent disposal for low-level radioactive wastes (LLW). The strategy of the project is to classify and segregate waste segments according to their hazardous radioactive lifetimes and to emplace them in disposal facilities engineered to isolate and contain them. To support this strategy, a waste characterization program was set up to estimate the volume and radioisotope inventories of the wastes managed by CRNL. A key element of the program is the demonstration of a non-invasive measurement technique for the isotope-specific characterization of solid LLW. This paper describes the approach taken at CRNL for the non-invasive assay of LLW and the field performance and early operational experience with a waste characterization monitor to be used in a waste processing facility

The CMS High Level Trigger System: Experience and Future Development

CERN Document Server

Bauer, Gerry; Bowen, Matthew; Branson, James G; Bukowiec, Sebastian; Cittolin, Sergio; Coarasa, J A; Deldicque, Christian; Dobson, Marc; Dupont, Aymeric; Erhan, Samim; Flossdorf, Alexander; Gigi, Dominique; Glege, Frank; Gomez-Reino, R; Hartl, Christian; Hegeman, Jeroen; Holzner, André; Y L Hwong; Masetti, Lorenzo; Meijers, Frans; Meschi, Emilio; Mommsen, R K; O'Dell, Vivian; Orsini, Luciano; Paus, Christoph; Petrucci, Andrea; Pieri, Marco; Polese, Giovanni; Racz, Attila; Raginel, Olivier; Sakulin, Hannes; Sani, Matteo; Schwick, Christoph; Shpakov, Dennis; Simon, M; Spataru, A C; Sumorok, Konstanty

2012-01-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC features a two-level trigger system. Events accepted by the first level trigger, at a maximum rate of 100 kHz, are read out by the Data Acquisition system (DAQ), and subsequently assembled in memory in a farm of computers running a software high-level trigger (HLT), which selects interesting events for offline storage and analysis at a rate of order few hundred Hz. The HLT algorithms consist of sequences of offline-style reconstruction and filtering modules, executed on a farm of 0(10000) CPU cores built from commodity hardware. Experience from the operation of the HLT system in the collider run 2010/2011 is reported. The current architecture of the CMS HLT, its integration with the CMS reconstruction framework and the CMS DAQ, are discussed in the light of future development. The possible short- and medium-term evolution of the HLT software infrastructure to support extensions of the HLT computing power, and to address remaining performance and maintenance issues, are discussed.

Effect of video-game experience and position of flight stick controller on simulated-flight performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Bo-Keun; Aghazadeh, Fereydoun; Al-Qaisi, Saif

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of video-game experience and flight-stick position on flying performance. The study divided participants into 2 groups; center- and side-stick groups, which were further divided into high and low level of video-game experience subgroups. The experiment consisted of 7 sessions of simulated flying, and in the last session, the flight stick controller was switched to the other position. Flight performance was measured in terms of the deviation of heading, altitude, and airspeed from their respective requirements. Participants with high experience in video games performed significantly better (p increase (0.78 %). However, after switching from a center- to a side-stick controller, performance scores decreased (4.8%).

Performance anxiety experiences of professional ballet dancers: the importance of control.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Imogen J; Nordin-Bates, Sanna M

2010-01-01

Performance anxiety research abounds in sport psychology, yet has been relatively sparse in dance. The present study explores ballet dancers' experiences of performance anxiety in relation to: 1. symptom type, intensity, and directional interpretation; 2. experience level (including company rank); and 3. self-confidence and psychological skills. Fifteen elite ballet dancers representing all ranks in one company were interviewed, and qualitative content analysis was conducted. Results revealed that cognitive anxiety was more dominant than somatic anxiety, and was unanimously interpreted as debilitative to performance. Somatic anxiety was more likely to be interpreted as facilitative, with the majority of dancers recognizing that a certain amount of anxiety could be beneficial to performance. Principal dancers suffered from higher intensities of performance anxiety than corps de ballet members. Feeling out of control emerged as a major theme in both the experience of anxiety and its interpretation. As a result, prevention or handling of anxiety symptoms may be accomplished by helping dancers to feel in control. Dancers may benefit from education about anxiety symptoms and their interpretation, in addition to psychological skills training incorporating cognitive restructuring strategies and problem-focussed coping to help increase their feelings of being in control.

Differentiating levels of surgical experience on a virtual reality temporal bone simulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yi C; Kennedy, Gregor; Hall, Richard; O'Leary, Stephen

2010-11-01

Virtual reality simulation is increasingly being incorporated into surgical training and may have a role in temporal bone surgical education. Here we test whether metrics generated by a virtual reality surgical simulation can differentiate between three levels of experience, namely novices, otolaryngology residents, and experienced qualified surgeons. Cohort study. Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Twenty-seven participants were recruited. There were 12 experts, six residents, and nine novices. After orientation, participants were asked to perform a modified radical mastoidectomy on the simulator. Comparisons of time taken, injury to structures, and forces exerted were made between the groups to determine which specific metrics would discriminate experience levels. Experts completed the simulated task in significantly shorter time than the other two groups (experts 22 minutes, residents 36 minutes, and novices 46 minutes; P = 0.001). Novices exerted significantly higher average forces when dissecting close to vital structures compared with experts (0.24 Newton [N] vs 0.13 N, P = 0.002). Novices were also more likely to injure structures such as dura compared to experts (23 injuries vs 3 injuries, P = 0.001). Compared with residents, the experts modulated their force between initial cortex dissection and dissection close to vital structures. Using the combination of these metrics, we were able to correctly classify the participants' level of experience 90 percent of the time. This preliminary study shows that measurements of performance obtained from within a virtual reality simulator can differentiate between levels of users' experience. These results suggest that simulator training may have a role in temporal bone training beyond foundational training. Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel experiments for understanding the shallow land burial of low-level radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DePoorter, G.L.; Hakonson, T.E.

1981-01-01

Data on the basic processes that occur in the shallow land burial of low-level radioactive wastes are needed to engineer facilities with guaranteed performance, to validate models for system predictions, and to provide input to models that consider contaminant pathways out of the facility. Two types of novel experiments that will provide experimental data on the basic processes in shallow land burial facilities are described in this paper. Generic experiments that give data on the movement of water and radionuclides and an experiment that is particularly important for semi-arid sites are described

The first OSCE; does students' experience of performing in public affect their results?

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Michael; Bax, Nigel; Woodley, Caroline; Jennings, Michael; Nicolson, Rod; Chan, Philip

2015-03-26

Personal qualities have been shown to affect students' exam results. We studied the effect of experience, and level, of public performance in music, drama, dance, sport, and debate at the time of admission to medical school as a predictor of student achievement in their first objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). A single medical school cohort (n = 265) sitting their first clinical exam in 2011 as third year students were studied. Pre-admission statements made at the time of application were coded for their stated achievements in the level of public performance; participation in each activity was scored 0-3, where 0 was no record, 1 = leisure time activity, 2 = activity at school or local level, 3 = activity at district, regional or national level. These scores were correlated to OSCE results by linear regression and t-test. Comparison was made between the highest scoring students in each area, and students scoring zero by t-test. There was a bell shaped distribution in public performance score in this cohort. There was no significant linear regression relationship between OSCE results and overall performance score, or between any subgroups. There was a significant difference between students with high scores in theatre, debate and vocal music areas, grouped together as verbal performance, and students scoring zero in these areas. (p < 0.05, t-test) with an effect size of 0.4. We found modest effects from pre-admission experience of verbal performance on students' scores in the OSCE examination. As these data are taken from students' admission statements, we call into question the received wisdom that such statements are unreliable.

Performance assessment experience at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, D.W.

1994-01-01

The development of a performance assessment (PA) for low-level radioactive waste disposal operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was initiated in 1989 and is continuing. A draft PA was prepared in September 1990 and submitted to the DOE Peer Review Panel for review and comment. Recommendations were received that formed the basis for a revised PA that was completed in December 1993. The review of the revised PA is continuing. This paper reviews the experience gained in the preparation of the PA including the technical difficulties associated with performance assessment in Oak Ridge and an overview of the methods used in the PA. Changes in waste operations that resulted from the findings in the PA include improved waste acceptance criteria, waste certification, and waste management practices. The discussion includes issues that relate to the application of current performance objectives to older disposal facilities, which are being addressed as part of the CERCLA process

A First-level Event Selector for the CBM Experiment at FAIR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuveland, J de; Lindenstruth, V

2011-01-01

The CBM experiment at the upcoming FAIR accelerator aims to create highest baryon densities in nucleus-nucleus collisions and to explore the properties of super-dense nuclear matter. Event rates of 10 MHz are needed for high-statistics measurements of rare probes, while event selection requires complex global triggers like secondary vertex search. To meet these demands, the CBM experiment uses self-triggered detector front-ends and a data push readout architecture. The First-level Event Selector (FLES) is the central physics selection system in CBM. It receives all hits and performs online event selection on the 1 TByte/s input data stream. The event selection process requires high-throughput event building and full event reconstruction using fast, vectorized track reconstruction algorithms. The current FLES architecture foresees a scalable high-performance computer. To achieve the high throughput and computation efficiency, all available computing devices will have to be used, in particular FPGAs at the first stages of the system and heterogeneous many-core architectures such as CPUs for efficient track reconstruction. A high-throughput network infrastructure and flow control in the system are other key aspects. In this paper, we present the foreseen architecture of the First-level Event Selector.

Technology Performance Level Assessment Methodology.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberts, Jesse D.; Bull, Diana L; Malins, Robert Joseph; Costello, Ronan Patrick; Aurelien Babarit; Kim Nielsen; Claudio Bittencourt Ferreira; Ben Kennedy; Kathryn Dykes; Jochem Weber

2017-04-01

The technology performance level (TPL) assessments can be applied at all technology development stages and associated technology readiness levels (TRLs). Even, and particularly, at low TRLs the TPL assessment is very effective as it, holistically, considers a wide range of WEC attributes that determine the techno-economic performance potential of the WEC farm when fully developed for commercial operation. The TPL assessment also highlights potential showstoppers at the earliest possible stage of the WEC technology development. Hence, the TPL assessment identifies the technology independent “performance requirements.” In order to achieve a successful solution, the entirety of the performance requirements within the TPL must be considered because, in the end, all the stakeholder needs must be achieved. The basis for performing a TPL assessment comes from the information provided in a dedicated format, the Technical Submission Form (TSF). The TSF requests information from the WEC developer that is required to answer the questions posed in the TPL assessment document.

RPCs as trigger detector for the ATLAS experiment performances, simulation and application to the level-1 di-muon trigger

CERN Document Server

Di Simone, A; Di Ciaccio, A

2005-01-01

In the muon spectrometer different detectors are used to provide trigger functionality and precision momentum measurements. In the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1 the first level muon trigger is based on Resistive Plate Chambers, gas ionization detectors which are characterized by a fast response and an excellent time resolution (<1.5ns). The working principles of the Resistive Plate Chambers will be illustrated in chapter 3. Given the long time of operation expected for the ATLAS experiment (~10 years), ageing phenomena have been carefully studied, in order to ensure stable long-term operation of all the subdetectors. Concerning Resistive Plate Chambers, a very extensive ageing test has been performed at CERN's Gamma Irradiation Facility on three production chambers. The results of this test are presented in chapter 4. One of the most commonly used gases in RPCs operation is C2H2F4, which during the gas discharge can produce fluorine ions. Being F one of the most aggressive elements in nature, the presenc...

Modeling take-over performance in level 3 conditionally automated vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Gold, Christian; Happee, Riender; Bengler, Klaus

2017-11-28

Taking over vehicle control from a Level 3 conditionally automated vehicle can be a demanding task for a driver. The take-over determines the controllability of automated vehicle functions and thereby also traffic safety. This paper presents models predicting the main take-over performance variables take-over time, minimum time-to-collision, brake application and crash probability. These variables are considered in relation to the situational and driver-related factors time-budget, traffic density, non-driving-related task, repetition, the current lane and driver's age. Regression models were developed using 753 take-over situations recorded in a series of driving simulator experiments. The models were validated with data from five other driving simulator experiments of mostly unrelated authors with another 729 take-over situations. The models accurately captured take-over time, time-to-collision and crash probability, and moderately predicted the brake application. Especially the time-budget, traffic density and the repetition strongly influenced the take-over performance, while the non-driving-related tasks, the lane and drivers' age explained a minor portion of the variance in the take-over performances. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A monitoring tool for performance improvement in plastic surgery at the individual level.

Science.gov (United States)

Maruthappu, Mahiben; Duclos, Antoine; Orgill, Dennis; Carty, Matthew J

2013-05-01

The assessment of performance in surgery is expanding significantly. Application of relevant frameworks to plastic surgery, however, has been limited. In this article, the authors present two robust graphic tools commonly used in other industries that may serve to monitor individual surgeon operative time while factoring in patient- and surgeon-specific elements. The authors reviewed performance data from all bilateral reduction mammaplasties performed at their institution by eight surgeons between 1995 and 2010. Operative time was used as a proxy for performance. Cumulative sum charts and exponentially weighted moving average charts were generated using a train-test analytic approach, and used to monitor surgical performance. Charts mapped crude, patient case-mix-adjusted, and case-mix and surgical-experience-adjusted performance. Operative time was found to decline from 182 minutes to 118 minutes with surgical experience (p factors is essential for correct interpretation of performance in plastic surgery at the individual surgeon level. Cumulative sum and exponentially weighted moving average charts represent accurate methods of monitoring operative time to control and potentially improve surgeon performance over the course of a career.

The Danish Fracture Database can monitor quality of fracture-related surgery, surgeons' experience level and extent of supervision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Morten Jon; Gromov, Kirill; Brix, Michael

2014-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The importance of supervision and of surgeons' level of experience in relation to patient outcome have been demonstrated in both hip fracture and arthroplasty surgery. The aim of this study was to describe the surgeons' experience level and the extent of supervision for: 1) fracture......-related surgery in general; 2) the three most frequent primary operations and reoperations; and 3) primary operations during and outside regular working hours. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 9,767 surgical procedures were identified from the Danish Fracture Database (DFDB). Procedures were grouped based...... on the surgeons' level of experience, extent of supervision, type (primary, planned secondary or reoperation), classification (AO Müller), and whether they were performed during or outside regular hours. RESULTS: Interns and junior residents combined performed 46% of all procedures. A total of 90% of surgeries...

The Danish Fracture Database can monitor quality of fracture-related surgery, surgeons' experience level and extent of supervision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, M. J.; Gromov, K.; Brix, M.

2014-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The importance of supervision and of surgeons' level of experience in relation to patient outcome have been demonstrated in both hip fracture and arthroplasty surgery. The aim of this study was to describe the surgeons' experience level and the extent of supervision for: 1) fracture......-related surgery in general; 2) the three most frequent primary operations and reoperations; and 3) primary operations during and outside regular working hours. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 9,767 surgical procedures were identified from the Danish Fracture Database (DFDB). Procedures were grouped based...... on the surgeons' level of experience, extent of supervision, type (primary, planned secondary or reoperation), classification (AO Muller), and whether they were performed during or outside regular hours. RESULTS: Interns and junior residents combined performed 46% of all procedures. A total of 90% of surgeries...

The second level trigger of the L3 experiment. Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertsch, Y.; Blaising, J.J.; Bonnefon, H.; Chollet-Leflour, F.; Degre, A.; Dromby, G.; Lecoq, J.; Morand, R.; Moynot, M.; Perrot, G.; Riccadonna, X.

1994-01-01

The second level trigger of the L3 experiment performs online background rejection and reduces the first level trigger rate to a value fitting with the third level trigger processing capability. Designed around a set of three bit-slice XOP microprocessors, it can process up to 500 first level triggers per second without significant dead time in the data acquisition. At each LEP beam crossing (45/90 kHz) the complete trigger information (5 kbytes) is memorized in a 1.4 gigabyte bandwidth real dual port memory. The XOP processor builds up the trigger block in less than 400 μs, and signs the background or physics origin of the current event in less than 3 ms. These very high performances rely essentially on the association of parallelism with high speed ECL technology, provided by dedicated processors fully integrated in Fastbus. Emphasis is given here to the specific hardware developed, to its operation and technical aspects of its installation and integration. The system described here ensures the L3 data taking since the beginning of LEP in July 1989 and the online rejection since 1990. (orig.)

Photovoltaic Shading Testbed for Module-Level Power Electronics: 2016 Performance Data Update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deline, Chris [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Meydbray, Jenya [PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), Davis, CA (United States); Donovan, Matt [PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), Davis, CA (United States)

2016-09-01

The 2012 NREL report 'Photovoltaic Shading Testbed for Module-Level Power Electronics' provides a standard methodology for estimating the performance benefit of distributed power electronics under partial shading conditions. Since the release of the report, experiments have been conducted for a number of products and for different system configurations. Drawing from these experiences, updates to the test and analysis methods are recommended. Proposed changes in data processing have the benefit of reducing the sensitivity to measurement errors and weather variability, as well as bringing the updated performance score in line with measured and simulated values of the shade recovery benefit of distributed PV power electronics. Also, due to the emergence of new technologies including sub-module embedded power electronics, the shading method has been extended to include power electronics that operate at a finer granularity than the module level. An update to the method is proposed to account for these emerging technologies that respond to shading differently than module-level devices. The partial shading test remains a repeatable test procedure that attempts to simulate shading situations as would be experienced by typical residential or commercial rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems. Performance data for multiple products tested using this method are discussed, based on equipment from Enphase, Solar Edge, Maxim Integrated and SMA. In general, the annual recovery of shading losses from the module-level electronics evaluated is 25-35%, with the major difference between different trials being related to the number of parallel strings in the test installation rather than differences between the equipment tested. Appendix D data has been added in this update.

Meeting performance goals by the use of experience data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salmon, M.W.; Kennedy, R.P.

1993-01-01

DOE Order 5480.28 requires that structures, systems and components (SSCs) be designed and constructed to withstand the effects of natural phenomena hazards. For SSCs to be acceptable, it must be demonstrated that there is a sufficiently low probability of failure of those SSCs consistent with established performance goals. For new design, NPH loads are taken from probabilistic hazard assessments and coupled with response and evaluation methods to control the levels of conservatism required to achieve performance goals. For components qualified by test, performance goals are achieved by specifying a test response spectrum that envelops a required response spectrum coupled with minimal acceptance standards. DOE Standard 1020-92 adapts both of these approaches to ensure that the required performance goals are met for new installations. For existing installations these approaches are generally not applicable. There is a need for a simple approach for use in verifying the performance of existing equipment subject to seismic hazards. The USNRC has adapted such an approach for the resolution of USI A-46 in the Generic Implementation Procedure (GIP). A simple set of screening rules, keyed to a generic bounding spectrum forms the basis of the USNRC approach. A similar approach is being adapted for use in the DOE. The DOE approach, however, must also ensure that appropriate performance goals are met when the general screens are met. This paper summarizes research to date on the topic of meeting performance goals by the use of experience data. The paper presents a review of the background material, a summary of the requirements for existing components, a summary of the approach used in establishing the performance goals associated with experience data approaches, and a summary of results to date. Simplified criteria are proposed

Patient Experience: A Critical Indicator of Healthcare Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Guler, Pamela H

2017-01-01

Patient experience has become a critical differentiator for healthcare organizations, and it will only grow in importance as transparency and consumerism dominate the healthcare landscape. Creating and sustaining a consistently exceptional experience that promotes patient engagement and the best outcomes is far more than just "satisfying" patients, going well beyond amenities that may be provided.Perception of care experience is often shaped by methods we use to address the biopsychosocial needs of patients. Building relationships and communicating well with our patients and families are primary approaches. In a complex healthcare situation, patients may not fully understand or remember the highly clinical nature of treatment. However, they always remember how we made them feel, how we communicated with them as a team, and what interactions they experienced while in our care.Patients who are fully informed and feel connected to their caregivers are often less anxious than those who are disengaged. Informed and engaged patients are enabled to participate in their healthcare. Organizations that focus on developing an accountable culture-one that inspires caregivers to communicate in a way that connects to patients' mind, body, and spirit while leveraging standard, evidence-based patient experience practices-find that patients' perception of care, or "the patient experience," is vastly improved.Adventist Health System has embarked on a journey to patient experience excellence with a commitment to whole-person care and standard patient experience practice across the system. Recognized with several national awards, we continue to strengthen our approach toward bringing all of our campuses and patient settings to sustained high-level performance. We have found that a combination of strong, accountable leadership; a focus on employee culture; engagement of physicians; standardized patient experience practices and education; and meaningful use of patient feedback are top

Salivary microbiota in individuals with different levels of caries experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Belstrøm, Daniel; Holmstrup, Palle; Fiehn, Nils-Erik

2017-01-01

This study compared salivary bacterial profiles in two groups having a 10-fold difference in levels of caries experience, as it was hypothesized that the composition of the salivary microbiota might associate with the levels of caries experience. Bacterial profiles in stimulated saliva samples from...... caries experience. Consequently, longitudinal studies are required to determine if the composition of the salivary microbiota might be a predictive factor of caries risk at the individual level....

Simulator experiments: effects of NPP operator experience on performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beare, A.N.; Gray, L.H.

1985-01-01

Experiments are being conducted on nuclear power plant (NPP) control room training simulators by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, its subcontractor, General Physics Corporation, and participating utilities. The experiments are sponsored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Human Factors and Safeguards Branch, Division of Risk Analysis and Operations, and are a continuation of prior research using simulators, supported by field data collection, to provide a technical basis for NRC human factors regulatory issues concerned with the operational safety of nuclear power plants. During the FY83 research, a simulator experiment was conducted at the control room simulator for a GE boiling water reactor (BWR) NPP. The research subjects were licensed operators undergoing requalification training and shift technical advisors (STAs). This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of (a) senior reactor operator (SRO) experience, (b) operating crew augmentation with an STA and (c) practice, as a crew, upon crew and individual operator performance, in response to anticipated plant transients. The FY84 experiments are a partial replication and extension of the FY83 experiment, but with PWR operators and simulator. Methodology and results to date are reported

Superthin disintegration of 2s-level in light hydrogenlike atoms: theory and experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karshenbojm, S.G.; Kolachevskij, N.N.; Ivanov, V.G.; Fischer, M.; Fendel, P.; Hensch, T.W.

2006-01-01

Peculiar combination of superthin disintegrations in hydrogen and in D 21 = 8f hfs (2s)-f hfs (1s) similar light two-particle atoms depends slightly on nucleus structure and thus enables to compare theory with experiment sensitive to the high order quantum-electrodynamic corrections. Paper presents new theoretical and experimental results. The calculations deal with hydrogen, deuterium and helium-3 ion. The experiments were performed for 2s level superthin disintegration in hydrogen and deuterium the error of which dominates in D 21 difference. Theory and experiment are in line, and their accuracy is comparable with the accuracy of verifications of the quantum-and-electrodynamic theory of superthin disintegration in lepton atoms (muonium and positronium) [ru

The association of educational attainment, cognitive level of job, and leisure activities during the course of adulthood with cognitive performance in old age: the role of openness to experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Ihle, Andreas; Oris, Michel; Fagot, Delphine; Maggiori, Christian; Kliegel, Matthias

2016-05-01

The relevance of mental health for everyday life functioning and well-being is crucial. In this context, higher educational attainment, higher cognitive level of one's occupation, and more engaging in stimulating leisure activities have been found to be associated with better cognitive functioning in old age. Yet, the detailed pattern of the potential interplay of such a cognitively engaged lifestyle with personality dimensions, such as openness to experience, in their relations to cognitive functioning remains unclear. Two thousand eight hundred and twelve older adults served as sample for the present study. Psychometric tests on verbal abilities and processing speed were administered. In addition, individuals were retrospectively interviewed on their educational attainment, occupation, and regarding 18 leisure activities that had been carried out in mid-life. Moreover, openness to experience was assessed. We found that the effect of openness to experience on cognitive functioning was mediated by educational attainment, cognitive level of job, and engaging in different leisure activities. Data were not better described by alternative moderation models testing for interactive (i.e. dependent) effects of openness to experience and cognitively stimulating engagement. To explain interindividual differences in cognitive functioning in old age, present data are in line with a mechanism in which individuals with high openness to experience may have been more engaged in stimulating activities in early and mid-life. Possibly by increasing their cognitive reserve throughout adulthood, this may finally enhance their cognitive performance level later in old age.

(Biased) Grading of Students’ Performance: Students’ Names, Performance Level, and Implicit Attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Bonefeld, Meike; Dickhäuser, Oliver

2018-01-01

Biases in pre-service teachers’ evaluations of students’ performance may arise due to stereotypes (e.g., the assumption that students with a migrant background have lower potential). This study examines the effects of a migrant background, performance level, and implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background on performance assessment (assigned grades and number of errors counted in a dictation). Pre-service teachers (N = 203) graded the performance of a student who appeared to have a migrant background statistically significantly worse than that of a student without a migrant background. The differences were more pronounced when the performance level was low and when the pre-service teachers held relatively positive implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background. Interestingly, only performance level had an effect on the number of counted errors. Our results support the assumption that pre-service teachers exhibit bias when grading students with a migrant background in a third-grade level dictation assignment. PMID:29867618

(Biased Grading of Students’ Performance: Students’ Names, Performance Level, and Implicit Attitudes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meike Bonefeld

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Biases in pre-service teachers’ evaluations of students’ performance may arise due to stereotypes (e.g., the assumption that students with a migrant background have lower potential. This study examines the effects of a migrant background, performance level, and implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background on performance assessment (assigned grades and number of errors counted in a dictation. Pre-service teachers (N = 203 graded the performance of a student who appeared to have a migrant background statistically significantly worse than that of a student without a migrant background. The differences were more pronounced when the performance level was low and when the pre-service teachers held relatively positive implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background. Interestingly, only performance level had an effect on the number of counted errors. Our results support the assumption that pre-service teachers exhibit bias when grading students with a migrant background in a third-grade level dictation assignment.

CANDU reactor experience: fuel performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Truant, P.T.; Hastings, I.J.

1985-07-01

Ontario Hydro has more than 126 reactor-years experience in operating CANDU reactors. Fuel performance has been excellent with 47 000 channel fuelling operations successfully completed and 99.9 percent of the more than 380 000 bundles irradiated operating as designed. Fuel performance limits and fuel defects have had a negligible effect on station safety, reliability, the environment and cost. The actual incapability charged to fuel is less than 0.1 percent over the stations' lifetimes, and more recently has been zero

A score card for upper GI endoscopy: Evaluation of interobserver variability in examiners with various levels of experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, M; Friedl, S; Meining, A; Egger, K; Heldwein, W; Rey, J F; Hochberger, J; Classen, M; Hohenberger, W; Rösch, T

2002-10-01

In most European countries, training in GI endoscopy has largely been based on hands-on acquisition of experience in patients rather than on a structured training programme. With the development of training models systematic hands-on training in a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy techniques was achieved. Little, however, is known about methods of objectively assessing trainees' performance. We therefore developed an assessment 'score card' for upper GI endoscopy and tested it in endoscopists with various levels of experience. The aim of the study was therefore to assess interobserver variations in the evaluation of trainees. On the basis of textbook and expert opinions a consensus group of eight experienced endoscopists developed a score card for diagnostic upper GI endoscopy with biopsy. The score card includes an assessment of the single steps of the procedure as well as of the times needed to complete each step. This score card was then evaluated in a further conference including ten experts who blindly assessed videotapes of 15 endoscopists performing upper GI endoscopy in a training bio-simulation model (the 'Erlangen Endo-Trainer'). On the basis of their previous experience (i. e. the number of endoscopies performed) these 15 endoscopists were classified into four groups: very experienced, experienced, having some experience and inexperienced. Interobserver variability (IOV) was tested for the various score card parameters (Kendall's rank-correlation coefficient 0.0-0.5 poor, 0.5-1.0 good agreement). In addition, the correlation between the score card assessment and the examiners' experience levels was analysed. Despite poor IOV results for all the parameters tested (Kendall coefficient account (correlation coefficient 0.59-0.89, p < 0.05). The score card parameters were suitable for differentiating between the four groups of examiners with different levels of endoscopic experience. As expected with scores involving subjective assessment of

Recent experience and future evolution of the CMS High Level Trigger System

CERN Document Server

Bauer, Gerry; Branson, James; Bukowiec, Sebastian Czeslaw; Chaze, Olivier; Cittolin, Sergio; Coarasa Perez, Jose Antonio; Deldicque, Christian; Dobson, Marc; Dupont, Aymeric; Erhan, Samim; Gigi, Dominique; Glege, Frank; Gomez-Reino Garrido, Robert; Hartl, Christian; Holzner, Andre Georg; Masetti, Lorenzo; Meijers, Franciscus; Meschi, Emilio; Mommsen, Remigius; Nunez Barranco Fernandez, Carlos; O'Dell, Vivian; Orsini, Luciano; Paus, Christoph Maria Ernst; Petrucci, Andrea; Pieri, Marco; Polese, Giovanni; Racz, Attila; Raginel, Olivier; Sakulin, Hannes; Sani, Matteo; Schwick, Christoph; Spataru, Andrei Cristian; Stoeckli, Fabian; Sumorok, Konstanty

2012-01-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC uses a two-stage trigger system, with events flowing from the first level trigger at a rate of 100 kHz. These events are read out by the Data Acquisition system (DAQ), assembled in memory in a farm of computers, and finally fed into the high-level trigger (HLT) software running on the farm. The HLT software selects interesting events for offline storage and analysis at a rate of a few hundred Hz. The HLT algorithms consist of sequences of offline-style reconstruction and filtering modules, executed on a farm of 0(10000) CPU cores built from commodity hardware. Experience from the 2010-2011 collider run is detailed, as well as the current architecture of the CMS HLT, and its integration with the CMS reconstruction framework and CMS DAQ. The short- and medium-term evolution of the HLT software infrastructure is discussed, with future improvements aimed at supporting extensions of the HLT computing power, and addressing remaining performance and maintenance issues.

The effects of individual differences, prior experience and cognitive load on the transfer of dynamic decision-making performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Brad; O'Hare, David

2014-01-01

Situational awareness is recognised as an important factor in the performance of individuals and teams in dynamic decision-making (DDM) environments (Salmon et al. 2014 ). The present study was designed to investigate whether the scores on the WOMBAT™ Situational Awareness and Stress Tolerance Test (Roscoe and North 1980 ) would predict the transfer of DDM performance from training under different levels of cognitive load to a novel situation. Participants practised a simulated firefighting task under either low or high conditions of cognitive load and then performed a (transfer) test in an alternative firefighting environment under an intermediate level of cognitive load. WOMBAT™ test scores were a better predictor of DDM performance than scores on the Raven Matrices. Participants with high WOMBAT™ scores performed better regardless of their training condition. Participants with recent gaming experience who practised under low cognitive load showed better practice phase performance but worse transfer performance than those who practised under high cognitive load. The relationship between task experience, situational awareness ability, cognitive load and the transfer of dynamic decision-making (DDM) performance was investigated. Results showed that the WOMBAT™ test predicted transfer of DDM performance regardless of task cognitive load. The effects of cognitive load on performance varied according to previous task-relevant experience.

Individual differences in object permanence performance at 8 months: locomotor experience and brain electrical activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, M A; Fox, N A

1997-12-01

This work was designed to investigate individual differences in hands-and-knees crawling and frontal brain electrical activity with respect to object permanence performance in 76 eight-month-old infants. Four groups of infants (one prelocomotor and 3 with varying lengths of hands-and-knees crawling experience) were tested on an object permanence scale in a research design similar to that used by Kermoian and Campos (1988). In addition, baseline EEG was recorded and used as an indicator of brain development, as in the Bell and Fox (1992) longitudinal study. Individual differences in frontal and occipital EEG power and in locomotor experience were associated with performance on the object permanence task. Infants successful at A-not-B exhibited greater frontal EEG power and greater occipital EEG power than unsuccessful infants. In contrast to Kermoian and Campos (1988), who noted that long-term crawling experience was associated with higher performance on an object permanence scale, infants in this study with any amount of hands and knees crawling experience performed at a higher level on the object permanence scale than prelocomotor infants. There was no interaction among brain electrical activity, locomotor experience, and object permanence performance. These data highlight the value of electrophysiological research and the need for a brain-behavior model of object permanence performance that incorporates both electrophysiological and behavioral factors.

Birth experience in women with low, intermediate or high levels of fear: findings from the first baby study.

Science.gov (United States)

Elvander, Charlotte; Cnattingius, Sven; Kjerulff, Kristen H

2013-12-01

Fear of childbirth and mode of delivery are two known factors that affect birth experience. The interactions between these two factors are unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the effects of different levels of fear of birth and mode of delivery on birth experience 1 month after birth. As part of an ongoing prospective study, we interviewed 3,006 women in their third trimester and 1 month after first childbirth to assess fear of birth and birth experience. Logistic regression was performed to examine the interactions and associations between fear of birth, mode of delivery and birth experience. Compared with women with low levels of fear of birth, women with intermediate levels of fear, and women with high levels of fear had a more negative birth experience and were more affected by an unplanned cesarean section or instrumental vaginal delivery. Compared with women with low levels of fears with a noninstrumental vaginal delivery, women with high levels of fear who were delivered by unplanned cesarean section had a 12-fold increased risk of reporting a negative birth experience (OR 12.25; 95% CI 7.19-20.86). A noninstrumental vaginal delivery was associated with the most positive birth experience among the women in this study. This study shows that both levels of prenatal fear of childbirth and mode of delivery are important for birth experience. Women with low fear of childbirth who had a noninstrumental vaginal delivery reported the most positive birth experience. © 2013, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2013, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Experience, gender, and performance: Connecting high school physics experience and gender differences to introductory college physics performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tai, Robert H.

Current science educational practice is coming under heavy criticism based on the dismaying results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of 1998, the latest in a series of large scale surveys; and from research showing the appallingly low representation of females in science-related fields. These critical evaluations serve to draw attention to science literacy in general and lack of persistence among females in particular, two issues that relate closely to the "preparation for future study" goal held by many high school science teachers. In other words, these teachers often seek to promote future success and to prevent future failure in their students' academic careers. This thesis studies the connection between the teaching practices recommended by reformers and researchers for high school teachers, and their students' subsequent college physics performance. The teaching practices studied were: laboratory experiences, class discussion experiences, content coverage, and reliance on textbooks. This study analyzed a survey of 1500 students from 16 different lecture-format college physics courses at 14 different universities. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this study accounted for course-level variables (Calculus-based/Non-calculus course type, professor's gender, and university selectivity). This study controlled for the student's parents education, high school science/mathematics achievement, high school calculus background, and racial background. In addition, the interactions between gender and both pedagogical/curricular and course-level variables were analyzed. The results indicated that teaching fewer topics in greater depth in high school physics appeared to be helpful to college physics students. An interaction between college course type and content coverage showed that students in Calculus-based physics reaped even greater benefits from a depth-oriented curriculum. Also students with fewer labs per month in high school physics

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Terracciano

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Performance management is „a strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained succes to organizations, by improving the performance of the people who working in them, and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributions” [1]. At the same time, it is a systematic approach of the human resource management, in general, and of the performance assessment, in particular, using goals, performance, appreciation and feedback as a means of motivating the employees to understand and to fully exploit their creative potential to achieve the organizational goals.   [1] Armstrong M. and  Baron D., Relating Competencies to Pay: The UK Experience, Compensation and Benefits Review, May-June, 1998, pp. 28 – 39;

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Terracciano

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Performance management is „a strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained succes to organizations, by improving the performance of the people who working in them, and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributions” [1]. At the same time, it is a systematic approach of the human resource management, in general, and of the performance assessment, in particular, using goals, performance, appreciation and feedback as a means of motivating the employees to understand and to fully exploit their creative potential to achieve the organizational goals. [1] Armstrong M. and Baron D., Relating Competencies to Pay: The UK Experience, Compensation and Benefits Review, May-June, 1998, pp. 28 – 39;

Level Zero Trigger Processor for the NA62 experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Soldi, D.; Chiozzi, S.

2018-05-01

The NA62 experiment is designed to measure the ultra-rare decay K+ arrow π+ ν bar nu branching ratio with a precision of ~ 10% at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The trigger system of NA62 consists in three different levels designed to select events of physics interest in a high beam rate environment. The L0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) is the lowest level system of the trigger chain. It is hardware implemented using programmable logic. The architecture of the NA62 L0TP system is a new approach compared to existing systems used in high-energy physics experiments. It is fully digital, based on a standard gigabit Ethernet communication between detectors and the L0TP Board. The L0TP Board is a commercial development board, mounting a programmable logic device (FPGA). The primitives generated by sub-detectors are sent asynchronously using the UDP protocol to the L0TP during the entire beam spill period. The L0TP realigns in time the primitives coming from seven different sources and performs a data selection based on the characteristics of the event such as energy, multiplicity and topology of hits in the sub-detectors. It guarantees a maximum latency of 1 ms. The maximum input rate is about 10 MHz for each sub-detector, while the design maximum output trigger rate is 1 MHz. A description of the trigger algorithm is presented here.

Hanford low-level tank waste interim performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, F.M.

1997-01-01

The Hanford Low-Level Tank Waste Interim Performance Assessment examines the long-term environmental and human health effects associated with the disposal of the low-level fraction of the Hanford single and double-shell tank waste in the Hanford Site 200 East Area. This report was prepared as a good management practice to provide needed information about the relationship between the disposal system design and performance early in the disposal system project cycle. The calculations in this performance assessment show that the disposal of the low-level fraction can meet environmental and health performance objectives

A Look at the Memory Performance of Retarded and Normal Children Utilizing the Levels of Processing Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Lupart, Judy L.; Mulcahy, Robert F.

Memory performance differences of mental age matched (9-12 years) educable mentally retarded (EMR) (n=56) and normal (n=56) children were examined in two experiments using the F. Craik and R. Lockhart levels of processing framework. In experiment 1, Ss were randomly assigned to an incidental, intentional, or planned intentional learning condition,…

Material Surface Characteristics and Plasma Performance in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Lucia, Matthew James

The performance of a tokamak plasma and the characteristics of the surrounding plasma facing component (PFC) material surfaces strongly influence each other. Despite this relationship, tokamak plasma physics has historically been studied more thoroughly than PFC surface physics. The disparity is particularly evident in lithium PFC research: decades of experiments have examined the effect of lithium PFCs on plasma performance, but the understanding of the lithium surface itself is much less complete. This latter information is critical to identifying the mechanisms by which lithium PFCs affect plasma performance. This research focused on such plasma-surface interactions in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment (LTX), a spherical torus designed to accommodate solid or liquid lithium as the primary PFC. Surface analysis was accomplished via the novel Materials Analysis and Particle Probe (MAPP) diagnostic system. In a series of experiments on LTX, the MAPP x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) capabilities were used for in vacuo interrogation of PFC samples. This represented the first application of XPS and TDS for in situ surface analysis of tokamak PFCs. Surface analysis indicated that the thin (dLi ˜ 100nm) evaporative lithium PFC coatings in LTX were converted to Li2O due to oxidizing agents in both the residual vacuum and the PFC substrate. Conversion was rapid and nearly independent of PFC temperature, forming a majority Li2O surface within minutes and an entirely Li2O surface within hours. However, Li2O PFCs were still capable of retaining hydrogen and sequestering impurities until the Li2 O was further oxidized to LiOH, a process that took weeks. For hydrogen retention, Li2O PFCs retained H+ from LTX plasma discharges, but no LiH formation was observed. Instead, results implied that H+ was only weakly-bound, such that it almost completely outgassed as H 2 within minutes. For impurity sequestration, LTX plasma performance

High-performance scalable Information Service for the ATLAS experiment

CERN Document Server

Kolos, S; The ATLAS collaboration; Hauser, R

2012-01-01

The ATLAS experiment is being operated by highly distributed computing system which is constantly producing a lot of status information which is used to monitor the experiment operational conditions as well as to access the quality of the physics data being taken. For example the ATLAS High Level Trigger(HLT) algorithms are executed on the online computing farm consisting from about 1500 nodes. Each HLT algorithm is producing few thousands histograms, which have to be integrated over the whole farm and carefully analyzed in order to properly tune the event rejection. In order to handle such non-physics data the Information Service (IS) facility has been developed in the scope of the ATLAS TDAQ project. The IS provides high-performance scalable solution for information exchange in distributed environment. In the course of an ATLAS data taking session the IS handles about hundred gigabytes of information which is being constantly updated with the update interval varying from a second to few tens of seconds. IS ...

arXiv Level Zero Trigger Processor for the NA62 experiment

CERN Document Server

INSPIRE-00584493; Chiozzi, Stefano

2018-05-02

The NA62 experiment is designed to measure the ultra-rare decay K+ arrow π+ ν  branching ratio with a precision of ~ 10% at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The trigger system of NA62 consists in three different levels designed to select events of physics interest in a high beam rate environment. The L0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) is the lowest level system of the trigger chain. It is hardware implemented using programmable logic. The architecture of the NA62 L0TP system is a new approach compared to existing systems used in high-energy physics experiments. It is fully digital, based on a standard gigabit Ethernet communication between detectors and the L0TP Board. The L0TP Board is a commercial development board, mounting a programmable logic device (FPGA). The primitives generated by sub-detectors are sent asynchronously using the UDP protocol to the L0TP during the entire beam spill period. The L0TP realigns in time the primitives coming from seven different sources and performs a data selectio...

Simulator experiments: effects of experience of senior reactor operators and of presence of a shift technical advisor on performance in a boiling water reactor control room

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beare, A.N.; Dorris, R.E.; Gray, L.H.

1984-12-01

This report describes the first experiment in a Nuclear Regulatory Commission-sponsored program of training simulator experiments and field data collection to evaluate the effects of selected performance shaping factors on the performance of nuclear power plant control room operators. The factors investigated were the experience level of the Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) and the presence of a Shift Technical Advisor (STA). Data were collected from 16 two-man crews of licensed operators (one SRO and one RO). The crews were split into high and low SRO-experience groups on the basis of the years of experience of the SROs as SROs. One half (4 of the 8 crews in each group) of the high- and low-SRO experience groups were assisted by an STA or an SRO acting as an STA. The crews responded to four simulated plant casualties which ranged in severity from an uncomplicated turbine trip to an anticipated transient without scram (ATWS). No significant differences in overall performance were found between groups led by high (25 to 114 months licensed as an SRO) and low (1 to 17 months as an SRO) experience SROs. However, crews led by low experience SROs tended to have shorter task performance times than crews led by high experience SROs. Although a tendency for the STA-assisted groups to score higher on four of the five measures was observed, the presence of the STA had no statistically significant effect on overall team performance. The correlation between individual performance, as measured by four of the task performance measures, and experience, measured by months as a licensed operator, was not statistically significant, nor was the correlation between task performance and recency of simulator training. 18 references, 5 figures, 13 tables

Development, Implementation, and Assessment of General Chemistry Lab Experiments Performed in the Virtual World of Second Life

Science.gov (United States)

Winkelmann, Kurt; Keeney-Kennicutt, Wendy; Fowler, Debra; Macik, Maria

2017-01-01

Virtual worlds are a potential medium for teaching college-level chemistry laboratory courses. To determine the feasibility of conducting chemistry experiments in such an environment, undergraduate students performed two experiments in the immersive virtual world of Second Life (SL) as part of their regular General Chemistry 2 laboratory course.…

Effect of Different Levels of Extruded Soybean and Avizyme Enzyme on Broiler Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Nasiri Mogadam

2012-01-01

Full Text Available An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of different levels of extruded soybean and enzyme on broiler performance. In a completely randomized design with 2×3 factorial arrangement, 480 one day-old, Ross broiler chickens were divided into 40 groups, 12 chicks per pen. Treatments were consisting of combination of four levels of extruded soybean (0.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 % and two levels of enzyme (0.0 and 500 g per ton. Different levels of extruded soybean and enzyme had no significant effect on blood factors such as cholesterol, triglyceride and the weight of liver and heart. The usage of extruded soybean and enzyme showed significantly higher weight gain and better feed conversion (p

First level trigger of the DIRAC experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afanas'ev, L.G.; Karpukhin, V.V.; Kulikov, A.V.; Gallas, M.

2001-01-01

The logic of the first level trigger of the DIRAC experiment at CERN is described. A parallel running of different trigger modes with tagging of events and optional independent prescaling is realized. A CAMAC-based trigger system is completely computer controlled

Comparison of variability in breast density assessment by BI-RADS category according to the level of experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Eom, Hye-Joung; Cha, Joo Hee; Kang, Ji-Won; Choi, Woo Jung; Kim, Han Jun; Go, EunChae

2018-05-01

Background Only few studies have assessed variability in the results obtained by the readers with different experience levels in comparison with automated volumetric breast density measurements. Purpose To examine the variations in breast density assessment according to BI-RADS categories among readers with different experience levels and to compare it with the results of automated quantitative measurements. Material and Methods Density assignment was done for 1000 screening mammograms by six readers with three different experience levels (breast-imaging experts, general radiologists, and students). Agreement level between the results obtained by the readers and the Volpara automated volumetric breast density measurements was assessed. The agreement analysis using two categories-non-dense and dense breast tissue-was also performed. Results Intra-reader agreement for experts, general radiologists, and students were almost perfect or substantial (k = 0.74-0.95). The agreement between visual assessments of the breast-imaging experts and volumetric assessments by Volpara was substantial (k = 0.77). The agreement was moderate between the experts and general radiologists (k = 0.67) and slight between the students and Volpara (k = 0.01). The agreement for the two category groups (nondense and dense) was almost perfect between the experts and Volpara (k = 0.83). The agreement was substantial between the experts and general radiologists (k = 0.78). Conclusion We observed similar high agreement levels between visual assessments of breast density performed by radiologists and the volumetric assessments. However, agreement levels were substantially lower for the untrained readers.

Customer Experience Management and Business Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønholdt, Lars; Martensen, Anne Duhr; Jørgensen, Stig

2015-01-01

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to examine how essential dimensions of customer experience management (CEM) drive business performance in Danish companies. Design/methodology/approach: – An empirical study is conducted to investigate the relationships between seven CEM dimensions...... customer experience into their products and service enjoy measurable financial success. Research limitations/implications: – This study is limited to the seven identified CEM dimensions in Danish companies. Practical implications: – This study has clear implications in terms of identifying and measuring...

Fuel performance experience at TVO nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patrakka, E.T.

1985-01-01

TVO nuclear power plant consists of two BWR units of ASEA-ATOM design. The fuel performance experience extending through six cycles at TVO I and four cycles at TVO II is reported. The experience obtained so far is mainly based on ASEA-ATOM 8 x 8 fuel and has been satisfactory. Until autumn 1984 one leaking fuel assembly had been identified at TVO I and none at TVO II. Most of the problems encountered have been related to leaf spring screws and channel screws. The experience indicates that satisfactory fuel performance can be achieved when utilizing strict operational rules and proper control of fuel design and manufacture. (author)

Plant operator performance evaluation based on cognitive process analysis experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ujita, H.; Fukuda, M.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on an experiment to clarify plant operators' cognitive processes that has been performed, to improve the man-machine interface which supports their diagnoses and decisions. The cognitive processes under abnormal conditions were evaluated by protocol analyses interviews, etc. in the experiment using a plant training simulator. A cognitive process model is represented by a stochastic network, based on Rasmussen's decision making model. Each node of the network corresponds to an element of the cognitive process, such as observation, interpretation, execution, etc. Some observations were obtained as follows, by comparison of Monte Carlo simulation results with the experiment results: A process to reconfirm the plant parameters after execution of a task and feedback paths from this process to the observation and the task definition of next task were observed. The feedback probability average and standard deviation should be determined for each incident type to explain correctly the individual differences in the cognitive processes. The tendency for the operator's cognitive level to change from skill-based to knowledge-based via rule-based behavior was observed during the feedback process

Impact of Previous Pharmacy Work Experience on Pharmacy School Academic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Mar, Ellena; T-L Tang, Terrill; Sasaki-Hill, Debra; Kuperberg, James R.; Knapp, Katherine

2010-01-01

Objectives To determine whether students' previous pharmacy-related work experience was associated with their pharmacy school performance (academic and clinical). Methods The following measures of student academic performance were examined: pharmacy grade point average (GPA), scores on cumulative high-stakes examinations, and advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) grades. The quantity and type of pharmacy-related work experience each student performed prior to matriculation was solicited through a student survey instrument. Survey responses were correlated with academic measures, and demographic-based stratified analyses were conducted. Results No significant difference in academic or clinical performance between those students with prior pharmacy experience and those without was identified. Subanalyses by work setting, position type, and substantial pharmacy work experience did not reveal any association with student performance. A relationship was found, however, between age and work experience, ie, older students tended to have more work experience than younger students. Conclusions Prior pharmacy work experience did not affect students' overall academic or clinical performance in pharmacy school. The lack of significant findings may have been due to the inherent practice limitations of nonpharmacist positions, changes in pharmacy education, and the limitations of survey responses. PMID:20498735

Impact of previous pharmacy work experience on pharmacy school academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mar, Ellena; Barnett, Mitchell J; T-L Tang, Terrill; Sasaki-Hill, Debra; Kuperberg, James R; Knapp, Katherine

2010-04-12

To determine whether students' previous pharmacy-related work experience was associated with their pharmacy school performance (academic and clinical). The following measures of student academic performance were examined: pharmacy grade point average (GPA), scores on cumulative high-stakes examinations, and advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) grades. The quantity and type of pharmacy-related work experience each student performed prior to matriculation was solicited through a student survey instrument. Survey responses were correlated with academic measures, and demographic-based stratified analyses were conducted. No significant difference in academic or clinical performance between those students with prior pharmacy experience and those without was identified. Subanalyses by work setting, position type, and substantial pharmacy work experience did not reveal any association with student performance. A relationship was found, however, between age and work experience, ie, older students tended to have more work experience than younger students. Prior pharmacy work experience did not affect students' overall academic or clinical performance in pharmacy school. The lack of significant findings may have been due to the inherent practice limitations of nonpharmacist positions, changes in pharmacy education, and the limitations of survey responses.

Admission Math Level and Student Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

la Cour, Lisbeth

2015-01-01

In this paper we analyze the study performance data for three cohorts of students for the course in Economics at the Business Diploma (herafter HD) study program at Copenhagen Business School. Out main findings are 1) that students with the lowest level of math from high school are performing worse...

Experience as a doctor in the developing world: does it benefit the clinical and organisational performance in general practice?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de Wit Niek J

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many physicians have medical experience in developing countries early in their career, but its association with their medical performance later is not known. To explore possible associations we compared primary care physicians (GPs with and without professional experience in a developing country in performance both clinical and organisational. Methods A retrospective survey using two databases to analyse clinical and organisational performance respectively. Analysis was done at the GP level and practice level. 517 GPs received a questionnaire regarding relevant working experience in a developing country. Indicators for clinical performance were: prescription, referral, external diagnostic procedures and minor procedures. We used the district health insurance data base covering 570.000 patients. Explorative secondary analysis of practice visits of 1004 GPs in 566 practices in the Netherlands from 1999 till 2001. We used a validated practice visit method (VIP; 385 indicators in 51 dimensions of practice management to compare having experience in a developing country or not. Results Almost 8% of the GPs had experience in a developing country of at least two years. These GPs referred 9,5% less than their colleagues and did more surgical procedures. However, in the multivariate analysis 'experience in a developing country' was not significantly associated with clinical performance or with other GP- and practice characteristics. 16% of the practices a GP or GPs with at least two years experience in a developing country. They worked more often in group and rural practices with less patients per fte GP and more often part-time. These practices are more hygienic, collaborate more with the hospital and score better on organisation of the practice. These practices score less on service and availability, spend less time on patients in the consultation and the quality of recording in the EMD is lower. Conclusions We found interesting

Customer Experience Management and Business Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønholdt, Lars; Martensen, Anne; Jørgensen, Stig

2014-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how essential dimensions of customer experience management (CEM) drive business performance in Danish companies. Methodology/approach – An empirical study is conducted to investigate the relationships between seven CEM dimensions, differentiation...

Identity-level representations affect unfamiliar face matching performance in sequential but not simultaneous tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Menon, Nadia; White, David; Kemp, Richard I

2015-01-01

According to cognitive and neurological models of the face-processing system, faces are represented at two levels of abstraction. First, image-based pictorial representations code a particular instance of a face and include information that is unrelated to identity-such as lighting, pose, and expression. Second, at a more abstract level, identity-specific representations combine information from various encounters with a single face. Here we tested whether identity-level representations mediate unfamiliar face matching performance. Across three experiments we manipulated identity attributions to pairs of target images and measured the effect on subsequent identification decisions. Participants were instructed that target images were either two photos of the same person (1ID condition) or photos of two different people (2ID condition). This manipulation consistently affected performance in sequential matching: 1ID instructions improved accuracy on "match" trials and caused participants to adopt a more liberal response bias than the 2ID condition. However, this manipulation did not affect performance in simultaneous matching. We conclude that identity-level representations, generated in working memory, influence the amount of variation tolerated between images, when making identity judgements in sequential face matching.

Assessing Pre-Service Teachers' Computer Phobia Levels in Terms of Gender and Experience, Turkish Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Ursavas, Omer Faruk; Karal, Hasan

2009-01-01

In this study it is aimed to determine the level of pre-service teachers' computer phobia. Whether or not computer phobia meaningfully varies statistically according to gender and computer experience has been tested in the study. The study was performed on 430 pre-service teachers at the Education Faculty in Rize/Turkey. Data in the study were…

The impact of furloughs on emotional exhaustion, self-rated performance, and recovery experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Halbesleben, Jonathon R B; Wheeler, Anthony R; Paustian-Underdahl, Samantha C

2013-05-01

The notion that strain can result as employees' resources are threatened or lost is well established. However, the transition from resource threats to resource losses is an important but understudied aspect of employee strain. We argue that the threat-to-loss transition triggers accelerated resource loss and a shift in how employees utilize their remaining resources unless employees engage in recovery experiences during the transition. Using a discontinuous change framework, we examine employee furloughs-the placement of employees on leave with no salary of any kind-in terms of the transition from resource threat to loss: Resources may be threatened when the furlough is announced and lost when the furlough occurs. Using 4 data collections with 180 state government employees, we found mean levels of emotional exhaustion increased and mean levels of self-reported performance decreased following the furlough. The discontinuous changes in exhaustion and performance were significantly impacted by employees' recovery experiences during the furlough. We discuss the implications of these findings for other threat-to-loss and recovery research as well as for organizations implementing furloughs. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-LEVELING BEHAVIOR OF DEBRIS BEDS IN A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SONGBAI CHENG

2013-06-01

Full Text Available During a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (CDA in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR, degraded core materials can form roughly conically-shaped debris beds over the core-support structure and/or in the lower inlet plenum of the reactor vessel from rapid quenching and fragmentation of the core material pool. However, coolant boiling may ultimately lead to leveling of the debris bed, which is crucial to the relocation of the molten core and heat-removal capability of the debris bed. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this self-leveling behavior, a large number of experiments were performed within a variety of conditions in recent years, under the constructive collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA and Kyushu University (Japan. The present contribution synthesizes and gives detailed comparative analyses of those experiments. Effects of various experimental parameters that may have potential influence on the leveling process, such as boiling mode, particle size, particle density, particle shape, bubbling rate, water depth and column geometry, were investigated, thus giving a large palette of favorable data for the better understanding of CDAs, and improved verifications of computer models developed in advanced fast reactor safety analysis codes.

Characteristics of Self-Leveling Behavior of Debris Beds in A Series of Experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng, Songbai; Yamano, Hidemasa; Suzuki, Tohru; Tobita, Yoshiharu [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki (Japan); Yuya, Nakamura; Bin, Zhang; Tatsuya, Matsumoto; Koji, Morita [Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan)

2013-06-15

During a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (CDA) in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), degraded core materials can form roughly conically-shaped debris beds over the core-support structure and/or in the lower inlet plenum of the reactor vessel from rapid quenching and fragmentation of the core material pool. However, coolant boiling may ultimately lead to leveling of the debris bed, which is crucial to the relocation of the molten core and heat-removal capability of the debris bed. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this self-leveling behavior, a large number of experiments were performed within a variety of conditions in recent years, under the constructive collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyushu University (Japan). The present contribution synthesizes and gives detailed comparative analyses of those experiments. Effects of various experimental parameters that may have potential influence on the leveling process, such as boiling mode, particle size, particle density, particle shape, bubbling rate, water depth and column geometry, were investigated, thus giving a large palette of favorable data for the better understanding of CDAs, and improved verifications of computer models developed in advanced fast reactor safety analysis codes.

Characteristics of Self-Leveling Behavior of Debris Beds in A Series of Experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, Songbai; Yamano, Hidemasa; Suzuki, Tohru; Tobita, Yoshiharu; Yuya, Nakamura; Bin, Zhang; Tatsuya, Matsumoto; Koji, Morita

2013-01-01

During a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (CDA) in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), degraded core materials can form roughly conically-shaped debris beds over the core-support structure and/or in the lower inlet plenum of the reactor vessel from rapid quenching and fragmentation of the core material pool. However, coolant boiling may ultimately lead to leveling of the debris bed, which is crucial to the relocation of the molten core and heat-removal capability of the debris bed. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this self-leveling behavior, a large number of experiments were performed within a variety of conditions in recent years, under the constructive collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyushu University (Japan). The present contribution synthesizes and gives detailed comparative analyses of those experiments. Effects of various experimental parameters that may have potential influence on the leveling process, such as boiling mode, particle size, particle density, particle shape, bubbling rate, water depth and column geometry, were investigated, thus giving a large palette of favorable data for the better understanding of CDAs, and improved verifications of computer models developed in advanced fast reactor safety analysis codes

Preliminary performance and ICF target experiments with Nova

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drake, R.P.

1985-11-01

In December 1984, the Nova facility fired all ten laser arms, converted the output 1.05 micron energy to 0.35 micron light, and focused the 0.35 micron light through a 4 mm pinhole in the ten-beam target chamber. Since that time, a two-beam target chamber has been added, the performance of the laser evaluated, and preparation has been made for target experiments. This paper summarizes the performance of Nova and describes progress and plans for target experiments

45 CFR 305.40 - Penalty performance measures and levels.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAM PERFORMANCE MEASURES, STANDARDS, FINANCIAL INCENTIVES, AND PENALTIES § 305.40 Penalty performance measures and levels. (a) There are three performance measures for which States must... 45 Public Welfare 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Penalty performance measures and levels. 305.40...

Variable learning performance: the levels of behaviour organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Csányi, V; Altbäcker, V

1990-01-01

Our experiments were focused on some special aspects of learning in the paradise fish. Passive avoidance conditioning method was used with different success depending on the complexity of the learning tasks. In the case of simple behavioural elements various "constrains" on avoidance learning were found. In a small, covered place the fish were ready to perform freezing reaction and mild punishment increased the frequency and duration of the freezing bouts very substantially. However, it was very difficult to enhance the frequency of freezing by punishment in a tank with transparent walls, where the main response to punishment was escape. The most easily learned tasks were the complex ones which had several different solutions. The fish learned to avoid either side of an aquarium very easily because they could use various behavioural elements to solve the problem. These findings could be interpreted within the framework of different organizational levels of behaviour.

A three-level framework for performance-based railway timetabling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goverde, Rob M P; Bešinović, Nikola; Binder, Anne

2016-01-01

. This paper presents a performance-based railway timetabling framework integrating timetable construction and evaluation on three levels: microscopic, macroscopic, and a corridor fine-tuning level, where each performance indicator is optimized or evaluated at the appropriate level. A modular implementation...

Performance assessment strategy for low-level waste disposal sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Starmer, R.J.; Deering, L.G.; Weber, M.F.

1988-01-01

This paper describes US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff views on predicting the performance of low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities. Under the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, and the Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, as amended, the NRC and Agreement States license land disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) using the requirements in 10 CFR Part 61 or comparable state requirements. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe regulatory requirements for performance assessment in low-level waste licensing, a strategy for performance assessments to support license applications, and NRC staff licensing evaluation of performance assessments. NRC's current activities in developing a performance assessment methodology will provide an overall systems modeling approach for assessing the performance of LLW disposal facilities. NRC staff will use the methodology to evaluate performance assessments conducted by applicants for LLW disposal facilities. The methodology will be made available to states and other interested parties

Performance experience with the CEBAF SRF cavities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reece, C.; Benesch, J.; Drury, M.; Hovater, C.; Mammosser, J.; Preble, J.

1995-01-01

The full complement of 169 pairs of niobium superconducting cavities has been installed in the CEBAF accelerator. This paper surveys the performance characteristics of these cavities in vertical tests, commissioning in the tunnel, and operational experience to date. Although installed performance exceeds specifications, and 3.2 GeV beam has been delivered on target, present systems do not consistently preserve the high performance obtained in vertical dewar tests as operational capability. Principal sources of these limitations are discussed

Changes in driving behavior and cognitive performance with different breath alcohol concentration levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yung-Ching; Fu, Shing-Mei

2007-06-01

This study examines the changes in driving behavior and cognitive performance of drivers with different breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels. Eight licensed drivers, aged between 20 and 30 years, with BrAC levels of 0.00, 0.25, 0.4 and 0.5 mg/l performed simulated driving tests under high- and low-load conditions. Subjects were asked to assess their subjective psychological load at specified intervals and perform various tasks. The outcome was measured in terms of reaction times for task completion, accuracy rates, and driver's driving behavior. The effects of BrAC vary depending on the task. Performance of tasks involving attention shift, information processing, and short-term memory showed significant deterioration with increasing BrAC, while dangerous external vehicle driving behavior occurred only when the BrAC reached 0.4 mg/l and the deterioration was marked. We can conclude that the cognitive faculty is the first to be impaired by drinking resulting in deteriorated performance in tasks related to divided attention, short-term memory, logical reasoning, followed by visual perception. On the other hand, increasing alcohol dose may not pose an immediate impact on the external vehicle driving behavior but may negatively affect the driver's motor behavior even at low BrAC levels. Experience and will power could compensate for the negative influence of alcohol enabling the drivers to remain in full steering control. This lag between alcohol consumption and impaired driving performance may mislead the drivers in thinking that they are still capable of safe steering and cause them to ignore the potential dangers of drunk driving.

The relationship between the level of completeness of strategic performance measurement system and percieved advantages and disadvantages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Waal, A.A.; Kourtit, K.; Nijkamp, P.

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify whether there exists a relationship between the level of completeness of a strategic performance management (SPM) system implementation and the advantages and disadvantages an organization experiences from this system. Design/methodology/approach:

Director Experience and the Performance of IPOs: Evidence from Sweden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anders Isaksson

2014-03-01

Full Text Available private to public. In this paper the experience of directors is examined to determine the extent of the role they play in ensuring a successful listing. Unique data from 122 IPOs on the Swedish Stock Exchange have been examined in a search for the effect of director experience on aftermarket performance. Specific aspects of director experience within a board, such as interlocking directorships and average tenure, are connected to the underpricing of Swedish IPOs. Contrary to expectations, no statistically significant relationship was found between long-run aftermarket performance and director experience at the time of an IPO. This suggests that the previous experience of directors, as measured in earlier studies, is less relevant to long-term aftermarket performance in Sweden compared to other countries studied in the literature review. This emphasises the importance of examining different institutional contexts.

Materials performance experience at spallation neutron sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sommer, W.F. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States)

1995-10-01

There is a growing, but not yet substantial, data base for materials performance at spallation neutron sources. Specially designed experiments using medium energy protons (650 MeV) have been conducted at the Proton Irradiation Experiment (PIREX) facility at the Swiss Nuclear Institute accelerator (SIN). Specially designed experiments using 760-800 MeV copper target have been completed at the Los Alamos Spallation Radiation Effects Facility (LASREF) at Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF). An extensive material testing program was initiated at LASREF in support of the German spallation neutron source (SNQ) project, before it terminated in 1985.

Partitioning of high level liquid waste: experiences in plant level adoption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manohar, Smitha; Kaushik, C.P.

2016-01-01

High Level Radioactive Wastes are presently vitrified in borosilicate matrices in all our back end facilities in our country. This is in accordance with internationally endorsed methodology for the safe management of high level radioactive wastes. Recent advancements in the field of partitioning technology in our group, has presented us with an opportunity to have a fresh perspective on management of high level liquid radioactive wastes streams, that emanate from reprocessing operations. This paper will highlight our experiences with respect to both partitioning studies and vitrification practices, with a focus on waste volume reduction for final disposal. Incorporation of this technique has led to the implementation of the concept of recovering wealth from waste, a marked decrease on the load of disposal in deep geological repositories and serve as a step towards the vision of transmutation of long lived radionuclides

Use of PSA Level 2 analysis for improving containment performance. Report of a technical committee meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-03-01

In order to discuss and exchange experience on different aspects of methods associated with Level 2 PSA and its applications for improving containment performance, the IAEA held a Technical Committee meeting in Vienna in December 1996. The meeting, which was attended by 26 participants from 20 Member States, provided a broad forum for discussion. The meeting addressed the issues related to the actual performance of Level 2 PSA studies as well as the insights gained from applications to improve containment performance. Particular attention was given to studies and applications for WWER type reactors, for which Level 2 work is still in its early stages, and for channel type reactors where modelling of accident progression is complex and significantly different from vessel type light water reactors. This TECDOC contains the papers presented at the meeting and the results of extensive discussions which were held in specific working groups

Level-1 $\\tau$ trigger performance in 2017 data

CERN Document Server

CMS Collaboration

2018-01-01

In 2017, the LHC achieved an instantaneous luminosity of 2.06x10$^{34}$cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$, and a peak average pile-up of more than 50. This document describes the performance of the CMS Level-1 calorimeter trigger for $\\tau$ leptons using 40.9 fb$^{-1}$ of 2017 data. Details of the Level-1 trigger algorithms can be found in CMS-DP-2015-009. The previous Level-1 $\\tau$ performance report can be found in CMS-DP-2017-022.

Performance improvement program: goals and experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guglielmi, F.

2015-01-01

Following long 54 month refurbishment outage at Point Lepreau Generating Station, operational performance had fallen below industry standards in a number of areas. Leadership development and succession planning had stalled. Operational focus was low primarily due to the construction focus during refurbishment. Condition of balance of plant was poor including several long standing deficiencies. In order to improve performance, the site implemented a framework based on INPO 12-011: Focus on Improving Behaviours; Set common goals and demonstrate results; Align and engage the organization; Drive to achieve high levels of performance and sustain performance.

Performance improvement program: goals and experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guglielmi, F. [Point Lepreau Generating Station, Maces Bay, New Brunswick (Canada)

2015-07-01

Following long 54 month refurbishment outage at Point Lepreau Generating Station, operational performance had fallen below industry standards in a number of areas. Leadership development and succession planning had stalled. Operational focus was low primarily due to the construction focus during refurbishment. Condition of balance of plant was poor including several long standing deficiencies. In order to improve performance, the site implemented a framework based on INPO 12-011: Focus on Improving Behaviours; Set common goals and demonstrate results; Align and engage the organization; Drive to achieve high levels of performance and sustain performance.

Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Corsin A.; Riemer, Stefanie; Virányi, Zsófia; Huber, Ludwig; Range, Friederike

2016-01-01

Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris) of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject’s level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance. PMID:26863141

Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corsin A Müller

Full Text Available Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject's level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance.

Inhibitory Control, but Not Prolonged Object-Related Experience Appears to Affect Physical Problem-Solving Performance of Pet Dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Corsin A; Riemer, Stefanie; Virányi, Zsófia; Huber, Ludwig; Range, Friederike

2016-01-01

Human infants develop an understanding of their physical environment through playful interactions with objects. Similar processes may influence also the performance of non-human animals in physical problem-solving tasks, but to date there is little empirical data to evaluate this hypothesis. In addition or alternatively to prior experiences, inhibitory control has been suggested as a factor underlying the considerable individual differences in performance reported for many species. Here we report a study in which we manipulated the extent of object-related experience for a cohort of dogs (Canis familiaris) of the breed Border Collie over a period of 18 months, and assessed their level of inhibitory control, prior to testing them in a series of four physical problem-solving tasks. We found no evidence that differences in object-related experience explain variability in performance in these tasks. It thus appears that dogs do not transfer knowledge about physical rules from one physical problem-solving task to another, but rather approach each task as a novel problem. Our results, however, suggest that individual performance in these tasks is influenced in a complex way by the subject's level of inhibitory control. Depending on the task, inhibitory control had a positive or a negative effect on performance and different aspects of inhibitory control turned out to be the best predictors of individual performance in the different tasks. Therefore, studying the interplay between inhibitory control and problem-solving performance will make an important contribution to our understanding of individual and species differences in physical problem-solving performance.

Initial performance of the COSINE-100 experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adhikari, G.; Adhikari, P. [Sejong University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Souza, E.B. de; Jo, J.H.; Lim, K.E.; Maruyama, R.H.; Pierpoint, Z.P.; Thompson, W.G. [Yale University, Department of Physics, New Haven, CT (United States); Carlin, N. [University of Sao Paulo, Physics Institute, Sao Paulo (Brazil); Choi, S.; Joo, H.W.; Kim, S.K. [Seoul National University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Choi, W.Q. [Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (KIT), Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Djamal, M.; Prihtiadi, H. [Bandung Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Bandung (Indonesia); Ezeribe, A.C.; Kudryavtsev, V.A.; Lynch, W.A.; Mouton, F.; Spooner, N.J.C. [University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Ha, C.; Jeon, E.J.; Kang, W.G.; Kim, B.H.; Kim, H.; Kim, K.W.; Kim, N.Y.; Lee, H.S.; Lee, J.; Lee, M.H.; Leonard, D.S.; Olsen, S.L.; Park, H.K.; Park, K.S.; Ra, S.; Yong, S.H. [Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Center for Underground Physics, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Hahn, I.S. [Ewha Womans University, Department of Science Education, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Hubbard, A.J.F. [Yale University, Department of Physics, New Haven, CT (United States); Northwestern University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Evanston, IL (United States); Kang, W.; Rott, C. [Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kauer, M. [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, Madison, WI (United States); Kim, H.J.; Lee, J.Y. [Kyungpook National University, Department of Physics, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Kim, M.C. [Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chiba University, Department of Physics, Chiba (Japan); Kim, Y.D. [Sejong University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Center for Underground Physics, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Y.H. [Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Center for Underground Physics, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, H.S. [Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, J.S. [Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Center for Underground Physics, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Ibaraki (Japan); Pettus, W. [Yale University, Department of Physics, New Haven, CT (United States); University of Washington, Department of Physics, Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, Seattle, WA (United States); Rogers, F.R. [Yale University, Department of Physics, New Haven, CT (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Scarff, A. [University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield (United Kingdom); University of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vancouver, BC (Canada); Yang, L. [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics, Urbana, IL (United States)

2018-02-15

COSINE is a dark matter search experiment based on an array of low background NaI(Tl) crystals located at the Yangyang underground laboratory. The assembly of COSINE-100 was completed in the summer of 2016 and the detector is currently collecting physics quality data aimed at reproducing the DAMA/LIBRA experiment that reported an annual modulation signal. Stable operation has been achieved and will continue for at least 2 years. Here, we describe the design of COSINE-100, including the shielding arrangement, the configuration of the NaI(Tl) crystal detection elements, the veto systems, and the associated operational systems, and we show the current performance of the experiment. (orig.)

Performance of high level waste forms and engineered barriers under repository conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-02-01

The IAEA initiated in 1977 a co-ordinated research programme on the ''Evaluation of Solidified High-Level Waste Forms'' which was terminated in 1983. As there was a continuing need for international collaboration in research on solidified high-level waste form and spent fuel, the IAEA initiated a new programme in 1984. The new programme, besides including spent fuel and SYNROC, also placed greater emphasis on the effect of the engineered barriers of future repositories on the properties of the waste form. These engineered barriers included containers, overpacks, buffer and backfill materials etc. as components of the ''near-field'' of the repository. The Co-ordinated Research Programme on the Performance of High-Level Waste Forms and Engineered Barriers Under Repository Conditions had the objectives of promoting the exchange of information on the experience gained by different Member States in experimental performance data and technical model evaluation of solidified high level waste forms, components of the waste package and the complete waste management system under conditions relevant to final repository disposal. The programme includes studies on both irradiated spent fuel and glass and ceramic forms as the final solidified waste forms. The following topics were discussed: Leaching of vitrified high-level wastes, modelling of glass behaviour in clay, salt and granite repositories, environmental impacts of radionuclide release, synroc use for high--level waste solidification, leachate-rock interactions, spent fuel disposal in deep geologic repositories and radionuclide release mechanisms from various fuel types, radiolysis and selective leaching correlated with matrix alteration. Refs, figs and tabs

Track Finding for the Level-1 Trigger of the CMS Experiment

CERN Document Server

James, Thomas Owen

2017-01-01

A new tracking system is under development for the CMS experiment at the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), located at CERN. It includes a silicon tracker that will correlate clusters in two closely spaced sensor layers, for the rejection of hits from low transverse momentum tracks. This will allow tracker data to be read out to the Level-1 trigger at 40\\,MHz. The Level-1 track-finder must be able to identify tracks with transverse momentum above 2--3\\,$\\mathrm{GeV}/c$ within latency constraints. A concept for an FPGA-based track finder using a fully time-multiplexed architecture is presented, where track candidates are identified using a Hough Transform, and then refined with a Kalman Filter. Both steps are fully implemented in FPGA firmware. A hardware system built from MP7 MicroTCA processing cards has been assembled, which demonstrates a realistic slice of the track finder in order to help gauge the performance and requirements for a final system.

A longitudinal cross-level model of leader and salesperson influences on sales force technology use and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathieu, John; Ahearne, Michael; Taylor, Scott R

2007-03-01

The authors examined the influence of the introduction of a new suite of technology tools on the performance of 592 salespersons. They hypothesized that the salespersons' work experience would have a negative effect on their technology self-efficacy, which in turn would relate positively to their use of technology. Sales performance was hypothesized to be positively related to both past performance and the use of new technology tools. Further, the authors hypothesized that leaders' commitment to sales technology would enhance salespersons' technology self-efficacy and usage, and leaders' empowering behaviors would influence salespersons' technology self-efficacy and moderate the individual-level relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses confirmed all of the hypothesized individual-level relationships and most of the cross-level relationships stemming from average leader behaviors. In particular, empowering leadership exhibited multiple cross-level interactions, as anticipated. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of social-psychological factors related to the success of sales force technology interventions. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

The importance of team level tacit knowledge and related characteristics of high-performing health care teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Leonard H; Bernell, Stephanie L

2006-01-01

Team level tacit knowledge is related to the collective knowledge of the team members. It is the shared experience that results in the ability to successfully anticipate the reactions of teammates in typical and nontypical situations. This study evaluates how tacit knowledge and related team characteristics influence the performance of cardiothoracic surgery teams.

Daily micro-breaks and job performance: General work engagement as a cross-level moderator.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sooyeol; Park, YoungAh; Headrick, Lucille

2018-03-29

Despite the growing research on work recovery and its well-being outcomes, surprisingly little attention has been paid to at-work recovery and its job performance outcomes. The current study extends the work recovery literature by examining day-level relationships between prototypical microbreaks and job performance as mediated by state positive affect. Furthermore, general work engagement is tested as a cross-level moderator weakening the indirect effects of microbreaks on job performance via positive affect. Using multisource experience sampling method, the authors collected two daily surveys from 71 call center employees and obtained objective records of daily sales performance for two consecutive weeks (n = 632). Multilevel path analysis results showed that relaxation, socialization, and cognitive microbreaks were related to increased positive affect at work which, in turn, predicted greater sales performance. However, breaks for nutrition-intake (having snacks and drinks) did not show significant effects. Importantly, microbreaks had significant indirect effects on job performance via positive affect only for workers who had lower general work engagement, whereas the indirect effects did not exist for workers who had higher general work engagement. Furthermore, Bayesian multilevel analyses confirmed the results. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Fuel performance experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sofer, G.A.

1986-01-01

The history of LWR fuel supply has been characterized by a wide range of design developments and fuel cycle cost improvements. Exxon Nuclear Company, Inc. has pursued an aggressive fuel research and development program aimed at improved fuel performance. Exxon Nuclear has introduced many design innovations which have improved fuel cycle economics and operating flexibility while fuel failures remain at very low levels. The removable upper tie plate feature of Exxon Nuclear assemblies has helped accelerate this development, enabling repeated inspections during successive plant outages. Also, this design feature has made it possible to repair damaged fuel assemblies during refueling outages, thereby minimizing the economic impact of fuel failure from all causes

Flux-Level Transit Injection Experiments with NASA Pleiades Supercomputer

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jie; Burke, Christopher J.; Catanzarite, Joseph; Seader, Shawn; Haas, Michael R.; Batalha, Natalie; Henze, Christopher; Christiansen, Jessie; Kepler Project, NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division

2016-06-01

Flux-Level Transit Injection (FLTI) experiments are executed with NASA's Pleiades supercomputer for the Kepler Mission. The latest release (9.3, January 2016) of the Kepler Science Operations Center Pipeline is used in the FLTI experiments. Their purpose is to validate the Analytic Completeness Model (ACM), which can be computed for all Kepler target stars, thereby enabling exoplanet occurrence rate studies. Pleiades, a facility of NASA's Advanced Supercomputing Division, is one of the world's most powerful supercomputers and represents NASA's state-of-the-art technology. We discuss the details of implementing the FLTI experiments on the Pleiades supercomputer. For example, taking into account that ~16 injections are generated by one core of the Pleiades processors in an hour, the “shallow” FLTI experiment, in which ~2000 injections are required per target star, can be done for 16% of all Kepler target stars in about 200 hours. Stripping down the transit search to bare bones, i.e. only searching adjacent high/low periods at high/low pulse durations, makes the computationally intensive FLTI experiments affordable. The design of the FLTI experiments and the analysis of the resulting data are presented in “Validating an Analytic Completeness Model for Kepler Target Stars Based on Flux-level Transit Injection Experiments” by Catanzarite et al. (#2494058).Kepler was selected as the 10th mission of the Discovery Program. Funding for the Kepler Mission has been provided by the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

Comparison of energy performance requirements levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spiekman, Marleen; Thomsen, Kirsten Engelund; Rose, Jørgen

This summary report provides a synthesis of the work within the EU SAVE project ASIEPI on developing a method to compare the energy performance (EP) requirement levels among the countries of Europe. Comparing EP requirement levels constitutes a major challenge. From the comparison of for instance...... the present Dutch requirement level (EPC) of 0,8 with the present Flemish level of E80, it can easily be seen that direct comparison is not possible. The conclusions and recommendations of the study are presented in part A. These constitute the most important result of the project. Part B gives an overview...... of all other project material related to that topic, which allows to easily identify the most pertinent information. Part C lists the project partners and sponsors....

Effects of dietary clinoptilolite and calcium levels on the performance and egg quality of commercial layers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DA Berto

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Among the different feed additives studied in poultry production, clinoptilolite, an aluminosilicate capable of adsorbing harmful substances and of improving live performance and egg and meat quality, was evaluated. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of dietary clinoptilolite and calcium levels on the performance and egg quality of layers. In total, 576 layers were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design in a 3 x 4 factorial arrangement (three calcium levels - 2.5, 3.1, or 3.7% and four clinoptilolite levels - 0.0, 0.15, 0.25, or 0.50%, with 12 treatments of six replicates of eight birds each. The experiment included four 28-d cycles. The experimental diets were based on corn and soybean meal. Results were submitted to analysis of variance and means were compared by the test of Tukey at 5% significance level using SISVAR statistical package. There was a significant interaction between the evaluated factors for egg production and feed conversion ratio per dozen eggs and egg mass. The lowest calcium level resulted in worse performance and eggshell quality. Clinoptilolite levels affected albumen and yolk content. It was concluded that up to 0.50% inclusion of clinoptilolite in layer diets does not benefit layer performance or eggshell quality. Although the inclusion of only 2.5% calcium in layer diets is not recommended, it is possible to add 3.1% because it promoted similar results as the recommended level of 3.7%.

Treatment of uncertainty in low-level waste performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozak, M.W.; Olague, N.E.; Gallegos, D.P.; Rao, R.R.

1991-01-01

Uncertainties arise from a number of different sources in low-level waste performance assessment. In this paper the types of uncertainty are reviewed, and existing methods for quantifying and reducing each type of uncertainty are discussed. These approaches are examined in the context of the current low-level radioactive waste regulatory performance objectives, which are deterministic. The types of uncertainty discussed in this paper are model uncertainty, uncertainty about future conditions, and parameter uncertainty. The advantages and disadvantages of available methods for addressing uncertainty in low-level waste performance assessment are presented. 25 refs

Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment

OpenAIRE

Bradler, Christiane; Dur, Robert; Neckermann, Susanne; Non, Arjan

2014-01-01

This discussion paper led to a publication in 'Management Science' . This paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of unannounced, public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly received recognition after two hours of work. We find that recognition increases subsequent performance substantially, and particu...

The ATLAS muon trigger: Experience and performance in the first 3 years of LHC pp runs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ventura, Andrea

2013-01-01

The ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) deploys a three-level processing scheme for the trigger system. The Level-1 muon trigger system gets its input from fast muon trigger detectors. Sector logic boards select muon candidates, which are passed via an interface board to the central trigger processor and then to the High Level Trigger (HLT). The muon HLT is purely software based and encompasses a Level-2 trigger followed by an event filter for a staged trigger approach. It has access to the data of the precision muon detectors and other detector elements to refine the muon hypothesis. The ATLAS experiment has taken data with high efficiency continuously over entire running periods from 2010 to 2012, for which sophisticated triggers to guard the highest physics output while reducing effectively the event rate were mandatory. The ATLAS muon trigger has successfully adapted to this challenging environment. The selection strategy has been optimized for the various physics analyses involving muons in the final state. This work briefly summarizes these three years of experience in the ATLAS muon trigger and reports about efficiency, resolution, and general performance of the muon trigger

The Relationship between the Level of Completeness of a Strategic Performance Management System and Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Waal, A.A.; Kourtit, K.; Nijkamp, P.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify whether there exists a relationship between the level of completeness of a strategic performance management (SPM) system implementation and the advantages and disadvantages an organization experiences from this system. Design/methodology/approach:

Performance of juvenile mojarra supplied with feed containing varying levels of crude protein

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Henrique Bastos de Souza

2016-04-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The growth of the Brazilian aquaculture has stimulated the development of the productive chain of native species, including marine environment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth performance of juvenile mojarra fish (Diapterus rhombeus fed diets containing different concentrations of crude protein (32, 36, 40 and 44 g 100 g-1. The 80 juvenile mojarra (7.2±1.5 g were kept in 16 circular tanks (150 L. The study design used was completely randomized with four treatments and four repetitions. The fish were fed four times a day. At the end of the experiment (60 days the final weight, feed intake, weight gain (WG, feed:gain ratio (FGR, protein efficiency rate (PER, energy efficiency rate, specific growth, survival rate and, body composition were evaluated. It was verified significant effect of protein level on the WG, with the best value at the level of 38.20 g 100 g-1 of crude protein. For FGR, the best estimated value occurred with 38.06 g 100 g-1 of crude protein, similar to that reported for the PER (38.91 g 100 g-1. The other performance parameters and body composition were not influenced by crude protein levels. Diet crude protein concentrations between 38.06 and 38.91 g 100 g-1 provide the best performance indices for juvenile mojarra.

Nuisance levels of noise effects radiologists' performance

Science.gov (United States)

McEntee, Mark F.; Coffey, Amina; Ryan, John; O'Beirne, Aaron; Toomey, Rachel; Evanoff, Micheal; Manning, David; Brennan, Patrick C.

2010-02-01

This study aimed to measure the sound levels in Irish x-ray departments. The study then established whether these levels of noise have an impact on radiologists performance Noise levels were recorded 10 times within each of 14 environments in 4 hospitals, 11 of which were locations where radiologic images are judged. Thirty chest images were then presented to 26 senior radiologists, who were asked to detect up to three nodular lesions within 30 posteroanterior chest x-ray images in the absence and presence of noise at amplitude demonstrated in the clinical environment. The results demonstrated that noise amplitudes rarely exceeded that encountered with normal conversation with the maximum mean value for an image-viewing environment being 56.1 dB. This level of noise had no impact on the ability of radiologists to identify chest lesions with figure of merits of 0.68, 0.69, and 0.68 with noise and 0.65, 0.68, and 0.67 without noise for chest radiologists, non-chest radiologists, and all radiologists, respectively. the difference in their performance using the DBM MRMC method was significantly better with noise than in the absence of noise at the 90% confidence interval (p=0.077). Further studies are required to establish whether other aspects of diagnosis are impaired such as recall and attention and the effects of more unexpected noise on performance.

A Study on Relationships between Functional Performance and Task Performance Measure through Experiments in NPP MCR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, In Seok; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2011-01-01

Further improvements in levels of organization, management, man-machine interfaces, education, training, etc. are required, if high operating reliability of operators in huge and complex plants such as chemical plants and electrical power generating plants is to be maintained. Improvement requires good understanding of operators' behavior, including defining what is good performance for operators, especially in emergency situations. Human performance measures, therefore, are important to enhance performance and to reduce the probability of incidents and accidents in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Operators' performance measures are used for multi-objectives such as control room design, human system interface evaluation, training, procedure and so on. There are two kinds of representative methods to measure operators' performance. These methods are now known as the functional performance measure and task performance measure. Functional performance measures are basically based on the plant process parameters. Functional performance measures indicate how well the operators controlled selected critical parameters. The parameters selected in this paper are derived from the four Critical Safety Functions (CSFs) identified in the emergency operating procedures such as achievement of subcriticality, maintenance of core cooling, maintenance of heat sink and maintenance of containment integrity. Task performance measures are based on the task analysis. Task analysis is to determine the tasks required and how operators are performed. In this paper, task analysis is done with ideal path for an accident completed by experts and Emergency Operation Procedure (EOP). However, most literatures related to operators' performance have been using one of these measures and there is no research to find out the relationships between two measures. In this paper, the relationships between functional performance measure and task performance measure are investigated using experiments. Shortly

Senior Dance Experience, Cognitive Performance, and Brain Volume in Older Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Niemann

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Physical activity is positively related to cognitive functioning and brain volume in older adults. Interestingly, different types of physical activity vary in their effects on cognition and on the brain. For example, dancing has become an interesting topic in aging research, as it is a popular leisure activity among older adults, involving cardiovascular and motor fitness dimensions that can be positively related to cognition. However, studies on brain structure are missing. In this study, we tested the association of long-term senior dance experience with cognitive performance and gray matter brain volume in older women aged 65 to 82 years. We compared nonprofessional senior dancers (n=28 with nonsedentary control group participants without any dancing experience (n=29, who were similar in age, education, IQ score, lifestyle and health factors, and fitness level. Differences neither in the four tested cognitive domains (executive control, perceptual speed, episodic memory, and long-term memory nor in brain volume (VBM whole-brain analysis, region-of-interest analysis of the hippocampus were observed. Results indicate that moderate dancing activity (1-2 times per week, on average has no additional effects on gray matter volume and cognitive functioning when a certain lifestyle or physical activity and fitness level are reached.

High-Fidelity Simulation in Occupational Therapy Curriculum: Impact on Level II Fieldwork Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Ozelie

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Simulation experiences provide experiential learning opportunities during artificially produced real-life medical situations in a safe environment. Evidence supports using simulation in health care education yet limited quantitative evidence exists in occupational therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in scores on the AOTA Fieldwork Performance Evaluation for the Occupational Therapy Student of Level II occupational therapy students who received high-fidelity simulation training and students who did not. A retrospective analysis of 180 students from a private university was used. Independent samples nonparametric t tests examined mean differences between Fieldwork Performance Evaluation scores of those who did and did not receive simulation experiences in the curriculum. Mean ranks were also analyzed for subsection scores and practice settings. Results of this study found no significant difference in overall Fieldwork Performance Evaluation scores between the two groups. The students who completed simulation and had fieldwork in inpatient rehabilitation had the greatest increase in mean rank scores and increases in several subsections. The outcome measure used in this study was found to have limited discriminatory capability and may have affected the results; however, this study finds that using simulation may be a beneficial supplement to didactic coursework in occupational therapy curriculums.

Operating experience and performance at Narora Atomic Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mittal, Subhash; Gupta, J.P.

1998-01-01

Narora Atomic Power Station consists of two units of 220 MWe capacity each. These are Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, fuelled by natural uranium, moderated and cooled by heavy water. The Station is owned by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., which is responsible for design, construction, commissioning, and operation of all nuclear power stations in the country. NAPS was the first opportunity to apply operating experiences in design, keeping in view the evolving safety and seismicity requirements, ease of maintenance, inservice inspection needs, improved construction ability and standardization. Both the units of NAPS are having improved safety standards of current international levels. All the equipment are indigenous with improved quality and reliability. The first unit of the station went critical in March 1989 and synchronized to the grid in July 1989. The second units followed with its criticality in October 1991 and synchronization in January 1992. Considering the initial stabilizing period, the performance of both units of NAPS has progressively improved over the years. The annual capacity factor for NAPS - 1 was 90.01% and for NAPS - 2 was 89.01% for the financial year 1997-1998. This paper presents an analysis of the performance during the last three years and measures taken to improve it. The stated enhanced performance could be achieved by improvement in human performance by training/re-training, scrupulous monitoring and review of equipment/systems, institution of adequate procedure and ensuring their adherence. (authors)

Interrater reliability of quantitative ultrasound using force feedback among examiners with varied levels of experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael O. Harris-Love

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Background. Quantitative ultrasound measures are influenced by multiple external factors including examiner scanning force. Force feedback may foster the acquisition of reliable morphometry measures under a variety of scanning conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of force-feedback image acquisition and morphometry over a range of examiner-generated forces using a muscle tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom. Methods. Sixty material thickness measures were acquired from a muscle tissue mimicking phantom using B-mode ultrasound scanning by six examiners with varied experience levels (i.e., experienced, intermediate, and novice. Estimates of interrater reliability and measurement error with force feedback scanning were determined for the examiners. In addition, criterion-based reliability was determined using material deformation values across a range of examiner scanning forces (1–10 Newtons via automated and manually acquired image capture methods using force feedback. Results. All examiners demonstrated acceptable interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC = .98, p .90, p < .001, independent of their level of experience. The measurement error among all examiners was 1.5%–2.9% across all applied stress conditions. Conclusion. Manual image capture with force feedback may aid the reliability of morphometry measures across a range of examiner scanning forces, and allow for consistent performance among examiners with differing levels of experience.

Low-level waste disposal performance assessments - Total source-term analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilhite, E.L.

1995-12-31

Disposal of low-level radioactive waste at Department of Energy (DOE) facilities is regulated by DOE. DOE Order 5820.2A establishes policies, guidelines, and minimum requirements for managing radioactive waste. Requirements for disposal of low-level waste emplaced after September 1988 include providing reasonable assurance of meeting stated performance objectives by completing a radiological performance assessment. Recently, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board issued Recommendation 94-2, {open_quotes}Conformance with Safety Standards at Department of Energy Low-Level Nuclear Waste and Disposal Sites.{close_quotes} One of the elements of the recommendation is that low-level waste performance assessments do not include the entire source term because low-level waste emplaced prior to September 1988, as well as other DOE sources of radioactivity in the ground, are excluded. DOE has developed and issued guidance for preliminary assessments of the impact of including the total source term in performance assessments. This paper will present issues resulting from the inclusion of all DOE sources of radioactivity in performance assessments of low-level waste disposal facilities.

Towards a research informed teaching experience within a diagnostic radiography curriculum: The level 4 (year 1) student holistic experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higgins, Robert; Hogg, Peter; Robinson, Leslie

2013-01-01

Aim: This article discusses the level 4 (year 1) diagnostic radiography student holistic experience of the Research-informed Teaching experience (RiTe) at the University of Salford, UK. The purpose of RiTe is to expose undergraduate radiography students to more formal research, as part of their normal teaching and learning experience. Method: A grounded theory approach was adopted and a focus group with eight level 4 students was used to explore and evaluate the student experience and perception of RiTe. Results: Open coding defined categories and sub-categories, with axial and selective coding used to interrogate and explore the relationships between the focus group data. A number of insights were gained into the student holistic experience of RiTe. The issue of leadership for level 4 students was also identified. Discussion: The focus group participants found RiTe to be an extremely positive learning experience. RiTe also facilitated their translation of learnt theory into clinical skills knowledge alongside their understanding of and desire to participate in more research as undergraduates. The article also highlights areas for future research.

High performance distributed objects in large hadron collider experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gutleber, J.

1999-11-01

This dissertation demonstrates how object-oriented technology can support the development of software that has to meet the requirements of high performance distributed data acquisition systems. The environment for this work is a system under planning for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at CERN that shall start its operation in the year 2005. The long operational phase of the experiment together with a tight and puzzling interaction with custom devices make the quest for an evolvable architecture that exhibits a high level of abstraction the driving issue. The question arises if an existing approach already fits our needs. The presented work casts light on these problems and as a result comprises the following novel contributions: - Application of object technology at hardware/software boundary. Software components at this level must be characterised by high efficiency and extensibility at the same time. - Identification of limitations when deploying commercial-off-the-shelf middleware for distributed object-oriented computing. - Capturing of software component properties in an efficiency model for ease of comparison and improvement. - Proof of feasibility that the encountered deficiencies in middleware can be avoided and that with the use of software components the imposed requirements can be met. - Design and implementation of an on-line software control system that allows to take into account the ever evolving requirements by avoiding hardwired policies. We conclude that state-of-the-art middleware cannot meet the required efficiency of the planned data acquisition system. Although new tool generations already provide a certain degree of configurability, the obligation to follow standards specifications does not allow the necessary optimisations. We identified the major limiting factors and argue that a custom solution following a component model with narrow interfaces can satisfy our requirements. This approach has been adopted for the current design

On the performance of 1-level LDPC lattices

OpenAIRE

Sadeghi, Mohammad-Reza; Sakzad, Amin

2013-01-01

The low-density parity-check (LDPC) lattices perform very well in high dimensions under generalized min-sum iterative decoding algorithm. In this work we focus on 1-level LDPC lattices. We show that these lattices are the same as lattices constructed based on Construction A and low-density lattice-code (LDLC) lattices. In spite of having slightly lower coding gain, 1-level regular LDPC lattices have remarkable performances. The lower complexity nature of the decoding algorithm for these type ...

Franck--Hertz experiment with higher excitation level measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, F.H.

1987-01-01

The measurement of the higher levels of 6 3 P 2 and 6 1 P 1 of the mercury atom in the Franck--Hertz experiment has been introduced into the junior and senior laboratory course by using a homemade tetrode Franck--Hertz tube. The main structure of the tube is described. The optimum operating conditions are in the temperature range between 130 and 150 0 C and the collector currents are of the order of 10 -9 A. The additional observations of the famous Franck--Hertz experiment in the laboratory course will give the students more familiarity with the quantum behavior of atoms

The effect of expert performance microtiming on listeners’ experience of groove in swing or funk music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Senn

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This study tested the influence of expert performance microtiming on listeners' groove experience. Two professional rhythm section (bass/drums performances in swing and funk style were recorded, and the performances' original microtemporal deviations from a regular metronomic grid were scaled to several magnitude levels. Music expert (n=79 and non-expert (n=81 listeners rated the groove qualities of stimuli using a newly developed questionnaire that measures three dimensions of the groove experience (Entrainment, Enjoyment, and the absence of Irritation. Findings show that music expert listeners were more sensitive to microtiming manipulations than non-experts. Across both expertise groups and for both styles, groove ratings were high for microtiming magnitudes equal or smaller than those originally performed and decreased for exaggerated microtiming magnitudes. In particular, both the fully quantized music and the music with the originally performed microtiming pattern were rated equally high on groove. This means that neither the claims of PD theory (that microtiming deviations are necessary for groove nor the opposing exactitude hypothesis (that microtiming deviations are detrimental to groove were supported by the data.

Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C. Bradler (Christiane); A.J. Dur (Robert); S. Neckermann (Susanne); J.A. Non (Arjan)

2013-01-01

textabstractThis paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly

Employee recognition and performance: A field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bradler, C.; Dur, R.; Neckermann, S.; Non, J.A.

2013-01-01

This paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly received

Implementing performance appraisal : Exploring the employee experience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farndale, E.; Kelliher, C.

2013-01-01

Line managers play an important role as implementers of performance appraisal, enacting procedures designed by the HR function. However, the actual employee experience of these procedures (which may differ from how they were intended or enacted) in terms of perceptions of justice in the process is

Successful Skill Transfer: Military Service Experience and Company Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammed Kürşad Özlen

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In today’s business life, employees from different sectors have the opportunity to work in other industries and can have different positions through the organization. This can be considered from the perspective of skill transfer (transfer of tacit knowledge. The success can be questioned in terms of company performance. If this process can be managed well performance will be higher. This research mainly aims to identify whether veterans with military service experience can contribute to employee motivation, organizational motivation and organizational benefits. In order to test the assumed associations, the research employs a survey study on the veterans who have served for Bosnian army and are currently employees of Bosnian firms. The results provide that military service experience is significantly influential on the motivations of employees and organizations and on company performance. It can be suggested that the adaptation of external knowledge (skill transfer, military service experience, into new organizational environment can be enhanced by the help of knowledge management. This research is valuable in that it is among the few studies in its respective field and in the region.

Towards a Level-1 Tracking Trigger for the ATLAS Experiment

CERN Document Server

De Santo, A; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

In preparation for the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider, ATLAS is planning a trigger upgrade that will enable the experiment to use tracking information already at the first trigger level. This will provide enhanced background rejection power at trigger level while preserving much needed flexibility for the trigger system. The status and current plans for the new ATLAS Level-1 tracking trigger are presented.

Postural performance and strategy in the unipedal stance of soccer players at different levels of competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Paillard, Thierry; Noé, Frédéric; Rivière, Terence; Marion, Vincent; Montoya, Richard; Dupui, Philippe

2006-01-01

Sport training enhances the ability to use somatosensory and otolithic information, which improves postural capabilities. Postural changes are different according to the sport practiced, but few authors have analyzed subjects' postural performances to discriminate the expertise level among highly skilled athletes within a specific discipline. To compare the postural performance and the postural strategy between soccer players at different levels of competition (national and regional). Repeated measures with 1 between-groups factor (level of competition: national or regional) and 1 within-groups factor (vision: eyes open or eyes closed). Dependent variables were center-of-pressure surface area and velocity; total spectral energy; and percentage of low-, medium-, and high-frequency band. Sports performance laboratory. Fifteen national male soccer players (age = 24 +/- 3 years, height = 179 +/- 5 cm, mass = 72 +/- 3 kg) and 15 regional male soccer players (age = 23 +/- 3 years, height = 174 +/- 4 cm, mass = 68 +/- 5 kg) participated in the study. The subjects performed posturographic tests with eyes open and closed. While subjects performed static and dynamic posturographic tests, we measured the center of foot pressure on a force platform. Spatiotemporal center-of-pressure measurements were used to evaluate the postural performance, and a frequency analysis of the center-of-pressure excursions (fast Fourier transform) was conducted to estimate the postural strategy. Within a laboratory task, national soccer players produced better postural performances than regional players and had a different postural strategy. The national players were more stable than the regional players and used proprioception and vision information differently. In the test conditions specific to playing soccer, level of playing experience influenced postural control performance measures and strategies.

A Comparison of the Developmental Experiences of Elite and Sub-Elite Swimmers: Similar Developmental Histories Can Lead to Differences in Performance Level

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Michael B.; Tenenbaum, Gershon; Edmonds, William A.; Castillo, Yvonne

2008-01-01

The current study fills a void in the literature that investigates the factors required for elite athlete development. Previous studies have (a) illustrated psychological and physiological differences between elites and non-elites; "or" (b) described the psychological and physiological developmental experiences of elite performers. The…

Relative Performance Information, Rank Ordering and Employee Performance: A Research Note

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kramer, S.; Maas, V.S.; van Rinsum, M.

2016-01-01

We conduct a laboratory experiment to examine whether the provision of detailed relative performance information (i.e., information about the specific performance levels of peers) affects employee performance. We also investigate how – if at all – explicit ranking of performance levels affects how

Operational Experience and Performance with the ATLAS Pixel detector

CERN Document Server

Martin, Christopher Blake; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The tracking performance of the ATLAS detector relies critically on its 4-layer Pixel Detector, that has undergone significant hardware and software upgrades to meet the challenges imposed by the higher collision energy, pileup and luminosity that are being delivered by the Large Hadron Collider, with record breaking instantaneous luminosities of $1.3\\times10^{34}\\text{cm}^{{-2}}\\text{s}^{{-1}}$ recently surpassed. The key status and performance metrics of the ATLAS Pixel Detector are summarized, and the operational experience and requirements to ensure optimum data quality and data taking efficiency are described, with special emphasis to radiation damage experience.

Operational Experience and Performance with the ATLAS Pixel detector

CERN Document Server

Martin, Christopher Blake; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The tracking performance of the ATLAS detector relies critically on its 4-layer Pixel Detector, that has undergone significant hardware and software upgrades to meet the challenges imposed by the higher collision energy, pileup and luminosity that are being delivered by the Large Hadron Collider, with record breaking instantaneous luminosities of 1.3 x 10^34 cm-2 s-1 recently surpassed. The key status and performance metrics of the ATLAS Pixel Detector are summarised, and the operational experience and requirements to ensure optimum data quality and data taking efficiency are described, with special emphasis to radiation damage experience.

The Danish Fracture Database can monitor quality of fracture-related surgery, surgeons' experience level and extent of supervision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, M. J.; Gromov, K.; Brix, M.

2014-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The importance of supervision and of surgeons' level of experience in relation to patient outcome have been demonstrated in both hip fracture and arthroplasty surgery. The aim of this study was to describe the surgeons' experience level and the extent of supervision for: 1) fracture-related...... surgery in general; 2) the three most frequent primary operations and reoperations; and 3) primary operations during and outside regular working hours. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 9,767 surgical procedures were identified from the Danish Fracture Database (DFDB). Procedures were grouped based...... procedures by junior residents grew from 30% during to 40% (p related surgery. The extent of supervision was generally high; however, a third of the primary procedures performed by junior...

Performances of the ATLAS Level-1 Muon barrel trigger during the Run-II data taking

CERN Document Server

Sessa, Marco; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger is one of the main elements of the event selection of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. It exploits the Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detectors to generate the trigger signal. The RPCs are placed in the barrel region of the ATLAS experiment: they are arranged in three concentric double layers and operate in a strong magnetic toroidal field. RPC detectors cover the pseudo-rapidity range $|\\eta|<1.05$ for a total surface of more than $4000\\ m^2$ and about 3600 gas volumes. The Level-1 Muon Trigger in the barrel region allows to select muon candidates with respect to their transverse momentum and associates them with the correct bunch-crossing number. The trigger system is able to take a decision within a latency of about 2 $\\mu s$. The detailed measurement of the RPC detector efficiencies and of the trigger performance during the ATLAS Run-II data taking is here presented.

Performance of the ATLAS Level-1 muon barrel trigger during the Run 2 data taking

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00404546; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger is one of the main elements of the event selection of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. It exploits the Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detectors to generate the trigger signal. The RPCs are placed in the barrel region of the ATLAS experiment: they are arranged in three concentric double layers and operate in a strong magnetic toroidal field. RPC detectors cover the pseudo-rapidity range |η| < 1.05 for a total surface of more than 4000 m 2 and about 3600 gas volumes. The Level-1 Muon Trigger in the barrel region allows to select muon candidates according to their transverse momentum and associates them with the correct bunch-crossing. The trigger system is able to take a decision within a latency of about 2 μs. The measurement of the RPC detector efficiencies and the trigger performance during the ATLAS Run-II data taking are here presented.

Frictional behaviour of high performance fibrous tows: Friction experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cornelissen, Bo; Rietman, Bert; Akkerman, Remko

2013-01-01

Tow friction is an important mechanism in the production and processing of high performance fibrous tows. The frictional behaviour of these tows is anisotropic due to the texture of the filaments as well as the tows. This work describes capstan experiments that were performed to measure the

Implementation and synchronisation of the First Level Global Trigger for the CMS experiment at LHC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taurok, A.; Bergauer, H.; Padrta, M.

2001-01-01

The hardware implementation of the First Level Global Trigger for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is described. Special emphasis is given to the algorithm logic and the synchronisation procedure. Up to 128 different trigger algorithms are calculated in parallel by the Global Trigger (GT) for every beam crossing taking place at 25 ns intervals. Already, at the first trigger level the GT is able to select complex topological event configurations by performing fast calculations. The electronics is based on VME and relies completely on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) technology. The electronic circuits are optimised for speed by exploiting, to a great extent, the small look-up tables provided in the FPGA chips

Placement Work Experience May Mitigate Lower Achievement Levels of Black and Asian vs. White Students at University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabeth Moores

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Ethnic minority groups have been shown to obtain poorer final year degree outcomes than their majority group counterparts in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. Obtaining a lower degree classification may limit future employment prospects of graduates as well as opportunities for higher level study. To further investigate this achievement gap, we analyzed performance levels across three academic years of study of 3,051 Black, Asian and White students from a United Kingdom University. Analyses of covariance investigated effects of ethnicity and work placement experience (internships on first, second and final year marks, whilst statistically controlling for a number of factors thought to influence achievement, including prior academic performance. Results demonstrated superior achievement of White students consistently across all years of study. Placement experience reduced, but did not eliminate, the size of the achievement gap exhibited by final year students. Sex, parental education and socioeconomic status had no significant main effects. Female students showed a more complex pattern of results than males, with Black females not showing the same final year uplift in marks as their Asian and White counterparts. Implications and possible explanations are discussed.

High-Performance Scalable Information Service for the ATLAS Experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolos, S; Boutsioukis, G; Hauser, R

2012-01-01

The ATLAS[1] experiment is operated by a highly distributed computing system which is constantly producing a lot of status information which is used to monitor the experiment operational conditions as well as to assess the quality of the physics data being taken. For example the ATLAS High Level Trigger(HLT) algorithms are executed on the online computing farm consisting from about 1500 nodes. Each HLT algorithm is producing few thousands histograms, which have to be integrated over the whole farm and carefully analyzed in order to properly tune the event rejection. In order to handle such non-physics data the Information Service (IS) facility has been developed in the scope of the ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ)[2] project. The IS provides a high-performance scalable solution for information exchange in distributed environment. In the course of an ATLAS data taking session the IS handles about a hundred gigabytes of information which is being constantly updated with the update interval varying from a second to a few tens of seconds. IS provides access to any information item on request as well as distributing notification to all the information subscribers. In the latter case IS subscribers receive information within a few milliseconds after it was updated. IS can handle arbitrary types of information, including histograms produced by the HLT applications, and provides C++, Java and Python API. The Information Service is a unique source of information for the majority of the online monitoring analysis and GUI applications used to control and monitor the ATLAS experiment. Information Service provides streaming functionality allowing efficient replication of all or part of the managed information. This functionality is used to duplicate the subset of the ATLAS monitoring data to the CERN public network with a latency of a few milliseconds, allowing efficient real-time monitoring of the data taking from outside the protected ATLAS network. Each information

Effect of different levels of methionine, protein and tallow on the productive performance and egg quality of laying hens in the late-phase production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Nassiri Moghaddam

2012-06-01

Full Text Available An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different levels of methionine, protein and tallow on productive performance and egg quality of laying hens in the late phase of production. A completely randomized design with a 3×2×2 factorial arrangement, with three levels (0.34, 0.31, and 0.27% of methionine (MET, two levels (12.8 and 14.7% of protein (PRO and two levels (1 and 3% of tallow (TAL with constant level of linoleic acid (1.55 ± 0.02%, was used. A number of 144 Hi-Line W-36 layers from 70 to 76 wk of age was randomly distributed into 12 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 3 hens each. Egg production and egg weight were daily recorded and feed intake and egg quality traits were recorded every 2 wk. There was a significant interaction between PRO levels and TAL for egg weight. Low levels of TAL and PRO decreased egg weight throughout the experiment. High levels of MET and TAL with concomitant reduced PRO, increased eggshell thickness, and a significant interaction between levels of MET, PRO and TAL was observed during the experiment (70 to 76 wk. Low level of protein (12.8% significantly decreased albumen weight in the third 2-wk period. Yolk color increased when hens were fed low levels of PRO and TAL. Results of this experiment indicated that the simultaneous reduction of dietary PRO and MET in diets of Hi-Line W-36 laying hens in the late phase of production, reduced egg weight (P<0.05. Productive performance and egg quality were not affected by 12 and 20% reduction of PRO and MET, respectively. It seems that decreasing the levels of MET and PRO to lower than the recommended values can decrease egg weight without negative effects on productive performance and egg quality of laying hens in the late phase of production.

W-1 Sodium Loop Safety Facility experiment centerline fuel thermocouple performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyers, S.C.; Henderson, J.M.

1980-05-01

The W-1 Sodium Loop Safety Facility (SLSF) experiment is the fifth in a series of experiments sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the National Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) Safety Assurance Program. The experiments are being conducted under the direction of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL). The irradiation phase of the W-1 SLSF experiment was conducted between May 27 and July 20, 1979, and terminated with incipient fuel pin cladding failure during the final boiling transient. Experimental hardware and facility performed as designed, allowing completion of all planned tests and test objectives. This paper focuses on high temperature in-fuel thermocouples and discusses their development, fabrication, and performance in the W-1 experiment

Feasibility of performing neutrino experiments at an intense source of strangeness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlini, R.D.; Stephenson, G.J. Jr.

1983-01-01

Several very important low energy neutrino experiments have been identified and discussed by Kayser and Rosen in these proceedings. We address the possibility of performing some of these experiments in the environment of a kaon factory. To carry out specific analyses, we draw upon the design of existing BNL detectors, the design of experiments that are proposed for an 800 MeV proton driven facility at Los Alamos, and the use of the code NUBEAM developed at CERN. Since in most cases we have not optimized, this is a conservative estimate. We find that many of the desired experiments can be performed with facilities now under discussion

Clinical Skills Performed By Iranian Emergency Nurses: Perceived Competency Levels and Attitudes Toward Expanding Professional Roles.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassankhani, Hadi; Hasanzadeh, Firooz; Powers, Kelly A; Dadash Zadeh, Abbas; Rajaie, Rouzbeh

2018-03-01

Emergency nurses play an important role in the care of critically ill and injured patients, and their competency to perform clinical skills is vital to safe and effective patient care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of clinical skills performed and perceived competency levels among Iranian emergency nurses. In addition, attitudes toward expanding the professional roles of Iranian emergency nurses were also assessed. In this descriptive correlational study, 319 emergency nurses from 30 hospitals in northwest Iran participated. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used to present the findings. Overall competency of the emergency nurses was 73.31 ± 14.2, indicating a good level of perceived competence. The clinical skills most frequently performed were in the domains of organizational and workload competencies (3.43 ± 0.76), diagnostic function (3.25 ± 0.82), and the helping role (3.17 ± 0.83). A higher level of perceived competence was found for skills within these domains. Less frequently, participants performed skills within the domains of effective management of rapidly changing situations (2.70 ± 0.94) and administering and monitoring therapeutic interventions (2.60 ± 0.97); a lower perceived level of competence was noted for these clinical skills. There was a significant correlation between frequency of performing clinical skills and perceived competency level (r = 0.651, P skills. This has implications for nurse managers and educators who may consider offering more frequent experiential and educational opportunities to emergency nurses. Expansion of nurses' roles could also result in increased experience in clinical skills and higher levels of competency. Research is needed to investigate nurses' clinical competence using direct and observed measures. Copyright © 2017 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance-Based Risk-Sharing Arrangements: U.S. Payer Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Goble, Joseph A; Ung, Brian; van Boemmel-Wegmann, Sascha; Navarro, Robert P; Parece, Andrew

2017-10-01

modeling ranked highest among methods of manufacturer facilitation of PBRSAs. This study was limited by sample size and survey questions were limited to explanation of PBRSAs at the disease state level. On the basis of PBRSA experiences, respondents noted that drug use in chronic medical conditions and objective drug outcome performance measurements were favorable drug characteristics and serve as the primary source of satisfaction for these types of contracts. Third parties and manufacturers can facilitate the uptake and success of PBRSAs by developing standardized contracting templates in addition to other methods that increase their stake in the arrangement. Looking forward, mounting perceptions of success in this realm of contracting for pharmaceuticals may contribute in the quest for value-based payments in the U.S. health care system. The construction of the survey and payment for survey respondents were supported by Charles River Associates. Parece is an employee of Charles River Associates. Goble and Ung are completing fellowship training sponsored by Novartis and Celgene, respectively, but do not have any conflicts of interest and did not receive any funding related to this study. Navarro reports consulting fees from Analysis Group, TEVA, and Amgen, unrelated to this study. Van Boemmel-Wegmann declares no conflict of interest. Study concept and design were contributed by Navarro, Goble, Ung, and Parece. Navarro took the lead in data collection, along with Goble and Ung, and data interpretation was performed by van Boemmel-Wegmann, Goble, and Ung. The manuscript was written by Goble, Ung, Navarro, and van Boemmel-Wegmann and revised by all of the authors.

AECL experience with low-level radioactive waste technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckley, L.P.; Charlesworth, D.H.

1988-08-01

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), as the Canadian government agency responsible for research and development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, has had experience in handling a wide variety of radioactive wastes for over 40 years. Low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) is generated in Canada from nuclear fuel manufacturers and nuclear power facilities, from medical and industrial uses of radioisotopes and from research facilities. The technologies with which AECL has strength lie in the areas of processing, storage, disposal and safety assessment of LLRW. While compaction and incineration are the predominant methods practised for solid wastes, purification techniques and volume reduction methods are used for liquid wastes. The methods for processing continue to be developed to improve and increase the efficiency of operation and to accommodate the transition from storage of the waste to disposal. Site-specific studies and planning for a LLRW disposal repository to replace current storage facilities are well underway with in-service operation to begin in 1991. The waste will be disposed of in an intrusion-resistant underground structure designed to have a service life of over 500 years. Beyond this period of time the radioactivity in the waste will have decayed to innocuous levels. Safety assessments of LLRW disposal are performed with the aid of a series of interconnected mathematical models developed at Chalk River specifically to predict the movement of radionuclides through and away from the repository after its closure and the subsequent health effects of the released radionuclides on the public. The various technologies for dealing with radioactive wastes from their creation to disposal will be discussed. 14 refs

A Level 1 Tracking Trigger for the CMS Experiment at the LHC Phase 2 Luminosity Upgrade

CERN Document Server

Pozzobon, Nicola

2011-01-01

The second decade of Large Hadron Collider operations, from about 2020 onwards, envisages a remarkable increase in collider instantaneous luminosity, one order of magnitude above the project one. This luminosity increase presents several challenges to the LHC experiments. The present tracker of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment must be replaced with a system providing excellent tracking quality at higher luminosities, as well as Tracking Trigger inputs to the existing “Level 0” CMS trigger system at the full 40 MHz bunch-crossing rate. The minimal requirements for a Tracking Trigger would be the capability to confirm the presence of high-pT tracks associated with Calorimeter and/or Muon Level 0 triggers. The ability to provide eective isolation criteria may also be required, and would in any case substantially improve the Trigger performance. Maintaining the data rates generated by Tracking Trigger inputs within a manageable bandwidth requires sensor modules able to locally sparsify the data. Measuring...

On a possible second-level trigger for the experiment DISTO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bussa, M.P.; Fava, L.; Ferrero, L.; Grasso, A.; Ivanov, V.V.; Kisel', I.V.; Konotopskaya, E.V.; Pontecorvo, G.B.; Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research, Dubna

1995-01-01

A two-level trigger is to be applied for suppression of the background and for effective selection of events involving short-lived Λ-, Σ- and φ-particles in the experiment DISTO. The first-level trigger is applied for track recognition, in searching for a secondary vertex, and for identifying the detected particles. 10 refs., 14 figs., 1 tab

Experiment planning using high-level component models at W7-X

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewerentz, Marc; Spring, Anett; Bluhm, Torsten; Heimann, Peter; Hennig, Christine; Kühner, Georg; Kroiss, Hugo; Krom, Johannes G.; Laqua, Heike; Maier, Josef; Riemann, Heike; Schacht, Jörg; Werner, Andreas; Zilker, Manfred

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Introduction of models for an abstract description of fusion experiments. ► Component models support creating feasible experiment programs at planning time. ► Component models contain knowledge about physical and technical constraints. ► Generated views on models allow to present crucial information. - Abstract: The superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is a fusion device, which is capable of steady state operation. Furthermore W7-X is a very complex technical system. To cope with these requirements a modular and strongly hierarchical component-based control and data acquisition system has been designed. The behavior of W7-X is characterized by thousands of technical parameters of the participating components. The intended sequential change of those parameters during an experiment is defined in an experiment program. Planning such an experiment program is a crucial and complex task. To reduce the complexity an abstract, more physics-oriented high-level layer has been introduced earlier. The so-called high-level (physics) parameters are used to encapsulate technical details. This contribution will focus on the extension of this layer to a high-level component model. It completely describes the behavior of a component for a certain period of time. It allows not only defining simple value ranges but also complex dependencies between physics parameters. This can be: dependencies within components, dependencies between components or temporal dependencies. Component models can now be analyzed to generate various views of an experiment. A first implementation of such an analyze process is already finished. A graphical preview of a planned discharge can be generated from a chronological sequence of component models. This allows physicists to survey complex planned experiment programs at a glance.

Clustering performances in the NBA according to players' anthropometric attributes and playing experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shaoliang; Lorenzo, Alberto; Gómez, Miguel-Angel; Mateus, Nuno; Gonçalves, Bruno; Sampaio, Jaime

2018-04-20

The aim of this study was: (i) to group basketball players into similar clusters based on a combination of anthropometric characteristics and playing experience; and (ii) explore the distribution of players (included starters and non-starters) from different levels of teams within the obtained clusters. The game-related statistics from 699 regular season balanced games were analyzed using a two-step cluster model and a discriminant analysis. The clustering process allowed identifying five different player profiles: Top height and weight (HW) with low experience, TopHW-LowE; Middle HW with middle experience, MiddleHW-MiddleE; Middle HW with top experience, MiddleHW-TopE; Low HW with low experience, LowHW-LowE; Low HW with middle experience, LowHW-MiddleE. Discriminant analysis showed that TopHW-LowE group was highlighted by two-point field goals made and missed, offensive and defensive rebounds, blocks, and personal fouls; whereas the LowHW-LowE group made fewest passes and touches. The players from weaker teams were mostly distributed in LowHW-LowE group, whereas players from stronger teams were mainly grouped in LowHW-MiddleE group; and players that participated in the finals were allocated in the MiddleHW-MiddleE group. These results provide alternative references for basketball staff concerning the process of evaluating performance.

[A school-level longitudinal study of clinical performance examination scores].

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jang Hee

2015-06-01

This school-level longitudinal study examined 7 years of clinical performance data to determine differences (effects) in students and annual changes within a school and between schools; examine how much their predictors (characteristics) influenced the variation in student performance; and calculate estimates of the schools' initial status and growth. A school-level longitudinal model was tested: level 1 (between students), level 2 (annual change within a school), and level 3 (between schools). The study sample comprised students who belonged to the CPX Consortium (n=5,283 for 2005~2008 and n=4,337 for 2009~2011). Despite a difference between evaluation domains, the performance outcomes were related to individual large-effect differences and small-effect school-level differences. Physical examination, clinical courtesy, and patient education were strongly influenced by the school effect, whereas patient-physician interaction was not affected much. Student scores are influenced by the school effect (differences), and the predictors explain the variation in differences, depending on the evaluation domain.

Influence of delayed placement and dietary lysine levels on small intestine morphometrics and performance of broilers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JRG Franco

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This experiment studied the influence of delayed placement (HI and digestible lysine level (DL on the morphometrics of the intestinal mucosa and on the performance of broilers. A total number of 1,705 Cobb 500 male chicks were used in a completely randomized experimental design in a factorial arrangement with four HI (12, 24, 36 and 48h, and two DL level in the starter diet (1.143 and 1.267%, with four replicates and 55 birds per experimental unit. The amino acids methionine-cystine, threonine, and tryptophan were balanced according to the ideal protein (IP concept. Small intestine morphometrics was evaluated using histology slides of the duodenum and jejunum. There was no interaction between HI and DL levels for any of the studied parameters. The 1.143% level of DL promoted better performance results at 21 and 42 days of age, as well as higher duodenum and jejunum crypt depth, and duodenum villi height at 21 days of age. HI negatively influenced the morphometrics of the small intestine during the starter phase, and the performance of broilers up to 42 days of age. There was no effect of the treatments on yolk sac utilization or abdominal fat percentage. It was concluded that the use of 1.143% DL and HI of 12 hours promoted better development of the small intestine mucosa up to 21 days of age, and broiler performance at market age.

The high-performance database archiver for the LHC experiments

CERN Document Server

González-Berges, M

2007-01-01

Each of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments will be controlled by a large distributed system built with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) tool Prozeßvisualisierungs- und Steuerungsystem (PVSS). There will be in the order of 150 computers and one million input/output parameters per experiment. The values read from the hardware, the alarms generated and the user actions will be archived for the later physics analysis, the operation and the debugging of the control system itself. Although the original PVSS implementation of a database archiver was appropriate for standard industrial use, the performance was not sufficient for the experiments. A collaboration was setup between CERN and ETM, the company that develops PVSS. Changes in the architecture and several optimizations were made and tested in a system of a comparable size to the final ones. As a result, we have been able to improve the performance by more than one order of magnitude, and what is more important, we now have a scal...

Performance of the ALICE Experiment at the CERN LHC

CERN Document Server

Abelev, Betty Bezverkhny; Adam, Jaroslav; Adamova, Dagmar; Aggarwal, Madan Mohan; Agnello, Michelangelo; Agostinelli, Andrea; Agrawal, Neelima; Ahammed, Zubayer; Ahmad, Nazeer; Ahmad, Arshad; Ahmed, Ijaz; Ahn, Sang Un; Ahn, Sul-Ah; Aimo, Ilaria; Aiola, Salvatore; Ajaz, Muhammad; Akindinov, Alexander; Aleksandrov, Dmitry; Alessandro, Bruno; Alexandre, Didier; Alici, Andrea; Alkin, Anton; Alme, Johan; Alt, Torsten; Altini, Valerio; Altinpinar, Sedat; Altsybeev, Igor; Alves Garcia Prado, Caio; Andrei, Cristian; Andronic, Anton; Anguelov, Venelin; Anielski, Jonas; Anticic, Tome; Antinori, Federico; Antonioli, Pietro; Aphecetche, Laurent Bernard; Appelshaeuser, Harald; Arbor, Nicolas; Arcelli, Silvia; Armesto Perez, Nestor; Arnaldi, Roberta; Aronsson, Tomas; Arsene, Ionut Cristian; Arslandok, Mesut; Augustinus, Andre; Averbeck, Ralf Peter; Awes, Terry; Azmi, Mohd Danish; Bach, Matthias Jakob; Badala, Angela; Baek, Yong Wook; Bagnasco, Stefano; Bailhache, Raphaelle Marie; Bala, Renu; Baldisseri, Alberto; Baltasar Dos Santos Pedrosa, Fernando; Baral, Rama Chandra; Barbera, Roberto; Barile, Francesco; Barnafoldi, Gergely Gabor; Barnby, Lee Stuart; Ramillien Barret, Valerie; Bartke, Jerzy Gustaw; Basile, Maurizio; Bastid, Nicole; Basu, Sumit; Bathen, Bastian; Batigne, Guillaume; Batyunya, Boris; Batzing, Paul Christoph; Baumann, Christoph Heinrich; Bearden, Ian Gardner; Beck, Hans; Bedda, Cristina; Behera, Nirbhay Kumar; Belikov, Iouri; Bellini, Francesca; Bellwied, Rene; Belmont Moreno, Ernesto; Bencedi, Gyula; Beole, Stefania; Berceanu, Ionela; Bercuci, Alexandru; Berdnikov, Yaroslav; Berenyi, Daniel; Berger, Martin Emanuel; Bertens, Redmer Alexander; Berzano, Dario; Betev, Latchezar; Bhasin, Anju; Bhati, Ashok Kumar; Bhattacharjee, Buddhadeb; Bhom, Jihyun; Bianchi, Livio; Bianchi, Nicola; Bianchin, Chiara; Bielcik, Jaroslav; Bielcikova, Jana; Bilandzic, Ante; Bjelogrlic, Sandro; Blanco, Fernando; Blau, Dmitry; Blume, Christoph; Bock, Friederike; Bogdanov, Alexey; Boggild, Hans; Bogolyubskiy, Mikhail; Boehmer, Felix Valentin; Boldizsar, Laszlo; Bombara, Marek; Book, Julian Heinz; Borel, Herve; Borissov, Alexander; Bossu, Francesco; Botje, Michiel; Botta, Elena; Boettger, Stefan; Braun-Munzinger, Peter; Bregant, Marco; Breitner, Timo Gunther; Broker, Theo Alexander; Browning, Tyler Allen; Broz, Michal; Bruna, Elena; Bruno, Giuseppe Eugenio; Budnikov, Dmitry; Buesching, Henner; Bufalino, Stefania; Buncic, Predrag; Busch, Oliver; Buthelezi, Edith Zinhle; Caffarri, Davide; Cai, Xu; Caines, Helen Louise; Caliva, Alberto; Calvo Villar, Ernesto; Camerini, Paolo; Canoa Roman, Veronica; Carena, Francesco; Carena, Wisla; Castillo Castellanos, Javier Ernesto; Casula, Ester Anna Rita; Catanescu, Vasile Ioan; Cavicchioli, Costanza; Ceballos Sanchez, Cesar; Cepila, Jan; Cerello, Piergiorgio; Chang, Beomsu; Chapeland, Sylvain; Charvet, Jean-Luc Fernand; Chattopadhyay, Subhasis; Chattopadhyay, Sukalyan; Cherney, Michael Gerard; Cheshkov, Cvetan Valeriev; Cheynis, Brigitte; Chibante Barroso, Vasco Miguel; Dobrigkeit Chinellato, David; Chochula, Peter; Chojnacki, Marek; Choudhury, Subikash; Christakoglou, Panagiotis; Christensen, Christian Holm; Christiansen, Peter; Chujo, Tatsuya; Chung, Suh-Urk; Cicalo, Corrado; Cifarelli, Luisa; Cindolo, Federico; Cleymans, Jean Willy Andre; Colamaria, Fabio Filippo; Colella, Domenico; Collu, Alberto; Colocci, Manuel; Conesa Balbastre, Gustavo; Conesa Del Valle, Zaida; Connors, Megan Elizabeth; Contreras Nuno, Jesus Guillermo; Cormier, Thomas Michael; Corrales Morales, Yasser; Cortese, Pietro; Cortes Maldonado, Ismael; Cosentino, Mauro Rogerio; Costa, Filippo; Crochet, Philippe; Cruz Albino, Rigoberto; Cuautle Flores, Eleazar; Cunqueiro Mendez, Leticia; Dainese, Andrea; Dang, Ruina; Danu, Andrea; Das, Debasish; Das, Indranil; Das, Kushal; Das, Supriya; Dash, Ajay Kumar; Dash, Sadhana; De, Sudipan; Delagrange, Hugues; Deloff, Andrzej; Denes, Ervin Sandor; D'Erasmo, Ginevra; De Caro, Annalisa; De Cataldo, Giacinto; De Cuveland, Jan; De Falco, Alessandro; De Gruttola, Daniele; De Marco, Nora; De Pasquale, Salvatore; De Rooij, Raoul Stefan; Diaz Corchero, Miguel Angel; Dietel, Thomas; Divia, Roberto; Di Bari, Domenico; Di Liberto, Sergio; Di Mauro, Antonio; Di Nezza, Pasquale; Djuvsland, Oeystein; Dobrin, Alexandru Florin; Dobrowolski, Tadeusz Antoni; Domenicis Gimenez, Diogenes; Donigus, Benjamin; Dordic, Olja; Dorheim, Sverre; Dubey, Anand Kumar; Dubla, Andrea; Ducroux, Laurent; Dupieux, Pascal; Dutt Mazumder, Abhee Kanti; Ehlers Iii, Raymond James; Elia, Domenico; Engel, Heiko; Erazmus, Barbara Ewa; Erdal, Hege Austrheim; Eschweiler, Dominic; Espagnon, Bruno; Esposito, Marco; Estienne, Magali Danielle; Esumi, Shinichi; Evans, David; Evdokimov, Sergey; Fabris, Daniela; Faivre, Julien; Falchieri, Davide; Fantoni, Alessandra; Fasel, Markus; Fehlker, Dominik; Feldkamp, Linus; Felea, Daniel; Feliciello, Alessandro; Feofilov, Grigory; Ferencei, Jozef; Fernandez Tellez, Arturo; Gonzalez Ferreiro, Elena; Ferretti, Alessandro; Festanti, Andrea; Figiel, Jan; Araujo Silva Figueredo, Marcel; Filchagin, Sergey; Finogeev, Dmitry; Fionda, Fiorella; Fiore, Enrichetta Maria; Floratos, Emmanouil; Floris, Michele; Foertsch, Siegfried Valentin; Foka, Panagiota; Fokin, Sergey; Fragiacomo, Enrico; Francescon, Andrea; Frankenfeld, Ulrich Michael; Fuchs, Ulrich; Furget, Christophe; Fusco Girard, Mario; Gaardhoeje, Jens Joergen; Gagliardi, Martino; Gago Medina, Alberto Martin; Gallio, Mauro; Gangadharan, Dhevan Raja; Ganoti, Paraskevi; Garabatos Cuadrado, Jose; Garcia-Solis, Edmundo Javier; Gargiulo, Corrado; Garishvili, Irakli; Gerhard, Jochen; Germain, Marie; Gheata, Andrei George; Gheata, Mihaela; Ghidini, Bruno; Ghosh, Premomoy; Ghosh, Sanjay Kumar; Gianotti, Paola; Giubellino, Paolo; Gladysz-Dziadus, Ewa; Glassel, Peter; Gomez Jimenez, Ramon; Gomez Ramirez, Andres; Gonzalez Zamora, Pedro; Gorbunov, Sergey; Gorlich, Lidia Maria; Gotovac, Sven; Graczykowski, Lukasz Kamil; Grajcarek, Robert; Grelli, Alessandro; Grigoras, Alina Gabriela; Grigoras, Costin; Grigoryev, Vladislav; Grigoryan, Ara; Grigoryan, Smbat; Grynyov, Borys; Grion, Nevio; Grosse-Oetringhaus, Jan Fiete; Grossiord, Jean-Yves; Grosso, Raffaele; Guber, Fedor; Guernane, Rachid; Guerzoni, Barbara; Guilbaud, Maxime Rene Joseph; Gulbrandsen, Kristjan Herlache; Gulkanyan, Hrant; Gunji, Taku; Gupta, Anik; Gupta, Ramni; Khan, Kamal; Haake, Rudiger; Haaland, Oystein Senneset; Hadjidakis, Cynthia Marie; Haiduc, Maria; Hamagaki, Hideki; Hamar, Gergoe; Hanratty, Luke David; Hansen, Alexander; Harris, John William; Hartmann, Helvi; Harton, Austin Vincent; Hatzifotiadou, Despina; Hayashi, Shinichi; Heckel, Stefan Thomas; Heide, Markus Ansgar; Helstrup, Haavard; Herghelegiu, Andrei Ionut; Herrera Corral, Gerardo Antonio; Hess, Benjamin Andreas; Hetland, Kristin Fanebust; Hicks, Bernard Richard; Hippolyte, Boris; Hladky, Jan; Hristov, Peter Zahariev; Huang, Meidana; Humanic, Thomas; Hutter, Dirk; Hwang, Dae Sung; Ilkaev, Radiy; Ilkiv, Iryna; Inaba, Motoi; Innocenti, Gian Michele; Ionita, Costin; Ippolitov, Mikhail; Irfan, Muhammad; Ivanov, Marian; Ivanov, Vladimir; Ivanytskyi, Oleksii; Jacholkowski, Adam Wlodzimierz; Jacobs, Peter Martin; Jahnke, Cristiane; Jang, Haeng Jin; Janik, Malgorzata Anna; Pahula Hewage, Sandun; Jena, Satyajit; Jimenez Bustamante, Raul Tonatiuh; Jones, Peter Graham; Jung, Hyungtaik; Jusko, Anton; Kalcher, Sebastian; Kalinak, Peter; Kalweit, Alexander Philipp; Kamin, Jason Adrian; Kang, Ju Hwan; Kaplin, Vladimir; Kar, Somnath; Karasu Uysal, Ayben; Karavichev, Oleg; Karavicheva, Tatiana; Karpechev, Evgeny; Kebschull, Udo Wolfgang; Keidel, Ralf; Ketzer, Bernhard Franz; Khan, Mohammed Mohisin; Khan, Palash; Khan, Shuaib Ahmad; Khanzadeev, Alexei; Kharlov, Yury; Kileng, Bjarte; Kim, Beomkyu; Kim, Do Won; Kim, Dong Jo; Kim, Jinsook; Kim, Mimae; Kim, Minwoo; Kim, Se Yong; Kim, Taesoo; Kirsch, Stefan; Kisel, Ivan; Kiselev, Sergey; Kisiel, Adam Ryszard; Kiss, Gabor; Klay, Jennifer Lynn; Klein, Jochen; Klein-Boesing, Christian; Kluge, Alexander; Knichel, Michael Linus; Knospe, Anders Garritt; Kobdaj, Chinorat; Kofarago, Monika; Kohler, Markus Konrad; Kollegger, Thorsten; Kolozhvari, Anatoly; Kondratev, Valerii; Kondratyeva, Natalia; Konevskikh, Artem; Kovalenko, Vladimir; Kowalski, Marek; Kox, Serge; Koyithatta Meethaleveedu, Greeshma; Kral, Jiri; Kralik, Ivan; Kramer, Frederick; Kravcakova, Adela; Krelina, Michal; Kretz, Matthias; Krivda, Marian; Krizek, Filip; Krus, Miroslav; Kryshen, Evgeny; Krzewicki, Mikolaj; Kucera, Vit; Kucheryaev, Yury; Kugathasan, Thanushan; Kuhn, Christian Claude; Kuijer, Paulus Gerardus; Kulakov, Igor; Kumar, Jitendra; Kurashvili, Podist; Kurepin, Alexander; Kurepin, Alexey; Kuryakin, Alexey; Kushpil, Svetlana; Kweon, Min Jung; Kwon, Youngil; Ladron De Guevara, Pedro; Lagana Fernandes, Caio; Lakomov, Igor; Langoy, Rune; Lara Martinez, Camilo Ernesto; Lardeux, Antoine Xavier; Lattuca, Alessandra; La Pointe, Sarah Louise; La Rocca, Paola; Lea, Ramona; Lee, Graham Richard; Legrand, Iosif; Lehnert, Joerg Walter; Lemmon, Roy Crawford; Lenhardt, Matthieu Laurent; Lenti, Vito; Leogrande, Emilia; Leoncino, Marco; Leon Monzon, Ildefonso; Levai, Peter; Li, Shuang; Lien, Jorgen Andre; Lietava, Roman; Lindal, Svein; Lindenstruth, Volker; Lippmann, Christian; Lisa, Michael Annan; Ljunggren, Hans Martin; Lodato, Davide Francesco; Lonne, Per-Ivar; Loggins, Vera Renee; Loginov, Vitaly; Lohner, Daniel; Loizides, Constantinos; Lopez, Xavier Bernard; Lopez Torres, Ernesto; Lu, Xianguo; Luettig, Philipp Johannes; Lunardon, Marcello; Luo, Jiebin; Luparello, Grazia; Luzzi, Cinzia; Ma, Rongrong; Maevskaya, Alla; Mager, Magnus; Mahapatra, Durga Prasad; Maire, Antonin; Majka, Richard Daniel; Malaev, Mikhail; Maldonado Cervantes, Ivonne Alicia; Malinina, Liudmila; Mal'Kevich, Dmitry; Malzacher, Peter; Mamonov, Alexander; Manceau, Loic Henri Antoine; Manko, Vladislav; Manso, Franck; Manzari, Vito; Marchisone, Massimiliano; Mares, Jiri; Margagliotti, Giacomo Vito; Margotti, Anselmo; Marin, Ana Maria; Markert, Christina; Marquard, Marco; Martashvili, Irakli; Martin, Nicole Alice; Martinengo, Paolo; Martinez Hernandez, Mario Ivan; Martinez-Garcia, Gines; Martin Blanco, Javier; Martynov, Yevgen; Mas, Alexis Jean-Michel; Masciocchi, Silvia; Masera, Massimo; Masoni, Alberto; Massacrier, Laure Marie; Mastroserio, Annalisa; Matyja, Adam Tomasz; Mayer, Christoph; Mazer, Joel Anthony; Mazzoni, Alessandra Maria; Meddi, Franco; Menchaca-Rocha, Arturo Alejandro; Meninno, Elisa; Mercado-Perez, Jorge; Meres, Michal; Miake, Yasuo; Mikhaylov, Konstantin; Milano, Leonardo; Milosevic, Jovan; Mischke, Andre; Mishra, Aditya Nath; Miskowiec, Dariusz Czeslaw; Mitu, Ciprian Mihai; Mlynarz, Jocelyn; Mohanty, Bedangadas; Molnar, Levente; Montano Zetina, Luis Manuel; Montes Prado, Esther; Morando, Maurizio; Moreira De Godoy, Denise Aparecida; Moretto, Sandra; Morreale, Astrid; Morsch, Andreas; Muccifora, Valeria; Mudnic, Eugen; Muhuri, Sanjib; Mukherjee, Maitreyee; Muller, Hans; Gameiro Munhoz, Marcelo; Murray, Sean; Musa, Luciano; Musinsky, Jan; Nandi, Basanta Kumar; Nania, Rosario; Nappi, Eugenio; Nattrass, Christine; Nayak, Tapan Kumar; Nazarenko, Sergey; Nedosekin, Alexander; Nicassio, Maria; Niculescu, Mihai; Nielsen, Borge Svane; Nikolaev, Sergey; Nikulin, Sergey; Nikulin, Vladimir; Nilsen, Bjorn Steven; Noferini, Francesco; Nomokonov, Petr; Nooren, Gerardus; Nyanin, Alexander; Nystrand, Joakim Ingemar; Oeschler, Helmut Oskar; Oh, Saehanseul; Oh, Sun Kun; Okatan, Ali; Olah, Laszlo; Oleniacz, Janusz; Oliveira Da Silva, Antonio Carlos; Onderwaater, Jacobus; Oppedisano, Chiara; Ortiz Velasquez, Antonio; Oskarsson, Anders Nils Erik; Otwinowski, Jacek Tomasz; Oyama, Ken; Sahoo, Pragati; Pachmayer, Yvonne Chiara; Pachr, Milos; Pagano, Paola; Paic, Guy; Painke, Florian; Pajares Vales, Carlos; Pal, Susanta Kumar; Palmeri, Armando; Pant, Divyash; Papikyan, Vardanush; Pappalardo, Giuseppe; Pareek, Pooja; Park, Woojin; Parmar, Sonia; Passfeld, Annika; Patalakha, Dmitry; Paticchio, Vincenzo; Paul, Biswarup; Pawlak, Tomasz Jan; Peitzmann, Thomas; Pereira Da Costa, Hugo Denis Antonio; Pereira De Oliveira Filho, Elienos; Peresunko, Dmitry Yurevich; Perez Lara, Carlos Eugenio; Pesci, Alessandro; Pestov, Yury; Petracek, Vojtech; Petran, Michal; Petris, Mariana; Petrovici, Mihai; Petta, Catia; Piano, Stefano; Pikna, Miroslav; Pillot, Philippe; Pinazza, Ombretta; Pinsky, Lawrence; Piyarathna, Danthasinghe; Ploskon, Mateusz Andrzej; Planinic, Mirko; Pluta, Jan Marian; Pochybova, Sona; Podesta Lerma, Pedro Luis Manuel; Poghosyan, Martin; Pohjoisaho, Esko Heikki Oskari; Polishchuk, Boris; Poljak, Nikola; Pop, Amalia; Porteboeuf, Sarah Julie; Porter, R Jefferson; Pospisil, Vladimir; Potukuchi, Baba; Prasad, Sidharth Kumar; Preghenella, Roberto; Prino, Francesco; Pruneau, Claude Andre; Pshenichnov, Igor; Puccio, Maximiliano; Puddu, Giovanna; Punin, Valery; Putschke, Jorn Henning; Qvigstad, Henrik; Rachevski, Alexandre; Raha, Sibaji; Rak, Jan; Rakotozafindrabe, Andry Malala; Ramello, Luciano; Raniwala, Rashmi; Raniwala, Sudhir; Rasanen, Sami Sakari; Rascanu, Bogdan Theodor; Rathee, Deepika; Rauf, Aamer Wali; Razazi, Vahedeh; Read, Kenneth Francis; Real, Jean-Sebastien; Redlich, Krzysztof; Reed, Rosi Jan; Rehman, Attiq Ur; Reichelt, Patrick Simon; Reicher, Martijn; Reidt, Felix; Renfordt, Rainer Arno Ernst; Reolon, Anna Rita; Reshetin, Andrey; Rettig, Felix Vincenz; Revol, Jean-Pierre; Reygers, Klaus Johannes; Riabov, Viktor; Ricci, Renato Angelo; Richert, Tuva Ora Herenui; Richter, Matthias Rudolph; Riedler, Petra; Riegler, Werner; Riggi, Francesco; Rivetti, Angelo; Rocco, Elena; Rodriguez Cahuantzi, Mario; Rodriguez Manso, Alis; Roeed, Ketil; Rogochaya, Elena; Sharma, Rohni; Rohr, David Michael; Roehrich, Dieter; Romita, Rosa; Ronchetti, Federico; Ronflette, Lucile; Rosnet, Philippe; Rossegger, Stefan; Rossi, Andrea; Roukoutakis, Filimon; Roy, Ankhi; Roy, Christelle Sophie; Roy, Pradip Kumar; Rubio Montero, Antonio Juan; Rui, Rinaldo; Russo, Riccardo; Ryabinkin, Evgeny; Ryabov, Yury; Rybicki, Andrzej; Sadovskiy, Sergey; Safarik, Karel; Sahlmuller, Baldo; Sahoo, Raghunath; Sahu, Pradip Kumar; Saini, Jogender; Salgado Lopez, Carlos Alberto; Salzwedel, Jai Samuel Nielsen; Sambyal, Sanjeev Singh; Samsonov, Vladimir; Sanchez Castro, Xitzel; Sanchez Rodriguez, Fernando Javier; Sandor, Ladislav; Sandoval, Andres; Sano, Masato; Santagati, Gianluca; Sarkar, Debojit; Scapparone, Eugenio; Scarlassara, Fernando; Scharenberg, Rolf Paul; Schiaua, Claudiu Cornel; Schicker, Rainer Martin; Schmidt, Christian Joachim; Schmidt, Hans Rudolf; Schuchmann, Simone; Schukraft, Jurgen; Schulc, Martin; Schuster, Tim Robin; Schutz, Yves Roland; Schwarz, Kilian Eberhard; Schweda, Kai Oliver; Scioli, Gilda; Scomparin, Enrico; Scott, Patrick Aaron; Scott, Rebecca Michelle; Segato, Gianfranco; Seger, Janet Elizabeth; Selyuzhenkov, Ilya; Seo, Jeewon; Serradilla Rodriguez, Eulogio; Sevcenco, Adrian; Shabetai, Alexandre; Shabratova, Galina; Shahoyan, Ruben; Shangaraev, Artem; Sharma, Natasha; Sharma, Satish; Shigaki, Kenta; Shtejer Diaz, Katherin; Sibiryak, Yury; Siddhanta, Sabyasachi; Siemiarczuk, Teodor; Silvermyr, David Olle Rickard; Silvestre, Catherine Micaela; Simatovic, Goran; Singaraju, Rama Narayana; Singh, Ranbir; Singha, Subhash; Singhal, Vikas; Sinha, Bikash; Sarkar - Sinha, Tinku; Sitar, Branislav; Sitta, Mario; Skaali, Bernhard; Skjerdal, Kyrre; Smakal, Radek; Smirnov, Nikolai; Snellings, Raimond; Soegaard, Carsten; Soltz, Ron Ariel; Song, Jihye; Song, Myunggeun; Soramel, Francesca; Sorensen, Soren Pontoppidan; Spacek, Michal; Sputowska, Iwona Anna; Spyropoulou-Stassinaki, Martha; Srivastava, Brijesh Kumar; Stachel, Johanna; Stan, Ionel; Stefanek, Grzegorz; Steinpreis, Matthew Donald; Stenlund, Evert Anders; Steyn, Gideon Francois; Stiller, Johannes Hendrik; Stocco, Diego; Stolpovskiy, Mikhail; Strmen, Peter; Alarcon Do Passo Suaide, Alexandre; Subieta Vasquez, Martin Alfonso; Sugitate, Toru; Suire, Christophe Pierre; Suleymanov, Mais Kazim Oglu; Sultanov, Rishat; Sumbera, Michal; Susa, Tatjana; Symons, Timothy; Szanto De Toledo, Alejandro; Szarka, Imrich; Szczepankiewicz, Adam; Szymanski, Maciej Pawel; Takahashi, Jun; Tangaro, Marco-Antonio; Tapia Takaki, Daniel Jesus; Tarantola Peloni, Attilio; Tarazona Martinez, Alfonso; Tarzila, Madalina-Gabriela; Tauro, Arturo; Tejeda Munoz, Guillermo; Telesca, Adriana; Terrevoli, Cristina; Ter-Minasyan, Astkhik; Thaeder, Jochen Mathias; Thomas, Deepa; Tieulent, Raphael Noel; Timmins, Anthony Robert; Toia, Alberica; Torii, Hisayuki; Trubnikov, Victor; Trzaska, Wladyslaw Henryk; Tsuji, Tomoya; Tumkin, Alexandr; Turrisi, Rosario; Tveter, Trine Spedstad; Ulery, Jason Glyndwr; Ullaland, Kjetil; Uras, Antonio; Usai, Gianluca; Vajzer, Michal; Vala, Martin; Valencia Palomo, Lizardo; Vallero, Sara; Vande Vyvre, Pierre; Vannucci, Luigi; Van Der Maarel, Jasper; Van Hoorne, Jacobus Willem; Van Leeuwen, Marco; Diozcora Vargas Trevino, Aurora; Varma, Raghava; Vasileiou, Maria; Vasiliev, Andrey; Vechernin, Vladimir; Veldhoen, Misha; Velure, Arild; Venaruzzo, Massimo; Vercellin, Ermanno; Vergara Limon, Sergio; Vernet, Renaud; Verweij, Marta; Vickovic, Linda; Viesti, Giuseppe; Viinikainen, Jussi Samuli; Vilakazi, Zabulon; Villalobos Baillie, Orlando; Vinogradov, Alexander; Vinogradov, Leonid; Vinogradov, Yury; Virgili, Tiziano; Vislavicius, Vytautas; Viyogi, Yogendra; Vodopyanov, Alexander; Volkl, Martin Andreas; Voloshin, Kirill; Voloshin, Sergey; Volpe, Giacomo; Von Haller, Barthelemy; Vorobyev, Ivan; Vranic, Danilo; Vrlakova, Janka; Vulpescu, Bogdan; Vyushin, Alexey; Wagner, Boris; Wagner, Jan; Wagner, Vladimir; Wang, Mengliang; Wang, Yifei; Watanabe, Daisuke; Weber, Michael; Weber, Steffen Georg; Wessels, Johannes Peter; Westerhoff, Uwe; Wiechula, Jens; Wikne, Jon; Wilde, Martin Rudolf; Wilk, Grzegorz Andrzej; Wilkinson, Jeremy John; Williams, Crispin; Windelband, Bernd Stefan; Winn, Michael Andreas; Xiang, Changzhou; Yaldo, Chris G; Yamaguchi, Yorito; Yang, Hongyan; Yang, Ping; Yang, Shiming; Yano, Satoshi; Yasnopolskiy, Stanislav; Yi, Jungyu; Yin, Zhongbao; Yoo, In-Kwon; Yushmanov, Igor; Zaccolo, Valentina; Zach, Cenek; Zaman, Ali; Zampolli, Chiara; Zaporozhets, Sergey; Zarochentsev, Andrey; Zavada, Petr; Zavyalov, Nikolay; Zbroszczyk, Hanna Paulina; Zgura, Sorin Ion; Zhalov, Mikhail; Zhang, Haitao; Zhang, Xiaoming; Zhang, Yonghong; Zhao, Chengxin; Zhigareva, Natalia; Zhou, Daicui; Zhou, Fengchu; Zhou, You; Zhu, Hongsheng; Zhu, Jianhui; Zhu, Xiangrong; Zichichi, Antonino; Zimmermann, Alice; Zimmermann, Markus Bernhard; Zinovjev, Gennady; Zoccarato, Yannick Denis; Zynovyev, Mykhaylo; Zyzak, Maksym

2014-01-01

ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis methods for various physics observables.

Impact of Educational Level on Performance on Auditory Processing Tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Cristina F B; Rabelo, Camila M; Silagi, Marcela L; Mansur, Letícia L; Schochat, Eliane

2016-01-01

Research has demonstrated that a higher level of education is associated with better performance on cognitive tests among middle-aged and elderly people. However, the effects of education on auditory processing skills have not yet been evaluated. Previous demonstrations of sensory-cognitive interactions in the aging process indicate the potential importance of this topic. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of middle-aged and elderly people with different levels of formal education on auditory processing tests. A total of 177 adults with no evidence of cognitive, psychological or neurological conditions took part in the research. The participants completed a series of auditory assessments, including dichotic digit, frequency pattern and speech-in-noise tests. A working memory test was also performed to investigate the extent to which auditory processing and cognitive performance were associated. The results demonstrated positive but weak correlations between years of schooling and performance on all of the tests applied. The factor "years of schooling" was also one of the best predictors of frequency pattern and speech-in-noise test performance. Additionally, performance on the working memory, frequency pattern and dichotic digit tests was also correlated, suggesting that the influence of educational level on auditory processing performance might be associated with the cognitive demand of the auditory processing tests rather than auditory sensory aspects itself. Longitudinal research is required to investigate the causal relationship between educational level and auditory processing skills.

Cancer patient experience, hospital performance and case mix: evidence from England.

Science.gov (United States)

Abel, Gary A; Saunders, Catherine L; Lyratzopoulos, Georgios

2014-01-01

  This study aims to explore differences between crude and case mix-adjusted estimates of hospital performance with respect to the experience of cancer patients. This study analyzed the English 2011/2012 Cancer Patient Experience Survey covering all English National Health Service hospitals providing cancer treatment (n = 160). Logistic regression analysis was used to predict hospital performance for each of the 64 evaluative questions, adjusting for age, gender, ethnic group and cancer diagnosis. The degree of reclassification was explored across three categories (bottom 20%, middle 60% and top 20% of hospitals). There was high concordance between crude and adjusted ranks of hospitals (median Kendall's τ = 0.84; interquartile range: 0.82-0.88). Across all questions, a median of 5.0% (eight) of hospitals (interquartile range: 3.8-6.4%; six to ten hospitals) moved out of the extreme performance categories after case mix adjustment. In this context, patient case mix has only a small impact on measured hospital performance for cancer patient experience.

Motivating students to perform an experiment in technological design contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Logman, P.S.W.M.; Kaper, W.H.; Ellermeijer, A.L.; Lindell, A.; Kähkönen, A.-L.; Viiri, J.

2012-01-01

In a teaching-learning sequence on the subject of energy we have tried technological design contexts to motivate students by using only context-based reasons to perform experiments on the subject of energy. We use these experiments to have the students reinvent practical laws of energy conservation

In situ-experiments on the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes (HAW) at the Asse salt mine Federal Republic of Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuhn, K.; Rothfuchs, T.

1989-01-01

Deep geological salt formations are considered as being the most suitable medium for the disposal of radioactive wastes in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). This paper reports how, in order to develop and to prove the necessary disposal techniques, the Asse Salt Mine in the northern part of Germany is being used as a national R and D facility for the execution of representative in situ-tests. Besides the test-wise disposal of low-and medium-level radioactive waste, a series of in situ experiments was performed on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HAW). The so-called HAW repository is being performed from 1983 through 1994 will be the most important pilot test for the HAW repository in the FRG. During this experiment, 30 vitrified high-level radioactive heat and radiation sources will be emplaced in six underground boreholes. The duration of testing will be approximately five years. In addition to the investigations of the interactions of the heat and radiation sources and the host rock, a complete handling system for HAW-canisters is being developed and proved

The Relationship of Learning and Performance Diagnosis at Different System Levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Lubega, Khalid

2003-01-01

Examines learning and performance diagnosis, separately and in relation to each other, as they function in organization systems; explains the relationship between learning and performance diagnosis at the individual, process, and organizational levels using a three-level performance model; and discusses types of learning, including nonlearning,…

The ATLAS online High Level Trigger framework: Experience reusing offline software components in the ATLAS trigger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiedenmann, Werner

2010-01-01

Event selection in the ATLAS High Level Trigger is accomplished to a large extent by reusing software components and event selection algorithms developed and tested in an offline environment. Many of these offline software modules are not specifically designed to run in a heavily multi-threaded online data flow environment. The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) framework based on the GAUDI and ATLAS ATHENA frameworks, forms the interface layer, which allows the execution of the HLT selection and monitoring code within the online run control and data flow software. While such an approach provides a unified environment for trigger event selection across all of ATLAS, it also poses strict requirements on the reused software components in terms of performance, memory usage and stability. Experience of running the HLT selection software in the different environments and especially on large multi-node trigger farms has been gained in several commissioning periods using preloaded Monte Carlo events, in data taking periods with cosmic events and in a short period with proton beams from LHC. The contribution discusses the architectural aspects of the HLT framework, its performance and its software environment within the ATLAS computing, trigger and data flow projects. Emphasis is also put on the architectural implications for the software by the use of multi-core processors in the computing farms and the experiences gained with multi-threading and multi-process technologies.

Modelling Client Satisfaction Levels: The Impact of Contractor Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robby Soetanto

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The performance of contractors is known to be a key determinant of client satisfaction.Here, using factor analysis, clients’ satisfaction is defined in several dimensions. Based onclients’ assessment of contractor performance, a number of satisfaction models developedusing the multiple regression (MR technique are presented. The models identify arange of variables encompassing contractor performance, project performance and respondent(i.e. client attributes as useful predictors of satisfaction levels. Contractor performanceattributes were found to be of utmost importance indicating that clientsatisfaction levels are mainly dependent on the performance of the contractor. Furthermore,findings suggest that subjectivity is to some extent prevalent in clients’ performanceassessment. The models demonstrate accurate and reliable predictive power as confirmedby validation tests. Contractors could use the models to help improve their performanceleading to more satisfied clients. This would also promote the development ofharmonious working relationships within the construction project coalition.

Leveling up? An inter-neighborhood experiment on parochialism and the efficiency of multi-level public goods provision

OpenAIRE

Gallier, Carlo; Goeschl, Timo; Kesternich, Martin; Lohse, Johannes; Reif, Christiane; Römer, Daniel

2017-01-01

Many public goods can be provided at different spatial levels. Evidence from social identity theory and in-group favoritism raises the possibility that where higher-level provision is more efficient, subjects’ narrow concern for local outcomes (parochialism) could harm efficiency. Building on the experimental paradigm of multi-level public good games and the ‘neighborhood attachment’ concept, we conduct an artefactual field experiment with 600 participants in a setting conducive to parochial...

Level of Automation and Failure Frequency Effects on Simulated Lunar Lander Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez, Jessica J.; Ramirez, Margarita

2014-01-01

A human-in-the-loop experiment was conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center Vertical Motion Simulator, where instrument-rated pilots completed a simulated terminal descent phase of a lunar landing. Ten pilots participated in a 2 x 2 mixed design experiment, with level of automation as the within-subjects factor and failure frequency as the between subjects factor. The two evaluated levels of automation were high (fully automated landing) and low (manual controlled landing). During test trials, participants were exposed to either a high number of failures (75% failure frequency) or low number of failures (25% failure frequency). In order to investigate the pilots' sensitivity to changes in levels of automation and failure frequency, the dependent measure selected for this experiment was accuracy of failure diagnosis, from which D Prime and Decision Criterion were derived. For each of the dependent measures, no significant difference was found for level of automation and no significant interaction was detected between level of automation and failure frequency. A significant effect was identified for failure frequency suggesting failure frequency has a significant effect on pilots' sensitivity to failure detection and diagnosis. Participants were more likely to correctly identify and diagnose failures if they experienced the higher levels of failures, regardless of level of automation

Effect of different levels of raisin waste on performance, nutrients digestibility and protozoal population of Mehraban growing lambs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saremi, V.; Alipour, D.; Azarfar, A.; Segighi, R.

2014-06-01

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of different inclusion levels of raisin waste (RW) in the diet on the animal performance and ruminal fermentation parameters of growing lambs. Four levels of RW inclusion (i.e., R0, R1, R{sub 2} and R{sub 3} for 0, 100, 200 and 300 g RW kg{sup -}1 dry matter of diet, respectively) were tested. The experimental diets were fed to 24 male lambs (six months old) and six animals were allocated to each treatment. In the first experiment, effects of different levels of RW on the animals performance, some rumen parameters and protozoa populations were studied. In the second experiment, the apparent total tract digestibility of diets and nitrogen balance were measured. The highest final body weights were observed for the R{sub 2} and R{sub 3} diets. The R{sub 3} diet had the lowest dry matter intake (1156 vs. 1303 g day{sup -}1 for R{sub 3} and R{sub 0}, respectively) and feed conversion rate (6.4 vs. 8.7 for R{sub 3} and R{sub 0}, respectively). Total number of protozoa increased with the addition of RW, but Epidinium spp. completely disappeared with the R{sub 3} diet. Inclusion of RW at levels higher than 200 g RW kg{sup -}1 DM of diet significantly reduced crude protein (p = 0.042) and neutral detergent fiber digestibility (p = 0.049). Our findings showed that RW could be included in the diets of growing lambs up to 200 g kg{sup -}1 DM without compromising their production performance. (Author)

Sequencing learning experiences to engage different level learners in the workplace: An interview study with excellent clinical teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, H Carrie; O'Sullivan, Patricia; Teherani, Arianne; Fogh, Shannon; Kobashi, Brent; ten Cate, Olle

2015-01-01

Learning in the clinical workplace can appear to rely on opportunistic teaching. The cognitive apprenticeship model describes assigning tasks based on learner rather than just workplace needs. This study aimed to determine how excellent clinical teachers select clinical learning experiences to support the workplace participation and development of different level learners. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with medical school faculty identified as excellent clinical teachers teaching multiple levels of learners. We explored their approach to teach different level learners and their perceived role in promoting learner development. We performed thematic analysis of the interview transcripts using open and axial coding. We interviewed 19 clinical teachers and identified three themes related to their teaching approach: sequencing of learning experiences, selection of learning activities and teacher responsibilities. All teachers used sequencing as a teaching strategy by varying content, complexity and expectations by learner level. The teachers initially selected learning activities based on learner level and adjusted for individual competencies over time. They identified teacher responsibilities for learner education and patient safety, and used sequencing to promote both. Excellent clinical teachers described strategies for matching available learning opportunities to learners' developmental levels to safely engage learners and improve learning in the clinical workplace.

The Relationship of a Pilot's Educational Background, Aeronautical Experience and Recency of Experience to Performance In Initial Training at a Regional Airline

Science.gov (United States)

Shane, Nancy R.

The purpose of this study was to determine how a pilot's educational background, aeronautical experience and recency of experience relate to their performance during initial training at a regional airline. Results show that variables in pilots' educational background, aeronautical experience and recency of experience do predict performance in training. The most significant predictors include years since graduation from college, multi-engine time, total time and whether or not a pilot had military flying experience. Due to the pilot shortage, the pilots entering regional airline training classes since August 2013 have varied backgrounds, aeronautical experience and recency of experience. As explained by Edward Thorndike's law of exercise and the law of recency, pilots who are actively using their aeronautical knowledge and exercising their flying skills should exhibit strong performance in those areas and pilots who have not been actively using their aeronautical knowledge and exercising their flying skills should exhibit degraded performance in those areas. Through correlation, chi-square and multiple regression analysis, this study tests this theory as it relates to performance in initial training at a regional airline.

Multidimensional evaluation of performance with experimental application of balanced scorecard: a two year experience

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background In today's dynamic health-care system, organizations such as hospitals are required to improve their performance for multiple stakeholders and deliver an integrated care that means to work effectively, be innovative and organize efficiently. Achieved goals and levels of quality can be successfully measured by a multidimensional approach like Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The aim of the study was to verify the opportunity to introduce BSC framework to measure performance in St. Anna University Hospital of Ferrara, applying it to the Clinical Laboratory Operative Unit in order to compare over time performance results and achievements of assigned targets. Methods In the first experience with BSC we distinguished four perspectives, according to Kaplan and Norton, identified Key Performance Areas and Key Performance Indicators, set standards and weights for each objective, collected data for all indicators, recognized cause-and-effect relationships in a strategic map. One year later we proceeded with the next data collection and analysed the preservation of framework aptitude to measure Operative Unit performance. In addition, we verified the ability to underline links between strategic actions belonging to different perspectives in producing outcomes changes. Results The BSC was found to be effective for underlining existing problems and identifying opportunities for improvements. The BSC also revealed the specific perspective contribution to overall performance enhancement. After time results comparison was possible depending on the selection of feasible and appropriate key performance indicators, which was occasionally limited by data collection problems. Conclusions The first use of BSC to compare performance at Operative Unit level, in course of time, suggested this framework can be successfully adopted for results measuring and revealing effective health factors, allowing health-care quality improvements. PMID:21586111

Multidimensional evaluation of performance with experimental application of balanced scorecard: a two year experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Lupi, Silvia; Verzola, Adriano; Carandina, Gianni; Salani, Manuela; Antonioli, Paola; Gregorio, Pasquale

2011-05-17

In today's dynamic health-care system, organizations such as hospitals are required to improve their performance for multiple stakeholders and deliver an integrated care that means to work effectively, be innovative and organize efficiently. Achieved goals and levels of quality can be successfully measured by a multidimensional approach like Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The aim of the study was to verify the opportunity to introduce BSC framework to measure performance in St. Anna University Hospital of Ferrara, applying it to the Clinical Laboratory Operative Unit in order to compare over time performance results and achievements of assigned targets. In the first experience with BSC we distinguished four perspectives, according to Kaplan and Norton, identified Key Performance Areas and Key Performance Indicators, set standards and weights for each objective, collected data for all indicators, recognized cause-and-effect relationships in a strategic map. One year later we proceeded with the next data collection and analysed the preservation of framework aptitude to measure Operative Unit performance. In addition, we verified the ability to underline links between strategic actions belonging to different perspectives in producing outcomes changes. The BSC was found to be effective for underlining existing problems and identifying opportunities for improvements. The BSC also revealed the specific perspective contribution to overall performance enhancement. After time results comparison was possible depending on the selection of feasible and appropriate key performance indicators, which was occasionally limited by data collection problems. The first use of BSC to compare performance at Operative Unit level, in course of time, suggested this framework can be successfully adopted for results measuring and revealing effective health factors, allowing health-care quality improvements.

In situ water and gas injection experiments performed in the Hades Underground Research Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Volckaert, G.; Ortiz, L.; Put, M. [SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium). Geological Waste Disposal Unit

1995-12-31

The movement of water and gas through plastic clay is an important subject in the research at SCK-CEN on the possible disposal of high level radioactive waste in the Boom clay layer at Mol. Since the construction of the Hades underground research facility in 1983, SCK-CEN has developed and installed numerous piezometers for the geohydrologic characterization and for in situ radionuclide migration experiments. In situ gas and water injection experiments have been performed at two different locations in the underground laboratory. The first location is a multi filter piezometer installed vertically at the bottom of the shaft in 1986. The second location is a three dimensional configuration of four horizontal multi piezometers installed from the gallery. This piezometer configuration was designed for the MEGAS (Modelling and Experiments on GAS migration through argillaceous rocks) project and installed in 1992. It contains 29 filters at distances between 10 m and 15 m from the gallery in the clay. Gas injection experiments show that gas breakthrough occurs at a gas overpressure of about 0.6 MPa. The breakthrough occurs by the creation of gas pathways along the direction of lowest resistance i.e. the zone of low effective stress resulting from the drilling of the borehole. The water injections performed in a filter -- not used for gas injection -- show that the flow of water is also influenced by the mechanical stress conditions. Low effective stress leads to higher hydraulic conductivity. However, water overpressures up to 1.3 MPa did not cause hydrofracturing. Water injections performed in a filter previously used for gas injections, show that the occluded gas hinders the water flow and reduces the hydraulic conductivity by a factor two.

Strategies and Experiences Using High Performance Fortran

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Shires, Dale

2001-01-01

.... High performance Fortran (HPF) is a relative new addition to the Fortran dialect It is an attempt to provide an efficient high-level Fortran parallel programming language for the latest generation of been debatable...

The ATLAS High Level Trigger Infrastructure, Performance and Future Developments

CERN Document Server

The ATLAS collaboration

2009-01-01

The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) is a distributed real-time software system that performs the final online selection of events produced during proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is designed as a two-stage event filter running on a farm of commodity PC hardware. Currently the system consists of about 850 multi-core processing nodes that will be extended incrementally following the increasing luminosity of the LHC to about 2000 nodes depending on the evolution of the processor technology. Due to the complexity and similarity of the algorithms a large fraction of the software is shared between the online and offline event reconstruction. The HLT Infrastructure serves as the interface between the two domains and provides common services for the trigger algorithms. The consequences of this design choice will be discussed and experiences from the operation of the ATLAS HLT during cosmic ray data taking and first beam in 2008 will be presented. Since the event processing time at the HL...

Defining the "dose" of altitude training: how high to live for optimal sea level performance enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Robert F; Karlsen, Trine; Resaland, Geir K; Ge, R-L; Harber, Matthew P; Witkowski, Sarah; Stray-Gundersen, James; Levine, Benjamin D

2014-03-15

Chronic living at altitudes of ∼2,500 m causes consistent hematological acclimatization in most, but not all, groups of athletes; however, responses of erythropoietin (EPO) and red cell mass to a given altitude show substantial individual variability. We hypothesized that athletes living at higher altitudes would experience greater improvements in sea level performance, secondary to greater hematological acclimatization, compared with athletes living at lower altitudes. After 4 wk of group sea level training and testing, 48 collegiate distance runners (32 men, 16 women) were randomly assigned to one of four living altitudes (1,780, 2,085, 2,454, or 2,800 m). All athletes trained together daily at a common altitude from 1,250-3,000 m following a modified live high-train low model. Subjects completed hematological, metabolic, and performance measures at sea level, before and after altitude training; EPO was assessed at various time points while at altitude. On return from altitude, 3,000-m time trial performance was significantly improved in groups living at the middle two altitudes (2,085 and 2,454 m), but not in groups living at 1,780 and 2,800 m. EPO was significantly higher in all groups at 24 and 48 h, but returned to sea level baseline after 72 h in the 1,780-m group. Erythrocyte volume was significantly higher within all groups after return from altitude and was not different between groups. These data suggest that, when completing a 4-wk altitude camp following the live high-train low model, there is a target altitude between 2,000 and 2,500 m that produces an optimal acclimatization response for sea level performance.

Impacts of government subsidies on pricing and performance level choice in Energy Performance Contracting: A two-step optimal decision model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Zhijian; Shao, Shuai

2016-01-01

Highlights: • An ESCO optimal decision model considering governmental subsidies is proposed. • Optimal price and performance level are deduced via a two-stage model. • Demand, profit, and performance level increase with increasing subsidies. • ESCO’s market strategy should firstly focus on high energy consumption industries. • Governmental subsidies standard in different industries should be differentiated. - Abstract: Government subsidies generally play a crucial role in pricing and the choice of performance levels in Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). However, the existing studies pay little attention to how the Energy Service Company (ESCO) prices and chooses performance levels for EPC with government subsidies. To fill such a gap, we propose a joint optimal decision model of pricing and performance level in EPC considering government subsidies. The optimization of the model is achieved via a two-stage process. At the first stage, given a performance level, ESCOs choose the best price; and at the second stage, ESCOs choose the optimal performance level for the optimal price. Furthermore, we carry out a numerical analysis to illuminate such an optimal decision mechanism. The results show that both price sensitivity and performance level sensitivity have significant effects on the choice of performance levels with government subsidies. Government subsidies can induce higher performance levels of EPC, the demand for EPC, and the profit of ESCO. We suggest that ESCO’s market strategy should firstly focus on high energy consumption industries with government subsidies and that government subsidies standard adopted in different industries should be differentiated according to the market characteristics and energy efficiency levels of various industries.

Network Performance and Quality of Experience of Remote Access Laboratories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander A. Kist

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Remote Access Laboratories (RAL have become important learning and teaching tools. This paper presents a performance study that targets a specific remote access architecture implemented within a universities operational environment. This particular RAL system provides globally authenticated and arbitrated remote access to virtualized computers as well as computer controlled hardware experiments. This paper presents system performance results that have been obtained utilizing both a set of automated and human subject tests. Principle objectives of the study were: To gain a better understanding of the nature of network traffic caused by experimental activity usage; to obtain an indication of user expectations of activity performance; and to develop a measure to predict Quality of Experience, based on easily measurable Quality of Service parameters. The study emulates network layer variation of access-bandwidth and round-trip-time of typical usage scenarios and contrasts against user perception results that allow classifying expected user performance. It demonstrates that failure rate is excellent measure of usability, and that round-trip-time predominantly affects user experience. Thin-client and remote desktop architectures are popular to separate the location of users and the actual data processing and use similar structures, hence results of this study to be applied in these application areas as well.

10 CFR 433.5 - Performance level determination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Performance level determination. 433.5 Section 433.5 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR THE DESIGN AND...) Each Federal agency shall consider laboratory fume hoods and kitchen ventilation systems as part of the...

Impact of high-performance work systems on individual- and branch-level performance: test of a multilevel model of intermediate linkages.

Science.gov (United States)

Aryee, Samuel; Walumbwa, Fred O; Seidu, Emmanuel Y M; Otaye, Lilian E

2012-03-01

We proposed and tested a multilevel model, underpinned by empowerment theory, that examines the processes linking high-performance work systems (HPWS) and performance outcomes at the individual and organizational levels of analyses. Data were obtained from 37 branches of 2 banking institutions in Ghana. Results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that branch-level HPWS relates to empowerment climate. Additionally, results of hierarchical linear modeling that examined the hypothesized cross-level relationships revealed 3 salient findings. First, experienced HPWS and empowerment climate partially mediate the influence of branch-level HPWS on psychological empowerment. Second, psychological empowerment partially mediates the influence of empowerment climate and experienced HPWS on service performance. Third, service orientation moderates the psychological empowerment-service performance relationship such that the relationship is stronger for those high rather than low in service orientation. Last, ordinary least squares regression results revealed that branch-level HPWS influences branch-level market performance through cross-level and individual-level influences on service performance that emerges at the branch level as aggregated service performance.

Immigration and Firm Performance: a city-level approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercedes Teruel Carrizosa

2009-10-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the effect of immigration flows on the growthand efficiency of manufacturing firms in Spanish cities. While most studies werefocusing on the effect immigrants have on labour markets at an aggregate level,here, we argue that the impact of immigration on firm performance should not onlybe considered in terms of the labour market, but also in terms of how city’s amenitiescan affect the performance of firms. Implementing a panel data methodology,we show that the immigrants’ increasing pressure has a positive effect on labourproductivity and wages and a negative effect on the job evolution of these manufacturingfirms. In addition, both small and new firms are more sensitive to thepressures of immigrant inflow, while foreign market oriented firms report higherproductivity levels and a less marked impact of immigration than their counterparts.We also present a set of instruments to control for endogeneity. It allows us toconfirm the effect of local immigration flows on the performance of manufacturingfirms.

Performance and carcass characteristics of steers fed with two levels of metabolizable energy intake during summer and winter season.

Science.gov (United States)

Arias, R A; Keim, J P; Gandarillas, M; Velásquez, A; Alvarado-Gilis, C; Mader, T L

2018-05-22

Climate change is producing an increase on extreme weather events around the world such as flooding, drought and extreme ambient temperatures impacting animal production and animal welfare. At present, there is a lack of studies addressing the effects of climatic conditions associated with energy intake in finishing cattle in South American feed yards. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of environmental variables and level of metabolizable energy intake above maintenance requirements (MEI) on performance and carcass quality of steers. In each experiment (winter and summer), steers were fed with 1.85 or 2.72 times of their requirements of metabolizable energy of maintenance. A total of 24 crossbred steers per experiment were used and located in four pens (26.25 m2/head) equipped with a Calan Broadbent Feeding System. Animals were fed with the same diet within each season, varying the amount offered to adjust the MEI treatments. Mud depth, mud scores, tympanic temperature (TT), environmental variables, average daily gain, respiration rates and carcass characteristics plus three thermal comfort indices were collected. Data analysis considered a factorial arrangement (Season and MEI). In addition, a repeated measures analysis was performed for TT and respiration rate. Mean values of ambient temperature, solar radiation and comfort thermal indices were greater in the summer experiment as expected (Pcarcass characteristics were affected by season but not by the level of MEI. Finally, due to the high variability of data as well as the small number of animals assessed in these experiments, more studies on carcass characteristics under similar conditions are required.

Judging in Rhythmic Gymnastics at Different Levels of Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Leandro, Catarina; Ávila-Carvalho, Lurdes; Sierra-Palmeiro, Elena; Bobo-Arce, Marta

2017-12-01

This study aimed to analyse the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics, at different levels of performance. The sample consisted of 1152 difficulty scores concerning 288 individual routines, performed in the World Championships in 2013. The data were analysed using the mean absolute judge deviation from the final difficulty score, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intra-class correlations, for consistency and reliability assessment. For validity assessment, mean deviations of judges' difficulty scores, the Kendall's coefficient of concordance W and ANOVA eta-squared values were calculated. Overall, the results in terms of consistency (Cronbach's alpha mostly above 0.90) and reliability (intra-class correlations for single and average measures above 0.70 and 0.90, respectively) were satisfactory, in the first and third parts of the ranking on all apparatus. The medium level gymnasts, those in the second part of the ranking, had inferior reliability indices and highest score dispersion. In this part, the minimum of corrected item-total correlation of individual judges was 0.55, with most values well below, and the matrix for between-judge correlations identified remarkable inferior correlations. These findings suggest that the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics may be compromised at certain levels of performance. In future, special attention should be paid to the judging analysis of the medium level gymnasts, as well as the Code of Points applicability at this level.

Effect of dietary energy levels and phase feeding by protein levels on growth performance, blood profiles and carcass characteristics in growing-finishing pigs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. S. Hong

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Providing of insufficient nutrients limits the potential growth of pig, while feeding of excessive nutrients increases the economic loss and causes environment pollution. For these reasons, phase feeding had been introduced in swine farm for improving animal production. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary energy levels and phase feeding by protein levels on growth performance, blood profiles and carcass characteristics in growing-finishing pigs. Methods A total of 128 growing pigs ([Yorkshire × Landrace] × Duroc, averaging 26.62 ± 3.07 kg body weight, were assigned in a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement with 4 pigs per pen. The first factor was two dietary energy level (3,265 kcal of ME/kg or 3,365 kcal of ME/kg, and the second factor was four different levels of dietary protein by phase feeding (1growing(G-2finishing(F phases, 2G-2F phases, 2G-3F phases and 2G-3F phases with low CP requirement. Results In feeding trial, there was no significant difference in growth performance. The BUN concentration was decreased as dietary protein level decreased in 6 week and blood creatinine was increased in 13 week when pigs were fed diets with different dietary energy level. The digestibility of crude fat was improved as dietary energy levels increased and excretion of urinary nitrogen was reduced when low protein diet was provided. Chemical compositions of longissimus muscle were not affected by dietary treatments. In backfat thickness (P2 at 13 week, pigs fed high energy diet had thicker backfat thickness (P = 0.06 and pigs fed low protein diet showed the trend of backfat thinness reduction (P = 0.09. In addition, water holding capacity was decreased (P = 0.01 and cooking loss was increased (P = 0.07 as dietary protein level reduced. When pigs were fed high energy diet with low subdivision of phase feeding, days to 120 kg market weight was reached earlier compared to

On the increase of predictive performance with high-level data fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doeswijk, T.G.; Smilde, A.K.; Hageman, J.A.; Westerhuis, J.A.; Eeuwijk, F.A. van

2011-01-01

The combination of the different data sources for classification purposes, also called data fusion, can be done at different levels: low-level, i.e. concatenating data matrices, medium-level, i.e. concatenating data matrices after feature selection and high-level, i.e. combining model outputs. In this paper the predictive performance of high-level data fusion is investigated. Partial least squares is used on each of the data sets and dummy variables representing the classes are used as response variables. Based on the estimated responses y-hat j for data set j and class k, a Gaussian distribution p(g k |y-hat j ) is fitted. A simulation study is performed that shows the theoretical performance of high-level data fusion for two classes and two data sets. Within group correlations of the predicted responses of the two models and differences between the predictive ability of each of the separate models and the fused models are studied. Results show that the error rate is always less than or equal to the best performing subset and can theoretically approach zero. Negative within group correlations always improve the predictive performance. However, if the data sets have a joint basis, as with metabolomics data, this is not likely to happen. For equally performing individual classifiers the best results are expected for small within group correlations. Fusion of a non-predictive classifier with a classifier that exhibits discriminative ability lead to increased predictive performance if the within group correlations are strong. An example with real life data shows the applicability of the simulation results.

Deconstructing Global Markets through Critical Performative Experiences in Puerto Rico

Science.gov (United States)

Medina, Carmen Liliana; Weltsek, Gustave J.

2013-01-01

Critical Performative Pedagogies, the idea that "The nature of drama as a once removed creative experience turns non-critical implicit classroom identity formation into explicit identity performance as it asks participants to actively reflect upon how identity is created and engaged within fictional social interactions." (Weltsek and…

Overview of the geochemical code MINTEQ: applications to performance assessment for low-level wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graham, M.J.; Peterson, S.R.

1985-09-01

The MINTEQ geochemical computer code, developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory, integrates many of the capabilities of its two immediate predecessors, WATEQ3 and MINEQL. MINTEQ can be used to perform the calculations necessary to simulate (model) the contact of low-level waste solutions with heterogeneous sediments or the interaction of ground water with solidified low-level wastes. The code is capable of performing calculations of ion speciation/solubility, adsorption, oxidation-reduction, gas phase equilibria, and precipitation/dissolution of solid phases. Under the Special Waste Form Lysimeters-Arid program, the composition of effluents (leachates) from column and batch experiments, using laboratory-scale waste forms, will be used to develop a geochemical model of the interaction of ground water with commercial solidified low-level wastes. The wastes being evaluated include power reactor waste streams that have been solidified in cement, vinyl ester-styrene, and bitumen. The thermodynamic database for the code is being upgraded before the geochemical modeling is performed. Thermodynamic data for cobalt, antimony, cerium, and cesium solid phases and aqueous species are being added to the database. The need to add these data was identified from the characterization of the waste streams. The geochemical model developed from the laboratory data will then be applied to predict the release from a field-lysimeter facility that contains full-scale waste samples. The contaminant concentrations migrating from the wastes predicted using MINTEQ will be compared to the long-term lysimeter data. This comparison will constitute a partical field validation of the geochemical model. 28 refs

Performance assessment for low-level radioactive waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, J.R.; Hsu, R.H.; Wilhite, E.L.; Yu, A.D.

1996-01-01

In October 1994 the Savannah River Site became the first US DOE complex to use concrete vaults to dispose of low-level radioactive solid waste and better prevent soil and groundwater contamination. This article describes the design and gives a performance assessment of the vaults. Topics include the following: Performance objectives; scope; the performance assessment process-assemble a multidisciplinary working group; collect available data; define credible pathways/scenarios; develop conceptual models; conduct screening and detailed model calculations; assess sensitivity/uncertainty; integrate and interpret results; report. 9 figs., 3 tabs

The Effect of Aptitude and Experience on Mechanical Job Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayberry, Paul W.; Carey, Neil B.

1997-01-01

The validity of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) in predicting mechanical job performance was studied with 891 automotive and 522 helicopter mechanics. The mechanical maintenance component of the ASVAB predicted hands-on performance, job knowledge, and training grades quite well, but experience was more predictive of…

Multidimensional evaluation of performance with experimental application of balanced scorecard: a two year experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonioli Paola

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In today's dynamic health-care system, organizations such as hospitals are required to improve their performance for multiple stakeholders and deliver an integrated care that means to work effectively, be innovative and organize efficiently. Achieved goals and levels of quality can be successfully measured by a multidimensional approach like Balanced Scorecard (BSC. The aim of the study was to verify the opportunity to introduce BSC framework to measure performance in St. Anna University Hospital of Ferrara, applying it to the Clinical Laboratory Operative Unit in order to compare over time performance results and achievements of assigned targets. Methods In the first experience with BSC we distinguished four perspectives, according to Kaplan and Norton, identified Key Performance Areas and Key Performance Indicators, set standards and weights for each objective, collected data for all indicators, recognized cause-and-effect relationships in a strategic map. One year later we proceeded with the next data collection and analysed the preservation of framework aptitude to measure Operative Unit performance. In addition, we verified the ability to underline links between strategic actions belonging to different perspectives in producing outcomes changes. Results The BSC was found to be effective for underlining existing problems and identifying opportunities for improvements. The BSC also revealed the specific perspective contribution to overall performance enhancement. After time results comparison was possible depending on the selection of feasible and appropriate key performance indicators, which was occasionally limited by data collection problems. Conclusions The first use of BSC to compare performance at Operative Unit level, in course of time, suggested this framework can be successfully adopted for results measuring and revealing effective health factors, allowing health-care quality improvements.

Match activities of elite women soccer players at different performance levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mohr, Magni; Krustrup, Peter; Andersson, Helena

2008-01-01

, (2) fatigue develops temporarily during and towards the end of a game, and (3) defenders have lower work rates than midfielders and attackers. The difference in high-intensity running between the 2 levels demonstrates the importance of intense intermittent exercise for match performance in women......We sought to study the physical demands and match performance of women soccer players. Nineteen top-class and 15 high-level players were individually videotaped in competitive matches, and time-motion analysis were performed. The players changed locomotor activity >1,300 times in a game...... fewer (P women soccer players (1) top-class international players perform more intervals of high-intensity running than elite players at a lower level...

Experience of safety and performance improvement for fuel handling equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gyoon Chang, Sang; Hee Lee, Dae

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to provide experience of safety and performance improvement of fuel handling equipment for nuclear power plants in Korea. The fuel handling equipment, which is used as an important part of critical processes during the refueling outage, has been improved to enhance safety and to optimize fuel handling procedures. Results of data measured during the fuel reloading are incorporated into design changes. The safety and performance improvement for fuel handling equipment could be achieved by simply modifying the components and improving the interlock system. The experience provided in this study can be useful lessons for further improvement of the fuel handling equipment. (authors)

High performance gamma measurements of equipment retrieved from Hanford high-level nuclear waste tanks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Troyer, G.L.

1997-01-01

The cleanup of high level defense nuclear waste at the Hanford site presents several progressive challenges. Among these is the removal and disposal of various components from buried active waste tanks to allow new equipment insertion or hazards mitigation. A unique automated retrieval system at the tank provides for retrieval, high pressure washing, inventory measurement, and containment for disposal. Key to the inventory measurement is a three detector HPGe high performance gamma spectroscopy system capable of recovering data at up to 90% saturation (200,000 counts per second). Data recovery is based on a unique embedded electronic pulser and specialized software to report the inventory. Each of the detectors have different shielding specified through Monte Carlo simulation with the MCNP program. This shielding provides performance over a dynamic range of eight orders of magnitude. System description, calibration issues and operational experiences are discussed

High performance gamma measurements of equipment retrieved from Hanford high-level nuclear waste tanks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Troyer, G.L.

1997-03-17

The cleanup of high level defense nuclear waste at the Hanford site presents several progressive challenges. Among these is the removal and disposal of various components from buried active waste tanks to allow new equipment insertion or hazards mitigation. A unique automated retrieval system at the tank provides for retrieval, high pressure washing, inventory measurement, and containment for disposal. Key to the inventory measurement is a three detector HPGe high performance gamma spectroscopy system capable of recovering data at up to 90% saturation (200,000 counts per second). Data recovery is based on a unique embedded electronic pulser and specialized software to report the inventory. Each of the detectors have different shielding specified through Monte Carlo simulation with the MCNP program. This shielding provides performance over a dynamic range of eight orders of magnitude. System description, calibration issues and operational experiences are discussed.

Wound healing in cell studies and animal model experiments by low level laser therapy; Were clinical studies justified? A systematic review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lucas, C.; Criens-Poublon, L. J.; Cockrell, C. T.; de Haan, R. J.

2002-01-01

Based on results of cell studies and animal experiments, clinical trials with Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) were performed, which finally did not demonstrate a beneficial effect on outcome of wound healing. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the evidence from cell studies and animal

Perform light and optic experiments in Augmented Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Wozniak, Peter; Vauderwange, Oliver; Curticapean, Dan; Javahiraly, Nicolas; Israel, Kai

2015-10-01

In many scientific studies lens experiments are part of the curriculum. The conducted experiments are meant to give the students a basic understanding for the laws of optics and its applications. Most of the experiments need special hardware like e.g. an optical bench, light sources, apertures and different lens types. Therefore it is not possible for the students to conduct any of the experiments outside of the university's laboratory. Simple optical software simulators enabling the students to virtually perform lens experiments already exist, but are mostly desktop or web browser based. Augmented Reality (AR) is a special case of mediated and mixed reality concepts, where computers are used to add, subtract or modify one's perception of reality. As a result of the success and widespread availability of handheld mobile devices, like e.g. tablet computers and smartphones, mobile augmented reality applications are easy to use. Augmented reality can be easily used to visualize a simulated optical bench. The students can interactively modify properties like e.g. lens type, lens curvature, lens diameter, lens refractive index and the positions of the instruments in space. Light rays can be visualized and promote an additional understanding of the laws of optics. An AR application like this is ideally suited to prepare the actual laboratory sessions and/or recap the teaching content. The authors will present their experience with handheld augmented reality applications and their possibilities for light and optic experiments without the needs for specialized optical hardware.

Cygnus Performance in Subcritical Experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

G Corrow; M Hansen; D Henderson; S Lutz; C Mitton

2008-01-01

The Cygnus Dual Beam Radiographic Facility consists of two identical radiographic sources with the following specifications: 4-rad dose at 1 m, 1-mm spot size, 50-ns pulse length, 2.25-MeV endpoint energy. The facility is located in an underground tunnel complex at the Nevada Test Site. Here SubCritical Experiments (SCEs) are performed to study the dynamic properties of plutonium. The Cygnus sources were developed as a primary diagnostic for these tests. Since SCEs are single-shot, high-value events - reliability and reproducibility are key issues. Enhanced reliability involves minimization of failure modes through design, inspection, and testing. Many unique hardware and operational features were incorporated into Cygnus to insure reliability. Enhanced reproducibility involves normalization of shot-to-shot output also through design, inspection, and testing. The first SCE to utilize Cygnus, Armando, was executed on May 25, 2004. A year later, April - May 2005, calibrations using a plutonium step wedge were performed. The results from this series were used for more precise interpretation of the Armando data. In the period February - May 2007 Cygnus was fielded on Thermos, which is a series of small-sample plutonium shots using a one-dimensional geometry. Pulsed power research generally dictates frequent change in hardware configuration. Conversely, SCE applications have typically required constant machine settings. Therefore, while operating during the past four years we have accumulated a large database for evaluation of machine performance under highly consistent operating conditions. Through analysis of this database Cygnus reliability and reproducibility on Armando, Step Wedge, and Thermos is presented

Cygnus Performance in Subcritical Experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

G. Corrow, M. Hansen, D. Henderson, S. Lutz, C. Mitton, et al.

2008-02-01

The Cygnus Dual Beam Radiographic Facility consists of two identical radiographic sources with the following specifications: 4-rad dose at 1 m, 1-mm spot size, 50-ns pulse length, 2.25-MeV endpoint energy. The facility is located in an underground tunnel complex at the Nevada Test Site. Here SubCritical Experiments (SCEs) are performed to study the dynamic properties of plutonium. The Cygnus sources were developed as a primary diagnostic for these tests. Since SCEs are single-shot, high-value events - reliability and reproducibility are key issues. Enhanced reliability involves minimization of failure modes through design, inspection, and testing. Many unique hardware and operational features were incorporated into Cygnus to insure reliability. Enhanced reproducibility involves normalization of shot-to-shot output also through design, inspection, and testing. The first SCE to utilize Cygnus, Armando, was executed on May 25, 2004. A year later, April - May 2005, calibrations using a plutonium step wedge were performed. The results from this series were used for more precise interpretation of the Armando data. In the period February - May 2007 Cygnus was fielded on Thermos, which is a series of small-sample plutonium shots using a one-dimensional geometry. Pulsed power research generally dictates frequent change in hardware configuration. Conversely, SCE applications have typically required constant machine settings. Therefore, while operating during the past four years we have accumulated a large database for evaluation of machine performance under highly consistent operating conditions. Through analysis of this database Cygnus reliability and reproducibility on Armando, Step Wedge, and Thermos is presented.

Importance of Performing Experience in Strength Training Periodization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Novosád Adrián

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Proper mastering of a training means seems to be an important determinant of the quality of strength training. Aim of the paper is to examine the differences in strength in relation to squat-performing experience and to offer a way of improving performance by means of increasing the quality of squat technique. Methods 1. Subjects were divided into two groups according to their previous experience with performing squat: a group of inexperienced (n = 9; age: 21.1 years ± 2.37; height: 179.2 cm ± 8.18; weight: 70.0 kg ± 7.38 and experienced (n = 9; age: 24.0 years ± 1.07; height: 182.1 cm ± 4.14; weight: 81.2 kg ± 4.29. We carried out a test of maximal isometric strength in deep squat (ISOmax50° and a modified diagnostic set (Fitro Force Plate which consisted of repetitions of heel raised deep squats with a gradually increasing external loading (FmaxBW+(0-100%. Posture and the body segments of the participants were not corrected during these tests. Mann-Whitney U test (α=0.05 was used to evaluate the data obtained. Results 1. After comparing the differences in the maximal value of force curve in dynamic muscular mode (FmaxBW+(0-100% and the maximal isometric force in deep squat (ISOmax50° between the groups we found significantly bigger differences in the group of experienced when the resistance represented +75 % (Δ 279.0 N and +100 % of body weight (Δ 332.2 N. Methods 2. Eleven inexperienced subjects (age: 22.1 years ± 1.52; weight: 78.2 kg ± 2.84 completed a short term experiment (with 4 training sessions in weeklong microcycle. The purpose was to practise deep squat without any content of targeted strength development.

Performance of Nursing Awassi Ewes Fed Different Levels of Bread By-product

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. S. Obeidat

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of partial substitution of barley grain with bread by-product (BB on performance of Awassi ewes and their lambs. Forty Awassi ewes rearing single lambs were randomly allotted into four experimental diets containing various levels of BB. The experimental diets contained 0 (BB0, 10 (BB10, 15 (BB15, and 20% (BB20 of BB on dietary dry matter (DM. The study lasted for eight weeks, in which the first week was used as an adaptation period and seven weeks of data collection. Ewes and their lambs were penned individually where they were fed their lactating diets ad libitum. Ewes and lambs body weights were measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. However, milk production and composition were evaluated biweekly. Feeding BB had no effect (p>0.05 on dry matter (DM, organic matter (OM, and crude protein (CP intakes. However, neutral detergent fiber (NDF intake was the lowest (p0.05 on ewes body weight change and on lamb performance (i.e., weaning body weight and average daily gain. Similarly, no differences (p>0.05 were observed either in milk production or composition by the BB substitution. Inclusion of BB reduced feed cost by 9, 14, and 18% for the BB10, BB15, and BB20 diets, respectively. No differences were observed in milk efficiency (DM intake: milk production; p>0.05 among diets. However, cost of milk production ($US/kg milk was the lowest (p<0.05 in the diet containing BB20. Results of the present study indicate that feeding bread by-product up to 20% of the diet DM had no effect on performance of Awassi ewes and their lambs and reduced feed cost.

Performance of Nursing Awassi Ewes Fed Different Levels of Bread By-product

Science.gov (United States)

Obeidat, B. S.; Haddad, S. G.; Titi, H. H.; Abu Ishmais, M. A.; Telfah, B. T.

2012-01-01

Objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of partial substitution of barley grain with bread by-product (BB) on performance of Awassi ewes and their lambs. Forty Awassi ewes rearing single lambs were randomly allotted into four experimental diets containing various levels of BB. The experimental diets contained 0 (BB0), 10 (BB10), 15 (BB15), and 20% (BB20) of BB on dietary dry matter (DM). The study lasted for eight weeks, in which the first week was used as an adaptation period and seven weeks of data collection. Ewes and their lambs were penned individually where they were fed their lactating diets ad libitum. Ewes and lambs body weights were measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. However, milk production and composition were evaluated biweekly. Feeding BB had no effect (p>0.05) on dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and crude protein (CP) intakes. However, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake was the lowest (pby-product had no effect (p>0.05) on ewes body weight change and on lamb performance (i.e., weaning body weight and average daily gain). Similarly, no differences (p>0.05) were observed either in milk production or composition by the BB substitution. Inclusion of BB reduced feed cost by 9, 14, and 18% for the BB10, BB15, and BB20 diets, respectively. No differences were observed in milk efficiency (DM intake: milk production; p>0.05) among diets. However, cost of milk production ($US/kg milk) was the lowest (pby-product up to 20% of the diet DM had no effect on performance of Awassi ewes and their lambs and reduced feed cost. PMID:25049672

Stress level and academic performance of university students in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined the relationship between level of stress and students' academic performance in Universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Proportional stratified random sampling was used to select 300 students for the study. A “Students' Stress Level Questionnaire ...

Early experience with the cochlear ESPrit ear-level speech processor in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Totten, C; Cope, Y; McCormick, B

2000-12-01

The ESPrit ear-level speech processor has recently become available in the United Kingdom for use with the Nucleus CI24M multichannel cochlear implant. We report on the use of this ear-level processor with 6 children, ages 8 to 15 years. In this study, all patients were initially fitted with the SPrint body-worn processor, this being a prerequisite for programming the ESPrit. Five of the children were fitted successfully with the ESPrit and are using their devices consistently. The results show that patient experience with the ESPrit has been favorable, although there have been some device and programming difficulties. Aided threshold measures show that the ESPrit processor performs at least as well as the SPrint processor, with a trend toward improved aided thresholds for the ESPrit processor compared with the SPrint processor. Further study of the functional benefit of both of these devices may confirm these potential gains. The ESPrit device currently has a disadvantage for children in that it does not support FM radio hearing aid use. Finally, caution is advised in the fitting of the ESPrit in very young children or inexperienced listeners, because of difficulties in monitoring device function.

LEARNING CURVE IN SINGLE-LEVEL MINIMALLY INVASIVE TLIF: EXPERIENCE OF A NEUROSURGEON

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Romano-Feinholz

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: To describe the learning curve that shows the progress of a single neurosurgeon when performing single-level MI-TLIF. Methods: We included 99 consecutive patients who underwent single-level MI-TLIF by the same neurosurgeon (JASS. Patient’s demographic characteristics were analyzed. In addition, surgical time, intraoperative blood loss and hospital stay were evaluated. The learning curves were calculated with a piecewise regression model. Results: The mean age was 54.6 years. The learning curves showed an inverse relationship between the surgical experience and the variable analyzed, reaching an inflection point for surgical time in case 43 and for blood loss in case 48. The mean surgical time was 203.3 minutes (interquartile range [IQR] 150-240 minutes, intraoperative bleeding was 97.4ml (IQR 40-100ml and hospital stay of four days (IQR 3-5 days. Conclusions: MI-TLIF is a very frequent surgical procedure due to its effectiveness and safety, which has shown similar results to open procedure. According to this study, the required learning curve is slightly higher than for open procedures, and is reached after about 45 cases.

Performance improvement by discharge from different levels in solar storage tanks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Furbo, Simon; Andersen, Elsa; Thür, Alexander

2005-01-01

The thermal advantages by utilizing discharge from different levels in solar storage tanks are investigated, both for a small SDHW system and for a solar combisystem. The investigations showed that it is possible to increase the thermal performance of both types of systems by using two draw......-off levels from the solar tanks instead of one draw-off level at a fixed position. The best position of the second draw-off level is in the middle or just above the middle of the tank. For the investigated small SDHW system with a realistic draw off hot water temperature of 40°C and 45°C and an auxiliary...... volume temperature of 50.5°C the increase of the thermal performance by the second draw-off level is about 6%. For the investigated solar combisystem the extra thermal performance by using one extra draw-off level, either for the domestic hot water heat exchanger or for the heating system, is about 3...

Military experience and levels of stress and coping in police officers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartley, Tara A; Violanti, John M; Mnatsakanova, Anna; Andrew, Michael E; Burchfiel, Cecil M

2013-01-01

Policing is a stressful occupation and working in this environment may make officers more vulnerable to adverse psychological and physiological outcomes. The impact of prior military experience on work stress and coping strategies has not been well-studied in police. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine differences in levels of police-related stress and coping in officers with and without military experience. Participants were 452 police officers from the Buffalo Cardio-metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study Officers were categorized into three groups: non-military (n = 334), non-combat military (n = 84), and military with combat (n = 34). Age, sex and education adjusted levels of psychological stress and coping measures were compared across the three groups using ANCOVA. P-values were derived from post-hoc comparisons. Non-military police officers had significantly higher stress levels for physically and psychological threatening events compared to non-combat officers (p = 0.019). Non-military officers also reported experiencing significantly more organizational stressors and physically and psychologically threatening events in the past year than combat and non-combat officers (p military officers (p = 0.010, p = 0.005, respectively). In summary, police officers without military experience reported experiencing more organizational and life-threatening events than officers who served in the military. Yet combat officers were less likely to utilize positive coping than non-combat and non-military officers. These findings demonstrate the potential positive influence of military experience on police stress. Further research is needed as military veterans return to police work.

CT colonography: effect of experience and training on reader performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, Stuart A.; Burling, David; Morley, Simon; Bartram, Clive I.; Halligan, Steve; Bassett, Paul; Atkin, Wendy

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of radiologist experience and increasing exposure to CT colonography on reader performance. Three radiologists of differing general experience (consultant, research fellow, trainee) independently analysed 100 CT colonographic datasets. Readers had no prior experience of CT colonography and received feedback and training after the first 50 cases from an independent experienced radiologist. Diagnostic performance and reporting times were compared for the first and second 50 datasets and compared with the results of a radiologist experienced in CT colonography. Before training only the consultant reader achieved statistical equivalence with the reference standard for detection of larger polyps. After training, detection rates ranged between 25 and 58% for larger polyps. Only the trainee significantly improved after training (P=0.007), with performance of other readers unchanged or even worse. Reporting times following training were reduced significantly for the consultant and fellow (P<0.001 and P=0.03, respectively), but increased for the trainee (P<0.001). In comparison to the consultant reader, the odds of detection of larger polyps was 0.36 (CI 0.16, 0.82) for the fellow and 0.36 (CI 0.14, 0.91) for the trainee. There is considerable variation in the ability to report CT colonography. Prior experience in gastrointestinal radiology is a distinct advantage. Competence cannot be assumed even after directed training via a database of 50 cases. (orig.)

Effect of the Level of Coordinated Motor Abilities on Performance in Junior Judokas

Science.gov (United States)

Lech, Grzegorz; Jaworski, Janusz; Lyakh, Vladimir; Krawczyk, Robert

2011-01-01

The main focus of this study was to identify coordinated motor abilities that affect fighting methods and performance in junior judokas. Subjects were selected for the study in consideration of their age, competition experience, body mass and prior sports level. Subjects’ competition history was taken into consideration when analysing the effectiveness of current fight actions, and individual sports level was determined with consideration to rank in the analysed competitions. The study sought to determine the level of coordinated motor abilities of competitors. The scope of this analysis covered the following aspects: kinaesthetic differentiation, movement frequency, simple and selective reaction time (evoked by a visual or auditory stimulus), spatial orientation, visual-motor coordination, rhythmization, speed, accuracy and precision of movements and the ability to adapt movements and balance. A set of computer tests was employed for the analysis of all of the coordination abilities, while balance examinations were based on the Flamingo Balance Test. Finally, all relationships were determined based on the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. It was observed that the activity of the contestants during the fight correlated with the ability to differentiate movements and speed, accuracy and precision of movement, whereas the achievement level during competition was connected with reaction time. PMID:23486723

Performance of growing Yankasa rams Fed graded levels of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SH

The experimental diets formulated were A (0%), B (15%) and C (30%) inclusion levels of the test ingredient. ... experiment, the experimental animals were dewormed with Albendazole at 1ml per. 50kg body weight and fed with the experimental diets. The experimental animals were .... 34th annual conference of the NSAP.

Physical Characteristics and Performance of Japanese Top-Level American Football Players.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamashita, Daichi; Asakura, Masaki; Ito, Yoshihiko; Yamada, Shinzo; Yamada, Yosuke

2017-09-01

Yamashita, D, Asakura, M, Ito, Y, Yamada, S, and Yamada, Y. Physical characteristics and performance of Japanese top-level American football players. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2455-2461, 2017-This study aimed to compare the physical characteristics and performance between top-level nonprofessional football players in Japan and National Football League (NFL) Combine invited players and between top-level and middle-level players in Japan to determine the factors that enhance performance in international and national competitions. A total of 168 American football players (>20 years) in Japan participated in an anthropometric (height and weight) and physical (vertical jump, long jump, 40-yard dash, pro-agility shuttle, 3-cone drill, and bench press repetition test) measurement program based on the NFL Combine program to compete in the selection of candidates for the Senior World Championship. All players were categorized into 1 of the 3 position groups based on playing position: skill players, big skill players, and linemen. Japanese players were additionally categorized into selected and nonselected players for the second tryout. The NFL Combine candidates had significantly better performance than selected Japanese players on all variables except on performance related to quickness among the 3 position groups. Compared with nonselected players, selected Japanese skill players had better performance in the 40-yard dash and bench press test and big skill players had better performance in the vertical jump, broad jump, and 40-yard dash. Selected and nonselected Japanese linemen were not different in any measurements. These results showed the challenges in American football in Japan, which include not only improving physical performance of top-level players, but also increasing the number of football players with good physical performance.

The Concept of Performance Levels in Criterion-Referenced Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hewitson, Mal

The concept of performance levels in criterion-referenced assessment is explored by applying the idea to different types of tests commonly used in schools, mastery tests (including diagnostic tests) and achievement tests. In mastery tests, a threshold performance standard must be established for each criterion. Attainment of this threshold…

Methodology for performing RF reliability experiments on a generic test structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sasse, G.T.; de Vries, Rein J.; Schmitz, Jurriaan

2007-01-01

This paper discusses a new technique developed for generating well defined RF large voltage swing signals for on wafer experiments. This technique can be employed for performing a broad range of different RF reliability experiments on one generic test structure. The frequency dependence of a

Motivators and barriers to using patient experience reports for performance improvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geissler, K.H.; Friedberg, M.W.; SteelFisher, G.K.; Schneider, E.C.

2013-01-01

Increasingly, patient experience surveys are available to provide performance feedback to physician groups. However, limited published literature addresses factors influencing use of these reports for performance improvement. To address this gap, we conducted semistructured interviews with leaders

45 CFR 305.33 - Determination of applicable percentages based on performance levels.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAM PERFORMANCE MEASURES, STANDARDS, FINANCIAL INCENTIVES, AND PENALTIES § 305.33 Determination of applicable percentages based on performance levels. (a) A State's... performance levels. 305.33 Section 305.33 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare OFFICE OF...

Recent experience with the land burial of solid low-level radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, G.L.

1976-01-01

Low-level, nuclear fuel cycle wastes are being disposed of at six commercially operated sites in the United States of America. Similar wastes resulting from Federal activities are being disposed of at five Federally operated sites. The hydrology, geology, climate and operational practices at these sites vary greatly. At three sites in the wetter eastern United States which have low-permeability burial media, it is difficult to keep water from getting into the trenches. Two commercial burial sites in New York and Kentucky have not performed as planned. Authorization to operate these facilities was based on site analyses which, it was believed, demonstrated that the buried radioactive wastes would not migrate from the site during their hazardous lifetime (i.e. for hundreds of years). In ten years or less, however, radioactivity has been detected offsite from these two sites. Radioactivity has migrated offsite from the Federal burial site at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also. State and Federal authorities have stated that the radioactivity in the environment around the site was not a health hazard at this time. Information is presented on recent disposal practices and experience at these three low-level burial facilities. Based on this experience, the paper (1) briefly describes operations and problems at the sites; (2) suggests factors which led to the problems; (3) identifies problems which appear to be generic to disposal in humid climates; (4) identifies specific problems which could either reduce the ability to predict the impact of disposal operations or reduce the retention capability of the site; and (5) recommends improvements which can be made in site selection, development, and operation to reduce the environmental impact of the site. (author)

High-level trigger system for the LHC ALICE experiment

CERN Document Server

Bramm, R; Lien, J A; Lindenstruth, V; Loizides, C; Röhrich, D; Skaali, B; Steinbeck, T M; Stock, Reinhard; Ullaland, K; Vestbø, A S; Wiebalck, A

2003-01-01

The central detectors of the ALICE experiment at LHC will produce a data size of up to 75 MB/event at an event rate less than approximately equals 200 Hz resulting in a data rate of similar to 15 GB/s. Online processing of the data is necessary in order to select interesting (sub)events ("High Level Trigger"), or to compress data efficiently by modeling techniques. Processing this data requires a massive parallel computing system (High Level Trigger System). The system will consist of a farm of clustered SMP-nodes based on off- the-shelf PCs connected with a high bandwidth low latency network.

The impact of educational level on performance on auditory processing tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina F.B. Murphy

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Research has demonstrated that a higher level of education is associated with better performance on cognitive tests among middle-aged and elderly people. However, the effects of education on auditory processing skills have not yet been evaluated. Previous demonstrations of sensory-cognitive interactions in the aging process indicate the potential importance of this topic. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of middle-aged and elderly people with different levels of formal education on auditory processing tests. A total of 177 adults with no evidence of cognitive, psychological or neurological conditions took part in the research. The participants completed a series of auditory assessments, including dichotic digit, frequency pattern and speech-in-noise tests. A working memory test was also performed to investigate the extent to which auditory processing and cognitive performance were associated. The results demonstrated positive but weak correlations between years of schooling and performance on all of the tests applied. The factor years of schooling was also one of the best predictors of frequency pattern and speech-in-noise test performance. Additionally, performance on the working memory, frequency pattern and dichotic digit tests was also correlated, suggesting that the influence of educational level on auditory processing performance might be associated with the cognitive demand of the auditory processing tests rather than auditory sensory aspects itself. Longitudinal research is required to investigate the causal relationship between educational level and auditory processing skills.

Experience does not equal expertise in recognizing infrequent incoming gunfire: neural markers for experience and task expertise at peak behavioral performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason Samuel Sherwin

Full Text Available For a soldier, decisions to use force can happen rapidly and sometimes lead to undesired consequences. In many of these situations, there is a rapid assessment by the shooter that recognizes a threat and responds to it with return fire. But the neural processes underlying these rapid decisions are largely unknown, especially amongst those with extensive weapons experience and expertise. In this paper, we investigate differences in weapons experts and non-experts during an incoming gunfire detection task. Specifically, we analyzed the electroencephalography (EEG of eleven expert marksmen/soldiers and eleven non-experts while they listened to an audio scene consisting of a sequence of incoming and non-incoming gunfire events. Subjects were tasked with identifying each event as quickly as possible and committing their choice via a motor response. Contrary to our hypothesis, experts did not have significantly better behavioral performance or faster response time than novices. Rather, novices indicated trends of better behavioral performance than experts. These group differences were more dramatic in the EEG correlates of incoming gunfire detection. Using machine learning, we found condition-discriminating EEG activity among novices showing greater magnitude and covering longer periods than those found in experts. We also compared group-level source reconstruction on the maximum discriminating neural correlates and found that each group uses different neural structures to perform the task. From condition-discriminating EEG and source localization, we found that experts perceive more categorical overlap between incoming and non-incoming gunfire. Consequently, the experts did not perform as well behaviorally as the novices. We explain these unexpected group differences as a consequence of experience with gunfire not being equivalent to expertise in recognizing incoming gunfire.

Long Term Sorption Diffusion Experiment (LTDE-SD). Performance of main in situ experiment and results from water phase measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Widestrand, Henrik; Byegaard, Johan; Nilsson, Kersti; Hoeglund, Susanne; Gustafsson, Erik; Kronberg, Magnus

2010-12-01

The LTDE-SD experiment, (Long Term Sorption Diffusion Experiment) aimed at increasing the scientific knowledge of sorption and diffusion under in situ conditions and to provide data for performance and safety assessment calculations. Performance and results of the in situ experiment phase are presented in the report. In total, 21 radionuclide trace elements and one stable trace element were injected, circulated and sampled for ∼6.5 months in a closed borehole section. The trace elements represented non-sorbing tracers and sorbing tracers for which the sorption was dominated by a cation exchange mechanism, a surface complexation mechanism, or dependent on an electrochemical reduction in order to reach the tetravalent state (oxidation state IV) considered very strongly sorbing. The borehole section in contact with the tracer labelled groundwater consisted in part of a natural fracture surface and a borehole section in the unaltered matrix rock, devoid of natural fractures. Water samples were regularly extracted and analysed for trace element concentration and a few ion exchange speciation and filtered samplings were also conducted. Independent colloid filtering and chemical speciation calculations were performed in support the evaluation. Sorption was demonstrated for a series of elements present in the experiment. The amounts lost of the different respective tracers from the aqueous phase follow very well the general understanding of the relative sorption strength of the tracers, as inferred from e.g. batch sorption experiments and dynamic in situ tracer experiments. The chemical speciation calculations of the different tracers were in line with the results of the ion exchange speciation performed during the experiment. With the exception of UO 2 2+ carbonate complexes formed, no strong indications were obtained that aqueous complexation prevents adsorption under the chemical conditions of the experiment. The 20 nm filtered sampling indicated that radionuclide

High-level waste-form-product performance evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernadzikowski, T.A.; Allender, J.S.; Stone, J.A.; Gordon, D.E.; Gould, T.H. Jr.; Westberry, C.F. III.

1982-01-01

Seven candidate waste forms were evaluated for immobilization and geologic disposal of high-level radioactive wastes. The waste forms were compared on the basis of leach resistance, mechanical stability, and waste loading. All forms performed well at leaching temperatures of 40, 90, and 150 0 C. Ceramic forms ranked highest, followed by glasses, a metal matrix form, and concrete. 11 tables

Intelligence Level Performance Standards Research for Autonomous Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostelman, Roger B; Hong, Tsai H; Messina, Elena

2015-01-01

United States and European safety standards have evolved to protect workers near Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's). However, performance standards for AGV's and mobile robots have only recently begun development. Lessons can be learned from research and standards efforts for mobile robots applied to emergency response and military applications. Research challenges, tests and evaluations, and programs to develop higher intelligence levels for vehicles can also used to guide industrial AGV developments towards more adaptable and intelligent systems. These other efforts also provide useful standards development criteria for AGV performance test methods. Current standards areas being considered for AGVs are for docking, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and the ground truth systems that measure performance. This paper provides a look to the future with standards developments in both the performance of vehicles and the dynamic perception systems that measure intelligent vehicle performance.

Physician groups' use of data from patient experience surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedberg, Mark W; SteelFisher, Gillian K; Karp, Melinda; Schneider, Eric C

2011-05-01

In Massachusetts, physician groups' performance on validated surveys of patient experience has been publicly reported since 2006. Groups also receive detailed reports of their own performance, but little is known about how physician groups have responded to these reports. To examine whether and how physician groups are using patient experience data to improve patient care. During 2008, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the leaders of 72 participating physician groups (out of 117 groups receiving patient experience reports). Based on leaders' responses, we identified three levels of engagement with patient experience reporting: no efforts to improve (level 1), efforts to improve only the performance of low-scoring physicians or practice sites (level 2), and efforts to improve group-wide performance (level 3). Groups' level of engagement and specific efforts to improve patient care. Forty-four group leaders (61%) reported group-wide improvement efforts (level 3), 16 (22%) reported efforts to improve only the performance of low-scoring physicians or practice sites (level 2), and 12 (17%) reported no performance improvement efforts (level 1). Level 3 groups were more likely than others to have an integrated medical group organizational model (84% vs. 31% at level 2 and 33% at level 1; P customer service. The most commonly reported improvement initiatives were changing office workflow, providing additional training for nonclinical staff, and adopting or enhancing an electronic health record. Despite statewide public reporting, physician groups' use of patient experience data varied widely. Integrated organizational models were associated with greater engagement, and efforts to enhance clinicians' interpersonal skills were uncommon, with groups predominantly focusing on office workflow and support staff.

The impact of personality traits and professional experience on police officers' shooting performance under pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Landman, Annemarie; Nieuwenhuys, Arne; Oudejans, Raôul R D

2016-07-01

We explored the impact of professional experience and personality on police officers' shooting performance under pressure. We recruited: (1) regular officers, (2) officers wanting to join a specialised arrest unit (AU) (expected to possess more stress-resistant traits; pre-AU) and (3) officers from this unit (expected to also possess more professional experience; AU) (all male). In Phase 1, we determined personality traits and experience. In Phase 2, state anxiety, shot accuracy, decision-making (shoot/don't shoot), movement speed and gaze behaviour were measured while officers performed a shooting test under low and high pressure. Results indicate minimal differences in personality among groups and superior performance of AU officers. Regression analyses showed that state anxiety and shooting performance under high pressure were first predicted by AU experience and second by certain personality traits. Results suggest that although personality traits attenuate the impact of high pressure, it is relevant experience that secures effective performance under pressure. Practitioner Summary: To obtain information for police selection and training purposes, we let officers who differed in personality and experience execute a shooting test under low and high pressure. Outcomes indicate that experience affected anxiety and performance most strongly, while personality traits of thrill- and adventure-seeking and self-control also had an effect.

Site characterization and validation - Tracer migration experiment in the validation drift, report 2, part 1: performed experiments, results and evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birgersson, L.; Widen, H.; Aagren, T.; Neretnieks, I.; Moreno, L.

1992-01-01

This report is the second of the two reports describing the tracer migration experiment where water and tracer flow has been monitored in a drift at the 385 m level in the Stripa experimental mine. The tracer migration experiment is one of a large number of experiments performed within the Site Characterization and Validation (SCV) project. The upper part of the 50 m long validation drift was covered with approximately 150 plastic sheets, in which the emerging water was collected. The water emerging into the lower part of the drift was collected in short boreholes, sumpholes. Sex different tracer mixtures were injected at distances between 10 and 25 m from the drift. The flowrate and tracer monitoring continued for ten months. Tracer breakthrough curves and flowrate distributions were used to study flow paths, velocities, hydraulic conductivities, dispersivities, interaction with the rock matrix and channelling effects within the rock. The present report describes the structure of the observations, the flowrate measurements and estimated hydraulic conductivities. The main part of this report addresses the interpretation of the tracer movement in fractured rock. The tracer movement as measured by the more than 150 individual tracer curves has been analysed with the traditional advection-dispersion model and a subset of the curves with the advection-dispersion-diffusion model. The tracer experiments have permitted the flow porosity, dispersion and interaction with the rock matrix to be studied. (57 refs.)

Application of Adjusted Canonical Correlation Analysis (ACCA) to study the association between mathematics in Level 1 and Level 2 and performance of engineering disciplines in Level 2

Science.gov (United States)

Peiris, T. S. G.; Nanayakkara, K. A. D. S. A.

2017-09-01

Mathematics plays a key role in engineering sciences as it assists to develop the intellectual maturity and analytical thinking of engineering students and exploring the student academic performance has received great attention recently. The lack of control over covariates motivates the need for their adjustment when measuring the degree of association between two sets of variables in Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA). Thus to examine the individual effects of mathematics in Level 1 and Level 2 on engineering performance in Level 2, two adjusted analyses in CCA: Part CCA and Partial CCA were applied for the raw marks of engineering undergraduates for three different disciplines, at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. The joint influence of mathematics in Level 1 and Level 2 is significant on engineering performance in Level 2 irrespective of the engineering disciplines. The individual effect of mathematics in Level 2 is significantly higher compared to the individual effect of mathematics in Level 1 on engineering performance in Level 2. Furthermore, the individual effect of mathematics in Level 1 can be negligible. But, there would be a notable indirect effect of mathematics in Level 1 on engineering performance in Level 2. It can be concluded that the joint effect of mathematics in both Level 1 and Level 2 is immensely beneficial to improve the overall academic performance at the end of Level 2 of the engineering students. Furthermore, it was found that the impact mathematics varies among engineering disciplines. As partial CCA and partial CCA are not widely explored in applied work, it is recommended to use these techniques for various applications.

Time and motion, experiment M151. [human performance and space flight stress

Science.gov (United States)

Kubis, J. F.; Elrod, J. T.; Rusnak, R.; Mcbride, G. H.; Barnes, J. E.; Saxon, S. C.

1973-01-01

Astronaut work performance during the preparation and execution of experiments in simulated Skylab tests was analyzed according to time and motion in order to evaluate the efficiency and consistency of performance (adaptation function) for several different types of activity over the course of the mission; to evaluate the procedures to be used by the same experiment in Skylab; to generate characteristic adaptation functions for later comparison with Skylab data; and to examine astronaut performance for any behavioral stress due to the environment. The overall results indicate that the anticipated adaptation function was obtained both for individual and for averaged data.

Evaluation of operating experience for early recognition of deteriorating safety performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beckmerhagen, I.A.; Berg, H.P.

2004-01-01

One of the most difficult challenges facing nuclear power plants is to recognize the early signs of degrading safety performance before regulatory requirements are imposed or serious incidents or accidents occur. Today, the nuclear industry is striving for collecting more information on occurrences that could improve the operational safety performance. To achieve this, the reporting threshold has been lowered from incidents to anomalies with minor or no impact to safety. Industry experience (also outside nuclear industry) has shown that these are typical issues which should be considered when looking for such early warning signs. Therefore, it is important that nuclear power plant operators have the capability to trend, analyse and recognize early warning signs of deteriorating performance. It is necessary that plant operators are sensitive to these warning signs which may not be immediately evident. Reviewing operating experience is one of the main tasks for plant operators in their daily activities. Therefore, self assessment should be at the centre of any operational safety performance programme. One way of applying a self assessment program is through the following four basic elements: operational data, events, safety basis, and related experience. This approach will be described in the paper in more details. (authors)

Effect of Different Levels of Methionine on Performance of Khorasan Station Native Hens at Different Production Stages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A Hesabi Nameghi

2012-02-01

To investigate the effects of different levels of the amino acid methionine(Met on performance of birds native Khorasan province, an experiment using 300 pieces of chicken native Station Native chickens Khorasan in the form of designs completely randomized design with 6 treatments, 5 replicates and 10 chickens in each replicate from age 26 till 52 weeks implemented. 6 treatments follows that the first treatment of Met to 0.22% received the basal diet( control and other treatments to Met level of 0.1% in each treatment and were increased so that the six birds different Met (0.22,0.32,0.42,0.52,0.62 and 0.72 percent received. The results showed that the Met levels increase the total weight of eggs produced in the experimental period (P

Military Experience and Levels of Stress and Coping in Police Officers

OpenAIRE

Hartley, Tara A.; Violanti, John M.; Mnatsakanova, Anna; Andrew, Michael E.; Burchfiel, Cecil M.

2013-01-01

Policing is a stressful occupation and working in this environment may make officers more vulnerable to adverse psychological and physiological outcomes. The impact of prior military experience on work stress and coping strategies has not been well-studied in police. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine differences in levels of police-related stress and coping in officers with and without military experience. Participants were 452 police officers from the Buffalo Cardio-me...

The ATLAS High Level Trigger Configuration and Steering, Experience with the First 7 TeV Collisions

CERN Document Server

Stelzer, J; The ATLAS collaboration

2011-01-01

In March 2010 the four LHC experiments saw the first proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Still within the year a collision rate of nearly 10 MHz was expected. At ATLAS, events of potential physics interest for are selected by a three-level trigger system, with a final recording rate of about 200 Hz. The first level (L1) is implemented in customized hardware, the two levels of the high level trigger (HLT) are software triggers. For the ATLAS physics program more than 500 trigger signatures are defined. The HLT tests each signature on each L1-accepted event, the test outcome is recorded for later analysis. The HLT-Steering is responsible for this. It foremost ensures the independence of each signature test and an unbiased trigger decisions. Yet, to minimize data readout and execution time, cached detector data and once-calculated trigger objects are reused to form the decision. Some signature tests are performed only on a scaled-down fraction of candidate events, in order to reduce the...

Performance study of single undoped CsI crystals for the Mu2e experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donghia, R.

2016-01-01

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab aims to measure the neutrinoless muon-to-electron conversion, which is a charged-lepton flavor-violating process. The goal of the experiment is to reach a single event sensitivity of 2.5 × 10"−"1"7, to set an upper limit on the muon conversion rate at 6.7 × 10"−"1"7 in a three-year run. For this purpose, the Mu2e detector is designed to identify electrons from muon conversion and reduce the background to a negligible level. It consists of a low-mass straw tracker and a pure CsI crystal calorimeter. In this paper, the performance of undoped CsI single crystal is reported. Crystals from many vendors have been characterized by determining their Light Yield (LY) and Longitudinal Response Uniformity (LRU), when read with a UV extended PMT, and their time resolution when coupled to a silicon photomultiplier. The crystals show a LY of ∼ 100 photoelectrons per MeV when wrapped with Tyvek and coupled to the PMT without optical grease. The LRU is well represented by a linear slope that is on average 0.6%/cm. Both measurements have been performed using a "2"2Na source. The timing performance has been evaluated exploiting cosmic rays, with MPPC readout. A timing resolution lower than 400 ps has been achieved (at ∼ 20 MeV, which is the energy released by a minimum ionizing particle in the crystal).

Level-3 Cholesky Factorization Routines Improve Performance of Many Cholesky Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gustavson, Fred G.; Wasniewski, Jerzy; Dongarra, Jack J.

2013-01-01

Four routines called DPOTF3i, i = a,b,c,d, are presented. DPOTF3i are a novel type of level-3 BLAS for use by BPF (Blocked Packed Format) Cholesky factorization and LAPACK routine DPOTRF. Performance of routines DPOTF3i are still increasing when the performance of Level-2 routine DPOTF2 of LAPACK...

Laser performance upgrade for precise ICF experiment in SG-Ⅲ laser facility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanguo Zheng

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The SG-Ⅲ laser facility (SG-Ⅲ is the largest laser driver for inertial confinement fusion (ICF researches in China, which has 48 beamlines and can deliver 180 kJ ultraviolet laser energy in 3 ns. In order to meet the requirements of precise physics experiments, some new functionalities need to be added to SG-Ⅲ and some intrinsic laser performances need upgrade. So at the end of SG-Ⅲ's engineering construction, the 2-year laser performance upgrade project started. This paper will introduce the newly added functionalities and the latest laser performance of SG-Ⅲ. With these function extensions and performance upgrade, SG-Ⅲ is now fully prepared for precise ICF experiments and solidly paves the way towards fusion ignition.

Performance Evaluation of Fusing Protected Fingerprint Minutiae Templates on the Decision Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raymond N. J. Veldhuis

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In a biometric authentication system using protected templates, a pseudonymous identifier is the part of a protected template that can be directly compared. Each compared pair of pseudonymous identifiers results in a decision testing whether both identifiers are derived from the same biometric characteristic. Compared to an unprotected system, most existing biometric template protection methods cause to a certain extent degradation in biometric performance. Fusion is therefore a promising way to enhance the biometric performance in template-protected biometric systems. Compared to feature level fusion and score level fusion, decision level fusion has not only the least fusion complexity, but also the maximum interoperability across different biometric features, template protection and recognition algorithms, templates formats, and comparison score rules. However, performance improvement via decision level fusion is not obvious. It is influenced by both the dependency and the performance gap among the conducted tests for fusion. We investigate in this paper several fusion scenarios (multi-sample, multi-instance, multi-sensor, multi-algorithm, and their combinations on the binary decision level, and evaluate their biometric performance and fusion efficiency on a multi-sensor fingerprint database with 71,994 samples.

Performance Evaluation of Fusing Protected Fingerprint Minutiae Templates on the Decision Level

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Bian; Busch, Christoph; de Groot, Koen; Xu, Haiyun; Veldhuis, Raymond N. J.

2012-01-01

In a biometric authentication system using protected templates, a pseudonymous identifier is the part of a protected template that can be directly compared. Each compared pair of pseudonymous identifiers results in a decision testing whether both identifiers are derived from the same biometric characteristic. Compared to an unprotected system, most existing biometric template protection methods cause to a certain extent degradation in biometric performance. Fusion is therefore a promising way to enhance the biometric performance in template-protected biometric systems. Compared to feature level fusion and score level fusion, decision level fusion has not only the least fusion complexity, but also the maximum interoperability across different biometric features, template protection and recognition algorithms, templates formats, and comparison score rules. However, performance improvement via decision level fusion is not obvious. It is influenced by both the dependency and the performance gap among the conducted tests for fusion. We investigate in this paper several fusion scenarios (multi-sample, multi-instance, multi-sensor, multi-algorithm, and their combinations) on the binary decision level, and evaluate their biometric performance and fusion efficiency on a multi-sensor fingerprint database with 71,994 samples. PMID:22778583

Impact of podiatry resident experience level in hallux valgus surgery on postoperative outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischer, Adam E; Yorath, Martin C; Joseph, Robert M; Baron, Adam; Nordquist, Thomas; Moore, Braden J; Robinson, Richmond C O; Reilly, Charles H

2014-06-15

Despite modern advancements in transosseous fixation and operative technique, hallux valgus (i.e., bunion) surgery is still associated with a higher than usual amount of patient dissatisfaction and is generally recognized as a complex and nuanced procedure requiring precise osseous and capsulotendon balancing. It stands to reason then that familiarity and skill level of trainee surgeons might impact surgical outcomes in this surgery. The aim of this study was to determine whether podiatry resident experience level influences midterm outcomes in hallux valgus surgery (HVS). Consecutive adults who underwent isolated HVS via distal metatarsal osteotomy at a single US metropolitan teaching hospital from January 2004 to January 2009 were contacted and asked to complete a validated outcome measure of foot health (Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire) regarding their operated foot. Resident experience level was quantified using the surgical logs for the primary resident of record at the time of each case. Associations were assessed using linear and logistic regression analyses. A total of 102 adult patients (n = 102 feet) agreed to participate with a mean age of 46.8 years (standard deviation 13.1, range 18-71) and average length of follow-up 6.2 y (standard deviation 1.4, range 3.6-8.6). Level of trainee experience was not associated with postoperative outcomes in either the univariate (odds ratio 0.99 [95% confidence interval, 0.98-1.01], P = 0.827) or multivariate analyses (odds ratio 1.00 [95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.02], P = 0.907). We conclude that podiatry resident level of experience in HVS does not contribute appreciably to postoperative clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of Podiatry Resident Experience Level in Hallux Valgus Surgery on Postoperative Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischer, Adam E.; Yorath, Martin C.; Joseph, Robert; Baron, Adam; Nordquist, Thomas; Moore, Braden; Robinson, Richmond; Reilly, Charles

2018-01-01

Background Despite modern advancements in transosseous fixation and operative technique, hallux valgus (i.e., bunion) surgery is still associated with a higher than usual amount of patient dissatisfaction, and is generally recognized as a complex and nuanced procedure requiring precise osseous and capsulotendon balancing. It stands to reason then that familiarity and skill level of trainee surgeons might impact surgical outcomes in this surgery. The aim of this study was to determine whether podiatry resident experience level influences mid-term outcomes in hallux valgus surgery. Methods Consecutive adults who underwent isolated hallux valgus surgery via distal metatarsal osteotomy at a single US metropolitan teaching hospital from January 2004 to January 2009 were contacted and asked to complete a validated outcome measure of foot health (Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire) regarding their operated foot. Resident experience level was quantified using the surgical logs for the primary resident of record at the time of each case. Associations were assessed using simple, multiple and logistic regression analyses. Results A total of 102 adult patients (n=102 feet) agreed to participate with a mean age of 46.8 (SD 13.1 years, range 18-71) and average length of follow-up 6.2 years (SD 1.4, range 3.6-8.6). Level of trainee experience was not associated with postoperative outcomes in either the univariate (odds ratio 0.99 [95% CI 0.98-1.01], p = 0.827) or multivariate analyses (odds ratio 1.00 [95% CI 0.97-1.02], p = 0.907). Conclusions We conclude that podiatry resident level of experience in hallux valgus surgery does not contribute appreciably to postoperative clinical outcomes. PMID:24726058

Construction and performance of a cylindrical scintillating fiber detector for experiment 835 at FNAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ambrogiani, M.; Baldini, W.; Bettoni, D.

1996-01-01

A tracking detector made of scintillating fibers has been built for the Fermilab experiment E835. The tracker is being used for a high resolution measurement of the polar angle θ and to provide a first level trigger, exploiting the fast response and very good time resolution of the signal from the fibers. The small amount of light from the fibers is detected by solid state devices (VLPC: Visible Light Photon Counters), with very high quantum efficiency. This paper reports about the construction of the tracker and gives the first results on the detector performance: light yield/mip, efficiency, signal homogeneity and time resolution

The design and simulated performance of a fast Level 1 track trigger for the ATLAS High Luminosity Upgrade

CERN Document Server

Martensson, Mikael; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The ATLAS experiment at the High Luminosity LHC will face a fivefold increase in the number of interactions per bunch crossing relative to the ongoing Run 2. This will require a proportional improvement in rejection power at the earliest levels of the detector trigger system, while preserving good signal efficiency. One critical aspect of this improvement will be the implementation of precise track reconstruction, through which sharper trigger turn-on curves can be achieved, and b-tagging and tau-tagging techniques can in principle be implemented. The challenge of such a project comes in the development of a fast, custom electronic device integrated in the hardware based first trigger level of the experiment. This article will discuss the requirements, architecture and projected performance of the system in terms of tracking, timing and physics, based on detailed simulations. Studies are carried out using data from the strip subsystem only or both strip and pixel subsystems.

The design and simulated performance of a fast Level 1 track trigger for the ATLAS High Luminosity Upgrade

CERN Document Server

Martensson, Mikael; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The ATLAS experiment at the high-luminosity LHC will face a five-fold increase in the number of interactions per collision relative to the ongoing Run 2. This will require a proportional improvement in rejection power at the earliest levels of the detector trigger system, while preserving good signal efficiency. One critical aspect of this improvement will be the implementation of precise track reconstruction, through which sharper trigger turn-on curves can be achieved, and b-tagging and tau-tagging techniques can in principle be implemented. The challenge of such a project comes in the development of a fast, custom electronic device integrated in the hardware-based first trigger level of the experiment, with repercussions propagating as far as the detector read-out philosophy. This talk will discuss the requirements, architecture and projected performance of the system in terms of tracking, timing and physics, based on detailed simulations. Studies are carried out comparing two detector geometries and using...

Operational experience with Seibersdorf low-level incinerator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chalupa, G.

1987-01-01

This report contains information about an excess air incinerator which burned low level β and γ wastes (also α up to determined limits). The incinerator was started up in 1980 and it is clear that in a technical plant of such magnitude, some changes and alterations will be needed to be overcome according to the experiences of operation. This paper - after a short description of the incinerator plant itself - gives a summary of some of the operation and the changes which are made in the plant according to these facts. A partial redesign of the incinerator plant in the first half of 1985 resulted in a very satisfying new design, which proved its superiority during the runs in 1985 and 1986

Conceptual design of the first level trigger for the SDC experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drinkard, J.; Griffin, G.; Lankford, A.J.; Schmid, B.; Stoker, D.; Tarazi, J.; Lipniacka, A.; Brisson, J.C.; Hubbard, R.; Le Du, P.; Thooris, B.; Yashioka, H.; Hamatsu, R.; Nickerson, R.B.; Chapman, J.; Dunn, A.; Mann, J.; Miao, C.; Vejcik, S.; Dasu, S.; Gorski, T.; Lackey, J.; Smith, W.H.; Temple, W.; Coupal, D.

1994-07-01

We report on a conceptual design of the First Level Trigger for the SDC Experiment at the SSC. Level 1 algorithms employ barrel and intermediate trackers, and electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. Results of simulations of background rates and efficiencies are presented together with a discussion of the simulation method. Tracking and calorimetric triggers are discussed in detail. Some hardware implementation ideas for the trigger algorithms are mentioned. (authors). 8 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

Simulation Experiment Description Markup Language (SED-ML) Level 1 Version 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergmann, Frank T; Cooper, Jonathan; Le Novère, Nicolas; Nickerson, David; Waltemath, Dagmar

2015-09-04

The number, size and complexity of computational models of biological systems are growing at an ever increasing pace. It is imperative to build on existing studies by reusing and adapting existing models and parts thereof. The description of the structure of models is not sufficient to enable the reproduction of simulation results. One also needs to describe the procedures the models are subjected to, as recommended by the Minimum Information About a Simulation Experiment (MIASE) guidelines. This document presents Level 1 Version 2 of the Simulation Experiment Description Markup Language (SED-ML), a computer-readable format for encoding simulation and analysis experiments to apply to computational models. SED-ML files are encoded in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and can be used in conjunction with any XML-based model encoding format, such as CellML or SBML. A SED-ML file includes details of which models to use, how to modify them prior to executing a simulation, which simulation and analysis procedures to apply, which results to extract and how to present them. Level 1 Version 2 extends the format by allowing the encoding of repeated and chained procedures.

Exploratory Study on the Impact of Information on Performance Psychology on Stress and Anxiety Levels of Brazilian Music Performers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Ray

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the impact of information on psychology of music on Stress and Anxiety Levels of Brazilian students of music performance, both undergraduate and graduate, and cross information on their levels of stress and anxiety. It includes an investigation on curricular programs of Brazilian public universities based on previous investigation by the authors (RAY; et al, 2011. The main goals: 1 to investigate how much information Brazilian music performance students has access to access during their courses; and 2 to identify potential indicators of the impact this information may have on the levels of stress and anxiety in the performances of these students; Methodology:  Students from six Brazilian public universities were requested to fill out three forms: the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI; the Inventory of Stress Symptoms LIPP and an additional form that investigated the participants routine for preparation to performance. Results: information on music performance psychology is only presented privately at teacher’s discretion. As compulsory classes have not been included in the curriculum, it was not possible to infer results on this subject. More than half of the participants (51,72% don’t present stress condition. Almost half of them (48,27% have some level of stress. All participants fit within some level of anxiety.

Operating experience during high-level waste vitrification at the West Valley Demonstration Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valenti, P.J.; Elliott, D.I.

1999-01-01

This report provides a summary of operational experiences, component and system performance, and lessons learned associated with the operation of the Vitrification Facility (VF) at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP). The VF was designed to convert stored high-level radioactive waste (HLW) into a stable waste form (borosilicate glass) suitable for disposal in a federal repository. Following successful completion on nonradioactive test, HLW processing began in July 1995. Completion of Phase 1 of HLW processing was reached on 10 June 1998 and represented the processing of 9.32 million curies of cesium-137 (Cs-137) and strontium-90 (Sr-90) to fill 211 canisters with over 436,000 kilograms of glass. With approximately 85% of the total estimated curie content removed from underground waste storage tanks during Phase 1, subsequent operations will focus on removal of tank heel wastes

Evaluation of the performance degradation at PAFC effect of electrolyte fill-level on electrode performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kitai, Takashi; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Watanabe, Masahiro [Yamanashi Univ., Kofu (Japan)] [and others

1996-12-31

As a complimentary research project to the demonstration project of 5MW and 1MW PAFC plants, the mechanism and rate of deterioration of the cells and stacks have been studied from 1995 FY, with the objective of establishing an estimation method for the service life-time of the cell stacks. This work has been performed in the Basic Research Project, as part of that project on PAFC`s, selecting four subjects (Electrocatalysts degradation, Electrolyte fill-level, Cell material corrosion, Electrolyte loss) as the essential factors relating to the life-time. In this report, we will exhibit the effect of the electrolyte fill-level on the electrode performances.

Long Term Sorption Diffusion Experiment (LTDE-SD). Performance of main in situ experiment and results from water phase measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Widestrand, Henrik; Byegaard, Johan; Nilsson, Kersti; Hoeglund, Susanne; Gustafsson, Erik (Geosigma AB, Uppsala (Sweden)); Kronberg, Magnus (Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (Sweden))

2010-12-15

The LTDE-SD experiment, (Long Term Sorption Diffusion Experiment) aimed at increasing the scientific knowledge of sorption and diffusion under in situ conditions and to provide data for performance and safety assessment calculations. Performance and results of the in situ experiment phase are presented in the report. In total, 21 radionuclide trace elements and one stable trace element were injected, circulated and sampled for approx6.5 months in a closed borehole section. The trace elements represented non-sorbing tracers and sorbing tracers for which the sorption was dominated by a cation exchange mechanism, a surface complexation mechanism, or dependent on an electrochemical reduction in order to reach the tetravalent state (oxidation state IV) considered very strongly sorbing. The borehole section in contact with the tracer labelled groundwater consisted in part of a natural fracture surface and a borehole section in the unaltered matrix rock, devoid of natural fractures. Water samples were regularly extracted and analysed for trace element concentration and a few ion exchange speciation and filtered samplings were also conducted. Independent colloid filtering and chemical speciation calculations were performed in support the evaluation. Sorption was demonstrated for a series of elements present in the experiment. The amounts lost of the different respective tracers from the aqueous phase follow very well the general understanding of the relative sorption strength of the tracers, as inferred from e.g. batch sorption experiments and dynamic in situ tracer experiments. The chemical speciation calculations of the different tracers were in line with the results of the ion exchange speciation performed during the experiment. With the exception of UO{sub 2} 2+ carbonate complexes formed, no strong indications were obtained that aqueous complexation prevents adsorption under the chemical conditions of the experiment. The 20 nm filtered sampling indicated that

Effect of Computer-Aided Detection on Mammographic Performance: Experimental Study on Readers with Different Levels of Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hukkinen, K.; Vehmas, T.; Pamilo, M.; Kivisaari, L.

2006-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of computer-aided detection (CAD) on the reader's performance. Material and Methods: Four screening radiologists, two novice radiologists, and two residents with no prior experience in CAD read films of 200 women without and with CAD. The films, including 16 screen-detected cancers and 35 cancers 'missed' on prior screening, were divided into two rollers: A (free time schedule) and B (prompted time schedule). Reading times were noted. Individual readings without and with CAD were compared, sensitivities and specificities were calculated. Results: The sensitivity of CAD was 70.6% and specificity 15.8%. In 408 cancer readings, the screeners found 10 and other readers 7 new cancers with the aid of CAD. The screeners changed their opinion four times and others six times from true positive to false negative when CAD was negative. CAD output produced 12 versus 13 new false-positive findings respectively after 2352 readings. CAD did not significantly affect the reader's sensitivities/specificities regardless of the time limit (P = not significant). The use of CAD increased mean time for roller reading from 56 to 63 min (P = 0.053). Conclusion: Screening radiologists benefited slightly more from CAD than other readers did, but no statistical significant difference was found in personal readings without and with CAD

Effect of Olive Leaf ( Powder on Laying Hens Performance, Egg Quality and Egg Yolk Cholesterol Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Cayan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This experiment was conducted to measure the effects of olive leaf powder on performance, egg yield, egg quality and yolk cholesterol level of laying hens. A total of 120 Lohmann Brown laying hens of 22 weeks old were used in this experiment. The birds were fed on standard layer diets containing 0, 1%, 2%, or 3% olive leaf powder for 8 weeks. Egg weight and yield were recorded daily; feed intake weekly; egg quality and cholesterol content at the end of the trial. Olive leaf powder had no effect on feed intake, egg weight, egg yield and feed conversion ratio (p>0.05 while olive leaf powder increased final body weight of hens (p0.05. To conclude, olive leaf powder can be used for reducing egg yolk cholesterol content and egg yolk coloring agent in layer diets.

Trunk Stability, Trunk Strength and Sport Performance Level in Judo.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Barbado

Full Text Available Although trunk muscle function has been suggested to be a determinant of judo performance, its contribution to high-level performance in this sport has been poorly studied. Therefore, several tests were used to assess the differences in trunk muscle function between 11 international and 14 national level judo practitioners (judokas. Trunk strength and endurance were assessed using isokinetic tests and core stability was assessed using two protocols: 1 sudden loading, to assess trunk responses to unexpected external perturbations; 2 stable and unstable sitting, to assess the participants' ability to control trunk balance. No differences between groups were found for trunk flexor isokinetic strength, trunk responses against lateral and posterior loading and trunk control while sitting. However, international level judokas showed significantly higher trunk extensor isokinetic strength (p <0.05 and lower trunk angular displacement after anterior trunk loading (p <0.05 than national level judokas. Few and low (r < 0.512 significant correlations were found between strength, endurance and stability parameters, which suggests that trunk strength and endurance are not limiting factors for trunk stability in competitive judokas. These results support the importance of trunk extensor strength and trunk stability against forward perturbations in elite judo performance.

Responsive design high performance

CERN Document Server

Els, Dewald

2015-01-01

This book is ideal for developers who have experience in developing websites or possess minor knowledge of how responsive websites work. No experience of high-level website development or performance tweaking is required.

Do emotional intelligence and previous caring experience influence student nurse performance? A comparative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenhouse, Rosie; Snowden, Austyn; Young, Jenny; Carver, Fiona; Carver, Hannah; Brown, Norrie

2016-08-01

Reports of poor nursing care have focused attention on values based selection of candidates onto nursing programmes. Values based selection lacks clarity and valid measures. Previous caring experience might lead to better care. Emotional intelligence (EI) might be associated with performance, is conceptualised and measurable. To examine the impact of 1) previous caring experience, 2) emotional intelligence 3) social connection scores on performance and retention in a cohort of first year nursing and midwifery students in Scotland. A longitudinal, quasi experimental design. Adult and mental health nursing, and midwifery programmes in a Scottish University. Adult, mental health and midwifery students (n=598) completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form and Schutte's Emotional Intelligence Scale on entry to their programmes at a Scottish University, alongside demographic and previous caring experience data. Social connection was calculated from a subset of questions identified within the TEIQue-SF in a prior factor and Rasch analysis. Student performance was calculated as the mean mark across the year. Withdrawal data were gathered. 598 students completed baseline measures. 315 students declared previous caring experience, 277 not. An independent-samples t-test identified that those without previous caring experience scored higher on performance (57.33±11.38) than those with previous caring experience (54.87±11.19), a statistically significant difference of 2.47 (95% CI, 0.54 to 4.38), t(533)=2.52, p=.012. Emotional intelligence scores were not associated with performance. Social connection scores for those withdrawing (mean rank=249) and those remaining (mean rank=304.75) were statistically significantly different, U=15,300, z=-2.61, p$_amp_$lt;0.009. Previous caring experience led to worse performance in this cohort. Emotional intelligence was not a useful indicator of performance. Lower scores on the social connection factor were associated

Size, but not experience, affects the ontogeny of constriction performance in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Penning, David A; Dartez, Schuyler F

2016-03-01

Constriction is a prey-immobilization technique used by many snakes and is hypothesized to have been important to the evolution and diversification of snakes. However, very few studies have examined the factors that affect constriction performance. We investigated constriction performance in ball pythons (Python regius) by evaluating how peak constriction pressure is affected by snake size, sex, and experience. In one experiment, we tested the ontogenetic scaling of constriction performance and found that snake diameter was the only significant factor determining peak constriction pressure. The number of loops applied in a coil and its interaction with snake diameter did not significantly affect constriction performance. Constriction performance in ball pythons scaled differently than in other snakes that have been studied, and medium to large ball pythons are capable of exerting significantly higher pressures than those shown to cause circulatory arrest in prey. In a second experiment, we tested the effects of experience on constriction performance in hatchling ball pythons over 10 feeding events. By allowing snakes in one test group to gain constriction experience, and manually feeding snakes under sedation in another test group, we showed that experience did not affect constriction performance. During their final (10th) feedings, all pythons constricted similarly and with sufficiently high pressures to kill prey rapidly. At the end of the 10 feeding trials, snakes that were allowed to constrict were significantly smaller than their non-constricting counterparts. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluation of the effects of rations with different levels of metabolizable energy on performance of laying hens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2008-05-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of rations with different levels of metabolizable energy on performance of laying hens. The experiment was conducted on 25 laying hens of the commercial high line W-36 strain with 4 treatments and 4 replicates (16 laying hens in each replicate in a completely randomized design. Treatments included: (1 diet with amount of metabolizable energy recommended by NRC in 1994 (as control group, (2 diet with 10% higher level of metabolizable energy than that recommended by NRC in 1994, (3 diet with 10% lower level of metabolizable energy than that recommended by NRC in 1994 and (4 diet with 15% lower level of metabolizable energy than that recommended by NRC in 1994 which were fed for 10 weeks (from the age of 41 to 51 weeks to the laying hens. The results demonstrated that the amount of feed intake was significantly different among treatments (p

UARS Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) Level 3BS V001

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) Level 3BS data product consists of daily, 1 nm resolution, solar spectral irradiances and selected...

Performance of the ATLAS Muon Trigger and Phase-1 Upgrade of Level-1 Endcap Muon Trigger

CERN Document Server

Mizukami, Atsushi; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The ATLAS experiment utilises a trigger system to efficiently record interesting events. It consists of first-level and high-level triggers. The first-level trigger is implemented with custom-built hardware to reduce the event rate from 40 MHz to100 kHz. Then the software-based high-level triggers refine the trigger decisions reducing the output rate down to 1 kHz. Events with muons in the final state are an important signature for many physics topics at the LHC. An efficient trigger on muons and a detailed understanding of its performance are required. Trigger efficiencies are, for example, obtained from the muon decay of Z boson, with a Tag&Probe method, using proton-proton collision data collected in 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The LHC is expected to increase its instantaneous luminosity to $3\\times10^{34} \\rm{cm^{-2}s^{-1}}$ after the phase-1 upgrade between 2018-2020. The upgrade of the ATLAS trigger system is mandatory to cope with this high-luminosity. In the phase-1 upgrade, new det...

Thought Experiment to Examine Benchmark Performance for Fusion Nuclear Data

Science.gov (United States)

Murata, Isao; Ohta, Masayuki; Kusaka, Sachie; Sato, Fuminobu; Miyamaru, Hiroyuki

2017-09-01

There are many benchmark experiments carried out so far with DT neutrons especially aiming at fusion reactor development. These integral experiments seemed vaguely to validate the nuclear data below 14 MeV. However, no precise studies exist now. The author's group thus started to examine how well benchmark experiments with DT neutrons can play a benchmarking role for energies below 14 MeV. Recently, as a next phase, to generalize the above discussion, the energy range was expanded to the entire region. In this study, thought experiments with finer energy bins have thus been conducted to discuss how to generally estimate performance of benchmark experiments. As a result of thought experiments with a point detector, the sensitivity for a discrepancy appearing in the benchmark analysis is "equally" due not only to contribution directly conveyed to the deterctor, but also due to indirect contribution of neutrons (named (A)) making neutrons conveying the contribution, indirect controbution of neutrons (B) making the neutrons (A) and so on. From this concept, it would become clear from a sensitivity analysis in advance how well and which energy nuclear data could be benchmarked with a benchmark experiment.

Thought Experiment to Examine Benchmark Performance for Fusion Nuclear Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murata Isao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available There are many benchmark experiments carried out so far with DT neutrons especially aiming at fusion reactor development. These integral experiments seemed vaguely to validate the nuclear data below 14 MeV. However, no precise studies exist now. The author’s group thus started to examine how well benchmark experiments with DT neutrons can play a benchmarking role for energies below 14 MeV. Recently, as a next phase, to generalize the above discussion, the energy range was expanded to the entire region. In this study, thought experiments with finer energy bins have thus been conducted to discuss how to generally estimate performance of benchmark experiments. As a result of thought experiments with a point detector, the sensitivity for a discrepancy appearing in the benchmark analysis is “equally” due not only to contribution directly conveyed to the deterctor, but also due to indirect contribution of neutrons (named (A making neutrons conveying the contribution, indirect controbution of neutrons (B making the neutrons (A and so on. From this concept, it would become clear from a sensitivity analysis in advance how well and which energy nuclear data could be benchmarked with a benchmark experiment.

Employee performance appraisal and productivity levels in selected ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The focus of this study was on performance appraisal of academic staff of Universities in Nigeria and their productivity levels. The prime problem that necessitated this study was to examine the effectiveness of the subjective methods used in appraising qualitative work attributes of the employees and to assess the extent to ...

Masticatory performance and chewing experience with implant-retained mandibular overdentures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geertman, ME; Slagter, AP; van't Hof, MA; van Waas, MAJ; Kalk, W

The relationship between masticatory performance and chewing experience has not yet been explored for patients with implant-retained overdentures. Although many relationships have been found between parameters of objective and subjective oral function, the structure of these relationships remain

System-level techniques for analog performance enhancement

CERN Document Server

Song, Bang-Sup

2016-01-01

This book shows readers to avoid common mistakes in circuit design, and presents classic circuit concepts and design approaches from the transistor to the system levels. The discussion is geared to be accessible and optimized for practical designers who want to learn to create circuits without simulations. Topic by topic, the author guides designers to learn the classic analog design skills by understanding the basic electronics principles correctly, and further prepares them to feel confident in designing high-performance, state-of-the art CMOS analog systems. This book combines and presents all in-depth necessary information to perform various design tasks so that readers can grasp essential material, without reading through the entire book. This top-down approach helps readers to build practical design expertise quickly, starting from their understanding of electronics fundamentals. .

Positive and negative early life experiences differentially modulate long term survival and amyloid protein levels in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Lesuis, Sylvie L; Maurin, Herve; Borghgraef, Peter; Lucassen, Paul J; Van Leuven, Fred; Krugers, Harm J

2016-06-28

Stress has been implicated as a risk factor for the severity and progression of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Early life experiences determine stress responsivity in later life, and modulate age-dependent cognitive decline. Therefore, we examined whether early life experiences influence AD outcome in a bigenic mouse model which progressively develops combined tau and amyloid pathology (biAT mice).Mice were subjected to either early life stress (ELS) or to 'positive' early handling (EH) postnatally (from day 2 to 9). In biAT mice, ELS significantly compromised long term survival, in contrast to EH which increased life expectancy. In 4 month old mice, ELS-reared biAT mice displayed increased hippocampal Aβ levels, while these levels were reduced in EH-reared biAT mice. No effects of ELS or EH were observed on the brain levels of APP, protein tau, or PSD-95. Dendritic morphology was moderately affected after ELS and EH in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex, while object recognition memory and open field performance were not affected. We conclude that despite the strong transgenic background, early life experiences significantly modulate the life expectancy of biAT mice. Parallel changes in hippocampal Aβ levels were evident, without affecting cognition of young adult biAT mice.

Analysis of the GCFR pin streaming experiment performed at the TSF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slater, C.O.; Bartine, D.E.

1976-01-01

An experiment is described which was performed to provide benchmark data to test GCFR fuel pin streaming calculations. The experiment, performed at the Tower Shielding Facility, consisted of 902 UO 2 fuel pins arranged on a triangular pitch with a void fraction comparable to that of the GCFR. A spectrum modifier consisting of a spectrum modifier was used to provide a spectrum similar to that of a fast reactor. Spectral measurements tended to show a strong streaming effect with the total flux showing a sharp drop over small angular traverses from the centerline. Two-dimensional calculations employing both homogeneous and heterogeneous models were used to calculate neutron spectra. Data are presented and compared

The effects of video game experience and active stereoscopy on performance in combat identification tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Keebler, Joseph R; Jentsch, Florian; Schuster, David

2014-12-01

We investigated the effects of active stereoscopic simulation-based training and individual differences in video game experience on multiple indices of combat identification (CID) performance. Fratricide is a major problem in combat operations involving military vehicles. In this research, we aimed to evaluate the effects of training on CID performance in order to reduce fratricide errors. Individuals were trained on 12 combat vehicles in a simulation, which were presented via either a non-stereoscopic or active stereoscopic display using NVIDIA's GeForce shutter glass technology. Self-report was used to assess video game experience, leading to four between-subjects groups: high video game experience with stereoscopy, low video game experience with stereoscopy, high video game experience without stereoscopy, and low video game experience without stereoscopy. We then tested participants on their memory of each vehicle's alliance and name across multiple measures, including photographs and videos. There was a main effect for both video game experience and stereoscopy across many of the dependent measures. Further, we found interactions between video game experience and stereoscopic training, such that those individuals with high video game experience in the non-stereoscopic group had the highest performance outcomes in the sample on multiple dependent measures. This study suggests that individual differences in video game experience may be predictive of enhanced performance in CID tasks. Selection based on video game experience in CID tasks may be a useful strategy for future military training. Future research should investigate the generalizability of these effects, such as identification through unmanned vehicle sensors.

FIPSER: Performance study of a readout concept with few digitization levels for fast signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Limyansky, B., E-mail: brent.limyansky@gatech.edu [School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (United States); Reese, R., E-mail: bobbeyreese@gmail.com [School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (United States); Cressler, J.D. [School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (United States); Otte, A.N.; Taboada, I. [School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (United States); Ulusoy, C. [Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing (United States)

2016-11-21

We discuss the performance of a readout system, Fixed Pulse Shape Efficient Readout (FIPSER), to digitize signals from detectors with a fixed pulse shape. In this study we are mainly interested in the readout of fast photon detectors like photomultipliers or Silicon photomultipliers. But the concept can be equally applied to the digitization of other detector signals. FIPSER is based on the flash analog to digital converter (FADC) concept, but has the potential to lower costs and power consumption by using an order of magnitude fewer discrete voltage levels. Performance is bolstered by combining the discretized signal with the knowledge of the underlying pulse shape. Simulated FIPSER data was reconstructed with two independent methods. One using a maximum likelihood method and the other using a modified χ{sup 2} test. Both methods show that utilizing 12 discrete voltage levels with a sampling rate of 4 samples per full width half maximum (FWHM) of the pulse achieves an amplitude resolution that is better than the Poisson limit for photon-counting experiments. The time resolution achieved in this configuration ranges between 0.02 and 0.16 FWHM and depends on the pulse amplitude. In a situation where the waveform is composed of two consecutive pulses the pulses can be separated if they are at least 0.05–0.30 FWHM apart with an amplitude resolution that is better than 20%.

MOX and UOX PWR fuel performances EDF operating experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Provost, Jean-Luc; Debes, Michel

2005-01-01

Based on a large program of experimentations implemented during the 90s, the industrial achievement of new FAs designs with increased performances opens up new prospects. The currently UOX fuels used on the 58 EDF PWR units are now authorized up to a maximum FA burn-up of 52 GWd/t with a large experience from 45 to 50 GWd/t. Today, the new products, along with the progress made in the field of calculation methods, still enable to increase further the fuel performances with respect to the safety margins. Thus, the conditions are met to implement in the next years new fuel managements on each NPPs series of the EDF fleet with increased enrichment (up to 4.5%) and irradiation limits (up to 62 GWd/t). The recycling of plutonium is part of EDF's reprocessing/recycling strategy. Up to now, 20 PWR 900 MW reactors are managed in MOX hybrid management. The feedback experience of 18 years of PWR operation with MOX is satisfactory, without any specific problem regarding manoeuvrability or plant availability. EDF is now looking to introduce MOX fuels with a higher plutonium content (up to 8.6%) equivalent to natural uranium enriched to 3.7%. It is the goal of the MOX Parity core management which achieve balance of MOX and UOX fuel performance with a significant increase of the MOX average discharge burn-up (BU max: 52 GWd/t for MOX and UOX). The industrial maturity of new FAs designs, with increased performances, allows the implementation in the next years of new fuel managements on each NPPs series of the EDF fleet. The scheduling of the implementation of the new fuel managements on the PWRs fleet is a great challenge for EDF, with important stakes: the nuclear KWh cost decrease with the improvement of the plant operation performance. (author)

Effect of Dietary Calcium and Phosphorus Levels on Performance of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An experiment involving 30 local and 30 Large White pigs was conducted to study the effect of dietary calcium and phosphorus levels on rate and efficiency of gain, carcass and bone characteristics of growing-finishing pigs. Rate and efficiency of gain and carcass quality were not significantly different among local pigs fed ...

Performance of the Public Expenditure Management at Local Level in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ani MATEI

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The current paper aims to analyze the performance of the public expenditure management based on the decrease of the administrative costs. The paper is grounded on the following premises: (1 Romania as an EU Member State is under a continuous process to harmonize its legislation with the EU legislation. (2 The integration of Romania in EU in 2007 has determined a significant change in the administrative expenditure amount. (3 Strengthening local autonomy through the decentralization and the devolution processes emphasizes clearer the need for improving the performance of the expenditure management at local level. (4 Internal order, flows of communication and transfer, synergy of the governance system assume administrative expenditure that can be determined. (5 The performance of public organizations in managing local governance issues depends directly also on the administrative expenditure level**. [** Paper accepted to be presented at the Fourth TransAtlantic Dialogue “The Status of Inter-Governmental Relations and Multi-Level Governance in Europe and the US”, Workshop 5: “Performance measurement and accountability in IGR-MLG”.

High level trigger system for the ALICE experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frankenfeld, U.; Roehrich, D.; Ullaland, K.; Vestabo, A.; Helstrup, H.; Lien, J.; Lindenstruth, V.; Schulz, M.; Steinbeck, T.; Wiebalck, A.; Skaali, B.

2001-01-01

The ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will detect up to 20,000 particles in a single Pb-Pb event resulting in a data rate of ∼75 MByte/event. The event rate is limited by the bandwidth of the data storage system. Higher rates are possible by selecting interesting events and subevents (High Level trigger) or compressing the data efficiently with modeling techniques. Both require a fast parallel pattern recognition. One possible solution to process the detector data at such rates is a farm of clustered SMP nodes, based on off-the-shelf PCs, and connected by a high bandwidth, low latency network

Evaluating the use of key performance indicators to evidence the patient experience.

Science.gov (United States)

McCance, Tanya; Hastings, Jack; Dowler, Hilda

2015-11-01

To test eight person-centred key performance indicators and the feasibility of an appropriate measurement framework as an approach to evidencing the patient experience. The value of measuring the quality of patient care is undisputed in the international literature, however, the type of measures that can be used to generate data that is meaningful for practice continues to be debated. This paper offers a different perspective to the 'measurement' of the nursing and midwifery contribution to the patient experience. Fourth generation evaluation was the methodological approach used to evaluate the implementation of the key performance indicators and measurement framework across three participating organisations involving nine practice settings. Data were collected by repeated use of claims, concerns and issues with staff working across nine participating sites (n = 18) and the senior executives from the three partner organisations (n = 12). Data were collected during the facilitated sessions with stakeholders and analysed in conjunction with the data generated from the measurement framework. The data reveal the inherent value placed on the evidence generated from the implementation of the key performance indicators as reflected in the following themes: measuring what matters; evidencing the patient experience; engaging staff; a focus for improving practice; and articulating and demonstrating the positive contribution of nursing and midwifery. The implementation of the key performance indicators and the measurement framework has been effective in generating evidence that demonstrates the patient experience. The nature of the data generated not only privileges the patient voice but also offers feedback to nurses and midwives that can inform the development of person-centred cultures. The use of these indicators will produce evidence of patient experience that can be used by nurse and midwives to celebrate and further inform person-centred practice. © 2015 John

Patients' Experiences of Performing Self-care of Stomas in the Initial Postoperative Period.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Siew Hoon; Chan, Sally Wai Chi; He, Hong-Gu

2015-01-01

With the loss of an important bodily function and the distortion in body image, a stoma patient experiences physical, psychological, and social changes. With limited current studies exploring experiences of patients in the management of their stoma, there is a need to explore their experiences, their needs, and factors that influence their self-management. The aim of this study was to investigate patients' experiences of performing self-care of stomas in the initial postoperative period. This study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach from the interpretive paradigm. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 patients 1 month postoperatively in a colorectal ward in a hospital in Singapore. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data. Five themes were identified: process of acceptance and self-management of stoma, physical limitations, psychological reactions, social support, and need for timely and sufficient stoma preparation and education. This study highlights the importance of health professionals' role in helping patients adjust preoperatively and postoperatively and accept the presence of a stoma. Health professionals need to be aware of the physical, psychological, and social impact of stoma on patients in the initial 30-day postoperative period. Research findings informed the type and level of assistance and support to be offered to patients by nurses and the importance of encouraging patients to be involved in stoma care at an early stage, which will ultimately contribute to effective and independent self-management. Patients can be prepared preoperatively to reduce the psychological and social impact of stoma after creation of their stoma.

GABA level, gamma oscillation, and working memory performance in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chi-Ming A; Stanford, Arielle D; Mao, Xiangling; Abi-Dargham, Anissa; Shungu, Dikoma C; Lisanby, Sarah H; Schroeder, Charles E; Kegeles, Lawrence S

2014-01-01

A relationship between working memory impairment, disordered neuronal oscillations, and abnormal prefrontal GABA function has been hypothesized in schizophrenia; however, in vivo GABA measurements and gamma band neural synchrony have not yet been compared in schizophrenia. This case-control pilot study (N = 24) compared baseline and working memory task-induced neuronal oscillations acquired with high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) to GABA levels measured in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Working memory performance, baseline GABA level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and measures of gamma oscillations from EEGs at baseline and during a working memory task were obtained. A major limitation of this study is a relatively small sample size for several analyses due to the integration of diverse methodologies and participant compliance. Working memory performance was significantly lower for patients than for controls. During the working memory task, patients (n = 7) had significantly lower amplitudes in gamma oscillations than controls (n = 9). However, both at rest and across working memory stages, there were significant correlations between gamma oscillation amplitude and left DLPFC GABA level. Peak gamma frequency during the encoding stage of the working memory task (n = 16) significantly correlated with GABA level and working memory performance. Despite gamma band amplitude deficits in patients across working memory stages, both baseline and working memory-induced gamma oscillations showed strong dependence on baseline GABA levels in patients and controls. These findings suggest a critical role for GABA function in gamma band oscillations, even under conditions of system and cognitive impairments as seen in schizophrenia.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory low-level waste systems performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-11-01

This Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLW) Systems Performance Assessment (PA) presents a systematic analysis of the potential risks posed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) waste management system. Potential risks to the public and environment are compared to established performance objectives as required by DOE Order 5820.2A. The report determines the associated maximum individual committed effective dose equivalent (CEDE) to a member of the public from LLW and mixed waste. A maximum annual CEDE of 0.01 mrem could result from routine radioactive liquid effluents. A maximum annual CEDE of 0.003 mrem could result from routine radioactive gaseous effluents. No other pathways for radiation exposure of the public indicated detectable levels of exposure. The dose rate, monitoring, and waste acceptance performance objectives were found to be adequately addressed by the LLNL Program. 88 refs., 3 figs., 17 tabs

Overview of large scale experiments performed within the LBB project in the Czech Republic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kadecka, P.; Lauerova, D. [Nuclear Research Institute, Rez (Czechoslovakia)

1997-04-01

During several recent years NRI Rez has been performing the LBB analyses of safety significant primary circuit pipings of NPPs in Czech and Slovak Republics. The analyses covered the NPPs with reactors WWER 440 Type 230 and 213 and WWER 1000 Type 320. Within the relevant LBB projects undertaken with the aim to prove the fulfilling of the requirements of LBB, a series of large scale experiments were performed. The goal of these experiments was to verify the properties of the components selected, and to prove the quality and/or conservatism of assessments used in the LBB-analyses. In this poster, a brief overview of experiments performed in Czech Republic under guidance of NRI Rez is presented.

Performance Analysis of a Liquid Metal Heat Pipe Space Shuttle Experiment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dickinson, Timothy

1996-01-01

.... The objectives of the experiment were characterization of the frozen startup and restart transients, comparison of flight and ground test data to establish a performance baseline for analytical model...

Assessment of U.S. firm-level climate change performance and strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Yu; Wang, Derek D.; Li, Shanling; Shi, Qinfen

2016-01-01

Climate change is becoming an increasingly critical concern for human society. While there has been a great deal of research on climate change performance at the country/region level, our research focuses on the study of firm-level environmental efficiency as a proxy for firms' climate change management. Using a unique data set on U.S. S&P 500 firms for the period 2012–2013 and DEA slack-based models, we obtain firms' environmental efficiencies in six sectors. The results show significant performance dispersions both across and within the sectors. We highlight each sector's pros and cons in the environmental performance and propose guidelines for policy makers to further improve climate change performance. We also evaluate firms' operational performance and propose a unified performance measure by integrating operational and environmental efficiencies. Overall, we find there is no significant relationship between operational and environmental efficiencies in any of the six industrial sectors under study. The unified performance measures are more driven by the environmental efficiency than the operational efficiency. - Highlights: •U.S. firms have large variations in climate performance across/within the sectors. •Relationship between operational and climate performances is not significant. •The operational and climate performances can be captured in a unified measure.

The Power of Individual-level Drivers of Inventive Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zwick, Thomas; Frosch, Katharina; Hoisl, Karin

2017-01-01

(KSAO) model. We link survey information spanning the inventors’ entire careers and psychometric test evidence with patent history data for more than 1000 inventors. We also control for variables that have traditionally been used in studies of inventive performance including inventor age, applicant type......, technology, patent, and time information. We show that educational level, skills acquired during the career, personality traits, career motivation, cognitive ability, and cognitive problem-solving style are significantly related to inventive performance....

Medicare Advantage and Fee-for-Service Performance on Clinical Quality and Patient Experience Measures: Comparisons from Three Large States.

Science.gov (United States)

Timbie, Justin W; Bogart, Andy; Damberg, Cheryl L; Elliott, Marc N; Haas, Ann; Gaillot, Sarah J; Goldstein, Elizabeth H; Paddock, Susan M

2017-12-01

To compare performance between Medicare Advantage (MA) and Fee-for-Service (FFS) Medicare during a time of policy changes affecting both programs. Performance data for 16 clinical quality measures and 6 patient experience measures for 9.9 million beneficiaries living in California, New York, and Florida. We compared MA and FFS performance overall, by plan type, and within service areas associated with contracts between CMS and MA organizations. Case mix-adjusted analyses (for measures not typically adjusted) were used to explore the effect of case mix on MA/FFS differences. Performance measures were submitted by MA organizations, obtained from the nationwide fielding of the Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (MCAHPS) Survey, or derived from claims. Overall, MA outperformed FFS on all 16 clinical quality measures. Differences were large for HEDIS measures and small for Part D measures and remained after case mix adjustment. MA enrollees reported better experiences overall, but FFS beneficiaries reported better access to care. Relative to FFS, performance gaps were much wider for HMOs than PPOs. Excluding HEDIS measures, MA/FFS differences were much smaller in contract-level comparisons. Medicare Advantage/Fee-for-Service differences are often large but vary in important ways across types of measures and contracts. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Improving plant performance through efficient nuclear waste management - The French experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, C.H.

1986-01-01

This paper discusses high and low level waste management and its effect on Plant Performance. In France, high level waste policy is an improtant factor in plant performance. The LLW section of the paper discusses the role of French Industry organization as well as the benefits of standard plants with standard practices. The regulation of the production of waste and the waste processing by utilities is covered

A Level 1 Tracking Trigger for the CMS Experiment

CERN Document Server

Pozzobon, Nicola

2011-01-01

The LHC machine is planned to be upgraded in the next decade in order to deliver a luminosity about 5 to 10 times larger than the design one of $10^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. In this scenario, a novel tracking system for the CMS experiment is required to be conceived and built. The main requirements on the CMS tracker are presented. Particular emphasis will be given to the challenging capability of the tracker to provide useful information for the Level 1 hardware trigger, complementary to the muon system and calorimeter ones. Different approaches based on pattern hit correlation within closely placed sensors are currently under evaluation, making use of either strips or macro-pixels. A proposal to optimize the data flow at the front-end ASIC and develop a tracking algorithm to provide tracks at Level 1 will be presented.

Review process of PSA level 2 of KBR - Concept and Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andernacht, M.; Glaser, H.; Sonnenkalb, M.

2013-01-01

In Germany, a periodic safety review (PSR) has to be performed every ten years by the utility. In the past, a PSR only included a plant-specific probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) Level 1 study. Since a revised version of the German PSA guideline has been released in 2005, these plant-specific PSAs have to include a PSA Level 2, too. For the NPP Brokdorf (KBR) PSA Level 2 project, an agreement was reached between all parties involved that the study will be performed not as a part of the PSR process, but supplementary to it. This paper will focus on conclusions and findings from an ongoing parallel review process of the first full scope PSA Level 2 performed by the utility for KBR, a typical German PWR-1300. The responsible authority 'Ministerium fuer Soziales, Gesundheit, Familie, Jugend und Senioren des Landes Schleswig- Holstein' (MSGF) initiated this parallel review process in agreement with the utility KBR and the E.ON Kernkraft in 2006. The project will be completed soon. Such a review process allows that essential steps of the PSA will be reviewed and commented before the PSA Level 2 will be finished. So the benefit from this parallel review process is a significant enhancement of the quality and completeness of the PSA Level 2 study as the majority of the recommendations given by the review team has been taken over by the utility and the developer of the PSA, the AREVA NP company. Further, a common understanding and agreement will be reached at the end between all parties involved on the major topics of the PSA Level 2 study. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation. (authors)

Review process of PSA Level 2 of KBR. Concept and experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andernacht, Martin; Glaser, Hendrik; Sonnenkalb, Martin

2009-01-01

In Germany, a periodic safety review (PSR) has to be performed every 10 years by the utility. In the past, a PSR only included a plant-specific probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) Level 1 study. For the NPP Brokdorf (KBR) PSA Level 2 project, an agreement was reached between all parties involved that the study will be performed not as a part of the PSR process, but supplementary to it. Since a revised version of the German PSA guideline has been released in 2005, these plant-specific PSAs have to include a PSA Level 2, too. This paper will focus on conclusions and findings from a ongoing parallel review process of the first full scope PSA Level 2 performed by the utility for KBR, a typical German PWR-1300. The responsible authority 'Ministerium fuer Soziales, Gesundheit, Familie, Jugend und Senioren des Landes Schleswig-Holstein (MSGF)' (Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Family, Youth and Senior Citizens of Schleswig-Holstein) initiated this parallel review process in agreement with the utility KBR and the E.ON Kernkraft in 2006. The project will be completed soon. Such a review process allows that essential steps of the PSA will be reviewed and commented before the PSA Level 2 will be finished. So the benefit from this parallel review process is a significant enhancement of the quality and completeness of the PSA Level 2 study as the majority of the recommendations given by the review team has been taken over by the utility and the developer of the PSA, the Areva NP company. Further, a common understanding and agreement will be reached at the end between all parties involved on the major topics of the PSA Level 2 study. (orig.)

Vehicle Integrated Performance Analysis, the VIPA Experience: Reconnecting with Technical Integration

Science.gov (United States)

McGhee, David S.

2005-01-01

Today's NASA is facing significant challenges and changes. The Exploration initiative indicates a large increase in projects with limited increase in budget. The Columbia report has criticized NASA for its lack of insight and technical integration impacting its ability to provide safety. The Aldridge report is advocating NASA find new ways of doing business. Very early in the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program a small team of engineers at MSFC were asked to propose a process for performing a system level assessment of a launch vehicle. The request was aimed primarily at providing insight and making NASA a "smart buyer." Out of this effort the VIPA team was created. The difference between the VIPA effort and many integration attempts is that VIPA focuses on using experienced people from various disciplines and a process which focuses them on a technically integrated assessment. Most previous attempts have focused on developing an all encompassing software tool. In addition, VIPA anchored its process formulation in the experience of its members and in early developmental Space Shuttle experience. The primary reference for this is NASA-TP-2001-210092, "Launch Vehicle Design Process: Characterization, Technical Integration, and Lessons Learned," and discussions with its authors. The foundations of VIPA's process are described. The VIPA team also recognized the need to drive detailed analysis earlier in the design process. Analyses and techniques typically done in later design phases, are brought forward using improved computing technology. The intent is to allow the identification of significant sensitivities, trades, and design issues much earlier in the program. This process is driven by the T-model for Technical Integration described in the aforementioned reference. VIPA's approach to performing system level technical integration is discussed in detail. Proposed definitions are offered to clarify this discussion and the general systems integration dialog. VIPA

Effects of memory rehearsal on driver performance: experiment and theoretical account.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvucci, Dario D; Beltowska, Joanna

2008-10-01

We report an experiment and a theoretical analysis concerning the effects of an exclusively cognitive task, specifically a memory rehearsal task, on driver performance. Although recent work on driver distraction has elucidated the sometimes significant effects of cognitive processing on driver performance, these studies have typically mixed cognitive with perceptual and motor processing, making it difficult to isolate the effects of cognitive processing alone. We asked participants to drive in a driving simulator during only the rehearsal stage of a serial-recall memory task while we measured their ability to maintain a central lane position and respond to the illumination of a lead vehicle's brake lights. Memory rehearsal significantly affected drivers' steering performance as measured by lateral deviation from lane center, and it also significantly affected drivers' response time to the braking stimulus for the higher load memory task. These results lend support to a theoretical account of cognitive distraction provided by threaded cognition theory in terms of a cognitive bottleneck in procedural processing, and they also suggest that consideration of task urgency may be important in accounting for performance trade-offs among concurrent tasks. The experiment augments the current understanding of cognitive driver distraction and suggests that even exclusively cognitive secondary tasks may sometimes affect driver performance.

Fusion Concept Exploration Experiments at PPPL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart Zweben; Samuel Cohen; Hantao Ji; Robert Kaita; Richard Majeski; Masaaki Yamada

1999-01-01

Small ''concept exploration'' experiments have for many years been an important part of the fusion research program at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). this paper describes some of the present and planned fusion concept exploration experiments at PPPL. These experiments are a University-scale research level, in contrast with the larger fusion devices at PPPL such as the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) and the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), which are at ''proof-of-principle'' and ''proof-of-performance'' levels, respectively

A gross anatomy flipped classroom effects performance, retention, and higher-level thinking in lower performing students.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, Leslie J

2018-01-22

A flipped classroom is a growing pedagogy in higher education. Many research studies on the flipped classroom have focused on student outcomes, with the results being positive or inconclusive. A few studies have analyzed confounding variables, such as student's previous achievement, or the impact of a flipped classroom on long-term retention and knowledge transfer. In the present study, students in a Doctor of Physical Therapy program in a traditional style lecture of gross anatomy (n = 105) were compared to similar students in a flipped classroom (n = 112). Overall, students in the flipped anatomy classroom had an increase in semester average grades (P = 0.01) and performance on higher-level analytical questions (P flipped anatomy classroom performing at a higher level in kinesiology (P flipped anatomy class, outperformed their traditional anatomy class counterparts in anatomy semester grades (P flipped classroom may benefit lower performing student's knowledge acquisition and transfer to a greater degree than higher performing students. Future studies should explore the underlying reasons for improvement in lower performing students. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

Canadian experiences in characterizing two low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste management sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heystee, R.J.; Rao, P.K.M.

1984-02-01

Low-level waste (LLW) and intermediate-level reactor waste (ILW) arise in Canada from the operation of nuclear power reactors for the generation of electricity and from the operation of reactors for nuclear research and development as well as for the production of separated radioisotopes. The majority of this waste is currently being safely managed at two sites in the Province of Ontario: (1) Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, and (2) Ontario Hydro's Bruce Nuclear Power Development Radioactive Waste Operations Site 2. Although these storage facilities can safely manage the waste for a long period of time, there are advantages in disposal of the LLW and ILW. The design of the disposal facilities and the assessment of long-term performance will require that the hydrologic and geologic data be gathered for a potential disposal site. Past site characterization programs at the two aforementioned waste storage sites have produced information which will be useful to future disposal studies in similar geologic materials. The assessment of long-term performance will require that predictions be made regarding the potential subsurface migration of radionuclides. However there still remain many uncertainties regarding the chemical and physical processes which affect radionuclide mobility and concentrations, in particular hydrodynamic dispersion, geochemical reactions, and transport through fractured media. These uncertainties have to be borne in mind when conducting the performance assessments and adequate conservatism must be included to account for the uncertainties. (author)

The effect of phytase levels in the diet on the digestibility and growth performance of white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammmad Agus Suprayudi

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of phytase levels in the diet on the digestibility and growth performance of white shrimp Litopenaeus vanname. White shrimp were used in the trial with initial body weight of 3.8±0.01 g were reared in  aquarium (60×40×50 cm3 and filled with 60L treated sea water at a density of ten individu. Experimental diet were formulated in isonitrogeneous (36% protein and isocaloric (3960 kcal/kg to contain four levels of phytase: 0 iu/kg (diet A, 500 iu/kg (diet B, 750 iu/kg (diet C, and 1000 iu/kg(diet D. All diets were supplied with 0.5% of Cr2O3 as an indicator for digestibility measurement shrimp fed three times daily at satiation levelfor how many days of rearing. A factorial completely randomized experimental design was selected consisted of four treatments and triplicates. The result showed that the phytase addition improved the digestibility of protein, calcium, and phosphor as well as improve growth performance of white shrimp. Based on evaluation of those parameters, it is concluded that phytase level of500 IU support the best growth performance ofjuvenile white shrimp. Keywords: phytase, feed digestibility, growth,Litopenaeus vannamei

Level-1 E/Gamma performance on 2017 data

CERN Document Server

CMS Collaboration

2018-01-01

In $2017$, the LHC achieved an instantaneous luminosity of $2\\times10^{34}cm^{-2}s^{-1}$ with an average peak number of pile-up interactions of over $50$. This document includes studies of the performance of the CMS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger for electrons and photons. The plots are made using the full dataset of $2017$ with $41.3$ $fb^{-1}$.

A performance assessment methodology for low-level radioactive waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derring, L.R.

1990-01-01

To demonstrate compliance with the performance objectives governing protection of the general population in 10 CFR 61.41, applicants for land disposal of low-level radioactive waste are required to conduct a pathways analysis, or quantitative evaluation of radionuclide release, transport through environmental media, and dose to man. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff defined a strategy and initiated a project at Sandia National Laboratories to develop a methodology for independently evaluating an applicant's analysis of postclosure performance. This performance assessment methodology was developed in five stages: identification of environmental pathways, ranking the significance of the pathways, identification and integration of models for pathway analyses, identification and selection of computer codes and techniques for the methodology, and implementation of the codes and documentation of the methodology. This paper summarizes the NRC approach for conducting evaluations of license applications for low-level radioactive waste facilities. 23 refs

Dietary protein level and performance of growing Baladi kids.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdelrahman, M M; Aljumaah, R S

2014-01-01

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding different levels of protein to black Baladi breed kids. Weanling Baladi kids (n=18; 75 to 90 days old) were selected and individually housed at our experimental farm. Kids were divided randomly to one of the three treatments for 12 weeks. The three dietary treatments were: T1: control ration, formulated according to NRC to cover the protein (level 1) and other nutrients requirements. T2: ration formulated to cover only 75% of protein (level 2) recommended by NRC. T3: control diet + 2.4 g undegradable methionine (Smartamine®)/day/kid (level 3). Feed intake, initial and monthly body weights were recorded. Blood samples were collected monthly and analyzed for metabolites and Co, Zn and Cu levels. Decreasing the dietary level of protein (T2) negatively affected (Pkids below the NRC requirements of protein negatively affect the growth performance and feed efficiency. The recommended protein level by NRC for growing kids cover the requirements of growing black Baladi kids for maximum growth and productivity.

Results of a neutrino oscillation experiment performed at a meson factory beam-stop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, J.W.

1989-04-01

This document describes a neutrino oscillation experiment performed at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. The oscillation mode searched for is /bar /nu///sub μ/ → /bar /nu///sub e/. The first chapter is a review of the known properties of the neutrino and a description of the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation. Previous experimental limits on this unobserved phenomenon are also given. The second chapter describes the experimental apparatus used by the E645 experiment to detect neutrinos produced in the LAMPF beam stop. The salient features of the detector are its large mass (20 tons of CH 2 ), its fine segmentation (to allow good particle tracking), good energy resolution, its recording of the history both before and after tracks appear in the detector, an active cosmic-ray anticoincidence shield, and 2000 gm/cm 2 of passive cosmic-ray shielding. It is located 26.8 m from the neutrino source, which has a mean neutrino energy of 40 MeV. The third chapter details the reduction of the 1.3 million event data sample to a 49 event sample of neutrino candidates. Principle backgrounds are Michel electrons from stopping cosmic-ray muons and protons from np elastic scattering by cosmic-ray neutrons. The fourth chapter explains how background levels from neutrino-nuclear scattering are predicted. The result of a maximum-likelihood analysis reveals no evidence for oscillation. 90% confidence levels are set at δm 2 = .10 eV 2 for large mixing and sin 2 (2θ) = .014 for large δm 2 . 82 refs., 18 figs., 55 tabs

Dynamic Incentive Effects of Relative Performance Pay: A Field Experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Delfgaauw (Josse); A.J. Dur (Robert); J.A. Non (Arjan); W.J.M.I. Verbeke (Willem)

2010-01-01

textabstractWe conduct a field experiment among 189 stores of a retail chain to study dynamic incentive effects of relative performance pay. Employees in the randomly selected treatment stores could win a bonus by outperforming three comparable stores from the control group over the course of four

GABA level, gamma oscillation, and working memory performance in schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chi-Ming A. Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A relationship between working memory impairment, disordered neuronal oscillations, and abnormal prefrontal GABA function has been hypothesized in schizophrenia; however, in vivo GABA measurements and gamma band neural synchrony have not yet been compared in schizophrenia. This case–control pilot study (N = 24 compared baseline and working memory task-induced neuronal oscillations acquired with high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs to GABA levels measured in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Working memory performance, baseline GABA level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, and measures of gamma oscillations from EEGs at baseline and during a working memory task were obtained. A major limitation of this study is a relatively small sample size for several analyses due to the integration of diverse methodologies and participant compliance. Working memory performance was significantly lower for patients than for controls. During the working memory task, patients (n = 7 had significantly lower amplitudes in gamma oscillations than controls (n = 9. However, both at rest and across working memory stages, there were significant correlations between gamma oscillation amplitude and left DLPFC GABA level. Peak gamma frequency during the encoding stage of the working memory task (n = 16 significantly correlated with GABA level and working memory performance. Despite gamma band amplitude deficits in patients across working memory stages, both baseline and working memory-induced gamma oscillations showed strong dependence on baseline GABA levels in patients and controls. These findings suggest a critical role for GABA function in gamma band oscillations, even under conditions of system and cognitive impairments as seen in schizophrenia.

Research Performance Progress Report: Diverging Supernova Explosion Experiments on NIF

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plewa, Tomasz [Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)

2016-10-25

The aim of this project was to design a series of blast-wave driven Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The experiments of this kind are relevant to mixing in core-collapse supernovae (ccSNe) and have the potential to address previously unanswered questions in high-energy density physics (HEDP) and astrophysics. The unmatched laser power of the NIF laser offers a unique chance to observe and study “new physics” like the mass extensions observed in HEDP RT experiments performed on the Omega laser [1], which might be linked to self-generated magnetic fields [2] and so far could not be reproduced by numerical simulations. Moreover, NIF is currently the only facility that offers the possibility to execute a diverging RT experiment, which would allow to observe processes such as inter-shell penetration via turbulent mixing and shock-proximity effects (distortion of the shock by RT spikes).

Effect of provider experience on clinician-performed ultrasonography for hydronephrosis in patients with suspected renal colic.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbst, Meghan K; Rosenberg, Graeme; Daniels, Brock; Gross, Cary P; Singh, Dinesh; Molinaro, Annette M; Luty, Seth; Moore, Christopher L

2014-09-01

Hydronephrosis is readily visible on ultrasonography and is a strong predictor of ureteral stones, but ultrasonography is a user-dependent technology and the test characteristics of clinician-performed ultrasonography for hydronephrosis are incompletely characterized, as is the effect of ultrasound fellowship training on predictive accuracy. We seek to determine the test characteristics of ultrasonography for detecting hydronephrosis when performed by clinicians with a wide range of experience under conditions of direct patient care. This was a prospective study of patients presenting to an academic medical center emergency department with suspected renal colic. Before computed tomography (CT) results, an emergency clinician performed bedside ultrasonography, recording the presence and degree of hydronephrosis. CT data were abstracted from the dictated radiology report by an investigator blinded to the bedside ultrasonographic results. Test characteristics of bedside ultrasonography for hydronephrosis were calculated with the CT scan as the reference standard, with test characteristics compared by clinician experience stratified into 4 levels: attending physicians with emergency ultrasound fellowship training, attending physicians without emergency ultrasound fellowship training, ultrasound experienced non-attending physician clinicians (at least 2 weeks of ultrasound training), and ultrasound inexperienced non-attending physician clinicians (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, off-service rotators, and first-year emergency medicine residents with fewer than 2 weeks of ultrasound training). There were 670 interpretable bedside ultrasonographic tests performed by 144 unique clinicians, 80.9% of which were performed by clinicians directly involved in the care of the patient. On CT, 47.5% of all subjects had hydronephrosis and 47.0% had a ureteral stone. Among all clinicians, ultrasonography had a sensitivity of 72.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 65.4% to 78

A Wireless Sensor Network for Structural Health Monitoring: Performance and Experience

OpenAIRE

Paek, Jeongyeup; Chintalapudi, Krishna; Caffrey, John; Govindan, Ramesh; Masri, Sami

2005-01-01

While sensor network research has made significant strides in the past few years, the literature has relatively few examples of papers that have evaluated and validated a complete experimental system. In this paper we discuss our deployment experiences and evaluate the performance of a multi-hop wireless data acquisition system (called Wisden) for structural health monitoring (SHM) on a large seismic test structure used by civil engineers. Our experiments indicate that, with the latest sensor...

Basic experiment on scattering type level gauge using neutron source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumazaki, Hiroshi; Fukuchi, Ryoichi; Horiguchi, Yasuhiro

1984-01-01

The level gauges using sealed radiation sources have been utilized for pulp and chemical industries, however, for those gauges, transmission type gamma sources are used, which require considerably large radioactivity, and it hinders the spread to medium and small enterprises. Recently, Cf-252 has become easily available, and various He-3 counters are on the market, consequently, the scattering type level gauges combining them have been examined. With the level gauges of this type, the judgement of level can be made sufficiently with the Cf-252 below 3.7 x 10 6 Bq, therefore, if the practical instruments are made, they seem to spread into medium and small enterprises because of the safety and the chief handling radiation being unnecessary. For the purpose of developing and manufacturing for trial this scattering type level gauge, the basic experiment was carried out to examine the effects of the change of salt content and the thickness of vessels and the effect of scattering materials. The possibility of the on-off operation as level gauges was also examined. The experimental method and the results are reported. The count considerably decreased with increasing salt content. Scattering materials worked effectively to increase the count. (Kako, I.)

Relationships between Minority Students Online Learning Experiences and Academic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Yeboah, Alex Kumi; Smith, Patriann

2016-01-01

The study investigated the relationship between minority students' use of technology, social media, the number of online courses, program of study, satisfaction, and academic performance. Participants in the study were a diverse student body regarding age, gender, and educational level, and functioned at both undergraduate and graduate levels.…

The ATLAS online High Level Trigger framework experience reusing offline software components in the ATLAS trigger

CERN Document Server

Wiedenmann, W

2009-01-01

Event selection in the Atlas High Level Trigger is accomplished to a large extent by reusing software components and event selection algorithms developed and tested in an offline environment. Many of these offline software modules are not specifically designed to run in a heavily multi-threaded online data flow environment. The Atlas High Level Trigger (HLT) framework based on the Gaudi and Atlas Athena frameworks, forms the interface layer, which allows the execution of the HLT selection and monitoring code within the online run control and data flow software. While such an approach provides a unified environment for trigger event selection across all of Atlas, it also poses strict requirements on the reused software components in terms of performance, memory usage and stability. Experience of running the HLT selection software in the different environments and especially on large multi-node trigger farms has been gained in several commissioning periods using preloaded Monte Carlo events, in data taking peri...

Parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk affect prey offspring behaviour and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Donelan, Sarah C; Trussell, Geoffrey C

2018-03-14

Because phenotypic plasticity can operate both within and between generations, phenotypic outcomes are often shaped by a complex history of environmental signals. For example, parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk can both independently and interactively influence prey offspring traits early in their life. Parental and embryonic risk experiences can also independently shape offspring phenotypes throughout an offspring's ontogeny, but the persistence of their interactive effects throughout offspring ontogeny is unknown. We examined the effects of parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk on the response of 1-year-old prey (the carnivorous snail, Nucella lapillus ) offspring to current predation risk. We found that parental and embryonic risk experiences had largely independent effects on offspring performance and that these effects were context dependent. Parental experience with risk had strong impacts on multiple offspring traits in the presence of current risk that generally improved offspring performance under risk, but embryonic risk experience had relatively weaker effects and only operated in the absence of current risk to reduce offspring growth. These results illustrate that past environmental experiences can dynamically shape organism phenotypes across ontogeny and that attention to these effects is key to a better understanding of predator/prey dynamics in natural systems. © 2018 The Author(s).

Development of a level-1 trigger and timing system for the Double Chooz neutrino experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reinhold, Bernd

2009-01-01

The measurement of the mixing angle θ 13 is the goal of several running and planned experiments. The experiments are either accelerator based (super)beam experiments (e.g. MINOS, T2K, Nova) or reactor anti-neutrino disappearance experiments (e.g. Daya Bay, RENO or Double Chooz). In order to measure or constrain θ 13 with the Double Chooz experiment the overall systematic errors have to be controlled at the one-percent or sub-percent level. The limitation of the systematic errors is achieved through various means and techniques. E.g. the experiment consists of two identical detectors at different baselines, which allow to make a differential anti-neutrino flux measurement, where basically only relative normalisation errors remain. The requirements on the systematic errors put also strong constraints on the quality of all components and materials used for both detectors, most prominently on the stability and radiopurity of the scintillator, the photomultiplier tubes, the vessels containing the detector liquids and the shielding against ambient radioactivity. The readout electronics, trigger and data acquisition system have to operate reliably as an integrated and highly efficient whole over several years. The trigger is provided by the Level-1 Trigger and Timing System, which is the subject of this thesis. It has to provide a highly efficient trigger (at the 0.1% level) for neutrino-induced events as well as for several types of background events. Its decision is realized in hardware and based on energy depositions in the muon veto and the target region. The Level-1 Trigger and Timing System furthermore provides a common System Clock and an absolute timestamp for each event. The Level-1 Trigger and Timing System consists of two types of VME modules, several Trigger Boards and a Trigger Master Board, which have been custom-designed and developed in the electronics workshop of our institute for this experiment and purpose, starting in 2005. In this thesis all

Development of a level-1 trigger and timing system for the Double Chooz neutrino experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reinhold, Bernd

2009-02-25

The measurement of the mixing angle {theta}{sub 13} is the goal of several running and planned experiments. The experiments are either accelerator based (super)beam experiments (e.g. MINOS, T2K, Nova) or reactor anti-neutrino disappearance experiments (e.g. Daya Bay, RENO or Double Chooz). In order to measure or constrain {theta}{sub 13} with the Double Chooz experiment the overall systematic errors have to be controlled at the one-percent or sub-percent level. The limitation of the systematic errors is achieved through various means and techniques. E.g. the experiment consists of two identical detectors at different baselines, which allow to make a differential anti-neutrino flux measurement, where basically only relative normalisation errors remain. The requirements on the systematic errors put also strong constraints on the quality of all components and materials used for both detectors, most prominently on the stability and radiopurity of the scintillator, the photomultiplier tubes, the vessels containing the detector liquids and the shielding against ambient radioactivity. The readout electronics, trigger and data acquisition system have to operate reliably as an integrated and highly efficient whole over several years. The trigger is provided by the Level-1 Trigger and Timing System, which is the subject of this thesis. It has to provide a highly efficient trigger (at the 0.1% level) for neutrino-induced events as well as for several types of background events. Its decision is realized in hardware and based on energy depositions in the muon veto and the target region. The Level-1 Trigger and Timing System furthermore provides a common System Clock and an absolute timestamp for each event. The Level-1 Trigger and Timing System consists of two types of VME modules, several Trigger Boards and a Trigger Master Board, which have been custom-designed and developed in the electronics workshop of our institute for this experiment and purpose, starting in 2005. In

A first level trigger approach for the CBM experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steinle, Christian Alexander

2012-01-01

In view of the very heavy CBM experiment constraints on the first level trigger, no conventional trigger is obviously applicable. Hence a fast trigger algorithm with the goal of realization in reconfigurable hardware had to be developed to fulfil all requirements of the experiment. In this connection the general Hough transform, which is already utilized in several other experiments, is used as a basis. This approach constitutes further a global method for tracking, which transforms all particle interaction points with the detector stations by means of a defined formula into a parameter space corresponding to the momentum of the particle tracks. This formula is of course developed especially for the given environment of CBM and defines thus the core of the applied three dimensional Hough transform. As the main focus of attention is furthermore on the realization of the needed data throughput, the necessary complex formula calculations give reason to outsource predefined formula results in look-up tables. This circumstance offers then collaterally the possibility to utilize any other sufficiently precise method like Runge-Kutta of fourth order for example to compute these look-up tables, because this computation can be evidently done offline without any effect on the Hough transform's processing speed. For algorithm simulation purposes the CBMROOT framework provides the module 'track', which is written in the programming language C++. This module includes many analyses for the determination of algorithm parameters, which can be even executed automatically to some extent. In addition to this, there are of course also analyses for the measurement of the algorithm's quality as well as for the individual rating of each partial step of the algorithm. Consequently the milestone of a customizable level one tracking algorithm, which can be used without any specific knowledge, is now obtained. Besides this, the investigated concepts are explicitly considered in the

A first level trigger approach for the CBM experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steinle, Christian Alexander

2012-07-01

In view of the very heavy CBM experiment constraints on the first level trigger, no conventional trigger is obviously applicable. Hence a fast trigger algorithm with the goal of realization in reconfigurable hardware had to be developed to fulfil all requirements of the experiment. In this connection the general Hough transform, which is already utilized in several other experiments, is used as a basis. This approach constitutes further a global method for tracking, which transforms all particle interaction points with the detector stations by means of a defined formula into a parameter space corresponding to the momentum of the particle tracks. This formula is of course developed especially for the given environment of CBM and defines thus the core of the applied three dimensional Hough transform. As the main focus of attention is furthermore on the realization of the needed data throughput, the necessary complex formula calculations give reason to outsource predefined formula results in look-up tables. This circumstance offers then collaterally the possibility to utilize any other sufficiently precise method like Runge-Kutta of fourth order for example to compute these look-up tables, because this computation can be evidently done offline without any effect on the Hough transform's processing speed. For algorithm simulation purposes the CBMROOT framework provides the module 'track', which is written in the programming language C++. This module includes many analyses for the determination of algorithm parameters, which can be even executed automatically to some extent. In addition to this, there are of course also analyses for the measurement of the algorithm's quality as well as for the individual rating of each partial step of the algorithm. Consequently the milestone of a customizable level one tracking algorithm, which can be used without any specific knowledge, is now obtained. Besides this, the investigated concepts are explicitly

A first level trigger approach for the CBM experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steinle, Christian Alexander

2012-07-01

In view of the very heavy CBM experiment constraints on the first level trigger, no conventional trigger is obviously applicable. Hence a fast trigger algorithm with the goal of realization in reconfigurable hardware had to be developed to fulfil all requirements of the experiment. In this connection the general Hough transform, which is already utilized in several other experiments, is used as a basis. This approach constitutes further a global method for tracking, which transforms all particle interaction points with the detector stations by means of a defined formula into a parameter space corresponding to the momentum of the particle tracks. This formula is of course developed especially for the given environment of CBM and defines thus the core of the applied three dimensional Hough transform. As the main focus of attention is furthermore on the realization of the needed data throughput, the necessary complex formula calculations give reason to outsource predefined formula results in look-up tables. This circumstance offers then collaterally the possibility to utilize any other sufficiently precise method like Runge-Kutta of fourth order for example to compute these look-up tables, because this computation can be evidently done offline without any effect on the Hough transform's processing speed. For algorithm simulation purposes the CBMROOT framework provides the module 'track', which is written in the programming language C++. This module includes many analyses for the determination of algorithm parameters, which can be even executed automatically to some extent. In addition to this, there are of course also analyses for the measurement of the algorithm's quality as well as for the individual rating of each partial step of the algorithm. Consequently the milestone of a customizable level one tracking algorithm, which can be used without any specific knowledge, is now obtained. Besides this, the investigated concepts are explicitly considered in the

E AREA LOW LEVEL WASTE FACILITY DOE 435.1 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilhite, E

2008-03-31

This Performance Assessment for the Savannah River Site E-Area Low-Level Waste Facility was prepared to meet requirements of Chapter IV of the Department of Energy Order 435.1-1. The Order specifies that a Performance Assessment should provide reasonable assurance that a low-level waste disposal facility will comply with the performance objectives of the Order. The Order also requires assessments of impacts to water resources and to hypothetical inadvertent intruders for purposes of establishing limits on radionuclides that may be disposed near-surface. According to the Order, calculations of potential doses and releases from the facility should address a 1,000-year period after facility closure. The point of compliance for the performance measures relevant to the all pathways and air pathway performance objective, as well as to the impact on water resources assessment requirement, must correspond to the point of highest projected dose or concentration beyond a 100-m buffer zone surrounding the disposed waste following the assumed end of active institutional controls 100 years after facility closure. During the operational and institutional control periods, the point of compliance for the all pathways and air pathway performance measures is the SRS boundary. However, for the water resources impact assessment, the point of compliance remains the point of highest projected dose or concentration beyond a 100-m buffer zone surrounding the disposed waste during the operational and institutional control periods. For performance measures relevant to radon and inadvertent intruders, the points of compliance are the disposal facility surface for all time periods and the disposal facility after the assumed loss of active institutional controls 100 years after facility closure, respectively. The E-Area Low-Level Waste Facility is located in the central region of the SRS known as the General Separations Area. It is an elbow-shaped, cleared area, which curves to the northwest

Sleep complaints affecting school performance at different educational levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Pagel, James F; Kwiatkowski, Carol F

2010-01-01

The clear association between reports of sleep disturbance and poor school performance has been documented for sleepy adolescents. This study extends that research to students outside the adolescent age grouping in an associated school setting (98 middle school students, 67 high school students, and 64 college students). Reported restless legs and periodic limb movements are significantly associated with lower GPA's in junior high students. Consistent with previous studies, daytime sleepiness was the sleep variable most likely to negatively affects high school students. Sleep onset and maintenance insomnia were the reported sleep variables significantly correlated with poorer school performance in college students. This study indicates that different sleep disorder variables negatively affect performance at different age and educational levels.

Virtual navigation performance: the relationship to field of view and prior video gaming experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Anthony E; Collaer, Marcia L

2011-04-01

Two experiments examined whether learning a virtual environment was influenced by field of view and how it related to prior video gaming experience. In the first experiment, participants (42 men, 39 women; M age = 19.5 yr., SD = 1.8) performed worse on a spatial orientation task displayed with a narrow field of view in comparison to medium and wide field-of-view displays. Counter to initial hypotheses, wide field-of-view displays did not improve performance over medium displays, and this was replicated in a second experiment (30 men, 30 women; M age = 20.4 yr., SD = 1.9) presenting a more complex learning environment. Self-reported video gaming experience correlated with several spatial tasks: virtual environment pointing and tests of Judgment of Line Angle and Position, mental rotation, and Useful Field of View (with correlations between .31 and .45). When prior video gaming experience was included as a covariate, sex differences in spatial tasks disappeared.

Guidance on the Technology Performance Level (TPL) Assessment Methodology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weber, Jochem [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Roberts, Jesse D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Babarit, Aurelien [Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France). Lab. of Research in Hydrodynamics, Energetics and Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA); Costello, Ronan [Wave Venture, Penstraze (United Kingdom); Bull, Diana L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Neilson, Kim [Ramboll, Copenhagen (Denmark); Bittencourt, Claudio [DNV GL, London (United Kingdom); Kennedy, Ben [Wave Venture, Penstraze (United Kingdom); Malins, Robert Joseph [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Dykes, Katherine [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-09-01

This document presents the revised Technology Performance Level (TPL) assessment methodology. There are three parts to this revised methodology 1) the Stakeholder Needs and Assessment Guidance (this document), 2) the Technical Submission form, 3) the TPL scoring spreadsheet. The TPL assessment is designed to give a technology neutral or agnostic assessment of any wave energy converter technology. The focus of the TPL is on the performance of the technology in meeting the customer’s needs. The original TPL is described in [1, 2] and those references also detail the critical differences in the nature of the TPL when compared to the more widely used technology readiness level (TRL). (Wave energy TRL is described in [3]). The revised TPL is particularly intended to be useful to investors and also to assist technology developers to conduct comprehensive assessments in a way that is meaningful and attractive to investors. The revised TPL assessment methodology has been derived through a structured Systems Engineering approach. This was a formal process which involved analyzing customer and stakeholder needs through the discipline of Systems Engineering. The results of the process confirmed the high level of completeness of the original methodology presented in [1] (as used in the Wave Energy Prize judging) and now add a significantly increased level of detail in the assessment and an improved more investment focused structure. The revised TPL also incorporates the feedback of the Wave Energy Prize judges.

Dual-Task Performance: Influence of Frailty, Level of Physical Activity, and Cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Giusti Rossi, Paulo; Pires de Andrade, Larissa; Hotta Ansai, Juliana; Silva Farche, Ana Claudia; Carnaz, Leticia; Dalpubel, Daniela; Ferriolli, Eduardo; Assis Carvalho Vale, Francisco; de Medeiros Takahashi, Anielle Cristhine

2018-03-08

Cognition and level of physical activity have been associated with frailty syndrome. The development of tools that assess deficits related to physical and cognitive frailties simultaneously are of common interest. However, little is known about how much these aspects influence the performance of dual-task tests. Our aims were (a) to verify the influence of frailty syndrome and objectively measured physical activity and cognition on the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and Timed Up and Go associated with dual-task (TUG-DT) performances; and (b) to compare TUG and TUG-DT performances between older adults who develop frailty syndrome. Sixty-four community-dwelling older adults were divided into frail, prefrail, and nonfrail groups, according to frailty phenotype. Assessments included anamnesis, screening of frailty syndrome, cognitive assessment (Addenbrooke's cognitive examination), placement of a triaxial accelerometer to assess level of physical activity, and TUG and TUG-DT (TUG associated with a motor-cognitive task of calling a phone number) performances. After 7 days, the accelerometer was removed. A multiple linear regression was applied to identify which independent variables could explain performances in the TUG and TUG-DT. Subsequently, the analysis of covariance test, adjusted for age, cognition, and level of physical activity covariates, was used to compare test performances. There were no differences in cognition between groups. Significant differences in the level of physical activity were found in the frail group. Compared with the frail group, the nonfrail group required less time and fewer steps to complete the TUG. Regarding the TUG-DT, cognition and age influenced the time spent and number of steps, respectively; however, no differences were found between groups. Frail older adults presented worse performance in the TUG when compared with nonfrail older adults. The dual-task test does not differentiate older adults with frailty syndrome, regardless of

An overview of the geochemical code MINTEQ: Applications to performance assessment for low-level wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, S.R.; Opitz, B.E.; Graham, M.J.; Eary, L.E.

1987-03-01

The MINTEQ geochemical computer code, developed at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), integrates many of the capabilities of its two immediate predecessors, MINEQL and WATEQ3. The MINTEQ code will be used in the Special Waste Form Lysimeters-Arid program to perform the calculations necessary to simulate (model) the contact of low-level waste solutions with heterogeneous sediments of the interaction of ground water with solidified low-level wastes. The code can calculate ion speciation/solubilitya, adsorption, oxidation-reduction, gas phase equilibria, and precipitation/dissolution of solid phases. Under the Special Waste Form Lysimeters-Arid program, the composition of effluents (leachates) from column and batch experiments, using laboratory-scale waste forms, will be used to develop a geochemical model of the interaction of ground water with commercial, solidified low-level wastes. The wastes being evaluated include power-reactor waste streams that have been solidified in cement, vinyl ester-styrene, and bitumen. The thermodynamic database for the code was upgraded preparatory to performing the geochemical modeling. Thermodynamic data for solid phases and aqueous species containing Sb, Ce, Cs, or Co were added to the MINTEQ database. The need to add these data was identified from the characterization of the waste streams. The geochemical model developed from the laboratory data will then be applied to predict the release from a field-lysimeter facility that contains full-scale waste samples. The contaminant concentrations migrating from the waste forms predicted using MINTEQ will be compared to the long-term lysimeter data. This comparison will constitute a partial field validation of the geochemical model

Health system performance at the district level in Indonesia after decentralization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Choi Yoonjoung

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Assessments over the last two decades have showed an overall low level of performance of the health system in Indonesia with wide variation between districts. The reasons advanced for these low levels of performance include the low level of public funding for health and the lack of discretion for health system managers at the district level. When, in 2001, Indonesia implemented a radical decentralization and significantly increased the central transfer of funds to district governments it was widely expected that the performance of the health system would improve. This paper assesses the extent to which the performance of the health system has improved since decentralization. Methods We measured a set of indicators relevant to assessing changes in performance of the health system between two surveys in three areas: utilization of maternal antenatal and delivery care; immunization coverage; and contraceptive source and use. We also measured respondents' demographic characteristics and their living circumstances. These measurements were made in population-based surveys in 10 districts in 2002-03 and repeated in 2007 in the same 10 districts using the same instruments and sampling methods. Results The dominant providers of maternal and child health in these 10 districts are in the private sector. There was a significant decrease in birth deliveries at home, and a corresponding increase in deliveries in health facilities in 5 of the 10 districts, largely due to increased use of private facilities with little change in the already low use of public facilities. Overall, there was no improvement in vaccination of mothers and their children. Of those using modern contraceptive methods, the majority obtained them from the private sector in all districts. Conclusions There has been little improvement in the performance of the health system since decentralization occurred in 2001 even though there have also been significant increases in

Effects of dietary energy levels on physiological parameters and reproductive performance of gestating sows over three consecutive parities.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, S S; Jin, Y H; Jang, J C; Hong, J S; Jung, S W; Kim, Y Y

2018-03-01

This experiment was to evaluate the effects of the dietary energy levels on the physiological parameters and reproductive performance during gestation over three parities in sows. A total of 52 F1 gilts (Yorkshire×Landrace) were allotted to one of four dietary treatments using a completely randomized design. The treatments contained 3,100, 3,200, 3,300, or 3,400 kcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg diet but feed was provided at 2.0, 2.2, and 2.4 kg/d in the first, second and third parity, respectively. The body weight and body weight gain during gestation increased as the dietary energy level increased (penergy level increased (penergy treatment diet (p = 0.08) and the body weight, body weight gain were increased by dietary energy level during gestation (penergy level increased at the first parity (penergy intake of gestating sows should be 6,400 or 6,600 kcal of ME/d, 7,040 or 7,260 kcal of ME/d, and 7,680 or 7,920 kcal of ME/d for parity 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Performative exhibition and its different modes of experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schwarzbart, Judith

The avant-gardes of the late 60s and 70s challenged many conventions associated with the (classical) modernist art exhibition such as: a static timeless display of autonomous objects, the spectator as a disembodied visual receptor, and the personal experience emphasizing the individual and never...... the social. The avant-gardes have not, however, let to the disappearance of a modernist exhibition format but to a proliferation of formats including some that are more performative in its character, which means: more dynamic, developing over time, with a higher degree of bodily and discursive exchange, and...

Field-measured drag area is a key correlate of level cycling time trial performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James E. Peterman

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Drag area (Ad is a primary factor determining aerodynamic resistance during level cycling and is therefore a key determinant of level time trial performance. However, Ad has traditionally been difficult to measure. Our purpose was to determine the value of adding field-measured Ad as a correlate of level cycling time trial performance. In the field, 19 male cyclists performed a level (22.1 km time trial. Separately, field-determined Ad and rolling resistance were calculated for subjects along with projected frontal area assessed directly (AP and indirectly (Est AP. Also, a graded exercise test was performed to determine $\\dot {V}{O}_{2}$V̇O2 peak, lactate threshold (LT, and economy. $\\dot {V}{O}_{2}$V̇O2 peak ($\\mathrm{l}~\\min ^{-1}$lmin−1 and power at LT were significantly correlated to power measured during the time trial (r = 0.83 and 0.69, respectively but were not significantly correlated to performance time (r = − 0.42 and −0.45. The correlation with performance time improved significantly (p < 0.05 when these variables were normalized to Ad. Of note, Ad alone was better correlated to performance time (r = 0.85, p < 0.001 than any combination of non-normalized physiological measure. The best correlate with performance time was field-measured power output during the time trial normalized to Ad (r = − 0.92. AP only accounted for 54% of the variability in Ad. Accordingly, the correlation to performance time was significantly lower using power normalized to AP (r = − 0.75 or Est AP (r = − 0.71. In conclusion, unless normalized to Ad, level time trial performance in the field was not highly correlated to common laboratory measures. Furthermore, our field-measured Ad is easy to determine and was the single best predictor of level time trial performance.

Effects of Enzyme Supplementation on Productive Performance and Egg Quality of Laying Hens fed Diets Containing Graded Levels of Whole Date Waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Torki M

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of present study was to determine the effects of β-mannanase-based enzyme (Hemicell® on productive performance and egg quality in diets containing graded levels of Whole date waste (WDW fed to laying hens. A total of 336 Hy-line leghorn hens after production peak were randomly divided into 56 cages. Eight iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous experimental diets in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement including four levels of WDW (0, 10, 20 and 30% and 2 concentrations of supplemental β-mannanase (0 or 0.06 % were prepared. Each dietary treatment was fed to 7 cages (6 birds/cage from 32 to 38 wk of age. During the experiment, daily egg production, egg weight and feed intake were measured. At the 6th wk, egg quality traits were also recorded. The results showed that there was no interaction between WDW inclusion and enzyme supplementation on performance and egg traits. Dietary supplementation of WDW more than 10% significantly decreased egg production and egg mass compared to no WDW recipient hens (control diet during the entire experiment (P. Inclusion of 30% WDW to the diet, significantly increased overall feed conversion ratio compared to the control group (P. The treatment with 20 and 30% WDW also resulted in lower eggshell thickness as compared to 10% WDW (P. The dietary inclusion of 10% WDW also increased yolk index as compared to the control and 30% WDW groups (P. Enzyme supplementation had no significant effect on productive performance as well as egg quality characteristics. Based on the results of this experiment, it can be concluded that WDW could be included to laying hens diets up to 10% with no deleterious effects on performance and egg quality characteristics.

Somatotype, Level of Competition, and Performance in Attack in Elite Male Volleyball

Science.gov (United States)

Giannopoulos, Nikiforos; Vagenas, George; Noutsos, Konstantinos; Barzouka, Karolina; Bergeles, Nikolaos

2017-01-01

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between somatotype, level of competition, and performance in attack in elite level male volleyball players. The objective was to test for the potential covariation of competition level (Division A1 vs. A2) and playing position (hitters vs. centers vs. opposites) considering performance in attack. Anthropometric, body composition and somatotype variables were measured according to the Heath-Carter method. The attack actions of 144 players from 48 volleyball matches were analyzed and their performance was rated using a 5-point numerical scale. Results showed that players of Division A1 were taller, heavier, more muscular, and less endomorphic compared to those of Division A2. MANOVA and follow-up discriminant function analysis revealed somatotype differences among playing positions with centers and opposites being endomorph-ectomorph and hitters being central. Centers performed constantly better than hitters and opposites regardless of the division and somatotype. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that variables defining ectomorph and endomorph players, centers, and players of Division A1 significantly determined the relative performance superiority and were able to explain the variation in performance by almost 25%. These results could be taken into account by coaches when assigning players to particular playing positions or when designing individualized position-specific training programs. PMID:28828084

Somatotype, Level of Competition, and Performance in Attack in Elite Male Volleyball

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giannopoulos Nikiforos

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between somatotype, level of competition, and performance in attack in elite level male volleyball players. The objective was to test for the potential covariation of competition level (Division A1 vs. A2 and playing position (hitters vs. centers vs. opposites considering performance in attack. Anthropometric, body composition and somatotype variables were measured according to the Heath-Carter method. The attack actions of 144 players from 48 volleyball matches were analyzed and their performance was rated using a 5-point numerical scale. Results showed that players of Division A1 were taller, heavier, more muscular, and less endomorphic compared to those of Division A2. MANOVA and follow-up discriminant function analysis revealed somatotype differences among playing positions with centers and opposites being endomorph-ectomorph and hitters being central. Centers performed constantly better than hitters and opposites regardless of the division and somatotype. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that variables defining ectomorph and endomorph players, centers, and players of Division A1 significantly determined the relative performance superiority and were able to explain the variation in performance by almost 25%. These results could be taken into account by coaches when assigning players to particular playing positions or when designing individualized position-specific training programs.

Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Serum Biochemistry of Broiler Chicken Fed Graded Levels of Sun-Dried Irish Potato Peel Meal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wafar James Raphael

2017-06-01

Full Text Available An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of substituting different levels of sun-dried Irish potato peel meal (SPPM for maize in diets of broiler chickens. Five diets in which SPPM was replaced with 0 (0SPPM, 25 (25SPPM, 50 (50SPPM, 75 (75SPPM and 100% (100SPPM of maize in starter and finisher diets for a 8 week period using broiler chickens were examined. A total of 300 two weeks old broilers chicks Anak 2000 were randomly allotted to five experimental diets with six pen per treatment and 10 birds chicks per pen. Body weight and feed intake of broilers, and feed conversion ratio were determined at the beginning and 56th day of the experiment respectively. On day 56, four broilers from each pen were selected and slaughtered to determine some carcass characteristics and serum biochemistry. The result of growth performance showed that 100SPPM decreased daily weight gain of chickens when compared to other SPPM levels (P

High-Level Performance Modeling of SAR Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Curtis

2006-01-01

SAUSAGE (Still Another Utility for SAR Analysis that s General and Extensible) is a computer program for modeling (see figure) the performance of synthetic- aperture radar (SAR) or interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR or IFSAR) systems. The user is assumed to be familiar with the basic principles of SAR imaging and interferometry. Given design parameters (e.g., altitude, power, and bandwidth) that characterize a radar system, the software predicts various performance metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio and resolution). SAUSAGE is intended to be a general software tool for quick, high-level evaluation of radar designs; it is not meant to capture all the subtleties, nuances, and particulars of specific systems. SAUSAGE was written to facilitate the exploration of engineering tradeoffs within the multidimensional space of design parameters. Typically, this space is examined through an iterative process of adjusting the values of the design parameters and examining the effects of the adjustments on the overall performance of the system at each iteration. The software is designed to be modular and extensible to enable consideration of a variety of operating modes and antenna beam patterns, including, for example, strip-map and spotlight SAR acquisitions, polarimetry, burst modes, and squinted geometries.

Fluctuation properties of nuclear energy levels and widths: comparison of theory with experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bohigas, O.; Haq, R.U.; Pandey, A.

1982-09-01

We analyze the fluctuation properties of nuclear energy levels and widths with new spectrally averaged measures. A remarkably close agreement between the predictions of random-matrix theories and experiment is found

Effect Of Dietary Protein Levels On The Performance And Carcass ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect Of Dietary Protein Levels On The Performance And Carcass ... Nigerian Journal of Animal Production ... Response criteria such as weight gain and feed conversion ratio, among others, and carcass characteristics were measured.

SLEEP COMPLAINTS AFFECTING SCHOOL PERFORMANCE AT DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL LEVELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James F Pagel

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The clear association between reports of sleep disturbance and poor school performance has been documented for sleepy adolescents. This study extends that research to students outside the adolescent age grouping in an associated school setting (98 middle school students, 67 high school students, and 64 college students. Reported restless legs and periodic limb movements are significantly associated with lower GPA’s in junior high students. Consistent with previous studies, daytime sleepiness was the sleep variable most likely to negatively affects high school students. Sleep onset and maintenance insomnia were the reported sleep variables significantly correlated with poorer school performance in college students. This study indicates that different sleep disorder variables negatively affect performance at different age and educational levels.

Personality Characteristics and Level of Performance of Male County Extension Agents in Wisconsin.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandya, Dasharathrai Navnitrai

The major purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between selected personality characteristics and attitudes of male extension agents in Wisconsin, and their level of job performance. The relationships between selected background factors and the level of agent's job performance were also studied. Subjects were 79 male county agents…

Effects of caffeine and anxiety level on psychomotor performance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study investigated the effects of caffeine and anxiety level on psychomotor performance. Sixty-eight (68) volunteer male and female students who were randomly selected from different academic faculties at the University of Lagos participated in this study. Their ages ranged from 18 to 32 years, with body weights ...

Ability Dispersion and Team Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoogendoorn, Sander; Parker, Simon C.; Van Praag, Mirjam

What is the effect of dispersed levels of cognitive ability of members of a (business) team on their team's performance? This paper reports the results of a field experiment in which 573 students in 49 (student) teams start up and manage real companies under identical circumstances for one year. We...... ensured exogenous variation in otherwise random team composition by assigning students to teams based on their measured cognitive abilities. Each team performs a variety of tasks, often involving complex decision making. The key result of the experiment is that the performance of business teams first...... increases and then decreases with ability dispersion. We seek to understand this finding by developing a model in which team members of different ability levels form sub- teams with other team members with similar ability levels to specialize in different productive tasks. Diversity spreads production over...

Reactor containment purge and vent valve performance experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, J.A.; Steele, R.; Watkins, J.C.

1985-01-01

Three nuclear-designed butterfly valves typical of those used in domestic nuclear power plant containment purge and vent applications were tested. For a comparison of responses, two eight-inch nominal pipe size valves with differing internal design were tested. For extrapolation insights, a 24-inch nominal pipe size valve was also tested. The valve experiments were performed with various piping configurations and valve disc orientations to the flow, to simulate various installation options in field application. As a standard for comparing the effects of the installation options, testing was also performed in a standard ANSI test section. Test cycles were performed at inlet pressures of 5 to 60 psig, while monitoring numerous test parameters, such as the valve disc position, valve shaft torque, mass flow rate, and the pressure and temperature at multiple locations throughout the test section. An experimental data base was developed to assist in the evaluation of the current analytical methods and to determine the influence of inlet pressure, inlet duct geometry, and valve orientation to the flow media on valve torque requirements, along with any resulting limitations to the extrapolation methods. 2 refs., 15 figs

Experiences in messaging middle-ware for high-level control applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wanga, N.; Shasharina, S.; Matykiewicz, J.; Rooparani Pundaleeka

2012-01-01

Existing high-level applications in accelerator control and modeling systems leverage many different languages, tools and frameworks that do not inter-operate with one another. As a result, the accelerator control community is moving toward the proven Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach to address the inter-operability challenges among heterogeneous high-level application modules. Such SOA approach enables developers to package various control subsystems and activities into 'services' with well-defined 'interfaces' and make leveraging heterogeneous high-level applications via flexible composition possible. Examples of such applications include presentation panel clients based on Control System Studio (CSS) and middle-layer applications such as model/data servers. This paper presents our experiences in developing a demonstrative high-level application environment using emerging messaging middle-ware standards. In particular, we utilize new features in EPICS v4 and other emerging standards such as Data Distribution Service (DDS) and Extensible Type Interface by the Object Management Group. We first briefly review examples we developed previously. We then present our current effort in integrating DDS into such a SOA environment for control systems. Specifically, we illustrate how we are integrating DDS into CSS and develop a Python DDS mapping. (authors)

An Investigation of Sensory Information, Levels of Automation, and Piloting Experience on Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Performance

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

Development.of. NASA - TLX .(Task.Load.Index):.Results.of.empiri- cal.and.theoretical.research ..In.P .A ..Hancock.&.N .. Meshkati.(Eds .),.Human...8 Automated Manual Level of Automation Hi gh Z oo m M an ip ul at io n Pilot Non-pilot Figure 4. Number of participants with high levels of zoom

Temperature effect on RPC performance in the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aielli, G. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita ' Tor Vergata' , via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma (Italy); Bacci, C. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita ' Roma Tre' , via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma3, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma (Italy); Bartoli, B. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant' Angelo, via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli (Italy); Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant' Angelo, via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli (Italy); Bernardini, P. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita del Salento, via per Arnesano, 73100 Lecce (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Lecce, via per Arnesano, 73100 Lecce (Italy); Bi, X.J. [Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophyics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, P.O. Box 918, 100049 Beijing (China); Bleve, C. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita del Salento, via per Arnesano, 73100 Lecce (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Lecce, via per Arnesano, 73100 Lecce (Italy); Branchini, P.; Budano, A. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma3, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma (Italy); Bussino, S. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita ' Roma Tre' , via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma3, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma (Italy); Calabrese Melcarne, A.K. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - CNAF - viale Berti-Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna (Italy); Camarri, P. [Dipartimento di Fisica dell' Universita ' Tor Vergata' , via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma (Italy)] (and others)

2009-09-11

The ARGO-YBJ experiment has been taking data for nearly 2 years. In order to monitor continuously the performance of the Resistive Plate Chamber detectors and to study the daily temperature effects on the detector performance, a cosmic ray muon telescope was setup near the carpet detector array in the ARGO-YBJ laboratory. Based on the measurements performed using this telescope, it is found that, at the actual operating voltage of 7.2 kV, the temperature effect on the RPC time resolution is about 0.04ns/deg. C and on the particle detection efficiency is about 0.03%/deg. C. Based on these figures we conclude that the environmental effects do not affect substantially the angular resolution of the ARGO-YBJ detector.

French fission products experiments performed in Cadarache and Valduc. Results comparison

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anno, Jacques; Barreau, Anne; Hudelot, Jean Pascal; Girault, Emmanuel; Fouillaud, Patrick; Toubon, Herve

2003-01-01

Cofunded by Cogema, two complementary experimental programmes on burn up credit (BUC) related to fission products (FPs) are performed by CEA and IRSN at Cadarache and Valduc. After shortly recalling the main characteristics of each experiment, a first comparison of some results is presented, especially the energy range in which most part of cross section absorption are qualified. Both experiments exhibit great quality and accurate results, giving a high degree of confidence to the whole experimental French process of qualification devoted to BUC. (author)

Virtual neutron scattering experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Overgaard, Julie Hougaard; Bruun, Jesper; May, Michael

2017-01-01

. In the last week of the course, students travel to a large-scale neutron scattering facility to perform real neutron scattering experiments. Through student interviews and survey answers, we argue, that the virtual training prepares the students to engage more fruitfully with experiments by letting them focus......We describe how virtual experiments can be utilized in a learning design that prepares students for hands-on experiments at large-scale facilities. We illustrate the design by showing how virtual experiments are used at the Niels Bohr Institute in a master level course on neutron scattering...

Performance analysis of three-dimensional-triple-level cell and two-dimensional-multi-level cell NAND flash hybrid solid-state drives

Science.gov (United States)

Sakaki, Yukiya; Yamada, Tomoaki; Matsui, Chihiro; Yamaga, Yusuke; Takeuchi, Ken

2018-04-01

In order to improve performance of solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid SSDs have been proposed. Hybrid SSDs consist of more than two types of NAND flash memories or NAND flash memories and storage-class memories (SCMs). However, the cost of hybrid SSDs adopting SCMs is more expensive than that of NAND flash only SSDs because of the high bit cost of SCMs. This paper proposes unique hybrid SSDs with two-dimensional (2D) horizontal multi-level cell (MLC)/three-dimensional (3D) vertical triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash memories to achieve higher cost-performance. The 2D-MLC/3D-TLC hybrid SSD achieves up to 31% higher performance than the conventional 2D-MLC/2D-TLC hybrid SSD. The factors of different performance between the proposed hybrid SSD and the conventional hybrid SSD are analyzed by changing its block size, read/write/erase latencies, and write unit of 3D-TLC NAND flash memory, by means of a transaction-level modeling simulator.

High-Level Synthesis: Productivity, Performance, and Software Constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun Liang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available FPGAs are an attractive platform for applications with high computation demand and low energy consumption requirements. However, design effort for FPGA implementations remains high—often an order of magnitude larger than design effort using high-level languages. Instead of this time-consuming process, high-level synthesis (HLS tools generate hardware implementations from algorithm descriptions in languages such as C/C++ and SystemC. Such tools reduce design effort: high-level descriptions are more compact and less error prone. HLS tools promise hardware development abstracted from software designer knowledge of the implementation platform. In this paper, we present an unbiased study of the performance, usability and productivity of HLS using AutoPilot (a state-of-the-art HLS tool. In particular, we first evaluate AutoPilot using the popular embedded benchmark kernels. Then, to evaluate the suitability of HLS on real-world applications, we perform a case study of stereo matching, an active area of computer vision research that uses techniques also common for image denoising, image retrieval, feature matching, and face recognition. Based on our study, we provide insights on current limitations of mapping general-purpose software to hardware using HLS and some future directions for HLS tool development. We also offer several guidelines for hardware-friendly software design. For popular embedded benchmark kernels, the designs produced by HLS achieve 4X to 126X speedup over the software version. The stereo matching algorithms achieve between 3.5X and 67.9X speedup over software (but still less than manual RTL design with a fivefold reduction in design effort versus manual RTL design.

The experiences to improve plant performance and reliability of Ko-Ri nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Ho Weon

1998-01-01

This paper provides a discussion of the lessons learned from operational experience and the future plans to improve performance of the Ko-Ri plant. To operate nuclear power plants safely with good performance is the only way to mitigate the negative image of nuclear power generation to the public and to enhance the economical benefit compared to other electrical generation method. Therefore, in a continuous effort to overcome a negative challenge from outside, we have driven an aggressive 'OCTF' campaign as part of safety. As a result of our efforts, the following remarkable achievements have been accomplished. (1) 3 times of OCTF during recent three years (2) Selected twice as a top notch power plant on the list of NEI magazine in terms of plant capacity factor (3) No scram recorded in 1997 for all 4 units at Ko-Ri site. Ko-Ri is now undergoing the large scale plant betterment projects for retaking-off our operating performance to the level of new challenge target. Such improvement of critical components in the reactor coolant system and turbine system greatly contribute to increase the safety and reliability of the plant and to shortening of the planned outage period as well as to reduction of radiation exposure and radwaste. (Cho, G. S.). 5 tabs., 10 figs

Bullying Experiences and Compromised Academic Performance across Middle School Grades

Science.gov (United States)

Juvonen, Jaana; Wang, Yueyan; Espinoza, Guadalupe

2011-01-01

The goal of the study was to examine whether bullying experiences are associated with lower academic performance across middle school among urban students.The ethnically diverse sample was drawn from a longitudinal study of 2,300 sixth graders (44% Latino, 26% African American, 10% Asian, 10% White, and 10% mixed) from 11 public middle schools.…

Performance data for a terrestrial solar photovoltaic/water electrolysis experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Costogue, E. N.; Yasui, R. K.

1977-01-01

A description is presented of the equipment used in the experiment, taking into account the surplus solar panel from the Mariner 4 spacecraft which was used as a solar array source and an electrolytic hydrogen generator. Attention is also given to operational considerations and performance data, system considerations and aspects of optimization, and large-scale hydrogen production considerations.

Bilingual recognition memory: stronger performance but weaker levels-of-processing effects in the less fluent language.

Science.gov (United States)

Francis, Wendy S; Gutiérrez, Marisela

2012-04-01

The effects of bilingual proficiency on recognition memory were examined in an experiment with Spanish-English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in English and Spanish under shallow- and deep-encoding conditions. Overall, hit rates were higher, discrimination greater, and response times shorter in the nondominant language, consistent with effects previously observed for lower frequency words. Levels-of-processing effects in hit rates, discrimination, and response time were stronger in the dominant language. Specifically, with shallow encoding, the advantage for the nondominant language was larger than with deep encoding. The results support the idea that memory performance in the nondominant language is impacted by both the greater demand for cognitive resources and the lower familiarity of the words.

Evaluation of performance of select fusion experiments and projected reactors. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miley, G.H.

1978-10-01

The performance of NASA Lewis fusion experiments (SUMMA and Bumpy Torus) is compared with other experiments and that necessary for a power reactor. Key parameters cited are gain (fusion power/input power) and the time average fusion power, both of which may be more significant for real fusion reactors than the commonly used Lawson parameter. The NASA devices are over 10 orders of magnitude below the required powerplant values in both gain and time average power. The best experiments elsewhere are also as much as 4 to 5 orders of magnitude low. However, the NASA experiments compare favorably with other alternate approaches that have received less funding than the mainline experiments. The steady-state character and efficiency of plasma heating are strong advantages of the NASA approach. The problem, though, is to move ahead to experiments of sufficient size to advance in gain and average power parameters

It Is Not Only Mentoring: The Combined Influences of Individual-Level and Team-Level Support on Job Performance

Science.gov (United States)

van Emmerik, I. J. Hetty

2008-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to follow social exchange theory and group social capital theory, to predict positive relationships between (informal) mentoring and various support resources for two types of performance (i.e. perceptions of individual and team performance). Design/methodology/approach: The associations of individual-level mentoring and…

Longterm performance of structural component of intermediate- and low-level radioactive waste disposal facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whang, J. H.; Kim, S. S.; Chun, T. H.; Lee, J. M.; Yum, M. O.; Kim, J. H.; Kim, M. S.

1997-03-01

Underground repository for intermediate- and low-level radioactive waste is to be sealed and closed after operation. Structural components, which are generally made of cement concrete, are designed and accommodated in the repository for the purpose of operational convenience and stability after closure. To forecast the change of long-term integrity of the structural components, experimental verification, using in-situ or near in-situ conditions, is necessary. Domestic and foreign requirements with regard to the selection criteria and the performance criteria for structural components in disposal facility were surveyed. Characteristics of various types of cement were studied. Materials and construction methods of structural components similar to those of disposal facility was investigated and test items and methods for integrity of cement concrete were included. Literature survey for domestic groundwater characteristics was performed together with Ca-type bentonite ore which is a potential backfill material. Causes or factors affecting the durability of the cement structures were summarized. Experiments to figure out the ions leaching out from and migrating into cement soaked in distilled water and synthetic groundwater, respectively, were carried out. And finally, diffusion of chloride ion through cement was experimentally measured

Can Production Subsidies Explain China's Export Performance? Evidence from Firm-level Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gong, Yundan; Yu, Zhihong; Girma, Sourafel

2009-01-01

This paper analyses the relationship between production subsidies and firms" export performance using a very comprehensive and recent firm-level database and controlling for the endogeneity of subsidies. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity at the inten......This paper analyses the relationship between production subsidies and firms" export performance using a very comprehensive and recent firm-level database and controlling for the endogeneity of subsidies. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity...

Experience of Violence and Cruelty Prevention among Performers of Educational Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kseniya S. Shalaginova

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The article presents the experience of violence prevention in contemporary educational environment, describes the work with performers of educational process (teachers, schoolchildren, parents, administration, aimed at tolerance, empathy, habits of structural interaction and behavior in conflict situations, acceptance set forming

Determination of performance criteria for high-level solidified nuclear waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heckman, R.A.; Holdsworth, T.

1979-05-07

To minimize radiological risk from the operation of a waste management system, performance limits on volatilization, particulate dispersion, and dissolution characteristics of solidified high level waste must be specified. The results show clearly that the pre-emplacement environs are more limiting in establishing the waste form performance criteria than the post-emplacement environs. Absolute values of expected risk are very sensitive to modeling assumptions. The transportation and interim storage operations appear to be most limiting in determining the performance characteristics required. The expected values of risk do not rely upon the repositories remaining intact over the potentially hazardous lifetime of the waste.

Determination of performance criteria for high-level solidified nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heckman, R.A.; Holdsworth, T.

1979-01-01

To minimize radiological risk from the operation of a waste management system, performance limits on volatilization, particulate dispersion, and dissolution characteristics of solidified high level waste must be specified. The results show clearly that the pre-emplacement environs are more limiting in establishing the waste form performance criteria than the post-emplacement environs. Absolute values of expected risk are very sensitive to modeling assumptions. The transportation and interim storage operations appear to be most limiting in determining the performance characteristics required. The expected values of risk do not rely upon the repositories remaining intact over the potentially hazardous lifetime of the waste

Reactor Emergency Action Level Monitor: Knowledge acquisition experiences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Touchton, R.A.

1987-01-01

This paper presents the Knowledge Acquisition experiences in developing the Reactor Emergency Action Level Monitor (REALM) Expert System Prototype. REALM is an expert system which interprets plant sensor data and provides advice on the proper emergency classification. The REALM project is being funded by the Electric Power Research Institute, Consolidated Edison is serving as the host utility, and the effort is being conducted by Technology Applications, Inc. REALM is being designed to provide expert assistance in the identification of a nuclear power plant emergency situation and the determination of its severity, ultimately operating in a real-time, on-line processing environment. The paper discusses briefly the direct knowledge acquisition techniques used by the project team (who are themselves power industry engineers), to extract relevant knowledge from plant specifications and procedures

The performance of broiler finisher birds fed varying levels of feather ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The performance of broiler finisher birds fed varying levels of feather meal as replacement for soya bean meal. ... meal increased, feed cost/ kg weight gain increased and both differed significantly (P<0.05) between treatment means, while the birds tolerated feather meal up to 7.5% inclusion level, 2.5% was the optimal.

Enterprise Performance in Asia: Using firm-level data for Policy ...

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

Enterprise Performance in Asia: Using firm-level data for Policy-making. Micro and small enterprises play a critical role in job creation and economic ... prevent gender-based violence, and make digital platforms work for inclusive development.

Measurement of health system performance at district level: A study protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atul Sharma

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Limited efforts have been observed in low and middle income countries to undertake health system performance assessment at district level. Absence of a comprehensive data collection tool and lack of a standardised single summary measure defining overall performance are some of the main problems. Present study has been undertaken to develop a summary composite health system performance index at district level. Methods: A broad range of indicators covering all six domains as per building block framework were finalized by an expert panel. The domains were classified into twenty sub-domains, with 70 input and process indicators to measure performance. Seven sub-domains for assessing health system outputs and outcomes were identified, with a total of 28 indicators. Districts in Haryana state from north India were selected for the study. Primary and secondary data will be collected from 378 health facilities, district and state health directorate headquarters. Indicators will be normalized, aggregated to generate composite performance index at district level. Domain specific scores will present the quality of individual building block domains in the public health system. Robustness of the results will be checked using sensitivity analysis. Expected impact for public health: The study presents a methodology for comprehensive assessment of all health system domains on basis of input, process, output and outcome indicators which has never been reported from India. Generation of this index will help identify policy and implementation areas of concern and point towards potential solutions. Results may also help understand relationships between individual building blocks and their sub-components.

Multicultural Course Pedagogy: Experiences of Master's-Level Students of Color

Science.gov (United States)

Seward, Derek Xavier

2014-01-01

The author conducted a grounded theory study to examine multicultural training as experienced by 20 master's-level students of color enrolled in multicultural counseling courses. Findings revealed an emergent theory of student of color learning experiences and multicultural course pedagogy. Implications for counselor educators are discussed.

Diffusion from a Ground Level Point Source Experiment with Thermoluminescence Dosimeters and Kr 85 as Tracer Substance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gyllander, Ch; Hollman, S; Widemo, U

1969-04-15

Within the framework of the IRIS-project (Iodine Research in Safety Project) an experiment to study diffusion at near-ground level was carried out on 19 December 1967 using {sup 85}Kr as the tracer element. The object of the experiment was a) to test the method using |3-sensitive thermoluminescence dosimeters under actual field conditions. b) to study the initial dilution from a ground level point source. The test area chosen was the Tranvik valley just south of Trobbofjaerden, an inland bay of the Baltic. Dose distributions have been studied at two sections, 50 and 200 m respectively, from the release point. At each level various dispersion parameters have been experimentally determined and their conformity to normal distribution have been calculated. Dilution factors valid for the centre of the plume are related to the values reported in the literature. The experiment was made under ideal weather conditions above snow-free ground. Results of the next experiment, a point release at ground level from a building at Studsvik, are expected to yield valuable information concerning the effect of buildings on the diffusion pattern.

Diffusion from a Ground Level Point Source Experiment with Thermoluminescence Dosimeters and Kr 85 as Tracer Substance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gyllander, Ch.; Hollman, S.; Widemo, U.

1969-04-01

Within the framework of the IRIS-project (Iodine Research in Safety Project) an experiment to study diffusion at near-ground level was carried out on 19 December 1967 using 85 Kr as the tracer element. The object of the experiment was a) to test the method using |3-sensitive thermoluminescence dosimeters under actual field conditions. b) to study the initial dilution from a ground level point source. The test area chosen was the Tranvik valley just south of Trobbofjaerden, an inland bay of the Baltic. Dose distributions have been studied at two sections, 50 and 200 m respectively, from the release point. At each level various dispersion parameters have been experimentally determined and their conformity to normal distribution have been calculated. Dilution factors valid for the centre of the plume are related to the values reported in the literature. The experiment was made under ideal weather conditions above snow-free ground. Results of the next experiment, a point release at ground level from a building at Studsvik, are expected to yield valuable information concerning the effect of buildings on the diffusion pattern

Performance of a Two-Level Call Admission Control Scheme for DS-CDMA Wireless Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fapojuwo Abraham O

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a two-level call admission control (CAC scheme for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA wireless networks supporting multimedia traffic and evaluate its performance. The first-level admission control assigns higher priority to real-time calls (also referred to as class 0 calls in gaining access to the system resources. The second level admits nonreal-time calls (or class 1 calls based on the resources remaining after meeting the resource needs for real-time calls. However, to ensure some minimum level of performance for nonreal-time calls, the scheme reserves some resources for such calls. The proposed two-level CAC scheme utilizes the delay-tolerant characteristic of non-real-time calls by incorporating a queue to temporarily store those that cannot be assigned resources at the time of initial access. We analyze and evaluate the call blocking, outage probability, throughput, and average queuing delay performance of the proposed two-level CAC scheme using Markov chain theory. The analytic results are validated by simulation results. The numerical results show that the proposed two-level CAC scheme provides better performance than the single-level CAC scheme. Based on these results, it is concluded that the proposed two-level CAC scheme serves as a good solution for supporting multimedia applications in DS-CDMA wireless communication systems.

Performance of a Two-Level Call Admission Control Scheme for DS-CDMA Wireless Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abraham O. Fapojuwo

2007-11-01

Full Text Available We propose a two-level call admission control (CAC scheme for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA wireless networks supporting multimedia traffic and evaluate its performance. The first-level admission control assigns higher priority to real-time calls (also referred to as class 0 calls in gaining access to the system resources. The second level admits nonreal-time calls (or class 1 calls based on the resources remaining after meeting the resource needs for real-time calls. However, to ensure some minimum level of performance for nonreal-time calls, the scheme reserves some resources for such calls. The proposed two-level CAC scheme utilizes the delay-tolerant characteristic of non-real-time calls by incorporating a queue to temporarily store those that cannot be assigned resources at the time of initial access. We analyze and evaluate the call blocking, outage probability, throughput, and average queuing delay performance of the proposed two-level CAC scheme using Markov chain theory. The analytic results are validated by simulation results. The numerical results show that the proposed two-level CAC scheme provides better performance than the single-level CAC scheme. Based on these results, it is concluded that the proposed two-level CAC scheme serves as a good solution for supporting multimedia applications in DS-CDMA wireless communication systems.

Merit pay: the Federal Government's pay-for-performance experience.

OpenAIRE

Holliman, Sherry Diane.

1983-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited For many years, businesses in private industry have been utilizing and experimenting with various forms of performance-based pay. These innovations have been part of a continuing search by organizations for better approaches to administering pay. With the passing of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the Federal Government began its form of this concept entitled, 'Merit Pay'. Although many studies have examined uses in the areas of ...

The relationship between manual handling performance and recent flying experience in air transport pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebbatson, Matt; Harris, Don; Huddlestone, John; Sears, Rodney

2010-02-01

Modern jet transport aircraft are typically flown using the on-board automation by the pilot programming commands into the auto-flight systems. Anecdotal evidence exists suggesting that pilots of highly automated aircraft experience manual flying skills decay as a result of a lack of opportunity to practise hand-flying during line operations. The ability of a pilot to revert to basic manual control is essential, for example, in cases where the aircraft's automatic capability is diminished or when reconfiguring the automatics is an ineffective use of crew capacity. However, there is a paucity of objective data to substantiate this perceived threat to flight safety. Furthermore, traditional performance measurement techniques may lack the ability to identify subtle but significant differences in pilots' manual handling ability in large transport aircraft. This study examines the relationship between pilot manual handling performance and their recent flying experience using both traditional flight path tracking measures and frequency-based control strategy measures. Significant relationships are identified between pilots' very recent flying experience and their manual control strategy. Statement of Relevance: The study demonstrates a novel application of frequency analysis, which produces a broader and more sensitive analysis of pilot performance than has been offered in previous research. Additionally, the relationships that are found to exist between recent flying experience and manual flying performance will help to guide future pilot assessment and training.

The Phase-1 Upgrade for the Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment at LHC

CERN Document Server

Izzo, Vincenzo; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment at LHC makes use of Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors. The on-detector trigger electronics modules are able to identify muons with predefined transverse momentum values (pT) by executing a coincidence logic on signals coming from the various detector layers. On-detector trigger boards then transfer trigger data to the off-detector electronics. A complex trigger system processes the incoming data by combining trigger information from the barrel and the endcap regions, and providing the combined muon candidate to the Central Trigger Processor (CTP). For almost a decade, the Level-1 Trigger system operated very well, despite the challenging requirements on trigger efficiency and performance, and the continuously increasing LHC luminosity. In order to cope with these constraints, various upgrades for the full trigger system were already deployed, and others have been designed to be installed in the next years. Most of the upgrades to the trigger system...

The Phase-1 Upgrade for the Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment at LHC

CERN Document Server

Izzo, Vincenzo; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment at LHC makes use of Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors. The on-detector trigger electronics modules are able to identify muons with predefined transverse momentum values (pT) by executing a coincidence logic on signals coming from the various detector layers. Then, on-detector trigger boards transfer trigger data to the off-detector electronics. A complex trigger system processes the incoming data by combining trigger information from the Barrel and the End-cap regions, and by providing the combined muon candidate to the Central Trigger Processor (CTP). For almost a decade, the Level-1 Trigger system has been operating very well, despite the challenging requirements on trigger efficiency and performance, and the continuously increasing LHC luminosity. In order to cope with these constraints, various upgrades for the full trigger system were already deployed, and others have been designed to be installed in the next years. Most of the upgrades to the...

The Phase-1 Upgrade for the Level-1 Muon Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment at LHC

CERN Document Server

Izzo, Vincenzo; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

The Level-1 Barrel Trigger of the ATLAS Experiment is based on Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detectors. The on-detector trigger electronics identifies muons with specific values of transverse momentum (pT), by using coincidences between different layers of detectors. Trigger data is then transferred from on-detector to the off-detector trigger electronics boards. Data is processed by a complex system, which combines trigger data from the Barrel and the End-cap regions, and provides the combined muon candidate to the Central Trigger Processor (CTP). The system has been performing very well for almost a decade. However, in order to cope with continuously increasing LHC luminosity and more demanding requirements on trigger efficiency and performance, various upgrades for the full trigger system were already deployed, and others are foreseen in the next years. Most of the trigger upgrades are based on state-of-the-art technologies and allow designing more complex trigger menus, increasing processing power and da...

Polymers and Cross-Linking: A CORE Experiment to Help Students Think on the Submicroscopic Level

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce, Mitchell R. M.; Bruce, Alice E.; Avargil, Shirly; Amar, Francois G.; Wemyss, Thomas M.; Flood, Virginia J.

2016-01-01

The Polymers and Cross-Linking experiment is presented via a new three phase learning cycle: CORE (Chemical Observations, Representations, Experimentation), which is designed to model productive chemical inquiry and to promote a deeper understanding about the chemistry operating at the submicroscopic level. The experiment is built on two familiar…

Performance Evaluation of Three-Level Z-Source Inverters Under Semiconductor-Failure Conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, Feng; Loh, Poh Chiang; Blaabjerg, Frede

2009-01-01

This paper evaluates and proposes various compensation methods for three-level Z-source inverters under semiconductor-failure conditions. Unlike the fault-tolerant techniques used in traditional three-level inverters, where either an extra phase-leg or collective switching states are used......, the proposed methods for three-level Z-source inverters simply reconfigure their relevant gating signals so as to ride-through the failed semiconductor conditions smoothly without any significant decrease in their ac-output quality and amplitude. These features are partly attributed to the inherent boost...... under semiconductor-failure conditions. For verifying these described performance features, PLECS simulation and experimental testing were performed with some results captured and shown in a later section for visual confirmation....

Performance Evaluation of the International Space Station Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) Test Facility

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Mohammad; Balasubramaniam, R.; Nahra, Henry; Mackey, Jeff; Hall, Nancy; Frankenfield, Bruce; Harpster, George; May, Rochelle; Mudawar, Issam; Kharangate, Chirag R.;

Exploration and Exploitation Fit and Performance in International Strategic Alliances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Bo Bernhard; Gudergan, Siegfried

2012-01-01

antithetical) strategies with different antecedents and performance consequences. Our results show that while competency similarity is conducive to upstream innovative performance, prior experience with the partner is potentially damaging for this type of performance and trust and cultural distance do not play...... significant roles. When the motive is efficiency and downstream market performance, prior experience with the partner instead is beneficial, as are high levels of trust and low levels of cultural distance. These findings have key implications for literature on strategic fit and alliance performance....

Effects of a short-term feed restriction on growth performance, blood metabolites and hepatic IGF-1 levels in growing rabbits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Lu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A total of 144 weaned hybrid HYLA rabbits (40-day-old were randomly divided into 4 groups, to investigate the effects of the intensity of one week’s feed restriction on short- and medium-term growth performance, blood metabolites and hepatic IGF-1 in growing rabbits. Restricted groups were fed with 30% (Group L30, 50% (Group L50 70% (Group L70 of ad libitum feeding for 1 wk and then fed ad libitum until the end of the experiment (75 d of age. The control group (Group AL was fed ad libitum throughout the experiment. Total feed intake (–15.8% and feed conversion ratio (–13.2% were lower in the L50 than in the AL group (P0.05 for these parameters. Total weight gain did not significantly differ among the 4 experimental groups (38.5 g/d; P>0.05. At the end of the feed restriction period, the total serum protein level (P=0.01 was higher in restricted rabbits than AL rabbits (P0.05 throughout the experiment. In conclusion, a short-term feed restriction improves feed conversion ratio in a lasting way, transiently alters serum protein and IFG-1 levels and leads to compensatory growth in growing rabbits.

A system level boundary scan controller board for VME applications [to CERN experiments

CERN Document Server

Cardoso, N; Da Silva, J C

2000-01-01

This work is the result of a collaboration between INESC and LIP in the CMS experiment being conducted at CERN. The collaboration addresses the application of boundary scan test at system level namely the development of a VME boundary scan controller (BSC) board prototype and the corresponding software. This prototype uses the MTM bus existing in the VME64* backplane to apply the 1149.1 test vectors to a system composed of nineteen boards, called here units under test (UUTs). A top-down approach is used to describe our work. The paper begins with some insights about the experiment being conducted at CERN, proceed with system level considerations concerning our work and with some details about the BSC board. The results obtained so far and the proposed work is reviewed in the end of this contribution. (11 refs).

20 CFR 666.120 - What are the procedures for negotiating annual levels of performance?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... performance for each core indicator and the customer satisfaction indicators. In negotiating these levels, the... customer satisfaction; (3) The extent to which the levels of performance promote continuous improvement and... other States, taking into account factors including differences in economic conditions, participant...

Job crafting at the team and individual level: Implications for work engagement and performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tims, M.; Bakker, A.B.; Derks, D.; Rhenen, van W.

2013-01-01

Previous research suggests that employee job crafting is positively related to job performance through employee work engagement. The present study expands this individual-level perspective to the team level by hypothesizing that team job crafting relates positively to team performance through team

Performance experiments on the in-vessel core catcher during severe accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Kyoung Ho; Park, Rae Joon; Cho, Young Rho; Kim, Sang Baik

2004-01-01

A US-Korean International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (INERI) project has been initiated by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), Seoul National University (SNU), Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to determine if IVR is feasible for high power reactors up to 1500 MWe by investigating the performance of enhanced ERVC and in-vessel core catcher. This program is initially focusing on the Korean Advanced Power Reactor 1400 MWe (APR1400) design. As for the enhancement of the coolability through the ERVC, boiling tests are conducted by using appropriate coating material on the vessel outer surface to promote downward facing boiling and selecting an improved vessel/insulation design to facilitate water flow and steam venting through the insulation in this program. Another approach for successful IVR are investigated by applying the in-vessel core catcher to provide an 'engineered gap' between the relocated core materials and the water-filled reactor vessel and a preliminary design for an in-vessel core catcher was developed during the first year of this program. Feasibility experiments using the LAVA facility, named LAVA-GAP experiments, are in progress to investigate the core catcher performance based on the conceptual design of the in-vessel core catcher proposed in this INERI project. The experiments were performed using 60kg of Al 2 O 3 thermite melt as a core material simulant with a 1/8 linear scale mock-up of the reactor vessel lower plenum. The hemispherical in-vessel core catcher was installed inside the lower head vessel maintaining a uniform gap of 10mm from the inner surface of the lower head vessel. Two types of the core catchers were used in these experiments. The first one was a single layered in-vessel core catcher without internal coating and the second one was a two layered in-vessel core catcher with an internal coating of 0.5mm-thick ZrO 2 via the plasma

Language Skills and Level of Experience among Arabic-Speaking Healthcare Interpreters in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Itani, Nada; Khalil, Mohammad; Sodemann, Morten

2017-01-01

services has recently been discussed by politicians and the media. The present explorative study investigated the sociodemographic characteristics, level of experience and linguistic skills of Arabic-speaking healthcare interpreters in Denmark. Method: Snowball sampling (including social media) was used...

Modelling of local/global architectures for second level trigger at the LHC experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajduk, Z.; Iwanski, W.; Korecyl, K.; Strong, J.

1994-01-01

Different architectures of the second level triggering system for experiments on LHC have been simulated. The basic scheme was local/global system with distributed computing power. As a tool the authors have used the object-oriented MODSIM II language

Performance of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) depending on operator-experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Rainer A; Gaengler, Peter; Markovic, Ljubisa; Zimmer, Stefan

2010-01-01

Oral health care is not of major interest in developing countries because of lack of infrastructure and professional manpower. Therefore, atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) was introduced by the World Health Organization to be performed by dental auxiliary personnel. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of ART depending on operator-experience in The Republic of The Gambia. One hundred twenty-eight newly inserted restorations were followed up for 12 months using the clinical ART index in a prospective and blinded study design. The patients were randomly assigned to operators. The clinical performance was compared among three groups: trainees, experienced Community Oral Health Workers (COHW), and professional dentists. The difference in success rates was calculated at a 95 percent confidence interval. There was a statistically significant difference between trainees and dentists in performing leakage/gap-free one-surface restorations (P 0.05). Finally, both groups--experienced COHWs and dentists--performed restorations not showing statistically significant differences (P > 0.05). For The Republic of The Gambia--especially for areas with underdeveloped medical infrastructure--training and assignment to perform ART can be recommended for auxiliary dental staff of Community Oral Health Workers.

The second level trigger of the L3 experiment. Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beingessner, S.P.; Blaising, J.J.; Chollet-Le Flour, F.; Degre, A.; Dromby, G.; Goy, C.; Lecoq, J.; Morand, R.; Moynot, M.; Perrot, G.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Forconi, G.

1993-07-01

The events recorded by the L3 Data Acquisition System are selected by three levels of trigger. The event filtering performed by software at the second trigger level is described. First coded offline in FORTRAN, the filtering software is microcoded for online execution in a farm of 3 XOP processors operating in a round robin mode. It identifies and rejects background events. Depending on running conditions and trigger type, rejection factors ranging from 45% to 80% are obtained on first level energy, muon and tec triggers. Selection efficiencies greater than 99.95% are achieved. (authors). 14 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

Impact of vocational interests, previous academic experience, gender and age on Situational Judgement Test performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Schripsema, Nienke R; van Trigt, Anke M; Borleffs, Jan C C; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke

2017-05-01

Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are increasingly implemented in medical school admissions. In this paper, we investigate the effects of vocational interests, previous academic experience, gender and age on SJT performance. The SJT was part of the selection process for the Bachelor's degree programme in Medicine at University of Groningen, the Netherlands. All applicants for the academic year 2015-2016 were included and had to choose between learning communities Global Health (n = 126), Sustainable Care (n = 149), Intramural Care (n = 225), or Molecular Medicine (n = 116). This choice was used as a proxy for vocational interest. In addition, all graduate-entry applicants for academic year 2015-2016 (n = 213) were included to examine the effect of previous academic experience on performance. We used MANCOVA analyses with Bonferroni post hoc multiple comparisons tests for applicant performance on a six-scenario SJT. The MANCOVA analyses showed that for all scenarios, the independent variables were significantly related to performance (Pillai's Trace: 0.02-0.47, p performance on three scenarios (p performance on two scenarios (p performance, as was previous academic experience. Gender and age were related to performance on SJT scenarios in different settings. Especially the first effect might be helpful in selecting appropriate candidates for areas of health care in which more professionals are needed.

Three Women’s Educational Doctoral Program Experiences: A Case Study of Performances and Journeys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erin Goodykoontz

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Three academic women joined to write this piece to explore individual doctoral program experiences and to establish common understandings. They collectively analyzed their experiences using the conceptual approach of doctoral program performances and journeys. This case study shares their experiences within the conceptual approach through emerging themes. The common understandings developed herein about doctoral education based on these themes are also shared. The broader contributions of the three women’s work are two-fold. First, the entire case study provides a way to view, discuss, and consider women’s doctoral education pluralistically. Secondly, perhaps readers of this piece will recognize that individual and common understandings with others are a way to develop professional knowledge as academics. Further, readers of this piece might be able to relate more deeply to their own and others’ unique doctoral program experiences through the lens of performances or journeys. Some of these connections might be based on the overarching framework, while others might be specific to the shared women’s experiences.

Reliability of a CAD/CAM Surgical Guide for Implant Placement: An In Vitro Comparison of Surgeons' Experience Levels and Implant Sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Su-Jung; Leesungbok, Richard; Cui, Taixing; Lee, Suk Won; Ahn, Su-Jin

This in vitro study evaluated the reliability of a surgical guide with regard to different levels of operator surgical experience and implant site. A stereolithographic surgical guide for epoxy resin mandibles with three edentulous molar sites was produced using a computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) system. Two surgeons with and two surgeons without implant surgery experience placed implants in a model either using or not using the CAD/CAM surgical guide. Four groups were created: inexperienced surgeon without the guide (group 1); experienced surgeon without the guide (group 2); inexperienced surgeon with the guide (group 3); and experienced surgeon with the guide (group 4). Planned implants and placed implants were superimposed using digital software, and deviation parameters were calculated. There were no significant differences in any of the deviation parameters between the groups when using the surgical guide. With respect to the implant sites, there were no significant differences among the groups in any parameter. Use of the CAD/CAM surgical guide reduced discrepancies among operators performing implant surgery regardless of their level of experience. Whether or not the guide was used, differences in the anterior-posterior implant site in the molar area did not affect the accuracy of implant placement.

Agronomic performances of three vetch species growing under different drought levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sywar Haffani

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The current challenge of agriculture is to get the best yields while overcoming frequent water deficit conditions. The objective of this study was to compare performances of three vetch species (Vicia narbonensis L., V. sativa L., and V. villosa Roth subjected to water stress. Plants were sown in pots under rainout shelter and submitted to four water regimes: control (100% field capacity [FC], 80%, 60%, and 40% FC through 3 yr experiment. Results showed that V. narbonensis had the smallest declines in all the studied variables in response to water restriction but the highest water use efficiency (WUE and stress tolerance index (STI in both control and water-treated plants. This indicates the greater tolerance of this species to water constraint and its better water use. Vicia villosa was characterized by drastic declines in leaf area and DM yield (75% and 64%, respectively. It had also the smallest WUE and STI suggesting its low adaptation to water stress. Vicia sativa showed severe reductions in seed yield and yield components; accordingly, it was the most sensitive species in terms of seed yield. The three species implied avoidance strategies to cope with water stress. The different levels of drought tolerance explain the species ecological distribution in Tunisia.

Instruction-level performance modeling and characterization of multimedia applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Y. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Scientific Computing Group; Cameron, K.W. [Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States). Dept. of Computer Science

1999-06-01

One of the challenges for characterizing and modeling realistic multimedia applications is the lack of access to source codes. On-chip performance counters effectively resolve this problem by monitoring run-time behaviors at the instruction-level. This paper presents a novel technique of characterizing and modeling workloads at the instruction level for realistic multimedia applications using hardware performance counters. A variety of instruction counts are collected from some multimedia applications, such as RealPlayer, GSM Vocoder, MPEG encoder/decoder, and speech synthesizer. These instruction counts can be used to form a set of abstract characteristic parameters directly related to a processor`s architectural features. Based on microprocessor architectural constraints and these calculated abstract parameters, the architectural performance bottleneck for a specific application can be estimated. Meanwhile, the bottleneck estimation can provide suggestions about viable architectural/functional improvement for certain workloads. The biggest advantage of this new characterization technique is a better understanding of processor utilization efficiency and architectural bottleneck for each application. This technique also provides predictive insight of future architectural enhancements and their affect on current codes. In this paper the authors also attempt to model architectural effect on processor utilization without memory influence. They derive formulas for calculating CPI{sub 0}, CPI without memory effect, and they quantify utilization of architectural parameters. These equations are architecturally diagnostic and predictive in nature. Results provide promise in code characterization, and empirical/analytical modeling.

Experience measuring performance improvement in multiphase picture archiving and communications systems implementations.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, G; Reed, D H

1999-05-01

When planning a picture archiving and communications system (PACS) implementation and determining which equipment will be implemented in earlier and later phases, collection and analysis of selected data will aid in setting implementation priorities. If baseline data are acquired relative to performance objectives, the same information used for implementation planning can be used to measure performance improvement and outcomes. The main categories of data to choose from are: (1) financial data; (2) productivity data; (3) operational parameters; (4) clinical data; and (5) information about customer satisfaction. In the authors' experience, detailed workflow data have not proved valuable in measuring PACS performance and outcomes. Reviewing only one category of data in planning will not provide adequate basis for targeting operational improvements that will lead to the most significant gains. Quality improvement takes into account all factors in production: human capacity, materials, operating capital and assets. Once we have identified key areas of focus for quality improvement in each phase, we can translate objectives into implementation requirements and finally into detailed functional and performance requirements. Here, Integration Resources reports its experience measuring PACS performance relative to phased implementation strategies for three large medical centers. Each medical center had its own objectives for overcoming image management, physical/geographical, and functional/technical barriers. The report outlines (1) principal financial and nonfinancial measures used as performance indicators; (2) implementation strategies chosen by each of the three medical centers; and (3) the results of those strategies as compared with baseline data.

The BaBar silicon vertex tracker, performance and running experience

CERN Document Server

Re, V; Bozzi, C; Carassiti, V; Cotta-Ramusino, A; Piemontese, L; Breon, A B; Brown, D; Clark, A R; Goozen, F; Hernikl, C; Kerth, L T; Gritsan, A; Lynch, G; Perazzo, A; Roe, N A; Zizka, G; Roberts, D; Schieck, J; Brenna, E; Citterio, M; Lanni, F; Palombo, F; Ratti, L; Manfredi, P F; Angelini, C; Batignani, G; Bettarini, S; Bondioli, M; Bosi, F; Bucci, F; Calderini, G; Carpinelli, M; Ceccanti, M; Forti, F; Gagliardi, D J; Giorgi, M A; Lusiani, A; Mammini, P; Morganti, M; Morsani, F; Neri, N; Paoloni, E; Profeti, A; Rama, M; Rizzo, G; Sandrelli, F; Simi, G; Triggiani, G; Walsh, J; Burchat, Patricia R; Cheng, C; Kirkby, D; Meyer, T I; Roat, C; Bóna, M; Bianchi, F; Gamba, D; Trapani, P; Bosisio, L; Della Ricca, G; Dittongo, S; Lanceri, L; Pompili, A; Poropat, P; Rashevskaia, I; Vuagnin, G; Burke, S; Callahan, D; Campagnari, C; Dahmes, B; Hale, D; Hart, P; Kuznetsova, N; Kyre, S; Levy, S; Long, O; May, J; Mazur, M; Richman, J; Verkerke, W; Witherell, M; Beringer, J; Eisner, A M; Frey, A; Grillo, A A; Grothe, M; Johnson, R P; Kröger, W; Lockman, W S; Pulliam, T; Rowe, W; Schmitz, R E; Seiden, A; Spencer, E N; Turri, M; Walkowiak, W; Wilder, M; Wilson, M; Charles, E; Elmer, P; Nielsen, J; Orejudos, W; Scott, I; Zobernig, H

2002-01-01

The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) of the BaBar experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric B factory is a five-layer double-sided, AC-coupled silicon microstrip detector. It represents the crucial element to precisely measure the decay position of B mesons and extract time-dependent CP asymmetries. The SVT architecture is shown and its performance is described, with emphasis on hit resolutions and efficiencies.

The BaBar silicon vertex tracker, performance and running experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Re, V.; Borean, C.; Bozzi, C.; Carassiti, V.; Cotta Ramusino, A.; Piemontese, L.; Breon, A.B.; Brown, D.; Clark, A.R.; Goozen, F.; Hernikl, C.; Kerth, L.T.; Gritsan, A.; Lynch, G.; Perazzo, A.; Roe, N.A.; Zizka, G.; Roberts, D.; Schieck, J.; Brenna, E.; Citterio, M.; Lanni, F.; Palombo, F.; Ratti, L.; Manfredi, P.F.; Angelini, C.; Batignani, G.; Bettarini, S.; Bondioli, M.; Bosi, F.; Bucci, F.; Calderini, G.; Carpinelli, M.; Ceccanti, M.; Forti, F.; Gagliardi, D.; Giorgi, M.A.; Lusiani, A.; Mammini, P.; Morganti, M.; Morsani, F.; Neri, N.; Paoloni, E.; Profeti, A.; Rama, M.; Rizzo, G.; Sandrelli, F.; Simi, G.; Triggiani, G.; Walsh, J.; Burchat, P.; Cheng, C.; Kirkby, D.; Meyer, T.I.; Roat, C.; Bona, M.; Bianchi, F.; Gamba, D.; Trapani, P.; Bosisio, L.; Della Ricca, G.; Dittongo, S.; Lanceri, L.; Pompili, A.; Poropat, P.; Rashevskaia, I.; Vuagnin, G.; Burke, S.; Callahan, D.; Campagnari, C.; Dahmes, B.; Hale, D.; Hart, P.; Kuznetsova, N.; Kyre, S.; Levy, S.; Long, O.; May, J.; Mazur, M.; Richman, J.; Verkerke, W.; Witherell, M.; Beringer, J.; Eisner, A.M.; Frey, A.; Grillo, A.A.; Grothe, M.; Johnson, R.P.; Kroeger, W.; Lockman, W.S.; Pulliam, T.; Rowe, W.; Schmitz, R.E.; Seiden, A.; Spencer, E.N.; Turri, M.; Walkowiak, W.; Wilder, M.; Wilson, M.; Charles, E.; Elmer, P.; Nielsen, J.; Orejudos, W.; Scott, I.; Zobernig, H.

2002-01-01

The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) of the BaBar experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric B factory is a five-layer double-sided, AC-coupled silicon microstrip detector. It represents the crucial element to precisely measure the decay position of B mesons and extract time-dependent CP asymmetries. The SVT architecture is shown and its performance is described, with emphasis on hit resolutions and efficiencies

Leveling up and down: the experiences of benign and malicious envy.

Science.gov (United States)

van de Ven, Niels; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Pieters, Rik

2009-06-01

Envy is the painful emotion caused by the good fortune of others. This research empirically supports the distinction between two qualitatively different types of envy, namely benign and malicious envy. It reveals that the experience of benign envy leads to a moving-up motivation aimed at improving one's own position, whereas the experience of malicious envy leads to a pulling-down motivation aimed at damaging the position of the superior other. Study 1 used guided recall of the two envy types in a culture (the Netherlands) that has separate words for benign and malicious envy. Analyses of the experiential content of these emotions found the predicted differences. Study 2 and 3 used one sample from the United States and one from Spain, respectively, where a single word exists for both envy types. A latent class analysis based on the experiential content of envy confirmed the existence of separate experiences of benign and malicious envy in both these cultures as well. The authors discuss the implications of distinguishing the two envy types for theories of cooperation, group performance, and Schadenfreude.

Performance assessment for future low-level waste disposal facilities at ORNL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, D.W.; Kocher, D.C.

1989-01-01

This paper discusses the strategy for waste management on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and the approach to preparing future performance assessments that has evolved from previous performance assessment studies of low-level radioactive waste disposal on the ORR. The strategy for waste management is based on the concept that waste classification should be determined by performance assessment other than the sources of waste. This dose-based strategy for waste classification and management places special importance on the preparation and interpretation of waste disposal performance assessments for selecting appropriate disposal technologies and developing waste acceptance criteria. Additionally, the challenges to be overcome in the preparation of performance assessments are discussed. 7 refs

The Vehicle Integrated Performance Analysis Experience: Reconnecting With Technical Integration

Science.gov (United States)

McGhee, D. S.

2006-01-01

Very early in the Space Launch Initiative program, a small team of engineers at MSFC proposed a process for performing system-level assessments of a launch vehicle. Aimed primarily at providing insight and making NASA a smart buyer, the Vehicle Integrated Performance Analysis (VIPA) team was created. The difference between the VIPA effort and previous integration attempts is that VIPA a process using experienced people from various disciplines, which focuses them on a technically integrated assessment. The foundations of VIPA s process are described. The VIPA team also recognized the need to target early detailed analysis toward identifying significant systems issues. This process is driven by the T-model for technical integration. VIPA s approach to performing system-level technical integration is discussed in detail. The VIPA process significantly enhances the development and monitoring of realizable project requirements. VIPA s assessment validates the concept s stated performance, identifies significant issues either with the concept or the requirements, and then reintegrates these issues to determine impacts. This process is discussed along with a description of how it may be integrated into a program s insight and review process. The VIPA process has gained favor with both engineering and project organizations for being responsive and insightful

Design and performance of an experiment for the investigation of open capillary channel flows. Sounding rocket experiment TEXUS-41

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosendahl, Uwe; Dreyer, Michael E. [University of Bremen, Sounding Rocket Experiment TEXUS-41 Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), Bremen (Germany)

2007-05-15

In this paper we report on the set-up and the performance of an experiment for the investigation of flow-rate limitations in open capillary channels under low-gravity conditions (microgravity). The channels consist of two parallel plates bounded by free liquid surfaces along the open sides. In the case of steady flow the capillary pressure of the free surface balances the differential pressure between the liquid and the surrounding constant-pressure gas phase. A maximum flow rate is achieved when the adjusted volumetric flow rate exceeds a certain limit leading to a collapse of the free surfaces. The flow is convective (inertia) dominated, since the viscous forces are negligibly small compared to the convective forces. In order to investigate this type of flow an experiment aboard the sounding rocket TEXUS-41 was performed. The aim of the investigation was to achieve the profiles of the free liquid surfaces and to determine the maximum flow rate of the steady flow. For this purpose a new approach to the critical flow condition by enlarging the channel length was applied. The paper is focussed on the technical details of the experiment and gives a review of the set-up, the preparation of the flight procedures and the performance. Additionally the typical appearance of the flow indicated by the surface profiles is presented as a basis for a separate continuative discussion of the experimental results. (orig.)

Burnout Levels of Handball Players with Respect to Age, Gender and Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Toros, Turhan

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate burnout levels of handball players in terms of age, gender and experience. In this study, 116 female and 128 male, totally 244 handball players with the mean age 22.39 ± 1.98 year participated voluntarily. Maslach Burnout Inventory that originally developed by Maslach and Jackson (1981) and adapted to…

Characterization and performances of DOSION, a dosimetry equipment dedicated to radiobiology experiments taking place at GANIL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boissonnat, Guillaume, E-mail: boissonnat@lpccaen.in2p3.fr [LPC (Normandie Univ-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN-CNRS/IN2P3), 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen (France); Fontbonne, Jean-Marc [LPC (Normandie Univ-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN-CNRS/IN2P3), 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen (France); Balanzat, Emmanuel [CIMAP (CEA/DSM-CNRS/INP-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN), Bd Henri Becquerel, 14076 Caen (France); Boumard, Frederic; Carniol, Benjamin [LPC (Normandie Univ-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN-CNRS/IN2P3), 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen (France); Cassimi, Amine [CIMAP (CEA/DSM-CNRS/INP-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN), Bd Henri Becquerel, 14076 Caen (France); Colin, Jean; Cussol, Daniel; Etasse, David; Fontbonne, Cathy [LPC (Normandie Univ-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN-CNRS/IN2P3), 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen (France); Frelin, Anne-Marie [GANIL (CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3), Bd Henri Becquerel, 14076 Caen (France); Hommet, Jean; Salvador, Samuel [LPC (Normandie Univ-ENSICAEN-UNICAEN-CNRS/IN2P3), 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen (France)

2017-06-01

Currently, radiobiology experiments using heavy ions at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d′Ions Lourds) are conducted under the supervision of the CIMAP (Center for research on Ions, MAterials and Photonics). In this context, a new beam monitoring equipment named DOSION has been developed. It allows to perform measurements of accurate fluence and dose maps in near real time for each biological sample irradiated. In this paper, we present the detection system, its design, performances, calibration protocol and measurements performed during radiobiology experiments. This setup is currently available for any radiobiology experiments if one wishes to correlate one's own sample analysis to state-of-the-art dosimetric references.

The experiences to improve plant performance and reliability of Ko-Ri nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Ho Weon [Korea Electric Power Corp. Ko-Ri nuclear power division, Ko-Ri (Korea, Republic of)

1998-07-01

This paper provides a discussion of the lessons learned from operational experience and the future plans to improve performance of the Ko-Ri plant. To operate nuclear power plants safely with good performance is the only way to mitigate the negative image of nuclear power generation to the public and to enhance the economical benefit compared to other electrical generation method. Therefore, in a continuous effort to overcome a negative challenge from outside, we have driven an aggressive 'OCTF' campaign as part of safety. As a result of our efforts, the following remarkable achievements have been accomplished. (1) 3 times of OCTF during recent three years (2) Selected twice as a top notch power plant on the list of NEI magazine in terms of plant capacity factor (3) No scram recorded in 1997 for all 4 units at Ko-Ri site. Ko-Ri is now undergoing the large scale plant betterment projects for retaking-off our operating performance to the level of new challenge target. Such improvement of critical components in the reactor coolant system and turbine system greatly contribute to increase the safety and reliability of the plant and to shortening of the planned outage period as well as to reduction of radiation exposure and radwaste. (Cho, G. S.). 5 tabs., 10 figs.

Effects of Repeated-Sprint Training in Hypoxia on Sea-Level Performance: A Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Brocherie, Franck; Girard, Olivier; Faiss, Raphaël; Millet, Grégoire P

2017-08-01

Repeated-sprint training in hypoxia (RSH) is a recent intervention regarding which numerous studies have reported effects on sea-level physical performance outcomes that are debated. No previous study has performed a meta-analysis of the effects of RSH. We systematically reviewed the literature and meta-analyzed the effects of RSH versus repeated-sprint training in normoxia (RSN) on key components of sea-level physical performance, i.e., best and mean (all sprint) performance during repeated-sprint exercise and aerobic capacity (i.e., maximal oxygen uptake [[Formula: see text

Police arrest and self-defence skills: performance under anxiety of officers with and without additional experience in martial arts.

Science.gov (United States)

Renden, Peter G; Landman, Annemarie; Savelsbergh, Geert J P; Oudejans, Raôul R D

2015-01-01

We investigated whether officers with additional martial arts training experience performed better in arrest and self-defence scenarios under low and high anxiety and were better able to maintain performance under high anxiety than officers who just rely on regular police training. We were especially interested to find out whether training once a week would already lead to better performance under high anxiety. Officers with additional experience in kickboxing or karate/jiu-jitsu (training several times per week), or krav maga (training once a week) and officers with no additional experience performed several arrest and self-defence skills under low and high anxiety. Results showed that officers with additional experience (also those who trained once a week) performed better under high anxiety than officers with no additional experience. Still, the additional experience did not prevent these participants from performing worse under high anxiety compared to low anxiety. Implications for training are discussed. Practitioner summary: Dutch police officers train their arrest and self-defence skills only four to six hours per year. Our results indicate that doing an additional martial arts training once a week may lead to better performance under anxiety, although it cannot prevent that performance decreases under high anxiety compared to low anxiety.

Timing of return from altitude training for optimal sea level performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Robert F; Laymon Stickford, Abigail S; Lundby, Carsten; Levine, Benjamin D

2014-04-01

While a number of published studies exist to guide endurance athletes with the best practices regarding implementation of altitude training, a key unanswered question concerns the proper timing of return to sea level prior to major competitions. Evidence reviewed here suggests that, altogether, the deacclimatization responses of hematological, ventilatory, and biomechanical factors with return to sea level likely interact to determine the best timing for competitive performance.

LHCb: Performance evaluation and capacity planning for a scalable and highly available virtulization infrastructure for the LHCb experiment

CERN Multimedia

Sborzacchi, F; Neufeld, N

2013-01-01

The virtual computing is often run to satisfy different needs: reduce costs, reduce resources, simplify maintenance and the last but not the least add flexibility. The use of Virtualization in a complex system such as a farm of PCs that control the hardware of an experiment (PLC, power supplies ,gas, magnets..) put us in a condition where not only an High Performance requirements need to be carefully considered but also a deep analysis of strategies to achieve a certain level of High Availability. We conducted a performance evaluation on different and comparable storage/network/virtulization platforms. The performance is measured using a series of independent benchmarks , testing the speed an the stability of multiple VMs runnng heavy-load operations on the I/O of virtualized storage and the virtualized network. The result from the benchmark tests allowed us to study and evaluate how the different workloads of Vm interact with the Hardware/Software resource layers.

ASPECT (Automated System-level Performance Evaluation and Characterization Tool), Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — SSCI has developed a suite of SAA tools and an analysis capability referred to as ASPECT (Automated System-level Performance Evaluation and Characterization Tool)....