City Logistics Modeling Efforts : Trends and Gaps - A Review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anand, N.R.; Quak, H.J.; Van Duin, J.H.R.; Tavasszy, L.A.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present a review of city logistics modeling efforts reported in the literature for urban freight analysis. The review framework takes into account the diversity and complexity found in the present-day city logistics practice. Next, it covers the different aspects in the modeling

Machine Learning Approach for Software Reliability Growth Modeling with Infinite Testing Effort Function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subburaj Ramasamy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Reliability is one of the quantifiable software quality attributes. Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs are used to assess the reliability achieved at different times of testing. Traditional time-based SRGMs may not be accurate enough in all situations where test effort varies with time. To overcome this lacuna, test effort was used instead of time in SRGMs. In the past, finite test effort functions were proposed, which may not be realistic as, at infinite testing time, test effort will be infinite. Hence in this paper, we propose an infinite test effort function in conjunction with a classical Nonhomogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP model. We use Artificial Neural Network (ANN for training the proposed model with software failure data. Here it is possible to get a large set of weights for the same model to describe the past failure data equally well. We use machine learning approach to select the appropriate set of weights for the model which will describe both the past and the future data well. We compare the performance of the proposed model with existing model using practical software failure data sets. The proposed log-power TEF based SRGM describes all types of failure data equally well and also improves the accuracy of parameter estimation more than existing TEF and can be used for software release time determination as well.

Predicting Motivation: Computational Models of PFC Can Explain Neural Coding of Motivation and Effort-based Decision-making in Health and Disease.

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Vassena, Eliana; Deraeve, James; Alexander, William H

2017-10-01

Human behavior is strongly driven by the pursuit of rewards. In daily life, however, benefits mostly come at a cost, often requiring that effort be exerted to obtain potential benefits. Medial PFC (MPFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) are frequently implicated in the expectation of effortful control, showing increased activity as a function of predicted task difficulty. Such activity partially overlaps with expectation of reward and has been observed both during decision-making and during task preparation. Recently, novel computational frameworks have been developed to explain activity in these regions during cognitive control, based on the principle of prediction and prediction error (predicted response-outcome [PRO] model [Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. Medial prefrontal cortex as an action-outcome predictor. Nature Neuroscience, 14, 1338-1344, 2011], hierarchical error representation [HER] model [Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. Hierarchical error representation: A computational model of anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Neural Computation, 27, 2354-2410, 2015]). Despite the broad explanatory power of these models, it is not clear whether they can also accommodate effects related to the expectation of effort observed in MPFC and DLPFC. Here, we propose a translation of these computational frameworks to the domain of effort-based behavior. First, we discuss how the PRO model, based on prediction error, can explain effort-related activity in MPFC, by reframing effort-based behavior in a predictive context. We propose that MPFC activity reflects monitoring of motivationally relevant variables (such as effort and reward), by coding expectations and discrepancies from such expectations. Moreover, we derive behavioral and neural model-based predictions for healthy controls and clinical populations with impairments of motivation. Second, we illustrate the possible translation to effort-based behavior of the HER model, an extended version of PRO

APPLYING TEACHING-LEARNING TO ARTIFICIAL BEE COLONY FOR PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION OF SOFTWARE EFFORT ESTIMATION MODEL

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THANH TUNG KHUAT

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Artificial Bee Colony inspired by the foraging behaviour of honey bees is a novel meta-heuristic optimization algorithm in the community of swarm intelligence algorithms. Nevertheless, it is still insufficient in the speed of convergence and the quality of solutions. This paper proposes an approach in order to tackle these downsides by combining the positive aspects of TeachingLearning based optimization and Artificial Bee Colony. The performance of the proposed method is assessed on the software effort estimation problem, which is the complex and important issue in the project management. Software developers often carry out the software estimation in the early stages of the software development life cycle to derive the required cost and schedule for a project. There are a large number of methods for effort estimation in which COCOMO II is one of the most widely used models. However, this model has some restricts because its parameters have not been optimized yet. In this work, therefore, we will present the approach to overcome this limitation of COCOMO II model. The experiments have been conducted on NASA software project dataset and the obtained results indicated that the improvement of parameters provided better estimation capabilities compared to the original COCOMO II model.

Hybrid supply chain model for material requirement planning under financial constraints: A case study

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Curci, Vita; Dassisti, Michele; Josefa, Mula Bru; Manuel, Díaz Madroñero

2014-10-01

Supply chain model (SCM) are potentially capable to integrate different aspects in supporting decision making for enterprise management tasks. The aim of the paper is to propose an hybrid mathematical programming model for optimization of production requirements resources planning. The preliminary model was conceived bottom-up from a real industrial case analysed oriented to maximize cash flow. Despite the intense computational effort required to converge to a solution, optimisation done brought good result in solving the objective function.

Improved Traceability of a Small Satellite Mission Concept to Requirements Using Model Based System Engineering

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Reil, Robin L.

2014-01-01

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) has recently been gaining significant support as a means to improve the "traditional" document-based systems engineering (DBSE) approach to engineering complex systems. In the spacecraft design domain, there are many perceived and propose benefits of an MBSE approach, but little analysis has been presented to determine the tangible benefits of such an approach (e.g. time and cost saved, increased product quality). This paper presents direct examples of how developing a small satellite system model can improve traceability of the mission concept to its requirements. A comparison of the processes and approaches for MBSE and DBSE is made using the NASA Ames Research Center SporeSat CubeSat mission as a case study. A model of the SporeSat mission is built using the Systems Modeling Language standard and No Magic's MagicDraw modeling tool. The model incorporates mission concept and requirement information from the mission's original DBSE design efforts. Active dependency relationships are modeled to demonstrate the completeness and consistency of the requirements to the mission concept. Anecdotal information and process-duration metrics are presented for both the MBSE and original DBSE design efforts of SporeSat.

Reuse-centric Requirements Analysis with Task Models, Scenarios, and Critical Parameters

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Cyril Montabert

2007-02-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines a requirements-analysis process that unites task models, scenarios, and critical parameters to exploit and generate reusable knowledge at the requirements phase. Through the deployment of a critical-parameter-based approach to task modeling, the process yields the establishment of an integrative and formalized model issued from scenarios that can be used for requirements characterization. Furthermore, not only can this entity serve as interface to a knowledge repository relying on a critical-parameter-based taxonomy to support reuse but its characterization in terms of critical parameters also allows the model to constitute a broader reuse solution. We discuss our vision for a user-centric and reuse-centric approach to requirements analysis, present previous efforts implicated with this line of work, and state the revisions brought to extend the reuse potential and effectiveness of a previous iteration of a requirements tool implementing such process. Finally, the paper describes the sequence and nature of the activities involved with the conduct of our proposed requirements-analysis technique, concluding by previewing ongoing work in the field that will explore the feasibility for designers to use our approach.

V and V Efforts of Auroral Precipitation Models: Preliminary Results

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Zheng, Yihua; Kuznetsova, Masha; Rastaetter, Lutz; Hesse, Michael

2011-01-01

Auroral precipitation models have been valuable both in terms of space weather applications and space science research. Yet very limited testing has been performed regarding model performance. A variety of auroral models are available, including empirical models that are parameterized by geomagnetic indices or upstream solar wind conditions, now casting models that are based on satellite observations, or those derived from physics-based, coupled global models. In this presentation, we will show our preliminary results regarding V&V efforts of some of the models.

[Psychosocial factors at work and cardiovascular diseases: contribution of the Effort-Reward Imbalance model].

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Niedhammer, I; Siegrist, J

1998-11-01

The effect of psychosocial factors at work on health, especially cardiovascular health, has given rise to growing concern in occupational epidemiology over the last few years. Two theoretical models, Karasek's model and the Effort-Reward Imbalance model, have been developed to evaluate psychosocial factors at work within specific conceptual frameworks in an attempt to take into account the serious methodological difficulties inherent in the evaluation of such factors. Karasek's model, the most widely used model, measures three factors: psychological demands, decision latitude and social support at work. Many studies have shown the predictive effects of these factors on cardiovascular diseases independently of well-known cardiovascular risk factors. More recently, the Effort-Reward Imbalance model takes into account the role of individual coping characteristics which was neglected in the Karasek model. The effort-reward imbalance model focuses on the reciprocity of exchange in occupational life where high-cost/low-gain conditions are considered particularly stressful. Three dimensions of rewards are distinguished: money, esteem and gratifications in terms of promotion prospects and job security. Some studies already support that high-effort/low reward-conditions are predictive of cardiovascular diseases.

The pharmacology of effort-related choice behavior: Dopamine, depression, and individual differences.

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Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Yohn, Samantha; Lopez Cruz, Laura; San Miguel, Noemi; Alatorre, Luisa

2016-06-01

This review paper is focused upon the involvement of mesolimbic dopamine (DA) and related brain systems in effort-based processes. Interference with DA transmission affects instrumental behavior in a manner that interacts with the response requirements of the task, such that rats with impaired DA transmission show a heightened sensitivity to ratio requirements. Impaired DA transmission also affects effort-related choice behavior, which is assessed by tasks that offer a choice between a preferred reinforcer that has a high work requirement vs. less preferred reinforcer that can be obtained with minimal effort. Rats and mice with impaired DA transmission reallocate instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks with high response costs, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Tests of effort-related choice have been developed into models of pathological symptoms of motivation that are seen in disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. These models are being employed to explore the effects of conditions associated with various psychopathologies, and to assess drugs for their potential utility as treatments for effort-related symptoms. Studies of the pharmacology of effort-based choice may contribute to the development of treatments for symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia, which are seen in depression and other disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Army Training: Efforts to Adjust Training Requirements Should Consider the Use of Virtual Training Devices

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

Needed to More Fully Assess Simulation-Based Efforts, GAO-13-698 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 22, 2013). 5S . Rep. No. 114-49 and H. Rep. No. 114-102. Both...adapt to conditions, tactics, and even methods of conflict that may be impossible to accurately predict. Chemical, biological, radiological...all tasks required of drivers, such as dismounting during an operation to conduct maintenance on a vehicle

A least-effort principle based model for heterogeneous pedestrian flow considering overtaking behavior

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Liu, Chi; Ye, Rui; Lian, Liping; Song, Weiguo; Zhang, Jun; Lo, Siuming

2018-05-01

In the context of global aging, how to design traffic facilities for a population with a different age composition is of high importance. For this purpose, we propose a model based on the least effort principle to simulate heterogeneous pedestrian flow. In the model, the pedestrian is represented by a three-disc shaped agent. We add a new parameter to realize pedestrians' preference to avoid changing their direction of movement too quickly. The model is validated with numerous experimental data on unidirectional pedestrian flow. In addition, we investigate the influence of corridor width and velocity distribution of crowds on unidirectional heterogeneous pedestrian flow. The simulation results reflect that widening corridors could increase the specific flow for the crowd composed of two kinds of pedestrians with significantly different free velocities. Moreover, compared with a unified crowd, the crowd composed of pedestrians with great mobility differences requires a wider corridor to attain the same traffic efficiency. This study could be beneficial in providing a better understanding of heterogeneous pedestrian flow, and quantified outcomes could be applied in traffic facility design.

Identification of efforts required for continued safe operation of KANUPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghafoor, M.A.; Hashmi, J.A.; Siddiqui, Z.H.

1991-01-01

Kanupp, the first commercial CANDU PHWR, rated at 137 MWe, was built on turnkey basis by the Canadian General Electric Company for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, and went operational in October, 1972 near Karachi. It has operated since then with a lifetime average availability factor of 51.5% and capacity factor of 25%. In 1976, Kanupp suffered loss of technical support from its original vendors due to the Canadian embargo on export of nuclear technology. Simultaneously, the world experienced the most explosive development and advancement in electronic and computer technology, accelerating the obsolescence of such equipment and systems installed in Kanupp. Replacement upgrading of obsolete computers, control and instrumentation was thus the first major set of efforts realized as essential f or continued safe operation. On the other hand, Kanupp was able to cope with the normal maintenance of its process, mechanical and electrical equipment till the late 80's. But now many of these components are reaching the end of their useful life, and developing chronic problems due to ageing, which can only be solved by complete replacement. This is much more difficult for custom-made nuclear process equipment, e.g. the reactor internals and the fuelling machine. Public awareness and international concern about nuclear safety have increased significantly since the TMI and Chernobyl events. Corresponding realization of the critical role of human factors and the importance of operational experience feedback, has helped Kanupp by opening international channels of communication, including renewed cooperation on CANDU technology. The safety standards and criteria for CANDU as well as other NPPs have matured and evolved gradually over the past two decades. First Kanupp has to ensure that its present ageing-induced equipment problems are resolved to satisfy the original safety requirements and public risk targets which are still internationally acceptable. But as a policy, we

Identification of efforts required for continued safe operation of KANUPP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghafoor, M A; Hashmi, J A; Siddiqui, Z H [Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, Karachi (Pakistan)

1991-04-01

Kanupp, the first commercial CANDU PHWR, rated at 137 MWe, was built on turnkey basis by the Canadian General Electric Company for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, and went operational in October, 1972 near Karachi. It has operated since then with a lifetime average availability factor of 51.5% and capacity factor of 25%. In 1976, Kanupp suffered loss of technical support from its original vendors due to the Canadian embargo on export of nuclear technology. Simultaneously, the world experienced the most explosive development and advancement in electronic and computer technology, accelerating the obsolescence of such equipment and systems installed in Kanupp. Replacement upgrading of obsolete computers, control and instrumentation was thus the first major set of efforts realized as essential f or continued safe operation. On the other hand, Kanupp was able to cope with the normal maintenance of its process, mechanical and electrical equipment till the late 80's. But now many of these components are reaching the end of their useful life, and developing chronic problems due to ageing, which can only be solved by complete replacement. This is much more difficult for custom-made nuclear process equipment, e.g. the reactor internals and the fuelling machine. Public awareness and international concern about nuclear safety have increased significantly since the TMI and Chernobyl events. Corresponding realization of the critical role of human factors and the importance of operational experience feedback, has helped Kanupp by opening international channels of communication, including renewed cooperation on CANDU technology. The safety standards and criteria for CANDU as well as other NPPs have matured and evolved gradually over the past two decades. First Kanupp has to ensure that its present ageing-induced equipment problems are resolved to satisfy the original safety requirements and public risk targets which are still internationally acceptable. But as a policy, we

Effort-reward imbalance and organisational injustice among aged nurses: a moderated mediation model.

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Topa, Gabriela; Guglielmi, Dina; Depolo, Marco

2016-09-01

To test the effort-reward imbalance model among older nurses, expanding it to include the moderation of overcommitment and age in the stress-health complaints relationship, mediated by organisational injustice. The theoretical framework included the effort-reward imbalance, the uncertainty management and the socio-emotional selectivity models. Employing a two-wave design, the participants were 255 nurses aged 45 years and over, recruited from four large hospitals in Spain (Madrid and Basque Country). The direct effect of imbalance on health complaints was supported: it was significant when overcommitment was low but not when it was high. Organisational injustice mediated the influence of effort-reward imbalance on health complaints. The conditional effect of the mediation of organisational injustice was significant in three of the overcommitment/age conditions but it weakened, becoming non-significant, when the level of overcommitment was low and age was high. The study tested the model in nursing populations and expanded it to the settings of occupational health and safety at work. The results of this study highlight the importance of effort-reward imbalance and organisational justice for creating healthy work environments. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Synergies Between Grace and Regional Atmospheric Modeling Efforts

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Kusche, J.; Springer, A.; Ohlwein, C.; Hartung, K.; Longuevergne, L.; Kollet, S. J.; Keune, J.; Dobslaw, H.; Forootan, E.; Eicker, A.

2014-12-01

In the meteorological community, efforts converge towards implementation of high-resolution (precipitation, evapotranspiration and runoff data; confirming that the model does favorably at representing observations. We show that after GRACE-derived bias correction, basin-average hydrological conditions prior to 2002 can be reconstructed better than before. Next, comparing GRACE with CLM forced by EURO-CORDEX simulations allows identifying processes needing improvement in the model. Finally, we compare COSMO-EU atmospheric pressure, a proxy for mass corrections in satellite gravimetry, with ERA-Interim over Europe at timescales shorter/longer than 1 month, and spatial scales below/above ERA resolution. We find differences between regional and global model more pronounced at high frequencies, with magnitude at sub-grid scale and larger scale corresponding to 1-3 hPa (1-3 cm EWH); relevant for the assessment of post-GRACE concepts.

Integrating multiple distribution models to guide conservation efforts of an endangered toad

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Treglia, Michael L.; Fisher, Robert N.; Fitzgerald, Lee A.

2015-01-01

Species distribution models are used for numerous purposes such as predicting changes in species’ ranges and identifying biodiversity hotspots. Although implications of distribution models for conservation are often implicit, few studies use these tools explicitly to inform conservation efforts. Herein, we illustrate how multiple distribution models developed using distinct sets of environmental variables can be integrated to aid in identification sites for use in conservation. We focus on the endangered arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus), which relies on open, sandy streams and surrounding floodplains in southern California, USA, and northern Baja California, Mexico. Declines of the species are largely attributed to habitat degradation associated with vegetation encroachment, invasive predators, and altered hydrologic regimes. We had three main goals: 1) develop a model of potential habitat for arroyo toads, based on long-term environmental variables and all available locality data; 2) develop a model of the species’ current habitat by incorporating recent remotely-sensed variables and only using recent locality data; and 3) integrate results of both models to identify sites that may be employed in conservation efforts. We used a machine learning technique, Random Forests, to develop the models, focused on riparian zones in southern California. We identified 14.37% and 10.50% of our study area as potential and current habitat for the arroyo toad, respectively. Generally, inclusion of remotely-sensed variables reduced modeled suitability of sites, thus many areas modeled as potential habitat were not modeled as current habitat. We propose such sites could be made suitable for arroyo toads through active management, increasing current habitat by up to 67.02%. Our general approach can be employed to guide conservation efforts of virtually any species with sufficient data necessary to develop appropriate distribution models.

The effort-reward imbalance work-stress model and daytime salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) among Japanese women.

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Ota, Atsuhiko; Mase, Junji; Howteerakul, Nopporn; Rajatanun, Thitipat; Suwannapong, Nawarat; Yatsuya, Hiroshi; Ono, Yuichiro

2014-09-17

We examined the influence of work-related effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment to work (OC), as derived from Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model, on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. We hypothesized that, among healthy workers, both cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) secretion would be increased by effort-reward imbalance and OC and, as a result, cortisol-to-DHEA ratio (C/D ratio) would not differ by effort-reward imbalance or OC. The subjects were 115 healthy female nursery school teachers. Salivary cortisol, DHEA, and C/D ratio were used as indexes of HPA activity. Mixed-model analyses of variance revealed that neither the interaction between the ERI model indicators (i.e., effort, reward, effort-to-reward ratio, and OC) and the series of measurement times (9:00, 12:00, and 15:00) nor the main effect of the ERI model indicators was significant for daytime salivary cortisol, DHEA, or C/D ratio. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that none of the ERI model indicators was significantly associated with area under the curve of daytime salivary cortisol, DHEA, or C/D ratio. We found that effort, reward, effort-reward imbalance, and OC had little influence on daytime variation patterns, levels, or amounts of salivary HPA-axis-related hormones. Thus, our hypotheses were not supported.

Efforts - Final technical report on task 4. Physical modelling calidation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Jan Lasson; Olsson, David Dam; Christensen, T. W.

The present report is documentation for the work carried out in Task 4 at DTU Physical modelling-validation on the Brite/Euram project No. BE96-3340, contract No. BRPR-CT97-0398, with the title Enhanced Framework for forging design using reliable three-dimensional simulation (EFFORTS). The report...

Effort in Multitasking: Local and Global Assessment of Effort.

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Kiesel, Andrea; Dignath, David

2017-01-01

When performing multiple tasks in succession, self-organization of task order might be superior compared to external-controlled task schedules, because self-organization allows optimizing processing modes and thus reduces switch costs, and it increases commitment to task goals. However, self-organization is an additional executive control process that is not required if task order is externally specified and as such it is considered as time-consuming and effortful. To compare self-organized and externally controlled task scheduling, we suggest assessing global subjective and objectives measures of effort in addition to local performance measures. In our new experimental approach, we combined characteristics of dual tasking settings and task switching settings and compared local and global measures of effort in a condition with free choice of task sequence and a condition with cued task sequence. In a multi-tasking environment, participants chose the task order while the task requirement of the not-yet-performed task remained the same. This task preview allowed participants to work on the previously non-chosen items in parallel and resulted in faster responses and fewer errors in task switch trials than in task repetition trials. The free-choice group profited more from this task preview than the cued group when considering local performance measures. Nevertheless, the free-choice group invested more effort than the cued group when considering global measures. Thus, self-organization in task scheduling seems to be effortful even in conditions in which it is beneficiary for task processing. In a second experiment, we reduced the possibility of task preview for the not-yet-performed tasks in order to hinder efficient self-organization. Here neither local nor global measures revealed substantial differences between the free-choice and a cued task sequence condition. Based on the results of both experiments, we suggest that global assessment of effort in addition to

An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance

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Kurzban, Robert; Duckworth, Angela; Kable, Joseph W.; Myers, Justus

2013-01-01

Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternate explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost – that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternate explanations both for the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across subdisciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternate models might be empirically distinguished. PMID:24304775

Toward a Rational and Mechanistic Account of Mental Effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Shenhav, Amitai; Musslick, Sebastian; Lieder, Falk; Kool, Wouter; Griffiths, Thomas L; Cohen, Jonathan D; Botvinick, Matthew M

2017-07-25

In spite of its familiar phenomenology, the mechanistic basis for mental effort remains poorly understood. Although most researchers agree that mental effort is aversive and stems from limitations in our capacity to exercise cognitive control, it is unclear what gives rise to those limitations and why they result in an experience of control as costly. The presence of these control costs also raises further questions regarding how best to allocate mental effort to minimize those costs and maximize the attendant benefits. This review explores recent advances in computational modeling and empirical research aimed at addressing these questions at the level of psychological process and neural mechanism, examining both the limitations to mental effort exertion and how we manage those limited cognitive resources. We conclude by identifying remaining challenges for theoretical accounts of mental effort as well as possible applications of the available findings to understanding the causes of and potential solutions for apparent failures to exert the mental effort required of us.

Effort rights-based management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Squires, Dale; Maunder, Mark; Allen, Robin

2017-01-01

Effort rights-based fisheries management (RBM) is less widely used than catch rights, whether for groups or individuals. Because RBM on catch or effort necessarily requires a total allowable catch (TAC) or total allowable effort (TAE), RBM is discussed in conjunction with issues in assessing fish...... populations and providing TACs or TAEs. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, and there are trade-offs between the two approaches. In a narrow economic sense, catch rights are superior because of the type of incentives created, but once the costs of research to improve stock assessments...

Hierarchy, Dominance, and Deliberation: Egalitarian Values Require Mental Effort.

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Van Berkel, Laura; Crandall, Christian S; Eidelman, Scott; Blanchar, John C

2015-09-01

Hierarchy and dominance are ubiquitous. Because social hierarchy is early learned and highly rehearsed, the value of hierarchy enjoys relative ease over competing egalitarian values. In six studies, we interfere with deliberate thinking and measure endorsement of hierarchy and egalitarianism. In Study 1, bar patrons' blood alcohol content was correlated with hierarchy preference. In Study 2, cognitive load increased the authority/hierarchy moral foundation. In Study 3, low-effort thought instructions increased hierarchy endorsement and reduced equality endorsement. In Study 4, ego depletion increased hierarchy endorsement and caused a trend toward reduced equality endorsement. In Study 5, low-effort thought instructions increased endorsement of hierarchical attitudes among those with a sense of low personal power. In Study 6, participants' thinking quickly allocated more resources to high-status groups. Across five operationalizations of impaired deliberative thought, hierarchy endorsement increased and egalitarianism receded. These data suggest hierarchy may persist in part because it has a psychological advantage. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Estimation of total Effort and Effort Elapsed in Each Step of Software Development Using Optimal Bayesian Belief Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Zare Baghiabad

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Accuracy in estimating the needed effort for software development caused software effort estimation to be a challenging issue. Beside estimation of total effort, determining the effort elapsed in each software development step is very important because any mistakes in enterprise resource planning can lead to project failure. In this paper, a Bayesian belief network was proposed based on effective components and software development process. In this model, the feedback loops are considered between development steps provided that the return rates are different for each project. Different return rates help us determine the percentages of the elapsed effort in each software development step, distinctively. Moreover, the error measurement resulted from optimized effort estimation and the optimal coefficients to modify the model are sought. The results of the comparison between the proposed model and other models showed that the model has the capability to highly accurately estimate the total effort (with the marginal error of about 0.114 and to estimate the effort elapsed in each software development step.

Overview 2004 of NASA Stirling-Convertor CFD-Model Development and Regenerator R&D Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Tew, Roy C.; Dyson, Rodger W.; Wilson, Scott D.; Demko, Rikako

2005-01-01

This paper reports on accomplishments in 2004 in development of Stirling-convertor CFD model at NASA GRC and via a NASA grant, a Stirling regenerator-research effort being conducted via a NASA grant (a follow-on effort to an earlier DOE contract), and a regenerator-microfabrication contract for development of a "next-generation Stirling regenerator." Cleveland State University is the lead organization for all three grant/contractual efforts, with the University of Minnesota and Gedeor Associates as subcontractors. Also, the Stirling Technology Co. and Sunpower, Inc. are both involved in all three efforts, either as funded or unfunded participants. International Mezzo Technologies of Baton Rouge, LA is the regenerator fabricator for the regenerator-microfabrication contract. Results of the efforts in these three areas are summarized.

Dopamine, behavioral economics, and effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D Salamone

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract. There are numerous problems with the hypothesis that brain dopamine (DA systems, particularly in the nucleus accumbens, directly mediate the rewarding or primary motivational characteristics of natural stimuli such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in behavioral activation and effort-related processes. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA depleted rats are more sensitive to increases in response costs (i.e., ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and instead these rats select a less-effortful type of food-seeking behavior. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as energy-related disorders such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders.

Work Stress and Altered Biomarkers: A Synthesis of Findings Based on the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model.

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Siegrist, Johannes; Li, Jian

2017-11-10

While epidemiological studies provide statistical evidence on associations of exposures such as stressful work with elevated risks of stress-related disorders (e.g., coronary heart disease or depression), additional information on biological pathways and biomarkers underlying these associations is required. In this contribution, we summarize the current state of the art on research findings linking stressful work, in terms of an established theoretical model-effort-reward imbalance-with a broad range of biomarkers. Based on structured electronic literature search and recent available systematic reviews, our synthesis of findings indicates that associations of work stress with heart rate variability, altered blood lipids, and risk of metabolic syndrome are rather consistent and robust. Significant relationships with blood pressure, heart rate, altered immune function and inflammation, cortisol release, and haemostatic biomarkers were also observed, but due to conflicting findings additional data will be needed to reach a firm conclusion. This narrative review of empirical evidence supports the argument that the biomarkers under study can act as mediators of epidemiologically established associations of work stress, as measured by effort-reward imbalance, with incident stress-related disorders.

Maintenance personnel performance simulation (MAPPS) model: overview and evaluation efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knee, H.E.; Haas, P.M.; Siegel, A.I.; Bartter, W.D.; Wolf, J.J.; Ryan, T.G.

1984-01-01

The development of the MAPPS model has been completed and the model is currently undergoing evaluation. These efforts are addressing a number of identified issues concerning practicality, acceptability, usefulness, and validity. Preliminary analysis of the evaluation data that has been collected indicates that MAPPS will provide comprehensive and reliable data for PRA purposes and for a number of other applications. The MAPPS computer simulation model provides the user with a sophisticated tool for gaining insights into tasks performed by NPP maintenance personnel. Its wide variety of input parameters and output data makes it extremely flexible for application to a number of diverse applications. With the demonstration of favorable model evaluation results, the MAPPS model will represent a valuable source of NPP maintainer reliability data and provide PRA studies with a source of data on maintainers that has previously not existed

The Effect of the Demand Control and Effort Reward Imbalance Models on the Academic Burnout of Korean Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jayoung; Puig, Ana; Lee, Sang Min

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Demand Control Model (DCM) and the Effort Reward Imbalance Model (ERIM) on academic burnout for Korean students. Specifically, this study identified the effects of the predictor variables based on DCM and ERIM (i.e., demand, control, effort, reward, Demand Control Ratio, Effort Reward…

Computational Models of Anterior Cingulate Cortex: At the Crossroads between Prediction and Effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliana Vassena

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In the last two decades the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC has become one of the most investigated areas of the brain. Extensive neuroimaging evidence suggests countless functions for this region, ranging from conflict and error coding, to social cognition, pain and effortful control. In response to this burgeoning amount of data, a proliferation of computational models has tried to characterize the neurocognitive architecture of ACC. Early seminal models provided a computational explanation for a relatively circumscribed set of empirical findings, mainly accounting for EEG and fMRI evidence. More recent models have focused on ACC's contribution to effortful control. In parallel to these developments, several proposals attempted to explain within a single computational framework a wider variety of empirical findings that span different cognitive processes and experimental modalities. Here we critically evaluate these modeling attempts, highlighting the continued need to reconcile the array of disparate ACC observations within a coherent, unifying framework.

Modeling Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of Increased Efforts to Attract Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Clients Ages 20-29 in Zimbabwe.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katharine Kripke

Full Text Available Zimbabwe aims to increase circumcision coverage to 80% among 13- to 29-year-olds. However, implementation data suggest that high coverage among men ages 20 and older may not be achievable without efforts specifically targeted to these men, incurring additional costs per circumcision. Scale-up scenarios were created based on trends in implementation data in Zimbabwe, and the cost-effectiveness of increasing efforts to recruit clients ages 20-29 was examined.Zimbabwe voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC program data were used to project trends in male circumcision coverage by age into the future. The projection informed a base scenario in which, by 2018, the country achieves 80% circumcision coverage among males ages 10-19 and lower levels of coverage among men above age 20. The Zimbabwe DMPPT 2.0 model was used to project costs and impacts, assuming a US$109 VMMC unit cost in the base scenario and a 3% discount rate. Two other scenarios assumed that the program could increase coverage among clients ages 20-29 with a corresponding increase in unit cost for these age groups.When circumcision coverage among men ages 20-29 is increased compared with a base scenario reflecting current implementation trends, fewer VMMCs are required to avert one infection. If more than 50% additional effort (reflected as multiplying the unit cost by >1.5 is required to double the increase in coverage among this age group compared with the base scenario, the cost per HIV infection averted is higher than in the base scenario.Although increased investment in recruiting VMMC clients ages 20-29 may lead to greater overall impact if recruitment efforts are successful, it may also lead to lower cost-effectiveness, depending on the cost of increasing recruitment. Programs should measure the relationship between increased effort and increased ability to attract this age group.

Greater effort increases perceived value in an invertebrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Czaczkes, Tomer J; Brandstetter, Birgit; di Stefano, Isabella; Heinze, Jürgen

2018-05-01

Expending effort is generally considered to be undesirable. However, both humans and vertebrates will work for a reward they could also get for free. Moreover, cues associated with high-effort rewards are preferred to low-effort associated cues. Many explanations for these counterintuitive findings have been suggested, including cognitive dissonance (self-justification) or a greater contrast in state (e.g., energy or frustration level) before and after an effort-linked reward. Here, we test whether effort expenditure also increases perceived value in ants, using both classical cue-association methods and pheromone deposition, which correlates with perceived value. In 2 separate experimental setups, we show that pheromone deposition is higher toward the reward that requires more effort: 47% more pheromone deposition was performed for rewards reached via a vertical runway (high effort) compared with ones reached via a horizontal runway (low effort), and deposition rates were 28% higher on rough (high effort) versus smooth (low effort) runways. Using traditional cue-association methods, 63% of ants trained on different surface roughness, and 70% of ants trained on different runway elevations, preferred the high-effort related cues on a Y maze. Finally, pheromone deposition to feeders requiring memorization of one path bifurcation was up to 29% higher than to an identical feeder requiring no learning. Our results suggest that effort affects value perception in ants. This effect may stem from a cognitive process, which monitors the change in a generalized hedonic state before and after reward. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Fundamental Drop Dynamics and Mass Transfer Experiments to Support Solvent Extraction Modeling Efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christensen, Kristi; Rutledge, Veronica; Garn, Troy

2011-01-01

In support of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling Simulation Safeguards and Separations (NEAMS SafeSep) program, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) worked in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to further a modeling effort designed to predict mass transfer behavior for selected metal species between individual dispersed drops and a continuous phase in a two phase liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) system. The purpose of the model is to understand the fundamental processes of mass transfer that occur at the drop interface. This fundamental understanding can be extended to support modeling of larger LLE equipment such as mixer settlers, pulse columns, and centrifugal contactors. The work performed at the INL involved gathering the necessary experimental data to support the modeling effort. A custom experimental apparatus was designed and built for performing drop contact experiments to measure mass transfer coefficients as a function of contact time. A high speed digital camera was used in conjunction with the apparatus to measure size, shape, and velocity of the drops. In addition to drop data, the physical properties of the experimental fluids were measured to be used as input data for the model. Physical properties measurements included density, viscosity, surface tension and interfacial tension. Additionally, self diffusion coefficients for the selected metal species in each experimental solution were measured, and the distribution coefficient for the metal partitioning between phases was determined. At the completion of this work, the INL has determined the mass transfer coefficient and a velocity profile for drops rising by buoyancy through a continuous medium under a specific set of experimental conditions. Additionally, a complete set of experimentally determined fluid properties has been obtained. All data will be provided to LANL to support the modeling effort.

Investigation of Psychological Health and Migraine Headaches Among Personnel According to Effort-Reward Imbalance Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Darami

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Background and aims: The relationship between physical-mental health and Migraine headaches and stress, especially job stress, is known. Many factors can construct job stress in work settings. The factor that has gained much attention recently is inequality (imbalance of employees’ effort versus the reward they gain. The aim of the current attempt was to investigate the validity of effort-reward imbalance model and indicate the relation of this model with migraine headaches and psychological well-being among subjects in balance and imbalance groups. Methods: Participants were 180 personnel of Oil distribution company located in Isfahan city, and instruments used were General health questionnaire (Goldberg & Hilier, Social Re-adjustment Rating Scale (Holmes & Rahe, Ahvaz Migraine Questionnaire (Najariyan and Effort-reward imbalance scale (Van Vegchel & et al.   Results: The result of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for investigating the Construct validity of the effort-reward imbalance model showed that in both analyses, the two factor model was confirmed. Moreover, findings indicate that balance group was in better psychological (p<0/01 and physical (migraine (p<0/05 status comparing to the imbalance group. These findings indicate the significance of justice to present appropriate reward relative to personnel performance on their health.   Conclusion: Implication of these findings can improve Iranian industrial personnel health from both physical and psychological aspects.  

Incentive Design and Mis-Allocated Effort

OpenAIRE

Schnedler, Wendelin

2013-01-01

Incentives often distort behavior: they induce agents to exert effort but this effort is not employed optimally. This paper proposes a theory of incentive design allowing for such distorted behavior. At the heart of the theory is a trade-off between getting the agent to exert effort and ensuring that this effort is used well. The theory covers various moral-hazard models, ranging from traditional single-task to multi-task models. It also provides -for the first time- a formalization and proof...

Two models at work : A study of interactions and specificity in relation to the Demand-Control Model and the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vegchel, N.

2005-01-01

To investigate the relation between work and employee health, several work stress models, e.g., the Demand-Control (DC) Model and the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model, have been developed. Although these models focus on job demands and job resources, relatively little attention has been devoted

Competition for marine space: modelling the Baltic Sea fisheries and effort displacement under spatial restrictions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bastardie, Francois; Nielsen, J. Rasmus; Eigaard, Ole Ritzau

2015-01-01

DISPLACE model) to combine stochastic variations in spatial fishing activities with harvested resource dynamics in scenario projections. The assessment computes economic and stock status indicators by modelling the activity of Danish, Swedish, and German vessels (.12 m) in the international western Baltic...... Sea commercial fishery, together with the underlying size-based distribution dynamics of the main fishery resources of sprat, herring, and cod. The outcomes of alternative scenarios for spatial effort displacement are exemplified by evaluating the fishers’s abilities to adapt to spatial plans under...... various constraints. Interlinked spatial, technical, and biological dynamics of vessels and stocks in the scenarios result in stable profits, which compensate for the additional costs from effort displacement and release pressure on the fish stocks. The effort is further redirected away from sensitive...

Modelling human resource requirements for the nuclear industry in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roelofs, Ferry [Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) (Netherlands); Flore, Massimo; Estorff, Ulrik von [Joint Research Center (JRC) (Netherlands)

2017-11-15

The European Human Resource Observatory for Nuclear (EHRO-N) provides the European Commission with essential data related to supply and demand for nuclear experts in the EU-28 and the enlargement and integration countries based on bottom-up information from the nuclear industry. The objective is to assess how the supply of experts for the nuclear industry responds to the needs for the same experts for present and future nuclear projects in the region. Complementary to the bottom-up approach taken by the EHRO-N team at JRC, a top-down modelling approach has been taken in a collaboration with NRG in the Netherlands. This top-down modelling approach focuses on the human resource requirements for operation, construction, decommissioning, and efforts for long term operation of nuclear power plants. This paper describes the top-down methodology, the model input, the main assumptions, and the results of the analyses.

Modelling human resource requirements for the nuclear industry in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roelofs, Ferry; Flore, Massimo; Estorff, Ulrik von

2017-01-01

The European Human Resource Observatory for Nuclear (EHRO-N) provides the European Commission with essential data related to supply and demand for nuclear experts in the EU-28 and the enlargement and integration countries based on bottom-up information from the nuclear industry. The objective is to assess how the supply of experts for the nuclear industry responds to the needs for the same experts for present and future nuclear projects in the region. Complementary to the bottom-up approach taken by the EHRO-N team at JRC, a top-down modelling approach has been taken in a collaboration with NRG in the Netherlands. This top-down modelling approach focuses on the human resource requirements for operation, construction, decommissioning, and efforts for long term operation of nuclear power plants. This paper describes the top-down methodology, the model input, the main assumptions, and the results of the analyses.

The Influence of Mark-Recapture Sampling Effort on Estimates of Rock Lobster Survival.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ziya Kordjazi

Full Text Available Five annual capture-mark-recapture surveys on Jasus edwardsii were used to evaluate the effect of sample size and fishing effort on the precision of estimated survival probability. Datasets of different numbers of individual lobsters (ranging from 200 to 1,000 lobsters were created by random subsampling from each annual survey. This process of random subsampling was also used to create 12 datasets of different levels of effort based on three levels of the number of traps (15, 30 and 50 traps per day and four levels of the number of sampling-days (2, 4, 6 and 7 days. The most parsimonious Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS model for estimating survival probability shifted from a constant model towards sex-dependent models with increasing sample size and effort. A sample of 500 lobsters or 50 traps used on four consecutive sampling-days was required for obtaining precise survival estimations for males and females, separately. Reduced sampling effort of 30 traps over four sampling days was sufficient if a survival estimate for both sexes combined was sufficient for management of the fishery.

The Influence of Mark-Recapture Sampling Effort on Estimates of Rock Lobster Survival

Science.gov (United States)

Kordjazi, Ziya; Frusher, Stewart; Buxton, Colin; Gardner, Caleb; Bird, Tomas

2016-01-01

Five annual capture-mark-recapture surveys on Jasus edwardsii were used to evaluate the effect of sample size and fishing effort on the precision of estimated survival probability. Datasets of different numbers of individual lobsters (ranging from 200 to 1,000 lobsters) were created by random subsampling from each annual survey. This process of random subsampling was also used to create 12 datasets of different levels of effort based on three levels of the number of traps (15, 30 and 50 traps per day) and four levels of the number of sampling-days (2, 4, 6 and 7 days). The most parsimonious Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model for estimating survival probability shifted from a constant model towards sex-dependent models with increasing sample size and effort. A sample of 500 lobsters or 50 traps used on four consecutive sampling-days was required for obtaining precise survival estimations for males and females, separately. Reduced sampling effort of 30 traps over four sampling days was sufficient if a survival estimate for both sexes combined was sufficient for management of the fishery. PMID:26990561

Specification of advanced safety modeling requirements (Rev. 0).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fanning, T. H.; Tautges, T. J.

2008-06-30

The U.S. Department of Energy's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership has lead to renewed interest in liquid-metal-cooled fast reactors for the purpose of closing the nuclear fuel cycle and making more efficient use of future repository capacity. However, the U.S. has not designed or constructed a fast reactor in nearly 30 years. Accurate, high-fidelity, whole-plant dynamics safety simulations will play a crucial role by providing confidence that component and system designs will satisfy established design limits and safety margins under a wide variety of operational, design basis, and beyond design basis transient conditions. Current modeling capabilities for fast reactor safety analyses have resulted from several hundred person-years of code development effort supported by experimental validation. The broad spectrum of mechanistic and phenomenological models that have been developed represent an enormous amount of institutional knowledge that needs to be maintained. Complicating this, the existing code architectures for safety modeling evolved from programming practices of the 1970s. This has lead to monolithic applications with interdependent data models which require significant knowledge of the complexities of the entire code in order for each component to be maintained. In order to develop an advanced fast reactor safety modeling capability, the limitations of the existing code architecture must be overcome while preserving the capabilities that already exist. To accomplish this, a set of advanced safety modeling requirements is defined, based on modern programming practices, that focuses on modular development within a flexible coupling framework. An approach for integrating the existing capabilities of the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 fast reactor safety analysis code into the SHARP framework is provided in order to preserve existing capabilities while providing a smooth transition to advanced modeling capabilities. In doing this, the advanced fast reactor safety models

Specification of advanced safety modeling requirements (Rev. 0)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fanning, T. H.; Tautges, T. J.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership has lead to renewed interest in liquid-metal-cooled fast reactors for the purpose of closing the nuclear fuel cycle and making more efficient use of future repository capacity. However, the U.S. has not designed or constructed a fast reactor in nearly 30 years. Accurate, high-fidelity, whole-plant dynamics safety simulations will play a crucial role by providing confidence that component and system designs will satisfy established design limits and safety margins under a wide variety of operational, design basis, and beyond design basis transient conditions. Current modeling capabilities for fast reactor safety analyses have resulted from several hundred person-years of code development effort supported by experimental validation. The broad spectrum of mechanistic and phenomenological models that have been developed represent an enormous amount of institutional knowledge that needs to be maintained. Complicating this, the existing code architectures for safety modeling evolved from programming practices of the 1970s. This has lead to monolithic applications with interdependent data models which require significant knowledge of the complexities of the entire code in order for each component to be maintained. In order to develop an advanced fast reactor safety modeling capability, the limitations of the existing code architecture must be overcome while preserving the capabilities that already exist. To accomplish this, a set of advanced safety modeling requirements is defined, based on modern programming practices, that focuses on modular development within a flexible coupling framework. An approach for integrating the existing capabilities of the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 fast reactor safety analysis code into the SHARP framework is provided in order to preserve existing capabilities while providing a smooth transition to advanced modeling capabilities. In doing this, the advanced fast reactor safety models will

Assessing Requirements Quality through Requirements Coverage

Science.gov (United States)

Rajan, Ajitha; Heimdahl, Mats; Woodham, Kurt

2008-01-01

In model-based development, the development effort is centered around a formal description of the proposed software system the model. This model is derived from some high-level requirements describing the expected behavior of the software. For validation and verification purposes, this model can then be subjected to various types of analysis, for example, completeness and consistency analysis [6], model checking [3], theorem proving [1], and test-case generation [4, 7]. This development paradigm is making rapid inroads in certain industries, e.g., automotive, avionics, space applications, and medical technology. This shift towards model-based development naturally leads to changes in the verification and validation (V&V) process. The model validation problem determining that the model accurately captures the customer's high-level requirements has received little attention and the sufficiency of the validation activities has been largely determined through ad-hoc methods. Since the model serves as the central artifact, its correctness with respect to the users needs is absolutely crucial. In our investigation, we attempt to answer the following two questions with respect to validation (1) Are the requirements sufficiently defined for the system? and (2) How well does the model implement the behaviors specified by the requirements? The second question can be addressed using formal verification. Nevertheless, the size and complexity of many industrial systems make formal verification infeasible even if we have a formal model and formalized requirements. Thus, presently, there is no objective way of answering these two questions. To this end, we propose an approach based on testing that, when given a set of formal requirements, explores the relationship between requirements-based structural test-adequacy coverage and model-based structural test-adequacy coverage. The proposed technique uses requirements coverage metrics defined in [9] on formal high-level software

Obligatory Effort [Hishtadlut] as an Explanatory Model: A Critique of Reproductive Choice and Control.

Science.gov (United States)

Teman, Elly; Ivry, Tsipy; Goren, Heela

2016-06-01

Studies on reproductive technologies often examine women's reproductive lives in terms of choice and control. Drawing on 48 accounts of procreative experiences of religiously devout Jewish women in Israel and the US, we examine their attitudes, understandings and experiences of pregnancy, reproductive technologies and prenatal testing. We suggest that the concept of hishtadlut-"obligatory effort"-works as an explanatory model that organizes Haredi women's reproductive careers and their negotiations of reproductive technologies. As an elastic category with negotiable and dynamic boundaries, hishtadlut gives ultra-orthodox Jewish women room for effort without the assumption of control; it allows them to exercise discretion in relation to medical issues without framing their efforts in terms of individual choice. Haredi women hold themselves responsible for making their obligatory effort and not for pregnancy outcomes. We suggest that an alternative paradigm to autonomous choice and control emerges from cosmological orders where reproductive duties constitute "obligatory choices."

Vocal effort modulates the motor planning of short speech structures

Science.gov (United States)

Taitz, Alan; Shalom, Diego E.; Trevisan, Marcos A.

2018-05-01

Speech requires programming the sequence of vocal gestures that produce the sounds of words. Here we explored the timing of this program by asking our participants to pronounce, as quickly as possible, a sequence of consonant-consonant-vowel (CCV) structures appearing on screen. We measured the delay between visual presentation and voice onset. In the case of plosive consonants, produced by sharp and well defined movements of the vocal tract, we found that delays are positively correlated with the duration of the transition between consonants. We then used a battery of statistical tests and mathematical vocal models to show that delays reflect the motor planning of CCVs and transitions are proxy indicators of the vocal effort needed to produce them. These results support that the effort required to produce the sequence of movements of a vocal gesture modulates the onset of the motor plan.

Getting Grip on Security Requirements Elicitation by Structuring and Reusing Security Requirements Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Schmitt

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a model for structuring and reusing security requirements sources. The model serves as blueprint for the development of an organization-specific repository, which provides relevant security requirements sources, such as security information and knowledge sources and relevant compliance obligations, in a structured and reusable form. The resulting repository is intended to be used by development teams during the elicitation and analysis of security requirements with the goal to understand the security problem space, incorporate all relevant requirements sources, and to avoid unnecessary effort for identifying, understanding, and correlating applicable security requirements sources on a project-wise basis. We start with an overview and categorization of important security requirements sources, followed by the description of the generic model. To demonstrate the applicability and benefits of the model, the instantiation approach and details of the resulting repository of security requirements sources are presented.

Effort dynamics in a fisheries bioeconomic model: A vessel level approach through Game Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gorka Merino

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Red shrimp, Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816 is one of the most important resources for the bottom-trawl fleets in the northwestern Mediterranean, in terms of both landings and economic value. A simple bioeconomic model introducing Game Theory for the prediction of effort dynamics at vessel level is proposed. The game is performed by the twelve vessels exploiting red shrimp in Blanes. Within the game, two solutions are performed: non-cooperation and cooperation. The first is proposed as a realistic method for the prediction of individual effort strategies and the second is used to illustrate the potential profitability of the analysed fishery. The effort strategy for each vessel is the number of fishing days per year and their objective is profit maximisation, individual profits for the non-cooperative solution and total profits for the cooperative one. In the present analysis, strategic conflicts arise from the differences between vessels in technical efficiency (catchability coefficient and economic efficiency (defined here. The ten-year and 1000-iteration stochastic simulations performed for the two effort solutions show that the best strategy from both an economic and a conservationist perspective is homogeneous effort cooperation. However, the results under non-cooperation are more similar to the observed data on effort strategies and landings.

Requirements on mechanistic NPP models used in CSS for diagnostics and predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juslin, K.

1996-01-01

Mechanistic models have for several years with good experience been used for operators' support in electric power dispatching centres. Some models of limited scope have already been in use at nuclear power plants. It is considered that also advanced mechanistic models in combination with present computer technology with preference could be used in Computerized Support Systems (CSS) for the assistance of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operators. Requirements with respect to accuracy, validity range, speed flexibility and level of detail on the models used for such purposes are discussed. Quality Assurance, Verification and Validation efforts are considered. A long term commitment in the field of mechanistic modelling and real time simulation is considered as the key to successful implementations. The Advanced PROcess Simulation (APROS) code system and simulation environment developed at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) is intended also for CSS applications in NPP control rooms. (author). 4 refs

Linking effort and fishing mortality in a mixed fisheries model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, Thomas Talund; Hoff, Ayoe; Frost, Hans Staby

2012-01-01

in fish stocks has led to overcapacity in many fisheries, leading to incentives for overfishing. Recent research has shown that the allocation of effort among fleets can play an important role in mitigating overfishing when the targeting covers a range of species (multi-species—i.e., so-called mixed...... fisheries), while simultaneously optimising the overall economic performance of the fleets. The so-called FcubEcon model, in particular, has elucidated both the biologically and economically optimal method for allocating catches—and thus effort—between fishing fleets, while ensuring that the quotas...

Testing effort dependent software reliability model for imperfect debugging process considering both detection and correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, R.; Li, Y.F.; Zhang, W.J.; Hu, Q.P.

2014-01-01

This paper studies the fault detection process (FDP) and fault correction process (FCP) with the incorporation of testing effort function and imperfect debugging. In order to ensure high reliability, it is essential for software to undergo a testing phase, during which faults can be detected and corrected by debuggers. The testing resource allocation during this phase, which is usually depicted by the testing effort function, considerably influences not only the fault detection rate but also the time to correct a detected fault. In addition, testing is usually far from perfect such that new faults may be introduced. In this paper, we first show how to incorporate testing effort function and fault introduction into FDP and then develop FCP as delayed FDP with a correction effort. Various specific paired FDP and FCP models are obtained based on different assumptions of fault introduction and correction effort. An illustrative example is presented. The optimal release policy under different criteria is also discussed

Using a cloud to replenish parched groundwater modeling efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Randall J.; Luchette, Joseph; Schreuder, Willem A.; Rumbaugh, James O.; Doherty, John; Tonkin, Matthew J.; Rumbaugh, Douglas B.

2010-01-01

Groundwater models can be improved by introduction of additional parameter flexibility and simultaneous use of soft-knowledge. However, these sophisticated approaches have high computational requirements. Cloud computing provides unprecedented access to computing power via the Internet to facilitate the use of these techniques. A modeler can create, launch, and terminate “virtual” computers as needed, paying by the hour, and save machine images for future use. Such cost-effective and flexible computing power empowers groundwater modelers to routinely perform model calibration and uncertainty analysis in ways not previously possible.

Using a cloud to replenish parched groundwater modeling efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Randall J; Luchette, Joseph; Schreuder, Willem A; Rumbaugh, James O; Doherty, John; Tonkin, Matthew J; Rumbaugh, Douglas B

2010-01-01

Groundwater models can be improved by introduction of additional parameter flexibility and simultaneous use of soft-knowledge. However, these sophisticated approaches have high computational requirements. Cloud computing provides unprecedented access to computing power via the Internet to facilitate the use of these techniques. A modeler can create, launch, and terminate "virtual" computers as needed, paying by the hour, and save machine images for future use. Such cost-effective and flexible computing power empowers groundwater modelers to routinely perform model calibration and uncertainty analysis in ways not previously possible.

Dopamine and Effort-Based Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irma Triasih Kurniawan

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Motivational theories of choice focus on the influence of goal values and strength of reinforcement to explain behavior. By contrast relatively little is known concerning how the cost of an action, such as effort expended, contributes to a decision to act. Effort-based decision making addresses how we make an action choice based on an integration of action and goal values. Here we review behavioral and neurobiological data regarding the representation of effort as action cost, and how this impacts on decision making. Although organisms expend effort to obtain a desired reward there is a striking sensitivity to the amount of effort required, such that the net preference for an action decreases as effort cost increases. We discuss the contribution of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA towards overcoming response costs and in enhancing an animal’s motivation towards effortful actions. We also consider the contribution of brain structures, including the basal ganglia (BG and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, in the internal generation of action involving a translation of reward expectation into effortful action.

Control and Effort Costs Influence the Motivational Consequences of Choice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Holly Sullivan-Toole

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The act of making a choice, apart from any outcomes the choice may yield, has, paradoxically, been linked to both the enhancement and the detriment of intrinsic motivation. Research has implicated two factors in potentially mediating these contradictory effects: the personal control conferred by a choice and the costs associated with a choice. Across four experiments, utilizing a physical effort task disguised as a simple video game, we systematically varied costs across two levels of physical effort requirements (Low-Requirement, High-Requirement and control over effort costs across three levels of choice (Free-Choice, Restricted-Choice, and No-Choice to disambiguate how these factors affect the motivational consequences of choosing within an effortful task. Together, our results indicated that, in the face of effort requirements, illusory control alone may not sufficiently enhance perceptions of personal control to boost intrinsic motivation; rather, the experience of actual control may be necessary to overcome effort costs and elevate performance. Additionally, we demonstrated that conditions of illusory control, while otherwise unmotivating, can through association with the experience of free-choice, be transformed to have a positive effect on motivation.

Economic effort management in multispecies fisheries: the FcubEcon model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoff, Ayoe; Frost, Hans; Ulrich, Clara

2010-01-01

in the development of management tools based on fleets, fisheries, and areas, rather than on unit fish stocks. A natural consequence of this has been to consider effort rather than quota management, a final effort decision being based on fleet-harvest potential and fish-stock-preservation considerations. Effort...... allocation between fleets should not be based on biological considerations alone, but also on the economic behaviour of fishers, because fisheries management has a significant impact on human behaviour as well as on ecosystem development. The FcubEcon management framework for effort allocation between fleets...... the past decade, increased focus on this issue has resulted in the development of management tools based on fleets, fisheries, and areas, rather than on unit fish stocks. A natural consequence of this has been to consider effort rather than quota management, a final effort decision being based on fleet...

Dissociable contributions of anterior cingulate cortex and basolateral amygdala on a rodent cost/benefit decision-making task of cognitive effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Cocker, Paul J; Winstanley, Catharine A

2014-06-01

Personal success often requires the choice to expend greater effort for larger rewards, and deficits in such effortful decision making accompany a number of illnesses including depression, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Animal models have implicated brain regions such as the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in physical effort-based choice, but disentangling the unique contributions of these two regions has proven difficult, and effort demands in industrialized society are predominantly cognitive in nature. Here we utilize the rodent cognitive effort task (rCET), a modification of the five-choice serial reaction-time task, wherein animals can choose to expend greater visuospatial attention to obtain larger sucrose rewards. Temporary inactivation (via baclofen-muscimol) of BLA and ACC showed dissociable effects: BLA inactivation caused hard-working rats to 'slack off' and 'slacker' rats to work harder, whereas ACC inactivation caused all animals to reduce willingness to expend mental effort. Furthermore, BLA inactivation increased the time needed to make choices, whereas ACC inactivation increased motor impulsivity. These data illuminate unique contributions of BLA and ACC to effort-based decision making, and imply overlapping yet distinct circuitry for cognitive vs physical effort. Our understanding of effortful decision making may therefore require expanding our models beyond purely physical costs.

From requirements to Java in a snap model-driven requirements engineering in practice

CERN Document Server

Smialek, Michal

2015-01-01

This book provides a coherent methodology for Model-Driven Requirements Engineering which stresses the systematic treatment of requirements within the realm of modelling and model transformations. The underlying basic assumption is that detailed requirements models are used as first-class artefacts playing a direct role in constructing software. To this end, the book presents the Requirements Specification Language (RSL) that allows precision and formality, which eventually permits automation of the process of turning requirements into a working system by applying model transformations and co

Dopamine, Effort-Based Choice, and Behavioral Economics: Basic and Translational Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Yang, Jen-Hau; Rotolo, Renee; Presby, Rose

2018-01-01

Operant behavior is not only regulated by factors related to the quality or quantity of reinforcement, but also by the work requirements inherent in performing instrumental actions. Moreover, organisms often make effort-related decisions involving economic choices such as cost/benefit analyses. Effort-based decision making is studied using behavioral procedures that offer choices between high-effort options leading to relatively preferred reinforcers vs. low effort/low reward choices. Several neural systems, including the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system and other brain circuits, are involved in regulating effort-related aspects of motivation. Considerable evidence indicates that mesolimbic DA transmission exerts a bi-directional control over exertion of effort on instrumental behavior tasks. Interference with DA transmission produces a low-effort bias in animals tested on effort-based choice tasks, while increasing DA transmission with drugs such as DA transport blockers tends to enhance selection of high-effort options. The results from these pharmacology studies are corroborated by the findings from recent articles using optogenetic, chemogenetic and physiological techniques. In addition to providing important information about the neural regulation of motivated behavior, effort-based choice tasks are useful for developing animal models of some of the motivational symptoms that are seen in people with various psychiatric and neurological disorders (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease). Studies of effort-based decision making may ultimately contribute to the development of novel drug treatments for motivational dysfunction.

Dopamine, Effort-Based Choice, and Behavioral Economics: Basic and Translational Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D. Salamone

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Operant behavior is not only regulated by factors related to the quality or quantity of reinforcement, but also by the work requirements inherent in performing instrumental actions. Moreover, organisms often make effort-related decisions involving economic choices such as cost/benefit analyses. Effort-based decision making is studied using behavioral procedures that offer choices between high-effort options leading to relatively preferred reinforcers vs. low effort/low reward choices. Several neural systems, including the mesolimbic dopamine (DA system and other brain circuits, are involved in regulating effort-related aspects of motivation. Considerable evidence indicates that mesolimbic DA transmission exerts a bi-directional control over exertion of effort on instrumental behavior tasks. Interference with DA transmission produces a low-effort bias in animals tested on effort-based choice tasks, while increasing DA transmission with drugs such as DA transport blockers tends to enhance selection of high-effort options. The results from these pharmacology studies are corroborated by the findings from recent articles using optogenetic, chemogenetic and physiological techniques. In addition to providing important information about the neural regulation of motivated behavior, effort-based choice tasks are useful for developing animal models of some of the motivational symptoms that are seen in people with various psychiatric and neurological disorders (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease. Studies of effort-based decision making may ultimately contribute to the development of novel drug treatments for motivational dysfunction.

Terry Turbopump Analytical Modeling Efforts in Fiscal Year 2016 ? Progress Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Osborn, Douglas; Ross, Kyle; Cardoni, Jeffrey N

2018-04-01

This document details the Fiscal Year 2016 modeling efforts to define the true operating limitations (margins) of the Terry turbopump systems used in the nuclear industry for Milestone 3 (full-scale component experiments) and Milestone 4 (Terry turbopump basic science experiments) experiments. The overall multinational-sponsored program creates the technical basis to: (1) reduce and defer additional utility costs, (2) simplify plant operations, and (3) provide a better understanding of the true margin which could reduce overall risk of operations.

Quantitative Analysis of the Security of Software-Defined Network Controller Using Threat/Effort Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zehui Wu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available SDN-based controller, which is responsible for the configuration and management of the network, is the core of Software-Defined Networks. Current methods, which focus on the secure mechanism, use qualitative analysis to estimate the security of controllers, leading to inaccurate results frequently. In this paper, we employ a quantitative approach to overcome the above shortage. Under the analysis of the controller threat model we give the formal model results of the APIs, the protocol interfaces, and the data items of controller and further provide our Threat/Effort quantitative calculation model. With the help of Threat/Effort model, we are able to compare not only the security of different versions of the same kind controller but also different kinds of controllers and provide a basis for controller selection and secure development. We evaluated our approach in four widely used SDN-based controllers which are POX, OpenDaylight, Floodlight, and Ryu. The test, which shows the similarity outcomes with the traditional qualitative analysis, demonstrates that with our approach we are able to get the specific security values of different controllers and presents more accurate results.

An experience report on ERP effort estimation driven by quality requirements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Erasmus, Pierre; Daneva, Maya; Schockert, Sixten

2015-01-01

Producing useful and accurate project effort estimates is highly dependable on the proper definition of the project scope. In the ERP service industry, the scope of an ERP service project is determined by desired needs which are driven by certain quality attributes that the client expects to be

Cognitive dissonance in children: justification of effort or contrast?

Science.gov (United States)

Alessandri, Jérôme; Darcheville, Jean-Claude; Zentall, Thomas R

2008-06-01

Justification of effort is a form of cognitive dissonance in which the subjective value of an outcome is directly related to the effort that went into obtaining it. However, it is likely that in social contexts (such as the requirements for joining a group) an inference can be made (perhaps incorrectly) that an outcome that requires greater effort to obtain in fact has greater value. Here we present evidence that a cognitive dissonance effect can be found in children under conditions that offer better control for the social value of the outcome. This effect is quite similar to contrast effects that recently have been studied in animals. We suggest that contrast between the effort required to obtain the outcome and the outcome itself provides a more parsimonious account of this phenomenon and perhaps other related cognitive dissonance phenomena as well. Research will be needed to identify cognitive dissonance processes that are different from contrast effects of this kind.

Requirements Modeling with Agent Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Dasgupta, Aniruddha; Krishna, Aneesh; Ghose, Aditya K.

Agent-oriented conceptual modeling notations are highly effective in representing requirements from an intentional stance and answering questions such as what goals exist, how key actors depend on each other, and what alternatives must be considered. In this chapter, we review an approach to executing i* models by translating these into set of interacting agents implemented in the CASO language and suggest how we can perform reasoning with requirements modeled (both functional and non-functional) using i* models. In this chapter we particularly incorporate deliberation into the agent design. This allows us to benefit from the complementary representational capabilities of the two frameworks.

Baseline requirements of the proposed action for the Transportation Management Division routing models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, P.E.; Joy, D.S.

1995-02-01

The potential impacts associated with the transportation of hazardous materials are important to shippers, carriers, and the general public. This is particularly true for shipments of radioactive material. The shippers are primarily concerned with safety, security, efficiency, and equipment requirements. The carriers are concerned with the potential impact that radioactive shipments may have on their operations--particularly if such materials are involved in an accident. The general public has also expressed concerns regarding the safety of transporting radioactive and other hazardous materials through their communities. Because transportation routes are a central concern in hazardous material transport, the prediction of likely routes is the first step toward resolution of these issues. In response to these routing needs, several models have been developed over the past fifteen years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The HIGHWAY routing model is used to predict routes for truck transportation, the INTERLINE routing model is used to predict both rail and barge routes, and the AIRPORT locator model is used to determine airports with specified criteria near a specific location. As part of the ongoing improvement of the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Management Transportation Management Division's (EM-261) computer systems and development efforts, a Baseline Requirements Assessment Session on the HIGHWAY, INTERLINE, and AIRPORT models was held at ORNL on April 27, 1994. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the existing capabilities of the models and data bases and to review enhancements of the models and data bases to expand their usefulness. The results of the Baseline Requirements Assessment Section will be discussed in this report. The discussions pertaining to the different models are contained in separate sections

Aerosol-Radiation-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: Model-Relevant Observations and the Beneficiary Modeling Efforts in the Realm of the EVS-2 Project ORACLES

Science.gov (United States)

Redemann, Jens

2018-01-01

Globally, aerosols remain a major contributor to uncertainties in assessments of anthropogenically-induced changes to the Earth climate system, despite concerted efforts using satellite and suborbital observations and increasingly sophisticated models. The quantification of direct and indirect aerosol radiative effects, as well as cloud adjustments thereto, even at regional scales, continues to elude our capabilities. Some of our limitations are due to insufficient sampling and accuracy of the relevant observables, under an appropriate range of conditions to provide useful constraints for modeling efforts at various climate scales. In this talk, I will describe (1) the efforts of our group at NASA Ames to develop new airborne instrumentation to address some of the data insufficiencies mentioned above; (2) the efforts by the EVS-2 ORACLES project to address aerosol-cloud-climate interactions in the SE Atlantic and (3) time permitting, recent results from a synergistic use of A-Train aerosol data to test climate model simulations of present-day direct radiative effects in some of the AEROCOM phase II global climate models.

Programming effort analysis of the ELLPACK language

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, J. R.

1978-01-01

ELLPACK is a problem statement language and system for elliptic partial differential equations which is implemented by a FORTRAN preprocessor. ELLPACK's principal purpose is as a tool for the performance evaluation of software. However, it is used here as an example with which to study the programming effort required for problem solving. It is obvious that problem statement languages can reduce programming effort tremendously; the goal is to quantify this somewhat. This is done by analyzing the lengths and effort (as measured by Halstead's software science technique) of various approaches to solving these problems.

Effort, anhedonia, and function in schizophrenia: reduced effort allocation predicts amotivation and functional impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Barch, Deanna M; Treadway, Michael T; Schoen, Nathan

2014-05-01

One of the most debilitating aspects of schizophrenia is an apparent interest in or ability to exert effort for rewards. Such "negative symptoms" may prevent individuals from obtaining potentially beneficial outcomes in educational, occupational, or social domains. In animal models, dopamine abnormalities decrease willingness to work for rewards, implicating dopamine (DA) function as a candidate substrate for negative symptoms given that schizophrenia involves dysregulation of the dopamine system. We used the effort-expenditure for rewards task (EEfRT) to assess the degree to which individuals with schizophrenia were wiling to exert increased effort for either larger magnitude rewards or for rewards that were more probable. Fifty-nine individuals with schizophrenia and 39 demographically similar controls performed the EEfRT task, which involves making choices between "easy" and "hard" tasks to earn potential rewards. Individuals with schizophrenia showed less of an increase in effort allocation as either reward magnitude or probability increased. In controls, the frequency of choosing the hard task in high reward magnitude and probability conditions was negatively correlated with depression severity and anhedonia. In schizophrenia, fewer hard task choices were associated with more severe negative symptoms and worse community and work function as assessed by a caretaker. Consistent with patterns of disrupted dopamine functioning observed in animal models of schizophrenia, these results suggest that 1 mechanism contributing to impaired function and motivational drive in schizophrenia may be a reduced allocation of greater effort for higher magnitude or higher probability rewards.

The Effort-reward Imbalance work-stress model and daytime salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) among Japanese women

Science.gov (United States)

Ota, Atsuhiko; Mase, Junji; Howteerakul, Nopporn; Rajatanun, Thitipat; Suwannapong, Nawarat; Yatsuya, Hiroshi; Ono, Yuichiro

2014-01-01

We examined the influence of work-related effort–reward imbalance and overcommitment to work (OC), as derived from Siegrist's Effort–Reward Imbalance (ERI) model, on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis. We hypothesized that, among healthy workers, both cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) secretion would be increased by effort–reward imbalance and OC and, as a result, cortisol-to-DHEA ratio (C/D ratio) would not differ by effort–reward imbalance or OC. The subjects were 115 healthy female nursery school teachers. Salivary cortisol, DHEA, and C/D ratio were used as indexes of HPA activity. Mixed-model analyses of variance revealed that neither the interaction between the ERI model indicators (i.e., effort, reward, effort-to-reward ratio, and OC) and the series of measurement times (9:00, 12:00, and 15:00) nor the main effect of the ERI model indicators was significant for daytime salivary cortisol, DHEA, or C/D ratio. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that none of the ERI model indicators was significantly associated with area under the curve of daytime salivary cortisol, DHEA, or C/D ratio. We found that effort, reward, effort–reward imbalance, and OC had little influence on daytime variation patterns, levels, or amounts of salivary HPA-axis-related hormones. Thus, our hypotheses were not supported. PMID:25228138

Modeling Requirements for Simulating the Effects of Extreme Acts of Terrorism: A White Paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allen, M.; Hiebert-Dodd, K.; Marozas, D.; Paananen, O.; Pryor, R.J.; Reinert, R.K.

1998-10-01

This white paper presents the initial requirements for developing a new computer model for simulating the effects of extreme acts of terrorism in the United States. General characteristics of the model are proposed and the level of effort to prepare a complete written description of the model, prior to coding, is detailed. The model would simulate the decision processes and interactions of complex U. S. systems engaged in responding to and recovering from four types of terrorist incidents. The incident scenarios span the space of extreme acts of terrorism that have the potential to affect not only the impacted area, but also the entire nation. The model would be useful to decision-makers in assessing and analyzing the vulnerability of the nation's complex infrastructures, in prioritizing resources to reduce risk, and in planning strategies for immediate response and for subsequent recovery from terrorist incidents.

Hindsight Bias Doesn't Always Come Easy: Causal Models, Cognitive Effort, and Creeping Determinism

Science.gov (United States)

Nestler, Steffen; Blank, Hartmut; von Collani, Gernot

2008-01-01

Creeping determinism, a form of hindsight bias, refers to people's hindsight perceptions of events as being determined or inevitable. This article proposes, on the basis of a causal-model theory of creeping determinism, that the underlying processes are effortful, and hence creeping determinism should disappear when individuals lack the cognitive…

Effects of fishing effort allocation scenarios on energy efficiency and profitability: an individual-based model applied to Danish fisheries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bastardie, Francois; Nielsen, J. Rasmus; Andersen, Bo Sølgaard

2010-01-01

to the harbour, and (C) allocating effort towards optimising the expected area-specific profit per trip. The model is informed by data from each Danish fishing vessel >15 m after coupling its high resolution spatial and temporal effort data (VMS) with data from logbook landing declarations, sales slips, vessel...... effort allocation has actually been sub-optimal because increased profits from decreased fuel consumption and larger landings could have been obtained by applying a different spatial effort allocation. Based on recent advances in VMS and logbooks data analyses, this paper contributes to improve...

Time and Effort Required by Persons with Spinal Cord Injury to Learn to Use a Powered Exoskeleton for Assisted Walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozlowski, Allan J; Bryce, Thomas N; Dijkers, Marcel P

2015-01-01

Powered exoskeletons have been demonstrated as being safe for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), but little is known about how users learn to manage these devices. To quantify the time and effort required by persons with SCI to learn to use an exoskeleton for assisted walking. A convenience sample was enrolled to learn to use the first-generation Ekso powered exoskeleton to walk. Participants were given up to 24 weekly sessions of instruction. Data were collected on assistance level, walking distance and speed, heart rate, perceived exertion, and adverse events. Time and effort was quantified by the number of sessions required for participants to stand up, walk for 30 minutes, and sit down, initially with minimal and subsequently with contact guard assistance. Of 22 enrolled participants, 9 screen-failed, and 7 had complete data. All of these 7 were men; 2 had tetraplegia and 5 had motor-complete injuries. Of these, 5 participants could stand, walk, and sit with contact guard or close supervision assistance, and 2 required minimal to moderate assistance. Walk times ranged from 28 to 94 minutes with average speeds ranging from 0.11 to 0.21 m/s. For all participants, heart rate changes and reported perceived exertion were consistent with light to moderate exercise. This study provides preliminary evidence that persons with neurological weakness due to SCI can learn to walk with little or no assistance and light to somewhat hard perceived exertion using a powered exoskeleton. Persons with different severities of injury, including those with motor complete C7 tetraplegia and motor incomplete C4 tetraplegia, may be able to learn to use this device.

Visual cues and listening effort: individual variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Picou, Erin M; Ricketts, Todd A; Hornsby, Benjamin W Y

2011-10-01

To investigate the effect of visual cues on listening effort as well as whether predictive variables such as working memory capacity (WMC) and lipreading ability affect the magnitude of listening effort. Twenty participants with normal hearing were tested using a paired-associates recall task in 2 conditions (quiet and noise) and 2 presentation modalities (audio only [AO] and auditory-visual [AV]). Signal-to-noise ratios were adjusted to provide matched speech recognition across audio-only and AV noise conditions. Also measured were subjective perceptions of listening effort and 2 predictive variables: (a) lipreading ability and (b) WMC. Objective and subjective results indicated that listening effort increased in the presence of noise, but on average the addition of visual cues did not significantly affect the magnitude of listening effort. Although there was substantial individual variability, on average participants who were better lipreaders or had larger WMCs demonstrated reduced listening effort in noise in AV conditions. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that integrating auditory and visual cues requires cognitive resources in some participants. The data indicate that low lipreading ability or low WMC is associated with relatively effortful integration of auditory and visual information in noise.

The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Yang [School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University (China)

2015-03-10

Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper.

The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Yang

2015-01-01

Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SIMULATION MODELS IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, Ian; Kossik, Rick; Voss, Charlie

2003-01-01

Most waste management activities are decided upon and carried out in a public or semi-public arena, typically involving the waste management organization, one or more regulators, and often other stakeholders and members of the public. In these environments, simulation modeling can be a powerful tool in reaching a consensus on the best path forward, but only if the models that are developed are understood and accepted by all of the parties involved. These requirements for understanding and acceptance of the models constrain the appropriate software and model development procedures that are employed. This paper discusses requirements for both simulation software and for the models that are developed using the software. Requirements for the software include transparency, accessibility, flexibility, extensibility, quality assurance, ability to do discrete and/or continuous simulation, and efficiency. Requirements for the models that are developed include traceability, transparency, credibility/validity, and quality control. The paper discusses these requirements with specific reference to the requirements for performance assessment models that are used for predicting the long-term safety of waste disposal facilities, such as the proposed Yucca Mountain repository

Job characteristics and safety climate: the role of effort-reward and demand-control-support models.

Science.gov (United States)

Phipps, Denham L; Malley, Christine; Ashcroft, Darren M

2012-07-01

While safety climate is widely recognized as a key influence on organizational safety, there remain questions about the nature of its antecedents. One potential influence on safety climate is job characteristics (that is, psychosocial features of the work environment). This study investigated the relationship between two job characteristics models--demand-control-support (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) and effort-reward imbalance (Siegrist, 1996)--and safety climate. A survey was conducted with a random sample of 860 British retail pharmacists, using the job contents questionnaire (JCQ), effort-reward imbalance indicator (ERI) and a measure of safety climate in pharmacies. Multivariate data analyses found that: (a) both models contributed to the prediction of safety climate ratings, with the demand-control-support model making the largest contribution; (b) there were some interactions between demand, control and support from the JCQ in the prediction of safety climate scores. The latter finding suggests the presence of "active learning" with respect to safety improvement in high demand, high control settings. The findings provide further insight into the ways in which job characteristics relate to safety, both individually and at an aggregated level.

Prefrontal Cortical Inactivations Decrease Willingness to Expend Cognitive Effort on a Rodent Cost/Benefit Decision-Making Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Cocker, Paul J; Winstanley, Catharine A

2016-04-01

Personal success often necessitates expending greater effort for greater reward but, equally important, also requires judicious use of our limited cognitive resources (e.g., attention). Previous animal models have shown that the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are not involved in (physical) effort-based choice, whereas human studies have demonstrated PFC contributions to (mental) effort. Here, we utilize the rat Cognitive Effort Task (rCET) to probe PFC's role in effort-based decision making. In the rCET, animals can choose either an easy trial, where the attentional demand is low but the reward (sugar) is small or a difficult trial on which both the attentional demand and reward are greater. Temporary inactivation of PL and IL decreased all animals' willingness to expend mental effort and increased animals' distractibility; PL inactivations more substantially affected performance (i.e., attention), whereas IL inactivations increased motor impulsivity. These data imply that the PFC contributes to attentional resources, and when these resources are diminished, animals shift their choice (via other brain regions) accordingly. Thus, one novel therapeutic approach to deficits in effort expenditure may be to focus on the resources that such decision making requires, rather than the decision-making process per se. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Systematic Identification of Stakeholders for Engagement with Systems Modeling Efforts in the Snohomish Basin, Washington, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Even as stakeholder engagement in systems dynamic modeling efforts is increasingly promoted, the mechanisms for identifying which stakeholders should be included are rarely documented. Accordingly, for an Environmental Protection Agency’s Triple Value Simulation (3VS) mode...

Report Summarizing the Effort Required to Initiate Welding of Irradiated Materials within the Welding Cubicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frederick, Greg [Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Sutton, Benjamin J. [Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Tatman, Jonathan K. [Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Vance, Mark Christopher [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Smith, Allen W. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Clark, Scarlett R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Feng, Zhili [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Miller, Roger G. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Chen, Jian [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Tang, Wei [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Hu, Xunxiang [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Gibson, Brian T. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2017-06-01

The advanced welding facility within a hot cell at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which has been jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program and the Electric Power Research Institute, Long Term Operations Program and the Welding and Repair Technology Center, is in the final phase of development. Research and development activities in this facility will involve direct testing of advanced welding technologies on irradiated materials in order to address the primary technical challenge of helium induced cracking that can arise when conventional fusion welding techniques are utilized on neutron irradiated stainless steels and nickel-base alloys. This report details the effort that has been required since the beginning of fiscal year 2017 to initiate welding research and development activities on irradiated materials within the hot cell cubicle, which houses welding sub-systems that include laser beam welding (LBW) and friction stir welding (FSW) and provides material containment within the hot cell.

Shielding requirements for the Space Station habitability modules

Science.gov (United States)

Avans, Sherman L.; Horn, Jennifer R.; Williamsen, Joel E.

1990-01-01

The design, analysis, development, and tests of the total meteoroid/debris protection system for the Space Station Freedom habitability modules, such as the habitation module, the laboratory module, and the node structures, are described. Design requirements are discussed along with development efforts, including a combination of hypervelocity testing and analyses. Computer hydrocode analysis of hypervelocity impact phenomena associated with Space Station habitability structures is covered and the use of optimization techniques, engineering models, and parametric analyses is assessed. Explosive rail gun development efforts and protective capability and damage tolerance of multilayer insulation due to meteoroid/debris impact are considered. It is concluded that anticipated changes in the debris environment definition and requirements will require rescoping the tests and analysis required to develop a protection system.

A model of reward- and effort-based optimal decision making and motor control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lionel Rigoux

Full Text Available Costs (e.g. energetic expenditure and benefits (e.g. food are central determinants of behavior. In ecology and economics, they are combined to form a utility function which is maximized to guide choices. This principle is widely used in neuroscience as a normative model of decision and action, but current versions of this model fail to consider how decisions are actually converted into actions (i.e. the formation of trajectories. Here, we describe an approach where decision making and motor control are optimal, iterative processes derived from the maximization of the discounted, weighted difference between expected rewards and foreseeable motor efforts. The model accounts for decision making in cost/benefit situations, and detailed characteristics of control and goal tracking in realistic motor tasks. As a normative construction, the model is relevant to address the neural bases and pathological aspects of decision making and motor control.

A model to estimate cost-savings in diabetic foot ulcer prevention efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Barshes, Neal R; Saedi, Samira; Wrobel, James; Kougias, Panos; Kundakcioglu, O Erhun; Armstrong, David G

2017-04-01

Sustained efforts at preventing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and subsequent leg amputations are sporadic in most health care systems despite the high costs associated with such complications. We sought to estimate effectiveness targets at which cost-savings (i.e. improved health outcomes at decreased total costs) might occur. A Markov model with probabilistic sensitivity analyses was used to simulate the five-year survival, incidence of foot complications, and total health care costs in a hypothetical population of 100,000 people with diabetes. Clinical event and cost estimates were obtained from previously-published trials and studies. A population without previous DFU but with 17% neuropathy and 11% peripheral artery disease (PAD) prevalence was assumed. Primary prevention (PP) was defined as reducing initial DFU incidence. PP was more than 90% likely to provide cost-savings when annual prevention costs are less than $50/person and/or annual DFU incidence is reduced by at least 25%. Efforts directed at patients with diabetes who were at moderate or high risk for DFUs were very likely to provide cost-savings if DFU incidence was decreased by at least 10% and/or the cost was less than $150 per person per year. Low-cost DFU primary prevention efforts producing even small decreases in DFU incidence may provide the best opportunity for cost-savings, especially if focused on patients with neuropathy and/or PAD. Mobile phone-based reminders, self-identification of risk factors (ex. Ipswich touch test), and written brochures may be among such low-cost interventions that should be investigated for cost-savings potential. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Analyzing and Predicting Effort Associated with Finding and Fixing Software Faults

Science.gov (United States)

Hamill, Maggie; Goseva-Popstojanova, Katerina

2016-01-01

Context: Software developers spend a significant amount of time fixing faults. However, not many papers have addressed the actual effort needed to fix software faults. Objective: The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) analysis of the effort needed to fix software faults and how it was affected by several factors and (2) prediction of the level of fix implementation effort based on the information provided in software change requests. Method: The work is based on data related to 1200 failures, extracted from the change tracking system of a large NASA mission. The analysis includes descriptive and inferential statistics. Predictions are made using three supervised machine learning algorithms and three sampling techniques aimed at addressing the imbalanced data problem. Results: Our results show that (1) 83% of the total fix implementation effort was associated with only 20% of failures. (2) Both safety critical failures and post-release failures required three times more effort to fix compared to non-critical and pre-release counterparts, respectively. (3) Failures with fixes spread across multiple components or across multiple types of software artifacts required more effort. The spread across artifacts was more costly than spread across components. (4) Surprisingly, some types of faults associated with later life-cycle activities did not require significant effort. (5) The level of fix implementation effort was predicted with 73% overall accuracy using the original, imbalanced data. Using oversampling techniques improved the overall accuracy up to 77%. More importantly, oversampling significantly improved the prediction of the high level effort, from 31% to around 85%. Conclusions: This paper shows the importance of tying software failures to changes made to fix all associated faults, in one or more software components and/or in one or more software artifacts, and the benefit of studying how the spread of faults and other factors affect the fix implementation

A Covariance Structure Model Test of Antecedents of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse and a Prevention Effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Dielman, T. E.; And Others

1989-01-01

Questionnaires were administered to 4,157 junior high school students to determine levels of alcohol misuse, exposure to peer use and misuse of alcohol, susceptibility to peer pressure, internal health locus of control, and self-esteem. Conceptual model of antecendents of adolescent alcohol misuse and effectiveness of a prevention effort was…

Phase transitions in least-effort communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prokopenko, Mikhail; Ay, Nihat; Obst, Oliver; Polani, Daniel

2010-01-01

We critically examine a model that attempts to explain the emergence of power laws (e.g., Zipf's law) in human language. The model is based on the principle of least effort in communications—specifically, the overall effort is balanced between the speaker effort and listener effort, with some trade-off. It has been shown that an information-theoretic interpretation of this principle is sufficiently rich to explain the emergence of Zipf's law in the vicinity of the transition between referentially useless systems (one signal for all referable objects) and indexical reference systems (one signal per object). The phase transition is defined in the space of communication accuracy (information content) expressed in terms of the trade-off parameter. Our study explicitly solves the continuous optimization problem, subsuming a recent, more specific result obtained within a discrete space. The obtained results contrast Zipf's law found by heuristic search (that attained only local minima) in the vicinity of the transition between referentially useless systems and indexical reference systems, with an inverse-factorial (sub-logarithmic) law found at the transition that corresponds to global minima. The inverse-factorial law is observed to be the most representative frequency distribution among optimal solutions

Systems and context modeling approach to requirements analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ahuja, Amrit; Muralikrishna, G.; Patwari, Puneet; Subhrojyoti, C.; Swaminathan, N.; Vin, Harrick

2014-08-01

Ensuring completeness and correctness of the requirements for a complex system such as the SKA is challenging. Current system engineering practice includes developing a stakeholder needs definition, a concept of operations, and defining system requirements in terms of use cases and requirements statements. We present a method that enhances this current practice into a collection of system models with mutual consistency relationships. These include stakeholder goals, needs definition and system-of-interest models, together with a context model that participates in the consistency relationships among these models. We illustrate this approach by using it to analyze the SKA system requirements.

The cost of model reference adaptive control - Analysis, experiments, and optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Messer, R. S.; Haftka, R. T.; Cudney, H. H.

1993-01-01

In this paper the performance of Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) is studied in numerical simulations and verified experimentally with the objective of understanding how differences between the plant and the reference model affect the control effort. MRAC is applied analytically and experimentally to a single degree of freedom system and analytically to a MIMO system with controlled differences between the model and the plant. It is shown that the control effort is sensitive to differences between the plant and the reference model. The effects of increased damping in the reference model are considered, and it is shown that requiring the controller to provide increased damping actually decreases the required control effort when differences between the plant and reference model exist. This result is useful because one of the first attempts to counteract the increased control effort due to differences between the plant and reference model might be to require less damping, however, this would actually increase the control effort. Optimization of weighting matrices is shown to help reduce the increase in required control effort. However, it was found that eventually the optimization resulted in a design that required an extremely high sampling rate for successful realization.

Investigating the Nature of Relationship between Software Size and Development Effort

OpenAIRE

Bajwa, Sohaib-Shahid

2008-01-01

Software effort estimation still remains a challenging and debatable research area. Most of the software effort estimation models take software size as the base input. Among the others, Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO II) is a widely known effort estimation model. It uses Source Lines of Code (SLOC) as the software size to estimate effort. However, many problems arise while using SLOC as a size measure due to its late availability in the software life cycle. Therefore, a lot of research has b...

Bodily Effort Enhances Learning and Metacognition: Investigating the Relation Between Physical Effort and Cognition Using Dual-Process Models of Embodiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Skulmowski, Alexander; Rey, Günter Daniel

2017-01-01

Recent embodiment research revealed that cognitive processes can be influenced by bodily cues. Some of these cues were found to elicit disparate effects on cognition. For instance, weight sensations can inhibit problem-solving performance, but were shown to increase judgments regarding recall probability (judgments of learning; JOLs) in memory tasks. We investigated the effects of physical effort on learning and metacognition by conducting two studies in which we varied whether a backpack was worn or not while 20 nouns were to be learned. Participants entered a JOL for each word and completed a recall test. Experiment 1 ( N = 18) revealed that exerting physical effort by wearing a backpack led to higher JOLs for easy nouns, without a notable effect on difficult nouns. Participants who wore a backpack reached higher recall scores. Therefore, physical effort may act as a form of desirable difficulty during learning. In Experiment 2 ( N = 30), the influence of physical effort on JOL s and learning disappeared when more difficult nouns were to be learned, implying that a high cognitive load may diminish bodily effects. These findings suggest that physical effort mainly influences superficial modes of thought and raise doubts concerning the explanatory power of metaphor-centered accounts of embodiment for higher-level cognition.

Optimal Effort in Consumer Choice : Theory and Experimental Evidence for Binary Choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Conlon, B.J.; Dellaert, B.G.C.; van Soest, A.H.O.

2001-01-01

This paper develops a theoretical model of optimal effort in consumer choice.The model extends previous consumer choice models in that the consumer not only chooses a product, but also decides how much effort to apply to a given choice problem.The model yields a unique optimal level of effort, which

Illinois highway materials sustainability efforts of 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

This report provides a summary of the sustainability efforts of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in recycling : reclaimed materials in highway construction during calendar year 2015. This report meets the requirements of Illinois Publ...

Illinois highway materials sustainability efforts of 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-08-01

This report presents the 2014 sustainability efforts of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in : recycling reclaimed materials in highway construction. This report meets the requirements of Illinois : Public Act 097-0314 by documenting I...

Illinois highway materials sustainability efforts of 2016.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-07-04

This report provides a summary of the sustainability efforts of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in recycling : reclaimed materials in highway construction during calendar year 2016. This report meets the requirements of Illinois Publ...

Index of Effort: An Analytical Model for Evaluating and Re-Directing Student Recruitment Activities for a Local Community College.

Science.gov (United States)

Landini, Albert J.

This index of effort is proposed as a means by which those in charge of student recruitment activities at community colleges can be sure that their efforts are being directed toward all of the appropriate population. The index is an analytical model based on the concept of socio-economic profiles, using small area 1970 census data, and is the…

Data requirements for integrated near field models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilems, R.E.; Pearson, F.J. Jr.; Faust, C.R.; Brecher, A.

1981-01-01

The coupled nature of the various processes in the near field require that integrated models be employed to assess long term performance of the waste package and repository. The nature of the integrated near field models being compiled under the SCEPTER program are discussed. The interfaces between these near field models and far field models are described. Finally, near field data requirements are outlined in sufficient detail to indicate overall programmatic guidance for data gathering activities

Illinois highway materials sustainability efforts of 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-08-01

This report presents the sustainability efforts of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in : recycling and reclaiming materials for use in highway construction. This report meets the requirements of : Illinois Public Act 097-0314 by docum...

Effort levels of the partners in networked manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, G. R.; Cai, Z.; Su, Y. N.; Zong, S. L.; Zhai, G. Y.; Jia, J. H.

2017-08-01

Compared with traditional manufacturing mode, could networked manufacturing improve effort levels of the partners? What factors will affect effort level of the partners? How to encourage the partners to improve their effort levels? To answer these questions, we introduce network effect coefficient to build effort level model of the partners in networked manufacturing. The results show that (1) with the increase of the network effect in networked manufacturing, the actual effort level can go beyond the ideal level of traditional manufacturing. (2) Profit allocation based on marginal contribution rate would help improve effort levels of the partners in networked manufacturing. (3) The partners in networked manufacturing who wishes to have a larger distribution ratio must make a higher effort level, and enterprises with insufficient effort should be terminated in networked manufacturing.

Building beef cow nutritional programs with the 1996 NRC beef cattle requirements model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lardy, G P; Adams, D C; Klopfenstein, T J; Patterson, H H

2004-01-01

Designing a sound cow-calf nutritional program requires knowledge of nutrient requirements, diet quality, and intake. Effectively using the NRC (1996) beef cattle requirements model (1996NRC) also requires knowledge of dietary degradable intake protein (DIP) and microbial efficiency. Objectives of this paper are to 1) describe a framework in which 1996NRC-applicable data can be generated, 2) describe seasonal changes in nutrients on native range, 3) use the 1996NRC to predict nutrient balance for cattle grazing these forages, and 4) make recommendations for using the 1996NRC for forage-fed cattle. Extrusa samples were collected over 2 yr on native upland range and subirrigated meadow in the Nebraska Sandhills. Samples were analyzed for CP, in vitro OM digestibility (IVOMD), and DIP. Regression equations to predict nutrients were developed from these data. The 1996NRC was used to predict nutrient balances based on the dietary nutrient analyses. Recommendations for model users were also developed. On subirrigated meadow, CP and IVOMD increased rapidly during March and April. On native range, CP and IVOMD increased from April through June but decreased rapidly from August through September. Degradable intake protein (DM basis) followed trends similar to CP for both native range and subirrigated meadow. Predicted nutrient balances for spring- and summer-calving cows agreed with reported values in the literature, provided that IVOMD values were converted to DE before use in the model (1.07 x IVOMD - 8.13). When the IVOMD-to-DE conversion was not used, the model gave unrealistically high NE(m) balances. To effectively use the 1996NRC to estimate protein requirements, users should focus on three key estimates: DIP, microbial efficiency, and TDN intake. Consequently, efforts should be focused on adequately describing seasonal changes in forage nutrient content. In order to increase use of the 1996NRC, research is needed in the following areas: 1) cost-effective and

Evaluation of an ARPS-based canopy flow modeling system for use in future operational smoke prediction efforts

Science.gov (United States)

M. T. Kiefer; S. Zhong; W. E. Heilman; J. J. Charney; X. Bian

2013-01-01

Efforts to develop a canopy flow modeling system based on the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) model are discussed. The standard version of ARPS is modified to account for the effect of drag forces on mean and turbulent flow through a vegetation canopy, via production and sink terms in the momentum and subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) equations....

Computer-Based Procedures for Field Workers in Nuclear Power Plants: Development of a Model of Procedure Usage and Identification of Requirements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katya Le Blanc; Johanna Oxstrand

2012-04-01

The nuclear industry is constantly trying to find ways to decrease the human error rate, especially the human errors associated with procedure use. As a step toward the goal of improving procedure use performance, researchers, together with the nuclear industry, have been looking at replacing the current paper-based procedures with computer-based procedure systems. The concept of computer-based procedures is not new by any means; however most research has focused on procedures used in the main control room. Procedures reviewed in these efforts are mainly emergency operating procedures and normal operating procedures. Based on lessons learned for these previous efforts we are now exploring a more unknown application for computer based procedures - field procedures, i.e. procedures used by nuclear equipment operators and maintenance technicians. The Idaho National Laboratory and participants from the U.S. commercial nuclear industry are collaborating in an applied research effort with the objective of developing requirements and specifications for a computer-based procedure system to be used by field workers. The goal is to identify the types of human errors that can be mitigated by using computer-based procedures and how to best design the computer-based procedures to do so. This paper describes the development of a Model of Procedure Use and the qualitative study on which the model is based. The study was conducted in collaboration with four nuclear utilities and five research institutes. During the qualitative study and the model development requirements and for computer-based procedures were identified.

Requirements Modeling with the Aspect-oriented User Requirements Notation (AoURN): A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Mussbacher, Gunter; Amyot, Daniel; Araújo, João; Moreira, Ana

The User Requirements Notation (URN) is a recent ITU-T standard that supports requirements engineering activities. The Aspect-oriented URN (AoURN) adds aspect-oriented concepts to URN, creating a unified framework that allows for scenario-based, goal-oriented, and aspect-oriented modeling. AoURN is applied to the car crash crisis management system (CCCMS), modeling its functional and non-functional requirements (NFRs). AoURN generally models all use cases, NFRs, and stakeholders as individual concerns and provides general guidelines for concern identification. AoURN handles interactions between concerns, capturing their dependencies and conflicts as well as the resolutions. We present a qualitative comparison of aspect-oriented techniques for scenario-based and goal-oriented requirements engineering. An evaluation carried out based on the metrics adapted from literature and a task-based evaluation suggest that AoURN models are more scalable than URN models and exhibit better modularity, reusability, and maintainability.

Nothing Else Matters: Model-Agnostic Explanations By Identifying Prediction Invariance

OpenAIRE

Ribeiro, Marco Tulio; Singh, Sameer; Guestrin, Carlos

2016-01-01

At the core of interpretable machine learning is the question of whether humans are able to make accurate predictions about a model's behavior. Assumed in this question are three properties of the interpretable output: coverage, precision, and effort. Coverage refers to how often humans think they can predict the model's behavior, precision to how accurate humans are in those predictions, and effort is either the up-front effort required in interpreting the model, or the effort required to ma...

Simulation and modeling efforts to support decision making in healthcare supply chain management.

Science.gov (United States)

AbuKhousa, Eman; Al-Jaroodi, Jameela; Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja; Mohamed, Nader

2014-01-01

Recently, most healthcare organizations focus their attention on reducing the cost of their supply chain management (SCM) by improving the decision making pertaining processes' efficiencies. The availability of products through healthcare SCM is often a matter of life or death to the patient; therefore, trial and error approaches are not an option in this environment. Simulation and modeling (SM) has been presented as an alternative approach for supply chain managers in healthcare organizations to test solutions and to support decision making processes associated with various SCM problems. This paper presents and analyzes past SM efforts to support decision making in healthcare SCM and identifies the key challenges associated with healthcare SCM modeling. We also present and discuss emerging technologies to meet these challenges.

Simulation and Modeling Efforts to Support Decision Making in Healthcare Supply Chain Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eman AbuKhousa

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, most healthcare organizations focus their attention on reducing the cost of their supply chain management (SCM by improving the decision making pertaining processes’ efficiencies. The availability of products through healthcare SCM is often a matter of life or death to the patient; therefore, trial and error approaches are not an option in this environment. Simulation and modeling (SM has been presented as an alternative approach for supply chain managers in healthcare organizations to test solutions and to support decision making processes associated with various SCM problems. This paper presents and analyzes past SM efforts to support decision making in healthcare SCM and identifies the key challenges associated with healthcare SCM modeling. We also present and discuss emerging technologies to meet these challenges.

A Meta-model for the Assessment of Non-Functional Requirement Size

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kassab, M.; Daneva, Maia; Ormandjieva, O.; Mirandola, R.

2008-01-01

Non-functional requirements (NFRs) pose unique challenges in estimating the effort it would take to implement them. This is mainly because of their unique nature; NFRs are subjective, relative, interactive and tending to have a broad impact on the system as a whole. Nevertheless, it is crucial, when

ERP services effort estimation strategies based on early requirements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Erasmus, I.P.; Daneva, Maia; Kalenborg, Axel; Trapp, Marcus

2015-01-01

ERP clients and vendors necessarily estimate their project interventions at a very early stage, before the full requirements to an ERP solution are known and often before a contract is finalized between a vendor/ consulting company and a client. ERP project estimation at the stage of early

Brain and effort: brain activation and effort-related working memory in healthy participants and patients with working memory deficits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria eEngstrom

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Despite the interest in the neuroimaging of working memory, little is still known about the neurobiology of complex working memory in tasks that require simultaneous manipulation and storage of information. In addition to the central executive network, we assumed that the recently described salience network (involving the anterior insular cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex might be of particular importance to working memory tasks that require complex, effortful processing. Method: Healthy participants (n=26 and participants suffering from working memory problems related to the Kleine-Levin syndrome (a specific form of periodic idiopathic hypersomnia; n=18 participated in the study. Participants were further divided into a high and low capacity group, according to performance on a working memory task (listening span. In a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI study, participants were administered the reading span complex working memory task tapping cognitive effort. Principal findings: The fMRI-derived blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal was modulated by 1 effort in both the central executive and the salience network and 2 capacity in the salience network in that high performers evidenced a weaker BOLD signal than low performers. In the salience network there was a dichotomy between the left and the right hemisphere; the right hemisphere elicited a steeper increase of the BOLD signal as a function of increasing effort. There was also a stronger functional connectivity within the central executive network because of increased task difficulty. Conclusion: The ability to allocate cognitive effort in complex working memory is contingent upon focused resources in the executive and in particular the salience network. Individual capacity during the complex working memory task is related to activity in the salience (but not the executive network so that high-capacity participants evidence a lower signal and possibly hence a larger

Extending enterprise architecture modelling with business goals and requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Engelsman, Wilco; Quartel, Dick; Jonkers, Henk; van Sinderen, Marten

2011-02-01

The methods for enterprise architecture (EA), such as The Open Group Architecture Framework, acknowledge the importance of requirements modelling in the development of EAs. Modelling support is needed to specify, document, communicate and reason about goals and requirements. The current modelling techniques for EA focus on the products, services, processes and applications of an enterprise. In addition, techniques may be provided to describe structured requirements lists and use cases. Little support is available however for modelling the underlying motivation of EAs in terms of stakeholder concerns and the high-level goals that address these concerns. This article describes a language that supports the modelling of this motivation. The definition of the language is based on existing work on high-level goal and requirements modelling and is aligned with an existing standard for enterprise modelling: the ArchiMate language. Furthermore, the article illustrates how EA can benefit from analysis techniques from the requirements engineering domain.

Shell Inspection History and Current CMM Inspection Efforts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Montano, Joshua Daniel [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-01-26

The following report provides a review of past and current CMM Shell Inspection efforts. Calibration of the Sheffield rotary contour gauge has expired and the primary inspector, Matthew Naranjo, has retired. Efforts within the Inspection team are transitioning from maintaining and training new inspectors on Sheffield to off-the-shelf CMM technology. Although inspection of a shell has many requirements, the scope of the data presented in this report focuses on the inner contour, outer contour, radial wall thickness and mass comparisons.

49 CFR Appendix A to Part 26 - Guidance Concerning Good Faith Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Guidance Concerning Good Faith Efforts A Appendix... A to Part 26—Guidance Concerning Good Faith Efforts I. When, as a recipient, you establish a... good faith efforts to meet the goal. The bidder can meet this requirement in either of two ways. First...

Reproductive effort in viscous populations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pen, Ido

Here I study a kin selection model of reproductive effort, the allocation of resources to fecundity versus survival, in a patch-structured population. Breeding females remain in the same patch for life. Offspring have costly, partial long-distance dispersal and compete for breeding sites, which

Inpo/industry job and task analysis efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wigley, W.W.

1985-01-01

One of the goals of INPO is to develop and coordinate industrywide programs to improve the education, training and qualification of nuclear utility personnel. To accomplish this goal, INPO's Training and Education Division: conducts periodic evaluations of industry training programs; provides assistance to the industry in developing training programs; manages the accreditation of utility training programs. These efforts are aimed at satisfying the need for training programs for nuclear utility personnel to be performance-based. Performance-based means that training programs provide an incumbent with the skills and knowledge required to safely perform the job. One of the ways that INPO has provided assistance to the industry is through the industrywide job and task analysis effort. I will discuss the job analysis and task analysis processes, the current status of JTA efforts, JTA products and JTA lessons learned

Anticipating cognitive effort: roles of perceived error-likelihood and time demands.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Timothy L; Inzlicht, Michael; Risko, Evan F

2017-11-13

Why are some actions evaluated as effortful? In the present set of experiments we address this question by examining individuals' perception of effort when faced with a trade-off between two putative cognitive costs: how much time a task takes vs. how error-prone it is. Specifically, we were interested in whether individuals anticipate engaging in a small amount of hard work (i.e., low time requirement, but high error-likelihood) vs. a large amount of easy work (i.e., high time requirement, but low error-likelihood) as being more effortful. In between-subject designs, Experiments 1 through 3 demonstrated that individuals anticipate options that are high in perceived error-likelihood (yet less time consuming) as more effortful than options that are perceived to be more time consuming (yet low in error-likelihood). Further, when asked to evaluate which of the two tasks was (a) more effortful, (b) more error-prone, and (c) more time consuming, effort-based and error-based choices closely tracked one another, but this was not the case for time-based choices. Utilizing a within-subject design, Experiment 4 demonstrated overall similar pattern of judgments as Experiments 1 through 3. However, both judgments of error-likelihood and time demand similarly predicted effort judgments. Results are discussed within the context of extant accounts of cognitive control, with considerations of how error-likelihood and time demands may independently and conjunctively factor into judgments of cognitive effort.

The Rayleigh curve as a model for effort distribution over the life of medium scale software systems. M.S. Thesis - Maryland Univ.

Science.gov (United States)

Picasso, G. O.; Basili, V. R.

1982-01-01

It is noted that previous investigations into the applicability of Rayleigh curve model to medium scale software development efforts have met with mixed results. The results of these investigations are confirmed by analyses of runs and smoothing. The reasons for the models' failure are found in the subcycle effort data. There are four contributing factors: uniqueness of the environment studied, the influence of holidays, varying management techniques and differences in the data studied.

Quantifying commercial catch and effort of monkfish Lophius ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Catch-per-unit-effort (cpue) data of vessels targeting monkfish and sole (the two ... analysed using two different methods to construct indices of abundance. ... in Namibia to all tail-weight classes is not appropriate for the current fishery and needs ... Keywords: catch per unit effort, Generalized Linear Model, Lophius vaillanti, ...

Customer requirement modeling and mapping of numerical control machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongqi Sheng

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In order to better obtain information about customer requirement and develop products meeting customer requirement, it is necessary to systematically analyze and handle the customer requirement. This article uses the product service system of numerical control machine as research objective and studies the customer requirement modeling and mapping oriented toward configuration design. It introduces the conception of requirement unit, expounds the customer requirement decomposition rules, and establishes customer requirement model; it builds the house of quality using quality function deployment and confirms the weight of technical feature of product and service; it explores the relevance rules between data using rough set theory, establishes rule database, and solves the target value of technical feature of product. Using economical turning center series numerical control machine as an example, it verifies the rationality of proposed customer requirement model.

Overview of past, ongoing and future efforts of the integrated modeling of global change for Northern Eurasia

Science.gov (United States)

Monier, Erwan; Kicklighter, David; Sokolov, Andrei; Zhuang, Qianlai; Melillo, Jerry; Reilly, John

2016-04-01

Northern Eurasia is both a major player in the global carbon budget (it includes roughly 70% of the Earth's boreal forest and more than two-thirds of the Earth's permafrost) and a region that has experienced dramatic climate change (increase in temperature, growing season length, floods and droughts) over the past century. Northern Eurasia has also undergone significant land-use change, both driven by human activity (including deforestation, expansion of agricultural lands and urbanization) and natural disturbances (such as wildfires and insect outbreaks). These large environmental and socioeconomic impacts have major implications for the carbon cycle in the region. Northern Eurasia is made up of a diverse set of ecosystems that range from tundra to forests, with significant areas of croplands and pastures as well as deserts, with major urban areas. As such, it represents a complex system with substantial challenges for the modeling community. In this presentation, we provide an overview of past, ongoing and possible future efforts of the integrated modeling of global change for Northern Eurasia. We review the variety of existing modeling approaches to investigate specific components of Earth system dynamics in the region. While there are a limited number of studies that try to integrate various aspects of the Earth system (through scale, teleconnections or processes), we point out that there are few systematic analyses of the various feedbacks within the Earth system (between components, regions or scale). As a result, there is a lack of knowledge of the relative importance of such feedbacks, and it is unclear how policy relevant current studies are that fail to account for these feedbacks. We review the role of Earth system models, and their advantages/limitations compared to detailed single component models. We further introduce the human activity system (global trade, economic models, demographic model and so on), the need for coupled human/earth system models

Modeling and Testing Legacy Data Consistency Requirements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nytun, J. P.; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard

2003-01-01

An increasing number of data sources are available on the Internet, many of which offer semantically overlapping data, but based on different schemas, or models. While it is often of interest to integrate such data sources, the lack of consistency among them makes this integration difficult....... This paper addresses the need for new techniques that enable the modeling and consistency checking for legacy data sources. Specifically, the paper contributes to the development of a framework that enables consistency testing of data coming from different types of data sources. The vehicle is UML and its...... accompanying XMI. The paper presents techniques for modeling consistency requirements using OCL and other UML modeling elements: it studies how models that describe the required consistencies among instances of legacy models can be designed in standard UML tools that support XMI. The paper also considers...

Lessons learned from HRA and human-system modeling efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hallbert, B.P.

1993-01-01

Human-System modeling is not unique to the field of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA). Since human factors professionals first began their explorations of human activities, they have done so with the concept of open-quotes systemclose quotes in mind. Though the two - human and system - are distinct, they can be properly understood only in terms of each other: the system provides a context in which goals and objectives for work are defined, and the human plays either a pre-defined or ad hoc role in meeting these goals. In this sense, every intervention which attempts to evaluate or improve upon some system parameter requires that an understanding of human-system interactions be developed. It is too often the case, however, that somewhere between the inception of a system and its implementation, the human-system relationships are overlooked, misunderstood, or inadequately framed. This results in mismatches between demands versus capabilities of human operators, systems which are difficult to operate, and the obvious end product-human error. The lessons learned from human system modeling provide a valuable feedback mechanism to the process of HRA, and the technologies which employ this form of modeling

Reactor core modeling practice: Operational requirements, model characteristics, and model validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zerbino, H.

1997-01-01

The physical models implemented in power plant simulators have greatly increased in performance and complexity in recent years. This process has been enabled by the ever increasing computing power available at affordable prices. This paper describes this process from several angles: First the operational requirements which are more critical from the point of view of model performance, both for normal and off-normal operating conditions; A second section discusses core model characteristics in the light of the solutions implemented by Thomson Training and Simulation (TT and S) in several full-scope simulators recently built and delivered for Dutch, German, and French nuclear power plants; finally we consider the model validation procedures, which are of course an integral part of model development, and which are becoming more and more severe as performance expectations increase. As a conclusion, it may be asserted that in the core modeling field, as in other areas, the general improvement in the quality of simulation codes has resulted in a fairly rapid convergence towards mainstream engineering-grade calculations. This is remarkable performance in view of the stringent real-time requirements which the simulation codes must satisfy as well as the extremely wide range of operating conditions that they are called upon to cover with good accuracy. (author)

Exploring Spatiotemporal Trends in Commercial Fishing Effort of an Abalone Fishing Zone: A GIS-Based Hotspot Model

Science.gov (United States)

Jalali, M. Ali; Ierodiaconou, Daniel; Gorfine, Harry; Monk, Jacquomo; Rattray, Alex

2015-01-01

Assessing patterns of fisheries activity at a scale related to resource exploitation has received particular attention in recent times. However, acquiring data about the distribution and spatiotemporal allocation of catch and fishing effort in small scale benthic fisheries remains challenging. Here, we used GIS-based spatio-statistical models to investigate the footprint of commercial diving events on blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) stocks along the south-west coast of Victoria, Australia from 2008 to 2011. Using abalone catch data matched with GPS location we found catch per unit of fishing effort (CPUE) was not uniformly spatially and temporally distributed across the study area. Spatial autocorrelation and hotspot analysis revealed significant spatiotemporal clusters of CPUE (with distance thresholds of 100’s of meters) among years, indicating the presence of CPUE hotspots focused on specific reefs. Cumulative hotspot maps indicated that certain reef complexes were consistently targeted across years but with varying intensity, however often a relatively small proportion of the full reef extent was targeted. Integrating CPUE with remotely-sensed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) derived bathymetry data using generalized additive mixed model corroborated that fishing pressure primarily coincided with shallow, rugose and complex components of reef structures. This study demonstrates that a geospatial approach is efficient in detecting patterns and trends in commercial fishing effort and its association with seafloor characteristics. PMID:25992800

Exploring Spatiotemporal Trends in Commercial Fishing Effort of an Abalone Fishing Zone: A GIS-Based Hotspot Model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Ali Jalali

Full Text Available Assessing patterns of fisheries activity at a scale related to resource exploitation has received particular attention in recent times. However, acquiring data about the distribution and spatiotemporal allocation of catch and fishing effort in small scale benthic fisheries remains challenging. Here, we used GIS-based spatio-statistical models to investigate the footprint of commercial diving events on blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra stocks along the south-west coast of Victoria, Australia from 2008 to 2011. Using abalone catch data matched with GPS location we found catch per unit of fishing effort (CPUE was not uniformly spatially and temporally distributed across the study area. Spatial autocorrelation and hotspot analysis revealed significant spatiotemporal clusters of CPUE (with distance thresholds of 100's of meters among years, indicating the presence of CPUE hotspots focused on specific reefs. Cumulative hotspot maps indicated that certain reef complexes were consistently targeted across years but with varying intensity, however often a relatively small proportion of the full reef extent was targeted. Integrating CPUE with remotely-sensed light detection and ranging (LiDAR derived bathymetry data using generalized additive mixed model corroborated that fishing pressure primarily coincided with shallow, rugose and complex components of reef structures. This study demonstrates that a geospatial approach is efficient in detecting patterns and trends in commercial fishing effort and its association with seafloor characteristics.

Extending enterprise architecture modelling with business goals and requirements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engelsman, W.; Quartel, Dick; Jonkers, Henk; van Sinderen, Marten J.

The methods for enterprise architecture (EA), such as The Open Group Architecture Framework, acknowledge the importance of requirements modelling in the development of EAs. Modelling support is needed to specify, document, communicate and reason about goals and requirements. The current modelling

Knowing requires data

Science.gov (United States)

Naranjo, Ramon C.

2017-01-01

Groundwater-flow models are often calibrated using a limited number of observations relative to the unknown inputs required for the model. This is especially true for models that simulate groundwater surface-water interactions. In this case, subsurface temperature sensors can be an efficient means for collecting long-term data that capture the transient nature of physical processes such as seepage losses. Continuous and spatially dense network of diverse observation data can be used to improve knowledge of important physical drivers, conceptualize and calibrate variably saturated groundwater flow models. An example is presented for which the results of such analysis were used to help guide irrigation districts and water management decisions on costly upgrades to conveyance systems to improve water usage, farm productivity and restoration efforts to improve downstream water quality and ecosystems.

Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegrist, J

1996-01-01

In addition to the person-environment fit model (J. R. French, R. D. Caplan, & R. V. Harrison, 1982) and the demand-control model (R. A. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990), a third theoretical concept is proposed to assess adverse health effects of stressful experience at work: the effort-reward imbalance model. The focus of this model is on reciprocity of exchange in occupational life where high-cost/low-gain conditions are considered particularly stressful. Variables measuring low reward in terms of low status control (e.g., lack of promotion prospects, job insecurity) in association with high extrinsic (e.g., work pressure) or intrinsic (personal coping pattern, e.g., high need for control) effort independently predict new cardiovascular events in a prospective study on blue-collar men. Furthermore, these variables partly explain prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, atherogenic lipids) in 2 independent studies. Studying adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions seems well justified, especially in view of recent developments of the labor market.

Dopamine antagonism decreases willingness to expend physical, but not cognitive, effort: a comparison of two rodent cost/benefit decision-making tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Floresco, Stan B; Winstanley, Catharine A

2015-03-01

Successful decision making often requires weighing a given option's costs against its associated benefits, an ability that appears perturbed in virtually every severe mental illness. Animal models of such cost/benefit decision making overwhelmingly implicate mesolimbic dopamine in our willingness to exert effort for a larger reward. Until recently, however, animal models have invariably manipulated the degree of physical effort, whereas human studies of effort have primarily relied on cognitive costs. Dopamine's relationship to cognitive effort has not been directly examined, nor has the relationship between individuals' willingness to expend mental versus physical effort. It is therefore unclear whether willingness to work hard in one domain corresponds to willingness in the other. Here we utilize a rat cognitive effort task (rCET), wherein animals can choose to allocate greater visuospatial attention for a greater reward, and a previously established physical effort-discounting task (EDT) to examine dopaminergic and noradrenergic contributions to effort. The dopamine antagonists eticlopride and SCH23390 each decreased willingness to exert physical effort on the EDT; these drugs had no effect on willingness to exert mental effort for the rCET. Preference for the high effort option correlated across the two tasks, although this effect was transient. These results suggest that dopamine is only minimally involved in cost/benefit decision making with cognitive effort costs. The constructs of mental and physical effort may therefore comprise overlapping, but distinct, circuitry, and therapeutic interventions that prove efficacious in one effort domain may not be beneficial in another.

Cutting Edge PBPK Models and Analyses: Providing the Basis for Future Modeling Efforts and Bridges to Emerging Toxicology Paradigms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane C. Caldwell

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Physiologically based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK models are used for predictions of internal or target dose from environmental and pharmacologic chemical exposures. Their use in human risk assessment is dependent on the nature of databases (animal or human used to develop and test them, and includes extrapolations across species, experimental paradigms, and determination of variability of response within human populations. Integration of state-of-the science PBPK modeling with emerging computational toxicology models is critical for extrapolation between in vitro exposures, in vivo physiologic exposure, whole organism responses, and long-term health outcomes. This special issue contains papers that can provide the basis for future modeling efforts and provide bridges to emerging toxicology paradigms. In this overview paper, we present an overview of the field and introduction for these papers that includes discussions of model development, best practices, risk-assessment applications of PBPK models, and limitations and bridges of modeling approaches for future applications. Specifically, issues addressed include: (a increased understanding of human variability of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in the population, (b exploration of mode of action hypotheses (MOA, (c application of biological modeling in the risk assessment of individual chemicals and chemical mixtures, and (d identification and discussion of uncertainties in the modeling process.

Analysis and Design Environment for Large Scale System Models and Collaborative Model Development, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — As NASA modeling efforts grow more complex and more distributed among many working groups, new tools and technologies are required to integrate their efforts...

A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehaene, S; Kerszberg, M; Changeux, J P

1998-11-24

A minimal hypothesis is proposed concerning the brain processes underlying effortful tasks. It distinguishes two main computational spaces: a unique global workspace composed of distributed and heavily interconnected neurons with long-range axons, and a set of specialized and modular perceptual, motor, memory, evaluative, and attentional processors. Workspace neurons are mobilized in effortful tasks for which the specialized processors do not suffice. They selectively mobilize or suppress, through descending connections, the contribution of specific processor neurons. In the course of task performance, workspace neurons become spontaneously coactivated, forming discrete though variable spatio-temporal patterns subject to modulation by vigilance signals and to selection by reward signals. A computer simulation of the Stroop task shows workspace activation to increase during acquisition of a novel task, effortful execution, and after errors. We outline predictions for spatio-temporal activation patterns during brain imaging, particularly about the contribution of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate to the workspace.

SOFTWARE EFFORT PREDICTION: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF METHODS TO TREAT MISSING VALUES WITH RAPIDMINER ®

OpenAIRE

OLGA FEDOTOVA; GLADYS CASTILLO; LEONOR TEIXEIRA; HELENA ALVELOS

2011-01-01

Missing values is a common problem in the data analysis in all areas, being software engineering not an exception. Particularly, missing data is a widespread phenomenon observed during the elaboration of effort prediction models (EPMs) required for budget, time and functionalities planning. Current work presents the results of a study carried out on a Portuguese medium-sized software development organization in order to obtain a formal method for EPMs elicitation in development processes. Thi...

4D Dynamic Required Navigation Performance Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Finkelsztein, Daniel M.; Sturdy, James L.; Alaverdi, Omeed; Hochwarth, Joachim K.

2011-01-01

New advanced four dimensional trajectory (4DT) procedures under consideration for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) require an aircraft to precisely navigate relative to a moving reference such as another aircraft. Examples are Self-Separation for enroute operations and Interval Management for in-trail and merging operations. The current construct of Required Navigation Performance (RNP), defined for fixed-reference-frame navigation, is not sufficiently specified to be applicable to defining performance levels of such air-to-air procedures. An extension of RNP to air-to-air navigation would enable these advanced procedures to be implemented with a specified level of performance. The objective of this research effort was to propose new 4D Dynamic RNP constructs that account for the dynamic spatial and temporal nature of Interval Management and Self-Separation, develop mathematical models of the Dynamic RNP constructs, "Required Self-Separation Performance" and "Required Interval Management Performance," and to analyze the performance characteristics of these air-to-air procedures using the newly developed models. This final report summarizes the activities led by Raytheon, in collaboration with GE Aviation and SAIC, and presents the results from this research effort to expand the RNP concept to a dynamic 4D frame of reference.

Associations of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Components of Work Stress with Health: A Systematic Review of Evidence on the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegrist, Johannes; Li, Jian

2016-04-19

Mainstream psychological stress theory claims that it is important to include information on people's ways of coping with work stress when assessing the impact of stressful psychosocial work environments on health. Yet, some widely used respective theoretical models focus exclusively on extrinsic factors. The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) differs from them as it explicitly combines information on extrinsic and intrinsic factors in studying workers' health. As a growing number of studies used the ERI model in recent past, we conducted a systematic review of available evidence, with a special focus on the distinct contribution of its intrinsic component, the coping pattern "over-commitment", towards explaining health. Moreover, we explore whether the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic components exceeds the size of effects on health attributable to single components. Results based on 51 reports document an independent explanatory role of "over-commitment" in explaining workers' health in a majority of studies. However, support in favour of the interaction hypothesis is limited and requires further exploration. In conclusion, the findings of this review support the usefulness of a work stress model that combines extrinsic and intrinsic components in terms of scientific explanation and of designing more comprehensive worksite stress prevention programs.

Associations of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Components of Work Stress with Health: A Systematic Review of Evidence on the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johannes Siegrist

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Mainstream psychological stress theory claims that it is important to include information on people’s ways of coping with work stress when assessing the impact of stressful psychosocial work environments on health. Yet, some widely used respective theoretical models focus exclusively on extrinsic factors. The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI differs from them as it explicitly combines information on extrinsic and intrinsic factors in studying workers’ health. As a growing number of studies used the ERI model in recent past, we conducted a systematic review of available evidence, with a special focus on the distinct contribution of its intrinsic component, the coping pattern “over-commitment”, towards explaining health. Moreover, we explore whether the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic components exceeds the size of effects on health attributable to single components. Results based on 51 reports document an independent explanatory role of “over-commitment” in explaining workers’ health in a majority of studies. However, support in favour of the interaction hypothesis is limited and requires further exploration. In conclusion, the findings of this review support the usefulness of a work stress model that combines extrinsic and intrinsic components in terms of scientific explanation and of designing more comprehensive worksite stress prevention programs.

Associations of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Components of Work Stress with Health: A Systematic Review of Evidence on the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model

Science.gov (United States)

Siegrist, Johannes; Li, Jian

2016-01-01

Mainstream psychological stress theory claims that it is important to include information on people’s ways of coping with work stress when assessing the impact of stressful psychosocial work environments on health. Yet, some widely used respective theoretical models focus exclusively on extrinsic factors. The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) differs from them as it explicitly combines information on extrinsic and intrinsic factors in studying workers’ health. As a growing number of studies used the ERI model in recent past, we conducted a systematic review of available evidence, with a special focus on the distinct contribution of its intrinsic component, the coping pattern “over-commitment”, towards explaining health. Moreover, we explore whether the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic components exceeds the size of effects on health attributable to single components. Results based on 51 reports document an independent explanatory role of “over-commitment” in explaining workers’ health in a majority of studies. However, support in favour of the interaction hypothesis is limited and requires further exploration. In conclusion, the findings of this review support the usefulness of a work stress model that combines extrinsic and intrinsic components in terms of scientific explanation and of designing more comprehensive worksite stress prevention programs. PMID:27104548

A goal-oriented requirements modelling language for enterprise architecture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Quartel, Dick; Engelsman, W.; Jonkers, Henk; van Sinderen, Marten J.

2009-01-01

Methods for enterprise architecture, such as TOGAF, acknowledge the importance of requirements engineering in the development of enterprise architectures. Modelling support is needed to specify, document, communicate and reason about goals and requirements. Current modelling techniques for

Health Promotion Efforts as Predictors of Physical Activity in Schools: An Application of the Diffusion of Innovations Model

Science.gov (United States)

Glowacki, Elizabeth M.; Centeio, Erin E.; Van Dongen, Daniel J.; Carson, Russell L.; Castelli, Darla M.

2016-01-01

Background: Implementing a comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) effectively addresses public health issues by providing opportunities for physical activity (PA). Grounded in the Diffusion of Innovations model, the purpose of this study was to identify how health promotion efforts facilitate opportunities for PA. Methods: Physical…

Models of protein and amino acid requirements for cattle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Orlindo Tedeschi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Protein supply and requirements by ruminants have been studied for more than a century. These studies led to the accumulation of lots of scientific information about digestion and metabolism of protein by ruminants as well as the characterization of the dietary protein in order to maximize animal performance. During the 1980s and 1990s, when computers became more accessible and powerful, scientists began to conceptualize and develop mathematical nutrition models, and to program them into computers to assist with ration balancing and formulation for domesticated ruminants, specifically dairy and beef cattle. The most commonly known nutrition models developed during this period were the National Research Council (NRC in the United States, Agricultural Research Council (ARC in the United Kingdom, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA in France, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO in Australia. Others were derivative works from these models with different degrees of modifications in the supply or requirement calculations, and the modeling nature (e.g., static or dynamic, mechanistic, or deterministic. Circa 1990s, most models adopted the metabolizable protein (MP system over the crude protein (CP and digestible CP systems to estimate supply of MP and the factorial system to calculate MP required by the animal. The MP system included two portions of protein (i.e., the rumen-undegraded dietary CP - RUP - and the contributions of microbial CP - MCP as the main sources of MP for the animal. Some models would explicitly account for the impact of dry matter intake (DMI on the MP required for maintenance (MPm; e.g., Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System - CNCPS, the Dutch system - DVE/OEB, while others would simply account for scurf, urinary, metabolic fecal, and endogenous contributions independently of DMI. All models included milk yield and its components in estimating MP required for lactation

A Requirements Analysis Model Based on QFD

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

TANG Zhi-wei; Nelson K.H.Tang

2004-01-01

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system has emerged to offer an integrated IT solution and more and more enterprises are increasing by adopting this system and regarding it as an important innovation. However, there is already evidence of high failure risks in ERP project implementation, one major reason is poor analysis of the requirements for system implementation. In this paper, the importance of requirements analysis for ERP project implementation is highlighted, and a requirements analysis model by applying quality function deployment (QFD) is presented, which will support to conduct requirements analysis for ERP project.

Divided attention and mental effort after severe traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Azouvi, Philippe; Couillet, Josette; Leclercq, Michel; Martin, Yves; Asloun, Sybille; Rousseaux, Marc

2004-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess dual-task performance in TBI patients, under different experimental conditions, with or without explicit emphasis on one of two tasks. Results were compared with measurement of the subjective mental effort required to perform each task. Forty-three severe TBI patients at the subacute or chronic phase performed two tasks under single- and dual-task conditions: (a) random generation; (b) visual go-no go reaction time task. Three dual-task conditions were given, requiring either to consider both tasks as equally important or to focus preferentially on one of them. Patients were compared to matched controls. Subjective mental effort was rated on a visual analogic scale. TBI patients showed a disproportionate increase in reaction time in the go-no go task under the dual-task condition. However, they were just as able as controls to adapt performance to the specific instructions about the task to be emphasised. Patients reported significantly higher subjective mental effort, but the variation of mental effort according to task condition was similar to that of controls. These results suggest that the divided attention deficit of TBI patients is related to a reduction in available processing resources rather than an impairment of strategic processes responsible for attentional allocation and switching. The higher level of subjective mental effort may explain why TBI patients frequently complain of mental fatigue, although this subjective complaint seems to be relatively independent of cognitive impairment.

Effective Work Procedure design Using Discomfort and Effort Factor in Brick stacking operation-A case study

Science.gov (United States)

Rout, Biswaranjan; Dash, R. R.; Dhupal, D.

2018-02-01

In this work a typical planning of movement of limbs and torso of the worker to be well design to reduce fatigue and energy of the worker. A simulation model is generated to suit the procedure and comply with the constraints in the workspace. It requires verifying the capability of human postures and movements in different working conditions for the evaluation of effectiveness of the new design. In this article a simple human performance measure is introduce that enable the mathematical model for evaluation of a cost function. The basic scheme is to evaluate the performance in the form of several cost factors using AI techniques. Here two main cost factors taken in to consideration are discomfort factor and effort factor in limb movements. Discomfort factor measures the level of discomfort from the most neutral position of a given limb to the position of the corresponding limb after movement and effort factor is a measure of the displacement of the corresponding limbs from the original position. The basic aim is to optimize the movement of the limbs with the above mentioned cost functions. The effectiveness of the procedure is tested with an example of working procedure of workers used for stacking of fly ash bricks in a local fly ash bricks manufacturing unit. The objective is to find out the optimised movement of the limbs to reduce discomfort level and effort required of workers. The effectiveness of the procedure in this case study illustrated with the obtained results.

Situation thinking as an aid to organizing and planning the construction effort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stull, J.O.

1976-01-01

Constructibility of a nuclear project design can be improved by assigning experienced construction men to work with the design engineers. A construction sequence can be developed using a small scale model simulating the various stages of construction. Seeing a simulated situation dictates a conclusion to the experienced construction man which can be explained and is usually acceptable to all. The result is a unified team effort and a good constructible design. Photos of the model in a Work Plan Book provide an effective medium for transferring this planned sequence to the constructor. Slides can quickly express the plan to management and the client. Working with engineers on design models and using a standard identification program for systems and buildings can be an aid to construction. Cross-reference requirements which complicate field and office work can be minimized by developing standard identifiers for buildings and systems. Review of design models by construction men can provide access for construction, eliminate delays and costly out-of-sequence work

Not all effort is equal: the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in different forms of effort-reward decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria eHolec

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The rat anterior cingulate cortex (ACC mediates effort-based decision making when the task requires the physical effort of climbing a ramp. Normal rats will readily climb a barrier leading to high reward whereas rats with ACC lesions will opt instead for an easily obtained small reward. The present study explored whether the role of ACC in cost-benefit decisions extends beyond climbing by testing its role in ramp climbing as well as two novel cost-benefit decision tasks, one involving the physical effort of lifting weights and the other the emotional cost of overcoming fear (i.e., courage. As expected, rats with extensive ACC lesions tested on a ramp-climbing task were less likely to choose a high-reward/high-effort arm than sham controls. However, during the first few trials, lesioned rats were as likely as controls to initially turn into the high-reward arm but far less likely to actually climb the barrier, suggesting that the role of the ACC is not in deciding which course of action to pursue, but rather in maintaining a course of action in the face of countervailing forces. In the effort-reward decision task involving weight lifting, some lesion animals behaved like controls while others avoided the high reward arm. However, the results were not statistically significant and a follow-up study using incremental increasing effort failed to show any difference between lesion and control groups. The results suggest that the ACC is not needed for effort-reward decisions involving weight lifting but may affect motor abilities. Finally, a courage task explored the willingness of rats to overcome the fear of crossing an open, exposed arm to obtain a high reward. Both sham and ACC-lesioned animals exhibited equal tendencies to enter the open arm. However, whereas sham animals gradually improved on the task, ACC-lesioned rats did not. Taken together, the results suggest that the role of the ACC in effort-reward decisions may be limited to certain

Three Tier Unified Process Model for Requirement Negotiations and Stakeholder Collaborations

Science.gov (United States)

Niazi, Muhammad Ashraf Khan; Abbas, Muhammad; Shahzad, Muhammad

2012-11-01

This research paper is focused towards carrying out a pragmatic qualitative analysis of various models and approaches of requirements negotiations (a sub process of requirements management plan which is an output of scope managementís collect requirements process) and studies stakeholder collaborations methodologies (i.e. from within communication management knowledge area). Experiential analysis encompass two tiers; first tier refers to the weighted scoring model while second tier focuses on development of SWOT matrices on the basis of findings of weighted scoring model for selecting an appropriate requirements negotiation model. Finally the results are simulated with the help of statistical pie charts. On the basis of simulated results of prevalent models and approaches of negotiations, a unified approach for requirements negotiations and stakeholder collaborations is proposed where the collaboration methodologies are embeded into selected requirements negotiation model as internal parameters of the proposed process alongside some external required parameters like MBTI, opportunity analysis etc.

The effects of savings on reservation wages and search effort

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lammers, M.

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the interrelations among wealth, reservation wages and search effort. A theoretical job search model predicts wealth to affect reservation wages positively, and search effort negatively. Subsequently, reduced form equations for reservation wages and search intensity take these

Summary of process research analysis efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Burger, D. R.

1985-01-01

A summary of solar-cell process research analysis efforts was presented. Process design and cell design are interactive efforts where technology from integrated circuit processes and other processes are blended. The primary factors that control cell efficiency are: (1) the bulk parameters of the available sheet material, (2) the retention and enhancement of these bulk parameters, and (3) the cell design and the cost to produce versus the finished cells performance. The process sequences need to be tailored to be compatible with the sheet form, the cell shape form, and the processing equipment. New process options that require further evaluation and utilization are lasers, robotics, thermal pulse techniques, and new materials. There are numerous process control techniques that can be adapted and used that will improve product uniformity and reduced costs. Two factors that can lead to longer life modules are the use of solar cell diffusion barriers and improved encapsulation.

Distinct effects of apathy and dopamine on effort-based decision-making in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Heron, Campbell; Plant, Olivia; Manohar, Sanjay; Ang, Yuen-Siang; Jackson, Matthew; Lennox, Graham; Hu, Michele T; Husain, Masud

2018-05-01

Effort-based decision-making is a cognitive process crucial to normal motivated behaviour. Apathy is a common and disabling complication of Parkinson's disease, but its aetiology remains unclear. Intriguingly, the neural substrates associated with apathy also subserve effort-based decision-making in animal models and humans. Furthermore, the dopaminergic system plays a core role in motivating effortful behaviour for reward, and its dysfunction has been proposed to play a crucial role in the aetiology of apathy in Parkinson's disease. We hypothesized that disrupted effort-based decision-making underlies the syndrome of apathy in Parkinson's disease, and that this disruption may be modulated by the dopaminergic system. An effort-based decision-making task was administered to 39 patients with Parkinson's disease, with and without clinical apathy, ON and OFF their normal dopaminergic medications across two separate sessions, as well as 32 healthy age- and gender-matched controls. On a trial-by-trial basis, participants decided whether to accept or reject offers of monetary reward in return for exerting different levels of physical effort via handheld, individually calibrated dynamometers. Effort and reward were manipulated independently, such that offers spanned the full range of effort/reward combinations. Apathy was assessed using the Lille apathy rating scale. Motor effects of the dopamine manipulation were assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part three motor score. The primary outcome variable was choice (accept/decline offer) analysed using a hierarchical generalized linear mixed effects model, and the vigour of squeeze (Newtons exerted above required force). Both apathy and dopamine depletion were associated with reduced acceptance of offers. However, these effects were driven by dissociable patterns of responding. While apathy was characterized by increased rejection of predominantly low reward offers, dopamine increased responding to

Musculoskeletal pain and effort-reward imbalance--a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Peter; Schablon, Anja; Latza, Ute; Nienhaus, Albert

2014-01-15

Musculoskeletal pain may be triggered by physical strains and psychosocial risk factors. The effort-reward imbalance model (ERI model) is a stress model which measures psychosocial factors in the working world. The question is whether workers with an effort-reward imbalance report musculoskeletal pain more frequently than those with no effort-reward imbalance. A systematic review using a best evidence synthesis approach was conducted to answer this question. A literature search was conducted for the period from 1996 to 2012, using three databases (Pubmed, Embase and PsycINFO). The research criteria related to psychosocial, work-related stress as per the ERI model and to musculoskeletal pain. A quality score was developed using various quality criteria to assess the standard of the studies. The level of evidence was graded as in (Am J Ind Med 39:180-193, 2001). After applying the inclusion criteria, a total of 19 studies were included in the review: 15 cross-sectional studies, three prospective studies and one case-control study. 74% of all studies exhibited good methodological quality, 53% collected data using the original ERI questionnaire, and in 42% of the studies, there was adequate control for physical working conditions. Furthermore, different cut-off points were used to classify exposed and non-exposed individuals. On the basis of 13 studies with a positive, statistically significant association, a moderate level of evidence was inferred for the association between effort-reward imbalance and musculoskeletal pain. The evidence for a role of over-commitment and for its interaction with effort-reward imbalance was rated as inconclusive - on the basis of eight and five studies, respectively. On the basis of the available evidence, no reliable conclusion may be drawn about any association between the psychosocial factors ascertained using the ERI model and musculoskeletal pain. Before a reliable statement can be made on the association between ERI and

Advanced Extravehicular Activity Pressure Garment Requirements Development

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Amy

2014-01-01

The NASA Johnson Space Center advanced pressure garment technology development team is addressing requirements development for exploration missions. Lessons learned from the Z-2 high fidelity prototype development have reiterated that clear low-level requirements and verification methods reduce risk to the government, improve efficiency in pressure garment design efforts, and enable the government to be a smart buyer. The expectation is to provide requirements at the specification level that are validated so that their impact on pressure garment design is understood. Additionally, the team will provide defined verification protocols for the requirements. However, in reviewing exploration space suit high level requirements there are several gaps in the team's ability to define and verify related lower level requirements. This paper addresses the efforts in requirement areas such as mobility/fit/comfort and environmental protection (dust, radiation, plasma, secondary impacts) to determine the by what method the requirements can be defined and use of those methods for verification. Gaps exist at various stages. In some cases component level work is underway, but no system level effort has begun, in other cases no effort has been initiated to close the gap. Status of ongoing efforts and potential approaches to open gaps are discussed.

Response efficiency during functional communication training: effects of effort on response allocation.

OpenAIRE

Richman, D M; Wacker, D P; Winborn, L

2001-01-01

An analogue functional analysis revealed that the problem behavior of a young child with developmental delays was maintained by positive reinforcement. A concurrent-schedule procedure was then used to vary the amount of effort required to emit mands. Results suggested that response effort can be an important variable when developing effective functional communication training programs.

Modeling the Movement of Homicide by Type to Inform Public Health Prevention Efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeoli, April M; Grady, Sue; Pizarro, Jesenia M; Melde, Chris

2015-10-01

We modeled the spatiotemporal movement of hotspot clusters of homicide by motive in Newark, New Jersey, to investigate whether different homicide types have different patterns of clustering and movement. We obtained homicide data from the Newark Police Department Homicide Unit's investigative files from 1997 through 2007 (n = 560). We geocoded the address at which each homicide victim was found and recorded the date of and the motive for the homicide. We used cluster detection software to model the spatiotemporal movement of statistically significant homicide clusters by motive, using census tract and month of occurrence as the spatial and temporal units of analysis. Gang-motivated homicides showed evidence of clustering and diffusion through Newark. Additionally, gang-motivated homicide clusters overlapped to a degree with revenge and drug-motivated homicide clusters. Escalating dispute and nonintimate familial homicides clustered; however, there was no evidence of diffusion. Intimate partner and robbery homicides did not cluster. By tracking how homicide types diffuse through communities and determining which places have ongoing or emerging homicide problems by type, we can better inform the deployment of prevention and intervention efforts.

Efficient balancing by effort-based activation of demand response services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Claessen, FN; Kaisers, Michael; La Poutré, J.A.

2017-01-01

We present a unified model for flexibility services in the power system, identify two existing categories (ramping and loading) and introduce a new category (stalling). Each service is characterised by duration, capacity and effort, with associated prices. We show that the effort of stalling,

The Behavioral Pharmacology of Effort-related Choice Behavior: Dopamine, Adenosine and Beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Nunes, Eric J; Randall, Patrick A; Pardo, Marta

2012-01-01

For many years, it has been suggested that drugs that interfere with dopamine (DA) transmission alter the “rewarding” impact of primary reinforcers such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in effort-related choice behavior. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA-depleted rats show a heightened sensitivity to response costs, especially ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum) also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders. PMID:22287808

Variation of fee-for-service specialist direct care work effort with patient overall illness burden.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Robert

2011-08-01

To explore whether a common industry measure of overall patient illness burden, used to assess the total costs of members in a health plan, would be suitable to describe variation in a summary metric of utilization that assesses specialist physician direct patient care services not grouped into clinical episodes, but with exclusion criteria applied to reduce any bias in the data. Data sources/study setting Calendar year 2006 administrative data on 153,557 commercial members enrolled in a non-profit single-state statewide Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and treated by 4356 specialists in 11 specialties. The health plan's global referral process and specialist fee-for-service reimbursement likely makes these results applicable to the non-managed care setting, as once a global referral was authorized there was no required intervention by the HMO or referring primary care provider for the majority of any subsequent specialist direct clinical care. Study design Specialty-specific correlations and ordinary least-squares regression models to assess variations in specialist direct patient care work effort with patient overall illness burden, after the application of exclusion criteria to reduce potential bias in the data. Principle findings Statistically significant positive correlations exist between specialist direct patient care work effort and patient overall illness burden for all studied specialties. Regression models revealed a generally monotonic increasing relationship between illness burden categories and aggregate specialist direct patient care work effort. Almost all regression model differences from the reference category across specialties are statistically significant (P ≤ 0.012). Assessment of additional results demonstrates the relationship has more substantive significance in some specialties and less in others. The most substantive relationships in this study were found in the specialties of orthopaedic surgery, general surgery and interventional

Studies in Software Cost Model Behavior: Do We Really Understand Cost Model Performance?

Science.gov (United States)

Lum, Karen; Hihn, Jairus; Menzies, Tim

2006-01-01

While there exists extensive literature on software cost estimation techniques, industry practice continues to rely upon standard regression-based algorithms. These software effort models are typically calibrated or tuned to local conditions using local data. This paper cautions that current approaches to model calibration often produce sub-optimal models because of the large variance problem inherent in cost data and by including far more effort multipliers than the data supports. Building optimal models requires that a wider range of models be considered while correctly calibrating these models requires rejection rules that prune variables and records and use multiple criteria for evaluating model performance. The main contribution of this paper is to document a standard method that integrates formal model identification, estimation, and validation. It also documents what we call the large variance problem that is a leading cause of cost model brittleness or instability.

Requirements for data integration platforms in biomedical research networks: a reference model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganzinger, Matthias; Knaup, Petra

2015-01-01

Biomedical research networks need to integrate research data among their members and with external partners. To support such data sharing activities, an adequate information technology infrastructure is necessary. To facilitate the establishment of such an infrastructure, we developed a reference model for the requirements. The reference model consists of five reference goals and 15 reference requirements. Using the Unified Modeling Language, the goals and requirements are set into relation to each other. In addition, all goals and requirements are described textually in tables. This reference model can be used by research networks as a basis for a resource efficient acquisition of their project specific requirements. Furthermore, a concrete instance of the reference model is described for a research network on liver cancer. The reference model is transferred into a requirements model of the specific network. Based on this concrete requirements model, a service-oriented information technology architecture is derived and also described in this paper.

Requirements for High Level Models Supporting Design Space Exploration in Model-based Systems Engineering

OpenAIRE

Haveman, Steven P.; Bonnema, G. Maarten

2013-01-01

Most formal models are used in detailed design and focus on a single domain. Few effective approaches exist that can effectively tie these lower level models to a high level system model during design space exploration. This complicates the validation of high level system requirements during detailed design. In this paper, we define requirements for a high level model that is firstly driven by key systems engineering challenges present in industry and secondly connects to several formal and d...

Model-based human reliability analysis: prospects and requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosleh, A.; Chang, Y.H.

2004-01-01

Major limitations of the conventional methods for human reliability analysis (HRA), particularly those developed for operator response analysis in probabilistic safety assessments (PSA) of nuclear power plants, are summarized as a motivation for the need and a basis for developing requirements for the next generation HRA methods. It is argued that a model-based approach that provides explicit cognitive causal links between operator behaviors and directly or indirectly measurable causal factors should be at the core of the advanced methods. An example of such causal model is briefly reviewed, where due to the model complexity and input requirements can only be currently implemented in a dynamic PSA environment. The computer simulation code developed for this purpose is also described briefly, together with current limitations in the models, data, and the computer implementation

The role of cognitive effort in subjective reward devaluation and risky decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Apps, Matthew A J; Grima, Laura L; Manohar, Sanjay; Husain, Masud

2015-11-20

Motivation is underpinned by cost-benefit valuations where costs-such as physical effort or outcome risk-are subjectively weighed against available rewards. However, in many environments risks pertain not to the variance of outcomes, but to variance in the possible levels of effort required to obtain rewards (effort risks). Moreover, motivation is often guided by the extent to which cognitive-not physical-effort devalues rewards (effort discounting). Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms that underpin the influence of cognitive effort risks or discounting on motivation. We used two cost-benefit decision-making tasks to probe subjective sensitivity to cognitive effort (number of shifts of spatial attention) and to effort risks. Our results show that shifts of spatial attention when monitoring rapidly presented visual stimuli are perceived as effortful and devalue rewards. Additionally, most people are risk-averse, preferring safe, known amounts of effort over risky offers. However, there was no correlation between their effort and risk sensitivity. We show for the first time that people are averse to variance in the possible amount of cognitive effort to be exerted. These results suggest that cognitive effort sensitivity and risk sensitivity are underpinned by distinct psychological and neurobiological mechanisms.

Comparison of cardiovascular response to combined static-dynamic effort, postprandial dynamic effort and dynamic effort alone in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung, J.; McKillip, J.; Savin, W.; Magder, S.; Kraus, R.; Houston, N.; Goris, M.; Haskell, W.; DeBusk, R.

1982-01-01

The cardiovascular responses to combined static-dynamic effort, postprandial dynamic effort and dynamic effort alone were evaluated by upright bicycle ergometry during equilibrium-gated blood pool scintigraphy in 24 men, mean age 59 +/- 8 years, with chronic ischemic heart disease. Combined static-dynamic effort and the postprandial state elicited a peak cardiovascular response similar to that of dynamic effort alone. Heart rate, intraarterial systolic and diastolic pressures, rate-pressure product and ejection fraction were similar for the three test conditions at the onset of ischemia and at peak effort. The prevalence and extent of exercise-induced ischemic left ventricular dysfunction, ST-segment depression, angina pectoris and ventricular ectopic activity were also similar during the three test conditions. Direct and indirect measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were highly correlated. The onset of ischemic ST-segment depression and angina pectoris correlated as strongly with heart rate alone as with the rate-pressure product during all three test conditions. The cardiovascular response to combined static-dynamic effort and to postprandial dynamic effort becomes more similar to that of dynamic effort alone as dynamic effort reaches a symptom limit. If significant ischemic and arrhythmic abnormalities are absent during symptom-limited dynamic exercise testing, they are unlikely to appear during combined static-dynamic or postprandial dynamic effort

Information Models, Data Requirements, and Agile Data Curation

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, John S.; Crichton, Dan; Ritschel, Bernd; Hardman, Sean; Joyner, Ron

2015-04-01

The Planetary Data System's next generation system, PDS4, is an example of the successful use of an ontology-based Information Model (IM) to drive the development and operations of a data system. In traditional systems engineering, requirements or statements about what is necessary for the system are collected and analyzed for input into the design stage of systems development. With the advent of big data the requirements associated with data have begun to dominate and an ontology-based information model can be used to provide a formalized and rigorous set of data requirements. These requirements address not only the usual issues of data quantity, quality, and disposition but also data representation, integrity, provenance, context, and semantics. In addition the use of these data requirements during system's development has many characteristics of Agile Curation as proposed by Young et al. [Taking Another Look at the Data Management Life Cycle: Deconstruction, Agile, and Community, AGU 2014], namely adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and rapid and flexible response to change. For example customers can be satisfied through early and continuous delivery of system software and services that are configured directly from the information model. This presentation will describe the PDS4 architecture and its three principle parts: the ontology-based Information Model (IM), the federated registries and repositories, and the REST-based service layer for search, retrieval, and distribution. The development of the IM will be highlighted with special emphasis on knowledge acquisition, the impact of the IM on development and operations, and the use of shared ontologies at multiple governance levels to promote system interoperability and data correlation.

Perception of effort in Exercise Science: Definition, measurement and perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Pageaux, Benjamin

2016-11-01

Perception of effort, also known as perceived exertion or sense of effort, can be described as a cognitive feeling of work associated with voluntary actions. The aim of the present review is to provide an overview of what is perception of effort in Exercise Science. Due to the addition of sensations other than effort in its definition, the neurophysiology of perceived exertion remains poorly understood. As humans have the ability to dissociate effort from other sensations related to physical exercise, the need to use a narrower definition is emphasised. Consequently, a definition and some brief guidelines for its measurement are provided. Finally, an overview of the models present in the literature aiming to explain its neurophysiology, and some perspectives for future research are offered.

Linking customisation of ERP systems to support effort: an empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Stefan; Mitteregger, Kurt

2016-01-01

The amount of customisation to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system has always been a major concern in the context of the implementation. This article focuses on the phase of maintenance and presents an empirical study about the relationship between the amount of customising and the resulting support effort. We establish a structural equation modelling model that explains support effort using customisation effort, organisational characteristics and scope of implementation. The findings using data from an ERP provider show that there is a statistically significant effect: with an increasing amount of customisation, the quantity of telephone calls to support increases, as well as the duration of each call.

I endeavor to make it: effort increases valuation of subsequent monetary reward.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Qingguo; Meng, Liang; Wang, Lei; Shen, Qiang

2014-03-15

Although it is commonly accepted that the amount of effort we put into accomplishing a task would exert an influence on subsequent reward processing and outcome evaluation, whether effort is incorporated as a cost or it would increase the valuation of concomitant reward is still under debate. In this study, EEGs were recorded while subjects performed calculation tasks that required different amount of effort, correct responses of which were followed by either no reward or fixed compensation. Results showed that high effort induced larger differentiated FRN responses to the reward and non-reward discrepancy across two experimental conditions. Furthermore, P300 manifested valence effect during reward feedback, with more positive amplitudes for reward than for non-reward only in the high effort condition. These results suggest that effort might increase subjective evaluation toward subsequent reward. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling requirements for in situ vitrification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacKinnon, R.J.; Mecham, D.C.; Hagrman, D.L.; Johnson, R.W.; Murray, P.E.; Slater, C.E.; Marwil, E.S.; Weaver, R.A.; Argyle, M.D.

1991-11-01

This document outlines the requirements for the model being developed at the INEL which will provide analytical support for the ISV technology assessment program. The model includes representations of the electric potential field, thermal transport with melting, gas and particulate release, vapor migration, off-gas combustion and process chemistry. The modeling objectives are to (1) help determine the safety of the process by assessing the air and surrounding soil radionuclide and chemical pollution hazards, the nuclear criticality hazard, and the explosion and fire hazards, (2) help determine the suitability of the ISV process for stabilizing the buried wastes involved, and (3) help design laboratory and field tests and interpret results therefrom

When is an "Extinct" Species Really Extinct? Gauging the Search Efforts for Hawaiian Forest Birds and the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Michael. Scott

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Rare species, particularly those in inaccessible habitat, can go years without being observed. If we are to allocate conservation resources appropriately to conserving such species, it is important to be able to distinguish "rare" from "extinct." Criteria for designating extinction, however, tend to be arbitrary or vaguely defined. This designation should not be made unless the search effort has been sufficient to yield a high degree of confidence that the species is in fact absent. We develop models to assess the probability of extinction and the search effort necessary to detect an individual in a small population. We apply these models to searches for nine potentially extinct Hawaiian forest birds and for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis in intensively searched areas in Arkansas. The Hawaiian forest bird survey was extensive, providing excellent information on population sizes and habitat associations of species encountered during the survey. Nonetheless, we conclude that the survey effort was not sufficient to conclude extinction (p > 0.90 for populations of 10 or fewer individuals for those species that were not encountered during surveys. In contrast, our analysis for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers suggests that, unless there were actually two or fewer birds present, the search effort was sufficient to conclude (p > 0.95 that Ivory-billed woodpeckers were not present in the intensively searched area. If one assumes distributions other than uniform, there is a greater chance that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers may persist in the intensively searched areas. Conclusions regarding occupancy of suitable habitat throughout the rest of the former range will require similarly intensive survey efforts. The degree of confidence in the absence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker depended in part on our assumptions about the distribution of birds in the search area. For species with limited detection distance and small populations, a massive search

DISPLACE: a dynamic, individual-based model for spatial fishing planning and effort displacement: Integrating underlying fish population models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bastardie, Francois; Nielsen, J. Rasmus; Miethe, Tanja

or to the alteration of individual fishing patterns. We demonstrate that integrating the spatial activity of vessels and local fish stock abundance dynamics allow for interactions and more realistic predictions of fishermen behaviour, revenues and stock abundance......We previously developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model (IBM) evaluating the bio-economic efficiency of fishing vessel movements between regions according to the catching and targeting of different species based on the most recent high resolution spatial fishery data. The main purpose...... was to test the effects of alternative fishing effort allocation scenarios related to fuel consumption, energy efficiency (value per litre of fuel), sustainable fish stock harvesting, and profitability of the fisheries. The assumption here was constant underlying resource availability. Now, an advanced...

USER REQUIREMENTS CUSTOMIZATION AND ATTRACTIVE QUALITY CREATION FOR DESIGN IMPROVEMENT ATTRIBUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Wilson Taifa

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper was to customize user requirements and quality creation for design improvement of furniture. The major purpose has been achieved with the use of Quality Function Deployment technique and Kano Model. The study involved 564 students from 3 engineering colleges. Extensive user requirements were identified with the help of Questionnaires. The use of House of Quality, Kano Model and Pareto Diagram helped in prioritizing all important features which are needed in customizing user requirements. The prioritized requirements include ergonomic design, desk adjustability, comfortability, product corners (sharp corners and latest material. All these factors both got high relative and absolute weight. Therefore, more engineering efforts need to be directed towards these requirements for achieving user customization for design improvement. The developed House of Quality with the help of Kano Model results has proved to be a good tool in customizing user requirements.

Job Satisfaction, Effort, and Performance: A Reasoned Action Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Icek Ajzen

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this article the author takes issue with the recurrent reliance on job satisfaction to explain job-related effort and performance.  The disappointing findings in this tradition are explained by lack of compatibility between job satisfaction–-a very broad attitude–-and the more specific effort and performance criteria.  Moreover, attempts to apply the expectancy-value model of attitude to explore the determinants of effort and performance suffer from reliance on unrepresentative sets of beliefs about the likely consequences of these behaviors.  The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2012, with its emphasis on the proximal antecedents of job effort and performance, is offered as an alternative.  According to the theory, intentions to exert effort and to attain a certain performance level are determined by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of control in relation to these behaviors; and these variables, in turn, are a function of readily accessible beliefs about the likely outcomes of effort and performance, about the normative expectations of important others, and about factors that facilitate or hinder effective performance.

Overlapping neural systems represent cognitive effort and reward anticipation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassena, Eliana; Silvetti, Massimo; Boehler, Carsten N; Achten, Eric; Fias, Wim; Verguts, Tom

2014-01-01

Anticipating a potential benefit and how difficult it will be to obtain it are valuable skills in a constantly changing environment. In the human brain, the anticipation of reward is encoded by the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Striatum. Naturally, potential rewards have an incentive quality, resulting in a motivational effect improving performance. Recently it has been proposed that an upcoming task requiring effort induces a similar anticipation mechanism as reward, relying on the same cortico-limbic network. However, this overlapping anticipatory activity for reward and effort has only been investigated in a perceptual task. Whether this generalizes to high-level cognitive tasks remains to be investigated. To this end, an fMRI experiment was designed to investigate anticipation of reward and effort in cognitive tasks. A mental arithmetic task was implemented, manipulating effort (difficulty), reward, and delay in reward delivery to control for temporal confounds. The goal was to test for the motivational effect induced by the expectation of bigger reward and higher effort. The results showed that the activation elicited by an upcoming difficult task overlapped with higher reward prospect in the ACC and in the striatum, thus highlighting a pivotal role of this circuit in sustaining motivated behavior.

A fuzzy model for exploiting customer requirements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Javadirad

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, Quality function deployment (QFD is one of the total quality management tools, where customers’ views and requirements are perceived and using various techniques improves the production requirements and operations. The QFD department, after identification and analysis of the competitors, takes customers’ feedbacks to meet the customers’ demands for the products compared with the competitors. In this study, a comprehensive model for assessing the importance of the customer requirements in the products or services for an organization is proposed. The proposed study uses linguistic variables, as a more comprehensive approach, to increase the precision of the expression evaluations. The importance of these requirements specifies the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in meeting the requirements relative to competitors. The results of these experiments show that the proposed method performs better than the other methods.

Defining Requirements and Applying Information Modeling for Protecting Enterprise Assets

Science.gov (United States)

Fortier, Stephen C.; Volk, Jennifer H.

The advent of terrorist threats has heightened local, regional, and national governments' interest in emergency response and disaster preparedness. The threat of natural disasters also challenges emergency responders to act swiftly and in a coordinated fashion. When a disaster occurs, an ad hoc coalition of pre-planned groups usually forms to respond to the incident. History has shown that these “system of systems” do not interoperate very well. Communications between fire, police and rescue components either do not work or are inefficient. Government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private industry use a wide array of software platforms for managing data about emergency conditions, resources and response activities. Most of these are stand-alone systems with very limited capability for data sharing with other agencies or other levels of government. Information technology advances have facilitated the movement towards an integrated and coordinated approach to emergency management. Other communication mechanisms, such as video teleconferencing, digital television and radio broadcasting, are being utilized to combat the challenges of emergency information exchange. Recent disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Indonesia, have illuminated the weaknesses in emergency response. This paper will discuss the need for defining requirements for components of ad hoc coalitions which are formed to respond to disasters. A goal of our effort was to develop a proof of concept that applying information modeling to the business processes used to protect and mitigate potential loss of an enterprise was feasible. These activities would be modeled both pre- and post-incident.

A Stage-Structured Prey-Predator Fishery Model In The Presence Of Toxicity With Taxation As A Control Parameter of Harvesting Effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumit Kaur Bhatia

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we have considered stage-structured fishery model in the presence of toxicity, which is diminishing due to the current excessive use of fishing efforts resulting in devastating consequences. The purpose of this study is to propose a bio-economic mathematical model by introducing taxes to the profit per unit biomass of the harvested fish of each species with the intention of controlling fishing efforts in the presence of toxicity. We obtained both boundary and interior equilibrium points along with the conditions ensuring their validity. Local stability for the interior equilibrium point has been found by the trace-determinant criterion and global stability has been analyzed through a suitable Lyapunov function. We have also obtained the optimal harvesting policy with the help of Pontryagin's maximum principle. Lastly, numerical simulation with the help of MATLAB have been done and thus, the results of the formulated model have been established.

[Psychosocial stress and disease risks in occupational life. Results of international studies on the demand-control and the effort-reward imbalance models].

Science.gov (United States)

Siegrist, J; Dragano, N

2008-03-01

Given the far-reaching changes of modern working life, psychosocial stress at work has received increased attention. Its influence on stress-related disease risks is analysed with the help of standardised measurements based on theoretical models. Two such models have gained special prominence in recent years, the demand-control model and the effort-reward imbalance model. The former model places its emphasis on a distinct combination of job characteristics, whereas the latter model's focus is on the imbalance between efforts spent and rewards received in turn. The predictive power of these models with respect to coronary or cardiovascular disease and depression was tested in a number of prospective epidemiological investigations. In summary, twofold elevated disease risks are observed. Effects on cardiovascular disease are particularly pronounced among men, whereas no gender differences are observed for depression. Additional evidence derived from experimental and ambulatory monitoring studies supplements this body of findings. Current scientific evidence justifies an increased awareness and assessment of these newly discovered occupational risks, in particular by occupational health professionals. Moreover, structural and interpersonal measures of stress prevention and health promotion at work are warranted, with special emphasis on gender differences.

Ethnicity, Effort, Self-Efficacy, Worry, and Statistics Achievement in Malaysia: A Construct Validation of the State-Trait Motivation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Awang-Hashim, Rosa; O'Neil, Harold F., Jr.; Hocevar, Dennis

2002-01-01

The relations between motivational constructs, effort, self-efficacy and worry, and statistics achievement were investigated in a sample of 360 undergraduates in Malaysia. Both trait (cross-situational) and state (task-specific) measures of each construct were used to test a mediational trait (r) state (r) performance (TSP) model. As hypothesized,…

Using cognitive modeling for requirements engineering in anesthesiology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pott, C; le Feber, J

2005-01-01

Cognitive modeling is a complexity reducing method to describe significant cognitive processes under a specified research focus. Here, a cognitive process model for decision making in anesthesiology is presented and applied in requirements engineering. Three decision making situations of

Security and Privacy in Video Surveillance: Requirements and Challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahmood Rajpoot, Qasim; Jensen, Christian D.

2014-01-01

observed by the system. Several techniques to protect the privacy of individuals have therefore been proposed, but very little research work has focused on the specific security requirements of video surveillance data (in transit or in storage) and on authorizing access to this data. In this paper, we...... present a general model of video surveillance systems that will help identify the major security and privacy requirements for a video surveillance system and we use this model to identify practical challenges in ensuring the security of video surveillance data in all stages (in transit and at rest). Our...... study shows a gap between the identified security requirements and the proposed security solutions where future research efforts may focus in this domain....

Advanced Extra-Vehicular Activity Pressure Garment Requirements Development

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Amy; Aitchison, Lindsay; Rhodes, Richard

2015-01-01

The NASA Johnson Space Center advanced pressure garment technology development team is addressing requirements development for exploration missions. Lessons learned from the Z-2 high fidelity prototype development have reiterated that clear low-level requirements and verification methods reduce risk to the government, improve efficiency in pressure garment design efforts, and enable the government to be a smart buyer. The expectation is to provide requirements at the specification level that are validated so that their impact on pressure garment design is understood. Additionally, the team will provide defined verification protocols for the requirements. However, in reviewing exploration space suit high level requirements there are several gaps in the team's ability to define and verify related lower level requirements. This paper addresses the efforts in requirement areas such as mobility/fit/comfort and environmental protection (dust, radiation, plasma, secondary impacts) to determine the method by which the requirements can be defined and use of those methods for verification. Gaps exist at various stages. In some cases component level work is underway, but no system level effort has begun; in other cases no effort has been initiated to close the gap. Status of on-going efforts and potential approaches to open gaps are discussed.

Why are U.S. nuclear weapon modernization efforts controversial?

Science.gov (United States)

Acton, James

2016-03-01

U.S. nuclear weapon modernization programs are focused on extending the lives of existing warheads and developing new delivery vehicles to replace ageing bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and ballistic missile submarines. These efforts are contested and controversial. Some critics argue that they are largely unnecessary, financially wasteful and potentially destabilizing. Other critics posit that they do not go far enough and that nuclear weapons with new military capabilities are required. At its core, this debate centers on three strategic questions. First, what roles should nuclear weapons be assigned? Second, what military capabilities do nuclear weapons need to fulfill these roles? Third, how severe are the unintended escalation risks associated with particular systems? Proponents of scaled-down modernization efforts generally argue for reducing the role of nuclear weapons but also that, even under existing policy, new military capabilities are not required. They also tend to stress the escalation risks of new--and even some existing--capabilities. Proponents of enhanced modernization efforts tend to advocate for a more expansive role for nuclear weapons in national security strategy. They also often argue that nuclear deterrence would be enhanced by lower yield weapons and/or so called bunker busters able to destroy more deeply buried targets. The debate is further fueled by technical disagreements over many aspects of ongoing and proposed modernization efforts. Some of these disagreements--such as the need for warhead life extension programs and their necessary scope--are essentially impossible to resolve at the unclassified level. By contrast, unclassified analysis can help elucidate--though not answer--other questions, such as the potential value of bunker busters.

Characterization of infiltration rates from landfills: supporting groundwater modeling efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Moo-Young, Horace; Johnson, Barnes; Johnson, Ann; Carson, David; Lew, Christine; Liu, Salley; Hancocks, Katherine

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature to characterize infiltration rates from landfill liners to support groundwater modeling efforts. The focus of this investigation was on collecting studies that describe the performance of liners 'as installed' or 'as operated'. This document reviews the state of the science and practice on the infiltration rate through compacted clay liner (CCL) for 149 sites and geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) for 1 site. In addition, it reviews the leakage rate through geomembrane (GM) liners and composite liners for 259 sites. For compacted clay liners (CCL), there was limited information on infiltration rates (i.e., only 9 sites reported infiltration rates.), thus, it was difficult to develop a national distribution. The field hydraulic conductivities for natural clay liners range from 1 x 10(-9) cm s(-1) to 1 x 10(-4) cm s(-1), with an average of 6.5 x 10(-8) cm s(-1). There was limited information on geosynthetic clay liner. For composite lined and geomembrane systems, the leak detection system flow rates were utilized. The average monthly flow rate for composite liners ranged from 0-32 lphd for geomembrane and GCL systems to 0 to 1410 lphd for geomembrane and CCL systems. The increased infiltration for the geomembrane and CCL system may be attributed to consolidation water from the clay.

Air Quality Science and Regulatory Efforts Require Geostationary Satellite Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Kenneth E.; Allen, D. J.; Stehr, J. W.

2006-01-01

Air quality scientists and regulatory agencies would benefit from the high spatial and temporal resolution trace gas and aerosol data that could be provided by instruments on a geostationary platform. More detailed time-resolved data from a geostationary platform could be used in tracking regional transport and in evaluating mesoscale air quality model performance in terms of photochemical evolution throughout the day. The diurnal cycle of photochemical pollutants is currently missing from the data provided by the current generation of atmospheric chemistry satellites which provide only one measurement per day. Often peak surface ozone mixing ratios are reached much earlier in the day during major regional pollution episodes than during local episodes due to downward mixing of ozone that had been transported above the boundary layer overnight. The regional air quality models often do not simulate this downward mixing well enough and underestimate surface ozone in regional episodes. Having high time-resolution geostationary data will make it possible to determine the magnitude of this lower-and mid-tropospheric transport that contributes to peak eight-hour average ozone and 24-hour average PM2.5 concentrations. We will show ozone and PM(sub 2.5) episodes from the CMAQ model and suggest ways in which geostationary satellite data would improve air quality forecasting. Current regulatory modeling is typically being performed at 12 km horizontal resolution. State and regional air quality regulators in regions with complex topography and/or land-sea breezes are anxious to move to 4-km or finer resolution simulations. Geostationary data at these or finer resolutions will be useful in evaluating such models.

Habitat models to assist plant protection efforts in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Van Manen, F.T.; Young, J.A.; Thatcher, C.A.; Cass, W.B.; Ulrey, C.

2005-01-01

During 2002, the National Park Service initiated a demonstration project to develop science-based law enforcement strategies for the protection of at-risk natural resources, including American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis L.), and black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. [syn. Actaea racemosa L.]). Harvest pressure on these species is increasing because of the growing herbal remedy market. We developed habitat models for Shenandoah National Park and the northern portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway to determine the distribution of favorable habitats of these three plant species and to demonstrate the use of that information to support plant protection activities. We compiled locations for the three plant species to delineate favorable habitats with a geographic information system (GIS). We mapped potential habitat quality for each species by calculating a multivariate statistic, Mahalanobis distance, based on GIS layers that characterized the topography, land cover, and geology of the plant locations (10-m resolution). We tested model performance with an independent dataset of plant locations, which indicated a significant relationship between Mahalanobis distance values and species occurrence. We also generated null models by examining the distribution of the Mahalanobis distance values had plants been distributed randomly. For all species, the habitat models performed markedly better than their respective null models. We used our models to direct field searches to the most favorable habitats, resulting in a sizeable number of new plant locations (82 ginseng, 73 bloodroot, and 139 black cohosh locations). The odds of finding new plant locations based on the habitat models were 4.5 (black cohosh) to 12.3 (American ginseng) times greater than random searches; thus, the habitat models can be used to improve the efficiency of plant protection efforts, (e.g., marking of plants, law enforcement activities). The field searches also

Motivational climate, behaviour regulation and perceived effort in soccer athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diogo Monteiro

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to test the integration of two motivational theoretical models (self-determination theory and the achievement goal theory to analyze the impact of motivational climate in the regulation of motivation and athletes´ effort perception. Participated in the study 460 athletes (male football players at both regional and national level, on the categories of beginners, youth, juniors and seniors, with 17.42 ± 4.37 years-old. The quality of the structural equation model was examined by the Chi-square value and some complementary model fit indices. The results support the model fit (S-Bχ²= 288.84, df= 147, p< 0.001, S-Bχ²/df= 1.96, SRMR= 0.049, NNFI= 0.912, CFI= 0.924, RMSEA= 0.046, 90%IC RMSEA= 0.038−0.054, suggesting that a motivational task-oriented climate has a significant positive effect on autonomous motivation, which in turn has a significant positive effect on athletes' effort perception. On the other hand, an ego-oriented environment had a positive effect on the controlled motivation, which in turn had a negative effect on athletes' effort perception, although not significant.

STUDY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS AND SYNTAX AS AN EFFORT FOR DEVELOPING ‘OIDDE’ INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atok Miftachul Hudha

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The 21st century requires the availability of human resources with seven skills or competence (Maftuh, 2016, namely: 1 critical thinking and problem solving skills, 2 creative and innovative, 3 behave ethically, 4 flexible and quick to adapt, 5 competence in ICT and literacy, 6 interpersonal and collaborative capabilities, 7 social skills and cross-cultural interaction. One of the competence of human resources of the 21st century are behaving ethically should be established and developed through learning that includes the study of ethics because ethical behavior can not be created and owned as it is by human, but must proceed through solving problem, especially ethical dilemma solving on the ethical problems atau problematics of ethics. The fundamental problem, in order to ethical behavior competence can be achieved through learning, is the right model of learning is not found yet by teachers to implement the learning associated with ethical values as expected in character education (Hudha, et al, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c. Therefore, it needs a decent learning model (valid, practical and effective so that ethics learning, to establish a human resources behave ethically, can be met. Thus, it is necessary to study (to analyze and modificate the steps of learning (syntax existing learning model, in order to obtain the results of the development model of learning syntax. One model of learning that is feasible, practical, and effective question is the learning model on the analysis and modification of syntax model of social learning, syntax learning model systems behavior (Joyce and Weil, 1980, Joyce, et al, 2009 as well as syntax learning model Tri Prakoro (Akbar, 2013. The modified syntax generate learning model 'OIDDE' which is an acronym of orientation, identify, discussion, decision, and engage in behavior.

Simulation Modeling Requirements for Loss-of-Control Accident Prevention of Turboprop Transport Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Crider, Dennis; Foster, John V.

2012-01-01

In-flight loss of control remains the leading contributor to aviation accident fatalities, with stall upsets being the leading causal factor. The February 12, 2009. Colgan Air, Inc., Continental Express flight 3407 accident outside Buffalo, New York, brought this issue to the forefront of public consciousness and resulted in recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct training that incorporates stalls that are fully developed and develop simulator standards to support such training. In 2010, Congress responded to this accident with Public Law 11-216 (Section 208), which mandates full stall training for Part 121 flight operations. Efforts are currently in progress to develop recommendations on implementation of stall training for airline pilots. The International Committee on Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes (ICATEE) is currently defining simulator fidelity standards that will be necessary for effective stall training. These recommendations will apply to all civil transport aircraft including straight-wing turboprop aircraft. Government-funded research over the previous decade provides a strong foundation for stall/post-stall simulation for swept-wing, conventional tail jets to respond to this mandate, but turboprops present additional and unique modeling challenges. First among these challenges is the effect of power, which can provide enhanced flow attachment behind the propellers. Furthermore, turboprops tend to operate for longer periods in an environment more susceptible to ice. As a result, there have been a significant number of turboprop accidents as a result of the early (lower angle of attack) stalls in icing. The vulnerability of turboprop configurations to icing has led to studies on ice accumulation and the resulting effects on flight behavior. Piloted simulations of these effects have highlighted the important training needs for recognition and mitigation of icing effects, including the reduction of stall margins

Effortful echolalia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadano, K; Nakamura, H; Hamanaka, T

1998-02-01

We report three cases of effortful echolalia in patients with cerebral infarction. The clinical picture of speech disturbance is associated with Type 1 Transcortical Motor Aphasia (TCMA, Goldstein, 1915). The patients always spoke nonfluently with loss of speech initiative, dysarthria, dysprosody, agrammatism, and increased effort and were unable to repeat sentences longer than those containing four or six words. In conversation, they first repeated a few words spoken to them, and then produced self initiated speech. The initial repetition as well as the subsequent self initiated speech, which were realized equally laboriously, can be regarded as mitigated echolalia (Pick, 1924). They were always aware of their own echolalia and tried to control it without effect. These cases demonstrate that neither the ability to repeat nor fluent speech are always necessary for echolalia. The possibility that a lesion in the left medial frontal lobe, including the supplementary motor area, plays an important role in effortful echolalia is discussed.

Effort, performance, and motivation: insights from robot-assisted training of human golf putting and rat grip strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Duarte, Jaime E; Gebrekristos, Berkenesh; Perez, Sergi; Rowe, Justin B; Sharp, Kelli; Reinkensmeyer, David J

2013-06-01

Robotic devices can modulate success rates and required effort levels during motor training, but it is unclear how this affects performance gains and motivation. Here we present results from training unimpaired humans in a virtual golf-putting task, and training spinal cord injured (SCI) rats in a grip strength task using robotically modulated success rates and effort levels. Robotic assistance in golf practice increased trainees feelings of competence, and, paradoxically, increased their sense effort, even though it had mixed effects on learning. Reducing effort during a grip strength training task led rats with SCI to practice the task more frequently. However, the more frequent practice of these rats did not cause them to exceed the strength gains achieved by rats that exercised less often at higher required effort levels. These results show that increasing success and decreasing effort with robots increases motivation, but has mixed effects on performance gains.

Requirements-level semantics and model checking of object-oriented statecharts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eshuis, H.; Jansen, D.N.; Wieringa, Roelf J.

2002-01-01

In this paper we define a requirements-level execution semantics for object-oriented statecharts and show how properties of a system specified by these statecharts can be model checked using tool support for model checkers. Our execution semantics is requirements-level because it uses the perfect

Using a security requirements engineering methodology in practice: The compliance with the Italian data protection legislation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Massacci, F.; Prest, M.; Zannone, N.

2005-01-01

Extending Requirements Engineering modelling and formal analysis methodologies to cope with Security Requirements has been a major effort in the past decade. Yet, only few works describe complex case studies that show the ability of the informal and formal approaches to cope with the level

Minimal-effort planning of active alignment processes for beam-shaping optics

Science.gov (United States)

Haag, Sebastian; Schranner, Matthias; Müller, Tobias; Zontar, Daniel; Schlette, Christian; Losch, Daniel; Brecher, Christian; Roßmann, Jürgen

2015-03-01

In science and industry, the alignment of beam-shaping optics is usually a manual procedure. Many industrial applications utilizing beam-shaping optical systems require more scalable production solutions and therefore effort has been invested in research regarding the automation of optics assembly. In previous works, the authors and other researchers have proven the feasibility of automated alignment of beam-shaping optics such as collimation lenses or homogenization optics. Nevertheless, the planning efforts as well as additional knowledge from the fields of automation and control required for such alignment processes are immense. This paper presents a novel approach of planning active alignment processes of beam-shaping optics with the focus of minimizing the planning efforts for active alignment. The approach utilizes optical simulation and the genetic programming paradigm from computer science for automatically extracting features from a simulated data basis with a high correlation coefficient regarding the individual degrees of freedom of alignment. The strategy is capable of finding active alignment strategies that can be executed by an automated assembly system. The paper presents a tool making the algorithm available to end-users and it discusses the results of planning the active alignment of the well-known assembly of a fast-axis collimator. The paper concludes with an outlook on the transferability to other use cases such as application specific intensity distributions which will benefit from reduced planning efforts.

Research requirements for a unified approach to modelling chemical effects associated with radioactive waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krol, A.A.; Read, D.

1986-09-01

This report contains the results of a review of the current modelling, laboratory experiments and field experiments being conducted in the United Kingdom to aid understanding and improve prediction of the effects of chemistry on the disposal of radioactive wastes. The aim has been to summarise present work and derive a structure for future research effort that would support the use of probabilistic risk assessment (pra) methods for the disposal of radioactive wastes. The review was conducted by a combination of letter and personal visits, and preliminary results were reported to a plenary meeting of participants held in April, 1986. Following this meeting, copies of the report were circulated to participants at draft stage, so that the finalised report should be taken to provide as far as possible a consensus of opinion of research requirements. (author)

Separate valuation subsystems for delay and effort decision costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Prévost, Charlotte; Pessiglione, Mathias; Météreau, Elise; Cléry-Melin, Marie-Laure; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2010-10-20

Decision making consists of choosing among available options on the basis of a valuation of their potential costs and benefits. Most theoretical models of decision making in behavioral economics, psychology, and computer science propose that the desirability of outcomes expected from alternative options can be quantified by utility functions. These utility functions allow a decision maker to assign subjective values to each option under consideration by weighting the likely benefits and costs resulting from an action and to select the one with the highest subjective value. Here, we used model-based neuroimaging to test whether the human brain uses separate valuation systems for rewards (erotic stimuli) associated with different types of costs, namely, delay and effort. We show that humans devalue rewards associated with physical effort in a strikingly similar fashion to those they devalue that are associated with delays, and that a single computational model derived from economics theory can account for the behavior observed in both delay discounting and effort discounting. However, our neuroimaging data reveal that the human brain uses distinct valuation subsystems for different types of costs, reflecting in opposite fashion delayed reward and future energetic expenses. The ventral striatum and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex represent the increasing subjective value of delayed rewards, whereas a distinct network, composed of the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, represent the decreasing value of the effortful option, coding the expected expense of energy. Together, these data demonstrate that the valuation processes underlying different types of costs can be fractionated at the cerebral level.

Analyzing processing effort during sentence comprehension in quiet and in noise: Evidence from eye-fixations and pupil size

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wendt, Dorothea; Brand, Thomas; Kollmeier, Birger

2014-01-01

structures . Here, we compare both methods, i.e. p rocessing speed and pupil size , as indicator s for the required effort when processing sentences that differ in their level of syntactic complexity . Furthermore, an interaction of background noise and syntactic complexity is exanimated by analyzing...... processing effort for sentence s presented in quiet and in noise. Moreover, it is investigated whether both measure s provide similar or complementary information about sentence processing and the required effort....

Robotic disaster recovery efforts with ad-hoc deployable cloud computing

Science.gov (United States)

Straub, Jeremy; Marsh, Ronald; Mohammad, Atif F.

2013-06-01

Autonomous operations of search and rescue (SaR) robots is an ill posed problem, which is complexified by the dynamic disaster recovery environment. In a typical SaR response scenario, responder robots will require different levels of processing capabilities during various parts of the response effort and will need to utilize multiple algorithms. Placing these capabilities onboard the robot is a mediocre solution that precludes algorithm specific performance optimization and results in mediocre performance. Architecture for an ad-hoc, deployable cloud environment suitable for use in a disaster response scenario is presented. Under this model, each service provider is optimized for the task and maintains a database of situation-relevant information. This service-oriented architecture (SOA 3.0) compliant framework also serves as an example of the efficient use of SOA 3.0 in an actual cloud application.

Validation of Power Requirement Model for Active Loudspeakers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schneider, Henrik; Madsen, Anders Normann; Bjerregaard, Ruben

2015-01-01

. There are however many advantages that could be harvested from such knowledge like size, cost and efficiency improvements. In this paper a recently proposed power requirement model for active loudspeakers is experimentally validated and the model is expanded to include the closed and vented type enclosures...

Test of a potential link between analytic and nonanalytic category learning and automatic, effortful processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Tracy, J I; Pinsk, M; Helverson, J; Urban, G; Dietz, T; Smith, D J

2001-08-01

The link between automatic and effortful processing and nonanalytic and analytic category learning was evaluated in a sample of 29 college undergraduates using declarative memory, semantic category search, and pseudoword categorization tasks. Automatic and effortful processing measures were hypothesized to be associated with nonanalytic and analytic categorization, respectively. Results suggested that contrary to prediction strong criterion-attribute (analytic) responding on the pseudoword categorization task was associated with strong automatic, implicit memory encoding of frequency-of-occurrence information. Data are discussed in terms of the possibility that criterion-attribute category knowledge, once established, may be expressed with few attentional resources. The data indicate that attention resource requirements, even for the same stimuli and task, vary depending on the category rule system utilized. Also, the automaticity emerging from familiarity with analytic category exemplars is very different from the automaticity arising from extensive practice on a semantic category search task. The data do not support any simple mapping of analytic and nonanalytic forms of category learning onto the automatic and effortful processing dichotomy and challenge simple models of brain asymmetries for such procedures. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Net benefits of wildfire prevention education efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffrey P. Prestemon; David T. Butry; Karen L. Abt; Ronda Sutphen

2010-01-01

Wildfire prevention education efforts involve a variety of methods, including airing public service announcements, distributing brochures, and making presentations, which are intended to reduce the occurrence of certain kinds of wildfires. A Poisson model of preventable Florida wildfires from 2002 to 2007 by fire management region was developed. Controlling for...

A Web-based database for pathology faculty effort reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Dee, Fred R; Haugen, Thomas H; Wynn, Philip A; Leaven, Timothy C; Kemp, John D; Cohen, Michael B

2008-04-01

To ensure appropriate mission-based budgeting and equitable distribution of funds for faculty salaries, our compensation committee developed a pathology-specific effort reporting database. Principles included the following: (1) measurement should be done by web-based databases; (2) most entry should be done by departmental administration or be relational to other databases; (3) data entry categories should be aligned with funding streams; and (4) units of effort should be equal across categories of effort (service, teaching, research). MySQL was used for all data transactions (http://dev.mysql.com/downloads), and scripts were constructed using PERL (http://www.perl.org). Data are accessed with forms that correspond to fields in the database. The committee's work resulted in a novel database using pathology value units (PVUs) as a standard quantitative measure of effort for activities in an academic pathology department. The most common calculation was to estimate the number of hours required for a specific task, divide by 2080 hours (a Medicare year) and then multiply by 100. Other methods included assigning a baseline PVU for program, laboratory, or course directorship with an increment for each student or staff in that unit. With these methods, a faculty member should acquire approximately 100 PVUs. Some outcomes include (1) plotting PVUs versus salary to identify outliers for salary correction, (2) quantifying effort in activities outside the department, (3) documenting salary expenditure for unfunded research, (4) evaluating salary equity by plotting PVUs versus salary by sex, and (5) aggregating data by category of effort for mission-based budgeting and long-term planning.

Effort reward imbalance is associated with vagal withdrawal in Danish public sector employees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eller, Nanna Hurwitz; Blønd, Morten; Nielsen, Martin

2011-01-01

The current study analyzed the relationship between psychosocial work environment assessed by the Effort Reward Imbalance Model (ERI-model) and heart rate variability (HRV) measured at baseline and again, two years later, as this relationship is scarcely covered by the literature.......The current study analyzed the relationship between psychosocial work environment assessed by the Effort Reward Imbalance Model (ERI-model) and heart rate variability (HRV) measured at baseline and again, two years later, as this relationship is scarcely covered by the literature....

Maximum effort in the minimum-effort game

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Engelmann, Dirk; Normann, H.-T.

2010-01-01

Roč. 13, č. 3 (2010), s. 249-259 ISSN 1386-4157 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : minimum-effort game * coordination game * experiments * social capital Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.868, year: 2010

Breckinridge Project, initial effort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

1982-09-01

Report III, Volume 1 contains those specifications numbered A through J, as follows: General Specifications (A); Specifications for Pressure Vessels (C); Specifications for Tanks (D); Specifications for Exchangers (E); Specifications for Fired Heaters (F); Specifications for Pumps and Drivers (G); and Specifications for Instrumentation (J). The standard specifications of Bechtel Petroleum Incorporated have been amended as necessary to reflect the specific requirements of the Breckinridge Project, and the more stringent specifications of Ashland Synthetic Fuels, Inc. These standard specifications are available to the Initial Effort (Phase Zero) work performed by all contractors and subcontractors. Report III, Volume 1 also contains the unique specifications prepared for Plants 8, 15, and 27. These specifications will be substantially reviewed during Phase I of the project, and modified as necessary for use during the engineering, procurement, and construction of this project.

Requirements for laboratory animals in health programmes*

OpenAIRE

Held, J. R.

1981-01-01

Laboratory animals are essential for the successful execution of many health programmes. A wide variety of animal models is used in the worldwide efforts to improve the control of various diseases, and in the basic research needed to improve health care. Biomedical programmes require specially-bred animals reared under controlled conditions, with close attention given to such factors as physical environment, nutrition, microbiological status, and genetic background. The need for a regular sup...

Early College for All: Efforts to Scale up Early Colleges in Multiple Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Edmunds, Julie A.

2016-01-01

Given the positive impacts of the small, stand-alone early college model and the desire to provide those benefits to more students, organizations have begun efforts to scale up the early college model in a variety of settings. These efforts have been supported by the federal government, particularly by the Investing in Innovation (i3) program.…

A Compositional Knowledge Level Process Model of Requirements Engineering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herlea, D.E.; Jonker, C.M.; Treur, J.; Wijngaards, W.C.A.

2002-01-01

In current literature few detailed process models for Requirements Engineering are presented: usually high-level activities are distinguished, without a more precise specification of each activity. In this paper the process of Requirements Engineering has been analyzed using knowledge-level

SOFTWARE EFFORT ESTIMATION FRAMEWORK TO IMPROVE ORGANIZATION PRODUCTIVITY USING EMOTION RECOGNITION OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS IN SPONTANEOUS SPEECH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B.V.A.N.S.S. Prabhakar Rao

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Productivity is a very important part of any organisation in general and software industry in particular. Now a day’s Software Effort estimation is a challenging task. Both Effort and Productivity are inter-related to each other. This can be achieved from the employee’s of the organization. Every organisation requires emotionally stable employees in their firm for seamless and progressive working. Of course, in other industries this may be achieved without man power. But, software project development is labour intensive activity. Each line of code should be delivered from software engineer. Tools and techniques may helpful and act as aid or supplementary. Whatever be the reason software industry has been suffering with success rate. Software industry is facing lot of problems in delivering the project on time and within the estimated budget limit. If we want to estimate the required effort of the project it is significant to know the emotional state of the team member. The responsibility of ensuring emotional contentment falls on the human resource department and the department can deploy a series of systems to carry out its survey. This analysis can be done using a variety of tools, one such, is through study of emotion recognition. The data needed for this is readily available and collectable and can be an excellent source for the feedback systems. The challenge of recognition of emotion in speech is convoluted primarily due to the noisy recording condition, the variations in sentiment in sample space and exhibition of multiple emotions in a single sentence. The ambiguity in the labels of training set also increases the complexity of problem addressed. The existing models using probabilistic models have dominated the study but present a flaw in scalability due to statistical inefficiency. The problem of sentiment prediction in spontaneous speech can thus be addressed using a hybrid system comprising of a Convolution Neural Network and

Requirements Validation: Execution of UML Models with CPN Tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Machado, Ricardo J.; Lassen, Kristian Bisgaard; Oliveira, Sérgio

2007-01-01

Requirements validation is a critical task in any engineering project. The confrontation of stakeholders with static requirements models is not enough, since stakeholders with non-computer science education are not able to discover all the inter-dependencies between the elicited requirements. Eve...... requirements, where the system to be built must explicitly support the interaction between people within a pervasive cooperative workflow execution. A case study from a real project is used to illustrate the proposed approach....

Beyond traditional developmental models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Becker, Alexander; zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, Dodo; Brem, Alexander

2015-01-01

outcome. The implication for entrepreneurs is that, beyond discovering a potential venture idea, substantial development efforts are required to form a sustainable business model. For entrepreneurship research, our model is a first step towards an integrative discussion of new venture emergence aimed...

On the efforts (man-day) concerned with inspection in uranium fuel fabrication facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, T.; Tanaka, T.; Seki, Y.

1990-01-01

Taking notice of inspection efforts (man·day) of STA·IAEA and those of MNF concerned with them, their change and various factors affecting the change have been studied. Namely, first, main topics concerning inspection in our Tokai plant are mentioned and secondly the relation between the inspection efforts and such factors as PIV period, number of items, number of DA sampling and NDA measurements, and so forth is studied. According to our study, though efforts of STA·IAEA and MNF required for both routine FLOW inspection and PIT have been nearly unchanged each year, our efforts for PIV have been increasing gradually. The factors relating to this increase of our efforts are the PIV period, inspection efforts of STA·IAEA for PIV and the number of DA sampling and NDA measurements. Finally, a suggestion on the future inspection system has been mentioned and then some items for improvement under the current inspection system have been exemplified. (author)

RELAP-7 Code Assessment Plan and Requirement Traceability Matrix

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Junsoo; Choi, Yong-joon; Smith, Curtis L.

2016-10-01

The RELAP-7, a safety analysis code for nuclear reactor system, is under development at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Overall, the code development is directed towards leveraging the advancements in computer science technology, numerical solution methods and physical models over the last decades. Recently, INL has also been putting an effort to establish the code assessment plan, which aims to ensure an improved final product quality through the RELAP-7 development process. The ultimate goal of this plan is to propose a suitable way to systematically assess the wide range of software requirements for RELAP-7, including the software design, user interface, and technical requirements, etc. To this end, we first survey the literature (i.e., international/domestic reports, research articles) addressing the desirable features generally required for advanced nuclear system safety analysis codes. In addition, the V&V (verification and validation) efforts as well as the legacy issues of several recently-developed codes (e.g., RELAP5-3D, TRACE V5.0) are investigated. Lastly, this paper outlines the Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) for RELAP-7 which can be used to systematically evaluate and identify the code development process and its present capability.

Practitioner's knowledge representation a pathway to improve software effort estimation

CERN Document Server

Mendes, Emilia

2014-01-01

The main goal of this book is to help organizations improve their effort estimates and effort estimation processes by providing a step-by-step methodology that takes them through the creation and validation of models that are based on their own knowledge and experience. Such models, once validated, can then be used to obtain predictions, carry out risk analyses, enhance their estimation processes for new projects and generally advance them as learning organizations.Emilia Mendes presents the Expert-Based Knowledge Engineering of Bayesian Networks (EKEBNs) methodology, which she has used and adapted during the course of several industry collaborations with different companies world-wide over more than 6 years. The book itself consists of two major parts: first, the methodology's foundations in knowledge management, effort estimation (with special emphasis on the intricacies of software and Web development) and Bayesian networks are detailed; then six industry case studies are presented which illustrate the pra...

Irrigation Requirement Estimation Using Vegetation Indices and Inverse Biophysical Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Bounoua, Lahouari; Imhoff, Marc L.; Franks, Shannon

2010-01-01

We explore an inverse biophysical modeling process forced by satellite and climatological data to quantify irrigation requirements in semi-arid agricultural areas. We constrain the carbon and water cycles modeled under both equilibrium, balance between vegetation and climate, and non-equilibrium, water added through irrigation. We postulate that the degree to which irrigated dry lands vary from equilibrium climate conditions is related to the amount of irrigation. The amount of water required over and above precipitation is considered as an irrigation requirement. For July, results show that spray irrigation resulted in an additional amount of water of 1.3 mm per occurrence with a frequency of 24.6 hours. In contrast, the drip irrigation required only 0.6 mm every 45.6 hours or 46% of that simulated by the spray irrigation. The modeled estimates account for 87% of the total reported irrigation water use, when soil salinity is not important and 66% in saline lands.

Defining climate modeling user needs: which data are actually required to support impact analysis and adaptation policy development?

Science.gov (United States)

Swart, R. J.; Pagé, C.

2010-12-01

Until recently, the policy applications of Earth System Models in general and climate models in particular were focusing mainly on the potential future changes in the global and regional climate and attribution of observed changes to anthropogenic activities. Is climate change real? And if so, why do we have to worry about it? Following the broad acceptance of the reality of the risks by the majority of governments, particularly after the publication of IPCC’s 4th Assessment Report and the increasing number of observations of changes in ecological and socio-economic systems that are consistent with the observed climatic changes, governments, companies and other societal groups have started to evaluate their own vulnerability in more detail and to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies. After an early focus on the most vulnerable developing countries, recently, an increasing number of industrialized countries have embarked on the design of adaptation and mitigation plans, or on studies to evaluate the level of climate resilience of their development plans and projects. Which climate data are actually required to effectively support these activities? This paper reports on the efforts of the IS-ENES project, the infrastructure project of the European Network for Earth System Modeling, to address this question. How do we define user needs and can the existing gap between the climate modeling and impact research communities be bridged in support of the ENES long-term strategy? In contrast from the climate modeling community, which has a relatively long history of collaboration facilitated by a relatively uniform subject matter, commonly agreed definitions of key terminology and some level of harmonization of methods, the climate change impacts research community is very diverse and fragmented, using a wide variety of data sources, methods and tools. An additional complicating factor is that researchers working on adaptation usually closely collaborate with non

Supply Chain Coordination under Trade Credit and Quantity Discount with Sales Effort Effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhihong Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of trade credit and quantity discount in supply chain coordination when the sales effort effect on market demand is considered. In this paper, we consider a two-echelon supply chain consisting of a single retailer ordering a single product from a single manufacturer. Market demand is stochastic and is influenced by retailer sales effort. We formulate an analytical model based on a single trade credit and find that the single trade credit cannot achieve the perfect coordination of the supply chain. Then, we develop a hybrid quantitative analytical model for supply chain coordination by coherently integrating incentives of trade credit and quantity discount with sales effort effects. The results demonstrate that, providing that the discount rate satisfies certain conditions, the proposed hybrid model combining trade credit and quantity discount will be able to effectively coordinate the supply chain by motivating retailers to exert their sales effort and increase product order quantity. Furthermore, the hybrid quantitative analytical model can provide great flexibility in coordinating the supply chain to achieve an optimal situation through the adjustment of relevant parameters to resolve conflict of interests from different supply chain members. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the hybrid model.

Lumped Thermal Household Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Biegel, Benjamin; Andersen, Palle; Stoustrup, Jakob

2013-01-01

pump portfolio. Following, we illustrate two disadvantages of individual models, namely that it requires much computational effort to optimize over a large portfolio, and second that it is difficult to accurately model the houses in certain time periods due to local disturbances. Finally, we propose...

Direct and Indirect Effects of IQ, Parental Help, Effort, and Mathematics Self-Concept on Mathematics Achievement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maher Abu-Hilal

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This study examined the structural relationships among cognitive constructs (intelligence and achievement and affective constructs (perceived parental help, effort and self-concept. It was proposed that the relationships are not invariant across gender. The sample consisted of 219 boys and 133 girls from elementary and preparatory public schools in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. Intelligence (IQ was measured by the Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI and parental help was measured by 4-Likert-type items. Effort was measured by 4-Likert-type items. Self-concept (SC was measured by 8-Likert-type items taken from the SDQ I (Abu-Hilal, 2000. Mathematic Achievement was the scores of students in mathematics from school records. The structural model assumed that IQ would have an effect on parental help, effort, SC and achievement. Parental help would have an effect on effort, SC and achievement. Also, effort would have an effect on SC and achievement. Finally, SC would have an effect on achievement. The structural model was tested for invariance across gender. The measurement model proved to be invariant across gender and so was the structural model. The non-constrained model indicated that the structural relationships among the variables do vary according to gender. For example, boys benefited from parental help by exerting more effort while girls did not. Boys with high IQ exerted more effort than boys with low IQ; but girls with high IQ exerted the same amount of effort as girls with low IQ. The model explained 45% and 39% of the variance in math scores for boys and girls, respectively.

An Imbalance of Approach and Effortful Control Predicts Externalizing Problems: Support for Extending the Dual-Systems Model into Early Childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonas, Katherine; Kochanska, Grazyna

2018-01-25

Although the association between deficits in effortful control and later externalizing behavior is well established, many researchers (Nigg Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(3-4), 395-422, 2006; Steinberg Developmental Review, 28(1), 78-106, 2008) have hypothesized this association is actually the product of the imbalance of dual systems, or two underlying traits: approach and self-regulation. Very little research, however, has deployed a statistically robust strategy to examine that compelling model; further, no research has done so using behavioral measures, particularly in longitudinal studies. We examined the imbalance of approach and self-regulation (effortful control, EC) as predicting externalizing problems. Latent trait models of approach and EC were derived from behavioral measures collected from 102 children in a community sample at 25, 38, 52, and 67 months (2 to 5 ½ years), and used to predict externalizing behaviors, modeled as a latent trait derived from parent-reported measures at 80, 100, 123, and 147 months (6 ½ to 12 years). The imbalance hypothesis was supported: Children with an imbalance of approach and EC had more externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood and early preadolescence, relative to children with equal levels of the two traits.

Specification of requirements for the virtual environment for reactor applications simulation environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hess, S. M.; Pytel, M.

2012-01-01

In 2010, the United States Dept. of Energy initiated a research and development effort to develop modern modeling and simulation methods that could utilize high performance computing capabilities to address issues important to nuclear power plant operation, safety and sustainability. To respond to this need, a consortium of national laboratories, academic institutions and industry partners (the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors - CASL) was formed to develop an integrated Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) modeling and simulation capability. A critical element for the success of the CASL research and development effort was the development of an integrated set of overarching requirements that provides guidance in the planning, development, and management of the VERA modeling and simulation software. These requirements also provide a mechanism from which the needs of a broad array of external CASL stakeholders (e.g. reactor / fuel vendors, plant owner / operators, regulatory personnel, etc.) can be identified and integrated into the VERA development plans. This paper presents an overview of the initial set of requirements contained within the VERA Requirements Document (VRD) that currently is being used to govern development of the VERA software within the CASL program. The complex interdisciplinary nature of these requirements together with a multi-physics coupling approach to realize a core simulator capability pose a challenge to how the VRD should be derived and subsequently revised to accommodate the needs of different stakeholders. Thus, the VRD is viewed as an evolving document that will be updated periodically to reflect the changing needs of identified CASL stakeholders and lessons learned during the progress of the CASL modeling and simulation program. (authors)

Respiratory effort from the photoplethysmogram.

Science.gov (United States)

Addison, Paul S

2017-03-01

The potential for a simple, non-invasive measure of respiratory effort based on the pulse oximeter signal - the photoplethysmogram or 'pleth' - was investigated in a pilot study. Several parameters were developed based on a variety of manifestations of respiratory effort in the signal, including modulation changes in amplitude, baseline, frequency and pulse transit times, as well as distinct baseline signal shifts. Thirteen candidate parameters were investigated using data from healthy volunteers. Each volunteer underwent a series of controlled respiratory effort maneuvers at various set flow resistances and respiratory rates. Six oximeter probes were tested at various body sites. In all, over three thousand pleth-based effort-airway pressure (EP) curves were generated across the various airway constrictions, respiratory efforts, respiratory rates, subjects, probe sites, and the candidate parameters considered. Regression analysis was performed to determine the existence of positive monotonic relationships between the respiratory effort parameters and resulting airway pressures. Six of the candidate parameters investigated exhibited a distinct positive relationship (poximeter probe and an ECG (P2E-Effort) and the other using two pulse oximeter probes placed at different peripheral body sites (P2-Effort); and baseline shifts in heart rate, (BL-HR-Effort). In conclusion, a clear monotonic relationship was found between several pleth-based parameters and imposed respiratory loadings at the mouth across a range of respiratory rates and flow constrictions. The results suggest that the pleth may provide a measure of changing upper airway dynamics indicative of the effort to breathe. Copyright © 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Software project effort estimation foundations and best practice guidelines for success

CERN Document Server

Trendowicz, Adam

2014-01-01

Software effort estimation is one of the oldest and most important problems in software project management, and thus today there are a large number of models, each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses in general, and even more importantly, in relation to the environment and context in which it is to be applied.Trendowicz and Jeffery present a comprehensive look at the principles of software effort estimation and support software practitioners in systematically selecting and applying the most suitable effort estimation approach. Their book not only presents what approach to take and how

Multipartite Entanglement Detection with Minimal Effort

Science.gov (United States)

Knips, Lukas; Schwemmer, Christian; Klein, Nico; Wieśniak, Marcin; Weinfurter, Harald

2016-11-01

Certifying entanglement of a multipartite state is generally considered a demanding task. Since an N qubit state is parametrized by 4N-1 real numbers, one might naively expect that the measurement effort of generic entanglement detection also scales exponentially with N . Here, we introduce a general scheme to construct efficient witnesses requiring a constant number of measurements independent of the number of qubits for states like, e.g., Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, cluster states, and Dicke states. For four qubits, we apply this novel method to experimental realizations of the aforementioned states and prove genuine four-partite entanglement with two measurement settings only.

King eider foraging effort during the pre-breeding period in Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Oppel, Steffen; Powell, Abby N.; Butler, Malcolm G.

2011-01-01

For reproduction, many arctic-nesting migratory birds rely on nutrients obtained on the breeding grounds, so they devote sufficient time to foraging immediately prior to nesting. However, little is known about the increase in foraging effort necessary to meet the energetic requirements of reproduction. In early June 2006 and 2008, we quantified the proportion of time spent foraging before breeding by a large sea duck, the King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), on its breeding grounds in northern Alaska. During >235 hours of behavioral observations, both male and female King Eiders spent >50% of the day loafing (resting, sleeping, comfort behavior, or being alert). Females foraged on average 30% of the time (mean 7.2 hr day-1,95% CI 6.0-8.4 hr day-1), three times as much as males (9%; 2.3 hr day-1, 95% CI 1.5–2.8 hr day-1). The most common prey in ponds where the eiders foraged were chironomid larvae and worms ranging in length from 1 to 30 mm. If the King Eider's daily energy expenditure on its breeding grounds is similar to values published for related species, it would need to ingest only 0.2–0.6 g dry mass of invertebrates per minute of foraging to meet its energetic requirements. Males did not lose body mass before breeding, and we assume that their foraging effort was sufficient for energy balance. Therefore, female King Eiders appear to triple their foraging effort over maintenance requirements to meet the energetic challenges of egg formation.

Models of Human Information Requirements: "When Reasonable Aiding Systems Disagree"

Science.gov (United States)

Corker, Kevin; Pisanich, Gregory; Shafto, Michael (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

Aircraft flight management and Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation are under development to maximize the economy of flight and to increase the capacity of the terminal area airspace while maintaining levels of flight safety equal to or better than current system performance. These goals are being realized by the introduction of flight management automation aiding and operations support systems on the flight deck and by new developments of ATC aiding systems that seek to optimize scheduling of aircraft while potentially reducing required separation and accounting for weather and wake vortex turbulence. Aiding systems on both the flight deck and the ground operate through algorithmic functions on models of the aircraft and of the airspace. These models may differ from each other as a result of variations in their models of the immediate environment. The resultant flight operations or ATC commands may differ in their response requirements (e.g. different preferred descent speeds or descent initiation points). The human operators in the system must then interact with the automation to reconcile differences and resolve conflicts. We have developed a model of human performance including cognitive functions (decision-making, rule-based reasoning, procedural interruption recovery and forgetting) that supports analysis of the information requirements for resolution of flight aiding and ATC conflicts. The model represents multiple individuals in the flight crew and in ATC. The model is supported in simulation on a Silicon Graphics' workstation using Allegro Lisp. Design guidelines for aviation automation aiding systems have been developed using the model's specification of information and team procedural requirements. Empirical data on flight deck operations from full-mission flight simulation are provided to support the model's predictions. The paper describes the model, its development and implementation, the simulation test of the model predictions, and the empirical

Cognitive effort: A neuroeconomic approach

Science.gov (United States)

Braver, Todd S.

2015-01-01

Cognitive effort has been implicated in numerous theories regarding normal and aberrant behavior and the physiological response to engagement with demanding tasks. Yet, despite broad interest, no unifying, operational definition of cognitive effort itself has been proposed. Here, we argue that the most intuitive and epistemologically valuable treatment is in terms of effort-based decision-making, and advocate a neuroeconomics-focused research strategy. We first outline psychological and neuroscientific theories of cognitive effort. Then we describe the benefits of a neuroeconomic research strategy, highlighting how it affords greater inferential traction than do traditional markers of cognitive effort, including self-reports and physiologic markers of autonomic arousal. Finally, we sketch a future series of studies that can leverage the full potential of the neuroeconomic approach toward understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to phenomenal, subjective cognitive effort. PMID:25673005

Developing Project Duration Models in Software Engineering

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Pierre Bourque; Serge Oligny; Alain Abran; Bertrand Fournier

2007-01-01

Based on the empirical analysis of data contained in the International Software Benchmarking Standards Group(ISBSG) repository, this paper presents software engineering project duration models based on project effort. Duration models are built for the entire dataset and for subsets of projects developed for personal computer, mid-range and mainframeplatforms. Duration models are also constructed for projects requiring fewer than 400 person-hours of effort and for projectsre quiring more than 400 person-hours of effort. The usefulness of adding the maximum number of assigned resources as asecond independent variable to explain duration is also analyzed. The opportunity to build duration models directly fromproject functional size in function points is investigated as well.

On Early Conflict Identification by Requirements Modeling of Energy System Control Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heussen, Kai; Gehrke, Oliver; Niemann, Hans Henrik

2015-01-01

issues early. For requirements formulation of control structures, cyber and physical aspects need to be jointly represented to express interdependencies, check for consistency and discover potentially conflicting requirements. Early identification of potential conflicts may prevent larger problems...... at later design stages. However, languages employed for requirements modeling today do not offer the expressiveness necessary to represent control purposes in relation to domain level interactions and therefore miss several types of interdependencies. This paper introduces the idea of control structure...... modeling for early requirements checking using a suitable modeling language, and illustrates how this approach enables the identification of several classes of controller conflict....

Front Loaded Accurate Requirements Engineering (FLARE): A Requirements Analysis Concept for the 21st Century

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Leonard, Anthony

1997-01-01

This thesis focuses on ways to apply requirements engineering techniques and methods during the development and evolution of DoD software systems in an effort to reduce changes to system requirements...

Motor effort alters changes of mind in sensorimotor decision making.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Burk

Full Text Available After committing to an action, a decision-maker can change their mind to revise the action. Such changes of mind can even occur when the stream of information that led to the action is curtailed at movement onset. This is explained by the time delays in sensory processing and motor planning which lead to a component at the end of the sensory stream that can only be processed after initiation. Such post-initiation processing can explain the pattern of changes of mind by asserting an accumulation of additional evidence to a criterion level, termed change-of-mind bound. Here we test the hypothesis that physical effort associated with the movement required to change one's mind affects the level of the change-of-mind bound and the time for post-initiation deliberation. We varied the effort required to change from one choice target to another in a reaching movement by varying the geometry of the choice targets or by applying a force field between the targets. We show that there is a reduction in the frequency of change of mind when the separation of the choice targets would require a larger excursion of the hand from the initial to the opposite choice. The reduction is best explained by an increase in the evidence required for changes of mind and a reduced time period of integration after the initial decision. Thus the criteria to revise an initial choice is sensitive to energetic costs.

Spreadsheet Decision Support Model for Training Exercise Material Requirements Planning

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Tringali, Arthur

1997-01-01

... associated with military training exercises. The model combines the business practice of Material Requirements Planning and the commercial spreadsheet software capabilities of Lotus 1-2-3 to calculate the requirements for food, consumable...

Requirements for high level models supporting design space exploration in model-based systems engineering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haveman, Steven; Bonnema, Gerrit Maarten

2013-01-01

Most formal models are used in detailed design and focus on a single domain. Few effective approaches exist that can effectively tie these lower level models to a high level system model during design space exploration. This complicates the validation of high level system requirements during

Applying the effort-reward imbalance model to household and family work: a population-based study of German mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sperlich, Stefanie; Peter, Richard; Geyer, Siegfried

2012-01-06

This paper reports on results of a newly developed questionnaire for the assessment of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) in unpaid household and family work. Using a cross-sectional population-based survey of German mothers (n = 3129) the dimensional structure of the theoretical ERI model was validated by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Analyses of Variance were computed to examine relationships between ERI and social factors and health outcomes. CFA revealed good psychometric properties indicating that the subscale 'effort' is based on one latent factor and the subscale 'reward' is composed of four dimensions: 'intrinsic value of family and household work', 'societal esteem', 'recognition from the partner', and 'affection from the child(ren)'. About 19.3% of mothers perceived lack of reciprocity and 23.8% showed high rates of overcommitment in terms of inability to withdraw from household and family obligations. Socially disadvantaged mothers were at higher risk of ERI, in particular with respect to the perception of low societal esteem. Gender inequality in the division of household and family work and work-family conflict accounted most for ERI in household and family work. Analogous to ERI in paid work we could demonstrate that ERI affects self-rated health, somatic complaints, mental health and, to some extent, hypertension. The newly developed questionnaire demonstrates satisfied validity and promising results for extending the ERI model to household and family work.

The association of perceived organizational justice and organizational expectations with nurses' efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Motlagh, Farhad Shafiepour; Yarmohammadian, Mohammad Hossein; Yaghoubi, Maryam

2012-03-01

One important factor in growth, progress, and increase in work efficiency of employees of any enterprise is to make considerable effort. Supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran also addressed the issue of need for more efforts. The goal of this study was to determine the association of perceived organizational justice and organizational expectations with efforts of nurses to provide a suitable model. The current study was a descriptive study. The study group consists of all nurses who worked in hospitals of Isfahan. Due to some limitations all nurses of the special unit, surgery wards and operating room were questioned. The data collection tools were the Organizational Justice Questionnaire, organizational expectations questionnaire, and double effort questionnaire. Content validity of the mentioned questionnaires was confirmed after considering the experts' comments. The reliability of these questionnaires, using the Cronbach's alpha, were 0.79, 0.83 and 0.92, respectively. The Pearson correlation and the structural equation model were used for the analysis of data. There was a significant correlation between the perceived organizational justice and the double effort of nurses during the surgery of patients. Correlation of the expectation from job, usefulness of job, and its attractiveness with double effort of nurses before the surgery was also statistically significant. Moreover, it was shown that the root of the mean square error of estimation (RMSEA) was 0.087, the fitted goodness index (GFI) was 0.953, the value of chi-square was 268.5, and the model was statistically significant (p Justice is an essential need for human life and its importance in organizations and social life of individuals is evident.

Literacy And Reward: Teachers’ Effort To Build Children Reading Habit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helena Arisandi Komang Widia

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Children at early levels of primary school require appropriate guidance in their initial reading skill. They need to be trained on how reading becomes an enjoyable routine activity. This study aimed at describing teachers’ effort to build children reading habit. This study employed a qualitative descriptive study and conducted at North Bali Bilingual School Bali. The data were collected through observations and interview. The findings of the study showed that there were several activities conducted by the teacher as efforts to build children reading habit. In terms of building students’ reading habit, the teacher used (1 Point-written in Reading Rocket Chart (PRRC, (2 Chip (white, yellow, green for appreciating good behaviour in reading and using English, (3 Certificate, (4 Class Reward, and (5 Free Play Time. With these efforts, it is evident that the students’ literacy improves and they exhibited great enthusiasm in their reading and studying literacy in the classroom.

Economic response to harvest and effort control in fishery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoff, Ayoe; Frost, Hans

for fisheries management. The report outlines bio-economic models, which are designed to shed light on the efficiency of different management tools in terms of quota or effort restrictions given the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy about sustainable and economic viable fisheries. The report addresses...... the complexities of biological and economic interaction in a multispecies, multifleet framework and outlines consistent mathematical models....

Conducting requirements analyses for research using routinely collected health data: a model driven approach.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lusignan, Simon; Cashman, Josephine; Poh, Norman; Michalakidis, Georgios; Mason, Aaron; Desombre, Terry; Krause, Paul

2012-01-01

Medical research increasingly requires the linkage of data from different sources. Conducting a requirements analysis for a new application is an established part of software engineering, but rarely reported in the biomedical literature; and no generic approaches have been published as to how to link heterogeneous health data. Literature review, followed by a consensus process to define how requirements for research, using, multiple data sources might be modeled. We have developed a requirements analysis: i-ScheDULEs - The first components of the modeling process are indexing and create a rich picture of the research study. Secondly, we developed a series of reference models of progressive complexity: Data flow diagrams (DFD) to define data requirements; unified modeling language (UML) use case diagrams to capture study specific and governance requirements; and finally, business process models, using business process modeling notation (BPMN). These requirements and their associated models should become part of research study protocols.

The influence of music on mental effort and driving performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ünal, Ayça Berfu; Steg, Linda; Epstude, Kai

2012-09-01

The current research examined the influence of loud music on driving performance, and whether mental effort mediated this effect. Participants (N=69) drove in a driving simulator either with or without listening to music. In order to test whether music would have similar effects on driving performance in different situations, we manipulated the simulated traffic environment such that the driving context consisted of both complex and monotonous driving situations. In addition, we systematically kept track of drivers' mental load by making the participants verbally report their mental effort at certain moments while driving. We found that listening to music increased mental effort while driving, irrespective of the driving situation being complex or monotonous, providing support to the general assumption that music can be a distracting auditory stimulus while driving. However, drivers who listened to music performed as well as the drivers who did not listen to music, indicating that music did not impair their driving performance. Importantly, the increases in mental effort while listening to music pointed out that drivers try to regulate their mental effort as a cognitive compensatory strategy to deal with task demands. Interestingly, we observed significant improvements in driving performance in two of the driving situations. It seems like mental effort might mediate the effect of music on driving performance in situations requiring sustained attention. Other process variables, such as arousal and boredom, should also be incorporated to study designs in order to reveal more on the nature of how music affects driving. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Termination of prehospital resuscitative efforts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Søren; Schaffalitzky de Muckadell, Caroline; Binderup, Lars Grassmé

2017-01-01

-and-death decision-making in the patient's medical records is required. We suggest that a template be implemented in the prehospital medical records describing the basis for any ethical decisions. This template should contain information regarding the persons involved in the deliberations and notes on ethical......BACKGROUND: Discussions on ethical aspects of life-and-death decisions within the hospital are often made in plenary. The prehospital physician, however, may be faced with ethical dilemmas in life-and-death decisions when time-critical decisions to initiate or refrain from resuscitative efforts...... need to be taken without the possibility to discuss matters with colleagues. Little is known whether these considerations regarding ethical issues in crucial life-and-death decisions are documented prehospitally. This is a review of the ethical considerations documented in the prehospital medical...

Modelling requirements for future assessments based on FEP analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Locke, J.; Bailey, L.

1998-01-01

This report forms part of a suite of documents describing the Nirex model development programme. The programme is designed to provide a clear audit trail from the identification of significant features, events and processes (FEPs) to the models and modelling processes employed within a detailed safety assessment. A scenario approach to performance assessment has been adopted. It is proposed that potential evolutions of a deep geological radioactive waste repository can be represented by a base scenario and a number of variant scenarios. The base scenario is chosen to be broad-ranging and to represent the natural evolution of the repository system and its surrounding environment. The base scenario is defined to include all those FEPs that are certain to occur and those which are judged likely to occur for a significant period of the assessment timescale. The structuring of FEPs on a Master Directed Diagram (MDD) provides a systematic framework for identifying those FEPs that form part of the natural evolution of the system and those, which may define alternative potential evolutions of the repository system. In order to construct a description of the base scenario, FEPs have been grouped into a series of conceptual models. Conceptual models are groups of FEPs, identified from the MDD, representing a specific component or process within the disposal system. It has been found appropriate to define conceptual models in terms of the three main components of the disposal system: the repository engineered system, the surrounding geosphere and the biosphere. For each of these components, conceptual models provide a description of the relevant subsystem in terms of its initial characteristics, subsequent evolution and the processes affecting radionuclide transport for the groundwater and gas pathways. The aim of this document is to present the methodology that has been developed for deriving modelling requirements and to illustrate the application of the methodology by

SLS Navigation Model-Based Design Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, T. Emerson; Anzalone, Evan; Geohagan, Kevin; Bernard, Bill; Park, Thomas

2018-01-01

The SLS Program chose to implement a Model-based Design and Model-based Requirements approach for managing component design information and system requirements. This approach differs from previous large-scale design efforts at Marshall Space Flight Center where design documentation alone conveyed information required for vehicle design and analysis and where extensive requirements sets were used to scope and constrain the design. The SLS Navigation Team has been responsible for the Program-controlled Design Math Models (DMMs) which describe and represent the performance of the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and the Rate Gyro Assemblies (RGAs) used by Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GN&C). The SLS Navigation Team is also responsible for the navigation algorithms. The navigation algorithms are delivered for implementation on the flight hardware as a DMM. For the SLS Block 1-B design, the additional GPS Receiver hardware is managed as a DMM at the vehicle design level. This paper provides a discussion of the processes and methods used to engineer, design, and coordinate engineering trades and performance assessments using SLS practices as applied to the GN&C system, with a particular focus on the Navigation components. These include composing system requirements, requirements verification, model development, model verification and validation, and modeling and analysis approaches. The Model-based Design and Requirements approach does not reduce the effort associated with the design process versus previous processes used at Marshall Space Flight Center. Instead, the approach takes advantage of overlap between the requirements development and management process, and the design and analysis process by efficiently combining the control (i.e. the requirement) and the design mechanisms. The design mechanism is the representation of the component behavior and performance in design and analysis tools. The focus in the early design process shifts from the development and

Voluntary versus Enforced Team Effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Keser

2011-08-01

Full Text Available We present a model where each of two players chooses between remuneration based on either private or team effort. Although at least one of the players has the equilibrium strategy to choose private remuneration, we frequently observe both players to choose team remuneration in a series of laboratory experiments. This allows for high cooperation payoffs but also provides individual free-riding incentives. Due to significant cooperation, we observe that, in team remuneration, participants make higher profits than in private remuneration. We also observe that, when participants are not given the option of private remuneration, they cooperate significantly less.

Worker Morale and Effort : Is the Relationship Causal?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hassink, W.H.J.; Fernandez, Roberto M.

2015-01-01

We investigate a unique setting which enables us to distinguish between two theories of work performance. A standard labor supply framework implies a negative effect of the nonpecuniary cost of work on the employee’s effort. In contrast, a model of worker morale that is consistent with a widely used

Parenting and the Development of Effortful Control from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence: A Transactional Developmental Model

Science.gov (United States)

Capaldi, Deborah M.; Kerr, David C. R.; Bertrand, Maria; Pears, Katherine C.; Owen, Lee

2016-01-01

Poor effortful control is a key temperamental factor underlying behavioral problems. The bidirectional association of child effortful control with both positive parenting and negative discipline was examined from ages approximately 3 to 13–14 years, involving 5 time points, and using data from parents and children in the Oregon Youth Study-Three Generational Study (N = 318 children from 150 families). Based on a dynamic developmental systems approach, it was hypothesized that there would be concurrent associations between parenting and child effortful control and bidirectional effects across time from each aspect of parenting to effortful control and from effortful control to each aspect of parenting. It was also hypothesized that associations would be more robust in early childhood, from ages 3 to 7 years, and would diminish as indicated by significantly weaker effects at the older ages, 11–12 to 13–14 years. Longitudinal feedback or mediated effects were also tested. Findings supported (a) stability in each construct over multiple developmental periods; (b) concurrent associations, which were significantly weaker at the older ages; (c) bidirectional effects, consistent with the interpretation that at younger ages children’s effortful control influenced parenting, whereas at older child ages, parenting influenced effortful control; and (d) a transactional effect, such that maternal parenting in late childhood was a mechanism explaining children’s development of effortful control from midchildhood to early adolescence. PMID:27427809

Perturbations in Effort-Related Decision-Making Driven by Acute Stress and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryce, Courtney A; Floresco, Stan B

2016-07-01

Acute stress activates numerous systems in a coordinated effort to promote homeostasis, and can exert differential effects on mnemonic and cognitive functions depending on a myriad of factors. Stress can alter different forms of cost/benefit decision-making, yet the mechanisms that drive these effects, remain unclear. In the present study, we probed how corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) may contribute to stress-induced alterations in cost/benefit decision-making, using an task where well-trained rats chose between a low effort/low reward lever (LR; two pellets) and a high effort/high reward lever (HR; four pellets), with the effort requirement increasing over a session (2, 5, 10, and 20 presses). One-hour restraint stress markedly reduced preference for the HR option, but this effect was attenuated by infusions of the CRF antagonist, alpha-helical CRF. Conversely, central CRF infusion mimicked the effect of stress on decision-making, as well as increased decision latencies and reduced response vigor. CRF infusions did not alter preference for larger vs smaller rewards, but did reduce responding for food delivered on a progressive ratio, suggesting that these treatments may amplify perceived effort costs that may be required to obtain rewards. CRF infusions into the ventral tegmental area recapitulated the effect of central CRF treatment and restraint on choice behavior, suggesting that these effects may be mediated by perturbations in dopamine transmission. These findings highlight the involvement of CRF in regulating effort-related decisions and suggest that increased CRF activity may contribute to motivational impairments and abnormal decision-making associated with stress-related psychiatric disorders such as depression.

The Determinants of Student Effort at Learning ERP: A Cultural Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Alshare, Khaled A.; El-Masri, Mazen; Lane, Peggy L.

2015-01-01

This paper develops a research model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) and Hofstede's cultural dimensions to explore factors that influence student effort at learning Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) using LISREL was utilized to validate the proposed research…

Quantification of Dynamic Model Validation Metrics Using Uncertainty Propagation from Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Andrew M.; Peck, Jeffrey A.; Stewart, Eric C.

2018-01-01

The Space Launch System, NASA's new large launch vehicle for long range space exploration, is presently in the final design and construction phases, with the first launch scheduled for 2019. A dynamic model of the system has been created and is critical for calculation of interface loads and natural frequencies and mode shapes for guidance, navigation, and control (GNC). Because of the program and schedule constraints, a single modal test of the SLS will be performed while bolted down to the Mobile Launch Pad just before the first launch. A Monte Carlo and optimization scheme will be performed to create thousands of possible models based on given dispersions in model properties and to determine which model best fits the natural frequencies and mode shapes from modal test. However, the question still remains as to whether this model is acceptable for the loads and GNC requirements. An uncertainty propagation and quantification (UP and UQ) technique to develop a quantitative set of validation metrics that is based on the flight requirements has therefore been developed and is discussed in this paper. There has been considerable research on UQ and UP and validation in the literature, but very little on propagating the uncertainties from requirements, so most validation metrics are "rules-of-thumb;" this research seeks to come up with more reason-based metrics. One of the main assumptions used to achieve this task is that the uncertainty in the modeling of the fixed boundary condition is accurate, so therefore that same uncertainty can be used in propagating the fixed-test configuration to the free-free actual configuration. The second main technique applied here is the usage of the limit-state formulation to quantify the final probabilistic parameters and to compare them with the requirements. These techniques are explored with a simple lumped spring-mass system and a simplified SLS model. When completed, it is anticipated that this requirements-based validation

A hierarchical modeling methodology for the definition and selection of requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Dufresne, Stephane

This dissertation describes the development of a requirements analysis methodology that takes into account the concept of operations and the hierarchical decomposition of aerospace systems. At the core of the methodology, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is used to ensure the traceability between the qualitative and quantitative information present in the hierarchical model. The proposed methodology is implemented to the requirements definition of a hurricane tracker Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Three research objectives are identified in this work; (1) improve the requirements mapping process by matching the stakeholder expectations with the concept of operations, systems and available resources; (2) reduce the epistemic uncertainty surrounding the requirements and requirements mapping; and (3) improve the requirements down-selection process by taking into account the level of importance of the criteria and the available resources. Several challenges are associated with the identification and definition of requirements. The complexity of the system implies that a large number of requirements are needed to define the systems. These requirements are defined early in the conceptual design, where the level of knowledge is relatively low and the level of uncertainty is large. The proposed methodology intends to increase the level of knowledge and reduce the level of uncertainty by guiding the design team through a structured process. To address these challenges, a new methodology is created to flow-down the requirements from the stakeholder expectations to the systems alternatives. A taxonomy of requirements is created to classify the information gathered during the problem definition. Subsequently, the operational and systems functions and measures of effectiveness are integrated to a hierarchical model to allow the traceability of the information. Monte Carlo methods are used to evaluate the variations of the hierarchical model elements and consequently reduce the

Input data requirements for performance modelling and monitoring of photovoltaic plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gavriluta, Anamaria Florina; Spataru, Sergiu; Sera, Dezso

2018-01-01

This work investigates the input data requirements in the context of performance modeling of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) systems. The analysis focuses on the PVWatts performance model, well suited for on-line performance monitoring of PV strings, due to its low number of parameters and high......, modelling the performance of the PV modules at high irradiances requires a dataset of only a few hundred samples in order to obtain a power estimation accuracy of ~1-2\\%....

Neural Correlates of Impaired Reward-Effort Integration in Remitted Bulimia Nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Stefanie Verena; Morishima, Yosuke; Schwab, Simon; Wiest, Roland; Federspiel, Andrea; Hasler, Gregor

2018-03-01

The integration of reward magnitudes and effort costs is required for an effective behavioral guidance. This reward-effort integration was reported to be dependent on dopaminergic neurotransmission. As bulimia nervosa has been associated with a dysregulated dopamine system and catecholamine depletion led to reward-processing deficits in remitted bulimia nervosa, the purpose of this study was to identify the role of catecholamine dysfunction and its relation to behavioral and neural reward-effort integration in bulimia nervosa. To investigate the interaction between catecholamine functioning and behavioral, and neural responses directly, 17 remitted bulimic (rBN) and 21 healthy individuals (HC) received alpha-methyl-paratyrosine (AMPT) over 24 h to achieve catecholamine depletion in a randomized, crossover study design. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the monetary incentive delay (MID) task to assess reward-effort integration in relation to catecholaminergic neurotransmission at the behavioral and neural level. AMPT reduced the ability to integrate rewards and efforts effectively in HC participants. In contrast, in rBN participants, the reduced reward-effort integration was associated with illness duration in the sham condition and unrelated to catecholamine depletion. Regarding neural activation, AMPT decreased the reward anticipation-related neural activation in the anteroventral striatum. This decrease was associated with the AMPT-induced reduction of monetary earning in HC in contrast to rBN participants. Our findings contributed to the theory of a desensitized dopaminergic system in bulimia nervosa. A disrupted processing of reward magnitudes and effort costs might increase the probability of maintenance of bulimic symptoms.

Zero Effort Technologies Considerations, Challenges, and Use in Health, Wellness, and Rehabilitation

CERN Document Server

Mihailidis, Alex; Hoey, Jesse

2011-01-01

This book introduces zero-effort technologies (ZETs), an emerging class of technology that requires little or no effort from the people who use it. ZETs use advanced techniques, such as computer vision, sensor fusion, decision-making and planning, and machine learning to autonomously operate through the collection, analysis, and application of data about the user and his/her context. This book gives an overview of ZETs, presents concepts in the development of pervasive intelligent technologies and environments for health and rehabilitation, along with an in-depth discussion of the design princ

Fusing Quantitative Requirements Analysis with Model-based Systems Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Cornford, Steven L.; Feather, Martin S.; Heron, Vance A.; Jenkins, J. Steven

2006-01-01

A vision is presented for fusing quantitative requirements analysis with model-based systems engineering. This vision draws upon and combines emergent themes in the engineering milieu. "Requirements engineering" provides means to explicitly represent requirements (both functional and non-functional) as constraints and preferences on acceptable solutions, and emphasizes early-lifecycle review, analysis and verification of design and development plans. "Design by shopping" emphasizes revealing the space of options available from which to choose (without presuming that all selection criteria have previously been elicited), and provides means to make understandable the range of choices and their ramifications. "Model-based engineering" emphasizes the goal of utilizing a formal representation of all aspects of system design, from development through operations, and provides powerful tool suites that support the practical application of these principles. A first step prototype towards this vision is described, embodying the key capabilities. Illustrations, implications, further challenges and opportunities are outlined.

Economic growth, biodiversity loss and conservation effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietz, Simon; Adger, W Neil

2003-05-01

This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth, biodiversity loss and efforts to conserve biodiversity using a combination of panel and cross section data. If economic growth is a cause of biodiversity loss through habitat transformation and other means, then we would expect an inverse relationship. But if higher levels of income are associated with increasing real demand for biodiversity conservation, then investment to protect remaining diversity should grow and the rate of biodiversity loss should slow with growth. Initially, economic growth and biodiversity loss are examined within the framework of the environmental Kuznets hypothesis. Biodiversity is represented by predicted species richness, generated for tropical terrestrial biodiversity using a species-area relationship. The environmental Kuznets hypothesis is investigated with reference to comparison of fixed and random effects models to allow the relationship to vary for each country. It is concluded that an environmental Kuznets curve between income and rates of loss of habitat and species does not exist in this case. The role of conservation effort in addressing environmental problems is examined through state protection of land and the regulation of trade in endangered species, two important means of biodiversity conservation. This analysis shows that the extent of government environmental policy increases with economic development. We argue that, although the data are problematic, the implications of these models is that conservation effort can only ever result in a partial deceleration of biodiversity decline partly because protected areas serve multiple functions and are not necessarily designated to protect biodiversity. Nevertheless institutional and policy response components of the income biodiversity relationship are important but are not well captured through cross-country regression analysis.

A coupled modelling effort to study the fate of contaminated sediments downstream of the Coles Hill deposit, Virginia, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. F. Castro-Bolinaga

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the preliminary results of a coupled modelling effort to study the fate of tailings (radioactive waste-by product downstream of the Coles Hill uranium deposit located in Virginia, USA. The implementation of the overall modelling process includes a one-dimensional hydraulic model to qualitatively characterize the sediment transport process under severe flooding conditions downstream of the potential mining site, a two-dimensional ANSYS Fluent model to simulate the release of tailings from a containment cell located partially above the local ground surface into the nearby streams, and a one-dimensional finite-volume sediment transport model to examine the propagation of a tailings sediment pulse in the river network located downstream. The findings of this investigation aim to assist in estimating the potential impacts that tailings would have if they were transported into rivers and reservoirs located downstream of the Coles Hill deposit that serve as municipal drinking water supplies.

Predictive Capability Maturity Model for computational modeling and simulation.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oberkampf, William Louis; Trucano, Timothy Guy; Pilch, Martin M.

2007-10-01

The Predictive Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) is a new model that can be used to assess the level of maturity of computational modeling and simulation (M&S) efforts. The development of the model is based on both the authors experience and their analysis of similar investigations in the past. The perspective taken in this report is one of judging the usefulness of a predictive capability that relies on the numerical solution to partial differential equations to better inform and improve decision making. The review of past investigations, such as the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Department of Defense Technology Readiness Levels, indicates that a more restricted, more interpretable method is needed to assess the maturity of an M&S effort. The PCMM addresses six contributing elements to M&S: (1) representation and geometric fidelity, (2) physics and material model fidelity, (3) code verification, (4) solution verification, (5) model validation, and (6) uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis. For each of these elements, attributes are identified that characterize four increasing levels of maturity. Importantly, the PCMM is a structured method for assessing the maturity of an M&S effort that is directed toward an engineering application of interest. The PCMM does not assess whether the M&S effort, the accuracy of the predictions, or the performance of the engineering system satisfies or does not satisfy specified application requirements.

Electrophysiological indices of anterior cingulate cortex function reveal changing levels of cognitive effort and reward valuation that sustain task performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Umemoto, Akina; Inzlicht, Michael; Holroyd, Clay B

2018-06-14

Successful execution of goal-directed behaviors often requires the deployment of cognitive control, which is thought to require cognitive effort. Recent theories have proposed that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) regulates control levels by weighing the reward-related benefits of control against its effort-related costs. However, given that the sensations of cognitive effort and reward valuation are available only to introspection, this hypothesis is difficult to investigate empirically. We have proposed that two electrophysiological indices of ACC function, frontal midline theta and the reward positivity (RewP), provide objective measures of these functions. To explore this issue, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) from participants engaged in an extended, cognitively-demanding task. Participants performed a time estimation task for 2hours in which they received reward and error feedback according to their task performance. We observed that the amplitude of the RewP, a feedback-locked component of the event related brain potential associated with reward processing, decreased with time-on-task. Conversely, frontal midline theta power, which consists of 4-8Hz EEG oscillations associated with cognitive effort, increased with time-on-task. We also explored how these phenomena changed over time by conducting within-participant multi-level modeling analyses. Our results suggest that extended execution of a cognitively-demanding task is characterized by an early phase in which high control levels foster rapid improvements in task performance, and a later phase in which high control levels were necessary to maintain stable task performance, perhaps counteracting waning reward valuation. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Hybrid Parallel Execution Model for Logic Based Requirement Specifications (Invited Paper

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Jeffrey J. P. Tsai

1999-05-01

Full Text Available It is well known that undiscovered errors in a requirements specification is extremely expensive to be fixed when discovered in the software maintenance phase. Errors in the requirement phase can be reduced through the validation and verification of the requirements specification. Many logic-based requirements specification languages have been developed to achieve these goals. However, the execution and reasoning of a logic-based requirements specification can be very slow. An effective way to improve their performance is to execute and reason the logic-based requirements specification in parallel. In this paper, we present a hybrid model to facilitate the parallel execution of a logic-based requirements specification language. A logic-based specification is first applied by a data dependency analysis technique which can find all the mode combinations that exist within a specification clause. This mode information is used to support a novel hybrid parallel execution model, which combines both top-down and bottom-up evaluation strategies. This new execution model can find the failure in the deepest node of the search tree at the early stage of the evaluation, thus this new execution model can reduce the total number of nodes searched in the tree, the total processes needed to be generated, and the total communication channels needed in the search process. A simulator has been implemented to analyze the execution behavior of the new model. Experiments show significant improvement based on several criteria.

Living systematic reviews: 2. Combining human and machine effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, James; Noel-Storr, Anna; Marshall, Iain; Wallace, Byron; McDonald, Steven; Mavergames, Chris; Glasziou, Paul; Shemilt, Ian; Synnot, Anneliese; Turner, Tari; Elliott, Julian

2017-11-01

New approaches to evidence synthesis, which use human effort and machine automation in mutually reinforcing ways, can enhance the feasibility and sustainability of living systematic reviews. Human effort is a scarce and valuable resource, required when automation is impossible or undesirable, and includes contributions from online communities ("crowds") as well as more conventional contributions from review authors and information specialists. Automation can assist with some systematic review tasks, including searching, eligibility assessment, identification and retrieval of full-text reports, extraction of data, and risk of bias assessment. Workflows can be developed in which human effort and machine automation can each enable the other to operate in more effective and efficient ways, offering substantial enhancement to the productivity of systematic reviews. This paper describes and discusses the potential-and limitations-of new ways of undertaking specific tasks in living systematic reviews, identifying areas where these human/machine "technologies" are already in use, and where further research and development is needed. While the context is living systematic reviews, many of these enabling technologies apply equally to standard approaches to systematic reviewing. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Relationship Between the Effort-Reward Imbalance and Psychosocial Health in Nurses

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Fariborz Roshangar

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The health of nurses as providers of health affects the quality of care provided by health care organizations to patients. The effort-reward imbalance is accompanied by repressive responses that can lead to physical and psychological diseases as well as stressful experiences in nurses’ activity. Regarding the existence of some discrimination in the system of health, the present study was conducted to determine the relationship between the effort-reward imbalance and psychosocial health in nurses. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 270 nurses working in five medical-educational centers in Tabriz participated through random-quota sampling. The research tool included a demographic questionnaire, Siegrist effort- reward imbalance questionnaire and Copenhagen Psychosocial questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS V18 and descriptive and inferential statistics. In the present study, 54.8% of the patients were suffering from effort- reward imbalance model (occupational stress. The relatively high prevalence of this can be attributed to the conditions of the hospital's working environment. The results of this study showed a significant relationship between psychosocial health and balance of reward and effort in nurses and also the findings of the research showed a positive and significant relationship between mental and social health and the score of effort-reward imbalance model (0.95 = R, and P <0.05. There was a significant relationship between effort and work commitment and job burnout. Considering the stressful nature of the profession among many reasons, the mental health of nurses is at a higher risk than that of other groups in the society. Because some factors related to the imbalance in the effort and reward (stress is inevitable, it is necessary in the profession of nursing for managers to review their employees' position and characteristics to find out their staff’s attitudes and behaviors and direct them in the right path.

Changes in inertia and effect on turning effort across different wheelchair configurations.

Science.gov (United States)

Caspall, Jayme J; Seligsohn, Erin; Dao, Phuc V; Sprigle, Stephen

2013-01-01

When executing turning maneuvers, manual wheelchair users must overcome the rotational inertia of the wheelchair system. Differences in wheelchair rotational inertia can result in increases in torque required to maneuver, resulting in greater propulsion effort and stress on the shoulder joints. The inertias of various configurations of an ultralightweight wheelchair were measured using a rotational inertia-measuring device. Adjustments in axle position, changes in wheel and tire type, and the addition of several accessories had various effects on rotational inertias. The configuration with the highest rotational inertia (solid tires, mag wheels with rearward axle) exceeded the configuration with the lowest (pneumatic tires, spoke wheels with forward axle) by 28%. The greater inertia requires increased torque to accelerate the wheelchair during turning. At a representative maximum acceleration, the reactive torque spanned the range of 11.7 to 15.0 N-m across the wheelchair configurations. At higher accelerations, these torques exceeded that required to overcome caster scrub during turning. These results indicate that a wheelchair's rotational inertia can significantly influence the torque required during turning and that this influence will affect active users who turn at higher speeds. Categorizing wheelchairs using both mass and rotational inertia would better represent differences in effort during wheelchair maneuvers.

Business Process Simulation: Requirements for Business and Resource Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Audrius Rima

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN is to provide easily understandable graphical representation of business process. Thus BPMN is widely used and applied in various areas one of them being a business process simulation. This paper addresses some BPMN model based business process simulation problems. The paper formulate requirements for business process and resource models in enabling their use for business process simulation.

Applying the effort-reward imbalance model to household and family work: a population-based study of German mothers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sperlich Stefanie

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This paper reports on results of a newly developed questionnaire for the assessment of effort-reward imbalance (ERI in unpaid household and family work. Methods: Using a cross-sectional population-based survey of German mothers (n = 3129 the dimensional structure of the theoretical ERI model was validated by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA. Analyses of Variance were computed to examine relationships between ERI and social factors and health outcomes. Results CFA revealed good psychometric properties indicating that the subscale 'effort' is based on one latent factor and the subscale 'reward' is composed of four dimensions: 'intrinsic value of family and household work', 'societal esteem', 'recognition from the partner', and 'affection from the child(ren'. About 19.3% of mothers perceived lack of reciprocity and 23.8% showed high rates of overcommitment in terms of inability to withdraw from household and family obligations. Socially disadvantaged mothers were at higher risk of ERI, in particular with respect to the perception of low societal esteem. Gender inequality in the division of household and family work and work-family conflict accounted most for ERI in household and family work. Analogous to ERI in paid work we could demonstrate that ERI affects self-rated health, somatic complaints, mental health and, to some extent, hypertension. Conclusions The newly developed questionnaire demonstrates satisfied validity and promising results for extending the ERI model to household and family work.

Examining the Efforts of a Small, Open Economy to Reduce Carbon Emissions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levitt, Clinton J.; Saaby Pedersen, Morten; Sørensen, Anders

2015-01-01

emissions by relatively small, open economies. Although, these economies are small players in international markets, international trade has an important influence on their economies. Investigating the outcome of efforts to curb emissions by these small, open economies provides insights into the situation...... faced by a large set of the world's economies. This paper has three objectives: (1) investigate the outcome of Denmark's efforts to reduce its carbon emissions by characterizing the relationship between Denmark's macroeconomic activity and carbon emissions; (2) determine the carbon content of Danish...... trade and document the important effects that growing trade with China has had on Danish consumption emissions; and (3), investigate the robustness of measures of consumption emissions under varying information requirements. Our analysis of the outcomes of Danish efforts to reduce carbon emissions...

Formal Requirements Modeling for Reactive Systems with Coloured Petri Nets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tjell, Simon

This dissertation presents the contributions of seven publications all concerned with the application of Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) to requirements modeling for reactive systems. The publications are introduced along with relevant background material and related work, and their contributions...... to take into concern that the behavior of human actors is less likely to be predictable than the behavior of e.g. mechanical components.   In the second approach, the CPN model is parameterized and utilizes a generic and reusable CPN module operating as an SD interpreter. In addition to distinguishing...... and events. A tool is presented that allows automated validation of the structure of CPN models with respect to the guidelines. Next, three publications on integrating Jackson's Problem Frames with CPN requirements models are presented: The first publication introduces a method for systematically structuring...

Theoretical Aspects Regarding the Optimal Taxation of Effort With More Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prof. Dumitru MARIN PhD

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, the authors propose to conduct a pertinent analysis of the use of mathematical models in relation to optimal effort taxation. The effort taxation must be a balance between allocative efficiency and distribution. It is a question of determining the optimal tax level for three conditions. The theory is that the shift to a fixed amount, a single share, is not feasible for wage compensation, being important to note that this condition is one that must be considered. The mathematical model proposed by the authors regarding optimal taxation of multi-condition effort is relevant and suggestive for the analysis. It is well known that, in order to increase tax revenue, they must inevitably be based on the unobservable variant, which is the potential gain or, most importantly, on the individual productivity of labor. Solving a problem of this sensibility, such as the optimal taxation of multi-state effort, needs to be analyzed and conditioned by the establishment of a mathematical-econometric model that highlights both the aspects of a minimum expectation threshold or a situation that depends on the economic outcome. The authors consider the existing variants and establish variants based on a mathematical model that is analyzed to best answer the problem of the adverse selection ie the balance between allocation efficiency and distribution. We analyze the optimization problem from Lagrange’s function and associated multiplier, highlighting the mathematical functions that can be used. Further, the authors consider the case of adverse selection based on asymmetric information. For the objective function and budget constraint, the authors consider that they need to add incentive restrictions, especially when they are taxed on income. By analyzing this hypothesis in depth, the authors propose and demonstrate a mathematical function that best suits these adjustment needs and solve the adverse selection. The way in which the authors suggest

Modeling and Simulation for Exploring Human-Robot Team Interaction Requirements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dudenhoeffer, Donald Dean; Bruemmer, David Jonathon; Davis, Midge Lee

2001-12-01

Small-sized and micro-robots will soon be available for deployment in large-scale forces. Consequently, the ability of a human operator to coordinate and interact with largescale robotic forces is of great interest. This paper describes the ways in which modeling and simulation have been used to explore new possibilities for human-robot interaction. The paper also discusses how these explorations have fed implementation of a unified set of command and control concepts for robotic force deployment. Modeling and simulation can play a major role in fielding robot teams in actual missions. While live testing is preferred, limitations in terms of technology, cost, and time often prohibit extensive experimentation with physical multi-robot systems. Simulation provides insight, focuses efforts, eliminates large areas of the possible solution space, and increases the quality of actual testing.

Effort-Reward Imbalance and Overcommitment in UK Academics: Implications for Mental Health, Satisfaction and Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Kinman, Gail

2016-01-01

This study utilises the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model of job stress to predict several indices of well-being in academics in the UK: mental ill health, job satisfaction and leaving intentions. This model posits that (a) employees who believe that their efforts are not counterbalanced by sufficient rewards will experience impaired well-being…

Effort-Based Decision Making in Schizophrenia: Evaluation of Paradigms to Measure Motivational Deficits.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Michael F; Horan, William P

2015-09-01

Effort-based decision making requires one to decide how much effort to expend for a certain amount of reward. As the amount of reward goes up most people are willing to exert more effort. This relationship between reward level and effort expenditure can be measured in specialized performance-based tasks that have only recently been applied to schizophrenia. Such tasks provide a way to measure objectively motivational deficits in schizophrenia, which now are only assessed with clinical interviews of negative symptoms. The articles in this theme provide reviews of the relevant animal and human literatures (first 2 articles), and then a psychometric evaluation of 5 effort-based decision making paradigms (last 2 articles). This theme section is intended to stimulate interest in this emerging area among basic scientists developing paradigms for preclinical studies, human experimentalists trying to disentangle factors that contribute to performance on effort-based tasks, and investigators looking for objective endpoints for clinical trials of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Multiproduct Multiperiod Newsvendor Problem with Dynamic Market Efforts

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Jianmai Shi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We study a multiperiod multiproduct production planning problem where the production capacity and the marketing effort on demand are both considered. The accumulative impact of marketing effort on demand is captured by the Nerlove and Arrow (N-A advertising model. The problem is formulated as a discrete-time, finite-horizon dynamic optimization problem, which can be viewed as an extension to the classic newsvendor problem by integrating with the N-A model. A Lagrangian relaxation based solution approach is developed to solve the problem, in which the subgradient algorithm is used to find an upper bound of the solution and a feasibility heuristic algorithm is proposed to search for a feasible lower bound. Twelve kinds of instances with different problem size involving up to 50 products and 15 planning periods are randomly generated and used to test the Lagrangian heuristic algorithm. Computational results show that the proposed approach can obtain near optimal solutions for all the instances in very short CPU time, which is less than 90 seconds even for the largest instance.

Anticipated emotions and effort allocation in weight goal striving.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelissen, Rob M A; de Vet, Emely; Zeelenberg, Marcel

2011-02-01

This study aimed to investigate the influence of anticipated emotions on preventive health behaviour if specified at the level of behavioural outcomes. Consistent with predictions from a recently developed model of goal pursuit, we hypothesized that the impact of emotions on effort levels depended on the perceived proximity to the goal. Participants with weight-loss intentions were randomly selected from an Internet panel and completed questionnaires at three points in time, baseline (T1; N= 725), 2 weeks later at T2 (N= 582) and again 2 months later at T3 (N= 528). Questionnaires assessed anticipated emotions (at T1) and experienced emotions (at T2) towards goal attainment and non-attainment. Goal proximity, goal desirability, and effort levels in striving for weight loss were assessed at both T1 and T2. Current and target weights were reported at all three assessments. In line with predictions, we found that negative anticipated emotions towards goal non-attainment resulted in increased effort but only if people perceived themselves in close proximity to their goal. Effort, in turn, predicted weight loss and goal achievement. The current data bear important practical implications as they identify anticipated emotions as targets of behaviour change interventions aimed to stimulate effort in striving for broad, health-related goals like weight loss. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

The logic-bias effect: The role of effortful processing in the resolution of belief-logic conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

Howarth, Stephanie; Handley, Simon J; Walsh, Clare

2016-02-01

According to the default interventionist dual-process account of reasoning, belief-based responses to reasoning tasks are based on Type 1 processes generated by default, which must be inhibited in order to produce an effortful, Type 2 output based on the validity of an argument. However, recent research has indicated that reasoning on the basis of beliefs may not be as fast and automatic as this account claims. In three experiments, we presented participants with a reasoning task that was to be completed while they were generating random numbers (RNG). We used the novel methodology introduced by Handley, Newstead & Trippas (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 28-43, 2011), which required participants to make judgments based upon either the validity of a conditional argument or the believability of its conclusion. The results showed that belief-based judgments produced lower rates of accuracy overall and were influenced to a greater extent than validity judgments by the presence of a conflict between belief and logic for both simple and complex arguments. These findings were replicated in Experiment 3, in which we controlled for switching demands in a blocked design. Across all three experiments, we found a main effect of RNG, implying that both instructional sets require some effortful processing. However, in the blocked design RNG had its greatest impact on logic judgments, suggesting that distinct executive resources may be required for each type of judgment. We discuss the implications of our findings for the default interventionist account and offer a parallel competitive model as an alternative interpretation for our findings.

Projections of cost and on-site manual-labor requirements for constructing electric-generating plants, 1980-1990

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-02-01

This report represents part of a continuing effort by the Federal Government to forecast the capital and labor required for constructing electric generating capacity additions necessary to accommodate projected economic and population growth in the US and its regions. Information is included on anticipated additions to electric generating capacity, labor requirements for these additions, capital cost requirements, and forecasting models. Coal-fired, nuclear, hydro, and pumped storage power plants are considered in these forecasts

Glass Property Models and Constraints for Estimating the Glass to be Produced at Hanford by Implementing Current Advanced Glass Formulation Efforts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vienna, John D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Kim, Dong-Sang [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Skorski, Daniel C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Matyas, Josef [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2013-07-01

Recent glass formulation and melter testing data have suggested that significant increases in waste loading in HLW and LAW glasses are possible over current system planning estimates. The data (although limited in some cases) were evaluated to determine a set of constraints and models that could be used to estimate the maximum loading of specific waste compositions in glass. It is recommended that these models and constraints be used to estimate the likely HLW and LAW glass volumes that would result if the current glass formulation studies are successfully completed. It is recognized that some of the models are preliminary in nature and will change in the coming years. Plus the models do not currently address the prediction uncertainties that would be needed before they could be used in plant operations. The models and constraints are only meant to give an indication of rough glass volumes and are not intended to be used in plant operation or waste form qualification activities. A current research program is in place to develop the data, models, and uncertainty descriptions for that purpose. A fundamental tenet underlying the research reported in this document is to try to be less conservative than previous studies when developing constraints for estimating the glass to be produced by implementing current advanced glass formulation efforts. The less conservative approach documented herein should allow for the estimate of glass masses that may be realized if the current efforts in advanced glass formulations are completed over the coming years and are as successful as early indications suggest they may be. Because of this approach there is an unquantifiable uncertainty in the ultimate glass volume projections due to model prediction uncertainties that has to be considered along with other system uncertainties such as waste compositions and amounts to be immobilized, split factors between LAW and HLW, etc.

Anticipated emotions and effort allocation in weight goal striving

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nelissen, R.M.A.; de Vet, H.C.W.; Zeelenberg, M.

2011-01-01

Objective. This study aimed to investigate the influence of anticipated emotions on preventive health behaviour if specified at the level of behavioural outcomes. Consistent with predictions from a recently developed model of goal pursuit, we hypothesized that the impact of emotions on effort levels

1996 Design effort for IFMIF HEBT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blind, B.

1997-01-01

The paper details the 1996 design effort for the IFMIF HEBT. Following a brief overview, it lists the primary requirements for the beam at the target, describes the design approach and design tools used, introduces the beamline modules, gives the results achieved with the design at this stage, points out possible improvements and gives the names and computer locations of the TRACE3-D and PARMILA files that sum up the design work. The design does not fully meet specifications in regards to the flatness of the distribution at the target. With further work, including if necessary some backup options, the flatness specifications may be realized. It is not proposed that the specifications, namely flatness to ±5% and higher-intensity ridges that are no more than 15% above average, be changed at this time. The design also does not meet the requirement that the modules of all beamlines should operate at the same settings. However, the goal of using identical components and operational procedures has been met and only minor returning is needed to produce very similar beam distributions from all beamlines. Significant further work is required in the following areas: TRACE3-D designs and PARMILA runs must be made for the beams coming from accelerators No. 3 and No. 4. Transport of 30-MeV and 35-MeV beams to the targets and beam dump must be studied. Comprehensive error studies must be made. These must result in tolerance specifications and may require design iterations. Detailed interfacing with target-spot instrumentation is required. This instrumentation must be able to check all aspects of the specifications

Public health efforts to build a surveillance system for child maltreatment mortality: lessons learned for stakeholder engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Lucia Rojas; Gibbs, Deborah; Wetterhall, Scott; Schnitzer, Patricia G; Farris, Tonya; Crosby, Alex E; Leeb, Rebecca T

2011-01-01

Reducing the number of largely preventable and tragic deaths due to child maltreatment (CM) requires an understanding of the magnitude of and risk factors for fatal CM and targeted research, policy, and prevention efforts. Public health surveillance offers an opportunity to improve our understanding of the problem of CM. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded state public health agencies in California, Michigan, and Oregon to implement a model approach for routine and sustainable CM surveillance and evaluated the experience of those efforts. We describe the experiences of 3 state health agencies in building collaborations and partnerships with multiple stakeholders for CM surveillance. Qualitative, structured key informant interviews were carried out during site visits as part of an evaluation of a CDC-funded project to implement a model approach to CM surveillance. Key informants included system stakeholders from state health agencies, law enforcement, child protective services, the medical community, and child welfare advocacy groups in the 3 funded states. Factors that facilitated stakeholder engagement for CM surveillance included the following: streamlining and coordinating the work of Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs); demonstrating the value of surveillance to non-public health partners; codifying relationships with participating agencies; and securing the commitment of decision-makers. Legislative mandates were helpful in bringing key stakeholders together, but it was not sufficient to ensure sustained engagement. The engagement process yielded multiple benefits for the stakeholders including a deeper appreciation of the complexity of defining CM; a greater understanding of risk factors for CM; and enhanced guidance for prevention and control efforts. States considering or currently undertaking CM surveillance can glean useful insights from the experiences of these 3 states and apply them to their own efforts to engage

Creating an effort tracking tool to improve therapeutic cancer clinical trials workload management and budgeting.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Pam; Bebee, Patty; Beekman, Linda; Browning, David; Innes, Mathew; Kain, Jeannie; Royce-Westcott, Theresa; Waldinger, Marcy

2011-11-01

Quantifying data management and regulatory workload for clinical research is a difficult task that would benefit from a robust tool to assess and allocate effort. As in most clinical research environments, The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC) Clinical Trials Office (CTO) struggled to effectively allocate data management and regulatory time with frequently inaccurate estimates of how much time was required to complete the specific tasks performed by each role. In a dynamic clinical research environment in which volume and intensity of work ebbs and flows, determining requisite effort to meet study objectives was challenging. In addition, a data-driven understanding of how much staff time was required to complete a clinical trial was desired to ensure accurate trial budget development and effective cost recovery. Accordingly, the UMCCC CTO developed and implemented a Web-based effort-tracking application with the goal of determining the true costs of data management and regulatory staff effort in clinical trials. This tool was developed, implemented, and refined over a 3-year period. This article describes the process improvement and subsequent leveling of workload within data management and regulatory that enhanced the efficiency of UMCCC's clinical trials operation.

Optimal pricing and promotional effort control policies for a new product growth in segmented market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jha P.C.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Market segmentation enables the marketers to understand and serve the customers more effectively thereby improving company’s competitive position. In this paper, we study the impact of price and promotion efforts on evolution of sales intensity in segmented market to obtain the optimal price and promotion effort policies. Evolution of sales rate for each segment is developed under the assumption that marketer may choose both differentiated as well as mass market promotion effort to influence the uncaptured market potential. An optimal control model is formulated and a solution method using Maximum Principle has been discussed. The model is extended to incorporate budget constraint. Model applicability is illustrated by a numerical example. P.C. Jha, P. Manik, K. Chaudhary, R. Cambini / Optimal Pricing and Promotional 2 Since the discrete time data is available, the formulated model is discretized. For solving the discrete model, differential evolution algorithm is used.

Marginal socio-economic effects of an employer's efforts to improve the work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rezagholi, Mahmoud

2018-01-01

Workplace health promotion (WHP) strongly requires the employer's efforts to improve the psychosocial, ergonomic, and physical environments of the workplace. There are many studies discussing the socio-economic advantage of WHP intervention programmes and thus the internal and external factors motivating employers to implement and integrate such programmes. However, the socio-economic impacts of the employer's multifactorial efforts to improve the work environment need to be adequately assessed. Data were collected from Swedish company Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) through a work environment survey in April 2014. Different regression equations were analysed to assess marginal effects of the employer's efforts on overall labour effectiveness (OLE), informal work impairments (IWI), lost working hours (LWH), and labour productivity loss (LPL) in terms of money. The employer's multifactorial efforts resulted in increasing OLE, decreasing IWI and illness-related LWH, and cost savings in terms of decreasing LPL. Environmental factors at the workplace are the important determinant factor for OLE, and the latter is where socio-economic impacts of the employer's efforts primarily manifest.

Capabilities and requirements for modelling radionuclide transport in the geosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paige, R.W.; Piper, D.

1989-02-01

This report gives an overview of geosphere flow and transport models suitable for use by the Department of the Environment in the performance assessment of radioactive waste disposal sites. An outline methodology for geosphere modelling is proposed, consisting of a number of different types of model. A brief description of each of the component models is given, indicating the purpose of the model, the processes being modelled and the methodologies adopted. Areas requiring development are noted. (author)

Air Force Manpower Requirements and Component Mix: A Focus on Agile Combat Support

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

1 Efforts are underway to revitalize parts of the process, with primary emphasis on a wartime workforce planning model, Strategic Manpower...workforces of the Air Force’s manpower requirements squadrons. xiv • Refine the policies and practices for sizing wartime requirements. A revitalized ...crm.csd.disa.mil/ app /answers/detail/a_id/7759/kw/afocd and https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil/ app /answers/detail/a_id/7504/kw/afecd, respectively. Access to myPers is

Manager’s Dilemma: Stockholders’ and Consumers’ Responses to Corporate Environmental Efforts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prayag Lal Yadav

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study aims to reveal that different stakeholders have different environmental preferences by demonstrating the managers’ dilemma of selecting an appropriate environmental strategy to achieve firms’ corporate goals. It analyzes the effects of firms’ efforts in environmental impact through actual environmental practices and environmental considerations in environmental management on stockholders’ and consumers’ responses by using the Newsweek Green Rankings 2012 for large US-based firms. The study uses the event study methodology and the ordinary least squares multivariate regression model conditioned with relevant firm and industry-specific characteristics. The results indicate that both stockholders and consumers appreciate corporate efforts in reducing environmental damage; however, consumers exhibit a significant and negative response against firms’ environmental management efforts. The conflicting results provide valuable insights into the alignment of environmental efforts for developing core competencies that lead firms toward sustainability. Further, this research makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature and provides guidelines for the formulation of public policies that encourage corporate environmental efforts to ensure simultaneous development of business and society.

Required experimental accuracy to select between supersymmetrical models

Science.gov (United States)

Grellscheid, David

2004-03-01

We will present a method to decide a priori whether various supersymmetrical scenarios can be distinguished based on sparticle mass data alone. For each model, a scan over all free SUSY breaking parameters reveals the extent of that model's physically allowed region of sparticle-mass-space. Based on the geometrical configuration of these regions in mass-space, it is possible to obtain an estimate of the required accuracy of future sparticle mass measurements to distinguish between the models. We will illustrate this algorithm with an example. This talk is based on work done in collaboration with B C Allanach (LAPTH, Annecy) and F Quevedo (DAMTP, Cambridge).

Neutronic analyses and tools development efforts in the European DEMO programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fischer, U., E-mail: ulrich.fischer@kit.edu [Association KIT-Euratom, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany); Bachmann, C. [European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), Garching (Germany); Bienkowska, B. [Association IPPLM-Euratom, IPPLM Warsaw/INP Krakow (Poland); Catalan, J.P. [Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid (Spain); Drozdowicz, K.; Dworak, D. [Association IPPLM-Euratom, IPPLM Warsaw/INP Krakow (Poland); Leichtle, D. [Association KIT-Euratom, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany); Fusion for Energy (F4E), Barcelona (Spain); Lengar, I. [MESCS-JSI, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Jaboulay, J.-C. [CEA, DEN, Saclay, DM2S, SERMA, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Lu, L. [Association KIT-Euratom, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany); Moro, F. [Associazione ENEA-Euratom, ENEA Fusion Division, Frascati (Italy); Mota, F. [Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid (Spain); Sanz, J. [Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid (Spain); Szieberth, M. [Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Budapest (Hungary); Palermo, I. [Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid (Spain); Pampin, R. [Fusion for Energy (F4E), Barcelona (Spain); Porton, M. [Euratom/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), Culham (United Kingdom); Pereslavtsev, P. [Association KIT-Euratom, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany); Ogando, F. [Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid (Spain); Rovni, I. [Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Budapest (Hungary); and others

2014-10-15

Highlights: •Evaluation of neutronic tools for application to DEMO nuclear analyses. •Generation of a DEMO model for nuclear analyses based on MC calculations. •Nuclear analyses of the DEMO reactor equipped with a HCLL-type blanket. -- Abstract: The European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) recently launched a programme on Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) with the aim to develop a conceptual design of a fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) addressing key technology and physics issues. A dedicated part of the PPPT programme is devoted to the neutronics which, among others, has to define and verify requirements and boundary conditions for the DEMO systems. The quality of the provided data depends on the capabilities and the reliability of the computational tools. Accordingly, the PPPT activities in the area of neutronics include both DEMO nuclear analyses and development efforts on neutronic tools including their verification and validation. This paper reports on first neutronics studies performed for DEMO, and on the evaluation and further development of neutronic tools.

Neutronic analyses and tools development efforts in the European DEMO programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, U.; Bachmann, C.; Bienkowska, B.; Catalan, J.P.; Drozdowicz, K.; Dworak, D.; Leichtle, D.; Lengar, I.; Jaboulay, J.-C.; Lu, L.; Moro, F.; Mota, F.; Sanz, J.; Szieberth, M.; Palermo, I.; Pampin, R.; Porton, M.; Pereslavtsev, P.; Ogando, F.; Rovni, I.

2014-01-01

Highlights: •Evaluation of neutronic tools for application to DEMO nuclear analyses. •Generation of a DEMO model for nuclear analyses based on MC calculations. •Nuclear analyses of the DEMO reactor equipped with a HCLL-type blanket. -- Abstract: The European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) recently launched a programme on Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) with the aim to develop a conceptual design of a fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) addressing key technology and physics issues. A dedicated part of the PPPT programme is devoted to the neutronics which, among others, has to define and verify requirements and boundary conditions for the DEMO systems. The quality of the provided data depends on the capabilities and the reliability of the computational tools. Accordingly, the PPPT activities in the area of neutronics include both DEMO nuclear analyses and development efforts on neutronic tools including their verification and validation. This paper reports on first neutronics studies performed for DEMO, and on the evaluation and further development of neutronic tools

Status of Safeguards and Separations Model Development at Plant and Molecular Levels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

de Almeida, Valmor F [ORNL; Hay, Benjamin [ORNL; DePaoli, David W [ORNL

2009-10-01

A primary goal of the Safeguards and Separations IPSC effort is the development of process modeling tools that allow dynamic simulations of separations plant operations under various configurations and conditions, and integration of relevant safeguards analyses. A requirement of the effort is to develop codes on modern, expandable architectures, with flexibility to explore and evaluate a wide range of process options. During FY09, efforts at ORNL have been focused on two priority tasks toward achieving the IPSC goal: (1) a top-down exploration of architecture - Subtask 1: Explore framework for code development and integration for plant-level simulation; and (2) a bottom-up fundamental modeling effort - Subtask 2: Development of molecular-level agent design code. Subtask 1 is important because definition and development of architecture is a key issue for the overall effort, as selection of an overall approach and code/data requirements is a necessary first step in the organization, design and development of separations and safeguards codes that will be incorporated. The agent design effort of Subtask 2 is a molecular-level modeling effort that has a direct impact on a near-term issue of the Separations and Waste Forms Campaign. A current focus of experimental efforts is the development of robust agents and processes for separation of Am/Cm. Development of enhanced agent-design codes will greatly accelerate discovery and experimental testing.

Status of Safeguards and Separations Model Development at Plant and Molecular Levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

de Almeida, Valmor F.; Hay, Benjamin; DePaoli, David W.

2009-01-01

A primary goal of the Safeguards and Separations IPSC effort is the development of process modeling tools that allow dynamic simulations of separations plant operations under various configurations and conditions, and integration of relevant safeguards analyses. A requirement of the effort is to develop codes on modern, expandable architectures, with flexibility to explore and evaluate a wide range of process options. During FY09, efforts at ORNL have been focused on two priority tasks toward achieving the IPSC goal: (1) a top-down exploration of architecture - Subtask 1: Explore framework for code development and integration for plant-level simulation; and (2) a bottom-up fundamental modeling effort - Subtask 2: Development of molecular-level agent design code. Subtask 1 is important because definition and development of architecture is a key issue for the overall effort, as selection of an overall approach and code/data requirements is a necessary first step in the organization, design and development of separations and safeguards codes that will be incorporated. The agent design effort of Subtask 2 is a molecular-level modeling effort that has a direct impact on a near-term issue of the Separations and Waste Forms Campaign. A current focus of experimental efforts is the development of robust agents and processes for separation of Am/Cm. Development of enhanced agent-design codes will greatly accelerate discovery and experimental testing.

Generic skills requirements (KSA model) towards future mechanical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... Statistics and Discriminant Analysis (DA) as required to achieve the objective of the study. This study will guide all future engineers, especially in the field of Mechanical Engineering in Malaysia to penetrate the job market according to the current market needs. Keywords: generic skills; KSA model; mechanical engineers; ...

Modelling of capital requirements in the energy sector: capital market access. Final memorandum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-04-01

Formal modelling techniques for analyzing the capital requirements of energy industries have been performed at DOE. A survey has been undertaken of a number of models which forecast energy-sector capital requirements or which detail the interactions of the energy sector and the economy. Models are identified which can be useful as prototypes for some portion of DOE's modelling needs. The models are examined to determine any useful data bases which could serve as inputs to an original DOE model. A selected group of models are examined which can comply with the stated capabilities. The data sources being used by these models are covered and a catalog of the relevant data bases is provided. The models covered are: capital markets and capital availability models (Fossil 1, Bankers Trust Co., DRI Macro Model); models of physical capital requirements (Bechtel Supply Planning Model, ICF Oil and Gas Model and Coal Model, Stanford Research Institute National Energy Model); macroeconomic forecasting models with input-output analysis capabilities (Wharton Annual Long-Term Forecasting Model, Brookhaven/University of Illinois Model, Hudson-Jorgenson/Brookhaven Model); utility models (MIT Regional Electricity Model-Baughman Joskow, Teknekron Electric Utility Simulation Model); and others (DRI Energy Model, DRI/Zimmerman Coal Model, and Oak Ridge Residential Energy Use Model).

Commonsense Psychology and the Functional Requirements of Cognitive Models

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gordon, Andrew S

2005-01-01

In this paper we argue that previous models of cognitive abilities (e.g. memory, analogy) have been constructed to satisfy functional requirements of implicit commonsense psychological theories held by researchers and nonresearchers alike...

Venture Investment Incentive Mechanisms and Simulation with Venture Entrepreneurs Having Multistage Efforts Based on Fairness Preference Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaihong Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available When venture capital has been invested into venture companies, venture capitalists and venture entrepreneurs form a principal-agent relationship. Take into account the fact that the venture entrepreneur’s effort is a long process, because the effort is not the same at different stage. Therefore, efforts variables are seen as the multistage dynamic variable, and venture investment principal-agent model with venture entrepreneurs having multistage efforts is constructed on the basis of the classic principal-agent theory in the paper. Further, in the later stage effort of venture entrepreneurs is affected by the size of prestage benefit with venture capitalists and venture entrepreneurs; thus the fairness preference model is improved, and venture investment principal-agent model with venture entrepreneurs having multistage efforts is constructed on the basis of fairness preference theory. Both theoretical derivation and simulation have demonstrated that, under the condition of information asymmetry, if the fairness preference of venture entrepreneurs holds, then (1 venture capitalists provide venture entrepreneurs with level higher than that without fairness preference, (2 in every single stage venture entrepreneurs make efforts higher than those without fairness preference, and (3 in two periods both venture investors and venture entrepreneurs gain total real gains higher than those in two periods without fair preference.

Changing reproductive effort within a semelparous reproductive episode.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, P William; Simons, Andrew M

2014-08-01

• Life-history theory predicts a trade-off between current and future reproduction for iteroparous organisms-as individuals age, the expected value of future reproduction declines, and thus reproductive effort is expected to be higher in later clutches than in earlier. In contrast, models explaining the evolution of semelparity treat semelparous reproduction as instantaneous, with no scope for intraindividual variation. However, semelparous reproduction is also extended, but over shorter time scales; whether there are similar age- or stage-specific changes in reproductive effort within a semelparous episode is unclear. In this study, we assessed whether semelparous individuals increase reproductive effort as residual reproductive value declines by comparing the reproductive phenotype of flowers at five different floral positions along a main inflorescence.• Using the herbaceous monocarp Lobelia inflata, we conducted a longitudinal study of 409 individuals including both laboratory and field populations over three seasons. We recorded six reproductive traits-including the length of three phenological intervals as well as fruit size, seed size, and seed number-for all plants across floral positions produced throughout the reproductive episode.• We found that while the rate of flower initiation did not change, flowers at distal (late) floral positions developed more quickly and contained larger seed than flowers at basal (early) floral positions did.• Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that, like iteroparous organisms, L. inflata increases reproductive effort in response to low residual reproductive value. © 2014 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Department of Energy Efforts to Promote Universal Adherence to the IAEA Additional Protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Killinger, Mark H.; Hansen, Linda H.; Kovacic, Don N.; VanSickle, Matthew; Apt, Kenneth E.

2009-01-01

Entry-into-force of the U.S. Additional Protocol (AP) in January 2009 continues to demonstrate the ongoing commitment by the United States to promote universal adherence to the AP. The AP is a critical tool for improving the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) capabilities to detect undeclared activities that indicate a clandestine nuclear weapons program. This is because States Parties are required to provide information about, and access to, nuclear fuel cycle activities beyond their traditional safeguards reporting requirements. As part of the U.S. AP Implementation Act and Senate Resolution of Ratification, the Administration is required to report annually to Congress on measures taken to achieve the adoption of the AP in non-nuclear weapon states, as well as assistance to the IAEA to promote the effective implementation of APs in those states. A key U.S. effort in this area is being managed by the International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program (INSEP) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Through new and existing bilateral cooperation agreements, INSEP has initiated technical assistance projects for AP implementation with selected non-weapon states. States with which INSEP is currently cooperating include Vietnam and Thailand, with Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, and other countries as possible future collaborators in the area of AP implementation. The INSEP collaborative model begins with a joint assessment with our partners to identify specific needs they may have regarding entering the AP into force and any impediments to successful implementation. An action plan is then developed detailing and prioritizing the necessary joint activities. Such assistance may include: advice on developing legal frameworks and regulatory documents; workshops to promote understanding of AP requirements; training to determine possible declarable activities; assistance in developing a system to collect and submit declarations; performing industry outreach to

Good Faith, Bad Faith? Making an Effort in Dispute Resolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tania Sourdin

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The behaviour of those engaged in negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR processes that are undertaken or required before or after litigation is increasingly the subject of legislative regulation. Recent case law has also more clearly articulated the characteristics of good faith as well as other standards such as 'genuine effort' and explored to a limited extent the behavioural indicators and approaches that could be used to determine the meaning and scope of these types of concepts. Arguably, the growth in mandatory (rather than voluntary ADR may require the articulation of clearer conduct obligations as ADR participants may be disinclined to negotiate or may be relatively unsophisticated or unaware of their negotiation behaviour. This article explores the development of conduct obligations and notes that whilst the requirements need to be linked to the circumstances of each dispute, there are some clear differences in terms of how these requirements are more generally interpreted by lawyers and others.

Critical Business Requirements Model and Metrics for Intranet ROI

OpenAIRE

Luqi; Jacoby, Grant A.

2005-01-01

Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1-30. This research provides the first theoretical model, the Intranet Efficiency and Effectiveness Model (IEEM), to measure intranet overall value contributions based on a corporation’s critical business requirements by applying a balanced baseline of metrics and conversion ratios linked to key business processes of knowledge workers, IT managers and business decision makers -- in effect, closing the gap of understanding...

Directed-energy process technology efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, P.

1985-01-01

A summary of directed-energy process technology for solar cells was presented. This technology is defined as directing energy or mass to specific areas on solar cells to produce a desired effect in contrast to exposing a cell to a thermal or mass flow environment. Some of these second generation processing techniques are: ion implantation; microwave-enhanced chemical vapor deposition; rapid thermal processing; and the use of lasers for cutting, assisting in metallization, assisting in deposition, and drive-in of liquid dopants. Advantages of directed energy techniques are: surface heating resulting in the bulk of the cell material being cooler and unchanged; better process control yields; better junction profiles, junction depths, and metal sintering; lower energy consumption during processing and smaller factory space requirements. These advantages should result in higher-efficiency cells at lower costs. The results of the numerous contracted efforts were presented as well as the application potentials of these new technologies.

Comparison of catch per unit effort among four minnow trap models in the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) fishery.

Science.gov (United States)

Budria, Alexandre; DeFaveri, Jacquelin; Merilä, Juha

2015-12-21

Minnow traps are commonly used in the stickleback (Gasterostidae) fishery, but the potential differences in catch per unit effort (CPUE) among different minnow trap models are little studied. We compared the CPUE of four different minnow trap models in field experiments conducted with three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Marked (up to 26 fold) differences in median CPUE among different trap models were observed. Metallic uncoated traps yielded the largest CPUE (2.8 fish/h), followed by metallic black nylon-coated traps (1.3 fish/h). Collapsible canvas traps yielded substantially lower CPUEs (black: 0.7 fish/h; red: 0.1 fish/h) than the metallic traps. Laboratory trials further revealed significant differences in escape probabilities among the different trap models. While the differences in escape probability can explain at least part of the differences in CPUE among the trap models (e.g. high escape rate and low CPUE in red canvas traps), discrepancies between model-specific CPUEs and escape rates suggests that variation in entrance rate also contributes to the differences in CPUE. In general, and in accordance with earlier data on nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) trapping, the results suggest that uncoated metallic (Gee-type) traps are superior to the other commonly used minnow trap models in stickleback fisheries.

Report to the Congressional Defense Committees: Status of the Department of Defense's Business Transformation Efforts

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2008-01-01

...). It directs the Secretary of Defense to provide the Congressional Defense Committees with an annual report on the Department's business transformation efforts and compliance with the requirements of the law...

A 2nd generation static model of greenhouse energy requirements (horticern) : a comparison with dynamic models

CERN Document Server

Jolliet, O; Munday, G L

1989-01-01

Optimisation of a greenhouse and its components requires a suitable model permitting precise determination of its energy requirements. Existing static models are simple but lack precision; dynamic models though more precise, are unsuitable for use over long periods and difficult to handle in practice. A theoretical study and measurements from the CERN trial greenhouse have allowed the development of new static model named "HORTICERN", precise and easy to use for predicting energy consumption and which takes into account effects of solar energy, wind and radiative loss to the sky. This paper compares the HORTICERN model with the dynamic models of Bot, Takakura, Van Bavel and Gembloux, and demonstrates that its precision is comparable; differences on average being less than 5%, it is independent of type of greenhouse (e.g. single or double glazing, Hortiplus, etc.) and climate. The HORTICERN method has been developed for PC use and is proving to be a powerful tool for greenhouse optimisation by research work...

[Effort-reward imbalance at work and depression: current research evidence].

Science.gov (United States)

Siegrist, J

2013-01-01

In view of highly prevalent stressful conditions in modern working life, in particular increasing work pressure and job insecurity, it is of interest to know whether specific constellations of an adverse psychosocial work environment increase the risk of depressive disorder among employed people. This contribution gives a short overview of current research evidence based on an internationally established work stress model of effort-reward imbalance. Taken together, results from seven prospective epidemiological investigations demonstrate a two-fold elevated relative risk of incident depressive disorder over a mean observation period of 2.7 years among exposed versus non-exposed employees. Additional findings from experimental and quasi-experimental studies point to robust associations of effort-reward imbalance at work with proinflammatory cytokines and markers of reduced immune competence. These latter markers may indicate potential psychobiological pathways. In conclusion, incorporating this new knowledge into medical treatment and preventive efforts seems well justified.

Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and employee well-being: a large-scale cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

de Jonge, J; Bosma, H; Peter, R; Siegrist, J

2000-05-01

This study investigated the effects of the Job Demand-Control (JD-C) Model and the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model on employee well-being. A cross-sectional survey was conducted comprising a large representative sample of 11,636 employed Dutch men and women. Logistic regression analyses were used. Controlling for job sector, demographic characteristics (including educational level) and managerial position, employees reporting high job demands (i.e. psychological and physical demands) and low job control had elevated risks of emotional exhaustion, psychosomatic and physical health complaints and job dissatisfaction (odds ratios ranged from 2.89 to 10.94). Odds ratios were generally higher in employees reporting both high (psychological and physical) efforts and low rewards (i.e. poor salary, job insecurity and low work support): they ranged from 3.23 to 15.43. Furthermore, overcommitted people had higher risks of poor well-being due to a high effort-low reward mismatch (ORs: 3.57-20.81) than their less committed counterparts (ORs: 3.01-12.71). Finally, high efforts and low occupational rewards were stronger predictors of poor well-being than low job control when both job stress models were simultaneously adjusted. In conclusion, our findings show independent cumulative effects of both the JD-C Model and the ERI Model on employee well-being and are not significantly different in men and women as well as in young and old people. In particular, high (psychological and physical) efforts and low rewards adversely affected employee well-being. Preliminary findings also indicate excess risks of poor well-being in overcommitted persons suffering from high cost--low gain conditions at work.

New Mexico district work-effort analysis computer program

Science.gov (United States)

Hiss, W.L.; Trantolo, A.P.; Sparks, J.L.

1972-01-01

The computer program (CAN 2) described in this report is one of several related programs used in the New Mexico District cost-analysis system. The work-effort information used in these programs is accumulated and entered to the nearest hour on forms completed by each employee. Tabulating cards are punched directly from these forms after visual examinations for errors are made. Reports containing detailed work-effort data itemized by employee within each project and account and by account and project for each employee are prepared for both current-month and year-to-date periods by the CAN 2 computer program. An option allowing preparation of reports for a specified 3-month period is provided. The total number of hours worked on each account and project and a grand total of hours worked in the New Mexico District is computed and presented in a summary report for each period. Work effort not chargeable directly to individual projects or accounts is considered as overhead and can be apportioned to the individual accounts and projects on the basis of the ratio of the total hours of work effort for the individual accounts or projects to the total New Mexico District work effort at the option of the user. The hours of work performed by a particular section, such as General Investigations or Surface Water, are prorated and charged to the projects or accounts within the particular section. A number of surveillance or buffer accounts are employed to account for the hours worked on special events or on those parts of large projects or accounts that require a more detailed analysis. Any part of the New Mexico District operation can be separated and analyzed in detail by establishing an appropriate buffer account. With the exception of statements associated with word size, the computer program is written in FORTRAN IV in a relatively low and standard language level to facilitate its use on different digital computers. The program has been run only on a Control Data Corporation

Economic effort management in multispecies fisheries: the FcubEcon model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoff, Ayoe; Frost, Hans; Ulrich, Clara

2010-01-01

Applying single-species assessment and quotas in multispecies fisheries can lead to overfishing or quota underutilization, because advice can be conflicting when different stocks are caught within the same fishery. During the past decade, increased focus on this issue has resulted in the developm......Applying single-species assessment and quotas in multispecies fisheries can lead to overfishing or quota underutilization, because advice can be conflicting when different stocks are caught within the same fishery. During the past decade, increased focus on this issue has resulted...... optimal manner, in both effort-management and single-quota management settings.Applying single-species assessment and quotas in multispecies fisheries can lead to overfishing or quota underutilization, because advice can be conflicting when different stocks are caught within the same fishery. During...

Arterial cord blood lactate at birth correlates with duration of pushing efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Dessolle, Lionel; Lebrec, Jeremie; Daraï, Emile

2010-01-01

To evaluate the impact of the duration of pushing efforts on arterial cord blood lactate values. This was a prospective observational study of 124 consecutive normal vaginal deliveries in a tertiary teaching hospital. Arterial cord blood lactate was determined immediately at birth with a test strip method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to check for clinical determinants of lactate levels. The main measure was lactate according to the duration of pushing efforts. Arterial cord lactates increased significantly and were strongly correlated with the duration of pushing efforts, independent of gestational age and birthweight. Women pushing for more than 20 min had higher arterial cord blood lactates (4.9 +/- 1.4 vs. 3.3 +/- 1.16 mM, respectively) and a higher rate of lactates >6 mM (18 vs. 3%) than those pushing for less than 20 min. At normal delivery, arterial cord blood lactates increase significantly with the duration of pushing efforts. Pushing for more than 20 min is associated with an increased risk of metabolic acidosis in the neonate. Further studies are required to evaluate the clinical significance of these observations. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Maneuver Planning for Conjunction Risk Mitigation with Ground-track Control Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

McKinley, David

2008-01-01

The planning of conjunction Risk Mitigation Maneuvers (RMM) in the presence of ground-track control requirements is analyzed. Past RMM planning efforts on the Aqua, Aura, and Terra spacecraft have demonstrated that only small maneuvers are available when ground-track control requirements are maintained. Assuming small maneuvers, analytical expressions for the effect of a given maneuver on conjunction geometry are derived. The analytical expressions are used to generate a large trade space for initial RMM design. This trade space represents a significant improvement in initial maneuver planning over existing methods that employ high fidelity maneuver models and propagation.

Mental and physical effort affect vigilance differently

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, A.S.; Eling, P.A.T.M.; Hopman, M.T.E.; Coenen, A.M.L.

2005-01-01

Both physical and mental effort are thought to affect vigilance. Mental effort is known for its vigilance declining effects, but the effects of physical effort are less clear. This study investigated whether these two forms of effort affect the EEG and subjective alertness differently. Participants

Mental and physical effort affect vigilance differently.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, A.S.; Eling, P.A.T.M.; Hopman, M.T.E.; Coenen, A.M.L.

2005-01-01

Both physical and mental effort are thought to affect vigilance. Mental effort is known for its vigilance declining effects, but the effects of physical effort are less clear. This study investigated whether these two forms of effort affect the EEG and subjective alertness differently. Participants

Low-effort thought promotes political conservatism.

Science.gov (United States)

Eidelman, Scott; Crandall, Christian S; Goodman, Jeffrey A; Blanchar, John C

2012-06-01

The authors test the hypothesis that low-effort thought promotes political conservatism. In Study 1, alcohol intoxication was measured among bar patrons; as blood alcohol level increased, so did political conservatism (controlling for sex, education, and political identification). In Study 2, participants under cognitive load reported more conservative attitudes than their no-load counterparts. In Study 3, time pressure increased participants' endorsement of conservative terms. In Study 4, participants considering political terms in a cursory manner endorsed conservative terms more than those asked to cogitate; an indicator of effortful thought (recognition memory) partially mediated the relationship between processing effort and conservatism. Together these data suggest that political conservatism may be a process consequence of low-effort thought; when effortful, deliberate thought is disengaged, endorsement of conservative ideology increases.

Activational and effort-related aspects of motivation: neural mechanisms and implications for psychopathology

Science.gov (United States)

Yohn, Samantha E.; López-Cruz, Laura; San Miguel, Noemí; Correa, Mercè

2016-01-01

Abstract Motivation has been defined as the process that allows organisms to regulate their internal and external environment, and control the probability, proximity and availability of stimuli. As such, motivation is a complex process that is critical for survival, which involves multiple behavioural functions mediated by a number of interacting neural circuits. Classical theories of motivation suggest that there are both directional and activational aspects of motivation, and activational aspects (i.e. speed and vigour of both the instigation and persistence of behaviour) are critical for enabling organisms to overcome work-related obstacles or constraints that separate them from significant stimuli. The present review discusses the role of brain dopamine and related circuits in behavioural activation, exertion of effort in instrumental behaviour, and effort-related decision-making, based upon both animal and human studies. Impairments in behavioural activation and effort-related aspects of motivation are associated with psychiatric symptoms such as anergia, fatigue, lassitude and psychomotor retardation, which cross multiple pathologies, including depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, this review also attempts to provide an interdisciplinary approach that integrates findings from basic behavioural neuroscience, behavioural economics, clinical neuropsychology, psychiatry, and neurology, to provide a coherent framework for future research and theory in this critical field. Although dopamine systems are a critical part of the brain circuitry regulating behavioural activation, exertion of effort, and effort-related decision-making, mesolimbic dopamine is only one part of a distributed circuitry that includes multiple neurotransmitters and brain areas. Overall, there is a striking similarity between the brain areas involved in behavioural activation and effort-related processes in rodents and in humans. Animal models of effort

Cognition and procedure representational requirements for predictive human performance models

Science.gov (United States)

Corker, K.

1992-01-01

Models and modeling environments for human performance are becoming significant contributors to early system design and analysis procedures. Issues of levels of automation, physical environment, informational environment, and manning requirements are being addressed by such man/machine analysis systems. The research reported here investigates the close interaction between models of human cognition and models that described procedural performance. We describe a methodology for the decomposition of aircrew procedures that supports interaction with models of cognition on the basis of procedures observed; that serves to identify cockpit/avionics information sources and crew information requirements; and that provides the structure to support methods for function allocation among crew and aiding systems. Our approach is to develop an object-oriented, modular, executable software representation of the aircrew, the aircraft, and the procedures necessary to satisfy flight-phase goals. We then encode in a time-based language, taxonomies of the conceptual, relational, and procedural constraints among the cockpit avionics and control system and the aircrew. We have designed and implemented a goals/procedures hierarchic representation sufficient to describe procedural flow in the cockpit. We then execute the procedural representation in simulation software and calculate the values of the flight instruments, aircraft state variables and crew resources using the constraints available from the relationship taxonomies. The system provides a flexible, extensible, manipulative and executable representation of aircrew and procedures that is generally applicable to crew/procedure task-analysis. The representation supports developed methods of intent inference, and is extensible to include issues of information requirements and functional allocation. We are attempting to link the procedural representation to models of cognitive functions to establish several intent inference methods

Goal striving strategies and effort mobilization: When implementation intentions reduce effort-related cardiac activity during task performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Freydefont, Laure; Gollwitzer, Peter M; Oettingen, Gabriele

2016-09-01

Two experiments investigate the influence of goal and implementation intentions on effort mobilization during task performance. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of setting goals and making plans on performance, the effects of goals and plans on effort-related cardiac activity and especially the cardiac preejection period (PEP) during goal striving have not yet been addressed. According to the Motivational Intensity Theory, participants should increase effort mobilization proportionally to task difficulty as long as success is possible and justified. Forming goals and making plans should allow for reduced effort mobilization when participants perform an easy task. However, when the task is difficult, goals and plans should differ in their effect on effort mobilization. Participants who set goals should disengage, whereas participants who made if-then plans should stay in the field showing high effort mobilization during task performance. As expected, using an easy task in Experiment 1, we observed a lower cardiac PEP in both the implementation intention and the goal intention condition than in the control condition. In Experiment 2, we varied task difficulty and demonstrated that while participants with a mere goal intention disengaged from difficult tasks, participants with an implementation intention increased effort mobilization proportionally with task difficulty. These findings demonstrate the influence of goal striving strategies (i.e., mere goals vs. if-then plans) on effort mobilization during task performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 33.301 - What does this subpart require?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... AGENCY PROGRAMS Good Faith Efforts § 33.301 What does this subpart require? A recipient, including one... good faith efforts whenever procuring construction, equipment, services and supplies under an EPA...

Hearing Handicap and Speech Recognition Correlate With Self-Reported Listening Effort and Fatigue.

Science.gov (United States)

Alhanbali, Sara; Dawes, Piers; Lloyd, Simon; Munro, Kevin J

To investigate the correlations between hearing handicap, speech recognition, listening effort, and fatigue. Eighty-four adults with hearing loss (65 to 85 years) completed three self-report questionnaires: the Fatigue Assessment Scale, the Effort Assessment Scale, and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly. Audiometric assessment included pure-tone audiometry and speech recognition in noise. There was a significant positive correlation between handicap and fatigue (r = 0.39, p speech recognition and fatigue (r = 0.22, p speech recognition both correlate with self-reported listening effort and fatigue, which is consistent with a model of listening effort and fatigue where perceived difficulty is related to sustained effort and fatigue for unrewarding tasks over which the listener has low control. A clinical implication is that encouraging clients to recognize and focus on the pleasure and positive experiences of listening may result in greater satisfaction and benefit from hearing aid use.

Model-Based Requirements Management in Gear Systems Design Based On Graph-Based Design Languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Holder

2017-10-01

Full Text Available For several decades, a wide-spread consensus concerning the enormous importance of an in-depth clarification of the specifications of a product has been observed. A weak clarification of specifications is repeatedly listed as a main cause for the failure of product development projects. Requirements, which can be defined as the purpose, goals, constraints, and criteria associated with a product development project, play a central role in the clarification of specifications. The collection of activities which ensure that requirements are identified, documented, maintained, communicated, and traced throughout the life cycle of a system, product, or service can be referred to as “requirements engineering”. These activities can be supported by a collection and combination of strategies, methods, and tools which are appropriate for the clarification of specifications. Numerous publications describe the strategy and the components of requirements management. Furthermore, recent research investigates its industrial application. Simultaneously, promising developments of graph-based design languages for a holistic digital representation of the product life cycle are presented. Current developments realize graph-based languages by the diagrams of the Unified Modelling Language (UML, and allow the automatic generation and evaluation of multiple product variants. The research presented in this paper seeks to present a method in order to combine the advantages of a conscious requirements management process and graph-based design languages. Consequently, the main objective of this paper is the investigation of a model-based integration of requirements in a product development process by means of graph-based design languages. The research method is based on an in-depth analysis of an exemplary industrial product development, a gear system for so-called “Electrical Multiple Units” (EMU. Important requirements were abstracted from a gear system

The Nuremberg Code subverts human health and safety by requiring animal modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greek Ray

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The requirement that animals be used in research and testing in order to protect humans was formalized in the Nuremberg Code and subsequent national and international laws, codes, and declarations. Discussion We review the history of these requirements and contrast what was known via science about animal models then with what is known now. We further analyze the predictive value of animal models when used as test subjects for human response to drugs and disease. We explore the use of animals for models in toxicity testing as an example of the problem with using animal models. Summary We conclude that the requirements for animal testing found in the Nuremberg Code were based on scientifically outdated principles, compromised by people with a vested interest in animal experimentation, serve no useful function, increase the cost of drug development, and prevent otherwise safe and efficacious drugs and therapies from being implemented.

Effort-Based Decision Making: A Novel Approach for Assessing Motivation in Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Michael F; Horan, William P; Barch, Deanna M; Gold, James M

2015-09-01

Because negative symptoms, including motivational deficits, are a critical unmet need in schizophrenia, there are many ongoing efforts to develop new pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for these impairments. A common challenge of these studies involves how to evaluate and select optimal endpoints. Currently, all studies of negative symptoms in schizophrenia depend on ratings from clinician-conducted interviews. Effort-based decision-making tasks may provide a more objective, and perhaps more sensitive, endpoint for trials of motivational negative symptoms. These tasks assess how much effort a person is willing to exert for a given level of reward. This area has been well-studied with animal models of effort and motivation, and effort-based decision-making tasks have been adapted for use in humans. Very recently, several studies have examined physical and cognitive types of effort-based decision-making tasks in cross-sectional studies of schizophrenia, providing evidence for effort-related impairment in this illness. This article covers the theoretical background on effort-based decision-making tasks to provide a context for the subsequent articles in this theme section. In addition, we review the existing literature of studies using these tasks in schizophrenia, consider some practical challenges in adapting them for use in clinical trials in schizophrenia, and discuss interpretive challenges that are central to these types of tasks. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy: The Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL).

Science.gov (United States)

Pichora-Fuller, M Kathleen; Kramer, Sophia E; Eckert, Mark A; Edwards, Brent; Hornsby, Benjamin W Y; Humes, Larry E; Lemke, Ulrike; Lunner, Thomas; Matthen, Mohan; Mackersie, Carol L; Naylor, Graham; Phillips, Natalie A; Richter, Michael; Rudner, Mary; Sommers, Mitchell S; Tremblay, Kelly L; Wingfield, Arthur

2016-01-01

The Fifth Eriksholm Workshop on "Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy" was convened to develop a consensus among interdisciplinary experts about what is known on the topic, gaps in knowledge, the use of terminology, priorities for future research, and implications for practice. The general term cognitive energy was chosen to facilitate the broadest possible discussion of the topic. It goes back to who described the effects of attention on perception; he used the term psychic energy for the notion that limited mental resources can be flexibly allocated among perceptual and mental activities. The workshop focused on three main areas: (1) theories, models, concepts, definitions, and frameworks; (2) methods and measures; and (3) knowledge translation. We defined effort as the deliberate allocation of mental resources to overcome obstacles in goal pursuit when carrying out a task, with listening effort applying more specifically when tasks involve listening. We adapted Kahneman's seminal (1973) Capacity Model of Attention to listening and proposed a heuristically useful Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL). Our FUEL incorporates the well-known relationship between cognitive demand and the supply of cognitive capacity that is the foundation of cognitive theories of attention. Our FUEL also incorporates a motivation dimension based on complementary theories of motivational intensity, adaptive gain control, and optimal performance, fatigue, and pleasure. Using a three-dimensional illustration, we highlight how listening effort depends not only on hearing difficulties and task demands but also on the listener's motivation to expend mental effort in the challenging situations of everyday life.

Sleep deprivation alters effort discounting but not delay discounting of monetary rewards.

Science.gov (United States)

Libedinsky, Camilo; Massar, Stijn A A; Ling, Aiqing; Chee, Weiyan; Huettel, Scott A; Chee, Michael W L

2013-06-01

To determine whether sleep deprivation would affect the discounting of delayed rewards, of rewards entailing the expense of effort, or both. We measured rates of two types of reward discounting under conditions of rested wakefulness (RW) and sleep deprivation (SD). Delay discounting was defined as the willingness to accept smaller monetary rewards sooner rather than larger monetary rewards later. Effort discounting was defined as the willingness to accept smaller rewards that require less effort to obtain (e.g., typing a small number of letter strings backward) over larger but more effortful rewards (e.g., typing more letter strings to receive the reward). The first two experiments used a crossover design in which one session was conducted after a normal night of sleep (RW), and the other after a night without sleep (SD). The first experiment evaluated only temporal discounting whereas the second evaluated temporal and effort discounting. In the second experiment, the discounting tasks were repeatedly administered prior to the state comparisons to minimize the effects of order and/or repeated testing. In a third experiment, participants were studied only once in a between-subject evaluation of discounting across states. The study took place in a research laboratory. Seventy-seven healthy young adult participants: 20 in Experiment 1, 27 in Experiment 2, and 30 in Experiment 3. N/A. Sleep deprivation elicited increased effort discounting but did not affect delay discounting. The dissociable effects of sleep deprivation on two forms of discounting behavior suggest that they may have differing underlying neural mechanisms.

Monetary incentive moderates the effect of implicit fear on effort-related cardiovascular response.

Science.gov (United States)

Chatelain, Mathieu; Gendolla, Guido H E

2016-05-01

Integrating the implicit-affect-primes-effort model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015) with the principles of motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989) we investigated if the effort mobilization deficit observed in people exposed to fear primes (vs. anger primes) in a difficult short-term memory task could be compensated by high monetary incentive. Effort was operationalized as cardiac response. We expected that fear primes should lead to the strongest cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity when incentive was high (high subjective demand and high justified effort) and to the weakest response when incentive was low (high subjective demand but only low justified effort). PEP reactivity in the anger-prime conditions should fall in between (high but feasible demand). We obtained the predicted pattern on responses of PEP and systolic blood pressure. The present findings show for the first time that the effort mobilization deficit of participants exposed to fear primes in a difficult cognitive task could be compensated by a high incentive. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hybrid discrete choice models: Gained insights versus increasing effort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mariel, Petr, E-mail: petr.mariel@ehu.es [UPV/EHU, Economía Aplicada III, Avda. Lehendakari Aguire, 83, 48015 Bilbao (Spain); Meyerhoff, Jürgen [Institute for Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Technical University of Berlin, D-10623 Berlin, Germany and The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Duesternbrooker Weg 120, 24105 Kiel (Germany)

2016-10-15

Hybrid choice models expand the standard models in discrete choice modelling by incorporating psychological factors as latent variables. They could therefore provide further insights into choice processes and underlying taste heterogeneity but the costs of estimating these models often significantly increase. This paper aims at comparing the results from a hybrid choice model and a classical random parameter logit. Point of departure for this analysis is whether researchers and practitioners should add hybrid choice models to their suite of models routinely estimated. Our comparison reveals, in line with the few prior studies, that hybrid models gain in efficiency by the inclusion of additional information. The use of one of the two proposed approaches, however, depends on the objective of the analysis. If disentangling preference heterogeneity is most important, hybrid model seems to be preferable. If the focus is on predictive power, a standard random parameter logit model might be the better choice. Finally, we give recommendations for an adequate use of hybrid choice models based on known principles of elementary scientific inference. - Highlights: • The paper compares performance of a Hybrid Choice Model (HCM) and a classical Random Parameter Logit (RPL) model. • The HCM indeed provides insights regarding preference heterogeneity not gained from the RPL. • The RPL has similar predictive power as the HCM in our data. • The costs of estimating HCM seem to be justified when learning more on taste heterogeneity is a major study objective.

Hybrid discrete choice models: Gained insights versus increasing effort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mariel, Petr; Meyerhoff, Jürgen

2016-01-01

Hybrid choice models expand the standard models in discrete choice modelling by incorporating psychological factors as latent variables. They could therefore provide further insights into choice processes and underlying taste heterogeneity but the costs of estimating these models often significantly increase. This paper aims at comparing the results from a hybrid choice model and a classical random parameter logit. Point of departure for this analysis is whether researchers and practitioners should add hybrid choice models to their suite of models routinely estimated. Our comparison reveals, in line with the few prior studies, that hybrid models gain in efficiency by the inclusion of additional information. The use of one of the two proposed approaches, however, depends on the objective of the analysis. If disentangling preference heterogeneity is most important, hybrid model seems to be preferable. If the focus is on predictive power, a standard random parameter logit model might be the better choice. Finally, we give recommendations for an adequate use of hybrid choice models based on known principles of elementary scientific inference. - Highlights: • The paper compares performance of a Hybrid Choice Model (HCM) and a classical Random Parameter Logit (RPL) model. • The HCM indeed provides insights regarding preference heterogeneity not gained from the RPL. • The RPL has similar predictive power as the HCM in our data. • The costs of estimating HCM seem to be justified when learning more on taste heterogeneity is a major study objective.

U.S., Russia join efforts to clean up nuclear sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richard Seltzer.

1993-01-01

U.S. and Russian scientists are stepping up their cooperative efforts to deal with a vexing and controversial problem in both nations--cleanup of radioactive wastes at former nuclear weapons production sites. Last month, a top-level delegation of Russian officials and scientists came to the U.S. for two weeks. They visited Washington, D.C., and the Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford site in Washington State, studying U.S. cleanup activities and providing information on Russian problems and efforts. The visit was part of a program of exchanges in the areas of environmental restoration and waste management called for by a 1990 memorandum of cooperation between DOE and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy. The memo helps implement a U.S.-Russian collaborative agreement on peaceful uses of atomic energy. Currently, cooperation under the memo exists in four areas: vitrification, waste separation, contaminant transport modeling, and student-scientist exchanges. The paper summarizes the visit to the Hanford Reservation and describes the cleanup efforts there

EFFORTS AND INEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BOLIVIAN LABOR MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fátima Rico Encinas

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The equitable distribution of income, along with human development indices, is among the factors that differentiate developed from developing countries. In this paper, efforts and other variables related to the circumstances of individuals were quantified and analyzed together with traditional determinants in order to explain inequality in the working population of Bolivia. We estimated econometric models by merging the extended Mincer equation with John Roemer’s theory of Inequality of Opportunity. We find that efforts are important determinants of the levels of wage inequality in the country as well as regional development, labor informality, gender and ethnicity. In this sense, the paper separates the part of wage inequality that may be attributed to situations that are beyond the control of individuals and that can be attributed to conscious decisions. Micro simulations determined that it would be possible to reduce inequality by as much as 21% if it gives people the chance to make similar efforts to improve their wages.

The impact of effort-reward imbalance on quality of life among Japanese working men.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Mayumi; Tanaka, Katsutoshi; Aratake, Yutaka; Kato, Noritada; Sakata, Yumi

2008-07-01

Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important measure of health outcome in working and healthy populations. Here, we investigated the impact of effort-reward imbalance (ERI), a representative work-stress model, on HRQL of Japanese working men. The study targeted 1,096 employees from a manufacturing plant in Japan. To assess HRQL and ERI, participants were surveyed using the Japanese version of the Short-Form 8 Health Survey (SF-8) and effort-reward imbalance model. Of the 1,096 employees, 1,057 provided valid responses to the questionnaire. For physical summary scores, the adjusted effort-reward imbalance odds ratios of middle vs. bottom and top vs. bottom tertiles were 0.24 (95% confidence interval, 0.08-0.70) and 0.09 (95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.28), respectively. For mental summary scores, ratios were 0.21 (95% confidence interval, 0.07-0.63) and 0.07 (95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.25), respectively. These findings demonstrate that effort-reward imbalance is independently associated with HRQL among Japanese employees.

A Collaborative Effort Between Caribbean States for Tsunami Numerical Modeling: Case Study CaribeWave15

Science.gov (United States)

Chacón-Barrantes, Silvia; López-Venegas, Alberto; Sánchez-Escobar, Rónald; Luque-Vergara, Néstor

2018-04-01

Historical records have shown that tsunami have affected the Caribbean region in the past. However infrequent, recent studies have demonstrated that they pose a latent hazard for countries within this basin. The Hazard Assessment Working Group of the ICG/CARIBE-EWS (Intergovernmental Coordination Group of the Early Warning System for Tsunamis and Other Coastal Threats for the Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Regions) of IOC/UNESCO has a modeling subgroup, which seeks to develop a modeling platform to assess the effects of possible tsunami sources within the basin. The CaribeWave tsunami exercise is carried out annually in the Caribbean region to increase awareness and test tsunami preparedness of countries within the basin. In this study we present results of tsunami inundation using the CaribeWave15 exercise scenario for four selected locations within the Caribbean basin (Colombia, Costa Rica, Panamá and Puerto Rico), performed by tsunami modeling researchers from those selected countries. The purpose of this study was to provide the states with additional results for the exercise. The results obtained here were compared to co-seismic deformation and tsunami heights within the basin (energy plots) provided for the exercise to assess the performance of the decision support tools distributed by PTWC (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center), the tsunami service provider for the Caribbean basin. However, comparison of coastal tsunami heights was not possible, due to inconsistencies between the provided fault parameters and the modeling results within the provided exercise products. Still, the modeling performed here allowed to analyze tsunami characteristics at the mentioned states from sources within the North Panamá Deformed Belt. The occurrence of a tsunami in the Caribbean may affect several countries because a great variety of them share coastal zones in this basin. Therefore, collaborative efforts similar to the one presented in this study, particularly between neighboring

Standardizing economic analysis in prevention will require substantial effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Guyll, Max

2014-12-01

It is exceedingly difficult to compare results of economic analyses across studies due to variations in assumptions, methodology, and outcome measures, a fact which surely decreases the impact and usefulness of prevention-related economic research. Therefore, Crowley et al. (Prevention Science, 2013) are precisely correct in their call for increased standardization and have usefully highlighted the issues that must be addressed. However, having made the need clear, the questions become what form the solution should take, and how should it be implemented. The present discussion outlines the rudiments of a comprehensive framework for promoting standardized methodology in the estimation of economic outcomes, as encouraged by Crowley et al. In short, a single, standard, reference case approach should be clearly articulated, and all economic research should be encouraged to apply that standard approach, with results from compliant analyses being reported in a central archive. Properly done, the process would increase the ability of those without specialized training to contribute to the body of economic research pertaining to prevention, and the most difficult tasks of predicting and monetizing distal outcomes would be readily completed through predetermined models. These recommendations might be viewed as somewhat forcible, insomuch as they advocate for prescribing the details of a standard methodology and establishing a means of verifying compliance. However, it is unclear that the best practices proposed by Crowley et al. will be widely adopted in the absence of a strong and determined approach.

Quality-oriented efforts in IPD, - a framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Mogens Myrup

1998-01-01

It is generally expected that modern quality efforts like TQM and ISO9000 should deliver a sufficient framework for quality efforts in industrial companies. Our findings in Danish industry shows a fragmented picture of islands of efforts and a weak understanding of basic quality concepts between...... designers. The paper propose a framework for quality efforts, illustrated by simple metaphors....

Current status of the MPEG-4 standardization effort

Science.gov (United States)

Anastassiou, Dimitris

1994-09-01

The Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) of the International Standardization Organization has initiated a standardization effort, known as MPEG-4, addressing generic audiovisual coding at very low bit-rates (up to 64 kbits/s) with applications in videotelephony, mobile audiovisual communications, video database retrieval, computer games, video over Internet, remote sensing, etc. This paper gives a survey of the status of MPEG-4, including its planned schedule, and initial ideas about requirements and applications. A significant part of this paper is summarizing an incomplete draft version of a `requirements document' which presents specifications of desirable features on the video, audio, and system level of the forthcoming standard. Very low bit-rate coding algorithms are not described, because no endorsement of any particular algorithm, or class of algorithms, has yet been made by MPEG-4, and several seminars held concurrently with MPEG-4 meetings have not so far provided evidence that such high performance coding schemes are achievable.

Spreadsheet Decision Support Model for Training Exercise Material Requirements Planning

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Tringali, Arthur

1997-01-01

This thesis focuses on developing a spreadsheet decision support model that can be used by combat engineer platoon and company commanders in determining the material requirements and estimated costs...

Learning Environment and Student Effort

Science.gov (United States)

Hopland, Arnt O.; Nyhus, Ole Henning

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between satisfaction with learning environment and student effort, both in class and with homework assignments. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use data from a nationwide and compulsory survey to analyze the relationship between learning environment and student effort. The…

Employee effort - reward balance and first-level manager transformational leadership within elderly care.

Science.gov (United States)

Keisu, Britt-Inger; Öhman, Ann; Enberg, Birgit

2018-03-01

Negative aspects, staff dissatisfaction and problems related to internal organisational factors of working in elderly care are well-known and documented. Much less is known about positive aspects of working in elderly care, and therefore, this study focuses on such positive factors in Swedish elderly care. We combined two theoretical models, the effort-reward imbalance model and the Transformational Leadership Style model. The aim was to estimate the potential associations between employee-perceived transformational leadership style of their managers, and employees' ratings of effort and reward within elderly care work. The article is based on questionnaires distributed at on-site visits to registered nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists (high-level education) and assistant nurses (low-level education) in nine Swedish elderly care facilities. In order to grasp the positive factors of work in elderly care, we focused on balance at work, rather than imbalance. We found a significant association between employees' effort-reward balance at work and a transformational leadership style among managers. An association was also found between employees' level of education and their assessments of the first-level managers. We conclude that the first-level manager is an important actor for achieving a good workplace within elderly care, since she/he influences employees' psychosocial working environment. We also conclude that there are differences and inequalities, in terms of well-being, effort and reward at the work place, between those with academic training and those without, in that the former group to a higher degree evaluated their first-level manager to perform a transformational leadership style, which in turn is beneficial for their psychosocial work environment. Consequently, this (re)-produce inequalities in terms of well-being, effort and reward among the employees at the work place. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Carbon emissions in China: How far can new efforts bend the curve?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xiliang; Karplus, Valerie J.; Qi, Tianyu; Zhang, Da; He, Jiankun

2016-01-01

While China is on track to meet its global climate commitments through 2020, China's post-2020 CO_2 emissions trajectory is highly uncertain, with projections varying widely across studies. Over the past year, the Chinese government has announced new policy directives to deepen economic reform, to protect the environment, and to limit fossil energy use in China. To evaluate how new policy directives could affect energy and climate change outcomes, we simulate two levels of policy effort—a continued effort scenario that extends current policies beyond 2020 and an accelerated effort scenario that reflects newly announced policies—on the evolution of China's energy and economic system over the next several decades. We perform simulations using the China-in-Global Energy Model, C-GEM, a bespoke recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model with global coverage and detailed calibration of China's economy and future trends. Importantly, we find that both levels of policy effort would bend down the CO_2 emissions trajectory before 2050 without undermining economic development. Specifically, in the accelerated effort scenario, we find that coal use peaks around 2020, and CO_2 emissions level off around 2030 at 10 bmt, without undermining continued economic growth consistent with China reaching the status of a “well-off society” by 2050. - Highlights: • We develop a simulation model that captures energy system and technological detail in China. • We simulate China's recently announced climate and energy policies. • New policies in China are consistent with peak coal around 2020, and peak CO_2 emissions around 2030. • New policies cause modest leakage of coal use outside of China, especially to Southeast Asia.

Influence of control and physical effort on cardiovascular reactivity to a video game task.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstein, Suzanne E; Quigley, Karen S; Mordkoff, J Toby

2002-09-01

This study investigated the influences of both perceived control and physical effort on cardiovascular reactivity. Undergraduates (N = 32) played a video game task interrupted by aversive noise. Perceived control of the noise was manipulated by instructions indicating the presence or absence of a contingency between performance and noise presentations. Physical effort was manipulated by controlling the physical force required to perform the task. There was a significant main effect of control on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR), with both increasing more during low than high control conditions. The results suggest that high perceived control over aversive noise in an effortful task reduces SBP and TPR reactivity relative to low perceived control. The results are consistent with the idea that control buffers the reactivity associated with task performance under aversive conditions.

The role of the striatum in effort-based decision-making in the absence of reward.

Science.gov (United States)

Schouppe, Nathalie; Demanet, Jelle; Boehler, Carsten N; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Notebaert, Wim

2014-02-05

Decision-making involves weighing costs against benefits, for instance, in terms of the effort it takes to obtain a reward of a given magnitude. This evaluation process has been linked to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the striatum, with activation in these brain structures reflecting the discounting effect of effort on reward. Here, we investigate how cognitive effort influences neural choice processes in the absence of an extrinsic reward. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans, we used an effort-based decision-making task in which participants were required to choose between two options for a subsequent flanker task that differed in the amount of cognitive effort. Cognitive effort was manipulated by varying the proportion of incongruent trials associated with each choice option. Choice-locked activation in the striatum was higher when participants chose voluntarily for the more effortful alternative but displayed the opposite trend on forced-choice trials. The dACC revealed a similar, yet only trend-level significant, activation pattern. Our results imply that activation levels in the striatum reflect a cost-benefit analysis, in which a balance is made between effort discounting and the intrinsic motivation to choose a cognitively challenging task. Moreover, our findings indicate that it matters whether this challenge is voluntarily chosen or externally imposed. As such, the present findings contrast with classical findings on effort discounting that found reductions in striatum activation for higher effort by finding enhancements of the same neural circuits when a cognitively challenging task is voluntarily selected and does not entail the danger of losing reward.

Efforts and models of education for parents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Niels Rosendal

2010-01-01

Artiklen omfatter en gennemgang af modeller for forældreuddannelse, der fortrinsvis anvendes i Danmark. Artiklen indlejrer modellerne i nogle bredere blikke på uddannelsessystemet og den aktuelle diskurs om ansvarliggørelse af forældre.   Udgivelsesdato: Marts 2010...

Impact of Base Functional Component Types on Software Functional Size based Effort Estimation

OpenAIRE

Gencel, Cigdem; Buglione, Luigi

2008-01-01

Software effort estimation is still a significant challenge for software management. Although Functional Size Measurement (FSM) methods have been standardized and have become widely used by the software organizations, the relationship between functional size and development effort still needs further investigation. Most of the studies focus on the project cost drivers and consider total software functional size as the primary input to estimation models. In this study, we investigate whether u...

Effort-Based Decision-Making in Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Culbreth, Adam J; Moran, Erin K; Barch, Deanna M

2018-08-01

Motivational impairment has long been associated with schizophrenia but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. Recently, a small but growing literature has suggested that aberrant effort-based decision-making may be a potential contributory mechanism for motivational impairments in psychosis. Specifically, multiple reports have consistently demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia are less willing than healthy controls to expend effort to obtain rewards. Further, this effort-based decision-making deficit has been shown to correlate with severity of negative symptoms and level of functioning, in many but not all studies. In the current review, we summarize this literature and discuss several factors that may underlie aberrant effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia.

Effort Estimation in BPMS Migration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Drews

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Usually Business Process Management Systems (BPMS are highly integrated in the IT of organizations and are at the core of their business. Thus, migrating from one BPMS solution to another is not a common task. However, there are forces that are pushing organizations to perform this step, e.g. maintenance costs of legacy BPMS or the need for additional functionality. Before the actual migration, the risk and the effort must be evaluated. This work provides a framework for effort estimation regarding the technical aspects of BPMS migration. The framework provides questions for BPMS comparison and an effort evaluation schema. The applicability of the framework is evaluated based on a simplified BPMS migration scenario.

Cryogenic Fluid Storage Technology Development: Recent and Planned Efforts at NASA

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Matthew E.

2009-01-01

Recent technology development work conducted at NASA in the area of Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) storage is highlighted, including summary results, key impacts, and ongoing efforts. Thermodynamic vent system (TVS) ground test results are shown for hydrogen, methane, and oxygen. Joule-Thomson (J-T) device tests related to clogging in hydrogen are summarized, along with the absence of clogging in oxygen and methane tests. Confirmation of analytical relations and bonding techniques for broad area cooling (BAC) concepts based on tube-to-tank tests are presented. Results of two-phase lumped-parameter computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are highlighted, including validation of the model with hydrogen self pressurization test data. These models were used to simulate Altair representative methane and oxygen tanks subjected to 210 days of lunar surface storage. Engineering analysis tools being developed to support system level trades and vehicle propulsion system designs are also cited. Finally, prioritized technology development risks identified for Constellation cryogenic propulsion systems are presented, and future efforts to address those risks are discussed.

Activational and effort-related aspects of motivation: neural mechanisms and implications for psychopathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Salamone, John D; Yohn, Samantha E; López-Cruz, Laura; San Miguel, Noemí; Correa, Mercè

2016-05-01

Motivation has been defined as the process that allows organisms to regulate their internal and external environment, and control the probability, proximity and availability of stimuli. As such, motivation is a complex process that is critical for survival, which involves multiple behavioural functions mediated by a number of interacting neural circuits. Classical theories of motivation suggest that there are both directional and activational aspects of motivation, and activational aspects (i.e. speed and vigour of both the instigation and persistence of behaviour) are critical for enabling organisms to overcome work-related obstacles or constraints that separate them from significant stimuli. The present review discusses the role of brain dopamine and related circuits in behavioural activation, exertion of effort in instrumental behaviour, and effort-related decision-making, based upon both animal and human studies. Impairments in behavioural activation and effort-related aspects of motivation are associated with psychiatric symptoms such as anergia, fatigue, lassitude and psychomotor retardation, which cross multiple pathologies, including depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, this review also attempts to provide an interdisciplinary approach that integrates findings from basic behavioural neuroscience, behavioural economics, clinical neuropsychology, psychiatry, and neurology, to provide a coherent framework for future research and theory in this critical field. Although dopamine systems are a critical part of the brain circuitry regulating behavioural activation, exertion of effort, and effort-related decision-making, mesolimbic dopamine is only one part of a distributed circuitry that includes multiple neurotransmitters and brain areas. Overall, there is a striking similarity between the brain areas involved in behavioural activation and effort-related processes in rodents and in humans. Animal models of effort-related decision

What makes a reach movement effortful? Physical effort discounting supports common minimization principles in decision making and motor control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre Morel

2017-06-01

Full Text Available When deciding between alternative options, a rational agent chooses on the basis of the desirability of each outcome, including associated costs. As different options typically result in different actions, the effort associated with each action is an essential cost parameter. How do humans discount physical effort when deciding between movements? We used an action-selection task to characterize how subjective effort depends on the parameters of arm transport movements and controlled for potential confounding factors such as delay discounting and performance. First, by repeatedly asking subjects to choose between 2 arm movements of different amplitudes or durations, performed against different levels of force, we identified parameter combinations that subjects experienced as identical in effort (isoeffort curves. Movements with a long duration were judged more effortful than short-duration movements against the same force, while movement amplitudes did not influence effort. Biomechanics of the movements also affected effort, as movements towards the body midline were preferred to movements away from it. Second, by introducing movement repetitions, we further determined that the cost function for choosing between effortful movements had a quadratic relationship with force, while choices were made on the basis of the logarithm of these costs. Our results show that effort-based action selection during reaching cannot easily be explained by metabolic costs. Instead, force-loaded reaches, a widely occurring natural behavior, imposed an effort cost for decision making similar to cost functions in motor control. Our results thereby support the idea that motor control and economic choice are governed by partly overlapping optimization principles.

"I put in effort, therefore I am passionate": Investigating the path from effort to passion in entrepreneurship

OpenAIRE

Gielnik, Michael Marcus; Spitzmuller, Matthias; Schmitt, Antje; Klemann, Katharina; Frese, Michael

2015-01-01

Most theoretical frameworks in entrepreneurship emphasize that entrepreneurial passion drives entrepreneurial effort. We hypothesize that the reverse effect is also true, and investigate changes in passion as an outcome of effort. Based on theories of self-regulation and self-perception, we hypothesize that making new venture progress and free choice are two factors that help to explain why and under which conditions entrepreneurial effort affects entrepreneurial passion. We undertook two stu...

Modeling of requirement specification for safety critical real time computer system using formal mathematical specifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sankar, Bindu; Sasidhar Rao, B.; Ilango Sambasivam, S.; Swaminathan, P.

2002-01-01

Full text: Real time computer systems are increasingly used for safety critical supervision and control of nuclear reactors. Typical application areas are supervision of reactor core against coolant flow blockage, supervision of clad hot spot, supervision of undesirable power excursion, power control and control logic for fuel handling systems. The most frequent cause of fault in safety critical real time computer system is traced to fuzziness in requirement specification. To ensure the specified safety, it is necessary to model the requirement specification of safety critical real time computer systems using formal mathematical methods. Modeling eliminates the fuzziness in the requirement specification and also helps to prepare the verification and validation schemes. Test data can be easily designed from the model of the requirement specification. Z and B are the popular languages used for modeling the requirement specification. A typical safety critical real time computer system for supervising the reactor core of prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) against flow blockage is taken as case study. Modeling techniques and the actual model are explained in detail. The advantages of modeling for ensuring the safety are summarized

Predicting cycle time distributions for integrated processing workstations : an aggregate modeling approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veeger, C.P.L.; Etman, L.F.P.; Lefeber, A.A.J.; Adan, I.J.B.F.; Herk, van J.; Rooda, J.E.

2011-01-01

To predict cycle time distributions of integrated processing workstations, detailed simulation models are almost exclusively used; these models require considerable development and maintenance effort. As an alternative, we propose an aggregate model that is a lumped-parameter representation of the

40 CFR 33.302 - Are there any additional contract administration requirements?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PROGRAMS Good Faith Efforts § 33.302 Are there any additional contract... require its prime contractor to employ the six good faith efforts described in § 33.301 even if the prime... the subcontract for any reason, the recipient must require the prime contractor to employ the six good...

Is overall similarity classification less effortful than single-dimension classification?

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Andy J; Milton, Fraser; Longmore, Christopher A; Hester, Sarah; Robinson, Jo

2013-01-01

It is sometimes argued that the implementation of an overall similarity classification is less effortful than the implementation of a single-dimension classification. In the current article, we argue that the evidence securely in support of this view is limited, and report additional evidence in support of the opposite proposition--overall similarity classification is more effortful than single-dimension classification. Using a match-to-standards procedure, Experiments 1A, 1B and 2 demonstrate that concurrent load reduces the prevalence of overall similarity classification, and that this effect is robust to changes in the concurrent load task employed, the level of time pressure experienced, and the short-term memory requirements of the classification task. Experiment 3 demonstrates that participants who produced overall similarity classifications from the outset have larger working memory capacities than those who produced single-dimension classifications initially, and Experiment 4 demonstrates that instructions to respond meticulously increase the prevalence of overall similarity classification.

Foraging effort in relation to the constraints of reproduction in free-ranging albatrosses

OpenAIRE

Shaffer, Scott A; Costa, D P; Weimerskirch, H

2003-01-01

1. Theoretical models predict that animals will vary their effort to maximize different currencies such as time and energy when the constraints of reproduction change during breeding, but this has been poorly studied in free-ranging animals. 2. Foraging effort (energy per unit time) was examined by comparing mass changes, foraging costs and activity-specific behaviours of Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans Linnaeus) during the incubation and chick-brooding stages. In 1998, 38 albatrosses...

Sizing and scaling requirements of a large-scale physical model for code validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khaleel, R.; Legore, T.

1990-01-01

Model validation is an important consideration in application of a code for performance assessment and therefore in assessing the long-term behavior of the engineered and natural barriers of a geologic repository. Scaling considerations relevant to porous media flow are reviewed. An analysis approach is presented for determining the sizing requirements of a large-scale, hydrology physical model. The physical model will be used to validate performance assessment codes that evaluate the long-term behavior of the repository isolation system. Numerical simulation results for sizing requirements are presented for a porous medium model in which the media properties are spatially uncorrelated

Effect of physical effort on mental workload of cyclists in real traffic in relation to age and use of pedelecs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boele-Vos, M. J.; Commandeur, J. J.F.; Twisk, D. A.M.

2016-01-01

To improve cycling safety, insight is required into the factors that contribute to road safety of older cyclists. From the wide range of possible factors, this paper addresses the role of physical effort on mental workload of cyclists with the aim to investigate whether physical effort affects

Exploring Students' Reflective Thinking Practice, Deep Processing Strategies, Effort, and Achievement Goal Orientations

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, Huy Phuong

2009-01-01

Recent research indicates that study processing strategies, effort, reflective thinking practice, and achievement goals are important factors contributing to the prediction of students' academic success. Very few studies have combined these theoretical orientations within one conceptual model. This study tested a conceptual model that included, in…

Multidisciplinary Efforts Driving Translational Theranostics

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Tony Y.

2014-01-01

This themed issue summarizes significant efforts aimed at using “biological language” to discern between “friends” and “foes” in the context of theranostics for true clinical application. It is expected that the success of theranostics depends on multidisciplinary efforts, combined to expedite our understanding of host responses to “customized” theranostic agents and formulating individualized therapies. PMID:25285169

Model Penentuan Nilai Target Functional Requirement Berbasis Utilitas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cucuk Nur Rosyidi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In a product design and development process, a designer faces a problem to decide functional requirement (FR target values. That decision is made under a risk since it is conducted in the early design phase using incomplete information. Utility function can be used to reflect the decision maker attitude towards the risk in making such decision. In this research, we develop a utility-based model to determine FR target values using quadratic utility function and information from Quality Function Deployment (QFD. A pencil design is used as a numerical example using quadratic utility function for each FR. The model can be applied for balancing customer and designer interest in determining FR target values.

Spatial assessment of fishing effort around European marine reserves: implications for successful fisheries management.

Science.gov (United States)

Stelzenmüller, Vanessa; Maynou, Francesc; Bernard, Guillaume; Cadiou, Gwenaël; Camilleri, Matthew; Crec'hriou, Romain; Criquet, Géraldine; Dimech, Mark; Esparza, Oscar; Higgins, Ruth; Lenfant, Philippe; Pérez-Ruzafa, Angel

2008-12-01

We examined the spatial dynamic of artisanal fishing fleets around five European marine protected areas (MPAs) to derive general implications for the evaluation of MPAs as fisheries management tools. The coastal MPAs studied were located off France, Malta and Spain and presented a variety of spatial designs and processes of establishment. We developed a standardized methodology to define factors influencing effort allocation and to produce fishing effort maps by merging GIS with geostatistical modelling techniques. Results revealed that in most cases the factors "distance to the no-take", "water depth", and "distance to the port" had a significant influence on effort allocation by the fishing fleets. Overall, we found local concentration of fishing effort around the MPA borders. Thus, neglecting the pattern of fishing effort distribution in evaluating MPA benefits, such as spillover of biomass, could hamper sound interpretation of MPAs as fisheries management tools.

Two-point model for divertor transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galambos, J.D.; Peng, Y.K.M.

1984-04-01

Plasma transport along divertor field lines was investigated using a two-point model. This treatment requires considerably less effort to find solutions to the transport equations than previously used one-dimensional (1-D) models and is useful for studying general trends. It also can be a valuable tool for benchmarking more sophisticated models. The model was used to investigate the possibility of operating in the so-called high density, low temperature regime

Breckinridge Project, initial effort. Report III, Volume 2. Specifications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1982-01-01

Report III, Volume 2 contains those specifications numbered K through Y, as follows: Specifications for Compressors (K); Specifications for Piping (L); Specifications for Structures (M); Specifications for Insulation (N); Specifications for Electrical (P); Specifications for Concrete (Q); Specifications for Civil (S); Specifications for Welding (W); Specifications for Painting (X); and Specifications for Special (Y). The standard specifications of Bechtel Petroleum Incorporated have been amended as necessary to reflect the specific requirements of the Breckinridge Project and the more stringent specifications of Ashland Synthetic Fuels, Inc. These standard specifications are available for the Initial Effort (Phase Zero) work performed by all contractors and subcontractors.

Measuring collections effort improves cash performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Shutts, Joe

2009-09-01

Having a satisfied work force can lead to an improved collections effort. Hiring the right people and training them ensures employee engagement. Measuring collections effort and offering incentives is key to revenue cycle success.

Supporting Analogy-based Effort Estimation with the Use of Ontologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Kowalska

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The paper concerns effort estimation of software development projects, in particular, at the level of product delivery stages. It proposes a new approach to model project data to support expert-supervised analogy-based effort estimation. The data is modeled using Semantic Web technologies, such as Resource Description Framework (RDF and Ontology Language for the Web (OWL. Moreover, in the paper, we define a method of supervised case-based reasoning. The method enables to search for similar projects’ tasks at different levels of abstraction. For instance, instead of searching for a task performed by a specific person, one could look for tasks performed by people with similar capabilities. The proposed method relies on ontology that defines the core concepts and relationships. However, it is possible to introduce new classes and relationships, without the need of altering the search mechanisms. Finally, we implemented a prototype tool that was used to preliminary validate the proposed approach. We observed that the proposed approach could potentially help experts in estimating non-trivial tasks that are often underestimated.

Predicting Consumer Effort in Finding and Paying for Health Care: Expert Interviews and Claims Data Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Sandra; Monsen, Karen A; Pieczkiewicz, David; Wolfson, Julian; Khairat, Saif

2017-10-12

For consumers to accept and use a health care information system, it must be easy to use, and the consumer must perceive it as being free from effort. Finding health care providers and paying for care are tasks that must be done to access treatment. These tasks require effort on the part of the consumer and can be frustrating when the goal of the consumer is primarily to receive treatments for better health. The aim of this study was to determine the factors that result in consumer effort when finding accessible health care. Having an understanding of these factors will help define requirements when designing health information systems. A panel of 12 subject matter experts was consulted and the data from 60 million medical claims were used to determine the factors contributing to effort. Approximately 60 million claims were processed by the health care insurance organization in a 12-month duration with the population defined. Over 292 million diagnoses from claims were used to validate the panel input. The results of the study showed that the number of people in the consumer's household, number of visits to providers outside the consumer's insurance network, number of adjusted and denied medical claims, and number of consumer inquiries are a proxy for the level of effort in finding and paying for care. The effort level, so measured and weighted per expert panel recommendations, differed by diagnosis. This study provides an understanding of how consumers must put forth effort when engaging with a health care system to access care. For higher satisfaction and acceptance results, health care payers ideally will design and develop systems that facilitate an understanding of how to avoid denied claims, educate on the payment of claims to avoid adjustments, and quickly find providers of affordable care. ©Sandra Long, Karen A. Monsen, David Pieczkiewicz, Julian Wolfson, Saif Khairat. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http://medinform.jmir.org), 12.10.2017.

Vehicle System Management Modeling in UML for Ares I

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Newton W.; Biehn, Bradley A.; Curry, Tristan D.; Martinez, Mario R.

2011-01-01

The Spacecraft & Vehicle Systems Department of Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for modeling the Vehicle System Management for the Ares I vehicle which was a part of the now canceled Constellation Program. An approach to generating the requirements for the Vehicle System Management was to use the Unified Modeling Language technique to build and test a model that would fulfill the Vehicle System Management requirements. UML has been used on past projects (flight software) in the design phase of the effort but this was the first attempt to use the UML technique from a top down requirements perspective.

Maternal sensitivity and latency to positive emotion following challenge: pathways through effortful control.

Science.gov (United States)

Conway, Anne; McDonough, Susan C; Mackenzie, Michael; Miller, Alison; Dayton, Carolyn; Rosenblum, Katherine; Muzik, Maria; Sameroff, Arnold

2014-01-01

The ability to self-generate positive emotions is an important component of emotion regulation. In this study, we focus on children's latency to express positive emotions following challenging situations and assess whether this ability operates through early maternal sensitivity and children's effortful control. Longitudinal relations between maternal sensitivity, infant negative affect, effortful control, and latency to positive emotion following challenge were examined in 156 children who were 33 months of age. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity during infancy predicted better effortful control and, in turn, shorter latencies to positive emotions following challenge at 33 months. Directions for future research are discussed. © 2014 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Parametric linear programming for a materials requirement planning problem solution with uncertainty

OpenAIRE

Martin Darío Arango Serna; Conrado Augusto Serna; Giovanni Pérez Ortega

2010-01-01

Using fuzzy set theory as a methodology for modelling and analysing decision systems is particularly interesting for researchers in industrial engineering because it allows qualitative and quantitative analysis of problems involving uncertainty and imprecision. Thus, in an effort to gain a better understanding of the use of fuzzy logic in industrial engineering, more specifically in the field of production planning, this article was aimed at providing a materials requirement planning (MRP) pr...

PREPARING FOR EXASCALE: ORNL Leadership Computing Application Requirements and Strategy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joubert, Wayne [ORNL; Kothe, Douglas B [ORNL; Nam, Hai Ah [ORNL

2009-12-01

In 2009 the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS), elicited petascale computational science requirements from leading computational scientists in the international science community. This effort targeted science teams whose projects received large computer allocation awards on OLCF systems. A clear finding of this process was that in order to reach their science goals over the next several years, multiple projects will require computational resources in excess of an order of magnitude more powerful than those currently available. Additionally, for the longer term, next-generation science will require computing platforms of exascale capability in order to reach DOE science objectives over the next decade. It is generally recognized that achieving exascale in the proposed time frame will require disruptive changes in computer hardware and software. Processor hardware will become necessarily heterogeneous and will include accelerator technologies. Software must undergo the concomitant changes needed to extract the available performance from this heterogeneous hardware. This disruption portends to be substantial, not unlike the change to the message passing paradigm in the computational science community over 20 years ago. Since technological disruptions take time to assimilate, we must aggressively embark on this course of change now, to insure that science applications and their underlying programming models are mature and ready when exascale computing arrives. This includes initiation of application readiness efforts to adapt existing codes to heterogeneous architectures, support of relevant software tools, and procurement of next-generation hardware testbeds for porting and testing codes. The 2009 OLCF requirements process identified numerous actions necessary to meet this challenge: (1) Hardware capabilities must be

PREPARING FOR EXASCALE: ORNL Leadership Computing Application Requirements and Strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joubert, Wayne; Kothe, Douglas B.; Nam, Hai Ah

2009-01-01

In 2009 the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS), elicited petascale computational science requirements from leading computational scientists in the international science community. This effort targeted science teams whose projects received large computer allocation awards on OLCF systems. A clear finding of this process was that in order to reach their science goals over the next several years, multiple projects will require computational resources in excess of an order of magnitude more powerful than those currently available. Additionally, for the longer term, next-generation science will require computing platforms of exascale capability in order to reach DOE science objectives over the next decade. It is generally recognized that achieving exascale in the proposed time frame will require disruptive changes in computer hardware and software. Processor hardware will become necessarily heterogeneous and will include accelerator technologies. Software must undergo the concomitant changes needed to extract the available performance from this heterogeneous hardware. This disruption portends to be substantial, not unlike the change to the message passing paradigm in the computational science community over 20 years ago. Since technological disruptions take time to assimilate, we must aggressively embark on this course of change now, to insure that science applications and their underlying programming models are mature and ready when exascale computing arrives. This includes initiation of application readiness efforts to adapt existing codes to heterogeneous architectures, support of relevant software tools, and procurement of next-generation hardware testbeds for porting and testing codes. The 2009 OLCF requirements process identified numerous actions necessary to meet this challenge: (1) Hardware capabilities must be

Results of the Software Process Improvement Efforts of the Early Adopters in NAVAIR 4.0

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Saint-Amand, David C; Hodgins, Bradley

2007-01-01

.... The process improvement efforts described in this paper began in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their process improvement tool sets included the Capability Maturity Model, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM...

Model-driven requirements engineering (MDRE) for real-time ultra-wide instantaneous bandwidth signal simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Daniel Y.; Rowe, Neil C.

2013-05-01

While conducting a cutting-edge research in a specific domain, we realize that (1) requirements clarity and correctness are crucial to our success [1], (2) hardware is hard to change, most work is in software requirements development, coding and testing [2], (3) requirements are constantly changing, so that configurability, reusability, scalability, adaptability, modularity and testability are important non-functional attributes [3], (4) cross-domain knowledge is necessary for complex systems [4], and (5) if our research is successful, the results could be applied to other domains with similar problems. In this paper, we propose to use model-driven requirements engineering (MDRE) to model and guide our requirements/development, since models are easy to understand, execute, and modify. The domain for our research is Electronic Warfare (EW) real-time ultra-wide instantaneous bandwidth (IBW1) signal simulation. The proposed four MDRE models are (1) Switch-and-Filter architecture, (2) multiple parallel data bit streams alignment, (3) post-ADC and pre-DAC bits re-mapping, and (4) Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) filter bank. This research is unique since the instantaneous bandwidth we are dealing with is in gigahertz range instead of conventional megahertz.

Relationships between Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy, Efforts and Academic Achievement among Engineering Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alias Maizam

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between the affective learning needs namely, self-efficacy and locus of control, learning efforts and academic achievement among engineering students. For this purpose, a survey was conducted on first year engineering students from two technical universities in Malaysia. Self-efficacy and locus of control were assessed using existing instruments while learning efforts were assessed using a specifically designed instrument based on Carbonaro’s model of learning effort. Academic achievement data were based on cumulative grade point average (CGPA obtained from self-report by participants. The findings indicate that females engineering students tend to have higher self-efficacy compared to males while both groups have similar locus of control and invest in similar learning efforts. Only locus of control is found to be related to academic achievement while self-efficacy is found to be related to efforts. In conclusion, locus of control seems to be an important factor in predicting academic achievement among engineering students.

Data requirements of GREAT-ER: Modelling and validation using LAS in four UK catchments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, Oliver R.; Munday, Dawn K.; Whelan, Mick J.; Holt, Martin S.; Fox, Katharine K.; Morris, Gerard; Young, Andrew R.

2009-01-01

Higher-tier environmental risk assessments on 'down-the-drain' chemicals in river networks can be conducted using models such as GREAT-ER (Geography-referenced Regional Exposure Assessment Tool for European Rivers). It is important these models are evaluated and their sensitivities to input variables understood. This study had two primary objectives: evaluate GREAT-ER model performance, comparing simulated modelled predictions for LAS (linear alkylbenzene sulphonate) with measured concentrations, for four rivers in the UK, and investigate model sensitivity to input variables. We demonstrate that the GREAT-ER model is very sensitive to variability in river discharges. However it is insensitive to the form of distributions used to describe chemical usage and removal rate in sewage treatment plants (STPs). It is concluded that more effort should be directed towards improving empirical estimates of effluent load and reducing uncertainty associated with usage and removal rates in STPs. Simulations could be improved by incorporating the effect of river depth on dissipation rates. - Validation of GREAT-ER.

Data requirements of GREAT-ER: Modelling and validation using LAS in four UK catchments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Price, Oliver R., E-mail: oliver.price@unilever.co [Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ (United Kingdom); Munday, Dawn K. [Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ (United Kingdom); Whelan, Mick J. [Department of Natural Resources, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL (United Kingdom); Holt, Martin S. [ECETOC, Ave van Nieuwenhuyse 4, Box 6, B-1160 Brussels (Belgium); Fox, Katharine K. [85 Park Road West, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 8SQ (United Kingdom); Morris, Gerard [Environment Agency, Phoenix House, Global Avenue, Leeds LS11 8PG (United Kingdom); Young, Andrew R. [Wallingford HydroSolutions Ltd, Maclean building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8BB (United Kingdom)

2009-10-15

Higher-tier environmental risk assessments on 'down-the-drain' chemicals in river networks can be conducted using models such as GREAT-ER (Geography-referenced Regional Exposure Assessment Tool for European Rivers). It is important these models are evaluated and their sensitivities to input variables understood. This study had two primary objectives: evaluate GREAT-ER model performance, comparing simulated modelled predictions for LAS (linear alkylbenzene sulphonate) with measured concentrations, for four rivers in the UK, and investigate model sensitivity to input variables. We demonstrate that the GREAT-ER model is very sensitive to variability in river discharges. However it is insensitive to the form of distributions used to describe chemical usage and removal rate in sewage treatment plants (STPs). It is concluded that more effort should be directed towards improving empirical estimates of effluent load and reducing uncertainty associated with usage and removal rates in STPs. Simulations could be improved by incorporating the effect of river depth on dissipation rates. - Validation of GREAT-ER.

NASA Standard for Models and Simulations: Philosophy and Requirements Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Blattnig, Steve R.; Luckring, James M.; Morrison, Joseph H.; Sylvester, Andre J.; Tripathi, Ram K.; Zang, Thomas A.

2013-01-01

Following the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, the NASA Administrator chartered an executive team (known as the Diaz Team) to identify those CAIB report elements with NASA-wide applicability and to develop corrective measures to address each element. One such measure was the development of a standard for the development, documentation, and operation of models and simulations. This report describes the philosophy and requirements overview of the resulting NASA Standard for Models and Simulations.

Physical system requirements - Accept waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-08-01

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) assigned to the Department of Energy (DOE) the responsibility for managing the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) for that purpose. The Secretary of Energy, in his November 1989 report to Congress (DOE/RW-0247), announced new initiatives for the conduct of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (CRWM) program. One of these initiatives was to establish improved management structure and procedures. In response, OCRWM performed a management study and the OCRWM Director subsequently issued the Management Systems improvement Strategy (MSIS) on August 10, 1990, calling for a rigorous implementation of systems engineering principles with a special emphasis on functional analysis. The functional analysis approach establishes a framework for integrating the program management efforts with the technical requirements analysis into a single, unified, and consistent program. This approach recognizes that just as the facilities and equipment comprising the physical waste management system must perform certain functions, so must certain programmatic and management functions be performed within the program in order to successfully bring the physical system into being. Thus, a comprehensive functional analysis effort has been undertaken which is intended to: Identify the functions that must be performed to fulfill the waste disposal mission; Identify the corresponding requirements imposed on each of the functions; and Identify the conceptual architecture that will be used to satisfy the requirements. The principal purpose of this requirements document is to present the results that were obtained from the conduct of a functional analysis effort for the Accept Waste mission

Risk Aversion and Effort in an Incentive Pay Scheme with Multiplicative Noise: Theory and Experimental Evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

N.V. Zubanov (Nick)

2012-01-01

textabstractThe application of the classical "linear" model of incentive pay to the case when the noise is multiplicative to effort generates two predictions for a given strength of incentives: 1) more risk-averse workers will put in less effort, and 2) setting a performance target will weaken the

State of the Art : Integrated Management of Requirements in Model-Based Software Engineering

OpenAIRE

Thörn, Christer

2006-01-01

This report describes the background and future of research concerning integrated management of requirements in model-based software engineering. The focus is on describing the relevant topics and existing theoretical backgrounds that form the basis for the research. The report describes the fundamental difficulties of requirements engineering for software projects, and proposes that the results and methods of models in software engineering can help leverage those problems. Taking inspiration...

Listening Effort With Cochlear Implant Simulations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pals, Carina; Sarampalis, Anastasios; Başkent, Deniz

2013-01-01

Purpose: Fitting a cochlear implant (CI) for optimal speech perception does not necessarily optimize listening effort. This study aimed to show that listening effort may change between CI processing conditions for which speech intelligibility remains constant. Method: Nineteen normal-hearing

Comparative evaluation of a mixed-fisheries effort-management system based on the Faroe Islands example

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baudron, Alan; Ulrich, Clara; Nielsen, J. Rasmus

2010-01-01

-specific measures may not be appropriate for such fisheries. A management strategy evaluation model was developed to compare an effort-management system based on the Faroese example with a TAC system as currently applied in EU fisheries. Results show that when stocks are considered in isolation, a total allowable...... effort system does not necessarily perform better than a TAC one. It depends on stock status and dynamics, the level of uncertainty, and the reactivity of the system to changes in scientific advice. When the stocks are considered together in mixed fisheries, effort management seems, however...

Offshore Resource Assessment and Design Conditions: A Data Requirements and Gaps Analysis for Offshore Renewable Energy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliott, Dennis [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Frame, Caitlin [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC (United States); Gill, Carrie [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC (United States); Hanson, Howard [Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Raton, FL (United States); Moriarty, Patrick [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Powell, Mark [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC (United States); Shaw, William J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wilczak, Jim [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC (United States); Wynne, Jason [Energetics, Columbia, MD (United States)

2012-03-01

The offshore renewable energy industry requires accurate meteorological and oceanographic (“metocean”) data for evaluating the energy potential, economic viability, and engineering requirements of offshore renewable energy projects. It is generally recognized that currently available metocean data, instrumentation, and models are not adequate to meet all of the stakeholder needs on a national scale. Conducting wind and wave resource assessments and establishing load design conditions requires both interagency collaboration as well as valuable input from experts in industry and academia. Under the Department of Energy and Department of Interior Memorandum of Understanding, the Resource Assessment and Design Condition initiative supports collaborative national efforts by adding to core atmospheric and marine science knowledge relevant to offshore energy development. Such efforts include a more thorough understanding and data collection of key metocean phenomena such as wind velocity and shear; low-level jets; ocean, tidal, and current velocities; wave characteristics; geotechnical data relating to surface and subsurface characteristics; seasonal and diurnal variations; and the interaction among these conditions. Figure 1 presents a graphical representation of some metocean phenomena that can impact offshore energy systems. This document outlines the metocean observations currently available; those that are not available; and those that require additional temporal-spatial coverage, resolution, or processing for offshore energy in an effort to gather agreed-upon, needed observations.

Solid Waste Management Requirements Definition for Advanced Life Support Missions: Results

Science.gov (United States)

Alazraki, Michael P.; Hogan, John; Levri, Julie; Fisher, John; Drysdale, Alan

2002-01-01

Prior to determining what Solid Waste Management (SWM) technologies should be researched and developed by the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Project for future missions, there is a need to define SWM requirements. Because future waste streams will be highly mission-dependent, missions need to be defined prior to developing SWM requirements. The SWM Working Group has used the mission architecture outlined in the System Integration, Modeling and Analysis (SIMA) Element Reference Missions Document (RMD) as a starting point in the requirement development process. The missions examined include the International Space Station (ISS), a Mars Dual Lander mission, and a Mars Base. The SWM Element has also identified common SWM functionalities needed for future missions. These functionalities include: acceptance, transport, processing, storage, monitoring and control, and disposal. Requirements in each of these six areas are currently being developed for the selected missions. This paper reviews the results of this ongoing effort and identifies mission-dependent resource recovery requirements.

Profitability and Farmers Conservation Efforts on Sustainable Potato Farming in Wonosobo Regency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liana Fatma Leslie Pratiwi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available It takes into account in potato farming sustainability, since it was recognised as a holticultural commodity for farmers’ subsistence in Wonosobo Regency. For the reason that farming land was being degraded by errossion, the potato productivity apparently continued to decline. Potato farming sustainability can be deliberated from economic (profitability and environmental (conservation efforts points of view in order to remain profitable in a long term sustainable environment. This study is aimed to (1 to analyse the profitability of potato farming; (2 to analyse farmers’ effort on soil conservation and factors which affected sustainability of potato farming. The method used in this study was basic descriptive analysis. The study site was in Kejajar District, Wonosobo Regency, subsequently 50 random farmers as respondences was obtained. Gross Margin, Return on Invested Capital, and Operating Ratio were used to measure the profitability of potato farming. Conservation Activity Index (CAI was used to measure farmers’ effort on soil conservation, while paired liner regression model with Ordinary Least Square (OLS method was used to understand the factors which affected the conservation efforts of test sites. The study results revealed that the potato farming was profitable. Farmers conservation efforts mostly was in average category (74%, and only view in high category (16% and low category (10%. Factors affected the farmers conservation efforts i.e. land area, potato products, potato price, the off-farm income, number of family members, farmers ages, and village dummy.

Extending product modeling methods for integrated product development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonev, Martin; Wörösch, Michael; Hauksdóttir, Dagný

2013-01-01

Despite great efforts within the modeling domain, the majority of methods often address the uncommon design situation of an original product development. However, studies illustrate that development tasks are predominantly related to redesigning, improving, and extending already existing products...... and PVM methods, in a presented Product Requirement Development model some of the individual drawbacks of each method could be overcome. Based on the UML standard, the model enables the representation of complex hierarchical relationships in a generic product model. At the same time it uses matrix....... Updated design requirements have then to be made explicit and mapped against the existing product architecture. In this paper, existing methods are adapted and extended through linking updated requirements to suitable product models. By combining several established modeling techniques, such as the DSM...

Patient-centered care requires a patient-oriented workflow model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozkaynak, Mustafa; Brennan, Patricia Flatley; Hanauer, David A; Johnson, Sharon; Aarts, Jos; Zheng, Kai; Haque, Saira N

2013-06-01

Effective design of health information technology (HIT) for patient-centered care requires consideration of workflow from the patient's perspective, termed 'patient-oriented workflow.' This approach organizes the building blocks of work around the patients who are moving through the care system. Patient-oriented workflow complements the more familiar clinician-oriented workflow approaches, and offers several advantages, including the ability to capture simultaneous, cooperative work, which is essential in care delivery. Patient-oriented workflow models can also provide an understanding of healthcare work taking place in various formal and informal health settings in an integrated manner. We present two cases demonstrating the potential value of patient-oriented workflow models. Significant theoretical, methodological, and practical challenges must be met to ensure adoption of patient-oriented workflow models. Patient-oriented workflow models define meaningful system boundaries and can lead to HIT implementations that are more consistent with cooperative work and its emergent features.

Missed deadline notification in best-effort schedulers

Science.gov (United States)

Banachowski, Scott A.; Wu, Joel; Brandt, Scott A.

2003-12-01

It is common to run multimedia and other periodic, soft real-time applications on general-purpose computer systems. These systems use best-effort scheduling algorithms that cannot guarantee applications will receive responsive scheduling to meet deadline or timing requirements. We present a simple mechanism called Missed Deadline Notification (MDN) that allows applications to notify the system when they do not receive their desired level of responsiveness. Consisting of a single system call with no arguments, this simple interface allows the operating system to provide better support for soft real-time applications without any a priori information about their timing or resource needs. We implemented MDN in three different schedulers: Linux, BEST, and BeRate. We describe these implementations and their performance when running real-time applications and discuss policies to prevent applications from abusing MDN to gain extra resources.

JAEA's efforts for regional transparency in the area of nuclear nonproliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffheins, Barbara; Kawakubo, Yoko; Inoue, Naoko

2014-03-01

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has undertaken a joint R and D project with the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) for the purposes of developing an Information Sharing Framework (ISF) for regional nonproliferation cooperation since July 2011. This project builds on nearly twenty years of technical cooperation between JAEA, its predecessor organizations and the DOE including the activities to define, develop and test transparency technologies and other multilateral efforts. The objective of current project is to design a viable information sharing process to support the goals of building confidence in the peaceful nature of regional nuclear programs. At the end of a two-year-effort, project partners, JAEA and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), have defined the comprehensive requirements for an ISF that will ensure nonproliferation transparency success and sustainability. In October 2011, a parallel project with the similar title and objective was launched under the arrangement between the US DOE/NNSA and the Republic of Korea Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). Since then, JAEA, SNL, the Korea Institute for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC) and Korea Atomic Energy Institute (KAERI) have jointly carried out the project in a form of informal, multilateral cooperation. The project partners have identified needs and audience for ISF, and initiated the discussion to develop requirements for ISF through workshops, meetings, regular telephone conferences, etc. The activities include conducting a survey to identify stakeholders' needs and requirements for an ISF, launching a website to practice information sharing concepts, and presenting papers. This paper provides the historical context of the current project to establish ISF, and reports the progress to date and speculates on future directions. (author)

Finessing atlas data for species distribution models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Niamir, A.; Skidmore, A.K.; Toxopeus, A.G.; Munoz, A.R.; Real, R.

2011-01-01

Aim The spatial resolution of species atlases and therefore resulting model predictions are often too coarse for local applications. Collecting distribution data at a finer resolution for large numbers of species requires a comprehensive sampling effort, making it impractical and expensive. This

Interests, Effort, Achievement and Vocational Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjoberg, L.

1984-01-01

Relationships between interest in natural sciences and technology and perceived ability, success, and invested effort were studied in Swedish secondary school students. Interests were accounted for by logical orientation and practical value. Interests and grades were strongly correlated, but correlations between interests and effort and vocational…

On meeting capital requirements with a chance-constrained optimization model.

Science.gov (United States)

Atta Mills, Ebenezer Fiifi Emire; Yu, Bo; Gu, Lanlan

2016-01-01

This paper deals with a capital to risk asset ratio chance-constrained optimization model in the presence of loans, treasury bill, fixed assets and non-interest earning assets. To model the dynamics of loans, we introduce a modified CreditMetrics approach. This leads to development of a deterministic convex counterpart of capital to risk asset ratio chance constraint. We pursue the scope of analyzing our model under the worst-case scenario i.e. loan default. The theoretical model is analyzed by applying numerical procedures, in order to administer valuable insights from a financial outlook. Our results suggest that, our capital to risk asset ratio chance-constrained optimization model guarantees banks of meeting capital requirements of Basel III with a likelihood of 95 % irrespective of changes in future market value of assets.

Has Malaysia's antidrug effort been effective?

Science.gov (United States)

Scorzelli, J F

1992-01-01

It is a common belief that a massive effort in law enforcement, preventive education and rehabilitation will result in the elimination of a country's drug problem. Based on this premise. Malaysia in 1983 implemented such a multifaceted anti-drug strategy, and the results of a 1987 study by the author suggested that Malaysia's effort had begun to contribute to a steady decrease in the number of identified drug abusers. Although the number of drug-addicted individuals declined, the country's recidivism rates were still high. Because of this high relapse rate, Malaysia expanded their rehabilitation effort and developed a community transition program. In order to determine the impact of these changes on the country's battle against drug abuse, a follow-up study was conducted in 1990. The results of this study did not clearly demonstrate that the Malaysian effort had been successful in eliminating the problem of drug abuse, and raised some questions concerning the effectiveness of the country's drug treatment programs.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Marketing Effort on Brand Awareness and Brand Image.

OpenAIRE

Villarejo Ramos, Ángel Francisco; Rondán Cataluña, Francisco Javier; Sánchez Franco, Manuel Jesús

2008-01-01

The marketing effort orientated to towards strengthening the brand means to increase the degree of knowledge of the brand name. In this paper we want to show the relationship between brand awareness and brand image. Starting out from a theoretical review, we set out a model of direct and indirect effects of the marketing effort-as the brand's antecedents-on brand awareness and brand image. Via the empirical support used, a questionnaire of a sample of consumers, we try to find out how the mar...

Effort Estimation in BPMS Migration

OpenAIRE

Drews, Christopher; Lantow, Birger

2018-01-01

Usually Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) are highly integrated in the IT of organizations and are at the core of their business. Thus, migrating from one BPMS solution to another is not a common task. However, there are forces that are pushing organizations to perform this step, e.g. maintenance costs of legacy BPMS or the need for additional functionality. Before the actual migration, the risk and the effort must be evaluated. This work provides a framework for effort estimation re...

A funding model for health visiting: baseline requirements--part 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Cowley, Sarah

2007-11-01

A funding model proposed in two papers will outline the health visiting resource, including team skill mix, required to deliver the recommended approach of 'progressive universalism,' taking account of health inequalities, best evidence and impact on outcomes that might be anticipated. The model has been discussed as far as possible across the professional networks of both the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA) and United Kingdom Public Health Association (UKPHA), and is a consensus statement agreed by all who have participated.

Biomechanical energy harvesting: generating electricity during walking with minimal user effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Donelan, J M; Li, Q; Naing, V; Hoffer, J A; Weber, D J; Kuo, A D

2008-02-08

We have developed a biomechanical energy harvester that generates electricity during human walking with little extra effort. Unlike conventional human-powered generators that use positive muscle work, our technology assists muscles in performing negative work, analogous to regenerative braking in hybrid cars, where energy normally dissipated during braking drives a generator instead. The energy harvester mounts at the knee and selectively engages power generation at the end of the swing phase, thus assisting deceleration of the joint. Test subjects walking with one device on each leg produced an average of 5 watts of electricity, which is about 10 times that of shoe-mounted devices. The cost of harvesting-the additional metabolic power required to produce 1 watt of electricity-is less than one-eighth of that for conventional human power generation. Producing substantial electricity with little extra effort makes this method well-suited for charging powered prosthetic limbs and other portable medical devices.

ASME Code Efforts Supporting HTGRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.K. Morton

2012-09-01

In 1999, an international collaborative initiative for the development of advanced (Generation IV) reactors was started. The idea behind this effort was to bring nuclear energy closer to the needs of sustainability, to increase proliferation resistance, and to support concepts able to produce energy (both electricity and process heat) at competitive costs. The U.S. Department of Energy has supported this effort by pursuing the development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, a high temperature gas-cooled reactor. This support has included research and development of pertinent data, initial regulatory discussions, and engineering support of various codes and standards development. This report discusses the various applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes and standards that are being developed to support these high temperature gascooled reactors during construction and operation. ASME is aggressively pursuing these codes and standards to support an international effort to build the next generation of advanced reactors so that all can benefit.

ASME Code Efforts Supporting HTGRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.K. Morton

2011-09-01

In 1999, an international collaborative initiative for the development of advanced (Generation IV) reactors was started. The idea behind this effort was to bring nuclear energy closer to the needs of sustainability, to increase proliferation resistance, and to support concepts able to produce energy (both electricity and process heat) at competitive costs. The U.S. Department of Energy has supported this effort by pursuing the development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, a high temperature gas-cooled reactor. This support has included research and development of pertinent data, initial regulatory discussions, and engineering support of various codes and standards development. This report discusses the various applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes and standards that are being developed to support these high temperature gascooled reactors during construction and operation. ASME is aggressively pursuing these codes and standards to support an international effort to build the next generation of advanced reactors so that all can benefit.

[Effect of occupational stress and effort-reward imbalance on sleep quality of people's policeman].

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hui; Gu, Guizhen; Yu, Shanfa

2014-04-01

To explore the effect of occupational stress and effort-reward imbalance on sleep quality of people's police. A cluster sampling survey of sleep quality and occupational stress correlated factors was conducted on 287 police from a city public security bureau by questionnaires in May, 2011; the relationship between sleep quality and occupational stress correlated factors was analyzed by one-way ANOVA and multivariate non-conditional logistic regression using effort-reward imbalance model (ERI) and demand-control-support model (DCS). And the subjects were divided into high tension group and low tension group using the 1.0 of ERI and DCS coefficients as the boundary. The sleep quality score of shift work police was higher than day work police (11.95 ± 6.54 vs 9.52 ± 6.43, t = 2.77, P argument, sex (OR = 3.0, 95%CI:1.16-7.73) , age for 30-39 years (OR = 3.48, 95%CI:1.32-9.16) , intrinsic effort (OR = 2.30, 95%CI:1.10-4.81) and daily hassles (OR = 2.15, 95%CI:1.06-4.33) were risk factors of low sleep quality, and reward (OR = 0.26, 95%CI:0.12-0.52) was the protective factor.For the regression analysis of DCS model as an argument , age for 30-39 years (OR = 2.55, 95%CI:1.02-6.37) , depressive symptom (OR = 2.10, 95%CI:1.14-3.89) and daily hassles (OR = 3.25, 95%CI:1.70-6.19) were risk factors of low sleep quality.While the ERI model and the DCS model were analyzed simultaneously, sex (OR = 3.03, 95%CI:1.15-7.98) , age for 30-39 years (OR = 3.71, 95%CI:1.38-9.98) and daily hassles (OR = 2.09, 95%CI:1.01-4.30) were the risk factors of low sleep quality, and reward (OR = 0.22, 95%CI:0.10-0.48) was the protective factor. Occupational stress and effort-reward imbalance affected the sleep quality to people's policeman.

Maternal Parenting as a Mediator of the Relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and Effortful Control

OpenAIRE

Gustafsson, Hanna C.; Cox, Martha J.; Blair, Clancy

2011-01-01

The current study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV), maternal parenting behaviors, and child effortful control in a diverse sample of 705 families living in predominantly low-income, rural communities. Using structural equation modeling, the authors simultaneously tested whether observed sensitive parenting and/or harsh-intrusive parenting over the toddler years mediated the relationship between early IPV and later effortful control. Results suggest that parent...

Integrating and differentiating aspects of self-regulation: effortful control, executive functioning, and links to negative affectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bridgett, David J; Oddi, Kate B; Laake, Lauren M; Murdock, Kyle W; Bachmann, Melissa N

2013-02-01

Subdisciplines within psychology frequently examine self-regulation from different frameworks despite conceptually similar definitions of constructs. In the current study, similarities and differences between effortful control, based on the psychobiological model of temperament (Rothbart, Derryberry, & Posner, 1994), and executive functioning are examined and empirically tested in three studies (n = 509). Structural equation modeling indicated that effortful control and executive functioning are strongly associated and overlapping constructs (Study 1). Additionally, results indicated that effortful control is related to the executive function of updating/monitoring information in working memory, but not inhibition (Studies 2 and 3). Study 3 also demonstrates that better updating/monitoring information in working memory and better effortful control were uniquely linked to lower dispositional negative affect, whereas the executive function of low/poor inhibition was uniquely associated with an increased tendency to express negative affect. Furthermore, dispositional negative affect mediated the links between effortful control and, separately, the executive function of updating/monitoring information in working memory and the tendency to express negative affect. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, and a potential framework for guiding future work directed at integrating and differentiating aspects of self-regulation is suggested. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Modelo de requisitos para sistemas embebidos: Model of requirements for embedded systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana González Palacio

2008-07-01

Full Text Available En este artículo se presenta un modelo de requisitos como apoyo para la construcción de sistemas embebidos. En la actualidad, las metodologías de Ingeniería de Requisitos propuestas para este dominio no establecen continuidad en su proceso de desarrollo, ya que poseen una fuerte orientación a la etapa de diseño y un énfasis más débil en la etapa de análisis. Además, dichas metodologías ofrecen pautas para tratar los requisitos luego de que han sido obtenidos, pero no proponen herramientas; como por ejemplo, un modelo de requisitos, para la obtención de estos. Este trabajo hace parte de un proyecto de investigación que tiene como objetivo proponer una metodología de Ingeniería de Requisitos (IR para el análisis de Sistemas Embebidos (SE. El modelo de requisitos propuesto y su forma de utilización se ilustran mediante un caso de aplicación consistente en la obtención de requisitos para un sistema de sensado de movimiento, embebido en un sistema de alarma para hogar.In this paper a model of requirements for supporting the construction of embedded systems is presented. Currently, the methodologies of Engineering of Requirements, in this field, do not let continuity in their development process, since they have a strong orientation to design stage and a weaker emphasis on the analysis stage. Furthermore, such methodologies provide guidelines for treating requirements after being obtained. However, they do not propose tools such as a model of requirements for obtaining them. This paper is the result of a research project which objective is to propose engineering of requirements methodology for embedded systems analysis. The model of proposed requirements and its use are illustrated through an application case consisting on obtaining requirements for a movement sensing system, embedded in a home alarm system.

Pocket money and child effort at school

OpenAIRE

François-Charles Wolff; Christine Barnet-Verzat

2008-01-01

In this paper, we study the relationship between the provision of parental pocket and the level of effort undertaken by the child at school. Under altruism, an increased amount of parental transfer should reduce the child's effort. Our empirical analysis is based on a French data set including about 1,400 parent-child pairs. We find that children do not undertake less effort when their parents are more generous.

US Efforts in Support of Examinations at Fukushima Daiichi - 2016 Evaluations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amway, P.; Andrews, N.; Bixby, Willis; Bunt, R.; Corradini, M.; Ellison, P.; Farmer, M.; Farthing, T.; Francis, M; Gabor, J.; Gauntt, R.; Henry, C.; Humrickhouse, P.; Kraft, S.; Linthicum, R.; Luangdilok, W.; Lutz, R.; Luxat, D.; Maddox, J.; Negin, C.; Paik, C.; Plys, M.; Rempe, J.; Robb, K.; Sanders, R.; Wachowiak, R.; Williamson, B.

2016-01-01

Although it is clear that the accident signatures from each unit at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) [Daiichi] differ, much is not known about the end-state of core materials within these units. Some of this uncertainty can be attributed to a lack of information related to cooling system operation and cooling water injection. There is also uncertainty in our understanding of phenomena affecting: a) in-vessel core damage progression during severe accidents in boiling water reactors (BWRs), and b) accident progression after vessel failure (ex-vessel progression) for BWRs and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). These uncertainties arise due to limited full scale prototypic data. Similar to what occurred after the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2, these Daiichi units offer the international community a means to reduce such uncertainties by obtaining prototypic data from multiple full-scale BWR severe accidents. Information obtained from Daiichi is required to inform Decontamination and Decommissioning activities, improving the ability of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) to characterize potential hazards and to ensure the safety of workers involved with cleanup activities. This document reports recent results from the US Forensics Effort to use information obtained by TEPCO to enhance the safety of existing and future nuclear power plant designs. This Forensics Effort, which is sponsored by the Reactor Safety Technologies Pathway of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Light Water Reactor (LWR) Sustainability Program, consists of a group of US experts in LWR safety and plant operations that have identified examination needs and are evaluating TEPCO information from Daiichi that address these needs. Examples presented in this report demonstrate that significant safety insights are being obtained in the areas of component performance, fission product release and transport, debris end-state location, and combustible gas

The value of EHR-based assessment of physician competency: An investigative effort with internal medicine physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Venta, Kimberly; Baker, Erin; Fidopiastis, Cali; Stanney, Kay

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of developing an EHR-based model of physician competency, named the Skill Deficiency Evaluation Toolkit for Eliminating Competency-loss Trends (Skill-DETECT), which presents the opportunity to use EHR-based models to inform selection of Continued Medical Education (CME) opportunities specifically targeted at maintaining proficiency. The IBM Explorys platform provided outpatient Electronic Health Records (EHRs) representing 76 physicians with over 5000 patients combined. These data were used to develop the Skill-DETECT model, a predictive hybrid model composed of a rule-based model, logistic regression model, and a thresholding model, which predicts cognitive clinical skill deficiencies in internal medicine physicians. A three-phase approach was then used to statistically validate the model performance. Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel reviews resulted in a 100% overall approval rate of the rule based model. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves calculated for each logistic regression curve resulted in values between 0.76 and 0.92, which indicated exceptional performance. Normality, skewness, and kurtosis were determined and confirmed that the distribution of values output from the thresholding model were unimodal and peaked, which confirmed effectiveness and generalizability. The validation has confirmed that the Skill-DETECT model has a strong ability to evaluate EHR data and support the identification of internal medicine cognitive clinical skills that are deficient or are of higher likelihood of becoming deficient and thus require remediation, which will allow both physician and medical organizations to fine tune training efforts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early Engagement of Safety and Mission Assurance Expertise Using Systems Engineering Tools: A Risk-Based Approach to Early Identification of Safety and Assurance Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Darpel, Scott; Beckman, Sean

2016-01-01

Decades of systems engineering practice have demonstrated that the earlier the identification of requirements occurs, the lower the chance that costly redesigns will needed later in the project life cycle. A better understanding of all requirements can also improve the likelihood of a design's success. Significant effort has been put into developing tools and practices that facilitate requirements determination, including those that are part of the model-based systems engineering (MBSE) paradigm. These efforts have yielded improvements in requirements definition, but have thus far focused on a design's performance needs. The identification of safety & mission assurance (S&MA) related requirements, in comparison, can occur after preliminary designs are already established, yielding forced redesigns. Engaging S&MA expertise at an earlier stage, facilitated by the use of MBSE tools, and focused on actual project risk, can yield the same type of design life cycle improvements that have been realized in technical and performance requirements.

Emissions inventories for urban airshed model application in the Philadelphia Aqcr (Air Quality Control Region)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1982-04-01

This report documents the procedures used to develop emissions input required by the Urban Airshed photochemical oxidant model. Ambient air quality data were gathered as part of another effort during the summer of 1979 in Philadelphia to be used in the model validation effort. For 1979 and the 1987 projection year, ES compiled hour by hour emissions data for a representative weekday in the oxidant season. The pollutants inventoried are five categories of VOC required by the Airshed model, four categories of VOC defined in RAPS, NO, NO2, CO, SO2, and TSP. Point and area sources were considered with the highway vehicle portion of the inventory being subcontracted to DVRPC. County level area source data were allocated to a 502-cell grid system. Projections were made so that ozone air quality in 1987 could be investigated. ES developed annualized EIS/PandR data and data files containing temporal and VOC/NOx profiles in order to generate the data packets required by the Airshed model.

Stretch-sensitive paresis and effort perception in hemiparesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinti, Maria; Bayle, Nicolas; Hutin, Emilie; Burke, David; Gracies, Jean-Michel

2015-08-01

In spastic paresis, stretch applied to the antagonist increases its inappropriate recruitment during agonist command (spastic co-contraction). It is unknown whether antagonist stretch: (1) also affects agonist recruitment; (2) alters effort perception. We quantified voluntary activation of ankle dorsiflexors, effort perception, and plantar flexor co-contraction during graded dorsiflexion efforts at two gastrocnemius lengths. Eighteen healthy (age 41 ± 13) and 18 hemiparetic (age 54 ± 12) subjects performed light, medium and maximal isometric dorsiflexion efforts with the knee flexed or extended. We determined dorsiflexor torque, Root Mean Square EMG and Agonist Recruitment/Co-contraction Indices (ARI/CCI) from the 500 ms peak voluntary agonist recruitment in a 5-s maximal isometric effort in tibialis anterior, soleus and medial gastrocnemius. Subjects retrospectively reported effort perception on a 10-point visual analog scale. During gastrocnemius stretch in hemiparetic subjects, we observed: (1) a 25 ± 7 % reduction of tibialis anterior voluntary activation (maximum reduction 98 %; knee extended vs knee flexed; p = 0.007, ANOVA); (2) an increase in dorsiflexion effort perception (p = 0.03, ANCOVA). Such changes did not occur in healthy subjects. Effort perception depended on tibialis anterior recruitment only (βARI(TA) = 0.61, p hemiparesis, voluntary ability to recruit agonist motoneurones is impaired--sometimes abolished--by antagonist stretch, a phenomenon defined here as stretch-sensitive paresis. In addition, spastic co-contraction increases effort perception, an additional incentive to evaluate and treat this phenomenon.

Capital Regulation, Liquidity Requirements and Taxation in a Dynamic Model of Banking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Di Nicolo, G.; Gamba, A.; Lucchetta, M.

2011-01-01

This paper formulates a dynamic model of a bank exposed to both credit and liquidity risk, which can resolve financial distress in three costly forms: fire sales, bond issuance ad equity issuance. We use the model to analyze the impact of capital regulation, liquidity requirements and taxation on

Capital Regulation, Liquidity Requirements and Taxation in a Dynamic Model of Banking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Di Nicolo, G.; Gamba, A.; Lucchetta, M.

2011-01-01

This paper formulates a dynamic model of a bank exposed to both credit and liquidity risk, which can resolve financial distress in three costly forms: fire sales, bond issuance and equity issuance. We use the model to analyze the impact of capital regulation, liquidity requirements and taxation on

Assessment of modelling needs for safety analysis of current HTGR concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kroeger, P.G.; Van Tuyle, G.J.

1985-12-01

In view of the recent shift in emphasis of the DOE/Industry HTGR development efforts to smaller modular designs it became necessary to review the modelling needs and the codes available to assess the safety performance of these new designs. This report provides a final assessment of the most urgent modelling needs, comparing these to the tools available, and outlining the most significant areas where further modelling is required. Plans to implement the required work are presented. 47 refs., 20 figs

Effort-Based Career Opportunities and Working Time