Ex-plant consequence assessment for NUREG-1150: models, typical results, uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sprung, J.L.

1988-01-01

The assessment of ex-plant consequences for NUREG-1150 source terms was performed using the MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System (MACCS). This paper briefly discusses the following elements of MACCS consequence calculations: input data, phenomena modeled, computational framework, typical results, controlling phenomena, and uncertainties. Wherever possible, NUREG-1150 results will be used to illustrate the discussion. 28 references

Employment, Production and Consumption model: Patterns of phase transitions

Science.gov (United States)

Lavička, H.; Lin, L.; Novotný, J.

2010-04-01

We have simulated the model of Employment, Production and Consumption (EPC) using Monte Carlo. The EPC model is an agent based model that mimics very basic rules of industrial economy. From the perspective of physics, the nature of the interactions in the EPC model represents multi-agent interactions where the relations among agents follow the key laws for circulation of capital and money. Monte Carlo simulations of the stochastic model reveal phase transition in the model economy. The two phases are the phase with full unemployment and the phase with nearly full employment. The economy switches between these two states suddenly as a reaction to a slight variation in the exogenous parameter, thus the system exhibits strong non-linear behavior as a response to the change of the exogenous parameters.

Developing a Sustainable Practical Model of Graduate Employability for Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Umar Rufai

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to evolve a sustainable practical model of employability skills that is sure to capture relevant learning aspects of a particular occupational discipline to be used as framework for Undergraduate students to develop their employability potentials. The study was conducted in three Universities and Polytechnics each with three multi-national companies. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Using purposeful sampling 18 academic staff and 3 professionals representing company employers were selected as the study participants. The study evolved a model that is work-based, explicit in its outcome, fully articulated and realistic in terms of employability skill experiences. The proposed model can be used to establish a common higher education programme or curricula that is work-based and skill experience oriented, that can encourage students in higher education to think about work place learning more explicitly and reflectively, that will in turn help them to develop a broad range of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, each of which ultimately contribute in some manner to graduate employability.  The paper is considered a contribution to the evolution and growth of knowledge on the linkage between higher education and workplace, through which the ‘skill gap’ occurring between the demand of employment and the level of educational preparation of graduates can be bridged. Keywords: Employability, Higher Education, Graduates, Model/Framework,   academic staff, Employers/Professionals

An employer brand predictive model for talent attraction and retention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelize Botha

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Orientation: In an ever shrinking global talent pool organisations use employer brand to attract and retain talent, however, in the absence of theoretical pointers, many organisations are losing out on a powerful business tool by not developing or maintaining their employer brand correctly. Research purpose: This study explores the current state of knowledge about employer brand and identifies the various employer brand building blocks which are conceptually integrated in a predictive model. Motivation for the study: The need for scientific progress though the accurate representation of a set of employer brand phenomena and propositions, which can be empirically tested, motivated this study. Research design, approach and method: This study was nonempirical in approach and searched for linkages between theoretical concepts by making use of relevant contextual data. Theoretical propositions which explain the identified linkages were developed for purpose of further empirical research. Main findings: Key findings suggested that employer brand is influenced by target group needs, a differentiated Employer Value Proposition (EVP, the people strategy, brand consistency, communication of the employer brand and measurement of Human Resources (HR employer branding efforts. Practical/managerial implications: The predictive model provides corporate leaders and their human resource functionaries a theoretical pointer relative to employer brand which could guide more effective talent attraction and retention decisions. Contribution/value add: This study adds to the small base of research available on employer brand and contributes to both scientific progress as well as an improved practical understanding of factors which influence employer brand.

Markowitz portfolio optimization model employing fuzzy measure

Science.gov (United States)

Ramli, Suhailywati; Jaaman, Saiful Hafizah

2017-04-01

Markowitz in 1952 introduced the mean-variance methodology for the portfolio selection problems. His pioneering research has shaped the portfolio risk-return model and become one of the most important research fields in modern finance. This paper extends the classical Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio selection model applying the fuzzy measure to determine the risk and return. In this paper, we apply the original mean-variance model as a benchmark, fuzzy mean-variance model with fuzzy return and the model with return are modeled by specific types of fuzzy number for comparison. The model with fuzzy approach gives better performance as compared to the mean-variance approach. The numerical examples are included to illustrate these models by employing Malaysian share market data.

Full employment and competition in the Aspen economic model: implications for modeling acts of terrorism.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sprigg, James A.; Ehlen, Mark Andrew

2004-11-01

Acts of terrorism could have a range of broad impacts on an economy, including changes in consumer (or demand) confidence and the ability of productive sectors to respond to changes. As a first step toward a model of terrorism-based impacts, we develop here a model of production and employment that characterizes dynamics in ways useful toward understanding how terrorism-based shocks could propagate through the economy; subsequent models will introduce the role of savings and investment into the economy. We use Aspen, a powerful economic modeling tool developed at Sandia, to demonstrate for validation purposes that a single-firm economy converges to the known monopoly equilibrium price, output, and employment levels, while multiple-firm economies converge toward the competitive equilibria typified by lower prices and higher output and employment. However, we find that competition also leads to churn by consumers seeking lower prices, making it difficult for firms to optimize with respect to wages, prices, and employment levels. Thus, competitive firms generate market ''noise'' in the steady state as they search for prices and employment levels that will maximize profits. In the context of this model, not only could terrorism depress overall consumer confidence and economic activity but terrorist acts could also cause normal short-run dynamics to be misinterpreted by consumers as a faltering economy.

Parameterized Finite Element Modeling and Buckling Analysis of Six Typical Composite Grid Cylindrical Shells

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Changliang; Wang, Junbiao; Liu, Chuang

2014-10-01

Six typical composite grid cylindrical shells are constructed by superimposing three basic types of ribs. Then buckling behavior and structural efficiency of these shells are analyzed under axial compression, pure bending, torsion and transverse bending by finite element (FE) models. The FE models are created by a parametrical FE modeling approach that defines FE models with original natural twisted geometry and orients cross-sections of beam elements exactly. And the approach is parameterized and coded by Patran Command Language (PCL). The demonstrations of FE modeling indicate the program enables efficient generation of FE models and facilitates parametric studies and design of grid shells. Using the program, the effects of helical angles on the buckling behavior of six typical grid cylindrical shells are determined. The results of these studies indicate that the triangle grid and rotated triangle grid cylindrical shell are more efficient than others under axial compression and pure bending, whereas under torsion and transverse bending, the hexagon grid cylindrical shell is most efficient. Additionally, buckling mode shapes are compared and provide an understanding of composite grid cylindrical shells that is useful in preliminary design of such structures.

A Simple Forecasting Model Linking Macroeconomic Policy to Industrial Employment Demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Malley, James R.; Hady, Thomas F.

A study detailed further a model linking monetary and fiscal policy to industrial employment in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas of four United States regions. The model was used to simulate the impacts on area and regional employment of three events in the economy: changing real gross national product (GNP) via monetary policy, holding the…

The Employment of spatial autoregressive models in predicting demand for natural gas; O Emprego de modelos auto-regressivos espaciais na previsao de demanda para gas natural

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castro, Jorge Henrique de [Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PETROBRAS), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Silva, Alexandre Pinto Alves da [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Eletrica

2010-07-01

Develop the natural gas network is critical success factor for the distribution company. It is a decision that employs the demand given location 'x' and a future time 't' so that the net allows the best conditions for the return of the capital. In this segment, typical network industry, the spatial infra-structure vision associated to the market allows better evaluation of the business because to mitigate costs and risks. In fact, economic models little developed in order to assess the question of the location, due to its little employment by economists. The objective of this article is to analyze the application of spatial perspective in natural gas demand forecasting and to identify the models that can be employed observing issues of dependency and spatial heterogeneity; as well as the capacity of mapping of variables associated with the problem. (author)

For your local eyes only: Culture-specific face typicality influences perceptions of trustworthiness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sofer, C.; Dotsch, R.; Oikawa, M.; Oikawa, H.; Wigboldus, D.H.J.; Todorov, A.T.

2017-01-01

Recent findings show that typical faces are judged as more trustworthy than atypical faces. However, it is not clear whether employment of typicality cues in trustworthiness judgment happens across cultures and if these cues are culture specific. In two studies, conducted in Japan and Israel,

Aeroelastic Calculations Using CFD for a Typical Business Jet Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbons, Michael D.

1996-01-01

Two time-accurate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes were used to compute several flutter points for a typical business jet model. The model consisted of a rigid fuselage with a flexible semispan wing and was tested in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center where experimental flutter data were obtained from M(sub infinity) = 0.628 to M(sub infinity) = 0.888. The computational results were computed using CFD codes based on the inviscid TSD equation (CAP-TSD) and the Euler/Navier-Stokes equations (CFL3D-AE). Comparisons are made between analytical results and with experiment where appropriate. The results presented here show that the Navier-Stokes method is required near the transonic dip due to the strong viscous effects while the TSD and Euler methods used here provide good results at the lower Mach numbers.

The Incidence of Employment Subsidies for Vocational Training

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albæk, Karsten

2013-01-01

This paper analyses employment subsidies for vocational training under union wage bargaining. The analysis includes an investigation of the consequences of financing the subsidy by a levy on employment, which is the typical way of financing these types of subsidies in many countries. The paper de...... demonstrates high incidence rates of subsidies for vocational training under standard assumptions about the preference structure of the union. The financing scheme appears to counteract the purpose of the subsidy.......This paper analyses employment subsidies for vocational training under union wage bargaining. The analysis includes an investigation of the consequences of financing the subsidy by a levy on employment, which is the typical way of financing these types of subsidies in many countries. The paper...

What's up with the self-employed? A cross-national perspective on the self-employed's work-related mental well-being.

Science.gov (United States)

Gevaert, Jessie; Moortel, Deborah De; Wilkens, Mathijn; Vanroelen, Christophe

2018-04-01

Although many governments actively stimulate self-employment, their work-related mental well-being remains understudied. The aim of current study is to investigate the mental well-being of different types of self-employed, testing whether mental well-being differences among self-employed are explained by the presence of work characteristics that are in accordance with the ideal-typical image of the "successful entrepreneur" (e.g. creativity, willingness to take risks, innovativeness, high intrinsic motivation, skilfulness and the ability of recognizing opportunities). Moreover, we investigate the relation of country-level "entrepreneurial climate" and the individual mental well-being of self-employed. For this purpose, data from the European Working Conditions Survey, round 6 (2015) was analysed, including 5448 cases, originating from the 28 EU-member states. Multilevel random intercepts modelling was used to investigate associations of both individual- and country-level characteristics with mental well-being. We found that motivation, the ability to recognize opportunities, and finding it easy to be self-employed positively influences the mental well-being of self-employed. Respondents with these characteristics are often medium-big employers, while farmers, dependent freelancers and own account workers generally have less of these features and tend to have lower levels of mental well-being. At the country-level, positive entrepreneurship perception relates to more advantageous mental health scores in self-employed. These results implicate that policies promoting self-employment should be (more) concerned with the work-related characteristics of (future) self-employed.

Improving Baseline Model Assumptions: Evaluating the Impacts of Typical Methodological Approaches in Watershed Models

Science.gov (United States)

Muenich, R. L.; Kalcic, M. M.; Teshager, A. D.; Long, C. M.; Wang, Y. C.; Scavia, D.

2017-12-01

Thanks to the availability of open-source software, online tutorials, and advanced software capabilities, watershed modeling has expanded its user-base and applications significantly in the past thirty years. Even complicated models like the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) are being used and documented in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications each year, and likely more applied in practice. These models can help improve our understanding of present, past, and future conditions, or analyze important "what-if" management scenarios. However, baseline data and methods are often adopted and applied without rigorous testing. In multiple collaborative projects, we have evaluated the influence of some of these common approaches on model results. Specifically, we examined impacts of baseline data and assumptions involved in manure application, combined sewer overflows, and climate data incorporation across multiple watersheds in the Western Lake Erie Basin. In these efforts, we seek to understand the impact of using typical modeling data and assumptions, versus using improved data and enhanced assumptions on model outcomes and thus ultimately, study conclusions. We provide guidance for modelers as they adopt and apply data and models for their specific study region. While it is difficult to quantitatively assess the full uncertainty surrounding model input data and assumptions, recognizing the impacts of model input choices is important when considering actions at the both the field and watershed scales.

On the Incidence of Employment Subsidies to Vocational Training

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albæk, Karsten

The present paper analyses employment subsidies to vocational training under union wage bargaining. The analysis includes an investigation of the consequences of financing the subsidy by a levy on employment, which is the typical way of financing these types of subsidies in many countries. The pa....... The paper demonstrates high incidence rates of subsidies to vocational training under standard assumptions about the preference structure of the union. The financing scheme appears to counteract the purpose of the subsidy.......The present paper analyses employment subsidies to vocational training under union wage bargaining. The analysis includes an investigation of the consequences of financing the subsidy by a levy on employment, which is the typical way of financing these types of subsidies in many countries...

Modelling object typicality in description logics

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Britz, K

2009-12-01

Full Text Available in the context under consideration, than those lower down. For any given class C, we assume that all objects in the appli- cation domain that are in (the interpretation of) C are more typical of C than those not in C. This is a technical construction which... to be modular partial orders, i.e. reflexive, transitive, anti- symmetric relations such that, for all a, b, c in ∆I , if a and b are incomparable and a is strictly below c, then b is also strictly below c. Modular partial orders have the effect...

An integrative model for measuring graduates’ employability skills—A study in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenping Su

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Employability is a key issue in graduates’ job-hunting, but little research has been done on that of the graduates in Chinese universities. These universities have been experiencing a decline in their graduate employment since the past decade. This paper attempts to tackle this issue. It reviews the relevant research on employability and develops a research-based theoretical framework to evaluate and analyze the graduates’ employability in China. It adopts multiple approaches to establish the skills that will enhance university students’ employability. Investigating around 100 employers and 200 undergraduates from the universities in Beijing, the paper explores the characteristics of and factors influencing the graduates’ employability. Subsequently, it proposes a qualitative model to measure graduates’ employability. Based on the findings, it discusses the theoretical and practical implications and provides advice for Chinese graduates to improve their employability.

Developing a Sustainable Practical Model of Graduate Employability for Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Rufai, Ahmed Umar; Bakar, Ab Rahim Bin; Rashi, Abdullah Bin Mat

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to evolve a sustainable practical model of employability skills that is sure to capture relevant learning aspects of a particular occupational discipline to be used as framework for Undergraduate students to develop their employability potentials. The study was conducted in three Universities and Polytechnics each with…

Looking around houses: attention to a model when drawing complex shapes in Williams syndrome and typical development.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Kerry D; Farran, Emily K

2013-09-01

Drawings by individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) typically lack cohesion. The popular hypothesis is that this is a result of excessive focus on local-level detail at the expense of global configuration. In this study, we explored a novel hypothesis that inadequate attention might underpin drawing in WS. WS and typically developing (TD) non-verbal ability matched groups copied and traced a house figure comprised of geometric shapes. The house was presented on a computer screen for 5-s periods and participants pressed a key to re-view the model. Frequency of key-presses indexed the looks to the model. The order that elements were replicated was recorded to assess hierarchisation of elements. If a lack of attention to the model explained poor drawing performance, we expected participants with WS to look less frequently to the model than TD children when copying. If a local-processing preference underpins drawing in WS, more local than global elements would be produced. Results supported the first, but not second hypothesis. The WS group looked to the model infrequently, but global, not local, parts were drawn first, scaffolding local-level details. Both groups adopted a similar order of drawing and tracing of parts, suggesting typical, although delayed strategy-use in the WS group. Additionally both groups drew larger elements of the model before smaller elements, suggested a size-bias when drawing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computational fluid dynamics modeling of rope-guided conveyances in two typical kinds of shaft layouts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renyuan Wu

Full Text Available The behavior of rope-guided conveyances is so complicated that the rope-guided hoisting system hasn't been understood thoroughly so far. In this paper, with user-defined functions loaded, ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 was employed to simulate lateral motion of rope-guided conveyances in two typical kinds of shaft layouts. With rope-guided mine elevator and mine cages taken into account, results show that the lateral aerodynamic buffeting force is much larger than the Coriolis force, and the side aerodynamic force have the same order of magnitude as the Coriolis force. The lateral aerodynamic buffeting forces should also be considered especially when the conveyance moves along the ventilation air direction. The simulation shows that the closer size of the conveyances can weaken the transverse aerodynamic buffeting effect.

Research Report: Self-Employment for Persons Who Are Blind.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, J. Elton; Cavenaugh, Brenda S.

2003-01-01

This article discusses self-employment as an employment option for individuals who are blind. Analysis of trends indicates the total number of facility managers who are blind in the Randolph-Sheppard Program declined from 3,524 in 1994 to 2,711 in FY 2001 and that self-employment outcomes typically cost less than competitive outcomes. (Contains…

Development of a noise prediction model based on advanced fuzzy approaches in typical industrial workrooms.

Science.gov (United States)

Aliabadi, Mohsen; Golmohammadi, Rostam; Khotanlou, Hassan; Mansoorizadeh, Muharram; Salarpour, Amir

2014-01-01

Noise prediction is considered to be the best method for evaluating cost-preventative noise controls in industrial workrooms. One of the most important issues is the development of accurate models for analysis of the complex relationships among acoustic features affecting noise level in workrooms. In this study, advanced fuzzy approaches were employed to develop relatively accurate models for predicting noise in noisy industrial workrooms. The data were collected from 60 industrial embroidery workrooms in the Khorasan Province, East of Iran. The main acoustic and embroidery process features that influence the noise were used to develop prediction models using MATLAB software. Multiple regression technique was also employed and its results were compared with those of fuzzy approaches. Prediction errors of all prediction models based on fuzzy approaches were within the acceptable level (lower than one dB). However, Neuro-fuzzy model (RMSE=0.53dB and R2=0.88) could slightly improve the accuracy of noise prediction compared with generate fuzzy model. Moreover, fuzzy approaches provided more accurate predictions than did regression technique. The developed models based on fuzzy approaches as useful prediction tools give professionals the opportunity to have an optimum decision about the effectiveness of acoustic treatment scenarios in embroidery workrooms.

An extended car-following model considering the acceleration derivative in some typical traffic environments

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Tong; Chen, Dong; Liu, Weining

2018-03-01

Based on the full velocity difference and acceleration car-following model, an extended car-following model is proposed by considering the vehicle’s acceleration derivative. The stability condition is given by applying the control theory. Considering some typical traffic environments, the results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show the extended model has a more actual acceleration of string vehicles than that of the previous models in starting process, stopping process and sudden brake. Meanwhile, the traffic jams more easily occur when the coefficient of vehicle’s acceleration derivative increases, which is presented by space-time evolution. The results confirm that the vehicle’s acceleration derivative plays an important role in the traffic jamming transition and the evolution of traffic congestion.

A Conceptual Model for Employer Training to Manage Employee Counter-Productive Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Rock, Naomi Spickard

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a model for employer training to manage employees who possess counter-productive behaviors. With the increasing encouragement for employers to hire without discriminating, the number of individuals with disabilities in the workforce will rise. There is limited training in universities and businesses to…

Employment relations, flexibility and risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Carsten Strøby

Employment relations literature often distinguishes between social democratic/corporatist models of employment relations and liberal models of employment relations as they are seen as opposite or at least different ways of organizing labor markets. They are often characterized as having very...... different risk profiles in terms of relationships between employees, employers, and the state. Low levels of labor market regulation very often characterize the liberal models of employment relations as we know them from, for instance, the USA and the UK. This means that employment conditions are very often...... insecure and that the burden of unemployment risk mostly lies with the employees rather than the employer. Corporatist – or social democratic – employment relations models are, in contrast to the liberal models, often characterized by stricter regulation of the labor market and by high standards...

Typical entanglement

Science.gov (United States)

Deelan Cunden, Fabio; Facchi, Paolo; Florio, Giuseppe; Pascazio, Saverio

2013-05-01

Let a pure state | ψ> be chosen randomly in an NM-dimensional Hilbert space, and consider the reduced density matrix ρ A of an N-dimensional subsystem. The bipartite entanglement properties of | ψ> are encoded in the spectrum of ρ A . By means of a saddle point method and using a "Coulomb gas" model for the eigenvalues, we obtain the typical spectrum of reduced density matrices. We consider the cases of an unbiased ensemble of pure states and of a fixed value of the purity. We finally obtain the eigenvalue distribution by using a statistical mechanics approach based on the introduction of a partition function.

Models for the estimation of diffuse solar radiation for typical cities in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakirci, Kadir

2015-01-01

In solar energy applications, diffuse solar radiation component is required. Solar radiation data particularly in terms of diffuse component are not readily affordable, because of high price of measurements as well as difficulties in their maintenance and calibration. In this study, new empirical models for predicting the monthly mean diffuse solar radiation on a horizontal surface for typical cities in Turkey are established. Therefore, fifteen empirical models from studies in the literature are used. Also, eighteen diffuse solar radiation models are developed using long term sunshine duration and global solar radiation data. The accuracy of the developed models is evaluated in terms of different statistical indicators. It is found that the best performance is achieved for the third-order polynomial model based on sunshine duration and clearness index. - Highlights: • Diffuse radiation is given as a function of clearness index and sunshine fraction. • The diffuse radiation is an important parameter in solar energy applications. • The diffuse radiation measurement is for limited periods and it is very rare. • The new models can be used to estimate monthly average diffuse solar radiation. • The accuracy of the models is evaluated on the basis of statistical indicators

Soldiers’ employment attitude and employability: An exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Gao

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Nowadays it is very difficult for Chinese retired soldiers to find proper jobs, and the primary reason is the significant gap between job requirements and soldiers owned job skills. Therefore, it is very important to improve the soldiers’ job skills and enhance their understanding of employment.Design/methodology/approach: This paper expands the study scope from the soldiers’ job skills to the employability, initiatively introduces the employment attitude which has obvious impact on the employment of soldiers, and analyses the influence that employment attitude can play on employability. At last, this paper develops statistical method to find the relationship between soldiers’ employment attitude and employability.Findings: The empirical analysis shows that soldiers’ employment attitude has the positive linkage with employability, which makes the employment attitude a measurable variable for the employability rather than an absolute standard.Research limitations/implications: According to the research purpose, more variables should be considered in the model, consequently, there are only three indicators to describe solders’ employment attitude and four indicators to describe solders’ employability.Originality/value: This paper takes research on soldiers’ employability in a new perspective. The soldiers’ employment attitude is served as the entry point, showing the influence that soldiers’ employment attitude has on employability.

A review of typical thermal fatigue failure models for solder joints of electronic components

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaoyan; Sun, Ruifeng; Wang, Yongdong

2017-09-01

For electronic components, cyclic plastic strain makes it easier to accumulate fatigue damage than elastic strain. When the solder joints undertake thermal expansion or cold contraction, different thermal strain of the electronic component and its corresponding substrate is caused by the different coefficient of thermal expansion of the electronic component and its corresponding substrate, leading to the phenomenon of stress concentration. So repeatedly, cracks began to sprout and gradually extend [1]. In this paper, the typical thermal fatigue failure models of solder joints of electronic components are classified and the methods of obtaining the parameters in the model are summarized based on domestic and foreign literature research.

MODEL AUTHENTIC SELF-ASSESSMENT DALAM PENGEMBANGAN EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS MAHASISWA PENDIDIKAN TINGGI VOKASI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I Made Suarta

2015-06-01

______________________________________________________________ AUTHENTIC SELF-ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR DEVELOPING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS STUDENT IN HIGHER VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Abstract The purpose of this research is to develop assessment tools to evaluate achievement of employability skills which are integrated in the learning database applications. The assessment model developed is a combination of self-assessment and authentic assessment, proposed as models of authentic self-assessment. The steps of developing authentic self-assessment models include: identifying the standards, selecting an authentic task, identifying the criteria for the task, and creating the rubric. The results of development assessment tools include: (1 problem solving skills assessment model, (2 self-management skills assessment model, and (3 competence database applications assessment model. This model can be used to assess the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor achievement. The results indicate: achievement of problem solving and self-management ability was in good category, and competencies in designing conceptual and logical database was in high category. This model also has met the basic principles of assessment, i.e.: validity, reliability, focused on competencies, comprehen-sive, objectivity, and the principle of educating. Keywords: authentic assessment, self-assessment, problem solving skills, self-management skills, vocational education

Modeling of critical experiments employing Raschig rings in uranyl nitrate solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanner, J.E.

1989-01-01

Four critical experiments employing borated glass rings in concentrated uranyl nitrate solution yielded k eff higher by 0. 04 when modeled with a flux-weighted, homogenized cross section set than when modeled with discrete rings. k eff varied by 0.014 for a 10% boron uncertainty and by up to 0.04 for a 10% packing fraction uncertainty

Employing the intelligence cycle process model within the Homeland Security Enterprise

OpenAIRE

Stokes, Roger L.

2013-01-01

CHDS State/Local The purpose of this thesis was to examine the employment and adherence of the intelligence cycle process model within the National Network of Fusion Centers and the greater Homeland Security Enterprise by exploring the customary intelligence cycle process model established by the United States Intelligence Community (USIC). This thesis revealed there are various intelligence cycle process models used by the USIC and taught to the National Network. Given the numerous differ...

Advanced software tool for the creation of a typical meteorological year

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skeiker, Kamal; Ghani, Bashar Abdul

2008-01-01

The generation of a typical meteorological year is of great importance for calculations concerning many applications in the field of thermal engineering. In this context, method that has been proposed by Hall et al. is selected for generating typical data, and an improved criterion for final selection of typical meteorological month (TMM) was demonstrated. The final selection of the most representative year was done by examining a composite score S. The composite score was calculated as the weighed sum of the scores of the four meteorological parameters used. These parameters are air dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and global solar radiation intensity. Moreover, a new modern software tool using Delphi 6.0 has been developed, utilizing the Filkenstein-Schafer statistical method for the creation of a typical meteorological year for any site of concern. Whereas, an improved criterion for final selection of typical meteorological month was employed. Such tool allows the user to perform this task without an intimate knowledge of all of the computational details. The final alphanumerical and graphical results are presented on screen, and can be saved to a file or printed as a hard copy. Using this software tool, a typical meteorological year was generated for Damascus, capital of Syria, as a test run example. The data processed used were obtained from the Department of Meteorology and cover a period of 10 years (1991-2000)

The cost of unintended pregnancies for employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

Science.gov (United States)

Dieguez, Gabriela; Pyenson, Bruce S; Law, Amy W; Lynen, Richard; Trussell, James

2015-04-01

Pregnancy is associated with a significant cost for employers providing health insurance benefits to their employees. The latest study on the topic was published in 2002, estimating the unintended pregnancy rate for women covered by employer-sponsored insurance benefits to be approximately 29%. The primary objective of this study was to update the cost of unintended pregnancy to employer-sponsored health insurance plans with current data. The secondary objective was to develop a regression model to identify the factors and associated magnitude that contribute to unintended pregnancies in the employee benefits population. We developed stepwise multinomial logistic regression models using data from a national survey on maternal attitudes about pregnancy before and shortly after giving birth. The survey was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through mail and via telephone interviews between 2009 and 2011 of women who had had a live birth. The regression models were then applied to a large commercial health claims database from the Truven Health MarketScan to retrospectively assign the probability of pregnancy intention to each delivery. Based on the MarketScan database, we estimate that among employer-sponsored health insurance plans, 28.8% of pregnancies are unintended, which is consistent with national findings of 29% in a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These unintended pregnancies account for 27.4% of the annual delivery costs to employers in the United States, or approximately 1% of the typical employer's health benefits spending for 1 year. Using these findings, we present a regression model that employers could apply to their claims data to identify the risk for unintended pregnancies in their health insurance population. The availability of coverage for contraception without employee cost-sharing, as was required by the Affordable Care Act in 2012, combined with the ability to identify women who are at high

Building professionalism and employability skills: embedding employer engagement within first-year computing modules

Science.gov (United States)

Hanna, Philip; Allen, Angela; Kane, Russell; Anderson, Neil; McGowan, Aidan; Collins, Matthew; Hutchison, Malcolm

2015-07-01

This paper outlines a means of improving the employability skills of first-year university students through a closely integrated model of employer engagement within computer science modules. The outlined approach illustrates how employability skills, including communication, teamwork and time management skills, can be contextualised in a manner that directly relates to student learning but can still be linked forward into employment. The paper tests the premise that developing employability skills early within the curriculum will result in improved student engagement and learning within later modules. The paper concludes that embedding employer participation within first-year models can help relate a distant notion of employability into something of more immediate relevance in terms of how students can best approach learning. Further, by enhancing employability skills early within the curriculum, it becomes possible to improve academic attainment within later modules.

A comparison of two typical multicyclic models used to forecast the world's conventional oil production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jianliang; Feng Lianyong; Zhao Lin; Snowden, Simon; Wang Xu

2011-01-01

This paper introduces two typical multicyclic models: the Hubbert model and the Generalized Weng model. The model-solving process of the two is expounded, and it provides the basis for an empirical analysis of the world's conventional oil production. The results for both show that the world's conventional oil (crude+NGLs) production will reach its peak in 2011 with a production of 30 billion barrels (Gb). In addition, the forecasting effects of these two models, given the same URR are compared, and the intrinsic characteristics of these two models are analyzed. This demonstrates that for specific criteria the multicyclic Generalized Weng model is an improvement on the multicyclic Hubbert model. Finally, based upon the resultant forecast for the world's conventional oil, some suggestions are proposed for China's policy makers. - Highlights: ► Hubbert model and Generalized Weng model are introduced and compared in this article. ► We conclude each model's characteristic and scopes and conditions of applicable. ► We get the same peak production and time of world's oil by applying two models. ► Multicyclic Generalized Weng model is proven slightly better than Hubbert model.

Testing a Model of Undergraduate Competence in Employability Skills and Its Implications for Stakeholders

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Denise

2014-01-01

Despite the development of employability skills being firmly entrenched in higher education's strategic agenda worldwide; recent graduates' standards in certain skills are not meeting industry expectations. This paper presents and tests a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills. It highlights those factors which impact on…

Modeling a typical winter-time dust event over the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Kalenderski, Stoitchko

2013-02-20

We used WRF-Chem, a regional meteorological model coupled with an aerosol-chemistry component, to simulate various aspects of the dust phenomena over the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea during a typical winter-time dust event that occurred in January 2009. The model predicted that the total amount of emitted dust was 18.3 Tg for the entire dust outburst period and that the two maximum daily rates were ?2.4 Tg day-1 and ?1.5 Tg day-1, corresponding to two periods with the highest aerosol optical depth that were well captured by ground-and satellite-based observations. The model predicted that the dust plume was thick, extensive, and mixed in a deep boundary layer at an altitude of 3-4 km. Its spatial distribution was modeled to be consistent with typical spatial patterns of dust emissions. We utilized MODIS-Aqua and Solar Village AERONET measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) to evaluate the radiative impact of aerosols. Our results clearly indicated that the presence of dust particles in the atmosphere caused a significant reduction in the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface during the dust event. We also found that dust aerosols have significant impact on the energy and nutrient balances of the Red Sea. Our results showed that the simulated cooling under the dust plume reached 100 W m-2, which could have profound effects on both the sea surface temperature and circulation. Further analysis of dust generation and its spatial and temporal variability is extremely important for future projections and for better understanding of the climate and ecological history of the Red Sea.

Modeling the cost-benefit of nerve conduction studies in pre-employment screening for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Evanoff, Bradley; Kymes, Steve

2010-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the costs associated with pre-employment nerve conduction testing as a screening tool for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in the workplace. We used a Markov decision analysis model to compare the costs associated with a strategy of screening all prospective employees for CTS and not hiring those with abnormal nerve conduction, versus a strategy of not screening for CTS. The variables included in our model included employee turnover rate, the incidence of CTS, the prevalence of median nerve conduction abnormalities, the relative risk of developing CTS conferred by abnormal nerve conduction screening, the costs of pre-employment screening, and the worker's compensation costs to the employer for each case of CTS. In our base case, total employer costs for CTS from the perspective of the employer (cost of screening plus costs for workers' compensation associated with CTS) were higher when screening was used. Median costs per employee position over five years were US$503 for the screening strategy versus US$200 for a no-screening strategy. A sensitivity analysis showed that a strategy of screening was cost-beneficial from the perspective of the employer only under a few circumstances. Using Monte Carlo simulation varying all parameters, we found a 30% probability that screening would be cost-beneficial. A strategy of pre-employment screening for CTS should be carefully evaluated for yield and social consequences before being implemented. Our model suggests such screening is not appropriate for most employers.

Employment Trends; Eating and Beverage Establishments 1958 to 1968, Louisiana.

Science.gov (United States)

Louisiana State Dept. of Employment Security, Baton Rouge

Employment in eating and beverage establishments has grown tremendously in Louisiana. In 1940, United States Census figures showed that 18,400 were employed in the industry, and by 1969, the number had increased to 31,000. The situation in Louisiana may not be typical of other states because of a sharp increase in catering services to offshore oil…

Modeling a typical winter-time dust event over the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Kalenderski

2013-02-01

Full Text Available We used WRF-Chem, a regional meteorological model coupled with an aerosol-chemistry component, to simulate various aspects of the dust phenomena over the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea during a typical winter-time dust event that occurred in January 2009. The model predicted that the total amount of emitted dust was 18.3 Tg for the entire dust outburst period and that the two maximum daily rates were ~2.4 Tg day⁻¹ and ~1.5 Tg day⁻¹, corresponding to two periods with the highest aerosol optical depth that were well captured by ground- and satellite-based observations. The model predicted that the dust plume was thick, extensive, and mixed in a deep boundary layer at an altitude of 3–4 km. Its spatial distribution was modeled to be consistent with typical spatial patterns of dust emissions. We utilized MODIS-Aqua and Solar Village AERONET measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD to evaluate the radiative impact of aerosols. Our results clearly indicated that the presence of dust particles in the atmosphere caused a significant reduction in the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface during the dust event. We also found that dust aerosols have significant impact on the energy and nutrient balances of the Red Sea. Our results showed that the simulated cooling under the dust plume reached 100 W m⁻², which could have profound effects on both the sea surface temperature and circulation. Further analysis of dust generation and its spatial and temporal variability is extremely important for future projections and for better understanding of the climate and ecological history of the Red Sea.

The Anglo-Saxon model of employment in the current economic context. The case of United Kingdom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirela Ionela ACELEANU

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The Anglo-Saxon model of employment has certain features that derive from the specificity of the political and economic system of Great Britain. The labour market policies in the United Kingdom were different depending on the historical and political period; however, the Anglo-Saxon model is characterized mainly by high flexibility but low security. This paper presents the main features of the Anglo-Saxon model of employment, compared to the Nordic and the Mediterranean model and shows Britain's economic situation before and after the crisis.

Supported Employment for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Preliminary Data

Science.gov (United States)

Wehman, Paul; Lau, Stephanie; Molinelli, Alissa; Brooke, Valerie; Thompson, Katie; Moore, Chandler; West, Michael

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of supported employment in securing and maintaining competitive employment for people with autism spectrum disorder, a group that has typically been found to be underemployed or unemployed. This prospective study followed and collected data on 33 individuals with autism spectrum disorder as they…

Predictive models to determine imagery strategies employed by children to judge hand laterality.

Science.gov (United States)

Spruijt, Steffie; Jongsma, Marijtje L A; van der Kamp, John; Steenbergen, Bert

2015-01-01

A commonly used paradigm to study motor imagery is the hand laterality judgment task. The present study aimed to determine which strategies young children employ to successfully perform this task. Children of 5 to 8 years old (N = 92) judged laterality of back and palm view hand pictures in different rotation angles. Response accuracy and response duration were registered. Response durations of the trials with a correct judgment were fitted to a-priori defined predictive sinusoid models, representing different strategies to successfully perform the hand laterality judgment task. The first model predicted systematic changes in response duration as a function of rotation angle of the displayed hand. The second model predicted that response durations are affected by biomechanical constraints of hand rotation. If observed data could be best described by the first model, this would argue for a mental imagery strategy that does not involve motor processes to solve the task. The second model reflects a motor imagery strategy to solve the task. In line with previous research, we showed an age-related increase in response accuracy and decrease in response duration in children. Observed data for both back and palm view showed that motor imagery strategies were used to perform hand laterality judgments, but that not all the children use these strategies (appropriately) at all times. A direct comparison of response duration patterns across age sheds new light on age-related differences in the strategies employed to solve the task. Importantly, the employment of the motor imagery strategy for successful task performance did not change with age.

Self-Observation Model Employing an Instinctive Interface for Classroom Active Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Gwo-Dong; Nurkhamid; Wang, Chin-Yeh; Yang, Shu-Han; Chao, Po-Yao

2014-01-01

In a classroom, obtaining active, whole-focused, and engaging learning results from a design is often difficult. In this study, we propose a self-observation model that employs an instinctive interface for classroom active learning. Students can communicate with virtual avatars in the vertical screen and can react naturally according to the…

Menopause in the workplace: What employers should be doing.

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Gavin; Riach, Kathleen; Bariola, Emily; Pitts, Marian; Schapper, Jan; Sarrel, Philip

2016-03-01

Large numbers of women transition through menopause whilst in paid employment. Symptoms associated with menopause may cause difficulties for working women, especially if untreated, yet employers are practically silent on this potentially costly issue. This review summarises existing research on the underexplored topic of menopause in the workplace, and synthesises recommendations for employers. Longstanding scholarly interest in the relationship between employment status and symptom reporting typically (but not consistently) shows that women in paid employment (and in specific occupations) report fewer and less severe symptoms than those who are unemployed. Recent studies more systematically focused on the effects of menopausal symptoms on work are typically cross-sectional self-report surveys, with a small number of qualitative studies. Though several papers established that vasomotor (and associated) symptoms have a negative impact on women's productivity, capacity to work and work experience, this is not a uniform finding. Psychological and other somatic symptoms associated with menopause can have a relatively greater negative influence. Physical (e.g., workplace temperature and design) and psychosocial (e.g., work stress, perceptions of control/autonomy) workplace factors have been found to influence the relationship between symptoms and work. Principal recommendations for employers to best support menopausal women as part of a holistic approach to employee health and well-being include risk assessments to make suitable adjustments to the physical and psychosocial work environment, provision of information and support, and training for line managers. Limitations of prior studies, and directions for future research are presented. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Typicality Ranking Task: A New Method to Derive Typicality Judgments from Children

Science.gov (United States)

Ameel, Eef; Storms, Gert

2016-01-01

An alternative method for deriving typicality judgments, applicable in young children that are not familiar with numerical values yet, is introduced, allowing researchers to study gradedness at younger ages in concept development. Contrary to the long tradition of using rating-based procedures to derive typicality judgments, we propose a method that is based on typicality ranking rather than rating, in which items are gradually sorted according to their typicality, and that requires a minimum of linguistic knowledge. The validity of the method is investigated and the method is compared to the traditional typicality rating measurement in a large empirical study with eight different semantic concepts. The results show that the typicality ranking task can be used to assess children’s category knowledge and to evaluate how this knowledge evolves over time. Contrary to earlier held assumptions in studies on typicality in young children, our results also show that preference is not so much a confounding variable to be avoided, but that both variables are often significantly correlated in older children and even in adults. PMID:27322371

Employing Tropospheric Numerical Weather Prediction Model for High-Precision GNSS Positioning

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Daniele; Gouveia, Tayna; Abreu, Pedro; Magário, Jackes

2014-05-01

In the past few years is increasing the necessity of realizing high accuracy positioning. In this sense, the spatial technologies have being widely used. The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) has revolutionized the geodetic positioning activities. Among the existent methods one can emphasize the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and network-based positioning. But, to get high accuracy employing these methods, mainly in real time, is indispensable to realize the atmospheric modeling (ionosphere and troposphere) accordingly. Related to troposphere, there are the empirical models (for example Saastamoinen and Hopfield). But when highly accuracy results (error of few centimeters) are desired, maybe these models are not appropriated to the Brazilian reality. In order to minimize this limitation arises the NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) models. In Brazil the CPTEC/INPE (Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies / Brazilian Institute for Spatial Researches) provides a regional NWP model, currently used to produce Zenithal Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) predictions (http://satelite.cptec.inpe.br/zenital/). The actual version, called eta15km model, has a spatial resolution of 15 km and temporal resolution of 3 hours. In this paper the main goal is to accomplish experiments and analysis concerning the use of troposphere NWP model (eta15km model) in PPP and network-based positioning. Concerning PPP it was used data from dozens of stations over the Brazilian territory, including Amazon forest. The results obtained with NWP model were compared with Hopfield one. NWP model presented the best results in all experiments. Related to network-based positioning it was used data from GNSS/SP Network in São Paulo State, Brazil. This network presents the best configuration in the country to realize this kind of positioning. Actually the network is composed by twenty stations (http://www.fct.unesp.br/#!/pesquisa/grupos-de-estudo-e-pesquisa/gege//gnss-sp-network2789/). The

What is typical is good: The influence of face typicality on perceived trustworthiness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sofer, C.; Dotsch, R.; Wigboldus, D.H.J.; Todorov, A.T.

2015-01-01

The role of face typicality in face recognition is well established, but it is unclear whether face typicality is important for face evaluation. Prior studies have focused mainly on typicality's influence on attractiveness, although recent studies have cast doubt on its importance for attractiveness

Creep strain accumulation in a typical LMFBR piperun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnstone, T.L.

1975-01-01

The analysis described allows the strain concentrations in typical LMFBR two anchor point uniplanar piperuns to be calculated. Account is taken of the effect of pipe elbows in attracting creep strain to themselves as well as possible movements of the thrust line due to strain redistribution. The influence of the initial load conditions is also examined. The stress relaxation analysis is facilitated by making the assumption that a cross-sectional stress distribution determined by the asymptotic fully developed state of creep exists at all times. Use is then made of Hoff(s) analogy between materials with a creep law of the Norton type and those with a corresponding non-linear elastic stress strain law, to determine complementary strain energy rates for straight pipes and bends. Ovalisation of the latter produces an increased strain energy rate which can be simply calculated by comparison with an equal length of straight pipe through employing a creep flexibility factor due to Spence. Deflection rates at any location in the pipework can then be evaluated in terms of the thermal restraint forces at that location by an application of Castigliano's principle. In particular for an anchor point the deflection rates are identically zero and this leads to the generation of 3 simultaneous differential equations determining the relaxation of the anchor reactions. Indicative results are presented for the continuous relaxation at 570 deg C of the thermally induced stress in a planar approximation to a typical LMFBR pipe run chosen to have peak elbow stresses close to the code maximum. The results indicate a ratio, after 10 5 hours, of 3 for creep strain concentration relative to initial peak strain (calculated on the assumption of fully elastic behavior) in the most severely affected elbow, when either austenitic 316 or 321 creep properties are employed

Building Professionalism and Employability Skills: Embedding Employer Engagement within First-Year Computing Modules

Science.gov (United States)

Hanna, Philip; Allen, Angela; Kane, Russell; Anderson, Neil; McGowan, Aidan; Collins, Matthew; Hutchison, Malcolm

2015-01-01

This paper outlines a means of improving the employability skills of first-year university students through a closely integrated model of employer engagement within computer science modules. The outlined approach illustrates how employability skills, including communication, teamwork and time management skills, can be contextualised in a manner…

Determinants of Engagement in Off-Farm Employment in the Sanjiangyuan Region of the Tibetan Plateau

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianzhong Yan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The Sanjiangyuan region is a typical ecologically vulnerable region. Although environmental initiatives in the region have had positive results, criticism has arisen that one of these, the ecological migration policy, did not achieve the desired results regarding the transition to off-farm employment and livelihoods. This study examined key factors influencing the engagement of pastoralists in the Sanjiangyuan region in off-farm employment. Binary logit and probit models were adopted along with in-depth household surveys in the Sanjiangyuan region to support the quantitative and qualitative analyses. The results indicate that off-farm employment in the region is generally not significant (18.13% of the investigated households had members working in off-farm sectors, and that education and government subsidies have had significantly positive effects on engagement in off-farm employment, while the number of livestock and the distance between house and town have had significantly negative effects. These results suggest that it is necessary to establish more financial support for off-farm employment and livelihood transitions, in addition to strengthening ecological compensation. Promising approaches could include offering different types of skill training and increasing employment opportunities in off-farm industries.

Musical taste, employment, education, and global region.

Science.gov (United States)

North, Adrian C; Davidson, Jane W

2013-10-01

Sociologists have argued that musical taste should vary between social groups, but have not considered whether the effect extends beyond taste into uses of music and also emotional reactions to music. Moreover, previous research has ignored the culture in which participants are located. The present research employed a large sample from five post-industrial global regions and showed that musical taste differed between regions but not according to education and employment; and that there were three-way interactions between education, employment, and region in the uses to which participants put music and also their typical emotional reactions. In addition to providing partial support for existing sociological theory, the findings highlight the potential of culture as a variable in future quantitative research on taste. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Large-scale inverse model analyses employing fast randomized data reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Youzuo; Le, Ellen B.; O'Malley, Daniel; Vesselinov, Velimir V.; Bui-Thanh, Tan

2017-08-01

When the number of observations is large, it is computationally challenging to apply classical inverse modeling techniques. We have developed a new computationally efficient technique for solving inverse problems with a large number of observations (e.g., on the order of 107 or greater). Our method, which we call the randomized geostatistical approach (RGA), is built upon the principal component geostatistical approach (PCGA). We employ a data reduction technique combined with the PCGA to improve the computational efficiency and reduce the memory usage. Specifically, we employ a randomized numerical linear algebra technique based on a so-called "sketching" matrix to effectively reduce the dimension of the observations without losing the information content needed for the inverse analysis. In this way, the computational and memory costs for RGA scale with the information content rather than the size of the calibration data. Our algorithm is coded in Julia and implemented in the MADS open-source high-performance computational framework (http://mads.lanl.gov). We apply our new inverse modeling method to invert for a synthetic transmissivity field. Compared to a standard geostatistical approach (GA), our method is more efficient when the number of observations is large. Most importantly, our method is capable of solving larger inverse problems than the standard GA and PCGA approaches. Therefore, our new model inversion method is a powerful tool for solving large-scale inverse problems. The method can be applied in any field and is not limited to hydrogeological applications such as the characterization of aquifer heterogeneity.

Research on the recycling industry development model for typical exterior plastic components of end-of-life passenger vehicle based on the SWOT method.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongshen; Chen, Ming

2013-11-01

In-depth studies on the recycling of typical automotive exterior plastic parts are significant and beneficial for environmental protection, energy conservation, and sustainable development of China. In the current study, several methods were used to analyze the recycling industry model for typical exterior parts of passenger vehicles in China. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of the current recycling industry for typical exterior parts of passenger vehicles were analyzed comprehensively based on the SWOT method. The internal factor evaluation matrix and external factor evaluation matrix were used to evaluate the internal and external factors of the recycling industry. The recycling industry was found to respond well to all the factors and it was found to face good developing opportunities. Then, the cross-link strategies analysis for the typical exterior parts of the passenger car industry of China was conducted based on the SWOT analysis strategies and established SWOT matrix. Finally, based on the aforementioned research, the recycling industry model led by automobile manufacturers was promoted. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perspectives of employability skills

OpenAIRE

ANNE LOUISE NEWTON

2017-01-01

The study investigated the different perspectives held by young people, employers and policy makers around Employability Skills and it examined how young people learnt these skills. This study draws young peoples’ perspectives into the research around Employability Skills and highlights the way in which social and cultural capital mediate their development. The research points to a model to re-vision employability skills which recognises the many ways in which they are learnt, over time a...

Employment Composition: A Study of Australian Employment Growth, 2002–2006

OpenAIRE

Jeremy Lawson; Crystal Ossolinski

2010-01-01

This paper uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to examine whether there was a change in employment rates for people with ‘low employment’ characteristics between 2002 and 2006, which was a period of strong employment growth. In particular, it estimates the relationships between employment and personal and household characteristics using a binomial logit model, with a comparison of the coefficients in 2002 and 2006 providing tentative evidence o...

Contingent Employment in the Netherlands

OpenAIRE

Pot, F.; Koene, Bas; Paauwe, Jaap

2001-01-01

textabstractIn the last decade the Dutch labour market has demonstrated an admirable capacity to generate jobs. Consequently, the unemployment rate has significantly decreased. However, the newly generated jobs are a-typical in the sense that they are not full-time jobs based on open-ended contracts. Instead, the job growth has relied on the growth of part-time and contingent jobs. While the creation of part-time jobs seems to be employee-driven, contingent employment, in contrast, seems to b...

The advancement of the built environment research through employment of structural equation modeling (SEM)

Science.gov (United States)

Wasilah, S.; Fahmyddin, T.

2018-03-01

The employment of structural equation modeling (SEM) in research has taken an increasing attention in among researchers in built environment. There is a gap to understand the attributes, application, and importance of this approach in data analysis in built environment study. This paper intends to provide fundamental comprehension of SEM method in data analysis, unveiling attributes, employment and significance and bestow cases to assess associations amongst variables and constructs. The study uses some main literature to grasp the essence of SEM regarding with built environment research. The better acknowledgment of this analytical tool may assist the researcher in the built environment to analyze data under complex research questions and to test multivariate models in a single study.

The Effect of Volunteer Work on Employability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petrovski, Erik; Dencker-Larsen, Sofie; Holm, Anders

2017-01-01

In addition to benefiting others, volunteer work is argued to supply volunteers themselves with skills, reputation, and social connections that increase overall employability. We test this hypothesized causal link between volunteer work and employability with a high-quality 2012 Danish survey...... sample of 1,867 individuals of working age. The survey data are linked to administrative registers containing individual-level data on unemployment. A combination of detailed controls, lagged dependent variables, and instrumental variable regression is used to determine cause and effect. Our findings...... show that performing volunteer work does not statistically significantly affect the risk or rate of unemployment for the typical individual on the labour market....

29 CFR 570.113 - Employment “in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce”.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Employment âin commerce or in the production of goods for... Amended Coverage of Section 12(c) § 570.113 Employment “in commerce or in the production of goods for... acquiescence in addition to those who employ by oral or written contract. A typical illustration of employment...

Investigating the probability of detection of typical cavity shapes through modelling and comparison of geophysical techniques

Science.gov (United States)

James, P.

2011-12-01

With a growing need for housing in the U.K., the government has proposed increased development of brownfield sites. However, old mine workings and natural cavities represent a potential hazard before, during and after construction on such sites, and add further complication to subsurface parameters. Cavities are hence a limitation to certain redevelopment and their detection is an ever important consideration. The current standard technique for cavity detection is a borehole grid, which is intrusive, non-continuous, slow and expensive. A new robust investigation standard in the detection of cavities is sought and geophysical techniques offer an attractive alternative. Geophysical techniques have previously been utilised successfully in the detection of cavities in various geologies, but still has an uncertain reputation in the engineering industry. Engineers are unsure of the techniques and are inclined to rely on well known techniques than utilise new technologies. Bad experiences with geophysics are commonly due to the indiscriminate choice of particular techniques. It is imperative that a geophysical survey is designed with the specific site and target in mind at all times, and the ability and judgement to rule out some, or all, techniques. To this author's knowledge no comparative software exists to aid technique choice. Also, previous modelling software limit the shapes of bodies and hence typical cavity shapes are not represented. Here, we introduce 3D modelling software (Matlab) which computes and compares the response to various cavity targets from a range of techniques (gravity, gravity gradient, magnetic, magnetic gradient and GPR). Typical near surface cavity shapes are modelled including shafts, bellpits, various lining and capping materials, and migrating voids. The probability of cavity detection is assessed in typical subsurface and noise conditions across a range of survey parameters. Techniques can be compared and the limits of detection distance

Unified Description of the Mechanical Properties of Typical Marine Soil and Its Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongqiang Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study employed a modified elastoplastic constitutive model that can systematically describe the monotonic and cyclic mechanical behaviors of typical marine soils combining the subloading, normal, and superloading yield surfaces, in the seismic response analysis of three-dimensional (3D marine site. New evolution equations for stress-induced anisotropy development and the change in the overconsolidation of soils were proposed. This model can describe the unified behaviour of unsaturated soil and saturated soil using independent state variables and can uniquely describe the multiple mechanical properties of soils under general stress states, without changing the parameter values using the transform stress method. An effective stress-based, fully coupled, explicit finite element–finite difference method was established based on this model and three-phase field theory. A finite deformation analysis was presented by introducing the Green-Naghdi rate tensor. The simulation and analysis indicated that the proposed method was sufficient for simulating the seismic disaster process of 3D marine sites. The results suggested that the ground motion intensity would increase due to the local uneven complex topography and site effect and also provided the temporal and spatial distribution of landslide and collapse at the specific location of the marine site.

MULTIREGION: a simulation-forecasting model of BEA economic area population and employment. [Bureau of Economic Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olsen, R.J.; Westley, G.W.; Herzog, H.W. Jr.; Kerley, C.R.; Bjornstad, D.J.; Vogt, D.P.; Bray, L.G.; Grady, S.T.; Nakosteen, R.A.

1977-10-01

This report documents the development of MULTIREGION, a computer model of regional and interregional socio-economic development. The MULTIREGION model interprets the economy of each BEA economic area as a labor market, measures all activity in terms of people as members of the population (labor supply) or as employees (labor demand), and simultaneously simulates or forecasts the demands and supplies of labor in all BEA economic areas at five-year intervals. In general the outputs of MULTIREGION are intended to resemble those of the Water Resource Council's OBERS projections and to be put to similar planning and analysis purposes. This report has been written at two levels to serve the needs of multiple audiences. The body of the report serves as a fairly nontechnical overview of the entire MULTIREGION project; a series of technical appendixes provide detailed descriptions of the background empirical studies of births, deaths, migration, labor force participation, natural resource employment, manufacturing employment location, and local service employment used to construct the model.

PTL: A Propositional Typicality Logic

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Booth, R

2012-09-01

Full Text Available consequence relations first studied by Lehmann and col- leagues in the 90?s play a central role in nonmonotonic reasoning [13, 14]. This has been the case due to at least three main reasons. Firstly, they are based on semantic constructions that are elegant...) j ; 6j : ^ j PTL: A Propositional Typicality Logic 3 The semantics of (propositional) rational consequence is in terms of ranked models. These are partially ordered structures in which the ordering is modular. Definition 1. Given a set S...

The psychological contract: is the UK National Health Service a model employer?

Science.gov (United States)

Fielden, Sandra; Whiting, Fiona

2007-05-01

The UK National Health Service (NHS) is facing recruitment challenges that mean it will need to become an 'employer of choice' if it is to continue to attract high-quality employees. This paper reports the findings from a study focusing on allied health professional staff (n = 67), aimed at establishing the expectations of the NHS inherent in their current psychological contract and to consider whether the government's drive to make the NHS a model employer meets those expectations. The findings show that the most important aspects of the psychological contract were relational and based on the investment made in the employment relationship by both parties. The employment relationship was one of high involvement but also one where transactional contract items, such as pay, were still of some importance. Although the degree of employee satisfaction with the relational content of the psychological contract was relatively positive, there was, nevertheless, a mismatch between levels of importance placed on such aspects of the contract and levels of satisfaction, with employees increasingly placing greater emphasis on those items the NHS is having the greatest difficulty providing. Despite this apparent disparity between employee expectation and the fulfilment of those expectations, the overall health of the psychological contract was still high.

Generation of typical solar radiation data for different climates of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zang, Haixiang; Xu, Qingshan; Bian, Haihong

2012-01-01

In this study, typical solar radiation data are generated from both measured data and synthetic generation for 35 stations in six different climatic zones of China. (1) By applying the measured weather data during at least 10 years from 1994 to 2009, typical meteorological years (TMYs) for 35 cities are generated using the Finkelstein–Schafer statistical method. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of daily global solar radiation (DGSR) for each year is compared with the CDF of DGSR for the long-term years in six different climatic stations (Sanya, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Harbin, Mohe and Lhasa). The daily global solar radiation as typical data obtained from the TMYs are presented in the Table. (2) Based on the recorded global radiation data from at least 10 years, a new daily global solar radiation model is developed with a sine and cosine wave (SCW) equation. The results of the proposed model and other empirical regression models are compared with measured data using different statistical indicators. It is found that solar radiation data, calculated by the new model, are superior to these from other empirical models at six typical climatic zones. In addition, the novel SCW model is tested and applied for 35 stations in China. -- Highlights: ► Both TMY method and synthetic generation are used to generate solar radiation data. ► The latest and accurate long term weather data in six different climates are applied. ► TMYs using new weighting factors of 8 weather indices for 35 regions are obtained. ► A new sine and cosine wave model is proposed and utilized for 35 major stations. ► Both TMY method and the proposed regression model perform well on monthly bases.

The Influence of Workers' Health Status on Employers' Decision-Making During Personnel Restructuring in a Typical Public Limited Enterprise in Slovenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Margan, Andrea; Dodič-Fikfak, Metoda

2015-09-01

Alongside individual indicators of job performance, even workers' health status could be a criterion for selection. The mechanisms for health selection are a reduction of productivity in relation to illness or certain health behaviour. The aim of the study was to establish how indicators of workers' health status, which are accessible to the employer, influence the employer's decision-making on which workers to retain and which to dismiss during personnel restructuring in the enterprise. Due to a planned closure of a plant, the observed company began personnel restructuring which included a strategic decrease in the number of employees and the relocation of workers within the company. Two nested case control studies were conducted. The cases were divided into two groups and defined as follows: employees who were relocated and employees whose employment contract was terminated. The results show that the disability category and long-time sick leave exert the greatest influence on the employer's decision on the selection of workers. Workers with work-related disability have lower odds to be relocated to a new workplace (OR=0.5; 95% CI 0.2 to 1.1) and higher odds to be dismissed (OR=6.51; 95% CI 3.33 to 12.72). The workers with a history of a long-time sick leave also have lower odds to be relocated (OR=0.31; 95% CI 0.11 to 0.88) and higher odds to be dismissed (OR=4.32; 95% CI 2.08 to 8.96). Indicators of health which were accessible to the employer actually exerted influence on the employer's decision-making, which could show a direct form of health selection.

Monte Carlo based radial shield design of typical PWR reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gul, Anas; Khan, Rustam; Qureshi, M. Ayub; Azeem, Muhammad Waqar; Raza, S.A. [Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Islamabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; Stummer, Thomas [Technische Univ. Wien (Austria). Atominst.

2016-11-15

Neutron and gamma flux and dose equivalent rate distribution are analysed in radial and shields of a typical PWR type reactor based on the Monte Carlo radiation transport computer code MCNP5. The ENDF/B-VI continuous energy cross-section library has been employed for the criticality and shielding analysis. The computed results are in good agreement with the reference results (maximum difference is less than 56 %). It implies that MCNP5 a good tool for accurate prediction of neutron and gamma flux and dose rates in radial shield around the core of PWR type reactors.

Who opts for self-employment after retirement? A longitudinal study in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

van Solinge, Hanna

2014-09-01

Self-employment among older age groups is rising. A better understanding of the role of self-employment in extending the working lives of individuals is, therefore, relevant from a policy perspective. By bridging the gap in the literature on work/retirement decision-making and entrepreneurship, the present study examines the factors associated with entry into self-employment post-retirement, after a worker has left a regular salaried position. This decision is modelled as a choice between full retirement and prolonged labour force participation, in the form of either a typical wage-providing job or self-employment. Data were derived from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Work and Retirement Panel, an ongoing longitudinal survey of older workers (50 years and over) employed by three private sector organisations and employed as civil servants in the Netherlands. These data were then analysed using multinomial logistic regression analysis. The results of this study show that the decision to pursue self-employment is primarily taken by retirees with relatively high levels of financial and human capital (wealth and educational attainment), those possessing entrepreneurial attitudes (high self-efficacy scores) and those who perceive their retirements to be completely involuntary. The results lend support to self-employment being selected as a postretirement path through opportunity rather than out of necessity. The fact that the retirements of the studied population were generally quite early, while not considered involuntary also suggests that the timing of the decision to retire may be driven by the emergence of new (business) opportunities.

'Marginal Employment' and the Demand for Heterogenous Labour: Empirical Evidence from a Multi-factor Labour Demand Model for Germany

OpenAIRE

Ronny Freier; Viktor Steiner

2007-01-01

We develop a structural multi-factor labour demand model which distinguishes between eight labour categories including non-standard types of employment such as marginal employment. The model is estimated for both the number of workers and total working hours using a new panel data set. For unskilled and skilled workers in full-time employment, we find labour demand elasticities similar to previous estimates for the west German economy. Our new estimates of own-wage elasticities for marginal e...

Contemporary psychological contracts : How both employer and employee are changing the employment relationship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Smissen, A.I.M.; Schalk, R.; Freese, C.

2013-01-01

The employment relationship between employer and employee has gone through fundamental changes in the last decades, influencing psychological contracts. It is unclear, however, exactly how psychological contracts are changing. This article offers a comprehensive model that focuses on two factors

A study on prioritizing typical women’s entrepreneur characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebrahim Ramezani

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Entrepreneurship is one of the main pivot of progress and growth of every country. The spread of entrepreneurship particularly the role of women in this category has speeded up today more than any other times. Many of researchers believe that attention to women entrepreneurship plays remarkable role in soundness and safety of nation’s economy. Maybe in Iran less attention has been paid to this matter in proportion to other countries and due to various reasons, there are not many entrepreneur woman. However, employing typical entrepreneur women in various fields of productivity, industrial, commercial, social and cultural and even higher than these, in country’s political issue proves that women’s role is magnificent and in many cases they enjoy higher abilities in portion to men. In this paper, using additive ratio assessment (ARAS as a prioritizing method, eleven entrepreneur women were chosen for prioritizing criteria for measuring a typical women’s entrepreneurship characteristics. The results show that the balance between work and family among criteria are propounded as the highest weight and fulfilling different jobs simultaneously as the lowest weight.

Increasing Employability by Implementing a Work-Integrated Learning Partnership Model in South Africa--A Student Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Susanne; Govender, Cookie M.

2017-01-01

In South Africa, 70 per cent of the population is under 35 years old. South Africa has a vision to increase youth employment by focusing on education, training and skills development that will promote employment opportunities. A work-integrated learning (WIL) partnership model was developed to provide students with work experience and to increase…

Ferromagnetic linewidth measurements employing electrodynamic model of the magnetic plasmon resonance

Science.gov (United States)

Krupka, Jerzy; Aleshkevych, Pavlo; Salski, Bartlomiej; Kopyt, Pawel

2018-02-01

The mode of uniform precession, or Kittel mode, in a magnetized ferromagnetic sphere, has recently been proven to be the magnetic plasmon resonance. In this paper we show how to apply the electrodynamic model of the magnetic plasmon resonance for accurate measurements of the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth ΔH. Two measurement methods are presented. The first one employs Q-factor measurements of the magnetic plasmon resonance coupled to the resonance of an empty metallic cavity. Such coupled modes are known as magnon-polariton modes, i.e. hybridized modes between the collective spin excitation and the cavity excitation. The second one employs direct Q-factor measurements of the magnetic plasmon resonance in a filter setup with two orthogonal semi-loops used for coupling. Q-factor measurements are performed employing a vector network analyser. The methods presented in this paper allow one to extend the measurement range of the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth ΔH well beyond the limits of the commonly used measurement standards in terms of the size of the samples and the lowest measurable linewidths. Samples that can be measured with the newly proposed methods may have larger size as compared to the size of samples that were used in the standard methods restricted by the limits of perturbation theory.

How typical are 'typical' tremor characteristics? : Sensitivity and specificity of five tremor phenomena

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Stouwe, A. M. M.; Elting, J. W.; van der Hoeven, J. H.; van Laar, T.; Leenders, K. L.; Maurits, N. M.; Tijssen, M. Aj.

Introduction: Distinguishing between different tremor disorders can be challenging. Some tremor disorders are thought to have typical tremor characteristics: the current study aims to provide sensitivity and specificity for five 'typical' tremor phenomena. Methods: Retrospectively, we examined 210

Simplified CFD model of coolant channels typical of a plate-type fuel element: an exhaustive verification of the simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mantecón, Javier González; Mattar Neto, Miguel, E-mail: javier.mantecon@ipen.br, E-mail: mmattar@ipen.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), São Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2017-07-01

The use of parallel plate-type fuel assemblies is common in nuclear research reactors. One of the main problems of this fuel element configuration is the hydraulic instability of the plates caused by the high flow velocities. The current work is focused on the hydrodynamic characterization of coolant channels typical of a flat-plate fuel element, using a numerical model developed with the commercial code ANSYS CFX. Numerical results are compared to accurate analytical solutions, considering two turbulence models and three different fluid meshes. For this study, the results demonstrated that the most suitable turbulence model is the k-ε model. The discretization error is estimated using the Grid Convergence Index method. Despite its simplicity, this model generates precise flow predictions. (author)

Simplified CFD model of coolant channels typical of a plate-type fuel element: an exhaustive verification of the simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mantecón, Javier González; Mattar Neto, Miguel

2017-01-01

The use of parallel plate-type fuel assemblies is common in nuclear research reactors. One of the main problems of this fuel element configuration is the hydraulic instability of the plates caused by the high flow velocities. The current work is focused on the hydrodynamic characterization of coolant channels typical of a flat-plate fuel element, using a numerical model developed with the commercial code ANSYS CFX. Numerical results are compared to accurate analytical solutions, considering two turbulence models and three different fluid meshes. For this study, the results demonstrated that the most suitable turbulence model is the k-ε model. The discretization error is estimated using the Grid Convergence Index method. Despite its simplicity, this model generates precise flow predictions. (author)

Genetic structure of typical and atypical populations of Candida albicans from Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Forche, A; Schönian, G; Gräser, Y; Vilgalys, R; Mitchell, T G

1999-11-01

Atypical isolates of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans have been reported with increasing frequency. To investigate the origin of a set of atypical isolates and their relationship to typical isolates, we employed a combination of molecular phylogenetic and population genetic analyses using rDNA sequencing, PCR fingerprinting, and analysis of co-dominant DNA nucleotide polymorphisms to characterize the population structure of one typical and two atypical populations of C. albicans from Angola and Madagascar. The extent of clonality and recombination was assessed in each population. The analyses revealed that the structure of all three populations of C. albicans was predominantly clonal but, as in previous studies, there was also evidence for recombination. Allele frequencies differed significantly between the typical and the atypical populations, suggesting very low levels of gene flow between them. However, allele frequencies were quite similar in the two atypical C. albicans populations, suggesting that they are closely related. Phylogenetic analysis of partial sequences encoding the nuclear 26S rDNA demonstrated that all three populations belong to a single monophyletic group, which includes the type strain of C. albicans. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Maine's Employability Skills Program

Science.gov (United States)

McMahon, John M.; Wolffe, Karen E.; Wolfe, Judy; Brooker, Carrie

2013-01-01

This Practice Report describes the development and implementation of the "Maine Employability Skills Program," a model employment program developed by the Maine Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired (DBVI). The program was designed to support the efforts of the chronically unemployed or underemployed. These consumers were either…

What Is Typical Is Good : The Influence of Face Typicality on Perceived Trustworthiness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sofer, Carmel; Dotsch, Ron; Wigboldus, Daniel H J; Todorov, Alexander

2015-01-01

The role of face typicality in face recognition is well established, but it is unclear whether face typicality is important for face evaluation. Prior studies have focused mainly on typicality’s influence on attractiveness, although recent studies have cast doubt on its importance for attractiveness

Who will have Sustainable Employment After a Back Injury? The Development of a Clinical Prediction Model in a Cohort of Injured Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shearer, Heather M; Côté, Pierre; Boyle, Eleanor; Hayden, Jill A; Frank, John; Johnson, William G

2017-09-01

Purpose Our objective was to develop a clinical prediction model to identify workers with sustainable employment following an episode of work-related low back pain (LBP). Methods We used data from a cohort study of injured workers with incident LBP claims in the USA to predict employment patterns 1 and 6 months following a workers' compensation claim. We developed three sequential models to determine the contribution of three domains of variables: (1) basic demographic/clinical variables; (2) health-related variables; and (3) work-related factors. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop the predictive models. We constructed receiver operator curves and used the c-index to measure predictive accuracy. Results Seventy-nine percent and 77 % of workers had sustainable employment at 1 and 6 months, respectively. Sustainable employment at 1 month was predicted by initial back pain intensity, mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). At 6 months, sustainable employment was predicted by physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). Adding health-related and work-related variables to models improved predictive accuracy by 8.5 and 10 % at 1 and 6 months respectively. Conclusion We developed clinically-relevant models to predict sustainable employment in injured workers who made a workers' compensation claim for LBP. Inquiring about back pain intensity, physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type may be beneficial in developing programs of care. Our models need to be validated in other populations.

Solar heating and employment in Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Victor, P A

1978-01-01

If solar heating technology is to be introduced into sections of Canada as a way to alleviate unemployment problems and stimulate the manufacturing sector, realistic expectations must be grounded in better estimates of solar energy's potential than were made by early nuclear power enthusiasts. A study by Middleton Associates identified a number of factors affecting employment. These include implementation rates, choice of technologies, industry size, government involvement, location, and the share of solar heating relative to other heating sources. An employment simulation model using available technologies as inputs suggests that solar heating is feasible on the basis of both energy source and employment strategy. Model results are favorable for direct and indirect employment, while displacement effects on employment in conventional fuel industries are minor. Direct employment is affected more by implementation rates than by variations in the amount of imported equipment.

Employing organizational modeling and simulation of the KC-135 depot's flight controls repair cell

OpenAIRE

Paskin, Matthew A.; Trevino, Alice W.; Ferrer, Geraldo; Dillard, John T.

2008-01-01

Today’s environment of increased operations tempo is stressing the KC- 135 Stratotanker fleet. With an 80-year life span expectancy, effectively maintaining these aircraft is challenging. This research modeled the KC- 135 programmed depot maintenance (PDM) flight controls repair cell to identify improvement opportunities within the repair process. Computational organizational modeling (COM) incorporates the human element along with organizational design theory. By employing ...

Race, Employment Disadvantages, and Heavy Drinking: A Multilevel Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Celia C; Cheng, Tyrone C

2015-01-01

We intended to determine (1) whether stress from employment disadvantages led to increased frequency of heavy drinking and (2) whether race had a role in the relationship between such disadvantages and heavy drinking. Study data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a prospective study that has followed a representative sample of youth since 1979. Our study employed data from 11 particular years, during which the survey included items measuring respondents' heavy drinking. Our final sample numbered 10,171 respondents, which generated 75,394 person-waves for data analysis. Both of our hypotheses were supported by results from multilevel mixed-effects linear regression capturing the time-varying nature of three employment disadvantages and of the heavy-drinking outcome. Results show that more-frequent heavy drinking was associated with employment disadvantages, and that disadvantages' effects on drinking were stronger for Blacks and Hispanics than for Whites. That worsening employment disadvantages have worse effects on minority groups' heavy drinking (compared to Whites) probably contributes to the racial health disparities in our nation. Policies and programs addressing such disparities are especially important during economic downturns.

An employer brand predictive model for talent attraction and retention

OpenAIRE

Annelize Botha; Mark Bussin; Lukas de Swardt

2011-01-01

Orientation: In an ever shrinking global talent pool organisations use employer brand to attract and retain talent, however, in the absence of theoretical pointers, many organisations are losing out on a powerful business tool by not developing or maintaining their employer brand correctly. Research purpose: This study explores the current state of knowledge about employer brand and identifies the various employer brand building blocks which are conceptually integrated in a predictiv...

Developing a workplace breast feeding support model for employed lactating mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Yimyam, Susanha; Hanpa, Wasana

2014-06-01

Resuming work is often considered an obstacle for continued breast feeding. The objectives of this participatory action research study were to develop a breast feeding support model in the workplace and to compare breast feeding rates before and after implementation of the breast feeding support campaign. Twenty-four women participated before the implementation of the breast feeding support campaign, whereas 31 women participated after the campaign. Data were collected by interviewing employed women about their breast feeding practices within six months post partum. Additional data were collected through interviews with the workplace administrator and head of work sections as well as observation of the breast feeding support campaigns. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis, whereas quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and χ(2) test. The workplace breast feeding support model was developed based on the concept of Mother-Friendly Workplace Initiatives by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and the Thai government׳s promotion of a workplace breast feeding corner. Within this model, a committee for breast feeding support was created for working with the research team to develop breast feeding activities and media for breast feeding education and breast feeding support campaigns in the workplace. Breast feeding rates at six months after implementation of the breast feeding support campaign were significantly higher than rates before, both for exclusive breast feeding and any breast feeding at levels .004 and .033, respectively. These results suggest that breast feeding should be encouraged in every workplace depending on context. Individual advice and help for employed mothers should be provided from pregnancy through weaning in the postpartum period. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monthly sediment discharge changes and estimates in a typical karst catchment of southwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhenwei; Xu, Xianli; Xu, Chaohao; Liu, Meixian; Wang, Kelin; Yi, Ruzhou

2017-12-01

As one of the largest karst regions in the world, southwest China is experiencing severe soil erosion due to its special geological conditions, inappropriate land use, and lower soil loss tolerance. Knowledge and accurate estimations of changes in sediment discharge rates is important for finding potential measures to effectively control sediment delivery. This study investigated temporal variation in monthly sediment discharge (SD), and developed sediment rating curves and state-space model to estimate SD. Monthly water discharge, SD, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and normalized differential vegetation index during 2003-2015 collected from a typical karst catchment of Yujiang River were analyzed in present study. A Mann-Kendal test and Morlet wavelet analysis were employed to detect the changes in SD. Results indicated that a decreasing trend was observed in sediment discharge at monthly and annual scale. The water and sediment discharge both had a significant 1-year period, implying that water discharge has substantial influence on SD. The best state-space model using water discharge was a simple but effective model, accounting for 99% of the variation in SD. The sediment rating curves, however, represented only 78% of the variation in SD. This study provides an insight into the possibility of accurate estimation of SD only using water discharge with state-space model approach. State-space model is recommended as an effective approach for quantifying the temporal relationships between SD and its driving factors in karst regions of southwest China.

Typical Periods for Two-Stage Synthesis by Time-Series Aggregation with Bounded Error in Objective Function

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahl, Björn; Söhler, Theo; Hennen, Maike; Bardow, André, E-mail: andre.bardow@ltt.rwth-aachen.de [Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen (Germany)

2018-01-08

Two-stage synthesis problems simultaneously consider here-and-now decisions (e.g., optimal investment) and wait-and-see decisions (e.g., optimal operation). The optimal synthesis of energy systems reveals such a two-stage character. The synthesis of energy systems involves multiple large time series such as energy demands and energy prices. Since problem size increases with the size of the time series, synthesis of energy systems leads to complex optimization problems. To reduce the problem size without loosing solution quality, we propose a method for time-series aggregation to identify typical periods. Typical periods retain the chronology of time steps, which enables modeling of energy systems, e.g., with storage units or start-up cost. The aim of the proposed method is to obtain few typical periods with few time steps per period, while accurately representing the objective function of the full time series, e.g., cost. Thus, we determine the error of time-series aggregation as the cost difference between operating the optimal design for the aggregated time series and for the full time series. Thereby, we rigorously bound the maximum performance loss of the optimal energy system design. In an initial step, the proposed method identifies the best length of typical periods by autocorrelation analysis. Subsequently, an adaptive procedure determines aggregated typical periods employing the clustering algorithm k-medoids, which groups similar periods into clusters and selects one representative period per cluster. Moreover, the number of time steps per period is aggregated by a novel clustering algorithm maintaining chronology of the time steps in the periods. The method is iteratively repeated until the error falls below a threshold value. A case study based on a real-world synthesis problem of an energy system shows that time-series aggregation from 8,760 time steps to 2 typical periods with each 2 time steps results in an error smaller than the optimality gap of

Who will have Sustainable Employment After a Back Injury? The Development of a Clinical Prediction Model in a Cohort of Injured Workers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shearer, Heather M.; Côté, Pierre; Boyle, Eleanor

2017-01-01

to develop the predictive models. We constructed receiver operator curves and used the c-index to measure predictive accuracy. Results Seventy-nine percent and 77 % of workers had sustainable employment at 1 and 6 months, respectively. Sustainable employment at 1 month was predicted by initial back pain...... intensity, mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). At 6 months, sustainable employment was predicted by physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). Adding health-related and work......-related variables to models improved predictive accuracy by 8.5 and 10 % at 1 and 6 months respectively. Conclusion We developed clinically-relevant models to predict sustainable employment in injured workers who made a workers’ compensation claim for LBP. Inquiring about back pain intensity, physical and mental...

E-lancers as a category of non-standard employed workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. P. Etenko

2015-04-01

Thus, for e­lancers the leading role for choosing such type of employment have a values reason, not a market factors. For this category is typical a high level of independence and autonomy in work, which is achieved by working with a wide range of clients (customers. E­lancers much more tended to labor achievements and initiatives, to influence decisions connected with time scheduling and workload. At the same time, e­lancers due to the specifics of their employment is much more socially disadvantaged than traditionally employed workers. Motivation of e­lancers is not just result at achieving goals but also result at hedonism, and, in fact, a new attitude to work as phenomena in general. This approach has a very powerful transformational potential and will inevitably lead to deep changes in employment.

The effects of typical and atypical antipsychotics on the electrical activity of the brain in a rat model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oytun Erbaş

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: Antipsychotic drugs are known to have strongeffect on the bioelectric activity in the brain. However,some studies addressing the changes on electroencephalography(EEG caused by typical and atypical antipsychoticdrugs are conflicting. We aimed to compare the effectsof typical and atypical antipsychotics on the electricalactivity in the brain via EEG recordings in a rat model.Methods: Thirty-two Sprague Dawley adult male ratswere used in the study. The rats were divided into fivegroups, randomly (n=7, for each group. The first groupwas used as control group and administered 1 ml/kg salineintraperitoneally (IP. Haloperidol (1 mg/kg (group 2,chlorpromazine (5 mg/kg (group 3, olanzapine (1 mg/kg(group 4, ziprasidone (1 mg/ kg (group 5 were injectedIP for five consecutive days. Then, EEG recordings ofeach group were taken for 30 minutes.Results: The percentages of delta and theta waves inhaloperidol, chlorpromazine, olanzapine and ziprasidonegroups were found to have a highly significant differencecompared with the saline administration group (p<0.001.The theta waves in the olanzapine and ziprasidonegroups were increased compared with haloperidol andchlorpromazine groups (p<0.05.Conclusion: The typical and atypical antipsychotic drugsmay be risk factor for EEG abnormalities. This studyshows that antipsychotic drugs should be used with caution.J Clin Exp Invest 2013; 4 (3: 279-284Key words: Haloperidol, chlorpromazine, olanzapine,ziprasidone, EEG, rat

Identification of a Typical CSTR Using Optimal Focused Time Lagged Recurrent Neural Network Model with Gamma Memory Filter

OpenAIRE

Naikwad, S. N.; Dudul, S. V.

2009-01-01

A focused time lagged recurrent neural network (FTLR NN) with gamma memory filter is designed to learn the subtle complex dynamics of a typical CSTR process. Continuous stirred tank reactor exhibits complex nonlinear operations where reaction is exothermic. It is noticed from literature review that process control of CSTR using neuro-fuzzy systems was attempted by many, but optimal neural network model for identification of CSTR process is not yet available. As CSTR process includes tempora...

Prototype-based models in machine learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Biehl, Michael; Hammer, Barbara; Villmann, Thomas

2016-01-01

An overview is given of prototype-based models in machine learning. In this framework, observations, i.e., data, are stored in terms of typical representatives. Together with a suitable measure of similarity, the systems can be employed in the context of unsupervised and supervised analysis of

Is our Universe typical?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurzadyan, V.G.

1988-01-01

The problem of typicalness of the Universe - as a dynamical system possessing both regular and chaotic regions of positive measure of phase space, is raised and discussed. Two dynamical systems are considered: 1) The observed Universe as a hierarchy of systems of N graviting bodies; 2) (3+1)-manifold with matter evolving to Wheeler-DeWitt equation in superspace with Hawking boundary condition of compact metrics. It is shown that the observed Universe is typical. There is no unambiguous answer for the second system yet. If it is typical too then the same present state of the Universe could have been originated from an infinite number of different initial conditions the restoration of which is practically impossible at present. 35 refs.; 2 refs

Evaluation of an employment program for people with mental illness using the Supported Employment Fidelity Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Cocks, Errol; Boaden, Ross

2009-10-01

The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model aims to achieve open employment for people with mental illness. The Supported Employment Fidelity Scale (SEFS) is a 15-item instrument that evaluates the extent to which a service follows the IPS principles of best practice. This paper describes the IPS model and an evaluation of a specialist employment program for people with mental illness using the SEFS. The SEFS enabled a quantitative assessment of service provision against the criteria of evidence-based practice principles. Data were collected from multiple sources. In addition, a literature review was conducted, and personnel engaged in implementation of the IPS model at other Australian employment programs were consulted. The program achieved a score of 59 of a possible 75 on the SEFS, which is described as fair supported employment. Analysis of the 15-scale items resulted in the identification of strengths, areas for further development, and a set of recommendations. The program was operating substantially in line with evidence-based practice principles and had considerable scope for further development. Issues arising from the evaluation, areas of applicability of the SEFS and the underlying literature, and implications for occupational therapy are highlighted.

Employment protection and temporary work agencies

OpenAIRE

Baumann, Florian; Mechtel, Mario; Stähler, Nikolai

2008-01-01

Employers who use temporary agency staff in contrast to regular staff are not affected by employment protection regulations when terminating a job. Therefore, services provided by temporary work agencies may be seen as a substitute for regular employment. In this paper, we analyze the effects of employment protection on the size of the temporary work agency sector in a model of equilibrium unemployment. We find that higher firing costs may even reduce temporary work agency employment if agenc...

Typicals/Típicos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Vélez

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Typicals is a series of 12 colour photographs digitally created from photojournalistic images from Colombia combined with "typical" craft textiles and text from guest writers. Typicals was first exhibited as photographs 50cm x 75cm in size, each with their own magnifying glass, at the Contemporary Art Space at Gorman House in Canberra, Australia, in 2000. It was then exhibited in "Feedback: Art Social Consciousness and Resistance" at Monash University Museum of Art in Melbourne, Australia, from March to May 2003. From May to June 2003 it was exhibited at the Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia Santa Fé Bogotá, Colombia. In its current manifestation the artwork has been adapted from the catalogue of the museum exhibitions. It is broken up into eight pieces corresponding to the contributions of the writers. The introduction by Sylvia Vélez is the PDF file accessible via a link below this abstract. The other seven PDF files are accessible via the 'Supplementary Files' section to the left of your screen. Please note that these files are around 4 megabytes each, so it may be difficult to access them from a dial-up connection.

Addressing the midwifery workforce crisis: evaluating an employment model for undergraduate midwifery students at a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

McLachlan, Helen L; Forster, Della A; Ford, Rachael L; Farrell, Tanya

2011-12-01

In Victoria, maternity services are under significant strain due to increased numbers of women giving birth and critical workforce shortages. Hospitals have experienced challenges in adequately staffing maternity units, particularly on postnatal wards. In 2008, a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne introduced a model where undergraduate midwifery students were employed as Division 2 nurses (SMW_Div2) (enrolled nurses), to work in the postnatal area only. This study explored the pilot employment model from the perspective of the SMW_Div2 and hospital midwives. A web-based survey was administered to hospital midwives and the SMW_Div2s in the employment model in January 2010. The survey explored the views of midwives and SMW_Div2s regarding the perceived impact of the model on workforce readiness, recruitment and retention, and clinical competence and confidence. Forty-seven of 158 midwives (30%) and five of nine SMW_Div2s employed in the model responded to the survey. Both groups considered the model to have benefits for the organisation, including increased: student workforce readiness; clinical confidence and competence; and organisational loyalty. Both groups also considered that the model would facilitate: workforce recruitment; a teaching and learning culture within the organisation; and enhanced partnerships between students, hospitals and universities. Caution was expressed regarding workload and the need for ongoing support for SMW_Div2s working in the model. SMW_Div2s and midwives were positive about the introduction of the paid employment model at the Women's. The findings are consistent with evaluations of similar programs in the nursing setting. The employment model has potential short and long term individual and organisational advantages, which is important in the context of increasing births and workforce shortages. Progression of such models will be contingent on the collaboration and cooperation of the various stakeholders involved in maternity

Ensemble perception of emotions in autistic and typical children and adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Themelis Karaminis

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Ensemble perception, the ability to assess automatically the summary of large amounts of information presented in visual scenes, is available early in typical development. This ability might be compromised in autistic children, who are thought to present limitations in maintaining summary statistics representations for the recent history of sensory input. Here we examined ensemble perception of facial emotional expressions in 35 autistic children, 30 age- and ability-matched typical children and 25 typical adults. Participants received three tasks: a an ‘ensemble’ emotion discrimination task; b a baseline (single-face emotion discrimination task; and c a facial expression identification task. Children performed worse than adults on all three tasks. Unexpectedly, autistic and typical children were, on average, indistinguishable in their precision and accuracy on all three tasks. Computational modelling suggested that, on average, autistic and typical children used ensemble-encoding strategies to a similar extent; but ensemble perception was related to non-verbal reasoning abilities in autistic but not in typical children. Eye-movement data also showed no group differences in the way children attended to the stimuli. Our combined findings suggest that the abilities of autistic and typical children for ensemble perception of emotions are comparable on average.

Cooperative Problem-Based Learning (CPBL: A Practical PBL Model for a Typical Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khairiyah Mohd-Yusof

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Problem-Based Learning (PBL is an inductive learning approach that uses a realistic problem as the starting point of learning. Unlike in medical education, which is more easily adaptable to PBL, implementing PBL in engineering courses in the traditional semester system set-up is challenging. While PBL is normally implemented in small groups of up to ten students with a dedicated tutor during PBL sessions in medical education, this is not plausible in engineering education because of the high enrolment and large class sizes. In a typical course, implementation of PBL consisting of students in small groups in medium to large classes is more practical. However, this type of implementation is more difficult to monitor, and thus requires good support and guidance in ensuring commitment and accountability of each student towards learning in his/her group. To provide the required support, Cooperative Learning (CL is identified to have the much needed elements to develop the small student groups to functional learning teams. Combining both CL and PBL results in a Cooperative Problem-Based Learning (CPBL model that provides a step by step guide for students to go through the PBL cycle in their teams, according to CL principles. Suitable for implementation in medium to large classes (approximately 40-60 students for one floating facilitator, with small groups consisting of 3-5 students, the CPBL model is designed to develop the students in the whole class into a learning community. This paper provides a detailed description of the CPBL model. A sample implementation in a third year Chemical Engineering course, Process Control and Dynamics, is also described.

Intuitive psychology and physics among children with autism and typically developing children.

Science.gov (United States)

Binnie, Lynne; Williams, Joanne

2003-06-01

Many studies have documented poor understanding of intuitive psychology among children with autism; however, few have investigated claims of superior understanding of intuitive physics said to be evident in this group. This study aimed to investigate the reported differential preference of intuitive psychology and intuitive physics among children with autism by employing three tasks each with a psychological and a physical condition. In order to gain a detailed developmental picture the study compared children with autism, an age matched comparison group, and typically developing preschoolers, 7-year-olds and 10-year-olds. Results demonstrated that children with autism preferred to employ physical causality when reasoning about novel physical and psychological events. Furthermore, their performance on a multiple-choice task confirmed their impairment in intuitive psychology whilst highlighting a superior ability to reason about physical phenomena in relation to all other comparison groups. The theoretical implications of this potential cognitive strength are discussed.

Forest Growth and Yield Models Viewed From a Different Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffery C. Goelz

2002-01-01

Typically, when different forms of growth and yield models are considered, they are grouped into convenient discrete classes. As a heuristic device, I chose to use a contrasting perspective, that all growth and yield models are diameter distribution models that merely differ in regard to which diameter distribution is employed and how the distribution is projected to...

Modeling and simulation of loss of the ultimate heat sink in a typical material testing reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Khatib, Hisham; El-Morshedy, Salah El-Din; Higazy, Maher G.; El-Shazly, Karam

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A thermal–hydraulic model has been developed to simulate loss of the ultimate heat sink in MTR. ► The model involves three coupled sub-models for core, heat exchanger and cooling tower. ► The model is validated against PARET for steady-state and verified by operation data for transients. ► The model is used to simulate the behavior of the reactor under a loss of the ultimate heat sink. ► The model results are analyzed and discussed. -- Abstract: A thermal–hydraulic model has been developed to simulate loss of the ultimate heat sink in a typical material testing reactor (MTR). The model involves three interactively coupled sub-models for reactor core, heat exchanger and cooling tower. The model is validated against PARET code for steady-state operation and verified by the reactor operation records for transients. Then, the model is used to simulate the thermal–hydraulic behavior of the reactor under a loss of the ultimate heat sink event. The simulation is performed for two operation regimes: regime I representing 11 MW power and three cooling tower cells operated, and regime II representing 22 MW power and six cooling tower cells operated. In regime I, the simulation is performed for 1, 2 and 3 cooling tower cells failed while in regime II, it is performed for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 cooling tower cells failed. The simulation is performed under protected conditions where the safety action called power reduction is triggered by reactor protection system to decrease the reactor power by 20% when the coolant inlet temperature to the core reaches 43 °C and scram is triggered if the core inlet temperature reaches 44 °C. The model results are analyzed and discussed.

Matrix Population Model for Estimating Effects from Time-Varying Aquatic Exposures: Technical Documentation

Science.gov (United States)

The Office of Pesticide Programs models daily aquatic pesticide exposure values for 30 years in its risk assessments. However, only a fraction of that information is typically used in these assessments. The population model employed herein is a deterministic, density-dependent pe...

Evaluation of hazards from industrial activity near nuclear power plants. Study of typical accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lannoy, A.; Gobert, T.; Granier, J.P.

1981-08-01

The design and dimensioning of nuclear power plant structures necessitate the evaluation of risks due to industrial activity. Among these risks, those due to the storage or transport of dangerous products merit special attention. They result, inter alia, in the explosion of flammable gas clouds. Such clouds can drift before igniting and, once alight, the resulting pressure wave can cause serious damage, even at a distance. A methodology both deterministic and probabilistic enabling this risk to be quantified has therefore been developed. It is based in part on an analysis of the statistics of actual accidents that have occurred. After briefly recalling the probabilistic model, the typical accidents selected are described and for three usual cases (storage under pressure, rail tank cars and road units) the main characteristics of the rupture are explicited. The deterministic models that have been worked out to calculate the consequences of such an accident: flow rate at the bursting point, evaporation, drift and atmospheric dispersion of the cloud formed, explosion of this cloud, are then described. At the present time the overpressure wave is quantified against a TNT equivalent of the explosive mixture. Some data are given as examples for three commonly employed hydrocarbons (butane, propane, propylene) [fr

The impact of Craigslist’s entry on competing employment websites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vera Brenčič

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Craigslist, a website that hosts job- and help-wanted ads, expanded rapidly across the states in the USA over a very short period of time, thereby changing abruptly the market structure faced by competing employment websites. We exploit this abrupt change to evaluate its impact on competing websites’ online traffic and pricing. We find that Craigslist’s entry was associated with a decrease in the number of visitors that an average competing employment website attracted and with a decrease in the number of pages an average visitor reviewed during a typical visit. We also find that employment websites lowered some of the fees they charged their users. Overall, these findings offer one explanation for why Craigslist, despite its popularity, had little effect on the unemployment rate in the labor markets it entered: the entry of Craigslist cannibalized online traffic at competing employment websites. JEL Classification: J20, L10, L86

Monte Carlo based radial shield design of typical PWR reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gul, Anas; Khan, Rustam; Qureshi, M. Ayub; Azeem, Muhammad Waqar; Raza, S.A. [Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Islamabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; Stummer, Thomas [Technische Univ. Wien (Austria). Atominst.

2017-04-15

This paper presents the radiation shielding model of a typical PWR (CNPP-II) at Chashma, Pakistan. The model was developed using Monte Carlo N Particle code [2], equipped with ENDF/B-VI continuous energy cross section libraries. This model was applied to calculate the neutron and gamma flux and dose rates in the radial direction at core mid plane. The simulated results were compared with the reference results of Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI).

Improved Algorithm of SCS-CN Model Parameters in Typical Inland River Basin in Central Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jin J.; Ding, Jian L.; Zhang, Zhe; Chen, Wen Q.

2017-02-01

Rainfall-runoff relationship is the most important factor for hydrological structures, social and economic development on the background of global warmer, especially in arid regions. The aim of this paper is find the suitable method to simulate the runoff in arid area. The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) is the most popular and widely applied model for direct runoff estimation. In this paper, we will focus on Wen-quan Basin in source regions of Boertala River. It is a typical valley of inland in Central Asia. First time to use the 16m resolution remote sensing image about high-definition earth observation satellite “Gaofen-1” to provide a high degree accuracy data for land use classification determine the curve number. Use surface temperature/vegetation index (TS/VI) construct 2D scatter plot combine with the soil moisture absorption balance principle calculate the moisture-holding capacity of soil. Using original and parameter algorithm improved SCS-CN model respectively to simulation the runoff. The simulation results show that the improved model is better than original model. Both of them in calibration and validation periods Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency were 0.79, 0.71 and 0.66,038. And relative error were3%, 12% and 17%, 27%. It shows that the simulation accuracy should be further improved and using remote sensing information technology to improve the basic geographic data for the hydrological model has the following advantages: 1) Remote sensing data having a planar characteristic, comprehensive and representative. 2) To get around the bottleneck about lack of data, provide reference to simulation the runoff in similar basin conditions and data-lacking regions.

Modeling individual differences in text reading fluency: a different pattern of predictors for typically developing and dyslexic readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierluigi eZoccolotti

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This study was aimed at predicting individual differences in text reading fluency. The basic proposal included two factors, i.e., the ability to decode letter strings (measured by discrete pseudo-word reading and integration of the various sub-components involved in reading (measured by Rapid Automatized Naming, RAN. Subsequently, a third factor was added to the model, i.e., naming of discrete digits. In order to use homogeneous measures, all contributing variables considered the entire processing of the item, including pronunciation time. The model, which was based on commonality analysis, was applied to data from a group of 43 typically developing readers (11- to 13-year-olds and a group of 25 chronologically matched dyslexic children. In typically developing readers, both orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components contributed significantly to the overall prediction of text reading fluency. The model prediction was higher (from ca. 37% to 52% of the explained variance when we included the naming of discrete digits variable, which had a suppressive effect on pseudo-word reading. In the dyslexic readers, the variance explained by the two-factor model was high (69% and did not change when the third factor was added. The lack of a suppression effect was likely due to the prominent individual differences in poor orthographic decoding of the dyslexic children. Analyses on data from both groups of children were replicated by using patches of colours as stimuli (both in the RAN task and in the discrete naming task obtaining similar results. We conclude that it is possible to predict much of the variance in text-reading fluency using basic processes, such as orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components, even without taking into consideration higher-order linguistic factors such as lexical, semantic and contextual abilities. The approach validity of using proximal vs distal causes to predict reading fluency is

Employee to employer communication skills: balancing cancer treatment and employment.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Richard F; Owens, Myra; Bradley, Cathy

2013-02-01

Cancer patients face difficulties in accessing legally mandated benefits and accommodations when they return to the workplace. Poor employer-employee communication inflates these difficulties. Although proven methods to facilitate physician-patient communication exist, these have not been applied to the workplace. Thus, we aimed to assess the feasibility and utility of applying these methods to educate patients about their workplace rights and provide them with communication skills training to aid their conversations with their employers. A DVD was produced to educate patients and facilitate workplace communication. Participants consisted of 28 solid tumor cancer patients (14 women and 14 men) who completed primary cancer treatment in the past 12 months and were employed at the time of diagnosis. Participants watched a communication skills training DVD and completed a telephone interview. The interview elicited information about workplace experiences and evaluation of the DVD training program. The physician-patient communication skills training model utilized was successfully translated to the employer-employee setting. All but one participant found the DVD useful and easy to understand and indicated a high degree of confidence in using the communication skills to help them ask for workplace accommodations. All participants agreed that it would help newly diagnosed patients in discussions with their employers. Our data provides promising preliminary evidence that patient communication skills training can be applied to the workplace setting and is a welcomed aid to newly diagnosed cancer patients in their discussions with employers regarding the impact of treatment on their work performance and needs for accommodations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Integrating Fieldwork into Employment Counseling for Methadone-Treatment Patients

Science.gov (United States)

Blankertz, Laura; Spinelli, Michael; Magura, Stephen; Bali, Priti; Madison, Elizabeth M.; Staines, Graham L.; Horowitz, Emily; Guarino, Honoria; Grandy, Audrey; Fong, Chunki; Gomez, Augustin; Dimun, Amy; Friedman, Ellen

2005-01-01

An innovative employment counseling model, Customized Employment Supports, was developed for methadone-treatment patients, a population with historically low employment rates. The effectiveness of a key component of the model, "vocational fieldwork," the delivery of services in the community rather than only within the clinic, was assessed through…

Entropy and the Typicality of Universes

OpenAIRE

Barbour, Julian; Koslowski, Tim; Mercati, Flavio

2015-01-01

The universal validity of the second law of thermodynamics is widely attributed to a finely tuned initial condition of the universe. This creates a problem: why is the universe atypical? We suggest that the problem is an artefact created by inappropriate transfer of the traditional concept of entropy to the whole universe. Use of what we call the relational $N$-body problem as a model indicates the need to employ two distinct entropy-type concepts to describe the universe. One, which we call ...

Predicting gross wages of non-employed persons in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slavko Bezeredi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available We present the findings of a study aimed at building a model for predicting wages of non-employed persons in Croatia. The predictions will be used in the calculation of marginal effective tax rate at the extensive margin and in labour supply modelling. The database used is 2012 “EU statistics on income and living conditions”. The paper comprehensively explains the data source, variables, subgroups of employed and non-employed, and the results of the linear regression model, the Heckman selection model and the quantile regression model. The quality of predictions obtained by different models is compared and discussed.

A Rotating Plug Model of Friction Stir Welding Heat Transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Raghulapadu J. K.; Peddieson, J.; Buchanan, G. R.; Nunes, A. C.

2006-01-01

A simplified rotating plug model is employed to study the heat transfer phenomena associated with the fiction stir welding process. An approximate analytical solution is obtained based on this idealized model and used both to demonstrate the qualitative influence of process parameters on predictions and to estimate temperatures produced in typical fiction stir welding situations.

Analysis of thermoluminescence kinetics of Mg2SiO4:Tb compounds employing an interactive model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcazzo, J.; Prokic, M.; Santiago, M.; Molina, P.; Caselli, E.

2009-01-01

The kinetics involved in the thermoluminescence (TL) of Mg 2 SiO 4 :Tb compounds has been investigated by unfolding glow curves employing both the General Order model and a model that takes into account interactions among traps. The dependence of the glow curve shape on dose is only correctly described if interaction among traps is included in the analysis.

Work accommodations and natural supports for maintaining employment.

Science.gov (United States)

Corbière, Marc; Villotti, Patrizia; Lecomte, Tania; Bond, Gary R; Lesage, Alain; Goldner, Elliot M

2014-06-01

Job tenure for people with severe mental disorders, even for those enrolled in supported employment programs, is typically brief. Few studies to date have investigated the relationship between accommodations and natural supports available in the workplace, and job tenure for this population. The main objectives of this study were to develop and to validate a new measure to describe work accommodations and natural supports available in the workplace and to determine which of them are significantly related to job tenure for participants enrolled in supported employment services. In total, 124 people with a severe mental disorder enrolled in supported employment programs and who obtained only one competitive employment at the 9-month follow-up answered the Work Accommodation and Natural Support Scale (WANSS). They also provided information regarding their disclosure (or non-) of mental disorders in the workplace and the length of their job tenure. Confirmatory factor analysis conducted on the WANSS showed 40 items distributed on 6 dimensions (e.g., Schedule flexibility). Correlation results showed that disclosure was significantly related to the number of work accommodations and natural supports available in the workplace. Survival analyses indicated that one WANSS dimension was more salient in predicting job tenure: Supervisor and coworker supports. The WANSS is a valid and useful tool to assess work accommodations and natural supports available in the workplace that employment specialists could use in their practice.

Employment status, employment functioning, and barriers to employment among VA primary care patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Zivin, Kara; Yosef, Matheos; Levine, Debra S; Abraham, Kristen M; Miller, Erin M; Henry, Jennifer; Nelson, C Beau; Pfeiffer, Paul N; Sripada, Rebecca K; Harrod, Molly; Valenstein, Marcia

2016-03-15

Prior research found lower employment rates among working-aged patients who use the VA than among non-Veterans or Veterans who do not use the VA, with the lowest reported employment rates among VA patients with mental disorders. This study assessed employment status, employment functioning, and barriers to employment among VA patients treated in primary care settings, and examined how depression and anxiety were associated with these outcomes. The sample included 287 VA patients treated in primary care in a large Midwestern VA Medical Center. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted examining associations between socio-demographic and clinical predictors of six employment domains, including: employment status, job search self-efficacy, work performance, concerns about job loss among employed Veterans, and employment barriers and likelihood of job seeking among not employed Veterans. 54% of respondents were employed, 36% were not employed, and 10% were economically inactive. In adjusted analyses, participants with depression or anxiety (43%) were less likely to be employed, had lower job search self-efficacy, had lower levels of work performance, and reported more employment barriers. Depression and anxiety were not associated with perceived likelihood of job loss among employed or likelihood of job seeking among not employed. Single VA primary care clinic; cross-sectional study. Employment rates are low among working-aged VA primary care patients, particularly those with mental health conditions. Offering primary care interventions to patients that address mental health issues, job search self-efficacy, and work performance may be important in improving health, work, and economic outcomes. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy during hot deformation. A unified elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Ming-Song; Lin, Y.C.; Li, Kuo-Kuo; Chen, Jian

2016-01-01

In authors' previous work (Chen et al. in Appl Phys A. doi:10.1007/s00339-016-0371-6, 2016), the nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy was investigated by hot compressive experiments with intermediate unloading-reloading cycles. The characters of unloading curves were discussed in detail, and a new elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model was proposed to describe the nonlinear unloading behavior of the studied Ni-based superalloy. Still, the functional relationships between the deformation temperature, strain rate, pre-strain and the parameters of the proposed constitutive model need to be established. In this study, the effects of deformation temperature, strain rate and pre-strain on the parameters of the new constitutive model proposed in authors' previous work (Chen et al. 2016) are analyzed, and a unified elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to predict the unloading behavior at arbitrary deformation temperature, strain rate and pre-strain. (orig.)

Waist circumference, body mass index, and employment outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinge, Jonas Minet

2017-07-01

Body mass index (BMI) is an imperfect measure of body fat. Recent studies provide evidence in favor of replacing BMI with waist circumference (WC). Hence, I investigated whether or not the association between fat mass and employment status vary by anthropometric measures. I used 15 rounds of the Health Survey for England (1998-2013), which has measures of employment status in addition to measured height, weight, and WC. WC and BMI were entered as continuous variables and obesity as binary variables defined using both WC and BMI. I used multivariate models controlling for a set of covariates. The association of WC with employment was of greater magnitude than the association between BMI and employment. I reran the analysis using conventional instrumental variables methods. The IV models showed significant impacts of obesity on employment; however, they were not more pronounced when WC was used to measure obesity, compared to BMI. This means that, in the IV models, the impact of fat mass on employment did not depend on the measure of fat mass.

Modelling digital thunder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanco, Francesco; La Rocca, Paola; Petta, Catia; Riggi, Francesco

2009-01-01

An educational model simulation of the sound produced by lightning in the sky has been employed to demonstrate realistic signatures of thunder and its connection to the particular structure of the lightning channel. Algorithms used in the past have been revisited and implemented, making use of current computer techniques. The basic properties of the mathematical model, together with typical results and suggestions for additional developments are discussed. The paper is intended as a teaching aid for students and teachers in the context of introductory physics courses at university level

Prediction and typicality in multiverse cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azhar, Feraz

2014-01-01

In the absence of a fundamental theory that precisely predicts values for observable parameters, anthropic reasoning attempts to constrain probability distributions over those parameters in order to facilitate the extraction of testable predictions. The utility of this approach has been vigorously debated of late, particularly in light of theories that claim we live in a multiverse, where parameters may take differing values in regions lying outside our observable horizon. Within this cosmological framework, we investigate the efficacy of top-down anthropic reasoning based on the weak anthropic principle. We argue contrary to recent claims that it is not clear one can either dispense with notions of typicality altogether or presume typicality, in comparing resulting probability distributions with observations. We show in a concrete, top-down setting related to dark matter, that assumptions about typicality can dramatically affect predictions, thereby providing a guide to how errors in reasoning regarding typicality translate to errors in the assessment of predictive power. We conjecture that this dependence on typicality is an integral feature of anthropic reasoning in broader cosmological contexts, and argue in favour of the explicit inclusion of measures of typicality in schemes invoking anthropic reasoning, with a view to extracting predictions from multiverse scenarios. (paper)

Prediction and typicality in multiverse cosmology

Science.gov (United States)

Azhar, Feraz

2014-02-01

In the absence of a fundamental theory that precisely predicts values for observable parameters, anthropic reasoning attempts to constrain probability distributions over those parameters in order to facilitate the extraction of testable predictions. The utility of this approach has been vigorously debated of late, particularly in light of theories that claim we live in a multiverse, where parameters may take differing values in regions lying outside our observable horizon. Within this cosmological framework, we investigate the efficacy of top-down anthropic reasoning based on the weak anthropic principle. We argue contrary to recent claims that it is not clear one can either dispense with notions of typicality altogether or presume typicality, in comparing resulting probability distributions with observations. We show in a concrete, top-down setting related to dark matter, that assumptions about typicality can dramatically affect predictions, thereby providing a guide to how errors in reasoning regarding typicality translate to errors in the assessment of predictive power. We conjecture that this dependence on typicality is an integral feature of anthropic reasoning in broader cosmological contexts, and argue in favour of the explicit inclusion of measures of typicality in schemes invoking anthropic reasoning, with a view to extracting predictions from multiverse scenarios.

Problems in education, employment and social integration of hard of hearing artists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radić-Šestić Marina

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research was to determine the problems in education (primary, secondary and undergraduate academic studies, employment and social integration of hard of hearing artists based on a multiple case study. The sample consisted of 4 examinees of both genders, aged between 29 and 54, from the field of visual arts (a painter, a sculptor, a graphic designer, and an interior designer. The structured interview consisted of 30 questions testing three areas: the first area involved family, primary and secondary education; the second area was about the length of studying and socio-emotional problems of the examinees; the third area dealt with problems in employment and job satisfaction of our examinees. Research results indicate the existence of several problems which more or less reflect the success in education, employment and social integration of hard of hearing artists. One of the problems which can influence the development of language abilities, socioemotional maturity, and better educational achievement of hard of hearing artists in general, is prolongation in diagnosing hearing impairments, amplification and auditory rehabilitation. Furthermore, parents of hard of hearing artists have difficulties in adjusting to their children's hearing impairments and ignore the language and culture of the Deaf, i.e. they tend to identify their children with typically developing population. Another problem are negative attitudes of teachers/professors/employers and typically developing peers/ colleagues towards the inclusion of hard of hearing people into the regular education/employment system. Apart from that, unmodified instruction, course books, information, school and working area further complicate the acquisition of knowledge, information, and the progress of hard of hearing people in education and profession.

A Comparison of Uniform DIF Effect Size Estimators under the MIMIC and Rasch Models

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Ying; Myers, Nicholas D.; Ahn, Soyeon; Penfield, Randall D.

2013-01-01

The Rasch model, a member of a larger group of models within item response theory, is widely used in empirical studies. Detection of uniform differential item functioning (DIF) within the Rasch model typically employs null hypothesis testing with a concomitant consideration of effect size (e.g., signed area [SA]). Parametric equivalence between…

Employing Organizational Modeling and Simulation to Reduce F/A-18E/F F414 Engine Maintenance Time

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hagan, Joel J; Slack, William G

2006-01-01

...) at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, California. To achieve this goal, organizational modeling was employed to evaluate how changes to the organizational structure of the Lemoore AIMD affected engine throughput time...

Employment impacts of alcohol taxes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wada, Roy; Chaloupka, Frank J; Powell, Lisa M; Jernigan, David H

2017-12-01

There is strong scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of increasing alcohol taxes for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related problems. Opponents have argued that alcohol tax increases lead to job losses. However, there has been no comprehensive economic analysis of the impact of alcohol taxes on employment. To fill this gap, a regional macroeconomic simulation model was used to assess the net impact of two hypothetical alcohol tax increases (a 5-cent per drink excise tax increase and a 5% sales tax increase on beer, wine, and distilled spirits, respectively) on employment in Arkansas, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. The model accounted for changes in alcohol demand, average state income, and substitution effects. The employment impact of spending the new tax revenue on general expenditures versus health care was also assessed. Simulation results showed that a 5-cent per drink additional excise tax on alcoholic beverages with new tax revenues allocated to general expenditures increased net employment in Arkansas (802 jobs); Florida (4583 jobs); Massachusetts (978 jobs); New Mexico (653 jobs); and Wisconsin (1167 jobs). A 5% additional sales tax also increased employment in Arkansas (789 jobs; Florida (4493 jobs); Massachusetts (898 jobs); New Mexico (621 jobs); and Wisconsin (991 jobs). Using new alcohol tax revenues to fund health care services resulted in slightly lower net increases in state employment. The overall economic impact of alcohol tax increases cannot be fully assessed without accounting for the job gains resulting from additional tax revenues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Typicality and reasoning fallacies.

Science.gov (United States)

Shafir, E B; Smith, E E; Osherson, D N

1990-05-01

The work of Tversky and Kahneman on intuitive probability judgment leads to the following prediction: The judged probability that an instance belongs to a category is an increasing function of the typicality of the instance in the category. To test this prediction, subjects in Experiment 1 read a description of a person (e.g., "Linda is 31, bright, ... outspoken") followed by a category. Some subjects rated how typical the person was of the category, while others rated the probability that the person belonged to that category. For categories like bank teller and feminist bank teller: (1) subjects rated the person as more typical of the conjunctive category (a conjunction effect); (2) subjects rated it more probable that the person belonged to the conjunctive category (a conjunction fallacy); and (3) the magnitudes of the conjunction effect and fallacy were highly correlated. Experiment 2 documents an inclusion fallacy, wherein subjects judge, for example, "All bank tellers are conservative" to be more probable than "All feminist bank tellers are conservative." In Experiment 3, results parallel to those of Experiment 1 were obtained with respect to the inclusion fallacy.

Analysis of the glow curve of SrB 4O 7:Dy compounds employing the GOT model

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, F.; Molina, P.; Santiago, M.; Spano, F.; Lester, M.; Caselli, E.

2006-02-01

The glow curve of SrB 4O 7:Dy phosphors has been analysed with the general one trap model (GOT). To solve the differential equation describing the GOT model a novel algorithm has been employed, which reduces significantly the deconvolution time with respect to the time required by usual integration algorithms, such as the Runge-Kutta method.

Analysis of the glow curve of SrB4O7:Dy compounds employing the GOT model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ortega, F.; Molina, P.; Santiago, M.; Spano, F.; Lester, M.; Caselli, E.

2006-01-01

The glow curve of SrB 4 O 7 :Dy phosphors has been analysed with the general one trap model (GOT). To solve the differential equation describing the GOT model a novel algorithm has been employed, which reduces significantly the deconvolution time with respect to the time required by usual integration algorithms, such as the Runge-Kutta method

Typicality and misinformation: Two sources of distortion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malen Migueles

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This study examined the effect of two sources of memory error: exposure to post-event information and extracting typical contents from schemata. Participants were shown a video of a bank robbery and presented with highand low-typicality misinformation extracted from two normative studies. The misleading suggestions consisted of either changes in the original video information or additions of completely new contents. In the subsequent recognition task the post-event misinformation produced memory impairment. The participants used the underlying schema of the event to extract high-typicality information which had become integrated with episodic information, thus giving rise to more hits and false alarms for these items. However, the effect of exposure to misinformation was greater on low-typicality items. There were no differences between changed or added information, but there were more false alarms when a low-typicality item was changed to a high-typicality item

Access to Employment: People with Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, Patricia A.

1990-01-01

Reports the findings of Lou Harris and Associates (1987) on what employers are doing to employ people with disabilities and what their experiences with disabled employees have been. Presents strategies that provide a model for addressing the needs of the disabled population and provide them with opportunities. (JS)

Typical NRC inspection procedures for model plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blaylock, J.

1984-01-01

A summary of NRC inspection procedures for a model LEU fuel fabrication plant is presented. Procedures and methods for combining inventory data, seals, measurement techniques, and statistical analysis are emphasized

Utilising monitoring and modelling of estuarine environments to investigate catchment conditions responsible for stratification events in a typically well-mixed urbanised estuary

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Serena B.; Birch, Gavin F.

2012-10-01

Estuarine health is affected by contamination from stormwater, particularly in highly-urbanised environments. For systems where catchment monitoring is insufficient, novel techniques must be employed to determine the impact of urban runoff on receiving water bodies. In the present work, estuarine monitoring and modelling were successfully employed to determine stormwater runoff volumes and establish an appropriate rainfall/runoff relationship capable of replicating fresh-water discharge due to the full range of precipitation conditions in the Sydney Estuary, Australia. Using estuary response to determine relationships between catchment rainfall and runoff is a widely applicable method and may be of assistance in the study of waterways where monitoring fluvial discharges is not practical or is beyond the capacity of management authorities. For the Sydney Estuary, the SCS-CN method replicated rainfall/runoff and was applied in numerical modelling experiments investigating the hydrodynamic characteristics affecting stratification and estuary recovery following high precipitation. Numerical modelling showed stratification in the Sydney Estuary was dominated by fresh-water discharge. Spring tides and up-estuary winds contributed to mixing and neap tides and down-estuary winds enhanced stratification.

Typical Complexity Numbers

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics. Typical Complexity Numbers. Say. 1000 tones,; 100 Users,; Transmission every 10 msec. Full Crosstalk cancellation would require. Full cancellation requires a matrix multiplication of order 100*100 for all the tones. 1000*100*100*100 operations every second for the ...

Will Carbon Tax Yield Employment Double Dividend for China?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinghua Zhang

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Carbon tax is an important economic means to reduce carbon emission. This paper establishes a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE model to reflect China’s resource environment where economic growth and employment play a role by analyzing impacts of carbon tax on employment. The CGE model measures short and long-term impacts of carbon tax on employment, and examines whether the employment “double dividend” would be possible. The analysis shows that the demand for employment tends to decrease as a whole, but different groups of employees would be affected in various ways. “Double dividend” will be possible if appropriate carbon tax cycle is in place.

Model describing the effect of employment of the United States military in a complex emergency.

Science.gov (United States)

MacMillan, Donald S

2005-01-01

The end of the Cold War vastly altered the worldwide political landscape. With the loss of a main competitor, the United States (US) military has had to adapt its strategic, operational, and tactical doctrines to an ever-increasing variety of non-traditional missions, including humanitarian operations. Complex emergencies (CEs) are defined in this paper from a political and military perspective, various factors that contribute to their development are described, and issues resulting from the employment of US military forces are discussed. A model was developed to illustrate the course of a humanitarian emergency and the potential impact of a military response. The US intervention in Haiti, Northern Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda serve as examples. A CE develops when there is civil conflict, loss of national governmental authority, a mass population movement, and massive economic failure, each leading to a general decline in food security. The military can alleviate a CE in four ways: (1) provide security for relief efforts; (2) enforce negotiated settlements; (3) provide security for non-combatants; and/or (4) employ logistical capabilities. The model incorporates Norton and Miskel's taxonomy of identifying failing states and helps illustrate the factors that lead to a CE. The model can be used to determine if and when military intervention will have the greatest impact. The model demonstrates that early military intervention and mission assignment within the core competencies of the forces can reverse the course of a CE. Further study will be needed to verify the model.

Evaluating Employability Skills: Employer and Student Perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, Venetia; Zuzel, Katherine

2010-01-01

Graduate employability is a key issue for Higher Education. In this two-part study student employability skills have been evaluated from the perspective of sandwich students and graduates in biomolecular science, and their employers. A strong correlation was found between employer and sandwich student/graduate perceptions of the relative…

Smoker-free workplace policies: developing a model of public health consequences of workplace policies barring employment to smokers.

Science.gov (United States)

Houle, B; Siegel, M

2009-02-01

A marked shift in tobacco-related workplace health promotion intervention involves the adoption of policies barring employment to smokers. We discuss the potential public health consequences of these policies on those affected-smokers, their families, the surrounding community and society at large. We find a lack of published evidence evaluating the effectiveness and consequences of these policies. By developing a model of policy effects, we outline possible unintended consequences. With such large gaps in the evidence base and the potential for deleterious consequences, we argue for increased discussion about the use of smoker-free employment policies as a public health intervention and for increased engagement of employers by the public health community in worksite health promotion.

Competence and Employment Forum: Linking HRD and HRM

Science.gov (United States)

Siikaniemi, Lena

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find a model for the individual employee, the employer, the supervisors and the personnel at HR to manage organizational and individual changes. The objective of the model is to manage the changes in parallel with the competence (HRD) and employment (HRM) aspects. Design/methodology/approach: The research…

Research on Soft Reduction Amount Distribution to Eliminate Typical Inter-dendritic Crack in Continuous Casting Slab of X70 Pipeline Steel by Numerical Model

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ke; Wang, Chang; Liu, Guo-liang; Ding, Ning; Sun, Qi-song; Tian, Zhi-hong

2017-04-01

To investigate the formation of one kind of typical inter-dendritic crack around triple point region in continuous casting(CC) slab during the operation of soft reduction, fully coupled 3D thermo-mechanical finite element models was developed, also plant trials were carried out in a domestic continuous casting machine. Three possible types of soft reduction amount distribution (SRAD) in the soft reduction region were analyzed. The relationship between the typical inter-dendritic cracks and soft reduction conditions is presented and demonstrated in production practice. Considering the critical strain of internal crack formation, a critical tolerance for the soft reduction amount distribution and related casing parameters have been proposed for better contribution of soft reduction to the internal quality of slabs. The typical inter-dendritic crack around the triple point region had been eliminated effectively through the application of proposed suggestions for continuous casting of X70 pipeline steel in industrial practice.

Employment trends in the U.S. Electricity Sector, 2008–2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haerer, Drew; Pratson, Lincoln

2015-01-01

Between 2008–2012, electricity generated (GWh) from coal, the longtime dominant fuel for electric power in the US, declined 24%, while electricity generated from natural gas, wind and solar grew by 39%, 154%, and 400%, respectively. These shifts had major effects on domestic employment in those sectors of the coal, natural gas, wind and solar industries involved in operations and maintenance (O&M) activities for electricity generation. Using an economic input–output model, we estimate that the coal industry lost more than 49,000 jobs (12%) nationally over the five-year period, while in the natural gas, solar, and wind industries, employment increased by nearly 175,000 jobs (21%). We also combine published ratios for jobs per unit of fuel production and per megawatt of power plant capacity with site-specific data on fuel production and power plant retirements, additions and capacity changes to estimate and map direct job changes at the county level. The maps show that job increases in the natural gas, solar and wind industries generally did not occur where there were significant job losses in the coal industry, particularly in West Virginia and Kentucky. -- Highlights: •We examine shifts in the U.S. electricity industry from 2008–2012 by sector. •We use an economic input–output model to estimate direct and indirect jobs. •We conducted an analytical, county level geospatial analysis using ArcGIS. •The coal sector suffered significant job losses, mainly in traditional coal regions. •Those losses were offset by gains, but typically not in the same geographic areas

What’s up with the self-employed? A cross-national perspective on the self-employed’s work-related mental well-being

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessie Gevaert

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Although many governments actively stimulate self-employment, their work-related mental well-being remains understudied. The aim of current study is to investigate the mental well-being of different types of self-employed, testing whether mental well-being differences among self-employed are explained by the presence of work characteristics that are in accordance with the ideal-typical image of the “successful entrepreneur” (e.g. creativity, willingness to take risks, innovativeness, high intrinsic motivation, skilfulness and the ability of recognizing opportunities. Moreover, we investigate the relation of country-level “entrepreneurial climate” and the individual mental well-being of self-employed. For this purpose, data from the European Working Conditions Survey, round 6 (2015 was analysed, including 5448 cases, originating from the 28 EU-member states. Multilevel random intercepts modelling was used to investigate associations of both individual- and country-level characteristics with mental well-being. We found that motivation, the ability to recognize opportunities, and finding it easy to be self-employed positively influences the mental well-being of self-employed. Respondents with these characteristics are often medium-big employers, while farmers, dependent freelancers and own account workers generally have less of these features and tend to have lower levels of mental well-being. At the country-level, positive entrepreneurship perception relates to more advantageous mental health scores in self-employed. These results implicate that policies promoting self-employment should be (more concerned with the work-related characteristics of (future self-employed. Keywords: Self-employment, Mental well-being, Cross-national, Entrepreneurial characteristics, Entrepreneurial ecosystems, EU 28

Network governance of active employment policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damgaard, Bodil; Torfing, Jacob

2010-01-01

The recent reform of the Danish governance system in the field of active employment policy has been subject to fierce criticism, as many commentators fear that it is the beginning of the end of the Danish Model of active stakeholder involvement. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data, ......, the tight metagovernance of the LECs does not seem to straightjacket the LECs as there is a considerable scope for local policy making which makes it worthwhile for the social partners to participate in the local networks.......The recent reform of the Danish governance system in the field of active employment policy has been subject to fierce criticism, as many commentators fear that it is the beginning of the end of the Danish Model of active stakeholder involvement. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data......, this study aims to analyse the impact of the governance reform by assessing the initial experiences with the Local Employment Councils (LECs). The analysis shows that the LECs are relatively well-functioning and contribute to an effective and democratic governance of local employment policy. Furthermore...

Global Prospects for Full Employment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivo Šlaus

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The recent international financial crisis highlights the crucial role of employment in human welfare and social stability. Access to remunerative employment opportunities is essential for economic security in a market-based economic system. As the rise of democracy compelled nations to extend the voting right to all citizens, employment must be recognized as a fundamental human right. In total defiance of conventional wisdom, since 1950 job growth has outpaced the explosive growth of population, the rapid adoption of labor-saving technologies, the manifold expansion of world trade, and the dramatic shift from manual labor to white collar work. In an increasingly globalized labor market, current nation-centric theories and models of employment need to be replaced with a human-centered global perspective complemented by new indicators that recognize the central and essential contribution of employment to human economic welfare. Employment and economy are subsets of society and their growth is driven by the more fundamental process of social development. A vast array of unmet social needs combined with an enormous reservoir of underutilized social resources – technological, scientific, educational, organizational, cultural and psychological – can be harnessed to dramatically expand employment opportunities and achieve full employment on a global basis. This paper examines the theoretical basis, policy issues and strategies required to eradicate unemployment nationally and globally.

A generalized window energy rating system for typical office buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tian, Cheng; Chen, Tingyao; Yang, Hongxing; Chung, Tse-ming [Research Center for Building Environmental Engineering, Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (China)

2010-07-15

Detailed computer simulation programs require lengthy inputs, and cannot directly provide an insight to relationship between the window energy performance and the key window design parameters. Hence, several window energy rating systems (WERS) for residential houses and small buildings have been developed in different countries. Many studies showed that utilization of daylight through elaborate design and operation of windows leads to significant energy savings in both cooling and lighting in office buildings. However, the current WERSs do not consider daylighting effect, while most of daylighting analyses do not take into account the influence of convective and infiltration heat gains. Therefore, a generalized WERS for typical office buildings has been presented, which takes all primary influence factors into account. The model includes embodied and operation energy uses and savings by a window to fully reflect interactions among the influence parameters. Reference locations selected for artificial lighting and glare control in the current common simulation practice may cause uncompromised conflicts, which could result in over- or under-estimated energy performance. Widely used computer programs, DOE2 and ADELINE, for hourly daylighting and cooling simulations have their own weaknesses, which may result in unrealistic or inaccurate results. An approach is also presented for taking the advantages of the both programs and avoiding their weaknesses. The model and approach have been applied to a typical office building of Hong Kong as an example to demonstrate how a WERS in a particular location can be established and how well the model can work. The energy effect of window properties, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), building orientation and lighting control strategies have been analyzed, and can be indicated by the localized WERS. An application example also demonstrates that the algebraic WERS derived from simulation results can be easily used for the optimal design of

Employment Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Lisa M.; Wada, Roy; Persky, Joseph J.; Chaloupka, Frank J.

2014-01-01

Objectives. We assessed the impact of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes on net employment. Methods. We used a macroeconomic simulation model to assess the employment impact of a 20% SSB tax accounting for changes in SSB demand, substitution to non-SSBs, income effects, and government expenditures of tax revenues for Illinois and California in 2012. Results. We found increased employment of 4406 jobs in Illinois and 6654 jobs in California, representing a respective 0.06% and 0.03% change in employment. Declines in employment within the beverage industry occurred but were offset by new employment in nonbeverage industry and government sectors. Conclusions. SSB taxes do not have a negative impact on state-level employment, and industry claims of regional job losses are overstated and may mislead lawmakers and constituents. PMID:24524492

Does self-employment really raise job satisfaction? Adaptation and anticipation effects on self-employment and general job changes

OpenAIRE

Hanglberger, Dominik; Merz, Joachim

2015-01-01

Empirical analyses using cross-sectional and panel data found significantly higher levels of job satisfaction for the self-employed than for employees. We argue that by neglecting anticipation and adaptation effects estimates in previous studies might be misleading. To test this, we specify models accounting for anticipation and adaptation to self-employment and general job changes. In contrast to recent literature we find no specific long-term effect of self-employment on job satisfaction. A...

A structural econometric model of family valuation and choice of employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanness, David J

2003-09-01

This paper estimates a fully structural unitary household model of employment and health insurance decisions for dual wage-earner families with children in the United States, using data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey. Families choose hours of work and the breakdown of compensation between cash wages and health insurance benefits for each wage earner in order to maximize expected utility under uncertain need for medical care. Heterogeneous demand for the employer-sponsored health insurance is thus generated directly from variations in health status and earning potential. The paper concludes by discussing the benefits of using structural models for simulating welfare effects of insurance reform relative to the costly assumptions that must be imposed for identification. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Impact of Personal Gender-Typicality and Partner Gender-Traditionality on Taking Sexual Initiative: Investigating a Social Tuning Hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Emmerink, Peggy M J; Van Den Eijnden, Regina J J M; Ter Bogt, Tom F M; Vanwesenbeeck, Ine

2017-01-01

Sexual assertiveness is an issue of interest in the context of gender equality and sexual health. This study investigated the social tuning hypothesis that encountering a gender-traditional partner would lead to stronger gender-typical behavior, i.e., respectively, higher and lower levels of taking sexual initiative among men and women. Participants ( N = 271) read a vignette describing a romantic partner, who was either presented as gender-traditional or not, followed by a sexual scenario. Subsequently, participants were asked about their expectations toward their own sexual initiative taking. Results showed a significant 'target gender-traditionality × participant gender × participant gender-typicality (masculinity/femininity)' interaction meaning that less gender-typical men were more likely to initiate sexual contact in the experimental, compared to the control condition. Men low in masculine characteristics showed higher initiative taking in response to a gender-traditional target female. We conclude that less gender-typical men seem to employ more social tuning toward their sexual partner, whereas more gender-typical men seem to adhere to their gender-typical behavior regardless of perceived partner characteristics. These results were not seen among the women in the sample. These findings are a starting point for the further development of experimental investigations regarding the gendered nature of both sexual initiative taking and sexual assertiveness in general.

The Impact of Personal Gender-Typicality and Partner Gender-Traditionality on Taking Sexual Initiative: Investigating a Social Tuning Hypothesis

Science.gov (United States)

Emmerink, Peggy M. J.; Van Den Eijnden, Regina J. J. M.; Ter Bogt, Tom F. M.; Vanwesenbeeck, Ine

2017-01-01

Sexual assertiveness is an issue of interest in the context of gender equality and sexual health. This study investigated the social tuning hypothesis that encountering a gender-traditional partner would lead to stronger gender-typical behavior, i.e., respectively, higher and lower levels of taking sexual initiative among men and women. Participants (N = 271) read a vignette describing a romantic partner, who was either presented as gender-traditional or not, followed by a sexual scenario. Subsequently, participants were asked about their expectations toward their own sexual initiative taking. Results showed a significant ‘target gender-traditionality × participant gender × participant gender-typicality (masculinity/femininity)’ interaction meaning that less gender-typical men were more likely to initiate sexual contact in the experimental, compared to the control condition. Men low in masculine characteristics showed higher initiative taking in response to a gender-traditional target female. We conclude that less gender-typical men seem to employ more social tuning toward their sexual partner, whereas more gender-typical men seem to adhere to their gender-typical behavior regardless of perceived partner characteristics. These results were not seen among the women in the sample. These findings are a starting point for the further development of experimental investigations regarding the gendered nature of both sexual initiative taking and sexual assertiveness in general. PMID:28203216

Disability, gender, and employment relationships in Africa: The case of Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Augustina Naami

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The exploratory quantitative study sought to develop an understanding about the relationships among disability, gender and employment in Northern Ghana. A total of 110 individuals with disabilities (20–60 years from various disability groups participated in the study. The results indicate that many persons with disabilities are unemployed, the majority being women. Discrimination is cited as the greatest barrier to the employment of persons with disabilities, particularly women. The majority of persons with disabilities, typically women, live in poverty; given that some are unemployed and those who are employed worked mostly in marginal, seasonal and menial jobs. Persons with disabilities also experience several challenges on the job, including negative perceptions about their capabilities, discrimination and exclusion, irrespective of the employment sector and disability type. Educational interventions such as workshops, documenting and showcasing success stories of persons with disabilities could be helpful to reduce negative perceptions about their capabilities as well as discrimination against them. Government intervention to support persons with disabilities with start-up capital and funding for formal education is also recommended as these two elements were identified respectively as barriers to self-employment and employment in the public/private sectors. Government interventions to create educational opportunities for persons with disabilities are essential given that lower educational attainment affect their employment.

Risk assessment of influence factors on occupational hearing loss in noise – exposed workers in typical metal industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farhadian Maryam

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background & Objectives : Worker exposure conditions such as noise level, exposure duration, use of hearing protection devices and health behaviors are commonly related to noise induced hearing loss. The objective of this study was risk assessment of influence factors on occupational hearing loss in noise exposed workers in typical noisy process . Methods : Information about occupational exposure of seventy workers employed in a noisy press workshop was gathered using the standard questionnaire. Audiometery test was performed using the screening audiometer (Model-Mevox. Afterward, the collected data was analyzed by using the Cox model in SPSS software. Results : Based on results of the developed model, the job type and using status of HPD were most important features to induce hearing loss among workers. The risk of hearing loss among workers with the intermittent use of hearing protection was 3.1 times more than workers used their devices continuously. Relative risk of hearing loss among smoker workers compared with non-smoker was 1.1. Conclusion : The developed model could determine the effects of workers’ exposure conditions on risk of occupational hearing loss. This systematic approach can be considered as a helpful tool for determination the effectiveness of hearing conservation program and provide useful information for the managers and professionals in order to revise the existing health programs.

Employer-driven consumerism: integrating health into the business model.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Michael; Checkley, Joseph

2006-01-01

Consumer-driven health care is a misnomer. Notwithstanding the enormous role the individual consumer has to play in reshaping the U.S. health care delivery system, this article will focus on the employer as the key driver of change and innovation in the consumerism revolution. American Standard provides a case study of how one major employer has evaluated health care in the context of its business and aggressively integrated consumerism and health into the core of its business. Other companies will appropriately execute consumerism strategies in a fashion consistent with their own needs, culture, resources and populations. However, the principles supporting those strategies will be very much consistent.

Evaluation of a Multiple Mediator Model of the Relationship between Core Self-Evaluations and Job Satisfaction in Employed Individuals with Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Smedema, Susan Miller; Kesselmayer, Rachel Friefeld; Peterson, Lauren

2018-01-01

Purpose: To test a meditation model of the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSE) and job satisfaction in employed individuals with disabilities. Method: A quantitative descriptive design using Hayes's (2012) PROCESS macro for SPSS and multiple regression analysis. Two-hundred fifty-nine employed persons with disabilities were recruited…

Student Employment as a Model for Experiential Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Fede, Jacquelyn H.; Gorman, Kathleen S.; Cimini, Maria E.

2018-01-01

Background: Evidence suggests experiential learning promotes the development of a range of transferrable skills including communication, responsibility, and social skills. However, many students are unable to participate in internships or other common forms of experiential education because they need to work for pay. University employment has been…

Describing Speech Usage in Daily Activities in Typical Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Laine; Baylor, Carolyn R; Eadie, Tanya L; Yorkston, Kathryn M

2016-01-01

"Speech usage" refers to what people want or need to do with their speech to meet communication demands in life roles. The purpose of this study was to contribute to validation of the Levels of Speech Usage scale by providing descriptive data from a sample of adults without communication disorders, comparing this scale to a published Occupational Voice Demands scale and examining predictors of speech usage levels. This is a survey design. Adults aged ≥25 years without reported communication disorders were recruited nationally to complete an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included the Levels of Speech Usage scale, questions about relevant occupational and nonoccupational activities (eg, socializing, hobbies, childcare, and so forth), and demographic information. Participants were also categorized according to Koufman and Isaacson occupational voice demands scale. A total of 276 participants completed the questionnaires. People who worked for pay tended to report higher levels of speech usage than those who do not work for pay. Regression analyses showed employment to be the major contributor to speech usage; however, considerable variance left unaccounted for suggests that determinants of speech usage and the relationship between speech usage, employment, and other life activities are not yet fully defined. The Levels of Speech Usage may be a viable instrument to systematically rate speech usage because it captures both occupational and nonoccupational speech demands. These data from a sample of typical adults may provide a reference to help in interpreting the impact of communication disorders on speech usage patterns. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Risk assessment of influence factors on occupational hearing loss in noise – exposed workers in typical metal industry

OpenAIRE

Farhadian Maryam; Aliabadi Mohsen; Shahidi Reza

2014-01-01

Background & Objectives : Worker exposure conditions such as noise level, exposure duration, use of hearing protection devices and health behaviors are commonly related to noise induced hearing loss. The objective of this study was risk assessment of influence factors on occupational hearing loss in noise exposed workers in typical noisy process . Methods : Information about occupational exposure of seventy workers employed in a noisy press workshop was gathered using the standard quest...

Family Care Responsibilities and Employment: Exploring the Impact of Type of Family Care on Work-Family and Family-Work Conflict

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Lisa M.

2013-01-01

This study compared work-family and family-work conflict for employed family caregivers with disability-related care responsibilities in contrast to employed family caregivers with typical care responsibilities. Using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, a population-based survey of the U.S. workforce, formal and informal…

Using item response theory to investigate the structure of anticipated affect: do self-reports about future affective reactions conform to typical or maximal models?

OpenAIRE

Zampetakis, Leonidas A.; Lerakis, Manolis; Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Moustakis, Vassilis

2015-01-01

In the present research we used item response theory (IRT) to examine whether effective predictions (anticipated affect) conforms to a typical (i.e., what people usually do) or a maximal behavior process (i.e., what people can do). The former, correspond to non-monotonic ideal point IRT models whereas the latter correspond to monotonic dominance IRT models. A convenience, cross-sectional student sample (N=1624) was used. Participants were asked to report on anticipated positive and negative a...

Concept typicality responses in the semantic memory network.

Science.gov (United States)

Santi, Andrea; Raposo, Ana; Frade, Sofia; Marques, J Frederico

2016-12-01

For decades concept typicality has been recognized as critical to structuring conceptual knowledge, but only recently has typicality been applied in better understanding the processes engaged by the neurological network underlying semantic memory. This previous work has focused on one region within the network - the Anterior Temporal Lobe (ATL). The ATL responds negatively to concept typicality (i.e., the more atypical the item, the greater the activation in the ATL). To better understand the role of typicality in the entire network, we ran an fMRI study using a category verification task in which concept typicality was manipulated parametrically. We argue that typicality is relevant to both amodal feature integration centers as well as category-specific regions. Both the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) and ATL demonstrated a negative correlation with typicality, whereas inferior parietal regions showed positive effects. We interpret this in light of functional theories of these regions. Interactions between category and typicality were not observed in regions classically recognized as category-specific, thus, providing an argument against category specific regions, at least with fMRI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Connectivity dynamics in typical development and its relationship to autistic traits and autism spectrum disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Barnaly; Blanken, Laura M E; Muetzel, Ryan L; Miller, Robyn; Damaraju, Eswar; Arbabshirani, Mohammad R; Erhardt, Erik B; Verhulst, Frank C; van der Lugt, Aad; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Tiemeier, Henning; White, Tonya; Calhoun, Vince

2018-03-30

Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have provided significant insights into developmental trajectories of human brain function. Characterizations of typical neurodevelopment provide a framework for understanding altered neurodevelopment, including differences in brain function related to developmental disorders and psychopathology. Historically, most functional connectivity studies of typical and atypical development operate under the assumption that connectivity remains static over time. We hypothesized that relaxing stationarity assumptions would reveal novel features of both typical brain development related to children on the autism spectrum. We employed a "chronnectomic" (recurring, time-varying patterns of connectivity) approach to evaluate transient states of connectivity using resting-state functional MRI in a population-based sample of 774 6- to 10-year-old children. Dynamic connectivity was evaluated using a sliding-window approach, and revealed four transient states. Internetwork connectivity increased with age in modularized dynamic states, illustrating an important pattern of connectivity in the developing brain. Furthermore, we demonstrated that higher levels of autistic traits and ASD diagnosis were associated with longer dwell times in a globally disconnected state. These results provide a roadmap to the chronnectomic organization of the developing brain and suggest that characteristics of functional brain connectivity are related to children on the autism spectrum. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hydrogen deflagration simulations under typical containment conditions for nuclear safety

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yanez, J., E-mail: jorge.yanez@kit.edu [Institute for Energy and Nuclear Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany); Kotchourko, A.; Lelyakin, A. [Institute for Energy and Nuclear Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2012-09-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Lean H{sub 2}-air combustion experiments highly relevant to typical NPP simulated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Analyzed effect of temperature, concentration of H{sub 2}, and steam concentration. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Similar conditions and H{sub 2} concentration yielded different combustion regimes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Flame instabilities (FIs) were the effect driving divergences. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Model developed for acoustic FI in simulations. Agreement experiments obtained. - Abstract: This paper presents the modeling of low-concentration hydrogen deflagrations performed with the recently developed KYLCOM model specially created to perform calculations in large scale domains. Three experiments carried out in THAI facility (performed in the frames of international OECD THAI experimental program) were selected to be analyzed. The tests allow studying lean mixture hydrogen combustion at normal ambient, elevated temperature and superheated and saturated conditions. The experimental conditions considered together with the facility size and shape grant a high relevance degree to the typical NPP containment conditions. The results of the simulations were thoroughly compared with the experimental data, and the comparison was supplemented by the analysis of the combustion regimes taking place in the considered tests. Results of the analysis demonstrated that despite the comparatively small difference in mixture properties, three different combustion regimes can be definitely identified. The simulations of one of the cases required of the modeling of the acoustic-parametric instability which was carefully undertaken.

Joining the Dots: Theoretically Connecting the Vona du Toit Model of Creative Ability (VdTMoCA) with Supported Employment

OpenAIRE

de Bruyn, Marna; Wright, Jon

2017-01-01

The Vona du Toit Model of Creative Ability (VdTMoCA) presents a framework for understanding client motivation and action in occupational therapy, emphasising the relationship between motivation and action. Similarly, motivation to work is regarded as the primary and in some instances, the only eligibility criterion for inclusion in supported employment services. This commentary explores the potential theoretical link between the VdTMoCA and supported employment, primarily applied to the South...

An employee total health management-based survey of Iowa employers.

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, James A; Lind, David P; Kelly, Kevin M; Hall, Jennifer L

2013-12-01

To implement an Employee Total Health Management (ETHM) model-based questionnaire and provide estimates of model program elements among a statewide sample of Iowa employers. Survey a stratified random sample of Iowa employers, and characterize and estimate employer participation in ETHM program elements. Iowa employers are implementing less than 30% of all 12 components of ETHM, with the exception of occupational safety and health (46.6%) and workers' compensation insurance coverage (89.2%), but intend modest expansion of all components in the coming year. The ETHM questionnaire-based survey provides estimates of progress Iowa employers are making toward implementing components of Total Worker Health programs.

The Therapeutic Utility of Employment in Treating Drug Addiction: Science to Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Silverman, Kenneth; Holtyn, August F; Morrison, Reed

2016-06-01

Research on a model Therapeutic Workplace has allowed for evaluation of the use of employment in the treatment of drug addiction. Under the Therapeutic Workplace intervention, adults with histories of drug addiction are hired and paid to work. To promote drug abstinence or adherence to addiction medications, participants are required to provide drug-free urine samples or take prescribed addiction medications, respectively, to gain access to the workplace and/or to maintain their maximum rate of pay. Research has shown that the Therapeutic Workplace intervention is effective in promoting and maintaining abstinence from heroin, cocaine and alcohol and in promoting adherence to naltrexone. Three models could be used to implement and maintain employment-based reinforcement in the treatment of drug addiction: A Social Business model, a Cooperative Employer model, and a Wage Supplement model. Under all models, participants initiate abstinence in a training and abstinence initiation phase (Phase 1). Under the Social Business model, Phase 1 graduates are hired as employees in a social business and required to maintain abstinence to maintain employment and/or maximum pay. Under the Cooperative Employer model, cooperating community employers hire graduates of Phase 1 and require them to maintain abstinence to maintain employment and/or maximum pay. Under the Wage Supplement Model, graduates of Phase 1 are offered abstinence-contingent wage supplements if they maintain competitive employment in a community job. Given the severity and persistence of the problem of drug addiction and the lack of treatments that can produce lasting effects, continued development of the Therapeutic Workplace is warranted.

Firms’ wage policies: New evidence from linked employer-employee data

OpenAIRE

Suleman, F.; Lagoa, S.; Suleman, A.; Pereira, M.L.

2013-01-01

The research on wage policies has been triggered by the interest in identifying whether labour market or institutional forces shape the wage settings inside firms. This paper draws on linked employer-employee data and uses a fuzzy c-means clustering analysis to identify typical wage policies of medium and large firms in Portugal. Empirical evidence suggests that firms are segmented into four clusters that can be labelled according to wage rules as “Regulated”, “Asymmetric”, “Hierarchical” and...

Business Undergraduates' Perceptions of Their Capabilities in Employability Skills: Implications for Industry and Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Denise

2012-01-01

In response to the continuing disparity between industry expectations and higher education provision, this study examines the self-assessed capabilities of 1,024 business undergraduates in employability skills typically considered important by industry in developed economies. The findings indicate relative perceived strengths in "social…

Employer health insurance offerings and employee enrollment decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Polsky, Daniel; Stein, Rebecca; Nicholson, Sean; Bundorf, M Kate

2005-10-01

To determine how the characteristics of the health benefits offered by employers affect worker insurance coverage decisions. The 1996-1997 and the 1998-1999 rounds of the nationally representative Community Tracking Study Household Survey. We use multinomial logistic regression to analyze the choice between own-employer coverage, alternative source coverage, and no coverage among employees offered health insurance by their employer. The key explanatory variables are the types of health plans offered and the net premium offered. The models include controls for personal, health plan, and job characteristics. When an employer offers only a health maintenance organization married employees are more likely to decline coverage from their employer and take-up another offer (odds ratio (OR)=1.27, phealth plan coverage an employer offers affects whether its employees take-up insurance, but has a smaller effect on overall coverage rates for workers and their families because of the availability of alternative sources of coverage. Relative to offering only a non-HMO plan, employers offering only an HMO may reduce take-up among those with alternative sources of coverage, but increase take-up among those who would otherwise go uninsured. By modeling the possibility of take-up through the health insurance offers from the employer of the spouse, the decline in coverage rates from higher net premiums is less than previous estimates.

The role of political affiliation in employment decisions: A model and research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Philip L; Goldberg, Caren B; Thatcher, Jason B

2017-09-01

Organizational researchers have studied how individuals identify with groups and organizations and how this affiliation influences behavior for decades (e.g., Tajfel, 1982). Interestingly, investigation into political affiliation and political affiliation similarity in the organizational sciences is extremely rare. This is striking, given the deep political divides that exist between groups of individuals described in the political science literature. We draw from theories based on similarity, organizational identification, and person-environment fit, as well as theoretical notions related to individuating information, to develop a model, the political affiliation model (PAM), which describes the implications of political affiliation and political similarity for employment decisions. We set forth a number of propositions based on PAM, to spur future research in the organizational sciences for a timely topic which has received little attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of temperature and mass conservation on the typical chemical sequences of hydrogen oxidation

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Schuyler B.; Alaghemandi, Mohammad; Green, Jason R.

2018-01-01

Macroscopic properties of reacting mixtures are necessary to design synthetic strategies, determine yield, and improve the energy and atom efficiency of many chemical processes. The set of time-ordered sequences of chemical species are one representation of the evolution from reactants to products. However, only a fraction of the possible sequences is typical, having the majority of the joint probability and characterizing the succession of chemical nonequilibrium states. Here, we extend a variational measure of typicality and apply it to atomistic simulations of a model for hydrogen oxidation over a range of temperatures. We demonstrate an information-theoretic methodology to identify typical sequences under the constraints of mass conservation. Including these constraints leads to an improved ability to learn the chemical sequence mechanism from experimentally accessible data. From these typical sequences, we show that two quantities defining the variational typical set of sequences—the joint entropy rate and the topological entropy rate—increase linearly with temperature. These results suggest that, away from explosion limits, data over a narrow range of thermodynamic parameters could be sufficient to extrapolate these typical features of combustion chemistry to other conditions.

Emotion, gender, and gender typical identity in autobiographical memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Grysman, Azriel; Merrill, Natalie; Fivush, Robyn

2017-03-01

Gender differences in the emotional intensity and content of autobiographical memory (AM) are inconsistent across studies, and may be influenced as much by gender identity as by categorical gender. To explore this question, data were collected from 196 participants (age 18-40), split evenly between men and women. Participants narrated four memories, a neutral event, high point event, low point event, and self-defining memory, completed ratings of emotional intensity for each event, and completed four measures of gender typical identity. For self-reported emotional intensity, gender differences in AM were mediated by identification with stereotypical feminine gender norms. For narrative use of affect terms, both gender and gender typical identity predicted affective expression. The results confirm contextual models of gender identity (e.g., Diamond, 2012 . The desire disorder in research on sexual orientation in women: Contributions of dynamical systems theory. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 73-83) and underscore the dynamic interplay between gender and gender identity in the emotional expression of autobiographical memories.

Employed Parents of Children with Disabilities and Work Family Life Balance: A Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Theresa J.; Clark, Christine

2017-01-01

Background: Work family balance (WFB) is an individual's perception of the fit between work and family roles. Among employed parents of typically developing children WFB has been demonstrated to impact work functioning and physical and psychological health. Emerging from this mature field of research are examinations of WFB among parents of…

Research on the Mode of University-Enterprise Cooperation to Promote Engineering Students' Employment

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Yan; Lihua, Sun

2018-06-01

The employment of university students has become a hot issue of concern to the whole society. Promoting the employment of university students is a top priority for higher education institutions. University-enterprise cooperation is an important trend in the development of modern higher education. It is also an important channel for promoting the employment of university students, especially for engineering students. Through an in-depth analysis of the status quo of employment of university graduates, this paper proposes four modes of university-enterprise cooperation to promote university graduates' employment: The post-employment cooperation model, the professional internship cooperation model, the second classroom expansion cooperation model and the enterprise-oriented recruitment model, and further proposed the countermeasures to strengthen the cooperation between university and enterprise in order to promote the employment of university students.

Typical horticultural products between tradition and innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Innocenza Chessa

Full Text Available Recent EU and National policies for agriculture and rural development are mainly focused to foster the production of high quality products as a result of the increasing demand of food safety, typical foods and traditional processing methods. Another word very often used to describe foods in these days is “typicality” which pools together the concepts of “food connected with a specific place”, “historical memory and tradition” and “culture”. The importance for the EU and the National administrations of the above mentioned kind of food is demonstrated, among other things, by the high number of the PDO, PGI and TSG certificated products in Italy. In this period of global markets and economical crisis farmers are realizing how “typical products” can be an opportunity to maintain their market share and to improve the economy of local areas. At the same time, new tools and strategy are needed to reach these goals. A lack of knowledge has being recognized also on how new technologies and results coming from recent research can help in exploiting traditional product and in maintaining the biodiversity. Taking into account the great variety and richness of typical products, landscapes and biodiversity, this report will describe and analyze the relationships among typicality, innovation and research in horticulture. At the beginning “typicality” and “innovation” will be defined also through some statistical features, which ranks Italy at the first place in terms of number of typical labelled products, then will be highlighted how typical products of high quality and connected with the tradition and culture of specific production areas are in a strict relationship with the value of agro-biodiversity. Several different examples will be used to explain different successful methods and/or strategies used to exploit and foster typical Italian vegetables, fruits and flowers. Finally, as a conclusion, since it is thought that

Differences in sickness absence between self-employed and employed doctors: a cross-sectional study on national sample of Norwegian doctors in 2010

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Doctors have a low prevalence of sickness absence. Employment status is a determinant in the multifactorial background of sickness absence. The effect of doctors’ employment status on sickness absence is unexplored. The study compares the number of sickness absence days during the last 12 months and the impact of employment status, psychosocial work stress, self-rated health and demographics on sickness absence between self-employed practitioners and employed hospital doctors in Norway. Methods The study population consisted of a representative sample of 521 employed interns and consultants and 313 self-employed GPs and private practice specialists in Norway, who received postal questionnaires in 2010. The questionnaires contained items on sickness absence days during the last 12 months, employment status, demographics, self-rated health, professional autonomy and psychosocial work stress. Results 84% (95% CI 80 to 88%) of self-employed and 60% (95% CI 55 to 64%) of employed doctors reported no absence at all last year. In three multivariate logistic regression models with sickness absence as response variable, employment category was a highly significant predictor for absence vs. no absence, 1 to 3 days of absence vs. no absence and 4 to 99 days of absence vs. no absence), while in a model with 100 or more days of absence vs. no absence, there was no difference between employment categories, suggesting that serious chronic disease or injury is less dependent on employment category. Average or poor self-rated health and low professional autonomy, were also significant predictors of sickness absence, while psychosocial work stress, age and gender were not. Conclusion Self-employed GPs and private practice specialist reported lower sickness absence than employed hospital doctors. Differences in sickness compensation, and organisational and individual factors may to a certain extent explain this finding. PMID:24885230

Dosimetry of typical transcranial magnetic stimulation devices

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Mai; Ueno, Shoogo

2010-05-01

The therapeutic staff using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) devices could be exposed to magnetic pulses. In this paper, dependence of induced currents in real human man model on different coil shapes, distance between the coil and man model as well as the rotation of the coil in space have been investigated by employing impedance method. It was found that the figure-of-eight coil has less leakage magnetic field and low current density induced in the body compared with the round coil. The TMS power supply cables play an important role in the induced current density in human body. The induced current density in TMS operator decreased as the coil rotates from parallel position to perpendicular position. Our present study shows that TMS operator should stand at least 110 cm apart from the coil.

An Employee Total Health Management–Based Survey of Iowa Employers

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, James A.; Lind, David P.; Kelly, Kevin M.; Hall, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

Objective To implement an Employee Total Health Management (ETHM) model-based questionnaire and provide estimates of model program elements among a statewide sample of Iowa employers. Methods Survey a stratified random sample of Iowa employers, characterize and estimate employer participation in ETHM program elements Results Iowa employers are implementing under 30% of all 12 components of ETHM, with the exception of occupational safety and health (46.6%) and worker compensation insurance coverage (89.2%), but intend modest expansion of all components in the coming year. Conclusions The Employee Total Health Management questionnaire-based survey provides estimates of progress Iowa employers are making toward implementing components of total worker health programs. PMID:24284757

Electrochemical conversion technologies for optimal design of decentralized multi-energy systems : Modeling framework and technology assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gabrielli, Paolo; Gazzani, Matteo; Mazzotti, Marco

2018-01-01

The design and operation of integrated multi-energy systems require models that adequately describe the behavior of conversion and storage technologies. Typically, linear conversion performance or fixed data from technology manufacturers are employed, especially for new or advanced technologies.

Narrative versus style: Effect of genre-typical events versus genre-typical filmic realizations on film viewers’ genre recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visch, V.; Tan, E.

2008-01-01

This study investigated whether film viewers recognize four basic genres (comic, drama, action and nonfiction) on the basis of genre-typical event cues or of genre-typical filmic realization cues of events. Event cues are similar to the narrative content of a film sequence, while filmic realization

Neural assembly models derived through nano-scale measurements.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fan, Hongyou; Branda, Catherine; Schiek, Richard Louis; Warrender, Christina E.; Forsythe, James Chris

2009-09-01

This report summarizes accomplishments of a three-year project focused on developing technical capabilities for measuring and modeling neuronal processes at the nanoscale. It was successfully demonstrated that nanoprobes could be engineered that were biocompatible, and could be biofunctionalized, that responded within the range of voltages typically associated with a neuronal action potential. Furthermore, the Xyce parallel circuit simulator was employed and models incorporated for simulating the ion channel and cable properties of neuronal membranes. The ultimate objective of the project had been to employ nanoprobes in vivo, with the nematode C elegans, and derive a simulation based on the resulting data. Techniques were developed allowing the nanoprobes to be injected into the nematode and the neuronal response recorded. To the authors's knowledge, this is the first occasion in which nanoparticles have been successfully employed as probes for recording neuronal response in an in vivo animal experimental protocol.

Identification of a Typical CSTR Using Optimal Focused Time Lagged Recurrent Neural Network Model with Gamma Memory Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. N. Naikwad

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A focused time lagged recurrent neural network (FTLR NN with gamma memory filter is designed to learn the subtle complex dynamics of a typical CSTR process. Continuous stirred tank reactor exhibits complex nonlinear operations where reaction is exothermic. It is noticed from literature review that process control of CSTR using neuro-fuzzy systems was attempted by many, but optimal neural network model for identification of CSTR process is not yet available. As CSTR process includes temporal relationship in the input-output mappings, time lagged recurrent neural network is particularly used for identification purpose. The standard back propagation algorithm with momentum term has been proposed in this model. The various parameters like number of processing elements, number of hidden layers, training and testing percentage, learning rule and transfer function in hidden and output layer are investigated on the basis of performance measures like MSE, NMSE, and correlation coefficient on testing data set. Finally effects of different norms are tested along with variation in gamma memory filter. It is demonstrated that dynamic NN model has a remarkable system identification capability for the problems considered in this paper. Thus FTLR NN with gamma memory filter can be used to learn underlying highly nonlinear dynamics of the system, which is a major contribution of this paper.

The Employer Perspective on Sustainable Employability in the Construction Industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tonnon, Susanne C; van der Veen, Rozan; Westerman, Marjan J; Robroek, Suzan J W; van der Ploeg, Hidde P; Van Der Beek, Allard J.; Proper, Karin I.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the measures employers in the construction industry take to promote sustainable employability, the barriers and facilitators that influence implementation and employer needs. METHODS: Questionnaire among 499 employers and interviews with 17 employers. RESULTS: Employers

Public Sector Employment Inequality in the United States and the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Laird, Jennifer

2017-02-01

Historically in the United States, the public sector has served as an equalizing institution through the expansion of job opportunities for minority workers. This study examines whether the public sector continues to serve as an equalizing institution in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Using data from the Current Population Survey, I investigate changes in public sector employment between 2003 and 2013. My results point to a post-recession double disadvantage for black public sector workers: they are concentrated in a shrinking sector of the economy, and they are more likely than white and Hispanic public sector workers to experience job loss. These two trends are a historical break for the public sector labor market. I find that race and ethnicity gaps in public sector employment cannot be explained by differences in education, occupation, or any of the other measurable factors that are typically associated with employment. Among unemployed workers who most recently worked for the public sector, black women are the least likely to transition into private sector employment.

In-vivo job development training among peer providers of homeless veterans supported employment programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ni; Dolce, Joni; Rio, John; Heitzmann, Carma; Loving, Samantha

2016-06-01

This column describes a goal-oriented, time-limited in vivo coaching/training approach for skills building among peer veterans vocational rehabilitation specialists of the Homeless Veteran Supported Employment Program (HVSEP). Planning, implementing, and evaluating the training approach for peer providers was intended, ultimately, to support veterans in their goal of returning to community competitive employment. The description draws from the training experience that aimed to improve the ability of peer providers to increase both rates of employment and wages of the homeless veterans using their services. Training peers using an in vivo training approach provided a unique opportunity for the veterans to improve their job development skills with a focus to support employment outcomes for the service users. Peers who received training also expressed that learning skills through an in vivo training approach was more engaging than typical classroom trainings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Pre-Employment Course: A Partnership for Success?

Science.gov (United States)

Pepper, Ian K.; McGrath, Ruth

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits of pre-employment education and training and its impact on the students' choice of career paths. It focuses on a programme delivered in partnership between Teesside University and a North East Police Force, and provides a model for future pre-employment education and training.…

Is Self-Employment Really a Bad Experience? The Effects of Previous Self-Employment on Subsequent Wage-Employment Wages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaiser, Ulrich; Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj

2011-01-01

of self-employment is associated with lower hourly wages compared to workers who were consecutively wage-employed. We also show, however, that this effect disappears—and even becomes positive in some settings—for formerly self-employed who find dependent employment in the same sector as their self......-employment sector. Hence, the on average negative effect of self-employment is rather caused by sector switching than by the self-employment experience per se. Moreover, formerly self-employed who either enjoyed a high income or hired at least one worker during their self-employment spell receive wages...... in subsequent dependent employment that are at least as high as for individuals who have been consecutively wage-employed....

Atmospheric and dispersion modeling in areas of highly complex terrain employing a four-dimensional data assimilation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fast, J.D.; O'Steen, B.L.

1994-01-01

The results of this study indicate that the current data assimilation technique can have a positive impact on the mesoscale flow fields; however, care must be taken in its application to grids of relatively fine horizontal resolution. Continuous FDDA is a useful tool in producing high-resolution mesoscale analysis fields that can be used to (1) create a better initial conditions for mesoscale atmospheric models and (2) drive transport models for dispersion studies. While RAMS is capable of predicting the qualitative flow during this evening, additional experiments need to be performed to improve the prognostic forecasts made by RAMS and refine the FDDA procedure so that the overall errors are reduced even further. Despite the fact that a great deal of computational time is necessary in executing RAMS and LPDM in the configuration employed in this study, recent advances in workstations is making applications such as this more practical. As the speed of these machines increase in the next few years, it will become feasible to employ prognostic, three-dimensional mesoscale/transport models to routinely predict atmospheric dispersion of pollutants, even to highly complex terrain. For example, the version of RAMS in this study could be run in a ''nowcasting'' model that would continually assimilate local and regional observations as soon as they become available. The atmospheric physics in the model would be used to determine the wind field where no observations are available. The three-dimensional flow fields could be used as dynamic initial conditions for a model forecast. The output from this type of modeling system will have to be compared to existing diagnostic, mass-consistent models to determine whether the wind field and dispersion forecasts are significantly improved

Influence Factor of Tertiary Students’ Employability Awareness Adjust Industry 4.0

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Mei Chou

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study aims to analyze the correlation (N=621 among tertiary students’ career planning, erecruiting adoption acceptance, and employability awareness in Taiwan. Tertiary students’ perceived career planning includes four factors, namely, self-appraisal, job expectancy, goal selection, and problem solving. E-recruiting adoption acceptance includes four factors, namely, playfulness, ease of use, effectiveness, and usefulness. Employability awareness includes four factors, namely, personal adaptability, employability ambition, career identity, and labour market. Participants responded to a 5-point Likert-type scale for each factor. Analysis was conducted using the structural equation modeling (SEM, and a good model fit was found for both the measurement and structural models. Research findings demonstrate that tertiary students’ career planning significantly and directly influences employability awareness. Career planning significantly and indirectly influences employability awareness by e-recruiting adoption acceptance. Tertiary students’ career planning and e-recruiting adoption acceptance fit the influence model and empirical data of employability awareness. Implications of this study, including the value of student self-assessment of their skills and utility of the e-recruiting to underpin personal career development planning and inform graduate recruitment processes, are discussed and recommendations made.

A Typical Verification Challenge for the GRID

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Pol, Jan Cornelis; Bal, H. E.; Brim, L.; Leucker, M.

2008-01-01

A typical verification challenge for the GRID community is presented. The concrete challenge is to implement a simple recursive algorithm for finding the strongly connected components in a graph. The graph is typically stored in the collective memory of a number of computers, so a distributed

Strengthening the Fabric of Government: A Description of WOVEN (Women's Ohio Volunteer Employment Network).

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Mary E.

WOVEN (Women's Ohio Volunteer Employment Network), is directed at changing the low representation of women in decision making positions in public service. Women comprise more than a third of the work force in the State of Ohio; yet they have typically held the low level, low paying jobs. A 1973 status report on women in State government revealed…

What happens to the employment of disabled individuals when all financial disincentives to work are abolished?

Science.gov (United States)

Vall Castelló, Judit

2017-09-01

Policymakers and organizations representing people with disabilities have highlighted the importance of promoting the employment prospects of disabled individuals as a determinant to ensure their broader integration into the society. Policy reforms that attempt to incentivise disabled individuals to work typically involve reduced financial punishments for earning above a predetermined threshold (substantial gainful activity). This paper exploits a Spanish reform that entirely eliminated any disincentives for disabled individuals to work. Partially disabled individuals in Spain are subject to income taxation in all regions except in the province of Bizkaia. Before 2007, partially disabled individuals in Bizkaia were exempt from income taxation if they did not work. In December 2006, a new law was passed in Bizkaia that distinguished between individuals aged 55 or younger, who were no longer tax-exempt, and those who were older than 55 years, who continued to be tax-exempt if they did not work. I exploit this change in the legislation and employ both a difference-in-difference strategy comparing the employment outcomes of disabled young men across provinces and time as well as a triple difference model with disabled men older than 55 years, who are unaffected by the policy. My results show that the reform increased the probability of working by 6.5 percentage points for disabled men aged 55 or younger. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Employability Skills Assessment: Measuring Work Ethic for Research and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Park, HwaChoon; Hill, Roger B.

2016-01-01

The Employability Skills Assessment (ESA) was developed by Hill (1995) to provide an alternative measure of work ethic needed for success in employment. This study tested goodness-of-fit for a model used to interpret ESA results. The model had three factors: interpersonal skills, initiative, and dependability. Confirmatory factor analysis results…

Employer Brand Opens up for a Gender Process Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans Lundkvist

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Regardless of a long tradition of legislation, policymaking and practical achievements, the issues ofgender equality and of the segregated labor market still remain a matter of concern in Sweden. Thispaper describes a collaborative process between a research project and an engineering enterprise.It describes the point of departure, based on the concept of employer brand, of a long-term changeprocess and the different phases and activities during an intensive period 2009. The collaborationaimed to develop innovative methods, and to apply them in order to achieve increased genderawareness, and thereby to be able to retain and attract the best labor for tomorrow. Differentapproaches and methods as analogies, anecdotes, and pictures were used to nourish the process.Findings showed that the interactive process contributed to increased awareness. During the processthe enterprise became more conscious of the potential of being a gender equal employer

The Hidden Social Costs of Precarious Employment: Parental Co-Residence, Marriage Timing, and Political Participation During Young Adulthood

OpenAIRE

Kofman, Yelizavetta

2015-01-01

Precarious employment—that is, jobs that entail a nonstandard contract, are short term, and/or do not provide fringe benefits like health insurance and retirement savings—has become a widely discussed topic in the media and a key research topic among scholars. Despite increasing scholarly and public interest in precarious employment, however, few studies have considered the effects of such employment beyond typical work and career outcomes. Using longitudinal panel data from the National Lon...

Graduate Employability: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Employers' Perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yuzhuo

2013-01-01

This study provides a conceptual framework for understanding what employers think about the value of graduates with similar educational credentials in the workplace (their employability), using insights from the new institutionalism. In this framework, the development of employers' beliefs about graduates' employability is broken into a number of…

Jobs and kids: Female employment and fertility in China

OpenAIRE

Fang, Hai; Eggleston, Karen N.; Rizzo, John A.; Zeckhauser, Richard J.

2013-01-01

Data on 2,355 married women from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey are used to study how female employment affects fertility in China. China has deep concerns with both population size and female employment, so the relationship between the two should be better understood. Causality flows in both directions. A conceptual model shows how employment prospects affect fertility. Then a well-validated instrumental variable isolates this effect. Female employment reduces a married woman’s...

Employing Discourse: Universities and Graduate "Employability"

Science.gov (United States)

Boden, Rebecca; Nedeva, Maria

2010-01-01

What constitutes graduate employability is discursively framed. In this paper we argue that whilst universities in the UK have long had an involvement in producing useful and productive citizens, the ongoing neoliberalisation of higher education has engendered a discursive shift in definitions of employability. Traditionally, universities regarded…

A multi-faceted nature of „detachment” within the employment relationship

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolae ROMANDAȘ

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In the present article, the authors distinguished some ways through which the detachment is implemented under the Republic of Moldova labor law in public and private sectors. So, the basic rule on detachment within the legal employment is the written consent of the employee to be sent temporarily (usually up to one year but not more than 5 years by his employer (legal entity to another employer (also a legal entity to carry out certain activities, with the guarantee of keeping a salary not lower than the one received on the main job, as well as the costs of travel, accommodation etc. If in private sector, private labor relations, the refuse to be detached does not constitute grounds for dismissal, then in the public labor relations, the civil servants are forced by the law, in most cases, to accept detachment („on duty” to another public authority, under the legal threat of dismissal. While analyzing different special laws, there were established a variety of forms of detachment: besides the typical form of detachment from Labor Code, the law provides a complex form called „transfer detachment”, an employment relationship specific for diplomatic missions. The authors provide, through lege ferenda, that it would be appropriate that such employment relationship to be regulated also in private sector.

Re-engineering pre-employment check-up systems: a model for improving health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Rateb, Said Abdel Hakim; El Nouman, Azza Abdel Razek; Rateb, Moshira Abdel Hakim; Asar, Mohamed Naguib; El Amin, Ayman Mohammed; Gad, Saad abdel Aziz; Mohamed, Mohamed Salah Eldin

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for improving health services provided by the pre-employment medical fitness check-up system affiliated to Egypt's Health Insurance Organization (HIO). Operations research, notably system re-engineering, is used in six randomly selected centers and findings before and after re-engineering are compared. The re-engineering model follows a systems approach, focusing on three areas: structure, process and outcome. The model is based on six main components: electronic booking, standardized check-up processes, protected medical documents, advanced archiving through an electronic content management (ECM) system, infrastructure development, and capacity building. The model originates mainly from customer needs and expectations. The centers' monthly customer flow increased significantly after re-engineering. The mean time spent per customer cycle improved after re-engineering--18.3 +/- 5.5 minutes as compared to 48.8 +/- 14.5 minutes before. Appointment delay was also significantly decreased from an average 18 to 6.2 days. Both beneficiaries and service providers were significantly more satisfied with the services after re-engineering. The model proves that re-engineering program costs are exceeded by increased revenue. Re-engineering in this study involved multiple structure and process elements. The literature review did not reveal similar re-engineering healthcare packages. Therefore, each element was compared separately. This model is highly recommended for improving service effectiveness and efficiency. This research is the first in Egypt to apply the re-engineering approach to public health systems. Developing user-friendly models for service improvement is an added value.

A neuro-fuzzy model for prediction of the indoor temperature in typical Australian residential buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alasha' ary, Haitham; Moghtaderi, Behdad; Page, Adrian; Sugo, Heber [Priority Research Centre for Energy, Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, the University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, NSW 2308 (Australia)

2009-07-15

The Masonry Research Group at The University of Newcastle, Australia has embarked on an extensive research program to study the thermal performance of common walling systems in Australian residential buildings by studying the thermal behaviour of four representative purpose-built thermal test buildings (referred to as 'test modules' or simply 'modules' hereafter). The modules are situated on the university campus and are constructed from brick veneer (BV), cavity brick (CB) and lightweight (LW) constructions. The program of study has both experimental and analytical strands, including the use of a neuro-fuzzy approach to predict the thermal behaviour. The latter approach employs an experimental adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) which is used in this study to predict the room (indoor) temperatures of the modules under a range of climatic conditions pertinent to Newcastle (NSW, Australia). The study shows that this neuro-fuzzy model is capable of accurately predicting the room temperature of such buildings; thus providing a potential computationally efficient and inexpensive predictive tool for the more effective thermal design of housing. (author)

Does Maternal Employment Influence Poor Children's Social Development?

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Bruce; Caspary, Gretchen; Kagan, Sharon Lynn; Gauthier, Christiane; Hnang, Danny Shih-Cheng; Carroll, Judith; McCarthy, Jan

2002-01-01

This study examined the relation between young children's social development and maternal employment among women who entered welfare-to-work programs. Structural equation models provided evidence that indicators of economic security, such as food security and job quality indicators, but not recent employment per se, operated through parenting…

Evaluation of water conservation capacity of loess plateau typical mountain ecosystems based on InVEST model simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Xizhi; Zuo, Zhongguo; Xiao, Peiqing

2017-06-01

With increasing demand for water resources and frequently a general deterioration of local water resources, water conservation by forests has received considerable attention in recent years. To evaluate water conservation capacities of different forest ecosystems in mountainous areas of Loess Plateau, the landscape of forests was divided into 18 types in Loess Plateau. Under the consideration of the factors such as climate, topography, plant, soil and land use, the water conservation of the forest ecosystems was estimated by means of InVEST model. The result showed that 486417.7 hm2 forests in typical mountain areas were divided into 18 forest types, and the total water conservation quantity was 1.64×1012m3, equaling an average of water conversation quantity of 9.09×1010m3. There is a great difference in average water conversation capacity among various forest types. The water conservation function and its evaluation is crucial and complicated issues in the study of ecological service function in modern times.

Using the Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) and Individual Placement and Support (IPS) models to improve employment and clinical outcomes of homeless youth with mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferguson, Kristin M

2013-09-01

Prior research reveals high unemployment rates among homeless youth. The literature offers many examples of using evidence-informed and evidence-based supported employment models with vulnerable populations to assist them in obtaining and maintaining employment and concurrently addressing mental health challenges. However, there are few examples to date of these models with homeless youth with mental illness. The purpose of this article was thus to describe a methodology for establishing a university-agency research partnership to design, implement, evaluate, and replicate evidence-informed and evidence-based interventions with homeless youth with mental illness to enhance their employment, mental health, and functional outcomes. Data from two studies are used to illustrate the relationship between vocational skill-building/employment and mental health among homeless youth. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of conducting community-based participatory employment and clinical intervention research. The author highlights the opportunities and tensions associated with this approach.

Effectiveness of Facebook Based Learning to Enhance Creativity among Islamic Studies Students by Employing Isman Instructional Design Model

Science.gov (United States)

Alias, Norlidah; Siraj, Saedah; Daud, Mohd Khairul Azman Md; Hussin, Zaharah

2013-01-01

The study examines the effectiveness of Facebook based learning to enhance creativity among Islamic Studies students in the secondary educational setting in Malaysia. It describes the design process by employing the Isman Instructional Design Model. A quantitative study was carried out using experimental method and background survey. The…

Immigrants' Propensity to Self-Employment: Evidence from Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Peter S.

2001-01-01

Uses Canada's Longitudinal Immigration Data Base to highlight patterns of self-employment in various entry cohorts of immigrants between 1980-95 and develop a model to predict immigrants' propensity to self-employment. Overall, arrival in better economic years, longer residence in Canada, higher educational levels, older age, and being selected…

Employment, Family Union, and Childbearing Decisions in Great Britain

OpenAIRE

Arnstein Aassve; Simon Burgess; Matt Dickson; Carol Propper

2004-01-01

The paper investigates the relationship between work and family life in Britain. Using appropriate statistical techniques we estimate a five-equation model, which includes birth events, union formation, union dissolution, employment and non-employment events. The model allows for unobserved heterogeneity that is correlated across all five equations. We use information from the British Household Panel Survey, including the retrospective histories concerning work, union, and child bearing, to e...

Dysfunctional metacognition and drive for thinness in typical and atypical anorexia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Emily; Rushford, Nola; Soon, Siew; McDermott, Cressida

2015-01-01

Anorexia nervosa is complex and difficult to treat. In cognitive therapies the focus has been on cognitive content rather than process. Process-oriented therapies may modify the higher level cognitive processes of metacognition, reported as dysfunctional in adult anorexia nervosa. Their association with clinical features of anorexia nervosa, however, is unclear. With reclassification of anorexia nervosa by DSM-5 into typical and atypical groups, comparability of metacognition and drive for thinness across groups and relationships within groups is also unclear. Main objectives were to determine whether metacognitive factors differ across typical and atypical anorexia nervosa and a non-clinical community sample, and to explore a process model by determining whether drive for thinness is concurrently predicted by metacognitive factors. Women receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa (n = 119) and non-clinical community participants (n = 100), aged between 18 and 46 years, completed the Eating Disorders Inventory (3(rd) Edition) and Metacognitions Questionnaire (Brief Version). Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18.5 kg/m(2) differentiated between typical (n = 75) and atypical (n = 44) anorexia nervosa. Multivariate analyses of variance and regression analyses were conducted. Metacognitive profiles were similar in both typical and atypical anorexia nervosa and confirmed as more dysfunctional than in the non-clinical group. Drive for thinness was concurrently predicted in the typical patients by the metacognitive factors, positive beliefs about worry, and need to control thoughts; in the atypical patients by negative beliefs about worry and, inversely, by cognitive self-consciousness, and in the non-clinical group by cognitive self-consciousness. Despite having a healthier weight, the atypical group was as severely affected by dysfunctional metacognitions and drive for thinness as the typical group. Because metacognition concurrently predicted drive for thinness

Benefit and cost curves for typical pollination mutualisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, William F; Vázquez, Diego P; Chacoff, Natacha P

2010-05-01

Mutualisms provide benefits to interacting species, but they also involve costs. If costs come to exceed benefits as population density or the frequency of encounters between species increases, the interaction will no longer be mutualistic. Thus curves that represent benefits and costs as functions of interaction frequency are important tools for predicting when a mutualism will tip over into antagonism. Currently, most of what we know about benefit and cost curves in pollination mutualisms comes from highly specialized pollinating seed-consumer mutualisms, such as the yucca moth-yucca interaction. There, benefits to female reproduction saturate as the number of visits to a flower increases (because the amount of pollen needed to fertilize all the flower's ovules is finite), but costs continue to increase (because pollinator offspring consume developing seeds), leading to a peak in seed production at an intermediate number of visits. But for most plant-pollinator mutualisms, costs to the plant are more subtle than consumption of seeds, and how such costs scale with interaction frequency remains largely unknown. Here, we present reasonable benefit and cost curves that are appropriate for typical pollinator-plant interactions, and we show how they can result in a wide diversity of relationships between net benefit (benefit minus cost) and interaction frequency. We then use maximum-likelihood methods to fit net-benefit curves to measures of female reproductive success for three typical pollination mutualisms from two continents, and for each system we chose the most parsimonious model using information-criterion statistics. We discuss the implications of the shape of the net-benefit curve for the ecology and evolution of plant-pollinator mutualisms, as well as the challenges that lie ahead for disentangling the underlying benefit and cost curves for typical pollination mutualisms.

Lack of Effect of Typical Rapid-Weight-Loss Practices on Balance and Anaerobic Performance in Apprentice Jockeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, SarahJane; Dolan, Eimear; O Brien, Kate; McGoldrick, Adrian; Warrington, Giles

2015-11-01

Balance and anaerobic performance are key attributes related to horse-racing performance, but research on the impact of making weight for racing on these parameters remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of rapid weight loss in preparation for racing on balance and anaerobic performance in a group of jockeys. Twelve apprentice male jockeys and 12 age- and gender-matched controls completed 2 trials separated by 48 h. In both trials, body mass, hydration status, balance, and anaerobic performance were assessed. Between the trials, the jockeys reduced body mass by 4% using weight-loss methods typically adopted in preparation for racing, while controls maintained body mass through typical daily dietary and physical activity habits. Apprentice jockeys decreased mean body mass by 4.2% ± 0.3% (P balance, on the left or right side, or in peak power, mean power, or fatigue index were reported between the trials in either group. Results from this study indicate that a 4% reduction in body mass in 48 h through the typical methods employed for racing, in association with an increase in dehydration, resulted in no impairments in balance or anaerobic performance. Further research is required to evaluate performance in a sport-specific setting and to investigate the specific physiological mechanisms involved.

A Primer for Model Selection: The Decisive Role of Model Complexity

Science.gov (United States)

Höge, Marvin; Wöhling, Thomas; Nowak, Wolfgang

2018-03-01

Selecting a "best" model among several competing candidate models poses an often encountered problem in water resources modeling (and other disciplines which employ models). For a modeler, the best model fulfills a certain purpose best (e.g., flood prediction), which is typically assessed by comparing model simulations to data (e.g., stream flow). Model selection methods find the "best" trade-off between good fit with data and model complexity. In this context, the interpretations of model complexity implied by different model selection methods are crucial, because they represent different underlying goals of modeling. Over the last decades, numerous model selection criteria have been proposed, but modelers who primarily want to apply a model selection criterion often face a lack of guidance for choosing the right criterion that matches their goal. We propose a classification scheme for model selection criteria that helps to find the right criterion for a specific goal, i.e., which employs the correct complexity interpretation. We identify four model selection classes which seek to achieve high predictive density, low predictive error, high model probability, or shortest compression of data. These goals can be achieved by following either nonconsistent or consistent model selection and by either incorporating a Bayesian parameter prior or not. We allocate commonly used criteria to these four classes, analyze how they represent model complexity and what this means for the model selection task. Finally, we provide guidance on choosing the right type of criteria for specific model selection tasks. (A quick guide through all key points is given at the end of the introduction.)

INVESTIGATION OF SEISMIC PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN OF TYPICAL CURVED AND SKEWED BRIDGES IN COLORADO

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-15

This report summarizes the analytical studies on the seismic performance of typical Colorado concrete bridges, particularly those with curved and skewed configurations. A set of bridge models with different geometric configurations derived from a pro...

Modeling and analyses for an extended car-following model accounting for drivers' situation awareness from cyber physical perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Dong; Sun, Dihua; Zhao, Min; Zhou, Tong; Cheng, Senlin

2018-07-01

In fact, driving process is a typical cyber physical process which couples tightly the cyber factor of traffic information with the physical components of the vehicles. Meanwhile, the drivers have situation awareness in driving process, which is not only ascribed to the current traffic states, but also extrapolates the changing trend. In this paper, an extended car-following model is proposed to account for drivers' situation awareness. The stability criterion of the proposed model is derived via linear stability analysis. The results show that the stable region of proposed model will be enlarged on the phase diagram compared with previous models. By employing the reductive perturbation method, the modified Korteweg de Vries (mKdV) equation is obtained. The kink-antikink soliton of mKdV equation reveals theoretically the evolution of traffic jams. Numerical simulations are conducted to verify the analytical results. Two typical traffic Scenarios are investigated. The simulation results demonstrate that drivers' situation awareness plays a key role in traffic flow oscillations and the congestion transition.

Typical exposure of children to EMF: exposimetry and dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valic, Blaz; Kos, Bor; Gajsek, Peter

2015-01-01

A survey study with portable exposimeters, worn by 21 children under the age of 17, and detailed measurements in an apartment above a transformer substation were carried out to determine the typical individual exposure of children to extremely low- and radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. In total, portable exposimeters were worn for >2400 h. Based on the typical individual exposure the in situ electric field and specific absorption rate (SAR) values were calculated for an 11-y-old female human model. The average exposure was determined to be low compared with ICNIRP reference levels: 0.29 μT for an extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic field and 0.09 V m -1 for GSM base stations, 0.11 V m -1 for DECT and 0.10 V m -1 for WiFi; other contributions could be neglected. However, some of the volunteers were more exposed: the highest realistic exposure, to which children could be exposed for a prolonged period of time, was 1.35 μT for ELF magnetic field and 0.38 V m -1 for DECT, 0.13 V m -1 for WiFi and 0.26 V m -1 for GSM base stations. Numerical calculations of the in situ electric field and SAR values for the typical and the worst-case situation show that, compared with ICNIRP basic restrictions, the average exposure is low. In the typical exposure scenario, the extremely low frequency exposure is <0.03 % and the RF exposure <0.001 % of the corresponding basic restriction. In the worst-case situation, the extremely low frequency exposure is <0.11 % and the RF exposure <0.007 % of the corresponding basic restrictions. Analysis of the exposures and the individual's perception of being exposed/ unexposed to an ELF magnetic field showed that it is impossible to estimate the individual exposure to an ELF magnetic field based only on the information provided by the individuals, as they do not have enough knowledge and information to properly identify the sources in their vicinity. (authors)

Maternal employment and childhood overweight in low- and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Oddo, Vanessa M; Mueller, Noel T; Pollack, Keshia M; Surkan, Pamela J; Bleich, Sara N; Jones-Smith, Jessica C

2017-10-01

To investigate the association between maternal employment and childhood overweight in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Design/Setting We utilized cross-sectional data from forty-five Demographic and Health Surveys from 2010 to 2016 (n 268 763). Mothers were categorized as formally employed, informally employed or non-employed. We used country-specific logistic regression models to investigate the association between maternal employment and childhood overweight (BMI Z-score>2) and assessed heterogeneity in the association by maternal education with the inclusion of an interaction term. We used meta-analysis to pool the associations across countries. Sensitivity analyses included modelling BMI Z-score and normal weight (weight-for-age Z-score≥-2 to employment was associated with childhood overweight. However, children of employed mothers, compared with children of non-employed mothers, had higher BMI Z-score and higher odds of normal weight. In countries where the association varied by education, children of formally employed women with high education, compared with children of non-employed women with high education, had higher odds of overweight (pooled OR=1·2; 95 % CI 1·0, 1·4). We find no clear association between employment and child overweight. However, maternal employment is associated with a modestly higher BMI Z-score and normal weight, suggesting that employment is currently associated with beneficial effects on children's weight status in most LMIC.

Mental illness and employment discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Heather

2006-09-01

Work is a major determinant of mental health and a socially integrating force. To be excluded from the workforce creates material deprivation, erodes self-confidence, creates a sense of isolation and marginalization and is a key risk factor for mental disability. This review summarizes recent evidence pertaining to employment-related stigma and discrimination experienced by people with mental disabilities. A broad understanding of the stigmatization process is adopted, which includes cognitive, attitudinal, behavioural and structural disadvantages. Stigma is both a proximate and a distal cause of employment inequity for people with a mental disability who experience direct discrimination because of prejudicial attitudes from employers and workmates and indirect discrimination owing to historical patterns of disadvantage, structural disincentives against competitive employment and generalized policy neglect. Against this background, modern mental health rehabilitation models and legislative philosophies, which focus on citizenship rights and full social participation, are to be welcomed. Yet, recent findings demonstrate that the legislation remains vulnerable to the very prejudicial attitudes they are intended to abate. Research conducted during the past year continues to highlight multiple attitudinal and structural barriers that prevent people with mental disabilities from becoming active participants in the competitive labour market.

Predicting employment status and subjective quality of life in patients with schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haruo Fujino

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Although impaired social functioning, particularly poor employment status, is a cardinal feature of patients with schizophrenia and leads to decreased quality of life (QOL, few studies have addressed the relationship between these two clinical issues. The aim of this study was to determine whether employment status predicts subjective QOL and to evaluate a model in which functional capacity mediates the relationship between general cognitive performance and employment status. Ninety-three patients with schizophrenia were administered a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests, the UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment-Brief version (UPSA-B, the Social Functioning Scale (SFS, and the Subjective Quality of Life Scale (SQLS. First, we evaluated a model for predicting the employment/occupation subscale score of the SFS using path analysis, and the model fitted well (χ2 (4 = 3.6, p = 0.46; CFI = 1.0; RMSEA < 0.001, with 90% CIs: 0–0.152. Employment status was predicted by negative symptoms and functional capacity, which was in turn predicted by general cognitive performance. Second, we added subjective QOL to this model. In a final path model, QOL was predicted by negative symptoms and employment status. This model also satisfied good fit criteria (χ2 (7 = 10.3, p = 0.17; CFI = 0.987; RMSEA = 0.072, with 90% CIs: 0–0.159. The UPSA-B and SFS scores were moderately correlated with most measures of cognitive performance. These results support the notion that better employment status enhances subjective QOL in patients with schizophrenia.

Spatial and vertical distribution of radon and thoron in a typical Indian dwelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinay Kumar Reddy, K.; Gopal Reddy, Ch.; Yadagiri Reddy, P.; Rama Reddy, K.

2012-01-01

Radon and thoron have been identified as potential radiological health hazard and the dose estimation due to their exposure is an important task. Understanding their behavior in indoor environment helps in calculating the inhalation doses due to them. Present study aims at the distribution of radon and thoron concentrations in a typical Indian dwelling. Solid state nuclear track detectors are employed in the study. The concentration of radon is found to be invariant in indoor environment. The thoron concentration is found to decrease exponentially as a function of distance from the source (wall/floor). Solution of one dimensional diffusion equation is used for regression fittings for thoron variation, from which the diffusion constants and the exhalation rates were calculated. The diffusion constants varied from 0.00195 to 0.00540 m 2 s -1 . (author)

Effects of stress typicality during speeded grammatical classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Arciuli, Joanne; Cupples, Linda

2003-01-01

The experiments reported here were designed to investigate the influence of stress typicality during speeded grammatical classification of disyllabic English words by native and non-native speakers. Trochaic nouns and iambic gram verbs were considered to be typically stressed, whereas iambic nouns and trochaic verbs were considered to be atypically stressed. Experiments 1a and 2a showed that while native speakers classified typically stressed words individual more quickly and more accurately than atypically stressed words during differences reading, there were no overall effects during classification of spoken stimuli. However, a subgroup of native speakers with high error rates did show a significant effect during classification of spoken stimuli. Experiments 1b and 2b showed that non-native speakers classified typically stressed words more quickly and more accurately than atypically stressed words during reading. Typically stressed words were classified more accurately than atypically stressed words when the stimuli were spoken. Importantly, there was a significant relationship between error rates, vocabulary size and the size of the stress typicality effect in each experiment. We conclude that participants use information about lexical stress to help them distinguish between disyllabic nouns and verbs during speeded grammatical classification. This is especially so for individuals with a limited vocabulary who lack other knowledge (e.g., semantic knowledge) about the differences between these grammatical categories.

Who benefits from supported employment: a meta-analytic study.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Campbell, Kikuko

2012-02-01

AIMS: This meta-analysis sought to identify which subgroups of clients with severe mental illness (SMI) benefited from evidence-based supported employment. METHODS: We used meta-analysis to pool the samples from 4 randomized controlled trials comparing the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment to well-regarded vocational approaches using stepwise models and brokered services. Meta-analysis was used to determine the magnitude of effects for IPS\\/control group differences within specific client subgroups (defined by 2 work history, 7 sociodemographic, and 8 clinical variables) on 3 competitive employment outcomes (obtaining a job, total weeks worked, and job tenure). RESULTS: The findings strongly favored IPS, with large effect sizes across all outcomes: 0.96 for job acquisition, 0.79 for total weeks worked, and 0.74 for job tenure. Overall, 90 (77%) of the 117 effect sizes calculated for the 39 subgroups exceeded 0.70, and all 117 favored IPS. CONCLUSIONS: IPS produces better competitive employment outcomes for persons with SMI than alternative vocational programs regardless of background demographic, clinical, and employment characteristics.

75 FR 3168 - Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program-Self-Employment

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-20

... Employment Program--Self-Employment AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This document amends the vocational rehabilitation and employment regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) concerning self-employment for individuals with qualifying disabilities. We are making...

Improved NN-GM(1,1 for Postgraduates’ Employment Confidence Index Forecasting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Postgraduates’ employment confidence index (ECI forecasting can help the university to predict the future trend of postgraduates’ employment. However, the common forecast method based on the grey model (GM has unsatisfactory performance to a certain extent. In order to forecast postgraduates’ ECI efficiently, this paper discusses a novel hybrid forecast model using limited raw samples. Different from previous work, the residual modified GM(1,1 model is combined with the improved neural network (NN in this work. In particullar, the hybrid model reduces the residue of the standard GM(1,1 model as well as accelerating the convergence rate of the standard NN. After numerical studies, the illustrative results are provided to demonstrate the forecast performance of the proposed model. In addition, some strategies for improving the postgraduates’ employment confidence have been discussed.

Employment specialist competencies for supported employment programs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corbière, M.; Brouwers, E.P.M.; Lanctôt, N.; van Weeghel, J.

2014-01-01

Purpose Supported employment (SE) programs are evidence-based programs offered to people with severe mental illness to facilitate obtaining and keeping competitive work. However, significant variations in individuals’ vocational success may be partly explained by differences in their employment

Using item response theory to investigate the structure of anticipated affect: do self-reports about future affective reactions conform to typical or maximal models?

Science.gov (United States)

Zampetakis, Leonidas A; Lerakis, Manolis; Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Moustakis, Vassilis

2015-01-01

In the present research, we used item response theory (IRT) to examine whether effective predictions (anticipated affect) conforms to a typical (i.e., what people usually do) or a maximal behavior process (i.e., what people can do). The former, correspond to non-monotonic ideal point IRT models, whereas the latter correspond to monotonic dominance IRT models. A convenience, cross-sectional student sample (N = 1624) was used. Participants were asked to report on anticipated positive and negative affect around a hypothetical event (emotions surrounding the start of a new business). We carried out analysis comparing graded response model (GRM), a dominance IRT model, against generalized graded unfolding model, an unfolding IRT model. We found that the GRM provided a better fit to the data. Findings suggest that the self-report responses to anticipated affect conform to dominance response process (i.e., maximal behavior). The paper also discusses implications for a growing literature on anticipated affect.

Using item response theory to investigate the structure of anticipated affect: Do self-reports about future affective reactions conform to typical or maximal models?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonidas A Zampetakis

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In the present research we used item response theory (IRT to examine whether effective predictions (anticipated affect conforms to a typical (i.e., what people usually do or a maximal behavior process (i.e., what people can do. The former, correspond to non-monotonic ideal point IRT models whereas the latter correspond to monotonic dominance IRT models. A convenience, cross-sectional student sample (N=1624 was used. Participants were asked to report on anticipated positive and negative affect around a hypothetical event (emotions surrounding the start of a new business. We carried out analysis comparing Graded Response Model (GRM, a dominance IRT model, against Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (GGUM, an unfolding IRT model. We found that the GRM provided a better fit to the data. Findings suggest that the self-report responses to anticipated affect conform to dominance response process (i.e. maximal behavior. The paper also discusses implications for a growing literature on anticipated affect.

Breastfeeding and employment: an assessment of employer attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Libbus, M Kay; Bullock, Linda F C

2002-08-01

Both research and anecdotal reports suggest that maternal employment is associated with failure to initiate breastfeeding and early breastfeeding attrition. The objective of this study was to describe the experience with and attitudes toward breastfeeding of a sample of employers in a small Midwestern city in the United States. Based on an analysis of 85 mail-out questionnaires, we found that less than half of the employers had personal experience with breastfeeding. A large percentage of the sample, however, indicated that they would be willing to facilitate women who wished to breastfeed or express milk in the workplace. However, these employers also stated that they saw little value to their business of supporting breastfeeding in the work environment. Thus, enhancement of breastfeeding opportunity in the work environment may come as a result of public and employer education but, more likely, will require some type of directive from official sources.

The association between employee obesity and employer costs: evidence from a panel of U.S. employers.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Nuys, Karen; Globe, Denise; Ng-Mak, Daisy; Cheung, Hoiwan; Sullivan, Jeff; Goldman, Dana

2014-01-01

To estimate the employer costs associated with employee obesity. The study used cross-sectional analysis of employee health-risk assessment, disability, workers' compensation, and medical claims data from 2006 to 2008. The study took place in the United States from 2006 to 2008. A panel database with 29,699 employees drawn from a panel of employers and observed for 3 years each (N = 89,097) was used. Workdays lost owing to illness and disability; the cost of medical, short-term disability, and workers' compensation claims; and employees' adjusted body mass indices (BMI) were measured. We model the number and probability of workdays lost from illness, short-term disability, and workers' compensation events; short-term disability and workers' compensation payments; and health care spending as a function of BMI. We estimate spline regression models and fit results using a third-degree fractional polynomial. Probability of disability, workers' compensation claims, and number of days missed owing to any cause increase with BMI above 25, as do total employer costs. The probability of a short-term disability claim increases faster for employees with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes. Normal weight employees cost on average $3830 per year in covered medical, sick day, short-term disability, and workers' compensation claims combined; morbidly obese employees cost more than twice that amount, or $8067, in 2011 dollars. Obesity is associated with large employer costs from direct health care and insurance claims and indirect costs from lost productivity owing to workdays lost because of illness and disability.

Economic and industrial development. EID - EMPLOY. Final report. Task 1. Review of approaches for employment impact assessment of renewable energy deployment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Breitschopf, Barbara [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer System- und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany); Nathani, Carsten; Resch, Gustav

2011-11-15

The objective of this study is to provide an overview of existing impact assessment studies that analyse employment impacts of renewable energy (RE) deployment and to show which methodological approaches are best suitable to assess employment effect in the field of RE- electricity. A first review shows a large variety of impact assessment studies in the field of energy deployment applying a rather broad array of methodological approaches. Bounding the studies to RE-electricity considerably reduces the number of studies, but not necessarily the number of approaches. Due to different approaches the questions answered by the impact assessment studies cover a wide range that captures e.g. limited impacts in the RE industry as well as overarching employment impacts in the overall economy. First, based on the research focus of the studies and their impacts (Figure 0-1), we classify the assessed studies on employment impacts into two groups: gross employment studies and net employment studies. They aim to answer different policy questions and capture different effects: - Gross employment studies focus on the economic relevance of the RE industry in terms of employment, thus on the number of jobs provided in the RE industry and the structural analysis of employment in the RE industry. Furthermore employment in supplying industries are also included as indirect or induced impacts. The aim is to provide transparency on employment in an industry that is in the public interest but not adequately represented in official statistics, and, furthermore, enabling monitoring of this industry in the course of RE promotion. Gross studies take into account positive effects of RE deployment. - Net employment impact studies aim to assess the overall economic impact of promoting RE deployment, thus the change of the number of jobs in the total economy. For this, they take into account negative and positive effects of RE deployment on employment in all economic sectors and hence provide a

Portion distortion: typical portion sizes selected by young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Jaime; Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol

2006-09-01

The incidence of obesity has increased in parallel with increasing portion sizes of individually packaged and ready-to-eat prepared foods as well as foods served at restaurants. Portion distortion (perceiving large portion sizes as appropriate amounts to eat at a single eating occasion) may contribute to increasing energy intakes and expanding waistlines. The purpose of this study was to determine typical portion sizes that young adults select, how typical portion sizes compare with reference portion sizes (based in this study on the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act's quantities of food customarily eaten per eating occasion), and whether the size of typical portions has changed over time. Young adults (n=177, 75% female, age range 16 to 26 years) at a major northeastern university. Participants served themselves typical portion sizes of eight foods at breakfast (n=63) or six foods at lunch or dinner (n=62, n=52, respectively). Typical portion-size selections were unobtrusively weighed. A unit score was calculated by awarding 1 point for each food with a typical portion size that was within 25% larger or smaller than the reference portion; larger or smaller portions were given 0 points. Thus, each participant's unit score could range from 0 to 8 at breakfast or 0 to 6 at lunch and dinner. Analysis of variance or t tests were used to determine whether typical and reference portion sizes differed, and whether typical portion sizes changed over time. Mean unit scores (+/-standard deviation) were 3.63+/-1.27 and 1.89+/-1.14, for breakfast and lunch/dinner, respectively, indicating little agreement between typical and reference portion sizes. Typical portions sizes in this study tended to be significantly different from those selected by young adults in a similar study conducted 2 decades ago. Portion distortion seems to affect the portion sizes selected by young adults for some foods. This phenomenon has the potential to hinder weight loss, weight maintenance, and

Employer Health and Productivity Roadmap™ strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Michael D

2013-12-01

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Total Worker Health™ Program defines essential elements of an integrated health protection and health promotion model to improve the health, safety, and performance of employers and employees. The lack of a clear strategy to address the core drivers of poor health, excessive medical costs, and lost productivity has deterred a comprehensive, integrated, and proactive approach to meet these challenges. The Employer Health and Productivity Roadmap™, comprising six interrelated and integrated core elements, creates a framework of shared accountability for both employers and their health and productivity partners to implement and monitor actionable measures that improve health, maximize productivity, and reduce excessive costs. The strategy is most effective when linked to a financially incentivized health management program or consumer-directed health plan insurance benefit design.

Extending a model of precarious employment: A qualitative study of immigrant workers in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Porthé, Victoria; Ahonen, Emily; Vázquez, M Luisa; Pope, Catherine; Agudelo, Andrés Alonso; García, Ana M; Amable, Marcelo; Benavides, Fernando G; Benach, Joan

2010-04-01

Since the 1980s, changes in the labor market have modified power relations between capital and labor, leading to greater levels of precarious employment among workers. Globalization has led to a growth in migration, as people leave their countries in search of work. We aimed to describe the dimensions of precarious employment for immigrant workers in Spain. Qualitative study using analytic induction. Criterion sampling was used to recruit 129 immigrant workers in Spain with documented and undocumented administrative status. Data quality was ensured by triangulation. Immigrant workers reported that precarious employment is characterized by high job instability, a lack of power for negotiating employment conditions, and defenselessness against high labor demands. They described insufficient wages, long working hours, limited social benefits, and difficulty in exercising their rights. Undocumented workers reported greater defenselessness and worse employment conditions. This study allowed us to describe the dimensions of precarious employment in immigrant workers. (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Employer Attitudes towards the Work Inclusion of People with Disability

Science.gov (United States)

Nota, Laura; Santilli, Sara; Ginevra, Maria C.; Soresi, Salvatore

2014-01-01

Background: This study examines the importance of work in life of people with disability and then focuses on employer attitudes towards these people. In the light of Stone and Colella's model, the study examines the employer attitudes and the role of variables such as type of disability, employer experience in the hiring of persons with…

Searching for a Job on the Contemporary Labour Market: The Role of Dispositional Employability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jasmina Tomas

2017-03-01

Full Text Available By acknowledging the uncertainty and unpredictability of the job search process in an unemployment setting, the present study explored the predictive strength of dispositional employability in job search behaviours. Dispositional employability has been recognized as a potentially important personal resource that promotes job opportunities. However, it has rarely been assessed in an unemployment setting to date. According to recent employability models that differentiate between distal (i.e., personal strengths and proximal (e.g., perceived employability determinants of behaviour on the labour market, we hypoth- esized that: (i dispositional employability relates positively to job search intensity and (ii perception of one’s employment possibilities (i.e., perceived employability serves as an explanatory mechanism of this relationship. The hypothesized structural model was tested among a heterogeneous sample of 533 unemployed persons in Croatia. The results of structural equation modelling provided support for our hypotheses: dispositional employability related positively to job search intensity via perceived employ- ability. Accordingly, nurturing dispositional employability may be beneficial for unemployed persons as it relates positively to engagement in job search behaviour.

Maternal employment and childhood overweight in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Sophie-Charlotte

2016-12-01

A widespread finding among studies from the US and the UK is that maternal employment is correlated with an increased risk of child overweight, even in a causal manner, whereas studies from other countries obtain less conclusive results. As evidence for Germany is still scarce, the purpose of this study is to identify the effect of maternal employment on childhood overweight in Germany using two sets of representative micro data. We further explore potential underlying mechanisms that might explain this relationship. In order to address the selection into maternal full-time employment, we use an instrumental variable strategy exploiting the number of younger siblings in the household as an instrument. While the OLS models suggest that maternal full-time employment is related to a 5 percentage point higher probability of the child to be overweight, IV estimates indicate a 25 percentage points higher overweight probability due to maternal full-time employment. Exploring various possible pathways, we find that maternal full-time employment promotes unhealthy dietary and activity behavior which might explain the positive effect of maternal employment on child overweight to some extent. Although there are limitations to our IV approach, several sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of our findings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toddlers' categorization of typical and scrambled dolls and cars.

Science.gov (United States)

Heron, Michelle; Slaughter, Virginia

2008-09-01

Previous research has demonstrated discrimination of scrambled from typical human body shapes at 15-18 months of age [Slaughter, V., & Heron, M. (2004). Origins and early development of human body knowledge. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 69]. In the current study 18-, 24- and 30-month-old infants were presented with four typical and four scrambled dolls in a sequential touching procedure, to assess the development of explicit categorization of human body shapes. Infants were also presented with typical and scrambled cars, allowing comparison of infants' categorization of scrambled and typical exemplars in a different domain. Spontaneous comments regarding category membership were recorded. Girls categorized dolls and cars as typical or scrambled at 30 months, whereas boys only categorized the cars. Earliest categorization was for typical and scrambled cars, at 24 months, but only for boys. Language-based knowledge, coded from infants' comments, followed the same pattern. This suggests that human body knowledge does not have privileged status in infancy. Gender differences in performance are discussed.

USING COPULAS TO MODEL DEPENDENCE IN SIMULATION RISK ASSESSMENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dana L. Kelly

2007-11-01

Typical engineering systems in applications with high failure consequences such as nuclear reactor plants often employ redundancy and diversity of equipment in an effort to lower the probability of failure and therefore risk. However, it has long been recognized that dependencies exist in these redundant and diverse systems. Some dependencies, such as common sources of electrical power, are typically captured in the logic structure of the risk model. Others, usually referred to as intercomponent dependencies, are treated implicitly by introducing one or more statistical parameters into the model. Such common-cause failure models have limitations in a simulation environment. In addition, substantial subjectivity is associated with parameter estimation for these models. This paper describes an approach in which system performance is simulated by drawing samples from the joint distributions of dependent variables. The approach relies on the notion of a copula distribution, a notion which has been employed by the actuarial community for ten years or more, but which has seen only limited application in technological risk assessment. The paper also illustrates how equipment failure data can be used in a Bayesian framework to estimate the parameter values in the copula model. This approach avoids much of the subjectivity required to estimate parameters in traditional common-cause failure models. Simulation examples are presented for failures in time. The open-source software package R is used to perform the simulations. The open-source software package WinBUGS is used to perform the Bayesian inference via Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling.

Jobs and Kids: Female Employment and Fertility in Rural China

OpenAIRE

Hai Fang; Karen N. Eggleston; John A. Rizzo; Richard J. Zeckhauser

2010-01-01

Data on 2,355 married women from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey are used to study how female employment affects fertility in China. China has deep concerns with both population size and female employment, so the relationship between the two should be better understood. Causality flows in both directions. A conceptual model shows how employment prospects affect fertility. Then a well-validated instrumental variable isolates this effect. Female employment reduces a married woman's p...

Employment Change and Business Prospects in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kosovka Đ Ognjenovic

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to examine whether some previous knowledge about business prospects affects companies’ decisions about new employment in Serbia. In order to investigate this assumption a set of firm level data for 2012 is used. Following the theoretical approach that put an employer in a position to make various decisions about employment within the company, the trichotomous logit model is employed for the estimation of outcomes of possible companies’ decisions with respect to a set of independent variables. We find that the level of employment in the year that precedes companies’ decisions and relative changes in the number of employees in two successive years, as well as age and size of the company to some extent, affect companies’ decisions about new employment. The most important finding of our research is that the companies that experienced fluctuations in the number of employees and upgraded their business opportunities in the previous period hesitate to make decisions on the engagement of new workers, whereas those companies that lost some business opportunities rather decide to downsize the total number of employees.

Temporary Employment and Perceived Employability: Mediation by Impression Management

Science.gov (United States)

De Cuyper, Nele; De Witte, Hans

2010-01-01

Perceived employability (PE) has been advanced as the upcoming resource for career development, particularly for temporary workers. The question is how temporary workers become employable. Our hypothesis is that temporary workers more than permanent workers use impression management to become employable, both on the internal and the external labor…

Toward real-time diffuse optical tomography: accelerating light propagation modeling employing parallel computing on GPU and CPU

Science.gov (United States)

Doulgerakis, Matthaios; Eggebrecht, Adam; Wojtkiewicz, Stanislaw; Culver, Joseph; Dehghani, Hamid

2017-12-01

Parameter recovery in diffuse optical tomography is a computationally expensive algorithm, especially when used for large and complex volumes, as in the case of human brain functional imaging. The modeling of light propagation, also known as the forward problem, is the computational bottleneck of the recovery algorithm, whereby the lack of a real-time solution is impeding practical and clinical applications. The objective of this work is the acceleration of the forward model, within a diffusion approximation-based finite-element modeling framework, employing parallelization to expedite the calculation of light propagation in realistic adult head models. The proposed methodology is applicable for modeling both continuous wave and frequency-domain systems with the results demonstrating a 10-fold speed increase when GPU architectures are available, while maintaining high accuracy. It is shown that, for a very high-resolution finite-element model of the adult human head with ˜600,000 nodes, consisting of heterogeneous layers, light propagation can be calculated at ˜0.25 s/excitation source.

Factors associated with persons with disability employment in India: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Naraharisetti, Ramya; Castro, Marcia C

2016-10-07

Over twenty million persons with disability in India are increasingly being offered poverty alleviation strategies, including employment programs. This study employs a spatial analytic approach to identify correlates of employment among persons with disability in India, considering sight, speech, hearing, movement, and mental disabilities. Based on 2001 Census data, this study utilizes linear regression and spatial autoregressive models to identify factors associated with the proportion employed among persons with disability at the district level. Models stratified by rural and urban areas were also considered. Spatial autoregressive models revealed that different factors contribute to employment of persons with disability in rural and urban areas. In rural areas, having mental disability decreased the likelihood of employment, while being female and having movement, or sight impairment (compared to other disabilities) increased the likelihood of employment. In urban areas, being female and illiterate decreased the likelihood of employment but having sight, mental and movement impairment (compared to other disabilities) increased the likelihood of employment. Poverty alleviation programs designed for persons with disability in India should account for differences in employment by disability types and should be spatially targeted. Since persons with disability in rural and urban areas have different factors contributing to their employment, it is vital that government and service-planning organizations account for these differences when creating programs aimed at livelihood development.

Exploration of Rice Husk Compost as an Alternate Organic Manure to Enhance the Productivity of Blackgram in Typic Haplustalf and Typic Rhodustalf

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subramanium Thiyageshwari

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The present study was aimed at using cellulolytic bacterium Enhydrobacter and fungi Aspergillus sp. for preparing compost from rice husk (RH. Further, the prepared compost was tested for their effect on blackgram growth promotion along with different levels of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF in black soil (typic Haplustalf and red soil (typic Rhodustalf soil. The results revealed that, inoculation with lignocellulolytic fungus (LCF Aspergillus sp. @ 2% was considered as the most efficient method of composting within a short period. Characterization of composted rice husk (CRH was examined through scanning electron microscope (SEM for identifying significant structural changes. At the end of composting, N, P and K content increased with decrease in CO2 evolution, C:N and C:P ratios. In comparison to inorganic fertilization, an increase in grain yield of 16% in typic Haplustalf and 17% in typic Rhodustalf soil over 100% RDF was obtained from the integrated application of CRH@ 5 t ha−1 with 50% RDF and biofertilizers. The crude protein content was maximum with the combined application of CRH, 50% RDF and biofertilizers of 20% and 21% in typic Haplustalf and typic Rhodustalf soils, respectively. Nutrient rich CRH has proved its efficiency on crop growth and soil fertility.

[Typical atrial flutter: Diagnosis and therapy].

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Dierk; Eckardt, Lars; Estner, Heidi L; Kuniss, Malte; Meyer, Christian; Neuberger, Hans-Ruprecht; Sommer, Philipp; Steven, Daniel; Voss, Frederik; Bonnemeier, Hendrik

2016-03-01

Typical, cavotricuspid-dependent atrial flutter is the most common atrial macroreentry tachycardia. The incidence of atrial flutter (typical and atypical forms) is age-dependent with 5/100,000 in patients less than 50 years and approximately 600/100,000 in subjects > 80 years of age. Concomitant heart failure or pulmonary disease further increases the risk of typical atrial flutter.Patients with atrial flutter may present with symptoms of palpitations, reduced exercise capacity, chest pain, or dyspnea. The risk of thromboembolism is probably similar to atrial fibrillation; therefore, the same antithrombotic prophylaxis is required in atrial flutter patients. Acutely symptomatic cases may be subjected to cardioversion or pharmacologic rate control to relieve symptoms. Catheter ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus represents the primary choice in long-term therapy, associated with high procedural success (> 97 %) and low complication rates (0.5 %).This article represents the third part of a manuscript series designed to improve professional education in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. Mechanistic and clinical characteristics as well as management of isthmus-dependent atrial flutter are described in detail. Electrophysiological findings and catheter ablation of the arrhythmia are highlighted.

Discriminative Random Field Models for Subsurface Contamination Uncertainty Quantification

Science.gov (United States)

Arshadi, M.; Abriola, L. M.; Miller, E. L.; De Paolis Kaluza, C.

2017-12-01

Application of flow and transport simulators for prediction of the release, entrapment, and persistence of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) and associated contaminant plumes is a computationally intensive process that requires specification of a large number of material properties and hydrologic/chemical parameters. Given its computational burden, this direct simulation approach is particularly ill-suited for quantifying both the expected performance and uncertainty associated with candidate remediation strategies under real field conditions. Prediction uncertainties primarily arise from limited information about contaminant mass distributions, as well as the spatial distribution of subsurface hydrologic properties. Application of direct simulation to quantify uncertainty would, thus, typically require simulating multiphase flow and transport for a large number of permeability and release scenarios to collect statistics associated with remedial effectiveness, a computationally prohibitive process. The primary objective of this work is to develop and demonstrate a methodology that employs measured field data to produce equi-probable stochastic representations of a subsurface source zone that capture the spatial distribution and uncertainty associated with key features that control remediation performance (i.e., permeability and contamination mass). Here we employ probabilistic models known as discriminative random fields (DRFs) to synthesize stochastic realizations of initial mass distributions consistent with known, and typically limited, site characterization data. Using a limited number of full scale simulations as training data, a statistical model is developed for predicting the distribution of contaminant mass (e.g., DNAPL saturation and aqueous concentration) across a heterogeneous domain. Monte-Carlo sampling methods are then employed, in conjunction with the trained statistical model, to generate realizations conditioned on measured borehole data

Uncertainty analysis of constant amplitude fatigue test data employing the six parameters random fatigue limit model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonetti Davide

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Estimating and reducing uncertainty in fatigue test data analysis is a relevant task in order to assess the reliability of a structural connection with respect to fatigue. Several statistical models have been proposed in the literature with the aim of representing the stress range vs. endurance trend of fatigue test data under constant amplitude loading and the scatter in the finite and infinite life regions. In order to estimate the safety level of the connection also the uncertainty related to the amount of information available need to be estimated using the methods provided by the theory of statistic. The Bayesian analysis is employed to reduce the uncertainty due to the often small amount of test data by introducing prior information related to the parameters of the statistical model. In this work, the inference of fatigue test data belonging to cover plated steel beams is presented. The uncertainty is estimated by making use of Bayesian and frequentist methods. The 5% quantile of the fatigue life is estimated by taking into account the uncertainty related to the sample size for both a dataset containing few samples and one containing more data. The S-N curves resulting from the application of the employed methods are compared and the effect of the reduction of uncertainty in the infinite life region is quantified.

Foreign ownership and its effects on employment and wages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brännlund, Runar; Nordström, Leif Jonas; Stage, Jesper

2016-01-01

In this paper, we study how foreign ownership of Swedish companies affects employment and wages. To study these effects, we specify a model based on the assumption that the Swedish labour market can be described as one where trade unions and employers bargain over employment and wages. Our...... hypothesis is that bargaining power is affected by institutional settings and the ownership of the firm. To test our hypothesis, we used a panel data set of 242 large Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 1980–2005. The results indicate no significant impact of foreign ownership on employment or wages...

Essays on employment and unemployment transitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nagore Garcia, Amparo

2015-01-01

This thesis addresses relevant questions related to labour market transitions in Spain. Using administrative records data from Spanish Social Security and applying correlated competing risks models, the impact of the current recession on unemployment and employment transitions and gender differences

Contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas emissions. An estimation based on typical farms.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagemann, Martin; Ndambi, Asaah; Hemme, Torsten; Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe

2012-02-01

Studies on the contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are rare (FAO 2010) and often based on crude data which do not appropriately reflect the heterogeneity of farming systems. This article estimates GHG emissions from milk production in different dairy regions of the world based on a harmonised farm data and assesses the contribution of milk production to global GHG emissions. The methodology comprises three elements: (1) the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) concept of typical farms and the related globally standardised dairy model farms representing 45 dairy regions in 38 countries; (2) a partial life cycle assessment model for estimating GHG emissions of the typical dairy farms; and (3) standard regression analysis to estimate GHG emissions from milk production in countries for which no typical farms are available in the IFCN database. Across the 117 typical farms in the 38 countries analysed, the average emission rate is 1.50 kg CO(2) equivalents (CO(2)-eq.)/kg milk. The contribution of milk production to the global anthropogenic emissions is estimated at 1.3 Gt CO(2)-eq./year, accounting for 2.65% of total global anthropogenic emissions (49 Gt; IPCC, Synthesis Report for Policy Maker, Valencia, Spain, 2007). We emphasise that our estimates of the contribution of milk production to global GHG emissions are subject to uncertainty. Part of the uncertainty stems from the choice of the appropriate methods for estimating emissions at the level of the individual animal.

Improved water density feedback model for pressurized water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casadei, A.L.

1976-01-01

An improved water density feedback model has been developed for neutron diffusion calculations of PWR cores. This work addresses spectral effects on few-group cross sections due to water density changes, and water density predictions considering open channel and subcooled boiling effects. An homogenized spectral model was also derived using the unit assembly diffusion method for employment in a coarse mesh 3D diffusion computer program. The spectral and water density evaluation models described were incorporated in a 3D diffusion code, and neutronic calculations for a typical PWR were completed for both nominal and accident conditions. Comparison of neutronic calculations employing the open versus the closed channel model for accident conditions indicates that significant safety margin increases can be obtained if subcooled boiling and open channel effects are considered in accident calculations. This is attributed to effects on both core reactivity and power distribution, which result in increased margin to fuel degradation limits. For nominal operating conditions, negligible differences in core reactivity and power distribution exist since flow redistribution and subcooled voids are not significant at such conditions. The results serve to confirm the conservatism of currently employed closed channel feedback methods in accident analysis, and indicate that the model developed in this work can contribute to show increased safety margins for certain accidents

Theoretical assessment of the maximum obtainable power in wireless power transfer constrained by human body exposure limits in a typical room scenario.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xi Lin; De Santis, Valerio; Umenei, Aghuinyue Esai

2014-07-07

In this study, the maximum received power obtainable through wireless power transfer (WPT) by a small receiver (Rx) coil from a relatively large transmitter (Tx) coil is numerically estimated in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 10 MHz based on human body exposure limits. Analytical calculations were first conducted to determine the worst-case coupling between a homogeneous cylindrical phantom with a radius of 0.65 m and a Tx coil positioned 0.1 m away with the radius ranging from 0.25 to 2.5 m. Subsequently, three high-resolution anatomical models were employed to compute the peak induced field intensities with respect to various Tx coil locations and dimensions. Based on the computational results, scaling factors which correlate the cylindrical phantom and anatomical model results were derived. Next, the optimal operating frequency, at which the highest transmitter source power can be utilized without exceeding the exposure limits, is found to be around 2 MHz. Finally, a formulation is proposed to estimate the maximum obtainable power of WPT in a typical room scenario while adhering to the human body exposure compliance mandates.

Theoretical assessment of the maximum obtainable power in wireless power transfer constrained by human body exposure limits in a typical room scenario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xi Lin; De Santis, Valerio; Umenei, Aghuinyue Esai

2014-01-01

In this study, the maximum received power obtainable through wireless power transfer (WPT) by a small receiver (Rx) coil from a relatively large transmitter (Tx) coil is numerically estimated in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 10 MHz based on human body exposure limits. Analytical calculations were first conducted to determine the worst-case coupling between a homogeneous cylindrical phantom with a radius of 0.65 m and a Tx coil positioned 0.1 m away with the radius ranging from 0.25 to 2.5 m. Subsequently, three high-resolution anatomical models were employed to compute the peak induced field intensities with respect to various Tx coil locations and dimensions. Based on the computational results, scaling factors which correlate the cylindrical phantom and anatomical model results were derived. Next, the optimal operating frequency, at which the highest transmitter source power can be utilized without exceeding the exposure limits, is found to be around 2 MHz. Finally, a formulation is proposed to estimate the maximum obtainable power of WPT in a typical room scenario while adhering to the human body exposure compliance mandates. (paper)

Introduction to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health Employment Conditions Network (EMCONET) study, with a glossary on employment relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Benach, Joan; Muntaner, Carles; Solar, Orielle; Santana, Vilma; Quinlan, Michael

2010-01-01

Although the conditions and power relations of employment are known to be crucial health determinants for workers and their families, the nature of these relations and their effects on health have yet to be fully researched. Several types of employment--precarious employment in developed countries; informal sectors, child labor, slavery, and bonded labor in developing countries--expose workers to risky working conditions. Hazardous work and occupation-related diseases kill approximately 1,500 workers, globally, every day. Growing scientific evidence suggests that particular employment conditions, such as job insecurity and precarious employment, create adverse health effects; yet the limited number of studies and the poor quality of their methods prevent our understanding, globally, the complexity of employer-employee power relations, working conditions, levels of social protections, and the reality of employment-related health inequalities. This article introduces a special section on employment-related health inequalities, derived from the EMCONET approach, which focuses on (1) describing major methods and sources of information; (2) presenting theoretical models at the micro and macro levels; (3) presenting a typology of labor markets and welfare states worldwide; (4) describing the main findings in employment policies, including four key points for implementing strategies; and (5) suggesting new research developments, a policy agenda, and recommendations. This introduction includes a glossary of terms in the emerging area of employment conditions and health inequalities.

Physician assistant wages and employment, 2000-2025.

Science.gov (United States)

Quella, Alicia; Brock, Douglas M; Hooker, Roderick S

2015-06-01

This study sought to assess physician assistant (PA) wages, make comparisons with other healthcare professionals, and project their earnings to 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics PA employment datasets were probed, and 2013 wages were used to explore median wage differences between large employer categories and 14 years of historical data (2000-2013). Median wages of PAs, family physicians and general practitioners, pharmacists, registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, and physical therapists were compared. Linear regression was used to project the PA median wage to 2025. In 2013, the median hourly wage for a PA employed in a clinical role was $44.70. From 2000 to 2013, PA wages increased by 40% compared with the cumulative inflation rate of 35.3%. This suggests that demand exceeds supply, a finding consistent with similar clinicians such as family physicians. A predictive model suggests that PA employment opportunities and remuneration will remain high through 2025.

Automatic conversational scene analysis in children with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism and typically developing peers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tavano, Alessandro; Pesarin, Anna; Murino, Vittorio; Cristani, Marco

2014-01-01

Individuals with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism fail to spontaneously attribute mental states to the self and others, a life-long phenotypic characteristic known as mindblindness. We hypothesized that mindblindness would affect the dynamics of conversational interaction. Using generative models, in particular Gaussian mixture models and observed influence models, conversations were coded as interacting Markov processes, operating on novel speech/silence patterns, termed Steady Conversational Periods (SCPs). SCPs assume that whenever an agent's process changes state (e.g., from silence to speech), it causes a general transition of the entire conversational process, forcing inter-actant synchronization. SCPs fed into observed influence models, which captured the conversational dynamics of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism, and age-matched typically developing participants. Analyzing the parameters of the models by means of discriminative classifiers, the dialogs of patients were successfully distinguished from those of control participants. We conclude that meaning-free speech/silence sequences, reflecting inter-actant synchronization, at least partially encode typical and atypical conversational dynamics. This suggests a direct influence of theory of mind abilities onto basic speech initiative behavior.

Employer Branding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frimann, Søren; Mønsted, Bolette Rye

2012-01-01

Employer branding er både for den private og den offentlige sektor blevet en måde, de kan imødekomme ændrede arbejdsmarkedsvilkår og organisatoriske udfordringer i en postmoderne og globaliseret verden. Den aktuelle finanskrise har skabt nye udfordringer for organisationer i deres bestræbelser på...... at tiltrække- og fastholde attraktive medarbejdere. Men hvilken betydning har det, når Grundfos siger ”Mennesket er i fokus”, og hvad siger ”mangfoldighed” om Københavns Kommune som arbejdsplads i relation til employer branding? Er der egentlig sammenhæng mellem tankerne bag employer branding og de eksternt...... kommunikerede employer brandprodukter. Eller bliver det unikke ved arbejdspladserne ersattet af buzzwords uden substans og inddragelse af ansatte og interessenter? Artiklen har til formål at vurdere disse spørgsmål på baggrund af analyser af to cases med employer branding....

Maternal Employment and Children's Academic Achievement: Parenting Styles as Mediating Variable.

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Sylvia

1995-01-01

Provides a review and integration of findings on the effects of parenting styles and maternal employment on children's academic achievement. Presents a model in which it is argued that maternal employment status has little, if any, direct effect on children's academic achievement. Suggests maternal employment affects parenting styles, which in…

A reappraisal of the virtues of private sector employment programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Graversen, Brian Krogh; Jensen, Peter

2010-01-01

This paper evaluates the employment effects of active labour market programmes for Danish welfare benefit recipients, focusing on private sector employment (PSE) programmes. Using a latent variable model that allows for heterogeneous treatment effects among observationally identical persons, we...

An electrical circuit model for simulation of indoor radon concentration.

Science.gov (United States)

Musavi Nasab, S M; Negarestani, A

2013-01-01

In this study, a new model based on electric circuit theory was introduced to simulate the behaviour of indoor radon concentration. In this model, a voltage source simulates radon generation in walls, conductivity simulates migration through walls and voltage across a capacitor simulates radon concentration in a room. This simulation considers migration of radon through walls by diffusion mechanism in one-dimensional geometry. Data reported in a typical Greek house were employed to examine the application of this technique of simulation to the behaviour of radon.

Time to discontinuation of atypical versus typical antipsychotics in the naturalistic treatment of schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swartz Marvin

2006-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is an ongoing debate over whether atypical antipsychotics are more effective than typical antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia. This naturalistic study compares atypical and typical antipsychotics on time to all-cause medication discontinuation, a recognized index of medication effectiveness in the treatment of schizophrenia. Methods We used data from a large, 3-year, observational, non-randomized, multisite study of schizophrenia, conducted in the U.S. between 7/1997 and 9/2003. Patients who were initiated on oral atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, or ziprasidone or oral typical antipsychotics (low, medium, or high potency were compared on time to all-cause medication discontinuation for 1 year following initiation. Treatment group comparisons were based on treatment episodes using 3 statistical approaches (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, Cox Proportional Hazards regression model, and propensity score-adjusted bootstrap resampling methods. To further assess the robustness of the findings, sensitivity analyses were performed, including the use of (a only 1 medication episode for each patient, the one with which the patient was treated first, and (b all medication episodes, including those simultaneously initiated on more than 1 antipsychotic. Results Mean time to all-cause medication discontinuation was longer on atypical (N = 1132, 256.3 days compared to typical antipsychotics (N = 534, 197.2 days; p Conclusion In the usual care of schizophrenia patients, time to medication discontinuation for any cause appears significantly longer for atypical than typical antipsychotics regardless of the typical antipsychotic potency level. Findings were primarily driven by clozapine and olanzapine, and to a lesser extent by risperidone. Furthermore, only clozapine and olanzapine therapy showed consistently and significantly longer treatment duration compared to perphenazine, a medium

THE BANGLADESHI EMPLOYMENT SECTOR: EMPLOYER PERSPECTIVES CONCERNING ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rubina Khan

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This paper presents a brief summary of a study which was carried out to investigate how employers representing major employment sectors in the Bangladeshi Industry view the skills and English proficiency level of the current employees. Opinions were also solicited on what skills are required for fresh recruits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 employers representing the major employment sectors in Bangladeshi Industry. Results revealed the importance of English as an indispensible means of communication in the Bangladeshi corporate sector and showed that the business enterprises use extensive amounts of English. It also highlighted that the existent English proficiency of the employees was far below the required proficiency level. Recommendations were made to address the gap and prepare the youth to meet the demands of the global market. Keywords: English proficiency, competency, employability skills, global literacy skills

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program--self-employment. Final rule.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-20

This document amends the vocational rehabilitation and employment regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) concerning self-employment for individuals with qualifying disabilities. We are making changes to conform VA's regulations for self-employment programs for veterans, and for servicemembers awaiting discharge, to statutory provisions, including provisions limiting eligibility for certain supplies, equipment, stock, and license fees to individuals with the most severe service-connected disabilities. We are also making related changes in VA's regulations affecting eligibility for such assistance for certain veterans' children with birth defects in self-employment programs. In addition, we are amending our regulations regarding the approval authority for self-employment plans to make certain requirements less restrictive and less burdensome, to remove a vague and overly broad requirement, to make changes to reflect longstanding VA policy, and to make nonsubstantive clarifying changes.

Becoming Self-Employed.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Grant; Cochran, Larry

1997-01-01

Explored how persons become self-employed. In critical incident interviews with five self-employed persons the critical events that assisted or hindered progress toward self-employment were listed in chronological order. In general, becoming self-employed involved establishing conditions of action that enhanced a sense of agency, thus enabling…

Employer's Manual on Affirmative Action in Employment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kentucky State Commission on Human Rights, Frankfort.

The express purpose of this manual is for its use by business and industry in Kentucky as an aid to eliminate discrimination. Affirmative action is defined here as a comprehensive effort by an employer designed to: employ women and minority persons where they are under-utilized; include minority persons and women in all facets of the company's…

Internal Employability as a Strategy for Key Employee Retention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ángela Sánchez-Manjavacas

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Economies the world over and particularly those in southern Europe, are suffering the crippling effects of the extremely complex economic and financial crisis. This study looks at the impact of certain human resource policies geared towards increasing internal employability as a means of retaining valued employees and promoting job flexibility within the firm, as well as increasing positive attitudes towards organizational citizenship. Satisfaction and commitment are proposed as intermediating variables of the relationship between perceived internal employability and ITQ/OCB. The proposed research model is contrasted using structural equation modeling (LISREL. The results obtained from the empirical study indicate that employability should be considered an essential factor in achieving the desired commitment, loyalty, adaptability and productivity from employees by strengthening the psychological contract between firm and worker through professional recognition.

Generation of typical meteorological year for different climates of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Yingni

2010-01-01

Accurate prediction of building energy performance requires precise information of the local climate. Typical weather year files like typical meteorological year (TMY) are commonly used in building simulation. They are also essential for numerical analysis of sustainable and renewable energy systems. The present paper presents the generation of typical meteorological year (TMY) for eight typical cities representing the major climate zones of China. The data set, which includes global solar radiation data and other meteorological parameters referring to dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, has been analyzed. The typical meteorological year is generated from the available meteorological data recorded during the period 1995-2004, using the Finkelstein-Schafer statistical method. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) for each year is compared with the CDF for the long-term composite of all the years in the period. Typical months for each of the 12 calendar months from the period of years are selected by choosing the one with the smallest deviation from the long-term CDF. The 12 typical months selected from the different years are used for the formulation of a TMY.

The challenge of employing and managing new graduate midwives in midwifery group practices in hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Cummins, Allison M; Denney-Wilson, E; Homer, C S E

2016-07-01

This study explores the views of midwifery managers and key stakeholders, regarding the facilitators and barriers to employing new graduate midwives in midwifery continuity of care models. Maternity services in Australia are shifting towards midwifery continuity of care models, where midwives work in small group practices, requiring a change to the management of staff. Public policy in Australia supports maternity services to be reconfigured in this way. Historically, experienced midwives work in these models, as demand grows; new graduates are employed to staff the models. A qualitative descriptive approach exploring the manager's experience of employing new graduate's in the models. Managers, clinical educators and hospital midwifery consultants (n = 15) were recruited by purposeful sampling. Drivers, enablers, facilitators and barriers to employing new graduates in the models were identified. Visionary leadership enabled the managers to employ new graduates in the models through initial and ongoing support. Managing the myths stemming from fear of employing new graduates to work in midwifery continuity of care models was challenging. Managers and other key stakeholders provide initial and ongoing support through orientation and providing a reduced workload. Visionary leadership can be seen as critical to supporting new graduates into midwifery continuity of care models. The challenges for management to overcome include managing the myths stemming from fear of employing new graduates to work in a flexible way around the needs of the women within an organisation culture. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Assessment of the quality seen in a restaurant typical theme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Alves Pinheiro

2009-03-01

Full Text Available To ensure the satisfaction of external customers it is necessary to know their needs. In this perspective, these work objectives assess the perception of quality by the customer outside of a restaurant located in the a restaurant typical theme located in the square of food “Bodódromo” the city of Petrolina/Pe. For both this was a case study, using the model servqual, Parasuraman et al (1985, for removal of information. The results indicated a need for improvement in the services provided by the restaurant.

Employability Skills, Personal Qualities, and Early Employment Problems of Entry-Level Auditors: Perspectives from Employers, Lecturers, Auditors, and Students

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Yet-Mee; Lee, Teck Heang; Yap, Ching Seng; Ling, Chui Ching

2016-01-01

The authors examine the issue of employability of university accounting students from the perspectives of accounting firm employers, junior auditors, accounting lecturers, and accounting students. Areas of investigation include perceived importance of employability skills and desirable personal qualities; and early employment problems encountered…

Employment Effects of Renewable Energy Expansion on a Regional Level—First Results of a Model-Based Approach for Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrike Lehr

2012-02-01

Full Text Available National studies have shown that both gross and net effects of the expansion of energy from renewable sources on employment are positive for Germany. These modeling approaches also revealed that this holds true for both present and future perspectives under certain assumptions on the development of exports, fossil fuel prices and national politics. Yet how are employment effects distributed within Germany? What components contribute to growth impacts on a regional level? To answer these questions (new methods of regionalization were explored and developed for the example “wind energy onshore” for Germany’s federal states. The main goal was to develop a methodology which is applicable to all renewable energy technologies in future research. For the quantification and projection, it was necessary to distinguish between jobs generated by domestic investments and exports on the one hand, and jobs for operation and maintenance of existing plants on the other hand. Further, direct and indirect employment is analyzed. The results show, that gross employment is particularly high in the northwestern regions of Germany. However, especially the indirect effects are spread out over the whole country. Regions in the south not only profit from the delivery of specific components, but also from other industry and service inputs.

Post-migration employment changes and health: A dyadic spousal analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ro, Annie; Goldberg, Rachel E

2017-10-01

Prospective studies have found unemployment and job loss to be associated with negative psychological and physical health outcomes. For immigrants, the health implications of employment change cannot be considered apart from pre-migration experiences. While immigrants demonstrate relative success in securing employment in the United States, their work is often not commensurate with their education or expertise. Previous research has linked downward employment with adverse health outcomes among immigrants, but with gender differences. We extended this literature by considering a wider range of employment states and accounting for the interdependence of husbands' and wives' employment trajectories. We examined the relationships between personal and spousal post-migration employment changes and self-rated health and depressive symptoms using dyadic data from the 2003 New Immigrant Survey (NIS) (n = 5682 individuals/2841 spousal pairs). We used the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to model cross-partner effects and account for spousal interdependence. In general, men's downward employment trajectories were associated with poorer health for themselves. Women's employment trajectories had fewer statistically significant associations with their own or their husbands' health, underscoring the generally more peripheral nature of women's work in the household. However, women's current unemployment in particular was associated with poorer health outcomes for themselves and their husbands, suggesting that unmet need for women's work can produce health risks within immigrant households. Our findings suggest that employment change should be considered a household event that can impact the wellbeing of linked individuals within. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying typical physical activity on smartphone with varying positions and orientations.

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Fen; He, Yi; Liu, Jinlei; Li, Ye; Ayoola, Idowu

2015-04-13

Traditional activity recognition solutions are not widely applicable due to a high cost and inconvenience to use with numerous sensors. This paper aims to automatically recognize physical activity with the help of the built-in sensors of the widespread smartphone without any limitation of firm attachment to the human body. By introducing a method to judge whether the phone is in a pocket, we investigated the data collected from six positions of seven subjects, chose five signals that are insensitive to orientation for activity classification. Decision trees (J48), Naive Bayes and Sequential minimal optimization (SMO) were employed to recognize five activities: static, walking, running, walking upstairs and walking downstairs. The experimental results based on 8,097 activity data demonstrated that the J48 classifier produced the best performance with an average recognition accuracy of 89.6% during the three classifiers, and thus would serve as the optimal online classifier. The utilization of the built-in sensors of the smartphone to recognize typical physical activities without any limitation of firm attachment is feasible.

Phylogenetic relationships of typical antbirds (Thamnophilidae and test of incongruence based on Bayes factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nylander Johan AA

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The typical antbirds (Thamnophilidae form a monophyletic and diverse family of suboscine passerines that inhabit neotropical forests. However, the phylogenetic relationships within this assemblage are poorly understood. Herein, we present a hypothesis of the generic relationships of this group based on Bayesian inference analyses of two nuclear introns and the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The level of phylogenetic congruence between the individual genes has been investigated utilizing Bayes factors. We also explore how changes in the substitution models affected the observed incongruence between partitions of our data set. Results The phylogenetic analysis supports both novel relationships, as well as traditional groupings. Among the more interesting novel relationship suggested is that the Terenura antwrens, the wing-banded antbird (Myrmornis torquata, the spot-winged antshrike (Pygiptila stellaris and the russet antshrike (Thamnistes anabatinus are sisters to all other typical antbirds. The remaining genera fall into two major clades. The first includes antshrikes, antvireos and the Herpsilochmus antwrens, while the second clade consists of most antwren genera, the Myrmeciza antbirds, the "professional" ant-following antbirds, and allied species. Our results also support previously suggested polyphyly of Myrmotherula antwrens and Myrmeciza antbirds. The tests of phylogenetic incongruence, using Bayes factors, clearly suggests that allowing the gene partitions to have separate topology parameters clearly increased the model likelihood. However, changing a component of the nucleotide substitution model had much higher impact on the model likelihood. Conclusions The phylogenetic results are in broad agreement with traditional classification of the typical antbirds, but some relationships are unexpected based on external morphology. In these cases their true affinities may have been obscured by convergent evolution and

Exploring example models of cross-sector, sessional employment of pharmacists to improve medication management and pharmacy support in rural hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Amy Cw; Emmerton, Lynne M; Hattingh, Laetitia; La Caze, Adam

2015-01-01

Many rural hospitals in Australia are not large enough to sustain employment of a full-time pharmacist, or are unable to recruit or retain a full-time pharmacist. The absence of a pharmacist may result in hospital nurses undertaking medication-related roles outside their scope of practice. A potential solution to address rural hospitals' medication management needs is contracted part-time ('sessional') employment of a local pharmacist external to the hospital ('cross-sector'). The aim of this study was to explore the roles and experiences of pharmacists in their provision of sessional services to rural hospitals with no on-site pharmacist and explore how these roles could potentially address shortfalls in medication management in rural hospitals. A qualitative study was conducted to explore models with pharmacists who had provided sessional services to a rural hospital. A semi-structured interview guide was informed by a literature review, preliminary research and stakeholder consultation. Participants were recruited via advertisement and personal contacts. Consenting pharmacists were interviewed between August 2012 and January 2013 via telephone or Skype for 40-55 minutes. Thirteen pharmacists with previous or ongoing hospital sessional contracts in rural communities across Australia and New Zealand participated. Most commonly, the pharmacists provided weekly services to rural hospitals. All believed the sessional model was a practical solution to increase hospital access to pharmacist-mediated support and to address medication management gaps. Roles perceived to promote quality use of medicines were inpatient consultation services, medicines information/education to hospital staff, assistance with accreditation matters and system reviews, and input into pharmaceutical distribution activities. This study is the first to explore the concept of sessional rural hospital employment undertaken by pharmacists in Australia and New Zealand. Insights from participants

Workplace Environment and Female Employment: An empirical analysis using firm panel data (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

YAMAMOTO Isamu

2014-01-01

This paper examines the kind of company which utilizes female employees using panel data of Japanese companies. It is shown that companies with shorter work hours for typical regular employees, higher turnover rates, less steep wage curves and larger wage dispersion, and better work-life balance practices tend to have a higher female proportion among regular employees and managers. These findings imply that the longer work hours, a longer duration of the employment period, larger fixed costs ...

THE IMPACT OF COMPENSATION PAYMENTS ON EMPLOYMENT, IN REGIONAL STRUCTURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoleta JULA

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Compensation payments are considered active labour market policies designed to increase efficiency, to mitigate unemployment and to sustaining employment. We tested this hypothesis for the period 1993-2013, in territorial structures (42 counties through a dynamic panel model (confirmed by Granger causality tests – Toda-Yamamoto version, and by means of error correction model. We found that the dynamics of regional employment are positively related to expenditure incurred for active policies and there are negatively correlated with the ratio between the unemployment average indemnity (and support allowance and the average net nominal monthly salary earnings. But, the connexion between employment and compensation payments converges extremely slowly for a long-term stable relationship.

New Employment Forecasts. Hotel and Catering Industry 1988-1993.

Science.gov (United States)

Measurement for Management Decision, Ltd., London (England).

Econometric forecasting models were used to forecast employment levels in the hotel and catering industry in Great Britain through 1993 under several different forecasting scenarios. The growth in employment in the hotel and catering industry over the next 5 years is likely to be broadly based, both across income levels of domestic consumers,…

RETIREMENT AS AN EFFECT OF EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konrad Turek

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Employers are the key actors in defining conditions for retirement, as well as the conditions for retaining employees; their role, however, is still not well recognised and expressed in theoretical frameworks. In order to better understand individual retirement and to design successful ageing policies we should consider the behaviour and attitudes of employers.The article presents the organisational perspective on retirement and contributes to a theoretical consideration of the role of employers and work environments in the retirement process. It discusses the classic economic approaches, including the deferred payment model, and in referring to sociology of economy and management sciences it presents the employer’s perspective in relations with older workers. The main goal of the article is to consider the retirement process as an effect of employer-employee relations.

12 CFR 408.6 - Typical classes of action.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Typical classes of action. 408.6 Section 408.6 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES PROCEDURES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT Eximbank Implementing Procedures § 408.6 Typical classes of action. (a) Section 1507.3...

Toward real-time diffuse optical tomography: accelerating light propagation modeling employing parallel computing on GPU and CPU.

Science.gov (United States)

Doulgerakis, Matthaios; Eggebrecht, Adam; Wojtkiewicz, Stanislaw; Culver, Joseph; Dehghani, Hamid

2017-12-01

Parameter recovery in diffuse optical tomography is a computationally expensive algorithm, especially when used for large and complex volumes, as in the case of human brain functional imaging. The modeling of light propagation, also known as the forward problem, is the computational bottleneck of the recovery algorithm, whereby the lack of a real-time solution is impeding practical and clinical applications. The objective of this work is the acceleration of the forward model, within a diffusion approximation-based finite-element modeling framework, employing parallelization to expedite the calculation of light propagation in realistic adult head models. The proposed methodology is applicable for modeling both continuous wave and frequency-domain systems with the results demonstrating a 10-fold speed increase when GPU architectures are available, while maintaining high accuracy. It is shown that, for a very high-resolution finite-element model of the adult human head with ∼600,000 nodes, consisting of heterogeneous layers, light propagation can be calculated at ∼0.25  s/excitation source. (2017) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

Interfacing high-fidelity core neutronics models to whole plant models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McEllin, M.

1999-01-01

Until recently available computer power dictated that whole-plant models of nuclear power stations have typically employed simple models of the reactor core which can not match the fidelity of safety-qualified 2-group, 3D neutronics models. As a result the treatment of situations involving strong coupling between the core and the rest of the plant has inevitably been somewhat approximate, requiring conservative modelling assumptions, or manual iteration between cases, to bound worse case scenarios. Such techniques not only place heavy demands on the engineers involved, they may also result in potentially unnecessary operational constraints. Hardware is today no longer the limiting factor, but the cost of developing and validating high-quality software is now such that it appears attractive to build new systems with a wider simulation scope by using existing stand-alone codes as sub-components. This is not always as straightforward as it might at first appear. This paper illustrates some of the pitfalls, and discusses more sophisticated and robust strategies. (author)

Foods Inducing Typical Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Symptoms in Korea

OpenAIRE

Choe, Jung Wan; Joo, Moon Kyung; Kim, Hyo Jung; Lee, Beom Jae; Kim, Ji Hoon; Yeon, Jong Eun; Park, Jong-Jae; Kim, Jae Seon; Byun, Kwan Soo; Bak, Young-Tae

2017-01-01

Background/Aims Several specific foods are known to precipitate gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and GERD patients are usually advised to avoid such foods. However, foods consumed daily are quite variable according to regions, cultures, etc. This study was done to elucidate the food items which induce typical GERD symptoms in Korean patients. Methods One hundred and twenty-six Korean patients with weekly typical GERD symptoms were asked to mark all food items that induced typic...

Study on the three-station typical network deployments of workspace Measurement and Positioning System

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Zhi; Zhu, J. G.; Xue, B.; Ye, Sh. H.; Xiong, Y.

2013-10-01

As a novel network coordinate measurement system based on multi-directional positioning, workspace Measurement and Positioning System (wMPS) has outstanding advantages of good parallelism, wide measurement range and high measurement accuracy, which makes it to be the research hotspots and important development direction in the field of large-scale measurement. Since station deployment has a significant impact on the measurement range and accuracy, and also restricts the use-cost, the optimization method of station deployment was researched in this paper. Firstly, positioning error model was established. Then focusing on the small network consisted of three stations, the typical deployments and error distribution characteristics were studied. Finally, through measuring the simulated fuselage using typical deployments at the industrial spot and comparing the results with Laser Tracker, some conclusions are obtained. The comparison results show that under existing prototype conditions, I_3 typical deployment of which three stations are distributed in a straight line has an average error of 0.30 mm and the maximum error is 0.50 mm in the range of 12 m. Meanwhile, C_3 typical deployment of which three stations are uniformly distributed in the half-circumference of an circle has an average error of 0.17 mm and the maximum error is 0.28 mm. Obviously, C_3 typical deployment has a higher control effect on precision than I_3 type. The research work provides effective theoretical support for global measurement network optimization in the future work.

Employer branding

OpenAIRE

Mičková, Kateřina

2008-01-01

The demand for qualified employees is higher then the offering, both in Czech republic and internationally. Demand for specific skills, in addition to a greater demand for workforce generally, is making employee recruitment and retention much more difficult and expensive. Employer Branding claims to be an answer to this new challenge. This international concept focuses on developing an "employer brand" - mental image of a company as an employer. To achieve this, it is necessary to demonstrate...

Building Employer Capacity to Support Meaningful Employment for Persons with Developmental Disabilities: A Grounded Theory Study of Employment Support Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Marghalara; Hodgetts, Sandra; Nicholas, David

2017-11-01

To explore strategies to build employer capacity to support people with DD in meaningful employment from perspective of employment support workers. A grounded theory study was conducted with 34 employment support individuals. A theoretical sampling approach was used to identify and recruit participants from multiple sites in Ontario and Alberta. Three main themes, with seven sub-themes, emerged: (1) experiences of supporting employment finding for people with DD, (2) institutional influences on employee experiences, and (3) attitudes, assumptions and stigma. Several recommendations related to building employer capacity were offered. Our findings provide insight on specific elements and strategies that can support building employer capacity for persons with DD.

Simplified model of a PWR primary circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souza, A.L.; Faya, A.J.G.

1988-07-01

The computer program RENUR was developed to perform a very simplified simulation of a typical PWR primary circuit. The program has mathematical models for the thermal-hydraulics of the reactor core and the pressurizer, the rest of the circuit being treated as a single volume. Heat conduction in the fuel rod is analyzed by a nodal model. Average and hot channels are treated so that bulk response of the core and DNBR can be evaluated. A homogenenous model is employed in the pressurizer. Results are presented for a steady-state situation as well as for a loss of load transient. Agreement with the results of more elaborate computer codes is good with substantial reduction in computer costs. (author) [pt

EmployRES. The impact of renewable energy policy on economic growth and employment in the European Union. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ragwitz, M.; Schade, W.; Breitschopf, B.; Walz, R.; Helfrich, N.; Rathmann, M.; Resch, G.; Panzer, C.; Faber, T.; Haas, R.; Nathani, C.; Holzhey, M.; Konstantinaviciute, I.; Zagame, P.; Fougeyrollas, A.; Le Hir, B.

2009-04-01

This study aims to meet the need for scientifically robust information on the gross effects (direct and indirect) as well as on the net effects (including both conventional replacement and budget effects) of renewable energy policies in Europe. Furthermore, the future development of RES in Europe will take place against the background of a global market for RES technology. This global market and the potential share of European industries in it will play a critical role in the potentials for growth and employment. This study aims to provide a sound scientific analysis of these issues. This report is divided into four main parts, A, B, C and D. While the first three covers the introduction, the theoretical approach, the modelling steps and structure of the report, the fourth part, part D, discusses in detail the models and results of the projects. It begins with chapter D 1 which describes past RES deployment and its costs. Then follows the past macroeconomic impacts presented by gross effects on employment and value added (D 2). Thereafter, the future potential (D 3) and future deployment (D 4) of renewable energy sources (RES) are discussed. Before the presentation of the future gross and net effects, the five scenarios used in the macro-economic models (D 5) are explained in detail. Finally we depict the future gross and net impacts on employment and GDP in D 6 and D 7, respectively. The comparison between the results of the two models and our conclusion for the study follows in chapter D 8 and 9

Does Raising the Early Retirement Age Increase Employment of Older Workers?

Science.gov (United States)

Staubli, Stefan; Zweimüller, Josef

2013-12-01

Two pension reforms in Austria increased the early retirement age (ERA) from 60 to 62 for men and from 55 to 58.25 for women. We find that raising the ERA increased employment by 9.75 percentage points among affected men and by 11 percentage points among affected women. The reforms had large spillover effects on the unemployment insurance program but negligible effects on disability insurance claims. Specifically, unemployment increased by 12.5 percentage points among men and by 11.8 percentage points among women. The employment response was largest among high-wage and healthy workers, while low-wage and less healthy workers either continued to retire early via disability benefits or bridged the gap to the ERA via unemployment benefits. Taking spillover effects and additional tax revenues into account, we find that for a typical birth-year cohort a one year increase in the ERA resulted in a reduction of net government expenditures of 107 million euros for men and of 122 million euros for women.

Ethnic variations in immigrant poverty exit and female employment: the missing link.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaida, Lisa

2015-04-01

Despite widespread interest in poverty among recent immigrants and female immigrant employment, research on the link between the two is limited. This study evaluates the effect of recently arrived immigrant women's employment on the exit from family poverty and considers the implications for ethnic differences in poverty exit. It uses the bivariate probit model and the Fairlie decomposition technique to analyze data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), a nationally representative survey of immigrants arriving in Canada, 2000-2001. Results show that the employment of recently arrived immigrant women makes a notable contribution to lifting families out of poverty. Moreover, the wide ethnic variations in the probability of exit from poverty between European and non-European groups are partially explained by the lower employment rates among non-European women. The results suggest that the equal earner/female breadwinner model applies to low-income recent immigrant families in general, but the male breadwinner model explains the low probability of poverty exit among select non-European groups whose female employment rates are notably low.

Flexible employment, precarious employees? Job-, employer- and institutional explanations for numerical flexibility, and its relation to precarious employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olsthoorn, M.

2015-01-01

This dissertation presents a study of numerical flexibility and its relation to precarious employment in contemporary labour markets. Precarious employment is defined as the situation in which an employee has both insecure employment and insecure finances. More specifically, precarious employees are

Research on Employment in the Rural Nonfarm Sector in Africa. African Rural Employment Paper No. 5.

Science.gov (United States)

Liedholm, Carl

Within the context of the role of rural employment in overall economic development, the objectives were to summarize existing knowledge of the rural African nonfarm sector and to develop an analytical framework for examing utilization of labor in this sector, using a descriptive profile, a theoretical model, and a research approach to rural…

Childhood apraxia of speech: A survey of praxis and typical speech characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmenholt, Ann; Lohmander, Anette; McAllister, Anita

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate current knowledge of the diagnosis childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) in Sweden and compare speech characteristics and symptoms to those of earlier survey findings in mainly English-speakers. In a web-based questionnaire 178 Swedish speech-language pathologists (SLPs) anonymously answered questions about their perception of typical speech characteristics for CAS. They graded own assessment skills and estimated clinical occurrence. The seven top speech characteristics reported as typical for children with CAS were: inconsistent speech production (85%), sequencing difficulties (71%), oro-motor deficits (63%), vowel errors (62%), voicing errors (61%), consonant cluster deletions (54%), and prosodic disturbance (53%). Motor-programming deficits described as lack of automatization of speech movements were perceived by 82%. All listed characteristics were consistent with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) consensus-based features, Strand's 10-point checklist, and the diagnostic model proposed by Ozanne. The mode for clinical occurrence was 5%. Number of suspected cases of CAS in the clinical caseload was approximately one new patient/year and SLP. The results support and add to findings from studies of CAS in English-speaking children with similar speech characteristics regarded as typical. Possibly, these findings could contribute to cross-linguistic consensus on CAS characteristics.

Employer Branding

OpenAIRE

Stroblová, Zuzana

2017-01-01

The aim of the Master Thesis is to describe how to build Employer Brand a company. It is based on the description of Employer Branding project of a particular company and the evaluation its process. The thesis is a case study and consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part focuses on trends and changes in leadership approach, definition of Employer Branding and HR Marketing. The practical part deals with the brand building process itself, describes the outputs of the proj...

The big five factors and faking behaviors in employment interviews

OpenAIRE

Nguyen, Phuong Thi Bang; Thomassen, Malene

2017-01-01

Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Psychology - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2017 Research shows how it is not unusual for job applicants to fake during employment interviews. Faking can deteriorate the quality of the interview result, and lead to wrong hiring decisions. According to the model of faking likelihood in the employment interview, capability, willingness and opportunity to fake influence the extent to which faking happens in employment ...

A Conceptual Understanding of Employability: The Employers' View in Rwanda

Science.gov (United States)

Bamwesiga, Penelope Mbabazi

2013-01-01

Many governments believe that investing in human capital should increase citizens' employability, which is why it is often presented as a solution to the problems of knowledge-based economies and societies, rising unemployment rates and economic competiveness. The aim of this study is to understand employers' views regarding the employability of…

Employability, op weg naar een methode

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Man, M. de

1998-01-01

In dit rapport wordt een model ontworpen voor ontwikkeling van employability in industriële bedrijven, en met name voor assemblage afdelingen. Er wordt een aantal fasen onderscheiden, te weten: de entree fase, waarin contact gelegd wordt met de klant en waarin onderzocht moet worden wat er verlangd

Automatic conversational scene analysis in children with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism and typically developing peers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Tavano

Full Text Available Individuals with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism fail to spontaneously attribute mental states to the self and others, a life-long phenotypic characteristic known as mindblindness. We hypothesized that mindblindness would affect the dynamics of conversational interaction. Using generative models, in particular Gaussian mixture models and observed influence models, conversations were coded as interacting Markov processes, operating on novel speech/silence patterns, termed Steady Conversational Periods (SCPs. SCPs assume that whenever an agent's process changes state (e.g., from silence to speech, it causes a general transition of the entire conversational process, forcing inter-actant synchronization. SCPs fed into observed influence models, which captured the conversational dynamics of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism, and age-matched typically developing participants. Analyzing the parameters of the models by means of discriminative classifiers, the dialogs of patients were successfully distinguished from those of control participants. We conclude that meaning-free speech/silence sequences, reflecting inter-actant synchronization, at least partially encode typical and atypical conversational dynamics. This suggests a direct influence of theory of mind abilities onto basic speech initiative behavior.

Early retirement and non-employment after breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindbohm, M-L; Kuosma, E; Taskila, T; Hietanen, P; Carlsen, K; Gudbergsson, S; Gunnarsdottir, H

2014-06-01

This study examined whether workplace support, sociodemographic factors and co-morbidity are associated with early retirement or non-employment due to other reasons among breast cancer survivors. We also compared quality of life and chronic symptoms (pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression) among employed, retired and other non-employed breast cancer survivors. We identified breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1997 and 2002 from either a hospital or a cancer registry in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway (NOCWO study). All patients had been treated with curative intent. Information on employment, co-morbidity and support was collected via a questionnaire. The sample included 1111 working-aged cancer-free survivors who had been employed at the time of diagnosis. We used multinomial logistic regression models to analyse the association of various determinants with early retirement and other non-employment (due to unemployment, subsidized employment or being a homemaker). Low education, low physical quality of life, co-morbidity and pain were associated with both early retirement and other non-employment after cancer. Other non-employed survivors also rated their mental quality of life as lower and experienced anxiety and fatigue more often than all the other survivors. Moreover, they reported a lower level of supervisor support after their diagnosis than the employed survivors. Retired survivors more often reported weak support from colleagues. Differences in ill health and functional status between various groups of non-employed cancer survivors need to be considered when planning policy measures for improving the labour market participation of this population and preventing their early withdrawal from working life. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Far-infrared irradiation drying behavior of typical biomass briquettes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, N.N.; Chen, M.Q.; Fu, B.A.; Song, J.J.

2017-01-01

Infrared radiation drying behaviors of four typical biomass briquettes (populus tomentosa leaves, cotton stalk, spent coffee grounds and eucalyptus bark) were investigated based on a lab-scale setup. The effect of radiation source temperatures (100–200 °C) on the far-infrared drying kinetics and heat transfer of the samples was addressed. As the temperature went up from 100 °C to 200 °C, the time required for the four biomass briquettes drying decreased by about 59–66%, and the average values of temperature for the four biomass briquettes increased by about 33–39 °C, while the average radiation heat transfer fluxes increased by about 3.3 times (3.7 times only for the leaves). The specific energy consumptions were 0.622–0.849 kW h kg"−"1. The Modified Midilli model had the better representing for the moisture ratio change of the briquettes. The values of the activation energy for the briquettes in the first falling rate stage were between 20.35 and 24.83 kJ mol"−"1, while those in the second falling rate stage were between 17.89 and 21.93 kJ mol"−"1. The activation energy for the eucalyptus bark briquette in two falling rate stages was the least one, and that for the cotton stalk briquette was less than that for the rest two briquettes. - Highlights: • Far infrared drying behaviors of four typical biomass briquettes were addressed. • The effect of radiation source temperatures on IR drying kinetics was stated. • Radiation heat transfer flux between the sample and heater was evaluated. • Midilli model had the better representing for the drying process of the samples.

Employer perceptions of the employability of workers in a social business.

Science.gov (United States)

Krupa, Terry; Howell-Moneta, Angela; Lysaght, Rosemary; Kirsh, Bonnie

2016-06-01

This study examined employer perceptions of employability of job candidates working in a social business for people with mental illnesses. Using an analogue research design, 99 employers participated in a simulated job hiring process, rating 2 applicants on potential to do the job, fit with workplace culture and likelihood of hiring. One job applicant worked in a social business, and the second was either (a) working in a conventional business, (b) with employment lapse attributable to mental health issues, or (c) with an unexplained employment lapse. Paired samples t tests were used to compare ratings. Qualitative data were collected regarding the rationale for rankings and a content analysis was conducted. Employer rankings were significantly higher for the applicant working in a social business compared to either applicant with an employment lapse. Employers rated the candidate working in a conventional business significantly higher compared with the candidate in a social business only on ratings of likelihood to hire. Employers valued the recency of work experience in the social business, citing concerns about risks associated with employment lapses. Their comments suggested a lack of understanding of the nature of social business. Experience in a social business appears to lessen the disadvantage of unemployment in the job hiring process, but does not appear to be ranked on par with experience in the conventional workforce. The social business sector could benefit from considering ways to publically portray these work opportunities to enhance acceptance and inclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Employing a Grinding Technology to Assess the Microbial Density for Encapsulated Organisms

Science.gov (United States)

Benardini, James N.; Morales, Fabian; Schubert, Wayne W.; Kazarians, Gayane A.; Koukol, Robert C.

2012-01-01

Projects that utilize large volumes of nonmetallic materials of planetary protection concern pose a challenge to their bioburden budget, as the most conservative value of 30 spores/cubic cm is typically used. The standard laboratory procedures do not provide any direction into the methodologies to understand the embedded bioburden within such nonmetallic components such as adhesives, insulation, or paint. A tailored, novel, destructive hardware technology employing a household box grater was developed to assess the embedded bioburden within the adhesives, insulation, and paint for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project.

Supported employment for persons with serious mental illness: current status and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueser, K T; McGurk, S R

2014-06-01

The individual placement and supported (IPS) model of supported employment is the most empirically validated model of vocational rehabilitation for persons with schizophrenia or another serious mental illness. Over 18 randomized controlled trials have been conducted throughout the world demonstrating the effectiveness of supported employment at improving competitive work compared to other vocational programs: IPS supported employment is defined by the following principles: 1) inclusion of all clients who want to work; 2) integration of vocational and clinical services; 3) focus on competitive employment; 4) rapid job search and no required prevocational skills training; 5) job development by the employment specialist; 6) attention to client preferences about desired work and disclosure of mental illness to prospective employers; 7) benefits counseling; and 8) follow-along supports after a job is obtained. Supported employment has been successfully implemented in a wide range of cultural and clinical populations, although challenges to implementation are also encountered. Common challenges are related to problems such as the failure to access technical assistance, system issues, negative beliefs and attitudes of providers, funding restrictions, and poor leadership. These challenges can be overcome by tapping expertise in IPS supported employment, including standardized and tested models of training and consultation. Efforts are underway to increase the efficiency of training methods for supported employment and the overall program, and to improve its effectiveness for those clients who do not benefit. Progress in IPS supported employment offers people with a serious mental illness realistic hope for achieving their work goals, and taking greater control over their lives. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Amyloid β Enhances Typical Rodent Behavior While It Impairs Contextual Memory Consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Salgado-Puga, Karla; Prado-Alcalá, Roberto A; Peña-Ortega, Fernando

2015-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with an early hippocampal dysfunction, which is likely induced by an increase in soluble amyloid beta peptide (Aβ). This hippocampal failure contributes to the initial memory deficits observed both in patients and in AD animal models and possibly to the deterioration in activities of daily living (ADL). One typical rodent behavior that has been proposed as a hippocampus-dependent assessment model of ADL in mice and rats is burrowing. Despite the fact that AD transgenic mice show some evidence of reduced burrowing, it has not been yet determined whether or not Aβ can affect this typical rodent behavior and whether this alteration correlates with the well-known Aβ-induced memory impairment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to test whether or not Aβ affects burrowing while inducing hippocampus-dependent memory impairment. Surprisingly, our results show that intrahippocampal application of Aβ increases burrowing while inducing memory impairment. We consider that this Aβ-induced increase in burrowing might be associated with a mild anxiety state, which was revealed by increased freezing behavior in the open field, and conclude that Aβ-induced hippocampal dysfunction is reflected in the impairment of ADL and memory, through mechanisms yet to be determined.

Early Freezing of Gait: Atypical versus Typical Parkinson Disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abraham Lieberman

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In 18 months, 850 patients were referred to Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center (MAPC. Among them, 810 patients had typical Parkinson disease (PD and 212 had PD for ≤5 years. Among the 212 patients with early PD, 27 (12.7% had freezing of gait (FOG. Forty of the 850 had atypical parkinsonism. Among these 40 patients, all of whom had symptoms for ≤5 years, 12 (30.0% had FOG. FOG improved with levodopa in 21/27 patients with typical PD but did not improve in the 12 patients with atypical parkinsonism. FOG was associated with falls in both groups of patients. We believe that FOG unresponsive to levodopa in typical PD resembles FOG in atypical parkinsonism. We thus compared the 6 typical PD patients with FOG unresponsive to levodopa plus the 12 patients with atypical parkinsonism with the 21 patients with typical PD responsive to levodopa. We compared them by tests of locomotion and postural stability. Among the patients with FOG unresponsive to levodopa, postural stability was more impaired than locomotion. This finding leads us to believe that, in these patients, postural stability, not locomotion, is the principal problem underlying FOG.

Generation of a typical meteorological year for Hong Kong

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, Apple L.S.; Chow, T.T.; Fong, Square K.F.; Lin, John Z.

2006-01-01

Weather data can vary significantly from year to year. There is a need to derive typical meteorological year (TMY) data to represent the long-term typical weather condition over a year, which is one of the crucial factors for successful building energy simulation. In this paper, various types of typical weather data sets including the TMY, TMY2, WYEC, WYEC2, WYEC2W, WYEC2T and IWEC were reviewed. The Finkelstein-Schafer statistical method was applied to analyze the hourly measured weather data of a 25-year period (1979-2003) in Hong Kong and select representative typical meteorological months (TMMs). The cumulative distribution function (CDF) for each year was compared with the CDF for the long-term composite of all the years in the period for four major weather indices including dry bulb temperature, dew point temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. Typical months for each of the 12 calendar months from the period of years were selected by choosing the one with the smallest deviation from the long-term CDF. The 12 TMMs selected from the different years were used for formulation of a TMY for Hong Kong

Leaving Employment to Entrepreneurship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rocha, Vera; Carneiro, Anabela; Varum, Celeste

: the relative inattention paid to other human resources beyond the founder, and the hetero-geneous context where employee startups may be established. We use a rich matched employer-employee dataset for Portugal, and estimate a multi-stage model addressing the issues of self-selection in entrepreneurship...... outcomes of arrival fi rms, and also for developing theories on labor markets for entrepreneurship. It also constitutes an important step towards unpacking the mechanisms through which mobile human capital affects the performance of receiving firms....

Family migration and employment: the importance of migration history and gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, A J; Cooke, T J

1998-01-01

"This article uses event history data to specify a model of employment returns to initial migration, onward migration, and return migration among newly married persons in the U.S. Husbands are more likely to be full-time employed than wives, and being a parent reduces the employment odds among married women. Employment returns to repeated migration differ by gender, with more husbands full-time employed after onward migration and more wives full-time employed after return migration events. We interpret these empirical findings in the context of family migration theory, segmented labor market theory, and gender-based responsibilities." Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth from 1979 to 1991. excerpt

Modelling adversary actions against a nuclear material accounting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, J.J.; Huebel, J.G.

1979-01-01

A typical nuclear material accounting system employing double-entry bookkeeping is described. A logic diagram is used to model the interactions of the accounting system and the adversary when he attempts to thwart it. Boolean equations are derived from the logic diagram; solution of these equations yields the accounts and records through which the adversary may disguise a SSNM theft and the collusion requirements needed to accomplish this feat. Some technical highlights of the logic diagram are also discussed

Efficient Provision of Employment Service Outputs: A Production Frontier Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavin, Edward S.; Stafford, Frank P.

1985-01-01

This article develops a production frontier model for the Employment Service and assesses the relative efficiency of the 51 State Employment Security Agencies in attaining program outcomes close to that frontier. This approach stands in contrast to such established practices as comparing programs to their own previous performance. (Author/CT)

Stored object knowledge and the production of referring expressions: The case of color typicality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans eWesterbeek

2015-07-01

Full Text Available When speakers describe objects with atypical properties, do they include these properties in their referring expressions, even when that is not strictly required for unique referent identification? Based on previous work, we predict that speakers mention the color of a target object more often when the object is atypically colored, compared to when it is typical. Taking literature from object recognition and visual attention into account, we further hypothesize that this behavior is proportional to the degree to which a color is atypical, and whether color is a highly diagnostic feature in the referred-to object's identity. We investigate these expectations in two language production experiments, in which participants referred to target objects in visual contexts. In Experiment 1, we find a strong effect of color typicality: less typical colors for target objects predict higher proportions of referring expressions that include color. In Experiment 2 we manipulated objects with more complex shapes, for which color is less diagnostic, and we find that the color typicality effect is moderated by color diagnosticity: it is strongest for high-color-diagnostic objects (i.e., objects with a simple shape. These results suggest that the production of atypical color attributes results from a contrast with stored knowledge, an effect which is stronger when color is more central to object identification. Our findings offer evidence for models of reference production that incorporate general object knowledge, in order to be able to capture these effects of typicality on determining the content of referring expressions.

Motion Model Employment using interacting Motion Model Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hussain, Dil Muhammad Akbar

2006-01-01

The paper presents a simulation study to track a maneuvering target using a selective approach in choosing Interacting Multiple Models (IMM) algorithm to provide a wider coverage to track such targets.  Initially, there are two motion models in the system to track a target.  Probability of each m...

Dynamic assessment of nonlinear typical section aeroviscoelastic systems using fractional derivative-based viscoelastic model

Science.gov (United States)

Sales, T. P.; Marques, Flávio D.; Pereira, Daniel A.; Rade, Domingos A.

2018-06-01

Nonlinear aeroelastic systems are prone to the appearance of limit cycle oscillations, bifurcations, and chaos. Such problems are of increasing concern in aircraft design since there is the need to control nonlinear instabilities and improve safety margins, at the same time as aircraft are subjected to increasingly critical operational conditions. On the other hand, in spite of the fact that viscoelastic materials have already been successfully used for the attenuation of undesired vibrations in several types of mechanical systems, a small number of research works have addressed the feasibility of exploring the viscoelastic effect to improve the behavior of nonlinear aeroelastic systems. In this context, the objective of this work is to assess the influence of viscoelastic materials on the aeroelastic features of a three-degrees-of-freedom typical section with hardening structural nonlinearities. The equations of motion are derived accounting for the presence of viscoelastic materials introduced in the resilient elements associated to each degree-of-freedom. A constitutive law based on fractional derivatives is adopted, which allows the modeling of temperature-dependent viscoelastic behavior in time and frequency domains. The unsteady aerodynamic loading is calculated based on the classical linear potential theory for arbitrary airfoil motion. The aeroelastic behavior is investigated through time domain simulations, and subsequent frequency transformations, from which bifurcations are identified from diagrams of limit cycle oscillations amplitudes versus airspeed. The influence of the viscoelastic effect on the aeroelastic behavior, for different values of temperature, is also investigated. The numerical simulations show that viscoelastic damping can increase the flutter speed and reduce the amplitudes of limit cycle oscillations. These results prove the potential that viscoelastic materials have to increase aircraft components safety margins regarding aeroelastic

Predictors and consequences of gender typicality: the mediating role of communality.

Science.gov (United States)

DiDonato, Matthew D; Berenbaum, Sheri A

2013-04-01

Considerable work has shown the benefits for psychological health of being gender typed (i.e., perceiving oneself in ways that are consistent with one's sex). Nevertheless, little is known about the reasons for the link. In two studies of young adults (total N = 673), we studied (1) the ways in which gender typing is predicted from gender-related interests and personal qualities, and (2) links between gender typing and adjustment (self-esteem and negative emotionality). In the first study, gender typicality was positively predicted by a variety of gender-related characteristics and by communal traits, a female-typed characteristic; gender typicality was also positively associated with adjustment. To clarify the role of communality in predicting gender typicality and its link with adjustment, we conducted a follow-up study examining both gender typicality and "university typicality." Gender typicality was again predicted by gender-related characteristics and communality, and associated with adjustment. Further, university typicality was also predicted by communality and associated with adjustment. Mediation analyses showed that feelings of communality were partly responsible for the links between gender/university typicality and adjustment. Thus, the psychological benefits suggested to accrue from gender typicality may not be specific to gender, but rather may reflect the benefits of normativity in general. These findings were discussed in relation to the broader literature on the relation between identity and adjustment.

Employment in Agribusiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilgenberg, Gene; Huston, Jane

This curriculum guide is intended to assist persons teaching a course in employment in agribusiness. Addressed in the individual units of instruction are the following topics: employment information (training plans/agreements and wages, taxes, and fringe benefits); human relations (employer/employee/customer relations and communication skills);…

Racial Disparities and Similarities in Post-Release Recidivism and Employment Among Ex-prisoners with a Different Level of Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan Klinker Lockwood

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Previous studies rarely examined racial disparities in post-release employment and recidivism. Finding a job is an immediate challenge to all released ex-prisoners, and often more difficult for African American ex-prisoners who typically return to economically-depressed neighborhoods upon release from prison. The present researchers conducted a 5-year (2005-2009 follow-up study in an attempt to understand racial disparities in post-release employment and recidivism among 6,394 released ex-prisoners (2,531 Caucasian and 3,863 African American, while controlling for the ex-prisoner’s level of education. Results of this study showed that African American ex-prisoners had a higher unemployment rate and recidivism rate than Caucasian ex-prisoners. This study also revealed that released ex-prisoners, if employed, would likely be under-employed and experience difficulties in sustaining employment, regardless of the ex-prisoner’s ethnicity. Most importantly, post-release employment and level of education were the two most influential predictors to recidivism among ex-prisoners, regardless of ethnicity.

Employer-provided health insurance and hospital mergers.

Science.gov (United States)

Garmon, Christopher

2013-07-01

This paper explores the impact of employer-provided health insurance on hospital competition and hospital mergers. Under employer-provided health insurance, employer executives act as agents for their employees in selecting health insurance options for their firm. The paper investigates whether a merger of hospitals favored by executives will result in a larger price increase than a merger of competing hospitals elsewhere. This is found to be the case even when the executive has the same opportunity cost of travel as her employees and even when the executive is the sole owner of the firm, retaining all profits. This is consistent with the Federal Trade Commission's findings in its challenge of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare's acquisition of Highland Park Hospital. Implications of the model are further tested with executive location data and hospital data from Florida and Texas.

The nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy during hot deformation. A new elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Ming-Song; Li, Kuo-Kuo [Central South University, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Changsha (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Changsha (China); Lin, Y.C. [Central South University, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Changsha (China); State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Changsha (China); Central South University, Light Alloy Research Institute, Changsha (China); Chen, Jian [Changsha University of Science and Technology, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Energy Utilization, Changsha (China)

2016-09-15

The nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy is investigated by hot compressive experiments with intermediate unloading-reloading cycles. The experimental results show that there are at least four types of unloading curves. However, it is found that there is no essential difference among four types of unloading curves. The variation curves of instantaneous Young's modulus with stress for all types of unloading curves include four segments, i.e., three linear elastic segments (segments I, II, and III) and one subsequent nonlinear elastic segment (segment IV). The instantaneous Young's modulus of segments I and III is approximately equal to that of reloading process, while smaller than that of segment II. In the nonlinear elastic segment, the instantaneous Young's modulus linearly decreases with the decrease in stress. In addition, the relationship between stress and strain rate can be accurately expressed by the hyperbolic sine function. This study includes two parts. In the present part, the characters of unloading curves are discussed in detail, and a new elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to describe the nonlinear unloading behavior based on the experimental findings. While in the latter part (Chen et al. in Appl Phys A. doi:10.1007/s00339-016-0385-0, 2016), the effects of deformation temperature, strain rate, and pre-strain on the parameters of this new constitutive model are analyzed, and a unified elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to predict the unloading behavior at arbitrary deformation temperature, strain rate, and pre-strain. (orig.)

The nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy during hot deformation. A new elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Ming-Song; Li, Kuo-Kuo; Lin, Y.C.; Chen, Jian

2016-01-01

The nonlinear unloading behavior of a typical Ni-based superalloy is investigated by hot compressive experiments with intermediate unloading-reloading cycles. The experimental results show that there are at least four types of unloading curves. However, it is found that there is no essential difference among four types of unloading curves. The variation curves of instantaneous Young's modulus with stress for all types of unloading curves include four segments, i.e., three linear elastic segments (segments I, II, and III) and one subsequent nonlinear elastic segment (segment IV). The instantaneous Young's modulus of segments I and III is approximately equal to that of reloading process, while smaller than that of segment II. In the nonlinear elastic segment, the instantaneous Young's modulus linearly decreases with the decrease in stress. In addition, the relationship between stress and strain rate can be accurately expressed by the hyperbolic sine function. This study includes two parts. In the present part, the characters of unloading curves are discussed in detail, and a new elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to describe the nonlinear unloading behavior based on the experimental findings. While in the latter part (Chen et al. in Appl Phys A. doi:10.1007/s00339-016-0385-0, 2016), the effects of deformation temperature, strain rate, and pre-strain on the parameters of this new constitutive model are analyzed, and a unified elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to predict the unloading behavior at arbitrary deformation temperature, strain rate, and pre-strain. (orig.)

Employment Trajectories: Exploring Gender Differences and Impacts of Drug Use

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, David Y. C.; Evans, Elizabeth; Hara, Motoaki; Weiss, Robert E.; Hser, Yih-Ing

2011-01-01

This study investigated the impact of drug use on employment over 20 years among men and women, utilizing data on 7661 participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Growth mixture modeling was applied, and five distinct employment trajectory groups were identified for both men and women. The identified patterns were largely similar…

VIA Employability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Henrik Mariendal

2017-01-01

’s realized at the entrance to the labor market and in the future career. The purpose is to find opportunities to improve employability-developing activities and to adapt it to specific needs from the students. Based on a number of qualitative interviews and personality tests of the graduates, an increased......The fact that students develop employability during their education is a key point for educational institutions and the focus on this issue has never been greater. This project looks into personal experience from VIA-graduates of "developing their employability" during the education and how it...

Contribution of neurocognition to 18-month employment outcomes in first-episode psychosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Karambelas, George J; Cotton, Sue M; Farhall, John; Killackey, Eóin; Allott, Kelly A

2017-10-27

To examine whether baseline neurocognition predicts vocational outcomes over 18 months in patients with first-episode psychosis enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Individual Placement and Support or treatment as usual. One-hundred and thirty-four first-episode psychosis participants completed an extensive neurocognitive battery. Principal axis factor analysis using PROMAX rotation was used to determine the underlying structure of the battery. Setwise (hierarchical) multiple linear and logistic regressions were used to examine predictors of (1) total hours employed over 18 months and (2) employment status, respectively. Neurocognition factors were entered in the models after accounting for age, gender, premorbid IQ, negative symptoms, treatment group allocation and employment status at baseline. Five neurocognitive factors were extracted: (1) processing speed, (2) verbal learning and memory, (3) knowledge and reasoning, (4) attention and working memory and (5) visual organization and memory. Employment status over 18 months was not significantly predicted by any of the predictors in the final model. Total hours employed over 18 months were significantly predicted by gender (P = .027), negative symptoms (P = .032) and verbal learning and memory (P = .040). Every step of the regression model was a significant predictor of total hours worked overall (final model: P = .013). Verbal learning and memory, negative symptoms and gender were implicated in duration of employment in first-episode psychosis. The other neurocognitive domains did not significantly contribute to the prediction of vocational outcomes over 18 months. Interventions targeting verbal memory may improve vocational outcomes in early psychosis. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Self-Employment, Personal Values, and Varieties of Happiness-Unhappiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Warr, Peter

2017-07-27

This study compares personal values and forms of happiness between self-employed workers and those employed in an organization. Values are examined through Schwartz's (1999) established model, and happiness is measured in terms of personal flourishing and both job-specific and general hedonic well-being. In two nationally representative samples, self-employed workers are found to value self-direction and stimulation in their lives to a significantly greater degree than do organizational employees, but not to differ in other types of value. Well-being differences are predicted to depend on whether or not workers supervise others, such that any well-being advantages of self-employment are expected to occur only for self-employed workers without subordinates. As predicted, job satisfaction in self-employment is found to exceed that of organizational workers primarily for those who do not supervise others. In respect of personal flourishing, self-employed workers report significantly greater accomplishment in their lives, and that difference is again found only for workers without supervisory responsibility. However, strain experienced in a job and context-free hedonic well-being are found to be similar between self- and organizational employment. Refinements are proposed to research methods and practical procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhancing employability skills through the use of film in the language classroom

OpenAIRE

Daly, Selena

2013-01-01

Employability is increasingly becoming a central aspect of higher education in the United Kingdom and it is becoming imperative that modern foreign languages teachers engage directly and sincerely with the employability agenda. This article proposes the use of feature films as a successful method for developing and promoting employability skills in the language classroom, an approach which has not thus far been adopted. I begin by discussing different models for the delivery of employability ...

Maternal depressive symptoms, employment, and social support.

Science.gov (United States)

Gjerdingen, Dwenda; McGovern, Patricia; Attanasio, Laura; Johnson, Pamela Jo; Kozhimannil, Katy Backes

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and employment and whether it is mediated by social support. We used data from a nationally representative sample of 700 US women who gave birth in 2005 and completed 2 surveys in the Listening to Mothers series, the first in early 2006, an average of 7.3 months postpartum, and the second an average of 13.4 months postpartum. A dichotomous measure of depressive symptoms was calculated from the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire, and women reported their employment status and levels of social support from partners and others. We modeled the association between maternal employment and depressive symptoms using multivariate logistic regression, including social support and other control variables. Maternal employment and high support from a nonpartner source were both independently associated with significantly lower odds of depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.35 and P = .011, and AOR, 0.40, P = .011, respectively). These relationships remained significant after controlling for mothers' baseline mental and physical health, babies' health, and demographic characteristics (AOR, 0.326 and P = .015, and AOR, 0.267 and P = .025, respectively). Maternal employment and strong social support, particularly nonpartner support, were independently associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Clinicians should encourage mothers of young children who are at risk for depression to consider ways to optimize their employment circumstances and "other" social support.

A Hybrid Method for Generation of Typical Meteorological Years for Different Climates of China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haixiang Zang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Since a representative dataset of the climatological features of a location is important for calculations relating to many fields, such as solar energy system, agriculture, meteorology and architecture, there is a need to investigate the methodology for generating a typical meteorological year (TMY. In this paper, a hybrid method with mixed treatment of selected results from the Danish method, the Festa-Ratto method, and the modified typical meteorological year method is proposed to determine typical meteorological years for 35 locations in six different climatic zones of China (Tropical Zone, Subtropical Zone, Warm Temperate Zone, Mid Temperate Zone, Cold Temperate Zone and Tibetan Plateau Zone. Measured weather data (air dry-bulb temperature, air relative humidity, wind speed, pressure, sunshine duration and global solar radiation, which cover the period of 1994–2015, are obtained and applied in the process of forming TMY. The TMY data and typical solar radiation data are investigated and analyzed in this study. It is found that the results of the hybrid method have better performance in terms of the long-term average measured data during the year than the other investigated methods. Moreover, the Gaussian process regression (GPR model is recommended to forecast the monthly mean solar radiation using the last 22 years (1994–2015 of measured data.

Racial differences in employment outcomes after traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Arango-Lasprilla, Juan Carlos; Ketchum, Jessica M; Williams, Kelli; Kreutzer, Jeffrey S; Marquez de la Plata, Carlos D; O'Neil-Pirozzi, Therese M; Wehman, Paul

2008-05-01

To examine racial differences in employment status and occupational status 1 year after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Retrospective study. Longitudinal dataset of the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems national database. Subjects with primarily moderate to severe TBI (3468 whites vs 1791 minorities) hospitalized between 1989 and 2005. Not applicable. Employment status (competitively employed or unemployed) and occupational status (professional/managerial, skilled, or manual labor) at 1 year postinjury. Race and/or ethnicity has a significant effect on employment status at 1 year postinjury (chi(1)(2)=58.23, Pstatus, sex, Disability Rating Scale at discharge, marital status, cause of injury, age, and education. The adjusted odds of being unemployed versus competitively employed are 2.17 times (95% confidence interval, 1.78-2.65) greater for minorities than for whites. Race and ethnicity does not have a significant effect on occupational status at 1 year postinjury. With this empirical evidence supporting racial differences in employment outcomes between minorities and whites at 1 year postinjury, priority should be given to tailoring interventions to maximize minority survivors' work-related productivity.

Which employment interview skills best predict the employability of schizophrenic patients?

Science.gov (United States)

Charisiou, J; Jackson, H J; Boyle, G J; Burgess, P M; Minas, I H; Joshua, S D

1989-06-01

To examine the effects of verbal and nonverbal interview microbehaviors and interview characteristics on employability, Simulated Employment Interviews were conducted with 46 psychiatric inpatients who each met the DSM-III criteria for a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Each interview was videotaped and shown to two raters, who generated independent ratings for six microbehaviors (eye-contact, facial gestures, body posture, verbal content, voice volume, and length of speech) and six subject characteristics (motivation, self-confidence, ability to communicate, manifest adjustment, manifest intelligence and overall interview skill). A panel of three Commonwealth Employment Service psychologists viewed the same videotaped interviews and generated employability ratings. Verbal and nonverbal microbehaviors were relatively independent while subject characteristics were highly interdependent. Microbehaviors and characteristics correlated at a high level. Of the 12 interview microbehaviors and characteristics, manifest adjustment and ability to communicate accounted for 64% of the total variance in predicting employability. Interviewees who were perceived as behaving in an adjusted manner and as being good communicators were rated as more employable.

The regional income and employment impacts of nuclear power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGuire, A.

1982-01-01

This paper attempts quantitatively to assess the income and employment impacts associated with two nuclear establishments in Scotland: the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (U.K.A.E.A.) nuclear power establishment at Dounreay in Caithness and the South of Scotland Electricity Board (S.S.E.B.) nuclear power station presently under construction at Torness in the Lothian region. The model used is a basic Keynesian income multiplier model refined to allow detailed analysis of income and employment impacts at a local level. As used in this study it allows the identification of the increase in income and the associated increase in employment relating to the siting of a nuclear power plant in a particular locality. Results are given. The employment multipliers are estimated to be in the range 1.236 to 1.535 for Dounreay and 1.294 to 1.675 for the operational phase of the Torness plant. It is concluded that although the absolute income increases in the respective subregions are significant, compared to the total annual expenditure of the establishments these figures indicate high leakage from the subregions. (UK)

20 CFR 404.1003 - Employment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Employment. 404.1003 Section 404.1003...- ) Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income Employment § 404.1003 Employment. Employment....1010. Section 404.1004 states the general rule on the kinds of work covered as employment. Exceptions...

Framework for projecting employment and population changes accompanying energy development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stenehjem, E.J.; Metzger, J.E.

1980-05-01

This report provides a framework which energy planners can use to readily estimate the size and timing of the population and employment changes associated with energy development. The direct employment requirements for eight different technologies are listed. This direct employment requirement can be combined with the set of employment multipliers and other information provided to obtain practical estimates of the employment and population impacts of new energy development. Some explanation is given for the variation of the multipliers among counties in the same region. A description is presented of a demographic model for deriving the annual population changes that can be expected as a result of in-migrating workers and their families. Several hypothetical examples of the procedure for making the calculations are discussed as practical exercises in using the multipliers. The necessary data are provided for obtaining estimates of population and employment changes in any county in the US.

Study on Batch Culture Growth Model for Lactococcus lactis IO-1

OpenAIRE

Ishizaki, Ayaaki; Ohta, Tomomi; Kobayashi, Genta; 石崎, 文彬; 太田, 智美; 小林, 元太

1991-01-01

L-lactate fermentation employing Lactncoccus lactis IO-1 demonstrated a typical end product inhibition. By numerical analysis of fermentation results of the batch culture of this microorganism, the specific rates for cell growth, substrate consumption and product formation were clearly expressed by the end product inhibition formulae. All constants for those formulae were determined by the fermentation results. A mathematical model for batch culture growth of this microorganism in which the n...

Is HRM a New Approach in the Employment Scene in Developing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper attempts to discuss whether HRM represents a new approach to managing employment relationships in developing countries. It defines with brief descriptions the main key terminologies namely employment relationships, HRM and PM. The basic philosophy and values enshrined in the HRM model are explored.

Employer Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Thuli, Kelli J.; Hong, Esther

This document consists of two guides intended for either employers or service providers involved in school to work partnerships for students with disabilities. "Tools for Service Providers" is intended to be used for training local-level providers who are developing school to work linkages with employers. Following an introduction, this…

Employment and employment conditions in the current economic crisis in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Vukšić

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is to analyze developments in employment and employment characteristics during the current crisis in Croatia. The main findings can be summarized as follows: (1 The primary (aggregate mode of adjustment to the crisis was a decline in employment. There are, however, considerable differences in adjustment patterns across economic activities. (2 During the crisis, jobs were lost in the, more dynamic, private sector, while the number of jobs in the public sector (entities in state ownership slightly increased. (3 Economic activities with comparatively larger shares of women in employment have experienced fewer employment cuts and the aggregate employment share of women rose during the crisis, especially in activities with a larger share of public sector workers.(4 There has been a declining share of younger workers during the crisis, justifying policy actions to facilitate their employment. (5 Employees with comparatively lower educational attainment face severe challenges in the labor market, which is a longer term trend, not specific to the crisis period. There are indications that this group of employees enjoys a higher level of protection in the public sector. (6 Analysis also shows a rising significance of more flexible forms of employment: increasing shares of fixed term employees (during the last two observed years, and of part time workers. (7 Working hours do not exhibit any strong trends specific to the crisis, except for the diminishing number of overtime hours per worker.

Inter-Regional Spillovers and Urban-Rural Disparity in U.S. Employment Growth

OpenAIRE

Hisamitsu Saito; Munisamy Gopinath; JunJie Wu

2011-01-01

A wide urban-rural disparity is observed in employment growth in the United States. For example, employment growth averaged 2.1 percent in urban counties during 1998-2007, compared with just 1 percent in rural counties. In this study, we examine the sources of U.S. employment growth using the county-level industry data. From an analytical labor-market model, we derive equilibrium employment growth as a function of growth in neighborhood characteristics and initial conditions such as accumulat...

Employers' attitudes to employment of people with epilepsy: still the same old story?

Science.gov (United States)

Jacoby, Ann; Gorry, Joanne; Baker, Gus A

2005-12-01

One area of life quality known to be compromised by having epilepsy is employment, and one factor contributing to the employment problems of people with epilepsy (PWE) is employer attitudes. Much research on this topic is now outdated and given the changing legal, medical, and social contexts in which PWE live, we therefore reexamined employer attitudes in the United Kingdom. A mail survey of a random sample of U.K. companies selected to be representative of the 14 U.K. economic regions and proportional to the number of employees. The overall response rate was 41% (n = 204). Twenty-six percent of respondents reported having experience of employing PWE. Sixteen percent considered that there were no jobs in their company suitable for PWE; 21% thought employing PWE would be "a major issue." Employers were uniformly of the view that PWE, even when in remission, should disclose their condition to a prospective employer. Seizure severity, frequency, and controllability were all considered important features of epilepsy in the context of employment. Epilepsy created high concern to around half of employers, including the likelihood of it being linked to a work-related accident. Employers were willing to make accommodations for PWE, in particular job sharing, temporary reassignment of duties, and flexible working hours. Attitudes to employment of PWE were influenced by company size and type and previous experience of doing so. We conclude that it is still the same old story for employers' attitudes toward PWE, though happily for PWE, with some room for optimism.

Identifying Typical Movements Among Indoor Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Radaelli, Laura; Sabonis, Dovydas; Lu, Hua

2013-01-01

With the proliferation of mobile computing, positioning systems are becoming available that enable indoor location-based services. As a result, indoor tracking data is also becoming available. This paper puts focus on one use of such data, namely the identification of typical movement patterns...

A Systematic Modelling Framework for Phase Transfer Catalyst Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anantpinijwatna, Amata; Sales-Cruz, Mauricio; Hyung Kim, Sun

2016-01-01

Phase-transfer catalyst systems contain two liquid phases, with a catalyst (PTC) that transfers between the phases, driving product formation in one phase and being regenerated in the other phase. Typically the reaction involves neutral species in an organic phase and regeneration involves ions i....... The application of the framework is made to two cases in order to highlight the performance and issues of activity coefficient models for predicting design and operation and the effects when different organic solvents are employed....

Work-related factors influencing home care nurse intent to remain employed.

Science.gov (United States)

Tourangeau, Ann E; Patterson, Erin; Saari, Margaret; Thomson, Heather; Cranley, Lisa

Health care is shifting out of hospitals into community settings. In Ontario, Canada, home care organizations continue to experience challenges recruiting and retaining nurses. However, factors influencing home care nurse retention that can be modified remain largely unexplored. Several groups of factors have been identified as influencing home care nurse intent to remain employed including job characteristics, work structures, relationships and communication, work environment, responses to work, and conditions of employment. The aim of this study was to test and refine a model that identifies which factors are related to home care nurse intentions to remain employed for the next 5 years with their current home care employer organization. A cross-sectional survey design was implemented to test and refine a hypothesized model of home care nurse intent to remain employed. Logistic regression was used to determine which factors influence home care nurse intent to remain employed. Home care nurse intent to remain employed for the next 5 years was associated with increasing age, higher nurse-evaluated quality of care, having greater variety of patients, experiencing greater meaningfulness of work, having greater income stability, having greater continuity of client care, experiencing more positive relationships with supervisors, experiencing higher work-life balance, and being more satisfied with salary and benefits. Home care organizations can promote home care nurse intent to remain employed by (a) ensuring nurses have adequate training and resources to provide quality client care, (b) improving employment conditions to increase income stability and satisfaction with pay and benefits, (c) ensuring manageable workloads to facilitate improved work-life balance, and (d) ensuring leaders are accessible and competent.

Concept of self-employment

OpenAIRE

Startienė, Gražina; Remeikienė, Rita; Dumčiuvienė, Daiva

2010-01-01

The article deals with the theories that explain the growth of self-employment and help to determine the presumptions of the self-employment growth. Self-employment theories are classified to several groups, i.e. the economic and sociological-psychological as well as the “push” and “pull” theories. Economic theories of self-employment interpret financial motives of the person to pursue own business, while sociologicalpsychological theories of self-employment determine non-financial objectives...

Dispersion relations in the noncommutative φ3 and Wess-Zumino model in the Yang-Feldman formalism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doescher, C.; Zahn, J.

2006-05-01

We study dispersion relations in the noncommutative φ 3 and Wess-Zumino model in the Yang-Feldman formalism at one-loop order. Non-planar graphs lead to a distortion of the dispersion relation. We find that this effect is small if the scale of noncommutativity is identified with the Planck scale and parameters typical for a Higgs field are employed. (Orig.)

Employment Effects of Dispersal Policies. Part I: Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

2003-01-01

This paper formulates a partial search model in which unemployed individuals simultaneously search for job and location of residence. Most importantly, we show that, ceteris paribus, a decrease in current place utility increases the transition rate into a new location of residence and the transit...... are characterised by low average values of current place utility. Hence, the model predicts that dispersal policies increase the geographical mobility rates of refugees and, for a sufficiently large local reservation wage effect, decrease their job-finding rates....... and the transition rate into employment outside the local labour market, but decreases the transition rate into local employment. Thus, a decrease in current place utility decreases the overall job-finding rate if the local reservation wage effect dominates. We argue that dispersal policies on refugee immigrants...

Employability in Online Higher Education: A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Silva

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Over the past 15 years, learning in distance education universities has become more interactive, flexible, collaborative, and participative. Nevertheless, some accounts have highlighted the importance of developing more instrumental and standardized educational practices to answer the challenges of employability. In fact, the choice of skills that are important to learning communities and the labour market has been the subject of controversy because it involves heterogeneous motives among different groups.This paper compares the perceptions of employability skills in a sample of teachers from the Universidade Aberta and a sample of students who attend a local learning centre at this University. The research focused on the following dimensions: a the most important employability skills, and b the employability skills to be developed in online undergraduate degrees. To collect the required data, a questionnaire was prepared and applied to students and teachers, taking the theoretical model of Knight and Yorke (2006 as its main reference. In spite of the specificity of each group, the results revealed some similarities between students and teachers with regard to employability. The conclusions also highlighted the need to promote research on this matter in online education.

Determinants of Informal Employment: A Case of Tanzania's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

industry. A Logit regression model is employed in estimating factors that influence the choice ... International Labour Organization (ILO) (2013), the informal economy ... This study uses primary data which was collected in six most vibrant urban.

Employer attitudes towards the work inclusion of people with disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Nota, Laura; Santilli, Sara; Ginevra, Maria C; Soresi, Salvatore

2014-11-01

This study examines the importance of work in life of people with disability and then focuses on employer attitudes towards these people. In the light of Stone and Colella's model, the study examines the employer attitudes and the role of variables such as type of disability, employer experience in the hiring of persons with disabilities, the description of hypothetical hirees with disabilities, the ways in which employers evaluate work performance and social acceptability, and the work tasks that they consider appropriate for workers with disability. Eighty employers were randomly assigned to standard condition (candidates with disability were presented by referring to the disability they presented) or positive condition (candidates were presented with reference to their strengths). It was found that the type of disability and its presentation influence employer attitudes. In addition, realistic and conventional tasks were considered appropriate for hirees with disabilities. Implications were discussed. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Herpes zoster - typical and atypical presentations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dayan, Roy Rafael; Peleg, Roni

2017-08-01

Varicella- zoster virus infection is an intriguing medical entity that involves many medical specialties including infectious diseases, immunology, dermatology, and neurology. It can affect patients from early childhood to old age. Its treatment requires expertise in pain management and psychological support. While varicella is caused by acute viremia, herpes zoster occurs after the dormant viral infection, involving the cranial nerve or sensory root ganglia, is re-activated and spreads orthodromically from the ganglion, via the sensory nerve root, to the innervated target tissue (skin, cornea, auditory canal, etc.). Typically, a single dermatome is involved, although two or three adjacent dermatomes may be affected. The lesions usually do not cross the midline. Herpes zoster can also present with unique or atypical clinical manifestations, such as glioma, zoster sine herpete and bilateral herpes zoster, which can be a challenging diagnosis even for experienced physicians. We discuss the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of Herpes Zoster, typical and atypical presentations.

The impact of diabetes on employment and work productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Tunceli, Kaan; Bradley, Cathy J; Nerenz, David; Williams, L Keoki; Pladevall, Manel; Elston Lafata, Jennifer

2005-11-01

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the effect of diabetes on labor market outcomes. Using secondary data from the first two waves (1992 and 1994) of the Health and Retirement Study, we identified 7,055 employed respondents (51-61 years of age), 490 of whom reported having diabetes in wave 1. We estimated the effect of diabetes in wave 1 on the probability of working in wave 2 using probit regression. For those working in wave 2, we modeled the relationships between diabetic status in wave 1 and the change in hours worked and work-loss days using ordinary least-squares regressions and modeled the presence of health-related work limitations using probit regression. All models control for health status and job characteristics and are estimated separately by sex. Among individuals with diabetes, the absolute probability of working was 4.4 percentage points less for women and 7.1 percentage points less for men relative to that of their counterparts without diabetes. Change in weekly hours worked was not statistically significantly associated with diabetes. Women with diabetes had 2 more work-loss days per year compared with women without diabetes. Compared with individuals without diabetes, men and women with diabetes were 5.4 and 6 percentage points (absolute increase), respectively, more likely to have work limitations. This article provides evidence that diabetes affects patients, employers, and society not only by reducing employment but also by contributing to work loss and health-related work limitations for those who remain employed.

Sustainable employability--definition, conceptualization, and implications: A perspective based on the capability approach.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Klink, Jac J L; Bültmann, Ute; Burdorf, Alex; Schaufeli, Wilmar B; Zijlstra, Fred R H; Abma, Femke I; Brouwer, Sandra; van der Wilt, Gert Jan

2016-01-01

The aim of this paper is to propose a new model of sustainable employability based on the capability approach, encompassing the complexity of contemporary work, and placing particular emphasis on work-related values. Having evaluated existing conceptual models of work, health, and employability, we concluded that prevailing models lack an emphasis on important work-related values. Amartya Sen's capability approach (CA) provides a framework that incorporates a focus on values and reflects the complexity of sustainable employability. We developed a model of sustainable employability based on the CA. This model can be used as starting point for developing an assessment tool to investigate sustainable employability. A fundamental premise of the CA is that work should create value for the organization as well as for the worker. This approach challenges researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners to investigate what people find important and valuable--what they would like to achieve in a given (work) context--and moreover to ascertain whether people are able and enabled to do so. According to this approach, it is not only the individual who is responsible for achieving this; the work context is also important. Rather than merely describing relationships between variables, as existing descriptive models often do, the CA depicts a valuable goal: a set of capabilities that constitute valuable work. Moreover, the CA fits well with recent conceptions of health and modern insights into work, in which the individual works towards his or her own goals that s/he has to achieve within the broader goals of the organization.

Does Unstable Employment Have an Association with Suicide Rates among the Young?

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Chungah; Cho, Youngtae

2017-04-28

Although a growing body of literature has indicated that unemployment has a positive association with suicide, the dynamic aspects of unstable employment have not yet been considered in suicidology. This study explored the association between employment stability and completed suicide among people aged 25-34 years in 20 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries with time-series data (1994-2010). In order to consider the different aspects of unstable employment, we tested the impacts of employment protection legislation indicators as another proxy of job insecurity (employed, but unstable) apart from unemployment rates. Covariates, including economic growth rates, GDP per capita, fertility rates, and divorce rate, were controlled for. The analysis was designed to be gender- and age-specific, where observations with ages of 25-29 were separated from those with ages of 30-34. Random effect models were applied to examine changes over time in suicide rates, and other models were presented to check robustness. The results showed that it is a low level of employment protection, rather than unemployment itself, that was associated with increased suicide rates among all of the studied populations. The magnitude of the effect differed by gender.

An analysis of the procedural components of supported employment programs associated with employment outcomes.

OpenAIRE

McDonnell, J; Nofs, D; Hardman, M; Chambless, C

1989-01-01

This study examined the relation between the procedural components of supported employment programs and employment outcomes for 120 individuals with disabilities. These individuals were involved in supported employment programs established through the Utah Supported Employment Project. The results suggest that successful implementation of supported employment services led to ongoing employment of study participants in community work sites, increased wages, and ongoing opportunities for worker...

Employment and Work Motivation in the Information Economy: Transformation and Interrelation

OpenAIRE

Azmuk Nadiya A.

2017-01-01

The aim of the article is to study and systematize the trends in the transformation of employment and work motivation in the information economy. As a result of the study, the main trends in the transformation of employment in the information economy are identified. The interrelation between the transformation of employment and work motivation is substantiated. A comparative analysis of the main elements of the motivational model in the traditional and information economy is carried out. A ne...

The influence of climatic changes on distribution pattern of six typical Kobresia species in Tibetan Plateau based on MaxEnt model and geographic information system

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Zhongjun; Guo, Ke; Jin, Shulan; Pan, Huahua

2018-01-01

The issue that climatic change has great influence on species distribution is currently of great interest in field of biogeography. Six typical Kobresia species are selected from alpine grassland of Tibetan Plateau (TP) as research objects which are the high-quality forage for local husbandry, and their distribution changes are modeled in four periods by using MaxEnt model and GIS technology. The modeling results have shown that the distribution of these six typical Kobresia species in TP was strongly affected by two factors of "the annual precipitation" and "the precipitation in the wettest and driest quarters of the year". The modeling results have also shown that the most suitable habitats of K. pygmeae were located in the area around Qinghai Lake, the Hengduan-Himalayan mountain area, and the hinterland of TP. The most suitable habitats of K. humilis were mainly located in the area around Qinghai Lake and the hinterland of TP during the Last Interglacial period, and gradually merged into a bigger area; K. robusta and K. tibetica were located in the area around Qinghai Lake and the hinterland of TP, but they did not integrate into one area all the time, and K. capillifolia were located in the area around Qinghai Lake and extended to the southwest of the original distributing area, whereas K. macrantha were mainly distributed along the area of the Himalayan mountain chain, which had the smallest distribution area among them, and all these six Kobresia species can be divided into four types of "retreat/expansion" styles according to the changes of suitable habitat areas during the four periods; all these change styles are the result of long-term adaptations of the different species to the local climate changes in regions of TP and show the complexity of relationships between different species and climate. The research results have positive reference value to the protection of species diversity and sustainable development of the local husbandry in TP.

Graduates', University Lecturers' and Employers' Perceptions towards Employability Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Wickramasinghe, Vathsala; Perera, Lasantha

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore employability skills that employers, university lecturers and graduates value to bring to the workplace, when graduates are applying for entry-level graduate jobs in the field of computer science in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach: A total of three samples were selected for this exploratory…

Employer's information and promotion-seeking activities

OpenAIRE

Epstein, Gil S.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a model in which promotion of employees within the internal firm hierarchy is determined by the individuals' allocation of time between promotion/rent-seeking and productive activity. We consider the effect of an increase in the employer's knowledge (information) regarding the employees' productivity levels on the total time spent by the workers in non-productive promotion-seeking activities.

Model-based seafloor characterization employing multi-beam angular backscatter data - A comparative study with dual-frequency single beam

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Haris, K.; Chakraborty, B.; De, C.; Desai, R.G.P.; Fernandes, W.A.

developed by Jackson et al., 3 has been extensively applied to this approach. 4-6 In this work, characterization of seafloor sediments is achieved by employing a MB system (Simrad EM 1002) operable at 95 kHz. Here, the seafloor parameters are estimated... pre-formed beams data were acquired during two cruises using the EM1002 echo-sounding system installed onboard CRV Sagar Sukti (cruises: SASU-108 and 134). 13,14 Besides calculating the angular backscatter strengths using the MB system, the modeled...

Comparison of methods for generating typical meteorological year using meteorological data from a tropical environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janjai, S.; Deeyai, P. [Laboratory of Tropical Atmospheric Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom 73000 (Thailand)

2009-04-15

This paper presents the comparison of methods for generating typical meteorological year (TMY) data set using a 10-year period of meteorological data from four stations in a tropical environment of Thailand. These methods are the Sadia National Laboratory method, the Danish method and the Festa and Ratto method. In investigating their performance, these methods were employed to generate TMYs for each station. For all parameters of the TMYs and the stations, statistical test indicates that there is no significant difference between the 10-year average values of these parameters and the corresponding average values from TMY generated from each method. The TMY obtained from each method was also used as input data to simulate two solar water heating systems and two photovoltaic systems with different sizes at the four stations by using the TRNSYS simulation program. Solar fractions and electrical output calculated using TMYs are in good agreement with those computed employing the 10-year period hourly meteorological data. It is concluded that the performance of the three methods has no significant difference for all stations under this investigation. Due to its simplicity, the method of Sandia National Laboratories is recommended for the generation of TMY for this tropical environment. The TMYs developed in this work can be used for solar energy and energy conservation applications at the four locations in Thailand. (author)

TG/FT-IR characterization of additives typically employed in EPDM formulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natália Beck Sanches

2015-06-01

Full Text Available AbstractThermogravimetric analysis coupled to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG/FT-IR is a very popular technique for rubbers characterization. It involves analyses of the base polymer and additives. Ethylene–propylene–diene (EPDM rubbers are frequently investigated by TG/FT-IR; however, the focus has been the degradation temperature range of the polymer. In this study, unvulcanized and vulcanized EPDM rubber and its additives were investigated by TG/FT-IR, without solvent extraction, and in a wide temperature range. Initially, the additives were individually characterized. TG/FT-IR identified the characteristic groups of all the additives analyzed and distinguished them from each other. Afterwards, unvulcanized and vulcanized EPDM rubbers were investigated without prior extraction.TG/FT-IR detected absorptions due to the additives tetramethylthiuram monosulfide and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole. Both of these sulfur-containing additives were present in the EPDM formulation at concentrations of 0.7 phr (0.63 wt %. The TG/FT-IR technique had some limitations, because not all the additives in EPDM rubber were detected. Paraffin oil, stearic acid and 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline functional groups were not observed in either the unvulcanized or vulcanized EPDM. Nevertheless, in addition to the ability of this method to detect sulfur-containing groups, the lack of a pre-extraction reduces the time and effort required for additive analysis in rubbers.

Workplace clinics: a sign of growing employer interest in wellness.

Science.gov (United States)

Tu, Ha T; Boukus, Ellyn R; Cohen, Genna R

2010-12-01

Interest in workplace clinics has intensified in recent years, with employers moving well beyond traditional niches of occupational health and minor acute care to offering clinics that provide a full range of wellness and primary care services. Employers view workplace clinics as a tool to contain medical costs, boost productivity and enhance companies' reputations as employers of choice. The potential for clinics to transform primary care delivery through the trusted clinician model holds promise, according to experts interviewed for a new qualitative research study from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Achieving that model is dependent on gaining employee trust in the clinic, as well as the ability to recruit and retain clinicians with the right qualities--a particular challenge in communities with provider shortages. Even when clinic operations are outsourced to vendors, initial employer involvement--including the identification of the appropriate scope and scale of clinic services--and sustained employer attention over time are critical to clinic success. Measuring the impact of clinics is difficult, and credible evidence on return on investment (ROI) varies widely, with very high ROI claims made by some vendors lacking credibility. While well-designed, well-implemented workplace clinics are likely to achieve positive returns over the long term, expecting clinics to be a game changer in bending the overall health care cost curve may be unrealistic.

Employment and Work Motivation in the Information Economy: Transformation and Interrelation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azmuk Nadiya A.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to study and systematize the trends in the transformation of employment and work motivation in the information economy. As a result of the study, the main trends in the transformation of employment in the information economy are identified. The interrelation between the transformation of employment and work motivation is substantiated. A comparative analysis of the main elements of the motivational model in the traditional and information economy is carried out. A new form of interaction between remote digital workers in distributed teams is explored. A new element of the digital labor market – artificial intelligence – is characterized and its role and place in it is defined. Attention is focused on changing the role of artificial intelligence from the labor market object to its subject. There proposed the author’s definition of the concept “employment in the information economy”, which is based on the change in the essential characteristics of employment under the influence of the development of digital technologies. The interrelation between the transformation of employment and work motivation is substantiated. A comparative analysis of the main elements of the motivational model in the traditional and information economy is carried out. A new form of interaction between remote digital workers in distributed teams is explored.

Markup cyclicality, employment adjustment, and financial constraints

OpenAIRE

Askildsen, Jan Erik; Nilsen, Øivind Anti

2001-01-01

We investigate the existence of markups and their cyclical behaviour. Markup is not directly observed. Instead, it is given as a price-cost relation that is estimated from a dynamic model of the firm. The model incorporates potential costly employment adjustments and takes into consideration that firms may be financially constrained. When considering size of the future labour stock, financially constrained firms may behave as if they have a higher discount factor, which may affect the realise...

Research on Fuel Consumption of Hybrid Bulldozer under Typical Duty Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Qiang; Wang, Wen-Jun; Jia, Chao; Yao, You-Liang; Wang, Sheng-Bo

The hybrid drive bulldozer adopts a dual-motor independent drive system with engine-generator assembly as its power source. The mathematical model of the whole system is constructed on the software platform of MATLAB/Simulink. And then according to the velocity data gained from a real test experiment, a typical duty cycle is build up. Finally the fuel consumption of the bulldozer is calculated under this duty-cycle. Simulation results show that, compared with the traditional mechanical one, the hybrid electric drive system can save fuel up to 16% and therefore indicates great potential for lifting up fuel economy.

Simplified model of a PWR primary coolant circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souza, A.L. de; Faya, A.J.G.

1988-01-01

The computer program RENUR was developed to perform a very simplified simulation of a typical PWR primary circuit. The program has mathematical models for the thermal-hydraulics of the reactor core and the pressurizer, the rest of the circuit being treated as a single volume. Heat conduction in the fuel rod is analysed by a nodal model. Average and hot channels are treated so that the bulk response of the core and DNBR can be evaluated. A Homogenenous model is employed in the pressurizer. Results are presented for a steady-state situation as well as for a loss of load transient. Agreement with the results of more elaborate computer codes is good with substantial reduction in computer costs. (author) [pt

Development of Employment Sub-centres in the City of Ahmedabad, India

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munshi, Talat; Brussel, Mark; Zuidgeest, Mark

2018-01-01

This article describes how employment sub-centres can be identified applying geo-spatial modelling techniques in the context of metropolitan areas in India, and how the development of these employment centres can be linked to the levels of accessibility to labour, access to transport infrastructu...... information to urban planners enabling them to make informed decision, for example, in locating future employment activities, identifying future transit-oriented development nodes, etc....... as well as land use mix and land use diversity. For the city of Ahmedabad, employment sub-centres are identified for the year 2010, while the progression of employment in retail, commercial and industrial sectors in each of these centres is studied for the period from 1980 to 2010. Definite the signs...

Making ecological models adequate

Science.gov (United States)

Getz, Wayne M.; Marshall, Charles R.; Carlson, Colin J.; Giuggioli, Luca; Ryan, Sadie J.; Romañach, Stephanie; Boettiger, Carl; Chamberlain, Samuel D.; Larsen, Laurel; D'Odorico, Paolo; O'Sullivan, David

2018-01-01

Critical evaluation of the adequacy of ecological models is urgently needed to enhance their utility in developing theory and enabling environmental managers and policymakers to make informed decisions. Poorly supported management can have detrimental, costly or irreversible impacts on the environment and society. Here, we examine common issues in ecological modelling and suggest criteria for improving modelling frameworks. An appropriate level of process description is crucial to constructing the best possible model, given the available data and understanding of ecological structures. Model details unsupported by data typically lead to over parameterisation and poor model performance. Conversely, a lack of mechanistic details may limit a model's ability to predict ecological systems’ responses to management. Ecological studies that employ models should follow a set of model adequacy assessment protocols that include: asking a series of critical questions regarding state and control variable selection, the determinacy of data, and the sensitivity and validity of analyses. We also need to improve model elaboration, refinement and coarse graining procedures to better understand the relevancy and adequacy of our models and the role they play in advancing theory, improving hind and forecasting, and enabling problem solving and management.

Shared governance: one way to engage employed physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanford, Kathleen D

2012-09-01

To work better with employed physicians, finance leaders should: Understand classic management theories on what motivates employees. Learn from shared governance models with nurses at Magnet hospitals. Apply best practices in management to all employees, not just physicians.

EMPLOYMENT GROWTH AND THE ALLOCATION OF NEW JOBS: EVIDENCE FROM THE SOUTH

OpenAIRE

Renkow, Mitch

2003-01-01

A county-level labor market model is estimated for the thirteen Southern states. The model accounts for inter-county commuting, migration, and within-county adjustments to labor demand shocks. Econometric results indicate that most employment growth (60-70%) during the 1990s was accommodated by changes in commuting flows. The results also suggest that labor force growth - and, by extension, population growth and associated fiscal impacts - in rural counties is sensitive to employment growth i...

Leverage as a State Variable for Employment, Inventory Accumulation, andFixed Investment

OpenAIRE

Charles W. Calomiris; Athanasios Orphanides; Steven A. Sharpe

1994-01-01

The importance of a firm's balance sheet for determining its investment and employment decisions is the central assumption of macroeconomic models of 'debt deflation' or 'debt overhang.' According to these models, firm investment decisions are influenced not only by the fundamental opportunity set of the firm, but also by the firm's existing financial condition, especially its leverage. This paper tests that assumption by examining whether the responsiveness of employment, investment, and inv...

What policies should be there for employment in urban areas of developing countries?

OpenAIRE

Gugushvili, Alexi

2006-01-01

This paper examines employment policies in urban areas of developing world. We follow traditional economic analysis and present the urban unemployment problem as an inequality of labour supply and demand on labour markets. The effects of demand-side and supply-side policies on informal urban employment are investigated through econometrical models. One or several variables are employed as crude proxies for every policy option. The dependent variable is informal urban employment as a per cent ...

Discrete-time semi-Markov modeling of human papillomavirus persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, C. E.; Hudgens, M. G.; King, C. C.; Cu-Uvin, S.; Lo, Y.; Rompalo, A.; Sobel, J.; Smith, J. S.

2011-01-01

Multi-state modeling is often employed to describe the progression of a disease process. In epidemiological studies of certain diseases, the disease state is typically only observed at periodic clinical visits, producing incomplete longitudinal data. In this paper we consider fitting semi-Markov models to estimate the persistence of human papillomavirus (HPV) type-specific infection in studies where the status of HPV type(s) is assessed periodically. Simulation study results are presented indicating the semi-Markov estimator is more accurate than an estimator currently used in the HPV literature. The methods are illustrated using data from the HIV Epidemiology Research Study (HERS). PMID:21538985

The role of strategic information systems planning a typical Small or Medium-sized Enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicky Meyer

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Little is known about how Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs are linked in a developing country. SISP has also been a concern for many in the Information Technology (IT industry and IT based businesses as a whole. This research seeks to address this shortcoming by exploring what constitutes a typical SME, what role Information Systems (ISs play in SMEs and what role SISP plays in SMEs. Consequently, a Delphi panel comprising a questionnaire in the first phase and an interview in the second phase was employed. Some correlation was found to exist with the literature, with the exception of the role of IS in SMEs, whether SISP is an on-going activity, and the fact that SISP can be outsourced. Some new facts were discovered, especially on the topic of outsourcing. Keywords: company strategy; strategic information systems planning; small and mediumsized enterprises; SME sustainability; stakeholders and management; Viewpoint Training and Consulting

[Urban employment and internal migration in Peru].

Science.gov (United States)

Cotlear, D

1984-06-01

The relationship between internal migration and employment problems in Peru is examined. The author argues that regional differences in income distribution are the primary causes of migration, particularly to urban areas. A model of the migration process is developed and tested using data from official sources, surveys, and the published literature.

A Phillips curve interpretation of error-correction models of the wage and price dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harck, Søren H.

-correction setting, which actually seems to capture the wage and price dynamics of many large- scale econometric models quite well, is fully compatible with the notion of an old-fashioned Phillips curve with finite slope. It is shown how the steady-state impact of various shocks to the model can be profitably...... This paper presents a model of employment, distribution and inflation in which a modern error correction specification of the nominal wage and price dynamics (referring to claims on income by workers and firms) occupies a prominent role. It is brought out, explicitly, how this rather typical error...

A Phillips curve interpretation of error-correction models of the wage and price dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harck, Søren H.

2009-01-01

-correction setting, which actually seems to capture the wage and price dynamics of many large- scale econometric models quite well, is fully compatible with the notion of an old-fashioned Phillips curve with finite slope. It is shown how the steady-state impact of various shocks to the model can be profitably......This paper presents a model of employment, distribution and inflation in which a modern error correction specification of the nominal wage and price dynamics (referring to claims on income by workers and firms) occupies a prominent role. It is brought out, explicitly, how this rather typical error...

PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS INSOUTH AFRICA. IS IT RELATED TO EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HA Koloba

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The on-going changes in the workplace demand that the current andfuturegeneration of workers should be well trained since their knowledge, skills andpositive attitude are essential to cope with the demands of the modern world. Forthis reason, university students, who are the future generation of the labour force,need to gear themselves up for a tough journey in the prevailing economicconditions. Previous research has revealed that the possession of employabilityskills has the potential to ascertain successful careers for students, as they will bemore employable during their working life. Therefore, this study aimed toinvestigate the relationship between employability skills of university studentsand their perceptions of employability. A quantitative research approach wasadopted. A self-administered questionnairewas distributed among universitystudents at four universities in South Africa and data were analysed from 485participants. Exploratory factor analysis was used to establish the factors.Correlation analysis was used to establish whether there is any relationshipbetween employability skills and perceived employability among universitystudents in South Africa. The majority of students regard themselves aspossessing employability skills. Furthermore, the findings revealed that there is apositive relationship between students’ employability skills and their perceptionsof employability. The conclusion drawn from this finding is that universitystudents, with the appropriate knowledge and skills acquired from different fieldsof study, are likely to have higher self-confidence and may, therefore, influencethe state of the labour market. It is recommended that employability skills shouldbe incorporated into the curriculum in order to enhance employability of students

Employability Skills Valued by Employers as Important for Entry-Level Employees with and without Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Song; Zhang, Dalun; Pacha, Jacqueline

2012-01-01

Individuals with disabilities face persistent challenges in gaining meaningful employment. One of the barriers to successful employment is a lack of employability skills. The purpose of this study was to identify employability skills that employers value as being important and to examine whether employers have different expectations for…

A comparative analysis of reactor lower head debris cooling models employed in the existing severe accident analysis codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, K.I.; Kim, D.H.; Kim, S.B.; Kim, H.D.

1998-08-01

MELCOR and MAAP4 are the representative severe accident analysis codes which have been developed for the integral analysis of the phenomenological reactor lower head corium cooling behavior. Main objectives of the present study is to identify merits and disadvantages of each relevant model through the comparative analysis of the lower plenum corium cooling models employed in these two codes. The final results will be utilized for the development of LILAC phenomenological models and for the continuous improvement of the existing MELCOR reactor lower head models, which are currently being performed at the KAERI. For these purposes, first, nine reference models are selected featuring the lower head corium behavior based on the existing experimental evidences and related models. Then main features of the selected models have been critically analyzed, and finally merits and disadvantages of each corresponding model have been summarized in the view point of realistic corium behavior and reasonable modeling. Being on these evidences, summarized and presented the potential improvements for developing more advanced models. The present study has been focused on the qualitative comparison of each model and so more detailed quantitative analysis is strongly required to obtain the final conclusions for their merits and disadvantages. In addition, in order to compensate the limitations of the current model, required further studies relating closely the detailed mechanistic models with the molten material movement and heat transfer based on phase-change in the porous medium, to the existing simple models. (author). 36 refs

The effect of organisational context variables on employer attitudes toward employability of ex-offenders.

Science.gov (United States)

Lukies, John; Graffam, Joseph; Shinkfield, Alison J

2011-05-01

The authors tested the premise that organisational context variables (i.e., size of organisation, industry type, location, and respondent's position in organisation) had significant effects on employer (N = 596) attitudes toward employability of ex-offenders. They also examined whether organisational context variables had an equivalent effect on employer attitudes to that of job-seeker criminal history and employer personal characteristics (e.g., respondent age and gender). Using linear regression (HLM 6.02a), organisational context variables were shown to have a significant effect on employer attitudes. In addition, organisational context variables had a significantly greater effect on employer attitudes than did employer personal characteristics. However, job-seeker criminal history contributed more to respondent ratings of ex-offender employability than did organisational context variables. The finding that judgements of employability are influenced by organisational context variables has implications for future research relevant to reintegration. Stakeholder attitudes toward the reintegration success of ex-offenders may be generally influenced by context variables.

Employment impacts of CDM projects in China's power sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Can; Zhang, Weishi; Cai, Wenjia; Xie, Xi

2013-01-01

There are continuous debates around the question of whether CDM really contributes to sustainable development (SD) in host countries. Employment impact is an essential indicator of SD. Based on an input-out approach this research builds a quantitative assessment model to evaluate the employment impacts of CDM. Both direct and indirect jobs creation and job losses of CDM projects in the power sector registered by the end of 2011 are calculated by project types and power grids where the project is located. Results of this study show that, although the above mentioned CDM projects causes about 99,000 net direct job losses, they also create about 3.08 million indirect jobs, resulting in the gross employment of CDM to be about 2.98 million. Thereof, hydro projects induce both direct and indirect job losses, which comes to approximately 0.89 million. Solar projects have the most potential since they own the highest indirect jobs created by one GWh generation, about 104 jobs/GWh. - Highlights: • An input–output model was built for assessment of CDM projects' employment impact; • CDM projects create direct and indirect jobs while cause some losses in short. • Significant indirect job gains of CDM projects were found; • Solar projects cause 104 jobs/GWh in average, ranking as the highest contributor

Gauging the Association of Employability Skills and Being Employable among Students

OpenAIRE

Fayeq Ali Ali

2017-01-01

The current study is to measure the employability skills of students and to assess how employability skills are perceived in higher educations. Three sets of employability skills have been used such as Basic Academic Skills, Personal Qualities and High-Order Thinking. A questionnaire has been developed and distributed among students in universities, Erbil, Kurdistan. Respondents’ opinions were assessed using a Likert scale analysis that shows opinions between two extremes of levels of agreeme...

Reducing Employment Insecurity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florence Lebert

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The perception of job insecurity is known to be a stressful condition for employees. Less is known about employment insecurity and the ways employees and their families deal with it. This study investigates whether participation in further training is a strategy that employees adopt to reduce perceived employment insecurity. As participation in further training is often costly and time-consuming, we assume that the family context is of importance for the decision to take part in further training. To take account of possible self-selection, we apply a propensity score matching procedure on longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel (2004-2013. Three main findings can be emphasized: first, participation in further training is not a strategy adopted particularly by employees who perceive high employment insecurity as they are less likely to train than their secure counterparts. Second, even though further training is not a strategy that is actively adopted, employees who train subsequently report lower levels of perceived employment insecurity. Third, the family context indeed influences the likelihood to train: partnered employees are more likely to train and preschool-aged children act as a constraint on women’s but enhance men’s participation in further training. Yet, in the context of high perceived employment insecurity, children generally reduce their parents’ likelihood to train as the parents may turn to other strategies that reduce perceived employment insecurity.

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

Spatial dispersal policies may influence labour market integration of refugees through two mechanisms. First, it may affect the local job offer arrival rate, and second, it may affect place utility. We investigate the second mechanism theoretically by formulating a partial search model in which a...... due to large local reservation wage effects. We investigate both mechanisms empirically and test the predictions of the theoretical model by evaluating the employment effects of the Danish spatial dispersal policy carried out 1986-1998....

Towards a time-domain modeling framework for small-signal analysis of unbalanced microgrids

OpenAIRE

Ojo, Y; Schiffer, JF

2017-01-01

Small-signal analysis is one of the most frequently used techniques to assess the operating conditions of power systems. Typically, this analysis is conducted by employing a phasor-based model of the power network derived under the assumption of balanced operating conditions. However, distribution networks and, amongst these, microgrids are often unbalanced. Hence, their analysis requires the development of tools and methods valid under such conditions. Motivated by this, we propose a modelin...

Spectra of conditionalization and typicality in the multiverse

Science.gov (United States)

Azhar, Feraz

2016-02-01

An approach to testing theories describing a multiverse, that has gained interest of late, involves comparing theory-generated probability distributions over observables with their experimentally measured values. It is likely that such distributions, were we indeed able to calculate them unambiguously, will assign low probabilities to any such experimental measurements. An alternative to thereby rejecting these theories, is to conditionalize the distributions involved by restricting attention to domains of the multiverse in which we might arise. In order to elicit a crisp prediction, however, one needs to make a further assumption about how typical we are of the chosen domains. In this paper, we investigate interactions between the spectra of available assumptions regarding both conditionalization and typicality, and draw out the effects of these interactions in a concrete setting; namely, on predictions of the total number of species that contribute significantly to dark matter. In particular, for each conditionalization scheme studied, we analyze how correlations between densities of different dark matter species affect the prediction, and explicate the effects of assumptions regarding typicality. We find that the effects of correlations can depend on the conditionalization scheme, and that in each case atypicality can significantly change the prediction. In doing so, we demonstrate the existence of overlaps in the predictions of different "frameworks" consisting of conjunctions of theory, conditionalization scheme and typicality assumption. This conclusion highlights the acute challenges involved in using such tests to identify a preferred framework that aims to describe our observational situation in a multiverse.

The Impact of Medicare Part D on Self-Employment.

Science.gov (United States)

Moulton, Jeremy G; Diebold, Jeffrey C; Scott, John C

2017-01-01

We explore the relationship between access to affordable health insurance and self-employment using exogenous variation from the introduction of Medicare Part D that reduced the out-of-pocket cost of prescription drugs and improved health outcomes in a difference-in-differences model using the American Community Survey. We find that our treatment group of individuals aged 65-69 were 0.5 percentage points (or 5%) more likely to be self-employed in relation to a control group aged 60-64.

77 FR 76074 - Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO): Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-26

... Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Services' (VETS) core programs and new initiatives... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO): Meeting AGENCY: Veterans' Employment and Training Service, Labor. ACTION: Notice of open meeting...

High Voltage Coil Current Sensor for DC-DC Converters Employing DDCC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Drinovsky

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Current sensor is an integral part of every switching converter. It is used for over-current protection, regulation and in case of multiphase converters for balancing. A new high voltage current sensor for coil-based current sensing in DC-DC converters is presented. The sensor employs DDCC with high voltage input stage and gain trimming. The circuit has been simulated and implemented in 0.35 um BCD technology as part of a multiphase DC-DC converter where its function has been verified. The circuit is able to sustain common mode voltage on the input up to 40 V, it occupies 0.387*0.345 mm2 and consumes 3.2 mW typically.

A sustainable biogas model in China: The case study of Beijing Deqingyuan biogas project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lihong, Chen; Cong, Ronggang; Shu, Bangrong

2017-01-01

According to the Paris Agreement, China has the ambition to develop non-fossil energy which will account for 20% of the total energy consumption in 2030. China has abundant biomass potential implying the bioenergy should be an important option of non-fossil energy. In this analysis, we present......, mitigating pollution, and increasing employment, among other benefits. This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the typical demonstration model (DQY) in utilization of agricultural waste in China, and further proposes a general development model of Chinese biogas in the future....

Prediction of the Electromagnetic Field Distribution in a Typical Aircraft Using the Statistical Energy Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kovalevsky, Louis; Langley, Robin S.; Caro, Stephane

2016-05-01

Due to the high cost of experimental EMI measurements significant attention has been focused on numerical simulation. Classical methods such as Method of Moment or Finite Difference Time Domain are not well suited for this type of problem, as they require a fine discretisation of space and failed to take into account uncertainties. In this paper, the authors show that the Statistical Energy Analysis is well suited for this type of application. The SEA is a statistical approach employed to solve high frequency problems of electromagnetically reverberant cavities at a reduced computational cost. The key aspects of this approach are (i) to consider an ensemble of system that share the same gross parameter, and (ii) to avoid solving Maxwell's equations inside the cavity, using the power balance principle. The output is an estimate of the field magnitude distribution in each cavity. The method is applied on a typical aircraft structure.

Employer Child Care Surviving and Thriving: Employer Child Care Trend Report #17

Science.gov (United States)

Neugebauer, Roger

2010-01-01

Today employer child care is accepted as standard benefit for employees and nearly all Fortune 500 companies have gotten involved. The current recession threatened to halt the growth of employer child care as companies consolidated, cut back, and folded. However, in reviewing the status of employer child care for this trend report, it appears that…

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Are Employers Good Agents for Their Employees?

OpenAIRE

Peele, Pamela B.; Lave, Judith R.; Black, Jeanne T.; Evans III, John H.

2000-01-01

Employers in the United States provide many welfare-type benefits, such as life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance, and pensions, to their employees. Employers can be viewed as performing an agency role in purchasing pension, health, and other welfare benefits for their employees. An exploration of their competence in this role as agents for their employees indicates that large employers are very helpful to their employees in this arena. They seem to contribute to individual em...

Off-Farm Employment and Economic Crisis: Evidence from Cyprus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elias Giannakis

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Off-farm employment is an important strategy for complementing farm household income and maintaining rural livelihoods. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to investigate the effect of farm-level and regional-level factors on off-farm employment in Cyprus during the recent economic crisis period. The performance of nonfarm sectors positively affects off-farm employment; a one-percent increase in the share of the secondary and tertiary sector employment increases the likelihood of off-farm work by 9.5 times. The importance of location was also identified. Farm households located in rural areas are 70% less likely to engage in off-farm work than households located in urban areas. The positive effect of educational attainment and the negative effect of farm training confirmed the importance of human capital characteristics on off-farm labour participation. Farm structural factors are also significant determinants of off-farm employment. A one-hectare increase in the farm size decreases the odds of off-farm labour participation by 50%. Operators of crop farming holdings are 4.2 times more likely to work off the farm than operators of livestock and mixed-farming holdings. The results reveal the importance of adopting a multilevel and integrated approach for the analysis of off-farm employment.

Food and Wine Tourism: an Analysis of Italian Typical Products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Maria Olivieri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to focus the specific role of local food productions in spite of its relationship with tourism sector to valorization and promotion of the territorial cultural heritage. The modern agriculture has been and, in the recent years, several specific features are emerging referring to different territorials areas. Tourist would like to have a complete experience consumption of a destination, specifically to natural and cultural heritage and genuine food. This contribute addresses the topics connected to the relationship between typical productions system and tourism sector to underline the competitive advantages to local development. The typical productions are Designation of Protected Origin (Italian DOP, within wine certifications DOCG and DOC and Typical Geographical Indication (IGP and wine’s IGT. The aim is an analysis of the specialization of these kinds of production at Italian regional scale. The implication of the work has connected with defining a necessary and appropriate value strategies based on marketing principles in order to translate the benefit of typical productions to additional value for the local system. Thus, the final part of the paper describes the potential dynamics with the suitable accommodation typology of agriturismo and the typical production system of Italian Administrative Regions.

Altered vocal fold kinematics in synthetic self-oscillating models that employ adipose tissue as a lateral boundary condition.

Science.gov (United States)

Saidi, Hiba; Erath, Byron D.

2015-11-01

The vocal folds play a major role in human communication by initiating voiced sound production. During voiced speech, the vocal folds are set into sustained vibrations. Synthetic self-oscillating vocal fold models are regularly employed to gain insight into flow-structure interactions governing the phonation process. Commonly, a fixed boundary condition is applied to the lateral, anterior, and posterior sides of the synthetic vocal fold models. However, physiological observations reveal the presence of adipose tissue on the lateral surface between the thyroid cartilage and the vocal folds. The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of including this substrate layer of adipose tissue on the dynamics of phonation. For a more realistic representation of the human vocal folds, synthetic multi-layer vocal fold models have been fabricated and tested while including a soft lateral layer representative of adipose tissue. Phonation parameters have been collected and are compared to those of the standard vocal fold models. Results show that vocal fold kinematics are affected by adding the adipose tissue layer as a new boundary condition.

A reappraisal of the virtues of private sector employment programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Peter; Graversen, Brian Krogh

In this paper, we evaluate the employment effects of Danish active labour market programmes aimed at welfare benefit recipients. We estimate an econometric model with treatment effects and discrete outcomes and we allow the responses to treatment to vary among observationally identical persons. T...... significant mean effects of participation in private sector employment programmes compared to participation in other programmes, but we find evidence of heterogeneity in the treatment effects....

Expectancy Theory Prediction of the Preference to Remain Employed or to Retire

Science.gov (United States)

Eran, Mordechai; Jacobson, Dan

1976-01-01

Vroom's expectancy theory model to predict older worker's choices between employment or retirement hypothesized that a person's preference would be a function of differences between instrumentality of employment and retirement for attainment of outcomes, multiplied by the valence of each outcome, summed over outcomes. Results supported the…

Tales of IT Consultants: Understanding Psychological Contract Maintenance and Employment Termination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karlheinz Kautz

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This research investigates the question why dedicated Information Technology (IT consultants quit their jobs and voluntarily terminate their employment contracts. A research approach inspired by grounded theory is used and as a theoretical contribution a novel, cyclic process model for the maintenance or neglect of the psychological contract between employees and employers is derived from the empirical data. The model is subsequently substantiated through the integration of various concepts and theories identified in the literature, combining the concept of psychological contract with social influence theory and a theory of the relation between intrinsic motivation and management practices. The research is based on a revelatory case study which provides tales from four IT consultants in an IT consulting firm. The model helps to explain IT consultants’ behaviour of voluntarily terminating their employment contracts. Additionally, it should assist managers in IT consulting firms to avoid practices which might lead to their employees’ loss of intrinsic motivation and result in the loss of valuable employees for the organization.

The effects of the Employment Tax Incentive on South African employment

OpenAIRE

Ebrahim, Amina; Leibbrandt, Murray; Ranchhod, Vimal

2017-01-01

South Africa's Employment Tax Incentive, launched in 2014, aimed to address low youth employment by reducing the cost of hiring young workers. We make use of anonymized tax administrative data from the 2012-2015 tax years to examine the effect of the Incentive on youth employment. We match firms claiming the subsidy with similar firms not claiming the subsidy and observe their hiring behaviour before and after the implementation of the policy. We find no statistically significant impact on yo...

Pharma rebates, pharmacy benefit managers and employer outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Ozden Gür; Mantrala, Murali

2010-12-01

Corporate employers contract with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) with the goals of lowering their employee prescription drug coverage costs while maintaining health care quality. However, little is known about how employer-PBM contract elements and brand drugmakers' rebates combine to influence a profit-maximizing PBM's actions, and the impact of those actions on the employer's outcomes. To shed more light on these issues, the authors build and analyze a mathematical simulation model of a competitive pharmaceutical market comprised of one generic and two branded drugs, and involving a PBM contracted by a corporate employer to help it lower prescription drug costs while achieving a minimum desired quality of health care for its employees. The brand drugmakers' rebate offers, the PBM's assignment of drugs to formulary tiers, and the resulting employer outcomes under varying contracts and pharma brand marketing mix environmental scenarios are analyzed to provide insights. The findings include that the pharma brands offer rebates for the PBM's ability to move prescription share away from the unpreferred brand, but reduce these offers when the PBM's contract requires it to proactively influence physicians to prescribe the generic drug alternative. Further, Pareto optimal contracts that provide the highest health benefit for a given employer cost budget for the employer are analyzed to provide managerial implications. They are found to involve strong PBM influence on physician prescribing to discourage unpreferred brands, as well as high patient copayment requirements for unpreferred brands to align the patient prescription fill probability with the formulary, while other copayment requirements provide an instrument to determine the level of desired health benefit-cost tradeoff.

Youth employment in Egypt

OpenAIRE

Eekelen, Willem van; De Luca, Loretta; Ismail, Magwa

2001-01-01

Examines economic and social factors affecting youth employment in Egypt and describes three national programmes for the promotion of youth employment based on human resources development, direct job creation and support in self-employment and enterprise creation. Describes one public-private project in each case.

Enhancement of J estimation for typical nuclear pipes with a circumferential surface crack under tensile load

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Doo Ho; Woo, Seung Wan; Choi, Jae Boong; Kim, Young Jin; Chang, Yoon Suk; Jhung, Myung Jo; Choi, Young Hwan

2010-01-01

This paper is to report enhancement of engineering J estimation for semi-elliptical surface cracks under tensile load. Firstly, limitation of the sole solution suggested by Zahoor is shown for reliable structural integrity assessment of thin-walled nuclear pipes. An improved solution is then developed based on extensive 3D FE analyses employing deformation plasticity theory for typical nuclear piping materials. It takes over the structure of the existing solution but provides new tabulated plastic influence functions to cover a wide range of pipe geometry and crack shape. Furthermore, to facilitate easy prediction of the plastic influence function, an alternative simple equation is also developed by using a statistical response surface method. The proposed H 1 values can be used for elastic-plastic fracture analyses of thin-walled pipes with a circumferential surface crack subjected to tensile loading

Enhancement of J estimation for typical nuclear pipes with a circumferential surface crack under tensile load

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Doo Ho; Woo, Seung Wan; Choi, Jae Boong; Kim, Young Jin [Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Chang, Yoon Suk [Kyung Hee University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of); Jhung, Myung Jo; Choi, Young Hwan [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-03-15

This paper is to report enhancement of engineering J estimation for semi-elliptical surface cracks under tensile load. Firstly, limitation of the sole solution suggested by Zahoor is shown for reliable structural integrity assessment of thin-walled nuclear pipes. An improved solution is then developed based on extensive 3D FE analyses employing deformation plasticity theory for typical nuclear piping materials. It takes over the structure of the existing solution but provides new tabulated plastic influence functions to cover a wide range of pipe geometry and crack shape. Furthermore, to facilitate easy prediction of the plastic influence function, an alternative simple equation is also developed by using a statistical response surface method. The proposed H{sub 1} values can be used for elastic-plastic fracture analyses of thin-walled pipes with a circumferential surface crack subjected to tensile loading

Social Security And Mental Illness: Reducing Disability With Supported Employment

Science.gov (United States)

Drake, Robert E.; Skinner, Jonathan S.; Bond, Gary R.; Goldman, Howard H.

2010-01-01

Social Security Administration disability programs are expensive, growing, and headed toward bankruptcy. People with psychiatric disabilities now constitute the largest and most rapidly expanding subgroup of program beneficiaries. Evidence-based supported employment is a well-defined, rigorously tested service model that helps people with psychiatric disabilities obtain and succeed in competitive employment. Providing evidence-based supported employment and mental health services to this population could reduce the growing rates of disability and enable those already disabled to contribute positively to the workforce and to their own welfare, at little or no cost (and, depending on assumptions, a possible savings) to the government. PMID:19414885

Typical Relaxation of Isolated Many-Body Systems Which Do Not Thermalize

Science.gov (United States)

Balz, Ben N.; Reimann, Peter

2017-05-01

We consider isolated many-body quantum systems which do not thermalize; i.e., expectation values approach an (approximately) steady longtime limit which disagrees with the microcanonical prediction of equilibrium statistical mechanics. A general analytical theory is worked out for the typical temporal relaxation behavior in such cases. The main prerequisites are initial conditions which appreciably populate many energy levels and do not give rise to significant spatial inhomogeneities on macroscopic scales. The theory explains very well the experimental and numerical findings in a trapped-ion quantum simulator exhibiting many-body localization, in ultracold atomic gases, and in integrable hard-core boson and X X Z models.

Mother-Child Play: Children with Down Syndrome and Typical Development

Science.gov (United States)

Venuti, P.; de Falco, S.; Esposito, G.; Bornstein, Marc H.

2009-01-01

Child solitary and collaborative mother-child play with 21 children with Down syndrome and 33 mental-age-matched typically developing children were compared. In solitary play, children with Down syndrome showed less exploratory but similar symbolic play compared to typically developing children. From solitary to collaborative play, children with…

The effect of macroeconomic conditions on the care decisions of the employed.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Danny R; Khaliq, Amir A

2014-02-01

Medical care utilization has been found to be affected indirectly by changes in economic conditions through associated changes in employment or insurance status. However, if individuals interpret external macroeconomic conditions as employment risk, they may alter decisions to seek care even if they remain both employed and insured. To examine the relationship between macroeconomic fluctuations and the medical care usage of Americans who are both employed and insured. Restricting the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 1995 to 2008 to respondents whose employment status and insurance status did not change, we employed a fixed-effect Poisson model to examine the association between state average annual unemployment rates and the utilization of 12 medical services. The average annual state unemployment rate was found to be a significant factor in hospital outpatient visits (P macroeconomic conditions are an important factor in the medical decisions of employed and insured individuals. Thus, policy changes that increase access among the unemployed or uninsured may mitigate this employment risk effect and create incentives that potentially alter the utilization decisions among those currently both employed and insured.

Productivity and Regional Employment in Spain: A Dynamic Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Javier Escribá Pérez

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the impact of sectorial and territorial factors on the dynamics of employment in regional industries in Spain over the period 1980-2006. A dynamic panel data model is estimated using panel data techniques (System-GMM, which provide an alternative methodology for addressing the problem of variable endogeneity. The results confirm the robustness of the contemporary effects: diversification, market size and dynamics in the sector affect employment in the short term. However, effects in the long term are more uncertain.

Employment after childbearing and women's subsequent labour force participation: evidence from the British 1958 birth cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, H; Macran, S; Dex, S

1996-01-01

"Data on women from the British 1958 Cohort Study is used as evidence on the determinants of their labour force participation at age 33. A conventional cross-sectional model of full or part-time employment makes use of some longitudinal material not normally included in such models. Whether the woman made the hitherto customary break from employment at the time of the first maternity is included in recognition that this cohort was among the first generation to be offered Statutory Maternity Leave. Results suggest that the presence of children (still) inhibits full-time employment and raises the probability of part-time employment; that income effects on participation have continued to weaken while wage elasticity for full-time employment is high. Continuity of employment straight after childbearing raises the chances of subsequent full-time employment, but by no means guarantees it. Gains from maternity leave and other family friendly employment policies have been far from uniform." excerpt

The Employment Retention and Advancement Project: Paths to Advancement for Single Parents

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Cynthia; Deitch, Victoria; Hill, Aaron

2010-01-01

Between 2000 and 2003, the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project identified and implemented a diverse set of innovative models designed to promote employment stability and wage or earnings progression among low-income individuals, mostly current or former welfare recipients. The project's goal was to determine which strategies could…

Employment protection

OpenAIRE

Stefano Scarpetta

2014-01-01

Laws on hiring and firing are intended to protect workers from unfair behavior by employers, to counter imperfections in financial markets that limit workers’ ability to insure themselves against job loss, and to preserve firm-specific human capital. But by imposing costs on firms’ adaptation to changes in demand and technology, employment protection legislation may reduce not only job destruction but also job creation, hindering the efficient allocation of labor and productivity growth....

The Netherlands: self-employed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houtman, I.L.D.

2009-01-01

This is the national contribution to the CAR on self-employed workers in the Netherlands. In this national contribution information is provided on self-employed workers in relation to (1) legal provisions and social security, (2) recent trends in self-employment with no employees, (3) collective

Narrative versus Style : Effect of Genre Typical Events versus Genre Typical Filmic Realizations on Film Viewers' Genre Recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visch, V.; Tan, E.

2008-01-01

This study investigated whether film viewers recognize four basic genres (comic, drama, action and nonfiction) on the basis of genre-typical event cues or of genretypical filmic realization cues of events. Event cues are similar to the narrative content of a film sequence, while filmic realization

LOCA assessment experiments in a full-elevation, CANDU-typical test facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ingham, P.J.; McGee, G.R.; Krishnan, V.S.

1990-01-01

The RD-14 thermal-hydraulics test facility, located at the Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, is a full-elevation model representative of a CANDU primary heat transport system. The facility is scaled to accommodate a single, full-scale (5.0 MW, 21 kg/s), electrically heated channel per pass. The steam generators, pumps, headers, feeders and heated channels are arranged in a typical CANDU figure-of-eight geometry. The loop has an emergency coolant injection system (ECI) that may be operated in several modes, including typical features of the various ECI systems found in CANDU reactors. A series of experiments has been performed in RD-14 to investigate the thermal-hydraulic behaviour during the blowdown and injection phases of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). The tests were designed to cover a full range of break sizes from feeder-sized breaks to guillotine breaks in either an inlet or an outlet header. Breaks resulting in channel flow stagnation were also investigated. This paper reviews the results of some of the LOCA tests carried out in RD-14, and discusses some of the behaviour observed. Plans for future experiments in a multiple-channel RD-14 facility, modified to contain multiple flow channels, are outlined. (orig.)

Typical electric bills, January 1, 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

The Typical Electric Bills report is prepared by the Electric Power Division; Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels; Energy Information Administration; Department of Energy. The publication is geared to a variety of applications by electric utilities, industry, consumes, educational institutions, and government in recognition of the growing importance of energy planning in contemporary society. 19 figs., 18 tabs

Development of cortical asymmetry in typically developing children and its disruption in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Philip; Lalonde, Francois; Lepage, Claude; Rabin, Cara; Eckstrand, Kristen; Sharp, Wendy; Greenstein, Deanna; Evans, Alan; Giedd, J N; Rapoport, Judith

2009-08-01

Just as typical development of anatomical asymmetries in the human brain has been linked with normal lateralization of motor and cognitive functions, disruption of asymmetry has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). No study has examined the development of cortical asymmetry using longitudinal neuroanatomical data. To delineate the development of cortical asymmetry in children with and without ADHD. Longitudinal study. Government Clinical Research Institute. A total of 218 children with ADHD and 358 typically developing children, from whom 1133 neuroanatomical magnetic resonance images were acquired prospectively. Cortical thickness was estimated at 40 962 homologous points in the left and right hemispheres, and the trajectory of change in asymmetry was defined using mixed-model regression. In right-handed typically developing individuals, a mean (SE) increase in the relative thickness of the right orbitofrontal and inferior frontal cortex with age of 0.011 (0.0018) mm per year (t(337) = 6.2, P left-hemispheric increase in the occipital cortical regions of 0.013 (0.0015) mm per year (t(337) = 8.1, P right-handed typically developing individuals was less extensive and was localized to different cortical regions. In ADHD, the posterior component of this evolving asymmetry was intact, but the prefrontal component was lost. These findings explain the way that, in typical development, the increased dimensions of the right frontal and left occipital cortical regions emerge in adulthood from the reversed pattern of childhood cortical asymmetries. Loss of the prefrontal component of this evolving asymmetry in ADHD is compatible with disruption of prefrontal function in the disorder and demonstrates the way that disruption of typical processes of asymmetry can inform our understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Predictive models for the assessment of occupational exposure to chemicals: A new challenge for employers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Piotr Gromiec

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Employers are obliged to carry out and document the risk associated with the use of chemical substances. The best but the most expensive method is to measure workplace concentrations of chemicals. At present no "measureless" method for risk assessment is available in Poland, but predictive models for such assessments have been developed in some countries. The purpose of this work is to review and evaluate the applicability of selected predictive methods for assessing occupational inhalation exposure and related risk to check the compliance with Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs, as well as the compliance with REACH obligations. Based on the literature data HSE COSHH Essentials, EASE, ECETOC TRA, Stoffenmanager, and EMKG-Expo-Tool were evaluated. The data on validation of predictive models were also examined. It seems that predictive models may be used as a useful method for Tier 1 assessment of occupational exposure by inhalation. Since the levels of exposure are frequently overestimated, they should be considered as "rational worst cases" for selection of proper control measures. Bearing in mind that the number of available exposure scenarios and PROC categories is limited, further validation by field surveys is highly recommended. Predictive models may serve as a good tool for preliminary risk assessment and selection of the most appropriate risk control measures in Polish small and medium size enterprises (SMEs providing that they are available in the Polish language. This also requires an extensive training of their future users. Med Pr 2013;64(5:699–716

A Typical Synergy

Science.gov (United States)

van Noort, Thomas; Achten, Peter; Plasmeijer, Rinus

We present a typical synergy between dynamic types (dynamics) and generalised algebraic datatypes (GADTs). The former provides a clean approach to integrating dynamic typing in a statically typed language. It allows values to be wrapped together with their type in a uniform package, deferring type unification until run time using a pattern match annotated with the desired type. The latter allows for the explicit specification of constructor types, as to enforce their structural validity. In contrast to ADTs, GADTs are heterogeneous structures since each constructor type is implicitly universally quantified. Unfortunately, pattern matching only enforces structural validity and does not provide instantiation information on polymorphic types. Consequently, functions that manipulate such values, such as a type-safe update function, are cumbersome due to boilerplate type representation administration. In this paper we focus on improving such functions by providing a new GADT annotation via a natural synergy with dynamics. We formally define the semantics of the annotation and touch on novel other applications of this technique such as type dispatching and enforcing type equality invariants on GADT values.

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

We argue that spatial dispersal influences labour market assimilation of refugees through two mechanisms: first, the local job offer arrival rate and, second, place utility. Our partial search model with simultaneous job and residential location search predicts that the reservation wage for local...... by evaluating the employment effects of the Danish spatial dispersal policy carried out 1986-1998....

Social innovation in employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oeij, P.R.A.; Torre, W. van der; Santoclides, M.E

2017-01-01

This policy brief on Social Innovation of Employment informs on an inventory of challenges and policy recommendations based on the Case Study Report of Employment and on the Second Policy Foresight Workshop of Employment. A ‘paradigm shift’ is needed in the mind-set of policymakers. ‘Traditional’

Shared temporoparietal dysfunction in dyslexia and typical readers with discrepantly high IQ.

Science.gov (United States)

Hancock, Roeland; Gabrieli, John D E; Hoeft, Fumiko

2016-12-01

It is currently believed that reading disability (RD) should be defined by reading level without regard to broader aptitude (IQ). There is debate, however, about how to classify individuals who read in the typical range but less well than would be expected by their higher IQ. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 49 children to examine whether those with typical, but discrepantly low reading ability relative to IQ, show dyslexia-like activation patterns during reading. Children who were typical readers with high-IQ discrepancy showed reduced activation in left temporoparietal neocortex relative to two control groups of typical readers without IQ discrepancy. This pattern was consistent and spatially overlapping with results in children with RD compared to typically reading children. The results suggest a shared neurological atypicality in regions associated with phonological processing between children with dyslexia and children with typical reading ability that is substantially below their IQ.

How Full is Full Employment? : How Tools and Not Theory Explained Full Employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodenburg, P.

2016-01-01

The post-war debate on full employment policy was blurred and unclear since the concept of full employment itself was theoretically unclear and un-operational. Unable to theoretically determine the unemployment level of full employment, economists tried to find more empirically based ways to

Employer attractiveness from a generational perspective: Implications for employer branding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Germano Glufke Reis

2016-03-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify the employer attractiveness factors prioritized by different generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The survey was conducted with a sample of 937 professionals, working in various areas and companies, most of them were managers and had a high education level. The Employer Attractiveness Scale proposed by Berthon et al. (2005 was adopted and the results indicate that, when choosing a company, the generations under study have specific features regarding the attractiveness attributes they prioritize. It was also observed that Generation Y discriminates and ranks such attributes more clearly than the others. Possible implications for employer branding and research limitations are discussed at the end of the article.

Business/Employers Influenza Toolkit

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This podcast promotes the "Make It Your Business To Fight The Flu" toolkit for Businesses and Employers. The toolkit provides information and recommended strategies to help businesses and employers promote the seasonal flu vaccine. Additionally, employers will find flyers, posters, and other materials to post and distribute in the workplace.

Phase field modelling of dynamic thermal fracture in the context of irradiation damage

CERN Document Server

Schlüter, Alexander; Müller, Ralf; Tomut, Marilena; Trautmann , Christina; Weick, Helmut; Plate, Carolin

2015-01-01

This work presents a continuum mechanics approach to model fracturing processes in brittle materials that are subjected to rapidly applied high-temperature gradients. Such a type of loading typically occurs when a solid is exposed to an intense high-energy particle beam that deposits a large amount of energy into a small sample volume. Given the rapid energy deposition leading to a fast temperature increase, dynamic effects have to be considered. Our existing phase field model for dynamic fracture is thus extended in a way that allows modelling of thermally induced fracture. A finite element scheme is employed to solve the governing partial differential equations numerically. Finally, the functionality of our model is illustrated by two examples.

Detection of the Typical Pulse Condition on Cun-Guan-Chi Based on Image Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aihua ZHANG

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In order to simulate the diagnosis by feeling the pulse with Traditional Chinese Medicine, a device based on CCD was designed to detect the pulse image of Cun-Guan-Chi. Using the MM-3 pulse model as experimental subject, the synchronous pulse image data of some typical pulse condition were collected by this device on Cun-Guan-Chi. The typical pulses include the normal pulse, the slippery pulse, the slow pulse and the soft pulse. According to the lens imaging principle, the pulse waves were extracted by using the area method, then the 3D pulse condition image was restructured and some features were extracted including the period, the frequency, the width, and the length. The slippery pulse data of pregnant women were collected by this device, and the pulse images were analyzed. The results are consistent based on comparing the features of the slippery pulse model with the slippery pulse of pregnant women. This study overcame shortages of the existing detection device such as the few detecting parts and the limited information, and more comprehensive 3D pulse condition information could be obtained. This work laid a foundation for realizing the objective diagnosis and revealing the comprehensive information of the pulse.

Institutionalized Employer Collective Action

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ibsen, Christian Lyhne; Navrbjerg, Steen Erik

2016-01-01

Recent studies show that employer associations continue to exist in new ways despite internationalisation of the economy, liberalisation of markets and the decline of trade unions. This paradox raises two questions regarding EOs in today’s labour markets: Which employers join employer associations...... and what kind of services do EOs offer employers? This article explores these questions using two comprehensive surveys on EOs in Denmark – a prominent case of coordinated market economies. The main finding of the analyses is that collective activities vis-à-vis trade unions and government are still...

Does employment security modify the effect of housing affordability on mental health?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Bentley

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper uses longitudinal data to examine the interrelationship between two central social determinants of mental health – employment security and housing affordability.Data from ten annual waves of the longitudinal Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA survey (which commenced in 2000/1 and is ongoing were analysed using fixed-effects longitudinal linear regression. Change in the SF-36 Mental Component Summary (MCS score of working age individuals (25–64 years (51,885 observations of 10,776 people, associated with changes in housing affordability was examined. Models were adjusted for income, age, survey year, experience of serious injury/illness and separation/divorce. We tested for an additive interaction between the security of a household's employment arrangements and housing affordability.People in insecurely employed households appear more vulnerable than people in securely employed households to negative mental health effects of housing becoming unaffordable. In adjusted models, people in insecurely employed households whose housing became unaffordable experienced a decline in mental health (B=−1.06, 95% CI −1.75 to −0.38 while people in securely employed households experienced no difference on average.To progress our understanding of the Social Determinants of Health this analysis provides evidence of the need to bridge the (largely artificial separation of social determinants, and understand how they are related.

Gender Gap in the National College Entrance Exam Performance in China: A Case Study of a Typical Chinese Municipality

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yu; Tsang, Mun

2015-01-01

This is one of the first studies to investigate gender achievement gap in the National College Entrance Exam in a typical municipality in China, which is the crucial examination for the transition from high school to higher education in that country. Using ordinary least square model and quantile regression model, the study consistently finds that…

Age and disability employment discrimination: occupational rehabilitation implications.

Science.gov (United States)