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Sample records for objectives recommended actions

  1. 42 CFR 137.444 - If a Self-Governance Tribe objects to the recommended decision, what action will the Secretary take?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false If a Self-Governance Tribe objects to the... SERVICES TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNANCE Appeals Appeals of An Immediate Reassumption of A Self-Governance Program § 137.444 If a Self-Governance Tribe objects to the recommended decision, what action will the Secretary...

  2. Recommended action levels for radon in dwellings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    The recommendation made by a group appointed by the Directorate of Public Health, arrives at the conclusion that radon in Norwegian dwellings implies a substantial health problem for the country. For this reason it is recommended that actions should be taken to reduce the radiation exposure from radon in Norway. Upper levels for such actions are set to 200 Bq/m 3 (radon in air of dwellings) for new contructions. For existing dwellings having concentrations of 200 - 800 Bq/m 3 , simple and unexpensive remedial actions to reduce levels are sufficient. When levels exceed 800 Bq/m 3 , more elaborate and costly actions are necessary. An evaluation of the extent of the radon problem in Norway is included, together with a survey of the cost and benefit involved in choosing various levels for remedial actions

  3. Tracking in Object Action Space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krüger, Volker; Herzog, Dennis

    2013-01-01

    the space of the object affordances, i.e., the space of possible actions that are applied on a given object. This way, 3D body tracking reduces to action tracking in the object (and context) primed parameter space of the object affordances. This reduces the high-dimensional joint-space to a low...

  4. Mechanisms underlying selecting objects for action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie eWulff

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available We assessed the factors which affect the selection of objects for action, focusing on the role of action knowledge and its modulation by distracters. 14 neuropsychological patients and 10 healthy aged-matched controls selected pairs of objects commonly used together among distracters in two contexts: with real objects and with pictures of the same objects presented sequentially on a computer screen. Across both tasks, semantically related distracters led to slower responses and more errors than unrelated distracters and the object actively used for action was selected prior to the object that would be passively held during the action. We identified a sub-group of patients (N=6 whose accuracy was 2SD below the controls performances in the real object task. Interestingly, these impaired patients were more affected by the presence of unrelated distracters during both tasks than intact patients and healthy controls. Note the impaired had lesions to left parietal, right anterior temporal and bilateral pre-motor regions. We conclude that: (1 motor procedures guide object selection for action, (2 semantic knowledge affects action-based selection, (3 impaired action decision is associated with the inability to ignore distracting information and (4 lesions to either the dorsal or ventral visual stream can lead to deficits in making action decisions. Overall, the data indicate that impairments in everyday tasks can be evaluated using a simulated computer task. The implications for rehabilitation are discussed.

  5. Object and Action Naming: A Study on Persian-Speaking Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Nilipour

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Nouns and verbs are the central conceptual linguistic units of language acquisition in all human languages. While the noun-bias hypothesis claims that nouns have a privilege in children’s lexical development across languages, studies on Mandarin and Korean and other languages have challenged this view. More recent cross-linguistic naming studies on children in German, Turkish, English and Korean demonstrate that all languages, including Korean show a noun advantage however the degree of this discrepancy differs between languages. The aim of this study wasto look at object and action naming in normal Persian children as a measure of conceptual developmentin preschool children and its possible use for screening and therapeutic procedures. Methods: In this analytical study, noun bias and processing dissociation of object and action naming in 64 three to six year old healthy monolingual Persian-speaking children was investigated. A black and white picture naming task, consisting of 36 nouns (natural and man-made, and 36 verbs (transitive and intransitive was designed using DMDX software to measure response accuracy and reaction time of the subjects. Results: The results indicate a significant noun advantage with regard to accuracy and naming latencies. The results also reveal that transitive verbs are named more accurately than intransitive ones in Persianspeaking children. Also,the data indicate that accuracy of object and action namingimprove with age (P=0.000. Discussion: Based on the resultswe recommended that a standardized Persian object and action naming battery be used. Such a tool would have the potential of screening lexical development delay and possible noun-verb performance gap in preschool children.

  6. Treatment Recommendation Actions, Contingencies, and Responses: An Introduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stivers, Tanya; Barnes, Rebecca K

    2017-08-21

    In the era of patient participation in health care decision making, we know surprisingly little about the ways in which treatment recommendations are made, the contexts that shape their formulation, and the consequences of these formulations. In this article, we introduce a systematic collective investigation of how recommendations for medications are responded to and made in primary versus secondary care, in the US versus the UK, and in contexts where the medication was over the counter versus by prescription. This article provides an overview of the coding system that was used in this project including describing what constitutes a recommendation, the primary action types clinicians use for recommendations, and the types of responses provided by patients to recommendations.

  7. The role of objects and effects in action imitation: Comparing the imitation of object-related actions vs. gestures in 18-month-old infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ziyon; Óturai, Gabriella; Király, Ildikó; Knopf, Monika

    2015-11-01

    This study aimed to systematically investigate 18-month-old infants' imitation of object-related actions compared to motorically similar gestures. An additional goal of the study was to examine the role of action effects on infants' imitation of target actions. One group of infants (n=17) observed object-related actions and gestures leading to salient effects (sounds or visual resp. social effects), and the other group (n=16) watched the same actions without effects. Furthermore, this study examined whether infants show a consistent imitation ability for object-related actions and gestures. First, the present study showed that 18-month-old infants imitated object-related actions more frequently than gestures. Second, the presence of an effect significantly increased the imitation rate of object-related actions; however, this difference was not found for gestures. Third, indications for a general imitation ability were found as results on an individual level showed that object-related action imitation significantly correlated with gesture imitation. Implications of the results for theory and future studies are discussed with a focus on the role of objects and effects in 18-month-old infants' action imitation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. 41 CFR 101-39.402 - Recommendations for disciplinary action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... VEHICLES 39-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.4-Accidents and Claims § 101-39.402 Recommendations for... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Recommendations for disciplinary action. 101-39.402 Section 101-39.402 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property...

  9. Psychosocial care for cancer: a framework to guide practice, and actionable recommendations for Ontario

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turnbull Macdonald, G.C.; Baldassarre, F.; Brown, P.; Hatton–Bauer, J.; Li, M.; Green, E.; Lebel, S.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives We set out to create a psychosocial oncology care framework and a set of relevant recommendations that can be used to improve the quality of comprehensive cancer care for Ontario patients and their families.meet the psychosocial health care needs of cancer patients and their families at both the provider and system levels. Data Sources and Methods The adapte process and the practice guideline development cycle were used to adapt the 10 recommendations from the 2008 U.S. Institute of Medicine standard Cancer Care for the Whole Patient: Meeting Psychosocial Health Needs into the psychosocial oncology care framework. In addition, the evidence contained in the original document was used, in combination with the expertise of the working group, to create a set of actionable recommendations. Refinement after formal external review was conducted. Data Extraction and Synthesis The new framework consists of 8 defining domains. Of those 8 domains, 7 were adapted from recommendations in the source document; 1 new domain, to raise awareness about the need for psychosocial support of cancer patients and their families, was added. To ensure high-quality psychosocial care and services, 31 actionable recommendations were created. The document was submitted to an external review process. More than 70% of practitioners rated the quality of the advice document as high and reported that they would recommend its use. Conclusions This advice document advocates for a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care in response to the distress experienced by cancer patients and their families. The recommendations will be useful in future to measure performance, quality of practice, and access to psychosocial services. PMID:22876147

  10. A novel video recommendation system based on efficient retrieval of human actions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramezani, Mohsen; Yaghmaee, Farzin

    2016-09-01

    In recent years, fast growth of online video sharing eventuated new issues such as helping users to find their requirements in an efficient way. Hence, Recommender Systems (RSs) are used to find the users' most favorite items. Finding these items relies on items or users similarities. Though, many factors like sparsity and cold start user impress the recommendation quality. In some systems, attached tags are used for searching items (e.g. videos) as personalized recommendation. Different views, incomplete and inaccurate tags etc. can weaken the performance of these systems. Considering the advancement of computer vision techniques can help improving RSs. To this end, content based search can be used for finding items (here, videos are considered). In such systems, a video is taken from the user to find and recommend a list of most similar videos to the query one. Due to relating most videos to humans, we present a novel low complex scalable method to recommend videos based on the model of included action. This method has recourse to human action retrieval approaches. For modeling human actions, some interest points are extracted from each action and their motion information are used to compute the action representation. Moreover, a fuzzy dissimilarity measure is presented to compare videos for ranking them. The experimental results on HMDB, UCFYT, UCF sport and KTH datasets illustrated that, in most cases, the proposed method can reach better results than most used methods.

  11. Effects of navigated TMS on object and action naming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julio Cesar Hernandez-Pavon

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS has been used to induce speech disturbances and to affect speech performance during different naming tasks. Lately, repetitive navigated TMS (nTMS has been used for non-invasive mapping of cortical speech-related areas. Different naming tasks may give different information that can be useful for presurgical evaluation. We studied the sensitivity of object and action naming tasks to nTMS and compared the distributions of cortical sites where nTMS produced naming errors. Eight healthy subjects named pictures of objects and actions during repetitive nTMS delivered to semi-random left-hemispheric sites. Subject-validated image stacks were obtained in the baseline naming of all pictures before nTMS. Thereafter, nTMS pulse trains were delivered while the subjects were naming the images of objects or actions. The sessions were video-recorded for offline analysis. Naming during nTMS was compared with the baseline performance. The nTMS-induced naming errors were categorized by error type and location. nTMS produced no-response errors, phonological paraphasias, and semantic paraphasias. In seven out of eight subjects, nTMS produced more errors during object than action naming. Both intrasubject and intersubject analysis showed that object naming was significantly more sensitive to nTMS. When the number of errors was compared according to a given area, nTMS to postcentral gyrus induced more errors during object than action naming. Object naming is apparently more easily disrupted by TMS than action naming. Different stimulus types can be useful for locating different aspects of speech functions. This provides new possibilities in both basic and clinical research of cortical speech representations.

  12. Direct and indirect pathways for choosing objects and actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hikosaka, Okihide; Kim, Hyoung F; Amita, Hidetoshi; Yasuda, Masaharu; Isoda, Masaki; Tachibana, Yoshihisa; Yoshida, Atsushi

    2018-02-23

    A prominent target of the basal ganglia is the superior colliculus (SC) which controls gaze orientation (saccadic eye movement in primates) to an important object. This 'object choice' is crucial for choosing an action on the object. SC is innervated by the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) which is controlled mainly by the caudate nucleus (CD). This CD-SNr-SC circuit is sensitive to the values of individual objects and facilitates saccades to good objects. The object values are processed differently in two parallel circuits: flexibly by the caudate head (CDh) and stably by the caudate tail (CDt). To choose good objects, we need to reject bad objects. In fact, these contrasting functions are accomplished by the circuit originating from CDt: The direct pathway focuses on good objects and facilitates saccades to them; the indirect pathway focuses on bad objects and suppresses saccades to them. Inactivation of CDt deteriorated the object choice, because saccades to bad objects were no longer suppressed. This suggests that the indirect pathway is important for object choice. However, the direct and indirect pathways for 'object choice', which aim at the same action (i.e., saccade), may not work for 'action choice'. One possibility is that circuits controlling different actions are connected through the indirect pathway. Additional connections of the indirect pathway with brain areas outside the basal ganglia may also provide a wider range of behavioral choice. In conclusion, basal ganglia circuits are composed of the basic direct/indirect pathways and additional connections and thus have acquired multiple functions. © 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Behavioral Recommendations in Health Research News as Cues to Action: Self-Relevancy and Self-Efficacy Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chingching

    2016-08-01

    This study argues that behavioral recommendations in health news function as cues to action. A proposed self-oriented model seeks to explore the impacts of behavioral recommendations in health research news as cues to action through their influences on self-relevancy and self-efficacy. A content analysis (Study 1) first establishes that health research news commonly features behavioral recommendations. A message experiment (Study 2) then explores the utility of behavioral recommendations as cues to action by demonstrating a self-relevancy effect: Health research news with, as opposed to without, behavioral recommendations increases the self-relevancy of advocated health behaviors, which then improve people's attitudes toward and intentions to adopt those behaviors. A second message experiment (Study 3) tests whether varying presentations of behavioral recommendations alter their effectiveness as cues to action and thus people's behavioral intentions through a dual effect process. In addition to the previously demonstrated self-relevancy effect, this experiment shows that concrete, as opposed to abstract, behavioral recommendations trigger a self-efficacy effect, increasing perceived self-efficacy and further improving behavioral intentions.

  14. Birth of the Object: Detection of Objectness and Extraction of Object Shape through Object Action Complexes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kraft, Dirk; Pugeault, Nicolas; Baseski, Emre

    2008-01-01

    We describe a process in which the segmentation of objects as well as the extraction of the object shape becomes realized through active exploration of a robot vision system. In the exploration process, two behavioral modules that link robot actions to the visual and haptic perception of objects...... interact. First, by making use of an object independent grasping mechanism, physical control over potential objects can be gained. Having evaluated the initial grasping mechanism as being successful, a second behavior extracts the object shape by making use of prediction based on the motion induced...... system, knowledge about its own embodiment as well as knowledge about geometric relationships such as rigid body motion. This prior knowledge allows the extraction of representations that are semantically richer compared to many other approaches....

  15. Objects Mediate Goal Integration in Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex during Action Observation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mari Hrkać

    Full Text Available Actions performed by others are mostly not observed in isolation, but embedded in sequences of actions tied together by an overarching goal. Therefore, preceding actions can modulate the observer's expectations in relation to the currently perceived action. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC, and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG in particular, is suggested to subserve the integration of episodic as well as semantic information and memory, including action scripts. The present fMRI study investigated if activation in IFG varies with the effort to integrate expected and observed action, even when not required by the task. During an fMRI session, participants were instructed to attend to short videos of single actions and to deliver a judgment about the actor's current goal. We manipulated the strength of goal expectation induced by the preceding action, implementing the parameter "goal-relatedness" between the preceding and the currently observed action. Moreover, since objects point to the probability of certain actions, we also manipulated whether the current and the preceding action shared at least one object or not. We found an interaction between the two factors goal-relatedness and shared object: IFG activation increased the weaker the goal-relatedness between the preceding and the current action was, but only when they shared at least one object. Here, integration of successive action steps was triggered by the re-appearing (shared object but hampered by a weak goal-relatedness between the actually observed manipulation. These findings foster the recently emerging view that IFG is enhanced by goal-related conflicts during action observation.

  16. Recommendations for actions concerning supporting ITS developments for VRUs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mans, D.; Giannelos, I.; Breemen, R. van; Rood, M.; Silla, A.; Rämä, P.; Scholliers, J.; Perez, O.M.; Malone, K.

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: This paper presents some of the work conducted in FP7 VRUITS project to draw a set of general recommendations for actions at the EU level aiming to enhance the deployment of ITS systems directed to improve the safety, mobility and comfort of vulnerable road users. Method: The work

  17. The left IPL represents stored hand-postures for object use and action prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michiel evan Elk

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Action semantics enables us to plan actions with objects and to predict others’ object-directed actions as well. Previous studies have suggested that action semantics are represented in a fronto-parietal action network that has also been implicated to play a role in action observation. In the present fMRI study it was investigated how activity within this network changes as a function of the predictability of an action involving multiple objects and requiring the use of action semantics. Participants performed an action prediction task in which they were required to anticipate the use of a centrally presented object that could be moved to an associated target object (e.g. hammer - nail. The availability of actor information (i.e. presenting a hand grasping the central object and the number of possible target objects (i.e. 0, 1 or 2 target objects were independently manipulated, resulting in different levels of predictability. It was found that making an action prediction based on actor information resulted in an increased activation in the extrastriate body area (EBA and the fronto-parietal action observation network (AON. Predicting actions involving a target object resulted in increased activation in the bilateral IPL and frontal motor areas. Within the AON, activity in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL and the left premotor cortex (PMC increased as a function of the level of action predictability. Together these findings suggest that the left IPL represents stored hand-postures that can be used for planning object-directed actions and for predicting other’s actions as well.

  18. Perspectives on object manipulation and action grammar for percussive actions in primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Misato

    2015-11-19

    The skill of object manipulation is a common feature of primates including humans, although there are species-typical patterns of manipulation. Object manipulation can be used as a comparative scale of cognitive development, focusing on its complexity. Nut cracking in chimpanzees has the highest hierarchical complexity of tool use reported in non-human primates. An analysis of the patterns of object manipulation in naive chimpanzees after nut-cracking demonstrations revealed the cause of difficulties in learning nut-cracking behaviour. Various types of behaviours exhibited within a nut-cracking context can be examined in terms of the application of problem-solving strategies, focusing on their basis in causal understanding or insightful intentionality. Captive chimpanzees also exhibit complex forms of combinatory manipulation, which is the precursor of tool use. A new notation system of object manipulation was invented to assess grammatical rules in manipulative actions. The notation system of action grammar enabled direct comparisons to be made between primates including humans in a variety of object-manipulation tasks, including percussive-tool use. © 2015 The Author(s).

  19. Object-Action Complexes: Grounded Abstractions of Sensori-motor Processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krüger, Norbert; Geib, Christopher; Piater, Justus

    2011-01-01

    This paper formalises Object-Action Complexes (OACs) as a basis for symbolic representations of sensorimotor experience and behaviours. OACs are designed to capture the interaction between objects and associated actions in articial cognitive systems. This paper gives a formal denition of OACs, pr......, provides examples of their use for autonomous cognitive robots, and enumerates a number of critical learning problems in terms of OACs....

  20. Diffusion-like recommendation with enhanced similarity of objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Ya-Hui; Dong, Qiang; Sun, Chong-Jing; Nie, Da-Cheng; Fu, Yan

    2016-11-01

    In the last decade, diversity and accuracy have been regarded as two important measures in evaluating a recommendation model. However, a clear concern is that a model focusing excessively on one measure will put the other one at risk, thus it is not easy to greatly improve diversity and accuracy simultaneously. In this paper, we propose to enhance the Resource-Allocation (RA) similarity in resource transfer equations of diffusion-like models, by giving a tunable exponent to the RA similarity, and traversing the value of this exponent to achieve the optimal recommendation results. In this way, we can increase the recommendation scores (allocated resource) of many unpopular objects. Experiments on three benchmark data sets, MovieLens, Netflix and RateYourMusic show that the modified models can yield remarkable performance improvement compared with the original ones.

  1. ICT Competence-Based Learning Object Recommendations for Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sergis, Stylianos; Zervas, Panagiotis; Sampson, Demetrios G.

    2014-01-01

    Recommender Systems (RS) have been applied in the Technology enhanced Learning (TeL) field for facilitating, among others, Learning Object (LO) selection and retrieval. Most of the existing approaches, however, aim at accommodating the needs of learners and teacher-oriented RS are still an under-investigated field. Moreover, the systems that focus…

  2. Multi-agent system for Knowledge-based recommendation of Learning Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Andrea RODRÍGUEZ MARÍN

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Learning Object (LO is a content unit being used within virtual learning environments, which -once found and retrieved- may assist students in the teaching - learning process. Such LO search and retrieval are recently supported and enhanced by data mining techniques. In this sense, clustering can be used to find groups holding similar LOs so that from obtained groups, knowledge-based recommender systems (KRS can recommend more adapted and relevant LOs. In particular, prior knowledge come from LOs previously selected, liked and ranked by the student to whom the recommendation will be performed. In this paper, we present a KRS for LOs, which uses a conventional clustering technique, namely K-means, aimed at finding similar LOs and delivering resources adapted to a specific student. Obtained promising results show that proposed KRS is able to both retrieve relevant LO and improve the recommendation precision.Learning Object (LO is a content unit being used within virtual learning environments, which -once found and retrieved- may assist students in the teaching - learning process. Such LO search and retrieval are recently supported and enhanced by data mining techniques. In this sense, clustering can be used to find groups holding similar LOs so that from obtained groups, knowledge-based recommender systems (KRS can recommend more adapted and relevant LOs. In particular, prior knowledge come from LOs previously selected, liked and ranked by the student to whom the recommendation will be performed. In this paper, we present a KRS for LOs, which uses a conventional clustering technique, namely K-means, aimed at finding similar LOs and delivering resources adapted to a specific student. Obtained promising results show that proposed KRS is able to both retrieve relevant LO and improve the recommendation precision.

  3. The impact of fear appeals on processing and acceptance of action recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Hoog, Natascha; Stroebe, Wolfgang; de Wit, John B F

    2005-01-01

    A stage model of processing of fear-arousing communications was tested in an experiment that examined the impact of vulnerability to a severe health risk, the quality of the arguments supporting a protective action recommendation, and the source to which the recommendation was attributed, on processing and acceptance of the recommendation. Argument quality influenced attitudes toward the recommendation (but not intention to act), and this effect was mediated by negative thoughts about the recommendation. Vulnerability influenced intention to act (but not attitudes), and this effect was mediated by perceived threat and positive thoughts about the recommendation. The pattern of findings suggests that although vulnerability to a severe health risk induces biased processing of the recommendation, biased processing is restricted to intentions and does not compromise the evaluation of the recommendation. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

  4. Action and object processing in brain-injured speakers of Chinese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arévalo, Analia L; Lu, Ching-Ching; Huang, Lydia B-Y; Bates, Elizabeth A; Dronkers, Nina F

    2011-11-01

    To see whether action and object processing across different tasks and modalities differs in brain-injured speakers of Chinese with varying fluency and lesion locations within the left hemisphere. Words and pictures representing actions and objects were presented to a group of 33 participants whose native and/or dominant language was Mandarin Chinese: 23 patients with left-hemisphere lesions due to stroke and 10 language-, age- and education-matched healthy control participants. A set of 120 stimulus items was presented to each participant in three different forms: as black and white line drawings (for picture-naming), as written words (for reading) and as aurally presented words (for word repetition). Patients were divided into groups for two separate analyses: Analysis 1 divided and compared patients based on fluency (Fluent vs. Nonfluent) and Analysis 2 compared patients based on lesion location (Anterior vs. Posterior). Both analyses yielded similar results: Fluent, Nonfluent, Anterior, and Posterior patients all produced significantly more errors when processing action (M = 0.73, SD = 0.45) relative to object (M = 0.79, SD = 0.41) stimuli, and this effect was strongest in the picture-naming task. As in our previous study with English-speaking participants using the same experimental design (Arévalo et al., 2007, Arévalo, Moineau, Saygin, Ludy, & Bates, 2005), we did not find evidence for a double-dissociation in action and object processing between groups with different lesion and fluency profiles. These combined data bring us closer to a more informed view of action/object processing in the brain in both healthy and brain-injured individuals.

  5. Action Plan and Timetable for the Implementation of the ERC's Recommendations

    CERN Document Server

    2002-01-01

    Following the External Review Committee's (ERC) Report (CERN/2444) and Council's statement after the discussions in the June 2002 Committees, the Management presents in this document an Action Plan and a time table, aiming at coherent detailing and implementation of the recommendations of the ERC.

  6. Action Plan and Timetable for the Implementation of the ERC's Recommendations

    CERN Document Server

    2002-01-01

    Following the External Review Committee's (ERC) Report (CERN/2444) and Council's statement after the discussions in the June 2002 Committees, the Management presents in this document an Action Plan and a time table, aiming at coherent detailing and implementation of the recommendations of the ERC

  7. Sensory and semantic activations evoked by action attributes of manipulable objects: Evidence from ERPs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chia-lin; Huang, Hsu-Wen; Federmeier, Kara D.; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

    2018-01-01

    “Two route” theories of object-related action processing posit different temporal activation profiles of grasp-to-move actions (rapidly evoked based on object structure) versus skilled use actions (more slowly activated based on semantic knowledge). We capitalized on the exquisite temporal resolution and multidimensionality of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to directly test this hypothesis. Participants viewed manipulable objects (e.g., calculator) preceded by objects sharing either “grasp”, “use”, or no action attributes (e.g., bar of soap, keyboard, earring, respectively), as well as by action-unrelated but taxonomically-related objects (e.g., abacus); participants judged whether the two objects were related. The results showed more positive responses to “grasp-to-move” primed objects than “skilled use” primed objects or unprimed objects starting in the P1 (0–150 ms) time window and continuing onto the subsequent N1 and P2 components (150–300 ms), suggesting that only “grasp-to-move”, but not “skilled use”, actions may facilitate visual attention to object attributes. Furthermore, reliably reduced N400s (300–500 ms), an index of semantic processing, were observed to taxonomically primed and “skilled use” primed objects relative to unprimed objects, suggesting that “skilled use” action attributes are a component of distributed, multimodal semantic representations of objects. Together, our findings provide evidence supporting two-route theories by demonstrating that “grasp-to-move” and “skilled use” actions impact different aspects of object processing and highlight the relationship of “skilled use” information to other aspects of semantic memory. PMID:29183777

  8. Abstract Representations of Object-Directed Action in the Left Inferior Parietal Lobule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Quanjing; Garcea, Frank E; Jacobs, Robert A; Mahon, Bradford Z

    2018-06-01

    Prior neuroimaging and neuropsychological research indicates that the left inferior parietal lobule in the human brain is a critical substrate for representing object manipulation knowledge. In the present functional MRI study we used multivoxel pattern analyses to test whether action similarity among objects can be decoded in the inferior parietal lobule independent of the task applied to objects (identification or pantomime) and stimulus format in which stimuli are presented (pictures or printed words). Participants pantomimed the use of objects, cued by printed words, or identified pictures of objects. Classifiers were trained and tested across task (e.g., training data: pantomime; testing data: identification), stimulus format (e.g., training data: word format; testing format: picture) and specific objects (e.g., training data: scissors vs. corkscrew; testing data: pliers vs. screwdriver). The only brain region in which action relations among objects could be decoded across task, stimulus format and objects was the inferior parietal lobule. By contrast, medial aspects of the ventral surface of the left temporal lobe represented object function, albeit not at the same level of abstractness as actions in the inferior parietal lobule. These results suggest compulsory access to abstract action information in the inferior parietal lobe even when simply identifying objects.

  9. On the Dynamics of Action Representations Evoked by Names of Manipulable Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bub, Daniel N.; Masson, Michael E. J.

    2012-01-01

    Two classes of hand action representations are shown to be activated by listening to the name of a manipulable object (e.g., cellphone). The functional action associated with the proper use of an object is evoked soon after the onset of its name, as indicated by primed execution of that action. Priming is sustained throughout the duration of the…

  10. The Slippery Road from Actions on Objects to Functions and Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paz, Tamar; Leron, Uri

    2009-01-01

    Functions are all around us, disguised as actions on concrete objects. Composition of functions, too, is all around us, because these actions can be performed in succession, the output of one serving as the input for the next. In terms of Gray and Tall's (2001) "embodied objects" or Lakoff and Nunez's (2000) "mathematical idea…

  11. Dissociable intrinsic functional networks support noun-object and verb-action processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Huichao; Lin, Qixiang; Han, Zaizhu; Li, Hongyu; Song, Luping; Chen, Lingjuan; He, Yong; Bi, Yanchao

    2017-12-01

    The processing mechanism of verbs-actions and nouns-objects is a central topic of language research, with robust evidence for behavioral dissociation. The neural basis for these two major word and/or conceptual classes, however, remains controversial. Two experiments were conducted to study this question from the network perspective. Experiment 1 found that nodes of the same class, obtained through task-evoked brain imaging meta-analyses, were more strongly connected with each other than nodes of different classes during resting-state, forming segregated network modules. Experiment 2 examined the behavioral relevance of these intrinsic networks using data from 88 brain-damaged patients, finding that across patients the relative strength of functional connectivity of the two networks significantly correlated with the noun-object vs. verb-action relative behavioral performances. In summary, we found that verbs-actions and nouns-objects are supported by separable intrinsic functional networks and that the integrity of such networks accounts for the relative noun-object- and verb-action-selective deficits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wynes, Seth; Nicholas, Kimberly A.

    2017-07-01

    Current anthropogenic climate change is the result of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, which records the aggregation of billions of individual decisions. Here we consider a broad range of individual lifestyle choices and calculate their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries, based on 148 scenarios from 39 sources. We recommend four widely applicable high-impact (i.e. low emissions) actions with the potential to contribute to systemic change and substantially reduce annual personal emissions: having one fewer child (an average for developed countries of 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) emission reductions per year), living car-free (2.4 tCO2e saved per year), avoiding airplane travel (1.6 tCO2e saved per roundtrip transatlantic flight) and eating a plant-based diet (0.8 tCO2e saved per year). These actions have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies like comprehensive recycling (four times less effective than a plant-based diet) or changing household lightbulbs (eight times less). Though adolescents poised to establish lifelong patterns are an important target group for promoting high-impact actions, we find that ten high school science textbooks from Canada largely fail to mention these actions (they account for 4% of their recommended actions), instead focusing on incremental changes with much smaller potential emissions reductions. Government resources on climate change from the EU, USA, Canada, and Australia also focus recommendations on lower-impact actions. We conclude that there are opportunities to improve existing educational and communication structures to promote the most effective emission-reduction strategies and close this mitigation gap.

  13. An Adaptable Robot Vision System Performing Manipulation Actions With Flexible Objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bodenhagen, Leon; Fugl, Andreas R.; Jordt, Andreas

    2014-01-01

    system should be viewed as a library of new technologies that have been proven to work in close to industrial conditions. As a rather basic, but necessary part, we provide a technology for determining the shape of the object when passing on, e. g., a conveyor belt prior to being handled. The main......This paper describes an adaptable system which is able to perform manipulation operations (such as Peg-in-Hole or Laying-Down actions) with flexible objects. As such objects easily change their shape significantly during the execution of an action, traditional strategies, e. g., for solve path......, operating in real-time. Simulations have been used to bootstrap the learning of optimal actions, which are subsequently improved through real-world executions. To achieve reproducible results, we demonstrate this for casted silicone test objects of regular shape. Note to Practitioners-The aim of this work...

  14. Identifying relevant feature-action associations for grasping unmodelled objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Mikkel Tang; Kraft, Dirk; Krüger, Norbert

    2015-01-01

    content. The method is provided with a large and structured set of visual features, motivated by the visual hierarchy in primates and finds relevant feature action associations automatically. We apply our method in a simulated environment on three different object sets for the case of grasp affordance...... learning. For box objects, we achieve a 0.90 success probability, 0.80 for round objects and up to 0.75 for open objects, when presented with novel objects. In this work, we in particular demonstrate the effect of choosing appropriate feature representations. We demonstrate a significant performance...

  15. Cortical processing of object affordances for self and others’ action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica eMaranesi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The perception of objects does not rely only on visual brain areas, but also involves cortical motor regions. In particular, different parietal and premotor areas host neurons discharging during both object observation and grasping. Most of these cells often show similar visual and motor selectivity for a specific object (or set of objects, suggesting that they might play a crucial role in representing the potential motor act afforded by the object. The existence of such a mechanism for the visuomotor transformation of object physical properties in the most appropriate motor plan for interacting with them has been convincingly demonstrated in humans as well. Interestingly, human studies have shown that visually presented objects can automatically trigger the representation of an action provided that they are located within the observer’s reaching space (peripersonal space. The affordance effect also occurs when the presented object is outside the observer’s peripersonal space, but inside the peripersonal space of an observed agent. These findings recently received direct support by single neuron studies in monkey, indicating that space-constrained processing of objects in the ventral premotor cortex might be relevant to represent objects as potential targets for one’s own or others' action.

  16. Fear appeals motivate acceptance of action recommendations: evidence for a positive bias in the processing of persuasive messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Enny H H J; de Wit, John B F; Stroebe, Wolfgang

    2003-05-01

    Three experiments are reported that tested the hypothesis that the use of fear appeals in health persuasion may lead to positively biased systematic processing of a subsequent action recommendation aimed at reducing the health threat and, consequently, to more persuasion, regardless of the quality of the arguments in the recommendation. The levels of participants' vulnerability to as well as the severity of a health risk were varied independently, followed by a manipulation of the quality of the arguments in the subsequent action recommendation. The dependent variables included measures of persuasion (attitude, intention, and action), negative affect, and cognitive responses. The results show that participants who felt vulnerable to the health threat were more persuaded, experienced more negative emotions, and had more favorable cognitive responses. Both negative emotions concerning one's vulnerability and positive thoughts concerning the recommendation mediated the effects of vulnerability on persuasion.

  17. Neural regions supporting lexical processing of objects and actions: A case series analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bonnie L Breining

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Linking semantic representations to lexical items is an important cognitive process for both producing and comprehending language. Past research has suggested that the bilateral anterior temporal lobes are critical for this process (e.g. Patterson, Nestor, & Rogers, 2007. However, the majority of studies focused on object concepts alone, ignoring actions. The few that considered actions suggest that the temporal poles are not critical for their processing (e.g. Kemmerer et al., 2010. In this case series, we investigated the neural substrates of linking object and action concepts to lexical labels by correlating the volume of defined regions of interest with behavioral performance on picture-word verification and picture naming tasks of individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA. PPA is a neurodegenerative condition with heterogeneous neuropathological causes, characterized by increasing language deficits for at least two years in the face of relatively intact cognitive function in other domains (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011. This population displays appropriate heterogeneity of performance and focal atrophy for investigating the neural substrates involved in lexical semantic processing of objects and actions. Method. Twenty-one individuals with PPA participated in behavioral assessment within six months of high resolution anatomical MRI scans. Behavioral assessments consisted of four tasks: picture-word verification and picture naming of objects and actions. Performance on these assessments was correlated with brain volume measured using atlas-based analysis in twenty regions of interest that are commonly atrophied in PPA and implicated in language processing. Results. Impaired performance for all four tasks significantly correlated with atrophy in the right superior temporal pole, left anterior middle temporal gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus. No regions were identified in which volume correlated with performance for both

  18. On the improvement of IT process maturity: assessment, recommendation and validation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirgahayu Teduh

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The use of information technology (IT in enterprises must be governed and managed appropriately using IT processes. The notion of IT process maturity is useful to measure the actual performance and to define the desired performance of IT processes. Improvements are necessary when there are gaps between the actual and desired performance. Most literatures focus on IT process maturity assessment. They do not address how to improve IT process maturity. This paper proposes an approach to enterprise IT process maturity improvement for COBIT processes. The approach consists of three activities, i.e. IT process maturity assessment, recommendation, and validation. Assessment is to recognise the process’ control objectives maturity. From the assessment results, recommendation identifies control objectives that must be improved and then suggests improvement actions. The prescriptive nature of the control objectives facilitates in suggesting those actions. Recommendations for managements are defined by abstracting similar actions. Validation checks whether the recommendations match with the enterprise needs and capability. It includes a scale for validation, in which enterprise’s capability is categorized into (i not capable, (ii capable with great efforts, and (iii fully capable. The paper illustrates the approach with a case study.

  19. Functional dissociation between action and perception of object shape in developmental visual object agnosia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freud, Erez; Ganel, Tzvi; Avidan, Galia; Gilaie-Dotan, Sharon

    2016-03-01

    According to the two visual systems model, the cortical visual system is segregated into a ventral pathway mediating object recognition, and a dorsal pathway mediating visuomotor control. In the present study we examined whether the visual control of action could develop normally even when visual perceptual abilities are compromised from early childhood onward. Using his fingers, LG, an individual with a rare developmental visual object agnosia, manually estimated (perceptual condition) the width of blocks that varied in width and length (but not in overall size), or simply picked them up across their width (grasping condition). LG's perceptual sensitivity to target width was profoundly impaired in the manual estimation task compared to matched controls. In contrast, the sensitivity to object shape during grasping, as measured by maximum grip aperture (MGA), the time to reach the MGA, the reaction time and the total movement time were all normal in LG. Further analysis, however, revealed that LG's sensitivity to object shape during grasping emerged at a later time stage during the movement compared to controls. Taken together, these results demonstrate a dissociation between action and perception of object shape, and also point to a distinction between different stages of the grasping movement, namely planning versus online control. Moreover, the present study implies that visuomotor abilities can develop normally even when perceptual abilities developed in a profoundly impaired fashion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Designing personal grief rituals: An analysis of symbolic objects and actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sas, Corina; Coman, Alina

    2016-10-01

    Personal grief rituals are beneficial in dealing with complicated grief, but challenging to design, as they require symbolic objects and actions meeting clients' emotional needs. The authors reported interviews with 10 therapists with expertise in both grief therapy and grief rituals. Findings indicate three types of rituals supporting honoring, letting go, and self transformation, with the latter being particularly complex. Outcomes also point to a taxonomy of ritual objects for framing and remembering ritual experience, and for capturing and processing grief. Besides symbolic possessions, the authors identified other types of ritual objects including transformational and future-oriented ones. Symbolic actions include creative craft of ritual objects, respectful handling, disposal, and symbolic play. They conclude with theoretical implications of these findings, and a reflection on their value for tailored, creative co-design of grief rituals. In particular, several implications for designing grief rituals were identified that include accounting for the client's need, selecting (or creating) the most appropriate objects and actions from the identified types, integrating principles of both grief and art/drama therapy, exploring clients' affinity for the ancient elements as medium of disposal in letting go rituals, and the value of technology for recording and reflecting on ritual experience.

  1. Object words modulate the activity of the mirror neuron system during action imitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Haiyan; Tang, Honghong; Ge, Yue; Yang, Suyong; Mai, Xiaoqin; Luo, Yue-Jia; Liu, Chao

    2017-11-01

    Although research has demonstrated that the mirror neuron system (MNS) plays a crucial role in both action imitation and action-related semantic processing, whether action-related words can inversely modulate the MNS activity remains unclear. Here, three types of task-irrelevant words (body parts, verbs, and manufactured objects) were presented to examine the modulation effect of these words on the MNS activity during action observation and imitation. Twenty-two participants were recruited for the fMRI scanning and remaining data from 19 subjects were reported here. Brain activity results showed that word types elicited different modulation effects over nodes of the MNS (i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and STS), especially during the imitation stage. Compared with other word conditions, action imitation following manufactured objects words induced stronger activation in these brain regions during the imitation stage. These results were consistent in both task-dependent and -independent ROI analysis. Our findings thus provide evidence for the unique effect of object words on the MNS during imitation of action, which may also confirm the key role of goal inference in action imitation.

  2. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehlecke, Robert

    2004-01-01

    The six bunkers included in CAU 204 were primarily used to monitor atmospheric testing or store munitions. The 'Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) for Corrective Action Unit 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site, Nevada' (NNSA/NV, 2002a) provides information relating to the history, planning, and scope of the investigation; therefore, it will not be repeated in this CADD. This CADD identifies potential corrective action alternatives and provides a rationale for the selection of a recommended corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 204. The evaluation of corrective action alternatives is based on process knowledge and the results of investigative activities conducted in accordance with the CAIP (NNSA/NV, 2002a) that was approved prior to the start of the Corrective Action Investigation (CAI). Record of Technical Change (ROTC) No. 1 to the CAIP (approval pending) documents changes to the preliminary action levels (PALs) agreed to by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO). This ROTC specifically discusses the radiological PALs and their application to the findings of the CAU 204 corrective action investigation. The scope of this CADD consists of the following: (1) Develop corrective action objectives; (2) Identify corrective action alternative screening criteria; (3) Develop corrective action alternatives; (4) Perform detailed and comparative evaluations of corrective action alternatives in relation to corrective action objectives and screening criteria; and (5) Recommend and justify a preferred corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 204

  3. DOD Financial Management: Continued Actions Needed to Address Congressional Committee Panel Recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-09-01

    which was intended to fundamentally transform DOD’s financial management operations and achieve clean financial 12GAO-15-290. 13GAO-15-290. 14Pub...Actions to Implement the Panel on Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform Recommendations valuations for these assets. For example, DOD’s...governance, the department is managing its business systems, including ERP systems, as portfolios of investments . The goal is to aggregate data from

  4. Actions Objected at Employees in CSR - Report from the Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szelągowska-Rudzka Katarzyna

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The study analyzed the essence of the social responsibility of organizations and indicated the areas of actions to which this concept applies in the organizations. Particular attention has been paid to CSR practices objected at employees as key stakeholders of the organization. The purpose of the study was achieved in the form of analysis of CSR practices addressed to employees of the selected organizations in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It has been confirmed that the study subjects undertake socially responsible actions addressed to their employees. These actions are compliant with the guidelines of ISO 26000 standard in the area of practice in workplace. However, it has been shown that socially responsible objectives are not commonly present in the strategies of these organizations. Personal strategies and the knowledge of the concept of CSR among employees also occur not frequently enough. The presented study is a pilot study. The reached conclusions apply only to the participating organizations. However, it should be noted that the concept of CSR is not yet widely and successfully implemented in organizations within the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It requires further popularizing and intensifying. Also, the practices of CSR addressed to employees should be further improved.

  5. How could health information be improved? Recommended actions from the Victorian Consultation on Health Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Sophie J; Sofra, Tanya A

    2017-03-07

    Objective Health literacy is on the policy agenda. Accessible, high-quality health information is a major component of health literacy. Health information materials include print, electronic or other media-based information enabling people to understand health and make health-related decisions. The aim of the present study was to present the findings and recommended actions as they relate to health information of the Victorian Consultation on Health Literacy. Methods Notes and submissions from the 2014 Victorian Consultation workshops and submissions were analysed thematically and a report prepared with input from an advisory committee. Results Health information needs to improve and recommendations are grouped into two overarching themes. First, the quality of information needs to be increased and this can be done by developing a principle-based framework to inform updating guidance for information production, formulating standards to raise quality and improving the systems for delivering information to people. Second, there needs to be a focus on users of health information. Recommendation actions were for information that promoted active participation in health encounters, resources to encourage critical users of health information and increased availability of information tailored to population diversity. Conclusion A framework to improve health information would underpin the efforts to meet literacy needs in a more consistent way, improving standards and ultimately increasing the participation by consumers and carers in health decision making and self-management. What is known about the topic? Health information is a critical component of the concept of health literacy. Poorer health literacy is associated with poorer health outcomes across a range of measures. Improving access to and the use of quality sources of health information is an important strategy for meeting the health literacy needs of the population. In recent years, health services and

  6. Action semantics: A unifying conceptual framework for the selective use of multimodal and modality-specific object knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Elk, Michiel; van Schie, Hein; Bekkering, Harold

    2014-06-01

    Our capacity to use tools and objects is often considered one of the hallmarks of the human species. Many objects greatly extend our bodily capabilities to act in the physical world, such as when using a hammer or a saw. In addition, humans have the remarkable capability to use objects in a flexible fashion and to combine multiple objects in complex actions. We prepare coffee, cook dinner and drive our car. In this review we propose that humans have developed declarative and procedural knowledge, i.e. action semantics that enables us to use objects in a meaningful way. A state-of-the-art review of research on object use is provided, involving behavioral, developmental, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies. We show that research in each of these domains is characterized by similar discussions regarding (1) the role of object affordances, (2) the relation between goals and means in object use and (3) the functional and neural organization of action semantics. We propose a novel conceptual framework of action semantics to address these issues and to integrate the previous findings. We argue that action semantics entails both multimodal object representations and modality-specific sub-systems, involving manipulation knowledge, functional knowledge and representations of the sensory and proprioceptive consequences of object use. Furthermore, we argue that action semantics are hierarchically organized and selectively activated and used depending on the action intention of the actor and the current task context. Our framework presents an integrative account of multiple findings and perspectives on object use that may guide future studies in this interdisciplinary domain. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Objectives and actions of Public Health Authorities in external radiological emergency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrera V, L.; Aguilar P, M.C.

    1991-01-01

    Here are discussed actions and objectives that the public health authorities could think about uncontrolled liberation of radioactive materials. The approaches on the more convenient actions to continue are established upon assimilating the Chernobyl experience. We will enumerate problems that, they could arise with the foregone actions in order to diminish the population detriment. In the face of the uncontrolled liberation of radioactive material in the Nuclear power plant of Laguna Verde, Veracruz, classified like external radiological emergency, the objective of these serious authorities reduce the deleterious effect to the health of the inhabitants around the CNLV, due to the radioactive material liberated to the atmosphere. In consequence, it is necessary carry out actions of protection for the population affected directly by the external irradiation, for the contamination deposited on inhabited areas, cultivation zones, shepherding, manufacturing and farms. The early actions or immediate are in order to limit deterministic damages to the population and give attendance to people with radio lesions. And the intermediate or they of recuperation are in order to maintain for under an acceptable value the risk to the population due to radiation stochastic effects. In the recuperation phase the plan of water and foods control should consider: foods destined to the self consume in the affected region for the liberation and foods processed for the sale or exportation. We will discuss the stage in a mediate phase after the evacuation of the population. The general tasks could be: 1. Actions in order to impede the contamination propagation. 2. Sampling of waters and foods, contamination situation and its quantification. And acceptance quality in elaborated foods. 3. Safeguard of the material and polluted areas. 4. Election of the actions to continue in function of the reference levels and the comparison of the risk of several alternatives. (Author)

  8. Object-action dissociation: A voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping study on 102 patients after glioma removal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Pisoni

    Full Text Available Data concerning the neural basis of noun and verb processing are inconsistent. Some authors assume that action-verb processing is based on frontal areas while nouns processing relies on temporal regions; others argue that the circuits processing verbs and nouns are closely interconnected in a predominantly left-lateralized fronto-temporal-parietal network; yet, other researchers consider that the primary motor cortex plays a crucial role in processing action verbs. In the present study, one hundred and two patients with a tumour either in the right or left hemisphere were submitted to picture naming of objects and actions before and after surgery. To test the effect of specific brain regions in object and action naming, patients' lesions were mapped and voxel-lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM was computed. Behavioural results showed that left-brain damaged patients were significantly more impaired than right brain-damaged patients. The VLSM showed that these two grammatical classes are segregated in the left hemisphere. In particular, scores in naming of objects correlated with damage to the anterior temporal region, while scores in naming of actions correlated with lesions in the parietal areas and in the posterior temporal cortex. In addition, VLSM analyses carried out on non-linguistic tasks were not significant, confirming that the regions associated with deficits in object and action naming were not generally engaged in all cognitive tasks. Finally, the involvement of subcortical pathways was investigated and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus proved to play a role in object naming, while no specific bundle was identified for actions. Keywords: Object action dissociation, Temporal lesion, Frontal lesion, Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping

  9. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No. 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robert Boehlecke

    2004-04-01

    The six bunkers included in CAU 204 were primarily used to monitor atmospheric testing or store munitions. The ''Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) for Corrective Action Unit 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site, Nevada'' (NNSA/NV, 2002a) provides information relating to the history, planning, and scope of the investigation; therefore, it will not be repeated in this CADD. This CADD identifies potential corrective action alternatives and provides a rationale for the selection of a recommended corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 204. The evaluation of corrective action alternatives is based on process knowledge and the results of investigative activities conducted in accordance with the CAIP (NNSA/NV, 2002a) that was approved prior to the start of the Corrective Action Investigation (CAI). Record of Technical Change (ROTC) No. 1 to the CAIP (approval pending) documents changes to the preliminary action levels (PALs) agreed to by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO). This ROTC specifically discusses the radiological PALs and their application to the findings of the CAU 204 corrective action investigation. The scope of this CADD consists of the following: (1) Develop corrective action objectives; (2) Identify corrective action alternative screening criteria; (3) Develop corrective action alternatives; (4) Perform detailed and comparative evaluations of corrective action alternatives in relation to corrective action objectives and screening criteria; and (5) Recommend and justify a preferred corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 204.

  10. Action Alters Object Identification: Wielding a Gun Increases the Bias to See Guns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witt, Jessica K.; Brockmole, James R.

    2012-01-01

    Stereotypes, expectations, and emotions influence an observer's ability to detect and categorize objects as guns. In light of recent work in action-perception interactions, however, there is another unexplored factor that may be critical: The action choices available to the perceiver. In five experiments, participants determined whether another…

  11. Recommended safety objectives, principles and requirements for mini-reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-05-01

    Canadian and international publications containing objectives, principles and requirements for the safety of nuclear facilities in general and nuclear power plants in particular have been reviewed for their relevance to mini-reactors. Most of the individual recommendations, sometimes with minor wording changes, are applicable to mini-reactors. However, some prescriptive requirements for the shutdown, emergency core cooling and containment systems of power reactors are considered inappropriate for mini-reactors. The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Safety favours a generally non-prescriptive approach whereby the applicant for a mini-reactor license is free to propose any means of satisfying the fundamental objectives, but must convince the regulatory agency to that effect. To do so, a probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) would be the favoured procedure. A generic PSA for all mini-reactors of the same design would be acceptable. Notwithstanding this non-prescriptive approach, the ACNS considers that it would be prudent to require the existence of at least one independent shutdown system and two physically independent locations from which the reactor can be shut down and the shutdown condition monitored, and to require provision for an assumed loss of integrity of the primary cooling system's boundary unless convincing arguments to the contrary are presented. The ACNS endorses in general the objectives and fundamental principles proposed by the interorganizational Small Reactor Criteria working group, and intends to review and comment on the documents on specific applications to be issued by that working group

  12. ROBOT LEARNING OF OBJECT MANIPULATION TASK ACTIONS FROM HUMAN DEMONSTRATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Kyrarini

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Robot learning from demonstration is a method which enables robots to learn in a similar way as humans. In this paper, a framework that enables robots to learn from multiple human demonstrations via kinesthetic teaching is presented. The subject of learning is a high-level sequence of actions, as well as the low-level trajectories necessary to be followed by the robot to perform the object manipulation task. The multiple human demonstrations are recorded and only the most similar demonstrations are selected for robot learning. The high-level learning module identifies the sequence of actions of the demonstrated task. Using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM, the model of demonstrated trajectories is learned. The learned trajectory is generated by Gaussian mixture regression (GMR from the learned Gaussian mixture model.  In online working phase, the sequence of actions is identified and experimental results show that the robot performs the learned task successfully.

  13. Associative vocabulary learning: development and testing of two paradigms for the (re-) acquisition of action- and object-related words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freundlieb, Nils; Ridder, Volker; Dobel, Christian; Enriquez-Geppert, Stefanie; Baumgaertner, Annette; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Gerloff, Christian; Hummel, Friedhelm C; Liuzzi, Gianpiero

    2012-01-01

    Despite a growing number of studies, the neurophysiology of adult vocabulary acquisition is still poorly understood. One reason is that paradigms that can easily be combined with neuroscientfic methods are rare. Here, we tested the efficiency of two paradigms for vocabulary (re-) acquisition, and compared the learning of novel words for actions and objects. Cortical networks involved in adult native-language word processing are widespread, with differences postulated between words for objects and actions. Words and what they stand for are supposed to be grounded in perceptual and sensorimotor brain circuits depending on their meaning. If there are specific brain representations for different word categories, we hypothesized behavioural differences in the learning of action-related and object-related words. Paradigm A, with the learning of novel words for body-related actions spread out over a number of days, revealed fast learning of these new action words, and stable retention up to 4 weeks after training. The single-session Paradigm B employed objects and actions. Performance during acquisition did not differ between action-related and object-related words (time*word category: p = 0.01), but the translation rate was clearly better for object-related (79%) than for action-related words (53%, p = 0.002). Both paradigms yielded robust associative learning of novel action-related words, as previously demonstrated for object-related words. Translation success differed for action- and object-related words, which may indicate different neural mechanisms. The paradigms tested here are well suited to investigate such differences with neuroscientific means. Given the stable retention and minimal requirements for conscious effort, these learning paradigms are promising for vocabulary re-learning in brain-lesioned people. In combination with neuroimaging, neuro-stimulation or pharmacological intervention, they may well advance the understanding of language learning

  14. What Three-Year-Olds Remember from Their Past: Long-Term Memory for Persons, Objects, and Actions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirte, Monika; Graf, Frauke; Kim, Ziyon; Knopf, Monika

    2017-01-01

    From birth on, infants show long-term recognition memory for persons. Furthermore, infants from six months onwards are able to store and retrieve demonstrated actions over long-term intervals in deferred imitation tasks. Thus, information about the model demonstrating the object-related actions is stored and recognition memory for the objects as…

  15. Planning Ahead: Object-Directed Sequential Actions Decoded from Human Frontoparietal and Occipitotemporal Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallivan, Jason P.; Johnsrude, Ingrid S.; Randall Flanagan, J.

    2016-01-01

    Object-manipulation tasks (e.g., drinking from a cup) typically involve sequencing together a series of distinct motor acts (e.g., reaching toward, grasping, lifting, and transporting the cup) in order to accomplish some overarching goal (e.g., quenching thirst). Although several studies in humans have investigated the neural mechanisms supporting the planning of visually guided movements directed toward objects (such as reaching or pointing), only a handful have examined how manipulatory sequences of actions—those that occur after an object has been grasped—are planned and represented in the brain. Here, using event-related functional MRI and pattern decoding methods, we investigated the neural basis of real-object manipulation using a delayed-movement task in which participants first prepared and then executed different object-directed action sequences that varied either in their complexity or final spatial goals. Consistent with previous reports of preparatory brain activity in non-human primates, we found that activity patterns in several frontoparietal areas reliably predicted entire action sequences in advance of movement. Notably, we found that similar sequence-related information could also be decoded from pre-movement signals in object- and body-selective occipitotemporal cortex (OTC). These findings suggest that both frontoparietal and occipitotemporal circuits are engaged in transforming object-related information into complex, goal-directed movements. PMID:25576538

  16. How and why actions are selected: action selection and the dark room problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venter Elmarie

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, I examine an evolutionary approach to the action selection problem and illustrate how it helps raise an objection to the predictive processing account. Clark examines the predictive processing account as a theory of brain function that aims to unify perception, action, and cognition, but - despite this aim - fails to consider action selection overtly. He off ers an account of action control with the implication that minimizing prediction error is an imperative of living organisms because, according to the predictive processing account, action is employed to fulfill expectations and reduce prediction error. One way in which this can be achieved is by seeking out the least stimulating environment and staying there (Friston et al. 2012: 2. Bayesian, neuroscientific, and machine learning approaches into a single framework whose overarching principle is the minimization of surprise (or, equivalently, the maximization of expectation. But, most living organisms do not find, and stay in, surprise free environments. This paper explores this objection, also called the “dark room problem”, and examines Clark’s response to the problem. Finally, I recommend that if supplemented with an account of action selection, Clark’s account will avoid the dark room problem.

  17. International recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindell, Bo

    1986-01-01

    , provided that, in what may be a multi-stage process, additional modifying factors ('promotors') are at hand. The postulated assumption for stochastic effects is that the risk (probability of cancer) from a small dose increment is proportional to the dose increment, irrespective of previous or later radiation exposures. No dose increment can then be said to be entirely 'safe' although the risk would be very small if the dose increment is small. For normal operation of practices that cause radiation exposures, individuals are protected by dose limits recommended by ICRP. The dose limits guarantee that the radiation risk will not dominate the individual's risk situation. However, the dose limits are supplemented by the further recommendation that all radiation exposures should be kept as low as reasonably achievable, 'economic and social factors being taken into account'. This recommendation is also referred to as the recommendation on optimizing radiation protection. Various methods for this have been used, for example differential cost/benefit analysis. For accidental situations, the ICRP dose limits do not apply. The situation of persons who are at risk of being exposed, e.g. from radioactive substances in the environment or in food-stuffs, can only be improved by remedial actions. The purpose of remedial actions is to eliminate high risks, if possible, and to reduce any radiation risk as far as reasonably achievable. An obvious requirement is that the remedial action must not put individuals in a worse situation than if the action had not been taken. It follows the dose that must be avoided by remedial action, and the dose reduction which would be reasonably achievable by the action, will depend on the type of action and the risks and other consequences of the action. It is therefore not possible to give universally applicable action levels of dose. However, for certain identified actions in described situations, action levels may be given in beforehand. In its

  18. Cognitive, perceptual and action-oriented representations of falling objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zago, Myrka; Lacquaniti, Francesco

    2005-01-01

    We interact daily with moving objects. How accurate are our predictions about objects' motions? What sources of information do we use? These questions have received wide attention from a variety of different viewpoints. On one end of the spectrum are the ecological approaches assuming that all the information about the visual environment is present in the optic array, with no need to postulate conscious or unconscious representations. On the other end of the spectrum are the constructivist approaches assuming that a more or less accurate representation of the external world is built in the brain using explicit or implicit knowledge or memory besides sensory inputs. Representations can be related to naive physics or to context cue-heuristics or to the construction of internal copies of environmental invariants. We address the issue of prediction of objects' fall at different levels. Cognitive understanding and perceptual judgment of simple Newtonian dynamics can be surprisingly inaccurate. By contrast, motor interactions with falling objects are often very accurate. We argue that the pragmatic action-oriented behaviour and the perception-oriented behaviour may use different modes of operation and different levels of representation.

  19. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 97: Yucca Flat/Climax Mine Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Farnham, Irene [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2017-08-01

    This corrective action decision document (CADD)/corrective action plan (CAP) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 97, Yucca Flat/Climax Mine, Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), Nevada. The Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU is located in the northeastern portion of the NNSS and comprises 720 corrective action sites. A total of 747 underground nuclear detonations took place within this CAU between 1957 and 1992 and resulted in the release of radionuclides (RNs) in the subsurface in the vicinity of the test cavities. The CADD portion describes the Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU data-collection and modeling activities completed during the corrective action investigation (CAI) stage, presents the corrective action objectives, and describes the actions recommended to meet the objectives. The CAP portion describes the corrective action implementation plan. The CAP presents CAU regulatory boundary objectives and initial use-restriction boundaries identified and negotiated by DOE and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP). The CAP also presents the model evaluation process designed to build confidence that the groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling results can be used for the regulatory decisions required for CAU closure. The UGTA strategy assumes that active remediation of subsurface RN contamination is not feasible with current technology. As a result, the corrective action is based on a combination of characterization and modeling studies, monitoring, and institutional controls. The strategy is implemented through a four-stage approach that comprises the following: (1) corrective action investigation plan (CAIP), (2) CAI, (3) CADD/CAP, and (4) closure report (CR) stages.

  20. Operational intervention levels for reactor emergencies IAEA recommendations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aguiar, Laís A. de; Reis, Arlene A. dos; Santos, Raul dos, E-mail: laguiar@ird.gov.br, E-mail: arlene@ird.gov.br, E-mail: raul@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioproteção e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    The IAEA publication EPR-NPP-OILs-2017, Operational Intervention Levels for Reactor Emergences and Methodology for their Derivation, provides selected default OIL values, describing a methodology for their derivation, as well as practical tools and recommendations for their use. IAEA recommends that tools and default OIL values be directly integrated into national emergency arrangements or reviewed and modified as necessary to meet the specific emergency preparedness and response arrangements. The Institute of Radiation Protection and Dosimetry (IRD) has a Radiological Assessment TEAM (EAR) as pare of its Radiation Emergency Response System. Brazilian regulatory standards address actions for radiation emergencies encompassing necessary measures to assess public exposures, intervention levels to protect the public and recommendations for protective actions as, evacuation, relocation, sheltering and food restrictions. The objective of this paper is to present a discussion the use these OILs, to compare those ones established by the Brazilian standards and to propose a methodology on how OILs can be used by EAR/IRD in case of an emergency at the Brazilian NPP. (author)

  1. Operational intervention levels for reactor emergencies IAEA recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aguiar, Laís A. de; Reis, Arlene A. dos; Santos, Raul dos

    2017-01-01

    The IAEA publication EPR-NPP-OILs-2017, Operational Intervention Levels for Reactor Emergences and Methodology for their Derivation, provides selected default OIL values, describing a methodology for their derivation, as well as practical tools and recommendations for their use. IAEA recommends that tools and default OIL values be directly integrated into national emergency arrangements or reviewed and modified as necessary to meet the specific emergency preparedness and response arrangements. The Institute of Radiation Protection and Dosimetry (IRD) has a Radiological Assessment TEAM (EAR) as pare of its Radiation Emergency Response System. Brazilian regulatory standards address actions for radiation emergencies encompassing necessary measures to assess public exposures, intervention levels to protect the public and recommendations for protective actions as, evacuation, relocation, sheltering and food restrictions. The objective of this paper is to present a discussion the use these OILs, to compare those ones established by the Brazilian standards and to propose a methodology on how OILs can be used by EAR/IRD in case of an emergency at the Brazilian NPP. (author)

  2. Model of Recommendation System for for Indexing and Retrieving the Learning Object based on Multiagent System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronaldo Lima Rocha Campos

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a multiagent system application model for indexing, retrieving and recommendation learning objects stored in different and heterogeneous repositories. The objects within these repositories are described by filled fields using different metadata standards. The searching mechanism covers several different learning object repositories and the same object can be described in these repositories by the use of different types of fields. Aiming to improve accuracy and coverage in terms of recovering a learning object and improve the signification of the results we propose an information retrieval model based on the multiagent system approach and an ontological model to describe the knowledge domain covered.

  3. Revision of the protective action guides manual for nuclear incidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeCair, S.; MacKinney, J.

    2007-01-01

    EPA's 1992 Manual of Protective Action Guides and Protective Actions for Nuclear Incidents, referred to as the PAG Manual, is a radiological emergency planning and response tool for emergency management officials at the Federal, state, tribal, and local levels. A Protective Action Guide is defined as, the projected dose to reference man, or other defined individual, from a release of radioactive material at which a specific protective action to reduce or avoid that dose is recommended'. The updated version of the PAG Manual accomplishes these key objectives: applying the existing 1992 protective action guides and protective actions to new radiological and nuclear scenarios of concern; updating the dosimetry basis; lowering the recommended dose for administration of stable iodine; providing new guidance concerning consumption of drinking water during or after a radiological emergency; updating the dosimetry basis for all derived levels, and, adding guidance for dealing with long-term site restoration following a major radiological release. (author)

  4. Object Manipulation and Motion Perception: Evidence of an Influence of Action Planning on Visual Processing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lindemann, O.; Bekkering, H.

    2009-01-01

    In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the bidirectional coupling of perception and action in the context of object manipulations and motion perception. Participants prepared to grasp an X-shaped object along one of its 2 diagonals and to rotate it in a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction.

  5. International tax planning by multinationals: Simulating a tax-minimising intercompany response to the OECD's recommendation on BEPS Action 4

    OpenAIRE

    Kayis-Kumar, Ann

    2016-01-01

    In October 2015, the OECD/G20 presented their final report on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. This article presents a unique analysis of the OECD/G20’s recommendation on Action 4 by utilising tax optimisation modelling to simulate and examine a hypothetical multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) behavioural response to this recommendation. The literature to date has primarily focused on the “debt bias”, which arises from the distortion in the tax treatment between debt an...

  6. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Nevada Site Office, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2016-02-01

    CAU 573 comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 05-23-02, GMX Alpha Contaminated Area • 05-45-01, Atmospheric Test Site - Hamilton These two CASs include the release at the Hamilton weapons-related tower test and a series of 29 atmospheric experiments conducted at GMX. The two CASs are located in two distinctly separate areas within Area 5. To facilitate site investigation and data quality objective (DQO) decisions, all identified releases (i.e., CAS components) were organized into study groups. The reporting of investigation results and the evaluation of DQO decisions are at the release level. The corrective action alternatives (CAAs) were evaluated at the FFACO CAS level. The purpose of this CADD/CAP is to evaluate potential CAAs, provide the rationale for the selection of recommended CAAs, and provide the plan for implementation of the recommended CAA for CAU 573. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from January 2015 through November 2015, as set forth in the CAU 573 Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP). Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the contaminants of concern. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 573 revealed the following: • Radiological contamination within CAU 573 does not exceed the FALs (based on the Occasional Use Area exposure scenario). • Chemical contamination within CAU 573 does not exceed the FALs. • Potential source material—including lead plates, lead bricks, and lead-shielded cables—was removed during the investigation and requires no additional corrective action.

  7. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    CAU 573 comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 05-23-02, GMX Alpha Contaminated Area • 05-45-01, Atmospheric Test Site - Hamilton These two CASs include the release at the Hamilton weapons-related tower test and a series of 29 atmospheric experiments conducted at GMX. The two CASs are located in two distinctly separate areas within Area 5. To facilitate site investigation and data quality objective (DQO) decisions, all identified releases (i.e., CAS components) were organized into study groups. The reporting of investigation results and the evaluation of DQO decisions are at the release level. The corrective action alternatives (CAAs) were evaluated at the FFACO CAS level. The purpose of this CADD/CAP is to evaluate potential CAAs, provide the rationale for the selection of recommended CAAs, and provide the plan for implementation of the recommended CAA for CAU 573. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from January 2015 through November 2015, as set forth in the CAU 573 Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP). Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the contaminants of concern. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 573 revealed the following: • Radiological contamination within CAU 573 does not exceed the FALs (based on the Occasional Use Area exposure scenario). • Chemical contamination within CAU 573 does not exceed the FALs. • Potential source material - including lead plates, lead bricks, and lead-shielded cables was removed during the investigation and requires no additional corrective action.

  8. Infants with Down Syndrome and Their Interactions with Objects: Development of Exploratory Actions after Reaching Onset

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Campos, Ana Carolina; da Costa, Carolina Souza Neves; Savelsbergh, Geert J. P.; Rocha, Nelci Adriana Cicuto Ferreira

    2013-01-01

    During infant development, objects and their functions are learned by means of active exploration. Factors that may influence exploration include reaching and grasping ability, object properties and the presence of developmental disorders. We assessed the development of exploratory actions in 16 typically-developing (TD) infants and 9 infants with…

  9. ORNL Remedial Action Program strategy (FY 1987-FY 1992)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trabalka, J.R.; Myrick, T.E.

    1987-12-01

    Over 40 years of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) operations have produced a diverse legacy of contaminated inactive facilities, research areas, and waste disposal areas that are potential candidates for remedial action. The ORNL Remedial Action Program (RAP) represents a comprehensive effort to meet new regulatory requirements and ensure adequate protection of on-site workers, the public, and the environment by providing appropriate corrective measures at over 130 sites contaminated historically with radioactive, hazardous chemical, or mixed wastes. A structured path of program planning, site characterization, alternatives assessment, technology development, engineering design, continued site maintenance and surveillance, interim corrective action, and eventual site closure or decommissioning is required to meet these objectives. This report documents the development of the Remedial Action Program, through its preliminary characterization, regulatory interface, and strategy development activities. It provides recommendations for a comprehensive, long-term strategy consistent with existing technical, institutional, and regulatory information, along with a six-year plan for achieving its initial objectives. 53 refs., 8 figs., 12 tabs

  10. Communicating actionable risk for terrorism and other hazards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Michele M; Mileti, Dennis S; Kano, Megumi; Kelley, Melissa M; Regan, Rotrease; Bourque, Linda B

    2012-04-01

    We propose a shift in emphasis when communicating to people when the objective is to motivate household disaster preparedness actions. This shift is to emphasize the communication of preparedness actions (what to do about risk) rather than risk itself. We have called this perspective "communicating actionable risk," and it is grounded in diffusion of innovations and communication theories. A representative sample of households in the nation was analyzed using a path analytic framework. Preparedness information variables (including content, density, and observation), preparedness mediating variables (knowledge, perceived effectiveness, and milling), and preparedness actions taken were modeled. Clear results emerged that provide a strong basis for communicating actionable risk, and for the conclusion both that information observed (seeing preparedness actions that other have taken) and information received (receiving recommendations about what preparedness actions to take) play key, although different, roles in motivating preparedness actions among the people in our nation. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

  11. Cultural transmission through infant signs: Objects and actions in U.S. and Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wen; Vallotton, Claire

    2016-08-01

    Infant signs are intentionally taught/learned symbolic gestures which can be used to represent objects, actions, requests, and mental state. Through infant signs, parents and infants begin to communicate specific concepts earlier than children's first spoken language. This study examines whether cultural differences in language are reflected in children's and parents' use of infant signs. Parents speaking East Asian languages with their children utilize verbs more often than do English-speaking mothers; and compared to their English-learning peers, Chinese children are more likely to learn verbs as they first acquire spoken words. By comparing parents' and infants' use of infant signs in the U.S. and Taiwan, we investigate cultural differences of noun/object versus verb/action bias before children's first language. Parents reported their own and their children's use of first infant signs retrospectively. Results show that cultural differences in parents' and children's infant sign use were consistent with research on early words, reflecting cultural differences in communication functions (referential versus regulatory) and child-rearing goals (independent versus interdependent). The current study provides evidence that intergenerational transmission of culture through symbols begins prior to oral language. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. From recommendation to action: psychosocial factors influencing physician intention to use Health Technology Assessment (HTA recommendations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sánchez Emília

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Evaluating the impact of recommendations based upon health technology assessment (HTA represents a challenge for both HTA agencies and healthcare policy-makers. Using a psychosocial theoretical framework, this study aimed at exploring the factors affecting physician intention to adopt HTA recommendations. The selected recommendations were prioritisation systems for patients on waiting lists for two surgical procedures: hip and knee replacement and cataract surgery. Methods Determinants of physician intention to use HTA recommendations for patient prioritisation were assessed by a questionnaire based upon the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. A total of 96 physicians from two medical specialties (ophthalmology and orthopaedic surgery responded to the questionnaire (response rate 44.2%. A multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA was performed to assess differences between medical specialties on the set of theoretical variables. Given the main effect difference between specialties, two regression models were tested separately to assess the psychosocial determinants of physician intention to use HTA recommendations for the prioritisation of patients on waiting lists for surgical procedures. Results Factors influencing physician intention to use HTA recommendations differ between groups of specialists. Intention to use the prioritisation system for patients on waiting lists for cataract surgery among ophthalmologists was related to attitude towards the behaviour, social norms, as well as personal normative beliefs. Intention to use HTA recommendations for patient prioritisation for hip and knee replacement among orthopaedic surgeons was explained by: perception of conditions that facilitated the realisation of the behaviour, personal normative beliefs, and habit of using HTA recommendations in clinical work. Conclusion This study offers a model to assess factors influencing the intention to adopt recommendations from health

  13. Avoiding congestion in recommender systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ren, Xiaolong; Lü, Linyuan; Liu, Runran; Zhang, Jianlin

    2014-01-01

    Recommender systems use the historical activities and personal profiles of users to uncover their preferences and recommend objects. Most of the previous methods are based on objects’ (and/or users’) similarity rather than on their difference. Such approaches are subject to a high risk of increasingly exposing users to a narrowing band of popular objects. As a result, a few objects may be recommended to an enormous number of users, resulting in the problem of recommendation congestion, which is to be avoided, especially when the recommended objects are limited resources. In order to quantitatively measure a recommendation algorithm's ability to avoid congestion, we proposed a new metric inspired by the Gini index, which is used to measure the inequality of the individual wealth distribution in an economy. Besides this, a new recommendation method called directed weighted conduction (DWC) was developed by considering the heat conduction process on a user–object bipartite network with different thermal conductivities. Experimental results obtained for three benchmark data sets showed that the DWC algorithm can effectively avoid system congestion, and greatly improve the novelty and diversity, while retaining relatively high accuracy, in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods. (paper)

  14. Control of doses delivered to patients in medical imagery. Progress report of the program of actions recommended by the ASN. January 2015

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2015-01-01

    This report proposes an overview and an assessment of the various actions recommended by the ASN (the French Nuclear Safety Authority) for a better management of doses delivered to patients in the case of medical imagery. It indicates and discusses the progress noticed: actions which have been already performed, actions which are currently in progress, and actions which are still to be launched. These actions concern various aspects: the practice quality and safety (quality and safety management), the organisation, human resources and training, equipment and installation safety, radio-vigilance practices, relationships with patients, knowledge of practices and of exposures of patients and workers. Some highlights are outlined: some persistent lacks in human resources, some encouraging initiatives in the field of training, some progresses in the field of practice quality and safety, and some limited results regarding equipment (notably MRI) and installation safety

  15. Nordic Intervention Criteria for Nuclear or Radiological Emergencies. Recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    Recommendations of the Nordic radiation protection authorities on application of international criteria in a nuclear or radiological emergency in the Nordic countries are presented. The recommendations are focused on the generic intervention levels for various actions to protect members of the public and workers undertaking an intervention. Prompt precautionary actions for the near zones around the Finnish and Swedish nuclear power plants are defined. These actions are; preventive sheltering, iodine prophylaxis and precautionary evacuation. No special intervention levels for these precautionary actions have been set, because implementation of these actions is always based on very limited information about an accident. These actions can be initiated on a mere indication of possible release of radioactivity. The indication might be an alarm or any other predefined signal. Intervention level for actions to protect members of the public are based on the concept of avertable dose. They are in line with the international recommendations. With regard to iodine prophylaxis, a national approach is recommended due to different national policies of advance distribution of iodine tablets. The longer term intervention actions, temporary relocation and permanent resettlement, will be based not only on radiation protection factors but also on wider judgement of the overall situation. For that reason, no generic intervention levels, in terms of radiation dose, are recommended. The intervention levels for various protective actions are in the following table.Table 1. Generic intervention levels for actions to protect members of the public.Protective action. Generic intervention level as an avertable dose. Sheltering: 10 mSv within two days (effective dose); Iodine prophylaxis: National recommendations; Evacuation: 50 mSv within one week (effective dose); Temporary relocation: No predetermined intervention level; Permanent resettlement: No predetermined intervention level. Workers

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 447: Project Shoal Area, Subsurface, Nevada, Rev. No.: 3 with Errata Sheet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tim Echelard

    2006-03-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan (CADD/CAP) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 447, Project Shoal Area (PSA)-Subsurface, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996). Corrective Action Unit 447 is located in the Sand Springs Mountains in Churchill County, Nevada, approximately 48 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Fallon, Nevada. The CADD/CAP combines the decision document (CADD) with the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and provides or references the specific information necessary to recommend corrective actions for CAU 447, as provided in the FFACO. Corrective Action Unit 447 consists of two corrective action sites (CASs): CAS 57-49-01, Emplacement Shaft, and CAS 57-57-001, Cavity. The emplacement shaft (CAS-57-49-01) was backfilled and plugged in 1996 and will not be evaluated further. The purpose of the CADD portion of the document (Section 1.0 to Section 4.0) is to identify and provide a rationale for the selection of a recommended corrective action alternative for the subsurface at PSA. To achieve this, the following tasks were required: (1) Develop corrective action objectives. (2) Identify corrective action alternative screening criteria. (3) Develop corrective action alternatives. (4) Perform detailed and comparative evaluations of the corrective action alternatives in relation to the corrective action objectives and screening criteria. (5) Recommend a preferred corrective action alternative for the subsurface at PSA. The original Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) for the PSA was approved in September 1996 and described a plan to drill and test four characterization wells, followed by flow and transport modeling (DOE/NV, 1996). The resultant drilling is described in a data report (DOE/NV, 1998e) and the data analysis and modeling in an interim modeling report (Pohll et al., 1998). After considering the results of the modeling effort

  17. Education in Environmental Chemistry: Setting the Agenda and Recommending Action. A Workshop Report Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoller, Uri

    2005-08-01

    Worldwide, the essence of the current reform in science education is a paradigm shift from algorithmic, lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) teaching to higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) learning. In the context of education in environmental chemistry (EEC), the ultimate goal is to educate students to be science technology environment society (STES)-literate, capable of evaluative thinking, decision making, problem solving and taking responsible action accordingly. Educators need to translate this goal into effective courses that can be implemented: this includes developing teaching strategies and assessment methodologies that are consonant with the goal of HOCS learning. An international workshop—"Environmental Chemistry Education in Europe: Setting the Agenda"—yielded two main recommendations for those undertaking educational reform in science education, particularly to promote meaningful EEC. The first recommendation concerns integration of environmental sciences into core chemistry courses as well as the development and implementation of HOCS-promoting teaching strategies and assessment methodologies in chemical education. The second emphasizes the development of students' HOCS for transfer, followed by performance assessment of HOCS. This requires changing the way environmental chemistry is typically taught, moving from a narrowly focused approach (applied analytical, ecotoxicological, or environmental engineering chemistry) to an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach.

  18. 20 CFR 30.312 - What will the FAB do if the claimant objects to the recommended decision but does not request a...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What will the FAB do if the claimant objects....312 What will the FAB do if the claimant objects to the recommended decision but does not request a... period of time allotted in § 30.310 but does not request a hearing, the FAB will consider any objections...

  19. Investment Banking and Analyst Objectivity: Evidence from Forecasts and Recommendations of Analysts Affiliated with M&A Advisors

    OpenAIRE

    Kolasinski, Adam; Kothari, S.P.

    2004-01-01

    Previous research finds some evidence that analysts affiliated with equity underwriters issue more optimistic earnings growth forecasts and optimistic recommendations of client stock than unaffiliated analysts. Unfortunately, these studies are unable to discriminate between three competing hypotheses for the apparent optimism. Under the bribery hypothesis, underwriting clients, with the promise of underwriting fees, coax analysts to compromise their objectivity. The execution-related conflict...

  20. Analyzing after-action reports from Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina: repeated, modified, and newly created recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knox, Claire Connolly

    2013-01-01

    Thirteen years after Hurricane Andrew struck Homestead, FL, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Alabama, and southeastern Louisiana. Along with all its destruction, the term "catastrophic" was redefined. This article extends the literature on these hurricanes by providing a macrolevel analysis of The Governor's Disaster Planning and Response Review Committee Final Report from Hurricane Andrew and three federal after-action reports from Hurricane Katrina, as well as a cursory review of relevant literature. Results provide evidence that previous lessons have not been learned or institutionalized with many recommendations being repeated or modified. This article concludes with a discussion of these lessons, as well as new issues arising during Hurricane Katrina.

  1. Mental Health in the Workplace: A Call to Action Proceedings from the Mental Health in the Workplace: Public Health Summit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goetzel, Ron Z.; Roemer, Enid Chung; Holingue, Calliope; Fallin, M. Daniele; McCleary, Katherine; Eaton, William; Agnew, Jacqueline; Azocar, Francisca; Ballard, David; Bartlett, John; Braga, Michael; Conway, Heidi; Crighton, K. Andrew; Frank, Richard; Jinnett, Kim; Keller-Greene, Debra; Rauch, Sara Martin; Safeer, Richard; Saporito, Dick; Schill, Anita; Shern, David; Strecher, Victor; Wald, Peter; Wang, Philip; Mattingly, C. Richard

    2018-01-01

    Objective To declare a call to action to improve mental health in the workplace. Methods We convened a public health summit and assembled an Advisory Council consisting of experts in the field of occupational health and safety, workplace wellness, and public policy to offer recommendations for action steps to improve health and well-being of workers. Results The Advisory Council narrowed the list of ideas to four priority projects. Conclusions The recommendations for action include developing a Mental Health in the Workplace 1) “How to” Guide, 2) Scorecard, 3) Recognition Program, and 4) Executive Training. PMID:29280775

  2. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 562: Waste Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mark Krause

    2010-08-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) presents information supporting the selection of corrective action alternatives (CAAs) leading to the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 562, Waste Systems, in Areas 2, 23, and 25 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada. This complies with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management. Corrective Action Unit 562 comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 02-26-11, Lead Shot • 02-44-02, Paint Spills and French Drain • 02-59-01, Septic System • 02-60-01, Concrete Drain • 02-60-02, French Drain • 02-60-03, Steam Cleaning Drain • 02-60-04, French Drain • 02-60-05, French Drain • 02-60-06, French Drain • 02-60-07, French Drain • 23-60-01, Mud Trap Drain and Outfall • 23-99-06, Grease Trap • 25-60-04, Building 3123 Outfalls The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of CAAs for the 13 CASs within CAU 562. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from July 27, 2009, through May 12, 2010, as set forth in the CAU 562 Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process: • Determine whether COCs are present. • If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. • Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. A data quality assessment (DQA) performed on the CAU 562 data demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the data for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the COCs for each CAS. The results of the CAI identified COCs at 10 of the 13 CASs in CAU 562, and thus corrective

  3. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 190: Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alfred Wickline

    2008-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 190, Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management (1996, as amended January 2007). Corrective Action Unit 190 is comprised of the following four corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 11-02-01, Underground Centrifuge; (2) 11-02-02, Drain Lines and Outfall; (3) 11-59-01, Tweezer Facility Septic System; (4) 14-23-01, LTU-6 Test Area The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure of CAU 190 with no further corrective action. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from March 21 through June 26, 2007. All CAI activities were conducted as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 190: Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (NNSA/NSO, 2006). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective process: (1) Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. (3) Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 190 dataset from the investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the data quality objective data needs

  4. BROA: An agent-based model to recommend relevant Learning Objects from Repository Federations adapted to learner profile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula A. Rodríguez

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Learning Objects (LOs are distinguished from traditional educational resources for their easy and quickly availability through Web-based repositories, from which they are accessed through their metadata. In addition, having a user profile allows an educational recommender system to help the learner to find the most relevant LOs based on their needs and preferences. The aim of this paper is to propose an agent-based model so-called BROA to recommend relevant LOs recovered from Repository Federations as well as LOs adapted to learner profile. The model proposed uses both role and service models of GAIA methodology, and the analysis models of the MAS-CommonKADS methodology. A prototype was built based on this model and validated to obtain some assessing results that are finally presented.

  5. Management of radon: a review of ICRP recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaillant, Ludovic; Bataille, Céline

    2012-01-01

    This article proposes a review of past and current ICRP publications dealing with the management of radon exposures. Its main objective is to identify and discuss the driving factors that have been used by the Commission during the last 50 years so as to better appreciate current issues regarding radon exposure management. The analysis shows that major evolutions took place in very recent years. As far as the management of radon exposures is concerned, ICRP recommended, until ICRP Publication 103 (ICRP 2007 ICRP Publication 103; Ann. ICRP 37), to use action levels and to consider only exposures above these levels. The Commission has reviewed its approach and now proposes to manage any radon exposure through the application of the optimisation principle and associated reference levels. As far as the assessment of the radon risk is concerned, it appears that the successive changes made by ICRP did not have a strong impact on the values of radon gas concentration recommended as action levels either in dwellings or in workplaces. The major change occurred in late 2009 with the publication of the ICRP Statement on Radon, which acknowledged that the radon risk has been underestimated by a factor of 2, thus inducing a major revision of radon reference levels. (review)

  6. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 145: Wells and Storage Holes, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David A. Strand

    2004-09-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 145: Wells and Storage Holes. Information presented in this CAIP includes facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for the selection and evaluation of environmental samples. Corrective Action Unit 145 is located in Area 3 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 145 is comprised of the six Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 03-20-01, Core Storage Holes; (2) 03-20-02, Decon Pad and Sump; (3) 03-20-04, Injection Wells; (4) 03-20-08, Injection Well; (5) 03-25-01, Oil Spills; and (6) 03-99-13, Drain and Injection Well. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) prior to evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. One conceptual site model with three release scenario components was developed for the six CASs to address all releases associated with the site. The sites will be investigated based on data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on June 24, 2004, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQOs process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 145.

  7. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 98: Frenchman Flat, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Irene Farnham and Sam Marutzky

    2011-07-01

    This CADD/CAP follows the Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) stage, which results in development of a set of contaminant boundary forecasts produced from groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling of the Frenchman Flat CAU. The Frenchman Flat CAU is located in the southeastern portion of the NNSS and comprises 10 underground nuclear tests. The tests were conducted between 1965 and 1971 and resulted in the release of radionuclides in the subsurface in the vicinity of the test cavities. Two important aspects of the corrective action process are presented within this CADD/CAP. The CADD portion describes the results of the Frenchman Flat CAU data-collection and modeling activities completed during the CAI stage. The corrective action objectives and the actions recommended to meet the objectives are also described. The CAP portion describes the corrective action implementation plan. The CAP begins with the presentation of CAU regulatory boundary objectives and initial use restriction boundaries that are identified and negotiated by NNSA/NSO and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP). The CAP also presents the model evaluation process designed to build confidence that the flow and contaminant transport modeling results can be used for the regulatory decisions required for CAU closure. The first two stages of the strategy have been completed for the Frenchman Flat CAU. A value of information analysis and a CAIP were developed during the CAIP stage. During the CAI stage, a CAIP addendum was developed, and the activities proposed in the CAIP and addendum were completed. These activities included hydrogeologic investigation of the underground testing areas, aquifer testing, isotopic and geochemistry-based investigations, and integrated geophysical investigations. After these investigations, a groundwater flow and contaminant transport model was developed to forecast contaminant boundaries that enclose areas potentially exceeding the Safe Drinking

  8. Corrective Action Investigation plan for Corrective Action Unit 546: Injection Well and Surface Releases, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alfred Wickline

    2008-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 546 is located in Areas 6 and 9 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 546 is comprised of two Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: 06-23-02, U-6a/Russet Testing Area 09-20-01, Injection Well These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on November 8, 2007, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The DQO process has been used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 546

  9. Alleviating bias leads to accurate and personalized recommendation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Tian; Wang, Tian-Tian; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhong, Li-Xin; Chen, Guang

    2013-11-01

    Recommendation bias towards objects has been found to have an impact on personalized recommendation, since objects present heterogeneous characteristics in some network-based recommender systems. In this article, based on a biased heat conduction recommendation algorithm (BHC) which considers the heterogeneity of the target objects, we propose a heterogeneous heat conduction algorithm (HHC), by further taking the heterogeneity of the source objects into account. Tested on three real datasets, the Netflix, RYM and MovieLens, the HHC algorithm is found to present better recommendation in both the accuracy and diversity than two benchmark algorithms, i.e., the original BHC and a hybrid algorithm of heat conduction and mass diffusion (HHM), while not requiring any other accessorial information or parameter. Moreover, the HHC algorithm also elevates the recommendation accuracy on cold objects, referring to the so-called cold-start problem. Eigenvalue analyses show that, the HHC algorithm effectively alleviates the recommendation bias towards objects with different level of popularity, which is beneficial to solving the accuracy-diversity dilemma.

  10. An electrophysiological study of the object-based correspondence effect: is the effect triggered by an intended grasping action?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lien, Mei-Ching; Jardin, Elliott; Proctor, Robert W

    2013-11-01

    We examined Goslin, Dixon, Fischer, Cangelosi, and Ellis's (Psychological Science 23:152-157, 2012) claim that the object-based correspondence effect (i.e., faster keypress responses when the orientation of an object's graspable part corresponds with the response location than when it does not) is the result of object-based attention (vision-action binding). In Experiment 1, participants determined the category of a centrally located object (kitchen utensil vs. tool), as in Goslin et al.'s study. The handle orientation (left vs. right) did or did not correspond with the response location (left vs. right). We found no correspondence effect on the response times (RTs) for either category. The effect was also not evident in the P1 and N1 components of the event-related potentials, which are thought to reflect the allocation of early visual attention. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2 for centrally located objects, even when the object was presented 45 times (33 more times than in Exp. 1). Critically, the correspondence effects on RTs, P1s, and N1s emerged only when the object was presented peripherally, so that the object handle was clearly located to the left or right of fixation. Experiment 3 provided further evidence that the effect was observed only for the base-centered objects, in which the handle was clearly positioned to the left or right of center. These findings contradict those of Goslin et al. and provide no evidence that an intended grasping action modulates visual attention. Instead, the findings support the spatial-coding account of the object-based correspondence effect.

  11. Designing appropriate complementary feeding recommendations: tools for programmatic action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daelmans, Bernadette; Ferguson, Elaine; Lutter, Chessa K; Singh, Neha; Pachón, Helena; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Woldt, Monica; Mangasaryan, Nuné; Cheung, Edith; Mir, Roger; Pareja, Rossina; Briend, André

    2013-09-01

    Suboptimal complementary feeding practices contribute to a rapid increase in the prevalence of stunting in young children from age 6 months. The design of effective programmes to improve infant and young child feeding requires a sound understanding of the local situation and a systematic process for prioritizing interventions, integrating them into existing delivery platforms and monitoring their implementation and impact. The identification of adequate food-based feeding recommendations that respect locally available foods and address gaps in nutrient availability is particularly challenging. We describe two tools that are now available to strengthen infant and young child-feeding programming at national and subnational levels. ProPAN is a set of research tools that guide users through a step-by-step process for identifying problems related to young child nutrition; defining the context in which these problems occur; formulating, testing, and selecting behaviour-change recommendations and nutritional recipes; developing the interventions to promote them; and designing a monitoring and evaluation system to measure progress towards intervention goals. Optifood is a computer-based platform based on linear programming analysis to develop nutrient-adequate feeding recommendations at lowest cost, based on locally available foods with the addition of fortified products or supplements when needed, or best recommendations when the latter are not available. The tools complement each other and a case study from Peru illustrates how they have been used. The readiness of both instruments will enable partners to invest in capacity development for their use in countries and strengthen programmes to address infant and young child feeding and prevent malnutrition. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Teaching Object Permanence: An Action Research Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce, Susan M.; Vargas, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    "Object permanence," also known as "object concept" in the field of visual impairment, is one of the most important early developmental milestones. The achievement of object permanence is associated with the onset of representational thought and language. Object permanence is important to orientation, including the recognition of landmarks.…

  13. Building a Knowledge to Action Program in Stroke Rehabilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janzen, Shannon; McIntyre, Amanda; Richardson, Marina; Britt, Eileen; Teasell, Robert

    2016-09-01

    The knowledge to action (KTA) process proposed by Graham et al (2006) is a framework to facilitate the development and application of research evidence into clinical practice. The KTA process consists of the knowledge creation cycle and the action cycle. The Evidence Based Review of Stroke Rehabilitation is a foundational part of the knowledge creation cycle and has helped guide the development of best practice recommendations in stroke. The Rehabilitation Knowledge to Action Project is an audit-feedback process for the clinical implementation of best practice guidelines, which follows the action cycle. The objective of this review was to: (1) contextualize the Evidence Based Review of Stroke Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Knowledge to Action Project within the KTA model and (2) show how this process led to improved evidence-based practice in stroke rehabilitation. Through this process, a single centre was able to change clinical practice and promote a culture that supports the use of evidence-based practices in stroke rehabilitation.

  14. DAPs: Deep Action Proposals for Action Understanding

    KAUST Repository

    Escorcia, Victor

    2016-09-17

    Object proposals have contributed significantly to recent advances in object understanding in images. Inspired by the success of this approach, we introduce Deep Action Proposals (DAPs), an effective and efficient algorithm for generating temporal action proposals from long videos. We show how to take advantage of the vast capacity of deep learning models and memory cells to retrieve from untrimmed videos temporal segments, which are likely to contain actions. A comprehensive evaluation indicates that our approach outperforms previous work on a large scale action benchmark, runs at 134 FPS making it practical for large-scale scenarios, and exhibits an appealing ability to generalize, i.e. to retrieve good quality temporal proposals of actions unseen in training.

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 137: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (Revision 0) with ROTC 1 and 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krauss, Mark J

    2007-03-01

    The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure of CAU 137 with no further corrective action. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from February 28 through August 17, 2006, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 137: Waste Disposal Sites. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective process: • Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. • If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. • Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. ROTC-1: Downgrade FFACO UR at CAU 137, CAS 07-23-02, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site to an Administrative UR. ROTC-2: Downgrade FFACO UR at CAU 137, CAS 01-08-01, Waste Disposal Site to an Administrative UR.

  16. Non-IID Recommender Systems: A Review and Framework of Recommendation Paradigm Shifting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Longbing Cao

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available While recommendation plays an increasingly critical role in our living, study, work, and entertainment, the recommendations we receive are often for irrelevant, duplicate, or uninteresting products and services. A critical reason for such bad recommendations lies in the intrinsic assumption that recommended users and items are independent and identically distributed (IID in existing theories and systems. Another phenomenon is that, while tremendous efforts have been made to model specific aspects of users or items, the overall user and item characteristics and their non-IIDness have been overlooked. In this paper, the non-IID nature and characteristics of recommendation are discussed, followed by the non-IID theoretical framework in order to build a deep and comprehensive understanding of the intrinsic nature of recommendation problems, from the perspective of both couplings and heterogeneity. This non-IID recommendation research triggers the paradigm shift from IID to non-IID recommendation research and can hopefully deliver informed, relevant, personalized, and actionable recommendations. It creates exciting new directions and fundamental solutions to address various complexities including cold-start, sparse data-based, cross-domain, group-based, and shilling attack-related issues.

  17. Objective consensus from decision trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putora, Paul Martin; Panje, Cedric M; Papachristofilou, Alexandros; Dal Pra, Alan; Hundsberger, Thomas; Plasswilm, Ludwig

    2014-12-05

    Consensus-based approaches provide an alternative to evidence-based decision making, especially in situations where high-level evidence is limited. Our aim was to demonstrate a novel source of information, objective consensus based on recommendations in decision tree format from multiple sources. Based on nine sample recommendations in decision tree format a representative analysis was performed. The most common (mode) recommendations for each eventuality (each permutation of parameters) were determined. The same procedure was applied to real clinical recommendations for primary radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Data was collected from 16 radiation oncology centres, converted into decision tree format and analyzed in order to determine the objective consensus. Based on information from multiple sources in decision tree format, treatment recommendations can be assessed for every parameter combination. An objective consensus can be determined by means of mode recommendations without compromise or confrontation among the parties. In the clinical example involving prostate cancer therapy, three parameters were used with two cut-off values each (Gleason score, PSA, T-stage) resulting in a total of 27 possible combinations per decision tree. Despite significant variations among the recommendations, a mode recommendation could be found for specific combinations of parameters. Recommendations represented as decision trees can serve as a basis for objective consensus among multiple parties.

  18. Objective consensus from decision trees

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Putora, Paul Martin; Panje, Cedric M; Papachristofilou, Alexandros; Pra, Alan Dal; Hundsberger, Thomas; Plasswilm, Ludwig

    2014-01-01

    Consensus-based approaches provide an alternative to evidence-based decision making, especially in situations where high-level evidence is limited. Our aim was to demonstrate a novel source of information, objective consensus based on recommendations in decision tree format from multiple sources. Based on nine sample recommendations in decision tree format a representative analysis was performed. The most common (mode) recommendations for each eventuality (each permutation of parameters) were determined. The same procedure was applied to real clinical recommendations for primary radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Data was collected from 16 radiation oncology centres, converted into decision tree format and analyzed in order to determine the objective consensus. Based on information from multiple sources in decision tree format, treatment recommendations can be assessed for every parameter combination. An objective consensus can be determined by means of mode recommendations without compromise or confrontation among the parties. In the clinical example involving prostate cancer therapy, three parameters were used with two cut-off values each (Gleason score, PSA, T-stage) resulting in a total of 27 possible combinations per decision tree. Despite significant variations among the recommendations, a mode recommendation could be found for specific combinations of parameters. Recommendations represented as decision trees can serve as a basis for objective consensus among multiple parties

  19. Health policy and systems research training: global status and recommendations for action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tancred, Tara M; Schleiff, Meike; Peters, David H

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Objective To investigate the characteristics of health policy and systems research training globally and to identify recommendations for improvement and expansion. Methods We identified institutions offering health policy and systems research training worldwide. In 2014, we recruited participants from identified institutions for an online survey on the characteristics of the institutions and the courses given. Survey findings were explored during in-depth interviews with selected key informants. Findings The study identified several important gaps in health policy and systems research training. There were few courses in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa or Latin America. Most (116/152) courses were instructed in English. Institutional support for courses was often lacking and many institutions lacked the critical mass of trained individuals needed to support doctoral and postdoctoral students. There was little consistency between institutions in definitions of the competencies required for health policy and systems research. Collaboration across disciplines to provide the range of methodological perspectives the subject requires was insufficient. Moreover, the lack of alternatives to on-site teaching may preclude certain student audiences such as policy-makers. Conclusion Training in health policy and systems research is important to improve local capacity to conduct quality research in this field. We provide six recommendations to improve the content, accessibility and reach of training. First, create a repository of information on courses. Second, establish networks to support training. Third, define competencies in health policy and systems research. Fourth, encourage multidisciplinary collaboration. Fifth, expand the geographical and language coverage of courses. Finally, consider alternative teaching formats. PMID:27429488

  20. Energy for the world of tomorrow. The time for action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ailleret, F.

    2000-01-01

    This article introduces 'Energy for the world of tomorrow' which is the year 2000 version of the study bearing the same title published in 1993 by the World Energy Council. This version also has the sub-heading 'The time for action'. Seven years after the first study, major changes have affected the energy sector and new challenges have arisen. This new study examines these changes and introduces the statistical bases and economic forecasting scenarios used today by the WEC. It deliberately focuses upon the strategy to be adopted in order to meet the three main objectives of accessibility, availability and acceptability which the energy system needs to achieve between now and 2020. The strategy is defined by an action plan containing 10 main priority areas recommended by the WEC and submitted to political and economic decision-makers in order to put the energy system on the path to sustainable development. These objectives and actions are briefly presented in this article, which also makes use of significant extracts taken from this report. (author)

  1. Coordinated bird monitoring: Technical recommendations for military lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bart, Jonathan; Manning, Ann; Fischer, Richard; Eberly, Chris

    2012-01-01

    following these procedures, DoD will minimize the possibility for a proposed action to unintentionally take migratory birds at a level that would violate any of the migratory bird treaties and potentially impact mission activities. In addition, implementing conservation and monitoring programs for migratory birds supports the ecosystem integrity necessary to sustain DoD's natural resources for the military mission.Non-compliance with the procedural requirements of the MBTA could result in a private party lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). A lawsuit filed under APA involving a Navy bombing range is the basis for a court ruling that unintentional take of migratory birds applies to federal actions. Ensuring the necessary data is available to adequately assess impacts of a proposed action will help avoid lawsuits or help ensure such lawsuits have no grounds. The data gathered in a bird monitoring program will provide the best scientific data available to assess the expected impacts of a proposed action on migratory bird species through the NEPA process. This report presents recommendations developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the Department of Defense (DoD) on establishing a "Coordinated Bird Monitoring (CBM) Plan." The CBM Plan is intended to ensure that DoD meets its conservation and regulatory responsibilities for monitoring birds (Chapter 1). The report relies heavily on recommendations in the report, "Opportunities for improving avian monitoring" (http://www.nabci-us.org/aboutnabci/monitoringreportfinal0307.pdf), by the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative (U.S. NABCI Monitoring Subcommittee, 2007) and on a review of 358 current DoD bird monitoring programs carried out as part of this project (Chapter 2). This report contains 12 recommendations which, if followed, would result in a comprehensive, efficient, and useful approach to bird monitoring. The recommendations are based on the entire report but are presented together at

  2. After the Data: Taking Action on ClimateQUAL® Results

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Uzelac

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective – This paper discusses the actions taken by the staff development and training (SD&T team at the Sheridan Libraries and Johns Hopkins University Museums in response to results of a ClimateQUAL survey.Methods – The team administered the ClimateQUAL Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment in March 2009 to the 150 staff members of the museums and libraries, and 80% responded. To get at the root of some of the results, the team conducted 23 focus group sessions over the course of two months. In each 90-minute session, 8 open-ended questions were used to probe the staff’s thoughts on the survey results and elicit concrete suggestions for moving forward. Participants were asked to discuss their personal experiences with six areas of concern: procedural justice, distributive justice, structural facilitation of teamwork, psychological safety, communication, and leadership. One year after the original ClimateQUAL survey, the team administered a one-question follow-up survey.Results – The team analyzed and coded the notes taken during the focus group sessions and developed three discrete written summaries for each session: a brief summary of themes, a list of specific actionable suggestions, and a general description of specific scenarios aired in the sessions. From these analyses, the team developed two types of recommendations: quick tactical actions and long-term strategic recommendations. Strategic recommendations were developed in three main areas: fostering a sense of global ownership of organizational issues, improving organizational communication, and improving leadership and facilitation of teamwork. With these recommendations, the team charged managers to take broad ownership of a plan for individual actions. The results of the one-year follow-up survey were mixed. Staff perceived positive change in communication, but indicated that the areas of procedural and distributive justice, psychological safety, and transparency

  3. Objectives for next generation of practical short-range atmospheric dispersion models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olesen, H.R.; Mikkelsen, T.

    1992-01-01

    The proceedings contains papers from the workshop ''Objectives for Next Generation of Practical Short-Range Atmospheric Dispersion Models''. They deal with two types of models, namely models for regulatory purposes and models for real-time applications. The workshop was the result of an action started in 1991 for increased cooperation and harmonization within atmospheric dispersion modelling. The focus of the workshop was on the management of model development and the definition of model objectives, rather than on detailed model contents. It was the intention to identify actions that can be taken in order to improve the development and use of atmospheric dispersion models. The papers in the proceedings deal with various topics within the broad spectrum of matters related to up-to-date practical models, such as their scientific basis, requirements for model input and output, meteorological preprocessing, standardisation within modelling, electronic information exchange as a potentially useful tool, model evaluation and data bases for model evaluation. In addition to the papers, the proceedings contain summaries of the discussions at the workshop. These summaries point to a number of recommended actions which can be taken in order to improve ''modelling culture''. (AB)

  4. Recommender systems

    CERN Document Server

    Kembellec, Gérald; Saleh, Imad

    2014-01-01

    Acclaimed by various content platforms (books, music, movies) and auction sites online, recommendation systems are key elements of digital strategies. If development was originally intended for the performance of information systems, the issues are now massively moved on logical optimization of the customer relationship, with the main objective to maximize potential sales. On the transdisciplinary approach, engines and recommender systems brings together contributions linking information science and communications, marketing, sociology, mathematics and computing. It deals with the understan

  5. The Action Observation System when Observing Hand Actions in Autism and Typical Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pokorny, Jennifer J; Hatt, Naomi V; Colombi, Costanza; Vivanti, Giacomo; Rogers, Sally J; Rivera, Susan M

    2015-06-01

    Social impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be in part due to difficulty perceiving and recognizing the actions of others. Evidence from imitation studies, which involves both observation and execution of an action, suggests differences, in individuals with ASD, between the ability to imitate goal-directed actions involving objects (transitive actions) and the ability to imitate actions that do not involve objects (intransitive actions). In the present study, we examined whether there were differences in how ASD adolescents encoded transitive and intransitive actions compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents, by having participants view videos of a hand reaching across a screen toward an object or to where an object would be while functional magnetic resonance images were collected. Analyses focused on areas within the action observation network (AON), which is activated during the observation of actions performed by others. We hypothesized that the AON would differentiate transitive from intransitive actions only in the ASD group. However, results revealed that object presence modulated activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus of the TD group, a differentiation that was not seen in the ASD group. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences between the TD and ASD groups in any of the conditions. This suggests that there is not a global deficit of the AON in individuals with ASD while observing transitive and intransitive actions. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Action Intentions: Action Influences Both On-Line Perception and Off-Line Representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C Kirtley

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Given that one role of vision is to gather information for upcoming tasks, previous studies have investigated whether the preparation for action affects visual behaviour. The current studies aimed to determine if such influences on visual selection would also influence the formation of subsequent memory representations. Two experiments were conducted- in the first, participants' action intentions towards a scene were manipulated by the performance of different grasping postures as they observed the scene. This was followed by a memory test for the objects presented. Participants' eye movements were affected by their action intention, so that performing a power grip led to significantly longer fixation durations on power grip compatible objects. In contrast, memory for the objects and their properties was not affected by the action. Our second study required participants to make the action posture during the recall phase. No effect on eye movements was found, but recall was affected, with a particular advantage for recall of the position of grip-compatible objects. Previous studies have shown that action intentions can affect the on-line perception of objects. The current study suggests this may not extend to off-line representations if they are accessed after the action has been completed or abandoned. However, the recall of information may be affected if gestures are formed during retrieval. Memory representations may not be tailored specifically to an action, but actions can still affect the recall of information.

  7. Rating Methods for Proactive Recommendation on Smartwatches

    OpenAIRE

    Janosch Maier, Wolfgang Wörndl

    2015-01-01

    This paper analyzes possible interaction methods for using a recommender system on a smartwatch. As prerequisite, we describe interaction patterns currently used by Android Wear applications. Based on a prototype implementation the interaction methods action buttons, two button card and swipes are compared against each other. In a user study, 31 participating students were asked to rate restaurant recommendations offered in the setting of a context-aware, proactive recommender system. For eac...

  8. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 365: Baneberry Contamination Area, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2011-09-01

    Corrective Action Unit 365 comprises one corrective action site (CAS), CAS 08-23-02, U-8d Contamination Area. The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 365 based on the implementation of the corrective action of closure in place with a use restriction (UR). Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from January 18, 2011, through August 2, 2011, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 365: Baneberry Contamination Area. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 365 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated the dataset is complete and acceptable for use in supporting the DQO decisions. Investigation results were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. A radiological dose FAL of 25 millirem per year was established based on the Remote Work Area exposure scenario (336 hours of annual exposure). Radiological doses exceeding the FAL were found to be present to the southwest of the Baneberry crater. It was also assumed that radionuclide levels present within the crater and fissure exceed the FAL. Corrective actions were undertaken that consisted of establishing a UR and posting warning signs for the crater, fissure, and the area located to the southwest of the crater where soil concentrations exceeded the FAL. These URs were recorded in the FFACO database; the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) Facility Information Management System; and the NNSA/NSO CAU/CAS files. Therefore, NNSA/NSO provides the following recommendations: (1) No further corrective actions beyond what are described in this document are necessary for CAU 365. (2) A Notice of Completion to

  9. Immunization Action Coalition

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... IAC | Contact | A-Z Index | Donate | Shop | SUBSCRIBE Immunization Action Coalition Favorites ACIP Recommendations Package Inserts Additional Immunization Resources Photos Adult Vaccination Screening Checklists Ask the ...

  10. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site, Nevada: Revision 0, Including Errata Sheet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office

    2004-04-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document identifies the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's corrective action alternative recommendation for each of the corrective action sites (CASs) within Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 204: Storage Bunkers, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. An evaluation of analytical data from the corrective action investigation, review of current and future operations at each CAS, and a detailed comparative analysis of potential corrective action alternatives were used to determine the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. There are six CASs in CAU 204, which are all located between Areas 1, 2, 3, and 5 on the NTS. The No Further Action alternative was recommended for CASs 01-34-01, 02-34-01, 03-34-01, and 05-99-02; and a Closure in Place with Administrative Controls recommendation was the preferred corrective action for CASs 05-18-02 and 05-33-01. These alternatives were judged to meet all requirements for the technical components evaluated as well as applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the sites and will eliminate potential future exposure pathways to the contaminated media at CAU 204.

  11. Recommended revisions to nuclear regulatory commission seismic design criteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coats, D.W.

    1981-01-01

    Task Action Plan (TAP) A-40 was developed by consolidating specific technical assistance studies initiated to identify and quantify the conservatism inherent in the seismic design sequence of current NRC criteria. Task 10 of TAP A-40 provided a technical review of the results of the other nine engineering and seismological tasks in TAP A-40 and recommended changes to the existing NRC criteria based on this review. We used the team approach to accomplish the objectives of Task 10 in an efficient manner and to provide the best technical product possible within the limited time available. The team consisted of a core group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory personnel and selected consultants. The recommendations summarized in this paper were not based solely on the results of the tasks in TAP A-40 but went far beyond that data base to encompass all available and appropriate literature. Some recommendations are based on the expertise of core members and consultants that stem from unpublished data, research, and experience. Copies of the pertinent sections of the Standard Review Plan (SRP) and Regulatory Guides as well as the reports developed under TAP A-40 were provided to the participants. These reports, other available engineering literature, and the experience of the consultants and core group provided technical basis for the recommendations. (orig./HP)

  12. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 139: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grant Evenson

    2006-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 139 is located in Areas 3, 4, 6, and 9 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 139 is comprised of the seven corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 03-35-01, Burn Pit; (2) 04-08-02, Waste Disposal Site; (3) 04-99-01, Contaminated Surface Debris; (4) 06-19-02, Waste Disposal Site/Burn Pit; (5) 06-19-03, Waste Disposal Trenches; (6) 09-23-01, Area 9 Gravel Gertie; and (7) 09-34-01, Underground Detection Station. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives with the exception of CASs 09-23-01 and 09-34-01. Regarding these two CASs, CAS 09-23-01 is a gravel gertie where a zero-yield test was conducted with all contamination confined to below ground within the area of the structure, and CAS 09-34-01 is an underground detection station where no contaminants are present. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for the other five CASs where information is insufficient. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on January 4, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 139

  13. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation strategy review recommendations. Final Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    In May 1994 the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO)'s Board initiated a comprehensive five month review which purpose was to develop a mission for ANSTO and thus define its role both domestically and internationally. The review took into account the needs of ANSTO stakeholders, analysed ANSTO capabilities as well as available international opportunities. Outcomes of the review included an assessment of the priorities and needs of stakeholders, an understanding of how these needs can be meet, and the resulting resource implications. ANSTO's major mission objectives, as defined in the consultants's report should be: to support the Government's nuclear policies (this objective is paramount), support industrial competitiveness and innovation through technology transfer, as well as to maintain a high quality nuclear science base and to enable academic institutions and other science organizations to perform research by providing access to unique facilities and expertise. The consultants also made recommendations on appropriate management arrangements for ANSTO, an implementation plan, progress milestones and operational targets. Details of the relevance-excellence analysis, commercial customer analysis and justification for recommended activity action imperatives are presented in the appendices. 48 figs

  14. Unsupervised Learning of Action Primitives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baby, Sanmohan; Krüger, Volker; Kragic, Danica

    2010-01-01

    and scale, the use of the object can provide a strong invariant for the detection of motion primitives. In this paper we propose an unsupervised learning approach for action primitives that makes use of the human movements as well as the object state changes. We group actions according to the changes......Action representation is a key issue in imitation learning for humanoids. With the recent finding of mirror neurons there has been a growing interest in expressing actions as a combination meaningful subparts called primitives. Primitives could be thought of as an alphabet for the human actions....... In this paper we observe that human actions and objects can be seen as being intertwined: we can interpret actions from the way the body parts are moving, but as well from how their effect on the involved object. While human movements can look vastly different even under minor changes in location, orientation...

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 322: Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No. 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robert Boehlecke

    2004-12-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 322, Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 322 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 01-25-01 - AST Release Site; (2) 03-25-03 - Mud Plant and AST Diesel Release; and (3) 03-20-05 - Injection Wells and BOP Shop. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 322. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from April 2004 through September 2004, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The purposes of the activities as defined during the data quality objectives process were: (1) Determine if contaminants of concern (COCs) are present; (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent; and (3) Provide sufficient information and data to recommend appropriate corrective actions for the CASs. Analytes detected during the corrective action investigation were evaluated against appropriate preliminary action levels to identify contaminants of concern for each corrective action site. Radiological field measurements were compared to unrestricted release criteria. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities revealed the following: (1) CAS 01-25-01 contains an AST berm contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) diesel-range organics (DRO). (2) CAS 03-25-03 includes two distinct areas: Area A where no contamination remains from a potential spill associated with an AST, and Area B where TPH-DRO contamination associated with various activities at the mud plant was identified. The Area B contamination was found at various locations and depths. (3) CAS 03-25-03 Area B contains TPH-DRO contamination at various

  16. Ethical Issues in Using Children's Blood Lead Levels as a Remedial Action Objective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Emily Lorraine

    2011-01-01

    The Environmental Protection Agency measures the success or failure of Superfund site remediation efforts against remedial action objectives (RAOs). RAOs are frequently based on environmental contaminant concentrations, but with lead exposure, blood lead levels from the population at risk are often used. Although childhood lead screening is an important public health tool, an RAO based on child blood lead levels raises ethical concerns: public health efforts that are more reactive than preventive, a blood lead standard (10 μg/dL) that may not be fully protective, the use of a measure whose validity and reliability may be easily compromised, and exacerbation of environmental injustice and systematic disadvantages. The example of Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho, allowed an examination of these ethical concerns. PMID:21836120

  17. Co-Production of Actionable Science: Recommendations to the Secretary of Interior and a San Francisco Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behar, D. H.; Pfeffer, W. T.; Beier, P.

    2015-12-01

    "Actionable Science provides data, analyses, projections, or tools that can support decisions regarding the management of the risks and impacts of climate change. It is ideally co-produced by scientists and decision makers and creates rigorous and accessible products to meet the needs of stakeholders. (Report to the Secretary of the Interior, Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science (ACCCNRS), March 30, 2015)During one 17 month period ending in 2013, three major reports on sea level rise from three highly respected science providers produced three divergent estimates of sea level rise. These reports collectively flummoxed the lay reader seeking direction for adaptation planning. Guidance documents soon emerged from state entities which caused further confusion. The City and County of San Francisco began developing "Guidance for Incorporating Sea Level Rise into Capital Planning" in 2013 at the direction of San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee (http://onesanfrancisco.org/staff-resources/sea-level-rise-guidance/). The first task in developing this Guidance was to convert these highly technical reports into "actionable science." This required extensive expert elicitation to tease out their meaning and use value for decision making. This process, which resulted in detailed guidance on the use of SLR science in planning, is increasingly being called "co-production."Co-production requires both scientist and decision-maker to hear the other's perspective, reflect upon the decision-maker's precise needs, and translate peer review science into lay language and practical advice for decision making. The co-production dynamic was the subject of extensive discussion in the federal Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science. The ACCCNRS recommendations (https://nccwsc.usgs.gov/acccnrs) include not only the new definition of Actionable Science cited above, but also a "How-To-Guide" that outlines principles for successfully creating a co

  18. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 137: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wickline, Alfred

    2005-01-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 137: Waste Disposal Sites. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 137 contains sites that are located in Areas 1, 3, 7, 9, and 12 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1). Corrective Action Unit 137 is comprised of the eight corrective action sites (CASs) shown on Figure 1-1 and listed below: (1) CAS 01-08-01, Waste Disposal Site; (2) CAS 03-23-01, Waste Disposal Site; (3) CAS 03-23-07, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (4) CAS 03-99-15, Waste Disposal Site; (5) CAS 07-23-02, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (6) CAS 09-23-07, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (7) CAS 12-08-01, Waste Disposal Site; and (8) CAS 12-23-07, Waste Disposal Site. The Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, radiological surveys, geophysical surveys, sampling of environmental media, analysis of samples, and assessment of investigation results, where appropriate. Data will be obtained to support corrective action alternative evaluations and waste management decisions. The CASs in CAU 137 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI before evaluating and selecting corrective action

  19. 12 CFR 272.4 - Committee actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and Banking FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE RULES OF PROCEDURE § 272... System Open Market Account. All communications of recommended actions and votes under this paragraph... execution of any operations pursuant to the action, the action is null and void unless it is ratified and...

  20. Quick scan of Participatory Action, Summary, conclusions and recommendations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verhagen, H.J.

    2005-01-01

    Projects using innovative concepts in coastal defence -like ComCoast- can benefit greatly from participatory action. It can lead to innovative solutions with a broad societal support base, as is shown in the plan for water storage in the Overdiepse polder and the inundation compensation scheme for

  1. Observed Human Actions, and Not Mechanical Actions, Induce Searching Errors in Infants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuke Moriguchi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent neurophysiological studies have shown that several human brain regions involved in executing actions are activated by merely observing such actions via a human, and not by a mechanical hand. At a behavioral level, observing a human’s movements, but not those of a robot, significantly interferes with ongoing executed movements. However, it is unclear whether the biological tuning in the observation/execution matching system are functional during infancy. The present study examines whether a human’s actions, and not a mechanical action, influence infants’ execution of the same actions due to the observation/execution matching system. Twelve-month-old infants were given a searching task. In the tasks, infants observed an object hidden at location A, after which either a human hand (human condition or a mechanical one (mechanical condition searched the object correctly. Next, the object was hidden at location B and infants were allowed to search the object. We examined whether infants searched the object at location B correctly. The results revealed that infants in the human condition were more likely to search location A than those in the mechanical condition. Moreover, the results suggested that infants’ searching behaviors were affected by their observations of the same actions by a human, but not a mechanical hand. Thus, it may be concluded that the observation/execution matching system may be biologically tuned during infancy.

  2. Hierarchically Structured Recommender System for Improving NPS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Jieyan

    2016-01-01

    Net Promoter System (NPS) is well known as an evaluation measure of the growth engine of big companies in the business area. The ultimate goal of my research is to build an action rules and meta-actions based recommender system for improving NPS scores of 34 companies (clients) dealing with similar businesses in the US and Canada. With the given…

  3. The United Nations recommendations and data efforts: international migration statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, A B

    1987-01-01

    This article reviews the UN's efforts to improve international migration statistics. The review addresses the challenges faced by the UN, the direction in which this effort is going, gaps in the current approach, and priorities for future action. The content of the UN recommendations has changed in the past and seems to be moving toward further changes. At each stage, the direction of change corresponds broadly to earlier shifts in the overall context of world social-economic affairs and related transformations in international travel and migration patterns. Early (1953) objectives were vaguely stated in terms of social, economic, and demographic impacts of long term settlement. 1976 recommendations continued the focus on long term resettlement and, at the same time, gave more attention to at least 1 kind of short term (work-related) movement. Most recent recommendations have given more attention to other classes of short term travellers, such as refugees and contract workers. Recommendations on the measures and data sources have changed over time, also. The 1953 recommendations were limited to flow data from international border statistics. 1976 recommendations drew attention to stock data and the use of civil registration data to supplement border crossing data. Recent UN reflections recognize that the volume of border crossings has now reached the point where many countries simply refuse to gather data on all travellers, choosing instead to make estimates. It is implied that either sample surveys at border points and/or visas and entry permits may be the best way of counting various specific kinds of migrants. Future recommendations corresponding to contemporary and emerging concerns will require that the guidelines be restructured: 1) to give more explicit attention in international migration statistics to citizenship and access to political and welfare benefits; 2) to distinguish more carefully various sub-classes of movers; 3) to expand objectives of data

  4. Item-Level Psychometrics and Predictors of Performance for Spanish/English Bilingual Speakers on "An Object and Action Naming Battery"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Lisa A.; Donovan, Neila J.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: There is a pressing need for psychometrically sound naming materials for Spanish/English bilingual adults. To address this need, in this study the authors examined the psychometric properties of An Object and Action Naming Battery (An O&A Battery; Druks & Masterson, 2000) in bilingual speakers. Method: Ninety-one Spanish/English…

  5. Nuclear security. DOE actions to improve the personnel clearance program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fultz, Keith O.; Bannerman, Carl J.; Daniel, Beverly A.

    1988-11-01

    The status of the Department of Energy's (DOE) implementation of recommendations in our two reports on DOE's personnel security clearance program was determined. The recommendations were aimed at improving the timeliness, accuracy, and efficiency of personnel security clearance decisions. Specifically, the objective was to determine and report on steps DOE is taking to implement these recommendations. In summary, it was found that DOE has either initiated action or is studying ways to address all the recommendations, but none of the recommendations have been completely implemented. The effectiveness of the DOE actions will depend, in part, on the adequacy of its internal control system for overseeing and evaluating program operations. DOE's personnel security clearance program is intended to provide reasonable assurance that personnel with access to classified information and materials are trustworthy. The Department requests that the Office of Personnel Management or the Federal Bureau of Investigation collect personal data on each person who requires such access to do his or her job. Based on these background investigations, DOE officials authorize individuals whose personal histories indicate that they are trustworthy to have access to classified information, secured facilities, and controlled materials as needed to perform their jobs. DOE has five types of these authorizations or personnel security clearances and must update information on personnel holding each type at 5-year intervals to confirm their continuing reliability. The five types are based on the types of security interests to which the person needs access, e.g., persons needing nuclear weapons-related data must have a Q clearance, and persons with a top secret clearance can have access to national security data classified as top secret

  6. Joint action on mental health at the workplace : situation analysis and recommendation for action

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fine, A.; Griffiths, J.; Breucker, G.; Sochert, R.; Knoche, K.; Zabrocki, H.; Heigi, C.; Radonic, E.; Mattila-Holappa, P.; Buffet, M.A.; Houtman, I.L.D.; Gründemann, R.; Hulleman, J.; Nijland, B.; Kramberger, B.; Betlehem, J.; Pék, E..; Ingudottir, J.; Bjarnadottir, S.; Murray, P.; Xerri, R.

    2015-01-01

    The thematic “Mental Health at Workplaces” is part of the “Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being”, an initiative which sits within the framework of the 2 nd European Health Programme of the European Commission and the Member States of the EU in the period 2013 to 2016. The main aim of this

  7. Personalized recommendation based on preferential bidirectional mass diffusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Guilin; Gao, Tianrun; Zhu, Xuzhen; Tian, Hui; Yang, Zhao

    2017-03-01

    Recommendation system provides a promising way to alleviate the dilemma of information overload. In physical dynamics, mass diffusion has been used to design effective recommendation algorithms on bipartite network. However, most of the previous studies focus overwhelmingly on unidirectional mass diffusion from collected objects to uncollected objects, while overlooking the opposite direction, leading to the risk of similarity estimation deviation and performance degradation. In addition, they are biased towards recommending popular objects which will not necessarily promote the accuracy but make the recommendation lack diversity and novelty that indeed contribute to the vitality of the system. To overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, we propose a preferential bidirectional mass diffusion (PBMD) algorithm by penalizing the weight of popular objects in bidirectional diffusion. Experiments are evaluated on three benchmark datasets (Movielens, Netflix and Amazon) by 10-fold cross validation, and results indicate that PBMD remarkably outperforms the mainstream methods in accuracy, diversity and novelty.

  8. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 365: Baneberry Contamination Area, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2010-12-01

    Corrective Action Unit 365 comprises one corrective action site (CAS), CAS 08-23-02, U-8d Contamination Area. This site is being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for the CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The site will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on July 6, 2010, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for the Baneberry site. The primary release associated with Corrective Action Unit 365 was radiological contamination from the Baneberry nuclear test. Baneberry was an underground weapons-related test that vented significant quantities of radioactive gases from a fissure located in close proximity to ground zero. A crater formed shortly after detonation, which stemmed part of the flow from the fissure. The scope of this investigation includes surface and shallow subsurface (less than 15 feet below ground surface) soils. Radionuclides from the Baneberry test with the potential to impact groundwater are included within the Underground Test Area Subproject. Investigations and corrective actions associated with the Underground Test Area Subproject include the radiological inventory resulting from the Baneberry test.

  9. From science to action and from action to science: the Nunavik Trichinellosis Prevention Program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvain Larrat

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. During the 1980s, walrus-meat consumption caused infections with the parasite Trichinella nativa in Nunavik inhabitants. In response to these events, stakeholders set up the community-based Nunavik Trichinellosis Prevention Program (NTPP. The objectives of the present communication are to review the NTPP, describe how science and action were interwoven in its development and identify its assets and limitations. Study design. Descriptive study. Methods. The NTPP relies on a pooled digestion assay of tongue samples taken from each harvested walrus. The public health recommendations depend on the results of the analyses: infected walrus meat should be destroyed; parasite-free meat may be eaten raw or cooked. Results. All communities involved in the walrus hunt participate in the NTPP and a high percentage of harvested walruses are included in the NTPP. Infected animals account for 2.9% of the walruses tested (20/694 since 1992. The NTPP permitted the early management of a trichinellosis event in 1997. Since then, it prevented the new occurrence of outbreaks related to walruses hunted by Nunavimmiut. Conclusions. The absence of recent major outbreaks of trichinellosis in Nunavik may reasonably be attributed to the NTPP. The success of the program stands on many facilitating factors such as the nature of the disease and its source, the existence of an efficient analytic method, the strong involvement of the different partners including direct resource users, as well as the comprehensive bidirectional science-to-action approach that has been followed.

  10. EEAS 2.0: draft recommendations for the 2013 EEAS Review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blockmans, Steven; Cremona, Marise; Curtin, Deirdre; de Baere, Geert; Duke, Simon; Eckes, Christina; Hillion, Christophe; Van Vooren, Bart; Wessel, Ramses A.; Wouters, Jan

    2013-01-01

    This document offers recommendations for the amendment of Council Decision 2010/427/EU establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (hereinafter ‘EEAS Decision’). These recommendations have been distilled from discussions between academics and practitioners

  11. Elegant objects

    CERN Document Server

    Bugayenko, Yegor

    2017-01-01

    There are 23 practical recommendations for object-oriented programmers. Most of them are completely against everything you've read in other books. For example, static methods, NULL references, getters, setters, and mutable classes are called evil. Compound variable names, validators, private static literals, configurable objects, inheritance, annotations, MVC, dependency injection containers, reflection, ORM and even algorithms are our enemies.

  12. An improved recommendation algorithm via weakening indirect linkage effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Guang; Qiu Tian; Shen Xiao-Quan

    2015-01-01

    We propose an indirect-link-weakened mass diffusion method (IMD), by considering the indirect linkage and the source object heterogeneity effect in the mass diffusion (MD) recommendation method. Experimental results on the MovieLens, Netflix, and RYM datasets show that, the IMD method greatly improves both the recommendation accuracy and diversity, compared with a heterogeneity-weakened MD method (HMD), which only considers the source object heterogeneity. Moreover, the recommendation accuracy of the cold objects is also better elevated in the IMD than the HMD method. It suggests that eliminating the redundancy induced by the indirect linkages could have a prominent effect on the recommendation efficiency in the MD method. (paper)

  13. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 511: Waste Dumps (Piles and Debris) Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pastor, Laura

    2005-12-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 511, Waste Dumps (Piles & Debris). The CAU is comprised of nine corrective action sites (CASs) located in Areas 3, 4, 6, 7, 18, and 19 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 511 is comprised of nine CASs: (1) 03-08-02, Waste Dump (Piles & Debris); (2) 03-99-11, Waste Dump (Piles); (3) 03-99-12, Waste Dump (Piles & Debris); (4) 04-99-04, Contaminated Trench/Berm; (5) 06-16-01, Waste Dump (Piles & Debris); (6) 06-17-02, Scattered Ordnance/Automatic Weapons Range; (7) 07-08-01, Contaminated Mound; (8) 18-99-10, Ammunition Dump; and (9) 19-19-03, Waste Dump (Piles & Debris). The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure of CAU 511 with no further corrective action. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) and closure activities were performed from January 2005 through August 2005, as set forth in the ''Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 511: Waste Dumps (Piles & Debris)'' (NNSA/NSO, 2004) and Record of Technical Change No. 1. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective process: (1) Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. (3) Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 511 dataset from the investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the data quality objective data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate preliminary

  14. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 554: Area 23 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehlecke, Robert F.

    2004-01-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 554: Area 23 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. Information presented in this CAIP includes facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for the selection and evaluation of environmental samples. Corrective Action Unit 554 is located in Area 23 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 554 is comprised of one Corrective Action Site (CAS), which is: 23-02-08, USTs 23-115-1, 2, 3/Spill 530-90-002. This site consists of soil contamination resulting from a fuel release from underground storage tanks (USTs). Corrective Action Site 23-02-08 is being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation prior to evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for this CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document for CAU 554. Corrective Action Site 23-02-08 will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on July 15, 2004, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; and contractor personnel. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 554. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to CAS 23-02-08. The scope of the corrective action investigation

  15. Farmers' Characteristics and Adoption' of Recommended Practices ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    into cooperatives and increased agricultural extension education to enhance communication were recommended. ,. Key words: ... I Further actions by the Federal government to fully utilize the ... by constructing tube wells, wash bore, purchase.

  16. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 139: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2006-04-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 139 is located in Areas 3, 4, 6, and 9 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 139 is comprised of the seven corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 03-35-01, Burn Pit; (2) 04-08-02, Waste Disposal Site; (3) 04-99-01, Contaminated Surface Debris; (4) 06-19-02, Waste Disposal Site/Burn Pit; (5) 06-19-03, Waste Disposal Trenches; (6) 09-23-01, Area 9 Gravel Gertie; and (7) 09-34-01, Underground Detection Station. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives with the exception of CASs 09-23-01 and 09-34-01. Regarding these two CASs, CAS 09-23-01 is a gravel gertie where a zero-yield test was conducted with all contamination confined to below ground within the area of the structure, and CAS 09-34-01 is an underground detection station where no contaminants are present. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for the other five CASs where information is insufficient. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on January 4, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 139.

  17. Problem-Based Learning Associated by Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) Theory to Enhance Students' High Order Mathematical Thinking Ability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mudrikah, Achmad

    2016-01-01

    The research has shown a model of learning activities that can be used to stimulate reflective abstraction in students. Reflective abstraction as a method of constructing knowledge in the Action-Process-Object-Schema theory, and is expected to occur when students are in learning activities, will be able to encourage students to make the process of…

  18. Personalized recommendation based on unbiased consistence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Xuzhen; Tian, Hui; Zhang, Ping; Hu, Zheng; Zhou, Tao

    2015-08-01

    Recently, in physical dynamics, mass-diffusion-based recommendation algorithms on bipartite network provide an efficient solution by automatically pushing possible relevant items to users according to their past preferences. However, traditional mass-diffusion-based algorithms just focus on unidirectional mass diffusion from objects having been collected to those which should be recommended, resulting in a biased causal similarity estimation and not-so-good performance. In this letter, we argue that in many cases, a user's interests are stable, and thus bidirectional mass diffusion abilities, no matter originated from objects having been collected or from those which should be recommended, should be consistently powerful, showing unbiased consistence. We further propose a consistence-based mass diffusion algorithm via bidirectional diffusion against biased causality, outperforming the state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms in disparate real data sets, including Netflix, MovieLens, Amazon and Rate Your Music.

  19. National action strategy on global warming

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1990-11-01

    A document prepared by a committee of Canadian environmental ministries proposes a strategic framework for a national action plan concerning global warming. The strategy would be carried out jointly by governments and all other sectors of the economy, taking into account the present state of scientific knowledge on global warming. Within this framework, the governments in cooperation with interested parties would take certain measures in their respective areas of competence. The main recommendations of the document include the following. The action strategy should comprise 3 elements: limiting emissions of greenhouse gases; forecasting climatic changes which Canada could undergo due to global warming and preparing for such changes; and improving scientific knowledge and the capacity to predict climatic changes. Limitations on this strategy should take into account such matters as the interaction of greenhouse gases with other pollutants, the importance of the international context, the need to adapt to new discoveries, and the importance of regional differences. Implementation of the strategy should incorporate widespread consultation of all affected sectors, sustained work on establishing international conventions and protocols on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, objectives and schedules for such reductions, and stepwise actions to control emissions in order to enable an adequate evaluation of the consequences and effectiveness of such measures. 10 figs., 2 tabs

  20. Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Evelyne; Keysers, Christian; Umiltà, M Alessandra; Fogassi, Leonardo; Gallese, Vittorio; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

    2002-08-02

    Many object-related actions can be recognized by their sound. We found neurons in monkey premotor cortex that discharge when the animal performs a specific action and when it hears the related sound. Most of the neurons also discharge when the monkey observes the same action. These audiovisual mirror neurons code actions independently of whether these actions are performed, heard, or seen. This discovery in the monkey homolog of Broca's area might shed light on the origin of language: audiovisual mirror neurons code abstract contents-the meaning of actions-and have the auditory access typical of human language to these contents.

  1. Solving the apparent diversity-accuracy dilemma of recommender systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Tao; Kuscsik, Zoltán; Liu, Jian-Guo; Medo, Matús; Wakeling, Joseph Rushton; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

    2010-03-09

    Recommender systems use data on past user preferences to predict possible future likes and interests. A key challenge is that while the most useful individual recommendations are to be found among diverse niche objects, the most reliably accurate results are obtained by methods that recommend objects based on user or object similarity. In this paper we introduce a new algorithm specifically to address the challenge of diversity and show how it can be used to resolve this apparent dilemma when combined in an elegant hybrid with an accuracy-focused algorithm. By tuning the hybrid appropriately we are able to obtain, without relying on any semantic or context-specific information, simultaneous gains in both accuracy and diversity of recommendations.

  2. Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the arctic (VACCA): Implementing recommendations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    This report provides recommendations for how Norway's government could move forward with the results from the Arctic Council supported VACCA project, suggesting how concrete activities may be implemented and applied to policy and practice. Based on the results of interviews with Arctic peoples and people involved in Arctic work, combined with desk studies of relevant literature, four Arctic contexts are defined within the dividing lines coastal/non-coastal and urban/non-urban. This report provides up to five concrete recommendations within each context, recommendations for cross-contextual action, and specific projects for further research and action.(auth)

  3. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 547: Miscellaneous Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mark Krauss

    2011-09-01

    The purpose of this CADD/CAP is to present the corrective action alternatives (CAAs) evaluated for CAU 547, provide justification for selection of the recommended alternative, and describe the plan for implementing the selected alternative. Corrective Action Unit 547 consists of the following three corrective action sites (CASs): (1) CAS 02-37-02, Gas Sampling Assembly; (2) CAS 03-99-19, Gas Sampling Assembly; and(3) CAS 09-99-06, Gas Sampling Assembly. The gas sampling assemblies consist of inactive process piping, equipment, and instrumentation that were left in place after completion of underground safety experiments. The purpose of these safety experiments was to confirm that a nuclear explosion would not occur in the case of an accidental detonation of the high-explosive component of the device. The gas sampling assemblies allowed for the direct sampling of the gases and particulates produced by the safety experiments. Corrective Action Site 02-37-02 is located in Area 2 of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) and is associated with the Mullet safety experiment conducted in emplacement borehole U2ag on October 17, 1963. Corrective Action Site 03-99-19 is located in Area 3 of the NNSS and is associated with the Tejon safety experiment conducted in emplacement borehole U3cg on May 17, 1963. Corrective Action Site 09-99-06 is located in Area 9 of the NNSS and is associated with the Player safety experiment conducted in emplacement borehole U9cc on August 27, 1964. The CAU 547 CASs were investigated in accordance with the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to determine and implement appropriate corrective actions for CAU 547. Existing radiological survey data and historical knowledge of

  4. Emotions and action

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frijda, N.H.; Manstead, A.S.R.; Frijda, N.H.; Fischer, A.H.

    2004-01-01

    This chapter discusses the relationships between emotion and action. Emotion, by its very nature, is change in action readiness to maintain or change one's relationship to an object or event. Motivation, or motivational change, is one of the key aspects of emotions. Even so, action follows only

  5. Youth injury prevention in Canada: use of the Delphi method to develop recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pike, Ian; Piedt, Shannon; Davison, Colleen M; Russell, Kelly; Macpherson, Alison K; Pickett, William

    2015-12-22

    The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey is one of very few cross-national health surveys that includes information on injury occurrence and prevention within adolescent populations. A collaboration to develop a Canadian youth injury report using these data resulted in, Injury among Young Canadians: A national study of contextual determinants. The objective of this study was to develop specific evidence-based, policy-oriented recommendations arising from the national report, using a modified-Delphi process with a panel of expert stakeholders. Eight injury prevention experts and a 3-person youth advisory team associated with a Canadian injury prevention organization (Parachute Canada) reviewed, edited and commented on report recommendations through a three-stage iterative modified-Delphi process. From an initial list of 27 draft recommendations, the modified-Delphi process resulted in a final list of 19 specific recommendations, worded to resonate with the group(s) responsible to lead or take the recommended action. Two recommendations were rated as "extremely important" or "very important" by 100 % of the expert panel, two were deleted, a further two recommendations were deleted but the content included as text in the report, and four were merged with other existing recommendations. The modified-Delphi process was an appropriate method to achieve agreement on 19 specific evidence-based, policy-oriented recommendations to complement the national youth injury report. In providing their input, it is noted that the injury stakeholders each acted as individual experts, unattached to any organizational position or policy. These recommendations will require multidisciplinary collaborations in order to support the proposed policy development, additional research, programming and clear decision-making for youth injury prevention.

  6. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 371: Johnnie Boy Crater and Pin Stripe Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2010-07-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit 371, Johnnie Boy Crater and Pin Stripe, located within Areas 11 and 18 at the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 371 comprises two corrective action sites (CASs): • 11-23-05, Pin Stripe Contamination Area • 18-45-01, U-18j-2 Crater (Johnnie Boy) The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 371 based on the implementation of corrective actions. The corrective action of closure in place with administrative controls was implemented at both CASs. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from January 8, 2009, through February 16, 2010, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 371: Johnnie Boy Crater and Pin Stripe. The approach for the CAI was divided into two facets: investigation of the primary release of radionuclides and investigation of other releases (migration in washes and chemical releases). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 371 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the dataset is acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. Radiological doses exceeding the FAL of 25 millirem per year were not found to be present in the surface soil. However, it was assumed that radionuclides are present in subsurface media within the Johnnie Boy crater and the fissure at Pin Stripe. Due to the assumption of radiological dose exceeding the FAL, corrective actions were undertaken

  7. Clean Slate 1 corrective action decision document, Corrective Action Unit No. 412. Revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-04-01

    A Corrective Action Investigation has been completed at the Clean Slate 1 (CS-1) Site, located in the central portion of the Tonopah Test Range. The purpose of this CADD is to identify and evaluate potential correct action alternatives at the CS-1 Site and to evaluate these alternatives with respect to their technical, human health, and environmental benefits and to their cost. Base on this evaluation a corrective action will be recommended for implementation at the CS-1 Site

  8. Evaluating Barriers to Adherence to Dietary Recommendations in Iranian Adults with Metabolic Syndrome: A Qualitative Study Using the Theory of Reasoned Action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esmaeili, Naseh; Alizadeh, Mohammad; Tarighat Esfanjani, Ali; Kheirouri, Sorayya

    2016-07-01

    Metabolic syndrome (MS) is defined as a pattern of metabolic disorders including central obesity, insulin resistance or hyperglycemia, high blood pressure, and dyslipidemia. Many studies show a clear relationship between diet and components of MS. The aim of the current study was to identify barriers to adherence to dietary recommendations among Iranian MS patients. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) served as the framework for this qualitative study. Data collection was conducted through six semi-structured focus group discussions, from Apr to Jun 2013. Subjects included 36 married men and women with different levels of education between the ages of 20-50 with MS diagnosed based on IDF's (International Diabetes federation) criteria. All focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed. The thematic content analysis method was used to analyze the study data. This study identified the most important barriers to adherence to dietary recommendations. MS patients have problems in their attitude toward MS components and their relationship to nutrition. They also had wrong attitudes toward fats and oils, salt, dairy products, cereals, and sugary drinks and sweets. Subjective norms that affects patient eating identifies too. We identified barriers to adherence to dietary recommendations in MS patients that could be used to prevent MS consequences and provide patients with nutrition education.

  9. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 516: Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada: Revision 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office

    2004-04-28

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 516: Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Areas 3, 6, and 22 on the NTS, CAU 516 includes six Corrective Action Sites (CASs) consisting of two septic systems, a sump and piping, a clean-out box and piping, dry wells, and a vehicle decontamination area. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from July 22 through August 14, 2003, with supplemental sampling conducted in late 2003 and early 2004. The potential exposure pathways for any contaminants of concern (COCs) identified during the development of the DQOs at CAU 516 gave rise to the following objectives: (1) prevent or mitigate exposure to media containing COCs at concentrations exceeding PALs as defined in the corrective action investigation plan; and (2) prevent the spread of COCs beyond each CAS. The following alternatives have been developed for consideration at CAU 516: Alternative 1 - No Further Action; Alternative 2 - Clean Closure; and Alternative 3 - Closure in Place with Administrative Controls. Alternative 1, No Further Action, is the preferred corrective action for two CASs (06-51-02 and 22-19-04). Alternative 2, Clean Closure, is the preferred corrective action for four CASs (03-59-01, 03-59-02, 06-51-01, and 06-51-03). The selected alternatives were judged to meet all requirements for the technical components evaluated, as well as meeting all applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the site and will further eliminate the contaminated media at CAU 516.

  10. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 322: Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0 with ROTC 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehlecke, Robert

    2004-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 322, Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 322 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 01-25-01 - AST Release Site; (2) 03-25-03 - Mud Plant and AST Diesel Release; and (3) 03-20-05 - Injection Wells and BOP Shop. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 322. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from April 2004 through September 2004, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The purposes of the activities as defined during the data quality objectives process were: (1) Determine if contaminants of concern (COCs) are present; (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent; and (3) Provide sufficient information and data to recommend appropriate corrective actions for the CASs. Analytes detected during the corrective action investigation were evaluated against appropriate preliminary action levels to identify contaminants of concern for each corrective action site. Radiological field measurements were compared to unrestricted release criteria. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities revealed the following: (1) CAS 01-25-01 contains an AST berm contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) diesel-range organics (DRO). (2) CAS 03-25-03 includes two distinct areas: Area A where no contamination remains from a potential spill associated with an AST, and Area B where TPH-DRO contamination associated with various activities at the mud plant was identified. The Area B contamination was found at various locations and depths. (3) CAS 03-25-03 Area B contains TPH-DRO contamination at various locations and

  11. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 322: Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0 with ROTC 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boehlecke, Robert

    2004-12-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 322, Areas 1 and 3 Release Sites and Injection Wells, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 322 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 01-25-01 - AST Release Site; (2) 03-25-03 - Mud Plant and AST Diesel Release; and (3) 03-20-05 - Injection Wells and BOP Shop. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 322. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from April 2004 through September 2004, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The purposes of the activities as defined during the data quality objectives process were: (1) Determine if contaminants of concern (COCs) are present; (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent; and (3) Provide sufficient information and data to recommend appropriate corrective actions for the CASs. Analytes detected during the corrective action investigation were evaluated against appropriate preliminary action levels to identify contaminants of concern for each corrective action site. Radiological field measurements were compared to unrestricted release criteria. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities revealed the following: (1) CAS 01-25-01 contains an AST berm contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) diesel-range organics (DRO). (2) CAS 03-25-03 includes two distinct areas: Area A where no contamination remains from a potential spill associated with an AST, and Area B where TPH-DRO contamination associated with various activities at the mud plant was identified. The Area B contamination was found at various locations and depths. (3) CAS 03-25-03 Area B contains TPH-DRO contamination at various

  12. Good is up – Spatial metaphors in action observation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janna Marleen Gottwald

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Positive objects or actions are associated with physical highness, whereas negative objects or actions are related to physical lowness. Previous research suggests that metaphorical connection (good is up or bad is down between spatial experience and evaluation of objects is grounded in actual experience with the body. Prior studies investigated effects of spatial metaphors with respect to verticality of either static objects or self-performed actions. By presenting videos of object placements, the current three experiments combined vertically-located stimuli with observation of vertically-directed actions. As expected, participants’ ratings of emotionally-neutral objects were systematically influenced by the observed vertical positioning, that is, ratings were more positive for objects that were observed being placed up as compared to down. Moreover, effects were slightly more pronounced for bad is down, because only the observed downward, but not the upward, action led to different ratings as compared to a medium-positioned action. Last, some ratings were even affected by observing only the upward/downward action, without seeing the final vertical placement of the object. Thus, both, a combination of observing a vertically-directed action and seeing a vertically-located object, and observing a vertically-directed action alone, affected participants’ evaluation of emotional valence of the involved object. The present findings expand the relevance of spatial metaphors to action observation, thereby giving new impetus to embodied-cognition research.

  13. Online Educators' Recommendations for Teaching Online: Crowdsourcing in Action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlap, Joanna C.; Lowenthal, Patrick R.

    2018-01-01

    Over the years, online educators have learned a great deal about what works and does not work when designing and facilitating online courses. During the past few years, we have used crowdsourcing to invite experienced online educators to share their recommendations for teaching online. In this article, we describe our use of crowdsourcing to…

  14. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 567: Miscellaneous Soil Sites - Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Navarro-Intera, LLC (N-I), Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2014-12-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 567: Miscellaneous Soil Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 567 based on the implementation of the corrective actions. The corrective actions implemented at CAU 567 were developed based on an evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, the assumed presence of COCs at specific locations, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the CAAs. The CAAs were selected on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. The implemented corrective actions meet all requirements for the technical components evaluated. The CAAs meet all applicable federal and state regulations for closure of the site. Based on the implementation of these corrective actions, the DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office provides the following recommendations: • No further corrective actions are necessary for CAU 567. • The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection issue a Notice of Completion to the DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office for closure of CAU 567. • CAU 567 be moved from Appendix III to Appendix IV of the FFACO.

  15. A summary of the recommendations adopted unanimously at the Fourth World Conference on Women (4-15 September 1995).

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    This article presents a summary of the platform of action recommendations adopted unanimously at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The Platform called for the empowerment of women; the protection of human rights and freedoms throughout the life cycle; and equity at home, at work, and abroad, items that reinforced the Beijing Declaration. This article identifies recommended actions on poverty, education and training, health, domestic violence, armed conflict, economy, decision-making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, mass media, environment, the girl-child, and institutional and financial arrangements. The Platform recommends, for example, action to create macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the needs of women in poverty. It recommends changes in laws and administrative practices to ensure women's equal rights and access to economic resources. It recommends action to ensure equal access to education throughout the life cycle, to eradicate illiteracy among women, to develop nondiscriminatory education and training, and to allocate sufficient resources for educational reform. It recommends action to increase women's access throughout the life cycle to appropriate, affordable, and quality health care, information, and related services. Action should reduce maternal mortality by at least 50% of 1990 levels by the year 2000, and a further 50% by 2015. Legislation must be adopted to end violence against women in peace and wartime. Action must promote women's economic and human rights and women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and government decision-making.

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 106: Area 5, 11 Frenchman Flat Atmospheric Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, Patrick; Peterson, Dawn

    2011-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit 106 comprises four corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 05-20-02, Evaporation Pond; (2) 05-23-05, Atmospheric Test Site - Able; (3) 05-45-04, 306 GZ Rad Contaminated Area; (4) 05-45-05, 307 GZ Rad Contaminated Area. The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 106 based on the implementation of corrective actions. The corrective action of clean closure was implemented at CASs 05-45-04 and 05-45-05, while no corrective action was necessary at CASs 05-20-02 and 05-23-05. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 20, 2010, through June 1, 2011, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 106: Areas 5, 11 Frenchman Flat Atmospheric Sites. The approach for the CAI was divided into two facets: investigation of the primary release of radionuclides, and investigation of other releases (mechanical displacement and chemical releases). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 106 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated the dataset is complete and acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Investigation results were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. A radiological dose FAL of 25 millirem per year was established based on the Industrial Area exposure scenario (2,250 hours of annual exposure). The only radiological dose exceeding the FAL was at CAS 05-45-05 and was associated with potential source material (PSM). It is also assumed that additional PSM in the form of depleted uranium (DU) and DU-contaminated debris at CASs 05-45-04 and 05-45-05 exceed the FAL. Therefore, corrective actions were undertaken at these CASs that consisted of removing PSM and collecting verification

  17. Riverland expedited response action assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-06-01

    The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) recommended that the US Department of Energy (DOE) prepare an expedited response action (ERA) for the Riverland Railroad Car Wash Pit (located in the Riverland Rail Yard) and the 600 Area Army Munitions Burial Site (Munitions Cache). This assessment report details the actions taken to complete the Riverland ERA

  18. Action to Support Practices Implement Research Evidence (ASPIRE): protocol for a cluster-randomised evaluation of adaptable implementation packages targeting 'high impact' clinical practice recommendations in general practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Thomas A; Hartley, Suzanne; Glidewell, Liz; Farrin, Amanda J; Lawton, Rebecca; McEachan, Rosemary R C; Ingleson, Emma; Heudtlass, Peter; Collinson, Michelle; Clamp, Susan; Hunter, Cheryl; Ward, Vicky; Hulme, Claire; Meads, David; Bregantini, Daniele; Carder, Paul; Foy, Robbie

    2016-02-29

    There are recognised gaps between evidence and practice in general practice, a setting which provides particular challenges for implementation. We earlier screened clinical guideline recommendations to derive a set of 'high impact' indicators based upon criteria including potential for significant patient benefit, scope for improved practice and amenability to measurement using routinely collected data. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a multifaceted, adaptable intervention package to implement four targeted, high impact recommendations in general practice. The research programme Action to Support Practice Implement Research Evidence (ASPIRE) includes a pair of pragmatic cluster-randomised trials which use a balanced incomplete block design. Clusters are general practices in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (UK), recruited using an 'opt-out' recruitment process. The intervention package adapted to each recommendation includes combinations of audit and feedback, educational outreach visits and computerised prompts with embedded behaviour change techniques selected on the basis of identified needs and barriers to change. In trial 1, practices are randomised to adapted interventions targeting either diabetes control or risky prescribing and those in trial 2 to adapted interventions targeting either blood pressure control in patients at risk of cardiovascular events or anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation. The respective primary endpoints comprise achievement of all recommended target levels of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure and cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes, a composite indicator of risky prescribing, achievement of recommended blood pressure targets for specific patient groups and anticoagulation prescribing in patients with atrial fibrillation. We are also randomising practices to a fifth, non-intervention control group to further assess Hawthorne effects. Outcomes will be assessed using routinely collected data

  19. Preventive actions taken by workers after workers' health surveillance: a controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boschman, J S; Van der Molen, H F; Frings-Dresen, M H W; Sluiter, J K

    2013-12-01

    To evaluate construction workers' preventive actions and occupational physician's (OPs) recommendations after a job-specific workers' health surveillance (WHS) compared with the currently used generic WHS. After the WHS, the OPs' written recommendations were captured. At the 3-month follow-up, the workers were asked about the preventive actions they had undertaken. A generalized linear mixed model was used to compare proportions of workers. At follow-up, the proportion of workers who reported taking preventive actions was significantly higher in the intervention group (80%, 44/55) than in the control group (67%, 80 of 121), (P = 0.04). In the intervention group, the OPs provided a higher proportion of workers with written recommendations (82%, 63 of 77, vs 57%, 69 of 121; P = 0.03). The job-specific WHS aided OPs in providing workers with recommendations and workers in undertaking (job-specific) preventive actions.

  20. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 543: Liquid Disposal Units, Nevada Test Site, Nevada: Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office

    2004-05-03

    The general purpose of this Corrective Action Investigation Plan is to ensure that adequate data are collected to provide sufficient and reliable information to identify, evaluate, and select technically viable corrective action alternatives (CAAs) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 543: Liquid Disposal Units, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. Located in Areas 6 and 15 on the NTS, CAU 543 is comprised of a total of seven corrective action sites (CASs), one in Area 6 and six in Area 15. The CAS in Area 6 consists of a Decontamination Facility and its components which are associated with decontamination of equipment, vehicles, and materials related to nuclear testing. The six CASs in Area 15 are located at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Farm and are related to waste disposal activities at the farm. Sources of possible contamination at Area 6 include potentially contaminated process waste effluent discharged through a process waste system, a sanitary waste stream generated within buildings of the Decon Facility, and radiologically contaminated materials stored within a portion of the facility yard. At Area 15, sources of potential contamination are associated with the dairy operations and the animal tests and experiments involving radionuclide uptake. Identified contaminants of potential concern include volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, herbicides, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals, and radionuclides. Three corrective action closure alternatives - No Further Action, Close in Place, or Clean Closure - will be recommended for CAU 543 based on an evaluation of all the data quality objective-related data. Field work will be conducted following approval of the plan. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document.

  1. Discussion on Implementation of ICRP Recommendations Concerning Reference Levels and Optimisation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-02-01

    International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 103, 'The 2007 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection', issued in 2007, defines emergency exposure situations as unexpected situations that may require the implementation of urgent protective actions and perhaps longer term protective actions. The ICRP continues to recommend optimisation and the use of reference levels to ensure an adequate degree of protection in regard to exposure to ionising radiation in emergency exposure situations. Reference levels represent the level of dose or risk above which it is judged to be inappropriate to plan to allow exposures to occur and for which protective actions should therefore be planned and optimised. National authorities are responsible for establishing reference levels. The Expert Group on the Implementation of New International Recommendations for Emergency Exposure Situations (EGIRES) performed a survey to analyse the established processes for optimisation of the protection strategy for emergency exposure situations and for practical implementation of the reference level concept in several member states of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The EGIRES collected information on several national optimisation strategy definitions, on optimisation of protection for different protective actions, and also on optimisation of urgent protective actions. In addition, national criteria for setting reference levels, their use, and relevant processes, including specific triggers and dosimetric quantifies in setting reference levels, are focus points that the EGIRES also evaluated. The analysis of national responses to this 2011 survey shows many differences in the interpretation and application of the established processes and suggests that most countries are still in the early stages of implementing these processes. Since 2011, national authorities have continued their study of the ICRP recommendations to incorporate them into

  2. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 545: Dumps, Waste Disposal Sites, and Buried Radioactive Materials Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alfred Wickline

    2008-04-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 545, Dumps, Waste Disposal Sites, and Buried Radioactive Materials, in Areas 2, 3, 9, and 20 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management (1996, as amended February 2008). Corrective Action Unit 545 is comprised of the following eight Corrective Action Sites (CASs): • 02-09-01, Mud Disposal Area • 03-08-03, Mud Disposal Site • 03-17-01, Waste Consolidation Site 3B • 03-23-02, Waste Disposal Site • 03-23-05, Europium Disposal Site • 03-99-14, Radioactive Material Disposal Area • 09-23-02, U-9y Drilling Mud Disposal Crater • 20-19-01, Waste Disposal Site While all eight CASs are addressed in this CADD/CR, sufficient information was available for the following three CASs; therefore, a field investigation was not conducted at these sites: • For CAS 03-08-03, though the potential for subsidence of the craters was judged to be extremely unlikely, the data quality objective (DQO) meeting participants agreed that sufficient information existed about disposal and releases at the site and that a corrective action of close in place with a use restriction is recommended. Sampling in the craters was not considered necessary. • For CAS 03-23-02, there were no potential releases of hazardous or radioactive contaminants identified. Therefore, the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for CAU 545 concluded that: “Sufficient information exists to conclude that this CAS does not exist as originally identified. Therefore, there is no environmental concern associated with CAS 03-23-02.” This CAS is closed with no further action. • For CAS 03-23-05, existing information about the two buried sources and lead pig was considered to be

  3. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Hanford Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan. Volume 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gerber, E.W.

    1995-10-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) has developed an Integrated Program Plan (IPP) to address concerns identified in Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 94-1. The IPP describes the actions that DOE plans to implement at its various sites to convert excess fissile materials to forms or conditions suitable for safe interim storage. The baseline IPP was issued as DOE`s Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Recommendation 94-1 Implementation Plan (IP), which was transmitted to the DNFSB on February 28, 1995. The IPP is being further developed to include complex-wide requirements for research and development and a long-range facility requirements section. The planned additions to the baseline IPP are being developed based on a systems engineering approach that integrates facilities and capabilities at the various DOE sites and focuses on attaining safe interim storage with minimum safety risks and environmental impacts. Each affected DOE site has developed a Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan (SISMP) to identify individual site plans to implement the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 and to provide a basis for formulating planned additions to the IPP. The SISMPs were developed based on the objectives, requirements, and commitments identified in the baseline DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IPP. The SISMPs will be periodically updated to reflect improved integration between DOE sites as identified during the IPP systems engineering evaluations.

  4. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Hanford Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan. Volume 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gerber, E.W.

    1995-10-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) has developed an Integrated Program Plan (IPP) to address concerns identified in Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 94-1. The IPP describes the actions that DOE plans to implement at its various sites to convert excess fissile materials to forms or conditions suitable for safe interim storage. The baseline IPP was issued as DOE's Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Recommendation 94-1 Implementation Plan (IP), which was transmitted to the DNFSB on February 28, 1995. The IPP is being further developed to include complex-wide requirements for research and development and a long-range facility requirements section. The planned additions to the baseline IPP are being developed based on a systems engineering approach that integrates facilities and capabilities at the various DOE sites and focuses on attaining safe interim storage with minimum safety risks and environmental impacts. Each affected DOE site has developed a Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan (SISMP) to identify individual site plans to implement the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 and to provide a basis for formulating planned additions to the IPP. The SISMPs were developed based on the objectives, requirements, and commitments identified in the baseline DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IPP. The SISMPs will be periodically updated to reflect improved integration between DOE sites as identified during the IPP systems engineering evaluations

  5. Handbook for value-impact assessments of NRC regulatory actions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mullen, M.F.; DiPalo, A.J.

    1985-01-01

    According to current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) procedures, value-impact (cost-benefit) assessments must be prepared for all rulemaking actions and for a broad range of other regulatory requirements and guidance. Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods furnish an important part of the information base for these assessments. PRA methods are frequently the principal quantitative tool for estimating the benefits (e.g., public risk reduction) of proposed regulatory actions. In December 1983, the NRC published A Handbook for Value-Impact Assessment, NUREG/CR-3568, which provides a set of systematic procedures for performing value-impact assessments. The Handbook contains methods, data, and sources of information that can assist the regulatory analyst in conducting such assessments. The use of probabilistic risk analysis to estimate the benefits of proposed regulatory actions is described. Procedures and methods are also given for evaluating the costs and other consequences associated with regulatory actions. The Handbook has been adopted by the NRC as the recommended guideline for value impact assessments. This paper presents the background, objectives, and scope of the Handbook, describes the value-impact assessment methods (including the use of probabilistic risk assessment to estimate benefits), and discusses a selection of current and planned applications, with examples to illustrate how the methods are used

  6. Staying mindful in action

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svalgaard, Lotte

    2016-01-01

    Action Learning is a well-proven method to integrate ‘task’ and ‘process’, as learning about team and self (process) takes place while delivering on a task or business challenge of real importance (task). An Action Lab® is an intensive Action Learning programme lasting for 5 days, which aims...... at balancing and integrating individual challenges and business challenges, as well as the ‘Action’ and the ‘Learning’ of Action Learning. However, in spite of the aspiration to balance and integrate ‘task’ and ‘process’, a tendency and a challenge is experienced: When deeply involved in delivering...... this tendency by sharing a study looking into what hinders and promotes mindful awareness on the process, while dealing with a business challenge in an Action Lab®. Drawing on the findings, the account of practice will share some recommendations for the Action Learning facilitator to take up the challenge...

  7. Reducing Health Inequities in the U.S.: Recommendations From the NHLBI's Health Inequities Think Tank Meeting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampson, Uchechukwu K A; Kaplan, Robert M; Cooper, Richard S; Diez Roux, Ana V; Marks, James S; Engelgau, Michael M; Peprah, Emmanuel; Mishoe, Helena; Boulware, L Ebony; Felix, Kaytura L; Califf, Robert M; Flack, John M; Cooper, Lisa A; Gracia, J Nadine; Henderson, Jeffrey A; Davidson, Karina W; Krishnan, Jerry A; Lewis, Tené T; Sanchez, Eduardo; Luban, Naomi L; Vaccarino, Viola; Wong, Winston F; Wright, Jackson T; Meyers, David; Ogedegbe, Olugbenga G; Presley-Cantrell, Letitia; Chambers, David A; Belis, Deshirée; Bennett, Glen C; Boyington, Josephine E; Creazzo, Tony L; de Jesus, Janet M; Krishnamurti, Chitra; Lowden, Mia R; Punturieri, Antonello; Shero, Susan T; Young, Neal S; Zou, Shimian; Mensah, George A

    2016-08-02

    The National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a Think Tank meeting to obtain insight and recommendations regarding the objectives and design of the next generation of research aimed at reducing health inequities in the United States. The panel recommended several specific actions, including: 1) embrace broad and inclusive research themes; 2) develop research platforms that optimize the ability to conduct informative and innovative research, and promote systems science approaches; 3) develop networks of collaborators and stakeholders, and launch transformative studies that can serve as benchmarks; 4) optimize the use of new data sources, platforms, and natural experiments; and 5) develop unique transdisciplinary training programs to build research capacity. Confronting health inequities will require engaging multiple disciplines and sectors (including communities), using systems science, and intervening through combinations of individual, family, provider, health system, and community-targeted approaches. Details of the panel's remarks and recommendations are provided in this report. Copyright © 2016 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Monitoring Activities Review action report for the Environmental Monitoring Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilhelmsen, R.N.; Wright, K.C.

    1990-12-01

    To improve program planning and to provide bases for technical improvement of the monitoring program, the EG ampersand G Environmental Monitoring (EM) organization has regularly used the Monitoring Activities Review (MAR) process since 1982. Each MAR is conducted by a committee of individuals selected for their experience in the various types of monitoring performed by the EM organization. An MAR of the Environmental Monitoring Program was conducted in 1988. This action report identifies and discusses the recommendations of this MAR committee. This action report also identifies the actions already taken by the EM Unit in response to these recommendations, as well as the actions and schedules to be taken. 10 refs

  9. Recommendations guide in radiological accidents for first respondents, firemen and policemen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Astudillo, A. J.; Ambriz, J. J.; Paredes, L. C.

    2011-10-01

    The action guides for the primary task forces of the Firemen Corps and the Public Security Elements, before the presence of radiological accidents are presented. The objective of these guides is to give the recommendations for the initial response to the emergency that fulfills the following criterions: to to Apply with readiness all the reasonable measures to protect the victims and the public, in order to minimizing the radiological and non radiological effects to the health; b) to Retrieve the control of the situation and to mitigate the consequences; c) to Protect the emergency personnel during the response operations; d) to Compile and to protect the information that can be useful to treat the effects to the health, of the victims and public in general, and to prevent that emergencies seemed are repeat in the future; e) to Create and to maintain the public's trust in the response; f) to Establish a base for an action of lingering response, and to Suggest evaluation criterions of the radiological emergency, the organization criterions, operation and surrounding of the emergency area. (Author)

  10. Quality assessment in in vivo NMR spectroscopy: IV. A multicentre trial of test objects and protocols for performance assessment in clinical NMR spectroscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keevil, S.F.; Barbiroli, B; Collins, D.J.

    1995-01-01

    implemented on commercially available MR systems at ten sites in Europe. At each site, a number of parameters devised by the Concerted Action were measured using prototype test objects. Some of these parameters related to the quality of localisation and others to the overall performance of the spectrometer...... in the development of the Concerted Action's final recommendations for MRS performance assessment, and demonstrate that such assessment provides valuable information in the comparison of spectroscopy data from different sites and in the development of new localisation sequences, and provides a means of quality...... assurance in MRS...

  11. What to do about depression? Self-help recommendations of the public.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzinger, Anita; Matschinger, Herbert; Angermeyer, Matthias

    2012-07-01

    While help-seeking and treatment preferences for depression have been assessed in a number of population studies, little is known about the public's self-help beliefs. To explore public beliefs about self-help actions to be taken in case of depression. In spring 2009, a population-based survey was conducted by telephone in the city of Vienna. A fully structured interview was carried out, which began with the presentation of a vignette describing a case of depression. Subsequently, respondents were asked to indicate to what extent they would recommend various self-help actions. Among the self-help options proposed, confiding in a close friend or someone in the family were most frequently recommended. Apart from that, a variety of interpersonal actions (socializing with others, joining a self-help group), psychological methods (thinking positively), lifestyle changes (engaging in sport, listening to music, going on vacation, reading a good book) and dietary methods (eating healthy food) were endorsed by over half of respondents. While women were more ready to recommend self-help actions, the better educated were less enthusiastic about them. As only some of the self-help measures endorsed by the public are evidence based, more research is needed before promulgating their use.

  12. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 428: Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office

    2000-02-08

    This Corrective Action Decision Document identifies and rationalizes the US Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 428, Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Area 3 at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) in Nevada, CAU 428 is comprised of two Corrective Action Sites (CASs): (1) CAS 03-05-002-SW01, Septic Waste System 1 and (2) CAS 03-05-002- SW05, Septic Waste System 5. A corrective action investigation performed in 1999 detected analyte concentrations that exceeded preliminary action levels; specifically, contaminants of concern (COCs) included benzo(a) pyrene in a septic tank integrity sample associated with Septic Tank 33-1A of Septic Waste System 1, and arsenic in a soil sample associated with Septic Waste System 5. During this investigation, three Corrective Action Objectives (CAOs) were identified to prevent or mitigate exposure to contents of the septic tanks and distribution box, to subsurface soil containing COCs, and the spread of COCs beyond the CAU. Based on these CAOs, a review of existing data, future use, and current operations in Area 3 of the TTR, three CAAs were developed for consideration: Alternative 1 - No Further Action; Alternative 2 - Closure in Place with Administrative Controls; and Alternative 3 - Clean Closure by Excavation and Disposal. These alternatives were evaluated based on four general corrective action standards and five remedy selection decision factors. Based on the results of the evaluation, the preferred CAA was Alternative 3. This alternative meets all applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the site and will eliminate potential future exposure pathways to the contaminated soils at the Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5.

  13. OARSI Clinical Trials Recommendations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Emery, C. A.; Roos, Ewa M.; Verhagen, E.

    2015-01-01

    The risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) substantially increases following joint injury. Research efforts should focus on investigating the efficacy of preventative strategies in high quality randomized controlled trials (RCT). The objective of these OARSI RCT recommendations is to inform...... the design, conduct and analytical approaches to RCTs evaluating the preventative effect of joint injury prevention strategies. Recommendations regarding the design, conduct, and reporting of RCTs evaluating injury prevention interventions were established based on the consensus of nine researchers...... internationally with expertise in epidemiology, injury prevention and/or osteoarthritis (OA). Input and resultant consensus was established through teleconference, face to face and email correspondence over a 1 year period. Recommendations for injury prevention RCTs include context specific considerations...

  14. An improved recommendation algorithm via weakening indirect linkage effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Guang; Qiu, Tian; Shen, Xiao-Quan

    2015-07-01

    We propose an indirect-link-weakened mass diffusion method (IMD), by considering the indirect linkage and the source object heterogeneity effect in the mass diffusion (MD) recommendation method. Experimental results on the MovieLens, Netflix, and RYM datasets show that, the IMD method greatly improves both the recommendation accuracy and diversity, compared with a heterogeneity-weakened MD method (HMD), which only considers the source object heterogeneity. Moreover, the recommendation accuracy of the cold objects is also better elevated in the IMD than the HMD method. It suggests that eliminating the redundancy induced by the indirect linkages could have a prominent effect on the recommendation efficiency in the MD method. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11175079) and the Young Scientist Training Project of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20133BCB23017).

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 271: Areas 25, 26, and 27 Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    This corrective action decision document (CADD) identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 271, Areas 25, 26, and 27 Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Located on the NTS approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, CAU 271 consists of fifteen Corrective Action Sites (CASs). The CASs consist of 13 septic systems, a radioactive leachfield, and a contaminated reservoir. The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide a rationale for the selection of a recommended CAA for each CAS within CAU 271. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 29, 2001, through February 22, 2002, and April 29, 2002, through June 25, 2002. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against preliminary action levels and regulatory disposal limits to determine contaminants of concern (COC) for each CAS. It was determined that contaminants of concern included hydrocarbon-contaminated media, polychlorinated biphenyls, and radiologically-contaminated media. Three corrective action objectives were identified for these CASs, and subsequently three CAAs developed for consideration based on a review of existing data, future use, and current operations in Areas 25, 26, and 27 of the NTS. These CAAs were: Alternative 1 - No Further Action, Alternative 2 - Clean Closure, and Alternative 3 - Closure in Place with Administrative Controls. Alternative 2, Clean Closure, was chosen as the preferred CAA for all but two of the CASs (25-04-04 and 27-05-02) because Nevada Administrative Control 444.818 requires clean closure of the septic tanks involved with these CASs. Alternative 3, Closure in Place, was chosen for the final two CASs because the short-term risks of

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 271: Areas 25, 26, and 27 Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NNSA/NV

    2002-09-16

    This corrective action decision document (CADD) identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 271, Areas 25, 26, and 27 Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Located on the NTS approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, CAU 271 consists of fifteen Corrective Action Sites (CASs). The CASs consist of 13 septic systems, a radioactive leachfield, and a contaminated reservoir. The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide a rationale for the selection of a recommended CAA for each CAS within CAU 271. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 29, 2001, through February 22, 2002, and April 29, 2002, through June 25, 2002. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against preliminary action levels and regulatory disposal limits to determine contaminants of concern (COC) for each CAS. It was determined that contaminants of concern included hydrocarbon-contaminated media, polychlorinated biphenyls, and radiologically-contaminated media. Three corrective action objectives were identified for these CASs, and subsequently three CAAs developed for consideration based on a review of existing data, future use, and current operations in Areas 25, 26, and 27 of the NTS. These CAAs were: Alternative 1 - No Further Action, Alternative 2 - Clean Closure, and Alternative 3 - Closure in Place with Administrative Controls. Alternative 2, Clean Closure, was chosen as the preferred CAA for all but two of the CASs (25-04-04 and 27-05-02) because Nevada Administrative Control 444.818 requires clean closure of the septic tanks involved with these CASs. Alternative 3, Closure in Place, was chosen for the final two CASs because the short-term risks of

  17. 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations. 2011 update

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    The IEA recommends that G8 leaders adopt and urgently implement this package of measures to significantly enhance energy efficiency. This package was developed under the Gleneagles G8 Plan of Action, which mandates the pursuit of a clean, clever and competitive energy future.

  18. Developing Jobs and Neighborhoods through Small Business Growth: Recommendations for Action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzman, Michael S.

    Research was conducted to define methods for creating jobs for urban youth through small business expansion, particularly in Chicago. This report presents recommendations derived from the research. The first section suggests ways of increasing the effectiveness of Chicago's small business/neighborhood economic development efforts. The second…

  19. From micronutrient recommendations to policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Timotijevic, Lada; Raats, Monique M.; Barnett, Julie

    2010-01-01

    towards achieving a greater link between micronutrient recommendations and behaviour. This study aims to examine the rationale and processes associated with consumer and stakeholder involvement in setting micronutrient recommendations across Europe. Subjects/Methods: Using the contacts established through......Background/Objectives: To achieve the nutritional goals stipulated by micronutrient recommendations, greater attention must be paid to the behavioural routes to such nutritional outcomes. Coopting stakeholders and consumers into decisions regarding micronutrient recommendations is an important step...... countries and its effect on final decisions. Stakeholders were not involved at the outset of the process ('framing' of the problem) in any of the countries, and there was no evidence of consumer involvement and open public fora. Conclusions: Some of the key explanatory factors for diversity in the degree...

  20. ActionScript 30 Design Patterns Object Oriented Programming Techniques

    CERN Document Server

    Sanders, William

    2008-01-01

    If you're an experienced Flash or Flex developer ready to tackle sophisticated programming techniques with ActionScript 3.0, this hands-on introduction to design patterns takes you step by step through the process. You learn about various types of design patterns and construct small abstract examples before trying your hand at building full-fledged working applications outlined in the book.

  1. Mid-Term Assessment of the EU Drugs Strategy 2013-2020 and Final Evaluation of the Action Plan on Drugs 2013-2016: Final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emilie, Balbirnie; Matthew, Davies; Emma, Disley; Cristina Gonzalez, Monsalve; Stephen, Hartka; Stijn, Hoorens; Kristy, Kruithof; Martin, Sacher; Jirka, Taylor

    2018-01-01

    The aim of the EU Drugs Strategy 2013-2020 is to contribute to a reduction in drug demand and drug supply within the EU. The Strategy has so far been implemented by an Action Plan covering the period 2013-2016. This article sets out the findings of an evaluation that assesses the degree of implementation of the Strategy and the Action Plan in terms of outputs and, where possible, impacts. It looks at the extent to which the objectives of the Strategy have been achieved. The evaluation aims to provide evidence to support the European Commission's decision about whether to propose a new Action Plan for the period 2017-2020 and, if so, what changes would be needed compared to the current plan. Through applying a mixed-methods approach, the evaluation examined the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and coherence of the actions undertaken on the basis of the EU Drugs Strategy and the Action Plan, as well as their EU added value. The evaluation makes 20 recommendations, addressed to the European Commission, Member States, the European Council and other stakeholders. The key recommendation for the Commission is that a new Action Plan should be implemented for the period 2017-2020. This should be an updated version of the current Action Plan, rather than taking a new approach or introducing more new actions.

  2. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 137: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.:0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wickline, Alfred

    2005-12-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 137: Waste Disposal Sites. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 137 contains sites that are located in Areas 1, 3, 7, 9, and 12 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1). Corrective Action Unit 137 is comprised of the eight corrective action sites (CASs) shown on Figure 1-1 and listed below: (1) CAS 01-08-01, Waste Disposal Site; (2) CAS 03-23-01, Waste Disposal Site; (3) CAS 03-23-07, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (4) CAS 03-99-15, Waste Disposal Site; (5) CAS 07-23-02, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (6) CAS 09-23-07, Radioactive Waste Disposal Site; (7) CAS 12-08-01, Waste Disposal Site; and (8) CAS 12-23-07, Waste Disposal Site. The Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, radiological surveys, geophysical surveys, sampling of environmental media, analysis of samples, and assessment of investigation results, where appropriate. Data will be obtained to support corrective action alternative evaluations and waste management decisions. The CASs in CAU 137 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI before evaluating and selecting

  3. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 561: Waste Disposal Areas, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grant Evenson

    2008-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 561 is located in Areas 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 22, 23, and 25 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 561 is comprised of the 10 corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 01-19-01, Waste Dump; (2) 02-08-02, Waste Dump and Burn Area; (3) 03-19-02, Debris Pile; (4) 05-62-01, Radioactive Gravel Pile; (5) 12-23-09, Radioactive Waste Dump; (6) 22-19-06, Buried Waste Disposal Site; (7) 23-21-04, Waste Disposal Trenches; (8) 25-08-02, Waste Dump; (9) 25-23-21, Radioactive Waste Dump; and (10) 25-25-19, Hydrocarbon Stains and Trench. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on April 28, 2008, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and National Security Technologies, LLC. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 561. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the Corrective Action Investigation for CAU 561 includes the following activities: (1) Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. (2) Conduct

  4. Decreased attention to object size information in scale errors performers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grzyb, Beata J; Cangelosi, Angelo; Cattani, Allegra; Floccia, Caroline

    2017-05-01

    Young children sometimes make serious attempts to perform impossible actions on miniature objects as if they were full-size objects. The existing explanations of these curious action errors assume (but never explicitly tested) children's decreased attention to object size information. This study investigated the attention to object size information in scale errors performers. Two groups of children aged 18-25 months (N=52) and 48-60 months (N=23) were tested in two consecutive tasks: an action task that replicated the original scale errors elicitation situation, and a looking task that involved watching on a computer screen actions performed with adequate to inadequate size object. Our key finding - that children performing scale errors in the action task subsequently pay less attention to size changes than non-scale errors performers in the looking task - suggests that the origins of scale errors in childhood operate already at the perceptual level, and not at the action level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. A trajectory-based recommender system for tourism

    OpenAIRE

    Baraglia, Ranieri; Frattari, Claudio; Muntean, Cristina Ioana; Nardini, Franco Maria; Silvestri, Fabrizio

    2012-01-01

    Recommendation systems provide focused information to users on a set of objects belonging to a specific domain. The proposed recommender system provides personalized suggestions about touristic points of interest. The system generates recommendations, consisting of touristic places, according to the current position of a tourist and previously collected data describing tourist movements in a touristic location/city. The touristic sites correspond to a set of points of interest identified a pr...

  6. Collective Training and Fielding Opportunities for the Objective Force Maneuver Systems at the Unit of Action Level in a Unit Manning/Unit Replacement Personnel System

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Courts, Michael

    2003-01-01

    The introduction of Objective Force formations, beginning with the first Unit of Action, will fundamentally change existing organizational structures, training requirements and operational constructs for the U.S. Army...

  7. The minimalist grammar of action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pastra, Katerina; Aloimonos, Yiannis

    2012-01-01

    Language and action have been found to share a common neural basis and in particular a common ‘syntax’, an analogous hierarchical and compositional organization. While language structure analysis has led to the formulation of different grammatical formalisms and associated discriminative or generative computational models, the structure of action is still elusive and so are the related computational models. However, structuring action has important implications on action learning and generalization, in both human cognition research and computation. In this study, we present a biologically inspired generative grammar of action, which employs the structure-building operations and principles of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme as a reference model. In this grammar, action terminals combine hierarchically into temporal sequences of actions of increasing complexity; the actions are bound with the involved tools and affected objects and are governed by certain goals. We show, how the tool role and the affected-object role of an entity within an action drives the derivation of the action syntax in this grammar and controls recursion, merge and move, the latter being mechanisms that manifest themselves not only in human language, but in human action too. PMID:22106430

  8. [The EU drinking water recommendations: objectives and perspectives].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blöch, H

    2011-12-01

    Protection of our drinking water resources and provision of safe drinking water are key requirements of modern water management and health policy. Microbiological and chemical quality standards have been established in the EU water policy since 1980, and are now complemented by a comprehensive protection of water as a resource. This contribution reflects a presentation at the scientific conference of the Federal Associations of Physicians and Dentists within the Public Health Service in May 2011 and provides an overview on objectives and challenges for drinking water protection at the European level. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  9. Redundant correlation effect on personalized recommendation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Tian; Han, Teng-Yue; Zhong, Li-Xin; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Chen, Guang

    2014-02-01

    The high-order redundant correlation effect is investigated for a hybrid algorithm of heat conduction and mass diffusion (HHM), through both heat conduction biased (HCB) and mass diffusion biased (MDB) correlation redundancy elimination processes. The HCB and MDB algorithms do not introduce any additional tunable parameters, but keep the simple character of the original HHM. Based on two empirical datasets, the Netflix and MovieLens, the HCB and MDB are found to show better recommendation accuracy for both the overall objects and the cold objects than the HHM algorithm. Our work suggests that properly eliminating the high-order redundant correlations can provide a simple and effective approach to accurate recommendation.

  10. Location estimation of approaching objects is modulated by the observer's inherent and momentary action capabilities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kandula, Manasa; Hofman, Dennis; Dijkerman, H Chris

    2016-01-01

    Action capability may be one of the factors that can influence our percept of the world. A distinction can be made between momentary action capability (action capability at that particular moment) and inherent action capability (representing a stable action capability). In the current study, we

  11. Vision for action and perception elicit dissociable adherence to Weber's law across a range of 'graspable' target objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heath, Matthew; Manzone, Joseph; Khan, Michaela; Davarpanah Jazi, Shirin

    2017-10-01

    A number of studies have reported that grasps and manual estimations of differently sized target objects (e.g., 20 through 70 mm) violate and adhere to Weber's law, respectively (e.g., Ganel et al. 2008a, Curr Biol 18:R599-R601)-a result interpreted as evidence that separate visual codes support actions (i.e., absolute) and perceptions (i.e., relative). More recent work employing a broader range of target objects (i.e., 5 through 120 mm) has laid question to this claim and proposed that grasps for 'larger' target objects (i.e., >20 mm) elicit an inverse relationship to Weber's law and that manual estimations for target objects greater than 40 mm violate the law (Bruno et al. 2016, Neuropsychologia 91:327-334). In accounting for this finding, it was proposed that biomechanical limits in aperture shaping preclude the application of Weber's law for larger target objects. It is, however, important to note that the work supporting a biomechanical account may have employed target objects that approached -or were beyond-some participants' maximal aperture separation. The present investigation examined whether grasps and manual estimations differentially adhere to Weber's law across a continuous range of functionally 'graspable' target objects (i.e., 10,…,80% of participant-specific maximal aperture separation). In addition, we employed a method of adjustment task to examine whether manual estimation provides a valid proxy for a traditional measure of perceptual judgment. Manual estimation and method of adjustment tasks demonstrated adherence to Weber's law across the continuous range of target objects used here, whereas grasps violated the law. Thus, results evince that grasps and manual estimations of graspable target objects are, respectively, mediated via absolute and relative visual information.

  12. Thoughts on implementation of the recommendations of the GBIF Task Group on a Global Strategy and Action Plan for Mobilisation of Natural History Collections Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas King

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF has a mandate to facilitate free and open access to primary biodiversity data worldwide. This Special Issue of Biodiversity Informatics publishes the findings of the recent GBIF Task Group on a Global Strategy and Action Plan for Mobilisation of Natural History Collections Data (GSAP-NHC. The GSAP-NHC Task Group has made three primary recommendations dealing with discovery, capture, and publishing of natural history collections data. This overview article provides insight on various activities initiated by GBIF to date to assist with an early uptake and implementation of these recommendations. It calls for proactive participation by all relevant players and stakeholder communities. Given recent technological progress and growing recognition and attention to biodiversity science worldwide, we think rapid progress in discovery, publishing and access to large volumes of useful collection data can be achieved for the immediate benefit of science and society.

  13. Motor cortical processing is causally involved in object recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decloe, Rebecca; Obhi, Sukhvinder S

    2013-12-14

    Motor activity during vicarious experience of actions is a widely reported and studied phenomenon, and motor system activity also accompanies observation of graspable objects in the absence of any actions. Such motor activity is thought to reflect simulation of the observed action, or preparation to interact with the object, respectively. Here, in an initial exploratory study, we ask whether motor activity during observation of object directed actions is involved in processes related to recognition of the object after initial exposure. Single pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was applied over the thumb representation of the motor cortex, or over the vertex, during observation of a model thumb typing on a cell-phone, and performance on a phone recognition task at the end of the trial was assessed. Disrupting motor processing over the thumb representation 100 ms after the onset of the typing video impaired the ability to recognize the phone in the recognition test, whereas there was no such effect for TMS applied over the vertex and no TMS trials. Furthermore, this effect only manifested for videos observed from the first person perspective. In an additional control condition, there was no evidence for any effects of TMS to the thumb representation or vertex when observing and recognizing non-action related shape stimuli. Overall, these data provide evidence that motor cortical processing during observation of object-directed actions from a first person perspective is causally linked to the formation of enduring representations of objects-of-action.

  14. Recommendation advertising method based on behavior retargeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yao; YIN, Xin-Chun; CHEN, Zhi-Min

    2011-10-01

    Online advertising has become an important business in e-commerce. Ad recommended algorithms are the most critical part in recommendation systems. We propose a recommendation advertising method based on behavior retargeting which can avoid leakage click of advertising due to objective reasons and can observe the changes of the user's interest in time. Experiments show that our new method can have a significant effect and can be further to apply to online system.

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 375: Area 30 Buggy Unit Craters, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2011-08-01

    Corrective Action Unit 375 comprises three corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 25-23-22, Contaminated Soils Site; (2) 25-34-06, Test Cell A Bunker; and (3) 30-45-01, U-30a, b, c, d, e Craters. The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 375 based on the implementation of corrective action of closure in place with administrative controls at CAS 25-23-22, no further action at CAS 25-34-06, and closure in place with administrative controls and removal of potential source material (PSM) at CAS 30-45-01. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from July 28, 2010, through April 4, 2011, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 375: Area 30 Buggy Unit Craters. The approach for the CAI was divided into two facets: investigation of the primary release of radionuclides, and investigation of other releases (migration in washes and chemical releases). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 375 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated the dataset is acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Investigation results were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. A radiological dose FAL of 25 millirem per year was established based on the Remote Work Area exposure scenario (336 hours of annual exposure). Radiological doses exceeding the FAL were assumed to be present within the default contamination boundaries at CASs 25-23-22 and 30-45-01. No contaminants were identified at CAS 25-34-06, and no corrective action is necessary. Potential source material in the form of lead plate, lead-acid batteries, and oil within an abandoned transformer were identified at CAS 30-45-01, and corrective actions were undertaken that

  16. Hybrid recommendation methods in complex networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiasconaro, A; Tumminello, M; Nicosia, V; Latora, V; Mantegna, R N

    2015-07-01

    We propose two recommendation methods, based on the appropriate normalization of already existing similarity measures, and on the convex combination of the recommendation scores derived from similarity between users and between objects. We validate the proposed measures on three data sets, and we compare the performance of our methods to other recommendation systems recently proposed in the literature. We show that the proposed similarity measures allow us to attain an improvement of performances of up to 20% with respect to existing nonparametric methods, and that the accuracy of a recommendation can vary widely from one specific bipartite network to another, which suggests that a careful choice of the most suitable method is highly relevant for an effective recommendation on a given system. Finally, we study how an increasing presence of random links in the network affects the recommendation scores, finding that one of the two recommendation algorithms introduced here can systematically outperform the others in noisy data sets.

  17. From language comprehension to action understanding and back again.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tremblay, Pascale; Small, Steven L

    2011-05-01

    A controversial question in cognitive neuroscience is whether comprehension of words and sentences engages brain mechanisms specific for decoding linguistic meaning or whether language comprehension occurs through more domain-general sensorimotor processes. Accumulating behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests a role for cortical motor and premotor areas in passive action-related language tasks, regions that are known to be involved in action execution and observation. To examine the involvement of these brain regions in language and nonlanguage tasks, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a group of 21 healthy adults. During the fMRI session, all participants 1) watched short object-related action movies, 2) looked at pictures of man-made objects, and 3) listened to and produced short sentences describing object-related actions and man-made objects. Our results are among the first to reveal, in the human brain, a functional specialization within the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) for observing actions and for observing objects, and a different organization for processing sentences describing actions and objects. These findings argue against the strongest version of the simulation theory for the processing of action-related language.

  18. DNFSB recommendation 94-1 Hanford site integrated stabilization management plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCormack, R.L.

    1997-05-07

    In May 1994, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) issued DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 (Conway 1994), which identified concerns related to US Department of Energy (DOE) management of legacy fissile materials remaining from past defense production activities. The DNFSB expressed concern about the existing storage conditions for these materials and the slow pace at which the conditions were being remediated. The DNFSB also expressed its belief that additional delays in stabilizing these fissile materials would be accompanied by further deterioration of safety and unnecessary increased risks to workers and the public. In February 1995, DOE issued the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Implementation Plan (O`Leary 1995) to address the concerns identified in DNFSB Recommendation 94-1. The Implementation Plan (IP) identifies several DOE commitments to achieve safe interim storage for the legacy fissile materials, and constitutes DOE`s baseline DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Integrated Program Plan (IPP). The IPP describes the actions DOE plans to implement within the DOE complex to convert its excess fissile materials to forms or conditions suitable for safe interim storage. The IPP was subsequently supplemented with an Integrated Facilities Plan and a Research and Development Plan, which further develop complex-wide research and development and long-range facility requirements and plans. The additions to the baseline IPP were developed based on a systems engineering approach that integrated facilities and capabilities at the various DOE sites and focused on attaining safe interim storage with minimum safety risks and environmental impacts. Each affected DOE site has developed a Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan (SISMP) to identify individual site plans to implement the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IPP. The SISMPs were developed based on the objectives, requirements, and commitments identified in the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IP. The SISMPs also supported

  19. DNFSB recommendation 94-1 Hanford site integrated stabilization management plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCormack, R.L.

    1997-01-01

    In May 1994, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) issued DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 (Conway 1994), which identified concerns related to US Department of Energy (DOE) management of legacy fissile materials remaining from past defense production activities. The DNFSB expressed concern about the existing storage conditions for these materials and the slow pace at which the conditions were being remediated. The DNFSB also expressed its belief that additional delays in stabilizing these fissile materials would be accompanied by further deterioration of safety and unnecessary increased risks to workers and the public. In February 1995, DOE issued the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Implementation Plan (O'Leary 1995) to address the concerns identified in DNFSB Recommendation 94-1. The Implementation Plan (IP) identifies several DOE commitments to achieve safe interim storage for the legacy fissile materials, and constitutes DOE's baseline DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 Integrated Program Plan (IPP). The IPP describes the actions DOE plans to implement within the DOE complex to convert its excess fissile materials to forms or conditions suitable for safe interim storage. The IPP was subsequently supplemented with an Integrated Facilities Plan and a Research and Development Plan, which further develop complex-wide research and development and long-range facility requirements and plans. The additions to the baseline IPP were developed based on a systems engineering approach that integrated facilities and capabilities at the various DOE sites and focused on attaining safe interim storage with minimum safety risks and environmental impacts. Each affected DOE site has developed a Site Integrated Stabilization Management Plan (SISMP) to identify individual site plans to implement the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IPP. The SISMPs were developed based on the objectives, requirements, and commitments identified in the DNFSB Recommendation 94-1 IP. The SISMPs also supported

  20. Malawi : Country Procurement Assessment Report, Volume 1. Main Findings and Recommendations

    OpenAIRE

    World Bank

    2004-01-01

    The Malawi Country Procurement Assessment Report is a joint undertaking between the Malawi Government and the World Bank to analyze the country procurement system and recommend appropriate actions to improve the efficiency, economy and transparency of the system. This report is divided into (a) an Executive Summary, (b) Main Report on Findings and Recommendations, and (c) Annexes. Since th...

  1. A new multi-objective optimization model for preventive maintenance and replacement scheduling of multi-component systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moghaddam, Kamran S.; Usher, John S.

    2011-07-01

    In this article, a new multi-objective optimization model is developed to determine the optimal preventive maintenance and replacement schedules in a repairable and maintainable multi-component system. In this model, the planning horizon is divided into discrete and equally-sized periods in which three possible actions must be planned for each component, namely maintenance, replacement, or do nothing. The objective is to determine a plan of actions for each component in the system while minimizing the total cost and maximizing overall system reliability simultaneously over the planning horizon. Because of the complexity, combinatorial and highly nonlinear structure of the mathematical model, two metaheuristic solution methods, generational genetic algorithm, and a simulated annealing are applied to tackle the problem. The Pareto optimal solutions that provide good tradeoffs between the total cost and the overall reliability of the system can be obtained by the solution approach. Such a modeling approach should be useful for maintenance planners and engineers tasked with the problem of developing recommended maintenance plans for complex systems of components.

  2. Status of U. S. NRC Actions for the Events of Fukushima Dacha NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Donghak; Lee, Jaeyong; Kim, Myungki

    2013-01-01

    In this study, status of U. S. NRC actions for the events of Fukushima is studied by reviewing commission papers, orders, request for information (RFI), Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) issued by NRC, etc. In order to acquire design certification of the APR1400, status of U. S. NRC actions for the events of Fukushima Dacha NTT is reviewed. The NRC has determined and conducted the 38 recommendations for action including 31 NTTF recommendations and seven additional recommendations. The recommendations are divided into Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. Tier 1 and Tier 2 recommendations are implemented by three Orders, one request for information and two rule makings. To comply with three orders and one request for information, the NRC issued six ISGs and NEI issued three technical reports. The final rule on strengthening and integrating onsite emergency response capabilities will be issued in February 2016. Station blackout mitigating strategies rulemaking on SBO mitigation capability and on spent fuel pool instrumentation and makeup capability will proceed

  3. Teaching about Tort Law--My Actions, My Actions, Somebody Got Hurt!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Stephen A.

    1997-01-01

    Presents a lesson plan that uses cases to teach students about three types of torts: intentional wrongs, negligence, and strict liability. Torts are wrongful actions (not involving a breech of contract) that may result in a civic action. Includes lesson procedures, objectives, and student handouts on torts and negligence cases. (MJP)

  4. The processing of actions and action-words in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papeo, Liuba; Cecchetto, Cinzia; Mazzon, Giulia; Granello, Giulia; Cattaruzza, Tatiana; Verriello, Lorenzo; Eleopra, Roberto; Rumiati, Raffaella I

    2015-03-01

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with prime consequences on the motor function and concomitant cognitive changes, most frequently in the domain of executive functions. Moreover, poorer performance with action-verbs versus object-nouns has been reported in ALS patients, raising the hypothesis that the motor dysfunction deteriorates the semantic representation of actions. Using action-verbs and manipulable-object nouns sharing semantic relationship with the same motor representations, the verb-noun difference was assessed in a group of 21 ALS-patients with severely impaired motor behavior, and compared with a normal sample's performance. ALS-group performed better on nouns than verbs, both in production (action and object naming) and comprehension (word-picture matching). This observation implies that the interpretation of the verb-noun difference in ALS cannot be accounted by the relatedness of verbs to motor representations, but has to consider the role of other semantic and/or morpho-phonological dimensions that distinctively define the two grammatical classes. Moreover, this difference in the ALS-group was not greater than the noun-verb difference in the normal sample. The mental representation of actions also involves an executive-control component to organize, in logical/temporal order, the individual motor events (or sub-goals) that form a purposeful action. We assessed this ability with action sequencing tasks, requiring participants to re-construct a purposeful action from the scrambled presentation of its constitutive motor events, shown in the form of photographs or short sentences. In those tasks, ALS-group's performance was significantly poorer than controls'. Thus, the executive dysfunction manifested in the sequencing deficit -but not the selective verb deficit- appears as a consistent feature of the cognitive profile associated with ALS. We suggest that ALS can offer a valuable model to study the relationship between

  5. A psychosocial approach in humanitarian forensic action: The Latin American perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmeister, Ute; Navarro, Susana

    2017-11-01

    Forensic humanitarian action is aimed at alleviating suffering and maintaining human dignity, with the victims and their families at the core. International recommendations emphasize the importance of psychological support and psychosocial work as an integral part of forensic investigations into missing persons. Psychosocial action does not simply refer to emotional support but is based on the idea of the individual being the holder of rights, encouraging decision taking, affirming actions, and elaborating personal and collective histories. In this framework, forensics and psychosocial sciences need to work in complementary and coordinated interaction for the benefit of the families and communities. For forensic investigations to be restorative - their ultimate humanitarian objective - there are certain additional conditions apart from those of scientific quality and ethics: respect, information and coordination are among the main pillars for forensic action with a psychosocial approach, taking into account the need to treat on an individual and collective level the continuous psychological affectations caused by the disappearance of a loved one. On this basis, psychological and psychosocial accompaniment of the victims can contribute to the victims' healing process and also improve the forensic investigations themselves. This article, which is based on the experience of two decades of practical forensic and psychosocial work in the field, explains the main psychological effects of disappearances and the resulting needs. It gives a short historical overview of the origins and developments in psychosocial support and a perspective in relation to the search for missing persons and forensic interventions in Latin America. It goes on to demonstrate how coordinated interaction among the forensic and psychosocial fields strengthens both of them to the benefit of the affected families, groups and communities. Finally, it takes up some of the international recommendations

  6. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 563: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2008-02-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 563, Septic Systems, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO, 1996; as amended January 2007). The corrective action sites (CASs) for CAU 563 are located in Areas 3 and 12 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, and are comprised of the following four sites: •03-04-02, Area 3 Subdock Septic Tank •03-59-05, Area 3 Subdock Cesspool •12-59-01, Drilling/Welding Shop Septic Tanks •12-60-01, Drilling/Welding Shop Outfalls The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative (CAA) for the four CASs within CAU 563. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from July 17 through November 19, 2007, as set forth in the CAU 563 Corrective Action Investigation Plan (NNSA/NSO, 2007). Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the contaminants of concern (COCs) for each CAS. The results of the CAI identified COCs at one of the four CASs in CAU 563 and required the evaluation of CAAs. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 563 revealed the following: •CASs 03-04-02, 03-59-05, and 12-60-01 do not contain contamination at concentrations exceeding the FALs. •CAS 12-59-01 contains arsenic and chromium contamination above FALs in surface and near-surface soils surrounding a stained location within the site. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at CAS 12-59-01, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following corrective actions are recommended for CAU 563.

  7. Motor cortical processing is causally involved in object recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Motor activity during vicarious experience of actions is a widely reported and studied phenomenon, and motor system activity also accompanies observation of graspable objects in the absence of any actions. Such motor activity is thought to reflect simulation of the observed action, or preparation to interact with the object, respectively. Results Here, in an initial exploratory study, we ask whether motor activity during observation of object directed actions is involved in processes related to recognition of the object after initial exposure. Single pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was applied over the thumb representation of the motor cortex, or over the vertex, during observation of a model thumb typing on a cell-phone, and performance on a phone recognition task at the end of the trial was assessed. Disrupting motor processing over the thumb representation 100 ms after the onset of the typing video impaired the ability to recognize the phone in the recognition test, whereas there was no such effect for TMS applied over the vertex and no TMS trials. Furthermore, this effect only manifested for videos observed from the first person perspective. In an additional control condition, there was no evidence for any effects of TMS to the thumb representation or vertex when observing and recognizing non-action related shape stimuli. Conclusion Overall, these data provide evidence that motor cortical processing during observation of object-directed actions from a first person perspective is causally linked to the formation of enduring representations of objects-of-action. PMID:24330638

  8. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 232: Area 25 Sewage Lagoons, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    US Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office

    1999-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 232, Area 25 Sewage Lagoons, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, CAU 232 is comprised of Corrective Action Site 25-03-01, Sewage Lagoon. This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary for CAU 232. The Corrective Action Decision Document and Closure Report have been combined into one report because sample data collected during the July 1999 corrective action investigation (CAI) activities disclosed no evidence of contamination at the site. Contaminants of potential concern (COPCs) addressed during the CAI included total volatile organic compounds, total semivolatile organic compounds, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, total pesticides, total herbicides, total petroleum hydrocarbons (gasoline and diesel/oil range), polychlorinated biphenyls, isotopic uranium, isotopic plutonium, strontium-90, and gamma-emitting radionuclides. The data confirmed that none of the COPCs identified exceeded preliminary action levels outlined in the CAIP; therefore, no corrective actions were necessary for CAU 232. After the CAI, best management practice activities were completed and included installation of a fence and signs to limit access to the lagoons, cementing Manhole No. 2 and the diverter box, and closing off influent and effluent ends of the sewage lagoon piping. As a result of the CAI, the DOE/NV recommended that: (1) no further actions were required; (2) no Corrective Action Plan would be required; and (3) no use restrictions were required to be placed on the CAU

  9. Information filtering in sparse online systems: recommendation via semi-local diffusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Wei; Zeng, An; Shang, Ming-Sheng; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

    2013-01-01

    With the rapid growth of the Internet and overwhelming amount of information and choices that people are confronted with, recommender systems have been developed to effectively support users' decision-making process in the online systems. However, many recommendation algorithms suffer from the data sparsity problem, i.e. the user-object bipartite networks are so sparse that algorithms cannot accurately recommend objects for users. This data sparsity problem makes many well-known recommendation algorithms perform poorly. To solve the problem, we propose a recommendation algorithm based on the semi-local diffusion process on the user-object bipartite network. The simulation results on two sparse datasets, Amazon and Bookcross, show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods especially for those small-degree users. Two personalized semi-local diffusion methods are proposed which further improve the recommendation accuracy. Finally, our work indicates that sparse online systems are essentially different from the dense online systems, so it is necessary to reexamine former algorithms and conclusions based on dense data in sparse systems.

  10. The SAPO Campus Recommender System: A Study about Students' and Teachers' Opinions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedro, Luís; Santos, Carlos; Almeida, Sara Filipa; Ramos, Fernando; Moreira, António; Almeida, Margarida; Antunes, Maria João

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims to assess the relevance and usefulness of the SAPO Campus recommender system, through the analysis of students' and teachers' opinions. Recommender systems, assuming a "technology-driven" approach, have been designed with the primary goal of predicting user interests based on the implicit analysis of their actions and…

  11. Global Advisory Group: conclusions and recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1986-02-01

    The conclusions and recommendations formulated for the global program by the 8th meeting of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Global Advisory Group, which took place during November 1985, are summarized. The Global Advisory Group recommends that, in furtherance of the Five-Point Action Program endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 1983, 3 general and 4 specific actions be taken by national immunization programs with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) to accelerate EPI progress. These recommendations reflect optimism that the 1990 goal of reducing morbidity and mortality by providing immunization for all children of the world can be realized but also acknowledge that many fundamental problems of national program management remain to be resolved. The general actions are: to promote the achievement of the 1990 immunization goal at national and international levels through collaboration among ministries, organizations, and individuals in both the public and private sectors; to adopt a mix of complementary strategies for program acceleration; and to ensure that rapid increases in coverage can be sustained through mechanisms which strengthen th delivery of other primary health care interventions. The specific actions are as follows: to provide immunization at every contact point; to reduce dropout rates between 1st and last immunizations; to improve immunization services to the disadvantaged in urban areas; and to increase priority for the control of measles, poliomyelitis, and neonatal tetanus. The WHO and the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have collaborated in support of the EPI since the early days of the program. The acceleration of national efforts heightens the importance of this collaboration, particularly at the national level. It may be further facilitated by the provision of policy guidance from global and regional levels, by WHO and UNICEF collaborative agreements at the regional level, and by country agreements

  12. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 477: Area 12 N-Tunnel Muckpile, Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-03-15

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 477, N-Tunnel Muckpile. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 477 is comprised of one Corrective Action Site (CAS): • 12-06-03, Muckpile The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure with no further action, by placing use restrictions on CAU 477.

  13. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 254: Area 25 R-MAD Decontamination Facility, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document identifies and rationalizes the US Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 254, R-MAD Decontamination Facility, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Area 25 at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, CAU 254 is comprised of Corrective Action Site (CAS) 25-23-06, Decontamination Facility. A corrective action investigation for this CAS as conducted in January 2000 as set forth in the related Corrective Action Investigation Plan. Samples were collected from various media throughout the CAS and sent to an off-site laboratory for analysis. The laboratory results indicated the following: radiation dose rates inside the Decontamination Facility, Building 3126, and in the storage yard exceeded the average general dose rate; scanning and static total surface contamination surveys indicated that portions of the locker and shower room floor, decontamination bay floor, loft floor, east and west decon pads, north and south decontamination bay interior walls, exterior west and south walls, and loft walls were above preliminary action levels (PALs). The investigation-derived contaminants of concern (COCs) included: polychlorinated biphenyls, radionuclides (strontium-90, niobium-94, cesium-137, uranium-234 and -235), total volatile and semivolatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Metals). During the investigation, two corrective action objectives (CAOs) were identified to prevent or mitigate human exposure to COCs. Based on these CAOs, a review of existing data, future use, and current operations at the Nevada Test Site, three CAAs were developed for consideration: Alternative 1 - No Further Action; Alternative 2 - Unrestricted Release Decontamination and Verification Survey; and Alternative 3 - Unrestricted

  14. Decreased attention to object size information in scale errors performers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grzyb, B.J.; Cangelosi, A.; Cattani, A.; Floccia, C.

    2017-01-01

    Young children sometimes make serious attempts to perform impossible actions on miniature objects as if they were full-size objects. The existing explanations of these curious action errors assume (but never explicitly tested) children’s decreased attention to object size information. This study

  15. Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    On July 19, 1993, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) provided to the Secretary of Energy its Recommendation 93-5, which commented on the Hanford Tank Waste Characterization effort. Recommendation 93-5 highlighted the need to accelerate the characterization of the Hanford Site tank wastes to expedite the resolution of identified tank safety issues, and to provide timely design data in support of activities addressing the disposal of the tank wastes. The Department of Energy (DOE) and its prime contractor, Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC), are in full agreement with the content of Recommendation 93-5 and have prepared this Implementation Plan to document those actions that have been or will be taken to meet Recommendation 93-5. The new Characterization Strategy embodied by this Plan acknowledges that waste distribution within a tank is the critical unknown with respect to successfully characterizing the tank for any Tank Waste Remediation Systems (TWRS) programmatic need. The new strategy has been incorporated into the following seven task: (1) strengthen technical management; (2) accelerate safety related characterization; (3) improve the quality and quantity of sampling (4) streamline tank access; (5) improve the quality and quantity of analyses; (6) improve data management; and (7) change control

  16. ICRS Recommendation Document

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roos, Ewa M.; Engelhart, Luella; Ranstam, Jonas

    2011-01-01

    and function evaluated for validity and psychometric properties in patients with articular cartilage lesions. Results: The knee-specific instruments, titled the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis and Outcome Score, both fulfill the basic......Abstract Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe and recommend patient-reported outcome instruments for use in patients with articular cartilage lesions undergoing cartilage repair interventions. Methods: Nonsystematic literature search identifying measures addressing pain...... constructs at all levels according to the International Classification of Functioning. Conclusions: Because there is no obvious superiority of either instrument at this time, both outcome measures are recommended for use in cartilage repair. Rescaling of the Lysholm Scoring Scale has been suggested...

  17. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 555: Septic Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0 with Errata

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pastor, Laura

    2005-01-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 555: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 555 is located in Areas 1, 3 and 6 of the NTS, which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, and is comprised of the five corrective action sites (CASs) shown on Figure 1-1 and listed below: (1) CAS 01-59-01, Area 1 Camp Septic System; (2) CAS 03-59-03, Core Handling Building Septic System; (3) CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well; (4) CAS 06-59-01, Birdwell Septic System; and (5) CAS 06-59-02, National Cementers Septic System. An FFACO modification was approved on December 14, 2005, to include CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well, as part of the scope of CAU 555. The work scope was expanded in this document to include the investigation of CAS 06-20-05. The Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, radiological surveys, geophysical surveys, sampling of environmental media, analysis of samples, and assessment of investigation results, where appropriate. Data will be obtained to support corrective action alternative evaluations and waste management decisions. The CASs in CAU 555 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI

  18. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 555: Septic Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0 with Errata

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pastor, Laura

    2005-12-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 555: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 555 is located in Areas 1, 3 and 6 of the NTS, which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, and is comprised of the five corrective action sites (CASs) shown on Figure 1-1 and listed below: (1) CAS 01-59-01, Area 1 Camp Septic System; (2) CAS 03-59-03, Core Handling Building Septic System; (3) CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well; (4) CAS 06-59-01, Birdwell Septic System; and (5) CAS 06-59-02, National Cementers Septic System. An FFACO modification was approved on December 14, 2005, to include CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well, as part of the scope of CAU 555. The work scope was expanded in this document to include the investigation of CAS 06-20-05. The Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, radiological surveys, geophysical surveys, sampling of environmental media, analysis of samples, and assessment of investigation results, where appropriate. Data will be obtained to support corrective action alternative evaluations and waste management decisions. The CASs in CAU 555 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by

  19. Abnormal dynamics of activation of object use information in apraxia: evidence from eyetracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chia-lin; Mirman, Daniel; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

    2014-01-01

    Action representations associated with object use may be incidentally activated during visual object processing, and the time course of such activations may be influenced by lexical-semantic context (e.g., Lee, Middleton, Mirman, Kalénine, & Buxbaum, 2012). In this study we used the “visual world” eye-tracking paradigm to examine whether a deficit in producing skilled object-use actions (apraxia) is associated with abnormalities in incidental activation of action information, and assessed the neuroanatomical substrates of any such deficits. Twenty left hemisphere stroke patients, ten of whom were apraxic, performed a task requiring identification of a named object in a visual display containing manipulation-related and unrelated distractor objects. Manipulation relationships among objects were not relevant to the identification task. Objects were cued with neutral (“S/he saw the….”), or action-relevant (“S/he used the….”) sentences. Non-apraxic participants looked at use-related non-target objects significantly more than at unrelated non-target objects when cued both by neutral and action-relevant sentences, indicating that action information is incidentally activated. In contrast, apraxic participants showed delayed activation of manipulation-based action information during object identification when cued by neutral sentences. The magnitude of delayed activation in the neutral sentence condition was reliably predicted by lower scores on a test of gesture production to viewed objects, as well as by lesion loci in the inferior parietal and posterior temporal lobes. However, when cued by a sentence containing an action verb, apraxic participants showed fixation patterns that were statistically indistinguishable from non-apraxic controls. In support of grounded theories of cognition, these results suggest that apraxia and temporal-parietal lesions may be associated with abnormalities in incidental activation of action information from objects. Further

  20. Friends Partnership Mentoring Program Action Plan

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of the Interior — This Action Plan has been prepared to support Recommendation 11 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge System’s “Conserving the Future”. The plan outlines a...

  1. Crossing the implementation chasm: a proposal for bold action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenzi, Nancy M; Novak, Laurie L; Weiss, Jacob B; Gadd, Cynthia S; Unertl, Kim M

    2008-01-01

    As health care organizations dramatically increase investment in information technology (IT) and the scope of their IT projects, implementation failures become critical events. Implementation failures cause stress on clinical units, increase risk to patients, and result in massive costs that are often not recoverable. At an estimated 28% success rate, the current level of investment defies management logic. This paper asserts that there are "chasms" in IT implementations that represent risky stages in the process. Contributors to the chasms are classified into four categories: design, management, organization, and assessment. The American College of Medical Informatics symposium participants recommend bold action to better understand problems and challenges in implementation and to improve the ability of organizations to bridge these implementation chasms. The bold action includes the creation of a Team Science for Implementation strategy that allows for participation from multiple institutions to address the long standing and costly implementation issues. The outcomes of this endeavor will include a new focus on interdisciplinary research and an inter-organizational knowledge base of strategies and methods to optimize implementations and subsequent achievement of organizational objectives.

  2. International recommendations[General radiation protection background to protective measures against foodstuffs contaminated with radioactive substances

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindell, Bo [Swedish National Institute of Radiation Protection (Sweden)

    1986-07-01

    , provided that, in what may be a multi-stage process, additional modifying factors ('promotors') are at hand. The postulated assumption for stochastic effects is that the risk (probability of cancer) from a small dose increment is proportional to the dose increment, irrespective of previous or later radiation exposures. No dose increment can then be said to be entirely 'safe' although the risk would be very small if the dose increment is small. For normal operation of practices that cause radiation exposures, individuals are protected by dose limits recommended by ICRP. The dose limits guarantee that the radiation risk will not dominate the individual's risk situation. However, the dose limits are supplemented by the further recommendation that all radiation exposures should be kept as low as reasonably achievable, 'economic and social factors being taken into account'. This recommendation is also referred to as the recommendation on optimizing radiation protection. Various methods for this have been used, for example differential cost/benefit analysis. For accidental situations, the ICRP dose limits do not apply. The situation of persons who are at risk of being exposed, e.g. from radioactive substances in the environment or in food-stuffs, can only be improved by remedial actions. The purpose of remedial actions is to eliminate high risks, if possible, and to reduce any radiation risk as far as reasonably achievable. An obvious requirement is that the remedial action must not put individuals in a worse situation than if the action had not been taken. It follows the dose that must be avoided by remedial action, and the dose reduction which would be reasonably achievable by the action, will depend on the type of action and the risks and other consequences of the action. It is therefore not possible to give universally applicable action levels of dose. However, for certain identified actions in described situations, action levels may be given in beforehand. In its

  3. A Federated Recommender System for Online Learning Environments

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, Lei; El Helou, Sandy; Moccozet, Laurent; Opprecht, Laurent; Benkacem, Omar; Salzmann, Christophe; Gillet, Denis

    2012-01-01

    From e-commerce to social networking sites, recommender systems are gaining more and more interest. They provide connections, news, resources, or products of interest. This paper presents a federated recommender system, which exploits data from different online learning platforms and delivers personalized recommendation. The underlying educational objective is to enable academic institutions to provide a Web 2.0 dashboard bringing together open resources from the Cloud and proprietary content...

  4. Recommendations for citizen-oriented risk communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fertmann, R.

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of recommendations for citizen-oriented risk communication should be to provide ''banisters'' which leave the players their freedom of action and allow them to adapt communicative structures to the situation at hand. Uncertainty and controversial issues at the levels of information, participation and assessment are identified as potential stumbling blocks in risk communication. The experiences gained in Hamburg shed a light on a diversity of processes in risk communication, which the present paper proceeds to evaluate. One of its essential recommendations is to have dialogic processes develop into forms of participation. A guide on risk communication which was formulated in the USA has been adapted to conditions as they prevail in Germany. The adapted version is more practically oriented than the rules of the EPA or the more recent CDC recommendations. Suitable success criteria include a fair procedure, a common baseline of what is known and not known, the acceptance of different assessment criteria, and the exchange of the pros and cons of different options

  5. Technologies as incarnated action

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schraube, Ernst

    Contemporary conceptualizations of technology go beyond the traditional interpretation of created things as simply neutral means to an end. They theorize technologies as objects, which embody regimes of power (the theory of technological politics), or scripts (actor-network theory), or values (cr...... represent incarnated or reified actions. I will conclude that an understanding of human activity today has to embrace an imagination of how the inherent action principles of the objects situate the activities and relationships of the subjects to themselves and to others....

  6. Human Actions Made Tangible

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buur, Jacob; Caglio, Agnese; Jensen, Lars Christian

    2014-01-01

    , a method developed to engage people from different backgrounds in collaboratively analysing videos with the help of physical objects. We will present one of these tools, Action Scrabble, for analysing temporal organisation of human actions. We work with a case of skilled forklift truck driving...

  7. Conceptual Web Users' Actions Prediction for Ontology-Based Browsing Recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robal, Tarmo; Kalja, Ahto

    The Internet consists of thousands of web sites with different kinds of structures. However, users are browsing the web according to their informational expectations towards the web site searched, having an implicit conceptual model of the domain in their minds. Nevertheless, people tend to repeat themselves and have partially shared conceptual views while surfing the web, finding some areas of web sites more interesting than others. Herein, we take advantage of the latter and provide a model and a study on predicting users' actions based on the web ontology concepts and their relations.

  8. TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force status report and short-term recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-07-01

    Review of the Three Mile Island accident by the TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force has disclosed a number of actions in the areas of design and analysis and plant operations that the Task Force recommends be required in the short term to provide substantial additional protection which is required for the public health and safety. All nuclear power plants in operation or in various stages of construction or licensing action are affected to varying degrees by the specific recommendations. The Task Force is continuing work in areas of general safety criteria, systems design requirements, nuclear power plant operations, and nuclear power plant licensing

  9. Using Rich Social Media Information for Music Recommendation via Hypergraph Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Shulong; Bu, Jiajun; Chen, Chun; He, Xiaofei

    There are various kinds of social media information, including different types of objects and relations among these objects, in music social communities such as Last.fm and Pandora. This information is valuable for music recommendation. However, there are two main challenges to exploit this rich social media information: (a) There are many different types of objects and relations in music social communities, which makes it difficult to develop a unified framework taking into account all objects and relations. (b) In these communities, some relations are much more sophisticated than pairwise relation, and thus cannot be simply modeled by a graph. We propose a novel music recommendation algorithm by using both multiple kinds of social media information and music acoustic-based content. Instead of graph, we use hypergraph to model the various objects and relations, and consider music recommendation as a ranking problem on this hypergraph. While an edge of an ordinary graph connects only two objects, a hyperedge represents a set of objects. In this way, hypergraph can be naturally used to model high-order relations.

  10. Creating Affording Situations: Coaching through Animate Objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baber, Chris; Khattab, Ahmad; Russell, Martin; Hermsdörfer, Joachim; Wing, Alan

    2017-10-11

    We explore the ways in which animate objects can be used to cue actions as part of coaching in Activities of Daily Living (ADL). In this case, changing the appearance or behavior of a physical object is intended to cue actions which are appropriate for a given context. The context is defined by the intention of the users, the state of the objects and the tasks for which these objects can be used. We present initial design prototypes and simple user trials which explore the impact of different cues on activity. It is shown that raising the handle of a jug, for example, not only cues the act of picking up the jug but also encourages use of the hand adjacent to the handle; that combinations of lights (on the objects) and auditory cues influence activity through reducing uncertainty; and that cueing can challenge pre-learned action sequences. We interpret these results in terms of the idea that the animate objects can be used to create affording situations, and discuss implications of this work to support relearning of ADL following brain damage or injury, such as might arise following a stroke.

  11. Creating Affording Situations: Coaching through Animate Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Baber

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available We explore the ways in which animate objects can be used to cue actions as part of coaching in Activities of Daily Living (ADL. In this case, changing the appearance or behavior of a physical object is intended to cue actions which are appropriate for a given context. The context is defined by the intention of the users, the state of the objects and the tasks for which these objects can be used. We present initial design prototypes and simple user trials which explore the impact of different cues on activity. It is shown that raising the handle of a jug, for example, not only cues the act of picking up the jug but also encourages use of the hand adjacent to the handle; that combinations of lights (on the objects and auditory cues influence activity through reducing uncertainty; and that cueing can challenge pre-learned action sequences. We interpret these results in terms of the idea that the animate objects can be used to create affording situations, and discuss implications of this work to support relearning of ADL following brain damage or injury, such as might arise following a stroke.

  12. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 541: Small Boy Nevada National Security Site and Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, Revision 0 with ROTC-1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kidman, Raymond [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States); Matthews, Patrick [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2016-08-01

    The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 541 based on the no further action alternative listed in Table ES-1.

  13. Linking actions and objects: Context-specific learning of novel weight priors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trewartha, Kevin M; Flanagan, J Randall

    2017-06-01

    Distinct explicit and implicit memory processes support weight predictions used when lifting objects and making perceptual judgments about weight, respectively. The first time that an object is encountered weight is predicted on the basis of learned associations, or priors, linking size and material to weight. A fundamental question is whether the brain maintains a single, global representation of priors, or multiple representations that can be updated in a context specific way. A second key question is whether the updating of priors, or the ability to scale lifting forces when repeatedly lifting unusually weighted objects requires focused attention. To investigate these questions we compared the adaptability of weight predictions used when lifting objects and judging their weights in different groups of participants who experienced size-weight inverted objects passively (with the objects placed on the hands) or actively (where participants lift the objects) under full or divided attention. To assess weight judgments we measured the size-weight illusion after every 20 trials of experience with the inverted objects both passively and actively. The attenuation of the illusion that arises when lifting inverted object was found to be context-specific such that the attenuation was larger when the mode of interaction with the inverted objects matched the method of assessment of the illusion. Dividing attention during interaction with the inverted objects had no effect on attenuation of the illusion, but did slow the rate at which lifting forces were scaled to the weight inverted objects. These findings suggest that the brain stores multiple representations of priors that are context specific, and that focused attention is important for scaling lifting forces, but not for updating weight predictions used when judging object weight. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Uncovering the information core in recommender systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Wei; Zeng, An; Liu, Hao; Shang, Ming-Sheng; Zhou, Tao

    2014-08-01

    With the rapid growth of the Internet and overwhelming amount of information that people are confronted with, recommender systems have been developed to effectively support users' decision-making process in online systems. So far, much attention has been paid to designing new recommendation algorithms and improving existent ones. However, few works considered the different contributions from different users to the performance of a recommender system. Such studies can help us improve the recommendation efficiency by excluding irrelevant users. In this paper, we argue that in each online system there exists a group of core users who carry most of the information for recommendation. With them, the recommender systems can already generate satisfactory recommendation. Our core user extraction method enables the recommender systems to achieve 90% of the accuracy of the top-L recommendation by taking only 20% of the users into account. A detailed investigation reveals that these core users are not necessarily the large-degree users. Moreover, they tend to select high quality objects and their selections are well diversified.

  15. St. Lawrence action plan meter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1992-12-31

    The purpose of this bulletin is to report on the progress achieved under the St. Lawrence Action Plan. Under each of the Action Plan`s five objectives, it outlines environmental management indicators which identify actions taken and shows the results. This report presents the data collected in late August 1992 on the activities carried out by all partners of both governments involved in SLAP. The objectives examined in the bulletin are: to reduce by 90% the liquid toxic waste discharged by the 50 plants targeted for priority action; to prepare remediation plans for contaminated federal sites and restore wetlands; to conserve 5000 additional hectares of habitat and create a marine park; to develop and implement recovery plans for mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and plants; and to determine the state of the St. Lawrence River.

  16. Freedom and enforcement in action a study in formal action theory

    CERN Document Server

    Czelakowski, Janusz

    2015-01-01

    Action theory is the object of growing attention in a variety of scientific disciplines, and this is the first volume to offer a synthetic view of the range of approaches possible in the topic. The volume focuses on the nexus of formal action theory with a startlingly diverse set of subjects, which range from logic, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and automata theory to jurisprudence, deontology, and economics. It covers semantic, mathematical and logical aspects of action, showing how the problem of action breaks the boundaries of traditional branches of logic located in syntactics and semantics and now lies on lies on the borderline between logical pragmatics and praxeology.   The chapters here focus on specialized tasks in formal action theory, beginning with a thorough description and formalization of the language of action, and moving through material on the differing models of action theory to focus on probabilistic models, the relations of formal action theory to deontic logic, and its key appl...

  17. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 374: Area 20 Schooner Unit Crater, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada with ROTC 1 and 2, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2011-07-01

    Corrective Action Unit 374 comprises five corrective action sites (CASs): • 18-22-05, Drum • 18-22-06, Drums (20) • 18-22-08, Drum • 18-23-01, Danny Boy Contamination Area • 20-45-03, U-20u Crater (Schooner) The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 374 based on the implementation of corrective actions. The corrective action of closure in place with administrative controls was implemented at CASs 18-23-01 and 20-45-03, and a corrective action of removing potential source material (PSM) was conducted at CAS 20-45-03. The other CASs require no further action; however, best management practices of removing PSM and drums at CAS 18-22-06, and removing drums at CAS 18-22-08 were performed. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from May 4 through October 6, 2010, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 374: Area 20 Schooner Unit Crater, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. The approach for the CAI was divided into two facets: investigating the primary release of radionuclides and investigating other releases (migration in washes and chemical releases). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 374 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the dataset is acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. Radiological doses exceeding the FAL of 25 millirem per year were found to be present in the surface soil that was sampled. It is assumed that radionuclide levels present in subsurface media within the craters and ejecta fields (default contamination boundaries) at the Danny Boy and

  18. Exploring Power with Object Theatre

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ryöppy, Merja; Ylirisku, Salu; Knutz, Eva

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores Object Theatre as an approach to address power in design. We understand power as a relational activity that emerges and is upheld through particular ways of relating (Elias, 1991; Stacey, 2007). The spontaneity in participant actions through Object Theatre exercises renders pr...

  19. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 561: Waste Disposal Areas, Nevada Test Site, Nevada with ROTC 1, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2008-07-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 561 is located in Areas 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 22, 23, and 25 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 561 is comprised of the 10 corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: • 01-19-01, Waste Dump • 02-08-02, Waste Dump and Burn Area • 03-19-02, Debris Pile • 05-62-01, Radioactive Gravel Pile • 12-23-09, Radioactive Waste Dump • 22-19-06, Buried Waste Disposal Site • 23-21-04, Waste Disposal Trenches • 25-08-02, Waste Dump • 25-23-21, Radioactive Waste Dump • 25-25-19, Hydrocarbon Stains and Trench These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on April 28, 2008, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and National Security Technologies, LLC. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 561. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the Corrective Action Investigation for CAU 561 includes the following activities: • Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. • Conduct radiological surveys

  20. Rethinking Professional Study Programs and Continuing Education in the Euro-Mediterranean Region: Action Agenda and Recommendations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karim Moustaghfir

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available the newcompetitive and changing dynamics made knowledge resources the most strategic assets to create and sustain competitive advantage in today’s business landscape. Businesses and public organizations alike need knowledge workers to streamline their processes, differentiate their product and service offerings, and generate value for their stakeholders. The discrepancy between the demand for such distinctive profiles and the current supply of human resources is causing higher education institutions to rethink their learning practices and the process whereby knowledge resources are developed, applied, and renewed. This article analyzes these dynamics and sheds more light on the changes that are affecting the learning processes with regards to professional study programs and continuing education, particularly in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The article draws up an action agenda to make such programs more valuable emphasizing the role of innovative pedagogical approaches, the importance of instructional design, the adding-value of information technologies, and the required structural and human resource changes at the level of universities’ organizational design. Building on the participants’ input gathered during the Emuni’s 2013 HR&R Conference, the article suggests specific recommendations on how the Euro-Mediterranean universities can play a catalyst role in reshaping, leading, and implementing competitive and targeted professional study programs based on network-based structures and on mapping and leveraging different partners’ distinctive capabilities and core competences.

  1. ECOWindS Joint Action Plan

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2014-01-01

    The Joint Action Plan (JAP) is a deliverable of the ECOWindS project Work Package 4 (WP4) “Joint Action Plan”. It presents a plan of action or a roadmap for research, development, and innovation (RDI) for the Offshore Wind Service (OWS) industry. The objective of the JAP is to be an international...

  2. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 372: Area 20 Cabriolet/Palanquin Unit Craters, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick and Sloop, Christy

    2011-04-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 372, Area 20 Cabriolet/Palanquin Unit Craters, located within Areas 18 and 20 at the Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Corrective Action Unit 372 comprises four corrective action sites (CASs): • 18-45-02, Little Feller I Surface Crater • 18-45-03, Little Feller II Surface Crater • 20-23-01, U-20k Contamination Area • 20-45-01, U-20L Crater (Cabriolet) The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 372 based on the implementation of the corrective action of closure in place with administrative controls at all CASs. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from November 9, 2009, through December 10, 2010, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 372: Area 20 Cabriolet/Palanquin Unit Craters. The approach for the CAI was divided into two facets: investigation of the primary release of radionuclides and investigation of other releases (migration in washes and chemical releases). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process. The CAU 372 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated the dataset is acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Investigation results were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. A radiological dose FAL was established of 25 millirem per year based on the Remote Work Area exposure scenario (336 hours of annual exposure). Radiological doses exceeding the FAL were found to be present at all four CASs. It is assumed that radionuclide levels present within the Little Feller I and Cabriolet high

  3. Semantic memory in object use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silveri, Maria Caterina; Ciccarelli, Nicoletta

    2009-10-01

    We studied five patients with semantic memory disorders, four with semantic dementia and one with herpes simplex virus encephalitis, to investigate the involvement of semantic conceptual knowledge in object use. Comparisons between patients who had semantic deficits of different severity, as well as the follow-up, showed that the ability to use objects was largely preserved when the deficit was mild but progressively decayed as the deficit became more severe. Naming was generally more impaired than object use. Production tasks (pantomime execution and actual object use) and comprehension tasks (pantomime recognition and action recognition) as well as functional knowledge about objects were impaired when the semantic deficit was severe. Semantic and unrelated errors were produced during object use, but actions were always fluent and patients performed normally on a novel tools task in which the semantic demand was minimal. Patients with severe semantic deficits scored borderline on ideational apraxia tasks. Our data indicate that functional semantic knowledge is crucial for using objects in a conventional way and suggest that non-semantic factors, mainly non-declarative components of memory, might compensate to some extent for semantic disorders and guarantee some residual ability to use very common objects independently of semantic knowledge.

  4. 'Action 2016': AREVA's strategic action plan to improve performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marie, Patricia; Floquet-Daubigeon, Fleur; Michaut, Maxime; De Scorbiac, Marie; Du Repaire, Philippine

    2011-01-01

    On December 12, 2011, Luc Oursel, Executive Officer of AREVA, and Pierre Aubouin, Chief Financial Executive Officer, presented the group's 'Action 2016' strategic action plan based on an in-depth analysis of the market's outlook. This document makes, first, a Detailed presentation of the 'Action 2016' plan and then presents the group's financial outlook: - Full-year 2011 immediate accounting consequences of the new market environment: operating losses expected in 2011; - 2012-2013 transition period Objective: self-finance capex in cumulative terms; - 2014-2016: safe growth and cash generation, free operating cash flow at break-even beginning in 2013, above euro 1 bn per year beginning in 2015

  5. Book Review: Radiological Conditions in the Dnieper River Basin: Assessment by an International Expert Team and Recommendations for an Action Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Napier, Bruce A.

    2007-01-01

    This article is a book review of a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency that was prepared by a team of scientists from Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine as an assessment of radiological contamination of the Dnieper River, which flows through these three countries. The topics covered begin with radioactive sources (actual and potential) including areas affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, nuclear power plants along the river and its tributaries, uranium mining and ore processing, radioactive waste storage and disposal sites, and non-power sources, such as medicine, industry, and research. The report continues with an assessment of human exposures to radiation from these sources. An additional area of consideration is radiological 'hot spots' in the region. The report finishes with conclusions and recommendations to the regional governments for a strategic action plan and individual government national plans.

  6. Description of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-09-01

    The background and the results to date of the Department of Energy program to identify and evaluate the radiological conditions at sites formerly utilized by the Corps of Engineers' Manhattan Engineer District (MED) and the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) are summarized. The sites of concern were federally, privately, and institutionally owned and were used primarily for research, processing, and storage of uranium and thorium ores, concentrates, or residues. Some sites were subsequently released for other purposes without radiological restriction. Surveys have been conducted since 1974 to document radiological conditions at such sites. Based on radiological surveys, sites are identified in this document that require, or are projected to require, remedial action to remove potential restrictions on the use of the property due to the presence of residual low-level radioactive contamination. Specific recommendations for each site will result from more detailed environmental and engineering surveys to be conducted at those sites and, if necessary, an environmental impact assessment or environmental impact statement will be prepared. Section 3.0 describes the current standards and guidelines now being used to conduct remedial actions. Current authority of the US Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed with remedial actions and the new authority required are summarized. A plan to implement the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) in accordance with the new authority is presented, including the objectives, scope, general approach, and a summary schedule. Key issues affecting schedule and cost are discussed

  7. Description of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1980-09-01

    The background and the results to date of the Department of Energy program to identify and evaluate the radiological conditions at sites formerly utilized by the Corps of Engineers' Manhattan Engineer District (MED) and the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) are summarized. The sites of concern were federally, privately, and institutionally owned and were used primarily for research, processing, and storage of uranium and thorium ores, concentrates, or residues. Some sites were subsequently released for other purposes without radiological restriction. Surveys have been conducted since 1974 to document radiological conditions at such sites. Based on radiological surveys, sites are identified in this document that require, or are projected to require, remedial action to remove potential restrictions on the use of the property due to the presence of residual low-level radioactive contamination. Specific recommendations for each site will result from more detailed environmental and engineering surveys to be conducted at those sites and, if necessary, an environmental impact assessment or environmental impact statement will be prepared. Section 3.0 describes the current standards and guidelines now being used to conduct remedial actions. Current authority of the US Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed with remedial actions and the new authority required are summarized. A plan to implement the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) in accordance with the new authority is presented, including the objectives, scope, general approach, and a summary schedule. Key issues affecting schedule and cost are discussed.

  8. Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration Plan for Corrective Action Unit 574: Neptune, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2011-08-31

    This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan identifies the activities required for closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 574, Neptune. CAU 574 is included in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) (1996 [as amended March 2010]) and consists of the following two Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Area 12 of the Nevada National Security Site: (1) CAS 12-23-10, U12c.03 Crater (Neptune); (2) CAS 12-45-01, U12e.05 Crater (Blanca). This plan provides the methodology for the field activities that will be performed to gather the necessary information for closure of the two CASs. There is sufficient information and process knowledge regarding the expected nature and extent of potential contaminants to recommend closure of CAU 574 using the SAFER process. Based on historical documentation, personnel interviews, site process knowledge, site visits, photographs, field screening, analytical results, the results of the data quality objective (DQO) process (Section 3.0), and an evaluation of corrective action alternatives (Appendix B), closure in place with administrative controls is the expected closure strategy for CAU 574. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a field investigation to verify and support the expected closure strategy and provide a defensible recommendation that no further corrective action is necessary. This will be presented in a Closure Report that will be prepared and submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) for review and approval.

  9. Recommended revisions to Nuclear Regulatory Commission seismic design criteria. Technical report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coats, D.W.

    1980-05-01

    This report recommends changes in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) criteria now used in the seismic design of nuclear power plants. Areas covered include ground motion, soil-structure interaction, structures, and equipment and components. Members of the Engineering Mechanics Section of the Nuclear Test Engineering Division at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) generally agreed upon the recommendations, which are based on (1) reports developed under the NRC's Task Action Plan A-40, (2) other available engineering literature, and (3) recommendations of nationally recognized experts retained by LLL specifically for this task

  10. Nouns, verbs, objects, actions, and abstractions: local fMRI activity indexes semantics, not lexical categories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moseley, Rachel L; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2014-05-01

    Noun/verb dissociations in the literature defy interpretation due to the confound between lexical category and semantic meaning; nouns and verbs typically describe concrete objects and actions. Abstract words, pertaining to neither, are a critical test case: dissociations along lexical-grammatical lines would support models purporting lexical category as the principle governing brain organisation, whilst semantic models predict dissociation between concrete words but not abstract items. During fMRI scanning, participants read orthogonalised word categories of nouns and verbs, with or without concrete, sensorimotor meaning. Analysis of inferior frontal/insula, precentral and central areas revealed an interaction between lexical class and semantic factors with clear category differences between concrete nouns and verbs but not abstract ones. Though the brain stores the combinatorial and lexical-grammatical properties of words, our data show that topographical differences in brain activation, especially in the motor system and inferior frontal cortex, are driven by semantics and not by lexical class. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 190: Contaminated Waste Sites Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wickline, Alfred

    2006-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 190 is located in Areas 11 and 14 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 190 is comprised of the four Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 11-02-01, Underground Centrifuge; (2) 11-02-02, Drain Lines and Outfall; (3) 11-59-01, Tweezer Facility Septic System; and (4) 14-23-01, LTU-6 Test Area. These sites are being investigated because existing information is insufficient on the nature and extent of potential contamination to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI). The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on August 24, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture, and National Security Technologies, LLC. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 190. The scope of the CAU 190 CAI includes the following activities: (1) Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling; (2) Conduct radiological and geophysical surveys; (3) Perform field screening; (4) Collect and submit environmental samples for laboratory analysis to determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present; (5) If COCs are present, collect additional step-out samples to define the lateral and vertical extent of the contamination; (6) Collect samples of source material, if present

  12. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 476: Area 12 T-Tunnel Muckpile, Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-03-15

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 476, Area 12 T-Tunnel Muckpile. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 476 is comprised of one Corrective Action Site (CAS): • 12-06-02, Muckpile The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure in place with use restrictions for CAU 476.

  13. The ActionScript 30 Quick Reference Guide

    CERN Document Server

    Stiller, David; deHaan, Jen; Richardson, Darren

    2008-01-01

    "No matter what your background, the pages that follow will provide you with some excellent knowledge, insight, and even a little bit of wisdom in the realm of Flash and ActionScript. Happy learning!"-- Branden Hall, from the ForewordWritten by Flash insiders with extensive knowledge of the technology, this guide is designed specifically to help Flash designers and developers make the leap from ActionScript 2.0 to the new object-oriented ActionScript 3.0 quickly and painlessly. Formatted so you can find any topic easily, ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide explains:Object-oriented programmi

  14. From the Margins to the Center: Recommendations for Current and Aspiring Educational Leaders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Tina R.

    2009-01-01

    Tina Nolan presents a call to action for current and future leaders to assume a new role as change leaders for the museum education profession. This article puts forth a series of recommendations and strategies for repositioning museum educators from the margins of their institutions to the center. Included among these recommendations are…

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 105: Area 2 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 105 based on the implementation of the corrective actions. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 22, 2012, through May 23, 2013, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 105: Area 2 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices.

  16. Crawling and walking infants encounter objects differently in a multi-target environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dosso, Jill A; Boudreau, J Paul

    2014-10-01

    From birth, infants move their bodies in order to obtain information and stimulation from their environment. Exploratory movements are important for the development of an infant's understanding of the world and are well established as being key to cognitive advances. Newly acquired motor skills increase the potential actions available to the infant. However, the way that infants employ potential actions in environments with multiple potential targets is undescribed. The current work investigated the target object selections of infants across a range of self-produced locomotor experience (11- to 14-month-old crawlers and walkers). Infants repeatedly accessed objects among pairs of objects differing in both distance and preference status, some requiring locomotion. Overall, their object actions were found to be sensitive to object preference status; however, the role of object distance in shaping object encounters was moderated by movement status. Crawlers' actions appeared opportunistic and were biased towards nearby objects while walkers' actions appeared intentional and were independent of object position. Moreover, walkers' movements favoured preferred objects more strongly for children with higher levels of self-produced locomotion experience. The multi-target experimental situation used in this work parallels conditions faced by foraging organisms, and infants' behaviours were discussed with respect to optimal foraging theory. There is a complex interplay between infants' agency, locomotor experience, and environment in shaping their motor actions. Infants' movements, in turn, determine the information and experiences offered to infants by their micro-environment.

  17. Effects of object shape on the visual guidance of action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eloka, Owino; Franz, Volker H

    2011-04-22

    Little is known of how visual coding of the shape of an object affects grasping movements. We addressed this issue by investigating the influence of shape perturbations on grasping. Twenty-six participants grasped a disc or a bar that were chosen such that they could in principle be grasped with identical movements (i.e., relevant sizes were identical such that the final grips consisted of identical separations of the fingers and no parts of the objects constituted obstacles for the movement). Nevertheless, participants took object shape into account and grasped the bar with a larger maximum grip aperture and a different hand angle than the disc. In 20% of the trials, the object changed its shape from bar to disc or vice versa early or late during the movement. If there was enough time (early perturbations), grasps were often adapted in flight to the new shape. These results show that the motor system takes into account even small and seemingly irrelevant changes of object shape and adapts the movement in a fine-grained manner. Although this adaptation might seem computationally expensive, we presume that its benefits (e.g., a more comfortable and more accurate movement) outweigh the costs. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. ParticipACTION: Baseline assessment of the 'new ParticipACTION': A quantitative survey of Canadian organizational awareness and capacity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bauman Adrian

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity (PA communications and social marketing organization that was relaunched in 2007 after a six-year hiatus. This study assesses the baseline awareness and capacity of Canadian organizations that promote physical activity, to adopt, implement and promote ParticipACTION's physical activity campaign. The three objectives were: (1 to determine organizational awareness of both the 'original' and 'new' ParticipACTION; (2 to report baseline levels of three organizational capacity domains (i.e., to adopt, implement and externally promote physical activity initiatives; and, (3 to explore potential differences in those domains based on organizational size, sector and primary mandate. Methods Organizations at local, provincial/territorial, and national levels were sent an invitation via email prior to the official launch of ParticipACTION to complete an on-line survey. The survey assessed their organization's capacity to adopt, implement and externally promote a new physical activity campaign within their organizational mandates. Descriptive statistics were employed to address the first two study objectives. A series of one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine the third objective. Results The response rate was 29.7% (268/902. The majority of responding organizations had over 40 employees and had operated for over 10 years. Education was the most common primary mandate, followed by sport and recreation. Organizations were evenly distributed between government and not-for-profits. Approximately 96% of respondents had heard of the 'original' ParticipACTION while 54.6% had heard of the 'new' ParticipACTION (Objective 1. Findings indicate good organizational capacity in Canada to promote physical activity (Objective 2 based on reported means of approximately 4.0 (on 5-point scales for capacity to adopt, implement, and externally promote new physical activity campaigns. Capacity to

  19. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 166: Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    David Strand

    2006-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit 166 is located in Areas 2, 3, 5, and 18 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 166 is comprised of the seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 02-42-01, Cond. Release Storage Yd - North; (2) 02-42-02, Cond. Release Storage Yd - South; (3) 02-99-10, D-38 Storage Area; (4) 03-42-01, Conditional Release Storage Yard; (5) 05-19-02, Contaminated Soil and Drum; (6) 18-01-01, Aboveground Storage Tank; and (7) 18-99-03, Wax Piles/Oil Stain. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on February 28, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 166. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the CAI for CAU 166 includes the following activities: (1) Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. (2) Conduct radiological surveys. (3) Perform field screening. (4) Collect and submit environmental samples for laboratory analysis to determine if

  20. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 552: Area 12 Muckpile and Ponds, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 1 with ROTC 1 and 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David A. Strand

    2005-01-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 552: Area 12 Muckpile and Ponds, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. The NTS is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1). Corrective Action Unit 552 is comprised of the one Corrective Action Site which is 12-23-05, Ponds. One additional CAS, 12-06-04, Muckpile (G-Tunnel Muckpile), was removed from this CAU when it was determined that the muckpile is an active site. A modification to the FFACO to remove CAS 12-06-04 was approved by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) on December 16, 2004. The G-Tunnel ponds were first identified in the 1991 Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Co., Inc. document entitled, ''Nevada Test Site Inventory of Inactive and Abandoned Facilities and Waste Sites'' (REECo, 1991). Corrective Action Unit 552 is being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Therefore, additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) prior to evaluating and selecting the corrective action alternatives for the site. The CAI will include field inspections, radiological surveys, and sampling of appropriate media. Data will also be obtained to support investigation-derived waste (IDW) disposal and potential future waste management decisions.

  1. Live-action Virtual Reality Games

    OpenAIRE

    Valente, Luis; Clua, Esteban; Silva, Alexandre Ribeiro; Feijó, Bruno

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes the concept of "live-action virtual reality games" as a new genre of digital games based on an innovative combination of live-action, mixed-reality, context-awareness, and interaction paradigms that comprise tangible objects, context-aware input devices, and embedded/embodied interactions. Live-action virtual reality games are "live-action games" because a player physically acts out (using his/her real body and senses) his/her "avatar" (his/her virtual representation) in t...

  2. Performance evaluation of recommendation algorithms on Internet of Things services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mashal, Ibrahim; Alsaryrah, Osama; Chung, Tein-Yaw

    2016-06-01

    Internet of Things (IoT) is the next wave of industry revolution that will initiate many services, such as personal health care and green energy monitoring, which people may subscribe for their convenience. Recommending IoT services to the users based on objects they own will become very crucial for the success of IoT. In this work, we introduce the concept of service recommender systems in IoT by a formal model. As a first attempt in this direction, we have proposed a hyper-graph model for IoT recommender system in which each hyper-edge connects users, objects, and services. Next, we studied the usefulness of traditional recommendation schemes and their hybrid approaches on IoT service recommendation (IoTSRS) based on existing well known metrics. The preliminary results show that existing approaches perform reasonably well but further extension is required for IoTSRS. Several challenges were discussed to point out the direction of future development in IoTSR.

  3. Physical Activity Recommendations in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartman, Jorine E.; Boezen, H. Marike; Zuidema, Menno J.; de Greef, Mathieu H. G.; ten Hacken, Nick H. T.; Boezen, Hendrika

    2014-01-01

    Background: Physical activity recommendations are hardly studied in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and specifically recommendations that are individualized to a patient's aerobic fitness level are not studied. Objectives: To compare individualized (relative) and

  4. Designing the Object Game

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Filip, Diane; Lindegaard, Hanne

    2016-01-01

    The Object Game is an exploratory design game and an experiment of developing a tangible object that can spark dialogue and retrospection between collaborative partners and act as a boundary object. The objective of this article is to show and elaborate on the development of the Object Game......, and to provide case examples of the game in action. The Object Game has two parts – Story-building and Co-rating of objects – with the aim of stimulating a collaborative reflection on knowledge sharing with different objects. In Story-building, the participants visualize their knowledge sharing process...... these facilitated knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange, knowledge generation, and knowledge integration. The participants collaborative reflected on their use of different objects for knowledge sharing and learn which objects have been effective (and which have not been effective) in their collaborative...

  5. Recommendations and Suggestions of the IRRS Mission in Croatia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novosel, N.

    2016-01-01

    According to the Act on Radiological and Nuclear Safety, Director General of the State Office for Radiological and Nuclear Safety (SORNS) is obliged to conduct self-assessment of the national legislative framework and of the competent authorities and to provide for international audit of important segments of the national legislative framework and competent authorities with the purpose of continuous improvement of radiological and nuclear safety. SORNS as a state administration body competent for activities pertaining to radiological and nuclear safety, submitted in April 2013 the request to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to conduct an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission. SORNS conducted a self-assessment in preparation for the mission and prepared a preliminary action plan. The results of SORNS self-assessment and supporting documentation were provided to the IRRS review team as advance reference material for the mission. IRRS mission took place in Zagreb from 7 to 17 Jun 2015. The IRRS team carried out the review in the following areas: responsibilities and functions of the government; the global nuclear safety regime; responsibilities and functions of the regulatory body; the management system of the regulatory body; the activities of the regulatory body including authorization, review and assessment, inspection and enforcement processes; development and content of regulations and guides; emergency preparedness and response; occupational radiation protection, patient protection, public and environmental exposure control, waste management and decommissioning. The IRRS team identified a number of recommendations and suggestions where improvements in the area of radiological and nuclear safety are necessary or desirable. Those recommendations and suggestions were translated and approved by the Government in the form of the Governmental conclusion. This conclusion presents the action plan for the SORNS and other governmental bodies and

  6. Consensus of recommendations guiding comparative effectiveness research methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Jacob B; McConeghy, Robert; Heinrich, Kirstin; Gatto, Nicolle M; Caffrey, Aisling R

    2016-12-01

    Because of an increasing demand for quality comparative effectiveness research (CER), methods guidance documents have been published, such as those from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Our objective was to identify CER methods guidance documents and compare them to produce a summary of important recommendations which could serve as a consensus of CER method recommendations. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify CER methods guidance documents published through 2014. Identified documents were analyzed for methods guidance recommendations. Individual recommendations were categorized to determine the degree of overlap. We identified nine methods guidance documents, which contained a total of 312 recommendations, 97% of which were present in two or more documents. All nine documents recommended transparency and adaptation for relevant stakeholders in the interpretation and dissemination of results. Other frequently shared CER methods recommendations included: study design and operational definitions should be developed a priori and allow for replication (n = 8 documents); focus on areas with gaps in current clinical knowledge that are relevant to decision-makers (n = 7); validity of measures, instruments, and data should be assessed and discussed (n = 7); outcomes, including benefits and harms, should be clinically meaningful, and objectively measured (n = 7). Assessment for and strategies to minimize bias (n = 6 documents), confounding (n = 6), and heterogeneity (n = 4) were also commonly shared recommendations between documents. We offer a field-consensus guide based on nine CER methods guidance documents that will aid researchers in designing CER studies and applying CER methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 568. Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Nevada Field Ofice, Las Vegas, NV (United States). National Nuclear Security Administration

    2015-08-01

    The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of corrective action alternatives (CAAs) for the 14 CASs within CAU 568. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from April 2014 through May 2015, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 568: Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the DQO process. The CAU 568 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated that the dataset is complete and acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at the 14 CASs, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following corrective actions are recommended for CAU 568: • No further action is the preferred corrective action for CASs 03-23-17, 03-23-22, 03-23-26. • Closure in place is the preferred corrective action for CAS 03-23-19; 03-45-01; the SE DCBs at CASs 03-23-20, 03-23-23, 03-23-31, 03-23-32, 03-23-33, and 03-23-34; and the Pascal-BHCA at CAS 03-23-31. • Clean closure is the preferred corrective action for CASs 03-08-04, 03-23-30, and 03-26-04; and the four well head covers at CASs 03-23-20, 03-23-23, 03-23-31, and 03-23-33.

  8. Effects of grasp compatibility on long-term memory for objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canits, Ivonne; Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, René

    2018-01-01

    Previous studies have shown action potentiation during conceptual processing of manipulable objects. In four experiments, we investigated whether these motor actions also play a role in long-term memory. Participants categorized objects that afforded either a power grasp or a precision grasp as natural or artifact by grasping cylinders with either a power grasp or a precision grasp. In all experiments, responses were faster when the affordance of the object was compatible with the type of grasp response. However, subsequent free recall and recognition memory tasks revealed no better memory for object pictures and object names for which the grasp affordance was compatible with the grasp response. The present results therefore do not support the hypothesis that motor actions play a role in long-term memory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Use your head! Perception of action possibilities by means of an object attached to the head.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagman, Jeffrey B; Hajnal, Alen

    2016-03-01

    Perceiving any environmental property requires spontaneously assembling a smart perceptual instrument-a task-specific measurement device assembled across potentially independent anatomical units. Previous research has shown that to a large degree, perception of a given environmental property is anatomically independent. We attempted to provide stronger evidence for this proposal by investigating perception by an organization of anatomical and inert components that likely requires the spontaneous assembly of a novel smart perceptual instrument-a rod attached to the head. Specifically, we compared cephalic and manual perception of whether an inclined surface affords standing on. In both conditions, perception reflected the action capabilities of the perceiver and not the appendage used to wield the rod. Such results provide stronger evidence for anatomical independence of perception within a given perceptual system and highlight that flexible task-specific detection units can be assembled across units that span the body and inert objects.

  10. EULAR revised recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Macfarlane, G J; Kronisch, C; Dean, L E

    2017-01-01

    and Evaluation system was used for making recommendations. RESULTS: 2979 titles were identified: from these 275 full papers were selected for review and 107 reviews (and/or meta-analyses) evaluated as eligible. Based on meta-analyses, the only 'strong for' therapy-based recommendation in the guidelines......OBJECTIVE: The original European League Against Rheumatism recommendations for managing fibromyalgia assessed evidence up to 2005. The paucity of studies meant that most recommendations were 'expert opinion'. METHODS: A multidisciplinary group from 12 countries assessed evidence with a focus...... on systematic reviews and meta-analyses concerned with pharmacological/non-pharmacological management for fibromyalgia. A review, in May 2015, identified eligible publications and key outcomes assessed were pain, fatigue, sleep and daily functioning. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development...

  11. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 478: Area 12 T-Tunnel Ponds, Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-03-15

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 478, Area 12 T-Tunnel Ponds. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 478 is comprised of one corrective action site (CAS): • 12-23-01, Ponds (5) RAD Area The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure in place with use restrictions for CAU 478.

  12. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 559: T Tunnel Compressor/Blower Pad, Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-03-15

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 559, T-Tunnel Compressor/Blower Pad. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 559 is comprised of one Corrective Action Site (CAS): • 12-25-13, Oil Stained Soil and Concrete The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure in place with use restrictions for CAU 559.

  13. Evaluation of context-aware recommendation systems for information re-finding

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sappelli, M.; Verberne, S.; Kraaij, W.

    2016-01-01

    In this article we evaluate context-aware recommendation systems for information re-finding by knowledge workers. We identify 4 criteria that are relevant for evaluating the quality of knowledge worker support: context relevance, document relevance, prediction of user action, and diversity of the

  14. 75 FR 41891 - Certain Footwear: Recommendations for Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-19

    ... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 1205-8] Certain Footwear: Recommendations for Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission. ACTION: Change in date for transmitting final recommendations to the President. SUMMARY: The...

  15. A Multi-Objective Learning to re-Rank Approach to Optimize Online Marketplaces for Multiple Stakeholders

    OpenAIRE

    Nguyen, Phong; Dines, John; Krasnodebski, Jan

    2017-01-01

    Multi-objective recommender systems address the difficult task of recommending items that are relevant to multiple, possibly conflicting, criteria. However these systems are most often designed to address the objective of one single stakeholder, typically, in online commerce, the consumers whose input and purchasing decisions ultimately determine the success of the recommendation systems. In this work, we address the multi-objective, multi-stakeholder, recommendation problem involving one or ...

  16. Research applications for an Object and Action Naming Battery to assess naming skills in adult Spanish-English bilingual speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Lisa A; Donovan, Neila J

    2014-06-01

    Virtually no valid materials are available to evaluate confrontation naming in Spanish-English bilingual adults in the U.S. In a recent study, a large group of young Spanish-English bilingual adults were evaluated on An Object and Action Naming Battery (Edmonds & Donovan in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 55:359-381, 2012). Rasch analyses of the responses resulted in evidence for the content and construct validity of the retained items. However, the scope of that study did not allow for extensive examination of individual item characteristics, group analyses of participants, or the provision of testing and scoring materials or raw data, thereby limiting the ability of researchers to administer the test to Spanish-English bilinguals and to score the items with confidence. In this study, we present the in-depth information described above on the basis of further analyses, including (1) online searchable spreadsheets with extensive empirical (e.g., accuracy and name agreeability) and psycholinguistic item statistics; (2) answer sheets and instructions for scoring and interpreting the responses to the Rasch items; (3) tables of alternative correct responses for English and Spanish; (4) ability strata determined for all naming conditions (English and Spanish nouns and verbs); and (5) comparisons of accuracy across proficiency groups (i.e., Spanish dominant, English dominant, and balanced). These data indicate that the Rasch items from An Object and Action Naming Battery are valid and sensitive for the evaluation of naming in young Spanish-English bilingual adults. Additional information based on participant responses for all of the items on the battery can provide researchers with valuable information to aid in stimulus development and response interpretation for experimental studies in this population.

  17. Energy efficiency action plan. Policy action plan for promotion of energy efficiency in the Czech Republic to 2010

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-08-01

    Energy efficiency and renewable energy production contribute to the three major goals of the national energy policy of the Czech Republic: overall competitiveness, security of supply and environmental protection. Therefore, the Czech government aims to promote these two sustainable options. The Energy Policy White Paper, which is being developed at the time of writing (June 1999), will provide the general framework for the future role of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the Czech Republic. In addition, it is necessary to develop specific policies. The National Energy Efficiency Study aimed to support the Czech government in the formulation of energy efficiency and renewable energy policy. The National Energy Efficiency Study has resulted in the following documents: (1) The Energy Efficiency Action Plan focuses on promotion of energy efficiency in end-use (this report); The Renewable Energy Action Plan (separate report; ECN-C--99-064) deals with policy on promotion of renewable energy production. These two Action Plans provide policy makers in the Czech government with essential information on potentials, targets, budgets and recommended policy instruments. The core of the Action Plans is the list of concrete policy actions, ready for implementation; and (2) The National Energy Efficiency Study NEES (separate report; ECN-C--99-063). This report is the background document to the two Action Plans. It contains detailed information on options and measures, potentials, barriers and policy instruments for energy efficiency and renewables. The main part is a detailed outline for a new energy efficiency and renewable policy. Also, it includes recommendations for financing schemes to overcome the investment constraints in the Czech Republic. Finally, a list of concrete projects is included to support project identification

  18. Renewable energy action plan. Policy action plan for promotion of renewable energy in the Czech Republic to 2010

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-08-01

    Energy efficiency and renewable energy production contribute to the three major goals of the national energy policy of the Czech Republic: overall competitiveness, security of supply; and environmental protection. Therefore, the Czech government promotes these two sustainable options. The Energy Policy White Paper, which is being developed at the time of writing (June 1999), will provide the general framework for the future role of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the Czech Republic. However, in addition, it is necessary to develop specific policies. The National Energy Efficiency Study aimed to support the Czech government in the formula tion of energy efficiency and renewable energy policy. The National Energy Efficiency Study has resulted in the following documents: (1) The Renewable Energy Action Plan (this report) addresses renewable energy production. The Energy Efficiency Action Plan focuses on the promotion of energy efficiency in end use (separate report; ECN-C--99-065). These two Action Plans provide policy makers in the Czech government with information on potentials, targets, budgets and recommended policy instruments. The core of the Action Plans is the list of concrete policy actions, ready for implementation; (2) The National Energy Efficiency Study NEES (separate report; ECN-C--99-063). This report is the background document to the two Action Plans. It contains detailed information on options and measures, potentials, barriers and policy instruments for energy efficiency and renewables. The main part is a detailed outline for a new energy efficiency and renewable policy. Also, it includes recommendations for financing schemes to overcome the invest ment constraints in the Czech Republic. Finally, a list of concrete projects is included to support project identification

  19. Simultaneous radiochemotherapy in cervical cancer: recommendations for chemotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunst, J.; Haensgen, G.

    2001-01-01

    Background: Simultaneous radiochemotherapy has recently been demonstrated to be superior to radiation alone in the treatment of cervical cancer. The objective of this article is to summarize the data of major randomized trials and to derive recommendations for daily clinical practice. Materials and Methods: We have analyzed the data from seven randomized trials in the recent literature in which radiotherapy alone as standard treatment has been compared to simultaneous radiochemotherapy. Four trials used cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens, 5-FU, mitomycin C and epirubicin were used each in one trial. Results: All trials demonstrated some improvement in survival which was significant in the studies with cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens. The survival benefit resulted mainly from an improvement in local control whereas chemotherapy had only a small and insignificant effect on distant metastases. Thus, the main action of chemotherapy is ''radiosensitization''. Cisplatin as single drug yielded comparable results as compared to combined regimens although the cisplatin dose was lower in the studies with combination chemotherapy. For the definitive treatment of locally advanced cancers, monotherapy with cisplatin can be recommended. Mitomycin C offers an attractive alternative to cisplatin in patients with contraindications for cisplatin. For postoperative radiochemotherapy, a combination of cisplatin/5-FU should be used because data with cisplatin alone are lacking so far. Simultaneous radiochemotherapy should also be considered for the curative treatment of local recurrences. Conclusions: The addition of simultaneous chemotherapy to radiotherapy is indicated in the vast majority of patients with cervical cancers who are treated with curative intent. (orig.) [de

  20. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 370: T-4 Atmospheric Test Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2009-05-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 370, T-4 Atmospheric Test Site, located in Area 4 at the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Corrective Action Unit 370 is comprised of Corrective Action Site (CAS) 04-23-01, Atmospheric Test Site T-4. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 370 due to the implementation of the corrective action of closure in place with administrative controls. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from June 25, 2008, through April 2, 2009, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 370: T-4 Atmospheric Test Site and Record of Technical Change No. 1.

  1. Walking on a user similarity network towards personalized recommendations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingxin Gan

    Full Text Available Personalized recommender systems have been receiving more and more attention in addressing the serious problem of information overload accompanying the rapid evolution of the world-wide-web. Although traditional collaborative filtering approaches based on similarities between users have achieved remarkable success, it has been shown that the existence of popular objects may adversely influence the correct scoring of candidate objects, which lead to unreasonable recommendation results. Meanwhile, recent advances have demonstrated that approaches based on diffusion and random walk processes exhibit superior performance over collaborative filtering methods in both the recommendation accuracy and diversity. Building on these results, we adopt three strategies (power-law adjustment, nearest neighbor, and threshold filtration to adjust a user similarity network from user similarity scores calculated on historical data, and then propose a random walk with restart model on the constructed network to achieve personalized recommendations. We perform cross-validation experiments on two real data sets (MovieLens and Netflix and compare the performance of our method against the existing state-of-the-art methods. Results show that our method outperforms existing methods in not only recommendation accuracy and diversity, but also retrieval performance.

  2. Walking on a user similarity network towards personalized recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gan, Mingxin

    2014-01-01

    Personalized recommender systems have been receiving more and more attention in addressing the serious problem of information overload accompanying the rapid evolution of the world-wide-web. Although traditional collaborative filtering approaches based on similarities between users have achieved remarkable success, it has been shown that the existence of popular objects may adversely influence the correct scoring of candidate objects, which lead to unreasonable recommendation results. Meanwhile, recent advances have demonstrated that approaches based on diffusion and random walk processes exhibit superior performance over collaborative filtering methods in both the recommendation accuracy and diversity. Building on these results, we adopt three strategies (power-law adjustment, nearest neighbor, and threshold filtration) to adjust a user similarity network from user similarity scores calculated on historical data, and then propose a random walk with restart model on the constructed network to achieve personalized recommendations. We perform cross-validation experiments on two real data sets (MovieLens and Netflix) and compare the performance of our method against the existing state-of-the-art methods. Results show that our method outperforms existing methods in not only recommendation accuracy and diversity, but also retrieval performance.

  3. Egocentric Temporal Action Proposals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao Huang; Weiqiang Wang; Shengfeng He; Lau, Rynson W H

    2018-02-01

    We present an approach to localize generic actions in egocentric videos, called temporal action proposals (TAPs), for accelerating the action recognition step. An egocentric TAP refers to a sequence of frames that may contain a generic action performed by the wearer of a head-mounted camera, e.g., taking a knife, spreading jam, pouring milk, or cutting carrots. Inspired by object proposals, this paper aims at generating a small number of TAPs, thereby replacing the popular sliding window strategy, for localizing all action events in the input video. To this end, we first propose to temporally segment the input video into action atoms, which are the smallest units that may contain an action. We then apply a hierarchical clustering algorithm with several egocentric cues to generate TAPs. Finally, we propose two actionness networks to score the likelihood of each TAP containing an action. The top ranked candidates are returned as output TAPs. Experimental results show that the proposed TAP detection framework performs significantly better than relevant approaches for egocentric action detection.

  4. The Evaluator's Role in Recommending Program Closure: A Model for Decision Making and Professional Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eddy, Rebecca M.; Berry, Tiffany

    2009-01-01

    Evaluators face challenges when programs consistently fail to meet expectations for performance or improvement and consequently, evaluators may recommend that closing a program is the most prudent course of action. However, the evaluation literature provides little guidance regarding when an evaluator might recommend program closure. Given…

  5. About symmetry of the gravitational action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tentyukov, M.N.

    1991-01-01

    The Einstein equations are investigated by imbedding of the metric tensor to the affinely connected space. It is shown that if using of the Einstein equations, then, despite the action functional invariance being violated with respect to the diffeomorphism group by the background object, a new infinite-parameter invariance appears, i.e., the action invariance can be extended from the group of motions of the background object to any infinite-parameter group. 10 refs

  6. Recommendations for epidemiological studies on COPD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bakke, P S; Rönmark, E; Eagan, T

    2011-01-01

    of the disease and definitions of the risk factors. Few community studies have examined phenotypes of COPD and included other ways of characterising the disease beyond that of spirometry. The objective of the present Task Force report is to present recommendations for the performance of general population...... for planning and performing an epidemiological study on COPD. The main message of the paper is that thorough planning is worth half the study. It is crucial to stick to standardised methods and good quality control during sampling. We recommend collecting biological markers, depending on the specific...

  7. NRC action plan developed as a result of the TMI-2 accident. Volume 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-05-01

    The Action Plan provides a comprehensive and integrated plan for all actions judged necessary by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to correct or improve the regulation and operation of nuclear facilities based on the experience from the accident at the Three Mile Island, Unit 2, nuclear facility and the official studies and investigations of the accident. The tables included in this volume list the recommendations from the various organizations and task forces investigating the accident at Three Mile Island. The tables are annotated to provide easy references to the associated parts of the Action Plan in Volume 1. The tables are also annotated to provide a shorthand indication of how the various recommendations are treated in the Action Plan

  8. Elaboration of methods for assessment of radio-ecological safety state of objects, situated on the territories contaminated with Chernobyl radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saltanov, Eugene; Saltanova, Irina

    2008-01-01

    The main purpose of assessment of radio-ecological state of object is to elaborate recommendations to reduce both radiation dose and negative action of other contaminators on human organism. The basis of objects' ecological safety assessment is considering complex influence of multiple negative factors, such as radioactive contamination, firstly, and air, water, soil and noise pollution, secondly. The objects of assessments are social, industrial, rural enterprises and their production: school buildings and territories, all kinds of recreational institutions, civil buildings, etc. The described method is embodied in a computer program, which enables calculation of integral indicator of contamination and gives information about object's safety state. The results of the work may be proposed to the corresponding supervisor institutions as a prototype of practical guidance to control ecological state of the objects and territories. Particularly, the proposed methods are necessary to determine the order of measures, normally undertaken to deactivate objects, and to provide unified approach to radio-ecological safety assessment of objects, situated in the territories contaminated with Chernobyl radionuclides. (author)

  9. ASSESSMENT FORM - NEW IMPROVEMENT OF ACTIONS: CONCENTRATION AND RESEARCH AREAS / CURRICULUM STRUCTURE / FUNDRAISING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iracema MP Calderon

    Full Text Available Objective: This review aims to develop a critical and current analysis of the basic structure of a Postgraduate program for proposing improvement actions and new evaluation criteria. Method: To examine the items that are areas of concentration (AC, research lines (LP, research projects (PP, curricular structure and fundraising were consulted the Area Document, the 2013 Evaluation Report and the Assessment Sheets of Medicine III programs, evaluated in the 2010-2012 period. Results: Consistency is recommended especially among AC, LP and PP, with genuine link between activities and permanent teachers skills and based on structured curriculum in the education of the student. The Program Proposal interfere, and much, in qualifying a program. The curriculum should provide subsidy to the formation of the researcher, through the core subjects, and development of PP, being the concept of disciplines to support lines and research projects. Fundraise should be set out in research projects and in the CV-Lattes. The area recommended that at least 40-50% of permanent teachers present fundraising and the minimum 20-25% of these teachers to have productivity scholarship PQ / CNPq during the triennium. Conclusion: It is necessary to promote wide discussion and find a consensus denominator for these issues. The actions should contribute to the improvement of evaluation forms and certainly for the qualification of the programs but graduate.

  10. Progress Implementing the IEA 25 Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-01

    Significantly improving energy efficiency remains a priority for all countries. Meetings of G8 leaders and IEA ministers reaffirmed the critical role that improved energy efficiency can play in addressing energy security, environmental and economic challenges. Many IEA publications have also documented the essential role of energy efficiency. For example, the World Energy Outlook and the Energy Technology Perspectives reports identify energy efficiency as the most significant contributor to achieving energy security, economic and environmental goals. Energy efficiency is clearly the “first fuel” in the delivery of energy services in the coming low-carbon energy future. To support governments in their implementation of energy efficiency, the IEA recommended the adoption of specific energy efficiency policy measures to the G8 summits in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The consolidated set of recommendations to these summits is known as the ‘IEA 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations’ because it covers 25 fields of action across seven priority areas: cross-sectoral activity, buildings, appliances, lighting, transport, industry and energy utilities. The IEA estimates that if implemented globally without delay, the proposed actions could save as much as 7.6 giga tonnes (Gt) CO2/year by 2030 – almost 1.5 times the current annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the United States. The IEA 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations were developed to address policy gaps and priorities. This has two implications. First, the recommendations do not cover the full range of energy efficiency policy activity possible. Rather, they focus on priority energy efficiency policies identified by IEA analysis. Second, while IEA analysis, the energy efficiency professional literature and engagement with experts clearly demonstrate the broad benefits of these IEA priority measures, the recommendations are not weighted to reflect the different energy end-use make up of different

  11. Expedited action recommended for spent nuclear fuel at Hanford

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Illman, D.

    1994-01-01

    After six months of study, Westinghouse Hanford Co. has proposed an expedited strategy to deal with spent nuclear fuel stored in rapidly deteriorating basins at the Hanford site in southeastern Washington. The two-phase approach calls for radioactive fuel to be removed from the basins and placed in special canisters, transported by rail to a new vault to be constructed at Hanford,and held there until a processing facility is built. Then the fuel would be stabilized and returned to the vault for interim storage of up to 40 years. The plan calls for waste fuel and sludge to be removed by 2000. More than 2,100 metric tons of spent fuel--nearly 80% of DOE's total spent-fuel inventory nationwide--is housed at the Hanford site in the two obsolete concrete water basins, called K East and K West. A specific location for the storage and processing facilities has not yet been identified, and rounds of environmental impact statements remain to be completed. While a recommended path seems to have been identified, there are miles to go before this spent fuel finally sleeps

  12. Action Categories in Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex Are Organized Along Sociality and Transitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wurm, Moritz F; Caramazza, Alfonso; Lingnau, Angelika

    2017-01-18

    How neural specificity for distinct conceptual knowledge categories arises is central for understanding the organization of semantic memory in the human brain. Although there is a large body of research on the neural processing of distinct object categories, the organization of action categories remains largely unknown. In particular, it is unknown whether different action categories follow a specific topographical organization on the cortical surface analogously to the category-specific organization of object knowledge. Here, we tested whether the neural representation of action knowledge is organized in terms of nonsocial versus social and object-unrelated versus object-related actions (sociality and transitivity, respectively, hereafter). We hypothesized a major distinction of sociality and transitivity along dorsal and ventral lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC), respectively. Using fMRI-based multivoxel pattern analysis, we identified neural representations of action information associated with sociality and transitivity in bilateral LOTC. Representational similarity analysis revealed a dissociation between dorsal and ventral LOTC. We found that action representations in dorsal LOTC are segregated along features of sociality, whereas action representations in ventral LOTC are segregated along features of transitivity. In addition, representations of sociality and transitivity features were found more anteriorly in LOTC than representations of specific subtypes of actions, suggesting a posterior-anterior gradient from concrete to abstract action features. These findings elucidate how the neural representations of perceptually and conceptually diverse actions are organized in distinct subsystems in the LOTC. The lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) is critically involved in the recognition of objects and actions, but our knowledge about the underlying organizing principles is limited. Here, we discovered a dorsal-ventral distinction of actions in LOTC

  13. Therapeutic actions for the compensation on postural changes in athletes of Race walking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annia Gómez Valdés

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The research that is presented refers to the importance of having a control on the posture alterations that can be appreciated in athletes of sport march (12-15 years old in the sport formation school “Ormani Arenado", Pinar del Río; especially according to the age of these walkers. Its objective is aimed at proposing therapeutic actions for the compensation of the posture alterations, treated from planning physical preparation, based on indications as the positions and convenient movements, treatment goals and exercises for each deformity; addressing individual characteristics. For the realization of the investigation it was used theoretical, empiric and statistical methods which were facilitated to conclude that the adoption of incorrect postures during the training and the intensive use of the skeletal-muscle and locomotive systems impacts in the occurrence of the posture alterations that they rebound negatively in working of the athletes study object, standing out in them cavus feet, varus knees, lordosis and scoliosis; with the result that it is necessary their compensation and / or correction from the training of the physical preparation; so the application of therapeutic actions proposed to confirm their effectiveness in order to extend the study to other categories is recommended.

  14. Creating Usage Context-Based Object Similarities to Boost Recommender Systems in Technology Enhanced Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niemann, Katja; Wolpers, Martin

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a new way of detecting semantic similarities between learning objects by analysing their usage in web portals. Our approach relies on the usage-based relations between the objects themselves rather then on the content of the learning objects or on the relations between users and learning objects. We then take this new…

  15. A Literature Review on Recommender Systems Algorithms, Techniques and Evaluations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kasra Madadipouya

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available One of the most crucial issues, nowadays, is to provide personalized services to each individual based on their preferences. To achieve this goal, recommender system could be utilized as a tool to help the users in decision-making process offering different items and options. They are utilized to predict and recommend relevant items to end users. In this case an item could be anything such as a document, a location, a movie, an article or even a user (friend suggestion. The main objective of the recommender systems is to suggest items which have great potential to be liked by users. In modern recommender systems, various methods are combined together with the aim of extracting patterns in available datasets. Combination of different algorithms make prediction more convoluted since various parameters should be taken into account in providing recommendations. Recommendations could be personalized or non-personalized. In non-personalized type, selection of the items for a user is based on the number of the times that an item has been visited in the past by other users. However, in the personalized type, the main objective is to provide the best items to the user based on her taste and preferences. Although, in many domains recommender systems gained significant improvements and provide better services for users, it still requires further research to improve accuracy of recommendations in many aspects. In fact, the current available recommender systems are far from the ideal model of the recommender system. This paper reviews state of art in recommender systems algorithms and techniques which is necessary to identify the gaps and improvement areas. In addition to that, we provide possible solutions to overcome shortages and known issues of recommender systems as well as discussing about recommender systems evaluation methods and metrics in details.

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 366: Area 11 Plutonium Valley Dispersion Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2012-09-01

    CAU 366 comprises six corrective action sites (CASs): • 11-08-01, Contaminated Waste Dump #1 • 11-08-02, Contaminated Waste Dump #2 • 11-23-01, Radioactively Contaminated Area A • 11-23-02, Radioactively Contaminated Area B • 11-23-03, Radioactively Contaminated Area C • 11-23-04, Radioactively Contaminated Area D The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of corrective action alternatives (CAA) for the six CASs within CAU 366. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 12, 2011, to May 14, 2012, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 366: Area 11 Plutonium Valley Dispersion Sites.

  17. Reducing Health Inequities in the United States: Insights and Recommendations from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Health Inequities Think Tank Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampson, Uchechukwu K.A.; Kaplan, Robert M.; Cooper, Richard S.; Diez Roux, Ana V.; Marks, James S.; Engelgau, Michael M.; Peprah, Emmanuel; Mishoe, Helena; Boulware, L. Ebony; Felix, Kaytura L.; Califf, Robert M.; Flack, John M.; Cooper, Lisa A.; Gracia, J. Nadine; Henderson, Jeffrey A.; Davidson, Karina W.; Krishnan, Jerry A.; Lewis, Tené T.; Sanchez, Eduardo; Luban, Naomi L.; Vaccarino, Viola; Wong, Winston F.; Wright, Jackson T.; Meyers, David; Ogedegbe, Olugbenga G.; Presley-Cantrell, Letitia; Chambers, David A.; Belis, Deshirée; Bennett, Glen C.; Boyington, Josephine E; Creazzo, Tony L.; de Jesus, Janet M.; Krishnamurti, Chitra; Lowden, Mia R.; Punturieri, Antonello; Shero, Susan T.; Young, Neal S.; Zou, Shimian; Mensah, George A.

    2016-01-01

    The National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a Think Tank meeting to obtain insight and recommendations regarding the objectives and design of the next generation of research aimed at reducing health inequities in the United States. The panel recommended several specific actions, including: 1) Embrace broad and inclusive research themes; 2) Develop research platforms that optimize the ability to conduct informative and innovative research, and promote systems science approaches; 3) Develop networks of collaborators and stakeholders, and launch transformative studies that can serve as benchmarks; 4) Optimize the use of new data sources, platforms, and natural experiments; and 5) develop unique transdisciplinary training programs to build research capacity. Confronting health inequities will require engaging multiple disciplines and sectors (including communities), using systems science, and intervening through combinations of individual, family, provider, health system, and community-targeted approaches. Details of the panel’s remarks and recommendations are provided in this report. PMID:27470459

  18. Simple Ontology of Manipulation Actions based on Hand-Object Relations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wörgötter, Florentin; Aksoy, E. E.; Krüger, Norbert

    2013-01-01

    and time. For this we use as temporal anchor points those moments where two objects (or hand and object) touch or un-touch each other during a manipulation. We show that by this one can define a relatively small tree-like manipulation ontology. We find less than 30 fundamental manipulations. The temporal...... and encoded. Examples of manipulations recognition and execution by a robot based on this representation are given at the end of this study....

  19. Technical assistance to Ohio closure sites; Recommendations toaddress contaminated soils, concrete, and corrective action managementunit/groundwater contamination at Ashtabula, Ohio

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Charoglu, Emily; Eddy-Dilek, Carol; Gombert, Dirk; Hazen, Terry; Johnson, Bob; Looney, Brian; Krstich, Michael A.; Rautman, Chris; Tripp,Julia; Whitmill, Larry

    2002-08-26

    The Ashtabula Environmental Management Project (AEMP) at Department of Energy-Ohio (DOE-OH) requested technical assistance from the EM-50 Lead Lab to aid in defining new cost and time effective approaches in the following problem areas: soils, concrete, and groundwater/Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) at RMIES in Ashtabula, Ohio. Attachment 1 provides the site request for assistance. The technical assistance team assembled for this request is provided in Attachment 2. These individuals reviewed key site information prior to convening with DOE and contractor personnel (RMIES and Earthline) for a three-and-a-half-day meeting to better understand baseline technologies, limitations, and site-specific issues. After listening to presentations about the nature and extent of known contamination, the team broke out into several groups to brainstorm ideas and develop viable solutions. This executive summary details unresolved issues requiring management attention as well as recommendations to address soils, concrete, and groundwater/CAMU. It also provides a summary of additional technical assistance that could be provided to the site. More details are presented in the body of this report.

  20. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 104: Area 7 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2012-10-01

    CAU 104 comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 07-23-03, Atmospheric Test Site T-7C • 07-23-04, Atmospheric Test Site T7-1 • 07-23-05, Atmospheric Test Site • 07-23-06, Atmospheric Test Site T7-5a • 07-23-07, Atmospheric Test Site - Dog (T-S) • 07-23-08, Atmospheric Test Site - Baker (T-S) • 07-23-09, Atmospheric Test Site - Charlie (T-S) • 07-23-10, Atmospheric Test Site - Dixie • 07-23-11, Atmospheric Test Site - Dixie • 07-23-12, Atmospheric Test Site - Charlie (Bus) • 07-23-13, Atmospheric Test Site - Baker (Buster) • 07-23-14, Atmospheric Test Site - Ruth • 07-23-15, Atmospheric Test Site T7-4 • 07-23-16, Atmospheric Test Site B7-b • 07-23-17, Atmospheric Test Site - Climax These 15 CASs include releases from 30 atmospheric tests conducted in the approximately 1 square mile of CAU 104. Because releases associated with the CASs included in this CAU overlap and are not separate and distinguishable, these CASs are addressed jointly at the CAU level. The purpose of this CADD/CAP is to evaluate potential corrective action alternatives (CAAs), provide the rationale for the selection of recommended CAAs, and provide the plan for implementation of the recommended CAA for CAU 104. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 4, 2011, through May 3, 2012, as set forth in the CAU 104 Corrective Action Investigation Plan.

  1. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 417: Central Nevada Test Area Surface, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 417: Central Nevada Test Area Surface, Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Hot Creek Valley in Nye County, Nevada, and consisting of three separate land withdrawal areas (UC-1, UC-3, and UC-4), CAU 417 is comprised of 34 corrective action sites (CASs) including 2 underground storage tanks, 5 septic systems, 8 shaker pad/cuttings disposal areas, 1 decontamination facility pit, 1 burn area, 1 scrap/trash dump, 1 outlier area, 8 housekeeping sites, and 16 mud pits. Four field events were conducted between September 1996 and June 1998 to complete a corrective action investigation indicating that the only contaminant of concern was total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) which was found in 18 of the CASs. A total of 1,028 samples were analyzed. During this investigation, a statistical approach was used to determine which depth intervals or layers inside individual mud pits and shaker pad areas were above the State action levels for the TPH. Other related field sampling activities (i.e., expedited site characterization methods, surface geophysical surveys, direct-push geophysical surveys, direct-push soil sampling, and rotosonic drilling located septic leachfields) were conducted in this four-phase investigation; however, no further contaminants of concern (COCs) were identified. During and after the investigation activities, several of the sites which had surface debris but no COCs were cleaned up as housekeeping sites, two septic tanks were closed in place, and two underground storage tanks were removed. The focus of this CADD was to identify CAAs which would promote the prevention or mitigation of human exposure to surface and subsurface soils with contaminant

  2. Mid-term evaluation of the Climate Change Action Fund: Science, Impacts and Adaptation (SIA) block

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-11-01

    In 1998, the Climate Change Action Fund was established by the Government of Canada. Its budget represented 150 million dollars over a three year period, and was an additional 625 million dollars in the federal budget of February 2000 was allocated for climate change initiatives, of which 150 million dollars were earmarked over a three year period to the Climate Change Action Fund. To provide input for Treasury Board Submissions looking for funding approval in the future, it was necessary to conduct a mid-term evaluation focused on program performance to date. The period covered by the evaluation was September 2000 to the end of January 2001. This report examined the performance of the Science, Impact and Adaptation Block (SIA). Based on a series of interviews with representatives of Block managers, Technical and Executive Policy Committees, successful applicants, unsuccessful applicants and peer reviewers, as well as a review of the documentation maintained by SIA, it addressed the following issues: Block relevance, progress/success to date, and effectiveness in meeting the objectives. It was determined that the objectives displayed relevance to the climate change agenda of the federal government, progress to date was considered satisfactory, and most of the objectives should be met in a timely fashion. A summary of the findings was included in this document along with recommendations pertaining to the findings. 3 tabs., 1 fig

  3. Preventive actions taken by workers after workers' health surveillance: a controlled trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boschman, J. S.; van der Molen, H. F.; Frings-Dresen, M. H. W.; Sluiter, J. K.

    2013-01-01

    To evaluate construction workers' preventive actions and occupational physician's (OPs) recommendations after a job-specific workers' health surveillance (WHS) compared with the currently used generic WHS. After the WHS, the OPs' written recommendations were captured. At the 3-month follow-up, the

  4. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2014-05-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 573 is located in Area 5 of the Nevada National Security Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. CAU 573 is a grouping of sites where there has been a suspected release of contamination associated with non-nuclear experiments and nuclear testing. This document describes the planned investigation of CAU 573, which comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 05-23-02, GMX Alpha Contaminated Area • 05-45-01, Atmospheric Test Site - Hamilton These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives.

  5. New England Energy Congress: a blueprint for energy action. Executive summary and recommendations. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pratt, Robert L.; Mayer, Jean; Buckley, John G.; Connolly, Patrick F.; Spencer, Bailey

    1979-05-01

    The task of the New England Congress deals with reducing the region's dependence on foreign oil and its cost disadvantage compared to the rest of the country. The work of the Congress is summarized. Recommendations address the demand side of the energy equation and then analysis and recommendations address supply options. Reports from the following committees are included: New England Energy Supply; Alternatives; Economic Development Through Alternative Sources of Energy; New England Energy Demand; Conservation; Demand Transportation; Energy Conservation; Residential Energy Package; Regulatory and Institutional Processes; and Energy Economics and Financing.

  6. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 500: Test Cell A Septic System, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 500: Test Cell A Septic System, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Area 25 at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, CAU 500 is comprised of one Corrective Action Site, CAS 25-04-05. This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary for CAU 500. The Corrective Action Decision Document and Closure Report have been combined into one report based on sample data collected during the field investigation performed between February and May 1999, which showed no evidence of soil contamination at this site. The clean closure justification for CAU 500 is based on these results. Analytes detected were evaluated against preliminary action levels (PALs) to determine contaminants of concern (COCs) for CAU 500, and it was determined that the PALs were not exceeded for total volatile organic compounds, total semivolatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, gamma-emitting radionuclides, isotopic uranium, and strontium-90 for any of the soil samples collected. COCs were identified only within the septic tank and distribution box at the CAU. No COCs were identified outside these two areas; therefore, no corrective action was necessary for the soil. Closure activities were performed to address the COCs identified within the septic tank and distribution box. The DOE/NV recommended that neither corrective action nor a corrective action plan was required at CAU 500. Further, no use restrictions were required to be placed on CAU 500, and the septic tank and distribution box have been closed in accordance with all applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the site

  7. 76 FR 78188 - Reconsideration of Letters of Recommendation for Waterfront Facilities Handling LNG and LHG

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-16

    ... disagreement with the Coast Guard's recommendation would submit their own comments and information to the... comments on the actions of Federal employees who enforce, or otherwise determine compliance with, Federal... responsiveness to small business. If you wish to comment on actions by employees of the Coast Guard, call 1-888...

  8. Sustainability and Entrepreneurial Action

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korsgaard, Steffen T.; Anderson, Alistair

    Abstract Objectives - This paper explores how entrepreneurial action can lead to environmental sustainability. It builds on the assumption that the creation of sustainble practices is one of the most important challenges facing the global society, and that entrepreneurial action is a vital......: resource oriented sustainable entrepreneurial action.  Approach - The paper uses a case study approach to build deeper theoretical knowledge of environmentally sustainable entrepreneurship.  Results - The paper identifies and analyses a distinct form of sustainable entrepreneurship -  resource oriented...... entrepreneurship - which uses bricolage in various ways to create sustainable solutions. Implications and value - The concept of resource oriented sustainable entrepreneurship contributes to the theoretical understanding of how entrepreneurial action can support sustainability, Furthermore the case study has...

  9. Competition protection and Philip Kotler’s strategic recommendations

    OpenAIRE

    Fornalczyk, Anna

    2011-01-01

    P. Kotler’s recommendations of modern marketing tell managers how to achieve and maintain a dominant market position. Some of the recommended activities may, however, infringe European and Polish competition law. Objections are not raised by market success achieved as a result of high product quality, good customer care, high market shares, continuous product improvements, new product release, entry onto fast growing markets, and exceeding customer expectations. Competition law...

  10. Action-based mechanisms of attention.

    OpenAIRE

    Tipper, S P; Howard, L A; Houghton, G

    1998-01-01

    Actions, which have effects in the external world, must be spatiotopically represented in the brain. The brain is capable of representing space in many different forms (e.g. retinotopic-, environment-, head- or shoulder-centred), but we maintain that actions are represented in action-centred space, meaning that, at the cellular level, the direction of movement is defined by the activity of cells. In reaching, for example, object location is defined as the direction and distance between the or...

  11. Evaluation of metrics and baselines for tracking greenhouse gas emissions trends: Recommendations for the California climate action registry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Price, Lynn; Murtishaw, Scott; Worrell, Ernst

    2003-06-01

    Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was asked to provide technical assistance to the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) related to the Registry in three areas: (1) assessing the availability and usefulness of industry-specific metrics, (2) evaluating various methods for establishing baselines for calculating GHG emissions reductions related to specific actions taken by Registry participants, and (3) establishing methods for calculating electricity CO2 emission factors. The third area of research was completed in 2002 and is documented in Estimating Carbon Dioxide Emissions Factors for the California Electric Power Sector (Marnay et al., 2002). This report documents our findings related to the first areas of research. For the first area of research, the overall objective was to evaluate the metrics, such as emissions per economic unit or emissions per unit of production that can be used to report GHG emissions trends for potential Registry participants. This research began with an effort to identify methodologies, benchmarking programs, inventories, protocols, and registries that u se industry-specific metrics to track trends in energy use or GHG emissions in order to determine what types of metrics have already been developed. The next step in developing industry-specific metrics was to assess the availability of data needed to determine metric development priorities. Berkeley Lab also determined the relative importance of different potential Registry participant categories in order to asses s the availability of sectoral or industry-specific metrics and then identified industry-specific metrics in use around the world. While a plethora of metrics was identified, no one metric that adequately tracks trends in GHG emissions while maintaining confidentiality of data was identified. As a result of this review, Berkeley Lab recommends the development of a GHG intensity index as a new metric for reporting and tracking GHG emissions trends.Such an index could provide an

  12. The influence of evaluation recommendations on instrumental and conceptual uses: A preliminary analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourgeois, Isabelle; Whynot, Jane

    2018-06-01

    Evaluation recommendations are sometimes included in evaluation reports to highlight specific actions to be taken to improve a program or to make other changes to its operational context. This preliminary study sought to examine evaluation recommendations drawn from 25 evaluation reports published by Canadian federal government departments and agencies, in order to examine the evaluation issues covered and the focus of the recommendations. Our results show that in keeping with policy requirements, the evaluation recommendations focused on program relevance, effectiveness and efficiency and economy. Furthermore, a significant number of recommendations also focused on the implementation of more rigorous performance measurement strategies. The focus of the recommendations did not vary by publication date, recommendation type, and organizational sector. The findings also show that for the most part, the management responses produced as part of the broader evaluation process support the recommendations included in the report and identify specific timelines for implementation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Invariant recognition drives neural representations of action sequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Tacchetti

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Recognizing the actions of others from visual stimuli is a crucial aspect of human perception that allows individuals to respond to social cues. Humans are able to discriminate between similar actions despite transformations, like changes in viewpoint or actor, that substantially alter the visual appearance of a scene. This ability to generalize across complex transformations is a hallmark of human visual intelligence. Advances in understanding action recognition at the neural level have not always translated into precise accounts of the computational principles underlying what representations of action sequences are constructed by human visual cortex. Here we test the hypothesis that invariant action discrimination might fill this gap. Recently, the study of artificial systems for static object perception has produced models, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs, that achieve human level performance in complex discriminative tasks. Within this class, architectures that better support invariant object recognition also produce image representations that better match those implied by human and primate neural data. However, whether these models produce representations of action sequences that support recognition across complex transformations and closely follow neural representations of actions remains unknown. Here we show that spatiotemporal CNNs accurately categorize video stimuli into action classes, and that deliberate model modifications that improve performance on an invariant action recognition task lead to data representations that better match human neural recordings. Our results support our hypothesis that performance on invariant discrimination dictates the neural representations of actions computed in the brain. These results broaden the scope of the invariant recognition framework for understanding visual intelligence from perception of inanimate objects and faces in static images to the study of human perception of action sequences.

  14. ActionScript 3.0 Bible

    CERN Document Server

    Braunstein, Roger

    2010-01-01

    The updated edition on all the latest features and capabilities of ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 10. ActionScript is a popular programming language used primarily for the development of Web sites and software. This update to the successful previous version introduces you to all the exciting new capabilities of ActionScript 3.0. You'll see how ActionScript 3.0 goes beyond its primary use of scripting Flash animations and is now an object-oriented evolution that runs ten times faster than previous versions and can be used in Adobe's new platforms, including Flex and AIR. Hands-on instruction

  15. Primitive Based Action Representation and recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baby, Sanmohan

    The presented work is aimed at designing a system that will model and recognize actions and its interaction with objects. Such a system is aimed at facilitating robot task learning. Activity modeling and recognition is very important for its potential applications in surveillance, human-machine i......The presented work is aimed at designing a system that will model and recognize actions and its interaction with objects. Such a system is aimed at facilitating robot task learning. Activity modeling and recognition is very important for its potential applications in surveillance, human......-machine interface, entertainment, biomechanics etc. Recent developments in neuroscience suggest that all actions are a compositions of smaller units called primitives. Current works based on primitives for action recognition uses a supervised framework for specifying the primitives. We propose a method to extract...... primitives automatically. These primitives are to be used to generate actions based on certain rules for combining. These rules are expressed as a stochastic context free grammar. A model merging approach is adopted to learn a Hidden Markov Model to t the observed data sequences. The states of the HMM...

  16. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 166: Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Strand

    2006-06-01

    Corrective Action Unit 166 is located in Areas 2, 3, 5, and 18 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 166 is comprised of the seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 02-42-01, Cond. Release Storage Yd - North; (2) 02-42-02, Cond. Release Storage Yd - South; (3) 02-99-10, D-38 Storage Area; (4) 03-42-01, Conditional Release Storage Yard; (5) 05-19-02, Contaminated Soil and Drum; (6) 18-01-01, Aboveground Storage Tank; and (7) 18-99-03, Wax Piles/Oil Stain. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on February 28, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 166. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the CAI for CAU 166 includes the following activities: (1) Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. (2) Conduct radiological surveys. (3) Perform field screening. (4) Collect and submit environmental samples for laboratory analysis to determine if

  17. International retrospective cohort study of neural tube defects in relation to folic acid recommendations : are the recommendations working?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Botto, LD; Lisi, A; Robert-Gnansia, E; Erickson, JD; Vollset, SE; Mastroiacovo, P; Botting, B; Cocchi, G; de Vigan, C; de Walle, H; Feijoo, M; Irgens, LM; McDonnell, B; Merlob, P; Ritvanen, A; Scarano, G; Siffel, C; Metneki, J; Stoll, C; Smithells, R; Goujard, J

    2005-01-01

    Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of policies and recommendations on folic acid aimed at reducing the occurrence of neural tube defects. Design Retrospective cohort study of births monitored by birth defect registries. Setting 13 birth defects registries monitoring rates of neural tube defects

  18. Effects of social intention on movement kinematics in cooperative actions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francois eQuesque

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Optimal control models of biological movements are used to account for those internal variables that constrain voluntary goal-directed actions. They however do not take into account external environmental constraints as those associated to social intention. We investigated here the effects of the social context on kinematic characteristics of sequential actions consisting in placing an object on an initial pad (preparatory action before reaching and grasping as fast as possible the object to move it to another location (main action. Reach-to-grasp actions were performed either in an isolated condition or in the presence of a partner (audience effect, located in the near or far space (effect of shared reachable space, and who could intervene on the object in a systematic fashion (effect of social intention effect or not (effect of social uncertainty. Results showed an absence of audience effect but nevertheless an influence of the social context both on the main and the preparatory actions. In particular, a localized effect of shared reachable space was observed on the main action, which was smoother when performed within the reachable space of the partner. Furthermore, a global effect of social uncertainty was observed on both actions with faster and jerkier movements. Finally, social intention affected the preparatory action with higher wrist displacements and slower movements when the object was placed for the partner rather than placed for self-use. Overall, these results demonstrate specific effects of action space, social uncertainty and social intention on the planning of reach-to-grasp actions, in particular on the preparatory action, which was performed with no specific execution constraint. These findings underline the importance of considering the social context in optimal models of action control for human-robot interactions, in particular when focusing on the implementation of motor parameters required to afford intuitive

  19. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 482: Area 15 U15a/e Muckpiles and Ponds Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2009-09-30

    This Corrective Action Decision Document /Closure Report (CADD/CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 482 U15a/e Muckpiles and Ponds. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 482 is comprised of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs) and one adjacent area: CAS 15-06-01, U15e Muckpile; CAS 15-06-02, U15a Muckpile; CAS 15-38-01, Area 15 U15a/e Ponds; and Drainage below the U15a Muckpile. The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure with no further corrective action, by placing use restrictions on the three CASs and the adjacent area of CAU 482. To support this recommendation, a corrective action investigation (CAI) was performed in September 2002. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the Data Quality Objective (DQO) process: (1) Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. (3) Provide sufficient information and data to determine appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 482 dataset from the CAI was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. Tier 2 FALS were determined for the hazardous constituents of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH)-diesel-range organics (DRO) and the radionuclides americium (Am)-241, cesium (Cs)-137, plutonium (Pu)-238, and Pu-239. The Tier 2 FALs were calculated for the radionuclides using site-specific information. The hazardous constituents of TPH-DRO were compared to the PALs

  20. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 482: Area 15 U15a/e Muckpiles and Ponds Nevada Test Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document /Closure Report (CADD/CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 482 U15a/e Muckpiles and Ponds. This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 482 is comprised of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs) and one adjacent area: CAS 15-06-01, U15e Muckpile; CAS 15-06-02, U15a Muckpile; CAS 15-38-01, Area 15 U15a/e Ponds; and Drainage below the U15a Muckpile. The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure with no further corrective action, by placing use restrictions on the three CASs and the adjacent area of CAU 482. To support this recommendation, a corrective action investigation (CAI) was performed in September 2002. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the Data Quality Objective (DQO) process: (1) Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. (2) If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. (3) Provide sufficient information and data to determine appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 482 dataset from the CAI was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. Tier 2 FALS were determined for the hazardous constituents of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH)-diesel-range organics (DRO) and the radionuclides americium (Am)-241, cesium (Cs)-137, plutonium (Pu)-238, and Pu-239. The Tier 2 FALs were calculated for the radionuclides using site-specific information. The hazardous constituents of TPH-DRO were compared to the PALs

  1. Accumulation of the personal action and the hereditary action in the colombian law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alma R. Ariza-Fortich

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This work analyzes the rationale of article 1006 of the Colombian Commercial Code which prohibits the heirs of a passenger killed in an accident, during the execution of a transport contract, from cumulatively exercising the contractual action created by the carrier and the respective action for tort. The article examines the issue of the concurrence of the damage that the person who dies suffers and the damages which are inferred to the heirs by the deceased arising from the death of the person. From this review the author asserts that both damages must be repaid in their totality and in the same judicial process, and that the reasons that once explained the prohibition of accumulation of both actions, have disappeared as a result of accurate precedents in recent case law in this respect. Nevertheless, this affirmation is not valid in relation to the transport contract because express law exists to opposite effect, indeed, the aforementioned article 1006. Therefore, modification of this article is recommended as the prohibition is not reasonable, since the arguments which allow the accumulation of actions for other events are equally applicable to the transport contract.

  2. Use of Action Research in Nursing Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan D. Moch

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of this article is to describe action research in nursing education and to propose a definition of action research for providing guidelines for research proposals and criteria for assessing potential publications for nursing higher education. Methods. The first part of this project involved a search of the literature on action research in nursing higher education from 1994 to 2013. Searches were conducted in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Applying the criteria identified, 80 publications were reviewed. The second part of the project involved a literature review of action research methodology from several disciplines to assist in assessing articles in this review. Results. This article summarizes the nursing higher education literature reviewed and provides processes and content related to four topic areas in nursing higher education. The descriptions assist researchers in learning more about the complexity of both the action research process and the varied outcomes. The literature review of action research in many disciplines along with the review of action research in higher education provided a framework for developing a nursing-education-centric definition of action research. Conclusions. Although guidelines for developing action research and criteria for publication are suggested, continued development of methods for synthesizing action research is recommended.

  3. The effectiveness of breakfast recommendations on weight loss

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dhurandhar, Emily J; Dawson, John; Alcorn, Amy

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Breakfast is associated with lower body weight in observational studies. Public health authorities commonly recommend breakfast consumption to reduce obesity, but the effectiveness of adopting these recommendations for reducing body weight is unknown.OBJECTIVE: We tested the relative...... effectiveness of a recommendation to eat or skip breakfast on weight loss in adults trying to lose weight in a free-living setting. DESIGN: We conducted a multisite, 16-wk, 3-parallel-arm randomized controlled trial in otherwise healthy overweight and obese adults [body mass index (in kg/m(2)) between 25 and 40.......53 ± 1.16, -0.59 ± 1.06, and -0.71 ± 1.17 kg for the control, breakfast, and NB groups, respectively. Self-reported compliance with the recommendation was 93.6% for the breakfast group and 92.4% for the NB group.Conclusions: A recommendation to eat or skip breakfast for weight loss was effective...

  4. IEA policies-G8 recommendations and an afterwards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Onoda, Takao

    2009-01-01

    In response to threats posed to the future supply of energy and to the environment, the G8 leaders, in Gleneagles, UK in 2005, agreed to an initiative called the Gleneagles Plan of Action (GPOA) which addresses climate change, clean energy and sustainable development. In the GPOA, G8 leaders pledged to encourage the development of cleaner, more efficient and lower-emitting vehicles, and to promote their deployment by, among other means, asking the IEA to review existing standards and codes for vehicle efficiency and to identify best practices. In order to properly response to the above-mentioned requests from G8 leaders, the IEA has launched, among other activities, study on policies for 'transforming the way we use energy' focusing on end-use efficiency including the one in transport sector and made a comprehensive response to the GPOA at the 2008 G8 Summit Meeting in Japan with 25 recommendations on energy efficiency. Regarding these recommendations, the G8 leaders have proclaimed, in the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration, that they would maximize implementation of the IEA's 25 recommendations. This paper summarizes the IEA activities in transport sector regarding the GPOA and their findings and recommendations.

  5. Foundation ActionScript 3.0 for Flash and Flex

    CERN Document Server

    Richardson, Darren

    2009-01-01

    In this book, you'll: *Learn the fundamentals of ActionScript 3.0 using both the Flash IDE and Flex *Use ActionScript 3.0's object-oriented features *Manipulate sound and video to produce exciting modern web applications *Work with XML as your data source ActionScript 3.0, the latest version of the Flash Platform's scripting language, offers many new and powerful features. ActionScript is now a full-fledged programming language, with complete object-oriented capabilities, improved event handling, sound and video support, drawing capabilities, support for regular expressions, and much more. Whe

  6. Conflict between object structural and functional affordances in peripersonal space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalénine, Solène; Wamain, Yannick; Decroix, Jérémy; Coello, Yann

    2016-10-01

    Recent studies indicate that competition between conflicting action representations slows down planning of object-directed actions. The present study aims to assess whether similar conflict effects exist during manipulable object perception. Twenty-six young adults performed reach-to-grasp and semantic judgements on conflictual objects (with competing structural and functional gestures) and non-conflictual objects (with similar structural and functional gestures) presented at difference distances in a 3D virtual environment. Results highlight a space-dependent conflict between structural and functional affordances. Perceptual judgments on conflictual objects were slower that perceptual judgments on non-conflictual objects, but only when objects were presented within reach. Findings demonstrate that competition between structural and functional affordances during object perception induces a processing cost, and further show that object position in space can bias affordance competition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Recommendations on the use and design of risk matrices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duijm, Nijs Jan

    2015-01-01

    of the risk matrix. The objective of this paper is to explore these weaknesses, and provide recommendations for the use and design of risk matrices. The paper reviews the few relevant publications and adds some observations of its own in order to emphasize existing recommendations and add some suggestions...... of its own. The recommendations cover a range of issues, among them: the relation between coloring the risk matrix and the definition of risk and major hazard aversion; the qualitative, subjective assessment of likelihood and consequence; the scaling of the discrete likelihood and consequence categories...

  8. Ada developers' supplement to the recommended approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kester, Rush; Landis, Linda

    1993-01-01

    This document is a collection of guidelines for programmers and managers who are responsible for the development of flight dynamics applications in Ada. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the Recommended Approach to Software Development (SEL-81-305), which describes the software development life cycle, its products, reviews, methods, tools, and measures. The Ada Developers' Supplement provides additional detail on such topics as reuse, object-oriented analysis, and object-oriented design.

  9. Quantitative Evaluation of Compliance with Recommendation for Sulfonylurea Dose Co-Administered with DPP-4 Inhibitors in Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Motonobu Sakaguchi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available After the launch of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4, a new oral hypoglycemic drug (OHD, in December 2009, severe hypoglycemia cases were reported in Japan. Although the definite cause was unknown, co-administration with sulfonylureas (SU was suspected as one of the potential risk factors. The Japan Association for Diabetes Education and Care (JADEC released a recommendation in April 2010 to lower the dose of three major SUs (glimepiride, glibenclamide, and gliclazide when adding a DPP-4 inhibitor. To evaluate the effectiveness of this risk minimization action along with labeling changes, dispensing records for 114,263 patients prescribed OHDs between December 2008 and December 2010 were identified in the Nihon-Chouzai pharmacy claims database. The adherence to the recommended dosing of SU co-prescribed with DPP-4 inhibitors increased from 46.3% before to 63.8% after the JADEC recommendation (p < 0.01 by time-series analysis, while no change was found in those for SU monotherapy and SU with other OHD co-prescriptions. The adherence was significantly worse for those receiving a glibenclamide prescription. The JADEC recommendation, along with labeling changes, appeared to have a favorable effect on the risk minimization action in Japan. In these instances, a pharmacy claims database can be a useful tool to evaluate risk minimization actions.

  10. The Kinetics Human Action Video Dataset

    OpenAIRE

    Kay, Will; Carreira, Joao; Simonyan, Karen; Zhang, Brian; Hillier, Chloe; Vijayanarasimhan, Sudheendra; Viola, Fabio; Green, Tim; Back, Trevor; Natsev, Paul; Suleyman, Mustafa; Zisserman, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    We describe the DeepMind Kinetics human action video dataset. The dataset contains 400 human action classes, with at least 400 video clips for each action. Each clip lasts around 10s and is taken from a different YouTube video. The actions are human focussed and cover a broad range of classes including human-object interactions such as playing instruments, as well as human-human interactions such as shaking hands. We describe the statistics of the dataset, how it was collected, and give some ...

  11. Action Localization by Tubelets from Motion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jain, M.; van Gemert, J.; Jégou, H.; Bouthemy, P.; Snoek, C.G.M.

    2014-01-01

    This paper considers the problem of action localization, where the objective is to determine when and where certain actions appear. We introduce a sampling strategy to produce 2D+t sequences of bounding boxes, called tubelets. Compared to state-of-the-art alternatives, this drastically reduces the

  12. Case Factors Affecting Hearing Aid Recommendations by Hearing Care Professionals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gioia, Carmine; Ben-Akiva, Moshe; Jørgensen, Ole

    2015-01-01

    in subjective decision-making as regards the technology level recommendation made by professionals. Purpose: The objective of this study is to gain insight into the decision-making criteria utilized by professionals when recommending HI technology levels to hearing-impaired patients.......Background: Professional recommendations to patients concerning hearing instrument (HI) technology levels are not currently evidence-based. Pre-fitting parameters have not been proven to be the primary indicators for optimal patient outcome with different HI technology levels. This results...

  13. Implementing RDA Data Citation Recommendations: Case Study in South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugo, Wim

    2016-04-01

    SAEON operates a shared research data infrastructure for its own data sets and for clients and end users in the Earth and Environmental Sciences domain. SAEON has a license to issue Digital Object Identifiers via DataCite on behalf of third parties, and have recently concluded development work to make a universal data deposit, description, and DOI minting facility available. This facility will be used to develop a number of end user gateways, including DataCite South Africa (in collaboration with National Research Foundation and addressing all grant-funded research in the country), DIRISA (Data-intensive Research Infrastructure for South Africa - in collaboration with Meraka Institute and Department of Science and Technology), and SASDI (South African Spatial Data Infrastructure). The RDA recently published Data Citation Recommendations [1], and this was used as a basis for specification of Digital Object Identifier implementation, raising two significant challenges: 1. Synchronisation of frequently harvested meta-data sets where version management practice did not align with the RDA recommendations, and 2. Handling sub-sets of and queries on large, continuously updated data sets. In the first case, we have developed a set of tests that determine the logical course of action when discrepancies are found during synchronization, and we have incorporated these into meta-data harvester configurations. Additionally, we have developed a state diagram and attendant workflow for meta-data that includes problem states emanating from DOI management, reporting services for data depositors, and feedback to end users in respect of synchronisation issues. In the second case, in the absence of firm guidelines from DataCite, we are seeking community consensus and feedback on an approach that caches all queries performed and subsets derived from data, and provide these with anchor-style extensions linked to the dataset's original DOI. This allows extended DOIs to resolve to a meta

  14. Performance Objective for Tank Farm Closure Risk Assessments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MANN, F.M.; KNEPP, A.J.; BADDEN, J.

    2003-01-01

    To be meaningful, results from a numeric risk assessment of the consequences of an action must be compared against the standards for such an action. That is, before one disposes of waste or closes a facility with waste, one must show that the disposal or closure action protects the public health and safety and the environment. These standards are called performance objectives. Regulations requiring performing performance assessments, (whether federal ones like the Department of Energy [DOE] Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management and its implementing guides or Washington State ones like the regulations implementing the Washington Administrative Code [WAC] 173-340 ''Model Toxics Control Act - Cleanup''), usually require that the determination of performance objectives be one of the first steps performed. These performance objectives not only set comparison level for the numeric results, but also define the media, pathways, exposure scenarios (receptors), spatial locations, and times that the performance assessment must consider. Thus, a performance objective consists of a compliance level, place(s) of compliance, and time(s) of compliance. Performance objectives are not the levels that a regulatory agency will enforce in a permit or authorization. Those levels, often called enforcement levels, will be set in the permit or authorization. Rather, performance objectives are those levels against which the results of the numeric simulation will be compared to judge the success of the proposed cleanup or disposal actions. Additional comparison levels may be requested for information purposes, but are not officially part of the decision on the adequacy of the proposed action. To emphasize that the performance objectives discussed in this document are not regulatory performance objectives, the three components of the performance objective will be renamed in this document as assessment standard, point(s) of assessment, and time(s) of assessment. However, whenever

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 417: Central Nevada Test Area Surface, Nevada Appendix D - Corrective Action Investigation Report, Central Nevada Test Area, CAU 417

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 417: Central Nevada Test Area Surface, Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Hot Creek Valley in Nye County, Nevada, and consisting of three separate land withdrawal areas (UC-1, UC-3, and UC-4), CAU 417 is comprised of 34 corrective action sites (CASs) including 2 underground storage tanks, 5 septic systems, 8 shaker pad/cuttings disposal areas, 1 decontamination facility pit, 1 burn area, 1 scrap/trash dump, 1 outlier area, 8 housekeeping sites, and 16 mud pits. Four field events were conducted between September 1996 and June 1998 to complete a corrective action investigation indicating that the only contaminant of concern was total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) which was found in 18 of the CASs. A total of 1,028 samples were analyzed. During this investigation, a statistical approach was used to determine which depth intervals or layers inside individual mud pits and shaker pad areas were above the State action levels for the TPH. Other related field sampling activities (i.e., expedited site characterization methods, surface geophysical surveys, direct-push geophysical surveys, direct-push soil sampling, and rotosonic drilling located septic leachfields) were conducted in this four-phase investigation; however, no further contaminants of concern (COCs) were identified. During and after the investigation activities, several of the sites which had surface debris but no COCs were cleaned up as housekeeping sites, two septic tanks were closed in place, and two underground storage tanks were removed. The focus of this CADD was to identify CAAs which would promote the prevention or mitigation of human exposure to surface and subsurface soils with contaminant

  16. Analyzing Recommendations Interactions in Clinical Guidelines : Impact of action type hierarchies and causation beliefs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Carretta Zamborlini, Veruska; Da Silveira, Marcos; Pruski, Cedric; ten Teije, Annette; van Harmelen, Frank

    2015-01-01

    Accounting for patients with multiple health conditions is a complex task that requires analysing potential interactions among recommendations meant to address each condition. Although some approaches have been proposed to address this issue, important features still require more investigation, such

  17. The ICRP 2007 recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Streffer, C.

    2007-01-01

    The last comprehensive International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommendations have been published in 1991(1). Since that time new data in physics and biology that are relevant for radiological protection have appeared in the scientific literature. Also, the general thinking about safety standards at the workplace as well as for the protection of the public has developed. Thus, a review of the recommendations is needed. However, as the present standards have worked well, these new recommendations should build on the present ones. Only a process of further development should take place allowing for the following key points: - new biological and physical information and trends in the setting of safety standards; - improvement in the presentation of the recommendations; as much stability in the recommendations as is consistent with the new information and environmental aspects will be included. The fundamental principles of radiological protection will remain the same as they have been described in ICRP publication 60(1): Justification: Actions involving new exposures or changes in exposures of individuals have to be justified in advance. A positive net benefit must result. Optimisation: Exposures should be as low as reasonably achievable and should be optimised in relation to with dose constraints. Dose limits: The values will not to be changed from Publication 60. Dose constraints: Development of the concept proposed in Publication 60 will be explained. The ICRP Committees have prepared foundation documents in the fields for which they are responsible and their members have the corresponding expertise. These foundation documents will support the decisions and explain the various statements of the Main Commission in a broader sense. Some of them will be published as Annexes to the recommendations (Annex A: Biological and Epidemiological Information on Health Risks Attributable to Ionising Radiation; Annex B: Quantities used in Radiological

  18. The ICRP 2007 recommendations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Streffer, C. [Chairman of ICRP Committee 2, Institute of Science and Ethics, University Duisburg-Essen, 45117 Essen (Germany)

    2007-07-01

    The last comprehensive International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommendations have been published in 1991(1). Since that time new data in physics and biology that are relevant for radiological protection have appeared in the scientific literature. Also, the general thinking about safety standards at the workplace as well as for the protection of the public has developed. Thus, a review of the recommendations is needed. However, as the present standards have worked well, these new recommendations should build on the present ones. Only a process of further development should take place allowing for the following key points: - new biological and physical information and trends in the setting of safety standards; - improvement in the presentation of the recommendations; as much stability in the recommendations as is consistent with the new information and environmental aspects will be included. The fundamental principles of radiological protection will remain the same as they have been described in ICRP publication 60(1): Justification: Actions involving new exposures or changes in exposures of individuals have to be justified in advance. A positive net benefit must result. Optimisation: Exposures should be as low as reasonably achievable and should be optimised in relation to with dose constraints. Dose limits: The values will not to be changed from Publication 60. Dose constraints: Development of the concept proposed in Publication 60 will be explained. The ICRP Committees have prepared foundation documents in the fields for which they are responsible and their members have the corresponding expertise. These foundation documents will support the decisions and explain the various statements of the Main Commission in a broader sense. Some of them will be published as Annexes to the recommendations (Annex A: Biological and Epidemiological Information on Health Risks Attributable to Ionising Radiation; Annex B: Quantities used in Radiological

  19. Protective action guides for accidentally contaminated water and food. Proceedings of a workshop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-09-01

    The Workshop on Protective Action Guides for Accidentally Contaminated Water and Food was designed for those who have experience in planning for and responding to ingestion exposure scenarios. The objective was to identify and discuss all of the issues, problems, relevant experiences, and research that should be considered in the development of Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for water and food. The workshop proved to be very helpful for those responsible for developing PAGs for the ingestion exposure pathways. This workshop addressed the roles and responsibilities for the development of PAGs. EPA has the responsibility for development of PAGs, except in the case of PAGs for food for which the responsibility is shared with FDA. EPA participated in the development of the recommendations on PAGs for food and animal feed that FDA published in 1982, which are under revision. In the absence of PAGs specifically for water, past practice has been for EPA to provide ad hoc guidance when needed. EPA will be developing guidance for drinking water during the next fiscal year and, therefore, one of the working groups at the workshop was devoted to considering issues related to PAGs for water. It has not yet been determined whether PAGs for drinking water should be separate or included with those for food. These issues were discussed at the workshop and the recommendations included in this proceedings document will be used as resource in the development of PAGs for the ingestion pathway

  20. Protective action guides for accidentally contaminated water and food. Proceedings of a workshop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1989-09-01

    The Workshop on Protective Action Guides for Accidentally Contaminated Water and Food was designed for those who have experience in planning for and responding to ingestion exposure scenarios. The objective was to identify and discuss all of the issues, problems, relevant experiences, and research that should be considered in the development of Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for water and food. The workshop proved to be very helpful for those responsible for developing PAGs for the ingestion exposure pathways. This workshop addressed the roles and responsibilities for the development of PAGs. EPA has the responsibility for development of PAGs, except in the case of PAGs for food for which the responsibility is shared with FDA. EPA participated in the development of the recommendations on PAGs for food and animal feed that FDA published in 1982, which are under revision. In the absence of PAGs specifically for water, past practice has been for EPA to provide ad hoc guidance when needed. EPA will be developing guidance for drinking water during the next fiscal year and, therefore, one of the working groups at the workshop was devoted to considering issues related to PAGs for water. It has not yet been determined whether PAGs for drinking water should be separate or included with those for food. These issues were discussed at the workshop and the recommendations included in this proceedings document will be used as resource in the development of PAGs for the ingestion pathway.

  1. Tubelets : Unsupervised Action Proposals from Spatiotemporal Super-Voxels

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jain, Mihir; van Gemert, J.C.; Jégou, Hervé; Bouthemy, Patrick; Snoek, Cees G.M.

    2017-01-01

    This paper considers the problem of localizing actions in videos as sequences of bounding boxes. The objective is to generate action proposals that are likely to include the action of interest, ideally achieving high recall with few proposals. Our contributions are threefold. First, inspired by

  2. Study on the action guidelines for medical support team for nuclear and radiological emergency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Chang'an; Liu Ying; Geng Xiusheng

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To study the action guidelines for medical support team for nuclear and radiological emergency. Methods: It is based on the experience and lessons learned in the course of meeting the emergencies preparedness and response of nuclear and radiological emergencies in China and abroad with the reference of the relevant reports of International Atomic Energy Agency. Results: Essential requirements and practical recommendations for the roles, responsibilities, emergency preparedness, principles and procedures of medical assistance at the scene, as well as the radiological protection of medical support team were provided. Conclusion: The document mentioned above can be applied to direct the establishment, effective medical preparedness and response of the medical support team for nuclear and radiological emergency. (authors)

  3. protection against radon at home and at work; recommendations of the Israel national advisory committee on radiation protection and their practical implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlesinger, T.; Margaliot, M.

    1997-01-01

    Existing legislation in Israel related to protection of the worker and the public from ionizing radiation excludes certain natural radiation sources from control by national authorities. Among these sources are radon and radon daughters. Employers are not required, by law to intervene in order to reduce radon levels in the working place, even when these levels exceed the action levels recommended by the ICRP or by the International Basic Safety Standards for protection Against Ionizing radiation. The Israel National Advisory Committee for radiation protection - INACRP (appointed by the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Health) recommended, in 1993, to rectify this lack and proposed that the above two ministers issue guidelines for protecting the public and the worker from hazards of radon and radon daughters. The proposed guidelines are based on recent 1993 recommendations of the ICRP related to Radon at Home and at Work.The guidelines establish activity concentration levels, in homes and at work premises, above which remedial actions are recommended, and specify a time-table for these actions, depending on the extent to which the activity concentrations in the building exceed the remedial action levels specified. (authors)

  4. An analysis of root cause identification and continuous quality improvement in public health H1N1 after-action reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singleton, Christa-Marie; Debastiani, Summer; Rose, Dale; Kahn, Emily B

    2014-01-01

    To identify the extent to which the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program's (HSEEP) After Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) template was followed by public health entities and facilitated the identification of detailed corrective actions and continuous improvement. Data were drawn from the US H1N1 Public Health Emergency Response (PHER) federal grant awardees (n = 62). After action report/improvement plan text was examined to identify the presence of AAR/IP HSEEP elements and characterized as "minimally complete," "partially complete," or "complete." Corrective actions (CA) and recommendations within the IP focusing on performance deficits were coded as specific, measurable, and time-bound, and whether they were associated with a problem that met root cause criteria and whether the CA/recommendation was intended to address or fix the root cause. A total of 2619 CA/recommendations were identified. More than half (n = 1480, 57%) addressed root causes. Corrective actions/recommendations associated with complete AARs more frequently addressed root cause (58% vs 51%, χ = 9.1, P < 0.003) and were more specific (34% vs 23%, χ = 32.3, P < 0.0001), measurable (30% vs 18%, χ = 37.9, P < 0.0001), and time-bound (38% vs 15%, χ = 115.5, P < 0.0001) than partially complete AARs. The same pattern was not observed with completeness of IPs. Corrective actions and recommendations were similarly specific and measurable. Recommendations significantly addressed root cause more than CAs. Our analysis indicates a possible lack of awardee distinction between CA and recommendations in AARs. As HSEEP adapts to align with the 2011 National Preparedness Goal and National Preparedness System, future HSEEP documents should emphasize the importance of root cause analysis as a required element within AAR documents and templates in the exercise and real incident environment, as well as the need for specific and measurable CAs.

  5. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 224: Decon Pad and Septic Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David A. Strand

    2005-05-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 224, Decon Pad and Septic Systems, in Areas 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, and 23 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 224 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 02-04-01, Septic Tank (Buried); (2) 03-05-01, Leachfield; (3) 05-04-01, Septic Tanks (4)/Discharge Area; (4) 06-03-01, Sewage Lagoons (3); (5) 06-05-01, Leachfield; (6) 06-17-04, Decon Pad and Wastewater Catch; (7) 06-23-01, Decon Pad Discharge Piping; (8) 11-04-01, Sewage Lagoon; and (9) 23-05-02, Leachfield. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for the nine CASs within CAU 224. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from August 10, 2004, through January 18, 2005, as set forth in the CAU 224 Corrective Action Investigation Plan.

  6. Hamiltonian dynamics of extended objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capovilla, R.; Guven, J.; Rojas, E.

    2004-12-01

    We consider relativistic extended objects described by a reparametrization-invariant local action that depends on the extrinsic curvature of the worldvolume swept out by the object as it evolves. We provide a Hamiltonian formulation of the dynamics of such higher derivative models which is motivated by the ADM formulation of general relativity. The canonical momenta are identified by looking at boundary behaviour under small deformations of the action; the relationship between the momentum conjugate to the embedding functions and the conserved momentum density is established. The canonical Hamiltonian is constructed explicitly; the constraints on the phase space, both primary and secondary, are identified and the role they play in the theory is described. The multipliers implementing the primary constraints are identified in terms of the ADM lapse and shift variables and Hamilton's equations are shown to be consistent with the Euler Lagrange equations.

  7. Hamiltonian dynamics of extended objects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Capovilla, R; Guven, J; Rojas, E

    2004-01-01

    We consider relativistic extended objects described by a reparametrization-invariant local action that depends on the extrinsic curvature of the worldvolume swept out by the object as it evolves. We provide a Hamiltonian formulation of the dynamics of such higher derivative models which is motivated by the ADM formulation of general relativity. The canonical momenta are identified by looking at boundary behaviour under small deformations of the action; the relationship between the momentum conjugate to the embedding functions and the conserved momentum density is established. The canonical Hamiltonian is constructed explicitly; the constraints on the phase space, both primary and secondary, are identified and the role they play in the theory is described. The multipliers implementing the primary constraints are identified in terms of the ADM lapse and shift variables and Hamilton's equations are shown to be consistent with the Euler-Lagrange equations

  8. Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2017-03-01

    This Closure Report (CR) presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada. CAU 573 comprises the two corrective action sites (CASs): 05-23-02-GMX Alpha Contaminated Are-Closure in Place and 05-45-01-Atmospheric Test Site - Hamilton- Clean Closure. The purpose of this CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 573 based on the implementation of the corrective actions. Corrective action activities were performed at Hamilton from May 25 through June 30, 2016; and at GMX from May 25 to October 27, 2016, as set forth in the Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for Corrective Action Unit 573: Alpha Contaminated Sites; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices. Verification sample results were evaluated against data quality objective criteria developed by stakeholders that included representatives from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office (NNSA/NFO) during the corrective action alternative (CAA) meeting held on November 24, 2015. Radiological doses exceeding the final action level were assumed to be present within the high contamination areas associated with CAS 05-23-02, thus requiring corrective action. It was also assumed that radionuclides were present at levels that require corrective action within the soil/debris pile associated with CAS 05-45-01. During the CAU 573 CAA meeting, the CAA of closure in place with a use restriction (UR) was selected by the stakeholders as the preferred corrective action of the high contamination areas at CAS 05-23-02 (GMX), which contain high levels of removable contamination; and the CAA of clean closure was selected by the

  9. European food and nutrition policies in action. Finland's food and nutrition policy: progress, problems and recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milio, N

    1998-01-01

    Some progress has clearly been made in several aspects of Finland's food and nutrition policy: access to nutrition information and education, improvements in mass catering, increased availability of healthier food products, and pricing and quality requirements favourable to a healthy diet. Finnish eating patterns have improved in relation to some recommended foods and macronutrients. The structural changes in farm and food production are largely the result of new political and economic realities both in Finland and internationally, resulting in the Government focusing on fiscal efficiency, decentralization and a more competitive, consumer-oriented market. This new environment is creating pressures to reduce surplus animal fat production and to expand markets in new foods for Finns and other Europeans who, for reasons of demography, health or working or living arrangements, demand new and sometimes healthier foods. Within this context, some health leaders have been able to make and work for proposals that are consistent both with political and economic imperatives and with health needs. Although the populations health status is improving and in some respects is exemplary, diet-related death and illness rates and risk factors (such as serum cholesterol and obesity) are high and their decline, along with some healthy changes in eating patterns, has slowed since the mid-1980s (ironically, since the adoption of the nutrition policy). The more slowly improvements occur, the higher will be the social and economic costs. Major problems in policy implementation exist. Although much has been done in research and demonstration and in the development of national guidelines (in public catering and labeling, for example) there is an apparent lag in translating such soft technology into action and monitoring its implementation in order to develop corrective measures at the operational level. This problem may increase with decentralized budget control and a less regulated market

  10. Using Relational Histogram Features and Action Labelled Data to Learn Preconditions for Means-End Actions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fichtl, Severin; Kraft, Dirk; Krüger, Norbert

    2015-01-01

    The outcome of many complex manipulation ac- tions is contingent on the spatial relationships among pairs of objects, e.g. if an object is “inside” or “on top” of another. Recognising these spatial relationships requires a vision system which can extract appropriate features from the vision input...... that capture and represent the spatial relationships in an easily accessible way. We are interested in learning to predict the success of “means end” actions that manipulate two objects at once, from exploratory actions, and the observed sensorimo- tor contingencies. In this paper, we use relational histogram...... features and illustrate their effect on learning to predict a variety of “means end” actions’ outcomes. The results show that our vision features can make the learning problem significantly easier, leading to increased learning rates and higher maximum performance. This work is in particular important...

  11. A Praxeological Approach to Intentional Action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Futerman Alan G.

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The concept of Intentional Action is at the core of Praxeology, as developed by the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. Under this unique approach, defined as the science of human action and designed to study the field of the social sciences, Mises create “action axiom”: the contention that every acting man more satisfactory state of affairs for a Austrian scholar is able to derive the fundament human action; such as value, scale of value, scarcity, abundance, profit, loss, uncertainty and causality, among others. This paper intends to present the praxeological perspective on intentional action and its epistemologic implications; it also attempts to answer objections to this thesis.

  12. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 542: Disposal Holes, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laura Pastor

    2006-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 542 is located in Areas 3, 8, 9, and 20 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 542 is comprised of eight corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 03-20-07, ''UD-3a Disposal Hole''; (2) 03-20-09, ''UD-3b Disposal Hole''; (3) 03-20-10, ''UD-3c Disposal Hole''; (4) 03-20-11, ''UD-3d Disposal Hole''; (5) 06-20-03, ''UD-6 and UD-6s Disposal Holes''; (6) 08-20-01, ''U-8d PS No.1A Injection Well Surface Release''; (7) 09-20-03, ''U-9itsy30 PS No.1A Injection Well Surface Release''; and (8) 20-20-02, ''U-20av PS No.1A Injection Well Surface Release''. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on January 30, 2006, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and Bechtel Nevada. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 542. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the CAI for CAU 542 includes the following activities: (1) Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. (2) Conduct radiological surveys. (3) Conduct geophysical surveys to

  13. Incorporating gender, equity, and human rights into the action planning process: moving from rhetoric to action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjeev Sridharan

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Mainstreaming of gender, equity, and human rights (GER is an important focus of the World Health Organization (WHO and other UN organizations. This paper explores the role of action plans in mainstreaming GER. This paper is informed by a theory-driven evaluation lens. Design: A theory of change framework explored the following seven dimensions of how action plans can implement mainstreaming of GER: awareness of the foundations of GER; understanding of context; planning to impact GER; implementation for GER; monitoring, evaluation, and learning; planning for sustainability; agenda setting and buy-in. The seven dimensions were used to analyze the action plans. Reviewers also explored innovations within each of the action plans for the seven dimensions. Results: GER mainstreaming is more prominent in the foundation, background, and planning components of the plan but becomes less so along the theory of change including implementation; monitoring and evaluation; sustainability; and agenda setting and buy-in. Conclusions: Our analysis demonstrates that much more can be done to incorporate GER considerations into the action planning process. Nine specific recommendations are identified for WHO and other organizations. A theory-driven approach as described in the paper is potentially helpful for developing clarity by which action plans can help with mainstreaming GER considerations.

  14. Human fMRI reveals that delayed action re-recruits visual perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singhal, Anthony; Monaco, Simona; Kaufman, Liam D; Culham, Jody C

    2013-01-01

    Behavioral and neuropsychological research suggests that delayed actions rely on different neural substrates than immediate actions; however, the specific brain areas implicated in the two types of actions remain unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure human brain activation during delayed grasping and reaching. Specifically, we examined activation during visual stimulation and action execution separated by a 18-s delay interval in which subjects had to remember an intended action toward the remembered object. The long delay interval enabled us to unambiguously distinguish visual, memory-related, and action responses. Most strikingly, we observed reactivation of the lateral occipital complex (LOC), a ventral-stream area implicated in visual object recognition, and early visual cortex (EVC) at the time of action. Importantly this reactivation was observed even though participants remained in complete darkness with no visual stimulation at the time of the action. Moreover, within EVC, higher activation was observed for grasping than reaching during both vision and action execution. Areas in the dorsal visual stream were activated during action execution as expected and, for some, also during vision. Several areas, including the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS), dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), primary motor cortex (M1) and the supplementary motor area (SMA), showed sustained activation during the delay phase. We propose that during delayed actions, dorsal-stream areas plan and maintain coarse action goals; however, at the time of execution, motor programming requires re-recruitment of detailed visual information about the object through reactivation of (1) ventral-stream areas involved in object perception and (2) early visual areas that contain richly detailed visual representations, particularly for grasping.

  15. Human fMRI reveals that delayed action re-recruits visual perception.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Singhal

    Full Text Available Behavioral and neuropsychological research suggests that delayed actions rely on different neural substrates than immediate actions; however, the specific brain areas implicated in the two types of actions remain unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to measure human brain activation during delayed grasping and reaching. Specifically, we examined activation during visual stimulation and action execution separated by a 18-s delay interval in which subjects had to remember an intended action toward the remembered object. The long delay interval enabled us to unambiguously distinguish visual, memory-related, and action responses. Most strikingly, we observed reactivation of the lateral occipital complex (LOC, a ventral-stream area implicated in visual object recognition, and early visual cortex (EVC at the time of action. Importantly this reactivation was observed even though participants remained in complete darkness with no visual stimulation at the time of the action. Moreover, within EVC, higher activation was observed for grasping than reaching during both vision and action execution. Areas in the dorsal visual stream were activated during action execution as expected and, for some, also during vision. Several areas, including the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS, dorsal premotor cortex (PMd, primary motor cortex (M1 and the supplementary motor area (SMA, showed sustained activation during the delay phase. We propose that during delayed actions, dorsal-stream areas plan and maintain coarse action goals; however, at the time of execution, motor programming requires re-recruitment of detailed visual information about the object through reactivation of (1 ventral-stream areas involved in object perception and (2 early visual areas that contain richly detailed visual representations, particularly for grasping.

  16. Clinical Recommendation: Vulvovaginitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerman, Andrea; Romano, Mary

    2016-12-01

    Vulvovaginitis is a commonly encountered condition among prepubertal and adolescent females. The objective of this report is to provide the latest evidence regarding the diagnosis and management of vulvovaginitis in prepubertal and adolescent females. In this systematic review we used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation evidence system. Vulvovaginal complaints are common in the pediatric and adolescent age group. The patient's age in conjunction with history and associated complaints will guide evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Treatment should include counseling on hygiene and voiding techniques as well as therapy for any specific pathogens identified. Copyright © 2016.

  17. Grasp Preparation Improves Change Detection for Congruent Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Symes, Ed; Tucker, Mike; Ellis, Rob; Vainio, Lari; Ottoboni, Giovanni

    2008-01-01

    A series of experiments provided converging support for the hypothesis that action preparation biases selective attention to action-congruent object features. When visual transients are masked in so-called "change-blindness scenes," viewers are blind to substantial changes between 2 otherwise identical pictures that flick back and forth. The…

  18. Useful and usable alarm systems : recommended properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veland, Oeystein; Kaarstad, Magnhild; Seim, Lars Aage; Foerdestroemmen, Nils T.

    2001-01-01

    This document describes the result of a study on alarm systems conducted by IFE in Halden. The study was initiated by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The objective was to identify and formulate a set of important properties for useful and usable alarm systems. The study is mainly based on review of the latest international recognised guidelines and standards on alarm systems available at the time of writing, with focus on realistic solutions from research and best practice from different industries. In addition, IFE experiences gathered through specification and design of alarm systems and experimental activities in HAMMLAB and bilateral projects, have been utilized where relevant. The document presents a total of 43 recommendations divided into a number of general recommendations and more detailed recommendations on alarm generation, structuring, prioritisation, presentation and handling. (Author)

  19. A fuzzy recommendation system for daily water intake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Dai

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Water is one of the most important constituents of the human body. Daily consumption of water is thus necessary to protect human health. Daily water consumption is related to several factors such as age, ambient temperature, and degree of physical activity. These factors are generally difficult to express with exact numerical values. The main objective of this article is to build a daily water intake recommendation system using fuzzy methods. This system will use age, physical activity, and ambient temperature as the input factors and daily water intake values as the output factor. The reasoning mechanism of the fuzzy system can calculate the recommended value of daily water intake. Finally, the system will compare the actual recommended values with our system to determine the usefulness. The experimental results show that this recommendation system is effective in actual application.

  20. Recommendations for the development of high temperature reactors (HTRs)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bastien, D.; Chevalier, A.; Haverkate, B.R.W.; Hittner, D.; Magill, J.; Proto, G.; Reutler, H.; Taylor, N.; Lensa, W. von

    2001-01-01

    The Concerted Action ''Assessment of safety and innovative technology for an HTR power generating plant (INNOHTR)'' is funded by the European Commission within its 4th RTD Framework Programme. It is a joint project of four European nuclear industry organisations and five European research centres. This paper presents the preliminary conclusions of the INNOHTR Concerted Action. It addresses existing experience in designing, building, and operating HTRs in the areas of fuel, reactor core, and plant systems. It also addresses the need for additional research and development to support forthcoming industrial prototypes as well as for long term advanced system development. Specific areas of development are recommended along with the need for international cooperation. (author)

  1. EULAR evidence-based recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carville, S.F.; Arendt-Nielsen, S.; Bliddal, H.

    2008-01-01

    Objective: To develop evidence-based recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome. Methods: A multidisciplinary task force was formed representing 11 European countries. The design of the study, including search strategy, participants, interventions, outcome measures, data collection...... quality studies were used to base recommendations on. When there was insufficient evidence from the literature, a Delphi process was used to provide basis for recommendation. Results: 146 studies were eligible for the review. 39 pharmacological intervention studies and 59 non-pharmacological were included......-pharmacological''. In many studies sample size was small and the quality of the study was insufficient for strong recommendations to be made. Conclusions: Nine recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome were developed using a systematic review and expert consensus Udgivelsesdato: 2008/4...

  2. Riverland expedited response action proposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-04-01

    The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) recommended that the US Department of Energy (DOE) prepare an expedited response action (ERA) for the Riverland Railroad Car Wash Pit and the 600 Area Army Munitions Burial Site. A non-time-critical ERA proposal includes preparation of an engineering evaluation/cost analysis (EE/CA) section. The EE/CA is a rapid, focused evaluation of available technologies using specific screening factors to assess feasibility, appropriateness, and cost. The ERA proposal will undergo reviews by Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC), DOE, EPA, Ecology, and the public. Ecology and EPA will issue an Action Agreement Memorandum after resolution of all review comments. The, memorandum will authorize remediation activities. The ERA goal is to reduce the potential for any contaminant migration to the soil column, groundwater, and Columbia River. The ERA may be the final remediation of the 100-IU-1 Operable Unit. A No Action Record of Decision may be issued after cleanup completion

  3. The APOSTEL recommendations for reporting quantitative optical coherence tomography studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cruz-Herranz, Andrés; Balk, Lisanne J; Oberwahrenbrock, Timm

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To develop consensus recommendations for reporting of quantitative optical coherence tomography (OCT) study results. METHODS: A panel of experienced OCT researchers (including 11 neurologists, 2 ophthalmologists, and 2 neuroscientists) discussed requirements for performing and reporting...... quantitative analyses of retinal morphology and developed a list of initial recommendations based on experience and previous studies. The list of recommendations was subsequently revised during several meetings of the coordinating group. RESULTS: We provide a 9-point checklist encompassing aspects deemed...... relevant when reporting quantitative OCT studies. The areas covered are study protocol, acquisition device, acquisition settings, scanning protocol, funduscopic imaging, postacquisition data selection, postacquisition data analysis, recommended nomenclature, and statistical analysis. CONCLUSIONS...

  4. Enumeration versus Multiple Object Tracking: The Case of Action Video Game Players

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, C. S.; Bavelier, D.

    2006-01-01

    Here, we demonstrate that action video game play enhances subjects' ability in two tasks thought to indicate the number of items that can be apprehended. Using an enumeration task, in which participants have to determine the number of quickly flashed squares, accuracy measures showed a near ceiling performance for low numerosities and a sharp drop…

  5. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 383: Area E-Tunnel Sites, Nevada Test Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-03-15

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) was prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 383, Area 12 E-Tunnel Sites, which is the joint responsibility of DTRA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO). This CADD/CR is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) agreed to by the State of Nevada, the DOE, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 383 is comprised of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs) and two adjacent areas: • CAS 12-06-06, Muckpile • CAS 12-25-02, Oil Spill • CAS 12-28-02, Radioactive Material • Drainage below the Muckpile • Ponds 1, 2, and 3 The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation to support the recommendation for closure with no further corrective action, by placing use restrictions at the three CASs and two adjacent areas of CAU 383.

  6. Scientific and educational recommender systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guseva, A. I.; Kireev, V. S.; Bochkarev, P. V.; Kuznetsov, I. A.; Philippov, S. A.

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the questions associated with the use of reference systems in the preparation of graduates in physical function. The objective of this research is creation of model of recommender system user from the sphere of science and education. The detailed review of current scientific and social network for scientists and the problem of constructing recommender systems in this area. The result of this study is to research user information model systems. The model is presented in two versions: the full one - in the form of a semantic network, and short - in a relational form. The relational model is the projection in the form of semantic network, taking into account the restrictions on the amount of bonds that characterize the number of information items (research results), which interact with the system user.

  7. Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 543: Liquid Disposal Units, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2006-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 543, Liquid Disposal Units, is listed in Appendix III of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order of 1996. CAU 543 consists of seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Areas 6 and 15 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. CAU 543 consists of the following seven CASs: (sm b ullet) CAS 06-07-01, Decon Pad (sm b ullet) CAS 15-01-03, Aboveground Storage Tank (sm b ullet) CAS 15-04-01, Septic Tank (sm b ullet) CAS 15-05-01, Leachfield (sm b ullet) CAS 15-08-01, Liquid Manure Tank (sm b ullet) CAS 15-23-01, Underground Radioactive Material Area (sm b ullet) CAS 15-23-03, Contaminated Sump, Piping From January 24, 2005 through April 14, 2005, CAU 543 site characterization activities were conducted, and are reported in Appendix A of the CAU 543 Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office [NNSA/NSO], 2005). The recommended corrective action as stated in the approved CADD is No Further Action for five of the CAU 543 CASs, and Closure In Place for the remaining two CASs

  8. Readability, suitability, and characteristics of asthma action plans: examination of factors that may impair understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, H Shonna; Gupta, Ruchi S; Tomopoulos, Suzy; Wolf, Michael S; Mendelsohn, Alan L; Antler, Lauren; Sanchez, Dayana C; Lau, Claudia Hillam; Dreyer, Benard P

    2013-01-01

    Recognition of the complexity of asthma management has led to the development of asthma treatment guidelines that include the recommendation that all pediatric asthma patients receive a written asthma action plan. We assessed the readability, suitability, and characteristics of asthma action plans, elements that contribute to the effectiveness of action plan use, particularly for those with limited literacy. This was a descriptive study of 30 asthma action plans (27 state Department of Health (DOH)-endorsed, 3 national action plans endorsed by 6 states). (1) readability (as assessed by Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, Forcast), (2) suitability (Suitability Assessment of Materials [SAM], adequate: ≥ 0.4; unsuitable: typography (30.0%), learning stimulation/motivation (26.7%), and graphics (13.3%). There were no statistically significant differences between the average grade level or SAM score of state DOH developed action plans and those from or adapted from national organizations. Plans varied with respect to terms used, symptoms included, and recommended actions. Specific improvements in asthma action plans could maximize patient and parent understanding of appropriate asthma management and could particularly benefit individuals with limited literacy skills.

  9. Analysis of the CNSC Staffs Action Plan to Reflect Lessons Learned from Fukushima Accident

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahn, Sangkyu; Yune, Young Gill; Ahn, Hyungjoon; Kim, Byungjik; Lee, Jinho [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    On September 30, 2011, the Task Force completed its review and presented the public with the findings and recommendations in the CNSC Fukushima Task Force Report. The Task Force made 13 recommendations to further enhance the safety of nuclear power plants in Canada. After that, the CNSC established the CNSC Staffs Action Plan based on the Fukushima Task Force's recommendations. In Canada, 19 nuclear power reactor units are currently producing electric power, and all of them are pressurized heavy water-reactor (PHWR) types. Also, considering 2 power reactor units in Korea, Wolsung unit 1 and 2, are the same reactor type, the analysis of the CNSC Staffs Action Plan will be of benefit to determining recommendations of Korea to address lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Therefore, the CNSC Staffs Action Plan was introduced and analyzed in this study. From the results of the above analysis, it is recognized that the strengthening of defense in depth, emergency preparedness and the regulatory oversight of nuclear power plants in Canada were emphasized and much similar to practices of other countries. Public consultation process establishing the CNSC Staffs action plan has been carried out several times, in order to ensure regulatory transparency, by the CNSC staffs, and this is comparable with other countries. It is expected that the detail analysis results of the above plan will be helpful to enhance the safety of domestic operating nuclear power plants.

  10. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 166: Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials, Nevada Test Site, Nevada with Errata Sheet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2007-03-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 166, Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (1996). The corrective action sites (CASs) are located in Areas 2, 3, 5, and 18 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 166 is comprised of the following CASs: • 02-42-01, Cond. Release Storage Yd - North • 02-42-02, Cond. Release Storage Yd - South • 02-99-10, D-38 Storage Area • 03-42-01, Conditional Release Storage Yard • 05-19-02, Contaminated Soil and Drum • 18-01-01, Aboveground Storage Tank • 18-99-03, Wax Piles/Oil Stain The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative (CAA) for the seven CASs within CAU 166. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from July 31, 2006, through February 28, 2007, as set forth in the CAU 166 Corrective Action Investigation Plan (NNSA/NSO, 2006).

  11. HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES OF EU PROGRAMMES AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR EAP MEMBERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Teodora MANOLESCU

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available As the Eastern Partnership (EaP was founded in 2009, between European Union (EU and six countries from Eastern Europe, its main goal was to create adequate conditions for economic integration, social and regional development of the EaP country members. Based on the same principles as the EU was built, international law and fundamental values (e.g. human rights, freedom, democracy, rule of law, sustainable development and also good governance, the EaP was regularly analysed and renewed (once every two years in order to better respond to the needs of Eastern European countries. Even so, while the economic context was especially considered, there are still some actions to be undertaken with regards to socio-cultural factors. Therefore the aim of the paper is to analyse the socio-cultural context of the six Eastern European EaP members (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in order to make recommendations regarding their absorption capacity when integrating the horizontal EU objectives into the funding neighbourhood instruments. Our main research question is: what is the right approach for developing operational funding programmes (individual/bilateral or partnership/multilateral participations for EaP members: is it by maintaining the EU horizontal objective or by adapting these objectives from the beginning considering the socio-cultural context?

  12. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 570: Area 9 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews

    2012-08-01

    CAU 570 comprises the following six corrective action sites (CASs): • 02-23-07, Atmospheric Test Site - Tesla • 09-23-10, Atmospheric Test Site T-9 • 09-23-11, Atmospheric Test Site S-9G • 09-23-14, Atmospheric Test Site - Rushmore • 09-23-15, Eagle Contamination Area • 09-99-01, Atmospheric Test Site B-9A These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on April 30, 2012, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 570. The site investigation process will also be conducted in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices to be applied to this activity. The presence and nature of contamination at CAU 570 will be evaluated based on information collected from a field investigation. Radiological contamination will be evaluated based on a comparison of the total effective dose at sample locations to the dose-based final action level. The total effective dose will be calculated as the total of separate estimates of internal and external dose. Results from the analysis of soil samples will be used to calculate internal radiological

  13. Coarse cluster enhancing collaborative recommendation for social network systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yao-Dong; Cai, Shi-Min; Tang, Ming; Shang, Min-Sheng

    2017-10-01

    Traditional collaborative filtering based recommender systems for social network systems bring very high demands on time complexity due to computing similarities of all pairs of users via resource usages and annotation actions, which thus strongly suppresses recommending speed. In this paper, to overcome this drawback, we propose a novel approach, namely coarse cluster that partitions similar users and associated items at a high speed to enhance user-based collaborative filtering, and then develop a fast collaborative user model for the social tagging systems. The experimental results based on Delicious dataset show that the proposed model is able to dramatically reduce the processing time cost greater than 90 % and relatively improve the accuracy in comparison with the ordinary user-based collaborative filtering, and is robust for the initial parameter. Most importantly, the proposed model can be conveniently extended by introducing more users' information (e.g., profiles) and practically applied for the large-scale social network systems to enhance the recommending speed without accuracy loss.

  14. Hamiltonian dynamics of extended objects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Capovilla, R [Departamento de FIsica, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apdo Postal 14-740, 07000 Mexico, DF (Mexico); Guven, J [School of Theoretical Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 10 Burlington Road, Dublin 4 (Ireland); Rojas, E [Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apdo Postal 70-543, 04510 Mexico, DF (Mexico)

    2004-12-07

    We consider relativistic extended objects described by a reparametrization-invariant local action that depends on the extrinsic curvature of the worldvolume swept out by the object as it evolves. We provide a Hamiltonian formulation of the dynamics of such higher derivative models which is motivated by the ADM formulation of general relativity. The canonical momenta are identified by looking at boundary behaviour under small deformations of the action; the relationship between the momentum conjugate to the embedding functions and the conserved momentum density is established. The canonical Hamiltonian is constructed explicitly; the constraints on the phase space, both primary and secondary, are identified and the role they play in the theory is described. The multipliers implementing the primary constraints are identified in terms of the ADM lapse and shift variables and Hamilton's equations are shown to be consistent with the Euler-Lagrange equations.

  15. The programme and objectives of the Commission of the European Communities concerning radioactive wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orlowski, S.; Cricchio, A.; Girardi, F.

    1984-01-01

    The radioactive waste management programme of the Commission of the European Communities offers a good opportunity for co-operation between Member States. The Commission's principal objectives are: (1) to implement a Community action plan adopted in 1980 for a twelve-year period; (2) to promote research and development; (3) to ensure that radioactive waste management is conducted in conformity with environmental concerns and radiation protection norms. Under the action plan the current situation and prospects for radioactive waste management in the Community were evaluated in 1981-82. Other activities under the plan relate to the promotion of Community co-operation in final disposal and to the institution of a mechanism for Community consultations on criteria for the acceptance of conditioned wastes. The promotion of research and development involves a high degree of co-operation and effort to optimize or select procedures and to establish pilot or demonstration facilities. A budget of US$ 20 million at present supports these activities. With regard to radiation protection, in 1982 the Commission issued a recommendation for an investigation, at Community level, into the impact on all the Member States of operations such as waste treatment, dumping at sea, burial in the ground and storage of radioactive wastes. These objectives suggest that the solutions now under consideration for the management of high-level and long-lived wastes will by the end of this century be introduced alongside those already adopted in practice for low- and medium-level wastes. (author)

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 570: Area 9 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Navarro-Intera, LLC (N-I), Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2013-11-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 570: Area 9 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada. This complies with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management. The purpose of the CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed.

  17. Implementation of a framework for multi-species, multi-objective adaptive management in Delaware Bay

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGowan, Conor P.; Smith, David R.; Nichols, James D.; Lyons, James E.; Sweka, John A.; Kalasz, Kevin; Niles, Lawrence J.; Wong, Richard; Brust, Jeffrey; Davis, Michelle C.; Spear, Braddock

    2015-01-01

    Decision analytic approaches have been widely recommended as well suited to solving disputed and ecologically complex natural resource management problems with multiple objectives and high uncertainty. However, the difference between theory and practice is substantial, as there are very few actual resource management programs that represent formal applications of decision analysis. We applied the process of structured decision making to Atlantic horseshoe crab harvest decisions in the Delaware Bay region to develop a multispecies adaptive management (AM) plan, which is currently being implemented. Horseshoe crab harvest has been a controversial management issue since the late 1990s. A largely unregulated horseshoe crab harvest caused a decline in crab spawning abundance. That decline coincided with a major decline in migratory shorebird populations that consume horseshoe crab eggs on the sandy beaches of Delaware Bay during spring migration. Our approach incorporated multiple stakeholders, including fishery and shorebird conservation advocates, to account for diverse management objectives and varied opinions on ecosystem function. Through consensus building, we devised an objective statement and quantitative objective function to evaluate alternative crab harvest policies. We developed a set of competing ecological models accounting for the leading hypotheses on the interaction between shorebirds and horseshoe crabs. The models were initially weighted based on stakeholder confidence in these hypotheses, but weights will be adjusted based on monitoring and Bayesian model weight updating. These models were used together to predict the effects of management actions on the crab and shorebird populations. Finally, we used a dynamic optimization routine to identify the state dependent optimal harvest policy for horseshoe crabs, given the possible actions, the stated objectives and our competing hypotheses about system function. The AM plan was reviewed, accepted and

  18. Recommended engineering practice to enhance the EMI/EMP immunity of electric power systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wagner, C.L.; Feero, W.E. (Electric Research and Management, Inc., State College, PA (United States))

    1992-12-01

    Many papers and reports have been written on studies conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and investigations by others on the effect of high-altitude electromagnetic pulses (HEMP) on electric power systems. More than 100 of the published unclassified documents were reviewed with the objectives of: 1. summarizing the mitigation methods suggested in the documents and providing a subjective evaluation of each 2. discussing various standards . that presently apply to the effects of HEMP on utility systems and suggesting additions or modifications or new standards where deficiencies appear to exist; and 3. recommending future studies or actions to improve the utility response to HEMP. While all three components of HEMP were mentioned, only the early-time short-duration E[sub 1] pulse and the late-time long-duration E[sub 3] pulse were considered in detail; the E[sub 2] intermediate component was not considered to affect the power system significantly.

  19. Recommended engineering practice to enhance the EMI/EMP immunity of electric power systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wagner, C.L.; Feero, W.E. [Electric Research and Management, Inc., State College, PA (United States)

    1992-12-01

    Many papers and reports have been written on studies conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and investigations by others on the effect of high-altitude electromagnetic pulses (HEMP) on electric power systems. More than 100 of the published unclassified documents were reviewed with the objectives of: 1. summarizing the mitigation methods suggested in the documents and providing a subjective evaluation of each 2. discussing various standards . that presently apply to the effects of HEMP on utility systems and suggesting additions or modifications or new standards where deficiencies appear to exist; and 3. recommending future studies or actions to improve the utility response to HEMP. While all three components of HEMP were mentioned, only the early-time short-duration E{sub 1} pulse and the late-time long-duration E{sub 3} pulse were considered in detail; the E{sub 2} intermediate component was not considered to affect the power system significantly.

  20. Efforts to monitor Global progress on individual and community demand for immunization: Development of definitions and indicators for the Global Vaccine Action Plan Strategic Objective 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hickler, Benjamin; MacDonald, Noni E; Senouci, Kamel; Schuh, Holly B

    2017-06-16

    The Second Strategic Objective of the Global Vaccine Action Plan, "individuals and communities understand the value of vaccines and demand immunization as both their right and responsibility", differs from the other five in that it does not focus on supply-side aspects of immunization programs but rather on public demand for vaccines and immunization services. This commentary summarizes the work (literature review, consultations with experts, and with potential users) and findings of the UNICEF/World Health Organization Strategic Objective 2 informal Working Group on Vaccine Demand, which developed a definition for demand and indicators related to Strategic Objective 2. Demand for vaccines and vaccination is a complex concept that is not external to supply systems but rather encompasses the interaction between human behaviors and system structure and dynamics. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  1. Finding and Recommending Scholarly Articles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurtz, Michael J.; Henneken, Edwin A.

    2014-05-01

    The rate at which scholarly literature is being produced has been increasing at approximately 3.5 percent per year for decades. This means that during a typical 40 year career the amount of new literature produced each year increases by a factor of four. The methods scholars use to discover relevant literature must change. Just like everybody else involved in information discovery, scholars are confronted with information overload. Two decades ago, this discovery process essentially consisted of paging through abstract books, talking to colleagues and librarians, and browsing journals. A time-consuming process, which could even be longer if material had to be shipped from elsewhere. Now much of this discovery process is mediated by online scholarly information systems. All these systems are relatively new, and all are still changing. They all share a common goal: to provide their users with access to the literature relevant to their specific needs. To achieve this each system responds to actions by the user by displaying articles which the system judges relevant to the user's current needs. Recently search systems which use particularly sophisticated methodologies to recommend a few specific papers to the user have been called "recommender systems". These methods are in line with the current use of the term "recommender system" in computer science. We do not adopt this definition, rather we view systems like these as components in a larger whole, which is presented by the scholarly information systems themselves. In what follows we view the recommender system as an aspect of the entire information system; one which combines the massive memory capacities of the machine with the cognitive abilities of the human user to achieve a human-machine synergy.

  2. A Hybrid Recommender System Based on User-Recommender Interaction

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Heng-Ru; Min, Fan; He, Xu; Xu, Yuan-Yuan

    2015-01-01

    Recommender systems are used to make recommendations about products, information, or services for users. Most existing recommender systems implicitly assume one particular type of user behavior. However, they seldom consider user-recommender interactive scenarios in real-world environments. In this paper, we propose a hybrid recommender system based on user-recommender interaction and evaluate its performance with recall and diversity metrics. First, we define the user-recommender interaction...

  3. Leadership development through action learning sets: an evaluation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walia, Surinder; Marks-Maran, Di

    2014-11-01

    This article examines the use of action learning sets in a leadership module delivered by a university in south east England. An evaluation research study was undertaking using survey method to evaluate student engagement with action learning sets, and their value, impact and sustainability. Data were collected through a questionnaire with a mix of Likert-style and open-ended questions and qualitative and quantitative data analysis was undertaken. Findings show that engagement in the action learning sets was very high. Action learning sets also had a positive impact on the development of leadership knowledge and skills and are highly valued by participants. It is likely that they would be sustainable as the majority would recommend action learning to colleagues and would consider taking another module that used action learning sets. When compared to existing literature on action learning, this study offers new insights as there is little empirical literature on student engagement with action learning sets and even less on value and sustainability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. 36 CFR 72.11 - Action program components.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... of the Action Program will be placed on the rehabilitation of deteriorating facilities, it also will describe how the rehabilitation effort is linked to the overall goals, priorities and strategies of the... linked to the objectives, needs, plans, and institutional arrangements of the community. The Action...

  5. PTTSA Action Plan Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-02-01

    The Pre-Tiger Team Self-Assessment (PTTSA) Report identified findings with respect to the way Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, (including Tonopah Test Range (TTR) and Kauai Test Facility (KTF)) conducts its environment, safety, and health (ES ampersand H) activities. It presented Action Plan Requirements (APR) addressing these findings. The purpose of this PTTSA Action Plan Report is to assist in managing these action plan requirements by collecting, prioritizing, and estimating required resources. The specific objectives addressed by this report include: collection of requirements for the resolution of the findings presented in the PTTSA Report; consolidation of proposed Action Plan Requirements into logical Action Plan groupings for efficiency of resolution; categorization of Action Plans according to severity of the hazards represented by the findings; provision of a basis for long-range planning and issues management; documentation of the status of the proposed corrective actions; establishment of traceability of the corrective action to the original problem or issue; and integration of these plans into the existing ES ampersand H structure. The Action Plans in this report are an intermediate step between the identification of a problem or a finding in the PTTSA Report and the execution of the solution. They consist of requirements for solution, proposed actions, and an estimate of the time and (where applicable) resources required to develop the solution. This report is an input to the process of planning, resource commitment, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance of problem resolution. 2 figs

  6. An fMRI study of perception and action in deaf signers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okada, Kayoko; Rogalsky, Corianne; O'Grady, Lucinda; Hanaumi, Leila; Bellugi, Ursula; Corina, David; Hickok, Gregory

    2016-02-01

    Since the discovery of mirror neurons, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the relationship between perception and action, and the role of the human mirror system in language comprehension and production. Two questions have dominated research. One concerns the role of Broca's area in speech perception. The other concerns the role of the motor system more broadly in understanding action-related language. The current study investigates both of these questions in a way that bridges research on language with research on manual actions. We studied the neural basis of observing and executing American Sign Language (ASL) object and action signs. In an fMRI experiment, deaf signers produced signs depicting actions and objects as well as observed/comprehended signs of actions and objects. Different patterns of activation were found for observation and execution although with overlap in Broca's area, providing prima facie support for the claim that the motor system participates in language perception. In contrast, we found no evidence that action related signs differentially involved the motor system compared to object related signs. These findings are discussed in the context of lesion studies of sign language execution and observation. In this broader context, we conclude that the activation in Broca's area during ASL observation is not causally related to sign language understanding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. NEAP - National Environmental Action Plan (Republic of Macedonia)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shnajder-Jakobi, Martin; Anastasovski, Vasil; Gorgievski, Kire.

    1997-01-01

    The Republic of Macedonia, like other Central and East European countries in transition, has started the process of reform towards a market economy. As a part of the economic development program, the Republic of Macedonia is shaping its environmental polices and identifying priority actions to protect human health and the environment and to utilize its natural resources in a sustainable manner. These polices and actions are consistent with the 'Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe' (EAP), the document adopted at the Ministerial Conference in Lucerne in 1993. In meeting the goals towards protecting the environment, The Government of the Republic of Macedonia has prepared the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) with the support of the World Bank group. The Ministry of Urban Planning, Construction and Environment was the key agency involved in the preparation of the NEAP. The NEAP highlights the environmental problems and recommends actions related to policy, institutions and priority investments. (author)

  8. The status of recommendations of the President's Commission on the accident at Three Mile Island: A ten-year review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-03-01

    This report summarizes the status of actions taken by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recommendations made by the Presidential Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island in the 10 years since the accident occurred in March 1979. It also updates NRC's initial response to the Presidential Commission's recommendations contained in ''NRC Views and Analysis of the Recommendations of the President's Commission of the Accident at Three Mile Island'' (NUREG-0632), issued in November 1979. The status of ongoing initiatives for actions not yet complete is also reported for reference purposes. On the basis of its analysis of NRC and the industry, the Presidential Commission found many then-current practices inadequate and in need of improvement. As a result of its recommendations and of guidance from other studies, substantial changes have been made in the 10 years since the accident. This report reflects how, based on Presidential Commission recommendations and continued work, revised practices and standards are now being implemented by NRC and throughout the industry

  9. Towards an energy transition? Which energies for tomorrow and for all, on the territory. Research-action, problematic note - Activity report 2012-2014 - Final report. Citizen recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aubin, Samuel; Lemoult, Bernard; Allagnat, Bernard; Cohu, Sylvie; Gadoin, Emilie; Crochet, Moise; Dothee, Jean-Luc; Gauduchon, Marie-Veronique; Gendre, Nicolas; Musard, Denis; Retiere, Alain; Vacher, Pierre; Vilbert, Christine; Petillon, Xavier; Damerose, Clotilde

    2014-11-01

    This document first presents a project launched on the issue of energy choice for tomorrow for the territory, and more particularly on a shared regional diagnosis and principles for action. A second document reports activities of this research-action project which aimed at making citizen recommendations emerge, and at elaborating an operational territorial tool for energy transition. Then comes the final report of this project. After an introduction which outlines that energy transition is a major stake for the territory, a first chapter discusses which are tomorrow's energies by outlining the climatic emergency, the energy situation at the world level, the perspective of smart cities and communities, national energetic stakes, the role given to citizen, and the perspective of a new relationship to the world and to the nature. The second chapter briefly evokes the perspective for 2050. The next part discusses the societal dimension of energy transition, and examines what could be the engines for change. The next chapter identifies and discusses various debates to be held: on climate situation, on energy resource availability, on human development and on the economic model. The last chapter outlines the role of the territorial scale and of collective dynamics to elaborate and implement scenarios of energy transition

  10. Conclusions and recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-01-01

    The FAO/IAEA/GSF/SIDA Co-ordinated Research Programme on Cereal Grain Protein Improvement by Nuclear Techniques was a follow-up to the FAO/IAEA/GSF Co-ordinated Research Programme on the Use of Nuclear Techniques for Seed Protein Improvement. It was initiated in 1969 and ended in 1981. The objectives of the meeting were to review and evaluate the achievements of the current and previous programmes in order to draw conclusions on the possibility of genetic improvement of cereal grain protein using nuclear techniques, to identify unsolved problems and to discuss and propose possible approaches for their solution. Through reviews and discussions, conclusions and recommendations were made by the participants

  11. A Mobile Ecotourism Recommendations System Using Cars-Context Aware Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yani Nurhadryani

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The requirements to fullfill mobility of ecotourism activities have been urgent to support each traveler with the mobile gadget application. The objective of this research is to develop an application of recommendation system based on online user personalization. This application provided features to recommendation of ecotourism based on profile user and current location, then supplied information about distance and facilities in each ecotourism place. The main of computation worked online which was based on approach called as CARS (Context Aware Recommender Systems algorithm. The result showed that the application framework succeeded to give appropriate recommendations and explaination on a mobile platform both in the form of profile based spatial data and user preferences.

  12. Child overweight - mothers' competence to take action

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brødsgaard, Anne; Wagner, Lis; Peitersen, Birgit

    2011-01-01

    Objective: We investigated mothers' possession and display of action competence to counteract or prevent overweight and eventual obesity in their children. Action competence is defined as a personal resource where the most important aspect is the individual's wish to take action and to believe...... in its benefit. It unfolds within the room for action as experienced by the individual due to action obstacles and action potentials. Methods: In a case-control study, mothers of 111 overweight children (MOC) were compared with mothers of 149 nonoverweight children (MNC). They underwent a semistructured...... interview about action competence, lifestyle, and their 7- to 9-year-old children. Results: Compared to MNC, MOC considered it more important to change habits, both for themselves (p = 0.003) and their children (p

  13. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0 with Errata

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boehlecke, Robert

    2004-11-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S Department of Defense (FFACO, 1996). The NTS is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1). Corrective Action Unit 536 is comprised of a single Corrective Action Site (CAS), 03-44-02, Steam Jenny Discharge, and is located in Area 3 of the NTS (Figure 1-2). The CAU was investigated in accordance with the Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) and Record of Technical Change (ROTC) No. 1 (NNSA/NV, 2003). The CADD provides or references the specific information necessary to support the recommended corrective action alternative selected to complete closure of the site. The CAU 536, Area 3 Release Site, includes the Steam Jenny Discharge (CAS 03-44-02) that was historically used for steam cleaning equipment in the Area 3 Camp. Concerns at this CAS include contaminants commonly associated with steam cleaning operations and Area 3 Camp activities that include total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), unspecified solvents, radionuclides, metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The CAIP for Corrective Action Unit 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (NNSA/NV, 2003), provides additional information relating to the history, planning, and scope of the investigation; therefore, it will not be repeated in this CADD. This CADD identifies potential corrective action alternatives and provides a rationale for the selection of a recommended corrective action alternative for the CAS within CAU 536. The evaluation of corrective action alternatives is based on process knowledge and the results of the investigative activities conducted in accordance with the CAIP (NNSA/NV, 2003) that was approved prior to the start of the

  14. Corrective Action Decision Document, Area 15 Environmental Protection Agency Farm Laboratory Building, Corrective Action Unit No. 95, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-08-18

    This report is the Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) Area 15 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Farm, Laboratory Building (Corrective Action Unit [CAU] No. 95), at the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. The scope of this CADD is to identify and evaluate potential corrective action alternatives for the decommissioning and decontamination (D and D) of the Laboratory Building, which were selected based on the results of investigative activities. Based on this evaluation, a preferred corrective action alternative is recommended. Studies were conducted at the EPA Farm from 1963 to 1981 to determine the animal intake and retention of radionuclides. The main building, the Laboratory Building, has approximately 370 square meters (4,000 square feet) of operational space. Other CAUS at the EPA Farm facility that will be investigated and/or remediated through other environmental restoration subprojects are not included in this CADD, with the exception of housekeeping sites. Associated structures that do not require classification as CAUS are considered in the evaluation of corrective action alternatives for CAU 95.

  15. Corrective Action Decision Document, Area 15 Environmental Protection Agency Farm Laboratory Building, Corrective Action Unit No. 95, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    This report is the Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) Area 15 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Farm, Laboratory Building (Corrective Action Unit [CAU] No. 95), at the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. The scope of this CADD is to identify and evaluate potential corrective action alternatives for the decommissioning and decontamination (D and D) of the Laboratory Building, which were selected based on the results of investigative activities. Based on this evaluation, a preferred corrective action alternative is recommended. Studies were conducted at the EPA Farm from 1963 to 1981 to determine the animal intake and retention of radionuclides. The main building, the Laboratory Building, has approximately 370 square meters (4,000 square feet) of operational space. Other CAUS at the EPA Farm facility that will be investigated and/or remediated through other environmental restoration subprojects are not included in this CADD, with the exception of housekeeping sites. Associated structures that do not require classification as CAUS are considered in the evaluation of corrective action alternatives for CAU 95

  16. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 516: Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 1 with ROTC 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alfred N. Wickline

    2004-04-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 516, Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 516 is comprised of the following Corrective Action Sites (CASs): (1) 03-59-01 - Bldg 3C-36 Septic System; (2) 03-59-02 - Bldg 3C-45 Septic System; (3) 06-51-01 - Sump and Piping; (4) 06-51-02 - Clay Pipe and Debris; (5) 06-51-03 - Clean Out Box and Piping; and (7) 22-19-04 - Vehicle Decontamination Area. The purpose of this CADD is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of an acceptable corrective action alternative for each CAS within CAU 516. Corrective action investigation activities were performed between July 22 and August 14, 2003, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan. Supplemental sampling was conducted in late 2003 and early 2004.

  17. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 543: Liquid Disposal Units Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0 with ROTC 1 and 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David A. Strand

    2004-05-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 543: Liquid Disposal Units, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S Department of Defense (DoD). Corrective Action Unit 543 is located in Area 6 and Area 15 of the NTS, which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1). Seven corrective action sites (CASs) comprise CAU 543 and are listed below: (1) 06-07-01, Decon Pad; (2) 15-01-03, Aboveground Storage Tank; (3) 15-04-01, Septic Tank; (4) 15-05-01, Leachfield; (5) 15-08-01, Liquid Manure Tank; (6) 15-23-01, Underground Radioactive Material Area; and (7) 15-23-03, Contaminated Sump, Piping. Corrective Action Site 06-07-01, Decon Pad, is located in Area 6 and consists of the Area 6 Decontamination Facility and its components that are associated with decontamination of equipment, vehicles, and materials related to nuclear testing. The six CASs in Area 15 are located at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Farm and are related to waste disposal activities at the EPA Farm. The EPA Farm was a fully-functional dairy associated with animal experiments conducted at the on-site laboratory. The corrective action investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, video-mole surveys, and sampling of media, where appropriate. Data will also be obtained to support waste management decisions. The CASs within CAU 543 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present at concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. The seven CASs in CAU 543

  18. A Review of Supplementary Medical Aspects of Post-Cold War UN Peacekeeping Operations: Trends, Lessons Learned, Courses of Action, and Recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Ralph J

    2015-01-01

    Post-Cold War United Nations Peace Keeping Operations (UN PKOs) have been increasingly involved in dangerous areas with ill-defined boundaries, harsh and remote geographies, simmering internecine armed conflict, and disregard on the part of some local parties for peacekeepers' security and role. In the interest of force protection and optimizing operations, a key component of UN PKOs is healthcare and medical treatment. The expectation is that UN PKO medical support will adjust to the general intent and structure of UN PKOs. To do so requires effective policies and planning informed by a review of all medical aspects of UN PKO operations, including those considered supplementary, that is, less crucial but contributing nonetheless. Medical aspects considered paramount and key to UN PKOs have received relatively thorough treatment elsewhere. The intent of this article is to report on ancillary and supplemental medical aspects practical to post-Cold War UN PKO operations assembled through an iterative inquiry of open-source articles. Recommendations are made about possible courses of action in terms of addressing trends found in such medical aspects of PKOs and relevance of US/NATO/European Union models and research.

  19. 76 FR 44589 - Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-26

    ... understand a health message or that the message will move people to take recommended action. Communication... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [[60Day-11-0572..., (0920-0572, exp. 11/30/2011)-- Revision--Office of the Associate Director for Communication, Centers for...

  20. On the least action principle in cosmology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nusser, A; Branchini, E

    2000-01-01

    Given the present distribution of mass tracing objects in an expanding universe, we develop and test a fast method for recovering their past orbits using the least action principle. In this method, termed FAM for fast action minimization, the orbits are expanded in a set of orthogonal time basis

  1. Supermembrane in D=5: component action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellucci, S.; Kozyrev, N.; Krivonos, S.; Yeranyan, A.

    2014-01-01

    Based on the connection between partial breaking of global supersymmetry, coset approach, which realized the given pattern of supersymmetry breaking, and the Nambu-Goto actions for the extended objects, we have constructed on-shell component action for N=1,D=5 supermembrane and its dual cousins. We demonstrate that the proper choice of the components and the use of the covariant (with respect to broken supersymmetry) derivatives drastically simplify the action: it can be represented as a sum of four terms each having an explicit geometric meaning

  2. Citizens' action group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andritzky, W.

    1978-01-01

    For the first empirical study of citizens' action groups 331 such groups were consulted. Important information was collected on the following aspects of these groups: their self-image, areas and forms of activities, objectives and their extent, how long the group has existed, successes and failures and their forms of organisation. (orig.) [de

  3. Grasp it loudly! Supporting actions with semantically congruent spoken action words.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raphaël Fargier

    Full Text Available Evidence for cross-talk between motor and language brain structures has accumulated over the past several years. However, while a significant amount of research has focused on the interaction between language perception and action, little attention has been paid to the potential impact of language production on overt motor behaviour. The aim of the present study was to test whether verbalizing during a grasp-to-displace action would affect motor behaviour and, if so, whether this effect would depend on the semantic content of the pronounced word (Experiment I. Furthermore, we sought to test the stability of such effects in a different group of participants and investigate at which stage of the motor act language intervenes (Experiment II. For this, participants were asked to reach, grasp and displace an object while overtly pronouncing verbal descriptions of the action ("grasp" and "put down" or unrelated words (e.g. "butterfly" and "pigeon". Fine-grained analyses of several kinematic parameters such as velocity peaks revealed that when participants produced action-related words their movements became faster compared to conditions in which they did not verbalize or in which they produced words that were not related to the action. These effects likely result from the functional interaction between semantic retrieval of the words and the planning and programming of the action. Therefore, links between (action language and motor structures are significant to the point that language can refine overt motor behaviour.

  4. Proposed Food and Drug Administration protective action guides for human food and animal feed: methods and implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, G.D.; Shleien, B.; Chiacchierini, R.P.

    1978-01-01

    The Food and Drug Administration's proposed recommendations to State and local agencies provide guidance on appropriate planning actions necessary for evaluating and preventing radioactive contamination of foods and animal feeds and the control and use of such products should they become contaminated. This presentation will cover the recommendations on implementation of the Preventive and Emergency PAG's. These recommendations include (1) the use of 'Dietary Factors' to obtain PAG's for specific food items from the general guidance, (2) procedures to be used for radionuclide mixtures and other radionuclides, (3) field and laboratory methods for the measurement of the level of contamination in the event of an incident and, (4) protective actions to be implemented by State and local agencies to limit the radiation dose to the public. Specific protective actions which should be considered for implementation when the projected dose exceeds the Preventive PAG are given for application to pasture, milk, fruits and vegetables, and grains. At the Emergency PAG level, the protective action decision is whether condemnation or other disposition is appropriate. (author)

  5. The Extrastriate Body Area Computes Desired Goal States during Action Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, Marius; Verhagen, Lennart; de Lange, Floris P; Toni, Ivan

    2016-01-01

    How do object perception and action interact at a neural level? Here we test the hypothesis that perceptual features, processed by the ventral visuoperceptual stream, are used as priors by the dorsal visuomotor stream to specify goal-directed grasping actions. We present three main findings, which were obtained by combining time-resolved transcranial magnetic stimulation and kinematic tracking of grasp-and-rotate object manipulations, in a group of healthy human participants (N = 22). First, the extrastriate body area (EBA), in the ventral stream, provides an initial structure to motor plans, based on current and desired states of a grasped object and of the grasping hand. Second, the contributions of EBA are earlier in time than those of a caudal intraparietal region known to specify the action plan. Third, the contributions of EBA are particularly important when desired and current object configurations differ, and multiple courses of actions are possible. These findings specify the temporal and functional characteristics for a mechanism that integrates perceptual processing with motor planning.

  6. Micronutrient recommendations and policies in Spain: the cases of iodine, folic acid and vitamin D.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brito Garcia, N; Serra Majem, L

    2012-01-01

    INTRODUCCIÓN: As part of the work carried out within the EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence in Spain, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with decision makers and relevant scientific institutions in the field of nutrition and public health. The information gathered was collated with national relevant official and unofficial documents and subsequently analysed. To describe the current situation about nutrition policy in Spain, with special focus on the process of setting micronutrient recommendations and the development of subsequent policies. 3 cases will be detailed: iodine, folic acid and vitamin D. Information from 9 interviews was contrasted with the available official and unofficial documents on micronutrients recommendations setting and subsequent policy applications to help the population to achieve their requirements. Common topics and themes were identified in the interviews and desk research. They describe a heterogenic picture of isolated initiatives and timid measures regarding micronutrients recommendations and subsequent policy instruments. Several recommendations coexist but none of them is the result of an official request by the government or competent authority. Iodine, folic acid and vitamin D represent the past, the present and the future of public health policy measures on micronutrients in Spain. Despite of some examples, there exist a need for action. Current nutrition strategies are focused on obesity, with little room for micronutrients national measures despite of the opinion of many experts. Regardless of the several nutrients recommendations coexisting nowadays in Spain, there exist the need for a coordinated action in the field of micronutrients recommendations, fostered by the health and nutrition official authorities with financial support and clear terms of reference.

  7. Industry Research and Recommendations for New Commercial Buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hendron, B.; Leach, M.; Gregory, N.; Pless, S.; Selkowitz, S.; Matthew, P.

    2014-05-01

    Researchers evaluated industry needs and developed logic models to support possible future commercial new construction research and deployment efforts that could be led or supported by DOE's Commercial Building Integration program or other national initiatives. The authors believe that these recommendations support a proposed course of action from the current state of commercial building energy efficiency to a possible long-term goal of achieving significant market penetration of cost-effective NZE buildings in all building sectors and climates by 2030.

  8. Can Dissimilar Users Contribute to Accuracy and Diversity of Personalized Recommendation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Wei; Shang, Ming-Sheng; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Lü, Linyuan; Zhou, Tao

    Recommender systems are becoming a popular and important set of personalization techniques that assist individual users with navigating through the rapidly growing amount of information. A good recommender system should be able to not only find out the objects preferred by users, but also help users in discovering their personalized tastes. The former corresponds to high accuracy of the recommendation, while the latter to high diversity. A big challenge is to design an algorithm that provides both highly accurate and diverse recommendation. Traditional recommendation algorithms only take into account the contributions of similar users, thus, they tend to recommend popular items for users ignoring the diversity of recommendations. In this paper, we propose a recommendation algorithm by considering both the effects of similar and dissimilar users under the framework of collaborative filtering. Extensive analyses on three datasets, namely MovieLens, Netflix and Amazon, show that our method performs much better than the standard collaborative filtering algorithm for both accuracy and diversity.

  9. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 569: Area 3 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patrick Matthews; Christy Sloop

    2012-02-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 569 is located in Area 3 of the Nevada National Security Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 569 comprises the nine numbered corrective action sites (CASs) and one newly identified site listed below: (1) 03-23-09, T-3 Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Annie, Franklin, George, and Moth); (2) 03-23-10, T-3A Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Harry and Hornet); (3) 03-23-11, T-3B Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Fizeau); (4) 03-23-12, T-3S Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Rio Arriba); (5) 03-23-13, T-3T Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Catron); (6) 03-23-14, T-3V Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Humboldt); (7) 03-23-15, S-3G Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Coulomb-B); (8) 03-23-16, S-3H Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Coulomb-A); (9) 03-23-21, Pike Contamination Area (hereafter referred to as Pike); and (10) Waste Consolidation Site 3A. Because CAU 569 is a complicated site containing many types of releases, it was agreed during the data quality objectives (DQO) process that these sites will be grouped. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each study group. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the DQOs developed on September 26, 2011, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The DQO

  10. Mid-term evaluation of the Climate Change Action Fund : Public education and outreach (PEO) Block

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-11-01

    In February 1998, the Government of Canada established the Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF) to assist Canada in meeting its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The CCAF managed a budget of 150 million dollars over three years, and the Public Education and Outreach (PEO) Block was allocated 30 million dollars of that total for its operations. Its mandate was to increase public awareness and understanding on the topic of climate change, as well as providing the required information to effect reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change. An evaluation into this program was conducted, and it covered the period September 2000 to January 20, 2001. To date, 152 projects have been approved, which represents an investment of approximately 17.5 million dollars. Approximately 6 million dollars have been spent on the awareness component, while government communication activities used approximately 3.1 million dollars. Staff and project management fees in support of the program account for the remaining funds. This report addressed the performance to date in meeting the objectives, and also included recommendations for improved effectiveness. PEO files and records, a report entitled Interim review of the Climate Change Action Fund PEO Program, interviews with Departmental representatives, and interviews with external stakeholder groups formed the basis for the findings and recommendations. It was determined that future direction represents the most critical issue facing the PEO block. 1 tab

  11. Categorization and category effects in normal object recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gerlach, Christian; Law, Ian; Gade, Anders

    2000-01-01

    and that the categorization of artefacts, as opposed to the categorization of natural objects, is based, in part, on action knowledge mediated by the left premotor cortex. However, because artefacts and natural objects often caused activation in the same regions within tasks, processing of these categories is not totally...

  12. Implementing Trauma-Informed Care: Recommendations on the Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane K. Yatchmenoff

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The importance of trauma-informed care (TIC is now recognized across most health and human service systems. Providers are calling for concrete examples of what TIC means in practice and how to create more trauma-informed organizations. However, much of the current understanding about implementation rests on principles and values rather than specific recommendations for action. This paper addresses this gap based on observations during the provision of technical assistance over the past decade in fields like mental health and addictions, juvenile justice, child welfare, healthcare, housing, and education. Focusing on the infrastructure for making change (the TIC workgroup, assessment and planning, and the early stages of implementation, the authors discuss barriers and challenges that are commonly encountered, strategies that have proven effective in addressing barriers, and specific action steps that can help sustain momentum for the longer term.

  13. A randomized, controlled clinical trial of a geriatric consultation team. Compliance with recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, C M; Becker, P M; McVey, L J; Saltz, C; Feussner, J R; Cohen, H J

    1986-05-16

    As part of a prospective, randomized, controlled study of the effectiveness of a geriatric consultation team, we examined compliance by the house staff with recommendations made by the team. Recommendations were formulated for 185 patients, aged 75 years or older, who were randomized into intervention (n = 92) and control (n = 93) groups. In the control group, only 27.1% of the actions that would have been recommended by the team were implemented independently by the house staff. Problems commonly neglected included polypharmacy, sensory impairment, confusion, and depression. In the intervention group, overall compliance was 71.7%. Highest compliance occurred for recommendations addressing instability and falls (95.0%) and discharge planning (94.3%). We conclude that a geriatric consultation team contributes substantial additional input into the care of older patients. Furthermore, relatively high compliance can be achieved with recommendations made by a geriatric consultation team, thereby overcoming the first barrier to the establishment of such a service.

  14. Gravitationally compact objects as nucleation sites for first-order vacuum phase transitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samuel, D.A.; Hiscock, W.A.

    1992-01-01

    A characteristic of first-order phase transitions is their ability to be initiated by nucleation sites. In this paper we consider the role that gravitationally compact objects may play as nucleation sites for first-order phase transitions within quantum fields. As the presence of nucleation sites may prevent the onset of supercooling, the existence of nucleation sites for phase transitions within quantum fields may play an important role in some inflationary models of the Universe, in which the Universe is required to exist in a supercooled state for a period of time. In this paper we calculate the Euclidean action for an O(3) bubble nucleating about a gravitationally compact object, taken to be a boson star for simplicity. The gravitational field of the boson star is taken to be a small perturbation on flat space, and the O(3) action is calculated to linear order as a perturbation on the O(4) action. The Euclidean bubble profile is found by solving the (Higgs) scalar field equation numerically; the thin-wall approximation is not used. The gravitationally compact objects are found to have the effect of reducing the Euclidean action of the nucleating bubble, as compared to the Euclidean action for the bubble in flat spacetime. The effect is strongest when the size of the gravitationally compact object is comparable to the size of the nucleating bubble. Further, the size of the decrease in action increases as the nucleating ''star'' is made more gravitationally compact. Thus, gravitationally compact objects may play the role of nucleation sites. However, their importance to the process of false-vacuum decay is strongly dependent upon their number density within the Universe

  15. Developing a Standard Definition of Whole-Grain Foods for Dietary Recommendations: Summary Report of a Multidisciplinary Expert Roundtable Discussion12

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferruzzi, Mario G.; Jonnalagadda, Satya S.; Liu, Simin; Marquart, Len; McKeown, Nicola; Reicks, Marla; Riccardi, Gabriele; Seal, Chris; Slavin, Joanne; Thielecke, Frank; van der Kamp, Jan-Willem; Webb, Densie

    2014-01-01

    Although the term “whole grain” is well defined, there has been no universal standard of what constitutes a “whole-grain food,” creating challenges for researchers, the food industry, regulatory authorities, and consumers around the world. As part of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Technical Advisory Committee issued a call to action to develop definitions for whole-grain foods that could be universally accepted and applied to dietary recommendations and planning. The Committee’s call to action, and the lack of a global whole-grain food definition, was the impetus for the Whole Grain Roundtable held 3–5 December 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. The objective was to develop a whole-grain food definition that is consistent with the quartet of needs of science, food product formulation, consumer behavior, and label education. The roundtable’s expert panel represented a broad range of expertise from the United States and Europe, including epidemiology and dietary intervention researchers, consumer educators, government policy makers, and food and nutrition scientists from academia and the grain food industry. Taking into account the totality, quality, and consistency of available scientific evidence, the expert panel recommended that 8 g of whole grain/30 g serving (27 g/100 g), without a fiber requirement, be considered a minimum content of whole grains that is nutritionally meaningful and that a food providing at least 8 g of whole grains/30-g serving be defined as a whole-grain food. Having an established whole-grain food definition will encourage manufacturers to produce foods with meaningful amounts of whole grain, allow consistent product labeling and messaging, and empower consumers to readily identify whole-grain foods and achieve whole-grain dietary recommendations. PMID:24618757

  16. Setting objectives for managing Key deer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diefenbach, Duane R.; Wagner, Tyler; Stauffer, Glenn E.

    2014-01-01

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is responsible for the protection and management of Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) because the species is listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. There are a host of actions that could possibly be undertaken to recover the Key deer population, but without a clearly defined problem and stated objectives it can be difficult to compare and evaluate alternative actions. In addition, management goals and the acceptability of alternative management actions are inherently linked to stakeholders, who should be engaged throughout the process of developing a decision framework. The purpose of this project was to engage a representative group of stakeholders to develop a problem statement that captured the management problem the FWS must address with Key deer and identify objectives that, if met, would help solve the problem. In addition, the objectives were organized in a hierarchical manner (i.e., an objectives network) to show how they are linked, and measurable attributes were identified for each objective. We organized a group of people who represented stakeholders interested in and potentially affected by the management of Key deer. These stakeholders included individuals who represented local, state, and federal governments, non-governmental organizations, the general public, and local businesses. This stakeholder group met five full days over the course of an eight-week period to identify objectives that would address the following problem:“As recovery and removal from the Endangered Species list is the purpose of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs a management approach that will ensure a sustainable, viable, and healthy Key deer population. Urbanization has affected the behavior and population dynamics of the Key deer and the amount and characteristics

  17. Corrective Action Decision Document/ Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 556: Dry Wells and Surface Release Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada with Errata Sheet, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2008-09-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD)/Closure Report (CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit 556, Dry Wells and Surface Release Points, located at the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO, 1996; as amended February 2008). Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 556 is comprised of four corrective action sites (CASs): • 06-20-04, National Cementers Dry Well • 06-99-09, Birdwell Test Hole • 25-60-03, E-MAD Stormwater Discharge and Piping • 25-64-01, Vehicle Washdown and Drainage Pit The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure of CAU 556 with no further corrective action. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities began on February 7 and were completed on June 19, 2008, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 556: Dry Wells and Surface Release Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (NNSA/NSO, 2007). The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process: • Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. • If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. • Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 556 data were evaluated based on the data quality assessment process, which demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the data for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the COCs for each CAS. The results of the CAI identified COCs at one of the four CASs in CAU 556 that required the completion of a corrective action. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 556 revealed the following: • Corrective Action Sites 06-20-04, 06-99-09, and 25-64-01 do not contain contamination at

  18. Efficiency in Rule- vs. Plan-Based Movements Is Modulated by Action-Mode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheib, Jean P P; Stoll, Sarah; Thürmer, J Lukas; Randerath, Jennifer

    2018-01-01

    The rule/plan motor cognition (RPMC) paradigm elicits visually indistinguishable motor outputs, resulting from either plan- or rule-based action-selection, using a combination of essentially interchangeable stimuli. Previous implementations of the RPMC paradigm have used pantomimed movements to compare plan- vs. rule-based action-selection. In the present work we attempt to determine the generalizability of previous RPMC findings to real object interaction by use of a grasp-to-rotate task. In the plan task, participants had to use prospective planning to achieve a comfortable post-handle rotation hand posture. The rule task used implementation intentions (if-then rules) leading to the same comfortable end-state. In Experiment A, we compare RPMC performance of 16 healthy participants in pantomime and real object conditions of the experiment, within-subjects. Higher processing efficiency of rule- vs. plan-based action-selection was supported by diffusion model analysis. Results show a significant response-time increase in the pantomime condition compared to the real object condition and a greater response-time advantage of rule-based vs. plan-based actions in the pantomime compared to the real object condition. In Experiment B, 24 healthy participants performed the real object RPMC task in a task switching vs. a blocked condition. Results indicate that plan-based action-selection leads to longer response-times and less efficient information processing than rule-based action-selection in line with previous RPMC findings derived from the pantomime action-mode. Particularly in the task switching mode, responses were faster in the rule compared to the plan task suggesting a modulating influence of cognitive load. Overall, results suggest an advantage of rule-based action-selection over plan-based action-selection; whereby differential mechanisms appear to be involved depending on the action-mode. We propose that cognitive load is a factor that modulates the advantageous

  19. A Study on Multiattribute Aggregation Approaches to Product Recommendation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing-Zhong Jin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In today’s increasingly competitive market, consumers usually have to face a huge number of products with different designs but having the same use. Therefore, an important problem for manufacturers is to attract consumers by special designs of the products. This paper aims at the improvement of a consumer-oriented approach in recommending products, and proposing a recommendation system for Japanese traditional crafts based on target-oriented fuzzy method and ontological engineering. Specifically, a target-oriented fuzzy method is used for measuring the fitness of a selected attribute to a certain object. Two aggregation models for dealing with a multiattribute evaluation and ranking are introduced; four ranking methods are also examined for getting a recommendation list. To test the aggregation models and the ranking methods, a recommendation system was developed and a comparison test was conducted.

  20. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 560: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grant Evenson

    2010-04-01

    Corrective Action Unit 560 comprises seven corrective action sites (CASs): •03-51-01, Leach Pit •06-04-02, Septic Tank •06-05-03, Leach Pit •06-05-04, Leach Bed •06-59-03, Building CP-400 Septic System •06-59-04, Office Trailer Complex Sewage Pond •06-59-05, Control Point Septic System The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation for closure of CAU 560 with no further corrective action. To achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 7, 2008, through February 24, 2010, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 560: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, and Record of Technical Change No. 1. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process: •Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. •If COCs are present, determine their nature and extent. •Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 560 dataset from the investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. The following contaminants were determined to be present at concentrations exceeding their corresponding FALs: •No contamination exceeding the FALs was identified at CASs 03-51-01, 06-04-02, and 06-59-04. •The soil at the base of the leach pit chamber at CAS 06-05-03 contains arsenic above the FAL of 23 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) above the FAL of 0.74 mg/kg, confined vertically from a depth of approximately 5 to 20 feet (ft) below ground surface. The contamination is confined laterally to the walls of the

  1. Waste paper recycling opportunities for government action. Vol. 1 summary. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bailey, J; Love, P

    1978-01-01

    This paper presents a summary of analyses of the current and expected waste paper market conditions in Canada with the objective of identifying government initiatives which could permanently increase recovery levels. Emphasis has been placed upon defining short-term, practical measures which take into account the variations in market conditions for each of the major types of secondary fiber: newsprint, fine paper, and corrugated cardboard. Demand, generation and recovery are analyzed for each of these types on a national and regional basis. The opportunities for increased recycling in each region are identified and recommendations are made regarding appropriate government actions. The principal benefits of increased waste paper reclamation and recycling are perceived as: reducing waste management costs, creating new industries, promoting the conserver ethic, conserving forest and energy resources, and reducing pollution. Includes glossary. 1 fig., 5 tabs.

  2. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 214: Bunkers and Storage Areas Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-01-01

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 214 under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Areas 5, 11, and 25 of the Nevada Test Site, CAU 214 consists of nine Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 05-99-01, Fallout Shelters; 11-22-03, Drum; 25-99-12, Fly Ash Storage; 25-23-01, Contaminated Materials; 25-23-19, Radioactive Material Storage; 25-99-18, Storage Area; 25-34-03, Motor Dr/Gr Assembly (Bunker); 25-34-04, Motor Dr/Gr Assembly (Bunker); and 25-34-05, Motor Dr/Gr Assembly (Bunker). These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). The suspected contaminants and critical analyte s for CAU 214 include oil (total petroleum hydrocarbons-diesel-range organics [TPH-DRO], polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs]), pesticides (chlordane, heptachlor, 4,4-DDT), barium, cadmium, chronium, lubricants (TPH-DRO, TPH-gasoline-range organics [GRO]), and fly ash (arsenic). The land-use zones where CAU 214 CASs are located dictate that future land uses will be limited to nonresidential (i.e., industrial) activities. The results of this field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the corrective action decision document

  3. Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 145: Wells and Storage Holes, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0, with ROTC No. 1 and Addendum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Strand

    2006-04-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 145, Wells and Storage Holes in Area 3 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 145 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 03-20-01, Core Storage Holes; (2) 03-20-02, Decon Pad and Sump; (3) 03-20-04, Injection Wells; (4) 03-20-08, Injection Well; (5) 03-25-01, Oil Spills; and (6) 03-99-13, Drain and Injection Well. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for the six CASs within CAU 145. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from August 1, 2005, through November 8, 2005, as set forth in the CAU 145 Corrective Action Investigation Plan and Record of Technical Change No. 1. Analytes detected during the Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) were evaluated against appropriate final action levels to identify the contaminants of concern for each CAS. The results of the CAI identified contaminants of concern at one of the six CASs in CAU 145 and required the evaluation of corrective action alternatives. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 145 revealed the following: CASs 03-20-01, 03-20-02, 03-20-04, 03-20-08, and 03-99-13 do not contain contamination; and CAS 03-25-01 has pentachlorophenol and arsenic contamination in the subsurface soils. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at the six CASs, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential corrective action alternatives, the following corrective actions are recommended for CAU 145. No further action is the preferred corrective action for CASs 03-20-01, 03-20-02, 03-20-04, 03-20-08, and 03-99-13. Close in place is the preferred corrective action

  4. Collaborative filtering recommendation model based on fuzzy clustering algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ye; Zhang, Yunhua

    2018-05-01

    As one of the most widely used algorithms in recommender systems, collaborative filtering algorithm faces two serious problems, which are the sparsity of data and poor recommendation effect in big data environment. In traditional clustering analysis, the object is strictly divided into several classes and the boundary of this division is very clear. However, for most objects in real life, there is no strict definition of their forms and attributes of their class. Concerning the problems above, this paper proposes to improve the traditional collaborative filtering model through the hybrid optimization of implicit semantic algorithm and fuzzy clustering algorithm, meanwhile, cooperating with collaborative filtering algorithm. In this paper, the fuzzy clustering algorithm is introduced to fuzzy clustering the information of project attribute, which makes the project belong to different project categories with different membership degrees, and increases the density of data, effectively reduces the sparsity of data, and solves the problem of low accuracy which is resulted from the inaccuracy of similarity calculation. Finally, this paper carries out empirical analysis on the MovieLens dataset, and compares it with the traditional user-based collaborative filtering algorithm. The proposed algorithm has greatly improved the recommendation accuracy.

  5. Annual report 2000 of the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK). With explanations on the objectives, functions, and history of the SSK, complete lists of recommendations, statements, and publications. With a CD ROM containing full texts of recommendations and statements of the SSK on the Internet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    The report begins with an introduction explaining the objectives, functions and composition of the SSK. Then the main areas and aspects of work in 2000 are addressed and the reports, recommendations or statements prepared by the six committees of the SSK are presented. The areas of work of the six committees are: radiation protection and health physics, radiological protection in health care, radioecology, radiological engineering, emergency preparedness, and non-ionizing radiation. (orig./CB) [de

  6. A Study of the Unsafe Actions of Staff in the Maintenance and Overhaul Unit at a Petrochemical Complex and the Presentation of Control Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mousavipour

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Background Today, oil, gas, and petrochemical industries are of strategic significance in the macro-development of oil-rich countries. These industries, given the nature of the work and the technical complexity of the various processes, are hazardous and susceptible to occupational accidents. More than 90% of the accidents are related to the faults and unsafe actions of personnel, either directly or indirectly. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the unsafe actions of staff working in the maintenance unit of a petrochemical complex. Materials and Methods This is a descriptive and analytical study conducted on 167 morning-shift workers at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex. The data were collected based on a checklist of unsafe actions prepared through a direct observation of their activities and an analysis of work instructions, documents, and incident reports. SPSS statistical software was also used for data analysis and relevant testing. Results According to the results of this study, the mean number of unsafe actions performed by the employees was 42%. The highest number of unsafe actions achieved in the maintenance mechanical unit was 52.8%, 47.1% in repair services, and 43.8% in machinery. The highest frequency of unsafe actions were caused by indiscretion and negligence, a failure to use a face shield and goggles, and non-compliance with safety principles. Conclusions According to the findings, there has been a rise in the number of unsafe actions in machinery and maintenance service units compared to other maintenance units. As such, training courses based on the behavior-based safety principles at the beginning of employment, close monitoring of health safety environment (HSE officials on the implementation of regulations, and provision of appropriate scheduling based on weather conditions and the nature of maintenance services are recommended. In addition, a refrainment from hastiness in performing duties, enhanced

  7. Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 139: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2007-07-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 139, Waste Disposal Sites, is listed in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) of 1996 (FFACO, 1996). CAU 139 consists of seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Areas 3, 4, 6, and 9 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is located approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1). CAU 139 consists of the following CASs: CAS 03-35-01, Burn Pit; CAS 04-08-02, Waste Disposal Site; CAS 04-99-01, Contaminated Surface Debris; CAS 06-19-02, Waste Disposal Site/Burn Pit; CAS 06-19-03, Waste Disposal Trenches; CAS 09-23-01, Area 9 Gravel Gertie; and CAS 09-34-01, Underground Detection Station. Details of the site history and site characterization results for CAU 139 are provided in the approved Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office [NNSA/NSO], 2006) and in the approved Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) (NNSA/NSO, 2007). The purpose of this Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is to present the detailed scope of work required to implement the recommended corrective actions as specified in Section 4.0 of the approved CADD (NNSA/NSO, 2007). The approved closure activities for CAU 139 include removal of soil and debris contaminated with plutonium (Pu)-239, excavation of geophysical anomalies, removal of surface debris, construction of an engineered soil cover, and implementation of use restrictions (URs). Table 1 presents a summary of CAS-specific closure activities and contaminants of concern (COCs). Specific details of the corrective actions to be performed at each CAS are presented in Section 2.0 of this report.

  8. Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 139: Waste Disposal Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2007-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 139, Waste Disposal Sites, is listed in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) of 1996 (FFACO, 1996). CAU 139 consists of seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Areas 3, 4, 6, and 9 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is located approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1). CAU 139 consists of the following CASs: CAS 03-35-01, Burn Pit; CAS 04-08-02, Waste Disposal Site; CAS 04-99-01, Contaminated Surface Debris; CAS 06-19-02, Waste Disposal Site/Burn Pit; CAS 06-19-03, Waste Disposal Trenches; CAS 09-23-01, Area 9 Gravel Gertie; and CAS 09-34-01, Underground Detection Station. Details of the site history and site characterization results for CAU 139 are provided in the approved Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office [NNSA/NSO], 2006) and in the approved Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) (NNSA/NSO, 2007). The purpose of this Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is to present the detailed scope of work required to implement the recommended corrective actions as specified in Section 4.0 of the approved CADD (NNSA/NSO, 2007). The approved closure activities for CAU 139 include removal of soil and debris contaminated with plutonium (Pu)-239, excavation of geophysical anomalies, removal of surface debris, construction of an engineered soil cover, and implementation of use restrictions (URs). Table 1 presents a summary of CAS-specific closure activities and contaminants of concern (COCs). Specific details of the corrective actions to be performed at each CAS are presented in Section 2.0 of this report

  9. Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan for Corrective Action Unit 411. Double Tracks Plutonium Dispersion (Nellis), Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick K. [Navarro-Intera, LLC (N-I), Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2015-03-01

    This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan addresses the actions needed to achieve closure for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 411, Double Tracks Plutonium Dispersion (Nellis). CAU 411 is located on the Nevada Test and Training Range and consists of a single corrective action site (CAS), NAFR-23-01, Pu Contaminated Soil. There is sufficient information and historical documentation from previous investigations and the 1996 interim corrective action to recommend closure of CAU 411 using the SAFER process. Based on existing data, the presumed corrective action for CAU 411 is clean closure. However, additional data will be obtained during a field investigation to document and verify the adequacy of existing information, and to determine whether the CAU 411 closure objectives have been achieved. This SAFER Plan provides the methodology to gather the necessary information for closing the CAU. The results of the field investigation will be presented in a closure report that will be prepared and submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) for review and approval. The site will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on November 20, 2014, by representatives of NDEP, the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to determine whether CAU 411 closure objectives have been achieved. The following text summarizes the SAFER activities that will support the closure of CAU 411; Collect environmental samples from designated target populations to confirm or disprove the presence of contaminants of concern (COCs) as necessary to supplement existing information; If COCs are no longer present, establish clean closure as the corrective action; If COCs are present, the extent of contamination will be defined and further corrective actions

  10. Automatic activation of motor programs by object affordances in patients with Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oguro, Hiroaki; Ward, Robert; Bracewel, Martyn; Hindle, John; Rafal, Robert

    2009-09-29

    Clinical observations of kinesia paradoxica and freezing in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest that the automatic activation of motor programmes by visual stimuli may not require intact basal ganglia function, and that an increased sensitivity to such object affordances may contribute to some symptoms of the disease. Employing a paradigm that measures the degree of interference from object affordances on voluntary actions, we confirm that activation of object affordances are preserved in Parkinson's disease, but find no evidence that there is an increased sensitivity to the effects of object affordances on voluntary action.

  11. Automatic activation of motor programs by object affordances in patients with Parkinson's disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oguro, Hiroaki; Ward, Robert; Bracewel, Martyn; Hindle, John; Rafal, Robert

    2009-01-01

    Clinical observations of kinesia paradoxica and freezing in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest that the automatic activation of motor programmes by visual stimuli may not require intact basal ganglia function, and that an increased sensitivity to such object affordances may contribute to some symptoms of the disease. Employing a paradigm that measures the degree of interference from object affordances on voluntary actions, we confirm that activation of object affordances are preserved in Parkinson's disease, but find no evidence that there is an increased sensitivity to the effects of object affordances on voluntary action. PMID:19616073

  12. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation: recommendations for cosmetic use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dias, C.; Carvalho, F.R.S.

    2000-01-01

    The beginning of the so-called tanning industry made possible the acquisition of a tanned skin independently of the available solar radiation. The tan is produced by ultraviolet radiation and, as well as in solar exposure, there are additional risks on the use of the so-called sun-beds. The damaging effects of ultraviolet exposure are well documented and reasonably quantified. The objective of this paper is to inform the potential effects of ultraviolet radiation exposure in sun-beds and to provide recommendations in order to reduce the associated risks. These recommendations are adapted for cosmetics use only (author)

  13. IMPLEMENTING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT-BASED RECOMMENDATIONS IN FINLAND

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sihvo, Sinikka; Ikonen, Tuija; Mäkelä, Marjukka

    2017-01-01

    Objectives: The Managed Uptake of Medical Methods Program (MUMM) started 10 years ago as a joint venture of the Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment (Finohta) and the twenty hospital districts in Finland. The aim is to offer information on the effectiveness, safety, organizational...... in decision making. Conclusions: HTA-based MUMM recommendations were well received by physicians but in practice they are less used than clinical practice guidelines. Short-form electronic surveys were a useful way of gathering information about awareness and implementation. The surveys also functioned...... as another method of informing key physicians about the recommendations....

  14. The Non-Genomic Actions of Vitamin D

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles S Hii

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Since its discovery in 1920, a great deal of effort has gone into investigating the physiological actions of vitamin D and the impact its deficiency has on human health. Despite this intense interest, there is still disagreement on what constitutes the lower boundary of adequacy and on the Recommended Dietary Allowance. There has also been a major push to elucidate the biochemistry of vitamin D, its metabolic pathways and the mechanisms that mediate its action. Originally thought to act by altering the expression of target genes, it was realized in the mid-1980s that some of the actions of vitamin D were too rapid to be accounted for by changes at the genomic level. These rapid non-genomic actions have attracted as much interest as the genomic actions and they have spawned additional questions in an already busy field. This mini-review attempts to summarise the in vitro and in vivo work that has been conducted to characterise the rapid non-genomic actions, the mechanisms that give rise to these properties and the roles that these play in the overall action of vitamin D at the cellular level. Understanding the effects of vitamin D at the cellular level should enable the design of elegant human studies to extract the full potential of vitamin D to benefit human health.

  15. Interface design recommendations for computerised clinical audit and feedback: Hybrid usability evidence from a research-led system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Benjamin; Balatsoukas, Panos; Williams, Richard; Sperrin, Matthew; Buchan, Iain

    2016-10-01

    Audit and Feedback (A&F) is a widely used quality improvement technique that measures clinicians' clinical performance and reports it back to them. Computerised A&F (e-A&F) system interfaces may consist of four key components: (1) Summaries of clinical performance; (2) Patient lists; (3) Patient-level data; (4) Recommended actions. There is a lack of evidence regarding how to best design e-A&F interfaces; establishing such evidence is key to maximising usability, and in turn improving patient safety. To evaluate the usability of a novel theoretically-informed and research-led e-A&F system for primary care (the Performance Improvement plaN GeneratoR: PINGR). (1) Describe PINGR's design, rationale and theoretical basis; (2) Identify usability issues with PINGR; (3) Understand how these issues may interfere with the cognitive goals of end-users; (4) Translate the issues into recommendations for the user-centred design of e-A&F systems. Eight experienced health system evaluators performed a usability inspection using an innovative hybrid approach consisting of five stages: (1) Development of representative user tasks, Goals, and Actions; (2) Combining Heuristic Evaluation and Cognitive Walkthrough methods into a single protocol to identify usability issues; (3) Consolidation of issues; (4) Severity rating of consolidated issues; (5) Analysis of issues according to usability heuristics, interface components, and Goal-Action structure. A final list of 47 issues were categorised into 8 heuristic themes. The most error-prone heuristics were 'Consistency and standards' (13 usability issues; 28% of the total) and 'Match between system and real world' (n=10, 21%). The recommended actions component of the PINGR interface had the most usability issues (n=21, 45%), followed by patient-level data (n=5, 11%), patient lists (n=4, 9%), and summaries of clinical performance (n=4, 9%). The most error-prone Actions across all user Goals were: (1) Patient selection from a list; (2) Data

  16. Draft Guidance for Protective Action Strategies Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Sang Hyun; Jeong, Seung Young; Kim, Wanjoo [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    National nuclear emergency preparedness and response (EPR) framework has been improved since the Fukushima accident in 2011. There are still many needs to be amended and improved in regulatory requirements and technical criteria to warrant efficacy of the EPR framework. As an important part of the framework, protective actions have to be implemented with optimized and justified manner during whole emergency phases. In this study, to enhance protective action strategies in response to severe accident or general emergency, existing procedures were reviewed. And generic guidance to develop protective action recommendations (PARs) was proposed considering revised EPZ and recent technical information on protective action strategies. The generic guidance for PARs based on facility status was introduced. Revision of EPZ and some recent information on protective action strategies, such as staged evacuation, specific approach for rapidly progressing accident were considered. It would be employed as a basis to develop site-specific strategies of PARs and regulatory guidance for emergency plan by nuclear licensee. It was focused on an early phase of nuclear emergency. Further efforts to develop site specific strategies of PARs and strategies which cover full range of nuclear emergency would be followed by several stake holders.

  17. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 413: Clean Slate II Plutonium Dispersion (TTR) Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2017-05-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan provides the rationale and supporting information for the selection and implementation of corrective actions at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 413, Clean Slate II Plutonium Dispersion (TTR). CAU 413 is located on the Tonopah Test Range and includes one corrective action site, TA-23-02CS. CAU 413 consists of the release of radionuclides to the surface and shallow subsurface from the Clean Slate II (CSII) storage–transportation test conducted on May 31, 1963. The CSII test was a non-nuclear detonation of a nuclear device located inside a concrete bunker covered with 2 feet of soil. To facilitate site investigation and the evaluation of data quality objectives decisions, the releases at CAU 413 were divided into seven study groups: 1 Undisturbed Areas 2 Disturbed Areas 3 Sedimentation Areas 4 Former Staging Area 5 Buried Debris 6 Potential Source Material 7 Soil Mounds Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities, as set forth in the CAU 413 Corrective Action Investigation Plan, were performed from June 2015 through May 2016. Radionuclides detected in samples collected during the CAI were used to estimate total effective dose using the Construction Worker exposure scenario. Corrective action was required for areas where total effective dose exceeded, or was assumed to exceed, the radiological final action level (FAL) of 25 millirem per year. The results of the CAI and the assumptions made in the data quality objectives resulted in the following conclusions: The FAL is exceeded in surface soil in SG1, Undisturbed Areas; The FAL is assumed to be exceeded in SG5, Buried Debris, where contaminated debris and soil were buried after the CSII test; The FAL is not exceeded at SG2, SG3, SG4, SG6, or SG7. Because the FAL is exceeded at CAU 413, corrective action is required and corrective action alternatives (CAAs) must be evaluated. For CAU 413, three CAAs were evaluated: no further action, clean closure, and

  18. Recommendations for epidemiological studies on COPD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bakke, P S; Rönmark, E; Eagan, T

    2011-01-01

    of the disease and definitions of the risk factors. Few community studies have examined phenotypes of COPD and included other ways of characterising the disease beyond that of spirometry. The objective of the present Task Force report is to present recommendations for the performance of general population...... for planning and performing an epidemiological study on COPD. The main message of the paper is that thorough planning is worth half the study. It is crucial to stick to standardised methods and good quality control during sampling. We recommend collecting biological markers, depending on the specific......The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been extensively studied, especially in Western Europe and North America. Few of these data are directly comparable because of differences between the surveys regarding composition of study populations, diagnostic criteria...

  19. Personalized recommendation based on heat bidirectional transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Wenping; Feng, Xiang; Wang, Shanfeng; Gong, Maoguo

    2016-02-01

    Personalized recommendation has become an increasing popular research topic, which aims to find future likes and interests based on users' past preferences. Traditional recommendation algorithms pay more attention to forecast accuracy by calculating first-order relevance, while ignore the importance of diversity and novelty that provide comfortable experiences for customers. There are some levels of contradictions between these three metrics, so an algorithm based on bidirectional transfer is proposed in this paper to solve this dilemma. In this paper, we agree that an object that is associated with history records or has been purchased by similar users should be introduced to the specified user and recommendation approach based on heat bidirectional transfer is proposed. Compared with the state-of-the-art approaches based on bipartite network, experiments on two benchmark data sets, Movielens and Netflix, demonstrate that our algorithm has better performance on accuracy, diversity and novelty. Moreover, this method does better in exploiting long-tail commodities and cold-start problem.

  20. Neurophysiology of action anticipation in athletes: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Daniel M

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to provide a systematic review of action anticipation studies using functional neuroimaging or brain stimulation during a sport-specific anticipation task. A total of 15 studies from 2008 to 2014 were evaluated and are reported in four sections: expert-novice samples, action anticipation tasks, neuroimaging and stimulation techniques, and key findings. Investigators examined a wide range of action anticipation scenarios specific to eight different sports and utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalogram (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Expert-novice comparisons were commonly used to investigate differences in action anticipation performance and neurophysiology. Experts tended to outperform novices, and an extensive array of brain structures were reported to be involved differently for experts and novices during action anticipation. However, these neurophysiological findings were generally inconsistent across the studies reviewed. The discussion focuses on strengths and four key limitations. The conclusion posits remaining questions and recommendations for future research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. What patient characteristics make clinicians recommend brief treatment?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaefer, B. A.; Koeter, M. W. J.; Wouters, L.; Emmelkamp, P. M. G.; Schene, A. H.

    2003-01-01

    Objective: Assessing self-rated items that might have an impact on clinicians recommending brief treatment (BT) over unlimited or long-term treatment (ULT). Method: On the basis of patient self-report data we compared patients referred by clinicians to BT (n =71) with those referred to ULT (n =145).

  2. Legal Obstacles to Comprehensive EU External Security Action

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blockmans, S.; Spernbauer, M.

    2013-01-01

    Despite the unification of the EU legal order, the merger of external action objectives and the creation of hybrid coordination structures, the dichotomy between the CFSP and non-CFSP categories of EU external action has been maintained in the Lisbon Treaty. This article considers the legal

  3. Ethical issues in action-oriented research in Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachmawaty, Rini

    2017-09-01

    Action-oriented research is one of the most frequent research types implemented to transform community health in Indonesia. Three researchers and 11 graduate students from a developed country in East Asia conducted a fieldwork program in a remote area in South Sulawesi Province. Although the project was completed, whether or not the international standards for human subject research were applied into that study remains unclear. This study aimed to examine ethical issues raised from that case, analyze constraints to the problems, and recommend alternatives to protect vulnerable populations from being exploited by local/international researchers. A problem-solving approach was used in this study. It began with problem identification, evaluation of the action-oriented research goal, investigation of the constraints to the problem, and recommendation of some relevant alternatives to address the central issue. Ethical Consideration: The approval for conducting the action-oriented research that being investigated in this work was only obtained from the Head of local district. Some ethical issues were found in this case. No special protection for this population, no informed consent was obtained from the participants, exposure to social and economic risks, no future benefits for the subjects, and conflict of interests. Lack of control from the local research ethics committee and lack of competence of local researchers on human subject research were considered as the constraints to the problems. Creating an independent research ethics committee, providing research ethics training to the local researchers, obtaining written/video consents from underserved populations, and meeting local health needs were recommended alternatives to solve these problems. Indonesian government bodies should reform their international collaborative system on research involving human subjects. Exploitation may not occur if all participants as well as all local and national governing bodies

  4. Environmental health action plan for Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-06-01

    This Environmental Health Action Plan for Europe was endorsed by the second European Conference on Environment and Health, held in Helsinki, 20 to 22 June 1994. It sets out directions for the attainment of long term environment and health policy objectives define in the European Charter on Environment and Health. The Action Plan is primarily addressed at the public health and environmental protection sectors. 10 refs, 4 figs, 2 tabs

  5. An effective collaborative movie recommender system with cuckoo search

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahul Katarya

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Recommender systems are information filtering tools that aspire to predict the rating for users and items, predominantly from big data to recommend their likes. Movie recommendation systems provide a mechanism to assist users in classifying users with similar interests. This makes recommender systems essentially a central part of websites and e-commerce applications. This article focuses on the movie recommendation systems whose primary objective is to suggest a recommender system through data clustering and computational intelligence. In this research article, a novel recommender system has been discussed which makes use of k-means clustering by adopting cuckoo search optimization algorithm applied on the Movielens dataset. Our approach has been explained systematically, and the subsequent results have been discussed. It is also compared with existing approaches, and the results have been analyzed and interpreted. Evaluation metrics such as mean absolute error (MAE, standard deviation (SD, root mean square error (RMSE and t-value for the movie recommender system delivers better results as our approach offers lesser value of the mean absolute error, standard deviation, and root mean square error. The experiment results obtained on Movielens dataset stipulate that the proposed approach may provide high performance regarding reliability, efficiency and delivers accurate personalized movie recommendations when compared with existing methods. Our proposed system (K-mean Cuckoo has 0.68 MAE, which is superior to existing work (0.78 MAE [1] and also has improvement of our previous work (0.75 MAE [2].

  6. A Transitive Recommendation System for Information Technology Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hesham Ali

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Social networks have become a new trend for research among computer scientist around the world. Social network had an impact on users' way of life. One of social network usages is recommendation systems. The need of recommendation systems is arising when users try to know best choice for them in many items types (books, experts, locations, technologies...etc. The problem is that a single person can't try all alternatives in all possibles life goals to compare. Thus, a person has to use his friends' expertise to select better option in any item category. This process is the main idea of “Recommendation Systems”. Recommendation systems usually depend on users-to-items ratings in a network (graph. Two main challenges for recommendation systems are accuracy of recommendation and computation size. The main objective of this paper is to introduce a suggested technique for transitive recommendation system based on users' collaborative ratings, and also to balance loading of computation. All this has to be applied on a special type of social network. Our work studied the transitivity usage in connections to get a relation (path as a recommendation for nodes not directly connected. The target social network has eight types of nodes. So, there are techniques that are not suitable to this complex type of network. Those we can present a new support for recommending items of several types to users with several types. We believe that this functionality hasn't been fully provided elsewhere. We have suggested using single source shortest path algorithm combined with Map Reduce technique, and mathematically deduced that we have a speeding up of algorithm by 10% approximately. Our testing results shows an accuracy of 89% and false rejection of 99% compared to traditional algorithms with less configuration parameters and more steady count of recommendations.

  7. Mining and representing recommendations in actively evolving recommender systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Assent, Ira

    2010-01-01

    Recommender systems provide an automatic means of filtering out interesting items, usually based on past similarity of user ratings. In previous work, we have suggested a model that allows users to actively build a recommender network. Users express trust, obtain transparency, and grow (anonymous......) recommender connections. In this work, we propose mining such active systems to generate easily understandable representations of the recommender network. Users may review these representations to provide active feedback. This approach further enhances the quality of recommendations, especially as topics...... of interest change over time. Most notably, it extends the amount of control users have over the model that the recommender network builds of their interests....

  8. Solar heating action plan; Solvarme handlingsplan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nielsen, Jan Erik

    2011-10-15

    This solar action plan should be seen as a follow-up to the Danish Energy Agency's solar heating strategy from 2007, which showed great potential and opportunities for exploitation and use of solar heat in Denmark. In relation to the strategy from 2007, this action plan adjusted the distribution of solar heat from district heating plants and individual plants, but it is still the objective of this action plan to achieve the strategy's overall goal for 2030. With the implementation of the Action Plan in early 2012, it is estimated that in 2030 there will be about. 10 million m2 of solar collectors in operation, 8 million m2 for district heating and 2 million m2 for individual heating, equivalent to an installed capacity totaling 7 GW. The budget for actions in the Action Plan is about 80 million DKK annually over the next 5 years to initiate and ensure this development. (LN)

  9. Brazilian union actions for workers' health protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolpho Repullo Junior

    Full Text Available CONTEXT: Many authors have emphasized the importance of worker strength through unionized organizations, in relation to the improvement of working procedures, and have reported on the decisiveness of labor movement actions in achieving modifications within the field of work and health. OBJECTIVE: To describe the ways in which Brazilian unions have tried to intervene in health-illness and work processes, identifying the existence of commonality in union actions in this field. TYPE OF STUDY: Qualitative study. SETTING: Postgraduate Program, Environmental Health Department, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Union health advisers and directors were interviewed. Documents relating to union action towards protecting workers' health were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Unions articulate actions regarding workers' health of a technical and political nature that involve many aspects and high complexity. These have been divided into thematic categories for better analysis. DISCUSSION: Union actions regarding workers' health in Brazil are restricted to some unions, located mainly in the southern, southeastern and northeastern regions of the country. Nonetheless, the unions undertaking such actions represent many professions of great economic and political importance. CONCLUSIONS: The recent changes in health and safety at work regulations, recognition of professional diseases, creation of workers' health services and programs within the unified health system, and operational improvements in companies' specialized safety and occupational medicine services, all basically result from union action. There is commonality of union action in this field in its seeking of technical and political strengthening for all workers and their general and local representation. This has the objective of benefiting collective bargaining between employers and workers. Inter-institutional action on behalf of workers' rights

  10. Strategic directions and actions for advanced practice nursing in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martha N. Hill

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a need and opportunity for China to develop education and practice innovations given that advance practice nurses (APNs improve health care and outcomes. The China Medical Board (CMB China Nursing Network (CCNN began planning for an Advanced Nursing Practice Program for education and career development that will facilitate CCNN's contributions to meeting national nursing policy priorities. This paper presents the discussion, recommendations and action plans developed at the inaugural planning meeting on June 26, 2015 at Fudan University in Shanghai. The recommendations are: Develop standards for advanced nursing practice; Develop Master's level curricula based on the standards; Commence pilot projects across a number of University affiliated hospitals; and Prepare clinical tutors and faculty. The strategic directions and actions are: Develop a clinical career ladder system; Expand the nursing role from hospital to community; and Build a specialty nurse accreditation system.

  11. Partition-based Collaborative Tensor Factorization for POI Recommendation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wenjing Luan; Guanjun Liu; Changjun Jiang; Liang Qi

    2017-01-01

    The rapid development of location-based social networks (LBSNs) provides people with an opportunity of better understanding their mobility behavior which enables them to decide their next location.For example,it can help travelers to choose where to go next,or recommend salesmen the most potential places to deliver advertisements or sell products.In this paper,a method for recommending points of interest (POIs) is proposed based on a collaborative tensor factorization (CTF) technique.Firstly,a generalized objective function is constructed for collaboratively factorizing a tensor with several feature matrices.Secondly,a 3-mode tensor is used to model all users' check-in behaviors,and three feature matrices are extracted to characterize the time distribution,category distribution and POI correlation,respectively.Thirdly,each user's preference to a POI at a specific time can be estimated by using CTF.In order to further improve the recommendation accuracy,PCTF (Partitionbased CTF) is proposed to fill the missing entries of a tensor after clustering its every mode.Experiments on a real checkin database show that the proposed method can provide more accurate location recommendation.

  12. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 568: Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2014-01-01

    CAU 568 is a grouping of sites where there has been a suspected release of contamination associated with nuclear testing. This document describes the planned investigation of CAU 568, which comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): • 03-23-17, S-3I Contamination Area • 03-23-19, T-3U Contamination Area • 03-23-20, Otero Contamination Area • 03-23-22, Platypus Contamination Area • 03-23-23, San Juan Contamination Area • 03-23-26, Shrew/Wolverine Contamination Area These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the investigation report.

  13. Personalised learning object based on multi-agent model and learners’ learning styles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noppamas Pukkhem

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available A multi-agent model is proposed in which learning styles and a word analysis technique to create a learning object recommendation system are used. On the basis of a learning style-based design, a concept map combination model is proposed to filter out unsuitable learning concepts from a given course. Our learner model classifies learners into eight styles and implements compatible computational methods consisting of three recommendations: i non-personalised, ii preferred feature-based, and iii neighbour-based collaborative filtering. The analysis of preference error (PE was performed by comparing the actual preferred learning object with the predicted one. In our experiments, the feature-based recommendation algorithm has the fewest PE.

  14. Active Affordance Learning in Continuous State and Action Spaces

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang, C.; Hindriks, K.V.; Babuska, R.

    2014-01-01

    Learning object affordances and manipulation skills is essential for developing cognitive service robots. We propose an active affordance learning approach in continuous state and action spaces without manual discretization of states or exploratory motor primitives. During exploration in the action

  15. Exploiting Three-Dimensional Gaze Tracking for Action Recognition During Bimanual Manipulation to Enhance Human–Robot Collaboration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza Haji Fathaliyan

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Human–robot collaboration could be advanced by facilitating the intuitive, gaze-based control of robots, and enabling robots to recognize human actions, infer human intent, and plan actions that support human goals. Traditionally, gaze tracking approaches to action recognition have relied upon computer vision-based analyses of two-dimensional egocentric camera videos. The objective of this study was to identify useful features that can be extracted from three-dimensional (3D gaze behavior and used as inputs to machine learning algorithms for human action recognition. We investigated human gaze behavior and gaze–object interactions in 3D during the performance of a bimanual, instrumental activity of daily living: the preparation of a powdered drink. A marker-based motion capture system and binocular eye tracker were used to reconstruct 3D gaze vectors and their intersection with 3D point clouds of objects being manipulated. Statistical analyses of gaze fixation duration and saccade size suggested that some actions (pouring and stirring may require more visual attention than other actions (reach, pick up, set down, and move. 3D gaze saliency maps, generated with high spatial resolution for six subtasks, appeared to encode action-relevant information. The “gaze object sequence” was used to capture information about the identity of objects in concert with the temporal sequence in which the objects were visually regarded. Dynamic time warping barycentric averaging was used to create a population-based set of characteristic gaze object sequences that accounted for intra- and inter-subject variability. The gaze object sequence was used to demonstrate the feasibility of a simple action recognition algorithm that utilized a dynamic time warping Euclidean distance metric. Averaged over the six subtasks, the action recognition algorithm yielded an accuracy of 96.4%, precision of 89.5%, and recall of 89.2%. This level of performance suggests that

  16. Failed fuel action plan guidelines: Special report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-11-01

    The objective of this document is to provide a generic guideline that can be used to formulate a failed fuel action plan (FFAP) for specific application by a utility. This document is intended to be part of a comprehensive fuel reliability monitoring, management, and improvement program. The utilities may utilize this document as one resource in developing a failed fuel action plan. This document is not intended to be used as a failed fuel action plan standard. This document is intended to provide guidance on: management responsibilities; fuel performance parameters; cost/benefit analysis; action levels; long-term improvement methods; and data collection, analysis, and trending. 3 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs

  17. Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity: An Integrative Review of Recent Recommendations from Five Expert Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirschenbaum, Daniel S.; Gierut, Kristen

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To compare and contrast 5 sets of expert recommendations about the treatment of childhood and adolescent obesity. Method: We reviewed 5 sets of recent expert recommendations: 2007 health care organizations' four stage model, 2007 Canadian clinical practice guidelines, 2008 Endocrine Society recommendations, 2009 seven step model, and…

  18. Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 105: Area 2 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick

    2013-09-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 105: Area 2 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada. CAU 105 comprises the following five corrective action sites (CASs): -02-23-04 Atmospheric Test Site - Whitney Closure In Place -02-23-05 Atmospheric Test Site T-2A Closure In Place -02-23-06 Atmospheric Test Site T-2B Clean Closure -02-23-08 Atmospheric Test Site T-2 Closure In Place -02-23-09 Atmospheric Test Site - Turk Closure In Place The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the recommendation that no further corrective action is needed for CAU 105 based on the implementation of the corrective actions. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from October 22, 2012, through May 23, 2013, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 105: Area 2 Yucca Flat Atmospheric Test Sites; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices.

  19. Lay Evaluation of Financial Experts: The Action Advice Effect and Confirmation Bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaleskiewicz, Tomasz; Gasiorowska, Agata; Stasiuk, Katarzyna; Maksymiuk, Renata; Bar-Tal, Yoram

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this experimental project was to investigate lay peoples' perceptions of epistemic authority (EA) in the field of finance. EA is defined as the extent to which a source of information is treated as evidence for judgments independently of its objective expertise and based on subjective beliefs. Previous research suggested that EA evaluations are biased and that lay people tend to ascribe higher EA to experts who advise action (in the case of medical experts) or confirm clients' expectations (in the case of politicians). However, there has been no research into biases in lay evaluations of financial experts and this project is aimed to fill this gap. Experiment 1 showed that lay people tended to ascribe greater authority to financial consultants who gave more active advice to clients considering taking out a mortgage. Experiment 2 confirmed the action advice effect found in Experiment 1. However, the outcomes of Experiments 2 and - particularly - 3 suggested that this bias might also be due to clients' desire to confirm their own opinions. Experiment 2 showed that the action advice effect was moderated by clients' own opinions on taking loans. Lay people ascribed the greatest EA to the advisor in the scenario in which he advised taking action and where this coincided with the client's positive opinion on the advisability of taking out a loan. In Experiment 3 only participants with a positive opinion on the financial product ascribed greater authority to experts who recommended it; participants whose opinion was negative tended to rate consultants who advised rejecting the product more highly. To conclude, these three experiments revealed that lay people ascribe higher EA to financial consultants who advise action rather than maintenance of the status quo , but this effect is limited by confirmation bias: when the client's a priori opinion is salient, greater authority is ascribed to experts whose advice confirms it. In this sense, results presented in the

  20. New England Energy Congress: A Blueprint for Energy Action. Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pratt, Robert L.; Mayer, Jean; Buckley, John G.; Connolly, Patrick F.; Spencer, Bailey

    1979-05-01

    The New England Energy Congress consists of six committees, with members from each of the six New England states. Since May 1978, the Congress has been working to frame and substantiate energy action recommendations. Committee jurisdictions include New England Energy Supply, Economic Development through Alternative Sources of Energy, New England Energy Demand, Energy Conservation, Regulatory and Institutional Processes, and Energy Economics and Financing. The findings and recommendations that have resulted from their work are summarized. (MCW)

  1. Third party objection and action against enforcement: Request for exclusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salma Marija

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with a right of a third party to prevent enforcement on the basis of a claim and evidence that rights or assets seized in enforcement proceeding belong to him (third party and not to the enforcement debtor. In most of jurisdictions that were subject of analysis of this paper, this right of a third party is exercised by filing an objection to the court conducting enforcement proceedings. The claim of the third party is directed towards the enforcement creditor as well as against the enforcement debtor. In the event the claim of the third party is being contested, the court instructs the third party to initiate litigation proceedings for determining whether the third party is entitled to exclusion of such rights or assets from enforcement, especially if such third party holds property rights or some other rights over the assets that are being subject to enforcement proceedings. In majority of analyzed jurisdictions, enforcement proceedings are being suspended provided the third party, in the objection being filed makes prima facie likely, on the basis of credible evidence, that his assets were seized in the enforcement proceedings. However, according to the law of the Republic of Serbia, a credible objection of a third party does not result in suspension of enforcement proceedings, something that is being criticized in this paper. As a result of this provision of the law, a bona fide third party is forced to endure the enforcement although his claim has been made likely and subsequently confirmed in the litigation proceedings. The author, in particular, points to the legal consequences of mala fide enforcement creditor that knew that the assets that are being subject of the enforcement proceedings do not belong to the enforcement debtor. The author is of the opinion that, in such cases, the enforcement creditor should be obliged to pay to the third party damages that such party suffered as a result of enforcement proceedings being

  2. Control room habitability study - findings and recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Driscoll, J.W.

    1987-01-01

    The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has raised a number of concerns related to control room habitability and has recommended actions which they believe could alleviate these concerns. As a result of the ACRS's concerns, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) in conjunction with the Offices of Research and Inspection and Enforcement, and the NRC regional offices, embarked upon a program to reevaluate Control Room Habitability. Argonne National Laboratory was contracted by the NRC to perform a Control Room Habitability Study on twelve licensed power reactors. The plants selected for the study were chosen based upon architect engineer, nuclear steam system supplier, utility, and plant location. The major findings of this study are included in this report along with generic recommendations of the review team that apply to control room HVAC systems. Although the study is not complete, at the time of publication of this report, the results obtained to date should be useful to persons responsible for Control Room Habitability in evaluating their own systems

  3. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (Rev. 0 / June 2003), Including Record of Technical Change No. 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2003-06-27

    This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives (CAAs) appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 536 consists of a single Corrective Action Site (CAS): 03-44-02, Steam Jenny Discharge. The CAU 536 site is being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of possible contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for CAS 03-44-02. The additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation (CAI) prior to evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for this CAS. The results of this field investigation are to be used to support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document. Record of Technical Change No. 1 is dated 3-2004.

  4. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 550: Smoky Contamination Area Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evenson, Grant

    2012-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 550 is located in Areas 7, 8, and 10 of the Nevada National Security Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. CAU 550, Smoky Contamination Area, comprises 19 corrective action sites (CASs). Based on process knowledge of the releases associated with the nuclear tests and radiological survey information about the location and shape of the resulting contamination plumes, it was determined that some of the CAS releases are co-located and will be investigated as study groups. This document describes the planned investigation of the following CASs (by study group): (1) Study Group 1, Atmospheric Test - CAS 08-23-04, Atmospheric Test Site T-2C; (2) Study Group 2, Safety Experiments - CAS 08-23-03, Atmospheric Test Site T-8B - CAS 08-23-06, Atmospheric Test Site T-8A - CAS 08-23-07, Atmospheric Test Site T-8C; (3) Study Group 3, Washes - Potential stormwater migration of contaminants from CASs; (4) Study Group 4, Debris - CAS 08-01-01, Storage Tank - CAS 08-22-05, Drum - CAS 08-22-07, Drum - CAS 08-22-08, Drums (3) - CAS 08-22-09, Drum - CAS 08-24-03, Battery - CAS 08-24-04, Battery - CAS 08-24-07, Batteries (3) - CAS 08-24-08, Batteries (3) - CAS 08-26-01, Lead Bricks (200) - CAS 10-22-17, Buckets (3) - CAS 10-22-18, Gas Block/Drum - CAS 10-22-19, Drum; Stains - CAS 10-22-20, Drum - CAS 10-24-10, Battery. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each study group. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed

  5. ICDF Complex Remedial Action Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    W. M. Heileson

    2007-09-26

    This Idaho CERCLA Disposal Facility (ICDF) Remedial Action Report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Section 6.2 of the INEEL CERCLA Disposal Facility Remedial Action Work Plan. The agency prefinal inspection of the ICDF Staging, Storage, Sizing, and Treatment Facility (SSSTF) was completed in June of 2005. Accordingly, this report has been developed to describe the construction activities completed at the ICDF along with a description of any modifications to the design originally approved for the facility. In addition, this report provides a summary of the major documents prepared for the design and construction of the ICDF, a discussion of relevant requirements and remedial action objectives, the total costs associated with the development and operation of the facility to date, and identification of necessary changes to the Agency-approved INEEL CERCLA Disposal Facility Remedial Action Work Plan and the ICDF Complex Operations and Maintenance Plan.

  6. 76 FR 10598 - Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Recommendations Received...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-25

    ... Information Technology to publish in the Federal Register and post on the internet all policy recommendations... for Health Information Technology (ONC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: Section 3002(e) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by the Health Information Technology...

  7. Streamlined approach for environmental restoration (SAFER) plan for corrective action unit 412: clean slate I plutonium dispersion (TTR) tonopah test range, Nevada, revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick K.

    2015-04-01

    This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan addresses the actions needed to achieve closure for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 412. CAU 412 is located on the Tonopah Test Range and consists of a single corrective action site (CAS), TA-23-01CS, Pu Contaminated Soil. There is sufficient information and historical documentation from previous investigations and the 1997 interim corrective action to recommend closure of CAU 412 using the SAFER process. Based on existing data, the presumed corrective action for CAU 412 is clean closure. However, additional data will be obtained during a field investigation to document and verify the adequacy of existing information and determine whether the CAU 412 closure objectives have been achieved. This SAFER Plan provides the methodology to gather the necessary information for closing the CAU.The following summarizes the SAFER activities that will support the closure of CAU 412:• Collect environmental samples from designated target populations to confirm or disprove the presence of contaminants of concern (COCs) as necessary to supplement existing information.• If no COCs are present, establish clean closure as the corrective action. • If COCs are present, the extent of contamination will be defined and further corrective actions will be evaluated with the stakeholders (NDEP, USAF).• Confirm the preferred closure option is sufficient to protect human health and the environment.

  8. Control room habitability study: findings and recommendations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Driscoll, J.W.

    1986-01-01

    The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has raised a number of concerns related to control room habitability and has recommended actions which they believe could alleviate these concerns. As a result of the ACRS's concerns, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) in conjunction with the Offices of Research and Inspection and Enforcement, and the NRC regional offices, embarked upon a program to reevaluate Control Room Habitability. Argonne National Laboratory was contracted by the NRC to perform a Control Room Habitability Study on twelve licensed power reactors. The plants selected for the study were chosen based upon architect engineer, nuclear steam system supplier, utility, and plant location. Participants in the study review the plant design as contained in the Updated Safety Analysis Report, Technical Specifications, Three Mile Island action item III.D.3.4 submittal on Control Room Habitability, NRC staff evaluation of the III.D.3.4 submittal, appropriate plant operating procedures, system drawings, and significant Licensee Event Reports on Loss of Cooling to the Control Room Envelope. A two-day visit is then made to the plant to determine if the as-built systems are built, operated, and surveillance performed as described in the documentation reviewed prior to the visit. The major findings of this study are included in this report along with generic recommendations of the review team that apply to control room HVAC systems. Although the study is not complete, at the time of publication of this report, the results obtained to date should be useful to persons responsible for Control Room Habitability in evaluating their own systems

  9. Nutrient Intake by Ultramarathon Runners: Can They Meet Recommendations?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wardenaar, F.C.; Vries, de J.H.M.; Witkamp, R.F.; Mensink, M.R.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate whether ultramarathon runners were able to meet nutrition recommendations during a training period and on a competition day. Methods: In preparation for a 60 or 120 km ultramarathon covering a varied terrain, male and female ultramarathon

  10. File 'Energy-climate actions in Sweden'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    In a first part, this publication briefly presents some basic data and information on Sweden (geography, population, economy, administrative organisation, powers of local authorities, local finances), the Swedish 'energy profile' (consumption, intensity, imports and exports), greenhouse gas emissions (total and per sector), and the energy-climate strategy (impacts of climate change, national climatic strategy, national measures, action framework for local authorities). The second part addresses one of these action frameworks, the Klimatkommunernas network. It describes this network, its objectives, and possibilities for communities to join it. It describes its activities: information, publication of a strategic document of climate-energy actions for municipalities, examples of projects. The third part presents experiments performed by different local communities (Kristianstad, Vaexjoe, Malmoe, and Lund). For each of them are presented: the energy strategy (objectives, strategy, adaptation, energy-climate follow-up, application and actual measures), and some specific measures. These specific examples can be integrated systems based on biogas and biomass, a zero fossil fuel objective with the use of renewable energies for heat and cold production, for electricity production and to improve energy efficiency, to promote green fuels in transports, to reduce the impact of transports on climate, a sustainable town planning, environmental management. Some features are then highlighted in the adopted approach for these examples: a systemic, collaborative, participative and communicative approach

  11. Sweden's environmental objectives - are we getting there. A progress report from the Swedish Environmental Objectives Council. de Facto 2004

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-06-01

    In April 1999 the Swedish Parliament adopted fifteen national environmental quality objectives, describing what quality and state of the environment and the natural and cultural resources of Sweden are ecologically sustainable in the long term. In a series of decisions from 2001 to 2003, Parliament has subsequently adopted a total of seventy-one interim targets, indicating the direction and timescale of the action to be taken to achieve the fifteen objectives. In this, its third annual report to the Government, the Environmental Objectives Council presents its appraisal of progress towards the objectives. The main body of the report deals with the fifteen environmental quality objectives. The fold-out diagram on the inside front cover gives a summary of the assessments made, symbolized by smiley and less cheerful faces. Our assessments answer the questions: Will the environmental quality objectives be achieved by 2020 (or 2050, as a first step, in the case of the climate objective), and will the interim targets be met within the time-frames laid down for each of them. This year's report also deals - very briefly - with the four broader issues, related to the objectives, that are referred to in the Environmental Objectives Bill: 'The Swedish Environmental Objectives - Interim Targets and Action Strategies' (2001). It is very important that the values and principles which these issues represent are pursued and upheld as efforts to implement the environmental objectives continue. In addition, de Facto 2004 offers a few glimpses of how businesses and local authorities are working to achieve a better environment. This chapter of the report is based on interviews and information from Sweden's county administrative boards. For further information about the country's environmental goals, readers are referred to the Environmental Objectives Portal, miljomal.nu. The ultimate aim of our endeavour to attain the environmental quality objectives is to ensure that the next

  12. Nuclear emergencies and protective actions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sjoeblom, Klaus

    1995-01-01

    Although technical improvements have increased the safety of new and old nuclear power plants, many simultaneous component failures and/or human errors are improbable but possible. Both the plant (on-site) and the nearby area (off-site) have emergency plans. Rescue service authorities are responsible of the off-site. The main protective actions are sheltering, evacuation and iodine ingestion. The Loviisa off-site emergency plan assumes that a major part of this population takes care of their own protective actions; Rescue service authorities can then concentrate on the coordination activities and to those people who need help. To be able to carry out the protective actions timely and effectively the people should have information on radiation risk and emergency planning. In case of a potential accident the local population should follow the rescue service information and know how to shelter and how to evacuate themselves. Though there are many stockpiles of iodine pellets in the area the rescue service authorities recommend that each household should purchase iodine pellets for their own need. The utility and the rescue service authorities have distributed information brochures to all homes within 30 km from Loviisa NPP since 1990. This brochure gives information on radiation and protective actions in case of an accident. Because the brochures might not stay available and so also the local telephone book contains this information

  13. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for the 92-Acre Area and Corrective Action Unit 111: Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2009-07-31

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan (CADD/CAP) has been prepared for the 92-Acre Area, the southeast quadrant of the Radioactive Waste Management Site, located in Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The 92-Acre Area includes Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 111, 'Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits.' Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) were developed for the 92-Acre Area, which includes CAU 111. The result of the DQO process was that the 92-Acre Area is sufficiently characterized to provide the input data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives (CAAs) without the collection of additional data. The DQOs are included as Appendix A of this document. This CADD/CAP identifies and provides the rationale for the recommended CAA for the 92-Acre Area, provides the plan for implementing the CAA, and details the post-closure plan. When approved, this CADD/CAP will supersede the existing Pit 3 (P03) Closure Plan, which was developed in accordance with Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 265, 'Interim Status Standards for Owners and Operators of Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities.' This document will also serve as the Closure Plan and the Post-Closure Plan, which are required by 40 CFR 265, for the 92-Acre Area. After closure activities are complete, a request for the modification of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit that governs waste management activities at the NTS will be submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to incorporate the requirements for post-closure monitoring. Four CAAs, ranging from No Further Action to Clean Closure, were evaluated for the 92-Acre Area. The CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. Based on the evaluation of the data used to develop the conceptual site model; a review of past, current, and future operations at the site; and the detailed and comparative

  14. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for the 92-Acre Area and Corrective Action Unit 111: Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan (CADD/CAP) has been prepared for the 92-Acre Area, the southeast quadrant of the Radioactive Waste Management Site, located in Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The 92-Acre Area includes Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 111, 'Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits.' Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) were developed for the 92-Acre Area, which includes CAU 111. The result of the DQO process was that the 92-Acre Area is sufficiently characterized to provide the input data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives (CAAs) without the collection of additional data. The DQOs are included as Appendix A of this document. This CADD/CAP identifies and provides the rationale for the recommended CAA for the 92-Acre Area, provides the plan for implementing the CAA, and details the post-closure plan. When approved, this CADD/CAP will supersede the existing Pit 3 (P03) Closure Plan, which was developed in accordance with Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 265, 'Interim Status Standards for Owners and Operators of Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities.' This document will also serve as the Closure Plan and the Post-Closure Plan, which are required by 40 CFR 265, for the 92-Acre Area. After closure activities are complete, a request for the modification of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit that governs waste management activities at the NTS will be submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to incorporate the requirements for post-closure monitoring. Four CAAs, ranging from No Further Action to Clean Closure, were evaluated for the 92-Acre Area. The CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. Based on the evaluation of the data used to develop the conceptual site model; a review of past, current, and future operations at the site; and the detailed and comparative analysis of the

  15. Exploiting Rating Abstention Intervals for Addressing Concept Drift in Social Network Recommender Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dionisis Margaris

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available One of the major problems that social networks face is the continuous production of successful, user-targeted information in the form of recommendations, which are produced exploiting technology from the field of recommender systems. Recommender systems are based on information about users’ past behavior to formulate recommendations about their future actions. However, as time goes by, social network users may change preferences and likings: they may like different types of clothes, listen to different singers or even different genres of music and so on. This phenomenon has been termed as concept drift. In this paper: (1 we establish that when a social network user abstains from rating submission for a long time, it is a strong indication that concept drift has occurred and (2 we present a technique that exploits the abstention interval concept, to drop from the database ratings that do not reflect the current social network user’s interests, thus improving prediction quality.

  16. Planning an action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gentilucci, M; Negrotti, A; Gangitano, M

    1997-06-01

    The motor control of a sequence of two motor acts forming an action was studied in the present experiment. The two analysed motor acts were reaching-grasping an object (first target) and placing it on a second target of the same shape and size (experiment 1). The aim was to determine whether extrinsic properties of the second target (i.e. target distance) could selectively influence the kinematics of reaching and grasping. Distance, position and size of both targets were randomly varied across the experimental session. The kinematics of the initial phase of the first motor act, that is, velocity of reaching and hand shaping of grasping, were influenced by distance of the second target. No kinematic difference was found between movements executed with and without visual control of both hand and targets. These results could be due to computation of the general program of an action that takes into account extrinsic properties of the final target. Conversely, they could depend on a visual interference effect produced by the near second target on the control of the first motor act. In order to dissociate the effects due to second target distance from those due to visual interference, two control experiments were carried out. In the first control experiment (experiment 2) subjects executed movements directed towards spatial locations at different distances from the first target, as in experiment 1. However, the near second target was not presented and subjects were required to place the object on an arbitrary near position. Distance of the second (either real or arbitrary) target affected the reaching component of the first motor act, as in experiment 1, but not the grasp component. In the second control experiment (experiment 3), the pure visual interference effect was tested. Subjects were required to reach and grasp the object and to lift it in either presence or absence of a second near stimulus. No effect on the initial phase of the first motor act was observed. The

  17. Recommendations for quality improvement in genetic testing for cystic fibrosis European Concerted Action on Cystic Fibrosis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dequeker, E; Cuppens, H; Dodge, J; Estivill, [No Value; Goossens, M; Pignatti, PF; Scheffer, H; Schwartz, M; Schwarz, M; Tummler, B; Cassiman, JJ

    These recommendations for quality improvement of cystic fibrosis genetic diagnostic testing provide general guidelines for the molecular genetic testing of cystic fibrosis in patients/individuals. General strategies for testing as well as guidelines for laboratory procedures, internal and external

  18. A vertex similarity index for better personalized recommendation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ling-Jiao; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Liu, Jin-Hu; Gao, Jian; Zhou, Tao

    2017-01-01

    Recommender systems benefit us in tackling the problem of information overload by predicting our potential choices among diverse niche objects. So far, a variety of personalized recommendation algorithms have been proposed and most of them are based on similarities, such as collaborative filtering and mass diffusion. Here, we propose a novel vertex similarity index named CosRA, which combines advantages of both the cosine index and the resource-allocation (RA) index. By applying the CosRA index to real recommender systems including MovieLens, Netflix and RYM, we show that the CosRA-based method has better performance in accuracy, diversity and novelty than some benchmark methods. Moreover, the CosRA index is free of parameters, which is a significant advantage in real applications. Further experiments show that the introduction of two turnable parameters cannot remarkably improve the overall performance of the CosRA index.

  19. The flux database concerted action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, N.G.; Donnelly, C.E.

    1999-01-01

    This paper summarizes the background to the UIR action on the development of a flux database for radionuclide transfer in soil-plant systems. The action is discussed in terms of the objectives, the deliverables and the progress achieved so far by the flux database working group. The paper describes the background to the current initiative and outlines specific features of the database and supporting documentation. Particular emphasis is placed on the proforma used for data entry, on the database help file and on the approach adopted to indicate data quality. Refs. 3 (author)

  20. Information actions in science and technology: institutionalities, agencies and subjects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Rabello

    Full Text Available Considering the influence of new agency forms - intervention and interaction among subjects - in the context of information intermediation, we aim to approach information actions in Science and Technology (S&T taking into consideration the institutionalities involved. For such, we assume there is an influence of a theoretical model emerging in Information Science (IS regarding current inventive and interactive form propitiated by the Web. The text is structured in two central topics bringing: i theoretical and epistemic constructions of the "information action" concept; and ii a certain interpretation oriented by the "informational action in S&T" construct, taking as its object the actions performed by IBICT (Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, directed towards excellence in information. Finally, we discuss how limitations of the "systemic model" propitiate the construction of new study objects in the model emerging in IS from theoretical innovations and counterpoints thoughts facing the diverse forms of information action, considering, for instance, the action of subjects on what concerns the validation of information in the current scenery of institutional intermediation.

  1. Some novelties and recommendations by swithing antipsychotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nika Aleksandra Kravos

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Clinical outcome of patients with severe mental disorders treated with antipsychotics depends on individual response to therapy, adverse events, physical health, maintaining of physical health and of the patient’s, interpersonal (patient - therapist, health and environmental features. Replacement of antipsychotics is a common therapeutic measure. The response depends on mostly unknown genetic factors, physiological particularities of the patient and its variations. This article summarizes the most important and the most recent pharmacological properties and consequences of cross-action of antipsychotics. It specifies the basic rules and ways of replacing antipsychotic drugs in different clinical situations, and summarizes alerts, recommendations and suggestions when changing antipsychotics.

  2. Mutual proximity graphs for improved reachability in music recommendation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flexer, Arthur; Stevens, Jeff

    2018-01-01

    This paper is concerned with the impact of hubness, a general problem of machine learning in high-dimensional spaces, on a real-world music recommendation system based on visualisation of a k-nearest neighbour (knn) graph. Due to a problem of measuring distances in high dimensions, hub objects are recommended over and over again while anti-hubs are nonexistent in recommendation lists, resulting in poor reachability of the music catalogue. We present mutual proximity graphs, which are an alternative to knn and mutual knn graphs, and are able to avoid hub vertices having abnormally high connectivity. We show that mutual proximity graphs yield much better graph connectivity resulting in improved reachability compared to knn graphs, mutual knn graphs and mutual knn graphs enhanced with minimum spanning trees, while simultaneously reducing the negative effects of hubness.

  3. ESPEN expert group recommendations for action against cancer-related malnutrition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arends, J; Baracos, V; Bertz, H; Bozzetti, F; Calder, P C; Deutz, N E P; Erickson, N; Laviano, A; Lisanti, M P; Lobo, D N; McMillan, D C; Muscaritoli, M; Ockenga, J; Pirlich, M; Strasser, F; de van der Schueren, M; Van Gossum, A; Vaupel, P; Weimann, A

    2017-10-01

    Patients with cancer are at particularly high risk for malnutrition because both the disease and its treatments threaten their nutritional status. Yet cancer-related nutritional risk is sometimes overlooked or under-treated by clinicians, patients, and their families. The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) recently published evidence-based guidelines for nutritional care in patients with cancer. In further support of these guidelines, an ESPEN oncology expert group met for a Cancer and Nutrition Workshop in Berlin on October 24 and 25, 2016. The group examined the causes and consequences of cancer-related malnutrition, reviewed treatment approaches currently available, and built the rationale and impetus for clinicians involved with care of patients with cancer to take actions that facilitate nutrition support in practice. The content of this position paper is based on presentations and discussions at the Berlin meeting. The expert group emphasized 3 key steps to update nutritional care for people with cancer: (1) screen all patients with cancer for nutritional risk early in the course of their care, regardless of body mass index and weight history; (2) expand nutrition-related assessment practices to include measures of anorexia, body composition, inflammatory biomarkers, resting energy expenditure, and physical function; (3) use multimodal nutritional interventions with individualized plans, including care focused on increasing nutritional intake, lessening inflammation and hypermetabolic stress, and increasing physical activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

  4. Mechanisms of action of lumbar supports : a systematic review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Poppel, M N; de Looze, M P; Koes, B W; Smid, T; Bouter, L M

    2000-01-01

    STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the putative mechanisms of action of lumbar supports in lifting activities. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the evidence bearing on the putative mechanisms of action of lumbar supports. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: A restriction of trunk

  5. Mechanisms of action of lumbar supports: a sytematic review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Poppel-Bruinvels, M.N.M.; de Looze, M.P.; Koes, B.W.; Smid, T.; Bouter, L.M.

    2000-01-01

    Study Design. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the putative mechanisms of action of lumbar supports in lifting activities. Objective. To summarize the evidence bearing on the putative mechanisms of action of lumbar supports. Summary of Background Data. A restriction of trunk

  6. 10 CFR 473.24 - Final action and certification by manager.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Final action and certification by manager. 473.24 Section... and certification by manager. (a) Upon consideration of the recommendation of the interagency review panel and other pertinent information, the manager— (1) Shall determine whether the research and...

  7. Personalized Learning Objects Recommendation Based on the Semantic-Aware Discovery and the Learner Preference Pattern

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tzone I; Tsai, Kun Hua; Lee, Ming Che; Chiu, Ti Kai

    2007-01-01

    With vigorous development of the Internet, especially the web page interaction technology, distant E-learning has become more and more realistic and popular. Digital courses may consist of many learning units or learning objects and, currently, many learning objects are created according to SCORM standard. It can be seen that, in the near future,…

  8. 2018 Update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of Behçet's syndrome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hatemi, Gulen; Christensen, Robin; Bang, Dongsik

    2018-01-01

    Several new treatment modalities with different mechanisms of action have been studied in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS). The aim of the current effort was to update the recommendations in the light of these new data under the auspices of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Stand...

  9. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 234: Mud Pits, Cellars, and Mud Spills, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grant Evenson

    2007-01-01

    Corrective Action Unit 234, Mud Pits, Cellars, and Mud Spills, consists of 12 inactive sites located in the north and northeast section of the NTS. The 12 CAU 234 sites consist of mud pits, mud spills, mud sumps, and an open post-test cellar. The CAU 234 sites were all used to support nuclear testing conducted in the Yucca Flat and Rainier Mesa areas during the 1950s through the 1970s. The CASs in CAU 234 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI before evaluating and selecting appropriate corrective action alternatives

  10. A review of recommendations for sequencing receptive and expressive language instruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petursdottir, Anna Ingeborg; Carr, James E

    2011-01-01

    We review recommendations for sequencing instruction in receptive and expressive language objectives in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs. Several books recommend completing receptive protocols before introducing corresponding expressive protocols. However, this recommendation has little empirical support, and some evidence exists that the reverse sequence may be more efficient. Alternative recommendations include teaching receptive and expressive skills simultaneously (M. L. Sundberg & Partington, 1998) and building learning histories that lead to acquisition of receptive and expressive skills without direct instruction (Greer & Ross, 2008). Empirical support for these recommendations also is limited. Future research should assess the relative efficiency of receptive-before-expressive, expressive-before-receptive, and simultaneous training with children who have diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders. In addition, further evaluation is needed of the potential benefits of multiple-exemplar training and other variables that may influence the efficiency of receptive and expressive instruction.

  11. Disposition of recommendations of the National Research Council in the report ''Revitalizing Nuclear Safety Research''

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-06-01

    On December 8, 1986, the Committee on Nuclear Safety Research of the National Research Council submitted its report, ''Revitalizing Nuclear Safety Research,'' to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Commission and its staff have carefully reviewed the Committee's report and have extensively examined the planning, implementation, and management of NRC research programs in order to respond most effectively to the Committee's recommendations. This report presents the Commission's view of the Committee's report and describes the actions that are under way in response to its recommendations

  12. Stimulation over primary motor cortex during action observation impairs effector recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naish, Katherine R; Barnes, Brittany; Obhi, Sukhvinder S

    2016-04-01

    Recent work suggests that motor cortical processing during action observation plays a role in later recognition of the object involved in the action. Here, we investigated whether recognition of the effector making an action is also impaired when transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) - thought to interfere with normal cortical activity - is applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) during action observation. In two experiments, single-pulse TMS was delivered over the hand area of M1 while participants watched short clips of hand actions. Participants were then asked whether an image (experiment 1) or a video (experiment 2) of a hand presented later in the trial was the same or different to the hand in the preceding video. In Experiment 1, we found that participants' ability to recognise static images of hands was significantly impaired when TMS was delivered over M1 during action observation, compared to when no TMS was delivered, or when stimulation was applied over the vertex. Conversely, stimulation over M1 did not affect recognition of dot configurations, or recognition of hands that were previously presented as static images (rather than action movie clips) with no object. In Experiment 2, we found that effector recognition was impaired when stimulation was applied part way through (300ms) and at the end (500ms) of the action observation period, indicating that 200ms of action-viewing following stimulation was not long enough to form a new representation that could be used for later recognition. The findings of both experiments suggest that interfering with cortical motor activity during action observation impairs subsequent recognition of the effector involved in the action, which complements previous findings of motor system involvement in object memory. This work provides some of the first evidence that motor processing during action observation is involved in forming representations of the effector that are useful beyond the action observation period

  13. Changes in management actions after the Hospital Accreditation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andréia Guerra Siman

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: to understand the changes in the management actions after the Hospital Accreditation. Methods: a case study. The study included 12 managers of a hospital accredited with excellence. Data collection was carried out with interviews with semi-structured and subjected to content analysis. Results: about changes in management actions were recorded significantly three categories: Work organization with quality tools; management actions before and after the accreditation; and challenges faced by modifying the management actions. Conclusion: accreditation mobilized changes in management actions with quality instruments of adoption used to organize the work and accountability of those involved in the process. However, there were challenges to be overcome to achieve accreditation by managers.

  14. 78 FR 66326 - Hazardous Materials: Rail Petitions and Recommendations To Improve the Safety of Railroad Tank...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-05

    ...: Rail Petitions and Recommendations To Improve the Safety of Railroad Tank Car Transportation (RRR) AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), DOT. ACTION: Advance Notice of... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 49 CFR Parts...

  15. Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 576: Miscellaneous Radiological Sites and Debris Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matthews, Patrick [Navarro, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

    2016-12-01

    Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 576 is located in Areas 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9 of the Nevada National Security Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. CAU 576 is a grouping of sites where there has been a suspected release of contamination associated with nuclear testing. This document describes the planned investigation of CAU 576, which comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs): 00-99-01, Potential Source Material; 02-99-12, U-2af (Kennebec) Surface Rad-Chem Piping; 03-99-20, Area 3 Subsurface Rad-Chem Piping; 05-19-04, Frenchman Flat Rad Waste Dump ; 09-99-08, U-9x (Allegheny) Subsurface Rad-Chem Piping; 09-99-09, U-9its u24 (Avens-Alkermes) Surface Contaminated Flex Line These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives (CAAs). Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating CAAs and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable CAAs that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD).

  16. Prefrontal and striatal activity related to values of objects and locations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soyoun eKim

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The value of an object acquired by a particular action often determines the motivation to produce that action. Previous studies found neural signals related to the values of different objects or goods in the orbitofrontal cortex, while the values of outcomes expected from different actions are broadly represented in multiple brain areas implicated in movement planning. However, how the brain combines the values associated with various objects and the information about their locations is not known. In this study, we tested whether the neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and striatum in rhesus monkeys might contribute to translating the value signals between multiple frames of reference. Monkeys were trained to perform an oculomotor intertemporal choice in which the color of a saccade target and the number of its surrounding dots signaled the magnitude of reward and its delay, respectively. In both DLPFC and striatum, temporally discounted values associated with specific target colors and locations were encoded by partially overlapping populations of neurons. In the DLPFC, the information about reward delays and temporally discounted values of rewards available from specific target locations emerged earlier than the corresponding signals for target colors. Similar results were reproduced by a simple network model built to compute temporally discounted values of rewards in different locations. Therefore, DLPFC might play an important role in estimating the values of different actions by combining the previously learned values of objects and their present locations.

  17. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for the 92-Acre Area and Corrective Action Unit 111: Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan (CADD/CAP) has been prepared for the 92-Acre Area, the southeast quadrant of the Radioactive Waste Management Site, located in Area 5 of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The 92-Acre Area includes Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 111, 'Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits.' Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) were developed for the 92-Acre Area, which includes CAU 111. The result of the DQO process was that the 92-Acre Area is sufficiently characterized to provide the input data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives (CAAs) without the collection of additional data. The DQOs are included as Appendix A of this document. This CADD/CAP identifies and provides the rationale for the recommended CAA for the 92-Acre Area, provides the plan for implementing the CAA, and details the post-closure plan. When approved, this CADD/CAP will supersede the existing Pit 3 (P03) Closure Plan, which was developed in accordance with Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 265, 'Interim Status Standards for Owners and Operators of Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities.' This document will also serve as the Closure Plan and the Post-Closure Plan, which are required by 40 CFR 265, for the 92-Acre Area. After closure activities are complete, a request for the modification of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit that governs waste management activities at the NNSS will be submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to incorporate the requirements for post-closure monitoring. Four CAAs, ranging from No Further Action to Clean Closure, were evaluated for the 92-Acre Area. The CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. Based on the evaluation of the data used to develop the conceptual site model; a review of past, current, and future operations at the site; and the detailed and comparative

  18. Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for the 92-Acre Area and Corrective Action Unit 111: Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NSTec Environmental Restoration

    2010-11-22

    This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan (CADD/CAP) has been prepared for the 92-Acre Area, the southeast quadrant of the Radioactive Waste Management Site, located in Area 5 of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The 92-Acre Area includes Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 111, 'Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits.' Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) were developed for the 92-Acre Area, which includes CAU 111. The result of the DQO process was that the 92-Acre Area is sufficiently characterized to provide the input data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives (CAAs) without the collection of additional data. The DQOs are included as Appendix A of this document. This CADD/CAP identifies and provides the rationale for the recommended CAA for the 92-Acre Area, provides the plan for implementing the CAA, and details the post-closure plan. When approved, this CADD/CAP will supersede the existing Pit 3 (P03) Closure Plan, which was developed in accordance with Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 265, 'Interim Status Standards for Owners and Operators of Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities.' This document will also serve as the Closure Plan and the Post-Closure Plan, which are required by 40 CFR 265, for the 92-Acre Area. After closure activities are complete, a request for the modification of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit that governs waste management activities at the NNSS will be submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to incorporate the requirements for post-closure monitoring. Four CAAs, ranging from No Further Action to Clean Closure, were evaluated for the 92-Acre Area. The CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. Based on the evaluation of the data used to develop the conceptual site model; a review of past, current, and future operations at the site; and the detailed

  19. Torus actions and their applications in topology and combinatorics

    CERN Document Server

    Buchstaber, Victor M

    2002-01-01

    The book presents the study of torus actions on topological spaces is presented as a bridge connecting combinatorial and convex geometry with commutative and homological algebra, algebraic geometry, and topology. This established link helps in understanding the geometry and topology of a space with torus action by studying the combinatorics of the space of orbits. Conversely, subtle properties of a combinatorial object can be realized by interpreting it as the orbit structure for a proper manifold or as a complex acted on by a torus. The latter can be a symplectic manifold with Hamiltonian torus action, a toric variety or manifold, a subspace arrangement complement, etc., while the combinatorial objects include simplicial and cubical complexes, polytopes, and arrangements. This approach also provides a natural topological interpretation in terms of torus actions of many constructions from commutative and homological algebra used in combinatorics. The exposition centers around the theory of moment-angle comple...

  20. Diversity Programme 2012-2014 Strategic Objectives - Progress Report

    CERN Document Server

    Guinot, Genevieve

    2015-01-01

    According to the process described in the Diversity Policy, strategic objectives for the Diversity Programme were decided by the Director-General, after consultation with the Enlarged Directorate, in the form of short- and longer-term objectives set over the period 2012-2014 along with key performance indicators. The strategic objectives are related to all dimensions of diversity and are implemented across the three main axes of recruitment, career development and work environment, through pro-active measures (rather than positive discrimination). This report highlights actions undertaken in pursuit of these objectives during the period 2012-2014 and the related achievements.