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Sample records for optimal unit commitment

  1. Modeling and Optimization of the Medium-Term Units Commitment of Thermal Power

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengli Liao

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Coal-fired thermal power plants, which represent the largest proportion of China’s electric power system, are very sluggish in responding to power system load demands. Thus, a reasonable and feasible scheme for the medium-term optimal commitment of thermal units (MOCTU can ensure that the generation process runs smoothly and minimizes the start-up and shut-down times of thermal units. In this paper, based on the real-world and practical demands of power dispatch centers in China, a flexible mathematical model for MOCTU that uses equal utilization hours for the installed capacity of all thermal power plants as the optimization goal and that considers the award hours for MOCTU is developed. MOCTU is a unit commitment (UC problem with characteristics of large-scale, high dimensions and nonlinearity. For optimization, an improved progressive optimality algorithm (IPOA offering the advantages of POA is adopted to overcome the drawback of POA of easily falling into the local optima. In the optimization process, strategies of system operating capacity equalization and single station operating peak combination are introduced to move the target solution from the boundary constraints along the target isopleths into the feasible solution’s interior to guarantee the global optima. The results of a case study consisting of nine thermal power plants with 27 units show that the presented algorithm can obtain an optimal solution and is competent in solving the MOCTU with high efficiency and accuracy as well as that the developed simulation model can be applied to practical engineering needs.

  2. Smart house-based optimal operation of thermal unit commitment for a smart grid considering transmission constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howlader, Harun Or Rashid; Matayoshi, Hidehito; Noorzad, Ahmad Samim; Muarapaz, Cirio Celestino; Senjyu, Tomonobu

    2018-05-01

    This paper presents a smart house-based power system for thermal unit commitment programme. The proposed power system consists of smart houses, renewable energy plants and conventional thermal units. The transmission constraints are considered for the proposed system. The generated power of the large capacity renewable energy plant leads to the violated transmission constraints in the thermal unit commitment programme, therefore, the transmission constraint should be considered. This paper focuses on the optimal operation of the thermal units incorporated with controllable loads such as Electrical Vehicle and Heat Pump water heater of the smart houses. The proposed method is compared with the power flow in thermal units operation without controllable loads and the optimal operation without the transmission constraints. Simulation results show the validation of the proposed method.

  3. Unit commitment with probabilistic reserve: An IPSO approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Tsung-Ying; Chen, Chun-Lung

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents a new algorithm for solution of the nonlinear optimal scheduling problem. This algorithm is named the iteration particle swarm optimization (IPSO). A new index, called iteration best, is incorporated into particle swarm optimization (PSO) to improve the solution quality and computation efficiency. IPSO is applied to solve the unit commitment with probabilistic reserve problem of a power system. The outage cost as well as fuel cost of thermal units was considered in the unit commitment program to evaluate the level of spinning reserve. The optimal scheduling of on line generation units was reached while minimizing the sum of fuel cost and outage cost. A 48 unit power system was used as a numerical example to test the new algorithm. The optimal scheduling of on line generation units could be reached in the testing results while satisfying the requirement of the objective function

  4. Scalable unit commitment by memory-bounded ant colony optimization with A{sup *} local search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saber, Ahmed Yousuf; Alshareef, Abdulaziz Mohammed [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589 (Saudi Arabia)

    2008-07-15

    Ant colony optimization (ACO) is successfully applied in optimization problems. Performance of the basic ACO for small problems with moderate dimension and searching space is satisfactory. As the searching space grows exponentially in the large-scale unit commitment problem, the basic ACO is not applicable for the vast size of pheromone matrix of ACO in practical time and physical computer-memory limit. However, memory-bounded methods prune the least-promising nodes to fit the system in computer memory. Therefore, the authors propose memory-bounded ant colony optimization (MACO) in this paper for the scalable (no restriction for system size) unit commitment problem. This MACO intelligently solves the limitation of computer memory, and does not permit the system to grow beyond a bound on memory. In the memory-bounded ACO implementation, A{sup *} heuristic is introduced to increase local searching ability and probabilistic nearest neighbor method is applied to estimate pheromone intensity for the forgotten value. Finally, the benchmark data sets and existing methods are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. (author)

  5. Solving unit commitment and economic load dispatch problems ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) and Unit Commitment (UC) are very important applications to predict the optimized cost of load in a power system. UC determines working states for existing generating units under some operational constraints and then optimizing the operation cost for all running units w.r.t. load demand ...

  6. Unit Commitment Towards Decarbonized Network Facing Fixed and Stochastic Resources Applying Water Cycle Optimization

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    Heba-Allah I. ElAzab

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a trustworthy unit commitment study to schedule both Renewable Energy Resources (RERs with conventional power plants to potentially decarbonize the electrical network. The study has employed a system with three IEEE thermal (coal-fired power plants as dispatchable distributed generators, one wind plant, one solar plant as stochastic distributed generators, and Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs which can work either loads or generators based on their charging schedule. This paper investigates the unit commitment scheduling objective to minimize the Combined Economic Emission Dispatch (CEED. To reduce combined emission costs, integrating more renewable energy resources (RER and PEVs, there is an essential need to decarbonize the existing system. Decarbonizing the system means reducing the percentage of CO2 emissions. The uncertain behavior of wind and solar energies causes imbalance penalty costs. PEVs are proposed to overcome the intermittent nature of wind and solar energies. It is important to optimally integrate and schedule stochastic resources including the wind and solar energies, and PEVs charge and discharge processes with dispatched resources; the three IEEE thermal (coal-fired power plants. The Water Cycle Optimization Algorithm (WCOA is an efficient and intelligent meta-heuristic technique employed to solve the economically emission dispatch problem for both scheduling dispatchable and stochastic resources. The goal of this study is to obtain the solution for unit commitment to minimize the combined cost function including CO2 emission costs applying the Water Cycle Optimization Algorithm (WCOA. To validate the WCOA technique, the results are compared with the results obtained from applying the Dynamic Programming (DP algorithm, which is considered as a conventional numerical technique, and with the Genetic Algorithm (GA as a meta-heuristic technique.

  7. Optimal unit commitment of the power system in Bulgaria during the transitional period to power wholesale market (cont..)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoilov, D.

    2001-01-01

    The first part of the parer considers the general problem of optimal yearly unit commitment in the new economical conditions in Bulgaria. The second part deals with non-convex problem , taking into account some costs for starting and stopping of power systems. The transition from yearly commitment to weekly or daily dispatching is commented

  8. Stochastic Unit Commitment via Progressive Hedging - Extensive Analysis of Solution Methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ordoudis, Christos; Pinson, Pierre; Zugno, Marco

    2015-01-01

    Owing to the massive deployment of renewable power production units over the last couple of decades, the use of stochastic optimization methods to solve the unit commitment problem has gained increasing attention. Solving stochastic unit commitment problems in large-scale power systems requires h...

  9. Optimal Thermal Unit Commitment Solution integrating Renewable Energy with Generator Outage

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    S. Sivasakthi

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The increasing concern of global climate changes, the promotion of renewable energy sources, primarily wind generation, is a welcome move to reduce the pollutant emissions from conventional power plants. Integration of wind power generation with the existing power network is an emerging research field. This paper presents a meta-heuristic algorithm based approach to determine the feasible dispatch solution for wind integrated thermal power system. The Unit Commitment (UC process aims to identify the best feasible generation scheme of the committed units such that the overall generation cost is reduced, when subjected to a variety of constraints at each time interval. As the UC formulation involves many variables and system and operational constraints, identifying the best solution is still a research task. Nowadays, it is inevitable to include power system reliability issues in operation strategy. The generator failure and malfunction are the prime influencing factor for reliability issues hence they have considered in UC formulation of wind integrated thermal power system. The modern evolutionary algorithm known as Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO algorithm is applied to solve the intended UC problem. The potential of the GWO algorithm is validated by the standard test systems. Besides, the ramp rate limits are also incorporated in the UC formulation. The simulation results reveal that the GWO algorithm has the capability of obtaining economical resolutions with good solution quality.

  10. A Comparative Study of Fuzzy Logic, Genetic Algorithm, and Gradient-Genetic Algorithm Optimization Methods for Solving the Unit Commitment Problem

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    Sahbi Marrouchi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the continuous increase of the population and the perpetual progress of industry, the energy management presents nowadays a relevant topic that concerns researchers in electrical engineering. Indeed, in order to establish a good exploitation of the electrical grid, it is necessary to solve technical and economic problems. This can only be done through the resolution of the Unit Commitment Problem. Unit Commitment Problem allows optimizing the combination of the production units’ states and determining their production planning, in order to satisfy the expected consumption with minimal cost during a specified period which varies usually from 24 hours to one week. However, each production unit has some constraints that make this problem complex, combinatorial, and nonlinear. This paper presents a comparative study between a strategy based on hybrid gradient-genetic algorithm method and two strategies based on metaheuristic methods, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithm, in order to predict the combinations and the unit commitment scheduling of each production unit in one side and to minimize the total production cost in the other side. To test the performance of the optimization proposed strategies, strategies have been applied to the IEEE electrical network 14 busses and the obtained results are very promising.

  11. Thunderstorm Algorithm for Determining Unit Commitment in Power System Operation

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    Arif Nur Afandi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Solving the unit commitment problem is an important task in power system operation for deciding a balanced power production between various types of generating units under technical constraints and environmental limitations. This paper presents a new intelligent computation method, called the Thunderstorm Algorithm (TA, for searching the optimal solution of the integrated economic and emission dispatch (IEED problem as the operational assessment for determining unit commitment. A simulation using the IEEE-62 bus system showed that TA has smooth convergence and is applicable for solving the IEED problem. The IEED’s solution is associated with the total fuel consumption and pollutant emission. The proposed TA method seems to be a viable new approach for finding the optimal solution of the IEED problem.

  12. Unit Commitment for Systems With Significant Wind Penetration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tuohy, Aidan; Meibom, Peter; Denny, E.

    2009-01-01

    The stochastic nature of wind alters the unit commitment and dispatch problem. By accounting for this uncertainty when scheduling the system, more robust schedules are produced, which should, on average, reduce expected costs. In this paper, the effects of stochastic wind and load on the unit...... commitment and dispatch of power systems with high levels of wind power are examined. By comparing the costs, planned operation and performance of the schedules produced, it is shown that stochastic optimization results in less costly, of the order of 0.25%, and better performing schedules than deterministic...... optimization. The impact of planning the system more frequently to account for updated wind and load forecasts is then examined. More frequent planning means more up to date forecasts are used, which reduces the need for reserve and increases performance of the schedules. It is shown that mid-merit and peaking...

  13. Dataset for case studies of hydropower unit commitment

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    Jinwen Wang

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the data all needed for nine case studies of hydropower unit commitment, which determines the optimal operating zones and generating discharges of units after the quarter-hourly releases and water heads are derived by the operation of cascaded hydropower reservoirs. The power output function and feasible operating zones of units are provided, and optimization solvers are used to acquire the results in detail for the case studies, including the quarter-hourly generating discharges, power generations, as well as operating zones of individual units. Performance indices, including the spillage, energy production, and the low-efficiency generating rate, are summarized for all case studies and can be readily used for comparison between algorithms in future.

  14. Improved Genetic Algorithm-Based Unit Commitment Considering Uncertainty Integration Method

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    Kyu-Hyung Jo

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In light of the dissemination of renewable energy connected to the power grid, it has become necessary to consider the uncertainty in the generation of renewable energy as a unit commitment (UC problem. A methodology for solving the UC problem is presented by considering various uncertainties, which are assumed to have a normal distribution, by using a Monte Carlo simulation. Based on the constructed scenarios for load, wind, solar, and generator outages, a combination of scenarios is found that meets the reserve requirement to secure the power balance of the power grid. In those scenarios, the uncertainty integration method (UIM identifies the best combination by minimizing the additional reserve requirements caused by the uncertainty of power sources. An integration process for uncertainties is formulated for stochastic unit commitment (SUC problems and optimized by the improved genetic algorithm (IGA. The IGA is composed of five procedures and finds the optimal combination of unit status at the scheduled time, based on the determined source data. According to the number of unit systems, the IGA demonstrates better performance than the other optimization methods by applying reserve repairing and an approximation process. To account for the result of the proposed method, various UC strategies are tested with a modified 24-h UC test system and compared.

  15. Multi-objective unit commitment with wind penetration and emission concerns under stochastic and fuzzy uncertainties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Bo; Wang, Shuming; Zhou, Xianzhong; Watada, Junzo

    2016-01-01

    Recent years have witnessed the ever increasing renewable penetration in power generation systems, which entails modern unit commitment problems with modelling and computation burdens. This study aims to simulate the impacts of manifold uncertainties on system operation with emission concerns. First, probability theory and fuzzy set theory are applied to jointly represent the uncertainties such as wind generation, load fluctuation and unit outage that interleaved in unit commitment problems. Second, a Value-at-Risk-based multi-objective approach is developed as a bridge of existing stochastic and robust unit commitment optimizations, which not only captures the inherent conflict between operation cost and supply reliability, but also provides easy-to-adjust robustness against worst-case scenarios. Third, a multi-objective algorithm that integrates fuzzy simulation and particle swarm optimization is developed to achieve approximate Pareto-optimal solutions. The research effectiveness is exemplified by two case studies: The comparison between test systems with and without generation uncertainty demonstrates that this study is practicable and can suggest operational insights of generation mix systems. The sensitivity analysis on Value-at-Risk proves that our method can achieve adequate tradeoff between performance optimality and robustness, thus help system operators in making informed decisions. Finally, the model and algorithm comparisons also justify the superiority of this research. - Highlights: • Probability theory and fuzzy set theory are used to describe different uncertainties. • A Value-at-Risk-based multi-objective unit commitment model is proposed. • An improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed. • The model achieves adequate trade-off between performance optimality and robustness. • The algorithm can obtain convergent and diversified Pareto fronts.

  16. Practical Robust Optimization Method for Unit Commitment of a System with Integrated Wind Resource

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    Yuanchao Yang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Unit commitment, one of the significant tasks in power system operations, faces new challenges as the system uncertainty increases dramatically due to the integration of time-varying resources, such as wind. To address these challenges, we propose the formulation and solution of a generalized unit commitment problem for a system with integrated wind resources. Given the prespecified interval information acquired from real central wind forecasting system for uncertainty representation of nodal wind injections with their correlation information, the proposed unit commitment problem solution is computationally tractable and robust against all uncertain wind power injection realizations. We provide a solution approach to tackle this problem with complex mathematical basics and illustrate the capabilities of the proposed mixed integer solution approach on the large-scale power system of the Northwest China Grid. The numerical results demonstrate that the approach is realistic and not overly conservative in terms of the resulting dispatch cost outcomes.

  17. Commitment and dispatch of heat and power units via affinely adjustable robust optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zugno, Marco; Morales González, Juan Miguel; Madsen, Henrik

    2016-01-01

    compromising computational tractability. We perform an extensive numerical study based on data from the Copenhagen area in Denmark, which highlights important features of the proposed model. Firstly, we illustrate commitment and dispatch choices that increase conservativeness in the robust optimization...... and conservativeness of the solution. Finally, we perform a thorough comparison with competing models based on deterministic optimization and stochastic programming. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

  18. Neural Based Tabu Search method for solving unit commitment problem with cooling-banking constraints

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    Rajan Asir Christober Gnanakkan Charles

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach to solve short-term unit commitment problem (UCP using Neural Based Tabu Search (NBTS with cooling and banking constraints. The objective of this paper is to find the generation scheduling such that the total operating cost can be minimized, when subjected to a variety of constraints. This also means that it is desirable to find the optimal generating unit commitment in the power system for next H hours. A 7-unit utility power system in India demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach; extensive studies have also been performed for different IEEE test systems consist of 10, 26 and 34 units. Numerical results are shown to compare the superiority of the cost solutions obtained using the Tabu Search (TS method, Dynamic Programming (DP and Lagrangian Relaxation (LR methods in reaching proper unit commitment.

  19. An efficient chaos embedded hybrid approach for hydro-thermal unit commitment problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuan, Xiaohui; Ji, Bin; Yuan, Yanbin; Ikram, Rana M.; Zhang, Xiaopan; Huang, Yuehua

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermal unit commitment is considered in hydrothermal generation scheduling (SHTGS). • Two newly proposed promising optimization algorithms are combined to solving SHTGS. • The proposed method is enhanced by integrating a chaotic local search strategy. • Heuristic search strategies are applied to handle the constraints of the SHTGS. • The results verify the proposed method is feasible and efficient for handling SHTGS. - Abstract: This paper establishes a model to deal with the short-term hydrothermal generation scheduling (SHTGS) problem. The problem is composed of three interconnected parts: short-term hydrothermal coordination, thermal unit commitment and economic load dispatch. An efficient hybrid method composed of chaotic backtracking search optimization algorithm and binary charged system search algorithm (CBSA–BCSS) is proposed to solve this problem. In order to analyze the effect of the chaotic map on the performance of the method, three different chaotic maps are adopted to integrate into the proposed method and the corresponding consequences are achieved. Furthermore, efficient heuristic search strategies are adopted to handle with the complicated constraints of the SHTGS system. Finally, a hydrothermal unit commitment system is utilized to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the hybrid optimization method and the appropriation of the constraint handling strategies. The comparison of the solutions achieved by different methods shows that the proposed method has higher efficiency in terms of solving SHTGS problem

  20. An evolutionary programming based simulated annealing method for solving the unit commitment problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christober Asir Rajan, C. [Department of EEE, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry 605014 (India); Mohan, M.R. [Department of EEE, Anna University, Chennai 600 025 (India)

    2007-09-15

    This paper presents a new approach to solve the short-term unit commitment problem using an evolutionary programming based simulated annealing method. The objective of this paper is to find the generation scheduling such that the total operating cost can be minimized, when subjected to a variety of constraints. This also means that it is desirable to find the optimal generating unit commitment in the power system for the next H hours. Evolutionary programming, which happens to be a global optimisation technique for solving unit commitment Problem, operates on a system, which is designed to encode each unit's operating schedule with regard to its minimum up/down time. In this, the unit commitment schedule is coded as a string of symbols. An initial population of parent solutions is generated at random. Here, each schedule is formed by committing all the units according to their initial status (''flat start''). Here the parents are obtained from a pre-defined set of solution's, i.e. each and every solution is adjusted to meet the requirements. Then, a random recommitment is carried out with respect to the unit's minimum down times. And SA improves the status. The best population is selected by evolutionary strategy. The Neyveli Thermal Power Station (NTPS) Unit-II in India demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach; extensive studies have also been performed for different power systems consists of 10, 26, 34 generating units. Numerical results are shown comparing the cost solutions and computation time obtained by using the Evolutionary Programming method and other conventional methods like Dynamic Programming, Lagrangian Relaxation and Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search in reaching proper unit commitment. (author)

  1. Column Generation for Transmission Switching of Electricity Networks with Unit Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villumsen, Jonas Christoffer; Philpott, Andy B.

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents the problem of finding the minimum cost dispatch and commitment of power generation units in a transmission network with active switching.We use the term active switching to denote the use of switches to optimize network topology in an operational context. We propose a Dantzig...

  2. Theoretical Investigation of Combined Use of PSO, Tabu Search and Lagrangian Relaxation methods to solve the Unit Commitment Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sahbi Marrouchi

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Solving the Unit Commitment problem (UCP optimizes the combination of production units operations and determines the appropriate operational scheduling of each production units to satisfy the expected consumption which varies from one day to one month. Besides, each production unit is conducted to constraints that render this problem complex, combinatorial and nonlinear. In this paper, we proposed a new strategy based on the combination three optimization methods: Tabu search, Particle swarm optimization and Lagrangian relaxation methods in order to develop a proper unit commitment scheduling of the production units while reducing the production cost during a definite period. The proposed strategy has been implemented on a the IEEE 9 bus test system containing 3 production unit and the results were promising compared to strategies based on meta-heuristic and deterministic methods.

  3. EP BASED PSO METHOD FOR SOLVING PROFIT BASED MULTI AREA UNIT COMMITMENT PROBLEM

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    K. VENKATESAN

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach to solve the profit based multi area unit commitment problem (PBMAUCP using an evolutionary programming based particle swarm optimization (EPPSO method. The objective of this paper is to maximize the profit of generation companies (GENCOs with considering system social benefit. The proposed method helps GENCOs to make a decision, how much power and reserve should be sold in markets, and how to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. Joint operation of generation resources can result in significant operational cost savings. Power transfer between the areas through the tie lines depends upon the operating cost of generation at each hour and tie line transfer limits. The tie line transfer limits were considered as a set of constraints during optimization process to ensure the system security and reliability. The overall algorithm can be implemented on an IBM PC, which can process a fairly large system in a reasonable period of time. Case study of four areas with different load pattern each containing 7 units (NTPS and 26 units connected via tie lines have been taken for analysis. Numerical results showed comparing the profit of evolutionary programming-based particle swarm optimization method (EPPSO with conventional dynamic programming (DP, evolutionary programming (EP, and particle swarm optimization (PSO method. Experimental results shows that the application of this evolutionary programming based particle swarm optimization method have the potential to solve profit based multi area unit commitment problem with lesser computation time.

  4. Penerapan Batas Ramp-Rate dengan Menggunakan Kombinasi Metode FDP (Forward Dynamic Programming dan QP (Quadratic Programming Pada Unit Commitment-Economic Dispatch

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    Riza Fahmi Andriyanto

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Kebutuhan akan energi listrik terus menigkat seiring dengan perkembangan teknologi. meningkatnya beban listrik ini harus diimbangi dengan penambahan daya yang dibangkitkan. Hal ini sangat berpengaruh pada penjadwalan unit pembangkit yang harus ditentukan dengan baik agar didapatkan pembangkitan yang optimal. Pada Tugas Akhir ini mengambil topik mengenai unit commitment dan economic dispatch dengan mempertimbangkan nilai dari batasan generator (ramp-rate. Metode yang digunakan adalah complete enumeration dengan forward dynamic programming pada unit commitment dan quadratic programming pada economic dispatch. Metode - metode tersebut diterapkan dalam pemrograman matlab sehingga dapat dijadikan suatu program perhitungan unit commitment dan economic dispatch dengan mempertimbangkan nilai batasan ramp-rate. Dengan metode tersebut, diharapkan permasalahan penjadwalan unit pembangkit dapat terselesaikan dengan baik dan optimal sehingga memperoleh total biaya pembangkitan yang ekonomis.

  5. Day-Ahead Coordination of Vehicle-to-Grid Operation and Wind Power in Security Constraints Unit Commitment (SCUC)

    OpenAIRE

    Mohammad Javad Abdollahi; Majid Moazzami

    2015-01-01

    In this paper security constraints unit commitment (SCUC) in the presence of wind power resources and electrical vehicles to grid is presented. SCUC operation prepare an optimal time table for generation unit commitment in order to maximize security, minimize operation cost and satisfy the constraints of networks and units in a period of time, as one of the most important research interest in power systems. Today, the relationship between power network and energy storage systems is interested...

  6. A new three-stage method for solving unit commitment problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khanmohammadi, S.; Amiri, M.; Haque, M. Tarafdar [Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, P.O. Box 51665-343, Tabriz (Iran)

    2010-07-15

    This paper presents a new Three-Stage (THS) approach for solving Unit Commitment (UC) problem. The proposed method has a simple procedure to get at favorite solutions in a feasible duration of time by producing a primal schedule of status of units at the first step. In the second step the operating units take hourly values by doing Economic Dispatch (ED) on them via a hybrid serial algorithm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Nelder-Mead (NM) algorithms. In spite of the acceptable solutions obtained by these two stages, the presented method takes another step called the solution modification process (SMP) to reach a more suitable solution. The simulation results over some standard cases of UC problem confirm that this method produces robust solutions and generally gets appropriate near-optimal solutions. (author)

  7. A PSO based Artificial Neural Network approach for short term unit commitment problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AFTAB AHMAD

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Unit commitment (UC is a non-linear, large scale, complex, mixed-integer combinatorial constrained optimization problem. This paper proposes, a new hybrid approach for generating unit commitment schedules using swarm intelligence learning rule based neural network. The training data has been generated using dynamic programming for machines without valve point effects and using genetic algorithm for machines with valve point effects. A set of load patterns as inputs and the corresponding unit generation schedules as outputs are used to train the network. The neural network fine tunes the best results to the desired targets. The proposed approach has been validated for three thermal machines with valve point effects and without valve point effects. The results are compared with the approaches available in the literature. The PSO-ANN trained model gives better results which show the promise of the proposed methodology.

  8. Hidden power system inflexibilities imposed by traditional unit commitment formulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morales-España, Germán; Ramírez-Elizondo, Laura; Hobbs, Benjamin F.

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Quality and accuracy of traditional-energy- and power-based UCs are evaluated. • Real-time performance evaluation simulating “perfect” stochastic UCs. • Ideal energy-based stochastic UC formulations impose hidden system inflexibilities. • A deterministic power-based UC may outperform an ideal energy-based stochastic UC. • Power-based UC overcomes flaws of energy-based UC: lower cost and wind curtailment. - Abstract: Approximations made in traditional day-ahead unit commitment model formulations can result in suboptimal or even infeasible schedules for slow-start units and inaccurate predictions of actual costs and wind curtailment. With increasing wind penetration, these errors will become economically more significant. Here, we consider inaccuracies from three approximations: the use of hourly intervals in which energy production from each generator is modeled as being constant; the disregarding of startup and shutdown energy trajectories; and optimization based on expected wind profiles. The results of unit commitment formulations with those assumptions are compared to models that: (1) use a piecewise-linear power profiles of generation, load and wind, instead of the traditional stepwise energy profiles; (2) consider startup/shutdown trajectories; and (3) include many possible wind trajectories in a stochastic framework. The day-ahead hourly schedules of slow-start generators are then evaluated against actual wind and load profiles using a model real-time dispatch and quick-start unit commitment with a 5 min time step. We find that each simplification usually causes expected generation costs to increase by several percentage points, and results in significant understatement of expected wind curtailment and, in some cases, load interruptions. The inclusion of startup and shutdown trajectories often yielded the largest improvements in schedule performance.

  9. Optimal day-ahead wind-thermal unit commitment considering statistical and predicted features of wind speeds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Yanan; Dong, Jizhe; Ding, Lijuan

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • A day–ahead wind–thermal unit commitment model is presented. • Wind speed transfer matrix is formed to depict the sequential wind features. • Spinning reserve setting considering wind power accuracy and variation is proposed. • Verified study is performed to check the correctness of the program. - Abstract: The increasing penetration of intermittent wind power affects the secure operation of power systems and leads to a requirement of robust and economic generation scheduling. This paper presents an optimal day–ahead wind–thermal generation scheduling method that considers the statistical and predicted features of wind speeds. In this method, the statistical analysis of historical wind data, which represents the local wind regime, is first implemented. Then, according to the statistical results and the predicted wind power, the spinning reserve requirements for the scheduling period are calculated. Based on the calculated spinning reserve requirements, the wind–thermal generation scheduling is finally conducted. To validate the program, a verified study is performed on a test system. Then, numerical studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method are conducted.

  10. A dynamic regrouping based sequential dynamic programming algorithm for unit commitment of combined heat and power systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rong, Aiying; Hakonen, Henri; Lahdelma, Risto

    2009-01-01

    efficiency of the plants. We introduce in this paper the DRDP-RSC algorithm, which is a dynamic regrouping based dynamic programming (DP) algorithm based on linear relaxation of the ON/OFF states of the units, sequential commitment of units in small groups. Relaxed states of the plants are used to reduce...... the dimension of the UC problem and dynamic regrouping is used to improve the solution quality. Numerical results based on real-life data sets show that this algorithm is efficient and optimal or near-optimal solutions with very small optimality gap are obtained....

  11. Improved gravitational search algorithm for unit commitment considering uncertainty of wind power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji, Bin; Yuan, Xiaohui; Chen, Zhihuan; Tian, Hao

    2014-01-01

    With increasing wind farm integrations, unit commitment (UC) is more difficult to solve because of the intermittent and fluctuation nature of wind power. In this paper, scenario generation and reduction technique is applied to simulate the impacts of its uncertainty on system operation. And then a model of thermal UC problem with wind power integration (UCW) is established. Combination of quantum-inspired binary gravitational search algorithm (GSA) and scenario analysis method is proposed to solve UCW problem. Meanwhile, heuristic search strategies are used to handle the constraints of thermal unit for each scenario. In addition, a priority list of thermal units based on the weight between average full-load cost and maximal power output is utilized during the optimization process. Moreover, two UC test systems with and without wind power integration are used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method as well as the performance of the algorithm. The results are analyzed in detail, which demonstrate the model and the proposed method is practicable. The comparison with other methods clearly shows that the proposed method has higher efficiency for solving UC problems with and even without wind farm integration. - Highlights: • Impact of wind fluctuation on unit commitment problem (UCW) is investigated. • Quantum-inspired gravitational search algorithm (QBGSA) is used to optimize UC. • A new method combines QBGSA with scenario analysis is proposed to solve UCW. • Heuristic search strategies are applied to handle the constraints of the UCW. • The results verify the proposed method is feasible and efficient for handling UCW

  12. Day-Ahead Coordination of Vehicle-to-Grid Operation and Wind Power in Security Constraints Unit Commitment (SCUC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Javad Abdollahi

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper security constraints unit commitment (SCUC in the presence of wind power resources and electrical vehicles to grid is presented. SCUC operation prepare an optimal time table for generation unit commitment in order to maximize security, minimize operation cost and satisfy the constraints of networks and units in a period of time, as one of the most important research interest in power systems. Today, the relationship between power network and energy storage systems is interested for many researchers and network operators. Using Electrical Vehicles (PEVs and wind power for energy production is one of the newest proposed methods for replacing fossil fuels.One of the effective strategies for analyzing of the effects of Vehicle 2 Grid (V2G and wind power in optimal operation of generation is running of SCUC for power systems that are equipped with V2G and wind power resources. In this paper, game theory method is employed for deterministic solution of day-ahead unit commitment with considering security constraints in the simultaneous presence of V2G and wind power units. This problem for two scenarios of grid-controlled mode and consumer-controlled mode in three different days with light, medium and heavy load profiles is analyzed. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the presence of V2G and wind power for decreasing of generation cost and improving operation indices of power systems.

  13. Optimisasi Unit Commitment Mempertimbangkan Fungsi Biaya Tidak Mulus Dengan Firefly Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benny Prastikha Hadhi

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Setiap unit pembangkit yang beroperasi untuk memenuhi permintaan beban mempunyai jadwal operasi yang berbeda-beda. Hal ini disebabkan oleh perbedaan karakteristik input-output yang khas dari setiap unit. Untuk memperoleh biaya total pembangkitan yang ekonomis dibutuhkan penjadwalan nyala-padam unit pembangkit yang terhubung pada sistem tenaga listrik, yang dikenal sebagai unit commitment (UC. Penjadwalan unit pembangkit pada suatu sistem tenaga listrik memiliki banyak pertimbangan, seperti cadangan berputar (spinning reserve, waktu menyala minimal (minimum up time, waktu padam minimal (minimum down time, rentang daya output unit pembangkit dan lain-lain. Selain itu, fungsi biaya pembangkitan unit yang mengoperasikan katup uap untuk mengimbangi perubahan beban menyebabkan persamaan fungsi biaya menjadi tidak mulus. Fungsi biaya tidak mulus mempersulit penjadwalan ekonomis unit pembangkit. Tugas akhir ini mengajukan Firefly Algorithm (FA untuk menyelesaikan penjadwalan UC. FA merupakan algoritma yang sederhana, tetapi handal dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan optimisasi. UC yang diajukan menggunakan fungsi biaya tidak mulus. Dengan metode tersebut, diharapkan permasalahan penjadwalan unit pembangkit dapat terselesaikan dengan baik dan optimal sehingga memperoleh biaya total pembangkitan yang ekonomis.

  14. Corrective economic dispatch and operational cycles for probabilistic unit commitment with demand response and high wind power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azizipanah-Abarghooee, Rasoul; Golestaneh, Faranak; Gooi, Hoay Beng; Lin, Jeremy; Bavafa, Farhad; Terzija, Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Suggesting a new UC mixing a probabilistic security and incentive demand response. • Investigating the effects of uncertainty on UC using chance-constraint programming. • Proposing an efficient spinning reserve satisfaction based on a new ED correction. • Presenting a new operational cycles way to convert binary variable to discrete one. - Abstract: We propose a probabilistic unit commitment problem with incentive-based demand response and high level of wind power. Our novel formulation provides an optimal allocation of up/down spinning reserve. A more efficient unit commitment algorithm based on operational cycles is developed. A multi-period elastic residual demand economic model based on the self- and cross-price elasticities and customers’ benefit function is used. In the proposed scheme, the probability of residual demand falling within the up/down spinning reserve imposed by n − 1 security criterion is considered as a stochastic constraint. A chance-constrained method, with a new iterative economic dispatch correction, wind power curtailment, and commitment of cheaper units, is applied to guarantee that the probability of loss of load is lower than a pre-defined risk level. The developed architecture builds upon an improved Jaya algorithm to generate feasible, robust and optimal solutions corresponding to the operational cost. The proposed framework is applied to a small test system with 10 units and also to the IEEE 118-bus system to illustrate its advantages in efficient scheduling of generation in the power systems.

  15. Fuzzy Array Approach to Unit Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jantzen, Jan; Eliasson, Bo

    1996-01-01

    The paper investigates the unit commitment problem of Swedish power company Sydkraft as a constraint satisfaction problem. The power system is a simplified system with nuclear, thermal, and hydro generators as well as power interchange. In this paper we focus on soft constraints, for instance...

  16. Short-term bulk energy storage system scheduling for load leveling in unit commitment: modeling, optimization, and sensitivity analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemmati, Reza; Saboori, Hedayat

    2016-01-01

    Energy storage systems (ESSs) have experienced a very rapid growth in recent years and are expected to be a promising tool in order to improving power system reliability and being economically efficient. The ESSs possess many potential benefits in various areas in the electric power systems. One of the main benefits of an ESS, especially a bulk unit, relies on smoothing the load pattern by decreasing on-peak and increasing off-peak loads, known as load leveling. These devices require new methods and tools in order to model and optimize their effects in the power system studies. In this respect, this paper will model bulk ESSs based on the several technical characteristics, introduce the proposed model in the thermal unit commitment (UC) problem, and analyze it with respect to the various sensitive parameters. The technical limitations of the thermal units and transmission network constraints are also considered in the model. The proposed model is a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) which can be easily solved by strong commercial solvers (for instance CPLEX) and it is appropriate to be used in the practical large scale networks. The results of implementing the proposed model on a test system reveal that proper load leveling through optimum storage scheduling leads to considerable operation cost reduction with respect to the storage system characteristics. PMID:27222741

  17. Short-term bulk energy storage system scheduling for load leveling in unit commitment: modeling, optimization, and sensitivity analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemmati, Reza; Saboori, Hedayat

    2016-05-01

    Energy storage systems (ESSs) have experienced a very rapid growth in recent years and are expected to be a promising tool in order to improving power system reliability and being economically efficient. The ESSs possess many potential benefits in various areas in the electric power systems. One of the main benefits of an ESS, especially a bulk unit, relies on smoothing the load pattern by decreasing on-peak and increasing off-peak loads, known as load leveling. These devices require new methods and tools in order to model and optimize their effects in the power system studies. In this respect, this paper will model bulk ESSs based on the several technical characteristics, introduce the proposed model in the thermal unit commitment (UC) problem, and analyze it with respect to the various sensitive parameters. The technical limitations of the thermal units and transmission network constraints are also considered in the model. The proposed model is a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) which can be easily solved by strong commercial solvers (for instance CPLEX) and it is appropriate to be used in the practical large scale networks. The results of implementing the proposed model on a test system reveal that proper load leveling through optimum storage scheduling leads to considerable operation cost reduction with respect to the storage system characteristics.

  18. Robust Unit Commitment Considering the Temporal and Spatial Correlations of Wind Farms Using a Data-Adaptive Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yipu; Ai, Xiaomeng; Wen, Jinyu

    2018-01-01

    . In this paper, a novel data-adaptive robust optimization method for the unit commitment is proposed for the power system with wind farms integrated. The extreme scenario extraction and the two stage robust optimization are combined in the proposed method. The data-adaptive set consisting of a few extreme...... scenarios is derived to reduce the conservativeness by considering the temporal and spatial correlations of multiple wind farms. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed data-adaptive robust optimization algorithm is less conservative than the current two-stage optimization approaches while maintains...

  19. Application of enhanced discrete differential evolution approach to unit commitment problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuan Xiaohui; Su Anjun; Nie Hao; Yuan Yanbin; Wang Liang

    2009-01-01

    This paper proposes a discrete binary differential evolution (DBDE) approach to solve the unit commitment problem (UCP). The proposed method is enhanced by priority list based on the unit characteristics and heuristic search strategies to handle constraints effectively. The implementation of the proposed method for UCP consists of three stages. Firstly, the DBDE based on priority list is applied for unit scheduling when neglecting the minimum up/down time constraints. Secondly, repairing strategies are used to handle the minimum up/down time constraints and decommit excess spinning reserve units. Finally, heuristic unit substitution search and gray zone modification algorithm are used to improve optimal solution further. Furthermore, the effects of two crucial parameters on performance of the DBDE for solving UCP are studied as well. To verify the advantages of the method, the proposed method is tested and compared to the other methods on the systems with the number of units in the range of 10-100. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to other methods reported in the literature.

  20. Two-Stage Robust Security-Constrained Unit Commitment with Optimizable Interval of Uncertain Wind Power Output

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dayan Sun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Because wind power spillage is barely considered, the existing robust unit commitment cannot accurately analyze the impacts of wind power accommodation on on/off schedules and spinning reserve requirements of conventional generators and cannot consider the network security limits. In this regard, a novel double-level robust security-constrained unit commitment formulation with optimizable interval of uncertain wind power output is firstly proposed in this paper to obtain allowable interval solutions for wind power generation and provide the optimal schedules for conventional generators to cope with the uncertainty in wind power generation. The proposed double-level model is difficult to be solved because of the invalid dual transform in solution process caused by the coupling relation between the discrete and continuous variables. Therefore, a two-stage iterative solution method based on Benders Decomposition is also presented. The proposed double-level model is transformed into a single-level and two-stage robust interval unit commitment model by eliminating the coupling relation, and then this two-stage model can be solved by Benders Decomposition iteratively. Simulation studies on a modified IEEE 26-generator reliability test system connected to a wind farm are conducted to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed model and solution method.

  1. A multi-period, multi-regional generation expansion planning model incorporating unit commitment constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koltsaklis, Nikolaos E.; Georgiadis, Michael C.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A short-term structured investment planning model has been developed. • Unit commitment problem is incorporated into the long-term planning horizon. • Inherent intermittency of renewables is modelled in a comprehensive way. • The impact of CO_2 emission pricing in long-term investment decisions is quantified. • The evolution of system’s marginal price is evaluated for all the planning horizon. - Abstract: This work presents a generic mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that integrates the unit commitment problem (UCP), i.e., daily energy planning with the long-term generation expansion planning (GEP) framework. Typical daily constraints at an hourly level such as start-up and shut-down related decisions (start-up type, minimum up and down time, synchronization, soak and desynchronization time constraints), ramping limits, system reserve requirements are combined with representative yearly constraints such as power capacity additions, power generation bounds of each unit, peak reserve requirements, and energy policy issues (renewables penetration limits, CO_2 emissions cap and pricing). For modelling purposes, a representative day (24 h) of each month over a number of years has been employed in order to determine the optimal capacity additions, electricity market clearing prices, and daily operational planning of the studied power system. The model has been tested on an illustrative case study of the Greek power system. Our approach aims to provide useful insight into strategic and challenging decisions to be determined by investors and/or policy makers at a national and/or regional level by providing the optimal energy roadmap under real operating and design constraints.

  2. [Organizational commitment and job satisfaction: an exploratory study in family health units in Portugal].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Isabel; Veloso, Ana; Silva, Isabel Soares; Costa, Patricio

    2017-05-18

    This study explored the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction among workers in family health units. Six family health units in the North of Portugal participated, including 105 health professionals (physicians, nurses, and clinical secretaries). The study used the Portuguese adaptations of the Organizational Commitment Scale by Meyer & Allen (1997) and the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985). The results suggest a positive association between organizational commitment and job satisfaction. The professionals are moderately satisfied and committed to the family health units; the most satisfactory aspects are the nature of the work, relationship to coworkers, and communication, while pay is the most unsatisfactory. The affective component of the commitment appears, highlighting the professionals' involvement in (and identification with) the family health units project. The linear regression model proved significant, and organizational commitment explains 22.7% of the variance in job satisfaction. For this sample, organizational commitment predicts job satisfaction.

  3. Smart Grid Cost-Emission Unit Commitment via Co-Evolutionary Agents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaohua Zhang

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the uncertainty of wind, solar and load; smart charging and discharging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs to and from various energy sources; and the coordination of wind, solar power, PHEVs and cost-emission are considered in the smart grid unit commitment (UC. First, a multi-scenario simulation is used in which a set of valid scenarios is considered for the uncertainties of wind and solar energy sources and load. Then the UC problem for the set of scenarios is decomposed into the optimization of interactive agents by multi-agent technology. Agents’ action is represented by a genetic algorithm with adaptive crossover and mutation operators. The adaptive co-evolution of agents is reached by adaptive cooperative multipliers. Finally, simulation is implemented on an example of a power system containing thermal units, a wind farm, solar power plants and PHEVs. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Thermal units, wind, solar power and PHEVs are mutually complementarily by the adaptive cooperative mechanism. The adaptive multipliers’ updating strategy can save more computational time and further improve the efficiency.

  4. Restriction techniques for the unit-commitment problem with total procurement costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaleta, Mariusz; Toczylowski, Eugeniusz

    2008-01-01

    Many discrete optimization problems may be solved much easier, if the solution space can be restricted in a convenient way. For a given specific problem, the restriction techniques can be helpful if an available optimization solver, perceived as a black box, is capable of solving quickly only reduced subproblems of a limited size. For the family of hard unit-commitment problems we investigate a hierarchical search algorithm, which is based on decomposition of the problem into two subproblems. The upper-level subproblem is a relatively small decision 'kernel' of the problem that can be solved approximately by a search algorithm. We define an appropriate restricted decision space for this subproblem. The lower-level subproblem is an appropriate restriction of the original problem that can be solved efficiently by a dedicated solver. Our approach was analyzed on a set of historical data from the Polish electrical balancing market and the best known solutions were improved by the average of about 2-5%

  5. Fat Tail Model for Simulating Test Systems in Multiperiod Unit Commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. A. Marmolejo

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the use of Chambers-Mallows-Stuck method for simulating stable random variables in the generation of test systems for economic analysis in power systems. A study that focused on generating test electrical systems through fat tail model for unit commitment problem in electrical power systems is presented. Usually, the instances of test systems in Unit Commitment are generated using normal distribution, but in this work, simulations data are based on a new method. For simulating, we used three original systems to obtain the demand behavior and thermal production costs. The estimation of stable parameters for the simulation of stable random variables was based on three generally accepted methods: (a regression, (b quantiles, and (c maximum likelihood, choosing one that has the best fit of the tails of the distribution. Numerical results illustrate the applicability of the proposed method by solving several unit commitment problems.

  6. Symmetry Breaking in MILP Formulations for Unit Commitment Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Lima, Ricardo

    2015-12-11

    This paper addresses the study of symmetry in Unit Commitment (UC) problems solved by Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulations, and using Linear Programming based Branch & Bound MILP solvers. We propose three sets of symmetry breaking constraints for UC MILP formulations exhibiting symmetry, and its impact on three UC MILP models are studied. The case studies involve the solution of 24 instances by three widely used models in the literature, with and without symmetry breaking constraints. The results show that problems that could not be solved to optimality within hours can be solved with a relatively small computational burden if the symmetry breaking constraints are assumed. The proposed symmetry breaking constraints are also compared with the symmetry breaking methods included in two MILP solvers, and the symmetry breaking constraints derived in this work have a distinct advantage over the methods in the MILP solvers.

  7. Symmetry Breaking in MILP Formulations for Unit Commitment Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Lima, Ricardo; Novais, Augusto Q.

    2015-01-01

    This paper addresses the study of symmetry in Unit Commitment (UC) problems solved by Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulations, and using Linear Programming based Branch & Bound MILP solvers. We propose three sets of symmetry breaking constraints for UC MILP formulations exhibiting symmetry, and its impact on three UC MILP models are studied. The case studies involve the solution of 24 instances by three widely used models in the literature, with and without symmetry breaking constraints. The results show that problems that could not be solved to optimality within hours can be solved with a relatively small computational burden if the symmetry breaking constraints are assumed. The proposed symmetry breaking constraints are also compared with the symmetry breaking methods included in two MILP solvers, and the symmetry breaking constraints derived in this work have a distinct advantage over the methods in the MILP solvers.

  8. Solving unit commitment and economic load dispatch problems ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2 Department of Electrical Power and Machines, Faculty of engineering, Ain shams ... intricate basic leadership process and it is hard to build up any thorough ... These pre-committed schedules are optimized by BAT algorithm thus .... and the current best location (solution) is x0 which is situated in the wake of looking at.

  9. Optimal Taxation in a Limited Commitment Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Yena Park

    2012-01-01

    This article studies optimal Ramsey taxation when risk sharing in private insurance markets is imperfect due to limited enforcement. In a limited commitment economy, there are externalities associated with capital and labour because individuals do not take into account that their labour and saving decisions affect aggregate labour and capital supply and wages, and thus the value of autarky. Therefore, a Ramsey government has an additional goal, which is to internalize these externalities of l...

  10. An unit commitment model for hydrothermal systems; Um modelo de unit commitment para sistemas hidrotermicos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franca, Thiago de Paula; Luciano, Edson Jose Rezende; Nepomuceno, Leonardo [Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Bauru, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Eletrica], Emails: ra611191@feb.unesp.br, edson.joserl@uol.com.br, leo@feb.unesp.br

    2009-07-01

    A model of Unit Commitment to hydrothermal systems that includes the costs of start/stop of generators is proposed. These costs has been neglected in a good part of the programming models for operation of hydrothermal systems (pre-dispatch). The impact of the representation of costs in total production costs is evaluated. The proposed model is solved by a hybrid methodology, which involves the use of genetic algorithms (to solve the entire part of the problem) and sequential quadratic programming methods. This methodology is applied to the solution of an IEEE test system. The results emphasize the importance of representation of the start/stop in the generation schedule.

  11. Multi-area unit commitment with ramp-rate limits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, C.; Shahidehpour, S.M.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that there are two tasks considered in power system generation scheduling. One is the unit commitment which determines the unit start up and shut down schedules in order to minimize the system fuel expenditure. The other is the economic dispatch which assigns the system load demand to the committed generating units for minimizing the power generation cost. The economic operation attracts a great deal of attention as a modest reduction in percentage fuel cost leads to a large saving in the system operation costs. Many studies for power system generation scheduling have successfully applied various mathematical algorithms such as Lagrangian relaxation, dynamic programming, and artificial intelligence techniques e.g., expert systems, artificial neural networks (ANN), etc. The AI techniques have incorporated the system practical operational policies in the mathematical techniques to improve system models considerably. The mechanism of ANN simulates the learning process of the human brain. One class of ANN learns the knowledge through examples, or training facts, composed by various inputs and their corresponding outputs. The extent of the intelligibility of ANN depends upon the diversity of the training facts. For an input which is not in the training facts, the trained ANN can estimate an output based on its previous knowledge about the problem

  12. Mixed Inter Second Order Cone Programming Taking Appropriate Approximation for the Unit Commitment in Hybrid AC-DC Grid

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhou, Bo; Ai, Xiaomeng; Fang, Jiakun

    2017-01-01

    With the rapid development and deployment of voltage source converter (VSC) based HVDC, the traditional power system is evolving to the hybrid AC-DC grid. New optimization methods are urgently needed for these hybrid AC-DC power systems. In this paper, mixed-integer second order cone programming...... (MISOCP) for the hybrid AC-DC power systems is proposed. The second order cone (SOC) relaxation is adopted to transform the AC and DC power flow constraints to MISOCP. Several IEEE test systems are used to validate the proposed MISCOP formulation of the optimal power flow (OPF) and unit commitment (UC...

  13. Unit commitment solution using agglomerative and divisive cluster algorithm : an effective new methodology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reddy, N.M.; Reddy, K.R. [G. Narayanamma Inst. of Technology and Science, Hyderabad (India). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Ramana, N.V. [JNTU College of Engineering, Jagityala (India). Dept. of Electrical Engineering

    2008-07-01

    Thermal power plants consist of several generating units with different generating capacities, fuel cost per MWH generated, minimum up/down times, and start-up or shut-down costs. The Unit Commitment (UC) problem in power systems involves determining the start-up and shut-down schedules of thermal generating units to meet forecasted load over a future short term for a period of one to seven days. This paper presented a new approach for the most complex UC problem using agglomerative and divisive hierarchical clustering. Euclidean costs, which are a measure of differences in fuel cost and start-up costs of any two units, were first calculated. Then, depending on the value of Euclidean costs, similar type of units were placed in a cluster. The proposed methodology has 2 individual algorithms. An agglomerative cluster algorithm is used while the load is increasing, and a divisive cluster algorithm is used when the load is decreasing. A search was conducted for an optimal solution for a minimal number of clusters and cluster data points. A standard ten-unit thermal unit power system was used to test and evaluate the performance of the method for a period of 24 hours. The new approach proved to be quite effective and satisfactory. 15 refs., 9 tabs., 5 figs.

  14. Thermal Unit Commitment Scheduling Problem in Utility System by Tabu Search Embedded Genetic Algorithm Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Christober Asir Rajan

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to find the generation scheduling such that the total operating cost can be minimized, when subjected to a variety of constraints. This also means that it is desirable to find the optimal unit commitment in the power system for the next H hours. A 66-bus utility power system in India demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach; extensive studies have also been performed for different IEEE test systems consist of 24, 57 and 175 buses. Numerical results are shown comparing the cost solutions and computation time obtained by different intelligence and conventional methods.

  15. Unit commitment and investment valuation of flexible biogas plants in German power markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hochloff, Patrick

    2017-07-01

    Biogas plants contribute a significant share of renewable energy sources (RES) to the electricity system. Most of them are designed to supply constant power generation. In the future biogas plants will most likely become more flexible, scheduling their power generation with respect to market prices. For this purpose power units need extended electrical capacity to convert the continuously produced gas as well as the gas held in storage. When constructing extended capacity at biogas plants, the flexibility premium is the main focus for about 8000 plants which were constructed before August 2014. Additional incomes as a result of selling at higher market prices have been considered, too. However, their relationship to the electrical capacity and storage size of biogas plants was unknown as was the impact on investment valuation. This work has shown how biogas plants with extended capacity can be analyzed when they are operated in power markets, in particular the power spot market and the control reserve markets. Models on the basis of unit commitment have been developed in order to obtain optimized schedules and financial parameters, such as gross income and net present value (NPV), when biogas plants with extended capacity capitalize on prices in each market. The models developed consider several use cases that describe possible ways of participating in German power markets, switching between static and variable gas supply, providing secondary and tertiary control reserve, and claiming the market and flexibility premium. Mixed integer linear programs (MILP) have been developed for the unit commitment of each use case. The model for the unit commitment of providing control reserve with biogas plants made significant progress compared to the state of the art and has been published in (Hochloff, Braun 2014). There are two ways to make use of this model. First of all, the model could be applied to plan daily schedules for the operation of gas plants located at a gas

  16. Unit commitment and investment valuation of flexible biogas plants in German power markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hochloff, Patrick

    2017-01-01

    Biogas plants contribute a significant share of renewable energy sources (RES) to the electricity system. Most of them are designed to supply constant power generation. In the future biogas plants will most likely become more flexible, scheduling their power generation with respect to market prices. For this purpose power units need extended electrical capacity to convert the continuously produced gas as well as the gas held in storage. When constructing extended capacity at biogas plants, the flexibility premium is the main focus for about 8000 plants which were constructed before August 2014. Additional incomes as a result of selling at higher market prices have been considered, too. However, their relationship to the electrical capacity and storage size of biogas plants was unknown as was the impact on investment valuation. This work has shown how biogas plants with extended capacity can be analyzed when they are operated in power markets, in particular the power spot market and the control reserve markets. Models on the basis of unit commitment have been developed in order to obtain optimized schedules and financial parameters, such as gross income and net present value (NPV), when biogas plants with extended capacity capitalize on prices in each market. The models developed consider several use cases that describe possible ways of participating in German power markets, switching between static and variable gas supply, providing secondary and tertiary control reserve, and claiming the market and flexibility premium. Mixed integer linear programs (MILP) have been developed for the unit commitment of each use case. The model for the unit commitment of providing control reserve with biogas plants made significant progress compared to the state of the art and has been published in (Hochloff, Braun 2014). There are two ways to make use of this model. First of all, the model could be applied to plan daily schedules for the operation of gas plants located at a gas

  17. Neural networks as a tool for unit commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rønne-Hansen, Peter; Rønne-Hansen, Jan

    1991-01-01

    Some of the fundamental problems when solving the power system unit commitment problem by means of neural networks have been attacked. It has been demonstrated for a small example that neural networks might be a viable alternative. Some of the major problems solved in this initiating phase form...... a basis for the analysis of real life sized problems. These will be investigated in the near future...

  18. An Optimal Commitment Model of Exchange Rate Stabilization

    OpenAIRE

    Kyung-Soo Kim

    2006-01-01

    Recently East Asian countries that have amassed large US dollar reserves face a growing threat of big losses from a sudden decline in the dollar. This threat evokes an issue of the optimal commitment of exchange rate stabilization once raised by Isard (1995) who interpreted the cost of breaking the parity as the capital gain awarded to speculators, in the event the domestic currency is devalued. The only difference in this paper is revaluation. This paper models the central bank��s optima...

  19. Relative Importance of Human Resource Practices on Affective Commitment and Turnover Intention in South Korea and United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaeyoon Lee

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of perceived HR practices on affective commitment and turnover intention. This study explored which HR practices were relatively more important in predicting affective commitment and turnover intention. A total of 302 employees from the United States and 317 from South Korea completed the same questionnaires for assessing the aforementioned relationships. The results illustrated that among perceived HR practices, internal mobility had the most significant association with turnover intention in both the United States and South Korea. While internal mobility was a stronger predictor of affective commitment for the United States sample, training was the most important variable for predicting affective commitment in South Korea. The second purpose of the study was to examine whether individuals’ positive affect influences the relationship between perceived HR practices and affective commitment and turnover intention. In the United States, positive affect moderated the relationship between perceived HR practices and affective commitment and turnover intention such that the relationships were stronger for individuals reporting high positive affect relative to those reporting low positive affect. However, these relationships were not significant in South Korea. We discuss the implications of these results, study limitations, and practical suggestions for future research.

  20. A Multi-Objective Unit Commitment Model for Setting Carbon Tax to Reduce CO2 Emission: Thailand's Electricity Generation Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuchjarin Intalar

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Carbon tax policy is a cost-effective instrument for emission reduction. However, setting the carbon tax is one of the challenging task for policy makers as it will lead to higher price of emission-intensive sources especially the utility price. In a large-scale power generation system, minimizing the operational cost and the environmental impact are conflicting objectives and it is difficult to find the compromise solution. This paper proposes a methodology of finding a feasible carbon tax rate on strategic level using the operational unit commitment model. We present a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model to solve the unit commitment problem and consider the environmental impacts. The methodology of analyzing of the effect of carbon tax rates on the power generation, operating cost, and CO2 emission is also provided. The trade-off relationship between total operating cost and total CO2 emission is presented in the Pareto-optimal curve to analyze the feasible carbon tax rate that is influencing on electricity operating cost. The significant outcome of this paper is a modeling framework for the policy makers to determine the possible carbon tax that can be imposed on the electricity generation.

  1. Unit commitment with wind power generation: integrating wind forecast uncertainty and stochastic programming.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Constantinescu, E. M.; Zavala, V. M.; Rocklin, M.; Lee, S.; Anitescu, M. (Mathematics and Computer Science); (Univ. of Chicago); (New York Univ.)

    2009-10-09

    We present a computational framework for integrating the state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in stochastic unit commitment/energy dispatch formulations that account for wind power uncertainty. We first enhance the WRF model with adjoint sensitivity analysis capabilities and a sampling technique implemented in a distributed-memory parallel computing architecture. We use these capabilities through an ensemble approach to model the uncertainty of the forecast errors. The wind power realizations are exploited through a closed-loop stochastic unit commitment/energy dispatch formulation. We discuss computational issues arising in the implementation of the framework. In addition, we validate the framework using real wind speed data obtained from a set of meteorological stations. We also build a simulated power system to demonstrate the developments.

  2. An Efficient Robust Solution to the Two-Stage Stochastic Unit Commitment Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blanco, Ignacio; Morales González, Juan Miguel

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposes a reformulation of the scenario-based two-stage unitcommitment problem under uncertainty that allows finding unit-commitment plansthat perform reasonably well both in expectation and for the worst caserealization of the uncertainties. The proposed reformulation is based onpart...

  3. On robust multi-period pre-commitment and time-consistent mean-variance portfolio optimization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F. Cong (Fei); C.W. Oosterlee (Kees)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractWe consider robust pre-commitment and time-consistent mean-variance optimal asset allocation strategies, that are required to perform well also in a worst-case scenario regarding the development of the asset price. We show that worst-case scenarios for both strategies can be found by

  4. Network-constrained AC unit commitment under uncertainty: A Benders' decomposition approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nasri, Amin; Kazempour, Seyyedjalal; Conejo, Antonio J.

    2015-01-01

    . The proposed model is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming problem, whose first-stage refers to the day-ahead market, and whose second-stage represents real-time operation. The proposed Benders’ approach allows decomposing the original problem, which is mixed-integer nonlinear and generally...... intractable, into a mixed-integer linear master problem and a set of nonlinear, but continuous subproblems, one per scenario. In addition, to temporally decompose the proposed ac unit commitment problem, a heuristic technique is used to relax the inter-temporal ramping constraints of the generating units...

  5. A Comparative Study of Three Different Mathematical Methods for Solving the Unit Commitment Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Kurban

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The unit commitment (UC problem which is an important subject in power system engineering is solved by using Lagragian relaxation (LR, penalty function (PF, and augmented Lagrangian penalty function (ALPF methods due to their higher solution quality and faster computational time than metaheuristic approaches. This problem is considered to be a nonlinear programming-(NP- hard problem because it is nonlinear, mixed-integer, and nonconvex. These three methods used for solving the problem are based on dual optimization techniques. ALPF method which combines the algorithmic aspects of both LR and PF methods is firstly used for solving the UC problem. These methods are compared to each other based on feasible schedule for each stage, feasible cost, dual cost, duality gap, duration time, and number of iterations. The numerical results show that the ALPF method gives the best duality gap, feasible and dual cost instead of worse duration time and the number of iterations. The four-unit Tuncbilek thermal plant which is located in Kutahya region in Turkey is chosen as a test system in this study. The programs used for all the analyses are coded and implemented using general algebraic modeling system (GAMS.

  6. Effect of the accuracy of price forecasting on profit in a Price Based Unit Commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delarue, Erik; Van Den Bosch, Pieterjan; D'haeseleer, William

    2010-01-01

    This paper discusses and quantifies the so-called loss of profit (i.e., the sub-optimality of profit) that can be expected in a Price Based Unit Commitment (PBUC), when incorrect price forecasts are used. For this purpose, a PBUC model has been developed and utilized, using Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP). Simulations are used to determine the relationship between the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of a certain price forecast and the loss of profit, for four different types of power plants. A Combined Cycle (CC) power plant and a pumped storage unit show highest sensitivity to incorrect forecasts. A price forecast with a MAPE of 15%, on average, yields 13.8% and 12.1% profit loss, respectively. A classic thermal power plant (coal fired) and cascade hydro unit are less affected by incorrect forecasts, with only 2.4% and 2.0% profit loss, respectively, at the same price forecast MAPE. This paper further demonstrates that if price forecasts show an average bias (upward or downward), using the MAPE as measure of the price forecast might not be sufficient to quantify profit loss properly. Profit loss in this case has been determined as a function of both shift and MAPE of the price forecast. (author)

  7. A variant of the dynamic programming algorithm for unit commitment of combined heat and power systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rong, Aiying; Hakonen, Henri; Lahdelma, Risto

    2008-01-01

    introduce in this paper the DP-RSC1 algorithm, which is a variant of the dynamic programming (DP) algorithm based on linear relaxation of the ON/OFF states of the units and sequential commitment of units one by one. The time complexity of DP-RSC1 is proportional to the number of generating units...

  8. The application of civil commitment law and practices to a case of delusional disorder: a cross-national comparison of legal approaches in the United States and the United Kingdom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fennell, Philip; Goldstein, Robert Lloyd

    2006-01-01

    Legal approaches to civil commitment in the United States and the United Kingdom are compared. A concise overview of the historical evolution of civil commitment in both countries precedes a discussion of the present scheme of commitment standards in each system. These current standards in U.S. and U.K. jurisdictions are then applied to a hypothetical case of delusional disorder. A discussion of the constructive use of civil commitment in patients with delusional disorder who may be dangerous focuses on its value as a preventive measure against potential harm to self or others, as well as the pros and cons of coercive assessment and treatment. Despite the many differences in approach to commitment, the authors concur that in both countries the patient with delusional disorder was committable before the commission of a serious criminal offense.

  9. An optimization approach for wind turbine commitment and dispatch in a wind park

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moyano, Carlos F. [School of Engineering Systems, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001 (Australia); Pecas Lopes, Joao A. [Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores do Porto (Portugal); Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Campus da FEUP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 378 4200-465 Porto (Portugal)

    2009-01-15

    This paper describes an operational optimization strategy to be adopted at the wind park control level, that enables defining the commitment of wind turbines and their active and reactive power outputs following requests from Wind Park Dispatch Centers, assuming that individual wind turbines short-term wind speed forecasts are known and are expressed as power availability. This operational strategy was also developed with a concern on the minimization of the connection/disconnection changes of the individual wind generators, for a given time horizon. When identifying the active/reactive dispatching policies, wind generators loading capabilities are also taken in account. This optimization tool is especially suited to manage large wind parks. (author)

  10. Optimal operation and forecasting policy for pump storage plants in day-ahead markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muche, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • We investigate unit commitment deploying stochastic and deterministic approaches. • We consider day-ahead markets, its forecast and weekly price based unit commitment. • Stochastic and deterministic unit commitment are identical for the first planning day. • Unit commitment and bidding policy can be based on the deterministic approach. • Robust forecasting models should be estimated based on the whole planning horizon. - Abstract: Pump storage plants are an important electricity storage technology at present. Investments in this technology are expected to increase. The necessary investment valuation often includes expected cash flows from future price-based unit commitment policies. A price-based unit commitment policy has to consider market price uncertainty and the information revealing nature of electricity markets. For this environment stochastic programming models are suggested to derive the optimal unit commitment policy. For the considered day-ahead price electricity market stochastic and deterministic unit commitment policies are comparable suggesting an application of easier implementable deterministic models. In order to identify suitable unit commitment and forecasting policies, deterministic unit commitment models are applied to actual day-ahead electricity prices of a whole year. As a result, a robust forecasting model should consider the unit commitment planning period. This robust forecasting models result in expected cash flows similar to realized ones allowing a reliable investment valuation

  11. A Bi-Level Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Solving Unit Commitment Problems with Wind-EVs Coordinated Dispatch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Lei; Zhang, Bo

    2017-07-01

    Nowadays, the grid faces much more challenges caused by wind power and the accessing of electric vehicles (EVs). Based on the potentiality of coordinated dispatch, a model of wind-EVs coordinated dispatch was developed. Then, A bi-level particle swarm optimization algorithm for solving the model was proposed in this paper. The application of this algorithm to 10-unit test system carried out that coordinated dispatch can benefit the power system from the following aspects: (1) Reducing operating costs; (2) Improving the utilization of wind power; (3) Stabilizing the peak-valley difference.

  12. Improving Deterministic Reserve Requirements for Security Constrained Unit Commitment and Scheduling Problems in Power Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fengyu

    Traditional deterministic reserve requirements rely on ad-hoc, rule of thumb methods to determine adequate reserve in order to ensure a reliable unit commitment. Since congestion and uncertainties exist in the system, both the quantity and the location of reserves are essential to ensure system reliability and market efficiency. The modeling of operating reserves in the existing deterministic reserve requirements acquire the operating reserves on a zonal basis and do not fully capture the impact of congestion. The purpose of a reserve zone is to ensure that operating reserves are spread across the network. Operating reserves are shared inside each reserve zone, but intra-zonal congestion may block the deliverability of operating reserves within a zone. Thus, improving reserve policies such as reserve zones may improve the location and deliverability of reserve. As more non-dispatchable renewable resources are integrated into the grid, it will become increasingly difficult to predict the transfer capabilities and the network congestion. At the same time, renewable resources require operators to acquire more operating reserves. With existing deterministic reserve requirements unable to ensure optimal reserve locations, the importance of reserve location and reserve deliverability will increase. While stochastic programming can be used to determine reserve by explicitly modelling uncertainties, there are still scalability as well as pricing issues. Therefore, new methods to improve existing deterministic reserve requirements are desired. One key barrier of improving existing deterministic reserve requirements is its potential market impacts. A metric, quality of service, is proposed in this thesis to evaluate the price signal and market impacts of proposed hourly reserve zones. Three main goals of this thesis are: 1) to develop a theoretical and mathematical model to better locate reserve while maintaining the deterministic unit commitment and economic dispatch

  13. A decomposition method for network-constrained unit commitment with AC power flow constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bai, Yang; Zhong, Haiwang; Xia, Qing; Kang, Chongqing; Xie, Le

    2015-01-01

    To meet the increasingly high requirement of smart grid operations, considering AC power flow constraints in the NCUC (network-constrained unit commitment) is of great significance in terms of both security and economy. This paper proposes a decomposition method to solve NCUC with AC power flow constraints. With conic approximations of the AC power flow equations, the master problem is formulated as a MISOCP (mixed integer second-order cone programming) model. The key advantage of this model is that the active power and reactive power are co-optimised, and the transmission losses are considered. With the AC optimal power flow model, the AC feasibility of the UC result of the master problem is checked in subproblems. If infeasibility is detected, feedback constraints are generated based on the sensitivity of bus voltages to a change in the unit reactive power generation. They are then introduced into the master problem in the next iteration until all AC violations are eliminated. A 6-bus system, a modified IEEE 30-bus system and the IEEE 118-bus system are used to validate the performance of the proposed method, which provides a satisfactory solution with approximately 44-fold greater computational efficiency. - Highlights: • A decomposition method is proposed to solve the NCUC with AC power flow constraints • The master problem considers active power, reactive power and transmission losses. • OPF-based subproblems check the AC feasibility using parallel computing techniques. • An effective feedback constraint interacts between the master problem and subproblem. • Computational efficiency is significantly improved with satisfactory accuracy

  14. 48 CFR 750.7106-4 - Informal commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... foreign policy interests of the United States by assuring persons that they will be treated fairly and... CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy Interests of the United States 750.7106-4 Informal commitments. Informal commitments may be...

  15. Additively Homomorphic UC commitments with Optimal Amortized Overhead

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cascudo Pueyo, Ignacio; Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; David, Bernardo Machado

    2015-01-01

    We propose the first UC secure commitment scheme with (amortized) computational complexity linear in the size of the string committed to. After a preprocessing phase based on oblivious transfer, that only needs to be done once and for all, our scheme only requires a pseudorandom generator and a l......, our basic scheme has amortised concrete efficiency comparable with previous protocols in the Random Oracle Model even though it is constructed in the plain model....

  16. Security-Constrained Unit Commitment in AC Microgrids Considering Stochastic Price-Based Demand Response and Renewable Generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vahedipour-Dahraie, Mostafa; Najafi, Hamid Reza; Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, a stochastic model for scheduling of AC security‐constrained unit commitment associated with demand response (DR) actions is developed in an islanded residential microgrid. The proposed model maximizes the expected profit of microgrid operator and minimizes the total customers...

  17. Integrating generation and transmission networks reliability for unit commitment solution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jalilzadeh, S.; Shayeghi, H.; Hadadian, H.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a new method with integration of generation and transmission networks reliability for the solution of unit commitment (UC) problem. In fact, in order to have a more accurate assessment of system reserve requirement, in addition to unavailability of generation units, unavailability of transmission lines are also taken into account. In this way, evaluation of the required spinning reserve (SR) capacity is performed by applying reliability constraints based on loss of load probability and expected energy not supplied (EENS) indices. Calculation of the above parameters is accomplished by employing a novel procedure based on the linear programming which it also minimizes them to achieve optimum level of the SR capacity and consequently a cost-benefit reliability constrained UC schedule. In addition, a powerful solution technique called 'integer-coded genetic algorithm (ICGA)' is being used for the solution of the proposed method. Numerical results on the IEEE reliability test system show that the consideration of transmission network unavailability has an important influence on reliability indices of the UC schedules

  18. The optimal scheduling of decentralised co-generation plants in microgrids; Optimale Einsatzplanung von Kraft-Waerme-Kopplungsanlagen in Microgrids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gunkel, David [TU Dresden (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Energiewirtschaft; Hess, Tobias; Schegner, Peter [TU Dresden (Germany). Inst. fuer Elektrische Energieversorgung und Hochspannungstechnik

    2011-07-01

    The daily operational scheduling of decentralised unit is an important optimization task of power systems. This proceeding deals with planning of small scaled co-generation power units for district heating in a microgrid. This power system can be mathematically formulated and solved by an optimization algorithm. The solution process consists of a unit commitment and dispatch. The starting unit commitment is characterised by a mixed integer nonlinear problem defining the on-off-state of all units. Subsequently, the dispatch distributes the generation requirements to every committed unit considering thermal demand. The dispatching is based on a mixed integer linear problem. Additionally, it presents a way for flexible reducing the outage reserve related to the operational condition. The given microgrid operates in an islanding mode. The method can also be applied in a grid connected model considering the possible requirements of a grid operator. (orig.)

  19. Topology optimization of inertia driven dosing units

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Casper Schousboe

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a methodology for optimizing inertia driven dosing units, sometimes referred to as eductors, for use in small scale flow applications. The unit is assumed to operate at low to moderate Reynolds numbers and under steady state conditions. By applying topology optimization...

  20. Stochastic Robust Mathematical Programming Model for Power System Optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Cong; Changhyeok, Lee; Haoyong, Chen; Mehrotra, Sanjay

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a stochastic robust framework for two-stage power system optimization problems with uncertainty. The model optimizes the probabilistic expectation of different worst-case scenarios with ifferent uncertainty sets. A case study of unit commitment shows the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithms.

  1. Optimally Locating MARFORRES Units

    OpenAIRE

    Salmeron, Javier; Dell, Rob

    2015-01-01

    Javier Salmeron and Rob Dell The U.S. Marine Forces Reserve (USMCR, MARFORRES) is conducting realignment studies where discretionary changes may benefit from formal mathematical analysis. This study has developed an optimization tool to guide and/or support Commander, MARFORRES (CMFR) decisions. A prototype of the optimization tool has been tested with data from the units and Reserve Training Centers (RTCs) in the San Francisco, CA and Sacramento, CA areas. Prepared for: MARFORRES, POC:...

  2. Focus: frailty management optimization through eipaha commitments and utiisation of stakeholders'inpunt - an innovative european project in elderly care

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cano, Antonio; Kurpas, Donata; Bujnowska-Fedak, Maria Magdalena; Santana, Silvina; Holland, Carol; Marcucci, Maura; Gonzales-Segura, Ana; Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam Marie Rosé; d'Avanzo, Barbara; Nobili, Alessandro; Alves Apostolo, Joao Luis; Bobrowicz-Campos, Elzbieta; Martinez-Arroyo, Ana M.

    2016-01-01

    The goal of FOCUS, which stands for Frailty Management Optimization through EIPAHA Commitments and Utilization of Stakeholders’ Input, is to reduce the burden of frailty in Europe. The partners are working on advancing knowledge of frailty detection, assessment, and management, including biological,

  3. Novel methods for Solving Economic Dispatch of Security-Constrained Unit Commitment Based on Linear Programming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Sangang

    2017-09-01

    There are two stages in solving security-constrained unit commitment problems (SCUC) within Lagrangian framework: one is to obtain feasible units’ states (UC), the other is power economic dispatch (ED) for each unit. The accurate solution of ED is more important for enhancing the efficiency of the solution to SCUC for the fixed feasible units’ statues. Two novel methods named after Convex Combinatorial Coefficient Method and Power Increment Method respectively based on linear programming problem for solving ED are proposed by the piecewise linear approximation to the nonlinear convex fuel cost functions. Numerical testing results show that the methods are effective and efficient.

  4. Integration of renewable generation uncertainties into stochastic unit commitment considering reserve and risk: A comparative study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quan, Hao; Srinivasan, Dipti; Khosravi, Abbas

    2016-01-01

    The uncertainties of renewable energy have brought great challenges to power system commitment, dispatches and reserve requirement. This paper presents a comparative study on integration of renewable generation uncertainties into SCUC (stochastic security-constrained unit commitment) considering reserve and risk. Renewable forecast uncertainties are captured by a list of PIs (prediction intervals). A new scenario generation method is proposed to generate scenarios from these PIs. Different system uncertainties are considered as scenarios in the stochastic SCUC problem formulation. Two comparative simulations with single (E1: wind only) and multiple sources of uncertainty (E2: load, wind, solar and generation outages) are investigated. Five deterministic and four stochastic case studies are performed. Different generation costs, reserve strategies and associated risks are compared under various scenarios. Demonstrated results indicate the overall costs of E2 is lower than E1 due to penetration of solar power and the associated risk in deterministic cases of E2 is higher than E1. It implies the superimposed effect of uncertainties during uncertainty integration. The results also demonstrate that power systems run a higher level of risk during peak load hours, and that stochastic models are more robust than deterministic ones. - Highlights: • An extensive comparative study for renewable integration is presented. • A novel scenario generation method is proposed. • Wind and solar uncertainties are represented by a list of prediction intervals. • Unit commitment and dispatch costs are discussed considering reserve and risk.

  5. Stochastic Unit Commitment Based on Multi-Scenario Tree Method Considering Uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu-Hyung Jo

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available With the increasing penetration of renewable energy, it is difficult to schedule unit commitment (UC in a power system because of the uncertainty associated with various factors. In this paper, a new solution procedure based on a multi-scenario tree method (MSTM is presented and applied to the proposed stochastic UC problem. In this process, the initial input data of load and wind power are modeled as different levels using the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE. The load and wind scenarios are generated using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS that considers forecasting errors. These multiple scenarios are applied in the MSTM for solving the stochastic UC problem, including not only the load and wind power uncertainties, but also sudden outages of the thermal unit. When the UC problem has been formulated, the simulation is conducted for 24-h period by using the short-term UC model, and the operating costs and additional reserve requirements are thus obtained. The effectiveness of the proposed solution approach is demonstrated through a case study based on a modified IEEE-118 bus test system.

  6. Research on unit commitment with large-scale wind power connected power system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiao, Ran; Zhang, Baoqun; Chi, Zhongjun; Gong, Cheng; Ma, Longfei; Yang, Bing

    2017-01-01

    Large-scale integration of wind power generators into power grid brings severe challenges to power system economic dispatch due to its stochastic volatility. Unit commitment including wind farm is analyzed from the two parts of modeling and solving methods. The structures and characteristics can be summarized after classification has been done according to different objective function and constraints. Finally, the issues to be solved and possible directions of research and development in the future are discussed, which can adapt to the requirements of the electricity market, energy-saving power generation dispatching and smart grid, even providing reference for research and practice of researchers and workers in this field.

  7. A Three-Stage Birandom Program for Unit Commitment with Wind Power Uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Na Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The integration of large-scale wind power adds a significant uncertainty to power system planning and operating. The wind forecast error is decreased with the forecast horizon, particularly when it is from one day to several hours ahead. Integrating intraday unit commitment (UC adjustment process based on updated ultra-short term wind forecast information is one way to improve the dispatching results. A novel three-stage UC decision method, in which the day-ahead UC decisions are determined in the first stage, the intraday UC adjustment decisions of subfast start units are determined in the second stage, and the UC decisions of fast-start units and dispatching decisions are determined in the third stage is presented. Accordingly, a three-stage birandom UC model is presented, in which the intraday hours-ahead forecasted wind power is formulated as a birandom variable, and the intraday UC adjustment event is formulated as a birandom event. The equilibrium chance constraint is employed to ensure the reliability requirement. A birandom simulation based hybrid genetic algorithm is designed to solve the proposed model. Some computational results indicate that the proposed model provides UC decisions with lower expected total costs.

  8. Incorporating Wind Power Forecast Uncertainties Into Stochastic Unit Commitment Using Neural Network-Based Prediction Intervals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quan, Hao; Srinivasan, Dipti; Khosravi, Abbas

    2015-09-01

    Penetration of renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar power, into power systems significantly increases the uncertainties on system operation, stability, and reliability in smart grids. In this paper, the nonparametric neural network-based prediction intervals (PIs) are implemented for forecast uncertainty quantification. Instead of a single level PI, wind power forecast uncertainties are represented in a list of PIs. These PIs are then decomposed into quantiles of wind power. A new scenario generation method is proposed to handle wind power forecast uncertainties. For each hour, an empirical cumulative distribution function (ECDF) is fitted to these quantile points. The Monte Carlo simulation method is used to generate scenarios from the ECDF. Then the wind power scenarios are incorporated into a stochastic security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) model. The heuristic genetic algorithm is utilized to solve the stochastic SCUC problem. Five deterministic and four stochastic case studies incorporated with interval forecasts of wind power are implemented. The results of these cases are presented and discussed together. Generation costs, and the scheduled and real-time economic dispatch reserves of different unit commitment strategies are compared. The experimental results show that the stochastic model is more robust than deterministic ones and, thus, decreases the risk in system operations of smart grids.

  9. Simulation and optimization of an industrial PSA unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barg C.

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available The Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA units have been used as a low cost alternative to the usual gas separation processes. Its largest commercial application is for hydrogen purification systems. Several studies have been made about the simulation of pressure swing adsorption units, but there are only few reports on the optimization of such processes. The objective of this study is to simulate and optimize an industrial PSA unit for hydrogen purification. This unit consists of six beds, each of them have three layers of different kinds of adsorbents. The main impurities are methane, carbon monoxide and sulfidric gas. The product stream has 99.99% purity in hydrogen, and the recovery is around 90%. A mathematical model for a commercial PSA unit is developed. The cycle time and the pressure swing steps are optimized. All the features concerning with complex commercial processes are considered.

  10. A comprehensive study of economic unit commitment of power systems integrating various renewable generations and plug-in electric vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Zhile; Li, Kang; Niu, Qun; Xue, Yusheng

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • A new UCsRP problem with flexible integrations is established. • A novel multi-zone sampling method is proposed for scenarios generation. • A meta-heuristic solving tool is introduced for solving the UCsRP problem. • A comprehensive study is conducted considering multiple weathers and seasons. • The economic effects of various scenarios are evaluated and compared. - Abstract: Significant penetration of renewable generations (RGs) and mass roll-out of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will pay a vital role in delivering the low carbon energy future and low emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) that are responsible for the global climate change. However, it is of considerable difficulties to precisely forecast the undispatchable and intermittent wind and solar power generations. The uncoordinated charging of PEVs imposes further challenges on the unit commitment in modern grid operations. In this paper, all these factors are comprehensively investigated for the first time within a novel hybrid unit commitment framework, namely UCsRP, which considers a wide range of scenarios in renewable generations and demand side management of dispatchable PEVs load. UCsRP is however an extremely challenging optimisation problem not only due to the large scale, mixed integer and nonlinearity, but also due to the double uncertainties relating to the renewable generations and PEV charging and discharging. In this paper, a meta-heuristic solving tool is introduced for solving the UCsRP problem. A key to improve the reliability of the unit commitment is to generate a range of scenarios based on multiple distributions of renewable generations under different prediction errors and extreme predicted value conditions. This is achieved by introducing a novel multi-zone sampling method. A comprehensive study considering four different cases of unit commitment problems with various weather and season scenarios using real power system data are conducted and solved, and smart

  11. Feasibility randomized-controlled trial of online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for patients with complex chronic pain in the United Kingdom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, W; Chilcot, J; Guildford, B; Daly-Eichenhardt, A; McCracken, L M

    2018-04-28

    Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has growing support for chronic pain. However, more accessible treatment delivery is needed. This study evaluated the feasibility of online ACT for patients with complex chronic pain in the United Kingdom to determine whether a larger trial is justified. Participants with chronic pain and clinically meaningful disability and distress were randomly assigned to ACT online plus specialty medical pain management, or specialty medical management alone. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, and 3- and 9-month post-randomization. Primary feasibility outcomes included recruitment, retention and treatment completion rates. Secondary outcomes were between-groups effects on treatment outcomes and psychological flexibility. Of 139 potential participants, 63 were eligible and randomized (45% recruitment rate). Retention rates were 76-78% for follow-up assessments. Sixty-one per cent of ACT online participants completed treatment. ACT online was less often completed by employed (44%) compared to unemployed (80%) participants. Fifty-six per cent of ACT online participants rated themselves as 'much improved' or better on a global impression of change rating, compared to only 20 per cent of control participants. Three-month effects favouring ACT online were small for functioning, medication and healthcare use, committed action and decentring, medium for mood, and large for acceptance. Small-to-medium effects were maintained for functioning, healthcare use and committed action at 9 months. Online ACT for patients with chronic pain in the United Kingdom appears feasible to study in a larger efficacy trial. Some adjustments to treatment and trial procedures are warranted, particularly to enhance engagement among employed participants. This study supports the feasibility of online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic pain in the United Kingdom and a larger efficacy trial. Refinements to treatment delivery, particularly to

  12. Factors Contributing to Personal Commitment in Chinese Interethnic Couples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinmiao Zhong

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Interethnic relationships are increasingly common in many societies, yet interethnic couples have a higher divorce rate compared to intraethnic couples. Given these facts and the dearth of research, this study aimed to identify factors that contribute to couples’ commitment in interethnic relationships. This study investigated the personal commitment of Chinese interethnic couples in the United Kingdom and the United States. Specifically, whether love, dyadic adjustment and “couple cultural identity” (i.e. acculturation to the partner and couple’s similarity on individualism/collectivism would predict personal commitment and whether each variable would account for unique variance in personal commitment of the participants. Thirty-seven Chinese/non-Chinese heterosexual couples participated in the study and significant relationships between love and personal commitment, dyadic adjustment and personal commitment were found. Also, couple cultural identity was important for women’s personal commitment. Multiple regression and structural equation modelling showed that partners in interethnic relationships defined personal commitment in different ways with men emphasizing love and dyadic adjustment, and women emphasizing love and acculturation to their partner. The discovery of the importance of couple cultural identity in contributing to personal commitment, besides love and dyadic adjustment, helps researchers to gain a greater understanding of such relationships and to extend the research on interethnic relationships.

  13. Fuzzy multiobjective models for optimal operation of a hydropower system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teegavarapu, Ramesh S. V.; Ferreira, André R.; Simonovic, Slobodan P.

    2013-06-01

    Optimal operation models for a hydropower system using new fuzzy multiobjective mathematical programming models are developed and evaluated in this study. The models use (i) mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) with binary variables and (ii) integrate a new turbine unit commitment formulation along with water quality constraints used for evaluation of reservoir downstream impairment. Reardon method used in solution of genetic algorithm optimization problems forms the basis for development of a new fuzzy multiobjective hydropower system optimization model with creation of Reardon type fuzzy membership functions. The models are applied to a real-life hydropower reservoir system in Brazil. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are used to (i) solve the optimization formulations to avoid computational intractability and combinatorial problems associated with binary variables in unit commitment, (ii) efficiently address Reardon method formulations, and (iii) deal with local optimal solutions obtained from the use of traditional gradient-based solvers. Decision maker's preferences are incorporated within fuzzy mathematical programming formulations to obtain compromise operating rules for a multiobjective reservoir operation problem dominated by conflicting goals of energy production, water quality and conservation releases. Results provide insight into compromise operation rules obtained using the new Reardon fuzzy multiobjective optimization framework and confirm its applicability to a variety of multiobjective water resources problems.

  14. Training and Organizational Commitment among Nurses in New Zealand and United States Public Hospitals Experiencing Industry and Organizational Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartlett, Kenneth; Kang, Dae-seok

    2004-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between employee attitudes towards training and organizational commitment among a sample of nurses in New Zealand and the United States. Results show that perceived access to training, training frequency, motivation to learn from training, benefits of training, and supervisory support for training were…

  15. Modelling high level system design and unit commitment for a microgrid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hawkes, A.D. [Centre for Energy Policy and Technology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Leach, M.A. [Centre for Environmental Strategy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH (United Kingdom)

    2009-07-15

    This article develops a linear programming cost minimisation model for the high level system design and corresponding unit commitment of generators and storage within a microgrid; a set of energy resources working co-operatively to create a cost effective, reliable and environmentally friendly energy provision system. Previous work in this area is used as a basis for formulation of a new approach to this problem, with particular emphasis on why a microgrid is different to centralised generation or other grid-connected decentralised energy resources. Specifically, the model explicitly defines the amount of time that the microgrid would be expected to operate autonomously, and restricts flow of heat between microgrid participants to defined cases. The model developed is applied to a set of United Kingdom commercial load profiles, under best current estimates of energy prices and technology capital costs, to determine investment attractiveness of the microgrid. Sensitivity analysis of results to variations in energy prices is performed. The results broadly indicate that a microgrid can offer an economic proposition, although it is necessarily slightly more expensive than regular grid-connected decentralised generation. The analysis results have raised important questions regarding a fair method for settlement between microgrid participants, and game theory has been identified as a suitable tool to analyse aspects of this situation. (author)

  16. Modelling high level system design and unit commitment for a microgrid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hawkes, A.D.; Leach, M.A.

    2009-01-01

    This article develops a linear programming cost minimisation model for the high level system design and corresponding unit commitment of generators and storage within a microgrid; a set of energy resources working co-operatively to create a cost effective, reliable and environmentally friendly energy provision system. Previous work in this area is used as a basis for formulation of a new approach to this problem, with particular emphasis on why a microgrid is different to centralised generation or other grid-connected decentralised energy resources. Specifically, the model explicitly defines the amount of time that the microgrid would be expected to operate autonomously, and restricts flow of heat between microgrid participants to defined cases. The model developed is applied to a set of United Kingdom commercial load profiles, under best current estimates of energy prices and technology capital costs, to determine investment attractiveness of the microgrid. Sensitivity analysis of results to variations in energy prices is performed. The results broadly indicate that a microgrid can offer an economic proposition, although it is necessarily slightly more expensive than regular grid-connected decentralised generation. The analysis results have raised important questions regarding a fair method for settlement between microgrid participants, and game theory has been identified as a suitable tool to analyse aspects of this situation. (author)

  17. Dynamic optimization of a FCC converter unit: numerical analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Almeida Nt

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Fluidized-bed Catalytic Cracking (FCC is a process subject to frequent variations in the operating conditions (including feed quality and feed rate. The production objectives usually are the maximization of LPG and gasoline production. This fact makes the FCC converter unit an excellent opportunity for real-time optimization. The present work aims to apply a dynamic optimization in an industrial FCC converter unit, using a mechanistic dynamic model, and to carry out a numerical analysis of the solution procedure. A simultaneous approach was used to discretize the system of differential-algebraic equations and the resulting large-scale NLP problem was solved using the IPOPT solver. This study also does a short comparison between the results obtained by a potential dynamic real-time optimization (DRTO against a possible steady-state real-time optimization (RTO application. The results demonstrate that the application of dynamic real-time optimization of a FCC converter unit can bring significant benefits in production.

  18. Committed equivalent organ doses and committed effective doses from intakes of radionuclides

    CERN Document Server

    Phipps, A W; Kendall, G M; Silk, T J; Stather, J W

    1991-01-01

    This report contains details of committed equivalent doses to individual organs for intakes by ingestion and inhalation of 1 mu m AMAD particles of 359 nuclides by infants aged 3 months, by children aged 1, 5, 10 and 15 years, and by adults. It complements NRPB-R245 which describes the changes which have taken place since the last NRPB compendium of dose per unit intake factors (dose coefficients) and gives summary tables. Information on the way committed doses increase with the integration period is given in NRPB-M289. The information given in these memoranda is also available as a microcomputer package - NRPB-SR245.

  19. On optimization of power production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feltenmark, S.

    1997-01-01

    Short-term optimization of power production is treated. It concerns the problem of determining a production schedule for a power system, which minimizes the total cost of production, while satisfying various constraints. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter, four chapters that each concerns a specific problem area (economic dispatch, unit commitment, hydro power planning and cogeneration optimization), plus a chapter with relevant theory. The emphasis of the thesis is on the mathematical structures that arise in problems in this field, and how to exploit them algorithmically. A recurring theme is convexification, either implicit, by dualization, or explicit, as in our approach to hydro power optimization. 134 refs

  20. The impact of middle manager affective commitment on perceived improvement program implementation success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fryer, Ashley-Kay; Tucker, Anita L; Singer, Sara J

    Recent literature suggests that middle manager affective commitment (emotional attachment, identification, and involvement) to an improvement program may influence implementation success. However, less is known about the interplay between middle manager affective commitment and frontline worker commitment, another important driver of implementation success. We contribute to this research by surveying middle managers who directly manage frontline workers on nursing units. We assess how middle manager affective commitment is related to their perceptions of implementation success and whether their perceptions of frontline worker support mediate this relationship. We also test whether a set of organizational support factors foster middle manager affective commitment. We adapt survey measures of manager affective commitment to our research context of hospitals. We surveyed 67 nurse managers from 19 U.S. hospitals. We use hierarchical linear regression to assess relationships among middle manager affective commitment to their units' falls reduction program and their perceptions of three constructs related to the program: frontline worker support, organizational support, and implementation success. Middle manager affective commitment to their unit's falls reduction program is positively associated with their perception of implementation success. This relationship is mediated by their perception of frontline worker support for the falls program. Moreover, middle managers' affective commitment to their unit's falls program mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support for the program and perceived implementation success. We, through this research, offer an important contribution by providing empirical support of factors that may influence successful implementation of an improvement program: middle manager affective commitment, frontline worker support, and organizational support for an improvement program. Increasing levels of middle manager affective

  1. An empirical study on measuring the effect of layoff on job satisfaction and employee commitment: A case study of detergent producer unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abolfazl Tajzadeh-Namin

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the necessary actions in many organizations is to reduce the number of workers in an attempt to restructure business activities. However, layoff could have negative consequences since many employees may decide to leave since they lose their tolerance. The layoff must be accompanied with some supportive plans to reduce stress among the remaining workers and increase their commitment for long-term work. The present study of this paper considers the effects of layoff on job satisfaction and commitment among the remaining employees of a detergent producer unit. The results indicate that a good supportive program including wage increase, family support, health care plans, etc. could significantly improve employee long-term commitments and it leads to job satisfaction.

  2. Optimization of power system operation

    CERN Document Server

    Zhu, Jizhong

    2015-01-01

    This book applies the latest applications of new technologies topower system operation and analysis, including new and importantareas that are not covered in the previous edition. Optimization of Power System Operation covers both traditional andmodern technologies, including power flow analysis, steady-statesecurity region analysis, security constrained economic dispatch,multi-area system economic dispatch, unit commitment, optimal powerflow, smart grid operation, optimal load shed, optimalreconfiguration of distribution network, power system uncertaintyanalysis, power system sensitivity analysis, analytic hierarchicalprocess, neural network, fuzzy theory, genetic algorithm,evolutionary programming, and particle swarm optimization, amongothers. New topics such as the wheeling model, multi-areawheeling, the total transfer capability computation in multipleareas, are also addressed. The new edition of this book continues to provide engineers andac demics with a complete picture of the optimization of techn...

  3. What drives political commitment for nutrition? A review and framework synthesis to inform the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Phillip; Hawkes, Corinna; Wingrove, Kate; Demaio, Alessandro Rhyl; Parkhurst, Justin; Thow, Anne Marie; Walls, Helen

    2018-01-01

    Generating country-level political commitment will be critical to driving forward action throughout the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025). In this review of the empirical nutrition policy literature, we ask: what factors generate, sustain and constrain political commitment for nutrition, how and under what circumstances? Our aim is to inform strategic 'commitment-building' actions. We adopted a framework synthesis method and realist review protocol. An initial framework was derived from relevant theory and then populated with empirical evidence to test and modify it. Five steps were undertaken: initial theoretical framework development; search for relevant empirical literature; study selection and quality appraisal; data extraction, analysis and synthesis and framework modification. 75 studies were included. We identified 18 factors that drive commitment, organised into five categories: actors; institutions; political and societal contexts; knowledge, evidence and framing; and, capacities and resources. Irrespective of country-context, effective nutrition actor networks, strong leadership, civil society mobilisation, supportive political administrations, societal change and focusing events, cohesive and resonant framing, and robust data systems and available evidence were commitment drivers. Low-income and middle-income country studies also frequently reported international actors, empowered institutions, vertical coordination and capacities and resources. In upper-middle-income and high-income country studies, private sector interference frequently undermined commitment. Political commitment is not something that simply exists or emerges accidentally; it can be created and strengthened over time through strategic action. Successfully generating commitment will likely require a core set of actions with some context-dependent adaptations. Ultimately, it will necessitate strategic actions by cohesive, resourced and strongly led nutrition actor

  4. 75 FR 57159 - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-20

    ... economy of the United States constituted by the grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and... security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, the national emergency declared on September 23...

  5. 76 FR 58999 - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, Or...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-22

    ... economy of the United States constituted by the grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and... security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, the national emergency declared on September 23...

  6. Money and Credit With Limited Commitment and Theft

    OpenAIRE

    Williamson, Stephen; Sanches, Daniel

    2009-01-01

    We study the interplay among imperfect memory, limited commitment, and theft, in an environment that can support monetary exchange and credit. Imperfect memory makes money useful, but it also permits theft to go undetected, and therefore provides lucrative opportunities for thieves. Limited commitment constrains credit arrangements, and the constraints tend to tighten with imperfect memory, as this mitigates punishment for bad behavior in the credit market. Theft matters for optimal monetary ...

  7. Optimal Capacity Allocation of Large-Scale Wind-PV-Battery Units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kehe Wu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available An optimal capacity allocation of large-scale wind-photovoltaic- (PV- battery units was proposed. First, an output power model was established according to meteorological conditions. Then, a wind-PV-battery unit was connected to the power grid as a power-generation unit with a rated capacity under a fixed coordinated operation strategy. Second, the utilization rate of renewable energy sources and maximum wind-PV complementation was considered and the objective function of full life cycle-net present cost (NPC was calculated through hybrid iteration/adaptive hybrid genetic algorithm (HIAGA. The optimal capacity ratio among wind generator, PV array, and battery device also was calculated simultaneously. A simulation was conducted based on the wind-PV-battery unit in Zhangbei, China. Results showed that a wind-PV-battery unit could effectively minimize the NPC of power-generation units under a stable grid-connected operation. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the wind-PV-battery unit demonstrated that the optimization result was closely related to potential wind-solar resources and government support. Regions with rich wind resources and a reasonable government energy policy could improve the economic efficiency of their power-generation units.

  8. Management Commitment to Safety, Teamwork, and Hospital Worker Injuries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGonagle, Alyssa K; Essenmacher, Lynnette; Hamblin, Lydia; Luborsky, Mark; Upfal, Mark; Arnetz, Judith

    2016-01-01

    Although many studies link teamwork in health care settings to patient safety, evidence linking teamwork to hospital worker safety is lacking. This study addresses this gap by providing evidence linking teamwork perceptions in hospital workers to worker injuries, and further, finds a linkage between manager commitment to safety and teamwork. Organizational records of worker injuries and survey responses regarding management commitment to safety and teamwork from 446 hospital workers within 42 work units in a multi-site hospital system were examined. Results underscored the particular importance of teamwork on worker injuries as well as the importance of management commitment to safety as relating to teamwork. To improve worker safety, organizational leaders and unit managers should work to maintain environments wherein teamwork can thrive.

  9. Optimal design of unit hydrographs using probability distribution and ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

    optimization formulation is solved using binary-coded genetic algorithms. The number of variables to ... Unit hydrograph; rainfall-runoff; hydrology; genetic algorithms; optimization; probability ..... Application of the model. Data derived from the ...

  10. INPO and the industry: a commitment to excellence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colvin, J.F.

    1985-01-01

    Utilities in the United States have undergone major changes in their attitudes and methods of operating nuclear stations in the 6 yr since the accident at Three Mile Island. These changes reflect a strong commitment by the US utility industry to excellence in nuclear plant operations. Fundamental in this commitment was the formation of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), an organization created by the industry in the United States to serve as a focus and catalyst for these changes. With membership in INPO, nuclear utilities make a commitment to strive for excellence in the construction and operation of their nuclear plants. INPO has programs to help utilities in their efforts to achieve excellence. The most visible are the INPO evaluation programs. By the end of 1985, INPO will have evaluated most operating plants at least four times. Construction project evaluations are also being conducted. Twenty-one construction evaluations will have been conducted by the end of the year. Through each of its programs, INPO seeks to promote excellence and to help those operating and building nuclear plants in their commitment to excellence

  11. Optimal operation of cogeneration units. State of art and perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polimeni, S.

    2001-01-01

    Optimal operation of cogeneration plants and of power plant fueling waste products is a complex challenge as they have to fulfill, beyond the contractual obligation of electric power supply, the constraints of supplying the required thermal energy to the user (for cogeneration units) or to burn completely the by-products of the industrial complex where they are integrated. Electrical power market evolution is pushing such units to a more and more volatile operation caused by uncertain selling price levels. This work intends to pinpoint the state of art in the optimization of these units outlining the important differences among the different size and cycles. The effect of the market liberalization on the automation systems and the optimization algorithms will be discussed [it

  12. What drives political commitment for nutrition? A review and framework synthesis to inform the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Phillip; Hawkes, Corinna; Wingrove, Kate; Parkhurst, Justin; Thow, Anne Marie; Walls, Helen

    2018-01-01

    Introduction Generating country-level political commitment will be critical to driving forward action throughout the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025). In this review of the empirical nutrition policy literature, we ask: what factors generate, sustain and constrain political commitment for nutrition, how and under what circumstances? Our aim is to inform strategic ‘commitment-building’ actions. Method We adopted a framework synthesis method and realist review protocol. An initial framework was derived from relevant theory and then populated with empirical evidence to test and modify it. Five steps were undertaken: initial theoretical framework development; search for relevant empirical literature; study selection and quality appraisal; data extraction, analysis and synthesis and framework modification. Results 75 studies were included. We identified 18 factors that drive commitment, organised into five categories: actors; institutions; political and societal contexts; knowledge, evidence and framing; and, capacities and resources. Irrespective of country-context, effective nutrition actor networks, strong leadership, civil society mobilisation, supportive political administrations, societal change and focusing events, cohesive and resonant framing, and robust data systems and available evidence were commitment drivers. Low-income and middle-income country studies also frequently reported international actors, empowered institutions, vertical coordination and capacities and resources. In upper-middle-income and high-income country studies, private sector interference frequently undermined commitment. Conclusion Political commitment is not something that simply exists or emerges accidentally; it can be created and strengthened over time through strategic action. Successfully generating commitment will likely require a core set of actions with some context-dependent adaptations. Ultimately, it will necessitate strategic actions by cohesive

  13. A Framework For Efficient Homomorphic Universally Composable Commitments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    David, Bernardo Machado

    primitives and protocols while retaining security guarantees. Moreover, commitments with homomorphic properties enable significantly more efficient constructions of protocols for applications such as zero knowledge proofs, two-party computation through garbled circuits and multiparty computation. However......, achieving universal composability for commitment schemes often sacrifices both concrete and asymptotic efficiency, specially if homomorphic properties are required. In this thesis we bridge the gap between stand alone and universally composable commitment schemes, for which we achieve optimal efficiency...... related to a statistical security parameter as a setup. The rest of our constructions leverage secret sharing and coding theory techniques, including a novel method for verifying that a large number of strings are codewords of a given linear code with linear complexity....

  14. Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Retention, Cohesion, Commitment and Unit Effectiveness: The Case of the Air Force

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    quid pro quo ). Examples of questions that were used in previous studies to measure crude/offensive behavior, as well as, other forms of sexual ...includes, but is not limited to, harassment in which submission is made a condition of employment (or quid pro quo ). Global or organizational...Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Retention, Cohesion, Commitment and Unit Effectiveness: The Case of the Air Force Dr. Brenda

  15. How does burnout impact the three components of nursing professional commitment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Hao-Yuan; Shyu, Yea-Ing Lotus; Wong, May-Kuen; Chu, Tsung-Lan; Lo, Yuan-Yu; Teng, Ching-I

    2017-12-01

    While the impact of burnout on organisational commitment has been widely observed, its impact on nursing professional commitment has not previously been investigated. The literature has clarified that professional commitment has three distinct components: affective, continuance and normative. This study aims to investigate the relationships between burnout and the three components of nursing professional commitment. This was a cross-sectional study using questionnaires to collect data in one large medical centre. Responses from 571 nurses were used for regression analysis. Among the sampled nurses, 90.9% had professional commitment came from Meyer et al. (J Appl Psychol, 78, 1993 and 538) a formally validated instrument. Analytical results indicated that burnout is negatively related to affective and normative professional commitment (B ≤ -0.09, p professional commitment (B = 0.05, p > 0.05). Nurse managers aiming to improve nurses' professional commitment should consider reducing nurses' burnout, for example improving nursing optimism and reducing administrative tasks, as suggested by the literature. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  16. Authentic leadership and organizational commitment: the mediating role of positive psychological capital

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rego, P.; Pereira Lopes, M.; Nascimento, J.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study analyzes the mediating role of positive psychological capital in the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study presents a model in which were considered as variables mediating the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment, the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (optimism, resilience, self-efficacy, hope). Findings: The results showed that positive psychological capital mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. However, they also indicate that this mediation is only made for three of the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope and optimism). They also show that resilience negatively affects organizational commitment. Originality/value: The value of this study is to strengthen the interest in the study of positive psychological capital as a mediating variable and the importance of development that each of its dimensions and the impact they may have on other variables, as demonstrated by the results. (Author)

  17. Authentic leadership and organizational commitment: the mediating role of positive psychological capital

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rego, P.; Pereira Lopes, M.; Nascimento, J.

    2016-07-01

    Purpose: This study analyzes the mediating role of positive psychological capital in the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study presents a model in which were considered as variables mediating the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment, the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (optimism, resilience, self-efficacy, hope). Findings: The results showed that positive psychological capital mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. However, they also indicate that this mediation is only made for three of the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope and optimism). They also show that resilience negatively affects organizational commitment. Originality/value: The value of this study is to strengthen the interest in the study of positive psychological capital as a mediating variable and the importance of development that each of its dimensions and the impact they may have on other variables, as demonstrated by the results. (Author)

  18. Authentic leadership and organizational commitment: The mediating role of positive psychological capital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Rego

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This study analyzes the mediating role of positive psychological capital in the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study presents a model in which were considered as variables mediating the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment, the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (optimism, resilience, self-efficacy, hope. Findings: The results showed that positive psychological capital mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational commitment. However, they also indicate that this mediation is only made for three of the four dimensions of positive psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope and optimism. They also show that resilience negatively affects organizational commitment. Originality/value: The value of this study is to strengthen the interest in the study of positive psychological capital as a mediating variable and the importance of development that each of its dimensions and the impact they may have on other variables, as demonstrated by the results.

  19. Optimal unit sizing for small-scale integrated energy systems using multi-objective interval optimization and evidential reasoning approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, F.; Wu, Q.H.; Jing, Z.X.; Chen, J.J.; Zhou, X.X.

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a comprehensive framework including a multi-objective interval optimization model and evidential reasoning (ER) approach to solve the unit sizing problem of small-scale integrated energy systems, with uncertain wind and solar energies integrated. In the multi-objective interval optimization model, interval variables are introduced to tackle the uncertainties of the optimization problem. Aiming at simultaneously considering the cost and risk of a business investment, the average and deviation of life cycle cost (LCC) of the integrated energy system are formulated. In order to solve the problem, a novel multi-objective optimization algorithm, MGSOACC (multi-objective group search optimizer with adaptive covariance matrix and chaotic search), is developed, employing adaptive covariance matrix to make the search strategy adaptive and applying chaotic search to maintain the diversity of group. Furthermore, ER approach is applied to deal with multiple interests of an investor at the business decision making stage and to determine the final unit sizing solution from the Pareto-optimal solutions. This paper reports on the simulation results obtained using a small-scale direct district heating system (DH) and a small-scale district heating and cooling system (DHC) optimized by the proposed framework. The results demonstrate the superiority of the multi-objective interval optimization model and ER approach in tackling the unit sizing problem of integrated energy systems considering the integration of uncertian wind and solar energies. - Highlights: • Cost and risk of investment in small-scale integrated energy systems are considered. • A multi-objective interval optimization model is presented. • A novel multi-objective optimization algorithm (MGSOACC) is proposed. • The evidential reasoning (ER) approach is used to obtain the final optimal solution. • The MGSOACC and ER can tackle the unit sizing problem efficiently.

  20. Third age university, social and institucional commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flora Moritz da Silva

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article brings reflections on the social commitment of permanent education programs for the elderly, at the universities, in the face of their institutional commitment to the plans. It was possible to rescue the responsibility concepts, social commitment and identify the elderly in the university, within the federal legislation, through bibliographical and documentary research. There was a survey of permanent education programs with at least 20 years, in 2016. It was carried out for the elderly in the 63 Brazilian Federal, and Public Universities and 17 cases were found. Thus, nine Pro-Rectors of Extension and a Unit Director accepted to participate in interviews by Skype or telephone, in the second semester of 2016, fulfilling the objective of describing the university authorities’ vision on the type of institutional support for such programs’ operation. Although it is possible to realize their relevance to the environment and the university, the institutional commitment is still far short of what is necessary.

  1. Affective Commitment among Student Affairs Professionals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boehman, Joseph

    2007-01-01

    Student affairs professionals in the United States were surveyed to determine the predictive value of overall job satisfaction, organizational support, organizational politics, and work/nonwork interaction on affective organizational commitment. Results indicate that a supportive work environment leads to increased affective attachment to the…

  2. Factors associated with the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff in organizational change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Groenroos, Eija; Pajukari, Arja; Matinheikki-Kokko, Kaija

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of the study is to examine factors associated with the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff. The associations studied are (1) organizational change, (2) work-related factors, (3) psychosocial work environment, and (4) intention to leave. Method: The follow-up study was performed between 2005 and 2007 in co-operation with 10 radiography departments of two Finnish municipalities. In 2005 the response rate was 60% (n = 97/163) and in 2007 it was 49% (n = 73/150). Results: The goal commitment had dropped during the organizational change from 3.96 in 2005 to 3.60 in 2007 (scale 1-5) (p = 0.001). Best predictors for the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff were having children (OR 4.4) and perceiving functional environment clearly (OR 2.6). Correlation between the goal commitment and intention to leave of the staff was -0.32 (p = 0.01). Conclusion: From the viewpoint of the commitment of the radiography departments' staff, the trend of uniting quite independent health care units into larger entities seems not to be beneficial. This study reveals that commitment to one's work unit is most of all a question of stability and job security. This is a fact the leadership of the radiography departments should take into account, appreciate and support to assure the tenure and productivity of their workforce.

  3. Large-area landslide susceptibility with optimized slope-units

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvioli, Massimiliano; Marchesini, Ivan; Reichenbach, Paola; Rossi, Mauro; Ardizzone, Francesca; Fiorucci, Federica; Guzzetti, Fausto

    2017-04-01

    A Slope-Unit (SU) is a type of morphological terrain unit bounded by drainage and divide lines that maximize the within-unit homogeneity and the between-unit heterogeneity across distinct physical and geographical boundaries [1]. Compared to other terrain subdivisions, SU are morphological terrain unit well related to the natural (i.e., geological, geomorphological, hydrological) processes that shape and characterize natural slopes. This makes SU easily recognizable in the field or in topographic base maps, and well suited for environmental and geomorphological analysis, in particular for landslide susceptibility (LS) modelling. An optimal subdivision of an area into a set of SU depends on multiple factors: size and complexity of the study area, quality and resolution of the available terrain elevation data, purpose of the terrain subdivision, scale and resolution of the phenomena for which SU are delineated. We use the recently developed r.slopeunits software [2,3] for the automatic, parametric delineation of SU within the open source GRASS GIS based on terrain elevation data and a small number of user-defined parameters. The software provides subdivisions consisting of SU with different shapes and sizes, as a function of the input parameters. In this work, we describe a procedure for the optimal selection of the user parameters through the production of a large number of realizations of the LS model. We tested the software and the optimization procedure in a 2,000 km2 area in Umbria, Central Italy. For LS zonation we adopt a logistic regression model implemented in an well-known software [4,5], using about 50 independent variables. To select the optimal SU partition for LS zonation, we want to define a metric which is able to quantify simultaneously: (i) slope-unit internal homogeneity (ii) slope-unit external heterogeneity (iii) landslide susceptibility model performance. To this end, we define a comprehensive objective function S, as the product of three

  4. MILP formulation for the optimal operation of the integrated gas and power system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fang, Jiakun; Chen, Zhe; Ai, Xiaomeng

    2017-01-01

    -to-gas technology is also modeled together with gas-fired generators to enable bi directional energy conversion between the gas and power systems. The major advance of the proposed model is that the linepack storage in every pipe can be assessed and optimally utilized. Simulation results show the unit commitment...

  5. Relationship emotional intelligence and personality traits with organizational commitment among Iranian nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Taherinejad

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the past three decades, organizational commitment has been of interest to researchers as one of the organizational attitudes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of emotional intelligence and personality traits with organizational commitment among Iranian nurses. A total of 280 nurses were selected by multistage random sampling. Study tools included emotional intelligence inventory, Neo personality inventory and organizational commitment inventory. Results showed the positive and significant relationship of emotional intelligence and its dimensions (self-expression, self-regard, independence, social responsibility, problem solving, stress tolerance, impulse control, and optimism with organizational commitment. Also, organizational commitment showed a positive and significant relationship with extroversion and conscientiousness. Moreover, components of self-expression, problem solving and stress tolerance in emotional intelligence are able to predict organizational commitment. Thus, these results indicate the importance of emotional intelligence and personality traits in organizational commitment.

  6. Security bound of cheat sensitive quantum bit commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Guang Ping

    2015-03-23

    Cheat sensitive quantum bit commitment (CSQBC) loosens the security requirement of quantum bit commitment (QBC), so that the existing impossibility proofs of unconditionally secure QBC can be evaded. But here we analyze the common features in all existing CSQBC protocols, and show that in any CSQBC having these features, the receiver can always learn a non-trivial amount of information on the sender's committed bit before it is unveiled, while his cheating can pass the security check with a probability not less than 50%. The sender's cheating is also studied. The optimal CSQBC protocols that can minimize the sum of the cheating probabilities of both parties are found to be trivial, as they are practically useless. We also discuss the possibility of building a fair protocol in which both parties can cheat with equal probabilities.

  7. Security bound of cheat sensitive quantum bit commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Guang Ping

    2015-03-01

    Cheat sensitive quantum bit commitment (CSQBC) loosens the security requirement of quantum bit commitment (QBC), so that the existing impossibility proofs of unconditionally secure QBC can be evaded. But here we analyze the common features in all existing CSQBC protocols, and show that in any CSQBC having these features, the receiver can always learn a non-trivial amount of information on the sender's committed bit before it is unveiled, while his cheating can pass the security check with a probability not less than 50%. The sender's cheating is also studied. The optimal CSQBC protocols that can minimize the sum of the cheating probabilities of both parties are found to be trivial, as they are practically useless. We also discuss the possibility of building a fair protocol in which both parties can cheat with equal probabilities.

  8. Model-based investigation of the electricity market. Unit commitment and power plant investments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Ninghong

    2013-01-01

    The German Federal Government published its energy concept in September 2010 with a description of the road into the era of renewable energies. Therefore, the future renewable energy installed in Germany is expected to consist mostly of wind and solar, which are subject to intermittency of supply and significant fluctuations. The growing portion of energy generation by fluctuating sources is turning to a big challenge for the power plant unit commitment and the investment decisions as well. In this thesis, a fundamental electricity market model with combined modeling of these two aspects is developed. This model is subsequently applied to the German electricity market to investigate what kind of power plant investments are indispensable, considering the steadily increasing portion of energy generation from fluctuating sources, to ensure a reliable energy supply in a cost-effective way in the future. In addition, current energy policy in Germany regarding the use of renewable energy and nuclear energy is analyzed.

  9. Employee commitment and motivation: a conceptual analysis and integrative model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myer, John P; Becker, Thomas E; Vandenberghe, Christian

    2004-12-01

    Theorists and researchers interested in employee commitment and motivation have not made optimal use of each other's work. Commitment researchers seldom address the motivational processes through which commitment affects behavior, and motivation researchers have not recognized important distinctions in the forms, foci, and bases of commitment. To encourage greater cross-fertilization, the authors present an integrative framework in which commitment is presented as one of several energizing forces for motivated behavior. E. A. Locke's (1997) model of the work motivation process and J. P. Meyer and L. Herscovitch's (2001) model of workplace commitments serve as the foundation for the development of this new framework. To facilitate the merger, a new concept, goal regulation, is derived from self-determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985) and regulatory focus theory (E. I. Higgins, 1997). By including goal regulation, it is acknowledged that motivated behavior can be accompanied by different mindsets that have particularly important implications for the explanation and prediction of discretionary work behavior. 2004 APA, all rights reserved

  10. An empirical investigation on relationship between social capital and organizational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Alikhani

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between social capital and organizational commitment. The study considers the relationship between social capital with three components of organizational commitment; namely, affective commitment, continuous and normative commitment. The study has been applied among a sample of 292 regular employees who worked for an Iranian bank located in city of Tehran, Iran. The implementation of Pearson correlation has indicated that there were positive and meaningful relationships between social capital and affective commitment (r = 0.197, Sig. = 0.01, continuous (r = 0.308, Sig. = 0.01 and normative commitment (r = 0.423, Sig. = 0.01. In addition, the study has detected that women had more commitment on their organization than men did. The proposed study of this paper has also considered a regression model where organizational commitment is dependent variable and trust and communication are considered as independent variables. According to the results of regression analysis, an increase of one unit in trust and social capital communication will increase organizational commitment by 0.189 and 0.204, respectively.

  11. Optimization and Control of Electric Power Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lesieutre, Bernard C. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Molzahn, Daniel K. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

    2014-10-17

    The analysis and optimization needs for planning and operation of the electric power system are challenging due to the scale and the form of model representations. The connected network spans the continent and the mathematical models are inherently nonlinear. Traditionally, computational limits have necessitated the use of very simplified models for grid analysis, and this has resulted in either less secure operation, or less efficient operation, or both. The research conducted in this project advances techniques for power system optimization problems that will enhance reliable and efficient operation. The results of this work appear in numerous publications and address different application problems include optimal power flow (OPF), unit commitment, demand response, reliability margins, planning, transmission expansion, as well as general tools and algorithms.

  12. Considerations in civil commitment of individuals with substance use disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavaiola, Alan A; Dolan, David

    2016-01-01

    Several states currently have enacted laws that allow for civil commitment for individuals diagnosed with severe substance use disorders. Civil commitment or involuntary commitment refers to the legal process by which individuals with mental illness are court-ordered into inpatient and/or outpatient treatment programs. Although initially civil commitment laws were intended for individuals with severe mental illness, these statutes have been extended to cover individuals with severe substance use disorders. Much of the recent legislation allowing for civil commitment of individuals with substance use disorders has come about in response to the heroin epidemic and is designed to provide an alternative to the unrelenting progression of opioid use disorders. Civil commitment also provides an opportunity for individuals with opioid use disorders to make informed decisions regarding ongoing or continued treatment. However, civil commitment also raises concerns regarding the potential violation of 14th Amendment rights, specifically pertaining to abuses of deprivation of liberty or freedom, which are guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This commentary examines these issues while supporting the need for effective brief civil commitment legislation in all states.

  13. Factors associated with the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff in organizational change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Groenroos, Eija [Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Degree Programme in Radiography and Radiotherapy, Mannerheimintie 172, 00300 Helsinki (Finland)], E-mail: eija.gronroos@metropolia.fi; Pajukari, Arja [MHS, Hus-Roentgen, PL 809, 00029 Hus (Finland)], E-mail: arja.pajukari@hus.fi; Matinheikki-Kokko, Kaija [Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Mannerheimintie 172, 00300 Helsinki (Finland)

    2009-11-15

    Purpose: The aim of the study is to examine factors associated with the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff. The associations studied are (1) organizational change, (2) work-related factors, (3) psychosocial work environment, and (4) intention to leave. Method: The follow-up study was performed between 2005 and 2007 in co-operation with 10 radiography departments of two Finnish municipalities. In 2005 the response rate was 60% (n = 97/163) and in 2007 it was 49% (n = 73/150). Results: The goal commitment had dropped during the organizational change from 3.96 in 2005 to 3.60 in 2007 (scale 1-5) (p = 0.001). Best predictors for the goal commitment of radiography departments' staff were having children (OR 4.4) and perceiving functional environment clearly (OR 2.6). Correlation between the goal commitment and intention to leave of the staff was -0.32 (p = 0.01). Conclusion: From the viewpoint of the commitment of the radiography departments' staff, the trend of uniting quite independent health care units into larger entities seems not to be beneficial. This study reveals that commitment to one's work unit is most of all a question of stability and job security. This is a fact the leadership of the radiography departments should take into account, appreciate and support to assure the tenure and productivity of their workforce.

  14. Dimensionality of Organizational Commitment in Volunteer Workers: Chamber of Commerce Board Members and Role Fulfillment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawley, David D.; Stephens, Robert D.; Stephens, David B.

    2005-01-01

    This study explores the multi-dimensionality of organizational commitment of volunteer chamber of commerce board members using the Meyer and Allen (1997) scale. The effect of organizational commitment on desirable board member roles is also tested. Theory is developed by uniting past research in both organizational commitment and employee…

  15. Dynamic income taxation without commitment: Comparing alternative tax systems

    OpenAIRE

    Guo, J-T; Krause, A

    2015-01-01

    This paper addresses the question as to whether it is optimal to use separating or pooling nonlinear income taxation, or to use linear income taxation, when the government cannot commit to its future tax policy. We consider both two- period and inÖnite-horizon settings. Under empirically plausible parameter values, separating income taxation is optimal in the two-period model, whereas linear income taxation is optimal when the time horizon is inÖnite. The welfare e§ects of varying the di...

  16. Relationship between organizational culture and commitment of employees in health care centers in west of Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamidi, Yadollah; Mohammadibakhsh, Roghayeh; Soltanian, Alireza; Behzadifar, Masoud

    2017-01-01

    Presence of committed personnel in each organization not only reduces their absenteeism, delays, and displacements but also leads to a dramatic increase in performance and efficiency of an organization, mental freshness of employees, better manifestation of noble objectives, and organizational mission as well as fulfillment of personal goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment of employees in administrative units of health care centers in the cities of Hamedan Province based on the Denison model in 2015. In this cross-sectional study, 177 employees in administrative units of health care centers in the cities of Hamedan Province were selected by a multistage stratified sampling method. The data collection instruments included the standardized Denison organizational culture survey and organizational commitment questionnaire by Meyer and Allen. Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS version 21 using descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment coefficient. Among the 12 indicators of organizational culture, the highest mean scores were assigned to empowerment (16.74), organizational learning (16.41), vision (16.4), and strategic direction (16.35); respectively. Furthermore, the indicators of capability development (14.2), core values (15.31), team orientation (15.45), and goals (15.46) received the lowest mean scores in this respect. Among the four dimensions of organizational culture, the highest mean score was related to "mission" in organizational culture and the lowest score was associated with "involvement." Meyer and Allen's organizational commitment model also had three components in which affective commitment in this study obtained the highest score (26.63) and continuance commitment received the lowest score (24.73). In this study, there was a significant correlation between all the components of organizational culture and organizational commitment of employees in

  17. Penempatan Optimal Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) Dengan Integer Programming

    OpenAIRE

    Amrulloh, Yunan Helmy

    2013-01-01

    Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) merupakan peralatan yang mampu memberikan pengukuran fasor tegangan dan arus secara real-time. PMU dapat digunakan untuk monitoring, proteksi dan kontrol pada sistem tenaga listrik. Tugas akhir ini membahas penempatan PMU secara optimal berdasarkan topologi jaringan sehingga sistem tenaga listrik dapat diobservasi. Penempatan optimal PMU dirumuskan sebagai masalah Binary Integer Programming (BIP) yang akan memberikan variabel dengan pilihan nilai (0,1) yang menu...

  18. Does a 'non-committed' government always generate lower social welfare than its 'committed' counterpart? Strategic trade policy when consumer surplus matters

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Žigić, Krešimir

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 39, č. 4 (2011), s. 533-556 ISSN 0147-5967 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : government commitment * social welfare * optimal tariffs and export subsidies Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.028, year: 2011

  19. Optimal Advance Selling Strategy under Price Commitment

    OpenAIRE

    Chenhang Zeng

    2012-01-01

    This paper considers a two-period model with experienced consumers and inexperienced consumers. The retailer determines both advance selling price and regular selling price at the beginning of the first period. I show that advance selling weekly dominates no advance selling, and the optimal advance selling price may be at a discount, at a premium or at the regular selling price. To help the retailer choose the optimal pricing strategy, conditions for each possible advance selling strategy to ...

  20. UNIT COMMITMENT: A NEW TRUNCATED METHOD OF UNIT ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    NIJOTECH

    Data obtained from the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) has been used to test the efficacy of this approach. ... every unit in the system must be respected. Some of these ..... Analysis of Power System Reliability. 2.Edwin K. W, Machat, ...

  1. A Convex Model of Risk-Based Unit Commitment for Day-Ahead Market Clearing Considering Wind Power Uncertainty

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Ning; Kang, Chongqing; Xia, Qing

    2015-01-01

    The integration of wind power requires the power system to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate its forecast errors. In the market clearing process, the scheduling of flexibility relies on the manner in which the wind power uncertainty is addressed in the unit commitment (UC) model. This paper...... and are considered in both the objective functions and the constraints. The RUC model is shown to be convex and is transformed into a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem using relaxation and piecewise linearization. The proposed RUC model is tested using a three-bus system and an IEEE RTS79 system...... that the risk modeling facilitates a strategic market clearing procedure with a reasonable computational expense....

  2. An Examination of Factors Affecting Organizational Commitment of Developmental Math Faculty at Florida Community Colleges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Austin-Hickey, Rachel

    2013-01-01

    Community colleges play an important role in the accessibility of higher education to the American population and developmental coursework is of vital importance to college degree attainment. The large demand for student remediation in math requires optimal commitment of developmental math faculty members. Increased organizational commitment has…

  3. A study on the relationship between emotional intelligence, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Saman Chehrazi; Mehrdad Hoseini Shakib; Mohammad Hosein Askari Azad

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a casual structure model between emotional intelligence and organizational citizenship behavior by using organizational commitment as mediator variable. The study is accomplished among 324 employees of united bus company in city of Tehran, Iran. Using structural equation modeling, the study has confirmed that emotional intelligence influenced on organizational citizenship behavior and commitment. The study also confirms that organizational commitment influenced on organiza...

  4. Factors influencing job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Liana M

    2008-01-01

    To assess the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors influencing job satisfaction and the perspective of frontline medical imaging staff in acute care health care facilities in the United States. The sample consisted of 359 registered radiologic technologists who were working as staff technologists in acute care health care facilities in the United States. The results of the study suggest that satisfaction with intrinsic and extrinsic motivators influences overall satisfaction with the work environment and job and commitment to the employer.

  5. A long-term optimization method for reservoir management in a market oriented hydro-dominated power systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sultovic, E.; Sarajcev, I.; Majstrovic, M.

    2001-01-01

    This paper presents an optimization-based method for the long-term scheduling of hydrothermal power system. The proposed method maximizes the profit of hydroelectric production in power system based on monthly energy requirement of the system and unit commitment calculations. The method allows precise hydro chain modeling with numerous restrictions as well as computation for multiple-reservoir river systems with multiple-purpose operation. The method has been implemented in a computer program and tested on power system, which is very similar to Croatian Power System in the year 2000. Several testing results are given. Presented method can be applicable for long-term planning in a competitive electricity market due to possibility of unit commitment calculations with different electrical energy price during scheduling horizon. (authors)

  6. Optimal dynamic economic dispatch of generation: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xia, X.; Elaiw, A.M.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents a review of the research of the optimal power dynamic dispatch problem. The dynamic dispatch problem differs from the static economic dispatch problem by incorporating generator ramp rate constraints. There are two different formulations of this problem in the literature. The first formulation is the optimal control dynamic dispatch (OCDD) where the power system generation has been modeled as a control system and optimization is done in the optimal control setting with respect to the ramp rates as input variables. The second one is a later formulation known as the dynamic economic dispatch (DED) where optimization is done with respect to the dispatchable powers of the committed generation units. In this paper we first outline the two formulations, then present an overview on the mathematical optimization methods, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and hybrid methods used to solve the problem incorporating extended and complex objective functions or constraints. The DED problem in deregulated electricity markets is also reported. (author)

  7. Committed Vulnerability to Extreme Weather Events in the United States (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preston, B. L.

    2013-12-01

    Despite improvements in disaster risk management in the United States, a trend toward increasing economic losses from extreme weather events has been observed. This trend has been attributed to growth in socioeconomic exposure to extremes driven by the concentration of population and wealth on hazardous landscapes. As geographic patterns of demography and economic development are associated with strong path dependence, the United States is ';locked-in' to future increases in exposure and associated economic losses in the decades ahead, irrespective of the influence of climate change. To understand the influence of path dependence on past and future losses, an index of potential socioeconomic exposure was developed at the U.S. county level based upon population size and inflation-adjusted wealth proxies. Since 1960, exposure has increased preferentially in the U.S. Southeast, particularly coastal and urban counties and Southwest relative to the Great Plains and Northeast. Projected changes in exposure from 2009 to 2054 based upon scenarios of future demographic and economic change suggest a long-term commitment to increasing, but spatially heterogeneous, exposure to extremes, independent of climate change. The implications of this path dependence are examined in the context of several natural hazards. Annualized county-level losses from 1960-2008 for five climate-related natural hazards were normalized to 2009 values and then scaled based upon projected changes in exposure and two different estimates of the exposure elasticity of losses. Results indicate that losses from extreme events will grow by a factor of 1.3-1.7 and 1.8-3.9 by 2025 and 2050, respectively, with the exposure elasticity representing a major source of uncertainty. At more local scales, however, such as rapidly growing metropolitan areas, losses are anticipated to grow more rapidly. As such, improving understanding of the societal implications of the extreme weather events of the future

  8. Bit-commitment-based quantum coin flipping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nayak, Ashwin; Shor, Peter

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we focus on a special framework for quantum coin-flipping protocols, bit-commitment-based protocols, within which almost all known protocols fit. We show a lower bound of 1/16 for the bias in any such protocol. We also analyze a sequence of multiround protocols that tries to overcome the drawbacks of the previously proposed protocols in order to lower the bias. We show an intricate cheating strategy for this sequence, which leads to a bias of 1/4. This indicates that a bias of 1/4 might be optimal in such protocols, and also demonstrates that a more clever proof technique may be required to show this optimality

  9. A study on the relationship between emotional intelligence, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saman Chehrazi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a casual structure model between emotional intelligence and organizational citizenship behavior by using organizational commitment as mediator variable. The study is accomplished among 324 employees of united bus company in city of Tehran, Iran. Using structural equation modeling, the study has confirmed that emotional intelligence influenced on organizational citizenship behavior and commitment. The study also confirms that organizational commitment influenced on organizational citizenship behavior. Finally, the study has confirmed that there were significant relationships between emotional intelligence and its dimensions with organizational citizenship behavior and organizational commitment of employees.

  10. Commitment Without Marriage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reczek, Corinne; Elliott, Sinikka; Umberson, Debra

    2011-01-01

    The majority of Americans will marry in their lifetimes, and for many, marriage symbolizes the transition into long-term commitment. However, many Americans cannot legally marry. This article analyzes in-depth interviews with gays and lesbians in long-term partnerships to examine union formation and commitment-making histories. Using a life course perspective that emphasizes historical and biographical contexts, the authors examine how couples conceptualize and form committed relationships despite being denied the right to marry. Although previous studies suggest that commitment ceremonies are a way to form same-sex unions, this study finds that because of their unique social, historical, and biographical relationship to marriage and ceremonies, long-term same-sex couples do not follow normative commitment-making trajectories. Instead, relationships can transition more ambiguously to committed formations without marriage, public ceremony, clear-cut act, or decision. Such an understanding of commitment making outside of marriage has implications for theorizing alternative forms of union making. PMID:21814298

  11. Outcomes of patients who commit suicide by burning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castana, O; Kourakos, P; Moutafidis, M; Stampolidis, N; Triantafyllou, V; Pallantzas, Ath; Filippa, E; Alexandropoulos, C

    2013-03-31

    Cases in which people use fire when attempting or committing suicide are not common but nevertheless constitute a cause of admission to burns units worldwide. Usually these people are suffering from stress and have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders are the most frequently diagnosed conditions. The psychological problems appear to have been overlooked by the family or not to have been presented to them. The aim of this study is to present the clinical features, characteristics, and outcomes of patients burned during a suicide attempt. The role of the psychiatrist is important, starting in the emergency room. The incidence of patients committing self-injury by burning appears to be higher in women burn patients. Deceased patients usually have a larger extent of burns and a higher incidence of other injuries and require more surgical procedures and longer hospitalization times. The problems for burn unit staff and qualified psychiatric care are discussed.

  12. Outcomes of patients who commit suicide by burning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castana, O.; Kourakos, P.; Moutafidis, M.; Stampolidis, N.; Triantafyllou, V.; Pallantzas, Ath.; Filippa, E.; Alexandropoulos, C.

    2013-01-01

    Summary Cases in which people use fire when attempting or committing suicide are not common but nevertheless constitute a cause of admission to burns units worldwide. Usually these people are suffering from stress and have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders are the most frequently diagnosed conditions. The psychological problems appear to have been overlooked by the family or not to have been presented to them. The aim of this study is to present the clinical features, characteristics, and outcomes of patients burned during a suicide attempt. The role of the psychiatrist is important, starting in the emergency room. The incidence of patients committing self-injury by burning appears to be higher in women burn patients. Deceased patients usually have a larger extent of burns and a higher incidence of other injuries and require more surgical procedures and longer hospitalization times. The problems for burn unit staff and qualified psychiatric care are discussed. PMID:23966897

  13. Multiobjective Optimization of a Counterrotating Type Pump-Turbine Unit Operated at Turbine Mode

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin-Hyuk Kim

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available A multiobjective optimization for improving the turbine output and efficiency of a counterrotating type pump-turbine unit operated at turbine mode was carried out in this work. The blade geometry of both the runners was optimized using a hybrid multiobjective evolutionary algorithm coupled with a surrogate model. Three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the shear stress transport turbulence model were discretized by finite volume approximations and solved on hexahedral grids to analyze the flow in the pump-turbine unit. As major hydrodynamic performance parameters, the turbine output and efficiency were selected as objective functions with two design variables related to the hub profiles of both the runner blades. These objectives were numerically assessed at twelve design points selected by Latin hypercube sampling in the design space. Response surface approximation models for the objectives were constructed based on the objective function values at the design points. A fast nondominated sorting genetic algorithm for the local search coupled with the response surface approximation models was applied to determine the global Pareto-optimal solutions. The trade-off between the two objectives was determined and described with respect to the Pareto-optimal solutions. The results of this work showed that the turbine outputs and efficiencies of optimized pump-turbine units were simultaneously improved in comparison to the reference unit.

  14. The Issue of Unit Constraints and the Non-Confiscatory Electricity Market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haji Bashi, Mazaher; Rahmati, Iman; Bak, Claus Leth

    2017-01-01

    Security constraint unit commitment is devised to drive the generation unit schedule in a deregulated environment. Generation bids, transmission system constraints and generation unit constraints are thoroughly considered in this optimization problem. It is acceptable that the transmission system...... normal condition constraints may affect the economic opportunities of the generation companies in the electricity market. Transmission system limitations are the inherent limits of the market environment but this is not true for the generation unit constraints. It means that the generation unit...... constraint of a certain player should not affect the economic opportunities of the rivals. If this happen, generation units can claim to the electricity market regulatory board. In this paper the effect of generation unit constraint on the market outcome is discussed. A fair mechanism is introduced in which...

  15. [Diagnosis and the technology for optimizing the medical support of a troop unit].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korshever, N G; Polkovov, S V; Lavrinenko, O V; Krupnov, P A; Anastasov, K N

    2000-05-01

    The work is devoted to investigation of the system of military unit medical support with the use of principles and states of organizational diagnosis; development of the method allowing to assess its functional activity; and determination of optimization trends. Basing on the conducted organizational diagnosis and expert inquiry the informative criteria were determined which characterize the stages of functioning of the military unit medical support system. To evaluate the success of military unit medical support the complex multi-criteria pattern was developed and algorithm of this process optimization was substantiated. Using the results obtained, particularly realization of principles and states of decision taking theory in machine program it is possible to solve more complex problem of comparison between any number of military units: to dispose them according to priority decrease; to select the programmed number of the best and worst; to determine the trends of activity optimization in corresponding medical service personnel.

  16. Factors that impact clinical laboratory scientists' commitment to their work organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bamberg, Richard; Akroyd, Duane; Moore, Ti'eshia M

    2008-01-01

    To assess the predictive ability of various aspects of the work environment for organizational commitment. A questionnaire measuring three dimensions of organizational commitment along with five aspects of work environment and 10 demographic and work setting characteristics was sent to a national, convenience sample of clinical laboratory professionals. All persons obtaining the CLS certification by NCA from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2006. Only respondents who worked full-time in a clinical laboratory setting were included in the database. Levels of affective, normative, and continuance organizational commitment, organizational support, role clarity, role conflict, transformational leadership behavior of supervisor, and organizational type, total years work experience in clinical laboratories, and educational level of respondents. Questionnaire items used either a 7-point or 5-point Likert response scale. Based on multiple regression analysis for the 427 respondents, organizational support and transformational leadership behavior were found to be significant positive predictors of affective and normative organizational commitment. Work setting (non-hospital laboratory) and total years of work experience in clinical laboratories were found to be significant positive predictors of continuance organizational commitment. Overall the organizational commitment levels for all three dimensions were at the neutral rating or below in the slightly disagree range. The results indicate a less than optimal level of organizational commitment to employers, which were predominantly hospitals, by CLS practitioners. This may result in continuing retention problems for hospital laboratories. The results offer strategies for improving organizational commitment via the significant predictors.

  17. The Factors of Strategic Leadership on Commitment: An Empirical Banking in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliansyah Noor

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This research is aimed at obtaining information related to possibility whether organizational commitment is affected by training, organization culture, and ethical practice. The data which had been analyzed by multi regression analysis after all variables had been put into principal factor analysis. In this research employees were chosen as a unit analysis and 120 samples selected randomly.The result of this study shows that organization commitment is positively affected by training, organization culture and ethical practice. Implications of organization commitment might have been effected by training, organization culture and ethical practice as a strategic leadership.

  18. Organizational commitment of a health profession faculty: dimensions, correlates and conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchiori, Dennis M; Henkin, Alan B

    2004-06-01

    Health professions depend on their faculties to prepare new practitioners, conduct research and provide essential services. Organizational commitment is an important aspect of faculty effectiveness and job performance, and may impact on turnover, absenteeism and interpersonal trust. A survey of organizational commitment, including faculty demographics and workplace variables, was conducted. Respondents were full- and part-time chiropractic faculty working in the United States and Canada. More than 54% of the study population (n = 609) completed and returned the instrument. A large majority of the respondents were male (68.4%) and employed full-time (81.6%). Almost half (47.5%) of the respondents were assigned to the area of patient care at their institutions. This study provides an initial assessment of organizational commitment among chiropractic faculty. Tenure in higher education, gender and age were found to be the most important predictors of organizational commitment.

  19. 24 CFR 232.510 - Commitment and commitment fee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MORTGAGE AND LOAN INSURANCE PROGRAMS UNDER NATIONAL HOUSING ACT AND OTHER AUTHORITIES MORTGAGE INSURANCE FOR NURSING HOMES, INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITIES, BOARD AND CARE HOMES, AND... of Fire Safety Equipment Fees and Charges § 232.510 Commitment and commitment fee. (a) Issuance of...

  20. Probability-Weighted LMP and RCP for Day-Ahead Energy Markets using Stochastic Security-Constrained Unit Commitment: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ela, E.; O' Malley, M.

    2012-06-01

    Variable renewable generation resources are increasing their penetration on electric power grids. These resources have weather-driven fuel sources that vary on different time scales and are difficult to predict in advance. These characteristics create challenges for system operators managing the load balance on different timescales. Research is looking into new operational techniques and strategies that show great promise on facilitating greater integration of variable resources. Stochastic Security-Constrained Unit Commitment models are one strategy that has been discussed in literature and shows great benefit. However, it is rarely used outside the research community due to its computational limits and difficulties integrating with electricity markets. This paper discusses how it can be integrated into day-ahead energy markets and especially on what pricing schemes should be used to ensure an efficient and fair market.

  1. Optimizing the Shunting Schedule of Electric Multiple Units Depot Using an Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Junchen

    2016-01-01

    The shunting schedule of electric multiple units depot (SSED) is one of the essential plans for high-speed train maintenance activities. This paper presents a 0-1 programming model to address the problem of determining an optimal SSED through automatic computing. The objective of the model is to minimize the number of shunting movements and the constraints include track occupation conflicts, shunting routes conflicts, time durations of maintenance processes, and shunting running time. An enhanced particle swarm optimization (EPSO) algorithm is proposed to solve the optimization problem. Finally, an empirical study from Shanghai South EMU Depot is carried out to illustrate the model and EPSO algorithm. The optimization results indicate that the proposed method is valid for the SSED problem and that the EPSO algorithm outperforms the traditional PSO algorithm on the aspect of optimality. PMID:27436998

  2. Optimizing the Shunting Schedule of Electric Multiple Units Depot Using an Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiaxi Wang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The shunting schedule of electric multiple units depot (SSED is one of the essential plans for high-speed train maintenance activities. This paper presents a 0-1 programming model to address the problem of determining an optimal SSED through automatic computing. The objective of the model is to minimize the number of shunting movements and the constraints include track occupation conflicts, shunting routes conflicts, time durations of maintenance processes, and shunting running time. An enhanced particle swarm optimization (EPSO algorithm is proposed to solve the optimization problem. Finally, an empirical study from Shanghai South EMU Depot is carried out to illustrate the model and EPSO algorithm. The optimization results indicate that the proposed method is valid for the SSED problem and that the EPSO algorithm outperforms the traditional PSO algorithm on the aspect of optimality.

  3. Discrete Optimization of Internal Part Structure via SLM Unit Structure-Performance Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Tang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The structural optimization of the internal structure of parts based on three-dimensional (3D printing has been recognized as being important in the field of mechanical design. The purpose of this paper is to present a creation of a unit structure-performance database based on the selective laser melting (SLM, which contains various structural units with different functions and records their structure and performance characteristics so that we can optimize the internal structure of parts directly, according to the database. The method of creating the unit structure-performance database was introduced in this paper and several structural units of the unit structure-performance database were introduced. The bow structure unit was used to show how to create the structure-performance database of the unit as an example. Some samples of the bow structure unit were designed and manufactured by SLM. These samples were tested in the WDW-100 compression testing machine to obtain their performance characteristics. After this, the paper collected all data regarding unit structure parameters, weight, performance characteristics, and other data; and, established a complete set of data from the bow structure unit for the unit structure-performance database. Furthermore, an aircraft part was reconstructed conveniently to be more lightweight according to the unit structure-performance database. Its weight was reduced by 36.8% when compared with the original structure, while the strength far exceeded the requirements.

  4. Host-country policy – commitment or no-commitment: a theoretical analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mukherjee, A.

    2000-01-01

    This paper develops a model of foreign entry strategy and examines welfare of the host-country under two situations - (i) where host-country government commits to the tax policy, (ii) where host-country government does not commit to the tax policy. It turns out that under the non-committed

  5. Optimal inspection and replacement periods of the safety system in Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 with an optimized cost perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jinil Mok; Poong Hyun Seong

    1996-01-01

    In this work, a model for determining the optimal inspection and replacement periods of the safety system in Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 is developed, which is to minimize economic loss caused by inadvertent trip and the system failure. This model uses cost benefit analysis method and the part for optimal inspection period considers the human error. The model is based on three factors as follows: (i) The cumulative failure distribution function of the safety system, (ii) The probability that the safety system does not operate due to failure of the system or human error when the safety system is needed at an emergency condition and (iii) The average probability that the reactor is tripped due to the failure of system components or human error. The model then is applied to evaluate the safety system in Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1. The optimal replacement periods which are calculated with proposed model differ from those used in Wolsung NPP Unit 1 by about a few days or months, whereas the optimal inspection periods are in about the same range. (author)

  6. A Simulation Framework for Optimal Energy Storage Sizing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Suazo-Martínez

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Despite the increasing interest in Energy Storage Systems (ESS, quantification of their technical and economical benefits remains a challenge. To assess the use of ESS, a simulation approach for ESS optimal sizing is presented. The algorithm is based on an adapted Unit Commitment, including ESS operational constraints, and the use of high performance computing (HPC. Multiple short-term simulations are carried out within a multiple year horizon. Evaluation is performed for Chile's Northern Interconnected Power System (SING. The authors show that a single year evaluation could lead to sub-optimal results when evaluating optimal ESS size. Hence, it is advisable to perform long-term evaluations of ESS. Additionally, the importance of detailed simulation for adequate assessment of ESS contributions and to fully capture storage value is also discussed. Furthermore, the robustness of the optimal sizing approach is evaluated by means of a sensitivity analyses. The results suggest that regulatory frameworks should recognize multiple value streams from storage in order to encourage greater ESS integration.

  7. [Influence of organizational commitment and professional nurses in conflict resolution strategies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinho, Paula; Albuquerque, Carlos

    2013-01-01

    INTRODUCE: The changes in the health area and the set of structural changes in the nursing profession and career interfere in the dynamics and stability of the future of the nurses. To study the influence of organizational and professional commitment of the nurses in the strategies of conflict resolution. This is a quantitative, transversal and non-experimental research, following a descriptive-correlational way. Non-probabilistic sample of 102 nurses to perform duties in Health Units, mostly female (82.4%) with a mean age of 39.33 years and standard deviation 9.226. The measuring instrument consists of three scales calibrated and validated for the portuguese population: Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Professional Commitment Scale and Inventory Strategies for Conflict Resolution, which assesses how individuals deal with conflict situations before higher (Form A), subordinate (Form B) and colleagues (Form C). Nurses demonstrate a moderate organizational commitment and higher affective commitment and normative commitment to the instrumental. Nurses demonstrate a moderate professional commitment and the results show that nurses have higher values on the dimensions of that interest and challenge the relevance dimension of nursing as a profession. The organizational commitment influences the adoption of strategies of conflict resolution as a conflict situation arises with the boss, subordinates or colleagues. The higher the level of organizational commitment higher the level of professional commitment. Nurses more engaged professionally demonstrate strategies that use more integrative and compromise in conflict resolution whether against the boss, subordinates or colleagues. The results ensure the need to promote and stimulate the affective commitment by the positive consequences it entails the organization and the profession. The organizational performance benefits from the stimulation of the conflict under certain conditions and that the constructive

  8. Penempatan Optimal Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU dengan Integer Programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunan Helmy Amrulloh

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU merupakan peralatan yang mampu memberikan pengukuran fasor tegangan dan arus secara real-time. PMU dapat digunakan untuk monitoring, proteksi dan kontrol pada sistem tenaga listrik. Tugas akhir ini membahas penempatan PMU secara optimal berdasarkan topologi jaringan sehingga sistem tenaga listrik  dapat diobservasi. Penempatan optimal PMU dirumuskan sebagai masalah Binary Integer Programming (BIP yang akan memberikan variabel dengan pilihan nilai (0,1 yang menunjukkan tempat yang harus dipasang PMU. Dalam tugas akhir ini, BIP diterapkan untuk menyelesaikan masalah penempatan PMU secara optimal pada sistem tenaga listrik  Jawa-Bali 500 KV yang selanjutnya diterapkan dengan penambahan konsep incomplete observability. Hasil simulasi menunjukkan bahwa penerapan BIP pada sistem dengan incomplete observability memberikan jumlah PMU yang lebih sedikit dibandingkan dengan sistem tanpa konsep incomplete observability.

  9. Human resource management and unit performance in knowledge-intensive work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kehoe, Rebecca R; Collins, Christopher J

    2017-08-01

    To clarify the potential value of a targeted system of human resource (HR) practices, we explore the unique effects of a relationship-oriented HR system and the more commonly studied high commitment HR system on unit performance in the context of knowledge-intensive work. We develop theoretical arguments suggesting that the high commitment HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees' collective organizational commitment, general and firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge. We argue that the relationship-oriented HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees' collective access to knowledge by fostering a social context and interpersonal exchange conditions which support employees' ongoing access to knowledge flows within and outside their unit and broader organization. Based on unit-level data collected from a matched sample of employees and managers in 128 units in the science and engineering division of a large hydroelectric power organization, our results suggest that the targeted, relationship-oriented HR system is related to firm performance and may complement a broader, high commitment approach to managing knowledge workers. Specifically, the positive relationship between the high commitment HR system and unit performance is mediated by employees' collective organizational commitment, firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge in other organizational units; whereas the positive relationship between the relationship-oriented HR system and unit performance is mediated by units' access to knowledge within the unit, in other units, and outside the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. How do different types of community commitment influence brand commitment? The mediation of brand attachment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ning; Zhou, Zhi-min; Su, Chen-ting; Zhou, Nan

    2013-11-01

    Although previous research indicates that participation in a brand community may foster consumer loyalty to the brand in question, research has seldom examined the mediating effect of community commitment on brand commitment. Drawing from the typologies of organizational commitment, we divide community commitment into three components: continuance community commitment (continuance CC), affective community commitment (affective CC), and normative community commitment (normative CC). We then assess the mediating role of brand attachment in the relationship between these three components and brand commitment. We test the hypotheses using a sample of online mobile phone brand communities in China. The empirical results reveal that brand attachment exerts an indirect (but not mediated) effect on the relationship between continuance CC and brand commitment and on the relationship between normative CC and brand commitment. We also find that it exerts a partial mediating effect on the relationship between affective CC and brand commitment. The findings contribute to the branding literature and have important implications for brand community management.

  11. Optimal maintenance of a multi-unit system under dependencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Ho-Joon

    The availability, or reliability, of an engineering component greatly influences the operational cost and safety characteristics of a modern system over its life-cycle. Until recently, the reliance on past empirical data has been the industry-standard practice to develop maintenance policies that provide the minimum level of system reliability. Because such empirically-derived policies are vulnerable to unforeseen or fast-changing external factors, recent advancements in the study of topic on maintenance, which is known as optimal maintenance problem, has gained considerable interest as a legitimate area of research. An extensive body of applicable work is available, ranging from those concerned with identifying maintenance policies aimed at providing required system availability at minimum possible cost, to topics on imperfect maintenance of multi-unit system under dependencies. Nonetheless, these existing mathematical approaches to solve for optimal maintenance policies must be treated with caution when considered for broader applications, as they are accompanied by specialized treatments to ease the mathematical derivation of unknown functions in both objective function and constraint for a given optimal maintenance problem. These unknown functions are defined as reliability measures in this thesis, and theses measures (e.g., expected number of failures, system renewal cycle, expected system up time, etc.) do not often lend themselves to possess closed-form formulas. It is thus quite common to impose simplifying assumptions on input probability distributions of components' lifetime or repair policies. Simplifying the complex structure of a multi-unit system to a k-out-of-n system by neglecting any sources of dependencies is another commonly practiced technique intended to increase the mathematical tractability of a particular model. This dissertation presents a proposal for an alternative methodology to solve optimal maintenance problems by aiming to achieve the

  12. 78 FR 49787 - Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-15

    ..., standards and technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, government procurement, trade... Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative... with its WTO commitments. SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will convene a...

  13. Study on the Effect of the Separating Unit Optimization on the Economy of Stable Isotope Separation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YANG Kun

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available An economic criterion called as yearly net profit of single separating unit (YNPSSU was presented to evaluate the influence of structure optimization on the economy. Using YNPSSU as a criterion, economic analysis was carried out for the structure optimization of separating unit in the case of separating SiF4 to obtain the 28Si and 29Si isotope. YNPSSU was calculated and compared with that before optimization. The results showed that YNPSSU was increased by 12.3% by the structure optimization. Therefore, the structure optimization could increase the economy of the stable isotope separation effectively.

  14. Dual or dueling culture and commitment: The impact of a tri-hospital merger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Janice M

    2003-04-01

    This article addresses differences in RNs' commitment to their employing hospital versus the umbrella corporate organization, and the role of organizational culture during a tri-hospital merger. This study is the first to investigate the construct of dual commitment in healthcare organizations. Fiscal restraints, decreasing reimbursement, and increasing competition have made organizational mergers and acquisitions prevalent. As corporate culture changes, organizational variables previously related to organizational commitment may no longer apply. RNs employed on general nursing units at 3 hospitals involved in a merger process completed 2 versions of Mowday's Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Commitment to hospital and corporate system were examined. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and analysis of company documents assessed the organizational culture changes that have occurred. Thirty-one percent of the nurses returned completed questionnaires; 9 were interviewed. RNs from the acquiring hospital demonstrated a significantly stronger commitment to the corporate system than the nurses from the acquired hospitals. The RNs at all 3 hospitals showed significantly greater commitment to their own particular hospital than to the umbrella corporate system. Moderate level of commitment reflected uncertainty of job status, work overload, and feelings of unappreciation. These attitudes prevent nurses from exerting efforts on behalf of the organization.

  15. Rhombicuboctahedron unit cell based scaffolds for bone regeneration: geometry optimization with a mechanobiology - driven algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boccaccio, Antonio; Fiorentino, Michele; Uva, Antonio E; Laghetti, Luca N; Monno, Giuseppe

    2018-02-01

    In a context more and more oriented towards customized medical solutions, we propose a mechanobiology-driven algorithm to determine the optimal geometry of scaffolds for bone regeneration that is the most suited to specific boundary and loading conditions. In spite of the huge number of articles investigating different unit cells for porous biomaterials, no studies are reported in the literature that optimize the geometric parameters of such unit cells based on mechanobiological criteria. Parametric finite element models of scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell were developed and incorporated into an optimization algorithm that combines them with a computational mechanobiological model. The algorithm perturbs iteratively the geometry of the unit cell until the best scaffold geometry is identified, i.e. the geometry that allows to maximize the formation of bone. Performances of scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell were compared with those of other scaffolds with hexahedron unit cells. We found that scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell are particularly suited for supporting medium-low loads, while, for higher loads, scaffolds with hexahedron unit cells are preferable. The proposed algorithm can guide the orthopaedic/surgeon in the choice of the best scaffold to be implanted in a patient-specific anatomic region. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. World Tourism Organization - 30 years of commitment to environmental protection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shackleford, P.

    1985-01-01

    The paper traces 30 years of commitment to environmental values of tourism by the intergovernmental World Tourism Organization. Such commitment was almost unfashionable in the 1950s but gradually what began as an article of faith was vindicated by results of market research showing that the protection, enhancement and improvement of man's physical and human environment were among the fundamental requirements for the harmonious development of tourism. The establishment of the United Nations Environmental Program at last gave WTO a partner with the necessary authority with which the world body could walk towards mutually agreed goals.

  17. World Tourism Organization - 30 years of commitment to environmental protection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shackleford, P

    1985-01-01

    The paper traces 30 years of commitment to environmental values of tourism by the intergovernmental World Tourism Organization. Such commitment was almost unfashionable in the 1950s but gradually what began as an article of faith was vindicated by results of market research showing that the protection, enhancement and improvement of man's physical and human environment were among the fundamental requirements for the harmonious development of tourism. The establishment of the United Nations Environmental Program at last gave WTO a partner with the necessary authority with which the world body could walk towards mutually agreed goals.

  18. Committed effective doses at various times after intakes of radionuclides

    CERN Document Server

    Phipps, A W; Kendall, G M; Silk, T J; Stather, J W

    1991-01-01

    This report contains details of committed effective doses at nine times after intake from intakes by ingestion and inhalation of 1 mu 1 AMAD particles by adults. Data are given for various chemical forms of 359 nuclides. It complements NRPB-R245 which describes the changes which have taken place since the last NRPB compendium of dose per unit intake factors (dose coefficients) and gives summary tables. Information on committed equivalent doses to organs is given in NRPB-M288. The information given in these memoranda is also available as a microcomputer package - NRPB-SR245.

  19. Antecedent and Consequence of School Academic Optimism and Teachers' Academic Optimism Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Fu-Yuan

    2017-01-01

    The main purpose of this research was to examine the relationships among school principals' transformational leadership, school academic optimism, teachers' academic optimism and teachers' professional commitment. This study conducted a questionnaire survey on 367 teachers from 20 high schools in Taiwan by random sampling, using principals'…

  20. Experimental broadband absorption enhancement in silicon nanohole structures with optimized complex unit cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chenxi; Martínez, Luis Javier; Povinelli, Michelle L

    2013-09-09

    We design silicon membranes with nanohole structures with optimized complex unit cells that maximize broadband absorption. We fabricate the optimized design and measure the optical absorption. We demonstrate an experimental broadband absorption about 3.5 times higher than an equally-thick thin film.

  1. Development and convergence : a bottom-up analysis for the differentiation of future commitments under the Climate Convention

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groenenberg, Heleen

    2002-01-01

    A key issue in climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is how future commitments can be differentiated amongst countries. This thesis focuses on a more systematic differentiation of such commitments to support international decision making in

  2. Treating Inpatients with Comorbid Depression and Alcohol Use Disorders: A Comparison of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Connie L.; Zettle, Robert D.

    2009-01-01

    Inpatients involuntarily committed to a chemical dependency unit and exhibiting a co-occurring depressive disorder received either individual sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or treatment as usual (TAU) within the context of an ongoing 12-step program. Results indicated significant, but equivalent, reductions in levels of…

  3. Optimal short-term operation schedule of a hydropower plant in a competitive electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez-Diaz, Juan I.; Wilhelmi, Jose R.; Arevalo, Luis A.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents a dynamic programming model to solve the short-term scheduling problem of a hydropower plant that sells energy in a pool-based electricity market with the objective of maximizing the revenue. This is a nonlinear and non-concave problem subject to strong technical and strategic constraints, and in which discrete and continuous variables take part. The model described in this paper determines, in each hour of the planning horizon (typically from one day to one week), both the optimal number of units in operation (unit commitment) and the power to be generated by the committed units (generation dispatch). The power generated by each unit is considered as a nonlinear function of the actual water discharge and volume of the associated reservoir. The dependence of the units' efficiency and operating limits with the available gross head is also accounted for in this model. The application of this model to a real hydropower plant demonstrates its capabilities in providing the operation schedule that maximizes the revenue of the hydro plant while satisfying several constraints of different classes. In addition, the use of this model as a supporting tool to estimate the economic feasibility of a hydropower plant development project is also analyzed in the paper. (author)

  4. Canada's national report on climate change: Actions to meet commitments under the United Nations framework convention on climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries must adopt measures to mitigate climate change, adapt to its possible effects, increase public awareness and scientific understanding of climate change and possible responses, and work together in all of these areas. A review is provided of action being currently taken by Canadian governments, non-governmental organizations, communities, and the private sector to meet domestic and international climate change commitments. Projections indicate that climate change could result in significant changes to many of Canada's natural ecosystems, with equally significant economic and social consequences. Canadian demand for energy is the chief cause of Canada's man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. As a first step in meeting its commitment, Canada is developing and implementing measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions, mainly in the area of energy efficiency, energy conservation, and switching to energy sources that are less carbon-intensive. Progress in limiting such emissions will be assessed via emissions inventories, examination of climatic change indicators, forecasting future energy-related emissions of the three primary greenhouse gases, and use of case studies to assess the effectiveness of emissions control measures. Other components of Canadian activities include increasing public awareness of climate change, sponsoring research on the subject, reviewing environmental policies, and international cooperation. 59 refs., 36 figs., 23 tabs

  5. Optimal commitment in an open economy : Credibility vs. flexibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eijffinger, S.C.W.; Schaling, E.

    1995-01-01

    Using a graphical method, a new way of determining the optimal degree of central bank conservativeness is developed in this paper. Unlike Lohmann (1992) and Rogoff (1985a), we are able to express the upper and lower bounds of the interval containing the optimal degree of conservativeness in terms of

  6. Strategic tariff protection, market conduct, and government commitment levels in developing economies

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ionascu, D.; Žigić, Krešimir

    -, č. 249 (2005), s. 1-43 ISSN 1211-3298 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : optimal tariff protection * government non-commitment regime * symmetric versus asymmetric information Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp249.pdf

  7. Safety climate and safety behaviors in the construction industry: The importance of co-workers commitment to safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwatka, Natalie V; Rosecrance, John C

    2016-06-16

    There is growing empirical evidence that as safety climate improves work site safety practice improve. Safety climate is often measured by asking workers about their perceptions of management commitment to safety. However, it is less common to include perceptions of their co-workers commitment to safety. While the involvement of management in safety is essential, working with co-workers who value and prioritize safety may be just as important. To evaluate a concept of safety climate that focuses on top management, supervisors and co-workers commitment to safety, which is relatively new and untested in the United States construction industry. Survey data was collected from a cohort of 300 unionized construction workers in the United States. The significance of direct and indirect (mediation) effects among safety climate and safety behavior factors were evaluated via structural equation modeling. Results indicated that safety climate was associated with safety behaviors on the job. More specifically, perceptions of co-workers commitment to safety was a mediator between both management commitment to safety climate factors and safety behaviors. These results support workplace health and safety interventions that build and sustain safety climate and a commitment to safety amongst work teams.

  8. Optimization models and techniques for implementation and pricing of electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madrigal Martinez, M.

    2001-01-01

    The operation and planning of vertically integrated electric power systems can be optimized using models that simulate solutions to problems. As the electric power industry is going through a period of restructuring, there is a need for new optimization tools. This thesis describes the importance of optimization tools and presents techniques for implementing them. It also presents methods for pricing primary electricity markets. Three modeling groups are studied. The first considers a simplified continuous and discrete model for power pool auctions. The second considers the unit commitment problem, and the third makes use of a new type of linear network-constrained clearing system model for daily markets for power and spinning reserve. The newly proposed model considers bids for supply and demand and bilateral contracts. It is a direct current model for the transmission network

  9. The Effect of Nurse-Physician Collaboration on Job Satisfaction, Team Commitment, and Turnover Intention in Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galletta, Maura; Portoghese, Igor; Carta, Mauro Giovanni; D'Aloja, Ernesto; Campagna, Marcello

    2016-10-01

    Voluntary turnover in nursing can lead to nursing shortages that affect both individuals and the entire hospital unit. We investigated the relationship between group- and individual-level variables by examining the association of nurses' job satisfaction and team commitment at the individual level, and nurse-physician collaboration at the group level, with individuals' intention to leave the unit at the individual level. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 1,024 nurses on 72 units in 3 Italian hospitals. At the individual level, affective commitment partially mediated the relationship between job satisfaction and nursing turnover intention. Moreover, a cross-level interaction was found. Nurses with high levels of job satisfaction showed high levels of identification with their team, and this relationship was stronger when the group perception of nurse-physician collaboration was high. Results suggested that managerial strategies to promote nurse-physician collaboration may be important to increase nurses' affective commitment to the team. At the individual level, job satisfaction and team affective commitment are important factors for retaining staff, and at the group level, good work collaboration with physicians is instrumental in developing nurses' affective identification with the team. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Small Business Commitment | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small Business Commitment Small Business Commitment Central to NREL's mission is our commitment to small business through a comprehensive and mature outreach program that combines proven techniques with the latest technology and best business practices. For More Information Contact Us Please email Rexann

  11. Competition with Variety Seeking and Habitual Consumption: Price Commitment or Quality Commitment?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liyang Xiong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates price and quality competition in a market where consumers seek variety and habit formation. Variety seeking is modeled as a decrease in the willingness to pay for product purchased on the previous occasion while habitual consumption may increase future marginal utility. We compare two competing strategies: price commitment and quality commitment. With a three-stage Hotelling-type model, we show that variety seeking intensifies while habitual consumption softens the competition. With price commitment, firms supply lower quality levels in period 1 and higher quality levels in period 2, while, with quality commitment, firms charge higher prices in period 1 and lower prices in period 2. However, the habitual consumption brings the opposite effect. In addition, with quality commitment variety seeking leads to a lower profit and a higher consumer surplus, while habitual consumption leads to the opposite results. On the other side, with price commitment these behaviors have no effect on the consumer surplus, although they still lower down the firm profits. Finally, we also identify conditions under which one strategy outperforms the other.

  12. Practical Relativistic Bit Commitment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lunghi, T.; Kaniewski, J.; Bussières, F.; Houlmann, R.; Tomamichel, M.; Wehner, S.D.C.; Zbinden, H

    2015-01-01

    Bit commitment is a fundamental cryptographic primitive in which Alice wishes to commit a secret bit to Bob. Perfectly secure bit commitment between two mistrustful parties is impossible through an asynchronous exchange of quantum information. Perfect security is, however, possible when Alice and

  13. Ising Processing Units: Potential and Challenges for Discrete Optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coffrin, Carleton James [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Nagarajan, Harsha [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bent, Russell Whitford [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-07-05

    The recent emergence of novel computational devices, such as adiabatic quantum computers, CMOS annealers, and optical parametric oscillators, presents new opportunities for hybrid-optimization algorithms that leverage these kinds of specialized hardware. In this work, we propose the idea of an Ising processing unit as a computational abstraction for these emerging tools. Challenges involved in using and bench- marking these devices are presented, and open-source software tools are proposed to address some of these challenges. The proposed benchmarking tools and methodology are demonstrated by conducting a baseline study of established solution methods to a D-Wave 2X adiabatic quantum computer, one example of a commercially available Ising processing unit.

  14. Exploring the differential impact of individual and organizational factors on organizational commitment of physicians and nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miedaner, Felix; Kuntz, Ludwig; Enke, Christian; Roth, Bernhard; Nitzsche, Anika

    2018-03-15

    Physician and nursing shortages in acute and critical care settings require research on factors which might drive their commitment, an important predictor of absenteeism and turnover. However, the degree to which the commitment of a physician or a nurse is driven by individual or organizational characteristics in hospitals remains unclear. In addition, there is a need for a greater understanding of how antecedent-commitment relationships differ between both occupational groups. Based on recent findings in the literature and the results of a pilot study, we investigate the degree to which selected individual and organizational characteristics might enhance an employee's affective commitment working in the field of neonatal intensive care. Moreover, our aim is to examine the different antecedent-commitment relationships across the occupational groups of nurses and physicians. Information about individual factors affecting organizational commitment was derived from self-administered staff questionnaires, while additional information about organizational structures was taken from hospital quality reports and a self-administered survey completed by hospital department heads. Overall, 1486 nurses and 540 physicians from 66 Neonatal Intensive Care Units participated in the study. We used multilevel modeling to account for different levels of analysis. Although organizational characteristics can explain differences in an employee's commitment, the differences can be largely explained by his or her individual characteristics and work experiences. Regarding occupational differences, individual support by leaders and colleagues was shown to influence organizational commitment more strongly in the physicians' group. In contrast, the degree of autonomy in the units and perceived quality of care had a larger impact on the nurses' organizational commitment. With the growing number of hospitals facing an acute shortage of highly-skilled labor, effective strategies on the

  15. An integrated DEA-COLS-SFA algorithm for optimization and policy making of electricity distribution units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azadeh, A.; Ghaderi, S.F.; Omrani, H.; Eivazy, H.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA)-corrected ordinary least squares (COLS)-stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)-principal component analysis (PCA)-numerical taxonomy (NT) algorithm for performance assessment, optimization and policy making of electricity distribution units. Previous studies have generally used input-output DEA models for benchmarking and evaluation of electricity distribution units. However, this study proposes an integrated flexible approach to measure the rank and choose the best version of the DEA method for optimization and policy making purposes. It covers both static and dynamic aspects of information environment due to involvement of SFA which is finally compared with the best DEA model through the Spearman correlation technique. The integrated approach would yield in improved ranking and optimization of electricity distribution systems. To illustrate the usability and reliability of the proposed algorithm, 38 electricity distribution units in Iran have been considered, ranked and optimized by the proposed algorithm of this study.

  16. Optimization of Fuel Consumption and Emissions for Auxiliary Power Unit Based on Multi-Objective Optimization Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongpeng Shen

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Auxiliary power units (APUs are widely used for electric power generation in various types of electric vehicles, improvements in fuel economy and emissions of these vehicles directly depend on the operating point of the APUs. In order to balance the conflicting goals of fuel consumption and emissions reduction in the process of operating point choice, the APU operating point optimization problem is formulated as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem (CMOP firstly. The four competing objectives of this CMOP are fuel-electricity conversion cost, hydrocarbon (HC emissions, carbon monoxide (CO emissions and nitric oxide (NO x emissions. Then, the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO algorithm and weighted metric decision making method are employed to solve the APU operating point multi-objective optimization model. Finally, bench experiments under New European driving cycle (NEDC, Federal test procedure (FTP and high way fuel economy test (HWFET driving cycles show that, compared with the results of the traditional fuel consumption single-objective optimization approach, the proposed multi-objective optimization approach shows significant improvements in emissions performance, at the expense of a slight drop in fuel efficiency.

  17. Fuzzy Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juels, Ari

    The purpose of this chapter is to introduce fuzzy commitment, one of the earliest and simplest constructions geared toward cryptography over noisy data. The chapter also explores applications of fuzzy commitment to two problems in data security: (1) secure management of biometrics, with a focus on iriscodes, and (2) use of knowledge-based authentication (i.e., personal questions) for password recovery.

  18. The United States and AfricaLooking Toward the Next Decade: Symposium Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-07-01

    optimism about Africa’s future. Working on Africa is a “team sport .” It is not just a government mission, but a mission for all those committed to...engine of growth in Africa. Tourism is a growing economic boon. However, the services sector in Africa has not yet been transformed through the...United States should seek to harness Africa’s soft power in areas such as music and sports . C. Panel Discussion on “Africa’s Evolving Partnerships

  19. Design of shared unit-dose drug distribution network using multi-level particle swarm optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Linjie; Monteiro, Thibaud; Wang, Tao; Marcon, Eric

    2018-03-01

    Unit-dose drug distribution systems provide optimal choices in terms of medication security and efficiency for organizing the drug-use process in large hospitals. As small hospitals have to share such automatic systems for economic reasons, the structure of their logistic organization becomes a very sensitive issue. In the research reported here, we develop a generalized multi-level optimization method - multi-level particle swarm optimization (MLPSO) - to design a shared unit-dose drug distribution network. Structurally, the problem studied can be considered as a type of capacitated location-routing problem (CLRP) with new constraints related to specific production planning. This kind of problem implies that a multi-level optimization should be performed in order to minimize logistic operating costs. Our results show that with the proposed algorithm, a more suitable modeling framework, as well as computational time savings and better optimization performance are obtained than that reported in the literature on this subject.

  20. Optimization in Fuzzy Economic Order Quantity (FEOQ Model with Deteriorating Inventory and Units Lost

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monalisha Pattnaik

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: This model presents the effect of deteriorating items in fuzzy optimal instantaneous replenishment for finite planning horizon. Accounting for holding cost per unit per unit time and ordering cost per order have traditionally been the case of modeling inventory systems in fuzzy environment. These imprecise parameters defined on a bounded interval on the axis of real numbers and the physical characteristics of stocked items dictate the nature of inventory policies implemented to manage and control in the production system.   Methods: The modified fuzzy EOQ (FEOQ model is introduced, it assumes that a percentage of the on-hand inventory is wasted due to deterioration and considered as an enhancement to EOQ model to determine the optimal replenishment quantity so that the net profit is maximized. In theoretical analysis, the necessary and sufficient conditions of the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solutions are proved and further the concavity of the fuzzy net profit function is established. Computational algorithm using the software LINGO 13.0 version is developed to find the optimal solution.   Results and conclusions: The results of the numerical analysis enable decision-makers to quantify the effect of units lost due to deterioration on optimizing the fuzzy net profit for the retailer. Finally, sensitivity analyses of the optimal solution with respect the major parameters are also carried out. Furthermore fuzzy decision making is shown to be superior then crisp decision making in terms of profit maximization. 

  1. Long-term optimization of cogeneration systems in a competitive market environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thorin, E.; Brand, H.; Weber, C.

    2005-01-01

    A tool for long-term optimization of cogeneration systems is developed that is based on mixed integer linear-programming and Lagrangian relaxation. We use a general approach without heuristics to solve the optimization problem of the unit commitment problem and load dispatch. The possibility to buy and sell electric power at a spot market is considered as well as the possibility to provide secondary reserve. The tool has been tested on a demonstration system based on an existing combined heat-and-power (CHP) system with extraction-condensing steam turbines, gas turbines, and boilers for heat production and district-heating networks. The key feature of the model for obtaining solutions within reasonable times is a suitable division of the whole optimization period into overlapping sub-periods. Using Lagrangian relaxation, the tool can be applied to large CHP systems. For the demonstration model, almost optimal solutions were found. (author)

  2. Canada's commitment to nuclear technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, Murray J.

    1998-01-01

    This paper gives a broad update on all facets of the Canadian nuclear industry and demonstrates Canada's continuing commitment to nuclear technology. Canada has developed a global leadership position in nuclear technology for power generation, uranium production and isotope supply. This commitment is being further enhanced by successes in international markets with Candu technology, new uranium mine developments in our province of Saskatchewan, and expanding isotope capabilities including the construction of two new production reactors. Korea's economy is benefiting through collaboration with Canada's leading nuclear companies, both in Korea and Canada. These collaborations have the potential to expand considerably with the implementation of the Kyoto Framework Convention on Climate Change and the anticipated increased demand for new nuclear power generation installations in all major global markets. Much has been publicized about the situation surrounding Ontario Hydro Nuclear and its nuclear recovery program. This paper gives the background and highlights the actions within Ontario and Ontario Hydro designed to ensure the long term recovery of all twenty nuclear units in Ontario. The presentation at the conference will bring the audience completely up-to-date on recent events. (author)

  3. The impact of selected organizational variables and managerial leadership on radiation therapists' organizational commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akroyd, Duane; Legg, Jeff; Jackowski, Melissa B.; Adams, Robert D.

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of selected organizational factors and the leadership behavior of supervisors on radiation therapists' commitment to their organizations. The population for this study consists of all full time clinical radiation therapists registered by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) in the United States. A random sample of 800 radiation therapists was obtained from the ARRT for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to all participants and measured organizational variables; managerial leadership variable and three components of organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative). It was determined that organizational support, and leadership behavior of supervisors each had a significant and positive affect on normative and affective commitment of radiation therapists and each of the models predicted over 40% of the variance in radiation therapists organizational commitment. This study examined radiation therapists' commitment to their organizations and found that affective (emotional attachment to the organization) and normative (feelings of obligation to the organization) commitments were more important than continuance commitment (awareness of the costs of leaving the organization). This study can help radiation oncology administrators and physicians to understand the values their radiation therapy employees hold that are predictive of their commitment to the organization. A crucial result of the study is the importance of the perceived support of the organization and the leadership skills of managers/supervisors on radiation therapists' commitment to the organization.

  4. Career Commitment in Nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardner, Diane L.

    1992-01-01

    A longitudinal, repeated-measures descriptive survey used to measure career commitment and its relationship to turnover and work performance in 320 newly employed registered nurses at one hospital found that career commitment is not a stable phenomenon. The direct association between career commitment and turnover and with job performance is weak.…

  5. Organizational identification and commitment: correlates of sense of belonging and affective commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dávila, Ma Celeste; Jiménez García, Gemma

    2012-03-01

    The general purpose of this work is to analyze the overlap between organizational identification and commitment. Specifically, our study focuses on the analysis of the differences and similarities between sense of belonging (a dimension of organizational identification) and affective commitment (a dimension of organizational commitment). In order to do this, we analyzed their discriminant validity and raised their relationship with variables that previous research had showed like precedent and subsequent variables of them: value congruence, perceived support, organizational citizenship behavior, and intention to continue in the organization. A total of 292 people at one organization completed surveys measuring the variables previously described. The results showed that sense of belonging and affective commitment are different concepts and they have different relationships with relation to precedent and subsequent variables. Affective commitment seems to be more useful than sense of belonging to predict organizational citizenship behavior aimed at the organization and intention to continue. Some practical implications are described.

  6. The influence of age on the associations between HR practices and both affective commitment and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Kooij, T.A.M.; Jansen, P.G.W.; Dikkers, J.S.E.; de Lange, A.H.

    2010-01-01

    Research on the association between high commitment Human Resource (HR) practices and work-related outcomes at the individual level rarely focuses on age differences. To fill this knowledge gap, a meta-analysis has been conducted to examine how the relationships between the availability of high commitment HR practices, as perceived by employees, and affective commitment and job satisfaction change with age. Drawing on Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) theory and on Regulatory Fo...

  7. Interpersonal Conflict and Organizational Commitment Among Licensed Practical Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loes, Chad N; Tobin, Mary B

    The shortage of nursing professionals in the United States is unquestionable. This shortage, which is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future, is a particularly salient problem within the nursing profession. This is especially true for long-term care facility administrators who not only are faced with the challenge of increasing numbers of aging residents but also regularly struggle with turnover among more cost-effective nursing staff, such as licensed practical nurses (LPNs). The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived interpersonal conflict influences organizational commitment among LPNs. To accomplish this, we analyzed responses from 1165 LPNs throughout a Midwestern state who were queried on their perceptions of interpersonal conflict and organizational commitment in their work settings. Considering a wide range of potential confounding influences such as age and years working as an LPN, for example, we found that higher perceived interpersonal conflict was associated with significantly lower levels of organizational commitment. The implications of these findings, along with recommendations for nurse administrators to reduce LPN turnover, are discussed in the article.

  8. Is organizational justice climate at the workplace associated with individual-level quality of care and organizational affective commitment? A multi-level, cross-sectional study on dentistry in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berthelsen, Hanne; Conway, Paul Maurice; Clausen, Thomas

    2018-02-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate whether organizational justice climate at the workplace level is associated with individual staff members' perceptions of care quality and affective commitment to the workplace. The study adopts a cross-sectional multi-level design. Data were collected using an electronic survey and a response rate of 75% was obtained. Organizational justice climate and affective commitment to the workplace were measured by items from Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and quality of care by three self-developed items. Non-managerial staff working at dental clinics with at least five respondents (n = 900 from 68 units) was included in analyses. A set of Level-2 random intercept models were built to predict individual-level organizational affective commitment and perceived quality of care from unit-level organizational justice climate, controlling for potential confounding by group size, gender, age, and occupation. The results of the empty model showed substantial between-unit variation for both affective commitment (ICC-1 = 0.17) and quality of care (ICC-1 = 0.12). The overall results showed that the shared perception of organizational justice climate at the clinical unit level was significantly associated with perceived quality of care and affective commitment to the organization (p Organizational justice climate at work unit level explained all variation in affective commitment among dental clinics and was associated with both the individual staff members' affective commitment and perceived quality of care. These findings suggest a potential for that addressing organizational justice climate may be a way to promote quality of care and enhancing affective commitment. However, longitudinal studies are needed to support causality in the examined relationships. Intervention research is also recommended to probe the effectiveness of actions increasing unit-level organizational justice climate and test their impact on quality of care

  9. The distribution of committed dose equivalents to workers exposed to tritium in the luminising industry in the United Kingdom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hipkin, J.

    1977-01-01

    In the United Kingdom tritium has become almost the only radionuclide that is used in luminising. Two distinct methods of luminising are used, one involving the use of tritium gas and the other involving the use of tritium activated luminous paint. All major luminisers have voluntarily taken part in urine monitoring programmes. The analyses have been carried out by the National Radiological Protection Board and estimates of committed dose equivalent have been made from the results. The work presented is an analysis of the committed dose equivalents received by all the individuals monitored in the years 1974, 1975 and 1976. It is shown that doses follow, in general, a lognormal distribution modified only at the high dose end by what must be described as dose management. Further evidence for dose management is seen when the pattern of dose versus time are analysed for selected individuals. It is shown that the maximum permissible dose as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, is only rarely exceeded. It is also shown that there is a substantial difference in the degree of exposure between workers involved in gaseous tritium luminising and workers using paint luminising. A comparison is made between exposure in gaseous tritium luminising and exposure in another common use of gaseous tritium, ie. the filling of electronic devices with tritium gas. It is shown that exposure is very much less in the electronic device work

  10. Optimal placement and sizing of multiple distributed generating units in distribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Rama Prabha

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Distributed generation (DG is becoming more important due to the increase in the demands for electrical energy. DG plays a vital role in reducing real power losses, operating cost and enhancing the voltage stability which is the objective function in this problem. This paper proposes a multi-objective technique for optimally determining the location and sizing of multiple distributed generation (DG units in the distribution network with different load models. The loss sensitivity factor (LSF determines the optimal placement of DGs. Invasive weed optimization (IWO is a population based meta-heuristic algorithm based on the behavior of weeds. This algorithm is used to find optimal sizing of the DGs. The proposed method has been tested for different load models on IEEE-33 bus and 69 bus radial distribution systems. This method has been compared with other nature inspired optimization methods. The simulated results illustrate the good applicability and performance of the proposed method.

  11. Organizational commitment of military physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demir, Cesim; Sahin, Bayram; Teke, Kadir; Ucar, Muharrem; Kursun, Olcay

    2009-09-01

    An individual's loyalty or bond to his or her employing organization, referred to as organizational commitment, influences various organizational outcomes such as employee motivation, job satisfaction, performance, accomplishment of organizational goals, employee turnover, and absenteeism. Therefore, as in other sectors, employee commitment is crucial also in the healthcare market. This study investigates the effects of organizational factors and personal characteristics on organizational commitment of military physicians using structural equation modeling (SEM) on a self-report, cross-sectional survey that consisted of 635 physicians working in the 2 biggest military hospitals in Turkey. The results of this study indicate that professional commitment and organizational incentives contribute positively to organizational commitment, whereas conflict with organizational goals makes a significantly negative contribution to it. These results might help develop strategies to increase employee commitment, especially in healthcare organizations, because job-related factors have been found to possess greater impact on organizational commitment than personal characteristics.

  12. Problems arising in the evaluation of collective dose commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coulon, R.; Beau, P.

    1979-01-01

    In order to apply the concept of optimization it is necessary to evaluate the collective dose commitment for the population as a whole. This is found by summing the dose commitments for the different population groups involved, including persons occupationally exposed and members of the public both locally and globally. The average dose received by each of these groups can vary considerably: for occupational exposure it is about one order of magnitude below the limits, whereas for the general public it is far below, although certain local groups may be subjected to a much higher exposure than the overall average. The question arises, therefore, whether certain groups should not be weighted differently in order to take into account the heterogeneity of the distribution of exposure. As far as the validity of forecast evaluations is concerned, one may assume that for occupational exposure the dose commitment over the whole period of operation of a facility can be estimated fairly accurately. The overall collective dose commitment for the public is relatively insensitive to local variations in the environment and in the public itself but is strongly dependent on long-term developments which cannot at present be forecast. For the evaluation of dose equivalent to the critical group, local variations are of considerable importance and need to be foreseen, which is not always possible. By taking into account a period which includes the annual maximum collective dose equivalent one can make some of these difficulties less severe. (author)

  13. Unit Commitment With Dynamic Cycling Costs

    OpenAIRE

    Troy, Niamh; Flynn, Damian; Milligan, Michael R.; et al.

    2012-01-01

    Increased competition in the electricity sector and the integration of variable renewable energy sources is resulting in more frequent cycling of thermal plant. Thus, the wear-and-tear to generator components and the related costs are a growing concern for plant owners and system operators alike. This paper presents a formulation that can be implemented in a MIP dispatch model to dynamically model cycling costs based on unit operation. When implemented for a test system, the results show that...

  14. An examination of the role of perceived support and employee commitment in employee-customer encounters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandenberghe, Christian; Bentein, Kathleen; Michon, Richard; Chebat, Jean-Charles; Tremblay, Michel; Fils, Jean-François

    2007-07-01

    The authors examined the relationships between perceived organizational support, organizational commitment, commitment to customers, and service quality in a fast-food firm. The research design matched customer responses with individual employees' attitudes, making this study a true test of the service provider-customer encounter. On the basis of a sample of matched employee-customer data (N = 133), hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that perceived organizational support had both a unit-level and an employee-level effect on 1 dimension of service quality: helping behavior. Contrary to affective organizational commitment, affective commitment to customers enhanced service quality. The 2 sub-dimensions of continuance commitment to the organization--perceived high sacrifice and perceived lack of alternatives--exerted effects opposite in sign: The former fostered service quality, whereas the latter reduced it. The implications of these findings are discussed within the context of research on employee-customer encounters.

  15. Clinical treatment planning optimization by Powell's method for gamma unit treatment system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Yulong; Shu Huazhong; Bao Xudong; Luo Limin; Bai Yi

    1997-01-01

    Purpose: This article presents a new optimization method for stereotactic radiosurgery treatment planning for gamma unit treatment system. Methods and Materials: The gamma unit has been utilized in stereotactic radiosurgery for about 30 years, but the usual procedure for a physician-physicist team to design a treatment plan is a trial-and-error approach. Isodose curves are viewed on two-dimensional computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) image planes, which is not only time consuming but also seldom achieves the optimal treatment plan, especially when the isocenter weights are regarded. We developed a treatment-planning system on a computer workstation in which Powell's optimization method is realized. The optimization process starts with the initial parameters (the number of iso centers as well as corresponding 3D iso centers' coordinates, collimator sizes, and weight factors) roughly determined by the physician-physicist team. The objective function can be changed to consider protection of sensitive tissues. Results: We use the plan parameters given by a well-trained physician-physicist team, or ones that the author give roughly as the initial parameters for the optimization procedure. Dosimetric results of optimization show a better high dose-volume conformation to the target volume compared to the doctor's plan. Conclusion: This method converges quickly and is not sensitive to the initial parameters. It achieves an excellent conformation of the estimated isodose curves with the contours of the target volume. If the initial parameters are varied, there will be a little difference in parameters' configuration, but the dosimetric results proved almost to be the same

  16. Employee organizational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radosavljević Života

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper shows the results of research on organizational commitment as a type of attitudes that show the identification level of employees with their organizations and their willingness to leave them. The research has been conducted with intention to determine the level of organizational commitment on the territory of Novi Sad, as well as to question whether there is a difference between certain categories of examinees for each commitment base. The research comprised 237 examinees employed in organizations on the territory of Novi Sad. Status of independent variables have gained: gender, years of working experience, educational level, working experience in one or more organizations and estimation of level of personal potentials utility. The questionnaire used is taken from the Greenberg and Baron's 'Behaviour in Organizations', p. 170, done according to set of questions by Meyer and Allen, in 1991. The data have been worked on by calculating arithmetic mean, and by application of Pearson Chi-square test. The results have shown that there is a below average level of organizational (AS=2.88, with the most intensive continual (AS=3.23, and the least intensive normative organizational dedication (AS=2.41. The gender of examinees does not represent relevant source of differences in the levels of each type of three mentioned commitment. Years of working experience and level of educational attainment represent a significant source of differences for continual (YWE: Pearson Chi-square = 30,38; df = 8; p = .000 (LEA: Pearson Chi-square = 7,381; df = 2; p = .05 and normative (YWE: Pearson Chi- square = 20,67; df = 8; p = .000 (LEA: Pearson Chi-square = 10,79; df = 2; p = .00 base of commitment. Work in one or more organizations has shown as a significant source of differences in the level of continual commitment (Pearson Chi-square = 7, 59; df = 2; p = .05. The level of affective commitment is statistically significantly related only to the estimation

  17. Alzheimer's: From Caring to Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Current Issue Past Issues Home Current issue contents Alzheimer's: From Caring to Commitment From Caring to Commitment ... Caring to Commitment During her sister’s battle with Alzheimer’s, Anne Murphy stayed by her side and continues ...

  18. Management commitments and primary care: another lesson from Costa Rica for the world?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soors, Werner; De Paepe, Pierre; Unger, Jean-Pierre

    2014-01-01

    Maintained dedication to primary care has fostered a public health delivery system with exceptional outcomes in Costa Rica. For more than a decade, management commitments have been part of Costa Rican health reform. We assessed the effect of the Costa Rican management commitments on access and quality of care and on compliance with their intended objectives. We constructed seven hypotheses on opinions of primary care providers. Through a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach, we tested these hypotheses and interpreted the research findings. Management commitments consume an excessive proportion of consultation time, inflate recordkeeping, reduce comprehensiveness in primary care consultations, and induce a disproportionate consumption of hospital emergency services. Their formulation relies on norms in need of optimization, their control on unreliable sources. They also affect professionalism. In Costa Rica, management commitments negatively affect access and quality of care and pose a threat to the public service delivery system. The failures of this pay-for-performance-like initiative in an otherwise well-performing health system cast doubts on the appropriateness of pay-for-performance for health systems strengthening in less advanced environments.

  19. Effects of Ethical Climate on Organizational Commitment, Professional Commitment, and Job Satisfaction of Auditor in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suhaiza Ismail

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the ethical climate on the organizational commitment, professional commitment and job satisfaction of Malaysian auditors. Using a survey questionnaire comprising instruments about the ethical climate, organizational commitment, professional commitment and job satisfaction, 263 usable responses were received. To achieve the objectives, mean scores, standard deviations, correlations and multiple regressions were performed. The study revealed that a significant positive influence of a caring ethical climate on professional and organizational commitment as well as job satisfaction existed. There was also a positive significant association between the law and code ethical climate and professional commitment. On the other hand, the study discovered that the instrumental ethical climate type had a significant negative relationship with organizational commitment and job satisfaction. A significant negative relationship was also revealed between the independent ethical climate type and organizational and professional commitment. A significant negative relationship between the rules ethical climate and job satisfaction was also discovered.

  20. Chaotic artificial immune approach applied to economic dispatch of electric energy using thermal units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos Coelho, Leandro dos; Mariani, Viviana Cocco

    2009-01-01

    The economic dispatch problem (EDP) is an optimization problem useful in power systems operation. The objective of the EDP of electric power generation, whose characteristics are complex and highly non-linear, is to schedule the committed generating unit outputs so as to meet the required load demand at minimum operating cost while satisfying system constraints. Recently, as an alternative to the conventional mathematical approaches, modern heuristic optimization techniques have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solution in EDPs. As special mechanism to avoid being trapped in local minimum, the ergodicity property of chaotic sequences has been used as optimization technique in EDPs. Based on the chaos theory, this paper discusses the design and validation of an optimization procedure based on a chaotic artificial immune network approach based on Zaslavsky's map. The optimization approach based on chaotic artificial immune network is validated for a test system consisting of 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. Simulation results and comparisons show that the chaotic artificial immune network approach is competitive in performance with other optimization approaches presented in literature and is also an attractive tool to be used on applications in the power systems field.

  1. How the negotiators tackled the 'hot air' issue for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-02-01

    In 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was approved, developed countries set their greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction commitments in relation to a 'base year' level. For the Kyoto Protocol, the year 1990 was chosen in most cases. However, irrespective of GHG mitigation action, the countries of the former Soviet Union have seen their emissions of greenhouse gases significantly decreasing after the collapse of the USSR. Given that their emissions were and still are today far below the commitments they established in 1997, these countries have a significant surplus of allowances referred to as 'hot air'. Before the COP 18 that took place in Doha (Qatar) late 2012, many countries and observers raised concern about this 'hot air'. Typically, there were two separate questions: What should we do with the accumulated surplus from the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (CP1)? And will a new 'hot air' be created during the second commitment period (CP2)? This analysis explores the implications of the decisions made in Doha, using the case of Ukraine to illustrate responses to the questions raised. Indeed, as the European Union regulation forbids European countries to use CP1 units to achieve CP2 targets, Ukraine is the principal country committing to CP2 with a substantial reserve of CP1 units

  2. Multi-objective Optimization of a Solar Humidification Dehumidification Desalination Unit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rafigh, M.; Mirzaeian, M.; Najafi, B.; Rinaldi, F.; Marchesi, R.

    2017-11-01

    In the present paper, a humidification-dehumidification desalination unit integrated with solar system is considered. In the first step mathematical model of the whole plant is represented. Next, taking into account the logical constraints, the performance of the system is optimized. On one hand it is desired to have higher energetic efficiency, while on the other hand, higher efficiency results in an increment in the required area for each subsystem which consequently leads to an increase in the total cost of the plant. In the present work, the optimum solution is achieved when the specific energy of the solar heater and also the areas of humidifier and dehumidifier are minimized. Due to the fact that considered objective functions are in conflict, conventional optimization methods are not applicable. Hence, multi objective optimization using genetic algorithm which is an efficient tool for dealing with problems with conflicting objectives has been utilized and a set of optimal solutions called Pareto front each of which is a tradeoff between the mentioned objectives is generated.

  3. The Influence of Transformational Leadership on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment,and Employee Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marnis Atmojo

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available This research has four main objectives; first, to prove and analyze the influence of transformational leadership towards employee job satis faction; Second, to prove and analyze the influence of transformational leadership towards organizational commitment; Third, to prove and analyze the influence of transformationalleadership towards employee performance; Fourth, to prove and analyze the influence of organization commitment towards the employee performance. This research involved 146 members of middle management as our research sample namely Head of Department, Plantation Manager, Plant Manager, Head of Bureau/Division, Head Assistant, Head of Strategic Business Unit (SBU, Chief Engineer and Head of Hospital Service. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM was used to test and analyze relationship among the research variables. Research findings are transformational leadership significantly influences job satisfaction, transformational leadership significantly influences the organization commitment. The job satisfaction is shown to have significant influence on employee performance, and organization commitment significantly influences the employee performance.

  4. Measuring Asian nurses' organizational commitment: a critical analysis of the psychometric properties of two organizational commitment instruments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liou, Shwu-Ru; Tsai, Hsiu-Min; Cheng, Ching-Yu

    2013-01-01

    To analyze and compare the psychometric properties and cultural attributes of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and the Organizational Commitment Scale to determine their appropriateness for measuring commitment of Asian nurses, the biggest portion of international nurses. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire was cross-culturally cross-validated when compared with the Organizational Commitment Scale. Both instruments were not tested on Asian nurses. More studies are needed to validate the cultural properties of the Organizational Commitment Scale. Healthcare administrators can use culturally validated instruments, which concern cultural context, including languages and cultural values, to understand Asian nurses' organizational commitment and further lower turnover behavior among them. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Postmarket Requirements and Commitments

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Provides information to the public on postmarket requirements and commitments. The phrase postmarket requirements and commitments refers to studies and clinical...

  6. Device-independent bit commitment based on the CHSH inequality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aharon, N; Massar, S; Pironio, S; Silman, J

    2016-01-01

    Bit commitment and coin flipping occupy a unique place in the device-independent landscape, as the only device-independent protocols thus far suggested for these tasks are reliant on tripartite GHZ correlations. Indeed, we know of no other bipartite tasks, which admit a device-independent formulation, but which are not known to be implementable using only bipartite nonlocality. Another interesting feature of these protocols is that the pseudo-telepathic nature of GHZ correlations—in contrast to the generally statistical character of nonlocal correlations, such as those arising in the violation of the CHSH inequality—is essential to their formulation and analysis. In this work, we present a device-independent bit commitment protocol based on CHSH testing, which achieves the same security as the optimal GHZ-based protocol, albeit at the price of fixing the time at which Alice reveals her commitment. The protocol is analyzed in the most general settings, where the devices are used repeatedly and may have long-term quantum memory. We also recast the protocol in a post-quantum setting where both honest and dishonest parties are restricted only by the impossibility of signaling, and find that overall the supra-quantum structure allows for greater security. (paper)

  7. The trust-commitment challenge in service quality-loyalty relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreira, Antonio Carrizo; Silva, Pedro Miguel

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a model to examine service quality, satisfaction, trust and commitment as loyalty antecedents in a private healthcare service. The approach was tested using structural equation modelling, involving 175 patients from a private Portuguese healthcare unit, using a revised Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS) scale for service quality evaluation. The scale used to evaluate service quality is valid and meaningful. Service quality proved to be a multidimensional construct and relevant to build satisfaction. The path satisfaction→trust→loyalty was validated, whereas the path satisfaction→commitment→loyalty was not statistically supported. The revised SQAS scale showed good internal consistency in healthcare context. Further trust-commitment antecedents must be examined in a private healthcare landscape to generalise the findings. Healthcare quality managers must explore the service quality dimensions to generate satisfaction among their patients. Developing trust generates positive patient attitudes and loyalty. This study explores using the SQAS scale in a private healthcare context. The authors provide further evidence that service quality is an antecedent and different from satisfaction. All the measures used proved to be valid and reliable. Trust and commitment play different roles in their relationship with loyalty.

  8. Cross Selling Implementation From Outpatient Unit to Radiology Unit in Semen Gresik Hospital

    OpenAIRE

    Rochmah, Thinni Nurul; Faradisa, Mutiara Ayu

    2013-01-01

    Thelow visitingnumberinhospital€™sunitarecloselyrelatedtomarketingactivities,includinginternal marketing which consistsof cross sellingfromother units.Thisstudy aims toanalyze crossselling implementation from Outpatient Unit to Radiology Unit in Semen Gresik Hospital. This study was a cross sectional analytic design. Samplewastakenbysimple random samplingwithsamplesize25respondents.Independentvariableswere marketing policy,employee commitment,perception, motivation,andreadiness ofcross sellin...

  9. Multi-Objective Optimization of Start-up Strategy for Pumped Storage Units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinjiao Hou

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a multi-objective optimization method for the start-up strategy of pumped storage units (PSU for the first time. In the multi-objective optimization method, the speed rise time and the overshoot during the process of the start-up are taken as the objectives. A precise simulation platform is built for simulating the transient process of start-up, and for calculating the objectives based on the process. The Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (MOPSO is adopted to optimize the widely applied start-up strategies based on one-stage direct guide vane control (DGVC, and two-stage DGVC. Based on the Pareto Front obtained, a multi-objective decision-making method based on the relative objective proximity is used to sort the solutions in the Pareto Front. Start-up strategy optimization for a PSU of a pumped storage power station in Jiangxi Province in China is conducted in experiments. The results show that: (1 compared with the single objective optimization, the proposed multi-objective optimization of start-up strategy not only greatly shortens the speed rise time and the speed overshoot, but also makes the speed curve quickly stabilize; (2 multi-objective optimization of strategy based on two-stage DGVC achieves better solution for a quick and smooth start-up of PSU than that of the strategy based on one-stage DGVC.

  10. Implementation of a two-state quantum bit commitment protocol in optical fibers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almeida, Á J; Stojanovic, A D; Paunković, N; Loura, R; Mateus, P; Muga, N J; Silva, N A; André, P S; Pinto, A N

    2016-01-01

    We demonstrate experimentally the feasibility of a two-state quantum bit commitment protocol, which is both concealing and partially binding, assuming technological limitations. The security of this protocol is based on the lack of long-term stable quantum memories. We use a polarization-encoding scheme and optical fiber as a quantum channel. The measurement probability for the commitment is obtained and the optimal cheating strategy demonstrated. The average success rates for an honest player in the case where the measurements are performed using equal bases are 93.4%, when the rectilinear basis is measured, and 96.7%, when the diagonal basis is measured. The rates for the case when the measurements are performed in different bases are 52.9%, when the rectilinear basis is measured, and 55.4% when the diagonal basis is measured. The average success rates for the optimal cheating strategy are 80% and 73.8%, which are way below the success rates of an honest player. Using a strict numerical validity criterion, we show that, for these experimental values, the protocol is secure. (paper)

  11. Psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janet C. Simons

    2013-11-01

    Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees; and further, to determine whether psychological capital and work engagement hold predictive value for the organisational commitment of call centre employees. Motivation for the study: There is a gap in research in understanding and enabling positive resource capacities in highly stressful work contexts such as call centres. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A sample of 106 call centre employees from a South African organisation participated in the research. The measuring instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES and the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ. Main findings: Significant positive relationships were found between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment. The results showed work engagement as being the only significant predictor of organisational commitment. Practical/managerial implications: Call centre employers need to develop and implement workplace interventions that would increase the psychological capital of call centre employees. Contribution/value-add: The research findings will benefit both call centre employees and management. The study highlighted the importance of the role of optimism as a subdimension of psychological capital in developing work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees.

  12. Committed dose equivalent in the practice of radiological protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nenot, J.C.; Piechowski, J.

    1985-01-01

    In the case of internal exposure, the dose is not received at the moment of exposure, as happens with external exposure, since the incorporated radionuclide irradiates the various organs and tissues during the time it is present in the body. By definition, the committed dose equivalent corresponds to the received dose integrated over 50 years from the date of intake. In order to calculate it, one has to know the intake activity and the value of the committed dose equivalent per unit of intake activity. The uncertainties of the first parameter are such that the committed dose equivalent can only be regarded as an order of magnitude and not as a very accurate quantity. The use of it is justified, however, for, like the dose equivalent for external exposure, it expresses the risk of stochastic effects for the individual concerned since these effects, should they appear, would do so only after a latent period which is generally longer than the dose integration time. Moreover, the use of the committed dose equivalent offers certain advantages for dosimetric management, especially when it is simplified. A practical problem which may arise is that the annual dose limit is apparently exceeded by virtue of the fact that one is taking account, in the first year, of doses which will actually be received only in the following years. These problems are rare enough in practice to be dealt with individually in each case. (author)

  13. Committed CO2 Emissions of China's Coal-fired Power Plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suqin, J.

    2016-12-01

    The extent of global warming is determined by the cumulative effects of CO2 in the atmosphere. Coal-fired power plants, the largest anthropogenic source of CO2 emissions, produce large amount of CO2 emissions during their lifetimes of operation (committed emissions), which thus influence the future carbon emission space under specific targets on mitigating climate change (e.g., the 2 degree warming limit relative to pre-industrial levels). Comprehensive understanding of committed CO2 emissions for coal-fired power generators is urgently needed in mitigating global climate change, especially in China, the largest global CO2emitter. We calculated China's committed CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generators installed during 1993-2013 and evaluated their impact on future emission spaces at the provincial level, by using local specific data on the newly installed capacities. The committed CO2 emissions are calculated as the product of the annual coal consumption from newly installed capacities, emission factors (CO2emissions per unit crude coal consumption) and expected lifetimes. The sensitivities about generators lifetimes and the drivers on provincial committed emissions are also analyzed. Our results show that these relatively recently installed coal-fired power generators will lead to 106 Gt of CO2 emissions over the course of their lifetimes, which is more than three times the global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in 2010. More than 80% (85 Gt) of their total committed CO2 will be emitted after 2013, which are referred to as the remaining emissions. Due to the uncertainties of generators lifetime, these remaining emissions would increase by 45 Gt if the lifetimes of China's coal-fired power generators were prolonged by 15 years. Furthermore, the remaining emissions are very different among various provinces owing to local developments and policy disparities. Provinces with large amounts of secondary industry and abundant coal reserves have higher committed

  14. The impact of selected organizational variables and managerial leadership on radiation therapists' organizational commitment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akroyd, Duane [Department of Adult and Community College Education, College of Education, Campus Box 7801, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 (United States)], E-mail: duane_akroyd@ncsu.edu; Legg, Jeff [Department of Radiologic Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284 (United States); Jackowski, Melissa B. [Division of Radiologic Sciences, University of North Carolina School of Medicine 27599 (United States); Adams, Robert D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine 27599 (United States)

    2009-05-15

    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of selected organizational factors and the leadership behavior of supervisors on radiation therapists' commitment to their organizations. The population for this study consists of all full time clinical radiation therapists registered by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) in the United States. A random sample of 800 radiation therapists was obtained from the ARRT for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to all participants and measured organizational variables; managerial leadership variable and three components of organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative). It was determined that organizational support, and leadership behavior of supervisors each had a significant and positive affect on normative and affective commitment of radiation therapists and each of the models predicted over 40% of the variance in radiation therapists organizational commitment. This study examined radiation therapists' commitment to their organizations and found that affective (emotional attachment to the organization) and normative (feelings of obligation to the organization) commitments were more important than continuance commitment (awareness of the costs of leaving the organization). This study can help radiation oncology administrators and physicians to understand the values their radiation therapy employees hold that are predictive of their commitment to the organization. A crucial result of the study is the importance of the perceived support of the organization and the leadership skills of managers/supervisors on radiation therapists' commitment to the organization.

  15. Effects of Ethical Climate on Organizational Commitment, Professional Commitment, and Job Satisfaction of Auditor in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Ismail, Suhaiza

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the ethical climate on the organizational commitment, professional commitment and job satisfaction of Malaysian auditors. Using a survey questionnaire comprising instruments about the ethical climate, organizational commitment, professional commitment and job satisfaction, 263 usable responses were received. To achieve the objectives, mean scores, standard deviations, correlations and multiple regressions were performed. The study re...

  16. Statistical secrecy and multibit commitments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; Pedersen, Torben P.; Pfitzmann, Birgit

    1998-01-01

    nothing about it. One definition is based on the L1-norm distance between probability distributions, the other on information theory. We prove that the two definitions are essentially equivalent. We also show that statistical counterparts of definitions of computational secrecy are essentially equivalent......We present and compare definitions of "statistically hiding" protocols, and we propose a novel statistically hiding commitment scheme. Informally, a protocol statistically hides a secret if a computationally unlimited adversary who conducts the protocol with the owner of the secret learns almost...... to our main definitions. Commitment schemes are an important cryptologic primitive. Their purpose is to commit one party to a certain value, while hiding this value from the other party until some later time. We present a statistically hiding commitment scheme allowing commitment to many bits...

  17. Effects of Gender on Engineering Career Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Anne M.

    Engineering has been one of the most difficult fields for 'women to enter and in which to succeed. Although the percentage of female engineers has Increased, women are still seriously underrcpresented in the workforce. This study examined the effect offender on career commitment, success, satisfaction, and involvement in engineering, and the effect of personality and work environment on these variables. Alumni from an engineering school in the northeastern United States were surveyed. The questionnaire was analyzed using statistical and descriptive methods to determine relationships among these variables. Women's commitment scores were lower than men's when controlled for other variables, including satisfaction and involvement. Men had longer tenure as engineers than women, even when controlled for year of graduation, professional engineering status, and number of children. Women did not leave engineering in different proportions than men, but they did earn significantly less despite controlling for year of graduation and number of hours worked weekly. Some gender differences in workplace experience were also found, including having colleagues act protectively, being mistaken for secretaries, and seeing men progress faster in their careers than equally qualified women.

  18. Alcohol myopia and goal commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Timur Sevincer

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available According to alcohol-myopia theory, acute alcohol consumption leads people to disproportionally focus on the salient rather than the peripheral aspects of a situation. We summarize various studies exploring how myopic processes resulting from acute alcohol intake affect goal commitment. After consuming alcohol student participants felt strongly committed to an important personal goal even though they had low expectations of successfully attaining the goal. However, once intoxicated participants were sober again (i.e., not myopic anymore they failed to act on their goal commitment. In line with alcohol-myopia theory, strong goal commitment as a result of alcohol intake was mediated by intoxicated (vs. sober participants disproportionally focusing on the desirability rather than the feasibility of their goal. Further supporting alcohol-myopia theory, when the low feasibility of attaining a particular goal was experimentally made salient (either explicitly or implicitly by subliminal priming, intoxicated participants felt less committed than those who consumed a placebo. We discuss these effects of acute alcohol intake in the context of research on the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on goal commitment.

  19. Structural optimization of the fibre-reinforced composite substructure in a three-unit dental bridge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Li; Fok, Alex S L

    2009-06-01

    Failures of fixed partial dentures (FPDs) made of fibre-reinforced composites (FRC) have been reported in many clinical and in vitro studies. The types of failure include debonding at the composite-tooth interface, delamination of the veneering material from the FRC substructure and fracture of the pontic. The design of the FRC substructure, i.e. the position and orientation of the fibres, will affect the fracture resistance of the FPD. The purpose of this study was to find an optimal arrangement of the FRC substructure, by means of structural optimization, which could minimize the failure-initiating stresses in a three-unit FPD. A structural optimization method mimicking biological adaptive growth was developed for orthotropic materials such as FRC and incorporated into the finite element (FE) program ABAQUS. Using the program, optimization of the fibre positions and directions in a three-unit FPD was carried out, the aim being to align the fibre directions with those of the maximum principal stresses. The optimized design was then modeled and analyzed to verify the improvements in mechanical performance of the FPD. Results obtained from the optimization suggested that the fibres should be placed at the bottom of the pontic, forming a U-shape substructure that extended into the connectors linking the teeth and the pontic. FE analyses of the optimized design indicated stress reduction in both the veneering composite and at the interface between the veneer and the FRC substructure. The optimized design obtained using FE-based structural optimization can potentially improve the fracture resistance of FPDs by reducing some of the failure-initiating stresses. Optimization methods can therefore be a useful tool to provide sound scientific guidelines for the design of FRC substructures in FPDs.

  20. Thermal and economical optimization of air conditioning units with vapor compression refrigeration system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanaye, S.; Malekmohammadi, H.R. [Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran (Iran). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

    2004-09-01

    A new method of thermal and economical optimum design of air conditioning units with vapor compression refrigeration system, is presented. Such a system includes compressor, condenser, evaporator, centrifugal and axial fans. Evaporator and condenser temperatures, their heating surface areas (frontal surface area and number of tubes), centrifugal and axial fan powers, and compressor power are among the design variables. The data provided by manufacturers for fan (volume flow rate versus pressure drop) and compressor power (using evaporator and condenser temperatures) was used to choose these components directly from available data for consumers. To study the performance of the system under various situations, and implementing the optimization procedure, a simulation program including all thermal and geometrical parameters was developed. The objective function for optimization was the total cost per unit cooling load of the system including capital investment for components as well as the required electricity cost. To find the system design parameters, this objective function was minimized by Lagrange multipliers method. The effects of changing the cooling load on optimal design parameters were studied. (author)

  1. Comparison of particle swarm optimization and dynamic programming for large scale hydro unit load dispatch

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng Chuntian; Liao Shengli; Tang Zitian; Zhao Mingyan

    2009-01-01

    Dynamic programming (DP) is one of classic and sophisticated optimization methods that have successfully been applied to solve the problem of hydro unit load dispatch (HULD). However, DP will be faced with the curse of dimensionality with the increase of unit number and installed generating capacity of hydropower station. With the appearance of the huge hydropower station similar to the Three George with 26 generators of 700 MW, it is hard to apply the DP to large scale HULD problem. It is crucial to seek for other optimization techniques in order to improve the operation quality and efficiency. Different with the most of literature about power generation scheduling that focused on the comparisons of novel PSO algorithms with other techniques, the paper will pay emphasis on comparison study of PSO with DP based on a case hydropower station. The objective of study is to seek for an effective and feasible method for the large scale of hydropower station of the current and future in China. This paper first compares the performance of PSO and DP using a sample load curve of the Wujiangdu hydropower plant located in the upper stream of the Yangtze River in China and contained five units with the installed capacity of 1250 MW. Next, the effect of different load interval and unit number on the optimal results and efficiency of two methods has also been implemented. The comparison results show that the PSO is feasible for HULD. Furthermore, we simulated the effect of the magnitude of unit number and load capacity on the optimal results and cost time. The simulation comparisons show that PSO has a great advantage over DP in the efficiency and will be one of effective methods for HULD problem of huge hydropower stations.

  2. Comparison of particle swarm optimization and dynamic programming for large scale hydro unit load dispatch

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cheng Chuntian, E-mail: ctcheng@dlut.edu.c [Department of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 116024 Dalian (China); Liao Shengli; Tang Zitian [Department of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 116024 Dalian (China); Zhao Mingyan [Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing (China)

    2009-12-15

    Dynamic programming (DP) is one of classic and sophisticated optimization methods that have successfully been applied to solve the problem of hydro unit load dispatch (HULD). However, DP will be faced with the curse of dimensionality with the increase of unit number and installed generating capacity of hydropower station. With the appearance of the huge hydropower station similar to the Three George with 26 generators of 700 MW, it is hard to apply the DP to large scale HULD problem. It is crucial to seek for other optimization techniques in order to improve the operation quality and efficiency. Different with the most of literature about power generation scheduling that focused on the comparisons of novel PSO algorithms with other techniques, the paper will pay emphasis on comparison study of PSO with DP based on a case hydropower station. The objective of study is to seek for an effective and feasible method for the large scale of hydropower station of the current and future in China. This paper first compares the performance of PSO and DP using a sample load curve of the Wujiangdu hydropower plant located in the upper stream of the Yangtze River in China and contained five units with the installed capacity of 1250 MW. Next, the effect of different load interval and unit number on the optimal results and efficiency of two methods has also been implemented. The comparison results show that the PSO is feasible for HULD. Furthermore, we simulated the effect of the magnitude of unit number and load capacity on the optimal results and cost time. The simulation comparisons show that PSO has a great advantage over DP in the efficiency and will be one of effective methods for HULD problem of huge hydropower stations.

  3. Comparison of particle swarm optimization and dynamic programming for large scale hydro unit load dispatch

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chun-tian Cheng; Sheng-li Liao; Zi-Tian Tang [Dept. of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian Univ. of Technology, 116024 Dalian (China); Ming-yan Zhao [Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua Univ., 100084 Beijing (China)

    2009-12-15

    Dynamic programming (DP) is one of classic and sophisticated optimization methods that have successfully been applied to solve the problem of hydro unit load dispatch (HULD). However, DP will be faced with the curse of dimensionality with the increase of unit number and installed generating capacity of hydropower station. With the appearance of the huge hydropower station similar to the Three George with 26 generators of 700 MW, it is hard to apply the DP to large scale HULD problem. It is crucial to seek for other optimization techniques in order to improve the operation quality and efficiency. Different with the most of literature about power generation scheduling that focused on the comparisons of novel PSO algorithms with other techniques, the paper will pay emphasis on comparison study of PSO with DP based on a case hydropower station. The objective of study is to seek for an effective and feasible method for the large scale of hydropower station of the current and future in China. This paper first compares the performance of PSO and DP using a sample load curve of the Wujiangdu hydropower plant located in the upper stream of the Yangtze River in China and contained five units with the installed capacity of 1250 MW. Next, the effect of different load interval and unit number on the optimal results and efficiency of two methods has also been implemented. The comparison results show that the PSO is feasible for HULD. Furthermore, we simulated the effect of the magnitude of unit number and load capacity on the optimal results and cost time. The simulation comparisons show that PSO has a great advantage over DP in the efficiency and will be one of effective methods for HULD problem of huge hydropower stations. (author)

  4. The concept of collective injury and of collective dose commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacobi, W.

    The procedure of optimization based on a cost-benefit-analysis ought to include also costs resulting from injuries to health and environment according to the polluter - pays principle. The implementation of a quantitative optimization analysis in the field of radiation protection, however, seems to be extremely difficult. The expediency and applicability needs careful examination. To develop, or to select appropriate strategies of protection, the concept has to be considered on a long-term basis as something giving the direction for future planning of radiation protection. The term of collective injury and collective dose commitment is of prime importance in this context. In principle the concept can be applied to other noxae, especially to carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals. (DG) [de

  5. Testing of Strategies for the Acceleration of the Cost Optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponciroli, Roberto [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Vilim, Richard B. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

    2017-08-31

    The general problem addressed in the Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy System (N-R HES) project is finding the optimum economical dispatch (ED) and capacity planning solutions for the hybrid energy systems. In the present test-problem configuration, the N-R HES unit is composed of three electrical power-generating components, i.e. the Balance of Plant (BOP), the Secondary Energy Source (SES), and the Energy Storage (ES). In addition, there is an Industrial Process (IP), which is devoted to hydrogen generation. At this preliminary stage, the goal is to find the power outputs of each one of the N-R HES unit components (BOP, SES, ES) and the IP hydrogen production level that maximizes the unit profit by simultaneously satisfying individual component operational constraints. The optimization problem is meant to be solved in the Risk Analysis Virtual Environment (RAVEN) framework. The dynamic response of the N-R HES unit components is simulated by using dedicated object-oriented models written in the Modelica modeling language. Though this code coupling provides for very accurate predictions, the ensuing optimization problem is characterized by a very large number of solution variables. To ease the computational burden and to improve the path to a converged solution, a method to better estimate the initial guess for the optimization problem solution was developed. The proposed approach led to the definition of a suitable Monte Carlo-based optimization algorithm (called the preconditioner), which provides an initial guess for the optimal N-R HES power dispatch and the optimal installed capacity for each one of the unit components. The preconditioner samples a set of stochastic power scenarios for each one of the N-R HES unit components, and then for each of them the corresponding value of a suitably defined cost function is evaluated. After having simulated a sufficient number of power histories, the configuration which ensures the highest profit is selected as the optimal

  6. Pledges of Commitment and Cooperation in Partnerships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lachlan Deer

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We use experimental methods to investigate whether pledges of commitment can improve cooperation in endogenously-formed partnerships facing a social dilemma. Treatments vary in terms of the individual’s: (1 opportunity to commit to their partner; (2 the cost of dissolving committed partnerships; and (3 the distribution of these dissolution costs between partners. Our findings show that pledges of commitment alone can increase cooperation and welfare in committed partnerships. The introduction of relatively large and equally split costs yields similar gains. In contrast, when costs to dissolve committed partnerships fall solely on the individual choosing to break up, pledges of commitment fail to improve cooperation and welfare.

  7. The viability of neural network for modeling the impact of individual job satisfiers on work commitment in Indian manufacturing unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Therasa Chandrasekar

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides an exposition about application of neural networks in the context of research to find out the contribution of individual job satisfiers towards work commitment. The purpose of the current study is to build a predictive model to estimate the normalized importance of individual job satisfiers towards work commitment of employees working in TVS Group, an Indian automobile company. The study is based on the tool developed by Spector (1985 and Sue Hayday (2003.The input variable of the study consists of nine independent individual job satisfiers which includes Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Benefits, Rewards, Operating procedures, Co-workers, Work-itself and Communication of Spector (1985 and dependent variable as work commitment of Sue Hayday (2003.The primary data has been collected using a closed-ended questionnaire based on simple random sampling approach. This study employed the multilayer Perceptron neural network model to envisage the level of job satisfiers towards work commitment. The result from the multilayer Perceptron neural network model displayed with four hidden layer with correct classification rate of 70% and 30% for training and testing data set. The normalized importance shows high value for coworkers, superior satisfaction and communication and which acts as most significant attributes of job satisfiers that predicts the overall work commitment of employees.

  8. Optimal Placement of Phasor Measurement Units with New Considerations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Su, Chi; Chen, Zhe

    2010-01-01

    Conventional phasor measurement unit (PMU) placement methods normally use the number of PMU installations as the objective function which is to be minimized. However, the cost of one installation of PMU is not always the same in different locations. It depends on a number of factors. One of these......Conventional phasor measurement unit (PMU) placement methods normally use the number of PMU installations as the objective function which is to be minimized. However, the cost of one installation of PMU is not always the same in different locations. It depends on a number of factors. One...... of these factors is taken into account in the proposed PMU placement method in this paper, which is the number of adjacent branches to the PMU located buses. The concept of full topological observability is adopted and a version of binary particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is utilized. Results from...

  9. Stochastic Optimization Model to STudy the Operational Impacts of High Wind Penetrations in Ireland

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meibom, Peter; Barth, R.; Hasche, B.

    2011-01-01

    A stochastic mixed integer linear optimization scheduling model minimizing system operation costs and treating load and wind power production as stochastic inputs is presented. The schedules are updated in a rolling manner as more up-to-date information becomes available. This is a fundamental...... change relative to day-ahead unit commitment approaches. The need for reserves dependent on forecast horizon and share of wind power has been estimated with a statistical model combining load and wind power forecast errors with scenarios of forced outages. The model is used to study operational impacts...

  10. A deterministic approach for performance assessment and optimization of power distribution units in Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azadeh, A.; Ghaderi, S.F.; Omrani, H.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a deterministic approach for performance assessment and optimization of power distribution units in Iran. The deterministic approach is composed of data envelopment analysis (DEA), principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation techniques. Seventeen electricity distribution units have been considered for the purpose of this study. Previous studies have generally used input-output DEA models for benchmarking and evaluation of electricity distribution units. However, this study considers an integrated deterministic DEA-PCA approach since the DEA model should be verified and validated by a robust multivariate methodology such as PCA. Moreover, the DEA models are verified and validated by PCA, Spearman and Kendall's Tau correlation techniques, while previous studies do not have the verification and validation features. Also, both input- and output-oriented DEA models are used for sensitivity analysis of the input and output variables. Finally, this is the first study to present an integrated deterministic approach for assessment and optimization of power distributions in Iran

  11. Work values and organizational commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidron, A

    1978-06-01

    Dubin, Champoux and Porter (1975) found a strong relationship between central life interests of workers and their commitment to the organization. This paper extends their findings by investigating the relationship between work values, defined as the Protestant Ethic of the worker, and commitment to the organization. A distinction is made between moral and calculative commitment, and it is shown that work values are related more to moral than calculative involvement.

  12. Positivity in healthcare: relation of optimism to performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luthans, Kyle W; Lebsack, Sandra A; Lebsack, Richard R

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore the linkage between nurses' levels of optimism and performance outcomes. The study sample consisted of 78 nurses in all areas of a large healthcare facility (hospital) in the Midwestern United States. The participants completed surveys to determine their current state of optimism. Supervisory performance appraisal data were gathered in order to measure performance outcomes. Spearman correlations and a one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results indicated a highly significant positive relationship between the nurses' measured state of optimism and their supervisors' ratings of their commitment to the mission of the hospital, a measure of contribution to increasing customer satisfaction, and an overall measure of work performance. This was an exploratory study. Larger sample sizes and longitudinal data would be beneficial because it is probable that state optimism levels will vary and that it might be more accurate to measure state optimism at several points over time in order to better predict performance outcomes. Finally, the study design does not imply causation. Suggestions for effectively developing and managing nurses' optimism to positively impact their performance are provided. To date, there has been very little empirical evidence assessing the impact that positive psychological capacities such as optimism of key healthcare professionals may have on performance. This paper was designed to help begin to fill this void by examining the relationship between nurses' self-reported optimism and their supervisors' evaluations of their performance.

  13. Pledges of commitment and cooperation in partnerships

    OpenAIRE

    Lachlan Deer; Ralph-C. Bayer

    2015-01-01

    We use experimental methods to investigate whether pledges of commitment can improve cooperation in endogenously-formed partnerships facing a social dilemma. Treatments vary in terms of the individual's: (1) opportunity to commit to their partner; (2) the cost of dissolving committed partnerships; and (3) the distribution of these dissolution costs between partners. Our findings show that pledges of commitment alone can increase cooperation and welfare in committed partnerships. The introduct...

  14. The Relationship of Parenting Styles to Commitment to the Church among Young Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudley, Roger L.; Wisbey, Randall L.

    2000-01-01

    Investigates the effects of parenting style experiences during childhood has on the religious commitment of young adults. Surveyed Seventh-day Adventist young adults (n=653) in United States and Canada. Reveals that the affectionate constraint parenting style produced the largest percentage of members. Includes references. (CMK)

  15. Building commitment in a sports class

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Jesper; Nielsen, Jens Christian

    The literature has traditionally considered commitment as an individual characteristic or condition of the individual. This means that one is inclined to think that it is those who have commitment who have the opportunity to become excellent performers within their sport. But what if commitment...

  16. Perceived Sacrifice and Few Alternatives Commitments: The Motivational Underpinnings of Continuance Commitment's Subdimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandenberghe, Christian; Panaccio, Alexandra

    2012-01-01

    Using work on self-concepts and Conservation of Resources theory, the present research examined the motivational underpinnings of continuance commitment's subcomponents of perceived sacrifice and few alternatives. Study 1 (N=208) found job scope to be positively related to perceived sacrifice commitment, and negatively related to few alternatives…

  17. Seeking optimal renal replacement therapy delivery in intensive care units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocjan, Marinka; Brunet, Fabrice P

    2010-01-01

    Globally, critical care environments within health care organizations strive to provide optimal quality renal replacement therapy (RRT), an artificial replacement for lost kidney function. Examination of RRT delivery model literature and a case study review of the multidisciplinary-mixed RRT delivery model utilized within a closed medical surgical intensive care unit illustrates the organizational and clinical management of specialized resource and multidisciplinary roles. The successful utilization of a specific RRT delivery model is dependent upon resource availability.

  18. Marketing service relationships: the role of commitment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wetzels, M.G.M.; Ruyter, de J.C.; Birgelen, van M.

    1998-01-01

    As with all relationships, it is commonly agreed on that partners in business must have a high degree of commitment towards their relationship. If commitment is lacking, the relationship will soon come to an end. Affective commitment, that is commitment based on attraction between partners, is to be

  19. 24 CFR 200.47 - Firm commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Firm commitments. 200.47 Section 200.47 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development (Continued... Eligibility Requirements for Existing Projects Commitment Applications § 200.47 Firm commitments. A valid firm...

  20. Commitment among Arab Adolescents in Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben-Ari, Adital Tirosh; Azaiza, Faisal

    1998-01-01

    Examines 662 Arab adolescents' commitments to their own self-development, family, Arab people, and village along with the order in which these commitments are structured. Reveals that the two prevalent patterns of adolescent commitment, individualistic and collectivistic, demonstrate the adolescents' struggle with these value systems and the…

  1. 78 FR 1211 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-08

    ... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES [Public Notice 2012-0558] Application for Final Commitment...-Import Bank of the United States. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This Notice is to inform the public, in accordance with Section 3(c)(10) of the Charter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (``Ex-Im Bank...

  2. 28 CFR 522.11 - Civil contempt commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Civil contempt commitments. 522.11..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER ADMISSION TO INSTITUTION Civil Contempt of Court Commitments § 522.11 Civil contempt commitments. Inmates can come into Bureau custody for civil contempt commitments in two ways: (a) The U.S...

  3. 24 CFR 203.7 - Commitment process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Commitment process. 203.7 Section 203.7 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development (Continued... Insurance, and Commitments § 203.7 Commitment process. For single family mortgage programs that are not...

  4. Thermal-economic optimization of an air-cooled heat exchanger unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alinia Kashani, Amir Hesam; Maddahi, Alireza; Hajabdollahi, Hassan

    2013-01-01

    Thermodynamic modeling and optimal design of an air-cooled heat exchanger (ACHE) unit are developed in this study. For this purpose, ε–NTU method and mathematical relations are applied to estimate the fluids outlet temperatures and pressure drops in tube and air sides. The main goal of this study is minimizing of two conflicting objective functions namely the temperature approach and the minimum total annual cost, simultaneously. For this purpose, fast and elitist non-dominated sorting genetic-algorithm (NSGA-II) is applied to minimize the objective functions by considering ten design parameters. In addition, a set of typical constraints, governing on the ACHE unit design, is subjected to obtain more practical optimum design points. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis of change in the objective functions, when the optimum design parameters vary, is conducted and the degree of each parameter on conflicting objective functions has been investigated. Finally, a selection procedure of the best optimum point is introduced and final optimum design point is determined. -- Highlights: ► Multi-objective optimization of air-cooled heat exchanger. ► Considering ten new design parameters in this type of heat exchanger. ► A detailed cost function is used to estimate the heat exchanger investment cost. ► Presenting a mathematical relation for optimum total cost vs. temperature approach. ► The sensitivity analysis of parameters in the optimum situation

  5. Optimization of the scheduled maintenance on the power units of the nuclear power plants with WWER

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skalozubov, V.I.; Kovrizhkin, Yu.L.; Kolykhanov, V.N.; Kochneva, V.Yu.; Urbanskij, V.V.

    2008-01-01

    The advanced international and domestic experience in the field of the maintenance optimization of the power units of NPPs, as well, as on the base of the planning optimization, the maintenance organization and carrying out, the technical maintenance and repair control system automatization, the testing and monitoring optimization during the service process, the modernization of the technology and technical tools of the maintenance service and control is represented

  6. Factors Affecting Organizational Commitment in Navy Corpsmen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Booth-Kewley, Stephanie; Dell'Acqua, Renée G; Thomsen, Cynthia J

    2017-07-01

    Organizational commitment is a psychological state that has a strong impact on the likelihood that employees will remain with an organization. Among military personnel, organizational commitment is predictive of a number of important outcomes, including reenlistment intentions, job performance, morale, and perceived readiness. Because of the unique challenges and experiences associated with military service, it may be that organizational commitment is even more critical in the military than in civilian populations. Despite the essential role that they play in protecting the health of other service members, little is known about the factors that influence Navy Corpsmen's organizational commitment. This study investigated demographic and psychosocial factors that may be associated with organizational commitment among Corpsmen. Surveys of organizational commitment and possible demographic and psychosocial correlates of organizational commitment were completed by 1,597 male, active duty Navy Corpsmen attending Field Medical Training Battalion-West, Camp Pendleton, California. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to determine significant predictors of organizational commitment. Of the 12 demographic and psychosocial factors examined, 6 factors emerged as significant predictors of organizational commitment in the final model: preservice motivation to be a Corpsman, positive perceptions of Corpsman training, confidence regarding promotions, occupational self-efficacy, social support for a Corpsman career, and lower depression. Importantly, a number of the factors that emerged as significant correlates of organizational commitment in this study are potentially modifiable. These factors include confidence regarding promotions, positive perceptions of Corpsman training, and occupational self-efficacy. It is recommended that military leaders and policy-makers take concrete steps to address these factors, thereby strengthening

  7. Optimal maintenance policy incorporating system level and unit level for mechanical systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Chaoqun; Deng, Chao; Wang, Bingran

    2018-04-01

    The study works on a multi-level maintenance policy combining system level and unit level under soft and hard failure modes. The system experiences system-level preventive maintenance (SLPM) when the conditional reliability of entire system exceeds SLPM threshold, and also undergoes a two-level maintenance for each single unit, which is initiated when a single unit exceeds its preventive maintenance (PM) threshold, and the other is performed simultaneously the moment when any unit is going for maintenance. The units experience both periodic inspections and aperiodic inspections provided by failures of hard-type units. To model the practical situations, two types of economic dependence have been taken into account, which are set-up cost dependence and maintenance expertise dependence due to the same technology and tool/equipment can be utilised. The optimisation problem is formulated and solved in a semi-Markov decision process framework. The objective is to find the optimal system-level threshold and unit-level thresholds by minimising the long-run expected average cost per unit time. A formula for the mean residual life is derived for the proposed multi-level maintenance policy. The method is illustrated by a real case study of feed subsystem from a boring machine, and a comparison with other policies demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach.

  8. Family Commitment and Work Characteristics among Pharmacists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gubbins, Paul O; Ragland, Denise; Castleberry, Ashley N; Payakachat, Nalin

    2015-12-17

    Factors associated with family commitment among pharmacists in the south central U.S. are explored. In 2010, a cross-sectional mailed self-administered 70 item survey of 363 active licensed pharmacists was conducted. This analysis includes only 269 (74%) participants who reported being married. Outcome measures were family commitment (need for family commitment, spouse's family commitment), work-related characteristics (work challenge, stress, workload, flexibility of work schedule), and job and career satisfaction. Married participants' mean age was 48 (SD = 18) years; the male to female ratio was 1:1; 73% worked in retail settings and 199 (74%) completed the family commitment questions. Females reported a higher need for family commitment than males ( p = 0.02) but there was no significant difference in satisfaction with the commitment. Work challenge and work load were significantly associated with higher need for family commitment ( p work status, and practice setting. Higher work challenge was associated with higher career satisfaction. Higher job related stress was associated with lower job satisfaction. High work challenge and work load may negatively impact family function since married pharmacists would need higher family commitment from their counterparts. The impact of work-family interactions on pharmacy career satisfaction should be further investigated.

  9. Functional Flexibility in Women's Commitment-Skepticism Bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina M. Brown

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available If a woman overestimates her romantic partner's commitment, the cost to her fitness—reproduction without an investing partner—can be considerable. Error Management Theory predicts that women have an evolved bias to be skeptical of men's commitment in a relationship, which reduces the likelihood of making a costly false positive error. However, because error probabilities are inversely related, this commitment-skepticism bias simultaneously increases the likelihood of missed opportunities, or false negatives. False positives when gauging a partner's commitment are the more costly error for women, but missing an opportunity to secure a genuinely high-quality mate can also be quite costly. We predicted and found that women's mating cognitions are functionally flexible, such that women do not exhibit the commitment-skepticism bias when faced with behavioral evidence that a male partner is willing to commit (Study 1. This suggests that relationship-enhancing behaviors are one contextual cue that may lessen the bias. However, not all relationship-enhancing behaviors are equally diagnostic of a person's true commitment intent. When comparing men and women's commitment thresholds, we found that women require more behavioral evidence than men do to feel certain of their partner's commitment to them (Study 2.

  10. Family Commitment and Work Characteristics among Pharmacists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul O. Gubbins

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Factors associated with family commitment among pharmacists in the south central U.S. are explored. In 2010, a cross-sectional mailed self-administered 70 item survey of 363 active licensed pharmacists was conducted. This analysis includes only 269 (74% participants who reported being married. Outcome measures were family commitment (need for family commitment, spouse’s family commitment, work-related characteristics (work challenge, stress, workload, flexibility of work schedule, and job and career satisfaction. Married participants’ mean age was 48 (SD = 18 years; the male to female ratio was 1:1; 73% worked in retail settings and 199 (74% completed the family commitment questions. Females reported a higher need for family commitment than males (p = 0.02 but there was no significant difference in satisfaction with the commitment. Work challenge and work load were significantly associated with higher need for family commitment (p < 0.01, when controlled for age, gender, number of dependents, work status, and practice setting. Higher work challenge was associated with higher career satisfaction. Higher job related stress was associated with lower job satisfaction. High work challenge and work load may negatively impact family function since married pharmacists would need higher family commitment from their counterparts. The impact of work-family interactions on pharmacy career satisfaction should be further investigated.

  11. Organizational Commitment as a Predictor of Teacher Kindergarten Performance in Implementation of ESDIGDC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suparji Suparji

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In order to achieve national development goals in the field of children health, the government is committed to enhancing the growth and development of children through the “Early Stimulation, Detection and Intervention for Growth and Development of Children (ESDIGDC” Program. Efforts to improve the health status of children is very important, because in addition to being the target of health development, it also becomes an indicator of the health status of children is to prepare children to achieve optimal growth and development . This  study  aimed to analyze the influence of organizational commitment on the performance of kindergarten  teacher in implementation of ESDIGDC Program. The subjects of this cross sectional study were 68 kindergarten teacher at Panekan Sub District, Magetan District, East Java Province,  Indonesia.  Data  were  collected through  questionnaires and then analyzed using linear regression. The results showed that p-value = 0.001 (significant, so it could be concluded  that  there was the influence of organizational commitment on the performance of kindergarten teacher in implementation of ESDIGDC.

  12. THE ASSOCIATION OF ISLAMIC BASED CARING MODEL AND COMMITMENT TO ORGANIZATION IN STAFF NURSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuda Ayu Timorita

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Strong organizational commitment is needed by hospitals to attract and retain nursing staffs in order to consistently deliver good quality of nursing services. The decrease in organizational commitment among nurses can cause many losses to the organization, including increased organizational spending, breakdown in patient care, and cause performance trends that appear not for the benefit of the organization or unit, but more for personal self-interest. Objective: To analyze the relationship of the application of Islamic Based Caring (IBC model with organizational commitment among nurses. Methods: This was a correlation analytic research with cross sectional design. There were 108 nurses selected using a propotionate stratified random sampling. Islamic Based Caring was measured using a questionnaire developed based on the theory of Suhartini Ismail (2016, and organizational commitment was measured using a questionnaire developed based on the concept of Caldwell, O’Reilly & Chatmann (1990 and Mowday, Porter dan Steers (1982 in Asmaningrum (2009. Logistic regression and forward stepwise (conditional method were used for data analysis. Results: There was a statistically significant correlation of a healing presence (p=0.000, caring relationship (p=0.010, caring environment (p=0.045 and belief in God (p=0.000. Belief in God (Allah SWT has the highest correlation (OR=6.660 with organizational commitment among nurses. Conclusion: There is a positive and significant relationship between the implementation of Islamic Based Caring with the organization's commitment among nurses.

  13. A survey on critical factors influencing organizational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamidreza Kheirkhah

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Organizational commitment is an important issue and organization attitude has become an area of study among many researchers in the fields of organizational behavior. In fact, there are many studies on human resource management where the effects of organizational commitment on other issues have been investigated and the purpose of this research is to find critical factors influencing on organizational commitment. Based on an exploration of the literature review and interviews, the proposed study of this paper extracts 24 variables and using factor analysis, we select the most important factors, which are grouped in four categories. The implementation of our factor analysis has revealed Affective commitment, Continuous commitment, Moral commitment and Enduring commitment are the most important factors influencing organizational commitment.

  14. Validating Teacher Commitment Scale Using a Malaysian Sample

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Mee Thien

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This study attempts to validate an integrative Teacher Commitment scale using rigorous scale validation procedures. An adapted questionnaire with 17 items was administered to 600 primary school teachers in Penang, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA with SPSS 19.0 and AMOS 19.0, respectively. The results support Teacher Commitment as a multidimensional construct with its four underlying dimensions: Commitment to Student, Commitment to Teaching, Commitment to School, and Commitment to Profession. A validated Teacher Commitment scale with 13 items measured can be proposed to be used as an evaluative tool to assess the level to which teachers are committed to their students’ learning, teaching, school, and profession. The Teacher Commitment scale would also facilitate the identifications of factors that influence teachers’ quality of work life and school effectiveness. The practical implications, school cultural influence, and methodological limitations are discussed.

  15. Exploring the Relationship between Task Conflict,Relationship Conflict, Organizational Commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather Mills

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In the Australia, Canada, parts of Europe, and the United Kingdom, the provision of sport has had a long tradition of reliance on volunteers. However, there has been increasing pressure for voluntary sport organizations (VSOs to adopt more “professional” practices and operational procedures. Consequently, there is a tendency for volunteer organizations to adopt approaches to management developed in other industry contexts without giving proper thought to the differences in character of the public, private, and volunteer sector. It is in situations such as this that inappropriate practices are adopted and conflict emerges. Despite this,there has been limited research into conflict in volunteer sport organizations in the UK. The results of the study demonstrated that relationship conflict was related to both organizational commitment and satisfaction; however, task conflict was only related to job satisfaction. Perhaps the more important finding is the absence of a relationship between task conflict and organizational commitment. It is possible that individuals in VSOs saw their commitment to something greater than the club or association (i.e. the sport or some idealist notion of sport and were therefore likely to ‘put up’ with high levels of dissatisfaction associated with poor management

  16. Model-based investigation of the electricity market. Unit commitment and power plant investments; Modellgestuetzte Untersuchung des Elektrizitaetsmarktes. Kraftwerkseinsatzplanung und -investitionen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, Ninghong

    2013-08-08

    The German Federal Government published its energy concept in September 2010 with a description of the road into the era of renewable energies. Therefore, the future renewable energy installed in Germany is expected to consist mostly of wind and solar, which are subject to intermittency of supply and significant fluctuations. The growing portion of energy generation by fluctuating sources is turning to a big challenge for the power plant unit commitment and the investment decisions as well. In this thesis, a fundamental electricity market model with combined modeling of these two aspects is developed. This model is subsequently applied to the German electricity market to investigate what kind of power plant investments are indispensable, considering the steadily increasing portion of energy generation from fluctuating sources, to ensure a reliable energy supply in a cost-effective way in the future. In addition, current energy policy in Germany regarding the use of renewable energy and nuclear energy is analyzed.

  17. Optimization Solutions for Improving the Performance of the Parallel Reduction Algorithm Using Graphics Processing Units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion LUNGU

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we research, analyze and develop optimization solutions for the parallel reduction function using graphics processing units (GPUs that implement the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA, a modern and novel approach for improving the software performance of data processing applications and algorithms. Many of these applications and algorithms make use of the reduction function in their computational steps. After having designed the function and its algorithmic steps in CUDA, we have progressively developed and implemented optimization solutions for the reduction function. In order to confirm, test and evaluate the solutions' efficiency, we have developed a custom tailored benchmark suite. We have analyzed the obtained experimental results regarding: the comparison of the execution time and bandwidth when using graphic processing units covering the main CUDA architectures (Tesla GT200, Fermi GF100, Kepler GK104 and a central processing unit; the data type influence; the binary operator's influence.

  18. Optimization in Fuzzy Economic Order Quantity (FEOQ) Model with Deteriorating Inventory and Units Lost

    OpenAIRE

    Monalisha Pattnaik

    2014-01-01

    Background: This model presents the effect of deteriorating items in fuzzy optimal instantaneous replenishment for finite planning horizon. Accounting for holding cost per unit per unit time and ordering cost per order have traditionally been the case of modeling inventory systems in fuzzy environment. These imprecise parameters defined on a bounded interval on the axis of real numbers and the physical characteristics of stocked items dictate the nature of inventory policies implemented ...

  19. From controlled to committed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, J C

    1996-02-01

    Most of us agree that people are our most important resource. Yet we spend a minimal amount of time learning more about human behavior, communication, and how our attitudes and behavior impact employee performance. Instead we rely on traditional methods of negative reinforcement in an attempt to control our areas of responsibility. While these methods can render some short-term success, managers and organizations that succeed during these times of change and fierce competition will be those that take the time to understand and capture the power of a committed workforce. The committed workforce is energized, not simply compliant, as a result of having basic human needs for achievement satisfied, belonging to a group, and receiving recognition for its contributions. Committed workers typically describe the manager as one who has the ability to give them a great degree of control over their area of influence. We all know that we don't change our leadership style like we change clothes. Old habits die hard. it takes a personal commitment and lots of practice to rid outselves of habits and behavior that no longer serve our departments and facilities. This commitment, however, is crucial to survival. As managers, we must cope with increasing ambiguity and uncertainty in the workplace. To survive these challenges, we must improve our interpersonal skills and ability to successfully bring out the best in others. I believe that success will continue for managers who not only increase their knowledge and technical ability, but who also inspire their workers to move forward with a collective sense of enthusiasm and purpose.

  20. An industry-wide commitment to the environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salo, L.

    1992-01-01

    As part of its ongoing effort to further enhance its environmental, health, and safety effort. Neste committed itself to the international chemical industry's Responsible Care programme last year. Neste's involvement with the programme will supplement the Corporation's internal environmental and safety operating principles Neste's Responsible Care work is based around a set of 10 guiding principles set out by the European Chemical Industry Federation (CEFIC). In addition to corporate-level targets, divisions and units have drawn up more detailed and specific coals for their own operations. Neste Chemicals' production plants, for example have developed action plans covering the next 3-5 years. A network of divisional RC coordinators and unit or site-specific RC contact personnel has also been established Progress will be measured by indicators covering areas such as emission levels, energy use, amount of recycled waste, noise, and training Concrete benefits have already been achieved thanks simply to the start of the systematic measurement and collation of RC-related information

  1. Romantic Relationship Commitment and Its Linkages with Commitment to Parents and Friends during Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Goede, Irene H. A.; Branje, Susan; van Duin, Jet; VanderValk, Inge E.; Meeus, Wim

    2012-01-01

    This five-wave longitudinal study examines linkages between adolescents' perceptions of romantic relationship commitment and the development of adolescents' perceptions of commitment to parents and friends. A total of 218 early-to-middle adolescents (39.0 percent boys) and 185 middle-to-late adolescents (30.8 percent boys) participated.…

  2. Optimization-based sale transactions and hydrothermal scheduling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasannan, B.; Luh, P.B.; Zhang, L.

    1996-01-01

    Selling and purchasing power are important activities for utilities because of potential savings. When a selling utility presents an offer including prices, power levels and durations, a purchasing utility selects power levels and durations within the offered range subject to relevant constraints. The decisionmaking process is complicated because transactions are coupled with system demand and reserve, therefore decisions have to be made in conjunction with the commitment and dispatching of units. Furthermore, transaction decisions have to be made in almost real time in view of the competitiveness of the power market caused by deregulation. In this paper, transactions are analyzed from a selling utility's viewpoint for a system consisting of thermal, hydro and pumped-storage units. To effectively solve the problem, linear sale revenues are approximated by nonlinear functions, and non-profitable options are identified and eliminated from consideration. The multipliers are then updated at the high level by using a modified subgradient method to obtain near optimal solutions quickly. Testing results show that the algorithm produces good sale offers efficiently

  3. Optimizing landslide susceptibility zonation: Effects of DEM spatial resolution and slope unit delineation on logistic regression models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlögel, R.; Marchesini, I.; Alvioli, M.; Reichenbach, P.; Rossi, M.; Malet, J.-P.

    2018-01-01

    We perform landslide susceptibility zonation with slope units using three digital elevation models (DEMs) of varying spatial resolution of the Ubaye Valley (South French Alps). In so doing, we applied a recently developed algorithm automating slope unit delineation, given a number of parameters, in order to optimize simultaneously the partitioning of the terrain and the performance of a logistic regression susceptibility model. The method allowed us to obtain optimal slope units for each available DEM spatial resolution. For each resolution, we studied the susceptibility model performance by analyzing in detail the relevance of the conditioning variables. The analysis is based on landslide morphology data, considering either the whole landslide or only the source area outline as inputs. The procedure allowed us to select the most useful information, in terms of DEM spatial resolution, thematic variables and landslide inventory, in order to obtain the most reliable slope unit-based landslide susceptibility assessment.

  4. Fuzzy Stochastic Unit Commitment Model with Wind Power and Demand Response under Conditional Value-At-Risk Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiafu Yin

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With the increasing penetration of wind power and demand response integrated into the grid, the combined uncertainties from wind power and demand response have been a challenging concern for system operators. It is necessary to develop an approach to accommodate the combined uncertainties in the source side and load side. In this paper, the fuzzy stochastic conditional value-at-risk criterions are proposed as the risk measure of the combination of both wind power uncertainty and demand response uncertainty. To improve the computational tractability without sacrificing the accuracy, the fuzzy stochastic chance-constrained goal programming is proposed to transfer the fuzzy stochastic conditional value-at-risk to a deterministic equivalent. The operational risk of forecast error under fuzzy stochastic conditional value-at-risk assessment is represented by the shortage of reserve resource, which can be further divided into the load-shedding risk and the wind curtailment risk. To identify different priority levels for the different objective functions, the three-stage day-ahead unit commitment model is proposed through preemptive goal programming, in which the reliability requirement has the priority over the economic operation. Finally, a case simulation is performed on the IEEE 39-bus system to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model.

  5. Optimized Matching Lift Unit Transmission Ratio of Engine Driven Ducted Fan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Senlin

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available As a kind of VTOL technology, ducted fan is not only used by many kinds of aircrafts, but also one of the trends of the future aircraft lift system, and attracts more and more attention. For an engine driven ducted fan lift unit, involving the engine and ducted fan matching problem, the form of transmission and transmission ratio are the key design parameters. In order to design and develop a ducted fan aircraft reasonably, a thrust test platform was set up to connect the engine with the ducted fan through the belt driving. The matching relationship between the engine and the transmission system was experimentally studied and the optimal transmission ratio was determined. The results showed that the optimal transmission ratio for the engine 1 is 2.2:1, and for the engine 2, the optimal transmission ratio should be 2.95:1 based on the current ducted and movable blade aerofoil design. At this time, the lift will exceed 130 kg•f, meeting the aircraft's original design requirements.

  6. Evaluation of load flow and grid expansion in a unit-commitment and expansion optimization model SciGRID International Conference on Power Grid Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senkpiel, Charlotte; Biener, Wolfgang; Shammugam, Shivenes; Längle, Sven

    2018-02-01

    Energy system models serve as a basis for long term system planning. Joint optimization of electricity generating technologies, storage systems and the electricity grid leads to lower total system cost compared to an approach in which the grid expansion follows a given technology portfolio and their distribution. Modelers often face the problem of finding a good tradeoff between computational time and the level of detail that can be modeled. This paper analyses the differences between a transport model and a DC load flow model to evaluate the validity of using a simple but faster transport model within the system optimization model in terms of system reliability. The main findings in this paper are that a higher regional resolution of a system leads to better results compared to an approach in which regions are clustered as more overloads can be detected. An aggregation of lines between two model regions compared to a line sharp representation has little influence on grid expansion within a system optimizer. In a DC load flow model overloads can be detected in a line sharp case, which is therefore preferred. Overall the regions that need to reinforce the grid are identified within the system optimizer. Finally the paper recommends the usage of a load-flow model to test the validity of the model results.

  7. Optimal Operation of Energy Storage in Power Transmission and Distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akhavan Hejazi, Seyed Hossein

    uncertainty from various elements, such as solar photovoltaic , electric vehicle chargers, and residential baseloads, in the form of discrete probability functions. In the last part of this thesis we address some other resources and concepts for enhancing the operation of power distribution and transmission systems. In particular, we proposed a new framework to determine the best sites, sizes, and optimal payment incentives under special contracts for committed-type DG projects to offset distribution network investment costs. In this framework, the aim is to allocate DGs such that the profit gained by the distribution company is maximized while each DG unit's individual profit is also taken into account to assure that private DG investment remains economical.

  8. Development of a biorefinery optimized biofuel supply curve for the western United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nathan Parker; Peter Tittmann; Quinn Hart; Richard Nelson; Ken Skog; Anneliese Schmidt; Edward Gray; Bryan Jenkins

    2010-01-01

    A resource assessment and biorefinery siting optimization model was developed and implemented to assess potential biofuel supply across the Western United States from agricultural, forest, urban, and energy crop biomass. Spatial information including feedstock resources, existing and potential refinery locations and a transportation network model is provided to a mixed...

  9. An Optimal Calibration Method for a MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Fang

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available An optimal calibration method for a micro-electro-mechanical inertial measurement unit (MIMU is presented in this paper. The accuracy of the MIMU is highly dependent on calibration to remove the deterministic errors of systematic errors, which also contain random errors. The overlapping Allan variance is applied to characterize the types of random error terms in the measurements. The calibration model includes package misalignment error, sensor-to-sensor misalignment error and bias, and a scale factor is built. The new concept of a calibration method, which includes a calibration scheme and a calibration algorithm, is proposed. The calibration scheme is designed by D-optimal and the calibration algorithm is deduced by a Kalman filter. In addition, the thermal calibration is investigated, as the bias and scale factor varied with temperature. The simulations and real tests verify the effectiveness of the proposed calibration method and show that it is better than the traditional method.

  10. Escalation of Commitment in the Surgical ICU.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braxton, Carla C; Robinson, Celia N; Awad, Samir S

    2017-04-01

    Escalation of commitment is a business term that describes the continued investment of resources into a project even after there is objective evidence of the project's impending failure. Escalation of commitment may be a contributor to high healthcare costs associated with critically ill patients as it has been shown that, despite almost certain futility, most ICU costs are incurred in the last week of life. Our objective was to determine if escalation of commitment occurs in healthcare settings, specifically in the surgical ICU. We hypothesize that factors previously identified in business and organizational psychology literature including self-justification, accountability, sunk costs, and cognitive dissonance result in escalation of commitment behavior in the surgical ICU setting resulting in increased utilization of resources and cost. A descriptive case study that illustrates common ICU narratives in which escalation of commitment can occur. In addition, we describe factors that are thought to contribute to escalation of commitment behaviors. Escalation of commitment behavior was observed with self-justification, accountability, and cognitive dissonance accounting for the majority of the behavior. Unlike in business decisions, sunk costs was not as evident. In addition, modulating factors such as personality, individual experience, culture, and gender were identified as contributors to escalation of commitment. Escalation of commitment occurs in the surgical ICU, resulting in significant expenditure of resources despite a predicted and often known poor outcome. Recognition of this phenomenon may lead to actions aimed at more rational decision making and may contribute to lowering healthcare costs. Investigation of objective measures that can help aid decision making in the surgical ICU is warranted.

  11. Organizational and Client Commitment among Contracted Employees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle-Shapiro, Jacqueline A-M.; Morrow, Paula C.

    2006-01-01

    This study examines affective commitment to employing and client organizations among long-term contracted employees, a new and growing employment classification. Drawing on organizational commitment and social exchange literatures, we propose two categories of antecedents of employee commitment to client organizations. We tested our hypotheses…

  12. Unprecedented climate events: Historical changes, aspirational targets, and national commitments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diffenbaugh, Noah S.; Singh, Deepti; Mankin, Justin S.

    2018-01-01

    The United Nations Paris Agreement creates a specific need to compare consequences of cumulative emissions for pledged national commitments and aspirational targets of 1.5° to 2°C global warming. We find that humans have already increased the probability of historically unprecedented hot, warm, wet, and dry extremes, including over 50 to 90% of North America, Europe, and East Asia. Emissions consistent with national commitments are likely to cause substantial and widespread additional increases, including more than fivefold for warmest night over ~50% of Europe and >25% of East Asia and more than threefold for wettest days over >35% of North America, Europe, and East Asia. In contrast, meeting aspirational targets to keep global warming below 2°C reduces the area experiencing more than threefold increases to 90% of North America, Europe, East Asia, and much of the tropics—still exhibit sizable increases in the probability of record-setting hot, wet, and/or dry events. PMID:29457133

  13. A study on the optimal replacement periods of digital control computer's components of Wolsung nuclear power plant unit 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mok, Jin Il; Seong, Poong Hyun

    1993-01-01

    Due to the failure of the instrument and control devices of nuclear power plants caused by aging, nuclear power plants occasionally trip. Even a trip of a single nuclear power plant (NPP) causes an extravagant economical loss and deteriorates public acceptance of nuclear power plants. Therefore, the replacement of the instrument and control devices with proper consideration of the aging effect is necessary in order to prevent the inadvertent trip. In this paper we investigated the optimal replacement periods of the control computer's components of Wolsung nuclear power plant Unit 1. We first derived mathematical models of optimal replacement periods to the digital control computer's components of Wolsung NPP Unit 1 and calculated the optimal replacement periods analytically. We compared the periods with the replacement periods currently used at Wolsung NPP Unit 1. The periods used at Wolsung is not based on mathematical analysis, but on empirical knowledge. As a consequence, the optimal replacement periods analytically obtained and those used in the field show a little difference. (Author)

  14. Commitment tracking in the licensing renewal process: A perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gurican, Gregory M.; Breslauer, Stephen K.

    1991-01-01

    The NRC's proposed 10 CFR 54 defines 'Current licensing basis' as inclusive of all licensee commitments. During the last five years, the regulatory commitment tracking group (RCTG) has been developing guidance for member utilities to track such commitments. The RCTG guidance for commitment tracking assists utilities in developing a system to store and maintain commitments related to the CLB. But a majority believe it unlikely that any one commitment tracking system will capture all commitments contained in the proposed definition of a 'Current Licencing Basis'. For future renewal applications the NRC proposes that utilities must identify and compile all licensing basis commitments. In addition, utilities 'shall maintain...(them) in an auditable and retrievable form'. Some utilities are already compiling and tracking licensing basis commitments; others are not. (author)

  15. Career commitment and job performance of Jordanian nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrayyan, Majd T; Al-Faouri, Ibrahim

    2008-01-01

    Career commitment and job performance are complex phenomena that have received little attention in nursing research. A survey was used to assess nurses' career commitment and job performance, and the relationship between the two concepts. Predictors of nurses' career commitment and job performance were also studied. A convenience sample of 640 Jordanian registered nurses was recruited from 24 teaching, governmental, and private hospitals. Nurses "agreed" on the majority of statements about career commitment, and they reported performing "well" their jobs. Using total scores, nurses were equal in their career commitment but they were different in their job performance; the highest mean was scored for nurses in private hospitals. Using the individual items of subscales, nurses were willing to be involved, on their own time, in projects that would benefit patient care. The correlation of the total scores of nurses' career commitment and job performance revealed the presence of a significant and positive relationship (r = .457). Nurses' job performance, gender, and marital status were the best predictors of nurses' career commitment: they explained 21.8% of variance of nurses' career commitment. Nurses' career commitment, time commitment, marital status, and years of experience in nursing were the best predictors of nurses' job performance: they explained 25.6% of variance of nurses' job performance. The lowest reported means of nurses' job performance require managerial interventions.

  16. Commitment and Switching Intentions: Customers and Brands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Werneck Rodrigues

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to evaluate the relationship between a customer’s brand switching intentions and his commitment to a brand. Based on a literature review, constructs related to customer brand commitment were identified (affective and continuance commitment, trust, satisfaction, switching costs and alternative attractiveness and their roles in the formation of brand switching intentions hypothesized. Through a cross-sectional survey, a sample of 201 smartphone users was collected to test the proposed relationships. Data analysis was carried out via structural equations modeling, with direct effects of trust, satisfaction, switching costs and alternative attractiveness upon the different kinds of commitment being verified. Furthermore, both types of brand commitment (affective and continuance were found to negatively impact a customer’s intention to switch brands. Regarding enterprise customer strategies, the research findings suggest that, if firms are able to track customer brand commitment, they could use such knowledge to develop better relationship strategies, minimizing customer defection and further developing customer value to the company.

  17. GA/particle swarm intelligence based optimization of two specific varieties of controller devices applied to two-area multi-units automatic generation control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bhatt, Praghnesh [Department of Electrical Engineering, Charotar Institute of Technology, Changa 388 421, Gujarat (India); Roy, Ranjit [Department of Electrical Engineering, S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat (India); Ghoshal, S.P. [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur 713 209, West Bengal (India)

    2010-05-15

    This paper presents the comparative performance analysis of the two specific varieties of controller devices for optimal transient performance of automatic generation control (AGC) of an interconnected two-area power system, having multiple thermal-hydro-diesels mixed generating units. The significant improvement of optimal transient performance is observed with the addition of a thyristor-controlled phase shifter (TCPS) in the tie-line or capacitive energy storage (CES) units fitted in both the areas. Three different optimization algorithms are adopted for the sake of comparison of optimal performances and obtaining the optimal values of the gain settings of the devices independently. Craziness based particle swarm optimization (CRPSO) proves to be moderately fast algorithm and yields true optimal gains and minimum overshoot, minimum undershoot and minimum settling time of the transient response for any system. Comparative studies of TCPS and CES by any algorithm reveals that the CES units fitted in both the areas improve the transient performance to a greater extent following small load disturbance(s) in both the areas. (author)

  18. Optimization of Boiler Control to Improve the Load-following Capability of Power-plant Units

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, J. H.; Mølbak, T.; Andersen, Palle

    The capability to perform fast load changes has been an important issue in the power market, and will become increasingly more so due to the incresing commercialisation of the European power market. An optimizing control system for improving the load-following capability of power-plant units has...... tests on a 265 MW coal-fired power-plant unit reveals that the maximum allowable load gradient that can be imposed on the plant, can be increased from 4 MW/min. to 8 MW/min....

  19. Optimization of Boiler Control to Improve the Load-following Capability of Power-plant Units

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, J. H.; Mølbak, T.; Andersen, Palle

    1998-01-01

    The capability to perform fast load changes has been an important issue in the power market, and will become increasingly more so due to the incresing commercialisation of the European power market. An optimizing control system for improving the load-following capability of power-plant units has...... tests on a 265 MW coal-fired power-plant unit reveals that the maximum allowable load gradient that can be imposed on the plant, can be increased from 4 MW/min. to 8 MW/min....

  20. Commitment Elements Reframed (Antecedents & Consequences) for Organizational Effectiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fornes, Sandra L.; Rocco, Tonette S.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to identify theories of commitment in the workplace to develop a framework that helps the field create higher levels of commitment, productivity, and satisfaction. The paper is organized into five main sections: the method, commitment in the workplace, mapping workplace commitment, and the implications for HRD and…

  1. Organizational Climate and Teacher Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Stephen Michael

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the relationship of school climate and teacher commitment in elementary schools in Alabama. A total of 67 elementary schools were surveyed and 1353 teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The instruments used in this study were the Organizational Climate Index (OCI) and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ).…

  2. Unconditionally secure commitment in position-based quantum cryptography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nadeem, Muhammad

    2014-10-27

    A new commitment scheme based on position-verification and non-local quantum correlations is presented here for the first time in literature. The only credential for unconditional security is the position of committer and non-local correlations generated; neither receiver has any pre-shared data with the committer nor does receiver require trusted and authenticated quantum/classical channels between him and the committer. In the proposed scheme, receiver trusts the commitment only if the scheme itself verifies position of the committer and validates her commitment through non-local quantum correlations in a single round. The position-based commitment scheme bounds committer to reveal valid commitment within allocated time and guarantees that the receiver will not be able to get information about commitment unless committer reveals. The scheme works for the commitment of both bits and qubits and is equally secure against committer/receiver as well as against any third party who may have interests in destroying the commitment. Our proposed scheme is unconditionally secure in general and evades Mayers and Lo-Chau attacks in particular.

  3. Optimization of the coherence function estimation for multi-core central processing unit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheremnov, A. G.; Faerman, V. A.; Avramchuk, V. S.

    2017-02-01

    The paper considers use of parallel processing on multi-core central processing unit for optimization of the coherence function evaluation arising in digital signal processing. Coherence function along with other methods of spectral analysis is commonly used for vibration diagnosis of rotating machinery and its particular nodes. An algorithm is given for the function evaluation for signals represented with digital samples. The algorithm is analyzed for its software implementation and computational problems. Optimization measures are described, including algorithmic, architecture and compiler optimization, their results are assessed for multi-core processors from different manufacturers. Thus, speeding-up of the parallel execution with respect to sequential execution was studied and results are presented for Intel Core i7-4720HQ и AMD FX-9590 processors. The results show comparatively high efficiency of the optimization measures taken. In particular, acceleration indicators and average CPU utilization have been significantly improved, showing high degree of parallelism of the constructed calculating functions. The developed software underwent state registration and will be used as a part of a software and hardware solution for rotating machinery fault diagnosis and pipeline leak location with acoustic correlation method.

  4. Sociosexual orientation, commitment, and infidelity: a mediation analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattingly, Brent A; Clark, Eddie M; Weidler, Daniel J; Bullock, Melinda; Hackathorn, Jana; Blankmeyer, Katheryn

    2011-01-01

    Individuals with an unrestricted sociosexual orientation (SO) are less committed to their romantic relationships and more likely to engage in infidelity. Furthermore, commitment is negatively associated with tendencies to cheat. However, no previous research has examined the possible mediating role of commitment in the relationship between SO and infidelity. The current study examined whether commitment mediated the relationship between SO and willingness to engage in three types of cheating behaviors (Ambiguous, Deceptive, and Explicit). Results suggested that commitment partially mediated the relationship between SO and infidelity, such that unrestricted individuals had lower commitment, which in turn led to a greater likelihood of cheating. Implications of this association and directions for future research are discussed.

  5. Female human resource professionals’ job embeddedness in relation to commitment foci: An exploratory study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingrid L. Potgieter

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: Managers and human resource practitioners who are concerned about managing talent as a critical resource need to recognise how employees’ job embeddedness relates to their commitment foci within the organisation. By understanding this relationship, gaps can be identified and talent can be managed optimally. Research purpose: The purpose of the study was, firstly, to establish whether a significant relationship exists between job embeddedness and a set of commitment foci and, secondly, to identify the variables that contribute the most to the relationship. Motivation for the study: Organisations increasingly devote more attention to initiatives that enhance the commitment and job embeddedness of their employees in order to assist in the design of a sound talent management plan to close the talent gaps. Research approach, design and method: A quantitative approach was used in this study, utilising a cross-sectional survey design to achieve the objective of the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlations and canonical correlation analysis were conducted. The participants were primarily black women at an early stage of their career, who were employed in the human resource management field in a professional capacity. Main findings: The results indicated that job embeddedness significantly and positively accounted for the variance in organisational and occupational commitment foci of the participants. Practical and managerial implications: Human resource practitioners and managers need to consider how the job embeddedness of employees – specifically female employees – affects their commitment foci in developing talent management plans as part of the organisational strategy. Conclusions: The findings of the study provided empirical confirmation of theoretical views on the psychological aspects that keep employees embedded in their jobs and how these aspects relate to their commitment foci.

  6. Optimal Residential Load Scheduling Under Utility and Rooftop Photovoltaic Units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghulam Hafeez

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid advancement in technology, electrical energy consumption is increasing rapidly. Especially, in the residential sector, more than 80% of electrical energy is being consumed because of consumer negligence. This brings the challenging task of maintaining the balance between the demand and supply of electric power. In this paper, we focus on the problem of load balancing via load scheduling under utility and rooftop photovoltaic (PV units to reduce electricity cost and peak to average ratio (PAR in demand-side management. For this purpose, we adopted genetic algorithm (GA, binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO, wind-driven optimization (WDO, and our proposed genetic WDO (GWDO algorithm, which is a hybrid of GA and WDO, to schedule the household load. For energy cost estimation, combined real-time pricing (RTP and inclined block rate (IBR were used. The proposed algorithm shifts load from peak consumption hours to off-peak hours based on combined pricing scheme and generation from rooftop PV units. Simulation results validate our proposed GWDO algorithm in terms of electricity cost and PAR reduction while considering all three scenarios which we have considered in this work: (1 load scheduling without renewable energy sources (RESs and energy storage system (ESS, (2 load scheduling with RESs, and (3 load scheduling with RESs and ESS. Furthermore, our proposed scheme reduced electricity cost and PAR by 22.5% and 29.1% in scenario 1, 47.7% and 30% in scenario 2, and 49.2% and 35.4% in scenario 3, respectively, as compared to unscheduled electricity consumption.

  7. Age-specific radiation dose commitment factors for a one-year chronic intake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoenes, G.R.; Soldat, J.K.

    1977-11-01

    During the licensing process for nuclear facilities, radiation doses and dose commitments must be calculated for people in the environs of a nuclear facility. These radiation doses are determined by examining characteristics of population groups, pathways to people, and radionuclides found in those pathways. The pertinent characteristics, which are important in the sense of contributing a significant portion of the total dose, must then be analyzed in depth. Dose factors are generally available for adults, see Reference 1 for example, however numerous improvements in data on decay schemes and half-lives have been made in recent years. In addition, it is advisable to define parameters for calculation of the radiation dose for ages other than adults since the population surrounding nuclear facilities will be composed of various age groups. Further, since infants, children, and teens may have higher rates of intake per unit body mass, it is conceivable that the maximally exposed individual may not be an adult. Thus, it was necessary to develop new radiation-dose commitment factors for various age groups. Dose commitment factors presented in this report have been calculated for a 50-year time period for four age groups

  8. 75 FR 16824 - Notice of Modifications to U.S. Commitments Under the World Trade Organization Government...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-02

    ....S. Commitments Under the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement To Implement... of the United States of America and the Government of Canada on Government Procurement (Canada-U.S..., steel, and manufactured products in procurement above $7,804,000 for construction services through...

  9. 75 FR 65615 - Conditional Commitment for a Federal Loan Guarantee for Project Financing for Southwest Intertie...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Conditional Commitment for a Federal Loan Guarantee for Project Financing for... based on the analysis in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Project Financing for Southwest... support of debt financing for transmission infrastructure investment projects located in the United States...

  10. Commit* to change? A call to end the publication of the phrase 'commit* suicide'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Emma; Padmanathan, Prianka; Knipe, Duleeka

    2016-12-06

    Background. Countering stigma is a fundamental facet of suicide prevention efforts.  Integral to this is the promotion of accurate and sensitive language.  The phrase 'commit* suicide' has prompted marked opposition primarily due to the connotations of immorality and illegality.  Methods. The study investigated the frequency of the use of the wordstem 'commit', in relation to self-harm and suicidal behaviours, in the three leading suicide-specific academic journals between 2000 and 2015.  Results. One third (34%) of articles published since the year 2000 used the word 'commit*' when describing an act of self-harm or suicide. Over half of these articles (57%) used the phrase on more than one occasion, with 6% using it more than 10 times in the same manuscript. The percentage of papers utilising the word 'commit*' has fluctuated over time, but there is a promising downward trend in the use of this phrase from 33% in 2000 to 13% in 2015 ( p suicide. Whilst we call for collective responsibility amongst academics and clinicians, editors hold a unique position in ensuring that outdated, inaccurate and stigma-laden terms are expunged from the scientific literature.

  11. Organizational culture and organizational commitment: Serbian case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitić Siniša

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the results of the impact of certain dimensions of organizational culture (Future Orientation, Power Distance, Human Orientation and Performance Orientation on organizational commitment in companies in Serbia. Through a survey, responses were obtained from a total of N = 400 middle managers from 129 companies. The results show a statistically significant correlation between the observed dimensions of organizational culture and organizational commitment dimensions. Also, there is a statistically significant predictive effect of certain dimensions of organizational culture on the dimensions of organizational commitment. The biggest influences on the dimensions of organizational commitment have dimensions Future Orientation - FO and Performance Orientation - PO. On the other hand, under the most affected dimension of organizational culture is the dimension of organizational commitment Organizational identification - OCM1.

  12. Optimization models of the supply of power structures’ organizational units with centralized procurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sysoiev Volodymyr

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Management of the state power structures’ organizational units for materiel and technical support requires the use of effective tools for supporting decisions, due to the complexity, interdependence, and dynamism of supply in the market economy. The corporate nature of power structures is of particular interest to centralized procurement management, as it provides significant advantages through coordination, eliminating duplication, and economy of scale. This article presents optimization models of the supply of state power structures’ organizational units with centralized procurement, for different levels of simulated materiel and technical support processes. The models allow us to find the most profitable options for state power structures’ organizational supply units in a centre-oriented logistics system in conditions of the changing needs, volume of allocated funds, and logistics costs that accompany the process of supply, by maximizing the provision level of organizational units with necessary material and technical resources for the entire planning period of supply by minimizing the total logistical costs, taking into account the diverse nature and the different priorities of organizational units and material and technical resources.

  13. Optimal selection of Orbital Replacement Unit on-orbit spares - A Space Station system availability model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwaab, Douglas G.

    1991-01-01

    A mathematical programing model is presented to optimize the selection of Orbital Replacement Unit on-orbit spares for the Space Station. The model maximizes system availability under the constraints of logistics resupply-cargo weight and volume allocations.

  14. Three-dimensional reconstruction of statistically optimal unit cells of polydisperse particulate composites from microtomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, H.; Brandyberry, M.; Tudor, A.; Matous, K.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we present a systematic approach for characterization and reconstruction of statistically optimal representative unit cells of polydisperse particulate composites. Microtomography is used to gather rich three-dimensional data of a packed glass bead system. First-, second-, and third-order probability functions are used to characterize the morphology of the material, and the parallel augmented simulated annealing algorithm is employed for reconstruction of the statistically equivalent medium. Both the fully resolved probability spectrum and the geometrically exact particle shapes are considered in this study, rendering the optimization problem multidimensional with a highly complex objective function. A ten-phase particulate composite composed of packed glass beads in a cylindrical specimen is investigated, and a unit cell is reconstructed on massively parallel computers. Further, rigorous error analysis of the statistical descriptors (probability functions) is presented and a detailed comparison between statistics of the voxel-derived pack and the representative cell is made.

  15. Formalizing the Relationship Between Commitment and Basic Cryptographic Primitives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Sree Vivek

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Signcryption is a cryptographic primitive which offers the functionality of both digital signature and encryption with lower combined computational cost. On the other hand, commitment scheme allows an entity to commit to a value, where the entity reveals the committed value later during a decommit phase. In this paper, we explore the connection between commitment schemes, public key encryption, digital signatures and signcryption. We establish formal relationship between commitment and the other primitives. Our main result is that we show signcryption can be used as a commitment scheme with appropriate security notions. We show that if the underlying signcryption scheme is IND-CCA2 secure, then the hiding property of the commitment scheme is satisfied. Similarly, we show that if the underlying signcryption scheme is unforgeable, then the relaxed biding property of the commitment scheme is satisfied. Moreover, we prove that if the underlying signcryption scheme is NM-CCA2, then the commitment scheme is non-malleable.

  16. 77 FR 47382 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-08

    ... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES [Public Notice 2012-0345] Application for Final Commitment...: Export-Import Bank of the U.S. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This Notice is to inform the public, in accordance with Section 3(c)(10) of the Charter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (``Ex-Im Bank...

  17. 78 FR 67144 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-08

    ... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK [Public Notice 2013-0050] Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100 Million: AP086418XX AGENCY: Export-Import Bank of the United...) of the Charter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (``Ex-Im Bank''), that Ex-Im Bank has...

  18. Mathematical model for optimization of multilayer submerged-arc welding of frame equipment of power units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pankov, V.V.; Chernyshev, G.G.; Kozlov, N.E.

    1987-01-01

    A mathematical model for optimization of multilayer submerged arc welding of frame equipment of power units is constructed. The variation-energy method permits to construct the universal mathematical model for strengthening formation of a single bead; the method is reasonable for simulation of a multilayer welded joint. Minimization of the distance between maximum and minimum layer height of a built-up metal is the necessary condition for qualitative formation of the multilayer joint. One can calculate in real time scale the optimal vector of maximally ten parameters under the multilayer welding condition immediately after change in the grooving width using the developed mathematical model of optimization

  19. Optimal replacement and inspection periods of safety and control boards in Wolsung nuclear power plant unit 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mok, Jin Il

    1993-02-01

    In nuclear power plants, the safety and control systems are important for operating and maintaining safety of nuclear power plants. Due to the failure of the instrument and control devices of nuclear power plants caused by aging, nuclear power plants occasionally trip. Since the start of first commercial operation of Kori nuclear power plant (NPP) unit 1, the trips caused by instrument and control systems account for 28% of total trips of NPPs in Korea. Even a single trip of a nuclear power plant causes an extravagant economical loss and deteriorates public acceptance of nuclear power plants. Therefore, the replacement of the instrument and control devices with proper consideration of the aging effect is necessary in order to prevent the inadvertent trip. In this work we investigated the optimal replacement periods of the digital control computer's (DCC) and the programmable digital comparator's (PDC) electronic circuit boards of Wolsung nuclear power plant Unit 1. We first derived mathematical models which calculate optimal replacement periods for electronic circuit boards of digital control computer (DCC) and for those of the programmable digital comparator (PDC) in Wolsung NPP unit 1. And we analytically obtained the optimal replacement periods of electronic circuit boards by using these models. We compared these periods with the replacement periods currently used at Wolsung NPP Unit. The periods used at Wolsung is not based on mathematical analysis, but on empirical knowledge. As a consequence, the optimal replacement periods analytically obtained for the electronic circuit boards of DCC and those used in the field shown small difference : the optimal replacement periods analytically obtained for the electronic circuit boards of PDC are shorter than those used in the field in general. The engineered safeguards of Wolsung nuclear power plant unit 1 contains redundant systems of 2-out-of-3 logic which are not operating under normal conditions but they are called

  20. The Artistic Commitment of Kenyon Cox: An American Neoclassical Artist

    OpenAIRE

    SMITH, Marc S.

    2016-01-01

    At the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had undergone deep transformations. The second Industrial Revolution had created huge amounts of new wealth and power. This led to an alteration of the urban social fabric and to a repositioning of the country on the international scene.Since the 1870s, the American Renaissance had been a vehicle for the diffusion of new values and new concepts. As a broad neoclassical movement in the arts, it was committed to a rewriting of the country’...

  1. Communication strategies to optimize commitments and investments in iron programming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Marcia

    2002-04-01

    There is consensus that a communications component is crucial to the success of iron supplementation and fortification programs. However, in many instances, we have not applied what we know about successful advocacy and program communications to iron programs. Communication must play a larger and more central role in iron programs to overcome several common shortcomings and allow the use of new commitments and investments in iron programming to optimum advantage. One shortcoming is that iron program communication has been driven primarily by the supply side of the supply-demand continuum. That is, technical information has been given without thought for what people want to know or do. To overcome this, the communication component, which should be responsive to the consumer perspective, must be considered at program inception, not enlisted late in the program cycle as a remedy when interventions fail to reach their targets. Another shortcoming is the lack of program focus on behavior. Because the "technology" of iron, a supplement, or fortified or specific local food must be combined with appropriate consumer behavior, it is not enough to promote the technology. The appropriate use of technology must be ensured, and this requires precise and strategically crafted communications. A small number of projects from countries as diverse as Indonesia, Egypt, Nicaragua and Peru offer examples of successful communications efforts and strategies for adaptation by other countries.

  2. 76 FR 50286 - Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-12

    ...., subsidies, standards and technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, government procurement... Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative. ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing concerning China's compliance with its WTO...

  3. Influence of Teacher Empowerment on Teachers' Organizational Commitment, Professional Commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogler, Ronit; Somech, Anit

    2004-01-01

    The present study focuses on the relationship between teacher empowerment and teachers' organizational commitment, professional commitment (PC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). It examines which subscales of teacher empowerment can best predict these outcomes. The data were collected through a questionnaire returned by a sample of…

  4. Optimal stochastic scheduling of CHP-PEMFC, WT, PV units and hydrogen storage in reconfigurable micro grids considering reliability enhancement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bornapour, Mosayeb; Hooshmand, Rahmat-Allah; Khodabakhshian, Amin; Parastegari, Moein

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Stochastic model is proposed for coordinated scheduling of renewable energy sources. • The effect of combined heat and power is considered. • Uncertainties of wind speed, solar radiation and electricity market price are considered. • Profit maximization, emission and AENS minimization are considered as objective functions. • Modified firefly algorithm is employed to solve the problem. - Abstract: Nowadays the operation of renewable energy sources and combined heat and power (CHP) units is increased in micro grids; therefore, to reach optimal performance, optimal scheduling of these units is required. In this regard, in this paper a micro grid consisting of proton exchange membrane fuel cell-combined heat and power (PEMFC-CHP), wind turbines (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) units, is modeled to determine the optimal scheduling state of these units by considering uncertain behavior of renewable energy resources. For this purpose, a scenario-based method is used for modeling the uncertainties of electrical market price, the wind speed, and solar irradiance. It should be noted that the hydrogen storage strategy is also applied in this study for PEMFC-CHP units. Market profit, total emission production, and average energy not supplied (AENS) are the objective functions considered in this paper simultaneously. Consideration of the above-mentioned objective functions converts the proposed problem to a mixed integer nonlinear programming. To solve this problem, a multi-objective firefly algorithm is used. The uncertainties of parameters convert the mixed integer nonlinear programming problem to a stochastic mixed integer nonlinear programming problem. Moreover, optimal coordinated scheduling of renewable energy resources and thermal units in micro-grids improve the value of the objective functions. Simulation results obtained from a modified 33-bus distributed network as a micro grid illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  5. Nonlinear dynamic simulation of optimal depletion of crude oil in the lower 48 United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruth, M.; Cleveland, C.J.

    1993-01-01

    This study combines the economic theory of optimal resource use with econometric estimates of demand and supply parameters to develop a nonlinear dynamic model of crude oil exploration, development, and production in the lower 48 United States. The model is simulated with the graphical programming language STELLA, for the years 1985 to 2020. The procedure encourages use of economic theory and econometrics in combination with nonlinear dynamic simulation to enhance our understanding of complex interactions present in models of optimal resource use. (author)

  6. Development of a biorefinery optimized biofuel supply curve for the Western United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parker, Nathan; Tittmann, Peter; Hart, Quinn; Nelson, Richard; Skog, Ken; Schmidt, Anneliese; Gray, Edward; Jenkins, Bryan

    2010-01-01

    A resource assessment and biorefinery siting optimization model was developed and implemented to assess potential biofuel supply across the Western United States from agricultural, forest, urban, and energy crop biomass. Spatial information including feedstock resources, existing and potential refinery locations and a transportation network model is provided to a mixed integer-linear optimization model that determines the optimal locations, technology types and sizes of biorefineries to satisfy a maximum profit objective function applied across the biofuel supply and demand chain from site of feedstock production to the product fuel terminal. The resource basis includes preliminary considerations of crop and residue sustainability. Sensitivity analyses explore possible effects of policy and technology changes. At a target market price of 19.6 $ GJ -1 , the model predicts a feasible production level of 610-1098 PJ, enough to supply up to 15% of current regional liquid transportation fuel demand. (author)

  7. Nurses organizational commitment: the discriminating power of gender.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Maria Manuela Frederico

    2007-01-01

    The study of the organizational commitment has risen interest within the organization's researchers, who have been trying to understand the intensity and stability of the individual's dedication to the organization. The interest that this construct has raised is based on the idea of the existence of an association of the organizational commitment with variables considered important to the increase of the organizational effectiveness and productivity. The aim of this article is to describe organizational commitment, in its affective, normative, and continuance dimensions, from nurse practitioners, and to analyze the differences of that commitment regarding gender. Data were collected by questionnaire. The sample is constituted by nurse practitioners who develop their professional activity in 6 Portuguese hospitals. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviation, and independent samples t test. The sample consists of 1201 nurses. The organizational commitment of the studied nurses is, on average, 2.87+/-0.69 (in 5-point scale). When we make an analysis regarding gender, we verify that the organizational commitment is higher in women, being the difference statistically significant (t = -2.07; P commitment in male and female nurses, and it is higher in all dimensions in female nurses; however, the difference is only significant to the organizational and continuance commitment.

  8. Antecedents and Consequences of Affective Commitment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bloemer, J.M.M.; Odekerken-Schröder, G.J.

    2003-01-01

    The primary objective of this study is to assess the impact of three psychological antecedents (position involvement, volitional choice and informational complexity) on affective commitment in a financial service setting. Furthermore, this study addresses the consequences of affective commitment on

  9. Role stress and job satisfaction: their supervisory antecedents and their influence on organizational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Boshoff

    1995-06-01

    Full Text Available Despite the more extensive use of other resources such as modern technology, the optimal utilization of human resources will remain a daunting challenge to all managers during the 1990's and beyond. The absence of em- ployees from work, both temporarily and permanently, however, renders the realization of this objective near impossible. Ensuring that employees want to be and are at work, and stay there, thus become important secondary objectives. Both absenteeism and turnover have been shown to undermine optimal employee performance. Some argue that the willingness to be at work will depend on the degree to which employees identify with the organization's goals, objectives, and values (commitment to the organization. This study investigated this contention, and whether the behaviour and actions of supervisors can influence the organizational commitment of employees. A structural equation modelling approach was used to assess whether job stress and job satisfaction serve as intervening variables in the supervision-organizational commitment relationship. The empirical results revealed that intrinsic job satisfaction exerts a significant positive influence on organizational commitment, and role conflict, a negative influence. A management style which can be described as participative is likely to limit the harmful influence of role conflict while enhancing feelings of intrinsic job satisfaction among employees. Opsomming Nieteenstaande die toenemende gebruik van tegnologie in ondernemings, is die optimale benutting van menslike hulpbronne steeds onmisbaar en van deurslaggewende belang. Die doeltreffende gebruik van menslike hulpbronne kan egter belemmer word deur 'n hoe arbeidsomset en afwesigheidsyfer. Daar word aanvaar dat die bereidwilligheid om by die werk te wees in 'n groot mate beinvloed word deur die mate waartoe werknemers hulleself vereenselwig met die onderneming se waardestelsels en doelstellings. Hierdie verskynsel staan bekend as

  10. Automatic delineation of geomorphological slope units with r.slopeunits v1.0 and their optimization for landslide susceptibility modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Alvioli

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Automatic subdivision of landscapes into terrain units remains a challenge. Slope units are terrain units bounded by drainage and divide lines, but their use in hydrological and geomorphological studies is limited because of the lack of reliable software for their automatic delineation. We present the r.slopeunits software for the automatic delineation of slope units, given a digital elevation model and a few input parameters. We further propose an approach for the selection of optimal parameters controlling the terrain subdivision for landslide susceptibility modeling. We tested the software and the optimization approach in central Italy, where terrain, landslide, and geo-environmental information was available. The software was capable of capturing the variability of the landscape and partitioning the study area into slope units suited for landslide susceptibility modeling and zonation. We expect r.slopeunits to be used in different physiographical settings for the production of reliable and reproducible landslide susceptibility zonations.

  11. 24-Hour Relativistic Bit Commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verbanis, Ephanielle; Martin, Anthony; Houlmann, Raphaël; Boso, Gianluca; Bussières, Félix; Zbinden, Hugo

    2016-09-30

    Bit commitment is a fundamental cryptographic primitive in which a party wishes to commit a secret bit to another party. Perfect security between mistrustful parties is unfortunately impossible to achieve through the asynchronous exchange of classical and quantum messages. Perfect security can nonetheless be achieved if each party splits into two agents exchanging classical information at times and locations satisfying strict relativistic constraints. A relativistic multiround protocol to achieve this was previously proposed and used to implement a 2-millisecond commitment time. Much longer durations were initially thought to be insecure, but recent theoretical progress showed that this is not so. In this Letter, we report on the implementation of a 24-hour bit commitment solely based on timed high-speed optical communication and fast data processing, with all agents located within the city of Geneva. This duration is more than 6 orders of magnitude longer than before, and we argue that it could be extended to one year and allow much more flexibility on the locations of the agents. Our implementation offers a practical and viable solution for use in applications such as digital signatures, secure voting and honesty-preserving auctions.

  12. Sustainability Marketing Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tollin, Karin; Bech Christensen, Lars

    2017-01-01

    sustainability in marketing, processes associated with sustainability marketing commitment, drivers of sustainability marketing at the functional level of marketing, and its organizational context. Using survey data from 269 managers in marketing, covering a broad range of industries in Sweden and Denmark, we...... took a structural modelling approach to examine construct relationships, mediation, and moderation effects. Overall, the findings show that marketing capabilities associated with the innovation of new products, services, and business models constitute a strong driver to leverage sustainability......Corporate sustainability is an important strategy and value orientation for marketing, but scarce research addresses the organizational drivers and barriers to including it in companies’ marketing strategies and processes. The purpose of this study is to determine levels of commitment to corporate...

  13. 7 CFR 3550.70 - Conditional commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., dealer-contractor, or seller must: (1) Have an adequate ownership interest in the property, as defined in... approval of an affirmative marketing plan. (b) Limitations. Conditional commitments for new or... as bad weather, materials shortages, or marketing difficulties. Conditional commitments may be...

  14. Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: Affective Commitment Predictors in a Group of Professionals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferretti, Maria Santa

    Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have long been identified as relevant factors for the well-being of individuals within an organization and the success of the organization itself. As the well-being can be, in principle, considered as emergent from the influence of a number of factors, the main goal of a theory of organizations is to identify these factors and the role they can play. In this regard job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been often identified with structural factors allowing an organization to be considered as a system, or a wholistic entity, rather than a simple aggregate of individuals. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that job satisfaction has a significant, direct effect on determining individuals' attachment to an organization and a significant but indirect effect on their intention to leave a company. However, a complete assessment of the role of these factors in establishing and keeping the emergence of an organization is still lacking, due to shortage of measuring instruments and to practical difficulties in interviewing organization members. The present study aims to give a further contribution to what is currently known about the relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment by using a group of professionals, all at management level. A questionnaire to measure these constructs, following a pilot study, was designed and administered to 1042 participants who were all professionals and had the title of industrial manager or director. The factors relating to job satisfaction and the predictive value of these factors (to predict an employee's emotional involvement with their organization) were simultaneously tested by a confirmative factorial model. The results were generalized with a multi-sample procedure by using models of structural equations. This procedure was used to check whether these factors could be considered or not as causes producing the measured affective commitment. The results

  15. 75 FR 45693 - Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-03

    ..., government procurement, trade-related investment measures, taxes and charges levied on imports and exports... Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative. ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing concerning China's compliance with its WTO...

  16. 77 FR 50206 - Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-20

    ..., government procurement, trade-related investment measures, taxes and charges levied on imports and exports... Concerning China's Compliance With WTO Commitments AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative. ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing concerning China's compliance with its WTO...

  17. The Impact of Trust on Organization Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Kimberly; Stinson, Thomas N. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    As the global economy continues to spawn competitive forces, organizations have sought to become more competitive by cutting costs, eliminating non-value added work, and using more automation. Jobs have become broader and more flexible leading to a leaner workforce with higher-level knowledge and skills and more responsibility for day-to-day decisions. More than ever, organizations depend on employees as the innovators and designers of products and processes and as a source of strategic advantage. Therefore employee commitment among knowledge workers is needed to maintain organizational viability. It would seem that stronger relationships due to greater dependency, involvement, and investment would develop between employers and high-technology workers resulting in more committed employees. However, the opposite has been evidenced as key knowledge workers are changing jobs frequently. This may be due to a perceived lack of commitment by management to its employees. The notion of exchange may dominate the development of organizational commitment whereby an individual decides what to give a firm (commitment, extra effort, better performance, etc.) based on what the firm gives them (e.g., trust and security). It is the relationship between an employee's organizational commitment and the responding level of trust in the organization that is examined in this paper. An experiment is described that will seek to identify this relationship. Preliminary results are expected to show a positive relationship whereby employee commitment is positively correlated with organizational trust.

  18. Carbon choices determine US cities committed to futures below sea level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strauss, Benjamin H; Kulp, Scott; Levermann, Anders

    2015-11-03

    Anthropogenic carbon emissions lock in long-term sea-level rise that greatly exceeds projections for this century, posing profound challenges for coastal development and cultural legacies. Analysis based on previously published relationships linking emissions to warming and warming to rise indicates that unabated carbon emissions up to the year 2100 would commit an eventual global sea-level rise of 4.3-9.9 m. Based on detailed topographic and population data, local high tide lines, and regional long-term sea-level commitment for different carbon emissions and ice sheet stability scenarios, we compute the current population living on endangered land at municipal, state, and national levels within the United States. For unabated climate change, we find that land that is home to more than 20 million people is implicated and is widely distributed among different states and coasts. The total area includes 1,185-1,825 municipalities where land that is home to more than half of the current population would be affected, among them at least 21 cities exceeding 100,000 residents. Under aggressive carbon cuts, more than half of these municipalities would avoid this commitment if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet remains stable. Similarly, more than half of the US population-weighted area under threat could be spared. We provide lists of implicated cities and state populations for different emissions scenarios and with and without a certain collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Although past anthropogenic emissions already have caused sea-level commitment that will force coastal cities to adapt, future emissions will determine which areas we can continue to occupy or may have to abandon.

  19. Optimal coordinated scheduling of combined heat and power fuel cell, wind, and photovoltaic units in micro grids considering uncertainties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bornapour, Mosayeb; Hooshmand, Rahmat-Allah; Khodabakhshian, Amin; Parastegari, Moein

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, a stochastic model is proposed for coordinated scheduling of combined heat and power units in micro grid considering wind turbine and photovoltaic units. Uncertainties of electrical market price; the speed of wind and solar radiation are considered using a scenario-based method. In the method, scenarios are generated using roulette wheel mechanism based on probability distribution functions of input random variables. Using this method, the probabilistic specifics of the problem are distributed and the problem is converted to a deterministic one. The type of the objective function, coordinated scheduling of combined heat and power, wind turbine, and photovoltaic units change this problem to a mixed integer nonlinear one. Therefore to solve this problem modified particle swarm optimization algorithm is employed. The mentioned uncertainties lead to an increase in profit. Moreover, the optimal coordinated scheduling of renewable energy resources and thermal units in micro grids increase the total profit. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, its performance is executed on modified 33 bus distributed system as a micro grid. - Highlights: • Stochastic model is proposed for coordinated scheduling of renewable energy sources. • The effect of combined heat and power is considered. • Maximizing profits of micro grid is considered as objective function. • Considering the uncertainties of problem lead to profit increasing. • Optimal scheduling of renewable energy sources and thermal units increases profit.

  20. State commitment to public participation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baranski, S.C.; Serie, P.J.

    1989-01-01

    This paper discusses how New York's approach to developing a new low-level radioactive waste disposal facility demonstrates a commitment to responsibility for waste generated within its borders. There is a strong, legislated commitment to meeting federal milestones and starting from scratch to select a suitable site and disposal method. Equally strong is the state's commitment to meaningful public participation. A statewide program is underway, including public information and education and interactive techniques. The public participation program is fully integrated with the technical and policy activities of the New York State Low-Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission at all levels. The program is designed to progressively tailor techniques and coverage to the steps in site and method selection, and will focus most intensively on the communities where four sites are selected for full characterization

  1. The Influence of Organizational Commitment, Job Commitment and Job Satisfaction on Professionalism Perceived by Radiotechnologists Working in the Department of Radiation Oncology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gim, Yang Soo; Lee, Sun Young; Lee, Joon Seong; Gwak, Geun Tak; Park, Ju Gyeong; Lee, Seung Hoon; Hwang, Ho In; Cha, Seok Yong [Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Chunbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-09-15

    The study is to check the specialty of radiotherapists working in the department of radiation oncology and find job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job commitment having an effect on professional parts. After making analysis of the mutual relation, it is to provide radiotechnologists with making progress in the future. From March 2 to March 30, we had carried out a survey with email. It is possible to have 272 questionnaires answered in the survey. We make use of SPSS 13.0 for Windows to analyze the data collected for study. Frequency and a percentage are meant to show general characteristics, and t-test and ANOVA to do the difference between general properties and professionalism. Pearson's correlation coefficient also is meant to do the correlation of professionalism, organizational job commitment and job satisfaction, and multiple regression analysis to do the factor for a relevant variable to affect professionalism. There are subdivisions in the professionalism informing us of the self-regulation 17.74{+-}2.32/3.55{+-}46, a sense of calling 17.58{+-}2.63/3.52{+-}53, reference of the professional 17.14{+-}2.39/3.43{+-}48, service to the public 15.97{+-}2.48/3.19{+-}50, and autonomy 15.68{+-}2.28/3.14{+-}46. Grand mean turns out to be 83.89{+-}7.63(Summation of items)/ 3.37{+-}0.49(Numbers of items). When it comes to a statistical relation between general characteristics and professionalism, the statistics have it that these come within age (P<.001), period of employment (P<.001), education status (P<.05), a monthly income (P<.001), radiotherapists who get a special license (P<.001), the position (P<.001), and an opportunity for developing (P<.001). As a result of organizational commitment, job commitment, and job satisfaction, grand mean in organizational commitment proves to be 81.10{+-}8.15/3.34{+-}34. There are subvisions showing affective commitment 28.64{+-}4.61/3.58, continuance commitment 27.54{+-}4.22/3.44{+-}53, and normative commitment

  2. A study on relationship between social entrepreneurship and organizational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yadollah Hemmati

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available During the past few years, organizational commitment has been a major concern in different types of business activities including banking industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the relationship between social entrepreneurship and organizational commitment. The proposed study of this paper adapts a standard questionnaire developed by Meyer and Allen [Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991. A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human resource management review, 1(1, 61-89]. Cronbach alpha has been calculated for affective commitment, employee engagement and normative commitment as 0.77, 0.79 and 0.61, respectively. The results of survey indicate that affective commitment, employee engagement and normative commitment have positively influenced organizational commitment, significantly. In addition, Freedman test has indicated that normative commitment is number one priority with mean rank of 2.85 followed by affective commitment with mean rank of 2.47 and employee engagement with the mean rank of 2.26.

  3. Efficiency-optimized low-cost TDPAC spectrometer using a versatile routing/coincidence unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renteria, M.; Bibiloni, A. G.; Darriba, G. N.; Errico, L. A.; Munoz, E. L.; Richard, D.; Runco, J.

    2008-01-01

    A highly efficient, reliable, and low-cost γ-γ TDPAC spectrometer, PACAr, optimized for 181 Hf-implanted low-activity samples, is presented. A versatile EPROM-based routing/coincidence unit was developed and implemented to be use with the memory-card-based multichannel analyzer hosted in a personal computer. The excellent energy resolution and very good overall resolution and efficiency of PACAr are analyzed and compare with advanced and already tested fast-fast and slow-fast PAC spectrometers.

  4. Efficiency-optimized low-cost TDPAC spectrometer using a versatile routing/coincidence unit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Renteria, M., E-mail: renteria@fisica.unlp.edu.ar; Bibiloni, A. G.; Darriba, G. N.; Errico, L. A.; Munoz, E. L.; Richard, D.; Runco, J. [Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Departamento de Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas (Argentina)

    2008-01-15

    A highly efficient, reliable, and low-cost {gamma}-{gamma} TDPAC spectrometer, PACAr, optimized for {sup 181}Hf-implanted low-activity samples, is presented. A versatile EPROM-based routing/coincidence unit was developed and implemented to be use with the memory-card-based multichannel analyzer hosted in a personal computer. The excellent energy resolution and very good overall resolution and efficiency of PACAr are analyzed and compare with advanced and already tested fast-fast and slow-fast PAC spectrometers.

  5. 78 FR 64385 - United Nations Day, 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-28

    ... A Proclamation In 1945, after two world wars that showed the horrific lethality of modern conflict.... We celebrate the organization's challenging and often unheralded work of forging a world in which... children and grandchildren from the ravages of war, the members of the United Nations committed ``to unite...

  6. The dimensionality of professional commitment

    OpenAIRE

    Jeffrey J. Bagraim

    2003-01-01

    This paper examines the dimensionality of professional commitment amongst a sample of 240 South African actuaries. Data were obtained, via a mailed questionnaire, from members of the South African Actuarial Society employed in the financial services industry. Statistical analysis conducted on the data showed that the 3-component model first proposed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) is appropriate for understanding professional commitment amongst South African professionals. The analysis also ...

  7. Alcohol myopia and goal commitment

    OpenAIRE

    Sevincer, A. Timur; Oettingen, Gabriele

    2014-01-01

    According to alcohol myopia theory, acute alcohol consumption leads people to disproportionally focus on the salient rather than the peripheral aspects of a situation. We summarize various studies exploring how myopic processes resulting from acute alcohol intake affect goal commitment. After consuming alcohol student participants felt strongly committed to an important personal goal even though they had low expectations of successfully attaining the goal. However, once intoxicated participan...

  8. The Behavioral Expression of Organizational Commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall, Donna M.; And Others

    1990-01-01

    Explored within empirical study context complexity of organizational commitment construct and respondent-generated behavioral manifestations of job attitude among plant workers (N=156). Found each commitment dimension related differently to work outcomes and that none of the dimensions was able to predict absenteeism or tardiness. (Author/CM)

  9. Meaningful work, work engagement and organisational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madelyn Geldenhuys

    2014-03-01

    Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships amongst psychological meaningfulness, work engagement and organisational commitment and to test for a possible mediation effect of work engagement on the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and organisational commitment. Motivation for the study: Managers have to rethink ways of improving productivity and performance at work, due to the diverse, and in some instances escalating, needs of employees (e.g. financial support to uphold their interest in and enjoyment of working. Research approach, design and method: A quantitative approach was employed to gather the data for the study, utilising a cross-sectional survey design. The sample (n = 415 consisted of working employees from various companies and positions in Gauteng, South Africa. Main findings: The results confirmed a positive relationship between psychological meaningfulness, work engagement and organisational commitment. Further, psychological meaningfulness predicts work engagement, whilst psychological meaningfulness and work engagement predict organisational commitment. Practical/managerial implications: Employers identifying their employees’ commitment patterns and mapping out strategies for enhancing those that are relevant to organisational goals will yield positive work outcomes (e.g. employees who are creative, seek growth or challenges for themselves. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the literature through highlighting the impact that meaningful work has on sustaining employee commitment to the organisation.

  10. Philanthropic Commitment Traits for Waqf in Higher Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siti Khadijah, A. M.

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Philanthropic commitment in the form of waqf is important particularly among younger working adults in ensuring sustainable flow of funds for charitable purposes. One of the vital usages of such funds is funding for higher education. A question is raised on the commitment of younger adults in such giving. This study examines waqf commitment traits among waqif (waqf contributors for higher education funding. The specific objective of this study is to measure the factors that influence the waqif to contribute their property or income into waqf for higher education fund. For the purpose of this study, 400 questionnaires have been distributed to working young adult respondents in the Klang Valley area. Waqf commitment attributes comprising of Religiosity, Trust, Altruism, Personal Characteristics, SelfImage, Psychological Benefits, Social Norms and Personal Satisfaction are examined. The findings reveal that Religiosity, Altruism, Personal Satisfaction and Commitment are significant attributes in explaining waqf commitment. However, Trust and Social Norm are not significant.

  11. Commitment, enjoyment and motivation in young soccer competitive players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Mas, Alexandre; Palou, Pere; Gili, Margarita; Ponseti, Xavier; Borras, Pere A; Vidal, Josep; Cruz, Jaume; Torregrosa, Miquel; Villamarín, Francisco; Sousa, Catarina

    2010-11-01

    Building upon Deci's and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.

  12. Job insecurity, organisational commitment and work engagement ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    understanding the concept of job insecurity as represented by two core ... commitment as a unidimensional construct based on employees' emotional .... outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, organisational commitment, motivation.

  13. The interplay between organizational commitment and personal values

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alicia Omar

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The study of employee’s commitment is capturing the attention of managers and researchers. Besides being one of the most effective alternatives for achieving the organizational goals, the importance of organizational commitment (OC lies in its ability to influence the efficiency and the wellbeing of members of an organization. The article examines the relationships between personal values and components of OC. Participants were selected from twelve Argentinean organizations. Subjects completed a questionnaire of personal data, and two scales to measure individualism- collectivism (vertical and horizontal, and organizational commitment, respectively. All subjects were classified into eight subgroups, after dichotomizing by median each dimensions of values (HI: horizontal individualism; VI: vertical individualism; HC: horizontal collectivism, and HV: vertical collectivism. The four most representative subgroups (N= 162 were selected, that is, who exhibited high scores in one of the four dimensions and lows in the remaining three. In such subgroups were calculated analysis of variance, post-hoc comparison tests, and correlation analysis. The more significant findings can be summarized in the following items: a collectivists (HC or VC show a higher level of affective commitment, while individualists relate to their companies through normative or continuance commitment; b women and senior employees exhibit greater levels of affective and normative commitment; c managers, employees with higher academic degree, and employees of large companies, feel attached to their organizations through normative commitment; d continuance commitment seems to work differently than affective and normative commitment because it has no associations with any of the socio-demographic variables studied. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research. 

  14. Non-interactive and Reusable Non-malleable Commitment Schemes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; Groth, Jens

    2003-01-01

    version based on the strong RSA assumption. For UC commitments, we show that existence of a UC commitment scheme in the CRS model (interactive or not) implies key exchange and - for a uniform reference string - even implies oblivious transfer. This indicates that UC commitment is a strictly stronger...... primitive than NM. Finally, we show that our strong RSA based construction can be used to improve the most efficient known UC commitment scheme so it can work with a CRS of size independent of the number of players, without loss of efficiency....

  15. Abnormal brain structure in youth who commit homicide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cope, L.M.; Ermer, E.; Gaudet, L.M.; Steele, V.R.; Eckhardt, A.L.; Arbabshirani, M.R.; Caldwell, M.F.; Calhoun, V.D.; Kiehl, K.A.

    2014-01-01

    Background Violence that leads to homicide results in an extreme financial and emotional burden on society. Juveniles who commit homicide are often tried in adult court and typically spend the majority of their lives in prison. Despite the enormous costs associated with homicidal behavior, there have been no serious neuroscientific studies examining youth who commit homicide. Methods Here we use neuroimaging and voxel-based morphometry to examine brain gray matter in incarcerated male adolescents who committed homicide (n = 20) compared with incarcerated offenders who did not commit homicide (n = 135). Two additional control groups were used to understand further the nature of gray matter differences: incarcerated offenders who did not commit homicide matched on important demographic and psychometric variables (n = 20) and healthy participants from the community (n = 21). Results Compared with incarcerated adolescents who did not commit homicide (n = 135), incarcerated homicide offenders had reduced gray matter volumes in the medial and lateral temporal lobes, including the hippocampus and posterior insula. Feature selection and support vector machine learning classified offenders into the homicide and non-homicide groups with 81% overall accuracy. Conclusions Our results indicate that brain structural differences may help identify those at the highest risk for committing serious violent offenses. PMID:24936430

  16. Commitment to personal values and guilt feelings in dementia caregivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallego-Alberto, Laura; Losada, Andrés; Márquez-González, María; Romero-Moreno, Rosa; Vara, Carlos

    2017-01-01

    Caregivers' commitment to personal values is linked to caregivers' well-being, although the effects of personal values on caregivers' guilt have not been explored to date. The goal of this study is to analyze the relationship between caregivers´ commitment to personal values and guilt feelings. Participants were 179 dementia family caregivers. Face-to-face interviews were carried out to describe sociodemographic variables and assess stressors, caregivers' commitment to personal values and guilt feelings. Commitment to values was conceptualized as two factors (commitment to own values and commitment to family values) and 12 specific individual values (e.g. education, family or caregiving role). Hierarchical regressions were performed controlling for sociodemographic variables and stressors, and introducing the two commitment factors (in a first regression) or the commitment to individual/specific values (in a second regression) as predictors of guilt. In terms of the commitment to values factors, the analyzed regression model explained 21% of the variance of guilt feelings. Only the factor commitment to family values contributed significantly to the model, explaining 7% of variance. With regard to the regression analyzing the contribution of specific values to caregivers' guilt, commitment to the caregiving role and with leisure contributed negatively and significantly to the explanation of caregivers' guilt. Commitment to work contributed positively to guilt feelings. The full model explained 30% of guilt feelings variance. The specific values explained 16% of the variance. Our findings suggest that commitment to personal values is a relevant variable to understand guilt feelings in caregivers.

  17. How Providing Mentoring Relates to Career Success and Organizational Commitment: A Study in the General Managerial Population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozionelos, Nikos; Bozionelos, Giorgos; Kostopoulos, Konstantinos; Polychroniou, Panagiotis

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship of mentoring provided with career success and organizational commitment in the general managerial population. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were 194 native British who were employed in a variety of jobs, professions and industries in the United Kingdom. Findings: Mentoring…

  18. Optimal design of compact organic Rankine cycle units for domestic solar applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barbazza, Luca; Pierobon, Leonardo; Mirandola, Alberto

    2014-01-01

    criteria, i.e., compactness, high performance and safe operation, are targeted by adopting a multi-objective optimization approach modeled with the genetic algorithm. Design-point thermodynamic variables, e.g., evaporating pressure, the working fluid, minimum allowable temperature differences......Organic Rankine cycle turbogenerators are a promising technology to transform the solar radiation harvested by solar collectors into electric power. The present work aims at sizing a small-scale organic Rankine cycle unit by tailoring its design for domestic solar applications. Stringent design...

  19. Technical executive’s organizational commitment at Malaysian Oil & Gas Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Firend, A.R; Binti Sofyan, P.

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates the levels of organizational commitment among technical executive, identifies factors that influence organizational commitment in the Malaysian oil and gas industry, and examines the impact of organizational commitment on organizational performance. This research was conducted at Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE). The framework adopted the three component-conceptualization of organizational commitment. Among the findings is that organizational commitment ten...

  20. Survey of generational aspects of nurse faculty organizational commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carver, Lara; Candela, Lori; Gutierrez, Antonio P

    2011-01-01

    To describe organizational commitment and generational differences in nursing faculty. The study provides new knowledge on generational differences in organizational commitment among nursing faculty with regard to work values, perceived organizational support, perceived person-organization fit, developmental experiences, and global job satisfaction. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used with random stratified sampling procedures. Surveys measuring organizational commitment and related constructs were sent electronically to 4886 faculty, yielding a 30% response rate. Significant differences were noted between generations of faculty regarding organizational commitment and related measures. Include specific strategies for fostering commitment from each generation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT ANDORGANIZATIONAL SILENCE: A CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fitnat Nazlı Sayğan

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the affective commitment that is oneof the components oforganizational commitment put forth by Allen and Meyer (Allen, Meyer 1996will be differentiated from the other commitment components. The importance ofcreating an emotional commitment to organizations will be examined and theorganizational factors needed to form organizational commitment will beinvestigated. Also, organizational silence is a situation that the company avoided.In the study, the reasons and the drawbacks of silence are focused on and thefactors that cause employees to remain silent are discussed.The aim of this study is intended to manifest the relationship of ‘organizationalsilence' with affective commitment’ which is one ofthe components of‘organizational commitment’ on the basis of literature. In this study, a negativecorrelation between affective commitment and organizational silence is suggested

  2. Making Commitments to Racial Justice Actionable

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diab, Rasha; Ferrel, Thomas; Godbee, Beth; Simpkins, Neil

    2013-01-01

    In this article, we articulate a framework for making our commitments to racial justice actionable, a framework that moves from narrating confessional accounts to articulating our commitments and then acting on them through both self-work and work-with-others, a dialectic possibility we identify and explore. We model a method for moving beyond…

  3. Unit Stratified Sampling as a Tool for Approximation of Stochastic Optimization Problems

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šmíd, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 19, č. 30 (2012), s. 153-169 ISSN 1212-074X R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP402/11/0150; GA ČR GAP402/10/0956; GA ČR GA402/09/0965 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Stochastic programming * approximation * stratified sampling Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2013/E/smid-unit stratified sampling as a tool for approximation of stochastic optimization problems.pdf

  4. Does smoking cannabis affect work commitment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyggen, Christer

    2012-07-01

      This study aimed to examine the associations between cannabis use and work commitment.   We used a 25-year panel survey initiated in 1985 with follow-ups in 1987, 1989, 1993, 2003 and 2010. Registered data from a range of public registers were matched with individual responses for the entire period.   The panel survey was a nation-wide study set in Norway.   A total of 1997 respondents born between 1965 and 1968 were included in the panel.   Work involvement scale (WIS) was used to assess work commitment. Involvement with cannabis was based on self-reported smoking of cannabis within the last 12 months and exposure to cannabis through friends. This information was categorized into 'abstaining', 'exposed', 'experimented' and 'involved'. Control measures included socio-economic background, mental health (HSCL-10), education, work satisfaction, unemployment, receipt of social assistance, consumption of alcohol, alcohol-related problems and use of other illicit drugs.   The level of work commitment was associated with involvement with cannabis. In 1993, when the respondents were in their mid-20s, those who were involved or had experimented with cannabis displayed lower levels of work commitment than those who were abstaining or merely exposed to cannabis through friends (P labour market experiences, mental health and family characteristics (P Norway the use of cannabis is associated with a reduction in work commitment among adults. © 2012 The Author, Addiction © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  5. PARTICULARITIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN THE SPECIFIC CULTURE OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oprea-Valentin BUȘU

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Organizational culture and organizational commitment represent two of the most important concepts to be considered în an well-functioning organization, having a direct influence over employees` lives in that company. Organizational culture, a scientific concept appeared in the field literature at the end of 1980`, in an increasingly unstable business environment, could be defined as a defined series of collective attitudes, ideas, beliefs, symbols and meanings, values and ideologies, rules and norms, feelings or behaviors, as a model and structure of stable practices shared by all the members of that organization and which, by being implemented, come to merge with the structure of organization and its control systems, with the purpose of producing behavioral norms, this way keeping  the unit of organization. In the same time, organizational commitment represents the feeling of membership, of belonging felt by the employee toward the company he/she works in, reflecting the degree to which those characteristics and organizational perspectives are internalized and adopted in his behavior by the subject. Commitment could be also seen as a model of thinking of an employee taking into consideration the level to which personal values and goals are congruent with those of the company. On the other hand, behavioral commitment refers to the process of one employee becoming committed or even stacked into the organization and the way he manage the situation. Our motivation for choosing the theme of this research lays on one hand in the desire to understand the construct of organizational culture and the organizational development, field which I`m interested in,  and on the other hand because the lack of similar research regarding the Romanian companies. The research We have made revealed that there are many studies linking the two concepts with the organizational development in companies from other countries, but only two studies realized in our country

  6. Stochastic optimal generation bid to electricity markets with emissions risk constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heredia, F-Javier; Cifuentes-Rubiano, Julián; Corchero, Cristina

    2018-02-01

    There are many factors that influence the day-ahead market bidding strategies of a generation company (GenCo) within the framework of the current energy market. Environmental policy issues are giving rise to emission limitation that are becoming more and more important for fossil-fueled power plants, and these must be considered in their management. This work investigates the influence of the emissions reduction plan and the incorporation of the medium-term derivative commitments in the optimal generation bidding strategy for the day-ahead electricity market. Two different technologies have been considered: the high-emission technology of thermal coal units and the low-emission technology of combined cycle gas turbine units. The Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) and the Spanish National Emissions Reduction Plan (NERP) defines the environmental framework for dealing with the day-ahead market bidding strategies. To address emission limitations, we have extended some of the standard risk management methodologies developed for financial markets, such as Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR), thus leading to the new concept of Conditional Emission at Risk (CEaR). This study offers electricity generation utilities a mathematical model for determining the unit's optimal generation bid to the wholesale electricity market such that it maximizes the long-term profits of the utility while allowing it to abide by the Iberian Electricity Market rules as well as the environmental restrictions set by the Spanish National Emissions Reduction Plan. We analyze the economic implications for a GenCo that includes the environmental restrictions of this National Plan as well as the NERP's effects on the expected profits and the optimal generation bid. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael John

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we evaluate the proposal that a central function of commitments within joint action is to reduce various kinds of uncertainty, and that this accounts for the prevalence of commitments in joint action. While this idea is prima facie attractive, we argue that it faces two serious problems. First, commitments can only reduce uncertainty if they are credible, and accounting for the credibility of commitments proves not to be straightforward. Second, there are many other ways in which uncertainty is commonly reduced within joint actions, which raises the possibility that commitments may be superfluous. Nevertheless, we argue that the existence of these alternative uncertainty reduction processes does not make commitments superfluous after all but, rather, helps to explain how commitments may contribute in various ways to uncertainty reduction.

  8. Employee commitment and performance of manufacturing firms ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    445) between job satisfaction and employee organizational commitment. Multiple regression revealed that pay and job promotion are the important elements that influence employee commitment. It is recommended that manufacturing organizations should emphasize pay and job promotion to enhance higher employee ...

  9. Optimal power system generation scheduling by multi-objective genetic algorithms with preferences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zio, E.; Baraldi, P.; Pedroni, N.

    2009-01-01

    Power system generation scheduling is an important issue both from the economical and environmental safety viewpoints. The scheduling involves decisions with regards to the units start-up and shut-down times and to the assignment of the load demands to the committed generating units for minimizing the system operation costs and the emission of atmospheric pollutants. As many other real-world engineering problems, power system generation scheduling involves multiple, conflicting optimization criteria for which there exists no single best solution with respect to all criteria considered. Multi-objective optimization algorithms, based on the principle of Pareto optimality, can then be designed to search for the set of nondominated scheduling solutions from which the decision-maker (DM) must a posteriori choose the preferred alternative. On the other hand, often, information is available a priori regarding the preference values of the DM with respect to the objectives. When possible, it is important to exploit this information during the search so as to focus it on the region of preference of the Pareto-optimal set. In this paper, ways are explored to use this preference information for driving a multi-objective genetic algorithm towards the preferential region of the Pareto-optimal front. Two methods are considered: the first one extends the concept of Pareto dominance by biasing the chromosome replacement step of the algorithm by means of numerical weights that express the DM' s preferences; the second one drives the search algorithm by changing the shape of the dominance region according to linear trade-off functions specified by the DM. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches is first compared on a case study of literature. Then, a nonlinear, constrained, two-objective power generation scheduling problem is effectively tackled

  10. 28 CFR 522.14 - Inmates serving civil contempt commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Inmates serving civil contempt... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER ADMISSION TO INSTITUTION Civil Contempt of Court Commitments § 522.14 Inmates serving civil contempt commitments. We treat inmates serving civil contempt commitments in...

  11. Concept analysis of professional commitment in Iranian nurses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jafaragaee, Fateme; Parvizy, Soroor; Mehrdad, Neda; Rafii, Forough

    2012-01-01

    Aim: Professional commitment has been widely discussed during the last decade. There is no comprehensive definition about “professional commitment in Iranian nurses.” Hence, this study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the concept of professional commitment in Iranian nurses. Materials and Methods: Hybrid model was used in three phases. Firstly, in the theoretical phase, data were retrieved from the CINHAl, MEDLINE, PubMed, OVID, Google scholar, and SID databases. The literature search used the keywords “professional commitment” and “nursing.” The final sample included 27 papers published in English between 2001 and 2011.Secondly, in the fieldwork phase, deep interviews with five clinical nurses were carried out, and thirdly, in the final analytical phase, the obtained data from theoretical and fieldwork phases were combined and a comprehensive analysis was conducted. Results: Loyalty and tendency to remain in the profession and responsibility to the professional issues were extracted in theoretical phase. Commitment to promote caring abilities, satisfying of being a nurse, and belonging to the nursing profession were obtained in fieldwork phase. Finally, two main themes including “commitment to offering the best nursing care” and “commitment to promotion of the nursing profession” were extracted. Conclusion: Nursing is a humanistic profession; it has some particular characteristics due to the profession’s nature. In this paper, a definition composed of two main dimensions of professional commitment in nursing has been introduced. PMID:23922592

  12. The organizational commitment of emergency physicians in Spanish public hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noval de la Torre, A; Bulchand Gidumal, J; Melián González, S

    2016-12-30

    Background. There are not too many studies that deal with the organizational commitment of emergency physicians. This commitment has been shown to impact organizational performance. The aim of this paper is to analyse the degree of commitment of the emergency physicians in Spanish public hospitals and the factors that may influence it. Method. Online survey using SurveyMonkey to emergency physicians in Spanish public hospitals. Results. Two hundred and five questionnaires were received, 162 from physicians and 43 from heads of the emergency service. Results show an intermediate level of commitment, with affective commitment showing the lowest level and continuance commitment showing the highest level. The capabilities of the physician have an influence on their affective commitment; specific training in emergency procedures and seniority has an influence on their continuance commitment; and the opinion they hold about the organization of their service influences affective commitment. Conclusions. Emergency physicians show an average involvement in the hospital in which they work (average 3.8 on a range of 1 to 5), feel an average affection for it (3.4), and have a high intention to keep working there (4.0). The resources the hospital has due to its level do not have an influence on this commitment, while the training and perceptions of the service do have an influence.

  13. Sport commitment in adolescent soccer players

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noelia Belando Pedreño

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to contribute to the postulates of the self-determination theory, the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by Vallerand, and social goals. A structural regression model was estimated to analyze the relations between social goals (responsibility and relationships, praise for autonomous behavior, satisfaction of the basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation in commitment to sport. A sample of 264 young Spanish soccer players aged between 14 and 16 (M =14.74, SD =.77 participated in the study. Structural Equation Modeling results showed that the social responsibility goal, the social relationship goal and praise for autonomous behavior predicted perceived competence. Furthermore, the relationship goal also predicted the need for relatedness. Satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence and relatedness predicted intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation positively predicted future commitment to sport. These results highlighted the importance of social goals, praise for autonomous behavior and psychological mediators in encouraging greater commitment in young soccer players. Future research should focus on the coach’s role in generating greater commitment to sport through the development of intervention methodologies based on social goals.

  14. Commitment to Cooperation and Peer Punishment: Its Evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatsuya Sasaki

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Theoretical and empirical studies have generally weighed the effect of peer punishment and pool punishment for sanctioning free riders separately. However, these sanctioning mechanisms often pose a puzzling tradeoff between efficiency and stability in detecting and punishing free riders. Here, we combine the key aspects of these qualitatively different mechanisms in terms of evolutionary game theory. Based on the dilemmatic donation game, we introduce a strategy of commitment to both cooperation and peer punishment. To make the commitment credible, we assume that those willing to commit have to make a certain deposit. The deposit will be refunded as long as the committers faithfully cooperate in the donation game and punish free riders and non-committers. It turns out that the deposit-based commitment offers both the efficiency of peer punishment and the stability of pool punishment and that the replicator dynamics lead to transitions of different systems: pool punishment to commitment to peer punishment.

  15. Nurses' perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borhani, Fariba; Jalali, Tayebe; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Haghdoost, Aliakbar

    2014-05-01

    The high turnover of nurses has become a universal issue. The manner in which nurses view their organization's ethical climate has direct bearing on their organizational commitment. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between nurses' perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment in teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. A descriptive analytical design was used in this study. The sample consisted of 275 nurses working in four teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. The instruments used in this study included a demographic questionnaire, Ethical Climate Questionnaire, and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using Pearson's correlation, t-test, and descriptive statistic through Statistical Package for Social Science, version 16. The result of this research indicated a positive correlation among professionalism, caring, rules, independence climate, and organizational commitment. Therefore, findings of this study are a guideline for researchers and managers alike who endeavor to improve organizational commitment.

  16. [Psychological commitment: adaptive functions, paradoxes, modalities and components].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brault-Labbé, Anne

    2017-12-01

    The process of psychological commitment, its adaptive functions and some of the difficulties that go along with it are specific. A description of the multimodal model of commitment provides an illustration of how motivational, affective, cognitive and behavioural mechanisms can be combined. These lead to different ways of entering into the commitment, with differing consequences on how the individual functions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  17. Improving urban environment through public commitment toward the implementation of clean and healthy living behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartini, Nurul; Ariana, Atika Dian; Dewi, Triana Kesuma; Kurniawan, Afif

    2017-01-01

    Some parts of northern Surabaya are slum areas with dense populations, and the majority of the inhabitants are from low-income families. The condition of these areas is seemingly different from the fact that Surabaya city has won awards for its cleanliness, healthy environment preservation, and maintenance. This study aimed at turning the researched site into a clean and healthy environment. The research was conducted using a quasi-experiment technique with a non-randomized design and pretest-posttest procedures. The research subjects were 121 inhabitants who actively participated in the public commitment and psychoeducation program initiated by the researchers to learn and practice clean and healthy living behaviors. The statistical data showed that there was a substantial increase in the aspects of public commitment ( t -value = 4.008, p = 0.001) and psychoeducation ( t -value = 4.038, p = 0.001) to begin and maintain a clean and healthy living behaviors. A public commitment in the form of a collective declaration to keep learning and practicing a clean and healthy living behaviors were achieved. This commitment followed by psychoeducation aimed at introducing and exercising such behaviors was found to have effectively increased the research subjects' awareness to actively participate in preserving environmental hygiene. Developing communal behaviors toward clean and healthy living in inhabitants residing in an unhealthy slum area was a difficult task. Therefore, public commitment and psychoeducation must be aligned with the formulation of continuous habits demonstrating a clean and healthy living behaviors. These habits include the cessation of littering while putting trash in its place, optimizing the usage of public toilets, planting and maintaining vegetation around the area, joining and contributing to the "garbage bank" program, and participating in the Green and Clean Surabaya competition.

  18. Optimization of Edwards vacuum coating unit model E12E for the production of thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruiz P, H.S.

    1995-01-01

    This work is about an Edwards vacuum coating unit model E12E, it shows the principle of vacuum thermal evaporation, some observations in the operation of vacuum diffusion pumps, mechanical pumps, vacuum gauge, Penning and Pirani, and some equations of leak vacuum, after the modifications and additions of Edwards vacuum coating unit for optimization, the last part contains a concise introduction about thin films and one specific application, it also contains the recommendations and requirements to keep the system in good conditions. (Author)

  19. EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT ACROSS COUNTRIES AND TIMES - MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dana Mesner Andolšek

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Employee organisational commitment has been long and extensively studied until now (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Jaussi, 2007.An emphasis of current analysis was to verify its measurement characteristics, for the purpose of comparisons of levels of commitment across time and countries. A limited set of countries was chosen among those available in a sample from the data on Work Orientations II, ISSP 1997, purpose fully selected to reflect cultural and structural differences that was expected to affect change in levels of organisational commitment. With the use of structural equations models we first confirmed that a model for configural invariance for two factors measuring conceptually distinct components of Affective commitment (AC and Continuance commitment (CC respectively has better support than of one factor model. Metric and error term invariance was subsequently confirmed. Scalar equivalence, needed for valid comparison of mean levels of both components of commitment, was confirmed as well, with the exception of two country specific Tau coefficient. Finally, a model thus established was applied additionally on data from2005 ISSP. Acceptable fit was achieved for a common model containing both points in time and all countries, which allowed making more firm conclusions about the changes in AC and CC in different countries.

  20. [Culture and cultural gaps in work teams: implications for organisational commitment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez, José C; Lanero, Ana; Yurrebaso, Amaia; Tejero, Blanca

    2007-05-01

    Some theoreticians of organisational commitment have proposed that culture is an important determinant of organisational commitment. Nevertheless, very few studies have examined the role that work teams culture (subculture) and their cultural gaps play in commitment. This study is an attempt to overcome this lack. Using a sample of 375 work teams from various public and private organisations, it was found that the results confirmed our proposals. Cultural gaps were negatively related to commitment; the teams subculture was positively related to commitment, and more highly to commitment to values than to commitment to continuing. Contrary to the results of other studies, the demographic variables (age, time on the team, time in the company) were not significant, except that educational level was related to the commitment to continue. The implications of these results are analysed.

  1. Which serial killers commit suicide? An exploratory study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lester, David; White, John

    2012-11-30

    In a sample of 483 serial killers, 6.2% were documented to have committed suicide. Those who committed suicide were found to come from more dysfunctional homes characterized by more psychiatric disturbance in the parents. The sexual acts involved in the murders by the suicides seemed to be more deviant in some aspects, such as committing more bizarre sexual acts or more often taping the murder. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. 24 CFR 891.818 - Firm commitment application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Firm commitment application. 891.818 Section 891.818 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban... Persons with Disabilities § 891.818 Firm commitment application. The sponsor will submit the firm...

  3. Effects of Team and Organizational Commitment--A Longitudinal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neininger, Alexandra; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Kauffeld, Simone; Henschel, Angela

    2010-01-01

    Retention management, i.e., keeping qualified employees, is a top priority for contemporary organizations. Commitment, and especially team commitment, can be the key to mastering this challenge. There is a lack of longitudinal research concerning the development and the direction of the effects of team commitment over time. In a longitudinal…

  4. The dimensionality of professional commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeffrey J. Bagraim

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the dimensionality of professional commitment amongst a sample of 240 South African actuaries. Data were obtained, via a mailed questionnaire, from members of the South African Actuarial Society employed in the financial services industry. Statistical analysis conducted on the data showed that the 3-component model first proposed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993 is appropriate for understanding professional commitment amongst South African professionals. The analysis also showed that South African actuaries are highly committed to their profession. Opsomming Hierdie artikel ondersoek die dimensionaliteit van professionele toewyding by ‘n steekproef van 240 Suid-Afrikaanse aktuarisse. Die data is verkry deur ‘n posvraelys aan lede van die Suid-Afrikaanse Aktuariële Vereniging wat in die finansiële dienstesektor werksaam was. Statistiese ontledings wat uitgevoer is op die data dui aan dat die driekomponentmodel, aanvanklik voorgestel deur Meyer, Allen en Smith (1993, geskik is om professionele toewyding by Suid-Afrikaanse beroepslui te verstaan. Die ontleding dui verder aan dat Suid-Afrikaanse aktuarisse hoogs toegewyd is aan hulle professie.

  5. 76 FR 5832 - International Business Machines (IBM), Software Group Business Unit, Optim Data Studio Tools QA...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-74,554] International Business Machines (IBM), Software Group Business Unit, Optim Data Studio Tools QA, San Jose, CA; Notice of Affirmative Determination Regarding Application for Reconsideration By application dated November 29, 2010, a worker and a state workforce official...

  6. Understanding the Links between Work Commitment Constructs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hackett, Rick D.; Lapierre, Laurent M.; Hausdorf, Peter A.

    2001-01-01

    In a study of 852 nurses, work involvement (value of work in their lives) affected organizational and occupational commitment through its effect on job involvement. Job involvement indirectly affected intention to leave the organization or occupation. Work and job involvement and orgnanizational and occupational commitment were determined to be…

  7. On Entry Deterrence and Imperfectly Observable Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Anders

    2001-01-01

    We analyse a simple entry-deterrence game, where a `Potential Intruder' only imperfectly observes the decision of an `Incumbent' to commit or to not commit to fight any entry by the Potential Intruder. Our game generalises the one studied in Bonanno (1992) by allowing for a richer information tec...

  8. Education on the Internet: Anonymity vs. Commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dreyfus, Hubert L.

    1998-01-01

    Argues that learning a skill requires the kind of commitment which is undermined by the Press (the Public) and the Internet, citing Soren Kierkegaard's "The Present Age", and states that learning by apprenticeship is impossible in cyberspace. Includes: aesthetic sphere--commitment to the enjoyment of sheer information; ethical…

  9. Motivated reconstruction: The effect of brand commitment on false memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, Nicole Votolato; Rajagopal, Priyali

    2018-06-01

    Across 5 studies, we examine the effect of prior brand commitment on the creation of false memories about product experience after reading online product reviews. We find that brand commitment and the valence of reviews to which consumers are exposed, interact to affect the incidence of false memories. Thus, highly committed consumers are more susceptible to the creation of false experience memories on exposure to positive versus negative reviews, whereas low commitment consumers exhibit similar levels of false memories in response to both positive and negative reviews. Further, these differences across brand commitment are attenuated when respondents are primed with an accuracy motivation, suggesting that the biasing effects of commitment are likely because of the motivation to defend the committed brand. Finally, we find that differences in false memories subsequently lead to differences in intentions to spread word-of-mouth (e.g., recommend the product to friends), suggesting that the consequences of false product experience memories can be significant for marketers and consumers. Our findings contribute to the literatures in false memory and marketing by documenting a motivated bias in false memories because of brand commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Radon and daughters in cigarette smoke measured with SSNTD and corresponding committed equivalent dose to respiratory tract

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Misdaq, M.A.; Flata, K.

    2003-01-01

    Uranium ( 238 U) and Thorium ( 232 Th) contents were measured inside various tobacco samples by using a method based on determining detection efficiencies of the CR-39 and LR-115 II solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) for the emitted alpha particles. Alpha and beta activities per unit volume, due to radon ( 222 Rn), thoron ( 220 Rn) and their decay products, were evaluated inside cigarette smokes of tobacco samples studied. Annual committed equivalent doses due to short-lived radon decay products from the inhalation of various cigarette smokes were determined in the thoracic and extrathoracic regions of the respiratory tract. Three types of cigarettes made in Morocco of black tobacco show higher annual committed equivalent doses in the extrathoracic and thoracic regions of the respiratory tract than the other studied cigarettes (except one type of cigarettes made in France of yellow tobacco); their corresponding annual committed equivalent dose ratios are larger than 1.8. Measured annual committed equivalent doses ranged from 1.8x10 -9 to 1.10x10 -3 Sv yr -1 in the extrathoracic region and from 1.3x10 -10 to 7.6x10 -6 Sv yr -1 in the thoracic region of the respiratory tract for a smoker consuming 20 cigarettes a day

  11. Collective dose commitments from nuclear power programmes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beninson, D.

    1977-01-01

    The concepts of collective dose and collective dose commitment are discussed, particularly regarding their use to compare the relative importance of the exposure from several radiation sources and to predict future annual doses from a continuing practice. The collective dose commitment contributions from occupational exposure and population exposure due to the different components of the nuclear power fuel cycle are evaluated. A special discussion is devoted to exposures delivered over a very long time by released radionuclides of long half-lives and to the use of the incomplete collective dose commitment. The maximum future annual ''per caput'' doses from present and projected nuclear power programmes are estimated

  12. Quantum bit commitment with cheat sensitive binding and approximate sealing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yan-Bing; Xu, Sheng-Wei; Huang, Wei; Wan, Zong-Jie

    2015-04-01

    This paper proposes a cheat-sensitive quantum bit commitment scheme based on single photons, in which Alice commits a bit to Bob. Here, Bob’s probability of success at cheating as obtains the committed bit before the opening phase becomes close to \\frac{1}{2} (just like performing a guess) as the number of single photons used is increased. And if Alice alters her committed bit after the commitment phase, her cheating will be detected with a probability that becomes close to 1 as the number of single photons used is increased. The scheme is easy to realize with present day technology.

  13. Doctoral Students in Music Education: Occupational Identity, Career Intent and Commitment, and Confidence for Teaching in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Lisa D.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine music education doctoral students' shifting occupational identity beliefs, career intent and commitment, and overall confidence for teaching in higher education. A total of 124 music education doctoral students, enrolled at 29 institutions of higher education in the United States, completed a onetime,…

  14. The Influence of Culture on Teacher Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abd Razak, Nordin; Darmawan, I. Gusti Ngurah; Keeves, John P.

    2010-01-01

    Culture is believed to be an important factor that influences various aspects of human life, such as behaviour, thinking, perceptions and attitudes. This article examines the similarities and differences in the influence of culture on teacher commitment in three types of Malaysian primary schools. Since commitment to teaching has rarely been…

  15. Policy Uncertainty, Investment and Commitment Periods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2007-07-01

    Today's investment decisions in key sectors such as energy, forestry or transport have significant impacts on the levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the coming decades. Given the economic and environmental long-term implications of capital investment and retirement, a climate mitigation regime should aim to encourage capital investment in climate-friendly technologies. Many factors affect technology choice and the timing of investment, including investor expectations about future prices and policies. Recent international discussions have focused on the importance of providing more certainty about future climate policy stringency. The design of commitment periods can play a role in creating this environment. This paper assesses how the length of commitment periods influences policy uncertainty and investment decisions. In particular, the paper analyses the relationship between commitment period length and near term investment decisions in climate friendly technology.

  16. Short-term hydro generation scheduling of Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba cascade hydropower stations using improved binary-real coded bee colony optimization algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Peng; Zhou, Jianzhong; Wang, Chao; Qiao, Qi; Mo, Li

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • STHGS problem is decomposed into two parallel sub-problems of UC and ELD. • Binary coded BCO is used to solve UC sub-problem with 0–1 discrete variables. • Real coded BCO is used to solve ELD sub-problem with continuous variables. • Some heuristic repairing strategies are designed to handle various constraints. • The STHGS of Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba cascade stations is solved by IB-RBCO. - Abstract: Short-term hydro generation scheduling (STHGS) of cascade hydropower stations is a typical nonlinear mixed integer optimization problem to minimize the total water consumption while simultaneously meeting the grid requirements and other hydraulic and electrical constraints. In this paper, STHGS problem is decomposed into two parallel sub-problems of unit commitment (UC) and economic load dispatch (ELD), and the methodology of improved binary-real coded bee colony optimization (IB-RBCO) algorithm is proposed to solve them. Firstly, the improved binary coded BCO is used to solve the UC sub-problem with 0–1 discrete variables, and the heuristic repairing strategy for unit state constrains is applied to generate the feasible unit commitment schedule. Then, the improved real coded BCO is used to solve the ELD sub-problem with continuous variables, and an effective method is introduced to handle various unit operation constraints. Especially, the new updating strategy of DE/best/2/bin method with dynamic parameter control mechanism is applied to real coded BCO to improve the search ability of IB-RBCO. Finally, to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed IB-RBCO method, it is applied to solve the STHGS problem of Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba cascaded hydropower stations, and the simulating results are compared with other intelligence algorithms. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed IB-RBCO method can get higher-quality solutions with less water consumption and shorter calculating time when facing the complex STHGS problem

  17. Optimal sizing study of hybrid wind/PV/diesel power generation unit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belfkira, Rachid; Zhang, Lu; Barakat, Georges [Groupe de Recherche en Electrotechnique et Automatique du Havre, University of Le Havre, 25 rue Philippe Lebon, BP 1123, 76063 Le Havre (France)

    2011-01-15

    In this paper, a methodology of sizing optimization of a stand-alone hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system is presented. This approach makes use of a deterministic algorithm to suggest, among a list of commercially available system devices, the optimal number and type of units ensuring that the total cost of the system is minimized while guaranteeing the availability of the energy. The collection of 6 months of data of wind speed, solar radiation and ambient temperature recorded for every hour of the day were used. The mathematical modeling of the main elements of the hybrid wind/PV/diesel system is exposed showing the more relevant sizing variables. A deterministic algorithm is used to minimize the total cost of the system while guaranteeing the satisfaction of the load demand. A comparison between the total cost of the hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system with batteries and the hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system without batteries is presented. The reached results demonstrate the practical utility of the used sizing methodology and show the influence of the battery storage on the total cost of the hybrid system. (author)

  18. Attachment to God, religious tradition, and firm attributes in workplace commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kent, Blake Victor

    2017-01-01

    Research on organizational commitment suggests there is an association between American theists' emotional attachment to God and their emotional commitment to the workplace. A sense of divine calling has been shown to partially mediate this association but, beyond that, little is known. The purpose of this study is to shed further light on the relationship between secure attachment to God and affective organizational commitment. I do so by testing whether the employee's religious tradition is associated with affective organizational commitment and whether the employee's firm attributes moderate the relationship between attachment to God and organizational commitment. Results suggest that: 1) Catholics evince higher levels of organizational commitment than Evangelicals, and 2) firm size significantly moderates the relationship between attachment to God and organizational commitment across religious affiliations.

  19. Improved Taguchi method based contract capacity optimization for industrial consumer with self-owned generating units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Hong-Tzer; Peng, Pai-Chun

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► We propose an improved Taguchi method to determine the optimal contract capacities with SOGUs. ► We solve the highly discrete and nonlinear optimization problem for the contract capacities with SOGUs. ► The proposed improved Taguchi method integrates PSO in Taguchi method. ► The customer using the proposed optimization approach may save up to 12.18% of power expenses. ► The improved Taguchi method can also be well applied to the other similar problems. - Abstract: Contract capacity setting for industrial consumer with self-owned generating units (SOGUs) is a highly discrete and nonlinear optimization problem considering expenditure on the electricity from the utility and operation costs of the SOGUs. This paper proposes an improved Taguchi method that combines existing Taguchi method and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve this problem. Taguchi method provides fast converging characteristics in searching the optimal solution through quality analysis in orthogonal matrices. The integrated PSO algorithm generates new solutions in the orthogonal matrices based on the searching experiences during the evolution process to further improve the quality of solution. To verify feasibility of the proposed method, the paper uses the real data obtained from a large optoelectronics factory in Taiwan. In comparison with the existing optimization methods, the proposed improved Taguchi method has superior performance as revealed in the numerical results in terms of the convergence process and the quality of solution obtained.

  20. Sexually Violent Predators and Civil Commitment Laws

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyer Kendall, Wanda D.; Cheung, Monit

    2004-01-01

    This article analyzes the civil commitment models for treating sexually violent predators (SVPs) and analyzes recent civil commitment laws. SVPs are commonly defined as sex offenders who are particularly predatory and repetitive in their sexually violent behavior. Data from policy literature, a survey to all states, and a review of law review…

  1. Juvenile Court Commitment Rates: The National Picture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sosin, Michael

    There is less geographic variation in the commitment rate of juvenile offenders than is commonly assumed. Apparently, judges across the country develop a similar standard of what percentage of youths they face should be committed. This standard may be similar across the country because it represents broadly shared ideals. However, there is much…

  2. Commitment and the New Employment Relationship : Exploring a Forgotten Perspective: Employers Commitment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Torka, Nicole; Looise, Jan Kees; van Riemsdijk, Maarten

    2005-01-01

    In this article, we have endeavoured to integrate the concept 'employers’ commitment' into the understanding of the new employment relationship. HRM scholars and practitioners assume that changes in (international) market and employee characteristics lead to a transformation of the employer-employee

  3. Trust, Commitment and Competitive Advantage in SMEs Export Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md Daud Ismail

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The entry of small businesses into international markets has intensified. However, despite the growing presence of small businesses in international markets, studies into their international behavior, particularly regarding the effect of international relationships on international outcomes, remain limited. This study investigates the cross-border relationships of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs by examining the effects of the dimensions of the key relationship on the competitive advantage and performance of SMEs in export markets. These dimensions include trust and commitment. Results indicate that trust is significantly related to commitment and export performance. Commitment is positively related to competitive advantage but not to export performance. Trust affects competitive advantage through commitment. The effect of commitment on export performance is mediated by competitive advantage. The methodology and results are presented. The conclusion, implications, and limitations of this study are also discussed.

  4. The relationship between organizational commitment and nursing care behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naghneh, Mohammad Hossein Khalilzadeh; Tafreshi, Mansoureh Zagheri; Naderi, Manijeh; Shakeri, Nehzat; Bolourchifard, Fariba; Goyaghaj, Naser Sedghi

    2017-07-01

    Nursing care encompasses physical, emotional, mental and social needs, in order to improve a patient's health and wellbeing. Caring is the central core and the essence of nursing. The important issue of care is access to proper care and increasing patients' satisfaction. Job performance of nurses is affected by many factors including organizational commitment. This study aimed to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and nurses caring behavior. In this cross-sectional study, 322 nurses from selected Hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran were randomly selected and enrolled in the study in 2015. The self-reported data by nurses were collected through demographic characteristics questionnaire, Meyer & Allen organizational commitment model and Caring Behavior Inventory (CBI). Data were analyzed with SPSS statistical software version 20, using t-test and ANOVA. The majority of nurses (63%) were female. The mean score and standard deviation of organizational commitment and caring behavior of nurses were 74.12±9.61 and 203.1±22.46, respectively. The results showed a significantly positive correlation between organizational commitment and caring behavior (p=0.001). In this study the caring behavior of nurses with higher organizational commitment were significantly better than the others. Managers and nurse leaders should pay more attention to improve organizational commitment of nurses, in order to improve nurses' performance.

  5. Experimental bit commitment based on quantum communication and special relativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lunghi, T; Kaniewski, J; Bussières, F; Houlmann, R; Tomamichel, M; Kent, A; Gisin, N; Wehner, S; Zbinden, H

    2013-11-01

    Bit commitment is a fundamental cryptographic primitive in which Bob wishes to commit a secret bit to Alice. Perfectly secure bit commitment between two mistrustful parties is impossible through asynchronous exchange of quantum information. Perfect security is however possible when Alice and Bob split into several agents exchanging classical and quantum information at times and locations suitably chosen to satisfy specific relativistic constraints. Here we report on an implementation of a bit commitment protocol using quantum communication and special relativity. Our protocol is based on [A. Kent, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 130501 (2012)] and has the advantage that it is practically feasible with arbitrary large separations between the agents in order to maximize the commitment time. By positioning agents in Geneva and Singapore, we obtain a commitment time of 15 ms. A security analysis considering experimental imperfections and finite statistics is presented.

  6. Changes in commitment to change among leaders in home help services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerberg, Kristina; Tafvelin, Susanne

    2015-07-06

    The purpose of the this study was to explore the development of commitment to change among leaders in the home help services during organizational change and to study this development in relation to workload and stress. During organizational change initiatives, commitment to change among leaders is important to ensure the implementation of the change. However, little is known of development of commitment of change over time. The study used a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews with ten leaders by the time an organizational change initiative was launched and follow-up one year later. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the interviews. Commitment to change is not static, but seems to develop over time and during organizational change. At the first interview, leaders had a varied pattern reflecting different dimensions of commitment to change. One year later, the differences between leaders' commitment to change was less obvious. Differences in commitment to change had no apparent relationship with workload or stress. The data were collected from one organization, and the number of participants were small which could affect the results on workload and stress in relation to commitment to change. It is important to support leaders during organizational change initiatives to maintain their commitment. One way to accomplish this is to use management team meetings to monitor how leaders perceive their situation. Qualitative, longitudinal and leader studies on commitment to change are all unusual, and taken together, this study shows new aspects of commitment.

  7. Three components of organizational commitment and job satisfaction of hospital nurses in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahangir, Fridoon; Shokrpour, Nasrin

    2009-01-01

    To measure the relationship between job satisfaction and the 3 components of organizational commitment. Most of the research conducted in the West has shown a positive relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction of nurses; however, the relationship between the components of organizational commitment and job satisfaction is not well established in Iranian samples. This study aimed to investigate the level of organizational commitment and job satisfaction of the hospital nurses in Iran and the interrelationship between the 3 components of commitment and job satisfaction among them. Using the organizational commitment questionnaire developed by Meyer et al (J Appl Psychol. 1993;78:538-551), the 3 components of commitment were measured through a descriptive correlational design. Seven hundred eighty-six licensed nurses working in 12 hospitals participated in the study. One hundred ninety-eight of 220 returned questionnaires were identified as appropriate for the analysis. Affective commitment was positively related to job satisfaction, normative commitment, and experience in nursing, but it was negatively related to continuance commitment. Continuance commitment was negatively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment. Normative commitment was positively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment. The 3 components of commitment are variously related to job satisfaction. Nursing managers should pay attention to different components of commitment variously to promote the appropriate type of commitment needed for specific situation in which they work.

  8. Lack of Commitment? Work Orientations of Finnish Employees in a European Comparison

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teemu Turunen

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available It has been argued that individuals’ employment commitment, that is, their commitment to work in general is crucial in today’s labor markets where life-long employment relationships are less frequently offered by organizations. In addition, employees’ organizational commitment, that is, their commitment to their own organization is also vital for organizations and firms, affecting many areas of importance to them. This article asks how Finnish employees rank in both employment commitment and affective organizational commitment compared with employees in 15 other European countries. The data were collected in 2005–2007 through the International Social Survey Program (ISSP, Work Orientation Module III. The results show Finnish employees scoring below European averages in both types of commitment when employee-level and organizationlevel factors are taken into account. Employment commitment was highest in Norway and affective organizational commitment highest in Portugal. The perceived intrinsic rewards of the job were the strongest predictor of employment and affective organizational commitment in most of the countries researched, increasing both these types of commitment. However, the perceived social relations between management and employees were found to be the most powerful determinant of affective organizational commitment in Finland, with perceived good relations adding to the affective organizational commitment of employees. The data were analyzed mainly by means of a general linear model procedure.

  9. Commentary: civil commitment statutes--40 years of circumvention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, William H; Grisso, Thomas

    2010-01-01

    There is a longstanding body of literature that describes how states' civil commitment statutes have been stretched or circumvented to accommodate institutional and systemic needs. The paper by Levitt and colleagues provides yet another example of this phenomenon: Arizona's use of its civil commitment statutes to detain unrestorable, incompetent criminal defendants for whom other provisions have not been developed. This commentary provides a brief overview of other examples of the stretching of commitment laws, providing a broader context for viewing the findings of Levitt and colleagues.

  10. Clara Harrison Town and the origins of the first institutional commitment law for the "feebleminded": psychologists as expert diagnosticians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farreras, Ingrid G

    2014-11-01

    The first law providing for the commitment of "feeble-minded" individuals in the United States was passed in 1915, in the state of Illinois. House Bill 655 not only allowed for the permanent, involuntary institutionalization of feeble-minded individuals, but it shifted the commitment and discharge authority from the institution superintendents to the courts. Clara Harrison Town, a student of Lightner Witmer, and the state psychologist at the second largest institution for feeble-minded individuals in the country, was instrumental in this law passing and in ensuring that psychologists, for the first time, be viewed as court "experts" when testifying as to the feeble mindedness of individuals.

  11. Finding Multiple Optimal Solutions to Optimal Load Distribution Problem in Hydropower Plant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinhao Jiang

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Optimal load distribution (OLD among generator units of a hydropower plant is a vital task for hydropower generation scheduling and management. Traditional optimization methods for solving this problem focus on finding a single optimal solution. However, many practical constraints on hydropower plant operation are very difficult, if not impossible, to be modeled, and the optimal solution found by those models might be of limited practical uses. This motivates us to find multiple optimal solutions to the OLD problem, which can provide more flexible choices for decision-making. Based on a special dynamic programming model, we use a modified shortest path algorithm to produce multiple solutions to the problem. It is shown that multiple optimal solutions exist for the case study of China’s Geheyan hydropower plant, and they are valuable for assessing the stability of generator units, showing the potential of reducing occurrence times of units across vibration areas.

  12. Committing to coal and gas: Long-term contracts, regulation, and fuel switching in power generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Michael

    Fuel switching in the electricity sector has important economic and environmental consequences. In the United States, the increased supply of gas during the last decade has led to substantial switching in the short term. Fuel switching is constrained, however, by the existing infrastructure. The power generation infrastructure, in turn, represents commitments to specific sources of energy over the long term. This dissertation explores fuel contracts as the link between short-term price response and long-term plant investments. Contracting choices enable power plant investments that are relationship-specific, often regulated, and face uncertainty. Many power plants are subject to both hold-up in investment and cost-of-service regulation. I find that capital bias is robust when considering either irreversibility or hold-up due to the uncertain arrival of an outside option. For sunk capital, the rental rate is inappropriate for determining capital bias. Instead, capital bias depends on the regulated rate of return, discount rate, and depreciation schedule. If policies such as emissions regulations increase fuel-switching flexibility, this can lead to capital bias. Cost-of-service regulation can shorten the duration of a long-term contract. From the firm's perspective, the existing literature provides limited guidance when bargaining and writing contracts for fuel procurement. I develop a stochastic programming framework to optimize long-term contracting decisions under both endogenous and exogenous sources of hold-up risk. These typically include policy changes, price shocks, availability of fuel, and volatility in derived demand. For price risks, the optimal contract duration is the moment when the expected benefits of the contract are just outweighed by the expected opportunity costs of remaining in the contract. I prove that imposing early renegotiation costs decreases contract duration. Finally, I provide an empirical approach to show how coal contracts can limit

  13. Commitment bias : mistaken partner selection or ancient wisdom?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Back, Istvan H.

    Evidence across the social and behavioral sciences points to psychological mechanisms that facilitate the formation and maintenance of interpersonal commitment. In addition, evolutionary simulation studies suggest that a tendency for increased, seemingly irrational commitment is an important trait

  14. The effect of occupational meaningfulness on occupational commitment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Itai Ivtzan

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Existing research lacks a scholarly consensus on how to define and validly measure ‘meaningful work’ (e.g., Rosso, Dekas & Wrzesniewski, 2010. The following correlational study highlights the value of investigating meaningfulness in the context of occupational commitment. The study hypothesizes that occupational commitment is positively correlated with occupational meaningfulness, where meaningfulness is defined as the extent to which people’s occupations contribute to personal meaning in life. One-hundred and fifty-six full-time office based UK workers completed an online questionnaire including 18 questions measuring levels of occupational commitment (Meyer, Allen & Smith, 1993, in addition to six novel items measuring occupational meaningfulness. The results supported the hypothesis and also showed that the affective sub-type of occupational commitment had the highest correlation with occupational meaningfulness. Such results exhibit the importance of finding meaning at work, as well as the relevance of this to one’s level of commitment to his or her job. This paper argues that individuals should consider OM before choosing to take a specific role, whereas organizations ought to consider the OM of their potential candidates before recruiting them into a role. Possible directions for future research directions are also discussed.

  15. Is There any Relationship between Narcissistic Personality and Organizational Commitment?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Necmettin Cihangiroglu

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at investigating whether there is a correlation between organizational commitment and narcissistic personalty traits. METHOD: In order to measure the GATA Occupation High School of Health Subordinate Officiers’ narcissistic personality traits Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI scala was used. In order to measure students’ organizational commitment Organizational Commitment Questionnaire was used. 229 questionnaire forms were distributed to the Occupation High School of Health Subordinate Officiers’ students, and 220 (%96 of them were returned. Totally 220 students were evaluated. FINDINGS: When students’ narcissistic scores were evaluated out of 16, it was found out that the highest narcissistic personality score (8,98 was taken by second year students, the highest score for organizational commitment (3,70 was taken by first year students, “exploitativeness” which is one of the sub-levels of narcissisim was observed at the highest level with an average of 0,73 out 1 full score, “entitlement” sub level was observed at the lowest level (0,29, “affective commitment” one of the sub-levels of commitment, had the highest average (3,84, “normative commitment” had the second highest average (3,71 and finally “continuance commitment” was observed at the lowest level (3,55. Statistically, there is no significant relationship found between narcissistic personality and organizational commitment. However, there is a significant relationship found between narcissistic personality and continuity commitment. There is a significant and opposite relationship found between organizational commitment and continuity commitment with superiority. There is similar relationship found between exploitation and continuity commitment. CONCLUSION: With respect to these findings, it is suggested that “Health Technicians” candidates’, who will be one of the indispensable constituents of health services

  16. Regulatory commitment management and the managing of licensing documents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roxey, T.E.

    1993-01-01

    The Regulatory Commitment Management (RCM) Project was designed to strengthen Baltimore Gas ampersand Electric's (BG ampersand E's) ability to identify, implement, and maintain regulatory commitments. The first part of this project involved the development of a clear commitment management process. The second part was the development of a tool that enhances the ability to retrieve information from documents, and the third part of the project dealt with the actual identification of historical commitments. This paper represents the first opportunity for BG ampersand E to discuss some of the success of the second part and the preliminary findings of the third part of the project

  17. BENEFICIAL COALITIONS: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Winkler

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Presently, knowledge is considered as the most strategic resource of organizations. The literature on the subject often raises the issues of commitment. The purpose of the article was to discuss the associations between knowledge management and employee commitment. The article presents the stages of knowledge management and describes the category of commitment, taking account of several criteria. In the opinion of the authors, from the point of view of knowledge management particular importance can be attained to the way qualifications, skills, predispositions and knowledge of employees will be used, which, in turn, depends on "quality" of their commitment (its type, intensity, dimension and direction in achieving organizational goals.

  18. Continuous grasp algorithm applied to economic dispatch problem of thermal units

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vianna Neto, Julio Xavier [Pontifical Catholic University of Parana - PUCPR, Curitiba, PR (Brazil). Undergraduate Program at Mechatronics Engineering; Bernert, Diego Luis de Andrade; Coelho, Leandro dos Santos [Pontifical Catholic University of Parana - PUCPR, Curitiba, PR (Brazil). Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program, LAS/PPGEPS], e-mail: leandro.coelho@pucpr.br

    2010-07-01

    The economic dispatch problem (EDP) is one of the fundamental issues in power systems to obtain benefits with the stability, reliability and security. Its objective is to allocate the power demand among committed generators in the most economical manner, while all physical and operational constraints are satisfied. The cost of power generation, particularly in fossil fuel plants, is very high and economic dispatch helps in saving a significant amount of revenue. Recently, as an alternative to the conventional mathematical approaches, modern heuristic optimization techniques such as simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms, neural networks, ant colony, and tabu search have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solution in EDPs. On other hand, continuous GRASP (C-GRASP) is a stochastic local search meta-heuristic for finding cost-efficient solutions to continuous global optimization problems subject to box constraints. Like a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP), a C-GRASP is a multi-start procedure where a starting solution for local improvement is constructed in a greedy randomized fashion. The C-GRASP algorithm is validated for a test system consisting of fifteen units, test system that takes into account spinning reserve and prohibited operating zones constrains. (author)

  19. The configural approach to organisational commitment: An application in Ghana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward O. Akoto

    2014-12-01

    Research purpose: To test the theory on profiles of commitment in an African context (Ghana. Motivation for the study: Although the three-component model of organisational commitment has been extended to several regions of Africa, there is a paucity of research on profiles of commitment on the continent. Research approach, design and method: Cross-sectional data from two studies, with samples of 187 and 218, were analysed using k-means clusters. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA was then used to test the differences amongst profiles in their association with contextual variables, such as pay satisfaction, job security, strike propensity and two demographic factors. Main findings: In the k-means cluster analysis, a six-cluster solution emerged in both studies;the profiles include the highly committed and the uncommitted groups, as well as the profiles based on normative commitment and continuance commitment. Overall, the MANOVA post hoc outcome shows that the highly committed group reports higher mean scores on the positive outcome variables (e.g. job security than the uncommitted group. Conversely, the uncommitted group scored relatively higher on the negative organisational outcome (propensity to strike. Other mean differences were found in the respective studies on pay satisfaction, collectivism and the demographic factors. Practical/managerial implications: Employing the configural approach to the study of commitment in this region should increase our understanding of the patterns of attachment and their influence on behaviour. Different patterns of attachment exist within the organisation that may be beneficial or detrimental to behaviour on the job. It is, therefore, important for managers to identify these patterns and target organisational policy and resources appropriately. Contribution/value-add: This study applies the concept of commitment profiles to an untested region: an African context. It, therefore, adds to the literature on the

  20. Reviving the United States' Commitment to Pakistan and Afghanistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Steve Young

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available As President Obama is in the midst of deciding whether additional U.S.combat forces are needed in Afghanistan in addition to the 21,000 troops recently committed, he must realize that additional armed forces are only a stopgap measure in Afghanistan's downward spiral into an 'undergoverned' failed state. Similarly, as Pakistan's fragile and fractured civilian government continues to appease the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, an umbrella organization of Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen with Taliban cultural values led by Baitullah Mehsud and others, it comes closer to the concept of a "misgoverned" failed state, possessing a small arsenal of nuclear arms. The problem for the U.S. administration is that neither of these countries can be allowed to fall further into disrepair. At the same time each requires a different and unique approach to the threat of "Talibanization" that faces each country—the control of territory within each country by Islamic radicals seeking to impose their ultraconservative interpretation of shar'ia law onto the general populace. Generally acknowledged is the belief that what has tentatively worked in Iraq, that is, the additional U.S. troops and employment of former Sunni insurgents to help fight foreign fighters associated with al-Qaida, will not work in either Afghanistan or Pakistan. While a regional approach to the conflict in these two countries is warranted, Afghanistan and Pakistan are on two different economic, social, and political playing fields. Hence, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution for the two countries, especially one that draws on the Iraq playbook. In addition to its internal political problems, Pakistan also faces the issue of al-Qaida and Taliban training camps positioned in its literal back yard, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA or Tribal Areas. Resolution of the War on Terror cannot come to fruition without addressing the problems that exist in the Tribal Areas. This largely

  1. Relationship between ethical work climate and nurses' perception of organizational support, commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abou Hashish, Ebtsam Aly

    2017-03-01

    Healthcare organizations are now challenged to retain nurses' generation and understand why they are leaving their nursing career prematurely. Acquiring knowledge about the effect of ethical work climate and level of perceived organizational support can help organizational leaders to deal effectively with dysfunctional behaviors and make a difference in enhancing nurses' dedication, commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty to their organization. This study aims to determine the relationship between ethical work climate, and perceived organizational support and nurses' organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. A descriptive correlational research design was conducted in all inpatient care units at three major hospitals affiliated to different health sectors at Alexandria governorate. All nurses working in these previous hospitals were included in the study (N = 500). Ethical Climate Questionnaire, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Index of Job Satisfaction, and Intention to Turnover scale were used to measure study variables. Ethical considerations: Approval was obtained from Ethics Committee at Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University. Privacy and confidentiality of data were maintained and assured by obtaining subjects' informed consent to participate in the research before data collection. The result revealed positive significant correlations between nurses' perception of overall ethical work climate and each of perceived organizational support, commitment, as well as their job satisfaction. However, negative significant correlations were found between nurses' turnover intention and each of these variables. Also, approximately 33% of the explained variance of turnover intention is accounted by ethical work climate, organizational support, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, and these variables independently contributed significantly in the prediction of turnover intention

  2. Integration of renewable and conventional power. Intraday optimization, pooling and predictive target value generation; Intraday-Optimierung, Pooling and vorausschauende Zielsollwertfuehrung. Integration von erneuerbaren und konventionellen Energien

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franke, Ruediger; Kautsch, Stephan; Blaumann, Marcel; Vogelbacher, Lothar [ABB AG, Mannheim (Germany)

    2013-10-01

    Facing increasing use of fluctuating renewable energies, the traditional unit commitment on the previous day and the use of balancing energy to account for deviations on the current day is running into limitations. Intraday optimization adapts plant schedules on the current day to new situations. This leads to frequently changing plant schedules, up to one change every 15 minutes and requires a lot of flexibility from conventional power plants. Pooling reduces the complexity of the overall system by introducing hierarchies. The predictive generation of target set points considers multiple subsequent changes of the schedule, in order to obtain a plant operation that matches at discrete accounting points and provides a smooth operation in between. The paper investigates the realization of the new techniques with online optimization. (orig.)

  3. Predicting Organizational Commitment from Organizational Culture in Turkish Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ipek, Cemalettin

    2010-01-01

    This study aims to describe organizational culture and commitment and to predict organizational commitment from organizational culture in Turkish primary schools. Organizational Culture Scale (Ipek "1999") and Organizational Commitment Scale (Balay "2000") were used in the data gathering process. The data were collected from…

  4. Studying the impact of the organizational commitment on the job performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojtaba Rafiei

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Success of any organization depends on the performance of its employees. Enhancing organizational commitment among employees is an important aspect to perform better. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of three components of organizational commitment; namely Affective, Continuance and Normative commitment, on employee’s performance. The study is applied among 244 employees of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare department of Markazi Province using a single-stage cluster sampling. The study uses a standard questionnaire for organizational commitment developed by Allen and Meyer and job performance questionnaire developed by Patterson were used to gather data. Structural equations modeling (SEM technique has been used for data analysis. The result of this analysis indicates that the organizational commitment had a positive significant effect on the job performance. In addition, the study also showed that all three dimensions of organizational commitment, Affective, continuance, and normative commitment, had a positive significant effect on the job performance. From the findings, it has been proved that job performance was strongly associated with employee's commitment.

  5. 78 FR 20317 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-04

    ... supplying information that competitors could use to compete with companies in the United States. DATES... or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100 Million: AP087223XX and AP087223XA AGENCY: Export-Import...''), that Ex-Im Bank has received an application for final commitment for a long-term loan or financial...

  6. 78 FR 20913 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-08

    ... the transaction: To support the export of U.S. manufactured commercial aircraft to China. Brief non... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK [Public Notice 2013-0024] Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100 million: AP087801XX AGENCY: Export-Import Bank of the United...

  7. 77 FR 61750 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-11

    ... export of a U.S.-manufactured satellite and associated services to China (Hong Kong). Brief non-proprietary description of the anticipated use of the items being exported: The U.S. exports will be used to... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES [Public Notice 2012-0528] Application for Final Commitment...

  8. 78 FR 33090 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-03

    ...-haul passenger service from Australia to other countries. To the extent that Ex-Im Bank is reasonably... EXPORT-IMPORT BANK [Public Notice 2013-0030] Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100 Million: AP087980XX AGENCY: Export-Import Bank of the United...

  9. Commit* to change? A call to end the publication of the phrase ‘commit* suicide’

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Emma; Padmanathan, Prianka; Knipe, Duleeka

    2016-01-01

    Background. Countering stigma is a fundamental facet of suicide prevention efforts.  Integral to this is the promotion of accurate and sensitive language.  The phrase ‘commit* suicide’ has prompted marked opposition primarily due to the connotations of immorality and illegality.  Methods. The study investigated the frequency of the use of the wordstem ‘commit’, in relation to self-harm and suicidal behaviours, in the three leading suicide-specific academic journals between 2000 and 2015.  Results. One third (34%) of articles published since the year 2000 used the word ‘commit*’ when describing an act of self-harm or suicide. Over half of these articles (57%) used the phrase on more than one occasion, with 6% using it more than 10 times in the same manuscript. The percentage of papers utilising the word ‘commit*’ has fluctuated over time, but there is a promising downward trend in the use of this phrase from 33% in 2000 to 13% in 2015 ( p suicide. Whilst we call for collective responsibility amongst academics and clinicians, editors hold a unique position in ensuring that outdated, inaccurate and stigma-laden terms are expunged from the scientific literature. PMID:28286872

  10. ANTECEDENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT OF BANKING SECTOR EMPLOYEES IN PAKISTAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdullah

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to check the association of factors like work environment, job security,pay satisfaction and participation in decision making; with organizational commitment of theemployees, working in the banking sector of Pakistan. Two hundred and fifteen (215 responses toquestionnaire-based survey were collected from managerial and non-managerial employees, andanalyzed. The analysis showed positive correlations between the dependent and independentvariables. The relation between job security and organizational commitment was the most significant,indicating that a secure job can yield higher level of commitment. Work environment also had asignificant relation with organizational commitment, showing that a healthy and friendly workenvironment may enhance an employee’s commitment towards his work and organization. Paysatisfaction and participation in decision-making had low correlations with organizationalcommitment. Age and tenure seemed to affect the commitment of employees, with highercommitment shown for higher age and tenure; whereas gender did not show significant change incommitment level of employees.

  11. [Volunteering in psychiatry: determining factors of attitude and actual commitment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauber, C; Nordt, C; Falcato, L; Rössler, W

    2000-10-01

    To assess public attitude, actual working commitment and the respective influence of demographic, psychological and sociological variables on voluntary help in psychiatry. Multiple logistic regression analysis of the results of a representative population survey in Switzerland. Public attitude is mostly positive, but the respective working commitment is small. Attitude depends on gender, psychological factors (social distance, stereotypes), and on attitude to community psychiatry. For the working commitment, clearly distinct predictors are found: age, emotions, participation, and perceived discrimination to the mentally ill. For both attitude and commitment, having a social profession and interest in mass media are predictors. Internationally compared, Switzerland has a positive attitude and a big commitment in lay helping in psychiatry. But attitude is different from actual commitment. Lay helpers' work must be limited to realizable tasks and they need professional recruitment, instruction, and supervision otherwise they tend to be over-burden. The unused potential of voluntary helpers has to be opened specifically, e.g. by involving mass media and opinion-makers.

  12. Specialized software for optimization of the quality control of the mammography units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoeva, M.; Vassileva, J.

    2004-01-01

    Quality control is essential to ensure the equipment used is reliable and consistent in order to maintain radiation does as low as reasonably achievable whilst optimizing image quality and performance in mammography. The effectiveness of mammographic screening is highly dependent on the consistent production of high quality diagnostic images. Mammography is highly dependent on the equipment status, which requires an effective Quality Control (QC) program to provide tools for continuous assessment of the equipment performance and also data storage and analysis of the protocols' data. The objective of this paper is to present the specialized software for Quality Control of the Mammography Units, as tool providing additional functionality for optimizations of the Mammography QC data storage and management. The PC program was developed according to the requirements stated in the European protocol for Quality Control of the Mammography Screening and the data collected as a result of its application in several Bulgarian hospitals. The Structured Analysis method was used in order to perform a case, which resulted in the development of the specialized software with a database module, providing the following functionality: Data Storage, Preliminary Data Processing and Post-Processing, Manual Data Entry, Data Import from XLS format, Data Export to XLS format, Printing, Data Filters, Automated Calculation, Automated Graphical Representation, Archiving The development of specialized QC software with a database for mammography units facilitates the process of QC data storage and handling and minimizes the errors. The electronic format for data storage is especially useful in case of long-term storage and periodical data analysis/access. The integrated data processing functionality and the automated import/export features based on standard platform increase the compatibility of the data. (authors)

  13. Differences between Homicides Committed by Lone and Multiple Offenders in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Jisun; Cho, Joon Tag

    2018-05-16

    The aim of this study was to differentiate between homicides committed by multiple offenders and homicides committed by lone offenders. Using data on homicide incidents that occurred in South Korea between 1985 and 2008, we compared 134 homicides committed by multiple offenders, with 369 homicides committed by lone offenders. A greater proportion of homicides committed by multiple offenders involved injuries to the victim's head compared to homicides by lone offenders. Homicides committed by multiple offenders were more likely to involve blunt instruments and ligatures, whereas homicides by lone offenders were more likely to involve sharp instruments. In addition, a majority of the homicides committed by multiple offenders were planned. The results of this study have practical implications for homicide investigations, as well as theoretical implications for homicide research on the difference in offense behaviors based on the number of offenders. © 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  14. Optimization of Boiler Control to Improve the Load-following Capability of Power-plant Units

    OpenAIRE

    Mortensen, J. H.; Mølbak, T.; Andersen, Palle; Pedersen, Tom Søndergaard

    1998-01-01

    The capability to perform fast load changes has been an important issue in the power market, and will become increasingly more so due to the incresing commercialisation of the European power market. An optimizing control system for improving the load-following capability of power-plant units has therefore been developed. The system is implemented as a complement, producing control signals to be added to those of the existing boiler control system, a concept which has various practical advanta...

  15. The Relationship between Career Growth and Organizational Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Qingxiong; McElroy, James C.; Morrow, Paula C.; Liu, Rongzhi

    2010-01-01

    This research examines the relationship between employees' career growth and organizational commitment. Career growth was conceptualized by four factors: career goal progress, professional ability development, promotion speed and remuneration growth, while organizational commitment was conceptualized using Meyer and Allen's (1997) three component…

  16. On the Complexity of Additively Homomorphic UC Commitments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trifiletti, Roberto; Nielsen, Jesper Buus; Frederiksen, Tore Kasper

    2016-01-01

    as the commitment protocol by Garay \\emph{et al.} from Eurocrypt 2014. A main technical improvement over the scheme mentioned above, and other schemes based on using error correcting codes for UC commitment, we develop a new technique which allows to based the extraction property on erasure decoding as opposed...... to error correction. This allows to use a code with significantly smaller minimal distance and allows to use codes without efficient decoding. Our scheme only relies on standard assumptions. Specifically we require a pseudorandom number generator, a linear error correcting code and an ideal oblivious......, we manage to add the additive homo- morphic property, while at the same time reducing the constants. In fact, when opening a large enough batch of commitments we achieve an amor- tized communication complexity converging to the length of the message committed to, i.e., we achieve close to rate 1...

  17. Sport commitment and participation in masters swimmers: the influence of coach and teammates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santi, Giampaolo; Bruton, Adam; Pietrantoni, Luca; Mellalieu, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated how coach and teammates influence masters athletes' sport commitment, and the effect of functional and obligatory commitments on participation in masters swimming. The sample consisted of 523 masters swimmers (330 males and 193 females) aged between 22 and 83 years (M = 39.00, SD = 10.42). A bi-dimensional commitment scale was used to measure commitment dimensions and perceived influence from social agents. Structural equation modelling analysis was conducted to evaluate the influence of social agents on functional and obligatory commitments, and the predictive capabilities of the two types of commitment towards sport participation. Support provided by coach and teammates increased functional commitment, constraints from these social agents determined higher obligatory commitment, and coach constraints negatively impacted functional commitment. In addition, both commitment types predicted training participation, with functional commitment increasing participation in team training sessions, and obligatory commitment increasing the hours of individual training. The findings suggest that in order to increase participation in masters swimming teams and reduce non-supervised training, coach and teammates should exhibit a supportive attitude and avoid over expectation.

  18. Factor analysis and Mokken scaling of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire in nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Yami, M; Galdas, P; Watson, R

    2018-03-22

    To generate an Arabic version of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire that would be easily understood by Arabic speakers and would be sensitive to Arabic culture. The nursing workforce in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a process of Saudization but there is a need to understand the factors that will help to retain this workforce. No organizational commitment tools exist in Arabic that are specifically designed for health organizations. An Arabic version of the organizational commitment tool could aid Arabic speaking employers to understand their employees' perceptions of their organizations. Translation and back-translation followed by factor analysis (principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis) to test the factorial validity and item response theory (Mokken scaling). A two-factor structure was obtained for the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire comprising Factor 1: Value commitment; and Factor 2: Commitment to stay with acceptable reliability measured by internal consistency. A Mokken scale was obtained including items from both factors showing a hierarchy of items running from commitment to the organization and commitment to self. This study shows that the Arabic version of the OCQ retained the established two-factor structure of the original English-language version. Although the two factors - 'value commitment' and 'commitment to stay' - repudiate the original developers' single factor claim. A useful insight into the structure of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire has been obtained with the novel addition of a hierarchical scale. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire is now ready to be used with nurses in the Arab speaking world and could be used a tool to measure the contemporary commitment of nursing employees and in future interventions aimed at increasing commitment and retention of valuable nursing staff. © 2018 International Council of Nurses.

  19. Exercisers' identities and exercise dependence: the mediating effect of exercise commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Frank Jing-Horng; Hsu, Eva Ya-Wen; Wang, Junn-Ming; Huang, Mei-Yao; Chang, Jo-Ning; Wang, Chien-Hsin

    2012-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of exercise identity, exercise commitment, exercise dependence, and, particularly, the mediating effects of exercise commitment on the relationship between exercise identity and exercise dependence. 253 Taiwanese regular exercisers completed measures, including the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised, the Exercise Identity Scale, the Exercise Commitment Scale, and the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire. Results showed that exercise identity, exercise dependence, and two types of exercise commitment were moderately to highly correlated. Furthermore, structural equation modelling indicated that a "have to" commitment partially mediated the relationship between exercise identity and exercise dependence. Based on the mediating role of a "have to" commitment, the findings are particularly informative to exercise instructors and for exercise program managers.

  20. Possibility, impossibility, and cheat sensitivity of quantum-bit string commitment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buhrman, H.; Christandl, M.; Hayden, P.; Lo, H.-K.; Wehner, S.

    2008-01-01

    Unconditionally secure nonrelativistic bit commitment is known to be impossible in both the classical and the quantum worlds. But when committing to a string of n bits at once, how far can we stretch the quantum limits? In this paper, we introduce a framework for quantum schemes where Alice commits

  1. Predictors of career commitment and job performance of Jordanian nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrayyan, Majd T; Al-Faouri, Ibrahim

    2008-04-01

    Few studies focused on nurses' career commitment and nurses' job performance. This research aimed at studying variables of nurses' career commitment and job performance, and assessing the relationship between the two concepts as well as their predictors. A survey was used to collect data from a convenient sample of 640 Registered Nurses employed in 24 hospitals. Nurses 'agreed' to be committed to their careers and they were performing their jobs 'well'. As a part of career commitment, nurses were willing to be involved, in their own time, in projects that would benefit patient care. The highest and lowest means of nurses' job performance were reported for the following aspects: leadership, critical care, teaching/collaboration, planning/evaluation, interpersonal relations/communications and professional development. Correlating of total scores of nurses' career commitment and job performance revealed the presence of a significant and positive relationship between the two concepts. Stepwise regression models revealed that the explained variance in nurses' career commitment was 23.9% and that in nurses' job performance was 29.9%. Nurse managers should promote nursing as a career and they should develop and implement various strategies to increase nurses' career commitment and nurses' job performance. These strategies should focus on nurse retention, staff development and quality of care. Nurses' career commitment and job performance are inter-related complex concepts that require further studies to understand, promote and maintain these positive factors in work environments.

  2. The measurement artifact in the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caught, K; Shadur, M A; Rodwell, J J

    2000-12-01

    This study empirically examined the debate in the literature regarding the dimensionality of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. The sample comprised 803 employees from organizations in the information technology and hospitality industries. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire appears to have a two-factor structure, with one factor consisting of positively worded items and the other factor, negatively worded items. Scores on both factors correlated significantly with job satisfaction, suggesting that both factors appear to be measuring a similar aspect of organizational commitment and that they present as two factors given as measurement artifacts of the item wording.

  3. New Graduate Nurses' Professional Commitment: Antecedents and Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerrero, Sylvie; Chênevert, Denis; Kilroy, Steven

    2017-09-01

    This study examines the factors that increase new graduate nurses' professional commitment and how this professional commitment in turn affects professional turnover intentions, anxiety, and physical health symptoms. The study was carried out in association with the nursing undergraduate's affiliation of Quebec, Canada. A three-wave longitudinal design was employed among nursing students. Nurses were surveyed before they entered the labor market, and then twice after they started working. Participants were contacted by post at their home address. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Professional commitment explains why good work characteristics and the provision of organizational resources related to patient care reduce nurses' anxiety and physical symptoms, and increase their professional turnover intentions. Pre-entry professional perceptions moderate the effects of work characteristics on professional commitment such that when participants hold positive pre-entry perceptions about the profession, the propensity to develop professional commitment is higher. There is a worldwide shortage of nurses. From a nurse training perspective, it is important to create realistic perceptions of the nursing role. In hospitals, providing a good work environment and resources conducive to their professional ethos is critical for ensuring nurses do not leave the profession early on in their careers. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

  4. The Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Commitment in Nonprofit Long Term Care Organizations: The Direct Care Worker Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Jeanette A.

    2015-01-01

    The United States population is rapidly aging, and retaining direct care workers (DCWs) will continue to be a workforce concern for the industry in addressing the demand for long term care services. To date, scant literature exists that addresses the DCW perspective of leadership behaviors and their influence on organizational commitment. To…

  5. Organisational values and organisational commitment: do nurses' ethno-cultural differences matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendel, Tova; Kagan, Ilya

    2014-05-01

    To examine the association between perceived organisational values and organisational commitment among Israeli nurses in relation to their ethno-cultural background. Differences and the discrepancy between individuals' organisational values and those of their organisational culture are a potential source of adjustment difficulties. Organisational values are considered to be the bond of the individual to their organisation. In multicultural societies, such as Israel, the differences in perception of organisational values and organisational commitment may be reflected within workgroups. Data were collected using a questionnaire among 106 hospital nurses. About 59.8% of the sample were Israeli-born. A positive correlation was found between organisational values and organisational commitment. Significant differences were found in organisational values and organisational commitment between Israeli-born-, USSR-born- and Ethiopian-born nurses. The socio-demographic profile modified the effect of organisational values on organisational commitment: when the nurse was male, Muslim, religiously orthodox and without academic education, the effect of organisational values on organisational commitment was higher. Findings confirm the role of culture and ethnicity in the perception of organisational values and the level of organisational commitment among nurses. Assessing ethno-cultural differences in organisational values and organisational commitment provides a fuller understanding of nurses' ability to adjust to their work environment and helps nurse managers devise means to increase nurses' commitment. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Petitioning for Involuntary Commitment for Chemical Dependency by Medical Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamoureux, Ian C; Schutt, Paul E; Rasmussen, Keith G

    2017-09-01

    Patients who have chemical dependency (CD) are commonly encountered on medical and surgical wards, often for illnesses and injuries sustained as a direct result of their substance abuse. When these patients are repeatedly admitted to the hospital in certain states that provide a legal framework to commit chemically dependent persons to a treatment facility, clinicians often wonder whether they should initiate that process. Should consulting psychiatrists choose to initiate the commitment process, they put into motion a resource-intensive, time-consuming mechanism, with uncertain outcomes, both in the courtroom and at the bedside. Petitioning for involuntary commitment to chemical dependency treatment of a patient from medical and surgical services is poorly understood. In this study, we examined a series of patients for whom petitions for judicial commitment in the state of Minnesota were entered over a 12-month period, and evaluated the likelihood of commitment to treatment, the demographics of patients involved, and the outcomes for this series of patients. Three vignettes are presented to illustrate the severity of these patients' illnesses and potential outcomes of the process. We further describe potential limitations of the commitment system and alternatives to CD commitment that could be explored further. © 2017 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

  7. 48 CFR 852.215-71 - Evaluation factor commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Evaluation factor....215-71 Evaluation factor commitments. As prescribed in 815.304-71(b), insert the following clause: Evaluation Factor Commitments (DEC 2009) The offeror agrees, if awarded a contract, to use the service...

  8. The Impact Of Demographic Factors On Organisational Commitment ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Study Investigated the Impact of demographic factors on organization commitment among workers in selected work organizations in Lagos State of Nigeria. This was for the purpose of ascertaining the relevance of demographic factors on workers' commitment to organizations goal achievement in Nigeria. The ex-post ...

  9. 48 CFR 1501.602-3 - Ratification of unauthorized commitments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... to present its claim to the General Accounting Office in accordance with the instructions contained... commitments, whether oral or written and without regard to dollar value. Examples of unauthorized commitments...

  10. Relationship between organisational commitment and burnout syndrome: a canonical correlation approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enginyurt, Ozgur; Cankaya, Soner; Aksay, Kadir; Tunc, Taner; Koc, Bozkurt; Bas, Orhan; Ozer, Erdal

    2016-04-01

    Objective Burnout syndrome can significantly reduce the performance of health workers. Although many factors have been identified as antecedents of burnout, few studies have investigated the role of organisational commitment in its development. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between subdimensions of burnout syndrome (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment) and subdimensions of organisational commitment (affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment). Methods The present study was a cross-sectional survey of physicians and other healthcare employees working in the Ministry of Health Ordu University Education and Research Hospital. The sample consisted of 486 healthcare workers. Data were collected using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Organisation Commitment Scale, and were analysed using the canonical correlation approach. Results The first of three canonical correlation coefficients between pairs of canonical variables (Ui , burnout syndrome and Vi, organisational commitment) was found to be statistically significant. Emotional exhaustion was found to contribute most towards the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the subdimensions of burnout syndrome, whereas affective commitment provided the largest contribution towards the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the subdimensions of organisational commitment. Conclusions The results of the present study indicate that affective commitment is the primary determinant of burnout syndrome in healthcare professionals. What is known about the topic? Organisational commitment and burnout syndrome are the most important criteria in predicting health workforce performance. An increasing number of studies in recent years have clearly indicated the field's continued relevance and importance. Conversely, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is a technique for describing the relationship

  11. Teacher Commitment and Its Effects on Student Achievement in American High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Insim

    2005-01-01

    This study explored the effects of teacher commitment on student achievement. Three teacher commitment dimensions of organizational, professional, and student commitment were derived. The three-dimensional teacher commitment measurement model was tested by a confirmatory factor analysis. Then, the relationships among individual and organizational…

  12. Great Lakes waters: radiation dose commitments, potential health effects, and cost-benefit considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ainsworth, E.J.

    1977-07-01

    In 1972, a Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was signed by the United States and Canadian Governments. It was stipulated that the operation and effectiveness of the agreement were to be reviewed comprehensively in 1977. Aspects of the agreement concern nondegradation of Great Lakes waters and maintenance of levels of radioactivity or other potential pollutants at levels considered as low as practicable. A refined radioactivity objective of one millirem is proposed in the Water Quality Agreement. The implications of adoption of this objective are not known fully. The Division of Environmental Impact Studies was commissioned by ERDA's Division of Technology Overview to summarize the information available on the current levels of radioactivity in Great Lakes waters, compute radiation-dose commitment (integrated dose over 50 years after consumption of 2.2 liters of water of one year), and to comment on the feasibility and cost-benefit considerations associated with the refined one-millirem objective. Current levels of radioactivity in the waters of Lakes Michigan, Ontario, Erie, and Huron result in dose commitments in excess of 1 mrem for whole body and 6 mrem for bone. Future projections of isotope concentrations in Great lakes water indicate similar dose commitments for drinking water in the year 2050. Reduction of the levels of radioactivity in Great Lakes waters is not feasible, but cost-benefit considerations support removal of 226 Ra and 90 Sr through interceptive technology before water consumption. Adoption of the one-millirem objective is not propitious

  13. An examination of organizational and team commitment in a self-directed team environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, James W; Scott, K Dow

    2000-06-01

    A model hypothesizing differential relationships among predictor variables and individual commitment to the organization and work team was tested. Data from 485 members of sewing teams supported the existence of differential relationships between predictors and organizational and team commitment. In particular, intersender conflict and satisfaction with coworkers were more strongly related to team commitment than to organizational commitment. Resource-related conflict and satisfaction with supervision were more strongly related to organizational commitment than to team commitment. Perceived task interdependence was strongly related to both commitment foci. Contrary to prediction, the relationships between perceived task interdependence and the 2 commitment foci were not significantly different. Relationships with antecedent variables help explain how differential levels of commitment to the 2 foci may be formed. Indirect effects of exogenous variables are reported.

  14. Organizational Commitment DEOCS 4.1 Construct Validity Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-08-01

    Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of vocational behavior, 14(2), 224-247. Norusis, M.J., 1993. SPSS for...Windows Base System User’s Guide Release 6.0, SPSS Inc. Porter, L. W., Crampon, W. J., & Smith, F. J. (1976). Organizational commitment and managerial

  15. Job anxiety, organizational commitment and job satisfaction: An ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Job anxiety, organizational commitment and job satisfaction: An empirical assessment of supervisors in the state of Eritrea. ... The findings of the present research revealed that (i) recognition and self-esteem facets of job anxiety were found to be significantly related to job satisfaction, (ii) facets of organizational commitment ...

  16. Teachers: Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anari, Nahid Naderi

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction, between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment, and between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among high-school English teachers. Furthermore, the study aims to examine the role of gender and age in…

  17. Organizational commitment and its impact on employees’ individual interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.R. Dabir

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Organizational commitment is one of the most widely researched topics in the field of organizational behavior. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of organizational commitment on individual interactions which was conducted in Municipality of Karaj. To achieve this objective, the data was collected using the Standard questionnaires applying descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods within the population consisted of 400 employees of Karaj municipality. The present research is a descriptive and co relational study and is of applied type. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the dimensions of employees’ individual interaction and organizational commitment in Karaj Municipality. Besides, correlation with other variables of individual engagement and commitment were not verified. At the end, it is suggested to Karaj Municipality that regarding human force as human capital and before recruiting and employment and maintenance, make attempt to identify internal and personality features of them to design required plans in the promotion of organization commitment and drive tomore exploitation.

  18. Transcriptional regulation of lineage commitment--a stochastic model of cell fate decisions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Teles

    Full Text Available Molecular mechanisms employed by individual multipotent cells at the point of lineage commitment remain largely uncharacterized. Current paradigms span from instructive to noise-driven mechanisms. Of considerable interest is also whether commitment involves a limited set of genes or the entire transcriptional program, and to what extent gene expression configures multiple trajectories into commitment. Importantly, the transient nature of the commitment transition confounds the experimental capture of committing cells. We develop a computational framework that simulates stochastic commitment events, and affords mechanistic exploration of the fate transition. We use a combined modeling approach guided by gene expression classifier methods that infers a time-series of stochastic commitment events from experimental growth characteristics and gene expression profiling of individual hematopoietic cells captured immediately before and after commitment. We define putative regulators of commitment and probabilistic rules of transition through machine learning methods, and employ clustering and correlation analyses to interrogate gene regulatory interactions in multipotent cells. Against this background, we develop a Monte Carlo time-series stochastic model of transcription where the parameters governing promoter status, mRNA production and mRNA decay in multipotent cells are fitted to experimental static gene expression distributions. Monte Carlo time is converted to physical time using cell culture kinetic data. Probability of commitment in time is a function of gene expression as defined by a logistic regression model obtained from experimental single-cell expression data. Our approach should be applicable to similar differentiating systems where single cell data is available. Within our system, we identify robust model solutions for the multipotent population within physiologically reasonable values and explore model predictions with regard to

  19. Policy implications of considering pre-commitments in U.S. aggregate energy demand system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rowland, Christopher S.; Mjelde, James W.; Dharmasena, Senarath

    2017-01-01

    Linear approximations of the Generalized Almost Ideal Demand System and Almost Ideal Demand System for U.S. energy are compared to contrast the explicit inclusion and exclusion of pre-committed consumption levels. Results indicate that pre-commitment levels, the quantity of a good that is consumed in the short run with little regard for price, helps to better explain energy demand in the U.S. compared to the system that does not explicitly consider pre-commitments. Policy implications are if pre-commitments are a legitimate assumption, larger price changes are necessary to achieve a given policy objective than if there are no pre-commitments. - Highlights: • Pre-commitments are the quantity that is consumed with little regard for price. • Demand systems with pre-commitment levels better explain energy demand. • Elasticities from assuming pre-commitments are more elastic. • Estimated elasticities apply to discretionary and not pre-commitment consumption. • Pre-commitments require larger price changes to achieve a given policy objective.

  20. Solving optimum operation of single pump unit problem with ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuan, Y; Liu, C

    2012-01-01

    For pumping stations, the effective scheduling of daily pump operations from solutions to the optimum design operation problem is one of the greatest potential areas for energy cost-savings, there are some difficulties in solving this problem with traditional optimization methods due to the multimodality of the solution region. In this case, an ACO model for optimum operation of pumping unit is proposed and the solution method by ants searching is presented by rationally setting the object function and constrained conditions. A weighted directed graph was constructed and feasible solutions may be found by iteratively searching of artificial ants, and then the optimal solution can be obtained by applying the rule of state transition and the pheromone updating. An example calculation was conducted and the minimum cost was found as 4.9979. The result of ant colony algorithm was compared with the result from dynamic programming or evolutionary solving method in commercial software under the same discrete condition. The result of ACO is better and the computing time is shorter which indicates that ACO algorithm can provide a high application value to the field of optimal operation of pumping stations and related fields.

  1. Using internal marketing to improve organizational commitment and service quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Yafang; Wu, Shih-Wang

    2011-12-01

    The purpose of this article was to explore the structural relationships among internal marketing, organizational commitment and service quality and to practically apply the findings. Internal marketing is a way to assist hospitals in improving the quality of the services that they provide while executing highly labour-intensive tasks. Through internal marketing, a hospital can enhance the organizational commitment of its employees to attain higher service quality. This research uses a cross-sectional study to survey nursing staff perceptions about internal marketing, organizational commitment and service quality. The results of the survey are evaluated using equation models. The sample includes three regional hospitals in Taiwan. Three hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed and 288 valid questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 82.3%. The survey process lasted from 1 February to 9 March 2007. The data were analysed with SPSS 12.0, including descriptive statistics based on demographics. In addition, the influence of demographics on internal marketing, organizational commitment and service quality is examined using one-way anova. The findings reveal that internal marketing plays a critical role in explaining employee perceptions of organizational commitment and service quality. Organizational commitment is the mediator between internal marketing and service quality. The results indicate that internal marketing has an impact on both organizational commitment and service quality. Internal marketing should be emphasized to influence frontline nursing staff, thereby helping to create better organizational commitment and service quality. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  2. Competency management: Balancing between commitment and control

    OpenAIRE

    Heinsman, Hanneke; de Hoogh, Annebel H. B.; Koopman, Paul L.; van Muijen, Jaap J.

    2006-01-01

    This study investigated the relationships between commitment and control approaches and the use of competency management by adopting the theory of planned behavior. Questionnaires were filled out by 43 human resource experts working in different organizations. We expected components of the theory of planned behavior to mediate the relationship between commitment and control approaches and the use of competency management (behavior). Regression analysis showed that perceived behavioral control...

  3. Voluntary "involuntary" commitment--the briar-patch syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, R D

    1980-01-01

    Szasz and others have pointed out that many so-called voluntary admissions to mental hospitals have various elements of coercion involved, and are thus not truly voluntary. The author contends that the converse situation is also true, that many patients admitted under involuntary commitment papers arrange for their own commitments. Reasons for such choices are discussed in the context of a review of the literature and several case histories.

  4. Relationship between sport commitment and sport consumer behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norberta Elisa Fernandes

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between sport commitment and three types of sport consumer behaviors: participation frequency, sporting goods and media consumption. A survey was conducted among sport participants of both individual and team sports, fitness and outdoor activities (n= 900. The survey included questions related to demographic information, measures of sport commitment and sport consumption behavior. The results analyzed trough structural equation modeling showed that the sport commitment influences positively the participation frequency, sporting goods consumption and media consumption. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research on sport consumers are provided.

  5. The Effect of Organizatonal Learning on Organizational Commitment in Accommodation Sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Özlem Yenidoğan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The research was done with the purpose of identifying the relationship between two conceptual structures which were organizational learning and organizational commitment. Main hypothesis was identified as “There is a positive correlation between employees’ organizational learning inclination and organizational commitment.” In order to identify the relation between two conceptual structures, Likert type scale was used by using the literature. Stated likert type scales were applied for 279 people including managers’ and employees’ and statistical analysis on gathered datas from 260 questionnaires was done. In the research, both the correlation between organizational learning and sub-dimensions of organizational commitment which classified as emotional, normative, continuance commitment and the correlation between employees’ age, level of education, position and working period variables and organizational commitment were examined. Regression analysis was used in order to identify the correlation between organizational learning and organizational commitment which was the main hypothesis. Other hypotheses were tested by one way analysis of variance. It was found that that there was a positive correlation between organizational learning and organizational commitment. Result of the analysis indicates that in order to increase organizational learning inclination of managers and employees for developing their organizational commitment, applications for organizational learning should be given importance in companies.

  6. Balancing organizational and professional commitments in Professional Service Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Frances; Becker, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Due to their potential to positively influence sales quality and performance and reduce employee turnover in service organizations, HR practices targeting employee commitment have received considerable attention in the HRM literature in recent years. Parallel to this, there has been increasing...... financial investment firms. Our findings suggest that in professional service firms, HR practices encourage high levels of organizational commitment primarily and most often through their influence on professional commitment and that HR practices related to flexible work design are essential in creating...

  7. Unconditionally Secure and Universally Composable Commitments from Physical Assumptions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; Scafuro, Alessandra

    2013-01-01

    We present a constant-round unconditional black-box compiler that transforms any ideal (i.e., statistically-hiding and statistically-binding) straight-line extractable commitment scheme, into an extractable and equivocal commitment scheme, therefore yielding to UC-security [9]. We exemplify the u...... of unconditional UC-security with (malicious) PUFs and stateless tokens, our compiler can be instantiated with any ideal straight-line extractable commitment scheme, thus allowing the use of various setup assumptions which may better fit the application or the technology available....

  8. Emotional display rules and emotional labor: the moderating role of commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosserand, Robin H; Diefendorff, James M

    2005-11-01

    The authors examined whether commitment to emotional display rules is a necessary condition for emotional display rules to affect behavior at work. Results using structural equation modeling revealed that display rule commitment moderated the relationships of emotional display rule perceptions with surface acting, deep acting, and positive affective delivery at work, such that the relationships were strong and positive when commitment to display rules was high and weak when commitment to display rules was low. These findings suggest that motivation plays a role in the emotional labor process in that individuals must be committed to display rules for these rules to affect behavior. ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Internet Pornography Consumption and Relationship Commitment of Filipino Married Individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Racidon P. Bernarte

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Internet pornography has many adverse effects, especially to the relationship commitment. The use of pornography directly correlates to a decrease in sexual intimacy. Hence, this might lead to weakening of the relationship of their partner. To find out the relevance of the claim, the researchers aimed to explore the relationship of Internet pornography consumption to the relationship commitment of married individuals in the Philippines. Different factors such as level of satisfaction, investment, quality of alternatives, relationship stability and viewing habits were also considered in determining the relationship of watching online pornography and the relationship commitment of Filipino married individuals. The study used the descriptive-correlational design. A self-administered survey was distributed to 400.It is revealed that Internet pornography consumption has an adverse effect on the relationship commitment of married Filipino couples. Furthermore, watching porn online weakened the relationship commitment that leads to an unstable relationship. This investigation found out that internet pornography consumption has a nominal negative effect on the relationship commitment of Filipino married individuals. It is proven on this study that internet pornography consumption can weaken the relationship commitment of married individuals thus, it promotes knowledge about numerous effect of it, negatively and even positively. This paper also contributes to pornography related researches on the country which can give further awareness about the said area.

  10. Parenting--Challenge and Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luckey, Eleanore Braun

    1973-01-01

    This is a revised version of the National Council on Family Relations Presidential address delivered November 3, 1972, Portland Oregon. This address concerned the new constitution and reorganization of N.C.F.R. and a plea for reexamination of the membership's commitment to family issues. (JC)

  11. The Fold of Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raastrup Kristensen, Anders; Pedersen, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This paper serves two purposes. First, a rereading of Douglas McGregor’s An uneasy look at performance appraisal serves to show how McGregor’s conceptualization of commitment as a question of integrating personal goals with organizational purpose has helped shape founding the modern understanding...

  12. Burnout and work engagement of academics in higher education institutions: effects of dispositional optimism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barkhuizen, Nicolene; Rothmann, Sebastiaan; van de Vijver, Fons J R

    2014-10-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among dispositional optimism, job demands and resources, burnout, work engagement, ill health and organizational commitment of South African academic staff in higher education institutions. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with stratified random samples (N = 595) taken of academics in South African higher education institutions. The results confirmed that job demands and a lack of job resources contributed to burnout, whereas job resources contributed to work engagement. Dispositional optimism had a strong direct effect on perceptions of job resources as well as strong indirect effects (via job resources) on burnout, work engagement, ill health and organizational commitment. The results of this study extend the dual-process model of burnout and engagement by demonstrating the strong effects of dispositional optimism on the constructs in the model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. Islamic Counselling Model to Increase Religious Commitment (Study of Students at the University UIN Bandung

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fenti Hikmawati

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The study aims to test the effectiveness of Islamic counseling model for helping the students to tight their religious commitment. The religious commitment is covered in three major Islamic teachings: Iman (faith, Islam (surrender to Allah, and lhsan (state of being observed by Allah. The model of Islamic counseling aims to tight students' religious commitment must to be applied immediately because the preface study reveals some students' religious commitment were not strong enough, their behavior and thinking symptoms tend to not appropriate yet with Islam norm among their association and conception toward the truth of God. To achieve the aim, the study was carried out with three steps: (1 designing a model of counseling; (2 trying out field study, using pretest-post test control group experimental design with 140 students of Islamic Religion Education, the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teaching, State Islamic University, Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung. Of 140 students, 70 students are from the classes: A (32 people, B (38 people, involved in control group and the test; 37 people from class C, and 33 students from class D involved in the experiment group, and; (3 designing a final model by revising the model tried-out. The variable involved three major Islamic dimensions: the iman, Islam, and ihsan of the students. The model was designed based on the theory put forward by Musfir bin Said Az-Zalmmi, that is, an integrated counseling model. The model combines and employs the ideas from other concepts into a tightly united concept, called Islamic concept. Upon completing analysis, it was found that the new concept is significantly effective to enhance students' religious commitment. A Model of Islamic Counseling (MIC is an alternative-counseling model that can be employed for teenagers/ students to enhance their religious commitment. The study recommends that: (1 MIC can be applied to fifth semester students in the Faculty of Tarbiyah State Islamic

  14. Organisational commitment levels of faculty members in sport ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study aimed to reveal the organisational commitment levels of faculty members to teaching at higher education institutions in Turkey. To be able to obtain participants' views, the organisational commitment scale developed by Allen and Meyer in 1990 was used and data was analysed by means of the SPSS 17.0 ...

  15. Quantum bit commitment with misaligned reference frames

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harrow, Aram; Oliveira, Roberto; Terhal, Barbara M.

    2006-01-01

    Suppose that Alice and Bob define their coordinate axes differently, and the change of reference frame between them is given by a probability distribution μ over SO(3). We show that this uncertainty of reference frame is of no use for bit commitment when μ is uniformly distributed over a (sub)group of SO(3), but other choices of μ can give rise to a partially or even arbitrarily secure bit commitment

  16. Study on the Influence of Leadership Style on Employee’s Organizational Commitment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lin

    2018-03-01

    Talent is the core competitiveness of an enterprise, how to retain talent, inspire their creative, exert its advantages for the enterprise to bring profit maximization and value appreciation. It has always been the focus of enterprises and scholars. A great number of studies have shown that organizational commitment has an important impact on employees’ attitudes, thoughts and behaviors, and leadership style is also an important variable which affects the organizational commitment of employees. Through the questionnaire survey, the statistical software SPSS24.0 empirical analysis of the collected data shows that there is a positive correlation between the style of leadership and the commitment of the employee and the correlation with the employee’s normative commitment is not significant; The established leadership is negatively correlated with the employee’s emotional commitment and normative commitment, but it is not significant with the continuous commitment.

  17. Organisational commitment and turnover intentions: evidence from Nigerian paramilitary organisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dotun Olaleye Faloye

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the empirical link between different dimensions of organizational commitment and turnover intentions on Nigeria paramilitary organisation. A literature review of organizational commitment and employee turnover provides the basis for the research hypotheses. Four research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 95% and 99% confidence level. The study adopted a survey research design. A self-administered questionnaire was used, involving 144 respondents from selected paramilitary organisation in Akure, Nigeria to collect data and testing the existing theory. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. In contrary to theory, the study revealed a weak positive relationship between organizational commitment dimensions (affective, continuance and normative and turnover intentions. The relationships are statistically significant expect the one between turnover intention and normative commitment which is statistically insignificant. The study concluded that the commitment of an employee to organisational goals, missions, and values is not enough to predict his/her stay in the organisation. There are other variables apart from organisational commitment that are predictor of employees’ intentions to quit. Thus, organisations should look beyond forces in their internal environment, when considering reduction in employee’s turnover intentions and the actual employee’s turnover.

  18. Internal marketing, customer orientation, and organizational commitment: moderating effects of work status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Meiju; Chen, Mei-Yen

    2013-08-01

    Associations among internal marketing, customer orientation, and organizational commitment were examined, particularly with regard to the moderating effects of work status on the relationships between internal marketing and customer orientation or organizational commitment, in a cross-sectional design with structural equation modeling. Two studies (Ns = 119 and 251) were conducted among full- and part-time service employees at Taipei Sports Centers. Internal marketing was associated with organizational commitment and customer orientation. Customer orientation was associated with organizational commitment and partially mediated the relation between internal marketing and organizational commitment. Furthermore, work status significantly moderated the relationships between internal marketing and customer orientation but not between internal marketing and organizational commitment. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.

  19. Optimization of a Nucleic Acids united-RESidue 2-Point model (NARES-2P) with a maximum-likelihood approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Yi; Scheraga, Harold A.; Liwo, Adam

    2015-01-01

    Coarse-grained models are useful tools to investigate the structural and thermodynamic properties of biomolecules. They are obtained by merging several atoms into one interaction site. Such simplified models try to capture as much as possible information of the original biomolecular system in all-atom representation but the resulting parameters of these coarse-grained force fields still need further optimization. In this paper, a force field optimization method, which is based on maximum-likelihood fitting of the simulated to the experimental conformational ensembles and least-squares fitting of the simulated to the experimental heat-capacity curves, is applied to optimize the Nucleic Acid united-RESidue 2-point (NARES-2P) model for coarse-grained simulations of nucleic acids recently developed in our laboratory. The optimized NARES-2P force field reproduces the structural and thermodynamic data of small DNA molecules much better than the original force field

  20. The Relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Organizational Commitment in Welfare Staff (Tehran 2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asghar Makarem

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment and its dimensions on the Welfare staff in Tehran 2013. Materials & Methods: In this cross - sectional study, one hundred eight staff of Tehran Welfare were selected by random sample, and the sample size of the previous studies. Data were collected using two standard questionnaires OCB, and Organizational Commitment, which includes the three dimensions, affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment and analyzed by statistical methods such as: Pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA. Results: The finding showed Between OCB and organizational commitment there was significant and positive correlation (P&le0.01, r=0.325. Also the dimensions of organizational commitment: affective commitment and normative commitment have a significant positive relationship with OCB, but not significant relationship OCB with a continuous commitment. ANOVA results showed that the average OCB in age, type of employment and employee experience is different. And Continuous commitment in hiring employees is different and emotional commitment in Background employees is different. Conclusion: Based on the findings we conclude that the enhancement of organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment and staff of Tehran can be increased.

  1. Agricultural Trade Restrictiveness in the European Union and the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Jean-Christophe Bureau; Luca Salvatici

    2001-01-01

    The paper provides a summary measure of the Uruguay Round tariff reduction commitments in the European Union and the United States, using the Mercantilistic Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI) as the tariff aggregator. We compute the index for agricultural commodity aggregates assuming a specific (Constant Elasticity of Substitution) functional form for import demand. The levels of the MTRI under the actual commitments of the Uruguay Round are computed and compared with two hypothetical cases,...

  2. Practice patterns and organizational commitment of inpatient nurse practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Janet; Brennan, Mary; Musil, Carol M; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J

    2016-07-01

    Nurse practitioners (NPs) deliver a wide array of healthcare services in a variety of settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the practice patterns and organizational commitment of inpatient NPs. A quantitative design was used with a convenience sample (n = 183) of NPs who attended the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) national conference. The NPs were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire, the Practice Patterns of Acute Nurse Practitioners tool and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Over 85% of inpatient practice time consists of direct and indirect patient care activities. The remaining nonclinical activities of education, research, and administration were less evident in the NP's workweek. This indicates that the major role of inpatient NPs continues to be management of acutely ill patients. Moderate commitment was noted in the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Supportive hospital/nursing leadership should acknowledge the value of the clinical and nonclinical roles of inpatient NPs as they can contribute to the operational effectiveness of their organization. By fostering the organizational commitment behaviors of identification, loyalty, and involvement, management can reap the benefits of these professionally dedicated providers. ©2015 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

  3. Locked on course: Hydro-Quebec's commitment to mega-projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maxwell, J.; Briscoe, F.; Suzuki, Tatsujiro; Lee, J.; Stewart, A.

    1997-01-01

    Large organizations often escalate their commitments to mega-project development, even after evidence becomes available of adverse environmental consequences or lack of economic feasibility. This escalation of commitment transcends both sectorial and national boundaries. Preeminent examples include controversial nuclear projects in the US, hydroelectric projects like the Three Gorges Dam in China, and transport projects like the Chunnel and the Concorde. In this article, the authors examine the experience of Hydro-Quebec with the Great Whale Project. They argue that Hydro-Quebec escalated its commitment even after serious questions emerged about its environmental impacts and economic feasibility, because of (1) its earlier success with large projects, (2) its engineering culture''s norms for consistency, and (3) its role in the government''s desire for economic and cultural autonomy. Finally, they discuss the changes that are necessary to break commitments to such projects

  4. Antecedents of Corporate Environmental Commitments: The Role of Customers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshar Jahanshahi, Asghar; Brem, Alexander

    2018-06-06

    The management of natural environments has become a fundamental issue for companies in recent years. A firm’s environmental commitment affects all levels of its operation. In this study, we investigated whether having an effective and constant relationship with customers over time (customer capital) makes a difference to firms with a high environmental commitment compared with less environmentally committed firms. We found support for our idea by using original survey data from 149 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Iran (2016⁻2017). Furthermore, we found that customer capital enhances environmental collaboration with customers which, in turn, has a positive impact on the firm’s environmental commitments. These findings provide empirical evidence for the important role of “getting closer to customers” as a way of enhancing corporate environmental responsibility in developing countries with weak institutional environments.

  5. THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND A RESEARCH

    OpenAIRE

    CENGİZ DEMİR; UMUT CAN ÖZTÜRK

    2013-01-01

    Organizational culture is the all values that shared by the whole of the organization. Organizational commitment is employees’ strength of bond for the organization which they work for. There should be shared values for mentioned about commitment. If those values are adopted by a large number of people and if they are strong, the level of commitment will increase. The main purpose of this study is to determine  the impact of organizational culture on commitment and the relationship. This stud...

  6. IMPACT OF COMMITMENT TO BUSINESS ETHICS TO NONFINANCIAL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvija Vig

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article investigates the relationship between commitment to business ethics and nonfinancial business performance. Data of commitment to business ethics and nonfinancial business performance were collected from 100 participants through a questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted in 2015 in Croatian large and medium sized companies. The questionnaire for assessing commitment to business ethics contained nine different dimensions while the nonfinancial business performance contained three dimensions: client satisfaction, human resource management plus innovativeness and efficiency of business processes. Multiple regression methods were applied in the analysis. The empirical results of three multiple linear regression models show that certain dimension of commitment to business ethics had a positive influence on the nonfinancial performance of the companies. Motivation and rewarding policy for ethical behavior and responding to unethical behavior, as a dimension of commitment to business ethics, has distinctive effects on all three nonfinancial performance dimensions. It was also found that selecting suppliers based on the standards of ethics and compliance has a positive and strong influence on client satisfaction while using ethical criteria in the performance and efficiency evaluation of employees has a positive and significant influence on innovativeness and efficiency of business processes. This research leads to the conclusion that some dimensions of commitment to business ethics can be important predictors of nonfinancial business performance. Therefore, results of the research could be considered as valid motivation for further improvement of commitment to ethics in the business environment.

  7. The association of leadership styles and empowerment with nurses' organizational commitment in an acute health care setting: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asiri, Samirah A; Rohrer, Wesley W; Al-Surimi, Khaled; Da'ar, Omar O; Ahmed, Anwar

    2016-01-01

    The current challenges facing healthcare systems, in relation to the shortage of health professionals, necessitates mangers and leaders to learn from different leadership styles and staff empowerment strategies, so as to create a work environment that encourages nursing staff commitment to patients and their organization. This study intends to measure the effects of nurses' overall perception of the leadership style of their managers, and psychological empowerment on their organizational commitment in acute care units, in National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. This was a cross-sectional survey, where the data was obtained from nurses at King Abdulaziz Medical City. Hard copy questionnaires were distributed to 350 randomly selected nurses. Three hundred and thirty two (332) were completed, representing a response rate of 95 %. Three validated survey instruments were used to obtain the data: (1) The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), formulated by Bass and Avolio (1997), (2) The Psychological Empowerment Scale developed by Spreitzer (1995) and (3) The Three-Component Model of Employee Commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1997). A theoretical model that conceptually links leadership, empowerment, and organizational commitment was used. The SPSS program version 19 was employed to perform descriptive and inferential statistics including correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Overall most nurses perceived their immediate nursing managers as not displaying the ideal level of transformational leadership (TFL) behaviors. Nurses' commitment appeared to be negatively correlated with TFL style and perceived psychological empowerment. However, commitment was positively correlated with the Transactional Leadership (TAL) style. Analysis, also, showed that commitment is significantly associated with the nurse's nationality by region: North American (P = 0.001) and Arab (p = 0.027). The other important predictors of

  8. COMMITMENT A Psychological Tie and Moral Value

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-04-01

    Research When I think of commitment, it is a feeling and an action with a strong moral component. However, as I began researching commitment it became...characteristics of “being committed” must be independent of behavior. One mechanism of doing this is through the analysis of bargaining and side bets .27...Becker uses Schelling’s example of bargaining to buy a house to explain side bets . In this scenario, you offer $16,000, but the seller counters with

  9. Organizational commitment, work environment conditions, and life satisfaction among Iranian nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanaki, Zohreh; Vagharseyyedin, Seyyed Abolfazl

    2009-12-01

    Employee commitment to the organization is a crucial issue in today's health-care market. In Iran, few studies have sought to evaluate the factors that contribute to forms of commitment. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurses' organizational commitment, work environment conditions, and life satisfaction. A cross-sectional design was utilized. Questionnaires were distributed to all the staff nurses who had permanent employment (with at least 2 years of experience in nursing) in the five hospitals affiliated to Birjand Medical Sciences University. Two hundred and fifty participants returned completed questionnaires. Most were female and married. The correlation of the total scores of nurses' affective organizational commitment and work environment conditions indicated a significant and positive relationship. Also, a statistically significant relationship was found between affective organizational commitment and life satisfaction. The implementation of a comprehensive program to improve the work conditions and life satisfaction of nurses could enhance their organizational commitment.

  10. Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Organizational Commitment: A Descriptive Analytical Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faraji, Obeidollah; Ramazani, Abbas Ali; Hedaiati, Pouria; Aliabadi, Ali; Elhamirad, Samira; Valiee, Sina

    2015-11-01

    Many factors influence the organizational commitment of employees. One of these factors is job designing since it affects the attitude, beliefs, and feelings of the organization employees. We aimed to determine the relationship between job characteristics and organizational commitment among the employees of hospitals. In this descriptive and correlational study, 152 Iranian employees of the hospitals (physicians, nurses, and administrative staff) were selected through stratified random sampling. Data gathered using 3-part questionnaire of "demographic information", "job characteristics model," and "organizational commitment," in 2011. Study data were analyzed using SPSS v. 16. There was significant statistical correlation between organizational commitment and variables of educational level (P = 0.001) and job category (P = 0.001). Also, a direct and significant correlation existed between motivating potential score and job feedback on one hand and organizational commitment on the other hand (P = 0.014). According to the results, managers of the hospitals should increase staff's commitment through paying attention to proper job designing.

  11. Work-family conflict, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment among employed mothers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casper, Wendy J; Martin, Jennifer A; Buffardi, Louis C; Erdwins, Carol J

    2002-04-01

    This study investigated the impact of work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) on women's organizational commitment and examined both the direct and moderating effects of their perceived organizational support. Participants were 143 professional employed mothers with at least 1 preschool-age child. The study found that WIF was positively related to continuance organizational commitment but unrelated to affective commitment, and FIW was not related to either form of organizational commitment. Results also indicated that perceived organizational support exhibited a main effect on both types of commitment.

  12. Modelling of a Naphtha Recovery Unit (NRU with Implications for Process Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiawei Du

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The naphtha recovery unit (NRU is an integral part of the processes used in the oil sands industry for bitumen extraction. The principle role of the NRU is to recover naphtha from the tailings for reuse in this process. This process is energy-intensive, and environmental guidelines for naphtha recovery must be met. Steady-state models for the NRU system are developed in this paper using two different approaches. The first approach is a statistical, data-based modelling approach where linear regression models have been developed using Minitab® from plant data collected during a performance test. The second approach involves the development of a first-principles model in Aspen Plus® based on the NRU process flow diagram. A novel refinement to this latter model, called “withdraw and remix”, is proposed based on comparing actual plant data to model predictions around the two units used to separate water and naphtha. The models developed in this paper suggest some interesting ideas for the further optimization of the process, in that it may be possible to achieve the required naphtha recovery using less energy. More plant tests are required to validate these ideas.

  13. The effects of psychological contract violation on employees' commitment to organizational change

    OpenAIRE

    Ran, Yuhong

    2007-01-01

    This research examines the relationship between the perceived psychological contract violation and employee’s commitment to organizational change in business merger situation. Through the research, it shows that perceived psychological contract violation will significantly reduce the employees’ affective commitment to organizational change; increase continuance commitment to organizational change, but will not significantly affect the normative commitment to organizational change. Also, the e...

  14. A study on relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment

    OpenAIRE

    Maryam Khalili

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between organizational culture and organization commitment. The study uses two questionnaires, one for measuring organizational commitment originally developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) [Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human resource management review, 1(1), 61-89.] and the other one for organizational culture developed by Denison and Spreitzer (1991)...

  15. A Temporal Analysis of the Relation between Organisational Commitment and Work Motivation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marylène Gagné

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Meyer, Becker, and Vandenberghe (2004 recently proposed a model linking work motivation to organisational commitment. Two studies tested these links prospectively with employees from a Canadian telecommunications company and from an Italian autoparts company. Self-determination theory provided the framework to measure work motivation, such that measures of external, introjected and identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation were linked to Allen and Meyer's (1990 and to O'Reilly and Chatman's (1986 tripartite models of organisational commitment. We hypothesised that Time 1 motivation would be related to changes in commitment over time, but that Time 1 commitment would not be related to motivational changes over time. Results supported hypotheses for affective and normative commitment, but not for continuance commitment.

  16. Company, country, connections: counterfactual origins increase organizational commitment, patriotism, and social investment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersner-Hershfield, Hal; Galinsky, Adam D; Kray, Laura J; King, Brayden G

    2010-10-01

    Four studies examined the relationship between counterfactual origins--thoughts about how the beginning of organizations, countries, and social connections might have turned out differently--and increased feelings of commitment to those institutions and connections. Study 1 found that counterfactually reflecting on the origins of one's country increases patriotism. Study 2 extended this finding to organizational commitment and examined the mediating role of poignancy. Study 3 found that counterfactual reflection boosts organizational commitment even beyond the effects of other commitment-enhancing appeals and that perceptions of fate mediate the positive effect of counterfactual origins on commitment. Finally, Study 4 temporally separated the counterfactual manipulation from a behavioral measure of commitment and found that counterfactual reflection predicted whether participants e-mailed social contacts 2 weeks later. The robust relationship between counterfactual origins and commitment was found across a wide range of companies and countries, with undergraduates and M.B.A. students, and for attitudes and behaviors.

  17. Director ownership, outside directors and commitment to corporate social responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Ying

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the effects of director ownership and the proportion of outside directors on firms’ commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR. Using a sample of 453 Hong Kong listed companies for 2005, we find that there is a non-linear relationship between the level of director ownership and firms’ engagement in CSR behavior. Commitment to CSR first increases as the proportion of director ownership increases up to 50% and then decreases as that proportion of ownership grows higher. Further, the proportion of outside directors on the board exhibits a positive relationship with the level of CSR commitment. These results provide explanations for firms’ commitment to CSR from the corporate governance perspective.

  18. Therapeutic commitment for general nurses in dealing with mental ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    therapeutic commitment in dealing with mental health problems of PL-. WHA. However, therapeutic .... commitment, knowledge and skills in relation to age, gender, work experience, workplace or whether mental health lectures had been ... coefficients that a medium positive linear correlation exists between therapeutic ...

  19. Committed warming inferred from observations and an energy balance model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pincus, R.; Mauritsen, T.

    2017-12-01

    Due to the lifetime of CO2 and thermal inertia of the ocean, the Earth's climate is not equilibrated with anthropogenic forcing. As a result, even if fossil fuel emissions were to suddenly cease, some level of committed warming is expected due to past emissions. Here, we provide an observational-based quantification of this committed warming using the instrument record of global-mean warming, recently-improved estimates of Earth's energy imbalance, and estimates of radiative forcing from the fifth IPCC assessment report. Compared to pre-industrial levels, we find a committed warming of 1.5K [0.9-3.6, 5-95 percentile] at equilibrium, and of 1.3K [0.9-2.3] within this century. However, when assuming that ocean carbon uptake cancels remnant greenhouse gas-induced warming on centennial timescales, committed warming is reduced to 1.1K [0.7-1.8]. Conservatively, there is a 32% risk that committed warming already exceeds the 1.5K target set in Paris, and that this will likely be crossed prior to 2053. Regular updates of these observationally-constrained committed warming estimates, though simplistic, can provide transparent guidance as uncertainty regarding transient climate sensitivity inevitably narrows and understanding the limitations of the framework is advanced.

  20. Evaluation of employee commitment as an imperative for business success / Esti Olivier

    OpenAIRE

    Olivier, Esti

    2011-01-01

    Employee commitment is a concept that seeks to capture the nature of the attachments formed by individuals to their employing organisations. Researchers such as Porter have attempted to identify what factors influence the formation of employee commitment in individuals and how employee commitment (once formed) influences important organisational consequences, particularly employee turnover and business success. In a highly committed workplace, employees understand and agree with the company's...