WorldWideScience

Sample records for pursuing similar system-wide

  1. Pursuing Ideology with "Statecraft"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Hayden; Michelsen, Niall

    2017-01-01

    Utilizing a web-based simulation Statecraft, we explore the relative influence of ideology (realism and idealism) on student behavior and learning. By placing students into ideologically cohesive groups, we are able to demonstrate the effect of their ideology on the goals they pursue and identify the constraints imposed on the system by the…

  2. Early Career Experiences of Pediatricians Pursuing or Not Pursuing Fellowship Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrne, Bobbi J; Katakam, Shesha K; Frintner, Mary Pat; Cull, William L

    2015-10-01

    Choosing career paths can be difficult decisions for residents contemplating fellowship training. This study compares the experiences of early career pediatricians who did and did not pursue fellowships. We analyzed national, weighted data from pediatricians 8 to 10 years after residency (n = 842). Work environment, work-life balance, and satisfaction were compared for pediatricians who had pursued fellowship training (fellowship trained) and those who did not pursue fellowship training (generalist trained). Logistic and linear regression examined the independent effects of fellowship training while controlling for demographic differences. A total of 39% of the pediatricians (328/842) pursued fellowship training. The fellowship-trained group was less likely than the generalist-trained group to spend time in direct patient care and more likely to report learning opportunities in their work environment. This group was also more likely to report an income of ≥$150,000, although no difference was found when only full-time pediatricians were examined. Generalist-trained pediatricians were more likely to work hours per week, have flexibility with their schedules, and be satisfied with time spent with their own children. Pediatricians in both the fellowship-trained and generalist-trained groups generally found their work to be rewarding and were satisfied with their lives. Although residents need to consider important life and career differences when contemplating fellowship training and general care, pediatricians in both groups can achieve overall life and career satisfaction. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  3. Diploma students’ perspective: Pursue or not to pursue a degree in accountancy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Awab Nor’aini

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This is an exploratory study which investigates the reasons influencing Diploma in Accountancy (DIA students’ intention to pursue or not pursue a Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc degree programme. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA is used as a basis for the study. The research involves collecting primary data through survey questionnaires. 250 questionnaires were distributed to the final year DIA students in MARA Professional College. Based on the findings, the reasons that influence students’ intention to pursue are: the hope to earn a good salary, higher future earnings potential and greater employability in the future. In contrast, the reasons for non-pursuance of a BAcc programme are because students think that they can develop their potential for personal growth and career development with other degree programmes or they want to get jobs and start working after obtaining the DIA. These findings would be useful to the Ministry of Education, the universities as well as the professional bodies to ensure that the students continue their studies in the accounting discipline to achieve their full potential.

  4. Why Parenthood, and Why Now? Gay Men's Motivations for Pursuing Parenthood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Abbie E.; Downing, Jordan B.; Moyer, April M.

    2012-01-01

    The current qualitative study of 35 preadoptive gay male couples (70 men) examined gay men's motivations to parent and their reasons for pursuing parenthood at the current time. Similar to heterosexual couples, gay men described a range of psychologically oriented reasons as shaping their decision to become parents. Some of these (e.g., desire to…

  5. The role of institutional innovation and learning when pursuing transit-oriented development strategies : EURA 2013

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tan, Wendy

    2013-01-01

    Transit-oriented development strategies (TODS) are widely pursued by planners and policy makers. However, there is a lack of0clarity on how institutional innovation and learning accompanying0institutional change0facilitates an explicit shift towards a conducive context for TODS. This is evident in

  6. Development of similarity theory for control systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myshlyaev, L. P.; Evtushenko, V. F.; Ivushkin, K. A.; Makarov, G. V.

    2018-05-01

    The area of effective application of the traditional similarity theory and the need necessity of its development for systems are discussed. The main statements underlying the similarity theory of control systems are given. The conditions for the similarity of control systems and the need for similarity control control are formulated. Methods and algorithms for estimating and similarity control of control systems and the results of research of control systems based on their similarity are presented. The similarity control of systems includes the current evaluation of the degree of similarity of control systems and the development of actions controlling similarity, and the corresponding targeted change in the state of any element of control systems.

  7. World Wide Web-based system for the calculation of substituent parameters and substituent similarity searches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ertl, P

    1998-02-01

    Easy to use, interactive, and platform-independent WWW-based tools are ideal for development of chemical applications. By using the newly emerging Web technologies such as Java applets and sophisticated scripting, it is possible to deliver powerful molecular processing capabilities directly to the desk of synthetic organic chemists. In Novartis Crop Protection in Basel, a Web-based molecular modelling system has been in use since 1995. In this article two new modules of this system are presented: a program for interactive calculation of important hydrophobic, electronic, and steric properties of organic substituents, and a module for substituent similarity searches enabling the identification of bioisosteric functional groups. Various possible applications of calculated substituent parameters are also discussed, including automatic design of molecules with the desired properties and creation of targeted virtual combinatorial libraries.

  8. Why Parenthood, and Why Now?: Gay Men's Motivations for Pursuing Parenthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Abbie E; Downing, Jordan B; Moyer, April M

    2012-02-01

    The current qualitative study of 35 pre-adoptive gay male couples (70 men) examined gay men's motivations to parent and their reasons for pursuing parenthood at the current time. Similar to heterosexual couples, gay men described a range of psychologically-oriented reasons as shaping their decision to become parents. Some of these (e.g., desire to teach a child tolerance) may have been uniquely shaped by their sexual minority status, and others (e.g., desire to give a child a good home) in part reflect their adoptive status. Men named age, finances, and relationship factors, as well as unique contextual factors such as the need to find and move to gay-friendly neighborhoods, as influencing their readiness to pursue parenthood at the current time. Gay men's motivations to parent echo normative life course decision-making processes, but also reflect concerns that are uniquely informed by their sexual minority status.

  9. Intent to Pursue Further Studies among Chinese Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    To, W. M.; Lai, Linda S. L.; Lung, Jane W. Y.; Lai, T. M.

    2014-01-01

    The number of students pursuing graduate qualifications has increased, especially in Asian countries and cities, such as China, Macao and Hong Kong. This paper examines the intent to pursue further studies among Chinese students according to the theory of planned behaviour. Based on responses from 321 final-year students in higher education…

  10. The Multiple Roles of Women Pursuing Doctoral Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Malone, Laurell Coleman M.S.

    1998-01-01

    Increases in the employment of women in administrative and managerial careers have drawn attention to a need for research that examines the interdependency of work and family roles, a need that is particularly crucial in the area of academic administration. This was a qualitative study of the strategies and support systems women educational administrators use to deal with the multiple roles they perform in life and work while pursuing doctoral studies. Forty-four women educational admini...

  11. Pharmacy Educator Motives to Pursue Pedagogical Knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baia, Patricia; Strang, Aimee F

    2016-10-25

    Objective. To investigate motives of pharmacy educators who pursue pedagogical knowledge through professional development programs and to develop a model of motivation to inform future development. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to study both qualitative and quantitative data. Written narratives, postmodule quizzes, and survey data were collected during a 5-year period (2010-2014) from pharmacy educators who participated in an online professional development program titled Helping Educators Learn Pedagogy (HELP). Grounded theory was used to create a model of motivation for why pharmacy educators might pursue pedagogical knowledge. Results. Participants reported being driven intrinsically by a passion for their own learning (self-centered motivation) and by the need to improve student learning (student-centered motivation) and extrinsically by program design, funding, and administrator encouragement. Conclusion. A new model of pharmacy educator motivation to pursue pedagogy knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge Acquisition Theory (PKAT), emerged as a blended intrinsic and extrinsic model, which may have value in developing future professional development programs.

  12. Understanding the impact of global trade liberalization on health systems pursuing universal health coverage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Missoni, Eduardo

    2013-01-01

    In the context of reemerging universalistic approaches to health care, the objective of this article was to contribute to the discussion by highlighting the potential influence of global trade liberalization on the balance between health demand and the capacity of health systems pursuing universal health coverage (UHC) to supply adequate health care. Being identified as a defining feature of globalization affecting health, trade liberalization is analyzed as a complex and multidimensional influence on the implementation of UHC. The analysis adopts a systems-thinking approach and refers to the six building blocks of World Health Organization's current "framework for action," emphasizing their interconnectedness. While offering new opportunities to increase access to health information and care, in the absence of global governance mechanisms ensuring adequate health protection and promotion, global trade tends to have negative effects on health systems' capacity to ensure UHC, both by causing higher demand and by interfering with the interconnected functioning of health systems' building blocks. The prevention of such an impact and the effective implementation of UHC would highly benefit from a more consistent commitment and stronger leadership by the World Health Organization in protecting health in global policymaking fora in all sectors. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. UNUSUALLY WIDE BINARIES: ARE THEY WIDE OR UNUSUAL?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraus, Adam L.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A.

    2009-01-01

    We describe an astrometric and spectroscopic campaign to confirm the youth and association of a complete sample of candidate wide companions in Taurus and Upper Sco. Our survey found 15 new binary systems (three in Taurus and 12 in Upper Sco) with separations of 3''-30'' (500-5000 AU) among all of the known members with masses of 2.5-0.012 M sun . The total sample of 49 wide systems in these two regions conforms to only some expectations from field multiplicity surveys. Higher mass stars have a higher frequency of wide binary companions, and there is a marked paucity of wide binary systems near the substellar regime. However, the separation distribution appears to be log-flat, rather than declining as in the field, and the mass ratio distribution is more biased toward similar-mass companions than the initial mass function or the field G-dwarf distribution. The maximum separation also shows no evidence of a limit at ∼ sun . We attribute this result to the post-natal dynamical sculpting that occurs for most field systems; our binary systems will escape to the field intact, but most field stars are formed in denser clusters and undergo significant dynamical evolution. In summary, only wide binary systems with total masses ∼ sun appear to be 'unusually wide'.

  14. Pursuing Normality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Louise Sofia; Handberg, Charlotte

    2018-01-01

    implying an influence on whether to participate in cancer survivorship care programs. Because of "pursuing normality," 8 of 9 participants opted out of cancer survivorship care programming due to prospects of "being cured" and perceptions of cancer survivorship care as "a continuation of the disease......BACKGROUND: The present study explored the reflections on cancer survivorship care of lymphoma survivors in active treatment. Lymphoma survivors have survivorship care needs, yet their participation in cancer survivorship care programs is still reported as low. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study...... was to understand the reflections on cancer survivorship care of lymphoma survivors to aid the future planning of cancer survivorship care and overcome barriers to participation. METHODS: Data were generated in a hematological ward during 4 months of ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation and 46...

  15. Why Parenthood, and Why Now?: Gay Men’s Motivations for Pursuing Parenthood

    OpenAIRE

    Goldberg, Abbie E.; Downing, Jordan B.; Moyer, April M.

    2012-01-01

    The current qualitative study of 35 pre-adoptive gay male couples (70 men) examined gay men’s motivations to parent and their reasons for pursuing parenthood at the current time. Similar to heterosexual couples, gay men described a range of psychologically-oriented reasons as shaping their decision to become parents. Some of these (e.g., desire to teach a child tolerance) may have been uniquely shaped by their sexual minority status, and others (e.g., desire to give a child a good home) in pa...

  16. Genome-wide analysis of regions similar to promoters of histone genes

    KAUST Repository

    Chowdhary, Rajesh

    2010-05-28

    Background: The purpose of this study is to: i) develop a computational model of promoters of human histone-encoding genes (shortly histone genes), an important class of genes that participate in various critical cellular processes, ii) use the model so developed to identify regions across the human genome that have similar structure as promoters of histone genes; such regions could represent potential genomic regulatory regions, e.g. promoters, of genes that may be coregulated with histone genes, and iii/ identify in this way genes that have high likelihood of being coregulated with the histone genes.Results: We successfully developed a histone promoter model using a comprehensive collection of histone genes. Based on leave-one-out cross-validation test, the model produced good prediction accuracy (94.1% sensitivity, 92.6% specificity, and 92.8% positive predictive value). We used this model to predict across the genome a number of genes that shared similar promoter structures with the histone gene promoters. We thus hypothesize that these predicted genes could be coregulated with histone genes. This hypothesis matches well with the available gene expression, gene ontology, and pathways data. Jointly with promoters of the above-mentioned genes, we found a large number of intergenic regions with similar structure as histone promoters.Conclusions: This study represents one of the most comprehensive computational analyses conducted thus far on a genome-wide scale of promoters of human histone genes. Our analysis suggests a number of other human genes that share a high similarity of promoter structure with the histone genes and thus are highly likely to be coregulated, and consequently coexpressed, with the histone genes. We also found that there are a large number of intergenic regions across the genome with their structures similar to promoters of histone genes. These regions may be promoters of yet unidentified genes, or may represent remote control regions that

  17. Self-similar pattern formation and continuous mechanics of self-similar systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Dyskin

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In many cases, the critical state of systems that reached the threshold is characterised by self-similar pattern formation. We produce an example of pattern formation of this kind – formation of self-similar distribution of interacting fractures. Their formation starts with the crack growth due to the action of stress fluctuations. It is shown that even when the fluctuations have zero average the cracks generated by them could grow far beyond the scale of stress fluctuations. Further development of the fracture system is controlled by crack interaction leading to the emergence of self-similar crack distributions. As a result, the medium with fractures becomes discontinuous at any scale. We develop a continuum fractal mechanics to model its physical behaviour. We introduce a continuous sequence of continua of increasing scales covering this range of scales. The continuum of each scale is specified by the representative averaging volume elements of the corresponding size. These elements determine the resolution of the continuum. Each continuum hides the cracks of scales smaller than the volume element size while larger fractures are modelled explicitly. Using the developed formalism we investigate the stability of self-similar crack distributions with respect to crack growth and show that while the self-similar distribution of isotropically oriented cracks is stable, the distribution of parallel cracks is not. For the isotropically oriented cracks scaling of permeability is determined. For permeable materials (rocks with self-similar crack distributions permeability scales as cube of crack radius. This property could be used for detecting this specific mechanism of formation of self-similar crack distributions.

  18. On Similarity Invariance of Balancing for Nonlinear Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scherpen, Jacquelien M.A.

    1995-01-01

    A previously obtained balancing method for nonlinear systems is investigated on similarity in variance by generalization of the observations on the similarity invariance of the linear balanced realization theory. For linear systems it is well known that the Hankel singular values are similarity

  19. Factors influencing medical students in pursuing a career in surgery ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Many factors play a role in the decision of a medical student to pursue a career in surgery. With a decline in numbers of applications into surgical programmes seen globally, the aim of this study was to determine the factors that influence medical students in pursuing a career in surgery. Methods: A descriptive ...

  20. Factors influencing US medical students' decision to pursue surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Lauren E; Cooper, Clairice A; Guo, Weidun Alan

    2016-06-01

    Interest and applications to surgery have steadily decreased over recent years in the United States. The goal of this review is to collect the current literature regarding US medical students' experience in surgery and factors influencing their intention to pursue surgery as a career. We hypothesize that multiple factors influence US medical students' career choice in surgery. Six electronic databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Education Resources Information Center, Embase, and PsycINFO) were searched. The inclusion criteria were studies published after the new century related to factors influencing surgical career choice among US medical students. Factors influencing US medical student surgical career decision-making were recorded. A quality index score was given to each article selected to minimize risk of bias. We identified 38 relevant articles of more than 1000 nonduplicated titles. The factors influencing medical student decision for a surgical career were categorized into five domains: mentorship and role model (n = 12), experience (clerkship n = 9, stereotype n = 4), timing of exposure (n = 9), personal (lifestyle n = 8, gender n = 6, finance n = 3), and others (n = 2). This comprehensive systemic review identifies mentorship, experience in surgery, stereotypes, timing of exposure, and personal factors to be major determinants in medical students' decisions to pursue surgery. These represent areas that can be improved to attract applicants to general surgery residencies. Surgical faculty and residents can have a positive influence on medical students' decisions to pursue surgery as a career. Early introduction to the field of surgery, as well as recruitment strategies during the preclinical and clinical years of medical school can increase students' interest in a surgical career. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Similarity joins in relational database systems

    CERN Document Server

    Augsten, Nikolaus

    2013-01-01

    State-of-the-art database systems manage and process a variety of complex objects, including strings and trees. For such objects equality comparisons are often not meaningful and must be replaced by similarity comparisons. This book describes the concepts and techniques to incorporate similarity into database systems. We start out by discussing the properties of strings and trees, and identify the edit distance as the de facto standard for comparing complex objects. Since the edit distance is computationally expensive, token-based distances have been introduced to speed up edit distance comput

  2. Perception of the motivational factors for pursuing a career in healthcare

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bárbara Garay Lara

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To interpret the perception of the motivational factors presented by students who decide to pursue a career in healthcare in the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception, Chile during 2015. Material and Methods: Through a qualitative design and using a phenomenological approach, a semi-structured interview was applied to 55 new students. They were all pursuing a degree in the fields of Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, Physical Therapy or Medical Technology of the School of Medicine at Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile, in 2015. The results were subject to triangulation of informants, and were analyzed using the technique of discourse analysis. Results: Vocation for public service, the career field once graduated or the experience of personal /familiar experiences when facing a health condition are perceived as an important part of the motivational factors for pursuing a degree in healthcare. Family, school where they graduated from or friends are not identified as an influence when deciding what professional field to pursue. This situation is not necessarily linked to a specific area of expertise. Conclusions: Altruism and vocation for public service are perceived as the main conditioning factor when deciding to pursue a degree in healthcare.

  3. The independent effects of goal contents and motives on well-being: it's both what you pursue and why you pursue it.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheldon, Kennon M; Ryan, Richard M; Deci, Edward L; Kasser, Tim

    2004-04-01

    The assertion that both the content of goals and the motives behind goals affect psychological well-being has been controversial. Three studies examined this issue directly, showing that both what goals people pursue (i.e., whether they strive for extrinsic vs. intrinsic goal contents) and why people pursue them (i.e., whether they strive for autonomous vs. controlled motives) make significant independent contributions to psychological well-being. The pattern emerged in between-person and within-person studies of cross-sectional well-being and also emerged in a year-long study of prospective change in well-being. Implications for prescriptive theories of happiness are discussed.

  4. [Similarity system theory to evaluate similarity of chromatographic fingerprints of traditional Chinese medicine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yongsuo; Meng, Qinghua; Jiang, Shumin; Hu, Yuzhu

    2005-03-01

    The similarity evaluation of the fingerprints is one of the most important problems in the quality control of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Similarity measures used to evaluate the similarity of the common peaks in the chromatogram of TCM have been discussed. Comparative studies were carried out among correlation coefficient, cosine of the angle and an improved extent similarity method using simulated data and experimental data. Correlation coefficient and cosine of the angle are not sensitive to the differences of the data set. They are still not sensitive to the differences of the data even after normalization. According to the similarity system theory, an improved extent similarity method was proposed. The improved extent similarity is more sensitive to the differences of the data sets than correlation coefficient and cosine of the angle. And the character of the data sets needs not to be changed compared with log-transformation. The improved extent similarity can be used to evaluate the similarity of the chromatographic fingerprints of TCM.

  5. Understanding similarity of groundwater systems with empirical copulas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haaf, Ezra; Kumar, Rohini; Samaniego, Luis; Barthel, Roland

    2016-04-01

    Within the classification framework for groundwater systems that aims for identifying similarity of hydrogeological systems and transferring information from a well-observed to an ungauged system (Haaf and Barthel, 2015; Haaf and Barthel, 2016), we propose a copula-based method for describing groundwater-systems similarity. Copulas are an emerging method in hydrological sciences that make it possible to model the dependence structure of two groundwater level time series, independently of the effects of their marginal distributions. This study is based on Samaniego et al. (2010), which described an approach calculating dissimilarity measures from bivariate empirical copula densities of streamflow time series. Subsequently, streamflow is predicted in ungauged basins by transferring properties from similar catchments. The proposed approach is innovative because copula-based similarity has not yet been applied to groundwater systems. Here we estimate the pairwise dependence structure of 600 wells in Southern Germany using 10 years of weekly groundwater level observations. Based on these empirical copulas, dissimilarity measures are estimated, such as the copula's lower- and upper corner cumulated probability, copula-based Spearman's rank correlation - as proposed by Samaniego et al. (2010). For the characterization of groundwater systems, copula-based metrics are compared with dissimilarities obtained from precipitation signals corresponding to the presumed area of influence of each groundwater well. This promising approach provides a new tool for advancing similarity-based classification of groundwater system dynamics. Haaf, E., Barthel, R., 2015. Methods for assessing hydrogeological similarity and for classification of groundwater systems on the regional scale, EGU General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria. Haaf, E., Barthel, R., 2016. An approach for classification of hydrogeological systems at the regional scale based on groundwater hydrographs EGU General Assembly

  6. Nasa-wide Standard Administrative Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneck, P.

    1984-01-01

    Factors to be considered in developing agency-wide standard administrative systems for NASA include uniformity of hardware and software; centralization vs. decentralization; risk exposure; and models for software development.

  7. Traffic flow wide-area surveillance system definition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allgood, G.O.; Ferrell, R.K.; Kercel, S.W.; Abston, R.A.; Carnal, C.L. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Moynihan, P.I. [Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)

    1994-11-01

    Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance (TFWAS) is a system for assessing the state of traffic flow over a wide area for enhanced traffic control and improved traffic management and planning. The primary purpose of a TFWAS system is to provide a detailed traffic flow description and context description to sophisticated traffic management and control systems being developed or envisioned for the future. A successful TFWAS system must possess the attributes of safety, reconfigurability, reliability, and expandability. The primary safety premise of TFWAS is to ensure that no action or failure of the TFWAS system or its components can result in risk of injury to humans. A wide variety of communication techniques is available for use with TFWAS systems. These communication techniques can be broken down into two categories, landlines and wireless. Currently used and possible future traffic sensing technologies have been examined. Important criteria for selecting TFWAS sensors include sensor capabilities, costs, operational constraints, sensor compatibility with the infrastructure, and extent. TFWAS is a concept that can take advantage of the strengths of different traffic sensing technologies, can readily adapt to newly developed technologies, and can grow with the development of new traffic control strategies. By developing innovative algorithms that will take information from a variety of sensor types and develop descriptions of traffic flows over a wide area, a more comprehensive understanding of the traffic state can be provided to the control system to perform the most reasonable control actions over the entire wide area. The capability of characterizing the state of traffic over an entire region should revolutionize developments in traffic control strategies.

  8. System Wide Information Management (SWIM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hritz, Mike; McGowan, Shirley; Ramos, Cal

    2004-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation lists questions regarding the implementation of System Wide Information Management (SWIM). Some of the questions concern policy issues and strategies, technology issues and strategies, or transition issues and strategies.

  9. Self-similar solutions of certain coupled integrable systems

    CERN Document Server

    Chakravarty, S; Kent, S L

    2003-01-01

    Similarity reductions of the coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equation and an integrable version of the coupled Maxwell-Bloch system are obtained by applying non-translational symmetries. The reduced system of coupled ordinary differential equations are solved in terms of Painleve transcendents, leading to new exact self-similar solutions for these integrable equations.

  10. Self-similar solutions of certain coupled integrable systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chakravarty, S; Halburd, R G; Kent, S L

    2003-01-01

    Similarity reductions of the coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equation and an integrable version of the coupled Maxwell-Bloch system are obtained by applying non-translational symmetries. The reduced system of coupled ordinary differential equations are solved in terms of Painleve transcendents, leading to new exact self-similar solutions for these integrable equations

  11. Wide range neutron detection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Todt, W.H. Sr.

    1978-01-01

    A neutron detection system for reactor control is described which is operable over a wide range of neutron flux levels. The system includes a fission type ionization chamber neutron detector, means for gamma and alpha signal compensation, and means for operating the neutron detector in the pulse counting mode for low neutron flux levels, and in the direct current mode for high neutron flux levels

  12. A survey. Financial accounting and internal control functions pursued by hospital boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavin, T A

    1984-09-01

    Justification for a board committee's existence is its ability to devote time to issues judged to be important by the full board. This seems to have happened. Multiple committees pursue more functions than the other committee structures. Boards lacking an FA/IC committee pursue significantly fewer functions than their counterparts with committees. Substantial respondent agreement exists on those functions most and least frequently pursued, those perceived to be most and least important, and those perceived to be most and least effectively undertaken. Distinctions between committee structures and the full board, noted in the previous paragraph, hold true with respect to the importance of functions. All board structures identified reviewing the budget and comparing it to actual results as important. Committee structures are generally more inclined to address functions related to the work of the independent auditor and the effectiveness of the hospital's system and controls than are full board structures. Functions related to the internal auditor are pursued least frequently by all FA/IC board structures. The following suggestions are made to help boards pay adequate attention to and obtain objective information about the financial affairs of their hospitals. Those boards that do not have some form of an FA/IC committee should consider starting one. Evidence shows chief financial officers have been a moving force in establishing and strengthening such committees. Boards having a joint or single committee structure should consider upgrading their structure to either a single committee or multiple committees respectively. The complexity of the healthcare environment requires that more FA/IC functions be addressed by the board. The board or its FA/IC committee(s) should meet with their independent CPA's, fiscal intermediary auditors, and internal auditors. Where the hospital lacks an internal audit function a study should be undertaken to determine the feasibility of

  13. Exploring Hybrid Identities: South Asian American Women Pursue a Career in Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Amita Roy

    2013-01-01

    This study explores how second-generation South Asian American women negotiated their hybrid identities to pursue a career in teaching. Many South Asian Americans have not pursued a career in teaching because of various external and internal factors that have influenced their sense of identity, academic achievement, and professional career path…

  14. Factors influencing the decision to pursue emergency medicine as a career among medical students in Singapore.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chew, Shi Hao; Ibrahim, Irwani; Yong, Yan Zhen; Shi, Lu Ming; Zheng, Qi Shi; Samarasekera, Dujeepa D; Ooi, Shirley Beng Suat

    2018-03-01

    The introduction of the residency programme in Singapore allows medical students to apply for residency in their graduating year. Our study aimed to determine the interest levels and motivating factors for pursuing emergency medicine (EM) as a career among medical students in Singapore. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to Year 1-5 medical students in 2012. Participants indicated their interest in pursuing EM as a career and the degree to which a series of variables influenced their choices. Influencing factors were analysed using multinomial logistic regression. A total of 800 completed questionnaires were collected. 21.0% of the participants expressed interest in pursuing EM. Perceived personality fit and having done an elective in EM were strongly positive influencing factors. Junior medical students were more likely to cite the wide diversity of medical conditions and the lack of a long-term doctor-patient relationship to be negative factors, while senior medical students were more likely to cite personality fit and perceived prestige of EM as negative factors. Careful selection of EM applicants is important to the future development of EM in Singapore. Our study showed that personality fit might be the most important influencing factor in choosing EM as a career. Therefore, greater effort should be made to help medical students explore their interest in and suitability for a particular specialty. These include giving medical students earlier exposure to EM, encouraging participation in student interest groups and using appropriate personality tests for career guidance. Copyright: © Singapore Medical Association.

  15. A Wide Spectral Range Reflectance and Luminescence Imaging System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tapani Hirvonen

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we introduce a wide spectral range (200–2500 nm imaging system with a 250 μm minimum spatial resolution, which can be freely modified for a wide range of resolutions and measurement geometries. The system has been tested for reflectance and luminescence measurements, but can also be customized for transmittance measurements. This study includes the performance results of the developed system, as well as examples of spectral images. Discussion of the system relates it to existing systems and methods. The wide range spectral imaging system that has been developed is however highly customizable and has great potential in many practical applications.

  16. Estimating System-wide Impacts of Smart Grid Demonstrations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schneider, Kevin P.; Lightner, Eric M.; Fuller, Jason C.

    2015-03-01

    Quantifying the impact of a new technology on a single specific distribution feeder is relatively easy, but it does not provide insight into the complexities and variations of a system-wide deployment. It is the inability to extrapolate system-wide impacts that hinders the deployment of many promising new technologies. This paper presents a method of extrapolating technology impacts, either simulated or from a field demonstration, from a limited number of distribution feeders to a system-wide impact. The size of the system can vary from the service territory of a single utility, to a region, or to an entire country. The paper will include an example analysis using the United States Department of Energy (DOE) funded Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) projects, extrapolating their benefits to a national level.

  17. Notions of similarity for systems biology models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henkel, Ron; Hoehndorf, Robert; Kacprowski, Tim; Knüpfer, Christian; Liebermeister, Wolfram; Waltemath, Dagmar

    2018-01-01

    Systems biology models are rapidly increasing in complexity, size and numbers. When building large models, researchers rely on software tools for the retrieval, comparison, combination and merging of models, as well as for version control. These tools need to be able to quantify the differences and similarities between computational models. However, depending on the specific application, the notion of 'similarity' may greatly vary. A general notion of model similarity, applicable to various types of models, is still missing. Here we survey existing methods for the comparison of models, introduce quantitative measures for model similarity, and discuss potential applications of combined similarity measures. To frame model comparison as a general problem, we describe a theoretical approach to defining and computing similarities based on a combination of different model aspects. The six aspects that we define as potentially relevant for similarity are underlying encoding, references to biological entities, quantitative behaviour, qualitative behaviour, mathematical equations and parameters and network structure. We argue that future similarity measures will benefit from combining these model aspects in flexible, problem-specific ways to mimic users' intuition about model similarity, and to support complex model searches in databases. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  18. System-wide Benchmark Simulation Model for integrated analysis of urban wastewater systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saagi, R.; Flores-Alsina, X.; Gernaey, K. V.

    Interactions between different components (sewer, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and river) of an urban wastewater system (UWS) are widely recognized (Benedetti et al., 2013). This has resulted in an increasing interest in the modelling of the UWS. System-wide models take into account the inte...

  19. The Similar Structures and Control Problems of Complex Systems

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, the naturally evolving complex systems, such as biotic and social ones, are considered. Focusing on their structures, a feature is noteworthy, i.e., the similarity in structures. The relations between the functions and behaviors of these systems and their similar structures will be studied. Owing to the management of social systems and the course of evolution of biotic systems may be regarded as control processes, the researches will be within the scope of control problems. Moreover, since it is difficult to model for biotic and social systems, it will start with the control problems of complex systems, possessing similar structures, in engineering.The obtained results show that for either linear or nonlinear systems and for a lot of control problemssimilar structures lead to a series of simplifications. In general, the original system may be decomposed into reduced amount of subsystems with lower dimensions and simpler structures. By virtue of such subsystems, the control problems of original system can be solved more simply.At last, it turns round to observe the biotic and social systems and some analyses are given.

  20. Plant-wide integrated equipment monitoring and analysis system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morimoto, C.N.; Hunter, T.A.; Chiang, S.C.

    2004-01-01

    A nuclear power plant equipment monitoring system monitors plant equipment and reports deteriorating equipment conditions. The more advanced equipment monitoring systems can also provide information for understanding the symptoms and diagnosing the root cause of a problem. Maximizing the equipment availability and minimizing or eliminating consequential damages are the ultimate goals of equipment monitoring systems. GE Integrated Equipment Monitoring System (GEIEMS) is designed as an integrated intelligent monitoring and analysis system for plant-wide application for BWR plants. This approach reduces system maintenance efforts and equipment monitoring costs and provides information for integrated planning. This paper describes GEIEMS and how the current system is being upgraded to meet General Electric's vision for plant-wide decision support. (author)

  1. Factors influencing and modifying the decision to pursue genetic testing for skin cancer risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogel, Alexander L; Jaju, Prajakta D; Li, Shufeng; Halpern-Felsher, Bonnie; Tang, Jean Y; Sarin, Kavita Y

    2017-05-01

    Across cancers, the decision to pursue genetic testing is influenced more by subjective than objective factors. However, skin cancer, which is more prevalent, visual, and multifactorial than many other malignancies, may offer different motivations for pursuing such testing. The primary objective was to determine factors influencing the decision to receive genetic testing for skin cancer risk. A secondary objective was to assess the impact of priming with health questions on the decision to receive testing. We distributed anonymous online surveys through ResearchMatch.org to assess participant health, demographics, motivations, and interest in pursuing genetic testing for skin cancer risk. Two surveys with identical questions but different question ordering were used to assess the secondary objective. We received 3783 responses (64% response rate), and 85.8% desired testing. Subjective factors, including curiosity, perceptions of skin cancer, and anxiety, were the most statistically significant determinants of the decision to pursue testing (P < .001), followed by history of sun exposure (odds ratio 1.85, P < .01) and history of skin cancer (odds ratio 0.5, P = .01). Age and family history of skin cancer did not influence this decision. Participants increasingly chose testing if first queried about health behaviors (P < .0001). The decision to pursue hypothetical testing may differ from in-clinic decision-making. Self-selected, online participants may differ from the general population. Surveys may be subject to response bias. The decision to pursue genetic testing for skin cancer is primarily determined by subjective factors, such as anxiety and curiosity. Health factors, including skin cancer history, also influenced decision-making. Priming with consideration of objective health factors can increase the desire to pursue testing. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Formulation of similarity porous media systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, R.M.; Ford, W.T.; Ruttan, A.; Strauss, M.J.

    1982-01-01

    The mathematical formulation of the Porous Media System (PMS) describing two-phase, immiscible, compressible fluid flow in linear, homogeneous porous media is reviewed and expanded. It is shown that families of common vertex, coaxial parabolas and families of parallel lines are the only families of curves on which solutions of the PMS may be constant. A coordinate transformation is used to change the partial differential equations of the PMS to a system of ordinary differential equations, referred to as a similarity Porous Media System (SPMS), in which the independent variable denotes movement from curve to curve in a selected family of curves. Properties of solutions of the first boundary value problem are developed for the SPMS

  3. Wide-bandwidth bilateral control using two-stage actuator system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kokuryu, Saori; Izutsu, Masaki; Kamamichi, Norihiro; Ishikawa, Jun

    2015-01-01

    This paper proposes a two-stage actuator system that consists of a coarse actuator driven by a ball screw with an AC motor (the first stage) and a fine actuator driven by a voice coil motor (the second stage). The proposed two-stage actuator system is applied to make a wide-bandwidth bilateral control system without needing expensive high-performance actuators. In the proposed system, the first stage has a wide moving range with a narrow control bandwidth, and the second stage has a narrow moving range with a wide control bandwidth. By consolidating these two inexpensive actuators with different control bandwidths in a complementary manner, a wide bandwidth bilateral control system can be constructed based on a mechanical impedance control. To show the validity of the proposed method, a prototype of the two-stage actuator system has been developed and basic performance was evaluated by experiment. The experimental results showed that a light mechanical impedance with a mass of 10 g and a damping coefficient of 2.5 N/(m/s) that is an important factor to establish good transparency in bilateral control has been successfully achieved and also showed that a better force and position responses between a master and slave is achieved by using the proposed two-stage actuator system compared with a narrow bandwidth case using a single ball screw system. (author)

  4. Log-periodic self-similarity: an emerging financial law?

    OpenAIRE

    S. Drozdz; F. Grummer; F. Ruf; J. Speth

    2002-01-01

    A hypothesis that the financial log-periodicity, cascading self-similarity through various time scales, carries signatures of a law is pursued. It is shown that the most significant historical financial events can be classified amazingly well using a single and unique value of the preferred scaling factor lambda=2, which indicates that its real value should be close to this number. This applies even to a declining decelerating log-periodic phase. Crucial in this connection is identification o...

  5. Time Distribution Capabilities of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Klepczynski, William J; Fenton, Pat; Powers, Ed

    2001-01-01

    ...), the FAA has been interested in developing the use of the WAAS for time distribution. An economical, evolutionary approach to the development of the WAAS for time distribution has been pursued...

  6. Differential Motivations for Pursuing Diagnostic Radiology by Gender: Implications for Residency Recruitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimm, Lars J; Lowell, Dorothy A; Cater, Sarah W; Yoon, Sora C

    2017-10-01

    The purpose of this study is to determine how the motivations to pursue a career in radiology differ by gender. In addition, the influence of medical school radiology education will be assessed. Radiology applicants to our institution from the 2015-2016 interview season were offered an online survey in February 2016. Respondents scored the influence of 24 aspects of radiology on their decision to pursue radiology. Comparisons were made between male and female respondents. Respondents were also asked the type of medical school radiology education they received and to score the influence this experience had on their decision to pursue radiology. There were 202 total respondents (202/657) including 47 women and 155 men. Compared to men, the following factors had a more negative impact on women: flexible work hours (P = 0.04), work environment (P = 0.04), lifestyle (P = 0.04), impact on patient care (P = 0.05), high current debt load (P = 0.02), gender distribution of the field (P = 0.04), and use of emerging/advanced technology (P = 0.02). In contrast, women felt more favorably about the opportunities for leadership (P = 0.04) and research (P < 0.01). Dedicated radiology exposure was as follows: 20% (n = 20) none, 48% (n = 96) preclinical exposure, 55% (n = 111) elective rotation, and 18% (n = 37) core rotation. More intensive radiology exposure via a core rotation had a significantly positive impact on the decision to pursue radiology (P < 0.01). Male and female radiology applicants are motivated by different aspects of radiology, which may influence residency recruitment practices. In addition, more intensive radiology exposure has a net positive impact on the decision to pursue radiology. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The Perspectives of Two First-Generation College Students Pursuing Doctoral Degrees in Music Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasil, Martina; McCall, Joyce M.

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this autoethnographic multiple case study was to compare experiences of two first-generation college students pursuing doctoral degrees in music education. Motivations for pursuing an advanced degree were to enact change in the field of music education and fulfill personal ambitions. Participants encountered two challenges,…

  8. Benchmark ultra-cool dwarfs in widely separated binary systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jones H.R.A.

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Ultra-cool dwarfs as wide companions to subgiants, giants, white dwarfs and main sequence stars can be very good benchmark objects, for which we can infer physical properties with minimal reference to theoretical models, through association with the primary stars. We have searched for benchmark ultra-cool dwarfs in widely separated binary systems using SDSS, UKIDSS, and 2MASS. We then estimate spectral types using SDSS spectroscopy and multi-band colors, place constraints on distance, and perform proper motions calculations for all candidates which have sufficient epoch baseline coverage. Analysis of the proper motion and distance constraints show that eight of our ultra-cool dwarfs are members of widely separated binary systems. Another L3.5 dwarf, SDSS 0832, is shown to be a companion to the bright K3 giant η Cancri. Such primaries can provide age and metallicity constraints for any companion objects, yielding excellent benchmark objects. This is the first wide ultra-cool dwarf + giant binary system identified.

  9. Self-similar factor approximants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gluzman, S.; Yukalov, V.I.; Sornette, D.

    2003-01-01

    The problem of reconstructing functions from their asymptotic expansions in powers of a small variable is addressed by deriving an improved type of approximants. The derivation is based on the self-similar approximation theory, which presents the passage from one approximant to another as the motion realized by a dynamical system with the property of group self-similarity. The derived approximants, because of their form, are called self-similar factor approximants. These complement the obtained earlier self-similar exponential approximants and self-similar root approximants. The specific feature of self-similar factor approximants is that their control functions, providing convergence of the computational algorithm, are completely defined from the accuracy-through-order conditions. These approximants contain the Pade approximants as a particular case, and in some limit they can be reduced to the self-similar exponential approximants previously introduced by two of us. It is proved that the self-similar factor approximants are able to reproduce exactly a wide class of functions, which include a variety of nonalgebraic functions. For other functions, not pertaining to this exactly reproducible class, the factor approximants provide very accurate approximations, whose accuracy surpasses significantly that of the most accurate Pade approximants. This is illustrated by a number of examples showing the generality and accuracy of the factor approximants even when conventional techniques meet serious difficulties

  10. Student Motivation for Pursuing a Minor in Environmental Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Luanne Woods

    2013-01-01

    Environmental sustainability dominates the global conversation seeking to increase awareness and change the culture of thinking concerning the relationship between humans and the Earth. Because many universities offer programs relative to environmental sustainability, a need exists to understand why students pursue these programs. This study…

  11. An Architecture for a Wide Area Distributed System

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Homburg, P.; Steen, M.R. van; Tanenbaum, A.S.

    1996-01-01

    Distributed systems provide sharing of resources and information over a computer network. A key design issue that makes these systems attractive is that all aspects related to distribution are transparent to users. Unfortunately, general-purpose wide area distributed systems that allow users to

  12. System-wide lean implementation in health care: A multiple case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Centauri, Federica; Mazzocato, Pamela; Villa, Stefano; Marsilio, Marta

    2018-05-01

    Background Lean practices have been widely used by health care organizations to meet efficiency, performance and quality improvement needs. The lean health care literature shows that the effective implementation of lean requires a holistic system-wide approach. However, there is still limited evidence on what drives effective system-wide lean implementation in health care. The existing literature suggests that a deeper understanding of how lean interventions interact with the organizational context is necessary to identify the critical variables to successfully sustain system-wide lean strategies. Purpose and methodology: A multiple case study of three Italian hospitals is conducted with the aim to explore the organizational conditions that are relevant for an effective system-wide lean implementation. A conceptual framework, built on socio-technical system schemas, is used to guide data collection and analysis. The analysis points out the importance to support lean implementation with an integrated and coordinated strategy involving the social, technical, and external components of the overall hospital system.

  13. Pursuing the Triple Aim: The First 7 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittington, John W; Nolan, Kevin; Lewis, Ninon; Torres, Trissa

    2015-06-01

    those that did not, we were able to develop an ex post theory of what is needed for an organization or community to successfully pursue the Triple Aim. Drawing on our 7 years of experience, we describe the 3 major principles that guided the organizations and communities working on the Triple Aim: creating the right foundation for population management, managing services at scale for the population, and establishing a learning system to drive and sustain the work over time. The concept of the Triple Aim is now widely used, because of IHI's work with many organizations and also because of the adoption of the Triple Aim as part of the national strategy for US health care, developed during the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Even those organizations working on the Triple Aim before IHI coined the term found our concept to be useful because it helped them think about all 3 dimensions at once and organize their work around them. © 2015 Milbank Memorial Fund.

  14. What Influences Agents to Pursue a Career in Extension?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Shannon; Place, Nick

    2010-01-01

    The qualitative study reported here explored why agricultural agents pursue an Extension career. A purposive sample was used to select twelve Florida agricultural agents. Interviews investigated positive and negative influences that affected agents' employment decisions. Grounded theory was used as the primary data analysis method (Strauss &…

  15. Scaling, Similarity, and the Fourth Paradigm for Hydrology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Clark, Martyn; Samaniego, Luis; Verhoest, Niko E. C.; van Emmerik, Tim; Uijlenhoet, Remko; Achieng, Kevin; Franz, Trenton E.; Woods, Ross

    2017-01-01

    In this synthesis paper addressing hydrologic scaling and similarity, we posit that roadblocks in the search for universal laws of hydrology are hindered by our focus on computational simulation (the third paradigm), and assert that it is time for hydrology to embrace a fourth paradigm of data-intensive science. Advances in information-based hydrologic science, coupled with an explosion of hydrologic data and advances in parameter estimation and modelling, have laid the foundation for a data-driven framework for scrutinizing hydrological scaling and similarity hypotheses. We summarize important scaling and similarity concepts (hypotheses) that require testing, describe a mutual information framework for testing these hypotheses, describe boundary condition, state flux, and parameter data requirements across scales to support testing these hypotheses, and discuss some challenges to overcome while pursuing the fourth hydrological paradigm. We call upon the hydrologic sciences community to develop a focused effort towards adopting the fourth paradigm and apply this to outstanding challenges in scaling and similarity.

  16. When preparation meets opportunity: a case study exploring the feasibility of pursuing a career in biology for two Latina high school girls

    Science.gov (United States)

    García, Yeni Violeta

    2013-12-01

    The future of this country depends on utilizing human intellectual resources from varying viewpoints to make informed decisions on issues from conservation biology to biotechnology, or even bioengineering. An increase in Latina/o students in the biological sciences would bring a variety of viewpoints, as well as personal and cultural experiences that would advance the field. To insure that we have enough experts in biology that represent changes in demographic trends, we must look into utilizing the expertise of students in our current educational system to continue and complete careers in biology. In this study, a career in biology referred to careers that require an expertise in biology that is gained by completing a bachelor's degree in biology or an affiliated field. Using case study methodology, I explored the experiences of two Latina students, one who is undocumented, and focused on the nature of the experiences and how they related to the young women's decision to pursue a career in biology. This study is grounded on a theoretical framework of critical systems theory and the notion that there are systems and components within those systems that either facilitate or hinder students' ability to pursue various pathways. Data were generated from semi-structured interviews, artifacts, life narratives, and cultural descriptors to gain an understanding of the girls' past, present, and future decisions regarding the feasibility of pursuing a degree in biology. Four common themes emerged: (1) experiences that made a lasting positive or negative impact early in life; (2) an intrinsic desire to serve their community or people in need; (3) sociocultural support networks; and (4) opportunities or circumstances within the cultural commons associated with their legal status in the United States, which caused the girls to continue or to deviate from their path towards pursuing a career in biology.

  17. Review Essay: Auto/Ethnography and Tinsel Town: Nathaniel Kohn's Pursuing Hollywood and How it Relates to My Own Experiences Chasing the Dream of Creating Culture Through Cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Hemmingson

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available In Nathaniel KOHN's Pursuing Hollywood, auto/ethnography and interpretive interaction are discussed alongside postmodern sign theory and the machinations of making films in the Hollywood system. Interwoven into this review-essay of KOHN's book are auto/ethnographical elements of the reviewer's personal experiences making an independent film and doing business in what the reviewer refers to as "La La Land." While KOHN's book is meant to be an insider's gaze onto a world few know first-hand, the reviewer has had similar experiences and reads the book as an identifying text and a launch point for his own experiential accounts. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs080399

  18. Architecture and Fault Identification of Wide-area Protection System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuxue Wang

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Wide-area protection system (WAPS is widely studied for the purpose of improvng the performance of conventional backup protection. In this paper, the system architecture of WAPS is proposed and its key technologies are discussed in view of engineering projects. So a mixed structurecentralized-distributed structure which is more suitable for WAPS in limited power grid region, is obtained based on the advantages of the centralized structure and distributed structure. Furthermore, regional distance protection algorithm was taken as an example to illustrate the functions of the constituent units. Faulted components can be detected based on multi-source imformation fuse in the algorithm. And the algorithm cannot only improve the selectivity, the rapidity, and the reliability of relaying protection but also has high fault tolerant capability. A simulation of 220 kV grid systems in Easter Hubei province shows the effectiveness of the wide-area protection system presented by this paper.

  19. Wide-area service water information management system; Koiki suido joho kanri system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-01-10

    A wide-area service water system is required to be more resistant to emergency situations, e.g., drought and hazards, and meet consumers' diversifying needs in each area, while stably supplying water at ordinary times by utilizing purification plants located in places within its system and piping networks in the water area. Fuji Electric is providing information management systems for wide-area service water systems, developed based on the company's abundant system know-hows accumulated for a long time and latest techniques. They are characterized by (1) Web monitoring, aided by an intranet system, (2) high-speed data transmission by a digital transmission system, (3) open network environments, and (4) emergency calling of the staff, and management of stock materials. The system allows to monitor operating conditions within the area on real time, needless to say, and business administration with civil minimum taken into consideration, e.g., stabilizing water quality by coordinating the purification plants within the system. (translated by NEDO)

  20. Wide-band slow-wave systems simulation and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Staras, Stanislovas

    2012-01-01

    The field of electromagnetics has seen considerable advances in recent years, based on the wide applications of numerical methods for investigating electromagnetic fields, microwaves, and other devices. Wide-Band Slow-Wave Systems: Simulation and Applications presents new technical solutions and research results for the analysis, synthesis, and design of slow-wave structures for modern electronic devices with super-wide pass-bands. It makes available, for the first time in English, significant research from the past 20 years that was previously published only in Russian and Lithuanian. The aut

  1. An investigation into the use of ''expert systems'' for system-wide diagnostics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Booth, A.W.; Carroll, J.T.

    1987-01-01

    This paper has explained how expert systems function and how they might be used to provide a FASTBUS system-wide diagnostic program. The authors propose that the system be used to diagnose the FASTBUS system at FERMILAB's CDF experiment. There are many important areas which have not been addressed in great detail in this paper (such as the roles of the knowledge engineer and the expert during the knowledge acquisition phase), but the central idea of the embodiment of an expert skill in a computer is clear. Development of a system-wide diagnostic program requires building knowledge from all our system experts, into the system. To expand the expert system beyond its network diagnostic ability, to include finding faulty modules would be worthwhile. Having an ''intelligent'' assistant who is on shift 24 hours each day would relieve the ''real'' experts from laborious, time-consuming and sometimes repetitive tasks undertaken during the debugging process. The system could also provide a testbed for evaluation and comparison when considering future expert-system applications such as ''run-control'' and ''data analysis''. In the context of a system-wide diagnostic program, an ''expert system'' is not intended to replace human experts but simply to help them. It is envisaged that there will always be important interaction between the human expert and the ''expert system''. The incremental development of the ''expert system'' should ensure that it is useful in the short term (by debugging to the S.I./segment level for example), and even more useful in the medium to longer term as it acquires more and more knowledge and the ability to debug to the module level. Expert systems exist and are working successfully in many problem domains. See the bibliography for examples of ''expert systems'' built in the high energy physics environment

  2. Fault Identification Algorithm Based on Zone-Division Wide Area Protection System

    OpenAIRE

    Xiaojun Liu; Youcheng Wang; Hub Hu

    2014-01-01

    As the power grid becomes more magnified and complicated, wide-area protection system in the practical engineering application is more and more restricted by the communication level. Based on the concept of limitedness of wide-area protection system, the grid with complex structure is divided orderly in this paper, and fault identification and protection action are executed in each divided zone to reduce the pressure of the communication system. In protection zone, a new wide-area...

  3. The Lack of Motivation to Pursue Postsecondary Education among Hmong Students: A Grounded Theory Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Xang

    2015-01-01

    In rural areas, a lack of motivation to pursue a postsecondary degree continues to affect Hmong students at the postsecondary education level. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research was to create a model based on the exploration of the lack of motivation to pursue postsecondary education among Hmong high school students.…

  4. Indoor radon in three similar two-story houses with different ventilation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kokotti, H.; Savolainen, T.; Raunemaa, T.; Kalliokoski, P.

    1989-01-01

    Radon levels were monitored in three similar two-story apartment houses which were located side by side on a gravel esker in eastern Finland. The houses differed only in regard to their ventilation systems which included the following: natural ventilation, mechanical exhaust, and complete mechanical ventilation. The study started immediately when the houses were finished and was continued for two years. Radon concentrations were highest (60-430 Bq/m 3 ) in the beginning of the study period before the tenants moved in. During the following spring and fall, average radon levels of the houses decreased below 100 Bq/m 3 . Radon concentrations varied within a wide range, from 20 to 230 Bq/m 3 , in the apartments. Among the houses, the highest concentrations were found in the house equipped with mechanical exhaust ventilation and the lowest in the house with both a mechanical supply and exhaust system. One reason for the decreasing levels of radon after a one-year occupancy was that the tenants increased the ventilation of their apartments. In the house with complete mechanical ventilation, the stability of ventilation also contributed to the decrease of the indoor radon level

  5. Similarity of fluctuations in correlated systems: The case of seismicity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varotsos, P.A.; Sarlis, N.V.; Tanaka, H.K.; Skordas, E.S.

    2005-01-01

    We report a similarity of fluctuations in equilibrium critical phenomena and nonequilibrium systems, which is based on the concept of natural time. The worldwide seismicity as well as that of the San Andreas fault system and Japan are analyzed. An order parameter is chosen and its fluctuations relative to the standard deviation of the distribution are studied. We find that the scaled distributions fall on the same curve, which interestingly exhibits, over four orders of magnitude, features similar to those in several equilibrium critical phenomena (e.g., two-dimensional Ising model) as well as in nonequilibrium systems (e.g., three-dimensional turbulent flow)

  6. Scaling Analysis of the Single-Phase Natural Circulation: the Hydraulic Similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Xin-Guo; Choi, Ki-Yong

    2015-01-01

    These passive safety systems all rely on the natural circulation to cool down the reactor cores during an accident. Thus, a robust and accurate scaling methodology must be developed and employed to both assist in the design of a scaled-down test facility and guide the tests in order to mimic the natural circulation flow of its prototype. The natural circulation system generally consists of a heat source, the connecting pipes and several heat sinks. Although many applauding scaling methodologies have been proposed during last several decades, few works have been dedicated to systematically analyze and exactly preserve the hydraulic similarity. In the present study, the hydraulic similarity analyses are performed at both system and local level. By this mean, the scaling criteria for the exact hydraulic similarity in a full-pressure model have been sought. In other words, not only the system-level but also the local-level hydraulic similarities are pursued. As the hydraulic characteristics of a fluid system is governed by the momentum equation, the scaling analysis starts with it. A dimensionless integral loop momentum equation is derived to obtain the dimensionless numbers. In the dimensionless momentum equation, two dimensionless numbers, the dimensionless flow resistance number and the dimensionless gravitational force number, are identified along with a unique hydraulic time scale, characterizing the system hydraulic response. A full-height full-pressure model is also made to see which model among the full-height model and reduced-height model can preserve the hydraulic behavior of the prototype. From the dimensionless integral momentum equation, a unique hydraulic time scale, which characterizes the hydraulic response of a single-phase natural circulation system, is identified along with two dimensionless parameters: the dimensionless flow resistance number and the dimensionless gravitational force number. By satisfying the equality of both dimensionless numbers

  7. Scaling Analysis of the Single-Phase Natural Circulation: the Hydraulic Similarity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Xin-Guo; Choi, Ki-Yong [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-05-15

    These passive safety systems all rely on the natural circulation to cool down the reactor cores during an accident. Thus, a robust and accurate scaling methodology must be developed and employed to both assist in the design of a scaled-down test facility and guide the tests in order to mimic the natural circulation flow of its prototype. The natural circulation system generally consists of a heat source, the connecting pipes and several heat sinks. Although many applauding scaling methodologies have been proposed during last several decades, few works have been dedicated to systematically analyze and exactly preserve the hydraulic similarity. In the present study, the hydraulic similarity analyses are performed at both system and local level. By this mean, the scaling criteria for the exact hydraulic similarity in a full-pressure model have been sought. In other words, not only the system-level but also the local-level hydraulic similarities are pursued. As the hydraulic characteristics of a fluid system is governed by the momentum equation, the scaling analysis starts with it. A dimensionless integral loop momentum equation is derived to obtain the dimensionless numbers. In the dimensionless momentum equation, two dimensionless numbers, the dimensionless flow resistance number and the dimensionless gravitational force number, are identified along with a unique hydraulic time scale, characterizing the system hydraulic response. A full-height full-pressure model is also made to see which model among the full-height model and reduced-height model can preserve the hydraulic behavior of the prototype. From the dimensionless integral momentum equation, a unique hydraulic time scale, which characterizes the hydraulic response of a single-phase natural circulation system, is identified along with two dimensionless parameters: the dimensionless flow resistance number and the dimensionless gravitational force number. By satisfying the equality of both dimensionless numbers

  8. Genome-Wide Expression Profiling of Five Mouse Models Identifies Similarities and Differences with Human Psoriasis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swindell, William R.; Johnston, Andrew; Carbajal, Steve; Han, Gangwen; Wohn, Christian; Lu, Jun; Xing, Xianying; Nair, Rajan P.; Voorhees, John J.; Elder, James T.; Wang, Xiao-Jing; Sano, Shigetoshi; Prens, Errol P.; DiGiovanni, John; Pittelkow, Mark R.; Ward, Nicole L.; Gudjonsson, Johann E.

    2011-01-01

    Development of a suitable mouse model would facilitate the investigation of pathomechanisms underlying human psoriasis and would also assist in development of therapeutic treatments. However, while many psoriasis mouse models have been proposed, no single model recapitulates all features of the human disease, and standardized validation criteria for psoriasis mouse models have not been widely applied. In this study, whole-genome transcriptional profiling is used to compare gene expression patterns manifested by human psoriatic skin lesions with those that occur in five psoriasis mouse models (K5-Tie2, imiquimod, K14-AREG, K5-Stat3C and K5-TGFbeta1). While the cutaneous gene expression profiles associated with each mouse phenotype exhibited statistically significant similarity to the expression profile of psoriasis in humans, each model displayed distinctive sets of similarities and differences in comparison to human psoriasis. For all five models, correspondence to the human disease was strong with respect to genes involved in epidermal development and keratinization. Immune and inflammation-associated gene expression, in contrast, was more variable between models as compared to the human disease. These findings support the value of all five models as research tools, each with identifiable areas of convergence to and divergence from the human disease. Additionally, the approach used in this paper provides an objective and quantitative method for evaluation of proposed mouse models of psoriasis, which can be strategically applied in future studies to score strengths of mouse phenotypes relative to specific aspects of human psoriasis. PMID:21483750

  9. Large-scale integration of small molecule-induced genome-wide transcriptional responses, Kinome-wide binding affinities and cell-growth inhibition profiles reveal global trends characterizing systems-level drug action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dusica eVidovic

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS project is a large-scale coordinated effort to build a comprehensive systems biology reference resource. The goals of the program include the generation of a very large multidimensional data matrix and informatics and computational tools to integrate, analyze, and make the data readily accessible. LINCS data include genome-wide transcriptional signatures, biochemical protein binding profiles, cellular phenotypic response profiles and various other datasets for a wide range of cell model systems and molecular and genetic perturbations. Here we present a partial survey of this data facilitated by data standards and in particular a robust compound standardization workflow; we integrated several types of LINCS signatures and analyzed the results with a focus on mechanism of action and chemical compounds. We illustrate how kinase targets can be related to disease models and relevant drugs. We identified some fundamental trends that appear to link Kinome binding profiles and transcriptional signatures to chemical information and biochemical binding profiles to transcriptional responses independent of chemical similarity. To fill gaps in the datasets we developed and applied predictive models. The results can be interpreted at the systems level as demonstrated based on a large number of signaling pathways. We can identify clear global relationships, suggesting robustness of cellular responses to chemical perturbation. Overall, the results suggest that chemical similarity is a useful measure at the systems level, which would support phenotypic drug optimization efforts. With this study we demonstrate the potential of such integrated analysis approaches and suggest prioritizing further experiments to fill the gaps in the current data.

  10. A Parsimonious Instrument for Predicting Students' Intent to Pursue a Sales Career: Scale Development and Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peltier, James W.; Cummins, Shannon; Pomirleanu, Nadia; Cross, James; Simon, Rob

    2014-01-01

    Students' desire and intention to pursue a career in sales continue to lag behind industry demand for sales professionals. This article develops and validates a reliable and parsimonious scale for measuring and predicting student intention to pursue a selling career. The instrument advances previous scales in three ways. The instrument is…

  11. Asian International Graduate Students’ Extrinsic Motivation to Pursue Degrees

    OpenAIRE

    Naomi Takashiro

    2017-01-01

    The author examined the types of extrinsic motivation for Asian international graduate students pursuing graduate degrees. The theoretical framework used was extrinsic motivation within Self-Determination Theory. Even though the presence of Asian international graduate students is steadily increasing worldwide, research into their extrinsic motivation is scarce. It is important for educators to explore and understand Asian international graduate students’ extrinsic motivation since such stude...

  12. Embedded Web Technology: Applying World Wide Web Standards to Embedded Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ponyik, Joseph G.; York, David W.

    2002-01-01

    Embedded Systems have traditionally been developed in a highly customized manner. The user interface hardware and software along with the interface to the embedded system are typically unique to the system for which they are built, resulting in extra cost to the system in terms of development time and maintenance effort. World Wide Web standards have been developed in the passed ten years with the goal of allowing servers and clients to intemperate seamlessly. The client and server systems can consist of differing hardware and software platforms but the World Wide Web standards allow them to interface without knowing about the details of system at the other end of the interface. Embedded Web Technology is the merging of Embedded Systems with the World Wide Web. Embedded Web Technology decreases the cost of developing and maintaining the user interface by allowing the user to interface to the embedded system through a web browser running on a standard personal computer. Embedded Web Technology can also be used to simplify an Embedded System's internal network.

  13. Software control and system configuration management: A systems-wide approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, K. L.; Flores, C., Jr.

    1984-01-01

    A comprehensive software control and system configuration management process for flight-crucial digital control systems of advanced aircraft has been developed and refined to insure efficient flight system development and safe flight operations. Because of the highly complex interactions among the hardware, software, and system elements of state-of-the-art digital flight control system designs, a systems-wide approach to configuration control and management has been used. Specific procedures are implemented to govern discrepancy reporting and reconciliation, software and hardware change control, systems verification and validation testing, and formal documentation requirements. An active and knowledgeable configuration control board reviews and approves all flight system configuration modifications and revalidation tests. This flexible process has proved effective during the development and flight testing of several research aircraft and remotely piloted research vehicles with digital flight control systems that ranged from relatively simple to highly complex, integrated mechanizations.

  14. Proposal for a Similar Question Search System on a Q&A Site

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katsutoshi Kanamori

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available There is a service to help Internet users obtain answers to specific questions when they visit a Q&A site. A Q&A site is very useful for the Internet user, but posted questions are often not answered immediately. This delay in answering occurs because in most cases another site user is answering the question manually. In this study, we propose a system that can present a question that is similar to a question posted by a user. An advantage of this system is that a user can refer to an answer to a similar question. This research measures the similarity of a candidate question based on word and dependency parsing. In an experiment, we examined the effectiveness of the proposed system for questions actually posted on the Q&A site. The result indicates that the system can show the questioner the answer to a similar question. However, the system still has a number of aspects that should be improved.

  15. Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allgood, G.O.; Ferrell, R.K.; Kercel, S.W.; Abston, R.A.

    1994-09-01

    Traffic management can be thought of as a stochastic queuing process where the serving time at one of its control points is dynamically linked to the global traffic pattern, which is, in turn, dynamically linked to the control point. For this closed-loop system to be effective, the traffic management system must sense and interpret a large spatial projection of data originating from multiple sensor suites. This concept is the basis for the development of a Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance (TFWAS) system. This paper presents the results of a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to define the operational specifications and characteristics, to determine the constraints, and to examine the state of technology of a TFWAS system in terms of traffic management and control. In doing so, the functions and attributes of a TFWAS system are mapped into an operational structure consistent with the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) concept and the existing highway infrastructure. This mapping includes identifying candidate sensor suites and establishing criteria, requirements, and performance measures by which these systems can be graded in their ability and practicality to meet the operational requirements of a TFWAS system. In light of this, issues such as system integration, applicable technologies, impact on traffic management and control, and public acceptance are addressed.

  16. Traffic flow wide-area surveillance system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allgood, Glenn O.; Ferrell, Regina K.; Kercel, Stephen W.; Abston, Ruth A.

    1995-01-01

    Traffic management can be thought of as a stochastic queuing process where the serving time at one of its control points is dynamically linked to the global traffic pattern, which is, in turn, dynamically linked to the control point. For this closed-loop system to be effective, the traffic management system must sense and interpret a large spatial projection of data originating from multiple sensor suites. This concept is the basis for the development of a traffic flow wide-area surveillance (TFWAS) system. This paper presents the results of a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to define the operational specifications and characteristics, to determine the constraints, and to examine the state of technology of a TFWAS system in terms of traffic management and control. In doing so, the functions and attributes of a TFWAS system are mapped into an operational structure consistent with the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) concept and the existing highway infrastructure. This mapping includes identifying candidate sensor suites and establishing criteria, requirements, and performance measures by which these systems can be graded in their ability and practicality to meet the operational requirements of a TFWAS system. In light of this, issues such as system integration, applicable technologies, impact on traffic management and control, and public acceptance are addressed.

  17. Pickering Nuclear site wide groundwater monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeWilde, J.; Chin-Cheong, D.; Lledo, C.; Wootton, R.; Belanger, D.; Hansen, K.

    2001-01-01

    Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is continuing its efforts to understand the chemical and physical characteristics of the groundwater flow systems beneath the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station (PNGS). To this end, OPG constructed a site-wide Groundwater Monitoring System (GMS) at the PNGS to provide support to other ongoing environmental investigations and to provide a means to monitor current and future groundwater environmental issues. This paper will present the results of this work, including the development of a state-of-the-art data management system for storage and retrieval of environmental data for the site, which has applications for other power generation facilities. (author)

  18. Genome-wide analysis of immune system genes by EST profiling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giallourakis, Cosmas; Benita, Yair; Molinie, Benoit; Cao, Zhifang; Despo, Orion; Pratt, Henry E.; Zukerberg, Lawrence R.; Daly, Mark J.; Rioux, John D.; Xavier, Ramnik J.

    2013-01-01

    Profiling studies of mRNA and miRNA, particularly microarray-based studies, have been extensively used to create compendia of genes that are preferentially expressed in the immune system. In some instances, functional studies have been subsequently pursued. Recent efforts such as ENCODE have demonstrated the benefit of coupling RNA-Seq analysis with information from expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for transcriptomic analysis. However, the full characterization and identification of transcripts that function as modulators of human immune responses remains incomplete. In this study, we demonstrate that an integrated analysis of human ESTs provides a robust platform to identify the immune transcriptome. Beyond recovering a reference set of immune-enriched genes and providing large-scale cross-validation of previous microarray studies, we discovered hundreds of novel genes preferentially expressed in the immune system, including non-coding RNAs. As a result, we have established the Immunogene database, representing an integrated EST “road map” of gene expression in human immune cells, which can be used to further investigate the function of coding and non-coding genes in the immune system. Using this approach, we have uncovered a unique metabolic gene signature of human macrophages and identified PRDM15 as a novel overexpressed gene in human lymphomas. Thus we demonstrate the utility of EST profiling as a basis for further deconstruction of physiologic and pathologic immune processes. PMID:23616578

  19. Doctors who considered but did not pursue specific clinical specialties as careers: questionnaire surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldacre, Michael J; Goldacre, Raph; Lambert, Trevor W

    2012-04-01

    To report doctors' rejection of specialties as long-term careers and reasons for rejection. Postal questionnaires. United Kingdom. Graduates of 2002, 2005 and 2008 from all UK medical schools, surveyed one year after qualification. Current specialty choice; any choice that had been seriously considered but not pursued (termed 'rejected' choices) with reasons for rejection. 2573 of 9155 respondents (28%) had seriously considered but then not pursued a specialty choice. By comparison with positive choices, general practice was under-represented among rejected choices: it was the actual choice of 27% of respondents and the rejected choice of only 6% of those who had rejected a specialty. Consideration of 'job content' was important in not pursuing general practice (cited by 78% of those who considered but rejected a career in general practice), psychiatry (72%), radiology (69%) and pathology (68%). The surgical specialties were the current choice of 20% of respondents and had been considered but rejected by 32% of doctors who rejected a specialty. Issues of work-life balance were the single most common factor, particularly for women, in not pursuing the surgical specialties, emergency medicine, the medical hospital specialties, paediatrics, and obstetrics and gynaecology. Competition for posts, difficult examinations, stressful working conditions, and poor training were mentioned but were mainly minority concerns. There is considerable diversity between doctors in their reasons for finding specialties attractive or unattractive. This underlines the importance of recruitment strategies to medical school that recognize diversity of students' interests and aptitudes.

  20. System-wide versus component-specific trust using multiple aids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, David; Rice, Stephen

    2010-01-01

    Previous research in operator trust toward automated aids has focused primarily on single aids. The current study focuses on how operator trust is affected by the presence of multiple aids. Two competing theories of multiple-trust are presented. A component-specific trust theory predicts that operators will differentially place their trust in automated aids that vary in reliability. A system-wide trust theory predicts that operators will treat multiple imperfect aids as one "system" and merge their trust across aids despite differences in the aids' reliability. A simulated flight task was used to test these theories, whereby operators performed a pursuit tracking task while concurrently monitoring multiple system gauges that were augmented with perfect or imperfect automated aids. The data revealed that a system-wide trust theory best predicted the data; operators merged their trust across both aids, behaving toward a perfectly reliable aid in the same manner as they did towards unreliable aids.

  1. Wide-area-distributed storage system for a multimedia database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ueno, Masahiro; Kinoshita, Shigechika; Kuriki, Makato; Murata, Setsuko; Iwatsu, Shigetaro

    1998-12-01

    We have developed a wide-area-distribution storage system for multimedia databases, which minimizes the possibility of simultaneous failure of multiple disks in the event of a major disaster. It features a RAID system, whose member disks are spatially distributed over a wide area. Each node has a device, which includes the controller of the RAID and the controller of the member disks controlled by other nodes. The devices in the node are connected to a computer, using fiber optic cables and communicate using fiber-channel technology. Any computer at a node can utilize multiple devices connected by optical fibers as a single 'virtual disk.' The advantage of this system structure is that devices and fiber optic cables are shared by the computers. In this report, we first described our proposed system, and a prototype was used for testing. We then discussed its performance; i.e., how to read and write throughputs are affected by data-access delay, the RAID level, and queuing.

  2. Embedding Mixed-Reality Laboratories into E-Learning Systems for Engineering Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Tikriti, Munther N.; Al-Aubidy, Kasim M.

    2013-01-01

    E-learning, virtual learning and mixed reality techniques are now a global integral part of the academic and educational systems. They provide easier access to educational opportunities to a very wide spectrum of individuals to pursue their educational and qualification objectives. These modern techniques have the potentials to improve the quality…

  3. Wide-angle ITER-prototype tangential infrared and visible viewing system for DIII-D

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lasnier, C. J., E-mail: lasnier@LLNL.gov; Allen, S. L.; Ellis, R. E.; Fenstermacher, M. E.; McLean, A. G.; Meyer, W. H.; Morris, K.; Seppala, L. G. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551-0808 (United States); Crabtree, K. [College of Optics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States); Van Zeeland, M. A. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-5608 (United States)

    2014-11-15

    An imaging system with a wide-angle tangential view of the full poloidal cross-section of the tokamak in simultaneous infrared and visible light has been installed on DIII-D. The optical train includes three polished stainless steel mirrors in vacuum, which view the tokamak through an aperture in the first mirror, similar to the design concept proposed for ITER. A dichroic beam splitter outside the vacuum separates visible and infrared (IR) light. Spatial calibration is accomplished by warping a CAD-rendered image to align with landmarks in a data image. The IR camera provides scrape-off layer heat flux profile deposition features in diverted and inner-wall-limited plasmas, such as heat flux reduction in pumped radiative divertor shots. Demonstration of the system to date includes observation of fast-ion losses to the outer wall during neutral beam injection, and shows reduced peak wall heat loading with disruption mitigation by injection of a massive gas puff.

  4. Mechatronic design exploration for wide format printing systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruijnen, D.J.H.

    2007-01-01

    This work aims at increasing the performance of Wide Format Printing Systems (WFPS) via a mechatronic approach. With increasing performance is meant that one or more of the categories: productivity, print quality, reliability and/or cost of production, is improved without sacrificing one of the

  5. Efficient string similarity join in multi-core and distributed systems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cairong Yan

    Full Text Available In big data area a significant challenge about string similarity join is to find all similar pairs more efficiently. In this paper, we propose a parallel processing framework for efficient string similarity join. First, the input is split into some disjoint small subsets according to the joint frequency distribution and the interval distribution of strings. Then the filter-verification strategy is adopted in the computation of string similarity for each subset so that the number of candidate pairs is reduced before an effective pruning strategy is used to improve the performance. Finally, the operation of string join is executed in parallel. Para-Join algorithm based on the multi-threading technique is proposed to implement the framework in a multi-core system while Pada-Join algorithm based on Spark platform is proposed to implement the framework in a cluster system. We prove that Para-Join and Pada-Join cannot only avoid reduplicate computation but also ensure the completeness of the result. Experimental results show that Para-Join can achieve high efficiency and significantly outperform than state-of-the-art approaches, meanwhile, Pada-Join can work on large datasets.

  6. How do STEM-interested students pursue multiple interests in their higher educational choice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vulperhorst, Jonne Pieter; Wessels, Koen Rens; Bakker, Arthur; Akkerman, Sanne Floor

    2018-05-01

    Interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has lately received attention in research due to a gap between the number of STEM students and the needs of the labour market. As interest seems to be one of the most important factors in deciding what to study, we focus in the present study on how STEM-interested students weigh multiple interests in making educational choices. A questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items was administered to 91 STEM-interested students enrolled in a STEM programme of a Dutch University for secondary school students. Results indicate that students find it important that a study programme allows them to pursue multiple interests. Some students pursued multiple interests by choosing to enrol in two programmes at the same time. Most students chose one programme that enabled them to combine multiple interests. Combinations of pursued interests were dependent on the disciplinary range of interests of students. Students who were interested in diverse domains combined interests in an educational programme across academic and non-academic domains, whilst students who were mainly interested in STEM combined only STEM-focused interests. Together these findings stress the importance of taking a multiple interest perspective on interest development and educational choice.

  7. Improved collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm of similarity measure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Baofu; Yuan, Baoping

    2017-05-01

    The Collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm is one of the most widely used recommendation algorithm in personalized recommender systems. The key is to find the nearest neighbor set of the active user by using similarity measure. However, the methods of traditional similarity measure mainly focus on the similarity of user common rating items, but ignore the relationship between the user common rating items and all items the user rates. And because rating matrix is very sparse, traditional collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm is not high efficiency. In order to obtain better accuracy, based on the consideration of common preference between users, the difference of rating scale and score of common items, this paper presents an improved similarity measure method, and based on this method, a collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on similarity improvement is proposed. Experimental results show that the algorithm can effectively improve the quality of recommendation, thus alleviate the impact of data sparseness.

  8. Similarities and differences between five European drug reimbursement systems

    OpenAIRE

    Franken, Margreet

    2012-01-01

    3349-357 Objectives: The aim of our study is to compare five European drug reimbursement systems, describe similarities and differences, and obtain insight into their strengths and weaknesses and formulate policy recommendations. Methods: We used the analytical Hutton Framework to assess in detail drug reimbursement systems in Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. We investigated policy documents, explored literature, and conducted fifty-seven interviews with relevant s...

  9. Fault Identification Algorithm Based on Zone-Division Wide Area Protection System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojun Liu

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available As the power grid becomes more magnified and complicated, wide-area protection system in the practical engineering application is more and more restricted by the communication level. Based on the concept of limitedness of wide-area protection system, the grid with complex structure is divided orderly in this paper, and fault identification and protection action are executed in each divided zone to reduce the pressure of the communication system. In protection zone, a new wide-area protection algorithm based on positive sequence fault components directional comparison principle is proposed. The special associated intelligent electronic devices (IEDs zones which contain buses and transmission lines are created according to the installation location of the IEDs. When a fault occurs, with the help of the fault information collecting and sharing from associated zones with the fault discrimination principle defined in this paper, the IEDs can identify the fault location and remove the fault according to the predetermined action strategy. The algorithm will not be impacted by the load changes and transition resistance and also has good adaptability in open phase running power system. It can be used as a main protection, and it also can be taken into account for the back-up protection function. The results of cases study show that, the division method of the wide-area protection system and the proposed algorithm are effective.

  10. System and method of modulating electrical signals using photoconductive wide bandgap semiconductors as variable resistors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, John Richardson; Caporaso, George J; Sampayan, Stephen E

    2013-10-22

    A system and method for producing modulated electrical signals. The system uses a variable resistor having a photoconductive wide bandgap semiconductor material construction whose conduction response to changes in amplitude of incident radiation is substantially linear throughout a non-saturation region to enable operation in non-avalanche mode. The system also includes a modulated radiation source, such as a modulated laser, for producing amplitude-modulated radiation with which to direct upon the variable resistor and modulate its conduction response. A voltage source and an output port, are both operably connected to the variable resistor so that an electrical signal may be produced at the output port by way of the variable resistor, either generated by activation of the variable resistor or propagating through the variable resistor. In this manner, the electrical signal is modulated by the variable resistor so as to have a waveform substantially similar to the amplitude-modulated radiation.

  11. Measurement of semantic similarity for land use and land cover classification systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Dongpo

    2008-12-01

    Land use and land cover (LULC) data is essential to environmental and ecological research. However, semantic heterogeneous of land use and land cover classification are often resulted from different data resources, different cultural contexts, and different utilities. Therefore, there is need to develop a method to measure, compare and integrate between land cover categories. To understand the meaning and the use of terminology from different domains, the common ontology approach is used to acquire information regarding the meaning of terms, and to compare two terms to determine how they might be related. Ontology is a formal specification of a shared conceptualization of a domain of interest. LULC classification system is a ontology. The semantic similarity method is used to compare to entities of three LULC classification systems: CORINE (European Environmental Agency), Oregon State, USA), and Taiwan. The semantic properties and relations firstly have been extracted from their definitions of LULC classification systems. Then semantic properties and relations of categories in three LULC classification systems are mutually compared. The visualization of semantic proximity is finally presented to explore the similarity or dissimilarity of data. This study shows the semantic similarity method efficiently detect semantic distance in three LULC classification systems and find out the semantic similar objects.

  12. Similarity solutions for systems arising from an Aedes aegypti model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, Igor Leite; Torrisi, Mariano

    2014-04-01

    In a recent paper a new model for the Aedes aegypti mosquito dispersal dynamics was proposed and its Lie point symmetries were investigated. According to the carried group classification, the maximal symmetry Lie algebra of the nonlinear cases is reached whenever the advection term vanishes. In this work we analyze the family of systems obtained when the wind effects on the proposed model are neglected. Wide new classes of solutions to the systems under consideration are obtained.

  13. Wide applicability of high-Tc pairing originating from coexisting wide and incipient narrow bands in quasi-one-dimensional systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, Karin; Ogura, Daisuke; Kuroki, Kazuhiko

    2018-01-01

    We study superconductivity in the Hubbard model on various quasi-one-dimensional lattices with coexisting wide and narrow bands originating from multiple sites within a unit cell, where each site corresponds to a single orbital. The systems studied are the two-leg and three-leg ladders, the diamond chain, and the crisscross ladder. These one-dimensional lattices are weakly coupled to form two-dimensional (quasi-one-dimensional) ones, and the fluctuation exchange approximation is adopted to study spin-fluctuation-mediated superconductivity. When one of the bands is perfectly flat and the Fermi level intersecting the wide band is placed in the vicinity of, but not within, the flat band, superconductivity arising from the interband scattering processes is found to be strongly enhanced owing to the combination of the light electron mass of the wide band and the strong pairing interaction due to the large density of states of the flat band. Even when the narrow band has finite bandwidth, the pairing mechanism still works since the edge of the narrow band, due to its large density of states, plays the role of the flat band. The results indicate the wide applicability of the high-Tc pairing mechanism due to coexisting wide and "incipient" narrow bands in quasi-one-dimensional systems.

  14. Application and development of non contact angle-wide viewing system in vitreous retinal surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rong-Hua He

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Wide-angle viewing system as an important auxiliary device can clearly observe the whole fundus field of vision in vitreous surgery, which enable vitreoretinal surgery more efficient, safer and more effective. So it has very high application value in ophthalmologic operation. In this paper, we studied the development and application of wide-angle viewing system in vitreoretinal surgery in recent years, from which we summed up the advantage of non-contact wide-angle viewing system in clinical field, and pointed out the shortcomings. The ultimate goal is to make the non-contact wide-angle viewing system better applied in vitreous surgery.

  15. The Readiness of High School Students to Pursue First Year Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramnarain, U.; Molefe, P.

    2012-01-01

    A high failure rate at first year physics is often attributed to the lack of readiness of high school students to pursue such studies. This research explores this issue and reports on the perceptions of five physics lecturers at a South African university on the preparedness of high school students for first year physics. Qualitative data was…

  16. Hybrid wide-angle viewing-endoscopic vitrectomy using a 3D visualization system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kita M

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Mihori Kita, Yuki Mori, Sachiyo Hama Department of Ophthalmology, National Organization Kyoto Medical Center, Kyoto, Japan Purpose: To introduce a hybrid wide-angle viewing-endoscopic vitrectomy, which we have reported, using a 3D visualization system developed recently. Subjects and methods: We report a single center, retrospective, consecutive surgical case series of 113 eyes that underwent 25 G vitrectomy (rhegmatogenous retinal detachment or proliferative vitreoretinopathy, 49 eyes; epiretinal membrane, 18 eyes; proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 17 eyes; vitreous opacity or vitreous hemorrhage, 11 eyes; macular hole, 11 eyes; vitreomacular traction syndrome, 4 eyes; and luxation of intraocular lens, 3 eyes. Results: This system was successfully used to perform hybrid vitrectomy in the difficult cases, such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Conclusion: Hybrid wide-angle viewing-endoscopic vitrectomy using a 3D visualization system appears to be a valuable and promising method for managing various types of vitreoretinal disease. Keywords: 25 G vitrectomy, endoscope, wide-angle viewing system, 3D visualization system, hybrid

  17. Wide-Area Robust Decentralized Coordinated Control of HVDC Power System Based on Polytopic System Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiyun Xu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study proposes a hierarchical wide-area decentralized coordinated control framework for HVDC power system that is robust to multiple operating conditions. The upper level wide-area coordinated controller is designed in the form of dynamic output feedback control that coordinates the lower level HVDC supplementary controller, PSS, and SVC. In order to enhance the robustness of the designed controller under various operating conditions, the polytopic model is introduced such that the closed-loop control system can be operated under strong damping mode in virtue of the stability criterion based on damping ratio. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller design algorithm is capable of enhancing the system damping over four different conditions.

  18. Pursuing a Vendor-Endorsed ERP Award for Better Job Prospect: Students' Perceptions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kung, LeeAnn; Kung, Hsiang-Jui

    2017-01-01

    This paper identifies factors that motivate students to pursue a vendor-endorsed ERP award by integrating concepts from motivation theory and constructs from technology acceptance literature. We developed a web-based survey with closed- and open-ended questions to collect both quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Students in…

  19. DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF WIDE BINARY SYSTEMS WITH A VERY LOW MASS COMPONENT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baron, Frédérique; Lafrenière, David; Artigau, Étienne; Doyon, René; Gagné, Jonathan; Robert, Jasmin; Nadeau, Daniel [Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128 Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Qc H3C 3J7 (Canada); Davison, Cassy L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303 (United States); Malo, Lison [Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, 65–1238 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kamuela, HI 96743 (United States); Reylé, Céline, E-mail: baron@astro.umontreal.ca [Institut Utinam, CNRS UMR6213, Université de Franche-Comté, OSU THETA Franche-Comté-Bourgogne, Observatoire de Besançon, BP 1615, F-25010 Besançon Cedex (France)

    2015-03-20

    We report the discovery of 14 low-mass binary systems containing mid-M to mid-L dwarf companions with separations larger than 250 AU. We also report the independent discovery of nine other systems with similar characteristics that were recently discovered in other studies. We have identified these systems by searching for common proper motion sources in the vicinity of known high proper motion stars, based on a cross-correlation of wide area near-infrared surveys (2MASS, SDSS, and SIMP). An astrometric follow-up, for common proper motion confirmation, was made with SIMON and/or CPAPIR at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic 1.6 m and CTIO 1.5 m telescopes for all the candidates identified. A spectroscopic follow-up was also made with GMOS or GNIRS at Gemini to determine the spectral types of 11 of our newly identified companions and 10 of our primaries. Statistical arguments are provided to show that all of the systems we report here are very likely to be physical binaries. One of the new systems reported features a brown dwarf companion: LSPM J1259+1001 (M5) has an L4.5 (2M1259+1001) companion at ∼340 AU. This brown dwarf was previously unknown. Seven other systems have a companion of spectral type L0–L1 at a separation in the 250–7500 AU range. Our sample includes 14 systems with a mass ratio below 0.3.

  20. DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF WIDE BINARY SYSTEMS WITH A VERY LOW MASS COMPONENT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baron, Frédérique; Lafrenière, David; Artigau, Étienne; Doyon, René; Gagné, Jonathan; Robert, Jasmin; Nadeau, Daniel; Davison, Cassy L.; Malo, Lison; Reylé, Céline

    2015-01-01

    We report the discovery of 14 low-mass binary systems containing mid-M to mid-L dwarf companions with separations larger than 250 AU. We also report the independent discovery of nine other systems with similar characteristics that were recently discovered in other studies. We have identified these systems by searching for common proper motion sources in the vicinity of known high proper motion stars, based on a cross-correlation of wide area near-infrared surveys (2MASS, SDSS, and SIMP). An astrometric follow-up, for common proper motion confirmation, was made with SIMON and/or CPAPIR at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic 1.6 m and CTIO 1.5 m telescopes for all the candidates identified. A spectroscopic follow-up was also made with GMOS or GNIRS at Gemini to determine the spectral types of 11 of our newly identified companions and 10 of our primaries. Statistical arguments are provided to show that all of the systems we report here are very likely to be physical binaries. One of the new systems reported features a brown dwarf companion: LSPM J1259+1001 (M5) has an L4.5 (2M1259+1001) companion at ∼340 AU. This brown dwarf was previously unknown. Seven other systems have a companion of spectral type L0–L1 at a separation in the 250–7500 AU range. Our sample includes 14 systems with a mass ratio below 0.3

  1. Is It Rational to Pursue Zero Suicides Among Patients in Health Care?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokkenstorm, Jan K; Kerkhof, Ad J F M; Smit, Johannes H; Beekman, Aartjan T F

    2017-10-26

    Suicide prevention is a major health care responsibility in need of new perspectives. This study reviews Zero Suicide, an emerging approach to suicide prevention that embraces the aspirational goal of zero suicides among patients treated in health care systems or organizations. Zero Suicide is gaining international momentum while at the same time evoking objections and concerns. Fundamental to Zero Suicide is a multilevel system view on suicide prevention, with three core elements: a direct approach to suicidal behaviors; continual improvement of the quality and safety of care processes; and an organizational commitment to the aspirational goal of zero suicides. The rationale and evidence for these components are clarified and discussed against the backdrop of concerns and objections that focus on possible undesired consequences of the pursuit of zero suicide, in particular for clinicians and for those who are bereaved by suicide. It is concluded that it is rational to pursue zero suicides as an aspirational goal, provided the journey toward zero suicides is undertaken in a systemic and sustained manner, in a way that professionals feel supported, empowered, and protected against blame and inappropriate guilt. © 2017 The Authors. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Suicidology.

  2. Practicing Policy, Pursuing Change, and Promoting Social Justice: A Policy Instructional Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heidemann, Gretchen; Fertig, Ralph; Jansson, Bruce; Kim, Hansung

    2011-01-01

    Schools of social work are mandated to train students for policy practice. A new instructional approach is needed so that social workers skillfully engage in policy change to address the growing economic, social, and cultural problems that affect our clients. This article presents the Practicing Policy, Pursuing Change, and Promoting Social…

  3. Androgen responses to reproductive competition of males pursuing either fixed or plastic alternative reproductive tactics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Kuerthy, Corinna; Ros, Albert F H; Taborsky, Michael

    2016-11-15

    Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), which can be plastic or fixed for life, may be characterized by distinct hormonal profiles. The relative plasticity hypothesis predicts flexible androgen regulation for adult males pursuing plastic tactics, but a less flexible regulation for males using a fixed tactic throughout life. Furthermore, androgen profiles may respond to changes in the social environment, as predicted by the social reciprocity models of hormone/behaviour interactions. The cichlid fish Lamprologus callipterus provides a rare opportunity to study the roles of androgens for male ARTs within a single species, because fixed and plastic ARTs coexist. We experimentally exposed males to competitors pursuing either the same or different tactics to test predictions of the relative plasticity and the social reciprocity models. Androgen profiles of different male types partly comply with predictions derived from the relative plasticity hypothesis: males of the plastic bourgeois/sneaker male trajectory showed different 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) levels when pursuing either bourgeois or parasitic sneaker male behaviours. Surprisingly, males pursuing the fixed dwarf male tactic showed the highest free and conjugated 11-KT and testosterone (T) levels. Our experimental social challenges significantly affected the free 11-KT levels of bourgeois males, but the androgen responses did not differ between challenges involving different types of competitors. Furthermore, the free T-responses of the bourgeois males correlated with their aggressive behaviour exhibited against competitors. Our results provide new insights into the endocrine responsiveness of fixed and plastic ARTs, confirming and refuting some predictions of both the relative plasticity and the social reciprocity models. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  4. Field Operations For The "Intelligent River" Observation System: A Basin-wide Water Quality Observation System In The Savannah River Basin And Platform Supporting Related Diverse Initiatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutton, A.; Koons, M.; O'Brien-Gayes, P.; Moorer, R.; Hallstrom, J.; Post, C.; Gayes, P. T.

    2017-12-01

    The Intelligent River (IR) initiative is an NSF sponsored study developing new data management technology for a range of basin-scale applications. The technology developed by Florida Atlantic and Clemson University established a network of real-time reporting water quality sondes; from the mountains to the estuary of the Savannah River basin. Coastal Carolina University led the field operations campaign. Ancillary studies, student projects and initiatives benefitted from the associated instrumentation, infrastructure and operational support of the IR program. This provided a vehicle for students to participate in fieldwork across the watershed and pursue individual interests. Student projects included: 1) a Multibeam sonar survey investigating channel morphology in the area of an IR sensor station and 2) field tests of developing techniques for acquiring and assimilating flood velocity data into model systems associated with a separate NSF Rapid award. The multibeam survey within the lower Savannah basin exhibited a range of complexity in bathymetry, bedforms and bottom habitat in the vicinity of one of the water quality stations. The complex morphology and bottom habitat reflect complex flow patterns, localized areas of depositional and erosive tendencies providing a valuable context for considering point-source water quality time series. Micro- Lagrangian drifters developed by ISENSE at Florida Atlantic University, a sled mounted ADCP, and particle tracking from imagery collected by a photogrammetric drone were tested and used to develop methodology for establishing velocity, direction and discharge levels to validate, initialize and assimilate data into advance models systems during future flood events. The prospect of expanding wide scale observing systems can serve as a platform to integrate small and large-scale cooperative studies across disciplines as well as basic and applied research interests. Such initiatives provide opportunities for embedded education

  5. Roadway network productivity assessment : system-wide analysis under variant travel demand

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-11-01

    The analysis documented in this report examines the hypothesis that the system-wide productivity of a metropolitan freeway system in peak periods is higher in moderate travel demand conditions than in excessive travel demand conditions. The approach ...

  6. Selling Sales: Factors Influencing Undergraduate Business Students' Decision to Pursue Sales Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Concha; Kumar, Poonam; Tarasi, Crina; Wilson, Holt

    2014-01-01

    With a better understanding of the typical sales student, sales educators can design and deliver curriculum with a more customer-oriented approach. In order to better understand the decision to pursue sales education, more than 500 undergraduate business students at a large Midwestern university participated in a survey that examined the factors…

  7. Experience Has Ways of Boiling over: Pursuing a Pragmatic Pedagogy of Bible

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levisohn, Jon A.

    2009-01-01

    This article builds on Greenstein's advocacy of a "pragmatic pedagogy of Bible" by pursuing four issues. First, do we select among methodological approaches to Bible according to our desired interpretive outcome but not according to any internal criteria? Is it merely a matter of "choice"? Second, in what sense are interpretive approaches usefully…

  8. Acute systemic accumulation of acrolein in mice by inhalation at a concentration similar to that in cigarette smoke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tully, Melissa; Zheng, Lingxing; Acosta, Glen; Tian, Ran; Shi, Riyi

    2014-12-01

    Cigarette smoke is an important environmental factor associated with a wide array of public health concerns. Acrolein, a component of tobacco smoke and a known toxin to various cell types, may be a key pathological factor mediating the adverse effects linked with tobacco smoke. Although acrolein is known to accumulate in the respiratory system after acute nasal exposure, it is not clear if it accumulates systemically, and less is known in the nervous system. The aim of this study was to assess the degree of acrolein accumulation in the circulation and in the spinal cord following acute acrolein inhalation in mice. Using a laboratory-fabricated inhalation chamber, we found elevated urinary 3-HPMA, an acrolein metabolite, and increased acrolein adducts in the spinal cord after weeks of nasal exposure to acrolein at a concentration similar to that in tobacco smoke. The data indicated that acrolein is absorbed into the circulatory system and some enters the nervous system. It is expected that these findings may facilitate further studies to probe the pathological role of acrolein in the nervous system resulting from smoke and other external sources.

  9. Britain's Nuclear Electric pursues a major programme to enhance safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    The UK state-owned nuclear utility, Nuclear Electric, is actively pursuing a major initiative inherited from its predecessor the Central Electricity Generating Board, known as the Station Enhancement Programme. The Enhancement Programme is a multi-million pound project and covers all Nuclear Electric's stations (including relevant aspects of the de-commissioning site at Berkeley). Its fundamental objective is to enhance the arrangements, practices and attitudes on the power stations to create an overall environment likely to promote ever safer and more reliable operation, and to take full account of the best international practices. The four year programme started in the spring of 1989, and is expected to be completed in 1993. Key elements of the programme include quality assurance based management systems; improvements to site and plant material conditions; a more formal approach to training; additional resources and controls to aid the management of maintenance defects; higher profile for the feedback of operational experience; management targets; a station evaluation programme; and formal feedback of lessons learned from the IAEA operational and safety review team visit to the Oldbury-on-Severn station in 1989. (author)

  10. Dynamics of Mass Transfer in Wide Symbiotic Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Val-Borro, Miguel; Karovska, M.; Sasselov, D.

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the formation of accretion disks around the secondary in detached systems consisting of an Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star and a compact accreting companion as a function of mass loss rate and orbital parameters. In particular, we study winds from late-type stars that are gravitationally focused by a companion in a wide binary system using hydrodynamical simulations. For a typical slow and massive wind from an evolved star there is a stream flow between the stars with accretion rates of a few percent of the mass loss from the primary. Mass transfer through a focused wind is an important mechanism for a broad range of interacting binary systems and can explain the formation of Barium stars and other chemically peculiar stars.

  11. System description and analysis. Part 1: Feasibility study for helicopter/VTOL wide-angle simulation image generation display system

    Science.gov (United States)

    1977-01-01

    A preliminary design for a helicopter/VSTOL wide angle simulator image generation display system is studied. The visual system is to become part of a simulator capability to support Army aviation systems research and development within the near term. As required for the Army to simulate a wide range of aircraft characteristics, versatility and ease of changing cockpit configurations were primary considerations of the study. Due to the Army's interest in low altitude flight and descents into and landing in constrained areas, particular emphasis is given to wide field of view, resolution, brightness, contrast, and color. The visual display study includes a preliminary design, demonstrated feasibility of advanced concepts, and a plan for subsequent detail design and development. Analysis and tradeoff considerations for various visual system elements are outlined and discussed.

  12. Leadership Development: A Lever for System-Wide Educational Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naicker, Suraiya R.; Mestry, Raj

    2016-01-01

    The continuous poor performance of South Africa's learners is detrimental to its developing economy. The need for education change prompted two universities to initiate a system-wide change strategy in a poorly performing school district. The leverage for change was leadership development, involving school principals and district officials. The…

  13. First operation of the wide-area remote experiment system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Furukawa, Y.; Hasegawa, K.; Ueno, G.

    2012-01-01

    The Wide-area Remote Experiment System (WRES) at Spring-8 has been successfully developed. The system communicates with remote users on the basis of SSL/TLS with bi-directional authentication to avoid interference from unauthorized access to the system. The system has a message-filtering system to allow remote users access only to the corresponding beamline equipment and safety interlock system. This is to protect persons inside the experimental station from injury from any accidental motion of heavy equipment. The system also has a video streaming system to monitor samples or experimental equipment. We have tested the system from the point of view of safety, stability, reliability etc. and successfully performed the first experiment from a remote site, i.e., RIKEN's Wako campus, which is 480 km away from Spring-8, at the end of October 2010. (authors)

  14. The enterprise-wide risk management system of CNNC Lanzhou Uranium Enrichment Co., Ltd

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Yinliang; Li Xuehong; Zhao Zhifu

    2010-01-01

    This paper targeted at the enterprise-wide risk management system of CNNC Lanzhou uranium enrichment co., Ltd., combining the Central enterprise-wide risk management guidelines document, outlining the main content of the overall risk management system on target, structure, process, strategy, internal control, information and culture. And it provides specific measures in evaluation and monitoring to enhance the total risk management system of CNNC Lanzhou uranium co, ltd on the basis of following the principles of total risk management system. and provides proper insurance for the overall target of risk management. (authors)

  15. Note: A wide temperature range MOKE system with annealing capability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chahil, Narpinder Singh; Mankey, G J

    2017-07-01

    A novel sample stage integrated with a longitudinal MOKE system has been developed for wide temperature range measurements and annealing capabilities in the temperature range 65 K temperatures without adversely affecting the cryostat and minimizes thermal drift in position. In this system the hysteresis loops of magnetic samples can be measured simultaneously while annealing the sample in a magnetic field.

  16. An emittance measurement system for a wide range of bunch charges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunham, B.; Engwall, D.; Hofler, A.; Keesee, M.; Legg, R.

    1997-01-01

    As a part of the emittance measurements planned for the FEL injector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), the authors have developed an emittance measurement system that covers the wide dynamic range of bunch charges necessary to fully characterize the high-DC-voltage photocathode gun. The measurements are carried out with a variant of the classical two-slit method using a slit to sample the beam in conjunction with a wire scanner to measure the transmitted beam profile. The use of commercial, ultra-low noise picoammeters makes it possible to cover the wide range of desired bunch charges, with the actual measurements made over the range of 0.25 pC to 125 pC. The entire system, including its integration into the EPICS control system, is discussed

  17. Designing display primaries with currently available light sources for UHDTV wide-gamut system colorimetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masaoka, Kenichiro; Nishida, Yukihiro; Sugawara, Masayuki

    2014-08-11

    The wide-gamut system colorimetry has been standardized for ultra-high definition television (UHDTV). The chromaticities of the primaries are designed to lie on the spectral locus to cover major standard system colorimetries and real object colors. Although monochromatic light sources are required for a display to perfectly fulfill the system colorimetry, highly saturated emission colors using recent quantum dot technology may effectively achieve the wide gamut. This paper presents simulation results on the chromaticities of highly saturated non-monochromatic light sources and gamut coverage of real object colors to be considered in designing wide-gamut displays with color filters for the UHDTV.

  18. Factors influencing a student's decision to pursue a communications degree in Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Sierra Sánchez

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This paper analyzes the factors that influence secondary school students’ choice of higher education options in Spain today and explores the implications and benefits of establishing provider-client relationships between universities and students.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach using questionnaires to demonstrate the hypothesis and achieve the objectives. We have prepared a questionnaire via telematic LimeSurvey application consisting of twenty-four closed questions.Findings: Results depict that the leading criteria for Spanish students interested in pursuing studies in communication sciences were a university’s reputation and excellence and the quality of its educational programmes. In terms of sources of information related to universities and their degree programmes, Spanish communication sciences students placed the highest value on direct and experiential sources. Spanish students interested in pursuing degrees in communication sciences preferred public universities over private universities.Research limitations: It is a descriptive paper. The sample could have been larger and have covered the entire universe of communication schools in Spain.Practical implications: Gain in-depth insight into the academic, cultural, and sociodemographic characteristics of students who choose to pursue an undergraduate degree in communications sciences in Spain.Ascertain which sources of information proved to be the most valuable to prospective students in choosing a university and degree programme and the other factors that influenced their choices by means of a survey involving first-year undergraduate communication sciences students. Use the results of this survey to rank the criteria used by students when choosing a university and degree programme. Gain a clearer picture of how parents and friends influence a student’s choice of degree programmes and universities.Social implications: Knowing the factors of choice

  19. Predicting the decision to pursue mediation in civil disputes: a hierarchical classes analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reich, Warren A; Kressel, Kenneth; Scanlon, Kathleen M; Weiner, Gary A

    2007-11-01

    Clients (N = 185) involved in civil court cases completed the CPR Institute's Mediation Screen, which is designed to assist in making a decision about pursuing mediation. The authors modeled data using hierarchical classes analysis (HICLAS), a clustering algorithm that places clients into 1 set of classes and CPRMS items into another set of classes. HICLAS then links the sets of classes so that any class of clients can be identified in terms of the classes of items they endorsed. HICLAS-derived item classes reflected 2 underlying themes: (a) suitability of the dispute for a problem-solving process and (b) potential benefits of mediation. All clients who perceived that mediation would be beneficial also believed that the context of their conflict was favorable to mediation; however, not all clients who saw a favorable context believed they would benefit from mediation. The majority of clients who agreed to pursue mediation endorsed items reflecting both contextual suitability and perceived benefits of mediation.

  20. Systems Engineering Technical Leadership Development Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-30

    a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 30 AUG...topics and elements were collected from a wide variety of sources, including NASA6, Nokia , BAE Systems, the DoD, and the Australian government to develop...WHS TOO009 RT0004 Report No. SERC-2012-TR-034-1 August 30, 2012 UNCLASSIFIED 17 solutions to pursue and why they should be built. 2. Help teams

  1. From Teachers to Students: What Influences Early Childhood Educators to Pursue College Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deutsch, Francine M.; Riffin, Catherine A.

    2013-01-01

    Underpaid and overworked, preschool teachers face multiple barriers in pursuing higher education. In the present study, we explored how logistical and financial barriers hinder early childhood education teachers and teacher's aides from taking college courses, as well as how academic self-concept and social support influence current enrollment.…

  2. Similarity analysis between chromosomes of Homo sapiens and monkeys with correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures

    OpenAIRE

    Someswara Rao, Chinta; Viswanadha Raju, S.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we consider correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures for evaluating similarity between Homo sapiens and monkeys. We used DNA chromosomes of genome wide genes to determine the correlation between the chromosomal content and evolutionary relationship. The similarity among the H. sapiens and monkeys is measured for a total of 210 chromosomes related to 10 species. The similarity measures of these different species show the relationship b...

  3. Magnetic systems for wide-aperture neutron polarizers and analyzers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gilev, A.G. [Neutron Research Department, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300 (Russian Federation); Pleshanov, N.K., E-mail: pnk@pnpi.spb.ru [Neutron Research Department, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300 (Russian Federation); Bazarov, B.A.; Bulkin, A.P.; Schebetov, A.F. [Neutron Research Department, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300 (Russian Federation); Syromyatnikov, V.G. [Neutron Research Department, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300 (Russian Federation); Physical Department, St. Petersburg State University, Ulyanovskaya, 1, Petrodvorets, St. Petersburg 198504 (Russian Federation); Tarnavich, V.V.; Ulyanov, V.A. [Neutron Research Department, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300 (Russian Federation)

    2016-10-11

    Requirements on the field uniformity in neutron polarizers are analyzed in view of the fact that neutron polarizing coatings have been improved during the past decade. The design of magnetic systems that meet new requirements is optimized by numerical simulations. Magnetic systems for wide-aperture multichannel polarizers and analyzers are represented, including (a) the polarizer to be built at channel 4-4′ of the reactor PIK (Gatchina, Russia) for high-flux experiments with a 100×150 mm{sup 2} beam of polarized cold neutrons; (b) the fan analyzer covering a 150×100 mm{sup 2} window of the detector at the Magnetism Reflectometer (SNS, ORNL, USA); (c) the polarizer and (d) the fan analyzer covering a 220×110 mm{sup 2} window of the detector at the reflectometer NERO, which is transferred to PNPI (Russia) from HZG (Germany). Deviations of the field from the vertical did not exceed 2°. The polarizing efficiency of the analyzer at the Magnetism Reflectometer reached 99%, a record level for wide-aperture supermirror analyzers.

  4. Wide-angle display developments by computer graphics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fetter, William A.

    1989-01-01

    Computer graphics can now expand its new subset, wide-angle projection, to be as significant a generic capability as computer graphics itself. Some prior work in computer graphics is presented which leads to an attractive further subset of wide-angle projection, called hemispheric projection, to be a major communication media. Hemispheric film systems have long been present and such computer graphics systems are in use in simulators. This is the leading edge of capabilities which should ultimately be as ubiquitous as CRTs (cathode-ray tubes). These assertions are not from degrees in science or only from a degree in graphic design, but in a history of computer graphics innovations, laying groundwork by demonstration. The author believes that it is timely to look at several development strategies, since hemispheric projection is now at a point comparable to the early stages of computer graphics, requiring similar patterns of development again.

  5. Similarity analysis between chromosomes of Homo sapiens and monkeys with correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Someswara Rao, Chinta; Viswanadha Raju, S

    2016-03-01

    In this paper, we consider correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures for evaluating similarity between Homo sapiens and monkeys. We used DNA chromosomes of genome wide genes to determine the correlation between the chromosomal content and evolutionary relationship. The similarity among the H. sapiens and monkeys is measured for a total of 210 chromosomes related to 10 species. The similarity measures of these different species show the relationship between the H. sapiens and monkey. This similarity will be helpful at theft identification, maternity identification, disease identification, etc.

  6. Virginia Demonstration Project Encouraging Middle School Students in Pursuing STEM Careers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachman, Jane T.; Kota, Dena H.; Kota, Aaron J.

    2011-01-01

    Encouraging students at all grade levels to consider pursuing a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields i s a national focus. In 2005, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), a Department of Defense laboratory located in Da hlgren, Virginia, began work on the Virginia Demonstration Project (VDP) with the goal of increasing more student interest in STEM educatio n and pursuing STEM careers. This goal continues as the program enters its sixth year. This project has been successful through the partici pation of NSWCDD's scientists and engineers who are trained as mentor s to work in local middle school classrooms throughout the school year, As an extension of the in-class activities, several STEM summer aca demies have been conducted at NSWCDD, These academies are supported by the Navy through the VDP and the STEM Learning Module Project. These projects are part of more extensive outreach efforts offered by the National Defense Education Program (NDEP), sponsored by the Director, Defense Research and Engineering. The focus of this paper is on the types of activities conducted at the summer academy, an overview of the academy planning process, and recommendations to help support a nati onal plan of integrating modeling and simulation-based engineering and science into all grade levels. based upon the lessons learned

  7. The semantic similarity ensemble

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Ballatore

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Computational measures of semantic similarity between geographic terms provide valuable support across geographic information retrieval, data mining, and information integration. To date, a wide variety of approaches to geo-semantic similarity have been devised. A judgment of similarity is not intrinsically right or wrong, but obtains a certain degree of cognitive plausibility, depending on how closely it mimics human behavior. Thus selecting the most appropriate measure for a specific task is a significant challenge. To address this issue, we make an analogy between computational similarity measures and soliciting domain expert opinions, which incorporate a subjective set of beliefs, perceptions, hypotheses, and epistemic biases. Following this analogy, we define the semantic similarity ensemble (SSE as a composition of different similarity measures, acting as a panel of experts having to reach a decision on the semantic similarity of a set of geographic terms. The approach is evaluated in comparison to human judgments, and results indicate that an SSE performs better than the average of its parts. Although the best member tends to outperform the ensemble, all ensembles outperform the average performance of each ensemble's member. Hence, in contexts where the best measure is unknown, the ensemble provides a more cognitively plausible approach.

  8. Fashionista: A Fashion-aware Graphical System for Exploring Visually Similar Items

    OpenAIRE

    He, Ruining; Lin, Chunbin; McAuley, Julian

    2016-01-01

    To build a fashion recommendation system, we need to help users retrieve fashionable items that are visually similar to a particular query, for reasons ranging from searching alternatives (i.e., substitutes), to generating stylish outfits that are visually consistent, among other applications. In domains like clothing and accessories, such considerations are particularly paramount as the visual appearance of items is a critical feature that guides users' decisions. However, existing systems l...

  9. Wide area stability analysis and control of interconnected power systems with HVDC and FACTS devices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Yong

    2012-11-01

    In order to damp low-frequency oscillations and improve the overall stability of large-scale interconnected power systems, this book investigates the wide-area stability analysis and control methods from different perspectives. The flexible and fast control capability of high-voltage (FACTS) is investigated in detail to implement a wide-area measurement based damping control. A sequential and global mixed optimization method is proposed to simultaneously optimize local and wide area damping controllers. A wide-area robust coordination method is presented to coordinate multiple wide-area damping controllers (WADC). A delay-dependent robust design method is also proposed to handle time-varying delays commonly existing in wide-area signal communication. A closed-loop hardware experiment is used to validate the damping performance. The research activities of this book include power system stability analysis and control, wide-area damping control as well as HVDC and FACTS technologies.

  10. Voices from the Field: Regional Nurses Speak About Motivations, Careers and How to Entice Others to Pursue Mental Health Nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penman, Joy; Martinez, Lee; Papoulis, Debra; Cronin, Kathryn

    2018-01-30

    The aims of this study are three-fold: determine the factors that motivate nurses to pursue mental health nursing; identify the strategies that might attract nursing students and practising nurses to pursue mental health nursing as a professional career; and identify the difficulties of nurses in achieving their preferred clinical specialty. A descriptive qualitative study design with semi-structured interviews was used. Fifteen mental health nurses from rural and regional South Australia were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was undertaken. Of the fifteen participants, thirteen were females and two were males; their average age was 50 years. The factors that motivated the participants to pursue mental health nursing were categorized as intrinsic and extrinsic. There were many strategies that might attract nursing students and nurses to the field, but the most popular suggestion was the provision of high quality meaningful clinical placements. Other strategies were to convey the personal satisfaction derived from being a mental health nurse, promote mental health nursing aggressively, and provide employment incentives. The study also highlighted the importance of addressing stigma, and greater education and support for nurses to pursue a mental health career.

  11. Why MBA Education...? An Examination of the Reasons for Pursuing a Management Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhar, Rajib Lochan

    2011-01-01

    This study tries to examine the causes which have led to the rise in the number of students pursuing an MBA in India. Qualitative methods have been used to collect the data. Data were collected via six focused group discussions with 60 postgraduate students associated with different management institutes in western India. In addition, data were…

  12. Falcons pursue prey using visual motion cues: new perspectives from animal-borne cameras.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Suzanne Amador; Zamani, Marjon

    2014-01-15

    This study reports on experiments on falcons wearing miniature videocameras mounted on their backs or heads while pursuing flying prey. Videos of hunts by a gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), gyrfalcon (F. rusticolus)/Saker falcon (F. cherrug) hybrids and peregrine falcons (F. peregrinus) were analyzed to determine apparent prey positions on their visual fields during pursuits. These video data were then interpreted using computer simulations of pursuit steering laws observed in insects and mammals. A comparison of the empirical and modeling data indicates that falcons use cues due to the apparent motion of prey on the falcon's visual field to track and capture flying prey via a form of motion camouflage. The falcons also were found to maintain their prey's image at visual angles consistent with using their shallow fovea. These results should prove relevant for understanding the co-evolution of pursuit and evasion, as well as the development of computer models of predation and the integration of sensory and locomotion systems in biomimetic robots.

  13. Motivations for Pursuing a Career in Physical Education: The Rise of a Fitness Orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, K. Andrew R.; Padaruth, Sookhenlall

    2017-01-01

    Research related to the occupational socialization of physical education teachers has found that students have been primarily motivated to pursue careers in physical education because they have developed interests related to teaching and/or coaching extracurricular sport. However, recent trends within physical education--and in society more…

  14. IMPACT OF E-RECRUITMENT AND JOB-SEEKERS PERCEPTION ON INTENTION TO PURSUE THE JOBS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naveed R. KHAN

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The study highlighted the significance of e-recruitment in the firms. In current epoch technology integrated the information in a sophisticated manner and has influenced on every setting of daily affaires. Hence job seekers are also get benefited with the internet era and start searching the jobs on internet. This study examined the relationship between the recruitment sources, job seekers’ perception and intention to pursue the job. Data was collected from 257 respondents and analysed in relation with the research objectives. The findings of the study showed that internet is the most preferred source to search the job among other recruitment sources. Furthermore, it is also suggested that the effectiveness of e-recruitment depends upon the placement of advertisement and salary is the most influential motivator to find interest in the job applied. Lastly, statistics of the study found that the recruitment sources and applicant’s perceptions of job significantly influence the intention to pursue the position applied by the job seeker.

  15. Advanced use of World-Wide Web in the online system of DELPHI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doenszelmann, M.; Carvalho, D.; Du, S.; Tennebo, F.

    1996-01-01

    The World-Wide Web technologies used by the DELPHI experiment at CERN to provide easy access to information of the On-line System. WWW technology on both client and server side is used in five different projects. The World-Wide Web has its advantages concerning the network technology, the practical user interface and its scalability. It however also demands a stateless protocol and format negotiation. (author)

  16. FE Modelling of the Seismic Behavior of Wide Beam-Column Joints Strengthened with CFRP Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Santarsiero

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available A large share of reinforced concrete (RC framed buildings is provided with wide beams being a type of beam allowing greater freedom in the architectural arrangement of interiors, beyond further advantage due to fewer formworks needed during the construction. Nevertheless, little attention has been devoted to the seismic vulnerability of this kind of framed RC buildings as well as to the study of strengthening systems purposely developed for wide beams and wide beam-column connections. Under these premises, this paper proposes simple strengthening solutions made by Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP systems able to effectively improve seismic capacity through feasible arrangement suitable in case a wide beam is present. On the basis of wide beam-column joints previously tested without strengthening system, detailed nonlinear finite element models were calibrated. Then, an FRP strengthening intervention based on a brand new arrangement was modeled in order to perform additional simulations under seismic actions. This way, the effectiveness of the strengthening intervention was assessed finding out that significant strength and ductility increments were achieved with a relatively simple and cheap strengthening arrangement. Additional research would be desirable in the form of experimental tests on the simulated wide beam-column joints.

  17. Managing In-House Development of a Campus-Wide Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shurville, Simon; Williams, John

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: To show how a combination of hard and soft project and change management methodologies guided successful in-house development of a campus-wide information system. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of the methodologies and management structures that guided the development is presented. Findings: Applying a combination of the…

  18. Plant Mating Systems Often Vary Widely Among Populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael R. Whitehead

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Most flowering plants are hermaphroditic, yet the proportion of seeds fertilized by self and outcross pollen varies widely among species, ranging from predominant self-fertilization to exclusive outcrossing. A population's rate of outcrossing has important evolutionary outcomes as it influences genetic structure, effective population size, and offspring fitness. Because most mating system studies have quantified outcrossing rates for just one or two populations, past reviews of mating system diversity have not been able to characterize the extent of variation among populations. Here we present a new database of more than 30 years of mating system studies that report outcrossing rates for three or more populations per species. This survey, which includes 741 populations from 105 species, illustrates substantial and prevalent among-population variation in the mating system. Intermediate outcrossing rates (mixed mating are common; 63% of species had at least one mixed mating population. The variance among populations and within species was not significantly correlated with pollination mode or phylogeny. Our review underscores the need for studies exploring variation in the relative influence of ecological and genetic factors on the mating system, and how this varies among populations. We conclude that estimates of outcrossing rates from single populations are often highly unreliable indicators of the mating system of an entire species.

  19. Area-wide pest management of locusts and grasshoppers: The striking similarities of problems and solutions in Africa and the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lockwood, Jeffrey A.

    2000-01-01

    Grasshoppers and locusts are among the most devastating pests of human agriculture. These insects cause serious damage to crops and forage on every arable continent, and their depredations have become the basis for legends, myths, and (in recent times) complex political and economic programmes. No pest problem spans such immense areas, with up to 8 million ha treated for rangeland grasshoppers during outbreaks in the US and 16 million km 2 prone to outbreaks of the Desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria Forskal, alone. The traditional management approach has involved extensive, regionalised control programmes, but recent trends suggest a decentralised future for grasshopper and locust management. Hence, we have a dynamic situation that presents the opportunity for a comparative analysis of the costs and benefits of an area-wide approach to pest management at different scales. As political, cultural, and communication barriers between scientists dissolve, the possibility of learning from one another's experiences (both failures and successes) promises to dramatically accelerate the rate of innovation, progress and discovery in pest management. For example, the recent advances in Reduced Agent-Area Treatments (RAAT, in which insecticide is applied to swaths, separated by untreated swaths or buffers) for management of rangeland grasshoppers in the US (Lockwood and Schell 1997) are based on the adaptation of tactics developed by African, Australian, Asian, and European scientists (Rachadi and Foucart 1996, Musuna and Mugisha 1997, Scherer and Celestin 1997, Wilps and Diop 1997, Launois and Rachadi 1997). The key to successful adaptation of management methods must begin with intellectual modesty and nationalistic humility so that the insights of non-scientists and experts from outside one's country are given respect and serious consideration. It is subsequently necessary to recognise the essential similarities and differences between land use systems and understand the

  20. Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shackell, Nancy L; Fisher, Jonathan A D; Frank, Kenneth T; Lawton, Peter

    2012-01-01

    The spatial scale of similarity among fish communities is characteristically large in temperate marine systems: connectivity is enhanced by high rates of dispersal during the larval/juvenile stages and the increased mobility of large-bodied fish. A larger spatial scale of similarity (low beta diversity) is advantageous in heavily exploited systems because locally depleted populations are more likely to be "rescued" by neighboring areas. We explored whether the spatial scale of similarity changed from 1970 to 2006 due to overfishing of dominant, large-bodied groundfish across a 300 000-km2 region of the Northwest Atlantic. Annually, similarities among communities decayed slowly with increasing geographic distance in this open system, but through time the decorrelation distance declined by 33%, concomitant with widespread reductions in biomass, body size, and community evenness. The decline in connectivity stemmed from an erosion of community similarity among local subregions separated by distances as small as 100 km. Larger fish, of the same species, contribute proportionally more viable offspring, so observed body size reductions will have affected maternal output. The cumulative effect of nonlinear maternal influences on egg/larval quality may have compromised the spatial scale of effective larval dispersal, which may account for the delayed recovery of certain member species. Our study adds strong support for using the spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability both to understand the spatial impacts of exploitation and to refine how spatial structure is used in management plans.

  1. [THE SYSTEM OF XENOBIOTICS BIOTRANSFORMATION OF HELMINTHS. RESEMBLANCE AND DIFFERENSES FROM SIMILAR HOST SYSTEMS (REWEW)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smirnov, L P; Borvinskaya, E V; Suhovskaya, I V

    2016-01-01

    The three phases system xenobiotic biotransformation in cells as prokaryotes as eukaryotes was formed during the process of evolution. Clear and managed function of all three links of this system guarantee the survival of living organisms at alteration of chemical component of environment. Oxidation, reduction or hydrolysis of xenobiotics realize in phase I by insertion or opening reactive and hydrophilic groups in structure of drug molecule. In phase II xenobiotics or their metabolites from phase I conjugate with endogenic compounds, main of there are glutathione, glucuronic acid, amino acids and sulphates. Active transport of substrata, metabolites and conjugates through cell lipid membranes special transport proteins carry out (phase III). The system of xenobiotics biotransformation of helminths has essential differences from the same of vertebrate hosts. In particular, parasites do not reveal the activity of prime oxidases of phase I, such as CYP or FMO, in spite of the genes of these enzymes in DNA. As this phenomenon displays mainly in adult helminths, living in guts of vertebrates, then the hypothesis was formulated that this effect is related with adaptation to conditions of strong deficiency of oxygen, arise in a process of evolution (Kotze et al., 2006). Literature data testify the existence in helminths of unique forms of enzymes of phase II, the investigation of which present doubtless interest in relation with possible role in adaptation to parasitic mode of life. Notwithstanding that many of helminths GST in greater or lesser degree similar with enzymes of M, P, S and О classes of other organisms, nevertheless they have essential structural differences as compared with enzymes of hosts that makes perspective the search of specific anthelminthics vaccines. Transport of xenobiotics is now considered phase III of biotransformation. It was shown that proteins of this phase (ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC ) of parasites) play a key role in efflux

  2. Professional paradox: identity formation in qualified doctors pursuing further training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Mercedes; Pratt, Dan; Poole, Gary; Sidhu, Ravi

    2018-03-01

    Many newly qualified specialists and subspecialists pursue additional training. Although their motivations are many, the pursuit of further training as an alternative to unemployment is an emerging trend. Paradoxically, doctors continue as trainees with a consultant's credentials, and without the guarantee of eventual employment. This study explores seven doctors' experiences, the effects of further training on their professional identity formation (PIF), and how these effects are reconciled on a personal and professional level. This phenomenological study involved interviews with seven qualified Canadian specialists (three were female) who pursued additional training in response to a lack of available positions in their respective specialties. Template analysis generated theoretical constructs of influences on their PIF, and characteristics of their lived experiences. Four themes shaped PIF: setting and context; language and communication; responsibilities and privileges; and participants' visions of their future selves. Professional identity formation (PIF) continued to develop in further training, but was inconsistently affirmed by participants' communities of practice. Four major themes characterised training experiences: prescription; managing multiple masters; limiting access to others and community ties; and constantly questioning the value of extra training. Qualified doctors traverse professional paradoxes as they seek further education with no guarantee of employment and provide consultant-level care as 'trainees'. An identity dissonance emerges that may continue until a clear identity is prescribed for them. Although disruptive to these doctors' PIF and personal and professional lives, the long-term effects of additional training are unknown. Its utility and influence on securing employment and future job satisfaction are areas for further research. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

  3. ALGORITHMIC support for THE System Wide Information Management concept

    OpenAIRE

    2016-01-01

    The theoretical problems of computer support for the "System Wide Information Management" concept, which was proposed by experts of the International Civil Aviation Organization, are discussed. Within the framework of its provisions certain new requirements for all initial stages of air traffic management preceding the direct aircrafts control are formulated. Algorithmic instruments for ensuring a conflictlessness of a summary plan for the use of airspace during the plan’s implementation are ...

  4. Multi Agent System Based Wide Area Protection against Cascading Events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Zhou; Chen, Zhe; Liu, Leo

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, a multi-agent system based wide area protection scheme is proposed in order to prevent long term voltage instability induced cascading events. The distributed relays and controllers work as a device agent which not only executes the normal function automatically but also can...... the effectiveness of proposed protection strategy. The simulation results indicate that the proposed multi agent control system can effectively coordinate the distributed relays and controllers to prevent the long term voltage instability induced cascading events....

  5. Multi-input wide dynamic range ADC system for use with nuclear detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Austin, R W [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, Ala. (USA). George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

    1976-04-15

    A wide dynamic range, eight input analog-to-digital converter system has been developed for use in nuclear experiments. The system consists of eight dual-range sample and hold modules, an eight input multiplexer, a ten-bit analog-to-digital converter, and the associated control logic.

  6. ClusTrack: feature extraction and similarity measures for clustering of genome-wide data sets.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Halfdan Rydbeck

    Full Text Available Clustering is a popular technique for explorative analysis of data, as it can reveal subgroupings and similarities between data in an unsupervised manner. While clustering is routinely applied to gene expression data, there is a lack of appropriate general methodology for clustering of sequence-level genomic and epigenomic data, e.g. ChIP-based data. We here introduce a general methodology for clustering data sets of coordinates relative to a genome assembly, i.e. genomic tracks. By defining appropriate feature extraction approaches and similarity measures, we allow biologically meaningful clustering to be performed for genomic tracks using standard clustering algorithms. An implementation of the methodology is provided through a tool, ClusTrack, which allows fine-tuned clustering analyses to be specified through a web-based interface. We apply our methods to the clustering of occupancy of the H3K4me1 histone modification in samples from a range of different cell types. The majority of samples form meaningful subclusters, confirming that the definitions of features and similarity capture biological, rather than technical, variation between the genomic tracks. Input data and results are available, and can be reproduced, through a Galaxy Pages document at http://hyperbrowser.uio.no/hb/u/hb-superuser/p/clustrack. The clustering functionality is available as a Galaxy tool, under the menu option "Specialized analyzis of tracks", and the submenu option "Cluster tracks based on genome level similarity", at the Genomic HyperBrowser server: http://hyperbrowser.uio.no/hb/.

  7. International Students' Motivation to Pursue and Complete a Ph.D. in the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Ji

    2015-01-01

    This study explores what motivates 19 international students to pursue a Ph.D. at a public research university in the U.S. and, more importantly, what motivates them to persist despite unsatisfying socialization. Based on value-expectancy achievement motivation theory, four motivations emerged: intrinsic interest in research, intrinsic interest in…

  8. Measuring kidney patients' motivation to pursue living donor kidney transplant: development of stage of change, decisional balance and self-efficacy measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterman, Amy D; Robbins, Mark L; Paiva, Andrea L; Peipert, John D; Davis, LaShara A; Hyland, Shelley S; Schenk, Emily A; Baldwin, Kari A; Amoyal, Nicole R

    2015-02-01

    While educational interventions to increase patient motivation to pursue living donor kidney transplant have shown success in increasing living donor kidney transplant rates, there are no validated, theoretically consistent measures of Stage of Change, a measure of readiness to pursue living donor kidney transplant; Decisional Balance, a weighted assessment of living donor kidney transplant's advantages/disadvantages; and Self-Efficacy, a measure of belief that patients can pursue living donor kidney transplant in difficult circumstances. This study developed and validated measures of these three constructs. In two independent samples of kidney patients (N 1 = 279 and N 2 = 204), results showed good psychometric properties and support for their use in the assessment of living donor kidney transplant interventions. © The Author(s) 2013.

  9. Linking Work Integrated Learning and Competency of Graduates Pursuing Graduate Diploma in Teaching Profession

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puncreobutr, Vichian; Malee; Somjate

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this research was to study the level of work integrated learning (WIL), and the competency of the teaching profession based on the standards of knowledge of the graduates at St. Theresa International College. The study group consisted of 115 graduates pursuing Graduate Diploma in Teaching Profession Program. The questionnaire was…

  10. Optical system design of CCD star sensor with large aperture and wide field of view

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chao; Jiang, Lun; Li, Ying-chao; Liu, Zhuang

    2017-10-01

    The star sensor is one of the sensors which are used to determine the spatial attitude of the space vehicle. An optical system of star sensor with large aperture and wide field of view was designed in this paper. The effective focal length of the optics was 16mm, and the F-number is 1.2, the field of view of the optical system is 20°.The working spectrum is 500 to 800 nanometer. The lens system selects a similar complicated Petzval structure and special glass-couple, and get a high imaging quality in the whole spectrum range. For each field-of-view point, the values of the modulation transfer function at 50 cycles/mm is higher than 0.3. On the detecting plane, the encircled energy in a circle of 14μm diameter could be up to 80% of the total energy. In the whole range of the field of view, the dispersion spot diameter in the imaging plane is no larger than 13μm. The full field distortion was less than 0.1%, which was helpful to obtain the accurate location of the reference star through the picture gotten by the star sensor. The lateral chromatic aberration is less than 2μm in the whole spectrum range.

  11. Real Time Wide Area Radiation Surveillance System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biafore, M.

    2012-04-01

    We present the REWARD project, financed within the FP7 programme, theme SEC-2011.1.5-1 (Development of detection capabilities of difficult to detect radioactive sources and nuclear materials - Capability Project). Within this project, we propose a novel mobile system for real time, wide area radiation surveillance. The system is based on the integration of new miniaturized solid-state radiation sensors: a CdZnTe detector for gamma radiation and a high efficiency neutron detector based on novel silicon technologies. The sensing unit will include a wireless communication interface to send the data remotely to a monitoring base station which also uses a GPS system to calculate the position of the tag. The system will also incorporate middleware and high level software to provide web-service interfaces for the exchange of information, and that will offer top level functionalities as management of users, mobile tags and environment data and alarms, database storage and management and a web-based graphical user interface. Effort will be spent to ensure that the software is modular and re-usable across as many architectural levels as possible. Finally, an expert system will continuously analyze the information from the radiation sensor and correlate it with historical data from the tag location in order to generate an alarm when an abnormal situation is detected. The system will be useful for many different scenarios, including such lost radioactive sources and radioactive contamination. It will be possible to deploy in emergency units and in general in any type of mobile or static equipment. The sensing units will be highly portable thanks to their low size and low energy consumption. The complete system will be scalable in terms of complexity and cost and will offer very high precision on both the measurement and the location of the radiation. The modularity and flexibility of the system will allow for a realistic introduction to the market. Authorities may start with a

  12. Pursuing Personal Passion: Learner-Centered Research Mentoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, William R

    2018-01-01

    New researchers often face difficulty finding and focusing research questions. I describe a new tool for research mentoring, the Pursuing Personal Passion (P3) interview, and a systematic approach to help learners organize their curiosity and develop researchable questions aligned with their personal and professional priorities. The learner-centered P3 research interview parallels the patient-centered clinical interview. This paper reviews experience with 27 research mentees over the years 2009 to 2016, using the P3 approach to identify their initial research topics, classify their underlying passions and track the evolution into their final research questions. These researchers usually identified one of three personal passions that provided lenses to focus their research: problem, person, or process. Initial research topics focused on: problem (24%, 6), person (48%, 12) and process (28%, 7). Final research questions evolved into: problem (20%, 5), person (32%, 8) and process (48%, 12). Identification of the underlying passion can lead researchers who start with one general topic to develop it into very different research questions. Using this P3 approach, mentors can help new researchers focus their interests into researchable questions, successful studies, and organized programs of scholarship.

  13. A Mixed WLS Power System State Estimation Method Integrating a Wide-Area Measurement System and SCADA Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Jin

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available To address the issue that the phasor measurement units (PMUs of wide area measurement system (WAMS are not sufficient for static state estimation in most existing power systems, this paper proposes a mixed power system weighted least squares (WLS state estimation method integrating a wide-area measurement system and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA technology. The hybrid calculation model is established by incorporating phasor measurements (including the node voltage phasors and branch current phasors and the results of the traditional state estimator in a post-processing estimator. The performance assessment is discussed through setting up mathematical models of the distribution network. Based on PMU placement optimization and bias analysis, the effectiveness of the proposed method was proved to be accurate and reliable by simulations of different cases. Furthermore, emulating calculation shows this method greatly improves the accuracy and stability of the state estimation solution, compared with the traditional WLS state estimation.

  14. When 'national innovation system' meet 'varieties of capitalism' arguments on labour qualifications: On the skill types and scientific knowledge needed for radical and incremental product innovations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herrmann, A.M.; Peine, A.

    2011-01-01

    The literatures on 'varieties of capitalism' (VoC) and 'national innovation systems' (NIS) propose very similar arguments about how firms require different types of labour qualifications to pursue strategies of radical product innovation (RPI), incremental product innovation (IPI), and product

  15. Wide Area Measurement Based Security Assessment & Monitoring of Modern Power System: A Danish Power System Case Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rather, Zakir Hussain; Chen, Zhe; Thøgersen, Paul

    2013-01-01

    Power System security has become a major concern across the global power system community. This paper presents wide area measurement system (WAMS) based security assessment and monitoring of modern power system. A new three dimensional security index (TDSI) has been proposed for online security...... monitoring of modern power system with large scale renewable energy penetration. Phasor measurement unit (PMU) based WAMS has been implemented in western Danish Power System to realize online security monitoring and assessment in power system control center. The proposed security monitoring system has been...

  16. Towards a plant-wide Benchmark Simulation Model with simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal wastewater treatment processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flores-Alsina, Xavier; Ikumi, David; Batstone, Damien

    It is more than 10 years since the publication of the Benchmark Simulation Model No 1 (BSM1) manual (Copp, 2002). The main objective of BSM1 was creating a platform for benchmarking carbon and nitrogen removal strategies in activated sludge systems. The initial platform evolved into BSM1_LT and BSM....... This extension aims at facilitating simultaneous carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (P) removal process development and performance evaluation at a plant-wide level. The main motivation of the work is that numerous wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) pursue biological phosphorus removal as an alternative...... to chemical P removal based on precipitation using metal salts, such as Fe or Al. This paper identifies and discusses important issues that need to be addressed to upgrade the BSM2 to BSM2-P, for example: 1) new influent wastewater characteristics; 2) new (bio) chemical processes to account for; 3...

  17. Power system low frequency oscillation mode estimation using wide area measurement systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Papia Ray

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Oscillations in power systems are triggered by a wide variety of events. The system damps most of the oscillations, but a few undamped oscillations may remain which may lead to system collapse. Therefore low frequency oscillations inspection is necessary in the context of recent power system operation and control. Ringdown portion of the signal provides rich information of the low frequency oscillatory modes which has been taken into analysis. This paper provides a practical case study in which seven signal processing based techniques i.e. Prony Analysis (PA, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT, S-Transform (ST, Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD, Estimation of Signal Parameters by Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT, Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT and Matrix Pencil Method (MPM were presented for estimating the low frequency modes in a given ringdown signal. Preprocessing of the signal is done by detrending. The application of the signal processing techniques is illustrated using actual wide area measurement systems (WAMS data collected from four different Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU i.e. Dadri, Vindyachal, Kanpur and Moga which are located near the recent disturbance event at the Northern Grid of India. Simulation results show that the seven signal processing technique (FFT, PA, ST, WVD, ESPRIT, HHT and MPM estimates two common oscillatory frequency modes (0.2, 0.5 from the raw signal. Thus, these seven techniques provide satisfactory performance in determining small frequency modes of the signal without losing its valuable property. Also a comparative study of the seven signal processing techniques has been carried out in order to find the best one. It was found that FFT and ESPRIT gives exact frequency modes as compared to other techniques, so they are recommended for estimation of low frequency modes. Further investigations were also carried out to estimate low frequency oscillatory mode with another case study of Eastern Interconnect Phasor Project

  18. A federal partnership to pursue operational prediction at the weather-climate interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandgathe, Scott A.; Eleuterio, Daniel; Warren, Steven

    2012-10-01

    Earth System Prediction Capability Workshop Washington, D. C., 21-23 March 2012 A meeting to advance a federal partnership toward operational prediction of the physical environment at subseasonal to decadal time scales was held in Washington, D. C. Scientists, headquarters representatives, and program managers from the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy met to discuss pressing agency requirements for extended-range environmental prediction to inform economic, energy, agricultural, national security, and infrastructure decisions. After significant review and discussion, participants agreed that the highest potential for progress was at the interseasonal to interannual (ISI) time scales (Advancing the Science of Climate Change (2010), Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC), http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782). They agreed to pursue a joint effort, identifying five areas for near-term demonstrations of predictability and establishing volunteer coordinators to organize the demonstration efforts. The demonstrations will establish operational extended-range predictive skill, inform further research, enhance interagency collaboration, and push forward environmental prediction technical and computational capabilities.

  19. Asian International Graduate Students’ Extrinsic Motivation to Pursue Degrees

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naomi Takashiro

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The author examined the types of extrinsic motivation for Asian international graduate students pursuing graduate degrees. The theoretical framework used was extrinsic motivation within Self-Determination Theory. Even though the presence of Asian international graduate students is steadily increasing worldwide, research into their extrinsic motivation is scarce. It is important for educators to explore and understand Asian international graduate students’ extrinsic motivation since such students would provide unique, distinctive cultural aspects in the classroom in their host countries. The research design employed was qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 graduate students from four Asian countries. The identified themes were a faculty influence, b personal recognition, and c utility for careers. Asian international graduate students expressed that their ultimate extrinsic motivation was to get professional jobs in academia. The author discussed the implications of these findings for instructors.

  20. Collaborative Filtering Recommendation Based on Trust Model with Fused Similar Factor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ye Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Recommended system is beneficial to e-commerce sites, which provides customers with product information and recommendations; the recommendation system is currently widely used in many fields. In an era of information explosion, the key challenges of the recommender system is to obtain valid information from the tremendous amount of information and produce high quality recommendations. However, when facing the large mount of information, the traditional collaborative filtering algorithm usually obtains a high degree of sparseness, which ultimately lead to low accuracy recommendations. To tackle this issue, we propose a novel algorithm named Collaborative Filtering Recommendation Based on Trust Model with Fused Similar Factor, which is based on the trust model and is combined with the user similarity. The novel algorithm takes into account the degree of interest overlap between the two users and results in a superior performance to the recommendation based on Trust Model in criteria of Precision, Recall, Diversity and Coverage. Additionally, the proposed model can effectively improve the efficiency of collaborative filtering algorithm and achieve high performance.

  1. Clinical leadership development requires system-wide interventions, not just courses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanwick, Tim; McKimm, Judy

    2012-04-01

    This is the third article in a series on clinical leadership and medical education. In the first two articles in this series we looked at the nature of leadership and examined professional outcomes, standards and competency frameworks from around the world that describe what it is we are trying to instil in medical students and doctors in postgraduate training. In this article we explore current trends in leadership development and describe broad approaches to clinical leadership development, highlighting those strategies that are likely to be more (or less) successful. Narrative review and discussion. Key trends and principles for best practice in leadership development are identified. Recommendations for the design of leadership development programmes are made alongside suggestions for system-wide interventions. Leadership development should be both drawn from and embedded in work-based activities, and as far as possible linked to the development of the organisation as a whole. Intervening at the level of the individual may not be enough. System-wide interventions are required that actively engage students and trainees in the practices of management and leadership, and involve them early. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.

  2. Understanding Why Speech-Language Pathologists Rarely Pursue a PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myotte, Theodore; Hutchins, Tiffany L.; Cannizzaro, Michael S.; Belin, Gayle

    2011-01-01

    Masters-level speech-language pathologists in communication sciences and disorders (n = 122) completed a survey soliciting their reasons for not pursuing doctoral study. Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution including one reflecting a lack of interest in doctoral study (Factor 2) and one reflecting practical financial concerns (Factor…

  3. Females and STEM: Determining the K-12 Experiences that Influenced Women to Pursue STEM Fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Anne Marie

    In the United States, careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are increasing yet there are not enough trained personnel to meet this demand. In addition, of those that seek to pursue STEM fields in the United States, only 26% are female. In order to increase the number of women seeking STEM based bachelor's degrees, K-12 education must provide a foundation that prepares students for entry into these fields. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine the perceived K-12 experiences that influenced females to pursue a STEM field. Twelve college juniors or seniors seeking a degree in Biology, Mathematics, or Physics were interviewed concerning their K-12 experiences. These interviews were analyzed and six themes emerged. Teacher passion and classroom characteristics such as incorporating challenging activities played a significant role in the females' decisions to enter STEM fields. Extra-curricular activities such as volunteer and mentor opportunities and the females' need to benefit others also influenced females in their career choice. Both the formal (within the school) and informal (outside of the traditional classroom) pipeline opportunities that these students encountered helped develop a sense of self-efficacy in science and mathematics; this self-efficacy enabled them to persist in pursuing these career fields. Several participants cited barriers that they encountered in K-12 education, but these barriers were primarily internal as they struggled with overcoming self-imposed obstacles in learning and being competitive in the mathematics and science classrooms. The experiences from these female students can be used by K-12 educators to prepare and encourage current female students to enter STEM occupations.

  4. Voltage control and protection in electrical power systems from system components to wide-area control

    CERN Document Server

    Corsi, Sandro

    2015-01-01

    Based on the author’s twenty years of experience, this book shows the practicality of modern, conceptually new, wide area voltage control in transmission and distribution smart grids, in detail. Evidence is given of the great advantages of this approach, as well as what can be gained by new control functionalities which modern technologies now available can provide. The distinction between solutions of wide area voltage regulation (V-WAR) and wide area voltage protection (V-WAP) are presented, demonstrating the proper synergy between them when they operate on the same power system as well as the simplicity and effectiveness of the protection solution in this case. The author provides an overview and detailed descriptions of voltage controls, distinguishing between generalities of underdeveloped, on-field operating applications and modern and available automatic control solutions, which are as yet not sufficiently known or perceived for what they are: practical, high-performance and reliable solutions. At th...

  5. Using concept similarity in cross ontology for adaptive e-Learning systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Saleena

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available e-Learning is one of the most preferred media of learning by the learners. The learners search the web to gather knowledge about a particular topic from the information in the repositories. Retrieval of relevant materials from a domain can be easily implemented if the information is organized and related in some way. Ontologies are a key concept that helps us to relate information for providing the more relevant lessons to the learner. This paper proposes an adaptive e-Learning system, which generates a user specific e-Learning content by comparing the concepts with more than one system using similarity measures. A cross ontology measure is defined, which consists of fuzzy domain ontology as the primary ontology and the domain expert’s ontology as the secondary ontology, for the comparison process. A personalized document is provided to the user with a user profile, which includes the data obtained from the processing of the proposed method under a User score, which is obtained through the user evaluation. The results of the proposed e-Learning system under the designed cross ontology similarity measure show a significant increase in performance and accuracy under different conditions. The assessment of the comparative analysis, showed the difference in performance of our proposed method over other methods. Based on the assessment results it is proved that the proposed approach is effective over other methods.

  6. Self-similarities of periodic structures for a discrete model of a two-gene system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza, S.L.T. de; Lima, A.A.; Caldas, I.L.; Medrano-T, R.O.; Guimarães-Filho, Z.O.

    2012-01-01

    We report self-similar properties of periodic structures remarkably organized in the two-parameter space for a two-gene system, described by two-dimensional symmetric map. The map consists of difference equations derived from the chemical reactions for gene expression and regulation. We characterize the system by using Lyapunov exponents and isoperiodic diagrams identifying periodic windows, denominated Arnold tongues and shrimp-shaped structures. Period-adding sequences are observed for both periodic windows. We also identify Fibonacci-type series and Golden ratio for Arnold tongues, and period multiple-of-three windows for shrimps. -- Highlights: ► The existence of noticeable periodic windows has been reported recently for several nonlinear systems. ► The periodic window distributions appear highly organized in two-parameter space. ► We characterize self-similar properties of Arnold tongues and shrimps for a two-gene model. ► We determine the period of the Arnold tongues recognizing a Fibonacci-type sequence. ► We explore self-similar features of the shrimps identifying multiple period-three structures.

  7. Self-similarities of periodic structures for a discrete model of a two-gene system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, S.L.T. de, E-mail: thomaz@ufsj.edu.br [Departamento de Física e Matemática, Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Ouro Branco, MG (Brazil); Lima, A.A. [Escola de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, MG (Brazil); Caldas, I.L. [Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Medrano-T, R.O. [Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, SP (Brazil); Guimarães-Filho, Z.O. [Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS PIIM UMR6633, International Institute for Fusion Science, Marseille (France)

    2012-03-12

    We report self-similar properties of periodic structures remarkably organized in the two-parameter space for a two-gene system, described by two-dimensional symmetric map. The map consists of difference equations derived from the chemical reactions for gene expression and regulation. We characterize the system by using Lyapunov exponents and isoperiodic diagrams identifying periodic windows, denominated Arnold tongues and shrimp-shaped structures. Period-adding sequences are observed for both periodic windows. We also identify Fibonacci-type series and Golden ratio for Arnold tongues, and period multiple-of-three windows for shrimps. -- Highlights: ► The existence of noticeable periodic windows has been reported recently for several nonlinear systems. ► The periodic window distributions appear highly organized in two-parameter space. ► We characterize self-similar properties of Arnold tongues and shrimps for a two-gene model. ► We determine the period of the Arnold tongues recognizing a Fibonacci-type sequence. ► We explore self-similar features of the shrimps identifying multiple period-three structures.

  8. The role of self-similarity in singularities of partial differential equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eggers, Jens; Fontelos, Marco A

    2009-01-01

    We survey rigorous, formal and numerical results on the formation of point-like singularities (or blow-up) for a wide range of evolution equations. We use a similarity transformation of the original equation with respect to the blow-up point, such that self-similar behaviour is mapped to the fixed point of a dynamical system. We point out that analysing the dynamics close to the fixed point is a useful way of characterizing the singularity, in that the dynamics frequently reduces to very few dimensions. As far as we are aware, examples from the literature either correspond to stable fixed points, low-dimensional centre-manifold dynamics, limit cycles or travelling waves. For each 'class' of singularity, we give detailed examples. (invited article)

  9. Initial validations for pursuing irradiation using a gimbals tracking system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takayama, Kenji; Mizowaki, Takashi; Kokubo, Masaki; Kawada, Noriyuki; Nakayama, Hiroshi; Narita, Yuichiro; Nagano, Kazuo; Kamino, Yuichiro; Hiraoka, Masahiro

    2009-01-01

    Our newly designed image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) system enables the dynamic tracking irradiation with a gimbaled X-ray head and a dual on-board kilovolt imaging subsystem for real-time target localization. Examinations using a computer-controlled three-dimensionally movable phantom demonstrated that our gimbals tracking system significantly reduced motion blurring effects in the dose distribution compared to the non-tracking state.

  10. Wide-Field Imaging Telescope-0 (WIT0) with automatic observing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Tae-Geun; Byeon, Seoyeon; Lee, Hye-In; Park, Woojin; Lee, Sang-Yun; Hwang, Sungyong; Choi, Changsu; Gibson, Coyne Andrew; Kuehne, John W.; Prochaska, Travis; Marshall, Jennifer L.; Im, Myungshin; Pak, Soojong

    2018-01-01

    We introduce Wide-Field Imaging Telescope-0 (WIT0), with an automatic observing system. It is developed for monitoring the variabilities of many sources at a time, e.g. young stellar objects and active galactic nuclei. It can also find the locations of transient sources such as a supernova or gamma-ray bursts. In 2017 February, we installed the wide-field 10-inch telescope (Takahashi CCA-250) as a piggyback system on the 30-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US. The 10-inch telescope has a 2.35 × 2.35 deg field-of-view with a 4k × 4k CCD Camera (FLI ML16803). To improve the observational efficiency of the system, we developed a new automatic observing software, KAOS30 (KHU Automatic Observing Software for McDonald 30-inch telescope), which was developed by Visual C++ on the basis of a windows operating system. The software consists of four control packages: the Telescope Control Package (TCP), the Data Acquisition Package (DAP), the Auto Focus Package (AFP), and the Script Mode Package (SMP). Since it also supports the instruments that are using the ASCOM driver, the additional hardware installations become quite simplified. We commissioned KAOS30 in 2017 August and are in the process of testing. Based on the WIT0 experiences, we will extend KAOS30 to control multiple telescopes in future projects.

  11. Self-similarity and scaling theory of complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Chaoming

    Scale-free networks have been studied extensively due to their relevance to many real systems as diverse as the World Wide Web (WWW), the Internet, biological and social networks. We present a novel approach to the analysis of scale-free networks, revealing that their structure is self-similar. This result is achieved by the application of a renormalization procedure which coarse-grains the system into boxes containing nodes within a given "size". Concurrently, we identify a power-law relation between the number of boxes needed to cover the network and the size of the box defining a self-similar exponent, which classifies fractal and non-fractal networks. By using the concept of renormalization as a mechanism for the growth of fractal and non-fractal modular networks, we show that the key principle that gives rise to the fractal architecture of networks is a strong effective "repulsion" between the most connected nodes (hubs) on all length scales, rendering them very dispersed. We show that a robust network comprised of functional modules, such as a cellular network, necessitates a fractal topology, suggestive of a evolutionary drive for their existence. These fundamental properties help to understand the emergence of the scale-free property in complex networks.

  12. Buyer behaviour in the context of sustainable consumption policy pursued in Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaroslaw Korpysa

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The concept of sustainable consumption has been actively promoted among modern societies. It has gained a special importance in the context of pursuing sustainable consumption policy and supporting actions taken as part of corporate social responsibility. The fulfilment of strategic goals defined under this concept minimizes negative effects of industrialization and globalization. Furthermore, it contributes to efficient allocation of natural resources and natural environment protection. It is beyond any doubt that a 21st century consumer should take account of a number of issues while buying and subsequently using goods and services. These issues include wastage reduction, lower emission of pollution and limited production of waste, as well as selection of products whose development conforms to the code of ethics and socio-environmental norms. This awareness is observed in most countries all over the world, nevertheless certain differences can be noticed between the developed and developing states. Although the concept of sustainable consumption is being actively promoted among consumers in the developing countries (e.g. in Poland, they are still less aware of the necessity to conform to socio-ecological norms in the process of consumption. The main aim of the article is to analyse buyer behaviour in the context of sustainable development policy pursued in Poland. The first part will be devoted to theoretical issues relating to the subject of the analysis. In the second part of the paper the author will present the results of a survey examining the aforementioned behaviour.

  13. Testing Self-Similarity Through Lamperti Transformations

    KAUST Repository

    Lee, Myoungji

    2016-07-14

    Self-similar processes have been widely used in modeling real-world phenomena occurring in environmetrics, network traffic, image processing, and stock pricing, to name but a few. The estimation of the degree of self-similarity has been studied extensively, while statistical tests for self-similarity are scarce and limited to processes indexed in one dimension. This paper proposes a statistical hypothesis test procedure for self-similarity of a stochastic process indexed in one dimension and multi-self-similarity for a random field indexed in higher dimensions. If self-similarity is not rejected, our test provides a set of estimated self-similarity indexes. The key is to test stationarity of the inverse Lamperti transformations of the process. The inverse Lamperti transformation of a self-similar process is a strongly stationary process, revealing a theoretical connection between the two processes. To demonstrate the capability of our test, we test self-similarity of fractional Brownian motions and sheets, their time deformations and mixtures with Gaussian white noise, and the generalized Cauchy family. We also apply the self-similarity test to real data: annual minimum water levels of the Nile River, network traffic records, and surface heights of food wrappings. © 2016, International Biometric Society.

  14. Genomic research and wide data sharing: views of prospective participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trinidad, Susan Brown; Fullerton, Stephanie M; Bares, Julie M; Jarvik, Gail P; Larson, Eric B; Burke, Wylie

    2010-08-01

    Sharing study data within the research community generates tension between two important goods: promoting scientific goals and protecting the privacy interests of study participants. This study was designed to explore the perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes of research participants and possible future participants regarding genome-wide association studies and repository-based research. Focus group sessions with (1) current research participants, (2) surrogate decision-makers, and (3) three age-defined cohorts (18-34 years, 35-50, >50). Participants expressed a variety of opinions about the acceptability of wide sharing of genetic and phenotypic information for research purposes through large, publicly accessible data repositories. Most believed that making de-identified study data available to the research community is a social good that should be pursued. Privacy and confidentiality concerns were common, although they would not necessarily preclude participation. Many participants voiced reservations about sharing data with for-profit organizations. Trust is central in participants' views regarding data sharing. Further research is needed to develop governance models that enact the values of stewardship.

  15. Wide Area Coordinated Control of Multi-FACTS Devices to Damp Power System Oscillations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiyun Xu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Aiming at damping the inter-area oscillations of power systems, the present study proposes a wide-area decentralized coordinated control framework, where the upper-level controller is designed to coordinate the lower-level multiple FACTS devices. Based on the polytopic differential inclusion method, the derived controller adopts a decentralized structure and it is guaranteed to be robust to meet the demand of operation under multiple operating conditions. Since time delay of wide area signal transmission is inevitable, in what follows, the quantum evolution algorithm (QEA method is introduced to find an optimal solution of the time-delay coordinated controller. In this regard, the stability of the system with a prescribed time delay is guaranteed and the system damping ratio is increased. Effectiveness and applicability of the proposed controller design methods have been demonstrated through numerical simulations.

  16. Integrating user profile in medical CBIR systems to answer perceptual similarity queries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bugatti, Pedro H.; Kaster, Daniel S.; Ponciano-Silva, Marcelo; Traina, Agma J. M.; Traina, Caetano, Jr.

    2011-03-01

    Techniques for Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) have been intensively explored due to the increase in the amount of captured images and the need of fast retrieval of them. The medical field is a specific example that generates a large flow of information, especially digital images employed for diagnosing. One issue that still remains unsolved deals with how to reach the perceptual similarity. That is, to achieve an effective retrieval, one must characterize and quantify the perceptual similarity regarding the specialist in the field. Therefore, the present paper was conceived to fill in this gap creating a consistent support to perform similarity queries over medical images, maintaining the semantics of a given query desired by the user. CBIR systems relying in relevance feedback techniques usually request the users to label relevant images. In this paper, we present a simple but highly effective strategy to survey user profiles, taking advantage of such labeling to implicitly gather the user perceptual similarity. The user profiles maintain the settings desired for each user, allowing tuning the similarity assessment, which encompasses dynamically changing the distance function employed through an interactive process. Experiments using computed tomography lung images show that the proposed approach is effective in capturing the users' perception.

  17. A digitized wide range channel for new instrumentation and control system of PUSPATI TRIGA Reactor (RTP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zareen Khan Abdul Jalil Khan; Izhar Abu Hussin; Mohd Idris Taib; Nurfarhana Ayuni Joha; Roslan Md Dan

    2010-01-01

    Wide Range Channel is one of very important part of Reactor Instrumentation and Control system. Current system is using all analog system. The main functions of the new system are to provide Wide-log power and Multi-range linear power. The other functions are to provide Percent power and Power rate of change. The linear power level range is up to 125 % and the log power system to cover from below source level to 150 %. The main function of digital signal processor is for pulse shaping, pulse counting and root mean square signal processing. The system employs automatic on-line self diagnostics and calibration verification. (author)

  18. On the nature and impact of self-similarity in real-time systems

    OpenAIRE

    Enrique Hernández-Orallo; Vila Carbó, Juan Antonio

    2012-01-01

    In real-time systems with highly variable task execution times simplistic task models are insufficient to accurately model and to analyze the system. Variability can be tackled using distributions rather than a single value, but the proper charac- terization depends on the degree of variability. Self-similarity is one of the deep- est kinds of variability. It characterizes the fact that a workload is not only highly variable, but it is also bursty on many time-scales. This paper identifies in...

  19. Renewables integration, flexibility measures and operational tools for the Ireland and Northern Ireland power system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flynn, Damian; Power, Michael; O'Malley, Mark

    2016-01-01

    The Ireland and Northern Ireland power system is pursuing ambitious renewable energy (mainly wind generation) targets for 2020. A range of system-wide initiatives are being developed as part of the DS3 (Delivering a Secure, Sustainable Electricity System) programme, and, in particular, a bespoke suite of ancillary services incentivising fast frequency response, dynamic reactive power and ramping margin, and other, (future) system needs. With approximately half of the wind generation connected at distribution level, network development at both distribution and transmission levels is a key challenge for both the transmission system operators (TSO) and distribution system operators (DSO): a wide range of technical options are being examined, including under-grounding, HVDC connection and series compensation, supported by a public and stakeholder engagement programme. The experience gained is highlighted, while also indicating solutions and strategies which have been proposed, and ongoing challenges for the future. (Authors)

  20. Mobile/portable transuranic waste characterization systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a model for their use complex-wide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derr, E.D.; Harper, J.R.; Zygmunt, S.J.; Taggart, D.P.; Betts, S.E.

    1997-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory has implemented mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems to characterize TRU waste in storage for ultimate shipment and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM. These mobile systems are being used to characterize and repackage waste to meet the full requirements of the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and the WIPP Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP). Mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems are being used to supplement the capabilities and throughputs of existing facilities. Utilization of mobile systems is a key factor that is enabling LANL to: (1) reduce its TRU waste work-off schedule from 36 years to 8.5 years; (2) eliminate the need to construct a $70M+ TRU waste characterization facility; (3) have waste certified for shipment to WIPP when WIPP opens; (4) continue to ship TRU waste to WIPP at the rate of 5000 drums per year; and, (5) reduce overall costs by more than $200M. Aggressive implementation of mobile and portable systems throughout the DOE complex through a centralized-distributed services model will result in similar advantages complex-wide

  1. Mobile/portable transuranic waste characterization systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a model for their use complex-wide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derr, E.D.; Harper, J.R.; Zygmunt, S.J.; Taggart, D.P.; Betts, S.E.

    1997-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has implemented mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems to characterize transuranic (TRU) waste in storage for ultimate shipment and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM. These mobile systems are being used to characterize and repackage waste to meet the full requirements of the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and the WIPP Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP). Mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems are being used to supplement the capabilities and throughputs of existing facilities. Utilization of mobile systems is a key factor that is enabling LANL to (1) reduce its TRU waste work-off schedule from 36 years to 8.5 years; (2) eliminate the need to construct a $70M+ TRU waste characterization facility; (3) have waste certified for shipment to WIPP when WIPP opens; (4) continue to ship TRU waste to WIPP at the rate of 5000 drums per year; and (5) reduce overall costs by more than $200M. Aggressive implementation of mobile and portable systems throughout the Department of Energy complex through a centralized-distributed services model will result in similar advantages complex-wide

  2. The NILE system architecture: fault-tolerant, wide-area access to computing and data resources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ricciardi, Aleta; Ogg, Michael; Rothfus, Eric

    1996-01-01

    NILE is a multi-disciplinary project building a distributed computing environment for HEP. It provides wide-area, fault-tolerant, integrated access to processing and data resources for collaborators of the CLEO experiment, though the goals and principles are applicable to many domains. NILE has three main objectives: a realistic distributed system architecture design, the design of a robust data model, and a Fast-Track implementation providing a prototype design environment which will also be used by CLEO physicists. This paper focuses on the software and wide-area system architecture design and the computing issues involved in making NILE services highly-available. (author)

  3. Proceedings of wide band gap semiconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moustakas, T.D.; Pankove, J.I.; Hamakawa, Y.

    1992-01-01

    This book contains the proceedings of wide band gap semiconductors. Wide band gap semiconductors are under intense study because of their potential applications in photonic devices in the visible and ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and devices for high temperature, high frequency and high power electronics. Additionally, due to their unique mechanical, thermal, optical, chemical, and electronic properties many wide band gap semiconductors are anticipated to find applications in thermoelectric, electrooptic, piezoelectric and acoustooptic devices as well as protective coatings, hard coatings and heat sinks. Material systems covered in this symposium include diamond, II-VI compounds, III-V nitrides, silicon carbide, boron compounds, amorphous and microcrystalline semiconductors, chalcopyrites, oxides and halides. The various papers addressed recent experimental and theoretical developments. They covered issues related to crystal growth (bulk and thin films), structure and microstructure, defects, doping, optoelectronic properties and device applications. A theoretical session was dedicated to identifying common themes in the heteroepitaxy and the role of defects in doping, compensation and phase stability of this unique class of materials. Important experimental milestones included the demonstrations of bright blue injection luminescence at room temperatures from junctions based on III-V nitrides and a similar result from multiple quantum wells in a ZnSe double heterojunction at liquid nitrogen temperatures

  4. LMFBR system-wide transient analysis: the state of the art and US validation needs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khatib-Rahbar, M.; Guppy, J.G.; Cerbone, R.J.

    1982-01-01

    This paper summarizes the computational capabilities in the area of liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) system-wide transient analysis in the United States, identifies various numerical and physical approximations, the degree of empiricism, range of applicability, model verification and experimental needs for a wide class of protected transients, in particular, natural circulation shutdown heat removal for both loop- and pool-type plants

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingxin Gan

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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gan, Mingxin

    2014-01-01

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

  7. A Robust WLS Power System State Estimation Method Integrating a Wide-Area Measurement System and SCADA Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Jin

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available With the development of modern society, the scale of the power system is rapidly increased accordingly, and the framework and mode of running of power systems are trending towards more complexity. It is nowadays much more important for the dispatchers to know exactly the state parameters of the power network through state estimation. This paper proposes a robust power system WLS state estimation method integrating a wide-area measurement system (WAMS and SCADA technology, incorporating phasor measurements and the results of the traditional state estimator in a post-processing estimator, which greatly reduces the scale of the non-linear estimation problem as well as the number of iterations and the processing time per iteration. This paper firstly analyzes the wide-area state estimation model in detail, then according to the issue that least squares does not account for bad data and outliers, the paper proposes a robust weighted least squares (WLS method that combines a robust estimation principle with least squares by equivalent weight. The performance assessment is discussed through setting up mathematical models of the distribution network. The effectiveness of the proposed method was proved to be accurate and reliable by simulations and experiments.

  8. Frequency Monitoring and Control during Power System Restoration Based on Wide Area Measurement System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saber Nourizadeh

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Frequency control during power system restoration has not been strongly addressed. Operators are often concerned with the offline sizing of load and generation steps, but, nowadays, the introduction of Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS makes it possible to monitor the stability of power system online. The constraints of WAMS operation result in some changes in power system frequency control. This paper proposes a novel methodology for frequency control and monitoring during the early steps of power system restoration based on WAMS. Detailed load modeling is achieved based on the static load modeling approach. Power generators' modeling is also accomplished utilizing the single machine equivalent of the power system based on PMU measurements. Simulation results of the presented methodology on the 39 bus New England power system clearly show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method. The simulation results show that the presented approach has a completely acceptable precision and an outstanding speed with less than 0.05% error. The outstanding speed of the presented approach along with the result precision will result in a great promotion in power system restoration methodologies.

  9. Proposed alternatives for a DOE-wide occupational radiation exposure information system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murphy, B.L.; Murphy, D.W.; Fix, J.J.; Selby, J.M.; Vallario, E.J.

    1984-02-01

    The Radiation Exposure Information Reporting System (REIRS) was initiated by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1968. While the system has provided a general overview of radiation exposures associated with AEC/ERDA/DOE operations and has satisfied the original intent for a central information system, the need for more detailed information has become evident. The alternatives addressed for a radiation exposure information system were no change in current system, clarification of DOE Order for current system, increased summary information from sites, centralized annual individual dose (exposure) system, and annual dose summary and locator files. A majority of the DOE Ad Hoc Committee has concurred to recommend the annual dose summary and locator files (ADSLF). The acceptance of the ADSLF alternative as the DOE-wide radiation exposure system would give DOE added capability and flexibility in responding to requests for information and would reduce the impact on the sites of special survey requests

  10. Leadership, communication and decision making in man-machine systems; Fuehrung, Kommunikation und Entscheidungsfindung in Mensch-Maschine-Systemen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bluhm, Thomas

    2008-07-01

    The contribution under consideration spans a wide curve from the first deadly accident of motorized aviation in the year 1908 up to newer tendencies of the so-called team resources management on observation points and control stations in order to pursue fundamental questions in man-machine systems. A continuous differentiation in the consideration of the factor human beings in complex technical systems is described. This is illustrated by the example of concepts for leadership, communication and decision making on observation points and control stations.

  11. Hierarchical modeling of systems with similar components: A framework for adaptive monitoring and control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Memarzadeh, Milad; Pozzi, Matteo; Kolter, J. Zico

    2016-01-01

    System management includes the selection of maintenance actions depending on the available observations: when a system is made up by components known to be similar, data collected on one is also relevant for the management of others. This is typically the case of wind farms, which are made up by similar turbines. Optimal management of wind farms is an important task due to high cost of turbines' operation and maintenance: in this context, we recently proposed a method for planning and learning at system-level, called PLUS, built upon the Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) framework, which treats transition and emission probabilities as random variables, and is therefore suitable for including model uncertainty. PLUS models the components as independent or identical. In this paper, we extend that formulation, allowing for a weaker similarity among components. The proposed approach, called Multiple Uncertain POMDP (MU-POMDP), models the components as POMDPs, and assumes the corresponding parameters as dependent random variables. Through this framework, we can calibrate specific degradation and emission models for each component while, at the same time, process observations at system-level. We compare the performance of the proposed MU-POMDP with PLUS, and discuss its potential and computational complexity. - Highlights: • A computational framework is proposed for adaptive monitoring and control. • It adopts a scheme based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo for inference and learning. • Hierarchical Bayesian modeling is used to allow a system-level flow of information. • Results show potential of significant savings in management of wind farms.

  12. Meyerhoff Scholars Program: a strengths-based, institution-wide approach to increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maton, Kenneth I; Pollard, Shauna A; McDougall Weise, Tatiana V; Hrabowski, Freeman A

    2012-01-01

    The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is widely viewed as a national model of a program that enhances the number of underrepresented minority students who pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics PhDs. The current article provides an overview of the program and the institution-wide change process that led to its development, as well as a summary of key outcome and process evaluation research findings. African American Meyerhoff students are 5× more likely than comparison students to pursue a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics PhD. Program components viewed by the students as most beneficial include financial scholarship, being a part of the Meyerhoff Program community, the Summer Bridge program, study groups, and summer research. Qualitative findings from interviews and focus groups demonstrate the importance of the Meyerhoff Program in creating a sense of belonging and a shared identity, encouraging professional development, and emphasizing the importance of academic skills. Among Meyerhoff students, several precollege and college factors have emerged as predictors of successful entrance into a PhD program in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, including precollege research excitement, precollege intrinsic math/science motivation, number of summer research experiences during college, and college grade point average. Limitations of the research to date are noted, and directions for future research are proposed. © 2012 Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

  13. Examining the Satisfaction of Educational Leaders and Their Intent to Pursue Career Advancement in Public School Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conrad, Tracey L.; Rosser, Vicki J.

    2007-01-01

    This statewide study examined selected demographic characteristics, worklife experiences, and personal issues that influence the satisfaction of administrators (assistant principals, principals, assistant superintendents) and their intent to leave their positions and careers or pursue career advancement in public school administration. The results…

  14. Motivation of French medical students to pursue surgical careers: results of national survey of 1742 students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lefèvre, Jeremie H; Karila, Laurent; Kerneis, Solen; Rouprêt, Morgan

    2010-06-01

    Analyze the aspirations and personal motivations behind the choice of surgical specialties in a large sample of students in their 6th year of medical school. In December 2008, 2588 students participated in a nation-wide mock exam, before taking the National Ranking Exam. When they looked for their grades on the web, the students were prompted to answer a questionnaire containing socio-demographic questions concerning their choice and motivation to pursue a career in a surgical specialty. The survey called also for listing the three main factors (out of a list of 11) motivating their choice. Students originated from 39 medical schools. Of the 2588 students, 1427 (55%) were women. The response rate to the questionnaire was 1742/2588=67%. Two hundred and twenty students (13%) did not express any specific professional orientation. Of the 1522 responses obtained, 522 students wanted to become surgeons. Gender was a determining factor as 44% of male students (n=252) versus 29% of female students wanted to become a surgeon; Pprivate practice (n=280, 18%) and life style (n=175, 11%) were the motivations most often cited to back their choice. One third of medical students want to become surgeons. Feminization, life style and income are the principal factors influencing the choice of the type of surgical subspecialization. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  15. Darwin: Dose monitoring system applicable to various radiations with wide energy ranges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, T.; Satoh, D.; Endo, A.; Yamaguchi, Y.

    2007-01-01

    A new radiation dose monitor, designated as DARWIN (Dose monitoring system Applicable to various Radiations with Wide energy ranges), has been developed for real-time monitoring of doses in workspaces and surrounding environments of high-energy accelerator facilities. DARWIN is composed of a Phoswitch-type scintillation detector, which consists of liquid organic scintillator BC501A coupled with ZnS(Ag) scintillation sheets doped with 6 Li, and a data acquisition system based on a Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope. DARWIN has the following features: (1) capable of monitoring doses from neutrons, photons and muons with energies from thermal energy to 1 GeV, 150 keV to 100 MeV and 1 MeV to 100 GeV, respectively, (2) highly sensitive with precision and (3) easy to operate with a simple graphical user-interface. The performance of DARWIN was examined experimentally in several radiation fields. The results of the experiments indicated the accuracy and wide response range of DARWIN for measuring dose rates from neutrons, photons and muons with wide energies. It was also found from the experiments that DARWIN enables us to monitor small fluctuations of neutron dose rates near the background level because of its high sensitivity. With these properties, DARWIN will be able to play a very important role for improving radiation safety in high-energy accelerator facilities. (authors)

  16. Choosing Science: A Mixed-Methods Study of Factors Predicting Latino and Latina High School Students' Decisions to Pursue Science Degrees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Rachel S.

    Latino/as are an increasingly large subset of the United States population; however, they continue to be underrepresented in science careers. Because of this increase, research regarding Latino/as has improved, but there are still many gaps in regards to gender-specific predictors to pursue science careers. To address this lack of literature, the purpose of this study is to extend previous research and to develop a model of variables that significantly contribute to science career choice among Latino and Latina students when they graduate from high school. In particular the study addressed the following research questions: (1) What are the differences in science outcomes for Latino and Latina students? (2) What are the differences in factors involved in science outcomes for Latino and Latina students? (3) For Latino and Latina students what are the differences in the factors that predict students' choice to pursue a science degree and/or high scores on the Future Plans in Science Scale? (4) What are the differences in how Latino and Latina students experience science, which account for high achieving students to choose to pursue a science major? This study utilized an explanatory mixed-method approach to examine how cognitive, institutional, and motivational factors may be interrelated and play a role in Latino/as choice to pursue science. The first phase of the study incorporated the collection of survey and database information from 12th grade students at two Southern California high schools. The second phase of the study utilized follow-up focus group interviews to explore the specific differential experiences and views of Latino and Latina students. The results of the study demonstrated multiple significant predictors. Science self-concept and views towards science outside of school were the most significant predictors of students' choice to pursue science. Male students also had major predictors of Spanish proficiency, teacher encouragement, religious views

  17. DOE's nation-wide system for access control can solve problems for the federal government

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callahan, S.; Tomes, D.; Davis, G.; Johnson, D.; Strait, S.

    1996-07-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) ongoing efforts to improve its physical and personnel security systems while reducing its costs, provide a model for federal government visitor processing. Through the careful use of standardized badges, computer databases, and networks of automated access control systems, the DOE is increasing the security associated with travel throughout the DOE complex, and at the same time, eliminating paperwork, special badging, and visitor delays. The DOE is also improving badge accountability, personnel identification assurance, and access authorization timeliness and accuracy. Like the federal government, the DOE has dozens of geographically dispersed locations run by many different contractors operating a wide range of security systems. The DOE has overcome these obstacles by providing data format standards, a complex-wide virtual network for security, the adoption of a standard high security system, and an open-systems-compatible link for any automated access control system. If the location's level of security requires it, positive visitor identification is accomplished by personal identification number (PIN) and/or by biometrics. At sites with automated access control systems, this positive identification is integrated into the portals

  18. Evaluating the effect of annotation size on measures of semantic similarity

    KAUST Repository

    Kulmanov, Maxat

    2017-02-13

    Background: Ontologies are widely used as metadata in biological and biomedical datasets. Measures of semantic similarity utilize ontologies to determine how similar two entities annotated with classes from ontologies are, and semantic similarity is increasingly applied in applications ranging from diagnosis of disease to investigation in gene networks and functions of gene products.

  19. What Can We Learn from Similar Male Dominated Industries?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, C.

    2015-01-01

    Thomas Thor Associates is an Executive Recruitment company solely dedicated to the Nuclear industry. We have been involved with WiN UK in 2014–2015 to help them develop their own organization, this research was part of our partnership. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a clear picture of the techniques that are used by organizations similar to WiN, and business in other industries that are similar to Nuclear, to attract more women to pursue a career in a particular industry, and to support retention and career progression of women in these industries. This paper has taken a look at all industries that require technical and engineering staff, after which the Mining, Oil & Gas, Petro-chemicals, Rail, Renewable Energy, Technology and Construction industries were found to show most similarities with Nuclear, in terms of the technical staff required and their structure on gender diversity. From here, case studies of industry organizations and professional business have been prepared in order to inform WiN of best practice in these industries and provide a benchmark for future WiN operations. Finally, the report results into giving recommendations on projects WiN could add to their current approach to achieve their objectives. The recommendations are based on the results from the case studies, focusing on attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing female professionals. In summary, the recommendations are to: highlight potential career paths for women in Nuclear, educate women on Nuclear, support the development of women and to help companies to increase their bottom line by getting WiN certified. (author)

  20. Pursuing Darwin's curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesoudi, Alex

    2017-07-24

    In the past few decades, scholars from several disciplines have pursued the curious parallel noted by Darwin between the genetic evolution of species and the cultural evolution of beliefs, skills, knowledge, languages, institutions, and other forms of socially transmitted information. Here, I review current progress in the pursuit of an evolutionary science of culture that is grounded in both biological and evolutionary theory, but also treats culture as more than a proximate mechanism that is directly controlled by genes. Both genetic and cultural evolution can be described as systems of inherited variation that change over time in response to processes such as selection, migration, and drift. Appropriate differences between genetic and cultural change are taken seriously, such as the possibility in the latter of nonrandomly guided variation or transformation, blending inheritance, and one-to-many transmission. The foundation of cultural evolution was laid in the late 20th century with population-genetic style models of cultural microevolution, and the use of phylogenetic methods to reconstruct cultural macroevolution. Since then, there have been major efforts to understand the sociocognitive mechanisms underlying cumulative cultural evolution, the consequences of demography on cultural evolution, the empirical validity of assumed social learning biases, the relative role of transformative and selective processes, and the use of quantitative phylogenetic and multilevel selection models to understand past and present dynamics of society-level change. I conclude by highlighting the interdisciplinary challenges of studying cultural evolution, including its relation to the traditional social sciences and humanities.

  1. Lessons Learned from A System-Wide Evidence-Based Practice Program Implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-04-25

    incorporating scientific evidence, clinical expertise and the patient’s values and preferences to provide quality healthcare . Despite growing...MEMORANDUM FOR ST DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 59TH MEDICAL WING (AETC) JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - LACKLAND TEXAS ATTN: LT COL JACQUELINE KILLIAN...FROM: 59 MDW/SGVU SUBJECT: Professional Presentation Approval 14 FEB 2017 1. Your paper, entitled Lesson Learned From A System-Wide Evidence- Based

  2. Auto-Baecklund transformation and similarity reductions to the variable coefficients variant Boussinesq system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moussa, M.H.M. [Department of Mathematic, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, Hiliopolis, Cairo (Egypt)], E-mail: m_h_m_moussa@yahoo.com; El Shikh, Rehab M. [Department of Mathematic, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, Hiliopolis, Cairo (Egypt)

    2008-02-25

    Based on the closed connections among the homogeneous balance (HB) method, Weiss-Tabor-Carneval (WTC) method and Clarkson-Kruskal (CK) method, we study Baecklund transformation and similarity reductions of the variable coefficients variant Boussinesq system. In the meantime, new exact solutions also are found.

  3. 77 FR 1687 - EPA Workshops on Achieving Water Quality Through Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-11

    ... quality benefits and consider various innovative approaches, such as green infrastructure, that may be... approach, EPA encourages municipalities to pursue more innovative approaches such as green infrastructure technologies and asset management or similar utility-wide planning approaches. EPA has strongly encouraged...

  4. Content Based Retrieval Database Management System with Support for Similarity Searching and Query Refinement

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ortega-Binderberger, Michael

    2002-01-01

    ... as a critical area of research. This thesis explores how to enhance database systems with content based search over arbitrary abstract data types in a similarity based framework with query refinement...

  5. Emergent self-similarity of cluster coagulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pushkin, Dmtiri O.

    A wide variety of nonequilibrium processes, such as coagulation of colloidal particles, aggregation of bacteria into colonies, coalescence of rain drops, bond formation between polymerization sites, and formation of planetesimals, fall under the rubric of cluster coagulation. We predict emergence of self-similar behavior in such systems when they are 'forced' by an external source of the smallest particles. The corresponding self-similar coagulation spectra prove to be power laws. Starting from the classical Smoluchowski coagulation equation, we identify the conditions required for emergence of self-similarity and show that the power-law exponent value for a particular coagulation mechanism depends on the homogeneity index of the corresponding coagulation kernel only. Next, we consider the current wave of mergers of large American banks as an 'unorthodox' application of coagulation theory. We predict that the bank size distribution has propensity to become a power law, and verify our prediction in a statistical study of the available economical data. We conclude this chapter by discussing economically significant phenomenon of capital condensation and predicting emergence of power-law distributions in other economical and social data. Finally, we turn to apparent semblance between cluster coagulation and turbulence and conclude that it is not accidental: both of these processes are instances of nonlinear cascades. This class of processes also includes river network formation models, certain force-chain models in granular mechanics, fragmentation due to collisional cascades, percolation, and growing random networks. We characterize a particular cascade by three indicies and show that the resulting power-law spectrum exponent depends on the indicies values only. The ensuing algebraic formula is remarkable for its simplicity.

  6. Mapping Rice Cropping Systems in Vietnam Using an NDVI-Based Time-Series Similarity Measurement Based on DTW Distance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xudong Guan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS time-series data has been widely used in the fields of crop and rice classification. The cloudy and rainy weather characteristics of the monsoon season greatly reduce the likelihood of obtaining high-quality optical remote sensing images. In addition, the diverse crop-planting system in Vietnam also hinders the comparison of NDVI among different crop stages. To address these problems, we apply a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW distance-based similarity measure approach and use the entire yearly NDVI time series to reduce the inaccuracy of classification using a single image. We first de-noise the NDVI time series using S-G filtering based on the TIMESAT software. Then, a standard NDVI time-series base for rice growth is established based on field survey data and Google Earth sample data. NDVI time-series data for each pixel are constructed and the DTW distance with the standard rice growth NDVI time series is calculated. Then, we apply thresholds to extract rice growth areas. A qualitative assessment using statistical data and a spatial assessment using sampled data from the rice-cropping map reveal a high mapping accuracy at the national scale between the statistical data, with the corresponding R2 being as high as 0.809; however, the mapped rice accuracy decreased at the provincial scale due to the reduced number of rice planting areas per province. An analysis of the results indicates that the 500-m resolution MODIS data are limited in terms of mapping scattered rice parcels. The results demonstrate that the DTW-based similarity measure of the NDVI time series can be effectively used to map large-area rice cropping systems with diverse cultivation processes.

  7. Study for the design method of multi-agent diagnostic system to improve diagnostic performance for similar abnormality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minowa, Hirotsugu; Gofuku, Akio

    2014-01-01

    Accidents on industrial plants cause large loss on human, economic, social credibility. In recent, studies of diagnostic methods using techniques of machine learning such as support vector machine is expected to detect the occurrence of abnormality in a plant early and correctly. There were reported that these diagnostic machines has high accuracy to diagnose the operating state of industrial plant under mono abnormality occurrence. But the each diagnostic machine on the multi-agent diagnostic system may misdiagnose similar abnormalities as a same abnormality if abnormalities to diagnose increases. That causes that a single diagnostic machine may show higher diagnostic performance than one of multi-agent diagnostic system because decision-making considering with misdiagnosis is difficult. Therefore, we study the design method for multi-agent diagnostic system to diagnose similar abnormality correctly. This method aimed to realize automatic generation of diagnostic system where the generation process and location of diagnostic machines are optimized to diagnose correctly the similar abnormalities which are evaluated from the similarity of process signals by statistical method. This paper explains our design method and reports the result evaluated our method applied to the process data of the fast-breeder reactor Monju

  8. Identifying a Superfluid Reynolds Number via Dynamical Similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeves, M T; Billam, T P; Anderson, B P; Bradley, A S

    2015-04-17

    The Reynolds number provides a characterization of the transition to turbulent flow, with wide application in classical fluid dynamics. Identifying such a parameter in superfluid systems is challenging due to their fundamentally inviscid nature. Performing a systematic study of superfluid cylinder wakes in two dimensions, we observe dynamical similarity of the frequency of vortex shedding by a cylindrical obstacle. The universality of the turbulent wake dynamics is revealed by expressing shedding frequencies in terms of an appropriately defined superfluid Reynolds number, Re(s), that accounts for the breakdown of superfluid flow through quantum vortex shedding. For large obstacles, the dimensionless shedding frequency exhibits a universal form that is well-fitted by a classical empirical relation. In this regime the transition to turbulence occurs at Re(s)≈0.7, irrespective of obstacle width.

  9. THE MEYERHOFF SCHOLARS PROGRAM: A STRENGTHS-BASED, INSTITUTION-WIDE APPROACH TO INCREASING DIVERSITY IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maton, Kenneth I.; Pollard, Shauna A.; McDougall Weise, Tatiana V.; Hrabowski, Freeman A.

    2012-01-01

    The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is widely viewed as a national model of a program that enhances the number of underrepresented minority students who pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhDs. The current article provides an overview of the program and the institution-wide change process that led to its development, as well as a summary of key outcome and process evaluation research findings. African American Meyerhoff students are five times more likely than comparison students to pursue a STEM PhD. Program components viewed by the students as most beneficial include financial scholarship, being a part of the Meyerhoff Program community, the Summer Bridge program, study groups, and summer research. Qualitative findings from interviews and focus groups demonstrate the importance of the Meyerhoff Program in creating a sense of belonging and a shared identity, encouraging professional development and emphasizing the importance of academic skills. Among Meyerhoff students, several pre-college and college factors have emerged as predictors of successful entrance into a PhD program in the STEM fields, including pre-college research excitement, pre-college intrinsic math/science motivation, number of summer research experiences during college, and college GPA. Limitations of the research to date are noted, and directions for future research are proposed. PMID:22976367

  10. Similar speaker recognition using nonlinear analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, J.P.; Kim, M.S.; Baek, I.C.; Kwon, Y.H.; Lee, K.S.; Chang, S.W.; Yang, S.I.

    2004-01-01

    Speech features of the conventional speaker identification system, are usually obtained by linear methods in spectral space. However, these methods have the drawback that speakers with similar voices cannot be distinguished, because the characteristics of their voices are also similar in spectral space. To overcome the difficulty in linear methods, we propose to use the correlation exponent in the nonlinear space as a new feature vector for speaker identification among persons with similar voices. We show that our proposed method surprisingly reduces the error rate of speaker identification system to speakers with similar voices

  11. Border-wide assessment of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology : current and future concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-01

    The purpose of this effort was to conduct a border-wide assessment of the use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies and operational concepts at and near land border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico. The work focused on tolling...

  12. System-wide electrification and appropriate functions of tractor and implement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Tetzlaff

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The advantages of electric drive technology in industrial applications have been known for a long time. In addition to the flexibility and variability for the system integration, the very good controllability and the overload capacity should be mentioned. To increase the effectiveness of agricultural machinery and equipment crucially, the different electrical/electronic systems, drives and functions have to be interconnected machine internally and also externally, based on a system-wide approach. Thereby single machinery, machinery combinations and finally complete harvest chains can be used in a smarter and more efficient way. Using the example of a tractor-swather combination the suitability of electric drives itself and of the hybrid and interface concept is proven. Newly developed functions for overload protection and prediction of the working process are presented and their integration into the machine overarching energy and operational management is described. The transferability of the results and solutions to cognate applications is ensured. Keywords

  13. Semi-similar properties of light nuclear collisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glagolev, V.V.; Hlavakova, J.; Martinska, G.; Urban, J.; Vytykacova, M.

    2000-01-01

    A new way of the representation of the nuclei fragmentation data is suggested. The self-similar behaviour of these processes called out by the kinematics is demonstrated. The convenience of working in accelerated nuclei is emphasized particularly for the determination of the binding energy of a wide class of nuclear fragments [ru

  14. An Image Retrieval and Processing Expert System for the World Wide Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Ricardo; Rondon, Angelica; Bruno, Maria I.; Vasquez, Ramon

    1998-01-01

    This paper presents a system that is being developed in the Laboratory of Applied Remote Sensing and Image Processing at the University of P.R. at Mayaguez. It describes the components that constitute its architecture. The main elements are: a Data Warehouse, an Image Processing Engine, and an Expert System. Together, they provide a complete solution to researchers from different fields that make use of images in their investigations. Also, since it is available to the World Wide Web, it provides remote access and processing of images.

  15. Searching for Solar System Wide Binaries with Pan-STARRS-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holman, Matthew J.; Protopapas, P.; Tholen, D. J.

    2007-10-01

    Roughly 60% of the observing time of the Pan-STARRS-1 (PS1) telescope will be dedicated to a "3pi steradian" survey with an observing cadence that is designed for the detection of near-Earth asteroids and slow-moving solar system bodies. Over this course of its 3.5 year cience mission, this unprecedented survey will discover nearly every asteroid, Trojan, Centaur, long-period comet, short-period comet, and trans-neptunian object (TNO) brighter than magnitude R=23. This census will be used to address a large number of questions regarding the physical and dynamical properties of the various small body populations of the solar system. Roughly 1-2% of TNOs are wide binaries with companions at separations greater than 1 arcsec and brightness differences less than 2 magnitudes (Kern & Elliot 2006; Noll et al 2007). These can be readily detected by PS1; we will carry out such a search with PS1 data. To do so, we will modify the Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System (MOPS) such that it will associate the components of resolved or marginally resolved binaries, link such pairs of detections obtained at different epochs, and the estimate the relative orbit of the binary. We will also determine the efficiency with which such binaries are detected as a function of the binary's relative orbit and the relative magnitudes of the components. Based on an estimated 7000 TNOs that PS1 will discover, we anticipate finding 70-140 wide binaries. The PS1 data, 60 epochs over three years, is naturally suited to determining the orbits of these objects. Our search will accurately determine the binary fraction for a variety of subclasses of TNOs.

  16. The Madison Plan: A New Approach to System-Wide Testing. The Nucleus Testing Committee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleary, T. Anne; Mathews, Walter M.

    Steps in the development of a Nucleus Testing Committee to assist in the development of a system-wide testing program in the Madison, Wisconsin, school system are described. Over 60 participants were selected for the committee, using the following selection guidelines: interest in the project and the role to be assumed, commitment to the school…

  17. Similarity from multi-dimensional scaling: solving the accuracy and diversity dilemma in information filtering.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Zeng

    Full Text Available Recommender systems are designed to assist individual users to navigate through the rapidly growing amount of information. One of the most successful recommendation techniques is the collaborative filtering, which has been extensively investigated and has already found wide applications in e-commerce. One of challenges in this algorithm is how to accurately quantify the similarities of user pairs and item pairs. In this paper, we employ the multidimensional scaling (MDS method to measure the similarities between nodes in user-item bipartite networks. The MDS method can extract the essential similarity information from the networks by smoothing out noise, which provides a graphical display of the structure of the networks. With the similarity measured from MDS, we find that the item-based collaborative filtering algorithm can outperform the diffusion-based recommendation algorithms. Moreover, we show that this method tends to recommend unpopular items and increase the global diversification of the networks in long term.

  18. Similarity from multi-dimensional scaling: solving the accuracy and diversity dilemma in information filtering.

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-01-01

    Recommender systems are designed to assist individual users to navigate through the rapidly growing amount of information. One of the most successful recommendation techniques is the collaborative filtering, which has been extensively investigated and has already found wide applications in e-commerce. One of challenges in this algorithm is how to accurately quantify the similarities of user pairs and item pairs. In this paper, we employ the multidimensional scaling (MDS) method to measure the similarities between nodes in user-item bipartite networks. The MDS method can extract the essential similarity information from the networks by smoothing out noise, which provides a graphical display of the structure of the networks. With the similarity measured from MDS, we find that the item-based collaborative filtering algorithm can outperform the diffusion-based recommendation algorithms. Moreover, we show that this method tends to recommend unpopular items and increase the global diversification of the networks in long term.

  19. From community-based pilot testing to region-wide systems change: lessons from a local quality improvement collaborative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keyser, Donna J; Pincus, Harold Alan

    2010-01-01

    A community-based collaborative conducted a 2-year pilot study to inform efforts for improving maternal and child health care practice and policy in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. (1) To test whether three small-scale versions of an evidence-based, systems improvement approach would be workable in local community settings and (2) to identify specific policy/infrastructure reforms for sustaining improvements. A mixed methods approach was used, including quantitative performance measurement supplemented with qualitative data about factors related to outcomes of interest, as well as key stakeholder interviews and a literature review/Internet search. Quantitative performance results varied; qualitative data revealed critical factors for the success and failure of the practices tested. Policy/infrastructure recommendations were developed to address specific practice barriers. This information was important for designing a region-wide quality improvement initiative focused on maternal depression. The processes and outcomes provide valuable insights for other communities interested in conducting similar quality improvement initiatives.

  20. ITEAMS: Increasing the Self-Identification for Girls and Underserved Youth in Pursuing STEM Careers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Bruce Ward

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available We report early findings on the efficacy of a technology-based project in increasing self-identification for girls and underserved youth to self-select STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. ITEAMS (Innovative Technology- Enabled Astronomy for Middle Schools – an out-of-schooltime program with online, robotic telescopes as its central focus – targets girls and minority students underrepresented in STEMrelated vocations. The participating students attend urban schools in Eastern Massachusetts. ITEAMS’ twofold goal is to: a provide inspiration for the participants to pursue STEM careers, and b increase the students’ mastery of foundational subject matter so they are prepared for the rigor of further STEM study. We use an online system for surveys and assessments, the former to capture attitudinal changes about career choices, and the latter to assess the students’ subject matter knowledge. Participating students take pre-, intermediate, and post subject-matter tests and career-interest surveys. While we find statistically significant gains in subject matter knowledge free of gender, race, or school bias, we also find girls profess less interest than boys in STEM careers as early as grades five and six, although other attitudinal indicators suggest ways to reverse that trend.

  1. Radiometric calibration of wide-field camera system with an application in astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vítek, Stanislav; Nasyrova, Maria; Stehlíková, Veronika

    2017-09-01

    Camera response function (CRF) is widely used for the description of the relationship between scene radiance and image brightness. Most common application of CRF is High Dynamic Range (HDR) reconstruction of the radiance maps of imaged scenes from a set of frames with different exposures. The main goal of this work is to provide an overview of CRF estimation algorithms and compare their outputs with results obtained under laboratory conditions. These algorithms, typically designed for multimedia content, are unfortunately quite useless with astronomical image data, mostly due to their nature (blur, noise, and long exposures). Therefore, we propose an optimization of selected methods to use in an astronomical imaging application. Results are experimentally verified on the wide-field camera system using Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera.

  2. An instrument to assess subjective task value beliefs regarding the decision to pursue postgraduate training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagemeier, Nicholas E; Murawski, Matthew M

    2014-02-12

    To develop and validate an instrument to assess subjective ratings of the perceived value of various postgraduate training paths followed using expectancy-value as a theoretical framework; and to explore differences in value beliefs across type of postgraduate training pursued and type of pharmacy training completed prior to postgraduate training. A survey instrument was developed to sample 4 theoretical domains of subjective task value: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and perceived cost. Retrospective self-report methodology was employed to examine respondents' (N=1,148) subjective task value beliefs specific to their highest level of postgraduate training completed. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic techniques were used to evaluate and validate value belief constructs. Intrinsic, attainment, utility, cost, and financial value constructs resulted from exploratory factor analysis. Cross-validation resulted in a 26-item instrument that demonstrated good model fit. Differences in value beliefs were noted across type of postgraduate training pursued and pharmacy training characteristics. The Postgraduate Training Value Instrument demonstrated evidence of reliability and construct validity. The survey instrument can be used to assess value beliefs regarding multiple postgraduate training options in pharmacy and potentially inform targeted recruiting of individuals to those paths best matching their own value beliefs.

  3. Engineer pioneer plants respond to and affect geomorphic constraints similarly along water–terrestrial interfaces world-wide

    OpenAIRE

    Corenblit, D.; Baas, A.; Balke, T.; Bouma, T.J.; Fromard, F.; Garófano-Gómez, V.; González, E.; Gurnell, A.M.; Hortobágyi, B.; Julien, F.; Kim, D.; Lambs, L.; Stallins, J.A.; Steiger, J.; Tabacchi, E.

    2015-01-01

    Aim Within fluvial and coastal ecosystems world-wide, flows of water, wind and sediment generate a shifting landscape mosaic composed of bare substrate and pioneer and mature vegetation successional stages. Pioneer plant species that colonize these ecosystems at the land–water interface have developed specific traits in response to environmental constraints (response...

  4. Creating an isotopically similar Earth-Moon system with correct angular momentum from a giant impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyatt, Bryant M.; Petz, Jonathan M.; Sumpter, William J.; Turner, Ty R.; Smith, Edward L.; Fain, Baylor G.; Hutyra, Taylor J.; Cook, Scott A.; Gresham, John H.; Hibbs, Michael F.; Goderya, Shaukat N.

    2018-04-01

    The giant impact hypothesis is the dominant theory explaining the formation of our Moon. However, the inability to produce an isotopically similar Earth-Moon system with correct angular momentum has cast a shadow on its validity. Computer-generated impacts have been successful in producing virtual systems that possess many of the observed physical properties. However, addressing the isotopic similarities between the Earth and Moon coupled with correct angular momentum has proven to be challenging. Equilibration and evection resonance have been proposed as means of reconciling the models. In the summer of 2013, the Royal Society called a meeting solely to discuss the formation of the Moon. In this meeting, evection resonance and equilibration were both questioned as viable means of removing the deficiencies from giant impact models. The main concerns were that models were multi-staged and too complex. We present here initial impact conditions that produce an isotopically similar Earth-Moon system with correct angular momentum. This is done in a single-staged simulation. The initial parameters are straightforward and the results evolve solely from the impact. This was accomplished by colliding two roughly half-Earth-sized impactors, rotating in approximately the same plane in a high-energy, off-centered impact, where both impactors spin into the collision.

  5. Face Recognition Performance Improvement using a Similarity Score of Feature Vectors based on Probabilistic Histograms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SRIKOTE, G.

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an improved performance algorithm of face recognition to identify two face mismatch pairs in cases of incorrect decisions. The primary feature of this method is to deploy the similarity score with respect to Gaussian components between two previously unseen faces. Unlike the conventional classical vector distance measurement, our algorithms also consider the plot of summation of the similarity index versus face feature vector distance. A mixture of Gaussian models of labeled faces is also widely applicable to different biometric system parameters. By comparative evaluations, it has been shown that the efficiency of the proposed algorithm is superior to that of the conventional algorithm by an average accuracy of up to 1.15% and 16.87% when compared with 3x3 Multi-Region Histogram (MRH direct-bag-of-features and Principal Component Analysis (PCA-based face recognition systems, respectively. The experimental results show that similarity score consideration is more discriminative for face recognition compared to feature distance. Experimental results of Labeled Face in the Wild (LFW data set demonstrate that our algorithms are suitable for real applications probe-to-gallery identification of face recognition systems. Moreover, this proposed method can also be applied to other recognition systems and therefore additionally improves recognition scores.

  6. An information filtering system prototype for world wide web; Prototipo di sistema di information filtering per world wide web

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bordoni, L [ENEA Centro Ricerche Casaccia, S. Maria di Galeria, RM (Italy). Funzione Centrale Studi

    1999-07-01

    In this report the architecture of an information filtering system for world wide web, developed by the Rome Third University (Italy) for ENEA (National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment), is described. This prototype allows for selecting documents in text/HTML format from the web according to the interests of users. A user modeling shell allows ro build a model of user's interests, obtained during the interaction. The experimental results support the choice of embedding methods for this kind of application. [Italian] In questo rapporto viene descritta l'architettura di un sistema adattivo di information filtering su world wide web, sviluppato dall'universita' di Roma III in collaborazione con l'ENEA. Il prototipo descritto e' in grado di selezionare documenti in formato testo/html, raccolti dal web, in accordo con le caratteristiche e gli interessi degli utenti. Una shell di modellazione utente consente di costruire un modello degli interessi dell'utente, ottenuto nel corso dell'interazione. I risultati sperimentali rafforzano la scelta di usare metodi di modellazione utente per questo genere di applicazioni.

  7. A Blueprint for Innovation to Achieve Health System Transformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snowdon, Anne W

    2017-01-01

    Global health systems are challenged by escalating costs and growing demands for care created by the demands of aging populations and rising rates of chronic illness which place unsustainable pressure on health systems to meet population health needs. To overcome these challenges, transformational change is needed to strengthen health system performance and sustainability. Innovation is widely viewed as the strategy to drive transformational change in health systems; yet to date, innovation has lacked a clearly defined focus or agenda to achieve transformation. An actionable innovation agenda is needed to achieve transformational change for health systems. The key conditions for success as an innovation strategy are examined, including clearly defined innovation objectives, key milestones, and actionable steps every system stakeholder must pursue in order to guide the innovation agenda and ultimately accelerate the transformational changes needed for a sustainable healthcare system that delivers value to populations.

  8. Modelling Job-Related and Personality Predictors of Intention to Pursue Accounting Careers among Undergraduate Students in Ghana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbawuni, Joseph; Nimako, Simon Gyasi

    2015-01-01

    This study principally investigates job-related and personality factors that determine Ghanaian accounting students' intentions to pursue careers in accounting. It draws on a rich body of existing literature to develop a research model. Primary data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of 516 final year accounting students in a Ghanaian…

  9. Challenges and success factors in pursuing disruptive innovations: A Finnish hightech start-up case study

    OpenAIRE

    Majamäki, Liisa; Akpinar, Murat

    2014-01-01

    Despite increasing acknowledgment of disruptive innovations for their potential to generate high growth, their high rate of failure necessitates research on what kind of challenges start-ups pursuing disruptive innovations face and how they overcome them. This study contributes to increase understanding in this field by studying the case of a Finnish high-tech start-up’s successful new-market disruption in business-to-business context. Identifying disruptive innovations that have market poten...

  10. Demonstration of a Novel Synchrophasor-based Situational Awareness System: Wide Area Power System Visualization, On-line Event Replay and Early Warning of Grid Problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosso, A.

    2012-12-31

    Since the large North Eastern power system blackout on August 14, 2003, U.S. electric utilities have spent lot of effort on preventing power system cascading outages. Two of the main causes of the August 14, 2003 blackout were inadequate situational awareness and inadequate operator training In addition to the enhancements of the infrastructure of the interconnected power systems, more research and development of advanced power system applications are required for improving the wide-area security monitoring, operation and planning in order to prevent large- scale cascading outages of interconnected power systems. It is critically important for improving the wide-area situation awareness of the operators or operational engineers and regional reliability coordinators of large interconnected systems. With the installation of large number of phasor measurement units (PMU) and the related communication infrastructure, it will be possible to improve the operators’ situation awareness and to quickly identify the sequence of events during a large system disturbance for the post-event analysis using the real-time or historical synchrophasor data. The purpose of this project was to develop and demonstrate a novel synchrophasor-based comprehensive situational awareness system for control centers of power transmission systems. The developed system named WASA (Wide Area Situation Awareness) is intended to improve situational awareness at control centers of the power system operators and regional reliability coordinators. It consists of following main software modules: • Wide-area visualizations of real-time frequency, voltage, and phase angle measurements and their contour displays for security monitoring. • Online detection and location of a major event (location, time, size, and type, such as generator or line outage). • Near-real-time event replay (in seconds) after a major event occurs. • Early warning of potential wide-area stability problems. The system has been

  11. A Segment-Based Trajectory Similarity Measure in the Urban Transportation Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Yingchi; Zhong, Haishi; Xiao, Xianjian; Li, Xiaofang

    2017-03-06

    With the rapid spread of built-in GPS handheld smart devices, the trajectory data from GPS sensors has grown explosively. Trajectory data has spatio-temporal characteristics and rich information. Using trajectory data processing techniques can mine the patterns of human activities and the moving patterns of vehicles in the intelligent transportation systems. A trajectory similarity measure is one of the most important issues in trajectory data mining (clustering, classification, frequent pattern mining, etc.). Unfortunately, the main similarity measure algorithms with the trajectory data have been found to be inaccurate, highly sensitive of sampling methods, and have low robustness for the noise data. To solve the above problems, three distances and their corresponding computation methods are proposed in this paper. The point-segment distance can decrease the sensitivity of the point sampling methods. The prediction distance optimizes the temporal distance with the features of trajectory data. The segment-segment distance introduces the trajectory shape factor into the similarity measurement to improve the accuracy. The three kinds of distance are integrated with the traditional dynamic time warping algorithm (DTW) algorithm to propose a new segment-based dynamic time warping algorithm (SDTW). The experimental results show that the SDTW algorithm can exhibit about 57%, 86%, and 31% better accuracy than the longest common subsequence algorithm (LCSS), and edit distance on real sequence algorithm (EDR) , and DTW, respectively, and that the sensitivity to the noise data is lower than that those algorithms.

  12. Low-power wide-locking-range injection-locked frequency divider for OFDM UWB systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yin Jiangwei; Li Ning; Zheng Renliang; Li Wei; Ren Junyan, E-mail: lining@fudan.edu.c [State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203 (China)

    2009-05-01

    This paper describes a divide-by-two injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) for frequency synthesizers as used in multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. By means of dual-injection technique and other conventional tuning techniques, such as DCCA and varactor tuning, the divider demonstrates a wide locking range while consuming much less power. The chip was fabricated in the Jazz 0.18 mum RF CMOS process. The measurement results show that the divider achieves a locking range of 4.85 GHz (6.23 to 11.08 GHz) at an input power of 8 dBm. The core circuit without the test buffer consumes only 3.7 mA from a 1.8 V power supply and has a die area of 0.38 x 0.28 mm{sup 2}. The wide locking range combined with low power consumption makes the ILFD suitable for its application in UWB systems.

  13. Low-power wide-locking-range injection-locked frequency divider for OFDM UWB systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yin Jiangwei; Li Ning; Zheng Renliang; Li Wei; Ren Junyan

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes a divide-by-two injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) for frequency synthesizers as used in multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. By means of dual-injection technique and other conventional tuning techniques, such as DCCA and varactor tuning, the divider demonstrates a wide locking range while consuming much less power. The chip was fabricated in the Jazz 0.18 μm RF CMOS process. The measurement results show that the divider achieves a locking range of 4.85 GHz (6.23 to 11.08 GHz) at an input power of 8 dBm. The core circuit without the test buffer consumes only 3.7 mA from a 1.8 V power supply and has a die area of 0.38 x 0.28 mm 2 . The wide locking range combined with low power consumption makes the ILFD suitable for its application in UWB systems.

  14. Cryogenic solid Schmidt camera as a base for future wide-field IR systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudin, Alexey N.

    2011-11-01

    Work is focused on study of capability of solid Schmidt camera to serve as a wide-field infrared lens for aircraft system with whole sphere coverage, working in 8-14 um spectral range, coupled with spherical focal array of megapixel class. Designs of 16 mm f/0.2 lens with 60 and 90 degrees sensor diagonal are presented, their image quality is compared with conventional solid design. Achromatic design with significantly improved performance, containing enclosed soft correcting lens behind protective front lens is proposed. One of the main goals of the work is to estimate benefits from curved detector arrays in 8-14 um spectral range wide-field systems. Coupling of photodetector with solid Schmidt camera by means of frustrated total internal reflection is considered, with corresponding tolerance analysis. The whole lens, except front element, is considered to be cryogenic, with solid Schmidt unit to be flown by hydrogen for improvement of bulk transmission.

  15. Undocumented students pursuing medical education: The implications of deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balderas-Medina Anaya, Yohualli; del Rosario, Mithi; Doyle, Lawrence Hy; Hayes-Bautista, David E

    2014-12-01

    There are about 1.8 million young immigrants in the United States who came or were brought to the country without documentation before the age of 16. These youth have been raised and educated in the United States and have aspirations and educational achievements similar to those of their native-born peers. However, their undocumented status has hindered their pursuit of higher education, especially in medical and other graduate health sciences. Under a new discretionary policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), many of these young immigrants are eligible to receive permission to reside and work in the United States. DACA defers deportation of eligible, undocumented youth and grants lawful presence in the United States, work permits, Social Security numbers, and, in most states, driver's licenses. These privileges have diminished the barriers undocumented students traditionally have faced in obtaining higher education, specifically in pursuing medicine. With the advent of DACA, students are slowly matriculating into U.S. medical schools and residencies. However, this applicant pool remains largely untapped. In the face of a physician shortage and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, an increase in matriculation of qualified undocumented students would be greatly beneficial. This Perspective is intended to begin discussion within the academic medicine community of the implications of DACA in reducing barriers for the selection and matriculation of undocumented medical students and residents. Moreover, this Perspective is a call to peers in the medical community to support undocumented students seeking access to medical school, residency, and other health professions.

  16. Training and Maintaining System-Wide Reliability in Outcome Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barwick, Melanie A; Urajnik, Diana J; Moore, Julia E

    2014-01-01

    The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) is widely used for outcome management, for providing real time client and program level data, and the monitoring of evidence-based practices. Methods of reliability training and the assessment of rater drift are critical for service decision-making within organizations and systems of care. We assessed two approaches for CAFAS training: external technical assistance and internal technical assistance. To this end, we sampled 315 practitioners trained by external technical assistance approach from 2,344 Ontario practitioners who had achieved reliability on the CAFAS. To assess the internal technical assistance approach as a reliable alternative training method, 140 practitioners trained internally were selected from the same pool of certified raters. Reliabilities were high for both practitioners trained by external technical assistance and internal technical assistance approaches (.909-.995, .915-.997, respectively). 1 and 3-year estimates showed some drift on several scales. High and consistent reliabilities over time and training method has implications for CAFAS training of behavioral health care practitioners, and the maintenance of CAFAS as a global outcome management tool in systems of care.

  17. NELS 2.0 - A general system for enterprise wide information management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Stephanie L.

    1993-01-01

    NELS, the NASA Electronic Library System, is an information management tool for creating distributed repositories of documents, drawings, and code for use and reuse by the aerospace community. The NELS retrieval engine can load metadata and source files of full text objects, perform natural language queries to retrieve ranked objects, and create links to connect user interfaces. For flexibility, the NELS architecture has layered interfaces between the application program and the stored library information. The session manager provides the interface functions for development of NELS applications. The data manager is an interface between session manager and the structured data system. The center of the structured data system is the Wide Area Information Server. This system architecture provides access to information across heterogeneous platforms in a distributed environment. There are presently three user interfaces that connect to the NELS engine; an X-Windows interface, and ASCII interface and the Spatial Data Management System. This paper describes the design and operation of NELS as an information management tool and repository.

  18. Measuring structural similarity in large online networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yongren; Macy, Michael

    2016-09-01

    Structural similarity based on bipartite graphs can be used to detect meaningful communities, but the networks have been tiny compared to massive online networks. Scalability is important in applications involving tens of millions of individuals with highly skewed degree distributions. Simulation analysis holding underlying similarity constant shows that two widely used measures - Jaccard index and cosine similarity - are biased by the distribution of out-degree in web-scale networks. However, an alternative measure, the Standardized Co-incident Ratio (SCR), is unbiased. We apply SCR to members of Congress, musical artists, and professional sports teams to show how massive co-following on Twitter can be used to map meaningful affiliations among cultural entities, even in the absence of direct connections to one another. Our results show how structural similarity can be used to map cultural alignments and demonstrate the potential usefulness of social media data in the study of culture, politics, and organizations across the social and behavioral sciences. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Discovering Factors that Influence the Decision to Pursue a Chemistry-Related Career: A Comparative Analysis of the Experiences of Non Scientist Adults and Chemistry Teachers in Greece

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salta, Katerina; Gekos, Michael; Petsimeri, Irene; Koulougliotis, Dionysios

    2012-01-01

    This study aims at identifying factors that influence students' choice not to pursue a chemistry-related career by analyzing the experiences of secondary education chemistry teachers in Greece and of Greek adults who have not pursued studies related to science. Data collection was done with the method of individual structured interviews. The…

  20. History of stress-related health changes: a cue to pursue a diagnosis of latent primary adrenal insufficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Toshihide

    2014-01-01

    Routine delays in the diagnosis of primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) are well known and conceivably attributable to the absence of cues, other than anti-adrenal autoantibodies, to pursue subclinical PAI. Subclinical PAI is latent unless the afflicted patient encounters stress such as an acute illness, surgery, psychosocial burden, etc. It remains to be demonstrated whether a history of stress-related health changes is a useful cue to pursue a diagnosis of latent PAI. The patients were selected for a history of recurrent symptoms, i.e., gastrointestinal symptoms, fatigue, or lassitude, aggravated by stress and alleviated by the removal of stress, and signs, i.e., weight loss, hypotension, and hyperpigmentation. As the early morning cortisol levels were low or low-normal and the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels were within the reference ranges, provocation tests, i.e., insulin-induced hypoglycemia tests and low-dose (1 μg) corticotropin tests (LDTs), were used to estimate the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis status. Patients with the HPA axis dysfunction on two provocation tests were supplemented with physiologic doses of glucocorticoids (GCs). The effects of GC supplementation on stress-related health changes were observed. The ACTH levels after insulin-induced hypoglycemia were higher and the cortisol levels were lower in the patients than in the control subjects. The cortisol levels in the patients were increased less significantly by LDT than those observed in the control subjects. Stress-related health changes ceased to recur and signs, i.e., a low body weight, hypotension, and hyperpigmentation, were ameliorated following GC supplementation. A history of stress-related health changes is useful as a cue to pursue latent PAI in patients with low or low-normal early morning cortisol levels.

  1. Influence of work-family-school role conflicts and social support on psychological wellbeing among registered nurses pursuing advanced degree.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Lijuan; Song, Rhayun

    2016-08-01

    The purpose of the study was to determine how work-family-school role conflict and social support influence psychological well-being among registered nurses pursuing an advanced degree. A cross-sectional, correlational study design was used. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 320 registered nurses pursuing an advanced nursing degree at 13 hospitals in Korea, from June to October 2011. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with the AMOS program. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the measurement model prior to the testing of study hypotheses before and after controlling for extraneous variables. The fit parameters of the modified model (χ(2)/df=2.01, GFI=0.91, AGFI=0.89, CFI=0.92, SRMR=0.068, and RMSEA=0.065) indicated its suitability as the research model. This model explained 45% of the variance in work-related psychological well-being and 52% of the variance in general psychological well-being. Both social support and work-family-school role conflict exerted significant effects on work-related psychological well-being and general psychological well-being. The findings of the present study imply that work-family-school role conflict influences the psychological well-being of registered nurses pursuing an advanced degree. It is necessary for nursing administrators to develop strategies to help registered nurses to manage their multiple roles and improve both their work-related psychological well-being and their general psychological well-being. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Factors motivating Latino college students to pursue STEM degrees on CSU campuses in the southern San Joaquin Valley

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez, Gabriel

    The purpose of this study was to determine what factors were motivating Latino/a students in the southern San Joaquin Valley to pursue STEM degrees and whether these factors were specific to the Latino/a culture. A 12-question survey was administered to STEM majors at California State University, Bakersfield and California State University, Fresno and interviews were conducted with those survey respondents who agreed to be part of the process. The results of the survey suggested that factors such as STEM subject matter, STEM career knowledge, the possibility of a high paying salary, high school STEM grades, and family influence were significant in motivating Latino/a students to pursue STEM degrees. The results of the Chi Square Test suggested the Latino/a students' responses about college STEM degree granting statistics, the possibility of a high salary, and the effects of setbacks were significantly different to those of their non-Latino/a counterparts.

  3. Wide-field spectrally resolved quantitative fluorescence imaging system: toward neurosurgical guidance in glioma resection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yijing; Thom, Maria; Ebner, Michael; Wykes, Victoria; Desjardins, Adrien; Miserocchi, Anna; Ourselin, Sebastien; McEvoy, Andrew W.; Vercauteren, Tom

    2017-11-01

    In high-grade glioma surgery, tumor resection is often guided by intraoperative fluorescence imaging. 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) provides fluorescent contrast between normal brain tissue and glioma tissue, thus achieving improved tumor delineation and prolonged patient survival compared with conventional white-light-guided resection. However, commercially available fluorescence imaging systems rely solely on visual assessment of fluorescence patterns by the surgeon, which makes the resection more subjective than necessary. We developed a wide-field spectrally resolved fluorescence imaging system utilizing a Generation II scientific CMOS camera and an improved computational model for the precise reconstruction of the PpIX concentration map. In our model, the tissue's optical properties and illumination geometry, which distort the fluorescent emission spectra, are considered. We demonstrate that the CMOS-based system can detect low PpIX concentration at short camera exposure times, while providing high-pixel resolution wide-field images. We show that total variation regularization improves the contrast-to-noise ratio of the reconstructed quantitative concentration map by approximately twofold. Quantitative comparison between the estimated PpIX concentration and tumor histopathology was also investigated to further evaluate the system.

  4. Wide range neutron flux monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endo, Yorimasa; Fukushima, Toshiki.

    1983-01-01

    Purpose: To provide a wide range neutron-flux monitor adapted such that the flux monitoring function and alarming function can automatically by shifted from pulse counting system to cambel method system. Constitution: A wide range neutron-flux monitor comprises (la) pulse counting system and (lb) cambel-method system for inputting detection signals from neutron detectors and separating them into signals for the pulse measuring system and the cambel measuring system, (2) overlap detection and calculation circuit for detecting the existence of the overlap of two output signals from the (la) and (lb) systems, and (3) trip circuit for judging the abnormal state of neutron detectors upon input of the detection signals. (Seki, T.)

  5. Gamma compensated pulsed ionization chamber wide range neutron/reactor power measurement system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellis, W.H.

    1975-01-01

    An improved method and system of pulsed mode operation of ionization chambers is described in which a single sensor system with gamma compensation is provided by sampling, squaring, automatic gate selector, and differential amplifier circuit means, employed in relation to chambers sensitized to neutron plus gamma and gamma only to subtract out the gamma component, wherein squaring functions circuits, a supplemental high performance pulse rate system, and operational and display mode selection and sampling gate circuits are utilized to provide automatic wide range linear measurement capability for neutron flux and reactor power. Neon is employed as an additive in the ionization chambers to provide independence of ionized gas kinetics temperature effects, and the pulsed mode of operation provide independence of high temperature insulator leakage effects. (auth)

  6. RF system developments for CW and/or long pulse linacs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lynch, M.

    1998-01-01

    High Power Proton Linacs are under development or proposed for development at Los Alamos and elsewhere. By current standards these linacs all require very large amounts of RF power. The Accelerator for Production of Tritium (APT) is a CW accelerator with an output current and energy of 100 mA and 1,700 MeV, respectively. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), in its ultimate configuration, is a pulsed accelerator with an average output power of 4 MW of beam. Other accelerators such as those that address transmutation and upgrades to LANSCE have similar requirements. For these high average power applications, the RF systems represent approximately half of the total cost of the linac and are thus key elements in the design and configuration of the accelerator. Los Alamos is fortunate to be actively working on both APT and SNS. For these programs the author is pursuing a number of component developments which are aimed at one or more of the key issues for large RF systems: technical performance, capital cost, reliability, and operating efficiency. This paper briefly describes some of the linac applications and then provides updates on the key RF developments being pursued

  7. OpenADAM: an open source genome-wide association data management system for Affymetrix SNP arrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sham P C

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Large scale genome-wide association studies have become popular since the introduction of high throughput genotyping platforms. Efficient management of the vast array of data generated poses many challenges. Description We have developed an open source web-based data management system for the large amount of genotype data generated from the Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping Array and Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array platforms. The database supports genotype calling using DM, BRLMM, BRLMM-P or Birdseed algorithms provided by the Affymetrix Power Tools. The genotype and corresponding pedigree data are stored in a relational database for efficient downstream data manipulation and analysis, such as calculation of allele and genotype frequencies, sample identity checking, and export of genotype data in various file formats for analysis using commonly-available software. A novel method for genotyping error estimation is implemented using linkage disequilibrium information from the HapMap project. All functionalities are accessible via a web-based user interface. Conclusion OpenADAM provides an open source database system for management of Affymetrix genome-wide association SNP data.

  8. ProCKSI: a decision support system for Protein (Structure Comparison, Knowledge, Similarity and Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Błażewicz Jacek

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We introduce the decision support system for Protein (Structure Comparison, Knowledge, Similarity and Information (ProCKSI. ProCKSI integrates various protein similarity measures through an easy to use interface that allows the comparison of multiple proteins simultaneously. It employs the Universal Similarity Metric (USM, the Maximum Contact Map Overlap (MaxCMO of protein structures and other external methods such as the DaliLite and the TM-align methods, the Combinatorial Extension (CE of the optimal path, and the FAST Align and Search Tool (FAST. Additionally, ProCKSI allows the user to upload a user-defined similarity matrix supplementing the methods mentioned, and computes a similarity consensus in order to provide a rich, integrated, multicriteria view of large datasets of protein structures. Results We present ProCKSI's architecture and workflow describing its intuitive user interface, and show its potential on three distinct test-cases. In the first case, ProCKSI is used to evaluate the results of a previous CASP competition, assessing the similarity of proposed models for given targets where the structures could have a large deviation from one another. To perform this type of comparison reliably, we introduce a new consensus method. The second study deals with the verification of a classification scheme for protein kinases, originally derived by sequence comparison by Hanks and Hunter, but here we use a consensus similarity measure based on structures. In the third experiment using the Rost and Sander dataset (RS126, we investigate how a combination of different sets of similarity measures influences the quality and performance of ProCKSI's new consensus measure. ProCKSI performs well with all three datasets, showing its potential for complex, simultaneous multi-method assessment of structural similarity in large protein datasets. Furthermore, combining different similarity measures is usually more robust than

  9. An information filtering system prototype for world wide web; Prototipo di sistema di information filtering per world wide web

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bordoni, L. [ENEA Centro Ricerche Casaccia, S. Maria di Galeria, RM (Italy). Funzione Centrale Studi

    1999-07-01

    In this report the architecture of an information filtering system for world wide web, developed by the Rome Third University (Italy) for ENEA (National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment), is described. This prototype allows for selecting documents in text/HTML format from the web according to the interests of users. A user modeling shell allows ro build a model of user's interests, obtained during the interaction. The experimental results support the choice of embedding methods for this kind of application. [Italian] In questo rapporto viene descritta l'architettura di un sistema adattivo di information filtering su world wide web, sviluppato dall'universita' di Roma III in collaborazione con l'ENEA. Il prototipo descritto e' in grado di selezionare documenti in formato testo/html, raccolti dal web, in accordo con le caratteristiche e gli interessi degli utenti. Una shell di modellazione utente consente di costruire un modello degli interessi dell'utente, ottenuto nel corso dell'interazione. I risultati sperimentali rafforzano la scelta di usare metodi di modellazione utente per questo genere di applicazioni.

  10. Midterm Stability Evaluation of Wide-area Power System by using Synchronized Phasor Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ota, Yutaka; Ukai, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Koichi; Fujita, Hideki

    In recent years, the PMU (Phasor Measurement Unit) receives a great deal of attention as a synchronized measurement system of power systems. Synchronized phasor angles obtained by the PMU provide the effective information for evaluating the stability of a bulk power system. The aspect of instability phenomena during midterm tends to be more complicated, and the stability analysis using the synchronized phasor measurements is significant in order to keep a complicated power system stable. This paper proposes a midterm stability evaluation method of the wide-area power system by using the synchronized phasor measurements. By clustering and aggregating the power system to some coherent groups, the step-out is effectively predicted on the basis of the two-machine equivalent power system model. The midterm stability of a longitudinal power system model of Japanese 60Hz systems constructed by the PSA, which is a hybrid-type power system simulator, is practically evaluated using the proposed method.

  11. Personalized recommendation with corrected similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Xuzhen; Tian, Hui; Cai, Shimin

    2014-01-01

    Personalized recommendation has attracted a surge of interdisciplinary research. Especially, similarity-based methods in applications of real recommendation systems have achieved great success. However, the computations of similarities are overestimated or underestimated, in particular because of the defective strategy of unidirectional similarity estimation. In this paper, we solve this drawback by leveraging mutual correction of forward and backward similarity estimations, and propose a new personalized recommendation index, i.e., corrected similarity based inference (CSI). Through extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets, the results show a greater improvement of CSI in comparison with these mainstream baselines. And a detailed analysis is presented to unveil and understand the origin of such difference between CSI and mainstream indices. (paper)

  12. GEM System: automatic prototyping of cell-wide metabolic pathway models from genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nakayama Yoichi

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Successful realization of a "systems biology" approach to analyzing cells is a grand challenge for our understanding of life. However, current modeling approaches to cell simulation are labor-intensive, manual affairs, and therefore constitute a major bottleneck in the evolution of computational cell biology. Results We developed the Genome-based Modeling (GEM System for the purpose of automatically prototyping simulation models of cell-wide metabolic pathways from genome sequences and other public biological information. Models generated by the GEM System include an entire Escherichia coli metabolism model comprising 968 reactions of 1195 metabolites, achieving 100% coverage when compared with the KEGG database, 92.38% with the EcoCyc database, and 95.06% with iJR904 genome-scale model. Conclusion The GEM System prototypes qualitative models to reduce the labor-intensive tasks required for systems biology research. Models of over 90 bacterial genomes are available at our web site.

  13. New Multiphase Hybrid Boost Converter with Wide Conversion Ratio for PV System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioana-Monica Pop-Calimanu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A new multiphase hybrid boost converter, with wide conversion ratio as a solution for photovoltaic energy system, is presented in this paper. To ensure that all the phases of the converter operate at the same switching frequency we use interleaving topology. The proposed converter can be used as an interface between the PV system and the DC load/inverter. This multiphase converter has the advantage of reduced value and physical size of the input and output capacitor as well as the effort for the inductors. To validate the operation of the converter we provide the analyses and the simulation results of the converter.

  14. Concept development for the ITER equatorial port visible/infrared wide angle viewing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reichle, R.; Beaumont, B.; Boilson, D.; Bouhamou, R.; Direz, M.-F.; Encheva, A.; Henderson, M.; Kazarian, F.; Lamalle, Ph.; Lisgo, S.; Mitteau, R.; Patel, K. M.; Pitcher, C. S.; Pitts, R. A.; Prakash, A.; Raffray, R.; Schunke, B.; Snipes, J.; Diaz, A. Suarez; Udintsev, V. S.

    2012-01-01

    The ITER equatorial port visible/infrared wide angle viewing system concept is developed from the measurement requirements. The proposed solution situates 4 viewing systems in the equatorial ports 3, 9, 12, and 17 with 4 views each (looking at the upper target, the inner divertor, and tangentially left and right). This gives sufficient coverage. The spatial resolution of the divertor system is 2 times higher than the other views. For compensation of vacuum-vessel movements, an optical hinge concept is proposed. Compactness and low neutron streaming is achieved by orienting port plug doglegs horizontally. Calibration methods, risks, and R and D topics are outlined.

  15. Pursuing Qualitative Research From the Global South: "Investigative Research" During China's "Great Leap Forward" (1958-62

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping-Chun Hsiung

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Over the last decade, qualitative researchers have begun to challenge the domination and universalistic claims of the Global North. Nevertheless, it is still unclear what pursuing qualitative research (QR from the Global South might entail. I advance this effort by situating it in the larger context of the decentering endeavor in social science and decolonizing methodologies in aboriginal scholarship. Informed by their locally-grounded approach in the quest for constructing alternative social science accounts and articulating decolonized knowledge, I argue that writing locally-grounded histories is an essential first step to explore methodologies and epistemologies of QR from the Global South. Noting that no national history of QR has been derived from the Global South, I present an example of writing the history of QR by examining MAO Zedong's legacy of "investigative research" (IR. Specifically, I analyze the practices of IR during China's "Great Leap Forward" (1958-62. In conclusion, I discuss the implications of IR to the development of social science research in contemporary China. I lay out key issues in pursuing QR from the Global South and present how such a pursuit is relevant to social science inquiry in the Global North. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150325

  16. Suggested Grid Code Modifications to Ensure Wide-Scale Adoption of Photovoltaic Energy in Distributed Power Generation Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yongheng; Enjeti, Prasad; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2013-01-01

    Current grid standards seem to largely require low power (e.g. several kilowatts) single-phase photovoltaic (PV) systems to operate at unity power factor with maximum power point tracking, and disconnect from the grid under grid faults. However, in case of a wide-scale penetration of single......-phase PV systems in the distributed grid, the disconnection under grid faults can contribute to: a) voltage flickers, b) power outages, and c) system instability. In this paper, grid code modifications are explored for wide-scale adoption of PV systems in the distribution grid. More recently, Italy...... and Japan, have undertaken a major review of standards for PV power conversion systems connected to low voltage networks. In view of this, the importance of low voltage ride-through for single-phase PV power systems under grid faults along with reactive power injection is studied in this paper. Three...

  17. Modifications to JLab 12 GeV Refrigerator and Wide Range Mix Mode Performance Testing Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knudsen, P.; Ganni, V.; Hasan, N.; Dixon, K.; Norton, R.; Creel, J.

    2017-02-01

    Analysis of data obtained during the spring 2013 commissioning of the new 4.5 K refrigeration system at Jefferson Lab (JLab) for the 12 GeV upgrade indicated a wide capacity range with good efficiency and minimal operator interaction. Testing also showed that the refrigerator required higher liquid nitrogen (LN) consumption for its pre-cooler than anticipated by the design. This does not affect the capacity of the refrigerator, but it does result in an increased LN utility cost. During the summer of 2015 the modifications were implemented by the cold box manufacturer, according to a design similar to the JLab 12 GeV cold box specification. Subsequently, JLab recommissioned the cold box and performed extensive performance testing, ranging from 20% to 100% of the design maximum capacity, and in various modes of operation, ranging from pure refrigeration, pure liquefaction, half-and-half mix mode and at selected design modes using the Floating Pressure - Ganni Cycle. The testing demonstrated that the refrigerator system has a good and fairly constant performance over a wide capacity range and different modes of operation. It also demonstrated the modifications resulted in a LN consumption that met the design for the pure refrigeration mode (which is the most demanding) and was lower than the design for the nominal and maximum capacity modes. In addition, a pulsed-load test, similar to what is expected for cryogenic systems supporting fusion experiments, was conducted to observe the response using the Floating Pressure - Ganni Cycle, which was stable and robust. This paper will discuss the results and analysis of this testing pertaining to the LN consumption, the system efficiency over a wide range of capacity and different modes and the behaviour of the system to a pulsed load.

  18. Self-similar drop-size distributions produced by breakup in chaotic flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muzzio, F.J.; Tjahjadi, M.; Ottino, J.M.; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

    1991-01-01

    Deformation and breakup of immiscible fluids in deterministic chaotic flows is governed by self-similar distributions of stretching histories and stretching rates and produces populations of droplets of widely distributed sizes. Scaling reveals that distributions of drop sizes collapse into two self-similar families; each family exhibits a different shape, presumably due to changes in the breakup mechanism

  19. Evolution of a Unique Systems Engineering Capability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robert M. Caliva; James A. Murphy; Kyle B. Oswald

    2011-06-01

    The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a science-based, applied engineering laboratory dedicated to supporting U.S. Department of Energy missions in nuclear and energy research, science, and national security. The INL’s Systems Engineering organization supports all of the various programs under this wide array of missions. As with any multifaceted organization, strategic planning is essential to establishing a consistent culture and a value discipline throughout all levels of the enterprise. While an organization can pursue operational excellence, product leadership or customer intimacy, it is extremely difficult to excel or achieve best-in-class at all three. In fact, trying to do so has resulted in the demise of a number of organizations given the very intricate balancing act that is necessary. The INL’s Systems Engineering Department has chosen to focus on customer intimacy where the customer’s needs are first and foremost and a more total solution is the goal. Frequently a total solution requires the employment of specialized tools to manage system complexity. However, it is only after understanding customer needs that tool selection and use would be pursued. This results in using both commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools and, in some cases, requires internal development of specialized tools. This paper describes how a unique systems engineering capability, through the development of customized tools, evolved as a result of this customer-focused culture. It also addresses the need for a common information model or analysis framework and presents an overview of the tools developed to manage and display relationships between entities, support trade studies through the application of utility theory, and facilitate the development of a technology roadmap to manage system risk and uncertainty.

  20. Multiagent System-Based Wide-Area Protection and Control Scheme against Cascading Events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Zhou; Chen, Zhe; Sun, Haishun

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, a multi agent system (MAS) based wide area protection and control scheme is proposed to deal with the long term voltage instability induced cascading trips. Based on sensitivity analysis between the relay operation margin and power system state variables, an optimal emergency control...... strategy is defined to adjust the emergency states timely and prevent the unexpected relay trips. In order to supervise the control process and further minimize the load loss, an agent based process control is adopted to monitor the states of distributed controllers and adjust the emergency control...... strategy. A hybrid simulation platform based on LabVIEW and real time digital simulator (RTDS) is set up to simulate a blackout case in the power system of Eastern Denmark and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MAS based protection strategy....

  1. Water quality data collected by the the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP), 1996 - 1998 (NODC Accession 0000789)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP) collected water quality data in 22 reserves in the United States and...

  2. Measuring transferring similarity via local information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Likang; Deng, Yong

    2018-05-01

    Recommender systems have developed along with the web science, and how to measure the similarity between users is crucial for processing collaborative filtering recommendation. Many efficient models have been proposed (i.g., the Pearson coefficient) to measure the direct correlation. However, the direct correlation measures are greatly affected by the sparsity of dataset. In other words, the direct correlation measures would present an inauthentic similarity if two users have a very few commonly selected objects. Transferring similarity overcomes this drawback by considering their common neighbors (i.e., the intermediates). Yet, the transferring similarity also has its drawback since it can only provide the interval of similarity. To break the limitations, we propose the Belief Transferring Similarity (BTS) model. The contributions of BTS model are: (1) BTS model addresses the issue of the sparsity of dataset by considering the high-order similarity. (2) BTS model transforms uncertain interval to a certain state based on fuzzy systems theory. (3) BTS model is able to combine the transferring similarity of different intermediates using information fusion method. Finally, we compare BTS models with nine different link prediction methods in nine different networks, and we also illustrate the convergence property and efficiency of the BTS model.

  3. Do large-scale hospital- and system-wide interventions improve patient outcomes: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clay-Williams, Robyn; Nosrati, Hadis; Cunningham, Frances C; Hillman, Kenneth; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

    2014-09-03

    While health care services are beginning to implement system-wide patient safety interventions, evidence on the efficacy of these interventions is sparse. We know that uptake can be variable, but we do not know the factors that affect uptake or how the interventions establish change and, in particular, whether they influence patient outcomes. We conducted a systematic review to identify how organisational and cultural factors mediate or are mediated by hospital-wide interventions, and to assess the effects of those factors on patient outcomes. A systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Database searches were conducted using MEDLINE from 1946, CINAHL from 1991, EMBASE from 1947, Web of Science from 1934, PsycINFO from 1967, and Global Health from 1910 to September 2012. The Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, BMJ Quality and Safety, The New England Journal of Medicine and Implementation Science were also hand searched for relevant studies published over the last 5 years. Eligible studies were required to focus on organisational determinants of hospital- and system-wide interventions, and to provide patient outcome data before and after implementation of the intervention. Empirical, peer-reviewed studies reporting randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, observational, and controlled before and after studies were included in the review. Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Improved outcomes were observed for studies where outcomes were measured at least two years after the intervention. Associations between organisational factors, intervention success and patient outcomes were undetermined: organisational culture and patient outcomes were rarely measured together, and measures for culture and outcome were not standardised. Common findings show the difficulty of introducing large-scale interventions, and that effective leadership and clinical champions, adequate

  4. Unveiling Music Structure Via PLSA Similarity Fusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arenas-García, Jerónimo; Meng, Anders; Petersen, Kaare Brandt

    2007-01-01

    Nowadays there is an increasing interest in developing methods for building music recommendation systems. In order to get a satisfactory performance from such a system, one needs to incorporate as much information about songs similarity as possible; however, how to do so is not obvious. In this p......Nowadays there is an increasing interest in developing methods for building music recommendation systems. In order to get a satisfactory performance from such a system, one needs to incorporate as much information about songs similarity as possible; however, how to do so is not obvious...... observed similarities can be satisfactorily explained using the latent semantics. Additionally, this approach significantly simplifies the song retrieval phase, leading to a more practical system implementation. The suitability of the PLSA model for representing music structure is studied in a simplified...

  5. Optogenetic Excitation of Central Amygdala Amplifies and Narrows Incentive Motivation to Pursue One Reward Above Another

    OpenAIRE

    Robinson, Mike J.F.; Warlow, Shelley M.; Berridge, Kent C.

    2014-01-01

    Choosing one reward above another is important for achieving adaptive life goals. Yet hijacked into excessive intensity in disorders such as addiction, single-minded pursuit becomes maladaptive. Here, we report that optogenetic channelrhodopsin stimulation of neurons in central nucleus of amygdala (CeA), paired with earning a particular sucrose reward in rats, amplified and narrowed incentive motivation to that single reward target. Therefore, CeA rats chose and intensely pursued only the las...

  6. Component masses of young, wide, non-magnetic white dwarf binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baxter, R. B.; Dobbie, P. D.; Parker, Q. A.; Casewell, S. L.; Lodieu, N.; Burleigh, M. R.; Lawrie, K. A.; Külebi, B.; Koester, D.; Holland, B. R.

    2014-06-01

    We present a spectroscopic component analysis of 18 candidate young, wide, non-magnetic, double-degenerate binaries identified from a search of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (DR7). All but two pairings are likely to be physical systems. We show SDSS J084952.47+471247.7 + SDSS J084952.87+471249.4 to be a wide DA + DB binary, only the second identified to date. Combining our measurements for the components of 16 new binaries with results for three similar, previously known systems within the DR7, we have constructed a mass distribution for the largest sample to date (38) of white dwarfs in young, wide, non-magnetic, double-degenerate pairings. This is broadly similar in form to that of the isolated field population with a substantial peak around M ˜ 0.6 M⊙. We identify an excess of ultramassive white dwarfs and attribute this to the primordial separation distribution of their progenitor systems peaking at relatively larger values and the greater expansion of their binary orbits during the final stages of stellar evolution. We exploit this mass distribution to probe the origins of unusual types of degenerates, confirming a mild preference for the progenitor systems of high-field-magnetic white dwarfs, at least within these binaries, to be associated with early-type stars. Additionally, we consider the 19 systems in the context of the stellar initial mass-final mass relation. None appear to be strongly discordant with current understanding of this relationship.

  7. A Feature-Based Structural Measure: An Image Similarity Measure for Face Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noor Abdalrazak Shnain

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Facial recognition is one of the most challenging and interesting problems within the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. During the last few years, it has gained special attention due to its importance in relation to current issues such as security, surveillance systems and forensics analysis. Despite this high level of attention to facial recognition, the success is still limited by certain conditions; there is no method which gives reliable results in all situations. In this paper, we propose an efficient similarity index that resolves the shortcomings of the existing measures of feature and structural similarity. This measure, called the Feature-Based Structural Measure (FSM, combines the best features of the well-known SSIM (structural similarity index measure and FSIM (feature similarity index measure approaches, striking a balance between performance for similar and dissimilar images of human faces. In addition to the statistical structural properties provided by SSIM, edge detection is incorporated in FSM as a distinctive structural feature. Its performance is tested for a wide range of PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio, using ORL (Olivetti Research Laboratory, now AT&T Laboratory Cambridge and FEI (Faculty of Industrial Engineering, São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil databases. The proposed measure is tested under conditions of Gaussian noise; simulation results show that the proposed FSM outperforms the well-known SSIM and FSIM approaches in its efficiency of similarity detection and recognition of human faces.

  8. PSF Estimation of Space-Variant Ultra-Wide Field of View Imaging Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Janout

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Ultra-wide-field of view (UWFOV imaging systems are affected by various aberrations, most of which are highly angle-dependent. A description of UWFOV imaging systems, such as microscopy optics, security camera systems and other special space-variant imaging systems, is a difficult task that can be achieved by estimating the Point Spread Function (PSF of the system. This paper proposes a novel method for modeling the space-variant PSF of an imaging system using the Zernike polynomials wavefront description. The PSF estimation algorithm is based on obtaining field-dependent expansion coefficients of the Zernike polynomials by fitting real image data of the analyzed imaging system using an iterative approach in an initial estimate of the fitting parameters to ensure convergence robustness. The method is promising as an alternative to the standard approach based on Shack–Hartmann interferometry, since the estimate of the aberration coefficients is processed directly in the image plane. This approach is tested on simulated and laboratory-acquired image data that generally show good agreement. The resulting data are compared with the results of other modeling methods. The proposed PSF estimation method provides around 5% accuracy of the optical system model.

  9. Dealing with uncertainty and pursuing superior technology options in risk management-The inherency risk analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Helland, Aasgeir

    2009-01-01

    Current regulatory systems focus on the state of scientific evidence as the predominant factor for how to handle risks to human health and the environment. However, production and assessment of risk information are costly and time-consuming, and firms have an intrinsic disincentive to produce and distribute information about risks of their products as this could endanger their production opportunities and sales. An emphasis on more or better science may result in insufficient thought and attention going into the exploration of technology alternatives, and that risk management policies miss out on the possible achievement of a more favorable set of consequences. In this article, a method is proposed that combines risk assessment with the search for alternative technological options as a part of the risk management procedure. The method proposed is the inherency risk analysis where the first stage focuses on the original agent subject to investigation, the second stage focuses on identifying technological options whereas the third stage reviews the different alternatives, searching for the most attractive tradeoffs between costs and inherent safety. This is then used as a fundament for deciding which technology option to pursue. This method aims at providing a solution-focused, systematic technology-based approach for addressing and setting priorities for environmental problems. By combining risk assessment with a structured approach to identify superior technology options within a risk management system, the result could very well be a win-win situation for both company and the environment.

  10. What Can we Learn from Similar Male Dominated Industries? (Poster Presentation)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, C.; Guilloton, E.

    2015-01-01

    Thomas Thor Associates is an Executive Recruitment company solely dedicated to the Nuclear industry. We have been involved with WiN UK in 2014–2015 to help them develop their own organization, this research was part of our partnership. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a clear picture of the techniques that are used by organizations similar to WiN, and business in other industries that are similar to Nuclear, to attract more women to pursue a career in a particular industry, and to support retention and career progression of women in these industries. This paper has taken a look at all industries that require technical and engineering staff, after which the Mining, Oil & Gas, Petro-chemicals, Rail, Renewable Energy, Technology and Construction industries were found to show most similarities with Nuclear, in terms of the technical staff required and their structure on gender diversity. From here, case studies of industry organizations and professional business have been prepared in order to inform WiN of best practice in these industries and provide a benchmark for future WiN operations. Finally, the report results into giving recommendations on projects WiN could add to their current approach to achieve their objectives. The recommendations are based on the results from the case studies, focusing on attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing female professionals. In summary, the recommendations are to: highlight potential career paths for women in Nuclear, educate women on Nuclear, support the development of women and to help companies to increase their bottom line by getting WiN certified. (author)

  11. Why a Medical Career? "What Makes Sudanese Students to Join a Medical College and Pursue a Medical Career"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutwali, Ismat Mohammed; Omer, Aisha Ibrahim A.; Abdalhalim, Sadigh Mohammed

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: Career selection and decision to pursue a medical career is a multi factorial process. It is influenced by the personal capabilities and the available resources as well as the social, educational, economical and cultural factors. Sudan is one of the African countries with a high number of medical colleges and an increasing number of…

  12. Systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for wide-field interferometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyon, Richard G. (Inventor); Leisawitz, David T. (Inventor); Rinehart, Stephen A. (Inventor); Memarsadeghi, Nargess (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for wide field imaging interferometry. The method includes for each point in a two dimensional detector array over a field of view of an image: gathering a first interferogram from a first detector and a second interferogram from a second detector, modulating a path-length for a signal from an image associated with the first interferogram in the first detector, overlaying first data from the modulated first detector and second data from the second detector, and tracking the modulating at every point in a two dimensional detector array comprising the first detector and the second detector over a field of view for the image. The method then generates a wide-field data cube based on the overlaid first data and second data for each point. The method can generate an image from the wide-field data cube.

  13. The fluid similarity of the boiling crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katsaounis, A.

    1986-01-01

    Most of the measurements related to the boiling crisis have, until now, been undertaken for a wide parameter variation in the water, and were mainly related to the water-cooled reactor. This article investigates, whether or how the measuring results can be transferred to other fluids. Derived dimensionless similarity figures and those taken from literature are verified by measurements from complex geometries in water and freon 12. (orig.) [de

  14. The fluid similarity of the boiling crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katsaounis, A.

    1987-01-01

    Most of the measurements related to the boiling crisis have, until now, been undertaken for a wide parameter variation in the water, and were mainly related to the water-cooled reactor. This article investigates, whether or how the measuring results can be transferred to other fluids. Derived dimensionless similarity figures and those taken from literature are verified by measurements from complex geometries in water and freon 12. (orig./GL) [de

  15. System-wide Benefits of Intermeal Fasting by Autophagy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Lopez, Nuria; Tarabra, Elena; Toledo, Miriam; Garcia-Macia, Marina; Sahu, Srabani; Coletto, Luisa; Batista-Gonzalez, Ana; Barzilai, Nir; Pessin, Jeffrey E; Schwartz, Gary J; Kersten, Sander; Singh, Rajat

    2017-12-05

    Autophagy failure is associated with metabolic insufficiency. Although caloric restriction (CR) extends healthspan, its adherence in humans is poor. We established an isocaloric twice-a-day (ITAD) feeding model wherein ITAD-fed mice consume the same food amount as ad libitum controls but at two short windows early and late in the diurnal cycle. We hypothesized that ITAD feeding will provide two intervals of intermeal fasting per circadian period and induce autophagy. We show that ITAD feeding modifies circadian autophagy and glucose/lipid metabolism that correlate with feeding-driven changes in circulating insulin. ITAD feeding decreases adiposity and, unlike CR, enhances muscle mass. ITAD feeding drives energy expenditure, lowers lipid levels, suppresses gluconeogenesis, and prevents age/obesity-associated metabolic defects. Using liver-, adipose-, myogenic-, and proopiomelanocortin neuron-specific autophagy-null mice, we mapped the contribution of tissue-specific autophagy to system-wide benefits of ITAD feeding. Our studies suggest that consuming two meals a day without CR could prevent the metabolic syndrome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Pursuing Darwin’s curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    In the past few decades, scholars from several disciplines have pursued the curious parallel noted by Darwin between the genetic evolution of species and the cultural evolution of beliefs, skills, knowledge, languages, institutions, and other forms of socially transmitted information. Here, I review current progress in the pursuit of an evolutionary science of culture that is grounded in both biological and evolutionary theory, but also treats culture as more than a proximate mechanism that is directly controlled by genes. Both genetic and cultural evolution can be described as systems of inherited variation that change over time in response to processes such as selection, migration, and drift. Appropriate differences between genetic and cultural change are taken seriously, such as the possibility in the latter of nonrandomly guided variation or transformation, blending inheritance, and one-to-many transmission. The foundation of cultural evolution was laid in the late 20th century with population-genetic style models of cultural microevolution, and the use of phylogenetic methods to reconstruct cultural macroevolution. Since then, there have been major efforts to understand the sociocognitive mechanisms underlying cumulative cultural evolution, the consequences of demography on cultural evolution, the empirical validity of assumed social learning biases, the relative role of transformative and selective processes, and the use of quantitative phylogenetic and multilevel selection models to understand past and present dynamics of society-level change. I conclude by highlighting the interdisciplinary challenges of studying cultural evolution, including its relation to the traditional social sciences and humanities. PMID:28739929

  17. Marine: a new wide range neutron monitoring system concept

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trama, J.C.; Lescop, B.; Lefevre, J.; Nguyen, T.; Sudres, C. [CEA Saclay, 91 - Gif sur Yvette (France). Dept. d' Electronique et d' Instrumentation Nucleaire; Pasdeloup, P. [Technicatome, 13 - Les Milles (France)

    2001-07-01

    In a Nuclear Power Plant, the developed power is proportional to the emitted neutron flux. The 10 to 11 decades measurement range from source to power generally needs 3 distinct neutron measurement chains to be monitored. A wide range neutron monitoring system may cover this range with only one sensor followed by adequate electronics. In the past this concept has been developed with an analogue technology which was presenting some drawbacks (slow log amplifier, components perenniality). In this paper, we introduce a completely new design, that makes use of a recent technology, including full linear input electronics, and advanced digital signal processing. As far as the sensor is concerned, both a well known commercial fission chamber, or an innovative wide range sensor presenting a high sensitivity may be used. The basic concept is that the single signal is continuously processed by three different electronic stages, each one being dedicated to approximately one third of the full range: pulse, Campbelling and current modes. After amplification, appropriate shaping, this signal is numerically filtered by a Kalman filter algorithm to compute the neutron flux as well as the reactor period. A specifically developed test module allows the surveillance of the sensor and the electronics via stimuli injections and characteristic curves plotting. A computerised simulation of the whole chain is used to validate the signal processing algorithms evolutions. In the paper we will specifically develop the metrological performances of this chain and the general agreement that exists between simulated and measured values. (authors)

  18. 77 FR 76356 - Disclosure to Investors in System-wide and Consolidated Bank Debt Obligations of the Farm Credit...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-28

    ... FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION 12 CFR Part 630 RIN 3052-AC77 Disclosure to Investors in System-wide and Consolidated Bank Debt Obligations of the Farm Credit System; System Audit Committee; Effective... Corporation System Audit Committee and the Farm Credit System annual report to investors. In accordance with...

  19. Medical knowledge packages and their integration into health-care information systems and the World Wide Web.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter; Rappelsberger, Andrea

    2008-01-01

    Software-based medical knowledge packages (MKPs) are packages of highly structured medical knowledge that can be integrated into various health-care information systems or the World Wide Web. They have been established to provide different forms of clinical decision support such as textual interpretation of combinations of laboratory rest results, generating diagnostic hypotheses as well as confirmed and excluded diagnoses to support differential diagnosis in internal medicine, or for early identification and automatic monitoring of hospital-acquired infections. Technically, an MKP may consist of a number of inter-connected Arden Medical Logic Modules. Several MKPs have been integrated thus far into hospital, laboratory, and departmental information systems. This has resulted in useful and widely accepted software-based clinical decision support for the benefit of the patient, the physician, and the organization funding the health care system.

  20. Experimental validation of a mine-wide continuous closure monitoring system as a decision making tool for gold mines.

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Malan, DF

    2003-03-01

    Full Text Available of a mine-wide continuous closure monitoring system. A RMT remote reading telltale system was modified to operate as a closure system and installed at Mponeng Mine. Unfortunately, this system did not succeed in collecting data from a large number...

  1. Framework and implementation of a continuous network-wide health monitoring system for roadways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ming; Birken, Ralf; Shahini Shamsabadi, Salar

    2014-03-01

    According to the 2013 ASCE report card America's infrastructure scores only a D+. There are more than four million miles of roads (grade D) in the U.S. requiring a broad range of maintenance activities. The nation faces a monumental problem of infrastructure management in the scheduling and implementation of maintenance and repair operations, and in the prioritization of expenditures within budgetary constraints. The efficient and effective performance of these operations however is crucial to ensuring roadway safety, preventing catastrophic failures, and promoting economic growth. There is a critical need for technology that can cost-effectively monitor the condition of a network-wide road system and provide accurate, up-to-date information for maintenance activity prioritization. The Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming Sensors (VOTERS) project provides a framework and the sensing capability to complement periodical localized inspections to continuous network-wide health monitoring. Research focused on the development of a cost-effective, lightweight package of multi-modal sensor systems compatible with this framework. An innovative software infrastructure is created that collects, processes, and evaluates these large time-lapse multi-modal data streams. A GIS-based control center manages multiple inspection vehicles and the data for further analysis, visualization, and decision making. VOTERS' technology can monitor road conditions at both the surface and sub-surface levels while the vehicle is navigating through daily traffic going about its normal business, thereby allowing for network-wide frequent assessment of roadways. This deterioration process monitoring at unprecedented time and spatial scales provides unique experimental data that can be used to improve life-cycle cost analysis models.

  2. Wide area measurement system for smart grid applications involving hybrid energy sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amin, Mahmoud M.; Moussa, Heba B.; Mohammed, Osama A. [Florida International University, Energy Systems Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Miami, FL (United States)

    2012-03-15

    This paper presents a model and experimental verification for a complete scenario of a proposed wide area measurement system (WAMS) based on synchronized phasor measurement units (PMUs). The proposed system is feasible for hybrid smart ac/dc power networks; such as grid-connected PV-power plants. The purpose is to increase the overall system reliability for all power stages via significant dependence on WAMS as distributed intelligence agents with improved monitoring, protection, and control capabilities of the power networks. The developed system is simulated in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The system was tested under two different cases; normal operation and fault state. Furthermore, the proposed WAMS was experimentally validated with results obtained from a reduced scale setup which built and tested in the laboratory based on the Hardware-in-the-loop concept. It was verified that the power system status can be easily monitored and controlled in real time by using the measured bus data in real time. This improves the overall system reliability and avoids cascaded blackout during fault occurrence. The simulation and experimental results confirm the validity of the proposed WAMS technology for smart grid applications. (orig.)

  3. Perspectives of Nurses Pursuing Doctoral Degrees in Georgia: Implications for Recruitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, Rebecca McCombs; Eichelberger, Lisa Wright

    2017-08-01

    Increasing the number of nurses with doctorates is a goal of the nursing profession. The Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition developed a survey to understand the perspectives of nurses pursuing doctoral degrees in Georgia to improve recruitment and retention strategies. A 26-item online survey was distributed to all students enrolled in Georgia-based doctoral programs in nursing in spring 2014. One hundred fifty responses were received (54% response rate). Most students first seriously considered doctoral education during their master's programs or more than 5 years into practice. For most, obtaining a doctoral degree was a personal life goal. Work-life balance was the most significant barrier. Recruitment of nurses to doctoral programs should focus on messaging, timing, and highlighting the unique aspects of programs. Schools should work to reduce barriers. Understanding students' perspectives of doctoral education in nursing can improve recruitment strategies and increase the number of nurses graduating with doctorates in Georgia. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(8):466-470.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

  4. Parental Level of Education: Associations with Psychological Well-Being, Academic Achievement and Reasons for Pursuing Higher Education in Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlechter, Melissa; Milevsky, Avidan

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of the current study is to determine the interconnection between parental level of education, psychological well-being, academic achievement and reasons for pursuing higher education in adolescents. Participants included 439 college freshmen from a mid-size state university in the northeastern USA. A survey, including indices of…

  5. Development and trial operation of a site-wide computerized material accounting system at Kurchatov Institute

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roumiantsev, A.N.; Ostroumov, Y.A.; Yevstropov, A.V.

    1997-01-01

    Since August 1994 Kurchatov Institute in cooperation with several US Department of Energy Laboratories has been developing a site-wide computerized material accounting system for nuclear materials. In 1994 a prototype system was put into trial operation at two Kurchatov facilities. Evaluation of this prototype led to the development of a new computerized material accounting system named KI-MACS, which has been operational since 1996. This system is a site-wide local secure computer network with centralized database capable of dealing with strictly confidential data and performing near-real time accountancy. It utilizes a Microsoft Windows NT operating system with SQL Server and Visual Basic, and has a 'star'-like network architecture. KI-MACS is capable of dealing with materials in itemized and bulk form, and can perform statistical evaluations of measurements and material balance. KI-MACS is fully integrated with bar code equipment, electronic scales, gamma-ray spectrometers and an Active Well Coincidence Counter, thus providing almost on-line evaluation and utilization of results of measurements, item identification and accounting. At present KI-MACS is being used in Physical Inventory Taking at the Kurchatov Central Storage Facility, and by the end of 1997 will be installed at twelve Kurchatov nuclear facilities

  6. Development and trial operation of a site-wide computerized material accounting system at Kurchatov Institute

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roumiantsev, A.N.; Ostroumov, Y.A.; Yevstropov, A.V. [Kurchatov Institute RRC, Moscow (Russian Federation)] [and others

    1997-11-01

    Since August 1994 Kurchatov Institute in cooperation with several US Department of Energy Laboratories has been developing a site-wide computerized material accounting system for nuclear materials. In 1994 a prototype system was put into trial operation at two Kurchatov facilities. Evaluation of this prototype led to the development of a new computerized material accounting system named KI-MACS, which has been operational since 1996. This system is a site-wide local secure computer network with centralized database capable of dealing with strictly confidential data and performing near-real time accountancy. It utilizes a Microsoft Windows NT operating system with SQL Server and Visual Basic, and has a `star`-like network architecture. KI-MACS is capable of dealing with materials in itemized and bulk form, and can perform statistical evaluations of measurements and material balance. KI-MACS is fully integrated with bar code equipment, electronic scales, gamma-ray spectrometers and an Active Well Coincidence Counter, thus providing almost on-line evaluation and utilization of results of measurements, item identification and accounting. At present KI-MACS is being used in Physical Inventory Taking at the Kurchatov Central Storage Facility, and by the end of 1997 will be installed at twelve Kurchatov nuclear facilities.

  7. Development of dose monitoring system applicable to various radiations with wide energy ranges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Endo, Akira

    2006-01-01

    A new radiation dose monitor, designated as DARWIN (Dose monitoring system Applicable to various Radiations with WIde energy raNges), has been developed for real-time monitoring of doses in workspaces and surrounding environments of high energy accelerator facilities. DARWIN is composed of a phoswitch-type scintillation detector, which consists of liquid organic scintillator BC501A coupled with ZnS(Ag) scintillation sheets doped with 6 Li, and a data acquisition system based on a Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope. DARWIN has the following features: (1) capable of monitoring doses from neutrons, photons and muons with energies from thermal energy to 1 GeV, 150 keV to 100 MeV, and 1 MeV to 100 GeV, respectively, (2) highly sensitive with precision, and (3) easy to operate with a simple graphical user-interface. The performance of DARWIN was examined experimentally in several radiation fields. The results of the experiments indicated the accuracy and rapid response of DARWIN for measuring dose rates from neutrons, photons and muons with wide energies. With these properties, we conclude that DARWIN will be able to play a very important role for improving radiation safety in high energy accelerator facilities. (author)

  8. World-wide information systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1974-01-01

    The three international organizations, IAEA, FAO, and UNESCO, which jointly sponsored the Symposium, share an active interest and involvement in information systems development. The extent of their interest was explained by the Director General of the IAEA, Dr. Sigvard Eklund, when he opened the meeting on behalf of the three co-sponsors: UNESCO in conjunction with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), took initiatives in 1966 which led to the establishment of its UNISIST programme. Its aims are to co-ordinate existing trends towards international co-operation in the collection, storage and dissemination of information and to act as a catalyst. Its ultimate goal is to establish 'a flexible and loosely connected network of information services based on voluntary co-operation'. A particular concern of UNISIST is to ensure co-ordination of the information activities of the United Nations organizations. The Symposium provided an opportunity for the science information community to assess the progress already made in creating links between diverse national, international, intergovernmental and non-governmental information systems and services. Papers were presented describing current developments in the national information systems of a number of countries, with special emphasis on how these developments were furthering harmonization of national information policies and facilitating interconnection with international systems. INIS and AGRIS figured prominently amongst the international systems discussed. In addition, proposals for two new international systems, to be known as DEVSIS and SPINIS, were outlined. The former will deal with development science information; the latter will cover the information on the administrative, scientific and legal aspects of science policy. There was also discussion of international co-operation in information handling within such international organizations as the CMEA, the Commission of the European Communities and

  9. Shallow water processes govern system-wide phytoplankton bloom dynamics: A modeling study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, L.V.; Koseff, Jeffrey R.; Monismith, Stephen G.; Thompson, J.K.

    2009-01-01

    A pseudo-two-dimensional numerical model of estuarine phytoplankton growth and consumption, vertical turbulent mixing, and idealized cross-estuary transport was developed and applied to South San Francisco Bay. This estuary has two bathymetrically distinct habitat types (deep channel, shallow shoal) and associated differences in local net rates of phytoplankton growth and consumption, as well as differences in the water column's tendency to stratify. Because many physical and biological time scales relevant to algal population dynamics decrease with decreasing depth, process rates can be especially fast in the shallow water. We used the model to explore the potential significance of hydrodynamic connectivity between a channel and shoal and whether lateral transport can allow physical or biological processes (e.g. stratification, benthic grazing, light attenuation) in one sub-region to control phytoplankton biomass and bloom development in the adjacent sub-region. Model results for South San Francisco Bay suggest that lateral transport from a productive shoal can result in phytoplankton biomass accumulation in an adjacent deep, unproductive channel. The model further suggests that turbidity and benthic grazing in the shoal can control the occurrence of a bloom system-wide; whereas, turbidity, benthic grazing, and vertical density stratification in the channel are likely to only control local bloom occurrence or modify system-wide bloom magnitude. Measurements from a related field program are generally consistent with model-derived conclusions. ?? 2008 Elsevier B.V.

  10. WIRELESS MINE-WIDE TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zvi H. Meiksin

    2004-03-01

    A comprehensive mine-wide, two-way wireless voice and data communication system for the underground mining industry was developed. The system achieves energy savings through increased productivity and greater energy efficiency in meeting safety requirements within mines. The mine-wide system is comprised of two interfaced subsystems: a through-the-earth communications system and an in-mine communications system. The mine-wide system permits two-way communication among underground personnel and between underground and surface personnel. The system was designed, built, and commercialized. Several systems are in operation in underground mines in the United States. The use of these systems has proven they result in considerable energy savings. A system for tracking the location of vehicles and people within the mine was also developed, built and tested successfully. Transtek's systems are being used by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in their underground mine rescue team training program. This project also resulted in a spin-off rescue team lifeline and communications system. Furthermore, the project points the way to further developments that can lead to a GPS-like system for underground mines allowing the use of autonomous machines in underground mining operations, greatly reducing the amount of energy used in these operations. Some products developed under this program are transferable to applications in fields other than mining. The rescue team system is applicable to use by first responders to natural, accidental, or terrorist-caused building collapses. The in-mine communications system can be installed in high-rise buildings providing in-building communications to security and maintenance personnel as well as to first responders.

  11. Similarity Assessment of Land Surface Model Outputs in the North American Land Data Assimilation System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sujay V.; Wang, Shugong; Mocko, David M.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Xia, Youlong

    2017-11-01

    Multimodel ensembles are often used to produce ensemble mean estimates that tend to have increased simulation skill over any individual model output. If multimodel outputs are too similar, an individual LSM would add little additional information to the multimodel ensemble, whereas if the models are too dissimilar, it may be indicative of systematic errors in their formulations or configurations. The article presents a formal similarity assessment of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) multimodel ensemble outputs to assess their utility to the ensemble, using a confirmatory factor analysis. Outputs from four NLDAS Phase 2 models currently running in operations at NOAA/NCEP and four new/upgraded models that are under consideration for the next phase of NLDAS are employed in this study. The results show that the runoff estimates from the LSMs were most dissimilar whereas the models showed greater similarity for root zone soil moisture, snow water equivalent, and terrestrial water storage. Generally, the NLDAS operational models showed weaker association with the common factor of the ensemble and the newer versions of the LSMs showed stronger association with the common factor, with the model similarity increasing at longer time scales. Trade-offs between the similarity metrics and accuracy measures indicated that the NLDAS operational models demonstrate a larger span in the similarity-accuracy space compared to the new LSMs. The results of the article indicate that simultaneous consideration of model similarity and accuracy at the relevant time scales is necessary in the development of multimodel ensemble.

  12. Reactor safety: the Nova computer system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eisgruber, H.; Stadelmann, W.

    1991-01-01

    After instances of maloperation, the causes of defects, the effectiveness of the measures taken to control the situation, and possibilities to avoid future recurrences need to be investigated above all before the plant is restarted. The most important aspect in all these efforts is to check the sequence in time, and the completeness, of the control measures initiated automatically. For this verification, a computer system is used instead of time-consuming manual analytical techniques, which produces the necessary information almost in real time. The results are available within minutes after completion of the measures initiated automatically. As all short-term safety functions are initiated by automatic systems, their consistent and comprehensive verification results in a clearly higher level of safety. The report covers the development of the computer system, and its implementation, in the Gundremmingen nuclear power station. Similar plans are being pursued in Biblis and Muelheim-Kaerlich. (orig.) [de

  13. Self-similarity in applied superconductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dresner, Lawrence

    1981-09-01

    Self-similarity is a descriptive term applying to a family of curves. It means that the family is invariant to a one-parameter group of affine (stretching) transformations. The property of self-similarity has been exploited in a wide variety of problems in applied superconductivity, namely, (i) transient distribution of the current among the filaments of a superconductor during charge-up, (ii) steady distribution of current among the filaments of a superconductor near the current leads, (iii) transient heat transfer in superfluid helium, (iv) transient diffusion in cylindrical geometry (important in studying the growth rate of the reacted layer in A15 materials), (v) thermal expulsion of helium from quenching cable-in-conduit conductors, (vi) eddy current heating of irregular plates by slow, ramped fields, and (vii) the specific heat of type-II superconductors. Most, but not all, of the applications involve differential equations, both ordinary and partial. The novel methods explained in this report should prove of great value in other fields, just as they already have done in applied superconductivity. (author)

  14. Characteristics of a single photon emission tomography system with a wide field gamma camera

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mathonnat, F.; Soussaline, F.; Todd-Pokropek, A.E.; Kellershohn, C.

    1979-01-01

    This text summarizes a work study describing the imagery possibilities of a single photon emission tomography system composed of a conventional wide field gamma camera, connected to a computer. The encouraging results achieved on the various phantoms studied suggest a significant development of this technique in clinical work in Nuclear Medicine Departments [fr

  15. World-wide distribution automation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Devaney, T.M.

    1994-01-01

    A worldwide power distribution automation system is outlined. Distribution automation is defined and the status of utility automation is discussed. Other topics discussed include a distribution management system, substation feeder, and customer functions, potential benefits, automation costs, planning and engineering considerations, automation trends, databases, system operation, computer modeling of system, and distribution management systems

  16. Living with students: Lessons learned while pursuing tenure, administration, and raising a family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphrey, Michael; Callahan, Janet; Harrison, Geoff

    2015-01-01

    An emerging promising practice in many universities has been the development of faculty-in-residence programs, in which university faculty members and their family moved into university student residences, sharing common living spaces with students. This case study is centered on two faculty-in-residence living in university residence halls. One was an assistant professor pursuing tenure while raising a young child, while the second was a tenured full professor and associate dean raising two teens. This case study offers the post-experience conclusions of these two faculty-in-residence individuals, noting the benefits and challenges each experienced while living -and working closely with these students outside of the university classroom, all while striving for an optimal balance in managing professional and familial obligations.

  17. Factors that encourage females to pursue physical science careers: Testing five common hypotheses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Lock, Robynne M.; Lung, Florin; Sadler, Philip M.; Sonnert, Gerhard

    2012-03-01

    There are many hypotheses regarding factors that may encourage female students to pursue careers in the physical sciences. Using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) on national data (n=7505) drawn from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, we test five commonly held beliefs including having a single-sex physics class, having a female physics teacher, having female scientist guest speakers in physics class, discussing the work of women scientists in physics class, and discussing the under-representation of women in physics class. The effect of these experiences is compared for female students who are matched on several factors, including parental education, prior science/math interests, and academic background, thereby controlling for the effect of many confounding variables.

  18. Global Deliberative Democracy and Climate Change: Insights from World Wide Views on Global Warming in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Riedy

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available On 26 September 2009, approximately 4,000 citizens in 38 countries participated in World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews. WWViews was an ambitious first attempt to convene a deliberative mini-public at a global scale, giving people from around the world an opportunity to deliberate on international climate policy and to make recommendations to the decision-makers meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP-15 in December 2009. In this paper, we examine the role that deliberative mini-publics can play in facilitating the emergence of a global deliberative system for climate change response. We pursue this intent through a reflective evaluation of the Australian component of the World Wide Views on Global Warming project (WWViews. Our evaluation of WWViews is mixed. The Australian event was delivered with integrity and feedback from Australian participants was almost universally positive. Globally, WWViews demonstrated that it is feasible to convene a global mini-public to deliberate on issues of global relevance, such as climate change. On the other hand, the contribution of WWViews towards the emergence of a global deliberative system for climate change response was limited and it achieved little influence on global climate change policy. We identify lessons for future global mini-publics, including the need to prioritise the quality of deliberation and provide flexibility to respond to cultural and political contexts in different parts of the world. Future global mini-publics may be more influential if they seek to represent discourse diversity in addition to demographic profiles, use designs that maximise the potential for transmission from public to empowered space, run over longer time periods to build momentum for change and experiment with ways of bringing global citizens together in a single process instead of discrete national events.

  19. WorldWide Telescope: A Newly Open Source Astronomy Visualization System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fay, Jonathan; Roberts, Douglas A.

    2016-01-01

    After eight years of development by Microsoft Research, WorldWide Telescope (WWT) was made an open source project at the end of June 2015. WWT was motivated by the desire to put new surveys of objects, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the context of the night sky. The development of WWT under Microsoft started with the creation of a Windows desktop client that is widely used in various education, outreach and research projects. Using this, users can explore the data built into WWT as well as data that is loaded in. Beyond exploration, WWT can be used to create tours that present various datasets a narrative format.In the past two years, the team developed a collection of web controls, including an HTML5 web client, which contains much of the functionality of the Windows desktop client. The project under Microsoft has deep connections with several user communities such as education through the WWT Ambassadors program, http://wwtambassadors.org/ and with planetariums and museums such as the Adler Planetarium. WWT can also support research, including using WWT to visualize the Bones of the Milky Way and rich connections between WWT and the Astrophysical Data Systems (ADS, http://labs.adsabs.harvard.edu/adsabs/). One important new research connection is the use of WWT to create dynamic and potentially interactive supplements to journal articles, which have been created in 2015.Now WWT is an open source community lead project. The source code is available in GitHub (https://github.com/WorldWideTelescope). There is significant developer documentation on the website (http://worldwidetelescope.org/Developers/) and an extensive developer workshops (http://wwtworkshops.org/?tribe_events=wwt-developer-workshop) has taken place in the fall of 2015.Now that WWT is open source anyone who has the interest in the project can be a contributor. As important as helping out with coding, the project needs people interested in documentation, testing, training and other roles.

  20. Michelson wide-field stellar interferometry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Montilla, I.

    2004-01-01

    The main goal of this thesis is to develop a system to permit wide field operation of Michelson Interferometers. A wide field of view is very important in applications such as the observation of extended or multiple objects, the fringe acquisition and/ or tracking on a nearby unresolved object, and

  1. Does breast reconstruction impact the decision of patients to pursue cosmetic surgery?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Vivian M; Tahiri, Youssef; Wes, Ari M; Yan, Chen; Selber, Jesse C; Nelson, Jonas A; Kovach, Stephen J; Serletti, Joseph M; Wu, Liza C

    2014-12-01

    Breast reconstruction is an integral component of breast cancer treatment, often aiding in restoring a patient's sense of femininity. However, many patients choose to have subsequent cosmetic surgery. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons that motivate patients to have cosmetic surgery after breast reconstruction. The authors performed a retrospective study examining patients who had breast reconstruction and subsequent cosmetic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Health System between January 2005 and June 2012. This cohort received a questionnaire assessing the influences and impact of their reconstructive and cosmetic procedures. A total of 1,214 patients had breast reconstruction, with 113 patients (9.3%) undergoing cosmetic surgery after reconstruction. Of 42 survey respondents, 35 had autologous breast reconstruction (83.3%). Fifty-two cosmetic procedures were performed in survey respondents, including liposuction (26.9%) and facelift (15.4%). The most common reason for pursuing cosmetic surgery was the desire to improve self-image (n = 26, 61.9%), with 29 (69.0%) patients feeling more self-conscious of appearance after reconstruction. Body image satisfaction was significantly higher after cosmetic surgery (P = 0.0081). Interestingly, a multivariate analysis revealed that patients who experienced an improvement in body image after breast reconstruction were more likely to experience a further improvement after a cosmetic procedure (P = 0.031, OR = 17.83). Patients who were interested in cosmetic surgery prior to reconstruction were also more likely to experience an improvement in body image after cosmetic surgery (P = 0.012, OR = 22.63). Cosmetic surgery may improve body image satisfaction of breast reconstruction patients and help to further meet their expectations.

  2. Wide dynamic range beam profile monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, D.M.; Brown, D.; Hardekopf, R.; Bilskie, J.R.; van Dyck, O.B.V.

    1985-01-01

    An economical harp multiplexer system has been developed to achieve a wide dynamic range. The harp system incorporates a pneumatically actuated harp detector with ceramic boards and carbon wires; a high-sensitivity multiplexer packaged in a double-wide NIM module; and flat, shielded ribbon cable consisting of individual twisted pairs. The system multiplexes 30 wires in each of the x and y planes simultaneously and operates with or without computer control. The system has operated in beams of 100 nA to 1 mA, 1- to 120-Hz repetition rate, with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 10/1

  3. Effective Consultants: A Conceptual Framework for Helping School Systems Achieve Systemic Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazle Bussey, Leslie; Welch, Jennie C.; Mohammed, Meca B.

    2014-01-01

    A growing number of organisations--universities, non-profits, independent consultants--are emerging as partners to school systems pursuing systemic improvement. This proliferation invites questions probing the interaction between school systems and their consulting partners. Drawing on a cross-disciplinary review of literature, this theoretical…

  4. System Wide Implementation of Photonically Generated Impulse Radio Ultra-Wideband for Gigabit Fiber-Wireless Access

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Xianbin; Gibbon, Timothy Braidwood; Rodes Lopez, Roberto

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we comprehensively review our research work on system wide implementation of photonically generated IR-UWB signals based on relaxation oscillations of a semiconductor laser. Firstly, we present our novel approach as a flexible method for photonic generation of high speed impulse ra...

  5. Merger transitions in brane-black-hole systems: Criticality, scaling, and self-similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frolov, Valeri P.

    2006-01-01

    We propose a toy model for studying merger transitions in a curved spacetime with an arbitrary number of dimensions. This model includes a bulk N-dimensional static spherically symmetric black hole and a test D-dimensional brane (D≤N-1) interacting with the black hole. The brane is asymptotically flat and allows a O(D-1) group of symmetry. Such a brane-black-hole (BBH) system has two different phases. The first one is formed by solutions describing a brane crossing the horizon of the bulk black hole. In this case the internal induced geometry of the brane describes a D-dimensional black hole. The other phase consists of solutions for branes which do not intersect the horizon, and the induced geometry does not have a horizon. We study a critical solution at the threshold of the brane-black-hole formation, and the solutions which are close to it. In particular, we demonstrate that there exists a striking similarity of the merger transition, during which the phase of the BBH system is changed, both with the Choptuik critical collapse and with the merger transitions in the higher dimensional caged black-hole-black-string system

  6. Development of dose monitoring system applicable to various radiations with wide energy ranges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Endo, Akira; Yamaguchi, Yasuhiro

    2005-01-01

    A new inventive radiation dose monitor, designated as DARWIN (Dose monitoring system Applicable to various Radiations with WIde energy raNges), has been developed for monitoring doses in workspaces and surrounding environments of high energy accelerator facilities. DARWIN is composed of a phoswitch-type scintillation detector, which consists of liquid organic scintillator BC501A coupled with ZnS(Ag) scintillation sheets doped with 6 Li, and a data acquisition system based on a Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope. Scintillations from the detector induced by thermal and fast neutrons, photons and muons were discriminated by analyzing their waveforms, and their light outputs were directly converted into the corresponding doses by applying the G-function method. Characteristics of DARWIN were studied by both calculation and experiment. The calculated results indicate that DARWIN gives reasonable estimations of doses in most radiation fields. It was found from the experiment that DARWIN has an excellent property of measuring doses from all particles that significantly contribute to the doses in surrounding environments of accelerator facilities - neutron, photon and muon with wide energy ranges. The experimental results also suggested that DARWIN enables us to monitor small fluctuation of neutron dose rates near the background-level owing to its high sensitivity. (author)

  7. Accessing NASA Technology with the World Wide Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Michael L.; Bianco, David J.

    1995-01-01

    NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) began using the World Wide Web (WWW) in the summer of 1993, becoming the first NASA installation to provide a Center-wide home page. This coincided with a reorganization of LaRC to provide a more concentrated focus on technology transfer to both aerospace and non-aerospace industry. Use of WWW and NCSA Mosaic not only provides automated information dissemination, but also allows for the implementation, evolution and integration of many technology transfer and technology awareness applications. This paper describes several of these innovative applications, including the on-line presentation of the entire Technology OPportunities Showcase (TOPS), an industrial partnering showcase that exists on the Web long after the actual 3-day event ended. The NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) provides uniform access to many logically similar, yet physically distributed NASA report servers. WWW is also the foundation of the Langley Software Server (LSS), an experimental software distribution system which will distribute LaRC-developed software. In addition to the more formal technology distribution projects, WWW has been successful in connecting people with technologies and people with other people.

  8. On different forms of self similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aswathy, R.K.; Mathew, Sunil

    2016-01-01

    Fractal geometry is mainly based on the idea of self-similar forms. To be self-similar, a shape must able to be divided into parts that are smaller copies, which are more or less similar to the whole. There are different forms of self similarity in nature and mathematics. In this paper, some of the topological properties of super self similar sets are discussed. It is proved that in a complete metric space with two or more elements, the set of all non super self similar sets are dense in the set of all non-empty compact sub sets. It is also proved that the product of self similar sets are super self similar in product metric spaces and that the super self similarity is preserved under isometry. A characterization of super self similar sets using contracting sub self similarity is also presented. Some relevant counterexamples are provided. The concepts of exact super and sub self similarity are introduced and a necessary and sufficient condition for a set to be exact super self similar in terms of condensation iterated function systems (Condensation IFS’s) is obtained. A method to generate exact sub self similar sets using condensation IFS’s and the denseness of exact super self similar sets are also discussed.

  9. Geography and similarity of regional cuisines in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yu-Xiao; Huang, Junming; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zhou, Tao; Ahn, Yong-Yeol

    2013-01-01

    Food occupies a central position in every culture and it is therefore of great interest to understand the evolution of food culture. The advent of the World Wide Web and online recipe repositories have begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for data-driven, quantitative study of food culture. Here we harness an online database documenting recipes from various Chinese regional cuisines and investigate the similarity of regional cuisines in terms of geography and climate. We find that geographical proximity, rather than climate proximity, is a crucial factor that determines the similarity of regional cuisines. We develop a model of regional cuisine evolution that provides helpful clues for understanding the evolution of cuisines and cultures.

  10. Geography and Similarity of Regional Cuisines in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yu-Xiao; Huang, Junming; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zhou, Tao; Ahn, Yong-Yeol

    2013-01-01

    Food occupies a central position in every culture and it is therefore of great interest to understand the evolution of food culture. The advent of the World Wide Web and online recipe repositories have begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for data-driven, quantitative study of food culture. Here we harness an online database documenting recipes from various Chinese regional cuisines and investigate the similarity of regional cuisines in terms of geography and climate. We find that geographical proximity, rather than climate proximity, is a crucial factor that determines the similarity of regional cuisines. We develop a model of regional cuisine evolution that provides helpful clues for understanding the evolution of cuisines and cultures. PMID:24260166

  11. Dynamics of wide and snake-like pulses in coupled Schrödinger equations with full-modulated nonlinearities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yomba, Emmanuel, E-mail: emmanuel.yomba@csun.edu; Zakeri, Gholam-Ali, E-mail: ali.zakeri@csun.edu

    2016-02-05

    We investigate the existence of various solitary wave solutions in coupled Schrödinger equations with specific cubic and quintic nonlinearities. This system arises in wave propagation in fiber optics with focusing and defocusing with modulated nonlinearities. We obtain front–front, bright–bright, dark–dark, and dark–bright like solitons using a direct approach, and then, by reducing the system of equations to a single auxiliary equation of a Duffing-type ordinary differential equation, we provide a large class of Jacobi-elliptic solutions. These solutions are presented in the exact form and analyzed. We find a class of wide localized and snake-like (in both space and time) vector solitons. One of the novel aspects of this study is that we have shown that the qualitative behavior of the solutions is independent of the choice of similarity variables. Numerical results show that the solutions of the above system are stable with up to 10% white noises. - Highlights: • Dynamics of wide and snake-like pulses is analyzed for coupled Schrödinger equations. • Qualitative appearance of solutions is analyzed using various similarity variables. • Effect of change in parameter-values on dynamics of the solutions is investigated. • Vectors front–front, bright–bright, dark–dark and dark–bright solitons are obtained.

  12. Real-effectiveness medicine--pursuing the best effectiveness in the ordinary care of patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malmivaara, Antti

    2013-03-01

    Clinical know-how and skills as well as up-to-date scientific evidence are cornerstones for providing effective treatment for patients. However, in order to improve the effectiveness of treatment in ordinary practice, also appropriate documentation of care at the health care units and benchmarking based on this documentation are needed. This article presents the new concept of real-effectiveness medicine (REM) which pursues the best effectiveness of patient care in the real-world setting. In order to reach the goal, four layers of information are utilized: 1) good medical know-how and skills combined with the patient view, 2) up-to-date scientific evidence, 3) continuous documentation of performance in ordinary settings, and 4) benchmarking between providers. The new framework is suggested for clinicians, organizations, policy-makers, and researchers.

  13. Optogenetic excitation of central amygdala amplifies and narrows incentive motivation to pursue one reward above another.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Mike J F; Warlow, Shelley M; Berridge, Kent C

    2014-12-10

    Choosing one reward above another is important for achieving adaptive life goals. Yet hijacked into excessive intensity in disorders such as addiction, single-minded pursuit becomes maladaptive. Here, we report that optogenetic channelrhodopsin stimulation of neurons in central nucleus of amygdala (CeA), paired with earning a particular sucrose reward in rats, amplified and narrowed incentive motivation to that single reward target. Therefore, CeA rats chose and intensely pursued only the laser-paired sucrose reward while ignoring an equally good sucrose alternative. In contrast, reward-paired stimulation of basolateral amygdala did not hijack choice. In a separate measure of incentive motivation, CeA stimulation also increased the progressive ratio breakpoint or level of effort exerted to obtain sucrose reward. However, CeA stimulation by itself failed to support behavioral self-stimulation in the absence of any paired external food reward, suggesting that CeA photo-excitation specifically transformed the value of its external reward (rather than adding an internal reinforcement state). Nor did CeA stimulation by itself induce any aversive state that motivated escape. Finally, CeA stimulation also failed to enhance 'liking' reactions elicited by sucrose taste and did not simply increase the general motivation to eat. This pattern suggests that CeA photo-excitation specifically enhances and narrows incentive motivation to pursue an associated external reward at the expense of another comparable reward. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3416567-14$15.00/0.

  14. Kovasznay modes in the linear stability analysis of self-similar ablation flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lombard, V.

    2008-12-01

    Exact self-similar solutions of gas dynamics equations with nonlinear heat conduction for semi-infinite slabs of perfect gases are used for studying the stability of ablative flows in inertial confinement fusion, when a shock wave propagates in front of a thermal front. Both the similarity solutions and their linear perturbations are numerically computed with a dynamical multi-domain Chebyshev pseudo-spectral method. Laser-imprint results, showing that maximum amplification occurs for a laser-intensity modulation of zero transverse wavenumber have thus been obtained (Abeguile et al. (2006); Clarisse et al. (2008)). Here we pursue this approach by proceeding for the first time to an analysis of perturbations in terms of Kovasznay modes. Based on the analysis of two compressible and incompressible flows, evolution equations of vorticity, acoustic and entropy modes are proposed for each flow region and mode couplings are assessed. For short times, perturbations are transferred from the external surface to the ablation front by diffusion and propagate as acoustic waves up to the shock wave. For long times, the shock region is governed by the free propagation of acoustic waves. A study of perturbations and associated sources allows us to identify strong mode couplings in the conduction and ablation regions. Moreover, the maximum instability depends on compressibility. Finally, a comparison with experiments of flows subjected to initial surface defects is initiated. (author)

  15. Modeling the angular motion dynamics of spacecraft with a magnetic attitude control system based on experimental studies and dynamic similarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulkov, V. M.; Medvedskii, A. L.; Terentyev, V. V.; Firsyuk, S. O.; Shemyakov, A. O.

    2017-12-01

    The problem of spacecraft attitude control using electromagnetic systems interacting with the Earth's magnetic field is considered. A set of dimensionless parameters has been formed to investigate the spacecraft orientation regimes based on dynamically similar models. The results of experimental studies of small spacecraft with a magnetic attitude control system can be extrapolated to the in-orbit spacecraft motion control regimes by using the methods of the dimensional and similarity theory.

  16. Bio-SimVerb and Bio-SimLex: wide-coverage evaluation sets of word similarity in biomedicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Billy; Pyysalo, Sampo; Vulić, Ivan; Korhonen, Anna

    2018-02-05

    Word representations support a variety of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. The quality of these representations is typically assessed by comparing the distances in the induced vector spaces against human similarity judgements. Whereas comprehensive evaluation resources have recently been developed for the general domain, similar resources for biomedicine currently suffer from the lack of coverage, both in terms of word types included and with respect to the semantic distinctions. Notably, verbs have been excluded, although they are essential for the interpretation of biomedical language. Further, current resources do not discern between semantic similarity and semantic relatedness, although this has been proven as an important predictor of the usefulness of word representations and their performance in downstream applications. We present two novel comprehensive resources targeting the evaluation of word representations in biomedicine. These resources, Bio-SimVerb and Bio-SimLex, address the previously mentioned problems, and can be used for evaluations of verb and noun representations respectively. In our experiments, we have computed the Pearson's correlation between performances on intrinsic and extrinsic tasks using twelve popular state-of-the-art representation models (e.g. word2vec models). The intrinsic-extrinsic correlations using our datasets are notably higher than with previous intrinsic evaluation benchmarks such as UMNSRS and MayoSRS. In addition, when evaluating representation models for their abilities to capture verb and noun semantics individually, we show a considerable variation between performances across all models. Bio-SimVerb and Bio-SimLex enable intrinsic evaluation of word representations. This evaluation can serve as a predictor of performance on various downstream tasks in the biomedical domain. The results on Bio-SimVerb and Bio-SimLex using standard word representation models highlight the importance of developing dedicated

  17. Glove boxes and similar containments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1975-01-01

    According to the present invention a glove box or similar containment is provided with an exhaust system including a vortex amplifier venting into the system, the vortex amplifier also having its main inlet in fluid flow connection with the containment and a control inlet in fluid flow connection with the atmosphere outside the containment. (U.S.)

  18. Internet-based wide area measurement applications in deregulated power systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khatib, Abdel-Rahman Amin

    Since the deregulation of power systems was started in 1989 in the UK, many countries have been motivated to undergo deregulation. The United State started deregulation in the energy sector in California back in 1996. Since that time many other states have also started the deregulation procedures in different utilities. Most of the deregulation market in the United States now is in the wholesale market area, however, the retail market is still undergoing changes. Deregulation has many impacts on power system network operation and control. The number of power transactions among the utilities has increased and many Independent Power Producers (IPPs) now have a rich market for competition especially in the green power market. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) called upon utilities to develop the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO). The RTO is a step toward the national transmission grid. RTO is an independent entity that will operate the transmission system in a large region. The main goal of forming RTOs is to increase the operation efficiency of the power network under the impact of the deregulated market. The objective of this work is to study Internet based Wide Area Information Sharing (WAIS) applications in the deregulated power system. The study is the first step toward building a national transmission grid picture using information sharing among utilities. Two main topics are covered as applications for the WAIS in the deregulated power system, state estimation and Total Transfer Capability (TTC) calculations. As a first step for building this national transmission grid picture, WAIS and the level of information sharing of the state estimation calculations have been discussed. WAIS impacts to the TTC calculations are also covered. A new technique to update the TTC using on line measurements based on WAIS created by sharing state estimation is presented.

  19. Implementing system-wide risk stratification approaches: A review of critical success and failure factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huckel Schneider, Carmen; Gillespie, James A; Wilson, Andrew

    2017-05-01

    Risk stratification has become a widely used tool for linking people identified at risk of health deterioration to the most appropriate evidence-based care. This article systematically reviews recent literature to determine key factors that have been identified as critical enablers and/or barriers to successful implementation of risk stratification tools at a system level. A systematic search found 23 articles and four promising protocols for inclusion in the review, covering the use to 20 different risk stratification tools. These articles reported on only a small fraction of the risk stratification tools used in health systems; suggesting that while the development and statistical validation of risk stratification algorithms is widely reported, there has been little published evaluation of how they are implemented in real-world settings. Controlled studies provided some evidence that the use of risk stratification tools in combination with a care management plan offer patient benefits and that the use of a risk stratification tool to determine components of a care management plan may contribute to reductions in hospital readmissions, patient satisfaction and improved patient outcomes. Studies with the strongest focus on implementation used qualitative and case study methods. Among these, the literature converged on four key areas of implementation that were found to be critical for overcoming barriers to success: the engagement of clinicians and safeguarding equity, both of which address barriers of acceptance; the health system context to address administrative, political and system design barriers; and data management and integration to address logistical barriers.

  20. Wide-band gap devices in PV systems - opportunities and challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sintamarean, Nicolae Cristian; Eni, Emanuel-Petre; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2014-01-01

    have an important role in the cost reduction. To increase the efficiency of PV systems, most of solutions for PV inverters have moved to three-level (3L) structures reaching typical efficiencies of 98% due to low switching losses of 600V Si IGBT or MOSFET and reduced core losses in the filter......The recent developments in wide band-gap devices based GaN and SiC is showing a high impact on the PV-inverter technology, which is strongly influenced by efficiency, power density and cost. Besides the high efficiency of PV inverters, also the mechanical size, the compactness and simple structure......) three-phase PV-inverter topologies in terms of efficiency, thermal loading distribution and costs. Moreover the above mentioned PV-inverters are built and tested in laboratory in order to validate the obtained results....

  1. Transformational change in health care systems: an organizational model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukas, Carol VanDeusen; Holmes, Sally K; Cohen, Alan B; Restuccia, Joseph; Cramer, Irene E; Shwartz, Michael; Charns, Martin P

    2007-01-01

    The Institute of Medicine's 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm argued for fundamental redesign of the U.S. health care system. Six years later, many health care organizations have embraced the report's goals, but few have succeeded in making the substantial transformations needed to achieve those aims. This article offers a model for moving organizations from short-term, isolated performance improvements to sustained, reliable, organization-wide, and evidence-based improvements in patient care. Longitudinal comparative case studies were conducted in 12 health care systems using a mixed-methods evaluation design based on semistructured interviews and document review. Participating health care systems included seven systems funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pursuing Perfection Program and five systems with long-standing commitments to improvement and high-quality care. Five interactive elements appear critical to successful transformation of patient care: (1) Impetus to transform; (2) Leadership commitment to quality; (3) Improvement initiatives that actively engage staff in meaningful problem solving; (4) Alignment to achieve consistency of organization goals with resource allocation and actions at all levels of the organization; and (5) Integration to bridge traditional intra-organizational boundaries among individual components. These elements drive change by affecting the components of the complex health care organization in which they operate: (1) Mission, vision, and strategies that set its direction and priorities; (2) Culture that reflects its informal values and norms; (3) Operational functions and processes that embody the work done in patient care; and (4) Infrastructure such as information technology and human resources that support the delivery of patient care. Transformation occurs over time with iterative changes being sustained and spread across the organization. The conceptual model holds promise for guiding health care

  2. Developing educational leaders: A partnership between two universities to bring about system-wide change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suraiya R Naicker

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated a system-wide change strategy in a South African school district, which sought to build the leadership capacity of principals and district officials to improve instruction. The three-year venture was called the Leadership for Learning Programme (LLP. A distinctive feature of the LLP was that it was based on a partnership between two universities, a local one with understanding of the local context of schools, and an international institution, which brought international expertise, experience and repute/branding. Both universities had a shared vision to contribute to the ailing South African school landscape by using leadership development to leverage change. The LLP was implemented in a single school district, where the overall learner performance was unsatisfactory. A qualitative approach was used to research this change intervention. One of the main findings was that collaboration between principals collectively and district officials, as well as among principals, was lacking. It is recommended that collaborative structures such as professional learning communities, networks and teams are established to reduce isolation and fragmented work practices in the school district. This may speed up system-wide change towards improved learner performance.

  3. A Novel Approach to Semantic Similarity Measurement Based on a Weighted Concept Lattice: Exemplifying Geo-Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jia Xiao

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The measurement of semantic similarity has been widely recognized as having a fundamental and key role in information science and information systems. Although various models have been proposed to measure semantic similarity, these models are not able effectively to quantify the weights of relevant factors that impact on the judgement of semantic similarity, such as the attributes of concepts, application context, and concept hierarchy. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that comprehensively considers the effects of various factors on semantic similarity judgment, which we name semantic similarity measurement based on a weighted concept lattice (SSMWCL. A feature model and network model are integrated together in SSMWCL. Based on the feature model, the combined weight of each attribute of the concepts is calculated by merging its information entropy and inclusion-degree importance in a specific application context. By establishing the weighted concept lattice, the relative hierarchical depths of concepts for comparison are computed according to the principle of the network model. The integration of feature model and network model enables SSMWCL to take account of differences in concepts more comprehensively in semantic similarity measurement. Additionally, a workflow of SSMWCL is designed to demonstrate these procedures and a case study of geo-information is conducted to assess the approach.

  4. Thermal proximity coaggregation for system-wide profiling of protein complex dynamics in cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Chris Soon Heng; Go, Ka Diam; Bisteau, Xavier; Dai, Lingyun; Yong, Chern Han; Prabhu, Nayana; Ozturk, Mert Burak; Lim, Yan Ting; Sreekumar, Lekshmy; Lengqvist, Johan; Tergaonkar, Vinay; Kaldis, Philipp; Sobota, Radoslaw M; Nordlund, Pär

    2018-03-09

    Proteins differentially interact with each other across cellular states and conditions, but an efficient proteome-wide strategy to monitor them is lacking. We report the application of thermal proximity coaggregation (TPCA) for high-throughput intracellular monitoring of protein complex dynamics. Significant TPCA signatures observed among well-validated protein-protein interactions correlate positively with interaction stoichiometry and are statistically observable in more than 350 annotated human protein complexes. Using TPCA, we identified many complexes without detectable differential protein expression, including chromatin-associated complexes, modulated in S phase of the cell cycle. Comparison of six cell lines by TPCA revealed cell-specific interactions even in fundamental cellular processes. TPCA constitutes an approach for system-wide studies of protein complexes in nonengineered cells and tissues and might be used to identify protein complexes that are modulated in diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  5. Between the Sheets: a Library-wide Inventory with Google

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig Boman

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available When it comes to taking an inventory of physical items, libraries often rely on their traditional integrated library system’s (ILS à la carte add ons; outside vendors; or other possibly outdated, complex, and often expensive methods. For libraries with shrinking budgets and other limited resources, high costs can put these methods out of reach. At the University of Dayton Libraries, we set out to develop an inexpensive and reasonably easy-to-use method for conducting a library-wide physical item inventory. In this article, we explain a custom built Google Sheets-based library inventory system, along with some code for the implementation of a RESTful API (written in PHP that interacts with our ILS. We will also explain our use of Google Apps scripts in our Google Sheet, which are crucial to our systems. Although this method used a specific ILS (Innovative Interfaces' Sierra product and custom-built RESTful APIs, it may be possible to use similar approaches with other ILS software. Additional notes include areas for improvement and recommendations for interoperability with other ILS systems.

  6. Water quality, meteorological, and nutrient data collected by the the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP), 1994 - 2005 (NODC Accession 0019215)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP) collected water quality, meteorological, and nutrient data in 25...

  7. An Autonomous Data Reduction Pipeline for Wide Angle EO Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Privett, G.; George, S.; Feline, W.; Ash, A.; Routledge, G.

    The UK’s National Space and Security Policy states that the identification of potential on-orbit collisions and re-entry warning over the UK is of high importance, and is driving requirements for indigenous Space Situational Awareness (SSA) systems. To meet these requirements options are being examined, including the creation of a distributed network of simple, low cost commercial–off-the-shelf electro-optical sensors to support survey work and catalogue maintenance. This paper outlines work at Dstl examining whether data obtained using readily-deployable equipment could significantly enhance UK SSA capability and support cross-cueing between multiple deployed systems. To effectively exploit data from this distributed sensor architecture, a data handling system is required to autonomously detect satellite trails in a manner that pragmatically handles highly variable target intensities, periodicity and rates of apparent motion. The processing and collection strategies must be tailored to specific mission sets to ensure effective detections of platforms as diverse as stable geostationary satellites and low altitude CubeSats. Data captured during the Automated Transfer Vehicle-5 (ATV-5) de-orbit trial and images captured of a rocket body break up and a deployed deorbit sail have been employed to inform the development of a prototype processing pipeline for autonomous on-site processing. The approach taken employs tools such as Astrometry.Net and DAOPHOT from the astronomical community, together with image processing and orbit determination software developed inhouse by Dstl. Interim results from the automated analysis of data collected from wide angle sensors are described, together with the current perceived limitations of the proposed system and our plans for future development.

  8. Effect of Different Flours on the Formation of Hydroxymethylfurfural, Furfural, and Dicarbonyl Compounds in Heated Glucose/Flour Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Mesías

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Traditional cereal-based foods usually include wheat flour in their formulations; however, the search for new products with new ingredients providing different properties to foods is widely pursued by food companies. Replacement of wheat by other flours can modify both nutritional properties and organoleptic characteristics of the final baked food, but can also impact the formation of potentially harmful compounds. The effect of the type of flour on the formation of furfurals and dicarbonyl compounds was studied in a dough model system during baking that contains water or glucose in order to promote the Maillard reaction and caramelization. The formation of methylglyoxal and glyoxal was significantly reduced in spelt and teff formulations compared to wheat flour formulations, respectively. In contrast, samples formulated with oat, teff, and rye showed a significant increase in the levels of 3-deoxyglucosone. Similarly, spelt and teff formulations presented significantly higher concentrations of hydroxymethylfurfural, and spelt, teff, and rye presented higher concentrations of furfural. Therefore, the formation of process contaminants and undesirable compounds in new food products formulated with different flours replacing the traditional wheat flour should be considered carefully in terms of food safety.

  9. Effect of Different Flours on the Formation of Hydroxymethylfurfural, Furfural, and Dicarbonyl Compounds in Heated Glucose/Flour Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesías, Marta; Morales, Francisco J

    2017-02-16

    Traditional cereal-based foods usually include wheat flour in their formulations; however, the search for new products with new ingredients providing different properties to foods is widely pursued by food companies. Replacement of wheat by other flours can modify both nutritional properties and organoleptic characteristics of the final baked food, but can also impact the formation of potentially harmful compounds. The effect of the type of flour on the formation of furfurals and dicarbonyl compounds was studied in a dough model system during baking that contains water or glucose in order to promote the Maillard reaction and caramelization. The formation of methylglyoxal and glyoxal was significantly reduced in spelt and teff formulations compared to wheat flour formulations, respectively. In contrast, samples formulated with oat, teff, and rye showed a significant increase in the levels of 3-deoxyglucosone. Similarly, spelt and teff formulations presented significantly higher concentrations of hydroxymethylfurfural, and spelt, teff, and rye presented higher concentrations of furfural. Therefore, the formation of process contaminants and undesirable compounds in new food products formulated with different flours replacing the traditional wheat flour should be considered carefully in terms of food safety.

  10. Power System Event Ranking Using a New Linear Parameter-Varying Modeling with a Wide Area Measurement System-Based Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Bagher Abolhasani Jabali

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Detecting critical power system events for Dynamic Security Assessment (DSA is required for reliability improvement. The approach proposed in this paper investigates the effects of events on dynamic behavior during nonlinear system response while common approaches use steady-state conditions after events. This paper presents some new and enhanced indices for event ranking based on time-domain simulation and polytopic linear parameter-varying (LPV modeling of a power system. In the proposed approach, a polytopic LPV representation is generated via linearization about some points of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of power system using wide-area measurement system (WAMS concepts and then event ranking is done based on the frequency response of the system models on the vertices. Therefore, the nonlinear behaviors of the system in the time of fault occurrence are considered for events ranking. The proposed algorithm is applied to a power system using nonlinear simulation. The comparison of the results especially in different fault conditions shows the advantages of the proposed approach and indices.

  11. Optical system design with wide field of view and high resolution based on monocentric multi-scale construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fang; Wang, Hu; Xiao, Nan; Shen, Yang; Xue, Yaoke

    2018-03-01

    With the development of related technology gradually mature in the field of optoelectronic information, it is a great demand to design an optical system with high resolution and wide field of view(FOV). However, as it is illustrated in conventional Applied Optics, there is a contradiction between these two characteristics. Namely, the FOV and imaging resolution are limited by each other. Here, based on the study of typical wide-FOV optical system design, we propose the monocentric multi-scale system design method to solve this problem. Consisting of a concentric spherical lens and a series of micro-lens array, this system has effective improvement on its imaging quality. As an example, we designed a typical imaging system, which has a focal length of 35mm and a instantaneous field angle of 14.7", as well as the FOV set to be 120°. By analyzing the imaging quality, we demonstrate that in different FOV, all the values of MTF at 200lp/mm are higher than 0.4 when the sampling frequency of the Nyquist is 200lp/mm, which shows a good accordance with our design.

  12. Gulf-Wide Information System, Environmental Sensitivity Index Database, Geographic NAD83, LDWF (2001) [esi_index_LDWF_2001

    Data.gov (United States)

    Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This data set contains polygons representing the boundaries of the USGS 1:100,000 topographic maps in the study area of the Louisiana Gulf-Wide Information System...

  13. Reading is fundamentally similar across disparate writing systems: A systematic characterization of how words and characters influence eye movements in Chinese reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xingshan; Bicknell, Klinton; Liu, Pingping; Wei, Wei; Rayner, Keith

    2013-01-01

    While much previous work on reading in languages with alphabetic scripts has suggested that reading is word-based, reading in Chinese has been argued to be less reliant on words. This is primarily because in the Chinese writing system words are not spatially segmented, and characters are themselves complex visual objects. Here, we present a systematic characterization of the effects of a wide range of word and character properties on eye movements in Chinese reading, using a set of mixed-effects regression models. The results reveal a rich pattern of effects of the properties of the current, previous, and next words on a range of reading measures, which is strikingly similar to the pattern of effects of word properties reported in spaced alphabetic languages. This finding provides evidence that reading shares a word-based core and may be fundamentally similar across languages with highly dissimilar scripts. We show that these findings are robust to the inclusion of character properties in the regression models, and are equally reliable when dependent measures are defined in terms of characters rather than words, providing strong evidence that word properties have effects in Chinese reading above and beyond characters. This systematic characterization of the effects of word and character properties in Chinese advances our knowledge of the processes underlying reading and informs the future development of models of reading. More generally, however, this work suggests that differences in script may not alter the fundamental nature of reading. PMID:23834023

  14. Status Report on Structural Materials for Advanced Nuclear Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, T.R.; Balbaud-Celerier, F.; Asayama, T.; Pouchon, M.; Busby, J.T.; Maloy, S.; Park, J.Y.; Fazio, C.; Dai, Y.; Agostini, P.; Chevalier, J.P.; Marrow, J.

    2013-01-01

    Materials performance is critical to the safe and economic operation of any nuclear system. As the international community pursues the development of Generation IV reactor concepts and accelerator-driven transmutation systems, it will be increasingly necessary to develop advanced materials capable of tolerating the more challenging environments of these new systems. The international community supports numerous materials research programmes, with each country determining its individual focus on a case-by-case basis. In many instances, similar alloys of materials systems are being studied in several countries, providing the opportunity for collaborative and cross-cutting research that benefits different systems. This report is a snapshot of the current materials programmes supporting the development of advanced concepts. The descriptions of the research are grouped by concept, and national programmes are described within each concept. The report provides an overall sense of the importance of materials research worldwide and the opportunities for synergy among the countries represented in this overview. (authors)

  15. Evaporation monitoring and composition control of alloy systems with widely differing vapor pressures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anklam, T.M.; Berzins, L.V.; Braun, D.G.; Haynam, C.; McClelland, M.A.; Meier, T.

    1994-10-01

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is developing sensors and controls to improve and extend electron beam materials processing technology to alloy systems with constituents of widely varying vapor pressure. The approach under development involves using tunable lasers to measure the density and composition of the vapor plume. A laser based vaporizer control system for vaporization of a uranium-iron alloy has been previously demonstrated in multi-hundred hour, high rate vaporization experiments at LLNL. This paper reviews the design and performance of the uranium vaporization sensor and control system and discusses the extension of the technology to monitoring of uranium vaporization. Data is presented from an experiment in which titanium wire was fed into a molten niobium pool. Laser data is compared to deposited film composition and film cross sections. Finally, the potential for using this technique for composition control in melting applications is discussed

  16. Increasing the motivation of high school students to pursue engineering careers through an application-oriented active learning boot-camp

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kjeld; Dyrmann, Mads; Midtiby, Henrik Skov

    2017-01-01

    The main objective of this work is to increase the motivation of high school students to pursue a career in engineering. This is achieved through a 3-day university boot camp with a high focus on applying theoretical knowledge to real world problems, technology development and working in teams....... The learning outcomes are therefore both related to academic/technical topics and to career decisions....

  17. Similarity measures for face recognition

    CERN Document Server

    Vezzetti, Enrico

    2015-01-01

    Face recognition has several applications, including security, such as (authentication and identification of device users and criminal suspects), and in medicine (corrective surgery and diagnosis). Facial recognition programs rely on algorithms that can compare and compute the similarity between two sets of images. This eBook explains some of the similarity measures used in facial recognition systems in a single volume. Readers will learn about various measures including Minkowski distances, Mahalanobis distances, Hansdorff distances, cosine-based distances, among other methods. The book also summarizes errors that may occur in face recognition methods. Computer scientists "facing face" and looking to select and test different methods of computing similarities will benefit from this book. The book is also useful tool for students undertaking computer vision courses.

  18. Visual Analysis of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: Chaos, Fractals, Self-Similarity and the Limits of Prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoff Boeing

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Nearly all nontrivial real-world systems are nonlinear dynamical systems. Chaos describes certain nonlinear dynamical systems that have a very sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Chaotic systems are always deterministic and may be very simple, yet they produce completely unpredictable and divergent behavior. Systems of nonlinear equations are difficult to solve analytically, and scientists have relied heavily on visual and qualitative approaches to discover and analyze the dynamics of nonlinearity. Indeed, few fields have drawn as heavily from visualization methods for their seminal innovations: from strange attractors, to bifurcation diagrams, to cobweb plots, to phase diagrams and embedding. Although the social sciences are increasingly studying these types of systems, seminal concepts remain murky or loosely adopted. This article has three aims. First, it argues for several visualization methods to critically analyze and understand the behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems. Second, it uses these visualizations to introduce the foundations of nonlinear dynamics, chaos, fractals, self-similarity and the limits of prediction. Finally, it presents Pynamical, an open-source Python package to easily visualize and explore nonlinear dynamical systems’ behavior.

  19. A New Similarity Measure of Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets Considering Its Hesitancy Degree and Applications in Expert Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chong Wu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available As an important content in fuzzy mathematics, similarity measure is used to measure the similarity degree between two fuzzy sets. Considering the existing similarity measures, most of them do not consider the hesitancy degree and some methods considering the hesitancy degree are based on the intuitionistic fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy values. It may cause some counterintuitive results in some cases. In order to make up for the drawback, we present a new approach to construct the similarity measure between two interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets using the entropy measure and considering the hesitancy degree. In particular, the proposed measure was demonstrated to yield a similarity measure. Besides, some examples are given to prove the practicality and effectiveness of the new measure. We also apply the similarity measure to expert system to solve the problems on pattern recognition and the multicriteria group decision making. In these examples, we also compare it with existing methods such as other similarity measures and the ideal point method.

  20. Pest management strategies: Area-wide and conventional

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindquist, D.A.

    2000-01-01

    Conventional Insect Control The usual approach to insect control is to treat the commodity only after a damaging population of insects has developed. In other words, the producer, home owner or casual gardener fights a defensive battle. He reacts to an insect attack. When he sees the enemy or the damage caused by the enemy, he loads up his sprayer with an insecticide and mounts a counter attack. Most insect control procedures are applied by an individual producer on his own relatively small production area. This conventional insect control approach encourages the producer to make his own decisions about whether or not any insect control is to be used, which insect control method or product to use, when to use it, how to use it, who applies it, etc. Advice to producers on insect control is usually available from government extension personnel, private insect control consultants or representatives of companies that sell insecticides or other insect control materials or methods. The conventional procedure results in great variability in the efficacy of insect control because each producer makes his own decisions. The objective of conventional insect control is to protect the commodity. This is usually accomplished by treating the commodity, be it cows or corn or rice in a warehouse. Conventional insect control requires virtually no planning to achieve results. The 'programme' is short-term, frequently measured in days until the next insecticide application is needed. It is reactive (defensive). Area-wide Insect Control Area-wide insect control is applied against an important insect pest over a relatively large area involving many individual producers of the same or similar crops. The 'area' is a combination of geography and the range of hosts of the target insect pest. The term 'area' in 'area-wide' refers to the area where the target insect population survives. The area is not limited to production of the major crop(s) to be protected. It is very likely that a large

  1. Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

    2018-06-01

    The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

  2. Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

    2018-03-01

    The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

  3. Privacy Preserving Similarity Based Text Retrieval through Blind Storage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pinki Kumari

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Cloud computing is improving rapidly due to their more advantage and more data owners give interest to outsource their data into cloud storage for centralize their data. As huge files stored in the cloud storage, there is need to implement the keyword based search process to data user. At the same time to protect the privacy of data, encryption techniques are used for sensitive data, that encryption is done before outsourcing data to cloud server. But it is critical to search results in encryption data. In this system we propose similarity text retrieval from the blind storage blocks with encryption format. This system provides more security because of blind storage system. In blind storage system data is stored randomly on cloud storage.  In Existing Data Owner cannot encrypt the document data as it was done only at server end. Everyone can access the data as there was no private key concept applied to maintained privacy of the data. But In our proposed system, Data Owner can encrypt the data himself using RSA algorithm.  RSA is a public key-cryptosystem and it is widely used for sensitive data storage over Internet. In our system we use Text mining process for identifying the index files of user documents. Before encryption we also use NLP (Nature Language Processing technique to identify the keyword synonyms of data owner document. Here text mining process examines text word by word and collect literal meaning beyond the words group that composes the sentence. Those words are examined in API of word net so that only equivalent words can be identified for index file use. Our proposed system provides more secure and authorized way of recover the text in cloud storage with access control. Finally, our experimental result shows that our system is better than existing.

  4. Air Traffic Management and Space Transportation - System Wide Information Management and the Integration in European Airspace

    OpenAIRE

    Kaltenhäuser, Sven; Morlang, Frank; Hampe, Jens; Jakobi, Jörn; Schmitt, Dirk-Roger

    2015-01-01

    Space Travel becomes an international business and requires landing opportunities all over the world. The integration of space vehicles in airspace therefore is an increasingly important topic to be considered on an international scale. With the Single European Sky ATM Research Programme (SESAR) preparing the implementation of a new ATM system in Europe, requirements have been defined for Shared and Reference Business Trajectories as well as System Wide Information Management (SWIM). The s...

  5. A view from inside Arizona and New Mexico Indian country: pursuing a health career path.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overman, Barbara A; Petri, Linda; Knoki-Wilson, Ursula

    2007-01-01

    The stories of individuals working within the health system in Arizona and New Mexico Indian Country were examined to discover interests and needs related to their health career goals and advancement. The aims were: to identify what would be helpful to support educational and career progress; and to determine the barriers to advancement. Community action research methodology was used. A semi-structured interview schedule administered by two of the investigators made up the qualitative interview portion of a two-part survey research design. This qualitative portion of the larger study is reported. Interviewees were chosen from health workers in Arizona and New Mexico Indian country who returned workplace-distributed questionnaires that indicated they were interested in career advancement. The interviewees were selected to be representative of the occupational background, work site, age, and cultural identity of those who returned the questionnaire. Investigators took notes by hand independently during interviews and reviewed both sets of notes simultaneously; the agreed on responses were entered as text data within 2 hours of the interviews. QRS Nudist software (QRS Software; Melbourne, VIC, Australia) was used to sort interview responses to each question in a successive fashion using a constant comparative method to identify key themes within and across questions. Twenty-five personal interviews were conducted in community locations convenient to the interviewee between February and April 2003. The duration of the interviews was 30 min and 60 min. Eighty percent of interviewees were American Indian and 80% percent were women. Themes within interviewees' stories regarding barriers to advancement included: 'making ends meet', dealing with the educational system, uncertainty and inflexibility in the current work setting, and not wanting to disadvantage children by their career decision. Themes related to what participants said they needed included 'making sure the

  6. The Study on the Communication Network of Wide Area Measurement System in Electricity Grid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiaorong, Cheng; Ying, Wang; Yangdan, Ni

    Wide area measurement system(WAMS) is a fundamental part of security defense in Smart Grid, and the communication system of WAMS is an important part of Electric power communication network. For a large regional network is concerned, the real-time data which is transferred in the communication network of WAMS will affect the safe operation of the power grid directly. Therefore, WAMS raised higher requirements for real-time, reliability and security to its communication network. In this paper, the architecture of WASM communication network was studied according to the seven layers model of the open systems interconnection(OSI), and the network architecture was researched from all levels. We explored the media of WAMS communication network, the network communication protocol and network technology. Finally, the delay of the network were analyzed.

  7. Wide-Scale Adoption of Photovoltaic Energy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yongheng; Enjeti, Prasad; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2015-01-01

    Current grid standards largely require that low-power (e.g., several kilowatts) single-phase photovoltaic (PV) systems operate at unity power factor (PF) with maximum power point tracking (MPPT), and disconnect from the grid under grid faults by means of islanding detection. However, in the case...... of wide-scale penetration of single-phase PV systems in the distributed grid, disconnection under grid faults can contribute to 1) voltage flickers, 2) power outages, and 3) system instability. This article explores grid code modifications for a wide-scale adoption of PV systems in the distribution grid....... In addition, based on the fact that Italy and Japan have recently undertaken a major review of standards for PV power conversion systems connected to low-voltage networks, the importance of low voltage ride-through (LVRT) for single-phase PV power systems under grid faults is considered, along with three...

  8. Comparison of adaptive critic-based and classical wide-area controllers for power systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Swakshar; Venayagamoorthy, Ganesh Kumar; Chaudhuri, Balarko; Majumder, Rajat

    2008-08-01

    An adaptive critic design (ACD)-based damping controller is developed for a thyristor-controlled series capacitor (TCSC) installed in a power system with multiple poorly damped interarea modes. The performance of this ACD computational intelligence-based method is compared with two classical techniques, which are observer-based state-feedback (SF) control and linear matrix inequality LMI-H(infinity) robust control. Remote measurements are used as feedback signals to the wide-area damping controller for modulating the compensation of the TCSC. The classical methods use a linearized model of the system whereas the ACD method is purely measurement-based, leading to a nonlinear controller with fixed parameters. A comparative analysis of the controllers' performances is carried out under different disturbance scenarios. The ACD-based design has shown promising performance with very little knowledge of the system compared to classical model-based controllers. This paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of ACDs, SF, and LMI-H(infinity).

  9. Even the Best Laid Plans Sometimes Go Askew: Career Self-Management Processes, Career Shocks, and the Decision to Pursue Graduate Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seibert, Scott E.; Kraimer, Maria L.; Holtom, Brooks C.; Pierotti, Abigail J.

    2013-01-01

    Drawing on career self-management frameworks as well as image theory and the unfolding model of turnover, we developed a model predicting early career employees' decisions to pursue graduate education. Using a sample of 337 alumni from 2 universities, we found that early career individuals with intrinsic career goals, who engaged in career…

  10. Planning factors for developing an enterprise-wide picture archiving and communication system maintenance program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staley, S; Romlein, J; Chacko, A K; Wider, R

    2000-05-01

    Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) maintenance on an individual site basis has historically been a complex and costly challenge. With the advent of enterprise-wide PACS projects such as the Virtual Radiology Environment (VRE) project, the challenge of a maintenance program with even more complexities has presented itself. The approach of the project management team for the VRE project is not one of reactive maintenance, but one of highly proactive planning and negotiations, in hopes of capitalizing on the economies of scale of an enterprise-wide PACS maintenance program. A proactive maintenance program is one aspect of life-cycle management. As with any capital acquisition, life-cycle management may be used to manage the specific project aspects related to PACS. The purpose of an enterprise-wide warranty and maintenance life-cycle management approach is to maintain PACS at its maximum operational efficiency and utilization levels through a flexible, shared, yet symbiotic relationship between local, regional, and vendor resources. These goals include providing maximum operational performance levels on a local, regional, and enterprise basis, while maintaining acceptable costs and resource utilization levels. This goal must be achieved without negatively impacting point of care activities, regardless of changes to the clinical business environment.

  11. A Computer Simulation of the System-Wide Effects of Parallel-Offset Route Maneuvers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauderdale, Todd A.; Santiago, Confesor; Pankok, Carl

    2010-01-01

    Most aircraft managed by air-traffic controllers in the National Airspace System are capable of flying parallel-offset routes. This paper presents the results of two related studies on the effects of increased use of offset routes as a conflict resolution maneuver. The first study analyzes offset routes in the context of all standard resolution types which air-traffic controllers currently use. This study shows that by utilizing parallel-offset route maneuvers, significant system-wide savings in delay due to conflict resolution of up to 30% are possible. It also shows that most offset resolutions replace horizontal-vectoring resolutions. The second study builds on the results of the first and directly compares offset resolutions and standard horizontal-vectoring maneuvers to determine that in-trail conflicts are often more efficiently resolved by offset maneuvers.

  12. Development of wide area reaction system for Reel-to-Reel TFA-MOD process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nomoto, Sukeharu; Aoki, Yuji; Teranishi, Ryo; Sato, Akihiro; Izumi, Teruo; Shiohara, Yuh

    2006-01-01

    The previously developed numerical simulation method for the TFA-MOD process, which calculated the YBCO growth kinetics, gas element diffusion and gas flow, was applied to study the suitable gas flow mode for a multi-turning Reel-to-Reel tape conveyance system of a long YBCO coated conductors. The high YBCO production rate with uniform J c distribution among tape lines is desired in the system. It was found by the numerical simulation for the vertical gas flow onto the tape surface to realize the above demands even in a wider reaction area. We developed a new wide area reaction tube for the Reel-to-Reel TFA-MOD process according to the numerically designed gas flow configuration. The demand for the new tube was confirmed to be satisfied by experiments

  13. Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S) Beyond the PhD Professional Development Program: A Pilot Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, A.; Jearld, A.; Williamson Whitney, V.; Huggans, M.; Ricciardi, L.; Thomas, S. H.; Jansma, P. E.

    2012-12-01

    In 2011 the Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S)® initiative launched its newest activity entitled the MS PHD'S "Beyond the PhD (B-PhD) Professional Development Program." This exciting new program was designed to facilitate the development of a new community of underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral candidates and recent doctorate degree recipients in Earth system science (ESS)-related fields. The MS PHD'S B-PhD provides customized support and advocacy for MS PHD'S B-PhD participants in order to facilitate smoother and informed transitions from graduate school, to postdoctoral and tenure-track positions, as well as other "first" jobs in government, industry, and non-profit organizations. In November 2011 the first cohort of MS PHD'S B-PhD participants engaged in intensive sessions on the following topics: "Toolkits for Success for Academia, Business/Industry, Federal Government and Non-Profits", "Defining Short, Mid and Long Term Career Goals", "Accessing and Refining Skill Sets and Other Door Openers", "International Preparation and Opportunities", "Paying it Forward/Lifting as You Climb", and "Customized Strategies for Next Steps". This pilot event, which was hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington's (UTA) College of Science, also provided opportunities for participants to serve as guest lecturers in the UTA's Colleges of Science and Engineering and included one-on-one discussions with MS PHD'S B-PhD mentors and guest speakers who are well established within their individual ESS fields. Insights regarding opportunities, challenges and obstacles commonly faced by URMs within the ESS fields, as well as strategies for success were shared by MS PHD'S B-PhD mentors and guest speakers. Survey results indicate that MS PHD'S B-PhD participants appreciated not only the material covered during this pilot activity, but also appreciated the opportunity to become part of a community of young URM ESS

  14. Gulf-Wide Information System, Environmental Sensitivity Index Hydrography Database, Geographic NAD83, LDWF (2001) [esi_hydro_LDWF_2001

    Data.gov (United States)

    Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This data set contains arcs and polygons representing hydrography for coastal Louisiana. This data set comprises a portion of the Gulf-Wide Information System...

  15. Cumulative risk and developmental health: an argument for the importance of a family-wide science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browne, Dillon T; Plamondon, Andre; Prime, Heather; Puente-Duran, Sofia; Wade, Mark

    2015-01-01

    A substantial body of research links social disadvantage and developmental health via a cascade running from poverty, to cumulative psychosocial risk, to disrupted family dynamics, to child biological regulatory systems and neurocognitive processing, and finally to morbidity across the lifespan. Most research in this area employs single-dyad or between-family methodology. While informative, there are limitations to this approach. Specifically, it is impossible to determine how risk alters psychosocial environments that are similar for all persons within a household, versus processes that are unique to particular children. This is important in light of literature citing the primacy of child-specific environments in driving developmental health. Methodologically speaking, there are both benefits and challenges to family-wide approaches that differentiate between- and within-family environments. This review describes literature linking cumulative risk and developmental health via family process, while articulating the importance of family-wide approaches. Areas of shortcoming and recommendations for a family-wide science are provided. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Development of high-speed and wide-angle visible observation diagnostics on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak using catadioptric optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, J. H.; Hu, L. Q.; Zang, Q.; Han, X. F.; Shao, C. Q.; Sun, T. F.; Chen, H.; Wang, T. F.; Li, F. J.; Hu, A. L.; Yang, X. F.

    2013-01-01

    A new wide-angle endoscope for visible light observation on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has been recently developed. The head section of the optical system is based on a mirror reflection design that is similar to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor-like wide-angle observation diagnostic on the Joint European Torus. However, the optical system design has been simplified and improved. As a result, the global transmittance of the system is as high as 79.6% in the wavelength range from 380 to 780 nm, and the spatial resolution is <5 mm for the full depth of field (4000 mm). The optical system also has a large relative aperture (1:2.4) and can be applied in high-speed camera diagnostics. As an important diagnostic tool, the optical system has been installed on the HT-7 (Hefei Tokamak-7) for its final experimental campaign, and the experiments confirmed that it can be applied to the investigation of transient processes in plasma, such as ELMy eruptions in H-mode, on EAST

  17. World-Wide Web: The Information Universe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berners-Lee, Tim; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Describes the World-Wide Web (W3) project, which is designed to create a global information universe using techniques of hypertext, information retrieval, and wide area networking. Discussion covers the W3 data model, W3 architecture, the document naming scheme, protocols, document formats, comparison with other systems, experience with the W3…

  18. Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Detector Optimization for Flash X-Ray Measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roecker, Caleb Daniel [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Schirato, Richard C. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-11-17

    Charge trapping, resulting in a decreased and spatially dependent electric field, has long been a concern for wide bandgap semiconductor detectors. While significant work has been performed to characterize this degradation at varying temperatures and radiation environments, this work concentrates upon examining the event-to-event response in a flash X-ray environment. The following work investigates if charge trapping is a problem for CZT detectors, with particular emphasis on flash X-ray radiation fields at cold temperatures. Results are compared to a non-flash radiation field, using an Am-241 alpha source and similar temperature transitions. Our ability to determine if a response change occurred was hampered by the repeatability of our flash X-ray systems; a small response change was observed with the Am-241 source. Due to contrast of these results, we are in the process of revisiting the Am-241 measurements in the presence of a high radiation environment. If the response change is more pronounced in the high radiation environment, a similar test will be performed in the flash X-ray environment.

  19. World wide web implementation of the Langley technical report server

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Michael L.; Gottlich, Gretchen L.; Bianco, David J.

    1994-01-01

    On January 14, 1993, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) made approximately 130 formal, 'unclassified, unlimited' technical reports available via the anonymous FTP Langley Technical Report Server (LTRS). LaRC was the first organization to provide a significant number of aerospace technical reports for open electronic dissemination. LTRS has been successful in its first 18 months of operation, with over 11,000 reports distributed and has helped lay the foundation for electronic document distribution for NASA. The availability of World Wide Web (WWW) technology has revolutionized the Internet-based information community. This paper describes the transition of LTRS from a centralized FTP site to a distributed data model using the WWW, and suggests how the general model for LTRS can be applied to other similar systems.

  20. Mechanics of ultra-stretchable self-similar serpentine interconnects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yihui; Fu, Haoran; Su, Yewang; Xu, Sheng

    2013-01-01

    Graphical abstract: We developed analytical models of flexibility and elastic-stretchability for self-similar interconnect. The analytic solutions agree very well with the finite element analyses, both demonstrating that the elastic-stretchability more than doubles when the order of self-similar structure increases by one. Design optimization yields 90% and 50% elastic stretchability for systems with surface filling ratios of 50% and 70% of active devices, respectively. The analytic models are useful for the development of stretchable electronics that simultaneously demand large coverage of active devices, such as stretchable photovoltaics and electronic eye-ball cameras. -- Abstract: Electrical interconnects that adopt self-similar, serpentine layouts offer exceptional levels of stretchability in systems that consist of collections of small, non-stretchable active devices in the so-called island–bridge design. This paper develops analytical models of flexibility and elastic stretchability for such structures, and establishes recursive formulae at different orders of self-similarity. The analytic solutions agree well with finite element analysis, with both demonstrating that the elastic stretchability more than doubles when the order of the self-similar structure increases by one. Design optimization yields 90% and 50% elastic stretchability for systems with surface filling ratios of 50% and 70% of active devices, respectively

  1. Chromatographic fingerprint similarity analysis for pollutant source identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xie, Juan-Ping; Ni, Hong-Gang

    2015-01-01

    In the present study, a similarity analysis method was proposed to evaluate the source-sink relationships among environmental media for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which were taken as the representative contaminants. Chromatographic fingerprint analysis has been widely used in the fields of natural products chemistry and forensic chemistry, but its application to environmental science has been limited. We established a library of various sources of media containing contaminants (e.g., plastics), recognizing that the establishment of a more comprehensive library allows for a better understanding of the sources of contamination. We then compared an environmental complex mixture (e.g., sediment, soil) with the profiles in the library. These comparisons could be used as the first step in source tracking. The cosine similarities between plastic and soil or sediment ranged from 0.53 to 0.68, suggesting that plastic in electronic waste is an important source of PBDEs in the environment, but it is not the only source. A similarity analysis between soil and sediment indicated that they have a source-sink relationship. Generally, the similarity analysis method can encompass more relevant information of complex mixtures in the environment than a profile-based approach that only focuses on target pollutants. There is an inherent advantage to creating a data matrix containing all peaks and their relative levels after matching the peaks based on retention times and peak areas. This data matrix can be used for source identification via a similarity analysis without quantitative or qualitative analysis of all chemicals in a sample. - Highlights: • Chromatographic fingerprint analysis can be used as the first step in source tracking. • Similarity analysis method can encompass more relevant information of pollution. • The fingerprints strongly depend on the chromatographic conditions. • A more effective and robust method for identifying similarities is required

  2. Migrating the facility profile information management system into the world wide web

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kero, R.E.; Swietlik, C.E.

    1994-09-01

    The Department of Energy - Office of Special Projects and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), along with the Department of Energy - office of Scientific and Technical Information have previously designed and implemented the Environment, Safety and Health Facility Profile Information Management System (FPIMS) to facilitate greater efficiency in searching, analyzing and disseminating information found within environment, safety and health oversight documents. This information retrieval based system serves as a central repository for full-text electronic oversight documents, as well as a management planning and decision making tool that can assist in trend and root cause analyses. Continuous improvement of environment, safety and health programs are currently aided through this personal computer-based system by providing a means for the open communication of lessons learned across the department. Overall benefits have included reductions in costs and improvements in past information management capabilities. Access to the FPIMS has been possible historically through a headquarters-based local area network equipped with modems. Continued demand for greater accessibility of the system by remote DOE field offices and sites, in conjunction with the Secretary of Energy` s call for greater public accessibility to Department of Energy (DOE) information resources, has been the impetus to expand access through the use of Internet technologies. Therefore, the following paper will discuss reasons for migrating the FPIMS system into the World Wide Web (Web), various lessons learned from the FPIMS migration effort, as well as future plans for enhancing the Web-based FPIMS.

  3. Similarity relations in visual search predict rapid visual categorization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohan, Krithika; Arun, S. P.

    2012-01-01

    How do we perform rapid visual categorization?It is widely thought that categorization involves evaluating the similarity of an object to other category items, but the underlying features and similarity relations remain unknown. Here, we hypothesized that categorization performance is based on perceived similarity relations between items within and outside the category. To this end, we measured the categorization performance of human subjects on three diverse visual categories (animals, vehicles, and tools) and across three hierarchical levels (superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels among animals). For the same subjects, we measured their perceived pair-wise similarities between objects using a visual search task. Regardless of category and hierarchical level, we found that the time taken to categorize an object could be predicted using its similarity to members within and outside its category. We were able to account for several classic categorization phenomena, such as (a) the longer times required to reject category membership; (b) the longer times to categorize atypical objects; and (c) differences in performance across tasks and across hierarchical levels. These categorization times were also accounted for by a model that extracts coarse structure from an image. The striking agreement observed between categorization and visual search suggests that these two disparate tasks depend on a shared coarse object representation. PMID:23092947

  4. A System-Wide Approach to Identify the Mechanisms of Barnacle Attachment: Toward the Discovery of New Antifouling Compounds

    KAUST Repository

    Al-Aqeel, Sarah

    2015-01-01

    , cuticle development, and eggshell formation, and down-regulation of genes in the nitric oxide pathway, which stimulates the swimming and feeding responses of marine invertebrates. This system-wide integrated approach elucidated the development

  5. Discovering Music Structure via Similarity Fusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    for representing music structure is studied in a simplified scenario consisting of 4412 songs and two similarity measures among them. The results suggest that the PLSA model is a useful framework to combine different sources of information, and provides a reasonable space for song representation.......Automatic methods for music navigation and music recommendation exploit the structure in the music to carry out a meaningful exploration of the “song space”. To get a satisfactory performance from such systems, one should incorporate as much information about songs similarity as possible; however...... semantics”, in such a way that all observed similarities can be satisfactorily explained using the latent semantics. Therefore, one can think of these semantics as the real structure in music, in the sense that they can explain the observed similarities among songs. The suitability of the PLSA model...

  6. Discovering Music Structure via Similarity Fusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arenas-García, Jerónimo; Parrado-Hernandez, Emilio; Meng, Anders

    Automatic methods for music navigation and music recommendation exploit the structure in the music to carry out a meaningful exploration of the “song space”. To get a satisfactory performance from such systems, one should incorporate as much information about songs similarity as possible; however...... semantics”, in such a way that all observed similarities can be satisfactorily explained using the latent semantics. Therefore, one can think of these semantics as the real structure in music, in the sense that they can explain the observed similarities among songs. The suitability of the PLSA model...... for representing music structure is studied in a simplified scenario consisting of 4412 songs and two similarity measures among them. The results suggest that the PLSA model is a useful framework to combine different sources of information, and provides a reasonable space for song representation....

  7. A nudge in a healthier direction: How environmental cues help restrained eaters pursue their weight-control goal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stämpfli, Aline E; Stöckli, Sabrina; Brunner, Thomas A

    2017-03-01

    Losing weight is a goal for many people, but it is hard to pursue. However, dieting cues in the environment hold promise for improving individuals' eating behavior. For example, exposure to thin, human-like sculptures by the artist Alberto Giacometti has been found to promote healthy snack choices at a vending machine. Whether health- or weight-related processes drive such effects has not yet been determined. However, a detailed understanding of the content-related drivers of environmental cues' effects provides the first indications regarding a cue's possible use. Therefore, two laboratory studies were conducted. They examined the Giacometti sculptures' effects on unhealthy and healthy food intake (Study 1) and on the completion of weight- and health-related fragmented words (Study 2). Study 1 indicated that the sculptures are weight-related by showing that they reduced food intake independent of food healthiness. Furthermore, the "Giacometti effect" was moderated by restrained eating. Restrained eaters, who are known for their weight-control goal, ate less after having been exposed to the thin sculptures. The results of Study 2 pointed in the same direction. Restrained eaters completed more weight-related words after being exposed to the sculptures. Overall, these studies suggest that the thin sculptures are primarily weight-related cues and particularly helpful for restrained eaters. Environmental weight-control cues such as the Giacometti sculptures could act as a counterforce to our obesogenic environment and help restrained eaters pursue their weight-control goal. In this way, they could nudge food decisions in a healthier direction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. World-wide environmental problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wohlers, H.C.

    1975-01-01

    Man and the physical and natural resources necessary to support him in a civilized society are on a collision course. It is simple to say that man cannot continue to grow in number at an ever-increasing rate without a destructive effect upon the environment. Positive scientific proof for this impending calamity is not now available, yet many indications--sometimes physical and sometimes natural--point toward major world-wide environmental troubles in the near future. A number of environmental problems are described, particularly as they relate to the total world system. A computer model simulating future world-wide environmental trends from 1900 to 2100 A.D. is evaluated and suggested as a major tool for data-gathering purposes to determine the extent of world-wide environmental problems. It is suggested that scientists take an active role in the study of the environment, particularly in relation to man's future on earth

  9. Blind deconvolution using the similarity of multiscales regularization for infrared spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Tao; Liu, Hai; Zhang, Zhaoli; Liu, Sanyan; Liu, Tingting; Shen, Xiaoxuan; Zhang, Jianfeng; Zhang, Tianxu

    2015-01-01

    Band overlap and random noise exist widely when the spectra are captured using an infrared spectrometer, especially since the aging of instruments has become a serious problem. In this paper, via introducing the similarity of multiscales, a blind spectral deconvolution method is proposed. Considering that there is a similarity between latent spectra at different scales, it is used as prior knowledge to constrain the estimated latent spectrum similar to pre-scale to reduce artifacts which are produced from deconvolution. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is able to obtain a better performance than state-of-the-art methods, and to obtain satisfying deconvolution results with fewer artifacts. The recovered infrared spectra can easily extract the spectral features and recognize unknown objects. (paper)

  10. Genome-wide comparative analysis of ABC systems in the Bdellovibrio-and-like organisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Nan; Chen, Huan; Williams, Henry N

    2015-05-10

    Bdellovibrio-and-like organisms (BALOs) are gram-negative, predatory bacteria with wide variations in genome sizes and GC content and ecological habitats. The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) systems have been identified in several prokaryotes, fungi and plants and have a role in transport of materials in and out of cells and in cellular processes. However, knowledge of the ABC systems of BALOs remains obscure. A total of 269 putative ABC proteins were identified in BALOs. The genes encoding these ABC systems occupy nearly 1.3% of the gene content in freshwater Bdellovibrio strains and about 0.7% in their saltwater counterparts. The proteins found belong to 25 ABC system families based on their structural characteristics and functions. Among these, 16 families function as importers, 6 as exporters and 3 are involved in various cellular processes. Eight of these 25 ABC system families were deduced to be the core set of ABC systems conserved in all BALOs. All Bacteriovorax strains have 28 or less ABC systems. On the contrary, the freshwater Bdellovibrio strains have more ABC systems, typically around 51. In the genome of Bdellovibrio exovorus JSS (CP003537.1), 53 putative ABC systems were detected, representing the highest number among all the BALO genomes examined in this study. Unexpected high numbers of ABC systems involved in cellular processes were found in all BALOs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the majority of ABC proteins can be assigned into many separate families with high bootstrap supports (>50%). In this study, a general framework of sequence-structure-function connections for the ABC systems in BALOs was revealed providing novel insights for future investigations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. A Similarity-Ranking Method on Semantic Computing for Providing Information-Services in Station-Concierge System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Motoki Yokoyama

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The prevalence of smartphones and wireless broadband networks have been progressing as a new Railway infomration environment. According to the spread of such devices and information technology, various types of information can be obtained from databases connected to the Internet. One scenario of obtaining such a wide variety of information resources is in the phase of user’s transportation. This paper proposes an information provision system, named the Station Concierge System that matches the situation and intention of passengers. The purpose of this system is to estimate the needs of passengers like station staff or hotel concierge and to provide information resources that satisfy user’s expectations dynamically. The most important module of the system is constructed based on a new information ranking method for passenger intention prediction and service recommendation. This method has three main features, which are (1 projecting a user to semantic vector space by using her current context, (2 predicting the intention of a user based on selecting a semantic vector subspace, and (3 ranking the services by a descending order of relevant scores to the user’ intention. By comparing the predicted results of our method with those of two straightforward computation methods, the experimental studies show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Using this system, users can obtain transit information and service map that dynamically matches their context.

  12. Improving human reliability through better nuclear power plant system design. Progress report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Golay, M.W.

    1995-01-01

    The project on open-quotes Development of a Theory of the Dependence of Human Reliability upon System Designs as a Means of Improving Nuclear Power Plant Performanceclose quotes has been undertaken in order to address the important problem of human error in advanced nuclear power plant designs. Most of the creativity in formulating such concepts has focused upon improving the mechanical reliability of safety related plant systems. However, the lack of a mature theory has retarded similar progress in reducing the likely frequencies of human errors. The main design mechanism used to address this class of concerns has been to reduce or eliminate the human role in plant operations and accident response. The plan of work being pursued in this project is to perform a set of experiments involving human subject who are required to operate, diagnose and respond to changes in computer-simulated systems, relevant to those encountered in nuclear power plants. In the tests the systems are made to differ in complexity in a systematic manner. The computer program used to present the problems to be solved also records the response of the operator as it unfolds. Ultimately this computer is also to be used in compiling the results of the project. The work of this project is focused upon nuclear power plant applications. However, the persuasiveness of human errors in using all sorts of electromechanical machines gives it a much greater potential importance. Because of this we are attempting to pursue our work in a fashion permitting broad generalizations

  13. Are calanco landforms similar to river basins?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caraballo-Arias, N A; Ferro, V

    2017-12-15

    In the past badlands have been often considered as ideal field laboratories for studying landscape evolution because of their geometrical similarity to larger fluvial systems. For a given hydrological process, no scientific proof exists that badlands can be considered a model of river basin prototypes. In this paper the measurements carried out on 45 Sicilian calanchi, a type of badlands that appears as a small-scale hydrographic unit, are used to establish their morphological similarity with river systems whose data are available in the literature. At first the geomorphological similarity is studied by identifying the dimensionless groups, which can assume the same value or a scaled one in a fixed ratio, representing drainage basin shape, stream network and relief properties. Then, for each property, the dimensionless groups are calculated for the investigated calanchi and the river basins and their corresponding scale ratio is evaluated. The applicability of Hack's, Horton's and Melton's laws for establishing similarity criteria is also tested. The developed analysis allows to conclude that a quantitative morphological similarity between calanco landforms and river basins can be established using commonly applied dimensionless groups. In particular, the analysis showed that i) calanchi and river basins have a geometrically similar shape respect to the parameters Rf and Re with a scale factor close to 1, ii) calanchi and river basins are similar respect to the bifurcation and length ratios (λ=1), iii) for the investigated calanchi the Melton number assumes values less than that (0.694) corresponding to the river case and a scale ratio ranging from 0.52 and 0.78 can be used, iv) calanchi and river basins have similar mean relief ratio values (λ=1.13) and v) calanchi present active geomorphic processes and therefore fall in a more juvenile stage with respect to river basins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. THE FORMATION MECHANISM OF GAS GIANTS ON WIDE ORBITS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dodson-Robinson, Sarah E.; Veras, Dimitri; Ford, Eric B.; Beichman, C. A.

    2009-01-01

    The recent discoveries of massive planets on ultra-wide orbits of HR 8799 and Fomalhaut present a new challenge for planet formation theorists. Our goal is to figure out which of three giant planet formation mechanisms-core accretion (with or without migration), scattering from the inner disk, or gravitational instability-could be responsible for Fomalhaut b, HR 8799 b, c and d, and similar planets discovered in the future. This paper presents the results of numerical experiments comparing the long-period planet formation efficiency of each possible mechanism in model A star, G star, and M star disks. First, a simple core accretion simulation shows that planet cores forming beyond 35 AU cannot reach critical mass, even under the most favorable conditions one can construct. Second, a set of N-body simulations demonstrates that planet-planet scattering does not create stable, wide-orbit systems such as HR 8799. Finally, a linear stability analysis verifies previous work showing that global spiral instabilities naturally arise in high-mass disks. We conclude that massive gas giants on stable orbits with semimajor axes a ∼> 35 AU form by gravitational instability in the disk. We recommend that observers examine the planet detection rate as a function of stellar age, controlling for the planets' dimming with time. Any age trend would indicate that planets on wide orbits are transient relics of scattering from the inner disk. If planet detection rate is found to be independent of stellar age, it would confirm our prediction that gravitational instability is the dominant mode of producing detectable planets on wide orbits. We also predict that the occurrence ratio of long-period to short-period gas giants should be highest for M dwarfs due to the inefficiency of core accretion and the expected small fragment mass (∼10 M Jup ) in their disks.

  15. Autonomous Navigation of the SSTI/Lewis Spacecraft Using the Global Positioning System (GPS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, R. C.; Long, A. C.; Lee, T.

    1997-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) is pursuing the application of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to improve the accuracy and economy of spacecraft navigation. High-accuracy autonomous navigation algorithms are being flight qualified in conjunction with GSFC's GPS Attitude Determination Flyer (GADFLY) experiment on the Small Satellite Technology Initiative (SSTI) Lewis spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in 1997. Preflight performance assessments indicate that these algorithms can provide a real-time total position accuracy of better than 10 meters (1 sigma) and velocity accuracy of better than 0.01 meter per second (1 sigma), with selective availability at typical levels. This accuracy is projected to improve to the 2-meter level if corrections to be provided by the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) are included.

  16. Advanced Models and Algorithms for Self-Similar IP Network Traffic Simulation and Performance Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radev, Dimitar; Lokshina, Izabella

    2010-11-01

    The paper examines self-similar (or fractal) properties of real communication network traffic data over a wide range of time scales. These self-similar properties are very different from the properties of traditional models based on Poisson and Markov-modulated Poisson processes. Advanced fractal models of sequentional generators and fixed-length sequence generators, and efficient algorithms that are used to simulate self-similar behavior of IP network traffic data are developed and applied. Numerical examples are provided; and simulation results are obtained and analyzed.

  17. Microfabricated BTU monitoring device for system-wide natural gas monitoring.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Einfeld, Wayne; Manginell, Ronald Paul; Robinson, Alex Lockwood; Moorman, Matthew Wallace

    2005-11-01

    The natural gas industry seeks inexpensive sensors and instrumentation to rapidly measure gas heating value in widely distributed locations. For gas pipelines, this will improve gas quality during transfer and blending, and will expedite accurate financial accounting. Industrial endusers will benefit through continuous feedback of physical gas properties to improve combustion efficiency during use. To meet this need, Sandia has developed a natural gas heating value monitoring instrument using existing and modified microfabricated components. The instrument consists of a silicon micro-fabricated gas chromatography column in conjunction with a catalytic micro-calorimeter sensor. A reference thermal conductivity sensor provides diagnostics and surety. This combination allows for continuous calorimetric determination with a 1 minute analysis time and 1.5 minute cycle time using air as a carrier gas. This system will find application at remote natural gas mining stations, pipeline switching and metering stations, turbine generators, and other industrial user sites. Microfabrication techniques will allow the analytical components to be manufactured in production quantities at a low per-unit cost.

  18. Crystal-liquid-gas phase transitions and thermodynamic similarity

    CERN Document Server

    Skripov, Vladimir P; Schmelzer, Jurn W P

    2006-01-01

    Professor Skripov obtained worldwide recognition with his monograph ""Metastable liquids"", published in English by Wiley & Sons. Based upon this work and another monograph published only in Russia, this book investigates the behavior of melting line and the properties of the coexisting crystal and liquid phase of simple substances across a wide range of pressures, including metastable states of the coexisting phases. The authors derive new relations for the thermodynamic similarity for liquid-vapour phase transition, as well as describing solid-liquid, liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid phase tra

  19. Universal Linear Precoding for NBI-Proof Widely Linear Equalization in MC Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donatella Darsena

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available In multicarrier (MC systems, transmitter redundancy, which is introduced by means of finite-impulse response (FIR linear precoders, allows for perfect or zero-forcing (ZF equalization of FIR channels (in the absence of noise. Recently, it has been shown that the noncircular or improper nature of some symbol constellations offers an intrinsic source of redundancy, which can be exploited to design efficient FIR widely-linear (WL receiving structures for MC systems operating in the presence of narrowband interference (NBI. With regard to both cyclic-prefixed and zero-padded transmission techniques, it is shown in this paper that, with appropriately designed precoders, it is possible to synthesize in both cases WL-ZF universal equalizers, which guarantee perfect symbol recovery for any FIR channel. Furthermore, it is theoretically shown that the intrinsic redundancy of the improper symbol sequence also enables WL-ZF equalization, based on the minimum mean output-energy criterion, with improved NBI suppression capabilities. Finally, results of numerical simulations are presented, which assess the merits of the proposed precoding designs and validate the theoretical analysis carried out.

  20. MetrIntSimil—An Accurate and Robust Metric for Comparison of Similarity in Intelligence of Any Number of Cooperative Multiagent Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laszlo Barna Iantovics

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Intelligent cooperative multiagent systems are applied for solving a large range of real-life problems, including in domains like biology and healthcare. There are very few metrics able to make an effective measure of the machine intelligence quotient. The most important drawbacks of the designed metrics presented in the scientific literature consist in the limitation in universality, accuracy, and robustness. In this paper, we propose a novel universal metric called MetrIntSimil capable of making an accurate and robust symmetric comparison of the similarity in intelligence of any number of cooperative multiagent systems specialized in difficult problem solving. The universality is an important necessary property based on the large variety of designed intelligent systems. MetrIntSimil makes a comparison by taking into consideration the variability in intelligence in the problem solving of the compared cooperative multiagent systems. It allows a classification of the cooperative multiagent systems based on their similarity in intelligence. A cooperative multiagent system has variability in the problem solving intelligence, and it can manifest lower or higher intelligence in different problem solving tasks. More cooperative multiagent systems with similar intelligence can be included in the same class. For the evaluation of the proposed metric, we conducted a case study for more intelligent cooperative multiagent systems composed of simple computing agents applied for solving the Symmetric Travelling Salesman Problem (STSP that is a class of NP-hard problems. STSP is the problem of finding the shortest Hamiltonian cycle/tour in a weighted undirected graph that does not have loops or multiple edges. The distance between two cities is the same in each opposite direction. Two classes of similar intelligence denoted IntClassA and IntClassB were identified. The experimental results show that the agent belonging to IntClassA intelligence class is less

  1. The World Wide Web and the Television Generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maddux, Cleborne D.

    1996-01-01

    The hypermedia nature of the World Wide Web may represent a true paradigm shift in telecommunications, but barriers exist to the Web having similar impact on education. Some of today's college students compare the Web with "bad TV"--lengthy pauses, links that result in error messages, and animation and sound clips that are too brief.…

  2. A similarity based agglomerative clustering algorithm in networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhiyuan; Wang, Xiujuan; Ma, Yinghong

    2018-04-01

    The detection of clusters is benefit for understanding the organizations and functions of networks. Clusters, or communities, are usually groups of nodes densely interconnected but sparsely linked with any other clusters. To identify communities, an efficient and effective community agglomerative algorithm based on node similarity is proposed. The proposed method initially calculates similarities between each pair of nodes, and form pre-partitions according to the principle that each node is in the same community as its most similar neighbor. After that, check each partition whether it satisfies community criterion. For the pre-partitions who do not satisfy, incorporate them with others that having the biggest attraction until there are no changes. To measure the attraction ability of a partition, we propose an attraction index that based on the linked node's importance in networks. Therefore, our proposed method can better exploit the nodes' properties and network's structure. To test the performance of our algorithm, both synthetic and empirical networks ranging in different scales are tested. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can obtain superior clustering results compared with six other widely used community detection algorithms.

  3. Information service on new and emerging health technologies: identification and prioritization processes for a European union-wide newsletter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wild, Claudia; Simpson, Sue; Douw, Karla; Geiger-Gritsch, Sabine; Mathis, Stefan; Langer, Thomas

    2009-12-01

    EUnetHTA WP 7 (Strand B) aimed to promote sharing information on new and emerging technologies. The task was to develop a prototype of a newsletter and pilot the processes of production. The EuroScan database served as information source on pertinent technologies. To prioritize, a set of criteria for scoring the potential impact and for selecting the technologies for articles was applied and a pilot newsletter was produced. Being objective and transparent about the content of a newsletter required a method for prioritizing health technologies. Using significance criteria, members of the prioritization panel selected twelve technologies for articles of different length and depth. Potential recipients, surveyed on relevance, content, timeliness, and readability responded mostly positive, but requested more information on cost effectiveness and criticized timeliness. Dissemination of an EU-wide newsletter would be feasible, but time-consuming. Although a newsletter appears to fulfill a need for information on emerging and new health technologies, it is not considered the right tool to avoid duplication of effort in the present international constellation of horizon scanning for new health technologies. Other options will be pursued as part of future collaborative actions, for example, a core set of early awareness information, or an on-demand electronic information system.

  4. A Quantitative Comparison of the Similarity between Genes and Geography in Worldwide Human Populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chaolong; Zöllner, Sebastian; Rosenberg, Noah A.

    2012-01-01

    Multivariate statistical techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) have been widely used to summarize the structure of human genetic variation, often in easily visualized two-dimensional maps. Many recent studies have reported similarity between geographic maps of population locations and MDS or PCA maps of genetic variation inferred from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, this similarity has been evident primarily in a qualitative sense; and, because different multivariate techniques and marker sets have been used in different studies, it has not been possible to formally compare genetic variation datasets in terms of their levels of similarity with geography. In this study, using genome-wide SNP data from 128 populations worldwide, we perform a systematic analysis to quantitatively evaluate the similarity of genes and geography in different geographic regions. For each of a series of regions, we apply a Procrustes analysis approach to find an optimal transformation that maximizes the similarity between PCA maps of genetic variation and geographic maps of population locations. We consider examples in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Central/South Asia, as well as in a worldwide sample, finding that significant similarity between genes and geography exists in general at different geographic levels. The similarity is highest in our examples for Asia and, once highly distinctive populations have been removed, Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results provide a quantitative assessment of the geographic structure of human genetic variation worldwide, supporting the view that geography plays a strong role in giving rise to human population structure. PMID:22927824

  5. A quantitative comparison of the similarity between genes and geography in worldwide human populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chaolong; Zöllner, Sebastian; Rosenberg, Noah A

    2012-08-01

    Multivariate statistical techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) have been widely used to summarize the structure of human genetic variation, often in easily visualized two-dimensional maps. Many recent studies have reported similarity between geographic maps of population locations and MDS or PCA maps of genetic variation inferred from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, this similarity has been evident primarily in a qualitative sense; and, because different multivariate techniques and marker sets have been used in different studies, it has not been possible to formally compare genetic variation datasets in terms of their levels of similarity with geography. In this study, using genome-wide SNP data from 128 populations worldwide, we perform a systematic analysis to quantitatively evaluate the similarity of genes and geography in different geographic regions. For each of a series of regions, we apply a Procrustes analysis approach to find an optimal transformation that maximizes the similarity between PCA maps of genetic variation and geographic maps of population locations. We consider examples in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Central/South Asia, as well as in a worldwide sample, finding that significant similarity between genes and geography exists in general at different geographic levels. The similarity is highest in our examples for Asia and, once highly distinctive populations have been removed, Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results provide a quantitative assessment of the geographic structure of human genetic variation worldwide, supporting the view that geography plays a strong role in giving rise to human population structure.

  6. Assessing the similarity of surface linguistic features related to epilepsy across pediatric hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connolly, Brian; Matykiewicz, Pawel; Bretonnel Cohen, K; Standridge, Shannon M; Glauser, Tracy A; Dlugos, Dennis J; Koh, Susan; Tham, Eric; Pestian, John

    2014-01-01

    The constant progress in computational linguistic methods provides amazing opportunities for discovering information in clinical text and enables the clinical scientist to explore novel approaches to care. However, these new approaches need evaluation. We describe an automated system to compare descriptions of epilepsy patients at three different organizations: Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Children's Hospital Colorado, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. To our knowledge, there have been no similar previous studies. In this work, a support vector machine (SVM)-based natural language processing (NLP) algorithm is trained to classify epilepsy progress notes as belonging to a patient with a specific type of epilepsy from a particular hospital. The same SVM is then used to classify notes from another hospital. Our null hypothesis is that an NLP algorithm cannot be trained using epilepsy-specific notes from one hospital and subsequently used to classify notes from another hospital better than a random baseline classifier. The hypothesis is tested using epilepsy progress notes from the three hospitals. We are able to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% level. It is also found that classification was improved by including notes from a second hospital in the SVM training sample. With a reasonably uniform epilepsy vocabulary and an NLP-based algorithm able to use this uniformity to classify epilepsy progress notes across different hospitals, we can pursue automated comparisons of patient conditions, treatments, and diagnoses across different healthcare settings. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  7. Practice of building production planning system of company with a wide range of products - case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Łukasz Hadaś

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: The complexity of the manufacturing environments of today's mechanical engineering companies and the number of both internal and external restrictions affecting to need of building tailored production planning and control systems. This statement is particularly important in conditions of companies with a wide range of products and different customer service strategies (different locations of the logistics decoupling point otherwise called "order penetration point". Streams of materials in these conditions require different management what is the main reason for carrying out research in business conditions by the authors. Material and methods: The research was carried out in industrial engineering in complex environmental conditions of production. This was a specializing in technology, multi-departments environment, with multiple streams of values and a wide range of products (about 500 items. The work was carried out under the transformation of the production system from the "push" logic of flow to "pull" logic of flow and building a dedicated system based on the best practice approach. Results: The paper describes the process of building tailored hybrid systems in the area of planning and shop flow control of production. The authors present the theoretical considerations on the issue and practical experiences. The authors present factors of selection of the transformation path and its road map. The article describes the part of the authors' own experience in the work on the methodology of transformation of Polish companies in the running business condition. Conclusions: Establishing the methodology of transformation of the production system is not a simple task. This paper presents only selected aspects of complex decision-making process. However, the authors presented work shows the important aspect of the transformation of production systems for these organizational conditions.

  8. A study on the excore neutron flux monitoring system for the wide range measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Sang Jun; Jeong, Dae Won; Baek, Kwang Il; Lee, Jeong Yang; Ha, Jae Hong

    1995-11-01

    This paper describes a study in which only one kind of neutron detector were used in the advanced ENFMS. The conceptual design was performed for overall system with unified fission chamber. The system consists of detector, junction box, wide-range amplifier and signal processing device. Also the requirements of 10CFR50 App. R were considered in design. On the other hand, through computer simulation, the characteristics of pulse-count mode and MSV mode was scrutinized and each noise withstanding capability was analyzed. The results say that 3rd moment has the more stable characteristics to background noise than MSV method. Also, to remain the integrity of information against noise, during installation and operation, the overall system of KSNP was analyzed from a view of noise. By administration for the cause of noise and noise-coupling paths, through the full understanding of noise characteristics, the transfer of the noise source can be minimized. (Author)

  9. Universal self-similar dynamics of relativistic and nonrelativistic field theories near nonthermal fixed points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piñeiro Orioli, Asier; Boguslavski, Kirill; Berges, Jürgen

    2015-07-01

    We investigate universal behavior of isolated many-body systems far from equilibrium, which is relevant for a wide range of applications from ultracold quantum gases to high-energy particle physics. The universality is based on the existence of nonthermal fixed points, which represent nonequilibrium attractor solutions with self-similar scaling behavior. The corresponding dynamic universality classes turn out to be remarkably large, encompassing both relativistic as well as nonrelativistic quantum and classical systems. For the examples of nonrelativistic (Gross-Pitaevskii) and relativistic scalar field theory with quartic self-interactions, we demonstrate that infrared scaling exponents as well as scaling functions agree. We perform two independent nonperturbative calculations, first by using classical-statistical lattice simulation techniques and second by applying a vertex-resummed kinetic theory. The latter extends kinetic descriptions to the nonperturbative regime of overoccupied modes. Our results open new perspectives to learn from experiments with cold atoms aspects about the dynamics during the early stages of our universe.

  10. Big Data in the Earth Observing System Data and Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynnes, Chris; Baynes, Katie; McInerney, Mark

    2016-01-01

    Approaches that are being pursued for the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data system to address the challenges of Big Data were presented to the NASA Big Data Task Force. Cloud prototypes are underway to tackle the volume challenge of Big Data. However, advances in computer hardware or cloud won't help (much) with variety. Rather, interoperability standards, conventions, and community engagement are the key to addressing variety.

  11. Pursuing the perfect patient experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Gary S

    2013-01-01

    Adapting the principles and tools of the Toyota Production System to healthcare in the form of the Virginia Mason Production System has enabled Virginia Mason Medical Center to transform itself as an organization. Virginia Mason has worked persistently for more than a decade to apply Toyota methods to eliminate waste, improve safety and quality, and provide the community it serves with the highest-quality healthcare at the lowest cost. We have made great progress in this pursuit.

  12. To pursue a career in accounting or not: a study based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edicreia Andrade dos Santos

    Full Text Available Abstract This study investigates the intention of 691 students graduating from Accounting courses at public universities in the state of Paraná to pursue a career in the area of accounting, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. For the analysis, the sample was divided into ten mesoregions according to the criteria of the Paranaense Institute for Economic and Social Development (Ipardes. The data collected were treated using descriptive statistics and structural equations techniques. The research hypotheses were corroborated in most of the mesoregions and the main findings show that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control variables affect the students' intention to pursue a career in the area of accounting. The samples for six mesoregions (1. Curitiba Metropolitan Area, 2. East Center, 4. North Central, 5. Northwest, 6. West, and 9. South Center, in which the three hypotheses were corroborated, represent the largest and most developed cities in Paraná. The results in the ten mesoregions studied explain an intention variance of between 27.84% and 64.31%. The findings of this research contribute to understanding the profiles of accounting graduates from public institutions in the state of Paraná, providing elements to support the managers of the institutions in analyzing and elaborating differentiated strategies in relation to course curricula and approaches, according to the particular region. In addition, regulatory agencies can use these findings as a basis for in-depth research on the variables that influence the intentions of future professionals and to develop policies that guide institutions in developing courses with more adequate and consistent content for the market.

  13. Protein-protein interaction network-based detection of functionally similar proteins within species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Baoxing; Wang, Fen; Guo, Yang; Sang, Qing; Liu, Min; Li, Dengyun; Fang, Wei; Zhang, Deli

    2012-07-01

    Although functionally similar proteins across species have been widely studied, functionally similar proteins within species showing low sequence similarity have not been examined in detail. Identification of these proteins is of significant importance for understanding biological functions, evolution of protein families, progression of co-evolution, and convergent evolution and others which cannot be obtained by detection of functionally similar proteins across species. Here, we explored a method of detecting functionally similar proteins within species based on graph theory. After denoting protein-protein interaction networks using graphs, we split the graphs into subgraphs using the 1-hop method. Proteins with functional similarities in a species were detected using a method of modified shortest path to compare these subgraphs and to find the eligible optimal results. Using seven protein-protein interaction networks and this method, some functionally similar proteins with low sequence similarity that cannot detected by sequence alignment were identified. By analyzing the results, we found that, sometimes, it is difficult to separate homologous from convergent evolution. Evaluation of the performance of our method by gene ontology term overlap showed that the precision of our method was excellent. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. REFINED METALLICITY INDICES FOR M DWARFS USING THE SLoWPoKES CATALOG OF WIDE, LOW-MASS BINARIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dhital, Saurav; Stassun, Keivan G.; Bastien, Fabienne A.; West, Andrew A.; Massey, Angela P.; Bochanski, John J.

    2012-01-01

    We report the results from spectroscopic observations of 113 ultra-wide, low-mass binary systems, largely composed of M0-M3 dwarfs, from the SLoWPoKES catalog of common proper motion pairs identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Radial velocities of each binary member were used to confirm that they are comoving and, consequently, to further validate the high fidelity of the SLoWPoKES catalog. Ten stars appear to be spectroscopic binaries based on broad or split spectral features, supporting previous findings that wide binaries are likely to be hierarchical systems. We measured the Hα equivalent width of the stars in our sample and found that components of 81% of the observed pairs have similar Hα levels. The difference in Hα equivalent width among components with similar masses was smaller than the range of Hα variability for individual objects. We confirm that the Lépine et al. ζ-index traces iso-metallicity loci for most of our sample of M dwarfs. However, we find a small systematic bias in ζ, especially in the early-type M dwarfs. We use our sample to recalibrate the definition of ζ. While representing a small change in the definition, the new ζ is a significantly better predictor of iso-metallicity for the higher-mass M dwarfs.

  15. The necessity of a theory of biology for tissue engineering: metabolism-repair systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganguli, Suman; Hunt, C Anthony

    2004-01-01

    Since there is no widely accepted global theory of biology, tissue engineering and bioengineering lack a theoretical understanding of the systems being engineered. By default, tissue engineering operates with a "reductionist" theoretical approach, inherited from traditional engineering of non-living materials. Long term, that approach is inadequate, since it ignores essential aspects of biology. Metabolism-repair systems are a theoretical framework which explicitly represents two "functional" aspects of living organisms: self-repair and self-replication. Since repair and replication are central to tissue engineering, we advance metabolism-repair systems as a potential theoretical framework for tissue engineering. We present an overview of the framework, and indicate directions to pursue for extending it to the context of tissue engineering. We focus on biological networks, both metabolic and cellular, as one such direction. The construction of these networks, in turn, depends on biological protocols. Together these concepts may help point the way to a global theory of biology appropriate for tissue engineering.

  16. System-wide organization of actin cytoskeleton determines organelle transport in hypocotyl plant cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowak, Jacqueline; Ivakov, Alexander; Somssich, Marc; Persson, Staffan; Nikoloski, Zoran

    2017-01-01

    The actin cytoskeleton is an essential intracellular filamentous structure that underpins cellular transport and cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells. However, the system-level properties of actin-based cellular trafficking remain tenuous, largely due to the inability to quantify key features of the actin cytoskeleton. Here, we developed an automated image-based, network-driven framework to accurately segment and quantify actin cytoskeletal structures and Golgi transport. We show that the actin cytoskeleton in both growing and elongated hypocotyl cells has structural properties facilitating efficient transport. Our findings suggest that the erratic movement of Golgi is a stable cellular phenomenon that might optimize distribution efficiency of cell material. Moreover, we demonstrate that Golgi transport in hypocotyl cells can be accurately predicted from the actin network topology alone. Thus, our framework provides quantitative evidence for system-wide coordination of cellular transport in plant cells and can be readily applied to investigate cytoskeletal organization and transport in other organisms. PMID:28655850

  17. 3D Facial Similarity Measure Based on Geodesic Network and Curvatures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junli Zhao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Automated 3D facial similarity measure is a challenging and valuable research topic in anthropology and computer graphics. It is widely used in various fields, such as criminal investigation, kinship confirmation, and face recognition. This paper proposes a 3D facial similarity measure method based on a combination of geodesic and curvature features. Firstly, a geodesic network is generated for each face with geodesics and iso-geodesics determined and these network points are adopted as the correspondence across face models. Then, four metrics associated with curvatures, that is, the mean curvature, Gaussian curvature, shape index, and curvedness, are computed for each network point by using a weighted average of its neighborhood points. Finally, correlation coefficients according to these metrics are computed, respectively, as the similarity measures between two 3D face models. Experiments of different persons’ 3D facial models and different 3D facial models of the same person are implemented and compared with a subjective face similarity study. The results show that the geodesic network plays an important role in 3D facial similarity measure. The similarity measure defined by shape index is consistent with human’s subjective evaluation basically, and it can measure the 3D face similarity more objectively than the other indices.

  18. Self-Similar Symmetry Model and Cosmic Microwave Background

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomohide eSonoda

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present the self-similar symmetry (SSS model that describes the hierarchical structure of the universe. The model is based on the concept of self-similarity, which explains the symmetry of the cosmic microwave background (CMB. The approximate length and time scales of the six hierarchies of the universe---grand unification, electroweak unification, the atom, the pulsar, the solar system, and the galactic system---are derived from the SSS model. In addition, the model implies that the electron mass and gravitational constant could vary with the CMB radiation temperature.

  19. Rapid response and wide range neutronic power measuring systems for fast pulsed reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sumita, Kenji; Iida, Toshiyuki; Wakayama, Naoaki.

    1976-01-01

    This paper summarizes our investigation on design principles of the rapid, stable and wide range neutronic power measuring system for fast pulsed reactors. The picoammeter, the logarithmic amplifier, the reactivity meter and the neutron current chamber are the items of investigation. In order to get a rapid response, the method of compensation for the stray capacitance of the feedback circuits and the capacitance of signal cables is applied to the picoammeter, the logarithmic amplifier and the reactivity meter with consideration for the stability margin of a whole detecting system. The response of an ionization current chamber and the method for compensating the ion component of the chamber output to get optimum responses high pass filters are investigated. Statistical fluctuations of the current chamber output are also considered in those works. The optimum thickness of the surrounding moderator of the neutron detector is also discussed from the viewpoint of the pulse shape deformation and the neutron sensitivity increase. The experimental results are reported, which were observed in the pulse operations of the one shot fast pulsed reactor ''YAYOI'' and the one shot TRIGA ''NSRR'' with the measuring systems using those principles. (auth.)

  20. Plant-wide quantitative assessment of a process industry system's operating state based on color-spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kai, Sun; Jianmin, Gao; Zhiyong, Gao; Hongquan, Jiang; Xu, Gao

    2015-08-01

    This paper presents a general theoretical framework to assess the operating state of a process industry system quantitatively based on meshing the theory of scientific data visualization and digital image processing. First, a series of color-spectrum, which represent the operating state of the system, is formed by mapping the monitor data set to a group of digital color images. Second, the common feature of color-spectrum, which is named benchmark-color-spectrum, is extracted as a standard of the normal state. Third, the abnormal degree can be quantified by calculating the difference of the benchmark-color-spectrum with observed color-spectrum. At last, a plant-wide operating state of the system in a period of time can be shown by plotting quantitative abnormal degree. Two case is included to illustrate the proposed method and its appropriateness. One is a general process industry system simulator named Tennessee Eastman Process. Another is an air compressor group which belongs to a real chemical plant.

  1. Case-based reasoning diagnostic technique based on multi-attribute similarity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makoto, Takahashi [Tohoku University, Miyagi (Japan); Akio, Gofuku [Okayama University, Okayamaa (Japan)

    2014-08-15

    Case-based diagnostic technique has been developed based on the multi-attribute similarity. Specific feature of the developed system is to use multiple attributes of process signals for similarity evaluation to retrieve a similar case stored in a case base. The present technique has been applied to the measurement data from Monju with some simulated anomalies. The results of numerical experiments showed that the present technique can be utilizes as one of the methods for a hybrid-type diagnosis system.

  2. Wide variation in hospital and physician payment rates evidence of provider market power.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginsburg, Paul B

    2010-11-01

    Wide variation in private insurer payment rates to hospitals and physicians across and within local markets suggests that some providers, particularly hospitals, have significant market power to negotiate higher-than-competitive prices, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Looking across eight health care markets--Cleveland; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; Richmond, Va.; San Francisco; and rural Wisconsin--average inpatient hospital payment rates of four large national insurers ranged from 147 percent of Medicare in Miami to 210 percent in San Francisco. In extreme cases, some hospitals command almost five times what Medicare pays for inpatient services and more than seven times what Medicare pays for outpatient care. Variation within markets was just as dramatic. For example, the hospital with prices at the 25th percentile of Los Angeles hospitals received 84 percent of Medicare rates for inpatient care, while the hospital with prices at the 75th percentile received 184 percent of Medicare rates. The highest-priced Los Angeles hospital with substantial inpatient claims volume received 418 percent of Medicare. While not as pronounced, significant variation in physician payment rates also exists across and within markets and by specialty. Few would characterize the variation in hospital and physician payment rates found in this study to be consistent with a highly competitive market. Purchasers and public policy makers can address provider market power, or the ability to negotiate higher-than-competitive prices, through two distinct approaches. One is to pursue market approaches to strengthen competitive forces, while the other is to constrain payment rates through regulation.

  3. Pursuing Authenticity From Process to Outcome in a Community-Based Participatory Research Study of Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Vulnerability in North Karnataka, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanchard, Andrea Katryn; Sangha, Chaitanya Aids Tadegattuva Mahila; Nair, Sapna G; Thalinja, Raghavendra; Srikantamurthy, H S; Ramanaik, Satyanaryana; Javalkar, Prakash; Pillai, Priya; Isac, Shajy; Collumbien, Martine; Heise, Lori; Bhattacharjee, Parinita; Bruce, Sharon Gail

    2017-01-01

    Community-based participatory research has been seen to hold great promise by researchers aiming to bridge research and action in global health programs and practice. However, there is still much debate around whether achieving authenticity in terms of in-depth collaboration between community and academic partners is possible while pursuing academic expectations for quality. This article describes the community-based methodology for a qualitative study to explore intimate partner violence and HIV/AIDS among women in sex work, or female sex workers, and their male partners in Karnataka, South India. Developed through collaborative processes, the study methodology followed an interpretive approach to qualitative inquiry, with three key components including long-term partnerships, knowledge exchange, and orientation toward action. We then discuss lessons learned on how to pursue authenticity in terms of truly collaborative processes with inherent value that also contribute to, rather than hinder, the instrumental goal of enhancing the quality and relevance of the research outcomes. © The Author(s) 2016.

  4. KMTNET: A Network of 1.6 m Wide-Field Optical Telescopes Installed at Three Southern Observatories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Seung-Lee; Lee, Chung-Uk; Park, Byeong-Gon; Kim, Dong-Jin; Cha, Sang-Mok; Lee, Yongseok; Han, Cheongho; Chun, Moo-Young; Yuk, Insoo

    2016-02-01

    The Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) is a wide-field photometric system installed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). Here, we present the overall technical specifications of the KMTNet observation system, test observation results, data transfer and image processing procedure, and finally, the KMTNet science programs. The system consists of three 1.6 m wide-field optical telescopes equipped with mosaic CCD cameras of 18k by 18k pixels. Each telescope provides a 2.0 by 2.0 square degree field of view. We have finished installing all three telescopes and cameras sequentially at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in South Africa, and the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia. This network of telescopes, which is spread over three different continents at a similar latitude of about -30 degrees, enables 24-hour continuous monitoring of targets observable in the Southern Hemisphere. The test observations showed good image quality that meets the seeing requirement of less than 1.0 arcsec in I-band. All of the observation data are transferred to the KMTNet data center at KASI via the international network communication and are processed with the KMTNet data pipeline. The primary scientific goal of the KMTNet is to discover numerous extrasolar planets toward the Galactic bulge by using the gravitational microlensing technique, especially earth-mass planets in the habitable zone. During the non-bulge season, the system is used for wide-field photometric survey science on supernovae, asteroids, and external galaxies.

  5. The Influence of an Academic Pharmacy Mentorship Program on Mentees’ Commitment to Pursue an Academic Career

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, Caroline M.

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholars Program on mentees’ attitudes towards and decision to pursue a career in academia. Upon completion of the AACP Walmart* Scholars Program, wherein mentor-mentee pairs attend the AACP Annual Meeting to learn about academic pharmacy careers, mentees wrote essays evaluating the program. Their views on academic pharmacy careers were analyzed for themes in the evaluations. Of the mentees who addressed the impact of the program on their perspectives on a career in academic pharmacy, over half stated the program positively influenced pursuit of such a career. This reinforces the importance of mentorship for those interested in or new to academic pharmacy. PMID:28289293

  6. The Influence of an Academic Pharmacy Mentorship Program on Mentees' Commitment to Pursue an Academic Career.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, Caroline M; Adams, Jennifer

    2017-02-25

    The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholars Program on mentees' attitudes towards and decision to pursue a career in academia. Upon completion of the AACP Walmart Scholars Program, wherein mentor-mentee pairs attend the AACP Annual Meeting to learn about academic pharmacy careers, mentees wrote essays evaluating the program. Their views on academic pharmacy careers were analyzed for themes in the evaluations. Of the mentees who addressed the impact of the program on their perspectives on a career in academic pharmacy, over half stated the program positively influenced pursuit of such a career. This reinforces the importance of mentorship for those interested in or new to academic pharmacy.

  7. CMS: a web-based system for visualization and analysis of genome-wide methylation data of human cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Fei; Doderer, Mark S; Huang, Yi-Wen; Roa, Juan C; Goodfellow, Paul J; Kizer, E Lynette; Huang, Tim H M; Chen, Yidong

    2013-01-01

    DNA methylation of promoter CpG islands is associated with gene suppression, and its unique genome-wide profiles have been linked to tumor progression. Coupled with high-throughput sequencing technologies, it can now efficiently determine genome-wide methylation profiles in cancer cells. Also, experimental and computational technologies make it possible to find the functional relationship between cancer-specific methylation patterns and their clinicopathological parameters. Cancer methylome system (CMS) is a web-based database application designed for the visualization, comparison and statistical analysis of human cancer-specific DNA methylation. Methylation intensities were obtained from MBDCap-sequencing, pre-processed and stored in the database. 191 patient samples (169 tumor and 22 normal specimen) and 41 breast cancer cell-lines are deposited in the database, comprising about 6.6 billion uniquely mapped sequence reads. This provides comprehensive and genome-wide epigenetic portraits of human breast cancer and endometrial cancer to date. Two views are proposed for users to better understand methylation structure at the genomic level or systemic methylation alteration at the gene level. In addition, a variety of annotation tracks are provided to cover genomic information. CMS includes important analytic functions for interpretation of methylation data, such as the detection of differentially methylated regions, statistical calculation of global methylation intensities, multiple gene sets of biologically significant categories, interactivity with UCSC via custom-track data. We also present examples of discoveries utilizing the framework. CMS provides visualization and analytic functions for cancer methylome datasets. A comprehensive collection of datasets, a variety of embedded analytic functions and extensive applications with biological and translational significance make this system powerful and unique in cancer methylation research. CMS is freely accessible

  8. System-wide and Superemitter Policy Options for the Abatement of Methane Emissions from the U.S. Natural Gas System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayfield, E. N.; Robinson, A. L.; Cohon, J. L.

    2017-12-01

    This work assesses trade-offs between system-wide and superemitter policy options for reducing methane emissions from compressor stations in the U.S. transmission and storage system. Leveraging recently collected national emissions and activity data sets, we developed a new process-based emissions model implemented in a Monte Carlo simulation framework to estimate emissions for each component and facility in the system. We find that approximately 83% of emissions, given the existing suite of technologies, have the potential to be abated, with only a few emission categories comprising a majority of emissions. We then formulate optimization models to determine optimal abatement strategies. Most emissions across the system (approximately 80%) are efficient to abate, resulting in net benefits ranging from 160M to 1.2B annually across the system. The private cost burden is minimal under standard and tax instruments, and if firms market the abated natural gas, private net benefits may be generated. Superemitter policies, namely, those that target the highest emitting facilities, may reduce the private cost burden and achieve high emission reductions, especially if emissions across facilities are highly skewed. However, detection across all facilities is necessary regardless of the policy option and there are nontrivial net benefits resulting from abatement of relatively low-emitting sources.

  9. Linearity improvement on wide-range log signal of neutron measurement system for HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Young-Ki; Tuetken, Jeffrey S.

    1998-01-01

    This paper discusses engineering activities for improving the linearity characteristics of the Log Power signal from the neutron measurement system for HANARO. This neutron measurement system uses a fission chamber based detector which covers 10.3 decade-wide range from 10 -8 % full power(FP) up to 200%FP, The Log Power signal is designed to control the reactor at low power levels where most of the reactor physics tests are carried out. Therefore, the linearity characteristics of the Log Power signal is the major factor for accurate reactor power control. During the commissioning of the neutron measurement system, it was found that the linearity characteristics of the Log Power signal, especially near 10 -2 %FP, were not accurate enough for controlling the reactor during physics testing. Analysis of the system linearity data directly measured with reactor operating determined that the system was not operating per the design characteristics established from previous installations. The linearity data, which were taken as the reactor was increased in power, were sent to manufacturer's engineering group and a follow-up measures based on the analysis were then fed back to the field. Through step by step trouble-shooting activities, which included minor circuit modifications and alignment procedure changes, the linearity characteristics have been successfully improved and now exceed minimum performance requirements. This paper discusses the trouble-shooting techniques applied, the changes in the linearity characteristics, special circumstances in the HANARO application and the final resolution. (author)

  10. Revisiting Anomaly-based Network Intrusion Detection Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bolzoni, D.

    2009-01-01

    Intrusion detection systems (IDSs) are well-known and widely-deployed security tools to detect cyber-attacks and malicious activities in computer systems and networks. A signature-based IDS works similar to anti-virus software. It employs a signature database of known attacks, and a successful match

  11. Wide-band cable systems at SLAC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Struven, W.

    1983-01-01

    SLAC's first cable TV system was installed in 1979 to remotely monitor a narrow pulse which was generated in the west end of the klystron gallery. When Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) experimental work started at the west end of the accelerator, the original 1979 cable was upgraded to a bidirectional system so that 2 MBaud point-to-point data and several video and 9600 baud channels could be transmitted. The implementation of the SLC requires a complete upgrading of the accelerator control system. The system is based on a distributed processing configuration using a PDP11/780 VAX in the Main Control Center (MCC) and Intel single-board computers in a multibus configuration along the accelerator. The high-speed data linking is supplied by a 1 MBaud Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Network. The same cable is used to provide video, low-speed data, voice and high-speed point-to-point data services. The transmission system will utilize a wideband midsplit cable facility to collect and distribute signals to all parts of the network

  12. Conceptual Inadequacy of the Shore and Johnson Axioms for Wide Classes of Complex Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantino Tsallis

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available It is by now well known that the Boltzmann-Gibbs-von Neumann-Shannon logarithmic entropic functional (\\(S_{BG}\\ is inadequate for wide classes of strongly correlated systems: see for instance the 2001 Brukner and Zeilinger's {\\it Conceptual inadequacy of the Shannon information in quantum measurements}, among many other systems exhibiting various forms of complexity. On the other hand, the Shannon and Khinchin axioms uniquely mandate the BG form \\(S_{BG}=-k\\sum_i p_i \\ln p_i\\; the Shore and Johnson axioms follow the same path. Many natural, artificial and social systems have been satisfactorily approached with nonadditive entropies such as the \\(S_q=k \\frac{1-\\sum_i p_i^q}{q-1}\\ one (\\(q \\in {\\cal R}; \\,S_1=S_{BG}\\, basis of nonextensive statistical mechanics. Consistently, the Shannon 1948 and Khinchine 1953 uniqueness theorems have already been generalized in the literature, by Santos 1997 and Abe 2000 respectively, in order to uniquely mandate \\(S_q\\. We argue here that the same remains to be done with the Shore and Johnson 1980 axioms. We arrive to this conclusion by analyzing specific classes of strongly correlated complex systems that await such generalization.

  13. Foundations of data-intensive science: Technology and practice for high throughput, widely distributed, data management and analysis systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, William; Ernst, M.; Dart, E.; Tierney, B.

    2014-04-01

    Today's large-scale science projects involve world-wide collaborations depend on moving massive amounts of data from an instrument to potentially thousands of computing and storage systems at hundreds of collaborating institutions to accomplish their science. This is true for ATLAS and CMS at the LHC, and it is true for the climate sciences, Belle-II at the KEK collider, genome sciences, the SKA radio telescope, and ITER, the international fusion energy experiment. DOE's Office of Science has been collecting science discipline and instrument requirements for network based data management and analysis for more than a decade. As a result of this certain key issues are seen across essentially all science disciplines that rely on the network for significant data transfer, even if the data quantities are modest compared to projects like the LHC experiments. These issues are what this talk will address; to wit: 1. Optical signal transport advances enabling 100 Gb/s circuits that span the globe on optical fiber with each carrying 100 such channels; 2. Network router and switch requirements to support high-speed international data transfer; 3. Data transport (TCP is still the norm) requirements to support high-speed international data transfer (e.g. error-free transmission); 4. Network monitoring and testing techniques and infrastructure to maintain the required error-free operation of the many R&E networks involved in international collaborations; 5. Operating system evolution to support very high-speed network I/O; 6. New network architectures and services in the LAN (campus) and WAN networks to support data-intensive science; 7. Data movement and management techniques and software that can maximize the throughput on the network connections between distributed data handling systems, and; 8. New approaches to widely distributed workflow systems that can support the data movement and analysis required by the science. All of these areas must be addressed to enable large

  14. Ising game: Nonequilibrium steady states of resource-allocation systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, C.; Yang, G.; Huang, J. P.

    2017-04-01

    Resource-allocation systems are ubiquitous in the human society. But how external fields affect the state of such systems remains poorly explored due to the lack of a suitable model. Because the behavior of spins pursuing energy minimization required by physical laws is similar to that of humans chasing payoff maximization studied in game theory, here we combine the Ising model with the market-directed resource-allocation game, yielding an Ising game. Based on the Ising game, we show theoretical, simulative and experimental evidences for a formula, which offers a clear expression of nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs). Interestingly, the formula also reveals a convertible relationship between the external field (exogenous factor) and resource ratio (endogenous factor), and a class of saturation as the external field exceeds certain limits. This work suggests that the Ising game could be a suitable model for studying external-field effects on resource-allocation systems, and it could provide guidance both for seeking more relations between NESSs and equilibrium states and for regulating human systems by choosing NESSs appropriately.

  15. World wide developments in shortwall and wide web mining techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pollard, T

    1975-11-01

    The paper describes the progress to date with continuous pillar extraction, and how the typical longwall powered support has been modified to be both strong enough and stable enough to provide roof support for very wide webs. It also describes the operating systems which have been specially designed. The next stages of development are discussed, particularly the provision of continuous conveyor haulage in place of the present-day shuttle car. The author suggests that marrying American coal-getting technology and British roof support technology might increase productivity.

  16. Natural texture retrieval based on perceptual similarity measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ying; Dong, Junyu; Lou, Jianwen; Qi, Lin; Liu, Jun

    2018-04-01

    A typical texture retrieval system performs feature comparison and might not be able to make human-like judgments of image similarity. Meanwhile, it is commonly known that perceptual texture similarity is difficult to be described by traditional image features. In this paper, we propose a new texture retrieval scheme based on texture perceptual similarity. The key of the proposed scheme is that prediction of perceptual similarity is performed by learning a non-linear mapping from image features space to perceptual texture space by using Random Forest. We test the method on natural texture dataset and apply it on a new wallpapers dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed texture retrieval scheme with perceptual similarity improves the retrieval performance over traditional image features.

  17. Transparent wide band gap crystals follow indirect allowed transition and bipolaron hopping mechanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feroz A. Mir

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently, we carried out structural, optical and dielectric studies on micro-crystals of Oxypeucedanin (C16H14O5, isolated from the roots of plant Prangos pabularia (Mir et al. (2014 [3,4]. The obtained trend in frequency exponent (s with frequency (ω indicates that the universal dynamic response is followed by this compound. From optical absorption spectroscopy, the optical band gap (Eg was estimated around 3.76 eV and system is showing indirect allowed transition. Using Eg in certain relation of s, a close value of s (as much close obtained by fitting ac conductivity was obtained. This method was further used for other similar systems and again same trend was obtained. So a general conclusion was made that the high transmitting wide band insulators or semiconductors may follow bipolaron hopping transport mechanism.

  18. Three-reflections telescope proposal as flat-field anastigmat for wide field observations at Dome C

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrari, M.; Lemaître, G.; Viotti, R.; La Padula, C.; Comte, G.; Blanc, M.; Boer, M.

    It is now evident that the exceptional seeing at Dome C will allow, in the next years, to pursue astronomical programs with conditions better than at any other observatory in the world, and very close to space experiments. Considering a new type of wide-field telescope, particular astronomical programs could be well optimized for observations at Dome C such as surveys for the discovery and follow up of near-Earth asteroids, search for extra-solar planets using transit or micro-lensing events, and stellar luminosity variations. We propose to build a 1.5 2m class three-reflections telescope, with 1 1.5degree FOV, four times shorter than an equivalent Schmidt telescope, and providing a flat field without requiring a triplet- or quadruplet-lens corrector since its design is anastigmatic. We present the preliminary optical tests of such designs: MINITRUST1 and 2 are two 45cm identical prototypes based in France and Italy, and manufactured using active optics techniques.

  19. Similar predictions of etravirine sensitivity regardless of genotypic testing method used: comparison of available scoring systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vingerhoets, Johan; Nijs, Steven; Tambuyzer, Lotke; Hoogstoel, Annemie; Anderson, David; Picchio, Gaston

    2012-01-01

    The aims of this study were to compare various genotypic scoring systems commonly used to predict virological outcome to etravirine, and examine their concordance with etravirine phenotypic susceptibility. Six etravirine genotypic scoring systems were assessed: Tibotec 2010 (based on 20 mutations; TBT 20), Monogram, Stanford HIVdb, ANRS, Rega (based on 37, 30, 27 and 49 mutations, respectively) and virco(®)TYPE HIV-1 (predicted fold change based on genotype). Samples from treatment-experienced patients who participated in the DUET trials and with both genotypic and phenotypic data (n=403) were assessed using each scoring system. Results were retrospectively correlated with virological response in DUET. κ coefficients were calculated to estimate the degree of correlation between the different scoring systems. Correlation between the five scoring systems and the TBT 20 system was approximately 90%. Virological response by etravirine susceptibility was comparable regardless of which scoring system was utilized, with 70-74% of DUET patients determined as susceptible to etravirine by the different scoring systems achieving plasma viral load <50 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml. In samples classed as phenotypically susceptible to etravirine (fold change in 50% effective concentration ≤3), correlations with genotypic score were consistently high across scoring systems (≥70%). In general, the etravirine genotypic scoring systems produced similar results, and genotype-phenotype concordance was high. As such, phenotypic interpretations, and in their absence all genotypic scoring systems investigated, may be used to reliably predict the activity of etravirine.

  20. Operations management in automotive industries from industrial strategies to production resources management, through the industrialization process and supply chain to pursue value creation

    CERN Document Server

    Gobetto, Marco

    2014-01-01

    This book has proved its worth over the years as a text for courses in Production Management at the Faculty of Automotive Engineering in Turin, Italy, but deserves a wider audience as it presents a compendium of basics on Industrial Management, since it covers all major topics required. It treats all subjects from product development and “make or buy”-decision strategies to the manufacturing systems setting and management through analysis of the main resources needed in production and finally exploring the supply chain management and the procurement techniques. The very last chapter recapitulates the previous ones by analysing key management indicators to pursue the value creation that is the real purpose of every industrial enterprise. As an appendix, a specific chapter is dedicated to the basics of production management where all main relevant definitions, techniques and criteria are treated, including some numerical examples, in order to provide an adequate foundation for understanding the other chapte...

  1. Determining the bounds of skilful forecast range for probabilistic prediction of system-wide wind power generation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirk Cannon

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available State-of-the-art wind power forecasts beyond a few hours ahead rely on global numerical weather prediction models to forecast the future large-scale atmospheric state. Often they provide initial and boundary conditions for nested high resolution simulations. In this paper, both upper and lower bounds on forecast range are identified within which global ensemble forecasts provide skilful information for system-wide wind power applications. An upper bound on forecast range is associated with the limit of predictability, beyond which forecasts have no more skill than predictions based on climatological statistics. A lower bound is defined at the lead time beyond which the resolved uncertainty associated with estimating the future large-scale atmospheric state is larger than the unresolved uncertainty associated with estimating the system-wide wind power response to a given large-scale state.The bounds of skilful ensemble forecast range are quantified for three leading global forecast systems. The power system of Great Britain (GB is used as an example because independent verifying data is available from National Grid. The upper bound defined by forecasts of GB-total wind power generation at a specific point in time is found to be 6–8 days. The lower bound is found to be 1.4–2.4 days. Both bounds depend on the global forecast system and vary seasonally. In addition, forecasts of the probability of an extreme power ramp event were found to possess a shorter limit of predictability (4.5–5.5 days. The upper bound on this forecast range can only be extended by improving the global forecast system (outside the control of most users or by changing the metric used in the probability forecast. Improved downscaling and microscale modelling of the wind farm response may act to decrease the lower bound. The potential gain from such improvements have diminishing returns beyond the short-range (out to around 2 days.

  2. Use of geographic information systems and spatial analysis in area-wide integrated pest management programmes that integrate the sterile insect technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cox, J.St.H.; Vreysen, M.J.B.

    2005-01-01

    The advantages that geographic information systems (GIS) and associated technologies can offer, in terms of the design and implementation of area-wide programmes of insect and/or disease suppression, are becoming increasingly recognised, even if the realization of this potential has not been fully exploited and for some area-wide programmes adoption appears to be progressing slowly. This chapter provides a basic introduction to the science of GIS, Global Positioning System (GPS), and satellite remote sensing (RS), and reviews the principal ways in which these technologies can be used to assist various stages of development of the sterile insect technique (SIT) as part of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes - from the selection of project sites, and feasibility assessments and planning of pre-intervention surveys, to the monitoring and analysis of insect suppression programmes, and the release of sterile insects. Potential barriers to the successful deployment of GIS tools are also discussed. (author)

  3. On the Isomorphism between Dissipative Systems, Fractal Self-Similarity and Electrodynamics. Toward an Integrated Vision of Nature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Vitiello

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In electrodynamics there is a mutual exchange of energy and momentum between the matter field and the electromagnetic field and the total energy and momentum are conserved. For a constant magnetic field and harmonic scalar potential, electrodynamics is shown to be isomorph to a system of damped/amplified harmonic oscillators. These can be described by squeezed coherent states which in turn are isomorph to self-similar fractal structures. Under the said conditions of constant magnetic field and harmonic scalar potential, electrodynamics is thus isomorph to fractal self-similar structures and squeezed coherent states. At a quantum level, dissipation induces noncommutative geometry with the squeezing parameter playing a relevant role. Ubiquity of fractals in Nature and relevance of coherent states and electromagnetic interaction point to a unified, integrated vision of Nature.

  4. Mapping query terms to data and schema using content based similarity search in clinical information systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safari, Leila; Patrick, Jon D

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports on the issues in mapping the terms of a query to the field names of the schema of an Entity Relationship (ER) model or to the data part of the Entity Attribute Value (EAV) model using similarity based Top-K algorithm in clinical information system together with an extension of EAV mapping for medication names. In addition, the details of the mapping algorithm and the required pre-processing including NLP (Natural Language Processing) tasks to prepare resources for mapping are explained. The experimental results on an example clinical information system demonstrate more than 84 per cent of accuracy in mapping. The results will be integrated into our proposed Clinical Data Analytics Language (CliniDAL) to automate mapping process in CliniDAL.

  5. A System-Wide Approach to Diabetic Nephropathy

    KAUST Repository

    Palafox, Luis

    2011-07-07

    Diabetes mellitus is a complex human disease that affects more than 280 million people worldwide. One of the diabetic long-term complications is diabetic nephropathy that it is responsible for 50% of all end-stage renal disease. The complexity of diabetes and the lack of comprehensive systematic studies have halted the development of drugs and clinical therapies for the treatment of diabetes and its major complications. The present project, based on the db/db mice as animal model, investigates the repercussions of diabetes mellitus in the transcriptome as well as the mechanism of action of pirfenidone, an antifibrotic drug, in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. The study was centered on the system-wide measurements transcriptional state of the mouse kidney. The expression profile of three experimental groups: control, diabetic, and diabetic treated with the drug, were analyzed using expression clustering, gene ontology enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction network mapping, and gene expression behavior. The results show significant expression dysregulation of genes involved in RNA processing, fatty acid oxidation, and oxidative phosphorylation under the diabetic condition. The drug is able to regulate the expression levels of RNA processing genes but it does not show any effect in the expression profile of genes required in the oxidative phosphorylation and in the fatty acid metabolism. In conclusion diabetes mellitus induce the dysregulation of the splicing apparatus, the oxidative phosphorylation, and the fatty acid metabolic pathway at an expression level. The malfunction of these biological pathways causes cellular stress by increasing the concentration of reactive oxygen species within the cell due to a high oxidative and respiratory activity of mitochondria in addition to the increased demand of the folding machinery as a consequence of a dysregulation of the splicing apparatus. Pirfenidone regulates the expression of RNA processing genes mainly

  6. Similarities between pre-eclampsia and atherosclerosis: a protective effect of physical exercise?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belo, Luís; Santos-Silva, Alice; Quintanilha, Alexandre; Rebelo, Irene

    2008-01-01

    Pre-eclampsia (PE), a characteristic hypertensive disorder of human pregnancy and a leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity worldwide, shares some similarities with atherosclerosis, namely the involvement of oxidative stress and of endothelial dysfunction in their pathophysiologies, the presence of similar typical lesions and of common risk factors. Although it is widely accepted that regular physical exercise protects against cardiovascular events, few studies have addressed the impact of physical activity in reducing PE risk. In this paper, similarities between atherosclerosis and PE, involving pathogenic mechanisms, are described. This paper also reviews the studies performed until now that evaluated the impact of regular physical exercise (prenataly or during pregnancy) in reducing risk of PE. The potential mechanisms underlying physical activity as a prophylactic approach of PE, as observed with cardiovascular diseases, are discussed.

  7. The Receiver System for the Ooty Wide Field Array

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The legacy Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) is being reconfigured as a 264-element synthesis telescope, called the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). Its antenna elements are the contiguous 1.92 m sections of the parabolic cylinder. It will operate in a 38-MHz frequency band centred at 326.5 MHz and will be equipped with a ...

  8. Application of discrete Fourier inter-coefficient difference for assessing genetic sequence similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Brian R; Aburdene, Maurice; Thompson, Alex; Warres, Zach

    2014-01-01

    Digital signal processing (DSP) techniques for biological sequence analysis continue to grow in popularity due to the inherent digital nature of these sequences. DSP methods have demonstrated early success for detection of coding regions in a gene. Recently, these methods are being used to establish DNA gene similarity. We present the inter-coefficient difference (ICD) transformation, a novel extension of the discrete Fourier transformation, which can be applied to any DNA sequence. The ICD method is a mathematical, alignment-free DNA comparison method that generates a genetic signature for any DNA sequence that is used to generate relative measures of similarity among DNA sequences. We demonstrate our method on a set of insulin genes obtained from an evolutionarily wide range of species, and on a set of avian influenza viral sequences, which represents a set of highly similar sequences. We compare phylogenetic trees generated using our technique against trees generated using traditional alignment techniques for similarity and demonstrate that the ICD method produces a highly accurate tree without requiring an alignment prior to establishing sequence similarity.

  9. Data mining technique for fast retrieval of similar waveforms in Fusion massive databases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vega, J.; Pereira, A.; Portas, A.; Dormido-Canto, S.; Farias, G.; Dormido, R.; Sanchez, J.; Duro, N.; Santos, M.; Sanchez, E.; Pajares, G.

    2008-01-01

    Fusion measurement systems generate similar waveforms for reproducible behavior. A major difficulty related to data analysis is the identification, in a rapid and automated way, of a set of discharges with comparable behaviour, i.e. discharges with 'similar' waveforms. Here we introduce a new technique for rapid searching and retrieval of 'similar' signals. The approach consists of building a classification system that avoids traversing the whole database looking for similarities. The classification system diminishes the problem dimensionality (by means of waveform feature extraction) and reduces the searching space to just the most probable 'similar' waveforms (clustering techniques). In the searching procedure, the input waveform is classified in any of the existing clusters. Then, a similarity measure is computed between the input signal and all cluster elements in order to identify the most similar waveforms. The inner product of normalized vectors is used as the similarity measure as it allows the searching process to be independent of signal gain and polarity. This development has been applied recently to TJ-II stellarator databases and has been integrated into its remote participation system

  10. Connecting the dots, genome-wide association studies in substance use

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nivard, M.G.; Verweij, K.J.H.; Minica, C.C.; Treur, J.L.; Vink, J.M.; Boomsma, D.I.

    2016-01-01

    The recent genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analysis of lifetime cannabis use by the International Cannabis Consortium marks a milestone in the study of the genetics of cannabis use. Similar milestones for the genetics of substance use were the GWA meta-analyses of four smoking related traits, of

  11. STRATEGY OF DATA INTEGRITY CONTROL FOR SYSTEM WIDE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT CONCEPT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lev E. Rudel'son

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The growth in demand for air transportation services is steadily ahead of the capacity of carriers. The most advanced aviation empires set a goal to triple the capacity of the current air traffic management system by the mid-twenties. The technical basis for such achievements is equipping all aircraft with automatic dependent surveillance broadcast systems, which provides both control over the parameters of their movement anywhere in the world, and reliable mutual exchange of verified information on the air picture and forecasts of its development between all pilots and ground services.The concepts of collaborative decision-making on air traffic flows management and System Wide Information Management, suggested by ICAO experts, have proclaimed the idea of the flight information availability as a means of increasing the intensity of flights, not only for considering, but also for making changes in it by all the participants of the process of organizing and servicing the flows – analysts, meteorologists, planners, air traffic controllers, pilots (in the part relating to their area. The technology of specialists’ cooperation is proposed. It allows to make sensible decisions on servicing aircraft flows for the whole depth of their flights (both on routes and along free trajectories when changing the conditions for performing flights.The task is to develop software procedures for computer support of new concepts that ensure the integrity of aeronautical data used by all the participants in the operational organization of flows. All the interconnected elements of air traffic management (personnel and equipment may distort the system public information with the known probability of cooperation outcomes. The article proposes a three-level algorithm for neutralizing data mismatch in the elements of a distributed network of process participants ground and on-board computing facilities, allowing in the actual time to maintain consistency of information

  12. Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System Incident Data Associated with the Technical Challenges of the System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Withrow, Colleen A.; Reveley, Mary S.

    2015-01-01

    The Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies (SSAT) Project asked the AvSP Systems and Portfolio Analysis Team to identify SSAT-related trends. SSAT had four technical challenges: advance safety assurance to enable deployment of NextGen systems; automated discovery of precursors to aviation safety incidents; increasing safety of human-automation interaction by incorporating human performance, and prognostic algorithm design for safety assurance. This report reviews incident data from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) for system-component-failure- or-malfunction- (SCFM-) related and human-factor-related incidents for commercial or cargo air carriers (Part 121), commuter airlines (Part 135), and general aviation (Part 91). The data was analyzed by Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) part, phase of flight, SCFM category, human factor category, and a variety of anomalies and results. There were 38 894 SCFM-related incidents and 83 478 human-factorrelated incidents analyzed between January 1993 and April 2011.

  13. Stuxnet and the impact on accelerator control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lueders, S.

    2012-01-01

    2010 has seen wide news coverage of a new kind of computer attack, named 'Stuxnet', targeting control systems. Due to its level of sophistication, it is widely acknowledged that this attack marks the very first case of a cyber-war of one country against the industrial infrastructure of another, although there is still much speculation about the details. Worse yet, experts recognize that Stuxnet might just be the beginning and that similar attacks, eventually with much less sophistication, but with much more collateral damage, can be expected in the years to come. Stuxnet was targeting a special model of the Siemens 400 PLC series. Similar modules are also deployed for accelerator controls like the LHC cryogenics or vacuum systems as well as the detector control systems in LHC experiments. Therefore, the aim of this presentation is to give an insight into what this new attack does and why it is deemed to be special. In particular, the potential impact on accelerator and experiment control systems will be discussed, and means will be presented on how to properly protect against similar attacks. Deploying a 'Defense-in-depth' approach appears to be mandatory. (author)

  14. Asymmetric similarity-weighted ensembles for image segmentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cheplygina, V.; Van Opbroek, A.; Ikram, M. A.

    2016-01-01

    Supervised classification is widely used for image segmentation. To work effectively, these techniques need large amounts of labeled training data, that is representative of the test data. Different patient groups, different scanners or different scanning protocols can lead to differences between...... the images, thus representative data might not be available. Transfer learning techniques can be used to account for these differences, thus taking advantage of all the available data acquired with different protocols. We investigate the use of classifier ensembles, where each classifier is weighted...... and the direction of measurement needs to be chosen carefully. We also show that a point set similarity measure is robust across different studies, and outperforms state-of-the-art results on a multi-center brain tissue segmentation task....

  15. Testing statistical self-similarity in the topology of river networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troutman, Brent M.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Gupta, Vijay K.

    2010-01-01

    Recent work has demonstrated that the topological properties of real river networks deviate significantly from predictions of Shreve's random model. At the same time the property of mean self-similarity postulated by Tokunaga's model is well supported by data. Recently, a new class of network model called random self-similar networks (RSN) that combines self-similarity and randomness has been introduced to replicate important topological features observed in real river networks. We investigate if the hypothesis of statistical self-similarity in the RSN model is supported by data on a set of 30 basins located across the continental United States that encompass a wide range of hydroclimatic variability. We demonstrate that the generators of the RSN model obey a geometric distribution, and self-similarity holds in a statistical sense in 26 of these 30 basins. The parameters describing the distribution of interior and exterior generators are tested to be statistically different and the difference is shown to produce the well-known Hack's law. The inter-basin variability of RSN parameters is found to be statistically significant. We also test generator dependence on two climatic indices, mean annual precipitation and radiative index of dryness. Some indication of climatic influence on the generators is detected, but this influence is not statistically significant with the sample size available. Finally, two key applications of the RSN model to hydrology and geomorphology are briefly discussed.

  16. A COMPARISON OF SEMANTIC SIMILARITY MODELS IN EVALUATING CONCEPT SIMILARITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Q. X. Xu

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The semantic similarities are important in concept definition, recognition, categorization, interpretation, and integration. Many semantic similarity models have been established to evaluate semantic similarities of objects or/and concepts. To find out the suitability and performance of different models in evaluating concept similarities, we make a comparison of four main types of models in this paper: the geometric model, the feature model, the network model, and the transformational model. Fundamental principles and main characteristics of these models are introduced and compared firstly. Land use and land cover concepts of NLCD92 are employed as examples in the case study. The results demonstrate that correlations between these models are very high for a possible reason that all these models are designed to simulate the similarity judgement of human mind.

  17. Survey-assessed quality and organizational factors related to quality in Pursuing Perfection hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shwartz, Michael; Cramer, Irene E; Holmes, Sally K; Cohen, Alan B; Restuccia, Joseph D; VanDeusen Lukas, Carol; Sullivan, Jennifer L; Charns, Martin P

    2010-01-01

    The goal of the Pursuing Perfection (P2) program was to encourage organizations to push quality improvement to new levels of excellence. As part of an evaluation of P2, we surveyed employees at the 7 participating P2 organizations to (1) assess their perceptions of patient care quality and improvement progress and (2) examine perceived performance on organizational and workgroup characteristics associated with quality. Many survey questions were drawn from existing conceptual models and survey instruments. We used factor analysis to create new scales from questions that were not part of established scales. We used correlation coefficients and multivariable models to examine relationships among variables. Variables most strongly associated with perceived quality included standardized and simplified care processes resulting in coordinated care and smooth handoffs, a clear sense of organizational direction and clear action plans, and communication with staff about reasons for change and improvement progress made. Of those variables with a strong relationship to quality, ones with relatively low mean ratings included workgroup coordination; sufficient resources and support for improvement; training; and efficient use of people, time, and energy. These are important areas on which management should focus to improve employee ratings of quality.

  18. Towards Personalized Medicine: Leveraging Patient Similarity and Drug Similarity Analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ping; Wang, Fei; Hu, Jianying; Sorrentino, Robert

    2014-01-01

    The rapid adoption of electronic health records (EHR) provides a comprehensive source for exploratory and predictive analytic to support clinical decision-making. In this paper, we investigate how to utilize EHR to tailor treatments to individual patients based on their likelihood to respond to a therapy. We construct a heterogeneous graph which includes two domains (patients and drugs) and encodes three relationships (patient similarity, drug similarity, and patient-drug prior associations). We describe a novel approach for performing a label propagation procedure to spread the label information representing the effectiveness of different drugs for different patients over this heterogeneous graph. The proposed method has been applied on a real-world EHR dataset to help identify personalized treatments for hypercholesterolemia. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach and suggest that the combination of appropriate patient similarity and drug similarity analytics could lead to actionable insights for personalized medicine. Particularly, by leveraging drug similarity in combination with patient similarity, our method could perform well even on new or rarely used drugs for which there are few records of known past performance. PMID:25717413

  19. Phonological similarity effect in complex span task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camos, Valérie; Mora, Gérôme; Barrouillet, Pierre

    2013-01-01

    The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that two systems are involved in verbal working memory; one is specifically dedicated to the maintenance of phonological representations through verbal rehearsal while the other would maintain multimodal representations through attentional refreshing. This theoretical framework predicts that phonologically related phenomena such as the phonological similarity effect (PSE) should occur when the domain-specific system is involved in maintenance, but should disappear when concurrent articulation hinders its use. Impeding maintenance in the domain-general system by a concurrent attentional demand should impair recall performance without affecting PSE. In three experiments, we manipulated the concurrent articulation and the attentional demand induced by the processing component of complex span tasks in which participants had to maintain lists of either similar or dissimilar words. Confirming our predictions, PSE affected recall performance in complex span tasks. Although both the attentional demand and the articulatory requirement of the concurrent task impaired recall, only the induction of an articulatory suppression during maintenance made the PSE disappear. These results suggest a duality in the systems devoted to verbal maintenance in the short term, constraining models of working memory.

  20. Archetypes for Engaged Scholarship in Information Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schubert, Petra; Bjørn-Andersen, Niels; Kilian, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    This article addresses the topic of university-industry collaboration (UIC), a term that is used to describe the active engagement of a company (or companies) in a joint research project with academics. The objectives and motivations of UIC have been discussed widely in the literature and are sum...... present typical forms of collaboration, which we call archetypes, with their defining characteristics and argue that UIC is a valuable research strategy, which we as IS researchers should pursue in order to obtain relevance in our research....

  1. Is the Family System in Romania Similar to those of Southern European Countries?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Castiglioni

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In his influential 1998 study, David S. Reher discusses historical differences between countries with strong and weak family ties. He focuses on the “Western World”, comparing Italy and the Iberian Peninsula with Scandinavia, the British Isles, the Low Countries, Germany and Austria, together with North America. In this paper, we explore whether Romania, in Eastern Europe, can be characterised as having a strong family system, given the increasingly important role family has played for individual well-being following the end of the socialist regime. We observe a number of similarities between Romania and Southern European countries in terms of behaviours associated with “strong family ties”, opinions on family care and mutual intergenerational support. Differences can be explained in light of Romania’s economic and housing crisis. Overall, it is likely that the importance of family ties in Romania increased after the end of the socialist regime.

  2. Synchronized Pulsed dc - dc Converter as Maximum Power Position Tracker with Wide Load and Insolation Variation for Stand Alone PV System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardik, P. Desai; Ranjan Maheshwari

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates the interest focused on employing parallel connected dc-dc converter with high tracking effectiveness under wide variation in environmental conditions (Insolation) and wide load variation. dc-dc converter is an essential part of the stand alone PV system. Paper also presents an approach on how duty cycle for maximum power position (MPP) is adjusted by taking care of varying load conditions and without iterative steps. Synchronized PWM pulses are employed for the converter. High tracking efficiency is achieved with continuous input and inductor current. In this approach, the converter can he utilized in buck as well in boost mode. The PV system simulation was verified and experimental results were in agreement to the presented scheme. (authors)

  3. Improved personalized recommendation based on a similarity network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ximeng; Liu, Yun; Xiong, Fei

    2016-08-01

    A recommender system helps individual users find the preferred items rapidly and has attracted extensive attention in recent years. Many successful recommendation algorithms are designed on bipartite networks, such as network-based inference or heat conduction. However, most of these algorithms define the resource-allocation methods for an average allocation. That is not reasonable because average allocation cannot indicate the user choice preference and the influence between users which leads to a series of non-personalized recommendation results. We propose a personalized recommendation approach that combines the similarity function and bipartite network to generate a similarity network that improves the resource-allocation process. Our model introduces user influence into the recommender system and states that the user influence can make the resource-allocation process more reasonable. We use four different metrics to evaluate our algorithms for three benchmark data sets. Experimental results show that the improved recommendation on a similarity network can obtain better accuracy and diversity than some competing approaches.

  4. Telepresence Robots in the Wide Wild World

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruijnes, Merijn; van Delden, Robby; Vroon, Jered Hendrik

    2017-01-01

    Mobile remote presence systems (MRPs) are the logical next step in telepresence, but what are the ethical, social, legal, and technical implications of such systems going into the wide wild world? We explored these potential issues by immersing ourselves in a range of possible applications by

  5. METH-33 - Performance assessment for the high resolution and wide swath (HRWS) post-Sentinel-1 SAR system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zonno, Mariantonietta; Maria J., Sanjuan-Ferrer,; Lopez-Dekker, Paco

    The next generation, post-Sentinel-1, ESA’s C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system is conceived to provide simultaneously high azimuth resolution and wide swath width (HRWS).There are different ways in which the imaging capabilities of the HRWS SAR system can be exploited, which translate...... or numerical models and, if these are not available, real SAR images as well as numerical algorithms and some explicit simulations of the data and of the inversion process are employed. The tool uses as input the HRWS SAR instrument performance for the different applicable modes and produces as output results...

  6. Interactive physics apparatus: influence on interest of secondary school students in pursuing a career path in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubrica, Joel V.; Abiasen, Jovalson T.; Dolipas, Bretel B.; Ramos, Jennifer Lyn S.

    2017-01-01

    In this article, we present results of our endeavours as physics educators to facilitate and support pedagogical change and development in the educational system of a developing country, the Philippines. We have discovered that the interaction of junior high school (years 7-10) students with physics apparatus can influence students’ interest in pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This assertion stems from self-reports of students who gave their views immediately after their exposure to interactive apparatus in their own school, outside of their usual lessons. Participants claimed that their interest in following a STEM career path was ‘greatly increased’ due to their exposure to these apparatus. This was true even for students who were intending to take a non-STEM career path. Thus, we recommend that, in settings that have constraints involving access to practical equipment, ways to introduce school level interactive physics apparatus to secondary school students be conducted in order to attract more students towards STEM courses. Possibly, policies encouraging this type of exposure should also be formulated.

  7. Genome-wide DNA binding pattern of two-component system response regulator RhpR in Pseudomonas syringae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tianhong Zhou

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Although Pseudomonas syringae uses the two-component system RhpRS to modulate the expression of type III secretion system (T3SS genes and pathogenicity, the molecular mechanisms and the regulon of RhpRS have yet to be fully demonstrated. We have performed a genome-wide analysis of RhpR binding to DNA prepared from P. syringae pv. phaseolicola in order to identify candidate direct targets of RhpR-mediated transcriptional regulation, as described in our recent article [1]. The data are available from NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO with the accession number GSE58533. Here we describe the detailed methods and data analyses of our RhpR ChIP-seq dataset.

  8. Hotel shows health system keys to service excellence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-08-01

    Ritz-Carlton partnership part of broader program pursuing service excellence. Nearly 600 system leaders will participate in day-long seminars. GE, Harvard serve as strategic partners for ongoing educational efforts.

  9. Data mining technique for fast retrieval of similar waveforms in Fusion massive databases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vega, J. [Asociacion EURATOM/CIEMAT Para Fusion, Madrid (Spain)], E-mail: jesus.vega@ciemat.es; Pereira, A.; Portas, A. [Asociacion EURATOM/CIEMAT Para Fusion, Madrid (Spain); Dormido-Canto, S.; Farias, G.; Dormido, R.; Sanchez, J.; Duro, N. [Departamento de Informatica y Automatica, UNED, Madrid (Spain); Santos, M. [Departamento de Arquitectura de Computadores y Automatica, UCM, Madrid (Spain); Sanchez, E. [Asociacion EURATOM/CIEMAT Para Fusion, Madrid (Spain); Pajares, G. [Departamento de Arquitectura de Computadores y Automatica, UCM, Madrid (Spain)

    2008-01-15

    Fusion measurement systems generate similar waveforms for reproducible behavior. A major difficulty related to data analysis is the identification, in a rapid and automated way, of a set of discharges with comparable behaviour, i.e. discharges with 'similar' waveforms. Here we introduce a new technique for rapid searching and retrieval of 'similar' signals. The approach consists of building a classification system that avoids traversing the whole database looking for similarities. The classification system diminishes the problem dimensionality (by means of waveform feature extraction) and reduces the searching space to just the most probable 'similar' waveforms (clustering techniques). In the searching procedure, the input waveform is classified in any of the existing clusters. Then, a similarity measure is computed between the input signal and all cluster elements in order to identify the most similar waveforms. The inner product of normalized vectors is used as the similarity measure as it allows the searching process to be independent of signal gain and polarity. This development has been applied recently to TJ-II stellarator databases and has been integrated into its remote participation system.

  10. Optimization of System Maturity and Equivalent System Mass for Exploration Systems Development Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magnaye, Romulo; Tan, Weiping; Ramirez-Marquez, Jose; Sauser, Bruce

    2010-01-01

    The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently pursuing the development of the next generation of human spacecraft and exploration systems throughout the Constellation Program. This includes, among others, habitation technologies for supporting lunar and Mars exploration. The key to these systems is the Exploration Life Support (ELS) system that composes several technology development projects related to atmosphere revitalization, water recovery, waste management and habitation. The proper functioning of these technologies is meant to produce sufficient and balanced resources of water, air, and food to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for long-term human habitation and exploration of space.

  11. Using sparse LU factorisation to precondition GMRES for a family of similarly structured matrices arising from process modelling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brooking, C. [Univ. of Bath (United Kingdom)

    1996-12-31

    Process engineering software is used to simulate the operation of large chemical plants. Such simulations are used for a variety of tasks, including operator training. For the software to be of practical use for this, dynamic simulations need to run in real-time. The models that the simulation is based upon are written in terms of Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE`s). In the numerical time-integration of systems of DAE`s using an implicit method such as backward Euler, the solution of nonlinear systems is required at each integration point. When solved using Newton`s method, this leads to the repeated solution of nonsymmetric sparse linear systems. These systems range in size from 500 to 20,000 variables. A typical integration may require around 3000 timesteps, and if 4 Newton iterates were needed on each time step, then this means approximately 12,000 linear systems must be solved. The matrices produced by the simulations have a similar sparsity pattern throughout the integration. They are also severely ill-conditioned, and have widely-scattered spectra.

  12. PURSUING AN EXCITING CAREER AS A WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST

    Science.gov (United States)

    Many people associate a career as a biologist to be similar to TV stars such as Jeff Corwin. Although biologists get to do exciting things like what viewers see on TV, being a biologist involves much more. I will talk about my career as a biologist, discuss experiences that you...

  13. Molecular similarity measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggiora, Gerald M; Shanmugasundaram, Veerabahu

    2011-01-01

    Molecular similarity is a pervasive concept in chemistry. It is essential to many aspects of chemical reasoning and analysis and is perhaps the fundamental assumption underlying medicinal chemistry. Dissimilarity, the complement of similarity, also plays a major role in a growing number of applications of molecular diversity in combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening, and related fields. How molecular information is represented, called the representation problem, is important to the type of molecular similarity analysis (MSA) that can be carried out in any given situation. In this work, four types of mathematical structure are used to represent molecular information: sets, graphs, vectors, and functions. Molecular similarity is a pairwise relationship that induces structure into sets of molecules, giving rise to the concept of chemical space. Although all three concepts - molecular similarity, molecular representation, and chemical space - are treated in this chapter, the emphasis is on molecular similarity measures. Similarity measures, also called similarity coefficients or indices, are functions that map pairs of compatible molecular representations that are of the same mathematical form into real numbers usually, but not always, lying on the unit interval. This chapter presents a somewhat pedagogical discussion of many types of molecular similarity measures, their strengths and limitations, and their relationship to one another. An expanded account of the material on chemical spaces presented in the first edition of this book is also provided. It includes a discussion of the topography of activity landscapes and the role that activity cliffs in these landscapes play in structure-activity studies.

  14. Investigating the Impact of a Genome-Wide Supported Bipolar Risk Variant of MAD1L1 on the Human Reward System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trost, Sarah; Diekhof, Esther K; Mohr, Holger; Vieker, Henning; Krämer, Bernd; Wolf, Claudia; Keil, Maria; Dechent, Peter; Binder, Elisabeth B; Gruber, Oliver

    2016-10-01

    Recent genome-wide association studies have identified MAD1L1 (mitotic arrest deficient-like 1) as a susceptibility gene for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The minor allele of the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs11764590 in MAD1L1 was associated with bipolar disorder. Both diseases, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, are linked to functional alterations in the reward system. We aimed at investigating possible effects of the MAD1L1 rs11764590 risk allele on reward systems functioning in healthy adults. A large homogenous sample of 224 young (aged 18-31 years) participants was genotyped and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All participants performed the 'Desire-Reason Dilemma' paradigm investigating the neural correlates that underlie reward processing and active reward dismissal in favor of a long-term goal. We found significant hypoactivations of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the bilateral striatum and bilateral frontal and parietal cortices in response to conditioned reward stimuli in the risk allele carriers compared with major allele carriers. In the dilemma situation, functional connectivity between prefrontal brain regions and the ventral striatum was significantly diminished in the risk allele carriers. Healthy risk allele carriers showed a significant deficit of their bottom-up response to conditioned reward stimuli in the bilateral VTA and striatum. Furthermore, functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and prefrontal areas exerting top-down control on the mesolimbic reward system was reduced in this group. Similar alterations in reward processing and disturbances of prefrontal control mechanisms on mesolimbic brain circuits have also been reported in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Together, these findings suggest the existence of an intermediate phenotype associated with MAD1L1.

  15. Cultural similarity, cultural competence, and nurse workforce diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGinnis, Sandra L; Brush, Barbara L; Moore, Jean

    2010-11-01

    Proponents of health workforce diversity argue that increasing the number of minority health care providers will enhance cultural similarity between patients and providers as well as the health system's capacity to provide culturally competent care. Measuring cultural similarity has been difficult, however, given that current benchmarks of workforce diversity categorize health workers by major racial/ethnic classifications rather than by cultural measures. This study examined the use of national racial/ethnic categories in both patient and registered nurse (RN) populations and found them to be a poor indicator of cultural similarity. Rather, we found that cultural similarity between RN and patient populations needs to be established at the level of local labor markets and broadened to include other cultural parameters such as country of origin, primary language, and self-identified ancestry. Only then can the relationship between cultural similarity and cultural competence be accurately determined and its outcomes measured.

  16. Distributing Congestion Management System Information Using the World Wide Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-01-01

    The Internet is a unique medium for the distribution of information, and it provides a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of peoples innate interest in transportation issues as they relate to their own lives. In particular, the World Wide Web (...

  17. A Novel Relevance Feedback Approach Based on Similarity Measure Modification in an X-Ray Image Retrieval System Based on Fuzzy Representation Using Fuzzy Attributed Relational Graph

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossien Pourghassem

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Relevance feedback approaches is used to improve the performance of content-based image retrieval systems. In this paper, a novel relevance feedback approach based on similarity measure modification in an X-ray image retrieval system based on fuzzy representation using fuzzy attributed relational graph (FARG is presented. In this approach, optimum weight of each feature in feature vector is calculated using similarity rate between query image and relevant and irrelevant images in user feedback. The calculated weight is used to tune fuzzy graph matching algorithm as a modifier parameter in similarity measure. The standard deviation of the retrieved image features is applied to calculate the optimum weight. The proposed image retrieval system uses a FARG for representation of images, a fuzzy matching graph algorithm as similarity measure and a semantic classifier based on merging scheme for determination of the search space in image database. To evaluate relevance feedback approach in the proposed system, a standard X-ray image database consisting of 10000 images in 57 classes is used. The improvement of the evaluation parameters shows proficiency and efficiency of the proposed system.

  18. The validity of the general similarity law for electrical breakdown of gases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osmokrovic, Predrag; Zivic, Tamara; Loncar, Boris; Vasic, Aleksandra

    2006-01-01

    This paper investigates the validity of the similarity law in cases of dc and pulse breakdown of gases. Geometrically similar systems insulated with SF 6 gas were used during experiments. It is shown that the similarity law is valid for dc breakdown voltage if the electron mean free path is included in geometrical parameters of the system, but not for pulse breakdown voltages. The explanation for this is the mechanism of the pulse discharge. The similarity law was expanded to take into account mechanisms of pulse breakdown initiation. Thus, the general similarity law is obtained, the validity of which in case of a pulse breakdown is established experimentally

  19. Towards an automatic wind speed and direction profiler for Wide Field adaptive optics systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivo, G.; Turchi, A.; Masciadri, E.; Guesalaga, A.; Neichel, B.

    2018-05-01

    Wide Field Adaptive Optics (WFAO) systems are among the most sophisticated adaptive optics (AO) systems available today on large telescopes. Knowledge of the vertical spatio-temporal distribution of wind speed (WS) and direction (WD) is fundamental to optimize the performance of such systems. Previous studies already proved that the Gemini Multi-Conjugated AO system (GeMS) is able to retrieve measurements of the WS and WD stratification using the SLOpe Detection And Ranging (SLODAR) technique and to store measurements in the telemetry data. In order to assess the reliability of these estimates and of the SLODAR technique applied to such complex AO systems, in this study we compared WS and WD values retrieved from GeMS with those obtained with the atmospheric model Meso-NH on a rich statistical sample of nights. It has previously been proved that the latter technique provided excellent agreement with a large sample of radiosoundings, both in statistical terms and on individual flights. It can be considered, therefore, as an independent reference. The excellent agreement between GeMS measurements and the model that we find in this study proves the robustness of the SLODAR approach. To bypass the complex procedures necessary to achieve automatic measurements of the wind with GeMS, we propose a simple automatic method to monitor nightly WS and WD using Meso-NH model estimates. Such a method can be applied to whatever present or new-generation facilities are supported by WFAO systems. The interest of this study is, therefore, well beyond the optimization of GeMS performance.

  20. Water quality, meteorological, and nutrient data collected by the the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP) from January 1, 1995 to August 1, 2011 (NODC Accession 0052765)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The National Estuarine Research Reserve System's System-wide Monitoring Program (NERRS SWMP) collected water quality, meteorological, and nutrient data in 26...

  1. Manipulation Robustness of Collaborative Filtering Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Benjamin Van Roy; Xiang Yan

    2009-01-01

    A collaborative filtering system recommends to users products that similar users like. Collaborative filtering systems influence purchase decisions, and hence have become targets of manipulation by unscrupulous vendors. We provide theoretical and empirical results demonstrating that while common nearest neighbor algorithms, which are widely used in commercial systems, can be highly susceptible to manipulation, two classes of collaborative filtering algorithms which we refer to as linear and a...

  2. Drought Stress Responses of Sunflower Germplasm Developed after Wide Hybridization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roumiana Dimova Vassilevska-Ivanova

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Response of sunflower germplasms viz. cultivated sunflower H. annuus and two breeding lines H. annuus x T. rotundifolia and H. annuus x V. encelioides developed after wide hybridization were used for identification of drought tolerant sunflower genotypes at the seedling growth stage. Three water stress levels of zero (control, -0.4, and -0.8 MPa were developed using polyethyleneglycol-6000 (PEG-6000. Physiological and biochemical stress determining parameters such as root and shoots length, fresh weight, antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase (SOD, catalase (CAT, guaiacol peroxidase (GPO, ascorbate peroxidase (APX and antioxidant metabolite content (total antioxidant capacity, total phenols and total flavonoids content were compared between seedlings of all three genotypes. Results revealed that sunflower genotypes have similar responses at two osmotic potentials for shoot and root length and fresh weight. The data also showed that drought stresss could induce oxidative stress, as indicated by the increase level of ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase at -04 MPa in H. annuus cv 1114. Although the activity of ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase was differentially influenced by drought, the changes of antioxidant enzyme activities such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, guaiacol peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase subjected to drought stress follow a similar pattern in both breeding lines, indicating that similar defense systems might be involved in the oxidative stress injury in sunflowers. Increase in content of phenols and flavonoids were detected for all three genotypes under stress, which showed that these were major antioxidant metabolites in scavenging cellular H2O2.

  3. Travelling-wave similarity solutions for a steadily translating slender dry patch in a thin fluid film

    KAUST Repository

    Yatim, Y. M.; Duffy, B. R.; Wilson, S. K.

    2013-01-01

    A novel family of three-dimensional travelling-wave similarity solutions describing a steadily translating slender dry patch in an infinitely wide thin fluid film on an inclined planar substrate when surface-tension effects are negligible

  4. Using wide area differential GPS to improve total system error for precision flight operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alter, Keith Warren

    Total System Error (TSE) refers to an aircraft's total deviation from the desired flight path. TSE can be divided into Navigational System Error (NSE), the error attributable to the aircraft's navigation system, and Flight Technical Error (FTE), the error attributable to pilot or autopilot control. Improvement in either NSE or FTE reduces TSE and leads to the capability to fly more precise flight trajectories. The Federal Aviation Administration's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) became operational for non-safety critical applications in 2000 and will become operational for safety critical applications in 2002. This navigation service will provide precise 3-D positioning (demonstrated to better than 5 meters horizontal and vertical accuracy) for civil aircraft in the United States. Perhaps more importantly, this navigation system, which provides continuous operation across large regions, enables new flight instrumentation concepts which allow pilots to fly aircraft significantly more precisely, both for straight and curved flight paths. This research investigates the capabilities of some of these new concepts, including the Highway-In-The Sky (HITS) display, which not only improves FTE but also reduces pilot workload when compared to conventional flight instrumentation. Augmentation to the HITS display, including perspective terrain and terrain alerting, improves pilot situational awareness. Flight test results from demonstrations in Juneau, AK, and Lake Tahoe, CA, provide evidence of the overall feasibility of integrated, low-cost flight navigation systems based on these concepts. These systems, requiring no more computational power than current-generation low-end desktop computers, have immediate applicability to general aviation flight from Cessnas to business jets and can support safer and ultimately more economical flight operations. Commercial airlines may also, over time, benefit from these new technologies.

  5. Learning semantic and visual similarity for endomicroscopy video retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andre, Barbara; Vercauteren, Tom; Buchner, Anna M; Wallace, Michael B; Ayache, Nicholas

    2012-06-01

    Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is a valuable computer vision technique which is increasingly being applied in the medical community for diagnosis support. However, traditional CBIR systems only deliver visual outputs, i.e., images having a similar appearance to the query, which is not directly interpretable by the physicians. Our objective is to provide a system for endomicroscopy video retrieval which delivers both visual and semantic outputs that are consistent with each other. In a previous study, we developed an adapted bag-of-visual-words method for endomicroscopy retrieval, called "Dense-Sift," that computes a visual signature for each video. In this paper, we present a novel approach to complement visual similarity learning with semantic knowledge extraction, in the field of in vivo endomicroscopy. We first leverage a semantic ground truth based on eight binary concepts, in order to transform these visual signatures into semantic signatures that reflect how much the presence of each semantic concept is expressed by the visual words describing the videos. Using cross-validation, we demonstrate that, in terms of semantic detection, our intuitive Fisher-based method transforming visual-word histograms into semantic estimations outperforms support vector machine (SVM) methods with statistical significance. In a second step, we propose to improve retrieval relevance by learning an adjusted similarity distance from a perceived similarity ground truth. As a result, our distance learning method allows to statistically improve the correlation with the perceived similarity. We also demonstrate that, in terms of perceived similarity, the recall performance of the semantic signatures is close to that of visual signatures and significantly better than those of several state-of-the-art CBIR methods. The semantic signatures are thus able to communicate high-level medical knowledge while being consistent with the low-level visual signatures and much shorter than them

  6. Models for discrete-time self-similar vector processes with application to network traffic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seungsin; Rao, Raghuveer M.; Narasimha, Rajesh

    2003-07-01

    The paper defines self-similarity for vector processes by employing the discrete-time continuous-dilation operation which has successfully been used previously by the authors to define 1-D discrete-time stochastic self-similar processes. To define self-similarity of vector processes, it is required to consider the cross-correlation functions between different 1-D processes as well as the autocorrelation function of each constituent 1-D process in it. System models to synthesize self-similar vector processes are constructed based on the definition. With these systems, it is possible to generate self-similar vector processes from white noise inputs. An important aspect of the proposed models is that they can be used to synthesize various types of self-similar vector processes by choosing proper parameters. Additionally, the paper presents evidence of vector self-similarity in two-channel wireless LAN data and applies the aforementioned systems to simulate the corresponding network traffic traces.

  7. Similarly shaped letters evoke similar colors in grapheme-color synesthesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brang, David; Rouw, Romke; Ramachandran, V S; Coulson, Seana

    2011-04-01

    Grapheme-color synesthesia is a neurological condition in which viewing numbers or letters (graphemes) results in the concurrent sensation of color. While the anatomical substrates underlying this experience are well understood, little research to date has investigated factors influencing the particular colors associated with particular graphemes or how synesthesia occurs developmentally. A recent suggestion of such an interaction has been proposed in the cascaded cross-tuning (CCT) model of synesthesia, which posits that in synesthetes connections between grapheme regions and color area V4 participate in a competitive activation process, with synesthetic colors arising during the component-stage of grapheme processing. This model more directly suggests that graphemes sharing similar component features (lines, curves, etc.) should accordingly activate more similar synesthetic colors. To test this proposal, we created and regressed synesthetic color-similarity matrices for each of 52 synesthetes against a letter-confusability matrix, an unbiased measure of visual similarity among graphemes. Results of synesthetes' grapheme-color correspondences indeed revealed that more similarly shaped graphemes corresponded with more similar synesthetic colors, with stronger effects observed in individuals with more intense synesthetic experiences (projector synesthetes). These results support the CCT model of synesthesia, implicate early perceptual mechanisms as driving factors in the elicitation of synesthetic hues, and further highlight the relationship between conceptual and perceptual factors in this phenomenon. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Investigating Correlation between Protein Sequence Similarity and Semantic Similarity Using Gene Ontology Annotations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikram, Najmul; Qadir, Muhammad Abdul; Afzal, Muhammad Tanvir

    2018-01-01

    Sequence similarity is a commonly used measure to compare proteins. With the increasing use of ontologies, semantic (function) similarity is getting importance. The correlation between these measures has been applied in the evaluation of new semantic similarity methods, and in protein function prediction. In this research, we investigate the relationship between the two similarity methods. The results suggest absence of a strong correlation between sequence and semantic similarities. There is a large number of proteins with low sequence similarity and high semantic similarity. We observe that Pearson's correlation coefficient is not sufficient to explain the nature of this relationship. Interestingly, the term semantic similarity values above 0 and below 1 do not seem to play a role in improving the correlation. That is, the correlation coefficient depends only on the number of common GO terms in proteins under comparison, and the semantic similarity measurement method does not influence it. Semantic similarity and sequence similarity have a distinct behavior. These findings are of significant effect for future works on protein comparison, and will help understand the semantic similarity between proteins in a better way.

  9. RAMI analysis of the ITER LFS CTS system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Infante, V.; Henriques, E.; Gonçalves, B.

    2017-01-01

    with the methodology pursued. The Functional Analysis, developed both at system and sub-system level, are the major inputs for the RAMI analysis. A systematic approach has been used, and significant design assumptions have been made due to the lack of knowledge and definition inherent to preliminary design stages...

  10. The Csr system regulates genome-wide mRNA stability and transcription and thus gene expression in Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esquerré, Thomas; Bouvier, Marie; Turlan, Catherine; Carpousis, Agamemnon J; Girbal, Laurence; Cocaign-Bousquet, Muriel

    2016-04-26

    Bacterial adaptation requires large-scale regulation of gene expression. We have performed a genome-wide analysis of the Csr system, which regulates many important cellular functions. The Csr system is involved in post-transcriptional regulation, but a role in transcriptional regulation has also been suggested. Two proteins, an RNA-binding protein CsrA and an atypical signaling protein CsrD, participate in the Csr system. Genome-wide transcript stabilities and levels were compared in wildtype E. coli (MG1655) and isogenic mutant strains deficient in CsrA or CsrD activity demonstrating for the first time that CsrA and CsrD are global negative and positive regulators of transcription, respectively. The role of CsrA in transcription regulation may be indirect due to the 4.6-fold increase in csrD mRNA concentration in the CsrA deficient strain. Transcriptional action of CsrA and CsrD on a few genes was validated by transcriptional fusions. In addition to an effect on transcription, CsrA stabilizes thousands of mRNAs. This is the first demonstration that CsrA is a global positive regulator of mRNA stability. For one hundred genes, we predict that direct control of mRNA stability by CsrA might contribute to metabolic adaptation by regulating expression of genes involved in carbon metabolism and transport independently of transcriptional regulation.

  11. Further Improvements to Linear Mixed Models for Genome-Wide Association Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Widmer, Christian; Lippert, Christoph; Weissbrod, Omer; Fusi, Nicolo; Kadie, Carl; Davidson, Robert; Listgarten, Jennifer; Heckerman, David

    2014-11-01

    We examine improvements to the linear mixed model (LMM) that better correct for population structure and family relatedness in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). LMMs rely on the estimation of a genetic similarity matrix (GSM), which encodes the pairwise similarity between every two individuals in a cohort. These similarities are estimated from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or other genetic variants. Traditionally, all available SNPs are used to estimate the GSM. In empirical studies across a wide range of synthetic and real data, we find that modifications to this approach improve GWAS performance as measured by type I error control and power. Specifically, when only population structure is present, a GSM constructed from SNPs that well predict the phenotype in combination with principal components as covariates controls type I error and yields more power than the traditional LMM. In any setting, with or without population structure or family relatedness, a GSM consisting of a mixture of two component GSMs, one constructed from all SNPs and another constructed from SNPs that well predict the phenotype again controls type I error and yields more power than the traditional LMM. Software implementing these improvements and the experimental comparisons are available at http://microsoft.com/science.

  12. STUXNET and the Impact on Accelerator Control Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Lüders, S

    2011-01-01

    2010 has seen wide news coverage of a new kind of computer attack, named "Stuxnet", targeting control systems. Due to its level of sophistication, it is widely acknowledged that this attack marks the very first case of a cyber-war of one country against the industrial infrastructure of another, although there is still much speculation about the details. Worse yet, experts recognize that Stuxnet might just be the beginning and that similar attacks, eventually with much less sophistication, but with much more collateral damage, can be expected in the years to come. Stuxnet was targeting a special model of the Siemens 400 PLC series. Similar modules are also deployed for accelerator controls like the LHC cryogenics or vacuum systems as well as the detector control systems in LHC experiments. Therefore, the aim of this presentation is to give an insight into what this new attack does and why it is deemed to be special. In particular, the potential impact on accelerator and experiment control sys...

  13. New Similarity Functions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yazdani, Hossein; Ortiz-Arroyo, Daniel; Kwasnicka, Halina

    2016-01-01

    spaces, in addition to their similarity in the vector space. Prioritized Weighted Feature Distance (PWFD) works similarly as WFD, but provides the ability to give priorities to desirable features. The accuracy of the proposed functions are compared with other similarity functions on several data sets....... Our results show that the proposed functions work better than other methods proposed in the literature....

  14. Pursuing Photovoltaic Cost-Effectiveness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yongheng; Koutroulis, Eftichios; Sangwongwanich, Ariya

    2017-01-01

    loading of the power devices. However, its feasibility is challenged by the associated energy losses. An increase of the inverter lifetime and a reduction of the energy yield can alter the cost of energy, demanding an optimization of the power limitation. Therefore, aiming at minimizing the Levelized Cost...... be flexibly performed. As an advanced control strategy, the Absolute Active Power Control (AAPC) can effectively solve the overloading issues by limiting the maximum possible PV power to a certain level (i.e., the power limitation), and also benefit the inverter reliability due to the reduction in the thermal...... performance in terms of LCOE and energy production can be obtained by enabling the AAPC strategy, compared to the conventional PV inverter operating only in the maximum power point tracking mode. In the presented case study, the minimum of the LCOE is achieved for the PV system when the power limit...

  15. Case-Based Fault Diagnostic System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamed, A.H.

    2014-01-01

    Nowadays, case-based fault diagnostic (CBFD) systems have become important and widely applied problem solving technologies. They are based on the assumption that “similar faults have similar diagnosis”. On the other hand, CBFD systems still suffer from some limitations. Common ones of them are: (1) failure of CBFD to have the needed diagnosis for the new faults that have no similar cases in the case library. (2) Limited memorization when increasing the number of stored cases in the library. The proposed research introduces incorporating the neural network into the case based system to enable the system to diagnose all the faults. Neural networks have proved their success in the classification and diagnosis problems. The suggested system uses the neural network to diagnose the new faults (cases) that cannot be diagnosed by the traditional CBR diagnostic system. Besides, the proposed system can use the another neural network to control adding and deleting the cases in the library to manage the size of the cases in the case library. However, the suggested system has improved the performance of the case based fault diagnostic system when applied for the motor rolling bearing as a case of study

  16. Heat Loss Evaluation of the SMART-ITL Primary System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, Sung Uk; Bae, Hwang; Kim, Dong Eok; Park, Keun Tae; Park, Hyun Sik; Yi, Sung Jae

    2013-01-01

    It is considered that the heat loss rate is one of the critical factors affecting the transient behavior of an integral effect test facility. This paper presents the experimental results of the heat loss rate for the primary system of a SMART-ITL (System-Integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor-Integral Test Loop) facility including the pressurizer (PZR). To evaluate the heat loss rate of the primary system, two different approaches were pursued, i. e., integral and differential approaches. The integral approach is a constant temperature method which controls the core and PZR powers at a desired temperature condition and the differential approach is a natural cooling-down measurement method that lasts for a long period of time. In the present work, the heat losses derived from integral and differential approaches were acquired for the primary system of the SMART-ITL. The results obtained by the two approaches were very similar. In addition, an empirical correlation with respect to the difference between the wall temperature and the ambient temperature was proposed to represent the heat loss characteristics of the SMART-ITL facility. The estimated heat losses could be used to estimate the heat loss during the tests and code simulations

  17. Wireless data collection system for real-time arterial travel time estimates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-01

    This project pursued several objectives conducive to the implementation and testing of a Bluetooth (BT) based system to collect travel time data, including the deployment of a BT-based travel time data collection system to perform comprehensive testi...

  18. Digital demodulator for wide bandwidth SAR

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Jørn Hjelm

    2000-01-01

    A novel approach to the design of efficient digital quadrature demodulators for wide bandwidth SAR systems is described. Efficiency is obtained by setting the intermediate frequency to 1/4 the ADC sampling frequency. One channel is made filter-free by synchronizing the local oscillator...

  19. Binary similarity measures for fingerprint analysis of qualitative metabolomic profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rácz, Anita; Andrić, Filip; Bajusz, Dávid; Héberger, Károly

    2018-01-01

    Contemporary metabolomic fingerprinting is based on multiple spectrometric and chromatographic signals, used either alone or combined with structural and chemical information of metabolic markers at the qualitative and semiquantitative level. However, signal shifting, convolution, and matrix effects may compromise metabolomic patterns. Recent increase in the use of qualitative metabolomic data, described by the presence (1) or absence (0) of particular metabolites, demonstrates great potential in the field of metabolomic profiling and fingerprint analysis. The aim of this study is a comprehensive evaluation of binary similarity measures for the elucidation of patterns among samples of different botanical origin and various metabolomic profiles. Nine qualitative metabolomic data sets covering a wide range of natural products and metabolomic profiles were applied to assess 44 binary similarity measures for the fingerprinting of plant extracts and natural products. The measures were analyzed by the novel sum of ranking differences method (SRD), searching for the most promising candidates. Baroni-Urbani-Buser (BUB) and Hawkins-Dotson (HD) similarity coefficients were selected as the best measures by SRD and analysis of variance (ANOVA), while Dice (Di1), Yule, Russel-Rao, and Consonni-Todeschini 3 ranked the worst. ANOVA revealed that concordantly and intermediately symmetric similarity coefficients are better candidates for metabolomic fingerprinting than the asymmetric and correlation based ones. The fingerprint analysis based on the BUB and HD coefficients and qualitative metabolomic data performed equally well as the quantitative metabolomic profile analysis. Fingerprint analysis based on the qualitative metabolomic profiles and binary similarity measures proved to be a reliable way in finding the same/similar patterns in metabolomic data as that extracted from quantitative data.

  20. Concept definition of traffic flow wide-area surveillance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allgood, G.O.; Ferrell, R.K.; Kercel, S.W.

    1994-07-01

    Traffic management can be thought of as a stochastic queuing process where the serving time at one of its control points is dynamically linked to the global traffic pattern, which is, in turn, dynamically linked to the control point. For this closed-loop system to be effective, the traffic management system must sense and interpret large spatial projections of data originating from multiple sensor suites. The intent of the Wide-Area Surveillance (WAS) Project is to build upon this concept and define the operational specifications and characteristics of a Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance (TFWAS) system in terms of traffic management and control. In doing so, the functional capabilities of a TFWAS will be mapped onto an operational profile that is consistent with the Federal Highway Administration`s Intelligent Vehicle Highway System. This document provides the underlying foundation of this work by offering a concept definition for the TFWAS system. It concentrates on answering the question: ``What is the system?`` In doing so, the report develops a hierarchy of specialized definitions.

  1. Evaluation of the performance of diagnosis-related groups and similar casemix systems: methodological issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, G; Reid, B

    2001-05-01

    With the increasing recognition and application of casemix for managing and financing healthcare resources, the evaluation of alternative versions of systems such as diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) has been afforded high priority by governments and researchers in many countries. Outside the United States, an important issue has been the perceived need to produce local versions, and to establish whether or not these perform more effectively than the US-based classifications. A discussion of casemix evaluation criteria highlights the large number of measures that may be used, the rationale and assumptions underlying each measure, and the problems in interpreting the results. A review of recent evaluation studies from a number of countries indicates that considerable emphasis has been placed on the predictive validity criterion, as measured by the R2 statistic. However, the interpretation of the findings has been affected greatly by the methods used, especially the treatment and definition of outlier cases. Furthermore, the extent to which other evaluation criteria have been addressed has varied widely. In the absence of minimum evaluation standards, it is not possible to draw clear-cut conclusions about the superiority of one version of a casemix system over another, the need for a local adaptation, or the further development of an existing version. Without the evidence provided by properly designed studies, policy-makers and managers may place undue reliance on subjective judgments and the views of the most influential, but not necessarily best informed, healthcare interest groups.

  2. NASA Automated Fiber Placement Capabilities: Similar Systems, Complementary Purposes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, K. Chauncey; Jackson, Justin R.; Pelham, Larry I.; Stewart, Brian K.

    2015-01-01

    New automated fiber placement systems at the NASA Langley Research Center and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center provide state-of-art composites capabilities to these organizations. These systems support basic and applied research at Langley, complementing large-scale manufacturing and technology development at Marshall. These systems each consist of a multi-degree of freedom mobility platform including a commercial robot, a commercial tool changer mechanism, a bespoke automated fiber placement end effector, a linear track, and a rotational tool support structure. In addition, new end effectors with advanced capabilities may be either bought or developed with partners in industry and academia to extend the functionality of these systems. These systems will be used to build large and small composite parts in support of the ongoing NASA Composites for Exploration Upper Stage Project later this year.

  3. Temporal self-similar synchronization patterns and scaling in ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Repulsively coupled oscillators; synchronization patterns; self-similar ... system, one expects multistable behavior in analogy to ..... More about the scaling relation between the long-period ... The third type of representation of phases is via.

  4. Initial virtual flight test for a dynamically similar aircraft model with control augmentation system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linliang Guo

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available To satisfy the validation requirements of flight control law for advanced aircraft, a wind tunnel based virtual flight testing has been implemented in a low speed wind tunnel. A 3-degree-of-freedom gimbal, ventrally installed in the model, was used in conjunction with an actively controlled dynamically similar model of aircraft, which was equipped with the inertial measurement unit, attitude and heading reference system, embedded computer and servo-actuators. The model, which could be rotated around its center of gravity freely by the aerodynamic moments, together with the flow field, operator and real time control system made up the closed-loop testing circuit. The model is statically unstable in longitudinal direction, and it can fly stably in wind tunnel with the function of control augmentation of the flight control laws. The experimental results indicate that the model responds well to the operator’s instructions. The response of the model in the tests shows reasonable agreement with the simulation results. The difference of response of angle of attack is less than 0.5°. The effect of stability augmentation and attitude control law was validated in the test, meanwhile the feasibility of virtual flight test technique treated as preliminary evaluation tool for advanced flight vehicle configuration research was also verified.

  5. Genomic similarity and kernel methods I: advancements by building on mathematical and statistical foundations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaid, Daniel J

    2010-01-01

    Measures of genomic similarity are the basis of many statistical analytic methods. We review the mathematical and statistical basis of similarity methods, particularly based on kernel methods. A kernel function converts information for a pair of subjects to a quantitative value representing either similarity (larger values meaning more similar) or distance (smaller values meaning more similar), with the requirement that it must create a positive semidefinite matrix when applied to all pairs of subjects. This review emphasizes the wide range of statistical methods and software that can be used when similarity is based on kernel methods, such as nonparametric regression, linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models, hierarchical models, score statistics, and support vector machines. The mathematical rigor for these methods is summarized, as is the mathematical framework for making kernels. This review provides a framework to move from intuitive and heuristic approaches to define genomic similarities to more rigorous methods that can take advantage of powerful statistical modeling and existing software. A companion paper reviews novel approaches to creating kernels that might be useful for genomic analyses, providing insights with examples [1]. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  6. Why do conflict-generated diasporas pursue sovereignty-based claims through state-based or transnational channels? : Armenian, Albanian and Palestinian diasporas in the UK compared

    OpenAIRE

    Koinova, Maria

    2014-01-01

    Over the past decade, diaspora mobilization has become of increasing interest to International Relations scholars who study terrorism, civil wars and transnational social movements and networks. Nevertheless, an important area remains under-researched: conditions, causal mechanisms and processes of diaspora mobilization vis-a-vis emerging states, especially in a comparative perspective. This article asks why diaspora entrepreneurs in liberal states pursue the sovereignty goals of their origin...

  7. The World Wide Web: A Web Even a Fly Would Love

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryson, E.

    Ever since my introduction to the World Wide Web (WWW), it's been love at first byte. Searching on the WWW is similar to being able to go to a public library and allow yourself to be transported to any other book or library around the world by looking at a reference or index and clicking your heels together like Dorothy did in "The Wizard of Oz", only the clicking is done with a computer mouse. During this presentation, we will explore the WWW protocols which allow clients and servers to communicate on the Internet. We will demonstrate the ease with which users can navigate the virtual tidal wave of information available with a mere click of a button. In addition, the workshop will discuss the revolutionary aspects of this network information system and how it's impacting our libraries as a primary mechanism for rapid dissemination of knowledge.

  8. New similarity of triangular fuzzy number and its application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xixiang; Ma, Weimin; Chen, Liping

    2014-01-01

    The similarity of triangular fuzzy numbers is an important metric for application of it. There exist several approaches to measure similarity of triangular fuzzy numbers. However, some of them are opt to be large. To make the similarity well distributed, a new method SIAM (Shape's Indifferent Area and Midpoint) to measure triangular fuzzy number is put forward, which takes the shape's indifferent area and midpoint of two triangular fuzzy numbers into consideration. Comparison with other similarity measurements shows the effectiveness of the proposed method. Then, it is applied to collaborative filtering recommendation to measure users' similarity. A collaborative filtering case is used to illustrate users' similarity based on cloud model and triangular fuzzy number; the result indicates that users' similarity based on triangular fuzzy number can obtain better discrimination. Finally, a simulated collaborative filtering recommendation system is developed which uses cloud model and triangular fuzzy number to express users' comprehensive evaluation on items, and result shows that the accuracy of collaborative filtering recommendation based on triangular fuzzy number is higher.

  9. Inter Genre Similarity Modelling For Automatic Music Genre Classification

    OpenAIRE

    Bagci, Ulas; Erzin, Engin

    2009-01-01

    Music genre classification is an essential tool for music information retrieval systems and it has been finding critical applications in various media platforms. Two important problems of the automatic music genre classification are feature extraction and classifier design. This paper investigates inter-genre similarity modelling (IGS) to improve the performance of automatic music genre classification. Inter-genre similarity information is extracted over the mis-classified feature population....

  10. INIS: new world-wide nuclear information system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohmori, Eiichi; Furuya, Minoru

    1976-01-01

    A new search system utilizing Atomindex is expounded. The nuclear information system of United States of America will be shifted to the larger scale system, Atomindex, at the moment of discontinuing the publication of Nuclear Science Abstract (NSA). This shifting exerts large or small influence upon the information systems of the other countries. The Atomindex is a publication of the International Nuclear Information System (INIS), and it includes most market unavailable reports. It is delivered through the clearing house to the users. Main differences between INIS and NSA are illustrated. Each piece of literature is listed under one or more descriptor pairs. Each pair is composed of the main heading and its qualifier, both of which are descriptors. Atomindex employs four working languages, namely English, French, Russian and Spanish. However, a version in the original language, even when this is not a working language can be recorded on magnetic tapes. Many special characters (suffixes, Greek, etc.) as well as alphabet are used, and italic type or boldface can be designated, so that the quality of Atomindex is better than that of NSA. The tapes for SDI and RS will be utilized as on-line real time systems. The second generation that utilizes the computer seems to be superseding the first generation that turns over the abstracts page by page. (Iwakiri, K.)

  11. Multidimensional Scaling Visualization using Parametric Similarity Indices

    OpenAIRE

    Machado, J. A. Tenreiro; Lopes, António M.; Galhano, A.M.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we apply multidimensional scaling (MDS) and parametric similarity indices (PSI) in the analysis of complex systems (CS). Each CS is viewed as a dynamical system, exhibiting an output time-series to be interpreted as a manifestation of its behavior. We start by adopting a sliding window to sample the original data into several consecutive time periods. Second, we define a given PSI for tracking pieces of data. We then compare the windows for different values of the parameter, an...

  12. Visual Cues for an Adaptive Expert System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Helen B.

    NCR (National Cash Register) Corporation is pursuing opportunities to make their point of sale (POS) terminals easy to use and easy to learn. To approach the goal of making the technology invisible to the user, NCR has developed an adaptive expert prototype system for a department store POS operation. The structure for the adaptive system, the…

  13. A genome-wide association study of cognitive function in Chinese adult twins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xu, Chunsheng; Zhang, Dongfeng; Wu, Yili

    2017-01-01

    Multiple loci or genes have been identified using genome-wide association studies mainly in western countries but with inconsistent results. No similar studies have been conducted in the world's largest and rapidly aging Chinese population. The paper aimed to identify the specific genetic variants....... Gene-based analysis was performed on VEGAS2. The statistically significant genes were then subject to gene set enrichment analysis to further identify the specific biological pathways associated with cognitive function. No SNPs reached genome-wide significance although there were 13 SNPs of suggestive...

  14. A wide field X-ray camera

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sims, M.; Turner, M.J.L.; Willingale, R.

    1980-01-01

    A wide field of view X-ray camera based on the Dicke or Coded Mask principle is described. It is shown that this type of instrument is more sensitive than a pin-hole camera, or than a scanning survey of a given region of sky for all wide field conditions. The design of a practical camera is discussed and the sensitivity and performance of the chosen design are evaluated by means of computer simulations. The Wiener Filter and Maximum Entropy methods of deconvolution are described and these methods are compared with each other and cross-correlation using data from the computer simulations. It is shown that the analytic expressions for sensitivity used by other workers are confirmed by the simulations, and that ghost images caused by incomplete coding can be substantially eliminated by the use of the Wiener Filter and the Maximum Entropy Method, with some penalty in computer time for the latter. The cyclic mask configuration is compared with the simple mask camera. It is shown that when the diffuse X-ray background dominates, the simple system is more sensitive and has the better angular resolution. When sources dominate the simple system is less sensitive. It is concluded that the simple coded mask camera is the best instrument for wide field imaging of the X-ray sky. (orig.)

  15. The role of sophisticated accounting system in strategy management

    OpenAIRE

    Naranjo Gil, David

    2004-01-01

    Organizations are designing more sophisticated accounting information systems to meet the strategic goals and enhance their performance. This study examines the effect of accounting information system design on the performance of organizations pursuing different strategic priorities. The alignment between sophisticated accounting information systems and organizational strategy is analyzed. The enabling effect of the accounting information system on performance is also examined. Relationships ...

  16. Self-similar regimes of turbulence in weakly coupled plasmas under compression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viciconte, Giovanni; Gréa, Benoît-Joseph; Godeferd, Fabien S.

    2018-02-01

    Turbulence in weakly coupled plasmas under compression can experience a sudden dissipation of kinetic energy due to the abrupt growth of the viscosity coefficient governed by the temperature increase. We investigate in detail this phenomenon by considering a turbulent velocity field obeying the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with a source term resulting from the mean velocity. The system can be simplified by a nonlinear change of variable, and then solved using both highly resolved direct numerical simulations and a spectral model based on the eddy-damped quasinormal Markovian closure. The model allows us to explore a wide range of initial Reynolds and compression numbers, beyond the reach of simulations, and thus permits us to evidence the presence of a nonlinear cascade phase. We find self-similarity of intermediate regimes as well as of the final decay of turbulence, and we demonstrate the importance of initial distribution of energy at large scales. This effect can explain the global sensitivity of the flow dynamics to initial conditions, which we also illustrate with simulations of compressed homogeneous isotropic turbulence and of imploding spherical turbulent layers relevant to inertial confinement fusion.

  17. The Application of Similar Image Retrieval in Electronic Commerce

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, YuPing; Yin, Hua; Han, Dezhi; Yu, Fei

    2014-01-01

    Traditional online shopping platform (OSP), which searches product information by keywords, faces three problems: indirect search mode, large search space, and inaccuracy in search results. For solving these problems, we discuss and research the application of similar image retrieval in electronic commerce. Aiming at improving the network customers' experience and providing merchants with the accuracy of advertising, we design a reasonable and extensive electronic commerce application system, which includes three subsystems: image search display subsystem, image search subsystem, and product information collecting subsystem. This system can provide seamless connection between information platform and OSP, on which consumers can automatically and directly search similar images according to the pictures from information platform. At the same time, it can be used to provide accuracy of internet marketing for enterprises. The experiment shows the efficiency of constructing the system. PMID:24883411

  18. The Application of Similar Image Retrieval in Electronic Commerce

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YuPing Hu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Traditional online shopping platform (OSP, which searches product information by keywords, faces three problems: indirect search mode, large search space, and inaccuracy in search results. For solving these problems, we discuss and research the application of similar image retrieval in electronic commerce. Aiming at improving the network customers’ experience and providing merchants with the accuracy of advertising, we design a reasonable and extensive electronic commerce application system, which includes three subsystems: image search display subsystem, image search subsystem, and product information collecting subsystem. This system can provide seamless connection between information platform and OSP, on which consumers can automatically and directly search similar images according to the pictures from information platform. At the same time, it can be used to provide accuracy of internet marketing for enterprises. The experiment shows the efficiency of constructing the system.

  19. The application of similar image retrieval in electronic commerce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, YuPing; Yin, Hua; Han, Dezhi; Yu, Fei

    2014-01-01

    Traditional online shopping platform (OSP), which searches product information by keywords, faces three problems: indirect search mode, large search space, and inaccuracy in search results. For solving these problems, we discuss and research the application of similar image retrieval in electronic commerce. Aiming at improving the network customers' experience and providing merchants with the accuracy of advertising, we design a reasonable and extensive electronic commerce application system, which includes three subsystems: image search display subsystem, image search subsystem, and product information collecting subsystem. This system can provide seamless connection between information platform and OSP, on which consumers can automatically and directly search similar images according to the pictures from information platform. At the same time, it can be used to provide accuracy of internet marketing for enterprises. The experiment shows the efficiency of constructing the system.

  20. The challenges of integrating multiple safeguards systems in a large nuclear facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lavietes, A.; Liguori, C.; Pickrell, M.; Plenteda, R.; Sweet, M.

    2009-01-01

    Full-text: Implementing safeguards in a cost-effective manner in large nuclear facilities such as fuel conditioning, fuel reprocessing, and fuel fabrication plants requires the extensive use of instrumentation that is operated in unattended mode. The collected data is then periodically reviewed by the inspectors either on-site at a central location in the facility or remotely in the IAEA offices. A wide variety of instruments are deployed in large facilities, including video surveillance cameras, electronic sealing devices, non-destructive assay systems based on gamma ray and neutron detection, load cells for mass measurement, ID-readers, and other process-specific monitors. The challenge to integrate these different measurement instruments into an efficient, reliable, and secure system requires implementing standardization at various levels throughout the design process. This standardization includes the data generator behaviour and interface, networking solutions, and data security approaches. This standardization will provide a wide range of savings, including reduced training for inspectors and technicians, reduced periodic technical maintenance, reduced spare parts inventory, increased system robustness, and more predictive system behaviour. The development of standard building blocks will reduce the number of data generators required and allow implementation of simplified architectures that do not require local collection computers but rather utilize transmission of the acquired data directly to a central server via Ethernet connectivity. This approach will result in fewer system components and therefore reduced maintenance efforts and improved reliability. This paper discusses in detail the challenges and the subsequent solutions in the various areas that the IAEA Department of Safeguards has committed to pursue as the best sustainable way of maintaining the ability to implement reliable safeguards systems. (author)