Building Software Development Capacity to Advance the State of Educational Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Luterbach, Kenneth J.

2013-01-01

Educational technologists may advance the state of the field by increasing capacity to develop software tools and instructional applications. Presently, few academic programs in educational technology require even a single computer programming course. Further, the educational technologists who develop software generally work independently or in…

Primal and dual approaches to fishing capacity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kerstens, Kristiaan; Vestergaard, Niels

2013-01-01

Application of primal non-parametric approaches to estimation of fishing capacity provides useful disaggregated information about fishing firm’s capacities utilizations. A potentially serious issue is that the estimated capacity utilization rates can be relatively low. This may call for reductions...... in the fishing fleet that are political impossible to defend. In this paper two modifications of the traditional approach are explored. First, non-convex technologies are introduced and it is shown how the primal non-parametric approach leads to different capacity utilization rates. Then capacity utilization...... measures using cost functions are specified for both convex and non-convex technologies. It is illustrated how the convexity assumption impacts capacity utilization rates and how this dual approach differs from the primal approach. Second, the effect of utilizing these different convex versus non...

Enhancing Lay Counselor Capacity to Improve Patient Outcomes with Multimedia Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Reuben N; Mellins, Claude A; Leu, Cheng-Shiun; Rowe, Jessica; Warne, Patricia; Abrams, Elaine J; Witte, Susan; Stein, Dan J; Remien, Robert H

2015-06-01

Multimedia technologies offer powerful tools to increase capacity of health workers to deliver standardized, effective, and engaging antiretroviral medication adherence counseling. Masivukeni-is an innovative multimedia-based, computer-driven, lay counselor-delivered intervention designed to help people living with HIV in resource-limited settings achieve optimal adherence. This pilot study examined medication adherence and key psychosocial outcomes among 55 non-adherent South African HIV+ patients, on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least 6 months, who were randomized to receive either Masivukeni or standard of care (SOC) counseling for ART non-adherence. At baseline, there were no significant differences between the SOC and Masivukeni groups on any outcome variables. At post-intervention (approximately 5-6 weeks after baseline), -clinic-based pill count adherence data available for 20 participants (10 per intervention arm) showed a 10 % improvement for-participants and a decrease of 8 % for SOC participants. Masivukeni participants reported significantly more positive attitudes towards disclosure and medication social support, less social rejection, and better clinic-patient relationships than did SOC participants. Masivukeni shows promise to promote optimal adherence and provides preliminary evidence that multimedia, computer-based technology can help lay counselors offer better adherence counseling than standard approaches.

Enhancing Lay Counselor Capacity to Improve Patient Outcomes with Multimedia Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Reuben N.; Mellins, Claude A.; Leu, Cheng-Shiun; Rowe, Jessica; Warne, Patricia; Abrams, Elaine J.; Witte, Susan; Stein, Dan J.; Remien, Robert H.

2015-01-01

Multimedia technologies offer powerful tools to increase capacity of health workers to deliver standardized, effective, and engaging antiretroviral medication adherence counseling. Masivukeni is an innovative multimedia-based, computer-driven, lay counselor-delivered intervention designed to help people living with HIV in resource-limited settings achieve optimal adherence. This pilot study examined medication adherence and key psychosocial outcomes among 55 non-adherent South African HIV+ patients, on ART for at least 6 months, who were randomized to receive either Masivukeni or standard of care (SOC) counseling for ART non-adherence. At baseline, there were no significant differences between the SOC and Masivukeni groups on any outcome variables. At post-intervention (approximately 5–6 weeks after baseline), clinic-based pill count adherence data available for 20 participants (10 per intervention arm) showed a 10% improvement for Masivukeni participants and a decrease of 8% for SOC participants. Masivukeni participants reported significantly more positive attitudes towards disclosure and medication social support, less social rejection, and better clinic-patient relationships than did SOC participants. Masivukeni shows promise to promote optimal adherence and provides preliminary evidence that multimedia, computer-based technology can help lay counselors offer better adherence counseling than standard approaches. PMID:25566763

Understanding Absorptive Capacities is an "Innovation Systems" Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Narula, Rajneesh

2004-01-01

This paper seeks to broaden our understanding of the concept underlying absorptive capacity atthe macro -level, paying particular attention to the growth and development perspectives. Weprovide definitions of absorptive and technological capacity, external technology flows,productivity growth....... We also undertake to explain how the nature ofabsorptive capacity changes with stages of economic development, and the importance of thedifferent aspects of absorptive capability at different stages. The relationship is not a linear one:the benefits that accrue from marginal increases in absorptive...... capability change over time.Finally, we provide a tentative and preliminary conceptual argument of how the different stagesof absorptive capacity are related to productivity growth, economic growth and employmentcreation.Key words: New economy, absorptive capacity, knowledge...

Advanced Methods for Incorporating Solar Energy Technologies into Electric Sector Capacity-Expansion Models: Literature Review and Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sullivan, P.; Eurek, K.; Margolis, R.

2014-07-01

Because solar power is a rapidly growing component of the electricity system, robust representations of solar technologies should be included in capacity-expansion models. This is a challenge because modeling the electricity system--and, in particular, modeling solar integration within that system--is a complex endeavor. This report highlights the major challenges of incorporating solar technologies into capacity-expansion models and shows examples of how specific models address those challenges. These challenges include modeling non-dispatchable technologies, determining which solar technologies to model, choosing a spatial resolution, incorporating a solar resource assessment, and accounting for solar generation variability and uncertainty.

A framework to assess landscape structural capacity to provide regulating ecosystem services in West Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Inkoom, Justice Nana; Frank, Susanne; Greve, Klaus; Fürst, Christine

2018-03-01

The Sudanian savanna landscapes of West Africa are amongst the world's most vulnerable areas to climate change impacts. Inappropriate land use and agriculture management practices continuously impede the capacity of agricultural landscapes to provide ecosystem services (ES). Given the absence of practical assessment techniques to evaluate the landscape's capacity to provide regulating ES in this region, the goal of this paper is to propose an integrative assessment framework which combines remote sensing, geographic information systems, expert weighting and landscape metrics-based assessment. We utilized Analytical Hierarchical Process and Likert scale for the expert weighting of landscape capacity. In total, 56 experts from several land use and landscape management related departments participated in the assessment. Further, we adapted the hemeroby concept to define areas of naturalness while landscape metrics including Patch Density, Shannon's Diversity, and Shape Index were utilized for structural assessment. Lastly, we tested the reliability of expert weighting using certainty measurement rated by experts themselves. Our study focused on four regulating ES including flood control, pest and disease control, climate control, and wind erosion control. Our assessment framework was tested on four selected sites in the Vea catchment area of Ghana. The outcome of our study revealed that highly heterogeneous landscapes have a higher capacity to provide pest and disease control, while less heterogeneous landscapes have a higher potential to provide climate control. Further, we could show that the potential capacities to provide ecosystem services are underestimated by 15% if landscape structural aspects assessed through landscape metrics are not considered. We conclude that the combination of adapted land use and an optimized land use pattern could contribute considerably to lower climate change impacts in West African agricultural landscapes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier

Key technology studies of GY-20 and GY-40 High-capacity cobalt-60 transport casks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Huifang; Zhang Xin

2012-01-01

GY-20 and GY-40 high-capacity cobalt-60 transport casks are used to transport cobalt-60 industrial irradiators and cobalt-60 bundles. The radioactive contents have special features of high-activity and high residual heat, so only a few countries such as Canada, England and Russia have design capacity. The key technologies and corresponding solutions were studied for the design and manufacture of the cask taking into account the structural, thermal, mechanics and shield requests. A series of tests prove that the cask structure design, design criteria for lead coating structure and quality control measurements are reasonable and effective, and the cask shield integrity can be ensured for all conditions. The casks have ability to transport high-activity sealed sources safely, and the design of cask satisfies the requirement of design code and standard. It can provide reference for other B type package. (authors)

The NASA CSTI High Capacity Power Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winter, J.M.

1991-09-01

The SP-100 program was established in 1983 by DOD, DOE, and NASA as a joint program to develop the technology necessary for space nuclear power systems for military and civil applications. During 1986 and 1987, the NASA Advanced Technology Program was responsible for maintaining the momentum of promising technology advancement efforts started during Phase 1 of SP-100 and to strengthen, in key areas, the chances for successful development and growth capability of space nuclear reactor power systems for future space applications. In 1988, the NASA Advanced Technology Program was incorporated into NASA's new Civil Space Technology Initiative (CSTI). The CSTI program was established to provide the foundation for technology development in automation and robotics, information, propulsion, and power. The CSTI High Capacity Power Program builds on the technology efforts of the SP-100 program, incorporates the previous NASA advanced technology project, and provides a bridge to the NASA exploration technology programs. The elements of CSTI high capacity power development include conversion systems: Stirling and thermoelectric, thermal management, power management, system diagnostics, and environmental interactions. Technology advancement in all areas, including materials, is required to provide the growth capability, high reliability, and 7 to 10 year lifetime demanded for future space nuclear power systems. The overall program will develop and demonstrate the technology base required to provide a wide range of modular power systems while minimizing the impact of day/night operations as well as attitudes and distance from the Sun. Significant accomplishments in all of the program elements will be discussed, along with revised goals and project timelines recently developed

Assessment of health facility capacity to provide newborn care in Bangladesh, Haiti, Malawi, Senegal, and Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, Rebecca; Yourkavitch, Jennifer; Wang, Wenjuan; Mallick, Lindsay

2017-12-01

Despite the importance of health facility capacity to provide comprehensive care, the most widely used indicators for global monitoring of maternal and child health remain contact measures which assess women's use of services only and not the capacity of health facilities to provide those services; there is a gap in monitoring health facilities' capacity to provide newborn care services in low and middle income countries. In this study we demonstrate a measurable framework for assessing health facility capacity to provide newborn care using open access, nationally-representative Service Provision Assessment (SPA) data from the Demographic Health Surveys Program. In particular, we examine whether key newborn-related services are available at the facility (ie, service availability, measured by the availability of basic emergency obstetric care (BEmOC) signal functions, newborn signal functions, and routine perinatal services), and whether the facility has the equipment, medications, training and knowledge necessary to provide those services (ie, service readiness, measured by general facility requirements, equipment, medicines and commodities, and guidelines and staffing) in five countries with high levels of neonatal mortality and recent SPA data: Bangladesh, Haiti, Malawi, Senegal, and Tanzania. In each country, we find that key services and commodities needed for comprehensive delivery and newborn care are missing from a large percentage of facilities with delivery services. Of three domains of service availability examined, scores for routine care availability are highest, while scores for newborn signal function availability are lowest. Of four domains of service readiness examined, scores for general requirements and equipment are highest, while scores for guidelines and staffing are lowest. Both service availability and readiness tend to be highest in hospitals and facilities in urban areas, pointing to substantial equity gaps in the availability of essential

Model of Providing Assistive Technologies in Special Education Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Lersilp, Suchitporn; Putthinoi, Supawadee; Chakpitak, Nopasit

2015-05-14

Most students diagnosed with disabilities in Thai special education schools received assistive technologies, but this did not guarantee the greatest benefits. The purpose of this study was to survey the provision, use and needs of assistive technologies, as well as the perspectives of key informants regarding a model of providing them in special education schools. The participants were selected by the purposive sampling method, and they comprised 120 students with visual, physical, hearing or intellectual disabilities from four special education schools in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and 24 key informants such as parents or caregivers, teachers, school principals and school therapists. The instruments consisted of an assistive technology checklist and a semi-structured interview. Results showed that a category of assistive technologies was provided for students with disabilities, with the highest being "services", followed by "media" and then "facilities". Furthermore, mostly students with physical disabilities were provided with assistive technologies, but those with visual disabilities needed it more. Finally, the model of providing assistive technologies was composed of 5 components: Collaboration; Holistic perspective; Independent management of schools; Learning systems and a production manual for users; and Development of an assistive technology center, driven by 3 major sources such as Government and Private organizations, and Schools.

Investigation of suction anchor pullout capacity under undrained conditions

OpenAIRE

Jarand, Pollestad

2015-01-01

Master's thesis in Offshore technology Floating units are dependent on reliable mooring systems to ensure safety during marine operations. Suction anchors have proved to be a technologically viable and cost-effective concept. They are capable of precision installation, re-use, and provide large resistive capacity. This thesis investigates load capacity and failure modes of suction anchors subjected to vertical, horizontal (lateral), and incline loading. Suction anchor design co...

The Potential for Energy Storage to Provide Peaking Capacity in California under Increased Penetration of Solar Photovoltaics: Report Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denholm, Paul L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Margolis, Robert M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-12

Opportunities to provide peaking capacity with low-cost energy storage are emerging. But adding storage changes the ability of subsequent storage additions to meet peak demand. Increasing photovoltaic (PV) deployment also affects storage's ability to provide peak capacity. This study examines storage's potential to replace conventional peak capacity in California.

Review on absorption technology with emphasis on small capacity absorption machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Labus Jerko M.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to review the past achievements in the field of absorption systems, their potential and possible directions for future development. Various types of absorption systems and research on working fluids are discussed in detail. Among various applications, solar cooling and combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP are identified as two most promising applications for further development of absorption machines. Under the same framework, special attention is given to the small capacity absorption machines and their current status at the market. Although this technology looks promising, it is still in development and many issues are open. With respect to that fact, this paper covers all the relevant aspects for further development of small capacity absorption machines.

Providing Policy Implication Based on the R and D Portfolio Analysis in Advanced Countries in the Nuclear Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, K. H.; Lee, M. K.; Won, B. C.; Kim, S. S.; Lee, J. H.; Yun, S. W.; Jeong, I. K.; Lee, Y. C.; Lee, Y. J.; Kim, Y. S.

2013-08-15

This study is to provide the investment direction of nuclear R and D, which is the most efficient and reasonable integrating the various aspects comprehensively. This study includes four parts. In the first part, we extracted Mega-trend and driving forces of nuclear R and D field by using various reports published by National Intelligence Council of US, UN, etc. Also, in this part we established the linkage between megatrend factors focussing on nuclear and the five aspects including society, technology, ecology, economics and politics. In the second part, we analyzed the nuclear R and D investment directions of major advanced countries including US, Japan, EU and China for comparing the investment portfolio in the specific research area. In the third part, domestic investment of nuclear R and D was reviewed by analyzing the investment trend of nuclear R and D in the past, with their connection to nuclear policy, and to the levels and capacities of national technologies of nuclear. In the final part, the desirable directions of nuclear R and D investment were suggested comprehensively taking into consideration various aspects including the Mega-trend associated with nuclear, nuclear R and D directions of major advanced countries, and the level and capacities of the domestic nuclear technologies.

Providing Policy Implication Based on the R and D Portfolio Analysis in Advanced Countries in the Nuclear Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, K. H.; Lee, M. K.; Won, B. C.; Kim, S. S.; Lee, J. H.; Yun, S. W.; Jeong, I. K.; Lee, Y. C.; Lee, Y. J.; Kim, Y. S.

2013-08-01

This study is to provide the investment direction of nuclear R and D, which is the most efficient and reasonable integrating the various aspects comprehensively. This study includes four parts. In the first part, we extracted Mega-trend and driving forces of nuclear R and D field by using various reports published by National Intelligence Council of US, UN, etc. Also, in this part we established the linkage between megatrend factors focussing on nuclear and the five aspects including society, technology, ecology, economics and politics. In the second part, we analyzed the nuclear R and D investment directions of major advanced countries including US, Japan, EU and China for comparing the investment portfolio in the specific research area. In the third part, domestic investment of nuclear R and D was reviewed by analyzing the investment trend of nuclear R and D in the past, with their connection to nuclear policy, and to the levels and capacities of national technologies of nuclear. In the final part, the desirable directions of nuclear R and D investment were suggested comprehensively taking into consideration various aspects including the Mega-trend associated with nuclear, nuclear R and D directions of major advanced countries, and the level and capacities of the domestic nuclear technologies

The Aviation System Analysis Capability Airport Capacity and Delay Models

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, David A.; Nelson, Caroline; Shapiro, Gerald

1998-01-01

The ASAC Airport Capacity Model and the ASAC Airport Delay Model support analyses of technologies addressing airport capacity. NASA's Aviation System Analysis Capability (ASAC) Airport Capacity Model estimates the capacity of an airport as a function of weather, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) procedures, traffic characteristics, and the level of technology available. Airport capacity is presented as a Pareto frontier of arrivals per hour versus departures per hour. The ASAC Airport Delay Model allows the user to estimate the minutes of arrival delay for an airport, given its (weather dependent) capacity. Historical weather observations and demand patterns are provided by ASAC as inputs to the delay model. The ASAC economic models can translate a reduction in delay minutes into benefit dollars.

Patient- and Provider-Centered Design of an Outpatient Diabetes Technology Clinic

OpenAIRE

Cramer, Angela M.; Scalzo, Patricia; Bach, Sarah M.; Kudva, Yogish C.

2016-01-01

The number of US patients using diabetes technology is increasing, and sophisticated technologies continue to emerge. Patients using diabetes technology require access to providers prepared to offer care in this rapidly changing field. The authors sought to identify factors important to both patients using diabetes technology and providers caring for such patients. They redesigned the Diabetes Technology Clinic at an academic group practice in response to the needs of patients and providers. ...

Building capacity in VA to provide emergency gynecology services for women.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordasco, Kristina M; Huynh, Alexis K; Zephyrin, Laurie; Hamilton, Alison B; Lau-Herzberg, Amy E; Kessler, Chad S; Yano, Elizabeth M

2015-04-01

Visits to Veterans Administration (VA) emergency departments (EDs) are increasingly being made by women. A 2011 national inventory of VA emergency services for women revealed that many EDs have gaps in their resources and processes for gynecologic emergency care. To guide VA in addressing these gaps, we sought to understand factors acting as facilitators and/or barriers to improving VA ED capacity for, and quality of, emergency gynecology care. Semistructured interviews with VA emergency and women's health key informants. ED directors/providers (n=14), ED nurse managers (n=13), and Women Veteran Program Managers (n=13) in 13 VA facilities. Leadership, staff, space, demand, funding, policies, and community were noted as important factors influencing VA EDs building capacity and improving emergency gynecologic care for women Veterans. These factors are intertwined and cross multiple organizational levels so that each ED's capacity is a reflection not only of its own factors, but also those of its local medical center and non-VA community context as well as VA regional and national trends and policies. Policies and quality improvement initiatives aimed at building VA's emergency gynecologic services for women need to be multifactorial and aimed at multiple organizational levels. Policies need to be flexible to account for wide variations across EDs and their medical center and community contexts. Approaches that build and encourage local leadership engagement, such as evidence-based quality improvement methodology, are likely to be most effective.

Developing science policy capacity at the state government level: Planning a science and technology policy fellowship program for Colorado and beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Druckenmiller, M. L.

2017-12-01

There is growing recognition of the potential to advance science policy capacity within state legislatures, where there is most often a shortage of professional backgrounds in the natural sciences, technology, engineering, and medicine. Developing such capacity at the state level should be considered a vital component of any comprehensive national scale strategy to strengthen science informed governance. Toward this goal, the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado Boulder is leading a strategic planning process for a Science and Technology Policy Fellowship Program within the Colorado state legislature and executive branch agencies. The intended program will place PhD-level scientists and engineers in one-year placements with decision-makers to provide an in-house resource for targeted policy-relevant research. Fellows will learn the intricacies of the state policymaking process, be exposed to opportunities for science to inform decisions, and develop a deeper understanding of key science and technology topics in Colorado, including water resources, wildfire management, and energy. The program's ultimate goals are to help foster a decision-making arena informed by evidence-based information, to develop new leaders adept at bridging science and policymaking realms, and to foster governance that champions the role of science in society. Parallel to efforts in Colorado, groups from nine other states are preparing similar plans, providing opportunities to share approaches across states and to set the stage for increased science and technology input to state legislative agendas nationwide. Importantly, highly successful and sustainable models exist; the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has implemented a federally based fellowship program for over 43 years and the California Council for Science and Technology (CCST) has directed a fellowship program for their state's legislature since 2009. AAAS and CCST

Low-capacity wind power systems. Technology, legal aspects, economic efficiency; Kleine Windenergieanlagen. Technik - Recht - Wirtschaftlichkeit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eggersgluess, Walter [Landwirtschaftskammer Schleswig-Holstein, Rendsburg (Germany); Eckel, Henning; Hartmann, Stefan [Kuratorium fuer Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e.V. (KTBL), Darmstadt (Germany)

2012-07-01

In what conditions will investments in a low-capacity wind power plant be profitable? This leaflet intends to provide a decision aid for farmers and other land owners interested in thes subject. It outlines the technology of low-capacity wind power systems, goes into site selection, expected yields and legal boundary conditions. The most important economic data are defined, and the economic efficiency of wind power plants of 7.5 to 25 kW is discussed. The text is supplemented by useful internet links. [German] Unter welchen Bedingungen rechnet sich die Investition in eine kleine Windenergieanlage? Das Heft hilft Landwirten sowie allen anderen investitionswilligen Grundstueckseigentuemern fuer sich Antworten auf diese Fragen zu finden und die richtigen Entscheidungen zu treffen. Es gibt einen Ueberblick ueber die Technik kleiner Windenergieanlagen, beschreibt was den richtigen Standort auszeichnet, mit welchen Energieertraegen gerechnet werden kann und welchen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen Bau und Betrieb der Anlagen unterliegen. Die wichtigsten wirtschaftlichen Kenngroessen werden definiert und die Wirtschaftlichkeit kleiner Windenergieanlagen anhand von Beispielanlagen im Leistungsbereich von 7,5 bis 25 kW diskutiert. Nuetzliche Internetadressen zum Thema Windenergie runden das Informationsangebot ab.

Review of Renewable Energy Technologies in Zambian Households: Capacities and Barriers Affecting Successful Deployment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priscilla Kachapulula-Mudenda

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Modern renewable energy has been hailed as one of the prerequisites for fostering green growth and the achievement of sustainable development. Despite efforts to promote the use of renewable energy in households, its adoption has remained fairly low, hence the need for an inquiry into household capabilities needed for the acquisition and adoption of renewable energy technologies. This paper reviews the requisite capacities of households for the adoption of renewable energy services and expounds on some of the barriers hampering renewable energy among households. It takes a desk research approach to analyse the capacities which should be possessed by Zambian households and possible barriers constraining the widespread deployment of renewable energy technologies. The findings reveal that there is a need for a broader, multidimensional understanding of access to renewable energy in order for deployment to be effective. Barriers to the successful adoption of clean energy technologies include underserved populations, policy inadequacies; an underexploited renewable energy sector and heavy reliance on a service-challenged hydro-power utility. Since most of the aforementioned challenges are institutional in nature, the paper concludes with a recommendation of a baseline assessment to understand knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and drivers for renewable energy technology adoption among households.

The Nuclear option for U.S. electrical generating capacity additions utilizing boiling water reactor technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrity, T.F.; Wilkins, D.R.

1993-01-01

The technology status of the Advanced Boiling Water (ABWR) and Simplified Boiling Water (SBWR) reactors are presented along with an analysis of the economic potential of advanced nuclear power generation systems based on BWR technology to meet the projected domestic electrical generating capacity need through 2005. The forecasted capacity needs are determined for each domestic North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region. Extensive data sets detailing each NERC region's specific generation and load characteristics, and capital and fuel cost parameters are utilized in the economic analysis of the optimal generation additions to meet this need by use of an expansion planning model. In addition to a reference case, several sensitivity cases are performed with regard to capital costs and fuel price escalation

Evolving provider payment models and patient access to innovative medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Genia; Mortimer, Richard; Sanzenbacher, Geoffrey

2014-12-01

Abstract Objective: To investigate the evolving use and expected impact of pay-for-performance (P4P) and risk-based provider reimbursement on patient access to innovative medical technology. Structured interviews with leading private payers representing over 110 million commercially-insured lives exploring current and planned use of P4P provider payment models, evidence requirements for technology assessment and new technology coverage, and the evolving relationship between the two topics. Respondents reported rapid increases in the use of P4P and risk-sharing programs, with roughly half of commercial lives affected 3 years ago, just under two-thirds today, and an expected three-quarters in 3 years. All reported well-established systems for evaluating new technology coverage. Five of nine reported becoming more selective in the past 3 years in approving new technologies; four anticipated that in the next 3 years there will be a higher evidence requirement for new technology access. Similarly, four expected it will become more difficult for clinically appropriate but costly technologies to gain coverage. All reported planning to rely more on these types of provider payment incentives to control costs, but didn't see them as a substitute for payer technology reviews and coverage limitations; they each have a role to play. Interviews limited to nine leading payers with models in place; self-reported data. Likely implications include a more uncertain payment environment for providers, and indirectly for innovative medical technology and future investment, greater reliance on quality and financial metrics, and increased evidence requirements for favorable coverage and utilization decisions. Increasing provider financial risk may challenge the traditional technology adoption paradigm, where payers assumed a 'gatekeeping' role and providers a countervailing patient advocacy role with regard to access to new technology. Increased provider financial risk may result in an

Selecting Security Technology Providers

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Tod

2009-01-01

The world of security technology holds great promise, but it is fraught with opportunities for expensive missteps and misapplications. The quality of the security technology consultants and system integrators one uses will have a direct bearing on how well his school masters this complex subject. Security technology consultants help determine…

Improving Educational Outcomes by Providing Educational Services through Mobile Technology

OpenAIRE

Hosam Farouk El-Sofany

2013-01-01

The use of Computers, Networks, and Internet has successfully enabled educational institutions to provide their students and instructors with various online educational services. With the recent developments in M-learning and mobile technology, further possibilities are emerging to provide such services through mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. By providing the educational services using wireless and mobile technologies, the educational institutions can potentially bring great co...

The use of technology enhanced learning in health research capacity development: lessons from a cross country research partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, E; Donaldson, L; Manda-Taylor, L; Brugha, R; Matthews, A; MacDonald, S; Mwapasa, V; Petersen, M; Walsh, A

2016-05-10

With the recognition of the need for research capacity strengthening for advancing health and development, this research capacity article explores the use of technology enhanced learning in the delivery of a collaborative postgraduate blended Master's degree in Malawi. Two research questions are addressed: (i) Can technology enhanced learning be used to develop health research capacity?, and: (ii) How can learning content be designed that is transferrable across different contexts? An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted for the evaluation of technology enhanced learning in the Masters programme. A number of online surveys were administered, student participation in online activities monitored and an independent evaluation of the programme conducted. Remote collaboration and engagement are paramount in the design of a blended learning programme and support was needed for selecting the most appropriate technical tools. Internet access proved problematic despite developing the content around low bandwidth availability and training was required for students and teachers/trainers on the tools used. Varying degrees of engagement with the tools used was recorded, and the support of a learning technologist was needed to navigate through challenges faced. Capacity can be built in health research through blended learning programmes. In relation to transferability, the support required institutionally for technology enhanced learning needs to be conceptualised differently from support for face-to-face teaching. Additionally, differences in pedagogical approaches and styles between institutions, as well as existing social norms and values around communication, need to be embedded in the content development if the material is to be used beyond the pilot resource-intensive phase of a project.

Building capacity in social service agencies to employ peer providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gates, Lauren B; Mandiberg, James M; Akabas, Sheila H

2010-01-01

While there is evidence that peer providers are valuable to service delivery teams, the agencies where they work face difficulties in fulfilling the potential of including peers on staff effectively. The purpose of this article is to report findings of a pilot test of a workplace strategy that promoted inclusion of peer providers at social service agencies by building organizational capacity to support people with mental health conditions in peer provider roles. The strategy included training, goal setting and ongoing consultation. Seventy-one peer, non-peer and supervisory staff participated from 6 agencies over a one year period. Goal attainment scaling and data from in-depth interviews about perceptions of differences in the ways in which staff are supported, administered prior to and after the consultation period, were used to assess strategy impact. Most frequently staff set goals to respond to role conflict or a lack of support. Staff that met or exceeded their goals utilized the formal structure of consultation to improve communication among themselves, had leadership that sanctioned changes and felt that their participation was of value to the organization and contributed to their individual development. Strategy participation promoted inclusion by initiating changes to policies and practices that devalued the peer provider role, increased skill sets, and formalized lines of communication for sharing information and understanding related to peer providers. Findings demonstrate that a strategy of training, goal setting and consultation can positively affect perceptions of inclusion, and promote implementation of practices associated with inclusive workplaces.

Research on the water environment capacity of Qingyi River (Xuchang Section with GIS technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Water environment capacity calculation is the foundation of basin environment management. Due to lack of basic materials and data, the water environment capacity in small basin was not massively researched with appropriate calculating method. This paper mentioned a water capacity calculating method suitable for environment management. The method was based on the study of Xuchang Section of Qingyi River and described with details as follows: Xuchang Section was divided into four control units with GIS technology. The river pollution loads of non-point source pollutants from farmland runoff, rural life, livestock and poultry were calculated with the in-site and statistical data of pollution resource. Meanwhile the calculated river pollution loads of non-point / point source pollutants were statistically analyzed on the basis of control units. Then a water quality module was tested and verified, in which the predicted value tallied with the measured value. The parameter of this water quality module corresponds to the in-site data within relative error ±14%. This module was used to estimate and calculate water environment capacity. With this module the available water environment capacity of each control unit and pollutant reduction amount can be earned through deducting the river pollutant load of point pollutant. The results showed that the utilized method in this paper can satisfy the requirement for the calculating accuracy of small basin water environment capacity.

What factors influence mitigative capacity?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winkler, Harald; Baumert, Kevin; Blanchard, Odile; Burch, Sarah; Robinson, John

2007-01-01

This article builds on Yohe's seminal piece on mitigative capacity, which elaborates 'determinants' of mitigative capacity, also reflected in the IPCC's third assessment report. We propose a revised definition, where mitigative capacity is a country's ability to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions or enhance natural sinks. By 'ability' we mean skills, competencies, fitness, and proficiencies that a country has attained which can contribute to GHG emissions mitigation. A conceptual framework is proposed, linking mitigative capacity to a country's sustainable development path, and grouping the factors influencing mitigative capacity into three main sets: economic factors, institutional ones, and technology. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis of factors is presented, showing how these factors vary across countries. We suggest that it is the interplay between the three economic factors-income, abatement cost and opportunity cost-that shape mitigative capacity. We find that income is an important economic factor influencing mitigative capacity, while abatement cost is important in turning mitigative capacity into actual mitigation. Technology is a critical mitigative capacity, including the ability to absorb existing climate-friendly technologies or to develop innovative ones. Institutional factors that promote mitigative capacity include the effectiveness of government regulation, clear market rules, a skilled work force and public awareness. We briefly investigate such as high abatement cost or lack of political willingness that prevent mitigative capacity from being translated into mitigation

How Employees' Perception of Information Technology Application and Their Knowledge Management Capacity Influence Organisational Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Yen-Ku; Ye, Kung-Don

2010-01-01

This study investigates how workers' gender, work experience, designated division, and appointment affect (i) their perception of information technology (IT) within the organisation, (ii) their self-perceived capacity in knowledge management (KM), and (iii) their perception of organisational performance (OP). Furthermore, the study also examines…

Intentional Planning to Provide Technology to Students

Science.gov (United States)

Flagg-Williams, Joan B.; Rey, Janice M.

2016-01-01

Mobile technology plays a prominent role in teaching and learning. To address this vital component of teacher preparation, the education department of a small college provided the freshman class with iPads. iPads were selected because they are common in public schools, lightweight, portable, touch-screen controlled and have an abundance of…

Uranium enrichment. Technology, economics, capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voigt, W.R. Jr.; Saire, D.E.; Gestson, D.K.; Peske, S.E.; Vanstrum, P.R.

1983-01-01

Large-scale enrichment of uranium has now been carried out for 40 years. While the gaseous diffusion process was the original choice of several countries and continues today to provide the major component of the world production of separative work, the last two decades have witnessed the development of a number of alternative processes for enrichment. These processes, which are being studied and deployed around the world, offer a wide range of technical and economic characteristics which will be useful in assuring adequate capacity to meet projected reactor fuel market needs through the rest of this century at competitive prices. With present uncertainties in future enriched uranium needs, it is apparent that flexibility in the deployment and operation of any enrichment process will be one of the prime considerations for the future. More economical production of separative work not only can have a beneficial impact on reactor fuel costs, but also tends to conserve natural uranium resources. This paper reviews the world scene in the enrichment component of the fuel cycle, including existing or planned commercial-scale facilities and announced R+D efforts on various processes. (author)

Uranium enrichment: technology, economics, capacity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Voigt, Jr., W. R.; Vanstrum, P. R.; Saire, D. E.; Gestson, D. K.; Peske, S. E.

1982-08-01

Large-scale enrichment of uranium has now been carried out for 40 years. While the gaseous diffusion process was the original choice of several countries and continues today to provide the major component of the world production of separative work, the last two decades have witnessed the development of a number of alternative processes for enrichment. These processes, which are being studied and deployed around the world, offer a wide range of technical and economic characteristics which will be useful in assuring adequate capacity to meet projected reactor fuel market needs through the rest of this century at competitive prices. With present uncertainties in future enriched uranium needs, it is apparent that flexibility in the deployment and operation of any enrichment process will be one of the prime considerations for the future. More economical production of separative work not only can have a beneficial impact on reactor fuel costs, but also tends to conserve natural uranium resources. This paper reviews the world scene in the enrichment component of the fuel cycle, including existing or planned commercial-scale facilities and announced R and D efforts on various processes.

Uranium enrichment: technology, economics, capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voigt, W.R. Jr.; Vanstrum, P.R.; Saire, D.E.; Gestson, D.K.; Peske, S.E.

1982-01-01

Large-scale enrichment of uranium has now been carried out for 40 years. While the gaseous diffusion process was the original choice of several countries and continues today to provide the major component of the world production of separative work, the last two decades have witnessed the development of a number of alternative processes for enrichment. These processes, which are being studied and deployed around the world, offer a wide range of technical and economic characteristics which will be useful in assuring adequate capacity to meet projected reactor fuel market needs through the rest of this century at competitive prices. With present uncertainties in future enriched uranium needs, it is apparent that flexibility in the deployment and operation of any enrichment process will be one of the prime considerations for the future. More economical production of separative work not only can have a beneficial impact on reactor fuel costs, but also tends to conserve natural uranium resources. This paper reviews the world scene in the enrichment component of the fuel cycle, including existing or planned commercial-scale facilities and announced R and D efforts on various processes

Evaluating core technology capacity based on an improved catastrophe progression method: the case of automotive industry

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shijia; Liu, Zongwei; Wang, Yue; Zhao, Fuquan

2017-01-01

Subjectivity usually causes large fluctuations in evaluation results. Many scholars attempt to establish new mathematical methods to make evaluation results consistent with actual objective situations. An improved catastrophe progression method (ICPM) is constructed to overcome the defects of the original method. The improved method combines the merits of the principal component analysis' information coherence and the catastrophe progression method's none index weight and has the advantage of highly objective comprehensive evaluation. Through the systematic analysis of the influencing factors of the automotive industry's core technology capacity, the comprehensive evaluation model is established according to the different roles that different indices play in evaluating the overall goal with a hierarchical structure. Moreover, ICPM is developed for evaluating the automotive industry's core technology capacity for the typical seven countries in the world, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the method.

US Department of Energy interim mixed waste inventory report: Waste streams, treatment capacities and technologies: Volume 4, Site specific---Ohio through South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-04-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared this report to provide an inventory of its mixed wastes and treatment capacities and technologies in response to Section 105(a) of the Federal Facility Compliance Act (FFCAct) of 1992 (Pub. L. No. 102-386). As required by the FFCAct-1992, this report provides site-specific information on DOE's mixed waste streams and a general review of available and planned treatment facilities for mixed wastes at the following five Ohio facilities: Battelle Columbus Laboratories; Fernald Environmental Management Project; Mound Plant; Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant; and RMI, Titanium Company

US Department of Energy interim mixed waste inventory report: Waste streams, treatment capacities and technologies: Volume 2, Site specific---California through Idaho

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-04-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared this report to provide an inventory of its mixed wastes and treatment capacities and technologies in response to Section 105(a) of the Federal Facility Compliance act (FFCAct) of 1992 (Pub. L. No. 102-386). As required by the FFCAct-1992, this report provide site-specific information on DOE's mixed waste streams and a general review of available and planned treatment facilities for mixed wastes for the following sites: eight California facilities which are Energy Technology engineering Center, General Atomics, General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and Sandia national Laboratories; Grand Junction Project Office; Rocky Flats Plant; Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory-Windsor Site; Pinellas Plant; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; Argonne National Laboratory-West; and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

Native American Women Leaders' Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Work-Life Balance (WLB) and Capacity Building

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Crystal C.

2013-01-01

Native American women's leadership, information communication technologies (ICTs), work-life balance (WLB) and human capacity building (HCB) are grounded in social justice issues due to their long history of overall cultural decimation, inequitable access to technology, monetary resources, and social power (agency), and influence. Currently, there…

Application of Ethics for Providing Telemedicine Services and Information Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Langarizadeh, Mostafa; Moghbeli, Fatemeh; Aliabadi, Ali

2017-10-01

Advanced technology has increased the use of telemedicine and Information Technology (IT) in treating or rehabilitating diseases. An increased use of technology increases the importance of the ethical issues involved. The need for keeping patients' information confidential and secure, controlling a number of therapists' inefficiency as well as raising the quality of healthcare services necessitates adequate heed to ethical issues in telemedicine provision. The goal of this review is gathering all articles that are published through 5 years until now (2012-2017) for detecting ethical issues for providing telemedicine services and Information technology. The reason of this time is improvement of telemedicine and technology through these years. This article is important for clinical practice and also to world, because of knowing ethical issues in telemedicine and technology are always important factors for physician and health providers. the required data in this research were derived from published electronic sources and credible academic articles published in such databases as PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct. The following key words were searched for in separation and combination: tele-health, telemedicine, ethical issues in telemedicine. A total of 503 articles were found. After excluding the duplicates (n= 93), the titles and abstracts of 410 articles were skimmed according to the inclusion criteria. Finally, 64 articles remained. They were reviewed in full text and 36 articles were excluded. At the end, 28 articles were chosen which met our eligibility criteria and were included in this study. Ethics has been of a great significance in IT and telemedicine especially the Internet since there are more chances provided for accessing information. It is, however, accompanied by a threat to patients' personal information. Therefore, suggestions are made to investigate ethics in technology, to offer standards and guidelines to therapists. Due to the advancement in

The capacity credit of micro-combined heat and power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2008-01-01

This article is concerned with development of a methodology to determine the capacity credit of micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP), and application of the method for the UK. Capacity credit is an important parameter in electricity system planning because it measures the amount of conventional generation that would be displaced by an alternative technology. Firstly, a mathematical formulation is presented. Capacity credit is then calculated for three types of micro-CHP units-Stirling engine, internal combustion engine, and fuel cell systems-operating under various control strategies. It is found that low heat-to-power ratio fuel cell technologies achieve the highest capacity credit of approximately 85% for a 1.1 GW penetration when a heat-led control strategy is applied. Higher heat-to-power ratio Stirling engine technology achieves approximately 33% capacity credit for heat-led operation. Low heat-to-power ratio technologies achieve higher capacity credit because they are able to continue operating even when heat demand is relatively low. Capacity credit diminishes as penetration of the technology increases. Overall, the high capacity credit of micro-CHP contributes to the viewpoint that the technology can help meet a number of economic and environmental energy policy aims

Improving Educational Outcomes by Providing Educational Services through Mobile Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hosam Farouk El-Sofany

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The use of Computers, Networks, and Internet has successfully enabled educational institutions to provide their students and instructors with various online educational services. With the recent developments in M-learning and mobile technology, further possibilities are emerging to provide such services through mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. By providing the educational services using wireless and mobile technologies, the educational institutions can potentially bring great convenience to those off-campus students who do not always have time to find Internet enabled computers to get the important educational information from their academic institutions. With the mobile or M-educational services, both the students and the instructors can access the services anytime and anywhere they want. This paper discusses those M-educational services that can be moved to the mobile platform and then presents the system prototype and architecture that integrate these services into the mobile technology platform. The paper will conclude with a description of the formative evaluation of the system prototype.

Technology as a driver for changing customer-provider interfaces

OpenAIRE

Kowalkowski, Christian; Brehmer, Per-Olof

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore how information and communication technology (ICT) is affecting and driving changes in the service processes and customer interfaces of capital goods manufacturers.   Original Publication:Christian Kowalkowski and Per-Olof Brehmer, Technology as a driver for changing customer-provider interfaces, 2008, Management research news, (31), 10, 746-757.http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409170810908507Copyright: Emerald Group Publishing Limitedhttp://www.emeraldi...

Civil Service Human Resource Capacity and Information Technology

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tesfaye

2009-01-01

Jan 1, 2009 ... had no impact on the size of jobs that require high-level of human resource capacity. Furthermore ... level human resource capacity has an effect on the size of supervisors, which is the main ...... depreciation. 5 This indicates ...

Climate technology initiative capacity building seminar: best practice in climate technology and energy efficiency in central and eastern Europe. Seminar Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pichl, P [ed.

2000-08-01

The Capacity Building Seminar on 'Best Practice in Climate Technology and Energy Efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe', held 6-10 December 1999 in Marienthal/Ostritz in Germany, was a very successful event in the framework of the CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CTI). One reason for that is that the seminar allowed delegates from 22 nations, from Kazakhstan to Estonia, come together for an exchange of opinions about 'Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection' and all related issues. A reason is that this seminar provided an excellent starting point for future networking in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. The colleagues who got to know each other at the seminar will meet again in future workshops and seminars. They can now contact a colleague from abroad to get information about special questions of Energy Efficiency when they need it. A third reason - and the most important one for the entire co-operation within the CTI organisation - is the special character of the seminar as a starting point for multitude of activities on Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection. At the end of the Ostritz seminar eleven delegations stated that they would organise follow up workshops in their own countries to go deeper into the details and to co-operate on a higher level. It may be that these workshops will be followed by others in other European regions. (orig./GL)

Climate technology initiative capacity building seminar: best practice in climate technology and energy efficiency in central and eastern Europe. Seminar Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pichl, P. [ed.

2000-08-01

The Capacity Building Seminar on 'Best Practice in Climate Technology and Energy Efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe', held 6-10 December 1999 in Marienthal/Ostritz in Germany, was a very successful event in the framework of the CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CTI). One reason for that is that the seminar allowed delegates from 22 nations, from Kazakhstan to Estonia, come together for an exchange of opinions about 'Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection' and all related issues. A reason is that this seminar provided an excellent starting point for future networking in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. The colleagues who got to know each other at the seminar will meet again in future workshops and seminars. They can now contact a colleague from abroad to get information about special questions of Energy Efficiency when they need it. A third reason - and the most important one for the entire co-operation within the CTI organisation - is the special character of the seminar as a starting point for multitude of activities on Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection. At the end of the Ostritz seminar eleven delegations stated that they would organise follow up workshops in their own countries to go deeper into the details and to co-operate on a higher level. It may be that these workshops will be followed by others in other European regions. (orig./GL)

Landscapes‘ Capacities to Provide Ecosystem Services – a Concept for Land-Cover Based Assessments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Burkhard

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Landscapes differ in their capacities to provide ecosystem goods and services, which are the benefits humans obtain from nature. Structures and functions of ecosystems needed to sustain the provision of ecosystem services are altered by various human activities. In this paper, a concept for the assessment of multiple ecosystem services is proposed as a basis for discussion and further development of a respective evaluation instrument. Using quantitative and qualitative assessment data in combination with land cover and land use information originated from remote sensing and GIS, impacts of human activities can be evaluated. The results reveal typical patterns of different ecosystems‘ capacities to provide ecosystem services. The proposed approach thus delivers useful integrative information for environmental management and landscape planning, aiming at a sustainable use of services provided by nature. The research concept and methodological framework presented here for discussion have initially been applied in different case studies and shall be developed further to provide a useful tool for the quantification and spatial modelling of multiple ecosystem services in different landscapes. An exemplary application of the approach dealing with food provision in the Halle-Leipzig region in Germany is presented. It shows typical patterns of ecosystem service distribution around urban areas. As the approach is new and still rather general, there is great potential for improvement, especially with regard to a data-based quantification of the numerous hypotheses, which were formulated as base for the assessment. Moreover, the integration of more detailed landscape information on different scales will be needed in future in order to take the heterogeneous distribution of landscape properties and values into account. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to foster critical discussions on the methodological development presented here.

Coverage and Capacity Analysis of Sigfox, LoRa, GPRS, and NB-IoT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vejlgaard, Benny; Lauridsen, Mads; Nguyen, Huan Cong

2017-01-01

is challenged for indoor coverage. Furthermore, the study analyzes the capacity of the four technologies assuming a traffic growth from 1 to 10 IoT device per user. The conclusion is that the 95 %-tile uplink failure rate for outdoor users is below 5 % for all technologies. For indoor users only NB-IoT provides......In this paper the coverage and capacity of SigFox, LoRa, GPRS, and NB-IoT is compared using a real site deployment covering 8000 km2 in Northern Denmark. Using the existing Telenor cellular site grid it is shown that the four technologies have more than 99 % outdoor coverage, while GPRS...

IPTV technology for the wireless Internet service provider (WISP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitchell Vásquez Bermúdez

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article describes the implementation of the IPTV technology through an open source system for the wireless Internet service provider (WISP in the Cerecita site, located in the province of Guayas, Ecuador. The feasibility of implementing the IPTV technology is given through the use of the Emby Server application, in addition to the use of an operating system such as CentOS 7, which are open source and have the necessary requirements for the creation of this service. The analysis of data tra c generated on the WISP network, which will establish the advantages and disadvantages generated by the transmission of this technology, created to VOD multimedia content server that allows the video signal to be sent to users Finally, a feasibility study was carried out to analyze the advantages and disadvantages that exist in the implementation of this IPTV technology.

Assessing institutional capacities to adapt to climate change - integrating psychological dimensions in the Adaptive Capacity Wheel

Science.gov (United States)

Grothmann, T.; Grecksch, K.; Winges, M.; Siebenhüner, B.

2013-03-01

Several case studies show that "soft social factors" (e.g. institutions, perceptions, social capital) strongly affect social capacities to adapt to climate change. Many soft social factors can probably be changed faster than "hard social factors" (e.g. economic and technological development) and are therefore particularly important for building social capacities. However, there are almost no methodologies for the systematic assessment of soft social factors. Gupta et al. (2010) have developed the Adaptive Capacity Wheel (ACW) for assessing the adaptive capacity of institutions. The ACW differentiates 22 criteria to assess six dimensions: variety, learning capacity, room for autonomous change, leadership, availability of resources, fair governance. To include important psychological factors we extended the ACW by two dimensions: "adaptation motivation" refers to actors' motivation to realise, support and/or promote adaptation to climate. "Adaptation belief" refers to actors' perceptions of realisability and effectiveness of adaptation measures. We applied the extended ACW to assess adaptive capacities of four sectors - water management, flood/coastal protection, civil protection and regional planning - in North Western Germany. The assessments of adaptation motivation and belief provided a clear added value. The results also revealed some methodological problems in applying the ACW (e.g. overlap of dimensions), for which we propose methodological solutions.

Assessing institutional capacities to adapt to climate change: integrating psychological dimensions in the Adaptive Capacity Wheel

Science.gov (United States)

Grothmann, T.; Grecksch, K.; Winges, M.; Siebenhüner, B.

2013-12-01

Several case studies show that social factors like institutions, perceptions and social capital strongly affect social capacities to adapt to climate change. Together with economic and technological development they are important for building social capacities. However, there are almost no methodologies for the systematic assessment of social factors. After reviewing existing methodologies we identify the Adaptive Capacity Wheel (ACW) by Gupta et al. (2010), developed for assessing the adaptive capacity of institutions, as the most comprehensive and operationalised framework to assess social factors. The ACW differentiates 22 criteria to assess 6 dimensions: variety, learning capacity, room for autonomous change, leadership, availability of resources, fair governance. To include important psychological factors we extended the ACW by two dimensions: "adaptation motivation" refers to actors' motivation to realise, support and/or promote adaptation to climate; "adaptation belief" refers to actors' perceptions of realisability and effectiveness of adaptation measures. We applied the extended ACW to assess adaptive capacities of four sectors - water management, flood/coastal protection, civil protection and regional planning - in northwestern Germany. The assessments of adaptation motivation and belief provided a clear added value. The results also revealed some methodological problems in applying the ACW (e.g. overlap of dimensions), for which we propose methodological solutions.

The Potential for Energy Storage to Provide Peaking Capacity in California Under Increased Penetration of Solar Photovoltaics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denholm, Paul L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Margolis, Robert M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-14

In this report, we examine the potential for replacing conventional peaking capacity in California with energy storage, including analysis of the changing technical potential with increased storage deployment and the effect of PV deployment. We examine nine years of historic load data, a range of storage durations (2-8 hours), and a range of PV penetration levels (0%-30%). We demonstrate how PV increases the ability of storage to reduce peak net demand. In the scenarios analyzed, the expected penetration of PV in California in 2020 could more than double the potential for 4-hour energy storage to provide capacity services.

Benefits of agricultural technology innovation capacity to peasant farmers in rural poor areas: The case of DBN-Group, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mathias Agri Eneji

2012-09-01

Full Text Available DaBeiNong (DBN Technology Group Co Ltd is a private enterprise, at the cutting edge of the agricultural high-tech industry in China. It has developed its innovative capabilities through Research and Development (R&D activities, skilled R&D personnel, new products, services, processes and markets. This study contributes to knowledge by identifying and constructing a model of the enterprise innovation capacity; the inputs and outputs of innovation in DBN and 9 other agricultural high-tech enterprises in China. We analyzed the enterprise technology innovation capacity and offered recommendations. Two sets of questionnaires were used; for the peasant farmers, and for the agricultural enterprises. We used the rank factors on an ordinal scale and simple percentages. We used econometric model to analyze seven factors of agricultural enterprise innovation capacity. The results show that R&D is strategic to Agricultural Enterprise Innovation Capacity (AETIC. However, the benefits to the peasant farmers need to be further intensified, and stepped up from its present average level. We found that enterprises with higher capital and larger sales have more R&D investment than those with smaller sales. Promoting agricultural research and rural development is crucial to pro-poor growth, given the potential for smallholder agriculture to rapidly absorb and adopt innovations.

External Service Providers to the National Security Technology Incubator: Formalization of Relationships

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2008-04-30

This report documents the formalization of relationships with external service providers in the development of the National Security Technology Incubator (NSTI). The technology incubator is being developed as part of the National Security Preparedness Project (NSPP), funded by a Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) grant. This report summarizes the process in developing and formalizing relationships with those service providers and includes a sample letter of cooperation executed with each provider.

Providing Learning Computing Labs using Hosting and Virtualization Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armide González

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a computing hosting system to provide virtual computing laboratories for learning activities. This system is based on hosting and virtualization technologies. All the components used in its development are free software tools. The computing lab model provided by the system is a more sustainable and scalable alternative than the traditional academic computing lab, and it requires lower costs of installation and operation.

Economic opportunities resulting from a global deployment of concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies-The example of German technology providers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vallentin, Daniel; Viebahn, Peter

2010-01-01

Several energy scenario studies consider concentrated solar power (CSP) plants as an important technology option to reduce the world's CO 2 emissions to a level required for not letting the global average temperature exceed a threshold of 2-2.4 o C. A global ramp up of CSP technologies offers great economic opportunities for technology providers as CSP technologies include highly specialised components. This paper analyses possible value creation effects resulting from a global deployment of CSP until 2050 as projected in scenarios of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Greenpeace International. The analysis focuses on the economic opportunities of German technology providers since companies such as Schott Solar, Flabeg or Solar Millennium are among the leading suppliers of CSP technologies on the global market.

Advanced large-capacity commercial technology for multi-pollutant control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Graf, R.E. [Wulff Deutschland GmbH, Rosbach (Germany); Seitz, A. [Teplama Strakonice, a.s. (Czech Republic); Xia Fan Gao [Guangzhou Hengyun Enterprises Holiday, Ltd. (China)

2003-09-01

The presentation describes the application in commercial installations in Europe and China of circulating fluid bed (CFB) scrubbers of advanced GRAF/WULFF technology design, retrofitted to coal-fired steam boilers. Details are presented of design and operating experience with installations of CFB scrubbers that efficiently remove diverse pollutants down to and below the required and permitted levels. The paper describes successful solutions to substantial operating problems encountered at a CFB scrubbing plant. The described flue gas scrubbing plants of this simple system design clean the flue gases from boilers comprising units of a capacity of 100 to 300 MW using a single-train scrubbing system arrangement. Specifically, the simultaneous high rates of removal of multipollutants are, e.g., SO{sub 2}>98%, SO{sub 3}>99%, HF > 99%, HCl > 98%, mercury > 95%, and particulate matter > 99.99%. These pollutants are removed in a single scrubber module in combination, downstream, with baghouse or electrostatic precipitator means of dedusting. Information is given on rates and design of a single-module, 660 MW system as would be applied to a coal-fired power plant facility. (orig.)

Developing a Tool to Assess the Capacity of Out-of-School Time Program Providers to Implement Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Leeman, Jennifer; Blitstein, Jonathan L; Goetz, Joshua; Moore, Alexis; Tessman, Nell; Wiecha, Jean L

2016-08-11

Little is known about public health practitioners' capacity to change policies, systems, or environments (PSEs), in part due to the absence of measures. To address this need, we partnered with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Alliance) to develop and test a theory-derived measure of the capacity of out-of-school time program providers to improve students' level of nutrition and physical activity through changes in PSEs. The measure was developed and tested through an engaged partnership with staff working on the Alliance's Healthy Out-of-School Time (HOST) Initiative. In total, approximately 2,000 sites nationwide are engaged in the HOST Initiative, which serves predominantly high-need children and youths. We partnered with the Alliance to conduct formative work that would help develop a survey that assessed attitudes/beliefs, social norms, external resources/supports, and self-efficacy. The survey was administered to providers of out-of-school time programs who were implementing the Alliance's HOST Initiative. Survey respondents were 185 out-of-school time program providers (53% response rate). Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor model that explained 44.7% of the variance. Factors pertained to perceptions of social norms (6 items) and self-efficacy to build support and engage a team (4 items) and create (5 items) and implement (3 items) an action plan. We report initial development and factor analysis of a tool that the Alliance can use to assess the capacity of after-school time program providers, which is critical to targeting capacity-building interventions and assessing their effectiveness. Study findings also will inform the development of measures to assess individual capacity to plan and implement other PSE interventions.

Aviation System Capacity Program Terminal Area Productivity Project: Ground and Airborne Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Giulianetti, Demo J.

2001-01-01

Ground and airborne technologies were developed in the Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) project for increasing throughput at major airports by safely maintaining good-weather operating capacity during bad weather. Methods were demonstrated for accurately predicting vortices to prevent wake-turbulence encounters and to reduce in-trail separation requirements for aircraft approaching the same runway for landing. Technology was demonstrated that safely enabled independent simultaneous approaches in poor weather conditions to parallel runways spaced less than 3,400 ft apart. Guidance, control, and situation-awareness systems were developed to reduce congestion in airport surface operations resulting from the increased throughput, particularly during night and instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). These systems decreased runway occupancy time by safely and smoothly decelerating the aircraft, increasing taxi speed, and safely steering the aircraft off the runway. Simulations were performed in which optimal trajectories were determined by air traffic control (ATC) and communicated to flight crews by means of Center TRACON Automation System/Flight Management System (CTASFMS) automation to reduce flight delays, increase throughput, and ensure flight safety.

Task-evoked pupillometry provides a window into the development of short-term memory capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Elizabeth L; Miller Singley, Alison T; Peckham, Andrew D; Johnson, Sheri L; Bunge, Silvia A

2014-01-01

The capacity to keep multiple items in short-term memory (STM) improves over childhood and provides the foundation for the development of multiple cognitive abilities. The goal of this study was to measure the extent to which age differences in STM capacity are related to differences in task engagement during encoding. Children (n = 69, mean age = 10.6 years) and adults (n = 54, mean age = 27.5 years) performed two STM tasks: the forward digit span test from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and a novel eyetracking digit span task designed to overload STM capacity. Building on prior research showing that task-evoked pupil dilation can be used as a real-time index of task engagement, we measured changes in pupil dilation while participants encoded long sequences of digits for subsequent recall. As expected, adults outperformed children on both STM tasks. We found similar patterns of pupil dilation while children and adults listened to the first six digits on our STM overload task, after which the adults' pupils continued to dilate and the children's began to constrict, suggesting that the children had reached their cognitive limits and that they had begun to disengage from the task. Indeed, the point at which pupil dilation peaked at encoding was a significant predictor of WISC forward span, and this relationship held even after partialing out recall performance on the STM overload task. These findings indicate that sustained task engagement at encoding is an important component of the development of STM.

Task-evoked pupillometry provides a window into the development of short-term memory capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth L. Johnson

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The capacity to keep multiple items in short-term memory (STM improves over childhood and provides the foundation for the development of multiple cognitive abilities. The goal of this study was to measure the extent to which age differences in STM capacity are related to differences in task engagement during encoding. Children (n = 69, mean age = 10.5 years and adults (n = 54, mean age = 27.5 years performed two STM tasks: the forward digit span test from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC and a novel eyetracking digit span task designed to overload STM capacity. Building on prior research showing that task-evoked pupil dilation can be used as a real-time index of task engagement, we measured changes in pupil dilation while participants encoded long sequences of digits for subsequent recall. As expected, adults outperformed children on both STM tasks. We found similar patterns of pupil dilation while children and adults listened to the first six digits on our STM Overload task, after which the adults’ pupils continued to dilate and the children’s began to constrict, suggesting that the children had reached their cognitive limits and that they had begun to disengage attention from the task. Indeed, the point at which pupil dilation peaked at encoding was a significant predictor of WISC forward span, and this relationship held even after partialing out recall performance on the STM Overload task. These findings indicate that sustained task engagement at encoding is an important component of the development of STM.

Task-evoked pupillometry provides a window into the development of short-term memory capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Elizabeth L.; Miller Singley, Alison T.; Peckham, Andrew D.; Johnson, Sheri L.; Bunge, Silvia A.

2014-01-01

The capacity to keep multiple items in short-term memory (STM) improves over childhood and provides the foundation for the development of multiple cognitive abilities. The goal of this study was to measure the extent to which age differences in STM capacity are related to differences in task engagement during encoding. Children (n = 69, mean age = 10.6 years) and adults (n = 54, mean age = 27.5 years) performed two STM tasks: the forward digit span test from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and a novel eyetracking digit span task designed to overload STM capacity. Building on prior research showing that task-evoked pupil dilation can be used as a real-time index of task engagement, we measured changes in pupil dilation while participants encoded long sequences of digits for subsequent recall. As expected, adults outperformed children on both STM tasks. We found similar patterns of pupil dilation while children and adults listened to the first six digits on our STM overload task, after which the adults' pupils continued to dilate and the children's began to constrict, suggesting that the children had reached their cognitive limits and that they had begun to disengage from the task. Indeed, the point at which pupil dilation peaked at encoding was a significant predictor of WISC forward span, and this relationship held even after partialing out recall performance on the STM overload task. These findings indicate that sustained task engagement at encoding is an important component of the development of STM. PMID:24659980

Providing Formative Feedback: Language Technologies for Lifelong Learning CONSPECT tool

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berlanga, Adriana

2011-01-01

Berlanga, A. J. (2011). Providing Formative Feedback: Language Technologies for Lifelong Learning CONSPECT tool. Presentation given at the Onderwijslunch, University of Maastricht. January, 18, 2011, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Results of a Nationwide Capacity Survey of Hospitals Providing Trauma Care in War-Affected Syria.

Science.gov (United States)

Mowafi, Hani; Hariri, Mahmoud; Alnahhas, Houssam; Ludwig, Elizabeth; Allodami, Tammam; Mahameed, Bahaa; Koly, Jamal Kaby; Aldbis, Ahmed; Saqqur, Maher; Zhang, Baobao; Al-Kassem, Anas

2016-09-01

The Syrian civil war has resulted in large-scale devastation of Syria's health infrastructure along with widespread injuries and death from trauma. The capacity of Syrian trauma hospitals is not well characterized. Data are needed to allocate resources for trauma care to the population remaining in Syria. To identify the number of trauma hospitals operating in Syria and to delineate their capacities. From February 1 to March 31, 2015, a nationwide survey of 94 trauma hospitals was conducted inside Syria, representing a coverage rate of 69% to 93% of reported hospitals in nongovernment controlled areas. Identification and geocoding of trauma and essential surgical services in Syria. Although 86 hospitals (91%) reported capacity to perform emergency surgery, 1 in 6 hospitals (16%) reported having no inpatient ward for patients after surgery. Sixty-three hospitals (70%) could transfuse whole blood but only 7 (7.4%) could separate and bank blood products. Seventy-one hospitals (76%) had any pharmacy services. Only 10 (11%) could provide renal replacement therapy, and only 18 (20%) provided any form of rehabilitative services. Syrian hospitals are isolated, with 24 (26%) relying on smuggling routes to refer patients to other hospitals and 47 hospitals (50%) reporting domestic supply lines that were never open or open less than daily. There were 538 surgeons, 378 physicians, and 1444 nurses identified in this survey, yielding a nurse to physician ratio of 1.8:1. Only 74 hospitals (79%) reported any salary support for staff, and 84 (89%) reported material support. There is an unmet need for biomedical engineering support in Syrian trauma hospitals, with 12 fixed x-ray machines (23%), 11 portable x-ray machines (13%), 13 computed tomographic scanners (22%), 21 adult (21%) and 5 pediatric (19%) ventilators, 14 anesthesia machines (10%), and 116 oxygen cylinders (15%) not functional. No functioning computed tomographic scanners remain in Aleppo, and 95 oxygen cylinders (42

Science, Technology and Innovation as Social Goods for Development: Rethinking Research Capacity Building from Sen's Capabilities Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Mormina, Maru

2018-03-01

Science and technology are key to economic and social development, yet the capacity for scientific innovation remains globally unequally distributed. Although a priority for development cooperation, building or developing research capacity is often reduced in practice to promoting knowledge transfers, for example through North-South partnerships. Research capacity building/development tends to focus on developing scientists' technical competencies through training, without parallel investments to develop and sustain the socioeconomic and political structures that facilitate knowledge creation. This, the paper argues, significantly contributes to the scientific divide between developed and developing countries more than any skills shortage. Using Charles Taylor's concept of irreducibly social goods, the paper extends Sen's Capabilities Approach beyond its traditional focus on individual entitlements to present a view of scientific knowledge as a social good and the capability to produce it as a social capability. Expanding this capability requires going beyond current fragmented approaches to research capacity building to holistically strengthen the different social, political and economic structures that make up a nation's innovation system. This has implications for the interpretation of human rights instruments beyond their current focus on access to knowledge and for focusing science policy and global research partnerships to design approaches to capacity building/development beyond individual training/skills building.

Estimating cell capacity for multi-cell electrical energy system

Science.gov (United States)

Hashemi, Iman Ahari

A Multi-Cell Electrical Energy System is a set of batteries that are connected in series. The series batteries provide the required voltage necessary for the contraption. After using the energy that is provided by the batteries, some cells within the system tend to have a lower voltage than the other cells. Also, other factors, such as the number of times a battery has been charged or discharged, how long it has been within the system and many other factors, result in some cells having a lesser capacity compared to the other cells within the system. The outcome is that it lowers the required capacity that the electrical energy system is required to provide. By having an unknown cell capacity within the system, it is unknown how much of a charge can be provided to the system so that the cells are not overcharged or undercharged. Therefore, it is necessary to know the cells capacity within the system. Hence, if we were dealing with a single cell, the capacity could be obtained by a full charge and discharge of the cell. In a series system that contains multiple cells a full charging or discharging cannot happen as it might result in deteriorating the structure of some cells within the system. Hence, to find the capacity of a single cell within an electrical energy system it is required to obtain a method that can estimate the value of each cell within the electrical energy system. To approach this method an electrical energy system is required. The electrical energy system consists of rechargeable non-equal capacity batteries to provide the required energy to the system, a battery management system (BMS) board to monitor the cells voltages, an Arduino board that provides the required communication to BMS board, and the PC, and a software that is able to deliver the required data obtained from the Arduino board to the PC. The outcome, estimating the capacity of a cell within a multi-cell system, can be used in many battery related technologies to obtain unknown

The NASA CSTI High Capacity Power Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winter, J.; Dudenhoefer, J.; Juhasz, A.; Schwarze, G.; Patterson, R.; Ferguson, D.; Schmitz, P.; Vandersande, J.

1992-01-01

This paper describes the elements of NASA's CSTI High Capacity Power Project which include Systems Analysis, Stirling Power Conversion, Thermoelectric Power Conversion, Thermal Management, Power Management, Systems Diagnostics, Environmental Interactions, and Material/Structural Development. Technology advancement in all elements is required to provide the growth capability, high reliability and 7 to 10 year lifetime demanded for future space nuclear power systems. The overall project will develop and demonstrate the technology base required to provide a wide range of modular power systems compatible with the SP-100 reactor which facilitates operation during lunar and planetary day/night cycles as well as allowing spacecraft operation at any attitude or distance from the sun. Significant accomplishments in all of the project elements will be presented, along with revised goals and project timeliness recently developed

Models Provide Specificity: Testing a Proposed Mechanism of Visual Working Memory Capacity Development

Science.gov (United States)

Simmering, Vanessa R.; Patterson, Rebecca

2012-01-01

Numerous studies have established that visual working memory has a limited capacity that increases during childhood. However, debate continues over the source of capacity limits and its developmental increase. Simmering (2008) adapted a computational model of spatial cognitive development, the Dynamic Field Theory, to explain not only the source…

An Analysis of Personal Technology Use by Service Members and Military Behavioral Health Providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards-Stewart, Amanda; Smolenski, Derek J; Reger, Greg M; Bush, Nigel; Workman, Don E

2016-07-01

Personal technology use is ubiquitous in the United States today and technology, in general, continues to change the face of health care. However, little is known about the personal technology use of military service members and the behavioral health care providers that treat them. This study reports the technology use of 1,101 active duty service members and 45 behavioral health care providers at a large military installation. Participants reported Internet usage; ownership of smartphones, tablets, and e-readers; usage of mobile applications (apps); and basic demographic information. Compared with providers, service members reported higher rates of smartphone ownership, were more likely to own Android smartphones than iPhones, and spent more time gaming. Both groups spent a comparable amount of time using social media. With the exception of gaming, however, differences between service members and providers were not statistically significant when demographics were matched and controlled. Among service members, younger respondents (18-34) were statistically more likely than older respondents (35-58) to own smartphones, spend time gaming, and engage in social media. Our findings can help inform provider's technology-based education and intervention of their patients and guide the development of new technologies to support the psychological health of service members. Reprint & Copyright © 2016 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Newborn Jaundice Technologies: Unbound Bilirubin and Bilirubin Binding Capacity In Neonates

Science.gov (United States)

Amin, Sanjiv B.; Lamola, Angelo A.

2011-01-01

Neonatal jaundice (hyperbilirubinemia), extremely common in neonates, can be associated with neurotoxicity. A safe level of bilirubin has not been defined in either premature or term infants. Emerging evidence suggest that the level of unbound (or “free”) bilirubin has a better sensitivity and specificity than total serum bilirubin for bilirubin-induced neurotoxicity. Although recent studies suggest the usefulness of free bilirubin measurements in managing high-risk neonates including premature infants, there currently exists no widely available method to assay the serum free bilirubin concentration. To keep pace with the growing demand, in addition to reevaluation of old methods, several promising new methods are being developed for sensitive, accurate, and rapid measurement of free bilirubin and bilirubin binding capacity. These innovative methods need to be validated before adopting for clinical use. We provide an overview of some promising methods for free bilirubin and binding capacity measurements with the goal to enhance research in this area of active interest and apparent need. PMID:21641486

Capacity factors and solar job creation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Croucher, Matt

2011-01-01

We discuss two main job creation statistics often used by solar advocates to support increased solar deployment. Whilst overall solar technologies have a tendency to be labor-intensive, we find that the jobs per gigawatt hour statistic is relatively mis-leading as it has a tendency to reward technologies that have a low capacity factor. Ultimately the lower the capacity factor the more amplified the solar job creation number. - Highlights: → Solar generation is labor intensive. → Jobs per gigawatt hour statistics are often mis-leading. → The lower the capacity factor the higher the jobs per gigawatt. → Reliance on job creation statistics may lead to inefficient deployment.

Capacity factors and solar job creation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Croucher, Matt, E-mail: matthew.croucher@asu.edu [Department of Economics, L. William Seidman Research Institute, W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 873806, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)

2011-11-15

We discuss two main job creation statistics often used by solar advocates to support increased solar deployment. Whilst overall solar technologies have a tendency to be labor-intensive, we find that the jobs per gigawatt hour statistic is relatively mis-leading as it has a tendency to reward technologies that have a low capacity factor. Ultimately the lower the capacity factor the more amplified the solar job creation number. - Highlights: > Solar generation is labor intensive. > Jobs per gigawatt hour statistics are often mis-leading. > The lower the capacity factor the higher the jobs per gigawatt. > Reliance on job creation statistics may lead to inefficient deployment.

Scenario-informed multiple criteria analysis for prioritizing investments in electricity capacity expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, Lauro J.; Lambert, James H.; Karvetski, Christopher W.

2011-01-01

Planning the expansion and energy security of electricity capacity for a national electricity utility is a complex task in almost any economy. Planning is usually an iterative activity and can involve the use of large scale planning optimization systems accompanied by assessment of uncertain scenarios emerging from economic, technological, environmental, and regulatory developments. This paper applies a multiple criteria decision analysis to prioritize investment portfolios in capacity expansion and energy security while principally studying the robustness of the prioritization to multiple uncertain and emergent scenarios. The scenarios are identified through interaction with decision makers and stakeholders. The approach finds which scenarios most affect the prioritization of the portfolios and which portfolios have the greatest upside and downside potential across scenarios. The approach fosters innovation in the use of robust and efficient technologies, renewable energy sources, and cleaner energy fuels. A demonstration is provided for assessing the performance of technology portfolios constructed from investments in nine electricity generation technologies in Mexico.

Graphene-on-diamond devices with increased current-carrying capacity: carbon sp2-on-sp3 technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jie; Liu, Guanxiong; Sumant, Anirudha V; Goyal, Vivek; Balandin, Alexander A

2012-03-14

Graphene demonstrated potential for practical applications owing to its excellent electronic and thermal properties. Typical graphene field-effect transistors and interconnects built on conventional SiO(2)/Si substrates reveal the breakdown current density on the order of 1 μA/nm(2) (i.e., 10(8) A/cm(2)), which is ~100× larger than the fundamental limit for the metals but still smaller than the maximum achieved in carbon nanotubes. We show that by replacing SiO(2) with synthetic diamond, one can substantially increase the current-carrying capacity of graphene to as high as ~18 μA/nm(2) even at ambient conditions. Our results indicate that graphene's current-induced breakdown is thermally activated. We also found that the current carrying capacity of graphene can be improved not only on the single-crystal diamond substrates but also on an inexpensive ultrananocrystalline diamond, which can be produced in a process compatible with a conventional Si technology. The latter was attributed to the decreased thermal resistance of the ultrananocrystalline diamond layer at elevated temperatures. The obtained results are important for graphene's applications in high-frequency transistors, interconnects, and transparent electrodes and can lead to the new planar sp(2)-on-sp(3) carbon-on-carbon technology. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Characterization of Patient Interest in Provider-Based Consumer Health Information Technology: Survey Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Featherall, Joseph; Lapin, Brittany; Chaitoff, Alexander; Havele, Sonia A; Thompson, Nicolas; Katzan, Irene

2018-04-19

Consumer health information technology can improve patient engagement in their health care and assist in navigating the complexities of health care delivery. However, the consumer health information technology offerings of health systems are often driven by provider rather than patient perspectives and inadequately address patient needs, thus limiting their adoption by patients. Consideration given to patients as stakeholders in the development of such technologies may improve adoption, efficacy, and consumer health information technology resource allocation. The aims of this paper were to measure patient interest in different health system consumer health information technology apps and determine the influence of patient characteristics on consumer health information technology interest. Patients seen at the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute were electronically surveyed on their interest in using different consumer health information technology apps. A self-efficacy scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depression screen, and EuroQol 5 dimensions health-related quality of life scale were also completed by patients. Logistic regression was used to determine the influence of patient characteristics on interest in consumer health information technology in the categories of self-management, education, and communication. The majority of 3852 patient respondents had an interest in all technology categories assessed in the survey. The highest interest was in apps that allow patients to ask questions of providers (3476/3852, 90.24%) and to schedule appointments (3211/3839, 83.64%). Patient interest in consumer health information technology was significantly associated with greater depression symptoms, worse quality of life, greater health self-efficacy, and smartphone ownership (Pinformation technology development and their perspectives should consistently guide development efforts. Health systems should consider focusing on consumer health information technologies

Technology Roadmap: Hydropower

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

Hydropower could double its contribution by 2050, reaching 2,000 GW of global capacity and over 7,000 TWh. This achievement, driven primarily by the quest of clean electricity, could prevent annual emissions of up to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 from fossil-fuel plants. The bulk of this growth would come from large plants in emerging economies and developing countries. Hydroelectricity’s many advantages include reliability, proven technology, large storage capacity, and very low operating and maintenance costs. Hydropower is highly flexible, a precious asset for electricity network operators, especially given rapid expansion of variable generation from other renewable energy technologies such as wind power and photovoltaics. Many hydropower plants also provide flood control, irrigation, navigation and freshwater supply. The technology roadmap for Hydropower details action needed from policy makers to allow hydroelectric production to double, and addresses necessary conditions, including resolving environmental issues and gaining public acceptance.

Technology Use, Preferences, and Capacity in Injured Patients at Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Cory M; Van Eaton, Erik G; Russo, Joan E; Kelly, Victoria C; Jurkovich, Gregory J; Darnell, Doyanne A; Whiteside, Lauren K; Wang, Jin; Parker, Lea E; Payne, Thomas H; Mooney, Sean D; Bush, Nigel; Zatzick, Douglas F

2017-01-01

This investigation comprehensively assessed the technology use, preferences, and capacity of diverse injured trauma survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. A total of 121 patients participating in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) of stepped collaborative care targeting PTSD symptoms were administered baseline one-, three-, and six-month interviews that assessed technology use. Longitudinal data about the instability of patient cell phone ownership and phone numbers were collected from follow-up interviews. PTSD symptoms were also assessed over the course of the six months after injury. Regression analyses explored the associations between cell phone instability and PTSD symptoms. At baseline, 71.9% (n = 87) of patients reported current cell phone ownership, and over half (58.2%, n = 46) of these patients possessed basic cell phones. Only 19.0% (n = 23) of patients had no change in cell phone number or physical phone over the course of the six months postinjury. In regression models that adjusted for relevant clinical and demographic characteristics, cell phone instability was associated with higher six-month postinjury PTSD symptom levels (p risk for the development of PTSD have unique technology use patterns, including high rates of cell phone instability. These observations should be strongly considered when developing technology-supported interventions for injured patients with PTSD.

Use of speech-to-text technology for documentation by healthcare providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ajami, Sima

2016-01-01

Medical records are a critical component of a patient's treatment. However, documentation of patient-related information is considered a secondary activity in the provision of healthcare services, often leading to incomplete medical records and patient data of low quality. Advances in information technology (IT) in the health system and registration of information in electronic health records (EHR) using speechto- text conversion software have facilitated service delivery. This narrative review is a literature search with the help of libraries, books, conference proceedings, databases of Science Direct, PubMed, Proquest, Springer, SID (Scientific Information Database), and search engines such as Yahoo, and Google. I used the following keywords and their combinations: speech recognition, automatic report documentation, voice to text software, healthcare, information, and voice recognition. Due to lack of knowledge of other languages, I searched all texts in English or Persian with no time limits. Of a total of 70, only 42 articles were selected. Speech-to-text conversion technology offers opportunities to improve the documentation process of medical records, reduce cost and time of recording information, enhance the quality of documentation, improve the quality of services provided to patients, and support healthcare providers in legal matters. Healthcare providers should recognize the impact of this technology on service delivery.

Technical and economic aspects of new gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langley, R.A. Jr.; O'Donnell, A.J.

1977-01-01

Work is well advanced on design and construction of the next major increment of U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. The plant will use the gaseous diffusion process to provide the required capacity and reliability at a competitive enrichment services cost. Gaseous diffusion technology is the base against which other processes are compared in order to assess their commercial viability. While it has generally been described as a mature technology with limited future development potential, work on design of the new U.S. plant has resulted in major improvement in plant design with corresponding decreases in plant capacity and operating costs. The paper describes major technological advances incorporated into the new plant design and their impact on enrichment costs. These include the effects of: - advanced barrier technology; - tandem compressor drive systems; - optimization of number of equipment sizes; - single level plant design; - development of rapid power level change capability; - electrical system simplification; - plant arrangement and layout. Resulting capital costs and projected enrichment costs are summarized. Enrichment costs are placed in the context of total nuclear fuel cycle costs. Trade-offs between uranium feed material quantities and enrichment plant tails assays are described, and optimization of this aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle is discussed. The effect on enrichment plant characteristics is described. Flexibility and capability of the new U.S. enrichment plant to meet these changing optimization conditions are described

Which walking capacity tests to use in multiple sclerosis? A multicentre study providing the basis for a core set

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gijbels, D.; Dalgas, U.; Romberg, A.; de Groot, V.; Bethoux, F.; Vaney, C.; Gebara, B.; Santoyo, C.; Maamagi, H.; Rasova, K.; de Maertens, N.B.; Knuts, K.; Feys, P.

2012-01-01

Background: Many different walking capacity test formats are being used. It is unclear whether walking speed, obtained from short tests, and walking distance, obtained from long tests, provide different clinical information. Objectives: To determine the differential effect of various short and long

Awareness, Interest, and Preferences of Primary Care Providers in Using Point-of-Care Cancer Screening Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Chloe S; Vanture, Sarah; Cho, Margaret; Klapperich, Catherine M; Wang, Catharine; Huang, Franklin W

2016-01-01

Well-developed point-of-care (POC) cancer screening tools have the potential to provide better cancer care to patients in both developed and developing countries. However, new medical technology will not be adopted by medical providers unless it addresses a population's existing needs and end-users' preferences. The goals of our study were to assess primary care providers' level of awareness, interest, and preferences in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice and to provide guidelines to biomedical engineers for future POC technology development. A total of 350 primary care providers completed a one-time self-administered online survey, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete. A $50 Amazon gift card was given as an honorarium for the first 100 respondents to encourage participation. The description of POC cancer screening technology was provided in the beginning of the survey to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of what constitutes POC technology. More than half of the participants (57%) stated that they heard of the term "POC technology" for the first time when they took the survey. However, almost all of the participants (97%) stated they were either "very interested" (68%) or "somewhat interested" (29%) in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice. Demographic characteristics such as the length of being in the practice of medicine, the percentage of patients on Medicaid, and the average number of patients per day were not shown to be associated with the level of interest in using POC. These data show that there is a great interest in POC cancer screening technology utilization among this population of primary care providers and vast room for future investigations to further understand the interest and preferences in using POC cancer technology in practice. Ensuring that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs will maximize the likelihood it will be used by medical providers and patients.

We have the technology, but can we use it? Building flood risk capacity amongst property owners in England.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Iain; Connelly, Angela; O'Hare, Paul; Lawson, Nigel

2013-04-01

The UK's Meteorological Office has provisionally confirmed 2012 to be the second wettest recorded in the country (The Met Office, 2013). Volatile weather patterns resulted in much social and economic disruption and damage from floods. The UK's Flood and Water Management Act (2010) has placed responsibility for flood risk management primarily at local level. In reality, various agencies are responsible for managing flood risk resulting in a fragmented system that communities struggle to make sense of. Strengthening emergency response during a flood event is one strategy to build capacity. However, resilience has emerged as an operative policy, and points to a need for anticipatory approaches. These should extend beyond large-scale flood defenses or measures that reduce the vulnerability of infrastructures and buildings in order to incorporate social vulnerability through the establishment of warning systems and capacity building (White 2010). To this, small-scale, innovative technologies - from automatic door guards and 'smart' air bricks - hold the potential to manage the uncertainty around flood risk before an event occurs. However, innovative technologies are often resisted by institutions, technical systems, cultural preferences, and legislation, which require a multifaceted approach that addresses the social, cultural, economic and technical domains (De Graaf 2009). We present a case study that explores the barriers that inhibit the uptake of property level technologies in England by various actors: from property owners and manufacturers, to municipal authorities and built environment professionals. Through the case study, we demonstrate how these various stakeholders were involved in identifying the procedural principles to overcome these barriers and to integrate property level technologies more fully into an overall flood risk management system. Following this, best practice guidance was designed and we show the means by which such guidance can improve

Improving the United States airline industry's capacity to provide safe and dignified services to travelers with disabilities: focus group findings.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Michael J

2011-01-01

As a component of a training development project for intercity air travel providers, we investigated the capacity of the airline industry to meet the needs of travelers with disabilities by exploring: (1) the level of sensitivity among personnel to travelers' needs, (2) training currently provided, (3) areas in which additional training might be beneficial, and (4) organisational/systems-level commitment to dignified assistance to all travelers. Forty-four airline/vendor employees participated in nine focus groups in four US cities. Groups were audio recorded and transcribed. A grounded-theory approach was used to develop a coding system which was then applied to transcripts to identify themes. Factors influencing capacity grouped broadly into four areas: characteristics of the job/system, characteristics of current training, characteristics of providers themselves, and characteristics of travelers. At an interpersonal level, providers were empathetic and desired to provide dignified services. They lacked training and adequate equipment in some cases, however, and organisational commitment varied between companies. Traveler characteristics were also shown to impact service delivery. Results are promising but additional regulatory and organisational policies are needed to ensure quality services. Providers and consumers of intercity air travel services may benefit from the findings and recommendations of this study.

Capacity enhancement of indigenous expansion engine based helium liquefier

Science.gov (United States)

Doohan, R. S.; Kush, P. K.; Maheshwari, G.

2017-02-01

Development of technology and understanding for large capacity helium refrigeration and liquefaction at helium temperature is indispensable for coming-up projects. A new version of helium liquefier designed and built to provide approximately 35 liters of liquid helium per hour. The refrigeration capacity of this reciprocating type expansion engine machine has been increased from its predecessor version with continuous improvement and deficiency debugging. The helium liquefier has been built using components by local industries including cryogenic Aluminum plate fin heat exchangers. Two compressors with nearly identical capacity have been deployed for the operation of system. Together they consume about 110 kW of electric power. The system employs liquid Nitrogen precooling to enhance liquid Helium yield. This paper describes details of the cryogenic expander design improvements, reconfiguration of heat exchangers, performance simulation and their experimental validation.

Awareness, Interest, and Preferences of Primary Care Providers in Using Point-of-Care Cancer Screening Technology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chloe S Kim

Full Text Available Well-developed point-of-care (POC cancer screening tools have the potential to provide better cancer care to patients in both developed and developing countries. However, new medical technology will not be adopted by medical providers unless it addresses a population's existing needs and end-users' preferences. The goals of our study were to assess primary care providers' level of awareness, interest, and preferences in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice and to provide guidelines to biomedical engineers for future POC technology development. A total of 350 primary care providers completed a one-time self-administered online survey, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete. A $50 Amazon gift card was given as an honorarium for the first 100 respondents to encourage participation. The description of POC cancer screening technology was provided in the beginning of the survey to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of what constitutes POC technology. More than half of the participants (57% stated that they heard of the term "POC technology" for the first time when they took the survey. However, almost all of the participants (97% stated they were either "very interested" (68% or "somewhat interested" (29% in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice. Demographic characteristics such as the length of being in the practice of medicine, the percentage of patients on Medicaid, and the average number of patients per day were not shown to be associated with the level of interest in using POC. These data show that there is a great interest in POC cancer screening technology utilization among this population of primary care providers and vast room for future investigations to further understand the interest and preferences in using POC cancer technology in practice. Ensuring that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs will maximize the likelihood it will be used by medical providers and

A mine of information: can sports analytics provide wisdom from your data?

OpenAIRE

Passfield, Louis; Hopker, James G.

2017-01-01

This paper explores the notion that the availability and analysis of large datasets has the capacity to improve practice and change the nature of science in the sport and exercise setting. The increasing use of data and information technology in sport is giving rise to this change. Websites hold large data repositories and the development of wearable technology, mobile phone applications and related instruments for monitoring physical activity, training and competition, provide large data set...

THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION USED BY LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS: LITERATURE REVIEW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolina Luisa dos Santos Vieira

2012-10-01

Full Text Available With the growth in the supply of logistics services, and the increase of competition, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT is now considered by logistics service providers (LSP, a source of competitive advantage. Through a literature review, this paper seeks to identify which technologies have been used by the PSL. Analyzing 47 articles on the subject, published in international journal that has the largest number of works on PSL, applications of technologies by PSL were analyzed according to a taxonomy suggested based on literature - software, hardware and networks. Among the results highlight the technologies cited by categories and greater scientific interest, such as EDI, RFID, TTS, WMS and Internet.

The French capacity mechanism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

The French capacity mechanism has been design to ensure security of supply in the context of the energy transition. This energy transition challenges the electricity market design with several features: peak load growth, the development of renewables, demand response,... To ensure security of supply in this context, a capacity mechanism is being implemented in France. It is a market wide capacity obligation on electricity suppliers, based on market principles. Suppliers are responsible for forecasting their obligation, which corresponds to their contribution to winter peak load, and must procure enough capacity certificates to meet their obligations. Capacity certificates are granted to capacities through a certification process, which assesses their contribution to security of supply on the basis of availability commitments. This certification process is technology neutral and performance based, associated with controls and penalties in case of non compliance. Demand Side is fully integrated in the market, either through the reduction of suppliers' capacity obligation or direct participation after certification. In addition to the expected benefits in terms of security of supply, the French capacity market will foster the development of demand response. The participation of foreign capacities will require adaptations which are scheduled in a road-map, and could pave the way for further European integration of energy policies. (authors)

Implementation of Capacity Planning Agent of Demand Responsive Planning Framework : Master’s Thesis in Production Engineering of The Royal Institute of Technology

OpenAIRE

Juhong, Nirut

2013-01-01

This master’s thesis is conducted as a conclusion of Master degree of Science in Production Engineering and Management at The Royal Institute of Technology. The focus of this thesis work is to implement a Capacity planning agent. Nowadays, companies need to adapt themselves to be as responsive to customers’ demand as possible. However, the responsiveness is usually limited by the fixed capacity of the production. Evolvable Production System (EPS), motivated by the limitation mentioned above, ...

Intermittently renewable energy, optimal capacity mix and prices in a deregulated electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milstein, Irena; Tishler, Asher

2011-01-01

This paper assesses the effect of intermittently renewable energy on generation capacity mix and market prices. We consider two generating technologies: (1) conventional fossil-fueled technology such as combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT), and (2) sunshine-dependent renewable technology such as photovoltaic cells (PV). In the first stage of the model (game), when only the probability distribution functions of future daily electricity demand and sunshine are known, producers maximize their expected profits by determining the CCGT and PV capacity to be constructed. In the second stage, once daily demand and sunshine conditions become known, each producer selects the daily production by each technology, taking the capacities of both technologies as given, and subject to the availability of the PV capacity, which can be used only if the sun is shining. Using real-world data for Israel, we confirm that the introduction of PV technology amplifies price volatility. A large reduction in PV capacity cost increases PV adoption but may also raise the average price. Thus, when considering the promotion of renewable energy to reduce CO 2 emissions, regulators should assess the behavior of the electricity market, particularly with respect to characteristics of renewable technologies and demand and supply uncertainties. - Research Highlights: → This paper assesses the effect of intermittently renewable energy on generation capacity mix and market prices. → We consider two generating technologies: (1) conventional fossil-fueled technology such as CCGT and (2) sunshine-dependent renewable technology such as photovoltaic cells (PV). →Using real-world data for Israel, we confirm that the introduction of PV technology amplifies price volatility. → A large reduction in PV capacity cost increases PV adoption but may also raise the average price.

31 CFR 539.306 - Goods, technology, or services produced or provided by a designated foreign person.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Goods, technology, or services..., technology, or services produced or provided by a designated foreign person. With respect to the prohibitions in §§ 539.201 and 539.202, the term goods, technology, or services produced or provided by a...

Organizational capacities for 'residential care homes for the elderly' to provide culturally appropriate end-of-life care for Chinese elders and their families.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Sui-Ting; Fang, Christine Meng-Sang; Lou, Vivian Weiqun

2017-01-01

Developing culturally appropriate end-of-life care for Chinese elderly and families is not an endemic challenge for Hong Kong, but that of the Western countries with a noticeable trend of rising Chinese population. The particular development of Hong Kong healthcare system, which is currently the major provider of end-of-life care, makes Hong Kong a fruitful case for understanding the confluence of the West and the East cultures in end-of-life care practices. This study therefore aims at building our best practice to enhance the capacity of residential care homes in providing culturally appropriate end-of-life care. We conducted two phases of research, a questionnaire survey and a qualitative study, which respectively aims at (1) understanding the EoL care service demand and provision in RCHEs, including death facts and perceived barriers and challenges in providing quality end-of-life care in care homes, and (2) identifying the necessary organizational capacities for the 'relational personhood' to be sustained in the process of ageing and dying in residential care homes. Findings shed light on how to empower residential care homes with necessary environmental, structural and cultural-resource-related capacity for providing quality end-of-life care for Chinese elders and their families. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implementing Estimation of Capacity for Freeway Sections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang-qiao Shao

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the stochastic concept for freeway capacity, the procedure of capacity estimation is developed. Due to the fact that it is impossible to observe the value of the capacity and to obtain the probability distribution of the capacity, the product-limit method is used in this paper to estimate the capacity. In order to implement estimation of capacity using this technology, the lifetime table based on statistical methods for lifetime data analysis is introduced and the corresponding procedure is developed. Simulated data based on freeway sections in Beijing, China, were analyzed and the results indicate that the methodology and procedure are applicable and validated.

Energy modelling and capacity building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

The Planning and Economic Studies Section of the IAEA's Department of Nuclear Energy is focusing on building analytical capacity in MS for energy-environmental-economic assessments and for the elaboration of sustainable energy strategies. It offers a variety of analytical models specifically designed for use in developing countries for (i) evaluating alternative energy strategies; (ii) assessing environmental, economic and financial impacts of energy options; (iii) assessing infrastructure needs; (iv) evaluating regional development possibilities and energy trade; (v) assessing the role of nuclear power in addressing priority issues (climate change, energy security, etc.). These models can be used for analysing energy or electricity systems, and to assess possible implications of different energy, environmental or financial policies that affect the energy sector and energy systems. The models vary in complexity and data requirements, and so can be adapted to the available data, statistics and analytical needs of different countries. These models are constantly updated to reflect changes in the real world and in the concerns that drive energy system choices. They can provide thoughtfully informed choices for policy makers over a broader range of circumstances and interests. For example, they can readily reflect the workings of competitive energy and electricity markets, and cover such topics as external costs. The IAEA further offers training in the use of these models and -just as important- in the interpretation and critical evaluation of results. Training of national teams to develop national competence over the full spectrum of models, is a high priority. The IAEA maintains a broad spectrum of databanks relevant to energy, economic and environmental analysis in MS, and make these data available to analysts in MS for use in their own analytical work. The Reference Technology Data Base (RTDB) and the Reference Data Series (RDS-1) are the major vehicles by which we

Providing Assistive Technology Applications as a Service Through Cloud Computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Mulfari, Davide; Celesti, Antonio; Villari, Massimo; Puliafito, Antonio

2015-01-01

Users with disabilities interact with Personal Computers (PCs) using Assistive Technology (AT) software solutions. Such applications run on a PC that a person with a disability commonly uses. However the configuration of AT applications is not trivial at all, especially whenever the user needs to work on a PC that does not allow him/her to rely on his / her AT tools (e.g., at work, at university, in an Internet point). In this paper, we discuss how cloud computing provides a valid technological solution to enhance such a scenario.With the emergence of cloud computing, many applications are executed on top of virtual machines (VMs). Virtualization allows us to achieve a software implementation of a real computer able to execute a standard operating system and any kind of application. In this paper we propose to build personalized VMs running AT programs and settings. By using the remote desktop technology, our solution enables users to control their customized virtual desktop environment by means of an HTML5-based web interface running on any computer equipped with a browser, whenever they are.

Using ECC DRAM to Adaptively Increase Memory Capacity

OpenAIRE

Luo, Yixin; Ghose, Saugata; Li, Tianshi; Govindan, Sriram; Sharma, Bikash; Kelly, Bryan; Boroumand, Amirali; Mutlu, Onur

2017-01-01

Modern DRAM modules are often equipped with hardware error correction capabilities, especially for DRAM deployed in large-scale data centers, as process technology scaling has increased the susceptibility of these devices to errors. To provide fast error detection and correction, error-correcting codes (ECC) are placed on an additional DRAM chip in a DRAM module. This additional chip expands the raw capacity of a DRAM module by 12.5%, but the applications are unable to use any of this extra c...

UN OPEN GIS CAPACITY BUILDING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Albertella

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The UN Open GIS Initiative is to identify and develop, under UN guidance, an Open Source GIS bundle that meets the requirements of UN operations, taking full advantage of the expertise of mission partners (partner nations, technology contributing countries, international organizations, academia, NGO’s, private sector. The project, started in 2016, is composed by 4 working groups. One of the working group is specifically related to Capacity Building, given its importance for the success of the project. UN Open GIS will be based on some existing open source geospatial software (packages and libraries with many extensions specifically developed. The users of the platform will be the UN staff supporting with mapping and GIS the peacekeeping missions. Therefore, they are generally expert of this specific domain, even if they are currently using proprietary software. UN Open GIS Capacity Building is specifically thought for covering this gap, providing them the suitable background about open source geospatial software in general and the education tailored to the solution that has been being developed within the project itself.

Use of technology to provide competitive advantage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, P. D.

1999-01-01

The role of technology in plotting a new paradigm is explored by means of reviewing NOVA Chemicals' technology strategy for feedstocks, petrochemicals and polymers. As part of this transformation of technology from that of a servant to a key contributor to the success of the company, the expansion (in a 50/50 joint venture with DOW/Union Carbide) of a mammoth 2.8 billion pound ethylene plant at Joffre, Alberta is 'the jewel in the crown'. This plant, with the two ethylene units already on site will make Joffre in the year 2000 the world's largest single site for the manufacture of ethylene. An 800 million pound Advanced SCLAIRTECH T M polystyrene plant, (a proprietary process for the manufacture of high performance polymers initially developed, but considered 'non-strategic' to their own needs, by DuPont and sold to NOVA Chemicals for $ 45 million in 1994), the largest single train of its kind in the world, is also under construction. Also in the early stages of construction on the site is a large linear alpha olefin plant owned by BP-Amoco to supply co-monomer to the polyethylene plant, To back up these facilities, there is a 400 MW cogeneration unit to supply power and steam. NOVA Chemicals Research and Technology Laboratory is a focused world class research facility with an annual budget of $ 37 million, combined with the active collaboration with all major Canadian universities, and targeted projects with other universities around the world , are all necessary components of creating and acquiring the technology that is required to achieve the corporate goals of the company. The high level of investment in research and technology is seen as the pathway to fundamentally change the business and create value which can be realized in the marketplace. Research and technology also help the company to advance the competitiveness of their own processes, keep the company on the cutting edge of technology, and assure its survival among the leaders of the industry

Enhancing the Feed Capacity of Horticulture Agro-Ecosystem Through Technology for Goat Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon P Ginting

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The availability of feed and their efficiency of use throughout the year represent the most important constraint affecting the productivity of animals in any agro-ecosystems. Beside being the largest contributor to the total production cost, logistically feeds need to be available on a daily basis across the animal’s life time. In order to be competitive, goat production system must be directed toward the optimum utilization of inconventional feedstuffs such as crop residues and agro-industrial by-products. The horticulture crops provide various crop-residues and by products from the processing of its main products. These biomass are potential feedstuffs that could be used to support the production of goats. The processing of passion fruits (Passiflora edulis yield by products such as fruit shells and seeds. These products are good energy and protein sources for growing goats. Oriental radish (Raphanus sativus by-products composed by damaged root parts and culls have high digestible energy and low ether extract content, but have very high moisture content. The pineapple by-products composed by the peel and bagasse of the fruit could be used as energy source for goats. Other horticulture by-products or residues such as citrus pulp, abandoned citrus fruit, forages from Ipomea batatas are of great potential as feeds for goat production. Preserving technology like ensiling could be implemented in utilising those biomass categorized as wet by-products such as pineapple and oriental radish by-products. The technology of complete feed is an effective means in utilizing some of those products with relatively low palatability or to increase its inclusion level in diets. Introducing shade-tolerant forage species as intercrops such as Stenotaphrum secundatum, Brachiaria humidicola and Arachis pintoi in the citrus plantation should increase feed capacity of the area. The multi-purpose trees such as Indigofera sp. and Calliandra calothyrsus both are

Challenges of Radiation Protection Capacity Building in Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ntuane, B. I.

2004-01-01

Capacity building is a term that is used in reference to required resources which may be human, infrastructural, information or knowledge, competency or financial in nature to enable the achievement of certain objectives. On the African continent the issue of capacity building in RP has always been important towards the development of radiation protection (RP) infrastructure and human competency. Identifiable resources that are of relevance to the cause of capacity building include ? the availability of qualified RP practitioners ? infrastructure which ensures safety of workers, the environment and public ? acceptable control and RP management systems ? legislation accessible to various stakeholders including operators, regulators, government and the public ? financial capacity to sustain material development including enhancement of skills and routine conduct of RP management ? necessitating public involvement which has a spin-off in education and understanding of safety application of nuclear technology and ? proper utilization of communication systems between the various stakeholders within respective countries and between African countries and the rest of the world. It is with the belief that in keeping with the objectives of this congress, it is equally important to raise certain aspects of concern which can guide us to develop a strategy to achieve our goal. Discussion and debate have to ensue as we are all expressing a common concern to see to it that New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is given life in our interest and commitment to provide competency in the safe management of Radioactive waste and ALARA application in routine operations. NEPAD is an adopted strategy by the Africa Union in fostering developmental, economic and technological partnerships between Africa and the rest of the world, particularly the industrialized nations. (Author)

Introduction to Pinch Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rokni, Masoud

? How to put energy efficiency and other targets like reducing emissions, increasing plant capacities, improve product qualities etc, into a one coherent strategic plan for the overall site? All these questions and more can be answered with a full understanding of Pinch Technology and an awareness...... of the available tools for applying it in a practical way. The aim here is to provide the basic knowledge of pinch technology concept and how it can be applied across a wide range of process industries. The pinch technology was proposed firstly for optimization of heat exchangers and therefore it is introduced...

Relational Capacity: Broadening the Notion of Decision-Making Capacity in Paediatric Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruhe, Katharina M; De Clercq, Eva; Wangmo, Tenzin; Elger, Bernice S

2016-12-01

Problems arise when applying the current procedural conceptualization of decision-making capacity to paediatric healthcare: Its emphasis on content-neutrality and rational cognition as well as its implicit assumption that capacity is an ability that resides within a person jeopardizes children's position in decision-making. The purpose of the paper is to challenge this dominant account of capacity and provide an alternative for how capacity should be understood in paediatric care. First, the influence of developmental psychologist Jean Piaget upon the notion of capacity is discussed, followed by an examination of Vygostky's contextualist view on children's development, which emphasizes social interactions and learning for decision-making capacity. In drawing parallels between autonomy and capacity, substantive approaches to relational autonomy are presented that underline the importance of the content of a decision. The authors then provide a relational reconceptualization of capacity that leads the focus away from the individual to include important social others such as parents and physicians. Within this new approach, the outcome of adults' decision-making processes is accepted as a guiding factor for a good decision for the child. If the child makes a choice that is not approved by adults, the new conceptualization emphasizes mutual exchange and engagement by both parties.

Strategic capacity withholding through failures in the German-Austrian electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergler, Julian; Heim, Sven; Hüschelrath, Kai

2017-01-01

In electricity day-ahead markets organized as uniform price auction, a small reduction in supply in times of high demand can cause substantial increases in price. We use a unique data set of failures of generation capacity in the German-Austrian electricity market to investigate the relationship between electricity spot prices and generation failures. Differentiating between strategic and non-strategic failures, we find a positive impact of prices on non-usable marginal generation capacity for strategic failures only. Our empirical analysis therefore provides evidence for the existence of strategic capacity withholding through failures suggesting further monitoring efforts by public authorities to effectively reduce the likelihood of such abuses of a dominant position. - Highlights: • We investigate the relationship between electricity spot prices and generation failures. • Announced (non-strategic) failures are found to decrease with increasing price. • Unannounced (strategic) failures of marginal technologies increase with increasing price. • Our evidence is consistent with the presence of capacity withholding strategies in the German-Austrian electricity market.

The development and application of high-capacity thickening techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji Zhenwan; Song Yuejie

1995-01-01

On the basis of sedimentation theory and comparison between the high-capacity and conventional thickening techniques, the authors analyse the ways to increase capacity and to improve technological parameters of thickeners, describes the construction features, development, application, automatic control and test installations of high-capacity thickeners at home and abroad

Auctions of capacity in network industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, J.; Turvey, R.

2003-01-01

This paper provides an introduction to the key issues arising for auctions of network capacity including (i) the ability of auctions to handle long-run capacity expansion issues as well as short run capacity allocation; (ii) the definition of 'capacity' on networks; (iii) auction revenues and revenue reallocation to regulated network operators; and (iv) alternative market-based mechanisms to provide signals for capacity expansion. The paper covers some simple analytics before introducing various complications such as the use of auctions in complex networks. The paper discusses implications and provides a context within which to consider the other papers in this issue of Utilities Policy. (Author)

High-Capacity Cathode Material with High Voltage for Li-Ion Batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Ji-Lei; Xiao, Dong-Dong; Ge, Mingyuan; Yu, Xiqian; Chu, Yong; Huang, Xiaojing; Zhang, Xu-Dong; Yin, Ya-Xia; Yang, Xiao-Qing; Guo, Yu-Guo; Gu, Lin; Wan, Li-Jun

2018-03-01

Electrochemical energy storage devices with a high energy density are an important technology in modern society, especially for electric vehicles. The most effective approach to improve the energy density of batteries is to search for high-capacity electrode materials. According to the concept of energy quality, a high-voltage battery delivers a highly useful energy, thus providing a new insight to improve energy density. Based on this concept, a novel and successful strategy to increase the energy density and energy quality by increasing the discharge voltage of cathode materials and preserving high capacity is proposed. The proposal is realized in high-capacity Li-rich cathode materials. The average discharge voltage is increased from 3.5 to 3.8 V by increasing the nickel content and applying a simple after-treatment, and the specific energy is improved from 912 to 1033 Wh kg -1 . The current work provides an insightful universal principle for developing, designing, and screening electrode materials for high energy density and energy quality. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Maximizing the optical network capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayvel, Polina; Maher, Robert; Xu, Tianhua; Liga, Gabriele; Shevchenko, Nikita A; Lavery, Domaniç; Alvarado, Alex; Killey, Robert I

2016-03-06

Most of the digital data transmitted are carried by optical fibres, forming the great part of the national and international communication infrastructure. The information-carrying capacity of these networks has increased vastly over the past decades through the introduction of wavelength division multiplexing, advanced modulation formats, digital signal processing and improved optical fibre and amplifier technology. These developments sparked the communication revolution and the growth of the Internet, and have created an illusion of infinite capacity being available. But as the volume of data continues to increase, is there a limit to the capacity of an optical fibre communication channel? The optical fibre channel is nonlinear, and the intensity-dependent Kerr nonlinearity limit has been suggested as a fundamental limit to optical fibre capacity. Current research is focused on whether this is the case, and on linear and nonlinear techniques, both optical and electronic, to understand, unlock and maximize the capacity of optical communications in the nonlinear regime. This paper describes some of them and discusses future prospects for success in the quest for capacity. © 2016 The Authors.

Improving iSC performance through outsourcing - Considerations for using third-party service providers to increase innovation, capacity and efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Martin; Forster, Gary; Beale, John

2017-04-19

Development partners and donors have encouraged and incentivized governments in developing countries to explore ways of working with third-party service suppliers to reduce costs and increase service delivery capacity. The distribution of vaccines and medicines has for a long time shown demand for outsourcing but public health systems have struggled to develop the expertise and capital assets necessary to manage such ventures. Existing transport and logistics capacity within public health systems, in particular, is well documented as being insufficient to support existing, let alone future immunization needs. Today, a number of countries are contracting party logistics providers (3PLs) to supplement the in-house distribution operations of public health systems. This commentary reflects on recent, leading examples of outsourcing initiatives to address critical gaps in transport and logistics. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Providing Value to New Health Technology: The Early Contribution of Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Regulatory Agencies

Science.gov (United States)

Lehoux, Pascale; Miller, Fiona A.; Daudelin, Geneviève; Denis, Jean-Louis

2017-01-01

Background: New technologies constitute an important cost-driver in healthcare, but the dynamics that lead to their emergence remains poorly understood from a health policy standpoint. The goal of this paper is to clarify how entrepreneurs, investors, and regulatory agencies influence the value of emerging health technologies. Methods: Our 5-year qualitative research program examined the processes through which new health technologies were envisioned, financed, developed and commercialized by entrepreneurial clinical teams operating in Quebec’s (Canada) publicly funded healthcare system. Results: Entrepreneurs have a direct influence over a new technology’s value proposition, but investors actively transform this value. Investors support a technology that can find a market, no matter its intrinsic value for clinical practice or healthcare systems. Regulatory agencies reinforce the "double" value of a new technology—as a health intervention and as an economic commodity—and provide economic worth to the venture that is bringing the technology to market. Conclusion: Policy-oriented initiatives such as early health technology assessment (HTA) and coverage with evidence may provide technology developers with useful input regarding the decisions they make at an early stage. But to foster technologies that bring more value to healthcare systems, policy-makers must actively support the consideration of health policy issues in innovation policy. PMID:28949463

High-Capacity Spacesuit Evaporator Absorber Radiator (SEAR)

Science.gov (United States)

Izenson, Michael G.; Chen, Weibo; Phillips, Scott; Chepko, Ariane; Bue, Grant; Quinn, Gregory

2015-01-01

Future human space exploration missions will require advanced life support technology that can operate across a wide range of applications and environments. Thermal control systems for space suits and spacecraft will need to meet critical requirements for water conservation and multifunctional operation. This paper describes a Space Evaporator Absorber Radiator (SEAR) that has been designed to meet performance requirements for future life support systems. A SEAR system comprises a lithium chloride absorber radiator (LCAR) for heat rejection coupled with a space water membrane evaporator (SWME) for heat acquisition. SEAR systems provide heat pumping to minimize radiator size, thermal storage to accommodate variable environmental conditions, and water absorption to minimize use of expendables. We have built and tested a flight-like, high-capacity LCAR, demonstrated its performance in thermal vacuum tests, and explored the feasibility of an ISS demonstration test of a SEAR system. The new LCAR design provides the same cooling capability as prior LCAR prototypes while enabling over 30% more heat absorbing capacity. Studies show that it should be feasible to demonstrate SEAR operation in flight by coupling with an existing EMU on the space station.

US Department of Energy interim mixed waste inventory report: Waste streams, treatment capacities and technologies: Volume 3, Site specific---Illinois through New York

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-04-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared this report to provide an inventory of its mixed wastes and treatment capacities and technologies in response to Section 105(a) of the Federal Facility Compliance act (FFCAct) of 1992 (Pub. L. No. 102-386). As required by the FFCAct-1992, this report provides site-specific information on DOE's mixed waste streams and a general review of available and planned treatment facilities for mixed wastes for the following sites: Argonne National Laboratory-East; Site A/plot M in Palos Forest Preserve, Illinois; Ames Laboratory; Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Kansas City Plant; University of Missouri; Weldon Springs Site, St. Charles, Missouri; Nevada Test Site; Middlesex Sampling Plant, Middlesex, New Jersey; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; LANL; Sandia national laboratory; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Colonie Interim Storage Site, Colonie, New York; Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory; Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory-Kesselring Site; and West Valley Demonstration Project

Technologies for climate change adaptation. Agriculture sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, X [ed.; UNEP Risoe Centre, Roskilde (Denmark); Clements, R; Quezada, A; Torres, J [Practical Action Latin America, Lima (Peru); Haggar, J [Univ. of Greenwich, London (United Kingdom)

2011-08-15

This guidebook presents a selection of technologies for climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector. A set of 22 adaptation technologies are showcased. These are based primarily on the principles of agroecology, but also include scientific technologies of climate and biological sciences complemented by important sociological and institutional capacity building processes that are required for climate change to function. The technologies cover: 1) Planning for climate change and variability. 2) Sustainable water use and management. 3) Soil management. 4) Sustainable crop management. 5) Sustainable livestock management. 6) Sustainable farming systems. 7) Capacity building and stakeholder organisation. Technologies that tend to homogenise the natural environment and agricultural production have low possibilities of success in environmental stress conditions that are likely to result from climate change. On the other hand, technologies that allow for, and promote diversity are more likely to provide a strategy which strengthens agricultural production in the face of uncertain future climate change scenarios. The 22 technologies showcased in this guidebook have been selected because they facilitate the conservation and restoration of diversity while also providing opportunities for increasing agricultural productivity. Many of these technologies are not new to agricultural production practices, but they are implemented based on the assessment of current and possible future impacts of climate change in a particular location. agroecology is an approach that encompasses concepts of sustainable production and biodiversity promotion and therefore provides a useful framework for identifying and selecting appropriate adaptation technologies for the agriculture sector. The guidebook provides a systematic analysis of the most relevant information available on climate change adaptation technologies in the agriculture sector. It has been compiled based on a literature

A large capacity turbine generator for nuclear power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeda, Susumu; Miki, Takahiro; Suzuki, Kazuichi

2000-01-01

In future large capacity nuclear power plant, capacity of a generator to be applied will be 1800 MVA of the largest class in the world. In response to this, the Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd. began to carry out element technology verification of a four-pole large capacity turbine generator mainly using upgrading technique of large capacity, since 1994 fiscal year. And, aiming at reliability verification of the 1800 MVA class generator, a model generator with same cross-section as that of an actual one was manufactured, to carry out some verifications on its electrified tests, and so on. Every performance evaluation result of tests on the model generator were good, and high reliability to design and manufacturing technique of the 1800 MVA class generator could be verified. In future, on the base of these technologies, further upgrading of reliability on the large capacity turbine generator for nuclear power generation is intended to be carried out. (G.K.)

Survey of Promising Technologies for 5G Networks

OpenAIRE

Le, Nam Tuan; Hossain, Mohammad Arif; Islam, Amirul; Kim, Do-yun; Choi, Young-June; Jang, Yeong Min

2016-01-01

As an enhancement of cellular networks, the future-generation 5G network can be considered an ultra-high-speed technology. The proposed 5G network might include all types of advanced dominant technologies to provide remarkable services. Consequently, new architectures and service management schemes for different applications of the emerging technologies need to be recommended to solve issues related to data traffic capacity, high data rate, and reliability for ensuring QoS. Cloud computing, I...

Equivalent electricity storage capacity of domestic thermostatically controlled loads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sossan, Fabrizio

2017-01-01

A method to quantify the equivalent storage capacity inherent the operation of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) is developed. Equivalent storage capacity is defined as the amount of power and electricity consumption which can be deferred or anticipated in time with respect to the baseline consumption (i.e. when no demand side event occurs) without violating temperature limits. The analysis is carried out for 4 common domestic TCLs: an electric space heating system, freezer, fridge, and electric water heater. They are simulated by applying grey-box thermal models identified from measurements. They describe the heat transfer of the considered TCLs as a function of the electric power consumption and environment conditions. To represent typical TCLs operating conditions, Monte Carlo simulations are developed, where models inputs and parameters are sampled from relevant statistical distributions. The analysis provides a way to compare flexible demand against competitive storage technologies. It is intended as a tool for system planners to assess the TCLs potential to support electrical grid operation. In the paper, a comparison of the storage capacity per unit of capital investment cost is performed considering the selected TCLs and two grid-connected battery storage systems (a 720 kVA/500 kWh lithium-ion unit and 15 kVA/120 kWh Vanadium flow redox) is performed. - Highlights: • The equivalent storage capacity of domestic TCLs is quantified • A comparison with battery-based storage technologies is performed • We derive metrics for system planners to plan storage in power system networks • Rule-of-thumb cost indicators for flexible demand and battery-based storage

The quality encounter between purchasers and providers: what to ask and how to answer.

Science.gov (United States)

Pine, M

1993-01-01

It is not easy to lay prejudices aside, to find and face the facts, and to let the chips fall where they may. There is no need to wait for improvements in technology before beginning to use outcomes monitoring to guide the business exchange between purchasers and providers. Although future technological improvements will greatly improve the capacity to use objective data to differentiate among providers and to identify strengths and weaknesses within a health care organization, reasonable methods are available today to undertake these important tasks. All that is needed is the courage and willingness to embrace them. The future belongs to purchaser and provider organizations that are willing to seek enlightenment rather than blame.

Characteristics of Adults Seeking Health Care Provider Support Facilitated by Mobile Technology: Secondary Data Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosak, Kelly; Park, Shin Hye

2017-12-21

Mobile health technology is rapidly evolving with the potential to transform health care. Self-management of health facilitated by mobile technology can maximize long-term health trajectories of adults. Little is known about the characteristics of adults seeking Web-based support from health care providers facilitated by mobile technology. This study aimed to examine the following: (1) the characteristics of adults who seek human support from health care providers for health concerns using mobile technology rather than from family members and friends or others with similar health conditions and (2) the use of mobile health technology among adults with chronic health conditions. Findings of this study were interpreted in the context of the Efficiency Model of Support. We first described characteristics of adults seeking Web-based support from health care providers. Using chi-square tests for categorical variables and t test for the continuous variable of age, we compared adults seeking Web-based and conventional support by demographics. The primary aim was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression to examine whether chronic health conditions and demographic factors (eg, sex, income, employment status, race, ethnicity, education, and age) were associated with seeking Web-based support from health care providers. The sample included adults (N=1453), the majority of whom were female 57.60% (837/1453), white 75.02% (1090/1453), and non-Hispanic 89.13% (1295/1453). The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 92 years (mean 48.6, standard deviation [SD] 16.8). The majority 76.05% (1105/1453) of participants reported college or higher level of education. A disparity was found in access to health care providers via mobile technology based on socioeconomic status. Adults with annual income of US $30,000 to US $100,000 were 1.72 times more likely to use Web-based methods to contact a health care provider, and adults with an annual income above US $100,000 were 2.41 to

Outsourcing to increase service capacity in a New Zealand hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Renner, C; Palmer, E

1999-01-01

Service firms manage variability using both demand-side tactics (levelling customer demand), and supply-side tactics (increasing available capacity). One popular way of increasing available capacity is the outsourcing of non-core services. This article uses a case study to examine the impact of an outsourced non-core service on a hospital's overall service system. Findings show that the outsourced service provides access to more sophisticated technology, increases in-house capacity and saves capital expenditure. However, the outsourcing also increases the scheduling problems that the hospital faces. These problems are largely due to communication delays from the involvement of more than one organisation. These delays decrease the response time available to match changes in demand for the outsourced service. Given the obvious benefits of such outsourcing, the article concludes that management should pay close attention to the communication pathways between organisations, in order to minimise the end effects identified in this study.

Organizational capacity for change in health care: Development and validation of a scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Spaulding, Aaron; Kash, Bita A; Johnson, Christopher E; Gamm, Larry

We do not have a strong understanding of a health care organization's capacity for attempting and completing multiple and sometimes competing change initiatives. Capacity for change implementation is a critical success factor as the health care industry is faced with ongoing demands for change and transformation because of technological advances, market forces, and regulatory environment. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a tool to measure health care organizations' capacity to change by building upon previous conceptualizations of absorptive capacity and organizational readiness for change. A multistep process was used to develop the organizational capacity for change survey. The survey was sent to two populations requesting answers to questions about the organization's leadership, culture, and technologies in use throughout the organization. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the survey as a measurement tool for organizational capacity for change in the health care setting. The resulting organizational capacity for change measurement tool proves to be a valid and reliable method of evaluating a hospital's capacity for change through the measurement of the population's perceptions related to leadership, culture, and organizational technologies. The organizational capacity for change measurement tool can help health care managers and leaders evaluate the capacity of employees, departments, and teams for change before large-scale implementation.

Interactions between parents of technology-dependent children and providers: an integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Jachimiec, Jennifer A; Obrecht, Jennifer; Kavanaugh, Karen

2015-03-01

This article is a review of the literature on the experiences of parents and their interactions with healthcare providers while caring for their technology-dependent child(ren) in their homes. Results are presented in the following themes: information needs, respect and partnership with healthcare providers, care coordination, and experiences with home healthcare nurses. Parents needed information and guidance and felt supported when providers recognized parents' expertise with the child's care, and offered reassurance and confirmation about their practices. Home healthcare clinicians provided supportive care in the home, but their presence created challenges for the family. By acknowledging and valuing the parents' expertise, healthcare providers can empower parents to confidently care for their child.

Technological Innovation and Developmental Strategies for Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources in Developing Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Agboola, Julius Ibukun

2014-12-01

Sustainable use and allocation of aquatic resources including water resources require implementation of ecologically appropriate technologies, efficient and relevant to local needs. Despite the numerous international agreements and provisions on transfer of technology, this has not been successfully achieved in developing countries. While reviewing some challenges to technological innovations and developments (TID), this paper analyzes five TID strategic approaches centered on grassroots technology development and provision of localized capacity for sustainable aquatic resources management. Three case studies provide examples of successful implementation of these strategies. Success requires the provision of localized capacity to manage technology through knowledge empowerment in rural communities situated within a framework of clear national priorities for technology development.

The EPA-Wide Plan to Provide Solid Waste Management Capacity Assistance to Tribes

Science.gov (United States)

This Plan is a strategy for building tribal capacity to manage solid waste. The Plan promotes the development and implementation of integrated waste management plans and describes how EPA will prioritize its resources to maximize environmental benefits.

Heat Capacity Analysis Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Findikakis, A.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this report is to provide heat capacity values for the host and surrounding rock layers for the waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The heat capacity representations provided by this analysis are used in unsaturated zone (UZ) flow, transport, and coupled processes numerical modeling activities, and in thermal analyses as part of the design of the repository to support the license application. Among the reports that use the heat capacity values estimated in this report are the ''Multiscale Thermohydrologic Model'' report, the ''Drift Degradation Analysis'' report, the ''Ventilation Model and Analysis Report, the Igneous Intrusion Impacts on Waste Packages and Waste Forms'' report, the ''Dike/Drift Interactions report, the Drift-Scale Coupled Processes (DST and TH Seepage) Models'' report, and the ''In-Drift Natural Convection and Condensation'' report. The specific objective of this study is to determine the rock-grain and rock-mass heat capacities for the geologic stratigraphy identified in the ''Mineralogic Model (MM3.0) Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170031], Table 1-1). This report provides estimates of the heat capacity for all stratigraphic layers except the Paleozoic, for which the mineralogic abundance data required to estimate the heat capacity are not available. The temperature range of interest in this analysis is 25 C to 325 C. This interval is broken into three separate temperature sub-intervals: 25 C to 95 C, 95 C to 114 C, and 114 C to 325 C, which correspond to the preboiling, trans-boiling, and postboiling regimes. Heat capacity is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of material by one degree (Nimick and Connolly 1991 [DIRS 100690], p. 5). The rock-grain heat capacity is defined as the heat capacity of the rock solids (minerals), and does not include the effect of water that exists in the rock pores. By comparison, the rock-mass heat capacity considers the heat capacity of both solids and pore

Cloud Provider Capacity Augmentation Through Automated Resource Bartering

OpenAIRE

Gohera, Syeda ZarAfshan; Bloodsworth, Peter; Rasool, Raihan Ur; McClatchey, Richard

2018-01-01

Growing interest in Cloud Computing places a heavy workload on cloud providers which is becoming increasingly difficult for them to manage with their primary datacenter infrastructures. Resource limitations can make providers vulnerable to significant reputational damage and it often forces customers to select services from the larger, more established companies, sometimes at a higher price. Funding limitations, however, commonly prevent emerging and even established providers from making con...

Being human in a global age of technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Whelton, Beverly J B

2016-01-01

This philosophical enquiry considers the impact of a global world view and technology on the meaning of being human. The global vision increases our awareness of the common bond between all humans, while technology tends to separate us from an understanding of ourselves as human persons. We review some advances in connecting as community within our world, and many examples of technological changes. This review is not exhaustive. The focus is to understand enough changes to think through the possibility of healthcare professionals becoming cyborgs, human-machine units that are subsequently neither human and nor machine. It is seen that human technology interfaces are a different way of interacting but do not change what it is to be human in our rational capacities of providing meaningful speech and freely chosen actions. In the highly technical environment of the ICU, expert nurses work in harmony with both the technical equipment and the patient. We used Heidegger to consider the nature of equipment, and Descartes to explore unique human capacities. Aristotle, Wallace, Sokolowski, and Clarke provide a summary of humanity as substantial and relational. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of soil conservation technologies from the perspective of selected physical soil properties and infiltration capacity of the soil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miroslav Dumbrovský

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper evaluates different technologies of soil cultivation (conventional and minimization in terms of physical properties and water regime of soils, where infiltration of surface water is a major component of subsurface water. Soil physical properties (the current humidity, reduced bulk density, porosity, water retention capacity of soil, pore distribution and soil aeration is determined from soil samples taken from the organic horizon according to standard methodology. To observe the infiltration characteristics of surface layers of topsoil, the drench method (double ring infiltrometers was used. For the evaluation of field measurements of infiltration, empirical and physically derived equations by Kostiakov and Philip and the three-parameter Philip-type equation were used. The Philip three-parameter equation provides physical based parameters near the theoretical values, a good estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity Ks and sorptivity C1. The parameter S of Philip’s equation describes the real value of the sorptivity of the soil. Experimental research work on the experimental plots H. Meziříčko proceeded in the years 2005–2008.

Measuring patent quality and national technological capacity in cross-country comparison

OpenAIRE

Boeing, Philipp; Müller, Elisabeth

2016-01-01

China recently surpassed the USA as the greatest global source of patent applications. However, without internationally comparable measures of patent quality it remains questionable whether China's patent expansion constitutes the rise of a new technological superpower. Our novel quality index is based on citations from international search reports and provides internationally comparable, quality-adjusted figures for applications made under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). We show that Ch...

Nanomaterial-Based Sensing and Biosensing of Phenolic Compounds and Related Antioxidant Capacity in Food

OpenAIRE

Flavio Della Pelle; Dario Compagnone

2018-01-01

Polyphenolic compounds (PCs) have received exceptional attention at the end of the past millennium and as much at the beginning of the new one. Undoubtedly, these compounds in foodstuffs provide added value for their well-known health benefits, for their technological role and also marketing. Many efforts have been made to provide simple, effective and user friendly analytical methods for the determination and antioxidant capacity (AOC) evaluation of food polyphenols. In a parallel track, ove...

Significance of the Capacity Recovery Effect in Pouch Lithium-Sulfur Battery Cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knap, Vaclav; Zhang, Teng; Stroe, Daniel Loan

2016-01-01

Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries are an emerging energy storage technology, which is technically-attractive due to its high theoretical limits; practically, it is expected that Li-S batteries will result into lighter energy storage devices with higher capacities than traditional Lithium-ion...... batteries. One of the actual disadvantages for this technology is the highly pronounced rate capacity effect, which reduces the available capacity to be discharged when high currents are used. This drawback might be addressed by the use of the capacity recovery effect, which by introducing relaxation...... periods between consecutive pulse discharges of the battery, increases the available discharge capacity of the cell. The capacity recovery effect of the Li-S cell is studied in this paper using the pulse discharge technique, considering its dependence on the applied current, discharge step length...

Methods and measures of enhancing production capacity of uranium mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ni Yuhui

2013-01-01

Limited by resource conditions and mining conditions, the production capacity of uranium mines is generally small. The main factors to affect the production capacity determination of uranium mines are analyzed, the ways and measures to enhance the production capacity of uranium mines are explored from the innovations of technology and management mode. (author)

Providing Appropriate Technology for Emerging Markets: Case Study on China’s Solar Thermal Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianghua Zhou

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Building on a case study of five Chinese solar thermal companies and one association, our study aims to understand how the innovator’s choices regarding the use of technology and organizational practices for new product development enable companies to design and diffuse appropriate technology in emerging markets. The study uncovers two critical factors that enhance the appropriateness of technology: redefining the identity of technology and building a local supply system. Our analysis shows that synergic innovation in both architecture and component leads to the appropriate functionalities desired by emerging markets. Moreover, modular design and the building of a local supply system enhance the process appropriateness of technology. Our study provides an empirical basis for advocating going beyond minor adaptations of existing products to creating appropriate technology for emerging markets, and extends our understandings of the upstream process of designing appropriate technology. Moreover, the emphasis on the local supply system reflects a holistic framework for shaping and delivering appropriate technology, expanding the existing research focus on the perspective of the technology itself. Our research also has managerial implications that may help firms tap into emerging markets.

Development of energy-saving technologies providing comfortable microclimate conditions for mining

OpenAIRE

Б. П. Казаков; Л. Ю. Левин; А. В. Шалимов; А. В. Зайцев

2017-01-01

The paper contains analysis of natural and technogenic factors influencing properties of mine atmosphere, defining level of mining safety and probability of emergencies. Main trends in development of energy-saving technologies providing comfortable microclimate conditions are highlighted. A complex of methods and mathematical models has been developed to carry out aerologic and thermophysical calculations. Main ways of improvement for existing calculation methods of stationary and non-station...

Development document for best technology available for the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures for minimizing adverse environmental impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Train, R.E.; Breidenbach, A.W.; Hall, E.P.; Barnes, D.

1976-04-01

This document presents the findings of an extensive study of the available technology for the location, design construction and capacity of cooling water intake structures for minimizing adverse environmental impact, in compliance with and to implement Section 316(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972

Uranium enrichment capacity: public versus private ownership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraser, J.T.

1977-01-01

Continual growth of conventional nuclear capacity requires an assured supply of enriched uranium and, hence, potential expansion of domestic uranium enrichment capacity. The question of ownership of new enrichment capacity, i.e., public or private, entails not only the social-opportunity costs of alternative investments but also technical parameters of uranium utilization and advanced reactor development. Inclusion of risk preferences in both the public and private sectors produces interesting results in terms of optimal investment strategies with respect to choice of technology and scale of investment. Utilization of a nuclear fuel cycle requirements process model allows explicit specification of production technology. Integration of process model output with a least-cost investment model permits flexibility in parametric analysis. Results indicate minimum incentive for Government subsidy of a private enrichment sector through 2000 given moderate to low nuclear growth assumptions. The long-run scenario, to 2020, exhibits potentially greater incentives for private enrichment investment

MODEL OF PROVIDING WITH DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN AN ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Kuzkin

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Subject of research. The paper presents research and instructional tools for assessment of providing with the development strategy for information technologies in an organization. Method. The corresponding assessment model is developed which takes into consideration IT-processes equilibrium according to selected efficiency factors of information technologies application. Basic results. The model peculiarity resides in applying neuro-fuzzy approximators where the conclusion is drawn upon fuzzy logic, and membership functions are adjusted through the use of neural networks. For the adequacy testing of the suggested model, due diligence result analysis has been carried out for the IT-strategy executed in the “Navigator” group of companies at the stage of implementation and support of new technologies and production methods. Data visualization with a circle diagram is applied for the comparative evaluation of the analysis results. The chosen model adequacy is proved by the agreement between predictive assessments for IT-strategy performance targets derived by means of the fuzzy cognitive model over 12 months planning horizon and the real values of these targets upon the expiry of the given planning term. Practical significance. The developed model application gives the possibility to solve the problem of sustainability assessment for the process of providing the required IT-strategy realization level based upon the fuzzy cognitive map analysis and to reveal IT-objectives changing tendencies for an organization over the stated planning interval.

Advances in desalination technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pankratz, T.M.

2005-01-01

Seawater desalination has been the cornerstone of the Middle East's water supply strategy since the mid-1950s, and most of the installed desalination capacity is still provided by multistage flash evaporators. But, desalination is changing. In fact, the term 'desalination' is no longer limited to seawater applications; desalination technologies are now routinely employed to desalinate brackish groundwater and repurify municipal effluents. Recent advances in desalination technology have simultaneously reduced costs while dramatically improving performance and reliability to the point where desalination technologies now compete with 'conventional' treatment processes in many applications. New commercial strategies and a realisation of the economies-of-scale have led to further improvements in plant economics, and an increase in the size of plants now being developed and constructed. This presentation reviews advances in membrane and membrane pretreatment systems, energy recovery devices, materials of construction, hybrid process configurations, increased unit capacities, and the use of public-private partnerships; all of which have led to reduced capital and operating costs, enabling desalination to be economically competitive with traditional treatment options. Advances in desalination technology have resulted in better performances, lower capital and operating costs, and increased application of desalination systems. In the face of increased water shortages and growing costs of 'conventional treatment', this trend will certainly continue. (author)

The creation in the French power system of a capacity mechanism and of a capacity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meda, Maurice

2014-01-01

The key objective of the French capacity remuneration mechanism is to ensure long term security of supply and to promote peak load containment. The mechanism was set up by the NOME law of December 7, 2010 ('new organisation of the electricity market'), which has changed the organisation of the electricity market and explicitly requires a capacity obligation from suppliers, and by a decree published on December 14, 2012 'concerning the contribution of suppliers to the security of electricity supply and establishing a capacity obligation mechanism in the electricity sector'; further regulation will set up the rules for the capacity mechanism, probably during 2014. The mechanism is decentralized: every supplier has to contribute to supply security and to prove its ability to provide its clients with the capacity they need; all capacity owners in metropolitan France must have their production tools certified. Certificates can be sold and suppliers can buy them to adjust their positions. The transport System operator (TSO) calculates suppliers' obligation, checks if capacity owners fulfil their availability commitment and if suppliers have bought enough certificates. The contribution of interconnections to France's SOS is taken into account implicitly. The decree provides an additional safeguard mechanism, which is centralized: in case a critical situation is observed regarding the electricity supply and demand, the government can organize a call for tender to secure the necessary capacities; the conditions to trigger the call for tender are very restrictive, to ensure the capacity market remains the main investment provider. (author)

Capacity factor analysis for evaluating water and sanitation infrastructure choices for developing communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouabid, Ali; Louis, Garrick E

2015-09-15

40% of the world's population lacks access to adequate supplies of water and sanitation services to sustain human health. In fact, more than 780 million people lack access to safe water supplies and about 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. Appropriate technology for water supply and sanitation (Watsan) systems is critical for sustained access to these services. Current approaches for the selection of Watsan technologies in developing communities have a high failure rate. It is estimated that 30%-60% of Watsan installed infrastructures in developing countries are not operating. Inappropriate technology is a common explanation for the high rate of failure of Watsan infrastructure, particularly in lower-income communities (Palaniappan et al., 2008). This paper presents the capacity factor analysis (CFA) model, for the assessment of a community's capacity to manage and sustain access to water supply and sanitation services. The CFA model is used for the assessment of a community's capacity to operate, and maintain a municipal sanitation service (MSS) such as, drinking water supply, wastewater and sewage treatment, and management of solid waste. The assessment of the community's capacity is based on seven capacity factors that have been identified as playing a key role in the sustainability of municipal sanitation services in developing communities (Louis, 2002). These capacity factors and their constituents are defined for each municipal sanitation service. Benchmarks and international standards for the constituents of the CFs are used to assess the capacity factors. The assessment of the community's capacity factors leads to determine the overall community capacity level (CCL) to manage a MSS. The CCL can then be used to assist the community in the selection of appropriate Watsan technologies for their MSS needs. The selection is done from Watsan technologies that require a capacity level to operate them that matches the assessed CCL of the

Capacity and willingness of patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases to use information technology to help manage their condition: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Afshar, Arash Ehteshami; Weaver, Robert G; Lin, Meng; Allan, Michael; Ronksley, Paul E; Sanmartin, Claudia; Lewanczuk, Richard; Rosenberg, Mark; Manns, Braden; Hemmelgarn, Brenda; Tonelli, Marcello

2014-04-01

Health care providers have shown considerable interest in using information technologies such as email, text messages and video conferencing to facilitate the management of chronic noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and vascular disease. We sought to determine whether these technologies are available and appealing to the target population. We analyzed cross-sectional data from a computer-assisted telephone survey, conducted by Statistics Canada in February and March 2012, of western Canadian adults with at least 1 chronic condition. Survey respondents were asked about their capacity (e.g., "Do you own a mobile phone?") and willingness to use each of 3 information technologies (email, text messages and video conferencing) to interact with health care providers. For all analyses, Statistics Canada's calibrated design weights and bootstrap weights were used to obtain population-level point estimates for proportions and odds ratios. In total, 1849 (79.8%) of 2316 eligible people participated. Of the 1849 participants, 81.9% had hypertension, 26.2% had diabetes, 21.4% had heart disease, and 7.9% had stroke; 32.2% had more than 1 of the 4 chronic conditions of interest. High proportions of respondents owned a computer with Internet access (76.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 73.3%-79.3%) or a mobile phone (73.9%, 95% CI 70.7%-76.8%). About two-thirds of respondents were interested in using email to interact with a specialist (66.3%, 95% CI 63.0%-69.5%); respondents were less enthusiastic about using text messages (44.9%, 95% CI 41.2%-48.7%). Enthusiasm for video conferencing was more pronounced among those residing further from medical specialists than among those living closer. Among respondents who were potentially interested in video conferencing, almost 50% of remote dwellers would use this technology if it saved more than 60 minutes of travel time. Many people were interested in using electronic technologies, especially video

Information technology resources assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stevens, D.F. [ed.

1992-01-01

This year`s Information Technology Resources Assessment (ITRA) is something of a departure from traditional practice. Past assessments have concentrated on developments in fundamental technology, particularly with respect to hardware. They form an impressive chronicle of decreasing cycle times, increasing densities, decreasing costs (or, equivalently, increasing capacity and capability per dollar spent), and new system architectures, with a leavening of operating systems and languages. Past assessments have aimed -- and succeeded -- at putting information technology squarely in the spotlight; by contrast, in the first part of this assessment, we would like to move it to the background, and encourage the reader to reflect less on the continuing technological miracles of miniaturization in space and time and more on the second- and third-order implications of some possible workplace applications of these miracles. This Information Technology Resources Assessment is intended to provide a sense of technological direction for planners in projecting the hardware, software, and human resources necessary to support the diverse IT requirements of the various components of the DOE community. It is also intended to provide a sense of our new understanding of the place of IT in our organizations.

Information technology resources assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stevens, D.F. (ed.)

1992-01-01

This year's Information Technology Resources Assessment (ITRA) is something of a departure from traditional practice. Past assessments have concentrated on developments in fundamental technology, particularly with respect to hardware. They form an impressive chronicle of decreasing cycle times, increasing densities, decreasing costs (or, equivalently, increasing capacity and capability per dollar spent), and new system architectures, with a leavening of operating systems and languages. Past assessments have aimed -- and succeeded -- at putting information technology squarely in the spotlight; by contrast, in the first part of this assessment, we would like to move it to the background, and encourage the reader to reflect less on the continuing technological miracles of miniaturization in space and time and more on the second- and third-order implications of some possible workplace applications of these miracles. This Information Technology Resources Assessment is intended to provide a sense of technological direction for planners in projecting the hardware, software, and human resources necessary to support the diverse IT requirements of the various components of the DOE community. It is also intended to provide a sense of our new understanding of the place of IT in our organizations.

Influence of firm related factors and industrial policy regime on technology based capacity utilization in sugar industry in Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Akpan, Sunday Brownson; Udo, U.J.; Essien, Ubon A.

2011-01-01

The study analyzed the technology based capacity utilization rate in sugar industry in Nigeria in the period 1970 to 2010. Data used in the study were obtained from the sugar firms, publications of the Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics. Augmented Dicker Fuller unit root test was conducted on the specified data to ascertain their stationarity and order of integration. The result reveals that some variables were stationary at level while some were stationary at first dif...

Technology Assessment of High Capacity Data Storage Systems: Can We Avoid a Data Survivability Crisis?

Science.gov (United States)

Halem, M.; Shaffer, F.; Palm, N.; Salmon, E.; Raghavan, S.; Kempster, L.

1998-01-01

This technology assessment of long-term high capacity data storage systems identifies an emerging crisis of severe proportions related to preserving important historical data in science, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and other fields. For the last 50 years, the information revolution, which has engulfed all major institutions of modem society, centered itself on data-their collection, storage, retrieval, transmission, analysis and presentation. The transformation of long term historical data records into information concepts, according to Drucker, is the next stage in this revolution towards building the new information based scientific and business foundations. For this to occur, data survivability, reliability and evolvability of long term storage media and systems pose formidable technological challenges. Unlike the Y2K problem, where the clock is ticking and a crisis is set to go off at a specific time, large capacity data storage repositories face a crisis similar to the social security system in that the seriousness of the problem emerges after a decade or two. The essence of the storage crisis is as follows: since it could take a decade to migrate a peta-byte of data to a new media for preservation, and the life expectancy of the storage media itself is only a decade, then it may not be possible to complete the transfer before an irrecoverable data loss occurs. Over the last two decades, a number of anecdotal crises have occurred where vital scientific and business data were lost or would have been lost if not for major expenditures of resources and funds to save this data, much like what is happening today to solve the Y2K problem. A pr-ime example was the joint NASA/NSF/NOAA effort to rescue eight years worth of TOVS/AVHRR data from an obsolete system, which otherwise would have not resulted in the valuable 20-year long satellite record of global warming. Current storage systems solutions to long-term data survivability rest on scalable architectures

Polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity of fruit and vegetable beverages processed by different technology methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiří Mlček

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the natural drinks production is the preservation of biologically active compounds in maximal amount in prepared drinks. The issue is the loss of these substances due to conventional conservation methods, such as pasteurization. Pascalization, a conservation method using high pressure, performs a new trend in conservation. According to available research, it causes only a minimal loss of bioactive compounds. Influence of conservation technology of fruit and vegetable beverages on the content of bioactive substances - polyphenols, flavonoids and on their antioxidative activity has been investigated. Their content has been compared in fresh juice samples, in samples conserved by pasteurization and after the appliance of high pressure treatment - pascalization (HPP. HPP has a positive effect on total antioxidative capacity of juices - broccoli with apple (increase of the amount from 189.12 mg.100 mL-1 to 217.12 mg.100 mL-1 and beetroot and on total polyphenol content within all samples of beverages except from carrot juice. Decrease of the amounts of flavonoids has been observed within all beverages. For drinks after pasteurization treatment there is evident the decrease of total polyphenols content and total antioxidant activity, besides carrot juice, where the antioxidant capacity value had increased from 37.24 to 43.14 mg.100 mL-1. The flavonoid content of fruit and vegetable juices after heat treatment had increased only in the juice prepared from broccoli with apple (from 40.71 mg.100 mL-1 to 45.14 mg.100 mL-1, the content in other juices had decreased. However, the decrease of the flavonoid content is lower after heat treatment in comparison to HPP, except the samples of cabbage juice with apple. With the exception of flavonoids, HPP has been proved as a gentle conservation technology enabling preserving higher amounts of bioactive substances with antioxidative properties if compared with the heat treatment. For the samples

Government capacities and stakeholders: what facilitates ehealth legislation?

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Newly established high-technology areas such as eHealth require regulations regarding the interoperability of health information infrastructures and data protection. It is argued that government capacities as well as the extent to which public and private organizations participate in policy-making determine the level of eHealth legislation. Both explanatory factors are influenced by international organizations that provide knowledge transfer and encourage private actor participation. Methods Data analysis is based on the Global Observatory for eHealth - ATLAS eHealth country profiles which summarizes eHealth policies in 114 countries. Data analysis was carried out using two-component hurdle models with a truncated Poisson model for positive counts and a hurdle component model with a binomial distribution for zero or greater counts. Results The analysis reveals that the participation of private organizations such as donors has negative effects on the level of eHealth legislation. The impact of public-private partnerships (PPPs) depends on the degree of government capacities already available and on democratic regimes. Democracies are more responsive to these new regulatory demands than autocracies. Democracies find it easier to transfer knowledge out of PPPs than autocracies. Government capacities increase the knowledge transfer effect of PPPs, thus leading to more eHealth legislation. Conclusions All international regimes – the WHO, the EU, and the OECD – promote PPPs in order to ensure the construction of a national eHealth infrastructure. This paper shows that the development of government capacities in the eHealth domain has to be given a higher priority than the establishment of PPPs, since the existence of some (initial) capacities is the sine qua non of further capacity building. PMID:24410989

Improving Nigerian health policymakers' capacity to access and utilize policy relevant evidence: outcome of information and communication technology training workshop.

Science.gov (United States)

Uneke, Chigozie Jesse; Ezeoha, Abel Ebeh; Uro-Chukwu, Henry; Ezeonu, Chinonyelum Thecla; Ogbu, Ogbonnaya; Onwe, Friday; Edoga, Chima

2015-01-01

Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are known to facilitate communication and processing of information and sharing of knowledge by electronic means. In Nigeria, the lack of adequate capacity on the use of ICT by health sector policymakers constitutes a major impediment to the uptake of research evidence into the policymaking process. The objective of this study was to improve the knowledge and capacity of policymakers to access and utilize policy relevant evidence. A modified "before and after" intervention study design was used in which outcomes were measured on the target participants both before the intervention is implemented and after. A 4-point likert scale according to the degree of adequacy; 1 = grossly inadequate, 4 = very adequate was employed. This study was conducted in Ebonyi State, south-eastern Nigeria and the participants were career health policy makers. A two-day intensive ICT training workshop was organized for policymakers who had 52 participants in attendance. Topics covered included: (i). intersectoral partnership/collaboration; (ii). Engaging ICT in evidence-informed policy making; use of ICT for evidence synthesis; (iv) capacity development on the use of computer, internet and other ICT. The pre-workshop mean of knowledge and capacity for use of ICT ranged from 2.19-3.05, while the post-workshop mean ranged from 2.67-3.67 on 4-point scale. The percentage increase in mean of knowledge and capacity at the end of the workshop ranged from 8.3%-39.1%. Findings of this study suggest that policymakers' ICT competence relevant to evidence-informed policymaking can be enhanced through training workshop.

The market for photovoltaic (PV) technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frantzis, L.; Vejtasa, K.M.

1993-01-01

This paper describes a study that was intended to provide the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) with a market analysis for photovoltaic (PV) technologies under development by EPRI and others. The analysis was to focus on markets and factors leading to significant incremental growth for PV demand, large enough to support more efficient scale PV manufacturing capacity. EPRI anticipates that PV ultimately could provide grid-connected power, however, the 1995--2010 market dynamics are uncertain. The specific objectives of this study, therefore, were to: determine what major future domestic US markets for PV technologies will emerge and provide enough volume to support significant improvements in manufacturing costs through manufacturing economies of scale; provide insight on what is needed to gain acceptance of PV technologies for electric power generation in those major markets; provide insight on when investments in demonstration and manufacturing facilities should be made and what is needed to be successful in each element of the business that these markets could support (e.g., technology development, manufacturing, sales, installation, and service); and provide key insights on the requirements for commercial success of PV in the utility sector

Installed capacity in New York

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Charlton, J.

2006-01-01

This presentation discussed capacity issues related to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). The NYISO's market volume was approximately $11 billion in 2005, and it was responsible for providing 32,075 MW of electricity at peak load to its users. Regulatory uncertainty is currently discouraging investment in new generating resources. All load serving entities are required to contract for sufficient capacity in order to meet their capacity obligations. Market participants currently determine capacity and energy revenues. The NYISO market allows suppliers to recover variable costs for providing ancillary services, and the economic value of the revenue source governs decisions made in the wholesale electricity market. The installed capacity market was designed as a spot auction deficiency auction. Phased-in demand curves are used to modify the installed capacity market's design. A sloped demand curve mechanism is used to value capacity above the minimum requirement for both reliability and competition. Participation in the day-ahead market enhances competition and exerts downward pressure on energy and ancillary service market prices. It was concluded that the market structures and design features of the installed capacity markets recognize the need for system reliability in addition to encouraging robust competition and recognizing energy price caps and regulatory oversights. tabs., figs

The future of the provision process for mobility assistive technology: a survey of providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Dicianno, Brad E; Joseph, James; Eckstein, Stacy; Zigler, Christina K; Quinby, Eleanor J; Schmeler, Mark R; Schein, Richard M; Pearlman, Jon; Cooper, Rory A

2018-03-20

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the opinions of providers of mobility assistive technologies to help inform a research agenda and set priorities. This survey study was anonymous and gathered opinions of individuals who participate in the process to provide wheelchairs and other assistive technologies to clients. Participants were asked to rank the importance of developing various technologies and rank items against each other in terms of order of importance. Participants were also asked to respond to several open-ended questions or statements. A total of 161 providers from 35 states within the USA consented to participation and completed the survey. This survey revealed themes of advanced wheelchair design, assistive robotics and intelligent systems, human machine interfaces and smart device applications. It also outlined priorities for researchers to provide continuing education to clients and providers. These themes will be used to develop research and development priorities. Implications for Rehabilitation • Research in advanced wheelchair design is needed to facilitate travel and environmental access with wheelchairs and to develop alternative power sources for wheelchairs.• New assistive robotics and intelligent systems are needed to help wheelchairs overcome obstacles or self-adjust, assist wheelchair navigation in the community, assist caregivers and transfers, and aid ambulation.• Innovations in human machine interfaces may help advance the control of mobility devices and robots with the brain, eye movements, facial gesture recognition or other systems.• Development of new smart devices is needed for better control of the environment, monitoring activity and promoting healthy behaviours.

Feasibility assessment of optical technologies for reliable high capacity feeder links

Science.gov (United States)

Witternigg, Norbert; Schönhuber, Michael; Leitgeb, Erich; Plank, Thomas

2013-08-01

Space telecom scenarios like data relay satellite and broadband/broadcast service providers require reliable feeder links with high bandwidth/data rate for the communication between ground station and satellite. Free space optical communication (FSOC) is an attractive alternative to microwave links, improving performance by offering abundant bandwidth at small apertures of the optical terminals. At the same time Near-Earth communication by FSOC avoids interference with other services and is free of regulatory issues. The drawback however is the impairment by the laser propagation through the atmosphere at optical wavelengths. Also to be considered are questions of eye safety for ground personnel and aviation. In this paper we assess the user requirements for typical space telecom scenarios and compare these requirements with solutions using optical data links through the atmosphere. We suggest a site diversity scheme with a number of ground stations and a switching scheme using two optical terminals on-board the satellite. Considering the technology trade-offs between four different optical wavelengths we recommend the future use of 1.5 μm laser technology and calculate a link budget for an atmospheric condition of light haze on the optical path. By comparing link budgets we show an outlook to the future potential use of 10 μm laser technology.

Buffer-free therapeutic antibody preparations provide a viable alternative to conventionally buffered solutions: from protein buffer capacity prediction to bioprocess applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahrenburg, Sven; Karow, Anne R; Garidel, Patrick

2015-04-01

Protein therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), have significant buffering capacity, particularly at concentrations>50 mg/mL. This report addresses pH-related issues critical to adoption of self-buffered monoclonal antibody formulations. We evaluated solution conditions with protein concentrations ranging from 50 to 250 mg/mL. Samples were both buffer-free and conventionally buffered with citrate. Samples were non-isotonic or adjusted for isotonicity with NaCl or trehalose. Studies included accelerated temperature stability tests, shaking stability studies, and pH changes in infusion media as protein concentrate is added. We present averaged buffering slopes of capacity that can be applied to any mAb and present a general method for calculating buffering capacity of buffer-free, highly concentrated antibody liquid formulations. In temperature stability tests, neither buffer-free nor conventionally buffered solution conditions showed significant pH changes. Conventionally buffered solutions showed significantly higher opalescence than buffer-free ones. In general, buffer-free solution conditions showed less aggregation than conventionally buffered solutions. Shaking stability tests showed no differences between buffer-free and conventionally buffered solutions. "In-use" preparation experiments showed that pH in infusion bag medium can rapidly approximate that of self-buffered protein concentrate as concentrate is added. In summary, the buffer capacity of proteins can be predicted and buffer-free therapeutic antibody preparations provide a viable alternative to conventionally buffered solutions. Copyright © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

77 FR 18825 - Notice of Intent To Provide Expansion and Capacity Building Funding to the Incumbent Senior...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-28

... Expansion and Capacity Building Funding to the Incumbent Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Grantees Under Limited Competition SUMMARY: The Administration on Aging is announcing the availability of expansion funds for the.... Announcement Type: Health Care Fraud Prevention Program Expansion Capacity. Funding Opportunity Number: Program...

Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant capacity increase options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larson, D.E.

1996-04-01

Studies are being conducted by the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP) Project on ways to increase the waste processing capacity within the current Vitrification Building structural design. The Phase 1 study on remote systems concepts identification and extent of capacity increase was completed. The study concluded that the HWVP capacity could be increased to four times the current capacity with minor design adjustments to the fixed facility design, and the required design changes would not impact the current footprint of the vitrification building. A further increase in production capacity may be achievable but would require some technology development, verification testing, and a more systematic and extensive engineering evaluation. The primary changes included a single advance melter with a higher capacity, new evaporative feed tank, offgas quench collection tank, ejector venturi scrubbers, and additional inner canister closure station,a smear test station, a new close- coupled analytical facility, waste hold capacity of 400,000 gallon, the ability to concentrate out-of-plant HWVP feed to 90 g/L waste oxide concentration, and limited changes to the current base slab construction package

77 FR 1708 - Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Technology To Provide Wireless Precise Time...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-11

... Systems (GPS) as a means of providing precise time. The alternative under consideration is a wireless... authorized by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99- 502, codified at 15 U.S.C. 3710(a)). A..., and document at least one alternative to Global Positioning Systems (GPS) as a means of providing...

Performance analysis of communication links based on VCSEL and silicon photonics technology for high-capacity data-intensive scenario.

Science.gov (United States)

Boletti, A; Boffi, P; Martelli, P; Ferrario, M; Martinelli, M

2015-01-26

To face the increased demand for bandwidth, cost-effectiveness and simplicity of future Ethernet data communications, a comparison between two different solutions based on directly-modulated VCSEL sources and Silicon Photonics technologies is carried out. Also by exploiting 4-PAM modulation, the transmission of 50-Gb/s and beyond capacity per channel is analyzed by means of BER performance. Applications for optical backplane, very short reach and in case of client-optics networks and intra and inter massive data centers communications (up to 10 km) are taken into account. A comparative analysis based on the power consumption is also proposed.

Exploring educational partnerships: a case study of client provider technology education partnerships in New Zealand primary schools

Science.gov (United States)

Weal, Brenda; Coll, Richard

2007-04-01

This paper explores the notion of educational partnerships and reports on research on client provider partnerships between full primary schools and external technology education providers for Year 7 and 8 New Zealand students (age range approx. 12 to 13 years). Educational reforms in New Zealand and the introduction of a more holistic technology education curriculum in 1995 changed the nature of the relationship between the technology education partners. The research sought to identify, from the perspective of the primary schools (clients), factors that contribute to successful partnerships between them and their technology education provider. A mixed methods approach consisting of a survey of client schools, in-depth interviews and a series of four in-depth case studies (drawing on issues derived from the survey) was employed. Issues relating to teacher subculture, leadership roles and inflexibility of official processes all surfaced. The research points to an absence of commitment, shared understanding, shared power, leadership, communication and accountability in many educational partnerships that were the focus of this work.

Effective capacity of correlated MISO channels

KAUST Repository

Zhong, Caijun

2011-06-01

This paper presents an analytical performance investigation of the capacity limits of correlated multiple-input single-output (MISO) channels in the presence of quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. Exact closed-form expression for the effective capacity of correlated MISO channels is derived. In addition, simple expressions are obtained at the asymptotic high and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes, which provide insights into the impact of various system parameters on the effective capacity of the system. Also, a complete characterization of the impact of spatial correlation on the effective capacity is provided with the aid of a majorization theory result. The findings suggest that antenna correlation reduce the effective capacity of the channels. Moreover, a stringent QoS requirement causes a significant reduction in the effective capacity but this can be effectively alleviated by increasing the number of antennas. © 2011 IEEE.

The transfer of technologies for biomass energy utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneiders, H.H.

1995-01-01

The first part of the paper presents the common perception of technology transfer as a trade relationship rather than a systematic approach to establish a complex technological capacity in a given field. It aims to correct this misperception by introducing some other ideas: (a) the need to support the people, adjust the relevant organizations and establish the capacities to provide the products and services; (b) the typical life cycles of technologies from the initial concept to the final stages of transfer and sustainable dissemination; (c) the needs and expectations of the groups targeted by the technologies for biomass energy utilization. The second part of the paper discusses one example of successful technology transfer: the use of large biomass-burning stoves for food preparation in public institutions and private restaurants in East Africa. The third part of the paper highlights two non-technological barriers to the transfer of biomass energy technologies: (a) weak market forces and business interests and a large number of State activities and projects and (b) conflicting interests of end-users, craftsmen, private and public project partners, which can threaten the success of the attempted technology transfer, even after local adaptation. Finally, suggestions are made for overcoming some of these problems. (author)

The transfer of technologies for biomass energy utilization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneiders, H H [German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Eschborn (Germany)

1995-12-01

The first part of the paper presents the common perception of technology transfer as a trade relationship rather than a systematic approach to establish a complex technological capacity in a given field. It aims to correct this misperception by introducing some other ideas: (a) the need to support the people, adjust the relevant organizations and establish the capacities to provide the products and services; (b) the typical life cycles of technologies from the initial concept to the final stages of transfer and sustainable dissemination; (c) the needs and expectations of the groups targeted by the technologies for biomass energy utilization. The second part of the paper discusses one example of successful technology transfer: the use of large biomass-burning stoves for food preparation in public institutions and private restaurants in East Africa. The third part of the paper highlights two non-technological barriers to the transfer of biomass energy technologies: (a) weak market forces and business interests and a large number of State activities and projects and (b) conflicting interests of end-users, craftsmen, private and public project partners, which can threaten the success of the attempted technology transfer, even after local adaptation. Finally, suggestions are made for overcoming some of these problems. (author)

TELECOMMUTING AND HRM: A CASE STUDY OF AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André Fernandes Bernardino

2012-08-01

Full Text Available With the development in information technology resources, a way of working has been standing out: telecommuting. This manner of working from a distance may offer a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining highly skilled professionals. The purpose of the research presented in this article is to identify guidelines for the implementation and management of telecommuting, as an alternative to overcome the shortage of qualified professionals in Information Technology (IT. The results, based on a case study of a Brazilian subsidiary of a multinational organization that provides IT services, shown that telecommuting (1 contributes to attracting and retaining qualified professionals in IT, (2 should be based on trustworthy relationships, (3 has to be supported by a strategy of decentralization of both structure and organizational assets.

Peel and pulp of baru (Dipteryx Alata Vog. provide high fiber, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela de Lima SANTIAGO

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Baru (Dipteryx alata Vog. is a native fruit of the Brazilian Savannah that can be used in the food industry and may contribute to the economy of the Brazilian Midwest. The proximate composition, the phenolic content and the antioxidant capacity of the peel, pulp and raw and roasted baru almond were examined and compared. Peel showed higher concentrations of dietary fibers (24.1 g/100 g followed by pulp and roasted almond (18 g/100 g and 16 g/100 g, respectively, and raw almond (12.0 g/100 g. However, the almonds presented the highest lipid and protein concentrations compared to baru peel and pulp. In addition, raw almond showed the highest total phenolic contents (1,107.0 mg GAE/100 g and antioxidant capacity, but the roasted almond, and baru peel with its pulp, also presented high phenolic contents. The correlation coefficients between phenolic content and antioxidant capacity (via ABTS and FRAP were strong and significant. The chemical composition of baru peel has not previously been reported. The results showed promising prospects for the consumption of baru pulp with its peel, the fruit component richest in fiber, whose phenolic content and antioxidant capacity are comparable to those of the baru almond.

How can help nuclear technology the developing countries?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boeck, H.; Buchtela, K.; Karimzadeh, S.; Musilek, A.

2004-01-01

Nuclear technology offers unique tools in the quest for sustainable development, such technology is often the best to gather information and provide solutions that would not otherwise be possible or practical for example diagnosis and therapy, to breed better crops and fight insect pests; to assess new sources of fresh water; and to assess sources of environmental pollution. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides support to 134 member states for using this technology to solve the important challenges they face. These scientific and technical co-operations based on the peaceful use of nuclear techniques (isotopes, stable and radioactive forms of chemical elements, human health, food, agriculture, water and environmental protection, capacity building, future energy needs) are described. (nevyjel)

Modeling water resources as a constraint in electricity capacity expansion models

Science.gov (United States)

Newmark, R. L.; Macknick, J.; Cohen, S.; Tidwell, V. C.; Woldeyesus, T.; Martinez, A.

2013-12-01

In the United States, the electric power sector is the largest withdrawer of freshwater in the nation. The primary demand for water from the electricity sector is for thermoelectric power plant cooling. Areas likely to see the largest near-term growth in population and energy usage, the Southwest and the Southeast, are also facing freshwater scarcity and have experienced water-related power reliability issues in the past decade. Lack of water may become a barrier for new conventionally-cooled power plants, and alternative cooling systems will impact technology cost and performance. Although water is integral to electricity generation, it has long been neglected as a constraint in future electricity system projections. Assessing the impact of water resource scarcity on energy infrastructure development is critical, both for conventional and renewable energy technologies. Efficiently utilizing all water types, including wastewater and brackish sources, or utilizing dry-cooling technologies, will be essential for transitioning to a low-carbon electricity system. This work provides the first demonstration of a national electric system capacity expansion model that incorporates water resources as a constraint on the current and future U.S. electricity system. The Regional Electricity Deployment System (ReEDS) model was enhanced to represent multiple cooling technology types and limited water resource availability in its optimization of electricity sector capacity expansion to 2050. The ReEDS model has high geographic and temporal resolution, making it a suitable model for incorporating water resources, which are inherently seasonal and watershed-specific. Cooling system technologies were assigned varying costs (capital, operations and maintenance), and performance parameters, reflecting inherent tradeoffs in water impacts and operating characteristics. Water rights supply curves were developed for each of the power balancing regions in ReEDS. Supply curves include costs

Innovations in and by nuclear technology - review and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barthelt, K.

1984-01-01

An innovative technology like nuclear technology does not make progress by itself once it has to prove its profitability. It was a long way from technical to economic perfection which took courageous managemental descisions. Since nuclear fission was discovered, its exploitation as an energy source has been perfected. Now it is not only technically safe, reliable and ecological; it has also proved to be economically efficient as compared with the competing primary energies. As with other great innovations, the innovative force of nuclear technology is characterized by two directions: its assimilating capacity and its expanding capacity. Further issues are the so-called technological spin-off of nuclear technology and the fresh impetus nuclear technology gives to other fields. Another aspect beyond technological spin-off affecting all of our society: It was the first large technology requiring risk analyses to be carried out. Discussion broke out in public on the question: ''How safe is nuclear technology''. To sum up, the basic innovation of nuclear technology is now an important economic factor. It came just in time. It is capable of providing relief to the world's energy problems. It is up to us to use it in an intelligent way in the future despite any short-breathed complaints. (orig./HSCH) [de

Modelling of auctioning mechanism for solar photovoltaic capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Poullikkas, Andreas

2016-10-01

In this work, a modified optimisation model for the integration of renewable energy sources for power-generation (RES-E) technologies in power-generation systems on a unit commitment basis is developed. The purpose of the modified optimisation procedure is to account for RES-E capacity auctions for different solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity electricity prices. The optimisation model developed uses a genetic algorithm (GA) technique for the calculation of the required RES-E levy (or green tax) in the electricity bills. Also, the procedure enables the estimation of the level of the adequate (or eligible) feed-in-tariff to be offered to future RES-E systems, which do not participate in the capacity auctioning procedure. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the optimisation procedure developed the case of PV capacity auctioning for commercial systems is examined. The results indicated that the required green tax, in order to promote the use of RES-E technologies, which is charged to the electricity customers through their electricity bills, is reduced with the reduction in the final auctioning price. This has a significant effect related to the reduction of electricity bills.

Analysis on economic carrying capacity index of pig breeding in China

Science.gov (United States)

Leng, Bi-Bin; Liu, Jia-Ling; Xu, Yue-Feng

2017-08-01

In this paper, factor analysis method was employed to analyze and calculate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the last decade, the proportion of research and experiment development (R&D) expenditure equivalent to GDP, urban and rural residents’ pork consumption and explored the scale of Chinese pig breeding on economic carrying capacity index. The result showed that the growth of GDP had led to better techniques and higher field investment, and stronger support like science and technology from the government provided good conditions for large scale of pig breeding. Besides, the substantial increase of pork consumption between rural and urban residents has contributed to the pig breeding in large scale. As a result, the economic carrying capacity index in Chinese pig farming is on the rise.

Building hospital capacity planning mechanisms in Poland: The impact of 2016/2017 regulatory changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubas-Jakóbczyk, Katarzyna; Sowada, Christoph; Domagała, Alicja; Więckowska, Barbara

2018-02-07

Capacity planning is a crucial component of modern health care governance. The aim of this paper is to analyze the requirements that need to be met to build effective hospital capacity planning mechanisms in Poland. In this context, the recent regulatory changes strongly influencing hospital sector functioning, including introduction of health care needs maps, capital investment assessment, and hospital network regulations, are analyzed. Some possible ways forward, based on review of international experiences in hospital capacity planning, are discussed. Applied methods include literature review and analysis of statistical data as well as desk analysis of key national regulations related to hospital sector. Results indicate that at the system level, the process of capacity planning involves 4 elements: capital investment in facilities, equipment, and technology; service delivery; allocation of staff; and financial resources. For hospital capacity planning to be effective, the strategic decision at the macrolevel must be complemented by appropriate management of individual hospitals. The major challenge of building hospital capacity planning mechanism in Poland is imbedding it into the overall health system strategy. Because of the lack of such a strategy, the practical implementation of the ad hoc changes, which have been introduced, shows some inconsistencies. The regulations implemented between 2016 and 2017 provided a basis for hospital capacity planning, yet still need evaluation and adjustments. Also, including a mechanism for human resources planning is of crucial importance. The regulations should provide incentives for reducing oversized hospital infrastructure with simultaneous development of the long-term and coordinated care models. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Multiple governance and fisheries commons: Investigating the performance of local capacities in rural Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdullah Al Mamun

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This study presents a post-facto evaluation of the local capacity development processes used under co-management of fisheries and other resources of southern Bangladesh. It answers the question of how supportive were the capacity development tools used in implementing co-management. An 18 month study was conducted and six cases were investigated to understand the approaches to co-management programs used to develop local capacity. Founded in pragmatism and viewing co-management through a governance lens, a comparative case study method was used that combined both qualitative and quantitative research approaches for data collection and subsequent analysis. This study provides empirical evidence that co-management programs have applied a number of strategies (e.g. human resource and economic development to enhance local capacities. However, these strategies have achieved mixed results with regard to developing governance that supports livelihoods. Training provided to develop human resources and economic capacity were not useful for fishers or had little lasting effects on fisheries development due to poor monitoring and a disconnection with the needs of local users. This study concludes that comanagement can facilitate local capacity but in order to realize the full potential of this approach we must address the issues of inappropriate technologies for training, the financial barriers to fishers with low cash income, and uneven power relationships among stakeholders, to create an enabling environment for effective modern governance of the fisheries commons. Our findings indicate a needsbased approach to capacity building is needed in order to support the livelihoods of local users through co-management

Supporting science in developing countries using open technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canessa, Enrique; Zennaro, Marco; Fonda, Carlo

2009-01-01

We describe our contributions in using information and communication technologies (ICT) to address the digital and knowledge divides in developing regions. These include the implementation of new prototype systems using state-of-the-art, low-cost technologies based on the scientific audience, the local information technology infrastructure and the level of support available from local technical staff. Efforts are made to provide the necessary capacity and know-how to understand and manage their available information infrastructure with the final goal of supporting their science to allow participation at an international level

Capacity building in emerging space nations: Experiences, challenges and benefits

Science.gov (United States)

Jason, Susan; da Silva Curiel, Alex; Liddle, Doug; Chizea, Francis; Leloglu, Ugur Murat; Helvaci, Mustafa; Bekhti, Mohammed; Benachir, Djouad; Boland, Lee; Gomes, Luis; Sweeting, Martin

2010-09-01

This paper focuses on ways in which space is being used to build capacity in science and technology in order to: Offer increasing support for national and global solutions to current and emerging problems including: how to improve food security; resource management; understanding the impacts of climate change and how to deal with them; improving disaster mitigation, management and response. Support sustainable economic development. We present some of the experiences, lessons learned and benefits gained in capacity building projects undertaken by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and our partners from developing and mature space nations. We focus on the Turkish, Algerian and Nigerian know-how and technology transfer programmes which form part of the first Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) in orbit. From the lessons learned on Surrey's know-how and technology transfer partnership programmes, it is clear that space technology needs to be implemented responsibly as part of a long-term capacity building plan to be a sustainable one. It needs to be supported with appropriate policy and legal frameworks, institutional development, including community participation, human resources development and strengthening of managerial systems. In taking this on board, DMC has resulted in a strong international partnership combining national objectives, humanitarian aid and commerce. The benefits include: Ownership of space-based and supporting ground assets with low capital expenditure that is in line with national budgets of developing nations. Ownership of data and control over data acquisition. More for the money via collaborative consortium. Space related capacity building in organisations and nations with the goal of sustainable development. Opportunities for international collaboration, including disaster management and relief.

Should We Provide Life-Sustaining Treatments to Patients with Permanent Loss of Cognitive Capacities?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ofra G. Golan

2012-07-01

Full Text Available A very troubling issue for health care systems today is that of life-sustaining treatment for patients who have permanently lost their cognitive capacities. These include patients in persistent vegetative state (PVS, or minimally conscious state (MCS, as well as a growing population of patients at the very end stage of dementia. These patients are totally dependent on life-sustaining treatments and are, actually, kept alive “artificially.” This phenomenon raises doubts as to the ethics of sustaining the life of patients who have lost their consciousness and cognitive capacities, and whether there is a moral obligation to do so. The problem is that the main facts concerning the experiences and well-being of such patients and their wishes are unknown. Hence the framework of the four principles—beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice—is not applicable in these cases; therefore we examined solidarity as another moral value to which we may resort in dealing with this dilemma. This article shows that the source of the dilemma is the social attitudes towards loss of cognitive capacities, and the perception of this state as loss of personhood. Consequently, it is suggested that the principle of solidarity—which both sets an obligation to care for the worst-off, and can be used to identify obligations that appeal to an ethos of behavior—can serve as a guiding principle for resolving the dilemma. The value of solidarity can lead society to care for these patients and not deny them basic care and life-sustaining treatment when appropriate.

LTE-Advanced Relay Technology and Standardization

CERN Document Server

Yuan, Yifei

2013-01-01

LTE-Advanced Relay Technology and Standardization provides a timely reference work for relay technology with the finalizing of LTE Release 10 specifications. LTE-Advanced is quickly becoming the global standard for 4G cellular communications. The relay technology, as one of the key features in LTE-Advanced, helps not only to improve the system coverage and capacity, but also to save the costs of laying wireline backhaul. As a leading researcher in the field of LTE-Advanced standards, the author provides an in-depth description of LTE-A relay technology, and explains in detail the standard specification and design principles.     Readers from both academic and industrial fields can find sections of interest to them: Sections 2 & 4 could benefit researchers in academia and those who are engaged in exploratory work, while Sections 3 & 4 are more useful to engineers. Dr. Yifei Yuan is the Technical Director at the Standards Department of ZTE Inc.

Canadian CO2 Capture and Storage Technology Network : promoting zero emissions technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-11-01

This brochure provided information on some Canadian initiatives in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and storage. There has been growing interest in the implementation of components of CO 2 capture, storage and utilization technologies in Canada. Technology developments by the CANMET Energy Technology Centre concerning CO 2 capture using oxy-fuel combustion and amine separation were examined. Techniques concerning gasification of coal for electricity production and CO 2 capture were reviewed. Details of a study of acid gas underground injection were presented. A review of monitoring technologies in CO 2 storage in enhanced oil recovery was provided. Issues concerning the enhancement of methane recovery through the monitoring of CO 2 injected into deep coal beds were discussed. Storage capacity assessment of Canadian sedimentary basins, coal seams and oil and gas reservoirs were reviewed, in relation to their suitability for CO 2 sequestration. Details of the International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture in Regina, Saskatchewan were presented, as well as issues concerning the sequestration of CO 2 in oil sands tailings streams. A research project concerning the geologic sequestration of CO 2 and simultaneous CO 2 and methane production from natural gs hydrate reservoirs was also discussed. 12 figs.

Supply security and short-run capacity markets for electricity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Creti, Anna; Fabra, Natalia

2007-01-01

The creation of electricity markets has raised the fundamental question as to whether markets create the right incentives for the provision of the reserves needed to maintain supply security in the short-run, or whether some form of regulation is required. In some states in the US, electricity distributors have been made responsible for providing such reserves by contracting capacity in excess of their forecasted peak demand. The so-called Installed Capacity Markets provide one means of contracting reserves, and are the subject of this paper. Under monopoly as well as under perfect competition, we identify firms' short-run opportunity costs of committing resources in the capacity market and the costs of inducing full capacity commitment. The long-run investment problem is not considered. From a welfare viewpoint, we also compare the desirability of providing reserves either through capacity markets or through the demand side (i.e. power curtailments). At the optimum, capacity obligations equal peak demand (plus expected outages) and the capacity deficiency rate (which serves as a price cap) is set at firms' opportunity costs of providing full capacity commitment. (Author)

Wireless communications surpassing fiber capacity : micro- and millimeter-wave solutions up to D-band for 5G systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olmos, J. J.Vegas; Monroy, I. Tafur

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present the latest experimental work on millimetre-wave links operating at fiber-like capacity regimes: from UWB communications supporting up to 35 Gbit/s to D-band communications operating at 352 Gbit/s. We provide insights on these technologies and hints on next steps to achieve

Reversible anionic redox chemistry in high-capacity layered-oxide electrodes

Science.gov (United States)

Sathiya, M.; Rousse, G.; Ramesha, K.; Laisa, C. P.; Vezin, H.; Sougrati, M. T.; Doublet, M.-L.; Foix, D.; Gonbeau, D.; Walker, W.; Prakash, A. S.; Ben Hassine, M.; Dupont, L.; Tarascon, J.-M.

2013-09-01

Li-ion batteries have contributed to the commercial success of portable electronics and may soon dominate the electric transportation market provided that major scientific advances including new materials and concepts are developed. Classical positive electrodes for Li-ion technology operate mainly through an insertion-deinsertion redox process involving cationic species. However, this mechanism is insufficient to account for the high capacities exhibited by the new generation of Li-rich (Li1+xNiyCozMn(1-x-y-z)O2) layered oxides that present unusual Li reactivity. In an attempt to overcome both the inherent composition and the structural complexity of this class of oxides, we have designed structurally related Li2Ru1-ySnyO3 materials that have a single redox cation and exhibit sustainable reversible capacities as high as 230 mA h g-1. Moreover, they present good cycling behaviour with no signs of voltage decay and a small irreversible capacity. We also unambiguously show, on the basis of an arsenal of characterization techniques, that the reactivity of these high-capacity materials towards Li entails cumulative cationic (Mn+→M(n+1)+) and anionic (O2-→O22-) reversible redox processes, owing to the d-sp hybridization associated with a reductive coupling mechanism. Because Li2MO3 is a large family of compounds, this study opens the door to the exploration of a vast number of high-capacity materials.

Enhancing organizational capacity to provide cancer control programs among Latino churches: design and baseline findings of the CRUZA Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Jennifer D; Torres, Maria Idali; Tom, Laura S; Rustan, Sarah; Leyva, Bryan; Negron, Rosalyn; Linnan, Laura A; Jandorf, Lina; Ospino, Hosffman

2015-04-09

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have been successful in delivering health promotion programs for African Americans, though few studies have been conducted among Latinos. Even fewer have focused on organizational change, which is required to sustain community-based initiatives. We hypothesized that FBOs serving Latinos would be more likely to offer evidence-based strategies (EBS) for cancer control after receiving a capacity enhancement intervention to implement health programs, and designed the CRUZA trial to test this hypothesis. This paper describes the CRUZA design and baseline findings. We identified Catholic parishes in Massachusetts that provided Spanish-language mass (n = 65). A baseline survey assessed organizational characteristics relevant to adoption of health programs, including readiness for adoption, "fit" between innovation and organizational mission, implementation climate, and organizational culture. In the next study phase, parishes that completed the baseline assessment will be recruited to a randomized cluster trial, with the parish as the unit of analysis. Both groups will receive a Program Manual and Toolkit. Capacity Enhancement parishes will also be offered technical support, assistance forming health committees and building inter-institutional partnerships, and skills-based training. Of the 49 parishes surveyed at baseline (75%), one-third (33%) reported having provided at least one health program in the prior year. However, only two program offerings were cancer-specific. Nearly one-fifth (18%) had an active health ministry. There was a high level of organizational readiness to adopt cancer control programs, high congruence between parish missions and CRUZA objectives, moderately conducive implementation climates, and organizational cultures supportive of CRUZA programming. Having an existing health ministry was significantly associated with having offered health programs within the past year. Relationships between health program

Adaptive Capacity Management in Bluetooth Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Son, L.T.

, such as limited wireless bandwidth operation, routing, scheduling, network control, etc. Currently Bluetooth specification particularly does not describe in details about how to implement Quality of Service and Resource Management in Bluetooth protocol stacks. These issues become significant, when the number...... of Bluetooth devices is increasing, a larger-scale ad hoc network, scatternet, is formed, as well as the booming of Internet has demanded for large bandwidth and low delay mobile access. This dissertation is to address the capacity management issues in Bluetooth networks. The main goals of the network capacity...... capacity allocation, network traffic control, inter-piconet scheduling, and buffer management. First, after a short presentation about Bluetooth technology, and QoS issues, queueing models and a simulation-based buffer management have been constructed. Then by using analysis and simulation, it shows some...

Building Adaptive Capacity of Pathways in Technology Early College High School Stakeholders: A Multiple-Case Study on the Influence of Performance, Leadership, and Organizational Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Michaud-Wells, Amy

2016-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and beliefs of Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) leaders and stakeholders regarding the personal and professional experiences that contributed to the development of adaptive capacity. This embedded multiple-case study was anchored by the interrelated…

Bipolar disorder research 2.0: Web technologies for research capacity and knowledge translation.

Science.gov (United States)

Michalak, Erin E; McBride, Sally; Barnes, Steven J; Wood, Chanel S; Khatri, Nasreen; Balram Elliott, Nusha; Parikh, Sagar V

2017-12-01

Current Web technologies offer bipolar disorder (BD) researchers many untapped opportunities for conducting research and for promoting knowledge exchange. In the present paper, we document our experiences with a variety of Web 2.0 technologies in the context of an international BD research network: The Collaborative RESearch Team to Study psychosocial issues in BD (CREST.BD). Three technologies were used as tools for enabling research within CREST.BD and for encouraging the dissemination of the results of our research: (1) the crestbd.ca website, (2) social networking tools (ie, Facebook, Twitter), and (3) several sorts of file sharing (ie YouTube, FileShare). For each Web technology, we collected quantitative assessments of their effectiveness (in reach, exposure, and engagement) over a 6-year timeframe (2010-2016). In general, many of our strategies were deemed successful for promoting knowledge exchange and other network goals. We discuss how we applied our Web analytics to inform adaptations and refinements of our Web 2.0 platforms to maximise knowledge exchange with people with BD, their supporters, and health care providers. We conclude with some general recommendations for other mental health researchers and research networks interested in pursuing Web 2.0 strategies. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Selected Test Results from the Encell Technology Nickel Iron Battery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreira, Summer Kamal Rhodes [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Advanced Power Sources R& D; Baca, Wes Edmund [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Advanced Power Sources R& D; Avedikian, Kristan [Encell Technology, Alachua, FL (United States)

2014-09-01

The performance of the Encell Nickel Iron (NiFe) battery was measured. Tests included capacity, capacity as a function of rate, capacity as a function of temperature, charge retention (28-day), efficiency, accelerated life projection, and water refill evaluation. The goal of this work was to evaluate the general performance of the Encell NiFe battery technology for stationary applications and demonstrate the chemistry's capabilities in extreme conditions. Test results have indicated that the Encell NiFe battery technology can provide power levels up to the 6C discharge rate, ampere-hour efficiency above 70%. In summary, the Encell batteries have met performance metrics established by the manufacturer. Long-term cycle tests are not included in this report. A cycle test at elevated temperature was run, funded by the manufacturer, which Encell uses to predict long-term cycling performance, and which passed their prescribed metrics.

Capacity investment and competition in decentralized electricity markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fehr, Nils-Henrik von der; Harbord, David Cameron

1997-11-01

With particular reference to the recently deregulated and market-based electricity industries in Norway, the UK and elsewhere the report analyses oligopoly entry and capacity investment decisions as a non-cooperative game in a decentralized electricity market. A two-stage game is considered, with multiple capacity types and uncertain demand, in which capacity decisions are made prior to spot-market, or price competition. Equilibrium outcomes for different pricing mechanisms or regulatory regimes are analysed. The following questions are dealt with in particular: Will industry capacity be sufficient to ensure adequate supply security? Does imperfect competition in the spot-market lead to an inefficient mix of base-load and peak-load technologies? How do different regulatory policies affect the market outcomes? 24 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

GeoMel Technologies. Providing technology solutions to environmental hazardous waste problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

,000 metric tons of contaminated materials on three continents. AMEC, under an exclusive agreement, is further developing the technologies and marketing and implementing them globally. GeoMelt offers significant advantages for site remediation and waste treatment: - Commercially proven at large scale; - Can treat mixed organic, inorganic and radioactive contaminants simultaneously; - Extremely high waste loadings; - Mobile for on-site or off-site use and can be performed in-situ or in a batch plant; - High tolerance for debris such as concrete, scrap metal, wood and plastic; - Treated mass is highly resistant to leaching and weathering; - Permitted by the U.S. EPA for the treatment of PCBs nation wide; - Selected in Australia as an alternative to incineration; - High degree of public and regulatory acceptance; - Treatment rates of up to 100 tons per day. In addition to GeoMelt, AMEC offers a complete range of other environmental and geotechnical services in North America and abroad from 90 Earth and Environmental offices. Globally, AMEC operates in 40 countries and is a leading provider of services and engineering solutions to the world's infrastructure, manufacturing and process industries. AMEC has been ranked as the leading international design firm by Engineering News- Record magazine. Learn more about GeoMelt at www.geomelt.com. For a list of office locations, company contacts and other services refer to: www.amec.com

Capacity, pressure, demand, and flow: A conceptual framework for analyzing ecosystem service provision and delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Villamagna, Amy M.; Angermeier, Paul L.; Bennett, Elena M.

2013-01-01

Ecosystem services provide an instinctive way to understand the trade-offs associated with natural resource management. However, despite their apparent usefulness, several hurdles have prevented ecosystem services from becoming deeply embedded in environmental decision-making. Ecosystem service studies vary widely in focal services, geographic extent, and in methods for defining and measuring services. Dissent among scientists on basic terminology and approaches to evaluating ecosystem services create difficulties for those trying to incorporate ecosystem services into decision-making. To facilitate clearer comparison among recent studies, we provide a synthesis of common terminology and explain a rationale and framework for distinguishing among the components of ecosystem service delivery, including: an ecosystem's capacity to produce services; ecological pressures that interfere with an ecosystem's ability to provide the service; societal demand for the service; and flow of the service to people. We discuss how interpretation and measurement of these four components can differ among provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. Our flexible framework treats service capacity, ecological pressure, demand, and flow as separate but interactive entities to improve our ability to evaluate the sustainability of service provision and to help guide management decisions. We consider ecosystem service provision to be sustainable when demand is met without decreasing capacity for future provision of that service or causing undesirable declines in other services. When ecosystem service demand exceeds ecosystem capacity to provide services, society can choose to enhance natural capacity, decrease demand and/or ecological pressure, or invest in a technological substitute. Because regulating services are frequently overlooked in environmental assessments, we provide a more detailed examination of regulating services and propose a novel method for quantifying the flow of

Assessing the moderating effect of the end user in consumer behavior: the acceptance of technological implants to increase innate human capacities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge ePelegrín-Borondo

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Today, technological implants are being developed to increase innate human capacities, such as memory or calculation speed, and to endow us with new ones, such as the remote control of machines. This study’s aim was twofold: first, to introduce a Cognitive-Affective-Normative model of technology acceptance to explain the intention to use this technology in the field of consumer behavior; and second, to analyze the differences in the intention to use it based on whether the intended implant recipient is oneself or one’s child (i.e., the moderating effect of the end user. A multi-group analysis was performed to compare the results between the two groups: implant for me (Group 1 and implant for my child (Group 2. The model largely explains the intention to use the insideable technology for the specified groups (variance explained (R2 of over 0.70 in both cases. The most important variables were found to be positive emotions and (positive subjective norm. This underscores the need to broaden the range of factors considered to be decisive in technology acceptance to include variables related to consumers’ emotions. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between the for me and for my child models for perceived ease of use and subjective norm. These findings confirm the moderating effect of the end user on new insideable technology acceptance.

Assessing the Moderating Effect of the End User in Consumer Behavior: The Acceptance of Technological Implants to Increase Innate Human Capacities.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelegrín-Borondo, Jorge; Reinares-Lara, Eva; Olarte-Pascual, Cristina; Garcia-Sierra, Marta

2016-01-01

Today, technological implants are being developed to increase innate human capacities, such as memory or calculation speed, and to endow us with new ones, such as the remote control of machines. This study's aim was two-fold: first, to introduce a Cognitive-Affective-Normative (CAN) model of technology acceptance to explain the intention to use this technology in the field of consumer behavior; and second, to analyze the differences in the intention to use it based on whether the intended implant recipient is oneself or one's child (i.e., the moderating effect of the end user). A multi-group analysis was performed to compare the results between the two groups: implant "for me" (Group 1) and implant "for my child" (Group 2). The model largely explains the intention to use the insideable technology for the specified groups [variance explained (R (2)) of over 0.70 in both cases]. The most important variables were found to be "positive emotions" and (positive) "subjective norm." This underscores the need to broaden the range of factors considered to be decisive in technology acceptance to include variables related to consumers' emotions. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between the "for me" and "for my child" models for "perceived ease of use (PEU)" and "subjective norm." These findings confirm the moderating effect of the end user on new insideable technology acceptance.

Capacity Building in Land Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enemark, Stig; Ahene, Rexford

2003-01-01

There is a significant need for capacity building in the interdisciplinary area of land management especially in developing countries and countries in transition, to deal with the complex issues of building efficient land information systems and sustainable institutional infrastructures. Capacity...... building in land management is not only a question of establishing a sufficient technological level or sufficient economic resources. It is mainly a question of understanding the interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral nature of land administration systems, and understanding the need for human resource...... and professionals for implementing the new land policy. The curriculum combines the diploma and the bachelor level and it combines the key areas of land surveying, land management and physical planning....

Technology-Enhanced Peer Review: Benefits and Implications of Providing Multiple Reviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Papadopoulos, Pantelis M.; Lagkas, Thomas D.; Demetriadis, Stavros N.

2017-01-01

This study analyses the impact of self and peer feedback in technology-enhanced peer review settings. The impact of receiving peer comments (“receiver” perspective) is compared to that of reaching own insights by reviewing others’ work (“giver” perspective). In this study, 38 sophomore students...... were randomly assigned in two conditions and engaged in peer review activity facilitated by a web-based learning environment asking them to provide multiple reviews. In the Peer Reviewed (PR) condition students both reviewed peer work and received peer comments for their own work. By contrast......, in the Self Reviewed (SR) condition students provided peer reviews, but did not receive any. Instead, they were asked to perform self reviewing, before proceeding to any revisions of their work. Result showed that the two groups were comparable in all aspects, suggesting that the lack of getting peer reviews...

Capacity building in nuclear science and technology through the IAEA fellowship and scientific visit programme for Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saliza Jam; Ainul Hayati Daud

2005-01-01

Malaysia participates actively in the IAEA Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP) since it becomes a member to IAEA in 1969. The primary objective of the programme is to assist member states in achieving self-reliance in nuclear science and technology by strengthening human resource and the institutions. Human resource development has always been considered to be the most important sector cross-cutting all national programme areas. One of the technical assistance offers under the IAEA Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP) is the fellowship and scientific visits programme. This report analyses the development of capacity building in Malaysia through the IAEA fellowship and scientific visit programme during the period of 2003-2005. It also describes the success and challenges encountered during the implementation of the programme. (Author)

Multi-dimensional knowledge translation: enabling health informatics capacity audits using patient journey models.

Science.gov (United States)

Catley, Christina; McGregor, Carolyn; Percival, Jennifer; Curry, Joanne; James, Andrew

2008-01-01

This paper presents a multi-dimensional approach to knowledge translation, enabling results obtained from a survey evaluating the uptake of Information Technology within Neonatal Intensive Care Units to be translated into knowledge, in the form of health informatics capacity audits. Survey data, having multiple roles, patient care scenarios, levels, and hospitals, is translated using a structured data modeling approach, into patient journey models. The data model is defined such that users can develop queries to generate patient journey models based on a pre-defined Patient Journey Model architecture (PaJMa). PaJMa models are then analyzed to build capacity audits. Capacity audits offer a sophisticated view of health informatics usage, providing not only details of what IT solutions a hospital utilizes, but also answering the questions: when, how and why, by determining when the IT solutions are integrated into the patient journey, how they support the patient information flow, and why they improve the patient journey.

Diseño en ingeniería orientada a la capacidad tecnológica disponible; Engineering Design to the Available Technological Capacity Oriented

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Genovevo F Morejón Vizcaíno

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Se presentan algunos de los resultados de la tesis doctoral: "Primera etapa del proceso de desarrollo de unhidromotor de alto par: Conceptualización y prototipo analítico". Se analiza un nuevo enfoque de diseño deingeniería con gran interés para los países que poseen una baja capacidad tecnológica en su industriametalmecánica, denominado: Desarrollo de nuevos productos orientado a la capacidad tecnológica disponible.La característica distintiva de esta metodología es el empleo de la capacidad tecnológica contenida en losproductos normalizados para diseñar otros con el objetivo de satisfacer necesidades sociales. Asimismo, sepropone una aplicación sobre el desarrollo de un nuevo tipo de hidromotor de pistones radiales llamado,hidromotor con cilindros tubulares radiales. (HCTR, el cual posee prestaciones competitivas y puede serconstruido por los países del tercer mundo. El objetivo de este trabajo no es dar una explicación pormenorizadade la metodología, sino mostrar su existencia y la gran utilidad que esta posee.  This paper presents the work of a doctoral thesis on "First stage of the process of development of a hydro-motor of high torque: conceptualisation and analytic prototype". A new focus of design is discussed. It isconvenient for the countries that possess a low technological capacity in industry. This new focus was nominatedas the process of development of new products guided to the available technological capacity, and theirdistinctive characteristic is that it uses the technological capacity contained in the products normalised todesign products to satisfy social necessities, that in another way they are impossible to design for theirelaboration demands. In an application of this procedure, a new type of hydro-motor of radial pistons wasobtained with competitive benefits that it can be built by the countries of the third world. The objective of thispaper is not to give an itemised explanation of the methodology

The Effect of Health Information Technology on Health Care Provider Communication: A Mixed-Method Protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Manojlovich, Milisa; Adler-Milstein, Julia; Harrod, Molly; Sales, Anne; Hofer, Timothy P; Saint, Sanjay; Krein, Sarah L

2015-06-11

Communication failures between physicians and nurses are one of the most common causes of adverse events for hospitalized patients, as well as a major root cause of all sentinel events. Communication technology (ie, the electronic medical record, computerized provider order entry, email, and pagers), which is a component of health information technology (HIT), may help reduce some communication failures but increase others because of an inadequate understanding of how communication technology is used. Increasing use of health information and communication technologies is likely to affect communication between nurses and physicians. The purpose of this study is to describe, in detail, how health information and communication technologies facilitate or hinder communication between nurses and physicians with the ultimate goal of identifying how we can optimize the use of these technologies to support effective communication. Effective communication is the process of developing shared understanding between communicators by establishing, testing, and maintaining relationships. Our theoretical model, based in communication and sociology theories, describes how health information and communication technologies affect communication through communication practices (ie, use of rich media; the location and availability of computers) and work relationships (ie, hierarchies and team stability). Therefore we seek to (1) identify the range of health information and communication technologies used in a national sample of medical-surgical acute care units, (2) describe communication practices and work relationships that may be influenced by health information and communication technologies in these same settings, and (3) explore how differences in health information and communication technologies, communication practices, and work relationships between physicians and nurses influence communication. This 4-year study uses a sequential mixed-methods design, beginning with a

Capacity Building in Land Administration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enemark, Stig; Williamson, I

2004-01-01

Capacity building increasingly seen as a key component of land administration projects in developing and countries in transition undertaken by the international development banks and individual country development assistance agencies. However, the capacity building concept is often used within...... infrastructures for implementing land policies in a sustainable way. Where a project is established to create land administration infrastructures in developing or transition countries, it is critical that capacity building is a mainstream component, not as an add-on, which is often the case. In fact such projects...... should be dealt with as capacity building projects in themselves.    The article introduces a conceptual analytical framework that provides some guidance when dealing with capacity building for land administration in support of a broader land policy agenda....

Research on the water environment capacity of Qingyi River (Xuchang Section) with GIS technology

OpenAIRE

Wang Li; Yu Luji; Liu Chunxiao; Sun Nan; Feng Minquan

2017-01-01

Water environment capacity calculation is the foundation of basin environment management. Due to lack of basic materials and data, the water environment capacity in small basin was not massively researched with appropriate calculating method. This paper mentioned a water capacity calculating method suitable for environment management. The method was based on the study of Xuchang Section of Qingyi River and described with details as follows: Xuchang Section was divided into four control units ...

Report: EPA Needs an Agency-Wide Plan to Provide Tribal Solid Waste Management Capacity Assistance

Science.gov (United States)

Report #11-P-0171, March 21, 2011. EPA cannot determine whether its efforts are assisting tribal governments in developing the capacity to manage solid waste or reduce the risks of open dumps in Indian country.

Universities in capacity building in sustainable development: focus on solid waste management and technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Agamuthu, P; Hansen, Jens Aage

2007-06-01

This paper analyses some of the higher education and research capacity building experiences gained from 1998-2006 by Danish and Malaysian universities. The focus is on waste management, directly relating to both the environmental and socio-economic dimensions of sustainable development. Primary benefits, available as an educational legacy to universities, were obtained in terms of new and enhanced study curricula established on Problem-oriented Project-based Learning (POPBL) pedagogy, which strengthened academic environmental programmes at Malaysian and Danish universities. It involved more direct and mutually beneficial cooperation between academia and businesses in both countries. This kind of university reach-out is considered vital to development in all countries actively striving for global and sustainable development. Supplementary benefits were accrued for those involved directly in activities such as the 4 months of field studies, workshops, field courses and joint research projects. For students and academics, the gains have been new international dimensions in university curricula, enhanced career development and research collaboration based on realworld cases. It is suggested that the area of solid waste management offers opportunities for much needed capacity building in higher education and research, contributing to sustainable waste management on a global scale. Universities should be more actively involved in such educational, research and innovation programmes to make the necessary progress. ISWA can support capacity building activities by utilizing its resources--providing a lively platform for debate, securing dissemination of new knowledge, and furthering international networking beyond that which universities already do by themselves. A special challenge to ISWA may be to improve national and international professional networks between academia and business, thereby making education, research and innovation the key driving mechanisms in

Reverse Link CDMA System Capacity Evaluation for Stratospheric Platform Mobile Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iskandar Iskandar

2010-10-01

Full Text Available We propose an analysis of reverse link CDMA multispot beam stratospheric platforms (SPF in this paper. The SPF is currently proposed as a novel wireless technology for the development of the next generation fixed and mobile communications. The geometry of this technology is different from that of the terrestrial but rather similar to the satellite based cellular system. However, evaluation on the CDMA system capacity of this technology has not been much reported. This paper addresses all possible multiple access interference analyses including the effects of channel fading and shadowing in order to evaluate the system capacity. Single SPF and multiple SPF model are evaluated under perfect power control and imperfect power control. The results indicate that in SPF systems the reverse link CDMA capacity is significantly reduced because of the power control imperfections. Moreover, in multiple SPF model the interference caused by the users in overlapped region is not trivial. We found that because of this problem the capacity is reduced for both speech and real-time data applications compared with the single SPF model even though the assumption of perfect power control can be made. In order to improve the system capacity we proposed two methods, first is to increase the minimum elevation angle definition for each platform and the second is to employ an adaptive antenna.

Survey of Promising Technologies for 5G Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nam Tuan Le

2016-01-01

Full Text Available As an enhancement of cellular networks, the future-generation 5G network can be considered an ultra-high-speed technology. The proposed 5G network might include all types of advanced dominant technologies to provide remarkable services. Consequently, new architectures and service management schemes for different applications of the emerging technologies need to be recommended to solve issues related to data traffic capacity, high data rate, and reliability for ensuring QoS. Cloud computing, Internet of things (IoT, and software-defined networking (SDN have become some of the core technologies for the 5G network. Cloud-based services provide flexible and efficient solutions for information and communications technology by reducing the cost of investing in and managing information technology infrastructure. In terms of functionality, SDN is a promising architecture that decouples control planes and data planes to support programmability, adaptability, and flexibility in ever-changing network architectures. However, IoT combines cloud computing and SDN to achieve greater productivity for evolving technologies in 5G by facilitating interaction between the physical and human world. The major objective of this study provides a lawless vision on comprehensive works related to enabling technologies for the next generation of mobile systems and networks, mainly focusing on 5G mobile communications.

E- and W-band high-capacity hybrid fiber-wireless link

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vegas Olmos, Juan José; Pang, Xiaodan; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

2014-01-01

In this paper we summarize the work conducted in our group in the area of E- and W-band optical high-capacity fiber-wireless links. We present performance evaluations of E- and W-band mm-wave signal generation using photonic frequency upconversion employing both VCSELs and ECLs, along with transm...... in mobile backhaul/fronthaul applications, dense distributed antenna systems and fiber-over-radio scenarios.......In this paper we summarize the work conducted in our group in the area of E- and W-band optical high-capacity fiber-wireless links. We present performance evaluations of E- and W-band mm-wave signal generation using photonic frequency upconversion employing both VCSELs and ECLs, along...... with transmission over different type of optical fibers and for a number of values for the wireless link distance. Hybrid wireless-optical links can be composed of mature and resilient technology available off-the-shelf, and provide functionalities that can add value to optical access networks, specifically...

Dual capacity reciprocating compressor

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Robert W.

1984-01-01

A multi-cylinder compressor 10 particularly useful in connection with northern climate heat pumps and in which different capacities are available in accordance with reversing motor 16 rotation is provided with an eccentric cam 38 on a crank pin 34 under a fraction of the connecting rods, and arranged for rotation upon the crank pin between opposite positions 180.degree. apart so that with cam rotation on the crank pin such that the crank throw is at its normal maximum value all pistons pump at full capacity, and with rotation of the crank shaft in the opposite direction the cam moves to a circumferential position on the crank pin such that the overall crank throw is zero. Pistons 24 whose connecting rods 30 ride on a crank pin 36 without a cam pump their normal rate with either crank rotational direction. Thus a small clearance volume is provided for any piston that moves when in either capacity mode of operation.

Biogas technology research in selected sub-Saharan African countries

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This reviews aims to provide an insight and update of the state of biogas technology research in some selected sub-Saharan African countries in peer reviewed literature. This paper also aims to highlight the sub-Saharan countries' strengths and weaknesses in biogas research and development capacity. An attempt is ...

Introducing technology learning for energy technologies in a national CGE model through soft links to global and national energy models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinsen, Thomas

2011-01-01

This paper describes a method to model the influence by global policy scenarios, particularly spillover of technology learning, on the energy service demand of the non-energy sectors of the national economy. It is exemplified by Norway. Spillover is obtained from the technology-rich global Energy Technology Perspective model operated by the International Energy Agency. It is provided to a national hybrid model where a national bottom-up Markal model carries forward spillover into a national top-down CGE model at a disaggregated demand category level. Spillover of technology learning from the global energy technology market will reduce national generation costs of energy carriers. This may in turn increase demand in the non-energy sectors of the economy because of the rebound effect. The influence of spillover on the Norwegian economy is most pronounced for the production level of industrial chemicals and for the demand for electricity for residential energy services. The influence is modest, however, because all existing electricity generating capacity is hydroelectric and thus compatible with the low emission policy scenario. In countries where most of the existing generating capacity must be replaced by nascent energy technologies or carbon captured and storage the influence on demand is expected to be more significant. - Highlights: → Spillover of global technology learning may be forwarded into a macroeconomic model. → The national electricity price differs significantly between the different global scenarios. → Soft-linking global and national models facilitate transparency in the technology learning effect chain.

OPEC future capacity expansions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandrea, I.

2005-01-01

This conference presentation examined OPEC future capacity expansions including highlights from 2000-2004 from the supply perspective and actions by OPEC; OPEC spare capacity in 2005/2006; medium-term capacity expansion and investments; long-term scenarios, challenges and opportunities; and upstream policies in member countries. Highlights from the supply perspective included worst than expected non-OPEC supply response; non-OPEC supply affected by a number of accidents and strikes; geopolitical tensions; and higher than expected demand for OPEC crude. OPEC's actions included closer relationship with other producers and consumers; capacity expansions in 2004 and 2005/2006; and OPEC kept the market well supplied with crude in 2004. The presentation also provided data using graphical charts on OPEC net capacity additions until 2005/2006; OPEC production versus spare capacity from 2003 to 2005; OPEC production and capacity to 2010; and change in required OPEC production from 2005-2020. Medium term expansion to 2010 includes over 60 projects. Medium-term risks such as project execution, financing, costs, demand, reserves, depletion, integration of Iraq, and geopolitical tensions were also discussed. The presentation concluded that in the long term, large uncertainties remain; the peak of world supply is not imminent; and continued and enhanced cooperation is essential to market stability. tabs., figs

Narrative medicine and decision-making capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahr, Greg

2015-06-01

The author proposes a new model for the assessment of decision-making capacity based on the principles of narrative medicine. The narrative method proposed by the author addresses the hidden power realtionships implicit in the current model of capacity assessment. Sample cases are reviewed using the traditional model in comparison with the narrative model. Narrative medicine provides an effective model for the assessment of decision-making capacity. Deficiencies in the traditional model capacity assessment can be effectively addressed using narrative strategies. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Novel Stackelberg-Bertrand Game Model for Pricing Content Provider

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Zhang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available With the popularity of smart devices such as smartphone, tablet, contents that traditionally be viewed on a personal computer, can also be viewed on these smart devices. The demand for contents thus is increasing year by year, which makes the content providers (CPs get great revenue from either users’ subscription or advertisement. On the other hand, Internet service providers (ISPs, who keep investing in the network technology or capacity capacity to support the huge traffic generated by contents, do not benefit directly from the content traffic. One choice for ISPs is to charge CPs to share the revenue from the huge content traffic. Then ISPs have enough incentives to invest in network infrastructure to improve quality of services (QoS, which eventually benefit CPs and users. This paper presents a novel economic model called Stackelberg-Bertrand game to capture the interaction and competitions among ISPs, CPs and users when ISPs charge CPs. A generic user demand function is assumed to capture the sensitivity of demand to prices of ISPs and CPs. The numerical results show that the price elasticity of ISP and CP plays an important part on the payoff of the ISP and CP.

New Fiber Materials with Sorption Capacity at 5.0 g-U/kg Adsorbent under Marine Testing Conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saito, Tomonori [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Brown, S. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Das, Sadananda [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Mayes, Richard T. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Janke, Christopher James [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Dai, Sheng [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Kuo, Li-Jung [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Strivens, Jonathan E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Schlafer, Nicholas [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wood, J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gill, G. A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Flicker Byers, M. [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Schneider, Eric [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

2016-03-30

The Fuel Resources program of the Fuel Cycle Research and Development program of the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) has focused on assuring that nuclear fuel resources are available in the United States for a long term. An immense source of uranium is seawater, which contains an estimated amount of 4.5 billion tonnes of dissolved uranium. Extraction of the uranium resource in seawater can provide a price cap and ensure centuries of uranium supply for future nuclear energy production. NE initiated a multidisciplinary program with participants from national laboratories, universities, and research institutes to enable technical breakthroughs related to uranium recovery from seawater. The goal is to develop advanced adsorbents to make the seawater uranium recovery technology a cost competitive, viable technology. Under this program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed several novel adsorbents, which enhanced the uranium capacity 4-5 times from the state-of-the art Japanese adsorbents. Uranium exists uniformly at a concentration of ~3.3 ppb in seawater. Because of the vast volume of the oceans, the total estimated amount of uranium in seawater is approximately 1000 times larger than its amount in terrestrial resources. However, due to the low concentration, a significant challenge remains for making the extraction of uranium from seawater a commercially viable alternative technology. The biggest challenge for this technology to overcome to efficiently reduce the extraction cost is to develop adsorbents with increased uranium adsorption capacity. Two major approaches were investigated for synthesizing novel adsorbents with enhanced uranium adsorption capacity. One method utilized conventional radiation induced graft polymerization (RIGP) to synthesize adsorbents on high-surface area trunk fibers and the other method utilized a chemical grafting technique, atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Both approaches have shown promising uranium extraction

STRUCTURIZATION OF COMPETITIVE CAPACITY OF TRADE ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. A. Sеrеbrуаkоvа

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The modern consumer market is characterized by a complex of immanent tendencies of development, the competitive relations reflecting specifics inherent in it. These tendencies of development of the competitive environment of the consumer market are in many respects caused by a state and extent of use of competitive capacity of the organizations functioning in this market. This obvious circumstance causes the necessity of complex scientific research of competitive capacity of trade organizations, including its structures, for definition of prospects of its sustainable strategic development. Immanent properties of competitive capacity of trade organization allowed to study in detail its structure, by means of the substantial review of the existing options of its representation and their systematization on specific, element and system signs. In development of specific structure of competitive potential its addition commercial, technological, communication, consumer and image the potentials reflecting functional and branch specifics of activity of trade organization is offered. The system of elements of competitive capacity of trade organization is given by its structure-forming types. It is proved that these elements aren't characterized by strict distribution by types of potentials, and separate from elements are universal, accepted for simultaneous use when forming all types of potential. Allocation of a system sign of structurization of competitive potential was based on situation that "systemacity" has to be provided not so much with hierarchy of hierarchy of types and elements of potential, their interrelations, how many possibility of the accounting of various classification signs allowing to typify competitive potential as system integrity, regardless of its separate types. Those signs were the stage of a demand and level of use in economic activity, economic feasibility of existence of unrealized potential, the origin nature.

Orthopaedic Trauma Care Capacity Assessment and Strategic Planning in Ghana: Mapping a Way Forward.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Barclay T; Gyedu, Adam; Tansley, Gavin; Yeboah, Dominic; Amponsah-Manu, Forster; Mock, Charles; Labi-Addo, Wilfred; Quansah, Robert

2016-12-07

Orthopaedic conditions incur more than 52 million disability-adjusted life years annually worldwide. This burden disproportionately affects low and middle-income countries, which are least equipped to provide orthopaedic care. We aimed to assess orthopaedic capacity in Ghana, describe spatial access to orthopaedic care, and identify hospitals that would most improve access to care if their capacity was improved. Seventeen perioperative and orthopaedic trauma care-related items were selected from the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care. Direct inspection and structured interviews with hospital staff were used to assess resource availability and factors contributing to deficiencies at 40 purposively sampled facilities. Cost-distance analyses described population-level spatial access to orthopaedic trauma care. Facilities for targeted capability improvement were identified through location-allocation modeling. Orthopaedic trauma care assessment demonstrated marked deficiencies. Some deficient resources were low cost (e.g., spinal immobilization, closed reduction capabilities, and prosthetics for amputees). Resource nonavailability resulted from several contributing factors (e.g., absence of equipment, technology breakage, lack of training). Implants were commonly prohibitively expensive. Building basic orthopaedic care capacity at 15 hospitals without such capacity would improve spatial access to basic care from 74.9% to 83.0% of the population (uncertainty interval [UI] of 81.2% to 83.6%), providing access for an additional 2,169,714 Ghanaians. The availability of several low-cost resources could be better supplied by improvements in organization and training for orthopaedic trauma care. There is a critical need to advocate and provide funding for orthopaedic resources. These initiatives might be particularly effective if aimed at hospitals that could provide care to a large proportion of the population.

On Coverage and Capacity for Disaster Area Wireless Networks Using Mobile Relays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guo Wenxuan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Public safety organizations increasingly rely on wireless technology to provide effective communications during emergency and disaster response operations. This paper presents a comprehensive study on dynamic placement of relay nodes (RNs in a disaster area wireless network. It is based on our prior work of mobility model that characterizes the spatial movement of the first responders as mobile nodes (MNs during their operations. We first investigate the COverage-oriented Relay Placement (CORP problem that is to maximize the total number of MNs connected with the relays. Considering the network throughput, we then study the CApacity-oriented Relay Placement (CARP problem that is to maximize the aggregated data rate of all MNs. For both coverage and capacity studies, we provide each the optimal and the greedy algorithms with computational complexity analysis. Furthermore, simulation results are presented to compare the performance between the greedy and the optimal solutions for the CORP and CARP problems, respectively. It is shown that the greedy algorithms can achieve near optimal performance but at significantly lower computational complexity.

Supercapacitor to Provide Ancillary Services: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muljadi, Eduard [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gevorgian, Vahan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Luo, Yusheng [Idaho National Laboratory; Mohanpurkar, M. [Idaho National Laboratory; Hovsapian, R. [Idaho National Laboratory; Koritarov, V. [Argonne National Laboratory

2017-10-09

Supercapacitor technology has reached a level of maturity as a viable energy storage option available to support a modern electric power system grid; however, its application is still limited because of its energy capacity and the cost of the commercial product. In this paper, we demonstrate transient models of supercapacitor energy storage plants operating in coordination with run-of-the-river (ROR), doubly-fed induction generator hydropower plants (HPP) using a system control concept and architecture developed. A detailed transient model of a supercapacitor energy storage device is coupled with the grid via a three-phase inverter/rectifier and bidirectional DC-DC converter. In addition, we use a version of a 14-bus IEEE test case that includes the models of the supercapacitor energy storage device, ROR HPPs, and synchronous condensers that use the rotating synchronous generators of retired coal-powered plants. The purpose of the synchronous condensers is to enhance the system stability by providing voltage and reactive power control, provide power system oscillations damping, and maintain system inertia at secure levels. The control layer provides coordinated, decentralized operation of distributed ROR HPPs and energy storage as aggregate support to power system operations.

Commercial Building Loads Providing Ancillary Services in PJM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

MacDonald, Jason; Kiliccote, Sila; Boch, Jim; Chen, Jonathan; Nawy, Robert

2014-06-27

The adoption of low carbon energy technologies such as variable renewable energy and electric vehicles, coupled with the efficacy of energy efficiency to reduce traditional base load has increased the uncertainty inherent in the net load shape. Handling this variability with slower, traditional resources leads to inefficient system dispatch, and in some cases may compromise reliability. Grid operators are looking to future energy technologies, such as automated demand response (DR), to provide capacity-based reliability services as the need for these services increase. While DR resources are expected to have the flexibility characteristics operators are looking for, demonstrations are necessary to build confidence in their capabilities. Additionally, building owners are uncertain of the monetary value and operational burden of providing these services. To address this, the present study demonstrates the ability of demand response resources providing two ancillary services in the PJM territory, synchronous reserve and regulation, using an OpenADR 2.0b signaling architecture. The loads under control include HVAC and lighting at a big box retail store and variable frequency fan loads. The study examines performance characteristics of the resource: the speed of response, communications latencies in the architecture, and accuracy of response. It also examines the frequency and duration of events and the value in the marketplace which can be used to examine if the opportunity is sufficient to entice building owners to participate.

GASCAP: Wellhead Gas Productive Capacity Model documentation, June 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

The Wellhead Gas Productive Capacity Model (GASCAP) has been developed by EIA to provide a historical analysis of the monthly productive capacity of natural gas at the wellhead and a projection of monthly capacity for 2 years into the future. The impact of drilling, oil and gas price assumptions, and demand on gas productive capacity are examined. Both gas-well gas and oil-well gas are included. Oil-well gas productive capacity is estimated separately and then combined with the gas-well gas productive capacity. This documentation report provides a general overview of the GASCAP Model, describes the underlying data base, provides technical descriptions of the component models, diagrams the system and subsystem flow, describes the equations, and provides definitions and sources of all variables used in the system. This documentation report is provided to enable users of EIA projections generated by GASCAP to understand the underlying procedures used and to replicate the models and solutions. This report should be of particular interest to those in the Congress, Federal and State agencies, industry, and the academic community, who are concerned with the future availability of natural gas

Neural networks and principle component analysis approaches to predict pile capacity in sand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benali A

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Determination of pile bearing capacity from the in-situ tests has developed considerably due to the significant development of their technology. The project presented in this paper is a combination of two approaches, artificial neural networks and main component analyses that allow the development of a neural network model that provides a more accurate prediction of axial load bearing capacity based on the SPT test data. The retropropagation multi-layer perceptron with Bayesian regularization (RB was used in this model. This was established by the incorporation of about 260 data, obtained from the published literature, of experimental programs for large displacement driven piles. The PCA method is proposed for compression and suppression of the correlation between these data. This will improve the performance of generalization of the model.

Technology strategy for gas technologies; Technology Target Areas; TTA8 Gas Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2008-07-01

TTA8 - Gas technologies points out the various routes Norway can follow to capitalise on the vast resources of natural gas that will be produced in the years to come by developing a strong technology and competence platform. A broad view is taken for the value creation having as basis the continued gas export from NCS to Europe, but also a strong focus on development of gas resources in other parts of the world. The latter can also be seen as part of international positioning for upstream resources and does also include involvements in projects, and export of technology and products. The TTA has structured the analysis into 3 main areas: Gas transport and processing (pipeline, LNG, other); Gas conversion to fuels, chemicals and materials; CO{sub 2} management. In this report, for each of these areas, scenarios based on a gap analysis are presented. One of the key goals has been to identify pacing and emerging technologies for the next 20 years. Based on this, technologies have been mapped according to importance for future competitiveness and technology ambitions. This also includes primary funding responsibilities (public and/or industry). The road map below reflects the key issues in the proposed strategy. The base level of the figure explains areas that will have to be pursued to maintain Norway's role as a key gas and gas technology provider. The second layer represents near term options and possibilities with a reasonable risk profile that could further enhance the Norwegian position given the resources and drive to further develop this industry. As the top layer we have selected some of our 'dreams', what we may achieve if a progressive approach is followed with a strongly innovation based policy. It is acknowledged by the TTA that Norway cannot be a leading technology player in all aspects of the gas value chain. For some technologies we should be an active player and developer, whilst for other technologies we should become a competent buyer and user. This

Technology strategy for gas technologies; Technology Target Areas; TTA8 Gas Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2008-07-01

TTA8 - Gas technologies points out the various routes Norway can follow to capitalise on the vast resources of natural gas that will be produced in the years to come by developing a strong technology and competence platform. A broad view is taken for the value creation having as basis the continued gas export from NCS to Europe, but also a strong focus on development of gas resources in other parts of the world. The latter can also be seen as part of international positioning for upstream resources and does also include involvements in projects, and export of technology and products. The TTA has structured the analysis into 3 main areas: Gas transport and processing (pipeline, LNG, other); Gas conversion to fuels, chemicals and materials; CO{sub 2} management. In this report, for each of these areas, scenarios based on a gap analysis are presented. One of the key goals has been to identify pacing and emerging technologies for the next 20 years. Based on this, technologies have been mapped according to importance for future competitiveness and technology ambitions. This also includes primary funding responsibilities (public and/or industry). The road map below reflects the key issues in the proposed strategy. The base level of the figure explains areas that will have to be pursued to maintain Norway's role as a key gas and gas technology provider. The second layer represents near term options and possibilities with a reasonable risk profile that could further enhance the Norwegian position given the resources and drive to further develop this industry. As the top layer we have selected some of our 'dreams', what we may achieve if a progressive approach is followed with a strongly innovation based policy. It is acknowledged by the TTA that Norway cannot be a leading technology player in all aspects of the gas value chain. For some technologies we should be an active player and developer, whilst for other technologies we should become a competent buyer

Individual Differences in Zhong-Yong tendency and Processing Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ting-Yun eChang

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The present study investigated how an individual’s Zhong-Yong tendency is related to his/her perceptual processing capacity. In two experiments, participants completed a Zhong-Yong Thinking Style Scale and performed a redundant-target detection task. Processing capacity was assessed with a nonparametric approach (systems factorial technology, SFT and a parametric (linear ballistic accumulator model, LBA approach. Results converged to suggest a positive correlation between Zhong-Yong tendency and processing capacity. High middle-way thinkers had larger processing capacity in multiple-signal processing compared with low middle-way thinkers, indicating that they processed information more efficiently and in an integrated fashion. Zhong-Yong tendency positively correlates with the processing capacity. These findings suggest that the individual differences in processing capacity can account for the reasons why high middle-way thinkers tend to adopt a global and flexible processing strategy to deal with the external world. Furthermore, the influence of culturally dictated thinking style on cognition can be revealed in a perception task.

IN SITU GEOTHERMAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY: AN APPROACH FOR BUILDING CLEANER AND GREENER ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Faruque Hossain

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Geothermal energy is abundant everywhere in the world. It certainly would be a great benefit for human being once it is produced by a sophisticated technology. Consequently, it would be the biggest console for earth considering environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, the current status of commercial production of geothermal energy primarily from hydrothermal, geopressured, hot dry rock, and magma are limited to a few countries due to technological difficulties and production cost. This paper describes a simple technology where an in situ geothermal plant assisted by a heat pump would act as a high-temperature production (>150°C to provide excellent capacity of energy generation. The issue related to costs is interestingly cheaper on production, comparing to other technologies, such as solar, hydro, wind, and traditional geothermal technology as described in this article. Therefore, it is suggested that heat pump assisted in situ geothermal energy sources has a great potentiality to be a prime energy source in near future. Since the technology has a number of positive characteristics (simple, safe, and provides continuous baseload, load following, or peaking capacity and benign environmental attributes (zero emissions of CO2, SOx, and NOx, it certainly would be an interesting technology in both developed, and developing countries as an attractive option to produce clean energy to confirm a better environment.

Science and Technology at DHS: Resiliency of our Physical and Social Infrastructure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erickson, Mitchel

2012-04-11

Disasters affect us all. The challenge is to minimize the impact. Resilience has been defined as “Foster individual, community, and system robustness, adaptability, and capacity for rapid recovery.” The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) provides new technologies, materials, controls, models, and other tools that promote resilience. More important, science and technology can contribute to shaping our resiliency blueprint by instilling scientific rigor into the processes that will shape our future. This presentation will review resiliency approaches, emerging technologies, and capability gaps for resilient communities and institutions.

Developing Evaluation Capacity in Information and Communication ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

17 août 2009 ... The nuanced ways in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) interact with developing country societies necessitate thoughtful, systematic evaluation of their effects, grounded in the concepts of utility, outcome and ownership. This grant will allow Developing Evaluation Capacity in ICT4D ...

Reinventing oversight in the twenty-first century: the question of capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosso, Christopher; DeLeo, Rob A.; Kay, W. D.

2011-01-01

This article addresses a key question emerging from this project based at the University of Minnesota: the fundamental capacity of government to engage in “dynamic oversight” of emergent technologies. This conception of oversight requires additional or new types of capacity for government agencies that must arbitrate conflicts and endow any outcomes with necessary democratic legitimacy. Rethinking oversight thus also requires consideration of the fundamental design and organizational capacity of the regulatory regime in the democratic state.

Providing Fast Discovery in D2D Communication with Full Duplex Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gatnau, Marta; Berardinelli, Gilberto; Mahmood, Nurul Huda

2016-01-01

technology to provide D2D fast discovery. Such framework provides an algorithm to estimate the number of neighbor devices and to dynamically decide the transmission probability, for adapting to network changes and meeting the 10 milliseconds target. Finally, a signaling scheme is proposed to reduce......In Direct Device-to-Device (D2D), the device awareness procedure known as the discovery phase is required prior to the exchange of data. This work considers autonomous devices where the infrastructure is not involved in the discovery procedure. Commonly, the transmission of the discovery message...... the network interference. Results show that our framework performs better than a static approach, reducing the time it takes to complete the discovery phase. In addition, supporting full duplex allows to further reduce the discovery time compared to half duplex transmission mode....

Proceedings: Radiation Protection Technology Conference: Providence, RI, November 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

Health physics (HP) professionals within the nuclear industry are continually upgrading their respective programs with new methods and technologies. The move to shorter outages combined with a diminishing group of contract HP technicians and demanding emergent work makes such changes even more important. The EPRI Radiation Protection Technology Conference focused on a number of key health physics issues and developments

Analysis on the capacity degradation mechanism of a series lithium-ion power battery pack based on inconsistency of capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhen-Po; Liu Peng; Wang Li-Fang

2013-01-01

The lithium-ion battery has been widely used as an energy source. Charge rate, discharge rate, and operating temperature are very important factors for the capacity degradations of power batteries and battery packs. Firstly, in this paper we make use of an accelerated life test and a statistical analysis method to establish the capacity accelerated degradation model under three constant stress parameters according to the degradation data, which are charge rate, discharge rate, and operating temperature, and then we propose a capacity degradation model according to the current residual capacity of a Li-ion cell under dynamic stress parameters. Secondly, we analyze the charge and discharge process of a series power battery pack and interpret the correlation between the capacity degradations of the battery pack and its charge/discharge rate. According to this cycling condition, we establish a capacity degradation model of a series power battery pack under inconsistent capacity of cells, and analyze the degradation mechanism with capacity variance and operating temperature difference. The comparative analysis of test results shows that the inconsistent operating temperatures of cells in the series power battery pack are the main cause of its degradation; when the difference between inconsistent temperatures is narrowed by 5 °C, the cycle life can be improved by more than 50%. Therefore, it effectively improves the cycle life of the series battery pack to reasonably assemble the batteries according to their capacities and to narrow the differences in operating temperature among cells. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

World nuclear generating capacity 1993/94

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1994-01-01

This article is the annual summary of world nuclear generating capacity for 1994. A global summary is first provided, reviewing total installed capacity and growth in installed capacity over the next five years. A more detailed discussion of the nuclear efforts in 34 countries follows, with a tabular listing of nuclear projects in each of these countries. The listing includes reactor supplier, reactor type, size, current status, and date of commercial operation

Effective capacity of multiple antenna channels: Correlation and keyhole

KAUST Repository

Zhong, Caijun

2012-01-01

In this study, the authors derive the effective capacity limits for multiple antenna channels which quantify the maximum achievable rate with consideration of link-layer delay-bound violation probability. Both correlated multiple-input single-output and multiple-input multiple-output keyhole channels are studied. Based on the closed-form exact expressions for the effective capacity of both channels, the authors look into the asymptotic high and low signal-to-noise ratio regimes, and derive simple expressions to gain more insights. The impact of spatial correlation on effective capacity is also characterised with the aid of a majorisation theory result. It is revealed that antenna correlation reduces the effective capacity of the channels and a stringent quality-of-service requirement causes a severe reduction in the effective capacity but can be alleviated by increasing the number of antennas. © 2012 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Why Are We Talking About Capacity Markets?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frew, Bethany

2017-06-28

Revenue sufficiency or 'missing money' concerns in wholesale electricity markets are important because they could lead to resource (or capacity) adequacy shortfalls. Capacity markets or other capacity-based payments are among the proposed solutions to remedy these challenges. This presentation provides a high-level overview of the importance of and process for ensuring resource adequacy, and then discusses considerations for capacity markets under futures with high penetrations of variable resources such as wind and solar.

Multimedia Bootcamp: a health sciences library provides basic training to promote faculty technology integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsey, Ellen C

2006-04-25

Recent research has shown a backlash against the enthusiastic promotion of technological solutions as replacements for traditional educational content delivery. Many institutions, including the University of Virginia, have committed staff and resources to supporting state-of-the-art, showpiece educational technology projects. However, the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library has taken the approach of helping Health Sciences faculty be more comfortable using technology in incremental ways for instruction and research presentations. In July 2004, to raise awareness of self-service multimedia resources for instructional and professional development needs, the Library conducted a "Multimedia Bootcamp" for nine Health Sciences faculty and fellows. Case study. Program stewardship by a single Library faculty member contributed to the delivery of an integrated learning experience. The amount of time required to attend the sessions and complete homework was the maximum fellows had to devote to such pursuits. The benefit of introducing technology unfamiliar to most fellows allowed program instructors to start everyone at the same baseline while not appearing to pass judgment on the technology literacy skills of faculty. The combination of wrapping the program in the trappings of a fellowship and selecting fellows who could commit to a majority of scheduled sessions yielded strong commitment from participants as evidenced by high attendance and a 100% rate of assignment completion. Response rates to follow-up evaluation requests, as well as continued use of Media Studio resources and Library expertise for projects begun or conceived during Bootcamp, bode well for the long-term success of this program. An incremental approach to integrating technology with current practices in instruction and presentation provided a supportive yet energizing environment for Health Sciences faculty. Keys to this program were its faculty focus, traditional hands-on instruction, unrestricted

a Framework for Capacity Building in Mapping Coastal Resources Using Remote Sensing in the Philippines

Science.gov (United States)

Tamondong, A.; Cruz, C.; Ticman, T.; Peralta, R.; Go, G. A.; Vergara, M.; Estabillo, M. S.; Cadalzo, I. E.; Jalbuena, R.; Blanco, A.

2016-06-01

Remote sensing has been an effective technology in mapping natural resources by reducing the costs and field data gathering time and bringing in timely information. With the launch of several earth observation satellites, an increase in the availability of satellite imageries provides an immense selection of data for the users. The Philippines has recently embarked in a program which will enable the gathering of LiDAR data in the whole country. The capacity of the Philippines to take advantage of these advancements and opportunities is lacking. There is a need to transfer the knowledge of remote sensing technology to other institutions to better utilize the available data. Being an archipelagic country with approximately 36,000 kilometers of coastline, and most of its people depending on its coastal resources, remote sensing is an optimal choice in mapping such resources. A project involving fifteen (15) state universities and colleges and higher education institutions all over the country headed by the University of the Philippines Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry and funded by the Department of Science and Technology was formed to carry out the task of capacity building in mapping the country's coastal resources using LiDAR and other remotely sensed datasets. This paper discusses the accomplishments and the future activities of the project.

FHWA Research and Technology Evaluation: Public-Private Partnership Capacity Building Program

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-01

This report details the evaluation of the Federal Highway Administrations Office of Innovative Program Delivery Public-Private Partnership (P3) Capacity Building Program (P3 Program). The evaluators focused on the P3 Programs P3 Toolkit as an e...

Methodology for predicting ultimate pressure capacity of the ACR-1000 containment structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saudy, A.M.; Awad, A.; Elgohary, M.

2006-01-01

The Advanced CANDU Reactor or the ACR-1000 is developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to be the next step in the evolution of the CANDU product line. It is based on the proven CANDU technology and incorporates advanced design technologies. The ACR containment structure is an essential element of the overall defense in depth approach to reactor safety, and is a physical barrier against the release of radioactive material to the environment. Therefore, it is important to provide a robust design with an adequate margin of safety. One of the key design requirements of the ACR containment structure is to have an ultimate pressure capacity that is at least twice the design pressure Using standard design codes, the containment structure is expected to behave elastically at least up to 1.5 times the design pressure. Beyond this pressure level, the concrete containment structure with reinforcements and post-tension tendons behaves in a highly non-linear manner and exhibits a complex response when cracks initiate and propagate. To predict the structural non-linear responses, at least two critical features are involved. These are: the structural idealization by the geometry and material property models, and the adopted solution algorithm. Therefore, detailed idealization of the concrete structure is needed in order to accurately predict its ultimate pressure capacity. This paper summarizes the analysis methodology to be carried out to establish the ultimate pressure capacity of the ACR containment structure and to confirm that the structure meets the specified design requirements. (author)

Technology solutions to support supervisory activities and also to provide information access to the society

Science.gov (United States)

Paladini, D.; Mello, A. B.

2016-07-01

Inmetro's data about the conformity of certificated products, process and services are, usually, displayed at fragmented databases of difficult access for several reasons, for instance, the lack of computational solutions which allow this kind of access to its users. A discussion about some of the technological solutions to support supervisory activities by the appropriate regulatory bodies and also to provide information access to society in general is herein presented, along with a theoretical explanation of the pros and cons of such technologies to the conclusion that a mobile platform seems to be the best tool for the requirements of Inmetro.

Polyethylenimine-modified fungal biomass as a high-capacity biosorbent for Cr(VI) anions: sorption capacity and uptake mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Shubo; Ting, Yen Peng

2005-11-01

Heavy metal pollution in the aqueous environment is a problem of global concern. Biosorption has been considered as a promising technology for the removal of low levels of toxic metals from industrial effluents and natural waters. A modified fungal biomass of Penicillium chrysogenum with positive surface charges was prepared by grafting polyethylenimine (PEI) onto the biomass surface in a two-step reaction. The presence of PEI on the biomass surface was verified by FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Due to the high density of amine groups in the long chains of PEI molecules on the surface, the modified biomass was found to possess positive zeta potential at pH below 10.4 as well as high sorption capacity for anionic Cr(VI). Using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the maximum sorption capacity for Cr(VI) at a pH range of 4.3-5.5 was 5.37 mmol/g of biomass dry weight, the highest sorption capacity for Cr(VI) compared to other sorbents reported in the literature. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) provided evidence of chromium aggregates formed on the biomass surface. XPS results verified the presence of Cr(III) on the biomass surface in the pH range 2.5-10.5, suggesting that some Cr(VI) anions were reduced to Cr(III) during the sorption. The sorption kinetics indicated that redox reaction occurred on the biomass surface, and whether the converted Cr(III) ions were released to solution or adsorbed on the biomass depended on the solution pH. Sorption mechanisms including electrostatic interaction, chelation, and precipitation were found to be involved in the complex sorption of chromium on the PEI-modified biomass.

Technological change and social change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janshen, D.; Keck, O.; Webler, W.D.

1981-01-01

Political disputes about the risks and social consequences of modern technologies let many people ask whether society still has an independent capacity to act on the technological change or whether it is not rather the passive object of an obscure development. Modern technology is a challenge not only to the analytical capacity of social sciences. This volume describes the contributions of a conference which took place in April 1979. The first part deals with the social consequences of new technologies. Hereby new communication technologies are the main theme. The contributions of the second part deal with political, organizational, and methodical problems of the sociologic accessory research of technical and social innovations. The texts of the third part analyse experience so far made in the state support of research and technical development. (orig./HP) [de

On the Capacity of Underlay Cognitive Radio Systems

KAUST Repository

Sboui, Lokman

2013-05-05

Due to the scarcity of frequency spectrum in view of the evolution of wireless communication technologies, the cognitive radio (CR) concept has been introduced to efficiently exploit the available spectrum. This concept consists in introducing unlicensed/secondary users (SU’s) in existing networks to share the spectrum of licensed/primary users (PU’s) without harming primary communications hence the name of “spectrum sharing” technique. We study in this dissertation, the capacity and the achievable rate of the secondary user within various communication settings. We, firstly, investigate the capacity of the (SU’s) at low power regime for Nakagami fading channels and present closed form of the capacity under various types of interference and/or power constraints. We explicitly characterize two regimes where either the interference constraint or the power constraint dictates the optimal power profile. Our framework also highlights the effects of different fading parameters on the secondary link ergodic capacity. Interestingly, we show that the low power regime analysis provides a specific insight on the capacity behavior of CR that has not been reported by previous studies. Next, we determine the spectral efficiency gain of an uplink CR Multi-Input Multi- Output (MIMO) system in which the SU is allowed to share the spectrum with the PU using a specific precoding scheme to communicate with a common receiver. Applied to Rayleigh fading channels, we show, through numerical results, that our proposed scheme enhances considerably the cognitive achievable rate. For instance, in case of a perfect detection of the PU signal, after applying Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC), the CR rate remains non-zero for high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) which is usually impossible when we only use space alignment technique. In addition, we show that the rate gain is proportional to the allowed interference threshold by providing a fixed rate even in the high SNR range

Enabling MEMS technologies for communications systems

Science.gov (United States)

Lubecke, Victor M.; Barber, Bradley P.; Arney, Susanne

2001-11-01

Modern communications demands have been steadily growing not only in size, but sophistication. Phone calls over copper wires have evolved into high definition video conferencing over optical fibers, and wireless internet browsing. The technology used to meet these demands is under constant pressure to provide increased capacity, speed, and efficiency, all with reduced size and cost. Various MEMS technologies have shown great promise for meeting these challenges by extending the performance of conventional circuitry and introducing radical new systems approaches. A variety of strategic MEMS structures including various cost-effective free-space optics and high-Q RF components are described, along with related practical implementation issues. These components are rapidly becoming essential for enabling the development of progressive new communications systems technologies including all-optical networks, and low cost multi-system wireless terminals and basestations.

Carrying capacity: the tradition and policy implications of limits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia Deane Abernethy

2001-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Within just the last few centuries, science and technology have enlarged human capabilities and population size until humans now take, for their own use, nearly half of the Earth's net terrestrial primary production. An ethical perspective suggests that potentials to alter, or further increase, humanity's use of global resources should be scrutinized through the lenses of self-interested foresightedness and respect for non-human life. Without overtly invoking ethics, studies of the carrying capacity achieve just this objective. Carrying capacity is an ecological concept that expresses the relationship between a population and the natural environment on which it depends for ongoing sustenance. Carrying capacity assumes limits on the number of individuals that can be supported at a given level of consumption without degrading the environment and, therefore, reducing future carrying capacity. That is, carrying capacity addresses long-term sustainability. Worldviews differ in the importance accorded to the carrying capacity concept. This paper addresses three worldviews - ecological, romantic, and entrepreneurial - and explores the ethics and the policy implications of their contrasting perspectives.

Draft environmental impact statement siting, construction, and operation of New Production Reactor capacity. Volume 4, Appendices D-R

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1991-04-01

This Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assesses the potential environmental impacts, both on a broad programmatic level and on a project-specific level, concerning a proposed action to provide new tritium production capacity to meet the nation`s nuclear defense requirements well into the 21st century. A capacity equivalent to that of about a 3,000-megawatt (thermal) heavy-water reactor was assumed as a reference basis for analysis in this EIS; this is the approximate capacity of the existing production reactors at DOE`s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. The EIS programmatic alternatives address Departmental decisions to be made on whether to build new production facilities, whether to build one or more complexes, what size production capacity to provide, and when to provide this capacity. Project-specific impacts for siting, constructing, and operating new production reactor capacity are assessed for three alternative sites: the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington; the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho; and the Savannah River Site. For each site, the impacts of three reactor technologies (and supporting facilities) are assessed: a heavy-water reactor, a light-water reactor, and a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. Impacts of the no-action alternative also are assessed. The EIS evaluates impacts related to air quality; noise levels; surface water, groundwater, and wetlands; land use; recreation; visual environment; biotic resources; historical, archaeological, and cultural resources; socioeconomics; transportation; waste management; and human health and safety. The EIS describes in detail the potential radioactive releases from new production reactors and support facilities and assesses the potential doses to workers and the general public. This volume contains 15 appendices.

Idiosyncratic Uncertainty, Capacity Utilization and the Business Cycle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fragnart, Jean-Francois; Licandro, Omar; Portier, Franck

thus hides a diversity of microeconomic situations. The variablity of the capacity utilization allows for a good description of some of the main stylized facts of the busines cycle, propagates and magnifies aggregate technological shocks and generates endogenous persistence (i.e., the output growth...

Principles of sustainability science to assess alternative energy technologies

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Brent, AC

2009-04-01

Full Text Available , adaptive capacity, and complexity of social-ecological systems to assess the potential of such technologies for increasing the carrying capacity and improving the resilience of social-ecological systems, or to assess the resilience of the technological...

STUDY ON THE FACTORS INFLUENCING HYDRATION AND WATER RETENTION CAPACITY OF MEAT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DANIELA IANIłCHI

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Top-quality food produce and high profitability in processing requires high quality in raw materials. Therefore, to achieve these objectives, it is imperative to know the properties of the war materials, and the factors that influence these properties.The properties of the meat directly involved in increasing economic efficiency and final produce quality are the so-called technological properties: hydration capacity and water retention capacity of meat. These properties are determined by some factors belonging to the intrinsic quality of meat, animal slaughter methods, technological operations applied to the meat, and the auxiliary materials used.

Adoption and supply of a distributed energy technology

Science.gov (United States)

Strachan, Neil Douglas

2000-12-01

Technical and economic developments in distributed generation (DG) represent an opportunity for a radically different energy market paradigm, and potentially significant cuts in global carbon emissions. This thesis investigates DG along two interrelated themes: (1) Early adoption and supply of the DG technology of internal combustion (IC) engine cogeneration. (2) Private and social cost implications of DG for private investors and within an energy system. IC engine cogeneration of both power and heat has been a remarkable success in the Netherlands with over 5,000 installations and 1,500MWe of installed capacity by 1997. However, the technology has struggled in the UK with an installed capacity of 110Mwe, fulfilling only 10% of its large estimated potential. An investment simulation model of DG investments in the UK and Netherlands was used, together with analysis of site level data on all DG adoptions from 1985 through 1997. In the UK over 60% of the early installations were sized too small (sales to the grid. Larger units can be sized for on-site heat requirements with electricity export providing revenue and aiding in management of energy networks. A comparison of internal and external costs of three distributed and three centralized generation technologies over a range of heat to power ratios (HPR) was made. Micro-turbines were found to be the lowest cost technology, especially at higher heat loads. Engines are also very competitive providing their NOx and CO emissions are controlled. A cost optimization program was used to develop an optimal green-field supply mix for Florida and New York. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Proposal for a United Nations Basic Space Technology Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Balogh, Werner

Putting space technology and its applications to work for sustainable economic and social development is the primary objective of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, launched in 1971. A specific goal for achieving this objective is to establish a sustainable national space capacity. The traditional line of thinking has supported a logical progression from building capacity in basic space science, to using space applications and finally - possibly - to establishing indigenous space technology capabilities. The experience in some countries suggests that such a strict line of progression does not necessarily hold true and that priority given to the establishment of early indigenous space technology capabilities may contribute to promoting the operational use of space applications in support of sustainable economic and social development. Based on these findings and on the experiences with the United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) as well as on a series of United Nations/International Academy of Astronautics Workshops on Small Satellites in the Service of Developing Countries, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is considering the launch of a dedicated United Nations Basic Space Technology Initiative (UNBSTI). The initiative would aim to contribute to capacity building in basic space technology and could include, among other relevant fields, activities related to the space and ground segments of small satellites and their applications. It would also provide an international framework for enhancing cooperation between all interested actors, facilitate the exchange of information on best practices, and contribute to standardization efforts. It is expected that these activities would advance the operational use of space technology and its applications in an increasing number of space-using countries and emerging space nations. The paper reports on these initial considerations and on the potential value-adding role

High-Capacity Multi-Core Fibers for Space-Division Multiplexing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ye, Feihong

The transmission capacity of the present optical fiber communication systems based on time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) using single-mode fibers (SMFs) is reaching its limit of around 100 Tbit/s per fiber due to the fiber nonlinearities, fiber fuse...... phenomenon and the optical amplifier bandwidth. To meet the ever increasing global data traffic growth and to overcome the looming capacity crunch, a new multiplexing technology using new optical fibers is urgently needed. Space-division multiplexing (SDM) is a promising scheme to overcome the capacity limit...... of the present SMF-based systems. Among the proposed SDM schemes, the one based on uncoupled multi-core fibers (MCFs) having multiple cores in a mutual cladding has proven effective in substantially increasing the transmission capacity per fiber with least system complexity as demonstrated in several state...

Economic feasibility study to Raise the operational capacity of the Electron Beam Accelerator at the National Centre for Radiation Research and Technology, atomic Energy Authority, Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Kolaly, M.; Hammad, A.; El-Gameel, E.A.

2011-01-01

The study aims to investigate the economic feasibility to raise the operational capacity of the accelerator at the National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Atomic Energy Authority, Egypt, through proposal of additional processing of power cables as it have 4 thousand operating hours per year of total 6 thousand hours per year. The study involved three sections; the first section included the technical aspects and marketing, the second section was concerned with financial analysis, and the third section included the national return of the project. In the first part, the electronic and technical requirements of the accelerator were studied to raise the capacity of the accelerator and to identify the time trend of demand for services in marketing. The second section included the financial feasibility of the project which was carried out through two parts; the first part deal with the analysis of costs of the project including identifying of investment, spending, labor costs, operating expenses, the annual installment of the annual depreciation expense with the total annual costs and operating costs per hour and ton. The second part was carried out to evaluated business profitability of the project, preparation of the annual cash flow, calculation of the internal rate of return, payback period of capital, and the analysis of sensitivity of the project in terms of its ability to achieve profitable business in the event of increasing costs and decreasing revenue. The third section was carried out to raise the operational capacity of the accelerator at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority to generate added value for national income, and to study the social rate of return for the project and examine the project's ability to provide new employment opportunities. The study showed the possibility and the importance of the project implemented at the level of private investment and national security.

Applicability of new radio technologies for advanced UMTS networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Dekorsy

2004-01-01

Full Text Available An expanded effort is under the way to support the evolution of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. Apart from delivering high data rates, future UMTS releases will also require to provide high network performance in terms of system capacity, low radiated power, and high coverage. Well promising performance-enhancing technologies are smart antennas as well as multiuser detection. Although these new radio technologies have recently been subject to intense research, main UMTS network integration aspects with their specific constraints have been neglected in many cases. Especially the interaction with UMTS radio resource control being required to meet Quality of Service (QoS constraints has to be included to assess the applicability of these technologies for UMTS. In this paper, we study the interaction of beamforming concepts as well as multiuser detection with load and power control. We also work out UMTS specific constraints like signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR operating points, pilot power pollution or channel estimation, all strongly limiting network performance. Results are shown for capacity gains and power reduction for all beamforming concepts of interest as well as linear multiuser detection schemes. The results show that fix as well as user-specific beamforming significantly improves network performance gains in downlink. In uplink multiuser detection indicates fairly modest system capacity gains, while it reduces tremendously mobile station power.

Technology transfer to Africa: constraints for CDM operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karani, Patrick

2002-01-01

It is practically difficult to design, implement and manage Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Africa without a provision for capacity building that will enable the application of modern technologies and techniques. Existing institutions need strengthening, human capacity needs to be developed and new markets need to be promoted. The author outlines institutional and market constraints in relation to technology transfer (e.g renewable energy technologies) and development in Africa. (Author)

Using Mobile Phone Technologies to Maintain Quality of Education in Ethiopia: A View beyond the Prevalence of Academic Dishonesty

Science.gov (United States)

Bachore, Mebratu Mulatu

2015-01-01

The 21st century is characterized by the increasing access to sophisticated but affordable and portable technologies that are contributing much to the world. Specifically, in Ethiopia, mobile technologies are rapidly attracting new users, providing increasing capacity, and introducing more sophisticated uses to the citizens. However, it is…

Promoting evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrenz, Frances; Kollmann, Elizabeth Kunz; King, Jean A; Bequette, Marjorie; Pattison, Scott; Nelson, Amy Grack; Cohn, Sarah; Cardiel, Christopher L B; Iacovelli, Stephanie; Eliou, Gayra Ostgaard; Goss, Juli; Causey, Lauren; Sinkey, Anne; Beyer, Marta; Francisco, Melanie

2018-04-10

This study provides results from an NSF funded, four year, case study about evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). The results of the Complex Adaptive Systems as a Model for Network Evaluations (CASNET) project indicate that complex adaptive system concepts help to explain evaluation capacity building in a network. The NISE Network was found to be a complex learning system that was supportive of evaluation capacity building through feedback loops that provided for information sharing and interaction. Participants in the system had different levels of and sources of evaluation knowledge. To be successful at building capacity, the system needed to have a balance between both centralized and decentralized control, coherence, redundancy, and diversity. Embeddedness of individuals within the system also provided support and moved the capacity of the system forward. Finally, success depended on attention being paid to the control of resources. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate change in the Northern Region of Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Majeed Abdul-Razak

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Climate change is expected to adversely affect agricultural production, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the agricultural sector forms the backbone of most countries’ economies. This thus holds true for the agriculture sector of the Northern Region of Ghana which is largely rain-fed and dominated by smallholder farmers with minimal livelihood alternatives. The main research question of this paper is how the adaptive capacity to climate change of smallholder farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana can be characterised? The paper proposes an indicator-based framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana along six main determinants of adaptive capacity: economic resources, social capital, awareness and training, technology, infrastructure and institutions. Based on a thorough literature review and qualitative interviews with experts for rural livelihoods and agriculture in the study region, the determinants were ranked and three to five indicators per determinant were selected. The results of the expert interviews show that economic resources, awareness and training as well as technological capacities seem most relevant for smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity while infrastructure, social capital, and institutions were ranked least important. The study operationalized the indicators in a standardized survey questionnaire and tested it in two agrarian communities in the Northern Region of Ghana. The survey results show the aggregate adaptive capacity of respondents is low. However, disparities in adaptive capacity were recorded among respondents in terms of gender and education. Differentiating between the determinants women farmer show significantly lower capacities in fields of economic resources, technology and knowledge and awareness. This paper recommends resilience building interventions in the study area that target individuals with low adaptive capacities, especially women

Development of Innovative Technology to Provide Low-Cost Surface Atmospheric Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kucera, Paul; Steinson, Martin

2016-04-01

Accurate and reliable real-time monitoring and dissemination of observations of surface weather conditions is critical for a variety of societal applications. Applications that provide local and regional information about temperature, precipitation, moisture, and winds, for example, are important for agriculture, water resource monitoring, health, and monitoring of hazard weather conditions. In many regions in Africa (and other global locations), surface weather stations are sparsely located and/or of poor quality. Existing stations have often been sited incorrectly, not well-maintained, and have limited communications established at the site for real-time monitoring. The US National Weather Service (NWS) International Activities Office (IAO) in partnership with University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) has started an initiative to develop and deploy low-cost weather instrumentation in sparsely observed regions of the world. The goal is to provide observations for environmental monitoring, and early warning alert systems that can be deployed at weather services in developing countries. Instrumentation is being designed using innovative new technologies such as 3D printers, Raspberry Pi computing systems, and wireless communications. The initial effort is focused on designing a surface network using GIS-based tools, deploying an initial network in Zambia, and providing training to Zambia Meteorological Department (ZMD) staff. The presentation will provide an overview of the project concepts, design of the low cost instrumentation, and initial experiences deploying a surface network deployment in Zambia.

Building African Capacity in Science, Technology and Innovation ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

In 2003, IDRC supported the African Forum on Science and Technology for Development (AFSTD), established by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) under project 102135. This support led to the adoption of Africa's S&T Consolidated Plan of Action, accepted as a blueprint for S&T by the African Union ...

The Conceptualization of Value in the Value Proposition of New Health Technologies Comment on "Providing Value to New Health Technology: The Early Contribution of Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Regulatory Agencies".

Science.gov (United States)

Buttigieg, Sandra C; Hoof, Joost van

2017-07-03

Lehoux et al provide a highly valid contribution in conceptualizing value in value propositions for new health technologies and developing an analytic framework that illustrates the interplay between health innovation supply-side logic (the logic of emergence) and demand-side logic (embedding in the healthcare system). This commentary brings forth several considerations on this article. First, a detailed stakeholder analysis provides the necessary premonition of potential hurdles in the development, implementation and dissemination of a new technology. This can be achieved by categorizing potential stakeholder groups on the basis of the potential impact of future technology. Secondly, the conceptualization of value in value propositions of new technologies should not only embrace business/economic and clinical values but also ethical, professional and cultural values, as well as factoring in the notion of usability and acceptance of new technology. As a final note, the commentary emphasises the point that technology should facilitate delivery of care without negatively affecting doctor-patient communications, physical examination skills, and development of clinical knowledge. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Technology Roadmaps: Solar photovoltaic energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Solar PV power is a commercially available and reliable technology with a significant potential for long-term growth in nearly all world regions. This roadmap estimates that by 2050, PV will provide around 11% of global electricity production and avoid 2.3 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 emissions per year. Achieving this roadmap's vision will require an effective, long-term and balanced policy effort in the next decade to allow for optimal technology progress, cost reduction and ramp-up of industrial manufacturing for mass deployment. Governments will need to provide long-term targets and supporting policies to build confidence for investments in manufacturing capacity and deployment of PV systems. PV will achieve grid parity -- i.e. competitiveness with electricity grid retail prices -- by 2020 in many regions. As grid parity is achieved, the policy framework should evolve towards fostering self-sustained markets, with the progressive phase-out of economic incentives, but maintaining grid access guarantees and sustained R&D support.

Technology Roadmaps: Solar photovoltaic energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Solar PV power is a commercially available and reliable technology with a significant potential for long-term growth in nearly all world regions. This roadmap estimates that by 2050, PV will provide around 11% of global electricity production and avoid 2.3 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 emissions per year. Achieving this roadmap's vision will require an effective, long-term and balanced policy effort in the next decade to allow for optimal technology progress, cost reduction and ramp-up of industrial manufacturing for mass deployment. Governments will need to provide long-term targets and supporting policies to build confidence for investments in manufacturing capacity and deployment of PV systems. PV will achieve grid parity -- i.e. competitiveness with electricity grid retail prices -- by 2020 in many regions. As grid parity is achieved, the policy framework should evolve towards fostering self-sustained markets, with the progressive phase-out of economic incentives, but maintaining grid access guarantees and sustained R&D support.

ITS professional capacity building: setting strategic direction 2010-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-18

This document describes the strategy that the ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program is pursuing to create a 21st century learning environment and build an ITS professional that leads the world in the innovative use of ITS technologies. The...

Communication networks beyond the capacity crunch.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, A D; Mac Suibhne, N; Saad, D; Payne, D N

2016-03-06

This issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Part A represents a summary of the recent discussion meeting 'Communication networks beyond the capacity crunch'. The purpose of the meeting was to establish the nature of the capacity crunch, estimate the time scales associated with it and to begin to find solutions to enable continued growth in a post-crunch era. The meeting confirmed that, in addition to a capacity shortage within a single optical fibre, many other 'crunches' are foreseen in the field of communications, both societal and technical. Technical crunches identified included the nonlinear Shannon limit, wireless spectrum, distribution of 5G signals (front haul and back haul), while societal influences included net neutrality, creative content generation and distribution and latency, and finally energy and cost. The meeting concluded with the observation that these many crunches are genuine and may influence our future use of technology, but encouragingly noted that research and business practice are already moving to alleviate many of the negative consequences. © 2016 The Authors.

A portal of educational resources: providing evidence for matching pedagogy with technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoletta Blas

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The TPACK (Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge model presents the three types of knowledge that are necessary to implement a successful technology-based educational activity. It highlights how the intersections between TPK (Technological Pedagogical Knowledge, PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge and TCK (Technological Content Knowledge are not a sheer sum up of their components but new types of knowledge. This paper focuses on TPK, the intersection between technology knowledge and pedagogy knowledge – a crucial field of investigation. Actually, technology in education is not just an add-on but is literally reshaping teaching/learning paradigms. Technology modifies pedagogy and pedagogy dictates requirements to technology. In order to pursue this research, an empirical approach was taken, building a repository (back-end and a portal (front-end of about 300 real-life educational experiences run at school. Educational portals are not new, but they generally emphasise content. Instead, in our portal, technology and pedagogy take centre stage. Experiences are classified according to more than 30 categories (‘facets’ and more than 200 facet values, all revolving around the pedagogical implementation and the technology used. The portal (an innovative piece of technology supports sophisticated ‘exploratory’ sessions of use, targeted at researchers (investigating the TPK intersection, teachers (looking for inspiration in their daily jobs and decision makers (making decisions about the introduction of technology into schools.

What's that, you say? Employee expectations of privacy when using employer-provided technology--and how employers can defeat them.

Science.gov (United States)

Herrin, Barry S

2012-01-01

Two 2010 court cases that determined the effectiveness of policies governing employees' use of employer-provided communication devices can be used to guide employers when constructing their own technology policies. In light of a policy that stated that "users should have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality," one case established that the employer was in the right. However, a separate case favored the employee due, in part, to an "unclear and ambiguous" policy. Ultimately, employers can restrict the use of employer-furnished technology by employees by: 1) clearly outlining that employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their use of company devices; 2) stating that any use of personal e-mail accounts using employer-provided technology will be subject to the policy; 3) detailing all technology used to monitor employees; 4) identifying company devices covered; 5) not exposing the content of employee communications; and 6) having employees sign and acknowledge the policy.

Scenarios of Expansion to Electric Generation Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Somoza-Cabrera

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We show the building scenarios of expansion to electric generation capacity enough to supply the demand to 2050. We were using the LEAP facility (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System, to simulate dispatch of electricity at minimum cost. Finally, we show the cost-benefice analysis of the technologies availability, included externality and CO2 emission limited. However that we included the externals cost in this analysis, it results insufficient to closed gap between fossil and renewable technologies of electric generation. Nevertheless, in some opportunities the renewable options had very important participations in the minimal cost scenario of expansion.

Water Constraints in an Electric Sector Capacity Expansion Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Macknick, Jordan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Cohen, Stuart [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Newmark, Robin [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Martinez, Andrew [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sullivan, Patrick [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Tidwell, Vince [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-07-17

This analysis provides a description of the first U.S. national electricity capacity expansion model to incorporate water resource availability and costs as a constraint for the future development of the electricity sector. The Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model was modified to incorporate water resource availability constraints and costs in each of its 134 Balancing Area (BA) regions along with differences in costs and efficiencies of cooling systems. Water resource availability and cost data are from recently completed research at Sandia National Laboratories (Tidwell et al. 2013b). Scenarios analyzed include a business-as-usual 3 This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. scenario without water constraints as well as four scenarios that include water constraints and allow for different cooling systems and types of water resources to be utilized. This analysis provides insight into where water resource constraints could affect the choice, configuration, or location of new electricity technologies.

Managing the Newsvendor Modeled Product System with Random Capacity and Capacity-Dependent Price

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qingying Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We consider a newsvendor modeled product system, where the firm provides products to the market. The supply capacity of the product is random, so the firm receives either the amount of order quantity or the realized capacity, whichever is smaller. The market price is capacity dependent. We consider two types of production cost structures: the procurement case and the in-house production case. The firm pays for the received quantity in the former case and for the ordered quantity in the latter case. We obtain the optimal order quantities for both cases. Comparing with the traditional newsvendor model, we find that the optimal order quantity in both the procurement case and the in-house production case are no greater than that in the traditional newsvendor model with a fixed selling price. We also find that the optimal order quantity for the procurement case is greater than that for the in-house production case. Numerical study is conducted to investigate the sensitivity of the optimal solution versus the distribution of the random capacity/demand.

The Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC): Providing Analysis and Insights on Clean Technology Manufacturing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Nicholi S [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-28

The U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC) provides objective analysis and up-to-date data on global supply chains and manufacturing of clean energy technologies. Policymakers and industry leaders seek CEMAC insights to inform choices to promote economic growth and the transition to a clean energy economy.

Anomalous heat capacity of nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Likhachev, V.N.; Vinogradov, G.A.; Alymov, M.I.

2006-01-01

The heat capacity of nanosized particles exceeds (from few to tenth percents) the same values of the corresponding bulk materials, and this difference increases with the diminishing of the sizes. In the present Letter we give an explanation of this phenomenon on an example of a nanocrystal with simple cubic lattice and an arbitrary shape. The simplest harmonic interaction potential of the nearest neighbors is used. A qualitative agreement with experimental data is obtained. The decisive role is attributed to the choice of boundary conditions: free boundaries provide the 'softening' of vibrational spectrum thus giving larger contribution to the heat capacity. The increase in heat capacity depends on the particle size, shape and sample perfection

An Investigation of the Effect of Cyberloafing Behaviors on Organizational Learning Capacity

OpenAIRE

Belma Keklik; Recep Kılıç; Harun Yıldız; Bora Yıldız

2015-01-01

With the improvement of technology, use of information technologies has become widespread in organizations. Information technologies have been used as a matter of course and sometimes could be used out of purpose as surfing on internet and following social media. Use of information and communication technologies out of purpose in offices has been named as cyberloafing. The aim of the research is to measure the effect of cyberloafing on organizational learning capacity of employees. At the end...

Assessment of capacity building needs among motor vehicle ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The motor vehicle mechanics trainers' are affected by the developments in the modern automobile technology (MAT) that brought about the use of auto scan tools for diagnosis and repair of modern vehicles in Nigeria. This study examined the capacity building needs among motor vehicle mechanics trainers in the use of ...

Capacity gain with an alternative LTE railway communication network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2014-01-01

, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE). T his paper describe s how to adapt the reversible multi - chain/channel queuing system to model an LTE cell serving ETCS - equipped trains . It is proposed to use the multiple user chains available in the model to represent varying bitrate in LTE radio access network....... Usin g this model , LTE and GSM - R are compare d in terms of capacity on an example at Copenhagen Main Train Station . The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the benefits that railway operators and infrastructure managers can expect from the introduc tion of LTE , as a telecommunication technology...... Control System (ETCS) signaling , the capacity of GSM - R turns out to be insufficient . GSM - R cannot ful fill the railway requirements , in terms of the number of simultaneous ETCS connections . This is why , alternative , more efficient communication technologies should be considered by railways...

Capacity building for the space sector: Microsatellite as a way forward. The example of the university of sains Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Faizal Allaudin, Mohd; Peter, Nicolas; Azlin Md Said, Md; Nor, Khalid

2005-07-01

Due to the large capital investment and high risk generally associated with space activities only a limited number of countries have been able to benefit from the use of space technology. Space technology is often seen as an important tool to allow the transition from a developing country to a developed country. As Malaysia's vision is to be a developed country by 2020, it need to enhance the capability and capacity of its space technology at an accelerated pace. At this stage, Malaysia can be considered as new in space activities, since the first satellite successfully launched into orbit was only in 1997. This paper describes a microsatellite project undertaken in a university environment in Malaysia by the School of Aerospace Engineering from the University of Sains Malaysia (USM) where the students will be participating in the development and operations. Such involvement aim at forming an integral part of the students education extending the traditional way of teaching with practical classes thus providing hands-on experience and offering skills and experience needed by the future Malaysian space workforce, and to expand Malaysian space capacity building.

A Portal of Educational Resources: Providing Evidence for Matching Pedagogy with Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Di Blas, Nicoletta; Fiore, Alessandro; Mainetti, Luca; Vergallo, Roberto; Paolini, Paolo

2014-01-01

The TPACK (Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge) model presents the three types of knowledge that are necessary to implement a successful technology-based educational activity. It highlights how the intersections between TPK (Technological Pedagogical Knowledge), PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and TCK (Technological Content Knowledge)…

Large capacity temporary visual memory

Science.gov (United States)

Endress, Ansgar D.; Potter, Mary C.

2014-01-01

Visual working memory (WM) capacity is thought to be limited to three or four items. However, many cognitive activities seem to require larger temporary memory stores. Here, we provide evidence for a temporary memory store with much larger capacity than past WM capacity estimates. Further, based on previous WM research, we show that a single factor — proactive interference — is sufficient to bring capacity estimates down to the range of previous WM capacity estimates. Participants saw a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of 5 to 21 pictures of familiar objects or words presented at rates of 4/s or 8/s, respectively, and thus too fast for strategies such as rehearsal. Recognition memory was tested with a single probe item. When new items were used on all trials, no fixed memory capacities were observed, with estimates of up to 9.1 retained pictures for 21-item lists, and up to 30.0 retained pictures for 100-item lists, and no clear upper bound to how many items could be retained. Further, memory items were not stored in a temporally stable form of memory, but decayed almost completely after a few minutes. In contrast, when, as in most WM experiments, a small set of items was reused across all trials, thus creating proactive interference among items, capacity remained in the range reported in previous WM experiments. These results show that humans have a large-capacity temporary memory store in the absence of proactive interference, and raise the question of whether temporary memory in everyday cognitive processing is severely limited as in WM experiments, or has the much larger capacity found in the present experiments. PMID:23937181

Adoption and Usage of mHealth Technology on Quality and Experience of Care Provided by Frontline Workers: Observations From Rural India.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaphle, Sangya; Chaturvedi, Sharad; Chaudhuri, Indrajit; Krishnan, Ram; Lesh, Neal

2015-05-28

mHealth apps are deployed with the aim of improving access, quality, and experience of health care. It is possible that any mHealth intervention can yield differential impacts for different types of users. Mediating and determining factors, including personal and socioeconomic factors, affect technology adoption, the way health workers leverage and use the technology, and subsequently the quality and experience of care they provide. To develop a framework to assess whether mHealth platforms affect the quality and experience of care provided by frontline workers, and whether these effects on quality and experience are different depending on the level of technology adoption and individual characteristics of the health worker. Literacy, education, age, and previous mobile experience are identified as individual factors that affect technology adoption and use, as well as factors that affect the quality and experience of care directly and via the technology. Formative research was conducted with 15 community health workers (CHWs) using CommCare, an mHealth app for maternal and newborn care, in Bihar, India. CHWs were first classified on the level of CommCare adoption using data from CommCareHQ and were then shadowed on home visits to evaluate their levels of technology proficiency, and the quality and experience of care provided. Regression techniques were employed to test the relationships. Out of all the CHWs, 2 of them refused to participate in the home visits, however, we did have information on their levels of technology adoption and background characteristics, which were included in the analysis as relevant. Level of technology adoption was important for both quality and experience of care. The quality score for high users of CommCare was higher by 33.4% (P=.04), on average, compared to low users of CommCare. Those who scored higher on CommCare proficiency also provided significantly higher quality and experience of care, where an additional point in Comm

NASA Information Technology Implementation Plan

Science.gov (United States)

2000-01-01

NASA's Information Technology (IT) resources and IT support continue to be a growing and integral part of all NASA missions. Furthermore, the growing IT support requirements are becoming more complex and diverse. The following are a few examples of the growing complexity and diversity of NASA's IT environment. NASA is conducting basic IT research in the Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) and Intelligent Systems (IS) Initiatives. IT security, infrastructure protection, and privacy of data are requiring more and more management attention and an increasing share of the NASA IT budget. Outsourcing of IT support is becoming a key element of NASA's IT strategy as exemplified by Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA (ODIN) and the outsourcing of NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) support. Finally, technology refresh is helping to provide improved support at lower cost. Recently the NASA Automated Data Processing (ADP) Consolidation Center (NACC) upgraded its bipolar technology computer systems with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology systems. This NACC upgrade substantially reduced the hardware maintenance and software licensing costs, significantly increased system speed and capacity, and reduced customer processing costs by 11 percent.

Bargaining and idle public sector capacity in health care

OpenAIRE

Barros, Pedro Pita

2005-01-01

A feature present in countries with a National Health Service is the co−existence of a públic and a private sector. Often, the public payer contracts with private providers while holding idle capacity. This is often seen as inefficiency from the management of public facilities. We present here a different rationale for the existence of such idle capacity: the public sector may opt to have idle capacity as a way to gain bargaining power vis−à−vis the private provider, under the assumption of a...

Bargaining and idle public sector capacity in health care

OpenAIRE

Xavier Martinez-Giralt; Barros Pedro Pita

2005-01-01

A feature present in countries with a National Health Service is the co-existence of a public and a private sector. Often, the public payer contracts with private providers while holding idle capacity. This is often seen as inefficiency from the management of public facilities. We present here a different rationale for the existence of such idle capacity: the public sector may opt to have idle capacity as a way to gain bargaining power vis-Ã -vis the private provider, under the assumption of ...

WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY TEST REVEALS SUBJECTS DIFFICULTIES MANAGING LIMITED CAPACITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R V Ershova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Free recall consists of two separate stages: the emptying of working memory and reactivation [5]. The Tarnow Unchunkable Test (TUT, [7] uses double integer items to separate out only the first stage by making it difficult to reactivate items due to the lack of intra-item relationships.193 Russian college students were tested via the internet version of the TUT. The average number of items remembered in the 3 item test was 2.54 items. In the 4 item test, the average number of items decreased to 2.38. This, and a number of other qualitative distribution differences between the 3 and 4 item tests, indicate that the average capacity limit of working memory has been reached at 3 items. This provides the first direct measurement of the unchunkable capacity limit of number items.Difficulties in managing working memory occurred as most subjects remembered less as the number of items increased beyond capacity and failed to remember a single item in at least one out of three 4 item trials. The Pearson correlation between the total recall of 3 and 4 items was a small 38%.

Peak capacity, peak-capacity production rate, and boiling point resolution for temperature-programmed GC with very high programming rates

Science.gov (United States)

Grall; Leonard; Sacks

2000-02-01

Recent advances in column heating technology have made possible very fast linear temperature programming for high-speed gas chromatography. A fused-silica capillary column is contained in a tubular metal jacket, which is resistively heated by a precision power supply. With very rapid column heating, the rate of peak-capacity production is significantly enhanced, but the total peak capacity and the boiling-point resolution (minimum boiling-point difference required for the separation of two nonpolar compounds on a nonpolar column) are reduced relative to more conventional heating rates used with convection-oven instruments. As temperature-programming rates increase, elution temperatures also increase with the result that retention may become insignificant prior to elution. This results in inefficient utilization of the down-stream end of the column and causes a loss in the rate of peak-capacity production. The rate of peak-capacity production is increased by the use of shorter columns and higher carrier gas velocities. With high programming rates (100-600 degrees C/min), column lengths of 6-12 m and average linear carrier gas velocities in the 100-150 cm/s range are satisfactory. In this study, the rate of peak-capacity production, the total peak capacity, and the boiling point resolution are determined for C10-C28 n-alkanes using 6-18 m long columns, 50-200 cm/s average carrier gas velocities, and 60-600 degrees C/min programming rates. It was found that with a 6-meter-long, 0.25-mm i.d. column programmed at a rate of 600 degrees C/min, a maximum peak-capacity production rate of 6.1 peaks/s was obtained. A total peak capacity of about 75 peaks was produced in a 37-s long separation spanning a boiling-point range from n-C10 (174 degrees C) to n-C28 (432 degrees C).

Evaluation of Tourism Water Capacity in Agricultural Heritage Sites

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Mi Tian

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Agricultural heritage sites have been gaining popularity as tourism destinations. The arrival of large numbers of tourists, however, has created serious challenges to these vulnerable ecosystems. In particular, water resources are facing tremendous pressure. Thus, an assessment of tourism water footprint is suggested before promoting sustainable tourism. This paper uses the bottom-up approach to construct a framework on the tourism water footprint of agricultural heritage sites. The tourism water footprint consists of four components, namely accommodation water footprint, diet water footprint, transportation water footprint and sewage dilution water footprint. Yuanyang County, a representative of the Honghe Hani rice terraces, was selected as the study area. Field surveys including questionnaires, interviews and participant observation approaches were undertaken to study the tourism water footprint and water capacity of the heritage site. Based on the results, measures to improve the tourism water capacity have been put forward, which should provide references for making policies that aim to maintain a sustainable water system and promote tourism development without hampering the sustainability of the heritage system. The sewage dilution water footprint and the diet water footprint were top contributors to the tourism water footprint of the subject area, taking up 38.33% and 36.15% of the tourism water footprint, respectively, followed by the transportation water footprint (21.47%. The accommodation water footprint had the smallest proportion (4.05%. The tourism water capacity of the heritage site was 14,500 tourists per day. The water pressure index was 97%, indicating that the water footprint was still within the water capacity, but there is a danger that the water footprint may soon exceed the water capacity. As a consequence, we suggest that macro and micro approaches, including appropriate technologies, awareness enhancement and diversified

A test and re-estimation of Taylor's empirical capacity-reserve relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Long, K.R.

2009-01-01

In 1977, Taylor proposed a constant elasticity model relating capacity choice in mines to reserves. A test of this model using a very large (n = 1,195) dataset confirms its validity but obtains significantly different estimated values for the model coefficients. Capacity is somewhat inelastic with respect to reserves, with an elasticity of 0.65 estimated for open-pit plus block-cave underground mines and 0.56 for all other underground mines. These new estimates should be useful for capacity determinations as scoping studies and as a starting point for feasibility studies. The results are robust over a wide range of deposit types, deposit sizes, and time, consistent with physical constraints on mine capacity that are largely independent of technology. ?? 2009 International Association for Mathematical Geology.

Assessing the criminal capacity of children: a challenge to the capacity of mental health professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pillay, Anthony L; Willows, Clive

2015-01-01

With increasing numbers of juveniles accused of serious crimes international concern is growing around the procedural consequences for affected individuals within the context of the law and criminal justice. Issues of culpability in children and adolescents are often raised, with much deliberation and insufficient agreement among legal and child development experts. Exactly when and to what extent juveniles can be held responsible for their action is a matter requiring careful consideration to avoid substantial erring in either direction. Although some international guiding standards and principles have been established, these are rather broad and unable to provide specific prescriptions. In addition, the assessment of criminal capacity in juveniles is a complex task, and one that is not wholly without reliability and validity problems. As in the case of South Africa and a few other countries, mental health specialists are often tasked with conducting developmental assessments to provide courts with expert evidence regarding criminal capacity. This paper examines the concept of criminal capacity in the context of the theory, controversies and challenges that affect this area of psychological focus.

New Technologies and Innovation Capacity - Boosting Economic Transition Processes in the Less Favoured Regions

OpenAIRE

Kati-Jasmin Kosonen

2003-01-01

In the era of knowledge society many regions and local communities/ towns are trying to compete with larger, growing cities over the knowledge and intellectual capital resources. Regional or local knowledge environment has become more important. Building innovation capacity and the institutional capacity as one part of it could be a development tool to some lagging behind-regions, (which are called as less-favoured regions) and quite often do not have universities of their own or successful i...

Assessment of the Sustainable Development Capacity with the Entropy Weight Coefficient Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qingsong Wang

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development is widely accepted in the world. How to reflect the sustainable development capacity of a region is an important issue for enacting policies and plans. An index system for capacity assessment is established by employing the Entropy Weight Coefficient method. The results indicate that the sustainable development capacity of Shandong Province is improving in terms of its economy subsystem, resource subsystem, and society subsystem whilst degrading in its environment subsystem. Shandong Province has shown the general trend towards sustainable development. However, the sustainable development capacity can be constrained by the resources such as energy, land, water, as well as environmental protection. These issues are induced by the economy development model, the security of energy supply, the level of new energy development, the end-of-pipe control of pollution, and the level of science and technology commercialization. Efforts are required to accelerate the development of the tertiary industry, the commercialization of high technology, the development of new energy and renewable energy, and the structure optimization of energy mix. Long-term measures need to be established for the ecosystem and environment protection.

Investment Timing and Capacity Choice under Uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiumei Lv

2014-01-01

leader under greater uncertainty. Furthermore, both firms will provide more outputs in the face of increasing uncertainty and the growth rate of the follower’s capacity will exceed that of the leader’s. In addition, this paper finds that the follower will end up with a larger capacity than the leader.

The Conceptualization of Value in the Value Proposition of New Health Technologies; Comment on “Providing Value to New Health Technology: The Early Contribution of Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Regulatory Agencies”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra C. Buttigieg

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Lehoux et al provide a highly valid contribution in conceptualizing value in value propositions for new health technologies and developing an analytic framework that illustrates the interplay between health innovation supply-side logic (the logic of emergence and demand-side logic (embedding in the healthcare system. This commentary brings forth several considerations on this article. First, a detailed stakeholder analysis provides the necessary premonition of potential hurdles in the development, implementation and dissemination of a new technology. This can be achieved by categorizing potential stakeholder groups on the basis of the potential impact of future technology. Secondly, the conceptualization of value in value propositions of new technologies should not only embrace business/economic and clinical values but also ethical, professional and cultural values, as well as factoring in the notion of usability and acceptance of new technology. As a final note, the commentary emphasises the point that technology should facilitate delivery of care without negatively affecting doctorpatient communications, physical examination skills, and development of clinical knowledge.

Optimization of time and location dependent spent nuclear fuel storage capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macek, V.

1977-01-01

A linear spent fuel storage model is developed to identify cost-effective spent nuclear fuel storage strategies. The purpose of this model is to provide guidelines for the implementation of the optimal time-dependent spent fuel storage capacity expansion in view of the current economic and regulatory environment which has resulted in phase-out of the closed nuclear fuel cycle. Management alternatives of the spent fuel storage backlog, which is created by mismatch between spent fuel generation rate and spent fuel disposition capability, are represented by aggregate decision variables which describe the time dependent on-reactor-site and off-site spent fuel storage capacity additions, and the amount of spent fuel transferred to off-site storage facilities. Principal constraints of the model assure determination of cost optimal spent fuel storage expansion strategies, while spent fuel storage requirements are met at all times. A detailed physical and economic analysis of the essential components of the spent fuel storage problem, which precedes the model development, assures its realism. The effects of technological limitations on the on-site spent fuel storage expansion and timing of reinitiation of the spent fuel reprocessing on optimal spent fuel storage capacity expansion are investigated. The principal results of the study indicate that (a) expansion of storage capacity beyond that of currently planned facilities is necessary, and (b) economics of the post-reactor fuel cycle is extremely sensitive to the timing of reinitiation of spent fuel reprocessing. Postponement of reprocessing beyond mid-1982 may result in net negative economic liability of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

BigData as a Driver for Capacity Building in Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Shastri, Prajval

2015-08-01

Exciting public interest in astrophysics acquires new significance in the era of Big Data. Since Big Data involves advanced technologies of both software and hardware, astrophysics with Big Data has the potential to inspire young minds with diverse inclinations - i.e., not just those attracted to physics but also those pursuing engineering careers. Digital technologies have become steadily cheaper, which can enable expansion of the Big Data user pool considerably, especially to communities that may not yet be in the astrophysics mainstream, but have high potential because of access to thesetechnologies. For success, however, capacity building at the early stages becomes key. The development of on-line pedagogical resources in astrophysics, astrostatistics, data-mining and data visualisation that are designed around the big facilities of the future can be an important effort that drives such capacity building, especially if facilitated by the IAU.

A survey on LPWA technology: LoRa and NB-IoT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rashmi Sharan Sinha

2017-03-01

Full Text Available By 2020, more than twenty five billion devices would be connected through wireless communications. In accordance with the rapid growth of the internet of things (IoT market, low power wide area (LPWA technologies have become popular. In various LPWA technologies, narrowband (NB-IoT and long range (LoRa are two leading technologies. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on NB-IoT and LoRa as efficient solutions connecting the devices. It is shown that unlicensed LoRa has advantages in terms of battery lifetime, capacity, and cost. Meanwhile, licensed NB-IoT offers benefits in terms of QoS, latency, reliability, and range.

2014 Wind Technologies Market Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiser, R; Bolinger, M.

2015-08-01

According to the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report, total installed wind power capacity in the United States grew at a rate of eight percent in 2014, bringing the United States total installed capacity to nearly 66 gigawatts (GW), which ranks second in the world and meets 4.9 percent of U.S. end-use electricity demand in an average year. In total, 4,854 MW of new wind energy capacity were installed in the United States in 2014. The 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report also finds that wind energy prices are at an all-time low and are competitive with wholesale power prices and traditional power sources across many areas of the United States. Additionally, a new trend identified by the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report shows utility-scale turbines with larger rotors designed for lower wind speeds have been increasingly deployed across the country in 2014. The findings also suggest that the success of the U.S. wind industry has had a ripple effect on the American economy, supporting 73,000 jobs related to development, siting, manufacturing, transportation, and other industries.

Comparing concentrating solar and nuclear power as baseload providers using the example of South Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfenninger, Stefan; Keirstead, James

2015-01-01

Despite the increasing importance of variable renewable power generation, baseload, that is stable and predictable power generators, remain the backbone of many countries’ power systems. We here compare CSP (concentrating solar power) and nuclear power as baseload electricity providers for the case of South Africa, which is adding significant new generation capacity, has an abundant solar resource, but also one existing and additional planned nuclear power plants. Both of these technologies are considered baseload-capable with sufficient available fuel (sunlight or fissible material) to provide large amounts of nearly emissions-free electricity. We find that under a range of technological learning assumptions, CSP compares favorably against nuclear on costs in the period to 2030, and has lower investment and environmental risks. The results suggest that while nuclear power may be an important low-emissions power technology in regions with little sun, in the case of South Africa, CSP could be capable of providing a stable baseload supply at lower cost than nuclear power, and may have other non-cost benefits. - Highlights: • We compare nuclear and CSP (concentrating solar power) as baseload generators. • CSP could be competitive with nuclear by 2030 on providing baseload. • CSP plants producing above baseload when possible are more competitive. • On environmental and investment risks, CSP compares favorably. • Both options may have a role in different parts of the world

Providing Sources of Self-Efficacy Through Technology Enhanced Post-Stroke Rehabilitation in the Home.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Jack; Mawson, Susan

2017-01-01

This research explores the impact of receiving feedback through a Personalised Self-Managed Rehabilitation System (PSMrS) for home-based post-stroke rehabilitation on the users' self-efficacy; more specifically, mastery experiences and the interpretation of biomechanical data. Embedded within a realistic evaluation methodological approach, exploring the promotion of self-efficacy from the utilisation of computer-based technology to facilitate post-stroke upper-limb rehabilitation in the home included; semi-structured interviews, quantitative user data (activity and usage), observations and field notes. Data revealed that self-efficacy was linked with obtaining positive knowledge of results feedback. Encouragingly, this also transferred to functional activities such as, confidence to carry out kitchen tasks and bathroom personal activities. Findings suggest the PSMrS was able to provide key sources of self-efficacy by providing feedback which translated key biomechanical data to the users. Users could interpret and understand their performance, gain a sense of mastery and build their confidence which in some instances led to increased confidence to carry out functional activities. However, outcome expectations and socio-structural factors impacted on the self-efficacy associated with the use of the system. Increasing the understanding of how these factors promote or inhibit self-management and self-efficacy is therefore crucial to the successful adoption of technology solutions and promotion of self-efficacy.

Utilization of excess weapon plutonium: scientific and technological aspects of the conversion of military capacities for civilian use and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winkelmann, H.-P.

1996-01-01

The scientific and technological aspects of the conversion of military capacities for civilian use and sustainable development concerning the utilisation of excess weapon plutonium consist of the following main issues: The new understanding of 'security'; industrial restructuring for sustainable development; human resources issues; cleaning up of the world legacy; developing timely alternate use plans for military facilities. The issues and problems of nuclear disarmament management are linked to sustainable development and are related to safe and environmentally sound management of radioactive wastes, meaning also safe transport, storage and disposal with a view to protect human health and the environment. Special emphasis is laid on the international and regional cooperation as the main basis for action

The Use of National Systems of Innovation Models to Develop Indicators of Innovation and Technological Capacity

OpenAIRE

Holbrook, J. A.

1997-01-01

This paper addresses various models that can be used to assess indicators of innovation and technical capacity. It stresses the importance of looking at the national system of innovation (NSI) to gain a complete understanding of industry capacity.

A modified fluorimetric host cell reactivation assay to determine the repair capacity of primary keratinocytes, melanocytes and fibroblasts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gebhard Daniel

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Host Cell Reactivation Assay (HCRA is widely used to identify circumstances and substances affecting the repair capacity of cells, however, it is restricted by the transfection procedure used and the sensitivity of the detection method. Primary skin cells are particularly difficult to transfect, and therefore sensitive methods are needed to detect any variations due to the cell-type or inter-individual differences or changes induced by diverse substances. A sensitive and repeatable method to detect the repair capacity of skin cells would be useful in two different aspects: On the one hand, to identify substances influencing the repair capacity in a positive manner (these substances could be promising ingredients for cosmetic products and on the other hand, to exclude the negative effects of substances on the repair capacity (this could serve as one step further towards replacing or at least reducing animal testing. Results In this paper, we present a rapid and sensitive assay to determine the repair capacity of primary keratinocytes, melanocytes and fibroblasts based on two wave-length Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP and DsRed reporter technology in order to test different substances and their potential to influence the DNA repair capacity. For the detection of plasmid restoration, we used FACS technology, which, in comparison to luminometer technology, is highly sensitive and allows single cell based analysis. The usefulness of this assay and studying the repair capacity is demonstrated by the evidence that DNA repair is repressed by Cyclosporin A in fibroblasts. Conclusions The methodology described in this paper determines the DNA repair capacity in different types of human skin cells. The described transfection protocol is suitable for the transfection of melanocytes, keratinocytes and fibroblasts, reaching efficacies suitable for the detection of the restored plasmids by FACS technology. Therefore the repair capacity

Surveillance, Snowden, and Big Data: Capacities, consequences, critique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Lyon

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The Snowden revelations about National Security Agency surveillance, starting in 2013, along with the ambiguous complicity of internet companies and the international controversies that followed provide a perfect segue into contemporary conundrums of surveillance and Big Data. Attention has shifted from late C20th information technologies and networks to a C21st focus on data, currently crystallized in “Big Data.” Big Data intensifies certain surveillance trends associated with information technology and networks, and is thus implicated in fresh but fluid configurations. This is considered in three main ways: One, the capacities of Big Data (including metadata intensify surveillance by expanding interconnected datasets and analytical tools. Existing dynamics of influence, risk-management, and control increase their speed and scope through new techniques, especially predictive analytics. Two, while Big Data appears to be about size, qualitative change in surveillance practices is also perceptible, accenting consequences. Important trends persist – the control motif, faith in technology, public-private synergies, and user-involvement – but the future-orientation increasingly severs surveillance from history and memory and the quest for pattern-discovery is used to justify unprecedented access to data. Three, the ethical turn becomes more urgent as a mode of critique. Modernity's predilection for certain definitions of privacy betrays the subjects of surveillance who, so far from conforming to the abstract, disembodied image of both computing and legal practices, are engaged and embodied users-in-relation whose activities both fuel and foreclose surveillance.

Working Memory Capacity as a Dynamic Process

Science.gov (United States)

Simmering, Vanessa R.; Perone, Sammy

2013-01-01

A well-known characteristic of working memory (WM) is its limited capacity. The source of such limitations, however, is a continued point of debate. Developmental research is positioned to address this debate by jointly identifying the source(s) of limitations and the mechanism(s) underlying capacity increases. Here we provide a cross-domain survey of studies and theories of WM capacity development, which reveals a complex picture: dozens of studies from 50 papers show nearly universal increases in capacity estimates with age, but marked variation across studies, tasks, and domains. We argue that the full pattern of performance cannot be captured through traditional approaches emphasizing single causes, or even multiple separable causes, underlying capacity development. Rather, we consider WM capacity as a dynamic process that emerges from a unified cognitive system flexibly adapting to the context and demands of each task. We conclude by enumerating specific challenges for researchers and theorists that will need to be met in order to move our understanding forward. PMID:23335902

Radiation protection: Creating capacity, legislation and regulation, control of exposure and emergency preparedness through technical cooperation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

Every year, the IAEA technical cooperation (TC) programme provides more than US $70 million worth of training services, and equipment in approximately 100 countries and territories throughout Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Latin America. TC projects span an ever increasing range of sectors that have direct links to human and environmental health. Wherever nuclear and other radiation based technologies are applied, protecting the safety and health of employees, medical patients and the public at large is a top priority and a demanding responsibility. One of the primary aims of the TC's radiation protection programme is to help Member States fulfil their safety and security obligations. Rarely in the history of the IAEA has radiation based technology provided so much opportunity. Just as Member States - particularly developing countries - acquire the expertise needed to utilize technologies that contribute to social and economic development, they need to ensure that they have an adequate national infrastructure for radiation safety and security. Beyond the existing infrastructure for radiation safety and security, other factors increasingly call for attention. They are, on the one hand: - The development and deployment of new nuclear technologies; - Renewed interest in large scale nuclear energy production and on the other hand: - Geopolitical instability and global terrorism, which create a black market for radioactive materials; - Ongoing attempts to acquire capacity in nuclear weapons. If the world is to realize the potential of radiation based technologies for peaceful purposes, each country must be prepared to confront the associated risks. The nature of today's global environment is such that a significant threat can arise virtually any time, anywhere. Thus, there is a pressing need to strengthen the safety and security network at every level. The TC programme is committed to building a global safety regime for nuclear technology, country by country

Science Teachers' Perception of ICT Capacity Building Workshop in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nneka Umera-Okeke

of ICT technologies in instructional delivery to adequately enhance ICT ... analysis, creation of data bank, storage of management of educational data, .... teachers face the challenges of learning new skills which will help them to maintain ... a big opportunity needs to be created using capacity building workshop as the.

The DEVELOP National Program: Building Dual Capacity in Decision Makers and Young Professionals Through NASA Earth Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Childs, L. M.; Rogers, L.; Favors, J.; Ruiz, M.

2012-12-01

Through the years, NASA has played a distinct/important/vital role in advancing Earth System Science to meet the challenges of environmental management and policy decision making. Within NASA's Earth Science Division's Applied Sciences' Program, the DEVELOP National Program seeks to extend NASA Earth Science for societal benefit. DEVELOP is a capacity building program providing young professionals and students the opportunity to utilize NASA Earth observations and model output to demonstrate practical applications of those resources to society. Under the guidance of science advisors, DEVELOP teams work in alignment with local, regional, national and international partner organizations to identify the widest array of practical uses for NASA data to enhance related management decisions. The program's structure facilitates a two-fold approach to capacity building by fostering an environment of scientific and professional development opportunities for young professionals and students, while also providing end-user organizations enhanced management and decision making tools for issues impacting their communities. With the competitive nature and growing societal role of science and technology in today's global workplace, DEVELOP is building capacity in the next generation of scientists and leaders by fostering a learning and growing environment where young professionals possess an increased understanding of teamwork, personal development, and scientific/professional development and NASA's Earth Observation System. DEVELOP young professionals are partnered with end user organizations to conduct 10 week feasibility studies that demonstrate the use of NASA Earth science data for enhanced decision making. As a result of the partnership, end user organizations are introduced to NASA Earth Science technologies and capabilities, new methods to augment current practices, hands-on training with practical applications of remote sensing and NASA Earth science, improved remote

IDRC-GDN: A Strengthened Partnership for Research Capacity ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

IDRC-GDN: A Strengthened Partnership for Research Capacity Building. This project provides core funding to the Global Development Network (GDN) over three years. GDN supports social science researchers in developing and transition countries. Its core mission is to enhance policy-relevant research capacity by ...

Economics for the Environment: Research Capacity Building in ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Economics for the Environment: Research Capacity Building in South Asia. This project will enhance environmental economics research capacity in South Asia through a program of research grants, training, and networking. It provides funds to the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics ...

Battery prices and capacity sensitivity: Electric drive vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juul, Nina

2012-01-01

, the prices at which the electric drive vehicles become of interest to the power system are found. Smart charge, including the opportunity to discharge (vehicle-to-grid) is used in all scenarios. Analyses show that the marginal benefits decrease the larger the battery. For very high battery prices, large......The increase in fluctuating power production requires an increase in flexibility in the system as well. Flexibility can be found in generation technologies with fast response times or in storage options. In the transport sector, the proportion of electric drive vehicles is expected to increase over...... the next decade or two. These vehicles can provide some of the flexibility needed in the power system, in terms of both flexible demand and electricity storage. However, what are the batteries worth to the power system? And does the value depend on battery capacity? This article presents an analysis...

Prediction of Liquid Specific Heat Capacity of Food Lipids.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xiaoyi; Phinney, David M; Paluri, Sravanti; Heldman, Dennis R

2018-04-01

Specific heat capacity (c p ) is a temperature dependent physical property of foods. Lipid-being a macromolecular component of food-provides some fraction of the food's overall heat capacity. Fats/oils are complex chemicals that are generally defined by carbon length and degree of unsaturation. The objective of this investigation was to use advanced specific heat capacity measurement to determine the effect of fatty acid chemical structure on specific heat capacity of food lipids. In this investigation, the specific heat capacity of a series of triacylglycerols were measured to quantify the influence of fatty acid composition on specific heat capacity based on two parameters; the -average carbon number (C) and the average number of double bonds (U). A prediction model for specific heat capacity of food lipids as a function of C, U and temperature (T) has been developed. A multiple linear regression to the three-parameter model (R 2 = 0.87) provided a good fit to the experimental data. The prediction model was evaluated by comparison with previously published specific heat capacity values of vegetable oils. It was found that the model provided a 0.53% error, while three other models from the literature predicted c p values with 0.85% to 1.83% average relative deviation from experimental data. The outcomes from this research confirm that the thermophysical properties of fat present in foods are directly related to the physical chemical properties. The specific heat capacity of food products is widely used in process design. Improvements of current models to predict specific heat capacity of food products will assist in the development of efficient processes and in the control of food quality and safety. Furthermore, the understanding of how changes in chemical structure of macromolecular components of foods effect thermophysical properties may begin to allude to models that are not just empirical, but represent portions of the differences in chemistry. © 2018

Forecasting of heat capacity of molecular inorganic liquids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sladkov, I.B.; Neganov, O.S.

1992-01-01

On the basis of analysis of experimental material on heat capacity of liquids, covering 350 molecular inorganic compounds, atomic parts of heat capacity for 58 elements of the Periodic system were obtained. Data on the accuracy of heat capacity calculation by the Neumann-Kopp rule using the recommended atomic parts C p are presented. For the Kelli rule it is assertained that the factor of proportiomality between heat capacity and the number of atoms in compound molecule in the general case depends on the type of anion and compound coordination. The Neumann-Kopp-Kelli rules provide a satisfactory accuracy of prediction

Binders and Hosts for High-Capacity Lithium-ion Battery Anodes

Science.gov (United States)

Dufficy, Martin Kyle

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are universal electrochemical energy storage devices that have revolutionized our mobile society. Nonetheless, societal and technological advances drive consumer demand for LIBs with enhanced electrochemical performance, such as higher charge capacity and longer life, compared to conventional LIBs. One method to enhance LIB performance is to replace graphite, the industry standard anode since commercialization of LIBs in 1991, with high-charge capacity materials. Implementing high-capacity anode materials such as tin, silicon, and manganese vanadates, to LIBs presents challenges; Li-insertion is destructive to anode framework, and increasing capacity increases structural strains that pulverize anode materials and results in a short-cycle life. This thesis reports on various methods to extended the cycle life of high-capacity materials. Most of the work is conducted on nano-sized anode materials to reduce Li and electron transport pathway length (facilitating charge-transfer) and reduce strains from volume expansions (preserving anode structure). The first method involves encapsulating tin particles into a graphene-containing carbon nanofiber (CNF) matrix. The composite-CNF matrix houses tin particles to assume strains from tin-volume expansions and produces favorable surface-electrolyte chemistries for stable charge-discharge cycling. Before tin addition, graphene-containing CNFs are produced and assessed as anode materials for LIBs. Graphene addition to CNFs improves electronic and mechanical properties of CNFs. Furthermore, the 2-D nature of graphene provides Li-binding sites to enhance composite-CNF both first-cycle and high-rate capacities > 150% when compared to CNFs in the absence of graphene. With addition of Sn, we vary loadings and thermal production temperature to elucidate structure-composition relationships of tin and graphene-containing CNF electrodes that lead to increased capacity retention. Of note, electrodes containing

Piloting Blended Strategies to Resolve Laboratory Capacity Issues in a First-Semester General Chemistry Course

Science.gov (United States)

Burchett, Shayna; Hayes, Jack; Pfaff, Annalise; Satterfield, Emmalou T.; Skyles, Amy; Woelk, Klaus

2016-01-01

Laboratory capacity is an issue that has plagued education for more than a century. New buildings, late night classes, and virtual laboratories have offered transitory relief at great expense. Missouri University of Science and Technology is employing blended strategies to increase capacity and student success. Blended strategies expand learning…

Capacity adequacy in power markets facing energy transition: A comparison of scarcity pricing and capacity mechanism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petitet, Marie; Finon, Dominique; Janssen, Tanguy

2017-01-01

This article analyses how a capacity mechanism can address security of supply objectives in a power market undergoing an energy transition that combines energy efficiency efforts to stabilise demand and a rapid increase in the proportion of renewables. To analyse this situation, power markets are simulated over the long term with a System Dynamics model integrating new investment and closure decisions. This last trait is relevant to studying investment in power generation in mature markets undergoing policy shocks. The energy-only market design with a price cap, with and without a capacity mechanism, is compared to scarcity pricing in two investment behaviour scenarios with and without risk aversion. The results show that the three market designs lead to different levels of risk for peaking unit investment and results thus differ according to which risk aversion hypothesis is adopted. Assuming a risk-neutral investor, the results indicate that compared to an energy-only market with a price cap at 3 000 €/MWh, an energy-only market with scarcity pricing and the market design with a capacity mechanism are two efficient options to reach similar levels of load loss. But under the hypothesis of risk aversion, the results highlight the advantage of the capacity mechanism over scarcity pricing. - Highlights: • Investment decisions in electricity markets are simulated by a System Dynamics model. • Capacity mechanism enhances capacity adequacy compared to the energy-only market. • With no risk aversion, capacity mechanism or scarcity pricing provide similar results. • With risk aversion, capacity mechanism appears to be the preferable market design.

Draft environmental impact statement for the siting, construction, and operation of New Production Reactor capacity. Volume 2, Sections 1-6

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-04-01

This (EIS) assesses the potential environmental impacts, both on a broad programmatic level and on a project-specific level, concerning a proposed action to provide new tritium production capacity to meet the nation`s nuclear defense requirements well into the 21st century. A capacity equivalent to that of about a 3,000-megawatt (thermal) heavy-water reactor was assumed as a reference basis for analysis in this EIS; this is the approximate capacity of the existing production reactors at DOE`s Savannah River Site. The EIS programmatic alternatives address Departmental decisions to be made on whether to build new production facilities, whether to build one or more complexes, what size production capacity to provide, and when to provide this capacity. Project-specific impacts for siting, constructing, and operating new production reactor capacity are assessed for three alternative sites: the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington; the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho; and the Savannah River Site. For each site, the impacts of three reactor technologies (and supporting facilities) are assessed: a heavy-water reactor, a light-water reactor, and a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. Impacts of the no-action alternative also are assessed. The EIS evaluates impacts related to air quality; noise levels; surface water, groundwater, and wetlands; land use; recreation; visual environment; biotic resources; historical, archaeological, and cultural resources; socioeconomics; transportation; waste management; and human health and safety. The EIS describes in detail the potential radioactive releases from new production reactors and support facilities and assesses the potential doses to workers and the general public. This volume contains the analysis of programmatic alternatives, project alternatives, affected environment of alternative sites, environmental consequences, and environmental regulations and permit requirements.

Mixed and low-level waste treatment facility project. Volume 3, Waste treatment technologies (Draft)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-04-01

The technology information provided in this report is only the first step toward the identification and selection of process systems that may be recommended for a proposed mixed and low-level waste treatment facility. More specific information on each technology will be required to conduct the system and equipment tradeoff studies that will follow these preengineering studies. For example, capacity, maintainability, reliability, cost, applicability to specific waste streams, and technology availability must be further defined. This report does not currently contain all needed information; however, all major technologies considered to be potentially applicable to the treatment of mixed and low-level waste are identified and described herein. Future reports will seek to improve the depth of information on technologies.

Experience from three years of local capacity development for tsunami early warning in Indonesia: challenges, lessons and the way ahead

Science.gov (United States)

Spahn, H.; Hoppe, M.; Vidiarina, H. D.; Usdianto, B.

2010-07-01

Five years after the 2004 tsunami, a lot has been achieved to make communities in Indonesia better prepared for tsunamis. This achievement is primarily linked to the development of the Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS). However, many challenges remain. This paper describes the experience with local capacity development for tsunami early warning (TEW) in Indonesia, based on the activities of a pilot project. TEW in Indonesia is still new to disaster management institutions and the public, as is the paradigm of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The technology components of InaTEWS will soon be fully operational. The major challenge for the system is the establishment of clear institutional arrangements and capacities at national and local levels that support the development of public and institutional response capability at the local level. Due to a lack of information and national guidance, most local actors have a limited understanding of InaTEWS and DRR, and often show little political will and priority to engage in TEW. The often-limited capacity of local governments is contrasted by strong engagement of civil society organisations that opt for early warning based on natural warning signs rather than technology-based early warning. Bringing together the various actors, developing capacities in a multi-stakeholder cooperation for an effective warning system are key challenges for the end-to-end approach of InaTEWS. The development of local response capability needs to receive the same commitment as the development of the system's technology components. Public understanding of and trust in the system comes with knowledge and awareness on the part of the end users of the system and convincing performance on the part of the public service provider. Both sides need to be strengthened. This requires the integration of TEW into DRR, clear institutional arrangements, national guidance and intensive support for capacity development at local levels as well as

Innovation on Energy Power Technology (1)

Science.gov (United States)

Nagano, Susumu; Kakishima, Masayoshi

After the last war, the output of single Steam Turbine Generator produced by the own technology in Japan returned to a prewar level. Electric power companies imported the large-capacity high efficiency Steam Turbine Generator from the foreign manufacturers in order to support the sudden increase of electric power demand. On the other hand, they decided to produce those in our own country to improve industrial technology. The domestic production of large-capacity 125MW Steam Turbine Generator overcome much difficulty and did much contribution for the later domestic technical progress.

Review of evaluation on ecological carrying capacity: The progress and trend of methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S. F.; Xu, Y.; Liu, T. J.; Ye, J. M.; Pan, B. L.; Chu, C.; Peng, Z. L.

2018-02-01

The ecological carrying capacity (ECC) has been regarded as an important reference to indicate the level of regional sustainable development since the very beginning of twenty-first century. By a brief review of the main progress in ECC evaluation methodologies in recent five years, this paper systematically discusses the features and differences of these methods and expounds the current states and future development trend of ECC methodology. The result shows that further exploration in terms of the dynamic, comprehensive and intelligent assessment technologies needs to be provided in order to form a unified and scientific ECC methodology system and to produce a reliable basis for environmental-economic decision-makings.

Why did they do it? How customers’ self-service technology introduction attributions affect the customer-provider relationship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijssen, E.J.; Schepers, J.J.L.; Belanche, D.

2016-01-01

Purpose – Customers often think that innovations, such as self-service technologies (SSTs), are introduced by service providers to cut costs rather than extend customer service levels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customers use such attributions to adjust their perceptions of

STUDY ON THE FACTORS INFLUENCING HYDRATION AND WATER RETENTION CAPACITY OF MEAT

OpenAIRE

DANIELA IANIłCHI; CARMEN NICOLAE; CRISTIANA DIACONESCU; GABRIELA MALOS; I. G. MALOS

2008-01-01

Top-quality food produce and high profitability in processing requires high quality in raw materials. Therefore, to achieve these objectives, it is imperative to know the properties of the war materials, and the factors that influence these properties.The properties of the meat directly involved in increasing economic efficiency and final produce quality are the so-called technological properties: hydration capacity and water retention capacity of meat. These properties are determined by some...

Building World-Market Competitors: Technology Transfer and the Illinois Community College System. 1990 Status Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Bragg, Debra D.

In 1990, the Illinois Council of Public Community College Presidents (ICPCCP) commissioned a survey to document the current capacity and future potential of the Illinois Community College System (ICCS) to provide technology transfer assistance to the commercial marketplace and the public sector. An extensive questionnaire was developed and mailed…

Capacity Utilization in European Railways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khadem Sameni, Melody; Landex, Alex

2013-01-01

and unprecedented approach for this aim. Relative operational efficiency of 24 European railways in capacity utilization is studied for the first time by data envelopment analysis (DEA). It deviates from previous applications of DEA in the railway industry that are conducted to analyze cost efficiency of railways....... Six DEA models quantify various aspects of micro, macro and quality of railway capacity utilization in these countries. New inputs like gross domestic product, population and area of the country help to provide a better picture of the status of railways. Passenger satisfaction data about different...... aspects of railway services in European countries has recently been quantified by European commission and are used for the first time in the literature. Invaluable insights can be inferred from the results which can provide a ground basis for railway practitioners and policy makers....

Absorptive capacity and smart companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Moro González

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The current competitive environment is substantially modifying the organizations’ learning processes due to a global increase of available information allowing this to be transformed into knowledge. This opportunity has been exploited since the nineties by the tools of “Business Analytics” and “Business Intelligence” but, nevertheless, being integrated in the study of new organizational capacities engaged in the process of creating intelligence inside organizations is still an outstanding task. The review of the concept of absorptive capacity and a detailed study from the perspective of this new reality will be the main objective of study of this paper.Design/methodology/approach: By comparing classical absorptive capacity and absorptive capacity from the point of view of information management tools in each one of the three stages of the organizational learning cycle, some gaps of the former are overcome/fulfilled. The academic/bibliographical references provided in this paper have been obtained from ISI web of knowledge, Scopus and Dialnet data bases, supporting the state of affairs on absorptive capacity and thereafter filtering by "Business Intelligence" and "Business Analytics". Specialized websites and Business Schools` Publications there have also been included, crowning the content on information management tools used that are currently used in the strategic consulting.Findings: Our contribution to the literature is the development of "smart absorptive capacity". This is a new capacity emerging from the reformulation of the classical concept of absorptive capacity wherein some aspects of its definition that might have been omitted are emphasized. The result of this new approach is the creation of a new Theoretical Model of Organizational Intelligence, which aims to explain, within the framework of the Resources and Capabilities Theory, the competitive advantage achieved by the so-called smart companies

Defining response capacity to enhance climate change policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tompkins, Emma L.; Neil Adger, W.

2005-01-01

Climate change adaptation and mitigation decisions made by governments are usually taken in different policy domains. At the individual level however, adaptation and mitigation activities are undertaken together as part of the management of risk and resources. We propose that a useful starting point to develop a national climate policy is to understand what societal response might mean in practice. First we frame the set of responses at the national policy level as a trade off between investment in the development and diffusion of new technology, and investment in encouraging and enabling society to change its behaviour and or adopt the new technology. We argue that these are the pertinent trade-offs, rather than those usually posited between climate change mitigation and adaptation. The preference for a policy response that focuses more on technological innovation rather than one that focuses on changing social behaviour will be influenced by the capacity of different societies to change their greenhouse gas emissions; by perceived vulnerability to climate impacts; and by capacity to modify social behaviour and physical environment. Starting with this complete vision of response options should enable policy makers to re-evaluate the risk environment and the set of response options available to them. From here, policy makers should consider who is responsible for making climate response decisions and when actions should be taken. Institutional arrangements dictate social and political acceptability of different policies, they structure worldviews, and they determine the provision of resources for investment in technological innovation and social change. The importance of focussing on the timing of the response is emphasised to maximise the potential for adjustments through social learning and institutional change at different policy scales. We argue that the ability to respond to climate change is both enabled and constrained by social and technological conditions

Working memory capacity as a dynamic process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa R Simmering

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A well-known characteristic of working memory is its limited capacity. The source of such limitations, however, is a continued point of debate. Developmental research is positioned to address this debate by jointly identifying the source(s of limitations and the mechanism(s underlying capacity increases. Here we provide a cross-domain survey of studies and theories of working memory capacity development, which reveals a complex picture: dozens of studies from 50 papers show nearly universal increases in capacity estimates with age, but marked variation across studies, tasks, and domains. We argue that the full pattern of performance cannot be captured through traditional approaches emphasizing single causes, or even multiple separable causes, underlying capacity development. Rather, we consider working memory capacity as a dynamic process that emerges from a unified cognitive system flexibly adapting to the context and demands of each task. We conclude by enumerating specific challenges for researchers and theorists that will need to be met in order to move our understanding forward.

Assessing Capacity Value of Wind Power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frew, Bethany A.

2017-04-18

This presentation provides a high-level overview of assessing capacity value of wind power, including Impacts of multiple-year data sets, impacts of transmission assumptions, and future research needs.

Next generation capacity building for the GEOSS community - an European approach

Science.gov (United States)

Bye, B. L.

2016-12-01

The Group on Earth observation embarked on the next 10 year phase with an ambition to streamline and futher develop its achievements in building the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). The NextGEOSS project evolves the European vision of GEOSS data exploitation for innovation and business, relying on the three main pillars of engaging communities, delivering technological developments and advocating the use of GEOSS, in order to support the creation and deployment of Earth observation based innovative research activities and commercial services. In this presentation we will present the new integrated approach to capacity building engaging the various actors involved in the entire value-chain from data providers to decision-makers. A presentation of the general approach together with concrete pilot cases will be included.In this work it will be shown how we integrate new technological development and societial change enabling GEO and GEOSS to adapt to the current environment. The result is important for better decision-making and better use of our limited resources to manage our planet.

Development of nuclear fuel cycle technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawahara, Akira; Sugimoto, Yoshikazu; Shibata, Satoshi; Ikeda, Takashi; Suzuki, Kazumichi; Miki, Atsushi.

1990-01-01

In order to establish the stable supply of nuclear fuel as an important energy source, Hitachi ltd. has advanced the technical development aiming at the heightening of reliability, the increase of capacity, upgrading and the heightening of performance of the facilities related to nuclear fuel cycle. As for fuel reprocessing, Japan Nuclear Fuel Service Ltd. is promoting the construction of a commercial fuel reprocessing plant which is the first in Japan. The verification of the process performance, the ensuring of high reliability accompanying large capacity and the technical development for recovering effective resources from spent fuel are advanced. Moreover, as for uranium enrichment, Laser Enrichment Technology Research Association was founded mainly by electric power companies, and the development of the next generation enrichment technology using laser is promoted. The development of spent fuel reprocessing technology, the development of the basic technology of atomic process laser enrichment and so on are reported. In addition to the above technologies recently developed by Hitachi Ltd., the technology of reducing harm and solidification of radioactive wastes, the molecular process laser enrichment and others are developed. (K.I.)

NextGen-Airportal Project Technologies: Systems Analysis, Integration, and Evaluation (SAIE)

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Alex; Trapani, Andrew; Poage, Jim; Howell, Daniel; Slocum, Douglas

2012-01-01

NASA has been conducting Concept & Technology (C&T) research to enable capacity, efficiency, and safety improvements under the Airspace Systems Program, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). These C&Ts provide various benefits (e.g., improved airport departure/arrival throughputs, fuel saving, and taxi efficiency) with costs and benefits apportioned among various Air Traffic Management (ATM) system stakeholders (e.g., FAA, aircraft operators, or public).

Impact on NOMA on netowrk capacity dimensioning for 5G HetNets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marcano, Andrea; Christiansen, Henrik Lehrmann

2018-01-01

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a key technology for boosting the capacity of 5G networks. Since the latter are expected to be heterogeneous networks (HetNets), the performance of NOMA on 5G HetNets is highly anticipated. In this paper, we present a system-level analysis......, focused on the capacity dimensioning, of a 5G HetNet with hybrid multiple access where NOMA and orthogonal multiple access (OMA) coexist. We use dynamic power allocation and consider four generic pairing methods for NOMA: Hungarian, Gale-Shapley, random and exhaustive. Through our results, we show...... the capacity to cope with the high data demand expected for 5G....

EnviroTRADE: A technical perspective on the development of an information system providing data on environmental technologies and needs worldwide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrington, M.W.; Harlan, C.P.

1992-01-01

In support of the US Department of Energy's commitment to the remediation of waste sites throughout its complex, the DOE has recognized that it can accelerate its technology development efforts and leverage the expenditure of available funds through an international cooperation among government entities, private industry, and educational institutions. To support the technology transfer of environmental information, the DOE has sponsored the development of EnviroTRADE - an international information system that will facilitate the exchange of environmental restoration and waste management technologies worldwide. The system will contain profiles on both environmental restoration / waste management needs and foreign / domestic technologies. Users will be able to identify matches between worldwide needs and available or emerging technologies. Where matches between needs and existing technologies are not found, the system will identify the potential for development of new and innovative technologies to address environmental problems. EnviroTRADE will also provide general information on international environmental restoration and waste management organizations, sites, activities, and contacts

The use of emerging technology to build health promotion capacity in regions with diversity in language and culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Martha W; Mittelmark, Maurice B

2006-01-01

Today in the human development arena, three actors play complementary, sometimes competing, and even conflicting roles on the world stage: governments, commercial enterprises and non-governmental organisations. Given their mission and available resources, each of these interact in different ways between each other, but have the same basis and needs for communication among each other. Two of the factors that come into play in these actors' operations are technology and internationalisation. We currently live the digital era brought on by the technological revolution. This has provided international actors with speed and flexibility over traditional communication formats to disseminate their work and collaborate more closely in real time and across geographical, cultural and language barriers. In order to be efficient and effective, these actors have begun and must continue to engage in this global transformation. All this is relevant to the IUHPE as a global organisation with members in over 90 countries. The hundreds of cultures and languages of our members enrich our ability to advocate for health in every corner of the world. However, our diversity can hinder our effectiveness. Language barriers separating even neighbours can make collaborative work difficult. There are several solutions that the IUHPE is adopting to bridge this divide, among them, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Within this context, this paper examines the different multi-dimensional dialogue and information platforms offered by ICTs today and its future developments. This will include advantages and limitations with regard to both technological and financial nuances. The use of technology will be defined in relation to the implications for knowledge acquisition, conversation and action. The scenarios include the web as a global resource database and ICTs, including machine translation, for one-on-one and multi-party communication. In a world that is increasingly entwined

Developing a Framework for Effective Network Capacity Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Yaprak, Ece

2005-01-01

As Internet traffic continues to grow exponentially, developing a clearer understanding of, and appropriately measuring, network's performance is becoming ever more critical. An important challenge faced by the Information Resources Directorate (IRD) at the Johnson Space Center in this context remains not only monitoring and maintaining a secure network, but also better understanding the capacity and future growth potential boundaries of its network. This requires capacity planning which involves modeling and simulating different network alternatives, and incorporating changes in design as technologies, components, configurations, and applications change, to determine optimal solutions in light of IRD's goals, objectives and strategies. My primary task this summer was to address this need. I evaluated network-modeling tools from OPNET Technologies Inc. and Compuware Corporation. I generated a baseline model for Building 45 using both tools by importing "real" topology/traffic information using IRD's various network management tools. I compared each tool against the other in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of both tools to accomplish IRD's goals. I also prepared step-by-step "how to design a baseline model" tutorial for both OPNET and Compuware products.

Completion of a high efficiency ultralarge capacity three-phase transformer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maejima, Masaaki; Maruyama, Katsuya; Fukuda, Teruo.

1986-01-01

As for the boosting transformers for thermal and nuclear power stations, at present the ultralarge capacity transformers of 1000 - 1200 MVA class are the main, and particularly in nuclear power, accompanying the development of improved type BWRs and the rise of system stability, there is the tendency toward further large capacity and large size. Consequently, reflecting the recent rise of energy cost, the demand of energy conservation and the reduction of required sites heightened largely as well as the high reliability. In order to meet these demands, Hitachi Ltd. has established the technology of changing to iron machines such as ultralarge iron cores and ultralarge capacity undivided disk windings using the latest design and manufacture techniques were applied to the 525 kV, 1200 MVA transformer for No.4 plant in Fukushima No.2 Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., thus a three-phase transformer of the highest level, high efficiency and ultralarge capacity was completed. In this paper, the outline of this transformer and the test for verifying its reliability are described. The technical change of large capacity three-phase transformers, the specifications, construction, manufacture, reliability test and the effect of modification of this transformer, and the expansion of application to the next generation ultralarge capacity transformers are reported. (Kako, I.)

The novel cloud application technology with virtual platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Ying-Chuan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Virtualization technology of cloud application service is the major research issue in recent years. Our virtual platform can obtain a lot of advantages base on virtualization technology with suitable virtual machine solution that all system resources can deployed quickly and managed competently, and it has some features including the high capacity for reliability, elasticity and customization. In our virtual platform, there are many different application services are provided for cloud service style. For system computing resources, we need to share all of system and software resources using the virtualization technology is presented in related sections, and we proposed virtual and remote application technology to implement innovative, convenient and powerful cloud application service base on virtual platform. For users of our platform, they can easy to use any software and tools on demand with pay per use mode anytime, and they do not have specialized knowledge and ability of install and maintenance.

Darwinism determines technological survivors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bevc, F.; Harkness, S.

1996-01-01

In an industry where new power plant planning and budgeting cycles stretch from one to three years, where a typical new generation product takes from five to 10 years to successfully enter the market and where some plants have a 30- to 50-year economic life, change is an evolutionary process. However, that change, driven by the application of new technologies, is inevitable. Twenty-five years ago, in 1971, gas turbines were perceived to have limited applications and were primarily used for part-time peaking duty. Today, they are the baseload, new power generation technology of choice. Nevertheless, more than 55% of the US's electricity is still generated by coal-fired steam turbine plants, the technology of choice 25 years ago. Power generation technologies will evolve further, but it's doubtful there will be any new concepts that are not evident in today's laboratories. Twenty-five years from now, today's coal-fires team turbine plants will still provide the majority of the electricity generated in the US. However, new natural gas or syngas-fired combined-cycle plants will make up the majority of the new additions, perhaps as much as 20% of the overall installed capacity in 2021. Still, during the next 25 years, a number of new generation technologies should become economically competitive and enter the market. Technologies moving from today's demonstrations to widespread applications include: gasification, pressurized fluidized bed combustion, fuel cell hybrid cycles, and solar photovoltaics

Investment Strategy of Emission-Reduction Technology in a Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gao Xiang Lou

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Greenhouse gas emissions have serious impacts on the natural environment. Therefore, the restrictions imposed on carbon emission force enterprises to take carbon emission into consideration when making production decisions. In this paper, in the context of allowing emission trading and investment of emission reduction technology, models were presented for a two-stage supply chain to analyze the optimal investment and pricing decisions. The results indicate that manufacturer’s endurance capacity of reduction difficulty is higher in the cooperation model than in the Stackelberg game model, and that perfect coordination of supply chains can be realized by a revenue sharing contract. From the perspective of a consumer, low-carbon products mean higher price, so that subsidies or tax exemptions should be provided to keep low prices. Meanwhile, the government can promote investment in emission-reduction technologies and achieve its emission reduction targets by controlling emission trading price, strengthening emission reduction publicity and providing technology investment subsidies.

Hydrocarbon technology - advanced technological services. 1. An investigation of possibilities for providing the oil industry with Danish advanced technological services

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1982-07-01

In the next 20 years there can be expected overwhelming developments in exploration and recovery of raw materials on the Danish territory. The present report surveys possibilities of advanced technology transfer from scientific institutions to the petroleum and gas industry. New marketing methods will be necessary for commercialization of the Danish knowhow in technology and management. Creation of a new petroleum industry institute is recommended.

Exploring nutrition capacity in Australia's charitable food sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Wingrove, Kate; Barbour, Liza; Palermo, Claire

2017-11-01

The primary aim of this study was to explore the capacity of community organisations within Australia's charitable food sector to provide nutritious food to people experiencing food insecurity. A secondary aim was to explore their capacity to provide food in an environment that encourages social interaction. This qualitative research used an exploratory case study design and was informed by a nutrition capacity framework. Participants were recruited through SecondBite, a not-for-profit food rescue organisation in Australia. Convenience sampling methods were used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the knowledge, attitudes and experiences of people actively involved in emergency food relief provision. Transcripts were thematically analysed using an open coding technique. Nine interviews were conducted. The majority of participants were female (n = 7, 77.8%) and worked or volunteered at organisations within Victoria (n = 7, 77.8%). Results suggest that the capacity for community organisations to provide nutritious food to their clients may be limited by resource availability more so than the nutrition-related knowledge and attitudes of staff members and volunteers. Australia's charitable food sector plays a vital role in addressing the short-term needs of people experiencing food insecurity. To ensure the food provided to people experiencing food insecurity is nutritious and provided in an environment that encourages social interaction, it appears that the charitable food sector requires additional resources. In order to reduce demand for emergency food relief, an integrated policy approach targeting the underlying determinants of food insecurity may be needed. © 2016 Dietitians Association of Australia.

A methodology for the valuation and selection of adaptable technology portfolios and its application to small and medium airports

Science.gov (United States)

Pinon, Olivia J.

The increase in the types of airspace users (large aircraft, small and regional jets, very light jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.), as well as the very limited number of future new airport development projects are some of the factors that will characterize the next decades in air transportation. These factors, associated with a persistent growth in air traffic will worsen the current gridlock situation experienced at some major airports. As airports are becoming the major capacity bottleneck to continued growth in air traffic, it is therefore primordial to make the most efficient use of the current, and very often, underutilized airport infrastructure. This research thus proposes to address the increase in air traffic demand and resulting capacity issues by considering the implementation of operational concepts and technologies at underutilized airports. However, there are many challenges associated with sustaining the development of this type of airports. First, the need to synchronize evolving technologies with airports’ needs and investment capabilities is paramount. Additionally, it was observed that the evolution of secondary airports, and their needs, is tightly linked to the environment in which they operate. In particular, sensitivity of airports to changes in the dynamics of their environment is important, therefore requiring that the factors that drive the need for technology acquisition be identified and characterized. Finally, the difficulty to evaluate risk and make financially viable decisions, particularly when investing in new technologies, cannot be ignored. This research provides a methodology that addresses these challenges and ensures the sustainability of airport capacity-enhancement investments in a continuously changing environment. In particular, it is articulated around the need to provide decision makers with the capability to valuate and select adaptable technology portfolios to ensure airport financial viability. Hence, the four

Supporting Early Childhood Educators' Use of Embedded Communication Strategies by Providing Feedback via Bug-in-Ear Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Riggie, Jennifer

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between coaching provided with bug-in-ear technology, the frequency of the early childhood educators' use of targeted communication strategies and children's expressive communication. Four multiple-baseline single-case design experiments were completed to evaluate these relationships.…

Regulatory Approaches for Adding Capacity to Existing Hydropower Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Aaron L. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Curtis, Taylor L. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kazerooni, Borna [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-10-24

In 2015, hydroelectric generation accounted for more than 6 percent of total net electricity generation in the United States and 46 percent of electricity generation from all renewables. The United States has considerable hydroelectric potential beyond what is already being developed. Nearly 7 GW of this potential is found by adding capacity to existing hydropower facilities. To optimize the value of hydroelectric generation, the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydropower Vision Study highlights the importance of adding capacity to existing facilities. This report provides strategic approaches and considerations for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensed and exempt hydropower facilities seeking to increase generation capacity, which may include increases from efficiency upgrades. The regulatory approaches reviewed for this report include capacity and non-capacity amendments, adding capacity during relicensing, and adding capacity when converting a license to a 10-MW exemption.

ICT Capacity Building: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Rwandan Policies from Higher Education Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Byungura, Jean Claude; Hansson, Henrik; Masengesho, Kamuzinzi; Karunaratne, Thashmee

2016-01-01

With the development of technology in the 21st Century, education systems attempt to integrate technology-based tools to improve experiences in pedagogy and administration. It is becoming increasingly prominent to build human and ICT infrastructure capacities at universities from policy to implementation level. Using a critical discourse analysis,…

Enrichment supply and technology outside the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levin, S.A.; Blumkin, S.

1977-01-01

This is a review of foreign uranium enrichment capacity and uranium isotope separation technology, based on news items and articles in the public literature. Tables are included presenting capacity plans, growth, sales, research and development, etc

Cooperative technological innovation and competitiveness in the nuclear arena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro Galvan, A.; Marco Pelegrin, M.; Salve Galiana, R.; Vallejo Haya, J.; Tagle Gonzalez, J. A.

2000-01-01

R and D and, more recently, technological innovation and its relationship with competitivity are more and more part of conferences, books, articles and political speeches and very often are the central part of them. Innovation has become fashionable and many initiatives have come out in connection with it. However, the relationship between technological innovation and competitivity are not always obvious. The current article intends to illustrate some mechanisms that link these two concepts through a specific case, DTN, that is already providing results for the Spanish nuclear industry and whose example can be extrapolated to other industrial sectors. The importance given by the nuclear to the innovation, the research and the technological development it is not new either exclusively belong to any specific organisation but makes evident the coherence between its traditional approach and the current idea of modernizing the country promoting the national technological capacity. (Author)

A fuzzy multi-objective model for capacity allocation and pricing policy of provider in data communication service with different QoS levels

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Wei; Wang, Xianjia; Zhong, Yong-guang; Yu, Lean; Jie, Cao; Ran, Lun; Qiao, Han; Wang, Shouyang; Xu, Xianhao

2012-06-01

Data communication service has an important influence on e-commerce. The key challenge for the users is, ultimately, to select a suitable provider. However, in this article, we do not focus on this aspect but the viewpoint and decision-making of providers for order allocation and pricing policy when orders exceed service capacity. It is a multiple criteria decision-making problem such as profit and cancellation ratio. Meanwhile, we know realistic situations in which much of the input information is uncertain. Thus, it becomes very complex in a real-life environment. In this situation, fuzzy sets theory is the best tool for solving this problem. Our fuzzy model is formulated in such a way as to simultaneously consider the imprecision of information, price sensitive demand, stochastic variables, cancellation fee and the general membership function. For solving the problem, a new fuzzy programming is developed. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that it is effective for determining the suitable order set and pricing policy of provider in data communication service with different quality of service (QoS) levels.

Peak capacity and peak capacity per unit time in capillary and microchip zone electrophoresis.

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Joe P; Blackney, Donna M; Ennis, Erin J

2017-11-10

The origins of the peak capacity concept are described and the important contributions to the development of that concept in chromatography and electrophoresis are reviewed. Whereas numerous quantitative expressions have been reported for one- and two-dimensional separations, most are focused on chromatographic separations and few, if any, quantitative unbiased expressions have been developed for capillary or microchip zone electrophoresis. Making the common assumption that longitudinal diffusion is the predominant source of zone broadening in capillary electrophoresis, analytical expressions for the peak capacity are derived, first in terms of migration time, diffusion coefficient, migration distance, and desired resolution, and then in terms of the remaining underlying fundamental parameters (electric field, electroosmotic and electrophoretic mobilities) that determine the migration time. The latter expressions clearly illustrate the direct square root dependence of peak capacity on electric field and migration distance and the inverse square root dependence on solute diffusion coefficient. Conditions that result in a high peak capacity will result in a low peak capacity per unit time and vice-versa. For a given symmetrical range of relative electrophoretic mobilities for co- and counter-electroosmotic species (cations and anions), the peak capacity increases with the square root of the electric field even as the temporal window narrows considerably, resulting in a significant reduction in analysis time. Over a broad relative electrophoretic mobility interval [-0.9, 0.9], an approximately two-fold greater amount of peak capacity can be generated for counter-electroosmotic species although it takes about five-fold longer to do so, consistent with the well-known bias in migration time and resolving power for co- and counter-electroosmotic species. The optimum lower bound of the relative electrophoretic mobility interval [μ r,Z , μ r,A ] that provides the maximum

Factors that Influence the Dissemination of Knowledge in Technology Transfer among Malaysian Manufacturing Employees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mughaneswari ap Sahadevan

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The meaning of technology transfer is so wide but mostly involving some form of technology-related exchange. However, in this particular paper, technology transfer is consider as a concept to examine the process of  disseminating knowledge and skills that a person owned to another person in order to generate higher productivity with new approach of producing a particular product or service. Although, many researchers have explored the evolution of technology transfer, nonetheless some drivers are yet to be explored in a Malaysian manufacturing industry. This study, therefore attempts to determine the relationship between absorptive capacity, transfer capacity, communication motivation and learning intent and technology transfer performance. A survey methodology was used in a Japanese multinational company based in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 117 questionnaires were received. Results show that absorptive capacity is the most significant to influence technology transfer performance. Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE Key words: Technology transfer, absorptive capacity, Malaysia.   Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE "With a Touch of a Button": Staff perceptions on integrating technology in an Irish service provider for people with intellectual disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Clifford Simplican, Stacy; Shivers, Carolyn; Chen, June; Leader, Geraldine

2018-01-01

People with intellectual disabilities continue to underutilize technology, in part due to insufficient training. Because support staff professionals provide instructional support, how they perceive integrating new technologies is important for people with intellectual disabilities. The authors conducted a sequential mixed-methods exploratory study (quan→QUAL) including quantitative data from online surveys completed by 46 staff members and qualitative data from five focus groups attended by 39 staff members. Quantitative results show strong support for diverse technologies. In contrast, qualitative results suggest that staff members' support of technology decreases when they perceive that technology may jeopardize service users' safety or independence. Although staff members identified increasing independence as the main reason to use new technologies with service users, they also worried that technologies used to increase the social inclusion of service users may pose undue risk and thus may limit their embrace of technology. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

10 CFR 904.6 - Charge for capacity and firm energy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Charge for capacity and firm energy. 904.6 Section 904.6... CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.6 Charge for capacity and firm energy. The charge for Capacity and Firm Energy from the Project shall be composed of two separate charges; a charge to provide for the...

Research on Improved VSG Control Algorithm Based on Capacity-Limited Energy Storage System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanfeng Ma

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A large scale of renewable energy employing grid connected electronic inverters fail to contribute inertia or damping to power systems, and, therefore, may bring negative effects to the stability of power system. As a solution, an advanced Virtual Synchronous Generator (VSG control technology based on Hamilton approach is introduced in this paper firstly to support the frequency and enhance the suitability and robustness of the system. The charge and discharge process of power storage devices forms the virtual inertia and damping of VSG, and, therefore, limits on storage capacity may change the coefficients of VSG. To provide a method in keeping system output in an acceptable level with the capacity restriction in a transient period, an energy control algorithm is designed for VSG adaptive control. Finally, simulations are conducted in DIgSILENT to demonstrate the correctness of the algorithm. The demonstration shows: (1 the proposed control model aims at better system robustness and stability; and (2 the model performs in the environment closer to practical engineering by fitting the operation state of storage system.

The Promise of E-Platform Technology in Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawd, Siraj

2016-03-01

Increasing the number as well as improving the capacity and quality of medical professionals to achieve an equitable health care for all is a global priority and a global challenge. In developing countries, which are facing the largest burden of disease, to achieve the above stated objective, there is a big need for more well-trained, competent and dedicated health care providers. Currently, there is a well-documented shortage of trained health workers globally, with the poorest countries having the greatest shortfalls. The time tested, traditional approach of training health care force by importing professionals from overseas is not only prohibitively expensive but also not sufficient to achieve the scale and pace of the required human capacity building. Considering this fact, distance learning programs, which include m-Health as well as other information technology (IT) platforms and tools, can provide unique, timely, cost-effective, easily scalable and valuable opportunities to expand access to training health care manpower in developing countries where the shortage is critical.

Terrestrial photovoltaic technologies - Recent progress in manufacturing R&D

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Witt, C. E.; Surek, T.; Mitchell, R. L.; Symko-Davies, M.; Thomas, H. P.

2000-05-15

This paper describes photovoltaics (PV) as used for energy generation in terrestrial applications. A brief historical perspective of PV development is provided. Solar-to-electricity conversion efficiencies for various photovoltaic materials are presented, as well as expectations for further material improvements. Recent progress in reducing manufacturing costs through process R&D and product improvements are described. Applications that are most suitable for the different technologies are discussed. Finally, manufacturing capacities and current and projected module manufacturing costs are presented.

IAEA Capacity Building in Nuclear Techniques for Environmental Sustainability; Asistencia del OIE A en la creacion de capacidad para el empleo de tecnicas nucleares en aras de la sostenibilidad ambiental

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dixit, Aabha [International Atomic Energy Agency, Division of Public Information, Vienna (Austria)

2013-09-15

The IAEA helps Member States use nuclear technology for a broad range of applications: from generating electricity to increasing food production, from fighting cancer to managing freshwater resources and protecting coastal areas and the ocean. Assistance provided through IAEA capacity building projects addresses specific national and regional problems. Expertise in the application of nuclear technology and knowledge of good practices are transferred via training activities, information exchange, coordinated research projects and the technical cooperation programme.

dCache, agile adoption of storage technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Millar, A. P. [Hamburg U.; Baranova, T. [Hamburg U.; Behrmann, G. [Unlisted, DK; Bernardt, C. [Hamburg U.; Fuhrmann, P. [Hamburg U.; Litvintsev, D. O. [Fermilab; Mkrtchyan, T. [Hamburg U.; Petersen, A. [Hamburg U.; Rossi, A. [Fermilab; Schwank, K. [Hamburg U.

2012-01-01

For over a decade, dCache has been synonymous with large-capacity, fault-tolerant storage using commodity hardware that supports seamless data migration to and from tape. In this paper we provide some recent news of changes within dCache and the community surrounding it. We describe the flexible nature of dCache that allows both externally developed enhancements to dCache facilities and the adoption of new technologies. Finally, we present information about avenues the dCache team is exploring for possible future improvements in dCache.

Risk Analysis of Volume Cheat Strategy in a Competitive Capacity Market

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feng, Donghan; Xu, Zhao

2009-01-01

Capacity market provides additional revenue stream for the power suppliers. In a capacity-energy combined market environment, suppliers have incentives to deliberately over-offer their capacities in the capacity market while bid very high price in the energy and ancillary markets to avoid operation....... This paper analyzes the risks and profits of this capacity-over-offer behavior, and develops a method for computing non-operable penalty level which can prevent the capacity-over-offer behavior. It is found that the effective penalty level is highly correlated with the stochastic characteristics......-energy market environment....

Superconducting generator technology--an overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edmonda, J.S.

1979-01-01

Application of superconducting technology to field windings of large ac generators provides virtually unlimited field capability without incurring resistive losses in the winding. Several small-scale superconducting generators have been built and tested demonstrating the feasibility of such concepts. For machines of much larger capacity, conceptual designs for 300 Mva and 1200 Mva have been completed. The development of a 300 Mva generator is projected. Designed, engineered and fabricated as a turbo generator, the superconducting machine is to be installed in a power plant, tested and operated in concert with a prime mover, the steam generator and the auxiliary support systems of the power plant. This will provide answers to the viability of operating a superconducting machine and its cryogenic handling systems in a full time, demanding environment. 21 refs

A critical review of the use of technology to provide psychosocial support for children and young people with long-term conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldiss, Susie; Baggott, Christina; Gibson, Faith; Mobbs, Sarah; Taylor, Rachel M

2015-01-01

Advances in technology have offered health professionals alternative mediums of providing support to patients with long-term conditions. This critical review evaluated and assessed the benefit of electronic media technologies in supporting children and young people with long-term conditions. Of 664 references identified, 40 met the inclusion criteria. Supportive technology tended to increase disease-related knowledge and improve aspects of psychosocial function. Supportive technology did not improve quality of life, reduce health service use or decrease school absences. The poor methodological quality of current evidence and lack of involvement of users in product development contribute to the uncertainty that supportive technology is beneficial. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Technology Transfer: A Third World Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Akubue, Anthony I.

2002-01-01

Technology transfer models are based on assumptions that do not reflect Third-World realities. Obstacles to building indigenous technology capacity include multinational corporations' control of innovations, strings attached to foreign aid, and indigenous reluctance to undertake research. Four areas of development include foreign direct…

The Management of Innovation and Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howells, John

in innovation - The reciprocal relationship between intellectual property law and technological innovation. - The role of technological skills and regimes of technological education in innovation. - An introduction to the role of the state in maintaining the innovative capacity of the private sector....... of the reality of taking decisions on innovation. The chapters cover: - The social context for individual acts of creative insight - The development of the technology-market relationship - The management of R&D and technological standards - Technological competition - The role of institutions of finance...

Expansion of U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. Final environmental statement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1976-04-01

Reasonably foreseeable environmental, social, economic, and technological costs and benefits of postulated expansion of U. S. enrichment capacity through the year 2000 and reasonably available alternatives to such expansion are described. Both the gas centrifuge and gaseous diffusion methods for the enrichment of uranium are considered in this impact assessment

Expansion of U. S. uranium enrichment capacity. Final environmental statement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1976-04-01

Reasonably foreseeable environmental, social, economic, and technological costs and benefits of postulated expansion of U. S. enrichment capacity through the year 2000 and reasonably available alternatives to such expansion are described. Both the gas centrifuge and gaseous diffusion methods for the enrichment of uranium are considered in this impact assessment. (JGB)

Building and Benefiting from Member State Laboratory Capacities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

The Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications implement a number of activities that are designed to enhance and capitalize upon the capacities of Member States’ laboratories worldwide. The Nuclear Sciences and Applications (NA) laboratories strengthen Member States’ analytical capacities through activities such as proficiency tests and inter-laboratory comparisons, and share the capacities of Member States’ laboratories with other Member States through the coordination of relevant networks and participation in the IAEA Collaborating Centre scheme. An example of these activities is the collaborative work carried out by the Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (TEL). The TEL cooperates with the IAEA Environment Laboratories in Monaco to distribute 92 types of reference materials for characterizing radionuclides, stable isotopes, trace elements or organic contaminants. These materials serve as international standards for establishing and evaluating the reliability and accuracy of analytical measurements. This collaborative work between NA laboratories, Member States and laboratories around the globe contribute to the IAEA’s mandate of fostering scientific and technical exchanges for the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology throughout the world

Querying the Call to Introduce Mental Capacity Testing to Mental Health Law: Does the Doctrine of Necessity Provide an Alternative?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piers Gooding

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Trends in international human rights law have challenged States globally to rethink involuntary mental health interventions from a non-discrimination perspective. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD in particular prohibits laws that discriminate on the basis of disability. However, a key criterion for compulsory mental health treatment under typical mental health legislation is a psychiatric diagnosis (in conjunction with risk of harm and other criteria. Hence, for people with mental health disabilities, rights to liberty and consent in healthcare are held to a different standard compared to other citizens. A prominent law reform option being explored by some governments and commentators for achieving non-discrimination is to replace the diagnostic criterion for triggering involuntary intervention with an assessment of mental capacity. After all, every citizen is subject to restrictions on autonomy where they are deemed to lack mental capacity, such as where concussion necessitates emergency service. However, the use of mental capacity “testing” is seen by diverse commentators as wanting in key respects. A prominent criticism comes from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which considers mental capacity assessments a form of disability-based discrimination. This article queries the call to replace the diagnostic criterion in mental health law with an assessment of mental capacity in the light of jurisprudence on equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law. Instead, we examine the doctrine of necessity as an area of law, which might help identify specific thresholds for overriding autonomy in emergency circumstances that can be codified in a non-discriminatory way. We also consider the need for deliberative law reform processes to identify such measures, and we suggest interim, short-term measures for creating a “supported decision

Relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy : a fuzzy AHP/DEA hybrid model approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, S.

2009-01-01

As a provider of national energy security, the Korean Institute of Energy Research is seeking to establish a long term strategic technology roadmap for a hydrogen-based economy. This paper addressed 5 criteria regarding the strategy, notably economic impact, commercial potential, inner capacity, technical spinoff, and development cost. The fuzzy AHP and DEA hybrid model were used in a two-stage multi-criteria decision making approach to evaluate the relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process reflects the uncertainty of human thoughts with interval values instead of clear-cut numbers. It therefore allocates the relative importance of 4 criteria, notably economic impact, commercial potential, inner capacity and technical spin-off. The relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy can be measured via data envelopment analysis. It was concluded that the scientific decision making approach can be used effectively to allocate research and development resources and activities

Relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy : a fuzzy AHP/DEA hybrid model approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, S. [Korea Inst. of Energy Research, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of). Energy Policy Research Division; Mogi, G. [Tokyo Univ., (Japan). Dept. of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering; Kim, J. [Korea Inst. of Energy Research, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-07-01

As a provider of national energy security, the Korean Institute of Energy Research is seeking to establish a long term strategic technology roadmap for a hydrogen-based economy. This paper addressed 5 criteria regarding the strategy, notably economic impact, commercial potential, inner capacity, technical spinoff, and development cost. The fuzzy AHP and DEA hybrid model were used in a two-stage multi-criteria decision making approach to evaluate the relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process reflects the uncertainty of human thoughts with interval values instead of clear-cut numbers. It therefore allocates the relative importance of 4 criteria, notably economic impact, commercial potential, inner capacity and technical spin-off. The relative efficiency of hydrogen technologies for the hydrogen economy can be measured via data envelopment analysis. It was concluded that the scientific decision making approach can be used effectively to allocate research and development resources and activities.

Competence building capacity shortage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doorman, Gerard; Wangensteen, Ivar; Bakken, Bjoern

2005-02-01

1990 and if the availability of Danish import and hydropower is normal. Finally, an analysis was done of Capacity Subscription, a model where consumers pay for the capacity they use during system peak load. It was shown how this model can be embedded in the Nordic market solution. However, given the present situation which is not seen as critical, a prospective introduction of this model would lie some years into the future. Further research with respect to technological solutions and market communication should be undertaken to learn more about these central issues for this model. (author)

Toward integrated design of waste management technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carnes, S.A.; Wolfe, A.K.

1994-01-01

Implementation of waste management technologies has been hindered by the intervention of diverse interests. Relying on a perceived history of inadequate and improper management, operations, and technological design, critics have stymied the implementation of scientifically and governmentally approved technologies and facilities, leading to a critical shortage of hazardous, mixed, and radioactive waste management capacity. The research and development (R ampersand D) required to identify technologies that are simultaneously (1) scientifically valid, (2) economically sound, and (3) publicly acceptable must necessarily address, in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner, these three criteria and how best to achieve the integration of stakeholders early in the technology implementation process (i.e., R ampersand D, demonstration, and commercialization). The goal of this paper is to initiate an identification of factors likely to render radioactive and hazardous waste management technologies publicly acceptable and to provide guidance on how technological R ampersand D might be revised to enhance the acceptability of alternative waste management technologies. Principal among these factors are the equitable distribution of costs, risks, and benefits of waste management policies and technologies, the equitable distribution of authority for making waste management policy and selecting technologies for implementation, and the equitable distribution of responsibility for resolving waste management problems. Stakeholder participation in assessing the likely distribution of these factors and mitigative mechanisms to enhance their equitable distribution, together with stakeholder participation in policy and technology R ampersand D, as informed by stakeholder assessments, should enhance the identification of acceptable policies and technologies

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COAL-BASED TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FACILITIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruce G. Miller; Sharon Falcone Miller; Sarma V. Pisupati; Chunshan Song; Ronald S. Wasco; Ronald T. Wincek; Xiaochun Xu; Alan W. Scaroni; Richard Hogg; Subhash Chander; M. Thaddeus Ityokumbul; Mark S. Klima; Peter T. Luckie; Adam Rose; Richard L. Gordon; Jeffrey Lazo; A. Michael Schaal

2004-01-30

The third phase of a three-phase project investigating the development of coal-based technologies for US Department of Defense (DOD) facilities was completed. The objectives of the project were to: decrease DOD's dependence on foreign oil and increase its use of coal; promote public and private sector deployment of technologies for utilizing coal-based fuels in oil-designed combustion equipment; and provide a continuing environment for research and development of coal-based fuel technologies for small-scale applications at a time when market conditions in the US are not favorable for the introduction of coal-fired equipment in the commercial and industrial capacity ranges. The Phase III activities were focused on evaluating deeply-cleaned coals as fuels for industrial boilers and investigating emissions control strategies for providing ultra-low emissions when firing coal-based fuels. This was addressed by performing coal beneficiation and preparation studies, and bench- to demonstration-scale emissions reduction studies. In addition, economic studies were conducted focused on determining cost and market penetration, selection of incentives, and regional economic impacts of coal-based technologies.

dCache, agile adoption of storage technology

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2012-01-01

For over a decade, dCache has been synonymous with large-capacity, fault-tolerant storage using commodity hardware that supports seamless data migration to and from tape. Over that time, it has satisfied the requirements of various demanding scientific user communities to store their data, transfer it between sites and fast, site-local access. When the dCache project started, the focus was on managing a relatively small disk cache in front of large tape archives. Over the project's lifetime storage technology has changed. During this period, technology changes have driven down the cost-per-GiB of harddisks. This resulted in a shift towards systems where the majority of data is stored on disk. More recently, the availability of Solid State Disks, while not yet a replacement for magnetic disks, offers an intriguing opportunity for significant performance improvement if they can be used intelligently within an existing system. New technologies provide new opportunities and dCache user communities' computi...

Capacity Analysis of Wireless Mesh Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. I. Gumel

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The next generation wireless networks experienced a great development with emergence of wireless mesh networks (WMNs, which can be regarded as a realistic solution that provides wireless broadband access. The limited available bandwidth makes capacity analysis of the network very essential. While the network offers broadband wireless access to community and enterprise users, the problems that limit the network capacity must be addressed to exploit the optimum network performance. The wireless mesh network capacity analysis shows that the throughput of each mesh node degrades in order of l/n with increasing number of nodes (n in a linear topology. The degradation is found to be higher in a fully mesh network as a result of increase in interference and MAC layer contention in the network.

Providing Global Change Information for Decision-Making: Capturing and Presenting Provenance

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xiaogang; Fox, Peter; Tilmes, Curt; Jacobs, Katherine; Waple, Anne

2014-01-01

Global change information demands access to data sources and well-documented provenance to provide evidence needed to build confidence in scientific conclusions and, in specific applications, to ensure the information's suitability for use in decision-making. A new generation of Web technology, the Semantic Web, provides tools for that purpose. The topic of global change covers changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric composition and or chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life and support human systems. Data and findings associated with global change research are of great public, government, and academic concern and are used in policy and decision-making, which makes the provenance of global change information especially important. In addition, since different types of decisions benefit from different types of information, understanding how to capture and present the provenance of global change information is becoming more of an imperative in adaptive planning.

Required storage capacity to increase the value of renewable energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nacht, T.

2014-01-01

The effort to achieve a more eco - friendly production of energy leads to larger shares of renewables in the electricity sector, resulting in more supply - dependency and volatility. This results in a time shift between production and consumption. In order to gain an upper hand, possibilities for transferring renewable energies from the time of production to the time when the demand occurs are researched. Energy storage systems will play a big role in this process, with pumped storage plants being the most developed and most common technology nowadays. As a first part of this thesis, the renewables in Germany are studied through the use of models on the basis of hourly measured values of the primary energy carriers for the corresponding technology. For these data series many years’ worth of measurements were considered, resulting in data for the hourly production values of the renewable energy sources. The results show a strong dependency between production and the seasons of the year. Furthermore a very small secured contribution of renewable production during times of peak load is registered, leading to the conclusion that energy storages are indeed necessary. Different strategies for the dispatch of the storage technologies pumped hydro storage, compressed air storage and hydrogen storage are developed for the region of Germany, which will be dispatched outside the energy - only market. The different strategies for the storage dispatch have the reduction of the resulting load in common, by preferably transferring renewable energy from times when it is not needed to those times with high loads. This resulting load needs to be covered by thermal power plants. The required capacities of the different storage technologies are evaluated and compared. By using pumped storage plants the increase in the value of renewables, as measured by the secure contribution during peak load hours, is determined. An analysis of different compositions of renewable production allows

Colloidal silica films for high-capacity DNA arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Glazer, Marc Irving

The human genome project has greatly expanded the amount of genetic information available to researchers, but before this vast new source of data can be fully utilized, techniques for rapid, large-scale analysis of DNA and RNA must continue to develop. DNA arrays have emerged as a powerful new technology for analyzing genomic samples in a highly parallel format. The detection sensitivity of these arrays is dependent on the quantity and density of immobilized probe molecules. We have investigated substrates with a porous, "three-dimensional" surface layer as a means of increasing the surface area available for the synthesis of oligonucleotide probes, thereby increasing the number of available probes and the amount of detectable bound target. Porous colloidal silica films were created by two techniques. In the first approach, films were deposited by spin-coating silica colloid suspensions onto flat glass substrates, with the pores being formed by the natural voids between the solid particles (typically 23nm pores, 35% porosity). In the second approach, latex particles were co-deposited with the silica and then pyrolyzed, creating films with larger pores (36 nm), higher porosity (65%), and higher surface area. For 0.3 mum films, enhancements of eight to ten-fold and 12- to 14-fold were achieved with the pure silica films and the films "templated" with polymer latex, respectively. In gene expression assays for up to 7,000 genes using complex biological samples, the high-capacity films provided enhanced signals and performed equivalently or better than planar glass on all other functional measures, confirming that colloidal silica films are a promising platform for high-capacity DNA arrays. We have also investigated the kinetics of hybridization on planar glass and high-capacity substrates. Adsorption on planar arrays is similar to ideal Langmuir-type adsorption, although with an "overshoot" at high solution concentration. Hybridization on high-capacity films is

New Orleans Capacity Building Pilot Project

Science.gov (United States)

A series of meetings involving the Port of New Orleans and near-port community organizations were convened for a community capacity building pilot project. Technical assistance is being provided by EPA to support effective engagement.

High capacity carbon dioxide sorbent

Science.gov (United States)

Dietz, Steven Dean; Alptekin, Gokhan; Jayaraman, Ambalavanan

2015-09-01

The present invention provides a sorbent for the removal of carbon dioxide from gas streams, comprising: a CO.sub.2 capacity of at least 9 weight percent when measured at 22.degree. C. and 1 atmosphere; an H.sub.2O capacity of at most 15 weight percent when measured at 25.degree. C. and 1 atmosphere; and an isosteric heat of adsorption of from 5 to 8.5 kilocalories per mole of CO.sub.2. The invention also provides a carbon sorbent in a powder, a granular or a pellet form for the removal of carbon dioxide from gas streams, comprising: a carbon content of at least 90 weight percent; a nitrogen content of at least 1 weight percent; an oxygen content of at most 3 weight percent; a BET surface area from 50 to 2600 m.sup.2/g; and a DFT micropore volume from 0.04 to 0.8 cc/g.

Methodological Capacity within the Field of "Educational Technology" Research: An Initial Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Bulfin, Scott; Henderson, Michael; Johnson, Nicola F.; Selwyn, Neil

2014-01-01

The academic study of educational technology is often characterised by critics as methodologically limited. In order to test this assumption, the present paper reports on data collected from a survey of 462 "research active" academic researchers working in the broad areas of educational technology and educational media. The paper…

Final Report on the Proposal to Provide Asian Science and Technology Information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kahaner, David K. [Asian Technology Information Program

2003-07-23

The Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP) conducted a seven-month Asian science and technology information program for the Office:of Energy Research (ER), U.S: Department of Energy (DOE.) The seven-month program consists of 1) monitoring, analyzing, and dissemiuating science and technology trends and developments associated with Asian high performance computing and communications (HPC), networking, and associated topics, 2) access to ATIP's annual series of Asian S&T reports for ER and HPC related personnel and, 3) supporting DOE and ER designated visits to Asia to study and assess Asian HPC.

Research, Calculation for Designing the Technological Equipment Line of Cementation with 3,000 Tonnes of Solid Waste/Year Capacity for ZOC Plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran Van Hoa; Ngo Van Tuyen; Nguyen Ba Tien; Le Ba Thuan; Phung Quoc Khanh; Mai Duc Lanh; Vuong Huu Anh; Luu Cao Nguyen; Duong Dinh Tho; Phung Vu Phong; Nguyen An Thai; Pham Quang Minh

2013-01-01

Technological process and equipment line for cementation with 3,000 tons of solid wastes/year capacity for ZOC plant was studied according to the quantity, the composition and the property of solid wastes from ZOC plant. The influence of several parameters with cementation process such as cement mixing ratio, size, moisture and NaCl content in residue, which affected to mechanical and chemical strength of waste block after cementation was evaluated. The calculation and designing for cementation equipment line were thus conducted and total investment cost of construction and installation as well as operation of this equipment line was also estimated. Radiation safety and environmental protection for waste treatment facility was calculated and the design on radiation safety and environmental protection for equipment line was proposed. Technological process and design document of this production line seemed to be reasonable because it is consistent with properties of wastes as well as it has been commonly used in the world to stabilize solid residues in nuclear industry. The advantages of this propose were simple structure of the devices, locally made, easy operation, locally available and inexpensive materials resulting in low cost of investment and operation. (author)

Predicting the market penetration of the next generation of coal-fired technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guha, M.K.; McCall, G.W.

1990-01-01

This paper discusses what role clean coal-fired technology will have in future generating capacity based on availability and prices of coal and natural gas, the nuclear option, environmental regulations, limitations of current air pollution control technologies, and economics. The topics of the paper include the need for new electric generating capacity, why coal must remain a source of energy for generating electricity, technology effectiveness and market penetration analysis methodologies, coal-fired technology economic and technical assumptions, cost estimates, and high and low growth scenarios

Capacity pricing in a free market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wangensteen, Ivar; Wolfgang, Ove; Doorman, Gerard

2005-01-01

This report deals primarily with pricing of reserve capacity, partly on a theoretical basis and partly based on practical experience from the Norwegian market. In the theoretical part we describe a simple model for investigation of equilibrium prices on capacity reserves, spot power and regulating power. This model is based on strong simplifying assumptions. Next a computer model is introduced. That enables more complexity and makes it possible to analyse more realistic scenarios. Finally the report describes experiences from the Norwegian market. The Norwegian System Operator, Statnett, is responsible for the Balancing Market (BM) and Reserves Option Market (ROM), which was introduced a few years ago as a separate market for reserves. Experience with these market instruments are generally good and Statnett is preparing a new version for the winter 2004/2005. The report deals with generation as well as consumer side capacity reserves. One interesting observation is that in Norway the consumer side is providing more capacity reserves than the generators, but the consumers normally bid in a higher BM price than the generators. (author)

Sustainability of University Technology Transfer: Mediating Effect of Inventor’s Technology Service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fang Li

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Based on the perspective of knowledge transfer and the technology acceptance model (TAM, this paper constructs a university technology transfer sustainable development model that considers the inventor’s technology service from the perspective of the long-term cooperation of enterprise, and analyzes the mediating effect of the inventor’s technology service on university technology transfer sustainability. By using 270 questionnaires as survey data, it is found that the availability of an inventor’s technology service has a significant positive impact on the attitude tendency and practice tendency of enterprise long-term technological cooperation; enterprise technology absorption capacity and trust between a university and an enterprise also have significant influence on an inventor’s technical service availability. Therefore, the inventor’s technology service acts as a mediator in the relationship between university technology transfer sustainability and influence factors. Universities ought to establish the technology transfer model, which focuses on the inventor’s tacit knowledge transfer service, and promotes the sustainable development of the university.

76 FR 41297 - Grant Program To Build Tribal Energy Development Capacity

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-13

.... Determine what process(es) and/or procedure(s) may be used to eliminate capacity gaps or sustain the... Ineligible for TEDC Grant Funding Feasibility studies and energy resource assessments; Purchase of resource assessment data; Research and development of speculative or unproven technologies; Purchase or lease of...

Assessment of capacity-building activities for forest measurement, reporting, and verification, 2011–15

Science.gov (United States)

Peneva-Reed, Elitsa I.; Romijn, J. Erika

2018-05-31

This report was written as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey, SilvaCarbon, and Wageningen University with funding provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the European Space Agency, respectively, to address a pressing need for enhanced result-based monitoring and evaluation of delivered capacity-building activities. For this report, the capacity-building activities delivered by capacity-building providers (referred to as “providers” hereafter) during 2011–15 (the study period) to support countries in building measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) were assessed and evaluated.Summarizing capacity-building activities and outcomes across multiple providers was challenging. Many of the providers did not have information readily available, which precluded them from participating in this study despite the usefulness of their information. This issue led to a key proposed future action: Capacity-building providers could establish a central repository within the Global Forestry Observation Initiative (GFOI; http://www.gfoi.org/) where data from past, current, and future activities of all capacity-building providers could be stored. The repository could be maintained in a manner to continually learn from previous lessons.Although various providers monitored and evaluated the success of their capacity-building activities, such evaluations only assessed the success of immediate outcomes and not the overarching outcomes and impacts of activities implemented by multiple providers. Good monitoring and evaluation should continuously monitor and periodically evaluate all factors affecting the outcomes of a provided capacity-building activity.The absence of a methodology to produce quantitative evidence of a causal link between multiple capacity-building activities delivered and successful outcomes left only a plausible association. A previous

Trends in Wind Energy Technology Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Flemming; Madsen, Peter Hauge; Tande, John O.

2011-01-01

. The huge potential of wind, the rapid development of the technology and the impressive growth of the industry justify the perception that wind energy is changing its role to become the future backbone of a secure global energy supply. Between the mid-1980s, when the wind industry took off, and 2005 wind......Text Over the past 25 years global wind energy capacity has doubled every three years, corresponding to a tenfold expansion every decade. By the end of 2010 global installed wind capacity was approximately 200 GW and in 2011 is expected to produce about 2% of global electricity consumption...... turbine technology has seen rapid development, leading to impressive increases in the size of turbines, with corresponding cost reductions. From 2005 to 2009 the industry’s focus seems to have been on increasing manufacturing capacity, meeting market demand and making wind turbines more reliable...

New technologies provide insights into genetic basis of psychiatric disorders and explain their co-morbidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudan, Igor

2010-06-01

The completion of Human Genome Project and the "HapMap" project was followed by translational activities from companies within the private sector. This led to the introduction of genome-wide scans based on hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphysms (SNP). These scans were based on common genetic variants in human populations. This new and powerful technology was then applied to the existing DNA-based datasets with information on psychiatric disorders. As a result, an unprecedented amount of novel scientific insights related to the underlying biology and genetics of psychiatric disorders was obtained. The dominant design of these studies, so called "genome-wide association studies" (GWAS), used statistical methods which minimized the risk of false positive reports and provided much greater power to detect genotype-phenotype associations. All findings were entirely data-driven rather than hypothesis-driven, which often made it difficult for researchers to understand or interpret the findings. Interestingly, this work in genetics is indicating how non-specific some genes are for psychiatric disorders, having associations in common for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism. This suggests that the earlier stages of psychiatric disorders may be multi-valent and that early detection, coupled with a clearer understanding of the environmental factors, may allow prevention. At the present time, the rich "harvest" from GWAS still has very limited power to predict the variation in psychiatric disease status at individual level, typically explaining less than 5% of the total risk variance. The most recent studies of common genetic variation implicated the role of major histocompatibility complex in schizophrenia and other disorders. They also provided molecular evidence for a substantial polygenic component to the risk of psychiatric diseases, involving thousands of common alleles of very small effect. The studies of structural genetic variation, such as copy

COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING FOR REVITALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE REDEVELOPMENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Downing, Melinda; Rosenthall, John; Hudson, Michelle

2003-02-27

Capacity building programs help poor and disadvantaged communities to improve their ability to participate in the environmental decision-making processes. They encourage citizen involvement, and provide the tools that enable them to do so. Capacity building enables communities that would otherwise be excluded to participate in the process, leading to better, and more just decisions. The Department of Energy (DOE) continues to be committed to promoting environmental justice and involving its stakeholders more directly in the planning and decision-making process for environmental cleanup. DOE's Environmental Management Program (EM) is in full support of this commitment. Through its environmental justice project, EM provides communities with the capacity to effectively contribute to a complex technical decision-making process by furnishing access to computers, the Internet, training and technical assistance. DOE's Dr. Samuel P. Massie Chairs of Excellence Program (Massie Chairs) function as technical advisors to many of these community projects. The Massie Chairs consist of nationally and internationally recognized engineers and scientists from nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and one Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). This paper will discuss capacity building initiatives in various jurisdictions.

Mental Disorders and Decision-Making Capacity: What Is the Role of Law?

Science.gov (United States)

Rommelaere, Claire

2015-03-01

When a patient appears to have a mental disorder, doubts may arise about his or her decision-making capacity. Health professionals must then assess the patient's capacity in order to make sure of the validity of his or her consent or refusal. Incapacity has indeed legal consequences, as law provides for the appointment of a surrogate decision-maker in case of incapacity. With Belgian law as a point of departure, this contribution is aiming at identifying the role of law in capacity assessment itself, prior to the decision about (in)capacity. In order to protect the patient's rights and to support the task of those carrying out the assessment, law should provide for a global definition of decigion-making capacity and for a frame-procedure guiding this assessment. In my opinion, it is possible for law to contribute to the complex task of capacity assessment without interfering embarrassingly with healthcare practice.

Secure, Mobile, Wireless Network Technology Designed, Developed, and Demonstrated

Science.gov (United States)

Ivancic, William D.; Paulsen, Phillip E.

2004-01-01

The inability to seamlessly disseminate data securely over a high-integrity, wireless broadband network has been identified as a primary technical barrier to providing an order-of-magnitude increase in aviation capacity and safety. Secure, autonomous communications to and from aircraft will enable advanced, automated, data-intensive air traffic management concepts, increase National Air Space (NAS) capacity, and potentially reduce the overall cost of air travel operations. For the first time ever, secure, mobile, network technology was designed, developed, and demonstrated with state-ofthe- art protocols and applications by a diverse, cooperative Government-industry team led by the NASA Glenn Research Center. This revolutionary technology solution will make fundamentally new airplane system capabilities possible by enabling secure, seamless network connections from platforms in motion (e.g., cars, ships, aircraft, and satellites) to existing terrestrial systems without the need for manual reconfiguration. Called Mobile Router, the new technology autonomously connects and configures networks as they traverse from one operating theater to another. The Mobile Router demonstration aboard the Neah Bay, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel stationed in Cleveland, Ohio, accomplished secure, seamless interoperability of mobile network systems across multiple domains without manual system reconfiguration. The Neah Bay was chosen because of its low cost and communications mission similarity to low-Earth-orbiting satellite platforms. This technology was successfully advanced from technology readiness level (TRL) 2 (concept and/or application formation) to TRL 6 (system model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment). The secure, seamless interoperability offered by the Mobile Router and encryption device will enable several new, vehicle-specific and systemwide technologies to perform such things as remote, autonomous aircraft performance monitoring and early detection and

Life cycle environmental impact of high-capacity lithium ion battery with silicon nanowires anode for electric vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bingbing; Gao, Xianfeng; Li, Jianyang; Yuan, Chris

2014-01-01

Although silicon nanowires (SiNW) have been widely studied as an ideal material for developing high-capacity lithium ion batteries (LIBs) for electric vehicles (EVs), little is known about the environmental impacts of such a new EV battery pack during its whole life cycle. This paper reports a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a high-capacity LIB pack using SiNW prepared via metal-assisted chemical etching as anode material. The LCA study is conducted based on the average U.S. driving and electricity supply conditions. Nanowastes and nanoparticle emissions from the SiNW synthesis are also characterized and reported. The LCA results show that over 50% of most characterized impacts are generated from the battery operations, while the battery anode with SiNW material contributes to around 15% of global warming potential and 10% of human toxicity potential. Overall the life cycle impacts of this new battery pack are moderately higher than those of conventional LIBs but could be actually comparable when considering the uncertainties and scale-up potential of the technology. These results are encouraging because they not only provide a solid base for sustainable development of next generation LIBs but also confirm that appropriate nanomanufacturing technologies could be used in sustainable product development.

THE TECHNIQUE OF DIAGNOSTICS OF THE PRODUCTION CAPACITY OF THE ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. S. Popova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the article due to the need for diagnostics of the production capacity of the organization. Formed methodological framework for evaluating the production potential of the organization. Research capacity will also enable the organization to timely respond to current changes. A classification of types of diagnostics of the production capacity of the organization according to the following criteria: timing, goals, content, purpose results. The article discusses the economic and organizational diagnosis of the production capacity of the organization. Economic diagnosis is based on the calculation of indicators of use of resources of the organization. Organizational diagnosis assesses the security of the organization's activities. Diagnosis productive capacity is the basis for improvement of the organization's activities. Defined diagnostics of the production capacity of the organization. Justified the selection stages of the research production potential. The first stage is the preliminary diagnosis. The second stage provides for the rapid diagnosis of production potential. At the third stage it is advisable to perform problem diagnosis. Problem diagnosis consists of economic and organizational diagnosis. Economic diagnosis assesses the state of the elements of the production potential of the organization. Organizational diagnostics analyses provide productive capacity. The fourth stage is represented by the solution of the problems of utilization of production capacity. Each stage is considered, has its content and specific diagnostic methods of production potential. This method allows determining the state of the elements, the efficiency of utilization of production capacity. The estimation of the production potential is based on the application of utility theory. This assessment provides a definition of the criteria and the scale of usefulness. This will allow you to measure the production potential numerically. In the end, it is revealed

An Empirical Study on Entrepreneurial Orientation, Absorptive Capacity, and SMEs’ Innovation Performance: A Sustainable Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Ming Zhai

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Using a survey of 324 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs of the Yangtze River Delta in China, this study discusses the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacity, environmental dynamism, and corporate technological innovation performance. The results based on a moderated moderation model show that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance is significantly positive. The absorptive capacity can positively moderate this relationship. When the external environment is in high dynamism, the moderating effect of absorptive capacity will be stronger than when the environment is in low dynamism.

Reductions in labour capacity from heat stress under climate warming

Science.gov (United States)

Dunne, John P.; Stouffer, Ronald J.; John, Jasmin G.

2013-06-01

A fundamental aspect of greenhouse-gas-induced warming is a global-scale increase in absolute humidity. Under continued warming, this response has been shown to pose increasingly severe limitations on human activity in tropical and mid-latitudes during peak months of heat stress. One heat-stress metric with broad occupational health applications is wet-bulb globe temperature. We combine wet-bulb globe temperatures from global climate historical reanalysis and Earth System Model (ESM2M) projections with industrial and military guidelines for an acclimated individual's occupational capacity to safely perform sustained labour under environmental heat stress (labour capacity)--here defined as a global population-weighted metric temporally fixed at the 2010 distribution. We estimate that environmental heat stress has reduced labour capacity to 90% in peak months over the past few decades. ESM2M projects labour capacity reduction to 80% in peak months by 2050. Under the highest scenario considered (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5), ESM2M projects labour capacity reduction to less than 40% by 2200 in peak months, with most tropical and mid-latitudes experiencing extreme climatological heat stress. Uncertainties and caveats associated with these projections include climate sensitivity, climate warming patterns, CO2 emissions, future population distributions, and technological and societal change.

For a better understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change: a research framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magnan, Alexandre

2010-05-01

It is generally accepted that there exists a systematic link between a low level of adaptive capacity and a low level of development, which thus implies that the poor inevitably have low adaptive capacities. We argue here that this viewpoint is biased because adaptation to climate change is not solely determined by economic and technological capacities. Many other characteristics of a community can play a major role in its ability to react to and anticipate climate changes (e.g. the territorial identity or the social relationships). From our point of view, this limited view of adaptive capacity is related to a relative immaturity of the science of adaptation, a discipline that analyses the processes and determinants of adaptive capacity. This can be explained by the fact that there are currently few existing frameworks for studying adaptive capacity. This paper consists in a proposal for a research framework which is based upon four main fields of investigation: (i) the influential factors of adaptive capacity and their interactions, (ii) the relevant spatial and temporal scales of adaptive capacity, (iii) the links between adaptive capacity, vulnerability and the level of development and (iv) the theoretical links between adaptation and sustainability. These four fields of research should bring new knowledge on adaptive capacity and feed a more general reflection on the adaptation pathways for dealing with climate change. (author)

Draft environmental impact statement for the siting, construction, and operation of New Production Reactor capacity. Volume 3, Sections 7-12, Appendices A-C

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-04-01

This Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assesses the potential environmental impacts, both on a broad programmatic level and on a project-specific level, concerning a proposed action to provide new tritium production capacity to meet the nation`s nuclear defense requirements well into the 21st century. A capacity equivalent to that of about a 3,000-megawatt (thermal) heavy-water reactor was assumed as a reference basis for analysis in this EIS; this is the approximate capacity of the existing production reactors at DOE`s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. The EIS programmatic alternatives address Departmental decisions to be made on whether to build new production facilities, whether to build one or more complexes, what size production capacity to provide, and when to provide this capacity. Project-specific impacts for siting, constructing, and operating new production reactor capacity are assessed for three alternative sites: the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington; the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho; and the Savannah River Site. For each site, the impacts of three reactor technologies (and supporting facilities) are assessed: a heavy-water reactor, a light-water reactor, and a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. Impacts of the no-action alternative also are assessed. The EIS evaluates impacts related to air quality; noise levels; surface water, groundwater, and wetlands; land use; recreation; visual environment; biotic resources; historical, archaeological, and cultural resources; socioeconomics; transportation; waste management; and human health and safety. The EIS describes in detail the potential radioactive releases from new production reactors and support facilities and assesses the potential doses to workers and the general public. This volume contains references; a list of preparers and recipients; acronyms, abbreviations, and units of measure; a glossary; an index and three appendices.

Station Capacity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landex, Alex

2011-01-01

the probability of conflicts and the minimum headway times into account. The last method analyzes how optimal platform tracks are used by examining the arrival and departure pattern of the trains. The developed methods can either be used separately to analyze specific characteristics of the capacity of a station......Stations are often limiting the capacity of railway networks. This is due to extra need of tracks when trains stand still, trains turning around, and conflicting train routes. Although stations are often the capacity bottlenecks, most capacity analysis methods focus on open line capacity. Therefore...... for platform tracks and the probability that arriving trains will not get a platform track immediately at arrival. The third method is a scalable method that analyzes the conflicts in the switch zone(s). In its simplest stage, the method just analyzes the track layout while the more advanced stages also take...

Battery designs with high capacity anode materials and cathode materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masarapu, Charan; Anguchamy, Yogesh Kumar; Han, Yongbong; Deng, Haixia; Kumar, Sujeet; Lopez, Herman A.

2017-10-03

Improved high energy capacity designs for lithium ion batteries are described that take advantage of the properties of high specific capacity anode active compositions and high specific capacity cathode active compositions. In particular, specific electrode designs provide for achieving very high energy densities. Furthermore, the complex behavior of the active materials is used advantageously in a radical electrode balancing design that significantly reduced wasted electrode capacity in either electrode when cycling under realistic conditions of moderate to high discharge rates and/or over a reduced depth of discharge.

High-quality and small-capacity e-learning video featuring lecturer-superimposing PC screen images

Science.gov (United States)

Nomura, Yoshihiko; Murakami, Michinobu; Sakamoto, Ryota; Sugiura, Tokuhiro; Matsui, Hirokazu; Kato, Norihiko

2006-10-01

Information processing and communication technology are progressing quickly, and are prevailing throughout various technological fields. Therefore, the development of such technology should respond to the needs for improvement of quality in the e-learning education system. The authors propose a new video-image compression processing system that ingeniously employs the features of the lecturing scene. While dynamic lecturing scene is shot by a digital video camera, screen images are electronically stored by a PC screen image capturing software in relatively long period at a practical class. Then, a lecturer and a lecture stick are extracted from the digital video images by pattern recognition techniques, and the extracted images are superimposed on the appropriate PC screen images by off-line processing. Thus, we have succeeded to create a high-quality and small-capacity (HQ/SC) video-on-demand educational content featuring the advantages: the high quality of image sharpness, the small electronic file capacity, and the realistic lecturer motion.

Information Technology and Aesthetics: Passive and Active Dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D Haynes

2007-09-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with examining and recognizing aesthetics in an Information System (an organization incorporating both humans and information technology. Aesthetics emerge from the wholeness of things, not from specific parts or components. As such, aesthetics may naturally be considered in “systems”, and we propose that an effective manner of thinking of aesthetics is to think in terms of “themes”. Humans have an extraordinary capacity to capture events thematically. In other words, human beings have a natural sense of aesthetics. To examine aesthetics in an information systems context, we argue that one must consider not only aesthetics that may be perceived by the senses (a passive dimension, but also aesthetics that may be conceived in the mind (an active dimension. This paper draws the conclusion that the benefits of aesthetics in relation to the study of Information Systems, has characteristics similar to the nature and importance of ethics in IS. Also, the study of aesthetics in IS has greater implications than simply recognizing and appreciating beauty and art. The very human capacity for recognizing and appreciating beauty and art is also the same capacity for effective creativity and happiness: the active aesthetic dimension. It follows that if an information system encouraged and provided the enabling circumstances for the human capacity of thematic recognition (as found in the human appreciation of art and beauty it thereby also provides the ground and the necessary thematically recognizable stimulus for effective creative and visionary organizational management.

Harnessing the sun: Developing capacity to sustain local solar energy systems

Science.gov (United States)

Olarewaju, Olufemi

2011-12-01

Use of solar photovoltaic (PV) and other renewable sources to meet rising electricity demand by a growing world population has gained traction in many countries in recent years. In rural Sub-Saharan Africa, where 86 percent of the populace has no access to electricity, solar energy systems represent partial solutions to demand, especially in support of rural development initiatives to supply potable water, health care services and education. Unfortunately, development of human and organizational capacity to maintain solar technology has not kept pace with the rate of installation, causing many to fall into disrepair and disuse. This has stimulated interest in capacity development processes required to make solar systems sustainable. To cast light on the practical meanings and challenges of capacity development for solar energy, this study compares the experiences of two rural projects, one in Lagos State (Nigeria) that disregarded the importance of capacity development, and the other in Texas (United States) that, in contrast, made such development the centerpiece of its operations. Based largely on interviews with 60 key actors, findings underscore the crucial importance of sustained investment in capacity development to assurance of durable power supply from renewable sources.

Assessing Capacity for Providing Culturally Competent Services to LGBT Older Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Portz, Jennifer Dickman; Retrum, Jessica H.; Wright, Leslie A.; Boggs, Jennifer M.; Wilkins, Shari; Grimm, Cathy; Gilchrist, Kay; Gozansky, Wendolyn S.

2014-01-01

This qualitative, interview-based study assessed the cultural competence of health and social service providers to meet the needs of LGBT older adults in an urban neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, known to have a large LGBT community. Only 4 of the agencies were categorized as “high competency” while 12 were felt to be “seeking improvement” and 8 were considered “not aware.” These results indicate significant gaps in cultural competency for the majority of service providers. Social workers are well-suited to lead efforts directed at improving service provision and care competencies for the older LGBT community. PMID:24798180

Capacity Ten-Seven

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-05-04

The study was initiated to assemble UK solar experts who would define the parameters for the design of solar cell process plant with a capacity of about 10MWp per annum and establish the optimum substrate size, cell configuration and junction structure and show that these characteristics are suited to high volume low cost production. The study focused on proven materials and techniques rather than on innovative materials and processes. Peak production should deliver panels at a cost of less than $1 per peak watt. The study was reported under the headings of fundamental studies, front contact deposition, semiconductor deposition, rear contact deposition, cell isolation and initial design study. Since much of the work is commercially sensitive, not all findings are divulged in the report. The work, which achieved all its targets, was carried out by ICP Solar Technologies UK Ltd under contract to the DTI.

Using mobile phone technology to provide recovery support for women offenders.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Christy K; Johnson, Kimberly; Dennis, Michael L

2013-10-01

Mobile technology holds promise as a recovery tool for people with substance use disorders. However, some populations who may benefit the most may not have access to or experience with mobile phones. Incarcerated women represent a group at high risk for recidivism and relapse to substance abuse. Cost-effective mechanisms must be in place to support their recovery upon release. This study explores using mobile technology as a recovery management tool for women offenders residing in the community following release from jail. This study surveyed 325 minority women offenders with substance use disorders to determine whether or not they use cell phones, their comfort with texting and search features, and the social networks that they access from mobile phones. We found that 83% of survey subjects had cell phones; 30% of those were smartphones. Seventy-seven percent of the women reported access to supportive friends, and 88% had close family members they contacted regularly using mobile technology. Results indicated that most of the women were comfortable using a mobile phone, although the majority of them had prepaid minutes rather than plans, and most did currently use smartphones or have the capability to download applications or access social networks via their phones. Most women reported that they would be comfortable using a mobile phone to text, e-mail, and answer surveys. The high rate of adoption of mobile technology by women offenders makes them a promising target for recovery support delivered via mobile phone.

Choices of capture chromatography technology in antibody manufacturing processes.

Science.gov (United States)

DiLeo, Michael; Ley, Arthur; Nixon, Andrew E; Chen, Jie

2017-11-15

The capture process employed in monoclonal antibody downstream purification is not only the most critically impacted process by increased antibody titer resulting from optimized mammalian cell culture expression systems, but also the most important purification step in determining overall process throughput, product quality, and economics. Advances in separation technology for capturing antibodies from complex feedstocks have been one focus of downstream purification process innovation for past 10 years. In this study, we evaluated new generation chromatography resins used in the antibody capture process including Protein A, cation exchange, and mixed mode chromatography to address the benefits and unique challenges posed by each chromatography approach. Our results demonstrate the benefit of improved binding capacity of new generation Protein A resins, address the concern of high concentration surge caused aggregation when using new generation cation exchange resins with over 100mg/mL binding capacity, and highlight the potential of multimodal cation exchange resins for capture process design. The new landscape of capture chromatography technologies provides options to achieve overall downstream purification outcome with high product quality and process efficiency. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aptamer-based technology for food analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaofei; Zhang, Xuewu

2015-01-01

Aptamers are short and functional single-stranded oligonucleotide sequences selected from systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) process, which have the capacity to recognize various classes of target molecules with high affinity and specificity. Various analytical aptamers acquired by SELEX are widely used in many research fields, such as medicine, biology, and chemistry. However, the application of this innovative and emerging technology to food safety is just in infant stage. Food safety plays a very important role in our daily lives because varieties of poisonous and harmful substances in food affect human health. Aptamer technique is promising, which can overcome many disadvantages of existing detection methods in food safety, such as long detection time, low sensitivity, difficult, and expensive antibody preparation. This review provides an overview of various aptamer screening technologies and summarizes the recent applications of aptamers in food safety, and future prospects are also discussed.

Youth self-formation and the 'capacity to aspire': The itinerant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The article employs the lenses of 'aspiration', 'space', and 'technologies of self' to present the argument that his 'capacity to aspire' has to be understood on the basis of his active self-formation and disciplining, accumulated across the itinerant spaces of his life. The aim of this article is to open a window onto how young ...

High voltage and high specific capacity dual intercalating electrode Li-ion batteries

Science.gov (United States)

West, William C. (Inventor); Blanco, Mario (Inventor)

2010-01-01

The present invention provides high capacity and high voltage Li-ion batteries that have a carbonaceous cathode and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution comprising LiF salt and an anion receptor that binds the fluoride ion. The batteries can comprise dual intercalating electrode Li ion batteries. Methods of the present invention use a cathode and electrode pair, wherein each of the electrodes reversibly intercalate ions provided by a LiF salt to make a high voltage and high specific capacity dual intercalating electrode Li-ion battery. The present methods and systems provide high-capacity batteries particularly useful in powering devices where minimizing battery mass is important.

High-Capacity Hydrogen-Based Green-Energy Storage Solutions For The Grid Balancing

Science.gov (United States)

D'Errico, F.; Screnci, A.

One of the current main challenges in green-power storage and smart grids is the lack of effective solutions for accommodating the unbalance between renewable energy sources, that offer intermittent electricity supply, and a variable electricity demand. Energy management systems have to be foreseen for the near future, while they still represent a major challenge. Integrating intermittent renewable energy sources, by safe and cost-effective energy storage systems based on solid state hydrogen is today achievable thanks to recently some technology breakthroughs. Optimized solid storage method made of magnesium-based hydrides guarantees a very rapid absorption and desorption kinetics. Coupled with electrolyzer technology, high-capacity storage of green-hydrogen is therefore practicable. Besides these aspects, magnesium has been emerging as environmentally friend energy storage method to sustain integration, monitoring and control of large quantity of GWh from high capacity renewable generation in the EU.

A concept of an electricity storage system with 50 MWh storage capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Józef Paska

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Electricity storage devices can be divided into indirect storage technology devices (involving electricity conversion into another form of energy, and direct storage (in an electric or magnetic fi eld. Electricity storage technologies include: pumped-storage power plants, BES Battery Energy Storage, CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage, Supercapacitors, FES Flywheel Energy Storage, SMES Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage, FC Fuel Cells reverse or operated in systems with electrolysers and hydrogen storage. These technologies have diff erent technical characteristics and economic parameters that determine their usability. This paper presents two concepts of an electricity storage tank with a storage capacity of at least 50 MWh, using the BES battery energy storage and CAES compressed air energy storage technologies.

Short-term memory capacity in networks via the restricted isometry property.

Science.gov (United States)

Charles, Adam S; Yap, Han Lun; Rozell, Christopher J

2014-06-01

Cortical networks are hypothesized to rely on transient network activity to support short-term memory (STM). In this letter, we study the capacity of randomly connected recurrent linear networks for performing STM when the input signals are approximately sparse in some basis. We leverage results from compressed sensing to provide rigorous nonasymptotic recovery guarantees, quantifying the impact of the input sparsity level, the input sparsity basis, and the network characteristics on the system capacity. Our analysis demonstrates that network memory capacities can scale superlinearly with the number of nodes and in some situations can achieve STM capacities that are much larger than the network size. We provide perfect recovery guarantees for finite sequences and recovery bounds for infinite sequences. The latter analysis predicts that network STM systems may have an optimal recovery length that balances errors due to omission and recall mistakes. Furthermore, we show that the conditions yielding optimal STM capacity can be embodied in several network topologies, including networks with sparse or dense connectivities.

EFFECT OF CALCIUM ADDITION ON THE DEFLUORIDATION CAPACITY OF BONE CHAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, P.; Dahi, Elian

1997-01-01

Dosage of small amounts of calcium chloride to fluoride water prior to contact with bone char which has already been saturated with fluoride is shown to provide an additional fluoride removal capacity. The additionally obtained removal capacity increases with slower filtration velocities...... to be capable of reducing the fluoride concentration form 10 to about 0.5 mgF/L. The additionally saturated column is shown to be regenerated by simple adjustment of the pH of the water to 11 and allowing to flow for a few bed volumes. The useful regeneration capacity, where the fluoride concentration...... and increasing calcium dosage. A filtration velocity of 0.07 m/h, corresponding to a contact time of about 2 hours, and a dosage of 100 mgCa/L, are shown to provide an additional removal capacity of about 3 mgF/g, i.e. almost a doubling of the genuine removal capacity of the bone char. The process is shown...

Implications of water constraints for electricity capacity expansion in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; Hejazi, M. I.; Iyer, G.; Forman, B. A.

2017-12-01

U.S. electricity generation is vulnerable to water supply since water is required for cooling. Constraints on the availability of water will therefore necessitate adaptive planning by the power generation sector. Hence, it is important to integrate restrictions in water availability in electricity capacity planning in order to better understand the economic viability of alternative capacity planning options. The study of the implications of water constraints for the U.S. power generation system is limited in terms of scale and robustness. We extend previous studies by including physical water constraints in a state-level model of the U.S. energy system embedded within a global integrated assessment model (GCAM-USA). We focus on the implications of such constraints for the U.S. electricity capacity expansion, integrating both supply and demand effects under a consistent framework. Constraints on the availability of water have two general effects across the U.S. First, water availability constraints increase the cost of electricity generation, resulting in reduced electrification of end-use sectors. Second, water availability constraints result in forced retirements of water-intensive technologies such as thermoelectric coal- and gas- fired technologies before the end of their natural lifetimes. The demand for electricity is then met by an increase in investments in less water-dependent technologies such as wind and solar photovoltaic. Our results show that the regional patterns of the above effects are heterogeneous across the U.S. In general, the impacts of water constraints on electricity capacity expansion are more pronounced in the West than in the East. This is largely because of lower water availability in the West compared to the East due to lower precipitation in the Western states. Constraints on the availability of water might also have important implications for U.S. electricity trade. For example, under severe constraints on the availability of water

Electricity capacity expansion in a Cournot duopoly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brondbo, Helene K.; Storebo, Axel; Fleten, Stein Erik

2017-01-01

This paper adopts a real options approach to analyze marginal investments in power markets with heterogeneous technologies and time-varying demand. We compare the investment behavior of two firms in a Cournot duopoly to a central planner's when two categories of power plants are available; base a...... that this results in welfare losses above 10 %, and significantly larger reduction in the consumer surplus. Further, we examine the effect of analyzing power markets without time-varying demand and find that this underestimates investments in peak load capacity....

Virtual reality technologies for research and education in obesity and diabetes: research needs and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ershow, Abby G; Peterson, Charles M; Riley, William T; Rizzo, Albert Skip; Wansink, Brian

2011-03-01

The rising rates, high prevalence, and adverse consequences of obesity and diabetes call for new approaches to the complex behaviors needed to prevent and manage these conditions. Virtual reality (VR) technologies, which provide controllable, multisensory, interactive three-dimensional (3D) stimulus environments, are a potentially valuable means of engaging patients in interventions that foster more healthful eating and physical activity patterns. Furthermore, the capacity of VR technologies to motivate, record, and measure human performance represents a novel and useful modality for conducting research. This article summarizes background information and discussions for a joint July 2010 National Institutes of Health - Department of Defense workshop entitled Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Obesity and Diabetes. The workshop explored the research potential of VR technologies as tools for behavioral and neuroscience studies in diabetes and obesity, and the practical potential of VR in fostering more effective utilization of diabetes- and obesity-related nutrition and lifestyle information. Virtual reality technologies were considered especially relevant for fostering desirable health-related behaviors through motivational reinforcement, personalized teaching approaches, and social networking. Virtual reality might also be a means of extending the availability and capacity of health care providers. Progress in the field will be enhanced by further developing available platforms and taking advantage of VR's capabilities as a research tool for well-designed hypothesis-testing behavioral science. Multidisciplinary collaborations are needed between the technology industry and academia, and among researchers in biomedical, behavioral, pedagogical, and computer science disciplines. Research priorities and funding opportunities for use of VR to improve prevention and management of obesity and diabetes can be found at agency websites (National

Technological Innovation in Primary Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luisana Sleny López Alvarado

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this essay is to reflect on technological innovation in Primary Education. In this idea, information processing was used to support the analysis of the theoretical approaches related to the relevance of education that is based on a significant pedagogical practice capable of developing the capacities and interests, so that they can appropriate the global and local content in the vision of access to information, considering social opportunities. The restructuring to which education has been subjected has been influenced by advances in science, technology and the demands of a complex, dynamic and uncertain society in the processes of educational innovation, which involves the introduction of something new in education. the educational system, modifying its teaching-learning structures through the incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT in the curricular design of primary education in its intention to train for incursion into science and technology from use of a wide range of didactic resources that lead to pedagogical innovation. It was concluded that technological innovation in the educational praxis of primary education, requires in addition to the vocation of service, to study the new didactic paradigms to display their reflective capacity and assume the commitment to acquire digital literacy to assume the requirements of a knowledge society which is increasingly globalized.

Technology tools to support reading in the digital age.

Science.gov (United States)

Biancarosa, Gina; Griffiths, Gina G

2012-01-01

Advances in digital technologies are dramatically altering the texts and tools available to teachers and students. These technological advances have created excitement among many for their potential to be used as instructional tools for literacy education. Yet with the promise of these advances come issues that can exacerbate the literacy challenges identified in the other articles in this issue. In this article Gina Biancarosa and Gina Griffiths characterize how literacy demands have changed in the digital age and how challenges identified in other articles in the issue intersect with these new demands. Rather than seeing technology as something to be fit into an already crowded education agenda, Biancarosa and Griffiths argue that technology can be conceptualized as affording tools that teachers can deploy in their quest to create young readers who possess the higher levels of literacy skills and background knowledge demanded by today's information-based society. Biancarosa and Griffiths draw on research to highlight some of the ways technology has been used to build the skills and knowledge needed both by children who are learning to read and by those who have progressed to reading to learn. In their review of the research, Biancarosa and Griffiths focus on the hardware and software used to display and interface with digital text, or what they term e-reading technology. Drawing on studies of e-reading technology and computer technology more broadly, they also reflect on the very real, practical challenges to optimal use of e-reading technology. The authors conclude by presenting four recommendations to help schools and school systems meet some of the challenges that come with investing in e-reading technology: use only technologies that support Universal Design for Learning; choose evidence-based tools; provide technology users with systemic supports; and capitalize on the data capacities and volume of information that technology provides.

How Subsurface Water Technologies (SWT) can Provide Robust, Effective, and Cost-Efficient Solutions for Freshwater Management in Coastal Zones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zuurbier, K.G.; Raat, K.J.; Paalman, M.; Oosterhof, A.T.; Stuyfzand, P.J.

2016-01-01

Freshwater resources in coastal zones are limited while demands are high, resulting in problems like seasonal water shortage, overexploitation of freshwater aquifers, and seawater intrusion. Three subsurface water technologies (SWT) that can provide robust, effective, and cost-efficient solutions to

The system capacity view of aging and longevity

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jing-Dong J.Han; Lei Hou; Na Sun; Chi Xu; Joseph McDermott; Dan Wang

2017-01-01

Background:Aging is a complex systems level problem that needs a systems level solution.However,system models of aging and longevity,although urgently needed,are still lacking,largely due to the paucity of conceptual frameworks for modeling such a complex process.Results:We propose that aging can be viewed as a decline in system capacity,defined as the maximum level of output that a system produces to fulfill demands.Classical aging hallmarks and anti-aging strategies can be well-aligned to system capacity.Genetic variants responsible for lifespan variation across individuals or species can also be explained by their roles in system capacity.We further propose promising directions to develop systems approaches to modulate system capacity and thus extend both healthspan and lifespan.Conclusions:The system capacity model of aging provides an opportunity to examine aging at the systems level.This model predicts that the extent to which aging can be modulated is normally limited by the upper bound of the system capacity of a species.Within such a boundary,aging can be delayed by moderately increasing an individual's system capacity.Beyond such a boundary,increasing the upper bound is required,which is not unrealistic given the unlimited potential of regenerative medicine in the future,but it requires increasing the capacity of the whole system instead of only part of it.

An integrated approach to evaluate food antioxidant capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, T; Tanumihardjo, S A

2007-11-01

Many methods are available for determining food antioxidant capacity, which is an important topic in food and nutrition research and marketing. However, the results and inferences from different methods may vary substantially because each complex chemical reaction generates unique values. To get a complete and dynamic picture of the ranking of food antioxidant capacity, relative antioxidant capacity index (RACI), a hypothetical concept, is created from the perspective of statistics by integrating the antioxidant capacity values generated from different in vitro methods. RACI is the mean value of standard scores transformed from the initial data generated with different methods for each food item. By comparing the antioxidant capacity of 20 commonly consumed vegetables in the U.S. market that were measured with 7 chemical methods, we demonstrated that the RACI correlated strongly with each method. The significant correlation of RACI with an independent data set further confirmed that RACI is a valid tool to assess food antioxidant capacity. The key advantage of this integrated approach is that RACI is in a numerical scale with no units and has consistent agreement with chemical methods. Although it is a relative index and may not represent a specific antioxidant property of different food items, RACI provides a reasonably accurate rank of antioxidant capacity among foods. Therefore, it can be used as an integrated approach to evaluate food antioxidant capacity.

Predicting and mapping soil available water capacity in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Suk Young; Minasny, Budiman; Han, Kyung Hwa; Kim, Yihyun; Lee, Kyungdo

2013-01-01

The knowledge on the spatial distribution of soil available water capacity at a regional or national extent is essential, as soil water capacity is a component of the water and energy balances in the terrestrial ecosystem. It controls the evapotranspiration rate, and has a major impact on climate. This paper demonstrates a protocol for mapping soil available water capacity in South Korea at a fine scale using data available from surveys. The procedures combined digital soil mapping technology with the available soil map of 1:25,000. We used the modal profile data from the Taxonomical Classification of Korean Soils. The data consist of profile description along with physical and chemical analysis for the modal profiles of the 380 soil series. However not all soil samples have measured bulk density and water content at -10 and -1500 kPa. Thus they need to be predicted using pedotransfer functions. Furthermore, water content at -10 kPa was measured using ground samples. Thus a correction factor is derived to take into account the effect of bulk density. Results showed that Andisols has the highest mean water storage capacity, followed by Entisols and Inceptisols which have loamy texture. The lowest water retention is Entisols which are dominated by sandy materials. Profile available water capacity to a depth of 1 m was calculated and mapped for Korea. The western part of the country shows higher available water capacity than the eastern part which is mountainous and has shallower soils. The highest water storage capacity soils are the Ultisols and Alfisols (mean of 206 and 205 mm, respectively). Validation of the maps showed promising results. The map produced can be used as an indication of soil physical quality of Korean soils.

Predicting and mapping soil available water capacity in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suk Young Hong

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The knowledge on the spatial distribution of soil available water capacity at a regional or national extent is essential, as soil water capacity is a component of the water and energy balances in the terrestrial ecosystem. It controls the evapotranspiration rate, and has a major impact on climate. This paper demonstrates a protocol for mapping soil available water capacity in South Korea at a fine scale using data available from surveys. The procedures combined digital soil mapping technology with the available soil map of 1:25,000. We used the modal profile data from the Taxonomical Classification of Korean Soils. The data consist of profile description along with physical and chemical analysis for the modal profiles of the 380 soil series. However not all soil samples have measured bulk density and water content at −10 and −1500 kPa. Thus they need to be predicted using pedotransfer functions. Furthermore, water content at −10 kPa was measured using ground samples. Thus a correction factor is derived to take into account the effect of bulk density. Results showed that Andisols has the highest mean water storage capacity, followed by Entisols and Inceptisols which have loamy texture. The lowest water retention is Entisols which are dominated by sandy materials. Profile available water capacity to a depth of 1 m was calculated and mapped for Korea. The western part of the country shows higher available water capacity than the eastern part which is mountainous and has shallower soils. The highest water storage capacity soils are the Ultisols and Alfisols (mean of 206 and 205 mm, respectively. Validation of the maps showed promising results. The map produced can be used as an indication of soil physical quality of Korean soils.

Generation Capacity Investments and High Levels of Renewables. The Impact of a German Capacity Market on Northwest Europe. Discussion paper

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