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Sample records for timing on-board calculated

  1. A study on the real-time reliability of on-board equipment of train control system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yong; Li, Shiwei

    2018-05-01

    Real-time reliability evaluation is conducive to establishing a condition based maintenance system for the purpose of guaranteeing continuous train operation. According to the inherent characteristics of the on-board equipment, the connotation of reliability evaluation of on-board equipment is defined and the evaluation index of real-time reliability is provided in this paper. From the perspective of methodology and practical application, the real-time reliability of the on-board equipment is discussed in detail, and the method of evaluating the realtime reliability of on-board equipment at component level based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is proposed. In this method the performance degradation data is used directly to realize the accurate perception of the hidden state transition process of on-board equipment, which can achieve a better description of the real-time reliability of the equipment.

  2. On-Board, Real-Time Preprocessing System for Optical Remote-Sensing Imagery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Baogui; Shi, Hao; Zhuang, Yin; Chen, He; Chen, Liang

    2018-04-25

    With the development of remote-sensing technology, optical remote-sensing imagery processing has played an important role in many application fields, such as geological exploration and natural disaster prevention. However, relative radiation correction and geometric correction are key steps in preprocessing because raw image data without preprocessing will cause poor performance during application. Traditionally, remote-sensing data are downlinked to the ground station, preprocessed, and distributed to users. This process generates long delays, which is a major bottleneck in real-time applications for remote-sensing data. Therefore, on-board, real-time image preprocessing is greatly desired. In this paper, a real-time processing architecture for on-board imagery preprocessing is proposed. First, a hierarchical optimization and mapping method is proposed to realize the preprocessing algorithm in a hardware structure, which can effectively reduce the computation burden of on-board processing. Second, a co-processing system using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and a digital signal processor (DSP; altogether, FPGA-DSP) based on optimization is designed to realize real-time preprocessing. The experimental results demonstrate the potential application of our system to an on-board processor, for which resources and power consumption are limited.

  3. On-Board, Real-Time Preprocessing System for Optical Remote-Sensing Imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Baogui; Zhuang, Yin; Chen, He; Chen, Liang

    2018-01-01

    With the development of remote-sensing technology, optical remote-sensing imagery processing has played an important role in many application fields, such as geological exploration and natural disaster prevention. However, relative radiation correction and geometric correction are key steps in preprocessing because raw image data without preprocessing will cause poor performance during application. Traditionally, remote-sensing data are downlinked to the ground station, preprocessed, and distributed to users. This process generates long delays, which is a major bottleneck in real-time applications for remote-sensing data. Therefore, on-board, real-time image preprocessing is greatly desired. In this paper, a real-time processing architecture for on-board imagery preprocessing is proposed. First, a hierarchical optimization and mapping method is proposed to realize the preprocessing algorithm in a hardware structure, which can effectively reduce the computation burden of on-board processing. Second, a co-processing system using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and a digital signal processor (DSP; altogether, FPGA-DSP) based on optimization is designed to realize real-time preprocessing. The experimental results demonstrate the potential application of our system to an on-board processor, for which resources and power consumption are limited. PMID:29693585

  4. Real-time implementation of logo detection on open source BeagleBoard

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, M.; Kehtarnavaz, N.; Estevez, L.

    2011-03-01

    This paper presents the real-time implementation of our previously developed logo detection and tracking algorithm on the open source BeagleBoard mobile platform. This platform has an OMAP processor that incorporates an ARM Cortex processor. The algorithm combines Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) with k-means clustering, online color calibration and moment invariants to robustly detect and track logos in video. Various optimization steps that are carried out to allow the real-time execution of the algorithm on BeagleBoard are discussed. The results obtained are compared to the PC real-time implementation results.

  5. Impact of sequential disorder on the scaling behavior of airplane boarding time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baek, Yongjoo; Ha, Meesoon; Jeong, Hawoong

    2013-05-01

    Airplane boarding process is an example where disorder properties of the system are relevant to the emergence of universality classes. Based on a simple model, we present a systematic analysis of finite-size effects in boarding time, and propose a comprehensive view of the role of sequential disorder in the scaling behavior of boarding time against the plane size. Using numerical simulations and mathematical arguments, we find how the scaling behavior depends on the number of seat columns and the range of sequential disorder. Our results show that new scaling exponents can arise as disorder is localized to varying extents.

  6. Time needed to board an airplane: a power law and the structure behind it.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frette, Vidar; Hemmer, Per C

    2012-01-01

    A simple model for the boarding of an airplane is studied. Passengers have reserved seats but enter the airplane in arbitrary order. Queues are formed along the aisle, as some passengers have to wait to reach the seats for which they have reservation. We label a passenger by the number of his or her reserved seat. In most cases the boarding process is much slower than for the optimal situation, where passenger and seat orders are identical. We study this dynamical system by calculating the average boarding time when all permutations of N passengers are given equal weight. To first order, the boarding time for a given permutation (ordering) of the passengers is given by the number s of sequences of monotonically increasing values in the permutation. We show that the distribution of s is symmetric on [1,N], which leads to an average boarding time (N+1)/2. We have found an exact expression for s and have shown that the full distribution of s approaches a normal distribution as N increases. However, there are significant corrections to the first-order results, due to certain correlations between passenger ordering and the substrate (seat ordering). This occurs for some cases in which the sequence of the seats is partially mirrored in the passenger ordering. These cases with correlations have a boarding time that is lower than predicted by the first-order results. The large number of cases with reduced boarding times have been classified. We also give some indicative results on the geometry of the correlations, with sorting into geometry groups. With increasing N, both the number of correlation types and the number of cases belonging to each type increase rapidly. Using enumeration we find that as a result of these correlations the average boarding time behaves like N(α), with α≃0.69, as compared with α=1.0 for the first-order approximation. © 2012 American Physical Society

  7. The relationship between inpatient discharge timing and emergency department boarding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Emilie S; Khare, Rahul K; Venkatesh, Arjun K; Van Roo, Ben D; Adams, James G; Reinhardt, Gilles

    2012-02-01

    Patient crowding and boarding in Emergency Departments (EDs) impair the quality of care as well as patient safety and satisfaction. Improved timing of inpatient discharges could positively affect ED boarding, and this hypothesis can be tested with computer modeling. Modeling enables analysis of the impact of inpatient discharge timing on ED boarding. Three policies were tested: a sensitivity analysis on shifting the timing of current discharge practices earlier; discharging 75% of inpatients by 12:00 noon; and discharging all inpatients between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. A cross-sectional computer modeling analysis was conducted of inpatient admissions and discharges on weekdays in September 2007. A model of patient flow streams into and out of inpatient beds with an output of ED admitted patient boarding hours was created to analyze the three policies. A mean of 38.8 ED patients, 22.7 surgical patients, and 19.5 intensive care unit transfers were admitted to inpatient beds, and 81.1 inpatients were discharged daily on September 2007 weekdays: 70.5%, 85.6%, 82.8%, and 88.0%, respectively, occurred between noon and midnight. In the model base case, total daily admitted patient boarding hours were 77.0 per day; the sensitivity analysis showed that shifting the peak inpatient discharge time 4h earlier eliminated ED boarding, and discharging 75% of inpatients by noon and discharging all inpatients between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. both decreased boarding hours to 3.0. Timing of inpatient discharges had an impact on the need to board admitted patients. This model demonstrates the potential to reduce or eliminate ED boarding by improving inpatient discharge timing in anticipation of the daily surge in ED demand for inpatient beds. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Preparing printed circuit boards for rapid turn-around time on a protomat plotter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hawtree, J.

    1998-01-01

    This document describes the use of the LPKF ProtoMat mill/drill unit circuit board Plotter, with the associated CAD/CAM software BoardMaster and CircuitCAM. At present its primarily use here at Fermilab's Particle Physics Department is for rapid-turnover of prototype PCBs double-sided and single-sided copper clad printed circuit boards (PCBs). (The plotter is also capable of producing gravure films and engraving aluminum or plastic although we have not used it for this.) It has the capability of making traces 0.004 inch wide with 0.004 inch spacings which is appropriate for high density surface mount circuits as well as other through-mounted discrete and integrated components. One of the primary benefits of the plotter is the capability to produce double-sided drilled boards from CAD files in a few hours. However to achieve this rapid turn-around time, some care must be taken in preparing the files. This document describes how to optimize the process of PCB fabrication. With proper preparation, researchers can often have a completed circuit board in a day's time instead of a week or two wait with usual procedures. It is assumed that the software and hardware are properly installed and that the machinist is acquainted with the Win95 operating system and the basics of the associated software. This paper does not describe its use with pen plotters, lasers or rubouts. The process of creating a PCB (printed circuit board) begins with the CAD (computer-aided design) software, usually PCAD or VeriBest. These files are then moved to CAM (computer-aided machining) where they are edited and converted to put them into the proper format for running on the ProtoMat plotter. The plotter then performs the actual machining of the board. This document concentrates on the LPKF programs CircuitCam BASIS and BoardMaster for the CAM software. These programs run on a Windows 95 platform to run an LPKF ProtoMat 93s plotter

  9. Emergency department overcrowding and inpatient boarding: a statewide glimpse in time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felton, Brent M; Reisdorff, Earl J; Krone, Christopher N; Laskaris, Gus A

    2011-12-01

    This was a point-prevalence study designed to quantify the magnitude of emergency department (ED) overcrowding and inpatient boarding. Every ED in Michigan was surveyed at a single point in time on a Monday evening. Given the high patient volumes on Monday evenings, the effect on inpatient boarding the next morning was also reviewed. All 134 EDs within the state of Michigan were contacted and surveyed on Monday evening, March 16, 2009, over a single hour and again the following morning. Questions included data on annual census, bed number, number of admitted patients within the ED, ambulance diversion, and ED length of stay. Data were obtained from 109 of the 134 (81%) hospitals on Monday evening and 99 (74%) on Tuesday morning. There was no difference in annual visits or ED size between participating and nonparticipating EDs. Forty-seven percent of EDs were boarding inpatients on Monday evening, compared with 30% on Tuesday morning. The mean estimated boarding times were 3.7 hours (Monday evening) and 7.2 hours (Tuesday morning). Twenty-four percent of respondents met the definition of overcrowded during sampling times. There was a significant relationship between inpatient boarding and ED overcrowding (p boarding inpatients, while 24% were operating beyond capacity. On the following morning (Tuesday), EDs had fewer boarded inpatients than on Monday evening. However, these boarded inpatients remained in the ED for a significantly longer duration. © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

  10. Comment on "Time needed to board an airplane: a power law and the structure behind it".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernstein, Noam

    2012-08-01

    Frette and Hemmer [Phys. Rev. E 85, 011130 (2012)] recently showed that for a simple model for the boarding of an airplane, the mean time to board scales as a power law with the number of passengers N and the exponent is less than 1. They note that this scaling leads to the prediction that the "back-to-front" strategy, where passengers are divided into groups from contiguous ranges of rows and each group is allowed to board in turn from back to front once the previous group has found their seats, has a longer boarding time than would a single group. Here I extend their results to a larger number of passengers using a sampling approach and explore a scenario where the queue is presorted into groups from back to front, but allowed to enter the plane as soon as they can. I show that the power law dependence on passenger numbers is different for large N and that there is a boarding time reduction for presorted groups, with a power law dependence on the number of presorted groups.

  11. A new on-board imaging treatment technique for palliative and emergency treatments in radiation oncology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Held, Mareike

    2016-01-01

    This dissertation focuses on the use of on-board imaging systems as the basis for treatment planning, presenting an additional application for on-board images. A clinical workflow is developed to simulate, plan, and deliver a simple radiation oncology treatment rapidly, using 3D patient scans. The work focuses on an on-line dose planning and delivery process based on on-board images entirely performed with the patient set up on the treatment couch of the linear accelerator. This potentially reduces the time between patient simulation and treatment to about 30 minutes. The basis for correct dose calculation is the accurate image gray scale to tissue density calibration. The gray scale, which is defined in CT Numbers, is dependent on the energy spectrum of the beam. Therefore, an understanding of the physics characteristics of each on-board system is required to evaluate the impact on image quality, especially regarding the underlying cause of image noise, contrast, and non-uniformity. Modern on-board imaging systems, including kV and megavoltage (MV) cone beam (CB) CT as well as MV CT, are characterized in terms of image quality and stability. A library of phantom and patient CT images is used to evaluate the dose calculation accuracy for the on-board images. The dose calculation objective is to stay within 5% local dose differences compared to standard kV CT dose planning. The objective is met in many treatment cases. However, dose calculation accuracy depends on the anatomical treatment site. While on-board CT-based treatments of the head and extremities are predictable within 5% on all systems, lung tissue and air cavities may create local dose discrepancies of more than 5%. The image quality varies between the tested units. Consequently, the CT number-to-density calibration is defined independently for each system. In case of some imaging systems, the CT numbers of the images are dependent on the protocol used for on-board imaging, which defines the imaging dose

  12. A new on-board imaging treatment technique for palliative and emergency treatments in radiation oncology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Held, Mareike

    2016-03-23

    This dissertation focuses on the use of on-board imaging systems as the basis for treatment planning, presenting an additional application for on-board images. A clinical workflow is developed to simulate, plan, and deliver a simple radiation oncology treatment rapidly, using 3D patient scans. The work focuses on an on-line dose planning and delivery process based on on-board images entirely performed with the patient set up on the treatment couch of the linear accelerator. This potentially reduces the time between patient simulation and treatment to about 30 minutes. The basis for correct dose calculation is the accurate image gray scale to tissue density calibration. The gray scale, which is defined in CT Numbers, is dependent on the energy spectrum of the beam. Therefore, an understanding of the physics characteristics of each on-board system is required to evaluate the impact on image quality, especially regarding the underlying cause of image noise, contrast, and non-uniformity. Modern on-board imaging systems, including kV and megavoltage (MV) cone beam (CB) CT as well as MV CT, are characterized in terms of image quality and stability. A library of phantom and patient CT images is used to evaluate the dose calculation accuracy for the on-board images. The dose calculation objective is to stay within 5% local dose differences compared to standard kV CT dose planning. The objective is met in many treatment cases. However, dose calculation accuracy depends on the anatomical treatment site. While on-board CT-based treatments of the head and extremities are predictable within 5% on all systems, lung tissue and air cavities may create local dose discrepancies of more than 5%. The image quality varies between the tested units. Consequently, the CT number-to-density calibration is defined independently for each system. In case of some imaging systems, the CT numbers of the images are dependent on the protocol used for on-board imaging, which defines the imaging dose

  13. Real-Time On-Board Airborne Demonstration of High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments (HOPS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Ng, Tak-Kwong; Davis, Mitchell J.; Adams, James K.; Bowen, Stephen C.; Fay, James J.; Hutchinson, Mark A.

    2015-01-01

    The project called High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments (HOPS) has been funded by NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program since April, 2012. The HOPS team recently completed two flight campaigns during the summer of 2014 on two different aircrafts with two different science instruments. The first flight campaign was in July, 2014 based at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, VA on the NASA's HU-25 aircraft. The science instrument that flew with HOPS was Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator (ACES) funded by NASA's Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). The second campaign was in August, 2014 based at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Palmdale, CA on the NASA's DC-8 aircraft. HOPS flew with the Multifunctional Fiber Laser Lidar (MFLL) instrument developed by Excelis Inc. The goal of the campaigns was to perform an end-to-end demonstration of the capabilities of the HOPS prototype system (HOPS COTS) while running the most computationally intensive part of the ASCENDS algorithm real-time on-board. The comparison of the two flight campaigns and the results of the functionality tests of the HOPS COTS are presented in this paper.

  14. New technologies for supporting real-time on-board software development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerridge, D.

    1995-03-01

    The next generation of on-board data management systems will be significantly more complex than current designs, and will be required to perform more complex and demanding tasks in software. Improved hardware technology, in the form of the MA31750 radiation hard processor, is one key component in addressing the needs of future embedded systems. However, to complement these hardware advances, improved support for the design and implementation of real-time data management software is now needed. This will help to control the cost and risk assoicated with developing data management software development as it becomes an increasingly significant element within embedded systems. One particular problem with developing embedded software is managing the non-functional requirements in a systematic way. This paper identifies how Logica has exploited recent developments in hard real-time theory to address this problem through the use of new hard real-time analysis and design methods which can be supported by specialized tools. The first stage in transferring this technology from the research domain to industrial application has already been completed. The MA37150 Hard Real-Time Embedded Software Support Environment (HESSE) is a loosely integrated set of hardware and software tools which directly support the process of hard real-time analysis for software targeting the MA31750 processor. With further development, this HESSE promises to provide embedded system developers with software tools which can reduce the risks associated with developing complex hard real-time software. Supported in this way by more sophisticated software methods and tools, it is foreseen that MA31750 based embedded systems can meet the processing needs for the next generation of on-board data management systems.

  15. Study on the concurrent calculation with a multitransputer network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inomata, Shinji; Suzuki, Katsuo

    1992-06-01

    A relation between the calculation processing time and the overhead of multitransputer network is studied in performing several concurrent calculations. Hardware configuration we used was a ring-type linked nine transputer network on an INMOS B008 mother board which was inserted into a slot of a personal computer compatible with IBM PC/AT. Further we used the occam2 toolset of MS-DOS version to write the calculation programs in the occam2 language. On arithmetic operations, some trigonometric and transcendental functions and numerical integrations, the calculation time and overhead were measured. The results show that the relative calculation speed is proportional to the number of transputers when the ratio of calculation time to overhead is much greater than 1.0. And the overhead is consumed in inter-communicating among transputers for the parallel calculation set-up. (author)

  16. An active balance board system with real-time control of stiffness and time-delay to assess mechanisms of postural stability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruise, Denise R; Chagdes, James R; Liddy, Joshua J; Rietdyk, Shirley; Haddad, Jeffrey M; Zelaznik, Howard N; Raman, Arvind

    2017-07-26

    Increased time-delay in the neuromuscular system caused by neurological disorders, concussions, or advancing age is an important factor contributing to balance loss (Chagdes et al., 2013, 2016a,b). We present the design and fabrication of an active balance board system that allows for a systematic study of stiffness and time-delay induced instabilities in standing posture. Although current commercial balance boards allow for variable stiffness, they do not allow for manipulation of time-delay. Having two controllable parameters can more accurately determine the cause of balance deficiencies, and allows us to induce instabilities even in healthy populations. An inverted pendulum model of human posture on such an active balance board predicts that reduced board rotational stiffness destabilizes upright posture through board tipping, and limit cycle oscillations about the upright position emerge as feedback time-delay is increased. We validate these two mechanisms of instability on the designed balance board, showing that rotational stiffness and board time-delay induced the predicted postural instabilities in healthy, young adults. Although current commercial balance boards utilize control of rotational stiffness, real-time control of both stiffness and time-delay on an active balance board is a novel and innovative manipulation to reveal balance deficiencies and potentially improve individualized balance training by targeting multiple dimensions contributing to standing balance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. The TimBel synchronization board for time resolved experiments at synchrotron SOLEIL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ricaud, J.P.; Betinelli-Deck, P.; Bisou, J.; Elattaoui, X.; Laulhe, C.; Monteiro, P.; Nadolski, L.S.; Renaud, G.; Ravy, S.; Silly, M.; Sirotti, F.

    2012-01-01

    Time resolved experiments are one of the major services that synchrotrons can provide to scientists. The short, high frequency and regular flashes of synchrotron light are a fantastic tool to study the evolution of phenomena over time. To carry out time resolved experiments, beamlines need to synchronize their devices with these flashes of light with a jitter shorter than the pulse duration. For that purpose, Synchrotron SOLEIL has developed the TimBeL (Timing Beamlines) board fully interfaced to TANGO framework. The TimBeL system is a compact PCI board. It is made of a mother with one daughter board. All functions are performed inside a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) implemented on the mother board. A PLX Technology chip is used to communicate with the compact PCI crate. To enable experiments to remain always synchronous with the same bunch of electrons, the storage ring clock (CLK-SR) and the radio frequency clock (CLK-RF) are provided by the machine to beamlines. These clocks are used inside the FPGA as main clocks for state machines. Because the jitter is too large on the FPGA outputs, a daughter board with a jitter cleaner has been added to the system. This board also provides delay lines for compensating time offsets by 10 ps steps. This paper presents the main features required by time resolved experiments and how we achieved our goals with the TimBeL board

  18. A fast readout algorithm for Cluster Counting/Timing drift chambers on a FPGA board

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cappelli, L. [Università di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (Italy); Creti, P.; Grancagnolo, F. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Lecce (Italy); Pepino, A., E-mail: Aurora.Pepino@le.infn.it [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Lecce (Italy); Tassielli, G. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Lecce (Italy); Fermilab, Batavia, IL (United States); Università Marconi, Roma (Italy)

    2013-08-01

    A fast readout algorithm for Cluster Counting and Timing purposes has been implemented and tested on a Virtex 6 core FPGA board. The algorithm analyses and stores data coming from a Helium based drift tube instrumented by 1 GSPS fADC and represents the outcome of balancing between cluster identification efficiency and high speed performance. The algorithm can be implemented in electronics boards serving multiple fADC channels as an online preprocessing stage for drift chamber signals.

  19. Magnetic field on board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Estevez Radio, H.; Fernandez Arenal, C.A.

    1995-01-01

    Here, the calculation of the magnetic field on board ships is performed, using matrix calculus, in a similar way as when the magnetic field in matter is studied. Thus the final formulas are written in a more compact form and they are obtained through a simpler way, more suitable for the university education. (Author)

  20. A retrospective analysis of boarding times for adolescents in psychiatric crisis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Michael; Pierce, Jessica

    2018-02-05

    The boarding of children and adolescents with identified psychiatric conditions at medical facilities has numerous negative effects on the patients and the systems that treat them. Efforts to minimize boarding times serves to increase patients' access to appropriate levels of care, redirect medical resources to patients who need them most, and reduce safety risks to people and property. This study explores the role Clinical Social Workers can play in facilitation of care and highlights the advantages of a coordinated data collection process facilitated by the effective use of the Electronic Medical Record. A retrospective chart analysis of 100 patients admitted to the Emergency department at a pediatric hospital in Central Florida was conducted for patients seen between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2016. The data suggest key correlates that may impact the boarding times of pediatric patients presenting in a psychiatric crisis and the average duration of boarding time in hours (M = 5.11, SD = 2.07) was found to be significantly lower than prior published studies in the adult and pediatric literature. Discussion of these data implications on behavioral health practice is discussed.

  1. Time Synchronization Strategy Between On-Board Computer and FIMS on STSAT-1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seong Woo Kwak

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available STSAT-1 was launched on sep. 2003 with the main payload of Far Ultra-violet Imaging Spectrograph(FIMS. The mission of FIMS is to observe universe and aurora. In this paper, we suggest a simple and reliable strategy adopted in STSAT-1 to synchronize time between On-board Computer(OBC and FIMS. For the characteristics of STSAT-1, this strategy is devised to maintain reliability of satellite system and to reduce implementation cost by using minimized electronic circuits. We suggested two methods with different synchronization resolutions to cope with unexpected faults in space. The backup method with low resolution can be activated when the main has some problems.

  2. On-Board Mining in the Sensor Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanner, S.; Conover, H.; Graves, S.; Ramachandran, R.; Rushing, J.

    2004-12-01

    On-board data mining can contribute to many research and engineering applications, including natural hazard detection and prediction, intelligent sensor control, and the generation of customized data products for direct distribution to users. The ability to mine sensor data in real time can also be a critical component of autonomous operations, supporting deep space missions, unmanned aerial and ground-based vehicles (UAVs, UGVs), and a wide range of sensor meshes, webs and grids. On-board processing is expected to play a significant role in the next generation of NASA, Homeland Security, Department of Defense and civilian programs, providing for greater flexibility and versatility in measurements of physical systems. In addition, the use of UAV and UGV systems is increasing in military, emergency response and industrial applications. As research into the autonomy of these vehicles progresses, especially in fleet or web configurations, the applicability of on-board data mining is expected to increase significantly. Data mining in real time on board sensor platforms presents unique challenges. Most notably, the data to be mined is a continuous stream, rather than a fixed store such as a database. This means that the data mining algorithms must be modified to make only a single pass through the data. In addition, the on-board environment requires real time processing with limited computing resources, thus the algorithms must use fixed and relatively small amounts of processing time and memory. The University of Alabama in Huntsville is developing an innovative processing framework for the on-board data and information environment. The Environment for On-Board Processing (EVE) and the Adaptive On-board Data Processing (AODP) projects serve as proofs-of-concept of advanced information systems for remote sensing platforms. The EVE real-time processing infrastructure will upload, schedule and control the execution of processing plans on board remote sensors. These plans

  3. Board diversity and financial performance: A graphical time-series approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cobus CH Taljaard

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Directors need to guide and govern companies on behalf of and for the benefit of shareholders and stakeholders. However questions remain as to whether boards with higher levels of diversity amongst directors are better equipped to fulfil their fiduciary duty than boards with lower levels of diversity. This research examines whether increased levels of diversity within boards are associated with improved financial performance to shareholders. From the literature, several theoretical frameworks that could explain why increased diversity might or might not lead to improved board performance were noted. Share returns and directors’ demographic data were collected for a sample of the largest 40 companies listed on the JSE from 2000 to 2013. This data was analysed using Muller and Ward’s (2013 investment style engine by forming portfolios of companies based on board-diversity constructs. Time-series graphs of cumulative portfolio market returns were analysed to determine if the diversity dimensions tested were associated with improved share performance. The results show that racial diversity within boards is not associated with financial performance. However, increased gender diversity and younger average board age are shown to have strong associations with improved share price performance. These findings are mainly attributed to agency-, resource dependency, human capital and signalling theories. Increased diversity is seen to bolster independence and lessen agency problems. Rising diversity levels also enlarge boards’ external networks, allowing diverse stakeholders’ needs to be accommodated and limiting dependence on strategic resources. Finally, as human capital is increased, the collection of different skills and experiences are associated with better performance. The results, based on a more robust methodology and improved data set, provide additional support to previous studies.

  4. Multi-Level Pre-Correlation RFI Flagging for Real-Time Implementation on UniBoard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumez-Viou, Cédric; Weber, Rodolphe; Ravier, Philippe

    2016-03-01

    Because of the denser active use of the spectrum, and because of radio telescopes higher sensitivity, radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation has become a sensitive topic for current and future radio telescope designs. Even if quite sophisticated approaches have been proposed in the recent years, the majority of RFI mitigation operational procedures are based on post-correlation corrupted data flagging. Moreover, given the huge amount of data delivered by current and next generation radio telescopes, all these RFI detection procedures have to be at least automatic and, if possible, real-time. In this paper, the implementation of a real-time pre-correlation RFI detection and flagging procedure into generic high-performance computing platforms based on field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) is described, simulated and tested. One of these boards, UniBoard, developed under a Joint Research Activity in the RadioNet FP7 European programme is based on eight FPGAs interconnected by a high speed transceiver mesh. It provides up to 4 TMACs with ®Altera Stratix IV FPGA and 160 Gbps data rate for the input data stream. The proposed concept is to continuously monitor the data quality at different stages in the digital preprocessing pipeline between the antennas and the correlator, at the station level and the core level. In this way, the detectors are applied at stages where different time-frequency resolutions can be achieved and where the interference-to-noise ratio (INR) is maximum right before any dilution of RFI characteristics by subsequent channelizations or signal recombinations. The detection decisions could be linked to a RFI statistics database or could be attached to the data for later stage flagging. Considering the high in-out data rate in the pre-correlation stages, only real-time and go-through detectors (i.e. no iterative processing) can be implemented. In this paper, a real-time and adaptive detection scheme is described. An ongoing case study has been

  5. FPGA based VME boards for Indus-2 timing control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lulani, Nitin; Barpande, K.; Fatnani, P.; Sheth, Y.

    2009-01-01

    FPGA based two VME boards are developed and deployed recently for Indus-2 timing control system at RRCAT Indore. New FPGA based 5-channel programmable (Coarse-Fine) delay generator board has replaced three 2-channel coarse and one 4-channel fine existing delay generator boards. Introduction of this board has improved the fine delay resolution (to 0.5ns) as well as channel to channel jitter (to 0.8ns) of the system. It has also improved the coarse delay resolution from previous 33ns to 8ns with the possibility to work at divided Indus-2 RF clock. These improved parameters have resulted in better injection rate of beam. Old coincidence generator board is also replaced with FPGA based newly developed Coincidence clock generator VME board, which has resulted in successful controlled filling of beam (single, multi and 3-symmetrical bucket filling) in Indus-2. Three more existing boards will be replaced by single FPGA based delay generator card in near future. This paper presents the design, test results and features of new boards. (author)

  6. Emergency department boarding times for patients admitted to intensive care unit: Patient and organizational influences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, Phyllis; Godfrey, Michelle; Mossey, Sharolyn; Conlon, Michael; Bailey, Patricia

    2014-04-01

    Critically ill patients can be subject to prolonged stays in the emergency department following receipt of an order to admit to an intensive care unit. The purpose of this study was to explore patient and organizational influences on the duration of boarding times for intensive care bound patients. This exploratory descriptive study was situated in a Canadian hospital in northern Ontario. Through a six-month retrospective review of three data sources, information was collected pertaining to 16 patient and organizational variables detailing the emergency department boarding time of adults awaiting transfer to the intensive care unit. Data analysis involved descriptive and non-parametric methods. The majority of the 122 critically ill patients boarded in the ED were male, 55 years of age or older, arriving by ground ambulance on a weekday, and had an admitting diagnosis of trauma. The median boarding time was 34 min, with a range of 0-1549 min. Patients designated as most acute, intubated, and undergoing multiple diagnostic procedures had statistically significantly shorter boarding times. The study results provide a profile that may assist clinicians in understanding the complex and site-specific interplay of variables contributing to boarding of critically ill patients. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. A cost sensitive inpatient bed reservation approach to reduce emergency department boarding times.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Shanshan; Chinnam, Ratna Babu; Murat, Alper; Batarse, Bassam; Neemuchwala, Hakimuddin; Jordan, Will

    2015-03-01

    Emergency departments (ED) in hospitals are experiencing severe crowding and prolonged patient waiting times. A significant contributing factor is boarding delays where admitted patients are held in ED (occupying critical resources) until an inpatient bed is identified and readied in the admit wards. Recent research has suggested that if the hospital admissions of ED patients can be predicted during triage or soon after, then bed requests and preparations can be triggered early on to reduce patient boarding time. We propose a cost sensitive bed reservation policy that recommends optimal bed reservation times for patients. The policy relies on a classifier that estimates the probability that the ED patient will be admitted using the patient information collected and readily available at triage or right after. The policy is cost sensitive in that it accounts for costs associated with patient admission prediction misclassification as well as costs associated with incorrectly selecting the reservation time. Results from testing the proposed bed reservation policy using data from a VA Medical Center are very promising and suggest significant cost saving opportunities and reduced patient boarding times.

  8. Measuring the opportunity loss of time spent boarding admitted patients in the emergency department: a multihospital analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Raymond; Farley, Heather; Twanmoh, Joseph; Urumov, Andrej; Evans, Bruce; Olsen, Nils

    2009-01-01

    Emergency department (ED) crowding is an international crisis affecting the timeliness and quality of patient care. Boarding of admitted patients in the ED is recognized as a major contributor to ED crowding. The opportunity loss of this time is the benefit or value it could produce if it were used for something else. In crowded EDs, the typical alternative use of this time is to treat patients waiting to be seen. Various ED performance benchmarks related to inpatient boarding have been proposed, but they are not commonly reported and have yet to be evaluated to determine whether they correlate with the opportunity loss of time used for boarding. This study quantified several measures of ED boarding in a variety of hospital settings and looked for correlations between them and the opportunity loss of the time spent on boarding. In particular, average boarding time per admission was found to be easy to measure. Results revealed that it had a near-perfect linear correlation with opportunity loss. The opportunity loss of every 30 minutes of average boarding time equaled the time required to see 3.5 percent of the ED's daily census. For busy hospitals, the opportunity loss allowed sufficient time for staff to be able to see up to 36 additional patients per day. This correlation suggests that average boarding time per admission may be useful in evaluating efforts to reduce ED crowding and improve patient care.

  9. Alighting and Boarding Time Model of Passengers at a LRT Station in Kuala Lumpur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hor Peay San

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A research was conducted to study the factors affecting the alighting and boarding rate of passengers and establish a prediction model for alighting and boarding time of passengers for a passenger rail service in Malaysia. Data was collected at the KL Sentral LRT station during the morning and evening peak hours for a period of 5 working days. Results show that passenger behaviour, passenger volume, crowdedness in train and mixture of flow has significant effects on the alighting and boarding time though mixture of flow is not significant in the prediction model produced due to the passenger behaviour at the platform.

  10. On-board processing of video image sequences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Jakob Dahl; Chanrion, Olivier Arnaud; Forchhammer, Søren

    2008-01-01

    and evaluated. On-board there are six video cameras each capturing images of 1024times1024 pixels of 12 bpp at a frame rate of 15 fps, thus totalling 1080 Mbits/s. In comparison the average downlink data rate for these images is projected to be 50 kbit/s. This calls for efficient on-board processing to select...

  11. National Differences in Regional Emergency Department Boarding Times: Are US Emergency Departments Prepared for a Public Health Emergency?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Love, Jennifer S; Karp, David; Delgado, M Kit; Margolis, Gregg; Wiebe, Douglas J; Carr, Brendan G

    2016-08-01

    Boarding admitted patients decreases emergency department (ED) capacity to accommodate daily patient surge. Boarding in regional hospitals may decrease the ability to meet community needs during a public health emergency. This study examined differences in regional patient boarding times across the United States and in regions at risk for public health emergencies. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed by using 2012 ED visit data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) database and 2012 hospital ED boarding data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database. Hospitals were grouped into hospital referral regions (HRRs). The primary outcome was mean ED boarding time per HRR. Spatial hot spot analysis examined boarding time spatial clustering. A total of 3317 of 4671 (71%) hospitals were included in the study cohort. A total of 45 high-boarding-time HRRs clustered along the East/West coasts and 67 low-boarding-time HRRs clustered in the Midwest/Northern Plains regions. A total of 86% of HRRs at risk for a terrorist event had high boarding times and 36% of HRRs with frequent natural disasters had high boarding times. Urban, coastal areas have the longest boarding times and are clustered with other high-boarding-time HRRs. Longer boarding times suggest a heightened level of vulnerability and a need to enhance surge capacity because these regions have difficulty meeting daily emergency care demands and are at increased risk for disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:576-582).

  12. Thermal Characterization and Lifetime Prediction of LED Boards for SSL Lamp

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Formanek

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available This work presents a detailed 3-D thermo-mechanical modelling of two LED board technologies to compare their performance. LED board are considered to be used in high power 800 lumen retrofit SSL (Solid State Lighting lamp. Thermal, mechanical and life time properties are evaluated by numerical modelling. Experimental results measured on fabricated LED board samples are compared to calculated data. Main role of LED board in SSL lamp is to transport heat from LED die to a heat sink and keep the thermal stresses in all layers as low as possible. The work focuses on improving of new LED board thermal management. Moreover, reliability and lifetime of LED board has been inspected by numerical calculation and validated by experiment. Thermally induced stress has been studied for wide temperature range that can affect the LED boards (-40 to +125°C. Numerical modelling of thermal performance, thermal stress distribution and lifetime has been carried out with ANSYS structural analysis where temperature dependent stress-strain material properties have been taken into account. The objective of this study is to improve not only the thermal performance of new LED board, but also identification of potential problems from mechanical fatigue point of view. Accelerated lifetime testing (e.g., mechanical is carried out in order to study the failure behaviour of current and newly developed LED board.

  13. Optimal back-to-front airplane boarding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachmat, Eitan; Khachaturov, Vassilii; Kuperman, Ran

    2013-06-01

    The problem of finding an optimal back-to-front airplane boarding policy is explored, using a mathematical model that is related to the 1+1 polynuclear growth model with concave boundary conditions and to causal sets in gravity. We study all airplane configurations and boarding group sizes. Optimal boarding policies for various airplane configurations are presented. Detailed calculations are provided along with simulations that support the main conclusions of the theory. We show that the effectiveness of back-to-front policies undergoes a phase transition when passing from lightly congested airplanes to heavily congested airplanes. The phase transition also affects the nature of the optimal or near-optimal policies. Under what we consider to be realistic conditions, optimal back-to-front policies lead to a modest 8-12% improvement in boarding time over random (no policy) boarding, using two boarding groups. Having more than two groups is not effective.

  14. Optimal back-to-front airplane boarding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachmat, Eitan; Khachaturov, Vassilii; Kuperman, Ran

    2013-06-01

    The problem of finding an optimal back-to-front airplane boarding policy is explored, using a mathematical model that is related to the 1+1 polynuclear growth model with concave boundary conditions and to causal sets in gravity. We study all airplane configurations and boarding group sizes. Optimal boarding policies for various airplane configurations are presented. Detailed calculations are provided along with simulations that support the main conclusions of the theory. We show that the effectiveness of back-to-front policies undergoes a phase transition when passing from lightly congested airplanes to heavily congested airplanes. The phase transition also affects the nature of the optimal or near-optimal policies. Under what we consider to be realistic conditions, optimal back-to-front policies lead to a modest 8-12% improvement in boarding time over random (no policy) boarding, using two boarding groups. Having more than two groups is not effective.

  15. Soft Real-Time PID Control on a VME Computer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karayan, Vahag; Sander, Stanley; Cageao, Richard

    2007-01-01

    microPID (uPID) is a computer program for real-time proportional + integral + derivative (PID) control of a translation stage in a Fourier-transform ultraviolet spectrometer. microPID implements a PID control loop over a position profile at sampling rate of 8 kHz (sampling period 125microseconds). The software runs in a strippeddown Linux operating system on a VersaModule Eurocard (VME) computer operating in real-time priority queue using an embedded controller, a 16-bit digital-to-analog converter (D/A) board, and a laser-positioning board (LPB). microPID consists of three main parts: (1) VME device-driver routines, (2) software that administers a custom protocol for serial communication with a control computer, and (3) a loop section that obtains the current position from an LPB-driver routine, calculates the ideal position from the profile, and calculates a new voltage command by use of an embedded PID routine all within each sampling period. The voltage command is sent to the D/A board to control the stage. microPID uses special kernel headers to obtain microsecond timing resolution. Inasmuch as microPID implements a single-threaded process and all other processes are disabled, the Linux operating system acts as a soft real-time system.

  16. Calculation of groundwater travel time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnett, R.C.; Sagar, B.; Baca, R.G.

    1984-12-01

    Pre-waste-emplacement groundwater travel time is one indicator of the isolation capability of the geologic system surrounding a repository. Two distinct modeling approaches exist for prediction of groundwater flow paths and travel times from the repository location to the designated accessible environment boundary. These two approaches are: (1) the deterministic approach which calculates a single value prediction of groundwater travel time based on average values for input parameters and (2) the stochastic approach which yields a distribution of possible groundwater travel times as a function of the nature and magnitude of uncertainties in the model inputs. The purposes of this report are to (1) document the theoretical (i.e., mathematical) basis used to calculate groundwater pathlines and travel times in a basalt system, (2) outline limitations and ranges of applicability of the deterministic modeling approach, and (3) explain the motivation for the use of the stochastic modeling approach currently being used to predict groundwater pathlines and travel times for the Hanford Site. Example calculations of groundwater travel times are presented to highlight and compare the differences between the deterministic and stochastic modeling approaches. 28 refs

  17. On-Board Real-Time Optimization Control for Turbo-Fan Engine Life Extending

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Qiangang; Zhang, Haibo; Miao, Lizhen; Sun, Fengyong

    2017-11-01

    A real-time optimization control method is proposed to extend turbo-fan engine service life. This real-time optimization control is based on an on-board engine mode, which is devised by a MRR-LSSVR (multi-input multi-output recursive reduced least squares support vector regression method). To solve the optimization problem, a FSQP (feasible sequential quadratic programming) algorithm is utilized. The thermal mechanical fatigue is taken into account during the optimization process. Furthermore, to describe the engine life decaying, a thermal mechanical fatigue model of engine acceleration process is established. The optimization objective function not only contains the sub-item which can get fast response of the engine, but also concludes the sub-item of the total mechanical strain range which has positive relationship to engine fatigue life. Finally, the simulations of the conventional optimization control which just consider engine acceleration performance or the proposed optimization method have been conducted. The simulations demonstrate that the time of the two control methods from idle to 99.5 % of the maximum power are equal. However, the engine life using the proposed optimization method could be surprisingly increased by 36.17 % compared with that using conventional optimization control.

  18. The implementation of real-time plasma electron density calculations on EAST

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Z.C., E-mail: zzc@ipp.ac.cn; Xiao, B.J.; Wang, F.; Liu, H.Q.; Yuan, Q.P.; Wang, Y.; Yang, Y.

    2016-11-15

    Highlights: • The real-time density calculation system (DCS) has been applied to the EAST 3-wave polarimeter-interferometer (POINT) system. • The new system based on Flex RIO acquires data at high speed and processes them in a short time. • Roll-over module is developed for density calculation. - Abstract: The plasma electron density is one of the most fundamental parameters in tokamak experiment. It is widely used in the plasma control system (PCS) real-time control, as well as plasma physics analysis. The 3-wave polarimeter-interferometer (POINT) system had been used to measure the plasma electron density on the EAST since last campaign. This paper will give the way to realize the real-time measurement of plasma electron density. All intermediate frequency (IF) signals after POINT system, in the 0.5–3 MHz range, stream to the real-time density calculation system (DCS) to extract the phase shift information. All the prototype hardware is based on NI Flex RIO device which contains a high speed Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The original signals are sampled at 10 M Samples/s, and the data after roll-over module are transmitted to PCS by reflective memory (RFM). With this method, real-time plasma electron density data with high accuracy and low noise had been obtained in the latest EAST tokamak experiment.

  19. ON-BOARD COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR KITSAT-1 AND 2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. S. Kim

    1996-06-01

    Full Text Available KITSAT-1 and 2 are microsatellites weighting 50kg and all the on-board data are processed by the on-board computer system. Hence, these on-board computers require to be highly reliable and be designed with tight power consumption, mass and size constraints. On-board computer(OBC systems for KITSAT-1 and 2 are also designed with a simple flexible hardware for reliability and software takes more responsibility than hardware. KITSAT-1 and 2 on-board computer system consist of OBC 186 as the primary OBC and OBC80 as its backup. OBC186 runs spacecraft operating system (SCOS which has real-time multi-tasking capability. Since their launch, OBC186 and OBC80 have been operating successfully until today. In this paper, we describe the development of OBC186 hardware and software and analyze its in-orbit operation performance.

  20. Accelerating three-dimensional FDTD calculations on GPU clusters for electromagnetic field simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagaoka, Tomoaki; Watanabe, Soichi

    2012-01-01

    Electromagnetic simulation with anatomically realistic computational human model using the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method has recently been performed in a number of fields in biomedical engineering. To improve the method's calculation speed and realize large-scale computing with the computational human model, we adapt three-dimensional FDTD code to a multi-GPU cluster environment with Compute Unified Device Architecture and Message Passing Interface. Our multi-GPU cluster system consists of three nodes. The seven GPU boards (NVIDIA Tesla C2070) are mounted on each node. We examined the performance of the FDTD calculation on multi-GPU cluster environment. We confirmed that the FDTD calculation on the multi-GPU clusters is faster than that on a multi-GPU (a single workstation), and we also found that the GPU cluster system calculate faster than a vector supercomputer. In addition, our GPU cluster system allowed us to perform the large-scale FDTD calculation because were able to use GPU memory of over 100 GB.

  1. American Board of Orthodontics: Time for change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Chun-Hsi; Tadlock, Larry P; Barone, Nicholas; Pangrazio-Kulbersh, Valmy; Sabott, David G; Foley, Patrick F; Trulove, Timothy S; Park, Jae Hyun; Dugoni, Steven A

    2018-03-01

    The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) works to certify orthodontists in a fair, reliable, and valid manner. The process must examine an orthodontist's knowledge, abilities, and critical thinking skills to ensure that each certified orthodontist has the expertise to provide the highest level of patient care. Many medical specialty boards and 4 American Dental Association specialty boards use scenario-based testing for board certification. Changing to a scenario-based clinical examination will allow the ABO to test more orthodontists. The new process will not result in an easier examination; standards will not be lowered. It will offer an improved testing method that will be fair, valid, and reliable for the specialty of orthodontics while increasing accessibility and complementing residency curricula. The ABO's written examination will remain as it is. Copyright © 2018 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Accidents on board merchant ships. Suggestions based on Centro Internazionale Radio Medico (CIRM) experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Napoleone, Paolo

    2016-01-01

    This statistical study was performed to find out the occurrence of accidents on board ships assisted by Centro Internazionale Radio Medico (CIRM) during the years 2010-2015, with the aim of providing suggestions in accident prevention, based on such a wide experience. The case histories of CIRM in the years 2010-2015 were examined. The total number of accidents per year was calculated and compared as a percentage with the total number of cases assisted by CIRM per year. The incidence of accidents on board in these years ranged between 14.4% and 18.4% of total cases assisted per year, which is constantly increasing. The most common injuries on board among cases treated by CIRM were contusions and wounds. Also burns and eye injuries were significantly represented. Multiple injuries and head injuries were found to be the most frequent cause of death on board due to an accident. More information on the occurrence and type of accidents and on the body injured areas should represent the basis for developing strategies and campaigns for their prevention.

  3. A filter circuit board for the Earthworm Seismic Data Acquisition System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jensen, Edward Gray

    2000-01-01

    The Earthworm system is a seismic network data acquisition and processing system used by the Northern California Seismic Network as well as many other seismic networks. The input to the system is comprised of many realtime electronic waveforms fed to a multi-channel digitizer on a PC platform. The digitizer consists of one or more National Instruments Corp. AMUX–64T multiplexer boards attached to an A/D converter board located in the computer. Originally, passive filters were installed on the multiplexers to eliminate electronic noise picked up in cabling. It was later discovered that a small amount of crosstalk occurred between successive channels in the digitizing sequence. Though small, this crosstalk will cause what appear to be small earthquake arrivals at the wrong time on some channels. This can result in erroneous calculation of earthquake arrival times, particularly by automated algorithms. To deal with this problem, an Earthworm filter board was developed to provide the needed filtering while eliminating crosstalk. This report describes the tests performed to find a suitable solution, and the design of the circuit board. Also included are all the details needed to build and install this board in an Earthworm system or any other system using the AMUX–64T board. Available below is the report in PDF format as well as an archive file containing the circuit board manufacturing information.

  4. 5 CFR 1605.22 - Claims for correction of Board or TSP record keeper errors; time limitations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... record keeper errors; time limitations. 1605.22 Section 1605.22 Administrative Personnel FEDERAL... § 1605.22 Claims for correction of Board or TSP record keeper errors; time limitations. (a) Filing claims... after that time, the Board or TSP record keeper may use its sound discretion in deciding whether to...

  5. Closed to reason: time for accountability for the International Narcotic Control Board

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Small Dan

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract For more than two decades, the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB has tried to stop harm reduction and its HIV prevention programs. This posture is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of their responsibilities and of drug addiction itself – i.e. as a public health and clinical care matter made criminal by decree. A recent focal point for the Board's action has been rejecting the use of supervised injection facilities to reduce morbidity and mortality of drug injectors. They single out individual countries and attempt to bully them into rejecting such programs under the banner of the United Nations (falsely and in the name of international treaties. Their unrelenting and unjustified badgering of signatories to the international treaties that established the INCB is not only unjustified; it is an affront to one of the core purposes of the Board itself: to ensure adequate medical supplies and safe use of controlled substances. The INCB's ill-conceived obsession with intravenousaddiction as a crime flies in the face of the medical view and policies of the World Health Organization and the universally endorsed principles of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The latest target of the INCB is North America's only supervised injection facility, Insite, located in the inner city of Vancouver, Canada. Using the power of their office to meddle in matters of public health for individual nations is without medical, scientific or legal justification. But, most importantly, it is a matter of lifeand death for these most marginalized of citizens. The empirical evidence remains that a significant portion of the continued growth of the AIDS pandemic is due to injecting drug use, and the INCB's intrusion will inevitably result in additional deaths due to preventable HIV infections and drug overdoses. So we are very pleased to call to our readers' attention to a recent report produced by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the

  6. Thermal modeling of multi-shape heating sources on n-layer electronic board

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monier-Vinard Eric

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The present work completes the toolbox of analytical solutions that deal with resolving steady-state temperatures of a multi-layered structure heated by one or many heat sources. The problematic of heating sources having non-rectangular shapes is addressed to enlarge the capability of analytical approaches. Moreover, various heating sources could be located on the external surfaces of the sandwiched layers as well as embedded at interface of its constitutive layers. To demonstrate its relevance, the updated analytical solution has been compared with numerical simulations on the case of a multi-layered electronic board submitted to a set of heating source configurations. The comparison shows a high agreement between analytical and numerical calculations to predict the centroid and average temperatures. The promoted analytical approach establishes a kit of practical expressions, easy to implement, which would be cumulated, using superposition principle, to help electronic designers to early detect component or board temperatures beyond manufacturer limit. The ability to eliminate bad concept candidates with a minimum of set-up, relevant assumptions and low computation time can be easily achieved.

  7. Reference data on reaction time and aging using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blomkvist, Andreas W.; Eika, Fredrik; Rahbek, Martin T.

    2017-01-01

    Wii Balance Board has the potential to be a multi-modal test and intervention instrument for these risk factors, however, reference data are lacking. Objective To provide RT reference data and to characterize the age-related changes in RT measured by the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Method Healthy...... participants were recruited at various locations and their RT in hands and feet were tested by six assessors using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Reference data were ana-lysed and presented in age-groups, while the age-related change in RT was tested and characterized with linear regression models. Results...

  8. The impact of the board's strategy-setting role on board-management relations and hospital performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Büchner, Vera Antonia; Schreyögg, Jonas; Schultz, Carsten

    2014-01-01

    The appropriate governance of hospitals largely depends on effective cooperation between governing boards and hospital management. Governing boards play an important role in strategy-setting as part of their support for hospital management. However, in certain situations, this active strategic role may also generate discord within this relationship. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the roles, attributes, and processes of governing boards on hospital performance. We examine the impact of the governing board's strategy-setting role on board-management collaboration quality and on financial performance while also analyzing the interaction effects of board diversity and board activity level. The data are derived from a survey that was sent simultaneously to German hospitals and their associated governing board, combined with objective performance information from annual financial statements and quality reports. We use a structural equation modeling approach to test the model. The results indicate that different board characteristics have a significant impact on hospital performance (R = .37). The strategy-setting role and board-management collaboration quality have a positive effect on hospital performance, whereas the impact of strategy-setting on collaboration quality is negative. We find that the positive effect of strategy-setting on performance increases with decreasing board diversity. When board members have more homogeneous backgrounds and exhibit higher board activity levels, the negative effect of the strategy-setting on collaboration quality also increases. Active strategy-setting by a governing board may generally improve hospital performance. Diverse members of governing boards should be involved in strategy-setting for hospitals. However, high board-management collaboration quality may be compromised if managerial autonomy is too highly restricted. Consequently, hospitals should support board-management collaboration about

  9. Emergency department boarding: a descriptive analysis and measurement of impact on outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehi, Leila; Phalpher, Prashant; Valani, Rahim; Meaney, Christopher; Amin, Qamar; Ferrari, Kiki; Mercuri, Mathew

    2018-04-05

    CLINICIAN'S CAPSULE What is known about the topic? Bed boarding is one of the major contributors to emergency department overcrowding. What did this study ask? What are the characteristics of patients with prolonged boarding times, and what are the impacts on patient-oriented outcomes? What did this study find? Patients who were older, sicker, and had isolation and telemetry requirements experienced longer boarding times, and longer inpatient length of stay even after correcting for confounders. Why does this study matter to clinicians? Organization-wide interventions to improve efficiency and flow are required to mitigate the burden of bed boarding.

  10. New control method of on-board ATP system of Shinkansen trains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fukuda, N.; Watanabe, T. [Railway Technical Research Inst. (Japan)

    2000-07-01

    We studied a new control method of the on-board automatic train protection (ATP) system for Shinkansen trains to shorten the operation time and not to degrade ride comfort at changes in deceleration of the train, while maintaining the safety and reliability of the present ATP signal system. We propose a new on-board pattern brake control system based on the present ATP data without changing the wayside equipment. By simulating the ATP braking of the proposed control method, we succeeded in shortening the operation time by 48 seconds per one station in comparison with the present ATP brake control system. This paper reports the concept of the system and simulation results of the on-board pattern. (orig.)

  11. Amaro-autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects: introducing a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwenk, Kurt; Willburger, Katharina; Pless, Sebastian

    2017-10-01

    Motivated by politics and economy, the monitoring of the world wide ship traffic is a field of high topicality. To detect illegal activities like piracy, illegal fishery, ocean dumping and refugee transportation is of great value. The analysis of satellite images on the ground delivers a great contribution to situation awareness. However, for many applications the up-to-dateness of the data is crucial. With ground based processing, the time between image acquisition and delivery of the data to the end user is in the range of several hours. The highest influence to the duration of ground based processing is the delay caused by the transmission of the large amount of image data from the satellite to the processing centre on the ground. One expensive solution to this issue is the usage of data relay satellites systems like EDRS. Another approach is to analyse the image data directly on-board of the satellite. Since the product data (e.g. ship position, heading, velocity, characteristics) is very small compared to the input image data, real-time connections provided by satellite telecommunication services like Iridium or Orbcomm can be used to send small packets of information directly to the end user without significant delay. The AMARO (Autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects) project at DLR is a feasibility study of an on-board ship detection system involving a real-time low bandwidth communication. The operation of a prototype on-board ship detection system will be demonstrated on an airborne platform. In this article, the scope, aim and design of a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system scheduled for mid of 2018 is presented. First, the scope and the constraints of the experiment are explained in detail. The main goal is to demonstrate the operability of an automatic ship detection system on board of an airplane. For data acquisition the optical high resolution DLR MACS-MARE camera (VIS/NIR) is used. The system will be able to

  12. Time required for institutional review board review at one Veterans Affairs medical center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Daniel E; Hanusa, Barbara H; Stone, Roslyn A; Ling, Bruce S; Arnold, Robert M

    2015-02-01

    Despite growing concern that institutional review boards (IRBs) impose burdensome delays on research, little is known about the time required for IRB review across different types of research. To measure the overall and incremental process times for IRB review as a process of quality improvement. After developing a detailed process flowchart of the IRB review process, 2 analysts abstracted temporal data from the records pertaining to all 103 protocols newly submitted to the IRB at a large urban Veterans Affairs medical center from June 1, 2009, through May 31, 2011. Disagreements were reviewed with the principal investigator to reach consensus. We then compared the review times across review types using analysis of variance and post hoc Scheffé tests after achieving normally distributed data through logarithmic transformation. Calendar days from initial submission to final approval of research protocols. Initial IRB review took 2 to 4 months, with expedited and exempt reviews requiring less time (median [range], 85 [23-631] and 82 [16-437] days, respectively) than full board reviews (median [range], 131 [64-296] days; P = .008). The median time required for credentialing of investigators was 1 day (range, 0-74 days), and review by the research and development committee took a median of 15 days (range, 0-184 days). There were no significant differences in credentialing or research and development times across review types (exempt, expedited, or full board). Of the extreme delays in IRB review, 80.0% were due to investigators' slow responses to requested changes. There were no systematic delays attributable to the information security officer, privacy officer, or IRB chair. Measuring and analyzing review times is a critical first step in establishing a culture and process of continuous quality improvement among IRBs that govern research programs. The review times observed at this IRB are substantially longer than the 60-day target recommended by expert panels

  13. Comparison between measured and design dose rate equivalents on board of Nuclear Ship Mutsu

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaji, Akio; Sakamoto, Yukio

    1993-01-01

    The power-up test of the Nuclear Ship Mutsu was restarted in March 1990 and completed successfully in February 1991. The experimental voyages were carried out for about one year and all experiments were completed in February 1992. A comparison between the measured and design dose rate equivalents on board is described with showing a modified method in the shielding design. The measured values were obtained extensively in the cavity between the primary and secondary shields, in the double bottom, outside the secondary shield, and on the surface of the main coolant loop. The shielding design calculations were made with the most conservative geometries and material compositions within the allowed tolerance. In addition, a conservative model was adopted in case of performing the approximation due to the geometrical restriction of calculation code. The computational accuracies were evaluated based on various experimental analyses. The evaluated value was used as the design value. The shield structures were determined with a judgement that the real value does not exceed the design value. The adequacy of the judgement was confirmed by measurements on board. The measured dose rate equivalents in all positions on board satisfied the design criteria. (author)

  14. Flight Hardware Virtualization for On-Board Science Data Processing

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Utilize Hardware Virtualization technology to benefit on-board science data processing by investigating new real time embedded Hardware Virtualization solutions and...

  15. What makes boards effective? An examination of the relationships between board inputs, structures, processes and effectiveness in non-profit organizations

    OpenAIRE

    Cornforth, Chris

    2001-01-01

    Based on a survey of charity boards in England and Wales this paper examines what influence board inputs, structures and processes have on board effectiveness. The findings provide mixed support for the normative literature on board effectiveness. Using stepwise logistic regression the research suggests that board inputs and three process variables are important in explaining board effectiveness, namely: board members have the time, skills and experience to do the job; clear board roles and r...

  16. What makes great boards great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey A

    2002-09-01

    In the wake of meltdowns at WorldCom, Tyco, and Enron, enormous attention has been focused on the companies' boards. It seems inconceivable that business disasters of such magnitude could happen without gross or even criminal negligence on the part of board members. And yet a close examination of those boards reveals no broad pattern of incompetence or corruption. In fact, they followed most of the accepted standards for board operations: Members showed up for meetings; they had money invested in the company; audit committees, compensation committees, and codes of ethics were in place; the boards weren't too small or too big, nor were they dominated by insiders. In other words, they passed the tests that would normally be applied to determine whether a board of directors was likely to do a good job. And that's precisely what's so scary, according to corporate governance expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who suggests that it's time for some new thinking about how corporate boards operate and are evaluated. He proposes thinking not only about how to structure the board's work but also about how to manage it as a social system. Good boards are, very simply, high-functioning work groups. They're distinguished by a climate of respect, trust, and candor among board members and between the board and management. Information is shared openly and on time; emergent political factions are quickly eliminated. Members feel free to challenge one another's assumptions and conclusions, and management encourages lively discussion of strategic issues. Directors feel a responsibility to contribute meaningfully to the board's performance. In addition, good boards assess their own performance, both collectively and individually.

  17. High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Ng, Tak-Kwong; Lin, Bing; Hu, Yongxiang; Harrison, Wallace

    2014-01-01

    A new development of on-board data processing platform has been in progress at NASA Langley Research Center since April, 2012, and the overall review of such work is presented in this paper. The project is called High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments (HOPS) and focuses on a high-speed scalable data processing platform for three particular National Research Council's Decadal Survey missions such as Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS), Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystems (ACE), and Doppler Aerosol Wind Lidar (DAWN) 3-D Winds. HOPS utilizes advanced general purpose computing with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based algorithm implementation techniques. The significance of HOPS is to enable high speed on-board data processing for current and future science missions with its reconfigurable and scalable data processing platform. A single HOPS processing board is expected to provide approximately 66 times faster data processing speed for ASCENDS, more than 70% reduction in both power and weight, and about two orders of cost reduction compared to the state-of-the-art (SOA) on-board data processing system. Such benchmark predictions are based on the data when HOPS was originally proposed in August, 2011. The details of these improvement measures are also presented. The two facets of HOPS development are identifying the most computationally intensive algorithm segments of each mission and implementing them in a FPGA-based data processing board. A general introduction of such facets is also the purpose of this paper.

  18. Patients prefer boarding in inpatient hallways: correlation with the national emergency department overcrowding score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, John R; Ozery, Gal; Notash, Mark; Sokolove, Peter E; Derlet, Robert W; Panacek, Edward A

    2011-01-01

    Objective. The boarding of patients in Emergency Department (ED) hallways when no inpatient beds are available is a major cause of ED crowding. One solution is to board admitted patients in an inpatient rather than ED hallway. We surveyed patients to determine their preference and correlated their responses to real-time National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score (NEDOCS). Methods. This was a survey of admitted patients in the ED of an urban university level I trauma center serving a community of 5 million about their personal preferences regarding boarding. Real-time NEDOCS was calculated at the time each survey was conducted. Results. 99 total surveys were completed during October 2010, 42 (42%) patients preferred to be boarded in an inpatient hallway, 33 (33%) preferred the ED hallway, and 24 (24%) had no preference. Mean (±SD) NEDOCS (range 0-200) was 136 ± 46 for patients preferring inpatient boarding, 112 ± 39 for ED boarding, and 119 ± 43 without preference. Male patients preferred inpatient hallway boarding significantly more than females. Preference for inpatient boarding was associated with a significantly higher NEDOCS. Conclusions. In this survey study, patients prefer inpatient hallway boarding when the hospital is at or above capacity. Males prefer inpatient hallway boarding more than females. The preference for inpatient hallway boarding increases as the ED becomes more crowded.

  19. Patients Prefer Boarding in Inpatient Hallways: Correlation with the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John R. Richards

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. The boarding of patients in Emergency Department (ED hallways when no inpatient beds are available is a major cause of ED crowding. One solution is to board admitted patients in an inpatient rather than ED hallway. We surveyed patients to determine their preference and correlated their responses to real-time National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score (NEDOCS. Methods. This was a survey of admitted patients in the ED of an urban university level I trauma center serving a community of 5 million about their personal preferences regarding boarding. Real-time NEDOCS was calculated at the time each survey was conducted. Results. 99 total surveys were completed during October 2010, 42 (42% patients preferred to be boarded in an inpatient hallway, 33 (33% preferred the ED hallway, and 24 (24% had no preference. Mean (±SD NEDOCS (range 0–200 was 136±46 for patients preferring inpatient boarding, 112±39 for ED boarding, and 119±43 without preference. Male patients preferred inpatient hallway boarding significantly more than females. Preference for inpatient boarding was associated with a significantly higher NEDOCS. Conclusions. In this survey study, patients prefer inpatient hallway boarding when the hospital is at or above capacity. Males prefer inpatient hallway boarding more than females. The preference for inpatient hallway boarding increases as the ED becomes more crowded.

  20. Women on professional society and journal editorial boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Melinda J; Sonnad, Seema S

    2007-07-01

    Membership on a professional medical society or journal editorial board is a marker of influence and prestige for those in academic medicine. This study presents the first comprehensive quantification of women on these boards and the implications for women in medicine. The numbers of women and men on professional society and journal editorial boards across 28 specialties (March 2004) were counted. The number of women holding multiple roles on these boards and the number of women holding top leadership positions on these boards were counted, and these proportions were compared. Three-thousand-four-hundred-seventy-three individuals on 39 professional medical society boards and 54 journal editorial boards were included. Eighty-three percent (2,884) of board members were male. Men occupied > 80% of top leadership positions on these boards. Thirty-five of the 589 women in the study held multiple roles. Anesthesiology (p women on boards in comparison to the total women in the specialty. Internal medicine, plastic surgery, cardiology and general surgery had nearly equivalent proportions; in otolaryngology and family medicine, female board members slightly exceeded the proportion of women in the field. Women's representation on society and editorial boards does not always reflect their presence in medical specialties, and it is critically lacking in certain specialties. Efforts should be made to attain parity of women leaders on these boards. Further efforts should be made to eliminate barriers to women's leadership in medicine.

  1. The effects of some parameters on the calculated 1H NMR relaxation times of cell water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koivula, A.; Suominen, K.; Kiviniitty, K.

    1976-01-01

    The effect of some parameters on the longitudinal and transverse relaxation times is calculated and a comparison between the calculated relaxation times with the results of different measurements is made. (M.S.)

  2. New Rationales for Women on Boards

    OpenAIRE

    Choudhury, B.

    2014-01-01

    Should measures promoting women to corporate boards be solely justified in terms of economic arguments? Traditionally, such measures have tended to rely on utilitarian arguments, despite the fact that the most prominent of these arguments—the relationship between women’s presence on boards and firm financial performance—is equivocal. Conversely, this article argues that rationales for increasing women on boards should be based on both equality and economics grounds. An equality rationale is n...

  3. Working on nonprofit boards. Don't assume the shoe fits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McFarlan, F W

    1999-01-01

    Contrary to popular perception, businesspeople can be benevolent. For instance, one recent study notes that four-fifths of all Harvard Business School graduates are involved with nonprofits, with more than half of those serving on boards. Most business professionals will spend some time on a nonprofit board. That's the good news, the author says. The bad news is that the involvement of businesspeople can easily backfire. That's because they often try to take what they have learned from business school and the corporate world and apply it to their duties in the nonprofit sector. On the surface, there are similarities between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Both have boards of directors, trustees and chairpeople, regular meetings, and so forth. But the governance of nonprofit organizations is very different from the governance of for-profit businesses in several critical areas, including missions, measurements, and board composition. For instance, the CEO in the nonprofit world must manage a relationship with a nonexecutive board chair. In the for-profit world, the CEO is the chair. Such significant differences make it difficult to transfer ideas and practices between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. In this article, F. Warren McFarlan describes the main differences between serving on a for-profit board and serving on a nonprofit board. As he points out, understanding the differences will make it easier for businesspeople to move smoothly from one environment to the other and will therefore make their commitments more effective. Nonprofits need businesspeople, but only on the right terms.

  4. Interprofessional student experiences on the HAVEN free clinic leadership board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Elizabeth Anne; Swartz, Martha K

    2015-01-01

    In this study, we examined the experiences of students serving on the leadership board of HAVEN - the student-run free clinic of the Yale University health professional schools. Open-ended responses were collected from 18 of the 28 members of the 2011-2012 leadership board through an online survey. Students reported an overall positive experience participating on the board and valued the opportunity to be part of a committed community creating change. The majority of students reported that their time as a board member had improved their attitude towards interprofessional collaboration (78%) and had also fostered their leadership skills (67%). Around two thirds (67%) reported that their experience had positively impacted their future career plans, either reinforcing their desire to work with underserved populations or encouraging them to pursue leadership roles. Based on these data, it is suggested that the HAVEN Free Clinic offers a useful opportunity for students to experience the demands of clinical care leadership while working together in an interprofessional context.

  5. A new timing model for calculating the intrinsic timing resolution of a scintillator detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shao Yiping

    2007-01-01

    The coincidence timing resolution is a critical parameter which to a large extent determines the system performance of positron emission tomography (PET). This is particularly true for time-of-flight (TOF) PET that requires an excellent coincidence timing resolution (<<1 ns) in order to significantly improve the image quality. The intrinsic timing resolution is conventionally calculated with a single-exponential timing model that includes two parameters of a scintillator detector: scintillation decay time and total photoelectron yield from the photon-electron conversion. However, this calculation has led to significant errors when the coincidence timing resolution reaches 1 ns or less. In this paper, a bi-exponential timing model is derived and evaluated. The new timing model includes an additional parameter of a scintillator detector: scintillation rise time. The effect of rise time on the timing resolution has been investigated analytically, and the results reveal that the rise time can significantly change the timing resolution of fast scintillators that have short decay time constants. Compared with measured data, the calculations have shown that the new timing model significantly improves the accuracy in the calculation of timing resolutions

  6. Kajian dan Implementasi Real Time Operating System pada Single Board Computer Berbasis Arm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiedjaja A

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Operating System is an important software in computer system. For personal and office use the operating system is sufficient. However, to critical mission applications such as nuclear power plants and braking system on the car (auto braking system which need a high level of reliability, it requires operating system which operates in real time. The study aims to assess the implementation of the Linux-based operating system on a Single Board Computer (SBC ARM-based, namely Pandaboard ES with the Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, TI OMAP 4460 type. Research was conducted by the method of implementation of the General Purpose OS Ubuntu 12:04 OMAP4-armhf-RTOS and Linux 3.4.0-rt17 + on PandaBoard ES. Then research compared the latency value of each OS on no-load and with full-load condition. The results obtained show the maximum latency value of RTOS on full load condition is at 45 uS, much smaller than the maximum value of GPOS at full-load at 17.712 uS. The lower value of latency demontrates that the RTOS has ability to run the process in a certain period of time much better than the GPOS.

  7. Research on trust calculation of wireless sensor networks based on time segmentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Yaoxin; Gao, Xiufeng; Qiao, Wenxin

    2017-05-01

    Because the wireless sensor network is different from the traditional network characteristics, it is easy to accept the intrusion from the compromise node. The trust mechanism is the most effective way to defend against internal attacks. Aiming at the shortcomings of the existing trust mechanism, a method of calculating the trust of wireless sensor networks based on time segmentation is proposed. It improves the security of the network and extends the life of the network

  8. An Integrated Architecture for On-Board Aircraft Engine Performance Trend Monitoring and Gas Path Fault Diagnostics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Donald L.

    2010-01-01

    Aircraft engine performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostics are closely related technologies that assist operators in managing the health of their gas turbine engine assets. Trend monitoring is the process of monitoring the gradual performance change that an aircraft engine will naturally incur over time due to turbomachinery deterioration, while gas path diagnostics is the process of detecting and isolating the occurrence of any faults impacting engine flow-path performance. Today, performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostic functions are performed by a combination of on-board and off-board strategies. On-board engine control computers contain logic that monitors for anomalous engine operation in real-time. Off-board ground stations are used to conduct fleet-wide engine trend monitoring and fault diagnostics based on data collected from each engine each flight. Continuing advances in avionics are enabling the migration of portions of the ground-based functionality on-board, giving rise to more sophisticated on-board engine health management capabilities. This paper reviews the conventional engine performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostic architecture commonly applied today, and presents a proposed enhanced on-board architecture for future applications. The enhanced architecture gains real-time access to an expanded quantity of engine parameters, and provides advanced on-board model-based estimation capabilities. The benefits of the enhanced architecture include the real-time continuous monitoring of engine health, the early diagnosis of fault conditions, and the estimation of unmeasured engine performance parameters. A future vision to advance the enhanced architecture is also presented and discussed

  9. High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments: HOPS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyon, Jeffrey

    2015-01-01

    The project called High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments (HOPS) has been funded by NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program during April, 2012 â€" April, 2015. HOPS is an enabler for science missions with extremely high data processing rates. In this three-year effort of HOPS, Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) and 3-D Winds were of interest in particular. As for ASCENDS, HOPS replaces time domain data processing with frequency domain processing while making the real-time on-board data processing possible. As for 3-D Winds, HOPS offers real-time high-resolution wind profiling with 4,096-point fast Fourier transform (FFT). HOPS is adaptable with quick turn-around time. Since HOPS offers reusable user-friendly computational elements, its FPGA IP Core can be modified for a shorter development period if the algorithm changes. The FPGA and memory bandwidth of HOPS is 20 GB/sec while the typical maximum processor-to-SDRAM bandwidth of the commercial radiation tolerant high-end processors is about 130-150 MB/sec. The inter-board communication bandwidth of HOPS is 4 GB/sec while the effective processor-to-cPCI bandwidth of commercial radiation tolerant high-end boards is about 50-75 MB/sec. Also, HOPS offers VHDL cores for the easy and efficient implementation of ASCENDS and 3-D Winds, and other similar algorithms. A general overview of the 3-year development of HOPS is the goal of this presentation.

  10. Trends in boarding of admitted patients in US Emergency Departments 2003-2005.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Brendan G; Hollander, Judd E; Baxt, William G; Datner, Elizabeth M; Pines, Jesse M

    2010-10-01

    Boarding of admitted patients in the Emergency Department (ED) is common and is associated with poor patient outcomes. We sought to estimate the magnitude of and trends for ED boarding in the US. We used the 2003-2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to estimate the time patients spent boarding in EDs in the US. We used fixed and imputed times required to evaluate, treat, and decide to admit each patient using the number of medications and diagnostic tests received. We calculated the absolute and relative patient-care hours spent boarding in US EDs over the 3-year period. Total patient-hours spent in US EDs increased from 209 million to 217 million between 2003 and 2005. Overall admission rates decreased between 2003 and 2005 (13.9% in 2003, 12.3% in 2005), whereas intensive care unit admission rates increased (1.3% in 2003, 2.0% in 2005). Mean ED length of stay decreased (5.4 h in 2003, 4.6 h in 2005). The proportion of patient-hours accounted for by ED boarding decreased over the study period (11.3-17.1% in 2003, 5.9-15.3% in 2004, and 2.8-12.0% 2005). Boarding of admitted patients in the ED accounts for a substantial portion of ED patient-care hours. Overall boarding time decreased over the 3 years. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. A Feminist Framework for Nurses on Boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundean, Lisa J; Polifroni, E Carol

    Nurses' knowledge, skills, and expertise uniquely situate them to contribute to health care transformation as equal partners in organizational board governance. The Institute of Medicine, the 10,000 Nurses on Boards Coalition, and a growing number of nurse and health care scholars advocate nurse board leadership; however, nurses are rarely appointed as voting board members. When no room is made for nurses to take a seat at the table, the opportunity is lost to harness the power of nursing knowledge for health care transformation and social justice. No philosophical framework underpins the emerging focus on nurse board leadership. The purpose of this article is to add to the extant nursing literature by suggesting feminism as a philosophical framework for nurses on boards. Feminism contributes to the knowledge base of nursing as it relates to the expanding roles of nurses in health care transformation, policy, and social justice. Furthermore, a feminist philosophical framework for nurses on boards sets the foundation for new theory development and validates ongoing advancement of the nursing profession. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The impact of `admit no bed` and long boarding times in the emergency department on stroke outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Khathaami, Ali M; Abulaban, Ahmad A; Mohamed, Gamal E; Alamry, Ahmed M; Kojan, Suleiman M; Aljumah, Mohammed A

    2014-09-01

    To examine and test the possible association between boarding time and stroke patients` outcome. This study is a retrospective review of stroke patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) of King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2007-2010. We excluded thrombolysis cases and those deemed critically ill. We collected time of stroke onset, ED arrival, decision to admit, and arrival to ward. Boarding time (BT) was defined as time of arrival to ward minus time of decision to admit. Primary outcome (PO) was defined as a composite of mortality, and/or any of post-stroke complications. We included 300 patients with a mean age +/- standard deviation of 69 +/- 12 years, and 66.3% were men. The PO occurred in 37.7%. There was no association between BT and PO (odds ratio [OR]=0.9, p=0.3), or any of the secondary outcomes, such as, death (OR=0.97, p=0.5), severe disability (OR=0.97, p=0.3), pneumonia (OR=1, p=0.9), urinary tract infection (OR=1, p=0.9), or neurological deterioration (OR=0.8, p=0.1). Multivariate analysis included gender, age, stroke severity, subtype, hypertension, diabetes, coronary disease, atrial fibrillation, heart failure (HF), onset to ED, BT and ED wait time; only moderate to severe stroke, HF, and previous stroke predicted poor outcome. Although `admit no bed` was not associated with adverse effects, the results should be interpreted with caution, and early admission to the stroke unit should be encouraged.

  13. Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    State Employees Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse DHSS State of Alaska Home Divisions and ; Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Page Content Alison Kulas Executive Director If you, a family Kulas Begins Tenure as Executive Director The Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, The Alaska

  14. 76 FR 8381 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Impromptu Notice of Time & Location Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-14

    ... Time & Location Change The National Science Board's Committee on Program and Plans, pursuant to NSF... MATTER: No change. STATUS: No change. ORIGINAL LOCATION: Room 1295 or 1235, National Science Foundation, 4201Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. NEW LOCATION: Room 1295. Public overflow room for the open session...

  15. Flight Hardware Virtualization for On-Board Science Data Processing Project

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Utilize Hardware Virtualization technology to benefit on-board science data processing by investigating new real time embedded Hardware Virtualization solutions and...

  16. Board Size and Board Independence: A Quantitative Study on Banking Industry in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kashif Rashid

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to investigate the relationship of board independence and board size with productivity and efficiency of the listed banks on the Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan. There is a lack of consensus regarding impact of corporate governance practices in correspondence to number of board members and board independence in banking sector. The derived results of the study show that there is a positive relationship between board independence and bank profitability and efficiency. Independent directors play a crucial role in providing genuine advice during executive decision making process which is an important source for improving overall corporate governance. Moreover, results regarding the role of control variables suggest a positive relationship of the total assets and deposits of the firm with the firm’s performance supporting stewardship theory in the market.

  17. 77 FR 1956 - National Science Board; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on the National Science Board...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-12

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on the National Science Board Data Policies Report AGENCY: National Science Board (NSB), NSF. ACTION: Request for public comments. SUMMARY: The National Science Board seeks comments from the public on the...

  18. Employee on Boarding Process Automation

    OpenAIRE

    Khushboo Nalband; Priyanka Jadhav; Geetanjali Salunke

    2017-01-01

    On boarding, also known as organizational socialization, plays a vital role in building the initial relationship between an organization and an employee. It also contributes to an employees’ satisfaction, better performance and greater organizational commitment thus increasing an employees’ effectiveness and productivity in his/her role. Therefore, it is essential that on boarding process of an organization is efficient and effective to improve new employees’ retention. Generally this on boar...

  19. Gender Quotas on Board of Directors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smith, Nina

    2013-01-01

    Beside arguments of fairness and equal opportunities, it is often argued that gender diversity on boards of directors may improve firm performance, but the empirical results are mixed and often negative. Based on the available research, gender quotas on boards of directors cannot be justified...

  20. Kajian dan Implementasi Real TIME Operating System pada Single Board Computer Berbasis Arm

    OpenAIRE

    A, Wiedjaja; M, Handi; L, Jonathan; Christian, Benyamin; Kristofel, Luis

    2014-01-01

    Operating System is an important software in computer system. For personal and office use the operating system is sufficient. However, to critical mission applications such as nuclear power plants and braking system on the car (auto braking system) which need a high level of reliability, it requires operating system which operates in real time. The study aims to assess the implementation of the Linux-based operating system on a Single Board Computer (SBC) ARM-based, namely Pandaboard ES with ...

  1. The Effect of the Heat Flux on the Self-Ignition of Oriented Strand Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirle, Siegfried; Balog, Karol

    2017-06-01

    This article deals with the initiation phase of flaming and smouldering burning of oriented strand board. The influence of heat flux on thermal degradation of OSB boards, time to ignition, heat release rate and mass loss rate using thermal analysis and vertical electrical radiation panel methods were studied. Significant information on the influence of the heat flux density and the thickness of the material on time to ignition was obtained.

  2. Mortality Associated With Emergency Department Boarding Exposure: Are There Differences Between Patients Admitted to ICU and Non-ICU Settings?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reznek, Martin A; Upatising, Benjavan; Kennedy, Samantha J; Durham, Natassia T; Forster, Richard M; Michael, Sean S

    2018-05-01

    Emergency Department (ED) boarding threatens patient safety. It is unclear whether boarding differentially affects patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) versus non-ICU settings. We performed a 2-hospital, 18-month, cross-sectional, observational, descriptive study of adult patients admitted from the ED. We used Kaplan-Meier estimation and Cox Proportional Hazards regression to describe differences in boarding time among patients who died during hospitalization versus those who survived, controlling for covariates that could affect mortality risk or boarding exposure, and separately evaluating patients admitted to ICUs versus non-ICU settings. We extracted age, race, sex, time variables, admission unit, hospital disposition, and Elixhauser comorbidity measures and calculated boarding time for each admitted patient. Among 39,781 admissions from the EDs (21.3% to ICUs), non-ICU patients who died in-hospital had a 1.2-fold risk (95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.36; P=0.016) of having experienced longer boarding times than survivors, accounting for covariates. We did not observe a difference among patients admitted to ICUs. Among non-ICU patients, those who died during hospitalization were more likely to have had incrementally longer boarding exposure than those who survived. This difference was not observed for ICU patients. Boarding risk mitigation strategies focused on ICU patients may have accounted for this difference, but we caution against interpreting that boarding can be safe. Segmentation by patients admitted to ICU versus non-ICU settings in boarding research may be valuable in ensuring that the safety of both groups is considered in hospital flow and boarding care improvements.

  3. 77 FR 2541 - Board Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-18

    ... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Board Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board; Regular Meeting. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). DATE AND TIME: The meeting of the Board will be held at the...

  4. Computer optimization of cutting yield from multiple ripped boards

    Science.gov (United States)

    A.R. Stern; K.A. McDonald

    1978-01-01

    RIPYLD is a computer program that optimizes the cutting yield from multiple-ripped boards. Decisions are based on automatically collected defect information, cutting bill requirements, and sawing variables. The yield of clear cuttings from a board is calculated for every possible permutation of specified rip widths and both the maximum and minimum percent yield...

  5. The Effect of the Heat Flux on the Self-Ignition of Oriented Strand Board

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hirle Siegfried

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the initiation phase of flaming and smouldering burning of oriented strand board. The influence of heat flux on thermal degradation of OSB boards, time to ignition, heat release rate and mass loss rate using thermal analysis and vertical electrical radiation panel methods were studied. Significant information on the influence of the heat flux density and the thickness of the material on time to ignition was obtained.

  6. Effects of backing board materials on wood combustion performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathew J. Hagge; Kenneth M. Bryden; Mark A. Dietenberger

    2004-01-01

    Cone calorimeter tests show that backing board materials do not affect the ignition time, initial heat release rate, or the total heat released of combustion for redwood slabs. However, it has been observed that backing board materials alter combustion performance by altering the secondary heat release peak observed when the pyrolysis reaction front nears the unheated...

  7. Reconfigurable On-Board Vision Processing for Small Autonomous Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James K. Archibald

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the challenge of supporting real-time vision processing on-board small autonomous vehicles. Local vision gives increased autonomous capability, but it requires substantial computing power that is difficult to provide given the severe constraints of small size and battery-powered operation. We describe a custom FPGA-based circuit board designed to support research in the development of algorithms for image-directed navigation and control. We show that the FPGA approach supports real-time vision algorithms by describing the implementation of an algorithm to construct a three-dimensional (3D map of the environment surrounding a small mobile robot. We show that FPGAs are well suited for systems that must be flexible and deliver high levels of performance, especially in embedded settings where space and power are significant concerns.

  8. Reconfigurable On-Board Vision Processing for Small Autonomous Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fife WadeS

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the challenge of supporting real-time vision processing on-board small autonomous vehicles. Local vision gives increased autonomous capability, but it requires substantial computing power that is difficult to provide given the severe constraints of small size and battery-powered operation. We describe a custom FPGA-based circuit board designed to support research in the development of algorithms for image-directed navigation and control. We show that the FPGA approach supports real-time vision algorithms by describing the implementation of an algorithm to construct a three-dimensional (3D map of the environment surrounding a small mobile robot. We show that FPGAs are well suited for systems that must be flexible and deliver high levels of performance, especially in embedded settings where space and power are significant concerns.

  9. Spacecube: A Family of Reconfigurable Hybrid On-Board Science Data Processors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flatley, Thomas P.

    2015-01-01

    SpaceCube is a family of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based on-board science data processing systems developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The goal of the SpaceCube program is to provide 10x to 100x improvements in on-board computing power while lowering relative power consumption and cost. SpaceCube is based on the Xilinx Virtex family of FPGAs, which include processor, FPGA logic and digital signal processing (DSP) resources. These processing elements are leveraged to produce a hybrid science data processing platform that accelerates the execution of algorithms by distributing computational functions to the most suitable elements. This approach enables the implementation of complex on-board functions that were previously limited to ground based systems, such as on-board product generation, data reduction, calibration, classification, eventfeature detection, data mining and real-time autonomous operations. The system is fully reconfigurable in flight, including data parameters, software and FPGA logic, through either ground commanding or autonomously in response to detected eventsfeatures in the instrument data stream.

  10. Predictive NOx emission monitoring on board a passenger ferry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, D.A.; Andreasson, K.

    1999-01-01

    NO x emissions from a medium speed diesel engine on board a servicing passenger ferry have been indirectly measured using a predictive emission monitoring system (PEMS) over a 1-yr period. Conventional NO x measurements were carried out with a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) at the start of the study to provide historical data for the empirical PEMS function. On three other occasions during the year the CEMS was also used to verify the PEMS and follow any changes in emission signature of the engine. The PEMS consisted of monitoring exhaust O 2 concentrations (in situ electrochemical probe), engine load, combustion air temperature and humidity, and barometric pressure. Practical experiences with the PEMS equipment were positive and measurement data were transferred to a land-based office by using a modem data communication system. The initial PEMS function (PEMS1) gave systematic differences of 1.1-6.9% of the calibration domain (0-1725 ppm) and a relative accuracy of 6.7% when compared with CEMS for whole journeys and varying load situations. Further improvements on the performance could be obtained by updating this function. The calculated yearly emission for a total engine running time of 4618 h was 316 t NO x ± 38 t and the average NO x emission corrected for ambient conditions 14.3 g kWh corr -1 . The exhaust profile of the engine in terms of NO x , CO and CO 2 emissions as determined by CEMS was similar for most of the year. Towards the end of the study period, a significantly lower NO x emission was detected which was probably caused by replacement of fuel injector nozzles. The study suggests that PEMS can be a viable option for continuous, long-term NO x measurements on board ships. (author)

  11. 77 FR 55837 - Board Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-11

    ... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Board Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation. ACTION: Regular meeting. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). Date and Time: The meeting of the Board will be held...

  12. Time step length versus efficiency of Monte Carlo burnup calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dufek, Jan; Valtavirta, Ville

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Time step length largely affects efficiency of MC burnup calculations. • Efficiency of MC burnup calculations improves with decreasing time step length. • Results were obtained from SIE-based Monte Carlo burnup calculations. - Abstract: We demonstrate that efficiency of Monte Carlo burnup calculations can be largely affected by the selected time step length. This study employs the stochastic implicit Euler based coupling scheme for Monte Carlo burnup calculations that performs a number of inner iteration steps within each time step. In a series of calculations, we vary the time step length and the number of inner iteration steps; the results suggest that Monte Carlo burnup calculations get more efficient as the time step length is reduced. More time steps must be simulated as they get shorter; however, this is more than compensated by the decrease in computing cost per time step needed for achieving a certain accuracy

  13. QMX3.3 module-based on-board vehicle charger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, S. [Delta-Q Technologies, Burnaby, BC (Canada)

    2010-07-01

    Delta-Q is a tier one supplier to industrial electric vehicle manufacturers offering in-house product design and development as well as sales, marketing and customer service. This presentation discussed on-board chargers for use in electric vehicles. Electric vehicle chargers are needed due to their lower cost, lack of time for generational change, and long lifetime and safety requirements. The presentation discussed universal on-board charger requirements as well as final design requirements. Other topics that were addressed included common control; QMX prototypes; steps from prototype to production; and Delta-Q and tier one partnering. It was concluded that there is a complicated array of diverse requirements with multiple stakeholders and standards. figs.

  14. Time improvement of photoelectric effect calculation for absorbed dose estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Massa, J M; Wainschenker, R S; Doorn, J H; Caselli, E E

    2007-01-01

    Ionizing radiation therapy is a very useful tool in cancer treatment. It is very important to determine absorbed dose in human tissue to accomplish an effective treatment. A mathematical model based on affected areas is the most suitable tool to estimate the absorbed dose. Lately, Monte Carlo based techniques have become the most reliable, but they are time expensive. Absorbed dose calculating programs using different strategies have to choose between estimation quality and calculating time. This paper describes an optimized method for the photoelectron polar angle calculation in photoelectric effect, which is significant to estimate deposited energy in human tissue. In the case studies, time cost reduction nearly reached 86%, meaning that the time needed to do the calculation is approximately 1/7 th of the non optimized approach. This has been done keeping precision invariant

  15. Why so few Women on Boards of Directors?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smith, Nina; Parrotta, Pierpaolo

    2015-01-01

    This paper analyzes the determinants of women’s representation on boards of directors based on a panel of all privately owned or listed Danish firms with at least 50 employees observed during the period 1998–2010. We focus on the directors who are not elected by the employees and test three...... nonemployee-elected female board members. We also find clear evidence of a tokenism behavior in Danish companies. The likelihood of enlarging the share of non-employee-elected female board members is significantly smaller if one, two, or more women have sat on the board of directors. Finally, the pipeline...... suggests that an important way to increase the female proportion of non-employee-elected board members is that more women reach top executive positions....

  16. Calculation of fuel pin failure timing under LOCA conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, K.R.; Wade, N.L.; Siefken, L.J.; Straka, M.; Katsma, K.R.

    1991-10-01

    The objective of this research was to develop and demonstrate a methodology for calculation of the time interval between receipt of the containment isolation signals and the first fuel pin failure for loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). Demonstration calculations were performed for a Babcock and Wilcox (B ampersand W) design (Oconee) and a Westinghouse (W) 4-loop design (Seabrook). Sensitivity studies were performed to assess the impacts of fuel pin burnup, axial peaking factor, break size, emergency core cooling system (ECCS) availability, and main coolant pump trip on these items. The analysis was performed using a four-code approach, comprised of FRAPCON-2, SCDAP/RELAP5/MOD3, TRAC-PF1/MOD1, and FRAP-T6. In addition to the calculation of timing results, this analysis provided a comparison of the capabilities of SCDAP/RELAP5/MOD3 with TRAC-PF1/MOD1 for large-break LOCA analysis. This paper discusses the methodology employed and the code development efforts required to implement the methodology. The shortest time intervals calculated between initiation of containment isolation and fuel pin failure were 11.4 s and 19.1 for the B ampersand W and W plants, respectively. The FRAP-T6 fuel pin failure times calculated using thermal-hydraulic data generated by SCDAP/RELAP5/MOD3 were more conservative than those calculated using data generated by TRAC-PF1/MOD1. 18 refs., 7 figs., 4 tabs

  17. Travel Time to Hospital for Childbirth: Comparing Calculated Versus Reported Travel Times in France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilkington, Hugo; Prunet, Caroline; Blondel, Béatrice; Charreire, Hélène; Combier, Evelyne; Le Vaillant, Marc; Amat-Roze, Jeanne-Marie; Zeitlin, Jennifer

    2018-01-01

    Objectives Timely access to health care is critical in obstetrics. Yet obtaining reliable estimates of travel times to hospital for childbirth poses methodological challenges. We compared two measures of travel time, self-reported and calculated, to assess concordance and to identify determinants of long travel time to hospital for childbirth. Methods Data came from the 2010 French National Perinatal Survey, a national representative sample of births (N = 14 681). We compared both travel time measures by maternal, maternity unit and geographic characteristics in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Logistic regression models were used to study factors associated with reported and calculated times ≥30 min. Cohen's kappa coefficients were also calculated to estimate the agreement between reported and calculated times according to women's characteristics. Results In urban areas, the proportion of women with travel times ≥30 min was higher when reported rather than calculated times were used (11.0 vs. 3.6%). Longer reported times were associated with non-French nationality [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.3 (95% CI 1.0-1.7)] and inadequate prenatal care [aOR 1.5 (95% CI 1.2-2.0)], but not for calculated times. Concordance between the two measures was higher in peri-urban and rural areas (52.4 vs. 52.3% for rural areas). Delivery in a specialised level 2 or 3 maternity unit was a principal determinant of long reported and measured times in peri-urban and rural areas. Conclusions for Practice The level of agreement between reported and calculated times varies according to geographic context. Poor measurement of travel time in urban areas may mask problems in accessibility.

  18. 78 FR 4847 - Board Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-23

    ... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Board Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). DATE AND TIME: The meeting of the Board will be held at the offices of the Farm...

  19. Effects of Board of Directors' Characteristics on the Quality of Accounting Information in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciana Holtz

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the board of directors' responsibilities is to monitor the quality of information disclosed in financial reports. The board's structural and compositional characteristics can affect the quality of reported accounting information. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the board's structural and compositional characteristics on the quality of accounting information of companies listed on the Brazilian Securities, Commodities, and Futures Exchange (Bolsa de Mercadorias e Futuros - BM&FBovespa. Specifically, the characteristics studied were the size and independence of the board of directors and separation of the roles of chairman and executive director. Accounting information relevance and earnings informativeness were used as proxies for the quality of accounting information. The sample included non-financial companies listed on the BM&FBovespa with annual stock market liquidity higher than 0.001, covering the period from 2008–2011. Data were collected from the Economática® database and directly from companies' annual reports and reference forms available on the Securities Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários - CVM or BM&FBovespawebsites. Data analysis was undertaken using the multiple regression technique for calculating the models of accounting information relevance and earnings informativeness. The results reveal that, for companies that trade stocks on the BM&FBovespa in the Brazilian market, the characteristics of board independence and separation of the roles of chairman and executive director positively influence the quality of reported accounting information, specifically regarding the relevance of equity. Earnings informativeness is positively affected by board independence and negatively affected by larger board size (more than nine members. Overall, the results corroborate international studies such as those of Vafeas (2000, Firth, Fung, and Rui (2007, Ahmed, Hossain, and Adams (2006 and

  20. Optimal boarding method for airline passengers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steffen, Jason H.; /Fermilab

    2008-02-01

    Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo optimization algorithm and a computer simulation, I find the passenger ordering which minimizes the time required to board the passengers onto an airplane. The model that I employ assumes that the time that a passenger requires to load his or her luggage is the dominant contribution to the time needed to completely fill the aircraft. The optimal boarding strategy may reduce the time required to board and airplane by over a factor of four and possibly more depending upon the dimensions of the aircraft. I explore some features of the optimal boarding method and discuss practical modifications to the optimal. Finally, I mention some of the benefits that could come from implementing an improved passenger boarding scheme.

  1. GOVERNING BOARD OF THE PENSION FUND

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    The Governing Board met on 4 September in its first session since the summer break. On this occasion, the Board invited the two actuaries entrusted with the three-yearly actuarial review of the Fund, MP Actuaires SA (Geneva) and AON Consulting (Brussels), to present their results. Although the two studies were conducted independently and simultaneously, the Governing Board noted that the underlying methodology was remarkably similar in both cases. Both actuaries adopted a stochastic approach, both performed analyses based on the closed-fund method and on the open-fund method, and both made an evaluation of the risks for the appreciation of the Fund's financial position. This methodology produced consistent results which, while not always identical, are superimposable in terms of their order of magnitude. Under the closed-fund method, which involves assessing the Fund's financial situation as if it were closed on the date of calculation without any new members being admitted, both actuaries conclude that the s...

  2. Dynamic analyses of electromagnetic force on ferritic board for AMTEX on JFT-2M

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Urata, K. E-mail: uratak@fusion.naka.jaeri.go.jp; Suzuki, Y.; Kudough, F.; Kimura, H.; Miura, Y.; Yamamoto, M

    2001-10-01

    Covering the inside wall of the vacuum vessel with the ferritic boards (FBs) is planned in the third stage of the Advanced Material Tokamak Experiment (AMTEX) on JFT-2M. The total magnetic forces induced on FBs were calculated by the three-dimensional dynamic electromagnetic field analysis code, EMSolution, with solid magnetic elements to consider the coupled effects of eddy current and magnetization, and the skin effect of eddy current. The structural integrity was evaluated on the bolts fixing the FBs to the vacuum vessel.

  3. Dynamic analyses of electromagnetic force on ferritic board for AMTEX on JFT-2M

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Urata, K.; Suzuki, Y.; Kudough, F.; Kimura, H.; Miura, Y.; Yamamoto, M.

    2001-01-01

    Covering the inside wall of the vacuum vessel with the ferritic boards (FBs) is planned in the third stage of the Advanced Material Tokamak Experiment (AMTEX) on JFT-2M. The total magnetic forces induced on FBs were calculated by the three-dimensional dynamic electromagnetic field analysis code, EMSolution, with solid magnetic elements to consider the coupled effects of eddy current and magnetization, and the skin effect of eddy current. The structural integrity was evaluated on the bolts fixing the FBs to the vacuum vessel

  4. There Is Time for Calculation in Speed Chess, and Calculation Accuracy Increases With Expertise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Lane, David M

    2016-01-01

    The recognition-action theory of chess skill holds that expertise in chess is due primarily to the ability to recognize familiar patterns of pieces. Despite its widespread acclaim, empirical evidence for this theory is indirect. One source of indirect evidence is that there is a high correlation between speed chess and standard chess. Assuming that there is little or no time for calculation in speed chess, this high correlation implies that calculation is not the primary factor in standard chess. Two studies were conducted analyzing 100 games of speed chess. In Study 1, we examined the distributions of move times, and the key finding was that players often spent considerable time on a few moves. Moreover, stronger players were more likely than weaker players to do so. Study 2 examined skill differences in calculation by examining poor moves. The stronger players made proportionally fewer blunders (moves that a 2-ply search would have revealed to be errors). Overall, the poor moves made by the weaker players would have required a less extensive search to be revealed as poor moves than the poor moves made by the stronger players. Apparently, the stronger players are searching deeper and more accurately. These results are difficult to reconcile with the view that speed chess does not allow players time to calculate extensively and call into question the assertion that the high correlation between speed chess and standard chess supports recognition-action theory.

  5. Towards Real-time, On-board, Hardware-Supported Sensor and Software Health Management for Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schumann, Johann; Rozier, Kristin Y.; Reinbacher, Thomas; Mengshoel, Ole J.; Mbaya, Timmy; Ippolito, Corey

    2013-01-01

    Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) can only be deployed if they can effectively complete their missions and respond to failures and uncertain environmental conditions while maintaining safety with respect to other aircraft as well as humans and property on the ground. In this paper, we design a real-time, on-board system health management (SHM) capability to continuously monitor sensors, software, and hardware components for detection and diagnosis of failures and violations of safety or performance rules during the flight of a UAS. Our approach to SHM is three-pronged, providing: (1) real-time monitoring of sensor and/or software signals; (2) signal analysis, preprocessing, and advanced on the- fly temporal and Bayesian probabilistic fault diagnosis; (3) an unobtrusive, lightweight, read-only, low-power realization using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that avoids overburdening limited computing resources or costly re-certification of flight software due to instrumentation. Our implementation provides a novel approach of combining modular building blocks, integrating responsive runtime monitoring of temporal logic system safety requirements with model-based diagnosis and Bayesian network-based probabilistic analysis. We demonstrate this approach using actual data from the NASA Swift UAS, an experimental all-electric aircraft.

  6. Dosimetric verification of lung cancer treatment using the CBCTs estimated from limited-angle on-board projections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, You; Yin, Fang-Fang; Ren, Lei

    2015-08-01

    Lung cancer treatment is susceptible to treatment errors caused by interfractional anatomical and respirational variations of the patient. On-board treatment dose verification is especially critical for the lung stereotactic body radiation therapy due to its high fractional dose. This study investigates the feasibility of using cone-beam (CB)CT images estimated by a motion modeling and free-form deformation (MM-FD) technique for on-board dose verification. Both digital and physical phantom studies were performed. Various interfractional variations featuring patient motion pattern change, tumor size change, and tumor average position change were simulated from planning CT to on-board images. The doses calculated on the planning CT (planned doses), the on-board CBCT estimated by MM-FD (MM-FD doses), and the on-board CBCT reconstructed by the conventional Feldkamp-Davis-Kress (FDK) algorithm (FDK doses) were compared to the on-board dose calculated on the "gold-standard" on-board images (gold-standard doses). The absolute deviations of minimum dose (ΔDmin), maximum dose (ΔDmax), and mean dose (ΔDmean), and the absolute deviations of prescription dose coverage (ΔV100%) were evaluated for the planning target volume (PTV). In addition, 4D on-board treatment dose accumulations were performed using 4D-CBCT images estimated by MM-FD in the physical phantom study. The accumulated doses were compared to those measured using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) detectors and radiochromic films. Compared with the planned doses and the FDK doses, the MM-FD doses matched much better with the gold-standard doses. For the digital phantom study, the average (± standard deviation) ΔDmin, ΔDmax, ΔDmean, and ΔV100% (values normalized by the prescription dose or the total PTV) between the planned and the gold-standard PTV doses were 32.9% (±28.6%), 3.0% (±2.9%), 3.8% (±4.0%), and 15.4% (±12.4%), respectively. The corresponding values of FDK PTV doses were 1.6% (±1

  7. 20 CFR 405.420 - Effect of Decision Review Board action on the right to seek judicial review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... § 405.420 Effect of Decision Review Board action on the right to seek judicial review. (a)(1) Subject to... must wait for the Board to take action. The appeal rights, if any, that will be available at that time... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Effect of Decision Review Board action on the...

  8. Board on chemical sciences and technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    The Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology organizes and provides direction for standing and ad-hoc committees charged with addressing specific issues relevant to the continued health of the chemical sciences and technology community. Studies currently under the oversight of the BCST include a major survey of the chemical sciences, a complementary survey of chemical engineering, an examination of the problems of biohazards in the laboratory, and an analysis of the roots and magnitude of the problem of obsolescent facilities for research and teaching in departments in the chemical sciences and engineering. The Board continues to respond to specific agency requests for program assessments and advice. BCST members are designated to serve as liaison with major federal agencies or departments that support research in order to help identify ways for the Board to assist these organizations. The BCST maintains close contact with professional societies and non-governmental organizations that share the Board's concern for the health of chemical sciences and technology. Individual Board members are assigned responsibility for liaison with the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Biological Chemists, the Council for Chemical Research, the NAS Chemistry and Biochemistry Sections, and the National Academy of Engineering. In the past few years, the Board has served as a focus and a forum for a variety of issues that relate specifically to the health of chemistry

  9. TU-AB-303-10: KVCBCT, MVCBCT and MVCT On-Board Imaging Suitability for An Urgent Radiotherapy Treatment Workflow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Held, M; Morin, O; Pouliot, J [UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (United States)

    2015-06-15

    Purpose: A comparison of image quality and dose calculation accuracy to study the suitability of available on-board imaging systems for a new treatment workflow in emergency radiotherapy situations. Methods: Water and anthropomorphic phantom images were acquired on four different Linac on-board imaging systems, including kVCBCT (Varian TrueBeam and Elekta VersaHD), MVCBCT (Siemens Artiste) and MVCT (Accuray Tomotherapy). Simple treatments of single or opposed beams were planned on the respective kVCT images and copied to all CT images. Image suitability for dose planning was based on the overall mean dose differences and 3D gamma index with 3%/3mm criteria for a prescription of 100 monitor units (MU) and differences in calculated MUs per plan for dose prescriptions to mid-plane. Results: TrueBeam kVCBCT and Tomotherapy MVCT images produced most accurate dose calculation for all tested cases (γ-index >95%). MVCBCT and VersaHD kVCBCT images resulted in minimum γ-passing rates of 94% and 87%, respectively. MUs calculated from treatment plans prescribed to mid-plane were within differences of 5% relative to kVCT-based plans in all cases. However, VersaHD images showed considerable local image artifacts in the pelvis water and anthropomorphic neck phantom that complicated accurate Hounsfield unit (HU) to electron density conversion, thus causing local dose differences of more than 10% relative to kVCT-based dose distributions. Conclusion: TrueBeam kVCBCT, MVCBCT and MVCT systems provide image quality that allows for accurate simple treatment plan calculation. Prescription points should be placed away from areas found to cause local dose discrepancies, such as air cavities. Improved image filter settings and HU-to-electron density calibration adjustments may be required for the VersaHD system to obtain an overall accurate dose distribution. To evaluate a system’s overall suitability, its clinical features also require consideration, such as imaging field of view

  10. The Problem: Low-Achieving Districts and Low-Performing Boards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David E. Lee

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Effective school districts maintain superintendent and school board collegiality which can foster success and connectedness among members. Delagardelle and Alsbury (2008 found that superintendents and board members are not consistent in their perceptions about the work the board does, and Glass (2007 found that states do not require boards to undergo evaluation for effectiveness. In the current study, 115 board meetings were observed using the School Board Video Project (SBVP survey, which was created in 2012 by researchers to uncover school board meetings’ effectiveness. MANOVA, Univariate ANOVA, and Pearson Chi-Square test results revealed significant differences between low-, medium-, and high-performing districts’ school board meetings. Evidence indicated that low-performing districts’ board meetings were: less orderly; had less time spent on student achievement; lacked respectful and attentive engagement across speakers; had board meeting members who seemed to advance their own agenda; had less effective working relationships among the governance team; had fewer board members who relied on the superintendent for advice and input; had one member, other than the board president, stand out for taking excessive time during meetings; and did not focus on policy items as much as high- and medium-performing school districts. The research concluded that more school board members from low-performing districts needed training to improve their effectiveness. Furthermore, highly refined and target-enhanced school board training programs might lead to lasting governance success and more effective teaming that could improve district, and ultimately, student achievement.

  11. Predictive NO x emission monitoring on board a passenger ferry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, D. A.; Andreasson, K.

    NO x emissions from a medium speed diesel engine on board a servicing passenger ferry have been indirectly measured using a predictive emission monitoring system (PEMS) over a 1-yr period. Conventional NO x measurements were carried out with a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) at the start of the study to provide historical data for the empirical PEMS function. On three other occasions during the year the CEMS was also used to verify the PEMS and follow any changes in emission signature of the engine. The PEMS consisted of monitoring exhaust O 2 concentrations (in situ electrochemical probe), engine load, combustion air temperature and humidity, and barometric pressure. Practical experiences with the PEMS equipment were positive and measurement data were transferred to a land-based office by using a modem data communication system. The initial PEMS function (PEMS1) gave systematic differences of 1.1-6.9% of the calibration domain (0-1725 ppm) and a relative accuracy of 6.7% when compared with CEMS for whole journeys and varying load situations. Further improvements on the performance could be obtained by updating this function. The calculated yearly emission for a total engine running time of 4618 h was 316 t NO x±38 t and the average NO x emission corrected for ambient conditions 14.3 g kWh corr-1. The exhaust profile of the engine in terms of NO x, CO and CO 2 emissions as determined by CEMS was similar for most of the year. Towards the end of the study period, a significantly lower NO x emission was detected which was probably caused by replacement of fuel injector nozzles. The study suggests that PEMS can be a viable option for continuous, long-term NO x measurements on board ships.

  12. Time-dependent importance sampling in semiclassical initial value representation calculations for time correlation functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Guohua; Miller, William H

    2011-07-14

    An efficient time-dependent importance sampling method is developed for the Monte Carlo calculation of time correlation functions via the initial value representation (IVR) of semiclassical (SC) theory. A prefactor-free time-dependent sampling function weights the importance of a trajectory based on the magnitude of its contribution to the time correlation function, and global trial moves are used to facilitate the efficient sampling the phase space of initial conditions. The method can be generally applied to sampling rare events efficiently while avoiding being trapped in a local region of the phase space. Results presented in the paper for two system-bath models demonstrate the efficiency of this new importance sampling method for full SC-IVR calculations.

  13. Efficient methods for time-absorption (α) eigenvalue calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, T.R.

    1983-01-01

    The time-absorption eigenvalue (α) calculation is one of the options found in most discrete-ordinates transport codes. Several methods have been developed at Los Alamos to improve the efficiency of this calculation. Two procedures, based on coarse-mesh rebalance, to accelerate the α eigenvalue search are derived. A hybrid scheme to automatically choose the more-effective rebalance method is described. The α rebalance scheme permits some simple modifications to the iteration strategy that eliminates many unnecessary calculations required in the standard search procedure. For several fast supercritical test problems, these methods resulted in convergence with one-fifth the number of iterations required for the conventional eigenvalue search procedure

  14. Feasibility of real-time calculation of correlation integral derived statistics applied to EEG time series

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broek, P.L.C. van den; Egmond, J. van; Rijn, C.M. van; Takens, F.; Coenen, A.M.L.; Booij, L.H.D.J.

    2005-01-01

    This study assessed the feasibility of online calculation of the correlation integral (C(r)) aiming to apply C(r)-derived statistics. For real-time application it is important to reduce calculation time. It is shown how our method works for EEG time series. Methods: To achieve online calculation of

  15. An embedded single-board computer for BPM of SSRF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Kai; Liu Shubin; Yan Han; Wu Weihao; Zhao Lei; An Qi; Leng Yongbin; Yi Xing; Yan Yingbing; Lai Longwei

    2011-01-01

    An embedded single-board computer (SBC) system based on AT91RM9200 was designed for monitoring and controlling the digital beam position monitor system of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) through the Virtex-4 FPGA in the digital processing board. The SBC transfers the configuration commands from the remote EPICS to the FPGA, and calculates the beam position data. The interface between the FPGA and the SBC is the Static Memory Controller (SMC) with a peak transfer speed of up to 349 Mbps. The 100 Mb Ethernet is used for data transfer between the EPICS and SBC board, and a serial port serves as monitoring the status of the embedded system. Test results indicate that the SBC board functions well. (authors)

  16. WE-G-BRD-06: Volumetric Cine MRI (VC-MRI) Estimated Based On Prior Knowledge for On-Board Target Localization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harris, W; Yin, F; Cai, J; Zhang, Y; Ren, L

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: To develop a technique to generate on-board VC-MRI using patient prior 4D-MRI, motion modeling and on-board 2D-cine MRI for real-time 3D target verification of liver and lung radiotherapy. Methods: The end-expiration phase images of a 4D-MRI acquired during patient simulation are used as patient prior images. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to extract 3 major respiratory deformation patterns from the Deformation Field Maps (DFMs) generated between end-expiration phase and all other phases. On-board 2D-cine MRI images are acquired in the axial view. The on-board VC-MRI at any instant is considered as a deformation of the prior MRI at the end-expiration phase. The DFM is represented as a linear combination of the 3 major deformation patterns. The coefficients of the deformation patterns are solved by matching the corresponding 2D slice of the estimated VC-MRI with the acquired single 2D-cine MRI. The method was evaluated using both XCAT (a computerized patient model) simulation of lung cancer patients and MRI data from a real liver cancer patient. The 3D-MRI at every phase except end-expiration phase was used to simulate the ground-truth on-board VC-MRI at different instances, and the center-tumor slice was selected to simulate the on-board 2D-cine images. Results: Image subtraction of ground truth with estimated on-board VC-MRI shows fewer differences than image subtraction of ground truth with prior image. Excellent agreement between profiles was achieved. The normalized cross correlation coefficients between the estimated and ground-truth in the axial, coronal and sagittal views for each time step were >= 0.982, 0.905, 0.961 for XCAT data and >= 0.998, 0.911, 0.9541 for patient data. For XCAT data, the maximum-Volume-Percent-Difference between ground-truth and estimated tumor volumes was 1.6% and the maximum-Center-of-Mass-Shift was 0.9 mm. Conclusion: Preliminary studies demonstrated the feasibility to estimate real-time VC-MRI for on-board

  17. WE-G-BRD-06: Volumetric Cine MRI (VC-MRI) Estimated Based On Prior Knowledge for On-Board Target Localization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harris, W; Yin, F; Cai, J; Zhang, Y; Ren, L [Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States)

    2015-06-15

    Purpose: To develop a technique to generate on-board VC-MRI using patient prior 4D-MRI, motion modeling and on-board 2D-cine MRI for real-time 3D target verification of liver and lung radiotherapy. Methods: The end-expiration phase images of a 4D-MRI acquired during patient simulation are used as patient prior images. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to extract 3 major respiratory deformation patterns from the Deformation Field Maps (DFMs) generated between end-expiration phase and all other phases. On-board 2D-cine MRI images are acquired in the axial view. The on-board VC-MRI at any instant is considered as a deformation of the prior MRI at the end-expiration phase. The DFM is represented as a linear combination of the 3 major deformation patterns. The coefficients of the deformation patterns are solved by matching the corresponding 2D slice of the estimated VC-MRI with the acquired single 2D-cine MRI. The method was evaluated using both XCAT (a computerized patient model) simulation of lung cancer patients and MRI data from a real liver cancer patient. The 3D-MRI at every phase except end-expiration phase was used to simulate the ground-truth on-board VC-MRI at different instances, and the center-tumor slice was selected to simulate the on-board 2D-cine images. Results: Image subtraction of ground truth with estimated on-board VC-MRI shows fewer differences than image subtraction of ground truth with prior image. Excellent agreement between profiles was achieved. The normalized cross correlation coefficients between the estimated and ground-truth in the axial, coronal and sagittal views for each time step were >= 0.982, 0.905, 0.961 for XCAT data and >= 0.998, 0.911, 0.9541 for patient data. For XCAT data, the maximum-Volume-Percent-Difference between ground-truth and estimated tumor volumes was 1.6% and the maximum-Center-of-Mass-Shift was 0.9 mm. Conclusion: Preliminary studies demonstrated the feasibility to estimate real-time VC-MRI for on-board

  18. Surveillance of maritime deaths on board Danish merchant ships, 1986-2009.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borch, Daniel F; Hansen, Henrik L; Burr, Hermann; Jepsen, Jørgen R

    2012-01-01

    A previous study demonstrated a high death rate among seafarers signed on Danish ships during the years 1986-1993. This study aimed to examine and analyse the subsequent development until 2009. A total of 356 fatalities were identified from data supplied from the Danish Maritime Authority, an insurance company, and other sources. Maritime deaths among seafarers signed on Danish ships comprise deaths from 1) accidents, suicides and homicides; and 2) disease on board. Deaths due to 2) occurring ashore within 30 days after signing off were included. The overall and mode-specific death rates were calculated for three eight-year observation periods. The rates for work-related fatal accidents were compared with the rates for land-based trades. All categories of maritime deaths were significantly reduced from 1986 to 2009 - in particular during the last eight-year period (Accidents 1986-1993: 66.6 per 100,000 person years, 2002-2009: 27.0 per 100,000 person years, diseases 49.5-26.1, suicides 14.4-7.8). In spite of the remarkable improvement since 1986, seafarers remain in 2002-2009 more than six times more likely to die from occupational accidents (including shipwrecks) than do workers ashore. The favourable trend of maritime deaths in the Danish merchant fleet may be due to 1) preventive measures - e.g. interventions relating to vessel safety, work environment, and improved medical care on board - and to 2) technological and organizational changes - e.g. newer and larger vessels in the Danish merchant fleet, changed composition of the workforce, and reduced shore leaves. The persisting excess risk warrants further preventive actions.

  19. VME bus based microcomputer system boards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandra, A.K.; Ganesh, G.; Mayya, Anuradha; Chachondia, A.S.; Premraj, M.K.

    1991-01-01

    Several operator information systems for nuclear plants has been developed in the Division and these have involved extensive use of microcomputer boards for achieving various functions. Standard VME bus based boards have been developed to provide the most used functions. These boards have been fabricated and tested and used in several systems including Channel Temperature Monitoring systems, Disturbance Recording Systems etc. and are also proposed to be used in additional systems under developement. The use of standard bus and boards provides considerable savings in engineering time, prototyping, testing and evaluation costs, and maintenance support. This report desribes the various boards developed and the functions available on each. (author). 4 refs., 11 figs., 3 appendixes

  20. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its penultimate (158th) and final (159th) meetings in its current form on 24 September and 25 October 2007 respectively. A number of items, notably the triennial actuarial review and the Fund's Budget for 2008, appeared on the agenda of both meetings. The Governing Board took note of the Fund's financial position as at 30 June 2007 on the basis of the intermediate closing of the accounts on that date. In the first half of 2007, the Fund had achieved a satisfactory return on its assets compared with the position on 1 January 2007. Regarding the indexation of pensions, at the second of its two meetings, the Governing Board took note of the inflation rate in Geneva between August 2006 and August 2007 - no rise was observed in the cost-of-living during the period under consideration. As a consequence, the adjustment rate for the forthcoming three-year period, calculated by the Actuary pursuant to Article II 1.15 – Anne...

  1. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2007-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its penultimate (158th) and final (159th) meetings in its current form on 24 September and 25 October 2007 respectively. A number of items, notably the triennial actuarial review and the Fund’s Budget for 2008, appeared on the agenda of both meetings. The Governing Board took note of the Fund’s financial position as at 30 June 2007 on the basis of the intermediate closing of the accounts on that date. In the first half of 2007, the Fund had achieved a satisfactory return on its assets compared with the position on 1 January 2007. Regarding the indexation of pensions, at the second of its two meetings, the Governing Board took note of the inflation rate in Geneva between August 2006 and August 2007 - no rise was observed in the cost-of-living during the period under consideration. As a consequence, the adjustment rate for the forthcoming three-year period, calculated by the Actuary pursuant to Article II 1.15 – Annex C of the...

  2. IEEE 1588 Time Synchronization Board in MTCA.4 Form Factor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jabłoński, G.; Makowski, D.; Mielczarek, A.; Orlikowski, M.; Perek, P.; Napieralski, A.; Makijarvi, P.; Simrock, S.

    2015-06-01

    Distributed data acquisition and control systems in large-scale scientific experiments, like e.g. ITER, require time synchronization with nanosecond precision. A protocol commonly used for that purpose is the Precise Timing Protocol (PTP), also known as IEEE 1588 standard. It uses the standard Ethernet signalling and protocols and allows obtaining timing accuracy of the order of tens of nanoseconds. The MTCA.4 is gradually becoming the platform of choice for building such systems. Currently there is no commercially available implementation of the PTP receiver on that platform. In this paper, we present a module in the MTCA.4 form factor supporting this standard. The module may be used as a timing receiver providing reference clocks in an MTCA.4 chassis, generating a Pulse Per Second (PPS) signal and allowing generation of triggers and timestamping of events on 8 configurable backplane lines and two front panel connectors. The module is based on the Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA and thermally stabilized Voltage Controlled Oscillator controlled by the digital-to-analog converter. The board supports standalone operation, without the support from the host operating system, as the entire control algorithm is run on a Microblaze CPU implemented in the FPGA. The software support for the card includes the low-level API in the form of Linux driver, user-mode library, high-level API: ITER Nominal Device Support and EPICS IOC. The device has been tested in the ITER timing distribution network (TCN) with three cascaded PTP-enabled Hirschmann switches and a GPS reference clock source. An RMS synchronization accuracy, measured by direct comparison of the PPS signals, better than 20 ns has been obtained.

  3. On the Internationalization of Corporate Boards

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oxelheim, Lars; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Randøy, Ttrond

    Despite the global reach of their commercial activities, many multinational firms have proved slow in internationalizing their boards of directors. Based on a panel study of the internationalization of the boards of 347 non-financial firms from the Nordic countries, we find a higher fraction...... of international board membership in firms with more foreign sales, in firms with more foreign ownership and in firms whose shares are traded on foreign (mostly European) stock exchanges. Moreover, we find international directors and national directors with international experience complementary. The first......-mentioned group is found to serve a monitoring role, related to financial internationalization of the firm, whereas the latter category fills an advisory role related to commercial internationalization. Hence, different types of firm internationalization – commercial versus financial – might call for different...

  4. Critical review of on-board capacity estimation techniques for lithium-ion batteries in electric and hybrid electric vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farmann, Alexander; Waag, Wladislaw; Marongiu, Andrea; Sauer, Dirk Uwe

    2015-05-01

    This work provides an overview of available methods and algorithms for on-board capacity estimation of lithium-ion batteries. An accurate state estimation for battery management systems in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles is becoming more essential due to the increasing attention paid to safety and lifetime issues. Different approaches for the estimation of State-of-Charge, State-of-Health and State-of-Function are discussed and analyzed by many authors and researchers in the past. On-board estimation of capacity in large lithium-ion battery packs is definitely one of the most crucial challenges of battery monitoring in the aforementioned vehicles. This is mostly due to high dynamic operation and conditions far from those used in laboratory environments as well as the large variation in aging behavior of each cell in the battery pack. Accurate capacity estimation allows an accurate driving range prediction and accurate calculation of a battery's maximum energy storage capability in a vehicle. At the same time it acts as an indicator for battery State-of-Health and Remaining Useful Lifetime estimation.

  5. TU-C-BRE-04: 3D Gel Dosimetry Using ViewRay On-Board MR Scanner: A Feasibility Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, L; Du, D; Green, O; Rodriguez, V; Wooten, H; Xiao, Z; Yang, D; Hu, Y; Li, H

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: MR based 3D gel has been proposed for radiation therapy dosimetry. However, access to MR scanner has been one of the limiting factors for its wide acceptance. Recent commercialization of an on-board MR-IGRT device (ViewRay) may render the availability issue less of a concern. This work reports our attempts to simulate MR based dose measurement accuracy on ViewRay using three different gels. Methods: A spherical BANG gel dosimeter was purchased from MGS Research. Cylindrical MAGIC gel and Fricke gel were fabricated in-house according to published recipes. After irradiation, BANG and MAGIC were imaged using a dual-echo spin echo sequence for T2 measurement on a Philips 1.5T MR scanner, while Fricke gel was imaged using multiple spin echo sequences. Difference between MR measured and TPS calculated dose was defined as noise. The noise power spectrum was calculated and then simulated for the 0.35 T magnetic field associated with ViewRay. The estimated noise was then added to TG-119 test cases to simulate measured dose distributions. Simulated measurements were evaluated against TPS calculated doses using gamma analysis. Results: Given same gel, sequence and coil setup, with a FOV of 180×90×90 mm3, resolution of 3×3×3 mm3, and scanning time of 30 minutes, the simulated measured dose distribution using BANG would have a gamma passing rate greater than 90% (3%/3mm and absolute). With a FOV 180×90×90 mm3, resolution of 4×4×5 mm3, and scanning time of 45 minutes, the simulated measuremened dose distribution would have a gamma passing rate greater than 97%. MAGIC exhibited similar performance while Fricke gel was inferior due to much higher noise. Conclusions: The simulation results demonstrated that it may be feasible to use MAGIC and BANG gels for 3D dose verification using ViewRay low-field on-board MRI scanner

  6. GOVERNING BOARD OF THE PENSION FUND

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The Governing Board held its 108th and 109th meetings on 5 February and 5 March respectively. At the first of these meetings, the Board heard a report by its Chairman, P. Levaux, on the CERN Council Session of December 2001. The Chairman reported that the Board that the 0.8% adjustment of pensions proposed by the Governing Board had been accepted as well as an amendment to the Rules of the Fund reducing the period of service required for entitlement to a deferred retirement pension from 10 to 5 years. The Governing Board also heard a report by the Chairman of the Investment Committee, G. Maurin, on the Committee's two January meetings. At the first of these, the Committee had addressed its structure and operating methods. Various proposals had been put forward aimed at increasing the Committee's efficiency and response time. Specific proposals will be submitted to the Governing Board during the year. In addition, on the basis of two specially commissioned studies, the Committee had examined the issue of curre...

  7. Instrumentation and control aging management: A focus on electronic parts and boards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crocombette, C.; Simon, G.; Favaro, P.; Naser, J.; Guffroy, G.

    2002-01-01

    circuits were identified as the most 'aging sensitive' devices. A collection of field failure data from several NPPs in France and in the U.S. was established. Some examples are shown in the paper. Potential root causes and degradation mechanisms are explained. New methods for the monitoring of electronic parts - Aging management can partly be based on the monitoring of electronic system aging. The monitoring task aims at forecasting the aging. It can rely upon two types of actions: aging tests on aged parts, at a given time, to assess their residual lives (e.g., a data retention test for UVEPROM memories) or continuous monitoring of key 'end-of-life indicators' (e.g., onboard measurements of gate threshold currents for thyristors, of Z(f) for capacitors, of Current Transfert Ratio (CTR) for optocoupleurs, etc.). IAEA 1147 report on the management of aging of I and C equipment in NPP tells that research work is still needed for some families like resistors, diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits. This project aims at gathering existing methods and developing new ones when required. This is the project core. This paper explains some of the new methods we are currently assessing thanks to a PhD program. Guidelines for the aging management of I and C electronic boards - Electronic part and board aging management is ultimately based on several complementary actions. Some actions to help diagnose the state of aging of systems: 1. Failure analyses and destructive analyses - Failure analysis refers to the task performed subsequent to a failure, in order to identify the failure mode, failure mechanism, and root cause. A failure analysis is generally conducted when a failure may be generic to many parts or boards. After the analysis, corrective actions may have to be undertaken (e.g., preventive replacement of parts, specific inspections or measurements, etc.). Destructive physical analyses can be conducted on operating parts, which may have aged. The analyses are done to

  8. Effects of Family Ownership, Debt and Board Composition on Mexican Firms Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Manuel San Martin-Reyna

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the relationship between ownership structure and performance of public firms in Mexico, considering debt and the structure of the board of directors as contextual and institutional factors. This research seeks to explain the mixed results about the relationship of ownership and performance presented by other relevant studies in family and non-family businesses, mainly in emerging countries. The results confirm the positive association between family ownership concentration and performance, calculated by Tobin’s Q, showing how the participation of inside shareholders on the board and a low debt level contribute to higher performance. However, the association of these variables with performance shows a contrasting effect in the case of family as compared to non-family businesses. The particular corporate legal context in Mexico could be highlighted as one of the main reasons for these results.

  9. Fatigue crack growth spectrum simplification: Facilitation of on-board damage prognosis systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, Matthew Adam

    2009-12-01

    Better lifetime predictions of systems subjected to fatigue loading are needed in support of the optimization of the costs of life-cycle engineering. In particular, the climate is especially encouraging for the development of safer aircraft. One issue is that aircraft experience complex fatigue loading and current methods for the prediction of fatigue damage accumulation rely on intensive computational tools that are not currently carried onboard during flight. These tools rely on complex models that are made more difficult by the complicated load spectra themselves. This presents an overhead burden as offline analysis must be performed at an offsite facility. This architecture is thus unable to provide online, timely information for on-board use. The direct objective of this research was to facilitate the real-time fatigue damage assessments of on-board systems with a particular emphasis on aging aircraft. To achieve the objective, the goal of this research was to simplify flight spectra. Variable-amplitude spectra, in which the load changes on a cycle-by-cycle basis, cannot readily be supported by an onboard system because the models required to predict fatigue crack growth during variable-amplitude loading are too complicated. They are too complicated because variable-amplitude fatigue crack growth analysis must be performed on a cycle-by-cycle basis as no closed-form solution exists. This makes these calculations too time-consuming and requires impractical, heavy onboard systems or offsite facilities. The hypothesis is to replace a variable-amplitude spectrum with an equivalent constant-amplitude spectrum. The advantage is a dramatic reduction in the complexity of the problem so that damage predictions can be made onboard by simple, fast calculations in real-time without the need to add additional weight to the aircraft. The intent is to reduce the computational burden and facilitate on-board projection of damage evolution and prediction for the accurate

  10. ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BOARDS NON-UNIFORM COOLING SYSTEM MODEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. V. Yevdulov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract. The paper considers a mathematical model of non-uniform cooling of electronic circuit boards. The block diagram of the system implementing this approach, the method of calculation of the electronic board temperature field, as well as the principle of its thermal performance optimizing are presented. In the considered scheme the main heat elimination from electronic board is produced by the radiator system, and additional cooling of the most temperature-sensitive components is produced by thermoelectric batteries. Are given the two-dimensional temperature fields of the electronic board during its uniform and non-uniform cooling, is carried out their comparison. As follows from the calculations results, when using a uniform overall cooling of electronic unit there is a waste of energy for the cooling 0f electronic board parts which temperature is within acceptable temperature range without the cooling system. This approach leads to the increase in the cooling capacity of used thermoelectric batteries in comparison with the desired values. This largely reduces the efficiency of heat elimination system. The use for electronic boards cooling of non-uniform local heat elimination removes this disadvantage. The obtained dependences show that in this case, the energy required to create a given temperature is smaller than when using a common uniform cooling. In this approach the temperature field of the electronic board is more uniform and the cooling is more efficient. 

  11. Mechanism behind phase transitions in airplane boarding process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiang, Shengjie; Jia, Bin; Huang, Qingxia; Gao, Ziyou

    2016-02-01

    A simple airplane boarding model is built much like an asymmetric exclusion process (ASEP). The dynamics of the model is constrained by local interference between passengers and global seat assignments for individuals. We perform extensive Monte Carlo simulations by using a parallel update rule to determine quantities like boarding time and sequence correlation. Our results clarify the scaling behavior in boarding process and identify a critical value of arrival time interval for boarding time threshold. Three different phases (steady, intermediate and linear) with respect to the boarding time are distinguished and the mechanism behind phase transition is further discussed.

  12. The Perceptions of Georgia School Board Members' Need for Training on School Board Governance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nutt, Pamela Studdard

    2010-01-01

    This study explored the perceptions of training needs of school board members in Georgia. The study examined perceptions of school board chairs, board members with 1 to 5 years experience, members with 6 to 10 years experience, members with 11 to 15 years experience and board members with 16 plus years experience in the areas of school board…

  13. Hospital boards and hospital strategic focus: the impact of board involvement in strategic decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford-Eickhoff, Karen; Plowman, Donde Ashmos; McDaniel, Reuben R

    2011-01-01

    Despite pressures to change the role of hospital boards, hospitals have made few changes in board composition or director selection criteria. Hospital boards have often continued to operate in their traditional roles as either "monitors" or "advisors." More attention to the direct involvement of hospital boards in the strategic decision-making process of the organizations they serve, the timing and circumstances under which board involvement occurs, and the board composition that enhances their abilities to participate fully is needed. We investigated the relationship between broader expertise among hospital board members, board involvement in the stages of strategic decision making, and the hospital's strategic focus. We surveyed top management team members of 72 nonacademic hospitals to explore the participation of critical stakeholder groups such as the board of directors in the strategic decision-making process. We used hierarchical regression analysis to explore our hypotheses that there is a relationship between both the nature and involvement of the board and the hospital's strategic orientation. Hospitals with broader expertise on their boards reported an external focus. For some of their externally-oriented goals, hospitals also reported that their boards were involved earlier in the stages of decision making. In light of the complex and dynamic environment of hospitals today, those charged with developing hospital boards should match the variety in the external issues that the hospital faces with more variety in board makeup. By developing a board with greater breadth of expertise, the hospital responds to its complex environment by absorbing that complexity, enabling a greater potential for sensemaking and learning. Rather than acting only as monitors and advisors, boards impact their hospitals' strategic focus through their participation in the strategic decision-making process.

  14. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its one-hundred-and-thirtieth meeting on 18 January 2005. At the meeting, it took note of the Preliminary Draft Report by the CERN Council Working Group on the procedures for the appointment of the Chairman and the terms of office of members appointed by the Council to the Governing Board of the Pension Fund (Osnes Report). As the report constituted a preliminary version, the Governing Board took the view that it was not appropriate for it to state its position on the content for the time being, especially since some aspects, particularly those relating to the procedure for the appointment of the Council's representatives fell within the latter's remit. Nevertheless, given that a number of the issues raised in the report also related to the general operation of the bodies of the Pension Fund (Governing Board, Investment Committee, Administrator), the Governing Board instructed its Chairman, J. Bezemer, to inform the Council, at its session in March, that the Board...

  15. Effects of a dedicated regional psychiatric emergency service on boarding of psychiatric patients in area emergency departments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeller, Scott; Calma, Nicole; Stone, Ashley

    2014-02-01

    Mental health patients boarding for long hours, even days, in United States emergency departments (EDs) awaiting transfer for psychiatric services has become a considerable and widespread problem. Past studies have shown average boarding times ranging from 6.8 hours to 34 hours. Most proposed solutions to this issue have focused solely on increasing available inpatient psychiatric hospital beds, rather than considering alternative emergency care designs that could provide prompt access to treatment and might reduce the need for many hospitalizations. One suggested option has been the "regional dedicated emergency psychiatric facility," which serves to evaluate and treat all mental health patients for a given area, and can accept direct transfers from other EDs. This study sought to assess the effects of a regional dedicated emergency psychiatric facility design known at the "Alameda Model" on boarding times and hospitalization rates for psychiatric patients in area EDs. Over a 30-day period beginning in January 2013, 5 community hospitals in Alameda County, California, tracked all ED patients on involuntary mental health holds to determine boarding time, defined as the difference between when they were deemed stable for psychiatric disposition and the time they were discharged from the ED for transfer to the regional psychiatric emergency service. Patients were also followed to determine the percentage admitted to inpatient psychiatric units after evaluation and treatment in the psychiatric emergency service. In a total sample of 144 patients, the average boarding time was approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes. Only 24.8% were admitted for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization from the psychiatric emergency service. The results of this study indicate that the Alameda Model of transferring patients from general hospital EDs to a regional psychiatric emergency service reduced the length of boarding times for patients awaiting psychiatric care by over 80% versus

  16. Board effectiveness: Investigating payment asymmetry between board members and shareholders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wuchun Chi

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Board members may well be responsible for dissension between themselves and shareholders since they are simultaneously the setters and receivers of both board remuneration and dividends. They may act out of their own personal interests at the expense of external shareholders. We investigate the impact of ownership structure, board structure and control deviation on payment asymmetry, where excessively high remuneration is paid to board members but considerably lower dividends are distributed to shareholders. We find strong evidence confirming that the smaller the shareholdings of board members and outside blockholders are, the more asymmetric the payments are. With controlling family members on the board and a higher percentage of seats held by independent board members, there is a slight reduction in the likelihood and severity of payment asymmetry. In addition, it is abundantly clear that the larger the board seat-control deviation is, the greater is the likelihood and severity of payment asymmetry. While prior research has primarily focused on board-manager agency issues, the board-shareholder perspective could be even more important in that it is the board that is the most directly delegated agent of shareholders, not the managers

  17. High performance coated board inspection system based on commercial components

    CERN Document Server

    Barjaktarovic, M; Radunovic, J

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents a vision system for defect (fault) detection on a coated board developed using three industrial firewire cameras and a PC. Application for image processing and system control was realized with the LabView software package. Software for defect detection is based on a variation of the image segmentation algorithm. Standard steps in image segmentation are modified to match the characteristics of defects. Software optimization was accomplished using SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) technology available in the Intel Pentium 4 processors that provided real time inspection capability. System provides benefits such as: improvement in production process, higher quality of delivered coated board and reduction of waste. This was proven during successful exploitation of the system for more than a year.

  18. Pattern Generator for Bench Test of Digital Boards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkun, Andrew C.; Chu, Anhua J.

    2012-01-01

    All efforts to develop electronic equipment reach a stage where they need a board test station for each board. The SMAP digital system consists of three board types that interact with each other using interfaces with critical timing. Each board needs to be tested individually before combining into the integrated digital electronics system. Each board needs critical timing signals from the others to be able to operate. A bench test system was developed to support test of each board. The test system produces all the outputs of the control and timing unit, and is delivered much earlier than the timing unit. Timing signals are treated as data. A large file is generated containing the state of every timing signal at any instant. This file is streamed out to an IO card, which is wired directly to the device-under-test (DUT) input pins. This provides a flexible test environment that can be adapted to any of the boards required to test in a standalone configuration. The problem of generating the critical timing signals is then transferred from a hardware problem to a software problem where it is more easily dealt with.

  19. Effect of grade point average and enrollment in a dental hygiene National Board review course on student performance on the National Board Examination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWald, Janice P; Gutmann, Marylou E; Solomon, Eric S

    2004-01-01

    Passing the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination is a requirement for licensure in all but one state. There are a number of preparation courses for the examination sponsored by corporations and dental hygiene programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if taking a board review course significantly affected student performance on the board examination. Students from the last six dental hygiene classes at Baylor College of Dentistry (n = 168) were divided into two groups depending on whether they took a particular review course. Mean entering college grade point averages (GPA), exiting dental hygiene program GPAs, and National Board scores were compared for the two groups using a t-test for independent samples (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the two groups for entering GPA and National Board scores. Exiting GPAs, however, were slightly higher for those not taking the course compared to those taking the course. In addition, a strong correlation (0.71, Pearson Correlation) was found between exiting GPA and National Board score. Exiting GPA was found to be a strong predictor of National Board performance. These results do not appear to support this program's participation in an external preparation course as a means of increasing students' performance on the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination.

  20. Comparison of cosmic rays radiation detectors on-board commercial jet aircraft.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubančák, Ján; Ambrožová, Iva; Brabcová, Kateřina Pachnerová; Jakůbek, Jan; Kyselová, Dagmar; Ploc, Ondřej; Bemš, Július; Štěpán, Václav; Uchihori, Yukio

    2015-06-01

    Aircrew members and passengers are exposed to increased rates of cosmic radiation on-board commercial jet aircraft. The annual effective doses of crew members often exceed limits for public, thus it is recommended to monitor them. In general, the doses are estimated via various computer codes and in some countries also verified by measurements. This paper describes a comparison of three cosmic rays detectors, namely of the (a) HAWK Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter; (b) Liulin semiconductor energy deposit spectrometer and (c) TIMEPIX silicon semiconductor pixel detector, exposed to radiation fields on-board commercial Czech Airlines company jet aircraft. Measurements were performed during passenger flights from Prague to Madrid, Oslo, Tbilisi, Yekaterinburg and Almaty, and back in July and August 2011. For all flights, energy deposit spectra and absorbed doses are presented. Measured absorbed dose and dose equivalent are compared with the EPCARD code calculations. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of all detectors are discussed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. The impact of inpatient boarding on ED efficiency: a discrete-event simulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bair, Aaron E; Song, Wheyming T; Chen, Yi-Chun; Morris, Beth A

    2010-10-01

    In this study, a discrete-event simulation approach was used to model Emergency Department's (ED) patient flow to investigate the effect of inpatient boarding on the ED efficiency in terms of the National Emergency Department Crowding Scale (NEDOCS) score and the rate of patients who leave without being seen (LWBS). The decision variable in this model was the boarder-released-ratio defined as the ratio of admitted patients whose boarding time is zero to all admitted patients. Our analysis shows that the Overcrowded(+) (a NEDOCS score over 100) ratio decreased from 88.4% to 50.4%, and the rate of LWBS patients decreased from 10.8% to 8.4% when the boarder-released-ratio changed from 0% to 100%. These results show that inpatient boarding significantly impacts both the NEDOCS score and the rate of LWBS patient and this analysis provides a quantification of the impact of boarding on emergency department patient crowding.

  2. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    2013-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board has examined the internal appeal lodged by a former member of the personnel, a beneficiary of the CERN Pension Fund, against the calculation of his pension in the framework of the Progressive Retirement Programme.   The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the attention of the members of the personnel. In application of Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations, these documents will therefore be available from 26 July to 11 August 2013 at the following link. HR Department Head Office

  3. A finite element method for SSI time history calculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni, X.; Gantenbein, F.; Petit, M.

    1989-01-01

    The method which is proposed is based on a finite element modelization for the soil and the structure and a time history calculation. It has been developed for plane and axisymmetric geometries. The principle of this method is presented, then applications are given, first to a linear calculation for which results will be compared to those obtained by standard methods. Then results for a non linear behavior are described

  4. Energy storage on board of railway vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steiner, M.; Scholten, J. [Bombardier Transportation, Mannheim (Germany)

    2004-07-01

    The proposed energy storage on board of a Railway vehicle leads to a big step in the reduction of consumed energy. Up to 30% energy saving are expected in a light rail vehicle, at the same time reducing the peak power demand drastically. In addition, with the energy storage an operation without catenary could become reality, which was successfully demonstrated with the prototype light rail vehicle driving with switched off pantograph. This prototype vehicle is in passenger operation since September 2003, the implemented software is optimised on energy savings and first experience is very promising. (authors)

  5. Measuring Input Thresholds on an Existing Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuperman, Igor; Gutrich, Daniel G.; Berkun, Andrew C.

    2011-01-01

    A critical PECL (positive emitter-coupled logic) interface to Xilinx interface needed to be changed on an existing flight board. The new Xilinx input interface used a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) type of input, and the driver could meet its thresholds typically, but not in worst-case, according to the data sheet. The previous interface had been based on comparison with an external reference, but the CMOS input is based on comparison with an internal divider from the power supply. A way to measure what the exact input threshold was for this device for 64 inputs on a flight board was needed. The measurement technique allowed an accurate measurement of the voltage required to switch a Xilinx input from high to low for each of the 64 lines, while only probing two of them. Directly driving an external voltage was considered too risky, and tests done on any other unit could not be used to qualify the flight board. The two lines directly probed gave an absolute voltage threshold calibration, while data collected on the remaining 62 lines without probing gave relative measurements that could be used to identify any outliers. The PECL interface was forced to a long-period square wave by driving a saturated square wave into the ADC (analog to digital converter). The active pull-down circuit was turned off, causing each line to rise rapidly and fall slowly according to the input s weak pull-down circuitry. The fall time shows up as a change in the pulse width of the signal ready by the Xilinx. This change in pulse width is a function of capacitance, pulldown current, and input threshold. Capacitance was known from the different trace lengths, plus a gate input capacitance, which is the same for all inputs. The pull-down current is the same for all inputs including the two that are probed directly. The data was combined, and the Excel solver tool was used to find input thresholds for the 62 lines. This was repeated over different supply voltages and

  6. Board Task Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Minichilli, Alessandro; Zattoni, Alessandro; Nielsen, Sabina

    2012-01-01

    identify three board processes as micro-level determinants of board effectiveness. Specifically, we focus on effort norms, cognitive conflicts and the use of knowledge and skills as determinants of board control and advisory task performance. Further, we consider how two different institutional settings....... The findings show that: (i) Board processes have a larger potential than demographic variables to explain board task performance; (ii) board task performance differs significantly between boards operating in different contexts; and (iii) national context moderates the relationships between board processes...... and board task performance....

  7. SU-F-303-17: Real Time Dose Calculation of MRI Guided Co-60 Radiotherapy Treatments On Free Breathing Patients, Using a Motion Model and Fast Monte Carlo Dose Calculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, D; O’Connell, D; Lamb, J; Cao, M; Yang, Y; Agazaryan, N; Lee, P; Low, D

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: To demonstrate real-time dose calculation of free-breathing MRI guided Co−60 treatments, using a motion model and Monte-Carlo dose calculation to accurately account for the interplay between irregular breathing motion and an IMRT delivery. Methods: ViewRay Co-60 dose distributions were optimized on ITVs contoured from free-breathing CT images of lung cancer patients. Each treatment plan was separated into 0.25s segments, accounting for the MLC positions and beam angles at each time point. A voxel-specific motion model derived from multiple fast-helical free-breathing CTs and deformable registration was calculated for each patient. 3D images for every 0.25s of a simulated treatment were generated in real time, here using a bellows signal as a surrogate to accurately account for breathing irregularities. Monte-Carlo dose calculation was performed every 0.25s of the treatment, with the number of histories in each calculation scaled to give an overall 1% statistical uncertainty. Each dose calculation was deformed back to the reference image using the motion model and accumulated. The static and real-time dose calculations were compared. Results: Image generation was performed in real time at 4 frames per second (GPU). Monte-Carlo dose calculation was performed at approximately 1frame per second (CPU), giving a total calculation time of approximately 30 minutes per treatment. Results show both cold- and hot-spots in and around the ITV, and increased dose to contralateral lung as the tumor moves in and out of the beam during treatment. Conclusion: An accurate motion model combined with a fast Monte-Carlo dose calculation allows almost real-time dose calculation of a free-breathing treatment. When combined with sagittal 2D-cine-mode MRI during treatment to update the motion model in real time, this will allow the true delivered dose of a treatment to be calculated, providing a useful tool for adaptive planning and assessing the effectiveness of gated treatments

  8. PRINCIPLES OF INDICATION FOR EN-ROUTE FLIGHT PATHS OF THE AIRCRAFT ON THE SCREEN OF ON-BOARD DISPLAY DEVICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. V. Markelov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Subject of Research.We consider the principles and algorithms for construction of en-route flight paths of an aircraft (airplane in a horizontal plane for their subsequent display on the navigation situation indicators in the cockpit. Navigation situation indicatorsaredisplay devices designed on the basis of flat liquid crystal panel. Methods. Flight trajectory display by on-board multifunction indicators is performed by successive drawing of graphic primitives available in the library and defined in accordance with an array of data to display the route. An array of data is generated by on-board software complex based on the information provided in the flight task and the corresponding «Jeppesen» database or analogous one. Formation of the array is carried out by bringing the set of trajectory paths to the format of three typical trajectories described. In addition, each of the types of trajectories has a standard description of the algorithm for calculating the parameters that make up an array of data to display.Main Results.The algorithms of forming and calculating the amounts of data of routing paths required for their construction and display on the multifunction indicators applied in avionics.Practical Relevance.These novel routing algorithms for constructing trajectory paths unify algorithms of generating information for display on the navigation situation indicators and optimize a set of calculated data for flight control at the trajectory in the horizontal plane.

  9. An integrated development framework for rapid development of platform-independent and reusable satellite on-board software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziemke, Claas; Kuwahara, Toshinori; Kossev, Ivan

    2011-09-01

    Even in the field of small satellites, the on-board data handling subsystem has become complex and powerful. With the introduction of powerful CPUs and the availability of considerable amounts of memory on-board a small satellite it has become possible to utilize the flexibility and power of contemporary platform-independent real-time operating systems. Especially the non-commercial sector such like university institutes and community projects such as AMSAT or SSETI are characterized by the inherent lack of financial as well as manpower resources. The opportunity to utilize such real-time operating systems will contribute significantly to achieve a successful mission. Nevertheless the on-board software of a satellite is much more than just an operating system. It has to fulfill a multitude of functional requirements such as: Telecommand interpretation and execution, execution of control loops, generation of telemetry data and frames, failure detection isolation and recovery, the communication with peripherals and so on. Most of the aforementioned tasks are of generic nature and have to be conducted on any satellite with only minor modifications. A general set of functional requirements as well as a protocol for communication is defined in the SA ECSS-E-70-41A standard "Telemetry and telecommand packet utilization". This standard not only defines the communication protocol of the satellite-ground link but also defines a set of so called services which have to be available on-board of every compliant satellite and which are of generic nature. In this paper, a platform-independent and reusable framework is described which is implementing not only the ECSS-E-70-41A standard but also functionalities for interprocess communication, scheduling and a multitude of tasks commonly performed on-board of a satellite. By making use of the capabilities of the high-level programming language C/C++, the powerful open source library BOOST, the real-time operating system RTEMS and

  10. MICROBIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ON-BOARD FISHING VESSEL HANDLING IN MERLUCCIUS MERLUCCIUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Serratore

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to determine the impact of different manipulation techniques applied on board fishing vessel, on the microbiological quality of the flesh of European hake (Merluccius merluccius during storage at +3°C ± 1°C for a time (T of 10 days after landing (T1-T10. Samples of fish were taken from a fishing vessel of the Adriatic Sea and from one of the Tyrrhenian Sea, treated on-board under different icing conditions: 1 a low ice/product weight ratio and 2 an optimal ice/product weight ratio, up to 1:3 (3. Spoilage bacteria as Total Bacterial Count (TBC and specific spoilage bacteria as Sulphide Producing Bacteria (SPB were enumerated in fish flesh as Colony Forming Units (CFU/g on Plate Count Agar and Lyngby Agar at 20°C for 3-5 days. TBC of the Adriatic fishes (gutted on-board resulted 103 UFC/g at T1-T6, and 104-105 at T10, whereas TBC of the Tyrrhenian fishes (not gutted on-board resulted 10-102 UFC/g at T2- T3, 103 at T6, and 104-105 at T10. SPB resulted 10- 102 UFC/g at T1-T6, and 103- 104 at T10, with absolute values higher in the Adriatic fishes, in respect with the Tyrrhenian fishes, and in the low icing conditions in respect with the optimal icing condition. At the experimented condition, the lowering of the microbiological quality of fish flesh during storage, seems to be more dependent on the gutting versus not gutting on-board practice rather than on the low versus optimal icing treatment.

  11. A finite element method for SSI time history calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni, X.M.; Gantenbein, F.; Petit, M.

    1989-01-01

    The method which is proposed is based on a finite element modelisation for the soil and the structure and a time history calculation. It has been developed for plane and axisymmetric geometries. The principle of this method will be presented, then applications will be given, first to a linear calculation for which results will be compared to those obtained by standard methods. Then results for a non linear behavior will be described

  12. An effective board from a team perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eythor Ivar Jonsson

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper looks at boards from a team perspective, where insights from research on teams are used to discuss some classical problems of corporate governance. The Enron-case is used as an underlying theme as it portrays some of the biggest challenges that boards face today. Theories developed within the team literature emphasise that for boards to become more effective they need more time and better access to information as a source of knowledge, more structure and purposeful roles for directors and for the board in general, and they need to become smaller and more focused. In effect, the culture of teams could have avoided some of the blunders of the Enron board.

  13. Effect of the new carbon fiber board of Elekta Precise linear accelerator on the radiation dose

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gan Jiaying; Hu Yinxiang; Luo Yuanqiang; Hong Wei; Wang Zhiyong; Lu Bing; Jin Feng

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the dosimetric influence of pure carbon fiber treatment tabletop of Elekta Precise new linear accelerator in radiotherapy. Methods: Surface-axis distance (SAD) technology was employed for the measurement. Two groups of fields were set and both of them were SAD opposed portals (one of them went through the tabletop,while the other did not). A PTW electrometer and a 0.6 cm 3 Farmer ionization chamber were utilized for comparison measurement. Then dose attenuation of the main table board, extended body board, the extended board for head, neck and shoulders, and the joints of these boards were calculated. Results: Under the energy of 6 MV,the dose attenuations of the following locations were: 1.4% - 7.2% at the main treatment table board; 2.8% - 38.7%, 1.4% -30.1%, 1.5% -20.8% and 1.4% - 11.2%, respectively at distances of 1, 4, 7 and 8 cm from the joint of the main table board; 0.5% - 5.0% at the extended body board; 4.7% - 15.4% at distance of 1 cm from the joint of the extended body board; 0.5% -3.3% at the neck position of the extended board for head, neck and shoulders; 5.3% - 16.7% at the shoulder positions; and 6.8% -30.4% at the joint between the extended boards and the main table board. Conclusions: The dose attenuations of the new linear accelerator pure carbon fiber treatment tabletop vary at different locations. Considerable higher attenuations are observed at the table board joints than other locations. (authors)

  14. On-board Payload Data Processing from Earth to Space Segment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tragni, M.; Abbattista, C.; Amoruso, L.; Cinquepalmi, L.; Bgongiari, F.; Errico, W.

    2013-09-01

    environment with encapsulated low-level drivers, HW support and testing environment). Furthermore Space PDP presents an advanced processing system to be fully adopted both as on-board module for EO spacecrafts and extra-planetary exploration rovers. The main innovative aspects are: • HW and SW modularity - scalability for the Payload Data Processing and AOC S/S • Complex processing capabilities fully available onboard (on spacecrafts or rovers) • Reduced effort in mission SW design, implementation, verification and validation tasks • HW abstraction level comparable to present multitasking Unix-like systems allowing SW and algorithms re-use (also from available GS applications). The development approach addressed by SpacePDP is based both on the re-use and resources sharing with flexible elements adjustable to different missions and to different tasks within the same mission (e.g. shared between AOCS and data management S/S) and on a strong specialization in the system elements that are designed to satisfy specific mission needs and specific technological innovations. The innovative processing system is proven in many possible scenarios of use from standard compression task up to the most complex one as the image classification directly on-board. The first one is just useful for standard benchmark trade-off analysis of HW and SW capabilities respect to the other common processing modules. The classification is the ambitious objective of that system to process directly on board the data from sensor (by down-sampling or in no-full resolution acquisition modality if necessary) to detect at flight time any features on ground or observed phenomenas. For Earth application it could be the cloud coverage (to avoid the acquisition and discard the data), burning areas or vessels detection and similar. On Planetary o Universe exploration mission it could be the path recognition for a rover, or high power energy events in outbound galaxies. Sometimes it could be need to review the

  15. Embedded controllers for local board-control

    CERN Document Server

    Neufeld, Niko; Mini, Giuseppe; Sannino, Mario; Guzik, Zbigniew; Jacobsson, Richard; Jost, Beat

    2005-01-01

    The LHCb experiment at CERN has a large number of custom electronic boards performing high-speed data-processing. Like in any large experiment the control and monitoring of these crate-mounted boards must be integrated into the overall control-system. Traditionally this has been done by using buses like VME on the back-plane of the crates. LHCb has chosen to equip every board with an embedded micro-controller and connecting them in a large Local Area Network. The intelligence of these devices allows complex (soft) real-time control and monitoring, required for modern powerful FPGA driven electronics. Moreover each board has its own, isolated control access path, which increases the robustness of the entire system. The system is now in pre-production at several sites and will go into full production during next year. The hardware and software will be discussed and experiences from the R&D and pre-production will be reviewed, with an emphasis on advantages and difficulties of this approach to board-control.

  16. The AGILE on-board Kalman filter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giuliani, A.; Cocco, V.; Mereghetti, S.; Pittori, C.; Tavani, M.

    2006-01-01

    On-board reduction of particle background is one of the main challenges of space instruments dedicated to gamma-ray astrophysics. We present in this paper a discussion of the method and main simulation results of the on-board background filter of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) of the AGILE mission. The GRID is capable of detecting and imaging with optimal point spread function gamma-ray photons in the range 30MeV-30GeV. The AGILE planned orbit is equatorial, with an altitude of 550km. This is an optimal orbit from the point of view of the expected particle background. For this orbit, electrons and positrons of kinetic energies between 20MeV and hundreds of MeV dominate the particle background, with significant contributions from high-energy (primary) and low-energy protons, and gamma-ray albedo-photons. We present here the main results obtained by extensive simulations of the on-board AGILE-GRID particle/photon background rejection algorithms based on a special application of Kalman filter techniques. This filter is applied (Level-2) sequentially after other data processing techniques characterizing the Level-1 processing. We show that, in conjunction with the Level-1 processing, the adopted Kalman filtering is expected to reduce the total particle/albedo-photon background rate to a value (=<10-30Hz) that is compatible with the AGILE telemetry. The AGILE on-board Kalman filter is also effective in reducing the Earth-albedo-photon background rate, and therefore contributes to substantially increase the AGILE exposure for celestial gamma-ray sources

  17. Board on chemical sciences and technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    The Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology organizes and provides direction for standing and ad hoc committees charged with addressing specific issues relevant to the continued health of the chemical sciences and technology community. Studies currently under the oversight of the BCST include a major survey of chemical engineering, an examination of the problems of biohazards in the laboratory, and an analysis of the roots and magnitude of the problem of obsolescent facilities for research and teaching in departments in the chemical sciences and engineering. The Board continues to respond to specific agency requests for program assessments and advice. BCST members are designated to serve as liaison with major federal agencies or departments that support research in order to help identify ways for the board to assist the these organizations. The BCST also maintains close contact with professional societies and nongovernmental organizations that share the Board's concern for the health of chemical sciences and technology. Individual Board members are assigned responsibility for liaison with the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Biological Chemists, the Council for Chemical Research, the Chemistry and Biochemistry Sections of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). In the past few years, the Board has served as a focus and a forum for a variety of issues that relate specifically to the health of chemistry. A sampling of these concerns include: industry-university cooperation; basic research funding in DOD, DOE, NIH, and NSF; basic research in the chemistry of life processes; basic research in biochemical engineering; basic research in the science and technology of new materials; and undergraduate education in chemistry and chemical engineering

  18. A Fast Time-Delay Calculation Method in Through-Wall-Radar Detection Scenario

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Qi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In TWR (Through Wall Radar signal processing procedure, time delay estimation is one of the key steps in target localization and high resolution imaging. In time domain imaging procedure such as back projection imaging algorithm, round trip propagation time delay at the path of “transmitter-target-receiver” needs to be calculated for each pixel in imaging region. In typical TWR scenario, transmitter and receiver are at one side and targets at the other side of a wall. Based on two-dimensional searching algorithm or solving two variables equation of four times, traditional time delay calculation algorithms are complex and time consuming, and cannot be used to real-time imaging procedure. In this paper, a new fast time-delay (FTD algorithm is presented. Because of that incident angle at one side equals to refracting angle at the other side, an equation of lateral distance through the wall can be established. By solving this equation, the lateral distance can be obtained and total propagation time delay can be calculated subsequently. Through processing simulation data, the result shows that new algorithm can be applied effectively to real-time time-delay calculation in TWR signal processing.

  19. Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of journals in environmental biology and natural resource management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alyssa H. Cho

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Despite women earning similar numbers of graduate degrees as men in STEM disciplines, they are underrepresented in upper level positions in both academia and industry. Editorial board memberships are an important example of such positions; membership is both a professional honor in recognition of achievement and an opportunity for professional advancement. We surveyed 10 highly regarded journals in environmental biology, natural resource management, and plant sciences to quantify the number of women on their editorial boards and in positions of editorial leadership (i.e., Associate Editors and Editors-in-Chief from 1985 to 2013. We found that during this time period only 16% of subject editors were women, with more pronounced disparities in positions of editorial leadership. Although the trend was towards improvement over time, there was surprising variation between journals, including those with similar disciplinary foci. While demographic changes in academia may reduce these disparities over time, we argue journals should proactively strive for gender parity on their editorial boards. This will both increase the number of women afforded the opportunities and benefits that accompany board membership and increase the number of role models and potential mentors for early-career scientists and students.

  20. Board members’ contribution to strategy: The mediating role of board internal processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Barroso-Castro

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to explore what directors do on the board, to what extent the processes occurring in the board allow the sharing and integrating of the existing knowledge, thus facilitating the board members’ contributions to strategy. We adopt the view that the internal board processes increase the impact of the cognitive resources on board performance. Using survey data from 200 large Spanish companies we demonstrate that directors’ level of knowledge of the firm and board job-related diversity positively influence the degree of the board's strategic involvement. Additionally, the internal processes that take place within the board – particularly Cognitive Conflict, the Critical and Independent Approach and the Comprehensive Discussion Process – influence the board's strategic involvement and play a partial mediating role on the aforementioned relationships. However, our results show no evidence for a positive relationship between Board Meeting Dynamics and the board's strategic involvement.

  1. Boarding ICU patients: Are our rounding practices subpar?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunn, Andrew M; Hatchimonji, Justin S; Holena, Daniel N; Seamon, Mark J; Smith, Brian P; Kaplan, Lewis J; Martin, Niels D; Reilly, Patrick M; Schwab, C William; Pascual, Jose L

    2018-04-01

    Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) patients "boarding" in ICUs other than the designated home unit have been shown to suffer increased rates of complications. We hypothesized that ICU rounding practices are different when SICU patients are housed in home vs. boarding ICUs. SICU rounds were observed at an academic quaternary medical center. Individual patient rounding time and order seen on rounds along with patient data and demographics were recorded. Multivariable regression analysis was used for comparison between patients. Non-boarders were older, observed on a later post ICU admission day and were more likely to be mechanically ventilated. Boarded patients were often seen at the end of rounds and for less time. Not being a boarder, age, APACHE II score on admission, vasopressor use, and positive pressure ventilation all predicted increased rounding time. Surgical ICU patients boarding in non-preferred units are often seen at the end of rounds, result in a greater reliance upon telephone communication, and receive less bedside attention from ICU provider teams. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Specialty Board on Fluency Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... or large groups of speech-language pathologists. Speech-language pathologists who are Board Certified Specialists in Fluency may be found on this website by searching name, city(location) or zip code. ...

  3. On board short-time high temperature heat treatment of ballast water: a field trial under operational conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quilez-Badia, Gemma; McCollin, Tracy; Josefsen, Kjell D; Vourdachas, Anthony; Gill, Margaret E; Mesbahi, Ehsan; Frid, Chris L J

    2008-01-01

    A ballast water short-time high temperature heat treatment technique was applied on board a car-carrier during a voyage from Egypt to Belgium. Ballast water from three tanks was subjected for a few seconds to temperatures ranging from 55 degrees C to 80 degrees C. The water was heated using the vessel's heat exchanger steam and a second heat exchanger was used to pre-heat and cool down the water. The treatment was effective at causing mortality of bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) standard was not agreed before this study was carried out, but comparing our results gives a broad indication that the IMO standard would have been met in some of the tests for the zooplankton, in all the tests for the phytoplankton; and probably on most occasions for the bacteria. Passing the water through the pump increased the kill rate but increasing the temperature above 55 degrees C did not improve the heat treatment's efficacy.

  4. Feasibility of real-time calculation of correlation integral derived statistics applied to EGG time series

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Broek, PLC; van Egmond, J; van Rijn, CM; Takens, F; Coenen, AML; Booij, LHDJ

    2005-01-01

    Background: This study assessed the feasibility of online calculation of the correlation integral (C(r)) aiming to apply C(r)derived statistics. For real-time application it is important to reduce calculation time. It is shown how our method works for EEG time series. Methods: To achieve online

  5. Medipix3 array high performance read-out board for synchrotron research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tartoni, N.; Horswell, I. C.; Marchal, J.; Gimenez, E. N.; Fearn, R. D.; Silfhout, R. G. van

    2010-01-01

    The Medipix3 ASIC is one of the most advanced chip that is presently available to build photon counting area detectors. The capabilities of the chip include adjacent pixels charge summing circuitry to sort out the distortion due to charge sharing, simultaneous counting and read-out that enables frames to be acquired without dead time, the colour mode of operation that enables up to eight energy bands to be acquired. In order to fully exploit the capabilities of the Medipix3 chip in synchrotron research, a high performance electronic board capable of driving large arrays of chips is necessary. We propose a parallel read-out board of Medipix3 chip arrays with a scalable architecture that allows driving the Medipix3 chip in all of its modes of operation. The board functions include the control of the chip arrays, data formatting and data compression, the management of the communications with the data storage devices, and operation in various trigger modes. In addition to this the board will have some 'intelligence' embedded. This will add some very important features to the final detector such as pattern recognition, capability of variable frame duration as a function of the photon flux, feedback to other equipment and real time calculations of data relevant to experiments such as the autocorrelation function.

  6. Calculation of the importance-weighted neutron generation time using MCNIC method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feghhi, S.A.H.; Shahriari, M.; Afarideh, H.

    2008-01-01

    In advanced nuclear power systems, such as ADS, the need for reliable kinetics parameters is of considerable importance because of the lower value for β eff due to the large amount of transuranic elements loaded in the core of those systems. All reactor kinetic parameters are weighted quantities. In other words each neutron with a given position and energy is weighted with its importance. Neutron generation time as an important kinetic parameter, in all nuclear power systems has a significant role in the analysis of fast transients. The difference between non-weighted neutron generation time; Λ; standard in most Monte Carlo codes; and the weighted one Λ + can be quite significant depending on the type of the system. In previous work, based on the physical concept of neutron importance, a new method; MCNIC; using the MCNP code has been introduced for the calculation of neutron importance in fissionable assemblies for all criticality states. In the present work the applicability of MCNIC method has been extended for the calculation of the importance-weighted neutron generation time. The influence of reflector thickness on importance-weighted neutron generation time has been investigated by the development of an auxiliary code, IWLA, for a hypothetic assembly. The results of these calculations were compared with the non-weighted neutron generation times calculated using the Monte Carlo code MCNP. The difference between the importance-weighted and non-weighted quantity is more significant in a reflected system and increases with reflector thickness

  7. A low-cost single-board solution for real-time, unsupervised waveform classification of multineuron recordings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreiter, A K; Aertsen, A M; Gerstein, G L

    1989-10-01

    We describe a low-cost single-board system for unsupervised, real-time spike sorting of recordings from a number of neurons on a single microelectrode. The maximum number of spike classes depends on the quality of the recording; it will typically be between 2 and 5. The spike sorter communicates with a conventional microcomputer through a standard serial port (RS232). For typical firing rates as measured in the mammalian central nervous system, this set-up will accommodate up to some 10 parallel spike sorters for as many separate microelectrodes.

  8. The Impact of Inpatient Boarding on ED Efficiency: A Discrete-Event Simulation Study

    OpenAIRE

    Bair, Aaron E.; Song, Wheyming T.; Chen, Yi-Chun; Morris, Beth A.

    2009-01-01

    In this study, a discrete-event simulation approach was used to model Emergency Department’s (ED) patient flow to investigate the effect of inpatient boarding on the ED efficiency in terms of the National Emergency Department Crowding Scale (NEDOCS) score and the rate of patients who leave without being seen (LWBS). The decision variable in this model was the boarder-released-ratio defined as the ratio of admitted patients whose boarding time is zero to all admitted patients. Our analysis sho...

  9. US DOE Perspectives on Advisory Board Effectiveness - 13539

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adler, David

    2013-01-01

    Federal missions on the Oak Ridge Reservation began with the Manhattan Project, and continues today with major facilities supporting the Nation's Science and National Security missions. While most of the land area on the Oak Ridge Reservation is free of environmental impacts from these activities, significant legacy contamination is associated with specific facilities and past waste management areas. In 1989, the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) was placed on National Priorities List, and DOE established its Office of Environmental Management that same year. Three years later, in 1992, the Federal Facility Agreement for the reservation was signed. Three years afterward, the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board was established to augment ongoing public involvement activities related to Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup activities. One of the early and most impactful decisions the board made was to organize the End Use Working Group. This broad-based group of board members, DOE representatives, and members of the public was formed in 1997 to study future uses for contaminated areas of the reservation. The group was instrumental in building consensus in the Oak Ridge community regarding the long-term end state of reservation lands. The group's recommendations were a fundamental input into Record's of Decision subsequently developed to establish cleanup requirements across the ORR, and they continue to influence decisions being made today. In developing its recommendations on end states, the End Use Working Group came to the realization that long-term stewardship of contaminated areas of the reservation would be necessary, in some cases in perpetuity. It was from this concept that the Oak Ridge SSAB's 15-year involvement in stewardship would begin. A stewardship committee formed by the End Use Working Group wrote Volume 1 of the Stakeholder Report on Stewardship. This document-and its companion Volume 2, which was written a year later-form a crucial foundation for stewardship

  10. US DOE Perspectives on Advisory Board Effectiveness - 13539

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adler, David [US DOE (United States)

    2013-07-01

    Federal missions on the Oak Ridge Reservation began with the Manhattan Project, and continues today with major facilities supporting the Nation's Science and National Security missions. While most of the land area on the Oak Ridge Reservation is free of environmental impacts from these activities, significant legacy contamination is associated with specific facilities and past waste management areas. In 1989, the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) was placed on National Priorities List, and DOE established its Office of Environmental Management that same year. Three years later, in 1992, the Federal Facility Agreement for the reservation was signed. Three years afterward, the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board was established to augment ongoing public involvement activities related to Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup activities. One of the early and most impactful decisions the board made was to organize the End Use Working Group. This broad-based group of board members, DOE representatives, and members of the public was formed in 1997 to study future uses for contaminated areas of the reservation. The group was instrumental in building consensus in the Oak Ridge community regarding the long-term end state of reservation lands. The group's recommendations were a fundamental input into Record's of Decision subsequently developed to establish cleanup requirements across the ORR, and they continue to influence decisions being made today. In developing its recommendations on end states, the End Use Working Group came to the realization that long-term stewardship of contaminated areas of the reservation would be necessary, in some cases in perpetuity. It was from this concept that the Oak Ridge SSAB's 15-year involvement in stewardship would begin. A stewardship committee formed by the End Use Working Group wrote Volume 1 of the Stakeholder Report on Stewardship. This document-and its companion Volume 2, which was written a year later-form a crucial

  11. Comparative Study of Aircraft Boarding Strategies Using Cellular Discrete Event Simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shafagh Jafer

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Time is crucial in the airlines industry. Among all factors contributing to an aircraft turnaround time; passenger boarding delays is the most challenging one. Airlines do not have control over the behavior of passengers; thus, focusing their effort on reducing passenger boarding time through implementing efficient boarding strategies. In this work, we attempt to use cellular Discrete-Event System Specification (Cell-DEVS modeling and simulation to provide a comprehensive evaluation of aircraft boarding strategies. We have developed a simulation benchmark consisting of eight boarding strategies including Back-to-Front; Window Middle Aisle; Random; Zone Rotate; Reverse Pyramid; Optimal; Optimal Practical; and Efficient. Our simulation models are scalable and adaptive; providing a powerful analysis apparatus for investigating any existing or yet to be discovered boarding strategy. We explain the details of our models and present the results both visually and numerically to evaluate the eight implemented boarding strategies. We also compare our results with other studies that have used different modeling techniques; reporting nearly identical performance results. The simulations revealed that Window Middle Aisle provides the least boarding delay; with a small fraction of time difference compared to the optimal strategy. The results of this work could highly benefit the commercial airlines industry by optimizing and reducing passenger boarding delays.

  12. AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, 2011

    2011-01-01

    This "Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality," approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) in March 2011, urges institutional administrators and governing boards to engage fully in this area of board responsibility. The seven principles in this statement offer suggestions to…

  13. Nurses on health care governing boards: An integrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundean, Lisa J; Polifroni, E Carol; Libal, Kathryn; McGrath, Jacqueline M

    Nurses are key change agents in health care; yet, nurses have not been sufficiently engaged on boards to shape decision making. Without an equal voice in the boardroom, nurses cannot fulfill their professional obligation to society. The purpose of this study was to understand the progression in research focus and recommendations over time about nurses on boards (NOB), identify research gaps, and make research/practice recommendations. An integrative review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (2009) for data evaluation and analysis. Eleven studies (six quantitative, three qualitative, and two quasi-mixed methods) were included in the review. The focus/recommendations of research about NOB have changed from passive observation to action-oriented inquiry that considers nurse expertise and value but lacks a coordinated approach to advance board appointments for nurses. A systematic approach to the research is needed to advance NOB as key agents in health care transformation and social justice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Network on chip master control board for neutron acquisition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruiz-Martinez, E.; Mary, T.; Mutti, P.; Ratel, J.; Rey, F.

    2012-01-01

    The acquisition master control board is designed to assemble the various acquisition modes in use at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). The main goal is to make the card common for all the ILL's instruments in a simple, modular and open way, giving the possibility to add new functionalities in order to follow the evolving demand. It has been necessary to define a central element to provide synchronization to the rest of the units. The backbone of the proposed acquisition control system is the denominated master acquisition board. The master board consists on a VME64X configurable high density I/O connection carrier board based on the latest Xilinx Virtex-6T FPGA. The internal architecture of the FPGA is designed as a Network on Chip (NoC) approach. The complete system also includes a display board and n histogram modules for live display of the data from the detectors. (authors)

  15. 78 FR 44954 - Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH or Advisory Board), National Institute for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-25

    ... provided to the contact person below in advance of the meeting. Background: The Advisory Board was... President on a variety of policy and technical functions required to implement and effectively manage the new compensation program. Key functions of the Advisory Board include providing advice on the...

  16. Second Harmonic Imaging improves Echocardiograph Quality on board the International Space Station

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Kathleen; Sargsyan, Ashot; Hamilton, Douglas; Martin, David; Ebert, Douglas; Melton, Shannon; Dulchavsky, Scott

    2008-01-01

    Ultrasound (US) capabilities have been part of the Human Research Facility (HRF) on board the International Space Station (ISS) since 2001. The US equipment on board the ISS includes a first-generation Tissue Harmonic Imaging (THI) option. Harmonic imaging (HI) is the second harmonic response of the tissue to the ultrasound beam and produces robust tissue detail and signal. Since this is a first-generation THI, there are inherent limitations in tissue penetration. As a breakthrough technology, HI extensively advanced the field of ultrasound. In cardiac applications, it drastically improves endocardial border detection and has become a common imaging modality. U.S. images were captured and stored as JPEG stills from the ISS video downlink. US images with and without harmonic imaging option were randomized and provided to volunteers without medical education or US skills for identification of endocardial border. The results were processed and analyzed using applicable statistical calculations. The measurements in US images using HI improved measurement consistency and reproducibility among observers when compared to fundamental imaging. HI has been embraced by the imaging community at large as it improves the quality and data validity of US studies, especially in difficult-to-image cases. Even with the limitations of the first generation THI, HI improved the quality and measurability of many of the downlinked images from the ISS and should be an option utilized with cardiac imaging on board the ISS in all future space missions.

  17. Boarding admitted children in the emergency department impacts inpatient outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekmezian, Arpi; Chung, Paul J

    2012-03-01

    This study aimed to assess the relationship between boarding of admitted children in the emergency department (ED) and cost, inpatient length of stay (LOS), mortality, and readmission. This was a retrospective study of 1,792 pediatric inpatients admitted through the ED and discharged from the hospital between February 20, 2007 and June 30, 2008 at a major teaching hospital with an annual ED volume of 40,000 adult and pediatric patients.The main predictor variable was boarding time (time from admission decision to departure for an inpatient bed, in hours). Covariates were patient age, payer group, times of ED and inpatient bed arrival, ED triage acuity, type of inpatient service, intensive care unit admission, surgery, and severity of inpatient illness. The main outcome measures, cost (dollars) and inpatient LOS (hours), were log-transformed and analyzed using linear regressions. Secondary outcomes, mortality and readmission to the hospital within 72 hours of discharge, were analyzed using logistic regression. Mean ED LOS for admitted patients was 9.0 hours. Mean boarding time was 5.1 hours. Mean cost and inpatient LOS were $9893 and 147 hours, respectively. In general, boarding time was associated with cost (P boarding times were associated with greater inpatient LOS especially among patients triaged as low acuity (P = 0.008). In addition, longer boarding times were associated with greater probability of being readmitted among patients on surgical services (P = 0.01). Among low-acuity and surgical patients, longer boarding times were associated with longer inpatient LOS and more readmissions, respectively.

  18. 36 CFR 242.10 - Federal Subsistence Board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... consultants to the Board. (d) Powers and duties. (1) The Board shall meet at least twice per year and at such... for the decision, in writing, in a timely fashion. (2) The Board shall provide available and...

  19. 50 CFR 100.10 - Federal Subsistence Board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... actively involved as consultants to the Board. (d) Powers and duties. (1) The Board shall meet at least... forth the factual basis and the reasons for the decision, in writing, in a timely fashion. (2) The Board...

  20. Hospital ownership, decisions on supervisory board characteristics, and financial performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuntz, Ludwig; Pulm, Jannis; Wittland, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Dynamic and complex transformations in the hospital market increase the relevance of good corporate governance. However, hospital performance and the characteristics of supervisory boards differ depending on ownership. The question therefore arises whether hospital owners can influence performance by addressing supervisory board characteristics. The objective of this study is to explain differences in the financial performance of hospitals with regard to ownership by studying the size and composition of supervisory boards. The AMADEUS database was used to collect information on hospital financial performance in 2009 and 2010. Business and quality reports, hospital websites, and data from health insurer were used to obtain information on hospital and board characteristics. The resulting sample consisted of 175 German hospital corporations. We utilized ANOVA and regression analysis to test a mediation hypothesis that investigated whether decisions regarding board size and composition were associated with financial performance and could explain performance differences. Financial performance and board size and composition depend on ownership. An increase in board size and greater politician participation were negatively associated with all five tested measures of financial performance. Furthermore, an increase in physician participation was positively associated with one dimension of financial performance, whereas one negative relationship was identified for nurse and economist participation. For clerics, no associations were found. Decisions concerning board size and composition are important as they relate to hospital financial performance. We contribute to existing research by showing that, in addition to board size and physician participation, the participation of other professionals can also influence financial performance.

  1. Effect of Boarding on Mortality in ICUs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stretch, Robert; Della Penna, Nicolás; Celi, Leo Anthony; Landon, Bruce E

    2018-04-01

    Hospitals use a variety of strategies to maximize the availability of limited ICU beds. Boarding, which involves assigning patients to an open bed in a different subspecialty ICU, is one such practice employed when ICU occupancy levels are high, and beds in a particular unit are unavailable. Boarding disrupts the normal geographic colocation of patients and care teams, exposing patients to nursing staff with different training and expertise to those caring for nonboarders. We analyzed whether medical ICU patients boarding in alternative specialty ICUs are at increased risk of mortality. Retrospective cohort study using an instrumental variable analysis to control for unmeasured confounding. A semiparametric bivariate probit estimation strategy was employed for the instrumental model. Propensity score matching and standard logistic regression (generalized linear modeling) were used as robustness checks. The medical ICU of a tertiary care nonprofit hospital in the United States between 2002 and 2012. All medical ICU admissions during the specified time period. None. The study population consisted of 8,429 patients of whom 1,871 were boarders. The instrumental variable model demonstrated a relative risk of 1.18 (95% CI, 1.01-1.38) for ICU stay mortality for boarders. The relative risk of in-hospital mortality among boarders was 1.22 (95% CI, 1.00-1.49). GLM and propensity score matching without use of the instrument yielded similar estimates. Instrumental variable estimates are for marginal patients, whereas generalized linear modeling and propensity score matching yield population average effects. Mortality increased with boarding of critically ill patients. Further research is needed to identify safer practices for managing patients during periods of high ICU occupancy.

  2. Sampling and Control Circuit Board for an Inertial Measurement Unit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chelmins, David T (Inventor); Powis, Richard T., Jr. (Inventor); Sands, Obed (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    A circuit board that serves as a control and sampling interface to an inertial measurement unit ("IMU") is provided. The circuit board is also configured to interface with a local oscillator and an external trigger pulse. The circuit board is further configured to receive the external trigger pulse from an external source that time aligns the local oscillator and initiates sampling of the inertial measurement device for data at precise time intervals based on pulses from the local oscillator. The sampled data may be synchronized by the circuit board with other sensors of a navigation system via the trigger pulse.

  3. Tomographic reconstruction of storm time RC ion distribution from ENA images on board multiple spacecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Shu-Ying; Yan, Wei-Nan; Xu, Liang

    2015-11-01

    A quantitative retrieval of 3-D distribution of energetic ions as energetic neutral atoms (ENA) sources is a challenging task. In this paper the voxel computerized tomography (CT) method is initially applied to reconstruct the 3-D distribution of energetic ions in the magnetospheric ring current (RC) region from ENA emission images on board multiple spacecraft. To weaken the influence of low-altitude emission (LAE) on the reconstruction, the LAE-associated ENA intensities are corrected by invoking the thick-target approximation. To overcome the divergence in iteration due to discordant instrument biases, a differential ENA voxel CT method is developed. The method is proved reliable and advantageous by numerical simulation for the case of constant bias independent of viewing angle. Then this method is implemented with ENA data measured by the Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers mission which performs stereoscopic ENA imaging. The 3-D spatial distributions and energy spectra of RC ion flux intensity are reconstructed for energies of 4-50 keV during the main phase of a major magnetic storm. The retrieved ion flux distributions seem to correspond to an asymmetric partial RC, located mainly around midnight favoring the postmidnight with L = 3.5-7.0 in the equatorial plane. The RC ion distributions with magnetic local time depend on energy, with major equatorial flux peak for lower energy located east of that for higher energy. In comparison with the ion energy spectra measured by Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms-D satellite flying in the RC region, the retrieved spectrum from remotely sensed ENA images are well matched with the in situ measurements.

  4. New On-board Microprocessors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weigand, R.

    Two new processor devices have been developed for the use on board of spacecrafts. An 8-bit 8032-microcontroller targets typical controlling applications in instruments and sub-systems, or could be used as a main processor on small satellites, whereas the LEON 32-bit SPARC processor can be used for high performance controlling and data processing tasks. The ADV80S32 is fully compliant to the Intel 80x1 architecture and instruction set, extended by additional peripherals, 512 bytes on-chip RAM and a bootstrap PROM, which allows downloading the application software using the CCSDS PacketWire pro- tocol. The memory controller provides a de-multiplexed address/data bus, and allows to access up to 16 MB data and 8 MB program RAM. The peripherals have been de- signed for the specific needs of a spacecraft, such as serial interfaces compatible to RS232, PacketWire and TTC-B-01, counters/timers for extended duration and a CRC calculation unit accelerating the CCSDS TM/TC protocol. The 0.5 um Atmel manu- facturing technology (MG2RT) provides latch-up and total dose immunity; SEU fault immunity is implemented by using SEU hardened Flip-Flops and EDAC protection of internal and external memories. The maximum clock frequency of 20 MHz allows a processing power of 3 MIPS. Engineering samples are available. For SW develop- ment, various SW packages for the 8051 architecture are on the market. The LEON processor implements a 32-bit SPARC V8 architecture, including all the multiply and divide instructions, complemented by a floating-point unit (FPU). It includes several standard peripherals, such as timers/watchdog, interrupt controller, UARTs, parallel I/Os and a memory controller, allowing to use 8, 16 and 32 bit PROM, SRAM or memory mapped I/O. With on-chip separate instruction and data caches, almost one instruction per clock cycle can be reached in some applications. A 33-MHz 32-bit PCI master/target interface and a PCI arbiter allow operating the device in a plug-in card

  5. Women on boards and corporate social responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Gennari

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Data by EU Commission show a low representation of women on boards. The scope of this article is to read contemporary and according to a managerial approach the possible causes of this situation: the availability of skills possessed by women to cover top positions, the presence of binding or self-regulatory rules and the corporate culture towards CSR approach. Our research is focused on EU countries, where the gender equality on board is currently matter of attention and regulatory interventions. We conclude that the scarce presence of women in the boardrooms is not ascribable to a scarcity of expertise, but it is associated with a social background and a corporate culture not inspired by corporate global responsibility values. Regulatory interventions may accelerate the consciousness of gender balance on boards, but without companies’ commitment in CSR matters and without a clear vision of corporate global responsibility (including economic, social and environmental aspects, they tend to become additional tasks in the management of corporate compliance risk.

  6. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its one hundred-and-twenty-eighth and one hundred and-twenty-ninth meetings on 2 November and 7 December 2004 respectively. At the first of these two meetings, the Governing Board was requested to deal with an urgent request relating to the procedure for the election of two members and two alternates to the Board. The members of the Board decided to cancel the voting procedure under way at that time on the grounds that one of the candidates had benefited from special publicity from the Staff Association that ran counter to the spirit of the Rules and Regulations of the Fund and could potentially influence the outcome of the elections. It was decided that a new round of voting should be organised to ensure a fair procedure. As announced in the Weekly Bulletin of 6 December 2004, the new vote was deferred to January 2005. The Governing Board then took note of a document setting out the large number of proposals from its members concerning possible measures to impr...

  7. A Real Time Electronics Emulator with Realistic Data Generation for Reception Tests of the CMS ECAL Front-End Boards

    CERN Document Server

    Romanteau, T; Collard, Caroline; Debraine, A; Decotigny, D; Dobrzynski, L; Karar, A; Regnault, N

    2005-01-01

    The CMS [1] electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) [2] uses 3 132 Front-End boards (FE) performing both trigger and data readout functions. Prior to their integration at CERN, the FE boards have to be validated by dedicated test bench systems. The final one, called "XFEST" (eXtended Front-End System Test) and for which the present developments have been performed, is located at Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet. In this contribution, a solution is described to efficiently test a large set of complex electronics boards characterized by a large number of input ports and a high throughput data rate. To perform it, an algorithm to simulate the Very Front End signals has been emulated. The project firmwares use VHDL embedded into XILINX Field Programmable Gate Array circuits (FPGA). This contribution describes the solutions developed in order to create a realistic digital input patterns real-time emul ator working at 40 MHz. The implementation of a real time comparison of the FE output streams as well as the test bench wil...

  8. Merging polygons on two-layer printed circuit board

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murov S. Yu.

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available A method is proposed for solving the problem of connection of maximum number of isolated islands of metallized areas of the same chain, located on different layers of the printed circuit board. The method can be used in the automatic tracing of the boards.

  9. Effects of transit bus interior configuration on performance of wheeled mobility users during simulated boarding and disembarking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Souza, Clive; Paquet, Victor; Lenker, James A; Steinfeld, Edward

    2017-07-01

    The emergence of low-floor bus designs and related regulatory standards in the U.S. have resulted in substantial improvements in public transit accessibility. However, passengers using wheeled mobility devices still experience safety concerns and inefficiencies in boarding, disembarking, and interior circulation on low-floor buses. This study investigates effects of low-floor bus interior configuration and passenger crowding on boarding and disembarking efficiency and safety. Users of manual wheelchairs (n = 18), powered wheelchairs (n = 21) and electric scooters (n = 9) simulated boarding and disembarking in three interior layout configurations at low and high passenger crowding conditions on a full-scale laboratory mock-up of a low-floor bus. Dependent measures comprised task times and critical incidents during access ramp use, fare payment, and movement to and from the doorway and wheeled mobility securement area. Individual times for unassisted boarding ranged from 15.2 to 245.3 s and for disembarking ranged from 9.1 to 164.6 s across layout and passenger crowding conditions. Nonparametric analysis of variance showed significant differences and interactions across vehicle design conditions, passenger load and mobility device type on user performance. The configuration having electronic on-board fare payment, rear-bus entrance doorways and adjacent device securement areas demonstrated greatest efficiency and safety. High passenger load adversely impacted efficiency and frequency of critical incidents during on-board circulation across all three layouts. Findings have broader implications for improving transit system efficiency and quality of service across the spectrum of transit users. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. COLLABORATION BOARD 21/09/07 (CB57)

    CERN Multimedia

    Week Outside CERN 2008 (L. Foa)) The Management Board had agreed to the holding a CMS Week outside CERN in 2008, preferably in June, which the Collaboration Board was invited to consider. It should be in a location where it would be possible for younger members of the Collaboration to attend. One of¬fer had already been received. The Collaboration Board agreed that offers be solicited, for a meeting in June. Constitution Update (L. Foa) There had been little progress over the summer on updating the Constitution but it was intended to have this com¬pleted in time for approval in the December CMS Week. Input of sections from persons outside the Collaboration Board Advisory Group were still needed. Because there were a number of important changes to be approved, it was proposed to schedule a special Collaboration Board meeting for this, to be held on Thursday 13th December. Associate Members (L. Foa) The Collaboration Board had decided in 2004 that the Associate Memberships should be revie...

  11. Analysis of research ethics board approval times in an academic department of medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsang, Teresa S M; Jones, Meaghan; Meneilly, Graydon S

    2015-04-01

    As part of an ongoing effort to better understand barriers to academic research, we reviewed and analyzed the process of research ethics applications, focusing on ethics approval time, within the Department of Medicine from 2006 to 2011. A total of 1,268 applications for approval to use human subjects in research were included in our analysis. Three variables, risk category (minimal vs. non-minimal risk), type of funding, and year of submission, were statistically significant for prediction of ethics approval time, with risk status being the most important of these. The covariate-adjusted mean time for approval for minimal risk studies (35.7 days) was less than half that of non-minimal risk protocols (76.5 days). Studies funded through a for-profit sponsor had significantly longer approval times than those funded through other means but were also predominantly (87%) non-minimal risk protocols. Further investigations of the reasons underlying the observed differences are needed to determine whether improved training for research ethics board (REB) members and/or greater dialogue with investigators may reduce the lengthy approval times associated with non-minimal risk protocols. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. Leading Change: How Boards and Presidents Build Exceptional Academic Institutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacTaggart, Terrence

    2011-01-01

    In a time of transformation in higher education, "Leading Change: How Boards and Presidents Build Exceptional Institutions" fills a significant void in leadership literature and focuses on the changing level of board engagement. This book examines 18 institutions, across the spectrum of higher education, at which the board played a…

  13. 12 CFR 980.6 - Finance Board consent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Finance Board consent. 980.6 Section 980.6 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD NEW FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK ACTIVITIES NEW BUSINESS ACTIVITIES § 980.6 Finance Board consent. The Finance Board may at any time provide consent for a Bank to undertake a particular new business activity and...

  14. 77 FR 3240 - Board on Coastal Engineering Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-23

    ... broad policy guidance and review of plans and fund requirements for the conduct of research and... objectives of the Chief of Engineers. Proposed Agenda: On Tuesday, February 7, the Executive Session is... Board, discussion of the Board functions and responsibilities, and ways to enhance the value of the...

  15. Optimization of Planck-LFI on-board data handling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maris, M; Galeotta, S; Frailis, M; Zacchei, A; Fogliani, S; Gasparo, F [INAF-OATs, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste (Italy); Tomasi, M; Bersanelli, M [Universita di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Via G. Celoria 16, 20133 Milano (Italy); Miccolis, M [Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A., S.S. Padana Superiore 290, 20090 Vimodrone (Italy); Hildebrandt, S; Chulani, H; Gomez, F [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), C/o Via Lactea, s/n E38205 - La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Rohlfs, R; Morisset, N; Binko, P [ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, University of Geneva, ch. d' Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix (Switzerland); Burigana, C; Butler, R C; Cuttaia, F; Franceschi, E [INAF-IASF Bologna, Via P. Gobetti, 101, 40129 Bologna (Italy); D' Arcangelo, O, E-mail: maris@oats.inaf.i [IFP-CNR, via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano (Italy)

    2009-12-15

    To asses stability against 1/f noise, the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) on-board the Planck mission will acquire data at a rate much higher than the data rate allowed by the science telemetry bandwith of 35.5 Kbps. The data are processed by an on-board pipeline, followed on-ground by a decoding and reconstruction step, to reduce the volume of data to a level compatible with the bandwidth while minimizing the loss of information. This paper illustrates the on-board processing of the scientific data used by Planck/LFI to fit the allowed data-rate, an intrinsecally lossy process which distorts the signal in a manner which depends on a set of five free parameters (N{sub aver}, r{sub 1}, r{sub 2}, q, O) for each of the 44 LFI detectors. The paper quantifies the level of distortion introduced by the on-board processing as a function of these parameters. It describes the method of tuning the on-board processing chain to cope with the limited bandwidth while keeping to a minimum the signal distortion. Tuning is sensitive to the statistics of the signal and has to be constantly adapted during flight. The tuning procedure is based on a optimization algorithm applied to unprocessed and uncompressed raw data provided either by simulations, pre-launch tests or data taken in flight from LFI operating in a special diagnostic acquisition mode. All the needed optimization steps are performed by an automated tool, OCA2, which simulates the on-board processing, explores the space of possible combinations of parameters, and produces a set of statistical indicators, among them: the compression rate C{sub r} and the processing noise epsilon{sub Q}. For Planck/LFI it is required that C{sub r} = 2.4 while, as for other systematics, epsilon{sub Q} would have to be less than 10% of rms of the instrumental white noise. An analytical model is developed that is able to extract most of the relevant information on the processing errors and the compression rate as a function of the signal

  16. One-loop calculation in time-dependent non-equilibrium thermo field dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umezawa, H.; Yamanaka, Y.

    1989-01-01

    This paper is a review on the structure of thermo field dynamics (TFD) in which the basic concepts such as the thermal doublets, the quasi-particles and the self-consistent renormalization are presented in detail. A strong emphasis is put on the computational scheme. A detailed structure of this scheme is illustrated by the one-loop calculation in a non-equilibrium time-dependent process. A detailed account of the one-loop calculation has never been reported anywhere. The role of the self-consistent renormalization is explained. The equilibrium TFD is obtained as the long-time limit of non-equilibrium TFD. (author)

  17. Supply and demand of board-certified emergency physicians by U.S. state, 2005.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Ashley F; Ginde, Adit A; Espinola, Janice A; Camargo, Carlos A

    2009-10-01

    The objective was to estimate the emergency medicine (EM) board-certified emergency physician (EP) workforce supply and demand by U.S. state. The 2005 National Emergency Department Inventories-USA provided annual visit volumes for U.S. emergency departments (EDs). We estimated full-time equivalent (FTE) EP demand at each ED by dividing the actual number of visits by the estimated average EP visit volume (3,548 visits/year) and then summing FTEs by state. Our model assumed that at least one EP should be present 24/7 in each ED. The number of EM board-certified EPs per state was provided by the American Board of Medical Specialties (American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics) and the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine. We used U.S. Census Bureau civilian population estimates to calculate EP population density by state. The supply of EM board-certified EPs was 58% of required FTEs to staff all EDs nationally and ranged from 10% in South Dakota to 104% in Hawai'i (i.e., there were more EPs than the estimated need). Texas and Florida had the largest absolute shortages of EM board-certified EPs (2,069 and 1,146, respectively). The number of EM board-certified EPs per 100,000 U.S. civilian population ranged from 3.6 in South Dakota to 13.8 in Washington, DC. States with a higher population density of EM board-certified EPs had higher percent high school graduates and a lower percent rural population and whites. The supply and demand of EM board-certified EPs varies by state. Only one state had an adequate supply of EM board-certified EPs to fully staff its EDs.

  18. High-Speed On-Board Data Processing Platform for LIDAR Projects at NASA Langley Research Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyon, J.; Ng, T. K.; Davis, M. J.; Adams, J. K.; Lin, B.

    2015-12-01

    The project called High-Speed On-Board Data Processing for Science Instruments (HOPS) has been funded by NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program during April, 2012 - April, 2015. HOPS is an enabler for science missions with extremely high data processing rates. In this three-year effort of HOPS, Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) and 3-D Winds were of interest in particular. As for ASCENDS, HOPS replaces time domain data processing with frequency domain processing while making the real-time on-board data processing possible. As for 3-D Winds, HOPS offers real-time high-resolution wind profiling with 4,096-point fast Fourier transform (FFT). HOPS is adaptable with quick turn-around time. Since HOPS offers reusable user-friendly computational elements, its FPGA IP Core can be modified for a shorter development period if the algorithm changes. The FPGA and memory bandwidth of HOPS is 20 GB/sec while the typical maximum processor-to-SDRAM bandwidth of the commercial radiation tolerant high-end processors is about 130-150 MB/sec. The inter-board communication bandwidth of HOPS is 4 GB/sec while the effective processor-to-cPCI bandwidth of commercial radiation tolerant high-end boards is about 50-75 MB/sec. Also, HOPS offers VHDL cores for the easy and efficient implementation of ASCENDS and 3-D Winds, and other similar algorithms. A general overview of the 3-year development of HOPS is the goal of this presentation.

  19. Effect of Wheat Straw Pretreatments and Glue Formulations on particle board properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jabeen, S.; Naveed, S.; Yousaf, S.; Ramzan, N.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the effect of wheat straw (WS) pretreatments and glue formulations on mechanical (i.e. Compressive Strength (CS) and Impact Strength (IS)) and water resistance properties (i.e. Thickness Swelling (TS) and water absorption (WA)) of particle board have been investigated and the results have been compared with conventional wooden particleboard. Wheat straw was treated with steam available at 110 degree C and 20 psig, for the retention time of 5, 10 and 15 min. The solution of 10% HCl was also used for removing the lignin. Particleboard was prepared by bonding treated WS with four types of glue recipes of synthetic and natural binders like urea formaldehyde (UF), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), corn flour (CF) and wheat flour (WF). The particle board was formed at the hydraulic pressure and temperature of 2800 psig and 80 degree C respectively. It was observed that WS particleboard has low mechanical strength and high water resistance in comparison with conventional board. The particle board prepared with HCl cured wheat straw and glue having high urea formaldehyde and corn flour has higher CS and IS as well as low TS and WA. It may be concluded that wheat straw is a good substitute of wood for particle board while using HCl as a modifying chemical and strong binders like urea formaldehyde and corn flour. (author)

  20. Real-time co-registered ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging system based on FPGA and DSP architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alqasemi, Umar; Li, Hai; Aguirre, Andres; Zhu, Quing

    2011-03-01

    performs image processing including demodulation, beam envelope detection and scan conversion. Additionally, the PC code pre-calculates the delay coefficients used for transmission focusing and receiving dynamic focusing for different types of transducers to speed up the imaging process. To further speed up the imaging process, a multi-threads technique is implemented in order to allow formation of previous image frame data and acquisition of the next one simultaneously. The system is also capable of doing semi-real-time automated SO2 imaging at 10 seconds per frame by changing the wavelength knob of the laser automatically using a stepper motor controlled by the system. Initial in vivo experiments were performed on animal tumors to map out its vasculature and hypoxia level, which were superimposed on co-registered US images. The real-time system allows capturing co-registered US/PA images free of motion artifacts and also provides dynamitic information when contrast agents are used.

  1. [Assessment of adaptation to on-board conditions on "The Ship for World Youth"].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuramoto, H; Kurabayashi, L; Yamato, H; Inamura, H

    1992-01-01

    The adaptation process of youth from 13 countries on board "The 3rd Ship for World Youth" cruise which was held from January 18 to March 20 in 1991 was analyzed. The age of almost all of the participants was in the 20's (average age was 24.9 yrs), and there were 103 participants (47 males, 56 females) from Japan, 171 participants (86 males, 85 females) from North, Middle and South America, and Oceanian countries for total of 274 participants (133 males, 141 females). The living environment on board differed significantly from daily living conditions of the participants, particularly due to the need to communicate in a foreign language, and to live in harmony with different cultures in a confinement situation, such that they were inevitably susceptible to various stressors. Among the participants there were some who needed psychiatric care and treatment. In order to assess quantitatively psychosomatic reactions to those stressors, a 28-item scaled GHQ (= General Health Questionnaire) assessment was performed four times on board with the following findings: 1. Highest scores were seen shortly after embarkment and decreased as the participants got accustomed to the living conditions on board. 2. The scores of the Japanese participants were higher than those of foreign participants, possibly indicating awkward adaptational skill on the part of Japanese participants especially during the first stage. 3. Japanese females scored slightly higher than Japanese males throughout the course of the program. 4. No clear difference in scores between Japanese participants aged under 25 y and over 26 y was observed. 5. A large proportion (77.3%) of Japanese participants had Y-G personality test results classifying them in the 'stable positive' group (D group). These participants had significantly lower scaled GHQ scores than those in the non-D group, indicating a high adaptational ability of D group participants.

  2. 49 CFR 395.15 - Automatic on-board recording devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... information concerning on-board system sensor failures and identification of edited data. Such support systems... driving today; (iv) Total hours on duty for the 7 consecutive day period, including today; (v) Total hours...-driver operation; (7) The on-board recording device/system identifies sensor failures and edited data...

  3. Board on chemical sciences and technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    The Board has completed five reports since June 1988. Biosafety in the Laboratory: Prudent Practices for Handling and Disposal of Infectious Materials is a comprehensive review of the principles and practices of biological safety in the laboratory. Currently in press, it promises to be a landmark publication in this field, comparable to the Board's two previous studies on handling and disposal of chemicals in laboratories. Chemical Processes and Products in Severe Nuclear Reactor Accidents: Report of a Workshop evaluates the quality and relevance of existing high-temperature thermodynamic and kinetic data to the analysis of light-water reactor accidents. A number of areas where important data was deemed to be lacking or inadequate were identified to provide a sound basis for predicting the behavior of fission products, fuel, and other materials in nuclear reactors during a severe accident leading to radioactivity release. Training Requirements for Chemists in Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Industry, and Related Areas assesses the training requirements for chemists in nuclear medicine, nuclear industry, and related areas. Finally, the Board's Air Force Office of Scientific Research High Energy Density Materials Panel has completed two program evaluation reports on this Air Force program

  4. Real-time POD-CFD Wind-Load Calculator for PV Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huayamave, Victor [Centecorp; Divo, Eduardo [Centecorp; Ceballos, Andres [Centecorp; Barriento, Carolina [Centecorp; Stephen, Barkaszi [FSEC; Hubert, Seigneur [FSEC

    2014-03-21

    The primary objective of this project is to create an accurate web-based real-time wind-load calculator. This is of paramount importance for (1) the rapid and accurate assessments of the uplift and downforce loads on a PV mounting system, (2) identifying viable solutions from available mounting systems, and therefore helping reduce the cost of mounting hardware and installation. Wind loading calculations for structures are currently performed according to the American Society of Civil Engineers/ Structural Engineering Institute Standard ASCE/SEI 7; the values in this standard were calculated from simplified models that do not necessarily take into account relevant characteristics such as those from full 3D effects, end effects, turbulence generation and dissipation, as well as minor effects derived from shear forces on installation brackets and other accessories. This standard does not include provisions that address the special requirements of rooftop PV systems, and attempts to apply this standard may lead to significant design errors as wind loads are incorrectly estimated. Therefore, an accurate calculator would be of paramount importance for the preliminary assessments of the uplift and downforce loads on a PV mounting system, identifying viable solutions from available mounting systems, and therefore helping reduce the cost of the mounting system and installation. The challenge is that although a full-fledged three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis would properly and accurately capture the complete physical effects of air flow over PV systems, it would be impractical for this tool, which is intended to be a real-time web-based calculator. CFD routinely requires enormous computation times to arrive at solutions that can be deemed accurate and grid-independent even in powerful and massively parallel computer platforms. This work is expected not only to accelerate solar deployment nationwide, but also help reach the SunShot Initiative goals

  5. 76 FR 55710 - Sunshine Act Meeting of LSC Board of Directors Finance Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-08

    ... LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION Sunshine Act Meeting of LSC Board of Directors Finance Committee TIME AND DATE: The Legal Services Corporation (``LSC'' or ``Corporation'') Board of Directors (``Board'') Finance Committee will meet telephonically on September 13, 2011 at 11 a.m., Eastern Time. LOCATION: Legal Services Corporation, F. William McCalpin...

  6. Means and method of sampling flow related variables from a waterway in an accurate manner using a programmable calculator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rand E. Eads; Mark R. Boolootian; Steven C. [Inventors] Hankin

    1987-01-01

    Abstract - A programmable calculator is connected to a pumping sampler by an interface circuit board. The calculator has a sediment sampling program stored therein and includes a timer to periodically wake up the calculator. Sediment collection is controlled by a Selection At List Time (SALT) scheme in which the probability of taking a sample is proportional to its...

  7. Optimization of an on-board imaging system for extremely rapid radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cherry Kemmerling, Erica M.; Wu, Meng; Yang, He; Fahrig, Rebecca; Maxim, Peter G.; Loo, Billy W.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Next-generation extremely rapid radiation therapy systems could mitigate the need for motion management, improve patient comfort during the treatment, and increase patient throughput for cost effectiveness. Such systems require an on-board imaging system that is competitively priced, fast, and of sufficiently high quality to allow good registration between the image taken on the day of treatment and the image taken the day of treatment planning. In this study, three different detectors for a custom on-board CT system were investigated to select the best design for integration with an extremely rapid radiation therapy system. Methods: Three different CT detectors are proposed: low-resolution (all 4 × 4 mm pixels), medium-resolution (a combination of 4 × 4 mm pixels and 2 × 2 mm pixels), and high-resolution (all 1 × 1 mm pixels). An in-house program was used to generate projection images of a numerical anthropomorphic phantom and to reconstruct the projections into CT datasets, henceforth called “realistic” images. Scatter was calculated using a separate Monte Carlo simulation, and the model included an antiscatter grid and bowtie filter. Diagnostic-quality images of the phantom were generated to represent the patient scan at the time of treatment planning. Commercial deformable registration software was used to register the diagnostic-quality scan to images produced by the various on-board detector configurations. The deformation fields were compared against a “gold standard” deformation field generated by registering initial and deformed images of the numerical phantoms that were used to make the diagnostic and treatment-day images. Registrations of on-board imaging system data were judged by the amount their deformation fields differed from the corresponding gold standard deformation fields—the smaller the difference, the better the system. To evaluate the registrations, the pointwise distance between gold standard and realistic registration

  8. Optimization of an on-board imaging system for extremely rapid radiation therapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cherry Kemmerling, Erica M.; Wu, Meng, E-mail: mengwu@stanford.edu; Yang, He; Fahrig, Rebecca [Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Maxim, Peter G.; Loo, Billy W. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 and Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

    2015-11-15

    Purpose: Next-generation extremely rapid radiation therapy systems could mitigate the need for motion management, improve patient comfort during the treatment, and increase patient throughput for cost effectiveness. Such systems require an on-board imaging system that is competitively priced, fast, and of sufficiently high quality to allow good registration between the image taken on the day of treatment and the image taken the day of treatment planning. In this study, three different detectors for a custom on-board CT system were investigated to select the best design for integration with an extremely rapid radiation therapy system. Methods: Three different CT detectors are proposed: low-resolution (all 4 × 4 mm pixels), medium-resolution (a combination of 4 × 4 mm pixels and 2 × 2 mm pixels), and high-resolution (all 1 × 1 mm pixels). An in-house program was used to generate projection images of a numerical anthropomorphic phantom and to reconstruct the projections into CT datasets, henceforth called “realistic” images. Scatter was calculated using a separate Monte Carlo simulation, and the model included an antiscatter grid and bowtie filter. Diagnostic-quality images of the phantom were generated to represent the patient scan at the time of treatment planning. Commercial deformable registration software was used to register the diagnostic-quality scan to images produced by the various on-board detector configurations. The deformation fields were compared against a “gold standard” deformation field generated by registering initial and deformed images of the numerical phantoms that were used to make the diagnostic and treatment-day images. Registrations of on-board imaging system data were judged by the amount their deformation fields differed from the corresponding gold standard deformation fields—the smaller the difference, the better the system. To evaluate the registrations, the pointwise distance between gold standard and realistic registration

  9. V̇O2 and Muscle Deoxygenation Kinetics During Skating: Comparison Between Slide Board and Treadmill Skating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piucco, Tatiane; Soares, Rogério; Diefenthaeler, Fernando; Millet, Guillaume; Murias, Juan

    2017-11-15

    this study aimed to compare the oxygen uptake (V̇O 2 ) kinetics during skating on a treadmill and skating on a slide board and discuss potential mechanisms that might control the V̇O 2 kinetics responses during skating. breath-by-breath pulmonary V̇O 2 and near-infrared spectroscopy-derived muscle deoxygenation ([HHbMb]) were monitored continuously in 12 well-trained young long track speed skaters. On-transient V̇O 2 and [HHbMb] responses to skating on a treadmill and skating on a slide board at 80% of the estimated gas exchange threshold were fitted as mono-exponential function. The signals were time aligned, and the individual [HHbMb]-to-V̇O 2 ratio was calculated as the average value from 20-120 s after exercise starts. the time constants for the adjustment of phase II V̇O 2 (τ V̇O 2 ) and [HHbMb] (τ[HHbMb]) were low and similar between slide board vs. treadmill skating (18.1 ± 3.4 vs. 18.9 ± 3.6 for τ V̇O 2 and 12.6 ± 4.0 vs. 12.4 ± 4.0 s for τ[HHbMb]). The [HHbMb]/V̇O 2 ratio was not different from 1.0 (p > 0.05) in both conditions. the fast V̇O 2 kinetics during skating suggest that chronical adaptation to skating might overcome any possible restriction in leg blood flow during low intensity exercise. The [HHbMb]/V̇O 2 ratio values also suggest a good matching of O 2 delivery to O 2 utilization in trained speed skaters. The similar τ V̇O 2 and τ [HHbMb] values between slide board and treadmill further reinforce the validity of using a slide board for skating testing and training purposes.

  10. 15 CFR 325.4 - Calculating time periods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Calculating time periods. 325.4 Section 325.4 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MISCELLANEOUS REGULATIONS EXPORT TRADE CERTIFICATES...

  11. Insights on Employee Representation on Danish Boards

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Neville, Mette; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Poulsen, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Since 1973 the Danish Companies Act has contained rules on codetermination. Employees in public or private limited companies with at least 35 employees in average over a 3-year period have a right but not a duty to appoint representatives on board of directors. In 1973 the rules were seen...

  12. Enhancing board oversight on quality of hospital care: an agency theory perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, H Joanna; Lockee, Carlin; Fraser, Irene

    2012-01-01

    Community hospitals in the United States are almost all governed by a governing board that is legally accountable for the quality of care provided. Increasing pressures for better quality and safety are prompting boards to strengthen their oversight function on quality. In this study, we aimed to provide an update to prior research by exploring the role and practices of governing boards in quality oversight through the lens of agency theory and comparing hospital quality performance in relation to the adoption of those practices. Data on board practices from a survey conducted by The Governance Institute in 2007 were merged with data on hospital quality drawn from two federal sources that measured processes of care and mortality. The study sample includes 445 public and private not-for-profit hospitals. We used factor analysis to explore the underlying dimensions of board practices. We further compared hospital quality performance by the adoption of each individual board practice. Consistent with the agency theory, the 13 board practices included in the survey appear to center around enhancing accountability of the board, management, and the medical staff. Reviewing the hospital's quality performance on a regular basis was the most common practice. A number of board practices, not examined in prior research, showed significant association with better performance on process of care and/or risk-adjusted mortality: requiring major new clinical programs to meet quality-related criteria, setting some quality goals at the "theoretical ideal" level, requiring both the board and the medical staff to be as involved as management in setting the agenda for discussion on quality, and requiring the hospital to report its quality/safety performance to the general public. Hospital governing boards should examine their current practices and consider adopting those that would enhance the accountability of the board itself, management, and the medical staff.

  13. A GPU-based calculation using the three-dimensional FDTD method for electromagnetic field analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagaoka, Tomoaki; Watanabe, Soichi

    2010-01-01

    Numerical simulations with the numerical human model using the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method have recently been performed frequently in a number of fields in biomedical engineering. However, the FDTD calculation runs too slowly. We focus, therefore, on general purpose programming on the graphics processing unit (GPGPU). The three-dimensional FDTD method was implemented on the GPU using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA). In this study, we used the NVIDIA Tesla C1060 as a GPGPU board. The performance of the GPU is evaluated in comparison with the performance of a conventional CPU and a vector supercomputer. The results indicate that three-dimensional FDTD calculations using a GPU can significantly reduce run time in comparison with that using a conventional CPU, even a native GPU implementation of the three-dimensional FDTD method, while the GPU/CPU speed ratio varies with the calculation domain and thread block size.

  14. IAEA Convenes Board Meeting on Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-01-01

    Full text: ''I welcome the recent announcement by the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton regarding the implementation of the Joint Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear programme, which is to take effect as of 20 January. ''I have received a request from Iran and the E3/EU+3 that the Agency conducts monitoring and verification of nuclear-related measures in relation to the Joint Plan of Action. ''I have requested that a meeting of the Board of Governors be convened on 24 January, to consult with the Board regarding the request by Iran and the E3/EU+3 for the Agency to undertake monitoring and verification of nuclear-related measures in relation to the Joint Plan of Action.'' (IAEA)

  15. Effects of Board Game on Speaking Ability of Low-proficiency ESL Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Mei Fung

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available ESL learners often experience anxiety and feel uncomfortable when speaking in the target language. This paper examines the anxiety level of polytechnic students when speaking English and the effects of board game on their speaking performance. The participants were selected from two intact classes which were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups comprising 30 students each. Data were obtained from pre- and post-treatment speaking tests and questionnaire. The questionnaire measuring anxiety factors was adapted from Yaikhong and Usaha (2012 and Woodrow (2006. The board game “What Say You” employed during the treatment was a speaking activity which required players to speak on a topic within a given time frame. The experimental group played the board games over six sessions. The results from the experimental and control groups showed significant difference in the pre- and post-treatment speaking test scores. However, the speaking performance of the experimental group revealed significantly higher scores. Students who were initially hesitant and passive were more willing to speak and were able to present and justify their ideas more confidently as compared to the control group after the treatment. The findings reveal that the board game is a useful tool to engage learners’ participation in class and to enhance the speaking ability of low-proficiency ESL learners.

  16. Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value

    OpenAIRE

    Pucheta Martínez, María Consuelo; Bel Oms, Inmaculada; Olcina Sempere, Gustau

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this research is to examine what impact female institutional directors on boards have on corporate performance. Previous research shows that institutional female directors cannot be considered as a homogeneous group since they represent investors who may or may not maintain business relations with the companies on whose corporate boards they sit. Thus, it is not only the effect of female institutional directors as a whole on firm value that has been analysed, but also the impact of...

  17. Core Support of the Board on Mathematical Sciences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1995-04-04

    This proposal summarizes activities conducted by the Board on Mathematical Sciences (BMS) during the period August 1, 1994 to July 31, 1995 and describes future plans of the Board for the period August 1, 1995 to July 31, 1998. We are requesting core support in the amount of $105,000 ($35,000 each year) from the Department of Energy for the additional three-year period. The BMS activities supported exclusively by core funding are the annual Department Chairs Colloquia, the National Science and Technology Symposia, specific reports, the initiation of all projects, continuous oversight of all activities, and partial core support of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics (CATS). Other activities of the Board include giving recommendations on research directions to federal agencies, and reports on education in the mathematical sciences, interaction of mathematical sciences with other areas, health of the mathematical sciences, and emerging research directions.

  18. Ultrafast time measurements by time-correlated single photon counting coupled with superconducting single photon detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shcheslavskiy, V., E-mail: vis@becker-hickl.de; Becker, W. [Becker & Hickl GmbH, Nahmitzer Damm 30, 12277 Berlin (Germany); Morozov, P.; Divochiy, A. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Vakhtomin, Yu. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Moscow State Pedagogical University, 1/1 M. Pirogovskaya St., Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); Smirnov, K. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Moscow State Pedagogical University, 1/1 M. Pirogovskaya St., Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); National Research University Higher School of Economics, 20 Myasnitskaya St., Moscow 101000 (Russian Federation)

    2016-05-15

    Time resolution is one of the main characteristics of the single photon detectors besides quantum efficiency and dark count rate. We demonstrate here an ultrafast time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) setup consisting of a newly developed single photon counting board SPC-150NX and a superconducting NbN single photon detector with a sensitive area of 7 × 7 μm. The combination delivers a record instrument response function with a full width at half maximum of 17.8 ps and system quantum efficiency ∼15% at wavelength of 1560 nm. A calculation of the root mean square value of the timing jitter for channels with counts more than 1% of the peak value yielded about 7.6 ps. The setup has also good timing stability of the detector–TCSPC board.

  19. Seismic qualification of nuclear control board by using base isolation technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koizumi, T.; Tsujiuchi, N.; Fujita, T.

    1987-01-01

    The purpose is to adopt base isolation technique as a new approach for seismic qualification of nuclear control board. Basic concept of base isolation technique is expressed. Two dimensional linear motion mechanism with pre-tensioned coil springs and some dampers are included in the isolation device. Control board is regarded as a lamped mass system with inertia moment. Fundamental movement of this device and control board is calculated as a non-linear response problems. Fundamental analysis and numerical estimation, experimental investigation has been undertaken using an actual size control board. Sufficient agreement was recognized between experimental results and numerical estimation. (orig./HP)

  20. Does Board Diversity Really Matter?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rose, Caspar; Munch-Madsen, Peter; Funch, Maja

    2013-01-01

    We study the impact of female board representation as well as citizenship on corporate performance based on a sample of the largest listed firms in the Nordic countries as well as Germany. We also seek to determine the variation of board structures using factor analysis. We find no support for any...... performance impact relating to female board representation. However, we find an impact of board citizenship on performance showing that board members with a background from common law have a significant positive influence on corporate performance measured as ROA, ROE and ROCE. Consistent with other studies we...... also document that large boards impact corporate performance negatively. Moreover we also show that data set on boards can be explained by four underlying factors. This article adds insight to board determinants of corporate performance as well as the classification of board variation. Specifically...

  1. TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE EFFICIENCY OF THE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE-FREE ON-BOARD SYSTEM BETWEEN SCHEDULED MAINTENANCES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. M. Bronnikov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The avionics concept of the maintenance-free on-board equipment implies the absence of necessity to maintain onboard systems between scheduled maintenance, preserving the required operational and technical characteristics; it should be achieved by automatic diagnosis of the technical condition and the application of active means of ensuring a failsafe design, allowing to change the structure of the system to maintain its functions in case of failure. It is supposed that such equipment will reduce substantially and in the limit eliminate traditional maintenance of aircraft between scheduled maintenance, ensuring maximum readiness for use, along with improving safety. The paper proposes a methodology for evaluating the efficiency of maintenance-free between scheduled maintenance aircraft system with homogeneous redundancy. The excessive redundant elements allow the system to accumulate failures which are repaired during the routine maintenance. If the number of failures of any reserve is approaching a critical value, the recovery of the on-board system (elimination of all failures is carried out between scheduled maintenance by conducting rescue and recovery operations. It is believed that service work leads to the elimination of all failures and completely updates the on-board system. The process of system operational status changes is described with the discrete-continuous model in the flight time. The average losses in the sorties and the average cost of operation are used as integrated efficiency indicators of system operation. For example, the evaluation of the operation efficiency of formalized on-board system with homogeneous redundancy demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed methodology and the possibility of its use while analyzing the efficiency of the maintenance-free operation equipment between scheduled periods. As well as a comparative analysis of maintenance-free operation efficiency of the on-board system with excessive

  2. Snowboarding and ski boarding injuries in Niigata, Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakamoto, Yuko; Sakuraba, Keishoku

    2008-05-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the injury patterns and incidence of snowboarding and ski boarding injuries with that of alpine skiing in 2000 to 2005, as there are few previous studies comparing these 3 sports, especially in Asia. The injury patterns are different among the 3 snow sports. Descriptive epidemiology study. The subjects were alpine skiers (1240 cases), snowboarders (2220 cases), and ski boarders (132 cases) who were injured in 2 ski resorts located in Niigata prefecture in Japan and visited the authors' clinics in these ski resorts between 2000 and 2005. On visiting the clinics, patients completed a questionnaire reviewing the circumstances surrounding the injury event, and physicians documented the diagnosis. The injury rate, which was based on all purchased lift tickets, in snowboarding decreased gradually, although it was still 2 times higher than that of alpine skiing. Snowboarding and ski boarding had a higher fracture and dislocation rate. Both sports also had a 4 times higher rate of injuries because of jumping. The characteristics of ski boarding were a lower head and neck injury rate and collision injury rate than those of the other 2 snow sports, as well as a 2 times higher rate of fractures compared with alpine skiing injuries and a 1.4 times higher incidence than that of snowboarding injuries. Of the fractures caused by ski boarding accidents, 39.6% affected the lower leg bones. Injury prevention strategies should focus on jumps for snowboarders and ski boarders.

  3. Possibilities of reduction of the on-board energy for an innovative subway

    OpenAIRE

    Allègre, A-L.; Barrade, P.; Delarue, P.; Bouscayrol, A.; Chattot, E.; El-Fassi, S.

    2009-01-01

    An innovative subway has been proposed using supercapacitors as energy source. In this paper, are presented different possibilities to reduce on-board stored energy in order to downsize the on-board energy storage subsystem. Special attention is paid to the influence of a feeding rail extension or a downward slope at the beginning of the interstation on the on-board stored energy. A map is built to facilitate the selection of the solution which leads to reduce the on-board energy.

  4. Data acquisition and real-time signal processing of plasma diagnostics on ASDEX Upgrade using LabVIEW RT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giannone, L.; Cerna, M.; Cole, R.; Fitzek, M.; Kallenbach, A.; Lueddecke, K.; McCarthy, P.J.; Scarabosio, A.; Schneider, W.; Sips, A.C.C.; Treutterer, W.; Vrancic, A.; Wenzel, L.; Yi, H.; Behler, K.; Eich, T.; Eixenberger, H.; Fuchs, J.C.; Haas, G.; Lexa, G.

    2010-01-01

    The existing VxWorks real-time system for the position and shape control in ASDEX Upgrade has been extended to calculate magnetic flux surfaces in real-time using a multi-core PCI Express system running LabVIEW RT 8.6. real-time signal processing of bolometers and manometers is performed with the on-board FPGA to calculate the measured radiated power flux and particle flux respectively from the raw data. Radiation feedback experiments use halo current measurements from the outer divertor with real-time median filter pre-processing to remove the excursions produced by ELMs. Integration of these plasma diagnostics into the control system by the exchange of XML sheets for communicating the real-time variables to be produced and consumed is in operation. Reflective memory and UDP are employed by the LabVIEW RT plasma diagnostics to communicate with the control system and other plasma diagnostics in a multi-platform real-time network.

  5. Data acquisition and real-time signal processing of plasma diagnostics on ASDEX Upgrade using LabVIEW RT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Giannone, L., E-mail: Louis.Giannone@ipp.mpg.d [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-IPP Association, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Cerna, M. [National Instruments, Austin, TX 78759-3504 (United States); Cole, R.; Fitzek, M. [Unlimited Computer Systems GmbH, 82393 Iffeldorf (Germany); Kallenbach, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-IPP Association, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Lueddecke, K. [Unlimited Computer Systems GmbH, 82393 Iffeldorf (Germany); McCarthy, P.J. [Department of Physics, University College Cork, Association EURATOM-DCU, Cork (Ireland); Scarabosio, A.; Schneider, W.; Sips, A.C.C.; Treutterer, W. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-IPP Association, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Vrancic, A.; Wenzel, L.; Yi, H. [National Instruments, Austin, TX 78759-3504 (United States); Behler, K.; Eich, T.; Eixenberger, H.; Fuchs, J.C.; Haas, G.; Lexa, G. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-IPP Association, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

    2010-07-15

    The existing VxWorks real-time system for the position and shape control in ASDEX Upgrade has been extended to calculate magnetic flux surfaces in real-time using a multi-core PCI Express system running LabVIEW RT 8.6. real-time signal processing of bolometers and manometers is performed with the on-board FPGA to calculate the measured radiated power flux and particle flux respectively from the raw data. Radiation feedback experiments use halo current measurements from the outer divertor with real-time median filter pre-processing to remove the excursions produced by ELMs. Integration of these plasma diagnostics into the control system by the exchange of XML sheets for communicating the real-time variables to be produced and consumed is in operation. Reflective memory and UDP are employed by the LabVIEW RT plasma diagnostics to communicate with the control system and other plasma diagnostics in a multi-platform real-time network.

  6. The United States Board on Geographic Names: Standardization or regulation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, R.L.

    2000-01-01

    The United States Board on Geographic Names was created in 1890 to standardize the use of geographic names on federal maps and documents, and was established in its present form in 1947 by public law. The Board is responsible for geographic name usage and application throughout the federal government and its members must approve a name change or new name before it can be applied to federal maps and publications. To accomplish its mission, the Board has developed principles, policies, and procedures for use in the standardization process. The Board is also responsible legally for the promulgation of standardized names, whether or not these names have ever been controversial, and today this is accomplished by the universal availability of electronic databases for domestic and foreign names. This paper examines the development of Board policies and the implementation of these policies to achieve standardization with a view to relating these policies and activities to questions of standardization or regulation. ?? 2000 by The American Name Society.

  7. 12 CFR 704.4 - Board responsibilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... of liquidity, market, and credit risk associated with current activities) are produced timely in... Banks and Banking NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS AFFECTING CREDIT UNIONS CORPORATE CREDIT UNIONS § 704.4 Board responsibilities. (a) General. A corporate credit union's board of directors...

  8. Time-domain calculation of sub-nanosecond pulse launched by a proton beam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chan, Kwok-Chi Dominic; Cooper, R.K.

    1990-01-01

    Using the finite-difference time-domain code TBCI, we have numerically calculated the radiation from a sub-nanosecond 800-MeV proton bunch as it is launched into space. The calculation is compared to measurements of the time history of the radiated fields and good agreement is found. A movie showing the development of the radiation pattern will be shown during the presentation at this conference, namely, the First Los Alamos Symposium on Ultra-Wideband Radar. 6 refs., 7 figs

  9. Electronic bulletin board system for image and information exchange

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halama, J.R.; Henkin, R.E.; Wagner, R.H.

    1990-01-01

    This paper provides nuclear medicine professionals access to an electronic bulletin board (EBB) for image and information exchange. EBB users access the system remotely via modem and personal computer. A public message board is maintained containing messages posted by users. New messages or replies to existing messages may be posted. A public library board contains documents and images for users to access by transmitting them locally for off-line review. Comments and replies may be posted in the library board. New files may be posted in the library at any time. The EBB programs were developed on a multi-user computer system, allowing simultaneous access of users and on-line conferencing among active users

  10. Women underrepresented on editorial boards of 60 major medical journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amrein, Karin; Langmann, Andrea; Fahrleitner-Pammer, Astrid; Pieber, Thomas R; Zollner-Schwetz, Ines

    2011-12-01

    Although there has been a continuous increase in the number of women working in the field of medicine, women rarely reach the highest academic positions as full professors or editorial board members. We aimed to determine the proportion of women on the editorial boards of top-ranked medical journals in different medical specialties. We analyzed the gender of editorial board members of 60 top-ranked journals of 12 Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports categories. A total of 4175 editors were included in our analysis. Only 15.9% (10 of 63) editors-in-chief were female. In the 5 categories, critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging, currently not 1 woman holds the position of editor-in-chief. Less than one fifth (17.5%, 719 of 4112) of all editorial board members were women. There were significant differences among the evaluated categories, with the highest percentage of women in the category of medicine, general and internal and the lowest in the category critical care, followed by orthopedics. In every category, the proportion of women as editorial board members was substantially lower than that of men. Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of major medical journals, although there is a great variability among the journals and categories analyzed. If more women are nominated to serve on editorial boards, they will be a visible sign of continuing progress and serve as important role models for young women contemplating a career in academic medicine. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. GOVERNING BOARD OF THE PENSION FUND

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    On 8 October the Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its 119th meeting, at which the members continued discussing the requests of ESO. It was noted that the Governing Board's working group as well as CERN's Legal Service and the Administration of the Pension Fund had already spent much time and effort examining the various possible options. In that context, given the considerable legal and financial consequences the requests could have for the Fund, especially regarding amendments to the Rules and Regulations, the investment costs and even administrative overheads associated with the currency overlay, the Governing Board decided that it was appropriate to invite the ESO Director of Administration to come and present ESO's position. At the same meeting, the Governing Board decided to recommend the Director-General to propose to the CERN Council a pension indexation of 0.7%, which was equivalent to the cost-of-living in Geneva up to August 2003 and would ensure purchasing power was maintained. In its reco...

  12. 78 FR 21098 - Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-09

    ... Hills National Forest Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City South Dakota. The Board is... staff before the meeting. The agenda will include time for people to make oral statements of three...

  13. Field Trial Measurements to Validate a Stochastic Aircraft Boarding Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Schultz

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Efficient boarding procedures have to consider both operational constraints and the individual passenger behavior. In contrast to the aircraft handling processes of fueling, catering and cleaning, the boarding process is more driven by passengers than by airport or airline operators. This paper delivers a comprehensive set of operational data including classification of boarding times, passenger arrival times, times to store hand luggage, and passenger interactions in the aircraft cabin as a reliable basis for calibrating models for aircraft boarding. In this paper, a microscopic approach is used to model the passenger behavior, where the passenger movement is defined as a one-dimensional, stochastic, and time/space discrete transition process. This model is used to compare measurements from field trials of boarding procedures with simulation results and demonstrates a deviation smaller than 5%.

  14. Real-time clock and orbit calculation of the GPS satellite constellation based on observation data of RTIGS-station network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thaler, G.

    2011-01-01

    Due to the development of faster communication networks and improving computer technology beside postprocessing techniques real-time applications and services are more and more created and used in the eld of precise positioning and navigation using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) like GPS. Data formats like RTCM (NTRIP) or RTIGS serve in this manner as basic tool to transmit real-time GNSS observation data to a eld of users. To handle this trend to real-time, the International GNSS Service (IGS) or more precisely the Real-Time Working Group (RTWG) of the IGS started to establish a global GNSS station network several years ago. These reference stations (RTIGS stations) transmit their observation data in real-time via the open internet to registerd users to support the development of potential new real-time products and services. One example for such a new real-time application based on the observations of the RTIGS network is the software RTIGU-Control developed within this PHD thesis. RTIGU-Control fulls 2 main tasks. The rst task is the monitoring (integrity) of the predicted IGS orbit and clock products (IGU products) using real-time observations from the station network. The second task deals with calculating more precise satellite and station clock corrections compared to the predicted values of the IGU solutions based on the already very precise IGU orbit solutions. In a rst step RTIGU-Control calculates based on the IGU orbit predictions together with code-smoothed station observations precise values for the satellite and station clock corrections.The code-smoothed observations are additionally corrected for several corrections eecting the GNSS observations (for example the delay of the signal propagation time due to the atmosphere, relativistic eects, etc.). The second calculation step deals with monitoring the IGU predicted orbits using the calculated clock solution in the calculation step before and again the corrected real-time observations

  15. Predictors of psychiatric boarding in the emergency department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misek, Ryan K; DeBarba, Ashley E; Brill, April

    2015-01-01

    The emergency psychiatric care is system is overburdened in the United States. Patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies often require resources not available at the initial treating facility and frequently require transfer to an appropriate psychiatric facility. Boarding of psychiatric patients, defined as a length of stay greater than four hours after medical clearance, is ubiquitous throughout emergency departments (EDs) nationwide. Boarding is recognized as a major cause of ambulance diversions and ED crowding and has a significant adverse impact on healthcare providers, patient satisfaction, and hospital costs. We sought to identify differences between patients who boarded versus patients who did not board, to identify factors amenable to change and identify interventions that could lead to a decrease in overall psychiatric patient length of stay and improve patient care. This study is a retrospective multicenter cohort study of all patients assessed to require inpatient psychiatric hospitalization at two community EDs in Illinois from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2012. We identified 671 patients and collected insurance status, sex, age, time of arrival, time of disposition and time of transfer. There was a statistically significant difference in the insurance status between the cohort of patients boarding in the ED compared to non-boarders prior to inpatient psychiatric admission. Our study identified 95.4% of uninsured patients who were boarded in the ED, compared to 71.8% of Medicare/Medicaid patients and 78.3% of patients with private insurance (χ(2)=50.6, df=2, pboarded significantly longer than Medicare/Medicaid and privately insured patients. Patients with private insurance boarded longer than those with Medicare/Medicaid. Patients transferred to publicly funded facilities had significantly longer ED length of stay than patients transferred to private facilities.

  16. SVX Sequencer Board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Utes, M.

    1997-01-01

    The SVX Sequencer boards are 9U by 280mm circuit boards that reside in slots 2 through 21 of each of eight Eurocard crates in the D0 Detector Platform. The basic purpose is to control the SVX chips for data acquisition and when a trigger occurs, to gather the SVX data and relay the data to the VRB boards in the Movable Counting House. Functions and features are as follows: (1) Initialization of eight SVX chip strings using the MIL-STD-1553 data bus; (2) Real time manipulation of the SVX control lines to effect data acquisition, digitization, and readout based on the NRZ/Clock signals from the Controller; (3) Conversion of 8-bit electrical SVX readout data to an optical signal operating at 1.062 Gbit/sec, sent to the VRB. Eight HDIs will be serviced per board; (4) Built-in logic analyzer which can record the most important control and data lines during a data acquisition cycle and put this recorded information onto the 1553 bus; (5) Identification header and end of data trailer tacked onto data stream; (6) 1553 register which can read the current values of the control and data lines; (7) 1553 register which can test the optical link; (8) 1553 registers for crossing pulse width, calibration pulse voltage, and calibration pipeline select; (9) 1553 register for reading the optical drivers status link; (10) 1553 register for power control of SVX chips and ignoring bad SVX strings; (11) Front panel displays and LEDs show the board status at a glance; (12) In-system programmable EPLDs are programmed via 1553 or Altera's 'Bitblaster'; (13) Automatic readout abort after 45us; (14) Supplies BUSY signal back to Trigger Framework; (15) Supports a heartbeat system to prevent excessive SVX current draw; and (16) Supports a SVX power trip feature if heartbeat failure occurs.

  17. On Gamma Ray Instrument On-Board Data Processing Real-Time Computational Algorithm for Cosmic Ray Rejection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kizhner, Semion; Hunter, Stanley D.; Hanu, Andrei R.; Sheets, Teresa B.

    2016-01-01

    gamma ray events and the problem is to detect and reject the much more voluminous cosmic ray projections, so that the remaining science data can be telemetered to the ground over the constrained communication link. The state-of-the-art in cosmic rays detection and rejection does not provide an adequate computational solution. This paper presents a novel approach to the AdEPT on-board data processing burdened with the CR detection top pole bottleneck problem. This paper is introducing the data processing object, demonstrates object segmentation and distribution for processing among many processing elements (PEs) and presents solution algorithm for the processing bottleneck - the CR-Algorithm. The algorithm is based on the a priori knowledge that a CR pierces the entire instrument pressure vessel. This phenomenon is also the basis for a straightforward CR simulator, allowing the CR-Algorithm performance testing. Parallel processing of the readout image's (2(N+M) - 4) peripheral voxels is detecting all CRs, resulting in O(n) computational complexity. This algorithm near real-time performance is making AdEPT class spaceflight instruments feasible.

  18. Reactive Goal Decomposition Hierarchies for On-Board Autonomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, L.

    2002-01-01

    As our experience grows, space missions and systems are expected to address ever more complex and demanding requirements with fewer resources (e.g., mass, power, budget). One approach to accommodating these higher expectations is to increase the level of autonomy to improve the capabilities and robustness of on- board systems and to simplify operations. The goal decomposition hierarchies described here provide a simple but powerful form of goal-directed behavior that is relatively easy to implement for space systems. A goal corresponds to a state or condition that an operator of the space system would like to bring about. In the system described here goals are decomposed into simpler subgoals until the subgoals are simple enough to execute directly. For each goal there is an activation condition and a set of decompositions. The decompositions correspond to different ways of achieving the higher level goal. Each decomposition contains a gating condition and a set of subgoals to be "executed" sequentially or in parallel. The gating conditions are evaluated in order and for the first one that is true, the corresponding decomposition is executed in order to achieve the higher level goal. The activation condition specifies global conditions (i.e., for all decompositions of the goal) that need to hold in order for the goal to be achieved. In real-time, parameters and state information are passed between goals and subgoals in the decomposition; a termination indication (success, failure, degree) is passed up when a decomposition finishes executing. The lowest level decompositions include servo control loops and finite state machines for generating control signals and sequencing i/o. Semaphores and shared memory are used to synchronize and coordinate decompositions that execute in parallel. The goal decomposition hierarchy is reactive in that the generated behavior is sensitive to the real-time state of the system and the environment. That is, the system is able to react

  19. GENDER ISSUES – WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION ON BOARDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena CHIȚIMUȘ

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Corporate Governance is seen as a set of systems, rules, regulations that are in place in order to keep the company on a straight path and to give assurance to the shareholders that their investment is well protected. One of the instruments that are at the choice of the shareholders is the Board of Directors (BoD. Debates go around its role of monitoring and supervising, on obtaining an adding value board or a competitive advantage, on the changes that it has suffered along the years. This paper is a literature review on the diversity in gender, age and experience of the members of the board that have in their hands the power to bring value or destruction to companies. The study shows that are many contradictory results and opinions on the matter and that company’s performance is determined by many factors combined together, like a good mix of culture, experience, professionalism. Discrimination shouldn’t be made on gender, age, background, all persons should be given equal chances and stereotype should be fought more.

  20. A Generic Approach to Analyze the Impact of a Future Aircraft Design on the Boarding Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bekir Yildiz

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The turnaround process constitutes an important part of the air transportation system. Airports often represent bottlenecks in air traffic management (ATM, thus operations related to the preparation of the aircraft for the next flight leg have to be executed smoothly and in a timely manner. The ATM significantly depends on a reliable turnaround process. Future paradigm changes with respect to airplane energy sources, aircraft design or propulsion concepts will also influence the airport layout. As a consequence, operational processes associated with the turnaround will be affected. Airlines aim for efficient and timely turnaround operations that are correlated with higher profits. This case study discusses an approach to investigate a new aircraft design with respect to the implications on the turnaround. The boarding process, as part of the turnaround, serves as an example to evaluate the consequences of new design concepts. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research to investigate future energy, propulsion and designs concepts and their implications on the whole ATM system. Due to these new concepts, several processes of the turnaround will be affected. For example, new energy storage concepts will influence the fueling process on the aircraft itself or might lead to a new infrastructure at the airport. This paper aims to evaluate the applied methodology in the case of a new boarding process, due to a new aircraft design, by means of a generic example. An agent-based boarding simulation is applied to assess passenger behavior during boarding, particularly with regard to cabin layout and seat configuration. The results of the generic boarding simulation are integrated into a simplified, deterministic and generic simulation of the turnaround process. This was done to assess the proposed framework for future investigations which on the one hand address the ATM system holistically and on the other, incorporate additional or adapted

  1. Boards on the Move: Surfboards, Skateboards, Snowboards, and Kiteboards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moye, Johnny J.; Ritz, John M.

    2009-01-01

    Technological advances through mathematics and science have made possible the modification of boarding sports. This article discusses the development of sport technologies that use boards and also touches on the social and cultural effects of the new technologies. It identifies many new forms of sports equipment that were spawned from modifying…

  2. The dBoard: a Digital Scrum Board for Distributed Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Esbensen, Morten; Tell, Paolo; Cholewa, Jacob Benjamin

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we present the dBoard - a digital Scrum Board for distributed Agile software development teams. The dBoard is designed as a 'virtual window' between two Scrum team spaces. It connects two locations with live video and audio, which is overlaid with a synchronized and interactive...... digital Scrum board, and it adapts the fidelity of the video/audio to the presence of people in front of it. The dBoard is designed to work (i) as a passive information radiator from which it is easy to get an overview of the status of work, (ii) as a media space providing awareness about the presence...... of remote co-workers, and (iii) as an active meeting support tool. The paper presents a case study of distributed Scrum in a large software company that motivates the design of the dBoard, and details the design and technical implementation of the dBoard. The paper also reports on an initial user study...

  3. Refinement of boards' role required.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umbdenstock, R J

    1987-01-01

    The governing board's role in health care is not changing, but new competitive forces necessitate a refinement of the board's approach to fulfilling its role. In a free-standing, community, not-for-profit hospital, the board functions as though it were the "owner." Although it does not truly own the facility in the legal sense, the board does have legal, fiduciary, and financial responsibilities conferred on it by the state. In a religious-sponsored facility, the board fulfills these same obligations on behalf of the sponsoring institute, subject to the institute's reserved powers. In multi-institutional systems, the hospital board's power and authority depend on the role granted it by the system. Boards in all types of facilities are currently faced with the following challenges: Fulfilling their basic responsibilities, such as legal requirements, financial duties, and obligations for the quality of care. Encouraging management and the board itself to "think strategically" in attacking new competitive market forces while protecting the organization's traditional mission and values. Assessing recommended strategies in light of consequences if constituencies think the organization is abandoning its commitments. Boards can take several steps to match their mode of operation with the challenges of the new environment. Boards must rededicate themselves to the hospital's mission. Trustees must expand their understanding of health care trends and issues and their effect on the organization. Boards must evaluate and help strengthen management's performance, rather than acting as a "watchdog" in an adversarial position. Boards must think strategically, rather than focusing solely on operational details. Boards must evaluate the methods they use for conducting business.

  4. A corrector for spacecraft calculated electron moments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Geach

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available We present the application of a numerical method to correct electron moments calculated on-board spacecraft from the effects of potential broadening and energy range truncation. Assuming a shape for the natural distribution of the ambient plasma and employing the scalar approximation, the on-board moments can be represented as non-linear integral functions of the underlying distribution. We have implemented an algorithm which inverts this system successfully over a wide range of parameters for an assumed underlying drifting Maxwellian distribution. The outputs of the solver are the corrected electron plasma temperature Te, density Ne and velocity vector Ve. We also make an estimation of the temperature anisotropy A of the distribution. We present corrected moment data from Cluster's PEACE experiment for a range of plasma environments and make comparisons with electron and ion data from other Cluster instruments, as well as the equivalent ground-based calculations using full 3-D distribution PEACE telemetry.

  5. Meeting of the ITER CTA Project Board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vlasenkov, V.

    2001-01-01

    The meeting of the ITER CTA Project Board took place in Toronto, Canada on 7 November 2001, on the occasion of the first Negotiations Meeting. Twelve participants, representing PB members and experts from Canada, the EU, Japan, the RF and the international Team (IT), attended the meeting chaired by Acad. E. Velikhov. Discussions on the preliminary work programme for the CTA and organizational arrangements for the IT and PT took most of the time of the meeting. The Project Board approved the preliminary work programme as presented by the IT leader

  6. 24 CFR 203.281 - Calculation of one-time MIP.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MORTGAGE AND LOAN INSURANCE PROGRAMS UNDER NATIONAL HOUSING ACT AND OTHER AUTHORITIES SINGLE FAMILY MORTGAGE INSURANCE Contract Rights and Obligations Mortgage Insurance Premiums-One-Time Payment § 203.281 Calculation of one-time MIP. (a) The applicable premium percentage determined...

  7. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Advancement of the MSPI On-Board Processing Platform for the ACE Decadal Survey Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pingree, Paula J.; Werne, Thomas A.; Bekker, Dmitriy L.; Wilson, Thor O.

    2011-01-01

    The Xilinx Virtex-5QV is a new Single-event Immune Reconfigurable FPGA (SIRF) device that is targeted as the spaceborne processor for the NASA Decadal Survey Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE) mission's Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (MSPI) instrument, currently under development at JPL. A key technology needed for MSPI is on-board processing (OBP) to calculate polarimetry data as imaged by each of the 9 cameras forming the instrument. With funding from NASA's ESTO1 AIST2 Program, JPL is demonstrating how signal data at 95 Mbytes/sec over 16 channels for each of the 9 multi-angle cameras can be reduced to 0.45 Mbytes/sec, thereby substantially reducing the image data volume for spacecraft downlink without loss of science information. This is done via a least-squares fitting algorithm implemented on the Virtex-5 FPGA operating in real-time on the raw video data stream.

  8. Psychiatric boarding incidence, duration, and associated factors in United States emergency departments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Jason M; Fee, Christopher; Cooper, Bruce A; Rankin, Sally H; Blegen, Mary A

    2015-01-01

    Boarding, especially among psychiatric patients, has been characterized as a significant cause of ED crowding, but no quantitative analysis has described boarding nationally. This study determines the incidence, duration, and factors associated with ED boarding in the United States. 2008 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey ED data were stratified by visit type (psychiatric vs. non-psychiatric), boarding status, and patient and hospital characteristics. Boarding was defined as a visit with an ED length of stay >6 hours, and boarding time as ED length of stay minus 6 hours. Pearson's chi-square tests describe hospital and patient characteristics stratified by boarding status. Multilevel multivariable logistic and linear regressions determine associations with boarding and boarding time. While 11% of all ED patients boarded, 21.5% of all psychiatric ED patients boarded. Boarding was also more prolonged for psychiatric ED patients. Controlling for confounders, odds of boarding for psychiatric patients were 4.78 (2.63-8.66) times higher than non-psychiatric, and psychiatric patients boarded 2.78 (1.91-3.64) hours longer than non-psychiatric. US EDs experienced high proportions and durations of boarding with psychiatric patients disproportionately affected. Additional research concerning mental health care services and legislation may be required to address ED psychiatric patient boarding. Copyright © 2015 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. 75 FR 1057 - Farm Credit Administration Board; Regular Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-08

    ... considered at the meeting are: Open Session A. Approval of Minutes December 10, 2009 B. New Business Auditors..., Virginia, on January 14, 2010, from 9 a.m. until such time as the Board concludes its business. FOR FURTHER...-5090. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Parts of this meeting of the Board will be open to the public (limited...

  10. Digital tomosynthesis with an on-board kilovoltage imaging device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Godfrey, Devon J.; Yin, F.-F.; Oldham, Mark; Yoo, Sua; Willett, Christopher

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: To generate on-board digital tomosynthesis (DTS) and reference DTS images for three-dimensional image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) as an alternative to conventional portal imaging or on-board cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods and Materials: Three clinical cases (prostate, head-and-neck, and liver) were selected to illustrate the capabilities of on-board DTS for IGRT. Corresponding reference DTS images were reconstructed from digitally reconstructed radiographs computed from planning CT image sets. The effect of scan angle on DTS slice thickness was examined by computing the mutual information between coincident CBCT and DTS images, as the DTS scan angle was varied from 0 o to 165 o . A breath-hold DTS acquisition strategy was implemented to remove respiratory motion artifacts. Results: Digital tomosynthesis slices appeared similar to coincident CBCT planes and yielded substantially more anatomic information than either kilovoltage or megavoltage radiographs. Breath-hold DTS acquisition improved soft-tissue visibility by suppressing respiratory motion. Conclusions: Improved bony and soft-tissue visibility in DTS images is likely to improve target localization compared with radiographic verification techniques and might allow for daily localization of a soft-tissue target. Breath-hold DTS is a potential alternative to on-board CBCT for sites prone to respiratory motion

  11. CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response): A generic transportation network model for the calculation of evacuation time estimates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moeller, M.P.; Desrosiers, A.E.; Urbanik, T. II

    1982-03-01

    This paper describes the methodology and application of the computer model CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response) which estimates the time required for a specific population density and distribution to evacuate an area using a specific transportation network. The CLEAR model simulates vehicle departure and movement on a transportation network according to the conditions and consequences of traffic flow. These include handling vehicles at intersecting road segments, calculating the velocity of travel on a road segment as a function of its vehicle density, and accounting for the delay of vehicles in traffic queues. The program also models the distribution of times required by individuals to prepare for an evacuation. In order to test its accuracy, the CLEAR model was used to estimate evacuation times for the emergency planning zone surrounding the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant. The Beaver Valley site was selected because evacuation time estimates had previously been prepared by the licensee, Duquesne Light, as well as by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. A lack of documentation prevented a detailed comparison of the estimates based on the CLEAR model and those obtained by Duquesne Light. However, the CLEAR model results compared favorably with the estimates prepared by the other two agencies. (author)

  12. Development of an Adjustable board and a Rotational Board for Scaffold

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Myunghoun

    2017-06-01

    Scaffold is widely used in high work-places inside and outside of a building construction site. It is inexpensive and is installed and dismantled easily. Although standards and ledgers of a steel tube and coupler scaffold are installed in a regular distance, the distances of transoms are not equal in some places. Sometimes a working platform or a board is absent in the corner of scaffold. This may cause safety accidents because a foothold is not stable on the transoms. An adjustable safety board and a rotational safety board are suggested in this paper. The adjustable board consists of two footholds. The small one is inserted into the large one. The rotational board covers not only right angle but also acute or obtuse angles. These safety boards for scaffold help to decrease safety accidents in construction sites.

  13. On-board system for physical and microphysical measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ravaut, M.; Allet, C.; Dole, B.; Gribkoff, A.; Schibler, P.; Charpentier, C.

    1981-10-01

    This report presents the system of physical and microphysical measurement instrumentation on board the HUREL-DUBOIS HD 34 aircraft, built in cooperation with the Institut National d'Astronomie et de Geophysique (I.N.A.G.) and the Institut Geographique National (I.G.N.). The feasibility study of the system was carried out in the first half of 1978 and took shape in an on-site proving campaign in November 1979. As a result, the on-board system was able to participate in the BUGEY experimental campaign of March 1980, a glimpse of which is given in this report [fr

  14. What's on Your Mind? Conversation Topics Chosen by People With Degenerative Cognitive-Linguistic Disorders for Communication Boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fried-Oken, Melanie; Daniels, Darlene; Ettinger, Olivia; Mooney, Aimee; Noethe, Glory; Rowland, Charity

    2015-05-01

    Conversational topics chosen by a group of adults with degenerative cognitive-linguistic disorders for personalized communication board development were examined. The patient-generated themes commonly selected are presented to guide treatment planning and communication board development. Communication boards were created for 109 adults as part of a larger research project. One autobiographical topic that each participant would enjoy discussing multiple times was represented on each communication board with 16 pictures and word labels. For this review, topics were collapsed into general themes through a consensus process and examined by gender and age. Sixty unique conversational topics were identified from 109 participants and collapsed into 9 general themes: Hobbies, Family, Travel, Work, Home/Places I've Lived, Sports/Fitness, Religion, Animals, and World War II. Age and gender produced variations in themes chosen, though no significance in rank orders was found across groups. Topics selected by adults with degenerative cognitive-linguistic disorders for communication boards resemble common conversational adult themes and do not center around basic needs or medical issues. Differences in gender and age for topic selection tend to be based on traditional roles. These general themes should be used when creating personalized communication boards for those who benefit from conversational aids.

  15. 75 FR 56580 - Sunshine Act Meeting of LSC Board of Directors and Its Finance Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-16

    ... LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION Sunshine Act Meeting of LSC Board of Directors and Its Finance Committee TIME AND DATE: The Legal Services Corporation (``LSC'' or ``Corporation'') Board of Directors (``Board'') and its Finance Committee will meet consecutively on September 21, 2010, with the Finance Committee convening at 10 a.m., Eastern Time, and...

  16. 75 FR 61779 - National Science Board: Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-06

    ... Science Board's Committee on Programs and Plans, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the... National Science Board business and other matters specified, as follows: DATE AND TIME: October 13, 2010, 1... Performance Computing Award. STATUS: Closed. LOCATION: This meeting will be held at National Science...

  17. Life time calculations for LCF loading combined with tensional hold periods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bocek, M.; Armas, A.; Piel, D.

    1983-01-01

    The life time in high amplitude strain cycling with tensional hold periods is analysed presuming that creep failure damage is life determining. The life fraction rule (LFR) is used to calculate the life time consumpted during the dwell period in strain controlled tests as well as during tensional hold time stress cycles. It follows from the present investigation that stress relaxation occurring during the strain hold periods plays the dominant influence upon the relationship between life and dwell time. For strong stress relaxation (e.g. high temperature) less damage is accumulated as compared to suppressed relaxation (low temperature). The damage in stress relaxation is calculated by means of the LFR and the results are compared to experiments conducted on Zircaloy-4 and the austenitic stainless stell Type AISI 304. From the very good agreement between both it is concluded that under the loading conditions considered, creep failure damage is the main life determining damage contribution. (orig.)

  18. Board on Research Data and Information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sztein, A. Ester [National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States); Boright, John [National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)

    2015-08-14

    The Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI) has planned and undertaken numerous activities regarding data citation, attribution, management, policy, publishing, centers, access, curation, sharing, and infrastructure; and international collaboration and cooperation. Some of these activities resulted in National Research Council reports (For Attribution: Developing Data Attribution and Citation Practices and Standards (2012), The Case for International Scientific Data Sharing: A Focus on Developing Countries (2012), and The Future of Scientific Knowledge Discovery in Open Networked Environments (2012); and a peer-reviewed paper (Out of Cite, Out of Mind: The Current State of Practice, Policy, and Technology for the Citation of Data, 2013). BRDI held symposia, workshops and sessions in the U.S. and abroad on diverse topics such as global scientific data infrastructures, discovery of data online, privacy in a big data world, and data citation principles, among other timely data-related subjects. In addition, BRDI effects the representation of the United States before the International Council for Science’s International Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA).

  19. Notes on the Narratological Approach to Board Games

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mattia Thibault

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays game studies are in the foreground of cultural and communication debates. Even if video games are strongly studied in semiotics, play is a wide field of study with many areas still unexplored. The area that this paper aims to explore concerns board games and it focuses on the relationship between game and narration and the role of a game’s intertextual dimension from a semiotic point of view. Semiotic tools that have been used include the Greimasian narrative sequence (a structuralist point of view that fits very well with the rigid, explicit grammaticalization of board games and Génette's narratology, unavoidable for every reflection on intertextuality. Last, but not least, cultural semiotics, based on Jurij Lotman's works, offers a valuable asset for understanding the enveloping and organic structure that surrounds games. The research proceeds to focus on some case studies of three ancient board games - chess, backgammon, and mancalas - underlining their common traits and differences. The paper shows that the structure of board games is very similar to the structure of the Greimasian narrative sequence, but they rather form a hybrid narration in which the player has a primary importance. Moreover, we see that games constantly retrieve sense from different kinds of other texts depending on the culture and society in which the game is played. The aim of this research is not to propound a complete theory, but rather to indicate a possible path to follow, between many, that could be a valuable resource in the exploration and the understanding of play.

  20. Women on Corporate Boards in Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, and Serbia

    OpenAIRE

    Djulic, Katarina; Kuzman, Tanja

    2013-01-01

    In January 2013, International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a research project entitled women on corporate boards in Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, and Serbia. The purpose of the project was to gather information on the representation of women on corporate boards and to learn about the determinants of female board membership in these countries. Which skills and knowledge do w...

  1. Time-Dependent Wave Packet Dynamics Calculations of Cross Sections for Ultracold Scattering of Molecules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jiayu; Liu, Shu; Zhang, Dong H.; Krems, Roman V.

    2018-04-01

    Because the de Broglie wavelength of ultracold molecules is very large, the cross sections for collisions of molecules at ultracold temperatures are always computed by the time-independent quantum scattering approach. Here, we report the first accurate time-dependent wave packet dynamics calculation for reactive scattering of ultracold molecules. Wave packet dynamics calculations can be applied to molecular systems with more dimensions and provide real-time information on the process of bond rearrangement and/or energy exchange in molecular collisions. Our work thus makes possible the extension of rigorous quantum calculations of ultracold reaction properties to polyatomic molecules and adds a new powerful tool for the study of ultracold chemistry.

  2. Women on the corporate board of directors and corporate sustainability disclosure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emeldah M. Modiba

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This research examined whether an improved participation of women in the board of directors has any relationship with sustainability disclosure. Accordingly, the objective of this research was to examine the relationship between the number of women on the board of directors and social investment disclosure and energy disclosure in the sample of companies. The paper used a quantitative approach and data were collected from the archives of sustainability reports of five companies that formed the sample. The panel-data regression analysis was used in data arrangement. Five sample of companies over five years produced a (5 x 5 panel resulting in 25 observations. Data was tested at an alpha of 0.05. Results from all the analysis showed a P value below the research alpha (P < 0,05 indicating a significant relationship. Therefore, findings from the panel-data regression analysis disclosed a positive relationship between the number of women on the board of directors and corporate disclosure on social investment and energy consumption. Further analysis also disclosed that women on the board of directors are related with the overall number of women employees in the company. The paper concludes that within the sample of companies, women on the board of directors may influence sustainability disclosure such as energy and social investment. Women on the board of directors might also assist the companies to achieve gender equity employment goals. The research recommends that given the unique social and environmental proclivity of women, the corporate should recruit more women in the boards to enhance accelerated corporate sustainability performance. Further research using expanded number of companies is recommended.

  3. On-board Data Mining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanner, Steve; Stein, Cara; Graves, Sara J.

    Networks of remote sensors are becoming more common as technology improves and costs decline. In the past, a remote sensor was usually a device that collected data to be retrieved at a later time by some other mechanism. This collected data were usually processed well after the fact at a computer greatly removed from the in situ sensing location. This has begun to change as sensor technology, on-board processing, and network communication capabilities have increased and their prices have dropped. There has been an explosion in the number of sensors and sensing devices, not just around the world, but literally throughout the solar system. These sensors are not only becoming vastly more sophisticated, accurate, and detailed in the data they gather but they are also becoming cheaper, lighter, and smaller. At the same time, engineers have developed improved methods to embed computing systems, memory, storage, and communication capabilities into the platforms that host these sensors. Now, it is not unusual to see large networks of sensors working in cooperation with one another. Nor does it seem strange to see the autonomous operation of sensorbased systems, from space-based satellites to smart vacuum cleaners that keep our homes clean and robotic toys that help to entertain and educate our children. But access to sensor data and computing power is only part of the story. For all the power of these systems, there are still substantial limits to what they can accomplish. These include the well-known limits to current Artificial Intelligence capabilities and our limited ability to program the abstract concepts, goals, and improvisation needed for fully autonomous systems. But it also includes much more basic engineering problems such as lack of adequate power, communications bandwidth, and memory, as well as problems with the geolocation and real-time georeferencing required to integrate data from multiple sensors to be used together.

  4. Women on board and firm performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lückerath – Rovers, M.

    2010-01-01

    This study addresses the research question of whether companies with female directors on the board have a higher average performance than companies with no female directors. The debate about the low representation of women in the top management of companies involves both moral arguments (equality

  5. Integrated reporting and board features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rares HURGHIS

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available In the last two decades the concept of sustainability reporting gained more importance in the companies’ annual reports, a trend which is embedded also in integrated reporting. Issuing an integrated report became a necessity, because the report explains to the investors how the organization creates value over time. The governance structure, more exactly the board of directors, decides whether or not the company will issue an integrated report. Thus, are there certain features of the board that might influence the issue of an integrated report? Do the companies which issue an integrated report have certain features of the governance structure? Looking for an answer to these questions, we seek for any possible correlations between a disclosure index and the corporate governance structure characteristics, on a sample from the companies participating at the International Integrated Reporting Council Examples Database. The results highlight that only the size of the board influences the extent to which the issued integrated report is in accordance with the International Framework.

  6. Design, Development and Testing of a Balance Board with Variable Torsional Stiffness and Time Delay

    OpenAIRE

    Cruise, Denise Renee

    2014-01-01

    The ability to balance and maintain upright posture can decline for a variety of reasons, such as aging and neuromuscular impairment. As the ability to balance declines, the risk of falling increases. Falls are a major cause of injury, and often lead to a dramatic decline in quality of life. Currently, to alleviate balance deficiencies, people participate in balance training, which most commonly refers to standing on an unstable balance board; the most common boards used are either passive wo...

  7. Prospective validation of a near real-time EHR-integrated automated SOFA score calculator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aakre, Christopher; Franco, Pablo Moreno; Ferreyra, Micaela; Kitson, Jaben; Li, Man; Herasevich, Vitaly

    2017-07-01

    We created an algorithm for automated Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score calculation within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to facilitate detection of sepsis based on the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (SEPSIS-3) clinical definition. We evaluated the accuracy of near real-time and daily automated SOFA score calculation compared with manual score calculation. Automated SOFA scoring computer programs were developed using available EHR data sources and integrated into a critical care focused patient care dashboard at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We prospectively compared the accuracy of automated versus manual calculation for a sample of patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic Hospitals in Rochester, Minnesota and Jacksonville, Florida. Agreement was calculated with Cohen's kappa statistic. Reason for discrepancy was tabulated during manual review. Random spot check comparisons were performed 134 times on 27 unique patients, and daily SOFA score comparisons were performed for 215 patients over a total of 1206 patient days. Agreement between automatically scored and manually scored SOFA components for both random spot checks (696 pairs, κ=0.89) and daily calculation (5972 pairs, κ=0.89) was high. The most common discrepancies were in the respiratory component (inaccurate fraction of inspired oxygen retrieval; 200/1206) and creatinine (normal creatinine in patients with no urine output on dialysis; 128/1094). 147 patients were at risk of developing sepsis after intensive care unit admission, 10 later developed sepsis confirmed by chart review. All were identified before onset of sepsis with the ΔSOFA≥2 point criterion and 46 patients were false-positives. Near real-time automated SOFA scoring was found to have strong agreement with manual score calculation and may be useful for the detection of sepsis utilizing the new SEPSIS-3 definition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All

  8. 78 FR 50052 - Chief of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board; Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers Chief of Engineers Environmental... Environmental Advisory Board (EAB). Date: September 11, 2013. Time: 9:00 a.m. through 12:00 p.m. Location: Room... Agenda: The Board will advise the Chief of Engineers on environmental policy, identification and...

  9. Calculation of neutron die-away times in a large-vehicle portal monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lillie, R.A.; Santoro, R.T.; Alsmiller, R.G. Jr.

    1980-05-01

    Monte Carlo methods have been used to calculate neutron die-away times in a large-vehicle portal monitor. These calculations were performed to investigate the adequacy of using neutron die-away time measurements to detect the clandestine movement of shielded nuclear materials. The geometry consisted of a large tunnel lined with He 3 proportional counters. The time behavior of the (n,p) capture reaction in these counters was calculated when the tunnel contained a number of different tractor-trailer load configurations. Neutron die-away times obtained from weighted least squares fits to these data were compared. The change in neutron die-away time due to the replacement of cargo in a fully loaded truck with a spherical shell containing 240 kg of borated polyethylene was calculated to be less than 3%. This result together with the overall behavior of neutron die-away time versus mass inside the tunnel strongly suggested that measurements of this type will not provide a reliable means of detecting shielded nuclear materials in a large vehicle. 5 figures, 4 tables

  10. Electricity market readiness plan : Ontario Energy Board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-03-01

    This document informs electric power market participants of the Ontario Energy Board's newly developed market readiness plan and target timelines that local distribution companies (LDCs) must meet for retail marketing. The Ontario Energy Board's plan incorporates relevant independent market operator (IMO)-administered market milestones with retail market readiness targeted for September 2001. The market readiness framework involves a self-certification process for LDCs by August 10, 2001, through which the Board will be able to monitor progress and assess the feasibility of meeting the target timelines. For retail market readiness, all LDCs will have to calculate settlement costs, produce unbundled bills, provide standard supply service, change suppliers and accommodate retail transactions. LDCs must be either authorized participants in the IMO-administered market or become retail customers of their host LDC. Unbundled bills will include itemized charges for energy price, transmission, distribution and debt retirement charge. 1 tab., 1 fig

  11. CLEAR: a model for the calculation of evacuation-time estimates in Emergency Planning Zones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, M.A.; Moeller, M.P.; Desrosiers, A.E.

    1983-01-01

    This paper describes the methodology and application of the computer model CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response) which estimates the time required for a specific population density and distribution to evacuate an area using a specific transportation network. The CLEAR model simulates vehicle departure and movement on a transportation network according to the conditions and consequences of traffice flow. These include handling vehicles at intersecting road segments, calculating the velocity of travel on a road segment as a function of its vehicle density, and accounting for the delay of vehicles in traffice queues. The program also models the distribution of times required by individuals to prepare for an evacuation. CLEAR can calculate realistic evacuation time estimates using site specific data and can identify troublesome areas within an Emergency Planning Zone

  12. Satellite on-board real-time SAR processor prototype

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergeron, Alain; Doucet, Michel; Harnisch, Bernd; Suess, Martin; Marchese, Linda; Bourqui, Pascal; Desnoyers, Nicholas; Legros, Mathieu; Guillot, Ludovic; Mercier, Luc; Châteauneuf, François

    2017-11-01

    A Compact Real-Time Optronic SAR Processor has been successfully developed and tested up to a Technology Readiness Level of 4 (TRL4), the breadboard validation in a laboratory environment. SAR, or Synthetic Aperture Radar, is an active system allowing day and night imaging independent of the cloud coverage of the planet. The SAR raw data is a set of complex data for range and azimuth, which cannot be compressed. Specifically, for planetary missions and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems with limited communication data rates this is a clear disadvantage. SAR images are typically processed electronically applying dedicated Fourier transformations. This, however, can also be performed optically in real-time. Originally the first SAR images were optically processed. The optical Fourier processor architecture provides inherent parallel computing capabilities allowing real-time SAR data processing and thus the ability for compression and strongly reduced communication bandwidth requirements for the satellite. SAR signal return data are in general complex data. Both amplitude and phase must be combined optically in the SAR processor for each range and azimuth pixel. Amplitude and phase are generated by dedicated spatial light modulators and superimposed by an optical relay set-up. The spatial light modulators display the full complex raw data information over a two-dimensional format, one for the azimuth and one for the range. Since the entire signal history is displayed at once, the processor operates in parallel yielding real-time performances, i.e. without resulting bottleneck. Processing of both azimuth and range information is performed in a single pass. This paper focuses on the onboard capabilities of the compact optical SAR processor prototype that allows in-orbit processing of SAR images. Examples of processed ENVISAT ASAR images are presented. Various SAR processor parameters such as processing capabilities, image quality (point target analysis), weight and

  13. Board affiliation and pay gap

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenglan Chen

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the effects of board affiliation on the corporate pay gap. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2005 to 2011, we find that boards with a greater presence of directors appointed by block shareholders have lower pay gaps. Furthermore, the governance effects of board affiliation with and without pay are distinguished. The empirical results show that board affiliation without pay is negatively related to the pay gap, while board affiliation with pay is positively related to the pay gap. Overall, the results shed light on how block shareholders affect their companies’ pay gaps through board affiliation.

  14. On-boarding the Middle Manager.

    Science.gov (United States)

    OʼConnor, Mary

    The trend of promoting clinical experts into management roles continues. New middle managers need a transitional plan that includes support, mentoring, and direction from senior leaders, including the chief nursing officer (CNO). This case study demonstrates how the CNO of one organization collaborated with a faculty member colleague to develop and implement a yearlong personalized on-boarding program for a group of new nurse middle managers.

  15. Particle Board and Oriented Strand Board Prepared with Nanocellulose-Reinforced Adhesive

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan Veigel

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Adhesives on the basis of urea-formaldehyde (UF and melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF are extensively used in the production of wood-based panels. In the present study, the attempt was made to improve the mechanical board properties by reinforcing these adhesives with cellulose nanofibers (CNFs. The latter were produced from dissolving grade beech pulp by a mechanical homogenization process. Adhesive mixtures with a CNF content of 0, 1, and 3 wt% based on solid resin were prepared by mixing an aqueous CNF suspension with UF and MUF adhesives. Laboratory-scale particle boards and oriented strand boards (OSBs were produced, and the mechanical and fracture mechanical properties were investigated. Particle boards prepared with UF containing 1 wt% CNF showed a reduced thickness swelling and better internal bond and bending strength than boards produced with pure UF. The reinforcing effect of CNF was even more obvious for OSB where a significant improvement of strength properties of 16% was found. For both, particle board and OSB, mode I fracture energy and fracture toughness were the parameters with the greatest improvement indicating that the adhesive bonds were markedly toughened by the CNF addition.

  16. Decamp Clock Board Firmware

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vicente, J. de; Castilla, J.; Martinez, G.

    2007-09-27

    Decamp (Dark Energy Survey Camera) is a new instrument designed to explore the universe aiming to reveal the nature of Dark Energy. The camera consists of 72 CCDs and 520 Mpixels. The readout electronics of DECam is based on the Monsoon system. Monsoon is a new image acquisition system developed by the NOAO (National Optical Astronomical Observatory) for the new generation of astronomical cameras. The Monsoon system uses three types of boards inserted in a Eurocard format based crate: master control board, acquisition board and clock board. The direct use of the Monsoon system for DECam readout electronics requires nine crates mainly due to the high number of clock boards needed. Unfortunately, the available space for DECam electronics is constrained to four crates at maximum. The major drawback to achieve such desired compaction degree resides in the clock board signal density. This document describes the changes performed at CIEMAT on the programmable logic of the Monsoon clock board aiming to meet such restricted space constraints. (Author) 5 refs.

  17. Decamp Clock Board Firmware

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vicente, J. de; Castilla, J.; Martinez, G.

    2007-01-01

    Decamp (Dark Energy Survey Camera) is a new instrument designed to explore the universe aiming to reveal the nature of Dark Energy. The camera consists of 72 CCDs and 520 Mpixels. The readout electronics of DECam is based on the Monsoon system. Monsoon is a new image acquisition system developed by the NOAO (National Optical Astronomical Observatory) for the new generation of astronomical cameras. The Monsoon system uses three types of boards inserted in a Eurocard format based crate: master control board, acquisition board and clock board. The direct use of the Monsoon system for DECam readout electronics requires nine crates mainly due to the high number of clock boards needed. Unfortunately, the available space for DECam electronics is constrained to four crates at maximum. The major drawback to achieve such desired compaction degree resides in the clock board signal density. This document describes the changes performed at CIEMAT on the programmable logic of the Monsoon clock board aiming to meet such restricted space constraints. (Author) 5 refs

  18. 78 FR 59337 - Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board; Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-26

    ... Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Board is established consistent with the... include time for people to make oral statements of three minutes or less. Individuals wishing to make an...

  19. Impact of Time Lapse on ASCP Board of Certification Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) and Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) Examination Scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Karen A; Fenn, JoAnn P; Freeman, Vicki S; Fisher, Patrick B; Genzen, Jonathan R; Goodyear, Nancy; Houston, Mary Lunz; O'Brien, Mary Elizabeth; Tanabe, Patricia A

    2015-01-01

    Research in several professional fields has demonstrated that delays (time lapse) in taking certification examinations may result in poorer performance by examinees. Thirteen states and/or territories require licensure for laboratory personnel. A core component of licensure is passing a certification exam. Also, many facilities in states that do not require licensure require certification for employment or preferentially hire certified individuals. To analyze examinee performance on the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC) Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) and Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) certification examinations to determine whether delays in taking the examination from the time of program completion are associated with poorer performance. We obtained examination data from April 2013 through December 2014 to look for changes in mean (SD) exam scaled scores and overall pass/fail rates. First-time examinees (MLS: n = 6037; MLT, n = 3920) were divided into 3-month categories based on the interval of time between date of program completion and taking the certification exam. We observed significant decreases in mean (SD) scaled scores and pass rates after the first quarter in MLS and MLT examinations for applicants who delayed taking their examination until the second, third, and fourth quarter after completing their training programs. Those who take the ASCP BOC MLS and MLT examinations are encouraged to do so shortly after completion of their educational training programs. Delays in taking an exam are generally not beneficial to the examinee and result in poorer performance on the exam. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).

  20. Board of Directors or Supervisory Board

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Werlauff, Erik

    2009-01-01

    The article analyses the legal consequences of the choice now available to Danish public limited companies, which can now opt for a two-tier management structure, in which the management board undertakes both the day-to-day and the overall management, while a supervisory board exercises control...... over the management board, including its appointment and dismissal. The article considers which companies a two-tier structure may be relevant for, and reviews the consequences for the composition, election and functioning of the company organs....

  1. The Investigation on Feasibility of Oriented Strand Boards to Parquet Production from Mixed Residual Veneer Popular and Beech

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeid Kamrani

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to investigate of feasibility of using residual veneer (popular and beechto manufacture oriented strand board (OSB parquet. Percentage of mixed residual veneer popular to beech was 40%to 60% respectly. In this study press time (6, 8 and 10 min and press temperature (170º, 180ºwere selected as variables, other factors being kept constant. Results indicated that increase of press temperature had no significant effect on modules of rupture, modules of elasticity and hardness but had significant effect on internal bonding, water absorption and thickness swelling. However results indicated that increase of press time had significant effect on total physical and mechanical properties of boards.

  2. Control and data acquisition ATCA/AXIe board designed for high system availability and reliability of nuclear fusion experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batista, A.J.N.; Leong, C.; Bexiga, V.; Rodrigues, A.P.; Combo, A.; Carvalho, B.B.; Carvalho, P.F.; Fortunato, J.; Santos, B.; Carvalho, P.; Correia, M.; Teixeira, J.P.; Teixeira, I.C.; Sousa, J.; Gonçalves, B.; Varandas, C.A.F.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the implementation and test of a control and data acquisition board designed to be integrated on systems demanding high availability and reliability, foreseen for future experiments like ITER or other long operation fusion devices. The Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard (PICMG 3.0 and 3.4) was selected for board implementation, which has support for the desired system robustness and performance. Some board features such as rear Input/Output (IO) signals connectivity (passive, copper tracks only), cable-less hot-swap maintenance, Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) and redundancy on timing signals, communications links and power supplies are significant board improvements, relatively to previous control and data acquisition boards, allowing the development of more reliable system architectures. Moreover, the developed board is also compatible with the emerging ATCA eXtensions for Instrumentation (AXIe) specifications, which provides additional timing and synchronization signals on the backplane. ATCA full-mesh, multi-gigabit, full-duplex, point-to-point communication links between Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), of peer boards inside the shelf, allow the implementation of distributed algorithms and development of Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) systems. Up to 48 analog input channels, simultaneously digitized (2 MSPS @ 18-bits), are filtered/decimated by the board FPGA and sent to the ATCA/AXIe host through Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) using Direct Memory Access (DMA). In real-time, the host can update up to 48 analog output channels (1 MSPS @ 18-bits), per board, through PCIe. Further board characteristics comprise analog IO channels with galvanic isolation and an optional signal chopper mode, for offset compensation over time on digital integration of magnetic signals. Board time synchronization is attained by means of the Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) time-code

  3. AMIE Camera System on board SMART-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Josset, J. L.; Beauvivre, S.; Amie Team

    The Advanced Moon micro-Imager Experiment AMIE on board ESA SMART-1 the first European mission to the Moon launched on 27th September 2003 is an imaging system with scientific technical and public outreach oriented objectives The science objectives are to image the Lunar Poles permanent shadow areas ice deposit eternal light crater rims ancient Lunar Non-mare volcanism local spectro-photometry and physical state of the lunar sur-face and to map high latitudes regions south mainly at far side South Pole Aitken basin The technical objectives are to perform a laserlink experiment detec-tion of laser beam emitted by ESA Tenerife ground station flight demonstration of new technologies and on-board autonomy navigation The public outreach and educational objectives are to promote planetary exploration We present the AMIE instrument and perfomances with respect to the first results

  4. Evaluation of Effective Factors on Travel Time in Optimization of Bus Stops Placement Using Genetic Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bargegol, Iraj; Ghorbanzadeh, Mahyar; Ghasedi, Meisam; Rastbod, Mohammad

    2017-10-01

    In congested cities, locating and proper designing of bus stops according to the unequal distribution of passengers is crucial issue economically and functionally, since this subject plays an important role in the use of bus system by passengers. Location of bus stops is a complicated subject; by reducing distances between stops, walking time decreases, but the total travel time may increase. In this paper, a specified corridor in the city of Rasht in north of Iran is studied. Firstly, a new formula is presented to calculate the travel time, by which the number of stops and consequently, the travel time can be optimized. An intended corridor with specified number of stops and distances between them is addressed, the related formulas to travel time are created, and its travel time is calculated. Then the corridor is modelled using a meta-heuristic method in order that the placement and the optimal distances of bus stops for that are determined. It was found that alighting and boarding time along with bus capacity are the most effective factors affecting travel time. Consequently, it is better to have more concentration on indicated factors for improving the efficiency of bus system.

  5. Board Directors' Selection Process Following a Gender Quota

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sigurjonsson, Olaf; Arnardottir, Audur Arna

    -quota selection of new board directors as well as the attitudes of board members towards the quota and perceptions of the effect of quota on processes. We incorporate a dual qualitative and quantitative methodology with in-depth interviews with 20 board directors and chairs, and a survey of 260 directors who...... companies with 50 or more employees. Thereby legislatively going further than any other country, out of the fifteen that have amended and adopted gender quota legislation. This article utilizes resource dependency and status expectations theory lenses to explore how the new legislation affected the post...... conviction. Furthermore, there are different avenues to the board. Although initial attitudes towards quotas are more negative among men than women, these attitudes decrease over time. Finally, consistent with status expectation theory, male directors are more negative than their female counterparts about...

  6. Areva - Press release from the Supervisory Board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marie, Patricia; Briand, Pauline; Floquet-Daubigeon, Fleur; Michaut, Maxime; Scorbiac, Marie de; Repaire, Philippine du

    2012-01-01

    . Moreover, it asked the Executive Board to finalize in the shortest possible time frame the internal procedure applicable to the review and validation of the various projects and decisions creating a commitment, and the procedures for monitoring their execution. In addition, it noted that the deliberations of the Executive Board, like those of the bodies or authorities having received delegation of authority from it, must be systematically documented in writing, and asked the Executive Board to ensure that this rule is thoroughly applied. It asked the Executive Board to install a resources and reserves committee under its direct authority, responsible for validating each year the resource and reserve estimates appearing in the Reference Document, based on the work of the Reserves Department. This committee, which will involve one or more recognized external experts, shall specify the methods and schedule for updating resources and reserves. Its work shall be reported on an annual basis to the Audit Committee. Reference to the installation and operation of this committee shall appear in the Reference Document published by AREVA. Lastly, it asked the Executive Board to study the transformation of the legal form of the company into a limited liability company with a board of directors. A summary of the ad hoc committee's report to the Supervisory Board is given in appendix

  7. Calculation model for 16N transit time in the secondary side of steam generators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Songyu; Xu Jijun; Xu Ming

    1998-01-01

    The 16 N transit time is essential to determine the leak-rate of steam generator tubes leaks with 16 N monitoring system, which is a new technique. A model was developed for calculation 16 N transit time in the secondary side of steam generators. According to the flow characters of secondary side fluid, the transit times divide into four sectors from tube sheet to the sensor on steam line. The model assumes that 16 N is moving as vapor phase in the secondary-side. So the model for vapor velocity distribution in tube bundle is presented in detail. The 16 N transit time calculation results of this model compare with these of EDF on steam generator of Qinshan NPP

  8. Defense Business Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skip to main content (Press Enter). Toggle navigation Defense Business Board Search Search Defense Business Board: Search Search Defense Business Board: Search Defense Business Board Business Excellence in Defense of the Nation Defense Business Board Home Charter Members Meetings Studies Contact Us The Defense

  9. CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response): A Generic Transportation Network Model for the Calculation of Evacuation Time Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moeller, M. P.; Urbanik, II, T.; Desrosiers, A. E.

    1982-03-01

    This paper describes the methodology and application of the computer model CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response) which estimates the time required for a specific population density and distribution to evacuate an area using a specific transportation network. The CLEAR model simulates vehicle departure and movement on a transportation network according to the conditions and consequences of traffic flow. These include handling vehicles at intersecting road segments, calculating the velocity of travel on a road segment as a function of its vehicle density, and accounting for the delay of vehicles in traffic queues. The program also models the distribution of times required by individuals to prepare for an evacuation. In order to test its accuracy, the CLEAR model was used to estimate evacuatlon tlmes for the emergency planning zone surrounding the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant. The Beaver Valley site was selected because evacuation time estimates had previously been prepared by the licensee, Duquesne Light, as well as by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. A lack of documentation prevented a detailed comparison of the estimates based on the CLEAR model and those obtained by Duquesne Light. However, the CLEAR model results compared favorably with the estimates prepared by the other two agencies.

  10. The radiology job market: analysis of the ACR jobs board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prabhakar, Anand M; Oklu, Rahmi; Harvey, H Benjamin; Harisinghani, Mukesh G; Rosman, David A

    2014-05-01

    The aim of this study was to assess the status of the radiology job market as represented by the ACR Jobs Board from October 2010 to June 2013. With the assistance of the ACR, data from the ACR Jobs Board from October 2010 through June 2013, including the numbers of monthly new job seekers, new job postings, and job posting clicks, were gathered and used to calculate a monthly competitive index, defined as the ratio of new job seekers to new job postings. During the study period, the mean number of new job seekers was 168 per month, which was significantly greater than the 84 average new job postings for any given month (P = .0002). There was no significant difference between 2011 and 2012 with regard to the number of new job seekers or job postings. Over the time period assessed, more new job seekers registered in October and November 2010, August to November 2011, and October and November 2012. These periods were also associated with the highest competitive index values. There were less job seekers in the winter and spring of 2011, 2012, and 2013, periods associated with lower competitive index values. ACR Jobs Board activity, measured by job posting clicks, was significantly higher in 2012 than in 2011 (P Jobs Board, there were consistently more new job seekers than job postings throughout the study period, and fall is the period in the year most associated with the highest competitive index for radiologist employment. Copyright © 2014 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. 76 FR 62066 - Sunshine Act Meeting; Farm Credit Administration Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-06

    ...: Open Session A. Approval of Minutes September 8, 2011. B. New Business Proposal to Form Farm Credit... McLean, Virginia, on October 13, 2011, from 9 a.m. until such time as the Board concludes its business..., McLean, Virginia 22102-5090. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This meeting of the Board will be open to the...

  12. Real-time dose calculation and visualization for the proton therapy of ocular tumours

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pfeiffer, Karsten [Medizinische Physik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, INF 280, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany). E-mail: k.pfeiffer at dkfz.de; Bendl, Rolf [Medizinische Physik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, INF 280, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany). E-mail: r.bendl at dkfz.de

    2001-03-01

    A new real-time dose calculation and visualization was developed as part of the new 3D treatment planning tool OCTOPUS for proton therapy of ocular tumours within a national research project together with the Hahn-Meitner Institut Berlin. The implementation resolves the common separation between parameter definition, dose calculation and evaluation and allows a direct examination of the expected dose distribution while adjusting the treatment parameters. The new tool allows the therapist to move the desired dose distribution under visual control in 3D to the appropriate place. The visualization of the resulting dose distribution as a 3D surface model, on any 2D slice or on the surface of specified ocular structures is done automatically when adapting parameters during the planning process. In addition, approximate dose volume histograms may be calculated with little extra time. The dose distribution is calculated and visualized in 200 ms with an accuracy of 6% for the 3D isodose surfaces and 8% for other objects. This paper discusses the advantages and limitations of this new approach. (author)

  13. Reducing dose calculation time for accurate iterative IMRT planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siebers, Jeffrey V.; Lauterbach, Marc; Tong, Shidong; Wu Qiuwen; Mohan, Radhe

    2002-01-01

    A time-consuming component of IMRT optimization is the dose computation required in each iteration for the evaluation of the objective function. Accurate superposition/convolution (SC) and Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations are currently considered too time-consuming for iterative IMRT dose calculation. Thus, fast, but less accurate algorithms such as pencil beam (PB) algorithms are typically used in most current IMRT systems. This paper describes two hybrid methods that utilize the speed of fast PB algorithms yet achieve the accuracy of optimizing based upon SC algorithms via the application of dose correction matrices. In one method, the ratio method, an infrequently computed voxel-by-voxel dose ratio matrix (R=D SC /D PB ) is applied for each beam to the dose distributions calculated with the PB method during the optimization. That is, D PB xR is used for the dose calculation during the optimization. The optimization proceeds until both the IMRT beam intensities and the dose correction ratio matrix converge. In the second method, the correction method, a periodically computed voxel-by-voxel correction matrix for each beam, defined to be the difference between the SC and PB dose computations, is used to correct PB dose distributions. To validate the methods, IMRT treatment plans developed with the hybrid methods are compared with those obtained when the SC algorithm is used for all optimization iterations and with those obtained when PB-based optimization is followed by SC-based optimization. In the 12 patient cases studied, no clinically significant differences exist in the final treatment plans developed with each of the dose computation methodologies. However, the number of time-consuming SC iterations is reduced from 6-32 for pure SC optimization to four or less for the ratio matrix method and five or less for the correction method. Because the PB algorithm is faster at computing dose, this reduces the inverse planning optimization time for our implementation

  14. Governing board of the pension fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    On 4 February 2003 the Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its hundred and fourteenth meeting, the first meeting to be attended by G. de la Fuente and M. Goossens, recently elected as Alternates to I. Seis and J.-P. Matheys respectively. Opening the meeting, J. Bezemer, Chairman of the Governing Board with effect from 1st January 2003, paid tribute to the outgoing Chairman, P. Levaux, on behalf of all members of the Governing Board, underlining the skill, clarity of vision and unfailing commitment to the Fund that had marked the twelve years of a remarkable chairmanship. Over that time Paul Levaux had successfully guided the Fund towards the broader-based, dynamic scheme it had now become, and towards a central role within the Organization. The special guest at the meeting, CERN Director-General L. Maiani, also warmly thanked the former Chairman for his remarkable work for the Fund on behalf of the Organization to which he had made so many contributions and for the invaluable role he had played in promot...

  15. Self-help on-line: an outcome evaluation of breast cancer bulletin boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberman, Morton A; Goldstein, Benjamin A

    2005-11-01

    Many breast cancer patients find help from on-line self-help groups, consisting of self-directed, asynchronous, bulletin boards. These have yet to be empirically evaluated. Upon joining a group and 6 months later, new members (N=114) to breast cancer bulletin boards completed measures of depression (CES-D), growth (PTGI) and psychosocial wellbeing (FACT-B). Improvement was statistically significant on all three measures. This serves as a first validation of Internet bulletin boards as a source of support and help for breast cancer patients. These boards are of particular interest because they are free, accessible and support comes from peers and not from professional facilitators.

  16. Patients overwhelmingly prefer inpatient boarding to emergency department boarding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viccellio, Peter; Zito, Joseph A; Sayage, Valerie; Chohan, Jasmine; Garra, Gregory; Santora, Carolyn; Singer, Adam J

    2013-12-01

    Boarding of admitted patients in the emergency department (ED) is a major cause of crowding. One alternative to boarding in the ED, a full-capacity protocol where boarded patients are redeployed to inpatient units, can reduce crowding and improve overall flow. Our aim was to compare patient satisfaction with boarding in the ED vs. inpatient hallways. We performed a structured telephone survey regarding patient experiences and preferences for boarding among admitted ED patients who experienced boarding in the ED hallway and then were subsequently transferred to inpatient hallways. Demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as patient preferences, including items related to patient comfort and safety using a 5-point scale, were recorded and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Of 110 patients contacted, 105 consented to participate. Mean age was 57 ± 16 years and 52% were female. All patients were initially boarded in the ED in a hallway before their transfer to an inpatient hallway bed. The overall preferred location after admission was the inpatient hallway in 85% (95% confidence interval 75-90) of respondents. In comparing ED vs. inpatient hallway boarding, the following percentages of respondents preferred inpatient boarding with regard to the following 8 items: rest, 85%; safety, 83%; confidentiality, 82%; treatment, 78%; comfort, 79%; quiet, 84%; staff availability, 84%; and privacy, 84%. For no item was there a preference for boarding in the ED. Patients overwhelmingly preferred the inpatient hallway rather than the ED hallway when admitted to the hospital. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Bessel function expansion to reduce the calculation time and memory usage for cylindrical computer-generated holograms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sando, Yusuke; Barada, Daisuke; Jackin, Boaz Jessie; Yatagai, Toyohiko

    2017-07-10

    This study proposes a method to reduce the calculation time and memory usage required for calculating cylindrical computer-generated holograms. The wavefront on the cylindrical observation surface is represented as a convolution integral in the 3D Fourier domain. The Fourier transformation of the kernel function involving this convolution integral is analytically performed using a Bessel function expansion. The analytical solution can drastically reduce the calculation time and the memory usage without any cost, compared with the numerical method using fast Fourier transform to Fourier transform the kernel function. In this study, we present the analytical derivation, the efficient calculation of Bessel function series, and a numerical simulation. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the analytical solution through comparisons of calculation time and memory usage.

  18. A finite element method for a time dependence soil-structure interactions calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni, X.M.; Gantenbein, F.; Petit, M.

    1989-01-01

    The method which is proposed is based on a finite element modelisation for the soil and the structure and a time history calculation. It has been developed for plane and axisymmetric geometries. The principle of this method will be presented, then applications will be given, first to a linear calculation for which results will be compared to those obtained by standard methods. Then results for a non linear behavior will be described [fr

  19. WeaselBoard :

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mulder, John C.; Schwartz, Moses Daniel; Berg, Michael J.; Van Houten, Jonathan Roger; Urrea, Jorge Mario; King, Michael Aaron; Clements, Abraham Anthony; Jacob, Joshua A.

    2013-10-01

    Critical infrastructures, such as electrical power plants and oil refineries, rely on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to control essential processes. State of the art security cannot detect attacks on PLCs at the hardware or firmware level. This renders critical infrastructure control systems vulnerable to costly and dangerous attacks. WeaselBoard is a PLC backplane analysis system that connects directly to the PLC backplane to capture backplane communications between modules. WeaselBoard forwards inter-module traffic to an external analysis system that detects changes to process control settings, sensor values, module configuration information, firmware updates, and process control program (logic) updates. WeaselBoard provides zero-day exploit detection for PLCs by detecting changes in the PLC and the process. This approach to PLC monitoring is protected under U.S. Patent Application 13/947,887.

  20. Examining real-time time-dependent density functional theory nonequilibrium simulations for the calculation of electronic stopping power

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yost, Dillon C.; Yao, Yi; Kanai, Yosuke

    2017-09-01

    In ion irradiation processes, electronic stopping power describes the energy transfer rate from the irradiating ion to the target material's electrons. Due to the scarcity and significant uncertainties in experimental electronic stopping power data for materials beyond simple solids, there has been growing interest in the use of first-principles theory for calculating electronic stopping power. In recent years, advances in high-performance computing have opened the door to fully first-principles nonequilibrium simulations based on real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT). While it has been demonstrated that the RT-TDDFT approach is capable of predicting electronic stopping power for a wide range of condensed matter systems, there has yet to be an exhaustive examination of the physical and numerical approximations involved and their effects on the calculated stopping power. We discuss the results of such a study for crystalline silicon with protons as irradiating ions. We examine the influences of key approximations in RT-TDDFT nonequilibrium simulations on the calculated electronic stopping power, including approximations related to basis sets, finite size effects, exchange-correlation approximation, pseudopotentials, and more. Finally, we propose a simple and efficient correction scheme to account for the contribution from core-electron excitations to the stopping power, as it was found to be significant for large proton velocities.

  1. Optimizing cardiology capacity to reduce emergency department boarding: a systems engineering approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levin, Scott R; Dittus, Robert; Aronsky, Dominik; Weinger, Matthew B; Han, Jin; Boord, Jeffrey; France, Daniel

    2008-12-01

    Patient safety and emergency department (ED) functionality are compromised when inefficient coordination between hospital departments impedes ED patients' access to inpatient cardiac care. The objective of this study was to determine how bed demand from competing cardiology admission sources affects ED patients' access to inpatient cardiac care. A stochastic discrete event simulation of hospital patient flow predicted ED patient boarding time, defined as the time interval between cardiology admission request to inpatient bed placement, as the primary outcome measure. The simulation was built and tested from 1 year of patient flow data and was used to examine prospective strategies to reduce cardiology patient boarding time. Boarding time for the 1,591 ED patients who were admitted to the cardiac telemetry unit averaged 5.3 hours (median 3.1, interquartile range 1.5-6.9). Demographic and clinical patient characteristics were not significant predictors of boarding time. Measurements of bed demand from competing admission sources significantly predicted boarding time, with catheterization laboratory demand levels being the most influential. Hospital policy required that a telemetry bed be held for each electively scheduled catheterization patient, yet the analysis revealed that 70.4% (95% CI 51.2-92.5) of these patients did not transfer to a telemetry bed and were discharged home each day. Results of simulation-based analyses showed that moving one afternoon scheduled elective catheterization case to before noon resulted in a 20-minute reduction in average boarding time compared to a 9-minute reduction achieved by increasing capacity by one additional telemetry bed. Scheduling and bed management practices based on measured patient transfer patterns can reduce inpatient bed blocking, optimize hospital capacity, and improve ED patient access.

  2. 76 FR 34985 - Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-15

    ... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). Date and Time: The meeting of the...

  3. 75 FR 40838 - Establishment of the Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Establishment of the Advisory Board on Elder Abuse...: Notice. Authority: The Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation is authorized under... Services announces establishment of the Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation, as...

  4. Supporting socialisation in the transition to university: A potential use for on-line discussion boards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, Leslie; Reeves, Pauline; Murphy, Fred; Hogg, Peter

    2010-01-01

    Background: Promoting socialisation for students entering Higher Education is desirable on two grounds. In the first instance it facilitates the processes of student collaboration which, according to sociocultural pedagogies, is important for effective learning. Secondly, it provides a supportive social network, enhancing the student experience which is thought to reduce the risk of attrition. These two drivers provided the rationale for our work. Method: Using the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment, two on-line discussion boards were used during the transition and induction period for the BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography programme at the University of Salford. The aim was to facilitate socialisation between students about to embark on the programme and current students and staff. The use of discussion boards was evaluated using a mixed methods approach. Statistical data regarding postings was analysed. Posts and focus group comments were subject to content analysis. Results: The discussion boards were 'hit' 5718 times and there were 280 posts. A small number of students did not post any messages. There was evidence of the key features of on-line socialisation which were; establishing an identity; getting to know others; discovering and contributing to communication etiquette; and developing supporting and trusting relationships. Conclusion: The discussion boards were deemed a successful method of providing socialisation during transition and induction. There were some limitations with discussion board layout and functionality and a blog, with its chronological layout and capability to display visual cues such as emoticons may be more effective. The limited participation by some students may provide a means by which to identify 'at-risk' students before the start of the course and this would be an interesting area for further study.

  5. Analysis of aceismatic properties of switch boards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabuchi, Yoji; Nishikawa, Atsushi

    1986-01-01

    Recently, in order to limit the disaster at the time of earthquakes to the minimum, the aseismatic properties of electric facilities have been regarded as important. By the development and spread of CAE simulation and experimental modal analysis, aseismatic analysis has become feasible also in design section. Taking an example of the switch boards of rigid construction, which have been used mainly for nuclear power plants, the analysis of the aseismatic properties is explained. In the switch boards of rigid construction, the probability of causing resonance behavior due to earthquakes is decreased by making the structure rigid, thus the aseismatic properties are heightened. In the switch boards of rigid construction, the primary natural frequency is heightened usually to above 20 Hz considering earthquake movement and the response of buildings (in the range from 0.5 to 10 Hz). Since the switch boards of rigid construction can be treated as a rigid body in the examination of structural strength, generally static analysis is carried out. The dimensions and weight tend to be large for increasing the rigidity. In most cases, standard equipment can be adopted if the fixing is made strong. The modal analysis of the natural vibration, static stress analysis and time history response analysis were carried out by finite element method. Also the vibration test on a large vibration table was made. The results are reported. (Kako, I.)

  6. Calculating Higher-Order Moments of Phylogenetic Stochastic Mapping Summaries in Linear Time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhar, Amrit

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Stochastic mapping is a simulation-based method for probabilistically mapping substitution histories onto phylogenies according to continuous-time Markov models of evolution. This technique can be used to infer properties of the evolutionary process on the phylogeny and, unlike parsimony-based mapping, conditions on the observed data to randomly draw substitution mappings that do not necessarily require the minimum number of events on a tree. Most stochastic mapping applications simulate substitution mappings only to estimate the mean and/or variance of two commonly used mapping summaries: the number of particular types of substitutions (labeled substitution counts) and the time spent in a particular group of states (labeled dwelling times) on the tree. Fast, simulation-free algorithms for calculating the mean of stochastic mapping summaries exist. Importantly, these algorithms scale linearly in the number of tips/leaves of the phylogenetic tree. However, to our knowledge, no such algorithm exists for calculating higher-order moments of stochastic mapping summaries. We present one such simulation-free dynamic programming algorithm that calculates prior and posterior mapping variances and scales linearly in the number of phylogeny tips. Our procedure suggests a general framework that can be used to efficiently compute higher-order moments of stochastic mapping summaries without simulations. We demonstrate the usefulness of our algorithm by extending previously developed statistical tests for rate variation across sites and for detecting evolutionarily conserved regions in genomic sequences. PMID:28177780

  7. Increasing the efficiency and accuracy of time-resolved electronic spectra calculations with on-the-fly ab initio quantum dynamics methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanicek, Jiri

    2014-03-01

    Rigorous quantum-mechanical calculations of coherent ultrafast electronic spectra remain difficult. I will present several approaches developed in our group that increase the efficiency and accuracy of such calculations: First, we justified the feasibility of evaluating time-resolved spectra of large systems by proving that the number of trajectories needed for convergence of the semiclassical dephasing representation/phase averaging is independent of dimensionality. Recently, we further accelerated this approximation with a cellular scheme employing inverse Weierstrass transform and optimal scaling of the cell size. The accuracy of potential energy surfaces was increased by combining the dephasing representation with accurate on-the-fly ab initio electronic structure calculations, including nonadiabatic and spin-orbit couplings. Finally, the inherent semiclassical approximation was removed in the exact quantum Gaussian dephasing representation, in which semiclassical trajectories are replaced by communicating frozen Gaussian basis functions evolving classically with an average Hamiltonian. Among other examples I will present an on-the-fly ab initio semiclassical dynamics calculation of the dispersed time-resolved stimulated emission spectrum of the 54-dimensional azulene. This research was supported by EPFL and by the Swiss National Science Foundation NCCR MUST (Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology) and Grant No. 200021124936/1.

  8. The association between length of emergency department boarding and mortality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Adam J; Thode, Henry C; Viccellio, Peter; Pines, Jesse M

    2011-12-01

    Emergency department (ED) boarding has been associated with several negative patient-oriented outcomes, from worse satisfaction to higher inpatient mortality rates. The current study evaluates the association between length of ED boarding and outcomes. The authors expected that prolonged ED boarding of admitted patients would be associated with higher mortality rates and longer hospital lengths of stay (LOS). This was a retrospective cohort study set at a suburban academic ED with an annual ED census of 90,000 visits. Consecutive patients admitted to the hospital from the ED and discharged between October 2005 and September 2008 were included. An electronic medical record (EMR) system was used to extract patient demographics, ED disposition (discharge, admit to floor), ED and hospital LOS, and in-hospital mortality. Boarding was defined as ED LOS 2 hours or more after decision for admission. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the association between length of ED boarding and hospital LOS, subsequent transfer to an intensive care unit (ICU), and mortality controlling for comorbidities. There were 41,256 admissions from the ED. Mortality generally increased with increasing boarding time, from 2.5% in patients boarded less than 2 hours to 4.5% in patients boarding 12 hours or more (p boarding time (p boarded for more than 24 hours. The increases were still apparent after adjustment for comorbid conditions and other factors. Hospital mortality and hospital LOS are associated with length of ED boarding. © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

  9. A 3D coarse-mesh time dependent code for nuclear reactor kinetic calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montagnini, B.; Raffaelli, P.; Sumini, M.; Zardini, D.M.

    1996-01-01

    A course-mesh code for time-dependent multigroup neutron diffusion calculation based on a direct integration scheme for the time dependence and a low order nodal flux expansion approximation for the space variables has been implemented as a fast tool for transient analysis. (Author)

  10. Risks predicting prolonged hospital discharge boarding in a regional acute care hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaikh, Sajid A; Robinson, Richard D; Cheeti, Radhika; Rath, Shyamanand; Cowden, Chad D; Rosinia, Frank; Zenarosa, Nestor R; Wang, Hao

    2018-01-30

    Prolonged hospital discharge boarding can impact patient flow resulting in upstream Emergency Department crowding. We aim to determine the risks predicting prolonged hospital discharge boarding and their direct and indirect effects on patient flow. Retrospective review of a single hospital discharge database was conducted. Variables including type of disposition, disposition boarding time, case management consultation, discharge medications prescriptions, severity of illness, and patient homeless status were analyzed in a multivariate logistic regression model. Hospital charges, potential savings of hospital bed hours, and whether detailed discharge instructions provided adequate explanations to patients were also analyzed. A total of 11,527 admissions was entered into final analysis. The median discharge boarding time was approximately 2 h. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) of patients transferring to other hospitals was 7.45 (95% CI 5.35-10.37), to court or law enforcement custody was 2.51 (95% CI 1.84-3.42), and to a skilled nursing facility was 2.48 (95% CI 2.10-2.93). AOR was 0.57 (95% CI 0.47-0.71) if the disposition order was placed during normal office hours (0800-1700). AOR of early case management consultation was 1.52 (95% CI 1.37-1.68) versus 1.73 (95% CI 1.03-2.89) for late consultation. Eighty-eight percent of patients experiencing discharge boarding times within 2 h of disposition expressed positive responses when questioned about the quality of explanations of discharge instructions and follow-up plans based on satisfaction surveys. Similar results (86% positive response) were noted among patients whose discharge boarding times were prolonged (> 2 h, p = 0.44). An average charge of $6/bed/h was noted in all hospital discharges. Maximizing early discharge boarding (≤ 2 h) would have resulted in 16,376 hospital bed hours saved thereby averting $98,256.00 in unnecessary dwell time charges in this study population alone. Type of disposition, case

  11. Independent calculation of the monitor units and times of treatment in radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller, Marcio Rogerio

    2005-01-01

    In this work, an independent verification system of calculations in radiotherapy was developed and applied, using Visual Basic TM programming language. The computational program performs calculations of monitor units and treatment time, based on the algorithm of manual calculation. The calculations executed for the independent system had initially been compared with the manual calculations performed by the medical physicists of the Institute of Radiotherapy of the Hospital das Clinicas da Universidade de Sao Paulo. In this step, the results found for more than two hundred fields studied were similar to those found in the literature; deviations larger than +- 1% were found only in five cases involving errors in manual calculation. The application of the independent system, in this stage, could have identified errors up to +- 2,4%. Based on these data, the system was validated for use in clinical routine. In a second step, calculations were compared with calculations realized by the treatment computerized planning system CadPIan TM . When, again, the results were similar to those published in other works allowing to obtain levels of acceptance of the discrepancies between the calculations executed for the independent system and the calculations developed from the planning system, separated by anatomical region, as recommended according by the recent literature. For beams of 6 MV, the levels of acceptance for deviations between the calculations of monitor units, separated by treatment region were the following; breast +- 1.7%, head and neck +2%; hypophysis +- 2.2%; pelvis +- 4 . 1% and thorax +- 1.5%. For beams of 15 MV, the level suggested for pelvis was of +- 4.5%. (author)

  12. A study on the effect of board of directors on the rate of corporate transparency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iman Rezaei

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The main target of this study is to consider the effect of the combination of board of directors on the corporate transparency in some companies among selected ones in Tehran Stock Exchange Market over the period of 2007- 2010. In this research, the combination of board of directors is selected among some factors of corporate transparency such as structure of ownership and the rights of owners, financial information and statistics and structure and combination of board of directors and managers as a sub-indicator for corporate governance. Linear regression statistical method is used to test hypotheses of study. The size of α is considered as 5% and hypotheses are accepted or rejected by means of Durbin-Watson and Clemogrov-Smirnov tests and by comparing p-value with α. At last, by means of forward regression method, the effect of control variables is considered over each hypothesis. The results show that the members of board of directors have no effect on partnership transparency, but effect on financial data and information and structure and combination of board of directors.

  13. Non-compliance with Australian stock exchange recommendations on board independence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia O’Keefe

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available An agency theory perspective is adopted to explain the high levels of non-compliance with recommendations concerning board structure of the Australian Stock Exchange’s (ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. The study compares groups of compliers and non-compliers drawn from members of the ASX All Ordinaries Index. The results indicate that, in the presence of mitigating factors such as less complexity, higher levels of managerial ownership of equity and higher ownership concentration, entities are less likely to comply with the recommendations on board independence. The results suggest that the compliance decision might be influenced by mitigating factors that reduce the need for board independence.

  14. Education Unit Transformation for Maintain Its Existence in Islamic Boarding School (Multi-Case Study on Tebuireng Islamic Boarding School, Gading Islamic Boarding School Malang, and Sidogiri Islamic Boarding School Pasuruan)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busyairi AS, M.

    2017-01-01

    Islamic Boarding School which serves as native Islamic education institution is a continuation of education tradition grown strongly in Islamization history in unitary nation Republic of Indonesia. The education of Islamic Boarding School is also a sub-system of National Education with the purpose to make intelligent national life, to make…

  15. Cosmic ray LET spectra and doses on board Cosmos-2044 biosatellite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dudkin, V.E.; Kovalev, E.E.; Potapov, Yu.V.

    1992-01-01

    Results of the experiments on board Cosmos-2044 (Biosatellite 9) are presented. Various nuclear track detectors (NTD) (dielectric, AgCl-based, nuclear emulsions) were used to obtain the LET spectra inside and outside the satellite. The spectra from the different NTDs have proved to be in general agreement. The results of LET spectra calculations using two different models are also presented. The resultant LET distributions are used to calculate the absorbed and equivalent doses and the orbit-averaged quality factors (QF) of the cosmic rays (CR). Absorbed dose rates inside (∼ 20 g cm -2 shielding) and outside (1 g cm -2 ) the spacecraft, omitting electrons, were found to be 4.8 and 8.6 mrad d -1 , respectively, while the corresponding equivalent doses were 8.8 and 19.7 mrem d -1 . The effects of the flight parameters on the total fluence of, and on the dose from, the CR particles are analyzed. Integral dose distributions of the detected particles are also determined. The LET values which separate absorbed and equivalent doses into 50% intervals are estimated. The CR-39 dielectric NTD is shown to detect 20-30% of the absorbed dose and 60-70% of the equivalent dose in the Cosmos-2044 orbit. The influence of solar activity phase on the magnitude of the CR flux is discussed. (author)

  16. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its one-hundred-and-thirty-second and one-hundred-and-thirty-third meetings on 16 February and 10 March respectively. The first of these meetings was primarily devoted to the further examination of the proposed measures to reduce the Fund's technical deficit. The Governing Board underlined that it was equally determined to find solutions to the structural problems that had an impact on the Fund's technical deficit. A statement to that effect was to be made by the Chairman of the Governing Board, J. Bezemer, at the March session of the CERN Council. Indeed, it would appear that in the light of the new actuarial parameters, in particular the technical interest rate of 4.5%, it is first necessary to stabilise the current funding ratio of 88%, which will fall to 61% in 30 years' time if no action is taken. In an initial stage, corrective measures must therefore be taken in order to prevent a further fall in the funding ratio. Subsequently, the objective will be to re...

  17. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its 142nd meeting on 14 March 2006. As an introduction to the meeting, the Administrator underlined that, at 12.4%, the performance achieved by the Fund on its assets had been excellent and had taken the Fund's assets at the end of the year to 4,209 MCHF, which was well above the 4 billion Swiss franc mark. The Chairman of the Governing Board, Professor Ferrini, reported on the Board's closed session on 7 March to examine the nominations received for the election of the Vice-Chairmen of the Governing Board of the Pension Fund. The Governing Board had unanimously agreed to recommend the CERN Council to appoint Mr A. J. Naudi and Dr J.-P. Matheys. At its session on 16 March 2006, the Council had followed the recommendation of the Governing Board by re-appointing J.-P. Matheys and A. J. Naudi Vice-Chairmen of the Board until the end of their respective terms of office as members of the Governing Board. Regarding the comparison with other European pension funds launc...

  18. Evaluation of exchange-correlation functionals for time-dependent density functional theory calculations on metal complexes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holland, Jason P; Green, Jennifer C

    2010-04-15

    The electronic absorption spectra of a range of copper and zinc complexes have been simulated by using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations implemented in Gaussian03. In total, 41 exchange-correlation (XC) functionals including first-, second-, and third-generation (meta-generalized gradient approximation) DFT methods were compared in their ability to predict the experimental electronic absorption spectra. Both pure and hybrid DFT methods were tested and differences between restricted and unrestricted calculations were also investigated by comparison of analogous neutral zinc(II) and copper(II) complexes. TD-DFT calculated spectra were optimized with respect to the experimental electronic absorption spectra by use of a Matlab script. Direct comparison of the performance of each XC functional was achieved both qualitatively and quantitatively by comparison of optimized half-band widths, root-mean-squared errors (RMSE), energy scaling factors (epsilon(SF)), and overall quality-of-fit (Q(F)) parameters. Hybrid DFT methods were found to outperform all pure DFT functionals with B1LYP, B97-2, B97-1, X3LYP, and B98 functionals providing the highest quantitative and qualitative accuracy in both restricted and unrestricted systems. Of the functionals tested, B1LYP gave the most accurate results with both average RMSE and overall Q(F) 0.990) for the copper complexes. The XC functional performance in spin-restricted TD-DFT calculations on the zinc complexes was found to be slightly worse. PBE1PBE, mPW1PW91 and B1LYP gave the most accurate results with typical RMSE and Q(F) values between 5.3 and 7.3%, and epsilon(SF) around 0.930. These studies illustrate the power of modern TD-DFT calculations for exploring excited state transitions of metal complexes. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. 77 FR 45379 - Advisory Board Hearing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE National Institute of Corrections Advisory Board Hearing Time and Date: 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2012. Place: U.S. Department of Justice, Main Conference Center, 7th Floor, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW...

  20. Evaluation of the Influence of Wind-Driven Rain on Moisture in Cellular Concrete Wall Boards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alsabry A.

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The non-stationary moisture level of a cellular concrete wall board in a heated utility building located in the northern part of the town of Brest (Belarus, depending on the climatic influence, was assessed in this work. The results were obtained both in a calculation experiment and a physical test. It was observed that the main reason for the high moisture levels in cellular concrete is wind-driven rain intensifying the process of free capillary moisture transfer. A comparative analysis of the results of the physical test and the calculation experiment showed that the THSS software elaborated by the authors was able to predict the actual moisture levels of the shielding structure under study accurately enough when precise data concerning the thermal and physical characteristics of the materials as well as the occurring climatic influences were submitted.

  1. Evaluation of the Influence of Wind-Driven Rain on Moisture in Cellular Concrete Wall Boards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsabry, A.; Nikitsin, V. I.; Kofanov, V. A.; Backiel-Brzozowska, B.

    2017-08-01

    The non-stationary moisture level of a cellular concrete wall board in a heated utility building located in the northern part of the town of Brest (Belarus), depending on the climatic influence, was assessed in this work. The results were obtained both in a calculation experiment and a physical test. It was observed that the main reason for the high moisture levels in cellular concrete is wind-driven rain intensifying the process of free capillary moisture transfer. A comparative analysis of the results of the physical test and the calculation experiment showed that the THSS software elaborated by the authors was able to predict the actual moisture levels of the shielding structure under study accurately enough when precise data concerning the thermal and physical characteristics of the materials as well as the occurring climatic influences were submitted.

  2. Analysis of aeroplane boarding via spacetime geometry and random matrix theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bachmat, E; Berend, D; Sapir, L; Skiena, S; Stolyarov, N

    2006-01-01

    We show that aeroplane boarding can be asymptotically modelled by two-dimensional Lorentzian geometry. Boarding time is given by the maximal proper time among curves in the model. Discrepancies between the model and simulation results are closely related to random matrix theory. The models can be used to explain why some commonly practiced airline boarding policies are ineffective and even detrimental. (letter to the editor)

  3. Board diversity in family firms

    OpenAIRE

    Menozzi, Anna; Fraquelli, Giovanni; Novara, Jolanda de

    2015-01-01

    The paper deals with diversity as a key factor to improve the board of directors’ decision process in family firms. The empirical literature about board diversity points at the positive impact of diversity on board functioning and firm performance. The paper uses a statistical diversity index to capture the heterogeneity of board of directors and put it in relation with firm performance, as measured by firm profitability. The empirical analysis is based on a newly collected panel of 327 famil...

  4. Writing on the board as students' preferred teaching modality in a physiology course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, Chris; Schneid, Stephen D; Brandl, Katharina

    2016-06-01

    The introduction of PowerPoint presentation software has generated a paradigm shift in the delivery of lectures. PowerPoint has now almost entirely replaced chalkboard or whiteboard teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This study investigated whether undergraduate biology students preferred to have lectures delivered by PowerPoint or written on the board as well as the reasons behind their preference. Two upper-division physiology courses were surveyed over a period of 7 yr. A total of 1,905 students (86.7%) indicated they preferred lectures delivered by "writing on the board" compared to 291 students (13.3%) who preferred PowerPoint. Common themes drawn from explanations reported by students in favor of writing on the board included: 1) more appropriate pace, 2) facilitation of note taking, and 3) greater alertness and attention. Common themes in favor of PowerPoint included 1) increased convenience, 2) focus on listening, and 3) more accurate and readable notes. Based on the students' very strong preference for writing on the board and the themes supporting that preference, we recommend that instructors incorporate elements of the writing on the board delivery style into whatever teaching modality is used. If instructors plan to use PowerPoint, the presentation should be paced, constructed, and delivered to provide the benefits of lectures written on the board. The advantages of writing on the board can be also incorporated into instruction intended to occur outside the classroom, such as animated narrated videos as part of the flipped classroom approach. Copyright © 2016 The American Physiological Society.

  5. Development and verification of printed circuit board toroidal transformer model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pejtersen, Jens; Mønster, Jakob Døllner; Knott, Arnold

    2013-01-01

    An analytical model of an air core printed circuit board embedded toroidal transformer configuration is presented. The transformer has been developed for galvanic isolation of very high frequency switch-mode dc-dc power converter applications. The theoretical model is developed and verified...... by comparing calculated parameters with 3D finite element simulations and experimental measurement results. The developed transformer model shows good agreement with the simulated and measured results. The model can be used to predict the parameters of printed circuit board toroidal transformer configurations...

  6. 76 FR 52997 - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Order Approving Proposed Board Funding Final Rules for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-24

    ... Accounting Oversight Board; Order Approving Proposed Board Funding Final Rules for Allocation of the Board's... August 18, 2011. I. Introduction On June 21, 2011, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the... public accounting firm, in amounts that are sufficient to cover the costs of processing and reviewing...

  7. Influence of suspended particles on the emission of organophosphate flame retardant from insulation boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazarov, Borislav; Swinnen, Rudi; Poelmans, David; Spruyt, Maarten; Goelen, Eddy; Covaci, Adrian; Stranger, Marianne

    2016-09-01

    The influence of the presence of the so-called seed particles on the emission rate of Tris (1-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) from polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation boards was investigated in this study. Two Field and Laboratory Emission Test cells (FLEC) were placed on the surface of the same PIR board and respectively supplied with clean air (reference FLEC) and air containing laboratory-generated soot particles (test FLEC). The behavior of the area-specific emission rates (SER A ) over a time period of 10 days was studied by measuring the total (gas + particles) concentrations of TCIPP at the exhaust of each FLEC. The estimated SER A of TCIPP from the PIR board at the quasi-static equilibrium were found to be 0.82 μg m(-2) h(-1) in the absence of seed particles, while the addition of soot particles led to SER A of 2.16 μg m(-2) h(-1). This indicates an increase of the SER A of TCIPP from the PIR board with a factor of 3 in the presence of soot particles. The TCIPP partition coefficient to soot particles at the quasi-static equilibrium was 0.022 ± 0.012 m(3) μg(-1). In the next step, the influence of real-life particles on TCIPP emission rates was investigated by supplying the test FLEC with air from a professional kitchen where mainly frying and baking activities took place. Similar to the reference FLEC outcomes, SER A was also found to increase in this real-life experiment over a time period of 20 days by a factor 3 in the presence of particles generated during cooking activities. The median value of estimated particle-gas coefficient for this test was 0.062 ± 0.037 m(3) μg(-1).

  8. The Effect of Monitoring Committees on the Relationship between Board Structure and Firm Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aymen Ammari

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of board structure on the performance of French firms in the presence of several monitoring committees. We studied 80 publicly listed French firms spanning from 2001 to 2013. We concluded that large board size has a negative effect on market performance. While large board size in combination with the existence of at least three committees enhances accounting performance and does not have any impact on market performance, the existence of a board dominated by independent directors with the presence of at least three committees seems to have only a negative impact on accounting performance. Our findings indicate that monitoring committees are beneficial for shareholders only for corporations with a large board size.

  9. The Effect of Board Size and Board Composition on Firms Corporate Environmental Disclosure: A Study of Selected Firms in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uwalomwa Nil Uwuigbe

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Environmental problems have become major headlines due to the negative effects they bring to the stability of the ecosystem. Thus, the increased awareness of social responsibility or, specifically, environmental concern is now a challenge facing the corporate world. Hence this study tests whether board size and board composition have any association with the level of firms’ corporate environmental disclosure in annual reports. To achieve the objective of this study, a total of 40 listed firms on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange market were used. Also, the study critically developed and utilized the Kinder Lydenberg Domini (KLD rating scheme to analyze the level of corporate environmental disclosure made by firms in their annual reports for the period 2006-2010. In addition, the simple regression analysis was used to test the research propositions as stated in the study. However, empirical findings from the study reveal that while board size has a significant negative relationship with the level of corporate environmental disclosure; board composition on the other hand has a significant positive relationship with the level of firms’ corporate environmental disclosure in the annual report.

  10. The interactions of Canadian ethics consultants with health care managers and governing boards during times of crisis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaposy, Chris; Maddalena, Victor; Brunger, Fern; Pullman, Daryl; Singleton, Richard

    2017-01-01

    Health care organizations can be very complex, and are often the setting for crisis situations. In recent years, Canadian health care organizations have faced large-scale systemic medical errors, a nation-wide generic injectable drug shortage, iatrogenic infectious disease outbreaks, and myriad other crises. These situations often have an ethical component that ethics consultants may be able to address. Organizational leaders such as health care managers and governing boards have responsibilities to oversee and direct the response to crisis situations. This study investigates the nature and degree of involvement of Canadian ethics consultants in such situations. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with Canadian ethics consultants to investigate the nature of their interactions with upper-level managers and governing board members in health care organizations, particularly in times of organizational crisis. We used a purposive sampling technique to identify and recruit ethics consultants throughout Canada. We found variability in the interactions between ethics consultants and upper-level managers and governing boards. Some ethics consultants we interviewed did not participate in managing organizational crisis situations. Most ethics consultants reported that they had assisted in the management of some crises and that their participation was usually initiated by managers. Some ethics consultants reported the ability to bring issues to the attention of upper-level managers and indirectly to their governing boards. The interactions between managers and ethics consultants were characterized by varying degrees of collegiality. Ethics consultants reported participating in or chairing working groups, participating in incident management teams, and developing decision-making frameworks. Canadian ethics consultants tend to believe that they have valuable skills to offer in the management of organizational crisis situations. Most of the ethics consultants

  11. 77 FR 74010 - Farm Credit Administration Board; Sunshine Act; Regular Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-12

    ... to be considered at the meeting are: Open Session Approval of Minutes November 8, 2012 New Business..., Virginia, on December 13, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. until such time as the Board concludes its business. FOR..., Virginia 22102-5090. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Parts of this meeting of the Board will be open to the...

  12. 78 FR 45926 - Farm Credit Administration Board; Sunshine Act; Regular Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-30

    ... to be considered at the meeting are: Open Session Approval of Minutes July 11, 2013 New Business..., Virginia, on August 8, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. until such time as the Board concludes its business. FOR..., Virginia 22102-5090. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Parts of this meeting of the Board will be open to the...

  13. Analytical calculation of electrolyte water content of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell for on-board modelling applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrara, Alessandro; Polverino, Pierpaolo; Pianese, Cesare

    2018-06-01

    This paper proposes an analytical model of the water content of the electrolyte of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. The model is designed by accounting for several simplifying assumptions, which make the model suitable for on-board/online water management applications, while ensuring a good accuracy of the considered phenomena, with respect to advanced numerical solutions. The achieved analytical solution, expressing electrolyte water content, is compared with that obtained by means of a complex numerical approach, used to solve the same mathematical problem. The achieved results show that the mean error is below 5% for electrodes water content values ranging from 2 to 15 (given as boundary conditions), and it does not overcome 0.26% for electrodes water content above 5. These results prove the capability of the solution to correctly model electrolyte water content at any operating condition, aiming at embodiment into more complex frameworks (e.g., cell or stack models), related to fuel cell simulation, monitoring, control, diagnosis and prognosis.

  14. Board-to-Board Free-Space Optical Interconnections Passing through Boards for a Bookshelf-Assembled Terabit-Per-Second-Class ATM Switch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirabayashi, K; Yamamoto, T; Matsuo, S; Hino, S

    1998-05-10

    We propose free-space optical interconnections for a bookshelf-assembled terabit-per-second-class ATM switch. Thousands of arrayed optical beams, each having a rate of a few gigabits per second, propagate vertically to printed circuit boards, passing through some boards, and are connected to arbitrary transmitters and receivers on boards by polarization controllers and prism arrays. We describe a preliminary experiment using a 1-mm-pitch 2 x 2 beam-collimator array that uses vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes. These optical interconnections can be made quite stable in terms of mechanical shock and temperature fluctuation by the attachment of reinforcing frames to the boards and use of an autoalignment system.

  15. First-principles X-ray absorption dose calculation for time-dependent mass and optical density.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berejnov, Viatcheslav; Rubinstein, Boris; Melo, Lis G A; Hitchcock, Adam P

    2018-05-01

    A dose integral of time-dependent X-ray absorption under conditions of variable photon energy and changing sample mass is derived from first principles starting with the Beer-Lambert (BL) absorption model. For a given photon energy the BL dose integral D(e, t) reduces to the product of an effective time integral T(t) and a dose rate R(e). Two approximations of the time-dependent optical density, i.e. exponential A(t) = c + aexp(-bt) for first-order kinetics and hyperbolic A(t) = c + a/(b + t) for second-order kinetics, were considered for BL dose evaluation. For both models three methods of evaluating the effective time integral are considered: analytical integration, approximation by a function, and calculation of the asymptotic behaviour at large times. Data for poly(methyl methacrylate) and perfluorosulfonic acid polymers measured by scanning transmission soft X-ray microscopy were used to test the BL dose calculation. It was found that a previous method to calculate time-dependent dose underestimates the dose in mass loss situations, depending on the applied exposure time. All these methods here show that the BL dose is proportional to the exposure time D(e, t) ≃ K(e)t.

  16. German versus Nordic Board Models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ringe, Georg

    2016-01-01

    Board structure is an important component of the individual governance of firms, and the appropriateness of the various models is one of the most debated issues in corporate governance today. A comparison of the Nordic and German approaches to the structure of corporate boards reveals stark...... conceptual differences, as emphasized by the 2014 Lekvall Report on the Nordic Corporate Governance Model. This article provides a conceptual comparison between the two approaches to board structure and confirms the fundamental divergence between both models. However, relying on a number of recent legal...... changes and developments in business practice, the article argues that board practices in the two systems effectively blur the structural distinction, and that board organization is converging in practice. It thereby contributes to the broader debates on functionality and comparative corporate law...

  17. Thermoluminescent dose measurements on board Salyut type orbital stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akatov, Yu.A.; Arkhangelskij, V.V.; Aleksandrov, A.P.

    1984-06-01

    A small, vibration- and shock-resistant thermoluminescent dosemeter (TLD) system - named PILLE - was developed for orbital stations at the Central Research Institute for Physics, Hungary, to measure the cosmic radiation dose on-board. The first on-board measurements with this system were performed by B. Farkas, the Hungarian astronaut, on the Salyut-6 space station in 1980. The same instrument was used by other crews in the following years. Doses measured at different sites in Salyut-6 are presented. The dose rates varied from 0.7 to 0.11 mGy.day -1 . After the first cosmic measurements, the system was further developed. The minimum detectable dose of the new TLD system is 1 μGy, i.e. less by one order of magnitude than that of the former system. The self-irradiation dose rate of the TLD bulbs is also reduced by more than an order of magnitude to 10 nGy.h -1 , by use of potassium-free glass for the bulb envelope. This new type of PILLE TLD system is currently on-board Salyut-7. The dose rates (0.12-0.23 mGy.day -1 ) measured in 1983 are presented in detail. (author)

  18. 78 FR 66384 - Membership of the Merit Systems Protection Board's Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-05

    ... MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD Membership of the Merit Systems Protection Board's Performance Review Board AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection Board. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the members of the Merit Systems Protection Board's Performance Review Board. DATES: November 5, 2013...

  19. Towards real-time photon Monte Carlo dose calculation in the cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziegenhein, Peter; Kozin, Igor N.; Kamerling, Cornelis Ph; Oelfke, Uwe

    2017-06-01

    Near real-time application of Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation in clinic and research is hindered by the long computational runtimes of established software. Currently, fast MC software solutions are available utilising accelerators such as graphical processing units (GPUs) or clusters based on central processing units (CPUs). Both platforms are expensive in terms of purchase costs and maintenance and, in case of the GPU, provide only limited scalability. In this work we propose a cloud-based MC solution, which offers high scalability of accurate photon dose calculations. The MC simulations run on a private virtual supercomputer that is formed in the cloud. Computational resources can be provisioned dynamically at low cost without upfront investment in expensive hardware. A client-server software solution has been developed which controls the simulations and transports data to and from the cloud efficiently and securely. The client application integrates seamlessly into a treatment planning system. It runs the MC simulation workflow automatically and securely exchanges simulation data with the server side application that controls the virtual supercomputer. Advanced encryption standards were used to add an additional security layer, which encrypts and decrypts patient data on-the-fly at the processor register level. We could show that our cloud-based MC framework enables near real-time dose computation. It delivers excellent linear scaling for high-resolution datasets with absolute runtimes of 1.1 seconds to 10.9 seconds for simulating a clinical prostate and liver case up to 1% statistical uncertainty. The computation runtimes include the transportation of data to and from the cloud as well as process scheduling and synchronisation overhead. Cloud-based MC simulations offer a fast, affordable and easily accessible alternative for near real-time accurate dose calculations to currently used GPU or cluster solutions.

  20. Achievement report for fiscal 2000 on development of technology to recycle disintegrated waste gypsum boards; 1999 nendo kaitai haisekko board no saishigenka gijutsu kaihatsu seika hokokusho

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-03-01

    Investigations and researches have been made on disintegrated waste gypsum boards generated in building demolishing sites, with a target of recycling them as a raw material for boards. In the investigations, the actual status of discarding the disintegrated gypsum boards was identified, whereas the harmful substance contents such as of heavy metals were verified to be below the environmental criteria. As a method to remove impurities and foreign materials from the disintegrated waste gypsum boards, the hydration crushing method was established, in which volumetric change when hemihydrate gypsum returns to gypsum dehydrate is utilized, and bond of gypsum particles with each other and with impurities is destructed to separate them into simple substances. Furthermore, discussions were given on the reforming conditions to reform in an energy saving manner the disintegrated waste gypsum boards into high-quality large-size hemihydrate gypsum by using the wet-type process that utilizes the reversible reaction between hemihydrate gypsum and gypsum dehydrate in the disintegrated waste gypsum boards. A manufacturing process to put the recycled gypsum into practical use was also discussed. Prototype board fabrication and tests were performed by using the reformed gypsum board materials, wherein good results were obtained from all of the practical, chemical, and physical tests. (NEDO)

  1. A persistent lack of international representation on editorial boards in environmental biology.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johanna Espin

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The scholars comprising journal editorial boards play a critical role in defining the trajectory of knowledge in their field. Nevertheless, studies of editorial board composition remain rare, especially those focusing on journals publishing research in the increasingly globalized fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM. Using metrics for quantifying the diversity of ecological communities, we quantified international representation on the 1985-2014 editorial boards of 24 environmental biology journals. Over the course of 3 decades, there were 3,827 unique scientists based in 70 countries who served as editors. The size of the editorial community increased over time-the number of editors serving in 2014 was 4-fold greater than in 1985-as did the number of countries in which editors were based. Nevertheless, editors based outside the "Global North" (the group of economically developed countries with high per capita gross domestic product [GDP] that collectively concentrate most global wealth were extremely rare. Furthermore, 67.18% of all editors were based in either the United States or the United Kingdom. Consequently, geographic diversity-already low in 1985-remained unchanged through 2014. We argue that this limited geographic diversity can detrimentally affect the creativity of scholarship published in journals, the progress and direction of research, the composition of the STEM workforce, and the development of science in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia (i.e., the "Global South".

  2. A persistent lack of international representation on editorial boards in environmental biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espin, Johanna; Palmas, Sebastian; Carrasco-Rueda, Farah; Riemer, Kristina; Allen, Pablo E; Berkebile, Nathan; Hecht, Kirsten A; Kastner-Wilcox, Kay; Núñez-Regueiro, Mauricio M; Prince, Candice; Rios, Constanza; Ross, Erica; Sangha, Bhagatveer; Tyler, Tia; Ungvari-Martin, Judit; Villegas, Mariana; Cataldo, Tara T; Bruna, Emilio M

    2017-12-01

    The scholars comprising journal editorial boards play a critical role in defining the trajectory of knowledge in their field. Nevertheless, studies of editorial board composition remain rare, especially those focusing on journals publishing research in the increasingly globalized fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Using metrics for quantifying the diversity of ecological communities, we quantified international representation on the 1985-2014 editorial boards of 24 environmental biology journals. Over the course of 3 decades, there were 3,827 unique scientists based in 70 countries who served as editors. The size of the editorial community increased over time-the number of editors serving in 2014 was 4-fold greater than in 1985-as did the number of countries in which editors were based. Nevertheless, editors based outside the "Global North" (the group of economically developed countries with high per capita gross domestic product [GDP] that collectively concentrate most global wealth) were extremely rare. Furthermore, 67.18% of all editors were based in either the United States or the United Kingdom. Consequently, geographic diversity-already low in 1985-remained unchanged through 2014. We argue that this limited geographic diversity can detrimentally affect the creativity of scholarship published in journals, the progress and direction of research, the composition of the STEM workforce, and the development of science in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia (i.e., the "Global South").

  3. Automating ATLAS Computing Operations using the Site Status Board

    CERN Document Server

    Andreeva, J; The ATLAS collaboration; Campana, S; Di Girolamo, A; Espinal Curull, X; Gayazov, S; Magradze, E; Nowotka, MM; Rinaldi, L; Saiz, P; Schovancova, J; Stewart, GA; Wright, M

    2012-01-01

    The automation of operations is essential to reduce manpower costs and improve the reliability of the system. The Site Status Board (SSB) is a framework which allows Virtual Organizations to monitor their computing activities at distributed sites and to evaluate site performance. The ATLAS experiment intensively uses SSB for the distributed computing shifts, for estimating data processing and data transfer efficiencies at a particular site, and for implementing automatic exclusion of sites from computing activities, in case of potential problems. ATLAS SSB provides a real-time aggregated monitoring view and keeps the history of the monitoring metrics. Based on this history, usability of a site from the perspective of ATLAS is calculated. The presentation will describe how SSB is integrated in the ATLAS operations and computing infrastructure and will cover implementation details of the ATLAS SSB sensors and alarm system, based on the information in SSB. It will demonstrate the positive impact of the use of SS...

  4. [National Academies' Board on Mathematical Sciences and their Application] Final technical report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scott T. Weidman

    2005-01-11

    The National Academies' Board on Mathematical Sciences and their Applications (BMSA) is a primary interface between the research enterprise and federal agencies that rely on the mathematical sciences. The Board provides objective and authoritative advice on how best to apply the tools of mathematics, statistics, operations research, financial engineering, computational modeling, computational science, information analysis, and decision analysis to practical problems of national importance. In so doing, the Board strengthens the policy-making process and increases the visibility of, and appreciation for, the mathematical sciences while also identifying growth areas for the discipline. The Board consists of 18 pro bono experts from a broad range of quantitative fields, with experience in academia, industry, and national laboratories.

  5. Finite difference time domain calculation of three-dimensional phononic band structures using a postprocessing method based on the filter diagonalization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su Xiaoxing; Ma Tianxue; Wang Yuesheng

    2011-01-01

    If the band structure of a three-dimensional (3D) phononic crystal (PNC) is calculated by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method combined with the fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based postprocessing method, good results can only be ensured by a sufficiently large number of FDTD iterations. On a common computer platform, the total computation time will be very long. To overcome this difficulty, an excellent harmonic inversion algorithm called the filter diagonalization method (FDM) can be used in the postprocessing to reduce the number of FDTD iterations. However, the low efficiency of the FDM, which occurs when a relatively long time series is given, does not necessarily ensure an effective reduction of the total computation time. In this paper, a postprocessing method based on the FDM is proposed. The main procedure of the method is designed considering the aim to make the time spent on the method itself far less than the corresponding time spent on the FDTD iterations. To this end, the FDTD time series is preprocessed to be shortened significantly before the FDM frequency extraction. The preprocessing procedure is performed with the filter and decimation operations, which are widely used in narrow-band signal processing. Numerical results for a typical 3D solid PNC system show that the proposed postprocessing method can be used to effectively reduce the total computation time of the FDTD calculation of 3D phononic band structures.

  6. Finite difference time domain calculation of three-dimensional phononic band structures using a postprocessing method based on the filter diagonalization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Su Xiaoxing [School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Ma Tianxue; Wang Yuesheng, E-mail: xxsu@bjtu.edu.cn [Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)

    2011-10-15

    If the band structure of a three-dimensional (3D) phononic crystal (PNC) is calculated by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method combined with the fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based postprocessing method, good results can only be ensured by a sufficiently large number of FDTD iterations. On a common computer platform, the total computation time will be very long. To overcome this difficulty, an excellent harmonic inversion algorithm called the filter diagonalization method (FDM) can be used in the postprocessing to reduce the number of FDTD iterations. However, the low efficiency of the FDM, which occurs when a relatively long time series is given, does not necessarily ensure an effective reduction of the total computation time. In this paper, a postprocessing method based on the FDM is proposed. The main procedure of the method is designed considering the aim to make the time spent on the method itself far less than the corresponding time spent on the FDTD iterations. To this end, the FDTD time series is preprocessed to be shortened significantly before the FDM frequency extraction. The preprocessing procedure is performed with the filter and decimation operations, which are widely used in narrow-band signal processing. Numerical results for a typical 3D solid PNC system show that the proposed postprocessing method can be used to effectively reduce the total computation time of the FDTD calculation of 3D phononic band structures.

  7. Internet message boards for pregnancy loss: who's on-line and why?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, Katherine J; Boggs, Martha E; Mugisha, Emeline; Palladino, Christie Lancaster

    2012-01-01

    Pregnancy loss is common, but its significance is often minimized by family, friends, and the community, leaving bereaved parents with unmet need for support. This study sought to describe demographics, usage patterns, and perceived benefits for women participating in Internet pregnancy loss support groups. We requested permission to post an anonymous Internet survey on large and active United States Internet message boards for women with miscarriages and stillbirths. The study purposefully oversampled stillbirth sites and included both closed- and open-ended questions. The University of Michigan Institutional Review Board approved the study. Closed-ended questions were summarized and evaluated with bivariate analysis. We performed a qualitative analysis of open-ended data using an iterative coding process to identify key themes. Of 62 sites queried, 15 granted permission to post the survey on 18 different message boards. We collected 1,039 surveys, of which 1,006 were complete and eligible for analysis. Women were typically white, well educated, and frequent users. They noted message boards helped them to feel less isolated in their loss and grief and they appreciated unique aspects of Internet communication such as convenience, access, anonymity, and privacy. Pregnancy loss message boards are an important aspect of support for many bereaved mothers. African-American women seem to be substantially underrepresented on-line despite being at higher risk for stillbirth. Internet message boards serve a unique function in providing support for women with miscarriage and stillbirth. The benefits are often significantly different from those encountered in traditional face-to-face bereavement support. Copyright © 2012 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. An Enhanced Random Vibration and Fatigue Model for Printed Circuit Boards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno de Castro Braz

    Full Text Available Abstract Aerospace vehicles are mostly exposed to random vibration loads during its operational lifetime. These harsh conditions excites vibration responses in the vehicles printed circuit boards, what can cause failure on mission functionality due to fatigue damage of electronic components. A novel analytical model to evaluate the useful life of embedded electronic components (capacitors, chips, oscillators etc. mounted on Printed Circuit Boards (PCB is presented. The fatigue damage predictions are calculated by the relative displacement between the PCB and the component, the lead stiffness, as well the natural vibration modes of the PCB and the component itself. Statistical methods are used for fatigue cycle counting. The model is applied to experimental fatigue tests of PCBs available on literature. The analytical results are of the same magnitude order of the experimental findings.

  9. Reference data on reaction time and aging using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board: A cross-sectional study of 354 subjects from 20 to 99 years of age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blomkvist, Andreas W; Eika, Fredrik; Rahbek, Martin T; Eikhof, Karin D; Hansen, Mette D; Søndergaard, Malene; Ryg, Jesper; Andersen, Stig; Jørgensen, Martin G

    2017-01-01

    Falls among older adults is one of the major public health challenges facing the rapidly changing demography. The valid assessment of reaction time (RT) and other well-documented risk factors for falls are mainly restricted to specialized clinics due to the equipment needed. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board has the potential to be a multi-modal test and intervention instrument for these risk factors, however, reference data are lacking. To provide RT reference data and to characterize the age-related changes in RT measured by the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Healthy participants were recruited at various locations and their RT in hands and feet were tested by six assessors using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Reference data were analysed and presented in age-groups, while the age-related change in RT was tested and characterized with linear regression models. 354 participants between 20 and 99 years of age were tested. For both hands and feet, mean RT and its variation increased with age. There was a statistically significant non-linear increase in RT with age. The averaged difference between male and female was significant, with males being faster than females for both hands and feet. The averaged difference between dominant and non-dominant side was non-significant. This study reported reference data with percentiles for a new promising method for reliably testing RT. The RT data were consistent with previously known effects of age and gender on RT.

  10. Reference data on reaction time and aging using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board: A cross-sectional study of 354 subjects from 20 to 99 years of age.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas W Blomkvist

    Full Text Available Falls among older adults is one of the major public health challenges facing the rapidly changing demography. The valid assessment of reaction time (RT and other well-documented risk factors for falls are mainly restricted to specialized clinics due to the equipment needed. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board has the potential to be a multi-modal test and intervention instrument for these risk factors, however, reference data are lacking.To provide RT reference data and to characterize the age-related changes in RT measured by the Nintendo Wii Balance Board.Healthy participants were recruited at various locations and their RT in hands and feet were tested by six assessors using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Reference data were analysed and presented in age-groups, while the age-related change in RT was tested and characterized with linear regression models.354 participants between 20 and 99 years of age were tested. For both hands and feet, mean RT and its variation increased with age. There was a statistically significant non-linear increase in RT with age. The averaged difference between male and female was significant, with males being faster than females for both hands and feet. The averaged difference between dominant and non-dominant side was non-significant.This study reported reference data with percentiles for a new promising method for reliably testing RT. The RT data were consistent with previously known effects of age and gender on RT.

  11. Internationalilzation of the Firm and its Board

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oxelheim, Lars; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Randøy, Trond

    competencies required by firm internationalization positively affect board internationalization, whereas the impact of the internationalization of a firm’s commercial operations is positive but not significant across all model specifications. We find that the higher the number of national board members......, the amount of foreigners on the nomination committee also positively relates to the number of foreigners on the board. Rather than age, the median board tenure negatively impacts the prevalence of foreigners on the supervisory board. This barrier to board internationalization may reflect conservatism, fear...

  12. Time domain calculation of connector loads of a very large floating structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Jiayang; Wu, Jie; Qi, Enrong; Guan, Yifeng; Yuan, Yubo

    2015-06-01

    Loads generated after an air crash, ship collision, and other accidents may destroy very large floating structures (VLFSs) and create additional connector loads. In this study, the combined effects of ship collision and wave loads are considered to establish motion differential equations for a multi-body VLFS. A time domain calculation method is proposed to calculate the connector load of the VLFS in waves. The Longuet-Higgins model is employed to simulate the stochastic wave load. Fluid force and hydrodynamic coefficient are obtained with DNV Sesam software. The motion differential equation is calculated by applying the time domain method when the frequency domain hydrodynamic coefficient is converted into the memory function of the motion differential equation of the time domain. As a result of the combined action of wave and impact loads, high-frequency oscillation is observed in the time history curve of the connector load. At wave directions of 0° and 75°, the regularities of the time history curves of the connector loads in different directions are similar and the connector loads of C1 and C2 in the X direction are the largest. The oscillation load is observed in the connector in the Y direction at a wave direction of 75° and not at 0°. This paper presents a time domain calculation method of connector load to provide a certain reference function for the future development of Chinese VLFS

  13. On the Internationalization of Corporate Boards

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oxelheim, Lars; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Randøy, Trond

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the internationalization of corporate boards, using a sample of 346 non-financial listed Nordic firms during 2001-2008. Given a high level of international activity, these firms have surprisingly few foreign directors. The picture of international expertise changes...... considerably, however, if we also count the international experience of national directors. The percentage of foreign directors is related primarily to financial internationalization rather than foreign sales, and thus presumably to the monitoring rather than advisory functions. The international experience...... of the nationals covaries with foreign sales, and increases with the share of foreign directors. Thus both sources of international expertise should be considered when analyzing board internationalization....

  14. Cross-Contamination and Biofilm Formation by Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis on Various Cutting Boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dantas, Stéfani T A; Rossi, Bruna F; Bonsaglia, Erika C R; Castilho, Ivana G; Hernandes, Rodrigo T; Fernandes, Ary; Rall, Vera L M

    2018-02-01

    Cross-contamination is one of the main factors related to foodborne outbreaks. This study aimed to analyze the cross-contamination process of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis from poultry to cucumbers, on various cutting board surfaces (plastic, wood, and glass) before and after washing and in the presence and absence of biofilm. Thus, 10 strains of Salmonella Enteritidis were used to test cross-contamination from poultry to the cutting boards and from thereon to cucumbers. Moreover, these strains were evaluated as to their capacity to form biofilm on hydrophobic (wood and plastic) and hydrophilic materials (glass). We recovered the 10 isolates from all unwashed boards and from all cucumbers that had contacted them. After washing, the recovery ranged from 10% to 100%, depending on the board material. In the presence of biofilm, the recovery of salmonellae was 100%, even after washing. Biofilm formation occurred more on wood (60%) and plastic (40%) than glass (10%) boards, demonstrating that bacteria adhered more to a hydrophobic material. It was concluded that the cutting boards represent a critical point in cross-contamination, particularly in the presence of biofilm. Salmonella Enteritidis was able to form a biofilm on these three types of cutting boards but glass showed the least formation.

  15. DOE's Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board: The Roles, Work, and Assessment of the Constituent Local Boards - 13587

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alexander, Catherine; Freeman, Jenny; Cantrell, Yvette

    2013-01-01

    The charter for the Department of Energy's Environmental Management (EM) Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) was approved under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) in 1994. With a unique mandate to provide public input on issues associated with the cleanup of nuclear legacy sites in the U.S., the EM SSAB comprises eight local boards, which are based at major EM sites. While each board is unique to the community in which it is located and reflects the diversity of the local population, the boards are governed by FACA, related regulations, and DOE policies that are intended to standardize agency advisory board operations. The EM SSAB local boards are made up of a diverse group of citizens who want to understand the mission and goals of the EM program and to help EM achieve those goals for the benefit of their communities. Some are quite passionate about their mission; others need to be coaxed into active participation. Maintaining productive relationships and a supportive environment for effective board operations is the challenge of board management for DOE EM and the board members themselves. DOE draws on research findings and best practices literature from academics and practitioners in the field of public involvement in its board management practices. The EM SSAB is also evaluated annually under the law to ensure that the investment of taxpayer dollars in the board is warranted in light of the contributions of the board. Further evaluation takes place at the agency and site levels in order to identify what aspects of board functioning the agency and board members find important to its success and to address areas where improvement is needed. Board contributions, compliance factors, and measurable outcomes related to board products and process areas are key to agency commitment to ongoing support of the boards and to participant satisfaction and thus continued member involvement. In addition to evaluation of these factors in improving board effectiveness

  16. When Will It Be ...?: U.S. Naval Observatory Sidereal Time and Julian Date Calculators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chizek Frouard, Malynda R.; Lesniak, Michael V.; Bartlett, Jennifer L.

    2017-01-01

    Sidereal time and Julian date are two values often used in observational astronomy that can be tedious to calculate. Fortunately, the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) has redesigned its on-line Sidereal Time and Julian Date (JD) calculators to provide data through an Application Programming Interface (API). This flexible interface returns dates and times in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) that can be incorporated into third-party websites or applications.Via the API, Sidereal Time can be obtained for any location on Earth for any date occurring in the current, previous, or subsequent year. Up to 9999 iterations of sidereal time data with intervals from 1 second to 1095 days can be generated, as long as the data doesn’t extend past the date limits. The API provides the Gregorian calendar date and time (in UT1), Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time, Greenwich Apparent Sidereal Time, Local Mean Sidereal Time, Local Apparent Sidereal Time, and the Equation of the Equinoxes.Julian Date can be converted to calendar date, either Julian or Gregorian as appropriate, for any date between JD 0 (January 1, 4713 BCE proleptic Julian) and JD 5373484 (December 31, 9999 CE Gregorian); the reverse calendar date to Julian Date conversion is also available. The calendar date and Julian Date are returned for all API requests; the day of the week is also returned for Julian Date to calendar date conversions.On-line documentation for using all USNO API-enabled calculators, including sample calls, is available (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/api.php).For those who prefer using traditional data input forms, Sidereal Time can still be accessed at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/siderealtime.php, and the Julian Date Converter at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php.

  17. Hospital board effectiveness: relationships between board training and hospital financial viability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molinari, C; Morlock, L; Alexander, J; Lyles, C A

    1992-01-01

    This study examined whether hospital governing boards that invest in board education and training are more informed and effective decision-making bodies. Measures of hospital financial viability (i.e., selected financial ratios and outcomes) are used as indicators of hospital board effectiveness. Board participation in educational programs was significantly associated with improved profitability, liquidity, and occupancy levels, suggesting that investment in the education of directors is likely to enhance hospital viability and thus increase board effectiveness.

  18. Measuring Algorithm for the Distance to a Preceding Vehicle on Curve Road Using On-Board Monocular Camera

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Guizhen; Zhou, Bin; Wang, Yunpeng; Wun, Xinkai; Wang, Pengcheng

    2015-12-01

    Due to more severe challenges of traffic safety problems, the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) has received widespread attention. Measuring the distance to a preceding vehicle is important for ADAS. However, the existing algorithm focuses more on straight road sections than on curve measurements. In this paper, we present a novel measuring algorithm for the distance to a preceding vehicle on a curve road using on-board monocular camera. Firstly, the characteristics of driving on the curve road is analyzed and the recognition of the preceding vehicle road area is proposed. Then, the vehicle detection and distance measuring algorithms are investigated. We have verified these algorithms on real road driving. The experimental results show that this method proposed in the paper can detect the preceding vehicle on curve roads and accurately calculate the longitudinal distance and horizontal distance to the preceding vehicle.

  19. [Is there a physician on board?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, H T

    1998-11-01

    Physicians responding to emergency calls on board airliners in intercontinental traffic may not be aware of certain legal complications which may arise. For instance, the medical practitioner may hold a license valid in one country, the air carrier may be registered in another, and the patient may be a third state national. Legislation varies between nations, as do court decisions. Physicians may be aware neither of the laws and regulations which apply nor the subtle differences between terms and interpretations used in formal language. This article contains a scenario description from a commercial air liner in intercontinental transit carrying a patient unknown to the physician who responds to a call for medical assistance. The main considerations to be made, the more likely diagnoses and various strategies for immediate interventions are reviewed. Likewise, appraisal and use of medical equipment on board are discussed, as are issues concerning responsibility and liability when equipment is used in supposedly "trained hands". Main themes in the current international medico-legal debate are considered with emphasis on the "Good Samaritan Principle", the responsibility of commercial air carriers, and telemedicine with insurance against law suits. The article concludes with some practical advice to the travelling medical community.

  20. GOVERNING BOARD OF THE PENSION FUND

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    The Governing Board held its 120th and 121st meetings on 4 November and 2 December 2003 respectively. At the first of these two meetings, the Board first continued its examination of ESO's requests. In connection to this, the Board heard a presentation of the requests by M. Bloch, ESO's Head of Personnel, including a proposal that ESO's contributions and benefits to its beneficiaries be paid in euros. This option had previously been examined by the Working Group on ESO's Requests which had submitted a negative opinion to the Governing Board. Mr Bloch informed the Board that ESO was suspending that request and therefore invited the Governing Board to concentrate on the other options. After some discussion, the Governing Board decided that the euro-based request should be deemed withdrawn and that the Working Group would resume its examination of the other options put forward by ESO at the beginning of the year. At the same meeting, J.-P. Matheys reported on the recent meeting of the Working Group on Actuarial...

  1. 77 FR 19264 - Renewal of Air University Board of Visitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-30

    ..., management, leadership, and academia. All Board member appointments must be renewed by the Secretary of... shall serve as an ex- offico member. Board members, who are not full-time or permanent part-time Federal... processes across the University (to include the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Air War College...

  2. Corporate sponsored education initiatives on board the ISS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durham, Ian T.; Durham, Alyson S.; Pawelczyk, James A.; Brod, Lawrence B.; Durham, Thomas F.

    1999-01-01

    This paper proposes the creation of a corporate sponsored ``Lecture from Space'' program on board the International Space Station (ISS) with funding coming from a host of new technology and marketing spin-offs. This program would meld existing education initiatives in NASA with new corporate marketing techniques. Astronauts in residence on board the ISS would conduct short ten to fifteen minute live presentations and/or conduct interactive discussions carried out by a teacher in the classroom. This concept is similar to a program already carried out during the Neurolab mission on Shuttle flight STS-90. Building on that concept, the interactive simulcasts would be broadcast over the Internet and linked directly to computers and televisions in classrooms worldwide. In addition to the live broadcasts, educational programs and demonstrations can be recorded in space, and marketed and sold for inclusion in television programs, computer software, and other forms of media. Programs can be distributed directly into classrooms as an additional presentation supplement, as well as over the Internet or through cable and broadcast television, similar to the Canadian Discovery Channel's broadcasts of the Neurolab mission. Successful marketing and advertisement can eventually lead to the creation of an entirely new, privately run cottage industry involving the distribution and sale of educationally related material associated with the ISS that would have the potential to become truly global in scope. By targeting areas of expertise and research interest in microgravity, a large curriculum could be developed using space exploration as a unifying theme. Expansion of this concept could enhance objectives already initiated through the International Space University to include elementary and secondary school students. The ultimate goal would be to stimulate interest in space and space related sciences in today's youth through creative educational marketing initiatives while at the

  3. Human Centered Design and Development for NASA's MerBoard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trimble, Jay

    2003-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of the design and development process for NASA's MerBoard. These devices are large interactive display screens which can be shown on the user's computer, which will allow scientists in many locations to interpret and evaluate mission data in real-time. These tools are scheduled to be used during the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) expeditions. Topics covered include: mission overview, Mer Human Centered Computers, FIDO 2001 observations and MerBoard prototypes.

  4. Effect of Board Management and Governmental Model on Zakat Payers’ Trust on Zakat Institutions

    OpenAIRE

    Erlane K Ghani; Asmah Abdul Aziz; Sakinah Mohamed Tajularifin; Nahla Samargandi

    2018-01-01

    Trust among zakat payers is important as it contributes to the success of zakat institutions. Zakat payers, are reluctant to pay zakat through zakat institutions due to lack of trust. This study examines whether perceived board management and governmental model may influence zakat payers’ trust on zakat institutions. Using questionnaire survey on 184 zakat payers, this study shows that perceived board management influences zakat payers’ trust on zakat institution...

  5. Air crew exposure on board of long-haul flights of the Belgian airlines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verhaegen, F.; Poffijn, A.

    2000-01-01

    New European radiation protection recommendations state that measures need to be taken for flight crew members whose annual radiation exposure exceeds 1 mSv. This will be the case for flight crew members who accumulate most of their flying hours on long-haul flights. The Recommendations for the Implementation of the Basic Safety Standards Directive states that for annual exposure levels between 1 and 6 mSv individual dose estimates should be obtained, whereas for annual exposures exceeding 6 mSv, which might rarely occur, record keeping with appropriate medical surveillance is recommended. To establish the exposure level of Belgian air crews, radiation measurements were performed on board of a total of 44 long-haul flights of the Belgian airlines. The contribution of low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation (photons, electrons, protons) was assessed by using TLD-700H detectors. The exposure to high-LET radiation (mostly neutrons) was measured with bubble detectors. Results were compared to calculations with an adapted version of the computer code CARI. For the low-LET radiation the calculations were found to be in good agreement with the measurements. The measurements of the neutron dose were consistently lower than the calculations. With the current flight schedules used by the Belgian airlines, air crew members are unlikely to receive annual doses exceeding 4 mSv. (author)

  6. The Kostyuk report: Corporate board practices in Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander N. Kostyuk

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The author reports on the corporate board practices in Ukraine. The roles of board of directors are mainly about control. The strategic and advisory roles are not developed. The mode of strategic involvement of the members of supervisory boards in Ukraine is mainly about reviewing and approving. Thus, the board of directors in Ukraine is "a rubber stamp". The degree of independence of directors is very low. Major board practices in Ukraine are: small number of independent directors on the board; low frequency of meeting of the board; small number of committees on the board; the management board influences the supervisory board. Board practices in Ukraine need a sort of recommendations, similar to those, made in UK at the end of 1990s, and at the start of the third millennium.

  7. 49 CFR 1141.1 - Procedures to calculate interest rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... the portion of the year covered by the interest rate. A simple multiplication of the nominal rate by... 49 Transportation 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Procedures to calculate interest rates. 1141.1... TRANSPORTATION BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RULES OF PRACTICE PROCEDURES TO CALCULATE INTEREST RATES...

  8. Comparison of Thermal Creep Strain Calculation Results Using Time Hardening and Strain Hardening Rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Junehyung; Cheon, Jinsik; Lee, Byoungoon; Lee, Chanbock

    2014-01-01

    One of the design criteria for the fuel rod in PGSFR is the thermal creep strain of the cladding, because the cladding is exposed to a high temperature for a long time during reactor operation period. In general, there are two kind of calculation scheme for thermal creep strain: time hardening and strain hardening rules. In this work, thermal creep strain calculation results for HT9 cladding by using time hardening and strain hardening rules are compared by employing KAERI's current metallic fuel performance analysis code, MACSIS. Also, thermal creep strain calculation results by using ANL's metallic fuel performance analysis code, LIFE-METAL which adopts strain hardening rule are compared with those by using MACSIS. Thermal creep strain calculation results for HT9 cladding by using time hardening and strain hardening rules were compared by employing KAERI's current metallic fuel performance analysis code, MACSIS. Also, thermal creep strain calculation results by using ANL's metallic fuel performance analysis code, LIFE-METAL which adopts strain hardening rule were compared with those by using MACSIS. Tertiary creep started earlier in time hardening rule than in strain hardening rule. Also, calculation results by MACSIS with strain hardening and those obtained by using LIFE-METAL were almost identical to each other

  9. Pricing Currency Risk under Currency Boards

    OpenAIRE

    Schmukler, Sergio L.; Servén, Luis

    2002-01-01

    Currency risk is one of the two components of the total interest rate differential. Hard pegs, such as currency boards, are meant to reduce or even eliminate currency risk, thus, reducing domestic interest rates. This paper investigates the patterns and determinants of the currency risk premium in two currency boards—Argentina and Hong Kong. Despite the presumed rigidity of currency boards, the currency premium is almost always positive and at times very large. Its term structure is usually u...

  10. IBIS: the imager on-board integral

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ubertini, P.; Bazzano, A.; Lebrun, F.; Goldwurm, A.; Laurent, P.; Mirabel, I.F.; Vigroux, L.; Di Cocco, G.; Labanti, C.; Bird, A.J.; Broenstad, K.; La Rosa, G.; Sacco, B.; Quadrini, E.M.; Ramsey, B.; Weisskopf, M.C.; Reglero, V.; Sabau, L.; Staubert, R.; Zdziarski, A.A.

    2003-01-01

    The IBIS telescope is the high angular resolution gamma-ray imager on-board the INTEGRAL Observatory, successfully launched from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on October 2002. This medium size ESA project, planned for a 2 year mission with possible extension to 5, is devoted to the observation of the gamma-ray sky in the energy range from 3 keV to 10 MeV (Winkler 2001). The IBIS imaging system is based on two independent solid state detector arrays optimised for low (15-1000 keV) and high (0.175-10.0 MeV) energies surrounded by an active VETO System. This high efficiency shield is essential to minimise the background induced by high energy particles in the highly ex-centric out of van Allen belt orbit. A Tungsten Coded Aperture Mask, 16 mm thick and ∼ 1 squared meter in dimension is the imaging device. The IBIS telescope will serve the scientific community at large providing a unique combination of unprecedented high energy wide field imaging capability coupled with broad band spectroscopy and high resolution timing over the energy range from X to gamma rays. To date the IBIS telescope is working nominally in orbit since more than 9 month. (authors)

  11. Development of an ATCA IPMI Controller Mezzanine Board and its usage on an ATCA ROD Evaluator board for the ATLAS LAr upgrade

    CERN Document Server

    "DUMONT DAYOT, N; The ATLAS collaboration; "CAP, S; "DUMONT DAYOT, N; "FOURNIER, L; "LETENDRE, N; "PERROT, G; "Wingerter, I

    2011-01-01

    In the context of the LHC upgrades, a new Read-Out Driver (ROD) board for the ATLAS LAr calorimeter is being developed. xTCA (Advanced/Micro Telecom Computing Architecture) is becoming a standard in high energy physics and is a serious candidate for future readout systems. We will present our current developments to master ATCA and to integrate a large number of very high speed links (96 links/8.5 Gbps) on a ROD Evaluator ATCA board. To manage our ROD Evaluator, we have developed a versatile ATCA IPMI controller for ATCA boards which is FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) compliant.

  12. The Powerful Antitakeover Force of Staggered Boards: Theory, Evidence and Policy

    OpenAIRE

    Lucian Arye Bebchuk; John C. Coates IV; Guhan Subramanian

    2002-01-01

    Staggered boards, which a majority of public companies now have, provide a powerful antitakeover defense, stronger than is commonly recognized. They provide antitakeover protection both by (i) forcing any hostile bidder, no matter when it emerges, to wait at least one year to gain control of the board and (ii) requiring such a bidder to win two elections far apart in time rather than a one-time referendum on its offer. Using a new data set of hostile bids in the five-year period 1996-2000, we...

  13. Investigation on the Effect of Kenaf Core and Stalk Fiber on the Medium Density Fiber Board Properties Made of Poplar Fibers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fahimeh SH.Alizadeh

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to optimize the use of material non-forest resources, in this study the possibility of using the kenaf stalk fibers mixed with poplar fibers in producing medium density fiber board was considered. Variable factors such as density at two levels (0.55, 0.75 g/cm3 and the percentage incorporation of fiber (%50 poplar fibers, - %50 kenaf core fiber, %50 poplar fiber, -% 50 kenaf stalk fiber and %100 poplar fibers were considered. Steaming time and temperature (175°C, 10min, press time and temperature (5 min, 175°C, Pressing pressure (30 kg/cm3, fiber cake moisture (%12 and urea-formaldehyde resin with Concentration of %50 of the study factors were fixed. Results show that adding kenaf core fibers to the poplar fibers increases modulus of elasticity and water absorption but thickness swelling reduces. Increased density in board made with kenaf core has caused increase in bending strength, modulus of elasticity and internal bond strength and their water absorption and thickness swelling after 2 and 24 hours were competitive with poplar (MDF. On the other hand Populus fiber– kenaf stalk board mechanical and physical properties were competitive with (MDF board made of %100 poplar fibers. Finally we can say that according to the statistical analysis, the best treatment in this study was using kenaf core fibers, in making poplar (MDF with 0.75 g/cm3 density.

  14. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CALCULATION OF NORM TIME EDGE THINNING OPERATIONS PARTS OF FOOTWEAR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MALCOCI Marina

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available It is known that regulations allow the introduction in production regimes efficient operation of equipment and methods of rational organization of production. To ensure accuracy imposed regulations must meet the following conditions: to take into account the main factors influencing consumption of work; depending on the types of production which they are intended to ensure adequate precision. In this work the analysis literature authors proposed a new relationship for calculating the standard time for the operation of thinning also set the value of two coefficients K1 and K2. K1 is a constant coefficient for thinning operation of 1,0549; and K2 - a constant that depends on the degree of automation of the machine. Knowing the degree of mechanization machines and time required to perform operation coefficient was determined K2, namely Km – 1,0833; KM – 1,0460; KA – 0,0785. Since the relationship for the calculation of the time aids not it into consideration that a part may contain from 3 to 5 types of profiles, it has been proposed that it be included in the relationship, so there was obtained a new relationship calculation. The study conducted also allowed the optimization of computing time assistant relationship, including the number of adjustments in relation computing machine. Proper use of normative values, taking into account the type of machine, but also their knowledge calclulul methodology allow us to identify the following positive effects on the company's footwear: reducing workload; achieving balanced labor standards; saving human effort; reducing worker fatigue etc.

  15. Bullying in German Boarding Schools: A Pilot Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeiffer, Jens P.; Pinquart, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Adolescents who attend boarding schools share more time with peers than do students from day schools which, in turn, could provide more opportunities for bullying. Furthermore, some students attend boarding schools because of former social problems. In order to analyse the role of these factors, we examined the bullying behaviour of 706 German…

  16. Course on hybrid calculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weill, J.; Tellier; Bonnemay; Craigne; Chareton; Di Falco

    1969-02-01

    After a definition of hybrid calculation (combination of analogue and digital calculation) with a distinction between series and parallel hybrid computing, and a description of a hybrid computer structure and of task sharing between computers, this course proposes a description of hybrid hardware used in Saclay and Cadarache computing centres, and of operations performed by these systems. The next part addresses issues related to programming languages and software. The fourth part describes how a problem is organised for its processing on these computers. Methods of hybrid analysis are then addressed: resolution of optimisation problems, of partial differential equations, and of integral equations by means of different methods (gradient, maximum principle, characteristics, functional approximation, time slicing, Monte Carlo, Neumann iteration, Fischer iteration)

  17. Information processing requirements for on-board monitoring of automatic landing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorensen, J. A.; Karmarkar, J. S.

    1977-01-01

    A systematic procedure is presented for determining the information processing requirements for on-board monitoring of automatic landing systems. The monitoring system detects landing anomalies through use of appropriate statistical tests. The time-to-correct aircraft perturbations is determined from covariance analyses using a sequence of suitable aircraft/autoland/pilot models. The covariance results are used to establish landing safety and a fault recovery operating envelope via an event outcome tree. This procedure is demonstrated with examples using the NASA Terminal Configured Vehicle (B-737 aircraft). The procedure can also be used to define decision height, assess monitoring implementation requirements, and evaluate alternate autoland configurations.

  18. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Document Server

    2004-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its one-hundred-and-twenty-seventh meeting on 4, 5 and 6 October. During the meeting, the Governing Board heard a report by the actuary on the Actuarial Review as at 1 January 2004. The Governing Board then examined the conclusions to be drawn and the action to be taken as a result of the Review. During its first half-day meeting the Board heard a report on the meetings of the CERN Finance Committee and Council on 15 and 16 September. As a result, the Board asked its Chairman to consult the President of the CERN Council in order to find out about the terms of reference and the composition of the working group on pensions set up by the Council. Next the Board examined a request for compensation to the Fund for the reduction in active members between 2001 and 2003. It was the third such request which the Governing Board would be making to the CERN Council following the latter's 1995 decision to reduce staff numbers. The request related to the previous three years (...

  19. 76 FR 7198 - Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public Meeting of a Science Advisory Board...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-09

    ..., preferably at least 10 days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to process your... Board can be found on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SAB... light of EPA's research needs. Previous SAB budget advisories are on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa...

  20. 78 FR 11865 - President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-20

    .... Brown, Jr., White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, U.S. Department of... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges...

  1. Cultural differences and board gender diversity

    OpenAIRE

    Carrasco , Amélia; Francoeur , Claude; Réal , Isabelle; Laffarga , Joaquina; Ruiz-Barbadillo , Emiliano

    2012-01-01

    International audience; As evidence of the continuing interest raised by "board gender diversity", major studies (Catalyst, 2008; World Economic Forum, 2010; European Board Diversity Analysis, 2010) were recently carried out and have all led to reports confirming the imbalance of women on boards and the need to address this issue. Moreover, our analysis of these reports indicates that the low proportion of women observed on corporate boards varies across countries, which raises the question a...

  2. Calculation of the Incremental Conditional Core Damage Probability on the Extension of Allowed Outage Time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Dae Il; Han, Sang Hoon

    2006-01-01

    RG 1.177 requires that the conditional risk (incremental conditional core damage probability and incremental conditional large early release probability: ICCDP and ICLERP), given that a specific component is out of service (OOS), be quantified for a permanent change of the allowed outage time (AOT) of a safety system. An AOT is the length of time that a particular component or system is permitted to be OOS while the plant is operating. The ICCDP is defined as: ICCDP = [(conditional CDF with the subject equipment OOS)- (baseline CDF with nominal expected equipment unavailabilities)] [duration of the single AOT under consideration]. Any event enabling the component OOS can initiate the time clock for the limiting condition of operation for a nuclear power plant. Thus, the largest ICCDP among the ICCDPs estimated from any occurrence of the basic events for the component fault tree should be selected for determining whether the AOT can be extended or not. If the component is under a preventive maintenance, the conditional risk can be straightforwardly calculated without changing the CCF probability. The main concern is the estimations of the CCF probability because there are the possibilities of the failures of other similar components due to the same root causes. The quantifications of the risk, given that a subject equipment is in a failed state, are performed by setting the identified event of subject equipment to TRUE. The CCF probabilities are also changed according to the identified failure cause. In the previous studies, however, the ICCDP was quantified with the consideration of the possibility of a simultaneous occurrence of two CCF events. Based on the above, we derived the formulas of the CCF probabilities for the cases where a specific component is in a failed state and we presented sample calculation results of the ICCDP for the low pressure safety injection system (LPSIS) of Ulchin Unit 3

  3. Variation in Part-Time Work among Pediatric Subspecialties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freed, Gary L; Boyer, Debra M; Van, Kenton D; Macy, Michelle L; McCormick, Julie; Leslie, Laurel K

    2018-04-01

    To assess the part-time workforce and average hours worked per week among pediatric subspecialists in the 15 medical subspecialties certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. We examined data from pediatric subspecialists who enrolled in Maintenance of Certification with the American Board of Pediatrics from 2009 to 2015. Data were collected via an online survey. Providers indicated whether they worked full time or part time and estimated the average number of hours worked per week in clinical, research, education, and administrative tasks, excluding time on call. We calculated and compared the range of hours worked by those in full- and part-time positions overall, by demographic characteristics, and by subspecialty. Overall, 9.6% of subspecialists worked part time. There was significant variation in part-time employment rates between subspecialties, ranging from 3.8% among critical care pediatricians to 22.9% among developmental-behavioral pediatricians. Women, American medical graduates, and physicians older than 70 years of age reported higher rates of part-time employment than men, international medical graduates, and younger physicians. There was marked variation in the number of hours worked across subspecialties. Most, but not all, full-time subspecialists reported working at least 40 hours per week. More than one-half of physicians working part time in hematology and oncology, pulmonology, and transplant hepatology reported working at least 40 hours per week. There are unique patterns of part-time employment and hours worked per week among pediatric medical subspecialists that make simple head counts inadequate to determine the effective workforce. Our findings are limited to the 15 American Board of Pediatrics-certified medical subspecialties. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. 5 CFR 1204.11 - Request for access to Board records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...'s knowledge and belief. [64 FR 51039, Sept. 21, 1999, as amended at 65 FR 48886, Aug. 10, 2000] ... “unusual circumstances” exist, the Board may extend the time for deciding the request by no more than 10...) To arrange with the Board a different time frame for processing the request or a changed request. (2...

  5. In regard to the change of the editorial board and the advisory board of the Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bakir Mehić

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The most vital part of a scientific journal is the Editorial board and Advisory board. So, it is never good that the composition of these boards lasts longer than 2-3 years.With the first number of BJBMS in 2014, a new composition of the Editorial board and Advisory Board of this journal was published. They consist of eminent scientists with adequate qualifications from nine countries and who can actively contribute to the good management of the journal and its further development. Their tasks will be: -Supporting and promotion of the journal (being true ambassadors of the journal,-Writing editorials, reviews and commentaries on works from the field of their expertise,-Giving opinions and suggestions on the management and policy of the journal, with the timely identification of the upcoming challenges. Commitment to upholding the ethics of publishing with impartiality and confidentiality, the fight against plagiarism and multiple or simultaneous publication of articles will remain a priority in the work of the Editorial Board and Advisory Board of BJBMS. Also, the newly appointed boards will continue to work in the way of protection of copyright for authors who were victims of plagiarism. In this sense, the editor in chief, together with the Editorial Board will take measures in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee for Ethics in publishing [1].Quality assurance in publishing and also in BJBMS is focused on the detection of forged data, images, and plagiarized articles. In its future work Editorial Board of BJBMS is obliged to pay attention to supporting academic integrity, ensuring the integrity of academic records and intellectual property. This latter implies: -Request for evidence of ethics for the approved research, that is, authors will be asked to prove that they obtained the consent of the patient for the study or in the case of experiments on animals, which methods were used so the animals would not suffer?-Ensuring that

  6. Calculation of retention time tolerance windows with absolute confidence from shared liquid chromatographic retention data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boswell, Paul G; Abate-Pella, Daniel; Hewitt, Joshua T

    2015-09-18

    Compound identification by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is a tedious process, mainly because authentic standards must be run on a user's system to be able to confidently reject a potential identity from its retention time and mass spectral properties. Instead, it would be preferable to use shared retention time/index data to narrow down the identity, but shared data cannot be used to reject candidates with an absolute level of confidence because the data are strongly affected by differences between HPLC systems and experimental conditions. However, a technique called "retention projection" was recently shown to account for many of the differences. In this manuscript, we discuss an approach to calculate appropriate retention time tolerance windows for projected retention times, potentially making it possible to exclude candidates with an absolute level of confidence, without needing to have authentic standards of each candidate on hand. In a range of multi-segment gradients and flow rates run among seven different labs, the new approach calculated tolerance windows that were significantly more appropriate for each retention projection than global tolerance windows calculated for retention projections or linear retention indices. Though there were still some small differences between the labs that evidently were not taken into account, the calculated tolerance windows only needed to be relaxed by 50% to make them appropriate for all labs. Even then, 42% of the tolerance windows calculated in this study without standards were narrower than those required by WADA for positive identification, where standards must be run contemporaneously. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. A histogram memory plug-in board for IBM-PC based nuclear pulse height analysis applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behere, Anita; Ghodgaonkar, M.D.

    1989-01-01

    The histogram memory PC plug-in board has 8K x 24 dual ported memory with access from PC as well as from on board data acquisition logic. The arbitration control logic monitors the memory access requests from both the sources and honours them on first come first served basis. The data acquisition logic takes only 840 ns. to perform Read-Modify-Write memory operation. The data acquisition logic incorporates ADC interface logic for connecting to a NIM ADC which is normally housed in a NIM system along with other required front-end processing modules. Two interval timers are provided on the board. One of them provides Live Time/Clock Time counting and the other generates a 200 ms interrupt which is used for live spectrum display. The board is fully supported with system and data processing software developed in Turbo Pascal. (author)

  8. 75 FR 55618 - Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-13

    ... POSTAL SERVICE Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting DATES AND TIMES: Tuesday, September 21... 21, at 10 a.m. (Closed) 1. Strategic Issues. 2. Pricing. 3. Financial Matters. 4. Personnel Matters and Compensation Issues. 5. Governors' Executive Session--Discussion of prior agenda items and Board...

  9. Elderly’s Family Life Supplies - Innovative Chinese Checkers Game Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    CHAO, Fanglin

    2017-09-01

    The product design course for industrial design students was implemented in our university which spans 9 weeks. Throughout the creativity rules and field study, students achieve high standard on problem identification and concept generation. The prototype test with elderly in design projects is helpful to make students with deeper understand user demand, which in turn enhance the concept further. Traditional Chinese checkers are redesigned using special checkers with different height or shape and specific rules to increase user interest and game diversity. Game is more challenging due to location weighting on score calculation to planning its strategies. Redesign Chinese checkers game board include reconfigurable board and several shape checkers. Checkers has 3 parts: standing ring body, the base body, both support the side holding structure. The body shows slightly concave to facilitate the fingers hold. The upper portion of the body is provided with different shapes extension section which can be engaged with base body. Player move the checker to the opposite target area. When one of player moved all the checkers to the opposite target area; they shift to the scoring calculation stage. The participant may develop specific strategy to gain higher score by maximized weighted checkers into its target block regions.

  10. On-board data management study for EOPAP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davisson, L. D.

    1975-01-01

    The requirements, implementation techniques, and mission analysis associated with on-board data management for EOPAP were studied. SEASAT-A was used as a baseline, and the storage requirements, data rates, and information extraction requirements were investigated for each of the following proposed SEASAT sensors: a short pulse 13.9 GHz radar, a long pulse 13.9 GHz radar, a synthetic aperture radar, a multispectral passive microwave radiometer facility, and an infrared/visible very high resolution radiometer (VHRR). Rate distortion theory was applied to determine theoretical minimum data rates and compared with the rates required by practical techniques. It was concluded that practical techniques can be used which approach the theoretically optimum based upon an empirically determined source random process model. The results of the preceding investigations were used to recommend an on-board data management system for (1) data compression through information extraction, optimal noiseless coding, source coding with distortion, data buffering, and data selection under command or as a function of data activity, (2) for command handling, (3) for spacecraft operation and control, and (4) for experiment operation and monitoring.

  11. Calculation of nonzero-temperature Casimir forces in the time domain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pan, Kai; Reid, M. T. Homer; McCauley, Alexander P.; Rodriguez, Alejandro W.; White, Jacob K.; Johnson, Steven G.

    2011-01-01

    We show how to compute Casimir forces at nonzero temperatures with time-domain electromagnetic simulations, for example, using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Compared to our previous zero-temperature time-domain method, only a small modification is required, but we explain that some care is required to properly capture the zero-frequency contribution. We validate the method against analytical and numerical frequency-domain calculations, and show a surprising high-temperature disappearance of a nonmonotonic behavior previously demonstrated in a pistonlike geometry.

  12. Ergonomics intervention on an alternative design of a spinal board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zadry, Hilma Raimona; Susanti, Lusi; Rahmayanti, Dina

    2017-09-01

    A spinal board is the evacuation tool of first aid to help the injured spinal cord. The existing spinal board has several weaknesses, both in terms of user comfort and the effectiveness and efficiency of the evacuation process. This study designs an ergonomic spinal board using the quality function deployment approach. A preliminary survey was conducted through direct observation and interviews with volunteers from the Indonesian Red Cross. Data gathered were translated into a questionnaire and answered by 47 participants in West Sumatra. The results indicate that the selection of materials, the application of strap systems as well as the addition of features are very important in designing an ergonomic spinal board. The data were used in designing an ergonomic spinal board. The use of anthropometric data ensures that this product can accommodate safety and comfort when immobilized, as well as the flexibility and speed of the rescue evacuation process.

  13. Decision 13-2009 in the matter of a review by the NWT Public Utilities Board regarding customer complaints of high consumption on power bills from Northland Utilities Limited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acorn, J.

    2009-01-01

    In February 2009, in response to customer complaints, the Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board requested that Northland Utilities conduct a review of at least the last 3 billing cycles to detect and explain unusually high power bills. Northland responded that the complaints were based primarily on price, not usage, and that the findings can be attributed to rate adjustments as well as colder weather. However, the Board decided to examine certain aspects of Northland's response in detail and initiated an inquiry under section 52 of the Public Utilities Act. The Board determined that Northland Utilities' process for investigating customer complaints was too informal and without any clear structure, resulting in confusion for some customers. The Board directed the utility to develop a document for dealing with customer concerns that clearly outlines the rights and responsibilities of both the utility and the customers. The Board also directed Northland Utilities to reduce the $500 threshold for a company-initiated review of an account to $400. This document addressed issues regarding estimated versus actual meter readings; the number of days in a billing cycle; the prominence of consumption and overall cost on a bill; bill calculators; customer consumption monitoring; pre-paid meters; and meter accuracy. Specific customer complaints were included along with a summary of Board directives.

  14. Are board meetings proactive or reactive to performance?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Wang

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the intensity of board activity, as represented by board meeting frequency, and firm financial performance, using data from the top 500 Australian companies. Firm performance measures include return on assets, return on equity and shareholder return; several control variables are introduced in the analysis. The results indicate that board meeting frequency has a positive impact on subsequent shareholder return. Regarding the explanatory factors for the level of board activity, it is reported that firms with more board committees tend to have relatively more board and committee meetings; firms with larger boards have less board meetings. In addition, lower managerial ownership leads to more committee meetings.

  15. Citizen advisory boards: An empirical model for choosing goals and methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kunsberg, P.

    1994-12-01

    This is a study of Citizen Advisory Boards (CABS) undertaken for the Department of Energy (DOE) to draw practical insights from the accumulated experience of CAB members and agency officials who have worked with these boards over many years. Hence the main research tool is in-depth interviews of these individuals. In addition, the study relies on field observations of CABs at work, historical documentation of individual boards, and a large body of academic, professional, and government literature. The DOE is in the process of establishing Site Specific Advisory Boards (SSABs) at most of its major facilities in order to provide for community involvement in the DOE environmental restoration and environmental management programs, but these boards initiated by DOE do not yet have enough of a track-record for a study of this type. Consequently, the study focused on CABs at six other federal agencies which have had substantial experience with boards that are similar in composition and purpose to the SSABs. The study examined common problem that confront virtually every CAB in its organization and its decision-making process. For example, each board faces difficult issues in defining its goals and representational responsibilities, selection of members, selection of issues, reaching agreement on recommendations to the parent agency, getting responsive action from the parent agency, and evaluating the board`s success over time. An effort was made to identify solutions or best approaches to these fundamental problems such that the recommended approach has broad application to citizen advisory boards concerned with environmental issues. The conclusions of the study are summarized in a model which incorporates the optimal approaches discovered with respect to each of the critical issues. While acknowledging that the particular circumstances of a CAB may call for individual variations, the model provides a fairly comprehensive description of recommended features of a CAB.

  16. Calculation method for control rod dropping time in reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nogami, Takeki; Kato, Yoshifumi; Ishino, Jun-ichi; Doi, Isamu.

    1996-01-01

    If a control rod starts dropping, the dropping speed is rapidly increased, then settled substantially constant, rapidly decreased when it reaches a dash pot. A second detection signal generated by removing an AC component from a first detection signal is differentiated twice. The time when the maximum value among the twice differentiated values is generated is determined as a time when the control rods starts dropping. The time when minimum value among the twice differentiated values is generated is determined as a time when the control rod reaches the dash pot of the reactor. The measuring time within a range from the time when the control rod starts dropping to the time when the control rod reaches the dash pot of the reactor is determined. As a result, processing for the calculation of the dropping start time and dash pot reaching time of the control rod can be automatized. Further, it is suffice to conduct differentiation twice till the reaching time, which can facilitate the processing thereby enabling to determine a reliable time range. (N.H.)

  17. An agenda for board research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Guerra

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Scholarly investigations on the board of directors, although intense from the mid-1990s onward, did not lead to entirely convincing results. This study proposes discussion on building a multidisciplinary and integrated theoretical framework able to capture the complexity and distinctive dimensions of the board as a group decision-making process. This is achieved through an essay developed from analytical and descriptive review of the literature. A synthesis on board research is presented, aiming to understand theoretical models lenses used to study corporate governance issues. The strengths and weaknesses of these models are pointed out, and their influence on board investigation is observed. This essay concludes by proposing a research agenda that considers the addition of psychological and sociological approaches to economic models of the analysis of group decision-making

  18. Board game

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brennan, N.S.

    1982-01-01

    A board game comprises a board, a number of counters and two dice. The board is marked to provide a central area, representing the nucleus of an atom, and six or more annular rings extending concentrically around the central area, the rings being divided into 2,8,18,32,48 and 72 squares. Each ring represents an electron shell, and some of the squares are numbered, the number representing the atomic number of different elements. (author)

  19. Does firm performance affect board independence?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Wang

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper seeks to shed some light on the antecedents of board independence. Specifically, it attempts to test the conceptual frameworks which make different predictions about the effect of firm performance on the level of board independence. The results provide support for the perspective that appointing more independent members to the boards may merely represent firms’ attempts to comply with institutional pressures. It is found that higher blockholder shareholdings lead to lower independence on the board, and audit and remuneration committees. Moreover, larger firms have relatively more independent directors sitting on nomination and remuneration committees.

  20. Taxation of income from tourists’ accommodation: case of Romanian boarding houses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doina Pacurari

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the main aspects regarding taxation of income which the boarding houses’ owners get from tourists’ accommodation services. Whether they unfold the activity as legal person or obtain receipts as natural person, the boarding houses’ owners must pay tax to the budget. The tax calculation, term of payment, submission of tax declaration, these are some issues approached in this paper. The level of taxation affects accommodation tariffs and so their competitiveness. The fiscal optimization represents a very important aspect for business administration, irrespective of size of the economic entity.

  1. Application of OpenCV in Asus Tinker Board for face recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei-Yu; Wu, Frank; Hu, Chung-Chiang

    2017-06-01

    The rise of the Internet of Things to promote the development of technology development board, the processor speed of operation and memory capacity increases, more and more applications, can already be completed before the data on the board computing, combined with the network to sort the information after Sent to the cloud for processing, so that the front of the development board is no longer simply retrieve the data device. This study uses Asus Tinker Board to install OpenCV for real-time face recognition and capture of the face, the acquired face to the Microsoft Cognitive Service cloud database for artificial intelligence comparison, to find out what the face now represents the mood. The face of the corresponding person name, and finally, and then through the text of Speech to read the name of the name to complete the identification of the action. This study was developed using the Asus Tinker Board, which uses ARM-based CPUs with high efficiency and low power consumption, plus improvements in memory and hardware performance for the development board.

  2. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Luc Vos with regard to advancement. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 14 to 28 June 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  3. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2001-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Olivier Francis Martin with regard to indefinite contract. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 8 to 25 June 2001.

  4. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Aloïs Girardoz with regard to classification and advancement. As the appellant has not objected, the Board's report and the Director-General's decision will be brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 15 to 29 August 2003. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  5. The Impact of Corporate Board Meetings on Corporate Performance ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Our findings suggest a statistically significant and positive association between the frequency of corporate board meetings and corporate performance, implying that SA boards that meet more frequently tend to generate higher financial performance. A further investigation indicates a significant non-monotonic link between ...

  6. 78 FR 14297 - President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and... Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities scheduled for March 6, 2013, and... for a date to be announced in the future. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John P. Brown, Designated...

  7. Accounting for time-dependent effects in biofuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions calculations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kendall, Alissa; Chang, Brenda; Sharpe, Benjamin

    2009-09-15

    This paper proposes a time correction factor (TCF) to properly account for the timing of land use change-derived greenhouse gas emissions in the biofuels life cycle. Land use change emissions occur at the outset of biofuel feedstock production, and are typically amortized over an assumed time horizon to assign the burdens of land use change to multiple generations of feedstock crops. Greenhouse gas intensity calculations amortize emissions by dividing them equally over a time horizon, overlooking the fact that the effect of a greenhouse gas increases with the time it remains in the atmosphere. The TCF is calculated based on the relative climate change effect of an emission occurring at the outset of biofuel feedstock cultivation versus one amortized over a time horizon. For time horizons between 10 and 50 years, the TCF varies between 1.7 and 1.8 for carbon dioxide emissions, indicating that the actual climate change effect of an emission is 70-80% higher than the effect of its amortized values. The TCF has broad relevance for correcting the treatment of emissions timing in other life cycle assessment applications, such as emissions from capital investments for production systems or manufacturing emissions for renewable energy technologies.

  8. Statement by the outgoing Chairperson of the Board of Governors regarding the working arrangements of the Board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    At the request of the outgoing Chairperson of the Board of Governors, her statement delivered in the Board of Governors meeting on 22 September 2009, regarding the working arrangements of the Board, is reproduced herewith for information

  9. A revised method to calculate the concentration time integral of atmospheric pollutants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voelz, E.; Schultz, H.

    1980-01-01

    It is possible to calculate the spreading of a plume in the atmosphere under nonstationary and nonhomogeneous conditions by introducing the ''particle-in-cell'' method (PIC). This is a numerical method by which the transport of and the diffusion in the plume is reproduced in such a way, that particles representing the concentration are moved time step-wise in restricted regions (cells) and separately with the advection velocity and the diffusion velocity. This has a systematical advantage over the steady state Gaussian plume model usually used. The fixed-point concentration time integral is calculated directly instead of being substituted by the locally integrated concentration at a constant time as is done in the Gaussian model. In this way inaccuracies due to the above mentioned computational techniques may be avoided for short-time emissions, as may be seen by the fact that both integrals do not lead to the same results. Also the PIC method enables one to consider the height-dependent wind speed and its variations while the Gaussian model can be used only with averaged wind data. The concentration time integral calculated by the PIC method results in higher maximum values in shorter distances to the source. This is an effect often observed in measurements. (author)

  10. Women on board: female board membership as a form of elite democratization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heemskerk, E.M.; Fennema, M.

    2014-01-01

    Corporate elites have been all-male bastions until the twenty-first century. The recent inclusion of women in the corporate elite needs explanation because it is an abrupt change in recruitment practices. We consider female presence in corporate boards as a sign of the democratization of elite

  11. On-board aircrew dosimetry using a semiconductor spectrometer

    CERN Document Server

    Spurny, F

    2002-01-01

    Radiation fields on board aircraft contain particles with energies up to a few hundred MeV. Many instruments have been tested to characterise these fields. This paper presents the results of studies on the use of an Si diode spectrometer to characterise these fields. The spectrometer has been in use since spring 2000 on more than 130 return flights to monitor and characterise the on-board field. During a Czech Airlines flight from Prague to New York it was possible to register the effects of an intense solar flare, (ground level event, GLE 60), which occurred on 15 April 2001. It was found that the number of deposition events registered was increased by about 70% and the dose in Si by a factor of 2.0 when compared with the presence of galactic cosmic rays alone. Directly measured data are interpreted with respect to on-earth reference field calibration (photons, CERN high-energy particles); it was found that this approach leads to encouraging results and should be followed up. (7 refs).

  12. The effect of national cultural differences of board members on integrated reporting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Alfiero

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This research, based on stakeholder theory and the national cultural dimensions, aims to test the influence of foreigners on board and its size on Integrated Reporting (IR practices. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,058 European companies from 18 different countries, who adopted or not the IR for the year 2015, and it relies on a Logit. The dependent variable is a dummy (presenting or not the IR and the independent variables are represented by the board characteristics (foreigners and size. The impact of the critical mass on the presence of foreigners and the cultural dimension on the basis of directors’ nationality was tested relying on the masculinity/femininity dimension of Hofstede. Besides, the directors’ country of origin was considered, namely if they belong to the major European countries presenting a wider IR diffusion. The relationship between foreigners on board and IR is found to be negative. This means that companies with at least one foreigner are less inclined to adopt IR. The results show that the boards with more of three foreign administrators have a major propensity to adopt the IR. The membership of the directors in countries with a feminist culture also has a positive effect.

  13. Extracting continuum information from Ψ(t) in time-dependent wave-packet calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madsen, L. B.; Nikolopoulos, L. A. A.; Kjeldsen, T. K.; Fernandez, J.

    2007-01-01

    The theory of measurement projection operators in grid-based time-dependent wave-packet calculations involving electronic continua in atoms and molecules is discussed. A hierarchy of projection operators relevant in their individual restricted configuration spaces is presented. At asymptotically large distances from the scattering or interaction center the projection operators involve plane waves only. To reach this asymptotic regime, however, large propagation times and large boxes may be required. At somewhat smaller distances from the scattering center, the projection operators are expressed in terms of analytical single-center Coulomb scattering waves with incoming wave boundary conditions. If propagation of the wave packet to these asymptotic regimes is impeded, the projection operators involve the exact scattering states which are not readily available in the wave-packet calculation and hence must be supplied by an additional, typically very demanding, calculation. The present approach suggests an exact way of analyzing the timely problem of the one-electron continuum in nonperturbative calculations. A key feature is that the propagated wave packet includes every interaction of the full Hamiltonian. The practicality of the proposed method is illustrated by the nontrivial example of strong-field ionization of the molecular hydrogen ion. Finally, the extension of the presented ideas to single and double ionization of two-electron systems is discussed

  14. The Role of the Environmental Management Site Specific Advisory Board under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, With Emphasis on the Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board - 12482

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santistevan, Menice B. [Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board, 1660 Old Pecos Trail, Suite B, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 (United States)

    2012-07-01

    The Environmental Management Site Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) is comprised of eight Citizens' Advisory Boards, chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management for the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). The purpose of the EM SSAB is to provide the DOE with recommendations regarding Environmental Management issues from legacy waste produced at major sites across the DOE Complex. The Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board (NNMCAB) is the site specific advisory board to the DOE on issues of environmental monitoring, remediation, waste management and long-term stewardship at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The other boards are located at: Hanford, Idaho, Nevada, Paducah, Portsmouth, Oak Ridge and Savannah River. Using broad citizen outreach and input, the SSAB provides an official mechanism for the citizenry at each of these sites to monitor current activities affecting the region and also to have input into the prioritization of future activities. 'The mission of the EM SSAB is to more directly involve stakeholders in EM Planning and decision-making processes for the nuclear weapons complex cleanup. DOE has various means of involving the public in its planning and decision-making processes; the EM SSAB is only one component of EM's public participation program, and is not intended to be an exclusive means of public participation. It is the policy of DOE and EM to conduct it programs in an open and responsive manner, thereby encouraging and providing the opportunity for public participation in its planning and decision-making processes. EM SSAB members are appointed to a two year term and may serve up to three terms. During this time, members are able to hear many presentation from subject matter experts, attend several site tours at their site and across the DOE complex and are able to express their concerns and give input to the prioritization of clean up at each

  15. 77 FR 49463 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-16

    ... transaction of National Science Board business. AGENCY HOLDING MEETING: National Science Board. DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. SUBJECT MATTER: Chairman's remarks, consideration and... Meszaros, [email protected] , (703) 292-7000. Ann Bushmiller, NSB Senior Legal Counsel. [FR Doc. 2012-20197...

  16. On-board attitude determination for the Explorer Platform satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayaraman, C.; Class, B.

    1992-01-01

    This paper describes the attitude determination algorithm for the Explorer Platform satellite. The algorithm, which is baselined on the Landsat code, is a six-element linear quadratic state estimation processor, in the form of a Kalman filter augmented by an adaptive filter process. Improvements to the original Landsat algorithm were required to meet mission pointing requirements. These consisted of a more efficient sensor processing algorithm and the addition of an adaptive filter which acts as a check on the Kalman filter during satellite slew maneuvers. A 1750A processor will be flown on board the satellite for the first time as a coprocessor (COP) in addition to the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer. The attitude determination algorithm, which will be resident in the COP's memory, will make full use of its improved processing capabilities to meet mission requirements. Additional benefits were gained by writing the attitude determination code in Ada.

  17. Energetic particles in the inner magnetosphere of Jupiter: simulation and results from the energetic particles detector on board the Galileo spacecraft

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagg, A.

    1997-11-01

    The simulation of the Low Energy Magnetospheric Measurement System (LEMMS) on board the GALILEO spacecraft and the analysis of data from the Jovian magnetosphere are the main topics of this work. The geometric factors obtained from this simulation can reproduce spectral electron fluxes measured in the Jovian magnetosphere without applying additional corrections. The depletion of particles at high pitch angles measured during the first encounter period with Io is used to calculate neutral number density and latitudinal extension of the neutral gas torus at the Io orbit. As the most likely interaction process the charge exchange between energetic charged particles and the neutral sulfur and oxygen atoms in the torus is discussed. A simple model for this region including this interaction mechanism is the basis for the first calculation of the neutral number density from in-situ measurements of charged particle fluxes. An additional topic of the data analysis is an energy dispersive enhancement of electron fluxes observed in the Io torus. The plasma transport as a consequence of the gradient-curvature drift motion is examined. The time and the origin of a possible injection process is estimated. (author)

  18. On-Board Rendezvous Targeting for Orion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, Michael W.; DSouza, Christopher N.

    2010-01-01

    The Orion On-board GNC system is among the most complex ever developed for a space mission. It is designed to operate autonomously (independent of the ground). The rendezvous system in particular was designed to operate on the far side of the moon, and in the case of loss-of-communications with the ground. The vehicle GNC system is designed to retarget the rendezvous maneuvers, given a mission plan. As such, all the maneuvers which will be performed by Orion, have been designed and are being incorporated into the flight code.

  19. Communication: On the calculation of time-dependent electron flux within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation: A flux-flux reflection principle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albert, Julian; Hader, Kilian; Engel, Volker

    2017-12-01

    It is commonly assumed that the time-dependent electron flux calculated within the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) approximation vanishes. This is not necessarily true if the flux is directly determined from the continuity equation obeyed by the electron density. This finding is illustrated for a one-dimensional model of coupled electronic-nuclear dynamics. There, the BO flux is in perfect agreement with the one calculated from a solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for the coupled motion. A reflection principle is derived where the nuclear BO flux is mapped onto the electronic flux.

  20. On line CALDoseX: real time Monte Carlo calculation via Internet for dosimetry in radiodiagnostic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kramer, Richard; Cassola, Vagner Ferreira; Lira, Carlos Alberto Brayner de Oliveira; Khoury, Helen Jamil; Cavalcanti, Arthur; Lins, Rafael Dueire

    2011-01-01

    The CALDose X 4.1 is a software which uses thr MASH and FASH phantoms. Patient dosimetry with reference phantoms is limited because the results can be applied only for patients which possess the same body mass and right height that the reference phantom. In this paper, the dosimetry of patients for diagnostic with X ray was extended by using a series of 18 phantoms with defined gender, different body masses and heights, in order to cover the real anatomy of the patients. It is possible to calculate absorbed doses in organs and tissues by real time Monte Carlo dosimetry through the Internet through a dosimetric service called CALDose X on line

  1. DOE's Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board: The Roles, Work, and Assessment of the Constituent Local Boards - 13587

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alexander, Catherine [U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Office of Intergovernmental and Community Activities, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.,Washington, D.C. 20585 (United States); Freeman, Jenny [Strata-G, LLC, 2027 Castaic Lane, Knoxville, TN 37932 (United States); Cantrell, Yvette [Restoration Services, Inc., 136 Mitchell Road, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    The charter for the Department of Energy's Environmental Management (EM) Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) was approved under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) in 1994. With a unique mandate to provide public input on issues associated with the cleanup of nuclear legacy sites in the U.S., the EM SSAB comprises eight local boards, which are based at major EM sites. While each board is unique to the community in which it is located and reflects the diversity of the local population, the boards are governed by FACA, related regulations, and DOE policies that are intended to standardize agency advisory board operations. The EM SSAB local boards are made up of a diverse group of citizens who want to understand the mission and goals of the EM program and to help EM achieve those goals for the benefit of their communities. Some are quite passionate about their mission; others need to be coaxed into active participation. Maintaining productive relationships and a supportive environment for effective board operations is the challenge of board management for DOE EM and the board members themselves. DOE draws on research findings and best practices literature from academics and practitioners in the field of public involvement in its board management practices. The EM SSAB is also evaluated annually under the law to ensure that the investment of taxpayer dollars in the board is warranted in light of the contributions of the board. Further evaluation takes place at the agency and site levels in order to identify what aspects of board functioning the agency and board members find important to its success and to address areas where improvement is needed. Board contributions, compliance factors, and measurable outcomes related to board products and process areas are key to agency commitment to ongoing support of the boards and to participant satisfaction and thus continued member involvement. In addition to evaluation of these factors in improving board

  2. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Poul Frandsen concerning his assimilation into the new career structure. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 13 to 24 January 2003. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  3. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Personnel Division

    1999-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Joào Bento with regard to residential category. As the appellant has not objected, the recommendations of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article RÊVIÊ1.20 of the Staff Regulations.The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N¡ 60) from 29 October to 12 November 1999.Personnel DivisionTel. 74128

  4. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2006-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine an appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to advancement. The person concerned has requested that the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General be brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (No. 60) from 24 March to 10 April 2006. Human Resources Department Tel. 74128

  5. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Jack Blanchard with regard to 'non recognition of specific functions'. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 12th to 26th April 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  6. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mrs Maria DIMOU with regard to a periodic one-step increase. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 30 April to 14 May 2004. Human Resources Department Tel. 74128

  7. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2001-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Joël Lahaye with regard to non-resident allowance. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 18 May to 1st June 2001.

  8. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Bertrand Nicquevert with regard to the non-resident allowance. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 29 November to 13 December 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  9. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Antonio Millich with regard to advancement. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 27 September to 11 October 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  10. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Department

    2005-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine an appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to a periodic one-step increase. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 1 to 15 April 2005. Human Resources Department Tel. 74128

  11. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Gert Jan Bossen with regard to dependent child allowance. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 1st to 15 March 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  12. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2002-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Serge Peraire with regard to exceptional advancement. As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 17 to 31 May 2002. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  13. Establishment of land model at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant. Mainly, on rock board classification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katagawa, Hideki; Hashimoto, Toru; Hirano, Shuji

    1999-01-01

    In order to grasp engineering properties of basic land of constructions, there is rock board classification as a method to classify whole of rock board to some groups considerable to be nearly equal on its properties. Among the method, various methods in response to its aim and characteristics are devised, and for a classification to hard rock board, the Denken type rock board classification considering degree of weathering to its main element and so forth are well known. The basic rock board of the Shika Nuclear Power Plant is composed of middle and hard types of rock, and its weathering is limited to its shallow portion, most of which are held at fresh condition. For such land, a new classification standard in response to characteristics of land was established. Here were introduced on a progress to establish a new classification standard, its application results and rock board properties. (G.K.)

  14. Chain Rule Approach for Calculating the Time-Derivative of Flux

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Langenbrunner, James R. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Booker, Jane M. [Booker Scientific, Fredericksburg, TX (United States)

    2017-10-03

    The reaction history (gamma-flux observable) is mathematically studied by using the chain rule for taking the total-time derivatives. That is, the total time-derivative of flux is written as the product of the ion temperature derivative with respect to time and the derivative of the flux with respect to ion temperature. Some equations are derived using the further simplification that the fusion reactivity is a parametrized function of ion temperature, T. Deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion is used as the application with reactivity calculations from three established reactivity parametrizations.

  15. A FPGA implementation of solder paste deposit on printed circuit boards errors detector based in a bright and contrast algorithm

    OpenAIRE

    De Luca-Pennacchia, A.; Sánchez-Martínez, M. Á.

    2007-01-01

    Solder paste deposit on printed circuit boards (PCB) is a critical stage. It is known that about 60% of functionality defects in this type of boards are due to poor solder paste printing. These defects can be diminished by means of automatic optical inspection of this printing. Actually, this process is implemented by image processing software with its inherent high computational time cost. In this paper we propose to implement a high parallel degree image comparison algorithm suitable to be ...

  16. Operation and profits of energy boards. A study of the basis of municipal business activities and the equitableness of the profits of municipal energy boards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karhu, V.; Nissinen, T.; Valkama, P.

    1999-01-01

    The objective of the empirical part of the study (Chapter 6) is to evaluate the equitableness of profits on capital invested of the 16 municipal energy boards selected for this study and, at the same time, to create a general evaluation basis for equity decisions made by the authorities case by case. In this part of the study, answers are sought for the following questions: (1) how has the economic situation of the energy boards studied been recently developing based on various economic parameters? (2) have there been differences in the returns and profitability of energy boards operating as public utilities or energy boards operating in company form? (3) what kind of a price level the energy boards studied have maintained in relation to the national averages of this field? (4) is a city in a weaker economic position more tempted to require higher profits on capital invested than a city with a sound economic basis? (5) how high profits on capital invested can be considered reasonable for the whole energy board and particularly for a network business holding a monopoly? The structure of the study is as follows. Chapter 2 contains a brief description of the energy boards selected for this study and of the economic situation of the cities owning them. The theoretical part of the study is included in Chapter 3 'Municipal Self-Government and Business'. It analyses rather deeply the terminology of the municipal business, norm basis, steering of actions, restructuring of companies into business profit centres and privatisation, as well as application of the Act on Restrictions on Competition from the standpoint of a municipal self-government. Chapter 4 deals with the establishment of energy board activity, the legal basis and the criteria for pricing electricity, network services and district heat. Chapter 5 examines the Act on Restrictions on Competition as a regulator of the energy board activities. After this, there are the presentations of the research results of the

  17. 78 FR 76100 - Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-16

    ...: The Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City, South Dakota. The... Ranger District, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota. Written comments may be submitted as... the public. The agenda will include time for people to make oral statements of three minutes or less...

  18. 75 FR 33367 - Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-11

    ... POSTAL SERVICE Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting Times and Dates: 4 p.m., Monday, June 21... Broadway. Status: (Closed). Matters To Be Considered: Monday, June 21, at 4 p.m. (Closed) 1. Strategic...' Executive Session--Discussion of prior agenda items and Board Governance. Tuesday, June 22, at 10 a.m...

  19. Relationship between internal medicine program board examination pass rates, accreditation standards, and program size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falcone, John L; Gonzalo, Jed D

    2014-01-19

    To determine Internal Medicine residency program compliance with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education 80% pass-rate standard and the correlation between residency program size and performance on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination. Using a cross-sectional study design from 2010-2012 American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination data of all Internal Medicine residency pro-grams, comparisons were made between program pass rates to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education pass-rate standard. To assess the correlation between program size and performance, a Spearman's rho was calculated. To evaluate program size and its relationship to the pass-rate standard, receiver operative characteristic curves were calculated. Of 372 Internal Medicine residency programs, 276 programs (74%) achieved a pass rate of =80%, surpassing the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education minimum standard. A weak correlation was found between residency program size and pass rate for the three-year period (p=0.19, pInternal Medicine residency programs complied with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education pass-rate standards, a quarter of the programs failed to meet this requirement. Program size is positively but weakly associated with American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination performance, suggesting other unidentified variables significantly contribute to program performance.

  20. Study on the acceleration of the neutronics calculation based on GPGPU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohoka, Y.; Tatsumi, M.

    2007-01-01

    The cost of the reactor physics calculation tends to become higher with more detail treatment in the physics models and computational algorithms. For example, SCOPE2 requires considerably high computational costs for multi-group transport calculation in 3-D pin-by-pin geometry. In this paper, applicability of GPGPU to acceleration of neutronics calculation is discussed. At first, performance and accuracy of the basic matrix calculations with fundamental arithmetic operators and the exponential, function are studied. The calculation was performed on a machine with Pentium 4 of 3.2 MHz and GPU of nVIDIA GeForce7800GTX using a test program written in C++, OpenGL and GLSL on Linux. When matrix size becomes large, the calculation on GPU is 10-50 times faster than that on CPU for fundamental arithmetic operators. For the exponential function, calculation on GPU is 270-370 times faster than that on CPU. The precision of all the cases are equivalent to that on CPU, which is less than the criterion of IEEE754 (10 -6 as single precision). Next, the GPGPU is applied to a functional module in SCOPE2. In the present study, as the first step of GPGPU application, calculations in. small geometry are tested. Performance gain, by GPGPU in this application was relatively modest, approximately 15%, compared to the feasibility study. This is because the part in which GPGPU was applied had appropriate structure for GPGPU implementation but had only small fraction of computational load. For much advanced acceleration, it is important to consider various factors such as easiness of implementation, fraction of computational load and bottleneck in data transfer between GPU and CPU. (authors)

  1. 76 FR 50926 - Civilian Board of Contract Appeals; Rules of Procedure of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-17

    ... working hours, they may be transmitted at any time from any location with Internet access. This amendment... tribunals to provide parties with a faster, more efficient, and less costly way to submit their documents... occurs upon receipt by the Board on a working day, as defined in 6101.1(b)(9) (Rule 1(b)(9)). All e-mail...

  2. 78 FR 38302 - Veterans' Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-26

    ... occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan; and veterans who were prisoners of war in those regions at the conclusion of World War II. In addition, the advisory board will assist the VA and DTRA in communicating with... the Veterans' Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction. Written statements should be no longer than two...

  3. 7 CFR 1160.105 - Board.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and Orders; Milk), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FLUID MILK PROMOTION PROGRAM Fluid Milk Promotion Order Definitions § 1160.105 Board. Board means the National Processor Advertising and Promotion Board established... Promotion Board or Board). ...

  4. Applying advanced analytics to guide emergency department operational decisions: A proof-of-concept study examining the effects of boarding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew Taylor, R; Venkatesh, Arjun; Parwani, Vivek; Chekijian, Sharon; Shapiro, Marc; Oh, Andrew; Harriman, David; Tarabar, Asim; Ulrich, Andrew

    2018-01-04

    Emergency Department (ED) leaders are increasingly confronted with large amounts of data with the potential to inform and guide operational decisions. Routine use of advanced analytic methods may provide additional insights. To examine the practical application of available advanced analytic methods to guide operational decision making around patient boarding. Retrospective analysis of the effect of boarding on ED operational metrics from a single site between 1/2015 and 1/2017. Times series were visualized through decompositional techniques accounting for seasonal trends, to determine the effect of boarding on ED performance metrics and to determine the impact of boarding "shocks" to the system on operational metrics over several days. There were 226,461 visits with the mean (IQR) number of visits per day was 273 (258-291). Decomposition of the boarding count time series illustrated an upward trend in the last 2-3 quarters as well as clear seasonal components. All performance metrics were significantly impacted (pstudy regarding the use of advanced analytics in daily ED operations, time series analysis provided multiple useful insights into boarding and its impact on performance metrics. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. 75 FR 82417 - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Order Approving Proposed Rules on Auditing Standards...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-30

    ... Standards Board (``ASB'') of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants); and observations from... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-63606; File No. PCAOB 2010-01] Public Company.... Introduction On September 15, 2010, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the ``Board'' or the ``PCAOB...

  6. Gender Distribution Among American Board of Medical Specialties Boards of Directors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Laura E; Sadosty, Annie T; Colletti, James E; Goyal, Deepi G; Sunga, Kharmene L; Hayes, Sharonne N

    2016-11-01

    Since 1995, women have comprised more than 40% of all medical school graduates. However, representation at leadership levels in medicine remains considerably lower. Gender representation among the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) boards of directors (BODs) has not previously been evaluated. Our objective was to determine the relative representation of women on ABMS BODs and compare it with the in-training and in-practice gender composition of the respective specialties. The composition of the ABMS BODs was obtained from websites in March 2016 for all Member Boards. Association of American Medical Colleges and American Medical Association data were utilized to identify current and future trends in gender composition. Although represented by a common board, neurology and psychiatry were evaluated separately because of their very different practices and gender demographic characteristics. A total of 25 specialties were evaluated. Of the 25 specialties analyzed, 12 BODs have proportional gender representation compared with their constituency. Seven specialties have a larger proportion of women serving on their boards compared with physicians in practice, and 6 specialties have a greater proportion of men populating their BODs. Based on the most recent trainee data (2013), women have increasing workforce representation in almost all specialties. Although women in both training and practice are approaching equal representation, there is variability in gender ratios across specialties. Directorship within ABMS BODs has a more equitable gender distribution than other areas of leadership in medicine. Further investigation is needed to determine the reasons behind this difference and to identify opportunities to engage women in leadership in medicine. Copyright © 2016 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. 14 CFR 250.8 - Denied boarding compensation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Denied boarding compensation. 250.8 Section... PROCEEDINGS) ECONOMIC REGULATIONS OVERSALES § 250.8 Denied boarding compensation. (a) Every carrier shall tender to a passenger eligible for denied boarding compensation, on the day and place the denied boarding...

  8. Time-independent lattice Boltzmann method calculation of hydrodynamic interactions between two particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, E. J.

    2015-06-01

    The time-independent lattice Boltzmann algorithm (TILBA) is developed to calculate the hydrodynamic interactions between two particles in a Stokes flow. The TILBA is distinguished from the traditional lattice Boltzmann method in that a background matrix (BGM) is generated prior to the calculation. The BGM, once prepared, can be reused for calculations for different scenarios, and the computational cost for each such calculation will be significantly reduced. The advantage of the TILBA is that it is easy to code and can be applied to any particle shape without complicated implementation, and the computational cost is independent of the shape of the particle. The TILBA is validated and shown to be accurate by comparing calculation results obtained from the TILBA to analytical or numerical solutions for certain problems.

  9. Board and Senior Management Alignment on School Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarros, James C.; Sarros, Anne M.; Cooper, Brian K.; Santora, Joseph C.; Baker, Robin

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the degree to which senior executive members of a school's decision-making team (senior management team and board of directors) are aligned on fundamental principles of school strategy. Our study is based on a conceptual framework of strategic leadership as it applies in an Australian independent school context. We also examine…

  10. TORCAPP: time-dependent cyclotron orbit calculation and plotting package

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maddox, L.B.; McNeilly, G.S.

    1979-11-01

    TORCAPP calculates the motion of charged particles in electromagnetic fields with time as the independent variable, and produces a variety of printed and plotted output of results. Finite-size beam behavior is studied conveniently by following groups of particles which define an appropriate phase space area. Since time is the independent variable, general motion in the near-median-plane region may be followed. This includes, for example, loops not enclosing the origin and strongly radial motions. Thus, TORCAPP is particularly useful for injection studies for isochronous cyclotrons, or other devices with near-median-plane charged particle motion

  11. The relationship between top management team – outside board conflict and outside board service involvement in high-tech start-ups

    OpenAIRE

    Vandenbrouke, Elien; Knockaert, Mirjam; Ucbasaran, Deniz

    2017-01-01

    Corporate governance research has extensively studied the relationship between outside board characteristics and outside board involvement. We add to this literature by investigating the extent to which interactions between outside board members and the top management team (TMT) affect the functioning of the outside board. Building on conflict theory, our study shows how conflict between TMT and outside board is an important antecedent for outside board service involvement. Specifically, draw...

  12. Citizen advisory boards: An empirical model for choosing goals and methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kunsberg, P.

    1994-12-01

    This is a study of Citizen Advisory Boards (CABS) undertaken for the Department of Energy (DOE) to draw practical insights from the accumulated experience of CAB members and agency officials who have worked with these boards over many years. Hence the main research tool is in-depth interviews of these individuals. In addition, the study relies on field observations of CABs at work, historical documentation of individual boards, and a large body of academic, professional, and government literature. The DOE is in the process of establishing Site Specific Advisory Boards (SSABs) at most of its major facilities in order to provide for community involvement in the DOE environmental restoration and environmental management programs, but these boards initiated by DOE do not yet have enough of a track-record for a study of this type. Consequently, the study focused on CABs at six other federal agencies which have had substantial experience with boards that are similar in composition and purpose to the SSABs. The study examined common problem that confront virtually every CAB in its organization and its decision-making process. For example, each board faces difficult issues in defining its goals and representational responsibilities, selection of members, selection of issues, reaching agreement on recommendations to the parent agency, getting responsive action from the parent agency, and evaluating the board's success over time. An effort was made to identify solutions or best approaches to these fundamental problems such that the recommended approach has broad application to citizen advisory boards concerned with environmental issues. The conclusions of the study are summarized in a model which incorporates the optimal approaches discovered with respect to each of the critical issues. While acknowledging that the particular circumstances of a CAB may call for individual variations, the model provides a fairly comprehensive description of recommended features of a CAB

  13. Certification renewal process of the American Board of Orthodontics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castelein, Paul T; DeLeon, Eladio; Dugoni, Steven A; Chung, Chun-Hsi; Tadlock, Larry P; Barone, Nicholas D; Kulbersh, Valmy P; Sabott, David G; Kastrop, Marvin C

    2015-05-01

    The American Board of Orthodontics was established in 1929 and is the oldest specialty board in dentistry. Its goal is to protect the public by ensuring competency through the certification of eligible orthodontists. Originally, applicants for certification submitted a thesis, 5 case reports, and a set of casts with appliances. Once granted, the certification never expired. Requirements have changed over the years. In 1950, 15 cases were required, and then 10 in 1987. The Board has continued to refine and improve the certification process. In 1998, certification became time limited, and a renewal process was initiated. The Board continues to improve the recertification process. Copyright © 2015 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Parallel SN transport calculations on a transputer network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Yong Hee; Cho, Nam Zin

    1994-01-01

    A parallel computing algorithm for the neutron transport problems has been implemented on a transputer network and two reactor benchmark problems (a fixed-source problem and an eigenvalue problem) are solved. We have shown that the parallel calculations provided significant reduction in execution time over the sequential calculations

  15. Teacher quality: a comparison of National Board-certified and non-Board-certified teachers of deaf students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheetz, Nanci A; Martin, David S

    2006-01-01

    THE STUDY was designed to identify specific components of teacher excellence, focusing initially on the characteristics of the small number of teachers of the deaf who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), then comparing those with the characteristics of other teachers identified as master teachers by university faculty in teacher preparation in deafness. Classroom observation, written lesson plans, teacher questionnaires on beliefs, and content analysis of interactive electronic focus groups were used to compare the two groups of teachers. Results indicated similarities between Board-certified and non-Board-certified master teachers in regard to teacher behaviors and commitment to well-founded pedagogical principles. Differences were found in classroom priorities and in the greater level of interconnectivity expressed by Board-certified teachers as the result of becoming Board certified. Recommendations are made for preparing teachers of deaf students.

  16. JOINT ADVISORY APPEALS BOARD

    CERN Multimedia

    Human Resources Division

    2001-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mr Neil Calder, Mrs Sudeshna Datta Cockerill, Mrs Andrée Fontbonne, Mrs Moniek Laurent and Mr Ulrich Liptow with regard to membership in the Pension Fund under the period with a Paid Associate contract, appeals dealt with on a collective basis. As the appellants have not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 10 to 31 August 2001.

  17. Findings of the Work Improvement on Board (WIB) programme by the Fishery Agency in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hisamune, Shuji; Kogi, Kazutaka

    2015-01-01

    Concerns are growing about the safety and health of seamen exposed to high risks while working on vessels. Their accident rate in 2013 was 9.9 per 1000 workers, 5 times higher than that in industry. In order to mitigate the risks of seamen, we developed the Work Improvement on Board (WIB) programme by applying participatory action-oriented training (PAOT) methods that have proven effective for reducing work-related risks in small enterprises, construction sites, and agriculture. We analysed which features of the WIB programme would be most effective for facilitating the planning and implementation of practical improvements on vessels. We examined action -oriented tools used, including a WIB action checklist and good examples, and practical improvements proposed by the participants in 1-day or half-day WIB workshops. To study the effectiveness of the WIB programme, we analysed 1121 replies of a questionnaire distributed to 1459 participants of the programme. We compared the types of improvements achieved and the improvement costs in the WIB programme with those in other PAOT programmes. The impact of the WIB programme on promoting primary prevention by seamen and fishermen was discussed. The action checklist listing practical improvements on board and good example photos apparently facilitated the planning and implementation of improvements feasible on board. The participating crews could propose readily applicable improvements of their vessels within short time. In the case of workshops held in 10 harbours between August and October 2014, participants coming from 110 vessels presented 228 improvement proposals which were mostly feasible at low cost. Among the 1121 questionnaire replies from participants of the WIB programme, over 75% evaluated the programme as necessary, practical and easy-to-understand. These positive results led to the adoption of the WIB programme for training fishermen and seamen on commercial vessels by the Fishery Agency and the Ministry of

  18. Dose calculation for permanent prostate implants incorporating spatially anisotropic linearly time-resolving edema

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monajemi, T. T.; Clements, Charles M.; Sloboda, Ron S.

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The objectives of this study were (i) to develop a dose calculation method for permanent prostate implants that incorporates a clinically motivated model for edema and (ii) to illustrate the use of the method by calculating the preimplant dosimetry error for a reference configuration of 125 I, 103 Pd, and 137 Cs seeds subject to edema-induced motions corresponding to a variety of model parameters. Methods: A model for spatially anisotropic edema that resolves linearly with time was developed based on serial magnetic resonance imaging measurements made previously at our center to characterize the edema for a group of n=40 prostate implant patients [R. S. Sloboda et al., ''Time course of prostatic edema post permanent seed implant determined by magnetic resonance imaging,'' Brachytherapy 9, 354-361 (2010)]. Model parameters consisted of edema magnitude, Δ, and period, T. The TG-43 dose calculation formalism for a point source was extended to incorporate the edema model, thus enabling calculation via numerical integration of the cumulative dose around an individual seed in the presence of edema. Using an even power piecewise-continuous polynomial representation for the radial dose function, the cumulative dose was also expressed in closed analytical form. Application of the method was illustrated by calculating the preimplant dosimetry error, RE preplan , in a 5x5x5 cm 3 volume for 125 I (Oncura 6711), 103 Pd (Theragenics 200), and 131 Cs (IsoRay CS-1) seeds arranged in the Radiological Physics Center test case 2 configuration for a range of edema relative magnitudes (Δ=[0.1,0.2,0.4,0.6,1.0]) and periods (T=[28,56,84] d). Results were compared to preimplant dosimetry errors calculated using a variation of the isotropic edema model developed by Chen et al. [''Dosimetric effects of edema in permanent prostate seed implants: A rigorous solution,'' Int. J. Radiat. Oncol., Biol., Phys. 47, 1405-1419 (2000)]. Results: As expected, RE preplan for our edema model

  19. Fatigue stress detection of VIRTIS cryocoolers on board Rosetta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuppi, Stefano; Politi, Romolo; Capria, Maria Teresa; Piccioni, Giuseppe; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Erard, Stéphane; Tosi, Federico; Capaccioni, Fabrizio; Filacchione, Gianrico

    Rosetta is a planetary cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). It is devoted to the study of minor bodies of our solar system and it will be the first mission ever to land on a comet (the Jupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko). VIRTIS-M is a sophisticated imaging spectrometer that combines two data channels in one compact instrument, respectively for the visible and the infrared range (0.25-5.0 μm). VIRTIS-H is devoted to infrared spectroscopy (2.5-5.0 μm) with high spectral resolution. Since the satellite will be inside the tail of the comet during one of the most important phases of the mission, it would not be appropriate to use a passive cooling system, due to the high flux of contaminants on the radiator. Therefore the IR sensors are cooled by two Stirling cycle cryocoolers produced by RICOR. Since RICOR operated life tests only on ground, it was decided to conduct an analysis on VIRTIS onboard Rosetta telemetries with the purpose of study possible differences in the cryocooler performancies. The analysis led to the conclusion that cryocoolers, when operating on board, are subject to a fatigue stress not present in the on ground life tests. The telemetries analysis shows a cyclic variation in cryocooler rotor angular velocity when -M or -H or both channel are operating (it has been also noted an influence of -M channel operations in -H cryocooler rotor angular velocity and vice versa) with frequencies mostly linked to operational parameters values. The frequencies have been calculated for each mission observation applying the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). In order to evaluate possible hedge effects it has been also applied the Hanning window to compare the results. For a more complete evaluation of cryocoolers fatigue stress, for each mission observation the angular acceleration and the angular jerk have been calculated.

  20. How well-run boards make decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Useem, Michael

    2006-11-01

    In the aftermath of seismic debacles like those that toppled Enron and WorldCom, corporate boards have been shaken up and made over. More directors are independent these days, for instance, and corporations now disclose directors' salaries and committee members' names. Research shows that most of the changes are having a positive effect on companies' performance. They are primarily structural, though, and don't go to the heart of a board's work: making the choices that shape a firm's future. Which decisions boards own and how those calls are made are largely hidden from the public. As a result, boards are often unable to learn from the best governance practices of their counterparts at other companies. This article pulls back the curtain and provides an inside look. Drawing on interviews with board members and executives at 31 companies, along with a close examination of three boardroom decisions, the author identifies several formal processes that can help companies improve their decision making: creating calendars that specify when the board and the standing committees will consider key items; drafting charters that define the decisions committees are responsible for; and developing decision protocols that divvy up responsibilities between directors and executives. The author also identifies a number of informal decision-making principles: Items that are strategically significant and touch on the firm's core values should go to the board. Large decisions should be divided into small pieces, so the board can devote sufficient attention to each one. Directors must remain vigilant to ensure that their decisions are effectively implemented. The CEO and either the nonexecutive chair or the lead director should engage in ongoing dialogue regarding which decisions to take to the full board and when. And directors should challenge assumptions before making yes-or-no decisions on management proposals.

  1. SU-D-18A-02: Towards Real-Time On-Board Volumetric Image Reconstruction for Intrafraction Target Verification in Radiation Therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, X; Iliopoulos, A; Zhang, Y; Pitsianis, N; Sun, X; Yin, F; Ren, L

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To expedite on-board volumetric image reconstruction from limited-angle kV—MV projections for intrafraction verification. Methods: A limited-angle intrafraction verification (LIVE) system has recently been developed for real-time volumetric verification of moving targets, using limited-angle kV—MV projections. Currently, it is challenged by the intensive computational load of the prior-knowledge-based reconstruction method. To accelerate LIVE, we restructure the software pipeline to make it adaptable to model and algorithm parameter changes, while enabling efficient utilization of rapidly advancing, modern computer architectures. In particular, an innovative two-level parallelization scheme has been designed: At the macroscopic level, data and operations are adaptively partitioned, taking into account algorithmic parameters and the processing capacity or constraints of underlying hardware. The control and data flows of the pipeline are scheduled in such a way as to maximize operation concurrency and minimize total processing time. At the microscopic level, the partitioned functions act as independent modules, operating on data partitions in parallel. Each module is pre-parallelized and optimized for multi-core processors (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). Results: We present results from a parallel prototype, where most of the controls and module parallelization are carried out via Matlab and its Parallel Computing Toolbox. The reconstruction is 5 times faster on a data-set of twice the size, compared to recently reported results, without compromising on algorithmic optimization control. Conclusion: The prototype implementation and its results have served to assess the efficacy of our system concept. While a production implementation will yield much higher processing rates by approaching full-capacity utilization of CPUs and GPUs, some mutual constraints between algorithmic flow and architecture specifics remain. Based on a careful analysis

  2. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2007-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine an internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to the decision not to grant him an indefinite contract. The person concerned has requested that the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General be brought to the notice of the members of the personnel, in accordance with Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main building (Bldg. 60) from 24 September to 7 October 2007. Human Resources Department

  3. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine the appeal lodged by Mrs Judith Igo-Kemenes concerning the application of procedures foreseen by Administrative Circular N§ 26 (Rev. 3). As the appellant has not objected, the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General are brought to the notice of the personnel in accordance with Article R VI 1.20 of the Staff Regulations. The relevant documents will therefore be posted on the notice boards of the Administration Building (N° 60) from 6 to 20 June 2003. Human Resources Division Tel. 74128

  4. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board has examined the internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to the decision not to grant him an indefinite contract. The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the notice of the members of the personnel. In application of Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations, these documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main Building (Bldg. 500) from 26 May to 6 June 2008. Human Resources Department (73911)

  5. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board was convened to examine an internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to the decision not to grant him an indefinite contract. The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the notice of the members of the personnel, in accordance with Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations. These documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main Building (Bldg. 60) from 21 January to 3 February 2008. Human Resources Department (73911)

  6. Time Analysis of Building Dynamic Response Under Seismic Action. Part 2: Example of Calculation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ufimtcev, E. M.

    2017-11-01

    The second part of the article illustrates the use of the time analysis method (TAM) by the example of the calculation of a 3-storey building, the design dynamic model (DDM) of which is adopted in the form of a flat vertical cantilever rod with 3 horizontal degrees of freedom associated with floor and coverage levels. The parameters of natural oscillations (frequencies and modes) and the results of the calculation of the elastic forced oscillations of the building’s DDM - oscillograms of the reaction parameters on the time interval t ∈ [0; 131,25] sec. The obtained results are analyzed on the basis of the computed values of the discrepancy of the DDS motion equation and the comparison of the results calculated on the basis of the numerical approach (FEM) and the normative method set out in SP 14.13330.2014 “Construction in Seismic Regions”. The data of the analysis testify to the accuracy of the construction of the computational model as well as the high accuracy of the results obtained. In conclusion, it is revealed that the use of the TAM will improve the strength of buildings and structures subject to seismic influences when designing them.

  7. Understanding the roles of NHS trust board members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deffenbaugh, J

    1996-01-01

    The establishment of NHS trust boards on a business format was a recent innovation resulting from the NHS reforms. In order to realize benefits for patients, it is essential that boards operate effectively. Explores within the framework of corporate governance, the practical implications of board member roles. Drawing on experience of strategy formulation at board level, analyses and clarifies the roles, and presents recommendations to increase board effectiveness.

  8. Behavioral Economics and Physician Board Meetings: Opportunity Cost, Regret, and Their Mitigation in Orthopaedic Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinicrope, Brent J; Roberts, Craig S; Sussman, Lyle

    2018-01-01

    Health care is a business. Health care providers must become familiar with terms such as opportunity costs, the potential loss or gain when one choice is made in lieu of another. The purpose of this study was to calculate the opportunity cost of two orthopaedic surgery society board meetings and discuss these in the context of behavioral economics and regret. A literature search was conducted to determine an orthopaedic surgeon's average yearly salary, hours worked per week, and weeks worked per year. The details of two orthopaedic surgery professional society meetings that one senior author (CSR) attended were used to calculate opportunity cost. Although the true benefits are multifactorial and difficult to objectively quantify, awareness of the cost-benefit ratio can help guide time and resource management to maximize the return on investment while minimizing buyer's remorse and perhaps influence the media by which medical meetings are held in the future. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 27(1):10-13, 2018).

  9. Approaches on Correlation between Board of Directors and Risk Management in Resilient Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Ştefan Armeanu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The recent financial crisis highlighted the need for a strong emphasis on the effectiveness of board risk oversight practices. Good corporate governance upholds effective risk management, which in turn ensures the flexibility to reply to unpredicted threats and take benefit of opportunities. Thus, risk management affords corporate resilience that engenders competitive advantage due to the capacity to circumvent, deter, defend, react, and adjust to any kind of disturbance, besides recovering quickly. Guaranteeing that the board is prepared and adequately resilient to deal with a crisis circumstance is a crucial part of good governance. By employing a data set of companies listed in Romania, this paper analyzes whether boards of directors influence risk management. We measure boards by means of size, independence, diversity, establishment of Consultative Committees, as well as CEO duality, gender, age, and tenure. Based on ten financial ratios, we develop two risk indicators regarding shareholders’ wealth and short-term risk, alongside a global business failure risk tool, by means of principal component analysis. Furthermore, the output of the multivariate regression analysis show that CEO gender, the size of the board, and Audit Committee negatively influence business failure risk.

  10. Diversity in Board of Directors: Review of Diversity as a Factor to Enhance Board Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pechersky Alexander

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In light of growing corporate influence in the business world and thus increasing further need to improve framework of corporate governance for shareholders’ protection, diversity is examined as a necessary factor to enhance monitoring and leadership functions of board of directors. This article analyses empirical studies with samples on various countries in order to examine effect of board composition and diversity on primary responsibilities of Board of Directors. Author is providing theoretical overview of diversity benefits and practical perspective of gender, qualifications, and background diversity in board performance. Our results show an added value of gender diversity to company performance in social and healthcare industries. Furthermore, author shows a rather negative effect of gender quotas. This study sheds a light on empirical researches and a need to include additional cultural factors called country readiness factors.

  11. Relationship between the Board Size and Financial Performance: Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mesut DOĞAN

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Cadbury Report (1992, a pioneer in outlining the financial aspects of corporate governance, was the first to put the spotlight on corporate boards of directors. Around the same time, academic work started to gain impetus with the Hermalin and Weisbach (1991 study. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the number of members of the board of directors with accounting and market-based performance indicators empirical research in the national and international literature. For this purpose, all studies conducted in the early 1990s up to the present day are classified examined in a systematic way. A significant part of the board of directors of the studies indicated a negative relationship between financial performance.

  12. 78 FR 13904 - Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors Meeting; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    ... MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION [MCC FR 13-01] Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors Meeting; Sunshine Act Meetings AGENCY: Millennium Challenge Corporation. TIME AND DATE: 10:00 a.m... CONSIDERED: The Board of Directors (the ``Board'') of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (``MCC'') will...

  13. 42 CFR 426.489 - Board remands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... decision; and (2) Explains why the case is being remanded and the specific actions ordered by the Board. (b) Action by an ALJ on remand. An ALJ takes any action that is ordered by the Board and may take any additional action that is not inconsistent with the Board's remand order. ...

  14. A survey on electromagnetic interferences on aircraft avionics systems and a GSM on board system overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinto, Natale; Tropea, Mauro; Fazio, Peppino; Voznak, Miroslav

    2014-05-01

    Recent years have been characterized by an increase in the air traffic. More attention over micro-economic and macroeconomic indexes would be strategic to gather and enhance the safety of a flight and customer needing, for communicating by wireless handhelds on-board aircrafts. Thus, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) proposed a GSM On Board (GSMOBA) system as a possible solution, allowing mobile terminals to communicate through GSM system on aircraft, avoiding electromagnetic interferences with radio components aboard. The main issues are directly related with interferences that could spring-out when mobile terminals attempt to connect to ground BTS, from the airplane. This kind of system is able to resolve the problem in terms of conformance of Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) limits, defined outside the aircraft, by using an On board BTS (OBTS) and modeling the relevant key RF parameters on the air. The main purpose of this work is to illustrate the state-of-the-art of literature and previous studies about the problem, giving also a good detail of technical and normative references.

  15. Automated procedure for calculating time-dependent sensitivities in ORIGEN2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worley, B.A.; Wright, R.Q.

    1985-10-01

    ORIGEN2 is a widely used point-depletion and radioactive-decay computer code for use in simulating nuclear fuel cycles and/or spent fuel characteristics. This paper presents the application of the GRESS procedure to the ORIGEN2 code for performing a sensitivity analysis of a high-level waste disposal problem. The GRESS procedure uses computer calculus and the GRESS precompiler to automate the generation and calculation of gradients in a computer code. The GRESS version of ORIGEN2 is used to calculate the nuclide-dependent sensitivities of the decay heat and radioactivity of 1008 nuclides comprising reprocessed high-level waste to changes in data and input parameters. The sensitivities are calculated in a single execution of the revised code as compared to the conventional method of rerunning the code numerous times. The availability of sensitivity data as an option in ORIGEN2 reveals relationships not easily recognized even with reruns

  16. On The Improvement of the System of Board of Directors in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Jinlong

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Currently, shareholder democracy in many countries are gaining much more attention because many factors have damaged shareholder’s rights and interest, in which is the problem of the system of board of directors when it operated, including the formalization of the board of directors, the autocracy of managers and staggered boards. To safeguard the legitimate interests of the company and minority shareholders, the system of board of directors is to be improved in following areas: defining the supervision functions and powers of the board of directors, setting up sub-committees within the board, improving the director appointing mechanism and electoral system, improving the director qualification system, abolishing the system of legal representative of company, and improving the system of duty of care and related liabilities.

  17. Motives and Power of School Board Members: Implications for School Board-Superintendent Relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mountford, Meredith

    2004-01-01

    The qualitative study presented in this article explores motivations for school board membership and conceptions of power held by school board members. The findings of the study suggest a relationship exists between the way board members define power and the type of motivation board members have for service. The implications of these findings for…

  18. 78 FR 732 - Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH or Advisory Board), National Institute for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-04

    ... President on a variety of policy and technical functions required to implement and effectively manage the... Responses to Public Comments from the September 2012 Advisory Board Meeting; Subcommittee and Work Group..., Management Analysis and Services Office, has been delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices...

  19. 77 FR 62240 - Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH or Advisory Board), National Institute for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-12

    ... President on a variety of policy and technical functions required to implement and effectively manage the...); Subcommittee and Work Group Updates; SEC Petition Evaluations Update for the December 2012 Advisory Board....gov . The Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, has been delegated the authority to sign...

  20. 78 FR 65980 - State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-04

    ... Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, November 21, 2013, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). To... Energy Efficiency Programs Improvement Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-440). Tentative Agenda: Receive an update... the Board on routine business matters and EERE areas of interest, and work on agenda items and details...

  1. Calculation of force and time of contact formation at diffusion metal joining

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sukhanov, V E [Tsentral' nyj Nauchno-Issledovatel' skij Inst. Chernoj Metallurgii, Moscow (USSR); Grushevskij, A V [Moskovskij Stankoinstrumental' nyj Inst., Moscow (USSR); Surovtsev, A P

    1989-03-01

    An analytical model of contact for mation at diffusion joining is suggested. It is based on the introduction of a rough surface with roughnesses in the form of absolutely rigid spherical segnunts into a smooth laminar body. Mathematical expressions, permitting to calculate maximum welding force (pressure) providing close contact of the surfaces welded and time for contact formation between rough surfaces joined, are obtained. Divergence of calculational and experimental data does not exceed 20%. It is confirmed that the most intensive formation of joining occurs in the initial period of welding -the stage of formation of a physical contact, when deformation processes proceed in tensively. Finite formation of a strength joint occurs at the stage of diffusion interaction.

  2. Moving sidewalk for snow board gelande; Snow board gerendemuke ugoku hodo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-04-20

    This is a moving sidewalk installed on the indoor type artificial snow board gelande at Shigenobu-cho, Ehime prefecture, constructed for the first time in Shikoku. It carries snow boarders in gelande. The main specifications are as follows. Type: 800 type. Sidewalk width: 600mm. Length: 76.0m. Speed: 30m/min. Inclination angle: 13 degrees (inclination type). The features are as follows. (1) The tread is rubber-belt made and skid-resistant if it gets wet. (2) It is equipped with the each-part antifreezer, considering the snow quality and the environment where it is used at low temperature. (translated by NEDO)

  3. A low-cost test-bed for real-time landmark tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Csaszar, Ambrus; Hanan, Jay C.; Moreels, Pierre; Assad, Christopher

    2007-04-01

    A low-cost vehicle test-bed system was developed to iteratively test, refine and demonstrate navigation algorithms before attempting to transfer the algorithms to more advanced rover prototypes. The platform used here was a modified radio controlled (RC) car. A microcontroller board and onboard laptop computer allow for either autonomous or remote operation via a computer workstation. The sensors onboard the vehicle represent the types currently used on NASA-JPL rover prototypes. For dead-reckoning navigation, optical wheel encoders, a single axis gyroscope, and 2-axis accelerometer were used. An ultrasound ranger is available to calculate distance as a substitute for the stereo vision systems presently used on rovers. The prototype also carries a small laptop computer with a USB camera and wireless transmitter to send real time video to an off-board computer. A real-time user interface was implemented that combines an automatic image feature selector, tracking parameter controls, streaming video viewer, and user generated or autonomous driving commands. Using the test-bed, real-time landmark tracking was demonstrated by autonomously driving the vehicle through the JPL Mars yard. The algorithms tracked rocks as waypoints. This generated coordinates calculating relative motion and visually servoing to science targets. A limitation for the current system is serial computing-each additional landmark is tracked in order-but since each landmark is tracked independently, if transferred to appropriate parallel hardware, adding targets would not significantly diminish system speed.

  4. Board Governance: Transformational Approaches Under Healthcare Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zastocki, Deborah K

    2015-01-01

    Previous successes of healthcare organizations and effective governance practices in the pre-reform environment are not predictive of future success. Healthcare has been through numerous phases of growth and development using tried-and-true strategies. The challenge is that our toolbox does not contain what is needed to build the future healthcare delivery systems required in the post-reform world. Healthcare has had a parochial focus at the local level, with some broadening of horizons at the state and national levels. But healthcare delivery is now a global issue that requires a totally different perspective, and many countries are confronting similar issues. US healthcare reform initiatives have far-reaching implications. Compounding the reform dynamics are the simultaneously occurring, gamechanging accelerants such as enabling information technologies and mobile health, new providers of healthcare, increased consumer demands, and limited healthcare dollars, to name a few. Operating in this turbulent environment requires transformational board, executive, and physician leadership because traditional ways of planning for incremental change and attempting to time those adjustments can prove disastrous. Creating the legacy healthcare system for tomorrow requires governing boards and executive leadership to act today as they would in the desired future system. Boards need to create a culture that fosters.innovation with a tolerance for risk and some failure. To provide effective governance, boards must essentially develop new skills, expertise, and ways of thinking. The rapid rate of change requires board members to possess certain capabilities, including the ability to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty while demonstrating flexibility and adaptability, all with a driving commitment to metrics and results. This requires development plans for both individual members and the overall board. In short, the board needs to function differently, particularly regarding the

  5. Optical rotation calculated with time-dependent density functional theory: the OR45 benchmark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srebro, Monika; Govind, Niranjan; de Jong, Wibe A; Autschbach, Jochen

    2011-10-13

    Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) computations are performed for 42 organic molecules and three transition metal complexes, with experimental molar optical rotations ranging from 2 to 2 × 10(4) deg cm(2) dmol(-1). The performances of the global hybrid functionals B3LYP, PBE0, and BHLYP, and of the range-separated functionals CAM-B3LYP and LC-PBE0 (the latter being fully long-range corrected), are investigated. The performance of different basis sets is studied. When compared to liquid-phase experimental data, the range-separated functionals do, on average, not perform better than B3LYP and PBE0. Median relative deviations between calculations and experiment range from 25 to 29%. A basis set recently proposed for optical rotation calculations (LPol-ds) on average does not give improved results compared to aug-cc-pVDZ in TDDFT calculations with B3LYP. Individual cases are discussed in some detail, among them norbornenone for which the LC-PBE0 functional produced an optical rotation that is close to available data from coupled-cluster calculations, but significantly smaller in magnitude than the liquid-phase experimental value. Range-separated functionals and BHLYP perform well for helicenes and helicene derivatives. Metal complexes pose a challenge to first-principles calculations of optical rotation.

  6. Panel Board From Coconut Fibre And Pet Bottle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ngadiman, Norhayati; Kaamin, Masiri; Abd. Kadir, Aslila; Sahat, Suhaila; Zaini, Aziza; Raihana Nor Zentan, Siti; Ain Ahmad, Nur; Amran, Wan Haizatul Aisyhah Wan

    2018-03-01

    The rate of global deforestation and its impact on the environment has led particle board manufacture to search for alternative feedstock, especially in countries where wood is less available compared to other cellulosic natural product. Based on the properties of coconut fibre and PET bottle, these two materials can be recycle as raw material for manufacture of panel board. As for this study, the coconut fibre were used as the filler and PET bottle as outer lining of the panel board. Two types of coconut fibre were used which are grinding and un-grinding coconut fibre. At first, the coconut fibre are undergoes softening, grinding, drying and sieving process, while PET bottle was cleaning, shredding, sieving before compacted using hydraulic hot press machine. There are four types of testing that been carried out which are swelling, water absorption, Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) and Modulus of Rupture (MOR). The result show the conventional board has the highest value for MOE test, so it's indicate that the conventional board is less strength from the coconut fibre board. As for water absorption test, the average water absorption of coconut fibre based panel board is less than conventional board. Overall, the coconut fibre board is better than conventional panel board because coconut fibre board are less swelling, has low water absorption, high modulus of rupture and low modulus of elasticity. Based on the finding, this coconut fibre panel board has potential as a stronger and long-lasting panel board than the conventional board in the market. Other than that, the panel also have their own aesthetic value since the recycled plastic bottle used as outer lining is colourful and giving aesthetic value.

  7. 36 CFR 222.11 - Grazing advisory boards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... such boards, the area to be covered, and the number of advisers on each board. (3) Processing Petitions... permittees are nominated and board members are elected. Nominations will be made by petition with all term...

  8. Calculation of residence times and radiation doses using the standard PC software Excel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herzog, H.; Zilken, H.; Niederbremer, A.; Friedrich, W.; Mueller-Gaertner, H.W.

    1997-01-01

    We developed a program which aims to facilitate the calculation of radiation doses to single organs and the whole body. IMEDOSE uses Excel to include calculations, graphical displays, and interactions with the user in a single general-purpose PC software tool. To start the procedure the input data are copied into a spreadsheet. They must represent percentage uptake values of several organs derived from measurements in animals or humans. To extrapolate these data up to seven half-lives of the radionuclide, fitting to one or two exponentional functions is included and can be checked by the user. By means of the approximate time-activity information the cumulated activity or residence times are calculated. Finally these data are combined with the absorbed fraction doses (S-values) given by MIRD pamphlet No. 11 to yield radiation doses, the effective dose equivalent and the effective dose. These results are presented in a final table. Interactions are realized with push-buttons and drop-down menus. Calculations use the Visual Basic tool of Excel. In order to test our program, biodistribution data of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose were taken from the literature (Meija et al., J Nucl Med 1991; 32:699-706). For a 70-kg adult the resulting radiation doses of all target organs listed in MIRD 11 were different from the ICRP 53 values by 1%±18% on the average. When the residence times were introduced into MIRDOSE3 (Stabin, J Nucl Med 1996; 37:538-546) the mean difference between our results and those of MIRDOSE3 was -3%±6%. Both outcomes indicate the validity of the present approach. (orig.)

  9. Calculation of residence times and radiation doses using the standard PC software Excel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzog, H; Zilken, H; Niederbremer, A; Friedrich, W; Müller-Gärtner, H W

    1997-12-01

    We developed a program which aims to facilitate the calculation of radiation doses to single organs and the whole body. IMEDOSE uses Excel to include calculations, graphical displays, and interactions with the user in a single general-purpose PC software tool. To start the procedure the input data are copied into a spreadsheet. They must represent percentage uptake values of several organs derived from measurements in animals or humans. To extrapolate these data up to seven half-lives of the radionuclide, fitting to one or two exponentional functions is included and can be checked by the user. By means of the approximate time-activity information the cumulated activity or residence times are calculated. Finally these data are combined with the absorbed fraction doses (S-values) given by MIRD pamphlet No. 11 to yield radiation doses, the effective dose equivalent and the effective dose. These results are presented in a final table. Interactions are realized with push-buttons and drop-down menus. Calculations use the Visual Basic tool of Excel. In order to test our program, biodistribution data of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose were taken from the literature (Meija et al., J Nucl Med 1991; 32:699-706). For a 70-kg adult the resulting radiation doses of all target organs listed in MIRD 11 were different from the ICRP 53 values by 1%+/-18% on the average. When the residence times were introduced into MIRDOSE3 (Stabin, J Nucl Med 1996; 37:538-546) the mean difference between our results and those of MIRDOSE3 was -3%+/-6%. Both outcomes indicate the validity of the present approach.

  10. Calculation of residence times and radiation doses using the standard PC software Excel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herzog, H.; Zilken, H.; Niederbremer, A.; Friedrich, W. [Institute of Medicine, Research Center Juelich, Juelich (Germany); Mueller-Gaertner, H.W. [Institute of Medicine, Research Center Juelich, Juelich (Germany)]|[Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heinrich-Heine University Hospital Duesseldorf (Germany)

    1997-12-01

    We developed a program which aims to facilitate the calculation of radiation doses to single organs and the whole body. IMEDOSE uses Excel to include calculations, graphical displays, and interactions with the user in a single general-purpose PC software tool. To start the procedure the input data are copied into a spreadsheet. They must represent percentage uptake values of several organs derived from measurements in animals or humans. To extrapolate these data up to seven half-lives of the radionuclide, fitting to one or two exponentional functions is included and can be checked by the user. By means of the approximate time-activity information the cumulated activity or residence times are calculated. Finally these data are combined with the absorbed fraction doses (S-values) given by MIRD pamphlet No. 11 to yield radiation doses, the effective dose equivalent and the effective dose. These results are presented in a final table. Interactions are realized with push-buttons and drop-down menus. Calculations use the Visual Basic tool of Excel. In order to test our program, biodistribution data of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose were taken from the literature (Meija et al., J Nucl Med 1991; 32:699-706). For a 70-kg adult the resulting radiation doses of all target organs listed in MIRD 11 were different from the ICRP 53 values by 1%{+-}18% on the average. When the residence times were introduced into MIRDOSE3 (Stabin, J Nucl Med 1996; 37:538-546) the mean difference between our results and those of MIRDOSE3 was -3%{+-}6%. Both outcomes indicate the validity of the present approach. (orig.) With 5 figs., 2 tabs., 18 refs.

  11. Parameter design for a phase change material board installed on the inner surface of building exterior envelopes for cooling in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Xiaoqin; Zhang, Quan; Medina, Mario A.; Lee, Kyoung Ok; Liao, Shuguang

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Phase change material (PCM) boards were simulated in building envelopes. • The buildings were located in four cities with different climatic conditions. • Energy and mass efficiency was proposed to evaluate utilization of PCM board. • The optimal melting temperature increased with increasing mean air temperature. - Abstract: Phase change materials (PCMs) can be used for building envelope thermal management and for energy conservation because of their potential to absorb and release large amounts of heat with small wall temperature variations. In this paper, the heat transfer theory of a PCM board used for building envelopes is presented, together with a mathematical model based on the moving heat-source method. It was found that the model accurately predicted the position of the solid–liquid interface in time and space, comparing with the published data. Energy and mass efficiency (EME) was proposed to evaluate the energy efficiency of PCM boards in office buildings located in various climatic regions in China for cooling. The influences on EME of parameters, including melting temperature of PCM, PCM board thickness and the heat transfer coefficient of building envelope, were analyzed. The optimal melting temperatures of PCM board, which resulted in the peak EME, in office building were 24.1 °C in Shenyang, 25.0 °C in Kunming, 25.3 °C in Zhengzhou and 25.5 °C Changsha, respectively. The EME increased with the increasing heat transfer coefficient of building envelope. For the city of Changsha with higher outdoor air temperature, none of the PCM boards modeled contributed effectively.

  12. Governing Board of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    The Governing Board of the Pension Fund held its one-hundred-and twenty-sixth meeting on 7th September 2004. The first main item on the agenda was a report by the Chairman, J. Bezemer, on the June meetings of the CERN Council and its committees. Dr Bezemer reported that, at its June session, the Council had unanimously approved the 2003 annual report and accounts of the Pension Fund. and had appointed himself and Mr P. Levaux members of the Governing Board for periods of 18 months1 and 3 years respectively, with J.-P. Ruder and F. Bello as their respective alternates. On the basis of a recommendation first made by the Governing Board in October 2002 and confirmed at its June 2004 meeting, the Council had also re-appointed Dr Bezemer Chairman of the Governing Board for a period of 18 months*. A further item on the Governing Board's agenda was the examination of the half-yearly accounts, namely the profit and loss account, the contributions and benefits account and the balance sheet. J. Steel and the Administ...

  13. The Board of Governors, 1957-1973

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1973-01-01

    It is now 15 years since the Board of Governors, at that time composed of 23 members, first met in Vienna on 4 October 1957 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Pavel Winkler from CSR. Since 1962, it had 25 representatives, two additional members having been elected in view of the increase in African membership of the Agency. Its composition is now due to increase to 34 as a result of an amendment to Art. VI which received the necessary approvals on 1 June this year. he total membership of the Agency, which was 57 in 1957, has risen to 103. The first Budget was of the order of $ 4 million; the Budget for 1973 is $ 18.1 million. Technical assistance provided in 1958 amounted to about $ 30,000 and in 1972 it amounted to $ 5.5 million. These figures give an indication of the way the Agency has grown and this short review will highlight some of the notable achievements of the Board, since its inception. (author)

  14. A simulation study regarding different aircraft boarding strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Mas, Sílvia; Juan Pérez, Angel Alejandro; Arias, Pol; Fonseca Casas, Pau

    2013-01-01

    The airline industry is constantly subject to the search of new methods in order to increase efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Since airlines only generate revenue when their airplanes are on the air, the time they spend at the airports should be the shortest possible. Hence, the airplane turnaround time becomes a process which airlines pay special attention on. The boarding process has a very important role, since it is one of the significant elements of...

  15. USING THE INFORMATION OF ON-BOARD DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS IN DETERMINING THE TECHNICAL STATE OF THE LOCOMOTIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Ye. Bodnar

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The issues of increase of efficiency of information processing by оn-board systems of diagnostics of locomotives are considered. The examples of information processing by the on-board system of diagnostics of electric locomotives DE1 are presented. The suggestions on improvement of systematization and processing of information by on-board systems of diagnostics are given.

  16. Board structure and performance in Ethiopian microfinance institutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Letenah Ejigu Wale

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This research investigated the effect of one governance dimension, board structure on the sustainability and outreach performance of Ethiopian MFIs. A panel data of 13 MFIs for 6 years (2003-2008 is used for the study. No study of such type is conducted in the past for the Ethiopian environment. The results indicate an experienced manager, a larger board size and educated board members all help to increase sustainability with board education having the largest effect. Manager experience and board size also have a negative effect on depth of outreach (i.e. less lending to women. Board independence has no visible effect on either sustainability or outreach. Surprisingly, no governance variable explains breath of outreach

  17. Practical method of calculating time-integrated concentrations at medium and large distances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cagnetti, P.; Ferrara, V.

    1980-01-01

    Previous reports have covered the possibility of calculating time-integrated concentrations (TICs) for a prolonged release, based on concentration estimates for a brief release. This study proposes a simple method of evaluating concentrations in the air at medium and large distances, for a brief release. It is known that the stability of the atmospheric layers close to ground level influence diffusion only over short distances. Beyond some tens of kilometers, as the pollutant cloud progressively reaches higher layers, diffusion is affected by factors other than the stability at ground level, such as wind shear for intermediate distances and the divergence and rotational motion of air masses towards the upper limit of the mesoscale and on the synoptic scale. Using the data available in the literature, expressions for sigmasub(y) and sigmasub(z) are proposed for transfer times corresponding to those for up to distances of several thousand kilometres, for two initial diffusion situations (up to distances of 10 - 20 km), those characterized by stable and neutral conditions respectively. Using this method simple hand calculations can be made for any problem relating to the diffusion of radioactive pollutants over long distances

  18. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board has examined the internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel against the decision to grant him only a periodic one-step advancement for the 2006 reference year. The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the attention of the members of the personnel. In application of Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations, these documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main building (bldg. 500) from 1 September to 14 September 2008. Human Resources Department (73911)

  19. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board has examined the internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel with regard to the decision not to award him a periodic one-step advancement for the 2006 reference year. The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the notice of the members of the personnel. In application of Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations, these documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main building (Bldg. 500) from 17 March to 30 March 2008. Human Resources Department Tel. 73911

  20. Joint Advisory Appeals Board

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Advisory Appeals Board has examined the internal appeal lodged by a member of the personnel against the decision to grant him only a periodic one-step advancement for the 2006 reference year. The person concerned has not objected to the report of the Board and the final decision of the Director-General being brought to the attention of the members of the personnel. In application of Article R VI 1.18 of the Staff Regulations, these documents will therefore be posted on the notice board of the Main Building (Bldg. 500) from 1 September to 14 September 2008. Human Resources Department (73911)