Robustness analysis of the Zhang neural network for online time-varying quadratic optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yunong; Ruan Gongqin; Li Kene; Yang Yiwen

2010-01-01

A general type of recurrent neural network (termed as Zhang neural network, ZNN) has recently been proposed by Zhang et al for the online solution of time-varying quadratic-minimization (QM) and quadratic-programming (QP) problems. Global exponential convergence of the ZNN could be achieved theoretically in an ideal error-free situation. In this paper, with the normal differentiation and dynamics-implementation errors considered, the robustness properties of the ZNN model are investigated for solving these time-varying problems. In addition, linear activation functions and power-sigmoid activation functions could be applied to such a perturbed ZNN model. Both theoretical-analysis and computer-simulation results demonstrate the good ZNN robustness and superior performance for online time-varying QM and QP problem solving, especially when using power-sigmoid activation functions.

Looking good or doing better? Patterns of decoupling in the implementation of clinical directorates.

Science.gov (United States)

Mascia, Daniele; Morandi, Federica; Cicchetti, Americo

2014-01-01

The interest toward hospital restructuring has risen significantly in recent years. In spite of its potential benefits, often organizational restructuring in health care produces unexpected consequences. Extant research suggests that institutional theory provides a powerful theoretical lens through which hospital restructuring can be described and explained. According to this perspective, the effectiveness of change is strongly related to the extent to which innovative arrangements, tools, or practices are adopted and implemented within hospitals. Whenever these new arrangements require a substantial modification of internal processes and practices, resistance to implementation emerges and organizational change is likely to become neutralized. This study analyzes how hospital organizations engage in decoupling by adopting but not implementing a new organizational model named clinical directorate. We collected primary data on the diffusion of the clinical directorate model, which was mandated by law in the Italian National Health Service to improve hospital services. We surveyed the adoption and implementation of the clinical directorate model by monitoring the presence of clinical governance tools (measures for the quality improvement of hospital services) within single directorates. In particular, we compared hospitals that adopted the model before (early adopters) or after (later adopters) the mandate was introduced. Hospitals were engaged in decoupling by adopting the new arrangement but not implementing internal practices and tools for quality improvement. The introduction of the law significantly affected the decoupling, with late-adopter hospitals being less likely to implement the adopted model. The present research shows that changes in quality improvement processes may vary in relation to policy makers' interventions aimed at boosting the adoption of new hospital arrangements. Hospital administrators need to be aware and identify the institutional changes

Justification of RFID Implementation. A Case Study of White Goods Manufacturer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gladysz Bartlomiej

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID is a rapidly emerging technology with a wide range of impact and still not fully exploited potential applications. The impact of RFID is not limited to the area of its direct application. There are many possible benefits to be gained from RFID application, but it must be preceded with careful analysis as its implementation is not always reasonable. A new method for an assessment of RFID technology was presented and explained on the case of a white goods manufacturer. There was a lack of such a method allowing for relatively quick and flexible assessment, which is important for decision makers, who do not want to become involved in very sophisticated and time-consuming analysis at the early stage of decision making. The method supports early phases of decision making related to RFID implementation. Conclusions derived from the analysis of the case study confirmed that the method applied allows for rationalizing decision making and answers whether RFID could generate strategic advantage, in which area RFID should be applied, how RFID-supported processes will be executed and what benefits would be expected. previous papers focused only on answering specific questions from the above list, without showing a holistic approach. the approach to answer questions about execution of processes and benefits was not considered earlier at all. The paper illustrates details of using a new method of an assessment of RFID technology (ART using a real industrial example.

Irrigation water quality and the benefits of implementing good agricultural practices during tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) production.

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada-Acosta, M; Jiménez, M; Chaidez, C; León-Félix, J; Castro-Del Campo, N

2014-07-01

The implementation of good agricultural practices (GAP) from irrigation water to the tomato packaging process enhances the safety of fresh produce and its value throughout the food chain. The aim of the present study was to show that fresh produce farms that apply and enforce GAP could reduce the presence of Salmonella in finished produce. Samples were collected biweekly from six packing houses from the central region of Sinaloa, México, for the isolation of Salmonella spp by the ISO 6579:2002 method, and the isolated strains were serotyped and genotyped by the Kauffmman-White scheme and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), respectively. Salmonella strains were detected in 13 (36.1 %) irrigation water samples, while only two tomato samples were positive (5.5 %). Eight different serotypes were identified in irrigation water, and Salmonella Oranienburg (34 %) was the most prevalent; however, only Salmonella Agona and Salmonella Weltevreden were present on tomatoes. Salmonella Oranienburg was the most widely dispersed and variable serotype, with 10 different PFGE profiles. Salmonella Weltevreden was isolated from both types of samples, albeit with distinct genetic profiles, implying that the sources of contamination differ. These results confirm the utility of implementing good agricultural practices to reduce Salmonella contamination in irrigation water and the packaging process.

Estimating the harms and benefits of prostate cancer screening as used in common practice versus recommended good practice: A microsimulation screening analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. Carlsson (Sigrid); T.M. de Carvalho Delgado Marques (Tiago); M.J. Roobol-Bouts (Monique); J. Hugosson (Jonas); A. Auvinen (Anssi); M. Kwiatkowski (Maciej); A. Villers (Arnoud); M. Zappa (Marco); V. Nelen (Vera); A. Páez (Alvaro); J.A. Eastham (James); H. Lilja (Hans); H.J. de Koning (Harry); A.J. Vickers (Andrew); E.A.M. Heijnsdijk (Eveline)

2016-01-01

textabstractBACKGROUND: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and concomitant treatment can be implemented in several ways. The authors investigated how the net benefit of PSA screening varies between common practice versus “good practice.”. METHODS: Microsimulation screening analysis (MISCAN)

Simulation of changes on the psychosocial risk in the nursing personnel after implementing the policy of good practices on the risk treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolívar Murcia, María Paula; Cruz González, Joan Paola; Rodríguez Bello, Luz Angélica

2018-02-01

Evaluate the change over time of psychosocial risk management for the nursing personnel of an intermediate complexity clinic of Bogota (Colombia). Descriptive and correlational research performed under the approach of risk management (identification, analysis, assessment and treatment). The psychosocial risk of the nursing personnel was studied through 10-year system dynamics models (with and without the implementation of the policy of good practices on the risk treatment) in two scenarios: when the nursing personnel works shifts of 6 hours (morning or afternoon) and when they work over 12 hours (double shift or night shift). When implementing a policy of good practices on the risk treatment, the double shift scenario shows an improvement among 25% to 88% in the variables of: health, labor motivation, burnout, service level and productivity; as well as in the variables of the organization associated to number of patients, nursing personnel and profit. Likewise, the single shift scenario with good practices improves in all the above-mentioned variables and generates stability on the variables of absenteeism and resignations. The best scenario is the single shift scenario with the application of good practices of risk treatment in comparison with the double shift scenario with good practices, which allows concluding that the good practices have a positive effect on the variables of nursing personnel and on those associated to the organization. Copyright© by the Universidad de Antioquia.

Good Laboratory Practice. Part 3. Implementing Good Laboratory Practice in the Analytical Lab

Science.gov (United States)

Wedlich, Richard C.; Pires, Amanda; Fazzino, Lisa; Fransen, Joseph M.

2013-01-01

Laboratories submitting experimental results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) nonclinical laboratory studies must conduct such work in compliance with the GLP regulations. To consistently meet these requirements, lab managers employ a "divide…

Varying coefficient subdistribution regression for left-truncated semi-competing risks data.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ruosha; Peng, Limin

2014-10-01

Semi-competing risks data frequently arise in biomedical studies when time to a disease landmark event is subject to dependent censoring by death, the observation of which however is not precluded by the occurrence of the landmark event. In observational studies, the analysis of such data can be further complicated by left truncation. In this work, we study a varying co-efficient subdistribution regression model for left-truncated semi-competing risks data. Our method appropriately accounts for the specifical truncation and censoring features of the data, and moreover has the flexibility to accommodate potentially varying covariate effects. The proposed method can be easily implemented and the resulting estimators are shown to have nice asymptotic properties. We also present inference, such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov type and Cramér Von-Mises type hypothesis testing procedures for the covariate effects. Simulation studies and an application to the Denmark diabetes registry demonstrate good finite-sample performance and practical utility of the proposed method.

Implementation of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) in basic scientific research: Translating the concept beyond regulatory compliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Jena, G B; Chavan, Sapana

2017-10-01

The principles of Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs) are mainly intended for the laboratories performing studies for regulatory compliances. However, today GLP can be applied to broad disciplines of science to cater to the needs of the experimental objectives, generation of quality data and assay reproducibility. Considering its significance, it can now be applied in academics; industries as well as government set ups throughout the world. GLP is the best way to promote the reliability, reproducibility of the test data and hence facilitates the international acceptability. Now it is high time to translate and implement the concept of GLP beyond regulatory studies. Thus, it can pave the way for better understanding of scientific problems and help to maintain a good human and environmental health. Through this review, we have made an attempt to explore the uses of GLP principles in different fields of science and its acceptability as well as looking for its future perspectives. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PENGARUH PELAKSANAAN AUDIT INTERNAL TERHADAP PENERAPAN GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karli Soedijatno

2013-08-01

Hypothesis testing in this study using software SPSS 19.0 for windows. The research method used is associative method with quantitative approach. The data used is the primary data in the form of questionnaires distributed to respondents. Data collected amounted to 66 questionnaires from BUMN internal auditors headquartered in Bandung. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of internal audit on SOEs headquartered in Bandung has been implemented very well and the implementation and application of Good Corporate Governance principles in SOEs headquartered in Bandung has been implemented very well so that only need to be maintained implementation. While the influence of internal audit variables on the implementation of principles of Good Corporate Governance of 67.08%. Thus, the hypothesis proposed in this study is accepted, that is, internal audit has an effect on the implementation of Good Corporate Governance.

Guide to good practices for the design, development, and implementation of examinations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

The purpose of this Guide to Good Practices is to provide direction to training personnel in the broad areas of design, development, and implementation of examinations. Nuclear facilities spend a significant amount of training resources testing trainees. Tests are used for employee selection, qualification, requalification, certification and recertification, and promotion. Ineffective testing procedures, or inappropriate interpretation of test results, can have significant effects on both human performance and facility operations. Test development requires unique skills, and as with any skill, training and experience are needed to develop the skills. Test development, test use, test result interpretation, and test refinement, like all other aspects of the systematic approach to training, should be part of an ongoing, systematic process. For some users this document will provide a review of ideas and principles with which they are already familiar; for others it will present new concepts. While not intended to provide in-depth coverage of test theory design and development, it should provide developers, instructors, and evaluators with a foundation on which to develop sound examinations.

SWOC ANALYSIS OF GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST): IMPLEMENTATION IN INDIA

OpenAIRE

Raghavendra Holla

2016-01-01

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a type of indirect tax and it is one of biggest reform in Indian tax structure. The Goods and Service Tax Bill or GST Bill, officially known as The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014. 16 years wait is almost finished when Rajya Sabha and Lokh Sabha passed ’The Goods and Service Tax Bill’ in the month of August, 2017. Good and Service tax is also known as ‘National Value Added Tax’. India is a developing country; the main source fo...

Effect Of Implementation Of Good Corporate Governance And Internal Audit Of The Quality Of Financial Reporting And Implications Of Return Of Shares

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erlynda Y. Kasim

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract The quality of financial reporting produced by the company are expected to meet the quality characteristics to Achieve the objective of the conceptual framework of financial reporting. Good implementation of adequate corporate governance in a company is one of the factors that Determine the quality of financial reporting. Similarly the internal implementation of audit firm certainly factors Affect the quality of financial reporting. Quality financial reporting will certainly get a market response that can be seen from the level of the stock return. The paper examines two independent variables items namely Good Corporate Governance and Internal Audit and its influence on the quality of financial reporting and its implications to Return Shares. In the design of this study will be performed on companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange with multiple linear regression method.

Groundwater governance in Asia: present state and barriers to implementation of good governance

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, T.

2014-09-01

The present state of groundwater governance in Asia was reviewed. The main problem regarding groundwater resources in each Asian country is overexploitation, causing water level decline, land subsidence and salt water intrusion. For those groundwater hazards, many countries have established regulations such as laws and regulations as countermeasures. However, those laws and regulations are not the basic laws on groundwater resources, but only for countermeasures to prevent groundwater hazards. Common problems and barriers for implementing groundwater governance in Asian countries are that there is more than one institute with different and sometimes overlapping responsibilities in groundwater management. To overcome those conflicts among institutions and establishment of good governance, it is necessary to establish an agency in the government as one coordinate function reinforcing the direct coordination and facilitation of groundwater policy-making and management. As one such framework, the conceptual law called the Water Cycle Basic Law, which is under planning in Japan, is examined in this paper.

Evaluating e-Government and Good Governance Correlation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suhardi Suhardi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Assessing the achievement of Indonesian government institutions in implementing e-government has been conducted since around a decade ago. Several national assessments are available with almost the same ranking results. There is an agreement that the ultimate goal of e-government implementation is to achieve good government governance (GGG, while success stories of e-government require good governance practices. This study explored the correlation between e-government achievement and GGG achievement in Indonesia. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to characterize the relationship strength between e-government assessment results and good governance assessment results. The data were collected from institutions that participated in e-government and good governance assessments. The results showed that the correlation between these two entities is not very strong. Most cases showed that e-government implementation and the achievement of good governance have only a moderate positive correlation and none of the studied cases indicated a significant connection. This result can be attributed to the lack of emphasis on goals achievement in the assessments. Thus, it is recommended that future Indonesian e-government assessments should involve impact indicators.

Fast space-varying convolution using matrix source coding with applications to camera stray light reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Jianing; Bouman, Charles A; Allebach, Jan P

2014-05-01

Many imaging applications require the implementation of space-varying convolution for accurate restoration and reconstruction of images. Here, we use the term space-varying convolution to refer to linear operators whose impulse response has slow spatial variation. In addition, these space-varying convolution operators are often dense, so direct implementation of the convolution operator is typically computationally impractical. One such example is the problem of stray light reduction in digital cameras, which requires the implementation of a dense space-varying deconvolution operator. However, other inverse problems, such as iterative tomographic reconstruction, can also depend on the implementation of dense space-varying convolution. While space-invariant convolution can be efficiently implemented with the fast Fourier transform, this approach does not work for space-varying operators. So direct convolution is often the only option for implementing space-varying convolution. In this paper, we develop a general approach to the efficient implementation of space-varying convolution, and demonstrate its use in the application of stray light reduction. Our approach, which we call matrix source coding, is based on lossy source coding of the dense space-varying convolution matrix. Importantly, by coding the transformation matrix, we not only reduce the memory required to store it; we also dramatically reduce the computation required to implement matrix-vector products. Our algorithm is able to reduce computation by approximately factoring the dense space-varying convolution operator into a product of sparse transforms. Experimental results show that our method can dramatically reduce the computation required for stray light reduction while maintaining high accuracy.

Customs control of goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mentor Gashi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Customs control, is regulated by law in different countries. Different countries define through the law, the control of goods.. Main purpose of this paper is to analyze two types of customs controls, and their effect in reducing avoidance of duty or tax evasion which may be caused by the import of goods of certain companies. For this reason we researched which model is implemented in developing countries and what results were reached through questionnaires. In this sense the next research question, consists in defining the moment of customs control pre or post-clearance control of goods.

From Goods to Solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chakkol, Mehmet; Johnson, Mark; Raja, Jawwad

2014-01-01

Purpose – This paper aims to adopt service-dominant logic (SDL) to empirically explore network configurations resulting from the provision of goods, goods and services, and solutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a single, in-depth, exploratory case study in a truck manufacturer......: dyadic, triadic and tetradic. The extent to which different network actors contribute to value co-creation varies across the offerings. Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a single, in-depth case study developed in one industrial context. Whilst this represents an appropriate...

Implementing Decree of 29 February 1956 relating to Annex I of the International Convention concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1956-01-01

This implementing Decree on Annex I of the International Convention concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM) brings into force in Austria the provisions of that Annex on the materials and goods excluded from transport or included under certain conditions defined by the International Regulations concerning the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID). It lays down 7 classes of material; class IVb concerns radioactive materials which are divided into groups A and B respectively covering those emitting gamma-rays and neutrons and those emitting alpha or beta rays. For this latter class, the transport provisions fix packaging criteria; despatch method, markings; it is forbidden to load radioactive materials together with explosives or Groups A and B together. (NEA) [fr

Practical implementation of good practice in health, environment and safety management in enterprise in the Lodz region.

Science.gov (United States)

Michalak, Jacek

2002-10-01

Good practice in health, environment and safety management in enterprise (GP HESME) is the process that aims at continuous improvement in health, environment and safety performance, involving all stakeholders within and outside the enterprise. The GP HESME system is intended to function at different levels: international, national, local community, and enterprise. The most important issues at the first stage of GP HESME implementation in the Lodz region are described. Also, the proposals of future activities in Lodz are presented. Practical implementation of GP HESME requires close co-operation among all stakeholders: local authorities, employers, employees, research institutions, and the state inspectorate. The WHO and the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) are initiating implementation, delivering professional consultation, education and training of stakeholders in the NIOM School of Public Health. The implementation of GP HESME in the Lodz region started in 1999 from a WHO meeting on criteria and indicators, followed by close collaboration of NIOM with the city's Department of Public Health. 'Directions of Actions for Health of Lodz Citizens' is now the city's official document that includes GP HESME as an important part of public health policy in Lodz. Several conferences were organized by NIOM together with the Professional Managers' Club, Labor Inspection, and the city's Department of Public Health to assess the most important needs of enterprises. The employers and managerial staff, who predominated among the participants, stated the need for tailored sets of indicators and economic appraisal of GP HESME activities. Special attention is paid to GP HESME in supermarkets and community-owned enterprises, e.g., a local transportation company. A special program for small- and medium-size enterprises will be the next step of GP HESME in the Lodz region. The implementation of GP HESME is possible if the efforts of local authorities; research

Individual differences in behavioural inhibition explain free riding in public good games when punishment is expected but not implemented

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background The literature on social dilemmas and punishment focuses on the behaviour of the punisher. However, to fully explain the effect of punishment on cooperation, it is important to understand the psychological mechanisms influencing the behaviour of those who expect to be punished. This paper examines whether the expectation of punishment, rather than the implementation of punishment is sufficient to prevent individuals from free riding. Individual differences in the punishment sensitivity have been linked to both threat responses (flight, fight, fear system, or the FFFS) and to the response to the uncertainty of punishment (BIS-anxiety).The paper, therefore, examines if individual differences in BIS-anxiety and FFFS can explain some of the variability in free riding in the face of implemented and non-implemented punishment. Methods Participants took part in a series of one-shot Public Goods Games (PGGs) facing two punishment conditions (implemented and non-implemented) and two standard non-punishment PGGs. The punishment was implemented as a centralized authority punishment (i.e., if one participant contributed less than their group members, they were automatically fined). Individual contribution levels and presence/absence of zero contributions indexed free riding. Individual differences in behavioural inhibition were assessed. Results Individuals contributed more under the threat of punishment (both implemented and non-implemented). However, individuals contributed less when the punishment was not implemented compared to when it was. Those scoring high in BIS-anxiety contributed more when the punishment expectations were not implemented. This effect was not observed for FFFS. Conclusion Supporting previous research, punishment had a powerful effect in increasing contribution levels in the PGGs. However, when expected punishment was not implemented, individual differences in punishment sensitivity, specifically in BIS-anxiety, were related to fewer

Individual differences in behavioural inhibition explain free riding in public good games when punishment is expected but not implemented

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Skatova Anya

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The literature on social dilemmas and punishment focuses on the behaviour of the punisher. However, to fully explain the effect of punishment on cooperation, it is important to understand the psychological mechanisms influencing the behaviour of those who expect to be punished. This paper examines whether the expectation of punishment, rather than the implementation of punishment is sufficient to prevent individuals from free riding. Individual differences in the punishment sensitivity have been linked to both threat responses (flight, fight, fear system, or the FFFS and to the response to the uncertainty of punishment (BIS-anxiety.The paper, therefore, examines if individual differences in BIS-anxiety and FFFS can explain some of the variability in free riding in the face of implemented and non-implemented punishment. Methods Participants took part in a series of one-shot Public Goods Games (PGGs facing two punishment conditions (implemented and non-implemented and two standard non-punishment PGGs. The punishment was implemented as a centralized authority punishment (i.e., if one participant contributed less than their group members, they were automatically fined. Individual contribution levels and presence/absence of zero contributions indexed free riding. Individual differences in behavioural inhibition were assessed. Results Individuals contributed more under the threat of punishment (both implemented and non-implemented. However, individuals contributed less when the punishment was not implemented compared to when it was. Those scoring high in BIS-anxiety contributed more when the punishment expectations were not implemented. This effect was not observed for FFFS. Conclusion Supporting previous research, punishment had a powerful effect in increasing contribution levels in the PGGs. However, when expected punishment was not implemented, individual differences in punishment sensitivity, specifically in BIS-anxiety, were

Securing OFDM over Wireless Time-Varying Channels Using Subcarrier Overloading with Joint Signal Constellations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gill R. Tsouri

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A method of overloading subcarriers by multiple transmitters to secure OFDM in wireless time-varying channels is proposed and analyzed. The method is based on reverse piloting, superposition modulation, and joint decoding. It makes use of channel randomness, reciprocity, and fast decorrelation in space to secure OFDM with low overheads on encryption, decryption, and key distribution. These properties make it a good alternative to traditional software-based information security algorithms in systems where the costs associated with such algorithms are an implementation obstacle. A necessary and sufficient condition for achieving information theoretic security in accordance with channel and system parameters is derived. Security by complexity is assessed for cases where the condition for information theoretic security is not satisfied. In addition, practical means for implementing the method are derived including generating robust joint constellations, decoding data with low complexity, and mitigating the effects of imperfections due to mobility, power control errors, and synchronization errors.

Behavior Of Bureaucracy In Good Program Policy Implementation In District Bombana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syafruddin

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The existence of the bureaucracy and the device has a very important role and vital in the life of modern man. This is because the bureaucracy is interpreted as an official institution that performs the functions of service to the public needs. Internal conditions bureaucratic organization itself does not stand alone but it has the internal and external sustainability. One of the most prominent aspect in the review of the bureaucratic organization is bureaucratic behavior. Good bureaucracy is based on bureaucratic behavior professional. Behavior embodiment bureaucracy itself can be grouped into four 4 main models ie models autocratic custodial models models of supportive and collegial models. One of the flagship program of work undertaken by the Building Movement Bombana is Bombana with Ridha Allah GLAD. In a way this program found some key problems in the realm of bureaucratic organization studies. Some issues such as village-level bureaucrats dependence greatly to the district government the low professionalism and competence of the bureaucratic apparatus and the difficulty of implementation of inter-agency coordination is still a topic interesting study. The problem of bureaucratic behavior is a complex element that can be influenced by factors that are subjectively individual and that associated with the condition in which the bureaucratic organization is located. Therefore the condition of the organization is divided into four 4 elements namely the organizational structure organizational culture policies and practices of human resources as well as the design work which are all expected to shape the behavior of bureaucracy Fun program.

A Model for Good Governance of Healthcare Technology Management in the Public Sector: Learning from Evidence-Informed Policy Development and Implementation in Benin.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Th Houngbo

Full Text Available Good governance (GG is an important concept that has evolved as a set of normative principles for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs to strengthen the functional capacity of their public bodies, and as a conditional prerequisite to receive donor funding. Although much is written on good governance, very little is known on how to implement it. This paper documents the process of developing a strategy to implement a GG model for Health Technology Management (HTM in the public health sector, based on lessons learned from twenty years of experience in policy development and implementation in Benin. The model comprises six phases: (i preparatory analysis, assessing the effects of previous policies and characterizing the HTM system; (ii stakeholder identification and problem analysis, making explicit the perceptions of problems by a diverse range of actors, and assessing their ability to solve these problems; (iii shared analysis and visioning, delineating the root causes of problems and hypothesizing solutions; (iv development of policy instruments for pilot testing, based on quick-win solutions to understand the system's responses to change; (v policy development and validation, translating the consensus solutions identified by stakeholders into a policy; and (vi policy implementation and evaluation, implementing the policy through a cycle of planning, action, observation and reflection. The policy development process can be characterized as bottom-up, with a central focus on the participation of diverse stakeholders groups. Interactive and analytical tools of action research were used to integrate knowledge amongst actor groups, identify consensus solutions and develop the policy in a way that satisfies criteria of GG. This model could be useful for other LMICs where resources are constrained and the majority of healthcare technologies are imported.

The Case Study of Implementing the Delivery Optimization System at a Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Distributer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ante Galić

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Using new optimization methods and information-communications technology has become the key issue in the competition among the distributers of fast-moving consumer goods. Introducing a delivery optimization system instead of manual routing enables significant cost savings. The prerequisites for optimization are stable information system and efficient company management. The rich vehicle routing problem model is discussed and the effects of implementing the delivery optimization system are presented. For four years of continuous utilisation, the system has helped the distributer to reduce the overall distribution costs. It also made possible to close down several depots and handle more customer requests without investing in the vehicle fleet. The developed optimization system enabled the distributer to adapt to the new distribution schedule and react to first indicators of recession very fast. Normal 0 21 false false false HR X-NONE X-NONE

Good governance as perceived by Dabawenyos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian M. Tamayo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The debate on good governance had shaped public policies of many governments. This study was conducted to obtain latent perspectives of good governance. A survey was conducted using two-stage cluster sampling in the first congressional district of Davao City involving 351 respondents. Findings reveal that the notion of good governance of Dabawenyos is primarily a government to implement the rule of law; peace and order is a necessity to facilitate market efficiency. Also, it was found that political leadership creates notions of good governance; public bestowed power to its political leaders as a matter of trust. On the other hand, leaders incorporate soft and hard forms of power in delegating powers without losing control, causing a widespread and significant impact on the formation and development of Davao’s perspectives of good governance. This is the rubber band effect of good governance leadership.

Papillary Thyroid Cancer: The Good and Bad of the "Good Cancer".

Science.gov (United States)

Randle, Reese W; Bushman, Norah M; Orne, Jason; Balentine, Courtney J; Wendt, Elizabeth; Saucke, Megan; Pitt, Susan C; Macdonald, Cameron L; Connor, Nadine P; Sippel, Rebecca S

2017-07-01

Papillary thyroid cancer is often described as the "good cancer" because of its treatability and relatively favorable survival rates. This study sought to characterize the thoughts of papillary thyroid cancer patients as they relate to having the "good cancer." This qualitative study included 31 papillary thyroid cancer patients enrolled in an ongoing randomized trial. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants at the preoperative visit and two weeks, six weeks, six months, and one year after thyroidectomy. Grounded theory was used, inductively coding the first 113 interview transcripts with NVivo 11. The concept of thyroid cancer as "good cancer" emerged unprompted from 94% (n = 29) of participants, mostly concentrated around the time of diagnosis. Patients encountered this perception from healthcare providers, Internet research, friends, and preconceived ideas about other cancers. While patients generally appreciated optimism, this perspective also generated negative feelings. It eased the diagnosis of cancer but created confusion when individual experiences varied from expectations. Despite initially feeling reassured, participants described feeling the "good cancer" characterization invalidated their fears of having cancer. Thyroid cancer patients expressed that they did not want to hear that it's "only thyroid cancer" and that it's "no big deal," because "cancer is cancer," and it is significant. Patients with papillary thyroid cancer commonly confront the perception that their malignancy is "good," but the favorable prognosis and treatability of the disease do not comprehensively represent their cancer fight. The "good cancer" perception is at the root of many mixed and confusing emotions. Clinicians emphasize optimistic outcomes, hoping to comfort, but they might inadvertently invalidate the impact thyroid cancer has on patients' lives.

Challenges in developing e-government for good governance in North Sumatra

Science.gov (United States)

Siahaan, AY

2017-01-01

E-government as one form of public administration reform in Indonesia is increasingly related to the pursuance of good governance. This paper examines the relationship between of e-government and good governance by utilizing the case study design on the implementation of e-procurement in North Sumatra. It reveals centrality of local politics and business culture in understanding resistances of both local government officials and local business which creates loopholes’ for the practice of ‘bad governance’ in all phases of e-procurement in North Sumatra province. Data transparency does not equate and guarantee the realization of good governance. Public knowledge and understanding on government decision making processes and accountability (process and policy transparency) are central to achieve good governance through e-procurement. E-procurement system does not automatically change organizational and working culture of the implementers and suppliers. This paper provides insight to the attitude and the perception of private sector engage in e-procurement towards government in implementing e-government. Resistance, digital divide and local politics interrelatedly obstruct the realization of pursuing good governance through e-procurement.

Good e-Governance and Cadastral Innovation:

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Simon Hull

Good e-Governance and Cadastral Innovation: In Pursuit of a ... The development and implementation of an e-cadastre, called Project Vulindlela, is underway in. South Africa yet ...... In Proceeding of the 5th FIG Regional Conference. Accra,.

Puebla Territory-Specific Basket of Goods Strategies and Their Local Repercussions for Employment and Profit: the Case of Xicotepec de Juárez, Puebla

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Mario del Roble Pensado Leglise

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Developing a basket of land goods means a systemic strateg y for small farmers because it allows reaching multiple objectives in order to promote territorial competitiveness to access market niches with varied rural goods, strengthen social capital and generate better local levels in employment and income, together with increasing and preserving the environment. This analysis implied the application of a system dynamics model which produced possible future scenarios (through Ve n s i m®DSS 5.8 about employment and income obtained by smallholder coffee farmers from Xicotepec de Juárez municipality in Puebla, regarding the setting of the above mentioned strateg y for rural development. Results showed that this strateg y was implemented successfully and also revealed opportunities for: a improving the development capacity of small farmers; b making the institutional context favorable; c The reinforcement of social capital essential to implement this land strategy.

Implementation of the Good School Toolkit in Uganda: a quantitative process evaluation of a successful violence prevention program.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Louise; Allen, Elizabeth; Mirembe, Angel; Nakuti, Janet; Namy, Sophie; Child, Jennifer C; Sturgess, Joanna; Kyegombe, Nambusi; Walakira, Eddy J; Elbourne, Diana; Naker, Dipak; Devries, Karen M

2018-05-09

The Good School Toolkit, a complex behavioural intervention designed by Raising Voices a Ugandan NGO, reduced past week physical violence from school staff to primary students by an average of 42% in a recent randomised controlled trial. This process evaluation quantitatively examines what was implemented across the twenty-one intervention schools, variations in school prevalence of violence after the intervention, factors that influence exposure to the intervention and factors associated with students' experience of physical violence from staff at study endline. Implementation measures were captured prospectively in the twenty-one intervention schools over four school terms from 2012 to 2014 and Toolkit exposure captured in the student (n = 1921) and staff (n = 286) endline cross-sectional surveys in 2014. Implementation measures and the prevalence of violence are summarised across schools and are assessed for correlation using Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient. Regression models are used to explore individual factors associated with Toolkit exposure and with physical violence at endline. School prevalence of past week physical violence from staff against students ranged from 7% to 65% across schools at endline. Schools with higher mean levels of teacher Toolkit exposure had larger decreases in violence during the study. Students in schools categorised as implementing a 'low' number of program school-led activities reported less exposure to the Toolkit. Higher student Toolkit exposure was associated with decreased odds of experiencing physical violence from staff (OR: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.67-0.86, p-valueEffectiveness of the Toolkit may be increased by further targeting and supporting teachers' engagement with girls and students with mental health difficulties. The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov , NCT01678846, August 24th 2012.

Codes of Good Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck Jørgensen, Torben; Sørensen, Ditte-Lene

2013-01-01

Good governance is a broad concept used by many international organizations to spell out how states or countries should be governed. Definitions vary, but there is a clear core of common public values, such as transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and the rule of law. It is quite likely......, transparency, neutrality, impartiality, effectiveness, accountability, and legality. The normative context of public administration, as expressed in codes, seems to ignore the New Public Management and Reinventing Government reform movements....

Good cell culture practices &in vitro toxicology.

Science.gov (United States)

Eskes, Chantra; Boström, Ann-Charlotte; Bowe, Gerhard; Coecke, Sandra; Hartung, Thomas; Hendriks, Giel; Pamies, David; Piton, Alain; Rovida, Costanza

2017-12-01

Good Cell Culture Practices (GCCP) is of high relevance to in vitro toxicology. The European Society of Toxicology In Vitro (ESTIV), the Center for Alternatives for Animal Testing (CAAT) and the In Vitro Toxicology Industrial Platform (IVTIP) joined forces to address by means of an ESTIV 2016 pre-congress session the different aspects and applications of GCCP. The covered aspects comprised the current status of the OECD guidance document on Good In Vitro Method Practices, the importance of quality assurance for new technological advances in in vitro toxicology including stem cells, and the optimized implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Laboratory Practices for regulatory testing purposes. General discussions raised the duality related to the difficulties in implementing GCCP in an academic innovative research framework on one hand, and on the other hand, the need for such GCCP principles in order to ensure reproducibility and robustness of in vitro test methods for toxicity testing. Indeed, if good cell culture principles are critical to take into consideration for all uses of in vitro test methods for toxicity testing, the level of application of such principles may depend on the stage of development of the test method as well as on the applications of the test methods, i.e., academic innovative research vs. regulatory standardized test method. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and implementation of the Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) practice in the USA sustainable mining development.

Science.gov (United States)

Masaitis, Alexandra

2014-05-01

New economic, environmental and social challenges for the mining industry in the USA show the need to implement "responsible" mining practices that include improved community involvement. Conflicts which occur in the US territory and with US mining companies around the world are now common between the mining proponents, NGO's and communities. These conflicts can sometimes be alleviated by early development of modes of communication, and a formal discussion format that allows airing of concerns and potential resolution of problems. One of the methods that can formalize this process is to establish a Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA), which deals specifically with challenges in relationships between mining operations and the local communities. It is a new practice related to mining operations that are oriented toward social needs and concerns of local communities that arise during the normal life of a mine, which can achieve sustainable mining practices. The GNA project being currently developed at the University of Nevada, USA in cooperation with the Newmont Mining Corporation has a goal of creating an open company/community dialog that will help identify and address sociological and environmental concerns associated with mining. Discussion: The Good Neighbor Agreement currently evolving will address the following: 1. Identify spheres of possible cooperation between mining companies, government organizations, and NGO's. 2. Provide an economically viable mechanism for developing a partnership between mining operations and the local communities that will increase mining industry's accountability and provide higher levels of confidence for the community that a mine is operated in a safe and sustainable manner. Implementation of the GNA can help identify and evaluate conflict criteria in mining/community relationships; determine the status of concerns; determine the role and responsibilities of stakeholders; analyze problem resolution feasibility; maintain the community

Re-identification of persons in multi-camera surveillance under varying viewpoints and illumination

Science.gov (United States)

Bouma, Henri; Borsboom, Sander; den Hollander, Richard J. M.; Landsmeer, Sander H.; Worring, Marcel

2012-06-01

The capability to track individuals in CCTV cameras is important for surveillance and forensics alike. However, it is laborious to do over multiple cameras. Therefore, an automated system is desirable. In literature several methods have been proposed, but their robustness against varying viewpoints and illumination is limited. Hence performance in realistic settings is also limited. In this paper, we present a novel method for the automatic re-identification of persons in video from surveillance cameras in a realistic setting. The method is computationally efficient, robust to a wide variety of viewpoints and illumination, simple to implement and it requires no training. We compare the performance of our method to several state-of-the-art methods on a publically available dataset that contains the variety of viewpoints and illumination to allow benchmarking. The results indicate that our method shows good performance and enables a human operator to track persons five times faster.

Chi-squared goodness of fit tests with applications

CERN Document Server

Balakrishnan, N; Nikulin, MS

2013-01-01

Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Tests with Applications provides a thorough and complete context for the theoretical basis and implementation of Pearson's monumental contribution and its wide applicability for chi-squared goodness of fit tests. The book is ideal for researchers and scientists conducting statistical analysis in processing of experimental data as well as to students and practitioners with a good mathematical background who use statistical methods. The historical context, especially Chapter 7, provides great insight into importance of this subject with an authoritative author team

Experimental evidence for amplitude death induced by a time-varying interaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suresh, K. [Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, School of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu (India); Shrimali, M.D. [Department of Physics, Central University of Rajasthan, NH-8, Bandar Sindri, Ajmer 305 801 (India); Prasad, Awadhesh [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007 (India); Thamilmaran, K., E-mail: maran.cnld@gmail.com [Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, School of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu (India)

2014-08-01

In this paper, we study the time-varying interaction in coupled oscillatory systems. For this purpose, we have designed a novel time-varying resistive network using an analog switch and inverter circuits. We have applied this time-varying resistive network to mutually coupled identical Chua's oscillators. When the resistances are varied in time, we find that amplitude death arises in coupled identical oscillators. This has been observed numerically as well as verified through hardware experiments. - Highlights: • We have implemented the time-varying interaction in coupled oscillatory systems. • We have designed a novel time-varying resistive network using an analog switch and inverter circuits. • When the resistances are varied in time, we find that amplitude death arises in coupled identical oscillators.

Good governance and virtue in South Africa's cyber security policy implementation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Burmeister, O

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Good governance from an ethical perspective in cyberdefence policy has been seen in terms of duty and consequentialism. Yet the negotiated view of virtue ethics can also address how nation states mitigate the risks of a cyber attack...

Good manufacturing practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlyer, D.J.

2001-01-01

In this presentation author deals with the Implementation of good manufacturing practice for radiopharmaceuticals. The presentation is divided into next parts: Batch size; Expiration date; QC Testing; Environmental concerns; Personnel aspects; Radiation concerns; Theoretical yields; Sterilizing filters; Control and reconciliation of materials and components; Product strength; In process sampling and testing; Holding and distribution; Drug product inspection; Buildings and facilities; Renovations at BNL for GMP; Aseptic processing and sterility assurance; Process validation and control; Quality control and drug product stability; Documentation and other GMP topics; Building design considerations; Equipment; and Summary

Implementation of Good Maufacturing Practices (GMP) in the Kitchen Hospital

OpenAIRE

Sari, Fitria Novita

2016-01-01

Abstract: Food safety is one of the important thing in public health improvement in Indonesia. Hospitals are required to keep food safety for patients by conducting the principle Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). The purpose of this research to -identify the application of GMP in Installation Nutrition Hospital. Design of this study was using descriptive research in observational method with cross sectional design. Variables the treatment were the physical building, utility, equipment, stor...

Observer-based linear parameter varying H∞ tracking control for hypersonic vehicles

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Yiqing Huang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims to develop observer-based linear parameter varying output feedback H∞ tracking controller for hypersonic vehicles. Due to the complexity of an original nonlinear model of the hypersonic vehicle dynamics, a slow–fast loop linear parameter varying polytopic model is introduced for system stability analysis and controller design. Then, a state observer is developed by linear parameter varying technique in order to estimate the unmeasured attitude angular for slow loop system. Also, based on the designed linear parameter varying state observer, a kind of attitude tracking controller is presented to reduce tracking errors for all bounded reference attitude angular inputs. The closed-loop linear parameter varying system is proved to be quadratically stable by Lypapunov function technique. Finally, simulation results show that the developed linear parameter varying H∞ controller has good tracking capability for reference commands.

Anistropically varying conductivity in irreversible electroporation simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Labarbera, Nicholas; Drapaca, Corina

2017-11-01

One recent area of cancer research is irreversible electroporation (IRE). Irreversible electroporation is a minimally invasive procedure where needle electrodes are inserted into the body to ablate tumor cells with electricity. The aim of this paper is to propose a mathematical model that incorporates a tissue's conductivity increasing more in the direction of the electrical field as this has been shown to occur in experiments. It was necessary to mathematically derive a valid form of the conductivity tensor such that it is dependent on the electrical field direction and can be easily implemented into numerical software. The derivation of a conductivity tensor that can take arbitrary functions for the conductivity in the directions tangent and normal to the electrical field is the main contribution of this paper. Numerical simulations were performed for isotropic-varying and anisotropic-varying conductivities to evaluate the importance of including the electrical field's direction in the formulation for conductivity. By starting from previously published experimental results, this paper derived a general formulation for an anistropic-varying tensor for implementation into irreversible electroporation modeling software. The anistropic-varying tensor formulation allows the conductivity to take into consideration both electrical field direction and magnitude, as opposed to previous published works that only took into account electrical field magnitude. The anisotropic formulation predicts roughly a five percent decrease in ablation size for the monopolar simulation and approximately a ten percent decrease in ablation size for the bipolar simulations. This is a positive result as previously reported results found the isotropic formulation to overpredict ablation size for both monopolar and bipolar simulations. Furthermore, it was also reported that the isotropic formulation overpredicts the ablation size more for the bipolar case than the monopolar case. Thus, our

Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making--Emerging Good Practices: Report 2 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, Kevin; IJzerman, Maarten; Thokala, Praveen; Baltussen, Rob; Boysen, Meindert; Kaló, Zoltán; Lönngren, Thomas; Mussen, Filip; Peacock, Stuart; Watkins, John; Devlin, Nancy

2016-01-01

Health care decisions are complex and involve confronting trade-offs between multiple, often conflicting objectives. Using structured, explicit approaches to decisions involving multiple criteria can improve the quality of decision making. A set of techniques, known under the collective heading, multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA), are useful for this purpose. In 2014, ISPOR established an Emerging Good Practices Task Force. The task force's first report defined MCDA, provided examples of its use in health care, described the key steps, and provided an overview of the principal methods of MCDA. This second task force report provides emerging good-practice guidance on the implementation of MCDA to support health care decisions. The report includes: a checklist to support the design, implementation and review of an MCDA; guidance to support the implementation of the checklist; the order in which the steps should be implemented; illustrates how to incorporate budget constraints into an MCDA; provides an overview of the skills and resources, including available software, required to implement MCDA; and future research directions. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The global public good concept: a means of promoting good veterinary governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Eloit, M

2012-08-01

At the outset, the concept of a 'public good' was associated with economic policies. However, it has now evolved not only from a national to a global concept (global public good), but also from a concept applying solely to the production of goods to one encompassing societal issues (education, environment, etc.) and fundamental rights, including the right to health and food. Through their actions, Veterinary Services, as defined by the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (Terrestrial Code) of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), help to improve animal health and reduce production losses. In this way they contribute directly and indirectly to food security and to safeguarding human health and economic resources. The organisation and operating procedures of Veterinary Services are therefore key to the efficient governance required to achieve these objectives. The OIE is a major player in global cooperation and governance in the fields of animal and public health through the implementation of its strategic standardisation mission and other programmes for the benefit of Veterinary Services and OIE Member Countries. Thus, the actions of Veterinary Services and the OIE deserve to be recognised as a global public good, backed by public investment to ensure that all Veterinary Services are in a position to apply the principles of good governance and to comply with the international standards for the quality of Veterinary Services set out in the OIE Terrestrial Code (Section 3 on Quality of Veterinary Services) and Aquatic Animal Health Code (Section 3 on Quality of Aquatic Animal Health Services).

GOOD GOVERNANCE: NORMATIVE VS. DESCRIPTIVE DIMENSION

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Ciprian IFTIMOAEI

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The concept of “good governance” was used for the first time in the 1989 World Bank Report – Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth. A Long-Term Perspective Study – and has already made history in international studies, especially after the breakdown of the communist regimes. The governance has to do with authority, decision-making and accountability.The good governance is defined as the capacity of the government to manage a nation’s affaires, to provide economic development, welfare for citizens, and social protection for the poor. In this article,the concept of good governance is analysed according to two main dimensions: the normative dimension which comprises principles, values and norms that are guiding the international community and the governments in the management of policymaking process;the descriptive dimension which refers to the practical aspects of implementing the good governance’s standards as policies, programmes and structural reforms with the aim of solving or ameliorating the problems of developing countries.

Pengaruh Penerapan Prinsip-Prinsip Good Governance Terhadap Kepuasan Kerja Pegawai (Studi pada Kantor Bupati Dairi Provinsi Sumatera Utara)

OpenAIRE

Ginting, Wiro Oktavius

2016-01-01

Good Governance is the process of organization of state power in implementing the provision of public goods and service called governance (government / governance) while the best practice is '' good governance '' (good governance). Good governance is applied within an institution will ultimately affect job satisfaction. For that good governance adopted by the organization is a factor that is very important and needs to be implemented properly so that the job satisfaction of employees in their...

Performance-based risk-sharing arrangements-good practices for design, implementation, and evaluation: report of the ISPOR good practices for performance-based risk-sharing arrangements task force.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, Louis P; Towse, Adrian; Briggs, Andrew; de Pouvourville, Gerard; Grueger, Jens; Mohr, Penny E; Severens, J L Hans; Siviero, Paolo; Sleeper, Miguel

2013-01-01

There is a significant and growing interest among both payers and producers of medical products for agreements that involve a "pay-for-performance" or "risk-sharing" element. These payment schemes-called "performance-based risk-sharing arrangements" (PBRSAs)-involve a plan by which the performance of the product is tracked in a defined patient population over a specified period of time and the amount or level of reimbursement is based on the health and cost outcomes achieved. There has always been considerable uncertainty at product launch about the ultimate real-world clinical and economic performance of new products, but this appears to have increased in recent years. PBRSAs represent one mechanism for reducing this uncertainty through greater investment in evidence collection while a technology is used within a health care system. The objective of this Task Force report was to set out the standards that should be applied to "good practices"-both research and operational-in the use of a PBRSA, encompassing questions around the desirability, design, implementation, and evaluation of such an arrangement. This report provides practical recommendations for the development and application of state-of-the-art methods to be used when considering, using, or reviewing PBRSAs. Key findings and recommendations include the following. Additional evidence collection is costly, and there are numerous barriers to establishing viable and cost-effective PBRSAs: negotiation, monitoring, and evaluation costs can be substantial. For good research practice in PBRSAs, it is critical to match the appropriate study and research design to the uncertainties being addressed. Good governance processes are also essential. The information generated as part of PBRSAs has public good aspects, bringing ethical and professional obligations, which need to be considered from a policy perspective. The societal desirability of a particular PBRSA is fundamentally an issue as to whether the cost of

PENERAPAN PRINSIP-PRINSIP GOOD GOVERNANCE DALAM PELAYANAN PUBLIK DI KANTOR CAMAT SAIL KOTA PEKANBARU

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Sri Roserdevi Nasution

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Good Governance is the new face of hearts implement the principles of Public Service in the reform era. Public services Law No. 25 of 2009 is activities or circuit hearts Frame activities Fulfillment Services Under legislation with every citizen Share And Population differences Goods, services, and administrative services or Provided By Operation of Public Service. Public services carried out by the Government showed to society who asked service. Research Type singer is descriptive qualitative approach with, the techniques data collection using depth Interviews and Documentation. Results of Research Singer nearly all the principles of good governance hearts Services Not Running In accordance with From UNDP as Principles of Participation, legal rules, Transparency, Responsiveness, consensus-oriented, fairness, effectiveness, accountability, and strategic vision, Many Are Being inhibit the progress of the Principles of good governance. The conclusion from the findings of research, so authors concluded that the application of good governance in the hearts Implementation Services Head Office Sail Maximum yet. It is because that the singer Leadership And yet the implementation of communication subordinate ones in line so that although Head Already Trying to give the Best but if NOT in Support By subordinates will Difficult accomplished. Lack of human resources is a prayer One That Become an inhibiting factor hearts implementation of the Principles of good governance in the future Head Office Sail.

Post Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Malaysia: Tax Agents’ Perceptions on Clients’ Compliance Behaviour and Tax Agents’ Roles in Promoting Compliance

OpenAIRE

Muhammad Izlawanie

2017-01-01

The Malaysian government introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) starting from 1 April 2015 to enhance the revenue collections and mitigate the transfer pricing manipulation. Tax agents play a significant role to help businesses to comply with GST law and regulations. After one year of GST implementation, it is vital to understand tax agents’ perceptions on clients’ compliance behaviour and tax agents’ roles in influencing compliance. A total of 30 registered tax agents completed a survey...

Implementing Good Practices Programs to Encourage Production of High-Quality, Safer Produce in Mississippi

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoud, Barakat S. M.; Stafne, Eric T.; Coker, Christine H.; Bachman, Gary R.; Bell, Nicole

2016-01-01

Fifty-four growers/producers attended four 1-day good agricultural practices (GAP) and good handling practices (GHP) workshops at four locations in Mississippi. Pre- and post workshop survey data indicated that the participants' food safety knowledge increased by 15%. Furthermore, the workshops helped producers develop their own food safety plans.…

A systematic review of the implementation of recommended psychological interventions for schizophrenia: Rates, barriers, and improvement strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ince, Paul; Haddock, Gillian; Tai, Sara

2016-09-01

A systematic review of the literature exploring if the UK recommendations for psychological interventions for schizophrenia were being met was carried out. Rates of implementation for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and family intervention (FI) were compared. The barriers against implementation and described strategies aimed at improving implementation were reviewed. A literature search of electronic bibliography databases (Psychinfo, Medline, Pubmed, AMED, CINHAL, and EMBASE), reference and citation lists, the Evaluation and Review of NICE Implementation (ERNIE) database, a manual search of Clinical Psychology Forum, governmental reports, charity, and service user group reports was conducted. Twenty-six articles met the inclusion criteria, 11 provided data on implementation rates, 13 explored the barriers to implementation, and 10 gave information about improvement strategies. Rates of implementation varied from 4% to 100% for CBT and 0% to 53% for FI, and studies varied in the methodology used and quality of the articles. Previously reported barriers to implementation were found, with organisational barriers being most commonly followed by barriers met by staff members and service users. Implementation strategies discovered included training packages for CBT, FI, and psychosocial interventions as well as empirical evidence suggesting methods for engagement with service users. Rates of implementation for CBT and FI are still below recommended levels with wide variation of rates found. This suggests inequalities in the provision of psychological interventions for schizophrenia are still present. Previously identified barriers to implementation were confirmed. Attempted implementation strategies have been met with modest success. Inequalities in the provision of psychological therapies for schizophrenia persist. Good quality cognitive behavioural therapy and FI training do not ensure implementation. Collaboration at all levels of healthcare is needed for

Mediation analysis with time varying exposures and mediators.

Science.gov (United States)

VanderWeele, Tyler J; Tchetgen Tchetgen, Eric J

2017-06-01

In this paper we consider causal mediation analysis when exposures and mediators vary over time. We give non-parametric identification results, discuss parametric implementation, and also provide a weighting approach to direct and indirect effects based on combining the results of two marginal structural models. We also discuss how our results give rise to a causal interpretation of the effect estimates produced from longitudinal structural equation models. When there are time-varying confounders affected by prior exposure and mediator, natural direct and indirect effects are not identified. However, we define a randomized interventional analogue of natural direct and indirect effects that are identified in this setting. The formula that identifies these effects we refer to as the "mediational g-formula." When there is no mediation, the mediational g-formula reduces to Robins' regular g-formula for longitudinal data. When there are no time-varying confounders affected by prior exposure and mediator values, then the mediational g-formula reduces to a longitudinal version of Pearl's mediation formula. However, the mediational g-formula itself can accommodate both mediation and time-varying confounders and constitutes a general approach to mediation analysis with time-varying exposures and mediators.

Implementation of the OECD principles of good laboratory practice in test facilities complying with a quality system accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.

Science.gov (United States)

Feller, Etty

2008-01-01

Laboratories with a quality system accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard have a definite advantage, compared to non-accredited laboratories, when preparing their facilities for the implementation of the principles of good laboratory practice (GLP) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Accredited laboratories have an established quality system covering the administrative and technical issues specified in the standard. The similarities and differences between the ISO/IEC 17025 standard and the OECD principles of GLP are compared and discussed.

Implementation of Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) guidelines within the External Quality Assurance Program Oversight Laboratory (EQAPOL).

Science.gov (United States)

Todd, Christopher A; Sanchez, Ana M; Garcia, Ambrosia; Denny, Thomas N; Sarzotti-Kelsoe, Marcella

2014-07-01

The EQAPOL contract was awarded to Duke University to develop and manage global proficiency testing programs for flow cytometry-, ELISpot-, and Luminex bead-based assays (cytokine analytes), as well as create a genetically diverse panel of HIV-1 viral cultures to be made available to National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers. As a part of this contract, EQAPOL was required to operate under Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP) that are traditionally used for laboratories conducting endpoint assays for human clinical trials. EQAPOL adapted these guidelines to the management of proficiency testing programs while simultaneously incorporating aspects of ISO/IEC 17043 which are specifically designed for external proficiency management. Over the first two years of the contract, the EQAPOL Oversight Laboratories received training, developed standard operating procedures and quality management practices, implemented strict quality control procedures for equipment, reagents, and documentation, and received audits from the EQAPOL Central Quality Assurance Unit. GCLP programs, such as EQAPOL, strengthen a laboratory's ability to perform critical assays and provide quality assessments of future potential vaccines. © 2013.

Beyond the goodness of fit: A preference-based account of Europeanization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mastenbroek, E.; Keulen, M. van; Haverland, M; Holzhacker, R

2006-01-01

This paper is concerned with formulating and testing a preference-based explanation of EU implementation. The hypothesis is that, rather than the ‘goodness of fit’ with existing policies, the fit with national preferences predicts the ease of implementation of new EU legislation. This hypothesis is

Top 10 metrics for life science software good practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Artaza, Haydee; Chue Hong, Neil; Corpas, Manuel; Corpuz, Angel; Hooft, Rob; Jimenez, Rafael C; Leskošek, Brane; Olivier, Brett G; Stourac, Jan; Svobodová Vařeková, Radka; Van Parys, Thomas; Vaughan, Daniel

2016-01-01

Metrics for assessing adoption of good development practices are a useful way to ensure that software is sustainable, reusable and functional. Sustainability means that the software used today will be available - and continue to be improved and supported - in the future. We report here an initial set of metrics that measure good practices in software development. This initiative differs from previously developed efforts in being a community-driven grassroots approach where experts from different organisations propose good software practices that have reasonable potential to be adopted by the communities they represent. We not only focus our efforts on understanding and prioritising good practices, we assess their feasibility for implementation and publish them here.

Flexible time-varying filter banks

Science.gov (United States)

Tuncer, Temel E.; Nguyen, Truong Q.

1993-09-01

Linear phase maximally flat FIR Butterworth filter approximations are discussed and a new filter design method is introduced. This variable cutoff filter design method uses the cosine modulated versions of a prototype filter. The design procedure is simple and different variants of this procedure can be used to obtain close to optimum linear phase filters. Using this method, flexible time-varying filter banks with good reconstruction error are introduced. These types of oversampled filter banks have small magnitude error which can be easily controlled by the appropriate choice of modulation frequency. This error can be further decreased by magnitude equalization without increasing the computational complexity considerably. Two dimensional design examples are also given.

Business Climate and Good Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Besmira Manaj

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper consists of three factors, namely: Good Governance, Business Climate and Corruption. How they affect the development product of Albania, not only as a concept, and a principle but mostly as a sensitive aspect in the integration process. There are some interpretations of this concept, but I intend to analyze the key factors and actors, their cooperation and concrete production in society. Improving governance is necessary to have an integrated long term strategy based upon a continuous cooperation between institutions and citizens. But in developing countries like Albania there are some important questions such as: How can we measure the improvement of Good Governance through policies? Has Good Governance indicated an effective way for the sustainable development? (Meisel, 2008, 6. These question give us the orientation to reflect about the process of development, social economic political behavior and how this multidimensional is transformed in product of good governance. The business cycle is strongly connected with many aspects of political-, social-, juridical aspects and good governance. Despite attempts to draft law regulations, the level of corruption and informality in Albania continues to be a major obstacle. The credibility level in the implementation of law is an indicator that affects democratization and institutional integration. At present, different reports of international institutions, define Albania as the country with the highest level of Corruption in the Balkans, which is a key factor influencing business. The ways with

Behavior Of Bureaucracy In Good Program Policy Implementation In District Bombana

OpenAIRE

Syafruddin; H. Suratman Nur; Alwi; H. Baharuddin

2015-01-01

Abstract The existence of the bureaucracy and the device has a very important role and vital in the life of modern man. This is because the bureaucracy is interpreted as an official institution that performs the functions of service to the public needs. Internal conditions bureaucratic organization itself does not stand alone but it has the internal and external sustainability. One of the most prominent aspect in the review of the bureaucratic organization is bureaucratic behavior. Good burea...

Pengelolaan Manajemen Modern dalam Mewujudkan Good Corporate Governance: Optimalisasi Pencapaian Tujuan Perusahaan

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Ignatius Edward Riantono

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Implementation and management of good corporate governance, better known by the term Good Corporate Governance, is a concept that emphasizes the importance of shareholders to obtain true, accurate, and punctual information. In this era of global competition state borders are no longer a barrier to competition; only companies that implement good corporate governance (GCG are capable of winning the competition. GCG is a must in order to establish conditions of tough and sustainable company. GCG is necessary to create a system and a strong corporate structure so as to become world class company. Good Corporate Governance is basically a system (input, process, and output and a set of rules that govern the relationship between various parties (stakeholders; especially in the narrow sense, the relationship between the shareholders, the board of commissioners, and the board of directors in order to achieve corporate objectives. Good Corporate Gorvernance encloses to regulate these relationships and prevent significant errors in the company's strategy and to ensure the errors occur can be improved immediately.

PEMILIHAN MODEL ORGANISASI DAN TERWUJUDNYA PRINSIP-PRINSIP GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

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Aries Susanty

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Ketidakmampuan penerapan prinsip good corporate governance (GSC didemonstrasikan dalam survei dengan konstrain yang diklasifikasikan dalam 3 konstrain yaitu konstrain internal, konstrain eksternal dan konstrain yang berasal dari struktur pemilik. Konstrain internal meliputi komitmen pemimpin dan pekerja, tingkat pemahaman prinsip GCG oleh pemimpin dan pekerja, keefektifan sistem kontrol internal dan formality trap (implementasi CG hanya untuk memenuhi regulasi. Konstrain internal yang disebutkan berkaitan dengan fungsi internal perusahaan. Sebagai sebuah organisasi bisnis, korporasi tidak mampu mencapai tujuan menerapkan GCG dengan sukses bila tidak didukung elemen internal organisasi. Untuk membentuk fungsi internal diperlukan diagnosa korporasi dengan model organisasi. Dalam hal ini, penulis menggunakan beberapa kriteria untuk memilih model yang paling tepat dari 10 model yang ada. Dari beberapa kriteria dapat disimpulkan bahwa Adaptasi Pascal merupakan model yang paling tepat. Model ini dapat menggambarkan hubungan antara kondisi tiap elemen organisasi dengan kesuksesan implementasi prinsip GCG. Kata kunci: Prinsip Good Corporate Governance, model organisasi             The inability to implement the principles of good corporate governance (GCG as demonstrated in the surveys is due to a number of constraints which can be classified into three; namely internal constraints, external constraints, and constraints coming from the structure of ownership. Internal constraints cover the commitment of leaders and workers, the level of understanding of GCG principles from leaders and workers, good example from leaders, the corporate culture supporting the implementation of GCG principles, effectiveness of internal control system, and formality trap (implementing CG only to meet regulations. The issues in the internal constraints mentioned are related to the internal  functions of the company. As a business organization, corporation is unable

Good leadership for good quality

OpenAIRE

Franzon, Vilma Maria

2016-01-01

Good leadership is important if you like to have high quality in the results. My experience in the production of the television industry is that conditions for good leadership is insufficient. Therefore, I have tried to get answers for those two questions in my exam report: What are the characteristics of good leadership? What are the prerequisites for good leadership out of production? The method I used is a literature study and observation. I have read a number of books and research studies...

Learn good from bad: Effects of good and bad neighbors in spatial prisoners' dilemma games

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Peng

2015-10-01

Cooperation is vital for the human society and this study focuses on how to promote cooperation. In our stratification model, there exist three classes: two minorities are elites who are prone to cooperate and scoundrels who are born to defect; one majority is the class of common people. Agents of these three classes interact with each other on a square lattice. Commons' cooperation and its factors are investigated. Contradicting our common sense, it indicates that elites play a negative role while scoundrels play a positive one in promoting commons' cooperation. Besides, effects of good and bad neighbors vary with temptation. When the temptation is smaller the positive effect is able to overcome the negative effect, but the later prevails when the temptation is larger. It concludes that common people are more prone to cooperate in harsh environment with bad neighbors, and a better environment with good neighbors merely leads to laziness and free riding of commons.

Linear Parameter Varying Control of Induction Motors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trangbæk, Klaus

The subject of this thesis is the development of linear parameter varying (LPV) controllers and observers for control of induction motors. The induction motor is one of the most common machines in industrial applications. Being a highly nonlinear system, it poses challenging control problems...... for high performance applications. This thesis demonstrates how LPV control theory provides a systematic way to achieve good performance for these problems. The main contributions of this thesis are the application of the LPV control theory to induction motor control as well as various contributions...

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

TransRoute: a web-based vehicle route planning application is proposed in this paper. This application leverages existing input-output (I/O) efficient implementations of shortest path algorithms (SPAs) to implement the proposed system that will fundamentally address the problems experienced in moving people, goods and ...

Critical mass of public goods and its coevolution with cooperation

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Dong-Mei; Wang, Bing-Hong

2017-07-01

In this study, the enhancing parameter represented the value of the public goods to the public in public goods game, and was rescaled to a Fermi-Dirac distribution function of critical mass. Public goods were divided into two categories, consumable and reusable public goods, and their coevolution with cooperative behavior was studied. We observed that for both types of public goods, cooperation was promoted as the enhancing parameter increased when the value of critical mass was not very large. An optimal value of critical mass which led to the best cooperation was identified. We also found that cooperations emerged earlier for reusable public goods, and defections became extinct earlier for the consumable public goods. Moreover, we observed that a moderate depreciation rate for public goods resulted in an optimal cooperation, and this range became wider as the enhancing parameter increased. The noise influence on cooperation was studied, and it was shown that cooperation density varied non-monotonically as noise amplitude increased for reusable public goods, whereas decreased monotonically for consumable public goods. Furthermore, existence of the optimal critical mass was also identified in other three regular networks. Finally, simulation results were utilized to analyze the provision of public goods in detail.

Implementation Command Media Manual And Internal Auditor Role In Achieving The Rules Of Good Corporate Governance The Case Of Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syafdinal

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Command Media Manual includes the provision implementation procedures and instructions relating to the management and handling of command media is used by an organization to provide trace archives and uniformity of action operations. The contributions Internal Auditor IA in applying the principles of Good Corporate Governance GCG in the formation of company image and in the improvement of the integrated control function ensure that the operations have been run well and can increase the value added to the organization. Testing the hypothesis first tested the validity and reliability testing. Analysis of data was using path analysis path analysis. Generally not maximum awareness and common understanding among all management and staff that the application of the Manual Command Media is very important for the companys operations in their objective to fulfill the standards of corporate governance.

Towards Good Order at Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mandrup, Thomas; Vreÿ, Francois

. The problems originating from the resultant “bad order at sea” can be directly felt on land, when smuggling, terrorism and related criminal activities operate more or less unhindered. The book provides an important mapping of the challenges preventing good order at sea off the African coast and East Africa...... in particular. The chapters offer suggestions for increased maritime security in the future and go some way to assist the African Union to implement its maritime strategy and raise the maritime security awareness of its member states....

Guide to good practices for the development of test items

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-01-01

While the methodology used in developing test items can vary significantly, to ensure quality examinations, test items should be developed systematically. Test design and development is discussed in the DOE Guide to Good Practices for Design, Development, and Implementation of Examinations. This guide is intended to be a supplement by providing more detailed guidance on the development of specific test items. This guide addresses the development of written examination test items primarily. However, many of the concepts also apply to oral examinations, both in the classroom and on the job. This guide is intended to be used as guidance for the classroom and laboratory instructor or curriculum developer responsible for the construction of individual test items. This document focuses on written test items, but includes information relative to open-reference (open book) examination test items, as well. These test items have been categorized as short-answer, multiple-choice, or essay. Each test item format is described, examples are provided, and a procedure for development is included. The appendices provide examples for writing test items, a test item development form, and examples of various test item formats.

Good Faith in Life Insurance Contract by Indonesian Court

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mokhamad Khoirul Huda

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews both the interpretation of good faith and its implementation by the Court in terms of life insurance contracts. The principle of good faith in life insurance contracts was under the provision of the Article 251 Wet Boek van Kophandel which assigned the obligation of good faith on the insured. Based on the context of its historical and systematical interpretation, the obligation of good faith should be on both sides, the insurer and the insured. The insured had an obligation to inform any material facts and the insurer had to investigate those all facts. Until recent days, however, judges in all levels of Court did not have any shared and full understanding on the interpretation of good faith in life insurance contracts. As the result, many Courts were frequently inconsistent with each other. Hence, the sense of fairness the people perceived from the court verdict was not achieved.

To sing or not to sing: seasonal changes in singing vary with personality in wild great tits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Naguib, M.; van Rooij, E.P.; Snijders, L.; van Oers, K.

Expression of sexually selected signals in many species varies over time of day and season. A key model system to study this variation in signal expression is birdsong. Yet, despite good ecological understanding of why song varies across time of day and season, much of the individual variation

Workplace Learning for the Public Good: Implementation of a Standardized, Competency-Based Curriculum in Texas WIC

Science.gov (United States)

Kessler, Seth A.; Horton, Karissa D.; Gottlieb, Nell H.; Atwood, Robin

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe preceptors' implementation experiences after implementing a workplace learning program in Texas WIC (women, infant, and children) agencies and identify implementation best practices. Design/methodology/approach: This research used qualitative description methodology. Data collection consisted of 11…

Implementing nurse prescribing: a case study in diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenner, Karen; Carey, Nicola; Courtenay, Molly

2010-03-01

This paper is a report of a study exploring the views of nurses and team members on the implementation of nurse prescribing in diabetes services. Nurse prescribing is adopted as a means of improving service efficiency, particularly where demand outstretches resources. Although factors that support nurse prescribing have been identified, it is not known how these function within specific contexts. This is important as its uptake and use varies according to mode of prescribing and area of practice. A case study was undertaken in nine practice settings across England where nurses prescribed medicines for patients with diabetes. Thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative data from 31 semi-structured interviews undertaken between 2007 and 2008. Participants were qualified nurse prescribers, administrative staff, physicians and non-nurse prescribers. Nurses prescribed more often following the expansion of nurse independent prescribing rights in 2006. Initial implementation problems had been resolved and few current problems were reported. As nurses' roles were well-established, no major alterations to service provision were required to implement nurse prescribing. Access to formal and informal resources for support and training were available. Participants were accepting and supportive of this initiative to improve the efficiency of diabetes services. The main factors that promoted implementation of nurse prescribing in this setting were the ability to prescribe independently, acceptance of the prescribing role, good working relationships between doctors and nurses, and sound organizational and interpersonal support. The history of established nursing roles in diabetes care, and increasing service demand, meant that these diabetes services were primed to assimilate nurse prescribing.

Change Forces: Implementing Change in a Secondary School for the Common Good

Science.gov (United States)

Melville, Wayne; Bartley, Anthony; Weinburgh, Molly

2012-01-01

In this article, we investigate the change forces that act on administrators, subject department chairpersons and teachers as they seek to implement a change in a Canadian secondary school. Using a case study methodology, our analysis of the data uses Sergiovanni's (1998) six change forces: bureaucratic, personal, market, professional, cultural,…

Implementation fidelity of a self-management course for epilepsy: method and assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wojewodka, G; Hurley, S; Taylor, S J C; Noble, A J; Ridsdale, L; Goldstein, L H

2017-07-11

Complex interventions such as self-management courses are difficult to evaluate due to the many interacting components. The way complex interventions are delivered can influence the effect they have for patients, and can impact the interpretation of outcomes of clinical trials. Implementation fidelity evaluates whether complex interventions are delivered according to protocol. Such assessments have been used for one-to-one psychological interventions; however, the science is still developing for group interventions. We developed and tested an instrument to measure implementation fidelity of a two-day self-management course for people with epilepsy, SMILE(UK). Using audio recordings, we looked at adherence and competence of course facilitators. Adherence was assessed by checklists. Competence was measured by scoring group interaction, an overall impression score and facilitator "didacticism". To measure "didacticism", we developed a novel way to calculate facilitator speech using computer software. Using this new instrument, implementation fidelity of SMILE(UK) was assessed on three modules of the course, for 28% of all courses delivered. Using the instrument for adherence, scores from two independent raters showed substantial agreement with weighted Kappa of 0.67 and high percent agreement of 81.2%. For didacticism, the results from both raters were highly correlated with an intraclass coefficient of 0.97 (p  50% of scored items received the maximum of 2 points) and high competence. Groups were interactive (mean score: 1.9-2.0 out of 2) and the overall impression was on average assessed as "good". Didacticism varied from 42% to 93% of total module time and was not associated with the other competence scores. The instrument devised to measure implementation fidelity was reproducible and easy to use. The courses for the SMILE(UK) study were delivered with a good level of adherence to protocol while not compromising facilitator competence. ISRCTN57937389 .

Creating conditions for good nursing by attending to the spiritual.

Science.gov (United States)

Biro, Anne L

2012-12-01

To note similarities, differences, and gaps in the literature on good nursing and spiritual care. Good nursing care is essential for meeting patient health needs. With growing recognition of the role of spirituality in health, understanding spiritual care as it relates to good nursing is important, especially as spiritual care has been recognized as the most neglected area of nursing care. Nursing research, reports and discussion articles from a variety of countries were reviewed on the topics of good nursing, spiritual care and spirituality. A nurse's spirituality and the nurse-patient relationship are integral to spiritual care and good nursing. There are many commonalities between good nursing and spiritual care. Personal attributes of the nurse are described in similar terms in research on spiritual care and good nursing. Professional attributes common to good nursing and spiritual care are the nurse-patient relationship, assessment skills and communication skills. Good nursing through spiritual care is facilitated by personal spirituality, training in spiritual care and a culture that implements changes supportive of spiritual care. Further research is needed to address limitations in the scope of literature. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Dynamics of the public concern and risk communication program implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaryabova, Victoria; Israel, Michel

2015-09-01

The public concern about electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure varies due to different reasons. A part of them are connected with the better and higher quality of information that people receive from science, media, Internet, social networks, industry, but others are based on good communication programs performed by the responsible institutions, administration and persons. Especially, in Bulgaria, public concern follows interesting changes, some of them in correlation with the European processes of concern, but others following the economic and political processes in the country. Here, we analyze the dynamics of the public concern over the last 10 years. Our explanation of the decrease of the people's complaints against EMF exposure from base stations for mobile communication is as a result of our risk communication program that is in implementation for >10 years.

Implementation of Perioperative Music Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Jessica E; Pyati, Srinivas; Kanach, Frances A; Maxwell, Ann Miller W; Belden, Charles M; Shea, Christopher M; Van de Ven, Thomas; Thompson, Jillian; Hoenig, Helen; Raghunathan, Karthik

2018-06-12

Complementary integrative health therapies have a perioperative role in the reduction of pain, analgesic use, and anxiety, and increasing patient satisfaction. However, long implementation lags have been quantified. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) can help mitigate this translational problem. We reviewed evidence for several nonpharmacological treatments (CFIR domain: characteristics of interventions) and studied external context and organizational readiness for change by surveying providers at 11 Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals (domains: outer and inner settings). We asked patients about their willingness to receive music and studied the association between this and known risk factors for opioid use (domain: characteristics of individuals). We implemented a protocol for the perioperative use of digital music players loaded with veteran-preferred playlists and evaluated its penetration in a subgroup of patients undergoing joint replacements over a 6-month period (domain: process of implementation). We then extracted data on postoperative recovery time and other outcomes, comparing them with historic and contemporary cohorts. Evidence varied from strong and direct for perioperative music and acupuncture, to modest or weak and indirect for mindfulness, yoga, and tai chi, respectively. Readiness for change surveys completed by 97 perioperative providers showed overall positive scores (mean >0 on a scale from -2 to +2, equivalent to >2.5 on the 5-point Likert scale). Readiness was higher at Durham (+0.47) versus most other VA hospitals (range +0.05 to +0.63). Of 3307 veterans asked about willingness to receive music, approximately 68% (n = 2252) answered "yes." In multivariable analyses, a positive response (acceptability) was independently predicted by younger age and higher mean preoperative pain scores (>4 out of 10 over 90 days before admission), factors associated with opioid overuse. Penetration was modest in the targeted subset (39

45 CFR 170.460 - Good standing as an ONC-ATCB.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

....460 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS, IMPLEMENTATION SPECIFICATIONS, AND CERTIFICATION CRITERIA AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS FOR HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Temporary Certification Program for HIT § 170.460 Good standing...

Time-Varying Biased Proportional Guidance with Seeker’s Field-of-View Limit

OpenAIRE

Yang, Zhe; Wang, Hui; Lin, Defu

2016-01-01

Traditional guidance laws with range-to-go information or time-to-go estimation may not be implemented in passive homing missiles since passive seekers cannot measure relative range directly. A time-varying biased proportional guidance law, which only uses line-of-sight (LOS) rate and look angle information, is proposed to satisfy both impact angle constraint and seeker’s field-of-view (FOV) limit. In the proposed guidance law, two time-varying bias terms are applied to divide the trajectory ...

Governance Frameworks for International Public Goods: The Case of Concerted Entrepreneurship

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Thomas; Formica, Piero

2007-01-01

In the "participation age", emerging cross-border, transnational communities driven by innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives--in short, international entrepreneurial communities--give impetus to the rise of international public goods. With varying intensity, a non-voting international mobile public--still a small but an increasing fraction…

H ∞ synchronization of the coronary artery system with input time-varying delay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xiao-Meng; Zhao Zhan-Shan; Sun Lian-Kun; Zhang Jing

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the H ∞ synchronization of the coronary artery system with input delay and disturbance. We focus on reducing the conservatism of existing synchronization strategies. Base on the triple integral forms of the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF), we utilize single and double integral forms of Wirtinger-based inequality to guarantee that the synchronization feedback controller has good performance against time-varying delay and external disturbance. The effectiveness of our strategy can be exhibited by simulations under the different time-varying delays and different disturbances. (paper)

Peranan Auditor Intenal dalam Menunjang Pelaksanaan Good Corporate Governance (Studi Kasus pada PT Dirgantara Indonesia)

OpenAIRE

Wardoyo, Trimanto S; Lena

2011-01-01

Good corporate governance is not a concept, but comprehension a lot of misunderstanding. For this because of different estimated, a lot of people need estimated. Auditor internal one of another profession that help improve good corporate governance, in this moment Good corporate governance develop to be the primary component to improve of managing the good corporate. This study aims to determine the role of internal auditor in supporting the implementation of good corporate governance, and wh...

Design and implementation of multi-signal and time-varying neural reconstructions.

Science.gov (United States)

Nanda, Sumit; Chen, Hanbo; Das, Ravi; Bhattacharjee, Shatabdi; Cuntz, Hermann; Torben-Nielsen, Benjamin; Peng, Hanchuan; Cox, Daniel N; De Schutter, Erik; Ascoli, Giorgio A

2018-01-23

Several efficient procedures exist to digitally trace neuronal structure from light microscopy, and mature community resources have emerged to store, share, and analyze these datasets. In contrast, the quantification of intracellular distributions and morphological dynamics is not yet standardized. Current widespread descriptions of neuron morphology are static and inadequate for subcellular characterizations. We introduce a new file format to represent multichannel information as well as an open-source Vaa3D plugin to acquire this type of data. Next we define a novel data structure to capture morphological dynamics, and demonstrate its application to different time-lapse experiments. Importantly, we designed both innovations as judicious extensions of the classic SWC format, thus ensuring full back-compatibility with popular visualization and modeling tools. We then deploy the combined multichannel/time-varying reconstruction system on developing neurons in live Drosophila larvae by digitally tracing fluorescently labeled cytoskeletal components along with overall dendritic morphology as they changed over time. This same design is also suitable for quantifying dendritic calcium dynamics and tracking arbor-wide movement of any subcellular substrate of interest.

Time-Varying Value of Energy Efficiency in Michigan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mims, Natalie; Eckman, Tom; Schwartz, Lisa C.

2018-04-02

Quantifying the time-varying value of energy efficiency is necessary to properly account for all of its benefits and costs and to identify and implement efficiency resources that contribute to a low-cost, reliable electric system. Historically, most quantification of the benefits of efficiency has focused largely on the economic value of annual energy reduction. Due to the lack of statistically representative metered end-use load shape data in Michigan (i.e., the hourly or seasonal timing of electricity savings), the ability to confidently characterize the time-varying value of energy efficiency savings in the state, especially for weather-sensitive measures such as central air conditioning, is limited. Still, electric utilities in Michigan can take advantage of opportunities to incorporate the time-varying value of efficiency into their planning. For example, end-use load research and hourly valuation of efficiency savings can be used for a variety of electricity planning functions, including load forecasting, demand-side management and evaluation, capacity planning, long-term resource planning, renewable energy integration, assessing potential grid modernization investments, establishing rates and pricing, and customer service (KEMA 2012). In addition, accurately calculating the time-varying value of efficiency may help energy efficiency program administrators prioritize existing offerings, set incentive or rebate levels that reflect the full value of efficiency, and design new programs.

Reading comprehension and expressive writing: a comparison between good and poor comprehenders.

Science.gov (United States)

Carretti, Barbara; Re, Anna Maria; Arfè, Barbara

2013-01-01

This study investigated expressive writing in 8- to 10-year-old children with different levels of reading comprehension. Poor and good comprehenders were presented with three expressive writing tasks where the modality (pictorial vs. verbal) and the text genre (narrative vs. descriptive) varied. Results showed that poor comprehenders' performance was minimally influenced by the modality of the prompt. In fact, their performance was generally worse than that of good comprehenders and affected by the text genre, as the quality of their narratives was generally lower than that of good comprehenders. However, in the descriptive text condition, their performance was comparable to that of good comprehenders. One can conclude that their problems depend on the characteristics of the narrative text where coherence and causality are important elements.

CHRODIS criteria applied to the MASK (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK) Good Practice in allergic rhinitis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bousquet, J; Onorato, G L; Bachert, C

2017-01-01

A Good Practice is a practice that works well, produces good results, and is recommended as a model. MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel Network (MASK), the new Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative, is an example of a Good Practice focusing on the implementation of multi-sectoral care pa...

Assessing the sense of `good at' and `not good at' toward learning topics of mathematics with conjoint analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Izuta, Giido; Nishikawa, Tomoko

2017-05-01

Over the past years, educational psychology and pedagogy communities have focused on the metacognition formalism as a helpful approach to carry out investigations on the feeling of difficulty in mastering some classroom materials that students acquire through their subjective experiences of learning in schools. Motivated by hitherto studies, this work deals with the assessment of the awareness of `good at' and `not good at' that Japanese junior high school students have towards the main learning modules in their three years of mathematics. More specifically, the aims here are (i) to shed some light into how the awareness varies across the grades and gender; (ii) to get some insights into the extent to what the conjoint analysis can be applied to understand the students' feelings toward learning activities. To accomplish them, a conjoint analysis survey with three conjoint attributes, each with two levels, were designed to assess the learners' perceptions of `good at' and `not good at' with respect to arithmetic (algebraic operations), geometry and functions, which make up the three major modules of their curricula. The measurements took place in a public junior high school with 616 school children. It turned out that the conjoint analyses for boys and girls of each grade generated the partial utility and importance graphs which along with a pre-established precision of measurement allowed us to form groups of pupils according to their `sense of being good at' characteristics. Moreover, the results showed that the number of groups obtained differed for boys and girls as well as grades when the gender and school years were considered for comparisons. These findings suggesting that female students outnumbers their peers in number of `good at' despite the low number of females pursuing careers in mathematics and related fields imply that investigation on the causes of this juxtaposition has to be taken into account in the future.

[What everybody should know about good clinical practices].

Science.gov (United States)

Osorio, Lyda

2015-01-01

An increasing number of countries are adopting good clinical practices guidelines as part of the regulation of clinical studies to register pharmaceutical products and other health-related products. Consequently, all parties involved in the research and development of these products should know them, implement them and ensure their compliance. However, good clinical practices guidelines are just one of the initiatives seeking to achieve the highest ethical and scientific standards in health research and in other areas where humans are research subjects. This review defines such practices and their objectives presenting in a practical manner their legal framework in Colombia, and clarifying their application in studies where interventions use no medications or those that are not clinical trials. Finally, the work discusses the challenges to ensure that good clinical practices contribute to the protection of research participants, the education of trustworthy health professionals, and a culture of respect for human beings.

A Mac Protocol Implementation for Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamila Bhar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available IEEE 802.15.4 is an important standard for Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (LRWPAN. The IEEE 802.15.4 presents a flexible MAC protocol that provides good efficiency for data transmission by adapting its parameters according to characteristics of different applications. In this research work, some restrictions of this standard are explained and an improvement of traffic efficiency by optimizing MAC layer is proposed. Implementation details for several blocks of communication system are carefully modeled. The protocol implementation is done using VHDL language. The analysis gives a full understanding of the behavior of the MAC protocol with regard to backoff delay, data loss probability, congestion probability, slot effectiveness, and traffic distribution for terminals. Two ideas are proposed and tested to improve efficiency of CSMA/CA mechanism for IEEE 802.15.4 MAC Layer. Primarily, we dynamically adjust the backoff exponent (BE according to queue level of each node. Secondly, we vary the number of consecutive clear channel assessment (CCA for packet transmission. We demonstrate also that slot compensation provided by the enhanced MAC protocol can greatly avoid unused slots. The results show the significant improvements expected by our approach among the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC standards. Synthesis results show also hardware performances of our proposed architecture.

Evaluation of Safety Culture Implementation and Socialization Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Situmorang, Johnny

2003-01-01

Evaluation of safety culture implementation and socialization results has been perform. Evaluation is carried out with specifying safety culture indicators, namely: Meeting between management and employee, system for incidents analysis, training activities related to improving safety, meeting with regulator, contractors, surveys on behavioural attitudes, and resources allocated to promote safety culture. Evaluation is based on observation and visiting the facilities to show the compliance indicator in term of good practices in the frame of safety culture implementation. For three facilities of research reactors, Kartini Yogyakarta, TRIGA Mark II Bandung and MPR-GAS Serpong, implementation of safety culture is considered good enough and progressive. Furthermore some indicator should be considered more intensive, for example the allocated resources, self assesment based on own questionnaire in the frame of improving the safety culture implementation. (author)

Sociocultural Transformation & Development. Good Practices or Successful Actions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oriol Ríos

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The most disadvantadged neighborhoods in Europe have received funds from State Administration to eradicate social exclusion and overcome processes of urban ghettoization. These processes are being implemented in several social areas such as housing, employment, and education. Actions, defined as "good practices", are usually valued by the quantity and type and not by the quality and final outcomes they achieve. For example, when they improve the living conditions of the populations in these areas. The INCLUD-ED project shows positive results by replacing these "good practices" by "successful actions". They are grounded on scientific evidence in order to respond to the aims set by the neighbours of these disadvantaged neighborhoods.

What is a "good" encoding of guarded choice?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nestmann, Uwe

2000-01-01

into the latter that preserves divergence-freedom and symmetries. This paper argues that there are nevertheless "good" encodings between these calculi. In detail, we present a series of encodings for languages with (1) input-guarded choice, (2) both input and output-guarded choice, and (3) mixed-guarded choice......, and investigate them with respect to compositionality and divergence-freedom. The first and second encoding satisfy all of the above criteria, but various "good" candidates for the third encoding-inspired by an existing distributed implementation-invalidate one or the other criterion, While essentially confirming...... Palamidessi's result, our study suggests that the combination of strong compositionality and divergence-freedom is too strong for more practical purposes. (C) 2000 Academic Press....

Weighted approximation with varying weight

CERN Document Server

Totik, Vilmos

1994-01-01

A new construction is given for approximating a logarithmic potential by a discrete one. This yields a new approach to approximation with weighted polynomials of the form w"n"(" "= uppercase)P"n"(" "= uppercase). The new technique settles several open problems, and it leads to a simple proof for the strong asymptotics on some L p(uppercase) extremal problems on the real line with exponential weights, which, for the case p=2, are equivalent to power- type asymptotics for the leading coefficients of the corresponding orthogonal polynomials. The method is also modified toyield (in a sense) uniformly good approximation on the whole support. This allows one to deduce strong asymptotics in some L p(uppercase) extremal problems with varying weights. Applications are given, relating to fast decreasing polynomials, asymptotic behavior of orthogonal polynomials and multipoint Pade approximation. The approach is potential-theoretic, but the text is self-contained.

Report of the FAO/Government of Australia Expert Consultation on Good Management Practices and Good Legal and Institutional Arrangements for Sustainable Shrimp Culture: Brisbane, Australia, 4-7 December 2000

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2002-01-01

... practices as well as of related institutional and legal instruments and to identify/determine avenues, as well as specific benefits and limitations, for the development and implementation of good management...

Genome-wide DNA polymorphism analyses using VariScan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vilella Albert J

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA sequence polymorphisms analysis can provide valuable information on the evolutionary forces shaping nucleotide variation, and provides an insight into the functional significance of genomic regions. The recent ongoing genome projects will radically improve our capabilities to detect specific genomic regions shaped by natural selection. Current available methods and software, however, are unsatisfactory for such genome-wide analysis. Results We have developed methods for the analysis of DNA sequence polymorphisms at the genome-wide scale. These methods, which have been tested on a coalescent-simulated and actual data files from mouse and human, have been implemented in the VariScan software package version 2.0. Additionally, we have also incorporated a graphical-user interface. The main features of this software are: i exhaustive population-genetic analyses including those based on the coalescent theory; ii analysis adapted to the shallow data generated by the high-throughput genome projects; iii use of genome annotations to conduct a comprehensive analyses separately for different functional regions; iv identification of relevant genomic regions by the sliding-window and wavelet-multiresolution approaches; v visualization of the results integrated with current genome annotations in commonly available genome browsers. Conclusion VariScan is a powerful and flexible suite of software for the analysis of DNA polymorphisms. The current version implements new algorithms, methods, and capabilities, providing an important tool for an exhaustive exploratory analysis of genome-wide DNA polymorphism data.

Evaluasi Proses Perizinan Pelayanan Terpadu Satu Pintu (Ptsp) dalam Rangka Perwujudan Good Governance (Studi Penelitian : Upt Ptsp Provinsi Jawa Tengah)

OpenAIRE

krisilvana, agnes anindita; Teguh yuwono; herawati, Nunik Retno

2017-01-01

In the current era of reform the system of government based on absolute good governance to be applied, especially in the implementation of public services. The implementation of public services no longer aims only to meet statutory or considers administrative matters alone, but about government accountability and promote community. Implementation of good governance should be applied at the One Stop Services (OSS) which is where the licensing services ranging from application stage to the stag...

Life cycle assessment of capital goods in waste management systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brogaard, Line Kai-Sørensen; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2016-01-01

plant, an incinerator and a landfill site. The contribution of capital goods to the overall environmental aspects of managing the waste was significant but varied greatly depending on the technology and the impact category: Global Warming: 1-17%, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: 2-90%, Ionising Radiation......The environmental importance of capital goods (trucks, buildings, equipment, etc.) was quantified by LCA modelling 1 tonne of waste treated in five different waste management scenarios. The scenarios involved a 240L collection bin, a 16m3 collection truck, a composting plant, an anaerobic digestion...... for treatment facilities than for the collection and transportation of waste and for the landfilling of waste. It is concluded that the environmental impacts of capital goods should always be included in the LCA modelling of waste management, unless the only impact category considered is Global Warming....

Guide to good practice in radiation protection training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, N.; Schenley, C.; Smith, A.; Weseman, M.

1988-10-01

This set of guidelines applies to radiation protection training programs for all Department of Energy (DOE) contractors, subcontractors, and visitors to DOE contractor facilities. It is to be used as a self-evaluation tool by DOE contractors as they develop and evaluate their training programs. This document is based on good practice guidelines used by a variety of different facilities both within and outside of the DOE contractor system. Good practices are not requirements; they are guidelines that contractors should use as they develop and conduct training programs. The applicability of the contents of the Guide to Good Practice in Radiation Protection Training depends upon each DOE facility's scope and need for radiation safety training. Although the focus of this document is radiation protection training, it is important that the process by which training is developed and implemented be discussed. Therefore, the first section presents guidelines for performance-based training and ideas to be considered regarding the structure and documentation of the training function

Structured Linear Parameter Varying Control of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adegas, Fabiano Daher; Sloth, Christoffer; Stoustrup, Jakob

2012-01-01

High performance and reliability are required for wind turbines to be competitive within the energy market. To capture their nonlinear behavior, wind turbines are often modeled using parameter-varying models. In this chapter, a framework for modelling and controller design of wind turbines is pre...... in the controller synthesis are solved by an iterative LMI-based algorithm. The resulting controllers can also be easily implemented in practice due to low data storage and simple math operations. The performance of the LPV controllers is assessed by nonlinear simulations results....

Prevention of occupational injuries: Evidence for effective good practices in foundries.

Science.gov (United States)

Porru, Stefano; Calza, Stefano; Arici, Cecilia

2017-02-01

Occupational injuries are a relevant research and practical issue. However, intervention studies evaluating the effectiveness of workplace injury prevention programs are seldom performed. The effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention aimed at reducing occupational injury rates (incidence/employment-based=IR, frequency/hours-based=FR, severity=SR) was evaluated between 2008 and 2013 in 29 Italian foundries (22 ferrous; 7 non-ferrous; 3,460 male blue collar workers/year) of varying sizes. Each foundry established an internal multidisciplinary prevention team for risk assessment, monitoring and prevention of occupational injuries, involving employers, occupational physicians, safety personnel, workers' representatives, supervisors. Targets of intervention were workers, equipment, organization, workplace, job tasks. An interrupted time series (ITS) design was applied. 4,604 occupational injuries and 83,156 lost workdays were registered between 2003 and 2013. Statistical analysis showed, after intervention, a reduction of all injury rates (-26% IR, -15% FR, -18% SR) in ferrous foundries and of SR (-4%) in non-ferrous foundries. A significant (p=0.021) 'step-effect' was shown for IR in ferrous foundries, independent of secular trends (pgood external validity; promotion of effective good practices. Main limitations were the non-randomized nature and a medium length post-intervention period. In conclusion, a multifaceted, pragmatic and accountable intervention is effective in reducing the burden of occupational injuries in small-, medium- and large-sized foundries. Practical Applications: The study poses the basis for feasible good practice guidelines to be implemented to prevent occupational injuries, by means of sector-specific numerical benchmarks, with potentially relevant impacts on workers, companies, occupational health professionals and society at large. Copyright © 2016 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementing Samba 4

CERN Document Server

Leal, Marcelo

2014-01-01

This book is an implementation tutorial covering step-by-step procedures, examples, and sample code, and has a practical approach to set up a Samba 4 Server as an Active Directory Domain Controller and also set up different Samba 4 server roles.This book is ideal for system administrators who are new to the Samba 4 software, and who are looking to get a good grounding in how to use Samba 4 to implement Active Directory Services. It's assumed that you will have some experience with general system administration, Active Directory, and GNU/Linux systems. Readers are expected to have some test mac

Good Administration as a Fundamental Right

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margrét Vala Kristjánsdóttir

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights lists good administration as a fundamental right. The scope of this right, as defined in Article 41 of the EU Charter, is limited to situations in which persons are dealing with the institutions and bodies of the European Union; this gives it a narrower scope than that of the Charter as a whole. This paper discusses the status of this right as a subjective, fundamental right and a codified principle of EU law. The focus is on the question of applicability of the right to situations in which persons are dealing with the institutions and bodies of Member States and questions are raised regarding the implications of Article 41 in this respect. The paper concludes that Article 41 of the Charter in fact limits the applicability of good administration to the institutions and bodies of the EU. This does not however, preclude the applicability of a general principle of good administration, as established by the European Court of Justice, to Member States and the formal recognition of this principle in the EU Charter seems to affect legal reasoning and contribute to some extent to the protection of administrative rules in the implementation of EU law.

Planning and implementation of community oral health programs for caries management in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, C H; Chau, Alex M H; Lo, Edward C M; Lam, Anty

2012-01-01

Tooth decay or cavities (dental caries) can have a significant impact on children's quality of life, causing pain, infection, and other problems in the oral environment. Good oral health is a fundamental element of good general health for children, yet dental caries is still prevalent among children in many countries. Dental caries is well-understood, and effective prevention is an attainable goal. Dental professionals should actively engage with communities--in particular, the underprivileged--to identify dental caries problems and implement appropriate and effective community oral health programs (COHPs) to improve oral health and reduce oral health inequalities. This paper discusses COHPs as well as the steps involved in caries prevention for children. These steps cannot ensure the success of every COHP, but they are helpful for developing, integrating, expanding, and enhancing them. The effectiveness of COHPs for the prevention of caries in children varies from country to country, according to cultural, social, economic, and health care settings. Careful consideration of the local situation is required when selecting the elements of COHPs.

Sustained Implementation Support Scale: Validation of a Measure of Program Characteristics and Workplace Functioning for Sustained Program Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Lauren M; Turner, Karen M T; Sanders, Matthew R; Filus, Ania

2017-07-01

An evaluation measure of enablers and inhibitors to sustained evidence-based program (EBP) implementation may provide a useful tool to enhance organizations' capacity. This paper outlines preliminary validation of such a measure. An expert informant and consumer feedback approach was used to tailor constructs from two existing measures assessing key domains associated with sustained implementation. Validity and reliability were evaluated for an inventory composed of five subscales: Program benefits, Program burden, Workplace support, Workplace cohesion, and Leadership style. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with a sample of 593 Triple P-Positive Parenting Program-practitioners led to a 28-item scale with good reliability and good convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Practitioners sustaining implementation at least 3 years post-training were more likely to have supervision/peer support, reported higher levels of program benefit, workplace support, and positive leadership style, and lower program burden compared to practitioners who were non-sustainers.

An Introduction to Goodness of Fit for PMU Parameter Estimation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Riepnieks, Artis; Kirkham, Harold

2017-10-01

New results of measurements of phasor-like signals are presented based on our previous work on the topic. In this document an improved estimation method is described. The algorithm (which is realized in MATLAB software) is discussed. We examine the effect of noisy and distorted signals on the Goodness of Fit metric. The estimation method is shown to be performing very well with clean data and with a measurement window as short as a half a cycle and as few as 5 samples per cycle. The Goodness of Fit decreases predictably with added phase noise, and seems to be acceptable even with visible distortion in the signal. While the exact results we obtain are specific to our method of estimation, the Goodness of Fit method could be implemented in any phasor measurement unit.

Real-time Kalman filter implementation for active feedforward control of time-varying broadband noise and vibrations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ophem, S. van; Berkhoff, A.P.

2012-01-01

Tracking behavior and the rate of convergence are critical properties in active noise control applications with time-varying disturbance spectra. As compared to the standard filtered-reference Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm, improved convergence can be obtained with schemes based on

Numerical Implementation of the Hoek-Brown Material Model with Strain Hardening

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Emil Smed; Clausen, Johan; Damkilde, Lars

2013-01-01

A numerical implementation of the Hoek-Brown criterion is presented, which is capable of modeling important aspects of the different post-failure behaviors observed in jointed rock mass. This is done by varying the material parameters based on the accumulated plastic strains. The implementation i....... The constitutive model is demonstrated on a simulation of a tunnel excavation and the results are compared with an analytical solution for a tunnel excavation in elastic-brittle rock material.......A numerical implementation of the Hoek-Brown criterion is presented, which is capable of modeling important aspects of the different post-failure behaviors observed in jointed rock mass. This is done by varying the material parameters based on the accumulated plastic strains. The implementation...

A note on goodness of fit test using moments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Papadopoulos

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to introduce a general moment-based approach to derive formal goodness of fit tests of a parametric family. We show that, in general, an approximate normal test or a chi-squared test can be derived by exploring the moment structure of a parametric family, when moments up to certain order exist. The idea is simple and the resulting tests are easy to implement. To illustrate the use of this approach, we derive moment-based goodness of fit tests for some common discrete and continuous parametric families. We also compare the proposed tests with the well known Pearson-Fisher chi-square test and some distance tests in a simulation study.

A checklist for health research priority setting: nine common themes of good practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Viergever, Roderik F; Olifson, Sylvie; Ghaffar, Abdul; Terry, Robert F

2010-12-15

Health research priority setting processes assist researchers and policymakers in effectively targeting research that has the greatest potential public health benefit. Many different approaches to health research prioritization exist, but there is no agreement on what might constitute best practice. Moreover, because of the many different contexts for which priorities can be set, attempting to produce one best practice is in fact not appropriate, as the optimal approach varies per exercise. Therefore, following a literature review and an analysis of health research priority setting exercises that were organized or coordinated by the World Health Organization since 2005, we propose a checklist for health research priority setting that allows for informed choices on different approaches and outlines nine common themes of good practice. It is intended to provide generic assistance for planning health research prioritization processes. The checklist explains what needs to be clarified in order to establish the context for which priorities are set; it reviews available approaches to health research priority setting; it offers discussions on stakeholder participation and information gathering; it sets out options for use of criteria and different methods for deciding upon priorities; and it emphasizes the importance of well-planned implementation, evaluation and transparency.

Time-Varying Periodicity in Intraday Volatility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Torben Gustav; Thyrsgaard, Martin; Todorov, Viktor

We develop a nonparametric test for deciding whether return volatility exhibits time-varying intraday periodicity using a long time-series of high-frequency data. Our null hypothesis, commonly adopted in work on volatility modeling, is that volatility follows a stationary process combined...... with a constant time-of-day periodic component. We first construct time-of-day volatility estimates and studentize the high-frequency returns with these periodic components. If the intraday volatility periodicity is invariant over time, then the distribution of the studentized returns should be identical across...... with estimating volatility moments through their sample counterparts. Critical values are computed via easy-to-implement simulation. In an empirical application to S&P 500 index returns, we find strong evidence for variation in the intraday volatility pattern driven in part by the current level of volatility...

School Psychologists' Stages of Concern with RTI Implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Bogue, Heidi; Marrs, Heath; Little, Suzanne

2017-01-01

Responsiveness to intervention has been an important change in models of service delivery within school systems in the recent past. However, there are a significant number of challenges to implementing the paradigm shift that these changes entail (Reschly 2008). Therefore, implementation of RTI varies among states, districts, and schools and some…

Implementation of modified chaotic invasive weed optimization ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

RAVI KUMAR MANDAVA

2018-04-25

Apr 25, 2018 ... troller is to diminish the error between the actual process variable to the ... The parameters and decision vari- ... The decision variables used in the problem. Kpi ..... consumer's purchase intention of durable goods: An attri-.

Adaptive play stabilizes cooperation in continuous public goods games

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Te; Wang, Long

2018-04-01

We construct a model to study the effects of repeated interaction on the evolution of cooperation in continuous public goods games. Instead of preassigning the duration of repeatedness, the likelihood of group entering next round interaction is positively dependent on the group's current cooperativeness. Meanwhile, when the disturbance happens, the interaction terminates. Under rare mutations, we show that such adaptive play can lead to the dominance of full cooperative state for weak disturbance. For fairly strong disturbance, all-or-none cooperative states share higher fractions of time in the long run, results similar to the ones reported in the study (Pinheiro et al., 2014) while differing from the ones reported in another relevant study (Van Segbroeck et al., 2012), although only strategy space and way determining next round vary. Our results remain valid when groups enter next round with a given probability independent of groups' cooperativeness. In the synergic public goods games, the positive effects of repeated interactions on promoting cooperation is further strengthened. In the discounted public goods game, only very weak disturbance can lead to the dominance of full cooperative state while fairly strong disturbance can favor both full cooperative state and a partially cooperative state. Our study thus enriches the literature on the evolution of cooperation in repeated public goods games.

Impact of alcohol harm reduction strategies in community sports clubs: pilot evaluation of the Good Sports program.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowland, Bosco; Allen, Felicity; Toumbourou, John W

2012-05-01

Approximately 4.5 million Australians are involved in community sports clubs. A high level of alcohol consumption tends to be commonplace in this setting. The only program of its type in the world, the Good Sports program was designed to reduce harmful alcohol consumption in these Australian community sports clubs. The program offers a staged accreditation process to encourage the implementation of alcohol harm-reduction strategies. We conducted a postintervention adoption study to evaluate whether community sports club accreditation through the Good Sports program was associated with lower rates of alcohol consumption. We examined alcohol consumption rates in 113 clubs (N = 1,968 participants) and compared these to consumption rates in the general community. We hypothesized that members of clubs with more advanced implementation of the Good Sports accreditation program (Stage Two) would consume less alcohol than those with less advanced implementation (Stage One). Multilevel modeling (MLM) indicated that on days when teams competed, Stage Two club members consumed 19% less alcohol than Stage One club members. MLM also indicated that the length of time a club had been in the Good Sports program was associated with reduced rates of weekly drinking that exceeded Australian short-term risky drinking guidelines. However consumption rates for all clubs were still higher than the general community. Higher accreditation stage also predicted reduced long-term risky drinking by club members. Our findings suggest that community sports clubs show evidence of higher levels of alcohol consumption and higher rates of risky consumption than the general community. Implementation of the Good Sports accreditation strategy was associated with lower alcohol consumption in these settings.

INTERNAL CONTROLS IN ENSURING GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KOSMAS NJANIKE

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper assessed factors that influence the internal controls in ensuring good corporate governance in financial institutions in developing economies with special reference to Zimbabwe. The research paper assessed how lack of internal controls affected good corporate governance and aimed to bring out elements of good corporate governance. It emerged that failure to effectively implement internal controls contributed significantly to poor corporate governance. The study discovered that internal control system overrides and the issue of “fact cat” directors also contributed to poor corporate governance. The study recommended that there is need for the board of directors to guarantee an organizational structure that clearly defines management responsibilities, authority and reporting relationships. There is also need to ensure that delegated responsibilities are effectively carried out to ensure compliance with internal controls of the financial institution concerned.

Electrothermally Actuated Microbeams With Varying Stiffness

KAUST Repository

Tella, Sherif Adekunle

2017-11-03

We present axially loaded clamped-guided microbeams that can be used as resonators and actuators of variable stiffness, actuation, and anchor conditions. The applied axial load is implemented by U-shaped electrothermal actuators stacked at one of the beams edges. These can be configured and wired in various ways, which serve as mechanical stiffness elements that control the operating resonance frequency of the structures and their static displacement. The experimental results have shown considerable increase in the resonance frequency and mid-point deflection of the microbeam upon changing the end conditions of the beam. These results can be promising for applications requiring large deflection and high frequency tunability, such as filters, memory devices, and switches. The experimental results are compared to multi-physics finite-element simulations showing good agreement among them.

Implementation of standards for individual monitoring in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fantuzzi, E.; Alves, J. G.; Ambrosi, P.; Janzekovic, H.; Vartiainen, E.

2004-01-01

A large number of standards are available for radiation protection and individual monitoring purposes. They are published by various organisations, international and national. Moreover, the increasing policy of 'Quality' applied to individual monitoring requires the implementation of standards on Quality Assurance (QA) both in technical and management aspects of a dosimetric service. Implementation of standards is not mandatory; therefore, varying degrees of implementation can be found in different European countries. However, for a number of good reasons, a degree of harmonisation within the European Union (EU) of the requirements and procedures for individual monitoring would be desirable. Harmonisation as applied to dosimetric services does not mean that they should all follow exactly the same procedures, but that they should aim to meet the same general requirements, and their results should be comparable. This article aims to compile information on the use of all standards applied within individual monitoring practices, be it on the calibration of dosemeters or on the QA procedures to be applied to the overall dose evaluation process. Both 'technical standards' and 'quality standards' will be discussed. A list of documents of relevance to subjects such as recommendations and requirements in the field of individual monitoring, whose application could help in the harmonisation of procedures, will also be given. As it is agreed that implementation of quality standards is a relevant framework within which harmonisation can be achieved, guidance on the implementation of quality standards in a dosimetric service is given. Accreditation and approval of dosimetric services will be of relevance in the process of harmonisation of individual monitoring within the EU. In this article, a discussion of various procedures and the meaning of both forms of recognition is also provided. Although most of the text applies to the monitoring of internal and external exposure to

CHRODIS criteria applied to the MASK (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK) Good Practice in allergic rhinitis: a SUNFRAIL report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bousquet, J.; Onorato, G. L.; Bachert, C.; Barbolini, M.; Bedbrook, A.; Bjermer, L.; de Sousa, J. Correia; Chavannes, N. H.; Cruz, A. A.; de Manuel Keenoy, E.; Devillier, P.; Fonseca, J.; Hun, S.; Kostka, T.; Hellings, P. W.; Illario, M.; Ivancevich, J. C.; Larenas-Linnemann, D.; Millot-Keurinck, J.; Ryan, D.; Samolinski, B.; Sheikh, A.; Yorgancioglu, A.; Agache, I.; Arnavielhe, S.; Bewick, M.; Annesi-Maesano, I.; Anto, J. M.; Bergmann, K. C.; Bindslev-Jensen, C.; Bosnic-Anticevich, S.; Bouchard, J.; Caimmi, D. P.; Camargos, P.; Canonica, G. W.; Cardona, V.; Carriazo, A. M.; Cingi, C.; Colgan, E.; Custovic, A.; Dahl, R.; Demoly, P.; de Vries, G.; Fokkens, W. J.; Fontaine, J. F.; Gemicioğlu, B.; Guldemond, N.; Gutter, Z.; Haahtela, T.; Hellqvist-Dahl, B.; Jares, E.; Joos, G.; Just, J.; Khaltaev, N.; Keil, T.; Klimek, L.; Kowalski, M. L.; Kull, I.; Kuna, P.; Kvedariene, V.; Laune, D.; Louis, R.; Magnan, A.; Malva, J.; Mathieu-Dupas, E.; Melén, E.; Menditto, E.; Morais-Almeida, M.; Mösges, R.; Mullol, J.; Murray, R.; Neffen, H.; O'Hehir, R.; Palkonen, S.; Papadopoulos, N. G.; Passalacqua, G.; Pépin, J. L.; Portejoie, F.; Price, D.; Pugin, B.; Raciborski, F.; Simons, F. E. R.; Sova, M.; Spranger, O.; Stellato, C.; Todo Bom, A.; Tomazic, P. V.; Triggiani, M.; Valero, A.; Valovirta, E.; Vandenplas, O.; Valiulis, A.; van Eerd, M.; Ventura, M. T.; Wickman, M.; Young, I.; Zuberbier, T.; Zurkuhlen, A.; Senn, A.

2017-01-01

A Good Practice is a practice that works well, produces good results, and is recommended as a model. MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel Network (MASK), the new Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative, is an example of a Good Practice focusing on the implementation of multi-sectoral care

Institutional effectiveness of REDD+ MRV: Countries progress in implementing technical guidelines and good governance requirements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ochieng, R.M.; Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid; Arts, B.; Brockhaus, M.; Herold, M.

2016-01-01

The UNFCCC requires REDD+ countries wishing to receive results-based payments to measure, report and verify (MRV) REDD+ impacts; and outlines technical guidelines and good governance requirements for MRV. This article examines institutional effectiveness of REDD+ MRV by assessing countries’ progress

Conditional Cooperation and the Marginal per Capita Return in Public Good Games

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward J. Cartwright

2014-11-01

Full Text Available We investigate experimentally whether the extent of conditional cooperation in public good games depends on the marginal per capita return (MPCR to the public good and type of game. The MPCR is varied from 0.2 to 0.4 to 0.8. The ‘standard’ game, in which three players contribute before a follower, is compared with a leader-follower game, in which one player leads and three follow. Even though we observe less conditional cooperation for an MPCR of 0.2, the prevalence of conditional cooperation remains relatively stable to changes in the MPCR and game timing. In contrast, the level of MPCR has a strong effect on unconditional contributions. Our results highlight the critical role played by leaders in a public good game.

Multinationality and corporate ethics: codes of conduct in the sporting-goods industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Tulder, R.J.M.; Kolk, A.

2001-01-01

The international operations of firms have substantial impact on the formulation and implementation of business ethical principles such as codes of conduct. The international sporting goods industry has been a pioneer in setting up codes and thus provides much relevant experience. Different sourcing

Conditional cooperation and confusion in public-goods experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Burton-Chellew, Maxwell N; El Mouden, Claire; West, Stuart A

2016-02-02

Economic experiments are often used to study if humans altruistically value the welfare of others. A canonical result from public-good games is that humans vary in how they value the welfare of others, dividing into fair-minded conditional cooperators, who match the cooperation of others, and selfish noncooperators. However, an alternative explanation for the data are that individuals vary in their understanding of how to maximize income, with misunderstanding leading to the appearance of cooperation. We show that (i) individuals divide into the same behavioral types when playing with computers, whom they cannot be concerned with the welfare of; (ii) behavior across games with computers and humans is correlated and can be explained by variation in understanding of how to maximize income; (iii) misunderstanding correlates with higher levels of cooperation; and (iv) standard control questions do not guarantee understanding. These results cast doubt on certain experimental methods and demonstrate that a common assumption in behavioral economics experiments, that choices reveal motivations, will not necessarily hold.

Implementation of good manufacturing practices (GMP) on human blood irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boghi, Claudio; Napolitano, Celia M.; Ferreira, Danilo C.; Rela, Paulo Roberto; Zarate, Herman S.

2007-01-01

The irradiation of human blood is used to avoid the TA-GVHD (transfusion-associated graft-versus-host-disease), a rare but devastating adverse effect of leukocytes present in blood components for a immuno-competent transfusion recipients. Usually this irradiation practice is performed to a physical elimination of lymphocytes. The implementation of the GMP will assure that the properly dose in a range of 25 Gy to 50 Gy will be delivered to the blood in the bag collected in a blood tissue bank. The studies to establish the GMP were developed under the guidelines of the standard ISO 11137 - Sterilization of health care products - Requirements for validation and routine control - Radiation sterilization. In this work, two dosimetric systems were used for dose mapping during the studies of irradiator qualification, loading pattern, irradiation process validation and auditing. The CaSO 4 : Dy dosimeter presented difficulties concerning to uncertainty on dose measurement, stability, trace ability and calibration system. The PMMA and gafchromic dosimetric systems have shown a better performance and were adopted on establishment of GMP procedures. The irradiation tests have been done using a Gammacell 220 Irradiator. The developed GMP can be adapted for different types of gamma irradiators, allowing to set up a quality assurance program for blood irradiation. (author)

Implementation of good manufacturing practices (GMP) on human blood irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boghi, Claudio; Napolitano, Celia M.; Ferreira, Danilo C.; Rela, Paulo Roberto [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)]. E-mails: cboghi@uol.com.br; cmnapoli@ipen.br; dancarde@ig.com.br; prela@ipen.br; Zarate, Herman S. [Comission Chilena de Energia Nuclear, Santiago (Chile)]. E-mail: hzarate@cchen.cl

2007-07-01

The irradiation of human blood is used to avoid the TA-GVHD (transfusion-associated graft-versus-host-disease), a rare but devastating adverse effect of leukocytes present in blood components for a immuno-competent transfusion recipients. Usually this irradiation practice is performed to a physical elimination of lymphocytes. The implementation of the GMP will assure that the properly dose in a range of 25 Gy to 50 Gy will be delivered to the blood in the bag collected in a blood tissue bank. The studies to establish the GMP were developed under the guidelines of the standard ISO 11137 - Sterilization of health care products - Requirements for validation and routine control - Radiation sterilization. In this work, two dosimetric systems were used for dose mapping during the studies of irradiator qualification, loading pattern, irradiation process validation and auditing. The CaSO{sub 4}: Dy dosimeter presented difficulties concerning to uncertainty on dose measurement, stability, trace ability and calibration system. The PMMA and gafchromic dosimetric systems have shown a better performance and were adopted on establishment of GMP procedures. The irradiation tests have been done using a Gammacell 220 Irradiator. The developed GMP can be adapted for different types of gamma irradiators, allowing to set up a quality assurance program for blood irradiation. (author)

Taxpayers’ Competency Level in Governing Goods Services Tax (GST) Compliance: Malaysia Scenario

OpenAIRE

Hambali Siti Syaqilah; Kamaluddin Amrizah

2017-01-01

GST implementation in Malaysia in April 2015 is part of the tax reformation with the goal of having a more efficient and effective taxation system. A successful tax reformation requires a high acceptance from taxpayers. In order to aid in the acceptance of GST implementation, taxpayers need to have a good competency level reflected through proper knowledge and awareness of the GST system, also known as GST literacy. Thus, the main objective of this study is to assess the level of GST literacy...

Event-driven control of a speed varying digital displacement machine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Niels Henrik; Johansen, Per; Andersen, Torben O.

2017-01-01

. The controller synthesis is carried out as a discrete optimal deterministic problem with full state feedback. Based on a linear analysis of the feedback control system, stability is proven in a pre-specified operation region. Simulation of a non-linear evaluation model with the controller implemented shows great...... be treated as a Discrete Linear Time Invariant control problem with synchronous sampling rate. To make synchronous linear control theory applicable for a variable speed digital displacement machine, a method based on event-driven control is presented. Using this method, the time domain differential equations...... are converted into the spatial (position) domain to obtain a constant sampling rate and thus allowing for use of classical control theory. The method is applied to a down scaled digital fluid power motor, where the motor speed is controlled at varying references under varying pressure and load torque conditions...

Design of a robotic automation system for transportation of goods in hospitals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Özkil, Ali Gürcan; Sørensen, Torben; Fan, Zhun

2007-01-01

Hospitals face with heavy traffic of goods everyday, where transportation tasks are mainly carried by human. Analysis of the current situation of transportation in a typical hospital showed several transportation tasks are suitable for automation. This paper presents a system, consisting of a fleet...... of robot vehicles, automatic stations and smart containers for automation of transportation of goods in hospitals. Design of semi-autonomous robot vehicles, containers and stations are presented and the overall system architecture is described. Implementing such a system in an existing hospital showed...

Sex differences in in-group cooperation vary dynamically with competitive conditions and outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Drew H; Winegard, Benjamin; Oxford, Jon; Geary, David C

2012-03-18

Men's but not women's investment in a public goods game varied dynamically with the presence or absence of a perceived out-group. Three hundred fifty-four (167 male) young adults participated in multiple iterations of a public goods game under intergroup and individual competition conditions. Participants received feedback about whether their investments in the group were sufficient to earn a bonus to be shared among all in-group members. Results for the first trial confirm previous research in which men's but not women's investments were higher when there was a competing out-group. We extended these findings by showing that men's investment in the in-group varied dynamically by condition depending on the outcome of the previous trial: In the group condition, men, but not women, decreased spending following a win (i.e., earning an in-group bonus). In the individual condition, men, but not women, increased spending following a win. We hypothesize that these patterns reflect a male bias to calibrate their level of in-group investment such that they sacrifice only what is necessary for their group to successfully compete against a rival group.

Sex Differences in In-Group Cooperation Vary Dynamically with Competitive Conditions and Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drew H. Bailey

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Men's but not women's investment in a public goods game varied dynamically with the presence or absence of a perceived out-group. Three hundred fifty-four (167 male young adults participated in multiple iterations of a public goods game under intergroup and individual competition conditions. Participants received feedback about whether their investments in the group were sufficient to earn a bonus to be shared among all in-group members. Results for the first trial confirm previous research in which men's but not women's investments were higher when there was a competing out-group. We extended these findings by showing that men's investment in the in-group varied dynamically by condition depending on the outcome of the previous trial: In the group condition, men, but not women, decreased spending following a win (i.e., earning an in-group bonus. In the individual condition, men, but not women, increased spending following a win. We hypothesize that these patterns reflect a male bias to calibrate their level of in-group investment such that they sacrifice only what is necessary for their group to successfully compete against a rival group.

Recombination: the good, the bad and the variable.

Science.gov (United States)

Stapley, Jessica; Feulner, Philine G D; Johnston, Susan E; Santure, Anna W; Smadja, Carole M

2017-12-19

Recombination, the process by which DNA strands are broken and repaired, producing new combinations of alleles, occurs in nearly all multicellular organisms and has important implications for many evolutionary processes. The effects of recombination can be good , as it can facilitate adaptation, but also bad when it breaks apart beneficial combinations of alleles, and recombination is highly variable between taxa, species, individuals and across the genome. Understanding how and why recombination rate varies is a major challenge in biology. Most theoretical and empirical work has been devoted to understanding the role of recombination in the evolution of sex-comparing between sexual and asexual species or populations. How recombination rate evolves and what impact this has on evolutionary processes within sexually reproducing organisms has received much less attention. This Theme Issue focusses on how and why recombination rate varies in sexual species, and aims to coalesce knowledge of the molecular mechanisms governing recombination with our understanding of the evolutionary processes driving variation in recombination within and between species. By integrating these fields, we can identify important knowledge gaps and areas for future research, and pave the way for a more comprehensive understanding of how and why recombination rate varies. © 2017 The Authors.

Constitutive Equation with Varying Parameters for Superplastic Flow Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Zhiping; Ren, Mingwen; Jia, Hongjie; Zhao, Po; Ma, Pinkui

2014-03-01

In this study, constitutive equations for superplastic materials with an extra large elongation were investigated through mechanical analysis. From the view of phenomenology, firstly, some traditional empirical constitutive relations were standardized by restricting some strain paths and parameter conditions, and the coefficients in these relations were strictly given new mechanical definitions. Subsequently, a new, general constitutive equation with varying parameters was theoretically deduced based on the general mechanical equation of state. The superplastic tension test data of Zn-5%Al alloy at 340 °C under strain rates, velocities, and loads were employed for building a new constitutive equation and examining its validity. Analysis results indicated that the constitutive equation with varying parameters could characterize superplastic flow behavior in practical superplastic forming with high prediction accuracy and without any restriction of strain path or deformation condition, showing good industrial or scientific interest. On the contrary, those empirical equations have low prediction capabilities due to constant parameters and poor applicability because of the limit of special strain path or parameter conditions based on strict phenomenology.

Cadmium in goods - contribution to environmental exposure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergbaeck, B; Jonsson, Arne [Kalmar Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Natural Science

1998-03-01

The total amount of Cd used in Sweden since 1940 is approximately 5000 tonnes, including alloys, fertilizers and impurities in zinc. The stock of Cd in goods in the Swedish anthroposphere is dominated by NiCd-batteries. However, when one considers the degree of exposure to corrosion, Cd stabilizers are dominant. Emissions of Cd from industrial plants and other point sources have been historically important. However, these point source emissions must be seen in relation to the increasingly significant fugitive `consumption emissions`, from the use and/or end-use of various goods. In this study, methods of reconstructing the flows of cadmium (Cd) and estimating the emissions over time are discussed. This is done through studies of the development of production, technology, trade and the longevity of metals in Swedish society. This last part in the chain will form the `consumption emissions` calculated from emission factors giving the proportion of the cadmium content in goods that eventually will reach the environment. The main accumulation of metals in the anthroposphere occurs in urban areas where the influx of metals is greatest. Urban areas probably represent `hot spots` as far as this type of environmental impact is concerned. Extreme Cd concentrations in surface sediments in central Stockholm indicate an ongoing release of Cd from the anthroposphere. The sources are so far unknown, i.e. this Cd flow to the biosphere cannot be explained in terms of deposition or emissions from point sources. Approximately 40 tonnes of Cd in goods are exposed to corrosion in varying degrees. This stock is dominated by Cd in stabilizers and pigments, and as impurities in Zn 15 refs, 2 figs, 8 tabs

[The implementation of the week surgery in an orthopedic and urology ward and assessment of its impact].

Science.gov (United States)

Mulloni, Giovanna; Petrucco, Stefania; De Marc, Raffaella; Nazzi, Cheti; Petri, Roberto; Guarrera, Giovanni Maria

2015-01-01

The implementation of the week surgery in an orthopedic and urology ward and the assessment of its impact. The week surgery (WS) is one of the models organized according the intensity of care that allows the improvement of the appropriateness of the hospital admissions. To describe the implementation and the impact of the WS on costs and levels of care. The WS was gradually implemented in an orthopedic and urology ward. The planning of the surgeries was modified, the wards where patients would have been transferred during the week-end where identified, the nurses were supported by expert nurses to learn new skills and clinical pathways were implemented. The periods January-June 2012 and 2013 were compared identifying a set of indicators according to the health technology assessment method. The nurses were able to take vacations according to schedule; the cost of outsourcing services were reduced (-4.953 Euros) as well as those of consumables. The nursing care could be guaranteed employing less (-5) full-time nurses; the global clinical performance of the ward did not vary. Unfortunately several urology patients could not be discharged during the week-ends. A good planning of the surgeries according to the patients' length of staying, together with interventions to increase the staff-skill mix, and the clinical pathways allowed an effective and efficient implementation of the WS model without jeopardizing patients' safety.

Top 10 metrics for life science software good practices [version 1; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haydee Artaza

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Metrics for assessing adoption of good development practices are a useful way to ensure that software is sustainable, reusable and functional. Sustainability means that the software used today will be available - and continue to be improved and supported - in the future. We report here an initial set of metrics that measure good practices in software development. This initiative differs from previously developed efforts in being a community-driven grassroots approach where experts from different organisations propose good software practices that have reasonable potential to be adopted by the communities they represent. We not only focus our efforts on understanding and prioritising good practices, we assess their feasibility for implementation and publish them here.

Anesthesiology residents' perspective about good teaching--a qualitative needs assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortwein, Heiderose; Blaum, Wolf E; Spies, Claudia D

2014-01-01

Germany, like many other countries, will soon have a shortage of qualified doctors. One reason for the dissatisfaction amongst medical residents are the relatively unstructured residency training programs despite increasing importance of outcome-based education. The aim of our study was to identify characteristics and requirements for good teaching during anesthesiology residency training from the resident's point of view. A consensus workshop with residents from all medical universities in Germany was held. Participants were allocated to one of the three topics, chosen based on a 2009 nationwide evaluation of residency. The three topics were (A) characteristics of helpful/good teachers, (B) characteristics of helpful/good conditions and (C) characteristics of helpful/good curricular structure. Each group followed a nominal group technique consensus process to define and rank characteristics for a good residency. 31 (79.5%) resident representatives were present. The consented results put emphasis on the importance of structured curricula including transparent goals and objectives, in training formative assessments and quality assurance measures for the program. Residents further long for trained trainers with formal teaching qualifications and protected teaching time. Good residency training requires careful consideration of all stakeholders' needs. Results reflect and extend previous findings and are at least to some degree easily implemented. These findings are an important step to establish a broader consensus within the discipline.

Health physics manual of good practices for plutonium facilities. [Contains glossary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brackenbush, L.W.; Heid, K.R.; Herrington, W.N.; Kenoyer, J.L.; Munson, L.F.; Munson, L.H.; Selby, J.M.; Soldat, K.L.; Stoetzel, G.A.; Traub, R.J.

1988-05-01

This manual consists of six sections: Properties of Plutonium, Siting of Plutonium Facilities, Facility Design, Radiation Protection, Emergency Preparedness, and Decontamination and Decommissioning. While not the final authority, the manual is an assemblage of information, rules of thumb, regulations, and good practices to assist those who are intimately involved in plutonium operations. An in-depth understanding of the nuclear, physical, chemical, and biological properties of plutonium is important in establishing a viable radiation protection and control program at a plutonium facility. These properties of plutonium provide the basis and perspective necessary for appreciating the quality of control needed in handling and processing the material. Guidance in selecting the location of a new plutonium facility may not be directly useful to most readers. However, it provides a perspective for the development and implementation of the environmental surveillance program and the in-plant controls required to ensure that the facility is and remains a good neighbor. The criteria, guidance, and good practices for the design of a plutonium facility are also applicable to the operation and modification of existing facilities. The design activity provides many opportunities for implementation of features to promote more effective protection and control. The application of ''as low as reasonably achievable'' (ALARA) principles and optimization analyses are generally most cost-effective during the design phase. 335 refs., 8 figs., 20 tabs.

The importance of good time management in supporting succesful dental practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mita Juliawati

2016-06-01

Full Text Available n the globalization and Asean Economic Community (MEA era, especially in the era of  competition and modern dentistry, dentists need increasing services in order to maintain and increase patient visits. Especially in patient’s complain about dental services that caused by unmanaged time, such as late dentist, long queue of patients and time inefficiency in dental practice. The objective of this review is to discuss the importance of good time management ’in supporting successful dental pratice. Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase  effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Implementation in dental practice are as follow: planning, scheduling and time organizing to avoid wasted time. Proper time management resulted in greater efficiency and productivity, professional reputation,reduces stress and improves the image of dental practices. Routine evaluation is needed to increase time management quality. Efficient time management in dental practice requires organizing  individual tasks, analizing daily task, scheduling main projects, establishing deadlines and organizing workflow. The implementation in dental practice like organizing patients, medical and non medical employee daily schedule, managing the patient’s queue to get the minimum waiting time and avoiding doctors being late in giving services to patient. Setting good time management will make the dentist's work 'smarter not harder' to get more results with limited time. In principle all medical and non-medical personnel should support the implementation of service excellence in the health care services especially dental practice. The final objective in realizing good time management in dental clinic is concerning in quality service and aims to achieve patient satisfaction (customer satisfaction that the end goal is a loyal patient, customer loyalty and

Two-dimensional phononic crystals with time-varying properties: a multiple scattering analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, D W; Cobbold, R S C

2010-01-01

Multiple scattering theory is a versatile two- and three-dimensional method for characterizing the acoustic wave transmission through many scatterers. It provides analytical solutions to wave propagation in scattering structures, and its computational complexity grows logarithmically with the number of scatterers. In this paper we show how the 2D method can be adapted to include the effects of time-varying material parameters. Specifically, a new T-matrix is defined to include the effects of frequency modulation that occurs in time-varying phononic crystals. Solutions were verified against finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations and showed excellent agreement. This new method enables fast characterization of time-varying phononic crystals without the need to resort to lengthy FDTD simulations. Also, the method of combining T-matrices to form the T-supermatrix remains unchanged provided that the new matrix definitions are used. The method is quite compatible with existing implementations of multiple scattering theory and could be readily extended to three-dimensional multiple scattering theory

Post Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST in Malaysia: Tax Agents’ Perceptions on Clients’ Compliance Behaviour and Tax Agents’ Roles in Promoting Compliance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Izlawanie

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Malaysian government introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST starting from 1 April 2015 to enhance the revenue collections and mitigate the transfer pricing manipulation. Tax agents play a significant role to help businesses to comply with GST law and regulations. After one year of GST implementation, it is vital to understand tax agents’ perceptions on clients’ compliance behaviour and tax agents’ roles in influencing compliance. A total of 30 registered tax agents completed a survey questionnaire. The analysis shows that tax agents devote their time to provide advice to their clients on meeting their GST requirements, and recording and reporting of GST transactions. Tax agents assert that clients pass on their GST responsibilities to tax agents to some extent. Tax agents also perceive that clients’ compliance level is low because clients occasionally submit GST03 after the deadline, compromise the accuracy of GST03 in order to get it done on time and intentionally make errors in their records. In terms of tax agents’ role in promoting compliance, the tax agents strongly agree that it is important for them to act as trusted advisors for their clients. After one year of GST implementation, this is the first study that explores tax agents’ perceptions on clients’ compliance and tax agents’ roles in promoting compliance. The findings benefit the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD in assisting tax agents and the public for future compliance. Similar study should be adopted by countries that have recently implemented GST (for example, India and it should be conducted to other GST players (i.e. taxpayers and RMCD officers on annual basis to analyse the behavioural trends and identify weaknesses in GST administration.

Good Looking Is Looking Good / Märt Milter

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Milter, Märt

1998-01-01

Meloodilist drum ǹ̀bassi viljelevatest välismaa plaadifirmadest Good Looking Recordsist ja Looking Good Recordsist, mida juhib LTJ Bukem ja temaga koostööd tegevatest muusikutest Blame, Seba, Tayla, MC Conrad, Artemis

Evaluasi Good Corporate Governance atas Kebutuhan Donatur pada Penerapan Crowdfunding di Indonesia: Studi Kuantitatif dan Kualitatif pada Efekrumahkaca.Net, Patungan.Net, dan Wujudkan.Com

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nia Utami Tirdanatan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This research aims to evaluate the implementation of Good Corporate Governance (GCG in ensuring the good management of crowdfunding entities in Indonesia. Research methodology is using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative approach was conducted by analyzing the factors of the driving forces for donors in financially participating in crowdfunding initiatives. Conceptual framework is developed and a study was conducted to 96 donors from three Indonesian crowdfunding portals. The findings of quantitative study show that the main factor that drive the donors to participate is motivation to accomplish, social merit factors and good trust to the project creator. Based on that results, qualitative study was conducted to evaluate the implementation of Good Corporate Governance (GCG principles in those three Indonesian crowdfunding portals. The evaluation explains that GCG principles has been well implemented by those administrators of crowdfunding portals. Nevertheless, serious concern should be taken in the area of accountability and financial reporting. The research provides insights for crowdfunding practitioners to be succesfully raise funding and for crowdfunding platforms to be sustainable in this business by implementing good corporate governance. This research takes a further step in explaining crowdfunding phenomenon in Indonesia.

Good practices in radiological protection at Narora Atomic Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, V.P.; Kumar, Sanjeev; Agrawal, Mitesh; Tiwari, S.K.; Kulhari, Praveen; Gupta, Ashok

2016-01-01

Radiological protection performance of nuclear power plant is assessed by collective exposure, individual average exposure, external/external exposure, personnel/surface contamination and reduction of radioactive wastes. Collective exposure is reduced by integrated comprehensive ALARA program in all aspects of nuclear plant operation and maintenance has reduced collective dose many folds. In the present paper, implementation of new good practices in Radiological Protection is presented

Parallel Monte Carlo Particle Transport and the Quality of Random Number Generators: How Good is Good Enough?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Procassini, R J; Beck, B R

2004-01-01

It might be assumed that use of a ''high-quality'' random number generator (RNG), producing a sequence of ''pseudo random'' numbers with a ''long'' repetition period, is crucial for producing unbiased results in Monte Carlo particle transport simulations. While several theoretical and empirical tests have been devised to check the quality (randomness and period) of an RNG, for many applications it is not clear what level of RNG quality is required to produce unbiased results. This paper explores the issue of RNG quality in the context of parallel, Monte Carlo transport simulations in order to determine how ''good'' is ''good enough''. This study employs the MERCURY Monte Carlo code, which incorporates the CNPRNG library for the generation of pseudo-random numbers via linear congruential generator (LCG) algorithms. The paper outlines the usage of random numbers during parallel MERCURY simulations, and then describes the source and criticality transport simulations which comprise the empirical basis of this study. A series of calculations for each test problem in which the quality of the RNG (period of the LCG) is varied provides the empirical basis for determining the minimum repetition period which may be employed without producing a bias in the mean integrated results

Environmental Management Systems (EMS ISO 14001 Implementation in Construction Industry: A Malaysian Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumiani Yusoff

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study seeks to explore the crucial part in EMS implementation; i.e. environmental aspects and impacts, Good Environmental Practice to be developed in construction site, as well as the level of awareness or understanding amongst site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS implementation in their organizations. Data were collected via interviews, surveys and site visits. A number of environmental aspects and impacts, and Good Environmental Practices based on ISO 14001:2004 have been identified. The level of understanding of the site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS requirements has been found to be good except for matters concerning Schedule Waste Management. In conclusion, the successful implementation of ISO 14001 EMS mainly depends on staffs‘ understanding.

Current means for raising efficiency of counteraction to counterfeit goods trafficking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dronova O.B.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The urgency of counteraction to counterfeit goods trafficking is shown. Annual loss due to counterfeit goods producing and trafficking reaches several billion dollars. There remains a danger of buying low-quality and counterfeit goods despite implementing new producing techniques and protective elements. Measures, taken by law enforcement agencies, state authorities and public human rights organizations have not led to systematic suppression of producing and trafficking of such goods. Creation of new information and reference resource, containing information blocks of protective symbols on goods and packages and illustrated materials comprising patterns of discovered counterfeit goods, can assist to increase public awareness and to give necessary information to law enforcement agencies. Organizations, realizing state and social protection of consumers and entrepreneurs, along with producers, rightholders’ representatives and law enforcement bodies can accept the responsibility of creating and functioning this information and reference system in the Internet. Such level of cooperation of all interested organizations will allow to raise efficiency of measures for counteraction to trafficking goods with violated consumer properties. The author proves the necessity to organize functioning of information and reference resource for a wide range of users. Operation of such resource should comply with main principles of generating any information resource, notably full scale, authenticity and relevance of information. The author proposes the algorithm of creating such system which provides cooperation of law enforcement agencies, producers and consumers for the purpose of preventing counterfeit goods trafficking and investigating committed crimes.

Legislation on carriage of dangerous goods. Acts - directives - exemptions. 2. rev. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogt, H.W.

1993-01-01

This compact paperback edition presents the essential chapters of volume 3 'Acts, directives, exemptions' of the publication ''A handbook for dangerous goods officers''. Contents: (1) Act on the Carriage of Dangerous Goods. (2) Ordinance concerning Dangerous Goods Officers (GbV). (3) Legislative intent pursued with the GbV. (4) Instructions for implementation of the GbV. (5) Ordinance on Road Transport of Dangerous Goods (GGVS). (6) Annex A and B of the GGVS. The updating and amendment of the ADR provisions for harmonisation with the international classification schemes and hence the complete revision of categories 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, and 9, as well as the harmonisation of GGVS provisions with ADR provisions fall both under the 4th Amending Ordinance. This 4th Ordinance Amending the GGVS, passed by the Bundesrat on March 5, 1993 and announced on April 23, 1993, is, of course, part of this edition. Professional subscribers to the publication will prefer the loose-leaf edition of the Handbook for Dangerous Goods Officers, for easy updating of their reference source. (orig./HP) [de

Use of technology in implementing radiation protection good practices at RAPS-5 and 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nawal, S.R.; Kakkar, Amandeep; Yadav, Umed; Venkataramana, K.; Ramasomayajulu, M.; Khot, Pankaj

2014-01-01

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), is committed to perform all its activities while providing high level of radiological protection and continue to meet international standards on radiological safety. In continuation to reducing in expenditure of station collective dose/individual dose both in terms of external and internal dose is attained by adopting many new and innovative good radiological practices as per ALARA principle. Some of these improved radiological practices of RAPS-5 and 6 are discussed in this paper

A checklist for health research priority setting: nine common themes of good practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terry Robert F

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Health research priority setting processes assist researchers and policymakers in effectively targeting research that has the greatest potential public health benefit. Many different approaches to health research prioritization exist, but there is no agreement on what might constitute best practice. Moreover, because of the many different contexts for which priorities can be set, attempting to produce one best practice is in fact not appropriate, as the optimal approach varies per exercise. Therefore, following a literature review and an analysis of health research priority setting exercises that were organized or coordinated by the World Health Organization since 2005, we propose a checklist for health research priority setting that allows for informed choices on different approaches and outlines nine common themes of good practice. It is intended to provide generic assistance for planning health research prioritization processes. The checklist explains what needs to be clarified in order to establish the context for which priorities are set; it reviews available approaches to health research priority setting; it offers discussions on stakeholder participation and information gathering; it sets out options for use of criteria and different methods for deciding upon priorities; and it emphasizes the importance of well-planned implementation, evaluation and transparency.

Bioenergy good practice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birse, J.; Chambers, K.

2000-07-01

This report gives details of a project to make the Good Practice Guidelines, which were developed to help the UK Bioenergy industry, the national and local governments, and the public, more widely available. Details concerning the designing of a Good Practice Programme, and the proposed codes of Good Practice programme are given, and general relevant good practice guidance documents are discussed. The stakeholder survey and workshop, and the proposed codes of a Good Practice Programme are presented in Annexes. (UK)

Potential fraudulent behaviors in e-procurement implementation in Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Huda, S. N.; Setiani, N.; Pulungan, R.; Winarko, E.

2017-03-01

Corruptions in public procurement have occurred in various parts of the world, especially in developing countries. Implementation of SPSE (electronic procurement system) as the e-procurement system in Indonesia is based on the government’s intentions towards clean and good governance by fighting corruption, collusion, and nepotism. Procurement in Indonesia is carried out through SPSE, which is developed by LKPP (Government Policy on Procurement of Goods/Services). Although this system has brought many positive effects, there are still found many practices of fraud occurring in the implementation of the system. In this paper, we try to identify these practices and then to systematically categorize and analyze them.

Five years of lesson modification to implement non-traditional learning sessions in a traditional-delivery curriculum: A retrospective assessment using applied implementation variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Gleason, Shaun E; McNair, Bryan; Kiser, Tyree H; Franson, Kari L

Non-traditional learning (NTL), including aspects of self-directed learning (SDL), may address self-awareness development needs. Many factors can impact successful implementation of NTL. To share our multi-year experience with modifications that aim to improve NTL sessions in a traditional curriculum. To improve understanding of applied implementation variables (some of which were based on successful SDL implementation components) that impact NTL. We delivered a single lesson in a traditional-delivery curriculum once annually for five years, varying delivery annually in response to student learning and reaction-to-learning results. At year 5, we compared student learning and reaction-to-learning to applied implementation factors using logistic regression. Higher instructor involvement and overall NTL levels predicted correct exam responses (p=0.0007 and ptraditional and highest overall NTL deliveries. Students rated instructor presentation skills and teaching methods higher when greater instructor involvement (pmethods were most effective when lower student involvement and higher technology levels (ptraditional-delivery curriculum, instructor involvement appears essential, while the impact of student involvement and educational technology levels varies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adaptive Neural Network Control for Nonlinear Hydraulic Servo-System with Time-Varying State Constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Min Lu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An adaptive neural network control problem is addressed for a class of nonlinear hydraulic servo-systems with time-varying state constraints. In view of the low precision problem of the traditional hydraulic servo-system which is caused by the tracking errors surpassing appropriate bound, the previous works have shown that the constraint for the system is a good way to solve the low precision problem. Meanwhile, compared with constant constraints, the time-varying state constraints are more general in the actual systems. Therefore, when the states of the system are forced to obey bounded time-varying constraint conditions, the high precision tracking performance of the system can be easily realized. In order to achieve this goal, the time-varying barrier Lyapunov function (TVBLF is used to prevent the states from violating time-varying constraints. By the backstepping design, the adaptive controller will be obtained. A radial basis function neural network (RBFNN is used to estimate the uncertainties. Based on analyzing the stability of the hydraulic servo-system, we show that the error signals are bounded in the compacts sets; the time-varying state constrains are never violated and all singles of the hydraulic servo-system are bounded. The simulation and experimental results show that the tracking accuracy of system is improved and the controller has fast tracking ability and strong robustness.

Good genes, complementary genes and human mate preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, S Craig; Little, Anthony C

2008-09-01

The past decade has witnessed a rapidly growing interest in the biological basis of human mate choice. Here we review recent studies that demonstrate preferences for traits which might reveal genetic quality to prospective mates, with potential but still largely unknown influence on offspring fitness. These include studies assessing visual, olfactory and auditory preferences for potential good-gene indicator traits, such as dominance or bilateral symmetry. Individual differences in these robust preferences mainly arise through within and between individual variation in condition and reproductive status. Another set of studies have revealed preferences for traits indicating complementary genes, focussing on discrimination of dissimilarity at genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). As in animal studies, we are only just beginning to understand how preferences for specific traits vary and inter-relate, how consideration of good and compatible genes can lead to substantial variability in individual mate choice decisions and how preferences expressed in one sensory modality may reflect those in another. Humans may be an ideal model species in which to explore these interesting complexities.

Exploring Intergenerational Discontinuity in Problem Behavior: Bad Parents with Good Children

OpenAIRE

Dong, Beidi; Krohn, Marvin D.

2014-01-01

Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a series of regression models are estimated on offspring problem behavior with a focus on the interaction between parental history of delinquency and the parent-child relationship. Good parenting practices significantly interact with the particular shape of parental propensity of offending over time, functioning as protective factors to protect against problematic behaviors among those who are most at risk. The moderation effects vary sli...

Character education in schools implementing national curriculum and international baccalaureate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hotmaulina Sihotang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study was to evaluate the implementation of the character education program of Junior and Senior High School Victory Plus School using the national curriculum and International Baccalaureate. The research method used is mix method. The result of data analysis showed that the average self-concept score was 2.65 (less good; self-management is 2.73 (good; and social services is 2.73 (good in the implementation of courageous, honest, active, mindful, innovative, open minded, and nobel (champion value. The value of champion is relevant to the value of the national curriculum character but the value of hard work, religion, democracy, the spirit of nationality, and the love of the homeland have not yet appeared. The balanced and reflective values in the learner profile are not yet visible.

Implementation Issues of Adaptive Energy Detection in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Sobron, Iker; Eizmendi, Iñaki; Martins, Wallace A.; Diniz, Paulo S. R.; Ordiales, Juan Luis; Velez, Manuel

2017-01-01

Spectrum sensing (SS) enables the coexistence of non-coordinated heterogeneous wireless systems operating in the same band. Due to its computational simplicity, energy detection (ED) technique has been widespread employed in SS applications; nonetheless, the conventional ED may be unreliable under environmental impairments, justifying the use of ED-based variants. Assessing ED algorithms from theoretical and simulation viewpoints relies on several assumptions and simplifications which, eventually, lead to conclusions that do not necessarily meet the requirements imposed by real propagation environments. This work addresses those problems by dealing with practical implementation issues of adaptive least mean square (LMS)-based ED algorithms. The paper proposes a new adaptive ED algorithm that uses a variable step-size guaranteeing the LMS convergence in time-varying environments. Several implementation guidelines are provided and, additionally, an empirical assessment and validation with a software defined radio-based hardware is carried out. Experimental results show good performance in terms of probabilities of detection (Pd>0.9) and false alarm (Pf∼0.05) in a range of low signal-to-noise ratios around [-4,1] dB, in both single-node and cooperative modes. The proposed sensing methodology enables a seamless monitoring of the radio electromagnetic spectrum in order to provide band occupancy information for an efficient usage among several wireless communications systems. PMID:28441751

Good Practice Guide Waste Minimization/Pollution Prevention

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J Dorsey

1999-10-14

This Good Practice Guide provides tools, information, and examples for promoting the implementation of pollution prevention during the design phases of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects. It is one of several Guides for implementing DOE Order 430.1, Life-cycle Asset Management. DOE Order 430.1 provides requirements for DOE, in partnership with its contractors, to plan, acquire, operate, maintain, and dispose of physical assets. The goals of designing for pollution prevention are to minimize raw material consumption, energy consumption, waste generation, health and safety impacts, and ecological degradation over the entire life of the facility (EPA 1993a). Users of this Guide will learn to translate national policy and regulatory requirements for pollution prevention into action at the project level. The Guide was written to be applicable to all DOE projects, regardless of project size or design phase. Users are expected to interpret the Guide for their individual project's circumstances, applying a graded approach so that the effort is consistent with the anticipated waste generation and resource consumption of the physical asset. This Guide employs a combination of pollution prevention opportunity assessment (PPOA) methods and design for environment (DfE) philosophies. The PPOA process was primarily developed for existing products, processes, and facilities. The PPOA process has been modified in this Guide to address the circumstances of the DOE design process as delineated in DOE Order 430.1 and its associated Good Practice Guides. This modified form of the PPOA is termed the Pollution Prevention Design Assessment (P2DA). Information on current nationwide methods and successes in designing for the environment also have been reviewed and are integrated into this guidance.

The macroeconomic analysis of public goods and their influence in the region of Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard POSPÍŠIL

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In the region of Czech Republic, the provision of public goods is one of the State’s most important activities with society-wide impacts. Therefore, the debate on the structure and scope of public budgets is legitimate and ongoing on a society-wide scale. Mainstream fiscal theory considers public goods to be one of the failures of market equilibrium, classifying them as being close to positive externalities. In this case, the activity of the State brings benefits to other entities that are not involved in this activity and do not even directly pay for it. The main characteristics of these goods include irreducibility of their amount in society, non-excludability and non-rivalry. There are a number of goods between purely private and purely public goods which, to varying extents, exhibit both elements. Today, the majority of goods provided by the public sector are of such a nature; as a result, the form of allocation and the subsequent redistribution of resources are crucial when analysing public goods. The present paper analyses public goods in the Czech Republic from an economic and legal perspective using Cost-Benefit Analysis, including their efficiency and society-wide benefits.

ISMS Implementation in Nuclear Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radhiah Jamalludin; Siti Nurbahyah Hamdan; Mohd Dzul Aiman Aslan

2015-01-01

Nuclear Malaysia provides important services and functions that depend on the resources including information. Use of the information assets must be consistent with good professional practices and procedures and legal requirements, regulations and contracts and the need to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all information assets of the Agency. ISO / IEC 27001, the international safety standard for information security management system provides the mandatory requirement to implement, review and continuously improve the Information Security Management System (ISMS). Information security policies and the implementation of ISMS is important to protect information assets from all threats; internal or external; intentionally or unintentionally. (author)

A note on Poisson goodness-of-fit tests for ionizing radiation induced chromosomal aberration samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Higueras, Manuel; González, J E; Di Giorgio, Marina; Barquinero, J F

2018-05-18

To present Poisson exact goodness-of-fit tests as alternatives and complements to the asymptotic u-test, which is the most widely used in cytogenetic biodosimetry, to decide whether a sample of chromosomal aberrations in blood cells comes from an homogeneous or inhomogeneous exposure. Three Poisson exact goodness-of-fit test from the literature are introduced and implemented in the R environment. A Shiny R Studio application, named GOF Poisson, has been updated for the purpose of giving support to this work. The three exact tests and the u-test are applied in chromosomal aberration data from clinical and accidental radiation exposure patients. It is observed how the u-test is not an appropriate approximation in small samples with small yield of chromosomal aberrations. Tools are provided to compute the three exact tests, which is not as trivial as the implementation of the u-test. Poisson exact goodness-of-fit tests should be considered jointly to the u-test for detecting inhomogeneous exposures in the cytogenetic biodosimetry practice.

[Qualitative evaluation of employer requirements associated with occupational health and safety as good practice in small-scale enterprises].

Science.gov (United States)

Kuroki, Naomi; Miyashita, Nana; Hino, Yoshiyuki; Kayashima, Kotaro; Fujino, Yoshihisa; Takada, Mikio; Nagata, Tomohisa; Yamataki, Hajime; Sakuragi, Sonoko; Kan, Hirohiko; Morita, Tetsuya; Ito, Akiyoshi; Mori, Koji

2009-09-01

The purpose of this study was to identify what motivates employers to promote good occupational health and safety practices in small-scale enterprises. Previous studies have shown that small-scale enterprises generally pay insufficient attention to issues of occupational health and safety. These findings were mainly derived from questionnaire based surveys. Nevertheless, some small-scale enterprises in which employers exercise good leadership do take a progressive approach to occupational health and safety. Although good practices can be identified in small-scale enterprises, it remains unclear what motivates employers in small-scale enterprises to actively implement occupational health and safety practices. We speculated that identifying employer motivations in promoting occupational health would help to spread good practices among small-scale enterprises. Using a qualitative approach based on the KJ methods, we interviewed ten employers who actively promote occupational health and safety in the workplace. The employers were asked to discuss their views of occupational health and safety in their own words. A semi-structured interview format was used, and transcripts were made of the interviews. Each transcript was independently coded by two or more researchers. These transcripts and codes were integrated and then the research group members discussed the heading titles and structural relationships between them according to the KJ method. Qualitative analysis revealed that all the employers expressed a strong interest in a "good company" and "good management". They emphasized four elements of "good management", namely "securing human resources", "trust of business partners", "social responsibility" and "employer's health condition itself", and considered that addressing occupational health and safety was essential to the achievement of these four elements. Consistent with previous findings, the results showed that implementation of occupational health and safety

Promoting good health research practice in low- and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahendradhata, Yodi; Nabieva, Jamila; Ahmad, Riris Andono; Henley, Patricia; Launois, Pascal; Merle, Corinne; Maure, Christine; Horstick, Olaf; Elango, Varalakshmi

2016-01-01

Good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines have been the source of improvement in the quality of clinical trials; however, there are limitations to the application of GCP in the conduct of health research beyond industry-sponsored clinical trials. The UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Disease is promoting good practice in all health research involving human through the Good Health Research Practice (GHRP) training program initiative. To report the results of piloting the GHRP training program and formulate further steps to harness GHRP for promoting good practices in all health research involving human, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The objective of this training is to impart knowledge and skills for the application of ethical and quality principles to the design, conduct, recording, and reporting of health research involving human participants based on the level of risk, to ensure a fit-for-purpose quality system. This has been formulated into five sequential modules to be delivered in a 4-day course. Four courses have been organized in the pilot phase (2014-2015). The courses have been evaluated and assessed based on course feedback (quantitative and qualitative data) collected during course implementation and qualitative email-based pre- and post-course evaluation. Participants were highly satisfied with the course content and its organization. The relevance and applicability of the course content resulted in positive feedback and an articulated willingness to adapt and disseminate the course. Action points to strengthen the training program have been identified, and showed the imminent need to develop a consensus with a broader range of key stakeholders on the final set of GHRP standards and means for implementation. There is an urgent need to harness the momentum to promote high-quality and ethical health research in LMICs through scaling up GHRP training and further development of GHRP

WHOLESALER TO RETAILER GOODS FORWARDING CONTROLLING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg NIKIFOROV

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The modern trends in the development of logistics controlling through the prism of collaboration between wholesale companies and retail chains have been considered. The nature and structure of cargo transportation by the wholesale company to the retail chain have been analysed. The key transportation processes have been identified and the reliance on transportation drivers-forwarders for their effectiveness has been determined. The study has resulted in the program-mathematical approach to the transportation controlling automation used by the wholesale company to deliver goods to the retail chain as well as the mathematical model of the system information flow. The practical recommendations for the mathematical software implementation using the AWS Forwarder software product as an example have been illustrated.

Anesthesiology residents’ perspective about good teaching – a qualitative needs assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ortwein, Heiderose

2014-02-01

Full Text Available [english] Background: Germany, like many other countries, will soon have a shortage of qualified doctors. One reason for the dissatisfaction amongst medical residents are the relatively unstructured residency training programs despite increasing importance of outcome-based education. The aim of our study was to identify characteristics and requirements for good teaching during anesthesiology residency training from the resident’s point of view. Methods: A consensus workshop with residents from all medical universities in Germany was held. Participants were allocated to one of the three topics, chosen based on a 2009 nationwide evaluation of residency. The three topics were (A characteristics of helpful/good teachers, haracteristics of helpful/good conditions and (C characteristics of helpful/good curricular structure. Each group followed a nominal group technique consensus process to define and rank characteristics for a good residency.Results: 31 (79.5% resident representatives were present. The consented results put emphasis on the importance of structured curricula including transparent goals and objectives, in training formative assessments and quality assurance measures for the program. Residents further long for trained trainers with formal teaching qualifications and protected teaching time.Conclusions: Good residency training requires careful consideration of all stakeholders’ needs. Results reflect and extend previous findings and are at least to some degree easily implemented. These findings are an important step to establish a broader consensus within the discipline.

Determinants of Attitude toward Proposed Good and Services Tax among Business Communities in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Bidin, Zainol; Marimuthu, Munusamy; Derashid, Chek; Idris, Kamil Md; Ahmad, Norsiah

2016-01-01

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax reform. The decision to implement GST was made on 1 April 2015. The Malaysian business communities are concerned that Goods and Service Tax (GST) would affect their business. In order to comply with the new system, GST, Malaysian citizen need to have a positive attitude toward the GST. The rational is that taxpayers need to be positive in attitude for voluntarily compliance. By determining what factors could possibly influence attitude towards ...

Implementation of a National Workplace Wellness Program for Health Workers in Botswana

OpenAIRE

Ledikwe, Jenny H.; Semo, Bazghina-werq; Sebego, Miram; Mpho, Maureen; Mothibedi, Heather; Mawandia, Shreshth; O?Malley, Gabrielle

2017-01-01

The Botswana workplace wellness program (WWP) for health care workers (HCWs) was initiated in 2007. WWP implementation was assessed using a sequential, explanatory, mixed methods design including a national implementation assessment (27 health districts) and in-depth interviews (n?=?38). Level of implementation varied across districts with health screening, therapeutic recreation, and health promotion implemented more frequently than occupational health activities and psychosocial services. F...

Evaluation of the implementation and performance of the Digital Pen ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Implementation fidelity was good, but challenges associated with the implementation process resulted in non-achievement of project targets of 2,688 DPT reports in all the four districts. The government should ensure regular maintenance and replacement of equipment. The DPT forms should be stocked at district level ...

Exploring Intergenerational Discontinuity in Problem Behavior: Bad Parents with Good Children

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Beidi; Krohn, Marvin D.

2014-01-01

Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a series of regression models are estimated on offspring problem behavior with a focus on the interaction between parental history of delinquency and the parent-child relationship. Good parenting practices significantly interact with the particular shape of parental propensity of offending over time, functioning as protective factors to protect against problematic behaviors among those who are most at risk. The moderation effects vary slightly by the age of our subjects. Accordingly, it is important to distinguish the effect of not only the level of parental delinquency at one point in time, but also the shape of the delinquency trajectory on outcomes for their children. Good parenting holds the hope of breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational transmission of delinquency. PMID:26097437

The establishment and implementation of safety culture policy in Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antariksawan, A.R.; Suharno; Arbie, B.

2001-01-01

This paper describes the progress in the establishment and implementation of safety culture in Indonesia, especially in BATAN, with special attention given to the development of safety culture indicators. The spirit of safety culture implementation is marked firstly by declaration of Policy Statement by the Head of BATAN. In order to monitor the implementation of safety culture, six indicators are established. Based on those indicators, it is seemed that at present the progress of implementation of safety culture is quite good enough. (author)

Software licenses: Good fences make good neighbors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCreary, J.G.; Woodyard, A.

1995-01-01

The basis for a good contract is that it is beneficial to both parties. A good foundation will cement the responsibilities and obligations of the parties after areas of agreement have been negotiated. Unfortunately, software licenses do not always reflect what is best for all. Some clauses are definitely for the benefit of the vendor, while others are required by a prudent client. The resulting contract is then a matter of reasonable compromise to achieve a good business relationship. Major issues of warranty, liability, training, support, and payment may be in conflict. Such topics as maintenance, testing, patents, extent of use, and return of software are often overlooked or addressed unevenly. This paper addresses these subjects and provides guidelines for software licenses. An understanding of legal phrases is of value. A better understanding of the viewpoints of both the vendor and the client results in a better working relationship

Microsatellites in varied arenas of research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K S Remya

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Microsatellites known as simple-sequence repeats (SSRs or short-tandem repeats (STRs, represent specific sequences of DNA consisting of tandemly repeated units of one to six nucleotides. The repetitive nature of microsatellites makes them particularly prone to grow or shrink in length and these changes can have both good and bad consequences for the organisms that possess them. They are responsible for various neurological diseases and hence the same cause is now utilized for the early detection of various diseases, such as, Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, Congenital generalized Hypertrichosis, Asthma, and Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness. These agents are widely used for forensic identification and relatedness testing, and are predominant genetic markers in this area of application. The application of microsatellites is an extending web and covers the varied scenarios of science, such as, conservation biology, plant genetics, and population studies. At present, researches are progressing round the globe to extend the use of these genetic repeaters to unmask the hidden genetic secrets behind the creation of the world.

PENJABARAN GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (GCG DALAM PENGADAAN BARANG DAN JASA PADA PLN BALI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luh Putu Dwi Suarini

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Research in connection with the theme is “ Implementation of Good Corporate Governance (GCG in Procurement at PLN Bali”. The problems are researched the translation of good corporate governace forms in the procurement of goods and services at PLN Bali and the form of the procurement of goods and services at PLN Bali. This research includes the category of empirical legal research, legal research is a empirical means reviewing the practical reality in daily life - today. The nature of the research is descriptive research that has a goal to paint a picture of something in the area and at a certain moment. Furthermore, the technique used is to study documents, interviews, Non-Probability Sampling, purposive sampling. Procurement of goods or services in PLN involves many parties, the employees who were appointed to take care of such procurement and future providers of goods and services. In this relationship unfair business competition or the price is too high or low in supply. However, the existence of e-procurement and the correct procedures in the procurement of goods and services as well as the concept of GCG which also animates the principles of procurement of goods and services. Procedures in the procurement of goods and services as well as the principles of GCG, the procurement in PLN can be carried out transparently, responsibly, independently, fairly and equitably.

Designing and Implementing Performance Technology for Teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joi L. Moore

2004-06-01

Full Text Available This paper synthesizes research findings from a performance analysis of teacher tasks and the implementation of performance technology. These findings are aligned with design and implementation theories to provide understanding of the complex factors and events that occur during the implementation process. The article describes the necessary elements and conditions for designing and implementing performance tools in school environments that will encourage usage, efficient performance, and positive attitudes. Two models provide a visual representation of causal relationships between the implementation factors and the technology user. Although the implementation process can become complex because of the simultaneous events and phases, it can be properly managed through good communication and strategic involvement of teachers during the design and development process. The models may be able to assist technology designers and advocates with presenting innovations to teachers who are frequently asked to try technical solutions for performance support or improvement.

Design, implementation and licensing of improvement measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rousset, P.

2000-01-01

Modifications are designed to contribute to improve the level of safety, and the level of performance of the plants. The successful implementation of a modification depends on the quality of the design and particularly the good fitting of the modification in the existing design, on the perfect consistency of the licensing approach and on the good management of the project constraints and interfaces. Over the last ten years, FRAMATOME has accumulated a large and varied experience in these activities, as shown in the few examples briefly described in the presentation. Within the Mochovce completion project, FRAMATOME has been in charge of the basic design or implementation of about twenty safety measures. This involved establishing efficient partnerships with design organizations and suppliers in the Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, and Russia. A similar approach is used in the frame of the Kozloduy 5-6 modernization program, where the basic engineering contract is conducted since 1998 and the main contract under discussion. From the very beginning of the TACIS program FRAMATOME has been involved in projects dealing with the design of reactor safety systems. For example, an extensive work aiming at developing a methodology for accident analysis in VVER reactor was initiated in 1993, in collaboration with Siemens, Kurchatov Institute and OKB Gidropress. This methodology was recently used successfully in a new project with the objective to evaluate the possible modification of reactor protection signals of some Russian reactors. Within the PHARE program, a complete analysis of the primary to secondary leakage risk was conducted for Paks nuclear power plant. This involved the writing and validation of the relevant emergency procedure, specification of the leak detection system, study of an improved design of the collector cover, and recommendation of some systems modifications. A last example is the study of the modifications of main steam lines performed in the frame

Stroke in Devon: knowledge was good, but action was poor

OpenAIRE

Carroll, C; Hobart, J; Fox, C; Teare, L; Gibson, J

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Effective implementation of early treatment strategies for stroke requires prompt admission to hospital. There are several reasons for delayed admission. Good awareness should facilitate early admission. We identified local targets for education. METHODS: Four groups, each of 40 people, completed questionnaires to determine their knowledge of stroke symptoms and risk factors, and the action they took or would take in the event of a stroke. The groups were: patients with a ...

The application of dangerous goods regulations to the transport of radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blenkin, J.J.; Darby, W.P.; Heywood, J.D.; Wikinson, H.L.; Carrington, C.K.; Murray, M.A.

1998-01-01

Some radioactive materials to be transported, including certain radioactive wastes, contain materials that qualify as dangerous goods as defined by the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (United Nations 1997). The regulations governing the transport of radioactive and dangerous goods in the UK are largely based on the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (IAEA 1990) and the UN Recommendations (United Nations 1993). Additional legislation will also apply including the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (Driver Training) Regulations 1996 (UK 1996). The IAEA Transport Regulations are clear that where radioactive materials have other dangerous properties the requirements of other relevant transport regulations for dangerous goods must also be met. They require that consignments are appropriately segregated from other dangerous goods, in accordance with relevant legislation, and that dangerous properties such as explosiveness, flammability etc. are taken into account in packing, labelling, marking, placarding, storage and transport. In practice, however, it requires a clear understanding of the relationship between the IAEA Transport Regulations and other dangerous goods legislation in order to avoid a number of problems in the approval of package design. This paper discusses the regulations applying to the transport of dangerous goods and explores practical problems associated with implementing them. It highlights a number of opportunities for developing the regulations, to make them easier to apply to radioactive materials that also have other potentially dangerous properties. (authors)

Depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Dong-Mei; Zhuang, Yong; Li, Yu-Jian; Wang, Bing-Hong

2011-10-01

In real situations, the value of public goods will be reduced or even lost because of external factors or for intrinsic reasons. In this work, we investigate the evolution of cooperation by considering the effect of depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games on a square lattice. It is assumed that each individual gains full advantage if the number of the cooperators nc within a group centered on that individual equals or exceeds the critical mass (CM). Otherwise, there is depreciation of the public goods, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r to (nc/CM)r. It is shown that the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for CM > 1 even at small values of r, and a global cooperative level is achieved at an intermediate value of CM = 4 at a small r. We further study the effect of depreciation of public goods on different topologies of a regular lattice, and find that the system always reaches global cooperation at a moderate value of CM = G - 1 regardless of whether or not there exist overlapping triangle structures on the regular lattice, where G is the group size of the associated regular lattice.

The principles of good conduct in nuclear trade - questions and reflections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, J.L.; Derche, B.

1992-01-01

International nuclear exchanges are based on legal principles which are translated into obligations and practices on the part of the operators. This report deals first of all with the sources of these principles and then with their implementation, placing the emphasis upon standards which go beyond strict obligations. The first part looks at the various sources of the principles of good conduct: ethical rules, international documents, intervention by international organisations, national legislation. These principles relate to non-proliferation, safety, the environment, radiological protection, exchanges of technology and financing. On the basis of an enquiry, the second part of the report describes the application of the principles of good conduct to nuclear business. These principles provide both the customers and the suppliers with guarantees, encourage the use of the most highly developed techniques and, apart from a few shortcomings, form the basis for balanced contractual relationships. In conclusion, this report gives a summary of the rules of good conduct. (author)

MDSplus objects-Python implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fredian, T., E-mail: twf@psfc.mit.ed [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, NW17-268, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Stillerman, J. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, NW17-268, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Manduchi, G. [Consorzio RFX, Euratom-ENEA Association, Corso Stati Uniti 4, Padova 35127 (Italy)

2010-07-15

MDSplus is a data acquisition and analysis software package used widely throughout the international fusion research community. During the past year, an important set of enhancements were designed under the project name of 'MDSobjects' which would provide a common, powerful application programming interface (API) to MDSplus in programming languages with object-oriented capabilities. This paper will discuss the Python language implementation of this API and some of the capabilities that this implementation provides for data storage and retrieval using the MDSplus system. We have implemented a new MDSplus Python module which exposes the MDSplus objects features to the language. The internal MDSplus programming language, TDI, has also been enhanced to be able to invoke Python commands from the TDI language. Now that Python is aware of the complex data structures in MDSplus such as Signals, the language becomes a very good candidate for applications ranging from data acquisition device support to analysis and visualization.

MDSplus objects-Python implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fredian, T.; Stillerman, J.; Manduchi, G.

2010-01-01

MDSplus is a data acquisition and analysis software package used widely throughout the international fusion research community. During the past year, an important set of enhancements were designed under the project name of 'MDSobjects' which would provide a common, powerful application programming interface (API) to MDSplus in programming languages with object-oriented capabilities. This paper will discuss the Python language implementation of this API and some of the capabilities that this implementation provides for data storage and retrieval using the MDSplus system. We have implemented a new MDSplus Python module which exposes the MDSplus objects features to the language. The internal MDSplus programming language, TDI, has also been enhanced to be able to invoke Python commands from the TDI language. Now that Python is aware of the complex data structures in MDSplus such as Signals, the language becomes a very good candidate for applications ranging from data acquisition device support to analysis and visualization.

Implementation of a cluster Beowulf

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Victorino Guzman, Jorge Enrique

2001-01-01

One of the simulation systems that put a great stress on computational resources and performance are the climatic models, with a high cost of implementation, making difficult its acquisition. An alternative that offers good performance at a reasonable cost is the construction of Cluster Beowulf that allows to emulate the behaviour of a computer with several processors. In the present article we discuss the requirements of hardware for the construction of the Cluster Beowulf, the software resources for the implementation of the model CCM3.6 and the performance of the Cluster Beowulf, of the Group of Investigation in Meteorology at the National University of Colombia, with different number of processors

Good government and good governance: record keeping in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article addresses the challenges that arise when record keeping systems are advocated as a necessary under-pinning for good government and good governance. The relationship between record keeping and accountability is analysed and contextualised in relation to transparency and Freedom of Information ...

Halal Logistics Implementation in Malaysia: A Practical View

Science.gov (United States)

Sham, Rohana; Zuraidah Rasi, Raja; Abdamia, Noranita; Mohamed, Suhana; Thahira Bibi, TKM

2017-08-01

Concept of halal is not only acceptable world wide by the Muslim society but also to the non Muslim. However, the implementing of halal logistics in daily operation experience a few difficulties especially on the implementation part. Although there are many academic research paper that highlight the issue of halal logistics and the critical success factor, until today, halal logistics in Malaysia is still experiencing a hiccup. This paper try to highlight a few simple ways of implementation of halal logistics that could enhance the total implementation concept at the very least cost to create benefit to all society. The Paper deals with a few aspect of possible implementation and practice to facilitate the halal logistics approach in daily operation. The main objective is to look at the possible method of implementation and critical success factors towards the implementation of halal logistics operation in daily goods movement in Malaysia.

Depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Dong-Mei; Zhuang, Yong; Li, Yu-Jian; Wang, Bing-Hong

2011-01-01

In real situations, the value of public goods will be reduced or even lost because of external factors or for intrinsic reasons. In this work, we investigate the evolution of cooperation by considering the effect of depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games on a square lattice. It is assumed that each individual gains full advantage if the number of the cooperators n c within a group centered on that individual equals or exceeds the critical mass (CM). Otherwise, there is depreciation of the public goods, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r to (n c /CM)r. It is shown that the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for CM > 1 even at small values of r, and a global cooperative level is achieved at an intermediate value of CM = 4 at a small r. We further study the effect of depreciation of public goods on different topologies of a regular lattice, and find that the system always reaches global cooperation at a moderate value of CM = G − 1 regardless of whether or not there exist overlapping triangle structures on the regular lattice, where G is the group size of the associated regular lattice

Implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: A policy perspective on regulatory, institutional and stakeholder impediments to effective implementation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, van J.; Raakjaer, J.; Hoof, van L.J.W.; Tatenhove, van J.P.M.; Long, R.; Ounanian, K.

2014-01-01

The implementation of the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires EU Member States to draft a program of measures to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). Central argument of this paper, based on an analysis of the unique, holistic character of the MSFD, is that

Goods and Services Tax (GST: Challenges Faced by Business Operators in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Loo Ern

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to identify the factors affecting business operators’ awareness on the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST and the perceived issues and problems they may likely encounter with the implementation of GST in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 302 registered members (business operators of three Chambers of Commerce in Melaka. The findings of this study show that more than 70% of the respondents are aware of the GST mechanism and issues. The majority of the respondents also agreed that to comply with GST legislations, business operators need to have sufficient knowledge on appropriate and adequate documentation thus leading to increased compliance costs.

Identification of time-varying structural dynamic systems - An artificial intelligence approach

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, B. J.; Hanagud, S.

1992-01-01

An application of the artificial intelligence-derived methodologies of heuristic search and object-oriented programming to the problem of identifying the form of the model and the associated parameters of a time-varying structural dynamic system is presented in this paper. Possible model variations due to changes in boundary conditions or configurations of a structure are organized into a taxonomy of models, and a variant of best-first search is used to identify the model whose simulated response best matches that of the current physical structure. Simulated model responses are verified experimentally. An output-error approach is used in a discontinuous model space, and an equation-error approach is used in the parameter space. The advantages of the AI methods used, compared with conventional programming techniques for implementing knowledge structuring and inheritance, are discussed. Convergence conditions and example problems have been discussed. In the example problem, both the time-varying model and its new parameters have been identified when changes occur.

Being a good nurse and doing the right thing: a replication study.

Science.gov (United States)

Catlett, Shelia; Lovan, Sherry R

2011-01-01

This qualitative research study, a replication of a study published in 2002, investigated the qualities of a good nurse and the role ethics plays in decision making. After reviewing the limitations of the published work, the current study implemented modifications related to the research questions, sample selection, data collection, and use of software for data analysis. The original study identified seven categories that related to being a good nurse and doing the right thing. In the present study, the use of relational analysis led to the recognition of four categories: (1) personal traits and attributes; (2) technical skills and management of care; (3) work environment and co-workers; and (4) caring and caring behaviors. To understand what it means to be a good nurse and do the right thing is a complex task; however, this research adds to the small amount of empirical data that exists to describe those characteristics.

"Good mothering" or "good citizenship"?

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Maree; Kerridge, Ian H; Jordens, Christopher F C

2012-03-01

Umbilical cord blood banking is one of many biomedical innovations that confront pregnant women with new choices about what they should do to secure their own and their child's best interests. Many mothers can now choose to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood (UCB) to a public cord blood bank or pay to store it in a private cord blood bank. Donation to a public bank is widely regarded as an altruistic act of civic responsibility. Paying to store UCB may be regarded as a "unique opportunity" to provide "insurance" for the child's future. This paper reports findings from a survey of Australian women that investigated the decision to either donate or store UCB. We conclude that mothers are faced with competing discourses that force them to choose between being a "good mother" and fulfilling their role as a "good citizen." We discuss this finding with reference to the concept of value pluralism.

Good governance for nutrition in the Philippines: elements, experiences, and lessons learned.

Science.gov (United States)

Solon, Florentino S

2006-12-01

Malnutrition is a multifactorial problem that needs a multisectoral solution. This article reviews the role of good governance in nutrition programs, citing the Philippines as an example. In the Philippines, these efforts are reflected in the partnership between the public and private sectors in the establishment of the country's capability in research, policy-making, and program implementation. The establishment of the different public institutions engaged in research and policy-making is discussed, highlighting the role of political will through legislation. The evolving tasks of the nutrition program are discussed by citing the tasks in two eras. In the 1970s, the challenges were limited national nutrition data, man-power, tools, and health infrastructure. The public and private institutions were able to respond by legislating national nutrition surveys and dedicated nutrition workers in each village. The challenges in the current era are improved implementation of health programs, given the devolution of health services, and the gathering of an evidence base to further strengthen and refine the strategies of supplementation, fortification, breastfeeding, and food security. In responding to these challenges, multisectoral solutions and collaboration are critical in providing an evidence base to formulate policy. The role of the private sector, with the Nutrition Center of the Philippines used as an example, is that of a supportive and collaborative partner in good governance. Finally, the lessons learned from the past decades of implementing a national nutrition program, given changes in political and economic circumstances, are summarized.

Good Practice Guide Waste Minimization/Pollution Prevention; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

J Dorsey

1999-01-01

This Good Practice Guide provides tools, information, and examples for promoting the implementation of pollution prevention during the design phases of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects. It is one of several Guides for implementing DOE Order 430.1, Life-cycle Asset Management. DOE Order 430.1 provides requirements for DOE, in partnership with its contractors, to plan, acquire, operate, maintain, and dispose of physical assets. The goals of designing for pollution prevention are to minimize raw material consumption, energy consumption, waste generation, health and safety impacts, and ecological degradation over the entire life of the facility (EPA 1993a). Users of this Guide will learn to translate national policy and regulatory requirements for pollution prevention into action at the project level. The Guide was written to be applicable to all DOE projects, regardless of project size or design phase. Users are expected to interpret the Guide for their individual project's circumstances, applying a graded approach so that the effort is consistent with the anticipated waste generation and resource consumption of the physical asset. This Guide employs a combination of pollution prevention opportunity assessment (PPOA) methods and design for environment (DfE) philosophies. The PPOA process was primarily developed for existing products, processes, and facilities. The PPOA process has been modified in this Guide to address the circumstances of the DOE design process as delineated in DOE Order 430.1 and its associated Good Practice Guides. This modified form of the PPOA is termed the Pollution Prevention Design Assessment (P2DA). Information on current nationwide methods and successes in designing for the environment also have been reviewed and are integrated into this guidance

Reflexion on linear regression trip production modelling method for ensuring good model quality

Science.gov (United States)

Suprayitno, Hitapriya; Ratnasari, Vita

2017-11-01

Transport Modelling is important. For certain cases, the conventional model still has to be used, in which having a good trip production model is capital. A good model can only be obtained from a good sample. Two of the basic principles of a good sampling is having a sample capable to represent the population characteristics and capable to produce an acceptable error at a certain confidence level. It seems that this principle is not yet quite understood and used in trip production modeling. Therefore, investigating the Trip Production Modelling practice in Indonesia and try to formulate a better modeling method for ensuring the Model Quality is necessary. This research result is presented as follows. Statistics knows a method to calculate span of prediction value at a certain confidence level for linear regression, which is called Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. The common modeling practice uses R2 as the principal quality measure, the sampling practice varies and not always conform to the sampling principles. An experiment indicates that small sample is already capable to give excellent R2 value and sample composition can significantly change the model. Hence, good R2 value, in fact, does not always mean good model quality. These lead to three basic ideas for ensuring good model quality, i.e. reformulating quality measure, calculation procedure, and sampling method. A quality measure is defined as having a good R2 value and a good Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. Calculation procedure must incorporate statistical calculation method and appropriate statistical tests needed. A good sampling method must incorporate random well distributed stratified sampling with a certain minimum number of samples. These three ideas need to be more developed and tested.

Irradiation of goods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lunt, R.E.

1987-01-01

Mechanical handling apparatus is adapted to handle goods, such as boxed fruit, during a process of irradiation, in palletized form. Palletized goods are loaded onto wheeled vehicles in a loading zone. Four vehicles are wheeled on a track into an irradiation zone via a door in a concrete shield. The vehicles are arranged in orthogonal relationship around a source of square section. Turntables are positioned at corners of the square shaped rail truck around the source selectively to turn the vehicles to align then with track sections. Mechanical manipulating devices are positioned in the track sections opposed to sides of the source. During irradiation, the vehicles and their palletized goods are cylically moved toward the source to offer first sides of the goods for irradiation and are retraced from the source and are pivoted through 90 0 to persent succeeding sides of the goods for irradiation

Sustainable implementation of microhydro to eradicate poverty in Africa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jonker Klunne, Wim

2010-09-15

Local, micro scale, village level hydropower plants can play an important role towards eradication of poverty in rural areas. However, despite a good understanding of the technology involved and the enormous potential that exists in Africa, relative small numbers of micro hydro projects are currently in operation in Africa. This paper does look into the current situation on the continent with respect to installed systems and projects that are being implemented. It compares different implementation models and will conclude on ingredients for implementation models that will support the sustainable operation of micro hydroplants once built.

Promoting good health research practice in low- and middle-income countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yodi Mahendradhata

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Good clinical practice (GCP guidelines have been the source of improvement in the quality of clinical trials; however, there are limitations to the application of GCP in the conduct of health research beyond industry-sponsored clinical trials. The UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Disease is promoting good practice in all health research involving human through the Good Health Research Practice (GHRP training program initiative. Objective: To report the results of piloting the GHRP training program and formulate further steps to harness GHRP for promoting good practices in all health research involving human, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs. Design: The objective of this training is to impart knowledge and skills for the application of ethical and quality principles to the design, conduct, recording, and reporting of health research involving human participants based on the level of risk, to ensure a fit-for-purpose quality system. This has been formulated into five sequential modules to be delivered in a 4-day course. Four courses have been organized in the pilot phase (2014–2015. The courses have been evaluated and assessed based on course feedback (quantitative and qualitative data collected during course implementation and qualitative email-based pre- and post-course evaluation. Results: Participants were highly satisfied with the course content and its organization. The relevance and applicability of the course content resulted in positive feedback and an articulated willingness to adapt and disseminate the course. Action points to strengthen the training program have been identified, and showed the imminent need to develop a consensus with a broader range of key stakeholders on the final set of GHRP standards and means for implementation. Conclusions: There is an urgent need to harness the momentum to promote high-quality and ethical health research in

[Good professional practices of French CICs - version # 2].

Science.gov (United States)

Chevassus, Hugues; Duchesne, Charlène; Sailly, Annabelle; Vigouroux, Céline; Foulon, Christine; Kubiak, Christine; Binquet, Christine; Felin, Alexandra Lamotte; Chaud, Pascal; Thalamas, Claire; Cornu, Catherine

2017-10-01

French clinical investigation centers (CICs) are academic platforms dedicated to clinical research. The QUALI-CIC working group helps to improve and harmonize practices within the CIC network. After some years of implementation, the manual of good professional practices of CICs (MGPP CIC) completed in 2010, needed to be revised to best fit with the large panel of CIC activities. The aim was also to make it more accurate and to reinforce requirements about participants safety and data security. In its second version published in the present article, the MGPP CIC includes 255 items divided into 15 chapters. An explanatory document, currently being drafted, will complete the manual to facilitate its implementation. Copyright © 2017 Société française de pharmacologie et de thérapeutique. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Taxpayers’ Competency Level in Governing Goods Services Tax (GST Compliance: Malaysia Scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hambali Siti Syaqilah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available GST implementation in Malaysia in April 2015 is part of the tax reformation with the goal of having a more efficient and effective taxation system. A successful tax reformation requires a high acceptance from taxpayers. In order to aid in the acceptance of GST implementation, taxpayers need to have a good competency level reflected through proper knowledge and awareness of the GST system, also known as GST literacy. Thus, the main objective of this study is to assess the level of GST literacy of taxpayers. Secondly, the current study aims to identify the relationship between GST literacy level with the GST acceptance of the taxpayers. Questionnaires were distributed to 150 secondary school teachers in Johor, one of the states in Malaysia. The finding indicates that the respondents’ literacy rate towards the GST implementation in Malaysia is fair. The results imply that secondary school teachers have a moderate knowledge level and high awareness level on GST implementation in Malaysia. The study proves statistically that there is a positive significant relationship between GST literacy with GST acceptance.

Numerical modeling of rapidly varying flows using HEC-RAS and WSPG models.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Prasada; Hromadka, Theodore V

2016-01-01

The performance of two popular hydraulic models (HEC-RAS and WSPG) for modeling hydraulic jump in an open channel is investigated. The numerical solutions are compared with a new experimental data set obtained for varying channel bottom slopes and flow rates. Both the models satisfactorily predict the flow depths and location of the jump. The end results indicate that the numerical models output is sensitive to the value of chosen roughness coefficient. For this application, WSPG model is easier to implement with few input variables.

Fostering Good Governance at School Level in Honduras: The Role of Transparency Bulletin Boards

Science.gov (United States)

Boehm, Frédéric; Caprio, Temby

2014-01-01

Corruption is at the core of weak governance. In the education sector, corruption is a threat to the quality of and access to education. Although the diagnosis is straightforward, effective reforms are more difficult to implement. The principles of good governance (transparency, participation, accountability, and integrity) provide us guidance,…

Conditional CAPM: Time-varying Betas in the Brazilian Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frances Fischberg Blank

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The conditional CAPM is characterized by time-varying market beta. Based on state-space models approach, beta behavior can be modeled as a stochastic process dependent on conditioning variables related to business cycle and estimated using Kalman filter. This paper studies alternative models for portfolios sorted by size and book-to-market ratio in the Brazilian stock market and compares their adjustment to data. Asset pricing tests based on time-series and cross-sectional approaches are also implemented. A random walk process combined with conditioning variables is the preferred model, reducing pricing errors compared to unconditional CAPM, but the errors are still significant. Cross-sectional test show that book-to-market ratio becomes less relevant, but past returns still capture cross-section variation

The world trade organisation and Human Rights: The role of principles of Good Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Denkers

2008-08-01

Full Text Available The present article attempts to determine the role of principles of good governance in the discussion regarding the World Trade Organisation (WTO and its human rights accountability. It shows that the WTO as an organisation cannot be compared to other international organisations that are more autonomous such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF or the World Bank. This does not mean, however, that the WTO has no autonomous powers at all. This contribution attempts to make clear what these activities are and how they may affect the protection of human rights. The implementation of good governance principles in international organisations can be considered a sine qua non for the realisation of human rights. Therefore, it will be examined what role the principles of good governance plays within the WTO. More specifically, the focus will be on how the good governance principles of transparency and participation can contribute to sensitising the organisation for human rights considerations.

77 FR 14265 - To Implement the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-09

... threat thereof to a domestic industry producing certain textile or apparel articles. 9. Executive Order... apparel goods. 8. Subtitle C of title III of the Implementation Act authorizes the President to take... exclusion of certain textile and apparel goods from the customs territory of the United States and to direct...

Integrating guideline development and implementation: analysis of guideline development manual instructions for generating implementation advice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gagliardi Anna R

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Guidelines are important tools that inform healthcare delivery based on best available research evidence. Guideline use is in part based on quality of the guidelines, which includes advice for implementation and has been shown to vary. Others hypothesized this is due to limited instructions in guideline development manuals. The purpose of this study was to examine manual instructions for implementation advice. Methods We used a directed and summative content analysis approach based on an established framework of guideline implementability. Six manuals identified by another research group were examined to enumerate implementability domains and elements. Results Manuals were similar in content but lacked sufficient detail in particular domains. Most frequently this was Accomodation, which includes information that would help guideline users anticipate and/or overcome organizational and system level barriers. In more than one manual, information was also lacking for Communicability, information that would educate patients or facilitate their involvement in shared decision making, and Applicability, or clinical parameters to help clinicians tailor recommendations for individual patients. Discussion Most manuals that direct guideline development lack complete information about incorporating implementation advice. These findings can be used by those who developed the manuals to consider expanding their content in these domains. It can also be used by guideline developers as they plan the content and implementation of their guidelines so that the two are integrated. New approaches for guideline development and implementation may need to be developed. Use of guidelines might be improved if they included implementation advice, but this must be evaluated through ongoing research.

Stagewise pseudo-value regression for time-varying effects on the cumulative incidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zöller, Daniela; Schmidtmann, Irene; Weinmann, Arndt

2016-01-01

In a competing risks setting, the cumulative incidence of an event of interest describes the absolute risk for this event as a function of time. For regression analysis, one can either choose to model all competing events by separate cause-specific hazard models or directly model the association...... for time-varying effects. This is implemented by coupling variable selection between the grid times, but determining estimates separately. The effect estimates are regularized to also allow for model fitting with a low to moderate number of observations. This technique is illustrated in an application...

The common good

OpenAIRE

Argandoña, Antonio

2011-01-01

The concept of the common good occupied a relevant place in classical social, political and economic philosophy. After losing ground in the Modern age, it has recently reappeared, although with different and sometimes confusing meanings. This paper is the draft of a chapter of a Handbook; it explains the meaning of common good in the Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy and in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church; why the common good is relevant; and how it is different from the other uses...

Ordinance on the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (GGVE). 2. rev. and enl. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ridder, K.; Katholnig, F.

1993-01-01

The book presents the legislative texts and other legal provisions concerning the transport of dangerous goods by rail: (1) Act on the transport of dangerous goods, full text. (2) Ordinance on the carriage of dangerous goods by rail (GGVE) - GGVE skeleton ordinance; Annex to the skeleton ordinance. (3) Documents - GGVE implementing regulations RE 001; R 002; Ordinance on exeptions GGVE; Extracts from IAEA recommendations concerning safe transport of radioactive materials; catalogue of fines pertaining to section 10 GGVE. (4) Alphabetical list of materials for GGVE/RID and GGVS/ADR. Index terms printed in deep black at the margin of pages allow quick access to the text passages of interest, and there is a subject index for retrieval over the entire book. (orig./HP) [de

Interorganizational health care systems implementations: an exploratory study of early electronic commerce initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Payton, F C; Ginzberg, M J

2001-01-01

Changing business practices, customers needs, and market dynamics have driven many organizations to implement interorganizational systems (IOSs). IOSs have been successfully implemented in the banking, cotton, airline, and consumer-goods industries, and recently attention has turned to the health care industry. This article describes an exploratory study of health care IOS implementations based on the voluntary community health information network (CHIN) model.

Good practices for quantitative bias analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lash, Timothy L; Fox, Matthew P; MacLehose, Richard F; Maldonado, George; McCandless, Lawrence C; Greenland, Sander

2014-12-01

Quantitative bias analysis serves several objectives in epidemiological research. First, it provides a quantitative estimate of the direction, magnitude and uncertainty arising from systematic errors. Second, the acts of identifying sources of systematic error, writing down models to quantify them, assigning values to the bias parameters and interpreting the results combat the human tendency towards overconfidence in research results, syntheses and critiques and the inferences that rest upon them. Finally, by suggesting aspects that dominate uncertainty in a particular research result or topic area, bias analysis can guide efficient allocation of sparse research resources. The fundamental methods of bias analyses have been known for decades, and there have been calls for more widespread use for nearly as long. There was a time when some believed that bias analyses were rarely undertaken because the methods were not widely known and because automated computing tools were not readily available to implement the methods. These shortcomings have been largely resolved. We must, therefore, contemplate other barriers to implementation. One possibility is that practitioners avoid the analyses because they lack confidence in the practice of bias analysis. The purpose of this paper is therefore to describe what we view as good practices for applying quantitative bias analysis to epidemiological data, directed towards those familiar with the methods. We focus on answering questions often posed to those of us who advocate incorporation of bias analysis methods into teaching and research. These include the following. When is bias analysis practical and productive? How does one select the biases that ought to be addressed? How does one select a method to model biases? How does one assign values to the parameters of a bias model? How does one present and interpret a bias analysis?. We hope that our guide to good practices for conducting and presenting bias analyses will encourage

Implementation of Good Agricultural Practices Food Safety Standards on Mid-Atlantic States and New York Produce Farms

Science.gov (United States)

Nayak, Roshan

2016-01-01

In the wake of multistate outbreaks and subsequent economic cost and health causalities, food industry stakeholders formulated policies for their produce suppliers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guidance on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) have been the basis for most of the industry initiated GAP certifications or audit processes. In…

Varied Rates of Implementation of Patient-Centered Medical Home Features and Residents' Perceptions of Their Importance Based on Practice Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Eiff, M Patrice; Green, Larry A; Jones, Geoff; Devlaeminck, Alex Verdieck; Waller, Elaine; Dexter, Eve; Marino, Miguel; Carney, Patricia A

2017-03-01

Little is known about how the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is being implemented in residency practices. We describe both the trends in implementation of PCMH features and the influence that working with PCMH features has on resident attitudes toward their importance in 14 family medicine residencies associated with the P4 Project. We assessed 24 residency continuity clinics annually between 2007-2011 on presence or absence of PCMH features. Annual resident surveys (n=690) assessed perceptions of importance of PCMH features using a 4-point scale (not at all important to very important). We used generalized estimating equations logistic regression to assess trends and ordinal-response proportional odds regression models to determine if resident ratings of importance were associated with working with those features during training. Implementation of electronic health record (EHR) features increased significantly from 2007-2011, such as email communication with patients (33% to 67%), preventive services registries (23% to 64%), chronic disease registries (63% to 82%), and population-based quality assurance (46% to 79%). Team-based care was the only process of care feature to change significantly (54% to 93%). Residents with any exposure to EHR-based features had higher odds of rating the features more important compared to those with no exposure. We observed consistently lower odds of the resident rating process of care features as more important with any exposure compared to no exposure. Residencies engaged in educational transformation were more successful in implementing EHR-based PCMH features, and exposure during training appears to positively influence resident ratings of importance, while exposure to process of care features are slower to implement with less influence on importance ratings.

Trade in goods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Karsten Engsig

2006-01-01

An analysis of the rules governing trade in goods under the GATT agreement and the Agreement on Safeguards......An analysis of the rules governing trade in goods under the GATT agreement and the Agreement on Safeguards...

Engineering Management Capstone Project EM 697: Compare and Contrast Risk Management Implementation at NASA and the US Army

Science.gov (United States)

Brothers, Mary Ann; Safie, Fayssal M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal were analyzed to determine whether they were successful in implementing their risk management program. Risk management implementation surveys were distributed to aid in this analysis. The scope is limited to NASA S&MA (Safety and Mission Assurance) at MSFC, including applicable support contractors, and the US Army Engineering Directorate, including applicable contractors, located at Redstone Arsenal. NASA has moderately higher risk management implementation survey scores than the Army. Accordingly, the implementation of the risk management program at NASA is considered good while only two of five of the survey categories indicated that the risk management implementation is good at the Army.

KNOWLEDGE FROM RESEARCH AS A QUASI-PUBLIC GOOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Attila György

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Knowledge is a special quasi-public good which is delivered by several types of institutions, including public and private universities. Knowledge to be produced in bigger quantities, the state should contribute with budgetary financial support as subsidies or grants to cover a part of expenses. States are supporting research from public resources, especially the basic research which enjoy a smaller interest from the private research units due its small potential to be implemented and recovered throughout price. Public co-founding of research generates problems regarding the regime of patents’ ownership because financing bodies have divergent opinion regarding the utility of research in society’s development. There are different approaches offered in solving this problem, taking into account the forms of realizing this quasi-public good, approaches based especially on different type of joint-ventures. Academic research, perceived as a very important and income generating activity, is done in a very large scale of combinations between universities and private entities. These complicated relations generates information asymmetry specific to principal-agent relations in economy. The control of information asymmetry level is important because a high level corresponds to inefficient use of funds and smaller satisfaction of general needs.

Do ‘good governance’ codes enhance financial accountability? Evidence on managerial pay in Dutch charities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perego, P.; Verbeeten, F.H.M.

2015-01-01

This paper examines the initial impact of a ‘good governance’ code for charitable organisations that was promulgated in the Netherlands in 2005. Data are gathered from publicly available annual reports of 138 charities in the post-implementation phase of the code (2005–2008). We first examine

Information System for the Goods Transport Service Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caj Holm

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Intermodal transport can reduce the load of the road infrastructure.Knowledge gives it the necessary competitiveness andhelps to control its costs. Fast reaction to changing conditions,opportunities and requirements gives remarkable advantage.Setting up integrated logistic chains using alternative transportmodes requires the trust and close interaction of a variety of actorsinvolved in managing the chain. Especially in the dynamicmobile environment, knowledge has so far not been effectivelyused. FREIGHTWISE tackles this complexity by developing aframework architecture anchored and validated in a range ofdemonstration cases involving commercial and public actors.This paper discusses the general FREIGHTWISE objectivesand its North-East Case, the Logistiikkainfo goods transportservice network information system to be implemented for theEstonian - Finnish transport chain.

Detection of random alterations to time-varying musical instrument spectra.

Science.gov (United States)

Horner, Andrew; Beauchamp, James; So, Richard

2004-09-01

The time-varying spectra of eight musical instrument sounds were randomly altered by a time-invariant process to determine how detection of spectral alteration varies with degree of alteration, instrument, musical experience, and spectral variation. Sounds were resynthesized with centroids equalized to the original sounds, with frequencies harmonically flattened, and with average spectral error levels of 8%, 16%, 24%, 32%, and 48%. Listeners were asked to discriminate the randomly altered sounds from reference sounds resynthesized from the original data. For all eight instruments, discrimination was very good for the 32% and 48% error levels, moderate for the 16% and 24% error levels, and poor for the 8% error levels. When the error levels were 16%, 24%, and 32%, the scores of musically experienced listeners were found to be significantly better than the scores of listeners with no musical experience. Also, in this same error level range, discrimination was significantly affected by the instrument tested. For error levels of 16% and 24%, discrimination scores were significantly, but negatively correlated with measures of spectral incoherence and normalized centroid deviation on unaltered instrument spectra, suggesting that the presence of dynamic spectral variations tends to increase the difficulty of detecting spectral alterations. Correlation between discrimination and a measure of spectral irregularity was comparatively low.

Return on research investments: personal good versus public good

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, P. A.

2017-12-01

For some time the outputs, i.e. what's produced, of publicly and privately funded research while necessary, are far from sufficient, when considering an overall return on (research) investment. At the present time products such as peer-reviewed papers, websites, data, and software are recognized by funders on timescales related to research awards and reporting. However, from a consumer perspective impact and value are determined at the time a product is discovered, accessed, assessed and used. As is often the case, the perspectives of producer and consumer communities can be distinct and not intersect at all. We contrast personal good, i.e. credit, reputation, with that of public good, e.g. interest, leverage, exploitation, and more. This presentation will elaborate on both the metaphorical and idealogical aspects of applying a "return on investment" frame for the topic of assessing "good".

The Evolution of the Theory and Practice of State Regulation of Addictive Goods Markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman Yuryevich Skokov

2016-03-01

and theoretical studies of addictive consumer behavior, a new interpretation of the role of state structures in the main markets of addictive goods. The author justified the feasibility of attracting neo-institutional theory as a framework for their regulation, based on the calculation and comparison of the socio-economic result of implementation of the existing policy alternatives. It is proposed to combine the study on economics of drugs, alcohol products, tobacco products, gambling and other goods and services with similar consumption patterns into the economy of addictive goods. It is established that studies of evolution of the economic concepts of government regulation of addictive goods markets, and measures for their practical implementation in the 15th-21st centuries have great creative potential for understanding the essence and peculiarities of state regulation in modern Russia in institutional and evolutionary sense.

Guide of good practices for occupational radiological protection in plutonium facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-06-01

This Technical Standard (TS) does not contain any new requirements. Its purpose is to provide guides to good practice, update existing reference material, and discuss practical lessons learned relevant to the safe handling of plutonium. the technical rationale is given to allow US Department of Energy (DOE) health physicists to adapt the recommendations to similar situations throughout the DOE complex. Generally, DOE contractor health physicists will be responsible to implement radiation protection activities at DOE facilities and DOE health physicists will be responsible for oversight of those activities. This guidance is meant to be useful for both efforts. This TS replaces PNL-6534, Health Physics Manual of Good Practices for Plutonium Facilities, by providing more complete and current information and by emphasizing the situations that are typical of DOE`s current plutonium operations; safe storage, decontamination, and decommissioning (environmental restoration); and weapons disassembly.

Examples of Holistic Good Practices in Promoting and Protecting Mental Health in the Workplace: Current and Future Challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Sivris, Kelly C; Leka, Stavroula

2015-12-01

While attention has been paid to physical risks in the work environment and the promotion of individual employee health, mental health protection and promotion have received much less focus. Psychosocial risk management has not yet been fully incorporated in such efforts. This paper presents good practices in promoting mental health in the workplace in line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidance by identifying barriers, opportunities, and the way forward in this area. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 17 experts who were selected on the basis of their knowledge and expertise in relation to good practice identified tools. Interviewees were asked to evaluate the approaches on the basis of the WHO model for healthy workplaces. The examples of good practice for Workplace Mental Health Promotion (WMHP) are in line with the principles and the five keys of the WHO model. They support the third objective of the WHO comprehensive mental health action plan 2013-2020 for multisectoral implementation of WMHP strategies. Examples of good practice include the engagement of all stakeholders and representatives, science-driven practice, dissemination of good practice, continual improvement, and evaluation. Actions to inform policies/legislation, promote education on psychosocial risks, and provide better evidence were suggested for higher WMHP success. The study identified commonalities in good practice approaches in different countries and stressed the importance of a strong policy and enforcement framework as well as organizational responsibility for WMHP. For progress to be achieved in this area, a holistic and multidisciplinary approach was unanimously suggested as a way to successful implementation.

Temporal lobe epilepsy with varying severity: MRI study of 222 patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehericy, S.; Hasboun, D.; Dormont, D.; Marsault, C.; Semah, F.; Baulac, M.; Clemenceau, S.; Granat, O.

1997-01-01

MRI was performed in 222 consecutive adult patients with temporal lobe epilepsy of varying severity from January 1991 to May 1993. The diagnosis of hippocampal sclerosis was established visually by three independent observers. The accuracy of visual assessment of hippocampal asymmetry was compared with volumetric measurements. Neuropathological correlations were obtained in 63 patients with refractory seizures. Temporal lobe abnormalities were observed in 180 patients (81 %) as follows: hippocampal sclerosis in 122 (55 %); developmental abnormalities in 16 (7.2 %); tumours in 15 (6.8 %); scars in 11 (5 %); cavernous angiomas in 10 (4.5 %); miscellaneous lesions in 6. MRI was normal or showed unrelated changes in 42 patients (19 %). Visual assessment correctly lateralised hippocampal sclerosis in 79 of the 84 patients measured (94 %). Temporal lobectomy confirmed the MRI data (side and aetiology) in all 63 operated patients. Patients with normal MRI had an older age of seizure onset and were more often drug-responsive than patients with hippocampal sclerosis. MRI showed temporal lobe abnormalities in 81 % of epileptic patients with varying severity with good neuropathological correlation. Patients with normal MRI had a less severe form of the disease. (orig.)

Stakeholder management in IOS projects : analysis of an attempt to implement an electronic patient file

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boonstra, A.; Bell, S.; Boddy, D.

Implementing an inter-organizational system (IOS) requires significant organizational as well as technical changes. These will affect stakeholders (upon whom promoters depend) with varying degrees of power and with varying degrees of interest in the system. Identifying stakeholders and understanding

Corporative Trends in Urban Distribution of Goods in Mexico City

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Antun, J.P.

2016-07-01

The Logistics processes in urban-metropolitan distribution are constantly changing, both technological support and technical implementation in the processes themselves and in the management of these. It is necessary to monitor the substantive changes outlined in the metropolitan urban-physical distribution of goods, because they contribute to a better competitive position of companies in the market, and also to a better development of city life. It is a professional scientific and technical task that contributes, by its impact on {sup b}enchmarking{sup ,} the improvement of engineering practices in the professional community of executives in logistics and supply chains. Based on three extensive field research (ANTÚN, JP; LOZANO, A; HERNÁNDEZ, R; ALARCÓN, R et al 2007; ANTÚN, JP; LOZANO, A; MAGALLANES, R; ALARCÓN, R; GRANADOS, F 2009, ANTUN JP ALARCON R; 2014) on Logistics Distribution of Goods in Mexico City, this article presents and discusses major corporate trends on a set of key logistics processes, and bring examples from Case Studies. (Author)

Protection of people and environment from radiation risk through good regulatory practice

Science.gov (United States)

Jais, Azlina Mohammad; Hassan, Najwa

2017-01-01

considered by nuclear regulatory authority and the necessary criteria of an "ideal" how nuclear regulatory authority should implement the "good regulatory practice" approach.

An electronic implementation of amoeba anticipation

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Martin; Ochs, Karlheinz; Hansen, Mirko; Kohlstedt, Hermann

2014-02-01

In nature, the capability of memorizing environmental changes and recalling past events can be observed in unicellular organisms like amoebas. Pershin and Di Ventra have shown that such learning behavior can be mimicked in a simple memristive circuit model consisting of an LC (inductance capacitance) contour and a memristive device. Here, we implement this model experimentally by using an Ag/TiO2- x /Al memristive device. A theoretical analysis of the circuit is used to gain insight into the functionality of this model and to give advice for the circuit implementation. In this respect, the transfer function, resonant frequency, and damping behavior for a varying resistance of the memristive device are discussed in detail.

Collaborative learning in higher education : design, implementation and evaluation of group learning activities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hei, de M.S.A.

2016-01-01

In higher education, group learning activities (GLAs) are frequently implemented in online, blended or face-to-face educational contexts. A major problem for the design and implementation of good quality GLAs that lead to the desired learning outcomes is that many approaches to GLAs have been

Implementation Practices of Finland in Facilitating IAEA Verification Activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martikka, E.; Ansaranta, T.; Honkamaa, T.; Hamalainen, M.

2015-01-01

The Member States provide the information to the IAEA according to the Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocols. For example, the requirements to provide the reports and declarations are very general and there are no explanation what the IAEA is looking for from that information. It is important for the States to understand how their efforts to collect and provide information, and to facilitate IAEA verification activities, contribute to the achievement of objectives and finally to draw conclusions on the exclusively peaceful use of nuclear materials in a State. The IAEA is producing a new series of guidance called Safeguards Implementation Practices, SIP, guides, which are shedding light on the requirements and sharing the good practices of States. It is hoped that the SIP Guides will create a better understanding of the needs of the IAEA and the important role of States and facility operators in achieving safeguards objectives. The guides are also important for the States to share their lessons learned and good practices for the benefit of other States that might be developing their capabilities or enhancing their processes and procedures. The way is very wide and long, when a State decides to start up a new nuclear programme. At first there is a need for legislation, regulatory body, contact point, international agreements and then finally practical implementation of the safeguards in the nuclear facilities. There are a lot of issues to be prepared in advance to facilitate the IAEA's implementation of verification activities successfully, effectively and with the good quality. Using the structure of the IAEA's draft SIP Guide on Facilitating Verification Activities as a framework, this paper will describe the most relevant implementation practices and experiences in Finland. (author)

Pleural drainage and pleurodesis: implementation of guidelines in four hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgers, J A; Kunst, P W A; Koolen, M G J; Willems, L N A; Burgers, J S; van den Heuvel, M

2008-11-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the implementation of the 2003 Dutch guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural effusions, and the potential effect of the implementation on the clinical outcome of pleurodesis. All patients with malignant pleural effusion who had a pleural drain placed with the intention of performing pleurodesis were registered prospectively in four centres. Details of the procedure and fluid recurrence and survival data were noted. Patients with a proven malignancy (n = 100) were entered into the registration database. Diagnostic guideline recommendations were followed in 60-70% of the patients. Surprisingly, pleurodesis was performed in only 75% of the patients, mainly due to the presence of a trapped lung. All pleurodeses were performed using talc, according to the guideline. Follow-up revealed fluid recurrence in 27 (36%) patients after a mean follow-up of 17 days (range 2-285 days); 14 patients with successful pleurodesis died with a median survival of 61 days (range 13-174 days). Systemic treatment following pleurodesis and good apposition of the pleural surfaces during drainage were good prognostic factors. Despite reasonable-to-good adherence to the guideline, the number of successful pleurodeses was low. Better predictors of a good pleurodesis outcome are needed.

Moving from Good Ideas in Educational Systems Change to Sustainable Program Implementation: Coming to Terms with Some of the Realities

Science.gov (United States)

Noell, George H.; Gansle, Kristin A.

2009-01-01

Proponents of systemic changes in education commonly encounter ethical, theoretical, and pragmatic challenges in moving from possibility to implementation of their vision of change. Although ethical and theoretical issues are critically important to a successful change initiative, pragmatic issues relevant to assuring program implementation have…

German regulation concerning domestic or transboundary transport of hazardous goods by rail (GGVE). As of 12 December 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

The full official text of the German ordinance on transport of hazardous goods by rail (GGVE) is reproduced, which officially replaces the previous ordinance of 15 Dec. 1995. The new ordinance is published for implementation of the Regulation 96/49 EC of the European Council of 23 July 1996, and for adjustment of German national law to EU legislation governing the transport of hazardous goods by rail within the European Union. (orig./CB) [de

"Everyone just ate good food": 'Good food' in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasnain, Saher

2018-08-01

In recent years, consumption of alternatively produced foods has increased in popularity in response to the deleterious effects of rapidly globalising and industrialised food systems. Concerns over food safety in relation to these changes may result from elevated levels of risk and changing perceptions associated with food production practices. This paper explores how the middle class residents of Islamabad, Pakistan, use the concept of 'good food' to reconnect themselves with nature, changing food systems, and traditional values. The paper also demonstrates how these ideas relate to those of organic, local, and traditional food consumption as currently used in more economically developed states in the Global North. Through research based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, this paper illustrates that besides price and convenience, purity, freshness, association with specific places, and 'Pakistani-ness' were considered as the basis for making decisions about 'good food'. The results show that while individuals are aware of and have some access to imported organic and local food, they prefer using holistic and culturally informed concepts of 'good food' instead that reconnect them with food systems. I argue that through conceptualisations of 'good food', the urban middle class in Islamabad is reducing their disconnection and dis-embeddedness from nature, the food systems, and their social identities. The paper contributes to literature on food anxieties, reconnections in food geography, and 'good food' perceptions, with a focus on Pakistan. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

“It is a good idea, but…” A qualitative study of implementation of ‘Individual Plan’ in Norwegian mental health care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lene Chr Holum

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Aim of the studyThe aim of the study is to explore and describe what hampers and promotes the implementation of 'Individual Plan' - Norway's answer to integrated care, and to discuss the findings according to implementation theory and research.Background'Individual Plan' is a master-plan intended to increase user-participation and provide better coordination of measures for patients in need of extensive and long-term health-care services. Norwegian Health Authorities used a dissemination strategy to implement 'Individual Plan' but managers within health and social care could chose their own way of implementation in their organisation.MethodologyTwenty-two managers from different clinics and organisational levels within mental health care were interviewed with an in-depth semi-structured interview about the implementation process in their organisation. The analysis was primarily made according to Systematic Text Condensation.FindingsThe findings describe different implementation processes and how the managers identified with the usefulness of 'Individual Plan' as a tool, choice of practical implementation strategies, the manager's own role, characteristics of organisational culture as well as how the manager considered external factors such as administration, lack of time and resources. The evolved implementation themes are discussed within a frame of existing knowledge and theory.ConclusionA complex picture of barriers, dilemmas and benefits emerges, both internal and external to an organisation as well as at a personal level that need to be taken into consideration in forthcoming implementation processes to increase the rate of success.

Transport of hazardous goods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

The course 'Transport of hazardous goods' was held in Berlin in November 1988 in cooperation with the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung. From all lecturs, two are recorded separately: 'Safety of tank trucks - requirements on the tank, development possibiities of active and passive safety' and 'Requirements on the transport of radioactive materials - possible derivations for other hazardous goods'. The other lectures deal with hazardous goods law, requirements on packinging, risk assessment, railroad transport, hazardous goods road network, insurance matters, EC regulations, and waste tourism. (HSCH) [de

[Good practices and techniques for prevention of accidents at work and occupational diseases. New database of Inail].

Science.gov (United States)

Bindi, L; Ossicini, A

2007-01-01

The project "The publication of good practices and good techniques for prevention" is one the priorities of nail. This computerized system for the collection of good practices and standards of Good Technology is aimed to health and safety of workers. The basic objective of the database is to provide a valuable tool, usable, dynamic and implemented, in order to facilitate and direct the access to BP and BT it by people responsible for SSL. At the same time constitutes a tool strategically important for enterprises (especially SMEs) in terms of technological innovation and competitiveness, related to the prevention, safety and health of workers. The realization of this project has involved many of the professionals (chemists, engineers, doctors, biologists, geologists, etc.), and everyone gives his intake of qualified professional competence.

The status and latest issues on KAERI export control implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyun Sook; Park, Ho Jun; Kim, Hyun Jo; Ko, Han Suk; Lee, Byung Doo

2010-01-01

There are four informal non-proliferation arrangements which seek to control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems and the transfer of conventional weapons and dual-use technologies. The four arrangements are Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) on export controls for conventional arms and dual use goods and technologies, Nuclear Supplies Group(NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime(MTCR) and Australia Group(AG) on chemical and biological weapons materials. ROK participates in four arrangements to seek to encourage responsible practice in the trade of strategic goods and technologies. It is achieved through the implementation of export control list. MKE Notification (Ministry of Knowledge Economy Notification No. 2009-250) specifies those items and technologies subject to control. In this paper, the status and latest issues on KAERI export control implementation are described

Design and Implementation of Temperature Controller for a Vacuum Distiller

OpenAIRE

Muslim, M. Aziz; N., Goegoes Dwi; F., Ahmad Salmi; R., Akhbar Prachaessardhi

2014-01-01

This paper proposed design and implementation of temperature controller for a vacuum distiller. The distiller is aimed to provide distillation process of bioethanol in nearly vacuum condition. Due to varying vacuum pressure, temperature have to be controlled by manipulating AC voltage to heating elements. Two arduino based control strategies have been implemented, PID control and Fuzzy Logic control. Control command from the controller was translated to AC drive using TRIAC based dimmer circu...

Holographic cinematography of time-varying reflecting and time-varying phase objects using a Nd:YAG laser

Science.gov (United States)

Decker, A. J.

1982-01-01

The use of a Nd:YAG laser to record holographic motion pictures of time-varying reflecting objects and time-varying phase objects is discussed. Sample frames from both types of holographic motion pictures are presented. The holographic system discussed is intended for three-dimensional flow visualization of the time-varying flows that occur in jet-engine components.

A good patient?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Campbell, Catherine; Scott, Kerry; Skovdal, Morten

2015-01-01

, physical cleanliness, honesty, gratitude and lifestyle adaptations (taking pills correctly andcoming to the clinic when told). As healthcare workers may decide to punish patients who do not live up the‘good patient persona’, many patients seek to perform within the confines of the ‘good patient persona...

Implementation of 5S Method for Ergonomic Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Dila Sari, Amarria; Ilma Rahmillah, Fety; Prabowo Aji, Bagus

2017-06-01

This article discusses 5S implementation in Work System Design and Ergonomic Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering, Islamic University of Indonesia. There are some problems related to equipment settings for activity involving students such as files which is accumulated over the previous year practicum, as well as the movement of waste in the form of time due to the placement of goods that do not fit. Therefore, this study aims to apply the 5S method in DSK & E laboratory to facilitate the work processes and reduce waste. The project is performed by laboratory management using 5S methods in response to continuous improvement (Kaizen). Moreover, some strategy and suggestions are promoted to impose 5S system within the laboratory. As a result, the tidiness and cleanliness can be achieved that lead to the great performance of laboratory users. Score assessment before implementing 5S DSKE laboratory is at 64 (2.56) while the score after implementation is 32 (1.28) and shows an improvement of 50%. This has implications for better use in the laboratory area, save time when looking for tools and materials due to its location and good visual control, as well as improving the culture and spirit of ‘5S’ on staff regarding better working environment

Time-varying BRDFs.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Bo; Sunkavalli, Kalyan; Ramamoorthi, Ravi; Belhumeur, Peter N; Nayar, Shree K

2007-01-01

The properties of virtually all real-world materials change with time, causing their bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs) to be time varying. However, none of the existing BRDF models and databases take time variation into consideration; they represent the appearance of a material at a single time instance. In this paper, we address the acquisition, analysis, modeling, and rendering of a wide range of time-varying BRDFs (TVBRDFs). We have developed an acquisition system that is capable of sampling a material's BRDF at multiple time instances, with each time sample acquired within 36 sec. We have used this acquisition system to measure the BRDFs of a wide range of time-varying phenomena, which include the drying of various types of paints (watercolor, spray, and oil), the drying of wet rough surfaces (cement, plaster, and fabrics), the accumulation of dusts (household and joint compound) on surfaces, and the melting of materials (chocolate). Analytic BRDF functions are fit to these measurements and the model parameters' variations with time are analyzed. Each category exhibits interesting and sometimes nonintuitive parameter trends. These parameter trends are then used to develop analytic TVBRDF models. The analytic TVBRDF models enable us to apply effects such as paint drying and dust accumulation to arbitrary surfaces and novel materials.

The development of state/region owned goods management’s monitoring instrument design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikhwanto Yogy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The problems in state/region owned goods in Indonesian state and local governments are suspected to occur because of weak monitoring programs, according to many studies. A tool or instrument in implementing this monitoring program is expected to address this problem. Such tool currently doesn’t exist yet. This research aims to fill that gap by developing a monitoring instrument design for state/region owned goods by using Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY Local Government as a research context in order to take valuable inputs for the design. This research is using developmental research method. Government Regulation were used for normative reference and Friedman’s results-based accountability quadrat were used in developing good indicators for the instrument. This research is succeeded in formulating the indicators that made up the instrument. Indicators compiled are divided into compliance-based indicators and results-based indicators. Indicators are formulated based on the validation and inputs from employees of DIY’s Assets Management Agency and experts from academia. This instrument still has some limitations that need improvement through further research.

On good ETOL forms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skyum, Sven

1978-01-01

This paper continues the study of ETOL forms and good EOL forms done by Maurer, Salomaa and Wood. It is proven that binary very complete ETOL forms exist, good synchronized ETOL forms exist and that no propagating or synchronized ETOL form can be very complete.......This paper continues the study of ETOL forms and good EOL forms done by Maurer, Salomaa and Wood. It is proven that binary very complete ETOL forms exist, good synchronized ETOL forms exist and that no propagating or synchronized ETOL form can be very complete....

On Having a Good

OpenAIRE

Korsgaard, Christine M.

2014-01-01

In some recent papers I have been arguing that the concept ‘good-for’ is prior to the concept of ‘good’ (in the sense in which final ends are good), and exploring the implications of that claim. One of those implications is that everything that is good is good for someone. That implication seems to fall afoul of our intuitions about certain cases, such as the intuition that a world full of happy people and animals is better than a world full of miserable ones, even if the people and animals a...

Accidental goodness?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richter, Anne

In postmodern capitalist market economies, management of the single organisation is bound to be guided by several rationales, which are in conflict with each other. For some writers this perception leads to the argument, that conceptions of management should strive towards goals beyond the present...... society. For others, the handling of plural perspectives is just a management discipline. However these positions seem to share a focus on organization as a the arena for the organization of the good. The contribution looks at the management of occupational accidents as an example of striving for good...

Challenges of Tagging Goods in Supply Chains and a Cloud Perspective with Focus on Some Transitional Economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanja Bauk

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper considers some of the barriers in implementing the RFID (radio frequency identification technology for identifying, locating, tracking and tracing goods in supply chains, along with a model for adopting cloud services that can mitigate these obstacles in the transitional environment. The analysis is based on the assessments of the implementation impediments, given by the experts in the field of logistics: university professors, assistants and entrepreneurs from three Western Balkan countries (Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the professionals’ assessments are influenced by their experiences from the transitional economies, which are faced with limited abilities to invest in expensive business information systems, the main hypothesis is that moving the logistics into the cloud may resolve or at least alleviate the considered problems. On the basis of the available secondary literature resources on pros and cons of RFID implementation into supply chains, and the statistical analysis of the consciously completed questionnaires in the survey, the model for adopting cloud services for providing RFID-enabled goods and related activities in the considered economies is proposed at a logical level. The paper also gives some directions for further research work in this domain.

Private Financing of Public Goods by Means of 'Eco-Goods' Schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ueda, Yoshifumi; Wegener, Andreas; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2010-01-01

With a view to applying to the problem of collective action for the global commons, we analyze a three-stage game model where public goods are provided by the costly leadership of a social entrepreneur for undertaking 'eco-goods' scheme. We derive (i) the conclusion that the social entrepreneur can...... finance more for the collective action under not-for-profit constraint than without the constraint, and (ii) the conditions under which he prefers the not-for-profit constraint on a rational basis. The main results are applied to some social experiments on the natural common-pools of a public-goods nature...

The Varieties of Good Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ylirisku, Salu; Arvola, Mattias

2018-01-01

This chapter explores the philosopher and logician Georg Henrik von Wright’s metaethical treatise of the varieties of goodness in the context of design. von Wright investigated the use of notion of ‘good’ in language, and he identified six kinds of goodness: namely utilitarian goodness, instrumen......This chapter explores the philosopher and logician Georg Henrik von Wright’s metaethical treatise of the varieties of goodness in the context of design. von Wright investigated the use of notion of ‘good’ in language, and he identified six kinds of goodness: namely utilitarian goodness...

Time-frequency analysis of time-varying modulated signals based on improved energy separation by iterative generalized demodulation

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhipeng; Chu, Fulei; Zuo, Ming J.

2011-03-01

Energy separation algorithm is good at tracking instantaneous changes in frequency and amplitude of modulated signals, but it is subject to the constraints of mono-component and narrow band. In most cases, time-varying modulated vibration signals of machinery consist of multiple components, and have so complicated instantaneous frequency trajectories on time-frequency plane that they overlap in frequency domain. For such signals, conventional filters fail to obtain mono-components of narrow band, and their rectangular decomposition of time-frequency plane may split instantaneous frequency trajectories thus resulting in information loss. Regarding the advantage of generalized demodulation method in decomposing multi-component signals into mono-components, an iterative generalized demodulation method is used as a preprocessing tool to separate signals into mono-components, so as to satisfy the requirements by energy separation algorithm. By this improvement, energy separation algorithm can be generalized to a broad range of signals, as long as the instantaneous frequency trajectories of signal components do not intersect on time-frequency plane. Due to the good adaptability of energy separation algorithm to instantaneous changes in signals and the mono-component decomposition nature of generalized demodulation, the derived time-frequency energy distribution has fine resolution and is free from cross term interferences. The good performance of the proposed time-frequency analysis is illustrated by analyses of a simulated signal and the on-site recorded nonstationary vibration signal of a hydroturbine rotor during a shut-down transient process, showing that it has potential to analyze time-varying modulated signals of multi-components.

Determinants of treatment plan implementation in multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with chronic diseases: a mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Raine, Rosalind; Xanthopoulou, Penny; Wallace, Isla; Nic A' Bháird, Caoimhe; Lanceley, Anne; Clarke, Alex; Livingston, Gill; Prentice, Archie; Ardron, Dave; Harris, Miriam; King, Michael; Michie, Susan; Blazeby, Jane M; Austin-Parsons, Natalie; Gibbs, Simon; Barber, Julie

2014-10-01

Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings are assumed to produce better decisions and are extensively used to manage chronic disease in the National Health Service (NHS). However, evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. Our objective was to investigate determinants of MDT effectiveness by examining factors influencing the implementation of MDT treatment plans. This is a proxy measure of effectiveness, because it lies on the pathway to improvements in health, and reflects team decision making which has taken account of clinical and non-clinical information. Additionally, this measure can be compared across MDTs for different conditions. We undertook a prospective mixed-methods study of 12 MDTs in London and North Thames. Data were collected by observation of 370 MDT meetings, interviews with 53 MDT members, and from 2654 patient medical records. We examined the influence of patient-related factors (disease, age, sex, deprivation, whether their preferences and other clinical/health behaviours were mentioned) and MDT features (as measured using the 'Team Climate Inventory' and skill mix) on the implementation of MDT treatment plans. The adjusted odds (or likelihood) of implementation was reduced by 25% for each additional professional group represented at the MDT meeting. Implementation was more likely in MDTs with clear goals and processes and a good 'Team Climate' (adjusted OR 1.96; 95% CI 1.15 to 3.31 for a unit increase in Team Climate Inventory (TCI) score). Implementation varied by disease category, with the lowest adjusted odds of implementation in mental health teams. Implementation was also lower for patients living in more deprived areas (adjusted odds of implementation for patients in the most compared with least deprived areas was 0.60, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.91). Greater multidisciplinarity is not necessarily associated with more effective decision making. Explicit goals and procedures are also crucial. Decision implementation should be routinely monitored to

Nurturing Good Ideas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.C.M. van den Ende (Jan); R.C. Kijkuit (Bob)

2009-01-01

textabstractManagers know that simply generating lots of ideas doesn’t necessarily produce good ones. What companies need are systems that nurture good ideas and cull bad ones—before they ever reach the decision maker’s desk. Our research shows that tapping the input of many people early in the

Economic Order Quality Model for Determining the Sales Prices of Fresh Goods at Various Points in Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Po-Yu Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Although the safe consumption of goods such as food products, medicine, and vaccines is related to their freshness, consumers frequently understand less than suppliers about the freshness of goods when they purchase them. Because of this lack of information, apart from sales prices, consumers refer only to the manufacturing and expiration dates when deciding whether to purchase and how many of these goods to buy. If dealers could determine the sales price at each point in time and customers’ intention to buy goods of varying freshness, then dealers could set an optimal inventory cycle and allocate a weekly sales price for each point in time, thereby maximizing the profit per unit time. Therefore, in this study, an economic order quality model was established to enable discussion of the optimal control of sales prices. The technique for identifying the optimal solution for the model was determined, the characteristics of the optimal solution were demonstrated, and the implications of the solution’s sensitivity analysis were explained.

An Implementation and Detailed Analysis of the K-SVD Image Denoising Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Lebrun

2012-05-01

Full Text Available K-SVD is a signal representation method which, from a set of signals, can derive a dictionary able to approximate each signal with a sparse combination of the atoms. This paper focuses on the K-SVD-based image denoising algorithm. The implementation is described in detail and its parameters are analyzed and varied to come up with a reliable implementation.

INCORPORATING GOOD LAND GOVERNANCE IN THE DISASTER REGION OF YOGYAKARTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunarno Sunarno

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Land is one of the most major capitals in our life. Without it, sustainability of human existence is very impossible. Unfortunately, land problems in Indonesia have unique challenges compared to other countries. Many of kinds of challenges are in the form of the natural disasters. This paper is going to measure how well the principles of good governance has been incorporated in the Yogyakarta Special Region Land administration System generally by studying on the Merapi Disaster Mitigation, particularly in how  land planning for the Merapi Disaster’s victims is performed. The research methodology employs a combined research method, it means that fundamental principles in process and its output of both the doctrinal and non doctrinal approaches is synergized to based on the research’s activity unites. Configuration of  the land administration systems in achieving people prosperity has been affected by evolution of political, cultural, and legal awareness of local communities and central government policy. To conclude, incorporating a disaster response based land policy principles requires an integrated law and policy making system among parties through the implementation of good governance principle in the record of public participation voices and sustainable development interests. Notable reports illustrate that the good land governance incorporation encouraged and inspired land planning system to be more efficient and effective. Particularly in the natural disaster mitigation and reconstruction, incorporating good land governance principles furthermore encourages land policy makers to achieve the responsive land management in line with social demands and sustainable development programs.

The Good Work.

Science.gov (United States)

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly

2003-01-01

Examines the working lives of geneticists and journalists to place into perspective what lies behind personal ethics and success. Defines "good work" as productive activity that is valued socially and loved by people engaged in it. Asserts that certain cultural values, social controls, and personal standards are necessary to maintain good work and…

Implementing renewable energy portfolio standards: The good, the bad, and the ugly in a two state comparison

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schelly, Chelsea

2014-01-01

Understanding how household practices with regard to energy usage change and how to most effectively encourage the adoption of technologies that utilize renewable energy sources at the residential scale are important issues for addressing the environmental impacts of energy use. Here, the social practices model (Spaargaren, 2003) is applied to examine solar technology adopters in two U.S. States who were interviewed about adopting residential solar electric technology and specifically about their experiences with the rebate and incentive programs available to them. Examining the policies and interrogating their potentially unintended consequences from the perspective of the user sheds light on how residential solar incentive programs act as systems of provision, shaping the practices of solar technology adopters, in hopes of improving these incentive programs and effectively encouraging increased residential solar technology adoption. Findings suggest that feed-in tariffs offer additional positive outcomes related to broadening the context for adoption and encouraging future energy conservation while size restrictions, wholesale pricing in net metering agreements, and inconsistent policy mechanisms across utilities in the same state all have potentially unintended negative consequences. Utilizing a perspective attentive to social practice offers a means of improving the design and implementation of energy policy. - Highlights: • Over half of the U.S. states have implemented renewable portfolio standards (RPS). • RPS mandates sometimes include provisions for residential solar technology. • This solar-sets asides have different implementation structures. • The specifics of these policies affect the actual practices of adopters. • This examination of solar-set aside policy is intended to improve policy

Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Consciousness and the Intermediate Level Fallacy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riccardo Manzotti

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Recently, there has been considerable interest and effort to the possibility to design and implement conscious robots, i.e., the chance that robots may have subjective experiences. Typical approaches as the global workspace, information integration, enaction, cognitive mechanisms, embodiment, i.e., the Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Consciousness, henceforth, GOFAC, share the same conceptual framework. In this paper, we discuss GOFAC's basic tenets and their implication for AI and Robotics. In particular, we point out the intermediate level fallacy as the central issue affecting GOFAC. Finally, we outline a possible alternative conceptual framework toward robot consciousness.

The Design of 3D-Printed Lattice-Reinforced Thickness-Varying Shell Molds for Castings.

Science.gov (United States)

Shangguan, Haolong; Kang, Jinwu; Yi, Jihao; Zhang, Xiaochuan; Wang, Xiang; Wang, Haibin; Huang, Tao

2018-03-30

3D printing technologies have been used gradually for the fabrication of sand molds and cores for castings, even though these molds and cores are dense structures. In this paper, a generation method for lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell molds is proposed and presented. The first step is the discretization of the STL (Stereo Lithography) model of a casting into finite difference meshes. After this, a shell is formed by surrounding the casting with varying thickness, which is roughly proportional to the surface temperature distribution of the casting that is acquired by virtually cooling it in the environment. A regular lattice is subsequently constructed to support the shell. The outside surface of the shell and lattice in the cubic mesh format is then converted to STL format to serve as the external surface of the new shell mold. The internal surface of the new mold is the casting's surface with the normals of all of the triangles in STL format reversed. Experimental verification was performed on an Al alloy wheel hub casting. Its lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold was generated by the proposed method and fabricated by the binder jetting 3D printing. The poured wheel hub casting was sound and of good surface smoothness. The cooling rate of the wheel hub casting was greatly increased due to the shell mold structure. This lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold generation method is of great significance for mold design for castings to achieve cooling control.

Developing and Implementing a New Prison-Based Buprenorphine Treatment Program

Science.gov (United States)

Kinlock, Timothy W.; Gordon, Michael S.; Schwartz, Robert P.; Fitzgerald, Terrence T.

2010-01-01

Research suggests that buprenorphine treatment may be a promising intervention for incarcerated individuals with heroin addiction histories. However, its implementation varies from corrections-based methadone because of unique challenges regarding dosing, administration, and regulation. Describing the first randomized clinical trial of…

78 FR 37132 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Revised Format for Materials Being...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-20

... Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Revised Format for Materials Being Incorporated by Reference for Florida... the ``good cause'' exemption in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which... recodification and miscellaneous revisions to the Florida SIP. EPA also finds that there is good cause under APA...

Time-varying risk aversion. An application to energy hedging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cotter, John [Centre for Financial Markets, School of Business, University College Dublin, Blackrock, Co. Dublin (Ireland); Hanly, Jim [School of Accounting and Finance, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 2 (Ireland)

2010-03-15

Risk aversion is a key element of utility maximizing hedge strategies; however, it has typically been assigned an arbitrary value in the literature. This paper instead applies a GARCH-in-Mean (GARCH-M) model to estimate a time-varying measure of risk aversion that is based on the observed risk preferences of energy hedging market participants. The resulting estimates are applied to derive explicit risk aversion based optimal hedge strategies for both short and long hedgers. Out-of-sample results are also presented based on a unique approach that allows us to forecast risk aversion, thereby estimating hedge strategies that address the potential future needs of energy hedgers. We find that the risk aversion based hedges differ significantly from simpler OLS hedges. When implemented in-sample, risk aversion hedges for short hedgers outperform the OLS hedge ratio in a utility based comparison. (author)

Time-varying risk aversion. An application to energy hedging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cotter, John; Hanly, Jim

2010-01-01

Risk aversion is a key element of utility maximizing hedge strategies; however, it has typically been assigned an arbitrary value in the literature. This paper instead applies a GARCH-in-Mean (GARCH-M) model to estimate a time-varying measure of risk aversion that is based on the observed risk preferences of energy hedging market participants. The resulting estimates are applied to derive explicit risk aversion based optimal hedge strategies for both short and long hedgers. Out-of-sample results are also presented based on a unique approach that allows us to forecast risk aversion, thereby estimating hedge strategies that address the potential future needs of energy hedgers. We find that the risk aversion based hedges differ significantly from simpler OLS hedges. When implemented in-sample, risk aversion hedges for short hedgers outperform the OLS hedge ratio in a utility based comparison. (author)

Dual Extended Kalman Filter for the Identification of Time-Varying Human Manual Control Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Popovici, Alexandru; Zaal, Peter M. T.; Pool, Daan M.

2017-01-01

A Dual Extended Kalman Filter was implemented for the identification of time-varying human manual control behavior. Two filters that run concurrently were used, a state filter that estimates the equalization dynamics, and a parameter filter that estimates the neuromuscular parameters and time delay. Time-varying parameters were modeled as a random walk. The filter successfully estimated time-varying human control behavior in both simulated and experimental data. Simple guidelines are proposed for the tuning of the process and measurement covariance matrices and the initial parameter estimates. The tuning was performed on simulation data, and when applied on experimental data, only an increase in measurement process noise power was required in order for the filter to converge and estimate all parameters. A sensitivity analysis to initial parameter estimates showed that the filter is more sensitive to poor initial choices of neuromuscular parameters than equalization parameters, and bad choices for initial parameters can result in divergence, slow convergence, or parameter estimates that do not have a real physical interpretation. The promising results when applied to experimental data, together with its simple tuning and low dimension of the state-space, make the use of the Dual Extended Kalman Filter a viable option for identifying time-varying human control parameters in manual tracking tasks, which could be used in real-time human state monitoring and adaptive human-vehicle haptic interfaces.

Analysing the agricultural cost and non-market benefits of implementing the water framework directive

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bateman, I.J.; Brouwer, R.; Davies, H.; Day, B.H.; Deflandre, A.; Di Falco, S.; Georgiou, S.; Hadley, D.; Hutchins, M.; Jones, A.P.; Kay, D.; Leeks, G.; Lewis, M.; Lovett, A.A.; Neal, C.; Posen, P.; Rigby, D.; Turner, R.K.

2006-01-01

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) represents a fundamental change in the management of water in Europe with a requirement that member states ensure 'good ecological status' for all water bodies by 2015. Agriculture is expected to bear a major share of WFD implementation costs as

Applying the Seven Principles of Good Practice: Technology as a Lever--In an Online Research Course

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sherryl

2014-01-01

This article provides an overview of the seven principles of good practice with emphasis on the implementation of technology in an online healthcare research class in a southwest Georgia (United States) university. The seven principles are outlined using various elements of the online course. Historical and philosophical reasoning are applied to…

IMITATOR II: A Tool for Solving the Good Parameters Problem in Timed Automata

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Étienne André

2010-10-01

Full Text Available We present here Imitator II, a new version of Imitator, a tool implementing the "inverse method" for parametric timed automata: given a reference valuation of the parameters, it synthesizes a constraint such that, for any valuation satisfying this constraint, the system behaves the same as under the reference valuation in terms of traces, i.e., alternating sequences of locations and actions. Imitator II also implements the "behavioral cartography algorithm", allowing us to solve the following good parameters problem: find a set of valuations within a given bounded parametric domain for which the system behaves well. We present new features and optimizations of the tool, and give results of applications to various examples of asynchronous circuits and communication protocols.

Time-varying parameter models for catchments with land use change: the importance of model structure

Science.gov (United States)

Pathiraja, Sahani; Anghileri, Daniela; Burlando, Paolo; Sharma, Ashish; Marshall, Lucy; Moradkhani, Hamid

2018-05-01

Rapid population and economic growth in Southeast Asia has been accompanied by extensive land use change with consequent impacts on catchment hydrology. Modeling methodologies capable of handling changing land use conditions are therefore becoming ever more important and are receiving increasing attention from hydrologists. A recently developed data-assimilation-based framework that allows model parameters to vary through time in response to signals of change in observations is considered for a medium-sized catchment (2880 km2) in northern Vietnam experiencing substantial but gradual land cover change. We investigate the efficacy of the method as well as the importance of the chosen model structure in ensuring the success of a time-varying parameter method. The method was used with two lumped daily conceptual models (HBV and HyMOD) that gave good-quality streamflow predictions during pre-change conditions. Although both time-varying parameter models gave improved streamflow predictions under changed conditions compared to the time-invariant parameter model, persistent biases for low flows were apparent in the HyMOD case. It was found that HyMOD was not suited to representing the modified baseflow conditions, resulting in extreme and unrealistic time-varying parameter estimates. This work shows that the chosen model can be critical for ensuring the time-varying parameter framework successfully models streamflow under changing land cover conditions. It can also be used to determine whether land cover changes (and not just meteorological factors) contribute to the observed hydrologic changes in retrospective studies where the lack of a paired control catchment precludes such an assessment.

Time-varying parameter models for catchments with land use change: the importance of model structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Pathiraja

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Rapid population and economic growth in Southeast Asia has been accompanied by extensive land use change with consequent impacts on catchment hydrology. Modeling methodologies capable of handling changing land use conditions are therefore becoming ever more important and are receiving increasing attention from hydrologists. A recently developed data-assimilation-based framework that allows model parameters to vary through time in response to signals of change in observations is considered for a medium-sized catchment (2880 km2 in northern Vietnam experiencing substantial but gradual land cover change. We investigate the efficacy of the method as well as the importance of the chosen model structure in ensuring the success of a time-varying parameter method. The method was used with two lumped daily conceptual models (HBV and HyMOD that gave good-quality streamflow predictions during pre-change conditions. Although both time-varying parameter models gave improved streamflow predictions under changed conditions compared to the time-invariant parameter model, persistent biases for low flows were apparent in the HyMOD case. It was found that HyMOD was not suited to representing the modified baseflow conditions, resulting in extreme and unrealistic time-varying parameter estimates. This work shows that the chosen model can be critical for ensuring the time-varying parameter framework successfully models streamflow under changing land cover conditions. It can also be used to determine whether land cover changes (and not just meteorological factors contribute to the observed hydrologic changes in retrospective studies where the lack of a paired control catchment precludes such an assessment.

Geographically varying effects of weather on tobacco consumption: implications for health marketing initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Govind, Rahul; Garg, Nitika; Sun, Wenbin

2014-01-01

Weather and its fluctuations have been found to influence the consumption of negative hedonic goods. However, such findings are of limited use to health marketers who cannot control the weather, and hence, its effects. The current research utilizes data obtained at the zip-code level to study geographical variations in the effect of weather on tobacco consumption across the entire continental United States. The results allow health marketers to identify areas that will be most responsive to marketing efforts aimed at curtailing negative hedonic consumption and thus implement more effective, region-specific initiatives.

Veracity in big data: How good is good enough.

Science.gov (United States)

Reimer, Andrew P; Madigan, Elizabeth A

2018-01-01

Veracity, one of the five V's used to describe big data, has received attention when it comes to using electronic medical record data for research purposes. In this perspective article, we discuss the idea of data veracity and associated concepts as it relates to the use of electronic medical record data and administrative data in research. We discuss the idea that electronic medical record data are "good enough" for clinical practice and, as such, are "good enough" for certain applications. We then propose three primary issues to attend to when establishing data veracity: data provenance, cross validation, and context.

Understanding ERP system implementation in a hospital by analysing stakeholders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boonstra, A.; Govers, M.

Implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems requires significant organisational, as well as technical, changes. These will affect stakeholders with varying perspectives and interests in the system. This is particularly the case in health care, as a feature of this sector is that

A varying-α brane world cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Youm, Donam

2001-08-01

We study the brane world cosmology in the RS2 model where the electric charge varies with time in the manner described by the varying fine-structure constant theory of Bekenstein. We map such varying electric charge cosmology to the dual variable-speed-of-light cosmology by changing system of units. We comment on cosmological implications for such cosmological models. (author)

A Good Suit Beats a Good Idea.

Science.gov (United States)

Machiavelli, Nick

1992-01-01

Inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli, this column offers beleaguered school executives advice on looking good, dressing well, losing weight, beating the proper enemy, and saying nothing. Administrators who follow these simple rules should have an easier life, jealous colleagues, well-tended gardens, and respectful board members. (MLH)

Implementation of marketing automation system : Capturing and nurturing leads in long sales cycle investment goods business

OpenAIRE

Kahra, Otto

2016-01-01

This thesis was commissioned by Glaston Finland Oy. Thesis aims to study how to use inbound marketing and how company is implementing marketing automation tool to support their sales. Glaston is an industry-leading company committed to delivering technologies and services for the manufacturing of the high quality heat-treated glass. Their machines are used to create high-quality glass for use in architectural, solar, appliance and automotive applications. The study focuses on decision making ...

Influence of the Good-Practice Principles and Codes in the Corporate Governance upon the Quality of the Financial-Accounting Information

OpenAIRE

Mirela Niculae

2017-01-01

This hereby works tries to identify the principles regarding the corporate governance and analyze the way in which such corporate governance templates influence the qualitative characteristics of the financial information. The execution of the governance means the obligation to implement the processes and structures corresponding to the management and the administration of the business and company’s operations, to provide their good operation. The final scope of the good corporate governance ...

Food Safety and the Implementation of Quality System in Food

OpenAIRE

Noveria Sjafrina; Alvi Yani

2013-01-01

One of the goals the development of the food sector in Indonesia is food secured the release of which is characterized by the type of food that are harmful to health. In some way of avoiding the kind of food that is harmful to health, strengthen institutional food sector, and increase the number of food industry comply with regulations. Implementation of Good Handling Pratice (GHP) and Good Manufacturing Pratice (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) are a responsibility and...

varying elastic parameters distributions

KAUST Repository

Moussawi, Ali

2014-12-01

The experimental identication of mechanical properties is crucial in mechanics for understanding material behavior and for the development of numerical models. Classical identi cation procedures employ standard shaped specimens, assume that the mechanical elds in the object are homogeneous, and recover global properties. Thus, multiple tests are required for full characterization of a heterogeneous object, leading to a time consuming and costly process. The development of non-contact, full- eld measurement techniques from which complex kinematic elds can be recorded has opened the door to a new way of thinking. From the identi cation point of view, suitable methods can be used to process these complex kinematic elds in order to recover multiple spatially varying parameters through one test or a few tests. The requirement is the development of identi cation techniques that can process these complex experimental data. This thesis introduces a novel identi cation technique called the constitutive compatibility method. The key idea is to de ne stresses as compatible with the observed kinematic eld through the chosen class of constitutive equation, making possible the uncoupling of the identi cation of stress from the identi cation of the material parameters. This uncoupling leads to parametrized solutions in cases where 5 the solution is non-unique (due to unknown traction boundary conditions) as demonstrated on 2D numerical examples. First the theory is outlined and the method is demonstrated in 2D applications. Second, the method is implemented within a domain decomposition framework in order to reduce the cost for processing very large problems. Finally, it is extended to 3D numerical examples. Promising results are shown for 2D and 3D problems.

Implementation of transverse variable asphalt rate seal coat practices in Texas.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

An implementation project was performed to expand use of transversely varied asphalt rate (TVAR) seal : coat practices in all districts. The project included nine regional workshops, continued field texture testing of : test sites, provided one set o...

Implementation fidelity of a self-management course for epilepsy: method and assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Wojewodka

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Complex interventions such as self-management courses are difficult to evaluate due to the many interacting components. The way complex interventions are delivered can influence the effect they have for patients, and can impact the interpretation of outcomes of clinical trials. Implementation fidelity evaluates whether complex interventions are delivered according to protocol. Such assessments have been used for one-to-one psychological interventions; however, the science is still developing for group interventions. Methods We developed and tested an instrument to measure implementation fidelity of a two-day self-management course for people with epilepsy, SMILE(UK. Using audio recordings, we looked at adherence and competence of course facilitators. Adherence was assessed by checklists. Competence was measured by scoring group interaction, an overall impression score and facilitator “didacticism”. To measure “didacticism”, we developed a novel way to calculate facilitator speech using computer software. Using this new instrument, implementation fidelity of SMILE(UK was assessed on three modules of the course, for 28% of all courses delivered. Results Using the instrument for adherence, scores from two independent raters showed substantial agreement with weighted Kappa of 0.67 and high percent agreement of 81.2%. For didacticism, the results from both raters were highly correlated with an intraclass coefficient of 0.97 (p  50% of scored items received the maximum of 2 points and high competence. Groups were interactive (mean score: 1.9–2.0 out of 2 and the overall impression was on average assessed as “good”. Didacticism varied from 42% to 93% of total module time and was not associated with the other competence scores. Conclusion The instrument devised to measure implementation fidelity was reproducible and easy to use. The courses for the SMILE(UK study were delivered with a good level of adherence to

The European Energy Regulators Group. A panacea for good governance?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavrijssen, S.A.C.M.

2004-01-01

This article analyses how the European Energy Regulators Group (ERGEG) may promote good governance in the EU. It is concluded that the ERGEG to some extent can stimulate national regulatory authorities into implementing European law more consistently, effectively and proportionally. Since the European Commission has a special responsibility as regards the functioning of the ERGEG, the future role of the ERGEG will depend on whether or not the Commission will leave it some autonomy to develop its advisory-, benchmarking- and coordinating role. Since the European legal framework does not include clear procedural good governance norms, there is a danger that the interests of the market parties are inadequately represented and protected at the European level. Although the ERGEG cannot take legally binding decisions, it is argued that its decisions or common standards may have legal effects. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the European legal framework regulates the right of access to ERGEG documents, the exchange and use of information within the ERGEG, the protection of confidential information, the right of participation and the involvement of the European Parliament [nl

Analysis of Business Center Implementation in Banyumas Regency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lina Rifda Naufalin

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The research aims to help the development of business center as an entrepreneurship laboratory for vocational students in order to increase the number of young entrepreneurs in Indonesia. This study is also  to find out how the implementation of the existing Business Center program in SMK Banyumas District viewed from the aspects of learning, economics, organizational, and capital. Research method used qualitative method and techniques of collecting data used observation and interview. The place of research is in Vocational School 1 Purwokerto and Vocational School 2 Purwokerto. The sampling technique was purposive sampling technique. Validity of data in this research used data triangulation.The result of the research shows that the learning aspect of the implementation of the business center is effective because it becomes the student training center. Economic aspect of the business center is effective to carry out the activities of selling goods, goods production and service, business because it is supported by qualified human resources and internal audits conducted regularly. The aspect of the capital of the business center can be managed effectively.

School Based Management: A Detailed Guide for Successful Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Neal, Richard G.

This book examines school-based management and provides strategies to implement management changes. The 14 chapters examine the components of good schools, including clarity of purpose, leadership, professionalism, lack of bureaucratic control, competition, and choice. The text describes the components of school-based management and the need for…

Dynamic divisive normalization predicts time-varying value coding in decision-related circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Louie, Kenway; LoFaro, Thomas; Webb, Ryan; Glimcher, Paul W

2014-11-26

Normalization is a widespread neural computation, mediating divisive gain control in sensory processing and implementing a context-dependent value code in decision-related frontal and parietal cortices. Although decision-making is a dynamic process with complex temporal characteristics, most models of normalization are time-independent and little is known about the dynamic interaction of normalization and choice. Here, we show that a simple differential equation model of normalization explains the characteristic phasic-sustained pattern of cortical decision activity and predicts specific normalization dynamics: value coding during initial transients, time-varying value modulation, and delayed onset of contextual information. Empirically, we observe these predicted dynamics in saccade-related neurons in monkey lateral intraparietal cortex. Furthermore, such models naturally incorporate a time-weighted average of past activity, implementing an intrinsic reference-dependence in value coding. These results suggest that a single network mechanism can explain both transient and sustained decision activity, emphasizing the importance of a dynamic view of normalization in neural coding. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3416046-12$15.00/0.

76 FR 64017 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; South Carolina; Update to...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-17

... of Air Quality Implementation Plans; South Carolina; Update to Materials Incorporated by Reference... the ``good cause'' exemption in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which... also finds that there is good cause under APA section 553(d)(3) for this correction to become effective...

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FINDINGS PUBLISHED IN SCHOLARLY ARTICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin A. Hubbe

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Articles published in scholarly journals, such as this one, tend to be mainly addressed to researchers at universities. Industrial follow-up and implementation of results from a scholarly article appears to be the exception, rather than the rule. Research grant specifications, as well as university policies, favor the generation of new knowledge, rather than the implementation of good ideas. But without patent protection, corporations have low motivation to expend the considerable effort to reduce ideas to practice after they have been openly published. The author speculates that the situation could be much more dynamic if there were a system of priority of implementation. According to such a system, the first company to successfully implement an idea that first appears in a peer-reviewed journal article, as validated by its debut in the marketplace, would have a grace period during which competitors would have to pay them a fee to sell a generic version of the same thing.

An overview of Hydro-Quebec's implementation of ISO14001 - principles and success factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourbonniere, M.

1999-01-01

Reasons for Hydro-Quebec to have an environmental management system are described. It is said to form the basis of the new 'hands-off' governance, empowerment and accountability regime, it supports expansion of the electricity market, demonstrates effectiveness of environmental management, implements a systematic approach to environmental management, and most of all, because it makes good business sense. The principles of implementation such as embedding responsibility for environmental management system implementation and maintenance into the mission of individual unit, thus recognizing the different needs and rates of implementation by the 1800+ sites and activities of the Corporation, success factors, and the current state of implementation are also reviewed

Research on Implementation of the Teaching Process in Higher Vocational Curriculum

OpenAIRE

Songjie Gong

2013-01-01

The implementation of the teaching process is the main channel to carry out good education. The aim of the implementation of the teaching process is to place emphasis on cultivating students’ innovation ability and take innovation education as the point to deepen higher vocational teaching reformation. The reform of project curriculum has become the main trend of course reform in higher vocational education. The traditional curriculum teaching process has shown some disadvantages in the teach...

Feasibility of and Teacher Preference for Student-Led Implementation of the Good Behavior Game in Early Elementary Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson, Jeanne M.; Matter, Ashley L.; Wiskow, Katie M.

2018-01-01

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classwide group contingency shown to reduce disruptive student behavior. We examined the feasibility of training young students to lead the GBG in one first-grade and three kindergarten classes. We also examined teacher preference for teacher-led GBG, student-led GBG, or no GBG using a concurrent chains procedure.…

Good Concrete Activity Is Good Mental Activity

Science.gov (United States)

McDonough, Andrea

2016-01-01

Early years mathematics classrooms can be colourful, exciting, and challenging places of learning. Andrea McDonough and fellow teachers have noticed that some students make good decisions about using materials to assist their problem solving, but this is not always the case. These experiences lead her to ask the following questions: (1) Are…

Effect of the depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Dong-Mei; Zhuang, Yong; Wang, Bing-Hong

2012-02-01

In this work, the depreciation effect of public goods is considered in the public goods games, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r of each group as r‧=r( (β≥0). It is assumed that each individual enjoys the full profit r of the public goods if all the players of this group are cooperators. Otherwise, the value of public goods is reduced to r‧. It is found that compared with the original version (β=0), the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for β>0, and there exist intermediate values of β inducing the best cooperation. Particularly, there exists a range of β inducing the highest cooperative level, and this range of β broadens as r increases. It is further presented that the variation of cooperator density with noise has close relations with the values of β and r, and cooperation at an intermediate value of β=1.0 is most tolerant to noise.

The Design of 3D-Printed Lattice-Reinforced Thickness-Varying Shell Molds for Castings

Science.gov (United States)

Shangguan, Haolong; Kang, Jinwu; Yi, Jihao; Zhang, Xiaochuan; Wang, Xiang; Wang, Haibin; Huang, Tao

2018-01-01

3D printing technologies have been used gradually for the fabrication of sand molds and cores for castings, even though these molds and cores are dense structures. In this paper, a generation method for lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell molds is proposed and presented. The first step is the discretization of the STL (Stereo Lithography) model of a casting into finite difference meshes. After this, a shell is formed by surrounding the casting with varying thickness, which is roughly proportional to the surface temperature distribution of the casting that is acquired by virtually cooling it in the environment. A regular lattice is subsequently constructed to support the shell. The outside surface of the shell and lattice in the cubic mesh format is then converted to STL format to serve as the external surface of the new shell mold. The internal surface of the new mold is the casting’s surface with the normals of all of the triangles in STL format reversed. Experimental verification was performed on an Al alloy wheel hub casting. Its lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold was generated by the proposed method and fabricated by the binder jetting 3D printing. The poured wheel hub casting was sound and of good surface smoothness. The cooling rate of the wheel hub casting was greatly increased due to the shell mold structure. This lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold generation method is of great significance for mold design for castings to achieve cooling control. PMID:29601543

The Design of 3D-Printed Lattice-Reinforced Thickness-Varying Shell Molds for Castings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haolong Shangguan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available 3D printing technologies have been used gradually for the fabrication of sand molds and cores for castings, even though these molds and cores are dense structures. In this paper, a generation method for lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell molds is proposed and presented. The first step is the discretization of the STL (Stereo Lithography model of a casting into finite difference meshes. After this, a shell is formed by surrounding the casting with varying thickness, which is roughly proportional to the surface temperature distribution of the casting that is acquired by virtually cooling it in the environment. A regular lattice is subsequently constructed to support the shell. The outside surface of the shell and lattice in the cubic mesh format is then converted to STL format to serve as the external surface of the new shell mold. The internal surface of the new mold is the casting’s surface with the normals of all of the triangles in STL format reversed. Experimental verification was performed on an Al alloy wheel hub casting. Its lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold was generated by the proposed method and fabricated by the binder jetting 3D printing. The poured wheel hub casting was sound and of good surface smoothness. The cooling rate of the wheel hub casting was greatly increased due to the shell mold structure. This lattice-reinforced thickness-varying shell mold generation method is of great significance for mold design for castings to achieve cooling control.

What are the attributes of a good health educator?

Science.gov (United States)

Ilic, Dragan; Harding, Jessica; Allan, Christie; Diug, Basia

2016-06-28

The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes that students and educators believe are important to being a good health educator in a non-clinical setting. A cross-sectional survey of first-year health science students and educators involved with a Health Science course in Melbourne, Australia was performed. A convenience sampling approach was implemented, with participants were required to rate the importance of teaching attributes on a previously developed 15-item written questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were generated, with Pearson's chi-square statistics used to examine differences between groups. In total 94/147 (63.9%) of students and 15/15 (100%) of educators participated in the study. Of the 15 attributes, only 'scholarly activity' was not deemed to be not as an important attribute to define a good educator. Knowledge base (50% vs. 13.3%) and feedback skills (22.3% vs. 0%) were rated as important attributes by students in comparison to educators. Professionalism (20% vs. 5.3%), scholarly activity (20% vs. 3.2%) and role modelling (26.7% vs. 3.2%) were rated as the most important attributes by educators in comparison to students. No single attribute makes a good health educator; rather health educators are required to have a rounded approach to teaching. Students have greater focus on the educator providing a transfer of knowledge. Educators are additionally focused on professionalism attributes, which may not be valued by students. Students and educators must enter into a clearer understanding of expectations, from both parties, to obtain optimal education outcomes.

Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group guidance series-paper 6: reporting guidelines for qualitative, implementation, and process evaluation evidence syntheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Flemming, Kate; Booth, Andrew; Hannes, Karin; Cargo, Margaret; Noyes, Jane

2018-05-01

To outline contemporary and novel developments for the presentation and reporting of syntheses of qualitative, implementation, and process evaluation evidence and provide recommendations for the use of reporting guidelines. An overview of reporting guidelines for qualitative, implementation, and process evaluation evidence syntheses drawing on current international literature and the collective expert knowledge of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group. Several reporting guidelines exist that can be used or adapted to report syntheses of qualitative, implementation, and process evaluation evidence. Methods to develop individual guidance varied. The use of a relevant reporting guideline can enhance the transparency, consistency, and quality of reporting. Guidelines that exist are generic, method specific, and for particular aspects of the reviewing process, searching. Caution is expressed over the potential for reporting guidelines to produce a mechanistic approach moving the focus away from the content and toward the procedural aspects of the review. The use of a reporting guideline is recommended and a five-step decision flowchart to guide the choice of reporting guideline is provided. Gaps remain in method-specific reporting guidelines such as mixed-study, implementation, and process evaluation evidence syntheses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abusing Good Intentions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamas Bereczkei

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to understand how Machiavellians switch from one kind of response to another in different circumstances to maximize their profit. We set up a specific experimental paradigm that involved both a cooperative and competitive version of a public goods game. We found that Machiavellianism accounts for the total amount of money paid by the players (N = 144 across five rounds in the cooperative but not in the competitive game. Compared with the others, individuals with higher scores on Mach scale contributed less to the public goods in the cooperative condition, but no difference was found in the competitive condition. Finally, this relationship was influenced by the sequence of the games. These results indicate that Machiavellians skillfully evaluate social environments and strive to exploit those with abundant contributions to public goods.

An Approach for Patient-Specific Multi-domain Vascular Mesh Generation Featuring Spatially Varying Wall Thickness Modeling

OpenAIRE

Raut, Samarth S.; Liu, Peng; Finol, Ender A.

2015-01-01

In this work, we present a computationally efficient image-derived volume mesh generation approach for vasculatures that implements spatially varying patient-specific wall thickness with a novel inward extrusion of the wall surface mesh. Multi-domain vascular meshes with arbitrary numbers, locations, and patterns of both iliac bifurcations and thrombi can be obtained without the need to specify features or landmark points as input. In addition, the mesh output is coordinate-frame independent ...

Sustainability of the good behaviour game in Dutch primary schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Dijkman, Marieke A M; Harting, Janneke; van Tol, Lenneke; van der Wal, Marcel F

2017-02-01

Sustainability of health promotion programs is essential to maintain their positive effects. However, few studies have examined the extent of program sustainability and the factors influencing it. We examined these issues through the Good Behaviour Game (GBG), a classroom-based program in primary schools with beneficial behavioural and health-related effects that was implemented in 2008. GBG coordinators of 17 participating schools were invited in the study 2 years after the initial program implementation. Sustainability was measured using a 20-item checklist comprised of four dimensions of routinization including: memory, adaptation, values and rules. A semi-structured interview was then completed with 16 of the GBG coordinators to discuss the checklist scores and to probe in more depth the current level of sustainability. Based on the checklist scores, sustainability of the GBG was considered ‘high’ in five schools, ‘medium’ in another five and ‘weak’ in six. Factors influencing sustainability identified by GBG coordinators were organizational strength, strong leadership, program championship and the perceived modifiability and effectiveness of the GBG. Also, different factors were related to different dimensions of routinization. The combination of a sustainability checklist and an interview about influential factors may help to further clarify the sustainability construct and reveal which implementation sites, routinization dimensions and influential factors should be explored to further facilitate the sustaining of programs with proven effectiveness.

Implementation of intra-cavity beam shaping technique to enhance pump efficiency

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Litvin, IA

2012-02-01

Full Text Available In this work the author proposes an implementation of a new intra-cavity beam shaping technique to vary the intensity distribution of the fundamental mode in a resonator cavity while maintaining a constant intensity distribution at the output...

Explicit analytical solution of a pendulum with periodically varying length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Tianzhi; Fang Bo; Li Song; Huang Wenhu

2010-01-01

A pendulum with periodically varying length is an interesting physical system. It has been studied by some researchers using traditional perturbation methods (for example, the averaging method). But due to the limitation of the conventional perturbation methods, the solutions are not valid for long-term prediction of the pendulum. In this paper, we use the homotopy analysis method to explore the approximate solution to this system. The method can easily self-adjust and control the convergence region. By applying the method to the governing equation of the pendulum, we obtain the approximation solution in a closed form. It is shown by the numerical method that the homotopy analysis method supplies a more accurate analytical solution for predicting the long-term behaviour of the pendulum. We believe that this system may be a good example for undergraduate and graduate students for better understanding of nonlinear oscillations.

Telemedicine's Potential to Support Good Dying in Nigeria: A Qualitative Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelle van Gurp

Full Text Available This qualitative study explores Nigerian health care professionals' concepts of good dying/a good death and how telemedicine technologies and services would fit the current Nigerian palliative care practice.Supported by the Centre for Palliative Care Nigeria (CPCN and the University College Hospital (UCH in Ibadan, Nigeria, the authors organized three focus groups with Nigerian health care professionals interested in palliative care, unstructured interviews with key role players for palliative care and representatives of telecom companies, and field visits to primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare clinics that provided palliative care. Data analysis consisted of open coding, constant comparison, diagramming of categorizations and relations, and extensive member checks.The focus group participants classified good dying into 2 domains: a feeling of completion of the individual life and dying within the community. Reported barriers to palliative care provision were socio-economic consequences of being seriously ill, taboos on dying and being ill, restricted access to adequate medical-technical care, equation of religion with medicine, and the faulty implementation of palliative care policy by government. The addition of telemedicine to Nigeria's palliative care practice appears problematic, due to irregular bandwidth, poor network coverage, and unstable power supply obstructing interactivity and access to information. However, a tele-education 'lite' scenario seemed viable in Nigeria, wherein low-tech educational networks are central that build on non-synchronous online communication.Nigerian health care professionals' concepts on good dying/a good death and barriers and opportunities for palliative care provision were, for the greater part, similar to prior findings from other studies in Africa. Information for and education of patient, family, and community are essential to further improve palliative care in Africa. Telemedicine can only help

Telemedicine's Potential to Support Good Dying in Nigeria: A Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

van Gurp, Jelle; Soyannwo, Olaitan; Odebunmi, Kehinde; Dania, Simpa; van Selm, Martine; van Leeuwen, Evert; Vissers, Kris; Hasselaar, Jeroen

2015-01-01

This qualitative study explores Nigerian health care professionals' concepts of good dying/a good death and how telemedicine technologies and services would fit the current Nigerian palliative care practice. Supported by the Centre for Palliative Care Nigeria (CPCN) and the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Nigeria, the authors organized three focus groups with Nigerian health care professionals interested in palliative care, unstructured interviews with key role players for palliative care and representatives of telecom companies, and field visits to primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare clinics that provided palliative care. Data analysis consisted of open coding, constant comparison, diagramming of categorizations and relations, and extensive member checks. The focus group participants classified good dying into 2 domains: a feeling of completion of the individual life and dying within the community. Reported barriers to palliative care provision were socio-economic consequences of being seriously ill, taboos on dying and being ill, restricted access to adequate medical-technical care, equation of religion with medicine, and the faulty implementation of palliative care policy by government. The addition of telemedicine to Nigeria's palliative care practice appears problematic, due to irregular bandwidth, poor network coverage, and unstable power supply obstructing interactivity and access to information. However, a tele-education 'lite' scenario seemed viable in Nigeria, wherein low-tech educational networks are central that build on non-synchronous online communication. Nigerian health care professionals' concepts on good dying/a good death and barriers and opportunities for palliative care provision were, for the greater part, similar to prior findings from other studies in Africa. Information for and education of patient, family, and community are essential to further improve palliative care in Africa. Telemedicine can only help if low

Diversity of Perceptions on REDD+ Implementation at the Agriculture Frontier in Panama

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Colonist farmers have been largely ignored to date in national consultations on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+. Yet, good practices suggest that understanding all relevant stakeholders’ perspectives, goals, and issues is a precondition for the development of successful environmental policies. The present research documents perceptions of the civil society and the government on the possibility of successfully implementing REDD+ activities with colonist farmers. The focus is on Eastern Panama. The perceptions on REDD+ vary greatly depending on the stakeholders’ origins. The government perceives REDD+ as a possibility for improving laws, increasing control over the national territory, and investing more resources for conservation and public institutions, whereas respondents from colonist backgrounds mostly insist on the potential economic benefits and/or the negative implications that could encompass REDD+. Noncolonist participants from regional, national, and international organizations instead try to balance concerns of communities and conservation objectives. Because one of our results highlighted the difficulty of colonist farmers in speaking as a united voice, we carried out a case study of a successful colonists association in order to identify the characteristics and practices found to facilitate communal organization.

Information About Cost of Goods Produced and its Usefulness for Production Engineers - A Case of SME

Science.gov (United States)

Maruszewska, Ewa Wanda; Strojek-Filus, Marzena; Drábková, Zita

2017-12-01

The article stresses the consequences of simplifications implemented in the measurement process of goods produced that are of crucial importance to production engineers in SME. The authors show the variety of possibilities that might be used by financial employees together with probable outputs in terms of valuation distortions. Using the case study the authors emphasis the importance of close cooperation of production engineers with finance professionals as out-puts of finance departments consist an important input for decision-making process of production managers. Further-more, demonstrated deficiencies in terms of methods applicable in financial reporting for measurement of the value of goods produced indicate the need for incorporation more financial and non-financial data in the process of judgments about the final cost of goods produced as simplifications applied in SME distort financial information provided to production engineers.

A quantum-implementable neural network model

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jialin; Wang, Lingli; Charbon, Edoardo

2017-10-01

A quantum-implementable neural network, namely quantum probability neural network (QPNN) model, is proposed in this paper. QPNN can use quantum parallelism to trace all possible network states to improve the result. Due to its unique quantum nature, this model is robust to several quantum noises under certain conditions, which can be efficiently implemented by the qubus quantum computer. Another advantage is that QPNN can be used as memory to retrieve the most relevant data and even to generate new data. The MATLAB experimental results of Iris data classification and MNIST handwriting recognition show that much less neuron resources are required in QPNN to obtain a good result than the classical feedforward neural network. The proposed QPNN model indicates that quantum effects are useful for real-life classification tasks.

What is good governance in the context of drug policy?

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Nicola; Rubin, Jennifer

2014-09-01

The concept of governance is applied in a wide range of contexts, but this paper focuses on governance in relation to public administration, i.e. states and how they take action, and specifically governance of particular policy areas. In the current context of financial austerity and an era of globalisation, policy-makers face pressures and challenges from a growing range of interests and local, national and supranational actors. Drug policy is an example of a particularly contentious and polarised area in which governance-related challenges abound. In response to these challenges, interest has grown in developing agreed policy governance standards and processes and articulating policy-making guidelines, including the use of available evidence to inform policy-making. Attempts have been made to identify 'policy fundamentals' - factors or aspects of policy-making apparently associated with successful policy development and implementation (Hallsworth & Rutter, 2011; Laughrin, 2011) and, in the drug policy field, Hughes et al. (2010) reflecting on the co-ordination of Australian drug policy highlighted some of what they considered principles of good governance. But how useful is the concept of 'good governance'; how well can it be defined, and to what purpose? As part of a wider project considering the governance of drug policy, RAND Europe and the UK Drug Policy Commission undertook a targeted review of other research and sought expert views, from within and beyond drug policy, on principles, processes, structures and stakeholders associated with good drug policy governance. From this emerged some perceived characteristics of good governance that were then used by the UK Drug Policy Commission to assess the extent to which drug policy making in the UK fits with these perceived good governance characteristics, and to suggest possible improvements. Particular consideration was given to the range of interests at stake, the overarching aims of drug policy and the

Global Public Goods and The Role of Emerging Power: Considering the Concept of Impure Public Goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Rieshøj Yi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The existing analysis of global public goods over-emphasizes the significance of public. Great power as a main provider has played an active role in these strategic initiatives, which may be ignored. In fact, main power has thought about the possible free-riders when providing public goods and making its foreign strategic plan. China’s announcement to “welcome the neighbouring countries to be a free-rider and benefit from China’s rise” is a good example. It is necessary to think about the theory of public goods and take another look at the free-riding phenomenon. The concept of impure public goods may be useful and effective when we understand the reason why global public goods are being provided and are relatively efficient. As an emerging power, China should have a clear strategy on global public goods with a possible “marketing” viewpoint, including more initiatives and specific measures, so that the global public goods provision may be more diverse and well-planned.

Benchmark Two-Good Utility Functions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jaegher, K.

Benchmark two-good utility functions involving a good with zero income elasticity and unit income elasticity are well known. This paper derives utility functions for the additional benchmark cases where one good has zero cross-price elasticity, unit own-price elasticity, and zero own price

Exact goodness-of-fit tests for Markov chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Besag, J; Mondal, D

2013-06-01

Goodness-of-fit tests are useful in assessing whether a statistical model is consistent with available data. However, the usual χ² asymptotics often fail, either because of the paucity of the data or because a nonstandard test statistic is of interest. In this article, we describe exact goodness-of-fit tests for first- and higher order Markov chains, with particular attention given to time-reversible ones. The tests are obtained by conditioning on the sufficient statistics for the transition probabilities and are implemented by simple Monte Carlo sampling or by Markov chain Monte Carlo. They apply both to single and to multiple sequences and allow a free choice of test statistic. Three examples are given. The first concerns multiple sequences of dry and wet January days for the years 1948-1983 at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington State, and suggests that standard analysis may be misleading. The second one is for a four-state DNA sequence and lends support to the original conclusion that a second-order Markov chain provides an adequate fit to the data. The last one is six-state atomistic data arising in molecular conformational dynamics simulation of solvated alanine dipeptide and points to strong evidence against a first-order reversible Markov chain at 6 picosecond time steps. © 2013, The International Biometric Society.

Goodness-of-Fit versus Significance: A CAPM Selection with Dynamic Betas Applied to the Brazilian Stock Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André Ricardo de Pinho Ronzani

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this work, a Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM with time-varying betas is considered. These betas evolve over time, conditional on financial and non-financial variables. Indeed, the model proposed by Adrian and Franzoni (2009 is adapted to assess the behavior of some selected Brazilian equities. For each equity, several models are fitted, and the best model is chosen based on goodness-of-fit tests and parameters significance. Finally, using the selected dynamic models, VaR (Value-at-Risk measures are calculated. We can conclude that CAPM with time-varying betas provide less conservative VaR measures than those based on CAPM with static betas or historical VaR.

Doing Good, Feeling Bad

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharma, Devika

2017-01-01

For decades humanitarianism has captured and shaped the dreams of the populations of the global North, dreams of a better world, of a common humanity, of goodness, of solidarity, and of global healing. In this article I argue that when taking art and cultural objects into account humanitarian......, Danmarks Indsamling [Denmark Collects], and the second is from Norwegian playwright Arne Lygre’s 2011 play, I Disappear. What is at stake in both of these scenes is the status of humanitarianism as a good-enough fantasy and promise of doing good....

The effect of juvenile hormone on Polistes wasp fertility varies with cooperative behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Tibbetts, Elizabeth A; Sheehan, Michael J

2012-04-01

Social insects provide good models for studying how and why the mechanisms that underlie reproduction vary, as there is dramatic reproductive plasticity within and between species. Here, we test how the effect of juvenile hormone (JH) on fertility covaries with cooperative behavior in workers and nest-founding queens in the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes metricus. P. metricus foundresses and workers appear morphologically similar and both are capable of reproduction, though there is variation in the extent of social cooperation and the probability of reproduction across castes. Do the endocrine mechanisms that mediate reproduction co-vary with cooperative behavior? We found dramatic differences in the effect of JH on fertility across castes. In non-cooperative nest-founding queens, all individuals responded to JH by increasing their fertility. However, in cooperative workers, the effect of JH on fertility varies with body weight; large workers increase their fertility in response to JH while small workers do not. The variation in JH response may be an adaptation to facilitate resource allocation based on the probability of independent reproduction. This work contrasts with previous studies in closely related Polistes dominulus paper wasps, in which both foundresses and workers form cooperative associations and both castes show similar, condition-dependent JH response. The variation in JH responsiveness within and between species suggests that endocrine responsiveness and the factors influencing caste differentiation are surprisingly evolutionarily labile. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards implementing a records management policy at the National ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of a proposed ... good governance in all business operations at NUST, the study sought to establish ... Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches data were collected using ... By Country · List All Titles · Free To Read Titles This Journal is Open Access.

Zhang neural network for online solution of time-varying convex quadratic program subject to time-varying linear-equality constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yunong; Li Zhan

2009-01-01

In this Letter, by following Zhang et al.'s method, a recurrent neural network (termed as Zhang neural network, ZNN) is developed and analyzed for solving online the time-varying convex quadratic-programming problem subject to time-varying linear-equality constraints. Different from conventional gradient-based neural networks (GNN), such a ZNN model makes full use of the time-derivative information of time-varying coefficient. The resultant ZNN model is theoretically proved to have global exponential convergence to the time-varying theoretical optimal solution of the investigated time-varying convex quadratic program. Computer-simulation results further substantiate the effectiveness, efficiency and novelty of such ZNN model and method.

The standing advisory group on safeguards implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jennekens, J.H.F.

1982-09-01

In 1975 the Director General of the IAEA called together ten persons from member states with nuclear programs at varying stages of development to form the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation. The group was later expanded to twelve. The Director General asked the group to evaluate the technical objectives of Agency safeguards, assess the effectiveness and efficiency of specific safeguards operating methods in meeting these technical objectives, advise on techniques to be employed in safeguards operations, and recommend areas where further work is needed. This paper reviews the work of the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation since its formation in 1975, summarizes the subjects that have been examined and the advice rendered, and outlines the problem areas requiring further study

Guide of good practices for methanization projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delatte, Constant; Orozco-Souel, Paola; Rouxel, Anaick; Tanneau, Patrick; Schreiber, Konrad; Jaubert, Jean Noel; Micone, Philippe; Dionne, Denis; Renner, Christophe; Ollivier, Denis

2011-12-01

This guide aims at providing project holders with guidance on factors which may influence social acceptability of methanization projects and with recommendations regarding communication and dialogue for a better project integration, with a technical support in order to guarantee project quality for a minimised environmental impact, and at convincing and reassuring local communities which plan to implement a methanization project, notably with respect to issues like odours, safety or landscape integration. The guide first outlines the importance of a serious and credible approach, and aims project holders at demonstrating an actual reasonable economic control of energy, environmental and social issues related to their project. The second part proposes technical solutions regarding the limitation of impact on air quality, preservation and restoration of soil quality and water resources, landscape integration, transport management and noise prevention. Feedbacks on experiences with different types of installations (agricultural, industrial, and so on) are also provided. A good practice charter is finally proposed

Good alarm design plays a vital role in successful DCS implementation: Hard learned lessons from petrochemical applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, C.; Rothenberg, D.

2006-01-01

Nuclear operators are eager to update their automation infrastructure, but are apprehensive due to the consequences of failure. The process industries have learned that alarm design is critical to a successful Distributed Control System (DCS) implementation. This paper shares valuable insight into how alarms play a key role in successful management of upsets, help focus operator attention, and supply critical information during periods of high stress. (authors)

Guide to good practices for the selection, training, and qualification of shift technical advisors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-02-01

The DOE Guide to Good Practices For The Selection, Training, and Qualification of Shift Technical Advisors can be used by any DOE nuclear facility that has implemented the shift technical advisor position. DOE Order 5480-20, ``Personnel Selection, Qualification, Training, and Staffing Requirements at DOE Reactor and Non-Reactor Nuclear Facilities,`` states that only Category A reactors must use shift technical advisor position. However, many DOE nuclear facilities have implemented the shift technical advisor position to provide independent on-shift technical advice and counsel to the shift operating personnel to help determine cause and mitigation of facility accidents. Those DOE nuclear facilities that have implemented or are going to implement the shift technical advisor position will find this guide useful. This guide addresses areas that may be covered by other training programs. In these cases, it is unnecessary (and undesirable) to duplicate these areas in the STA training program as long as the specific skills and knowledge essential for STAs are addressed. The guide is presented based on the premise that the trainee has not completed any facility-specific training other than general employee training.

Advice on Good Grooming.

Science.gov (United States)

Tingey, Carol

1987-01-01

Suggestions are presented from parents on how to help children with disabilities (with particular focus on Downs Syndrome) learn good grooming habits in such areas as good health, exercise, cleanliness, teeth and hair care, skin care, glasses and other devices, and social behavior. (CB)

Good Practices Preceding the Implementation of the System of Management of Environment, on Small and Medium Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca Atanase

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The current and future economic context compel to ample reconsiderations related to the volume and content of the demarches carried out by organisations, in order to face the competition sharper and sharper and the more and more numerous rigors, among which the issue of environment is more than imperative. The good practices in environment management become more and more necessary and, fortunately, are supplied more and more often by organisations in SMEs category, which encounter highly valuable solutions in this context charged with convictions. This work features an exemplary performance of a small organisation that managed to settle an informal system of management of environment, built up with much rigour, involvement, respect for society and environment. The objectives of authors consist in offering good practices to business environment, from SMEs category, means of approaching in the analysis of environment practices and emphasizing the imperatives in this area of action, for organisations. The method of research included the consulting of some lists of specialised works, documentary study in the sites of the organisations from SMEs category and of the organisations in the field, adopting some established models of analysis (FMEA - Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, singularised application of method to the data concerning an organisation from German space. The results of authors’ demarche were materialised in both theoretical and practical considerations, presumptively useful for the specialists in the field of environment management, university environment and business environment.

TRANSPORT OF COUNTERFEIT GOODS

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Dagmar Babčanová

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on a current problem of transport of counterfeit goods in the European Union. Counterfeiting has a strong influence on the distribution organizations worldwide because most of counterfeit goods threaten the health and safety of consumers. Counterfeiting is a serious problem in the world economy today. The purpose of this paper is to point out the danger of counterfeiting in connection with the transport of Intellectual Property (IP rights - infringing goods. Background of the paper’s content is based on secondary data research of publicly available sources - international statistics and world reports.

Spacetime-varying couplings and Lorentz violation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostelecky, V. Alan; Lehnert, Ralf; Perry, Malcolm J.

2003-01-01

Spacetime-varying coupling constants can be associated with violations of local Lorentz invariance and CPT symmetry. An analytical supergravity cosmology with a time-varying fine-structure constant provides an explicit example. Estimates are made for some experimental constraints

The Implementation of the Creative Arts Curriculum in Secondary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper focuses on the status of the implementation of the creative arts curriculum at the secondary school level. The New National Policy on Education recognized the creative Arts as core subjects at the junior secondary school level, but at the senior secondary school level, they are optional. With very good laid down ...

"Inclusive Working Life" in Norway--experience from "Models of Good Practice" enterprises.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, Arve

2008-08-01

To determine whether enterprises belonging to the Bank of Models of Good Practice were more successful than average Norwegian enterprises in the reduction of sickness absence, promotion of early return to work, and prevention of early retirement. In 2004 we selected 86 enterprises with a total of approximately 90000 employees from the Inclusive Working Life (IWL) Bank of Models of Good Practice. One representative of workers and one of management from each enterprise received a questionnaire on the aims, organization, and the results of the IWL program by mail. Data on sickness absence, use of early retirement, and disability retirement in the 2000-2004 period were collected from the National Insurance Registry. Data on comparable enterprises were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics. The response rate was 65%. Although the IWL campaign was directed at reducing sickness absence, preventing early retirement, and promoting employment of the functionally impaired, most attention was paid to reducing sickness absence. Sickness absence rate in Models of Good Practice enterprises (8.2%) was higher than in comparable enterprises that were not part of the Models of Good Practice (6.9%). Implementation of many IWL activities, empowerment and involvement of employees, and good cooperation with the occupational health service were associated with a lower rate of sickness absence. On average, 0.7% new employees per year received disability pension, which is a significantly lower percentage than expected on the basis of the rate of 1.3% per year in comparable enterprises. Frequent use of disability pensioning was associated with high rate of sickness absence and having many employees older than 50 years. On average, 0.4% employees per year received early retirement compensation, which was expected on the basis of national estimates. Frequent use of early retirement was associated with having many employees older than 50 years. Models of Good Practice enterprises had

An overview of GOOD

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Paredaens, J.; Van den Bussche, J.; Andries, M.; Gemis, M.; Gyssens, M.; Thyssens, I.; Van Gucht, D.; Sarathy, V.; Saxton, L.V.

1992-01-01

GOOD is an acronym, standing for Graph-Oriented Object Database. GOOD is being developed as a joint research effort of Indiana University and the University of Antwerp. The main thrust behind the project is to indicate general concepts that are fundamental to any graph-oriented database

ANTI – CORRUPTION INITIATIVES, GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

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Elena ANDREEVSKA

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In fighting corruption, good governance efforts rely on principles such as accountability, transparency and participation to shape anti-corruption measures. Initiatives may include establishing institutions such as anti-corruption commissions, creating mechanisms of information sharing, and monitoring governments’ use of public funds and implementation of policies. Good governance and human rights are mutually reinforcing. Human rights principles provide a set of values to guide the work of governments and other political and social actors. They also provide a set of performance standards against which these actors can be held accountable. Moreover, human rights principles inform the content of good governance efforts: they may inform the development of legislative frameworks, policies, programmers, budgetary allocations and other measures. Corruption is recognized as a serious crime in the EU, which is reflected in its many anti-corruption instruments covering existing member states. Countries wishing to join still face considerable systemic corruption issues in their public institutions. In Macedonia as one of these countries the most significant human rights problems stemmed from pervasive corruption and from the government’s failure to respect fully the rule of law. This article introduces anti-corruption work, good governance, and attempts to identify the various levels of relationship between that work and human rights with particular reference to Macedonia as an EU candidate country

Good Faith and Game Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rose, Caspar

2016-01-01

This article shows how game theory can be applied to model good faith mathematically using an example of a classic legal dispute related to rei vindicato. The issue is whether an owner has a legal right to his good if a person has bought it in good faith by using updated probabilities. The article...

Assurance of Medical Device Quality with Quality Management System: An Analysis of Good Manufacturing Practice Implementation in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzu-Wei Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The implementation of an effective quality management system has always been considered a principal method for a manufacturer to maintain and improve its product and service quality. Globally many regulatory authorities incorporate quality management system as one of the mandatory requirements for the regulatory control of high-risk medical devices. The present study aims to analyze the GMP enforcement experience in Taiwan between 1998 and 2013. It describes the regulatory implementation of medical device GMP requirement and initiatives taken to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in compliance with the regulatory requirement. Based on statistical data collected by the competent authority and industry research institutes, the present paper reports the growth of Taiwan local medical device industry after the enforcement of GMP regulation. Transition in the production, technologies, and number of employees of Taiwan medical device industry between 1998 and 2013 provides the competent authorities around the world with an empirical foundation for further policy development.

Doing Good Parenthood

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This edited collection shows that good parenthood is neither fixed nor stable. The contributors show how parenthood is equally done by men, women and children, in and through practices involving different normative guidelines. The book explores how normative layers of parenthood are constituted...... by notions such as good childhood, family ideals, national public health and educational strategies. The authors illustrate how different versions of parenthood coexist and how complex sets of actions are demanded to fulfil today’s expectations of parenthood in Western societies. This interdisciplinary book...

A Monte Carlo implementation of the predictor-corrector Quasi-Static method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hackemack, M. W.; Ragusa, J. C.; Griesheimer, D. P.; Pounders, J. M.

2013-01-01

The Quasi-Static method (QS) is a useful tool for solving reactor transients since it allows for larger time steps when updating neutron distributions. Because of the beneficial attributes of Monte Carlo (MC) methods (exact geometries and continuous energy treatment), it is desirable to develop a MC implementation for the QS method. In this work, the latest version of the QS method known as the Predictor-Corrector Quasi-Static method is implemented. Experiments utilizing two energy-groups provide results that show good agreement with analytical and reference solutions. The method as presented can easily be implemented in any continuous energy, arbitrary geometry, MC code. (authors)

The Good Behavior Game with Students in Alternative Educational Environments: Interactions between Reinforcement Criteria and Scoring Accuracy

Science.gov (United States)

Sy, Jolene R.; Gratz, Olivia; Donaldson, Jeanne M.

2016-01-01

The good behavior game (GBG) is a class-wide contingency management strategy that involves rewarding teams who engage in low levels of disruptive behavior. The GBG has been found to be effective with neuro-typical individuals from preschool to high school. In Study 1, teachers and experimenters implemented the GBG on alternating days in an…

Beyond Good Governances: Lesson from Forest and Cultural Governance in Pelalawan, Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Novi Paramita Dewi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The shift in government concept into governance takes the consequence of changes in public governance including in the forestry sector. Good forest governance becomes a great hope for managing the forest condition so that sustainable forest management can be realized. However, in its implementation, it contains a big challenge for the forest in Indonesia which is mostly identical with indigenous people. Meanwhile, the development becomes a necessity that cannot be inhibited in which business corporation as the actor who plays in the forest governance is considered as a major threat to the environment and indigenous people. To achieve good forest governance, it is necessary to have a synergy with cultural governance that is hoped to be able to accommodate the indigenous people interests. This paper is a case study related to the practice as an effort to achieve good forest governance in the indigenous people of Pelalawan that are followed by the cultural governance effort so that the indigenous people culture of Pelalawan that is closely related to the forest can still be maintained.

2 CFR 176.140 - Award term-Required Use of American Iron, Steel, and Manufactured Goods-Section 1605 of the...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

..., tunnels, sewers, mains, power lines, pumping stations, heavy generators, railways, airports, terminals...) Domestic preference. (1) This award term and condition implements Section 1605 of the American Recovery and... the domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods would be unreasonable. The cost of domestic iron...

[Health technology assessment for decision-making in Latin America: good practice principles].

Science.gov (United States)

Pichon-Riviere, Andrés; Soto, Natalie C; Augustovski, Federico Ariel; García Martí, Sebastián; Sampietro-Colom, Laura

2018-02-19

Identify the most relevant, applicable, and priority good practice principles in health technology assessment (HTA) in Latin America, and potential barriers to implementing them in the region. HTA good practice principles postulated worldwide were identified and then explored through a deliberative process in a forum of evaluators, funders, and technology producers. Forty-two representatives from ten Latin American countries participated in the forum. The good practice principles postulated at the international level were considered valid and potentially applicable in Latin America. Five principles were identified as priorities and as having greater potential to be expanded at this time: transparency in carrying out HTA; involvement of stakeholders in the HTA process; existence of mechanisms to appeal decisions; existence of clear mechanisms for HTA priority-setting; and existence of a clear link between assessment and decision-making. The main challenge identified was to find a balance between application of these principles and available resources, to prevent the planned improvements from jeopardizing report production times and failing to meet decision-makers' needs. The main recommendation was to gradually advance in improving HTA and its link to decision-making by developing appropriate processes for each country, without attempting to impose, in the short term, standards taken from examples at the international level without adequate adaptation to the local context.

Europeanisation and Implementation in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Johannsen

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is dealing with the implementation capacity of public administration in four Central European countries: Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The author’s point of departure is that implementation diffi culties vary between sectors, i.e., that the process of transition and Europeanization on the one hand has a homogenizing eff ect between the countries, while on the other it generates a high level of variance across sectors, refl ecting the tasks assigned to each type of administration. An empirical test of this hypothesis is attempted: implementation diffi culties are treated as the dependent variable and distinction is made between the administrations that have production functions and the ones that have regulatory tasks. The discussion is supplemented with an analysis of the general patterns of experienced implementation diffi culties.

Transportation of hazardous goods

CERN Multimedia

TS Department

2008-01-01

A general reminder: any transportation of hazardous goods by road is subject to the European ADR rules. The goods concerned are essentially the following: Explosive substances and objects; Gases (including aerosols and non-flammable gases such as helium and nitrogen); Flammable substances and liquids (inks, paints, resins, petroleum products, alcohols, acetone, thinners); Toxic substances (acids, thinners); Radioactive substances; Corrosive substances (paints, acids, caustic products, disinfectants, electrical batteries). Any requests for the transport of hazardous goods must be executed in compliance with the instructions given at this URL: http://ts-dep.web.cern.ch/ts-dep/groups/he/HH/adr.pdf Heavy Handling Section TS-HE-HH 73793 - 160364

Reconfigurable Manufacturing System Design and Implementation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadar, Ronen; Bilberg, Arne

2013-01-01

is meant primarily to show the physical feasibility of the system and provide a first-look into a real production application of the RMS ideas. The purpose of this paper is to present the design of the manufacturer’s RMS proof of concept, its implementation, and evaluation results.......Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) have been an increasing area of interest in the research arena. However, it seems that current literature is lacking application and implementation cases where RMS are simulated, tested, and evaluated as a feasible manufacturing concept. A Manufacturer...... of Consumer Goods identified the potential of the RMS concept and decided to investigate the concept in a real production installation. The result of this development is a proof of concept of a changeable and reconfigurable assembly and decoration system based on the principles of RMS. This proof of concept...

The Scenario Approach in the State Regulation of Addictive Goods Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman Yuryevich Skokov

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents alternative scenarios of the state regulation of the markets for addictive goods and services which include alcohol and alcohol-containing products, tobacco products, energy drinks, drugs, gambling games. The author reveals the content of inertial, modernizational, monopolistic and prohibitionist scenarios, and systematizes the effective measures which are used in the international practice of state regulation for reducing the number of challenges connected with the consumption of addictive goods and for adequate use of industrial capacities. The analysis conducted in the article touched upon the traditional practical measures on reducing shadow economic activity, realizing home-made products and substitutes, regulating the economic and physical availability, restricting advertising, sponsorship and sales promotion, as well as the measures aimed at the change of consumer behavior in the conditions associated with increased risk, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. It is determined that none of these measures is not implemented to the full extent in Russia because they are used under the conditions of informal and shadow offers, corruption in government bodies, lobbying, administrative barriers and low-level administrative and business ethics. The author composed a rating of measures effectiveness under alternative scenarios. On the basis of this analysis and the assessment of the development and status of modern society, the theory and practice of regulating addictive goods markets, the conclusion was made about the socio-economic advantages of the state monopoly which allows to minimize the private interest in increasing sales and gaining over-profits, adequately reflects the public interest, standardizes and unifies physical and economic accessibility of these goods and services, proves its efficiency in domestic practice and the experience of Scandinavian countries.

INFORMATION ABOUT COST OF GOODS PRODUCED AND ITS USEFULNESS FOR PRODUCTION ENGINEERS – A CASE OF SME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewa Wanda MARUSZEWSKA

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article stresses the consequences of simplifications implemented in the measurement process of goods produced that are of crucial importance to production engineers in SME. The authors show the variety of possibilities that might be used by financial employees together with probable outputs in terms of valuation distortions. Using the case study the authors emphasis the importance of close cooperation of production engineers with finance professionals as out-puts of finance departments consist an important input for decision-making process of production managers. Further-more, demonstrated deficiencies in terms of methods applicable in financial reporting for measurement of the value of goods produced indicate the need for incorporation more financial and non-financial data in the process of judgments about the final cost of goods produced as simplifications applied in SME distort financial information provided to pro-duction engineers.

Paradoxes around good governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.G. Dijkstra (Geske)

2013-01-01

textabstract Good governance is not a new concept Ambrogio Lorenzetti made his frescoes on good and bad governance already in the years 1338-1340 They can be viewed in the Palazzo Publicco on one of the most beautiful squares of the world, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy I assume many of you

"Act in Good Faith."

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Robert B.

1979-01-01

It is argued that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision overturning the University of California's minority admissions program is good for those who favor affirmative action programs in higher education. The Supreme Court gives wide latitude for devising programs that take race and ethnic background into account if colleges are acting in good faith.…

IPHONE AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE PRESENT LUXURY GOOD – ANALYSIS OF SALES AND PRICES IN 2010-2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewelina Kochaniak

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In the times of widespread consumerism and access to technology it is hard to identify and set group of luxury good apart on any of the markets. In the group of smartphones each of models has almost the same appliance and their features do not vary much. However, there is a product that provides the user with traditional functions but also gives the user special status. The aim of this article is to determine if the iPhone is an example of luxury good on the market of smartphones in the economic way. To verify this hypothesis author uses two rules: the Veblen effect and the income elasticity of demand.

42 CFR 93.210 - Good faith.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Good faith. 93.210 Section 93.210 Public Health... MISCONDUCT Definitions § 93.210 Good faith. Good faith as applied to a complainant or witness, means having a... allegation or cooperation with a research misconduct proceeding is not in good faith if made with knowing or...

Nonlinear systems time-varying parameter estimation: Application to induction motors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kenne, Godpromesse [Laboratoire d' Automatique et d' Informatique Appliquee (LAIA), Departement de Genie Electrique, IUT FOTSO Victor, Universite de Dschang, B.P. 134 Bandjoun (Cameroon); Ahmed-Ali, Tarek [Ecole Nationale Superieure des Ingenieurs des Etudes et Techniques d' Armement (ENSIETA), 2 Rue Francois Verny, 29806 Brest Cedex 9 (France); Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, F. [Laboratoire des Signaux et Systemes (L2S), C.N.R.S-SUPELEC, Universite Paris XI, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Arzande, Amir [Departement Energie, Ecole Superieure d' Electricite-SUPELEC, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2008-11-15

In this paper, an algorithm for time-varying parameter estimation for a large class of nonlinear systems is presented. The proof of the convergence of the estimates to their true values is achieved using Lyapunov theories and does not require that the classical persistent excitation condition be satisfied by the input signal. Since the induction motor (IM) is widely used in several industrial sectors, the algorithm developed is potentially useful for adjusting the controller parameters of variable speed drives. The method proposed is simple and easily implementable in real-time. The application of this approach to on-line estimation of the rotor resistance of IM shows a rapidly converging estimate in spite of measurement noise, discretization effects, parameter uncertainties (e.g. inaccuracies on motor inductance values) and modeling inaccuracies. The robustness analysis for this IM application also revealed that the proposed scheme is insensitive to the stator resistance variations within a wide range. The merits of the proposed algorithm in the case of on-line time-varying rotor resistance estimation are demonstrated via experimental results in various operating conditions of the induction motor. The experimental results obtained demonstrate that the application of the proposed algorithm to update on-line the parameters of an adaptive controller (e.g. IM and synchronous machines adaptive control) can improve the efficiency of the industrial process. The other interesting features of the proposed method include fault detection/estimation and adaptive control of IM and synchronous machines. (author)

Implementation of a National Workplace Wellness Program for Health Workers in Botswana.

Science.gov (United States)

Ledikwe, Jenny H; Semo, Bazghina-Werq; Sebego, Miram; Mpho, Maureen; Mothibedi, Heather; Mawandia, Shreshth; O'Malley, Gabrielle

2017-09-01

: The Botswana workplace wellness program (WWP) for health care workers (HCWs) was initiated in 2007. WWP implementation was assessed using a sequential, explanatory, mixed methods design including a national implementation assessment (27 health districts) and in-depth interviews (n = 38). Level of implementation varied across districts with health screening, therapeutic recreation, and health promotion implemented more frequently than occupational health activities and psychosocial services. Facilitators to WWP implementation included establishment of a dedicated, diverse WWP committee; provision of administrative support, and integration of activities into organizational culture. Barriers included competing priorities related to delivery of health services to clients, limited technical ability to deliver occupation health activities and psychosocial support, receipt of health services from colleagues, and limited appreciation for personal wellness by some HCWs. Ensuring the well-being of HCWs is critical in reaching international health goals.

Implementation of a National Workplace Wellness Program for Health Workers in Botswana

Science.gov (United States)

Ledikwe, Jenny H.; Semo, Bazghina-werq; Sebego, Miram; Mpho, Maureen; Mothibedi, Heather; Mawandia, Shreshth; O’Malley, Gabrielle

2017-01-01

The Botswana workplace wellness program (WWP) for health care workers (HCWs) was initiated in 2007. WWP implementation was assessed using a sequential, explanatory, mixed methods design including a national implementation assessment (27 health districts) and in-depth interviews (n = 38). Level of implementation varied across districts with health screening, therapeutic recreation, and health promotion implemented more frequently than occupational health activities and psychosocial services. Facilitators to WWP implementation included establishment of a dedicated, diverse WWP committee; provision of administrative support, and integration of activities into organizational culture. Barriers included competing priorities related to delivery of health services to clients, limited technical ability to deliver occupation health activities and psychosocial support, receipt of health services from colleagues, and limited appreciation for personal wellness by some HCWs. Ensuring the well-being of HCWs is critical in reaching international health goals. PMID:28742763

18 CFR 2.20 - Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities. 2.20 Section 2.20 Conservation of... Power Act § 2.20 Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting...

Examples of Holistic Good Practices in Promoting and Protecting Mental Health in the Workplace: Current and Future Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly C. Sivris

2015-12-01

Conclusion: The study identified commonalities in good practice approaches in different countries and stressed the importance of a strong policy and enforcement framework as well as organizational responsibility for WMHP. For progress to be achieved in this area, a holistic and multidisciplinary approach was unanimously suggested as a way to successful implementation.

Developing and validating a model to predict the success of an IHCS implementation: the Readiness for Implementation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gustafson, David H; Hawkins, Robert P; Brennan, Patricia F; Dinauer, Susan; Johnson, Pauley R; Siegler, Tracy

2010-01-01

Objective To develop and validate the Readiness for Implementation Model (RIM). This model predicts a healthcare organization's potential for success in implementing an interactive health communication system (IHCS). The model consists of seven weighted factors, with each factor containing five to seven elements. Design Two decision-analytic approaches, self-explicated and conjoint analysis, were used to measure the weights of the RIM with a sample of 410 experts. The RIM model with weights was then validated in a prospective study of 25 IHCS implementation cases. Measurements Orthogonal main effects design was used to develop 700 conjoint-analysis profiles, which varied on seven factors. Each of the 410 experts rated the importance and desirability of the factors and their levels, as well as a set of 10 different profiles. For the prospective 25-case validation, three time-repeated measures of the RIM scores were collected for comparison with the implementation outcomes. Results Two of the seven factors, ‘organizational motivation’ and ‘meeting user needs,’ were found to be most important in predicting implementation readiness. No statistically significant difference was found in the predictive validity of the two approaches (self-explicated and conjoint analysis). The RIM was a better predictor for the 1-year implementation outcome than the half-year outcome. Limitations The expert sample, the order of the survey tasks, the additive model, and basing the RIM cut-off score on experience are possible limitations of the study. Conclusion The RIM needs to be empirically evaluated in institutions adopting IHCS and sustaining the system in the long term. PMID:20962135

Conceptions of Good Teaching by Good Teachers: Case Studies from an Australian University

Science.gov (United States)

Duarte, Fernanda P.

2013-01-01

This paper contributes to the debate on what constitutes good teaching in early 21st Century higher education, through an examination of the experience of five outstanding lecturers from a business school in an Australian university. It is based on a qualitative study that explored their perceptions on what constitutes "good teaching".…

Deployment and Implementation Strategies for Massive MIMO in 5G

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Panzner, Berthold; Zirwas, Wolfgang; Dierks, Stefan

2015-01-01

for 5G is a successful and cost-efficient integration in the overall network concept. This work highlights deployment and implementation strategies for massive MIMO in the context of 5G indoor small cell scenarios. Different massive MIMO deployment scenarios are analyzed for a standard 3GPP indoor...... to spatial streams is varied stepwise from equality to a factor of ten. For implementation of massive MIMO in 5G networks trends in beamforming techniques, mutually coupled subarrays, over the calibration procedure and estimated ADC performance in 2020 time-frame are discussed. Based on the debate the paper...

Asymmetric News Effects on Volatility: Good vs. Bad News in Good vs. Bad Times

OpenAIRE

Laakkonen, Helinä; Lanne, Markku

2008-01-01

We study the impact of positive and negative macroeconomic US and European news announcements in different phases of the business cycle on the highfrequency volatility of the EUR/USD exchange rate. The results suggest that in general bad news increases volatility more than good news. The news effects also depend on the state of the economy: bad news increases volatility more in good times than in bad times, while there is no difference between the volatility effects of good news in bad and go...

'She sort of shines': midwives' accounts of 'good' midwifery and 'good' leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrom, Sheena; Downe, Soo

2010-02-01

to explore midwives' accounts of the characteristics of 'good' leadership and 'good' midwifery. a phenomenological interview survey. Participants were asked about what made both good and poor midwives and leaders. two maternity departments within National Health Service trusts in the North West of England. qualified midwives, selected by random sampling stratified to encompass senior and junior grades. thematic analysis, carried out manually. ten midwives were interviewed. Sixteen codes and six sub-themes were generated. Across the responses, two clear dimensions (themes) were identified, relating on the one hand to aspects of knowledge, skill and competence (termed 'skilled competence'), and on the other hand to specific personality characteristics (termed 'emotional intelligence'). This study suggests that the ability to act knowledgeably, safely and competently was seen as a basic requirement for both clinical midwives and midwife leaders. The added element which made both the midwife and the leader 'good' was the extent of their emotional capability. this small-scale in-depth study could form the basis for hypothesis generation for larger scale work in this area in future. The findings offer some reinforcement for the potential applicability of theories of transformational leadership to midwifery management and practice. Copyright 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators. Report 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-09-01

Electricity and natural gas transmission system operators (TSO) and distribution system operators (DSO) are regulated operators that provide public service functions for the benefit of the network users and the consumers they serve. Accordingly, European and French law requires that they be under independent and nondiscriminatory obligations. In particular, they must develop a good practices program which includes a range of measures to prevent the risk of discriminatory practices in network access. Pursuant to Article L.134-15 of the Energy Code, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) is publishing this year its 8. annual report on the monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators for the year 2012. This report is based on analysis of the 'reports on the implementation of good practices programs' submitted to the CRE by the operators in late 2012 and audits carried out by the CRE services in these companies in 2012

Monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators. 2010 report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

Electricity and natural gas transmission system operators (TSO) and distribution system operators (DSO) are regulated operators that provide public service functions for the benefit of the network users and the consumers they serve. Accordingly, European and French law requires that they be under independent and nondiscriminatory obligations. In particular, they must develop a good practices program which includes a range of measures to prevent the risk of discriminatory practices in network access. Pursuant to Article L.134-15 of the Energy Code, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) is publishing this year its 6. annual report on the monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators for the year 2010. This report is based on analysis of the 'reports on the implementation of good practices programs' submitted to the CRE by the operators in late 2010 and audits carried out by the CRE services in these companies in 2010

Delivering stepped care: an analysis of implementation in routine practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richards David A

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In the United Kingdom, clinical guidelines recommend that services for depression and anxiety should be structured around a stepped care model, where patients receive treatment at different 'steps,' with the intensity of treatment (i.e., the amount and type increasing at each step if they fail to benefit at previous steps. There are very limited data available on the implementation of this model, particularly on the intensity of psychological treatment at each step. Our objective was to describe patient pathways through stepped care services and the impact of this on patient flow and management. Methods We recorded service design features of four National Health Service sites implementing stepped care (e.g., the types of treatments available and their links with other treatments, together with the actual treatments received by individual patients and their transitions between different treatment steps. We computed the proportions of patients accessing, receiving, and transiting between the various steps and mapped these proportions visually to illustrate patient movement. Results We collected throughput data on 7,698 patients referred. Patient pathways were highly complex and very variable within and between sites. The ratio of low (e.g., self-help to high-intensity (e.g., cognitive behaviour therapy treatments delivered varied between sites from 22:1, through 2.1:1, 1.4:1 to 0.5:1. The numbers of patients allocated directly to high-intensity treatment varied from 3% to 45%. Rates of stepping up from low-intensity treatment to high-intensity treatment were less than 10%. Conclusions When services attempt to implement the recommendation for stepped care in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines, there were significant differences in implementation and consequent high levels of variation in patient pathways. Evaluations driven by the principles of implementation science (such as targeted planning

The effect of varying incubation times for hypotonic treatment of lymphocytes in dicentric assay technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noraisyah Yusof; Noriah Jamal; Rahimah Abdul Rahim; Juliana Mahamad Napiah

2010-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recommended that incubation time for the hypotonic treatment of lymphocytes in dicentric assay technique to be between 15 to 20 minutes. Incubation time will effect the hypotonic treatment of lymphocytes and thus, the breakage of cytoplasmic membrane. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of varying incubation times for hypotonic treatment of lymphocytes in dicentric assay technique. In this study, we choose to use our standard protocol for dicentric assay technique. However, for the hypotonic treatment of lymphocytes, the incubation times were varied from 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes respectively. Lymphocytes were then fixed and stained with Giemsa. The cells were then analyzed for clear background that indicates good metaphases. We found that incubation time of 30 minutes gives the best metaphase images. This incubation time is longer than what has been recommended by the IAEA. This maybe explained by the fact that our country's climate is of higher humidity compared with the European countries. (author)

Development and implementation of computerized operator support systems in nuclear installations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

This report has been prepared to address the development and implementation of computerized operator support systems (COSS) in nuclear installations. The requirements of operators in information management and job performance in a control room environment are discussed. These requirements, which must be agreed to by the operators, provide a focus for the developers of COSS for implementation in an operational environment. The design methodology presents good practice approaches derived from the experience gained and the lessons learned during actual development of the COSS. The team concept, pilot study and structured step by step phases of software development and implementation should help COSS developers to achieve the level of quality and reliability required. 8 figs, 1 tab

A goods characteristics model of the hedonic ageing equation: evidence from a French marriage bureau

OpenAIRE

Sam Cameron; Nicolas Vaillant

2005-01-01

The present paper adopts a modelling perspective derived from goods characteristics analysis [Lancaster (1971)] and the general ideas of transactions costs. This is implemented in estimated equations, which feature the age of partner sought as the dependent variable and own age and various other personal characteristics, and characteristics desired in a partner, as the right-hand side variables. The results show a very strong relationship between age and desired partner age. More interestingl...

Transportation of Dangerous Goods in Green Transport Corridors - Conclusions from Baltic Sea Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schröder Meike

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The Green Corridor concept represents a cornerstone in the development and implementation of integrated and sustainable transport solutions based on trans-nationality, multi-modality and a high involvement of public and private stakeholders, including the political level. Despite the fact that the Green Transport Corridor (GTC concept is founded on the three dimensions of sustainability with a strong emphasis on environmental aspects, the corridor hubs as well as the whole transport corridors have to find ways to handle and transport dangerous goods by keeping the high sustainability standards.

Good Faith

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fomcenco, Alex

2017-01-01

This article outlines the current state of law in Canada in respect to good faith in contratial relations. The topic is highly relevant due to expected growth in the numbers of contracts concluded between European and Canadian enterprises in the wake of adoption of the Comprehensive Economic...

Forms of Functioning of the Modern Market of Addictive Goods Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman Yu. Skokov

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The classification of forms of markets for addictive goods was made according to the criterion of exchange (absent, emerging, free, oligopolistic, monopolistic, monopoly. There were systematized approaches to argument for the state monopolization of the markets. Reducing the supply, increasing prices, reducing the influence of the motive of private profit are crucial. There was made the classification and analysis of prevailing forms of state markets for addictive goods in the international practice. They are: state monopolistic, competitive, prohibitionists, medical, antiprohibitionists mixed. Based on this there were marked modern features of their state regulation due to the consumer culture, religious prohibitions, the effectiveness of measures in demand reducing, diametrically different approaches to new markets, international split in the prohibition of the drug market. Domestic specifics associated with skimping on experience of regulation of the alcoholic market in a similar pattern of consumption in the Nordic countries, inadequate implementation capacity of state regulation of demand for tobacco products, with the creation of barriers to the development of gambling and new markets for addictive goods, with a veto on the liberalization of the drug market. Based on a comprehensive assessment of the market potential of business entities in specific markets there were offered socially appropriate forms of their states: in the markets of gambling and drugs a combination of the policy of prohibition and monopoly-oligopolistic proposals, in oligopolistic markets tobacco products and energy drinks the monopoly, in the markets of alcoholic products the differentiated approach.

Caught between the global economy and local bureaucracy: the barriers to good waste management practice in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Godfrey, Linda; Scott, Dianne; Trois, Cristina

2013-03-01

Empirical research shows that good waste management practice in South Africa is not always under the volitional control of those tasked with its implementation. While intention to act may exist, external factors, within the distal and proximal context, create barriers to waste behaviour. In addition, these barriers differ for respondents in municipalities, private industry and private waste companies. The main barriers to implementing good waste management practice experienced by respondents in municipalities included insufficient funding for waste management and resultant lack of resources; insufficient waste knowledge; political interference in decision-making; a slow decision-making process; lack of perceived authority to act by waste staff; and a low priority afforded to waste. Barriers experienced by respondents in private industry included insufficient funding for waste and the resultant lack of resources; insufficient waste knowledge; and government bureaucracy. Whereas, barriers experienced in private waste companies included increasing costs; government bureaucracy; global markets; and availability of waste for recycling. The results suggest that respondents in public and private waste organizations are subject to different structural forces that shape, enable and constrain waste behaviour.

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND TRANSFORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans-Jürgen WAGENER

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Transformation of a totalitarian, basically administratively coordinated system into a democratic one that is coordinated predominantly by markets and competition has been triggered by, among others, the perception of a serious deficit in welfare and happiness. Public policy has a special task transforming the economic order by liberalisation, privatisation, stabilisation and the installation of institutions that are supportive for competition. After 15 years since transformation began, there are sufficiently differentiated success stories to test the hypothesis: it was good governance that is responsible for success and bad governance for failure. The empirical results support the “Lorenzetti hypothesis”: where freedom, security and trust prevail, the economy flourishes, where they are lacking, the costs of long-term investment are too high. The initial conditions of transition countries seem to be quite similar, nevertheless, even there one can discern good and bad governance. The extent of socialist lawfulness, planning security, cronyism and corruption differed widely between East Berlin and Tashkent. And a good deal of such variations can be found in the pre-socialist history of these countries. However, the main conclusion is that the co-evolution hypothesis states that both, welfare and good governance, go together.

TENDENCIES OF REGIONAL ELITE GOODS MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.I. Tatarkin

2008-03-01

Full Text Available During the period of planned economy only a limited section of society with high social status had an access to elite goods in our country. At present an access to these goods is not regulated, and elite goods trade market in Russia is developing rapidly. In the article the essence of "elite good" and "regional elite goods market" concepts is defined, the classification of elite goods markets is given, also the main factors and tendencies of elite goods market development in the Ural Region is analyzed.

Radiation protection measurement. Philosophy and implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Recht, P.; Lakey, J.R.A.

1975-01-01

A selection from the proceedings of the International Symposium held by the U.K. Society for radiological protection in June 1974 was presented. The central theme was the philosophy of radiation protection measurement and its interpretation although some specific areas of good health physics practice were included. The 28 papers selected were chosen to be either representative of the central theme or of wider interest. The papers have been grouped in 6 main sections: philosophy of measurements; interpretation of measurements; implementation by legislation and monitoring; radiation exposure and control; reactor safety and siting; accidents

Strategic environmental assessment implementation in China - Five-year review and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Jing; Chang, I-Shin; Bina, Olivia; Lam, Kin-Che; Xu He

2011-01-01

Through literature review and questionnaire survey, the purpose of this study is to understand current status and major fields of SEA implementation in China, and then to provide advice for future improvement of SEA system, according to objective evaluation of the effectiveness of SEA implementation. Major types and fields of SEA implementation were firstly studied to conclude that the attitude of decision-makers and competent authority of SEA implementation does generate direct impacts on SEA implementation. Current status of SEA implementation were then studied, in terms of timing, techniques and methodologies, public participation, information disclosure, alternative, and review organization, to conclude that SEA implementation in China is 'impact-based SEA' and the major problems of SEA implementation are resulted from deficient and defective management of SEA system, such as laws, regulations, and means of management. In order to have objective evaluation on the effectiveness of SEA implementation, to understand good practice of SEA implementation, and to provide advice for future improvement of SEA system, it is necessary to establish reasonable and feasible evaluation criteria for the effectiveness of SEA implementation, based upon foreign experience and political, legislative, administrative and cultural characteristics of China. Various types and stages of SEA should be carefully considered to be included into the evaluation criteria for the effectiveness of SEA implementation.

Creep rupture properties under varying load/temperature conditions on a nickel-base heat-resistant alloy strengthened by boron addition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Hirokazu; Tanabe, Tatsuhiko; Nakajima, Hajime

1994-01-01

A series of constant load and temperature creep rupture tests and varying load and temperature creep rupture tests was carried out on Hastelloy XR whose boron content level is 60 mass ppm at 900 and 1000 C in order to examine the behavior of the alloy under varying load and temperature conditions. The life fraction rule completely fails in the prediction of the creep rupture life under varying load and temperature conditions though the rule shows good applicability for Hastelloy XR whose boron content level is below 10 mass ppm. The modified life fraction rule has been proposed based on the dependence of the creep rupture strength on the boron content level of the alloy. The modified rule successfully predicts the creep rupture life under the test conditions from 1000 to 900 C. The trend observed in the tests from 900 to 1000 C can be qualitatively explained by the mechanism that the oxide film which is formed during the prior exposure to 900 C plays the role of the protective barrier against the boron dissipation into the environment. (orig.)

The Ten Commandments revisited: the Qualities of Good Library Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew McDonald

2006-06-01

Full Text Available An increasing diversity of imaginative new academic libraries are being constructed around the world, successfully combining exciting architectural expression, inspiring internal spaces and good functionality. Library managers must have a strong vision for the new library and this should inspire the design and the whole building process. This paper explores the key qualities of good learning space, whether in new or refurbished buildings. It is suggested that, ideally, learning space should be functional, adaptable, accessible, varied, interactive, conducive, environmentally suitable, safe and secure, efficient and suitable for information technology. New space should also have “oomph”, capturing the minds of users and the spirit of the university. These indicative issues should be discussed in the brief and throughout the planning process, and the priority given to them will depend on the mission and culture of the library. Greater attention is being given to daylight, natural ventilation, cultural artwork, noise management, security, disabled access, information skills training and provision for e-services. Planning is increasingly centred on people or the learner, emphasising the need for social, interactive and collaborative learning spaces as well as for traditional spaces for quiet study and reflection. Some libraries are joined-up with other services. The academic library is an enduring physical ‘place’, providing a blended, hybrid environment of traditional and electronic services crucial for the future of our universities and their communities.

GOOD PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN FOOD POLICIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Elena NICOLESCU

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper, based on the coordinates of the problems triggered by the negative externalities chain generated by the poor food supply and production system at the level of the urban collectivities, carries out an analysis focused on the identification of the tools, mechanisms, and good practices needed to ensure the sustainability of the local policies on public nutrition. The experiences in the field show that the progress is remarkable in the case of collaborative administrations aimed at enhancing the cooperation and partnership relations, based on common interests, on both internal and international collaboration level, such as The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (2015. From this perspective, the paper presents a case study, a significant experience of improving the food supply system of Bucharest population, through local public nutrition policy and the public action set implemented by Bucharest local authorities with the support of State public bodies and the representatives of civil society, materialized in the establishment of peasant markets as flea markets on the territory of Bucharest.

Implementation strategies for collaborative primary care-mental health models.

Science.gov (United States)

Franx, Gerdien; Dixon, Lisa; Wensing, Michel; Pincus, Harold

2013-09-01

Extensive research exists that collaborative primary care-mental health models can improve care and outcomes for patients. These programs are currently being implemented throughout the United States and beyond. The purpose of this study is to review the literature and to generate an overview of strategies currently used to implement such models in daily practice. Six overlapping strategies to implement collaborative primary care-mental health models were described in 18 selected studies. We identified interactive educational strategies, quality improvement change processes, technological support tools, stakeholder engagement in the design and execution of implementation plans, organizational changes in terms of expanding the task of nurses and financial strategies such as additional collaboration fees and pay for performance incentives. Considering the overwhelming evidence about the effectiveness of primary care-mental health models, there is a lack of good studies focusing on their implementation strategies. In practice, these strategies are multifaceted and locally defined, as a result of intensive and required stakeholder engagement. Although many barriers still exist, the implementation of collaborative models could have a chance to succeed in the United States, where new service delivery and payment models, such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home, the Health Home and the Accountable Care Organization, are being promoted.

Conspicuous Public Goods and Leadership Selection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jennings, C.; Roelfsema, H.J.

If voters care for the relative supply of public goods compared to otherjurisdictions, decentralized provision of public goods will be too high.Potentially, centralization internalizes the negative externalities fromthe production of these `conspicuous' public goods. However, in amodel of strategic

FPGA implementation of self organizing map with digital phase locked loops.

Science.gov (United States)

Hikawa, Hiroomi

2005-01-01

The self-organizing map (SOM) has found applicability in a wide range of application areas. Recently new SOM hardware with phase modulated pulse signal and digital phase-locked loops (DPLLs) has been proposed (Hikawa, 2005). The system uses the DPLL as a computing element since the operation of the DPLL is very similar to that of SOM's computation. The system also uses square waveform phase to hold the value of the each input vector element. This paper discuss the hardware implementation of the DPLL SOM architecture. For effective hardware implementation, some components are redesigned to reduce the circuit size. The proposed SOM architecture is described in VHDL and implemented on field programmable gate array (FPGA). Its feasibility is verified by experiments. Results show that the proposed SOM implemented on the FPGA has a good quantization capability, and its circuit size very small.

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT FOR DECISION MAKING IN LATIN AMERICA: GOOD PRACTICE PRINCIPLES.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichon-Riviere, Andrés; Soto, Natalie C; Augustovski, Federico Ariel; García Martí, Sebastián; Sampietro-Colom, Laura

2018-06-11

The aim of this study was to identify good practice principles for health technology assessment (HTA) that are the most relevant and of highest priority for application in Latin America and to identify potential barriers to their implementation in the region. HTA good practice principles proposed at the international level were identified and then explored during a deliberative process in a forum of assessors, funders, and product manufacturers. Forty-two representatives from ten Latin American countries participated. Good practice principles proposed at the international level were considered valid and potentially relevant to Latin America. Five principles were identified as priority and with the greatest potential to be strengthened at this time: transparency in the production of HTA, involvement of relevant stakeholders in the HTA process, mechanisms to appeal decisions, clear priority-setting processes in HTA, and a clear link between HTA and decision making. The main challenge identified was to find a balance between the application of these principles and the available resources in a way that would not detract from the production of reports and adaptation to the needs of decision makers. The main recommendation was to progress gradually in strengthening HTA and its link to decision making by developing appropriate processes for each country, without trying to impose, in the short-term, standards taken from examples at the international level without adequate adaptation of these to local contexts.

Spectral implementation of full waveform inversion based on reflections

KAUST Repository

Wu, Zedong

2014-01-01

Using the reflection imaging process as a source to model reflections for full waveform inversion (FWI), referred to as reflection FWI (RFWI), allows us to update the background component of the model, and avoid using the relatively costly migration velocity analysis (MVA), which usually relies on extended images. However, RFWI requires a good image to represent the current reflectivity, as well as, some effort to obtain good smooth gradients. We develop a spectral implementation of RFWI where the wavefield extrapolations and gradient evaluation are performed in the wavenumber domain, obtaining clean dispersion free and fast extrapolations. The gradient, in this case, yields three terms, two of which provide us with each side of the rabbit ear kernel, and the third, often ignored, provides a normalization of the reflectivity within the kernel, which can be used to obtain a reflectivity free background update. Since the image is imperfect (it is an adjoint, not an inverse), an optimization process for the third term scaling is implemented to achieve the smoothest gradient update. A rare application of RFWI on the reflectivity infested Marmousi model shows some of the potential of the approach.

The Concept of Sustainable Strategy Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Radomska

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The idea of sustainable development has been present in the field of management for many years, yet the challenges and rules of contemporary business mean that it remains topical. At the same time, the results of much research indicates an unsatisfactory level of execution of development concepts. Due to this, the subject of the study encompasses the implementation of the idea of sustainability in the strategy execution process, lending it a holistic and balanced nature. The purpose of the paper is an examination of the relationship between strategy implementation and the effectiveness of the strategy execution process. The relationships between the perspectives defined and results obtained by organizations were investigated. The research demonstrated the existence of a positive correlation of varied intensity. It is thus possible to identify a positive influence of the integration of the idea of sustainability with strategy execution, which is reflected in the effectiveness of activities undertaken.

The Relational Nature of the Good

OpenAIRE

Korsgaard, Christine M.

2013-01-01

This chapter argues that the relation of being good-for someone is prior to the property of being good. After discussing the views of Moore, Geach, Foot, and Rawls, the author argues that there are final goods because there are conscious animals. Hedonists also believe this, but think of goodness as an intrinsic property of certain conscious states—pleasant ones. This is because they mistake pleasure for sensation and so for an object of experience. After advancing an alternative conception o...

Matching Value Propositions with Varied Customer Needs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heikka, Eija-Liisa; Frandsen, Thomas; Hsuan, Juliana

2018-01-01

Organizations seek to manage varied customer segments using varied value propositions. The ability of a knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) provider to formulate value propositions into attractive offerings to varied customers becomes a competitive advantage. In this specific business based...... on often highly abstract service offerings, this requires the provider to have a clear overview of its knowledge and resources and how these can be configured to obtain the desired customization of services. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how a KIBS provider can match value propositions...... with varied customer needs utilizing service modularity. To accomplish this purpose, a qualitative multiple case study is organized around 5 projects allowing within-case and cross-case comparisons. Our findings describe how through the configuration of knowledge and resources a sustainable competitive...

Nonlinear control of linear parameter varying systems with applications to hypersonic vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, Zachary Donald

controller is then applied to a HSV model, and a Lyapunov analysis is used to prove global exponential reference model tracking in the presence of uncertainty in the state and input matrices and exogenous disturbances. Simulations with a spectrum of gains and temperature profiles on the full nonlinear dynamic model of the HSV is used to illustrate the performance and robustness of the developed controller. In addition, this work considers how the performance of the developed controller varies over a wide variety of control gains and temperature profiles and are optimized with respect to different performance metrics. Specifically, various temperature profile models and related nonlinear temperature dependent disturbances are used to characterize the relative control performance and effort for each model. Examining such metrics as a function of temperature provides a potential inroad to examine the interplay between structural/thermal protection design and control development and has application for future HSV design and control implementation.

Efficient Implementation of Ternary SDM Filters using State-of-the-Art FPGA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tayabuddin Memon

2011-04-01

Full Text Available We present the analysis of a ternary FIR filter at varying OSR (Over Sampling Ratios. The sigma delta modulated ternary filter impulse responses obtained using Matlab at varying OSRs show that each doubling of OSR results in an increase of 10dB in the stopband attenuation. BT-FIR (Balanced Ternary FIR Filters at varying OSRs have been implemented in VHDL using an efficient adder tree organization to gather the partial products. Filters in both pipelined and non-pipelined modes were synthesized on a small number of representative commercial FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays devices. Both the filter taps and binary inputs use 2\\'s complement format. The synthesis results show the tradeoffs between hardware area and performance at varying OSRs. In pipelined mode, a 6MHz video stream can easily be handled at an OSR of 64, while occupying less than 8% of a Stratix-III device.

Identification of Affine Linear Parameter Varying Models for Adaptive Interventions in Fibromyalgia Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Dos Santos, P Lopes; Deshpande, Sunil; Rivera, Daniel E; Azevedo-Perdicoúlis, T-P; Ramos, J A; Younger, Jarred

2013-12-31

There is good evidence that naltrexone, an opioid antagonist, has a strong neuroprotective role and may be a potential drug for the treatment of fibromyalgia. In previous work, some of the authors used experimental clinical data to identify input-output linear time invariant models that were used to extract useful information about the effect of this drug on fibromyalgia symptoms. Additional factors such as anxiety, stress, mood, and headache, were considered as additive disturbances. However, it seems reasonable to think that these factors do not affect the drug actuation, but only the way in which a participant perceives how the drug actuates on herself. Under this hypothesis the linear time invariant models can be replaced by State-Space Affine Linear Parameter Varying models where the disturbances are seen as a scheduling signal signal only acting at the parameters of the output equation. In this paper a new algorithm for identifying such a model is proposed. This algorithm minimizes a quadratic criterion of the output error. Since the output error is a linear function of some parameters, the Affine Linear Parameter Varying system identification is formulated as a separable nonlinear least squares problem. Likewise other identification algorithms using gradient optimization methods several parameter derivatives are dynamical systems that must be simulated. In order to increase time efficiency a canonical parametrization that minimizes the number of systems to be simulated is chosen. The effectiveness of the algorithm is assessed in a case study where an Affine Parameter Varying Model is identified from the experimental data used in the previous study and compared with the time-invariant model.

[Identifying indicators of good practice in clinical and healthcare management].

Science.gov (United States)

Bermúdez Tamayo, C; Olry de Labry Lima, A; García Mochón, L

2018-03-06

To identify good practices in order to develop and implement indicators of health outcomes for clinical and healthcare management, as well as the characteristics for an indicator to be considered adequate. A scoping review was performed, with the following phases: 1) Search and identification of bibliography. 2) Selection of relevant documents. Including those studies that discussed issues related to good practices for the use of health indicators in the management field. Those published in a language other than English or Spanish or before 2006 were excluded. 3) Analysis and extraction of information. 4) Consultation with stakeholders, using a qualitative methodology through Concept Mapping, with the participation of 40 experts (decision-makers, scientific societies, and health professionals). The data collection process included an inductive and structured procedure, with prioritisation of ideas grouped into clusters, according to feasibility and importance criteria (0-10 scale). Good practices identified 2 levels: 1) macro-management: Define a framework for the evaluation of indicators and establish a benchmark of indicators. 2) meso-management: Establish indicators according to evidence and expert consensus, taking into account priority areas and topics, testing before final use, and communicate results adequately. The characteristics of a suitable indicator are: 1) Approach of an important issue, 2) Scientific validity, 3) Possibility of measurement with reliable data, 4) Meaning of useful and applicable measurement, and 5) Wide scope. The best practices for the use of indicators in clinical and healthcare management can make it easier to monitor performance and accountability, as well as to support the decision-making addressed at the development of initiatives for quality improvement. Copyright © 2018 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Self-assessment of safety culture in nuclear installations. Highlights and good practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-11-01

This report summarizes the findings of two IAEA Technical Committee Meetings on Safety Culture Self-Assessment Highlights and Good Practices. The meetings took place on 3-5 June 1998 and 23-25 October 2000 in Vienna, and involved an international cross-section of representatives who participated both in plenary discussions and working groups. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss the practical implications of evolutionary changes in the development of safety culture, and to share international experience, particularly on the methods used for the assessment of safety culture and good practices for its enhancement in an organization. The working groups were allocated specific topics for discussion, which included the following: organizational factors influencing the implementation of actions to improve safety culture; how to measure, effectively, progress in implementing solutions to safety culture problems; the symptoms of a weakening safety culture; the suitability of different methods for assessing safety culture; the achievement of sustainable improvements in safety culture using the results of assessment; the potential threats to the continuation of a strong safety culture in an organization from the many challenges facing the nuclear industry. The working groups, when appropriate, considered issues from both the utility's and the regulator's perspectives. This report will be of interest to all organizations who wish to assess and achieve a strong and sustainable safety culture. This includes not only nuclear power plants, but also other sectors of the nuclear industry such as uranium mines and mills, nuclear fuel fabrication facilities, nuclear waste repositories, research reactors, accelerators, radiography facilities, etc. The report specifically supplements other IAEA publications on this subject

Spatially varying predictors of teenage birth rates among counties in the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla Shoff

2012-09-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Limited information is available about teenage pregnancy and childbearing in rural areas, even though approximately 20 percent of the nation's youth live in rural areas. Identifying whether there are differences in the teenage birth rate (TBR across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas is important because these differences may reflect modifiable ecological-level influences such as education, employment, laws, healthcare infrastructure, and policies that could potentially reduce the TBR. OBJECTIVE The goals of this study are to investigate whether there are spatially varying relationships between the TBR and the independent variables, and if so, whether these associations differ between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. METHODS We explore the heterogeneity within metropolitan/nonmetropolitan county groups separately using geographically weighted regression (GWR, and investigate the difference between metropolitan/nonmetropolitan counties using spatial regime models with spatial errors. These analyses were applied to county-level data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the US Census Bureau. RESULTS GWR results suggested that non-stationarity exists in the associations between TBR and determinants within metropolitan/nonmetropolitan groups. The spatial regime analysis indicated that the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage on TBR significantly varied by the metropolitan status of counties. CONCLUSIONS While the spatially varying relationships between the TBR and independent variables were found within each metropolitan status of counties, only the magnitude of the impact of the socioeconomic disadvantage index is significantly stronger among metropolitan counties than nonmetropolitan counties. Our findings suggested that place-specific policies for the disadvantaged groups in a county could be implemented to reduce TBR in the US.

Implementation of the model project: Ghanaian experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schandorf, C.; Darko, E.O.; Yeboah, J.; Asiamah, S.D.

2003-01-01

Upgrading of the legal infrastructure has been the most time consuming and frustrating part of the implementation of the Model project due to the unstable system of governance and rule of law coupled with the low priority given to legislation on technical areas such as safe applications of Nuclear Science and Technology in medicine, industry, research and teaching. Dwindling Governmental financial support militated against physical and human resource infrastructure development and operational effectiveness. The trend over the last five years has been to strengthen the revenue generation base of the Radiation Protection Institute through good management practices to ensure a cost effective use of the limited available resources for a self-reliant and sustainable radiation and waste safety programme. The Ghanaian experience regarding the positive and negative aspects of the implementation of the Model Project is highlighted. (author)

Environmental Practices. Motivations and Their Influence on the Level of Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María de la Cruz del Río-Rama

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to identify and analyze good environmental practices followed by the Thermal sector in Spain. It is also to analyze if the motivations that lead thermal establishments to implement environmental practices influence their level of implementation. The methodology used is the performance of a descriptive and regression analysis of the data obtained through a structured questionnaire. The target population consists of 112 health resorts, obtaining a sample size of 62 valid surveys, which implies a response rate of 55.36%. The results obtained have enabled the performance of an environmental diagnosis of the Thermal sector in Spain, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Environmental Management, as well as corroborating that motivations affect the level of implementation of environmental practices.

Noise level estimation in weakly nonlinear slowly time-varying systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aerts, J R M; Dirckx, J J J; Lataire, J; Pintelon, R

2008-01-01

Recently, a method using multisine excitation was proposed for estimating the frequency response, the nonlinear distortions and the disturbing noise of weakly nonlinear time-invariant systems. This method has been demonstrated on the measurement of nonlinear distortions in the vibration of acoustically driven systems such as a latex membrane, which is a good example of a time-invariant system [1]. However, not all systems are perfectly time invariant, e.g. biomechanical systems. This time variation can be misinterpreted as an elevated noise floor, and the classical noise estimation method gives a wrong result. Two improved methods to retrieve the correct noise information from the measurements are presented. Both of them make use of multisine excitations. First, it is demonstrated that the improved methods give the same result as the classical noise estimation method when applied to a time-invariant system (high-quality microphone membrane). Next, it is demonstrated that the new methods clearly give an improved estimate of the noise level on time-varying systems. As an application example results for the vibration response of an eardrum are shown

The performance of the backpropagation algorithm with varying slope of the activation function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai Yanping; Zhang Haixia; Hao Yilong

2009-01-01

Some adaptations are proposed to the basic BP algorithm in order to provide an efficient method to non-linear data learning and prediction. In this paper, an adopted BP algorithm with varying slope of activation function and different learning rates is put forward. The results of experiment indicated that this algorithm can get very good performance of training. We also test the prediction performance of our adopted BP algorithm on 16 instances. We compared the test results to the ones of the BP algorithm with gradient descent momentum and an adaptive learning rate. The results indicate this adopted BP algorithm gives best performance (100%) for test example, which conclude this adopted BP algorithm produces a smoothed reconstruction that learns better to new prediction function values than the BP algorithm improved with momentum.

Attitudes of Montenegrin Consumers Toward Advertising Through Sport Among the Question How Often Consumers Purchase Sporting Goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gorica Zoric

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Unlike other advertising mediums such as TV commercials or online advertising, people involuntarily receive sport advertisements; they prefer to watch the game for the sporting action than the regular advertisements. However, it is important to analyse their general attitudes among various questions, mostly due to the reason it varies from demographic group to demographic group. Hence, this research was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of Montenegrin consumers toward advertising through sport among the question how often consumers purchase sporting goods. The sample included 342 respondents, divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not purchase sport goods at all, then consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month, next 1–3 a month, 4–6 a month, 7–9 a month, as well as consumers who purchase sport goods more than 10 times a month. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA and univariate analysis (ANOVA and Post Hoc test.Based on the statistical analyses it was found that significant differences occur at multivariate level, as well as between all three variables at a significance level of (p=.000.

Implementing California's School Funding Formula: Will High-Need Students Benefit? Technical Appendix

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Laura; Ugo, Iwunze

2015-01-01

Intended to accompany "Implementing California's School Funding Formula: Will High-Need Students Benefit?," this appendix examines the extent to which school shares of high-need students vary relative to their district concentrations by grouping approximately 950 school districts by their share of high-need students, arraying them into…

Structures and Logic of EP Implementation and Administration in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dieter Grunow

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes empirical observations gathered during a research project on the implementation of environmental protection (EP policies in China. The project focused on local EP in both urban and rural areas. Policy field analysis was used as a conceptual framework for structuring the observations. The paper develops in three main steps discussing the following topics: 1 Collective problems within the policy field of EP show that EP issues in general are unlike those of other policy fields. Official EP policies in China today resemble those of other countries – but they are separating issues and responsibilities, making local implementation very demanding. 2 China lags behind in its willingness and ability to implement these policies – leading to implementation gaps. To explore the causes and consequences, specific sites in China are described in an extended look at local implementation structures. It was found that although policies in China are basically the same everywhere, the structures for implementing them and the quality of their implementation vary widely with regard to resources, organization, coordination, staff qualifications, personnel placement, and other aspects. 3 Not all of the challenges hampering local implementation of environmental policies were China-specific; however, some of those which are can be described as the macro-context: an ineffective rule of law, insufficient involvement of civil society, and complicated macro-structures of public administration prevent a generally high level of successful EP implementation in China.

Design of 2D time-varying vector fields.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Guoning; Kwatra, Vivek; Wei, Li-Yi; Hansen, Charles D; Zhang, Eugene

2012-10-01

Design of time-varying vector fields, i.e., vector fields that can change over time, has a wide variety of important applications in computer graphics. Existing vector field design techniques do not address time-varying vector fields. In this paper, we present a framework for the design of time-varying vector fields, both for planar domains as well as manifold surfaces. Our system supports the creation and modification of various time-varying vector fields with desired spatial and temporal characteristics through several design metaphors, including streamlines, pathlines, singularity paths, and bifurcations. These design metaphors are integrated into an element-based design to generate the time-varying vector fields via a sequence of basis field summations or spatial constrained optimizations at the sampled times. The key-frame design and field deformation are also introduced to support other user design scenarios. Accordingly, a spatial-temporal constrained optimization and the time-varying transformation are employed to generate the desired fields for these two design scenarios, respectively. We apply the time-varying vector fields generated using our design system to a number of important computer graphics applications that require controllable dynamic effects, such as evolving surface appearance, dynamic scene design, steerable crowd movement, and painterly animation. Many of these are difficult or impossible to achieve via prior simulation-based methods. In these applications, the time-varying vector fields have been applied as either orientation fields or advection fields to control the instantaneous appearance or evolving trajectories of the dynamic effects.

Do effects of common case-mix adjusters on patient experiences vary across patient groups?

Science.gov (United States)

de Boer, Dolf; van der Hoek, Lucas; Rademakers, Jany; Delnoij, Diana; van den Berg, Michael

2017-11-22

Many survey studies in health care adjust for demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational attainment and general health when performing statistical analyses. Whether the effects of these demographic characteristics are consistent between patient groups remains to be determined. This is important as the rationale for adjustment is often that demographic sub-groups differ in their so-called 'response tendency'. This rationale may be less convincing if the effects of response tendencies vary across patient groups. The present paper examines whether the impact of these characteristics on patients' global rating of care varies across patient groups. Secondary analyses using multi-level regression models were performed on a dataset including 32 different patient groups and 145,578 observations. For each demographic variable, the 95% expected range of case-mix coefficients across patient groups is presented. In addition, we report whether the variance of coefficients for demographic variables across patient groups is significant. Overall, men, elderly, lower educated people and people in good health tend to give higher global ratings. However, these effects varied significantly across patient groups and included the possibility of no effect or an opposite effect in some patient groups. The response tendency attributed to demographic characteristics - such as older respondents being milder, or higher educated respondents being more critical - is not general or universal. As such, the mechanism linking demographic characteristics to survey results on patient experiences with quality of care is more complicated than a general response tendency. It is possible that the response tendency interacts with patient group, but it is also possible that other mechanisms are at play.

Managing Human Factors Related Risks. The Advanced Training Model in Dangerous Goods Transport on Roads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelizaveta Janno

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the methodological essence of dangerous goods (DG training courses for drivers and dangerous goods safety advisers (DGSA. The aim of the research is to advance existing teacher-centered course model in Estonia with learner-centered methods that best suit specific objectives and meet expected learning outcomes, as well as to improve DG training model with the integrated use of interactive teaching methods. The paper presents a qualitative development research strategy based on studies regarding ADR regulations training courses in Estonia as well as on the analysis of teaching methods applied in the professional training of adults. The data is collected in two steps: firstly by implementing questionnaires for consignors/ consignees, freight forwarders carrier companies and drivers, secondly during in-depth interviews/ focus group meeting with DG regulations training companies’ providers. Implementing methodology of qualitative comparison analysis (QCA combination of best suitable teaching methods is identified. After following in-depth interviews and performing a focus group, these combinations are further used as input for developing existing course model with integrated use of blended learning alternatives, where digital media meets with traditional classroom meth-ods. Results of this research contribute coming up with interactive methodological approach within ADR regulations training courses that meet the best trainees’ expectations and fulfills the risk management aim.

Steps toward a shared governance response for achieving Good Environmental Status in the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Cinnirella

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to Europe given its strategic position. The responsibility for its overall ecosystem integrity is shared by European Union Member States (EU-MS and other Mediterranean countries. A juxtaposition of overlapping governance instruments occurred recently in the region, with the implementation of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD for EU-MS and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP for all Mediterranean countries, including EU-MS. Both MSFD and ECAP are structured around vision-driven processes to achieve Good Environmental Status and a Healthy Environment, respectively. These processes have clear ecosystem-based, integrated policy objectives to guarantee the preservation and integrity of Mediterranean marine ecosystem goods and services. However, adoption of these instruments, especially those related to the new EU-MS directives on marine policy, could result in a governance gap in addition to the well-known economic gap between the EU and the non-EU political blocs. We identify two complementary requirements for effective implementation of both MSFD and ECAP that could work together to reduce this gap, to ensure a better alignment between MSFD and ECAP and better planning for stakeholder engagement. These are key issues for the future success of these instruments in a Mediterranean region where discrepancies between societal and ecological objectives may pose a challenge to these processes.

Implementing Sentinels in the TARGIT BI Suite

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Middelfart, Morten; Pedersen, Torben Bach

2011-01-01

This paper describes the implementation of socalled sentinels in the TARGIT BI Suite. Sentinels are a novel type of rules that can warn a user if one or more measure changes in a multi-dimensional data cube are expected to cause a change to another measure critical to the user. Sentinels notify u...... pattern mining or correlation techniques. We demonstrate, through extensive experiments, that mining and usage of sentinels is feasible with good performance for the typical users on a real, operational data warehouse....

Reconsidering the “Good Divorce”

Science.gov (United States)

Amato, Paul R.; Kane, Jennifer B.; James, Spencer

2011-01-01

This study attempted to assess the notion that a “good divorce” protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting (good divorce) cluster had the smallest number of behavior problems and the closest ties to their fathers. Nevertheless, children in this cluster did not score significantly better than other children on 10 additional outcomes. These findings provide only modest support for the good divorce hypothesis. PMID:22125355

Good Towers of Function Fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bassa, Alp; Beelen, Peter; Nguyen, Nhut

2014-01-01

In this paper, we will give an overview of known and new techniques on how one can obtain explicit equations for candidates of good towers of function fields. The techniques are founded in modular theory (both the classical modular theory and the Drinfeld modular theory). In the classical modular...... setup, optimal towers can be obtained, while in the Drinfeld modular setup, good towers over any non-prime field may be found. We illustrate the theory with several examples, thus explaining some known towers as well as giving new examples of good explicitly defined towers of function fields....

How Good is OpenMP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy G. Mattson

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The OpenMP standard defines an Application Programming Interface (API for shared memory computers. Since its introduction in 1997, it has grown to become one of the most commonly used API's for parallel programming. But success in the market doesn't necessarily imply successful computer science. Is OpenMP a "good" programming environment? What does it even mean to call a programming environment good? And finally, once we understand how good or bad OpenMP is; what can we do to make it even better? In this paper, we will address these questions.

FPGA Implementation of a Frame Synchronization Algorithm for Powerline Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Tsakiris

2009-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an FPGA implementation of a pilot–based time synchronization scheme employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing for powerline communication channels. The functionality of the algorithm is analyzed and tested over a real powerline residential network. For this purpose, an appropriate transmitter circuit, implemented by an FPGA, and suitable coupling circuits are constructed. The system has been developed using VHDL language on Nallatech XtremeDSP development kits. The communication system operates in the baseband up to 30 MHz. Measurements of the algorithm's good performance in terms of the number of detected frames and timing offset error are taken and compared to simulations of existing algorithms.

Neuromorphic Kalman filter implementation in IBM’s TrueNorth

Science.gov (United States)

Carney, R.; Bouchard, K.; Calafiura, P.; Clark, D.; Donofrio, D.; Garcia-Sciveres, M.; Livezey, J.

2017-10-01

Following the advent of a post-Moore’s law field of computation, novel architectures continue to emerge. With composite, multi-million connection neuromorphic chips like IBM’s TrueNorth, neural engineering has now become a feasible technology in this novel computing paradigm. High Energy Physics experiments are continuously exploring new methods of computation and data handling, including neuromorphic, to support the growing challenges of the field and be prepared for future commodity computing trends. This work details the first instance of a Kalman filter implementation in IBM’s neuromorphic architecture, TrueNorth, for both parallel and serial spike trains. The implementation is tested on multiple simulated systems and its performance is evaluated with respect to an equivalent non-spiking Kalman filter. The limits of the implementation are explored whilst varying the size of weight and threshold registers, the number of spikes used to encode a state, size of neuron block for spatial encoding, and neuron potential reset schemes.

Mentoring program design and implementation in new medical schools

Science.gov (United States)

Fornari, Alice; Murray, Thomas S.; Menzin, Andrew W.; Woo, Vivian A.; Clifton, Maurice; Lombardi, Marion; Shelov, Steven

2014-01-01

Purpose Mentoring is considered a valuable component of undergraduate medical education with a variety of programs at established medical schools. This study presents how new medical schools have set up mentoring programs as they have developed their curricula. Methods Administrators from 14 US medical schools established since 2006 were surveyed regarding the structure and implementation of their mentoring programs. Results The majority of new medical schools had mentoring programs that varied in structure and implementation. Although the programs were viewed as valuable at each institution, challenges when creating and implementing mentoring programs in new medical schools included time constraints for faculty and students, and lack of financial and professional incentives for faculty. Conclusions Similar to established medical schools, there was little uniformity among mentoring programs at new medical schools, likely reflecting differences in curriculum and program goals. Outcome measures are needed to determine whether a best practice for mentoring can be established. PMID:24962112

Design of 2D Time-Varying Vector Fields

KAUST Repository

Chen, Guoning

2012-10-01

Design of time-varying vector fields, i.e., vector fields that can change over time, has a wide variety of important applications in computer graphics. Existing vector field design techniques do not address time-varying vector fields. In this paper, we present a framework for the design of time-varying vector fields, both for planar domains as well as manifold surfaces. Our system supports the creation and modification of various time-varying vector fields with desired spatial and temporal characteristics through several design metaphors, including streamlines, pathlines, singularity paths, and bifurcations. These design metaphors are integrated into an element-based design to generate the time-varying vector fields via a sequence of basis field summations or spatial constrained optimizations at the sampled times. The key-frame design and field deformation are also introduced to support other user design scenarios. Accordingly, a spatial-temporal constrained optimization and the time-varying transformation are employed to generate the desired fields for these two design scenarios, respectively. We apply the time-varying vector fields generated using our design system to a number of important computer graphics applications that require controllable dynamic effects, such as evolving surface appearance, dynamic scene design, steerable crowd movement, and painterly animation. Many of these are difficult or impossible to achieve via prior simulation-based methods. In these applications, the time-varying vector fields have been applied as either orientation fields or advection fields to control the instantaneous appearance or evolving trajectories of the dynamic effects. © 1995-2012 IEEE.

Design of 2D Time-Varying Vector Fields

KAUST Repository

Chen, Guoning; Kwatra, Vivek; Wei, Li-Yi; Hansen, Charles D.; Zhang, Eugene

2012-01-01

Design of time-varying vector fields, i.e., vector fields that can change over time, has a wide variety of important applications in computer graphics. Existing vector field design techniques do not address time-varying vector fields. In this paper, we present a framework for the design of time-varying vector fields, both for planar domains as well as manifold surfaces. Our system supports the creation and modification of various time-varying vector fields with desired spatial and temporal characteristics through several design metaphors, including streamlines, pathlines, singularity paths, and bifurcations. These design metaphors are integrated into an element-based design to generate the time-varying vector fields via a sequence of basis field summations or spatial constrained optimizations at the sampled times. The key-frame design and field deformation are also introduced to support other user design scenarios. Accordingly, a spatial-temporal constrained optimization and the time-varying transformation are employed to generate the desired fields for these two design scenarios, respectively. We apply the time-varying vector fields generated using our design system to a number of important computer graphics applications that require controllable dynamic effects, such as evolving surface appearance, dynamic scene design, steerable crowd movement, and painterly animation. Many of these are difficult or impossible to achieve via prior simulation-based methods. In these applications, the time-varying vector fields have been applied as either orientation fields or advection fields to control the instantaneous appearance or evolving trajectories of the dynamic effects. © 1995-2012 IEEE.

Bad is stronger than good

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baumeister, R.F.; Bratslavsky, E.; Finkenauer, C.; Vohs, K.D.

2001-01-01

The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad

DCFTA Implementation: Opportunities and Challenges for Ukrainian Entrepreneurs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleksandr KUBATKO

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the analysis of Ukrainian entrepreneurs readiness for implementation of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA. The authors analyzed the ongoing condition for running business in Ukraine, and results were in favor negative industrial business tendencies combined with macroeconomic instability. Moreover, the military confrontation in the East of Ukraine has had negative consequences for the social, moral and economic situation in the country. Authors have estimated the chances and goals of Ukrainian entrepreneurs to be achieved using the DCFTA. Thus, the effect of DCFTA implementation could provide 6 % of the additional GDP in the medium term. The share of export to EU in total Ukrainian export of goods and services has increased from 26.7 % in 2013 to 32.8 % in 2015. The entrepreneurs of agriculture sector and textile industry are expected to receive the most positive effect of DCFTA implementation. Thus, the export of the cereal crops has increased by 3 % in 2015 compare with 2013. In addition, the export of Electrical machinery and equipment also has increased by 3% in 2015 comparing to 2013. Moreover, DCFTA implementation allowed opening new boundaries and opportunities for entrepreneurs in IT sector. At the same time, the machine building industry is expected to be very sensitive to the DCFTA implementation due the low competitiveness.

Survey on Recent Research and Implementation of Ant Colony Optimization in Various Engineering Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohan B. Chandra

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Ant colony optimization (ACO takes inspiration from the foraging behaviour of real ant species. This ACO exploits a similar mechanism for solving optimization problems for the various engineering field of study. Many successful implementations using ACO are now available in many applications. This paper reviewing varies systematic approach on recent research and implementation of ACO. Finally it presents the experimental result of ACO which is applied for routing problem and compared with existing algorithms.

Ballistic performance of a Kevlar-29 woven fibre composite under varied temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Soykasap, O.; Colakoglu, M.

2010-05-01

Armours are usually manufactured from polymer matrix composites and used for both military and non-military purposes in different seasons, climates, and regions. The mechanical properties of the composites depend on temperature, which also affects their ballistic characteristics. The armour is used to absorb the kinetic energy of a projectile without any major injury to a person. Therefore, besides a high strength and lightness, a high damping capacity is required to absorb the impact energy transferred by the projectile. The ballistic properties of a Kevlar 29/polyvinyl butyral composite are investigated under varied temperatures in this study. The elastic modulus of the composite is determined from the natural frequency of composite specimens at different temperatures by using a damping monitoring method. Then, the backside deformation of composite plates is analysed experimentally and numerically employing the finite-element program Abaqus. The experimental and numeric results obtained are in good agreement.

Generating and exploring good building layouts

KAUST Repository

Bao, Fan

2013-07-16

Good building layouts are required to conform to regulatory guidelines, while meeting certain quality measures. While different methods can sample the space of such good layouts, there exists little support for a user to understand and systematically explore the samples. Starting from a discrete set of good layouts, we analytically characterize the local shape space of good layouts around each initial layout, compactly encode these spaces, and link them to support transitions across the different local spaces. We represent such transitions in the form of a portal graph. The user can then use the portal graph, along with the family of local shape spaces, to globally and locally explore the space of good building layouts. We use our framework on a variety of different test scenarios to showcase an intuitive design, navigation, and exploration interface. Copyright © ACM. Copyright © ACM 2013.

Need to implement corporate governance in the Romanian companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorin COSNEANU

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Under the background of the current economic realities, characterized by uncertainty and mistrust, of increased complexity of the environment in which they operate, the Romanian companies must demonstrate good organization, flexibility, skills, good risk management and be trustworthy economic and social partners. The answer to many of these challenges is provided by a modern management system, which makes proof of more convincing development possibilities, namely corporate governance.This article is an attempt to summarize the major theoretical and practical issues related to corporate governance models, as well as a vision of the need to apply this management system in the Romanian companies. At the same time, the paper will briefly present the current state of corporate governance system implementation in the Romanian companies.

Good Life with osteoArthritis in Denmark (GLA:D™)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skou, Søren Thorgaard; Roos, Ewa M.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The uptake of evidence-based guidelines in clinical practice is suboptimal in osteoarthritis (OA) and other chronic diseases. Good Life with osteoArthritis in Denmark (GLA:D) was launched in 2013 with the aim of implementing guidelines for the treatment of knee and hip OA in clinical...... disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) quality of life subscale, 0-100, worst to best), number of patients on painkillers and sick leave, and access to care according to guidelines. RESULTS: Data from 9,825 participants from the GLA:D registry were utilised in the analyses. It was demonstrated...... months are pain intensity (0 to 100, best to worst), objective physical function (30-s chair-stand test and 40-m fast-paced walk test), physical activity (number of days per week being physically active for at least 30 min), quality of life (Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and the Hip...

Time-varying Crash Risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, Peter; Feunoua, Bruno; Jeon, Yoontae

We estimate a continuous-time model with stochastic volatility and dynamic crash probability for the S&P 500 index and find that market illiquidity dominates other factors in explaining the stock market crash risk. While the crash probability is time-varying, its dynamic depends only weakly on re...

Time varying voltage combustion control and diagnostics sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Chorpening, Benjamin T [Morgantown, WV; Thornton, Jimmy D [Morgantown, WV; Huckaby, E David [Morgantown, WV; Fincham, William [Fairmont, WV

2011-04-19

A time-varying voltage is applied to an electrode, or a pair of electrodes, of a sensor installed in a fuel nozzle disposed adjacent the combustion zone of a continuous combustion system, such as of the gas turbine engine type. The time-varying voltage induces a time-varying current in the flame which is measured and used to determine flame capacitance using AC electrical circuit analysis. Flame capacitance is used to accurately determine the position of the flame from the sensor and the fuel/air ratio. The fuel and/or air flow rate (s) is/are then adjusted to provide reduced flame instability problems such as flashback, combustion dynamics and lean blowout, as well as reduced emissions. The time-varying voltage may be an alternating voltage and the time-varying current may be an alternating current.

The layered learning practice model: Lessons learned from implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinelli, Nicole R; Eckel, Stephen F; Vu, Maihan B; Weinberger, Morris; Roth, Mary T

2016-12-15

Pharmacists' views about the implementation, benefits, and attributes of a layered learning practice model (LLPM) were examined. Eligible and willing attending pharmacists at the same institution that had implemented an LLPM completed an individual, 90-minute, face-to-face interview using a structured interview guide developed by the interdisciplinary study team. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim without personal identifiers. Three researchers independently reviewed preliminary findings to reach consensus on emerging themes. In cases where thematic coding diverged, the researchers discussed their analyses until consensus was reached. Of 25 eligible attending pharmacists, 24 (96%) agreed to participate. The sample was drawn from both acute and ambulatory care practice settings and all clinical specialty areas. Attending pharmacists described several experiences implementing the LLPM and perceived benefits of the model. Attending pharmacists identified seven key attributes for hospital and health-system pharmacy departments that are needed to design and implement effective LLPMs: shared leadership, a systematic approach, good communication, flexibility for attending pharmacists, adequate resources, commitment, and evaluation. Participants also highlighted several potential challenges and obstacles for organizations to consider before implementing an LLPM. According to attending pharmacists involved in an LLPM, successful implementation of an LLPM required shared leadership, a systematic approach, communication, flexibility, resources, commitment, and a process for evaluation. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1011 Good green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of the Persian variety. ...

Geopolitical model of investment power station construction project implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Malafeyev, Oleg; Farvazov, Konstantin; Zenovich, Olga; Zaitseva, Irina; Kostyukov, Konstantin; Svechinskaya, Tatiana

2018-04-01

Two geopolitical actors implement a geopolitical project that involves transportaion and storage of some commodities. They interact with each other through a transport network. The network consists of several interconnected vertices. Some of the vetrices are trading hubs, storage spaces, production hubs and goods buyers. Actors wish to satify the demand of buyers and recieve the highest possible profit subject to compromise solution principle. A numerical example is given.

Time-varying metamaterials based on graphene-wrapped microwires: Modeling and potential applications

Science.gov (United States)

Salary, Mohammad Mahdi; Jafar-Zanjani, Samad; Mosallaei, Hossein

2018-03-01

The successful realization of metamaterials and metasurfaces requires the judicious choice of constituent elements. In this paper, we demonstrate the implementation of time-varying metamaterials in the terahertz frequency regime by utilizing graphene-wrapped microwires as building blocks and modulation of graphene conductivity through exterior electrical gating. These elements enable enhancement of light-graphene interaction by utilizing optical resonances associated with Mie scattering, yielding a large tunability and modulation depth. We develop a semianalytical framework based on transition-matrix formulation for modeling and analysis of periodic and aperiodic arrays of such time-varying building blocks. The proposed method is validated against full-wave numerical results obtained using the finite-difference time-domain method. It provides an ideal tool for mathematical synthesis and analysis of space-time gradient metamaterials, eliminating the need for computationally expensive numerical models. Moreover, it allows for a wider exploration of exotic space-time scattering phenomena in time-modulated metamaterials. We apply the method to explore the role of modulation parameters in the generation of frequency harmonics and their emerging wavefronts. Several potential applications of such platforms are demonstrated, including frequency conversion, holographic generation of frequency harmonics, and spatiotemporal manipulation of light. The presented results provide key physical insights to design time-modulated functional metadevices using various building blocks and open up new directions in the emerging paradigm of time-modulated metamaterials.

29 CFR 570.128 - Good faith defense.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Good faith defense. 570.128 Section 570.128 Labor... Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended Enforcement § 570.128 Good faith defense. Link... commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer...

12 CFR 220.6 - Good faith account.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith account. 220.6 Section 220.6 Banks... BY BROKERS AND DEALERS (REGULATION T) § 220.6 Good faith account. In a good faith account, a creditor...) Securities entitled to good faith margin—(1) Permissible transactions. A creditor may effect and finance...

Meninas bem-comportadas, boas alunas; meninos inteligentes, indisciplinados Good girls, good students; smart boys but misbehaved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cármen A. Duarte da Silva

1999-07-01

Full Text Available Estudo longitudinal vem acompanhando todas as crianças nascidas em Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, no ano de 1982. Suas trajetórias escolares mostraram-se fortemente determinadas pela variável gênero, mesmo quando eliminados por estatística outros fatores intervenientes. Um estudo com 84 professoras/es buscou identificar que processos estão presentes na escola e nas representações que ajudem a compreender essas diferenças no desempenho escolar das meninas e dos meninos. A análise do material aponta para a maneira feminina de exercer o magistério que atravessa a prática docente, para a profecia auto-realizadora referendada no critério de bom comportamento e para a estreita relação entre gênero e saber regulados pelos regimes de verdade.A longitudinal study has been following all the children born in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, during 1982. Their academic background showed strong correlation with gender, even when eliminating other variables through statistical procedures. A study with 84 teachers tried to identify the process present at schools that could help to understand the differences between the girls' and boys' academic performances. The analysis points out to the female bias in teaching practice, to the self-fulfilling profecy reflected in the good-behavior criterion and to the close relationship between gender and knowledge determinated by the truth-regulations.

Detection of dynamically varying interaural time differences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kohlrausch, Armin; Le Goff, Nicolas; Breebaart, Jeroen

2010-01-01

of fringes surrounding the probe is equal to the addition of the effects of the individual fringes. In this contribution, we present behavioral data for the same experimental condition, called dynamically varying ITD detection, but for a wider range of probe and fringe durations. Probe durations varied...

A varying-coefficient method for analyzing longitudinal clinical trials data with nonignorable dropout

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Jeri E.; MaWhinney, Samantha; Ball, Erika L.; Fairclough, Diane

2011-01-01

Dropout is common in longitudinal clinical trials and when the probability of dropout depends on unobserved outcomes even after conditioning on available data, it is considered missing not at random and therefore nonignorable. To address this problem, mixture models can be used to account for the relationship between a longitudinal outcome and dropout. We propose a Natural Spline Varying-coefficient mixture model (NSV), which is a straightforward extension of the parametric Conditional Linear Model (CLM). We assume that the outcome follows a varying-coefficient model conditional on a continuous dropout distribution. Natural cubic B-splines are used to allow the regression coefficients to semiparametrically depend on dropout and inference is therefore more robust. Additionally, this method is computationally stable and relatively simple to implement. We conduct simulation studies to evaluate performance and compare methodologies in settings where the longitudinal trajectories are linear and dropout time is observed for all individuals. Performance is assessed under conditions where model assumptions are both met and violated. In addition, we compare the NSV to the CLM and a standard random-effects model using an HIV/AIDS clinical trial with probable nonignorable dropout. The simulation studies suggest that the NSV is an improvement over the CLM when dropout has a nonlinear dependence on the outcome. PMID:22101223

MRP (materiel requirements planning) II implementation: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheldon, D

1994-05-01

Manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) is a powerful and effective business planning template on which to build a continuous improvement culture. MRP II, when successfully implemented, encourages a disciplined yet nonthreatening environment centered on measurement and accountability. From the education that accompanies an MRP II implementation, the employees can better understand the vision and mission of the organization. This common goal keeps everyone's energy directed toward the same final objective. The Raymond Corporation is a major materiels handling equipment manufacturer headquartered in Greene, New York, with class "A" MRP II manufacturing facilities in Greene and Brantford, Ontario and an aftermark distribution facility in East Syracuse, New York. Prior to the implementation of MRP II in its Greene plant (from 1988 through 1990) good intentions and hard work were proving to be less than necessary to compete in the global market. Certified class "A" in February 1990. The Raymond Corporation has built a world-class organization from these foundations.

Specific features of the social innovations implementation in contemporary Russian organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A S Dudnik

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The scientific literature defines innovation as a novelty created with the latest scientific achievements and introduced to the market or implemented in practical activities, embodied in new goods (works, services or processes. Despite a variety of literature on innovation, unfortunately, there is no unambiguous definition of the term, and this generates different problems such as determining the scope of innovative activities or the focus of business processes while implementing innovations, etc. This fact leads to a decrease in the efficiency of innovations and to mismatches of various stakeholders’ actions. The author believes that one of the reasons is the difference in approaches to the implementation of innovations in the theory and practice of social management and legal regulation. Therefore, to increase the efficiency of social innovations implementation in Russian organizations we have to choose a relevant approach from both theoretical and practical points of view acceptable for all stakeholders. The article identifies theoretical aspects of innovations based not only on managerial interpretation of innovations, but also on legal regulations, and provides some practical recommendations for implementing innovations in Russian organizations.

Good for God? Religious motivation reduces perceived responsibility for and morality of good deeds.

Science.gov (United States)

Gervais, Will M

2014-08-01

Many people view religion as a crucial source of morality. However, 6 experiments (total N = 1,078) revealed that good deeds are perceived as less moral if they are performed for religious reasons. Religiously motivated acts were seen as less moral than the exact same acts performed for other reasons (Experiments 1-2 and 6). Religious motivations also reduced attributions of intention and responsibility (Experiments 3-6), an effect that fully mediated the effect of religious motivations on perceived morality (Experiment 6). The effects were not explained by different perceptions of motivation orientation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic) across conditions (Experiment 4) and also were evident when religious upbringing led to an intuitive moral response (Experiment 5). Effects generalized across religious and nonreligious participants. When viewing a religiously motivated good deed, people infer that actually helping others is, in part, a side effect of other motivations rather than an end in itself. Thus, religiously motivated actors are seen as less responsible than secular actors for their good deeds, and their helping behavior is viewed as less moral than identical good deeds performed for either unclear or secular motivations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Creep rupture properties under varying load/temperature conditions on a nickel-base heat-resistant alloy strengthened by boron addition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Hirokazu; Nakajima, Hajime; Tanabe, Tatsuhiko.

1993-09-01

A series of constant load and temperature creep rupture tests and varying load and temperature creep rupture tests was carried out on Hastelloy XR whose boron content level is 60 mass ppm at 900 and 1000degC in order to examine the behavior of the alloy under varying load and temperature conditions. The life fraction rule completely fails in the prediction of the creep rupture life under varying load and temperature conditions though the rule shows good applicability for Hastelloy XR whose boron content level is below 10 mass ppm. The modified life fraction rule has been proposed based on the dependence of the creep rupture strength on the born content level of the alloy. The modified rule successfully predicts the creep rupture life under the test conditions from 1000degC to 900degC. The trend observed in the tests from 900degC to 1000degC can be qualitatively explained by the mechanism that the oxide film which is formed during the prior exposure to 900degC plays the role of the protective barrier against the boron dissipation into the environment. (author)

Screening for Infectious Diseases among Newly Arrived Migrants in EU/EEA Countries—Varying Practices but Consensus on the Utility of Screening

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tommi Kärki

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Screening is one possible tool for monitoring infectious diseases among migrants. However, there is limited information on screening programmes targeted for newly arrived migrants in EU/EEA countries. Our aim was to investigate the implementation, practices and usefulness of these programmes. We conducted a survey among country experts from EU/EEA countries and Switzerland, asking whether their countries had implemented screening programmes. We also estimated the association between the implementation of these programmes and the rate of asylum-seekers in the population. Of the countries, 16 (59% had implemented screening programmes and 15 (56% had national guidelines. The rate of asylum-seekers was associated with implementation of screening programmes (p = 0.014. Screening was performed most often for tuberculosis; most commonly on holding level, and was targeted to specific migrant groups in over half of the countries performing screening. Twenty-five of all the country experts (96% considered screening among migrants useful, and 24 (92% would welcome EU level guidelines for screening. The implementation of screening programmes varied, and the practices were different among countries. Our survey suggests, that establishing EU level guidelines for screening would be useful, although they would have to take into account differences between individual countries.

Multicriteria evaluation of demand side management (DSM) implementation strategies in the Indian power sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vashishtha, Sanjay [Centre for Renewable Energy and Environmental Development (CREED), BITS, Pilani, Rajasthan 333031 (India); Ramachandran, M. [BITS Pilani Dubai Centre, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)

2006-09-15

In recent years, demand side management (DSM) has emerged as an efficient utility planning strategy for reducing capacity shortages and improving system load factors. The Indian government is adopting various policies to implement DSM programs. DSM implementation involves a variety of interests with conflicting objectives, and a range of possible implementation strategies with varying implications for effectiveness, cost, feasibility, efficiency and stakeholder acceptance. This necessitates a critical comparison of the strategies to determine a preferred strategy or combination of strategies from each specific stakeholder's point of view. The present study evaluates DSM implementation strategies from a multiobjective perspective using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eight strategies and six criteria were considered. Forty utility, regulator, and consumer stakeholders were surveyed. The most highly ranked strategies involved creating dedicated funds and providing technical support to end users for effective implementation of DSM. (author)

Estimating varying coefficients for partial differential equation models.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xinyu; Cao, Jiguo; Carroll, Raymond J

2017-09-01

Partial differential equations (PDEs) are used to model complex dynamical systems in multiple dimensions, and their parameters often have important scientific interpretations. In some applications, PDE parameters are not constant but can change depending on the values of covariates, a feature that we call varying coefficients. We propose a parameter cascading method to estimate varying coefficients in PDE models from noisy data. Our estimates of the varying coefficients are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. The performance of our method is evaluated by a simulation study and by an empirical study estimating three varying coefficients in a PDE model arising from LIDAR data. © 2017, The International Biometric Society.

Evaluasi Penerapan Standard Operating Procedure-Good Agriculture Practice (SOP-GAP pada Usahatani Padi Organik di Kabupaten Bantul

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sriyadi Sriyadi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Food security has meaning not only the availability of adequate food, but also providing security for producers and consumers and ensuring environmental sustainability for sustainable production. Organic farming systems are expected to solve the problem for realizing food security and enhancement of people's welfare. The results of research indicated that, (1 The implementation level of Standard Operating Procedure-Good Agriculture Practice (SOP-GAP of Organic Rice Farming in Bantul district was quite high, (2 The implementation level of SOP-GAP of Organic Rice Farming related to the availability of capital, the selling price and the purchase price of inputs (seeds and fertilizers, (3 The level of the farmer's decision related to the implementation level of SOP-GAP of organic rice farming, and (4 development of organic rice farming required availability of sufficient capital. In this regard the government, particularly the agriculture authority and food security agency need to disburse or facilitate capital for farmers in revolving as well as low interest loans.

WiMAX OFDM system simulation and sub-system FPGA implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elaskary, A.M.F.

2009-01-01

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been used in many wireless communication systems also it is gaining a lot of attention for the next generations of mobile communication systems. OFDM is considered a good candidate for wireless systems because it has high bandwidth efficiency and can transmit at very high data rate in multi path, interference , and fading environment. in general OFDM has widely been studied and implemented to combat transmission channel impairments, but some challenges still facing OFDM in transmission system implementation especially for recent and future applications. One of these important applications is the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system. According to the IEEE 802.16 standards, WiMAX is considered as a good solution for last mile connection at crowded areas and a high-speed internet connection to mobile vehicles with speed of up to 300 km/h. This thesis studies OFDM system in details and proposes simulink models for simulating OFDM impairments and its effects on system performance. This study has been used for building up system level and end to end WiMAX OFDM transmitter/receiver which follows published specifications in IEEE 802.16 standards using mat lab/simulink.

The Essence of Good Teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherman, Robert R.

1986-01-01

Compares and contrasts views of what constitutes good teaching in four recent books: "My Harvard, My Yale: Memoirs of College Life by Some Notable Americans" (Dubois, 1982); "Twenty Teachers" (Macrorie, 1984); "Artistry in Teaching" (Rubin, 1985); and "The Essence of Good Teaching: Helping Students Learn and Remember What They Learn" (Eriksen,…

[The myth of the good savage].

Science.gov (United States)

Yampey, N

1994-09-01

The conquest of the New World gave way to the myth of the Good Savage. For the Renaissance intellectuals, the ancient ideas about the Golden Age (an ideal society promising an unending bliss) seemed to be brought back to life at last. Sharply contrasting with the European exacerbated unrest of the time, America stood for a redeeming hope, a symbol of a better future. The myth of the Good Savage assumes people to be naturally good, but civilization has led them into the realm of violence, hatred, and cruelty. Besides being naturally good, nice-minded people, "good savages" were also useful, obedient people, most likely to be easily exploited by Europeans--a source for the historical drama to come. On the verge of freeing itself from the Spanish rule, Latin America--fighting its way toward independence, had three enlightened mentors: Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. There, again, another deep contrast arose between the abstract characteristics of Latin American aims to perfection, and people's actual behaviors. The former "good savage" became the modern "Latin American" embodying an utopia as well as a hope in his eagerness for setting up a plural, and humanized culture. The myth of the Good Savage represents a deep longing for an objectivation of the ego-ideal: it has been used, so to speak, in collective mobilizations as well as dogmatic crystallizations, to escape from ignominous realities or to project alternatives for a better socially-shared life.

Good Governance According to Islamic Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamad Ismail Bin Mohamad Yunus

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract The objectives of the professional agencies must embody provisions that promote good governance and embrace values of integrity and accountability and seek support from the public and the government of the day to provide an independent view on all matters. The universal truth is that everything should be done in the public good. Professionals form the backbone of human infrastructure in any economy, politics, social and legal growth. Their contributions through professional performance enhance the good delivery system that facilitates policies making and management for public sector. They provide the skills and talent in balancing the pursuits of maximization of services. The expression “good governance” has been constantly used lately in both public sector as well as private sector in Malaysia. In the context of a private body, it should be within the framework of the statute, which governs the body and also its constitution. In the public sector, it means that the administrators should act professionally and not to abuse or misuse the power or authority given to them. They are regarded as the trustees of the public at large. The scope of this article is on good public governance in the public sector or to be exact, good governmental administration as interpreted by the judiciary especially through its judicial review power and Islamic Perspective based on the principles of Maqasid As Shariah (Objectives of Islamic Law.   Keywords: Good Governance, Public Sector, Malaysian Law, Islamic Perspective, Maqasid As-Shariah.

International trade and investment law: a new framework for public health and the common good.

Science.gov (United States)

Delany, Louise; Signal, Louise; Thomson, George

2018-05-08

International trade and investment agreements can have positive outcomes, but also have negative consequences that affect global health and influence fundamental health determinants: poverty, inequality and the environment. This article proposes principles and strategies for designing future international law to attain health and common good objectives. Basic principles are needed for international trade and investment agreements that are consistent with the common good, public health, and human rights. These principles should reflect the importance of reducing inequalities, along with social and environmental sustainability. Economic growth should be recognised as a means to common good objectives, rather than an end in itself. Our favoured approach is both radical and comprehensive: we describe what this approach would include and outline the strategies for its implementation, the processes and capacity building necessary for its achievement, and related governance and corporate issues. The comprehensive approach includes significant changes to current models for trade and investment agreements, in particular (i) health, social and environmental objectives would be recognised as legitimate in their own right and implemented accordingly; (ii) changes to dispute-resolution processes, both state-to-state and investor-state; (iii) greater deference to international legal frameworks for health, environmental protection, and human rights; (iv) greater coherence across the international law framework; (v) limitations on investor privileges, and (vi) enforceable corporate responsibilities for contributing to health, environmental, human rights and other common good objectives. We also identify some limited changes that could be considered as an alternative to the proposed comprehensive approach. Future research is needed to develop a range of model treaties, and on the means by which such treaties and reforms might be achieved. Such research would focus also on

The Common Good in Classical Political Philosophy

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, V. Bradley

2006-01-01

The term "common good" names the end (or final cause) of political and social life in the tradition of moral thought that owes its main substance to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. It names a genuine good ("bonum honestum") and not merely an instrumental or secondary good defeasible in the face of particular goods. However, at the same time, it…

A DETAILED STUDY OF PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS FOR GOODS-SOUTH GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlen, Tomas; Ferguson, Henry C.; Grogin, Norman A.; Koekemoer, Anton; Mobasher, Bahram; Dickinson, Mark; Giavalisco, Mauro; Guo, Yicheng; Salimbeni, Sara; Lee, Kyoung-Soo; Lee, Seong-Kook; Riess, Adam G.; Nonino, Mario

2010-01-01

We use the deepest and the most comprehensive photometric data currently available for GOODS-South (GOODS-S) galaxies to measure their photometric redshifts. The photometry includes VLT/VIMOS (U band), HST/ACS (F435W, F606W, F775W, and F850LP bands), VLT/ISAAC (J, H, and K s bands), and four Spitzer/IRAC channels (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm). The catalog is selected in the z band (F850LP) and photometry in each band is carried out using the recently completed TFIT algorithm, which performs point-spread function (PSF) matched photometry uniformly across different instruments and filters, despite large variations in PSFs and pixel scales. Photometric redshifts are derived using the GOODZ code, which is based on the template fitting method using priors. The code also implements 'training' of the template spectral energy distribution (SED) set, using available spectroscopic redshifts in order to minimize systematic differences between the templates and the SEDs of the observed galaxies. Our final catalog covers an area of 153 arcmin 2 and includes photometric redshifts for a total of 32,505 objects. The scatter between our estimated photometric and spectroscopic redshifts is σ = 0.040 with 3.7% outliers to the full z-band depth of our catalog, decreasing to σ = 0.039 and 2.1% outliers at a magnitude limit m z < 24.5. This is consistent with the best results previously published for GOODS-S galaxies, however, the present catalog is the deepest yet available and provides photometric redshifts for significantly more objects to deeper flux limits and higher redshifts than earlier works. Furthermore, we show that the photometric redshifts estimated here for galaxies selected as dropouts are consistent with those expected based on the Lyman break technique.

FPGA-based real time implementation of MPPT-controller for photovoltaic systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mellit, A.; Rezzouk, H.; Medjahed, B. [Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Jijel University, Ouled-aissa, P.O. Box 98, Jijel 18000 (Algeria); Messai, A. [CRNB Ain Oussera, P.O. Box 180, 17200 Djelfa (Algeria)

2011-05-15

In this paper an FPGA-based implementation of a real time perturb and observe (P and O) algorithm for tracking the Maximum Power Point (MPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) generator is presented. The P and O algorithm has been designed using the very high-speed description language (VHDL) and implemented on Xilinx Virtex-II-Pro(xc2v1000-4fg456) - Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The algorithm and the hardware have been simulated and tested by conditioning the power produced by the PV-modules installed on the rooftop of the ''Hall of Technology Laboratory'' at Jijel University. The main advantages of the developed MPPT are low cost, good velocity, acceptable reliability, and easy implementation. However, its main disadvantage is related to the fact that for fast changes in irradiance it may fail to track the maximum power point. The efficiency of the implemented P and O controller is about 96%. (author)

Lessons learned implementing environmental regulations at non-Department of Energy sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, R.B.; Dippo, G.L.

1991-01-01

The Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program (HAZWRAP) has been involved in the implementation of environmental regulations at non-Department of Energy (DOE) facilities for > 5 years. If any common thread has been identified in working at these sites, it is that no two sites can be treated the same. Each site and its associated wastes, governing regulations, and environmental conditions are different. The list of technical lessons learned is long, and their applicability to other sites must be looked at for each specific case. That is far too large a task to undertake here. The most important lesson HAZWRAP learned is not technical. Implementing environmental regulations at non-DOE sites is not any different from implementing regulations or anything else done at DOE facilities. The key to success lies in quality, planning, and communication. Taking the time to implement a good quality program based on sound planning and open communication will ensure program success

2008 HIMSS Survey results: best practices in implementing nursing/interdisciplinary documentation systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Newbold, Susan K; Kimmel, Kathleen C; O'Steen, Randy; Morgan, Gina Sauls

2008-11-06

Health care organizations are increasingly using computer systems to support nursing care documentation; however, processes used to deploy such systems are widely varied. The purpose of this survey was to understand current practices related to implementation of computerized nursing and interdisciplinary documentation systems with the goal to establish best practice guidelines. In Spring 2007, members from the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society Nursing Informatics Working Group interviewed a sample of 15 hospitals to solicit information regarding the following processes: leadership activities, clinical transformation processes, project management activities, implementation processes, evaluation metrics, terminology and other standards used, and methods used to facilitate end-user adoption. This poster will report the results of this survey. Implications for Nurses will be discussed. The results are valuable to nursing informatics professionals who plan to implement systems and to their nursing executives responsible for the systems that are implemented.

Evaluasi Penerapan Internal Control dan Pelaksanaan Good Corporate Governance pada PT PLN (Persero Distribusi Jakarta Raya dan Tangerang

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Iswandi Iswandi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available PT. PLN (Persero Distribusi Jakarta Raya dan Tangerang have implemented Internal Control and Good Corporate Governance. The research would like to evaluate the implementation of Internal Control accordance with COSO’s criteria (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and KNKG’s criteria (Komite Nasional Kebijakan Governance. Based on research found that five components of COSO such as control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, monitoring have been implemented but unfortunately one of the component such as control activities not yet implemented properly accordance with COSO’s criteria. The company also have been imlemented GCG accordance with KNKG’s criteria but still need development through internalization GCG’s spirit among the employees because some employees still have different perception related to GCG. For example from employee stand point there’s no problem receive special gift or receive special payment from customer and have a conflict of interest when deal with public accountant.

Substantial Goodness and Nascent Human Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Shawn

2015-09-01

Many believe that moral value is--at least to some extent--dependent on the developmental states necessary for supporting rational activity. My paper rejects this view, but does not aim simply to register objections to it. Rather, my essay aims to answer the following question: if a human being's developmental state and occurrent capacities do not bequeath moral standing, what does? The question is intended to prompt careful consideration of what makes human beings objects of moral value, dignity, or (to employ my preferred term) goodness. Not only do I think we can answer this question, I think we can show that nascent human life possesses goodness of precisely this sort. I appeal to Aquinas's metaethics to establish the conclusion that the goodness of a human being--even if that being is an embryo or fetus--resides at the substratum of her existence. If she possesses goodness, it is because human existence is good.

Good soldiers and good actors: prosocial and impression management motives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Adam M; Mayer, David M

2009-07-01

Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship behaviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employees to express citizenship in ways that both "do good" and "look good." We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice-a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo.

Implementation of integrated care for type 2 diabetes : A protocol for mixed methods research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Busetto, L.; Luijkx, K.G.; Vrijhoef, H.J.M.

2014-01-01

Introduction: While integrated care for diabetes mellitus type 2 has achieved good results in terms of intermediate clinical and process outcomes, the evidence-based knowledge on its implementation is scarce, and insights generalisable to other settings therefore remain limited. Objective: This

Paying for International Environmental Public Goods

OpenAIRE

Arriagada, Rodrigo; Perrings, Charles

2011-01-01

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has ...

New varying speed of light theories

CERN Document Server

Magueijo, J

2003-01-01

We review recent work on the possibility of a varying speed of light (VSL). We start by discussing the physical meaning of a varying $c$, dispelling the myth that the constancy of $c$ is a matter of logical consistency. We then summarize the main VSL mechanisms proposed so far: hard breaking of Lorentz invariance; bimetric theories (where the speeds of gravity and light are not the same); locally Lorentz invariant VSL theories; theories exhibiting a color dependent speed of light; varying $c$ induced by extra dimensions (e.g. in the brane-world scenario); and field theories where VSL results from vacuum polarization or CPT violation. We show how VSL scenarios may solve the cosmological problems usually tackled by inflation, and also how they may produce a scale-invariant spectrum of Gaussian fluctuations, capable of explaining the WMAP data. We then review the connection between VSL and theories of quantum gravity, showing how ``doubly special'' relativity has emerged as a VSL effective model of quantum space...

Students' and teachers' cognitions about good teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Beishuizen, J J; Hof, E; van Putten, C M; Bouwmeester, S; Asscher, J J

2001-06-01

Good teachers have been studied ever since Plato described how Socrates taught by asking questions of his audience. Recent findings shed light on two characteristics of good teachers: their personality and their ability. However, more attention has been paid to teachers' practices and opinions than to students' views. The study reported here attempted to deepen our understanding of what students think about good teachers. Students of four age groups (7, 10, 13, and 16 years of age) and teachers from primary and secondary schools were asked to write an essay on the good teacher. The correspondence between conceptual items in the essays was investigated by determining the extent to which they were used in the same essays to describe good teachers. Correspondence analysis revealed two dimensions. The first dimension reflected the preference of students and teachers for describing the good teacher in terms of either personality or ability characteristics. The second dimension was interpreted as an orientation in the essays towards either attachment to, detachment from or commitment to school and teachers. Students and teachers were compared to establish the amount of (dis)agreement about what makes a good teacher. Primary school students described good teachers primarily as competent instructors, focusing on transfer of knowledge and skills, whereas secondary school students emphasised relational aspects of good teachers. Teachers, however, considered good teachers in the first place a matter of establishing personal relationships with their students. Consequently, primary school students and teachers disagreed about the characteristics of good teachers. In secondary education, disagreements between teachers and students were relatively small. The research method of collecting free essays and utilising correspondence analysis to represent conceptual items and groups of participants seems promising as long as a theoretical framework is available to interpret the

Feasibility of Implementing a School Nutrition Intervention That Addresses Policies, Systems, and Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Jacqueline J.; Linnell, Jessica D.; Scherr, Rachel E.; Ginsburg, David C.; Brian, Kelley M.; Carter, Rosemary; Donohue, Susan; Klisch, Shannon; Lawry-Hall, Suzanne; Pressman, Jona; Soule, Katherine; Zidenberg-Cherr, Sheri

2018-01-01

We conducted a process evaluation of the Shaping Healthy Choices Program, a multicomponent school-based nutrition program, when implemented in partnership with University of California (UC) CalFresh and UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE). There were positive impacts on participating students, but results varied across counties, possibly due to…

Acceptance towards Goods and Services Tax (GST and Quality of Life: Antecedent and outcome using partial least square method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arlinah Abd Rashid

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The good and service tax (GST in Malaysia was implemented in 2015 as a tax reform program to generate a stable source of revenue. This study explores the respondents’ behaviour towards GST, a week post-implementation. The partial least square (PLS modelling was used to establish the relationship between acceptance, knowledge and feelings towards GST as well as the household quality of life. There is a positive relationship between the antecedents and the quality of life. Acceptance of GST exerts a significant relationship towards feelings and quality of life. The study concludes that Malaysians, in general, accept GST that ensures a better quality of life in the future.

2008 report on the Monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

Electricity and natural gas transmission system operators (TSO) and distribution system operators (DSO) are regulated operators that provide public service functions for the benefit of the network users and the consumers they serve. Accordingly, European and French law requires that they be under independent and nondiscriminatory obligations. In particular, they must develop a good practices program which includes a range of measures to prevent the risk of discriminatory practices in network access. Pursuant to Article L.134-15 of the Energy Code, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) is publishing this year its 4. annual report on the monitoring of good practices programs and independence for electricity and natural gas system operators for the year 2008. This report is based on analysis of the 'reports on the implementation of good practices programs' submitted to the CRE by the operators in late 2008 and audits carried out by the CRE services in these companies in 2008

A Novel Time-Varying Friction Compensation Method for Servomechanism

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Bin Feng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Friction is an inevitable nonlinear phenomenon existing in servomechanisms. Friction errors often affect their motion and contour accuracies during the reverse motion. To reduce friction errors, a novel time-varying friction compensation method is proposed to solve the problem that the traditional friction compensation methods hardly deal with. This problem leads to an unsatisfactory friction compensation performance and the motion and contour accuracies cannot be maintained effectively. In this method, a trapezoidal compensation pulse is adopted to compensate for the friction errors. A generalized regression neural network algorithm is used to generate the optimal pulse amplitude function. The optimal pulse duration function and the pulse amplitude function can be established by the pulse characteristic parameter learning and then the optimal friction compensation pulse can be generated. The feasibility of friction compensation method was verified on a high-precision X-Y worktable. The experimental results indicated that the motion and contour accuracies were improved greatly with reduction of the friction errors, in different working conditions. Moreover, the overall friction compensation performance indicators were decreased by more than 54% and this friction compensation method can be implemented easily on most of servomechanisms in industry.

A Theory of Finitely Durable Goods Monopoly with Used-Goods Market and Transaction Costs

OpenAIRE

S. Huang; Y. Yang; K. Anderson

2001-01-01

We construct a dynamic game to model a monopoly of finitely durable goods. The solution concept is Markov-perfect equilibria with general equilibria embedded in every time period. Our model is flexible enough to simultaneously explain or accommodate many commonly observed phenomena or stylized facts, such as concurrent leasing and selling, active secondary markets for used goods, heterogeneous consumers, endogenous consumption patterns, depreciation, an infinite time horizon, and nontrivial t...

Good Practices for Transforming Education

Science.gov (United States)

Benavente, Ana; Panchaud, Christine

2008-01-01

This text is a guide to the reading and interpretation of the "good practices" that are developing in the countries participating in this project and elsewhere. A systematic approach to the factors making up a "good practice" has enabled us to share our analyses in a more structured manner and to reflect on their potential for…

Why Quorum Sensing Controls Private Goods

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Martin Schuster

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Cell-cell communication, also termed quorum sensing (QS, is a widespread process that coordinates gene expression in bacterial populations. The generally accepted view is that QS optimizes the cell density-dependent benefit attained from cooperative behaviors, often in the form of secreted products referred to as “public goods.” This view is challenged by an increasing number of cell-associated products or “private goods” reported to be under QS-control for which a collective benefit is not apparent. A prominent example is nucleoside hydrolase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a periplasmic enzyme that catabolizes adenosine. Several recent studies have shown that private goods can function to stabilize cooperation by co-regulated public goods, seemingly explaining their control by QS. Here we argue that this property is a by-product of selection for other benefits rather than an adaptation. Emphasizing ecophysiological context, we propose alternative explanations for the QS control of private goods. We suggest that the benefit attained from private goods is associated with high cell density, either because a relevant ecological condition correlates with density, or because the private good is, directly or indirectly, involved in cooperative behavior. Our analysis helps guide a systems approach to QS, with implications for antivirulence drug design and synthetic biology.

Circular economy practices among Chinese manufacturers varying in environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation and the performance implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Qinghua; Geng, Yong; Lai, Kee-hung

2010-06-01

The rapidly growing industrial activities in emerging economies such as China have been causing resource depletion and pollution problems. This reality requires China to adopt an integrated management approach to resolve the conflict between industrial development and environmental protection, and the concept of circular economy (CE) serves this purpose. In this paper, we examine if different types of manufacturing enterprises on environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation (ESCC) exist. We also determine if the Chinese manufacturer types varying in ESCC differ in their implementation of the CE practices towards achieving the CE-targeted goals on improving both environmental and economic performance. Our cluster analytic results with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) among the four identified types of Chinese manufacturers varying in environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation highlight the importance to intensify the cooperation with upstream and downstream supply chain partners for a CE initiative to succeed. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Everybody needs good neighbours

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffman, G. [Peabody Energy (United States)

2006-05-15

The paper outlines the possibilities for mines to work with surrounding communities to bring about effective land reclamation. Last year Peabody Energy teams reclaimed more than 5000 acres of land and planted nearly 750,000 trees, demonstrating that sustainable development is possible in a way that is compatible with environmental improvement in coal mining. The company has won over 20 awards over the last two years. The North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming earned a Gold Good Neighbour Award for promoting best practices in environmental conservation and mining education. The Black Mesa and Kayenta mines, which operate on Navajo and Hopi lands in Arizona, were honoured with a Silver Good Neighbour Award and a National Excellence in Mining and Reclamation Award. These mines partnered with the tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and local residents to give residents access to grazing land still under Peabody's control. The Farmersburg Mine in Indiana received the Bronze Good Neighbour Award for commitment to industry education and outreach activities. 5 photos.

Do effects of common case-mix adjusters on patient experiences vary across patient groups?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dolf de Boer

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many survey studies in health care adjust for demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational attainment and general health when performing statistical analyses. Whether the effects of these demographic characteristics are consistent between patient groups remains to be determined. This is important as the rationale for adjustment is often that demographic sub-groups differ in their so-called ‘response tendency’. This rationale may be less convincing if the effects of response tendencies vary across patient groups. The present paper examines whether the impact of these characteristics on patients’ global rating of care varies across patient groups. Methods Secondary analyses using multi-level regression models were performed on a dataset including 32 different patient groups and 145,578 observations. For each demographic variable, the 95% expected range of case-mix coefficients across patient groups is presented. In addition, we report whether the variance of coefficients for demographic variables across patient groups is significant. Results Overall, men, elderly, lower educated people and people in good health tend to give higher global ratings. However, these effects varied significantly across patient groups and included the possibility of no effect or an opposite effect in some patient groups. Conclusion The response tendency attributed to demographic characteristics – such as older respondents being milder, or higher educated respondents being more critical – is not general or universal. As such, the mechanism linking demographic characteristics to survey results on patient experiences with quality of care is more complicated than a general response tendency. It is possible that the response tendency interacts with patient group, but it is also possible that other mechanisms are at play.

Soil washing: From characterization to implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corden, F.L.; Groenendijk, E.

1995-01-01

Only recently has soil washing begun to be applied to remediation of contaminated soils in the US. The experience gained during full-scale and large pilot-scale projects points to the importance of soil and site characterization in correctly evaluating the applicability of soil washing to a site and determining accurate cost estimates for its implementation. This paper will discuss actual case studies of various treatability and pilot study approaches that led to successful evaluation and implementation of soil washing remedies. Soil washing is applicable to a broad variety of chemical contaminants. Target contaminants include metals, radionuclides, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and petroleum hydrocarbons, as well as combinations of these contaminants. Because the contaminants noted above are deposited in the soils in a variety of forms, the unit operations necessary to treat the soil vary. It is the diversity of the available treatment alternatives, and the ability to use the units in a variety of process flow configurations that result in a very broad definition of soil washing

Generalized Framework and Algorithms for Illustrative Visualization of Time-Varying Data on Unstructured Meshes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexander S. Rattner; Donna Post Guillen; Alark Joshi

2012-12-01

Photo- and physically-realistic techniques are often insufficient for visualization of simulation results, especially for 3D and time-varying datasets. Substantial research efforts have been dedicated to the development of non-photorealistic and illustration-inspired visualization techniques for compact and intuitive presentation of such complex datasets. While these efforts have yielded valuable visualization results, a great deal of work has been reproduced in studies as individual research groups often develop purpose-built platforms. Additionally, interoperability between illustrative visualization software is limited due to specialized processing and rendering architectures employed in different studies. In this investigation, a generalized framework for illustrative visualization is proposed, and implemented in marmotViz, a ParaView plugin, enabling its use on variety of computing platforms with various data file formats and mesh geometries. Detailed descriptions of the region-of-interest identification and feature-tracking algorithms incorporated into this tool are provided. Additionally, implementations of multiple illustrative effect algorithms are presented to demonstrate the use and flexibility of this framework. By providing a framework and useful underlying functionality, the marmotViz tool can act as a springboard for future research in the field of illustrative visualization.

19 CFR 10.594 - Originating goods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... States Free Trade Agreement Rules of Origin § 10.594 Originating goods. Except as otherwise provided in... good otherwise satisfies any applicable regional value content or other requirements specified in...

GOOD PRACTICES IN THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsy Fuentes-Garí

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The Project Network UNESCO Associated Schools (ASPnet is a project for the improvement of educational practices that implements a self-management model to achieve quality. The work presented socializes good practices used in the formation of professional children's education at the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas, with the inclusion of the objectives and priorities of ASPnet. It is a partial result of an educational research in order to achieve a general theoretical and methodological conception to insert the objectives and priorities of the network in the process of initial professional training. la-participatory action research is applied with the support of theoretical and empirical methods, including: document analysis, group interviews, observation, focus group and photographs, allowing the development of evaluative analysis and enrichment of existing theory. As significant results so far, it is evident that students expand their knowledge about transcendent global processes, take a positive position to contribute their action to sustainable development, to promote peace, to fight for human rights, respect to others and to promote intercultural learning. Show changes in their modes of action, in the university context and in their working practice, pass on their knowledge, promoting culture, environmental protection, energy savings, compliance with the law, sexuality, nutrition education, care of the physical and mental health, responsible behavior. Expressed further development of educational paraprofessionals to plan, implement and monitor strategies educational skills.

Implementation of Safeguards in Thailand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rueanngoen, A.; Changkrueng, K.; Srijittawa, L.; Mungpayaban, H.; Wititteeranon, A.

2015-01-01

Thailand is a non-nuclear weapon state. The non-nuclear activities are mainly medical, agricultural, and industrial. Therefore, Thailand ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1972 and has been entry into force of the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (INFCIRC 241) since 1974. Based on the INFCIRC 153, Thailand established a system of accounting for and control of all nuclear material subject to safeguards under the Agreement. In order to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear in Thailand the Nuclear-Non- Proliferation Center of Office of Atoms for Peace (NPC, OAP) was established to act as State level Safeguards. NPC is responsible for keeping records and providing information under requirement of Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. In addition, the strengthening of cooperation and good coordination between Thailand and IAEA are indeed important and necessary to implementation safeguards in country. Based on the report of IAEA safeguards statement, there is no indication of the diversion of nuclear materials or misuse of the facility or the items in Thailand. Up to present, nuclear activities in Thailand are peaceful without diversion of using. This paper reviews the current status of the implementation Safeguards in Thailand. (author)

System for Information Encryption Implementing Several Chaotic Orbits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiménez-Rodríguez Maricela

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This article proposes a symmetric encryption algorithm that takes, as input value, the original information of length L, that when encoded, generates the ciphertext of greater length LM. A chaotic discrete system (logistic map is implemented to generate 3 different orbits: the first is used for applying a diffusion technique in order to mix the original data, the second orbit is combined with the mixed information and increases the length of L to LM, and with the third orbit, the confusion technique is implemented. The encryption algorithm was applied to encode an image which is then totally recovered by the keys used to encrypt and his respective, decrypt algorithm. The algorithm can encode any information, just dividing into 8 bits, it can cover the requirements for high level security, it uses 7 keys to encrypt and provides good encryption speed

Good performance in nuclear projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

The nuclear industry has demonstrated good performance in many areas relating to the design, engineering, construction and operation of nuclear facilities. This report of an international symposium held in Tokyo highlights examples of good performance in nuclear projects which can aid the industry in seeking even better performance, thus strengthening the contribution nuclear energy can make to sustainable economic growth

Off-Line Robust Constrained MPC for Linear Time-Varying Systems with Persistent Disturbances

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P. Bumroongsri

2014-01-01

Full Text Available An off-line robust constrained model predictive control (MPC algorithm for linear time-varying (LTV systems is developed. A novel feature is the fact that both model uncertainty and bounded additive disturbance are explicitly taken into account in the off-line formulation of MPC. In order to reduce the on-line computational burdens, a sequence of explicit control laws corresponding to a sequence of positively invariant sets is computed off-line. At each sampling time, the smallest positively invariant set containing the measured state is determined and the corresponding control law is implemented in the process. The proposed MPC algorithm can guarantee robust stability while ensuring the satisfaction of input and output constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed MPC algorithm is illustrated by two examples.

Challenges in Implementing FP7 Projects in the Public Institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viorel VULTURESCU

2012-06-01

Full Text Available National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS and Executive Unit for Higher Education, Research and Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI participate to several projects funded under the Framework Programmes, since 1998. The staff from each the two organisations participating in projects are merely the same, typically from “international cooperation” departments. In each of the two organisations, dedicated teams were set and a distinct specialization emerged. In this respect, dedicated procedures and good practices in project management were developed. Even the Framework Programs had different structures and the focused was different (e.g. knowledge creation, EU problem solving, scientific support for policies and programs, etc., the funding instruments (projects were not radically different from a Framework Program to another, so the staff could gain experience in managing this type of projects. Experience and expertise gained during this long period of time led to definition of a general framework within the two institutions and setting up of a general guideline for participation to this type of projects. The main dimensions of this framework are: project team organization, project management process, managing results and risk, organisational framework, good practices, factors which ensure success in project implementation.The paper presents a specific framework for FP 7 project implementation and how this framework is applied by both organisations, a set of rules and procedures that should be followed by any organisation, in particular governmental ones, participating in FP 7 projects and a set of good practices developed by ANCS and UEFISCDI.

The perception of corporate services directorate in a metropolitan municipality on King III good governance compliance in business and projects

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Sly Newton Mutiro

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Good governance has been and is a growing phenomenon for many business organisations regardless of size, profit margins and purpose for existence. The South African Metropolitan municipality Metropolitan Municipality is one such organisation that has adopted good governance models to business practices. The challenge was how to effectively and efficiently implement governance issues around projects and business organisations. A number of people, committees and institutions have developed different governance frameworks that can be adopted by organisations as a guide to good governance. This research is based on King III guide to good governance. The objective was to establish the perceptions of the corporate services directorate in the South African Metropolitan municipality municipality on King III good governance compliance by interviewing some employees orally and through a questionnaire. The responses were captured and analysed using IMB SPSS software. Problems were identified in governance training and understanding in general. Another major finding was poor communication internally and externally. To overcome these shortfall recommendations were made. Communication models, communication plan, governance models and training were recommended. The major challenges facing the South African Metropolitan municipality Metropolitan Municipality are poor effective governance communication and lack of governance training.

FPGA-based implementation of a fuzzy controller (MPPT) for photovoltaic module

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Messai, A.; Mellit, A.; Massi Pavan, A.; Guessoum, A.; Mekki, H.

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → FL-MPPT controller is implemented on FPGA. → Results obtained with ModelSim show a satisfactory performance. → Results will be useful for future development in PV. -- Abstract: This paper describes the hardware implementation of a two-inputs one-output digital Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) on a Xilinx reconfigurable Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using VHDL Hardware Description Language. The FLC is designed for seeking the maximum power point deliverable by a photovoltaic module using the measures of the photovoltaic current and voltage. The simulation results obtained with ModelSim Xilinx Edition-III show a satisfactory performance with a good agreement between the expected and the obtained values.

FPGA-based implementation of a fuzzy controller (MPPT) for photovoltaic module

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Messai, A. [CRNB Ain Oussera, P.O. Box 180, 17200, Djelfa (Algeria); Department of Electronics, Faculty of Sciences Engineering, Blida University, Blida 90000 (Algeria); Mellit, A., E-mail: a.mellit@yahoo.co.u [Department of Electronics, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Jijel University, Ouled-aissa, P.O. Box 98, Jijel 18000 (Algeria); Department of Electronics, Faculty of Sciences Engineering, Blida University, Blida 90000 (Algeria); Massi Pavan, A. [Department of Materials and Natural Resources, University of Trieste, Via A. Valerio, 2 - 34127 Trieste (Italy); Guessoum, A. [Department of Electronics, Faculty of Sciences Engineering, Blida University, Blida 90000 (Algeria); Mekki, H. [CRNB Ain Oussera, P.O. Box 180, 17200, Djelfa (Algeria); Department of Electronics, Faculty of Sciences Engineering, Blida University, Blida 90000 (Algeria)

2011-07-15

Research highlights: {yields} FL-MPPT controller is implemented on FPGA. {yields} Results obtained with ModelSim show a satisfactory performance. {yields} Results will be useful for future development in PV. -- Abstract: This paper describes the hardware implementation of a two-inputs one-output digital Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) on a Xilinx reconfigurable Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using VHDL Hardware Description Language. The FLC is designed for seeking the maximum power point deliverable by a photovoltaic module using the measures of the photovoltaic current and voltage. The simulation results obtained with ModelSim Xilinx Edition-III show a satisfactory performance with a good agreement between the expected and the obtained values.

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