99,362 research outputs found

    Energy pathways in low-carbon development

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    First release : learning and training at work 2002

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    Empirical AUC for evaluating probabilistic forecasts

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    Scoring functions are used to evaluate and compare partially probabilistic forecasts. We investigate the use of rank-sum functions such as empirical Area Under the Curve (AUC), a widely-used measure of classification performance, as a scoring function for the prediction of probabilities of a set of binary outcomes. It is shown that the AUC is not generally a proper scoring function, that is, under certain circumstances it is possible to improve on the expected AUC by modifying the quoted probabilities from their true values. However with some restrictions, or with certain modifications, it can be made proper.Comment: 15 page

    New Ways of Addressing the Psychological Traumas of War: Supplementing Traditional Social Supports to Prevent Homelessness Among Mentally Ill Veterans

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    Both nationally and in Rhode Island, there is a high prevalence of veterans in the homeless population. Many homeless veterans suffer from serious mental health issues and military specific traumas, adding to the social stigma they face. To avoid homelessness, veterans need to treat their mental illness with the assistance of their social support networks. Despite incredible advances in technology and mental health care, provision of mental health services to veterans still remains very traditional. With an influx of veterans returning from the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a greater number of younger clients will be entering the system. Because of their comfort with computers, the Internet and social networking tools, there is a natural progression for these veterans to use the Internet to support one another in their return from combat and readjustment to civilian life. To prevent isolation and encourage continued receipt of mental health services, online social support services can help veterans avoid homelessness when used as a supplement to traditional mental health treatment. A survey of nine (N=9) social workers at the VAMC showed that social workers who serve veterans would find online social supports helpful for their clients and would recommend these services as a supplement to their traditional therapeutic treatment

    Nuclear Holocaust in American Films

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    Ordinary people shudder at the thought that people in positions of power might do whatever they think they can get away with. But that is often the way it is in the real world, and the risks go even higher when opportunity is compounded with impatience. The ways of negotiation and diplomacy are not considered entirely outmoded. But more and more we are being duped by a dream of some ultimate technological fix: that one more fancy gadget is all it will take to solve the vexing problems that less well-tooled folks have been stumbling over for centuries. Our success rate, this reasoning goes, has been limited so far only by the limits on our equipment. With the new super-missile, or the new super-plane, or the new superlaunching system in space, we will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound-or, what is more to the point, just blow them away and walk across the crater. "Bombs can be clean." "Nuclearwar is winnable." The illusion of omnipotence that accompanies this megalomania is well nurtured by manufacturers who stand in line for contracts to help build some super-weapon. This should not be surprising. What at first glance is surprising is the almost total failure of our commercial media to call this myth into question. This criticism is meant to be sweeping, but I will here focus my remarks on film

    In sickness and in health: politics, spin, and the media

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    Symposium: Effects of Human Choices on Characteristics of Urban Ecosystems

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    Most urban ecology in cities remains an “ecology in cities” rather than an “ecology of cities.” Accomplishing the latter requires the inclusion of humans within the concept of “ecosystem,” both how humans alter the properties of urban ecosystems and how these alterations in turn influence human well-being. These influences are both direct (e.g., physiological and psychological influences on the human organism) and indirect, by influencing ecosystem sustainability. For the 2007 ESA meeting, Larry Baker, Loren Byrne, Jason Walker, and Alex Felson organized a symposium to address the relationships among human choices and urban ecosystems. In the introductory talk of this symposium, these authors discussed how the cumulative effect of individual household choices can have major effects on the properties of urban ecosystems. For example, direct resource consumption by households accounts for 40% of U.S. energy use; in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, households account for 75–80% of total N and P inputs. Households also have a major impact on vegetation biodiversity in cities. Drawing from the social science literature, this first talk introduced the variety of conceptual models that have been put forth to understand how humans make choices. Economists use classic supply–demand models to understand consumption of market goods (such as energy) and other tools to understand the value of nonmarket goods. Environmental psychologists have often used the Theory of Planned Behavior and related models to explain barriers to adopting specific environmental practices. Political scientists focusing on group processes stress the process by which choices are made and the distributive effects of decisions. Although ecologists often focus on how human behaviors are environmentally destructive, there are also many examples of how collective choices have had very positive environmental outcomes. These include large declines in soil erosion and smaller declines in fertilizer P use by farmers in the United States, widespread adoption of household recycling, greatly reduced household water consumption in some water conservation programs, and rapid increases in the sales of the Prius hybrid automobile in recent years. Programs leading to these positive environmental choices generally include a mix of several of the following: a persistent, meaningful message; dissemination of accurate, trusted knowledge; early adoption by trusted individuals; financial incentives or disincentives; targeting of high-consumption individuals; direct regulations; personal economic benefit and feedback. Three presenters examined factors regarding choices of managing the vegetation in urbanized landscapes. Morgan Grove from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES-LTER) discussed an “ecology of prestige” in which consumption and expenditure on environmentally relevant goods and services are motivated by group identity and perceptions of social status associated with different lifestyles, and have used this theory to examine landscaping patterns. Grove and his colleagues combined high-resolution social and ecological spatial and temporal data such as property parcels and land cover (\u3e1 m) with composite measures of population, social stratification, and lifestyle for this presentation. Fig. 1 shows the relationship between percentage tree canopy cover (height of bars) with PRIZM lifestyle classifications. Of particular interest in a long-term context is the relationship between cause and effect: the possibility that some social groups are attracted to and conserve existing, desirable landscapes at a neighborhood scale, while others move to and rehabilitate their landscapes

    Method and apparatus for operating on companded PCM voice data

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    The method and apparatus constructed in accordance with this invention permits a plurality of parties to speak to each other on a conference line with a minimum of interference. The apparatus digitizes audio signals. Each of the parties has an audio transmitter and receiver provided for transmitting and receiving audio signals. The audio signals are converted to a PCM companded eight-bit parallel signal followed by a conversion to a serial signal for transmitting to a remote location and then reconverting each of the companded signals to a first-eight-bit parallel signal. The eight-bit parallel signal is fed to one input of a pre-programmed ROM. This eight-bit signal provides one-half of a sixteen-bit address of a lookup ROM. The other half of the sixteen-bit ROM address is supplied by another suscriber over an identical circuit

    The lived experience of Dupuytren's disease of the hand

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    This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Aims: To describe patients’ experiences of living with Dupuytren’s disease. Background. Dupuytren’s disease is a chronic, progressive deformity of the hand which limits active extension of the fingers due to advancing and irreversible flexion deformity. It is estimated that two million people are affected by the condition in the UK. Nurses may frequently encounter patients with this condition in a wide range of settings. However, the disease is neglected in the nursing literature and little is known about patients’ experience of living with the condition. Design: A phenomenological approach, using Coliazzi’s method, was employed. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six men and one woman diagnosed with Dupuytren’s disease. Results. Four interlinking themes emerged. Theme 1: Awareness of Dupuytren’s disease describes participants’ experiences of recognising and acknowledging the disease, which often did not occur until functional ability was restricted. Theme 2: Living with Dupuytren’s disease describes how patients coped with the disease and adapted their activities to maintain independence. Theme 3: Deciding on treatment illuminates how patients decided on treatment and highlights a lack of information and support from health professionals. Theme 4: Receiving treatment articulates participants’ experience of surgical treatment and post surgical rehabilitation. Conclusions: The findings revealed that people living with Dupuytren’s disease receive little information about their condition and possible treatment from health professionals yet high quality and accurate information is required for patients to understand their condition and the treatment options available. Relevance to clinical practice. People with Dupuytren’s disease do not always recognise their condition until it has significantly progressed. Following diagnosis they need accurate and up-to-date information about their condition and treatment options. Nurses have an important role to play in raising awareness of the disease, educating patients about its features and progression and enabling them to become active partners in decisions about treatment
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