100,565 research outputs found
Paving the Way to Simpler: Experiencing from Maximizing Enrollment States in Streamlining Eligibility and Enrollment
Since 2009, the eight states (Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin) participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Maximizing Enrollment program have worked to streamline and simplify enrollment systems, policies, and processes for children and those eligible for health coverage in 2014. The participating states aimed to reduce enrollment barriers for consumers and administrative burdens in processing applications and renewals for staff by making improvements and simplifications at every step of the enrollment process. Although the states began their work before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), their efforts positioned them well for implementation in 2014, and offer experiences and lessons that other states may find useful in their efforts to improve efficiency, lower costs, and promote responsible stewardship of limited public resources
A framework for the selection of the right nuclear power plant
Civil nuclear reactors are used for the production of electrical energy. In the nuclear industry vendors propose several nuclear reactor designs with a size from 35–45 MWe up to 1600–1700 MWe. The choice of the right design is a multidimensional problem since a utility has to include not only financial factors as levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and internal rate of return (IRR), but also the so called “external factors” like the required spinning reserve, the impact on local industry and the social acceptability. Therefore it is necessary to balance advantages and disadvantages of each design during the entire life cycle of the plant, usually 40–60 years. In the scientific literature there are several techniques for solving this multidimensional problem. Unfortunately it does not seem possible to apply these methodologies as they are, since the problem is too complex and it is difficult to provide consistent and trustworthy expert judgments. This paper fills the gap, proposing a two-step framework to choosing the best nuclear reactor at the pre-feasibility study phase. The paper shows in detail how to use the methodology, comparing the choice of a small-medium reactor (SMR) with a large reactor (LR), characterised, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (2006), by an electrical output respectively lower and higher than 700 MWe
Image-based deep learning for classification of noise transients in gravitational wave detectors
The detection of gravitational waves has inaugurated the era of gravitational
astronomy and opened new avenues for the multimessenger study of cosmic
sources. Thanks to their sensitivity, the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
interferometers will probe a much larger volume of space and expand the
capability of discovering new gravitational wave emitters. The characterization
of these detectors is a primary task in order to recognize the main sources of
noise and optimize the sensitivity of interferometers. Glitches are transient
noise events that can impact the data quality of the interferometers and their
classification is an important task for detector characterization. Deep
learning techniques are a promising tool for the recognition and classification
of glitches. We present a classification pipeline that exploits convolutional
neural networks to classify glitches starting from their time-frequency
evolution represented as images. We evaluated the classification accuracy on
simulated glitches, showing that the proposed algorithm can automatically
classify glitches on very fast timescales and with high accuracy, thus
providing a promising tool for online detector characterization.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and
Quantum Gravit
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) System for Ancient Documentary Artefacts
This tutorial summarises our uses of reflectance transformation imaging in archaeological contexts. It introduces the UK AHRC funded project reflectance Transformation Imaging for Anciant Documentary Artefacts and demonstrates imaging methodologies
How to get all trials reported: audit, better data, and individual accountability.
Reflecting on the new WHO statement on clinical trial registration and reporting, Ben Goldacre proposes simple solutions for ensuring clinical trial results are made publicly available
Managing knowledge management tools: a systematic classification and comparison
Knowledge management (KM) is playing an important role in commercial and academic activities, and people are usually armed with effective KM tools for implementation. On one hand, KM tools can facilitate KM activities; however, on the other hand, with the “explosion” of KM tools development, people may feel confused about which to choose or which is more suitable. As a result, KM tools should be managed, so this paper aims at making a systematic classification and comparison research and proposes a KM tools selection strategy based on a point of view on knowledge lifecycle
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