Computational needs survey of NASA automation and robotics missions. Volume 1: Survey and results

NASA's operational use of advanced processor technology in space systems lags behind its commercial development by more than eight years. One of the factors contributing to this is that mission computing requirements are frequently unknown, unstated, misrepresented, or simply not available in a timely manner. NASA must provide clear common requirements to make better use of available technology, to cut development lead time on deployable architectures, and to increase the utilization of new technology. A preliminary set of advanced mission computational processing requirements of automation and robotics (A&R) systems are provided for use by NASA, industry, and academic communities. These results were obtained in an assessment of the computational needs of current projects throughout NASA. The high percent of responses indicated a general need for enhanced computational capabilities beyond the currently available 80386 and 68020 processor technology. Because of the need for faster processors and more memory, 90 percent of the polled automation projects have reduced or will reduce the scope of their implementation capabilities. The requirements are presented with respect to their targeted environment, identifying the applications required, system performance levels necessary to support them, and the degree to which they are met with typical programmatic constraints. Volume one includes the survey and results. Volume two contains the appendixes

Sources of Stress, Levels of Stress, and Coping Strategies of Faculty and Staff at Northern Caribbean University

Statement of the problem. Northern Caribbean University, formerly West Indies College, attained university status in June 1999. The purpose of this study was to describe the levels and sources of stress and coping strategies of faculty and staff at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and to determine if these (levels, sources, and coping strategies) are related to selected demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, marital status, years of employment, and employment status---faculty or staff). Method. A descriptive survey research design was used to conduct this study in which the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) was administered to the facultyand staff of NCU. A demographic questionnaire consisting of three sections was also used. The instruments were distributed to the faculty and staff with letters of explanation and self-addressed envelopes to return responses. One hundred and seventeen faculty and staff participated in the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t tests for independent samples, One-way Analysis of Variance, and Canonical Correlation Analyses. Results. The subjects were mostly female (66%), staff (62%), and married (47%). Over half (57%) of the participants were recent employees (0-4 years). More than three-fourths of the participants were below the age of 50 years. In general, faculty and staff at NCU experience normal levels of stress, although 2%-6% may have experienced strong probability of maladaptive stress, debilitating strain, or both. They also have average coping resources.Although within normal range, levels of stress due to certain sources and types were related to gender, marital status, age, and length of employment. Canonical correlation analyses suggest that lower levels of stress are associated with bettercoping strategies. Conclusion. Given the tremendous changes that Northern Caribbean University has gone through during the last few years (e.g., increased enrollment with few significant increases in human resources and facilities), the result of this study was somewhat surprising. I expected higher levels of stress among the facultyand staff. This was not the case. Possible reasons could be due to commitment to the mission of the University

The Perceptions of Recent Business Graduates of The Transition Experience From The Collegiate Environment to The Work Environment

This qualitative study represents an examination of the perceptions of 18 recent business college graduates of their transition experiences from college to the workplace. The participant’s ages ranged from 23 to 28 years including 4 males and 14 females of diverse racial and ethic groups. One-on-one, semi-structured, open-ended interviews were the primary method for data collection. Using excerpts from the participants’ interviews, the data were examined and analyzed using content analysis (Patton, 2002) and educational criticism (Eisner, 1998). The data were organized into three main topics: the importance of organizational socialization, the complexity of mentoring in the workplace, and the continuation of young adult development. The findings include the newly hired graduates’ feelings regarding the support received from educators and employers in their transition into the workplace, what should be done to assist them in the transition process, and their continued optimism about their futures with their employers and their desire to succeed

A history of the social development network in The World Bank, 1973 - 2003

The paper is intended to provide an orientation to the past and present work of the Social Development network and a contribution to its future strategy. It presents a brief overview of the history of the Social Development network or family; it illustrates both continuity and change in the way it does its work; and it provides examples of what the network has done. It does so with the assumption that knowing what we have done, and done well, will help us define our comparative advantage and make better choices about future directions. Over the past fifty years a great deal has been done to understand what makes development technically, economically and environmentally sustainable. In the end, the sustainability and success of development depends on people. Making this point, demonstrating that it matters, and operationalizing its implications, will be at the core of the Bank's future work on poverty reduction, social integration and sustainable development. Finally, recent critiques of social development initiatives are not covered in this report, as they are currently being drawn together in other reports.Poverty Assessment,Health Economics&Finance,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,Economic Theory&Research,Governance Indicators

Capacity Building and Developmental Outcomes in Two English- Caribbean Countries

The purpose of this research was to examine whether capacity building and developmental outcomes would be advanced if appropriate organization structures, effective HRM systems and employee compensation policies were implemented in public service organizations in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.A historical comparative case study method was selected as the most appropriate technique for analyzing the findings and the comparison of capacity building interventions used in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago’s public services from 1980 to 2007.The analyses were undertaken following the collection of secondary and primary data consisting of elite interviews conducted between 2001 and 2009, in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago respectively, with senior public sector officers, civil service associations’ presidents, private sector HR management consultants, representatives from international development agencies and politicians in the area of public sector reform.The findings revealed that structural reorganization, employee performance management and appraisal systems, human resource training and development programmes, the implementation of employee compensation policies, the use of contract employment and HR management consultants were treated as integral components of capacity building initiatives in the attempt by governments to transform the public service for improved service delivery and the achievement of developmental objectives in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago respectively.These findings were significant since they enabled the development and design of a new capacity building model for public sector organisations in the Caribbean that could be adapted to public bureaucracies worldwide. This new capacity building model (CBM) was built on five key interconnected pillars which were structural reorganization; human resource development; employee performance management; compensation or base pay and compensation related elements

Computational needs survey of NASA automation and robotics missions. Volume 2: Appendixes

NASA's operational use of advanced processor technology in space systems lags behind its commercial development by more than eight years. One of the factors contributing to this is the fact that mission computing requirements are frequency unknown, unstated, misrepresented, or simply not available in a timely manner. NASA must provide clear common requirements to make better use of available technology, to cut development lead time on deployable architectures, and to increase the utilization of new technology. Here, NASA, industry and academic communities are provided with a preliminary set of advanced mission computational processing requirements of automation and robotics (A and R) systems. The results were obtained in an assessment of the computational needs of current projects throughout NASA. The high percent of responses indicated a general need for enhanced computational capabilities beyond the currently available 80386 and 68020 processor technology. Because of the need for faster processors and more memory, 90 percent of the polled automation projects have reduced or will reduce the scope of their implemented capabilities. The requirements are presented with respect to their targeted environment, identifying the applications required, system performance levels necessary to support them, and the degree to which they are met with typical programmatic constraints. Here, appendixes are provided

Translating an AI application from Lisp to Ada: A case study

A set of benchmarks was developed to test the performance of a newly designed computer executing both Lisp and Ada. Among these was AutoClassII -- a large Artificial Intelligence (AI) application written in Common Lisp. The extraction of a representative subset of this complex application was aided by a Lisp Code Analyzer (LCA). The LCA enabled rapid analysis of the code, putting it in a concise and functionally readable form. An equivalent benchmark was created in Ada through manual translation of the Lisp version. A comparison of the execution results of both programs across a variety of compiler-machine combinations indicate that line-by-line translation coupled with analysis of the initial code can produce relatively efficient and reusable target code

Genetic Recombination in Bacteriophage {varphi}X174

Genetic recombination in bacteriophage {varphi}X174 usually takes place early in the infection process and involves two parental replicative form (double-stranded) DNA molecules. The host recA protein is required; none of the nine known {varphi}X174 cistron products is essential. The products of a single recombination event are nonreciprocal and asymmetric. Typically, only one of the parental genotypes and one recombinant genotype are recovered from a single cell. An alternative, less efficient recombination mechanism which requires an active {varphi}X174 cistron A protein is observed in the absence of the host recA gene product

Grandparents in Kinship Care: Help or Hindrance to Family Preservation

The phenomenon of grandparents and other relatives raising children is a tradition rooted in the African American culture. However, a substantial increase in the number of relatives raising children has drawn attention to the child welfare system. Many of the biological parents are incarcerated for drugs or suffering from other social ills. Kinship care is an important component of family preservation and prevents court intervention based on child protection concerns and avoids formal placement of children in the child welfare system (Wilkerson, 1999). The child welfare system, however, is not conducive to this phenomenon. Placing children with grandparents and relatives allows them to live with people they know and trust; reduces the initial trauma of living with unknown persons; supports the transmission of identity, culture, and ethnicity; facilitates connections with brothers and sisters, and strengthens a family’s ability to provide the support they need

Flexural and Split Tensile Strength Properties of Lime Cement Concrete

This paper investigated the flexural strength and split tensile strength properties of hydrated lime cement concrete. Ordinary portland cement was partially replaced by hydrated lime at varying percentages ranging from 5% to 30%. Concrete under study was made of ordinary portland cement (OPC), hydrated lime, river sand, granite chippings and water. The test specimen were prototype concrete beams of sizes 150x150x600mm and concrete cylinders of dimensions 150x300mm. Three concrete specimens were cast for each mix ratio considered, and cured in open water tanks for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days for the beams, and cylinders respectively. Since there were 30 different mix proportions considered, a total of 360 concrete prototype beams, and 360 concrete cylinders were produced and cured before testing in tension. Maximum design strength recorded in flexure at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days were 3.08N/mm2, 3.580N/mm2, 4.910N/mm2 and 5.03N/mm2 respectively, while those recorded in splitting were 1.565N/mm2, 2.350N/mm2, 3.605N/mm2, and 3.725N/mm2respectively. It was observed that tensile strength values from the flexural test gave higher values than those of the split tensile test. Strength properties increased with curing age. Optimum replacement of OPC with hydrated at 28 days curing age was observed at 13.83% for both properties. Optimum mix ratio for the two properties studied was 0.863:0.138:2.625:5.250 at a water cement ratio of 0.58. Hydrated lime cement concrete can be used effectively for structural works at curing age of 28 days and beyond