Life-cycle cost analysis task summary

The DSN life cycle cost (LCC) analysis methodology was completed. The LCC analysis methodology goals and objectives are summarized, as well as the issues covered by the methodology, its expected use, and its long range implications

Keynesian and new classical models of unemployment revisited

Economics;Unemployment

Validation of the communications link analysis and simulation system (CLASS)

CLASS (Communication Link Analysis and Simulation System) is a software package developed for NASA to predict the communication and tracking performance of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) services. The methods used to verify CLASS are described. The usefulness of a software tool such as CLASS depends strongly on the reliability and accuracy of the results it produces. For this reason, considerable attention was paid to validation throughout the CLASS development

Hedging Effectiveness around USDA Crop Reports

It is well documented that “unanticipated” information contained in USDA crop reports induces large price reactions in corn and soybean markets. Thus, a natural question that arises from this literature is: To what extent are futures hedges able to remove or reduce increased price risk around report release dates? This paper addresses this question by simulating daily futures returns, daily cash returns and daily hedged returns around report release dates for two storable commodities (corn and soybeans) in two market settings (North Central Illinois and Memphis Tennessee). Various risk measures, including “Value at Risk,” are used to determine hedging effectiveness, and “Analysis of Variance” is used to uncover the underlying factors that contribute to hedging effectiveness.Agribusiness, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Australian coder workforce survey 2002 - managers’ responses

In 1994–5, the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) Ltd conducted a nation-wide survey of clinical coders working in Australian hospitals. The survey (National Coder Workforce Issues Project (NCWIP) funded by the then Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health) provided baseline data about the coder workforce in terms of its size, the educational backgrounds of coders, circumstances relating to their employment and their needs in terms of continuing support and training. Importantly, the survey was conducted before casemix-based classification and funding had been implemented by all states and territories. It has now been nearly eight years since the original survey was conducted and casemix is in use in some form in all states and territories

Charge Distribution Near Oxygen Vacancies in Reduced Ceria

Understanding the electronic charge distribution around oxygen vacancies in transition metal and rare earth oxides is a scientific challenge of considerable technological importance. We show how significant information about the charge distribution around vacancies in cerium oxide can be gained from a study of high resolution crystal structures of higher order oxides which exhibit ordering of oxygen vacancies. Specifically, we consider the implications of a bond valence sum analysis of Ce$_{7}$O$_{12}$ and Ce$_{11}$O$_{20}$. To illuminate our analysis we show alternative representations of the crystal structures in terms of orderly arrays of co-ordination defects and in terms of flourite-type modules. We found that in Ce$_{7}$O$_{12}$, the excess charge resulting from removal of an oxygen atom delocalizes among all three triclinic Ce sites closest to the O vacancy. In Ce$_{11}$O$_{20}$, the charge localizes on the next nearest neighbour Ce atoms. Our main result is that the charge prefers to distribute itself so that it is farthest away from the O vacancies. This contradicts \emph{the standard picture of charge localisation} which assumes that each of the two excess electrons localises on one of the cerium ions nearest to the vacancy. This standard picture is assumed in most calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). Based on the known crystal structure of Pr$_{6}$O$_{11}$, we also predict that the charge in Ce$_{6}$O$_{11}$ will be found in the second coordination shell of the O vacancy. Although this review focuses on bulk cerium oxides our approach to characterising electronic properties of oxygen vacancies and the physical insights gained should also be relevant to surface defects and to other rare earth and transition metal oxides.Comment: 20 pages, 23 figures. The replacement file has a new format for the figures are the document layout but no change in content. v3 has the following main changes: 1. The abstract and introduction were extensively revised. 2. Sec. IV was removed. 3. The Conclusion was rewritte