A Framework for Intranet-Based Information Systems (I-BIS) Applications

A recent survey of business executives showed that of 169 decision makers who responded to a survey by the Business Research Group, over fifty percent have either already implemented an internal web site or are in the process of developing such a site (Engler, 1996). These results were similar to those reported in InformationWeek, which showed that 49% of those firms responding to the survey already had direct Internet access for their employees. According to this same survey, this figure is expected to increase to 67% of these same firms by the spring of 1997 with another 10% of the firms testing the viability of such a connectivity policy (Yankelovich, 1996). Gantz (1986) reported that the microcomputer had achieved the same level of penetration into the corporate world (in terms of the percentage of employees with desktop access) in ten years that the telephone required 75 years to achieve. With these systems increasingly tied together in local or wide area networks, it is likely that a comparable level of penetration of Intranet-Based Information System (I-BIS) will occur in an even shorter time span. The rapid proliferation of network communication technology points to a need to measure how and where these systems are being implemented, and what results are being achieved. Recently published reports concerning Intranet-Based Information Systems (I-BIS) have cited return on investment values exceeding 1300% and direct payback time periods of six to twelve weeks (Campbell, 1996). While these systems have already been widely accepted and implemented, scant attention has been paid to rigorous research in relation to users\u27 acceptance and utilization of these systems or the perceived quality of these system

Sport in the city: measuring economic significance at the local level

In many cities throughout Europe, sport is increasingly being used as a tool for economic revitalisation. While there has been a growth in literature relating to the specific economic impacts of sports-led development, including professional sport facilities, teams, and sport events, limited research has been undertaken on the contribution of the whole sport sector to output and employment. In the United Kingdom (UK), studies have focused on evaluating sport-related economic activity at the national level, yet despite the increasing use of sport for local economic development little research has been undertaken at the city level. To address this situation, this article uses the National Income Accounting framework to measure the economic importance of sport in Sheffield, UK. It shows that the value-added in 1996/97 was 165.61m or 4.11% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), approximately twice the amount predicted from current national estimates. It is argued that this can primarily be explained by previous studies under-estimating the economic importance of sport, largely due to methodological differences. It goes on to suggest that future research on the significance of sport should be undertaken at the local level to provide policymakers with information at the spatial level where regeneration programmes are being implemented.</p

Modeling the spectrum of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object)

Theoretical spectral energy distributions were computed for a grid of hydrogen-deficient and carbon-rich model atmospheres of T(eff) in the range of 5000-6250 K and log g = 1.0 - 0.0 by the technique of opacity sampling, taking into account continuous, molecular band and atomic line absorption. These energy distributions were compared with the spectrum of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's object) of April, 1997 in the wavelength interval 300-1000 nm. We show that (1) the shape of the theoretical spectra depends strongly on T(eff) but only very weakly on the hydrogen abundance; (2) the comparison of the observed and computed spectra permits to estimate T(eff) approximately 5500 K for V4334 Sgr in April, 1997, and its interstellar reddening (plus a possible circumstellar contribution) E(B-V) approximately 0.70.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Low Temperature Opacities

Previous computations of low temperature Rosseland and Planck mean opacities from Alexander & Ferguson (1994) are updated and expanded. The new computations include a more complete equation of state with more grain species and updated optical constants. Grains are now explicitly included in thermal equilibrium in the equation of state calculation, which allows for a much wider range of grain compositions to be accurately included than was previously the case. The inclusion of high temperature condensates such as Al$_2$O$_3$ and CaTiO$_3$ significantly affects the total opacity over a narrow range of temperatures before the appearance of the first silicate grains. The new opacity tables are tabulated for temperatures ranging from 30000 K to 500 K with gas densities from 10$^{-4}$ g cm$^{-3}$ to 10$^{-19}$ g cm$^{-3}$. Comparisons with previous Rosseland mean opacity calculations are discussed. At high temperatures, the agreement with OPAL and Opacity Project is quite good. Comparisons at lower temperatures are more divergent as a result of differences in molecular and grain physics included in different calculations. The computation of Planck mean opacities performed with the opacity sampling method are shown to require a very large number of opacity sampling wavelength points; previously published results obtained with fewer wavelength points are shown to be significantly in error. Methods for requesting or obtaining the new tables are provided.Comment: 39 pages with 12 figures. To be published in ApJ, April 200

A Case Study in the Future Challenges in Electricity Grid Infrastructure

The generation by renewables and the loading by electrical vehicle charging imposes severe challenges in the redesign of today’s power supply systems. Indeed, accommodating these emerging power sources and sinks requires traditional power systems to evolve from rigid centralized unidirectional architectures to intelligent decentralized entities allowing a bidirectional power flow. In the case study proposed by ENDINET, we investigate how the penetration of solar panels and of battery charging stations on large scale affects the voltage quality and loss level in a distribution network servicing a residential area in Eindhoven, NL. In our case study we take the average household load during summer and winter into account and consider both a radial and meshed topology of the network. Our study results for both topologies considered in a quantification of the levels of penetration and a strategy for electrical vehicle loading strategy that meet the voltage and loss requirements in the network

A Case Study in the Future Challenges in Electricity Grid Infrastructure

The generation by renewables and the loading by electrical vehicle charging imposes severe challenges in the redesign of today’s power supply systems. Indeed, accommodating these emerging power sources and sinks requires traditional power systems to evolve from rigid centralized unidirectional architectures to intelligent decentralized entities allowing a bidirectional power flow. In the case study proposed by ENDINET, we investigate how the penetration of solar panels and of battery charging stations on large scale affects the voltage quality and loss level in a distribution network servicing a residential area in Eindhoven, NL. In our case study we take the average household load during summer and winter into account and consider both a radial and meshed topology of the network. Our study results for both topologies considered in a quantification of the levels of penetration and a strategy for electrical vehicle loading strategy that meet the voltage and loss requirements in the network

Partial differential equations for self-organization in cellular and developmental biology

Understanding the mechanisms governing and regulating the emergence of structure and heterogeneity within cellular systems, such as the developing embryo, represents a multiscale challenge typifying current integrative biology research, namely, explaining the macroscale behaviour of a system from microscale dynamics. This review will focus upon modelling how cell-based dynamics orchestrate the emergence of higher level structure. After surveying representative biological examples and the models used to describe them, we will assess how developments at the scale of molecular biology have impacted on current theoretical frameworks, and the new modelling opportunities that are emerging as a result. We shall restrict our survey of mathematical approaches to partial differential equations and the tools required for their analysis. We will discuss the gap between the modelling abstraction and biological reality, the challenges this presents and highlight some open problems in the field

Risk and protective factors for self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

Introduction Self-harm and suicide are major public health concerns among children and adolescents. Many risk and protective factors for suicide and self-harm have been identified and reported in the literature. However, the capacity of these identified risk and protective factors to guide assessment and management is limited due to their great number. This protocol describes an ongoing systematic review and meta-analysis which aims to examine longitudinal studies of risk factors for self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents, to provide a comparison of the strengths of association of the various risk factors for self-harm and suicide and to shed light on those that require further investigation. Methods and analysis We perform a systematic search of the literature using the databases EMBASE, PsycINFO, Medline, CINAHL and HMIC from inception up to 28 October 2020, and the search will be updated before the systematic review publication. Additionally, we will contact experts in the field, including principal investigators whose peer-reviewed publications are included in our systematic review as well as investigators from our extensive research network, and we will search the reference lists of relevant reviews to retrieve any articles that were not identified in our search. We will extract relevant data and present a narrative synthesis and combine the results in meta-analyses where there are sufficient data. We will assess the risk of bias for each study using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and present a summary of the quantity and the quality of the evidence for each risk or protective factor. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval will not be sought as this is a systematic review of the literature. Results will be published in mental health journals and presented at conferences focused on suicide prevention

The identification of HCN and HNC in Carbon Stars: Model Atmospheres, Synthetic Spectra and Fits to Observations in the 2.7-4.0 micron Region

Model carbon star atmospheres and synthetic spectra have been calculated using the recent HCN/HNC vibration rotation linelist of Harris et al. (2002) ApJ, 578, 657. The calculations are repeated using only HCN lines and show that HNC has a significant effect upon the temperature, density and optical depth of a stellar atmosphere. We fit synthetic spectra in the 2.7-4.0 micron region to observed ISO spectra of the carbon stars WZ Cas and TX Psc obtained by Aoki et al. (1998), A&A, 340, 222. These fits allow us to identify absorption by HNC in the spectrum of WZ Cas at 2.8-2.9 microns, and to determine new independent estimates of effective temperature and log(Nc)/log(No). The findings reported here indicate that absorption by both HCN and HNC is needed to fully explain the observed stellar spectra and represent the first identification of HNC in a star. Q branch absorption by the HCN $\Delta v_2=1$, $\Delta v_3=1$ and $\Delta v_1=1$, $\Delta v_2=-1$ bands at 3.55 and 3.86 microns respectively, are identified in the spectrum of WZ Cas.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure