Using cognitive work analysis to explore activity allocation within military domains

Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) is frequently advocated as an approach for the analysis of complex sociotechnical systems. Much of the current CWA literature within the military domain pays particular attention to its initial phases; Work Domain Analysis and Contextual Task Analysis. Comparably, the analysis of the social and organisational constraints receives much less attention. Through the study of a helicopter Mission Planning System (MPS) software tool, this paper describes an approach for investigating the constraints affecting the distribution of work. The paper uses this model to evaluate the potential benefits of the social and organisational analysis phase within a military context. The analysis shows that, through its focus on constraints the approach provides a unique description of the factors influencing the social organisation within a complex domain. This approach appears to be compatible with existing approaches and serves as a validation of more established social analysis techniques

Critical aspects of the random-field Ising model

We investigate the critical behavior of the three-dimensional random-field Ising model (RFIM) with a Gaussian field distribution at zero temperature. By implementing a computational approach that maps the ground-state of the RFIM to the maximum-flow optimization problem of a network, we simulate large ensembles of disorder realizations of the model for a broad range of values of the disorder strength h and system sizes  = L3, with L ≤ 156. Our averaging procedure outcomes previous studies of the model, increasing the sampling of ground states by a factor of 103. Using well-established finite-size scaling schemes, the fourth-order’s Binder cumulant, and the sample-to-sample fluctuations of various thermodynamic quantities, we provide high-accuracy estimates for the critical field hc, as well as the critical exponents ν, β/ν, and γ̅/ν of the correlation length, order parameter, and disconnected susceptibility, respectively. Moreover, using properly defined noise to signal ratios, we depict the variation of the self-averaging property of the model, by crossing the phase boundary into the ordered phase. Finally, we discuss the controversial issue of the specific heat based on a scaling analysis of the bond energy, providing evidence that its critical exponent α ≈ 0−

RELICS: Strong Lens Models for Five Galaxy Clusters from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey

Large scale structure and cosmolog

Disposal Critcality Analysis Methodology: BWR Benchmarks

Computer code benchmarks using commercial reactor critical (CRC) data for boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel assemblies using the SCALE and MCNP code packages have been conducted. Depleted fuel inventories which take into account actinide and fission product concentrations are used to develop reactor critical models and the associated neutron multiplication factors. Bias calculated from this integral benchmark method will be applied to the disposal criticality analysis methodology to ensure the sub-criticality of spent commercial nuclear fuel forecast for emplacement into the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. Previous CRC benchmark calculations have been performed for startup tests for Cycles 13 and 14 of the Quad Cities Unit 2 BWR. Additional benchmarking activities have been performed and applied to evaluations of beginning-of-cycle (BOC) reactor critical models for Cycles 7 and 8 of the LaSalle Unit 1 BWR. Similar to the methodology used for ensuring sub-critical margin for spent nuclear fuel shipping casks, the proposed criticality analysis approach computes the neutron multiplication factor of arbitrary fuel assemblies placed in spent fuel waste packages that represents a bounding criticality model. This is accomplished by calculating spent fuel inventories with the SAS2H sequence of the SCALE code package and computing the neutron multiplication of the spent fuel assemblies in the waste package with MCNP

Using cognitive work analysis to explore system flexibility

The presented work describes a structured approach for identifying flexible working practices in complex socio-technical systems; further, it presents a framework for the elicitation of design changes capable of increasing system adaptability. The proposed approach uses the first three phases of the cognitive work analysis framework: work domain analysis; control task analysis; and strategies analysis. Functions are extracted from an abstraction hierarchy; these are then explored in a number of different situations using a contextual activity template. These functions are then explored in greater detail with the strategies analysis phase. The contextual activity template is used to identify situations where functions are unable to perform; in order to increase the flexibility of the system, new strategies are then proposed and represented in strategies analyses flow diagrams. To communicate the approach, it is introduced using the familiar, domestic domain of an 'Apple iPod'. The paper presents a structured approach based upon cognitive work analysis for exploring system flexibility. The case study presented, an Apple iPod, shows how design changes to the system can be informed by this approach. This paper takes an existing approach and clarifies the link between analysis and design

Emerg Infect Dis

The recognition of genital chlamydial infection as an important public health problem was made first by the recognition of its role in acute clinical syndromes, as well as in serious reproductive and ocular complications, and secondly by our awareness of its prevalence when diagnostic tests became widely accessible. The recent availability of effective single dose oral antimicrobial therapy and sensitive molecular amplification tests that allow the use of noninvasive specimens for diagnosis and screening is expected to have a major impact in reducing the prevalence of disease in the next decade. Clinical manifestations associated with Chlamydia pneumoniae infection continue to emerge beyond respiratory illness. In particular, its association with atherosclerosis deserves further investigation. Chlamydia pecorum, a pathogen of ruminants, was recently recognized as a new species. The continued application of molecular techniques will likely elucidate an expanding role for chlamydiae in human and animal diseases, delineate the phylogenetic relationships among chlamydial species and within the eubacteria domain, and provide tools for detection and control of chlamydial infections