1,108 research outputs found
Singular vectors for the algebras
In this paper, we use free field realisations of the A-type principal, or
Casimir, algebras to derive explicit formulae for singular vectors in
Fock modules. These singular vectors are constructed by applying screening
operators to Fock module highest weight vectors. The action of the screening
operators is then explicitly evaluated in terms of Jack symmetric functions and
their skew analogues. The resulting formulae depend on sequences of pairs of
integers that completely determine the Fock module as well as the Jack
symmetric functions.Comment: 18 page
My private cloud--granting federated access to cloud resources
We describe the research undertaken in the six month JISC/EPSRC funded My Private Cloud project, in which we built a demonstration cloud file storage service that allows users to login to it, by using their existing credentials from a configured trusted identity provider. Once authenticated, users are shown a set of accounts that they are the owners of, based on their identity attributes. Once users open one of their accounts, they can upload and download files to it. Not only that, but they can then grant access to their file resources to anyone else in the federated system, regardless of whether their chosen delegate has used the cloud service before or not. The system uses standard identity management protocols, attribute based access controls, and a delegation service. A set of APIs have been defined for the authentication, authorisation and delegation processes, and the software has been released as open source to the community. A public demonstration of the system is available online
Improving access to health services â Challenges in Lean application
Purpose: Healthcare organisations face significant productivity pressures and are undergoing major
service transformation. This paper serves to disseminate findings from a Lean healthcare project
using a NHS Single Point of Access environment as the case study. It demonstrates the relevance
and extent that Lean can be applied to this type of healthcare service setting.
Design/methodology/approach: Action research was applied and Lean tools used to establish
current state processes, identify wastes and develop service improvement opportunities based upon
defined customer values.
Findings: The quality of referral information was found to be the root cause of a number of process
wastes and causes of failure for the service. Understanding the relationship and the nature of
interaction between the serviceâs customer/supplier led to more effective and sustainable service
improvement opportunities and the co-creation of value. It was also recognised that not all the Lean
principles could be applied to this type of healthcare setting.
Practical implications: The study is useful to organisations using Lean to undertake service
improvement activities. The paper outlines how extending the value stream beyond the organisation
to include suppliers can lead to improved co-production and generation of service value.
Originality/value: The study contributes to service productivity research by demonstrating the
relevance and limitations of Lean application in a new healthcare service setting. The case study
demonstrates the practical challenges of implementing Lean in reciprocal service design models and
adds validity to existing contextual models
Enabling the Autonomic Management of Federated Identity Providers
The autonomic management of federated authorization infrastructures (federations) is seen as a means for improving the monitoring and use of a service providerâs resources. However, federations are comprised of independent management domains with varying scopes of control and data ownership. The focus of this paper is on the autonomic management of federated identity providers by service providers located in other domains, when the identity providers have been diagnosed as the source of abuse. In particular, we describe how an autonomic controller, external to the domain of the identity provider, exercises control over the issuing of privilege attributes. The paper presents a conceptual design and implementation of an effector for an identity provider that is capable of enabling cross-domain autonomic management. The implementation of an effector for a SimpleSAMLphp identity provider is evaluated by demonstrating how an autonomic controller, together with the effector, is capable of responding to malicious abuse
Lean Thinking: Theory, Application and Dissemination
This book was written and compiled by the University of Huddersfield to share the learnings and experiences of seven years of Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) and Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) funded projects with the
National Health Service (NHS). The focus of these
projects was the implementation of Lean thinking and optimising strategic decision making processes. Each of these projects led to major local improvements and this book explains how they were achieved and compiles the lessons learnt. The book is split into three chapters; Lean Thinking Theory, Lean Thinking Applied and Lean Thinking Dissemination
Optimizing Release from Reservoir Microcapsules
Cytomegalovrius (CMV) retinitis is a common symptom of vision loss found in 20-30% of all acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) sufferers. While there are no drugs that can cure permanent retinal damage by CMV, the drug ganciclovir has demonstrated efficacy against human cytomegalovirus infections and has been considered a first-line therapy in the treatment of sight-threatening cytomegalovirus infection in immune-compromised patients. The FDA-approved Vitrasert? implant, which is inserted at a localized region of the eye, is the current method of delivering ganciclovir intraocularly to patients with CMV. The Vitrasert? is a disc-like reservoir microcapsule that encapsulates ganciclovir in a polymer-based system. Maintaining a constant level of drug in the infected eye region is an important requirement in the design of this implant. The more constant the rate of drug release from the microcapsule, the more effective the drug will be. The objective of our model is to measure the diffusion of the ganciclovir release from the Vitrasert? into the surrounding tissue and to ensure toxic levels of the drug is not sustained. To accomplish this objective, the implant is simplified via axis-symmetry from a 3-D cylinder into a 2-D rectangle with homogeneous material properties, while the skin is reduced to a quarter-circle around our capsule. With our model, we are able to optimize the characteristics of the microcapsule to facilitate near constant drug release, which would be beneficial for many pharmaceuticals working with drug release from reservoir microcapsules
Cycle to Cycle Manufacturing Process Control
Most manufacturing processes produce parts that can only be correctly measured after the process cycle has been completed. Even if in-process measurement and control is possible, it is often too expensive or complex to practically implement. In this paper, a simple control scheme based on output measurement and input change after each processing cycle is proposed. It is shown to reduce the process dynamics to a simple gain with a delay, and reduce the control problem to a SISO discrete time problem. The goal of the controller is to both reduce mean output errors and reduce their variance. In so doing the process capability (e.g. Cpk) can be increased without additional investment in control hardware or in-process sensors. This control system is analyzed for two types of disturbance processes: independent (uncorrelated) and dependent (correlated). For the former the closed-loop control increased the output variance, whereas for the latter it can decrease it significantly. In both cases, proper controller design can reduce the mean error to zero without introducing poor transient performance. These finding were demonstrated by implementing Cycle to Cycle (CtC) control on a simple bending process (uncorrelated disturbance) and on an injection molding process (correlated disturbance). The results followed closely those predicted by the analysis.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA
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