Comparison of robust optimization and info-gap methods for water resource management under deep uncertainty

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.This paper evaluates two established decision-making methods and analyzes their performance and suitability within a water resources management (WRM) problem. The methods under assessment are info-gap (IG) decision theory and robust optimization (RO). The methods have been selected primarily to investigate a contrasting local versus global method of assessing water system robustness to deep uncertainty, but also to compare a robustness model approach (IG) with a robustness algorithm approach (RO), whereby the former selects and analyzes a set of prespecified strategies and the latter uses optimization algorithms to automatically generate and evaluate solutions. The study presents a novel area-based method for IG robustness modeling and assesses the applicability of utilizing the future flows climate change projections in scenario generation for water resource adaptation planning. The methods were applied to a case study resembling the Sussex North Water Resource Zone in England, assessing their applicability at improving a risk-based WRM problem and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each method at selecting suitable adaptation strategies under climate change and future demand uncertainties. Pareto sets of robustness to cost are produced for both methods and highlight RO as producing the lower cost strategies for the full range of varying target robustness levels. IG produced the more expensive Pareto strategies due to its more selective and stringent robustness analysis, resulting from the more complex scenario ordering process.This work was financially supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, HR Wallingford and The University of Exeter through the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre. The authors are grateful to Dr Steven Wade, now at the Met Office, and Chris Counsell of HR Wallingford for providing data for the Sussex North case study

Self-Perceived Coordinated School Health Coordinator Leadership Styles and Practices

School-aged children’s health needs have changed over the last several decades to the present day population of many overweight and obese children with health complications (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2015). Tennessee has implemented the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) model for Coordinated School Health (CSH) in all public schools. Leading each school district’s program is a CSH Coordinator. The role of CSH Coordinators is to provide leadership to district and school administrators while effectively and efficiently implementing the CSH program (Wechsler, 2012). The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the self-perceived leadership styles and practices of Tennessee CSH Coordinators. The focus of many public health initiatives in America is childhood health. Research conducted by the CDC has shown that school health interventions have been effective in improving physical activity, comprehensive health education, and nutrition. Good health is essential for academic success (McKenzie & Richmond, 1998). CSH Coordinators are the leaders of health for school systems (Wechsler, 2012). How these individuals implement the CDC model for CSH varies based on leadership style and practices. Many studies exist on the topic of CSH but few consider the people leading the program (Strickland, 2012). By obtaining information regarding the leadership style of current CSH Coordinators, this research provides insight into best practices and continuing education for current and future leaders. The study population consisted of all 137 Tennessee CSH Coordinators. Seventy (51.1%) CSH Coordinators participated in the demographic, best practices, and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Appendix A). Findings indicated that all of the CSH Coordinators self-reported leadership style was transformational. There were no significant differences reported between the degree to which CSH Coordinator identified as transformational leaders compared by years of experience, gender, school district size, education level, and number of best practices implemented

Self-Perceived Coordinated School Health Coordinator Leadership Styles and Practices

School-aged children’s health needs have changed over the last several decades to the present day population of many overweight and obese children with health complications (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2015). Tennessee has implemented the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) model for Coordinated School Health (CSH) in all public schools. Leading each school district’s program is a CSH Coordinator. The role of CSH Coordinators is to provide leadership to district and school administrators while effectively and efficiently implementing the CSH program (Wechsler, 2012). The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the self-perceived leadership styles and practices of Tennessee CSH Coordinators. The focus of many public health initiatives in America is childhood health. Research conducted by the CDC has shown that school health interventions have been effective in improving physical activity, comprehensive health education, and nutrition. Good health is essential for academic success (McKenzie & Richmond, 1998). CSH Coordinators are the leaders of health for school systems (Wechsler, 2012). How these individuals implement the CDC model for CSH varies based on leadership style and practices. Many studies exist on the topic of CSH but few consider the people leading the program (Strickland, 2012). By obtaining information regarding the leadership style of current CSH Coordinators, this research provides insight into best practices and continuing education for current and future leaders. The study population consisted of all 137 Tennessee CSH Coordinators. Seventy (51.1%) CSH Coordinators participated in the demographic, best practices, and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Appendix A). Findings indicated that all of the CSH Coordinators self-reported leadership style was transformational. There were no significant differences reported between the degree to which CSH Coordinator identified as transformational leaders compared by years of experience, gender, school district size, education level, and number of best practices implemented

A study of computational aspects of network models for planning and control

Beginning with the PERT-CPM methodology and progressing through the more general network models, this study critically reviews the computational assumptions, results and possible errors, both by character and magnitude

Understanding the performance of water supply systems during mild to extreme droughts

This project assessed the performance of different types of public water supply systems in England and Wales in a range of droughts, including those that are more severe than the worst droughts in the historical record

A resilience-based methodology for improved water resources adaptation planning under deep uncertainty with real world application

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Verlag via the DOI on this record.Resilience of a water resource system in terms of water supply meeting future demand under climate change and other uncertainties is a prominent issue worldwide. This paper presents an alternative methodology to the conventional engineering practice in the UK for identifying long term adaptation planning strategies in the context of resilience. More specifically, a resilience based multi-objective optimization method is proposed that identifies Pareto optimal future adaptation strategies by maximizing a water supply system’s resilience (calculated as the maximum recorded duration of a water deficit period over a given planning horizon) and minimizing total associated costs, subject to meeting target system robustness to uncertain projections (scenarios) of future supply and demand. The method is applied to a real-world case study for Bristol Water’s water resource zone and the results are compared with those derived using a more conventional engineering practice in the UK, utilizing a least-cost optimization analysis constrained to a target reliability level. The results obtained reveal that the strategy solution derived using the current practice methodology produce a less resilient system than the similar costing solutions identified using the proposed resilience driven methodology. At the same time, resilience driven strategies are only slightly less reliable suggesting that trade-off exists between the two. Further examination of intervention strategies selected shows that the conventional methodology encourages implementation of more lower cost intervention options early in the planning horizon (to achieve higher system reliability) whereas the resilience-based methodology encourages more uniform intervention options sequenced over the planning horizon (to achieve higher system resilience).This work was financially supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, HR Wallingford and The University of Exeter through the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre. We thank Bristol Water for allowing the use of their data and information, which is available from their publicly available water resources management plan

Gyroscopes based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (${\rm NV^-}$) centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of the nitrogen-vacancy symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the ${\rm NV^{-}}$ electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate sensitivity in the range of $5\times10^{-3} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$ in a 1 ${\rm mm^3}$ sensor volume using a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress dipolar relaxation may yield sensitivity at the level of $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$. With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the ${\rm ^{14}N}$ hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity is in the range of $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$, however the smaller gyromagnetic ratio reduces sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several orders of magnitude. Reaching $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$ would represent an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope technologies.Comment: 3 figures, 5 page

Hybridization of seedless grapes

Complete seedlessness was not achieved in any seedless x seedless families produced. This clearly shows the seedless trait is not controlled by a single recessive gene.The percentage of seedlessness obtained was not the same for all families. This indicates the importance of parental combinations and the need for progeny testing to increase the efficiency of producing seedless offspring.All seedless genotypes used except Thompson Seedless have a seeded female parent, indicating heterogenity for seeds/aborted seeds. It will be interesting now to use seedlings from the seedless x seedless families to see if 100 % seedless offspring can be obtained.Three seedless x seedless families compared to their complementary families from seeded x seedless were significantly different for percent seedless. In ovulo embryo rescue of seedless x seedless hybrids is also advantageous as it allows direct hybridization without seeded genotypes. This eliminates the introduction of genes from seeded genotypes and one generation - a savings of 5 years. The ability to achieve complimentary crosses between seedless genotypes directly can be achieved

Development and test of advanced composite components. Center Directors discretionary fund program

This report describes the design, analysis, fabrication, and test of a complex bathtub fitting. Graphite fibers in an epoxy matrix were utilized in manufacturing of 11 components representing four different design and layup concepts. Design allowables were developed for use in the final stress analysis. Strain gage measurements were taken throughout the static load test and correlation of test and analysis data were performed, yielding good understanding of the material behavior and instrumentation requirements for future applications