Hasil untuk "Standardization. Simplification. Waste"

V. Grecu, Radu-Ilie-Gabriel Ciobotea, Adrian Florea

Sustainability performance assessment is a challenge for many companies due to the heterogeneity of indicators and the lack of a standardized reporting framework. This paper describes a software solution that simplifies the sustainability reporting process and is useful for decisions concerning sustainable management. We analyzed various indicators from public sustainability reports of five companies and obtained some relevant results using the tool that we developed based on mathematic algorithms and an aggregation model of different indicators. The software application calculates a Global Sustainability Index based on the proposed model of the sustainable organization described in this paper. An optimal solution is very rare in the transition towards the sustainable organization and compromises are required most frequently between environmental, economic and social aspects on the one hand and the expectations of the stakeholders on the other hand. The proposed tool helps users to cope with these challenges and takes into consideration that information is not always available and precise. Another feature offered by the tool is that besides simplifying sustainability performance assessment, it highlights low performance indicators and offers suggestions for improvement based on a genetic algorithm.

T. A. Barnes, Eliseo Marin-Rimoldi, S. Ellis et al.

Abstract The MolSSI Driver Interface (MDI) Project provides a standardized API for fast, on-the-fly communication between computational molecular sciences codes. This greatly simplifies the process of implementing methods that require the cooperation of multiple software packages and enables developers to write a single implementation that works across many different codes. The API is sufficiently general to support a wide variety of techniques, including QM/MM, ab initio MD, machine learning, advanced sampling, and path integral MD, while also being straightforwardly extensible. Communication between codes is handled by the MDI Library, which enables tight coupling between executables using either the MPI or TCP/IP methods. Program summary Program title: The MDI Library CPC Library link to program files: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/8zppf699hm.1 Developer’s respository link: https://github.com/MolSSI-MDI/MDI_Library Licensing provisions: BSD 3-clause Programming language: C, Python, and Fortran95 Nature of problem: Enabling direct communication of commands and data between independently compiled computational molecular sciences codes with minimal latency and in a manner consistent with the requirements of the MDI Project. Solution method: Inter-code communication via the MPI and TCP/IP communication protocols is implemented within the context of a library, with all choices regarding the communication protocol being made by the end-user at runtime. Messages are validated based on expected data type and length, and self-consistent unit conversions are provided. The library builds via CMake, with support for the Unix, Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems and for codes using the C, C++, Python, and Fortran languages. Additional comments including restrictions and unusual features: The MDI Library does not itself perform any scientific calculations, but instead facilitates communication between other codes. The MDI Library is a component of the larger MDI Project, which is described in more detail throughout this paper.

Jessie Anderson

J. Spjut, Ben Boudaoud, Jonghyun Kim et al.

Emergent in the field of head mounted display design is a desire to leverage the limitations of the human visual system to reduce the computation, communication, and display workload in power and form-factor constrained systems. Fundamental to this reduced workload is the ability to match display resolution to the acuity of the human visual system, along with a resulting need to follow the gaze of the eye as it moves, a process referred to as foveation. A display that moves its content along with the eye may be called a Foveated Display, though this term is also commonly used to describe displays with non-uniform resolution that attempt to mimic human visual acuity. We therefore recommend a definition for the term Foveated Display that accepts both of these interpretations. Furthermore, we include a simplified model for human visual Acuity Distribution Functions (ADFs) at various levels of visual acuity, across wide fields of view and propose comparison of this ADF with the Resolution Distribution Function of a foveated display for evaluation of its resolution at a particular gaze direction. We also provide a taxonomy to allow the field to meaningfully compare and contrast various aspects of foveated displays in a display and optical technology-agnostic manner.

William B. Decker, B. Koya, Wansoo Pak et al.

Abstract Objective: Finite element human body models (HBMs) must be certified for use within the EuroNCAP pedestrian safety assessment protocol. We demonstrate that the Global Human Body Model Consortium (GHBMC) simplified pedestrian series of HBMs meet all criteria set forth in Technical Bulletin (TB) 024 (v 1.1 Jan. 2019) for model certification. We further explore variation in head contact time (HIT) and location by HBM size and impact speed across 48 full body impact simulations. Methods: The EuroNCAP Pedestrian Protocol (v. 8.5, Oct. 2018) assesses the overall safety of adult and child pedestrians by outlining a variety of physical tests and finite element simulations using HBMs. These tests are designed to assess the efficacy of vehicle safety technology such as active bonnets. The 50th percentile male simplified pedestrian model (M50-PS, H:175 cm, W:74.5 kg), six-year-old (6YO-PS, H:117 cm, W:23.4 kg), 5th percentile female (F05-PS, H:150 cm, W:50.7 kg), and 95th percentile male (M95-PS, H:190 cm, W:102 kg) were simulated through the suite of cases totaling 48 simulations (12 each). The process gathers three kinematic trajectories and contact force data from designated anatomical locations. The impacting vehicles include a family car (FCR), multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), roadster (RDS), and sports utility vehicle (SUV), all provided by TU Graz, Vehicle Safety Institute as part of the Coherent Project, each simulated at 30 kph, 40 kph, and 50 kph. Each simulation underwent a 23-point pre-simulation check and post-simulation model response comparison. The posture of all HBMs met criteria consisting of 15 measures. All simulations were conducted in LS-Dyna R. 7.1.2. Results and Conclusions: All simulations normal terminated. For each of the simulations, sagittal plane coordinate histories of the center of the head, 12th thoracic vertebrae, and center of acetabulum were compared with standard corridors and did not exceed the tolerance of 50 mm deviation. Head contact time was also compared with the reference values and did not exceed the tolerance interval of +3.5% and -7%. Comparison of contact forces was required for monitoring purposes only. The head contact time of the models for each simulation was recorded and compared by model size, impact speed, and vehicle geometry. Head contact times varied by roughly 3-fold, were lowest for the child model, and showed the greatest sensitivity for the tallest stature model (M95-PS). As stated in the certification process, other body sizes within a model family qualify for certification if the 50th percentile male model passes, provided that model sizes meet the required posture.

Y. Ye, Jian Sun

S. Prüller, C. Turni, P. Blackall et al.

J. Patrício, Y. Kalmykova, L. Rosado et al.

J. Leis, D. Baltimore, J. Bishop et al.

William B. Carey

J. H. Kuhn, bullet Yiming, Bao bullet et al.

The task of international expert groups is to recommend the classification and naming of viruses. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses Filoviridae Study Group and other experts have recently established an almost consistent classification and nomenclature for filoviruses. Here, further guidelines are suggested to include their natural genetic variants. First, this term is defined. Second, a template for full-length virus names (such as “Ebola virus H.sapiens-tc/COD/1995/Kikwit-9510621”) is proposed. These names contain information on the identity of the virus (e.g., Ebola virus), isolation host (e.g., members of the species Homo sapiens), sampling location (e.g., Democratic Republic of the Congo (COD)), sampling year, genetic variant (e.g., Kikwit), and isolate (e.g., 9510621). Suffixes are proposed for individual names that clarify whether a given genetic variant has been characterized based on passage zero material (-wt), has been passaged in tissue/cell culture (-tc), is known from consensus sequence fragments only (-frag), or does (most likely) not exist anymore (-hist). We suggest that these comprehensive names are to be used specifically in the methods section of publications. Suitable abbreviations, also proposed here, could then be used throughout the text, while the full names could be used again in phylograms, tables, or figures if the contained information aids the interpretation of presented data. The proposed system is very similar to the well-known influenzavirus nomenclature and the nomenclature recently proposed for rotaviruses. If applied consistently, it would considerably simplify retrieval of sequence data from electronic databases and be a first important step toward a viral genome annotation standard as sought by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Furthermore, adoption of this nomenclature would increase the general understanding of filovirus-related publications and presentations and improve figures such as phylograms, alignments, and diagrams. Most importantly, it would counter the increasing confusion in genetic variant naming due to the identification of ever more sequences through technological breakthroughs in high-throughput sequencing and environmental sampling.

Lingxiao Gong, Li Jun, Qing Yang et al.

S. Brinkman, F. Bakhshi-Raiez, A. Abu-Hanna et al.

O. Al-Araidah, Amer M. Momani, M. Khasawneh et al.

L. Østergaard, G. King

The genus Brassica (Brassicaceae, Brassiceae) is closely related to the model plant Arabidopsis, and includes several important crop plants. Against the background of ongoing genome sequencing, and in line with efforts to standardize and simplify description of genetic entities, we propose a standard systematic gene nomenclature system for the Brassica genus. This is based upon concatenating abbreviated categories, where these are listed in descending order of significance from left to right (i.e. genus – species – genome – gene name – locus – allele). Indicative examples are provided, and the considerations and recommendations for use are discussed, including outlining the relationship with functionally well-characterized Arabidopsis orthologues. A Brassica Gene Registry has been established under the auspices of the Multinational Brassica Genome Project that will enable management of gene names within the research community, and includes provisional allocation of standard names to genes previously described in the literature or in sequence repositories. The proposed standardization of Brassica gene nomenclature has been distributed to editors of plant and genetics journals and curators of sequence repositories, so that it can be adopted universally.

J. Wayne, R. Tyagi, G. Reinhardt et al.

D. Beddy, J. Hyland, D. Winter et al.

A. Hoben

Abstract In the wake of the 1985 famine, the Ethiopian government launched an ambitious program of environmental reclamation supported by donors and nongovernment organizations and backed by the largest food-for-work program in Africa. In retrospect, it is clear that much of this effort was wasted or counterproductive. While many factors contributed to the reclamation program's poor performance, this essay is primarily concerned with the role of a neo-Malthusian environmental policy narrative that was used by government and donors alike to justify the rapid, massive and widespread use of standardized environmental management “packages” without research on their environmental impact or their economic costs and benefits. Understanding the context in which this happened is important for key elements of the narrative still inform thinking and planning in Ethiopia. There is mounting evidence that the use of narratives in this type in environmental management programs and, more generally, in many other types of development planning is widespread and costly.

J. le Gall, A. Neumann, F. Hemery et al.

IntroductionThe standardized mortality ratio (SMR) is commonly used for benchmarking intensive care units (ICUs). Available mortality prediction models are outdated and must be adapted to current populations of interest. The objective of this study was to improve the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II for mortality prediction in ICUs, thereby improving SMR estimates.MethodA retrospective data base study was conducted in patients hospitalized in 106 French ICUs between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 1999. A total of 77,490 evaluable admissions were split into a training set and a validation set. Calibration and discrimination were determined for the original SAPS II, a customized SAPS II and an expanded SAPS II developed in the training set by adding six admission variables: age, sex, length of pre-ICU hospital stay, patient location before ICU, clinical category and whether drug overdose was present. The training set was used for internal validation and the validation set for external validation.ResultsWith the original SAPS II calibration was poor, with marked underestimation of observed mortality, whereas discrimination was good (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.858). Customization improved calibration but had poor uniformity of fit; discrimination was unchanged. The expanded SAPS II exhibited good calibration, good uniformity of fit and better discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.879). The SMR in the validation set was 1.007 (confidence interval 0.985–1.028). Some ICUs had better and others worse performance with the expanded SAPS II than with the customized SAPS II.ConclusionThe original SAPS II model did not perform sufficiently well to be useful for benchmarking in France. Customization improved the statistical qualities of the model but gave poor uniformity of fit. Adding simple variables to create an expanded SAPS II model led to better calibration, discrimination and uniformity of fit, producing a tool suitable for benchmarking.