The Spanish Space Weather Service SeNMEs. A Case Study on the Sun-Earth Chain

The Spanish Space Weather Service SeNMEs, www.senores.es, is a portal created by the SRG-SW of the Universidad de Alcala, Spain, to meet societal needs of near real-time space weather services. This webpage-portal is divided in different sections to fulfill users needs about space weather effects: radio blackouts, solar energetic particle events, geomagnetic storms and presence of geomagnetically induced currents. In less than one year of activity, this service has released a daily report concerning the solar current status and interplanetary medium, informing about the chances of a solar perturbation to hit the Earth's environment. There are also two different forecasting tools for geomagnetic storms, and a daily ionospheric map. These tools allow us to nowcast a variety of solar eruptive events and forecast geomagnetic storms and their recovery, including a new local geomagnetic index, LDin, along with some specific new scaling. In this paper we also include a case study analysed by SeNMEs. Using different high resolution and cadence data from space-borne solar telescopes SDO, SOHO and GOES, along with ionospheric and geomagnetic data, we describe the Sun-Earth feature chain for the event.

Personnel director talking on telephone

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Credit must be given to Leinwand from Monkmeyer Press Photo Service]

Woman telephone repair worker

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Credit must be given to Leinwand from Monkmeyer Press Photo Service].

Linking the ecosystem service approach to social preferences and needs in integrated coastal land use management - a planning approach

Coastal zones with their natural and societal subsystems are exposed to rapid changes and pressures on resources. Scarcity of space and impacts of climate change are prominent drivers of land use and adaptation management today. Necessary modifications to present land use management strategies and schemes influence both the structures of coastal communities and the ecosystems involved. Approaches to identify the impacts and account for (i) the linkages between social references and needs and (ii) ecosystem services in coastal zones have been largely absent. The presented method focuses on improving the inclusion of ecosystem services in planning processes and clarifies the linkages with social impacts. In this study, fourteen stakeholders in decisionmaking on land use planning in the region of Krummhörn (northwestern Germany, southern North Sea coastal region) conducted a regional participative and informal process for local planning capable to adapt to climate driven changes. It is argued that scientific and practical implications of this integrated assessment focus on multifunctional options and contribute to more sustainable practices in future land use planning. The method operationalizes the ecosystem service approach and social impact analysis and demonstrates that social demands and provision of ecosystem services are inherently connected.

The day surgery experience from a service users perspective

Although health policy would suggest that day surgery is the best service for patients undergoing a surgical procedure, it is important to consider the patient and whether this type of service is what they want. This information can be generated through a service evaluation with the results used to inform local decision-making, changes to care delivery and improvements in patient care. This article describes the results of a service evaluation performed in a single-site day surgery unit.

Service Loyalty: An Integrative Model and Examination across Service Contexts

Marketing academics and practitioners generally agree that customer loyalty is vital to business success. There is less agreement on the factors that determine customer loyalty, particularly in service contexts. Research on the determinants of service loyalty has taken three distinct paths: 1) quality/value/satisfaction; 2) relationship quality; and, 3) relational benefits. In this research, the authors coalesce these paths to derive a model that links dimensions of customer loyalty (cognitive, affective, intention, and behavioral) with a system of determinants. The model is tested with data from varied services (airlines, banks, beauty salons, hospitals, hotels, and mobile telephone) and 3,500 customers in China. Results are consistent across contexts and support a multidimensional view of customer loyalty. Key loyalty determinants are customer satisfaction, commitment, service fairness, service quality, trust, and a construct new to service loyalty models—commercial friendship. The research contributes to the literature by providing a more complete, integrated view of customer loyalty and its determinants in services contexts.

From local scenarios to national maps: a participatory framework for envisioning the future of Tanzania

Tackling societal and environmental challenges requires new approaches that connect top-down global oversight with bottom-up subnational knowledge. We present a novel framework for participatory development of spatially explicit scenarios at national scale that model socioeconomic and environmental dynamics by reconciling local stakeholder perspectives and national spatial data. We illustrate results generated by this approach and evaluate its potential to contribute to a greater understanding of the relationship between development pathways and sustainability. Using the lens of land use and land cover changes, and engaging 240 stakeholders representing subnational (seven forest management zones) and the national level, we applied the framework to assess alternative development strategies in the Tanzania mainland to the year 2025, under either a business as usual or a green development scenario. In the business as usual scenario, no productivity gain is expected, cultivated land expands by ~ 2% per year (up to 88,808 km²), with large impacts on woodlands and wetlands. Despite legal protection, encroachment of natural forest occurs along reserve borders. Additional wood demand leads to degradation, i.e., loss of tree cover and biomass, up to 80,426 km² of wooded land. The alternative green economy scenario envisages decreasing degradation and deforestation with increasing productivity (+10%) and implementation of payment for ecosystem service schemes. In this scenario, cropland expands by 44,132 km² and the additional degradation is limited to 35,778 km². This scenario development framework captures perspectives and knowledge across a diverse range of stakeholders and regions. Although further effort is required to extend its applicability, improve users’ equity, and reduce costs the resulting spatial outputs can be used to inform national level planning and policy implementation associated with sustainable development, especially the REDD+ climate mitigation strategy.

Gaining by Giving? Peer Research into Service User and Carer Perceptions of Inclusivity in Higher Education

Service users and carers (SUAC) have made significant contributions to professional training in social work courses in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade in the UK. Such participation has been championed by government, academics and SUAC groups from a range of theoretical and political perspectives. Most research into the effectiveness of SUAC involvement at HE has come from the perspectives of academics and very little SUAC-led research exists. This qualitative peer research was led by two members of the University of Worcester’s SUAC group. Findings were that SUAC perceived their involvement brought benefits to students, staff, the University and the local community. Significant personal benefits such as finding a new support network, increased self-development and greater confidence to manage their own care were identified in ways that suggested that the benefits that can flow from SUAC involvement at HE are perhaps more far-reaching than previously recognised. Barriers to inclusion were less than previously reported in the literature and the humanising effects of SUAC involvement are presented as a partial antidote to an increasingly marketised HE culture.

O ser idoso estomizado sob o olhar complexo: uma proposta de gerontotecnologia educativa

Na presença da estomia, o idoso pode apresentar maior grau de complicações e dificuldades no processo de adaptação, talvez porque a estomia envolva significados que dizem respeito à auto-imagem e à presença/aumento de dependência. Resgatar a necessidade do autocuidado do idoso em relação à saúde é fundamental para que, no cuidado, se obtenha sua participação e mobilização diária quanto à formulação do processo educativo em saúde. Este estudo tem como objetivos identificar as características do idoso estomizado, atendido em um serviço de estomaterapia e propor uma gerontotecnologia educativa que venha a contribuir no cuidado de idosos estomizados, à luz da Complexidade, de Edgar Morin. Foi realizada uma pesquisa, com abordagem qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, tendo como local um serviço de estomaterapia, o qual possibilitou contato com fichas cadastrais e via telefone com os sujeitos e, depois, com o domicílio do idoso, no Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Os sujeitos do estudo totalizaram 4 (quatro) idosos, sendo três mulheres e um homem. Foram utilizados, como instrumento, o formulário e o ecomapa, e como técnicas, a entrevista, a observação assistemática e a gravação. Foram respeitadas as normas éticas. A análise dos dados deu-se por: 1) leitura exaustiva dos dados; 2) apresentação dos casos e seus ecomapas tendo como suporte a Complexidade de Edgar Morin; 3) redescoberta de conceitos, a priori, que ilustraram a visão do idoso com estomia: ser humano idoso estomizado complexo, saúde complexa do idoso estomizado, cuidado complexo ao idoso estomizado e sua família. Por fim, elaborou-se uma cartilha educativa, junto ao idoso, como facilitadora para o autocuidado. Quanto aos resultados, verificou-se que cada idoso estomizado está permeado por situações pontuais e, a partir disso, percebeu-se diferentes concepções recursivas e formas de enfrentamento na adaptação. A aceitação da mudança corporal e psicológica mostrou-se mais fácil, quando se verificou apoio familiar, instrução técnica anterior ou presença de pessoas conhecidas. O enfrentamento da doença e a possibilidade da morte são aspectos presentes para os idosos e que limitam suas atividades de vida diária. Assim, surgiram conceitos que contemplaram o ser humano em sua totalidade, com incertezas e significados. A visão que transcende a complexidade da estomia engloba um cuidado que busca integrar a família do idoso com estomia, estimulando-o ao autocuidado e ao acolhimento diário, reforçando a auto-estima, como estratégia de recomeço em meio a desafios permanentes: ser idoso e ter uma estomia. Lançar um novo olhar sobre a temática idoso estomizado é complexo, exigindo abordagem multidimensional das características que o envolvem. Acreditase que mudanças favoráveis poderão advir após implementação de um programa de educação em saúde que contemple a singularidade das questões que envolvem o idoso estomizado e suas necessidades.

Online MBPeT dashboard : enabling performance testing as a service in the cloud

In this thesis, tool support is addressed for the combined disciplines of Model-based testing and performance testing. Model-based testing (MBT) utilizes abstract behavioral models to automate test generation, thus decreasing time and cost of test creation. MBT is a functional testing technique, thereby focusing on output, behavior, and functionality. Performance testing, however, is non-functional and is concerned with responsiveness and stability under various load conditions. MBPeT (Model-Based Performance evaluation Tool) is one such tool which utilizes probabilistic models, representing dynamic real-world user behavior patterns, to generate synthetic workload against a System Under Test and in turn carry out performance analysis based on key performance indicators (KPI). Developed at Åbo Akademi University, the MBPeT tool is currently comprised of a downloadable command-line based tool as well as a graphical user interface. The goal of this thesis project is two-fold: 1) to extend the existing MBPeT tool by deploying it as a web-based application, thereby removing the requirement of local installation, and 2) to design a user interface for this web application which will add new user interaction paradigms to the existing feature set of the tool. All phases of the MBPeT process will be realized via this single web deployment location including probabilistic model creation, test configurations, test session execution against a SUT with real-time monitoring of user configurable metric, and final test report generation and display. This web application (MBPeT Dashboard) is implemented with the Java programming language on top of the Vaadin framework for rich internet application development. The Vaadin framework handles the complicated web communications processes and front-end technologies, freeing developers to implement the business logic as well as the user interface in pure Java. A number of experiments are run in a case study environment to validate the functionality of the newly developed Dashboard application as well as the scalability of the solution implemented in handling multiple concurrent users. The results support a successful solution with regards to the functional and performance criteria defined, while improvements and optimizations are suggested to increase both of these factors.

TGV, développement local et taille des villes. Une analyse en termes d’innovation de services

National audience

Specifications for the construction of local exhaust systems. [Abstract]

Cover title.

Fifty-Seventh Annual Report of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina 1934-35

Each year the South Carolina Public Service Commission reports to the Governor a report that includes the year's record of railroads, rates, telephone, gas, electrical and water utilities. A list of railroads and utilities and their officers is included as well as income derived.

Factors affecting vaccine handling and storage practices among immunization service providers in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Background: Improper handling has been identified as one of the major reasons for the decline in vaccine potency at the time of administration. Loss of potency becomes evident when immunised individuals contract the diseases the vaccines were meant to prevent. Objective: Assessing the factors associated with vaccine handling and storage practices. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Three-stage sampling was used to recruit 380 vaccine handlers from 273 health facilities from 11 Local Government areas in Ibadan. Data was analysed using SPSS version 16 Results: Seventy-three percent were aware of vaccine handling and storage guidelines with 68.4% having ever read such guidelines. Only 15.3% read a guideline less than 1 month prior to the study. About 65.0% had received training on vaccine management. Incorrect handling practices reported included storing injections with vaccines (13.7%) and maintaining vaccine temperature using ice blocks (7.6%). About 43.0% had good knowledge of vaccine management, while 66.1% had good vaccine management practices. Respondents who had good knowledge of vaccine handling and storage [OR=10.0, 95%CI (5.28 – 18.94), p < 0.001] and had received formal training on vaccine management [OR=5.3, 95%CI (2.50 – 11.14), p< 0.001] were more likely to have good vaccine handling and storage practices. Conclusion: Regular training is recommended to enhance vaccine handling and storage practices.

Effects of an in-service training program using the routines-based interview

The focus of this study is an in-service training program rooted in routines-based early intervention and designed to improve the quality of goals and objectives on individualized plans. Participants were local intervention team members and other professionals who worked closely with each team. This training program involved a small number of trainees per group, providing multiple learning experiences across time and various opportunities for self-assessment and monitoring. We investigated (a) the perceptions of the participants about the strengths and weaknesses of the training program, (b) medium-term outcomes of the training with a comparison group, (c) and variables associated with the quality of goals and objectives. This study involved training more than 200 professionals, and results support the effectiveness of the program in improving the quality of goals and objectives, showing the importance of the routines-based interview in producing that improvement.