Review of Automated Vehicle Technology: Policy and Implementation Implications; Version 1.0; RB28-015, 2016

This report provides recommendations for the state of Iowa over the next five years in regards to automated vehicle policy development. These administrative, planning, legal, and community strategy recommendations for government agencies include: • Encouraging automation by preparing government agencies, infrastructure, leveraging procurement, and advocating for safety mandates • Adjusting long range planning processes by identifying and incorporating a wide range of new automation scenarios • Beginning to analyze and, as necessary, clarify existing law as it apples to automated driving • Auditing existing law • Enforcing existing laws • Ensuring vehicle owners and operators bear the true cost of driving • Embracing flexibility by giving agencies the statutory authority to achieve regulatory goals through different means, allowing them to make small-scale exemptions to statutory regimes and clarifying their enforcement discretion • Thinking locally and preparing publicly • Sharing the steps being taken to promote (as well as to anticipate and regulate) automated driving • Instituting public education about automated vehicle technologies.

Development of Evaluation, Rehabilitation, and Strengthening Concepts for Low Volume Bridges, Phase I Progress Report, HR-323, 1990

The primary objective of this project is to develop a design manual that would aid the county or municipal engineer in making structurally sound bridge strengthening or replacement decisions. The contents of this progress report are related only to Phase I of the study and deal primarily with defining the extent of the bridge problem in Iowa. In addition, the types of bridges to which the manual should be directed have been defined.

Provision of supplementary materials in Library and Information Science scholarly journals

Purpose This study seeks to analyse the policies of library and information science (LIS) journals regarding the publication of supplementary materials, the number of journals and articles that include this feature, the kind of supplementary materials published with regard to their function in the article, the formats employed and the access provided to readers. Design/methodology/approach The study analysed the instructions for authors of LIS journals indexed in the ISI Journal Citation Reports, as well as the supplementary materials attached to the articles published in their 2011 online volumes. Findings Large publishers are more likely to have a policy regarding the publication of supplementary materials, and policies are usually homogeneous across all the journals of a given publisher. Most policies state the acceptance of supplementary materials, and even journals without a policy also publish supplementary materials. The majority of supplementary materials provided in LIS articles are extended methodological explanations and additional results in the form of textual information in PDF or Word files. Some toll-access journals provide open access to any reader to these files. Originality/value This study provides new insights into the characteristics of supplementary materials in LIS journals. The results may be used by journal publishers to establish a policy on the publication of supplementary materials and, more broadly, to develop data sharing initiatives in academic settings.

Net Neutrality and other challenges for the future of the Internet. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, 11-12 July, 2011

Peer-reviewed

Microclimate and development of 'Conilon' coffee intercropped with rubber trees

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of intercropping 'Conilon' coffee (Coffea canephora) with rubber trees on coffee tree microclimate, nutrition, growth, and yield. Rubber trees were planted in two double rows 33 m apart, with 4x2.3 m spacing between plants. Treatments consisted of the distances from the coffee plants to the rubber trees: 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 m. Measurements of atmospheric variables (temperature, irradiance, and relative humidity), leaf nutrient concentration, internode length of plagiotropic and orthotropic branches, individual leaf area, chlorophyll content, and yield were performed. Intercropping promotes changes in the microclimatic conditions of coffee plants close to rubber trees, with reduction of temperature and irradiance level and increase in air relative humidity. The proximity of the coffee tree to the rubber trees promotes the elongation of the plagiotropic and orthotropic branches and increases the individual leaf area; however, it does not affect leaf concentrations of N, K, Mg, Fe, Zn, and B in 'Conilon' coffee and does not have a negative impact on yield.

Growth and energy metabolism of Nile tilapia juveniles fed glycerol

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of inclusion of dietary glycerol in replacement to starch on the growth and energy metabolism of Nile tilapia juveniles. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with four treatments (0, 5, 10, and 15% purified glycerol) and six replicates. Pelleted, isonitrogenous, and isocaloric diets were provided for 60 days. Growth performance parameters and muscle glucose and protein concentrations were not affected by dietary glycerol levels. The treatment with 15% glycerol presented higher levels of muscle and liver triglycerides. A quadratic effect of treatments on muscle and liver triglyceride concentrations was observed. The treatment with 0% glycerol presented higher hepatic glucose levels than the one with 15%. Treatments did not differ for concentrations of liver protein, as well as of plasma glucose, triglycerides, and protein. Treatments with 10 and 15% glycerol showed higher activity of the glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase enzyme than the treatment with 5%; however, there were no significant differences in the hepatic activities of the malic and glycerol kinase enzymes. A linear positive effect of treatments was observed on the activity of the glycerol kinase enzyme in liver. Levels of glycerol inclusion above 10% in the diet of Nile tilapia juveniles characterize it as a lipogenic nutrient.

Involvement of family physicians in structured programs for chronic diseases or multi-morbidity in Switzerland.

The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity represents challenges for health systems worldwide. In that perspective, the current organization of healthcare delivery, fragmentation of care, limited use of evidence-based guidelines and patients'insufficient empowerment are some reasons explaining the current limited effectiveness of the management of chronically ill patients. Based on theoretical models such as the Chronic Care Model (CCM), initiatives targeting improvements in the care of patients with chronic diseases have been implemented worldwide since more than a decade. Their development in Switzerland, a health system where more than half of practices are still single handed [6], is only recent and infrequent. Structured programs for patients with chronic diseases or multimorbidity usually propose patient-centered interventions and consider an integrative multidisciplinary approach. Currently, little is known on the existence of such programs and on the role of family physicians (FPs)within these programs, in Switzerland. The objective of this study was to identify and describe current structured programs targeting chronic diseases or multi-morbidity in Switzerland. This may help in examining innovative approaches that are only developed locally but would deserve wider interest for further implementation. We conducted a telephone-based survey between June and November 2013 and contacted systematically key institutions, informants and stakeholders nationwide and in the 26 cantons...

Metabolic responses of guava trees irrigated withdifferent N and K levels in São Francisco Valley

The guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Paluma has been cultivated in São Francisco Valley, Northeastern of Brazil, for in natura consumption and processing purposes. In spite of its importance, there are few scientific knowledge regarding guava physiology, nutrition, irrigation and fertigation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of weather conditions and different concentrations of N and K applied by fertigation in foliar contents of reducing sugars, total soluble sugars, starch, sucrose, amino acids, and proteins. The field experiment was carried out at Bebedouro Experimental Field and the biochemical evaluations at the Laboratory of Seed and Plant Physiology, both located at Embrapa Semi-Árido, Petrolina-PE. The doses of 200 g N and 100 g K2O; 400 g N and 200 g K2O; 600 g N and 300 g K2O; and 800 g N and 400 g K2O per plant were applied in an experiment field. The experimental design was totally randomized blocks, with four treatments and five blocks. The weather conditions influenced the plant photosynthesis, which affects the plants metabolism. Guava presented specific responses to N and K fertigation for each parameter evaluated. The weather conditions during the evaluation period influenced guava responses to N and K fertigation.

MPRO-Spanish: development and experiments with a linguistic parser for Spanish texts

This paper describes the main features and present results of MPRO-Spanish, a parser for morphological and syntactic analysis of unrestricted Spanish text developed at the IAI1. This parser makes direct use of X-phrase structure rules to handle a variety of patterns from derivational morphology and syntactic structure. Both analyses, morphological and syntactic, are realised by two subsequent modules. One module analyses and disambiguates the source words at morphological level while the other consists of a series of programs and a deterministic, procedural and explicit grammar. The article explains the main features of MPRO and resumes some of the experiments on some of its applications, some of which still being implemented like the monolingual and bilingual term extraction while others need further work like indexing. The results and applications obtained so far with simple and relatively complex sentences give us grounds to believe in its reliability.

Generation and interconnection capacity expansion in cross-border electricity markets : the need for policy coordination

Electricity is a strategic service in modern societies. Thus, it is extremely important for governments to be able to guarantee an affordable and reliable supply, which depends to a great extent on an adequate expansion of the generation and transmission capacities. Cross- border integration of electricity markets creates new challenges for the regulators, since the evolution of the market is now influenced by the characteristics and policies of neighbouring countries. There is still no agreement on why and how regions should integrate their electricity markets. The aim of this thesis is to improve the understanding of integrated electricity markets and how their behaviour depends on the prevailing characteristics of the national markets and the policies implemented in each country. We developed a simulation model to analyse under what circumstances integration is desirable. This model is used to study three cases of interconnection between two countries. Several policies regarding interconnection expansion and operation, combined with different generation capacity adequacy mechanisms, are evaluated. The thesis is composed of three papers. The first paper presents a detailed description of the model and an analysis of the case of Colombia and Ecuador. It shows that market coupling can bring important benefits, but the relative size of the countries can lead to import dependency issues in the smaller country. The second paper compares the case of Colombia and Ecuador with the case of Great Britain and France. These countries are significantly different in terms of electricity sources, hydro- storage capacity, complementarity and demand growth. We show that complementarity is essential in order to obtain benefits from integration, while higher demand growth and hydro- storage capacity can lead to counterintuitive outcomes, thus complicating policy design. In the third paper, an extended version of the model presented in the first paper is used to analyse the case of Finland and its interconnection with Russia. Different trading arrangements are considered. We conclude that unless interconnection capacity is expanded, the current trading arrangement, where a single trader owns the transmission rights and limits the flow during peak hours, is beneficial for Finland. In case of interconnection expansion, market coupling would be preferable. We also show that the costs of maintaining a strategic reserve in Finland are justified in order to limit import dependency, while still reaping the benefits of interconnection. In general, we conclude that electricity market integration can bring benefits if the right policies are implemented. However, a large interconnection capacity is only desirable if the countries exhibit significant complementarity and trust each other. The outcomes of policies aimed at guaranteeing security of supply at a national level can be quite counterintuitive due to the interactions between neighbouring countries and their effects on interconnection and generation investments. Thus, it is important for regulators to understand these interactions and coordinate their decisions in order to take advantage of the interconnection without putting security of supply at risk. But it must be taken into account that even when integration brings benefits to the region, some market participants lose and might try to hinder the integration process. -- Dans les sociétés modernes, l'électricité est un service stratégique. Il est donc extrêmement important pour les gouvernements de pouvoir garantir la sécurité d'approvisionnement à des prix abordables. Ceci dépend en grande mesure d'une expansion adéquate des capacités de génération et de transmission. L'intégration des marchés électriques pose des nouveaux défis pour les régulateurs, puisque l'évolution du marché est maintenant influencée par les caractéristiques et les politiques des pays voisins. Il n'est pas encore claire pourquoi ni comment les marches électriques devraient s'intégrer. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'améliorer la compréhension des marchés intégrés d'électricité et de leur comportement en fonction des caractéristiques et politiques de chaque pays. Un modèle de simulation est proposé pour étudier les conditions dans lesquelles l'intégration est désirable. Ce modèle est utilisé pour étudier trois cas d'interconnexion entre deux pays. Plusieurs politiques concernant l'expansion et l'opération de l'interconnexion, combinées avec différents mécanismes de rémunération de la capacité, sont évalués. Cette thèse est compose de trois articles. Le premier présente une description détaillée du modèle et une analyse du cas de la Colombie et de l'Equateur. Il montre que le couplage de marchés peut amener des bénéfices importants ; cependant, la différence de taille entre pays peut créer des soucis de dépendance aux importations pour le pays le plus petit. Le second papier compare le cas de la Colombie et l'Equateur avec le cas de la Grande Bretagne et de la France. Ces pays sont très différents en termes de ressources, taille des réservoirs d'accumulation pour l'hydro, complémentarité et croissance de la demande. Nos résultats montrent que la complémentarité joue un rôle essentiel dans l'obtention des bénéfices potentiels de l'intégration, alors qu'un taux élevé de croissance de la demande, ainsi qu'une grande capacité de stockage, mènent à des résultats contre-intuitifs, ce qui complique les décisions des régulateurs. Dans le troisième article, une extension du modèle présenté dans le premier article est utilisée pour analyser le cas de la Finlande et de la Russie. Différentes règles pour les échanges internationaux d'électricité sont considérées. Nos résultats indiquent qu'à un faible niveau d'interconnexion, la situation actuelle, où un marchand unique possède les droits de transmission et limite le flux pendant les heures de pointe, est bénéfique pour la Finlande. Cependant, en cas d'expansion de la capacité d'interconnexion, «market coupling» est préférable. préférable. Dans tous les cas, la Finlande a intérêt à garder une réserve stratégique, car même si cette politique entraine des coûts, elle lui permet de profiter des avantages de l'intégration tout en limitant ca dépendance envers les importations. En général, nous concluons que si les politiques adéquates sont implémentées, l'intégration des marchés électriques peut amener des bénéfices. Cependant, une grande capacité d'interconnexion n'est désirable que si les pays ont une complémentarité importante et il existe une confiance mutuelle. Les résultats des politiques qui cherchent à préserver la sécurité d'approvisionnement au niveau national peuvent être très contre-intuitifs, étant données les interactions entre les pays voisins et leurs effets sur les investissements en génération et en interconnexion. Il est donc très important pour les régulateurs de comprendre ces interactions et de coordonner décisions à fin de pouvoir profiter de l'interconnexion sans mettre en danger la sécurité d'approvisionnement. Mais il faut être conscients que même quand l'intégration amène de bénéfices pour la région, certains participants au marché sont perdants et pourraient essayer de bloquer le processus d'intégration.

Assessing chronic disease management in European health systems : concepts and approaches

This book comprises two volumes and builds on the findings of the DISMEVAL project (Developing and validating DISease Management EVALuation methods for European health care systems), funded under the European Union's (EU) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) (Agreement no. 223277). DISMEVAL was a three-year European collaborative project conducted between 2009 and 2011. It contributed to developing new research methods and generating the evidence base to inform decision-making in the field of chronic disease management evaluation (www.dismeval.eu). In this book, we report on the findings of the project's first phase, capturing the diverse range of contexts in which new approaches to chronic care are being implemented and evaluating the outcomes of these initiatives using an explicit comparative approach and a unified assessment framework. In this first volume, we describe the range of approaches to chronic care adopted in 12 European countries. By reflecting on the facilitators and barriers to implementation, we aim to provide policy-makers and practitioners with a portfolio of options to advance chronic care approaches in a given policy context.

Entry Strategy Issues in the Ophthalmic Industry: Entry Mode, Pricing and Distribution

Maahantulostrategia asettaa yrityksen kansainvälisiä liiketoimintoja ohjaavat tavoitteet, päämäärät, resurssit ja toiminnan suuntaviivat. Tämä diplomityö käsittelee yrityksen maahantulostrategian elementeistä operaatiomuodon valintaa, hinnoittelua ja jakelua. Työssä rakennetaan teoriakehys elementteihin liittyvien päätösten tutkimiseksi lääketeollisuuden ominaispiirteet huomioiden. Lääketeollisuudella on muihin teollisuudenaloihin verrattuna useita erityispiirteitä, joihin työ perehdyttää. Lisäksi työn olennainen osa on selvittää lääketeollisuuden maakohtaisia säädöksiä ja toimintamalleja. Diplomityö on tehty silmäläkkeitä valmistavalle, kehittävälle ja markkinoivalle Santen Oy:lle, joka suunnittelee toimintansa laajentamista Keski- ja Etelä-Euroopan markkinoille. Tässä laajentumisprosessissa ensimmäisenä kohdemaana on Saksa, jonka markkinoille suuntautuvia toimenpiteitä työ tutkii. Teoriakehyksen, markkinoiden ominaispiirteiden sekä useiden erilaisten analyysien pohjalta työn tavoitteena on antaa operaatiomuotoa, tuotteiden hinnoittelua ja jakelua koskevia suosituksia.

Provision of supplementary materials in Library and Information Science scholarly journals

Purpose- This study seeks to analyse the policies of library and information science (LIS) journals regarding the publication of supplementary materials, the number of journals and articles that include this feature, the kind of supplementary materials published with regard to their function in the article, the formats employed and the access provided to readers. Design/methodology/approach- The study analysed the instructions for authors of LIS journals indexed in the ISI Journal Citation Reports, as well as the supplementary materials attached to the articles published in their 2011 online volumes. Findings- Large publishers are more likely to have a policy regarding the publication of supplementary materials, and policies are usually homogeneous across all the journals of a given publisher. Most policies state the acceptance of supplementary materials, and even journals without a policy also publish supplementary materials. The majority of supplementary materials provided in LIS articles are extended methodological explanations and additional results in the form of textual information in PDF or Word files. Some toll-access journals provide open access to any reader to these files. Originality/value- This study provides new insights into the characteristics of supplementary materials in LIS journals. The results may be used by journal publishers to establish a policy on the publication of supplementary materials and, more broadly, to develop data sharing initiatives in academic settings.

Vulnerability as a heuristic for interdisciplinary research: Assessing the thematic and methodological structure of empirical life-course studies

Changes in human lives are studied in psychology, sociology, and adjacent fields as outcomes of developmental processes, institutional regulations and policies, culturally and normatively structured life courses, or empirical accounts. However, such studies have used a wide range of complementary, but often divergent, concepts. This review has two aims. First, we report on the structure that has emerged from scientific life course research by focusing on abstracts from longitudinal and life course studies beginning with the year 2000. Second, we provide a sense of the disciplinary diversity of the field and assess the value of the concept of 'vulnerability' as a heuristic tool for studying human lives. Applying correspondence analysis to 10,632 scientific abstracts, we find a disciplinary divide between psychology and sociology, and observe indications of both similarities of-and differences between-studies, driven at least partly by the data and methods employed. We also find that vulnerability takes a central position in this scientific field, which leads us to suggest several reasons to see value in pursuing theory development for longitudinal and life course studies in this direction.

National survey of noncommunicable diseases in Seychelles 2013‐2014 (Seychelles Heart Study IV) : main findings

The 2013 survey addressed the following objectives: Primary objectives : a) Distribution of health behaviors related to NCDs, particularly tobacco use, alcohol drinking, and physical activity ; b) Distribution of the main modifiable risk factors of NCDs, particularly blood pressure, adiposity markers, diabetes and blood lipids ; c) Rates of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia ; d) Comparison of findings in the survey 2013 with results in previous similar NCD surveys in 1989, 1994, 2004 ; e) Dietary patterns ; f) Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to NCDs and NCD risk factors. Secondary objectives : g) Assessment of indicators of quality of health (e.g. SF‐12) ; h) Assessment of psychological stress and relation with NCD ; i) Assessment of several indicators of frailty (e.g. handgrip strength test, chair strand test, functional limitations) ; j) Assessment of knowledge and level of agreement with current policies on tobacco control ; k) Use of public and private health care services, particularly for NCDs ; l) Exposure to advice on health behaviors given by health professionals at health care level ; m) Burden of chronic diseases not related to the main NCDs (e.g. musculoskeletal, mental health, etc) ; n) Screening of selected cancers ; o) Assessment of the kidney function ; p) Frequency of heart arrhythmias (one‐lead ECG) and heart murmurs (auscultation) ; q) Assessment of bone mineral density (ultrasound of calcaneus) ; r) Exposure of the population to mass media, particularly in relation to health programs, and use by the population of new communication technologies ; s) Assessment of a number of social variables and their association with the variables measured in the survey ; t) More generally, the survey provides broad information (medical, social, environment, etc) that can be useful for tailoring NCD prevention and control programs.