Evaluating the Effectiveness of Post Fire Emergency Rehabilitation Treatments on Soil Degradation and Erosion Control in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Areas of the Spanish South East

In this study, we seeded a native plant species and applied a mulch of chopped wood originating from the same burned area to avoid the establishment of invasive species. We evaluated four treatments: (1) seeding, (2) mulch, (3) seeding and mulch, and (4) control. Our objective was to increase plant recovery and to minimize the soil erosion and degradation. The study was conducted in Alicante, Spain in Torremanzanas forest of the semi-arid Mediterranean bioclimatic area after the wildfire of November, 2002. During three years of monitoring, we find that combined treatment: seeding and mulch increased the post fire plant recovery 20% approximately more than the rest of treatments and the control plots. We also found that seven months after treating mulch and seeding and mulch treatments presented a gain of soil: +5.18 to + 5.24 mm while the seeding treatment and control plots presented soil loss rates of: −0.48 to −0.49 mm. In addition, mulch treatment significantly decreased soil compaction to the half, and increased the infiltration capacity to 40 ml.mn−1 more than in plots without mulch, as well as increased the soil respiration to the double compared with no mulch plots. Work in progress confirms the positive effect of chopped wood as mulching treatment with or without seeding on the soil protection against soil erosion, and the amelioration of bio-physical properties after wildfires in the Mediterranean semi-arid burned areas.

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Control of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. IES WORKING PAPER 1/2013

This paper seeks to delineate some preliminary factors and working methods that could work in favour of establishing a workable international export control regime for dual-use goods and technologies. Drawing on the work initiated by various United Nations initiatives and the Wassenaar Agreement, but specifically looking at the European Union export regime model, this working paper asks if and how a similar model could be adopted at the international level. Far from suggesting that the EU regime should of could be adopted on a global basis or that the regime is full-proof, the authors acknowledge that EU regulations are seen as among the most stringent of frameworks on dual-use goods and technologies available. Accordingly, this paper asks what elements of the EU’s control regime could be of international benefit after the ATT negotiations and how it could be adopted on a more international basis. Indeed, any future ATT control mechanism for dual-use items will have to draw on existing arms transfers and control regimes. It does this through an analysis of the ATT and the current discourse on dual-use goods and technologies in the negotiations, an stocktaking of the strengths and weaknesses of the EU’s export control regime and by asking what elements of the EU’s regime could be utilised for international control mechanisms after a future ATT is negotiated.

Flexible structure control laboratory development and technology demonstration /

"Final report for the period July 1985 to July 1987."

Strategic command, control, and communications : alternative approaches for modernization /

Item 1005-C

Optimal control and operation of drum granulation processes

Process optimisation and optimal control of batch and continuous drum granulation processes are studied in this paper. The main focus of the current research has been: (i) construction of optimisation and control relevant, population balance models through the incorporation of moisture content, drum rotation rate and bed depth into the coalescence kernels; (ii) investigation of optimal operational conditions using constrained optimisation techniques; (iii) development of optimal control algorithms based on discretized population balance equations; and (iv) comprehensive simulation studies on optimal control of both batch and continuous granulation processes. The objective of steady state optimisation is to minimise the recycle rate with minimum cost for continuous processes. It has been identified that the drum rotation-rate, bed depth (material charge), and moisture content of solids are practical decision (design) parameters for system optimisation. The objective for the optimal control of batch granulation processes is to maximize the mass of product-sized particles with minimum time and binder consumption. The objective for the optimal control of the continuous process is to drive the process from one steady state to another in a minimum time with minimum binder consumption, which is also known as the state-driving problem. It has been known for some time that the binder spray-rate is the most effective control (manipulative) variable. Although other possible manipulative variables, such as feed flow-rate and additional powder flow-rate have been investigated in the complete research project, only the single input problem with the binder spray rate as the manipulative variable is addressed in the paper to demonstrate the methodology. It can be shown from simulation results that the proposed models are suitable for control and optimisation studies, and the optimisation algorithms connected with either steady state or dynamic models are successful for the determination of optimal operational conditions and dynamic trajectories with good convergence properties. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical supervision: Its influence on client-rated working alliance and client symptom reduction in the brief treatment of major depression

Supervision of psychotherapists and counselors, especially in the early years of practice, is widely accepted as being important for professional development and to ensure optimal client outcomes. Although the process of clinical supervision has been extensively studied, less is known about the impact of supervision on psychotherapy practice and client symptom outcome. This study evaluated the impact of clinical supervision on client working alliance and symptom reduction in the brief treatment of major depression. The authors randomly assigned 127 clients with a diagnosis of major depression to 127 supervised or unsupervised therapists to receive eight sessions of problems-solving treatment. Supervised therapists were randomly assigned to either alliance skill- or alliance process-focused supervision and received eight supervision sessions. Before beginning treatment, therapists received one supervision session for brief training in the working alliance supervision approach and in specific characteristics of each case. Standard measures of therapeutic alliance and symptom change were used as dependent variables. The results showed a significant effect for both supervision conditions on working alliance from the first session of therapy, symptom reduction, and treatment retention and evaluation but no effect differences between supervision conditions. It was not possible to separate the effects of supervision from the single pretreatment session and is possible that allegiance effects might have inflated results. The scientific and clinical relevance of these findings is discussed.

Antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision:test of a trickle-down model

The authors examined antecedents of abusive supervision and the relative importance of interactional and procedural justice as mediators of the relationship between abusive supervision and the work outcomes of affective organizational commitment and individual- and organization-directed citizenship behaviors. Data were obtained from subordinate-supervisor dyads from a telecommunication company located in southeastern China. Results of moderated regression analysis revealed that authoritarian leadership style moderated the relationship between supervisors' perceptions of interactional justice and abusive supervision such that the relationship was stronger for supervisors high rather than low in authoritarian leadership style. In addition, results of structural equation modeling analysis revealed that subordinates' perceptions of interactional but not procedural justice fully mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and the work outcomes. Implications for future investigations of abusive supervision are discussed. Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association.

TRial of an Educational intervention on patients' knowledge of Atrial fibrillation and anticoagulant therapy, INR control, and outcome of Treatment with warfarin (TREAT)

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with a high risk of stroke are recommended anticoagulation with warfarin. However, the benefit of warfarin is dependent upon time spent within the target therapeutic range (TTR) of their international normalised ratio (INR) (2.0 to 3.0). AF patients possess limited knowledge of their disease and warfarin treatment and this can impact on INR control. Education can improve patients' understanding of warfarin therapy and factors which affect INR control. Methods/Design Randomised controlled trial of an intensive educational intervention will consist of group sessions (between 2-8 patients) containing standardised information about the risks and benefits associated with OAC therapy, lifestyle interactions and the importance of monitoring and control of their International Normalised Ratio (INR). Information will be presented within an 'expert-patient' focussed DVD, revised educational booklet and patient worksheets. 200 warfarin-naïve patients who are eligible for warfarin will be randomised to either the intervention or usual care groups. All patients must have ECG-documented AF and be eligible for warfarin (according to the NICE AF guidelines). Exclusion criteria include: aged < 18 years old, contraindication(s) to warfarin, history of warfarin USE, valvular heart disease, cognitive impairment, are unable to speak/read English and disease likely to cause death within 12 months. Primary endpoint is time spent in TTR. Secondary endpoints include measures of quality of life (AF-QoL-18), anxiety and depression (HADS), knowledge of AF and anticoagulation, beliefs about medication (BMQ) and illness representations (IPQ-R). Clinical outcomes, including bleeding, stroke and interruption to anticoagulation will be recorded. All outcome measures will be assessed at baseline and 1, 2, 6 and 12 months post-intervention. Discussion More data is needed on the clinical benefit of educational intervention with AF patients receiving warfarin. Trial registration ISRCTN93952605

Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and the principle of business control

In response to the increasing international competitiveness, many manufacturing businesses are rethinking their management strategies and philosophies towards achieving a computer integrated environment. The explosive growth in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMI) has resulted in the formation of functional "Islands of Automation" such as Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) and Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRPII). This has resulted in an environment which has focussed areas of excellence and poor overall efficiency, co-ordination and control. The main role of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is to integrate these islands of automation and develop a totally integrated and controlled environment. However, the various perceptions of CIM, although developing, remain focussed on a very narrow integration scope and have consequently resulted in mere linked islands of automation with little improvement in overall co-ordination and control. This thesis, that is the research described within, develops and examines a more holistic view of CIM, which is based on the integration of various business elements. One particular business element, namely control, has been shown to have a multi-facetted and underpinning relationship with the CIM philosophy. This relationship impacts various CIM system design aspects including the CIM business analysis and modelling technique, the specification of systems integration requirements, the CIM system architectural form and the degree of business redesign. The research findings show that fundamental changes to CIM system design are required; these are incorporated in a generic CIM design methodology. The affect and influence of this holistic view of CIM on a manufacturing business has been evaluated through various industrial case study applications. Based on the evidence obtained, it has been concluded that this holistic, control based approach to CIM can provide a greatly improved means of achieving a totally integrated and controlled business environment. This generic CIM methodology will therefore make a significant contribution to the planning, modelling, design and development of future CIM systems.

Aspects of the design and operation of production control systems in manufacturing industry

Computerised production control developments have concentrated on Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) systems. The literature suggests however, that despite the massive investment in hardware, software and management education, successful implementation of such systems in manufacturing industries has proved difficult. This thesis reviews the development of production planning and control systems, in particular, investigates the causes of failures in implementing MRP/MRP II systems in industrial environments and argues that the centralised and top-down planning structure, as well as the routine operational methodology of such systems, is inherently prone to failure. The thesis reviews the control benefits of cellular manufacturing systems but concludes that in more dynamic manufacturing environments, techniques such as Kanban are inappropriate. The basic shortcomings of MRP II systems are highlighted and a new enhanced operational methodology based on distributed planning and control principles is introduced. Distributed Manufacturing Resources Planning (DMRP), was developed as a capacity sensitive production planning and control solution for cellular manufacturing environments. The system utilises cell based, independently operated MRP II systems, integrated into a plant-wide control system through a Local Area Network. The potential benefits of adopting the system in industrial environments is discussed and the results of computer simulation experiments to compare the performance of the DMRP system against the conventional MRP II systems presented. DMRP methodology is shown to offer significant potential advantages which include ease of implementation, cost effectiveness, capacity sensitivity, shorter manufacturing lead times, lower working in progress levels and improved customer service.

Adaptive message rate control of infrastructured DSRC vehicle networks for coexisting road safety and non-safety applications

Intelligent transport system (ITS) has large potentials on road safety applications as well as nonsafety applications. One of the big challenges for ITS is on the reliable and cost-effective vehicle communications due to the large quantity of vehicles, high mobility, and bursty traffic from the safety and non-safety applications. In this paper, we investigate the use of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) for coexisting safety and non-safety applications over infrastructured vehicle networks. The main objective of this work is to improve the scalability of communications for vehicles networks, ensure QoS for safety applications, and leave as much as possible bandwidth for non-safety applications. A two-level adaptive control scheme is proposed to find appropriate message rate and control channel interval for safety applications. Simulation results demonstrated that this adaptive method outperforms the fixed control method under varying number of vehicles. © 2012 Wenyang Guan et al.

Hierarchical control and performance regimes in local government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider hierarchical control as a mode of governance, and analyses the extent of control exhibited by central government over local government through the best value (BV) and comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) performance regimes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises Ouchi's framework and, specifically, his articulation of bureaucratic or hierarchical control in the move towards achievement of organisational objectives. Hierarchical control may be inferred from the extent of “command and control” by Central Government, use of rewards and sanctions, and alignment to government priorities and discrimination of performance. Findings – CPA represents a more sophisticated performance regime than BV in the governance of local authorities by central government. In comparison to BV, CPA involved less scope for dialogue with local government prior to introduction, closer inspection of and direction of support toward poorer performing authorities, and more alignment to government priorities in the weightings attached to service blocks. Originality/value - The paper focuses upon the hierarchic/bureaucratic mode of governance as articulated by Ouchi and expands on this mode in order to analyse shifts in performance regimes in the public sector.

Neural Control of Chaos and Aplications

Signal processing is an important topic in technological research today. In the areas of nonlinear dynamics search, the endeavor to control or order chaos is an issue that has received increasing attention over the last few years. Increasing interest in neural networks composed of simple processing elements (neurons) has led to widespread use of such networks to control dynamic systems learning. This paper presents backpropagation-based neural network architecture that can be used as a controller to stabilize unsteady periodic orbits. It also presents a neural network-based method for transferring the dynamics among attractors, leading to more efficient system control. The procedure can be applied to every point of the basin, no matter how far away from the attractor they are. Finally, this paper shows how two mixed chaotic signals can be controlled using a backpropagation neural network as a filter to separate and control both signals at the same time. The neural network provides more effective control, overcoming the problems that arise with control feedback methods. Control is more effective because it can be applied to the system at any point, even if it is moving away from the target state, which prevents waiting times. Also control can be applied even if there is little information about the system and remains stable longer even in the presence of random dynamic noise.

Enhancing the performance of intelligent control systems in the face of higher levels of complexity and uncertainty

Modern advances in technology have led to more complex manufacturing processes whose success centres on the ability to control these processes with a very high level of accuracy. Plant complexity inevitably leads to poor models that exhibit a high degree of parametric or functional uncertainty. The situation becomes even more complex if the plant to be controlled is characterised by a multivalued function or even if it exhibits a number of modes of behaviour during its operation. Since an intelligent controller is expected to operate and guarantee the best performance where complexity and uncertainty coexist and interact, control engineers and theorists have recently developed new control techniques under the framework of intelligent control to enhance the performance of the controller for more complex and uncertain plants. These techniques are based on incorporating model uncertainty. The newly developed control algorithms for incorporating model uncertainty are proven to give more accurate control results under uncertain conditions. In this paper, we survey some approaches that appear to be promising for enhancing the performance of intelligent control systems in the face of higher levels of complexity and uncertainty.

Generalised Riccati solution and pinning control of complex stochastic networks

This paper considers the global synchronisation of a stochastic version of coupled map lattices networks through an innovative stochastic adaptive linear quadratic pinning control methodology. In a stochastic network, each state receives only noisy measurement of its neighbours' states. For such networks we derive a generalised Riccati solution that quantifies and incorporates uncertainty of the forward dynamics and inverse controller in the derivation of the stochastic optimal control law. The generalised Riccati solution is derived using the Lyapunov approach. A probabilistic approximation type algorithm is employed to estimate the conditional distributions of the state and inverse controller from historical data and quantifying model uncertainties. The theoretical derivation is complemented by its validation on a set of representative examples.