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Research And Development Program (research + and_development_program)
Selected AbstractsIntegrating aspects of working environment into a national research and development program on food technologyHUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 2 2001Ole Broberg In a Danish national research and development program on food technology, it was made a condition that funded projects consider potential working environment impacts. The present study evaluated these projects and concluded that this condition failed to have any significant effect on outcomes. The reasons for this failure are explained by the social construction of the program and the fact that it neglected to consider the sociocultural dynamics within scientific and technological work. The program neither constructed useful boundary objects nor included actors that could link the social worlds of working environment and food science and technology. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] The nature of technology-mediated interaction in globalized distance educationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2003Charalambos Vrasidas The purpose of this paper is to discuss technology-mediated communication and interaction in globalized distance education. We will briefly present the context, methods, findings, and implications of a research and development program we have been running for the last five years at Western Illinois University in collaboration with other institutions in the US, Mexico, and Cyprus (Intercollege). The emphasis will be on discussing the differences between face-to-face (F2F) and technology-mediated interaction. Online interaction may be slower and ,lacking' in continuity, richness, and immediacy, when compared to F2F interaction; however, in some ways online interaction may be as good as or even superior to F2F interaction. We will use selected findings from our work to theorize the nature of interaction in online distance education in a globalized world. Our argument is that despite differences between F2F and online distance education, the latter should not be considered as second best, because there are significant qualities of online education that are often ignored. [source] Modeling and Simulation of Notional Future Radar in Non-Standard Propagation Environments Facilitated by Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction ModelingNAVAL ENGINEERS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2008ROBERT E. MARSHALL Normal near surface radio-frequency (RF) propagation in the littorals across the land,sea boundary is rare due to the land,sea temperature difference, coastline shape, ground cover, urban density, coastal topography, and soil moisture content. The resulting frequent existence of coastal non-standard vertical profiles of refractivity and the resulting RF propagation has a profound impact on the performance of Navy ship-borne radars operating within 100 nm of the shore. In addition, these non-standard RF propagation conditions are spatio-temporally inhomogeneous. These spatial and time dependent propagation conditions and the resulting radar engineering implications cannot be revealed by a single vertical profile of refractivity taken near the ship borne radar. The results from single profile analysis techniques provide no spatiotemporal information and may lead to overly conservative radar design. Mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) is a rapidly maturing technology with a strong operational Navy history that can provide a vertical profile of refractivity every 1 km in the battle space and every hour, up to 48 h, in the future. The Sensor Division at NSWCDD has applied mesoscale NWP for the last 2 years to better understand the performance of prototype radar in realistic four-dimensional (4D) coastal environments. Modern RF parabolic equation models are designed to model specific radar designs and to employ 3D refractivity fields from mesoscale NWP models. This allows for a radar design to be tested in realistic littoral non-standard atmospheres produced by stable internal boundary layers, sea breeze events, and the more rare sub-refractive events. Mesoscale NWP is currently qualitative for this purpose, but a research and development program focused on sea testing of prototype radars is described with the purpose of developing a more quantitative mesoscale NWP technology to support radar acquisition, testing, and operations. [source] Economic Returns to Feed Barley Yield-increasing and Disease Resistance Research at the Alberta Field Crop Development CentreCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2003Joseph G. Nagy The Alberta Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) at Lacombe has carried out an extensive research and development program on feed barley since 1973. Prior to 2002, FCDC released 11 hulled and six hull-less barley varieties that have been adopted by farmers. The primary objective of this study is to estimate an economic rate of return to the FCDC barley research and development program from 1973 to 2001. A secondary objective is to include benefits arising from research that improved feed barley disease resistance in new cultivars in addition to benefits from purely higher-yielding cultivar research. The analysis uses an ex post economic surplus methodology. Benefits are identified and empirically investigated for three separate FCDC feed barley research thrusts: , benefits arising from FCDC research that developed new, higher-yielding feed barley cultivars that give a yield advantage , benefits arising from FCDC research that improved feed barley disease resistance in new cultivars that result in yield loss avoidance from disease , benefits arising from FCDC research that developed new feed barley cultivars that yield higher silage production. Of the total benefits from research on feed grain varieties, 52% can be attributed to yield advantage research and 48% to yield loss avoidance research. The overall internal rate of return with base elasticity parameters is estimated at 27%, ranging between 23% and 31%, depending on the assumptions made about the yield advantage and base variety. The IRR was sensitive to changes in supply elasticities and ranges from 20% (,= 1.5) to 54% (,= 0.1). L'Alberta Field Crop Development Center (FCDC) de Lacombe poursuit un vaste programme de recherche et de dáveloppement sur l'orge fourragàre depuis 1973. Avant 2002, le FCDC a homologuá onze variátás d'orge ordinaire et six à grains nus que les agriculteurs ont par la suite adoptáes. La prásente átude devait estimer la rentabilitá du programme entre 1973 et 2001. Un objectif secondaire consistait à inclure les retombáes rásultant des cultivars plus rásistants à la maladie à celles dérivant uniquement de l'amélioration du rendement. L'analyse reposait sur la méthode ex-post des excédents économiques. L'auteur a identifié les retombées et les a examinées en fonction de trois courants distincts de la recherche entreprise au FCDC: (1) les retombées issues des cultivars d'orge fourragère à rendement plus élevé; (2) celles venant des travaux sur la résistance des variétés qui ont abouti à un meilleur rendement grâce à de moins grandes pertes attribuables à la maladie; (3) celles résultant de la création de cultivars d'orge fourragère produisant plus d'ensilage. Sur les retombées totales de la recherche, 52 % résultaient de l'amélioration du rendement et 48 % de la réduction des pertes associées à la maladie. On situe le taux de rentabilité interne global à 27 % avec les élasticités de base, soit entre 23 et 31 % selon les hypothèses sur l'amélioration du rendement et la variété de départ. Le taux de rentabilité interne est sensible à la variation des élasticités de l'offre et fluctue de 20 ,= 1, 5) à 54% (,= 0,1). [source] | |||||||||||||