Acquisition Of Equipment Research Articles

Farmers Empowerment: Drivers and Challenges among Smallholder Farmers in Mezam Division, Cameroon

This study is captured: Farmers Empowerment: Drivers and Challenges among smallholder farmers in Mezam Division, Cameroon. The objectives targeted are: to identify and discuss the drivers and constraints associated with farmers empowerment in Mezam Division, Cameroon and to decompose the factors into gender of household head. Methodologically, the study employed primary data collected among 361 farmers using a well-structured questionnaire. The Cobb Douglas production function is used to estimate the result. In overall, farm experience, rich farmers financial status, acquisition of modern equipment, urban resident, age of farmers, land tenure system, household size and farm records are observed to be significantly influencing farmers empowerment in Mezam Division. Meanwhile rich farmers status, size of farm land, acquisition of modern equipment, farm records and household size are corroborating with the empowerment of male farmers and rich farmers status, acquisition of modern agricultural equipment and household size are positively influencing the empowerment of female farmers. The challenges faced by farmers in the acquisition of empowerment in Mezam are observed to be: training cost, access to trainers, source of training program, time constraint, application of training techniques, interest of farmers and ignorance. The study suggest that the decision makers should consider the collective farmers characteristics when planning for farmers empowerment. This is an important step towards farm efficiency and poverty alleviation.

Agricultural Insurance in the Philippines: Innovative Product Development and Scale-Up Amid Climate Risks and Other Hazards

The Philippines, an archipelago situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire and the typhoon belt, is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. The continued global warming experienced in the country in the past years shows a trend of climate changes that have caused casualties and losses in agriculture and properties. One of the solutions to address the negative effects of climate change is agricultural insurance. The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) is a government institution that has served as the country’s sole provider of traditional crop insurance since 1981. However, because of PCIC’s limited resources, the private sector’s participation in the agricultural insurance business is necessary to increase the number of farmers, fisherfolk, and other stakeholders protected with insurance. The issuance of rules and regulations for private agricultural insurance operations and the formation of a Public-Private Partnership composed of the PCIC and private insurance companies are vital strategies to scale-up agricultural insurance business in the country. Further, to improve the agricultural insurance program, innovative/index-based agricultural insurance products, such as Weather Index-Based Insurance (WIBI) and Area-Based Yield Index Insurance (ARBY), have been developed and piloted with funding from donor agencies. New products such as the Yield Insurance Products for High-Value Crops (a hybrid of traditional, ARBY, and WIBI schemes), initially for coconut, coffee, and cacao crops could enable the PCIC and private insurers to provide insurance services at lesser loss adjustment cost and with a faster settlement of claims. Challenges to a successful and sustainable implementation of the new products need to be met, namely the (1) development of the required data infrastructure; (2) acquisition of advanced weather equipment and technologies for crop modeling and experimentation; and (3) collaboration with government research institutions and state colleges and universities to undertake science-based modeling and experimentation for the development of various weather indices/parametric for crops, fisheries/aquaculture, and livestock. Further measures to strengthen the existing agricultural insurance program include (1) integrating plans for agricultural insurance in the development and implementation plans of all concerned government institutions involved in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors and (2) organizing small farmers and fisherfolk to undertake collective farming and business activities as they cannot cope with rapid changes in climate on their own that affect their livelihood.

Current and future funding streams for paediatric postmortem imaging: European Society of Paediatric Radiology survey results.

BackgroundPerinatal and childhood postmortem imaging has been accepted as a noninvasive alternative or adjunct to autopsy. However, the variation in funding models from institution to institution is a major factor prohibiting uniform provision of this service.ObjectiveTo describe current funding models employed in European and non-European institutions offering paediatric postmortem imaging services and to discuss the perceived barriers to future postmortem imaging service provision.Materials and methodsA web-based 16-question survey was distributed to members of the European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) and ESPR postmortem imaging task force over a 6-month period (March-August 2021). Survey questions related to the radiologic and autopsy services being offered and how each was funded within the respondent’s institute.ResultsEighteen individual responses were received (13/18, 72.2% from Europe). Only one-third of the institutions (6/18, 33.3%) have fully funded postmortem imaging services, with the remainder receiving partial (6/18, 33.3%) or no funding (5/18, 27.8%). Funding (full or partial) was more commonly available for forensic work (13/18, 72%), particularly where this was nationally provided. Where funding was not provided, the imaging and reporting costs were absorbed by the institute.ConclusionIncreased access is required for the expansion of postmortem imaging into routine clinical use. This can only be achieved with formal funding on a national level, potentially through health care commissioning and acknowledgement by health care policy makers and pathology services of the value the service provides following the death of a fetus or child. Funding should include the costs involved in training, equipment, reporting and image acquisition.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00247-022-05485-6.

State-owned success in the air

Abstract African Airlines are not commonly associated with success, rather they recall instances of bad management, security concerns, and outdated machinery. This paper focuses on the success of two airlines during the first two postcolonial decades in Africa. During this time, the new national airlines of African states were important symbols of sovereignty, as well as providing crucial mobility for politicians and experts of all kinds. Addressing a gap in the literature on aviation in Africa on the one hand, and the research on state-owned enterprises on the other, the paper takes a closer look at expectation formation and management decisions regarding fleet modernisation and maintenance, as well as Africanisation politics in both enterprises. Contrary to blanket statements that refer to ideological goals as a reason for the failure of African state-owned enterprise, the political goal of independence made Africanisation of staff and the acquisition of company-owned equipment and facilities a priority. Using archival sources, company publications, and observations of contemporaries, it can be shown that through taking advantage of entangled interests of governments and the aviation industry, the two African airlines managed to break into the global air transport market at the beginning of the 1960s and stayed competitive for many years.

Intelligent Identification and Order-Sensitive Correction Method of Outliers from Multi-Data Source Based on Historical Data Mining

In recent years, outliers caused by manual operation errors and equipment acquisition failures often occur, bringing challenges to big data analysis. In view of the difficulties in identifying and correcting outliers of multi-source data, an intelligent identification and order-sensitive correction method of outliers from multi-data sources based on historical data mining was proposed. First, an intelligent identification method of outliers of single-source data is proposed based on neural tangent kernel K-means (NTKKM) clustering. The original data is mapped to high-dimensional feature space using Neural Tangent Kernel, where the features of outliers are acquired by K-means clustering to realize the accurate identification of outliers. Second, an order-sensitive missing value imputation framework for multi-source data (OMSMVI) was proposed. The similarity graph of sources with missing data was constructed based on multidimensional similarity analysis, and the filling order decision was transformed into an optimization problem to realize the optimal filling order decision of missing values in multi-source data. Finally, a neighborhood-based imputation (NI) algorithm is proposed. Based on the traditional KNN filling algorithm, neighboring nodes of sources with missing data are flexibly selected to the achieve accurate correction of outliers. The case experiment was operated on actual power grid data, and the results show that the proposed clustering method can identify outliers more accurately, and the determined optimal imputation sequence has higher accuracy, which provide a feasible new idea for the identification and correction of outliers in the process of data preprocessing.

МЕТОДИКА ОЦЕНКИ ВОЕННО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО ЭФФЕКТА ОТ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ ЛИЗИНГА КАК ИНСТРУМЕНТА ПРИОБРЕТЕНИЯ ВООРУЖЕНИЙ, ВОЕННОЙ И СПЕЦИАЛЬНОЙ ТЕХНИКИ

The present paper contains a method of evaluation of military and economic effect of use of leasing as a tool of acquisition of arms, military and special equipment. A de-scription of factors that have an impact on the value of military and economic effect of use of leasing is given. It is demonstrated that leasing is not a tool of reduction of cost of acquisition of arms, military and special equipment. Leasing should be used as a tool of management of life cycle of arms, military and special equipment.

Purchasing high-cost medical devices and equipment in hospitals: a systematic review

ObjectivesTo systematically review academic literature for studies on any processes, procedures, methods or approaches to purchasing high-cost medical devices and equipment within hospitals in high-income countries.MethodsOn 13 August 2020, we...

Land, buildings, and equipment acquisitions in U.S. hospitals: A fifteen-year perspective.

Hospitals acquire and maintain long-term operating assets such as land, buildings, and equipment. In this study, we analyzed hospitals' long-term assets acquisitions data extracted from the Medicare Cost Report, a mandatory annual filing for all Medicare-certified hospitals. The first objective of this study is to examine the time trend of land, buildings, and equipment acquisitions of all general acute care hospitals in the U.S. from 2005 to 2019 to understand the relative magnitude and temporal changes for the operating assets. The second objective is to examine the 15-year accumulated acquisitions of land, buildings, and equipment per capita in each state to understand the variations of potential access to hospital operating resources across states. To understand the longitudinal changes in acquisitions of operating assets for each year from 2005 to 2019, we calculated the total acquisition amounts across all hospitals for land, buildings, and equipment, respectively, and adjusted the amounts to 2019 dollars based on the consumer price index (CPI). For each state (including Washington D.C.) and the whole nation, the 15-year accumulated CPI-adjusted acquisition amounts per capita for land, buildings, and equipment were also calculated, respectively. The nationwide acquisitions of those operating assets grew rapidly from 2005 to 2008 followed by a negative overall growth from 2008 to 2014 and since 2015, started increasing steadily again. In 2019, U.S. general acute care hospitals acquired $3.0 billion of land, $44.6 billion of buildings, and $33.9 billion of equipment. Huge geographical variation in per capita cumulative total asset investment were also found with the first place North Dakota having a per capita investment that is almost four times higher than that in the lowest ranked state of Alabama.

Procuring in a pandemic: assessing the use of the EU Public Procurement Directives, the Joint Procurement Agreement and advance purchase agreements

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, public procurers have faced an uphill battle to secure urgently required medical countermeasures. Contracting authorities in the face of extreme urgency at the start of the pandemic relied heavily on emergency provisions to deactivate procedural requirements and conclude contracts on the basis of direct negotiation. Additional procurements were conducted at a European Union (EU) level, leveraging the buying power of member states to rapidly secure the acquisitions of medical equipment, medicines, vaccines, booster shots and more recently COVID-19 therapeutics. The article offers an analysis of the use of the negotiation procedures and the European coordinated efforts to conclude COVID-19-related contracts. As we optimistically move towards the final stages of the pandemic, this article argues that it is time to retire the use of emergency procurements. It contends that such emergency provisions are no longer available for use and procurers, if not already, must return to the use of fully transparent and competitive procurement procedures. Furthermore, it suggests that the EU should build on the success of the coordinated approach of competitive tendering and extend the use of the Joint Procurement Agreement to prepare for future cross-border health crises and acquire in-demand medical countermeasures.

The impact of digitalization on the Russian economy

Subject. This article discusses the development of digital technologies and their impact on workforce productivity and economic growth in Russia. Objectives. The article aims to assess the impact of digital technologies on labor productivity and economic growth in Russia. Methods. For the study, I used regression estimation using the two-stage least squares method. Expenditures on information and communication technologies (ICT) and investments in assets for the acquisition of ICT equipment were used as baseline variables. The Rosstat, Bank of Russia, World Bank, and the International Data Corporation data have been considered. Results. The article presents the results of an assessment of the impact of ICT development on labor productivity and economic growth in Russia. Conclusions and Relevance. The article establishes the positive impact of growth in spending and investment in ICT on labor productivity and economic growth in Russia. The hypothesis of a positive impact of ICT infrastructure development on these indicators is not confirmed. The results of the study can be used by market participants and public authorities when making decisions on investing in the ICT sector.

Hydrogen in the Portuguese Navy: A case study

Hydrogen systems in the maritime domain are a technology that is still under development, and there are currently no commercial solutions and alternatives. There are already some solutions at the European level regarding production, but Portugal is still in an exploratory phase. We explore hydrogen systems (production, storage, and utilization) in the Portuguese Navy, proposing a strategy for their use that can be easily generalized to other similar case studies. Through a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, the main identified limitations are the associated costs, the lack of technological maturity, and the lack of existing knowledge in the organization. The short, medium, and long-term proposed strategy should focus on production autonomy, solar panels and wind turbine utilization (daytime and nighttime arc energy acquisition), passenger transport, reconversion of existing naval platforms, and in the last phase, the acquisition of new equipment.

Innovation activities and R&D investments as determinants of ongoing or abandoned activities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of R&D investment as a determinant of ongoing or abandoned innovation activities. The literature review focuses especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that deploy R&D investment as a way of developing innovation processes.Design/methodology/approachThis study’s design used a sample of 4,229 Portuguese SMEs to analyse the effects R&D investment has on the innovation activities; the results obtained demonstrate the great importance of firms investing in R&D internal activities for the development of their innovation process.FindingsThe most important findings highlight the types of activities that emerge as relevant to innovation processes susceptible for development to avoid abandoning and maintaining ongoing innovation activities. Among them, the authors would highlight the design of products or services, the introduction of innovations to the market and the acquisition of machinery, equipment and specific software, among others.Originality/valueIn addition, other types of activities emerge as relevant to innovation processes susceptible for development to avoid abandoning and maintaining ongoing innovation activities. This research adds value to the current literature mainly showing several determinants related to R&D, which could be used by SMEs to improve and develop their activities of innovation.

DESIGN OF INDOOR AGARIC CULTIVATION MONITORING DEVICE BASED ON INTERNET OF THINGS AND EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR CHANGE

BackgroundAuricularia auricula grows in high environmental conditions and takes a long time to produce. The environmental quality control of Auricularia auricula has gradually become the biggest bottleneck and obstacle restricting its quality production. At present, the environmental control of most edible fungi still depends on artificial experience. The control and regulation efficiency of environment and nutrient solution is low, prone to deviation, unable to provide a comprehensive and high-quality growth environment for edible fungi, which seriously affects its production efficiency and hinders its large-scale development. Therefore, in order to create the best environmental conditions for the growth and development of Auricularia auricula and improve the quality, yield and economic value of Auricularia auricula products, it is particularly important to introduce the Internet of things technology into indoor Auricularia auricula cultivation monitoring from the perspective of cognitive psychology to control the environmental parameters of Auricularia auricula cultivation. Based on cognitive psychology and emotional behavior changes, the cultivation system of Auricularia auricula was improved accordingly.Subjects and MethodsFrom the perspective of cognitive psychology, an indoor agaric cultivation monitoring device based on Internet of things is designed, which is mainly composed of monitoring terminal (stm32f103zet6 microcomputer as the main controller), cloud platform and user control center. The monitoring terminal is mainly responsible for sensor data acquisition, threshold setting and control of some external equipment, including fan cooling, lighting, grass curtain ventilation, water pump watering and infrared anti-theft alarm control; The cloud platform mainly receives various data information uploaded by the main controller through wireless data communication technology and sends it to users; The user control center is mainly responsible for real-time remote monitoring of the growth environment of Auricularia auricula through mobile phones or computers. The information collected by each sensor is automatically identified and tracked in real time after being processed by single chip microcomputer. The data is displayed in real time through LCD, and the data is uploaded to onenet cloud platform through NB IOT wireless communication technology, so as to realize accurate and fast data interactive transmission, remote monitoring and report the real-time status to users. On the other hand, the alarm effect is achieved by setting the corresponding threshold, and the corresponding decision-making and control are carried out automatically. SPSS 22.0 software is also used for data statistical analysis. The measurement data is expressed as mean ± standard deviation (x ± s). The statistical method is: descriptive statistics is used for general data characteristics, t-test is used for the comparison of the mean of two independent samples, nonparametric Kruskal Wallis test is used for ordered classified data, and regression analysis is used to verify the mediation effect of RS between as and terminal according to the mediation effect test model. P < 0.05 was statistically significant.ResultsCompile and download the software and assemble the module, process the environmental parameters collected by the sensor through the microcomputer, and send the sensor data to the onenet cloud platform through the Nb Internet of things module. Users can remotely monitor data through computer or mobile phone to realize the functions of data detection, threshold setting, data display, audible and visual alarm, parameter adjustment, cloud platform monitoring and so on., The total score of Internet of things terminal as is different in whether to monitor the environment (P < 0.05), and the total score of RS is different in users' use of cloud platform data (P < 0.05), that is, the terminal running with emotional behavior changes performs better; The total score of SCL-90 was only different in use.ConclusionThe indoor agaric cultivation monitoring device based on Internet of things and cognitive psychology adopts NB IOT wireless data communication module for wireless transmission, which can complete the collection of indoor environmental information and display the information on mobile phones and computers. It has the functions of remote monitoring and anti-theft alarm, and can realize the intelligent management of agaric cultivation. At the same time, it can also promote the application of cognitive psychology of the Internet of things in various fields and achieve good social builders, managers and collaborators.AcknowledgementsSupported by a project grant from Ministry of education industry university cooperation collaborative education project, (Grant No. 202102371060).

Application of Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis to the Medication-Use Process for Temperature-Sensitive Drugs in a University Hospital.

In the hospital setting, the medication-use system for temperature-sensitive drugs is a high-risk process. To analyze the risks associated with the hospital-based medication-use process and to propose corrective and preventive actions for the most critical failure modes. A multidisciplinary team was trained to analyze the medication-use process for temperature-sensitive drugs and to identify potential failures using a risk analysis method known as failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA). The medication-use process, from initial supply to administration to patients, was investigated using "the 5 Ws and How" method (Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?), and the causes of the failure modes were analyzed using Ishikawa diagrams. The most critical failure modes were selected using the Pareto law, and relevant improvement actions were proposed. This analysis identified 41 failure modes for the 9 stages of the medication-use process, of which only 36 were deemed assessable by the participants. Eighteen (50%) of these failure modes were critical, according to the Pareto law, with criticality indices between 12 and 60. The stage of tidying up and storage in patient care units had the highest number of critical failures (n = 5). A total of 48 corrective actions were proposed. The proposed action plan prioritized 3 areas for improvement: the documentation system, staff training, and equipment acquisition. A second FMECA should be carried out to reassess the medication-use process after implementation of these improvement actions. The second FMECA, allowing detection of residual risks and identification of new risks, will be part of a continuous improvement process.

Retrofitting Cost Modeling in Aircraft Design

Aircraft retrofitting is a challenging task involving multiple scenarios and stakeholders. Providing a strategy to retrofit an existing platform needs detailed knowledge of multiple aspects, ranging from aircraft performance and emissions, development and conversion costs to the projected operating costs. This paper proposes a methodology to account for retrofitting costs at an industrial level, explaining the activities related to such a process. Costs are mainly derived from three contributions: development costs, conversion costs and equipment acquisition costs. Different retrofitting packages, such as engine conversion and onboard systems electrification, are applied in the retrofitting of an existing 90 PAX regional turbofan aircraft, highlighting the impact on both aircraft performance and industrial costs. Multiple variables and scenarios are considered regarding trade-offs and decision-making, including the number of aircraft to be retrofitted, the heritage of an aircraft and its utilization, the fuel price and the airport charges. The results show that a reduction of 15% in fuel demand and emissions are achievable, considering a fleet of 500 platforms, through a conspicuous investment of around EUR 20 million per aircraft (50% of the estimated price). Furthermore, depending on the scenarios driven by the regulatory authorities, governments or airlines, this paper provides a useful methodology to evaluate the feasibility of retrofitting activities.

The role of strategic innovation activities in creating Spanish agriculture companies' innovativeness

The aim of this study is to identify strategic innovation activities that influence the product and process innovativeness of Spanish agriculture companies. From a theoretical perspective, according to the Oslo Manual, strategic innovation activities can be divided into five key groups. Based on a dataset including 874 firms covered by the 2014 edition of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we examine the role of different forms of strategic innovation activities used for the introduction of product and process innovations. Using the logit regression model and marginal effects, we found evidence of a relationship between the strategic activities and the product and process innovations in Spanish agriculture companies. The results indicate that only one type of strategic innovation activity, i.e. in-house research and development (R&amp;amp;D) is a common statistically significant factor explaining the product and process innovation. In the case of the other strategic innovation activities, some differences can be found. Thus, external R&amp;amp;D and other activities are significant for product innovation, but not for process innovation. In turn, the acquisition of machinery, equipment, software and buildings and training for innovative activities are significant for process innovation, but not for product innovation.

Multidimensional innovation responses and foreign competition

Abstract The dramatic increase in China’s exports after its accession to the World Trade Organization offers a window of opportunity for learning the innovative behavior of firms under competitive distress. Using manufacturing firm-level data, we quantify the effects of foreign competition on innovation in Uruguay. Our estimates show that a higher level of foreign competition reduces innovation inputs (acquisition of new machines, equipment, and software) and outputs (process and product innovations). These adverse effects are larger for firms in business groups and smaller for more productive firms and firms with more skilled labor.

Pro: Fresh versus frozen embryo transfer. Is frozen embryo transfer the future?

Embryo cryopreservation has been an integral part of ART for close to 40 years and vitrification has boosted overall ART efficacy and safety. Recently, there has been a vivid scientific discussion on whether elective cryopreservation of all embryos (freeze-all) should be pursued for most patients, with a fresh embryo transfer taking place only in selected cases. In terms of efficacy, the available evidence suggests that the freeze-all strategy leads to higher live birth rates after the first embryo transfer compared to the conventional strategy in high responders, while there is no difference in normal responders. There is no evidence to suggest that the freeze-all strategy is inferior to the conventional strategy of fresh transfer when comparing cumulative live birth rates using data from all available randomized controlled trials. The incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is significantly reduced in the freeze-all policy. However, regarding obstetric complications and neonatal outcomes, the evidence suggests that each strategy is associated with certain risks and, therefore, there is no approach that could be unequivocally accepted as safer. Similarly, limited evidence does not support the notion that patients would be universally against freeze-all owing to the inevitable delay in pregnancy achievement. Finally, the cost-effectiveness of freeze-all is likely to vary in different settings and there have been studies supporting that this policy can be, under certain conditions, cost-effective. Adoption of the freeze-all policy can also allow for more flexible treatment strategies that have the potential to increase efficacy, reduce cost and make treatment easier for patients and clinics. Importantly, freeze-all does not require the use of any experimental technologies, further training of personnel or the costly acquisition of new equipment. For these reasons, transitioning to the freeze-all policy for most patients appears to be the next logical step in ART.

Enablers in the production system design process impacting operational performance

ABSTRACT This paper explores how the design process of the production system could be utilized to improve the operational performance during the production ramp-up and operation phases. A qualitative case study was carried out in a large process-type manufacturing company, focusing on three new production line launching projects. Different actions taken in the design process of the production lines were linked to their impact during the running operation phase and operational performance, which is measured by the metric of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) within lean manufacturing. The empirical findings provides a concrete example that activities in the design process impact on the OEE. A set of enablers in the production system design process at different systems-level, especially concerning the acquisition of new production equipment have been demonstrated that has potential to achieve the target operational performance. Finally, the concept of operational performance driven production system design process is proposed.

A Collaborative Filtering Method for Operation Maintenance Behavior in Power Monitoring Systems

As an important part of power infrastructure, a power monitoring system provides real-time data acquisition, state detection, and remote control of power equipment for the power grid and can deal with sudden anomalies in time. The operation and maintenance of the power monitoring system are very important to ensure the stable operation of power grid. The current mainstream remote operation and maintenance mode has internal threats such as misoperation of operation and maintenance personnel or malicious damage caused by attackers stealing operation and maintenance authority. Meanwhile, the existing operation and maintenance audit has the problems of high human resource cost and limited supervision of operation and maintenance personnel. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a collaborative filtering method for operation and maintenance behavior of power monitoring system called CFomb. Exploiting a keyword matching algorithm, CFomb determines the power resources accessed by operation and maintenance users from multiple operation instructions and extracts operation and maintenance behaviors. Referring to the collaborative filtering idea, the feature matrix decomposition scheme is introduced to train the access probability model based on the historical normal behavior of multiple operation and maintenance users, which provides a basis for real-time prediction of the access behavior probability of target operation and maintenance users. The OTSU binarization technique is used to determine the probability threshold of abnormal operation and maintenance behaviors, identify abnormal behaviors through threshold comparison, and send real-time alarms to operation and maintenance audit. The simulation experiment results show that the method in this paper can effectively identify the abnormal behavior of operation and maintenance users, reduce the overhead of manual audit, and help improve the power monitoring system’s ability to respond to internal threats of operation and maintenance.