Person-years Of Effort Research Articles

FlyWire: online community for whole-brain connectomics.

Due to advances in automated image acquisition and analysis, whole-brain connectomes with 100,000 or more neurons are on the horizon. Proofreading of whole-brain automated reconstructions will require many person-years of effort, due to the huge volumes of data involved. Here we present FlyWire, an online community for proofreading neural circuits in a Drosophila melanogaster brain, and explain how its computational and social structures are organized to scale up to whole-brain connectomics. Browser-based 3D interactive segmentation by collaborative editing of a spatially chunked supervoxel graph makes it possible to distribute proofreading to individuals located virtually anywhere in the world. Information in the edit history is programmatically accessible for a variety of uses such as estimating proofreading accuracy or building incentive systems. An open community accelerates proofreading by recruiting more participants and accelerates scientific discovery by requiring information sharing. We demonstrate how FlyWire enables circuit analysis by reconstructing and analysing the connectome of mechanosensory neurons.

Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2020 worldwide review

This paper presents a review of the worldwide applications of geothermal energy for direct utilization and updates the previous survey carried out in 2015. We also compare data from WGC1995, WGC2000, WGC2005, WGC2010, and WGC2015 presented at World Geothermal Congresses in Italy, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia and Australia. As in previous reports, an effort is made to quantify geothermal (ground-source) heat pump data. The present report is based on country update papers received from 62 countries and regions reporting on their direct utilization of geothermal energy. Twenty-six additional countries were added to the list based on other sources of information. Thus, direct utilization of geothermal energy in a total of 88 countries is an increase from 82 in 2015, 78 reported in 2010, 72 reported in 2005, 58 reported in 2000, and 28 reported in 1995. An estimation of the installed thermal power for direct utilization at the end of 2019 is used in this paper and equals 107,727 MWt, a 52.0 % increase over the 2015 data, growing at a compound rate of 8.73 % annually. The thermal energy used is 1,020,887 TJ/yr (283,580 GW h/yr.), a 72.3 % increase over 2015, growing at a compound rate of 11.5 % annually. The distribution of thermal energy used by category is approximately 58.8 % for geothermal (ground-source) heat pumps, 18.0 % for bathing and swimming (including balneology), 16.0 % for space heating (of which 91.0 % is for district heating), 3.5 % for greenhouse heating, 1.6 % for industrial applications, 1.3 % for aquaculture pond and raceway heating, 0.4 % for agricultural drying, 0.2 % for snow melting and cooling, and 0.2 % for other applications. Energy savings amounts to 596 million barrels (81.0 million tonnes) of equivalent oil annually, preventing 78.1 million tonnes of carbon and 252.6 million tonnes of CO2 from being released to the atmosphere. This includes savings for geothermal heat pumps in the cooling mode, compared to using fuel oil to generate electricity. Since it is almost impossible to separate direct-use from electric power generation for the following, they are combined: approximately 2647 wells were drilled in 42 countries, 34,500 person-years of effort were allocated in 59 countries, and US $22.262 billion invested in projects by 53 countries.

Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide review

This paper presents a review of the worldwide applications of geothermal energy for direct utilization, and updates the previous survey carried out in 2010. We also compare data from 1995, 2000 and 2005 presented at World Geothermal Congresses in Italy, Japan and Turkey, respectively (WGC95, WGC2000, and WGC2005). As in previous reports, an effort is made to quantify ground-source (geothermal) heat pump data. The present report is based on country update papers received from 70 countries and regions of which 65 reported some direct utilization of geothermal energy. Seventeen additional countries were added to the list based on other sources of information. Thus, direct utilization of geothermal energy in a total of 82 countries is an increase from the 78 reported in 2010, 72 reported in 2005, 58 reported in 2000, and 28 reported in 1995. An estimation of the installed thermal power for direct utilization at the end of 2014 is used in this paper and equals 70,885MWt, 46.2% increase over the 2010 data, growing at a compound rate of 7.9% annually with a capacity factor of 0.265. The thermal energy used is 592,638TJ/year (164,635GWh/year), about a 39.8% increase over 2010, growing at a compound rate of 6.9% annually. The distribution of thermal energy used by category is approximately 55.2% for ground-source heat pumps, 20.2% for bathing and swimming (including balneology), 15.0% for space heating (of which 89% is for district heating), 4.9% for greenhouses and open ground heating, 2.0% for aquaculture pond and raceway heating, 1.8% for industrial process heating, 0.4% for snow melting and cooling, 0.3% for agricultural drying, and 0.2% for other uses. Energy savings amounted to 352 million barrels (52.8 million tonnes) of equivalent oil annually, preventing 46.1 million tonnes of carbon and 149.1 million tonnes of CO2 being released to the atmosphere, this includes savings for geothermal heat pumps in the cooling mode (compared to using fuel oil to generate electricity). Since it was almost impossible to separate direct-use from electric power generation for the following, they are combined:approximately 2218 well were drilled in 42 countries, 34,000 person-years of effort were allocated in 52 countries, and US $20 billion invested in projects by 49 countries.

Size and characteristics of the biomedical research workforce associated with U.S. National Institutes of Health extramural grants.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) annually invests approximately $22 billion in biomedical research through its extramural grant programs. Since fiscal year (FY) 2010, all persons involved in research during the previous project year have been required to be listed on the annual grant progress report. These new data have enabled the production of the first-ever census of the NIH-funded extramural research workforce. Data were extracted from All Personnel Reports submitted for NIH grants funded in FY 2009, including position title, months of effort, academic degrees obtained, and personal identifiers. Data were de-duplicated to determine a unique person count. Person-years of effort (PYE) on NIH grants were computed. In FY 2009, NIH funded 50,885 grant projects, which created 313,049 full- and part-time positions spanning all job functions involved in biomedical research. These positions were staffed by 247,457 people at 2,604 institutions. These persons devoted 121,465 PYE to NIH grant-supported research. Research project grants each supported 6 full- or part-time positions, on average. Over 20% of positions were occupied by postdoctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students. These baseline data were used to project workforce estimates for FYs 2010-2014 and will serve as a foundation for future research.

The Causes and Prevention of Smut on Etched AISI 300 Stainless Steels

During the fabrication of stainless steel parts by photochemical machining (PCM), a seemingly random occurrence of a partially-adherent, brown/black deposit, known as smut, can occur. This quality problem has plagued the PCM industry for over 30 years. In the past, the problem has been attributed to “poor etch-quality” stainless steel. However, an extensive investigation by the authors, comprising some 7 person-years of effort, has established that while the metallurgy of the stainless steel has some influence on the formation of smut, by far the most important factor is the condition of the ferric chloride etchant used for etching the parts. The influences of etchant concentration, free hydrochloric acid content, temperature, atmosphere and hydrodynamic flow have now been assessed quantitatively for the first time. The investigation has led to the development of a theory outlining the causes of smut formation, thus providing solutions for its prevention.

Challenges in Graduate Education in Integrated Water Resources Management

In a recent editorial, Stakhiv ~2003! called for the implementation of integrated water resources management ~IWRM! in the United States. Others have identified this need both globally and locally because global problems centering on water resources are pervasive. They affect political relations, public health, agriculture, development, and the environment. Particularly important examples summarized by Colwell ~2002! include transboundary rivers (;260 rivers cross national lines, resulting in potential conflict and water wars!; overuse ~the Yellow River in China and the Colorado River in the United States are so overused, they are dry at their mouths!; lack of access to safe water for 1.1 billion people and adequate sanitation facilities for 2.4 billion people; and increasing water needs in settings of inadequate water supply. The United Nations ~UN 1997; UNESCO 2003! reports that half of the developing world’s population suffers from waterand foodrelated diseases, with 5 million people dying yearly from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water or a lack of water for sanitation. They also report that women and children in the developing world spend ;10 million person-years of effort each year to bring household water from distant sources, time better spent on education and other activities. Long-term climate change and population growth will further stress water resources in many regions, and acceptable adaptation will only be achieved through integrated water resources management ~IPCC 2001!. Colwell ~2002, p. 4! concluded, ‘‘...in the 21st Century we have to develop an integrated approach across the disciplines to understand the complexity of water issues worldwide,’’ and further described how complex global water issues require an approach that combines engineering with the natural, physical, and social sciences. The United States is not immune to these global problems. Over 50% of its watersheds have either moderate or serious water quality problems ~US EPA 1996a!. Nearly 950 towns combine municipal wastewater and storm-water in their sewer systems, a practice which pollutes receiving waters; 44% of estuaries are unfit for fishing or swimming ~Ocean Conservancy 2002!; and nonpoint source pollution from diffuse land and underground

Systematic technology transfer from biology to engineering

Solutions to problems move only very slowly between different disciplines. Transfer can be greatly speeded up with suitable abstraction and classification of problems. Russian researchers working on the TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch) method for inventive problem solving have identified systematic means of transferring knowledge between different scientific and engineering disciplines. With over 1500 person years of effort behind it, TRIZ represents the biggest study of human creativity ever conducted, whose aim has been to establish a system into which all known solutions can be placed, classified in terms of function. At present, the functional classification structure covers nearly 3 000 000 of the world's successful patents and large proportions of the known physical, chemical and mathematical knowledge-base. Additional tools are the identification of factors which prevent the attainment of new technology, leading directly to a system of inventive principles which will resolve the impasse, a series of evolutionary trends of development, and to a system of methods for effecting change in a system (Su-fields). As yet, the database contains little biological knowledge despite early recognition by the instigator of TRIZ (Genrich Altshuller) that one day it should. This is illustrated by natural systems evolved for thermal stability and the maintenance of cleanliness.

1610 The effects of disparity in the peripheral field on human smooth pursuit eye movement

This paper presents a review of the worldwide applications of geothermal energy for direct utilization and updates the previous survey carried out in 2015. We also compare data from WGC1995, WGC2000, WGC2005, WGC2010, and WGC2015 presented at World Geothermal Congresses in Italy, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia and Australia. As in previous reports, an effort is made to quantify geothermal (ground-source) heat pump data. The present report is based on country update papers received from 62 countries and regions reporting on their direct utilization of geothermal energy. Twenty-six additional countries were added to the list based on other sources of information. Thus, direct utilization of geothermal energy in a total of 88 countries is an increase from 82 in 2015, 78 reported in 2010, 72 reported in 2005, 58 reported in 2000, and 28 reported in 1995. An estimation of the installed thermal power for direct utilization at the end of 2019 is used in this paper and equals 107,727 MWt, a 52.0 % increase over the 2015 data, growing at a compound rate of 8.73 % annually. The thermal energy used is 1,020,887 TJ/yr (283,580 GW h/yr.), a 72.3 % increase over 2015, growing at a compound rate of 11.5 % annually. The distribution of thermal energy used by category is approximately 58.8 % for geothermal (ground-source) heat pumps, 18.0 % for bathing and swimming (including balneology), 16.0 % for space heating (of which 91.0 % is for district heating), 3.5 % for greenhouse heating, 1.6 % for industrial applications, 1.3 % for aquaculture pond and raceway heating, 0.4 % for agricultural drying, 0.2 % for snow melting and cooling, and 0.2 % for other applications. Energy savings amounts to 596 million barrels (81.0 million tonnes) of equivalent oil annually, preventing 78.1 million tonnes of carbon and 252.6 million tonnes of CO2 from being released to the atmosphere. This includes savings for geothermal heat pumps in the cooling mode, compared to using fuel oil to generate electricity. Since it is almost impossible to separate direct-use from electric power generation for the following, they are combined: approximately 2647 wells were drilled in 42 countries, 34,500 person-years of effort were allocated in 59 countries, and US $22.262 billion invested in projects by 53 countries.

Stabilizing an MIS

Technical managers of MIS appear to have only two problems: 1) End user requirements continually evolve; 2) Vendor product offerings are in constant flux. In other words, everything is subject to somewhat unpredictable change from all sides at once. This is the quintessence of unmanageability. This excitement and adventure of the situation are more than offset by the excessive costs of development and maintenance which accrue to those who are trying to provide an MIS of consistently high quality. One company which performs MIS and conventional data processing services more than 400 hospitals was able to design, implement and maintain a rather complete set of functional interface standards for all software run on its central processing facility. Seven primary functional types were identified and implemented over a five year period with expenditure of more than 50 person-years of effort. User profile management and user data distribution were the two best developed and most essential standard interfaces. The diversity of client characteristics and of output media which can be handled through the interfaces has made possible an extraordinary corporate growth rate in excess of 25% per year, wit ha corresponding expansion in client base and MIS services. The management ramifications and the technological outcomes of this MIS stabilizing project are the complementary subjects of this paper.