An inquiry into the contribution of the Oregon Workforce Quality Council to the development of a world-class workforce

The purpose of this study was to provide understanding of Oregon Workforce Quality Council contributions to the development of a world-class workforce. Research goals were to describe Council processes and outcomes, as well as barriers to the achievement of Council purposes. A case-study approach was selected for the research design. Interviews were conducted with 47 Council or regional committee members, state agency staff, or associated others. Observations and review of written documentation and communications, including meeting minutes, were also used to gather information. Findings were verified with respondents to confirm the accuracy of data analysis. From the findings it was learned that expert observers from outside Oregon believed that the Council has pioneered development of a framework for a workforce system that will respond to emerging, transitional, and existing needs. The Oregon Council has also provided a contribution to the development of a best-trained workforce. This contribution has focused largely upon development of organizational structures and processes, an emphasis upon internal process, however, which has positioned the Council for more product-oriented future outcomes. A public/private partnership, highly valued by both observers and participants, was the hallmark of Council work. Similarly, the effort to empower local regions to drive the process, rather than traditional dependence upon a top-down approach, was regarded an important element in the Council's evolution. When analyzing barriers to Council success, the primary factor was the failure to utilize organizational effectiveness models. Specifically, the Council did not participate in the kind of vision and purpose processes or strategic planning that would have increased its effectiveness. The study offered a number of implications for practice which would immediately benefit the Council and allow it to further its goals. More research is needed to examine how such volunteer boards can utilize organizational effectiveness models to best advantage

Various multistage ensembles for prediction of heating energy consumption

Feedforward neural network models are created for prediction of daily heating energy consumption of a NTNU university campus Gloshaugen using actual measured data for training and testing. Improvement of prediction accuracy is proposed by using neural network ensemble. Previously trained feed-forward neural networks are first separated into clusters, using k-means algorithm, and then the best network of each cluster is chosen as member of an ensemble. Two conventional averaging methods for obtaining ensemble output are applied; simple and weighted. In order to achieve better prediction results, multistage ensemble is investigated. As second level, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system with various clustering and membership functions are used to aggregate the selected ensemble members. Feedforward neural network in second stage is also analyzed. It is shown that using ensemble of neural networks can predict heating energy consumption with better accuracy than the best trained single neural network, while the best results are achieved with multistage ensemble

Descubriendo la riqueza de las Cuevas: La Cueva de Villa Luz, en Tabasco

Sabías que…La Cueva de Villa Luz es famosa por su singular ambiente, rico en compuestos de azufre. Esta cueva se encuentra entre las más peligrosas para los humanos, ya que en su interior hay grandes concentraciones de gas sulfhídrico, muy tóxico, que le da a la cueva el típico olor a huevo podrido. La Villa Luz es el típico ejemplo de una cueva cuyo desarrollo y crecimiento se encuentran aún activos, debido a la acción del ácido sulfúrico. Este ácido es generado por el desecho metabólico de las colonias de bacterias, que obtienen sulfuro de hidrógeno de las rocas. El ácido sulfúrico es un elemento natural que interviene en varios procesos biogeoquímicos responsables de la formación de la cuev

Geomicrobiology of Cave Ferromanganese Deposits: A Field and Laboratory Investigation

Unusual ferromanganese deposits are found in several caves in New Mexico. The deposits are enriched in iron and manganese by as much as three orders of magnitude over the bedrock, differing significantly in mineralogy and chemistry from bedrock-derived insoluble residue. The deposits contain metabolically active microbial communities. Enrichment cultures inoculated from the ferromanganese deposits produced manganese oxides that were initially amorphous but developed into crystalline minerals over an 8-month period and beyond; no such progression occurred in killed controls. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences from clone libraries constructed from culture DNA identified two genera known to oxidize manganese, but most clones represent previously unknown manganese oxidizers. We suggest that this community is breaking down the bedrock and accumulating iron and manganese oxides in an oligotrophic environment

Diverse microbial communities inhabiting ferromanganese deposits in Lechuguilla and Spider Caves

Lechuguilla Cave is an ancient, deep, oligotrophic subterranean environment that contains an abundance of low‐density ferromanganese deposits, the origin of which is uncertain. To assess the possibility that biotic factors may be involved in the production of these deposits and to investigate the nature of the microbial community in these materials, we carried out culture‐independent, small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) sequence‐based studies from two sites and from manganese and iron enrichment cultures inoculated with ferromanganese deposits from Lechuguilla and Spider Caves. Sequence analysis showed the presence of some organisms whose closest relatives are known iron‐ and manganese‐oxidizing/reducing bacteria, including Hyphomicrobium, Pedomicrobium, Leptospirillum, Stenotrophomonas and Pantoea. The dominant clone types in one site grouped with mesophilic Archaea in both the Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. The second site was dominated almost entirely by lactobacilli. Other clone sequences were most closely related to those of nitrite‐oxidizing bacteria, nitrogen‐fixing bacteria, actinomycetes and β‐ and γ‐Proteobacteria. Geochemical analyses showed a fourfold enrichment of oxidized iron and manganese from bedrock to darkest ferromanganese deposits. These data support our hypothesis that microorganisms may contribute to the formation of manganese and iron oxide‐rich deposits and a diverse microbial community is present in these unusual secondary mineral formations

Synthesis and Characterization of Uranium(IV)-Bearing Members of the [NZP] Structural Family

The sodium dizirconium tris(phosphate) structural family ([NZP]) includes compounds that may be represented by the general formula M‘M‘ ‘1-3A2(PO4)3. The ability of KZr2(PO4)3, a member of the [NZP] structural family, to accommodate U(IV) on the octahedrally coordinated A site has been demonstrated for compounds in the series KZr2-xUx(PO4)3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20). KU2(PO4)3, the end member of the series, was found to adopt a monoclinic structure with 9-fold coordination of U(IV) that does not belong to the [NZP] family. The compounds were prepared from sol−gel derived precursors in an argon environment. X-ray microanalyses indicated that the precursor powders had reacted fully to produce compounds of the expected stoichiometries. Rietveld refined X-ray powder diffraction data of KZr2-xUx(PO4)3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) confirmed a rhombohedral (R3̄c) structure and suggested random occupation of the A site by U/Zr. The presence of U(IV) was established by comparison of the UV/vis spectra of KZr2-xUx(PO4)3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) with those of other U(IV) phosphates including KU2(PO4)3. The Rietveld refined data show an increase in the volume of the R3̄c cell with increasing values of x. The structure of KU2(PO4)3, determined from Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction data, is monoclinic (space group C2/c, Z = 4) with unit cell parameters a = 17.4705(4) Å, b = 6.75408(13) Å, c = 8.02522(17) Å, β = 102.0189(17)°, and V = 926.196(34) Å3. The final indicators of the quality of the Rietveld refinement were Rwp = 14.07%, Re = 10.02%, and RF = 3.78%