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As the 1960s drew to a close, Congress found itself grappling with an increasing array of complex technological issues that it was ill equipped to analyze and that could be the cause of costly blunders if acted upon incorrectly. To alleviate this situation, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was created in 1972 under Public Law 92–484 in order to advise Congress on issues in science and technology so that relevant information would be available when pertinent legislation was being developed. Under the leadership of its director John Gibbons, OTA has earned the distinction of providing Congress, that most political of bodies, with timely and objective information without becoming mired in political skirmishes. Despite this distinction, OTA is one of the smallest government agencies, with a budget of twenty million dollars and a staff of 140. Its organization is remarkable for its simplicity. A bipartisan congressional Technology Assessment Board governs the agency overall but appoints the director who has full responsibility for running it. The nine agency divisions are organized according to scientific disciplines and report to the director with little or no intervening bureaucracy. Outside expert advice is available from the Technology Assessment Advisory Council. The result is an organization that is equally balanced politically and scientifically, that is streamlined and efficient, and that allows input from its governing members. This structure also allows great flexibility in the research and production of assessment reports. To do an assessment, OTA deploys its experts to go out and gather the information needed on the wide‐ranging topics it has been commissioned to research. The topics are chosen according to the need and interest of both houses and both political parties. Outside experts are sometimes called upon to do research but OTA exercises the final responsibility over their reports. Factual conclusions and options are presented but opinions are never given. The manner in which the information is acted upon is always left to Congress, a major reason for OTA's success.

Predictive current control (PCC) of three-to-five-phase direct matrix converters (DMCs) is computationally expensive. For this reason, this study aims to consider a reduced number of switching states of DMC in PCC algorithm to predict the control objectives, such as output current control and input reactive power control.

The switching sequences which yield the voltage vectors of variable amplitude at a constant frequency in space are considered for the prediction and optimization step of PCC algorithm. For the selected voltage vectors, the phase angles of the output vectors are independent on the phase angles of the input vectors. In a three-to-five-phase DMC, there are 243 valid switching states. Among the switching states, only 91 states are considered using the aforementioned concept of variable amplitude output at a constant frequency. This reduced number of switching states simplifies the computational complexity of MPC based current control of three-to-five-phase DMC.

The computational complexity of the proposed PCC based DMC is lower than the all 243 vectors based PCC. The current total harmonic distortion, transient current response and input reactive power control for the simplified 91 vector based PCC are similar to the all 243 vectors based PCC.

A reduced number of switching sequence is considered for the prediction and optimization step of PCC algorithm. Hence, PCC algorithm can be sampled at a high frequency in real-time applications. Then, the performance of the PCC will be improved.

Discusses the 27 papers in ISEF 1999 Proceedings on the subject of electromagnetisms. States the groups of papers cover such subjects within the discipline as: induction machines; reluctance motors; PM motors; transformers and reactors; and special problems and applications. Debates all of these in great detail and itemizes each with greater in‐depth discussion of the various technical applications and areas. Concludes that the recommendations made should be adhered to.

Human trafficking (HT) is a local, national and international problem with a range of human rights, public health and policy implications. Victims of HT face atrocious abuses that negatively impact their health outcomes. When a state lacks protective laws, such as Safe Harbor laws, victims of HT tend to be seen as criminals. This paper aims to highlight the legal present gaps within Missouri’s anti-trafficking legislation and delineates recommendations for the legal protection of victims of HT and betterment of services needed for their reintegration and healing.

This case-study is based on a policy analysis of current Missouri’s HT laws. This analysis was conducted through examining current rankings systems created by nationally and internationally recognized non-governmental organizations as well as governmental reports. Additionally, other state’s best practice and law passage of Safe Harbor legislations were examined. The recommendations were based on human rights and public health frameworks.

Missouri is a state that has yet to upgrade its laws lately to reflect Safe Harbor laws. Constant upgrades and evaluations of current efforts are necessary to protect and address HT at the state and local levels. Public health and human rights principles can assist in the upgrading of current laws as well as other states’ best-practice and integration of protective legislation and diversion programs to both youth and adult victims of HT.

Laws are continually being updated at the state level; therefore, there might be some upgrades that have taken place after the analysis of this case study was conducted. Also, the findings and recommendations of this case study are limited to countries that are similar to the USA in terms of the state-level autonomy to pass laws independently from federal law.

If Safe Harbor laws are well designed, they have greater potential to protect, support and assist victims of HT in their process from victimization into survivorship as well as to paving the way for societal reintegration. The creation and enforcement of Safe Harbor laws is a way to ensure the decriminalization process. Additionally, this legal protection also ensures that the universal human rights of victims are protected. Consequently, these legal processes and updates could assist in creating healthier communities in the long run in the USA and around the world.

From a public health and human rights perspectives, communities in the USA and around the world cannot provide complete protection to victims of HT until their anti-trafficking laws reflect Safe Harbor laws.

This case study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is a unique analysis that dismantles the discrepancies of Missouri’s current HT laws. This work is valuable to those who create policies at the state level and advocate for the protection of victims and anti-trafficking efforts.

The purpose of this research is to examine the association between the unfunded OPEB liability and current expenditures for state governments as a measure of intergenerational equity. The research hypothesizes that states use the money to provide a higher level of current services than would be possible if the retiree healthcare premiums were fully funded. The results indicate that the current generation is receiving services but deferring the burden of paying for a portion of the services to future generations. This study is among the first to investigate the OPEB liability as a source of financing for current-period services for state governments.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The purpose of this paper is to cover the significance of lean thinking using value stream mapping and six sigma methodology in managing industrial operations.

Lean manufacturing is an efficient approach for identifying and eliminating waste through a continuous improvement via flow of the product/service at the pull of customer in chase of exactness. This study has been carried out in a manufacturing unit of Northern India that was suffering from high production lead time and work in progress (WIP) inventory.

The current state and future state maps for the critical product have been prepared. On comparison of both current and future state maps, it was observed that lead time has been reduced by 14.88 percent, processing time by 14.71 percent and wastage of material movement by 37.97 percent. As proposed in model, the WIP inventories have been reduced by 17.76 percent and workforce by 17.64 percent. Further it would lead to the profit of Rs161,800 per annum. Six sigma projects have been carried out to reduce rejections of the critical product P-19 under study. The total length of the product was undersize of the critical product. Root cause analysis technique has been used through strategic DMAIC implementation. Results of investigation demonstrated net savings of rupees 145,560 annually.

The paper demonstrates the practical application of lean thinking, showing how it can bring real breakthroughs in saving cost in the manufacturing industry.

This paper aims to propose a new sleep signal controlled footless domino circuit for reducing the subthreshold and gate oxide leakage currents.

In the proposed circuit, a P channel MOSFET (PMOS) sleep switch transistor is inserted between the power supply and the output node. The sleep transistor, the source of the pull-down network, and the source of the N channel MOSFET (NMOS) transistor of the output inverter are controlled by this additional sleep signal to place the footless domino circuit in a low leakage state.

The authors simulate the proposed circuit by using HSPICE in 45-nm CMOS technology for OR and AND logic gates such as OR2, OR4, OR8, AND2 and AND4 at 25°C and 110°C. The proposed circuit reduces leakage power consumption as compared to the existing circuits.

The proposed circuit significantly reduces the total leakage power consumption up to 99.41 and 99.51 per cent as compared to the standard dual-threshold voltage footless domino circuits at 25°C and 110°C, respectively, and up to 93.79 and 97.98 per cent as compared to the sleep control techniques at 25°C and 110°C, respectively. Similarly, the proposed circuit reduces the active power consumption up to 26.76 and 86.25 per cent as compared to the standard dual-threshold voltage and sleep control techniques footless domino circuits at 25°C and 110°C, respectively.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and confer a strategic cost model as a concept for good decision making for highway asset treatment in the transport industry.

The paper is based on asset performance condition and treatment renewals using a five-point performance for developing prospective treatment strategies. The strategic cost model is presented in the similitude of picturesque and its outcomes via an exploratory data analysis.

The results articulate the best maintenance plan for the forthcoming and future years. The strategic cost model uses the combination of the current condition band, the sample area and likely treatment cost for proposing the optimal treatment solution based on consideration of desired treatment level.

The strategic cost model is suitable for outlining the asset performance condition, treatment renewals and analytical cost optimisation. The formulated analytical cost model and developed prospective strategies enable good decision making, long-term contract negotiations and whole life cost maintenance and management.

Embracing eminent performance condition from the research area of lifecycle planning and deterioration models of a physical asset, a prospective cost strategy for asset maintenance is proposed in the study. The resultant treatment strategies using the analytical approach portray the ability that enables the adaptation of expected outcomes.