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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Strategic Competition in China-US Relations

How should the United States approach strategic competition with China? This has been a central question in U.S. foreign and defense policy for decades. Each new presidential administration has tried to find the right balance between competition and cooperation in an evolving bilateral relationship with complex political, economic, and security dimensions. In anticipation of a widening discussion of these matters within the United States, with U.S. allies, and also of course in China, we turned to Michael Nacht. As a scholar of international relations and as a policy practitioner in two presidential administrations, he has deep insight into the China–U.S. strategic relationship and the enduring challenge of how best to balance competition and cooperation. This paper provides essential context for the current policy debate, as well as insights and recommendations of immediate relevance. Dr. Nacht then turned to two research fellows at CGSR for assistance with this project, who played a significant role in writing the report. Sarah Laderman and Julie Beeston contributed importantly to the analytical work reflected here. We are grateful to all three coauthors for such a timely and important piece of analysis. We are also grateful for the good counsel of an external reviewer and for supplemental research support provided by other members of the CGSR research team.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

RACEE: Community of Klawock Competition Project Summary

RACEE is a US Department of Energy (DOE) competition that challenged rural Alaskan communities to commit to saving 15% energy by 2020 (baseline 2010) which aligns with the State’s Energy Efficiency goal. In January 2016, 64 communities, including eight Southeast communities, submitted pledges to become energy champions and move to the next phase of the competition. In April, DOE announced that 13 communities would be eligible to apply for up to $3.4 million in funding to implement the community energy efficiency plans they develop in Phase II of the competition. Klawock is one of those 13 communities and the only eligible community in Southeast Alaska.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Leaf Photosynthesis and Plant Competitive Success in a Mixed-grass Prairie: With Reference to Exotic Grasses Invasion

The widespread invasion of exotic cool-season grasses in mixed-grass rangeland is diminishing the hope of bringing back the natural native plant communities. However, ecophysiological mechanisms explaining the relative competitiveness of these invasive grasses over the native species generally are lacking. In this study, we used experimental data collected in south-central North Dakota, USA to address this issue. Photosynthetic potential was obtained from the net assimilation (A) vs. internal CO 2 (Ci) response curves from plants grown in a greenhouse. Plant success was defined as the average frequency measured over 25 years (1988 to 2012) on overflow range sites across five levels of grazing intensity. In addition, estimated leaf area index of individual species under field conditions was used to indicate plant success. The correlation between photosynthetic potential based on A/Ci curves and plant frequency was negative. The correlation between leaf photosynthesis and plant success (defined as leaf area within a unit land area) was also negative, although statistically weak. These results suggest that the two cool-season grasses, Poa pratensis and Bromus inermis, do not rely on superior leaf-level photosynthesis for competitive success. Instead, some other traits, such as early and late-season growth, may be more important for them to gain dominance in the mixed-grass prairie. We propose that the negative photosynthesis-frequency relation as observed in this study results from a strong competition for limited soil nutrients in the mixed-grass prairie. In conclusion, it has implications for the stability and productivity of the grassland under various human disruptions influencing the soil nutrient status.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

The Economic Effect of Competition in the Air Transportation Industry

The air transportation industry has been described as a highly-competitive, regulated oligopoly or as a price-regulated cartel with blocked entry, resulting in excessive service and low load factors. The current structure of the industry has been strongly influenced by the hypotheses that increased levels of competition are desirable per se, and that more competing carriers can be economically supported in larger markets, in longer haul markets, with lower unit costs, and with higher fare levels. An elementary application of competition/game theory casts doubt on the validity of these hypotheses, but rather emphasizes the critical importance of the short-term non-variable costs in determining economic levels of competition.

Hubbard, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Space station interior design: Results of the NASA/AIA space station interior national design competition

The results of the NASA/AIA space station interior national design competition held during 1971 are presented in order to make available to those who work in the architectural, engineering, and interior design fields the results of this design activity in which the interiors of several space shuttle size modules were designed for optimal habitability. Each design entry also includes a final configuration of all modules into a complete space station. A brief history of the competition is presented with the competition guidelines and constraints. The first place award entry is presented in detail, and specific features from other selected designs are discussed. This is followed by a discussion of how some of these design features might be applied to terrestrial as well as space situations.

Haines, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Strategies for Revitalizing Organizations: Regaining the Competitive Edge

During the last decade, the United States has lost competitive stature in the world. Challenged daily by a technically sophisticated and vitalized global economy, industry and Government are examining quality and productivity initiatives with which to meet the foreign competitive challenge. At stake are our quality of life and our standard of living for the remainder of this century and beyond. Being competitive is an ongoing process, tuned to an awareness and understanding of the dynamics of the world marketplace and to the changing nature of the work environment. Solutions to America's quality and productivity problems do not exist independently within any organization or industry or at any given level of society. Success depends on commitment, partnership, meshing of goals and responsibilities, mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to be first. A change in organizational management culture is required. Traditional authoritarian management practices must give way to enlightened leadership initiatives that stress employee involvement and participation. There must be a lessening of adversarial relationships between management and labor and between industry and Government. Quality and productivity are understood to be the end result of an integrated process which begins with vigorous, committed leadership and ends with a satisfied customer. The essential elements in the revitalization process are organized in this report into seven strategies which represent the major findings of the Second NASA Symposium on Quality and Productivity. Each strategy is then broken down into its principal themes which are presented as recommendations. No one strategy can stand apart from any other; all are interrelated and work together.

Nysmith, C. Robert↗
NASA NTRS1998

Enhancing Global Competitiveness: Benchmarking Airline Operational Performance in Highly Regulated Environments

Enhancing competitiveness in the global airline industry is at the forefront of attention with airlines, government, and the flying public. The seemingly unchecked growth of major airline alliances is heralded as an enhancement to global competition. However, like many mega-conglomerates, mega-airlines will face complications driven by size regardless of the many recitations of enhanced efficiency. Outlined herein is a conceptual model to serve as a decision tool for policy-makers, managers, and consumers of airline services. This model is developed using public data for the United States (U.S.) major airline industry available from the U/S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and other public and private sector sources. Data points include number of accidents, pilot deviations, operational performance indicators, flight problems, and other factors. Data from these sources provide opportunity to develop a model based on a complex dot product equation of two vectors. A row vector is weighted for importance by a key informant panel of government, industry, and consumer experts, while a column vector is established with the factor value. The resulting equation, known as the national Airline Quality Rating (AQR), where Q is quality, C is weight, and V is the value of the variables, is stated Q=C[i1-19] x V[i1-19]. Looking at historical patterns of AQR results provides the basis for establishment of an industry benchmark for the purpose of enhancing airline operational performance. A 7 year average of overall operational performance provides the resulting benchmark indicator. Applications from this example can be applied to the many competitive environments of the global industry and assist policy-makers faced with rapidly changing regulatory challenges.

Bowen, Brent D.↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Integrated Airport Competition Model, 1998

This paper addresses recent model development by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Hague Consulting Group (HCG) concerning long-distance travel, Long-distance travel demand is growing very quickly and raising a great deal of economic and policy issues. There is increasing competition among the main Western European airports, and smaller, regional airports are fighting for market share. New modes of transport, such as high speed rail, arc also coming into the picture and affect the mode split for medium distance transport within Europe. Developments such as these are demanding the attention of policy makers and a tool is required for their analysis. For DGCA, Hague Consulting Group has developed a model system to provide answers to the policy questions posed by these expected trends, and to identify areas where policy makers can influence the traveller choices. The development of this model system, the Integrated Airport Competition Model/Integral Luchthaven Competitive Model (ILCM), began in 1992. Since that time the sub-models, input data and user interface have been expanded, updated and improved. HCG and DGCA have transformed the ILCM from a prototype into an operational forecasting tool.

Veldhuis, J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Using the Web for Competitive Intelligence (CI) Gathering

Businesses use the Internet as a way to communicate company information as a way of engaging their customers. As the use of the Web for business transactions and advertising grows, so too, does the amount of useful information for practitioners of competitive intelligence (CI). CI is the legal and ethical practice of information gathering about competitors and the marketplace. Information sources like company webpages, online newspapers and news organizations, electronic journal articles and reports, and Internet search engines allow CI practitioners analyze company strengths and weaknesses for their customers. More company and marketplace information than ever is available on the Internet and a lot of it is free. Companies should view the Web not only as a business tool but also as a source of competitive intelligence. In a highly competitive marketplace can any organization afford to ignore information about the other players and customers in that same marketplace?

Rocker, JoAnne↗
NASA NTRS2003

JAL/JAS Integration: Toward a New Era of Competition

On October 2, 2002, JAL and JAS established a new holding company after obtaining the necessary approval from the government bodies. Full integration is planned to take place in April 2004. This paper will primarily explain how JAL/JAS integration will enable JAL to compete effectively with ANA, the giant in the domestic market, and how it will reinforce JAL's competitiveness through further cost reduction and revenue enhancement. In addition, the paper will explain how the keener domestic competition brought about by this integration could resolve the following two issues for the first time in the Japanese aviation history. Those two issues are: (1) providing better service to domestic customers, and (2) making Japanese airlines more competitive against foreign airlines in the international market. As a result, the paper will argue that such an integration, a logical outcome of the post-war civil aviation history of Japan, will significantly benefit customers, Japanese aviation industry and Japanese society as a whole.

Kanenari, Hideyuki↗
NASA NTRS2006

Tools for Tomorrow's Science and Technology Workforce: MATE's 2006 ROV Competition Sets Students' Sights on Ocean Observing Systems

Teams participating in the 2006 ROV competition organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee experienced first-hand the scientific and technical challenges that many ocean scientists, technicians, and engineers face every day. The competition tasked more than 1,000 middle and high school, college, and university students from Newfoundland to Hong Kong with designing and building ROVs to support the next generation of ocean observing systems. Teaming up with the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, Ocean. US, and the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Program, the competition highlighted ocean observing systems and the careers, organizations, and technologies associated with ocean observatories. The student teams were challenged to develop vehicles that can deploy, install, and maintain networks of instruments as well as to explore the practical applications and the research questions made possible by observing systems.

OCEANOGRAPHERS↗
NASA NTRS2009

First International Diagnosis Competition - DXC'09

A framework to compare and evaluate diagnosis algorithms (DAs) has been created jointly by NASA Ames Research Center and PARC. In this paper, we present the first concrete implementation of this framework as a competition called DXC 09. The goal of this competition was to evaluate and compare DAs in a common platform and to determine a winner based on diagnosis results. 12 DAs (model-based and otherwise) competed in this first year of the competition in 3 tracks that included industrial and synthetic systems. Specifically, the participants provided algorithms that communicated with the run-time architecture to receive scenario data and return diagnostic results. These algorithms were run on extended scenario data sets (different from sample set) to compute a set of pre-defined metrics. A ranking scheme based on weighted metrics was used to declare winners. This paper presents the systems used in DXC 09, description of faults and data sets, a listing of participating DAs, the metrics and results computed from running the DAs, and a superficial analysis of the results.

Kurtoglu, tolga↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

2024 Nasa Lunabotics University Competition: Site Preparation With Bulk Regolith

Introduction: Lunabotics provides accredited institutions of higher learning students (vocational-technical, college, university) an opportunity to apply the NASA systems engineering process to design and build a prototype robot. This robot would be capable of performing the proposed operations on the Lunar surface in support of future Artemis mission goals. Lunabotics features a systems engineering design challenge to engage students in the next phase of hu-man space exploration supporting the Artemis missions. This two-semester event encourages students to design and build an autonomous or telerobotic robot designed to traverse the simulated Lunar surface and complete the assigned construction tasks. The number of teams accepted into this challenge is not predetermined but is based on the scores and overall quality of the Project Management Plans received and other factors. The culmination of the Lunabotics virtual challenge will be the design, build and operation of a functional prototype Lunar robot. Teams are required to submit the following: (1) Project Management Plan, (2) Systems Engineering Paper, a (3) STEM Engage-ment Report, and a (4) Proof of Life Video. This is an optional item, but to qualify for the grand prize a team must also submit a: (5) Presentation and Demonstration. Background: The NASA Lunabotics University Competition was first held in 2010 as a follow on to the NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge [1]. The high level of interest and participation from over 50 universities each year has led to a sustained annual competi-ion cadence: it has been held every May for the past 14 years [2,3]. Over 6,000 students have participated and been inspired to pursue Science, Technology, En-gineering and Mathematics careers (STEM). 2024 Competition: The necessary lunar surface tasks are evolving to meet the NASA Artemis Mission requirements. In the past Lunabotics challenges we gathered data to support Lunar mining for consuma-bles in the Lunar regolith. Now, in 2024, the task is to gather data on Lunar site preparation and construction by designing and building a robot that will traverse the chaotic Lunar terrain and construct a regolith-based berm. The goal is to build a berm structure which would be useful to the Artemis Mission for blast and ejecta protection during lunar landings and launches, shading cryogenic propellant tank farms, providing radiation protection around a nuclear power plant and other mission critical uses. Lunabotics will consist of three separate events this year. The first event is NASA’s Lunabotics Project Development Challenge, where teams submit various deliverables to be scored by judges. The second event will be the University of Central Florida (UCF) Lunabotics Qualification challenge, in the Exolith laboratory, where teams will put their de-signs to the test. The top ten scoring teams from the Qualification challenge are then invited to the third and final event, NASA’s Lunabotics On-Site Challenge at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This presentation will summarize the results and lessons learned from the NASA Lunabotics University Competition held in May 2024.

Lunabotics↗
DOE OSTI2017

Preliminary Assessment of Spatial Competition in the Market for E85

The Preliminary Assessment of Spatial Competition in the Market for E85 presentation and supplementary report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory examine how the spacing of E85 fueling stations impacts E85 retail pricing. The analysis finds an inverse correlation between station density and E85 prices, with local competition putting downward pressure on E85 prices. A gas station with E85 whose nearest competitor is within a 0.5 mile radius is associated with a lower E85 price per gallon than an otherwise identical station with E85 whose nearest competitor is farther away. The analysis also finds a higher level of correlation between E85 and both E10 and wholesale gasoline prices than with ethanol costs. This indicates that E85 may, in fact, be priced with respect to its substitute fuel, and not based on the cost of its inputs. These findings help identify key trends and barriers in E85 markets and highlight data gaps that, if addressed, could help enable competitive E85 markets. The analysis was released in February 2017 and uses national and Minnesota-specific price data.

E85, retail pricing, vehicles, fuels, fuel station↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Effects of Market Concentration on Residential Solar PV Prices: Competition, Installer Scale, and Soft Costs

Competition among residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installers may reduce PV price markups and yield lower prices. At the same time, competition may reduce installer experience and opportunities for cost reductions through learning-by-doing and economies of scale. These dynamics suggest that PV non-hardware or 'soft' costs and installed prices depend on the distribution of market shares among installers, also known as market structure. This study leverages a rich data set of 226,769 residential PV systems to examine the relationship between market structure, soft costs, and PV prices. The results show that PV prices are lower, on average, in more concentrated markets, i.e., markets with fewer installers or where a subset of installers holds a large market share. The study provides evidence that this relationship is non-linear, such that prices are minimized in markets with an optimal balance of the benefits of market concentration and the benefits of competition.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

HOW BASIC RESEARCH PAYS OFF: 10 Winners from an Extraordinary Competition

In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program, the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored a competition among current and past EFRC awardees. The competition aimed to select ten awardees that best embody the extraordinary impact of EFRC-sponsored basic research. The competition solicited entries in three categories: the training of the next generation of scientific talent; the discovery of novel scientific ideas; and the development of advanced technologies and tools. This brochure summarizes the remarkable accomplishments of the 10 winners.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Contentious narratives and disinformation about nuclear weapons in strategic deterrence and competition: A SOCOM perspective. Part of Section: United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in Emerging Strategic & Geopolitical Challenges: Operational Implications for US Combatant Commands

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine demonstrates the challenge for strategic deterrence and competition of countering contentious narratives and disinformation about weapons of mass destruction (WMD) during conventional regional wars against a nucleararmed adversary. Moscow uses both tailored, contentious narratives and targeted disinformation about WMD in Ukraine to influence and disrupt local and global perceptions in support of its deterrence and competition objectives vis-à-vis the United States and NATO. Since December 2021, Moscow has made a focal point of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons in its efforts to establish a permissive environment for its military buildup on the border with Ukraine and then its military intervention. These information tactics also demonstrate an opportunity for US Special Operations Forces (SOF). They are a case study for considering how SOF can contribute to strategic deterrence and competition objectives, specifically countering adversary gray-zone information efforts to alter regional security orders.1 Such a role is in line with the 2022 Special Operations Forces Vision and Strategy, which provides a framework for the evolution of SOF into “a force capable of creating strategic, asymmetric advantages for the nation as a key contributor of integrated deterrence” (United States Special Operations Command, 2022). This paper briefly examines this strategic challenge and SOF opportunity, focusing narrowly on the distinction between contentious narratives and disinformation about nuclear weapons and the role of SOF in countering these gray-zone information tactics. The nuclear dimension of Moscow’s contentious narratives and disinformation in the “special military operation” is of particular interest because it demonstrates the distinction between strategic efforts to influence and disrupt local and global perceptions in Moscow’s favor. This distinction between influence and disruption is less clear with Russia’s contentious narratives and disinformation about chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, as disinformation about these two types of WMD appears to overwhelm contentious narratives. We believe this distinction is useful for policymakers and warfighters responsible for countering gray-zone information tactics because it provides a framework for crafting tailored responses to contentious narratives and disinformation about nuclear weapons and other WMD. The chapter concludes with a discussion of efforts that could be undertaken by SOF in cooperation with other relevant stakeholders to address this aspect of adversary gray-zone information tactics.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP)

Through the Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP), the U.S. DOE supports small businesses who design and manufacture small or medium wind turbine technology through cost-shared subcontracts awarded via a competitive process. The goals of the CIP are to: improve cost competitiveness with other distributed generation technology through optimized designs and advanced manufacturing processes; increase the number of certified small and medium wind turbine designs across a wide range of sizes; and accelerate deployment of improved, certified distributed wind energy technology. NREL manages the projects through a defined period of performance subcontract, providing technical monitoring and coordinating technical assistance from DOE labs.

advanced manufacturing↗